Take a minute to [un]wind with our Sunday morning newsletter. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on what you may have missed from [un]Divided this week.
Student debt dilemma:
President Joe Biden and Democrats are celebrating what they see as another major accomplishment ahead of the 2022 Midterms: the forgiveness of billions of dollars in student debt.
Despite not being able to answer the most basic questions about how much the move will cost taxpayers, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice ensure us it is sound fiscal policy. I guess we’re supposed to take their word for it?
While Democrats will have to own the economic consequences of gifting taxpayer dollars, Republicans aren’t off the hook in all of this. Student debt has ballooned in this country for years – and both parties could have put forth solutions while in control of Congress.
Friday on [un]Divided, we offered the Libertarian Party an opportunity to outline what it would do differently. Spike Cohen, the 2020 Libertarian nominee for vice president, said the key is getting government out of the business of student debt.
"Prior to the government backing those loans, the lenders had to actually make it make financial sense for the loans they were giving out, which means they weren't going to give unlimited money to the universities. The universities could only charge what they felt the students and lenders were willing to pay."
Cohen also said that making student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy would dissuade predatory lenders from handing out more money than a student could reasonably pay back. What do you think?
Bussing immigrants:
Friday on “Florida Report” my sister Miranda and I discussed the continued bussing of migrants by border states into liberal cities like Washington, D.C. For his part, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened to bus any migrants brought to his state to Delaware – the home state of President Joe Biden.
As Miranda and I agreed, the continued use of migrants as political pawns is beneath us as a nation (or at least it should be). Much like the ongoing plight of Dreamers – children who were brought to this country through no fault of their own and have yet to be given a clear path to citizenship.
Instead of working together to solve the humanitarian and public safety crises unfolding at the southern border, politicians are trying to one-up each other in a game of who is more useless.
While it is hard to blame the governors of Texas and Arizona for refusing to allow hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to overtake their small towns, is bussing them to progressive cities that will let them disappear without a trace any better? As for Democrats, who claim to care about the human suffering of those crossing our border, what about the human suffering of those who die trying? Or the suffering of those poisoned on our streets by the fentanyl smuggled into our country?
Watch our segment on this at the 39:45 mark.
Science shouldn't have an agenda:
My friend Jason Rantz joined the podcast on Wednesday to discuss what I believe is a startling indictment of higher education and the scientific world.
UW Medicine put out a study earlier this year, claiming that rates of depression among trans teens "plummeted" after receiving gender-affirming care. For a parent wrestling with whether to seek treatment for their child, a study like this could be the affirmation they need to move forward.
The only problem? It wasn't true.
A deeper dive into the study by journalist Jesse Singal revealed a lack of data to back up the claim and a statistically negligible difference in depression rates among teens who were studied.
To make matters worse, Rantz discovered through a public disclosure request that the University of Washington and study authors sought to keep the errors from getting attention. After Singal's story started to get picked up by conservative news outlets, internal emails show that UW staff understood the errors were serious, but "given extremely positive pick up by the mainstream media" didn't feel a need to proactively correct the record. One staffer said the reporters reaching out had "an agenda" (the truth?) and responding would just add "fuel to the fire."
While UW quietly edited their original press release on the matter, they did not contact news agencies that still had false stories up, like this article from KING 5 News: https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/gender-affirming-care-reduces-depression-university-of-washington-study-transgender-nonbinary/281-bcfece1b-a7cb-4c95-80d0-3f02c597d783
Jason Rantz contacted King 5 news about the errors by email on August 21, and again on Twitter, yet at the time I'm writing this post the article remains active and uncorrected. Ask yourself why.
Housekeeping:
Join us TONIGHT on Locals for our August LIVE Q&A at 8pm PT. A link will be posted shortly after the newsletter goes up. Bring your best questions!
Also, thank you all for your well wishes this week! Mike and I are thrilled to be engaged and I was so excited to share the news with all of you!
Have a great week – thank you all for supporting our mission to bring common sense back to news and politics.
Washington state Democrats deny there is evidence of capital flight when rich people are targeted for taxation. Apparently, they've never heard of Jeff Bezos. Plus: Trump vs. The Fed. And: Can tariffs replace the federal income tax? Unlikely.
Subscribe to Zach’s Daily Market Recap at KnowYourRiskPodcast.com.
Seattle’s socialist mayor wastes no time in halting sweeps. President Trump considers Insurrection Act in Minnesota, while administration renews threats against sanctuary jurisdictions. New bills attack the initiative process. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis takes a swipe at Washington in his final State of the State.
Prefer to listen? https://audioboom.com/posts/8835054-socialist-stops-the-sweeps-1-15-26
Governor Bob Ferguson says ICE should stop enforcing federal immigration laws, Democrats applaud wildly. Even Governor Gavin Newsom opposes targeting the rich for taxation ... or so he says. Proposed bill would eliminate three strikes for offenses committed by juveniles. High school athlete Frances Staudt joins us from DC.
Prefer to listen? https://audioboom.com/posts/8834513-virtue-signaling-above-all-else-1-14-26
These remarks were delivered to the Snohomish County Lincoln Day Dinner on May 17, 2024.
The following remarks were delivered to the Whatcom County Lincoln Day Dinner on March 23, 2024, in Ferndale, Washington.
I struggled with what to talk to you about tonight.
Well, that’s not true. I didn't struggle with what to talk to you about – I struggled with whether I was brave enough to say what I wanted to say.
When I'm invited to speak to groups, I don't want to offend anyone or be too controversial. So, I reached out to a few of your fellow party members to ask whether any topics were off limits or wouldn't go over well with the crowd.
I got some good advice.
Then I decided to ignore that good advice entirely.
Too much is at stake to be polite.
As we sit here tonight, we are in the final battle of a war.
A war that has pit sanity against insanity.
Pragmatism against idealism.
A war that has sacrificed the public good, in favor of a twisted idea of progress.
It's a war that began long before I moved here 15 years ago. It started silently and it was mostly waged in the shadows.
Most of us didn't even realize that a war was being fought. We were too caught up in our own lives and our own problems. ...
There will be no live show today, 1.19.26. Our regular live show will return tomorrow.
FBI AGENT MIKE TEMPLETON(OR HOWEVER HIS NAME IS SPELLED NEEDS TO BE FIRED AND PUT IN JAIL FOR VIOLATIONS OF HIS DUTIES TO THE PEOPLE OF THE USA, FALSIFYING EVIDENCE, THREATENS RAPE UPON POLYEXAMS. THREATENING AND HARMING USA CITIZENS AND THEIR FAMILIES FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE !
THESE FBI AGENTS WHO ARE DOING THIS CRAP NEED TO GO AND PUT IN JAIL NOW !
Scott Ritter "They STOLE My Money!"
