3-8-18 Fascinating Guests for Your Show

1. Robert M. Whaples: Pope Francis Has It Wrong on Global Poverty and Its Cure
2. Bruce Thornton: More Never-Trump Moral Preening

3. Daniel Greenfield: Women’s March Leader Attended Racist Hate Group Events for 30 Years

4. Ron Hosko: Pushing the Divide Over Illegal Aliens Wider

5. John LeBoutillier: Unglued - The Turning Point Week

Pope Francis Has It Wrong on Global Poverty and Its Cure
Edited by Robert M. Whaples

Contributing author to the Independent Institute’s new book, Pope Francis and the Caring Society, Robert P. Murphy, believes Pope Francis' remarks perpetuate the myth that globalization and free markets have hurt the world's poor.  He says, “the pontiff offered a moral guidance for advancing the conference's theme: ‘creating a shared future in a fractured world.’”  He added, “Although inspired by concern for the poor and the marginalized, the Vatican's message is seriously flawed. On a conceptual level, Pope Francis posits a false dichotomy between economic freedom and human rights.” [more...]

More Never-Trump Moral Preening

By Bruce Thornton

President Trump in his first year has succeeded at realizing many long-time conservative goals like tax reform and deregulation, to name a few. But for Never-Trump grumps, these achievements seem to intensify their bitter-ender anger at a political parvenu. Puffed up with self-regard about the purity of their “principles,” many have doubled-down on their criticisms of Trump’s brash, vulgar demeanor, coming off like the pompous Judge Smails sputtering over Al Czervik’s trashing of the Bushwood Country Club. The latest outburst came from columnist Mona Charen after she lectured the CPAC attendees about their hypocrisy over the recent sexual harassment disclosures. Writing for The New York Times - the premier gate-keeper of “correct” opinion - Charen reprised her scolding of Trump supporters that signaled to progressive monitors she is free from the Trump pox. But all she achieved beyond a pat on the head from progressives was to remind Trump voters why they rejected over a dozen establishment Republicans and then the deplorable Hillary Clinton in favor of an insurgent bulldozing his way through the stale received wisdom of those Republican politicians and pundits who’d rather be liked than win. [more...]

Women’s March Leader Attended Racist Hate Group Events for 30 Years

By Daniel Greenfield

Women's March leader Tamika Mallory came under fire for her appearance at an event of the racist hate group, the Nation of Islam, and for appearing with its leader, Louis Farrakhan, who had praised Hitler. Farrakhan's speech was full of anti-Semitic references. After initial complaints about being bullied (essentially the same response as #TimesUp's Amber Tamblyn). Now Tamika is offering a more comprehensive defense. And by defense, I mean some combination of arm waving, some of my best friends are gay black Jewish women, and Obama's Wright speech. She insists that she doesn't share the Nation of Islam's racist views, but nor is she willing to meaningfully condemn them. Instead she informs us that she's been attending them for most of her life. [more...]

Pushing the Divide Over Illegal Aliens Wider

By Ron Hosko - President of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund/ Fmr. Assistant Director of the FBI

In a development that’s reflective of the widening chasm of viewpoints on the treatment of illegal aliens in America, a big city mayor, Oakland’s Libby Schaaf, issued a public warning of impending Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration sweeps. The arrests went forward anyway, netting more than 150, including several wanted for serious and violent crimes. Acting ICE boss Tom Homan wasted no time in calling the mayor the equivalent of a gang lookout and pointing to the difficulties ICE faces in “sanctuary” jurisdictions like Oakland and San Francisco, saying, “Because these jurisdictions prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, they also force ICE officers to make more arrests out in the community, which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public.” Homan is right.  Liberal mayors like Schaaf, ever-willing to see illegal immigrants only as victims, are working harder than ever to poke Washington, D.C., and its law enforcers in the eye. [more...]

Unglued - The Turning Point Week

By John LeBoutillier

On the latest edition of REVOLUTION_The Podcast... we examine the President's erratic and unpredictable behavior and ask: is this the result of the pressure from the Mueller probe? Does this explain the confusion over "take the guns first and then do due process"? And the President denigrating his own Attorney General and calling him "Mr. Magoo" and his Deputy Attorney General "Mr. Peepers?" Why is Mr. Trump more agitated over the actor, Alec Baldwin, than he is over Russian President Putin's animated video depicting Russian warheads raining down on Florida? Is he, as his staff is saying in private, indeed coming "unglued?" [more...]

3-7-18 Expert Guests for Your Show

1. Lowell Ponte: Democrats Try “Gerrymandering” Elections by Age and Ethnicity

2. Michelle Seiler-Tucker: The Weinstein Company on Track to File for Bankruptcy

3. Michael Stumo: Trump Rightly Puts Foot Down on Steel Cheating

4. Kerry Lutz: Make Florida Drivers Great Again

5. Jeff Ferry: Why We Need Tariffs on Steel

6. James Hirsen: Huckabee Withdraws from the Board after Haters Intimidate the CMA

Democrats Try “Gerrymandering” Elections by Age and Ethnicity

By Lowell Ponte

In 1812, Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry tried rigging elections by redrawing district boundaries so that his Democratic-Republican Party (the forerunner of today’s Democratic Party) would win more seats. One such district was shaped like a salamander, which critics called a “Gerrymander.” The Democrats ever since have used trickery to win. Pennsylvania Supreme Court judges, all Democrats, have replaced the legislature’s power to draw congressional districts. In 2000, Democrats tried to throw out overseas ballots of Florida soldiers, and the far left Center for American Progress this February proposed making it harder for Americans in uniform to vote overseas, because soldiers tend to vote as conservatives. In 2016, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe issued an executive order giving votes to more than 100,000 felons, who vote up to 88 percent Democratic. [more...]

The Weinstein Company on Track to File for Bankruptcy

By Michelle Seiler-Tucker

Following the Harvey Weinstein allegations, the company began to see a backlash in its business operations. Many business partners cut ties with the studio and new business opportunities were cut off. Fearing the end of the studio, executives sought a buyer that would keep the doors open and protect their employees. A group of investors, led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, saw this as an opportunity to start a movie studio that was headed by women. However, a letter from the Board of Directors of the Weinstein Company stated that the buyers were unwilling to provide interim financing while the deal was being finalized. As a result, the company is on track to filing for bankruptcy. The deal hit its major snag a few weeks ago when New York’s Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, filed a suit against the company and Weinstein. [more...]

Trump Rightly Puts Foot Down on Steel Cheating

By Michael Stumo

In the world of international trade, countries like China continually use their own version of “steroids” to gain an advantage. Trade cheating has been particularly evident in the global steel market, with overseas competitors pushing the U.S. steel industry to the brink of collapse. Thankfully, President Trump is willing to strongly confront such cheating, as evidenced by his decision to impose tariffs on “dumped” imports of both steel and aluminum. The president’s announcement is particularly commendable since it takes a broad approach to global trade. [more...]

Make Florida Drivers Great Again

By Kerry Lutz

The much vaunted self-driving car has a problem; it doesn’t drive very well and often suffers from poor judgment. Whether it’s a Tesla, Google Car, Mercedes or any other number of products attempting to dominate the American Highway, they just can’t seem to stay out of trouble. People have been killed or injured in while proving out these technological marvels. However, there’s an easy way to speed up the research and development process, designate the entire state of Florida as a self-driving car testing site. Florida has earned the distinction of the nation’s worst drivers. With this kind of record, the state must become the epicenter of self-driving vehicle technology development. This designation will provide many benefits. [more...]

Why We Need Tariffs on Steel

By Jeff Ferry

Are we going to defend the U.S. steel industry from the decline caused by the growth of uneconomic foreign competition? Or, are we going to allow the industry to fade away and become dependent on other countries for this ubiquitous product, vital to our military and civilian economy? We believe the answer has to be an effort in favor of defending America’s steel industry. Too much is at stake. America’s national security depends on a reliable supply of steel. America’s infrastructure, much of it urgently in need of renewal, depends on steel. Great American industries, including automobiles, aerospace, and many others, depend on a reliable supply of high-quality, low-cost steel. Thousands of jobs also depend on the steel industry. [more...]

Huckabee Withdraws from the Board after Haters Intimidate the CMA

By James Hirsen

Left-wing hatred, in of all places Nashville, has just politicized a country music institution. Rather than learn a lesson from the NFL and Hollywood, a small but highly vocal group of people in Music City has managed to pressure the Country Music Association (CMA) into having former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee withdraw as a board member from the group’s educational arm, the CMA Foundation. Last week, the CMA announced two new members of the board of this charitable foundation, Huckabee and singer Chris Young. Following the announcement, the CMA was the recipient of a hate-filled backlash over its choice of Huckabee because of the former governor’s political and religious views and solid support of President Donald Trump, as well as the fact that he is the proud father of President Trump’s current press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. [more...]

Tariffs on Imported Steel & Aluminum

By Michael Stumo

We strongly applaud President Trump’s announcement of Section 232 safeguard tariffs on an unprecedented surge of steel and aluminum imports. The U.S. Commerce Department recently reported that a wave of heavily subsidized steel and aluminum from China and 11 other countries “threaten to impair the national security” of the United States. In response, President Trump said today that he will impose 25 percent tariffs on steel imports from all countries, with no exceptions. He has also announced 10 percent tariffs on all aluminum imports, with no exceptions. [more...]

A New York Times Writer’s Reckless Hit Piece on My Transgender Book

By Ryan T. Anderson, PhD

Anti-trans bigotry exists. It’s wrong, and we should all condemn it. I condemn it in my new book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. But we lose the ability to effectively call out bigotry when all disagreement is condemned as bigoted—and when lies are told in the process.

That’s what happened earlier this week in a New York Times op-ed. Jennifer Finney Boylan, a contributing opinion writer for the Times, and a professor of English at Barnard College of Columbia University, told several bald-faced lies about my work. I’m surprised the editors published it.

For the record, Boylan never contacted me regarding my research or my book. Nor did the Times contact me to verify any of the claims made about me in the column. Boylan claims I wrote “a book that suggests that transgender people are crazy, and that what we [people who identify as transgender] deserve at every turn is scorn, contempt, and belittlement.” Good luck finding a single line from my book to back up either claim. [more...]

In his new book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, Ryan T. Anderson, PhD offers a balanced approach to the policy issues, a nuanced vision of human embodiment, and a sober and honest survey of the human costs of getting human nature wrong. He draws on the best insights from the fields of biology, psychology and philosophy to explore the many contradictions at the heart of the transgender movement.

2-28-18 Great Guests for Your Show

1. Ron Hosko: MS-13 - Just Trump’s Boogeyman?

2. Michelle Seiler-Tucker: Citigroup to Refund $335 Million to its Credit Card Holders

3. Daniel Greenfield: Rep. Scalise, Shot by Dem, Urges Dems to Focus on Mental Illness, Not Guns

4. David Horowitz: How “Identity Politics” is Designed to Destroy Us

5. Dr. Gerard Lameiro: The 2020 Presidential Election Kick-Off

6. John LeBoutillier: Gunnin’ for Change

MS-13 - Just Trump’s Boogeyman?

By Ron Hosko - President of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund/ Fmr. Assistant Director of the FBI

It’s estimated that MS-13 has 10,000 members in at least 40 states.  In Northern Virginia and Maryland, once thinning MS-13 ranks, diminished by successful federal prosecutions, have been reconstituted with unaccompanied minors sent to the U.S. by families and gang masters in Central America. The gang’s calling card has been discovered across the region – shallow graves bearing the remains of youthful victims showing evidence of horrific deaths. But now, with an administration willing to actually enforce immigration laws, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can play a larger role by identifying and deporting illegal alien MS-13 members and recruits before the more complex and longer term investigative efforts are even necessary. [more...]

Citigroup to Refund $335 Million to its Credit Card Holders

By Michelle Seiler-Tucker

If you are a Citigroup card holder, you may be entitled to roughly $190. On Friday, Citi reported with its annual filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has failed to lower interest rates for some credit card holders and $335 million will be reissued. This bank is one of the largest credit card issuers in the U.S. and apprehended the issue after an internal review. The issue is stemmed from their methodology to lower interest rates in return for good behavior by its customers. [more...]

Rep. Scalise, Shot by Dem, Urges Dems to Focus on Mental Illness, Not Guns

By Daniel Greenfield

Lately, the left has been spouting about unchallenged moral authority. Rep. Scalise is the closest thing to a sitting official with unchallenged moral authority on mass shootings. He was seriously wounded when a Bernie Sanders supporter opened fire at practice for a congressional charity baseball game. Instead of seizing on that, Rep. Scalise and other Republicans took the high ground. I don't expect the media or the left to listen to Rep. Scalise. But maybe this should be a reminder that decency doesn't work with the indecent. Republicans should have treated the attack just like Parkland. [more...]

How “Identity Politics” is Designed to Destroy Us

By David Horowitz

In January 2018 when negotiations over the fate of 800,000 “DACA” recipients broke down, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi blamed the impasse on the alleged racism of President Trump and his senior advisers. “Last night the president put forth a plan,” Pelosi told the U.S. Conference of Mayors. “Let me just say what I said last night: that plan is a campaign to make America white again.” This was not only an obvious lie, but a spectacularly brazen one, since Trump’s announced plan would provide a path to citizenship not only for the DACA illegals who are non-white, but for a million additional illegals, mainly from Latin America, who are also mainly non-white. [more...]

NOTE: David’s new book, volume 9 of The Black Book of the American Left, will be out in April.

The 2020 Presidential Election Kick-Off

By Dr. Gerard Lameiro

We haven’t even hardly started the 2018 Congressional elections and the 2020 presidential election is already underway. It was the headline on both the Drudge Report and on Fox News this week. President Trump announced Tuesday that he will definitely run for re-election in 2020. It’s official. That’s 980 days before Election Day in 2020, which is historically early for a presidential re-election run. (Obama, as an example, announced 582 days ahead of 2012.) President Trump also introduced Brad Parscale, an expert on digital campaign strategy, as his campaign manager. He’s been called Trump’s “secret weapon” by a report on 60 Minutes and has been reported to have said that Trump won because of his use of Facebook and Twitter. [more...]

Gunnin’ for Change

By John LeBoutillier

On the latest edition of REVOLUTION_The Podcast... we explore President Trump's reaction to the organic high school student movement that is growing as a result of the Florida shootings. Will it be enough to force the political class to change any laws? Will this movement last? Will President Trump lead on this issue - or will he end up just being an advocate for the status quo? In the Trump-Russia Investigation, are things accelerating now that 13 Russians have been indicted? Is Special Counsel increasing the pressure on Paul Manafort because Manafort has knowledge of something Trump did? Where is this investigation headed? [more...]

2-27-18 Expert Guests for Your Show

1. Carl Schramm: When it Comes to Entrepreneurship, Age 40 is the New 20... and Always Has Been

2. Kerry Lutz: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?) of Bitcoin
3. Jeff Ferry: How Facebook Can Help Rebuild U.S. Manufacturing

4. James Hirsen: How to Get Real News in a World of Fake News

5. Lowell Ponte: Will the Supreme Court Defund the Democrats?

When it Comes to Entrepreneurship, Age 40 is the New 20... and Always Has Been

By Carl Schramm

The truth is that the average entrepreneur is nearly 40 years old. There are more Baby Boomers (ages 53 to 71) starting businesses than Millennials (ages 20 to 36) and even more entrepreneurs in Generation X (ages 37 to 52). What’s more, your odds of starting a company that experiences scale growth, becoming really profitable, only increase with age. The “Mozart Myth” leads us to believe that if you haven’t started your first company in your twenties then you’re never going to be an entrepreneur. But age, financial security, and experience — most often at an established company — are far more likely predictors of an entrepreneurial career. It turns out that corporations are often far more effective in training entrepreneurs than are most business schools or incubators. [more...]

The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?) of Bitcoin
By Kerry Lutz

This wasn’t supposed to happen. As this article is written, Bitcoin is trading around $11,200. It’s up from breaking the $6,000 barrier, but this could well be a dead cat bounce. That’s down from nearly $20,000 in mid-December. After all, everyone knows that Bitcoin only goes up.... just like the stock market and housing prices. What gives? What’s happened in cryptocurrencies was completely predictable. In fact, I wrote an article about this very scenario back on December 25, 2017. Bitcoin and all of its Johnny-come-lately followers are in for some more tough times ahead. If it retraces 80-90 percent of its gains the past year, that will put it in a range of $3,800-5,600. Such a pullback would not be out of the realm of experience. When a bubble pops, it’s look out below. [more...]

How Facebook Can Help Rebuild U.S. Manufacturing

By Jeff Ferry

How could Facebook regain public and political support? Here’s a simple proposal: the company is investing $14 billion this year on capital spending. That’s a huge sum of money (and double its 2017 spend). The vast majority of it goes on the data centers Facebook is building in the U.S. and worldwide. And the vast majority of that money goes to the servers, storage, and networking gear crammed, floor to ceiling, into those data centers. Today, virtually all that money is going to Asian-manufactured IT equipment, simply because all that equipment is manufactured over there and almost none of it here. What if Facebook said it would spend a quarter of its data center budget on U.S.-manufactured equipment? If Facebook committed to spend one quarter of its IT budget on U.S.-made product, and was followed by other Internet giants, the U.S. might soon have some 3 million people working on manufacturing the products that make the Internet hum. [more...]

How to Get Real News in a World of Fake News

By James Hirsen

Assuming that Google’s bias is extensive and is unlikely to be addressed, conservatives cannot sit idly by and continue to use the search site. In the business world, there are antitrust laws that exist to protect consumers from monopolies, which artificially raise prices and stifle innovation. Perhaps people who are seeking objectivity should consider using an alternative approach when conducting Internet searches. Considering the fact that Google and most other search engines track and mine personal information without an individual’s knowledge or consent, it becomes even more important to adopt an alternative approach. This brings us to some Google alternatives that may surprise the reader. [more...]

Will the Supreme Court Defund the Democrats?

By Lowell Ponte

This will be a central issue this week as the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether a government worker can be compelled to pay money to a public employee union. Although not strictly union dues, the “agency” fees required by such unions typically range from 50 percent to 100 percent of union dues. Most would agree that compelling a citizen to pay a hefty hunk of his or her wages to any political party would violate that person’s rights of free speech and freedom of association. The very point of civil service reform more than a century ago was to remove government jobs from the corrupt old political “spoils” system, named after the saying “To the winner go the spoils,” through which activists in either winning party were given government jobs to reward their partisan loyalty. When public workers are forced to pay unions that have used their coerced money to become the biggest funders of Democratic Party candidates, this violates their rights and corrupts our democratic republic. [more...]

Parents Just Lost Custody of Teenage Daughter Who Wants to ‘Transition’ to a Boy: What You Need to Know

By Ryan T. Anderson, PhD

Parents in Ohio lost custody of their 17-year-old daughter Friday because a judge ruled that she should be allowed to receive therapy, including testosterone therapy, to identify as a boy. Without commenting on the specifics of this case just outside Cincinnati, Americans can expect to see more cases like it as government officials side with transgender activists to promote a radical view of the human person and endorse entirely experimental medical procedures. At stake are not only parental rights, but the well-being of children who suffer from gender dysphoria. Here’s what you need to know. [more...]
 
In his new book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, Ryan T. Anderson, PhD offers a balanced approach to the policy issues, a nuanced vision of human embodiment, and a sober and honest survey of the human costs of getting human nature wrong. He draws on the best insights from the fields of biology, psychology and philosophy to explore the many contradictions at the heart of the transgender movement.