The Daily Signal

With aging equipment, a lack of adequate funding, and limited production capabilities, the U.S. military is ranked "marginal" at best. That’s the conclusion of the 2022 Index of U.S. Military Strength, an annual report from The Heritage Foundation that assesses the status of the military and the global threat level to the United States, which was released Wednesday."It's right there on the edge. It could handle one major war for, we believe, a limited period of time, but it couldn't do anything other than that," said Dakota Wood, the lead editor of the index and a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)Wood joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the findings of the latest index.We also cover these stories: The White House is preparing a plan to vaccinate children against COVID-19 pending the approval of the Food and Drug Administration. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announces that the city will extend its COVID-19 vaccine mandate to all public employees, as well as remove the option to opt out of vaccination through regular testing. Democrats announce plans to alter a proposal that would give the IRS the authority to obtain information on Americans’ bank transactions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrats' $3.5 trillion dollar spending package gives the IRS permission, and funding, to snoop on nearly every American's bank account, Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action for America, says.The "Biden administration is asking Congress to go ... weaponize the IRS to spy on Americans," Anderson says.The future of the bill is unclear after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., said he could not support a spending bill over $1.5 trillion. Anderson joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss how likely it is for the bill to move forward in Congress, and what we know about the provisions in the package.We also cover these stories: Christian schools are experiencing a boom in enrollment. Director of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center David Romps resigns, saying the organization has become political. City council members in New York City vote unanimously to remove a statue of Thomas Jefferson. Enjoy the Show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelvin Cochran served as a firefighter for over three decades. He was named “Fire Chief of the Year” in 2012, and former President Barack Obama appointed him the U.S. Fire Administrator, the highest fire service post in the nation. But Cochran faced a different kind of fire in 2015 when he was terminated as Atlanta’s fire chief for writing a book in which he expressed his personal views that marriage is between one man and one woman. Cochran reached a settlement with the city of Atlanta in 2018, but says the experience of losing his job because of his faith was “challenging, to say the least.” As Americans, “we have the freedom to live out our faith, religious liberty, and we have freedom to speak our faith in whatever form of speech that we feel convicted to do without consequences,” Cochran says. “You shouldn't have to lose anything for living out your faith or speaking in your faith in our country.” Cochran joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss his new book, “Facing the Fire: The Faith That Brought ‘America’s Fire Chief’ Through the Flames of Persecution.” We also cover these stories:  Former Secretary of State and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell dies due to complications from COVID-19. The Supreme Court issues two opinions that are being hailed as big wins for police officers.  Ongoing tensions continue between Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and city police officers over vaccine mandates. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Stephen Skoly is a well-known oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Rhode Island. He has been called to testify before lawmakers and serves as chairman of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity.But recently, Skoly made news for another reason: He opposes his state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Because of his principled stand, he no longer is allowed to see patients or practice medicine.Skoly joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" along with Mike Stenhouse, president of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, to explain why they're fighting heavy-handed government mandates. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Heritage Foundation announced Thursday that Kevin Roberts will serve as the organization’s next president. Roberts says he is eager to advance the conservative movement and address some of the most pressing issues facing our nation today. "The top three [critical issues that we are facing right now] are education, education and education,” Roberts says, adding that conservatives will miss an “opportunity of a lifetime” if we cannot come together and address what is “broken about the education system.”  The immigration crisis at America’s southern border and the “administrative state, the power of the executive branch to do the legislating rather than the legislative branch [doing it]” are also critical issues Roberts says he looks forward to working to fix. Roberts is coming to the Washington, D.C. based think tank after serving as president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, Texas. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)He joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss his vision for the future of The Heritage Foundation and the conservative movement. We also cover these stories: YouTube temporarily suspends Steven Crowder, host of the "Louder With Crowder" podcast, for “hate speech.”  The Supreme Court changes the way it handles asking questions during oral arguments.  Benjamin Franklin Day Elementary in Seattle, Washington, cancels its Halloween Pumpkin Parade because school officials say it “marginalizes students of color who do not celebrate the holiday.”  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cancel culture is endemic on college campuses. Every day come stories of professors, speakers, and students who run afoul of the radical left and suffer the consequences. With the frequency of these incidents, it can be difficult to keep track.The College Fix, the news site dedicated to providing a conservative perspective on news from campuses across the nation, now offers what it calls the Campus Cancel Culture Database to document many examples."If you want to know the truth, if you want to know how America really used to be ... come to the database and we'll list everything that used to be there," says Jennifer Kabbany, editor-in-chief of The College Fix.Kabbany joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to talk about the database as well as offer solutions for those getting canceled at their universities.  We also cover these stories: The number of Americans quitting their jobs has reached record levels, the Labor Department says. To address bottlenecks in the global supply chain, the Biden administration announces that Walmart, FedEx, and UPS will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The drugstore chain Walgreens announces the closing of five more stores in San Francisco because of organized shoplifting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blacks who don’t adopt the doctrines of victimhood or critical social justice erode the narrative promoted by woke activists, Erec Smith, a professor of rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania and co-founder of Free Black Thought, says. “The illogic that is inherent in a lot of anti-racist activism ... is absurd," Smith says.Smith doesn't like how The New York Times' 1619 Project, authored by Nikole Hannah-Jones, only has furthered division within the nation.As a professor of rhetoric, Smith, who is black and the author of “A Critique of Anti-Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: the Semblance of Empowerment,” says he is concerned that anti-racist dogma contains “no sincere attempt to persuade” but is instead “an attempt to intimidate." Smith joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” from the Parents Unite conference in Boston on Oct. 1 to discuss why blacks who oppose critical race theory are being “erased.” Smith also explains what he would talk about discuss Ibram X Kendi, author of “How to Be an Antiracist,” if he were given the opportunity. We also cover these stories: Democrats move to slash their $3.5 trillion social spending bill to $2 trillion.  Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announces that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE, no longer will conduct worksite raids. Eleven state-level school board groups put distance between themselves and a National School Boards Association letter to President Joe Biden asking for federal authorities to investigate parents.  Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean to be an American citizen today?Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor emeritus at California State University, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about citizenship and other topics covered in his new book, “The Dying Citizen: How Progressive Elites, Tribalism, and Globalization Are Destroying the Idea of America.”A bestselling author and one of The Daily Signal’s most popular columnists, Hanson’s latest book serves as a wake-up call for citizens to take their responsibility seriously.“I think we have to just take a deep breath and say, ‘We have to reassert citizenship,'” Hanson says. “We’re starting to see it with local school boards, where somebody, somehow, thought that either school bureaucrats or locally elected people are not responsible for the will of the voters who either elected them or they were hired by elected officials through that vote. And yet parents are starting to object and hold them accountable.”Hanson also reflects on historical comparisons to the tumultuous year 2020. And he explains why, despite the challenges we face today, he remains optimistic about America’s future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a decision representing the triumph of anti-Columbus sentiment, President Joe Biden announced Friday he plans on officially commemorating Indigenous Peoples Day, rather than Columbus Day, on Monday.The controversy surround Christopher Columbus has spanned decades. To some, Columbus serves as a symbol of bloodthirsty colonial expansion, a petty tyrant hellbent on pillaging native lands. To others, Columbus is a misunderstood and unjustified target of anti-American scorn who should be praised for his tolerance and kindness towards indigenous people.Jarrett Stepman, a Daily Signal contributor and author of the book "The War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America's Past," falls squarely in the latter camp.Stepman joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to discuss the long-running controversy surrounding the much maligned Columbus and to share the true story of the man who discovered America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rhode Island mom Nicole Solas says she is just one of many parents “with legitimate concerns about our kids’ education.”Solas drew national attention earlier this year when her local school board in South Kingstown, R.I., threatened to sue her over public record requests she made to learn what her local school district was teaching students. The school board ultimately opted against taking legal action against her. But Solas made headlines again in August, when a teachers union, the National Education Association Rhode Island, filed a lawsuit against her over the records requests. Solas made the requests to determine whether her child would be taught about gender identity and critical race theory ideology, two controversial issues that have led to an increase in parental attendance at school board meetings across the country this year. Parents “simply want to know what their kids are learning, and they want to have a say if what their kids are learning is not appropriate,” she says. Solas is actively speaking out against Attorney General Merrick Garland's order to the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with federal, state, and local leaders to look into a “disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence” allegedly being made against “school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” Garland’s directive came less than a week after the National Association of School Boards asked President Joe Biden for assistance looking into whether threats against school board members and other school leaders could be classified as "domestic terrorism.”Solas joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share her personal story of speaking out against her local school board, and to discuss Garland’s order. We also cover these stories: Congress reaches an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Former President Donald Trump asks a federal judge to order Facebook to reinstate his account. Texas will appeal a federal judge's injunction against the state’s pro-life Heartbeat Act. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices