Radio America Online News Bureau

Archives for August 2019

Freedom of Conscience Win, Media Fret Trump Attacks, Stelter’s Circus, Indy Out of Luck

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome a decision from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that strongly boosts the freedom of conscience in a culture that often wants to crush any departure from liberal groupthink. They also take a wait and see approach as media outlets fret about Trump allies compiling dossiers to confront journalists in the 2020 cycle. They unload on CNN’s Brian Stelter for failing to confront a “Reliable Sources” guest who claims President Trump is responsible for more deaths than Hitler, Stalin, or Mao. And Jim has some strong opinions about those Indianapolis Colts fans who booed quarterback Andrew Luck for retiring on Saturday night.

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Debt Crisis ‘Gonna Happen in the Next Couple Years’

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This past week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected annual deficits in this and the next fiscal year will near $1 trillion and that the U.S. will rack up more than $12 trillion in debt over the next decade.

There was virtually no reaction from the White House, Congress, or political figures of any stripe.  The media also largely ignored the news.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is trying to sound the alarm about the debt crisis and is seriously considering a GOP presidential campaign to stress the issue since no other candidates are.

Sanford also spent separate three-term stints in the House of Representatives.  He was defeated in the 2018 Republican primary after running afoul of President Trump and GOP leaders over government spending.

In discussing the latest CBO forecasts, Sanford began saying the mounting debt is simply a deferred tax on future generations who will have to pay the bills.  Then he stopped himself and warned that the current generation could well face it too.

“This is not just a next generation problem.  There is a proverbial straw that breaks a camel’s back.  We are growing ever closer to that moment.

“I believe we’re walking toward the most predictable financial crisis in the history of man.  It is not something that will happen to the next generation, but it’s going to happen in the next couple of years,” said Sanford.

“Think about this: we will spend more on interest (on the national debt) than we do on national defense in 36 months.  That’s not a kid or grandkid problem.  That is our problem,” said Sanford.

Sanford says he cannot pinpoint what will “light the match that lights the fire” or when exactly that might happen.  However, current government estimates suggest Medicare will go insolvent in seven years and Social Security will follow suit in 15 years.

For his part, Sanford worries that increased tariffs will be a recipe for economic trouble.  He says trillion dollar deficits are always alarming, particularly so in during a good economy.

“The deficits that we’re running are being run in peacetime and relatively calm economic waters.  You reverse the economic waters and the deficits explode,” he said.

If the CBO projections are correct, the official national debt will stand at $34-35 trillion a decade from now.  Sanford says the real numbers are far worse.

“The Congressional Budget Office numbers are not real.  Those are fairly conservative numbers.  This is why a variety of different organizations, like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Government have said those numbers could actually stretch closer to $2 trillion a year in operating deficits,” said Sanford.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Sanford discuss why neither party is serious about reining in federal spending, what action he thinks needs to be taken to return to fiscal stability, and how he is deciding whether to run for president.

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Trump’s Orders, Conspiracy or Lunacy? McCabe Joins CNN, Remembering David Koch

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America close the week with three crazy martinis and a champagne toast. They sigh as President Trump tweets that he is ordering U.S. companies to scale back in China in response to the very real practice of China ripping us off. They also evaluate former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne’s claims that he was ordered to conduct political espionage on four presidential candidates in 2015-2016 on orders from the FBI and Justice Department. They react to CNN hiring disgraced former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe as an analyst. And Jim offers a toast to the late David Koch for his tireless efforts to expand freedom and opportunity to Americans.

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Ex-Immigration Judge: New Policy ‘Most Humanitarian Decision That Could Be Made’

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The Trump administration is planning to implement a new rule that keeps migrant families together but keeps them in custody until their immigration status is decided.

Critics plan to challenge the new policy, with Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley calling it “large-scale imprisonment” and likening the approach to the internment camps for Americans of Japanese descent during World War II.

Since 1997, the U.S. has held to a policy established in a court settlement that children cannot be detained for more than 20 days, even while their parents wait to have their cases decided.  That policy has been revised over the years.

The policy was challenged in 2014, when accompanied and unaccompanied minors came to the U.S. in large numbers.  Then-Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson ordered the construction of the temporary shelters that are now a flashpoint.  When challenged in court, a federal judge ruled that minors – whether with their parents or not – could only be held for 20 days.

In June 2018, President Trump signed an executive order ending family separation, meaning adults were only held for 20 days as well.

In recent months, the number of migrants flooding the U.S.-Mexico border has swelled to more than 100,000 late in the spring of this year.

Former Clinton Justice Department official and former immigration judge Andrew Arthur says this new policy  is not only the best approach for the sake of national security but for the well-being of the migrants themselves.

“This is the most humanitarian decision that could be made.  The number of people who attempt to undertake this journey is going to fall if they simply can’t be released into the United States.  In fact, they’ll go back to the historical numbers we used to see of a few hundred of these families showing up at the border every month,” said Arthur.

Arthur cites a bipartisan report showing that two-thirds of people smuggled into the U.S. suffer physical harm and one-third of women are sexually assaulted.  He says once potential migrants know they won’t be released, they’ll avoid the horrors of the trip to the border.

“It’s going to remove the incentive for parents to use their children as pawns and for smugglers to use children as pawns in order to get individuals seeking economic advancement into the United States, where they can work illegally,” said Arthur.

Listen to the full podcast as Arthur explains the full background of the child detention policy, why immigration cases are usually resolved in a couple months rather than years, what the few alternatives to the revisions actually are, and why detention centers are actually the safest place for migrants to be while their cases are dealt with.

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Inslee Exits, Hickenlooper Runs for Senate, Walsh 2020?

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy a fun episode by discussing three presidential hopefuls who never had a chance. They start by applauding Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for recognizing he wasn’t going to win and getting out of the Democratic presidential race. They also sigh as former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper starts running for U.S. Senate just days after dropping out of the presidential field, and admit he’s got a pretty good chance of winning. And they wonder why one-term former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh is seriously considering a GOP primary challenge to President Trump.

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What Trump Is Changing in the Endangered Species Act

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Environmental activists and political opponents are furious with President Trump for revising the Endangered Species Act (ESA), accusing him of being “purposefully” and “willfully negligent” with our natural resources.

But a leading conservative environmental policy analyst says the changes amount to nothing more than common sense, and in some instances return the law to its 1973 origins.

So what actually changed?  National Center for Public Policy Research Senior Fellow Dr. Bonner Cohen says the revisions change nothing where endangered species live.

“The Endangered Species Act mandates that critical habitat be set aside for the species’ recovery  The Trump administration reforms say, ‘Yes, you can designate critical habitat, but that must be habitat where a species really exists, not potential habitat.

“That distinction is very important, because it limits the amount of land that the Department of the Interior’s Fish & Wildlife Service can regulate.  And these regulations can be very strict.  The ESA has sadly become a land use restriction mechanism,” said Cohen.

In one instance, the government ordered more than 1,500 acres declared critical habitat for the Dusky Gopher Frog in St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana.  However, Cohen says there are no known Dusky Gopher Frogs in Louisiana, yet the land was off limits for development.  He says the ESA is often used to stifle rural development, particularly in the western United States.

Another change would revert the Endangered Species Act to have a distinct difference between “endangered” and “threatened” species.  Cohen says the government has blurred the line over the past two decades and “threatened” species get the same amount of protection despite being in a better position to survive without federal intervention.

Nonetheless, activists are slamming the president for the revisions to the Endangered Species Act.

“There has never been a presidential administration more willfully, more purposefully negligent when it comes to the stewardship of our natural resources than the Trump administration,”
said conservationist Jeff Corwin on MSNBC.

Cohen is neither surprised nor fazed by the blowback.

“Their reaction is completely predictable because these are the people who have been working hand in glove with federal officials over decades to get species added to the list, not for the purpose of saving those species but for the purpose of shutting down as much activity on rural land across America as possible,” said Cohen.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Cohen explain why the Endangered Species Act is a colossal failure even by government standards, noting that only 40 of 1,661 species have ever been taken off the endangered list and 20 of those were already extinct or didn’t belong on the list to begin with.  He also explains why Americans who care for their land end up the biggest losers under the ESA.

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Devastating Debt, Trump’s Disloyalty’ Problem, Dr. Biden’s Blunder

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America have no good martinis today. They wince as the national deficit creeps closer to $1 trillion again and lament that neither party has any intention of seriously addressing the problem before disaster strikes next decade. They also cringe as President Trump rightly slams Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and other far left lawmakers for pushing the anti-Semitic BDS movement but then says says any Jews who vote for Democrats are being disloyal. And they get a kick out of Jill Biden telling Democrats that her husband might not be the best candidate but voters should get on board because he has the best chance to beat Trump.

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‘Planned Parenthood Has Really Shown Its True Colors’

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On Monday, Planned Parenthood withdrew its application to be a recipient of Title X federal health care funding, following a Trump administration rule change barring recipients from encouraging patients to pursue abortions.

Susan B. Anthony List Vice President of Communications Mallory Quigley says this is a big win for the pro-life cause.

“Planned Parenthood is choosing to not comply with the rule, which is really intended to draw a bright line of separation between the idea of family planning and separation versus abortion,” said Quigley.

She also says Planned Parenthood may not have spent previous Title X funds directly on abortion but did use it to buy pro-abortion advertising in addition to paying bills that helped keep the nation’s largest abortion provider open.

Planned Parenthood is losing about $60 million in taxpayer funds as a result, although it is still getting the bulk of the roughly $500 million in total federal funding it gets every year.

Acting Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson says the lack of funding will make it harder for women to seek health care and some may forego it altogether.

Quigley wonders why an organization so flush with other money that it spends lavishly on political campaigns won’t make women’s health care a priority.

“Planned Parenthood has really shown its true colors by prioritizing abortion over family planning and refusing to comply with this rule,” said Quigley.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Quigley explain why the new rule does not constitute an infringement on the freedom of speech for Planned Parenthood personnel, where the abortion fight goes from here, and how this news shows just how big of a difference elections make.

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Planned Parenthood Reveals Priorities, Sanctuary Stupidity, Mooch Madness

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Jim Geraghty of National Review unleashes an epic rant about the re-emergence of Anthony Scaramucci – this time as an anti-Trump figure suddenly loved and respected by the press – and the Trump culture that created the Mooch. But first, he and Greg Corombos of Radio America celebrate Planned Parenthood withdrawing as an applicant for Title X funding for refusing to stop advocating for patients to get abortions – and saving taxpayers $60 million.  And they unload on sanctuary counties in North Carolina and Maryland for letting illegal immigrants go despite them being accused of heinous sexual offenses.

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Kennedy vs. Markey? SJW’s vs. Jay-Z, Kamala’s Latest Canard

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are back!  Today, they enjoy watching Democrats wasting time and money in pushing Rep. Joseph Kennedy III to launch a primary challenge against incumbent Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, but Jim also explains why it’s long past time to stop fawning over the Kennedys.  Jim also dives into his latest piece, in which he slams the social justice warriors for refusing to accept many goodwill gestures from the NFL so long as Colin Kaepernick remains without a team.  And they roll their eyes as Sen. Kamala Harris tells donors she is not comfortable with the Medicare for All legislation pushed by 2020 rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, even though Harris co-sponsored the legislation.

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