The Jason Stapleton Program

Today Trump announced he has fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and replaced him with CIA director Mike Pompeo. This should not shock you.

Tillerson and Trump have been at odds practically from day one. Tilleson even went so far as to call the president a moron.

It was silly to think you could put two power brokers like this together and not have problems.

Tillerson is the former CEO of Exxon Mobile. And he didn't start at the top. He began his carrier as a civil engineer and worked his way up. The guy is a winner and a leader with a massive amount of experience dealing with countries all over the world. He was the perfect fit to fill the role of Secretary of State.

There's just one problem.

Trump isn't used to having a peer as a subordinate and Tillerson isn't used to taking orders. A conflict of opinion was bound to happen. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long for things to come to a head.

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A new study is attempting to make us all a little gayer. The study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (which I can only assume is some third-rate psychological rag) says that there is no such thing as a "straight" man or woman. Instead, we all sit on a sliding scale of gayness.

So let me just say this...As a man who is completely comfortable with his sexuality and apparently cannot call himself "straight" anymore let me tell you where I fall on the scale of not-gayness.

On a scale of not-gay from 0-100, I am 100% not gay. You throw as many flags symbols and gay porn you want at me (this is how the study was conducted apparently), and you won't move me off the 100% not-gay mark.

I just don't understand why some people can be gay, but there can't be some of us who aren't. We could have framed the study to say there's no such thing as gay. Why didn't we frame the study that way? If it's all a sliding scale why can't we say there's no such thing as gay?

I'll tell you why. It's because the goal is not to conduct scientific research it's to seek evidence to reinforce a predetermined opinion.

Well, that's it. See you tomorrow

Jason

A few days ago I talked about the Justice Departments decision to sue the state of California over its decision to protect illegal immigrants from deportation by passing a law preventing companies from voluntarily helping ICE.

Now, setting aside my distaste for a law which prevents voluntary association California does have some authority.

The Constitution does not give the federal government the authority to deal in this matter. It is left to the States or to the people.

Well, I got a little backlash on social media so I thought I'd go a little deeper today in a full breakdown.

Jason

Yeah, it's just me in the studio today, and I was running late from the jump this morning trying to get things squared away for my business. I ended up running into a little snafu with my bank. I'll explain on the show today.

From there we'll move over to talk about Donald Trump's decision to meet with Kim Jong Un. It looks like they're discussing denuclearization. We'll see. That's all I can say.

Finally, American kids are getting fatter. If you're shocked, have the person standing next to you punch you in the face for being so out of touch. It turns out the Marine Corps is having trouble finding recruits.

Short show notes today. Enjoy your weekend!

Jason

Before we get to the news...

Big thank you to everyone who's supported the show by joining the membership program. For those in the $10 or higher range, we'll be holding our first live stream the Friday!

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Now to the news!

Is there anyone in America who doesn't think Donald Trump is a womanizer?

Married three times, admitted affairs, the man was even caught on tape talking about grabbing a woman by her...you get it.

Far be it for me to judge. I don't. But it should not be surprising to anyone that a porn star named Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 and asked to sign a non-disclosure to protect the president from what many think is an affair with the movie star.

I guess I don't know what the outrage is. If you're a moral person, this will bother you, but it didn't bother very many on the right. The elected him.

It seems like it's not much more than bias media looking for a way to dig up a scandal.

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Charles Koch is out bashing the president's anticipated tariffs, and in true libertarian fashion, he's using log and facts to prove his point.

But he's also doing something I've been advocating for a long time. He's tugging at your heartstrings and destroying the moral superiority of the opposing argument.

I'll read some of what he said on the show today. Wish we have a few more billionaires like him out living the principles he claims to support.

Interesting show today. Despite reports that early voter turnout favored Democrats, on election night Republicans turned out the vote doing far better in total numbers.

Keep in mind this is just a primary. Total voter turnout for Republicans was 1.5 million while Democrats rallied only 1 million.

Here's what's sad, In a state with nearly 30 million people, only 2.5 million turned out to vote. That's pathetic. You wonder why incumbents always win and liberty candidates never get a shot? It's because we don't get out and vote in the primary.

Ted Cruz got 1.3 million of the 1.5 million votes cast. It was a landslide. Now I know nothing about the candidates running against him, but none of them stood a chance. He had the money, the name, and the infrastructure. Now he's back for another term.

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Jeff Sessions has declared war on California...well maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. He is suing them over a recent law that prevents people from voluntarily cooperating with immigration authorities.

He claims there's "no nullification and no secession."

I'll give you my thoughts on the show today.

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Finally, I've got a story about the FBI and Geek Squad. Apparently, the FBI has been paying Geek Squad employees to circumvent the 4th amendment and search your computer without a warrant. This is happening more and more, and it makes me angry. The government exists to protect liberty not to violate it. If we don't stand up against this egregious violation, we guarantee the abuse will continue.

You know, I've spoken a lot about North Korea and my belief that they are "rational actors" and not a crazy rouge nation. But for a moment today, I called that belief into question.

Lucky for me I quickly realized I am (of course) right. (was there ever any doubt)

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I haven't figured out the WHY yet, but I know North Korea will not be giving up its nuclear program. To do so now ould mean repeating the mistakes of other countries who capitulated to US pressure and ended up devastated.

North Korea MUST continue down its current path if it has any hope of long-term survival.

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Early voting for Texas is in, and it's not looking good for Republicans. It turns out my suspicions about Trump and Republican prospects this year were correct yet again! (don't doubt me)

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Finally, Twitter has apparently been censoring Pro-Life Tweets. This is something they can do. It's their platform. But they should be mindful of the fact that they have created a platform for people to exercise a 1st amendment right. If they choose to down this path they may find people lose faith in their service especially considering how fickled the American consumer can be.

Thanks!

Jason

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Yesterday I briefly mentioned the Trump Tariffs and the risk it might pose to our economy, but today I want to do a full deep dive and look at some historical evidence that suggests we may be looking at a very serious economic collapse if other nations respond in kind to the Trump tariffs.

But before that, I want to rehash something we discussed yesterday.

I think some of you may have misunderstood what I meant when I suggested a Gun Violence Restraining Order might be a good way to reduce gun violence.

It was suggested in the private facebook group that this might violate someone's due process so today I want to clarify, so there's no question.

Have a great weekend!

Jason

Yesterday Lindsey made mention of the homeless problem we have here in LA. She's right. I love Venice. (a beach town suburb of LA) It's hippie vibe with mom and pop shops, and great restaurants are a throwback to old-school SOCAL, but it also has one of the worst homeless populations in the greater LA area.

And it's not just Venice. Los Angeles has a severe homelessness issue. It's estimated around 60k people are living in LA without a home.

Why is this? Yes, the cost of living is high, but the cost of living is high in a lot of places. And yes, we have a mental health and opioid epidemic in America today, but that exists in every major city in the U.S.

Today I want to talk about what I think are the two biggest contributing factors to the homeless epidemic in LA. Once you understand both you'll have a clearer picture of how to solve the problem, not just in Los Angeles but in any other major city in America.

There are lots of overreactions and rash judgments made in the wake of a mass shooting like the one we saw in Florida earlier this month but is Dick's Sporting Goods decision to stop selling assault rifles one of them?

First, I know it's a tired argument be we first have to know what an "assault rifle" is. There's no clear definition. Is it a semi-automatic weapon? Does it need a pistol grip or rail system? Perhaps a bayonet lug?

Let me attempt to clarify. When most people talk about assault weapons, they're talking about the AR-15 rifle. That's the civilian version of the M16/M4 military rifle. The major difference between the two is one (the civilian model) is semi-auto, and the other will fire in either a 3 round burst or full auto.

There are other rifles that might meet the standard such as Mini-14's and similar models made by H&K or Sig but they all have the same basic "look" which is what most people are using to define an assault weapon.

So is Dick's taking a stand or is it a massive PR move? I don't know. They did this once before back in 2012 in the wake of Sandy Hook. This time they say it's a permanent ban. Ultimately I think sales will determine if they come back on the shelf or not.

Either way, a company should be allowed to choose what it puts up for sale and what it doesn't. That's the beauty of the free market.

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Lindsey Graham says "War is coming to Lebanon."

Yes, the man who never saw a war he didn't think needs fighting is now suggesting Isreal is preparing for an invasion of Lebanon to combat the manufacturing of guided rockets by Hezbollah.

I really can't understand why we don't stay out of these kinds of conflicts. It doesn't involve us. American liberty isn't being threatened, but there is always this overwhelming drive to pick a side. To DO something. It drives me crazy!!