Radio America Online News Bureau

Archives for February 2020

‘Alarm Bells Are Going Off in Democratic Circles’

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Listen to “‘Alarm Bells Are Going Off in Democratic Circles'” on Spreaker.

As the Democratic presidential race looks ahead to the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, the South Carolina primary a week after that, and Super Tuesday just three days later, the fight for the nomination is quickly picking up momentum and rank and file Democrats are increasingly concerned that avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders is on track to become the party’s standard bearer against President Trump.

Sanders narrowly won the popular vote in Iowa and New Hampshire and is a close second to Pete Buttigieg in the delegate race. But with several Democrats crowded in the non-Bernie lane, Sanders appears well positioned to pick up a lot of delegates over the next couple of weeks and beyond.

Democrats are very worried that a Sanders nomination would all but guarantee another four years for President Trump.

“Alarm bells are going off in Democratic circles. There’s no question about it,” said Larry Haas, who served as spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton and as communications director for Vice President Al Gore.

“And after last night and the view that Michael Bloomberg did not do as well as expected and that Bernie Sanders seemed to have a pretty clear field last night, other than some minor critiques of him, has only raised the alarm bells even more,” said Haas.

Listen to the full podcast to hear why Haas and many other Democrats believe Sanders is incapable of defeating President Trump, what Democrats think of Bloomberg and his big spending in this campaign, where the party lines up on the question of capitalism vs. socialism, and whether he believes the non-Bernie vote can consolidate around a single alternative.

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Dem Debate Brawl, Economic Satisfaction Soars, Should Billionaires Exist?

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Listen to “Dem Debate Brawl, Economic Satisfaction Soars, Should Billionaires Exist?” on Spreaker.

The Democrats debated in Las Vegas last night and they put on quite the show. Join Jim and Greg as they walk through the major dust-ups between Bloomberg and Warren, Bloomberg and Sanders, and Klobuchar and Buttigieg and try to figure out what the impact will be on the race for the nomination. They’re also thrilled to see a new poll from Gallup showing Americans with the highest satisfaction in the state of the U.S. since 2005 and lopsided numbers of citizens optimistic about the economy and where it is headed. And they go back to the debate to focus on NBC’s Chuck Todd asking Michael Bloomberg whether billionaires should exist.

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Abortion Fights Head to Senate, Supreme Court

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Listen to “Abortion Fights Head to Senate, Supreme Court” on Spreaker.

In the coming days, the U.S. Senate will hold votes on two pieces of pro-life legislation. One would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The other would require doctors or abortion practitioners to provide medical care to any baby surviving an attempted abortion.

Both bill will likely fail to attract 60 votes, which means they cannot proceed to a final vote. Even if they did, the legislation would never see the light of day in the House of Representatives.

What does it say about our culture and our politics that these bills cannot pass? Or that the media barely pay attention to a South Bend, Indiana, abortion provider who kept more than 2,000 fetal remains at his home?

We discuss these questions and much more with former Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg, who led the fight for a partial birth abortion ban all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stenberg also tells Greg Corombos about the critical case about to come before the Supreme Court, what he thinks of pro-life legislation like the heartbeat bills, and how he interprets presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg reacting to the fetal remains story simply by saying he hopes the news won’t be politicized.

Finally, they discuss Stenberg’s new book, “Eavesdropping on Lucifer.”

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Barr’s New Warning, Trump Pardons Blago, Elites to the Rescue

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Listen to “Barr’s New Warning, Trump Pardons Blago, Elites to the Rescue” on Spreaker.

Threats of resignation, controversial pardons, libs wanting the elite to have more power in choosing presidents – we’ve got a full menu for you on Wednesday’s Three Martini Lunch. Join Jim and Greg as they welcome Attorney General Bill Barr’s latest plea for President Trump to stop making his job so difficult. They also bang their heads against the table as Trump commutes the sentence of a thoroughly unrepentant Rod Blagojevich. And they hammer away at a Washington Post opinion piece arguing that the Democratic primary process is not working well so the proper answer is to give more power to elites to reach a consensus on a nominee.

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Gun Ban Shot Down, Bloomberg’s Arrogance Piles Up, Arrivederci Avenatti

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Listen to “Gun Ban Shot Down, Bloomberg’s Arrogance Piles Up, Arrivederci Avenatti” on Spreaker.

After a fun Presidents Day special, Jim and Greg are once serving up good, bad, and crazy martinis.  Join them today as they celebrate Virginia Democrats failing to pass a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” suppressors, and magazines holding more than 12 rounds. They also dive into more offensive comments from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, this time contending that people need a more gray matter to work in the information economy than in farming and that old people diagnosed with cancer shouldn’t receive treatment because it costs too much money. And they react to the criminal convictions for attorney Michael Avenatti and again scold the liberal media for turning Avenatti into the media just because he was an adversary of President Trump.

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America’s Underappreciated Presidents

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Listen to “America’s Underappreciated Presidents” on Spreaker.

As America pauses for Presidents Day – or at least the federal government does – Jim and Greg take some time to evaluate a few recent presidents who deserve a closer look at their legacies.  They’re presidents many of you remember well but for some reason are rarely mentioned as leaders Americans remember most fondly.

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Gun Rights Group Takes on Bloomberg

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Listen to “Gun Rights Group Takes on Bloomberg” on Spreaker.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent a lot of money in recent years to help elect a Democratic majority in the Virginia legislature with the expectation those new lawmakers would enact gun control legislation. Now that dream is coming true, and a leading gun rights organization is now looking to turn the Virginia primary into an electoral nightmare for Bloomberg’s presidential ambitions.

Democrats won majorities in both chambers of the Virginia legislature in November.  In the coming weeks, legislation will likely be passed to accomplish much of the gun control agenda, including universal background checks, an “assault weapons” ban, limiting the number of rounds in a magazine, limiting firearm purchases to one per month, and “red flag” laws that allow law enforcement to remove weapons from citizens if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Gun Owners of America Legislative Counsel Mike Hammond says Bloomberg and his gun control allies are about to get everything they want.,

“The entire gun control agenda, as advocated by the most ardent New York gun control activists has effectively been enacted n Virginia – as soon as the two houses work out minor differences. Virginia has now become New York or California,” said Hammond.

Hammond has no doubt Bloomberg wants to enact the same type of laws on a national scale.  It’s a risk he says the United States cannot afford.

“Gun Owners of America understands that this is pretty much Armageddon for us…If he’s able to use his $55 billion in order to buy our Constitution, then I think it’s game over for us,” said Hammond.

With the Democratic presidential primary coming up March 3, Hammond says Gun Owners of America plans to actively campaign against Bloomberg.

In this podcast, Hammond tells Greg Corombos why he sees a Bloomberg presidency as an existential threat, how a pro-gun group will try to convince Democrats to vote against Bloomberg, and whether the second amendment sanctuary movement in Virginia is an effective firewall against the gun control agenda.

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Barr Discourages Trump Tweets, Bernie’s Big Problem, Bloomberg’s Billions

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Listen to “Barr Discourages Trump Tweets, Bernie’s Big Problem, Bloomberg’s Billions” on Spreaker.

Finish your work week with Friday’s Three Martini Lunch. Join Jim and Greg as they applaud Attorney General Bill Barr for telling President Trump that his tweets on prosecutions and more make it hard to do his job and they discuss why Democrats are so determined to discredit Barr. They also welcome news that Bernie Sanders is not doing well among voters who have private health insurance and that New Hampshire might be winnable for Republicans for the first time in 20 years if Sanders is the Democratic nominee. And they get a kick out of the news that Michael Bloomberg has hired the same PR firm behind the Fyre Fest debacle, but Jim also dives into the significance of Bloomberg’s bottomless campaign war chest.

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Bernie’s Labor Problem, Matthews Fears Bernie & Bloomberg, Is Nevada Ready?

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Listen to “Bernie’s Labor Problem, Matthews Fears Bernie & Bloomberg, Is Nevada Ready?” on Spreaker.

Lots of political oddities today as the presidential race shifts to Nevada, so settle in for your Thursday Three Martini Lunch. Join Jim and Greg as they get a big kick out of the large culinary workers union turning on the supposed candidate of the workers because they want to keep their health plan and Bernie Sanders wouldn’t let them do it under his plan.   They also enjoy listening to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews fret that the Democrats could nominate Sanders or Michael Bloomberg when neither of them are actually Democrats. And they cringe as reports from Nevada emerge suggesting Democrats there are technologically unprepared for next week’s caucuses. Will it be a repeat of Iowa?

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The Roger Stone Sentencing Fiasco

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Listen to “The Roger Stone Sentencing Fiasco” on Spreaker.

President Trump finds himself in the center of more controversy this week, this time for weighing in on the sentencing of former political confidant Roger Stone.

Last year, Stone was convicted on charges of obstruction, making false statements, and witness tampering as part of the Mueller investigation into alleged Russian collusion with the Trump campaign during the 2016 campaign.

Earlier this week, prosecutors recommended Stone be sentenced seven to nine years in prison.  President Trump blasted the recommendation on Twitter as too harsh and as a “miscarriage of justice.” Tuesday, the Justice Department announced it was withdrawing that sentencing recommendation and urging a shorter prison term of 37-46 months.  DOJ sources also contend prosecutors misled department officials on the recommendation.  Trump subsequently thanked Attorney General Bill Barr for taking action.

Critics of Trump and Barr contend this is evidence of the erosion of the rule of law and that Barr is simply doing Trump’s bidding.  All four prosecutors on the case subsequently resigned in protest.

So why was the original recommendation seven to nine years?  Was there a sound legal basis for it or was it excessive? Was Trump way out of line to intervene in the case or is that his right as head of the executive branch? And why did the prosecutors resign?

We discuss all of this and more with former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Andrew C. McCarthy, who is now a contributing editor at National Review Online and a Fox News Channel contributor.

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