Author: The Daily Signal

Top 5 of 2021 Day 1: During this Christmas season, we're sharing some of our favorite interviews of the year to allow our team to take time off for the holidays.

There’s a crisis in San Francisco. Homelessness has skyrocketed and drug use is rampant. 

Michael Shellenberger moved to San Francisco in 1993 to work on liberal causes, and even spent time working for George Soros’ foundation. He advocated the decriminalization of drugs and promoted drug treatment programs. But, Shellenberger says, he began to worry when he saw the number of drug overdose deaths in America rise from 17,000 in 2000 to more than 70,000 by 2017. 

“Clearly, we are in the midst of a massive drug crisis,” Shellenberger says, “and it felt like nobody was offering a particularly clear explanation of it or offering very good solutions.” 

Out of frustration over the problems he was seeing in San Francisco and other liberal cities, Shellenberger became determined to diagnose the problems driving the homeless crisis and find solutions. He presents the result of his research and investigation in his new book “San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities.” 

Shellenberger joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss how the left’s “victim” ideology has harmed West Coast cities and what can be done to save those communities from complete ruin. 

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The conflict between Israel and terrorist group Hamas runs back decades. But earlier this year, an 11 day conflict between the two brought the eyes of the world back onto the Middle East. Hamas has resorted to using children in its campaign to destroy Israel.

"Hamas uses human shields on a regular basis," Jonathan Schanzer explains. "They actually send kids to the border fence with Israel and militants hide behind them."

Schanzer is the senior vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and author of "Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and 11 Days of War," and has detailed Hamas' ongoing campaign to obliterate Israel.

He joins the show to break down those 11 days of conflict, and discuss how America should be involved.

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Years before Donald Trump became president, legacy media was already moving in a woke direction. While no doubt some reporters are ideological, the trend was influenced by the growing prominence of the internet. Online, articles that generated an emotional response became income generators, because they led to readers spending a longer time interacting with the article.

In 2017, the New York Times launched a program called Project Feels to track how younger readers responded emotionally to certain articles. "What they found was the more emotional the reader was, the longer they stayed on the page, and the more likely they were to click on an ad," says Batya Ungar-Sargon, the author of the new book "Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy."

Ungar-Sargon shares why reporting on racism drives emotions, how black media differs from legacy media in its coverage, and the class issues the media ignores.

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As private businesses mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their employees under pressure from the Biden administration, employees are banding together to make their displeasure known.

In the airline industry, United Airlines pilot Sherry Walker and her group, Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom, are pushing back against what they view as an overreach by the industry to control their health and violate their religious freedom.

"I cannot wake up some day in 10 years and my kid turns to me and says, 'Mom, you had a chance to fix this and you didn't and you left me this mess,'" Walker says. "So I'm going to fight till the end for my religious faith and that of my coworkers. And if that means that I'm done flying, I guess I have a bigger fight God put in front of me."

Walker joins "The Daily Signal Podcast" to talk about her efforts to push back against vaccine mandates in the airline industry.

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The iconic voice of Rush Limbaugh no longer graces the airwaves, but the broadcaster's legacy lives on in a new book by his longtime sidekick.

James Golden, known on air as "Bo Snerdley," spoke to The Daily Signal about the man he worked alongside for 30 years. Golden recently published a book about Limbaugh, "Rush on the Radio: A Tribute from His Sidekick for 30 Years."

Golden, who served as Limbaugh's call screeners, recounted, "You had people that depended on him to help guide them through when they were feeling badly about where the country was at a particular moment. We had a regular reoccurring theme amongst some callers, 'Rush, is it time to panic yet?' 'No,' he would say, 'No, there isn't.'"

A lightly edited transcript is available at DailySignal.com.

Would you like to participate in a toy drive this Christmas? Check out the links below.

https://www.prisonfellowship.org/about/angel-tree/ 

https://www.catholiccharitiesdc.org/angeltree/ 

https://givingfriends.org/

https://www.romper.com/p/10-best-toy-drive-programs-to-make-the-holidays-happy-for-everyone-19434287

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Cuba's communist regime has done almost everything in its power to put an end to pro-democracy protests there. Now, the movement for freedom is fighting to stay alive even as many of its leaders and others have been imprisoned. 

Last month, Cubans again tried to gather and protest the regime, but the government met the effort with intimidation and force. The protest ultimately resulted in “about 80 new people that were detained and remained detained,” says John Suarez, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba. 

The pro-democracy movement in Cuba gained new momentum in July, when thousands of Cubans took to the streets during several days of unplanned protests. Cuba’s communist government is still detaining over 700 of those involved in the protests. 

The Cuban government's motive is that "they want control,” says Suarez, who joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to describe the situation and what hope remains for a free Cuba. 

We also cover these stories: 

• President Biden signs a measure, passed by Congress, to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion.
• YouTube cancels conservative talk show host and comedian Steven Crowder for the rest of the year.
• Kim Kardashian discusses cancel culture with former New York Times writer Bari Weiss on the podcast "Honestly." 

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops continue to amass at Ukraine’s snowy border. A tense atmosphere permeates the cold. And one question is on many minds: Will Russia invade again?

Alexis Mrachek, research associate for Russia and Eurasia at The Heritage Foundation, says she thinks it’s quite possible. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s multimedia news organization.)

“I think in looking at a potential second invasion of Ukraine versus not another invasion, I think it’s more likely that Russia would invade Ukraine,” Mrachek explains. “I think it is more likely just looking at the tensions building up, and Russia is now demanding that NATO retract its pledge to admit Ukraine and Georgia one day.”

“And so Russia and the U.S. and Western players keep going back and forth,” she says. “It seems more likely that Russia would invade.”

Mrachek joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to detail the history of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, lay out the consequences of another Russian invasion, and explain how America and the world should respond to Russian aggression.

We also cover these stories: 

• The House votes to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress.
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., says she supports expanding the Supreme Court from the current nine justices.
• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, introduces a bill targeting critical race theory in K-12 classrooms.

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What if former President Ronald Reagan was right? What if freedom really is never more than “one generation away from extinction,” as the then-governor of California said during his inaugural address in 1967. 

A Purcellville, Virginia-based Christian youth group called Generation Joshua has heeded Reagan’s warning and is working tirelessly to empower and educate teenagers to become future leaders of our nation. 

The organization exists “to teach high school students about their country, where it comes from, why it's free, and how to keep it that way,” Joel Grewe, the director of Generation Joshua, says. 

Through summer camps, local clubs, and other creative events, Generation Joshua has taught thousands of teens how to protect American liberties. 

In celebration of Bill of Rights Day on Dec. 15, Grewe and Jeremiah Lorrig, the organization’s deputy director, join “The Daily Signal Podcast” to share stories of the ways Generation Joshua is training and empowering America’s future leaders. 

Follow these links to learn more about Joshua Generation, Constituting America, or the American History and Civics Initiative.

We also cover these stories:

• President Joe Biden calls on Congress to pass gun-control measures to try and clamp down on gun violence.
• Wholesale prices rise by 9.6% since last year. 
• The New Hampshire chapter of the American Federation of Teachers announces it is suing the state to block a law prohibiting teachers from teaching critical race theory in their classrooms.

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As Americans experience inflation at a rate not felt in four decades, the Biden administration continues to promote a multitrillion-dollar social spending package. 

“Our spending is already out of control,” Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., says, adding that “new government spending is only going to exacerbate [inflation] and make it worse.” 

In an effort to get spending under control and inflation rates down, the second-term congressman says, lawmakers should “completely kill this bill.” 

The House passed the multitrillion-dollar spending package in November and Senate Democrats are working to gain the votes needed to pass it before the end of the year. 

Steil joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss the likelihood that congressional Democrats will secure final passage of the social spending bill and what steps lawmakers should take to stop rising inflation rates. 

Steil also discusses how small businesses in his home state of Wisconsin are fairing amid economic challenges and after the riots that struck parts of the state last summer. 

We also cover these stories: 

• The tornado that tore through Kentucky late Friday and into Saturday claimed at least 70 to 80 lives, officials say.
• The Supreme Court declines to decide whether Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers violated the First Amendment by barring a conservative think tank from attending his press conferences.
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will empower citizens to enforce a ban on the sale and manufacturing of "assault weapons."

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The trial of Ghislaine Maxwell—the right-hand woman of deceased financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—continues this week, with Maxwell’s defense attorneys expected to make their case Thursday. Maxwell is charged with recruiting and grooming four underaged girls to be abused by Epstein.

To better understand the details and nuance of this disturbing case, The Daily Signal spoke with Zack Smith, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Florida and a legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

You can listen to the podcast or read a lightly edited transcript below.

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