According2Sam Podcast: Recent Episodes
Samuel Winchester
After Congress approved the new supplemental foreign aid package worth nearly $100 billion, most of which goes to Ukraine, Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell was asked in a Fox News interview if the new aid will be enough money for Ukraine to push Russia back decisively. He said, “We hope so. It’s only .2 percent of our gross domestic product, so to put that in context it’s not a whole lot of money for us.” What an outrageous thing to say. The United States is nearly $35 trillion in debt and American citizens are struggling through record high prices for food, energy, and other necessities. $61 billion is a heck of a lot of money to us, especially considering the over $100 billion we have already spent on Ukraine. The purpose of the question was to determine how much longer the war will last, and how much more money will it cost us. Judging by McConnell’s answer ‘a lot longer’ and ‘much more’. How might Ukraine become the next Vietnam or Afghanistan for the United States? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #206.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
Major General Smedley D. Butler was the most decorated Marine in American history at the time of his death. He had two Medals of Honor and sixteen other medals, including five for his heroism. In his 34-year career Butler fought in China, the Philippines, Mexico, Central America, and many more regions of the world. In 1933, after he retired, Butler claimed he had been recruited by major industrial businessmen to lead an army of veterans to overthrow America and install a fascist dictatorship. He led them on long enough to get as much information as he could and then he went to Congress with what he knew. He testified to this plot under oath to the House of Representatives, and a final report from that committee along with Butler's testimony still exist today. Butler later became a critic of American wars, and he coined the phrase, "War is a Racket". Who were the businessmen that tried to recruit Butler to overthrow the United States? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #205.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
In his 2002 State of the Union address, President Bush started making his case for the invasion of Iraq. He described Iraq, along with North Korea and Iran, as an "axis of evil'. He said they represented a unique threat to the world, and he was putting them on notice. The following year he invaded Iraq, based on lies and carefully manipulated intelligence that was used to support the lies. Now we are learning about a 'new axis of evil'. Iran is still included for consistency, but the two new additions are Russia and China. Russia is still selling our European allies liquified natural gas, and China is our largest trade partner. However, Speaker Johnson claims he has seen secret intelligence reports that demonstrate how these nations represent a unique threat to the world, and he believes the reports. How can we believe what Speaker Johnson is telling us, and shouldn't he be working to declassify this intelligence if it exists? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #204.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit samuelwinchester.substack.com
The elaborate scheme to frame Russia and Donald Trump with rigging the 2016 presidential election originated with one person, and that individual is Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was the one who paid for and commissioned the phony Christopher Steele dossier. After the dossier was composed, she took it to the media and tried to get them to report the nonsense in it. She was first to make the accusation that WikiLeaks was working with Russia to expose emails and documents from her private server, from the DNC, DCCC, and from her campaign manger, John Podesta. It all originated with her, but she had a lot of help selling these lies to the American people. She got help from the Obama administration, from the FBI and CIA, from the DOJ, and from the media. With all of these powerful forces participating in the Clinton Plot it's not surprising that the American people ate it up like candy. Why did Clinton devise this plot? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #165.
Now that John Durham has completed his investigation and released his final report what have we learned? We’ve learned that the FBI and the Department of Justice are corrupt. We learned there was no justification for the FBI to take the unprecedented action of getting a FISA warrant to surveil Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to mention the renewals they got to continue the surveillance after he was sworn in as President. We learned there was no justification to appoint a special counsel to investigate Trump, and that the FBI had exculpatory evidence that should have quickly ended all suspicion into President Trump, but it was ignored. In a statement in response to the Durham report the FBI said they had implemented dozens of corrective actions and had these reforms been in place in 2016 the “missteps identified in the report could have been prevented.” Missteps? Could have? Can you trust the FBI, and can you feel comfortable that nothing like the Crossfire Hurricane investigation will ever happen again? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #164.
There is a correlation between peace and prosperity. During times of peace nations can invest in itself. It can build infrastructure and make improvements. It can cut taxes and reduce the burden on it's citizens. It can create a social safety net, and programs to aid its less fortunate citizens and help them improve their lives. There are many positive things a nation can do to make improvements and create prosperity during peacetime. However, war can create prosperity as well. War will cripple nations! It will put nations in debt and divert resources from the nation to the war; resources that would be better used making improvements and caring for citizen. Despite all of the woes that war can bring upon a nation, war can be very prosperous for those who are investing in the continuation of war. For them, the more war the better. Are the people who own our media the same people who are invested in the wars, and what does it mean for our nation? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #163.
It's been 20 years since the Bush administration needlessly took our nation to war in Iraq based on a pack of lies. It is important that we take the time to reflect on just how we were lied into that war, so that nothing like that ever happens again. Today as we reflect on the lies that got us into that war 20 years ago we find ourselves on the verge of an even greater war, again based on lies, proving that if we don't learn from our past we are doomed to fall for the same deceptions over and over again. The lies that the Bush administration told us about Iraq were many. They told use Iraq had chemical and biological weapons. They did not! They told us they had a nuclear program and that they were buying yellowcake uranium from Africa. They did not, and were not. They told us that Iraq had an alliance with Al-Qaeda. They did not. They led us to believe that Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks, and said if we didn't invade there could be a 'mushroom cloud' in the United States. None of it was true. How did the Bush administration lay out their case of lies against Iraq, and why did it fail to sway the United Nations Security Council? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #156.
As we celebrate the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine it's important to remember how it started, and it didn't start a year ago when Russia invaded Ukraine. The conflict in Ukraine goes back decades, before the coup in 2014 and even before the Orange Revolution in 2004. There are many components to the war, and the roots of the conflict are deep. The tensions leading to the war have been festering in Ukraine since WWII and they have finally come to hot war, but even the hot war didn't start last year. Ukraine has been in hot civil war since Euromaidan and the 2014 coup. The war has escalated from internal ethnic tensions between native Ukraines, Muslim Tartars, and Russian Ukraines, to hot civil war in the Donbas, to Russia invading. However, now there is a threat that this conflict can escalate outside of the borders of Ukraine and cause a global conflict that leads to the next World War. How are the policies of the Biden administration, along with Republicans and Democrats backing him in Congress, inching us closer and closer to that reality? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #152.
Joe Biden has been in Washington for the majority of his life. He was first elected to the United States Senate in 1972 when he was 29 years old, and he was one of Delaware’s two Senators for 30 years, before Barack Obama chose him as his running mate in 2008. Biden himself had run for president that year, but dropped out after a very poor showing in the primary. This was his second attempt at the run for the White House. He also ran in 1988, but dropped out of that race in shame after being exposed in several scandals surrounding plagiarism and outright lying about his resume. Biden finally won his party’s nomination in 2020, after losing the first two primaries and a deal was cut for all other nominees to drop out of the race to clear the way for Biden. He was sworn in as President the following January. Today Biden has rebranded himself as a champion of the middle class, but his record shows that he has done more in his time in Washington to build the middle class in China. How has 'Middle Class Joe' made multi-millions as a public servant, while helping to destroy the middle class here in America? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #151.
Have you ever heard the expression, 'Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining'? It's a cute way of saying don't hurt me and pretend to be helping. It is the perfect expression to describe the narrative that the media and Biden administration are telling America. Their narrative is that the Biden administration is the most successful administration since FDR. They want us to believe the economy is roaring due to record job creation and low unemployment. We are told that America is stronger and better than we have ever been, but many Americans don't seem to be buying it. Maybe it is record high inflation, the high interest rates, or the push towards WWII, but many Americans do not share the optimism about the future of our nation. Three quarters of the nation believe we are on the wrong track, and a mere 16% say they are better now than when Biden took office. It is in this environment that Biden gives his second State of the Union address. Why is there such a disconnect between the story Biden and his surrogates want to tell, and the story that the public believes? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #150.
Meet the Press is the longest-running television program in America. The show hosts and has hosted many of the most important world leaders of the past 70 years. Meet the Press has had 12 hosts since it began in 1947, many of which are giants in American journalism, such as Martha Rountree, Ned Brooks, Tim Russert, and Tom Brokaw. Over the years Meet the Press has been a staple for those who follow politics and world affairs, and it has had a reputation for being none-partisan, unbiased, and objective. It was a program that was trusted on both sides of the political aisle, but something has happened to the show since the death of its longest serving host, Tim Russert in 2008. The show has been rapidly going downhill since 2014 when the current host, Chuck Todd took over. It is no longer none-partisan, unbiased, and objective. It has become hostile to Republicans while pushing the agenda of the Democrats. Todd is essentially a shill for the Democratic Party. How does Todd demonstrate his bias in his recent interview with the Chairman of the Judiciary and new House Select Committees, Jim Jordan? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #149.
The announcements of discoveries of classified documents at Joe Biden's Washington DC office and Wilmington, Delaware home have been welcomed surprises for many of Biden's opponents. The new year not only begins with Republicans taking control of the House of Representatives, but before they have begun any of their investigations Biden is already enthralled in a scandal. Biden's Attorney General has appointed a new Special Counsel to look into the discovery of these classified documents to determine if anything illegal was done, and if the nation's secrets have been compromised. The loudest cries for accountability have come from Democrats and the mainstream media, those who have been Biden's biggest defenders up until now. They are demanding answers, but only to the questions about these classified documents. It all seems a little fishy to me, particularly the timing. It's looks like bait! How should House Republicans respond to the new revelations about Biden's classified documents? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #147.
The more we learn about the relationship between the FBI and Twitter before Elon Musk bought the company the more disturbing it becomes, although we should not be surprised. We have known that the CIA has had employees in American media companies for years, feeding the American people state sponsored propaganda. It's called Operation Mockingbird, and the Director of the CIA, William Colby admitted to it during the Church Committee hearings in 1975. The Twitter Files have only confirmed that it is still going on, and that it has expanded from legacy media to social media. We also learned that it's not only the CIA, but that FBI and DHS are also involved. The Twitter Files show the lengths theses agencies go to control public information, shape public opinions, and promote the interests of the uniparty. How does the Intelligence Community work to subvert the will of the American people, while working for the survival of the uniparty at all costs? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #145.
When the Biden administration first made the offer for a prisoner swap with Russia it was a two for one offer. They offered the 'Merchant of Death', arms dealer Viktor Bout in a trade for WNBA player, Brittney Griner and marine veteran Paul Whelan. Russia refused the two for one offer and demanded a two for two offer to get both Griner and Whelan home. The second prisoner that Russia wanted was an assassin serving a life sentence in a German prison named, Vadim Krasikov. This was a ridiculous request and the Biden administration scoffed at it. This left a one for one trade on the table and Biden was made to choose between trading Bout for either Griner or Whelan. This is what NBC News reported initially, but then after Biden started receiving criticism because he chose Griner over Whelan NBC edited their report to say the choice was either Griner or no one; suggesting that Russia would not trade the Merchant of Death for Whelan. Has the Biden administration been honest about this trade deal, and why was Griner a priority for them? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #144.
Elon Musk is releasing internal documents from Twitter relating to the correspondence and decisions to censor information on the platform before he took charge of the company. These documents are being called the Twitter Files, and they are explosive. The files are still coming out, but so far we have learned that Twitter employees were breaking election laws by offering undeclared in-kind contributions to Democratic candidates before elections by censoring information that would be harmful to their campaigns. The files back up statements that Mark Zuckerberg made on Joe Rogan's podcast in August where he admitted the FBI was encouraging censorship at Facebook before the 2020 election, and they also back up an article published in the Intercept in October about leaked DHS documents confirming they were involved in censorship at these private tech companies as well. The government's involvement violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional, and the evidence is now overwhelming. Should you be concerned? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #143.
The special counsel sequel will have a lot in common with the first special counsel investigation into President Donald Trump. The first special counsel investigation began 6 years ago and it was launched based on lies about the then President and manufactured evidence. The prosecutor during the first special counsel investigation was former Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller. He spent 2 years and 32 million taxpayer dollars to tell us that Trump broke no laws. The sequel is certain to end with the same outcome. The new prosecutor isn't a big name like Robert Mueller, but he is working with the same amount of evidence against President Trump; perhaps less. Trump was already impeached on one of the issues the new prosecutor will be investigating and he was acquitted by the Senate. Jack Smith, the new prosecutor, must find something on Trump that the House impeachment managers failed to find. What is this new special counsel investigation really about, and how does it help Democrats politically? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #142.
The results of the 2022 midterm election are in; for the most part. There are still a couple of runoffs and a handful of races that still need to be decided, but the balance of power is pretty much settled. Democrats will maintain control of the Senate with a slim majority, and Republicans will control the House with a slim majority. Democrats also picked up 2 governorships and control of 4 state congresses. All together it was not a great election for Republicans, and the leadership in the Republican Party is mostly to blame. Many of the setbacks that Republicans experienced were caused by these leaders. For example, despite winning more than 5 million more House votes Republicans did not pick up more House seats. This is because of the way new districts were drawn. There were serval other mistakes and mishaps made by Republican leaders that costed Republican candidates, but some of the issues at play were outright sabotage. What did some Republican leaders do to intentionally sabotage the party, and why did they do it? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #141.
The 2022 midterm election was not the wave election that many expected. Pundits were predicting a red wave like in 2010 when Democrats lost 63 House seats, or the blue wave in 2018 when Republicans lost 41 seats. Those predictions were wrong, because there were important factors in 2010 and 2018 that were not present in 2022. The Tea Party movement was organized during Obama's first two years as president. Every state, county, and town in America had its own Tea Party group that held regular meetings to discuss issues and strategy. They were organized outside of the Republican Party and they had a mission to not only challenge Democrats, but also the Republican establishment. The 2010 midterm was the first election were the power of the Tea Party movement was tested and it resulted in a red wave. In 2018 the issue that drove the blue wave was the Mueller investigation. Democrats used a fake scandal and a steady bombardment of propaganda from the media to paint President Trump as a Russian asset who was trying to fire the Special Counsel to avoid prosecution. This led to a blue wave. What can Republicans learn from these two wave elections to ensure they win in 2024? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #140.
The war in Ukraine is escalating as it enters into the first winter of the conflict. Russia has a history of winning war in the winter, and of using the harsh conditions of winter as a weapon of war. Russia had planned on using their gas as leverage against EU counties to negotiate a peace deal, but after the Nord Stream pipeline was sabotaged and destroyed they seem to be employing a new strategy. This new plan involves destroying all of Ukraine's infrastructure and utilities, leaving the citizens of Ukraine to suffer in the cold, dark, winter. Another issue at play this winter will be NATO countries enduring the scarcity of energy and skyrocketing prices. Public support for the war is already being challenged by growing antiwar movements in the United States and Europe, and these movements are expected to intensify as citizens will be asked to suffer and make more sacrifices for Ukraine. How will the growing opposition to the war, particularly in the United States, impact the war this winter? How are the war mongering elites planning to keep the war going despite the growing opposition? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #139.
Election polling has been a mixed bag over the years and the inconsistency has left many people skeptical about polls. For example, Nate Silver from FiveThirtyEight correctly predicted every state in the 2012 reelection of Barack Obama, but then in 2016 when Donald Trump was elected Silver and many others got their predictions shockingly wrong. There are many more examples of polls correctly predicting the outcomes in elections, and others that got their predictions wrong. Polling is a science, but it is also an art. Pollsters must get the best samples of the public for their polls, but once you have a good sample you must ask the right questions to get a true understanding of the issues motivating voters. You can't just ask if they support candidate A or B. One question that has been a consistent barometer of what will happen in an election is the 'right track/wrong track' question. If pollsters find that a large percentage of their sample feels the nation, state, or city is on the wrong track it usually means doom for the people in power. What does the 'right track/wrong track' question say about our upcoming election, and what does it mean for Democrats? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #138.
If you listen to the Democrats and media narrative President Biden is the most successful president in modern history. Along with winning more votes than any other president in American history, 81 million, he has followed that up with a string of wins for the American people in his first two years; according to them. He started winning with a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, and then followed with legislative wins that include an infrastructure package, the Chips Act, and he even signed a gun control law. All of these laws are very popular with the American people, so we are told, and if you listen to them Joe Biden is killing it! However, this is not reflected in the president's poll numbers. More evidence that Biden may not be 'killing it' as we are told, is the fact that he has zero campaign events in swing states in the last three weeks before the mid-term elections. Nobody wants to be seen with Mr.81Million in these final weeks. This does not match with what we are being told. Why is Biden not using his prestige as a successful president to campaign for candidates in tight races? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #137.
Democrats make many accusations against Republicans these days in the hyper-political environment we are currently living in. They call Republicans greedy, misogynistic, anti-democratic, and much more; but the go to indictment that Democrats charge Republicans with is the accusation of racism. It is an interesting play, because the history of racism Democrats claim to want to repair is the racism of the Democratic Party. Today the Democratic Party says they stand for diversity, equity, and inclusion, but for 100 years the party was the biggest obstacle to equality. Today Democrats control both houses of Congress. They control the White House. They are in charge in all of the largest cities in American, so where is the equality? They say if you just give us more power we can finally defeat those evil, racist, Republicans and make America more equal and just, but what have they done with the power they already have? Is the Democratic Party free of racism and now dedicated to equality, or is it the same old Democratic Party? How does the story about Democrat L.A. City Council President, Nury Martinez demonstrate that it's the same old Democratic Party? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #136.
LARPing is not a new phenomenon, but the term LARP is relatively new. LARP was included with another 370 words that were just added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary to update and modernize our vocabulary. The word LARP is an acronym that means Live Action Role Play. It simply means to dress and play make believe. Again, there is nothing new about dressing up and playing make believe, but the phenomenon has become so widespread that it has not only been given a name, the name has now become a part of our vocabulary. There are many different types of LARPS. Some like to dress up as vikings and make believe they are fighting a viking war. Some like to dress up as soldiers from the Civil War and reenact the battles. Some even dress as elves and goblins, and pretend they are in a fictional middle-earth. It's all fun and games for the LARPS, but no one takes LARPing as seriously as the Social Justice LARPS. These are the people who pretend to be activists for justice, but in actuality they couldn't careless about real justice. How can you recognize Social Justice LARPS, and why are there so many of them in our society today? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #135.
The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 as a way to determine how close the world is to a nuclear holocaust. The clock started at 7 minutes to midnight and it has fluctuated from 7 minutes to 2 minutes and back to 12 minutes to midnight since it's inception, depending on the level of threats in the world and the measures global leaders take to deescalate threats and stabilize the world. Midnight is the end of the world as we know it! Right now, because of the war in Ukraine and the conflict between Western nations and Russia the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have moved the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the clock has been to midnight since it was created. That means we are closer today to a nuclear confrontation than anytime in the history of the world. Unlike in 1962 when the clock was 2 minutes to midnight during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the President of the United States is not working to secure peace. Instead, the Biden administration seems to be working overtime to make sure the Doomsday Clock reaches the final hour. What could President Biden do to end the war in Ukraine and make peace, and why isn't he doing it? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #134.
The crisis of migrants flooding across the southern border has reached a milestone. This year, for the first time, border patrol has recorded a record number of 2 million migrants crossing into the country. This milestone has happened without a hint of concern from the Biden administration. It's been almost 2 years since President Biden put Vice President Harris in charge of the border crisis, and it hasn't been a high priority on her agenda. That's not surprising considering that she believes the border is secure. She actually said the border was secure recently in an interview with 'Meet the Press'. In response to the lack of concern for the crisis at the border governors from border states have been bussing migrants to Washington DC and other Democrat ran cities that have designated themselves as "sanctuary cities". Then Governor DeSantis got into the game and flew 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard, where the Vice President lives. The reaction was exactly what he anticipated. How has the plan to transport migrants to sanctuary cites been a great success for the governors who are participating in this endeavor? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #133.
On Tuesday President Joe Biden held a party at the White House to celebrate the passing of the 'Inflation Reduction Act', a spending bill worth $740 billion. It was a huge celebration that included members of congress, their staffs, and many invited guests. Six-time Grammy Award winning recording artist, James Taylor was invited as a special guests for entertainment. Before President Biden addressed those in attendance Taylor treated them with a rendition of his hit song 'Fire and Rain'. Then President Biden addressed those in attendance to boast about the passage of this enormous new spending bill. He bragged about all of the things that the bill would do; lower costs, reduce the deficit, fight Climate Change, and more. Most importantly, as the name of the bill suggests, he claimed that it would reduce inflation. The new consumer price index (CPI) numbers were released earlier that morning and the new numbers showed a rises in inflation when many were expecting a decline. This prompted a sell off in the stock market that marked the worst day on Wall Street since the 2020 crash from the pandemic. It was surreal watching markets tank as Biden and Democrats were celebrating at the White House. How does the real state of the economy contrast the positive rhetoric that we heard from Biden on Tuesday, and can we trust Biden to tell us the truth? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #132.
President Biden offered a few examples of the extremism he was referring to when he called out 'MAGA Republicans' in his speech from the pit of hell the other night. He said those who are pro-life, and those who believe in traditional marriage, between one man and one woman are extremist and a "threat to the very foundations of our Republic." Ignore the fact that the man making these accusations claims to be a devout Catholic, because he also said those who deny the outcome of elections were another example. Biden called these people "election deniers", and he claimed they did not believe in the United States Constitution. This example was as perplexing as the others, because not only was the Democratic Party spending millions to get people he called election deniers nominated in the Republican primaries, but many Democrats denied the outcomes of elections in which Republicans won in the past. Biden himself denied the outcomes of the 2000 presidential election, and the 2016 election. How is President Biden sending mixed messages about who is an extremist, and why should the language coming from his administration concern you? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #131.
Mainstream media outlets went on a tirade this past week about how conservatives and right-wing media doubted the story of the 10 year old girl who became pregnant in Ohio and was forced to travel to the neighboring state of Indiana for an abortion. They attempted to shame people who were asking questions and trying to vet the story. When the story was first reported in a local Indianapolis newspaper there was only one source with no other corroborating details. It really shouldn't be surprising that people had questions about the authenticity of the story, especially when no one had been arrested and there didn't seem to be an active investigation into the sexual abuse of the child. However, the first news outlet to raise doubts about this story was not right-wing, conservative, media. It was the Washington Post who published an article from a fact checker who explained the trouble he was having in vetting the story. Why was the fact checker having so much trouble vetting the story, and how did his article in the Washington Post influence others to start doubting the story? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #124.
A recent Gallup poll found that confidence in United States institutions is falling to new lows. The poll asked participants about their level of confidence in public schools, the military, small business, big business, the police and more. In all participants were asked about 16 separate institutions. Gallup has been conducting this same poll since 1993, and this year's average was a new low. This year's poll found that Americans are less confident in U.S. institutions than they were last year, with significant declines in 11 of the 16 institutions tested. No institution in the test improved in confidence from the year prior. The institution in the test with the least amount of confidence is the United States Congress, and right above them is television news. Print news is also in the bottom 5 institutions that Americans have confidence in, meaning that Americans have almost no confidence in our news. It also seems that confidence in our news is on a rapid decline. This is a serious problem. Why do so many Americans have so little faith in our news, and what are the potential problems that can arise from this? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #123.
In a CNN interview a few days ago a representative from the Biden administration was asked about inflation, rising fuel prices, and the fact that Americans are struggling to cope with these issues. His answer has gone viral and it has shocked many people who can't believe the Biden representative said the quiet part out loud. The question he was asked was in relation to the war in Ukraine, since the Biden administration has blamed inflation and rising fuel prices on Russia's actions in Ukraine. The Biden representative said that it was necessary for the American people to suffer under the crippling inflation because what was at stake was, "the future of the liberal world order." Many Americans have no idea what the liberal world order even is, let alone do they care enough about it to justify paying higher prices. This answer from the Biden representative only confirmed that the American people are not President Biden's highest priority, and that there are influences outside of the United States that are a greater concern for him. What exactly is the liberal world order, and why is it so important that Americans must suffer for its survival? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #122.
The United States of America is a Constitutional Republic, meaning we are a collection of states and commonwealths that are united by a federation. However, the debates about the size and role of the federal government in relation to the states has been a consistent battle going back to the inception of this nation. Alexander Hamilton, who was a staunch federalist, argued for a large powerful federal government that played a large role in the happenings of the individual states. Other men, such as Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams argued for a small federal government, with a limited role in the states. In 1829 Andrew Jackson created the Democratic Party in opposition to a large powerful central government. He said it was the enemy of individual liberty. It is ironic that today so many democrats are upset by the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v Wade. How does this ruling give more power to the people in individual states, and how is the Democratic Party spreading fear and disinformation about this ruling to increase voter turnout in the fall? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #121.
Money has changed a lot throughout the millennia of human civilization. It's evolved from clay tablets, to metal coins, to papers notes and even digital currency. One thing that has not changed in those thousands of years is what makes money work, and how it is valued. That one thing is trust. Without trust money is nothing more than clay, metal, paper and digits. The only thing that makes those items money is that a group of people have agreed it is money and they are willing to trade their labor, products, and services for those items. However, on the flip side, if a civilization loses trust in their money it can cause an economic catastrophe that can destroy nations. This is something that is worrying economist like Lawrence (Larry) Summers who believes some Americans are losing faith in our institutions, and thereby losing trust in our money. He believes this loss of trust is contributing to inflation and the overall economic downturn. Are these concerns supported by facts, are Americans and other nations losing trust in the dollar, and if so, why? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #120.
The committee investigating the January 6th riot at the Capitol doesn’t seem to be interested in why security at the Capitol was so poor that day. They haven’t addressed questions of why Capitol Police were so ill-equipped, or why they were ordered not to use their most sophisticated tools for crowd control. They haven’t shown videos of Capitol Police opening doors, or of the police standing around while demonstrators loitered inside the Capitol. The committee thus far has been singularly focused on one issue, and one issue only: President Trump’s culpability in the riot. The committee has been biased to say the least. They’ve used selectively edited video of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, leaving out the part where he told the crowd to be “peaceful and patriotic”. They’ve also failed to mention that the Trump administration offered to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol days before the riot, but were turned down. These hearings are just the latest episode in the Trump impeachment trilogy. How are these hearings like the two Trump impeachment hearings, and what is different about this 3rd episode? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #119.
We have been studying hurricanes for over a hundred years and we have learned quite a bit about these tropical cyclones. We can forecast the time of year they are most likely to form. We can also measure their size and strength before they reach land. We can even chart the course of the storm to predict where it is most likely to make landfall. With all of these advancements there are still limitations to fully understanding hurricanes. For example, it is not possible to predict exactly when or where a hurricane will make landfall, and there is no way to determine how much damage they will cause when they do. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgon & Chase, is the latest economic forecaster predicting an economic hurricane heading for the United States, and he is not the only one making such predictions. Many people have been predicting this storm for much longer, however no one can tell when or where it will hit us, or how much damage it will cause when it does, but everyone knows it's coming. What is the cause of the coming economic hurricane, and is it a natural disaster or manmade? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #118.
All signs are pointing to the Democratic Party getting destroyed in the Congressional elections this fall. Republicans need to pick up half a dozen seats in the House of Representatives to control that chamber, and a single Senate seat will give them control of that body. Even the Democrats own polling tells them this is a strong probability, and that they could possibly lose a lot more than that. The leader of the party, Joe Biden, has an approval rating in the 30's that continues to fall. The economy is likely to be in recession by fall, and inflation and shortages are likely to persist. Democrats have failed to get their most popular legislation passed despite controlling both houses of Congress for the past two years. This is mostly because Joe Manchin would not agree to eliminate the filibuster, but it still has had an effect on the lack of motivation and enthusiasm of their voters. Seeking to minimize their loses this fall, Democrats have seize on other ways to motivate their voters this summer, 'wedge issues'! How can keeping the country divided on wedge issues help Democrats this fall, and how are they planning to use these issues to maintain their power, even if it tears the country apart? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #117.
President Biden started branding his political enemies with a new moniker last week: "Ultra MAGA". Many believed that he had come up with this new label on his own, and that it was created off the cuff. However, it was later reported that Biden's use of this new label was not impromptu at all. It was a talking point that was paid for and created through weeks of focus groups. This got me thinking about another talking point that has sprung up just as the campaigning begins for the fall elections: "Great Replacement Theory". This talking point arose after the tragic mass murder in Buffalo, where the killer made reference to it in his 181 page manifesto. Biden and the media seized on this one part of the manifesto and amplified it! They immediately started blaming the Great Replacement Theory and Republicans for the tragedy, insinuating that the murderer was 'Ultra MAGA'. What is the strategy of the Democratic Party to turn out voters in November, and how far are they willing to go to maintain power? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #116.
We all remember the jab that President Obama took at Mitt Romney in a debate in the 2012 election. He said, "Governor Romney, I'm glad that you recognize that al Qaeda is a threat, because a few months ago, when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America you said Russia, not al Qaeda. You said Russia, and the 1980's are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back." In recent years, and especially over the past few weeks, many commentators have reflected on this jab and stated that Romney was correct in his assessment that Russia was our biggest threat. It seems that we are indeed returning to the foreign policy of the 1980's. However, the recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers suggests that it's not only the foreign policy from the 1980's that we are returning too. The numbers show inflation at a 40 year high, and rising costs on everything from food, to energy, and almost everything that we use or consume. It seems that the 1980's not only called for its foreign policy back, but its economic policy as well. How is America's current economic policy actually much worse than the economic policies of the 1980's, and why are we in a much more volatile situation at this time in our history? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #113.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in late February it was the best thing that could have happened for Joe Biden and Democrats. Before that, Joe Biden was in a nosedive politically and there seemed to be no bottom to how far he could fall. After the shameful withdrawal from Afghanistan, members of his own party killed Biden's agenda on voting reforms and the 'Build Back Better' package. Moreover, Biden was dealing with supply chain shortages and inflation at a 40 year high. Nothing seemed to be going his way, but as soon as Russian troops crossed into Ukraine everything changed. Biden and Democrats began talking about the "Putin price hike", and blaming all of their failed policies on Putin, and Russia. It was like overnight Democrats had someone to blame that wasn't them. This is significantly important in a Congressional election year. How is inflation threatening the narrative that the economy is booming, and will Americans buy the shift of blame that Democrats are trying to pull? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #112.
John F. Kennedy was one of the greatest and wises statesmen in the history of the United Sates. In a century that was plagued with the holocausts of war, President Kennedy sought to make peace at all costs. He came into office in the middle of the Cold War and the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were volatile. There were many moments in Kennedy's short time as president that the wrong actions or even the wrong rhetoric could have escalated the Cold War into a hot nuclear war. In every instance you find President Kennedy using diplomacy and working vigorously to deescalate tensions and make peace. It stands in stark contrast to the current President, Joe Biden. The two men are of the only Irish, Roman Catholic, Democratic Presidents in the history of this country, and with all they have in common, they could not be more different in their approach to foreign policy. How is Joe Biden escalating tensions with Russia, and how is he making a peaceful solution less possible? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #111.
It is very interesting when you think about the fact that the biggest October surprises in the last two presidential elections involved laptops used by deviant individuals connected to candidates, that were used by them to document their deviant behavior. It was Anthony Weiner's laptop that he was using to communicate and send lewd pictures to underage girls. When investigators seized the laptop they found troves of emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. This discovery forced James Comey to reopen the investigation into her mishandling sensitive information just days before the election, one of many things that Clinton cites for her defeat. Joe Biden was luckier in 2020, because the intelligence community (IC) helped cover up the discovery of his deviant son's laptop. How did the IC cover for Biden, and how might the 2020 election turned out different if they had not meddled in the election? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #110.
In 2014, Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine, and representatives from the separatists regions in Donbas, began talks to negotiate peace in Donbas. Representatives from these governments met in Minsk, Belarus, and on September 5, 2014 they signed an agreement for peace. It was called the 'Minsk Agreements', and it called for an immediate ceasefire. Unfortunately, this did not stop the fighting in Donbas, so representatives met again to hash out a new agreement that was called Minsk II. Minsk II was signed on February 12, 2015, and it called for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines, prisoner releases, and an amendment to the Ukrainian constitution granting self-governing status to the separatists regions of Donbas. However, Minsk II also failed to bring peace. At the same time that these peace talks were taking place, representatives for the United States were visiting Ukraine and encouraging them to keep up the fight, and go on "offense". Was the United States working against these peace agreements, and what is the Biden administration currently doing to negotiate peace? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #109.
After a violent coup d'etat in Ukraine in 2014 that forced the democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country, the Obama administration installed a new government. Under the new Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the first thing the new parliament did was pass legislation banning the Russian language, the native language of 20 million Ukrainians. In response to these actions and many other acts of hostility towards the Russian speaking people of Ukraine the communities of Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk voted to separate from Ukraine. In Crimea the people voted for immediate annexation by Russia, which was accepted by the Russia Federation. The people of Donbas voted for independence and they have been fighting for their independence for 8 years, more than 14,000 people of that region have been killed. How are these two breakaway regions fueling the current war in Ukraine, and how are they key to ending the war? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #108.
When Joe Biden first announced that he was running for president he claimed to be motivated to run by the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. He said he was appalled while watching the neo-Nazis and white nationalists marching with tiki torches, and said he wanted to return the 'soul of the nation'. He accused President Trump of encouraging white nationalist and neo-Nazis, and many Democrats even accused President Trump of being a white nationalist. White nationalism and white supremacy is all Democrats have been talking about in the United States for the past 6 years. They claim it is our greatest domestic threat. It's ironic they don't see the same threat of white nationalism in Ukraine as they do in the U.S., and they are currently leading us to cheer for white nationalism in Ukraine. How large is the white nationalist movement in Ukraine, and what impact does this movement have on Ukrainian politics and society? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #107.
The 'Russian Reset' was an effort by the Obama administration to reset the relationship between Russia and the United States. At a bilateral meeting in Geneva in 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a plastic red button inscribed with the word, "reset". She said it represented a new start for the two nations, putting the decades of enmity behind them. The two diplomates pushed to toy button together and joked with each other. It was the begging of a new era for Russia and the United States, one of cooperation and peace. Throughout the first term of the Obama administration this new relationship seemed to be working, so much so that President Obama even defended Russia when Mitt Romney called them a threat to the United States. He famously said, "the 1980's called and they want their foreign policy back." How did we go from the 'rest' back to a state of contention with Russia? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #106.
In 2019 there were major protests and demonstrations all over the world. The year started with the 'yellow vests' protests in France, which started in November of 2018 and carried on throughout the entire year in 2019. In February protests started in Algeria and continued throughout the entire year, even after the Bouteflika regime was toppled. In March protests started in Hong Kong with massive demonstrations for freedom from China. The protests lasted the entire year, with the largest demonstrations over the summer of 2019. Protests against the Maduro regime in Venezuela started in January, but really started to get going in April. They also lasted the entire year. There were protests in Russia, Sudan, Chile, Lebanon, and many more places around the world. These populists uprisings were just getting started when Covid-19 interrupted them, but now that Covid-19 is over it seems the protests are starting again. How has the 'Freedom Convoy' in Canada reignited the global protests that were taking place before the pandemic? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #105.
The roots of the cultural revolution in the United States can be traced back to one city. It was the epicenter of the counterculture, and that city is San Francisco. On January 14, 1967 an event was held in the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields that would launch a movement to change the world. It was a celebration of humanity, with music, art, poetry, and spirituality. The event was the 'Human Be-In', and it was the start of a wave that would crash into American traditions and customs. The movement was dedicated to peace, love, and goodwill to all men and women. It focused on political and environmental awareness, and breaking down cultural and institutional norms. It was fueled by psychedelic drugs, music, and promiscuity. In the end the movement set lofty goals that were never reached, but it did leave a lasting imprint on San Francisco and America that can still be seen today. What does the counterculture revolution have in common with other revolutions throughout history? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #104.
Spotify has decided to put a warning on Joe Rogan's podcasts in response to the calls to censor him. After a few artists began to protest by removing their music from the platform, and many more subscribers canceled their subscriptions it was important for them to get ahead of the controversy. It's reminiscent of Tipper Gore's obsession in the late 20th century to censor Rap and Heavy Metal music. As her group, the Parents Music Resource Center, began to demand action from the record companies the record companies agreed to put a "parental advisory" on music with "explicit lyrics". Gore's objective was to reduce the consumption of music that she considered bad for society, music with sex, drugs, and violence. If you've listened to the radio lately you know she failed. How are those attempting to censor Joe Rogan making the same mistake as Tipper Gore, and how will it backfire on them? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #103.
The Biden administration has suffered a string of defeats in the past few weeks. He was defeated in the courts on his vaccine mandates. He was defeated on his 'voting rights' legislation and failed to get it passed in the Senate. He also has failed to get his Build Back Better agenda passed, and he has been getting killed in the polls. A recent Quinnipiac poll had Biden at 33% approval, with 28% of Hispanics and 25% of independents in approval. To say that Biden has had a rough first year in office would be an understatement to say the least, but it seems he has a plan to change the narrative. All of a sudden our old Cold War enemy is at it again, "threatening democracy"! Just as Democrats did in 2017, Russia seems to be a handy tool that can be used on any occasion to change the direction that the wind is blowing in Washington. How is Biden using Russia to 'Wag the Dog' and change the perception of his administration, and why are some European allies not playing along? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #102.
The Bishop of Rome, also known as the Pope, is a position like no other. It is a position that carries prestige and power, not only as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, but as the head of state for Vatican City and all of the territories included in the States of the Church. However, the Pope hasn't always had this prestige and power. Until the late 8th Century the Pope had no lands, and he had to get permission from the Roman Emperors in Constantinople before he could even accept the election to Pope. It was a position that really didn't have much more influence than any other bishop in the Church. That started to change when the Pope made a deal with the Franks and the rich and powerful French family, the Carolingians. Pepin the Short donated what became the Papal States to the Pope, and it would change the Papacy forever. What did the Carolingians get in return for this donation, and how did this alliance kick off what many refer to as the Dark Ages? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #101.
During a debate in the 2020 campaign for the presidency Donald Trump commented that we have to learn to live with Covid-19, suggesting that it would be apart of our world forever and we had to get on with our lives. To this Joe Biden scoffed and said, "We're learning to die with it"! Biden said that the idea that we would learn to live with the virus was unacceptable, and he promised many times during that campaign to, "shutdown the virus", suggesting he planned on succeeding where President Trump had failed to eliminating it. However, as we approach President Biden's first year in office he has failed to shutdown the virus. He has failed to supply the nation with rapid testing, another criticism that he made of President Trump. Now he and many others are admitting President Trump was right, and we will have to learn to live with the virus. What other ways is President Biden failing to meet the standards that he set for President Trump in response to Covid-19, and how are he and the media trying to change the messaging? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #100.
After the death of Mohammad in 632 the armies of Islam spilled out of the Arabian Desert and quickly began conquering everything in their path. They first encountered the mighty Romans to their west, and the ferocious Persians to their east, both of these great empires had been in existence for centuries beyond this new religion that was barely as old as a single lifetime. The Muslims took them both on at once, and defeated them both. They seized Byzantine land pushing the Romans back into Anatolia. They conquered all of Persia, expanding the young caliphate to India in the east. They then moved into North Africa taking Islam all the way to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. They even crossed the Mediterranean Sea into Europe, and conquered the Visigoths and nearly all of Iberia. The Muslims seemed invincible at this point, but after crossing the Pyrenees into France they were defeated by the Franks and chased back into Spain. How did this defeat of the Muslims in France potentially save Western Europe, and how would have a Muslim victory in France potentially changed the world as we know it today? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #99.
The day before Halloween in 1938 a CBS Radio program aired that caused mass hysteria. This was a time before television, before the internet and social media, when everyone got their information and media from news papers, and radio. The CBS series was 'The Mercury Theatre on the Air', and the episode that cause the hysteria on this day was called, 'War of the Worlds'. It was an adaptation of a fictional novel that was being preformed as a Halloween special, but many Americans believed it was real and that they were in danger from an alien invasion from outer space. The scale of the hysteria caused by this broadcast was small. Not everyone was listening, but of those who happened to be listening to the program that day the panic was real and widespread. If this was a social experiment the reaction to the broadcast would have demonstrated how easily media could be used to whip the public into a frenzy of fear, and also how a greater medium, reaching more people, over and over again for a long period of time, could cause a greater, prolonged, mass hysteria. How is the reaction to the pandemic and the unvaccinated like the reaction to 'War of the Worlds', but greater, and how is this hysteria causing the zombie apocalypse? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #98.
On August 6, 2001, a month before the September 11th attack, the CIA met with then President George W. Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. They were there to brief the president on an important piece of intelligence about a potential terrorist attack in the United States. The brief was titled, "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US", and it outlined several possible targets for an attack. The most notable target mentioned in the report was the threat that commercial airplanes would be hijacked. The two page report concludes with the sentence, "Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijacking or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York." In the 2006 book, "The One Percent Doctrine", author Ron Suskind writes from an anonymous source that after being brief by the panicked CIA officers the president said, "All right. You've covered your ass, now." What actions did President Bush take to protect the nation after receiving this dire warning, and how did the media help him cover his ass after this secret intelligence report was leaked to the world? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #97.
Taliban means 'students', and the organization that NATO forces have been fighting for 20 years in Afghanistan started in madrassas in Pakistan. Madrasa is the Arabic word for a school, or any type of educational institution, secular or religious, and there are thousands of madrassas around the world. However, the madrassas in Pakistan that spawned the Taliban were very religious Islamic fundamentalist seminaries, and these madrassas have been breeding grounds of a steady supply of fighters for the Taliban for 30 years. Pakistan has played a significant role in the war in Afghanistan from the beginning. They not only allow these radical madrassas to exist within their borders, they also allow the Quetta Shura and other ruling councils of the Taliban to exist and operate within their borders. These councils have been the central commands for Taliban forces in the war, directing troop movements, supplies, and missions in Afghanistan from Pakistan. Pakistan has been allowing this to happen for years, despite the fact that we have considered them an ally and give them billions in aid annually. Has Pakistan been an honest ally in the war in Afghanistan, or should we be questioning their motives in allowing our enemies safe haven in their country? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #96.
Islam has been at war since the earliest days of the faith. The Prophet and his followers first made war with the tribes of Arabia, uniting them around himself and his new monotheistic faith, but when he died a succession crises developed and Islam has been at was with Islam ever since. Despite waring with itself and creating many divisions and factions within Islam, they also have a long history of making war with non-muslims and conquering them in the name of Islam. In less than two decades after the death of Mohammad the caliphate had conquered the Persians and the mighty Sasanian Empire, expanding as for east as present-day Pakistan. They also defeated the Roman Empire and conquered Byzantine land in the Levant and North Africa. By the end of the Umayyad Caliphate just 120 years after the death of Mohammad, Islam had expanded to India in the east and to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. They had even pushed the caliphate into Europe. During this time a philosophy emerged in the caliphate that is known as the 'House of Islam and the House of War'. The House of Islam is all of the land under control of the caliphate, and the House of War was all of the world yet to be conquered. How was this philosophy used to justify the conquests of Islam, and how did war within the House of Islam prevent them from conquering much more than they did? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #95.
When news first broke that a vaccine for Covid-19 was around the corner Donald Trump was president and it was a few weeks before the 2020 election. Many people believed President Trump was rushing the vaccine as some sort of "October surprise" to win the election, as if he was the one making the decision about when the vaccine would be ready. There was a lot of distrust and skepticism fed to the public at this time about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, and many of the people who are currently trying to get the public to trust the vaccine were the very people instilling distrust in the vaccine back then. This includes the current President and Vice President of the United States, and many others in mainstream media. Some of these people who doubted the safety of the same vaccine back then have come so far to say it should be mandated today, despite the fact that the vaccine has only been approved under an emergency use authorization and has not received full FDA approval. They say they have tried the carrot, and now it's time for the stick. How are these people hypocrites for changing their stance on the vaccine based on who is president, and how are they tyrants for now supporting mandates for the same vaccine they previously questioned? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #94.
Joe Biden is the second Roman Catholic president in American history, and he wears it on his sleeve. He flaunts his faith more than any president since Jimmy Carter. He regularly attends Catholic Mass wearing his deceased son's rosary beads, and he often comments on how his Catholic faith helped him deal with the loss of his first wife and son, Beau. Unlike Kennedy, America's first Catholic president, Biden seeks to highlight how devout he is to the Catholic faith and how it shapes his presidency, so much so that the media has given him titles such as, "The Church Going President" and many others reflecting his piety. This image of the 'pious president' is being threaten right now by Catholic bishops who say Joe Biden and other Catholic politicians are at odds with the teaching of the Church. Bishops in America have decided to make a formal statement clarifying the Catholic Church's beliefs, which will most likely highlight how out of step Biden and other Catholics are with the teachings of the Church. Joe Biden and many others could be denied communion, the most important sacrament in Catholicism. Is there any precedent for something like this in the history of the Catholic Church, and how could this challenge Catholics on key political issues? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #93.
The game of chess is a competitive board game that developed in Europe in the 15th century. The game evolved from similar and much older games from Asia. However, the main twist on the game of chess is the influence of feudal Europe. The pieces of the chessboard represent the systemic structure of feudalism. The king and queen represent the absolute monarchs of Europe. These monarchs carved out fiefdoms in their kingdoms and established an aristocracy as lords in their realms. These feudal lords are represented by the knights. The rook represents the castles, or castle towers in the kingdom, and the serfs and lowborn in the kingdom are represented by the pawns. The bishop represents the Roman Catholic Church, which played a very significant role in the feudal system. Feudalism never could have existed for as long as it did without the divine right to rule which the church bestowed on European monarchs. It was a business decision for the church, which depended on the monarchs for protection. It was a win/win for everyone except the pawns that suffered under this arrangement. Where did the idea of the bishop originate, and how and why did those early ideas of the bishop change? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #92.
In Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress he said, “We the people are the government. You and I. Not some force in a distant capitol. Not some powerful force that we have no control over. It’s us! It’s ‘We the people’.” This was a profound restatement of the relationship between the American citizen and the American government. Biden was implying the two are synonymous, and that your dreams are the government’s dreams, and your desires are the government’s desires, and that you and the government do the same work and make the same sacrifices to make your dreams and desires a reality. It’s reminiscent of when President Obama said, “You didn’t build that”, implying that the government was there with you making your dreams come true. It’s a far cry from what Ronald Reagan said about the relationship between the individual and the government when he said, “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’” Who is right about this relationship between the people and the government, Biden or Reagan? How does the idea of the separation of church and state prove Joe Biden is wrong, and how do the Bill of Rights also reinforce the fact that the government and the people are separate? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #91.
In the middle of the Third Century the Roman Empire was in decline and on the verge of collapse. Many issues were contributing to the nadir of the great empire. It was a period of political instability, with many usurpers seizing the title of emperor. There were slave and peasant revolts, and parts of the Empire breaking off to declare their independence, which lead to civil wars. There was high taxation, economic depression, and debasement of the currency. All of this weakened the Roman Empire, and the barbarian tribes from the north seized the opportunity to invade. This only added to the crises. Several men worked to restore the Empire beginning with the Emperor Claudius Gothicus in 268, but it wasn't fully restored until the reign of Diocletian nearly 2 decades later. Diocletian initiated many reforms during his reign and created they largest bureaucracy that the Empire had ever known. One such reform that scholars refer to today as 'tetrarchy', was the most notable. It means the rule of four, and it was Diocletian's plan to share power throughout the massive empire. It also laid out a plan for secession to ensure the peaceful transition of power. How were the Founding Fathers of the United States influenced by Diocletian's reforms, and what impact does this history have on our lives today? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #90.
The word “woke” has become part of the English vernacular. You can even find its use in British and Australian media these days. It’s a fairly new word to the proper English speaking world, those who communicate grammatically correct, and use correct syntax and sentence structure. However, if you have spent time around people who speak improper, broken, English you’ve heard the word before. The correct English word is 'awoke', the past tense of 'awake', as in to awaken from a deep sleep. The current use of the word “woke” was originally used to denote a cognitive awareness, a higher state consciousness and intelligence. It was like the red pill moment when you see the world as it really is, yet the word has come to denote something else entirely. Now it’s a word that characterizes the most mindless elements of our society. Wokeness has become a disease and it infects every sector of our society. Every institution from the church, the military, certainly education, sports, business, everything has come under the influence of the woke. Even the CIA and intelligence community is woke now! How has wokeness become a front to protect the existing power structure, and how are those promoting wokeism cowards that are being used to reinforce the existing power structure? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #89.
On the same day the verdict was reached in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, for killing George Floyd while attempting to take him into custody, an unarmed 26 year old California man named Mario Gonzalez lost his life while Alameda police were attempting to take him into custody. The similarities between what happened to Mario Gonzalez and what happened to George Floyd are staggering! However, there are some major differences as well. Some of the similarities are that both men were resisting the officers and where in a struggle. They were both placed in the prone position, handcuffed, and were held down by several officers while knelling on them with their body weight. They both died in that position. Some major differences are that there was no viral cell phone video to capture Gonzalez's last breath. There were no marches, riots, or looting for him either. Gonzalez's death isn't being talked about 24/7 in mainstream media, and there are no demands that the officers be 'held accountable'. It's as if no one cares about Gonzalez outside of his family. One other major difference is that George Floyd was Black and Mario Gonzalez was not, perhaps this difference explains why Floyd's death was more valuable. How do the race pimps decide which cases they are going to exploit and make them high profile, and how are they getting rich by tearing America apart? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #88.
When Black Lives Matter (BLM) cofounder, Patrisse Cullors claimed to be a "trained Marxst" there were many assumptions about what she meant by it. Many believed it meant she and the organization she founded were against the capitalist economic system and were committed to bringing it down. Many believed it meant she and her movement supported the abolition of private property, and the overthrow of the ruling class --- the bourgeoisie. Many took it to mean that she believed in sacrificing personal self interests for the interests of the collective. However, we recently learned it did not mean any of those things. It has recently been discovered that Patrisse Cullors is very fond of capitalism and private property, and she is more interested in her own self interests and those of her family than the interests of the collective. As she put it, the interests of her family are "first and foremost" on her list of priorities. This has come to a surprise to those who don't really understand Marxism, but Cullors is demonstrating the true nature of this dangerous philosophy. As George Orwell forewarned in his brilliant satirical masterpiece, 'Animal Farm': "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." How has Patrisse Cullors managed to anger the most ardent supporters of BLM, and discredit her movement in the process? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #87.
The new election law in Georgia has stirred up a lot of controversy, but many of the criticisms of it have been outright lies. The new statute that is getting the most attention is the law making it a felony to offer food and drinks to people waiting in line to vote. This statute has been propagandized and embellished so much that the true intent of the law has been suffocated in a gasp of lies. Stacey Abrams said of this statute, "It makes it illegal to show compassion." It is hard for me to think of a more ridiculous claim about this statute. In fact, many solid blue states have the same law, including California, New York, and many others. The law actually only makes it illegal for campaigns, or groups campaigning for candidates and issues to serve food and drinks at the polls. It makes a lot of sense when you consider the true intent, but this statute has been intentionally mischaracterized to slander the entire bill, thereby slandering the Republican governor and state legislature. The people telling these lies are using race to further divide the country by resurrecting rhetoric about Jim Crow, and by calling the Georgia bill 'Jim Crow 2.0'. Joe Biden even called it, "Jim Eagle". Whatever that means. What is the real reason they object to this bill, and who is behind the effort to use this to destabilize America? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #86.
With the recent rise in news stories about the spike in attacks on Asians it also raises a few questions about the narrative being promoted. For starters, which group of Asians are being attacked? Asia is the largest continent on the planet. Saudi Arabia is in Asia, Turkey, Iran, Papua New Guinea --- Russia is in Asia! Are they saying that there is a spike in attacks on Russians? They are claiming these are racial hate crimes, but how is Asia a race? Then there's the who, as in who is attacking Asians? A few weeks ago Teaunte Bailey, a 26 year old Black man from Oakland was arrested for the brutal attack and murder of Pak Chung Ho, a 75 year old man from Hong Kong whom Bailey robbed and left brain dead. Bailey was also charged with breaking into a senior living facility to violently rob and attack 72 year old Zhi Cheng Shi, an immigrant from China. It was less about race for Bailey and more about how he saw elderly Asians as easy marks to rob, but most of these attacks have taken place in the urban communities of Oakland, Watts, and Brooklyn. How does that fit the narrative that these attacks are encouraged by White supremacy and Trump saying, "China virus"? Finally, are we supposed to condemn all attacks on Asians, or just some? When Asian reporter Andy Ngo was beaten to near death in the streets Portland, Oregon his story got very little attention, because his attackers were Antifa and we're not supposed to talk about Antifa. Are we to assume that attacks on Asians like Andy are okay? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #85.
The 'Big Lie' is a propaganda technique that was used by the Nazis for political purposes to consolidate power in the 1930's. Adolf Hitler coined the expression while dictating his 1925 book 'Mein Kampf'. He described it as the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". It was not only used to promote a colossal falsehood, but it was also used by the Nazis to accuse a marginalized group of spreading a big lie to further marginalize them within German society. For example, Hitler accused the Jews of spreading the "big lie" that General Ludendorff was responsible for Germany's defeat in WWI. General Ludendorff was a war hero, and it didn't matter if the Jews actually made the claim, or if the claim was true. By accusing the Jews of spreading the 'big lie' it made them easy targets for persecution in Germany. In the United States today, Democrats have resurrected this Nazi tool by claiming Republicans are spreading the 'big lie' that the 2020 election was stolen. They claim the "big lie" is what lead to the well planned, military style, armed attack on the Capitol. However, this claim is full of big lies. Was there a well planned, military style, armed attack on the Capitol, or are we being targeted with very old and sophisticated Nazi propaganda? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #84.
The Ted Cruz scandal is just the latest demonstration of powerful politicians getting caught exercising their elitism. Over the past year several politicians have been busted enjoying pleasures that the rest of us have been unable to enjoy, or advised not to enjoy during the pandemic, sometimes by these very politicians. For example, Governor Gavin Newsome was photographed eating indoors at one of the most decadent and exclusive restaurants in the country after he ordered statewide pandemic restrictions included no indoor dinning. The night after Governor Newsome was caught dinning at the 'French Laundry' the mayor of San Jose, London Breed was caught dinning at the same restaurant. Then Steve Adler, mayor of Austin, Texas urged people not to travel for the holidays due to the pandemic, and then he and a group flew to Cabo San Lucas. The mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, and the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi were both caught getting their hair professionally styled at salons, despite the fact that salons and barbershops were shutdown during the pandemic. These are only a few examples of how the elite and powerful see themselves differently from everyone else, and how they exercise their elitism. What are other examples, and how is elitism a larger problem in America? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #83.
After a group of amateur traders started buying up GameStop stock and driving up the price a lot of people started freaking out. It started in a chatroom on a social media platform called Reddit, and the chatroom was called ‘Wallstreetbets'. The reason people started freaking out was because big hedge funds had bet against GameStop, and these amateurs were costing them billions. That is exactly what the people on Wallstreetbets wanted, to make the big Wall Street guys pay. They were sick of seeing them get rich off of companies going down in flames, and GameStop was a company they had grown up with. When they saw the stock was shorted above 140% they decided to get together and squeeze the big guys. The media called it David vs Goliath, and David was winning. The big hedge funds that had bet against GameStop were on the ropes, and after losing billions they we nearly out of the game for good. Then the electronic trading platforms that these small amateur traders were using to buy the stock stopped allowing them to buy. By doing this they were basically saving the large funds from certain collapse. Why would these brokers shut down buyers to save the big hedge funds, and how does what they did demonstrate that everything is rigged for the big guys? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #82.
The book 'Animal Farm' is a satire and allegory about the Russian Revolution, written by George Orwell in 1945. In the story Orwell uses a farm and the animals to illustrate the harsh circumstances the Russian people lived under before and after the revolution. The owner of the farm is a drunkard named Mr. Jones who mistreats and neglects the animals. Mr. Jones is an allegory of the Romanovs who ruled Russia for 3 centuries, but he is mainly a symbol of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Romanov Emperor who was killed, along with his family during the revolution. Each animal on the farm is used to illustrate different characteristics of workers in Russia after the establishment of the Soviet Union. The donkey, the horse, the cat, and the sheep are all people living under communism, but Orwell uses the pigs to illiterate the leaders of the revolution, the Bolsheviks. The pigs are the smartest animals on the farm, and they represent Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Leon Trotsky. What parallels from this brilliant novel can we relate to our society today? If someone was to write a satire about us using farm animals, who would be the pigs? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #81.
In the wake of the protest at the United States Capitol during the certification of the 2020 presidential election, the nation's corporate tech giants have flexed their muscles even more. These companies had been imposing their will on the American public long before the protest at the Capitol, by censoring users, deleting accounts on social media, blocking payment services and funding, and even blocking news stories from the nation's oldest and longest published newspaper still in circulation. All of these measures and more have been widely used by these corporate tech giants at their discretion in the past four years, but after the protest at the Capitol they have decided, in concert, to use it as an opportunity to demonstrate their brute power even more when it comes to censoring free speech, free thought, and the expression thereof. Many self described 'liberals' have celebrated these draconian actions by claiming that these are private companies, but Amazon demonstrated the immense power of these tech tycoons when they shutdown the services of a smaller private company, thereby eliminating their ability to operate. How are people in power using censorship to consolidate and solidify their power, and why should you be concerned? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #80.
It is impossible to really understand the housing crisis that lead to the Great Recession without understanding the three phases of the crisis: the setup, the execution, and the coverup. Most people miss the big picture about what happened, because they fail to see these three phases as one grand conspiracy. When one does consider these three phases together you quickly realize that what happened was less of a crises and more of an elaborate crime. The architecture and building of the structure that eventually collapsed happened in the 1990's when Bill Clinton was president. This was the setup. The architects that built the structure were Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspand, and Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury, Robert Rubin; along with their two henchmen, Lawrence (Larry) Summers and Timothy Geithner. If the setup could be explained in one word, that word would be 'deregulation'. The plan involved unchaining Wall Street and knocking down walls that had been in place since the 1930's. Many of these regulations had been put in place in response to the Great Depression to prevent another crash. How was the housing bubble created to pop, and how did massive deregulation under Bill Clinton setup the next phase of the crash under George Bush? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #79.
In the 2006 Congressional election Democrats won both houses of Congress. It was the first time one party had won both houses since Republicans did it in 1994. Two years later they increased their control in each house, gaining 21 seats in the House of Representatives, and 8 seats in the Senate. This gave Democrats a 60 seat, filibuster proof, majority in the Senate. Democrats could have passed almost anything they wanted. This is the Congress that President Obama had to work with when he first took his oath of office, after running a campaign on transformative, systemic, hopeful change. Two years later Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives. It was just the beginning. Over the next 6 years Democrats would lose all of the political power that they gained in 2006 and 2008, and then some. Today as President Obama travels the country on his book tour he blames obstruction and the lack of having a Democratic Congress for his failure to achieve the transformative change he promised when he ran in 2008. He says the president in not a king. Who received the most assistance from Obama and Democrats in the two years when they had total legislative power, and was Obama truly committed to the change he promised? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #78.
Many people were surprised that the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the Texas case challenging the 2020 election in four other states, especially considering it was supported by eighteen other state's Attorney Generals and a large majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives. It was a clear cut case of election laws being changed in the four states by parties other than the state's legislative body, which is clearly unconstitutional. However, the High Court refused to even hear the merits of the case and rejected it on standing, stating that each state’s election is that state’s business, and no outsiders can decide a state's election. This opinion was especially surprising when you consider that three Justices on the bench, two that Trump appointed, worked on the legal team for George W. Bush in Bush v Gore, and two other Justices ruled in Bush’s favor in that case. What the Supreme Court was asked to do, and did, in that case was exactly what they ruled Texas has no right to do now. How did President Trump make a mistake by appointing Bush alumni to the Supreme Court and Attorney General, and why can NO ONE be trusted who has the Bush stank on them? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #77.
We are exposed to media all day, everyday. From the moment when we wake up and check email or turn on the radio, to checking our social media account just before we fall asleep, most of us are exposed to thousands of media messages throughout each day. Over 90 percent of the media impressions made on us daily comes from outlets owned by just five multinational corporations known as the 'Big Five'. Whether it is news, entertainment, or advertising it is almost impossible to function in this society without being heavily exposed to the Big Five and their messages. This massive reach into every home, many times each day, is a lot of power, and this power is consolidated in just five multinational corporations. This has the potential to be a big threat! With the power to tell the same story over and over again, across multiple mediums, consolidated in so few hands, the Big Five has the ability to shape their own reality, but so far the only problem seems to be the people who are not willing to believe their reality. How does the Big Five spin news to shape their own reality, and why are many Americans believing an alternative reality? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #76.
The call for unity after a close presidential election is as American as the presidential election itself. Abraham Lincoln called for unity in his first inaugural address saying, "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection." Following Lincoln's call for unity Southern states begin to secede from the Union leading to the American Civil War. Many other newly elected Presidents have also made the call for unity, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and even Donald Trump. Although, as in Lincoln's case those calls seemed to have fallen on deaf ears. Joe Biden is the latest to make the call for unity, even though President Trump has not conceded and there are many legal challenges to the election still working their way through the courts. Biden's calls for unity seem to be as fruitless as those before him, and the loudest voices rejecting his calls seem to be coming from his supporters. However, is Biden actually making a sincere call for unity, or is he just doing it as a strategy to further divide us? How can we know that Biden and his supporters really want unity? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #75.
When Joe Biden first started using the slogan, "Build Back Better" he was quickly accused of plagiarism. Biden had been caught plagiarizing before, and he had to drop out of the 1988 election when it was learned he lifted portions of his campaign speeches from both John F. Kennedy, and then leader of the British Labour Party, Neil Kinnock. However, "Build Back Better" is a slogan currently being widely used by many world leaders, and it is less of a slogan and more of a rallying cry for a global agenda. It is terminology that is commonly used at the United Nations, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Joe Biden picking up on the phrase was not plagiarism. It was a signal that he was on board with the global agenda, and that when he becomes President the United States will be on board. President Trump has been one of the greatest impediments to this global agenda, and Biden was sending the message to the world that in a Biden administration those obstacles would be gone. What is this global agenda to "Build Back Better", and how is Covid-19 being used to achieve these goals? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #74.
President Trump is receiving a lot of pressure to concede the election now that the media has projected Joe Biden the winner. Those applying that pressure are hoping to put the election to bed and avoid a protracted legal dispute in court. President Trump has never been the type to cave under pressure, and he seems posed to do exactly what they fear. In fact, the President has already petitioned the United Sates Supreme Court to intervene on a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to allow ballots to be accepted after the polls closed on Election Day. Justice Samuel Alito has already made the High Court's voice heard by issuing a temporary order requiring Pennsylvania to keep the votes that came in after the election separate from the votes that made the election deadline. The Court is now determining if they will hear the case, and only 4 of the 9 Justices must agree before the case goes before them. If the Court rules in the President's favor the ballots that came in after the polls closed on Election Day will not be part of the official count, and President Trump would win Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes. This is only one scenario out of many legal challenges that the President and his surrogates will bring in the coming days. What are the other issues keeping the President from conceding, and is there a chance that he can still be reelected? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #73.
This year has been one for the ages. It started with the impeachment hearings of the President, only the 3rd time in history that such hearings had taken place. While these hearings were taking place America got it's first case of the novel Covid-19, which soon developed into a pandemic, which lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people globally. In the United States this lead to national lockdowns, job loses, small business closures, depression, suicides, and much more heartache. This has been a very hard year for many Americans, and as we head into the end of the year many are looking for hope and optimism going into 2021. To this Joe Biden says we are heading for a "dark winter". European nations are already returning to national lockdowns, and Joe Biden has already declared he would follow them if he wins. Those hoping for an end to this crazy year and some light at the end of the tunnel would suffer more disappointment in this case. If Biden does win he would usher in the "dark winter" and a very dark future for this nation. How is the media conspiring to help Biden win, and what does it imply about the dark future ahead of us? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #72.
When you go back and listen to Senator Joseph Biden argue for more criminal justice in the 1980's and 90's his rhetoric stands in stark contrast from what we hear from him today as he seeks to become President of the United States for a third time. It is like listening to two completely different people. Back then he put pressure on Republican administrations to increase funding for a national plan for more cops, prosecutors, judges, and prisons. He advocated for stiff sentences for possession of small amounts of drugs and for the punishment of addicts that were hooked on drugs. Today he is doing a different song and dance. He says the criminal justice legislation that he supported, voted for, and even drafted was a mistake. However, he never says it was his mistake. In fact, to this day Biden has taken zero personal responsibility, or offered an apology to hundreds of thousands families that were destroyed by these laws. How could Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's records on criminal justice come back to haunt them in the 2020 election, and what are the early signs that they will struggle with voters of color because of their records? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #71.
When President Trump accused Joe Biden of calling Black youths "Super Predators" in the debate many people assumed he was telling a falsehood, or making a mistake. Most Americans were unaware of the disparaging remarks Joe Biden made about Americans he admitted were "victims of society", many of these were poor, urban, Blacks that would be victimized further by the 1994 Crime Bill. Biden did call them "predators". He said, "unless we do something about that cadre of young people, tens of thousands of them, born out of wedlock, without parents, without any conscience developing... they will, or a portion of them will, become predators 15 years from now... we have predators on our streets... we have no choice but to take them out of society." These were not just words. As a lawmaker Biden would back up these words with a law that would do exactly what he said. However, Biden never actually used the phase "Super Predator". That was Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill Clinton signed Biden's law. It's possible that President Trump made a mistake, but it's also possible that he intentionally included the "super" to draw more attention to Biden's more disturbing statements. How were the Clinton's the even greater predators at that time, and how did they, along with Joe Biden help to create the systemic racism he now says he will fight? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #70.
The United States started seeing cocaine on it's streets in the early 1970's. It was smuggled into the county through South Florida by Cuban exiles working with Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel. In those days cocaine was an expensive luxury drug enjoyed by rich and middle-class Americans; the stockbroker who does a few bumps to ease the pressure of the job, or the socialite that liked doing a few lines and dancing all night at the disco. In the 1980's that started to changed. The supply of cocaine on American streets started to increase exponentially, and the price dropped drastically. When crack came on the scene in 1985 it made it possible for common Americans to enjoy the high of cocaine. It was epidemic! The community that was hit hardest by this epidemic was Black America, which was still recovering from generations of poverty and oppression. The crack cocaine epidemic led to a crime epidemic in poor Black communities, which led to an outcry for law and order. In 1986 Congress answered those cries with legislation that was meant to fix the problem. It ended up creating even more problems for Black America. What was the source of the massaive increase of cocaine in the United States in the 1980's, and how did it lead to "The New Jim Crow"? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #69.
When Richard Nixon resigned in the middle of his second term the Republican brand was at its lowest point since the founding of the party. The party was associated with scandal and had lost trust with the American people. However, when Ronald Reagan was elected 6 years later it was a chance to show the American people that the party had changed. When the Iran-Contra scandal broke in the middle of Reagan's second term it not only threatened his presidency and his cabinet, but the integrity of the entire party was at stake. The Iran-Contra scandal had the potential to make Ronald Reagan the second consecutive Republican President elected to resign or be impeached because of a scandal. Both scandals involved presidential abuses of power, and nefarious activities by the CIA. The CIA was also distrusted, and had a brand problem after an airing of their dirty laundry in the 1975 Church Committee hearings. The Iran-Contra scandal had the potential to bring even more scrutiny on the agency. What is the Iran-Contra scandal, and how did the Reagan administration and CIA avoid being held accountable for it? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #68.
The Eighties decade was a transformative decade for the United States, but in 1980 when the decade started all of the problems the nation faced at the close of the Seventies were still pervasive. These were the problems the Reagan administration sought to overcome when they came to power in 1981. Domestically, most of those problems were economic issues, and Reagan was bringing a bold and aggressive plan to deal with it. His plan was to lower the marginal tax rates, deregulation, and to decrease government spending, excluding the military which would see a massive increase in spending under Reagan. This created an explosion of new wealth for investors and top earners, but it did little to stimulate upward mobility for Americans at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale. This economic philosophy was often referred to as Trickle-down economics, but in hindsight many question if the policy actually did more to increase wealth inequality and poverty in the United States. Looking back now, what were the longterm effects of Reaganomics, and how did it set the nation on a new course in our values? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #67.
When Ronald Reagan won the 1980 election it was called the Reagan Revolution, but it wasn't a revolution only because he defeated Jimmy Carter. The platform that Reagan ran on was also revolutionary for the Republican Party. Before Reagan won the Republican nomination for president that year the party had been dominated by a northeastern elite known as Rockefeller Republicans. This business and banking elite controlled the Republican Party since the Eisenhower administration and they were a powerful force in American politics. It was believed they were defeated for good in 1964 when Arizona Senator, Barry Goldwater won the Republican nomination on new conservative platform. However, in 1968 Richard Nixon, a Rockefeller Republican won the nomination and the presidency. When Nixon resigned in 1974 and was replaced by Gerald Ford, a Rockefeller Republican, Ford made Nelson Rockefeller his Vice President. In 1976 California Governor Ronald Reagan, challenged Ford for the nomination running on a similar conservative platform as Barry Goldwater. Reagan was narrowly defeated at the convention, but ran again in 1980 and easily won the nomination and the presidency. Many people believed that Reagan's win dealt the deathblow to Rockefeller Republicans, but is that true? What happened to the Rockefeller Republicans after the Reagan Revolution? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #66.
The Civil Rights movement in the 50's and 60's was rooted in the Black Christian Church. Before Twitter and Facebook organizers would mobilize activist in Churches for demonstrations, protests, and to strategize. This meant the principles of the movement were rooted in Christian values, which meant a commitment to dignity, character, equality for all, and nonviolence. These values are in stark contrast to the values of the Black Lives Matter movement currently inflaming the world. That's because it's based on a totally different ideology than the Christian values that won Black America so many achievements in the 50's and 60's. The BLM movement is fueled by many different ideologies, and the founders have admitted that a foundational ideology is Marxism. However, there is an even more prevalent ideology in the Black community that is fueling the current unrest, and it is an equally troubling philosophy as Marxism -- perhaps more! What is this dangerous philosophy and how did it find a home in the Black community, and how is it manifesting itself in the Black Lives Matter movement? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #65.
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr delivered his famous, "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. It had been about a decade since the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and Black America had come a long way in ending segregation, Jim Crow, and disenfranchisement at the polls. In the years ahead MLK would see the passage of a Civil Rights Act, including Fair Housing, and a Voting Rights Act. It was a very promising decade for Black America. It was like after centuries of being held down and held back the shackles were finally off, and Black America would be able to compete for the American dream. However, after all of that success, in an interview in 1967 King admitted he was less hopeful about the future of Black America than he had been on that day in August of 1963. He said his dream had become a nightmare, and events of recent years had forced him to reevaluate his optimism and take a different look at the world around him. Eleven months later he would be killed by an assassin's bullet. What were the events that made King less hopeful, and what was the sobering reality that forced him reevaluate his optimism? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #64.
America has had many different political parties in its 232 year history. We had the Know Nothing Party, the Socialist Party, the Green Party, and many others. One lesser known party from the 1830’s was the Anti-Masonic Party. It was a precursor of the Republican Party, and as their name suggests they were dedicated to rooting out the influence of Free Masonry in government. They believed the secrecy of the Masonic Order was dangerous and that through the influence of Free Masons in high positions the society was too powerful. Republican congressmen, Thaddeus Stevens, was the leading voice for the abolition of slavery during the Civil War. He had also been a former member of the Anti-Masonic party. He said about Free Masons in government in the mid-19th century, that they had "contrived by concert" to place themselves into most of the positions of high profit and power. The Anti-Masonic Party may not be around today, but the threat they feared of secret societies such as Free Masonry controlling the government may be alive and thriving. Is there any evidence that a secret society is controlling public policy in America? If so, what does it mean for you and your family? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #63.
There is an evil empire on planet earth that seeks to enslave every man, woman, and child on this planet, and usher in a ‘New Order of the Ages’. In the words of the late President John F. Kennedy, this evil empire is “monolithic and ruthless”, and “relies primarily on covert means for expanding it’s sphere of influence — on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.” He said, “Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised.” The force behind this evil empire is an age old religion and dark spiritual concepts of the mysteries, one of which is the idea that order comes from chaos. How is this evil empire using the current chaos in our nation and world to usher in the new world order it is seeking, and how are the mobs in the streets aiding this evil empire in its efforts? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #62.
In the 1964 presidential election Democrat, Lyndon Baines Johnson received 94 percent of the African American vote in his landslide rout of Barry Goldwater. It was the highest percentage of Black vote that any presidential candidate had ever received at that time. Democrats had been receiving a plurality of the Black vote since 1932, when FDR received 71 percent in his defeat of Herbert Hoover. He did about the same in his following two reelections, and Harry Truman received 77 percent in 1948. Johnson would hold that record until 2008, when Obama received a whopping 96 percent of the Black vote. Since Obama broke Johnson’s record Black support for Democrats has been in decline. Obama received 92 percent in his reelection, and Clinton received 90 percent in her 2016 defeat. Many Black voters are demanding much more in exchange for their vote in 2020. To these demands Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democrat nominee, says Black voters having trouble deciding between him and his Republican opponent “ain’t Black”! Why are Biden's comments so offensive to Black voters, and will his comments help or hurt him with Black turnout in November? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #61.
The word “whataboutism” was created to gaslight Trump supporters who answer criticisms of Trump by saying “what about Obama?” However, now that Joe Biden is being accused of sexual assault the same people say “what about Trump?” The narrative goes like this, President Trump has been accused of sexual misconduct or sexual assault by over 20 women and he is still president, so why would it matter that Joe Biden has been accused by only one woman? It’s not that they don’t believe Tara Reade, who has accused Joe Biden of forcibly penetrating her with his fingers when she worked in Biden’s senate office in 1993, they just don’t care. Many prominent Democrat law makers and surrogates have openly stated that they believe Reide, but plan on voting for Biden regardless. These same people said a 36 year old sexual assault accusation against Bret Kavanaugh made him ineligible to sit on the Sepreme Court. Others have stated they don’t believe Reade, despite saying all women must always be believed during the Kavanaugh conformation. These people are hypocrites! How has this hypocrisy damaged the credibility of the Democrat Party when it comes to protecting survivors of sexual abuse? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #60.
There are two competing theories on how to win the fight against the novel coronavirus right now, but most Americans only know about one of them. Prominent doctors and specialist from prestigious institutions around the world are on both sides of this debate. However, in the United States there isn’t much of a debate, because only one of these theories is being considered. The orthodox theory is ‘flattening the curve’, which means mandatory quarantines for the entire population, shutting down businesses and schools, and social distancing. The other theory is being called, ‘herd immunity’. Herd immunity is basically a less restrictive approach to socialization in an effort to build a natural immunity to the virus for the entire population. Herd immunity is not only heresy, the doctors promoting this theory and their followers are being considered heretics. How is the censorship of doctors and the suppression of the free flow of ideas impeding progress in the fight against Covid-19, and how is it causing confusion among the population? Is there any justification for suspicion about hidden agendas of those restricting open debate? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #59.
When Covid-19 started to spread beyond the boarders of China, and into over 150 nations around the world, many different strategies were employed to fight it. The novel virus had never been seen before and there was no textbook or set criteria for battling it. This lead to a verity of different tactics by nations hit hard in the early spread. Some of the measures were unconventional and risky, and were actions taken out of pure desperation in an effort to save lives. The success of these desperate measures taken by nations affected in the early spread was not only going to be important in saving lives in those nations, but they would also provide examples for nations affected later by the spread. For example, South Korea's repurposing an old Malaria drug to treat the virus was very successful. As the virus began to spread around the world they shared their success using hydroxychloroquine with the world, and many doctors began to replicate their treatment. It was very promising, until the President of United States praised the drug as a possible "game changer". He was excoriated by the media and accused of peddling false hope. He was also accused of having a financial stake in the promotion of the drug. How did the media politicize hydroxychloroquine and what is the real story about the effectiveness of this drug in battling Covid-19? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #58.
We have learned a great deal about epidemics and infectious diseases in the past century, and how to battle them. We have placed an emphasis on public health to minimize risks and set standards for hygiene, sterilization, and disinfection to prevent foodborne contamination. We have developed fields of science to better understand harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, diseases, and how they are transmitted during an outbreak, and different fields to better understand our immune systems and vaccines to control outbreaks. We have also developed cutting edge first response measures to quickly isolate and quarantine to mitigate outbreaks. These are just a few of the measures we have developed in order to keep our communities safe, but none of those measures seem to have been effective in the early weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak. This is because it started in Communist China. How did China uses disinformation to cover up the outbreak in the crucial early weeks, and how are they still using disinformation today? How could more accurate information in the early weeks have helped to prevent to global spread of the disease? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #57.
The virus crippling the planet at this time in a global pandemic, the one that has shut down the world economy, crashed markets and tanked entire industries, the virus that has spread to over 120 countries and killed over 10,000 people worldwide thus far, that virus began in the Hubei province of the People's Republic of China, in the capital city of Wuhan. Although, if you call this virus a Chinese virus it is xenophobic and racist according to the Chinese government. It "stigmatizes" them, said one Chinese foreign minister. It is not surprising to see the Chinese government play this card and try to divert responsibility for the spread of this disease, but it is astonishing to see the media in the United States assist the Chinese government in this endeavor. It is like the American media is the propaganda arm of the Chinese government. How much influence does China have in American media, sports, and entertainment, and how does that influence work to sanitize the image of China in the minds of the American public? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #56.
Joe Biden had a spectacular change in fortunes this week in his quest to become President of the United States. His journey on this quest began in 1988, and he ran again in 2008. However, after coming in forth and fifth in two of the first three contest this year, it wasn't until South Carolina last Saturday that he won his first primary. Then 48 hours later he followed by winning 10 more states, and became the new frontrunner for the nomination. The bulk of the support leading to Biden's dramatic rebound came from African American voters where he earned a staggering 62 percent of the 'black vote' in Southern states. Yet, the Democrat nominee will need to win 92 percent of the black vote in swing states in November to take back the White House. That means Joe Biden will need to turnout 30 percent more black voters this fall to become President. Can it be done, or does Biden have a ceiling with black voters? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #55.
Exit polls from the first two primary contests in Iowa and New Hampshire showed that the number one issue for Democrat voters was defeating President Trump, and finding a candidate who can do it was most important. It's not surprising. This has been the leading issue for Democrats since the day Trump was elected, and they have sought to remove him from office since the day he was sworn in. Many times Democrats have believed they had found the One who could take down President Trump just to be let down when it's learned they had not. None of them has been able to get the job done! Now Democrats have latched on to a new champion, and many believe he is the man for the job. Who is this new champion, and can he really defeat President Trump, or will he be just the latest to shatter the hopes of disaffected Democrats? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #54.
Mitt Romney was the only Republican in both Houses of Congress to vote with Democrats to impeach the president. In doing so he became the first Senator in American history to vote to remove a president from office in his own Party, and thus made history. He said requesting an investigation from a foreign power into Joe Biden, a political rival, was “an appalling abuse of public trust”. He said what the president did was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values. It was “grievously wrong”, according to Romney, and because he is such a religious man, he was bound by the oath he made to his god to defend the Constitution. He said his inescapable conviction demanded that he vote to convict the president. However, could Romney have had other motives, and what might those motives be? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #53.
For the third time in American history the Senate is hearing arguments into the impeachment of the President of the United States, the second time in twenty-two years. Now that the House has finally transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate after over a month delay, there is a lot of talk about a “fair trial” in the Senate. However, the way the impeachment proceedings started in the House of Representatives was anything but fair, and the decorum and solemnness expected in the Senate was nothing like what we saw in the House. Now they want everything to be fair, and dignified, and prestigious. Just how fair was the Republican minority treated during the impeachment proceedings in the House? How did Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler, both now House managers in the Senate proceedings comport themselves as Chairs of the two committees that oversaw the impeachment in the House? Were they fair? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #52.
Proxy Wars are guerilla wars carried out by militias that are secretly sponsored by a nation state. Nations can use proxy armies for many different political objectives, and it allows the state sponsor to achieve a political objective without being known. The guerilla armies are like puppets and the nation states are pulling the strings. Iran has been a state sponsor of proxy wars for many years, so has Saudi Arabia. Many other nations have participated in proxy war. The United States itself has sponsored many proxy armies. However, it was attacks on US bases and consulates in Iraq, by proxy armies sponsored by Iran, which led to the assassination of the Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani. What are the events and issues that lead to the strike on Soleimani, and how did his role in leading proxy wars in the region contribute to the decision by President Trump to take him out? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #51.
After Christianity Today published their article calling for Trump’s removal from office the media quickly embraced it as a talking point. Mark Galli, the author, made the rounds on multiple platforms over the weekend before Christmas to further elaborate on his opinion that President Trump may be good on pro life policy, and he nominates conservative judges like he promised, but Christians should support his removal from office because of his immorality. In his article Galli writes, “the facts in this instance are unambiguous: The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.” Are these facts unambiguous, and do the facts support the premise that Christians are supporting President Trump’s immorality by not supporting his impeachment? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #50.
A conspiracy is two or more people agreeing to commit a crime or some other nefarious act. A conspiracy theory is a theory about two or more people agreeing to commit a crime or some other nefarious act. A debunked conspiracy theory is a disproven theory about two or more people agreeing to commit a crime or some other nefarious act that can be easily disproven with evidence and known facts. There hasn’t been a more elaborate conspiracy theory in recent history than the theory that Vladimir Putin, Julian Assange, Tulsi Gabbard, Mitch McConnell (Moscow Mitch), Tucker Carlson, President Trump, and many others are all involved in a plot to destroy America and bring down the Republic. There are millions of Americans that believe this theory, and they are being lead to believe it by Democrats and the mainstream media. What are the facts that support this conspiracy theory, and can this theory be debunked? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #49.
During the public testimony in the impeachment investigation Democrats did not ask many questions about President Trump’s request for a “favor” in his July phone call with President Zelensky. The favor was a request for help in an investigation into Crowdstrike and in locating the missing DNC servers that Russians supposedly hacked in 2016. A few Democrats did bring it up, but only to referrer to it as a “debunked conspiracy theory”. Is it a debunked conspiracy theory? James Comey testified that the FBI never got their hands on the actual DNC hardware in their investigation, neither has any other government or independent agency. The only investigators that have ever been allowed to inspect the actual DNC hardware is the private firm hired by the DNC, Crowdstrike. If Crowdstrike did not transport the servers to Ukraine, where are they, and why can't they be inspected by independent investigators? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #48.
In the early stages of the development of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) President Obama told the New Yorker Magazine about the terrorist organization, “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,” It was a major understatement and miscalculation of the situation in Syria. By the time Obama realized the level of his underestimate ISIS had grown into a large army and were taking over areas in Northern Iraq and Syria. Not only did Obama fail to realize the significance of their development. He also helped aide in their development by his support of Sunni rebels in Syria in their fight to overthrow Bashar al Assad. Was the evolution of Islamic State preventable, and could the Obama administration have defeated them before they became a larger problem? How did Obama's policy of regime change in Syria and his decision to arm Sunni rebels aid in the development and strengthening of the Islamic State? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #47.
If you are a regular consumer of mainstream "news" you might have thought the Russia investigation was over. You might have thought that once Robert Mueller shut down his investigation, issued his report, and testified before Congress, it was done. You might have also been surprised last week to learn there is an active investigation being conducted by the Attorney General into the origins of the Russiagate hoax in the 2016 election, or that this investigation is at the center of the Ukrainegate scandal being used to build support for impeaching the president. However, if you are a regular consumer of mainstream "news" you may not know that yet, because the media and Democrats are doing everything in their power to confuse the public into believing the investigation into the origins of Russiagate is actually an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. How is the investigation into the 2016 election and Russiagate being conflated with an investigation into Biden and the 2020 election, and why are some intentionally causing this confusion? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #46.
One week before the Ukrainegate story first broke in the Washington Post the House Judiciary Committee Chair, Jerry Nadler announced that his committee had began impeachment investigations. He said they were looking into several issues that went beyond the Mueller investigation, and they were determining whether or not to recommend articles of impeachment to the House. Later that day, a week before the Ukrainegate story broke, House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was asked if she agreed with Nadler and had the impeachment inquiry begun? She confirmed the investigations had been on the way for months! However, she was reluctant to call the investigations “impeachment” investigations. After the Ukrainegate story was made public she gave a national address stating she had agreed to finally call the existing investigations an impeachment inquiry. What influenced the House Speaker to finally start calling the existing investigations an impeachment inquiry, and has anything actually changed other than that she is now calling them “impeachment”? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #45.
Two female New York Times opinion columnist wrote a book about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s upbringing and his time in grade school and college. To promote the launch of their new book they wrote a PR essay that was published in the opinion column of the New York Times. In this essay they make an accusation that Justice Kavanaugh flashed a girl at a wild party while they were in college at Yale. However, in this PR column they leave out the important fact that the “victim” of this supposed attack didn’t remember the incident, and before they could correct the record Democrat candidates for president began to call for Kavanaugh’s impeachment. Why are Democrats so eager to impeach anyone on the slimmest evidence, and before all the facts are concluded? How will this incessant obsession to impeach everyone hurt them in 2020? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #44.
Recent polls show President Trump’s approval rating has dipped into the thirties, and the same polls show him losing head to head to Biden, Sanders, Warren, Harris, and even Pete Buttigieg. This should be welcomed news for Democrats and give them a lot of confidence going into 2020. However, many prominent Democrats are still very worried behind the scenes. What worries them is that the Overton Window has noticeably shifted to the fringes of the Left in the Democratic Party, and their eventual candidate will be out of touch, even for centrist within their own Party. What worries these centrist Democrats the most about the fringe Left and ‘Twitter Mob’ driving policy in the Party, and how are 2020 candidates making a mistake by trying to appeal to them?
Everyone knows the Washington Post and New York times are the newspapers of record. If the Washington Post or the New York Times makes a claim it is reported as a fact by subordinate news outlets whether it is indeed a fact, or not. However, sometimes these two papers do not get it right and instead of fact checking these papers, networks and subordinate news outlets continue to echo the misinformation as a fact. It’s an interesting phenomenon, because for the past three years these two papers have been keeping a running tally of all of the exaggerations, misleading statements, and lies from President Trump, but one must ask, who is fact checking the fact checkers? How trustworthy is the tally of President Trump’s “lies”, and how does his tally compare to other presidents such as his predecessor, Barak Obama? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #42.
For three years we have heard that Donald Trump is a Russian agent and virtual manchurian president taking orders from Vladimir Putin. For longer than that we have heard that Donald Trump is a raving racist, a white supremacist, and white nationalist. By now these accusations should be ridiculous to rational, thinking, people. The Russia narrative has been investigated by Congress, the FBI, a Special Council, and no conspiracy has been discovered. The racism trope has become boresome and equally ineffective at delivering the knock out blow to President Trump. Now his rivals have latched on to another (R) word in an attempt to damage him politically: 'RECESSION'! How effective will this new tactic be, and is there a real threat of a recession? How is the trade war with China fueling the fears of a recession? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #41.
The winds of populism are sweeping the globe, and the elite seem to have only one tool to combat it. No matter if it is the National Front in France or the Brexit movement in England, it's always the same. It doesn't matter if it's the election of Jair Balsonaro in Brazil, or the election of Donald Trump in America the narrative is always, they're bigoted, xenophobic, and racist! However, Democrats in the United States are having a difficult time shaping this narrative in their bid to prevent President Trump's reelection in 2020. Why will Democrats have a difficult time playing the racism card next year, and how can it backfire on them? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #40.
Now that the Robert Mueller investigation is in the dustbin of history what have we learned? The entire ordeal ended with a wimpier in a sad last ditch effort in the House of Representatives to get Mueller to testify to something that could be used to impeach the president. Mueller testified a total of 6 hours in front of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, and apart from destroying his own credibility and legacy, he did little to assist the Democrats in those committees in their goal of convincing the rest of their caucus to support launching impeachment hearings. We learned Robert Mueller had a tenuous grasp of key elements of his report and he may not have been in charge of the investigation. If Mueller wasn't in charge, who was, and did they have any conflicts of interests? What are some of the major concerns with the final report, and how did Mueller answer tough questions about those concerns? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #39.
Democrats and the media have yet again latched onto one of President Trump's tweets as evidence that he is racist. The tweet uses no names, no races or colors, no culture or ethnicity, and no specific nation or government, but it is still being called "racist". The tweet does mention "Progressive Democrat Congresswomen" and suggest they take their progressive political ideas to "the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how [it's done]." This is NOT racist. It's brilliant! If the radical ideas that are being promoted by "progressives" in the Democrat Party are so great for America there should be evidence of these ideas working in other parts of the world. This would give America successful examples to emulate. What was the full context of the president's tweet, and how did the Democrats and media try to spin it to frame him as a racist? How is it backfiring on them? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #38.
Every issue seems to be viewed through the lens of race, gender, and identity for Democrats. Whether it’s the crisis at the border and the current immigration discussion, or the issue of abortion and the pro life/pro choice debate, all issues come down to identity. In fact, you’re not even allowed to have an opinion about an issue if you are the wrong race or sex without being called and racist, or a sexist. However, the tables have turned and the seeds of identity politics are sprouting weeds in their garden, with accusations of racism now being hurled at prominent Democrats. Will the focus on race and identity be more of a help or hindrance for Democrats in the 2020 election, and how can they quiet the loud voices within their ranks that are agitating the status quo? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #37.
When President Trump first made the claim that the Obama administration spied on him and his transition team he was laughed at and ridiculed in the media. They said the president was making it up and that there was no evidence confirming the claim. When evidence was produced that the president was correct and not only were his “wires tapped”, but human spies also targeted his team, their story changed. Democrats and the media began to admit the spying had occurred, but they insisted it was legal and done by the book. How many spies targeted the Trump team, who were they, and what role did they play in the surveillance? What was the total extent of the spying, as we know it, and was it done by the book and legal, or was it legalish? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #35.
The first time the American public learned about Spygate was on March 4, 2017 when President Trump tweeted, 'Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory.' Although the spying/surveillance on Trump’s campaign and transition team had been widely reported before that tweet, it didn’t become news until then. The media reported it as just another Trump lie. They said it was completely unverified and there was no evidence to support the claim. Yet, even if they were ridiculing the president they were still reporting it. This made the American people aware, and once it was part of the lexicon it would only be a matter of time before it was confirmed to be true. The Obama administration had, indeed, spied on the president. What is the context of the timeline surrounding the Spygate revelations, and how does it show political intentions? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #34.
Russiagate is the scandal that has rocked the United States of America for the past two and a half years. It proposes that Russia organized a multifaceted influence campaign during the 2016 election to manipulate American voters into voting for Donald Trump, and not to vote for Hillary Clinton. The scandal proposes that Vladimir Putin personally ordered the campaign and that Donald Trump conspired with Russia to get elected. It also proposes that Donald Trump would not be president today without the help from Russia. Regardless of if this is all true or not, the scandal is marked by the public outrage. However, there are new scandals simmering that will shed new light on Russiagate. Spygate, and possibly Obamagate, threaten to uncover unknown origins of Russiagate, and they have the potential of being even greater scandals. What is Spygate? What is Obamagate, and how do they relate to Russiagate? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #33.
The United Nations was founded after the Second World War for the purpose of preventing future world wars. It’s founding was celebrated as a modern form of the Peace of Westphalia. When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 the United Nations rallied to support President George H.W. Bush in the Gulf War to push Saddam’s forces back into Iraq. After the September 11th attacks in 2001 the United Nations rallied behind Bush’s son in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban and establish a new government. However, when George Bush Jr. attempted to parlay that support into support for an invasion of Iraq to change the regime the United Nations did not comply. What was the case the Bush administration made to the United Nations for the need to invade Iraq, and why did member states refuse join the mission? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #32.
In 2001 when the Bush administration began to make it's case to frame Saddam Hussein with Weapons of Mass Destruction it was an easy case for them to make. Saddam was a bad guy! He was a brutal dictator who had invaded one neighbor and used chemical weapons on two others. He violated numerous United Nations resolutions after the Gulf War, and he had restricted UN inspectors from entering his country. He was guilty of many horrible things, however he was not guilty of the central case Bush used to frame him and invade his country. That charge was that Saddam Hussein had an ongoing nuclear program and there was a threat of an Iraqi lead nuclear attack. How did the framing of Saddam Hussein take shape, and what can we learn from it to help us better understand Spygate today? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #31.
We have been told that Russia initiated a multipronged attack on America in the 2016 general election. We have been told they hacked the DNC, John Podesta, and other high ranking Democrats, and then published damaging information through DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0. They also secretly passed off the damaging information to WikiLeaks where it was also published at opportune times during the campaign. We are told they used media arms that operate legally in the United States, such as Spudnik International and Russia Today (RT) to sow discord in America and cause Americans to lose trust in democracy and democratic institutions. However, it was their activity on social media, particularly on Facebook, that Deputy DCI Mike Morell equated to the intelligence failures that led to 9/11. What was the extent of this activity on Facebook, and was it really enough to have a impact on the election? Was it really even Russia that was responsible, and how do we know it was Russia, as we are told? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #29.
The anxiety in America during the Cold War was real and palpable. It could be felt in every sector of American society. Americans were concerned with Communism, Communist propaganda, and an active Communist movement within the United States. However, what Americans feared most was the threat of nuclear war. It was dubbed the “Red Scare”. The Cold War has been over for 30 years. We won. The Soviet Union is no more. Yet, there is a new anxiety in America in regards to Russia on the rise, a new “Red Scare”. What are the bases of this renewed Red Scare and is it founded? Are there legitimate reasons to be skeptical of those who are propagating this renewed hysteria? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #28.
The twenty-two-month Russia investigation is finally completed and the long awaited report has been handed off to Attorney General, Bill Barr. Barr has issued a preliminary synopsis of the report and the findings confirm what two separate Congressional investigations have already concluded, ‘No Collusion’. After two years of prominent Democrats and many in the media telling the American people the Mueller investigation would find collusion, we learned this weekend that is not the case. Now, those same people are charging that the president obstructed justice by attempting to impede the investigation. What evidence do they have that the president attempted obstruct the investigation, and why didn’t Mueller indict the president on obstruction if the evidence exists? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #27.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee released transcripts of sworn testimony that FBI lawyer, Lisa Page, gave to them in a closed door hearing. They plan on methodically releasing Page's testimony, along with the testimony of others who testified privately. As one member stated, they plan on releasing it in small, easily digestible, pieces so that the American people can get a better understanding of the Russia investigation, and the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as Secretary of State. It has already produced some explosive facts! What have we learned so for from Lisa Page's sworn testimony, and how does it contradict what we have previously been told? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #26.
The roots of modern populism in America go back to the early 1990s with rightwing populist leaders such as Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot. There were many issues driving these movements, but the biggest was the issue of trade. Move forward to the end of the decade when leftwing populism manifested itself during the World Trade protest in Seattle in 1999, and then in the Ralph Nader campaign a year later. Today populism in America is reflected in the Trump movement from the Right, and the movement being lead by Bernie Sanders on the Left. How are these two movements different and what do they have in common? What is the consistent theme from early populism in the 90s that still exist today? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #25.
This Jussie Smollett story has a lot of angles, but essentially it’s a story about a troubled man who wanted to be seen as a victim of a hate crime by a Trump supporter. He gave it two attempts, and became angry when the first attempt to mail himself a threating letter didn’t received the attention he hoped. He then planned the more elaborate scheme to pay two men to attack him, pour bleach on him, and tie a rope around his neck, all while berating him with racist and gay slurs, and of course the important line, “this MAGA country”. What are the facts surrounding this story, and how does Jussie’s account of the story differ from the story Cook County prosecutor’s? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #23.
No one can deny that the Grand Ole Party has gone through a transformation in the past decade, from the neoconservative movement to the Republican Party currently being lead by President Trump. Yet, the vestiges of the neocon faction remain and they are actively working to subvert the current republican movement. It started with the ‘Never Trump’ call to prevent him from winning the nomination, and many prominent ‘Never Trump’ republicans publicly announced their support for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in the 2016 election. How are they currently trying to undermine Trump’s agenda and possibly prevent his reelection? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #22.
When Fareed Zakaria released his book “Post America World” at the end of the of the Bush administration in 2008 the nation was at the beginning of the Great Recession. The nation was engaged two wars, both with no end in sight. Meanwhile, as he writes, the rest of the world was advancing, and becoming more modern and competitive. Countries such as China, India, and Brazil seem do be going in opposite directions than the United States, according to Zakaria, and they would soon be a challenge to America’s global hegemony. Why has America declined in the past 20 years, while competing nations have advanced? Were the issues that led to this decline unavoidable, or self inflicted? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #21.
When Donald Trump launched his campaign for president with the slogan ‘Make America Great Again (MAGA)’ it was like a beacon of light to Americans who believed the nation was on the wrong track. Many of these people were the same Americans who believed the nation was on the wrong track in 2008, when they voted for Obama who ran on the campaign slogan ‘Change you can believe in’. However, the MAGA slogan, and especially the red MAGA hat, has been an emotional trigger for many of President Trump’s detractors. Why did the MAGA slogan resonate so intently with Trump’s voters, and why does it conjure such intense disdain from his detractors? When was America great? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #20.
Roger Stone has been indicted and arrested by the Grand Jury in the Mueller investigation. In the early morning a 29-man swat team with automatic weapons, boats, and a helicopter raided Stone’s home and took him into custody. The entire spectacle was captured by CNN, who just happened to be at Stone’s house to document the arrest for the world. Stone was later released on a signature bond. He maintains his innocence and remains defiant. He says he plans on mounting an aggressive defense. Why was Roger Stone indicted, and what does it have to do with the President and the Russia collusion investigation? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #19.
The key to understanding the significance of John Podesta’s emails, from his personal Gmail account, being leaked to the world by WikiLeaks, is understanding who John Podesta is. He was the Chief of Staff to President Clinton, and a chief advisor to President Obama. He was the Chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, and was on track to become Chief of Staff in the Hillary Clinton administration. He and his brother Tony Podesta started as lobbyist, and they have been major political influencers in Washington D.C for 40 years. The leaked emails from Podesta’s Gmail account were a treasure trove of insider information and more. What are some of the things we learned from Podesta’s emails and what impact did it have on the 2016 election? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #18.
The digital information age has made it easier for governments to spy on their people. It has made it easier for corporations to track us and sell us products. Yet, the technological advancements of the information age have also made it easier for average everyday individuals to fight back against corrupt and unjust people in power. Hackers from around the world, whistleblowers who leak from within, information that could take down the masters of the universe can be placed on a thumb drive and slipped into a pocket. Since 2007, WikiLeaks has been the equalizer in this endeavor as a platform for sharing this powerful information with the world. What significant leaks has WikiLeaks shared with the world, and how have those leaks made WikiLeaks and Julian Assange the enemy of many governments and people in power? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #17.
It is a common belief among less cynical people that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was an intelligence blunder, a mistake. They believe President Bush was just trying to protect America after the September 11 attacks, and he was acting on faulty intelligence. Nothing could be further from the truth. The push to war in Iraq was a diabolical and cleverly crafted scheme. President Bush wasn’t acting on faulty intelligence. His Vice President and the Neocons in his circle were crafting intelligence and propaganda to sell the Iraq WMD threat to the American people and world. How was the intelligence community used to sell the Iraq invasion, and how are they being used again today to sell the Russia meddling narrative? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #16.
Unfortunately, corruption and malfeasance is endemic in human institutions and organizations. Perhaps it has something to do with humanity. However, it is also human to have a conscience, and to want to expose corruption and abuses of power when you are in a position to do so, and for a greater human good. This is the role of the whistleblower. There are many examples of corporate and institutional corruptions that have been exposed by brave souls who risks everything to blow the whistle. The whistleblower has been viewed as such an essential part of our society that they have been given the same rights and protections as the press. How has one American president gone beyond others in prosecuting whistleblowers? How has WikiLeaks helped whistleblowers stay anonymous? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #15.
When President Kennedy gave a speech to the American Newspaper Publishers Association in 1961, just a week after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, he asked them to take on the tremendous task of informing the American people. Despite the lack of an official declaration of war, he also asked them to employ wartime disciplines in protecting national security. He said with respect to every story ask, “Is it news?” He also suggested they ask, “Is it in the interest of the national security?” He implied all information should be available to the public in a free and open society unless it falls in the narrow scope of national security. Do Hillary Clinton’s illegally deleted emails fit into the scope of national security? Do the DNC emails that WikiLeaks published? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #14.
Hillary’s Clinton’s emails where a constant theme throughout the 2016 election, going back to the primary when ‘Bernie Bros’ tried to raise the issue to give Sanders an advantage. Bernie Sanders famously said in a debate with Clinton, “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!” It was ominous, because the American people were going to hear a lot more about Clinton’s emails, along with emails from the Democratic National Committee and her campaign chairman, John Podesta. Emails, particularly Hillary Clinton’s emails, would remain a prominent issue the election throughout the campaign. How are Hillary Clinton’s emails distinguished from the DNC and John Podesta emails, and why does it matter? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #13.
When President Trump proclaimed that he was a “nationalist” it sent shockwaves around the world. He had been championing nationalist views and policies from the moment he came down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his candidacy. He had been using nationalist terminology, such as “America First” and the term: “Americanism”, but until now he had never used the word nationalist. Many in the media sought to use the new label as a means to accuse the president of racism, claiming he used the word to send a dog whistle to white nationalist. However, the president has made it clear on several occasions, his form of nationalism wasn’t distinguished by race, but by it’s opposition to globalism. What is globalism? What is Americanism, and how are they different? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #12.
You may have heard, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question”. Yet, people ask stupid questions all the time. Sadly, many of these stupid questions come from the mainstream media directed to the Trump administration. However, many times they are not questions at all. They are cleaver, and not so cleaver, accusations masking as questions to create a false narrative. This tactic has been used many times to accuse the president of crimes, misogyny, sexism, bigotry, and racism. How has this deceitful and unethical tactic created a contentious relationship between the Trump administration and the media? How does President Trump’s harsh rebuke of this tactic, particularly with black female reporters, reinforce the false narrative of him that they are attempting to portray? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #11.
The October surprise is about the only thing you can count on in American politics today. Sometimes it is an organic surprise that benefits a Party or candidate, but other times it is a well-planned and well-organized surprise meant to benefit a certain Party or candidate. When two weeks before the 2018 Congressional election crudely made bombs were sent to prominent Democrats everyone knew it was an obvious October surprise. The question was if it was organic, or not, and which Party would benefit? Who is to blame for the discourse in this country, and how did the political discourse in this country contribute to the October surprise? How is president Trump responsible? How are prominent Democrats and the media responsible? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #10.
The murder of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Turkey was a ripple that cause a wave in Washington DC. The President of the United States and others in Congress who have been ardent defenders of Saudi Arabia in the past are caught in a PR nightmare as they weigh the relationship between the Kingdom and the United States. Businesses and investors are pulling out of the Saudi Vision 2030 project to diversify their economy from oil, and many wonder if the young Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salmon will survive the debacle. Why should Americans care about a journalist killed in an embassy in Turkey? What does this have to do with you? How will this be used to score points on President Trump? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #9.
As a caravan of thousands of migrants move towards the United States from Honduras, immigration is once again front and center in the national debate just weeks from the 2018 Congressional elections. Recent polling, particularly among Latino voters, suggest immigration is not generating the support for Democrats that they expected. The same polling suggests that Republicans are doing better with Latino voters in 2018 than Trump did in 2016. What are the issues that are important to Latino voters, and how will this key voting block help decide the balance of power in Congress? What message will Republicans and Democrats be sending to voters in the final days of campaigning? Will there be a ‘blue wave’, or will Republicans hold serve? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #8.
The conformation of Brett Kavanaugh has been one of the most controversial political events of the Trump presidency, even before the allegation by Dr. Ford was made public. Her claim that Kavanugh attempted to rape her 35 years ago when he was in high school has created an even greater fervor around his conformation by those on the Left and Right. Yet, no matter how you feel about the Judge or Dr. Ford we must all be worried about erosion of longstanding values that we hold dear; the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, due process, and evidence based conclusions. Are these principles being abandoned in the discussion about about Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #7.
Section 1 of Article Two of the Constitution states that no Person except a “natural born Citizen” shall be eligible to be President of the United States. For years, legal scholars have debated the meaning of “natural born Citizen”. Several candidates for president have been accused of being ineligible to hold the Office based on this clause, but the issue has yet to be settled by the courts. In each case these debates have been viewed as legal or political issues, until Obama was challenged on this clause and it was viewed as a racial issue. Was Obama’s legitimacy to be president challenged based on his race, or are there legitimate questions as to whether he is a natural born Citizen of the United States? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #6.
The Tea Party was a conservative, grassroots, movement that started in America towards the end of the George W. Bush administration. It was a reaction to failures of the Bush administration and the loss of power by the Republican Party. The Tea Party was focused on fiscal responsibility, the national debt, and the size and scope of the federal government. When Obama was elected the Tea Party turned their focus to his administration. They were termed a racist movement because of their opposition to Obama’s policies. Was the Tea Party a racist movement? How was racism used to combat the Tea Party politically? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #5.
The power of persuasion has taken on a new meaning in the age of mass media and mass communication. It goes from the micro to the macro, from the individual to the group, and it has been an effective tool in the project of mass persuasion. What are the roots of these mass persuasion techniques? How are these techniques being used right now? How is racism being used in mass persuasion? Is President Trump a racist? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions on According2Sam episode #4.
It looks like immigration will be a leading issue in the midterm elections this year, and prominent Democrats are calling for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to be abolished. Many other Democrat constituents are calling for no borders at all, and President Trump has seized on the calls for open borders. How will the calls for open borders help or hurt Democrats this fall? Where does the agenda for open borders come from, and who is pushing forward this agenda? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions on According2Sam episode #3.
The immigration debate is really heating up this week. It must be an election year! Why has this been an issue for so long and when will we finally solve this problem? Why didn't Democrats address immigration when the controlled both Houses of Congress, and why won't they work with the president to solve it now? Why are Democrats using the Bible and religion to push forward their policy of open borders? What will be the Democrats message this fall in their fight to win back power in Congress? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions on According2Sam episode #2.
If Russia didn't hack the DNC the Russia investigation is over and Spygate is completely valid. Why is the media acting like our intelligence agencies are above reproach? What is the history of our intelligence community in the world? Why won't the DNC allow anyone outside of their orbit inspect their servers? How can we be sure Russia hacked the DNC without an outside inspection of the servers. Join the conversation and get answers to these questions on According2Sam episode #1.