The Bill Walton Show
In-depth and thought-provoking conversations with leaders, thinkers, artists, entrepreneurs and activists. Smart, original and interesting people…lovers of freedom and the American idea.
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Episode 284: The CIA and FBI are Beyond Repair
11/25/2024
Episode 284: The CIA and FBI are Beyond Repair
When former CIA station chiefs admit that only 50 out of 1,500 clandestine service officers are truly effective, you know something's deeply wrong with our intelligence agencies. In this explosive conversation, Mike Waller, senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and author of "Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI Went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains," reveals how our premier intelligence agencies have lost their way - and what must be done to fix them. The timing couldn't be more critical. With Donald Trump proposing a new Department of Government Efficiency led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Waller's blueprint for reform deserves serious attention. His conclusions are stark: The FBI, whose very existence rests on shaky legal ground (Congress never actually created it), needs to be dismantled and its legitimate functions redistributed. The CIA, plagued by cultural Marxism and woke policies, should be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch. But this isn't just about problems - it's about solutions. Waller provides a detailed roadmap for reform, identifying which functions to preserve, which to eliminate, and how to rebuild these agencies to serve their original purposes. Whether you work in national security, care about government reform, or simply want to understand why our intelligence agencies keep missing major world events - from the fall of the Soviet Union to the origins of COVID-19 - this conversation is essential listening. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 2:25 Waller's stark assessment 3:25 The FBI's questionable origins 6:45 Cultural transformation since Obama era 13:45 Shocking revelation from former CIA station chiefs 19:24 FBI's broken chain of command 24:35 Promotion requirements 31:15 Intelligence failures 41:05 Ideological capture 45:53 Inefficient intelligence gathering 47:56 Reform strategy Subscribe to the Bill Walton Show on Substack, YouTube, Rumble, and major podcast platforms to stay informed about the critical issues shaping our nation's future. Follow us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebillwaltonshow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebillwaltonshow/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebillwaltonshow Twitter: https://twitter.com/WmBillWalton
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Episode 283: A Global War on Freedom: How the US Corporate Transparency Act and the EU Digital Services Act Threaten Liberty
11/04/2024
Episode 283: A Global War on Freedom: How the US Corporate Transparency Act and the EU Digital Services Act Threaten Liberty
In a riveting conversation with Peter Mcilvenna of the UK’s Hearts of Oak, we describe what may be the most aggressive US domestic surveillance program since the Patriot Act – and its disturbing connection to a global censorship agenda. The story that emerges isn't just about US regulation; it's about the systematic and coordinated dismantling of economic and expressive freedoms on both sides of the Atlantic. The New American Surveillance State Remember Reagan's famous warning that the nine most terrifying words were "I'm from the government and I'm here to help"? Today's version might be: "I'm from the federal government, give up your personal data, and as long as you don't step out of line, we will keep you safe." The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) represents an unprecedented federal power grab: Massive Scope: 33 million small businesses, employing 61.7 million Americans, must submit to federal surveillance Selective Targeting: Only businesses under $5 million revenue and fewer than 20 employees are affected Draconian Penalties: $591 daily fines and up to 2 years in prison for non-compliance Strategic Exemptions: Giants like BlackRock, Amazon, and Big Tech escape scrutiny Global Data Sharing: Your information gets shared with 170 countries through the shadowy . The Historical Echo We've seen this movie before. Remember the IRS targeting scandal, where conservative groups with words like "tea party" and "patriot" faced extra scrutiny? The CTA creates a similar vulnerability for small businesses. As Mcilvennapoints out, it paves the way for an anti-second amendment bureaucrat to search the database for businesses with "gun," "firearm," or "freedom" in their names? A Digital Iron Curtain While the CTA surveils American businesses, the creates a parallel threat to free speech, with the power to levy fines of up to 6% of a company's global revenue – including revenue from unrelated businesses. This means Elon Musk's SpaceX could be penalized for X's content moderation policies, a clear attempt at financial coercion. "It is ridiculous and chilling," Mcilvenna notes "Musk's other companies have nothing to do with the platform policies of X. It is simply an unhinged coercive measure designed to break Musk." Mcilvenna describes how UK political operatives, through organizations like the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), are actively working to "Kill Musk's Twitter" while strengthening ties with various political campaigns. This isn't just UK domestic policy – it's part of a coordinated international effort to control both commerce and communication. Why This Matters Now The January 1, 2025 deadline for CTA compliance is approaching, while the DSA's censorship machinery is already in motion. This combination creates an unprecedented threat and the window for action is narrowing, but resistance is building: - Multiple states have challenged the CTA's constitutionality - Business associations are filing lawsuits - Popular movements across Europe are pushing back against censorship - Independent platforms are fighting for survival As Peter Mcilvenna warns, "This needs to be a front and center issue to protect over 33 million small businesses from an egregious overreach by the Federal government." Timelines: 00:03 - Introduction: Peter Mcilvenna's connection to Lord Thatcher's administration and Brexit 01:28 - Corporate Transparency Act introduction: Trump's veto and subsequent revival 05:19 - Federal overreach: Small businesses must register by January 1st deadline 08:56 - FinCEN's expanded role beyond traditional financial crimes enforcement 10:55 - BlackRock & large corporations exempt from CTA requirements 14:31 - Egmont Group: International sharing of business data across 170 countries 18:06 - Digital Services Act targeting speech censorship in UK 21:38 - Labour Party operatives working with US political campaigns 23:17 - CCDH attacks on free speech platforms 26:07 - EU threatening 6% global revenue fines against Musk's companies 29:20 - Rise of populist resistance movements across Europe 37:30 - Push for CTA to become central campaign issue for 2024
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Episode 281: Are We Passing the Israel Test
10/08/2024
Episode 281: Are We Passing the Israel Test
In this compelling and wide ranging episode of The Bill Walton Show, host Bill Walton engages with the great economic, technology and futurist thinker George Gilder to talk about his provocative book, The Israel Test. In The Israel Test George provides much needed context for today’s war in the Middle East. His theory about the root causes of the conflict dramatically reframes the issues and makes it clear why we need to support Israel in this defining moment in History. Despite comprising only 4% of the Middle East's land area, Israel has cultivated a preeminent high-tech economy, functioning as a liberal democracy with free elections, a critical press, and robust human rights protections—including for its 2 million Arab citizens, who enjoy the same civil liberties as Jewish citizens. The Israel Test posits that one's reaction to others' success—whether through admiration and emulation or envy and hostility—reflects broader attitudes toward capitalism and free enterprise. Historical and contemporary instances of antisemitism, can be attributed in part to envy over Jewish excellence in so many fields and Israel’s extraordinary achievements and its pivotal role in global innovation. George explains “the heart of the Israel Test is how you react to people who excel you in intellect, creativity, wealth, accomplishment. Do you admire them, and emulate them, and learn from them or do you envy, and hate them, and try to tear them down? And this is really the test of capitalism or test of free enterprise, is whether you regard your competitors as expanding opportunities for you and exploring the frontiers of creation for you in the image of your creator, or whether you regard them as somehow a menace to your future.” Smart people are society’s most valuable resource, yet the modern egalitarian movements relentlessly undermines recognition of individual talent and achievement. George reminds that “we are all dependent on a small minority of geniuses really, who opened the horizons of the future for the rest of the world. And in recent history, a disproportionate number of them have been Jewish.”
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Episode 280: How to Conduct an Honest Election
10/01/2024
Episode 280: How to Conduct an Honest Election
It won’t be news to anyone that this upcoming election is fraught with many potential problems. Based on a new study by Just Facts, 10% to 27% of “non-citizen” adults in the U.S. are estimated to be illegally registered to vote. Aggressive attempts to debunk the study have completely failed. With roughly 20 million adult non-citizens living in the United States, about two to five million of who used to be called illegal aliens are now illegally registered to vote. This means that there are enough votes to overturn the votes of the American citizens in the upcoming congressional and presidential elections. Here’s another big issue to consider: 2020 was the first time an election was conducted by mass vote-by-mail. It was a train wreck. According to federal data, election officials do not know what happened to nearly 15 million mail ballots in 2020. Biden's victory margin was smaller than the number of missing and undeliverable ballots. Vote-by-mail is the worst way to run an election, yet we’re plowing ahead with this once again. To dig into these, and many other voting issues, Bill Walton is again joined by Cleta Mitchell, Senior Legal Fellow at the Conservatives Partnership Institute and one of the leading election integrity experts in America, and James D. Agresti, the president and cofounder of Just Facts, a research institute dedicated to publishing extensively researched and documented facts about public policies. Here’s some of we talked about to ensure free and fair legitimate elections: 03:30-05:14 Demand proof of citizenship for every voter registration—no proof, no vote.Without citizenship verification, the integrity of the entire election is at risk. 07:30-08:15 Purge voter rolls of ineligible non-citizens—it's not suppression, it's fairness. Dirty voter rolls lead to dirty elections. Clean them up or lose democracy. 05:14-06:44 Ban driver’s licenses for non-citizens if used for voter registration—enough loopholes! Driver’s licenses should never be a backdoor for illegal voting. 06:30-07:00 Expose left-wing groups enabling illegal voting—they’re undermining your vote. Billions of your tax dollars fund left-wing groups assisting non-citizens to vote. 12:21-12:56 Enforce strict penalties for non-citizens caught voting—deportation and prison. Voting is a sacred right; illegal participation should have real consequences. 17:10-17:39 End the Democrats’ reliance on non-citizen votes—stop the “great replacement.” Changing the electorate to maintain power? That’s the real threat to democracy. 33:21-33:30 Make Election Day a national holiday—end the endless election season madness. Voting must be a one day event, not a season. Stop the manipulation of election outcomes through extended voting . 35:30-37:13 Challenge media and big tech bias—Google is rigging elections through search results. Big Tech is controlling what you see, steering elections. Push back or be silenced. 28:30-28:49 Block all mail-in voting unless citizenship and identity are verified—no excuses. Voting by mail without checks is an invitation to fraud. Time to stop it. 18:00-18:51 Stop treating non-citizens as political pawns—vote manipulation is the real voter suppression. Non-citizens dilute the votes of legitimate citizens. That’s the ultimate suppression. 18:00-18:51 Every illegal vote nullifies a legitimate citizen vote—don’t let them cancel you out. Your vote should not be diluted by an illegal vote cast by someone who is not a citizen 12:00-12:21 Push for criminal prosecutions for anyone facilitating illegal voting—no more leniency. It’s time to hold people accountable for undermining elections—starting with those enabling the fraud. These are the bullet points. For a fuller understanding, listen in.
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Episode 279: The Case for Trump
09/30/2024
Episode 279: The Case for Trump
In this easy to listen to, charming, and informative episode of "The Bill Walton Show," host Bill Walton engages with Mercedes Schlapp and Matt Schlapp in a dynamic discussion about the pressing issues facing America today. Together, and with humor, they dig into the upcoming elections, economic priorities, and the shifting political landscape. Of course, as Trump supporters, the trio delves into critiques of Biden/Harris’ leadership, the importance of economic growth, and why minority communities are increasingly supporting conservative policies. They also highlight the work that CPAC has been doing with the worldwide movements for freedom and liberty. With optimism, they address concerns about election integrity and the power of respectful discourse. This conversation offers valuable insights into topics shaping the nation's future—it's a discussion you won't want to miss. Key Takeaways: (00:25) The episode kicks off with Bill Walton likening the show to "Seinfeld," but instead of "nothing," it's a "show about everything," signaling a deep dive into pressing global issues. (02:10) Mercedes Schlapp addresses the palpable political exhaustion among Americans but rallies for renewed focus and energy with critical elections just weeks away. (02:45) A sharp critique is leveled at Kamala Harris, questioning her competence in articulating economic plans and her ability to connect with everyday Americans. (03:17) Doubt is cast on polls showing Harris with nearly 50% support, suggesting inaccuracies and highlighting concerns over early voting and election integrity. (04:23) Matt Schlapp observes a notable shift of racial minorities, especially those who fled communism, moving toward Trump due to his stances on immigration and economic freedom. (05:31) Bill Walton argues that the Biden-Harris administration has neglected economic growth in favor of social agendas like climate change and diversity, impacting Americans' prosperity. (07:14) The panel criticizes Harris's economic speech in Pittsburgh for lacking substance, emphasizing that "inspirational" rhetoric doesn't address real economic issues. (13:44) A stark contrast is drawn between Republicans adhering to election laws and Democrats allegedly exploiting legal loopholes to gain advantages. (15:58) Mercedes Schlapp raises alarms about potential foreign interference from China and Iran, suggesting they favor Harris to weaken the United States. (16:39) Concerns are voiced about the safety of political figures, noting that Donald Trump has faced serious threats, and calling out the media for insufficient coverage. (19:11) Criticism is directed at Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo for saying they need to "extinguish Trump for good," warning that such rhetoric is dangerous and divisive. (21:08) Bill Walton connects the U.S. election to a global freedom movement, mentioning Argentina's Javier Milei and highlighting CPAC's international efforts to promote democracy. (27:33) The discussion highlights growing support for Trump among Hispanic and Black voters, attributing it to dissatisfaction with economic conditions under current policies. (42:22) Matt Schlapp reflects on Trump's resilience through past challenges, suggesting it indicates a significant role he is yet to play in shaping America's future. (46:41) The conversation concludes with optimism about Trump's unique leadership, expressing confidence that he aligns with crucial issues that will positively impact the nation's direction.
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Episode 278: Stop trying to "Reform" Schools, Start Fresh with New Ways to Teach Our Kids
09/24/2024
Episode 278: Stop trying to "Reform" Schools, Start Fresh with New Ways to Teach Our Kids
Public K12 education in the United States has become the largest government-controlled monopoly in the world, (other than the CCP controlled monopolies in China), spending nearing $1 trillion per year. And for all the money spent, it’s been a failure. In international tests, American eighth graders score 9th in reading, 16th in science, and 34th in math. With few other options granted other than attending their residentially assigned district public school most Americans cannot conceive that there are other alternatives to educate their children. School reform efforts are ferociously resisted by the education monopoly. It’s not just teachers unions and school boards. It’s the curriculum developers, the textbook publishers, consultants, the teachers colleges. The list goes on and on. Schools and school administration are also the largest source of patronage for big city, mayors, and governors in every state. They are not going to give up control of this. But the dynamics may be changing. What happened during COVID, and the prolonged school closures, was a great parent awakening. Parents had a front row seat into their child's classroom and they were able to see what was being taught as well as what wasn't being taught. They didn’t like what they saw, and now millions are beginning to explore and create other ways to educate their kids. The person to talk with about this movement is Dr. Keri D. Ingraham Director of the Discovery Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education. She is also a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum. Here is what we agree on. We need to create new types of schools from the ground up. There are new, more effective ways to teach our kids. Let the old institutions atrophy and die out. Some Key Takeaways: The fastest, most effective way to reform K12 public education is to allow families to exit the system. 03:24 Public school education’s roots are in the progressive era in the 19th Century. 6:29 On the world stage US students are not competitive. 09:07 Critical race theory is embedded in the curriculum 10:09 Progressive bias dominates textbook publishing, college schools of education, and teacher certifications 12:05 The bar is low to enter teacher college programs. It's typically the easiest field to go into within the university. 15:50 Teacher college curriculums ignore subject matter expertise. 16:23 Don Graham, former publisher of the Washington Post and a history major at Harvard, couldn’t teach in DC public schools because he didn't have a teaching certificate. 18:12 Is there any examples of a government monopoly or any big bureaucracy that has successfully reformed itself? 20:46 Big cities’ schools are among their mayor's largest form of patronage. 12;10 When schools say “We're underfunded. We need more money.” It means the want to hire more non-teaching administrative staff. 24:19 Great books classical education has exploded. 28:26 Do we really need to have kids go to school and sit there for eight hours a day? 29:46 What do you do about the inner city kids that don't have parents that are that involved? 35:29 How do we change the teacher certification rules? 38:42 From the beginning of the progressive era over a hundred years ago, schools were designed to get kids off the streets and under the control of what they then called the “education trust” 40:44 In 1919, the “education trust” advocated taking children from the family into the hands of the custody of “community experts.” 41:37 California’s Gavin Newsom recently signed a law saying that schools are not required to tell a parent of their child's gender ideology unless that child gives permission. 42:51 In 1934, the president of the National Education Association, wrote, “we expect to accomplish by education what dictators in Europe are seeking to do by compulsion and force.” 46:02 We're not going to be able to reform the existing public government owned K12 schools. What we can do is to create effective alternatives that are better, cheaper, more humane, and teach good values. And if we create these alternatives, this ends the K12 monopoly. 48:22
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Episode 277: "NATO Taunts Russia" with Stephen Bryen and Brandon Weichert
06/04/2024
Episode 277: "NATO Taunts Russia" with Stephen Bryen and Brandon Weichert
"He who tries to defend everything defends nothing." ~ Frederick the Great of Prussia This episode examines the three explosive national security crises the United States and world are embroiled in today, any one of which could escalate into igniting a World War III. Ukraine/Russia, Israel/Hamas and Taiwan/China. Disturbingly, there’s a lot of sabre rattling with far too many politicians in both Europe and the United States engaged in reckless rhetoric. To provide cogent analysis and a healthy dose of sobering realism at a time when we face dire risks, Bill is joined by national Security experts and returning guests Stephen Bryen and Brandon Weichert. Dr. Stephen Bryen, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, has over 50 years national security experience including many stints in the Pentagon where he became one of the world’s leading experts on the arms trade. Brandon J. Weichert, author of The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy is publisher of the Weichert Report and author of the soon to be published A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine. Some excerpts: “The neoconservative, neoliberal cabal running Washington believe fully that they have to fight everywhere all the time to preserve America's unipolar standing and our hegemony in the world. But this quest for hegemony has led to the absolute destruction of America's post-Cold War primacy,” warns Weichert. “And if we are not careful, in the next six months, we will not only lose that primacy., but we may become like the declining Ottoman Empire or Austro-Hungarian Empire on our way out. We’ve overcommitted and overextended, and we’re paying the price.” “NATO is flirting with war and extinction,” worries Bryen. “France is now "officially" sending troops to Ukraine and NATO countries are demanding strikes deep inside Russia. Meanwhile the US has secretly made a "policy shift" that somewhat falls short of what Zelensky wanted, but opens the door to deep strikes by the US on Russian territory.” “It’s very hard to see how NATO could defend Poland or the Czech Republic or Estonia. These are not easy countries to defend, and NATO doesn't have today the core countries of NATO, the French, the Germans, the British, it doesn't have the wherewithal to do it. It doesn't have the army or armed forces. It doesn't have the air defenses. It doesn't have the air forces, it doesn't have the tanks. It doesn't have anything sizable enough, and the ability to actually logistically move it to the battlefield.” “So the notion of NATO fighting a war, which is what French President Macron and all these clowns are essentially taunting the Russians with, is a very dangerous thing because it means that Europe could be enveloped in a war can't win.” “Russians have developed a pretty sizable air defense capability,” explains Bryen. “They have very good artillery capability. They have increasingly shown their capability with drones and drone warfare, none of which we’re prepared for, and our best tank, the Abrams, which our only tank, we’ve put all our eggs in this one tank. The Abrams is a disaster.” “The think tank community and the Biden Administration have a plan to contain Russia by rolling it back to its medieval borders, so that it's never again a threat to Europe and the West,” marvels Wiechert. “This is utterly fantastical thinking, this is childish thinking. Russia is not going to let it happen without a fight.” “Well, their plan not going to happen,” agrees Bryen. “The underlying error, and I think it was a huge error, was that we should confront a nuclear power, a significant nuclear power with the dismemberment. We were going to break up the Soviet Union, now Russia. We're going to dismember it, and we're going to sponsor the opposition in Russia, and somehow create this great transformation. But we're messing around with a nuclear power.” “We’ve essentially forced the Russians into the arms of the Chinese through our policies, which was complete stupidity,” says Bryen. The neocons are very explicit the US must be the unchallenged superpower. In every place in the world, in every region, we must dominate. This is the thinking that got us into the Middle East. This is the exact thinking that led us down the wrong path in Iraq and then the Arab spring. “They believed the notion that there was going to be only one superpower and it was going to be the United States,”reminds Bryen. “And since we were to be the only superpower we had to take on these responsibilities. Well, we weren't the only one superpower, and today, we’re just one of three, and increasingly the weaker of the three.”
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Episode 276: Is Technology a Force for Good or Evil?
05/29/2024
Episode 276: Is Technology a Force for Good or Evil?
For the last 200 years, innovation and technology have produced dramatic increases in living standards and our quality of life. Yet today there is a widespread and growing belief that technology has become the root of all evils with all sorts of claims being made that it destroys privacy, spreads misinformation, undermines trust, and democracy, eliminates jobs, discriminates by race, and gender, increases inequality, rips off the consumer, harms children, and even threatens the human race. This is quite a bill of indictment! But is any of this true? Bill’s guests on this show, Rob Atkinson and David Moschella, believe this is mostly agenda driven bunk and have written a persuasive book to prove it. “Technology Fears and Scapegoats: 40 Myths About Privacy, Jobs, AI, and Today’s Innovation Economy” Robert D. Atkinson is the founder and president of ITIF, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, and author of many books including “Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage” David Moschella is a nonresident senior fellow at ITIF and previously was head of worldwide research for IDC, the largest market analysis firm in the information technology industry. “America's always flourished more than anybody else in the world,” declares Atkinson, “because we have had this underlying faith in innovation, in the future, in taking risks, in going forward into the unknown. And now, that's really at risk. People are saying things like, ‘Wait a minute, we shouldn't deploy facial recognition because it's racially biased’ or that ‘technology innovation has not improved the average worker's living standards.’” “Well, both those statements are wrong. They are 100% myth.” “As someone who grew up in the Boston area in the 60s and 70s,” says Moschella, “Massachusetts was considered a dead economy with no future. And then, this thing called the minicomputer was designed out of MIT, and created companies like Digital Equipment, and Prime, and Wang and all the others. And all of a sudden you had the so-called Massachusetts Miracle. People are forgetting these realities.” Some of the most damaging myths stem from a deep-seated rejection of the Western capitalist system. But to gain traction for this agenda, anti-capitalists must first convince voters that the current system is failing, and a top target is technology driven innovation. “Also, what’s happened is that some of the legitimate criticism of globalization has morphed into criticism of automation,” says Moschella. “People didn't like globalization, but then said, ’Well, automation is really more the cause than globalization, and of course technology drives automation, so we can blame technology automation for the problems globalization has created.’’” “I’ve actually heard members of Congress say, ‘The pace of change is so rapid and we have to slow it down,’ worries Rob. “Now think about that. When has America ever said that? That the average person can't handle change. That it's too fast. We've got to slow things down.” In this episode we also take on the myth that the pace of technological change is accelerating. Compare current era to the early 20th century, which saw the introduction of transformative technologies like electricity, radio, automobiles, and airplanes. The perception of rapid change today is often skewed by the digital revolution's visibility, but in reality, the physical and infrastructural advancements of the past were probably more transformative. America has shifted its focus from delivering technological wonders to preventing “harmful” change. Once widely seen as a savior of humanity, technology is increasingly used as a scapegoat for just about every societal ill. But if we see innovation as a necessary force for good, with government’s role as a constructive enabler, there will be thoughtful innovation policies and more innovation But if the dominant narrative is that technology is an out-of-control force for harm, there will be destructive policies and a stultifying future. Agree or disagree, this conversation wanders into some interesting waters and challenges a lot of today’s conventional wisdom about technology.
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Episode 275: We won the Cold War and lost the peace : A Tour de Force with Erik Prince and Stephen Bryen
05/22/2024
Episode 275: We won the Cold War and lost the peace : A Tour de Force with Erik Prince and Stephen Bryen
Former Navy U.S. Seal and founder of the private military company Blackwater Erik Prince says that “We are fighting wars the wrong way.” Stephen Bryen is known as the “Yoda” of the Arms Trade. Time Magazine comments, “He knows every sinkhole in the regulatory swamp. Ignore him at your peril." He is also a former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and founder of the Defense Technology Security Administration. This week, we are discussing Erik’s new paper “Too Big to Win: How the Military and Industrial Complex and the Neocons Keep America Losing.” One of the central questions posed by Prince – How has America transitioned from a post-Cold War era of dominance to its current state of disarray? Follow us: Website:
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Episode 274: Behind the Curtain: Unveiling the Arabella Network's Vast Influence on U.S. Politics
05/06/2024
Episode 274: Behind the Curtain: Unveiling the Arabella Network's Vast Influence on U.S. Politics
In this episode of The Bill Walton Show, Bill wades into the murky waters of the Left’s “dark money” manipulation of American politics with Scott Walter and Kristen Eastlick with the Capital Research Center. We often use the phrase follow the money. Scott and Kristen are among the best at doing just that. Centerpiece of the discussion is Scott’s new book Arabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America. In it, he reveals the vast influence that the Arabella Network - by deploying billions of dollars - plays in American politics under the guise of progressive philanthropy. To name just a few issues, Arabella has played a major role in battles over Supreme Court nominations, abortion, men in women’s sports, school discipline, Medicare for All, environmental policies, fake local news outlets, and the “Zuck Bucks” used to manipulate elections. Many believe that most of the attacks on American institutions by the Left are financed and organized in part by Arabella. This episode’s conversation gets into revealing detail about how this network operates as a "dark money” brain trust with a for-profit manager (of course) at its epicenter, commanding several billion dollar nonprofit action groups. These funds in turn create hundreds of “pop-up” entities that appear suddenly, giving the appearance of huge popular groundswells, when in fact they’re the creations of Arabella and other similarly deeply disguised operations on the Left. Rather than being innocent grassroots outfits, they are the creation of their secretive dark money operations. The sheer quantity of money that has flowed through Arabella’s channels is staggering. In the 2020 election cycle, Arabella’s nonprofits took in $2.4 billion, more than the fundraising of the Democratic and Republican National Committees combined. In the 2022 election cycle, Arabella’s fundraising rose to $3 billion. Arabella is a big part of the reason for the Left’s stunning advantage in money and sophisticated political machinery that shapes our lives and elections. Scott and Kristen describe the “three rivers of money” flowing into politics. “With the first river of hard dollars, traditional political giving, the Left has an advantage, but it's slight,” explains Scott. “In the second river, the independent expenditures, dark money and super PACs, the left has a little advantage, but it’s also slight. But in the third river,” and here Scott grows animated, “where the Left’s charitable public policy groups operate, it's not even close. It's over a 10 to one in the Left’s favor and totals to over a $35 billion advantage. This is really the death star for the lefties.” It’s shocking to learn how Arabella has covertly developed the darkest of “dark money” networks. It’s also shocking to learn who has been by far the largest single individual contributor to the abortion industry to the tune of $6+ billion. (Revealed at the 18:36 minute mark) In fact, the further you go in this episode, the more disturbing the political swamp and the people behind it reveal themselves to be. If you really want to follow the money, start here.
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Episode 273: Investing in a Polarized America: Federalism and Entrepreneurship with Jim Pinkerton
04/22/2024
Episode 273: Investing in a Polarized America: Federalism and Entrepreneurship with Jim Pinkerton
In this lively episode of the Bill Walton Show, Bill talks with Jim Pinkerton in a thought-provoking discussion about investing in the turbulent waters of today's toxic political climate. With a focus on the stark Red-Blue divide in America, Jim offers a contrarian view that it’s fertile ground for what he terms "directional investing." Drawing from his upcoming book, "The Secret of Directional Investing: Making Money Amidst the Red-Blue Divide," Pinkerton—a veteran of the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and a long-time Fox News contributor—unpacks the intriguing idea that political polarization, while daunting, can be a goldmine for the astute investor and entrepreneur. The conversation digs into a deeper exploration of Federalism and the concept of states as laboratories, not just of democracy, but also micro-economic innovation hubs. Pinkerton paints a picture of a "United States of Arbitrage," where individuals and businesses pick states for their cultural climates and regulatory frameworks, much like how businesses today scout for tax havens. Bill and Jim weave through topics with ease, touching on the explosive potential of AI and its voracious energy demands, the dynamics of state-driven economic incentives, and the possible futures shaped by these forces. They muse on how states compete to attract burgeoning industries by aligning social policies with corporate needs, imagining a nation where your address might reflect your ideology as much as your lifestyle. “If a red state were really on its game, thinking for itself,” says Jim, “it would announce to the world that any student who got an 800 on his or her math SAT would get a free ride.” The episode doesn't just dissect current trends; it offers a visionary look at how today's divisions could be tomorrow's opportunities, making it a must-listen for anyone intrigued by the intersection of politics, economics, and the future of innovation in America. Also, you’ll learn which state seems to think its idea of economic development is transgender surgery, hoping to become to transgenderism what the Cleveland Clinic or Johns Hopkins are to cancer.
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Episode 272:The Art of the Flail: Expert Takes on US National Security Blunders with Stephen Bryen and Brandon Weichert
04/18/2024
Episode 272:The Art of the Flail: Expert Takes on US National Security Blunders with Stephen Bryen and Brandon Weichert
This episode of The Bill Walton Show is a riveting discussion with two astute geopolitical analysts, Dr. Steven Bryen and Brandon Weichert. Together they dissect the exploding tensions in the Middle East, specifically the dramatic escalation by Iran’s air attack on Israel. And the big questions: How are global players like the US, Russia, and even China moving their chess pieces in this high-stakes game? The episode is a whirlwind tour through the strategies, fears, and potential flashpoints that will likely redraw the map of global power. Dr. Bryen, with over 50 years national security experience including many stints in the Pentagon where he became a leading expert on the arms trade, shares his insights into Iran's unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel. Despite its scale, it was largely thwarted by robust air defenses from Israel, the US, and even regional players like Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Still, Iran considers it a success. He highlights the remarkable and historic aspect of Arab nations rallying in defense of Israel. Brandon Weichert, author of The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy and known for his pulse-racing analyses, shifts the lens to the broader geopolitical chessboard, articulating how the Shia-Sunni divide and the shadows of the Abraham Accords are playing out in real-time. Weichert critiques the current US administration's handling of deterrence, and its tacit support of Iran which will destabilize the already volatile region. Dr. Bryen also skeptically views the Biden administration’s Middle East strategy while applauding CENTCOM's pivotal coordination role. Weichert and Bryen also debate potential military strategies that could weaken Iran's capabilities, while worrying about the critical weaknesses in the US and global defense arsenals. This discussion shines a light on the complex and now dire landscape of international relations that the Biden Administration has wrought. Buckle up, listeners, because geopolitics just doesn’t get more electrifying than this!
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Episode 271: Modern Dilemmas: Regulatory Capture, Global Governance, and the Surveillance State with Dr. Robert W. Malone
04/16/2024
Episode 271: Modern Dilemmas: Regulatory Capture, Global Governance, and the Surveillance State with Dr. Robert W. Malone
In this episode Bill Walton is joined by Dr. Robert Malone in a wide ranging and engaging discussion about modern societal and financial control mechanisms. Their great concern is the relentless and growing overreach of both governments and corporations into personal freedoms through the guise of security, safety and public health. Robert W. Malone is an internationally recognized scientist/physician and the original inventor of mRNA vaccination as a technology. He holds numerous fundamental domestic and foreign patents in the fields of gene delivery, delivery formulations, and vaccines: including for fundamental DNA and RNA/mRNA vaccine technologies. He has developed some 100 scientific publications with over 14,000 citations of his work. He now focuses on daily podcasts, interviews, op-eds, advocacy with legislators and building a twitter feed of over a million people. His life changed from that of a scientist to an advocate because of his personal experiences and concerns regarding the safety and bioethics of how the COVID-19 genetic vaccines were developed and forced upon the world. He discovered the many short-cuts, database issues, obfuscation and frankly, lies told in the development of the Spike protein-based genetic vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. Some of the topics covered: The regulatory capture of the federal government has warped and shaped the work of Congress and Federal agencies to such an extent that they no longer represent what is in the best interests of the nation, the world, and humanity. WHO's Pandemic Treaty is intended to override most of our national sovereignty in health policy decisions, effectively allowing a global body to dictate local health measures. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) which have the potential to be a sinister tool for government financial surveillance and social control. Financial Privacy Concerns The payment processor Stripe, which recently demanded Malone's financial details, reflecting broader concerns about privacy and autonomy in financial transactions. Labeling Dissent as extreme, such as "far-right" or "Nazi," to delegitimize and silence criticism, comparing it to historical tactics used during the McCarthy era. Surveillance and Control under the guise of safety and security, suggesting a slippery slope toward more intrusive governmental and corporate practices. Robert Malone is a courageous and deep thinker, a man who should be listened to.
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Episode 270: Voices in the Supreme Court: Protecting Our Free Speech with Aaron Kheriaty and Jenin Younes
04/13/2024
Episode 270: Voices in the Supreme Court: Protecting Our Free Speech with Aaron Kheriaty and Jenin Younes
On March 18, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Murthy v. Missouri challenging whether the government can induce social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to censor constitutionally protected free speech. A sinister web of federal agencies, the White House, social media platforms, NGOs and others are orchestrating a vast system of censorship to suppress viewpoints that contradict “preferred government narratives”about COVID-19 policies, climate change, election integrity and other issues that should be open to free & fair debate. The Supreme Court is being asked to decide on a lower court injunction that ruled that the Biden White House, the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Surgeon General, the CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services and many other federal agencies are not permitted to communicate with or coerce social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” Joining Bill in this episode are two people who were inside the Supreme Courtroom on March 18, plaintiff Aaron Kheriaty MD and his lawyer Jenin Younes.’ Aaron, a physician specializing in psychiatry, was fired from the University of California after challenging its Covid vaccine mandate in Federal Court. Jenin’s with the New Civil Liberties Alliance and served as senior special counsel on the Weaponization Subcommittee.
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Episode 269: How the United States’ Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed Fueled China’s Rise with Jim Fanell and Brad Thayer
03/28/2024
Episode 269: How the United States’ Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed Fueled China’s Rise with Jim Fanell and Brad Thayer
After achieving victory in the Cold War against the Soviet Union, US political leadership, starting with the Clinton Administration, has made a continuing string of strategic blunders that have brought the United States to the point where - after building China up for decades - we face an enemy determined to become the new global hegemon and that now possesses equal economic, military and diplomatic resources. To learn how this came about, in this episode Bill talks with James E. Fanell and Bradley A. Thayer, Ph.D, authors of Embracing Communist China: America’s Greatest Strategic Failure. Jim Fanell, a retired U.S. Navy captain and the former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, is now a Government Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. Brad Thayer is an expert in Chinese grand strategies and the history of Chinese and Western strategic thought; and a former visiting fellow at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. “How did China go from an underdeveloped country in 1990 with about 0.6 of 1% of world gross domestic product to over 20% of world GDP today?” asks Brad. “The answer in large part is that the United States aided and abetted the rise of the Chinese Communist Party and kept it in power. That has never happened before in international politics where one state, the dominant state, has funded the rise of an enemy.” U.S. foreign policy toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been dominated by the so-called “Engagement School” since the end of the Cold War. They believed that U.S. political and economic engagement with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would transform the PRC into a “responsible stakeholder” in the Western economic system and, ideally a democracy. Of course, none of that happened. Instead, the Engagement School saved the CCP and ensured that the PRC became wealthier and more powerful year-after-year and used that power to re-make the international order to suit the CCP’s interests and to threaten U.S. national security, allies, and partners. “Engaging” with China has led to the offshoring of manufacturing jobs, the loss of intellectual property, and making the U.S. energy future dependent on China, just to name a few of our strategic blunders. “We thought we could make China and CCP become more like us, that they would see the value of the being part of a US dominated system created in the post-World War II era. We assumed they would just naturally drift into becoming a liberal democracy. So we didn't fundamentally understand communism. We didn't understand the Chinese Communist Party's commitment to that ideology,” explains Jim. The Trump administration began the difficult task of ending Engagement. However, under Biden, it has now returned in a supercharged form. The Biden “reset” began in earnest in May when CIA Director Nicholas Burns made a secret trip to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterparts. Then began a cavalcade of visits to the PRC from senior Biden officials: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Climate Czar John Kerry, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo who was most explicit regarding why nothing could jeopardize the approximately $750 billion per year trade relationship with the PRC. “But the apotheosis of the engagement paradigm was the summit meeting in November between Xi and Biden. The meeting with Biden was just Xi’s doormat to get to what really mattered: the meeting with the 400 business leaders,” explain Jim and Brad. “Never in our history have Americans so openly and brazenly celebrated a communist and murderous dictator. It was an appalling and shameful moment in American history.” “The U.S. has little to show in return for all these meetings, except for the loss of face and its own national power—again, year-after-year. It is stunning that so few Americans have asked what good has America received from the Engagement School. The elite have gotten wealthier, so they and the CCP are the winners. But it’s the Chinese and American people that bear the costs.”
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Episode 268: Conspiracy: Why FDR's White House Ignored a Chance to Change History with Chris Farrell and Shea Bradley-Farrell
03/26/2024
Episode 268: Conspiracy: Why FDR's White House Ignored a Chance to Change History with Chris Farrell and Shea Bradley-Farrell
“What if in 1943 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his White House advisors had acted on an offer from high-ranking German officials that they were prepared to kidnap Adolf Hitler and all of his top cronies. They would then turn Hitler over to the United States and sign an armistice ending the war with Germany. The German high officials wanted then to join with the United States to stop the Communist Soviet Union from advancing in Europe. They had a well-thought out plan as to which units they knew were loyal, what units they knew would actually move on the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's Prussian, and the East Prussian headquarters. FDR learned of this proposal from a man the Germans believed would be their most credible emissary: George H. Earle III, a Main Line Philadelphia millionaire, war hero awarded the Navy Cross, Pennsylvania governor, Ambassador to Austria and Bulgaria, friend and supporter of Franklin Roosevelt, generous donor to humanitarian causes, colorful playboy, and spy. Yet FDR did not act on the stunning offer, and the rest as they say, is History. The Soviets conquered part of Germany and all of Eastern Europe and closed it behind an iron curtain that would endure for over four decades. Here to tell this story is Chris Farrell, who for the last 25 years has been the Director of Investigations & Research at Judicial Watch and author of “Exiled Emissary: George H. Earle III” and Dr Shea Bradley Farrell, author of “Last Warning to the West”, the founder of Counterpoint Institute and who has written extensively about the agonies of Eastern Europe under Communism. “This is not one of these books that examines an alternative history,” explains Chris. “Everything in the book is documented, for example, from the National archives, the Pennsylvania State Archives in Harrisburg, or the Pennsylvania Historical Society in Pennsylvania. Or from personal records from the Earle family.” Why this story matters today is not just that FDR did not act but why he didn’t. As records have become public, we have learned that were many staunch supporters of the Soviet Union and its Marxist social experiment in both the FDR and Truman White Houses. Alger Hiss was FDR’s key aide at Yalta. “What Earle was saying was, “Look, the real threat is the Soviet Union. We may have been allied during the war for whatever reason you want to explain, but they're a civilizational threat."” But many in the 1940s White House did not want to act against the Soviet Union. They supported it. The Soviets then. China today. The United States has a long troubled history of “elite capture.” Chris and Shea tell a compelling story. You can learn much about history from this episode. But it’s how it reflects on today that’s really chilling. What does John Kerry say when he’s meeting with the Chinese?
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Episode 267: CO2: The Miracle Molecules with Dr Will Happer and Greg Wrightstone
03/19/2024
Episode 267: CO2: The Miracle Molecules with Dr Will Happer and Greg Wrightstone
Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is portrayed as the worst villain in climate alarmism’s pantheon of satanic gases. The claim is that increasing levels of greenhouse gases are purportedly driving atmospheric warming to dangerous and unprecedented levels which is said to be leading to ever increasing natural disasters, severe weather events and human health concerns. But what if these claims are wrong, catastrophically wrong. What if, rather than being at unprecedented high levels, CO2 is at one of its lowest concentrations in the long history of the Earth and that the modest warming anticipated from increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will be benign. More carbon dioxide will bring huge benefits to agriculture, forestry and life in general. Returning guests Dr Will Happer Professor Emeritus of Physics at Princeton University and geologist Greg Wrightstone, both with the CO2 Coalition, make a convincing case in this episode for just that. Atmospheric CO2 is the primary carbon source for life on Earth. Carbon dioxide concentrations - in part due to human emissions - are slowly growing from near-famine, pre-industrial values toward levels that are optimum for plant growth and which have prevailed over most of the geological history of higher life forms. Carbon dioxide, at a current concentration of about 420 ppm, represents just 0.04% of the atmosphere, or about 420 molecules out of every million. Current levels are an incredibly small percentage of the atmosphere, albeit a critical one, as advanced plant life could not survive without at least 150 ppm. Recent declines in concentration have pushed the world dangerously close to that 150 ppm “line of death.” Nearly all great leaps in human history occurred during warm periods. Before climate science became politicized, historians called warm periods “climate optima” because Earth’s ecosystems and humanity benefited from the blessed warmth. Contrary to the demonization of the gas, CO2 is essential to life on Earth. CO2 is not a poison. Without CO2, there would be no photosynthesis, no plant food and insufficient oxygen to breathe. Just some of the benefits of CO2: • Increasing crop growth • Increasing soil moisture • Shrinking deserts • Expanding forests • Lengthening growing seasons • Declining cold-related mortality What we should be worried about is that throughout most of Earth’s history, carbon dioxide existed in beneficially high levels that were multiples of our current concentration. Geological sequestration of CO2 into fossil fuels has depleted our atmosphere to levels below the optimum for plant growth. The great irony is that through the burning of fossil fuels, the carbon stored in the remains of ancient plants and organisms is now being liberated and helping to return the planet’s atmosphere to more beneficial levels of CO2. We can correctly refer to fossil fuels as “natural solar-powered energy” or, if you like, giant solar energy storage batteries! Without fossil fuels there would be no reliable, low-cost energy worldwide and less CO2 for photosynthesis to make food. Eliminating fossil fuels to attempt to reduce CO2 emissions would be disastrous for the world’s people, especially for the two billion impoverished poor. An underreported consequence of the “green” energy transformation is the loss of habitats and species. The “green” solution to a non-existent climate crisis is to encourage a great acceleration in habitat loss by abandoning efficient fossil fuels for inefficient wind and solar energy that requires vast swaths of forest, grasslands and farmlands for solar and wind installations and further habitat loss through: open-pit mining of minerals needed for batteries, photovoltaic cells and electric transmission, conversion of diverse jungle habitat to plantations for biofuel, large-scale electricity transmission lines and destruction of mature forests to make wood pellets as biofuel. So-called green energy is causing the destruction of massive numbers of birds, bats and insects slaughtered by wind turbines. Offshore wind projects are killing whales, dolphins and other cetaceans. We have been seized by a great madness. Under the false claims of coming calamity, bureaucrats and politicians seek to shut down coal-fired power plants, kill the internal combustion engine, ban natural gas for home use and advance the misguided objective of a “net zero” economy. “Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.” - Charles MacKay “What historians will definitely wonder about in future centuries is how deeply flawed logic, obscured by shrewd and unrelenting propaganda, actually enabled a coalition of powerful special interests to convince nearly everyone in the world that carbon dioxide from human industry was a dangerous, planet-destroying toxin. It will be remembered as the greatest mass delusion in the history of the world—that carbon dioxide, the life of plants, was considered for a time to be a deadly poison.” - Dr. Richard Lindzen “I don’t see a whole lot of difference between the consensus on climate change and the consensus on witches. At the witch trials in Salem the judges were educated at Harvard. This was supposedly 100 per cent science. The one or two people who said there were no witches were immediately hung. Not much has changed.” - Will Happer
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Episode 266: It’s Time to Leave the WHO with Reggie Littlejohn and Meryl Nass
03/12/2024
Episode 266: It’s Time to Leave the WHO with Reggie Littlejohn and Meryl Nass
At a meeting of the World Health Assembly at the end of May, less than three months from now, the World Health Organization (WHO) will be voting to amend its International Health Regulations agreement and to create a brand new Pandemic Agreement. Until now the World Health Organization has been largely an advisory organization. If voted in, these changes would make its edicts compulsory. The proposed amendments replace the word “may” with “shall” over 100 times and the word “non-binding” has been deleted to make the recommendations of the WHO binding. The agreements authorize the Director-General to declare unilaterally a potential or actual “public health emergency of international concern” and the imposition and enforcement of sanctions on nations that don’t comply with WHO dictates. Some of the directives that the Director-General could issue to the 196 sovereign state members could include: quarantines, masks, mandatory testing, vaccination requirements, lockdowns, and border closures coupled with vaccine passports. This has the full support of the World Economic Forum, the European Union, the World Bank, Bill Gates, Big Pharma, the Chinese Communist Party and the Biden Administration. Their aim is to substitute “global governance” for the sovereignty of the U.S. and the 195 other state parties to the agreement, ultimately eroding most all of our personal medical freedoms. To explain the planned WHO power grab, and what we can do to prevent it, are two of the founders of the Sovereignty Coalition: Dr. Meryl Nass, the founder of Door to Freedom, a physician and researcher who proved the world's largest anthrax epidemic was due to biological warfare. A leader in the fight for healthcare freedom, her license was suspended for prescribing COVID medications and “misinformation.” Reggie Littlejohn is the founder and President of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers. A graduate of Yale Law School and an experienced litigation attorney, she is an acclaimed international expert on China’s human rights offenses. The proposed Pandemic Treaty establishes global surveillance requirements and commits governments to censor dissenting views “with the aim of countering and combating false, misleading misinformation or disinformation." Struck from the IHR is the crucial guarantee of human rights as a foundation of public health: “The implementation of these Regulations shall be with full respect for the dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons…” has been replaced with “shall be based on the principles of equity, inclusivity, and coherence...” Worse, the agreements embraces a “One Health” approach which includes not only human health, but also the health of animals, agricultural plants and the environment. The WHO essentially is claiming control over every aspect of existence on earth. The Director General could declare “climate change” as a “public health emergency of international concern.” “The best thing is simply to get out of the WHO. Just say this is going in the wrong direction and we’re out. The WHO doesn't do anything for the United States,” advises Meryl. “How have we benefited from this organization?” This a huge issue that isn’t being covered in the so-called mainstream media. If you thought the nightmare of the last heavy handed response to the pandemic was over, think again. Listen in and learn from two passionate and knowledgeable defenders of our healthcare freedoms.
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Episode 265: Ukraine: Has the US Lost Yet Another Proxy War? with Stephen Bryen
03/07/2024
Episode 265: Ukraine: Has the US Lost Yet Another Proxy War? with Stephen Bryen
While Americans have become preoccupied with other things - the election, the border, the economy - events in Ukraine are spinning out of control. People have been talking hopefully about a ceasefire and a truce. Instead, with a couple of more blunders we could be heading for a World War III. To learn where this might be headed next, I’m back talking in this episode with my go to guru on all things national security Stephen Bryen - Senior Fellow at the Center for Security Policy Some takeaways from our conversation: The head of NATO Jen Soltenberg’s reckless statements and actions are escalating the situation in Ukraine and increasing the risk of a full-scale war. The Biden Administration’s objective of regime change in Moscow has failed. Russia seems certain to prevail. At this point, they have few incentives to stop the fighting. Ukraine has suffered massive casualties, perhaps up to 800,000 killed, and is on its third army. Ukraine President Zelensky is on the way out, we just don’t know how or when. Sanctions against Russia haven’t worked. China has replaced the European Union as Russia’s top energy buyer and goods supplier, giving Russia both the cash and the manufactures it needs to sustain itself. Total trade between China and Russia has reached $240 billion in 2023, more than double what it was in 2018. Russia now has become China’s biggest supplier of crude oil, second for coal and third for natural gas. Stephen predicted that Victoria Nuland would be out as acting Deputy Secretary of State. She resigned this week. The Biden administration aims to drag the war out as long as possible. Biden doesn't want Ukraine to collapse while he's running for president. Sending more money to Ukraine for ammunition and armaments doesn’t address its real issues: its lack of manpower and low morale. Finding a peaceful solution and stabilizing the situation in Ukraine should be our highest priority. Up to now, it hasn’t been. As always, Stephen provides a deep and informed take on events. Definitely worth a listen.
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Episode 263: Motorhome Prophecies: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness with Carrie Sheffield
03/05/2024
Episode 263: Motorhome Prophecies: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness with Carrie Sheffield
In this episode Bill follows up from his last conversation with Carrie Sheffield to talk about her extraordinary memoir, which is being published this week: Motorhome Prophecies: A Journey of Healing and Forgiveness. As you’ll learn, the book is much more than her riveting and heartwrenching personal story. It is a beacon, reminding us that even the direst circumstances need not dictate the outcome of our lives. Carrie Sheffield grew up fifth of eight children with a violent, mentally ill, street-musician father who believed he was a modern-day Mormon prophet destined to become U.S. president. His obsessions led Carrie, her mother and seven siblings to live as vagabonds, remaining on the move across the country, subsisting in sheds, tents, and motorhomes, enduring a dysfunctional drifter existence, camping out in their motorhome in Walmart parking lots. She eventually seized control of her life, transcended her troubled past, and overcame her toxic inner voice (and a near death experience)—thanks to the power of forgiveness, cultivated through her conversion to Christianity. She left the Mormon church when she 22, then went through a period she calls secular agnostic hell, became a Christian at age 35, transforming her life. She evolved from a scared and abused girl to a Harvard-educated professional with a passion for empowering others to reject the cycles of poverty, depression, and self-hatred. “I see my life in some ways as a microcosm of what's happening with the West,” she shares. “The West is committing suicide, rejecting all of our foundational Western principles, because the West has not been perfect. No society has.” “Destructive and alienating ideas like CRT and DEI have us throwing the baby out with the bath water. This is what I did when I became a secular agnostic because I was so angry at a flawed Judeo-Christian interpretation that had been forced on me by a toxic family environment.” Carrie Sheffield is a compelling young woman. Listen in to learn about her journey and its lessons for us.
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Episode 262: Are you on a CIA or FBI list? with J. Michael Waller
02/15/2024
Episode 262: Are you on a CIA or FBI list? with J. Michael Waller
Once upon a time, the FBI and the CIA fought America's criminals at home and enemies abroad. Now, at our great loss, they've become captured by the ideology and agenda of cultural Marxism. Moreover, as Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with Mike Benz revealed, the national security state has evolved into a main driver of censorship and election interference in the United States. The CIA and the FBI, along with the rest of the intelligence community, have become essential players in a growing surveillance state, attacking its perceived political enemies and spying on ordinary American citizens, even parents who push back against the radical teachings of cultural Marxism in America's public schools. These are serious charges, but they've been thoroughly documented in a revealing new book by J. Michael Waller Big Intel - How The CIA and the FBI went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains. He knows the terrain well. As the Senior Analyst at the Center for Security Policy he concentrates on propaganda, political warfare, psychological warfare, and subversion. Brilliant, fully documented yet easy to read. Explains how Cultural Marxism has permeated the CIA and FBI, damaging our country's strongest defenders. Big Intel names names and pulls no punches. It also shows the moral rot within the intelligence community from top to bottom. “What if you combined the dark, anti-human politics of the academic left with the unfettered power and impenetrable secrecy of the national security state? You’d have pretty much what we have now…Mike Waller explains how we got there.” -Tucker Carlson
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Episode 261: Last Warning to the West with Dr. Shea Bradley-Farrell
02/13/2024
Episode 261: Last Warning to the West with Dr. Shea Bradley-Farrell
Hungary is a small country with less than 10 million people, landlocked in the middle of Europe. Seemingly irrelevant, it is hated by the woke globalists and it's the focus of angry smear campaigns against it and its president, Viktor Orbán. Yet at the same time, it's praised as a global leader for freedom and as a model of conservative values. So there must be a lot going on with Hungary that we should understand. I see it as a microcosm for the political and economic conflict in the greater world. So to dig into this, I'm back with Shea Bradley-Farrell, PhD, who is president of and is an expert in foreign policy, national security, and international development, and has also spent a great deal of time thinking about, studying, and traveling to Hungary. Why is Hungary such a target of the left yet so appreciated by the right? Listen in and Find Out:
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Episode 260: How do we know what we think we know is true? with Jim Agresti
01/26/2024
Episode 260: How do we know what we think we know is true? with Jim Agresti
In this age of fake news, disinformation, shadow banning and government agencies like CISA aiming to manipulate what it calls our “cognitive infrastructure” it is hard to answer this question. To explore how we can go about finding what’s true and what is not, Jim Agresti, the founder of , returns to help clarify our thinking. Just Facts is an institute dedicated to publishing facts about public policies and teaching research skills using exacting Standards of Credibility to determine what constitutes a fact and what does not. The vision of Just Facts is to equip people with facts “to make truly informed decisions. This means facts that accurately and fully convey reality—not pseudo-facts, half-truths, or talking points.” “Do you have the information you need to make quality decisions in your life and in the voting booth? You can rarely get the full picture of what something is about from an 800-word news article or commentary. You have to dig much deeper,” explains Jim. In this episode we talk about Just Facts exacting Standards of Credibility that is uses to produce research that is accurate and truly informative. Here’s a summary: Comprehensiveness: It’s a simple thing to distort reality by selecting only facts that align with partisan views while ignoring others. Half the truth can amount to a total lie. Primary Sources means identifying credible primary sources instead of secondary ones that often reflect an “interpretation” of the facts instead of the actual facts. Rigorous Documentation means documenting facts far more thoroughly than academic standards require, footnoting every fact with creditable sources, and citing quotations or data exactly. Harvard’s Claudine Gay should have consulted with Jim. Raw Data presents data in its rawest comprehensible form to safeguard against data corrupted by errors, rhetorical mischaracterizations, or statistical manipulation. Verification uses different sources, methodologies, and calculations to double-check verifiable facts. If they’d done this, NASA wouldn’t have lost a Mars Climate Orbiter because they mixed up metric and English units when coding the mission software. Clarity means using language that is precise and unambiguous in order to minimize the potential for misinterpretation. Balance: In this age of raging partisanship, almost no one does comprehensive accuracy or tries to balance views. Instead, sound bites are laced with rhetoric and misinformation, and opposing views given short shrift. Of course, not everyone is interested in a disinterested discussion rooted in a dispassionate comparison of facts. Vladimir Lenin - and most all on the Left who have followed him - said that “moral and factual considerations are irrelevant when it comes to how to sway the public most effectively. Our morality is entirely subordinated to our interest of advancing communism.” So the question we have to ask is: even if we know what’s factual and true does it matter in today’s world of raw power politics? Listen in to decide for yourself.
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Episode 259: The Virtues and Beauties of Freedom with Jeffrey Tucker
01/16/2024
Episode 259: The Virtues and Beauties of Freedom with Jeffrey Tucker
When Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina in November, Argentinians empowered the first self-proclaimed “anarcho capitalist” as a head of state in modern history. It’s a wild, even dangerous sounding term and almost no one knows what it means. So in this episode, Jeffrey Tucker and I dig into what Javier Milei and the philosophy of anarcho capitalism are all about. Jeffrey, a brilliant and prolific author and founder of the was a protege of Murray Rothbard, the economist who developed the ideas and coined the term. Javier Milei campaigned by bluntly declaring the failures of socialism, communism, fascism, central planning, and political despotism over society. His push for free-market reforms was backed up by his 20 years as a university professor of economics, with two master’s degrees in economics and author of more than 50 academic papers and myriad books on the matter. He celebrates the virtues and beauties of freedom itself, how business needs to be free of regulations, the critical interrelationship between private property and freedom and the enforcement of property rights at all levels of society. He believes that society doesn't require an entrenched entity of legalized compulsion and coercion called the State in order to provide these things. An astonishing and bold claim. Yet he won convincingly with almost 56% of the vote and his victory has sent shock waves through the political establishment, not only in Argentina, but throughout Latin America. Milei now faces the daunting task of taming out of control inflation (Argentina’s year-on-year inflation rate hit a staggering 142 percent during election week), a bloated self dealing administrative state, a corrupted court system and an entrenched elite opposition that's determined to preserve its power and prerogatives. “How does one man take all this on?”asks Jeffrey. “We don’t really know the answer to this question. No leader of a Western democratic developed nation has ever attempted a full-scale routing of a corrupted establishment on this level.” Milei’s wasting no time. Forty-eight hours after taking office on December 10th he unveiled measures to cut public spending by 3% of GDP. He devalued the peso, pledged to slash subsidies, and eliminated nine of 18 government ministries. One week later he decreed that state-owned companies would be privatized, price controls would be eliminated, and labour laws reformed. Of course we’re now seeing headlines like this one in The Economist: The fightback against Javier Milei’s radical reforms has begun. Argentina’s powerful trade unions are preparing to strike on January 24th Our hope is that Mr. Milei is just the beginning of a movement that could spread throughout the world. People are fed up and are ready for a radical new agenda to stop the relentless march of the forces of tyranny in Western nations.
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Episode 258: Natural Asset Companies: A Scheme to Profit From the "Degrowth" Agenda with Margaret Byfield
01/12/2024
Episode 258: Natural Asset Companies: A Scheme to Profit From the "Degrowth" Agenda with Margaret Byfield
On September 27, 2023, the New York Stock Exchange and the Intrinsic Exchange Group submitted a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission to create a new type of company called a “Natural Asset Company”, or “NAC” whose primary purpose would be to manage and grow so-called “ecosystem services” on land throughout the United States. NACs would be empowered to manage every type of property: federal, state, and private land, including conservation easements to maximize their so-called “ecological value.” Critically, what they are not allowed to do is anything considered “unsustainable” including: mining, agriculture that uses traditional fertilizers and machinery, managing timberlands, grazing, hunting, and most every type of recreational activity. Instead of maximizing traditional economic value, NACs would put this land off limits from any productive purpose involving oil, gas, coal, yellowcake production, lithium mining and processing, steelmaking and anything else essential to national defense that produces CO2, which is their definition of sustainability. In other words, everything that makes land valuable to ordinary human beings and to America’s national security. The goal is to create not only a new kind of company, but also a new asset class that could attract billion of investment dollars, including from global sovereign wealth funds from, say China, Russia, or other nations. (What better way for a foreign adversary to cripple the United States than through locking up America’s natural resources without a fight?) The greed factor is also front and center in this proposal. By some estimates, trading markets in “natural assets” could reach $100 to $150 trillion with market makers like Black Rock, Goldman Sachs, and big green energy utilities like NextEra, in the thick of the action. If these numbers seem fantastic, consider this new math. Today the value of our existing real economic land assets is estimated to be about $1.5 quadrillion dollars globally. Proponents of these new Natural Assets claim the value of “ecosystem services” to be $5 quadrillion dollars. The problem with this estimate is that you can’t get there using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles which measures basic cash flows to describe value and net present value. Instead, it is based on a new accounting system called SEEA EA, invented out of whole cloth by the United Nations, which claim to be able put a monetary value on the ability of NACs to block others from putting land to productive uses. There are massive problems with this accounting system. There are massive problems with this whole Scheme. The SEC and the New York Stock Exchange must know this. To avoid scrutiny and opposition, they have put it on an unprecedented fast track for approval. To read the filings, it looks intentionally confusing, and intentionally made to make it difficult to weigh in on. The Intrinsic Exchange Group is partly owned by the New York Stock Exchange and is backed by the Rockefeller Foundation. But one thing is clear: it’s their desire to permanently embed the mechanism and monetary values for the disuse of federal lands, easement properties and ultimately private properties in our federal securities laws. Joining me to unpack this proposal and its underlying agenda, is Margaret Byfield, the Executive Director of , a non-profit organization working to protect private property rights and the liberties they secure. It's going to be very important to take direct action, make comments, reach out to your lawmakers and try to stop NACs from becoming a reality.
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Episode 257: Biden’s Foreign Policy Team Staggers into 2024 with Brandon Wiechert
01/09/2024
Episode 257: Biden’s Foreign Policy Team Staggers into 2024 with Brandon Wiechert
Is 2024 going to be the year that determines whether the United States remains as the global superpower or whether it truly becomes a declining power surrounded by rising powers, especially China? Lots of strong views in this episode as Brandon Weichert again joins The Bill Walton Show to discuss geopolitics and national security. It’s filled with some dire warnings, as well as gallows humor. At one point during the conversation we wondered whether we’d need to put a warning label on the episode: “Beware gloomy scenarios. This is dire, children.” Just some of conversation: The Houthi in Yemen have been lobbing every sort of drone and missile at shipping in the Red Sea. They’re also attacking US bases. And of course, we know they're backed by Iran, and we haven't responded, leading us towards a potential 21stCentury Suez Canal crisis. Biden, like his former boss, Obama, very badly wants to have an appeasement or accommodation to make a deal with Iran. There are deep and dark reasons for this that Brandon reveals in detail. If we don’t respond, it’s likely the Israelis will, leading to a full scale conflagration in the region, drawing in dozens of participants, each with multiple and conflicting interests. From the beginning, the odds of Ukraine defeating Russia were vanishingly small, and it now looks like if they haven't already lost the war, they certainly are not going to win. Congress is likely to pull the plug on more money, further sealing their fate. How does that play out? Brandon’s new book titled “A Disaster of Our Own Making” is about US diplomatic blunders. The Ukraine/Russia conflict was never a morality tale. It’s about interests. When will Zelensky depart the stage? Is he a tragic figure? Brandon’s Amazon author page is . Why chaos is a ladder for China’s interests. Homeland Secretary Mayorkas tells us border crossing “immigrants are fleeing climate change” The United States Space Force is now headed by a man who dresses as a woman. Our genius strategists ( Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan, Victoria Nuland and Tony Blinken) are thinking about seizing Russian dollar assets to the tune of almost $300 billion, jeopardizing the dollar’s reserve currency status. There’s much more in this lively conversation, yet we do manage to end on a positive note. “The problems we face are massive--and growing--and while a new president will not solve all our ills, many of these foreign policy crises will be resolved if we get the right POTUS in November.” Would love to get your thoughts about this episode.
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Episode 256: The Sins of Arrogance and Stupidity are now Visited Upon the Children with Jennifer Sey
12/13/2023
Episode 256: The Sins of Arrogance and Stupidity are now Visited Upon the Children with Jennifer Sey
World-class gymnast, author, filmmaker, and next-in-line to become CEO of Levi Strauss, Jennifer Sey talks pandemic-era school lockdowns and the backlash she received for speaking out against the school shutdowns with Bill Walton. Jennifer was a seven-time member of the U.S. Women's National Gymnastics Team and the 1986 U.S. Women's All-Around National Champion. Her transition from the world of sports to the corporate arena saw her rise to a pivotal leadership role at Levi Strauss, contributing significantly to its resurgence. Along the way, she produced a documentary “Athlete A” and wrote a book “Chalked up” exposing the abuse of children and young women gymnasts that spurred radical change in the sport. Sey was ostracized in deep blue San Francisco for publicly opposing the closures of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. She felt compelled to speak out for the children whose development and education were detrimentally affected by the isolation of virtual school. Levi Strauss top management and the board told her to shut up or leave. So she left. “I think what people failed to predict, which I saw from the beginning, societally, we sent children the message that their education was not a priority, that they were not a priority, and in fact, if they missed things like having friends and an everyday life and key milestones, like graduations and football games, they were selfish, horrible people. Imagine what that does to a child’s psyche. So, now, the depression, the anxiety persists, not surprisingly, and we’re seeing record high levels of absenteeism,” Sey said. She is now determined to make these effects clear to the American public with a documentary film titled Generation COVID. The documentary will highlight the stories of ten different families and the struggles of their children in the post-pandemic education environment. The damage to be wreaked upon children by school closures was abundantly clear to many of us at the time. “But the mainstream outlets like the New York Times vilified any dissenters,” reminds Jennifer. “Even renowned doctors, people like Dr. Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford, Martin Kulldorff from Harvard, Sunetra Gupta from Oxford. These are not fringe scientists or fringe epidemiologists, but they were shunned and delegitimized by the mainstream press.” Yet seemingly forgetting the principal role it played in keeping the lockdowns in place, we now read this from the New York Times: “The evidence is now in, and it is startling,” it exclaims. “The school closures that took 50 million children out of classrooms at the start of the pandemic may prove to be the most damaging disruption in the history of American education.” There’s a lot to be answered for here, starting with the amnesiac NYT. This episode is more than just a conversation; it is a call to arms.
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Episode 255: Surprising Facts About CO2 with Dr William Happer and Gregory Wrightstone
11/28/2023
Episode 255: Surprising Facts About CO2 with Dr William Happer and Gregory Wrightstone
We’re inundated with reports from media, governments, think tanks, and "experts" saying that our climate is changing for the worse, and that it is our fault because of man-made CO2 emissions. But despite apocalyptic predictions about climate, our earth, the planet is improving. Why? And why aren’t we hearing about it? It is possible that Co2 is not a pollutant? Rather, that it’s a miracle, and not a curse? In this episode of Dr. William Happer, Co-Founder and Chair of the CO2 Coalition and Gregory Wrightstone, its Executive Director explain why they believe this to be true. The CO2 Coalition, an independent, non-profit organization, aims to provide scientific facts and data to counter the prevailing narrative on climate change and promote a more balanced understanding of the role of CO2 in the environment. Available scientific facts have persuaded Coalition members that additional CO2 will be a net benefit. First and foremost, CO2 is plant food. Green plants grow faster with more CO2. CO2 increase is enhancing corn production… a lot. The 140-million-year trend is that the CO2 level is dangerously decreasing. Observations show no significant change in extreme weather, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, or droughts. Rising sea levels and melting glaciers confirm modern warming predated increases of CO2. We are living in one of the coldest periods ever. For most of Earth’s history, it was about 10°C (18°F) warmer than today. Temperatures changed dramatically during the past 10,000 years. It wasn’t us. An “ideal” temperature is not that of 150 years ago. IPCC models have overstated warming up to three times too much. For human advancement, warmer is better than colder. "The true horror will be when the next cold period comes. Because we look back over the last 5,000 years of human history, the warm periods have been hugely beneficial to humanity and the cold periods have been horrific." Greg Wrightstone. Dr. Happer is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physics at Princeton University, has published over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director of Emerging Technologies on the National Security Council. Mr. Wrightstone, a geologist, is the bestselling author of Inconvenient Facts and has published more than 200 papers, publications and commentaries concerning climate change and energy. Listen in to learn some of the surprising truths about CO2 that you won’t hear from the self-interested parties pushing “solutions” to a declared climate change crisis.
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Episode 254: A Global Reality Check with Stephen Bryen
11/24/2023
Episode 254: A Global Reality Check with Stephen Bryen
In this candid and insightful episode of the "Bill Walton Show," Stephen Bryen, a seasoned expert with over half a century of experience in national security and arms trade, shares his incisive views on the current state of global geopolitics. Stephen Bryen’s been called the Yoda of the arms trade. He was the Pentagon's top cop, the man whose job it was to ensure that sensitive technology would be kept from enemies, potential enemies and questionable allies. As both the wars for Ukraine and Gaza Strip have the potential to widen, even while Taiwan looms, Bryen warns about the United States' diminishing influence in global affairs that have led to a weakened strategic position, particularly in relation to China, Iran and even Russia. Some excerpts: "We're not controlling events. Events are controlling us. And we're doing some things which are reckless." “Yes, we're a nuclear power. We have a strong air force, a less strong army and an even less strong Navy, except for submarines, but we're being challenged by Russia. We're being challenged by China. We're being challenged by countries like Iran, and we're letting them get away with it. “We’re emptying our arsenal to support Ukraine, leaving NATO exposed, very exposed, if the Russians really chose to be troublesome in Europe" “One of the amazing truths about the US and its NATO allies supplying millions of tons of ammunition and hardware to Ukraine is that the allies paid almost no attention to contingencies and freely raided stockpiles that were put there for US and NATO national security defense needs.” We’re still sending billions of dollars to Iran, serving interests that are not our own. "Our national interest is not to allow Iran to conquer nearby countries. And to destabilize the Middle East because it's not in our interest, it's not in Europe's interest, it's not in the world's interest.” ”Iran’s equation is different than ours. They think in terms of how they can destroy Israel, how they can take over that whole crescent of territory … Iraq, Lebanon, Syria.” “In Asia, we're weak. There's no doubt about that. The Chinese have been building up and building up, and we have failed to set up any kind of defensive scheme or alliance that works to put pressure back on China. Taiwan has been simply left out of the equation. The only real hope against the China threat is that internally, it can't compete. China's biggest roadblock to global domination might just be itself.” “It's got troubles, economic problems, political problems, internal clashes of interests. So maybe it'll implode, but if it doesn't, we're in for a hard time.” Tough words from a savvy and clear-eyed observer of global conflicts. These are not what you’re hearing from the national security state complex. All the more reason to listen in.
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Episode 253: Growth, Innovation and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet w/Marian Tupy
11/14/2023
Episode 253: Growth, Innovation and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet w/Marian Tupy
You can’t fix what is wrong in the world if you don’t know what’s actually happening. Polls show that most smart people tend to believe that the state of the world is getting worse. In the United States, almost 3/4 of Americans believe the world is getting worse and only 6% think it's getting better. But according to Marian Tupy, our guest on this episode, “this dark view of the prospects for humanity, and the natural world is, in large part, badly mistaken.” As a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, coauthor of the Simon Abundance Index and editor of the website , he has produced compelling research on this topic. Abundant evidence from individual scholars, academic institutions, and international organizations shows dramatic improvements in human well-being throughout much of the world. In recent decades, these improvements have been especially striking in developing countries where there’s been a significant decline in extreme poverty and improvements in child mortality rates. For thousands of years, the average income around the world was about $2 per person per day. Today, globally, it's $35. So the average inhabitant of the world adjusted for inflation is 18 times better off than he or she was 200 years ago. “These days, young people especially are freaked out about the environment. They think everything is bad,” observes Marian. “That is not true. The United States and the European Union have added 35% more new forests in recent decades. China, 15% more forests.” Unfortunately, there is often a wide gap between the reality of human experience, which is characterized by incremental improvements, and public perception, which tends to be quite negative about the current state of the world and skeptical about humanity’s future prospects. "Journalism is about things that happen, not things that don't happen,” explains Marian. “When a bunch of crazy fanatics fly an airplane into a building in New York, it ends up on all the front pages. But what is never covered is human progress, the things that are happening in the background every year, like how by quarter of a percent or half a percent, absolute poverty is declining and growth is increasing.” Tupy emphasizes the importance of economic and political freedom in driving these positive changes, and that we do need to worry that these freedoms are under attack throughout the world. To innovate, people must be allowed to think, speak, publish, associate, and disagree. They must be allowed to save, invest, trade, and profit. In a word, they must be free. Tupy brings abundant historical and real world evidence to support this assertion. We ignore these basics at our peril.
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