According2Sam Podcast

After throwing every charge possible at Donald Trump to see if anything sticks to him Liz Cheney and her Democrat allies have settle on 'dereliction of duty'. They first claimed that President Trump incited his supporters to commit violence in an attempt to foment a coup d'etat and overthrow the government, but now they have made a more obscure accusation that they believe will be easier for the public to accept. Their focus now is on the 187 minutes of the riot at the Capitol and the actions taken by the president to stop it. Liz Cheney says that President Trump's inaction to stop the riot represents the most serious dereliction of duty of any president in American history. However, she may be overlooking the administration that her father served in as Vice President. The Bush administration was warned many times in the spring and summer of 2001 that Sunni fundamentalist were in the United States and that they were planning a terrorist attack. Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to stop it, they made no attempt to warn the American people. Three thousand Americans were killed on their watch. How does this dereliction of duty compare to that of other presidents in American history? Join the conversation and get answers to this question and more on According2Sam episode #127.

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Last year seventeen recipients of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences signed an open letter to President Joe Biden in support of his Build Back Better (BBB) package. At the time of this letter Democrats were proposing a bill that was $3.5 trillion in government spending. This was after they had passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package earlier in the year. The open letter from these economic experts said there was a robust recovery taking place in the American economy, and that the BBB package would provide much needed support for the recovering economy. These experts expressed some concerns over inflation, but projected only a small, short term, rise in inflation that would quickly come back down. Democrats used this letter and the credibility of these experts to promote their spending package, but as inflation started to climb and persist even without their new spending they had to admit that the experts had got it wrong. What are they saying now about the '17 Nobel Laureates', and how is one Democratic Senator using their miscalculation to promote his new spending bill? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #126.

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There are many political parties in the United States, but we only hear about the two major parties. There is the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Constitution Party, and a few other even less known political parties. However, the Republican and Democratic parties dominate our political landscape and wield all the power in this country. This is by design. The two major parties are the most powerful because it allows the elite oligarchs in this country to consolidate their power. The two parties play off each other, setting up the other as an existential threat to our way of life that must be defeated. The people fearfully support the party that they believe is fighting to preserve their way of life and the oligarchs remain in power, because they control both parties. Georgetown University professor Carroll Quigley writes about this in 'Tragedy and Hope'. He says the two parties should be "almost identical", so power can change hands "without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy." But what happens if the people take over one of the two major parties, how would that change the political landscape in the United States? Join the conversation and get answers to these questions and more on According2Sam episode #125.

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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.

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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.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

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.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

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.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

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.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

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.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com

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.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.according2sam.com