Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - The O'Reilly Update, August 18, 2023

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

A preview of the GOP debate, questions for Maui, interest rates skyrocket, and SoCal prepares for a hurricane. Plus, Bill’s Message of the Day, the Trump prosecutions: a historical perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill O'Reilly here. You are listening to the O'Reilly update. Coming up next, the news with Mike Slater. Thank you, Bill. It's Friday, August 18th, 2020. Here's what's happening today in America. GOP debate coming up. Questions for Maui.

30-year interest rates highest in 21 years. And SoCal braces for a potential hurricane. It's all coming up. Then Bill will be here with your message of the day. But first, the first GOP primary debate coming up this Wednesday night. In order to get on the stage, you need 1% in a couple of different polls, 1% support. You need 40,000 donors and you have to sign a pledge committed to support the ultimate GOP nominee. Trump has not done that last thing.

The debate goers right now are Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Doug Bergam, and Mike Pence. There's been a rumor that if Trump does not go to the debate, will offer some counter-programming. instead. Trump also has to show up in Georgia to be arraigned any time before Friday. More questions about these sirens in Maui that were never used. The state has 400 emergency sirens across the state. It's the largest integrated emergency siren network in the world. And it alerts residents to tsunamis and wildfires. There's 80 of these sirens in Maui and in the area around Lahaina. They were not used on August days. Authorities say the sirens were not used because they were broken. Some say they weren't activated, and some were

worried that it would send people into higher ground, thinking people think it was a tsunami and they'd go higher ground, but that's where the fires actually were. There was a thought to use the mobile phone alert, but if you remember back in 2018, residents of Hawaii got an alert on their phone, ballistic missile threat, inbound to Hawaii, seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill. So they don't have a great record with that. 30-year fixed rates went up to 7.0. percent, the highest they've been in 21 years. When the Fed started raising rates, the 30-year average was 4.45%. In 1995, the interest rates were 7.8% a bit higher than they are now, but the average

house was $150,000. Today, the average house is $420,000. That's a difference in payment of $700 to $2,000. Back in 1995, your house was about 31% of your income. Today, with average income and average house, it's 49% of one's income. The central bank is going to potentially raise rates again in the middle of next month. Southern California on high alert, Hurricane Hillary, category two on Thursday. It's going to hit the coast of Mexico, work its way up to Southern California.

San Diego, the southernmost city in California, has only had one hurricane in recent memory back in 1858. I'm Mike Slater for the podcast, Politics by Faith. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. the great Bill O'Reilly is here with your message of the day. Next. Hey, it's Sean Spicer from the Sean Spicer Show podcast, reminding you to turn into my show every day to get your daily dose inside the world of politics. President Trump and his team are shaking up Washington like never before,

and we're here to cover it from all sides, especially on the topics the mainstream media won't. So if you're a political junkie on a late lunch or getting ready for the drive home, new episodes of the Sean Spicer Show podcast drop at 2 p.m. East Coast every day. Make sure you tune in. You can find us at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Time now for the O'Reilly Update, message of the day. On this Friday, the most important aspect of the Trump charges is the political component. It is obvious that the U.S. Justice Department is anxious to try the former president and not anxious to see Hunter Biden in federal court.

That's a fact and has nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of either man. It has everything to do with using political power to destroy opposition or protect those on your side. The first Supreme Court justice, John Marshall, understood that, which is why he engineered the acquittal of Aaron Burr on charges of treason. In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson published. accused his former vice president, Burr, of treason. Jefferson tried to use his vast power to destroy Burr, who might have actually been guilty of treason. But John Marshall, who presided over the federal trial in Virginia, realized that if Jefferson prevailed, powerful politicians could use the justice system to neutralize opponents. And that,

is exactly what is happening today with Donald Trump. The charges against him may have some validity, but the overall strategy is to get him out of the political arena. Thus, I am predicting today's Supreme Court will eventually have to get involved with all this. I'm Bill O'Reilly. I approve the message by writing it. You can reach me. Bill at Bill O'Reilly.com.

Bill at Bill O'Reilly.com. Name in town if you wish to opine. Now let's go to the mail. Joseph Severino, Bronx, New York. I agree with today's column about Donald Trump hurting the Republicans and himself by not sending the classified documents back, but you have to understand the Democrats

would have come up with something else. It doesn't matter. You do the right thing. Just do the right thing. Yeah, all right. They come up with something else, but it's not Mala Lago. Sharon,

You can only hope President Trump has documented every detail about the Mara Lago documents, and it will be clear he did nothing wrong. Well, maybe we'll find out a little bit on the Monday, but I think on Monday is going to do the Georgia thing. But I gave you the timeline, and the timeline is where we are now. But obviously in discovery, other information will come forth. Paul, President Trump says he was working with the National Archives at the time of the rate. I gave you the timeline, Paul.

Okay? You make your own decision. Carol, I had multiple attorneys informed me that very few attorneys, good or bad, will work for Trump because they may be blackballed. It's true. Absolutely true. It's not easy for him to get attorneys for him. Lisa Rosati, Montreal, Canada, if the indictments were posted on a court's website in Georgia before the grand jury voted, would the case be dismissed? You'd have to investigate that.

It should be investigated. but everybody knows if Fix was in in Fulton County anybody that doesn't know that every Canadian Lisa like you knows Bill why do you always say Bobby Kennedy Jr. is no chance of winning

because he has no chance of winning the odds are 11% that he will be the next president the Vegas odds and if you go to London you can actually put money on it it's illegal here in the United States He just doesn't have a constituency. The Democrats don't like them.

Most Republicans don't like them. The anti-vaxxers like them. But that's not enough. In a moment, something you might not know. Power, politics, and the people behind the headlines. I'm Miranda Devine, New York Post columnist, and the host of the brand new podcast, Podforce One. Every week, I'll sit down for candid conversations.

with Washington's most powerful disruptors, lawmakers, newsmakers, and even the President of the United States. These are the leaders shaping the future of America and the world. Listen to Podforce One with me, Miranda Devine, every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. You don't want to miss an episode. Now, the O'Reilly Update brings you something you might. Not no. Earlier this year, a whistleblower revealed the existence of a secret FBI memo. The document warned of a growing extremist threat inside the USA, the Catholic Church. Here is the story. In January of this year, the FBI dispatched an email from Richmond, Virginia,

titled, quote, interest of racially or ethically motivated violent extremists, in radical traditionalist Catholic ideology. That's some memo title. The document claims white supremacists have infiltrated traditional Catholic churches and are recruiting devout Christians to perpetuate acts of violence against minorities. The memo defines radical Catholics as those who attend Latin Mass. To counter the threat, the FBI recommended the surveillance of Catholics who criticized Pope Francis or who publish anti-abortion material on social media.

At least one undercover FBI agent was dispatched to spy on churches in Northern Virginia. A few days after the memo leaked to the press, the Justice Department scrubbed the document from its database. Now, last month, members of the House of Representatives questioned FBI chief Christopher Ray about targeting Catholic Americans. There's a lot. Over 60 million. What percentage of those are radical traditional Catholics, according to the Richmond field office of the FBI? Again, that product is not something that I will defend or excuse.

It's something that I thought was appalling and removed it. Today, no one has been held accountable by Director Ray. Are you surprised? And here's something else you might not know. contrary to the evidence, Attorney General Merrick Garland flat out denies the FBI targeted any Catholics, said the AG, quote, my Justice Department does not do investigations based on religion. I don't believe we have any informants aimed at these churches. We have a rule against investigations based on religion that would violate the First Amendment, unquote.

but the FBI memo directly counters Merrick Garland. Back after this. Hey, I'm Caitlin Becker, the host of the New York Postcast, and I've got exactly what you need to start your weekdays. Every morning I'll bring you the stories that matter, plus the news people actually talk about, the juicy details in the worlds of politics, business, pop culture, and everything in between.

It's what you want from the New York Post wrapped up in one snappy show. your smart speaker to play the NY Postcast podcast. Listen and subscribe on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening to the O'Reilly update. I am Bill O'Reilly, no spin, just facts, and always looking out for you.