The Jason Stapleton Program

As you know, I've spent the last several weeks trying to dissect the Syrian conflict and separate fact from conspiracy theory. There's no shortage of people who make a lot of wild claims about the U.S. and its involvement in the region but often the truth is far less interesting.What I find so intriguing about the Middle East conflict is that although there is little evidence of a secret government conspiracy for decades to destroy the Middle East to dominate the world, the reality is quite unbelievable. The level of incompetence and outright lies coming out of Washington is striking.So today I asked Scott Horton to come on the show and help me fill in the gaps about what's going on over there. As you will quickly recognize Scott is a true expert on the subject and his ability to recall names, dates and facts will impress even the best historian.In the interview, Scott referenced several articles and reading material. I've linked what I could here.The Redirection - http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/05/the-redirectionWashington's Secret Wars - http://original.antiwar.com/giraldi/2011/12/07/washingtons-secret-wars/Finally on the show we play a little game I'm calling "Progressive Logic" I think you'll get a kick out of it. Enjoy!JasonSupport the show.

If you tried to watch the news in the last 24 hours, you were likely left wanting. That's because for the past day nearly every media outlet has been broadcasting 24/7 coverage of a story they largely know nothing about.The shooting in San Bernardino, a Bonnie, and Clyde duo was met with a smorgasbord of coverage and rampant speculation. Why do so many news outlets feel the need to guess at the news?I think the answer is simple. In the world of 24-hour news coverage, most media outlets need to fill time. Especially during a quickly evolving story where little is known. This requires them to ask questions and speculate when there is clearly no "news" available.You might ask, "Why not just move on to another story why you wait?"That's a great question. The problem is that when they change topics you change the channel. True journalism is becoming a thing of the past. Most news outlets don't want to report on stories that aren't already being reported on. Nobody wants to "break" a story. There's simply too much risk.During a rapidly evolving story, they get to pretend like they're doing to news why getting cover for potentially getting facts wrong since the story is "quickly evolving."It's a sad, sad state of affairs in America today. Not a great time to be a real journalist. All that and more today on the show.JasonSupport the show.

It's funny, I spent the entire morning pouring over articles and documents related to Benghazi and the Iraq/Syria crisis as we try to formulate some idea of what's going on over there. I had several articles together to at least lay the groundwork for a larger show I want to do, and I planned on introducing them on today's show.But then I started chatting with one of the members of our private FB group (http://www.jasonstapleton.com), and I got sidetracked.The issue at had been a comment I made on yesterday's show regarding market failures. You can go back and listen to yesterday's show for the full conversation but basically I said a free market does fail. There are times when it is not efficient, but that most of the time any breakdown or perceived market failure can be traced back to government.This sparked a good discussion about what a market failure is. So I picked out a couple of what I think are simple market failures, and I share them with you on the show today.I know there are a lot of people who will take issue with my analysis here. I certainly go's against a lot of what you hear inside our libertarian circles. But I think if you give it an honest review you'll find there's some merit to my position.JasonSupport the show.

You did not misread that headline. The story is incredible. The government (the ATF to be specific) manufactures a crime, finds some hapless Joe, down on his luck and convinces him to commit said crime. When Joe attempts the deed the ATF swoops in to arrest him and the court is forced to hand down decade-long sentences for a manufactured crime.It's a disgusting abuse of police power, and I'll share the full story with you today on the show.But first, we discuss a topic I've mentioned several times on the show. During the crafting of ObamaCare, the insurance companies wanted assurances that they would be protected if the governments enrollment numbers turned out to be off. (Shocker I know) So they lobbied for and received a safety net.Under the law, if insurers perform worse than expected they will be saved by a defacto bailout by the federal government. Where exactly is this money going to come from you might ask? That's another shocker, and I'll explain everything in today's episode.Check it out!Support the show.

Well, I'm back from vacation and what a week to be gone. Over the holiday, we had a downed Russian fighter taken out by Turkey, and we saw another terrorist act perpetrated on a planned parenthood in Colorado. And those are just the two stories I had time to get to today.In today's episode, I'm going to present some compelling evidence that Turkey is secretly buying oil from ISIS, and we'll discuss the possibility Turkey shot down the Russian plane to prevent it from bombing oil caravans shipping oil out of Syria into Turkey.I'll also talk to you about what all this means to America. Two U.S. senators are now calling for 20k ground troops to be deployed to Iraq and Syria to aid in the ground offensive to defeat ISIS and oust Assad.This is a repeat of the Iraq invasion, and it stinks. All of this is backdropped by the government's constant pressure to strip the liberties of U. S. citizens from them by claiming it needs more power to protect us.It's scary business.JasonSupport the show.

It's a mixed bag today with news coming out that an Islamic group had raided a hotel in Mali, killing at least 18 and taking 190 hostages. (or at least that's the story as of this writing)I also take some time to talk about an article written by some progressive blasting red states for taking a disproportionate percentage of tax dollars about what they pay in. The author apparently doesn't understand the hypocrisy in advocating for the direct wealth transfer from rich to poor for things like Medicaid while criticizing the transfer of wealth from state to state.Then we move on to discuss the federal government's plan to raid the 4 trillion dollar reserve at the Fed to pay for the new highway and transit fund.It's an interesting episode to say the least. Check it out.Support the show.

I've been warning about this day since 2012. Today United Healthcare announced it will likely be leaving the exchange after taking heavy losses in 2015 and projecting future losses next year.This all stems from a system that was broken from the beginning and has just gotten worse as the years have gone one.What does this mean for millions of people who now get subsidized insurance on the exchange? Tune in today to find out.We are also getting a lot of reports of potential terrorists trying to sneak across our southern border. Just today I read two reports out of Breitbart about incidents in Texas and Arizona which I have to admit gets my spidey senses up a bit.It's an odd coincidence, given our current debate over border security and our recent fight over refugee immigration that we would now be getting multiple reports of middle eastern nationals trying to sneak into the country.Anyway, it's an exciting show. Check it out.Support the show.

I am typically amused by Bernie Sanders and his seeming inability to do basic addition and subtraction but today he seems to have hit a new low.Over the span of roughly 30 seconds he both assured us that he would not tax anyone in the bottom 99% and then quickly promised to raise taxes on everyone.You wonder what kind of person would take a man like Bernie Sanders serious. Then you take a look at some of the stuff our young people are consuming in college, and it makes a little more sense.It turns out the University of Vermont (Bernie's home state) recently concluded a "white's only" retreat where those who 'self-identify' as white had a chance to talk about how their whiteness affects others and where they could vent their shame in a "safe space".It's both a funny and downright scary episode today everyone. Give it a listen.Support the show.

Well, I warned you it was going to happen. I said there were going to be people who tried to use your anger and desire for revenge to convince you now is the time to redouble our efforts in the middle east.Last night I was out on a late night coffee run, and Mark Levin was on the radio. What I heard from him didn't surprise me but it did anger me. So today I want to walk you thought his logic, and then tear it apart.I also spend some time on the U.S. immigration issue, specifically the refugee debate and the fight between the federal and state governments.It's well worth a listen.JasonSupport the show.

Some of you know I released an open letter to the Paris tragedy this weekend. If you haven't had a chance to read it you can do so here: http://www.jasonstapleton.com/how-do-you-kill-an-idea/ or if you prefer I'm going to read it today on the show.France has already launched airstrikes against ISIS positions in Rocca and will likely continue its bombing campaign along with more ground troops shortly.I can only wonder if this was the desired outcome by those who committed the attacks in Paris. It would seem as though they were coaxing France into deeper conflict.Today I'm going to take you though the response from many in power and discuss their reaction and intentions.My mind and heart weigh heavy today as I see this world conflict unfolding. I fear we are in for a great deal more bloodshed.Support the show.