Radio America Online News Bureau

Archives for April 2019

Free College: ‘The Obamacare of Higher Education’

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Free college.  Free tuition.  Student loan forgiveness.  All of these ideas are being pushed by Democratic presidential candidates, but is what looks like a compassionate effort to help college students escape years or decades of crippling debt really just perpetuating a vicious government cycle?

Many candidates are advocating for free tuition at public universities and community colleges.  Recently, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren put forward a plan to forgive student loan debt as an even greater appeal to young voters.

But some experts see some big problems with that.

“First of all, I want my reparations for the tuition that I paid for my kids,” said Gary Wolfram, a professor of economics and public policy at Hillsdale College in Michigan.  “If you’re going to forgive everybody else’s debt, then you’ve got to forgive mine too, right?”

Wolfram says the basic economics of debt forgiveness show the idea to be absurd.

“Why would anyone give someone a loan now.  If you were a business firm, why would you loan somebody money for higher education because they’re never going to pay it back.  It makes no sense at all.  It can’t possibly work,” said Wolfram.

But Wolfram is not just picking apart the proposals of Warren and other Democrats.  He says there is a problem with the cost of higher education, but government is the cause of this vicious cycle rather than the solution to it.

“It was the government going out and lending lots of money to people without looking to see if they’re going to be able to pay it off,” said Wolfram, noting Uncle Sam does far less due diligence before handing out money than a bank will do before approving a mortgage application.

“The reason you’ve got skyrocketing tuitions, and therefore more and more loans being taken out, it’s because there’s this cycle of the government providing loans to get people to go to college.  Then more people are going to college, and it’s driving up the price of college, which [results in] more loans,” explained Wolfram.

Advocates of greater federal intervention in higher education say “free” tuition will take the soaring costs out of the equation.  Wolfram says it will be just the opposite.  He says sending virtually every high school graduate to college on the taxpayers’ dime will lead to the government intruding even more.

“Why wouldn’t you charge $200,000 a year for tuition because the government’s paying for it?  Then the government’s going to say, ‘Oh my gosh.  This is incredibly expensive.’  Then they’ll say tuition’s got to be $10,000 a year.

“That won’t be enough to fund  all the increase in teachers, etc, that you’re going to need to have all these kids come in.  Then the government’s also going to say, ‘Gee, when we’re doing that, we’re going to tell you what has to be in higher education.  Here are the classes that you have to offer.

“So you’re going to end up with the Obamacare of higher education,” said Wolfram.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Wolfram explain how the universal push for four-year colleges is leaving massive labor shortages in skilled trades and steering students away from good careers that might fit them far better than another four years in school.  He also reveals his approach to making college more affordable – and it looks a lot like the recruiting of college athletes.

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Venezuelan Coup Attempt, Abrams Rejects Senate Bid, Mayor Pete Conspiracy Flops

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America pray for the best in Venezuela as opposition leader Juan Guaido urges the military to rise up against the corrupt, socialist Maduro regime.  They also roll their eyes as Stacey Abrams still plays the victim card of voter suppression while announcing she will not be running for U.S. Senate in 2020.  And they condemn the attempt to cook up a fake sex scandal targeting Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg.

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‘They Can’t Find One Single Crime That’s Been Solved’

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President Trump is taking heat from political adversaries and international activists for withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty, but one of the nation’s leading crime researchers says the tactics used in the treaty have never been used to solve any crime.

The Obama administration signed onto the Arms Trade Treaty shortly before Trump took office.  It would require widespread firearm registration and licensing within signatory nations.  The goal is to be able to track guns and prevent them from winding up in the hands of terrorists, gangs, cartels, and other nefarious elements.

Crime Prevention Research Center President Dr. John Lott says the premise seems to make sense: if you can find the gun used to commit a crime, you can find the person responsible.  However, Lott says most guns aren’t left at the crime scene, those that are are not registered, and killers do not use guns registered in their own names.

In addition to concerns about second amendment rights, Lott says there’s literally no evidence the UN approach works.

“When you look at Hawaii or Chicago or Washington, D.C. or other countries such as Canada, people have gone back and looked at the data.  They can’t find one single crime that’s been solved as a result of registration and licensing,” said Lott.

In Honolulu, for example, Lott says police logged 50,000 working hours filling out paperwork for gun licensing and registration.  Not only has it not solved crimes, he says it’s taking valuable time away from police work that does yield results.

“Maybe if you’d solved thousands of crimes, or at least hundreds of crimes, or at least a dozen crimes, or at least any crime, then there might be some discussion about the trade-offs that were there.  Obviously, 50,000 hours of police time could have been used in traditional policing that we know works, we know solves crime,” said Lott.

Listen to the full podcast as Dr. Lott explains how the UN Arms Trade Treaty could also handcuff U.S. foreign policy and how fierce the debate over the second amendment will be in the 2020 campaign.

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Synagogue Shooting Heroes, NRA Disarray, NYT’s Anti-Semitic Cartoons

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America recoil at the synagogue shooting in southern California but also honor the heroes who made sure the attack was not far deadlier.  They also wince as the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association ends in a very public dispute between two top officials, foreshadowing what may be a very difficult year to come.  They slam the New York Times for publishing two anti-Semitic cartoons within just a couple of days.  And they remember the late Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar.

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Court: Judge Can Overrule Parents On Gender Identity

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The Arizona Supreme Court ruled Thursday that judges in the state can force parents to provide counseling, therapy, and other services or a child who identifies as a different gender than their biological sex.

The decision partially strikes down a 2018 Appeals Court ruling which gave more deference to parents.  The case in question involved a divorced couple in a dispute over how to raise their biologically male child who “demonstrated a preference for female items,” according to a report in the Arizona Republic.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruling was unanimous, but does state that the parents cannot be required to provide services for their kids unless they are “at risk of physical danger or significantly impaired emotionally.”

LGBT activists are cheering the decision, asserting that children who are not “affirmed” in their preferred gender identity suffer far more depression and are more likely to harm themselves than those who do not meet parental resistance.

But Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver says the court got this one wrong.

“I think the Supreme Court of Arizona is wrong and I think that the Arizona Court of Appeals did get it right, when last year it ultimately ruled that courts could not take sides between parents over these kinds of issues,” said Staver.

He also contends this is pure activism from the justices.

“The Arizona Supreme Court simply gerrymandered this case.  There is no law that would allow the courts to interfere between the parents in this kind of a situation,” said Staver.

He says the government has no business getting involved in these sorts of disputes.

“When a child is going through gender confusion, there is no reason to go down the road – especially at a child’s early age – for hormone-blocking treatment, hormones of a different gender, and even counseling to go through surgical intervention.  Essentially, they’ve opened up the door to do just that, which is going to cause both short and long-term harm to the children.

“They should leave those decisions to the parents, even if the parents cannot agree,” said Staver.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Staver explain why he rejects the American Association of Pediatrics recommendations of “comprehensive, gender-affirming, and developmentally appropriate health care” for children struggling with gender dysphoria and why such advice is contrary to the basics of most counseling.

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Great First Quarter Growth, The Anita Hill Delusion, Libs Behaving Badly

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David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America celebrate stronger than expected economic growth of 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019.  They also pour cold water on the absurd notions that Anita Hill was treated unfairly by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991 and that Clarence Thomas is somehow assumed guilty of doing what she accused him of doing.  And they react to a judge in Massachusetts and the mayor of Baltimore finding themselves in heaps of legal trouble.

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‘The North Korean Regime is the Most Horrific on Earth’

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North Korea demanded $2 million in exchange for the return of a comatose American prisoner, and even though the U.S. never actually paid for his release one of the leading experts on the North Korean threat says President Trump needs to get much tougher on the communist regime and the sooner the better.

On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that North Korea demanded $2 million for the return of Otto Warmbier, the American college student sentenced to hard labor for allegedly stealing a political poster.  Warmbier was flown back to the U.S. in 2017.  He was in a coma and died just hours later.

Multiple sources insist the U.S. never paid the ransom, but North Korea expert Gordon Chang says this story just confirms the barbaric nature of the Kim Jong-Un regime.

“I think the most important thing is that the North Korean regime is the most horrific on earth.  In this case, they brutalized Otto Warmbier and then have the audacity to bill us $2 million for this.  This money, of course, will never be paid,” said Chang, author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World.”

Chang says this latest revelation is further proof that dealing with Kim is fruitless.

“We will not have satisfactory relations with North Korea on anything – especially nuclear weapons – until there is a new government in North Korea which is democratic,” said Chang.

The news of the ransom demand for Warmbier comes the same week as Kim met face-to-face with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok.  Chang says Kim’s agenda is to coax Russia into into greater investment in North Korea and into backing sanctions relief.

Chang is also frustrated with President Trump for easing sanctions enforcement on North Korea around the time of the first summit in 2018.  He says Trump needs to clamp down harder on North Korea and needs to do it now.

“We’ve got to go back to really enforcing those sanctions to the point where North Korea doesn’t get any money.  Because if North Korea doesn’t get any money, it’ll realize it has to give up its nukes and missiles,” said Chang.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Chang explain how North Korea is pitting Russia and China against one another, how weak sanctions enforcement is a major threat to the people of South Korea, and what two things North Korea must do before the U.S. should even consider another summit.

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Biden Finally Runs, Anti-Vaccine Insanity, New Free Speech Threat

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David French of Radio America and Greg Corombos of Radio America groan as Joe Biden enters the 2020 presidential race vowing to return the nation to the Obama-Biden era and they break down the advantages and disadvantages Biden brings to the campaign.  They also discuss the measles outbreaks and how they seem to be entirely linked to parents refusing to vaccinate their children.  And David exposes the latest progressive assault on free speech – shutting down traditional views on race, sex, and gender because they are “dehumanizing.”

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Why Isn’t Maduro Leaving Venezuela?

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President Trump is applying stiff sanctions against Venezuela and demanding that Nicholas Maduro give up power, but Maduro isn’t leaving and the tough U.S. stance may actually be helping China, Russia, and Iran gain a foothold in the Americas.

The Trump administration wants to see Maduro go in favor of Juan Guaido, but instead of folding under the pressure of U.S.-led diplomacy, Maduro is now cozying up to some of our greatest adversaries.

American Foreign Policy Council Senior Fellow Larry Haas, a former Clinton administration official, says the U.S. demand for Maduro to go is futile and that Trump doesn’t have other leverage – much like President Obama’s demand for Bashar al-Assad to give up power in Syria back in 2013.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Haas explain why he believes the Trump administration is weakening its position on Venezuela through actions taken on other issues.  He also explain what policy positions might be more effective and why China, Russia, and Iran are so interested in helping Maduro.

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Bernie Doubles Down, Hogan Mulls 2020, Politics & the NFL Draft

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are finally back together.  Today they relish Bernie Sanders doubling down on his push for incarcerated felons to have the right to vote, with Jim explaining how the issue could really damage Bernie if he becomes the nominee.  They also roll their eyes as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan seriously mulls a primary challenge to President Trump while still lagging badly behind juggernauts like John Kasich and William Weld.  And Jim surprisingly agrees with the woke USA Today columnist who is slamming the likely No. 2 overall pick in this week’s NFL Draft for shying away from his conservative politics on social media – although Jim’s motivation for agreeing remains a tad suspicious.

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