The Jason Stapleton Program

Yesterday MSNBC was taping their Republican town hall when Donald Trump suggested that IF abortion was illegal and a woman has one, she should be punished for it. This, of course, has the progressives in a tizzy.

What about that statement is offensive or controversial? I don't see the controversy in suggesting that someone guilty of a crime should be punished for the offense. So, today I'm going to share some thoughts on the Trump comments and give some insight into what's really going on.Support the show.

If you listened to last night's town hall, you likely heard Trump giving his list of the top three responsibilities of government. If you missed it, here they are in order of importance.

1. Security

2. Healthcare

3. Education

There's just one problem with that list. Two of them are not constitutional government functions. Now to be fair Trump did say that his top three were security, security, security but let's not kid ourselves, that was a cop out, and he went on to say that healthcare and education were very important. I wonder if he can show me where in the list of enumerated powers he finds healthcare and education listed.

Moving on...

Then we've got the CBO, who now says Obama's 2017 budget would SAVE us trillions over the next ten years. And since it came from the "nonpartisan" CBO we naturally have to take it a face value. Not so, the CBO rarely gets it right mainly because it's junk in junk out.

Finally, do you have trouble getting up in the morning? Do you struggle to get to work on time? If so I've got great news! It's not your fault. I'll explain everything in today's episode. Listen now.

Jason

Visit the Website: http://www.jasonstapleton.comSupport the show.

Yesterday I had a story in the stack talking about how underfunded the military is and how the budget needed to protect our nation was simply too small. This immediately peaked my interest because of the discussions we've had on this very topic in recent weeks. During those talks, I pointed out the massive amount of waste in the Pentagon.

So to read a story about Pentagon underfunding made me chuckle a little bit. But with all the other news of the day, I never got around to talking about the story.

Then last night I was listening to the radio, and one of the hosts was screaming into the microphone about how unacceptable it was that our military was so unfit to defend us. It was utterly ridiculous. So today I'm going to talk about the military "defense" budget and give you some insights into just how much money is being frittered away while operational readiness suffers.

Then it's on to other news. We're going to hit on North Korea and the recent Georgia bill to protect religious liberty. It's a full show. Listen now.

JasonSupport the show.

Imagine taking your kids out for a nice Sunday afternoon Easter egg hunt. You load up your two young sprouts (2 & 4) and drive over to the PEZ headquarters where 9,000 eggs have been hidden for your children's enjoyment.

As you pull up what you see shocks you. The Easter egg field has been transformed into a battlefield with small children, bloodied and bruised, cry out in terror as parents run from one concealed location to another like it's a black Friday sale.

Such was the scene at the recent PEZ Easter celebration. What was supposed to be a fun event for the kids was turned on its head not by greedy, entitled children but by their parents. You wonder why we have college kids crying about "safe space" violations after someone writes "Trump 2016" in chalk. Look no further than the fields of PEZ and the parents that raised them.

From there we turn to politics. Bernie swept the west and now lays his sights on New York in the hope that he can mount a defense against Hillary and sway some superdelegates over to his camp.

I'll also spend some time talking minimum wage. It's been a while since we had a discussion on the subject and I think it's worth bringing back into the stack.

JasonSupport the show.

Yeah, that's a crazy title although probably not that scary a headline for most of the listeners of this show. I've spent time in the past talking about discrimination and liberty, but we've been growing so fast I know a lot of people haven't heard the libertarian perspective on it. So I thought today would be a good time to discuss it in more detail.

The idea was sparked by a series of articles written about Georgia and what some are calling the passage of a "hate bill" design to give Christians the right to discriminate based on religious beliefs.

In Kansas Sam Brownback recently signed into law another bill aimed at preventing public universities from requiring students to accept people with fundamentally different beliefs into their groups.

Discrimination is a very dirty word. It brings up memories of "Separate but Equal" or even slavery. But the issue of discrimination comes down to a simple understanding of liberty and the right to free association. These fights, while being framed as religious liberty issues are really about free association.

It's a really interesting discussion today and I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to subscribe!Support the show.

As we look onto the political landscape so many voters are disguested with the political discourse in America today. The Cruz campaign blasted Trump's former wife with a smear ad and of course Trump will return the favor. This is what the potential leaders of the free world are doing?!

Are you frustrated by this? Paul Ryan comes out and is ready to sympathize with you, as if he's above it all. This is what I'm talking about folks, "holding your nose and voting towing the party line" when it comes time to vote is no way to have your voice heard, nor is not voting at all.

You can send a message to those in power that you will not vote them if they do not align with principles of liberty and as we have it now our Constitution. You can be heard, voting this election cycle on principle is what I urge you to do.

Later on in the show we talk about a common theme we have, government will almost always tell you that it is taking a certain action to "protect you". As you well know from listneing to this show, they always use this guise to further strip of your liberty and put you in jail for say, texting while crossing a street - like a NJ legislator has acted into a bill.

Who's country is this - The government and elected officials or yours? Take back your country, vote on principles and for liberty and we can see a change for the better.

Don't miss this lighthearted yet, powerful show!

-JasonSupport the show.

It's a call to arms again from leaders on capital hill. Today a terrorist attack in Brussels killed 34 and had injured almost 200. Those numbers are likely to climb as the full extent of the carnage is truly understood. What now? Leaders in America are calling for an escalation of the war in Syria and Iraq. They are dying to put more men in harms way under the banner of protecting America. But I ask you, "What will change?"We've already been fighting a war on terror for more than a decade. We've beaten back the enemy time and time again only to see them reconstitute themselves in another part of the middle east under a new banner. If what we've done for the past decade has only made the situation worse, how will our strategy change now? The answer is it won't. And if nothing about or approach will change can we expect the outcome to be different?From the subject of Brussels, we'll switch gears and look again to Finland. A recent article posted by a Fin, currently living in the US, attempts to explain why their model is superior to Americas form of capitalism. This article tries to take apart some of the common objections to European socialism, so naturally I felt the need to step in.Great show today. Listen now!Support the show.

It's easy to sit around and opine about how much better the world would be if government would just get out of the way. The problem is we have very few case studies to draw from. Today I'd like to look at one of those cases, this one from India.

From there we'll move over to Finland where they've decided to abandon their century-old welfare state for a "Universal Basic Income." If that sounds a lot like a negative income tax, that's because it's basically the same thing.

Every man and woman in Finland would get a check every month from the government (about $900) and would be allowed to spend that money however they prefer. In return, the entire bureaucratic labyrinth of agencies and oversight would be abolished.

Now I am no fan of a guaranteed income, but I will admit that if I have to choose between that and what we have now, I think I'd have to side with something similar to a UBI.

Today is an episode of grey lines. Rarely is the world of choices as clear as some would make it. What I hope is that you'll finish today's with a better understanding of the pro's and con's of the choices you make and consider the idea of moving closer to liberty even if it means accepting a lesser form of tyranny.

JasonSupport the show.

Obama is planning the first presidential trip to Cuba in 9 decades. He's been on a mission to reignite diplomatic relations with the country after nearly a lifetime if division. It's something I hope will continue and ultimately lead to trade between our two nations.

It's odd to find myself siding with Obama. It's rare but as I've always said, if you stand with liberty, I'll stand with you. Decades of sanctions on Cuba have produced nothing but poverty and tension. Would those things still exist if we had free trade with Cuba? Perhaps. But I think it's important to assess what our goals are and evaluate if we're meeting them.

If you want to bend the will of the Castro's the easiest way to do it is to spread capitalism to Cuba. All it will take is a taste of the freedom and opportunity it brings, and the people of Cuba will do the work for us. There is no reason to build walls or restrict trade. Just show them how the other half lives.

JasonSupport the show.

Well, Obama announced his supreme court nominee today and just as I suspected it's a middle of the road choice that puts pressure on the Republicans to nominate him rather than waiting for the next president to take office.

Judge Nap had some interesting things to say about Merrick and seemed to take the position that he is far from an Obama ideolog. He is a Washington insider who's spent more than 20 years in public service.

Here's how I think this might play out. Republicans will hold their ground as long as they think their nominee stands the best chance of winning. If they find that they might face another far left appointment next year, they'll rush to approve Garland rather than risk leaving the seat unfilled.

Next, it's on to the GOP who dropped a truth bomb on the CNBC morning show yesterday. If you Republicans thought your party cared about you and what you wanted you've got anther thing coming.

It's like I always say, nobody is looking out for you. You've got to watch your elected leaders like a hawk and don't buy into the notion that they're in Washington to fight for you. They're there to advance their own policial agenda and we as Americans need to make sure that they remember their future is directly tied to their willingness to do what they're told.Support the show.