December 22, 2025 • 36 mins
Today on the Scott Jennings Show: It’s a fast-moving, hard-hitting edition of The Scott Jennings Show today — packed with breaking White House news, immigration failures, energy policy shakeups, and two sharp interviews on conservatism’s past and America’s tech future. Guests: Former United States Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tevi Troy and Director of Policy at NetChoice, Patrick Hedger.
Stream it now, live on X, YouTube & Facebook. Follow @ScottJenningsKY
ScottJenningsShow.com Common Sense for the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Keep up with the Trump Administration when you subscribe to The Trump Report. This email brings you daily highlights from the Oval Office, right to your inbox, 5 days a week. Subscribe today at http://salempodcastnetwork.com/trump
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen. Cheers.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's Scott Jennings.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Okay, it's Monday, December the twenty second. We've reached Christmas week.
Merry Christmas to you all at Scott Jennings Common Sense
for the American people here on the Salem Radio Network.
As always, the Scott Jennings Show is sponsored by Ease
Total Health. Ease Total Health, EASSE. You gotta check these
(00:28):
guys out, by the way, easefoeveryone dot com slash Scott.
Here's why you check them out because health insurance is
broken and Ease fixes it with no deductibles, no red tape,
and real benefits from day one. Take my word for it.
Ease Total Health, you want to check it out. Twenty
two minutes past the hour today, our friend and writer
(00:49):
Tevy Troy is coming by to discuss his peace in
the Washington Examiner on prominent conservatives who passed away this year.
We'll get Tevy's perspective on that. Twenty three minutes past
the hour, Patrick Hedger from net Choices here we'll talk
AI and data centers and other hot topics from the
world of technology. But first let's do the news. President
(01:11):
Trump planning a late afternoon announcement with the Secretary of
the Navy today. This has to do with shipbuilding, we
are told. Now you might remember the other day we
had Senator Todd Young of Indiana on the show. Here
he is the sentence expert on this very topic. So
we'll see what the Commander in chief has to say today.
(01:32):
Just a few days ago he signed into law the
annual Defense Bill, nine hundred billion dollar defense bill, which
does have major ship building provisions. So watch this space
to see what President Trump says about ship building this afternoon.
Energy News Trump today canceling major offshore wind projects. Man
(01:53):
does he hate the windmills. Here's Interior Secretary Doug Bergham
on Fox News this morning.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Today, we're sending notifications to the five large offshore win
projects that are under construction that they're going to be
their leases will be suspended due to national security concerns.
During this time of suspension, we'll work with the companies
to try to find a mitigation. But we've completed the
(02:21):
work the President Trump has asked us to do. The
Department of War has come back conclusively that the issues
related to these large offshore wind programs create radar interference
that creates a genuine risk for the US, particularly related
to where they are in proximity to our East Coast
population centers.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Now, the White House notes that one, just one natural
gas pipeline could produce the same amount of energy as
these five win projects they are canceling today. If you're
driving for Christmas, well, in most places, you'll paying less
for gas way less. In forty states, the average gas
price now below three dollars a gallon. In twenty eight
(03:03):
states it's less than two seventy five, and thirteen states
below two fifty, and in one state it's less than
two twenty five a gallon. You can even find it
below two dollars a gallon at certain stations in at
least twelve states. More illegal immigration mayhem, and there is
outrage in Charlotte, North Carolina for good reason. A fifteen
(03:25):
year old girl died in November from a hit and run,
and the person who killed her is out of jail.
Here's how the Queen City News and Charlotte called it.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
Fifteen year old girl was involved in a hit and
run crash while riding an electric bike in East Charlotte.
CMPD now says she has died. On November twenty fourth,
the bike rider, fifteen year old Amber Paris, was taken
to a local hospital after being hit by a car.
The driver fled the scene. The next day, officers arrested
forty year old Julio Showcop Vicente Charts with felony hit
(04:01):
and run, reckless driving, and no operator's license. Arrest records
show he was released on December third on a ten
thousand dollars bond.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So an illegal alien kills a teenager in November and
gets out of jail somehow on a ten thousand dollars
bond just a couple of weeks later in December. What
are we doing, folks, What in the world are we
doing now? At the local level, it is a mess
in some places. At the federal level, there are encouraging
(04:33):
signs in the fight against illegal immigration. Today, the federal
government is encouraging people to self deport. Homeland Security Secretary
Christy Noams says illegal aliens who use the government's app
to self deport will get a three thousand dollars stipend
from the government to.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Do so voluntarily. Want to go home now, to your country,
If you're in this United States of America illegally. We
will give you three thousand dollars through the holidays to
send you home. We'll buy you a ticket, give you
three thousand dollars to go home. And that includes people
that have not been detained, maybe have interacted with us,
(05:11):
are detained and don't have criminal charges against them. Yeah,
raise your hand, will help you get home. We'll facilitated,
and you might get the chance to come back to
this country the right way someday if you will.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Self deportations actually an area where the Trump administration has
had a high level of success. Nearly two million illegal
aliens have self deported since Trump took office in January.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Vice President JD. Vance made mention of the administration's overall
efforts on ending the illegal immigration crisis at his speech
to Turning Point USA this weekend.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
In just a year, we ended Joe Biden Kamala Harris's
border crisis. December marks seven months straight of zero releases
at the southern border. More than two point five million
illegal immigrants have left the United States, the first time
in over fifty years that we have had negative net migration.
Speaker 7 (06:10):
And it's just the start.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And here's Trump's borders are Tom Homan, who says we
have the most secure border in our nation's history.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
Yeah, the most secure border in the history of this nation,
the most secure ever, and that's based on real data.
I just came back. I just did a border review
in San Diego, Texas and Arizona. I toured the border
by air, by boat, and by four wheel drive three
days on the southern border Maria. I didn't see a
(06:41):
single illegal alien. And I've been doing this since nineteen
eighty four, even though backgrounds in Portugal three days are
a single illegal alien in my site. It's the most
secure border ever.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
And it seems to me the story here is that
you have a federal government that is actively engaged in
enforcing federal immigration law. Yet stories like Charlotte and the
story from Fairfax, Virginia that we brought you last week
tell us that we still very much have a crisis
of local officials, often Democrats, prosecutors, judges, local people who
(07:14):
are dedicated to stifling the enforcement of federal immigration law
to the point of putting dangerous illegal aliens back on
our streets all for what politics. To get Trump, folks,
you got to hold your local elected officials accountable. If
there's a prosecutor or a judge or a local sheriff
(07:37):
that is not participating and enforcing federal immigration law, and
they are doing it by putting violent illegal aliens back
on the streets. Take note and take action. News from academia,
the purification of college campuses continues. According to a recent
(07:57):
report from the Buckley Institute at Yale University, there is
now not a single Republican found in twenty seven of
the forty three departments at Yale. Not a single Republican
in twenty seven of forty three departments. Now, this is
a nation that is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
(08:21):
In fact, it may be slightly more Republican than Democrats.
The number of faculty at Yale that's registered Republican three
percent in comparison, roughly eighty three percent of faculty or
registered Democrats or primarily support Democratic candidates. The Buckley Institute's
(08:41):
report looked at Yale's undergraduate departments, as well as its
School of Management and it's law school. You have to
remember when you send your kids off to college. In
some places, many places, they are just not interested in
diversity of viewpoints on campus. This is common sense for
the American people. At Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network,
(09:03):
a word from our friends at the International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews. Candles were lit on Bandai Beach by families,
by children, by people of faith to celebrate a festival
of Light, a festival from Bible times, one that Jesus
himself celebrated. But instead of light, there was darkness, as
you know, violence, fear, hatred showing itself at a time
(09:26):
meant for prayer and rejoicing. Times like this remind us
that even with a ceasefire in Israel, Jewish people are
being targeted simply because of their faith, and times like
this remind us why the International Fellowship of Christians and
Jews exists to stand in the gap, providing safety and
security to God's people. The Fellowship brings together Christians and
(09:49):
Jews to be a light to suffering Jews in Israel,
the former Soviet Union, or wherever the needs are greatest. Today,
Jewish people around the world face so many threats, but
they are so grateful for their Christian friends who stand
with them. To find out how you can take part,
visit URGENTIFCJ dot org. That's one word URGENTIFCJ dot org.
(10:10):
When we come back, Tevi Troy from the Washington Examiner
is here. It's Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network
Angeltree Christmas campaign with our friends at the nonprofit Prison Fellowship.
You know, there are literally thousands of children all over
America who have a mom or a dad in prison.
(10:32):
That means they won't see their parent on Christmas. That's
why Angeltree is so important. You can put smiles on
the faces of children who, through no fault of their own,
are often struggling at a time of year that's supposed
to be full of joy. There is an Angeltree banner
up at Scott Jennings Show dot com. You can make
a donation right there. It only takes thirty dollars to
bless a child who will receive a special present, a
(10:53):
gospel message, and a personal note from their incarcerated parent. Again,
the cost to help bless one child with Angeltree is
only thirty dollars, less than a pizza and a Diet
Coke somewhere, Or if you're feeling generous, one hundred and
fifty dollars will bless five children of prisoners with an
extra special Christmas. Just go to Scott Jennings Show dot com,
make your generous gift online or phone our special donation
(11:14):
number eight eight eight two O six two eight five
y five. That's eight eight eight two O six two
eight five five And show the love of Christ through
your donation to Angel Tree.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
US in the window Home Square the Windows Hicky Fall
Runnings Christmas Time. Come now for America's favorite pundit. It's
Scott Jennings.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Monday, December the twenty second Scott Jennings Common Sense for
the American people here on the Salem Radio Network. Joining
me today an old friend of mine, Teviy Troy, is
senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute. He's a senior
scholar at Yeshiva University's Strauss Center. He is the author
of five books on the US presidency, and every year
(12:00):
he writes an annual tribute to conservatives who have passed away.
He does this for the Washington Examiner, and his latest
annual survey of Conservatives we Lost is out. Tevy, Welcome
to the Scott Jenning Show.
Speaker 9 (12:14):
Scott, thanks for having me. You've long been my favorite pundit.
Now I'm glad you're America's favorite did as well.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
You were ahead of the curve, my friend, and thank
you for thank you for doing so. Okay, who did so?
When you texted me the other day about your piece
coming out, the first person that came to mind for me,
of course was Vice President Dick Cheney. Probably the most
well known person on the list. Is that the most
well known conservative that we lost in twenty five and
give me your review. Who were the names that you
(12:41):
featured in this year's piece.
Speaker 9 (12:44):
Well, historically it was indeed to Cheney. I think the
person who's death TCHI got the most news was Charlie Kirk.
Obviously we haven't been part of our conversation decades, but
really a big deal when he was tragically murdered. Also,
the youngest person I've ever profiled in this thing, which
I've been doing for six years, but who Norman put
Horz just died. I got him in just under the deadline.
He was a huge part of the American intellectual landscape
(13:06):
for two generations. So really, some very big names doted
this year, and it was really the toughest year that
I've had to deal with in writing this survey for
six years.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And you knew several of these people. You've been around
the conservative movement for thirty five some eyed years now
you knew personally several of the people on your list.
Speaker 9 (13:25):
Oh, absolutely. I knew Cheney, and I knew put Horitz.
I knew some of the former White House. It's like
Tony Dolan, who was instrumental in the tear down this
Wall speech. I knew Michael L. Dean for almost the
entire time I've been in Washington. He was a long
standing fighter against the islamk Iranian regime. So yeah, there
were some really great people on the list, and they
are tritically gone now.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, Charlie's murder certainly probably garnered the most worldwide attention,
I would say, because of the tragic nature of it,
the graphic nature of it, and just everything that's happened since.
Certainly he had an outsized impact on our conservative disco worse.
It's interesting, in all the years you've been writing this,
you say this is the youngest person you've ever profiled.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
It's true. I mean usually these people have lived long lives.
I mean sixty seventy eighty years old. That the people
I usually profile. Norm put Harris was ninety five. But
Charlie was only thirty one when he was contemned, and
it's just a terrible thing.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah. And as it relates to Dick Cheney, his death
was interesting. It got some mixed reviews out there because obviously,
in twenty twenty four he decided to vote for Kamala
Harris instead of Donald Trump, although I noted at the
time he actually supported Trump in twenty sixteen when some
Conservatives were not supporting Trump. I believe Dick Cheney went
to the convention in twenty sixteen and stood up for
(14:41):
Trump even though a lot of people from the Bush
Ears were shying away from it.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
Yeah. I also give Cheney a little bit of forgiveness
just because of how personal got with his daughter. But
you want to talk about someone who is an important
part of the conservative movement for fifty years, it's really
Dick Cheney. I wrote a piece when he died, a
lo or obituary of how involved he was with the
conservative intellectual world, bringing in smart people like Irving Crystal
and Nerman put hearts back into the Ford White House
(15:09):
decades ago. Another really interesting thing about Chinese, he had
a heart attack in the nineteen seventies, and he is
the longest living survivor of a heart attack until obviously,
he tragically asked this year.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Another name that jumped off the page at me was
James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family, I mean,
wrote seventy books, a fixture on the radio. When I
was a teenager, I got my first job in radio
in Western Kentucky, and one of my jobs every week
was to get the Focus on the Family material and
get it on the air. And so certainly from a
radio perspective, we listened to James Dobson for a long time.
(15:43):
But he had an enormous impact on the conservative movement,
conservative communications, bringing Christians into being politically active. He was
somebody that just spanned decades and had, I mean, I think,
just a huge, huge impact about his entire life.
Speaker 9 (16:02):
So absolutely, and he was important in multiple names. Culturally,
his first book was pushing back against Benjamin Spock's theory
about permissions parenting. He was a huge supporter of the
quotations that you support with Christians and Jews, and supports
of the State of Israel. And politically he was essential
to mobilizing evangelical Christians to support the conservative movement on
(16:22):
the Republican Party.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Two other names here that I see Lincoln Diaz Ballart,
former congressman who once said I'm friends with anyone who's
fighting Castro, and former Missouri governor and Senator Kit Bond,
who once chided the irs you right for saying that
a fan who caught Cardinal slugger Mark McGuire's nineteen ninety
eight record home run ball would owe the government a
(16:45):
gift tax payment. Tevy, thanks for coming on to discuss
your piece today. You can find this in the Washington Examiner.
It's called Conservatives We Lost in twenty twenty five and
Annual Remembrance. The author is Tevy Troy, a noted author,
a long time and a stalwart of the conservative movement. Tedvi,
thanks for coming on the show. Happy holidays to you, sir.
(17:08):
When we come back, we'll talk tech, AI and other
issues in the space. Stay with us here on the
Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Come man, Christmas times.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Come a couple of quick notes from the weekend. I
wanted to give you. You know, our friends at Angel Studios.
You've heard me pitch their movies and their Angel Guild
here on the show this weekend. The Angel Studios movie
David smashed box office records, becoming the number one animated
(17:40):
film in the country. Had a twenty two million dollar
opening weekend. It blow past SpongeBob z Utopia two, and
Sidney Sweeney. Even Angel Studios, as you know, puts out
faith based family films and they are dominating theaters. Last
year they had a great movie King of Kings that
came out and did similar numbers. So congrats to our
friends Angel Studios for David, and I encourage you to
(18:03):
go out and see that movie and be a member
of the Angel Guild. Actually, what other thing I wanted
to bring up? And look, everybody's talking about Turning Point
USSA and all the stuff that went on the stage
and the conversation and debate about Israel and so on
and so forth. They took a straw poll of the
Turning Point USA attendees thousands of people. They asked which
(18:25):
describes your view of Israel ally or not an ally?
Eighty seven percent said an ally or our top ally,
versus only thirteen percent who said not an ally. Among
the Turning Point USA attendees, Israel is viewed as an
(18:48):
ally of the United States. On top of that, On
top of that, they asked people what is the number
one threat to America? What finished first? Radical Islam? Number two,
socialism and Marxism number three, mass migration, but radical Islam
(19:11):
came in at number one. Israel is an ally radical
Islam is our top problem. This is according to the
attendees at Turning Point usay do with that information what
you will, but certainly take it into consideration when you
hear the cable coverage of what went on at TPUSA
coming up in a moment, Patrick Hedger with net Choice,
(19:32):
it's going to come along and talk some tech issues
with us. But first, Christmas is three days away, and
I want to talk to you about some thank yous
that we're getting from kids who have been blessed with
angel Tree Christmas donations. You know, the Angel Tree program.
Kids who have parents in prison. They get a gift,
a note, and a Bible if you choose to bless
(19:55):
one of them with a thirty dollars contribution. Eleven year
old Natalie sent us a note said I was really
happy that I got a gift through Angeltree. The first
gift I got from my dad was a notebook I
write in every day, and he also gave me some
nail polish that I still use. I feel a real
connection with my dad through Angeltree. Seven year old Isaac said,
(20:15):
I like the kids Bible and the blue Monster truck
that my dad got me last Christmas. I just love
that he got me a gift. I didn't know he
was going to give me one. If you go to
Scott Jennings Show dot com, click on the banner up
the top of the screen and donate thirty dollars, you'll
make a Christmas for a little boy or a girl
like Natalie or Isaac. There's thousands of kids out there
(20:37):
who could use your help. Let's play this message from
a volunteer who actually delivers the presence.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
These kids, they're special and they didn't ask for this
to happen to them.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
We've become quite a.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Little family, we really have.
Speaker 9 (20:54):
And she looked at that tag and she said, my
daddy gave me a gift, and he me it just
means everything.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
It's Christmas.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I mean, it's hard to listen to that and not think, gosh,
how could I help boost this work. It's very easy
to do it. You go to Scott Jenningshow dot com
click the Angel Tree banner at the top of the page.
You donate thirty dollars and you can make Christmas very
special for one of these little ones whose parents are
in prison. They're having a rough go of it through
(21:27):
no fault of their own, but you can make it
better through the Angel Tree program. And by the way,
thousands of you have already done it. I've done it.
I wouldn't ask you to do something I'm not willing
to do. I've done it. My friends and family have
done it. We had coach Bruce Pearl from Auburn, formerly
from Auburn on the other day. He did it on
the show Please help a child this Christmas. It's Scott
(21:48):
Jennings here on the Salem Radio Network. Joining the show
today for our big conversation is Patrick Hedger, the director
of policy at net Choice. He is an expert in antitrust. Paul,
we'll see content moderation and free speech issues, data privacy,
and economic policy. Founded in two thousand and one, net
Choice works to make the Internet safe for free enterprise
(22:11):
and free expression. Patrick, Welcome to the Scott Jenning Show.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
Hey Scott, thank you for having me. It's pleasure to
be here, all.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Right, Patrick we're going to talk about the topic that
everybody is talking about every day in some form or fashion,
that that is artificial intelligence AI. And I want to
start here. Tell me a little bit about what net
Choice does and what are your big policy priorities right
now as it relates to AI and the race to
win the AI battle that I think the United States
(22:41):
is engaged in with China.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
Yeah, absolutely so. Net Choice is a trade association, but
unlike a lot of other trade associations, we are a
principles based trade association. So while we have members, our
policies are primarily guided by our founding principles, which is
to protect free expression and free enterprise in technology policy
and in online spaces. And our priorities are very much
(23:04):
so about defending the First Amendment, defending American free speech principles,
as well defending American companies from attacks by overseas nations,
particularly the European Union, trying to regulate America's technology, and
then also creating a competitive ecosystem that will allow for
American companies and innovators to flourish and build, continue to
(23:27):
build the dominant technology sector that we have that has
really benefited this country in the previous era of technology
and into the AI era.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
One of the questions I think that we're going to
have to grapple with is this. And I was talking
to Ted Cruz from Texas about this the other day
on his podcast. He was telling me about some polling
that he's seen where upwards of seventy percent of Americans
actually fear AI. They're worried about the economic implications for themselves.
They're worried about I think, what they're seeing and so on.
(23:58):
So Apart from the policy discussion, here is the industry
and is the government? Are the people who are promoting
this idea that we have to win the AI race?
Are we doing enough to explain to the American people
how we can actually control and use this tool for
the better? I mean, it seems like right now the
American people are a little fearful.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
Yeah, certainly it's an uphill battle. And I wouldn't be
surprised if our foreign adversaries are the ones behind a
lot of the anti AI messaging that's out there, because
this is a true general purpose technology that will be
as important for our economy as even electricity itself has
become important to our industrialized economy AI. I think White
(24:40):
House AIS are David Sachs has this right when he
says that all future software will be AI, and I
think that really puts the stakes in perspective. America has
tremendously benefited from the fact that we have led the
world in information technology. The Internet itself has been built
by Americans and designed by American and that has been
(25:01):
huge not only for American culture exporting American culture, but
also for our economic prosperity as well. And we have
to put ourselves in the same position with AI. The
stakes are just too high.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
All right. So earlier this month, President Trump signed an
executive order that would preempt overly burdensome state rules for
artificial intelligence, as Congress is now working through a nationwide
rule book if you will, to govern AI technology. Did
you view the President's executive order as a positive development
in this overall race to defeat China to control AI.
Speaker 7 (25:35):
Yeah. Absolutely. I think this is one of the areas
where President Trump is the strongest. He absolutely understands what's
that stake here, and he understands what would undermine America's
position in the AI race, and that would be a
patchwork of potentially fifty different state laws, all shaped by
different values and different priorities that may end up even
conflicting with one another, being imposed on a fledgling sector
(25:59):
like AI. And you know, forget the big companies for
a second, think about the small business innovators. I mean
the people literally in their garages as we saw at
the beginning of the internet sector. Imagine them trying to
comply with fifty different regulatory regimes. And on top of that,
when you have fifty different regulatory regimes, you open the
door for a lot of bureaucratic delays and abuse. Right,
(26:21):
we don't want bureaucrats ultimately designing the technology or getting
to put their thumb on the scale of the information
that the technology provides us. We need to be far
more focused on outcomes and far more focused on innovation
versus putting government in the design chair of technology.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
All right, I want to ask you about data centers.
So we have this need for data centers. We have
to build more. These are the places where the computing happens.
When you type something into AI and you want an answer,
and you want an image created. Whatever we're doing with it,
we need data centers to process that. There have been
places in the United States and a lot of places
where folks at the local level have rejected data centers.
(27:01):
Where someone says I want to build a data center
and people come and defeated at the local level. A.
Are we moving quickly enough on building data centers? Do
we have enough data center capacity? Are we on the
right trajectory? And B what would you say to people
at the local level who've rejected one of these things.
I mean, I hear all kinds of reasons why people
say they don't want them in their community. But let's
(27:23):
talk about this issue of data centers. Do we have enough?
Why are people rejecting them? And what kind of conversation
do we need to have in those communities.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
Yeah, so we need to build a new hyperscaleed data
center at a pretty regular clip. We need new data
centers at a pace of about one a week to
meet current demand. And this is this is about serving
consumer demand, not just for AI queries, but for all
of the data that's on your phone, your photos, your videos,
your health records, potentially all of that needs to be
(27:54):
stored in a secured data center. And this so this
is about meeting consumer demand. So I think that's something
that people really need to understand. And I fear what's
happening around data centers right now is very similar to
what we saw around fracking. There was a lot of
justifiable concerns, but ultimately there was a lot of hysteria
and misinformation out there as well, particularly in the case
(28:15):
of data centers around energy and water use. AI is
going to allow us to use energy and water more efficiently,
and so the net effect of data centers and AI
is going to be positive for US resources. So that
is something that I think people need to understand. But again,
think about the alternatives. Right It's not a world where
(28:36):
we have no data centers or no data processing. Data
centers are the way that we do this the most efficiently,
versus having a lot more small data centers at every
single hospital, school, and office building.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Patrick Heger is the director of Policy at net Choice. Patrick,
I'm going to leave you with one final question. Is
the race to win AI and to win this battle
against China for AI dominance in the world. Is this
our new space race? Is this the new Cold War?
Is it that important?
Speaker 7 (29:09):
Yes? I think it's that important. This technology. Unlike the
space race, where you did have a lot of technological
spill over a lot of different use cases for the
technology that was developed during the Space Race. AI is
that times a thousand, because this is a technology that
can be used in literally everything. And so what do
we want. Do we want a future where that is
(29:29):
controlled ultimately by the Chinese and they get all of
the economic and cultural benefit of that, or do we
want that to reflect what has happened in the United
States and the Internet age, where again the global Internet
is primarily built and shaped by Americans. That's what that take.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
That's Patrick heager well said, my friend, thanks for coming by.
We'll check in with you on these issues from time
to time. Patrick Hedger from net Choice our special conversation today.
Before we go to break, I want to say a
special thank you from our friends at pure Talk Wireless.
They had a big year, record breaking year at pure Talk.
You know, this is my wireless company. And because they
had a huge year, they're able to do more with
(30:08):
their philanthropy. They give a lot of money to veterans' charities,
over a half a million dollars to the America's Warrior Partnership.
They helped prevent veterans suicide, a great year for Pure Talk.
And by the way, I'm hearing from people who have
switched over to Pure Talk very happy with it. They
love the service, they love the speed, they love the
US based customer service team. If you're a company with
(30:32):
all those attributes doing great things for consumers, you can't
have a banner year just the way Pure Talk did.
I'm not surprised they had a huge year anyway. This
is just to say thank you from everybody in the
Pure Talk family, which includes everybody that works there and
everybody over here on our side of the ball. Were
grateful for them and grateful for you from making Pure
Talk America's wireless company. When we come back, more on
(30:53):
this issue with the DC police chief and cooking the
books on crime stats. Scott Jennings here on Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
It's enough walking then went to day.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Fighting the left with the best weapon we have, common sense,
is the Scott Jenning Show.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
I'm telling you why big week here on the Scotch
Jenny Show. It's Christmas and back by popular demand. You
know we did this at Thanksgiving. I brought my friends
Joe Arnold, Jared Crawford, and Mary Catherine Hamm together at
Thanksgiving for the Thanksgiving Draft, where we each drafted something
about Thanksgiving in a specific category for our own Thanksgiving team.
(31:44):
And then we asked AI we were just talking about
to grade our draft, to grade our teams. Well, we
did it again for Christmas. It's going to be on
Christmas Eve this week. You don't want to miss the
first annual Christmas Draft. It's exciting, the categories we have,
the people we're bringing together. If your fantasy football team
(32:06):
is cooked and you still want to you still want
to relive some draft activity, the Christmas Draft on Christmas
Eve is for you. Put this one, by the way
in the you hate to see it file, new clip
coming across to me from See It in which, by
the way, I'm headed over this afternoon. I'll be on
it for Eastern with Casey Hunt on the Arena and
(32:28):
then again tonight ten o'clock Eastern on Newsnight with Abbey Phillip.
But this clip coming across headline, they're attacking their own
DC Democrats, irked by surge of left wing challengers with
a House majority on the line. Essentially, here's the TLDR version.
A bunch of House Democrats are mad that a bunch
(32:50):
of socialists, upstarts are primary ing them, and they're races
around the country. You hate to see it. By the way,
I wanted to bring you this last week. You know,
we had Jamie com On, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
It's got a big report about how the police department
in Washington, d C. Was cooking the books on crime stats.
(33:10):
They were misclassifying and underclassifying violent crime to make it
appear as though the city was safer than it really was.
With the knowledge that Comer's report was about to come out,
the chief of police in Washington, d C. Resigned. Her
name was Pamela Smith. She'd been on the job for
about two and a half years. She abruptly resigned just
(33:34):
before the report came out. It's effective here on December thirty. First,
I just want to play for you the audio from
her farewell press conference. Keep in mind, keep in mind,
Hang on, Hollywood, Sean, keep in mind, this is the
person who has been running the DC Police Department for
the last two and a half years.
Speaker 10 (33:55):
Hit it, think it, but it's okay. So I'm going
to the Bible.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
When I say this to my haters, few.
Speaker 8 (34:12):
Do.
Speaker 7 (34:12):
It's not a drop to Mike moment watched me in
this space.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I forgive you.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
I forgive you.
Speaker 10 (34:27):
Because the Bible makes it very clearly when Jesus was
hanging on the cross, when he said to his Father,
even in the pit of agony and defeat, he said, Father.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Forgive them, for they know not what they do. By
bless you and.
Speaker 10 (34:42):
God to you, and has been my pleasure the District
of Columbia for tuity.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Okay, that is the person who has been running the
police department in Washington the last two and a half years,
who Chairman Comer says, has been manipulating crime data to
maintain the appearance of low crime in your nation's capital.
Upon resigning, she said f you to her detractors and
(35:13):
then compared herself to Jesus hanging on the cross. I
don't really have any recollection in the Bible of Jesus
having manipulated any statistics that he was tracking. It's amazing
when people get caught doing stuff. It happens all the time,
doesn't it. People get caught doing stuff they shouldn't be doing.
(35:36):
Maybe this is criminal here, Maybe it is, I don't know.
It seems like it should be. Actually, public officials manipulating data,
misleading taxpayers, misleading citizens. But I don't know if it's
criminal or not. You shouldn't be doing it. And by
the way, had she not gotten caught by the Oversight Committee,
she obviously would not have resigned. It's amazing, though, people
(35:57):
get caught doing stuff and immediately begin comparing themselves to
the one and only person who never did anything, the
only perfect person, the only blameless person. They get caught
doing something, they want to compare themselves to Jesus hanging
(36:21):
on the cross. Sort of the height of ego, is
it not. Perhaps a better tactic would have been, you know,
probably I shouldn't have done that, and maybe I'll just
ask Jesus for forgiveness instead of comparing myself to him.
Join us again tomorrow for more common sense for the
American people. Signing off Scott Sheddings here on the Salem
(36:41):
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
The fastest growing show on syndicated radio.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Welcome Board.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Hello, this is the Scott Jennings Shout Coming you Tail
Ladies and gentlemen. Cheers.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
It's Scott Jennings.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
Okay, it's Monday, December the twenty second. We've reached Christmas week.
Merry Christmas to you all at Scott Jennings Common Sense
for the American people here on the Salem Radio Network.
As always, the Scott Jennings Show is sponsored by Ease
Total Health. Ease Total Health, EASSE. You gotta check these
(00:28):
guys out, by the way, easefoeveryone dot com slash Scott.
Here's why you check them out because health insurance is
broken and Ease fixes it with no deductibles, no red tape,
and real benefits from day one. Take my word for it.
Ease Total Health, you want to check it out. Twenty
two minutes past the hour today, our friend and writer
(00:49):
Tevy Troy is coming by to discuss his peace in
the Washington Examiner on prominent conservatives who passed away this year.
We'll get Tevy's perspective on that. Twenty three minutes past
the hour, Patrick Hedger from net Choices here we'll talk
AI and data centers and other hot topics from the
world of technology. But first let's do the news. President
(01:11):
Trump planning a late afternoon announcement with the Secretary of
the Navy today. This has to do with shipbuilding, we
are told. Now you might remember the other day we
had Senator Todd Young of Indiana on the show. Here
he is the sentence expert on this very topic. So
we'll see what the Commander in chief has to say today.
(01:32):
Just a few days ago he signed into law the
annual Defense Bill, nine hundred billion dollar defense bill, which
does have major ship building provisions. So watch this space
to see what President Trump says about ship building this afternoon.
Energy News Trump today canceling major offshore wind projects. Man
(01:53):
does he hate the windmills. Here's Interior Secretary Doug Bergham
on Fox News this morning.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Today, we're sending notifications to the five large offshore win
projects that are under construction that they're going to be
their leases will be suspended due to national security concerns.
During this time of suspension, we'll work with the companies
to try to find a mitigation. But we've completed the
(02:21):
work the President Trump has asked us to do. The
Department of War has come back conclusively that the issues
related to these large offshore wind programs create radar interference
that creates a genuine risk for the US, particularly related
to where they are in proximity to our East Coast
population centers.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Now, the White House notes that one, just one natural
gas pipeline could produce the same amount of energy as
these five win projects they are canceling today. If you're
driving for Christmas, well, in most places, you'll paying less
for gas way less. In forty states, the average gas
price now below three dollars a gallon. In twenty eight
(03:03):
states it's less than two seventy five, and thirteen states
below two fifty, and in one state it's less than
two twenty five a gallon. You can even find it
below two dollars a gallon at certain stations in at
least twelve states. More illegal immigration mayhem, and there is
outrage in Charlotte, North Carolina for good reason. A fifteen
(03:25):
year old girl died in November from a hit and run,
and the person who killed her is out of jail.
Here's how the Queen City News and Charlotte called it.
Speaker 5 (03:36):
Fifteen year old girl was involved in a hit and
run crash while riding an electric bike in East Charlotte.
CMPD now says she has died. On November twenty fourth,
the bike rider, fifteen year old Amber Paris, was taken
to a local hospital after being hit by a car.
The driver fled the scene. The next day, officers arrested
forty year old Julio Showcop Vicente Charts with felony hit
(04:01):
and run, reckless driving, and no operator's license. Arrest records
show he was released on December third on a ten
thousand dollars bond.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So an illegal alien kills a teenager in November and
gets out of jail somehow on a ten thousand dollars
bond just a couple of weeks later in December. What
are we doing, folks, What in the world are we
doing now? At the local level, it is a mess
in some places. At the federal level, there are encouraging
(04:33):
signs in the fight against illegal immigration. Today, the federal
government is encouraging people to self deport. Homeland Security Secretary
Christy Noams says illegal aliens who use the government's app
to self deport will get a three thousand dollars stipend
from the government to.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Do so voluntarily. Want to go home now, to your country,
If you're in this United States of America illegally. We
will give you three thousand dollars through the holidays to
send you home. We'll buy you a ticket, give you
three thousand dollars to go home. And that includes people
that have not been detained, maybe have interacted with us,
(05:11):
are detained and don't have criminal charges against them. Yeah,
raise your hand, will help you get home. We'll facilitated,
and you might get the chance to come back to
this country the right way someday if you will.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Self deportations actually an area where the Trump administration has
had a high level of success. Nearly two million illegal
aliens have self deported since Trump took office in January.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Vice President JD. Vance made mention of the administration's overall
efforts on ending the illegal immigration crisis at his speech
to Turning Point USA this weekend.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
In just a year, we ended Joe Biden Kamala Harris's
border crisis. December marks seven months straight of zero releases
at the southern border. More than two point five million
illegal immigrants have left the United States, the first time
in over fifty years that we have had negative net migration.
Speaker 7 (06:10):
And it's just the start.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
And here's Trump's borders are Tom Homan, who says we
have the most secure border in our nation's history.
Speaker 8 (06:18):
Yeah, the most secure border in the history of this nation,
the most secure ever, and that's based on real data.
I just came back. I just did a border review
in San Diego, Texas and Arizona. I toured the border
by air, by boat, and by four wheel drive three
days on the southern border Maria. I didn't see a
(06:41):
single illegal alien. And I've been doing this since nineteen
eighty four, even though backgrounds in Portugal three days are
a single illegal alien in my site. It's the most
secure border ever.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
And it seems to me the story here is that
you have a federal government that is actively engaged in
enforcing federal immigration law. Yet stories like Charlotte and the
story from Fairfax, Virginia that we brought you last week
tell us that we still very much have a crisis
of local officials, often Democrats, prosecutors, judges, local people who
(07:14):
are dedicated to stifling the enforcement of federal immigration law
to the point of putting dangerous illegal aliens back on
our streets all for what politics. To get Trump, folks,
you got to hold your local elected officials accountable. If
there's a prosecutor or a judge or a local sheriff
(07:37):
that is not participating and enforcing federal immigration law, and
they are doing it by putting violent illegal aliens back
on the streets. Take note and take action. News from academia,
the purification of college campuses continues. According to a recent
(07:57):
report from the Buckley Institute at Yale University, there is
now not a single Republican found in twenty seven of
the forty three departments at Yale. Not a single Republican
in twenty seven of forty three departments. Now, this is
a nation that is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
(08:21):
In fact, it may be slightly more Republican than Democrats.
The number of faculty at Yale that's registered Republican three
percent in comparison, roughly eighty three percent of faculty or
registered Democrats or primarily support Democratic candidates. The Buckley Institute's
(08:41):
report looked at Yale's undergraduate departments, as well as its
School of Management and it's law school. You have to
remember when you send your kids off to college. In
some places, many places, they are just not interested in
diversity of viewpoints on campus. This is common sense for
the American people. At Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network,
(09:03):
a word from our friends at the International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews. Candles were lit on Bandai Beach by families,
by children, by people of faith to celebrate a festival
of Light, a festival from Bible times, one that Jesus
himself celebrated. But instead of light, there was darkness, as
you know, violence, fear, hatred showing itself at a time
(09:26):
meant for prayer and rejoicing. Times like this remind us
that even with a ceasefire in Israel, Jewish people are
being targeted simply because of their faith, and times like
this remind us why the International Fellowship of Christians and
Jews exists to stand in the gap, providing safety and
security to God's people. The Fellowship brings together Christians and
(09:49):
Jews to be a light to suffering Jews in Israel,
the former Soviet Union, or wherever the needs are greatest. Today,
Jewish people around the world face so many threats, but
they are so grateful for their Christian friends who stand
with them. To find out how you can take part,
visit URGENTIFCJ dot org. That's one word URGENTIFCJ dot org.
(10:10):
When we come back, Tevi Troy from the Washington Examiner
is here. It's Scott Jennings on the Salem Radio Network
Angeltree Christmas campaign with our friends at the nonprofit Prison Fellowship.
You know, there are literally thousands of children all over
America who have a mom or a dad in prison.
(10:32):
That means they won't see their parent on Christmas. That's
why Angeltree is so important. You can put smiles on
the faces of children who, through no fault of their own,
are often struggling at a time of year that's supposed
to be full of joy. There is an Angeltree banner
up at Scott Jennings Show dot com. You can make
a donation right there. It only takes thirty dollars to
bless a child who will receive a special present, a
(10:53):
gospel message, and a personal note from their incarcerated parent. Again,
the cost to help bless one child with Angeltree is
only thirty dollars, less than a pizza and a Diet
Coke somewhere, Or if you're feeling generous, one hundred and
fifty dollars will bless five children of prisoners with an
extra special Christmas. Just go to Scott Jennings Show dot com,
make your generous gift online or phone our special donation
(11:14):
number eight eight eight two O six two eight five
y five. That's eight eight eight two O six two
eight five five And show the love of Christ through
your donation to Angel Tree.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
US in the window Home Square the Windows Hicky Fall
Runnings Christmas Time. Come now for America's favorite pundit. It's
Scott Jennings.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Monday, December the twenty second Scott Jennings Common Sense for
the American people here on the Salem Radio Network. Joining
me today an old friend of mine, Teviy Troy, is
senior fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute. He's a senior
scholar at Yeshiva University's Strauss Center. He is the author
of five books on the US presidency, and every year
(12:00):
he writes an annual tribute to conservatives who have passed away.
He does this for the Washington Examiner, and his latest
annual survey of Conservatives we Lost is out. Tevy, Welcome
to the Scott Jenning Show.
Speaker 9 (12:14):
Scott, thanks for having me. You've long been my favorite pundit.
Now I'm glad you're America's favorite did as well.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
You were ahead of the curve, my friend, and thank
you for thank you for doing so. Okay, who did so?
When you texted me the other day about your piece
coming out, the first person that came to mind for me,
of course was Vice President Dick Cheney. Probably the most
well known person on the list. Is that the most
well known conservative that we lost in twenty five and
give me your review. Who were the names that you
(12:41):
featured in this year's piece.
Speaker 9 (12:44):
Well, historically it was indeed to Cheney. I think the
person who's death TCHI got the most news was Charlie Kirk.
Obviously we haven't been part of our conversation decades, but
really a big deal when he was tragically murdered. Also,
the youngest person I've ever profiled in this thing, which
I've been doing for six years, but who Norman put
Horz just died. I got him in just under the deadline.
He was a huge part of the American intellectual landscape
(13:06):
for two generations. So really, some very big names doted
this year, and it was really the toughest year that
I've had to deal with in writing this survey for
six years.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And you knew several of these people. You've been around
the conservative movement for thirty five some eyed years now
you knew personally several of the people on your list.
Speaker 9 (13:25):
Oh, absolutely. I knew Cheney, and I knew put Horitz.
I knew some of the former White House. It's like
Tony Dolan, who was instrumental in the tear down this
Wall speech. I knew Michael L. Dean for almost the
entire time I've been in Washington. He was a long
standing fighter against the islamk Iranian regime. So yeah, there
were some really great people on the list, and they
are tritically gone now.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, Charlie's murder certainly probably garnered the most worldwide attention,
I would say, because of the tragic nature of it,
the graphic nature of it, and just everything that's happened since.
Certainly he had an outsized impact on our conservative disco worse.
It's interesting, in all the years you've been writing this,
you say this is the youngest person you've ever profiled.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
It's true. I mean usually these people have lived long lives.
I mean sixty seventy eighty years old. That the people
I usually profile. Norm put Harris was ninety five. But
Charlie was only thirty one when he was contemned, and
it's just a terrible thing.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah. And as it relates to Dick Cheney, his death
was interesting. It got some mixed reviews out there because obviously,
in twenty twenty four he decided to vote for Kamala
Harris instead of Donald Trump, although I noted at the
time he actually supported Trump in twenty sixteen when some
Conservatives were not supporting Trump. I believe Dick Cheney went
to the convention in twenty sixteen and stood up for
(14:41):
Trump even though a lot of people from the Bush
Ears were shying away from it.
Speaker 9 (14:47):
Yeah. I also give Cheney a little bit of forgiveness
just because of how personal got with his daughter. But
you want to talk about someone who is an important
part of the conservative movement for fifty years, it's really
Dick Cheney. I wrote a piece when he died, a
lo or obituary of how involved he was with the
conservative intellectual world, bringing in smart people like Irving Crystal
and Nerman put hearts back into the Ford White House
(15:09):
decades ago. Another really interesting thing about Chinese, he had
a heart attack in the nineteen seventies, and he is
the longest living survivor of a heart attack until obviously,
he tragically asked this year.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Another name that jumped off the page at me was
James Dobson, who founded Focus on the Family, I mean,
wrote seventy books, a fixture on the radio. When I
was a teenager, I got my first job in radio
in Western Kentucky, and one of my jobs every week
was to get the Focus on the Family material and
get it on the air. And so certainly from a
radio perspective, we listened to James Dobson for a long time.
(15:43):
But he had an enormous impact on the conservative movement,
conservative communications, bringing Christians into being politically active. He was
somebody that just spanned decades and had, I mean, I think,
just a huge, huge impact about his entire life.
Speaker 9 (16:02):
So absolutely, and he was important in multiple names. Culturally,
his first book was pushing back against Benjamin Spock's theory
about permissions parenting. He was a huge supporter of the
quotations that you support with Christians and Jews, and supports
of the State of Israel. And politically he was essential
to mobilizing evangelical Christians to support the conservative movement on
(16:22):
the Republican Party.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Two other names here that I see Lincoln Diaz Ballart,
former congressman who once said I'm friends with anyone who's
fighting Castro, and former Missouri governor and Senator Kit Bond,
who once chided the irs you right for saying that
a fan who caught Cardinal slugger Mark McGuire's nineteen ninety
eight record home run ball would owe the government a
(16:45):
gift tax payment. Tevy, thanks for coming on to discuss
your piece today. You can find this in the Washington Examiner.
It's called Conservatives We Lost in twenty twenty five and
Annual Remembrance. The author is Tevy Troy, a noted author,
a long time and a stalwart of the conservative movement. Tedvi,
thanks for coming on the show. Happy holidays to you, sir.
(17:08):
When we come back, we'll talk tech, AI and other
issues in the space. Stay with us here on the
Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Come man, Christmas times.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Come a couple of quick notes from the weekend. I
wanted to give you. You know, our friends at Angel Studios.
You've heard me pitch their movies and their Angel Guild
here on the show this weekend. The Angel Studios movie
David smashed box office records, becoming the number one animated
(17:40):
film in the country. Had a twenty two million dollar
opening weekend. It blow past SpongeBob z Utopia two, and
Sidney Sweeney. Even Angel Studios, as you know, puts out
faith based family films and they are dominating theaters. Last
year they had a great movie King of Kings that
came out and did similar numbers. So congrats to our
friends Angel Studios for David, and I encourage you to
(18:03):
go out and see that movie and be a member
of the Angel Guild. Actually, what other thing I wanted
to bring up? And look, everybody's talking about Turning Point
USSA and all the stuff that went on the stage
and the conversation and debate about Israel and so on
and so forth. They took a straw poll of the
Turning Point USA attendees thousands of people. They asked which
(18:25):
describes your view of Israel ally or not an ally?
Eighty seven percent said an ally or our top ally,
versus only thirteen percent who said not an ally. Among
the Turning Point USA attendees, Israel is viewed as an
(18:48):
ally of the United States. On top of that, On
top of that, they asked people what is the number
one threat to America? What finished first? Radical Islam? Number two,
socialism and Marxism number three, mass migration, but radical Islam
(19:11):
came in at number one. Israel is an ally radical
Islam is our top problem. This is according to the
attendees at Turning Point usay do with that information what
you will, but certainly take it into consideration when you
hear the cable coverage of what went on at TPUSA
coming up in a moment, Patrick Hedger with net Choice,
(19:32):
it's going to come along and talk some tech issues
with us. But first, Christmas is three days away, and
I want to talk to you about some thank yous
that we're getting from kids who have been blessed with
angel Tree Christmas donations. You know, the Angel Tree program.
Kids who have parents in prison. They get a gift,
a note, and a Bible if you choose to bless
(19:55):
one of them with a thirty dollars contribution. Eleven year
old Natalie sent us a note said I was really
happy that I got a gift through Angeltree. The first
gift I got from my dad was a notebook I
write in every day, and he also gave me some
nail polish that I still use. I feel a real
connection with my dad through Angeltree. Seven year old Isaac said,
(20:15):
I like the kids Bible and the blue Monster truck
that my dad got me last Christmas. I just love
that he got me a gift. I didn't know he
was going to give me one. If you go to
Scott Jennings Show dot com, click on the banner up
the top of the screen and donate thirty dollars, you'll
make a Christmas for a little boy or a girl
like Natalie or Isaac. There's thousands of kids out there
(20:37):
who could use your help. Let's play this message from
a volunteer who actually delivers the presence.
Speaker 10 (20:45):
These kids, they're special and they didn't ask for this
to happen to them.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
We've become quite a.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Little family, we really have.
Speaker 9 (20:54):
And she looked at that tag and she said, my
daddy gave me a gift, and he me it just
means everything.
Speaker 7 (21:03):
It's Christmas.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
I mean, it's hard to listen to that and not think, gosh,
how could I help boost this work. It's very easy
to do it. You go to Scott Jenningshow dot com
click the Angel Tree banner at the top of the page.
You donate thirty dollars and you can make Christmas very
special for one of these little ones whose parents are
in prison. They're having a rough go of it through
(21:27):
no fault of their own, but you can make it
better through the Angel Tree program. And by the way,
thousands of you have already done it. I've done it.
I wouldn't ask you to do something I'm not willing
to do. I've done it. My friends and family have
done it. We had coach Bruce Pearl from Auburn, formerly
from Auburn on the other day. He did it on
the show Please help a child this Christmas. It's Scott
(21:48):
Jennings here on the Salem Radio Network. Joining the show
today for our big conversation is Patrick Hedger, the director
of policy at net Choice. He is an expert in antitrust. Paul,
we'll see content moderation and free speech issues, data privacy,
and economic policy. Founded in two thousand and one, net
Choice works to make the Internet safe for free enterprise
(22:11):
and free expression. Patrick, Welcome to the Scott Jenning Show.
Speaker 7 (22:16):
Hey Scott, thank you for having me. It's pleasure to
be here, all.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Right, Patrick we're going to talk about the topic that
everybody is talking about every day in some form or fashion,
that that is artificial intelligence AI. And I want to
start here. Tell me a little bit about what net
Choice does and what are your big policy priorities right
now as it relates to AI and the race to
win the AI battle that I think the United States
(22:41):
is engaged in with China.
Speaker 7 (22:43):
Yeah, absolutely so. Net Choice is a trade association, but
unlike a lot of other trade associations, we are a
principles based trade association. So while we have members, our
policies are primarily guided by our founding principles, which is
to protect free expression and free enterprise in technology policy
and in online spaces. And our priorities are very much
(23:04):
so about defending the First Amendment, defending American free speech principles,
as well defending American companies from attacks by overseas nations,
particularly the European Union, trying to regulate America's technology, and
then also creating a competitive ecosystem that will allow for
American companies and innovators to flourish and build, continue to
(23:27):
build the dominant technology sector that we have that has
really benefited this country in the previous era of technology
and into the AI era.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
One of the questions I think that we're going to
have to grapple with is this. And I was talking
to Ted Cruz from Texas about this the other day
on his podcast. He was telling me about some polling
that he's seen where upwards of seventy percent of Americans
actually fear AI. They're worried about the economic implications for themselves.
They're worried about I think, what they're seeing and so on.
(23:58):
So Apart from the policy discussion, here is the industry
and is the government? Are the people who are promoting
this idea that we have to win the AI race?
Are we doing enough to explain to the American people
how we can actually control and use this tool for
the better? I mean, it seems like right now the
American people are a little fearful.
Speaker 7 (24:19):
Yeah, certainly it's an uphill battle. And I wouldn't be
surprised if our foreign adversaries are the ones behind a
lot of the anti AI messaging that's out there, because
this is a true general purpose technology that will be
as important for our economy as even electricity itself has
become important to our industrialized economy AI. I think White
(24:40):
House AIS are David Sachs has this right when he
says that all future software will be AI, and I
think that really puts the stakes in perspective. America has
tremendously benefited from the fact that we have led the
world in information technology. The Internet itself has been built
by Americans and designed by American and that has been
(25:01):
huge not only for American culture exporting American culture, but
also for our economic prosperity as well. And we have
to put ourselves in the same position with AI. The
stakes are just too high.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
All right. So earlier this month, President Trump signed an
executive order that would preempt overly burdensome state rules for
artificial intelligence, as Congress is now working through a nationwide
rule book if you will, to govern AI technology. Did
you view the President's executive order as a positive development
in this overall race to defeat China to control AI.
Speaker 7 (25:35):
Yeah. Absolutely. I think this is one of the areas
where President Trump is the strongest. He absolutely understands what's
that stake here, and he understands what would undermine America's
position in the AI race, and that would be a
patchwork of potentially fifty different state laws, all shaped by
different values and different priorities that may end up even
conflicting with one another, being imposed on a fledgling sector
(25:59):
like AI. And you know, forget the big companies for
a second, think about the small business innovators. I mean
the people literally in their garages as we saw at
the beginning of the internet sector. Imagine them trying to
comply with fifty different regulatory regimes. And on top of that,
when you have fifty different regulatory regimes, you open the
door for a lot of bureaucratic delays and abuse. Right,
(26:21):
we don't want bureaucrats ultimately designing the technology or getting
to put their thumb on the scale of the information
that the technology provides us. We need to be far
more focused on outcomes and far more focused on innovation
versus putting government in the design chair of technology.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
All right, I want to ask you about data centers.
So we have this need for data centers. We have
to build more. These are the places where the computing happens.
When you type something into AI and you want an answer,
and you want an image created. Whatever we're doing with it,
we need data centers to process that. There have been
places in the United States and a lot of places
where folks at the local level have rejected data centers.
(27:01):
Where someone says I want to build a data center
and people come and defeated at the local level. A.
Are we moving quickly enough on building data centers? Do
we have enough data center capacity? Are we on the
right trajectory? And B what would you say to people
at the local level who've rejected one of these things.
I mean, I hear all kinds of reasons why people
say they don't want them in their community. But let's
(27:23):
talk about this issue of data centers. Do we have enough?
Why are people rejecting them? And what kind of conversation
do we need to have in those communities.
Speaker 7 (27:32):
Yeah, so we need to build a new hyperscaleed data
center at a pretty regular clip. We need new data
centers at a pace of about one a week to
meet current demand. And this is this is about serving
consumer demand, not just for AI queries, but for all
of the data that's on your phone, your photos, your videos,
your health records, potentially all of that needs to be
(27:54):
stored in a secured data center. And this so this
is about meeting consumer demand. So I think that's something
that people really need to understand. And I fear what's
happening around data centers right now is very similar to
what we saw around fracking. There was a lot of
justifiable concerns, but ultimately there was a lot of hysteria
and misinformation out there as well, particularly in the case
(28:15):
of data centers around energy and water use. AI is
going to allow us to use energy and water more efficiently,
and so the net effect of data centers and AI
is going to be positive for US resources. So that
is something that I think people need to understand. But again,
think about the alternatives. Right It's not a world where
(28:36):
we have no data centers or no data processing. Data
centers are the way that we do this the most efficiently,
versus having a lot more small data centers at every
single hospital, school, and office building.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Patrick Heger is the director of Policy at net Choice. Patrick,
I'm going to leave you with one final question. Is
the race to win AI and to win this battle
against China for AI dominance in the world. Is this
our new space race? Is this the new Cold War?
Is it that important?
Speaker 7 (29:09):
Yes? I think it's that important. This technology. Unlike the
space race, where you did have a lot of technological
spill over a lot of different use cases for the
technology that was developed during the Space Race. AI is
that times a thousand, because this is a technology that
can be used in literally everything. And so what do
we want. Do we want a future where that is
(29:29):
controlled ultimately by the Chinese and they get all of
the economic and cultural benefit of that, or do we
want that to reflect what has happened in the United
States and the Internet age, where again the global Internet
is primarily built and shaped by Americans. That's what that take.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
That's Patrick heager well said, my friend, thanks for coming by.
We'll check in with you on these issues from time
to time. Patrick Hedger from net Choice our special conversation today.
Before we go to break, I want to say a
special thank you from our friends at pure Talk Wireless.
They had a big year, record breaking year at pure Talk.
You know, this is my wireless company. And because they
had a huge year, they're able to do more with
(30:08):
their philanthropy. They give a lot of money to veterans' charities,
over a half a million dollars to the America's Warrior Partnership.
They helped prevent veterans suicide, a great year for Pure Talk.
And by the way, I'm hearing from people who have
switched over to Pure Talk very happy with it. They
love the service, they love the speed, they love the
US based customer service team. If you're a company with
(30:32):
all those attributes doing great things for consumers, you can't
have a banner year just the way Pure Talk did.
I'm not surprised they had a huge year anyway. This
is just to say thank you from everybody in the
Pure Talk family, which includes everybody that works there and
everybody over here on our side of the ball. Were
grateful for them and grateful for you from making Pure
Talk America's wireless company. When we come back, more on
(30:53):
this issue with the DC police chief and cooking the
books on crime stats. Scott Jennings here on Salem Radio Network.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
It's enough walking then went to day.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Fighting the left with the best weapon we have, common sense,
is the Scott Jenning Show.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
I'm telling you why big week here on the Scotch
Jenny Show. It's Christmas and back by popular demand. You
know we did this at Thanksgiving. I brought my friends
Joe Arnold, Jared Crawford, and Mary Catherine Hamm together at
Thanksgiving for the Thanksgiving Draft, where we each drafted something
about Thanksgiving in a specific category for our own Thanksgiving team.
(31:44):
And then we asked AI we were just talking about
to grade our draft, to grade our teams. Well, we
did it again for Christmas. It's going to be on
Christmas Eve this week. You don't want to miss the
first annual Christmas Draft. It's exciting, the categories we have,
the people we're bringing together. If your fantasy football team
(32:06):
is cooked and you still want to you still want
to relive some draft activity, the Christmas Draft on Christmas
Eve is for you. Put this one, by the way
in the you hate to see it file, new clip
coming across to me from See It in which, by
the way, I'm headed over this afternoon. I'll be on
it for Eastern with Casey Hunt on the Arena and
(32:28):
then again tonight ten o'clock Eastern on Newsnight with Abbey Phillip.
But this clip coming across headline, they're attacking their own
DC Democrats, irked by surge of left wing challengers with
a House majority on the line. Essentially, here's the TLDR version.
A bunch of House Democrats are mad that a bunch
(32:50):
of socialists, upstarts are primary ing them, and they're races
around the country. You hate to see it. By the way,
I wanted to bring you this last week. You know,
we had Jamie com On, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.
It's got a big report about how the police department
in Washington, d C. Was cooking the books on crime stats.
(33:10):
They were misclassifying and underclassifying violent crime to make it
appear as though the city was safer than it really was.
With the knowledge that Comer's report was about to come out,
the chief of police in Washington, d C. Resigned. Her
name was Pamela Smith. She'd been on the job for
about two and a half years. She abruptly resigned just
(33:34):
before the report came out. It's effective here on December thirty. First,
I just want to play for you the audio from
her farewell press conference. Keep in mind, keep in mind,
Hang on, Hollywood, Sean, keep in mind, this is the
person who has been running the DC Police Department for
the last two and a half years.
Speaker 10 (33:55):
Hit it, think it, but it's okay. So I'm going
to the Bible.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
When I say this to my haters, few.
Speaker 8 (34:12):
Do.
Speaker 7 (34:12):
It's not a drop to Mike moment watched me in
this space.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I forgive you.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
I forgive you.
Speaker 10 (34:27):
Because the Bible makes it very clearly when Jesus was
hanging on the cross, when he said to his Father,
even in the pit of agony and defeat, he said, Father.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Forgive them, for they know not what they do. By
bless you and.
Speaker 10 (34:42):
God to you, and has been my pleasure the District
of Columbia for tuity.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
Okay, that is the person who has been running the
police department in Washington the last two and a half years,
who Chairman Comer says, has been manipulating crime data to
maintain the appearance of low crime in your nation's capital.
Upon resigning, she said f you to her detractors and
(35:13):
then compared herself to Jesus hanging on the cross. I
don't really have any recollection in the Bible of Jesus
having manipulated any statistics that he was tracking. It's amazing
when people get caught doing stuff. It happens all the time,
doesn't it. People get caught doing stuff they shouldn't be doing.
(35:36):
Maybe this is criminal here, Maybe it is, I don't know.
It seems like it should be. Actually, public officials manipulating data,
misleading taxpayers, misleading citizens. But I don't know if it's
criminal or not. You shouldn't be doing it. And by
the way, had she not gotten caught by the Oversight Committee,
she obviously would not have resigned. It's amazing, though, people
(35:57):
get caught doing stuff and immediately begin comparing themselves to
the one and only person who never did anything, the
only perfect person, the only blameless person. They get caught
doing something, they want to compare themselves to Jesus hanging
(36:21):
on the cross. Sort of the height of ego, is
it not. Perhaps a better tactic would have been, you know,
probably I shouldn't have done that, and maybe I'll just
ask Jesus for forgiveness instead of comparing myself to him.
Join us again tomorrow for more common sense for the
American people. Signing off Scott Sheddings here on the Salem
(36:41):
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
The fastest growing show on syndicated radio.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Welcome Board.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Hello, this is the Scott Jennings Shout Coming you Tail
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.