Hello everybody, we at the Heritage Foundation hope you are enjoying these last weeks of summer. We here at Heritage Explains are taking the opportunity for a brief rest during the month of August. Our regularly scheduled episodes will return in September, but until then, we are revisiting some of our favorite episodes from the year so far. 

Back in March, I sat down with Jeff Smith to discuss why we should not forget about COVID. Particularly, the way it exposed the rot inside our professional and managerial classes. It’s an eye-opening listen and well worth keeping in mind. Enjoy.

https://www.heritage.org/public-health/commentary/the-lie-the-century-the-origin-covid-19

Hello to all of our loyal listeners at Heritage Explains. We are on break for the month of August and will be coming back with new episodes in September. But in the meantime, we’re rounding up some of our favorite shows from earlier this year. 

One of the key moments in the early Trump Administration were the cuts to USAID.  For the first time, many Americans got an up-close-and-personal look at the way that the sausage gets made in Washington. What most people assumed was an innocuous aid organization was actually involved in much more sinister activities. Check out this conversation with David Ditch, who breaks down why this moment mattered so much.

Follow David Ditch on X: https://x.com/davidaditch

Learn more about The Heritage Foundation: ⁠www.heritage.org⁠

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Hi everybody, and welcome back to Heritage Explains. We, like many of you, are enjoying a little bit of vacation this summer. We are taking a break from our regularly scheduled episodes for the month of August. In the meantime, we are bringing you some of our favorite shows from this past year.

We have seen a lot of important moments come and go in that time. And one was the verdict delivered in the case of Daniel Penny, this past December. It felt like an inflection point in our national conversation on race and justice. I sat down with Heritage Senior Legal Fellow Cully Stimson to talk about why. Take a listen.

Follow Cully Stimson on X: ⁠https://x.com/cullystimson⁠

Rogue Prosecutors Book: ⁠https://www.heritage.org/rogue-prosecutors⁠

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We find ourselves in the midst of a new revolution: The AI Revolution. Complex computer models are now able to replicate human thought, making them capable of an entirely new realm of tasks. AI is going to affect the way we work, where we live, how we learn and process information, how we bank, how we write, even how we interact with people around us. 

Governments around the world are paying attention to the possibilities that AI offers, and ours is no exception. 

I sat down with Daniel Cochrane, senior research associate for the Center for Technology and the Human Person at The Heritage Foundation, to talk about what the Trump Administration is saying about AI. 

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Follow Daniel Cochrane on X: https://x.com/realdcochrane

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In 1965, the Johnson Administration signed into law the programs we now know as Medicare and Medicaid. They were designed to provide healthcare to Americans who were particularly in need. But over the years, the programs have expanded hugely, and focus has shifted away from people who really need assistance to much larger groups of people. This can be a real problem for the people that Medicare and Medicaid were originally designed to be a safety net for. Here to explain why and to talk about the recent reforms to Medicare and Medicaid is Nina Schaefer, Senior Research Fellow at the DeVos Center for Human Fluorishing here at the Heritage Foundation. 

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Follow Nina Schaefer at Heritage.org: https://www.heritage.org/staff/nina-owcharenko-schaefer

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Attacks on ICE agents are escalating nationwide, now up nearly 700% over the same time last year. Organized riots followed recent ICE enforcement actions. Investigations reveal coordination by known radical groups that also organized the 2020 BLM/Antifa riots and 2023 pro-terrorism demonstrations. These are not spontaneous uprisings—they are well-funded, highly-organized anti-American efforts.

Here to explain why these attacks on are on the rise is Simon Hankinson, Senior Research Fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.

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The Ten Woke Commandments You Must Not Obey: https://www.amazon.com/Ten-Woke-Commandments-Must-Obey/dp/1680533614

Follow Richard on X at: https://x.com/WatchfulWaiter1

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Rescissions 

It’s a word that we’re hearing a lot in the news today. A member of a family of words and phrases that come trotting out whenever folks in Washington start talking about money. 

Appropriations. Sequestration. Omnibus. Continuing Resolutions. Budget caps. Debt Ceiling. Earmarks. Baseline Budgeting. 

But it isn’t that complicated. Basically, the President can request that Congress return money that has been appropriated, but not yet spent. 

A rescissions package is making its way through Congress now, but it’s likely we’ll hear more about this process throughout the Trump administration. Here to explain why is Richard Stern, Director for the Center for the Federal Budget here at the Heritage Foundation. 

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Follow Richard on X at: https://x.com/richastern?lang=en

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...

How many times have we heard these words? 

Back in 2007, the Washington Post ran an article by Gene Weingarten called “Pearls Before Breakfast”. In it, he chronicles an experiment by the newspaper, in which world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell put on a baseball cap and a t-shirt, and entered the L’Enfant Plaza metro station in Washington DC. Once there, he removed his Stradivarius violin from its case, and began to play. This is the music you’re hearing right now. This an artist who has sold out opera houses and played for heads of state, playing a $4 million dollar violin. Of the approximately 1,000 people who walked past, only seven stopped to listen.  

And so it is, sometimes, with our national identity as Americans. We are busy, we are desensitized, that it is an act of the will to stop, screen out the noise, and appreciate for a moment just how fundamentally unique and beautiful our country is. And the Declaration of Independence, the founding document of our country, has its own special music. 

In an effort to listen, I sat down with Brenda Hafera, Assistant Director of the Simon Center for American Studies, here at the Heritage Foundation. 

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Follow Brenda Hafera at Heritage.org:https://www.heritage.org/staff/brenda-hafera

Washington Post Video of the Joshua Bell Experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

Full Text of the Declaration of Independence: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Have thoughts? Let us know at [email protected]

While there are still several high-profile cases awaiting rulings, the Supreme Court has delivered several wins for the Trump administration, common sense, and all Americans.

So far this term, the Supreme Court issued stays of lower court orders attempting to block the Trump administration from pursuing its agenda, upheld religious freedom and parental rights, and upheld laws protecting kids from dangerous gender treatments. Justices also have stopped lower court judges from rewriting discrimination law and allowing foreign governments to infringe on Americans’ right to bear arms.

Here to talk about what has happened this year and what we might expect to see over the next week is Heritage Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky. 

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Hans on X: https://x.com/HvonSpakovsky?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Case in Point Podcast: https://www.heritage.org/caseinpoint

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On Friday, Israel initiated "Operation Rising Lion," conducting airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and military command centers. The strikes led to at least 75 Iranian deaths and significant infrastructure damage, including oil refineries and missile launchers. Iran responded with a large-scale missile and drone assault on Israel, targeting over 150 military and intelligence sites. The strikes resulted in at least 14 Israeli fatalities and over 400 injuries. Israel claimed to have damaged or destroyed 150 military and intelligence sites, including missile launchers and air defense systems.

Here to talk about the implications of this attack and how we might expect this to change the situation in the Middle East is Robert Greenway, Director of the Allison Center for National Security, here at the Heritage Foundation. 

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Rob Greenway on X: https://x.com/RC_Greenway

More of Rob’s work: https://www.heritage.org/staff/robert-greenway

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