← Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
Trump’s Iran Address, Phil Zuckerman on the Decline of Religion in America, & Federal Judges vs. The Trump Administration
00:35:52
Loading summary
Transcript29 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Bill O'Reilly here. Welcome to the Nose Bend News. Wednesday, April 1, 2016. Happy Passover to all our Jewish viewers all around the world. You know, I hope this antisemitism madness subsides. This is crazy stuff. It really is. There's no reason for it. And it depresses me. You know, I was raised with a lot of Jewish kids. A lot of them are still my friends 70 years after the fact or whatever. I just don't get it. But anyway, we want you to have a nice Passover tomorrow, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, then Easter weekend. So I hope we can all relax a little bit. President Trump's not going to be able to relax because he's in the middle of a war with Iran, as everybody knows. And that is the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo. So tonight, 9:00pm Eastern, President will address the nation. All three networks will carry it, all the cables. Now, having known Donald Trump for 35 years, he doesn't do this unless he's got something positive to say. I don't know what it is. You know, it goes back and forth and in and out. But he's not taking the time to say, hey, we're losing or it's not working out. He's not going to do that. He's going to put a positive spin on what's happening in Iran. Now, all we have is a true social this morning that the president believes there will be a ceasefire, but Iran denies that. You got to put this into perspective. So Iran has to save face to its own people because that government there is tottering. And they can't say, hey, we're losing, we're going to surrender to America and Israel can't. So just keep that in perspective. But Mr. Trump has something that he's going to deliver tonight. I will tweet throughout the whole speech at Bill O'Reilly. It's the best thing I can do real time and tell you what's really happening because you got to understand, all presidents engage in propaganda. Every single man. That's holy office, everyone. This is the way they do it. And there's a reason for it. They want to rally the troops, to use a bad pun in this war situation. But you know what Mr. Trump says, going to try to help his administration. Some of it will be valid and others will be a recitation of his greatest hits. We did this, we did that. You've heard it before. But it's well worth listening to for a couple of reasons. Number one, whatever he says, the Trump haters are going to hate. Doesn't matter what he says. Okay. And number two, you, the American citizen, the honest American citizen, need to know where the government's coming from and what is likely to happen. And that's what I will do. So I'm going to say this is likely to happen. He's got to get out of this the next week or so, maybe two weeks. But it's just taking too much of an economic toll and there's too much dissent. And on that subject, a new poll. Reuters, Ipsos. So. So poll not particularly accurate. First question overall, do you approve or disapprove of the US military strike against Iran? Approved. 35. Disapproved. 60. I don't believe that number. Even though we are a soft nation, we are not ready to fight a war. Psychologically, we're not ready. We don't want to make any sacrifices at all. And that's true. Second question. Thinking about where things stand with the conflict in Iran, which statement comes closer to your own views? Work to annual involvement in the conflict quickly, even if it means we do not achieve our goals. 66%. I don't believe the number. I think it's too high. Work to achieve all the goals, even if it means US involvement in the conflict continues for an extended period. 27%. Nobody wants an extended period. Okay, final question. Would you favor oppose sending US Ground troops? We all know the answer to that. Favor 18. Oppose 76, and it's not going to happen. And you know the people on the Internet who whip this stuff up and on cable news, they're liars. They don't know anything. They just trying to get attention to themselves. All right, so the big winner in all this isn't the usa, although down the road maybe it will be. It's Putin. So Putin sitting there in Moscow, he's loving this. Number one, a lot of the sanctions have been listed off his oil sale. So he's making money, which he needs to kill people in Ukraine. And the Russian economy is devastated, as I predicted it would be. And number two, NATO is finished. Finished because. And this makes no sense to me, and I wrote a message of the day about it on billorilly.com this morning. All the NATO countries have to do was say, we're with you. That's it. Because the United States and Israel are doing the heavy lifting. France isn't going to send troops. Or in doing, all they have to do is say, we'll help you out. Want to land US Planes and refuel? Yeah. If you need us to do some specific Things in Hormuz, we're with you. No, they won't do it. So what good is NATO? And that's exactly what Donald Trump believes. We don't need them. Putin loves this. Loves it. So down the road, Putin's got his eye on the Baltic states, okay, Latvia and then other Eastern European countries, Moldova. Weak governments where he can just walk in and take over. That's what he wants to do. And if there's no alliance between Europe and usa, it's a lot easier to do that. And there's no alliance. Trump's really mad. I mean, as angry as I've seen him in quite some time, because there is no excuse for France, Spain, Italy, Germany. Not only do they refuse to help us, but they're mocking us by saying, oh, it's an immoral war, it's illegal war. I'll never go to Spain again as long as I live, ever. It's a beautiful country. I've been all over it. I rode a motorcycle all over that country. Beautiful. Never going again. And the reason that Spain is doing it is a socialist country now, and they don't like the United States, they don't like capitalism, and they hate Trump. That's the reason. And when you think about it, Europe is in the kill zone. So if the mullahs ever did get the ability to deliver a nuke, Paris is going, Madrid is going, Rome is going. And these pinheads over there, they're not worried about that. Pope's not worried about the Vatican going boom. I think I might be a little more circumspect. So Putin's a big winner now. China's a huge player in all this, and this gets no publicity. But of course, I know. I went to Beijing. You know all about that. So, May 14, Donald Trump's supposed to go to Beijing, big conference with xi. China gets 80% of its oil from Iran. 8, 0. Can't survive without that oil. Unless Donald Trump makes a deal with China to sell them American oil and Venezuelan oil, which is possible, but Hormuz is a big thing for China. China can't go very long without that oil. So China, behind the scenes, I don't know what they're doing specifically. I wish I did. I. I might be able to find out. I'm going to D.C. in a couple of weeks. But believe me, China is much more powerful than Putin. And they're just sitting back and I watch. But that's a big, big factor in all of this. And finally, America first movement's going to take off now because We're a soft nation. Talking to Hannity on the radio program, on his radio program today, and he goes, well, what about D Day? And no D Day, not in America, not in contemporary America, no D Day. We're not willing to make sacrifices in this country. If we got to pay a buck more a gallon at the pump, we're screaming. Now, I know times are tough. I understand the economics of it. But we're not a nation any longer that's disciplined and going to go do the right thing. We're not going to do the right thing anymore because we're so divided and most people don't even care about what the right thing is. Surely denying a theocracy who has said we want to kill Americans and Jews, a nuclear weapon is the right thing, surely. Right? No. Trump's war. And that's a memo. Okay, so all this turbulence overseas and the economic turbulence here in the United States and other countries comes right into Holy Week and Passover. And there is a poll from Gallup about religion in America. Very interesting poll. So in 2015, not so long ago, 66% of Americans said that religion was important part of their daily lives. Now that number has fallen 49%. That's a pretty big drop. Second question, Pew. In 2007, 78% of Americans identified as Christian. Now that number is 62%. Another big drop. Finally, Pew, Religion in America. 29% of all of us say we don't have any religion, and that's on the rise. Fastest growing theology in America is not really a theology. It's nothing. So why is this happening? Why? Joining us now from Claremont, California, is Dr. Phil Zuckerman, professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, part of the Claremont College system. If there's one thing you had to point to, Doctor, that has made religion on the decline in this country, what would it be?
- [12:17]
B
I'd say the Internet. Actually a lot of evidence that as countries, as populations spend more time online, one of the casualties there is being religiously involved. If I had to pick one.
- [12:30]
A
Okay, so explain then why. So I'm fairly. I wouldn't say I'm a religious fanatic, but I'm engaged in Catholicism and I have to use the Internet every day for my work. It hasn't really impacted on that.
- [12:51]
B
Yeah, I'd say that it happens in three ways, working simultaneously. At least this is what we find when we ask people these questions in studies, qualitative and quantitative. So, number one, the Internet has created connections for people that are non believers. In the past, if you were living in a very religious part of the country and you were a 16 or 17 year old and you doubted, you were skeptical, you had questions. That was a very solitary, lonely experience and you really couldn't do much about it. If your whole family was religious and your everybody at school and you weren't feeling that way, you just kind of had to suck it up or, you know, swallow it or whatever. Now you just go online and say, hey, am I the only one who thinks, you know, this, speaking in tongues is not really legit? Or am I the only one who doubts this or that my prayers haven't been answered? And you find instant community, instant social support and validation of your worldview. So that's just connecting nonbelievers in a way that's never happened before.
- [13:48]
A
Number two, it's easier to be an atheist because you have other atheist pals on social media.
- [13:56]
B
You could say that it's easy to be, I don't know about an atheist, but it's easier to be indifferent, a skeptic, a doubter, a humanist, because you find that social support which, you know, having a worldview that no one else shares is. It's hard to sustain when you're lonely, but when you have others there, it's a little bit more plausible and more acceptable. Secondly, unlike in the past, you know, in the past, if I wanted to learn something about religion, I walked to the library. If I wanted to learn about Mary's assumption or I wanted to learn about what's Yom Kippur or something, I go to the library, take out a book and I can read. Now if I Google that, I am immediately bombarded with critiques and debunking inadvertently, even if I don't want to. If I just. And one of my favorite studies is about clergy who have lost their faith. And what they found was more often than not, the clergy said, hey, I was looking something up that I hadn't studied in a while. It's been a while since I was in seminary and I had to plan for a seminar, I mean, sorry, for a sermon. And I started looking something up, but next thing I know, it's three in the morning and I'm reading all about, you know, how the Gospels are critiqueable or maybe they're forged, or maybe they're this or that. So we are exposed to ex Mormons, ex Catholics, ex everything, just by searching for religion and that. That can chip away at people's surety. And then the third factor of course, is just how the Internet interfaces in our lives. The shopping, the Simultaneity, the scrolling, the porn, it's just become such a fixture. It depleted our connections not just in religion, but to other people in many ways. So it's a sort of community sapper, as it were. It makes us more individualized, it makes us more self obsessed, it makes us less social. And so it makes things like church a little less compelling or more alienating than it used to be in the past.
- [15:34]
A
I see it almost the same way as I see the will to fight evil. You know, I wrote a book called Confronting Evil and America's motivation to deal with real evil has dropped along with the belief in God or the practice of religion. And I think it's because we are an undisciplined, selfish society, generally speaking. Am I wrong?
- [16:10]
B
You know, that's something you and I probably don't see eye to eye on. You know, I'm a sociologist by training and I'm happy to talk about these trends of secularization, but from what you just said, I would probably disagree. I mean, I can explain why if you want, but.
- [16:24]
A
Well, I mean, where do you disagree with me? Do you think we are a self sacrificing nation?
- [16:32]
B
It, it depends how you, how you classify that and what you mean by that, but, but I guess the reason I would disagree is when I, you know, people, evil means different things to different people. Obviously, you know, somebody might think gay marriage is evil, another person might think it's just and good and denying gay marriage is evil. So it's very subjective. And what I can tell you is those societies, you know, many there. I'm happy to talk about all the ways in which a decline in religion negatively affects our society and our culture. But on this one, I don't see it that way because I'm not coming
- [17:01]
A
at it from that point of view. I don't really, it doesn't matter to me what theology or religious tenet that you embrace that doesn't matter. It's the overall belief in a higher power and a right or a wrong. And that's what we're seeing now. We're seeing that, okay, we know it's wrong for people to try to develop a nuclear weapon who are sworn to kill Jews. We know that's wrong. Even if you're the biggest pagan in the world, you know it's wrong, but we're not willing to do anything about it.
- [17:43]
B
Interesting, I appreciate that. By the way, I also really appreciated your sentiments at the outset. Thank you for those words. I guess what I would say, I'll give you an Example, just off the top of my head, I was reading yesterday in Israel about a troop of Israeli soldiers that is going into the west bank and brutalizing the civilian population there, burning their homes, burning their cars, terrifying their children. It wasn't surprising to me that that is actually a battalion made up of ultra orthodox, strongly believing Jews. And the reason I bring that up as an anecdote is I think there's something. I think it's not demonstrable. Demonstrable that people who believe in a higher power somehow, you know, care more about good and bad and wrong and right and evil. I, I think you can have many strongly religious people devoted to God who don't care about suffering of others. And you can have a lot of secular humanist people who don't believe in a God but are very, very motivated,
- [18:35]
A
there's no doubt about it. But to put it, to put it in a historical perspective, the idf, which is what you're talking about in Israel, I mean, they are reacting to a daily threat. Hamas.
- [18:51]
B
Oh yeah.
- [18:54]
A
It's not like they're, it's not like General Custer who went into an Indian village where all the braves were gone and wiped out all the women and children.
- [19:06]
B
Okay, well, Bill, I guess, I guess what I would say is if you look at both sides of this ugly, ugly situation, the Palestinians and the Israelis, what you'll find is the more religious in both camps, so the more religious
- [19:19]
A
Palestinians, fanatical, sure, there's no doubt about
- [19:22]
B
it, least likely to compromise. And the more secular on both camps, the non religious Jews in Israel and the non religious Palestinians are the most willing to compromise, see each other's humanity. So even that, it kind of cuts both ways. And I'm not saying this is a
- [19:36]
A
universal fact, but, but doctor, that's not true in the Muslim world. That's not true there. Okay. The more secular these Muslims are, the more intent they are in wiping Jews and Americans off the planet. So it's a very complicated issue. Last question for you. Is it good, in your opinion, as a sociologist, for America to be experiencing a decline of religion and belief in God? Is that a good thing?
- [20:16]
B
Yes and no. I can answer, give you both if
- [20:18]
A
you like, but I want your opinion.
- [20:21]
B
Oh, yeah. I think it's ultimately a good thing. You bet.
- [20:26]
A
Why?
- [20:27]
B
Oh, I just think we do a better job solving problems rationally and empirically rather than reasonably relying on mystical or spiritual or prayer. I mean, you and I are communicating right now and there's nothing supernatural going on. It's all empirical, scientifically driven. You And I believe that people solve problems better working together in this world using natural means, using our minds, our intelligence, our empathy and compassion. I don't think we solve much by relying on a deity. Prayers don't seem to be as effective as social policy. So I'd rather have more Americans engaging in reality in a sort of empirical way, in an ethical way, rather than saying, well, we're just going to solve this by praying. We're going to solve all our nation's problems by relying on God. I don't think that's a good approach. And if you look at the most successful democracies on earth today, they are successful not because they rely on prayer, but because they rely on salvation.
- [21:23]
A
Well, they're not theocracies, that's for sure. But religion does set up a system whereby good is rewarded and evil is punished. Secular does not do that. Doesn't do it.
- [21:42]
B
Worked in my neighborhood, worked at my school, worked in my neighborhood.
- [21:45]
A
Take a bus ride up to San Francisco where I just did my special.
- [21:50]
B
Yeah, well, if that were the case. If that were the case, we would find the highest violent crime rates in the least believing Democratic democracies. But we find just the opposite. So something else is at play.
- [22:01]
A
Okay, professor, very interesting. We appreciate it. I don't know whether you're a believer or not, but if you are, happy Easter. Thank you for taking the time. All right. A lot of judicial activism. President Trump in the middle of all of it. Number one, birthright citizenship. We told you more than a year ago that the president was not going to be able to overturn this, because it's in the Constitution that if you are born, a baby is born on American soil, that baby is automatically a citizen. Now, it came in the slavery years when they were denying blacks citizenship, even though they were born here. That's how that all came. And it was made into part of the Constitution. This court is not going to throw that out. There are some arguments on the other side that it's a con, that people come here to have their kids born here so they can be citizens. Absolutely true. But they're not going to override the Constitution, in my humble opinion. Second was blocking funding for NPR and PBS. Now, this is Judge Randolph Moss out of D.C. and he's a Barack Obama appointee, very liberal man. And he said the president cannot block the funding out of NPR and PBS, which Mr. Trump has already done. This is a hard one, because the money goes back to Congress. Congress is the one who decides to which programs get funded, not the president. There's a separation. Probably Trump will lose this one, too. The third one is Judge Richard Leon, D.C. again. But he's a Bush W. Bush appointee. He says that Trump can't build a ballroom and construction has to stop. That's B.S. i have a letter from Harry Truman in my private collection where Truman just revamped the whole White House because it was falling apart and there was no problem with it. So Trump's going to be able to do what he wants to do because that's under the authority of the executive branch, not Congress. Leon, who apparently knows nothing. So, no, Congress doesn't get involved. No, they don't. It's private funds. Trump raised the money privately. So that's a win for Trump. And then the final one is very complicated. So Joe Biden, second worst president in our history next to James Buchanan. He led 900,000 foreign nationals in the country unsupervised through an app. App. All you had to do if you were wanting to come to the United States was apply for asylum using that app. That's not what the law reads. You've got to go to a port of entry to apply for asylum. That's the law. 1952. So this crazy thing, another nutty judge Alison Burroughs, Massachusetts Obama appointee, all right, Says no. Trump can't knock that out. Certainly he could. This is policy. So it's Biden's policy to let everybody in here unsupervised. It's Trump policy not to let anybody in unless they had a valid reason. They followed the law. So this Judge Burroughs, this is crazy. How crazy this is. Now, the Supreme Court does not make policy, doesn't make the laws. It upholds what's already there or throws it out. Trump's going to win. So it's a two. Two here. I hope I've explained that. Little complicated, but there you go. Another poll. Gallup. What are Americans most concerned about? Ta da. Health care premiums. Look, Congress has got to do something. And they won't. They won't. They're lazy. They don't care about you and me. But you got to get a lid on this. You can't be bankrupt in people. If they get sick. It's all Congress and Americans know. They get hosed. Can't afford it. Can't afford medicine, can't afford to go to the hospital, can't afford to even go to the doctor. And Congress has got to go in and make new laws about this. And it got to be constraints on the insurance companies. You can't be doing Thousand percent price rises. So you know this one. We all get it. This is crazy California. This is unbranded gender secrecy. Do you know what that is? So in California was a law, state law, that said if your kid is in public school and wants to become a girl and he's a boy, you, the parent are not to be alerted. The law, gender secrecy. Well, Thomas Moore Law center suit on behalf of somebody who said, my rights as a parent be a violated U.S. judge Roger Benitez said, yeah, this law is unconstitutional. Supreme Court ruled that, okay, got to be able to tell the parents. You can't have a law that says you can't tell the parents. And now the Judge has awarded $4.5 million to the Thomas Law Center. Correct ruling. Crazy. Colorado. I've never seen a state, and I've lived in Colorado and I visited every state. Change the way Colorado has changed can blame it on the Californians, you can blame it on everybody moving there, but this state is nuts now. Crazy. Okay, so conversion therapy, you know what that is? That's when you're gay, but you don't want to be gay, so you go to a therapist, try to convince you not to be gay. Conversion therapy. Nobody's forcing you. You just go. So Colorado said, we're banning conversion therapy. And the Supreme Court said, no, under the First Amendment, freedom of expression, nobody wants to go in for conversion therapy. They can. That law is gone. Crazy. Country really is. Tiger woods, so he's a drug addict, finally admits it. He's going into rehab. And a big tabloid story. Tiger woods, wealthy guy, all of that. And I have a different take on Tiger Woods. And I was on with Katie Pavlich last night on NewsNation. Here's what I said. Go. Well, Tiger woods is a drug addict. He admitted it tonight. He's going to rehab. And I hope, and I would encourage every American to hope that he gets well because he's a danger to himself and others. So we live in a culture that celebrates the destruction of the famous, which is one of the bad things about the United States. We'd love to see famous people get taken down. I don't know what that mentality is, but I'm hoping that Mr. Woods cleans it up. Okay. It's true, you know, if you're famous or wealthy and you get hammered, everybody go, yay, sport. It's a sport. We'll do it live in a moment. So our long form we'll do it live is a big success all over the world. And our guest, which drops tomorrow is Steve Croft, the former CBS correspondent, 60 Minutes guy. He was Obama's go to guy. And that's going to be some interview. We will drop it at noon for premium and concierge members on below rally.com, 6pm all over the world Eastern. Okay, you want to watch Kroff Honest man. So this is a good one and we appreciate you guys not only watching the no spend news but watching our long form. I didn't think it was going to be this successful, but it is. And we're going to have great guests coming up and we're trying to keep it one entertaining, one newsy. Obviously Croft is newsy and bring you up the best we can do as far as telling you the truth. What's really happening Anyway, happy Easter, happy Passover, enjoy the weekend, relax a little bit. Okay. And I will tweet during the president's speech tonight. We'll see you again on Monday.