April 19, 2026 • 53 mins
Join us for expert honest analysis, news commentary and current events discussion about healthcare, hospitals, Medicaid, Pope Leo, libraries, the economy and the Bible.
(00:00) The findings of a new report on how cuts to Medicaid will impact hospitals and healthcare.
(04:30) The latest social media habits and posts of Donald Trump and what they reveal.
(06:38) Dr. Paul Kengor, Political Science Professor at Grove City College and Editor with The American Spectator, discusses Pope Leo, his path to becoming Pope and how his recent actions reveal his character.
(20:00) Jennie Pu, Director of the Hoboken NJ Public Library, explains what National Library Week April 19 to 25 offers for libraries and the people who frequent them as well as how a library is a vital part of a community.
(31:26) What a recent Walmart earnings report reveals about the state of the U.S. economy.
(35:20) Bunni Pounds previews the event America Reads The Bible, which will be taking place April 19 to 25, how it all came together, the importance of Bible reading and how it's hoped that this event will encourage more Bible reading and study.
(46:42) Chris DeBello presents what the Bible teaches and warns about blasphemy.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello, welcome to Issues and Ideas.
I'm Chris Devello.
You might recall back on July4th of last year when Donald
Trump signed a Republican budgetreconciliation package.
It was announced that that billwould cut$911 billion in federal
spending from Medicaid and CHIPover the next 10 years.
(00:21):
You might also recall that newsgladdened the hearts of those
primarily on the right,especially Mega, cutting off the
freeloaders, they would say,keeping illegal immigrants from
getting Medicaid, even thoughthey already can't get Medicaid,
but I digress.
Well, according to a new reportput out by Public Citizen, we
(00:41):
have it on our downloads page,so you can check it out for your
specific state.
It does a state-by-statebreakdown of exactly how
endangered hospitals in eachstate are going to be because of
that$911 billion cut in federalspending to Medicaid.
Some of the findings in thereport, 446 hospitals are at
(01:04):
heightened risk of closing orreducing services due to those
cuts.
These hospitals collectivelyhave about 69,000 beds and they
serve around 6.6 millionpatients.
They also employ about 275,000direct patient care workers.
(01:25):
They have a larger share ofblack and Hispanic residents, as
well as people living below thepoverty line compared to other
hospitals.
Nearly 20% of the at-riskhospitals, that's 85 if you
don't want to do the math, servehigh poverty areas.
267, that's 60% of the at-riskhospitals serve urban areas.
(01:46):
39%, 176, are considered to berural hospitals.
We talked about those not toolong ago.
Join to put politics evenfurther into this.
And Senate Republicans, all ofwhom voted for the Medicaid
(02:08):
cuts, collectively have 146at-risk hospitals in their
states.
Republicans also representseveral of the congressional
districts with the with thehighest number of at-risk
hospitals.
There are five states which nowhave over a quarter of all of
their hospitals at risk.
Those states are Connecticut,California, New York,
Massachusetts, and WashingtonState.
(02:31):
And almost half of the at-riskhospitals have special Medicare
payment designations that areusually connected with hospitals
that are rural or financiallyvulnerable, and plays a pretty
important role in thecommunities that they serve.
That's like Critical AccessHospital, 19%, Rural Referral
(02:52):
Center, 16%, Sole CommunityHospital, 9%, and Medicare
dependent hospital, around 4%.
The report also found in recentmonths hospitals have started
layoffs, reduced services,including maternal care.
They're saying it's because offinancial strain already imposed
by Medicaid cuts.
So that picture is obviously notgoing to get better for those
(03:14):
hospitals.
And again, this is astate-by-state issue, and just
as a representation, here arethe hospitals, since we're based
in New Jersey, hospitals in NewJersey that, according to the
report by Public Citizen, facethe highest risk of closure.
Bayonne Medical Center, CapitalHealth Regional Medical Center,
(03:37):
that's in Trenton, Clara MassMedical Center in Belleville,
East Orange General Hospital,Hoboken University Medical
Center, the Inspira MedicalCenter in Vineland, Monmouth
Medical Center in Lakewood,Newark, Beth Israel, Palisades
Medical Center in North Bergen,Robert Wood Johnson University
(03:57):
Hospital, that's in NewBrunswick, St.
Michael's Medical Center inNewark, and Trinidad Hospital in
Elizabeth.
And many of those facilities, asis the case in other states,
they're not simply Medicaidhospitals.
They're training centers formedical staff, they're research
locations.
They're a lot more than justhospitals.
(04:19):
So when you hear the cheeringfor a specific reason about an
action being taken, don't jointhe cheering until you take a
look at the entire picture.
Harry Sidden on his ex accountcharted Donald Trump's behavior
from about a week ago now,Sunday night into Monday
morning.
Of course, last Sunday night.
(04:39):
That's when Trump hosted his Dr.
Jesus photo.
That was in these are EasternTimes, 9.49 p.m.
And at 9.50 p.m., Trump posted aphoto of Trump Tower on the
Moon.
10.10 p.m.
Just a random meme.
The news clip at 10.32 p.m.
Another news clip at 10.53 p.m.
(05:02):
Then at 1243 a.m.
Monday morning.
Oh, that's right.
There's this thing about theHormuz blockade I have to
announce.
And he did that then.
Then at 2.35 a.m.
posted an article about JoeBiden, 2.36 a.m.
Article on Naval Blockade.
Then see 2.37 a.m.
posted an article aboutRepresent well now former
(05:25):
Representative Eric Swalwell.
Then at 2.37 a.m.
He's just shotgunning thesethings out, posted an article
about Joe Biden, same one thathe posted two minutes ago, 2.38
a.m.
Posted an article on hisballroom, and at 4.10 a.m.
Trump posted an article on Iran.
(05:46):
Now I don't know about yoursocial media habits, but if
someone is posting like that oneafter another after another
after another, repeatingsomething they did just a couple
of minutes ago, and you want tosay that they're well balanced
and and healthy and happy, maybein their own heads, but in what
we like to call reality,anything but not sleeping, he's
(06:10):
pretending to be Jesus andsaying, oh no, that's a doctor,
because I heal people too.
Well, you have to remember, too,that's what just a couple of
days ago, Paula White, as if shedidn't do enough to encourage
this, by comparing Donald Trumpbeing shot and r overcoming it,
compare that to Jesus and hisresurrection.
(06:32):
She said, say no to Donald Trumpis saying no to God.
You may not have known or eventhought much about Pope Leo the
14th, but over the past coupleof weeks I have a feeling that's
really changed.
Knowing of someone, by the way,doesn't equate with knowing
about someone, considering howPope Leo XIV has revealed
(06:53):
himself to be r really unafraidto speak out about matters like
the war in Iran, people who areproponents of warfare against
peace.
Pope has brought even greaterattention to himself by both
Catholics as well asnon-Catholics.
That makes my first guest's newbook very timely indeed.
He's examined the life of RobertFrancis Privost, his path to
(07:14):
becoming Pope Leo XIV, and whatlies ahead for not just the
papacy, but the Catholic Churchas well.
His book is American Pontiff,Pope Leo XIV, and his plan to
heal the church.
Being a best-selling author,he's a professor of political
science at Gross City College,executive director of their
Center for Vision and Values, aswell as editor of the American
(07:35):
Spectator, Dr.
Paul Kanger.
How are you today, Doctor?
SPEAKER_04 (07:39):
Good, Chris.
Good to be with you.
Thanks.
SPEAKER_00 (07:41):
Well, congratulations on if nothing
else with the book, the besttiming you could have possibly
had with American Pontiff.
And to find out more about theAmerican Spectator Spectator.org
and the Grove City College,GCC.edu, one would expect a Pope
worthy of uh attention of and ofauthors and having the story
(08:03):
told, and certainly the firstAmerican Pope adds to that
worthiness.
Was that the really thebeginning and end of your
interest in doing this book, ordid you, as you did your initial
research, find there's a lotmore to uh to Pope Leo than just
being Pope and being the firstAmerican Pope?
SPEAKER_04 (08:22):
Yeah, well, the answer to all of that is a yes,
for sure.
But I must say when I was askedto do this book by the
publisher, at that point, Chris,we they'd approached me, I guess
it was the day after the deathof Pope Francis, and they said,
Would you like to do a book onthe next pope?
And I said, Yeah, sure.
Hey, it sounds good.
You know, I have time.
I've done a lot of work on JohnPaul II, and and I said, Hey,
(08:44):
Adam Plus, I I I know I speakItalian, and next Pope's gonna
be in Italian.
Then what he's picked, yeah.
It was just an absolute shockerthat he was a an an American.
It was un unbelievable.
I mean, no one ever thought thatthat would happen.
You know, the Pope was supposedto be Italian for 455
consecutive years.
The Pope was Italian until JohnPaul II and then uh Cardinal
(09:06):
Ratzinger, Benedict theSixteenth, and even Pope Francis
was actually ethnically Italian,even though he grew up in
Argentina.
So, but the idea of an Americancompletely shocking, totally
unexpected, and the first yearof his papacy, I think, went
pretty much as I expected,bringing kind of normalcy and
(09:27):
stability back to the papacy.
But that's all really blown upnow in the last few weeks,
especially with the the battlewith Donald Trump.
And and you know, Donald I knowa lot of people who are Trump
supporters who I don't want theydon't want me to defend Leo, but
I I gotta tell you, man, never,ever in the history of the
(09:47):
presidency or the papacy did apresident ever cut loose on cork
with a statement like DonaldTrump did on truth on truth
social to Leo.
SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
And I know people will say, well, that's because
he's getting involved in thewar.
SPEAKER_04 (10:03):
No, no, no, no, no.
He did what pretty much everyPope has done since World War
One, Benedict XV, John Paul IIwith the Iraq War, you know,
basically called for peace,laying down arms, that kind of
thing.
And what really seemed to setDonald Trump off was when Leo
the Fourteenth said that Trump'sstatement threatening the entire
(10:26):
extinction of a civilization, hesays, I hope it won't happen,
but it probably will.
You know, tonight, eighto'clock, Tuesday night, that was
a week or two ago, and the Popefinally spoke out directly,
didn't mention Trump by name,but said statements like that
are morally unacceptable.
Which frankly, the the Popeshould speak out on a statement
like that.
(10:47):
And that really that really didit for Donald Trump.
I mean, Trump doesn't respondwell to any criticism, and so he
he blew up on the Pope andcalled the Pope a liberal, which
which by the way is not, he'smore conservative than Donald
Trump, and as I show in thebook, he's also a Republican.
But that so now we're watchingthis crazy battle between you
(11:08):
know the head of the largestgroup of Christians in the world
and uh the American the AmericanPope and the American president.
SPEAKER_00 (11:15):
It's always said that who we are, who we find
ourselves to be in our earlyyears determines who we're going
to be in our in our later years.
Is that true with uh with PopeLeo?
SPEAKER_04 (11:26):
Yeah, for sure.
And his whole life, I mean, he'sbeen he was always a very devout
Catholic, of course, not asurprise, but quite quite
interesting, Chris, is thatpeople that grew up with him
were really struck by his piety.
And there were kids in theschool who who called him holy,
like it was like a nickname forhim.
Hey, there's holy.
(11:47):
And they said, but they did notmean it in a negative way, like
a mocking way.
Uh they said he was very pious,very devout, but also very kind
and very sincere and charitable,and they all liked him.
And there were even littleladies down the street, a couple
of them, his brother, one of hisbrothers talked about this, who
(12:07):
said, you know, that that youngman is going to be Pope someday,
which is an amazing thing,especially given again that he's
an American.
But that's yeah, that's the kindof background that he's had, and
it was long uh up through hisyears at Villanova, went to
Villanova.
At Villanova he started thepro-life group in the late
1970s, marched in the March forLife, one of the first marches
(12:31):
for life, and remained reallyconsistent on all these moral,
cultural, religious issues allthe way through today, 2026.
SPEAKER_00 (12:42):
So Dr.
Paul Kangor's new book, AmericanPontiff, Pope Leo the
Fourteenth, and his plan to healthe church.
He's also editor of the AmericanSpectator, spectator.org, that
website, and you are listeningto issues and ideas.
With with the activities thatyou just described and you go in
further detail in in AmericanPontiff.
(13:02):
Talk about uh Pope Leo's risethrough the ranks, I guess we
we'd say.
Was he easily noticed?
Did he work to get noticed or hewas just gifted with getting
noticed?
SPEAKER_04 (13:15):
Yeah, he didn't work to get noticed at all.
He in fact he was really he waspicked cardinal by Pope Francis
in late 2023.
And then he had this kind ofjust meteoric rise up through
the curia, the governing body ofthe church, where he was getting
appointed to all these differentpositions because of his kind of
you know just workmanlikesteadiness.
(13:38):
He had a reputation as thisquiet person who just knew how
to get things done.
And so by the time that theso-called Papa Bele, the Popable
candidates, were beingconsidered by media and people
around the world April and Mayof 2025, and he was rarely, if
ever, on any of those lists, andif he was, he was way down the
(14:00):
list.
People around the world didn'tknow who he was, but all the
cardinals knew who he was.
So we might have been surprisedby him being picked, but but the
cardinals certainly weren't.
In the first round of balloting,they had there were 25 votes, is
what we what we've learned fromfor Cardinal Erdo, the
conservative from Hungary, 24for Cardinal Pelolan from Italy,
(14:24):
who was considered the frontrunner, and wow, lo and behold,
out of nowhere, seemingly, 25for Robert Francis Travos.
And by the only the fourth roundof balloting, it was very far
quicker than everybody thought.
He got 108 out of 133 votes fromcardinal electors.
You only need 89.
(14:45):
So he ended up quickly winningin a landslide.
He was the consensus candidateamong the cardinals.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
As as the voting goes on, do you go out go out
and get the vote, or do you haveyour supporters either step
aside from who they weresupporting?
Do you or is the vote given toyou?
What's the procedure as far asdoes a possible pope get to
state their case and campaign,or do you have to hope that
others believe in them and andfollow suit and bring the vote
(15:14):
to them?
SPEAKER_04 (15:16):
Well, in his case, he wasn't campaigning for it at
all.
I mean, some of the other guysclearly were.
In fact, there were there werereports that Cardinal Parolin
was lobbying for the job.
Prevos was not at all.
And so I think that that'ssomething else that appealed to
the other cardinals, the factthat this was somebody who
(15:36):
didn't look like you like hewanted the job, right?
He wasn't campaigning for it.
And they would prefer somebody,you know, who's you know not
seeking the power of the papacy,right?
You know, kind of a more theywould prefer a more reluctant,
humble pope, and that'scertainly what they got in this
guy.
SPEAKER_00 (15:53):
Although he maybe this is superficial on my part,
but for him to speak out the wayhe did, or speak back at Donald
Trump and J.D.
Vance, by the way, and to do itin English instead of the I
don't know if it's the officiallanguage of the Vat of the
Vatican, but to do it in Italianinstead, was that very telling
as far as who Pope Leo is and isgoing to be?
SPEAKER_04 (16:15):
Well, I think so.
And also in all those pleas forpeace that he made and and
prayer vigils, he nevermentioned Trump by name.
And really to this day, the theonly time that he did was after
that Trump tirade on TruthSocial, and then at that point
the Pope was flying to Algeria,and reporters on the airplane
(16:37):
repeatedly pressed him aboutwhat Donald Trump had written.
And and and you know, includingthe fact that Trump claimed that
Leo was picked because of him,right?
Amazing thing, amazing thing.
And and and at that point, Leothe Fourteenth said, um, I don't
fear the Trump administration.
(16:57):
And then he said, I don't wantto get into a debate with him,
him being a reference to DonaldTrump.
He said, I'm not a politician.
You know, Trump in his in histruth socialist things said, the
Pope's behaving like apolitician.
And and and Le and Leo said, youknow, I'm not a politician, I'm
not interested in politicaldebates.
(17:18):
You know, I'm just you knowpreaching the gospel according
to Christ, right, calling forpeace.
And I would remind people thatthis was very much the position
of Pope John Paul II againstGeorge W.
Bush with the war in Iraq in2003.
And needless to say, uh, youknow, Bush didn't go on a on a
tirade against the Pope becauseof that.
(17:40):
And no, you know, no one doesthat kind of thing except for
Donald Trump.
I know people listening probablythink, well, this guy's got
Trump derangement syndrome.
I voted for Donald Trump.
And and and I and I generallysupport the idea of disarming
Iran, although I don't knowwhere this is going, and I'm
pretty nervous about it.
But what Trump did there to Leois unprecedented.
SPEAKER_00 (18:05):
Especially if you're going to question someone's
presentation of theology whenthe idea of peace is one of the
predominant content items of ofthe Bible, both in the Old and
New Testament.
SPEAKER_04 (18:17):
Right, right.
And and why I've never had aproblem with any of the Leo
statements about the war withIran right now is look, I mean,
popes just pray for peace.
It's just it's just what theydo, right?
What do you expect the Pope todo?
SPEAKER_00 (18:32):
It was his first his first word when he came out in
the balcony.
Peace.
SPEAKER_04 (18:35):
That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00 (18:37):
How much more plain and clear.
unknown (18:39):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (18:40):
Lapache sia contutiv.
Peace be with all of you.
And you're not gonna expect thePope to come out on Easter
Sunday and make an Augustinianuh just ad bellum case for uh
just war argument for DonaldTrump's intervention in in Iran.
He's not gonna do that, dude.
He's just not gonna do that.
When a Pope prays for peace,just let the Pope pray for
(19:00):
peace.
Who cares, man?
Not everyone in the world has toagree with you.
SPEAKER_00 (19:03):
No, no, no, no.
Okay.
It's it's uh, you know, it'sit's a it's a faith, not a cult.
And I think you listen, you knowwhich side I'm talking about,
but Yeah, exactly.
Right.
As far as, like I said back inthe introduction, uh knowing of
and knowing about, two differentthings, and what Dr.
Kangor's book is going to do ishelp you know about Pope Leo the
(19:24):
Fourteenth, American pontiff,Pope Leo the Fourteenth, and his
plan to heal the church.
You can find it in your favoritemeans of getting a book online.
If you're one of those weirdpeople who still go to actual
bookstores, you can get it thereas well.
Learn more about the AmericanSpectatorSpectator.org.
Dr.
Paul Kangor, thank you forreading us the understanding of
someone who I just have aninstinct feeling is going to be
(19:45):
a quite significant person inthe at least immediate years to
come.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_04 (19:51):
I think you're right, Chris.
Thanks a lot.
Good to be with you.
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
If you're listening to us through your favorite
podcast platform, make sure yousubscribe and follow.
Unless your desire is to be ahermit or shouldn't, we seek
community in being with othersand things that we share, like
to enjoy.
Where's your go-to for thatsense of community?
A mall, maybe?
One of the few events in yourtown or city that take place
(20:14):
usually on holidays?
Or what if I told you there wasa place where you are that
allows the sense of communityjust totally burst and flourish?
And that place is your locallibrary.
As we go into National LibraryWeek, which runs through this
Saturday, the 25th, my nextguest joins us to share what
this week provides librarieswith, as well as what it offers
(20:36):
you when it comes to eitherstrengthening or regaining your
connection with your locallibrary.
She is the director of theHoboken Public Library and the
official librarian of issues andideas, Jenny Pooh.
Thanks for being here again,Jenny.
SPEAKER_03 (20:50):
Oh my gosh, what an honor.
I'm going to add that to mybusiness card, the official
library of issues and ideas.
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_00 (20:57):
Not a problem.
It's well deserved.
Hoboken Library.org and learnmore about National Library
Week, ALA.org forward slash N LW.
We do have those links, ofcourse, on our homepage.
What does this li this week meanfor a library?
Because again, when something isalways there, it's always prone
(21:18):
to be forgotten about.
How does this week helplibraries remind people?
Hey, we we've got a lot of stuffhere besides just books or
ebooks.
SPEAKER_03 (21:27):
Thank you again for having me.
And yeah, it's a week-longcelebration of really the
everyday work that we do inevery single community in
America.
Public libraries are about asAmerican as Apple Pie and what
karaoke chicken and thehamburger.
Really.
I mean, you're going to find alibrary in small communities and
(21:48):
big ones.
Um, there's a quote I I'd liketo just reference because I
think it's so timely.
And it's from Andrew Carnegie,um, the benefactor who started
this.
A library outranks Any one thinga community can do to benefit
its people, it is anever-failing spring in the
desert.
Um, last week we had actually afew days ago, we had a great
(22:11):
event here on voter educationand ranked choice voting.
And a gentleman came in, and ashe was standing in the library
coming and looking around, hesaid to me, Gosh, I I didn't
think anyone came to the libraryanymore.
And here he was in an event withover a hundred people about
civic engagement.
(22:31):
And meanwhile, downstairs we hadpeople doing crochet.
Then we had students, uh,students in high school and in
college studying for theirexams.
And of course, we had patronscoming in, checking out books,
uh asking for recommendations.
I mean, it's just a hub ofactivity, quiet and otherwise.
(22:53):
And the week is a you're right,it's a reminder that we are not
just here, but we are going tomeet people where they are.
And increasingly that's alsoonline, which you've covered
before here.
You can stream a movie from yourlibrary app to check out a
digital magazine to listening toaudiobooks, all from your
(23:14):
library app from the comfort ofyour home.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
And again, too.
And the I I always think there'suh this age hurdle, the in this
transition from in the handreading, whether it's magazines
or books or uh CDs and DVDs,we've gone so technical.
Do you think libraries arereally closing that knowledge
gap with the older generation,which is probably the most
(23:39):
challenged by this transition?
SPEAKER_03 (23:43):
That is a great question, and it's something
that we've made a priority.
You my mother is one of them,right?
Every time we get her a newphone, we have to teach her how
to use it alongside with her.
And I think that's what makes alibrary so central, is because
we are right now in agenerational change of
technology.
(24:03):
In fact, we have a workshopcoming up talking about AI and
what it means for us becausewe're all discovering it
together.
But what makes the library so Ithink so pivotal is that we are
we're open, we're free, it'sit's a friendly place to learn
about technology, and we want wewant our seniors, we want our
(24:24):
youth and everyone to get up tospeed as we hurdle our way
through this next hugetechnological change.
Um and it's free.
Like I said, libraries were oneof the first places to offer
free internet, and again, we'reone of the first places to
demystify and invite people ofall ages to come learn about
(24:47):
generative AI and to play along.
What better place to learn thatthan at your local public
library?
SPEAKER_00 (24:55):
If you go to the website for Jenny's library,
Holbooken Library.org, you willsee, like I said back in the
introduction, the library is thehub for learning not just from
books, but by activities,interaction.
If you have a certain level ofexpertise in something, if you
want to offer the that expertisein for a program or an event at
(25:16):
the library, if you're a cluborganization, a lot of libraries
have meeting rooms, meetingareas as well.
Find out more about NationalLibrary Week, which is this
coming week at ALA.org forwardslash N L W and you're listening
to Issues and Ideas.
This is also an important week,too, for libraries all over,
Jenny, because the AmericanLibrary Association r I believe
(25:38):
releases their annual report,the State of the Libraries in
America.
Yes.
And that is a very informativein a variety of ways.
SPEAKER_03 (25:47):
It sure is.
And I wish I can give you apreview.
They they guard that prettyclose to the chest.
But they they will release that,I think, Monday, and we'll we'll
all look to that.
And one of those uh evergreenpieces is the top ten challenged
books.
(26:07):
Um, I wouldn't be surprised thatthat doesn't make an appearance
again because um why whereas inNew Jersey we've passed our
Freedom to Read Act, certainlycensorship is still very much uh
alive and being fought in otherstates in the country.
But there are other things inthe report too.
You know, they'll talk aboutusage and um yeah, I'll but I'll
(26:30):
learn about along with you whenit comes out on Monday.
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
You know, talking about too advocacy, part of the
agenda for National Library Weekis on Thursday, take action for
libraries day, urging advocacy,because I can imagine we know
I've I've heard storiesfrequently about election poll
workers who've been doing it foryears, they get the$200 a day to
sit at the table, register, andmake sure everything runs right
(26:54):
on election days, but a lot ofthem are are hesitant now
because of a lot of the garbagethat's and harassment that takes
place for just doing a jobthey've been doing for decades.
Is there a concern about thatwith libraries?
We mentioned book censorship,and it's usually a a small,
literally single-digit number ofpeople who tries to make the the
(27:15):
biggest noise possible and justmakes more trouble than
accomplishes anything.
Is that deterring people fromwanting to be volunteering in a
in the library scene because ofthe even if it's not happening,
the over overhanging thread ofit happening?
SPEAKER_03 (27:30):
I I think I think it's the opposite.
It's galvanizing people.
Excellent.
And it's I I think now I I don'tlive in those states such as
Utah, but the activity I see inthe on the advocacy end is
certainly no, it's it's raisingawareness that you know our
fundamental rights under theFirst Amendment are under
threat.
And this is like a first steptowards eroding that.
(27:54):
So no, I see a lot more peopleengaged.
Um, I was just speaking withsomeone yesterday, and and these
aren't just advocates, but alsofor people engaged, which
heartens me, like the youth.
Our millennials and Gen Zs arecoming in visiting libraries.
I just saw a statistic, 45% ofthem have visited a public
library and in higher numbersthan their previous generations.
(28:16):
They're rediscovering it for youknow, for materials, but also
for programs and connection.
Um because we we do see withpeople on their devices, the
general surgeon general a fewyears ago named loneliness as an
epidemic.
And one of the solutions tothat, I believe public libraries
were mentioned because there arespaces where people you
(28:38):
mentioned can connect and be incommunity, even if they're not
talking to each other.
It's just being in proximitywith other people working on
independent projects orlearning.
That's that goes a long way toalleviating that um the
loneliness epidemic.
SPEAKER_00 (28:56):
And certainly beats hanging around the McDonald's
with a bunch of screaming kidsand parents who scream even
louder.
You got a little serenity, alittle peace, a little calm.
Yeah.
And you're there for in a lot ofcases uh mutual reasons and uh
and ideas.
And mention mentioning workersbefore, that's also part of the
agenda for National LibraryWeek.
On uh Tuesday, National LibraryWorkers Day recognizing
(29:21):
individual staff contributions.
And for you listening, ifthere's been someone at your
local library who has been goingabove and beyond the call for
your needs and for helping you,certainly mention it to your
library director so that whenTuesday comes, that person will
get the the recognition thatthey deserve.
SPEAKER_03 (29:39):
Yeah, that's that's one of the most uh it's the
nicest thing that anyone can dofor their library.
We get cards from patrons whotravel overseas.
They'll send a postcard, heylibrary, we're thinking of you.
Or we'll get, you know, it's awe'll have patrons drop by with
box of chocolates.
Not every look, everyone loveschocolate for the most part.
So we certainly welcome that.
(30:01):
But if you can't, if you don'twant to do the chocolate on a
note, we get uh notes from kids.
Oh, those are the best things,and we circulate with the staff.
Uh that would be a great gestureon Tuesday, but really any day
to show your appreciationbecause that's what we live for.
Libraries are here ultimately toserve.
(30:22):
And in the name in the words ofum a former board chair of mine,
he did say the most valuableasset of a library goes home
every night to their families,and that's the staff who keep
the buildings open and run ourprograms, and you know, have
been serving our communities forall these generations.
Yeah, or the people.
SPEAKER_00 (30:40):
It's happening this week, National Library Week.
You can find out more at ALA.orgforward slash NLW, and to find
out about everything going on.
There was a lot going on at theHoboken Public Library.
Hoboken Library.org.
She is the director of theaforementioned Hoboken Public
Library, Jenny Pooh.
Jenny, always glad to turn toyou for all things library, and
(31:02):
you and your work and yourefforts provide a foundation and
direction for other libraries tocertainly successfully follow
for their growth and andenthusiasm.
Thanks for doing the work thatyou do.
Thanks so much for being heretoday.
SPEAKER_03 (31:18):
Thanks for having me, and please everyone go out
and visit our public library.
You'll be delighted and heartento see all the things that are
happening.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
We have a lot of concerns, worries about the U.S.
economy.
Stats every day, it seems like.
Add to those concerns.
A recent earnings call byWalmart added even more concerns
to the concerns.
I'll explain.
The Walmart CEO John Ferner saidlower income households are
feeling increasingly squeezed.
(31:49):
He's referring to their latestearnings reports showing a
significant change.
For households earning belowfifty thousand dollars, he said.
We continue to see that walletsare stretched, and in some
cases, people are managingspending paycheck to paycheck.
But not just lower incomehouseholds that are feeling the
pain that some say are isinflation or not close to it.
(32:12):
Walmart's leadership made itclear.
Company is gaining traction withwealthier households.
And that comes down to a shiftin consumer behavior.
Higher income households are nowlooking for value.
It's not exclusive to WalmartDollar Tree, for example.
(32:37):
Walmart's not necessarily tryingto target these higher earners.
Instead, higher earners look tobe flocking there on their own.
And the company has seenshoppers across income levels
become, they call it, more priceconscious.
A lot of people prioritizingvalue and convenience.
(33:08):
Additionally, this is fromGlobal Data Retail.
Almost 28% of high-incomeconsumers shopped at discount
chains like Walmart in 2025.
That's up from about 20% in2021.
And more than 17% of Americansearning$100,000 or more a year
now shop at Walmart compared toless than 15% back in 2021.
(33:32):
And John David Rainey, who isWalmart's executive VP and CFO,
he said the company has workedhard to mitigate grocery
inflation.
Which could be a big reason whyhigher income consumers are
shopping there more as well.
And when you think about this,this one The Street.com, higher
income consumers aren'tnecessarily cutting back on
(33:53):
spending like some low ormoderate income households might
be here are right now.
Instead, they're they'respending money more mindfully,
trading down everydayessentials, seeking value, even
though they can't afford more,and prioritizing convenience as
well as price.
(34:13):
Walmart scores in all three ofthose.
But is Walmart changing customerdemographics more than a company
story?
Maybe it's something about theeconomy overall here in America.
When higher income householdsstart to prioritize savings and
value, does that suggest thatconsumers might want or need to
be more cautious overall?
(34:35):
For Walmart, seeing an uptick inhigher income consumers that's
wonderful, that's great.
If you're a Walmart stockholder,again, that's wonderful, that's
great.
But for the retail industrybroadly, not so much.
(34:56):
Well, that could weigh onretailers that don't have the
the flexibility to pull thepower like Walmart does, they go
lower prices and not kneecapthemselves.
Meanwhile, the shoppers continueto cut back on spending to a
large degree.
Does that set the stage for afull-blown recession?
(35:16):
That's something consumersacross all income ranges have to
worry about.
For Bible fellowship to fullyserve those involved, you need
to do more than just simplypossess the Bible.
You need to read it.
Study the Word of God itcontains.
Otherwise, during Biblefellowship, you'll most likely
be the one getting lost.
And while Bible sales make theBible the number one
(35:36):
best-selling book by farworldwide, stats pertaining to
Bible reading, they run a bitcounter to the sales popularity.
Our next guest is leading aneffort starting today, which
will continue all through thiscoming week.
Nearly 500 well-known peoplefrom all parts of our society
will be reading the Bible.
You can only watch as thesereligious leaders, stars,
(35:59):
actors, politicians, and othersread from the Bible.
You can read along with them,with us to discuss how America
Reads the Bible came about.
It's the founder of ChristiansEngaged, Bunny Pounds.
How are you today, Bunny?
SPEAKER_02 (36:12):
I'm great, Chris.
Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
Well, this is a fantastic event.
We have a couple of links totheir homepage too, America
ReadsTheBible.com and to watchalong, PureFlix F L I X dot com.
And you can all through theweek, and you can find the
schedules, who's who's reading,the passages they'll be reading,
it's all at AmericaReadstheBible.com.
Found some stats here.
(36:36):
This is from a variety of sortof sources.
Around 88% of Americanhouseholds own at least one
Bible.
However, only 37% of Americansread the Bible at least once a
week.
So when I see those numbers,Bunny, makes me think that a
little motivation might narrowthat gap between those two
(36:56):
numbers.
And I certainly think that whatyou are doing with America Reads
the Bible is going to be a greatdeal of motivation.
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
We believe that too, Chris.
Um what an amazing nationalmoment where we can celebrate
that our Constitution hasoutlasted every constitution in
world history.
And we wanted to remind the theAmerican people that our
foundations are found inScripture.
You know, our founders of ournation gave us a gift that we
get to elect ourrepresentatives.
Um, and law, liberty, andjustice, uh, the foundations of
(37:26):
our country is because of uh thescriptural understanding that
they had when they started thiscountry.
So we're so thankful to have sixcabinet members, six governors,
twenty members of Congress,Hollywood people like Patricia
Heaton and Candace Cameron Brayand Cameron and BJ Arnett and
many others reading scripturewith us, including farmers,
(37:49):
veterans, nurses, chaplain uhworkers.
Um it's really gonna be ahistoric moment as we read, uh
starting today, Genesis all theway through the book of
Revelation, and Franklin Grahamdoes a gospel presentation at
the end of the book ofRevelation.
SPEAKER_00 (38:05):
I wasn't kidding for you listening when I said nearly
500 people.
And and I have to ask onebecause I've done radio-thons
and produced them, hosted them.
I was part of telethons, andthose were 12, 24-hour programs,
and you had to book the talentand get everything lined up.
How in the world did you manageto pull this one off?
SPEAKER_02 (38:24):
I have an incredible team.
We've been working nonstop forover 14 months.
You know, we started recruitingministries.
We have 122 ministries that havehelped us uh financially with
marketing and sending readers toparticipate.
Uh, and then we went tocelebrities and elected
officials, and yeah, it's amassive project and 500 people
(38:45):
we have to coordinate with, butGod's been faithful and Jesus is
going to be glorified.
SPEAKER_00 (38:50):
And who of the right mind when they're invited would
say, No, I don't want to readthe Bible.
I mean, that's if you want tocommit uh gospel suicide, I
guess that's one of the greatways to do it if that's your
choice.
But I can't imagine anyonewanting to say no to this.
As far as the the spark of theidea, take us back to those
early days about the formationof what you wanted to do and how
(39:11):
did the foundation get built tomake all this happen?
SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
Yeah, I was in the Museum of the Bible two years
ago, and I just finished a draftof my new book that's coming out
May 19 called Stepping Up toLead, Rebuilding a Nation in the
Footsteps of Nehemiah.
I have uh formerly was ingovernment for 16 years running
congressional campaigns, andI've always loved Nehemiah's
story that he helped rebuild thewalls of Jerusalem in in 52 days
(39:37):
and mobilize the people of Godto do that.
But I saw uh Ezra reading thebooks of Moses in front of the
Israelites at the Museum of theBible, and it just hit me, wow,
we need an Ezra moment in thiscountry.
We've forgotten who we are, justlike ancient Israel.
And so I I just had this idea,wouldn't it be awesome if our
national leaders stood up andwere Ezra and proclaimed the
(40:00):
word of God out loud to theAmerican people, and that we
could awaken a whole newgeneration of Nehemiahs to
rebuild our country and uh toreally take ownership and
stewardship of our nation forthe next 250 years or until
Jesus comes back.
So that's how it started, and wegot to work on it last January,
and here we are today.
SPEAKER_00 (40:26):
America Reads the Bible.
She's also founder of ChristiansEngaged, America Reads the
Bible.com, and you can watchonline as well.
PureFlixF L I X dot com.
We do have those links over atour home page, and you're
listening to issues and ideas.
Do you think, Bunny, because Ithink we probably have both come
across people, uh they separatethe two the two books of the
(40:47):
Bible, the New and the OldTestament.
There are people who just devoteit, and even some churches when
they hand out small Bibles, itonly features the New Testament,
maybe the book of Psalms, whichby the way, that's most most
read part of the Bible, asanother factoid for the day.
But do you think that thiseffort this effort that you're
doing is going to make peoplemore aware that for the New
Testament to fully exist, therehas to be the understanding of
(41:11):
what's foretold and what'staught in the Old Testament?
SPEAKER_02 (41:16):
A hundred percent, Chris.
Um, it's the whole council ofGod, it's the whole story of
God.
And if we really want tounderstand his character, his
ways, um, to understand thewhole story.
I mean, Jesus was planned fromthe beginning, he shows up in
every book of the Bible.
Um, last night at our openingcelebration, Le Leland sang a
(41:37):
song about the Jesus showing upin every book of the Bible.
And we preached on the story ofGod from Genesis to Revelation.
Um, people can go back and watchthat program.
But this this is a key point ofwhy we're reading the entire
Bible.
And uh, we hope and pray thatpeople understand that God calls
them into his massive story.
(41:58):
This is where you find youridentity, this is where you find
your destiny, and Jesus plannedto redeem the world from the
very beginning of Genesis 1.
SPEAKER_00 (42:07):
And it's always fine to read the Bible within
yourself, but to hear the Wordof God, even the Bible teachers,
that's that's part of the key tounderstanding how to live the
Word of God.
SPEAKER_02 (42:18):
A hundred percent.
We really want to encouragepeople to play this in their
businesses this week.
Play it in your churches, playit on your phone, play it in
your family rooms.
Um, experience as much of theBible as you can this week, all
the way through Saturday nightat 9 p.m.
Eastern.
Um, but also this will bearchived on pureflix.com and
America Reads the Bible.com.
(42:39):
You can go back and watch all ofthis.
It'll be an audio and videoBible on the back end.
So, you know, our team, we'regonna read the Bible in 84 hours
after this event uh andexperience that in 84 days lead
um after after we get donerunning this.
And so I hope that everybodywill experience this in real
time, but also in the daysahead.
SPEAKER_00 (42:59):
And with the whole event being archived on
Pureflix, that sounds like agreat opportunity for someone
who is going to be motivated tosay, you know what, I want to
read the Bible totally in my ownstudy from start to finish, and
they could do it in the whateverincrement is comfortable for
them through the archive thatyou'll have at Pure Flix.
SPEAKER_02 (43:18):
Exactly.
That's why we wanted to createthis, and and again, I think
people are gonna be inspiredwhen they see leaders that they
respect, um, and ordinaryAmericans, you know, veterans,
Indians, um, you know, ministryleaders, churches, uh, church
pastors, teachers, um, hospicechaplains, uh, all of these
(43:38):
people reading scripture, justknow that God wants to speak
through you, He wants to useyour voice as well.
SPEAKER_00 (43:46):
Talk to the person who, because of whatever
happenstance in the secularworld, is having more
challenging times that than theycan handle, and they're hearing
this right now.
We're talking about what ishappening unfolding with America
Reads the Bible.
This week.
They've never owned a Bible.
They've never opened a Bible.
You don't, and there are Bibleapps.
You don't even need to wait forAmazon to deliver one.
(44:08):
You can download a Bible app andfind a translation comfortable
for your comprehension andgrowth.
But talk to that person who is,let's call them the Bible
rookie.
What should they be expectingand looking for as they pay
attention and become a part ofas at least an observer of
America Reads the Bible?
SPEAKER_02 (44:30):
Well, you know, I believe that the the Word of God
is alive because Jesus is alive.
He's a resurrected king.
And so every section ofScripture uh he speaks through.
But I would encourage everybody,yes, grab a Bible, download the
Bible app.
Um start in the book of John.
Um that the word became fleshand dwelt among us.
(44:51):
That word is named Jesus.
And I believe what you'll findyou find in the pages of
scripture is a lot of wisdom.
You find a story bigger thanyour life.
You find um a God who loves you,you find your identity, you find
a God that wants to set you freefrom your anxieties and
depressions and your wants toheal your marriage.
(45:11):
Um and there's just uh the loveof God that you find, the peace
of God, the joy of God, andthings that are not of this
world.
And I believe that people are ona search for that, and you'll
find that in the pages of theBible.
SPEAKER_00 (45:25):
Which you could be brought into further and more
deep through the event that'sstarting to take going through
this week from 9 a.m.
until 9 p.m.
America Reads the Bible, followalong, become a part of it at
America Reads the Bible.com andwatch it at PureFlix F L I X dot
com.
Again, from 9 a.m.
until 9 p.m.
Eastern.
(45:45):
If you're listening through thepodcast, adjust the time to your
specific time zone because itwill be an experience that you
will indeed, spiritually as wellas emotionally and even
physically, everything is allconnected within ourselves.
You will certainly benefit fromall that is about to be placed
before you through this event.
We've been talking with not onlythe creator, the founder of
(46:08):
America Reads the Bible, but thefounder of Christians Engaged,
Bunny Pounds.
Bunny, this is going to havesuch a resonating effect with so
many people that I think evenyou will be surprised by the the
strength of the impact that thisweek is going to have on so many
people, which I know have nodoubt you will hear from those
people.
Congratulations of putting thistogether.
(46:29):
Best of success as it goesforward this week, and thanks so
much for being here today.
SPEAKER_02 (46:33):
Well, thank you, Chris, for highlighting this.
And and guys, just know that Godwants to speak to you today and
he wants to speak through hisword.
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_00 (46:42):
Merriam Webster Dictionary defines blasphemy as
the act of insulting or showingcontempt or lack of reverence
for God.
This past week featured, let'ssee, Donald Trump, J.D.
Vance, Pete Heggsethperpetrating blasphemy.
While being, of course,supported by or having excuses
made for them by many othersupporters.
(47:04):
As you would imagine, the Biblehas quite a lot to say about
blasphemy.
We have these words from Jesus,which are reading Mark chapter
seven verses twenty one throughtwenty three, for from within
out of the heart of men proceedevil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts,covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lewdness, and evil eye,blasphemy, pride, foolishness,
(47:29):
all these evil things come fromwithin and defile a man.
There's this from Colossianschapter three verse eight.
For now you yourselves are toput off all these anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthylanguage out of your mouth.
Let's spend a few momentsreviewing what unfolded this
past week through the acts ofthe people I mentioned at the
(47:49):
beginning.
We'll start with the mostobvious and blatant.
That would be Donald Trumpposting a photo of himself in
the image of Jesus, robes thatJesus would wear, Trump healing
a man by laying hands on himwith light emanating from his
hands.
Jesus warns us about this inMatthew chapter twenty four
verses twenty three and twentyfour.
Then if anyone says to you look,here is the Christ, or there, do
(48:13):
not believe it, for falseChrists and false prophets will
rise and show great signs andwonders to deceive, if possible,
even the elect.
Am I taking things too seriouslytoo far over a photo posted on
social media?
I don't think so.
Remember when Paul Whiterecently compared Trump to
(48:33):
Jesus, referencing him beingstruck down, rising?
I don't recall Trump pushingthat comparison away or denying
it to you.
Then Trump followed posting thatphoto with a second social media
post, this one, a photo of Jesushugging Trump.
Let me repeat that because it'simportant here.
It was a photo of Jesus huggingTrump.
(48:56):
Now if you were determined topost a photo like this,
shouldn't it be you huggingJesus in worship and praise?
Better yet kneeling before him,as we're instructed in
Philippians chapter two verseten, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow of thosein heaven and of those on earth
and of those under the earth.
(49:17):
Next we have Trump, joined by JDVance, choosing to take on Pope
Leo XV.
Trump called Pope Leo a bad popewho was quote unquote weak on
crime, which I'm I'm not reallysure how any pope is responsible
for crime rates anywhere, butwell Trump went with that.
(49:37):
Then we had JD Vance call outthe Pope for the message he was
declaring, saying that the Popeneeds to be careful with how he
presents theology and what hegets involved with.
What's that theology that PopeLeo is proclaiming?
Peace.
That word peace, by the way, ismentioned over four hundred
times in the Bible.
(49:58):
Kinda makes it a valid theologypoint, doesn't it?
Just a few examples of thishere's what said in Psalm
chapter twenty nine, verseeleven The Lord will give
strength to his people, the Lordwill bless his people with
peace.
(50:26):
One more, this is told to us byJesus as part of the Beatitudes,
reading from Matthew chapterfive, verse nine, blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shallbe called sons of God.
Pete Heggseth scored doubleblasphemy points this past week.
First at a Pentagon pressbriefing, Heggseth compared
Trump being challenged by thenews media with Jesus being
(50:49):
challenged by the Pharisees.
Then at a military faith event,Hegseth shared in prayer what
said in Ezekiel chapter twentyfive, verse seventeen.
Problem.
What Hegseth read was actuallyfrom the film Pulp Fiction.
It was from the scene whereSamuel L.
(51:10):
Jackson delivers a Bible gospelsounding a line that was
entirely made up for that film.
And by the way, Jacksondelivered the line far better
than Hegseth did.
Works as a false teacher, arenot the way to keep your page in
the book of life clean.
Second Peter chapter two verseone warns us about these false
(51:30):
teachers, but there were alsofalse prophets among the people,
even as there will be falseteachers among you who will
secretly bring in destructiveheresies, even denying the Lord
who brought them, and bring onthemselves swift destruction.
Now you may be one of those whosays that God will forgive even
blasphemy.
(51:50):
God forgives everything, right?
I mean doesn't it say inEphesians chapter one verse
seven, in him we have redemptionthrough his blood, the
forgiveness of sins according tothe riches of his grace.
That's no doubt what you'll windup believing if you're reading
what you want, instead ofreading what you need to read.
Because in Matthew chaptertwelve, verses thirty one thirty
(52:13):
two, Jesus tells us this.
Therefore I say to you, everysin and blasphemy will be
forgiven men, but the blasphemyagainst the Spirit will not be
forgiven men.
Anyone who speaks a word againstthe Son of Man it will be
forgiven him, but whoever speaksagainst the Holy Spirit, it will
not be forgiven him, either inthis age or in the age to come.
(52:33):
And yes, blasphemy is grievingto the Holy Spirit.
Don't forget to check out ourwebsite, Issues and
IdeasRadio.com.
That's where you'll find moreinformation about the people who
are here with us on the showtoday.
Been updating the downloadspage.
Of course, we have the classicconversation and the New York
City Radio Museum on the homepage as well.
(52:54):
You'll find all that and more atIssues and IdeasRadio.com.
Always grateful and thankful.
Always appreciate your time andyour attention.
Look forward to being with youright here this time next week
for our next edition of Issuesand Ideas.
Hello, welcome to Issues and Ideas.
I'm Chris Devello.
You might recall back on July4th of last year when Donald
Trump signed a Republican budgetreconciliation package.
It was announced that that billwould cut$911 billion in federal
spending from Medicaid and CHIPover the next 10 years.
(00:21):
You might also recall that newsgladdened the hearts of those
primarily on the right,especially Mega, cutting off the
freeloaders, they would say,keeping illegal immigrants from
getting Medicaid, even thoughthey already can't get Medicaid,
but I digress.
Well, according to a new reportput out by Public Citizen, we
(00:41):
have it on our downloads page,so you can check it out for your
specific state.
It does a state-by-statebreakdown of exactly how
endangered hospitals in eachstate are going to be because of
that$911 billion cut in federalspending to Medicaid.
Some of the findings in thereport, 446 hospitals are at
(01:04):
heightened risk of closing orreducing services due to those
cuts.
These hospitals collectivelyhave about 69,000 beds and they
serve around 6.6 millionpatients.
They also employ about 275,000direct patient care workers.
(01:25):
They have a larger share ofblack and Hispanic residents, as
well as people living below thepoverty line compared to other
hospitals.
Nearly 20% of the at-riskhospitals, that's 85 if you
don't want to do the math, servehigh poverty areas.
267, that's 60% of the at-riskhospitals serve urban areas.
(01:46):
39%, 176, are considered to berural hospitals.
We talked about those not toolong ago.
Join to put politics evenfurther into this.
And Senate Republicans, all ofwhom voted for the Medicaid
(02:08):
cuts, collectively have 146at-risk hospitals in their
states.
Republicans also representseveral of the congressional
districts with the with thehighest number of at-risk
hospitals.
There are five states which nowhave over a quarter of all of
their hospitals at risk.
Those states are Connecticut,California, New York,
Massachusetts, and WashingtonState.
(02:31):
And almost half of the at-riskhospitals have special Medicare
payment designations that areusually connected with hospitals
that are rural or financiallyvulnerable, and plays a pretty
important role in thecommunities that they serve.
That's like Critical AccessHospital, 19%, Rural Referral
(02:52):
Center, 16%, Sole CommunityHospital, 9%, and Medicare
dependent hospital, around 4%.
The report also found in recentmonths hospitals have started
layoffs, reduced services,including maternal care.
They're saying it's because offinancial strain already imposed
by Medicaid cuts.
So that picture is obviously notgoing to get better for those
(03:14):
hospitals.
And again, this is astate-by-state issue, and just
as a representation, here arethe hospitals, since we're based
in New Jersey, hospitals in NewJersey that, according to the
report by Public Citizen, facethe highest risk of closure.
Bayonne Medical Center, CapitalHealth Regional Medical Center,
(03:37):
that's in Trenton, Clara MassMedical Center in Belleville,
East Orange General Hospital,Hoboken University Medical
Center, the Inspira MedicalCenter in Vineland, Monmouth
Medical Center in Lakewood,Newark, Beth Israel, Palisades
Medical Center in North Bergen,Robert Wood Johnson University
(03:57):
Hospital, that's in NewBrunswick, St.
Michael's Medical Center inNewark, and Trinidad Hospital in
Elizabeth.
And many of those facilities, asis the case in other states,
they're not simply Medicaidhospitals.
They're training centers formedical staff, they're research
locations.
They're a lot more than justhospitals.
(04:19):
So when you hear the cheeringfor a specific reason about an
action being taken, don't jointhe cheering until you take a
look at the entire picture.
Harry Sidden on his ex accountcharted Donald Trump's behavior
from about a week ago now,Sunday night into Monday
morning.
Of course, last Sunday night.
(04:39):
That's when Trump hosted his Dr.
Jesus photo.
That was in these are EasternTimes, 9.49 p.m.
And at 9.50 p.m., Trump posted aphoto of Trump Tower on the
Moon.
10.10 p.m.
Just a random meme.
The news clip at 10.32 p.m.
Another news clip at 10.53 p.m.
(05:02):
Then at 1243 a.m.
Monday morning.
Oh, that's right.
There's this thing about theHormuz blockade I have to
announce.
And he did that then.
Then at 2.35 a.m.
posted an article about JoeBiden, 2.36 a.m.
Article on Naval Blockade.
Then see 2.37 a.m.
posted an article aboutRepresent well now former
(05:25):
Representative Eric Swalwell.
Then at 2.37 a.m.
He's just shotgunning thesethings out, posted an article
about Joe Biden, same one thathe posted two minutes ago, 2.38
a.m.
Posted an article on hisballroom, and at 4.10 a.m.
Trump posted an article on Iran.
(05:46):
Now I don't know about yoursocial media habits, but if
someone is posting like that oneafter another after another
after another, repeatingsomething they did just a couple
of minutes ago, and you want tosay that they're well balanced
and and healthy and happy, maybein their own heads, but in what
we like to call reality,anything but not sleeping, he's
(06:10):
pretending to be Jesus andsaying, oh no, that's a doctor,
because I heal people too.
Well, you have to remember, too,that's what just a couple of
days ago, Paula White, as if shedidn't do enough to encourage
this, by comparing Donald Trumpbeing shot and r overcoming it,
compare that to Jesus and hisresurrection.
(06:32):
She said, say no to Donald Trumpis saying no to God.
You may not have known or eventhought much about Pope Leo the
14th, but over the past coupleof weeks I have a feeling that's
really changed.
Knowing of someone, by the way,doesn't equate with knowing
about someone, considering howPope Leo XIV has revealed
(06:53):
himself to be r really unafraidto speak out about matters like
the war in Iran, people who areproponents of warfare against
peace.
Pope has brought even greaterattention to himself by both
Catholics as well asnon-Catholics.
That makes my first guest's newbook very timely indeed.
He's examined the life of RobertFrancis Privost, his path to
(07:14):
becoming Pope Leo XIV, and whatlies ahead for not just the
papacy, but the Catholic Churchas well.
His book is American Pontiff,Pope Leo XIV, and his plan to
heal the church.
Being a best-selling author,he's a professor of political
science at Gross City College,executive director of their
Center for Vision and Values, aswell as editor of the American
(07:35):
Spectator, Dr.
Paul Kanger.
How are you today, Doctor?
SPEAKER_04 (07:39):
Good, Chris.
Good to be with you.
Thanks.
SPEAKER_00 (07:41):
Well, congratulations on if nothing
else with the book, the besttiming you could have possibly
had with American Pontiff.
And to find out more about theAmerican Spectator Spectator.org
and the Grove City College,GCC.edu, one would expect a Pope
worthy of uh attention of and ofauthors and having the story
(08:03):
told, and certainly the firstAmerican Pope adds to that
worthiness.
Was that the really thebeginning and end of your
interest in doing this book, ordid you, as you did your initial
research, find there's a lotmore to uh to Pope Leo than just
being Pope and being the firstAmerican Pope?
SPEAKER_04 (08:22):
Yeah, well, the answer to all of that is a yes,
for sure.
But I must say when I was askedto do this book by the
publisher, at that point, Chris,we they'd approached me, I guess
it was the day after the deathof Pope Francis, and they said,
Would you like to do a book onthe next pope?
And I said, Yeah, sure.
Hey, it sounds good.
You know, I have time.
I've done a lot of work on JohnPaul II, and and I said, Hey,
(08:44):
Adam Plus, I I I know I speakItalian, and next Pope's gonna
be in Italian.
Then what he's picked, yeah.
It was just an absolute shockerthat he was a an an American.
It was un unbelievable.
I mean, no one ever thought thatthat would happen.
You know, the Pope was supposedto be Italian for 455
consecutive years.
The Pope was Italian until JohnPaul II and then uh Cardinal
(09:06):
Ratzinger, Benedict theSixteenth, and even Pope Francis
was actually ethnically Italian,even though he grew up in
Argentina.
So, but the idea of an Americancompletely shocking, totally
unexpected, and the first yearof his papacy, I think, went
pretty much as I expected,bringing kind of normalcy and
(09:27):
stability back to the papacy.
But that's all really blown upnow in the last few weeks,
especially with the the battlewith Donald Trump.
And and you know, Donald I knowa lot of people who are Trump
supporters who I don't want theydon't want me to defend Leo, but
I I gotta tell you, man, never,ever in the history of the
(09:47):
presidency or the papacy did apresident ever cut loose on cork
with a statement like DonaldTrump did on truth on truth
social to Leo.
SPEAKER_02 (09:58):
And I know people will say, well, that's because
he's getting involved in thewar.
SPEAKER_04 (10:03):
No, no, no, no, no.
He did what pretty much everyPope has done since World War
One, Benedict XV, John Paul IIwith the Iraq War, you know,
basically called for peace,laying down arms, that kind of
thing.
And what really seemed to setDonald Trump off was when Leo
the Fourteenth said that Trump'sstatement threatening the entire
(10:26):
extinction of a civilization, hesays, I hope it won't happen,
but it probably will.
You know, tonight, eighto'clock, Tuesday night, that was
a week or two ago, and the Popefinally spoke out directly,
didn't mention Trump by name,but said statements like that
are morally unacceptable.
Which frankly, the the Popeshould speak out on a statement
like that.
(10:47):
And that really that really didit for Donald Trump.
I mean, Trump doesn't respondwell to any criticism, and so he
he blew up on the Pope andcalled the Pope a liberal, which
which by the way is not, he'smore conservative than Donald
Trump, and as I show in thebook, he's also a Republican.
But that so now we're watchingthis crazy battle between you
(11:08):
know the head of the largestgroup of Christians in the world
and uh the American the AmericanPope and the American president.
SPEAKER_00 (11:15):
It's always said that who we are, who we find
ourselves to be in our earlyyears determines who we're going
to be in our in our later years.
Is that true with uh with PopeLeo?
SPEAKER_04 (11:26):
Yeah, for sure.
And his whole life, I mean, he'sbeen he was always a very devout
Catholic, of course, not asurprise, but quite quite
interesting, Chris, is thatpeople that grew up with him
were really struck by his piety.
And there were kids in theschool who who called him holy,
like it was like a nickname forhim.
Hey, there's holy.
(11:47):
And they said, but they did notmean it in a negative way, like
a mocking way.
Uh they said he was very pious,very devout, but also very kind
and very sincere and charitable,and they all liked him.
And there were even littleladies down the street, a couple
of them, his brother, one of hisbrothers talked about this, who
(12:07):
said, you know, that that youngman is going to be Pope someday,
which is an amazing thing,especially given again that he's
an American.
But that's yeah, that's the kindof background that he's had, and
it was long uh up through hisyears at Villanova, went to
Villanova.
At Villanova he started thepro-life group in the late
1970s, marched in the March forLife, one of the first marches
(12:31):
for life, and remained reallyconsistent on all these moral,
cultural, religious issues allthe way through today, 2026.
SPEAKER_00 (12:42):
So Dr.
Paul Kangor's new book, AmericanPontiff, Pope Leo the
Fourteenth, and his plan to healthe church.
He's also editor of the AmericanSpectator, spectator.org, that
website, and you are listeningto issues and ideas.
With with the activities thatyou just described and you go in
further detail in in AmericanPontiff.
(13:02):
Talk about uh Pope Leo's risethrough the ranks, I guess we
we'd say.
Was he easily noticed?
Did he work to get noticed or hewas just gifted with getting
noticed?
SPEAKER_04 (13:15):
Yeah, he didn't work to get noticed at all.
He in fact he was really he waspicked cardinal by Pope Francis
in late 2023.
And then he had this kind ofjust meteoric rise up through
the curia, the governing body ofthe church, where he was getting
appointed to all these differentpositions because of his kind of
you know just workmanlikesteadiness.
(13:38):
He had a reputation as thisquiet person who just knew how
to get things done.
And so by the time that theso-called Papa Bele, the Popable
candidates, were beingconsidered by media and people
around the world April and Mayof 2025, and he was rarely, if
ever, on any of those lists, andif he was, he was way down the
(14:00):
list.
People around the world didn'tknow who he was, but all the
cardinals knew who he was.
So we might have been surprisedby him being picked, but but the
cardinals certainly weren't.
In the first round of balloting,they had there were 25 votes, is
what we what we've learned fromfor Cardinal Erdo, the
conservative from Hungary, 24for Cardinal Pelolan from Italy,
(14:24):
who was considered the frontrunner, and wow, lo and behold,
out of nowhere, seemingly, 25for Robert Francis Travos.
And by the only the fourth roundof balloting, it was very far
quicker than everybody thought.
He got 108 out of 133 votes fromcardinal electors.
You only need 89.
(14:45):
So he ended up quickly winningin a landslide.
He was the consensus candidateamong the cardinals.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
As as the voting goes on, do you go out go out
and get the vote, or do you haveyour supporters either step
aside from who they weresupporting?
Do you or is the vote given toyou?
What's the procedure as far asdoes a possible pope get to
state their case and campaign,or do you have to hope that
others believe in them and andfollow suit and bring the vote
(15:14):
to them?
SPEAKER_04 (15:16):
Well, in his case, he wasn't campaigning for it at
all.
I mean, some of the other guysclearly were.
In fact, there were there werereports that Cardinal Parolin
was lobbying for the job.
Prevos was not at all.
And so I think that that'ssomething else that appealed to
the other cardinals, the factthat this was somebody who
(15:36):
didn't look like you like hewanted the job, right?
He wasn't campaigning for it.
And they would prefer somebody,you know, who's you know not
seeking the power of the papacy,right?
You know, kind of a more theywould prefer a more reluctant,
humble pope, and that'scertainly what they got in this
guy.
SPEAKER_00 (15:53):
Although he maybe this is superficial on my part,
but for him to speak out the wayhe did, or speak back at Donald
Trump and J.D.
Vance, by the way, and to do itin English instead of the I
don't know if it's the officiallanguage of the Vat of the
Vatican, but to do it in Italianinstead, was that very telling
as far as who Pope Leo is and isgoing to be?
SPEAKER_04 (16:15):
Well, I think so.
And also in all those pleas forpeace that he made and and
prayer vigils, he nevermentioned Trump by name.
And really to this day, the theonly time that he did was after
that Trump tirade on TruthSocial, and then at that point
the Pope was flying to Algeria,and reporters on the airplane
(16:37):
repeatedly pressed him aboutwhat Donald Trump had written.
And and and you know, includingthe fact that Trump claimed that
Leo was picked because of him,right?
Amazing thing, amazing thing.
And and and at that point, Leothe Fourteenth said, um, I don't
fear the Trump administration.
(16:57):
And then he said, I don't wantto get into a debate with him,
him being a reference to DonaldTrump.
He said, I'm not a politician.
You know, Trump in his in histruth socialist things said, the
Pope's behaving like apolitician.
And and and Le and Leo said, youknow, I'm not a politician, I'm
not interested in politicaldebates.
(17:18):
You know, I'm just you knowpreaching the gospel according
to Christ, right, calling forpeace.
And I would remind people thatthis was very much the position
of Pope John Paul II againstGeorge W.
Bush with the war in Iraq in2003.
And needless to say, uh, youknow, Bush didn't go on a on a
tirade against the Pope becauseof that.
(17:40):
And no, you know, no one doesthat kind of thing except for
Donald Trump.
I know people listening probablythink, well, this guy's got
Trump derangement syndrome.
I voted for Donald Trump.
And and and I and I generallysupport the idea of disarming
Iran, although I don't knowwhere this is going, and I'm
pretty nervous about it.
But what Trump did there to Leois unprecedented.
SPEAKER_00 (18:05):
Especially if you're going to question someone's
presentation of theology whenthe idea of peace is one of the
predominant content items of ofthe Bible, both in the Old and
New Testament.
SPEAKER_04 (18:17):
Right, right.
And and why I've never had aproblem with any of the Leo
statements about the war withIran right now is look, I mean,
popes just pray for peace.
It's just it's just what theydo, right?
What do you expect the Pope todo?
SPEAKER_00 (18:32):
It was his first his first word when he came out in
the balcony.
Peace.
SPEAKER_04 (18:35):
That's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00 (18:37):
How much more plain and clear.
unknown (18:39):
Right.
SPEAKER_04 (18:40):
Lapache sia contutiv.
Peace be with all of you.
And you're not gonna expect thePope to come out on Easter
Sunday and make an Augustinianuh just ad bellum case for uh
just war argument for DonaldTrump's intervention in in Iran.
He's not gonna do that, dude.
He's just not gonna do that.
When a Pope prays for peace,just let the Pope pray for
(19:00):
peace.
Who cares, man?
Not everyone in the world has toagree with you.
SPEAKER_00 (19:03):
No, no, no, no.
Okay.
It's it's uh, you know, it'sit's a it's a faith, not a cult.
And I think you listen, you knowwhich side I'm talking about,
but Yeah, exactly.
Right.
As far as, like I said back inthe introduction, uh knowing of
and knowing about, two differentthings, and what Dr.
Kangor's book is going to do ishelp you know about Pope Leo the
(19:24):
Fourteenth, American pontiff,Pope Leo the Fourteenth, and his
plan to heal the church.
You can find it in your favoritemeans of getting a book online.
If you're one of those weirdpeople who still go to actual
bookstores, you can get it thereas well.
Learn more about the AmericanSpectatorSpectator.org.
Dr.
Paul Kangor, thank you forreading us the understanding of
someone who I just have aninstinct feeling is going to be
(19:45):
a quite significant person inthe at least immediate years to
come.
Thanks for being here today.
SPEAKER_04 (19:51):
I think you're right, Chris.
Thanks a lot.
Good to be with you.
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
If you're listening to us through your favorite
podcast platform, make sure yousubscribe and follow.
Unless your desire is to be ahermit or shouldn't, we seek
community in being with othersand things that we share, like
to enjoy.
Where's your go-to for thatsense of community?
A mall, maybe?
One of the few events in yourtown or city that take place
(20:14):
usually on holidays?
Or what if I told you there wasa place where you are that
allows the sense of communityjust totally burst and flourish?
And that place is your locallibrary.
As we go into National LibraryWeek, which runs through this
Saturday, the 25th, my nextguest joins us to share what
this week provides librarieswith, as well as what it offers
(20:36):
you when it comes to eitherstrengthening or regaining your
connection with your locallibrary.
She is the director of theHoboken Public Library and the
official librarian of issues andideas, Jenny Pooh.
Thanks for being here again,Jenny.
SPEAKER_03 (20:50):
Oh my gosh, what an honor.
I'm going to add that to mybusiness card, the official
library of issues and ideas.
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_00 (20:57):
Not a problem.
It's well deserved.
Hoboken Library.org and learnmore about National Library
Week, ALA.org forward slash N LW.
We do have those links, ofcourse, on our homepage.
What does this li this week meanfor a library?
Because again, when something isalways there, it's always prone
(21:18):
to be forgotten about.
How does this week helplibraries remind people?
Hey, we we've got a lot of stuffhere besides just books or
ebooks.
SPEAKER_03 (21:27):
Thank you again for having me.
And yeah, it's a week-longcelebration of really the
everyday work that we do inevery single community in
America.
Public libraries are about asAmerican as Apple Pie and what
karaoke chicken and thehamburger.
Really.
I mean, you're going to find alibrary in small communities and
(21:48):
big ones.
Um, there's a quote I I'd liketo just reference because I
think it's so timely.
And it's from Andrew Carnegie,um, the benefactor who started
this.
A library outranks Any one thinga community can do to benefit
its people, it is anever-failing spring in the
desert.
Um, last week we had actually afew days ago, we had a great
(22:11):
event here on voter educationand ranked choice voting.
And a gentleman came in, and ashe was standing in the library
coming and looking around, hesaid to me, Gosh, I I didn't
think anyone came to the libraryanymore.
And here he was in an event withover a hundred people about
civic engagement.
(22:31):
And meanwhile, downstairs we hadpeople doing crochet.
Then we had students, uh,students in high school and in
college studying for theirexams.
And of course, we had patronscoming in, checking out books,
uh asking for recommendations.
I mean, it's just a hub ofactivity, quiet and otherwise.
(22:53):
And the week is a you're right,it's a reminder that we are not
just here, but we are going tomeet people where they are.
And increasingly that's alsoonline, which you've covered
before here.
You can stream a movie from yourlibrary app to check out a
digital magazine to listening toaudiobooks, all from your
(23:14):
library app from the comfort ofyour home.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
And again, too.
And the I I always think there'suh this age hurdle, the in this
transition from in the handreading, whether it's magazines
or books or uh CDs and DVDs,we've gone so technical.
Do you think libraries arereally closing that knowledge
gap with the older generation,which is probably the most
(23:39):
challenged by this transition?
SPEAKER_03 (23:43):
That is a great question, and it's something
that we've made a priority.
You my mother is one of them,right?
Every time we get her a newphone, we have to teach her how
to use it alongside with her.
And I think that's what makes alibrary so central, is because
we are right now in agenerational change of
technology.
(24:03):
In fact, we have a workshopcoming up talking about AI and
what it means for us becausewe're all discovering it
together.
But what makes the library so Ithink so pivotal is that we are
we're open, we're free, it'sit's a friendly place to learn
about technology, and we want wewant our seniors, we want our
(24:24):
youth and everyone to get up tospeed as we hurdle our way
through this next hugetechnological change.
Um and it's free.
Like I said, libraries were oneof the first places to offer
free internet, and again, we'reone of the first places to
demystify and invite people ofall ages to come learn about
(24:47):
generative AI and to play along.
What better place to learn thatthan at your local public
library?
SPEAKER_00 (24:55):
If you go to the website for Jenny's library,
Holbooken Library.org, you willsee, like I said back in the
introduction, the library is thehub for learning not just from
books, but by activities,interaction.
If you have a certain level ofexpertise in something, if you
want to offer the that expertisein for a program or an event at
(25:16):
the library, if you're a cluborganization, a lot of libraries
have meeting rooms, meetingareas as well.
Find out more about NationalLibrary Week, which is this
coming week at ALA.org forwardslash N L W and you're listening
to Issues and Ideas.
This is also an important week,too, for libraries all over,
Jenny, because the AmericanLibrary Association r I believe
(25:38):
releases their annual report,the State of the Libraries in
America.
Yes.
And that is a very informativein a variety of ways.
SPEAKER_03 (25:47):
It sure is.
And I wish I can give you apreview.
They they guard that prettyclose to the chest.
But they they will release that,I think, Monday, and we'll we'll
all look to that.
And one of those uh evergreenpieces is the top ten challenged
books.
(26:07):
Um, I wouldn't be surprised thatthat doesn't make an appearance
again because um why whereas inNew Jersey we've passed our
Freedom to Read Act, certainlycensorship is still very much uh
alive and being fought in otherstates in the country.
But there are other things inthe report too.
You know, they'll talk aboutusage and um yeah, I'll but I'll
(26:30):
learn about along with you whenit comes out on Monday.
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
You know, talking about too advocacy, part of the
agenda for National Library Weekis on Thursday, take action for
libraries day, urging advocacy,because I can imagine we know
I've I've heard storiesfrequently about election poll
workers who've been doing it foryears, they get the$200 a day to
sit at the table, register, andmake sure everything runs right
(26:54):
on election days, but a lot ofthem are are hesitant now
because of a lot of the garbagethat's and harassment that takes
place for just doing a jobthey've been doing for decades.
Is there a concern about thatwith libraries?
We mentioned book censorship,and it's usually a a small,
literally single-digit number ofpeople who tries to make the the
(27:15):
biggest noise possible and justmakes more trouble than
accomplishes anything.
Is that deterring people fromwanting to be volunteering in a
in the library scene because ofthe even if it's not happening,
the over overhanging thread ofit happening?
SPEAKER_03 (27:30):
I I think I think it's the opposite.
It's galvanizing people.
Excellent.
And it's I I think now I I don'tlive in those states such as
Utah, but the activity I see inthe on the advocacy end is
certainly no, it's it's raisingawareness that you know our
fundamental rights under theFirst Amendment are under
threat.
And this is like a first steptowards eroding that.
(27:54):
So no, I see a lot more peopleengaged.
Um, I was just speaking withsomeone yesterday, and and these
aren't just advocates, but alsofor people engaged, which
heartens me, like the youth.
Our millennials and Gen Zs arecoming in visiting libraries.
I just saw a statistic, 45% ofthem have visited a public
library and in higher numbersthan their previous generations.
(28:16):
They're rediscovering it for youknow, for materials, but also
for programs and connection.
Um because we we do see withpeople on their devices, the
general surgeon general a fewyears ago named loneliness as an
epidemic.
And one of the solutions tothat, I believe public libraries
were mentioned because there arespaces where people you
(28:38):
mentioned can connect and be incommunity, even if they're not
talking to each other.
It's just being in proximitywith other people working on
independent projects orlearning.
That's that goes a long way toalleviating that um the
loneliness epidemic.
SPEAKER_00 (28:56):
And certainly beats hanging around the McDonald's
with a bunch of screaming kidsand parents who scream even
louder.
You got a little serenity, alittle peace, a little calm.
Yeah.
And you're there for in a lot ofcases uh mutual reasons and uh
and ideas.
And mention mentioning workersbefore, that's also part of the
agenda for National LibraryWeek.
On uh Tuesday, National LibraryWorkers Day recognizing
(29:21):
individual staff contributions.
And for you listening, ifthere's been someone at your
local library who has been goingabove and beyond the call for
your needs and for helping you,certainly mention it to your
library director so that whenTuesday comes, that person will
get the the recognition thatthey deserve.
SPEAKER_03 (29:39):
Yeah, that's that's one of the most uh it's the
nicest thing that anyone can dofor their library.
We get cards from patrons whotravel overseas.
They'll send a postcard, heylibrary, we're thinking of you.
Or we'll get, you know, it's awe'll have patrons drop by with
box of chocolates.
Not every look, everyone loveschocolate for the most part.
So we certainly welcome that.
(30:01):
But if you can't, if you don'twant to do the chocolate on a
note, we get uh notes from kids.
Oh, those are the best things,and we circulate with the staff.
Uh that would be a great gestureon Tuesday, but really any day
to show your appreciationbecause that's what we live for.
Libraries are here ultimately toserve.
(30:22):
And in the name in the words ofum a former board chair of mine,
he did say the most valuableasset of a library goes home
every night to their families,and that's the staff who keep
the buildings open and run ourprograms, and you know, have
been serving our communities forall these generations.
Yeah, or the people.
SPEAKER_00 (30:40):
It's happening this week, National Library Week.
You can find out more at ALA.orgforward slash NLW, and to find
out about everything going on.
There was a lot going on at theHoboken Public Library.
Hoboken Library.org.
She is the director of theaforementioned Hoboken Public
Library, Jenny Pooh.
Jenny, always glad to turn toyou for all things library, and
(31:02):
you and your work and yourefforts provide a foundation and
direction for other libraries tocertainly successfully follow
for their growth and andenthusiasm.
Thanks for doing the work thatyou do.
Thanks so much for being heretoday.
SPEAKER_03 (31:18):
Thanks for having me, and please everyone go out
and visit our public library.
You'll be delighted and heartento see all the things that are
happening.
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
We have a lot of concerns, worries about the U.S.
economy.
Stats every day, it seems like.
Add to those concerns.
A recent earnings call byWalmart added even more concerns
to the concerns.
I'll explain.
The Walmart CEO John Ferner saidlower income households are
feeling increasingly squeezed.
(31:49):
He's referring to their latestearnings reports showing a
significant change.
For households earning belowfifty thousand dollars, he said.
We continue to see that walletsare stretched, and in some
cases, people are managingspending paycheck to paycheck.
But not just lower incomehouseholds that are feeling the
pain that some say are isinflation or not close to it.
(32:12):
Walmart's leadership made itclear.
Company is gaining traction withwealthier households.
And that comes down to a shiftin consumer behavior.
Higher income households are nowlooking for value.
It's not exclusive to WalmartDollar Tree, for example.
(32:37):
Walmart's not necessarily tryingto target these higher earners.
Instead, higher earners look tobe flocking there on their own.
And the company has seenshoppers across income levels
become, they call it, more priceconscious.
A lot of people prioritizingvalue and convenience.
(33:08):
Additionally, this is fromGlobal Data Retail.
Almost 28% of high-incomeconsumers shopped at discount
chains like Walmart in 2025.
That's up from about 20% in2021.
And more than 17% of Americansearning$100,000 or more a year
now shop at Walmart compared toless than 15% back in 2021.
(33:32):
And John David Rainey, who isWalmart's executive VP and CFO,
he said the company has workedhard to mitigate grocery
inflation.
Which could be a big reason whyhigher income consumers are
shopping there more as well.
And when you think about this,this one The Street.com, higher
income consumers aren'tnecessarily cutting back on
(33:53):
spending like some low ormoderate income households might
be here are right now.
Instead, they're they'respending money more mindfully,
trading down everydayessentials, seeking value, even
though they can't afford more,and prioritizing convenience as
well as price.
(34:13):
Walmart scores in all three ofthose.
But is Walmart changing customerdemographics more than a company
story?
Maybe it's something about theeconomy overall here in America.
When higher income householdsstart to prioritize savings and
value, does that suggest thatconsumers might want or need to
be more cautious overall?
(34:35):
For Walmart, seeing an uptick inhigher income consumers that's
wonderful, that's great.
If you're a Walmart stockholder,again, that's wonderful, that's
great.
But for the retail industrybroadly, not so much.
(34:56):
Well, that could weigh onretailers that don't have the
the flexibility to pull thepower like Walmart does, they go
lower prices and not kneecapthemselves.
Meanwhile, the shoppers continueto cut back on spending to a
large degree.
Does that set the stage for afull-blown recession?
(35:16):
That's something consumersacross all income ranges have to
worry about.
For Bible fellowship to fullyserve those involved, you need
to do more than just simplypossess the Bible.
You need to read it.
Study the Word of God itcontains.
Otherwise, during Biblefellowship, you'll most likely
be the one getting lost.
And while Bible sales make theBible the number one
(35:36):
best-selling book by farworldwide, stats pertaining to
Bible reading, they run a bitcounter to the sales popularity.
Our next guest is leading aneffort starting today, which
will continue all through thiscoming week.
Nearly 500 well-known peoplefrom all parts of our society
will be reading the Bible.
You can only watch as thesereligious leaders, stars,
(35:59):
actors, politicians, and othersread from the Bible.
You can read along with them,with us to discuss how America
Reads the Bible came about.
It's the founder of ChristiansEngaged, Bunny Pounds.
How are you today, Bunny?
SPEAKER_02 (36:12):
I'm great, Chris.
Thanks for having me on.
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
Well, this is a fantastic event.
We have a couple of links totheir homepage too, America
ReadsTheBible.com and to watchalong, PureFlix F L I X dot com.
And you can all through theweek, and you can find the
schedules, who's who's reading,the passages they'll be reading,
it's all at AmericaReadstheBible.com.
Found some stats here.
(36:36):
This is from a variety of sortof sources.
Around 88% of Americanhouseholds own at least one
Bible.
However, only 37% of Americansread the Bible at least once a
week.
So when I see those numbers,Bunny, makes me think that a
little motivation might narrowthat gap between those two
(36:56):
numbers.
And I certainly think that whatyou are doing with America Reads
the Bible is going to be a greatdeal of motivation.
SPEAKER_02 (37:03):
We believe that too, Chris.
Um what an amazing nationalmoment where we can celebrate
that our Constitution hasoutlasted every constitution in
world history.
And we wanted to remind the theAmerican people that our
foundations are found inScripture.
You know, our founders of ournation gave us a gift that we
get to elect ourrepresentatives.
Um, and law, liberty, andjustice, uh, the foundations of
(37:26):
our country is because of uh thescriptural understanding that
they had when they started thiscountry.
So we're so thankful to have sixcabinet members, six governors,
twenty members of Congress,Hollywood people like Patricia
Heaton and Candace Cameron Brayand Cameron and BJ Arnett and
many others reading scripturewith us, including farmers,
(37:49):
veterans, nurses, chaplain uhworkers.
Um it's really gonna be ahistoric moment as we read, uh
starting today, Genesis all theway through the book of
Revelation, and Franklin Grahamdoes a gospel presentation at
the end of the book ofRevelation.
SPEAKER_00 (38:05):
I wasn't kidding for you listening when I said nearly
500 people.
And and I have to ask onebecause I've done radio-thons
and produced them, hosted them.
I was part of telethons, andthose were 12, 24-hour programs,
and you had to book the talentand get everything lined up.
How in the world did you manageto pull this one off?
SPEAKER_02 (38:24):
I have an incredible team.
We've been working nonstop forover 14 months.
You know, we started recruitingministries.
We have 122 ministries that havehelped us uh financially with
marketing and sending readers toparticipate.
Uh, and then we went tocelebrities and elected
officials, and yeah, it's amassive project and 500 people
(38:45):
we have to coordinate with, butGod's been faithful and Jesus is
going to be glorified.
SPEAKER_00 (38:50):
And who of the right mind when they're invited would
say, No, I don't want to readthe Bible.
I mean, that's if you want tocommit uh gospel suicide, I
guess that's one of the greatways to do it if that's your
choice.
But I can't imagine anyonewanting to say no to this.
As far as the the spark of theidea, take us back to those
early days about the formationof what you wanted to do and how
(39:11):
did the foundation get built tomake all this happen?
SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
Yeah, I was in the Museum of the Bible two years
ago, and I just finished a draftof my new book that's coming out
May 19 called Stepping Up toLead, Rebuilding a Nation in the
Footsteps of Nehemiah.
I have uh formerly was ingovernment for 16 years running
congressional campaigns, andI've always loved Nehemiah's
story that he helped rebuild thewalls of Jerusalem in in 52 days
(39:37):
and mobilize the people of Godto do that.
But I saw uh Ezra reading thebooks of Moses in front of the
Israelites at the Museum of theBible, and it just hit me, wow,
we need an Ezra moment in thiscountry.
We've forgotten who we are, justlike ancient Israel.
And so I I just had this idea,wouldn't it be awesome if our
national leaders stood up andwere Ezra and proclaimed the
(40:00):
word of God out loud to theAmerican people, and that we
could awaken a whole newgeneration of Nehemiahs to
rebuild our country and uh toreally take ownership and
stewardship of our nation forthe next 250 years or until
Jesus comes back.
So that's how it started, and wegot to work on it last January,
and here we are today.
SPEAKER_00 (40:26):
America Reads the Bible.
She's also founder of ChristiansEngaged, America Reads the
Bible.com, and you can watchonline as well.
PureFlixF L I X dot com.
We do have those links over atour home page, and you're
listening to issues and ideas.
Do you think, Bunny, because Ithink we probably have both come
across people, uh they separatethe two the two books of the
(40:47):
Bible, the New and the OldTestament.
There are people who just devoteit, and even some churches when
they hand out small Bibles, itonly features the New Testament,
maybe the book of Psalms, whichby the way, that's most most
read part of the Bible, asanother factoid for the day.
But do you think that thiseffort this effort that you're
doing is going to make peoplemore aware that for the New
Testament to fully exist, therehas to be the understanding of
(41:11):
what's foretold and what'staught in the Old Testament?
SPEAKER_02 (41:16):
A hundred percent, Chris.
Um, it's the whole council ofGod, it's the whole story of
God.
And if we really want tounderstand his character, his
ways, um, to understand thewhole story.
I mean, Jesus was planned fromthe beginning, he shows up in
every book of the Bible.
Um, last night at our openingcelebration, Le Leland sang a
(41:37):
song about the Jesus showing upin every book of the Bible.
And we preached on the story ofGod from Genesis to Revelation.
Um, people can go back and watchthat program.
But this this is a key point ofwhy we're reading the entire
Bible.
And uh, we hope and pray thatpeople understand that God calls
them into his massive story.
(41:58):
This is where you find youridentity, this is where you find
your destiny, and Jesus plannedto redeem the world from the
very beginning of Genesis 1.
SPEAKER_00 (42:07):
And it's always fine to read the Bible within
yourself, but to hear the Wordof God, even the Bible teachers,
that's that's part of the key tounderstanding how to live the
Word of God.
SPEAKER_02 (42:18):
A hundred percent.
We really want to encouragepeople to play this in their
businesses this week.
Play it in your churches, playit on your phone, play it in
your family rooms.
Um, experience as much of theBible as you can this week, all
the way through Saturday nightat 9 p.m.
Eastern.
Um, but also this will bearchived on pureflix.com and
America Reads the Bible.com.
(42:39):
You can go back and watch all ofthis.
It'll be an audio and videoBible on the back end.
So, you know, our team, we'regonna read the Bible in 84 hours
after this event uh andexperience that in 84 days lead
um after after we get donerunning this.
And so I hope that everybodywill experience this in real
time, but also in the daysahead.
SPEAKER_00 (42:59):
And with the whole event being archived on
Pureflix, that sounds like agreat opportunity for someone
who is going to be motivated tosay, you know what, I want to
read the Bible totally in my ownstudy from start to finish, and
they could do it in the whateverincrement is comfortable for
them through the archive thatyou'll have at Pure Flix.
SPEAKER_02 (43:18):
Exactly.
That's why we wanted to createthis, and and again, I think
people are gonna be inspiredwhen they see leaders that they
respect, um, and ordinaryAmericans, you know, veterans,
Indians, um, you know, ministryleaders, churches, uh, church
pastors, teachers, um, hospicechaplains, uh, all of these
(43:38):
people reading scripture, justknow that God wants to speak
through you, He wants to useyour voice as well.
SPEAKER_00 (43:46):
Talk to the person who, because of whatever
happenstance in the secularworld, is having more
challenging times that than theycan handle, and they're hearing
this right now.
We're talking about what ishappening unfolding with America
Reads the Bible.
This week.
They've never owned a Bible.
They've never opened a Bible.
You don't, and there are Bibleapps.
You don't even need to wait forAmazon to deliver one.
(44:08):
You can download a Bible app andfind a translation comfortable
for your comprehension andgrowth.
But talk to that person who is,let's call them the Bible
rookie.
What should they be expectingand looking for as they pay
attention and become a part ofas at least an observer of
America Reads the Bible?
SPEAKER_02 (44:30):
Well, you know, I believe that the the Word of God
is alive because Jesus is alive.
He's a resurrected king.
And so every section ofScripture uh he speaks through.
But I would encourage everybody,yes, grab a Bible, download the
Bible app.
Um start in the book of John.
Um that the word became fleshand dwelt among us.
(44:51):
That word is named Jesus.
And I believe what you'll findyou find in the pages of
scripture is a lot of wisdom.
You find a story bigger thanyour life.
You find um a God who loves you,you find your identity, you find
a God that wants to set you freefrom your anxieties and
depressions and your wants toheal your marriage.
(45:11):
Um and there's just uh the loveof God that you find, the peace
of God, the joy of God, andthings that are not of this
world.
And I believe that people are ona search for that, and you'll
find that in the pages of theBible.
SPEAKER_00 (45:25):
Which you could be brought into further and more
deep through the event that'sstarting to take going through
this week from 9 a.m.
until 9 p.m.
America Reads the Bible, followalong, become a part of it at
America Reads the Bible.com andwatch it at PureFlix F L I X dot
com.
Again, from 9 a.m.
until 9 p.m.
Eastern.
(45:45):
If you're listening through thepodcast, adjust the time to your
specific time zone because itwill be an experience that you
will indeed, spiritually as wellas emotionally and even
physically, everything is allconnected within ourselves.
You will certainly benefit fromall that is about to be placed
before you through this event.
We've been talking with not onlythe creator, the founder of
(46:08):
America Reads the Bible, but thefounder of Christians Engaged,
Bunny Pounds.
Bunny, this is going to havesuch a resonating effect with so
many people that I think evenyou will be surprised by the the
strength of the impact that thisweek is going to have on so many
people, which I know have nodoubt you will hear from those
people.
Congratulations of putting thistogether.
(46:29):
Best of success as it goesforward this week, and thanks so
much for being here today.
SPEAKER_02 (46:33):
Well, thank you, Chris, for highlighting this.
And and guys, just know that Godwants to speak to you today and
he wants to speak through hisword.
Thank you, Chris.
SPEAKER_00 (46:42):
Merriam Webster Dictionary defines blasphemy as
the act of insulting or showingcontempt or lack of reverence
for God.
This past week featured, let'ssee, Donald Trump, J.D.
Vance, Pete Heggsethperpetrating blasphemy.
While being, of course,supported by or having excuses
made for them by many othersupporters.
(47:04):
As you would imagine, the Biblehas quite a lot to say about
blasphemy.
We have these words from Jesus,which are reading Mark chapter
seven verses twenty one throughtwenty three, for from within
out of the heart of men proceedevil thoughts, adulteries,
fornications, murders, thefts,covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lewdness, and evil eye,blasphemy, pride, foolishness,
(47:29):
all these evil things come fromwithin and defile a man.
There's this from Colossianschapter three verse eight.
For now you yourselves are toput off all these anger, wrath,
malice, blasphemy, filthylanguage out of your mouth.
Let's spend a few momentsreviewing what unfolded this
past week through the acts ofthe people I mentioned at the
(47:49):
beginning.
We'll start with the mostobvious and blatant.
That would be Donald Trumpposting a photo of himself in
the image of Jesus, robes thatJesus would wear, Trump healing
a man by laying hands on himwith light emanating from his
hands.
Jesus warns us about this inMatthew chapter twenty four
verses twenty three and twentyfour.
Then if anyone says to you look,here is the Christ, or there, do
(48:13):
not believe it, for falseChrists and false prophets will
rise and show great signs andwonders to deceive, if possible,
even the elect.
Am I taking things too seriouslytoo far over a photo posted on
social media?
I don't think so.
Remember when Paul Whiterecently compared Trump to
(48:33):
Jesus, referencing him beingstruck down, rising?
I don't recall Trump pushingthat comparison away or denying
it to you.
Then Trump followed posting thatphoto with a second social media
post, this one, a photo of Jesushugging Trump.
Let me repeat that because it'simportant here.
It was a photo of Jesus huggingTrump.
(48:56):
Now if you were determined topost a photo like this,
shouldn't it be you huggingJesus in worship and praise?
Better yet kneeling before him,as we're instructed in
Philippians chapter two verseten, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow of thosein heaven and of those on earth
and of those under the earth.
(49:17):
Next we have Trump, joined by JDVance, choosing to take on Pope
Leo XV.
Trump called Pope Leo a bad popewho was quote unquote weak on
crime, which I'm I'm not reallysure how any pope is responsible
for crime rates anywhere, butwell Trump went with that.
(49:37):
Then we had JD Vance call outthe Pope for the message he was
declaring, saying that the Popeneeds to be careful with how he
presents theology and what hegets involved with.
What's that theology that PopeLeo is proclaiming?
Peace.
That word peace, by the way, ismentioned over four hundred
times in the Bible.
(49:58):
Kinda makes it a valid theologypoint, doesn't it?
Just a few examples of thishere's what said in Psalm
chapter twenty nine, verseeleven The Lord will give
strength to his people, the Lordwill bless his people with
peace.
(50:26):
One more, this is told to us byJesus as part of the Beatitudes,
reading from Matthew chapterfive, verse nine, blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shallbe called sons of God.
Pete Heggseth scored doubleblasphemy points this past week.
First at a Pentagon pressbriefing, Heggseth compared
Trump being challenged by thenews media with Jesus being
(50:49):
challenged by the Pharisees.
Then at a military faith event,Hegseth shared in prayer what
said in Ezekiel chapter twentyfive, verse seventeen.
Problem.
What Hegseth read was actuallyfrom the film Pulp Fiction.
It was from the scene whereSamuel L.
(51:10):
Jackson delivers a Bible gospelsounding a line that was
entirely made up for that film.
And by the way, Jacksondelivered the line far better
than Hegseth did.
Works as a false teacher, arenot the way to keep your page in
the book of life clean.
Second Peter chapter two verseone warns us about these false
(51:30):
teachers, but there were alsofalse prophets among the people,
even as there will be falseteachers among you who will
secretly bring in destructiveheresies, even denying the Lord
who brought them, and bring onthemselves swift destruction.
Now you may be one of those whosays that God will forgive even
blasphemy.
(51:50):
God forgives everything, right?
I mean doesn't it say inEphesians chapter one verse
seven, in him we have redemptionthrough his blood, the
forgiveness of sins according tothe riches of his grace.
That's no doubt what you'll windup believing if you're reading
what you want, instead ofreading what you need to read.
Because in Matthew chaptertwelve, verses thirty one thirty
(52:13):
two, Jesus tells us this.
Therefore I say to you, everysin and blasphemy will be
forgiven men, but the blasphemyagainst the Spirit will not be
forgiven men.
Anyone who speaks a word againstthe Son of Man it will be
forgiven him, but whoever speaksagainst the Holy Spirit, it will
not be forgiven him, either inthis age or in the age to come.
(52:33):
And yes, blasphemy is grievingto the Holy Spirit.
Don't forget to check out ourwebsite, Issues and
IdeasRadio.com.
That's where you'll find moreinformation about the people who
are here with us on the showtoday.
Been updating the downloadspage.
Of course, we have the classicconversation and the New York
City Radio Museum on the homepage as well.
(52:54):
You'll find all that and more atIssues and IdeasRadio.com.
Always grateful and thankful.
Always appreciate your time andyour attention.
Look forward to being with youright here this time next week
for our next edition of Issuesand Ideas.
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