Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis - The O'Reilly Update, December 26, 2023

Episode Date: December 26, 2023

A somber message from the Pope, fewer Americans giving to charity, more Americans facing significant anxiety, and a new report ranks the least corrupt nations on earth. Plus, the O’Reilly Update Message of the Day, what is the source of our anxiety? 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 is Tuesday, December 26th, 2023. I hope he had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. Welcome back to it. I'm Mike Slater from the podcast, Politics by Faith, filling in for the great Bill O'Reilly. Here's what's happening today in America. The Pope issues a somber Christmas message. Fewer Americans donate to charity. adults reporting more anxiety than any time in history. And a new survey ranks the least corrupt countries on earth.

That's all coming up. Then my message of the day will be here. But first, Pope Francis delivering his Christmas message from the Vatican, the leader of the Catholic Church called the Hamas terror attack on Israel on abomination, and urged both sides to forge a peace agreement, both sides. The Pope also denounced abortion. The 87-year-old Pope said, quote, how many innocents are being slaughtered in our world in their mother's wombs in

odyses undertaken in desperation and in search of hope? A report from the Wall Street Journal finds that just 45% of Americans gave to charity this Christmas, the lowest level in two decades. Economists blame the historic drop on the stagnant economy. I think there's something deeper going on there. Even in times of poverty in the past, we used to be a more generous people. But the economy is certainly part of it, or at least a good excuse. A third of households say they scaled back on gifts to save money. Twenty-five percent of Americans reduced the number of gifts during this Christmas. The average family now spends $11,000 each year because of inflation. A poll from the American Psychological Association finds that

87% of Americans experience, quote, significant anxiety every single day. 87% we are going to talk about this during our message of the day coming up next. The biggest sources of stress they say are financial troubles, COVID, and a growing concern over World War III. COVID because 9 and 10 parents say the pandemic has damaged their child's development. Do you remember when we were assured that children are resilient as we slapped masks on them all year? Again, I disagree with the experts here.

I think there are three things that are causing our anxiety. I'll share them in the next segment and then three solutions after that. A report from Transparency International ranking the least corrupt countries on earth. The nations are judged on free elections, business opportunities, organized crime, and political violence. The top five least corrupt are Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The most corrupt are Sudan, Syria, Somalia, Venezuela, and Afghanistan. We are 28th. The message of the day, the source of our anxiety and how to solve it coming up next.

Let's face it, the U.S. economy is under stress. National debt rising, trade war, shaking the markets. And meanwhile, China is dumping the dollar and stockpiling gold. That's why I protected my savings with physical gold and silver. Theroux, the only dealer I trust, American Hartford Gold. And you can do this. Get precious metals delivered to your door. Or place in a tax advantage, gold IRA.

They'll even help you roll over your existing IRA or 401K, tax and penalty-free. With billions in precious metals delivered thousands of five-star reviews and an A-plus from the Better Business Bureau, you can trust American Hartford Gold as I do. Please call 866-326-55-7576 or text bill to 99-8899. Again, that's 866, 326-5576, or text bill to 998899. I'm Mike Slater from the podcast, Politics by Faith, filling in for the great Bill O'Reilly on today's message of the day. The day after Christmas can be a bummer of a day. I hope you had a great Christmas yesterday, but maybe your Christmas wasn't all you expected.

The anticipation and the expectation is often better than the thing itself. I think that's often the case. I'm not going to give a motivational speech this day after Christmas. Actually quite the opposite. I'm here to tell you that it's going to be a very long election year. And I can't wait. It's going to be awesome. We should be happy warriors the entire time.

But it's also going to get very ugly. So gird your loins. You better be ready to run. This is not a time for watching politics like it's a movie unfolding in front of us where we sit back. I wonder what's going to happen next. this is it. This is the game. This is the election. This is our country. But it's going to be a season of great anxiety. A lot of fear and worry. We though, we, you and I, we can't despair. We can't. Despair means down from hope. I know this is like, oh, what can I even do? I'm just one person.

We vote for Republicans. They don't even do anything. Our vote doesn't even count. What's the point anyway? And you very easily fall into despair. That's no good. I have three points that I try to keep in mind when I catch myself falling into that despair about the state of our country and our times. First point, these times are not uniquely bad or uniquely hard or uniquely difficult. Ernest Hemingway, he wrote a book in 1942 called Men at War. It's not too late to buy this for your father or grandfather or yourself. Trust me. It's a thousand pages and it's full of war stories. It's amazing. And he said he wrote this book for his sons. to show his sons that, quote,

there are no worse things to be gone through than men have been through before. And that is true of us today as well. They've gotten through it, so can we. Second thing, we move too fast. Our souls were not meant to be tossed around so frenetically. Phrenetics are great word.

The root of the word frenetic means, the Greek words mean inflammation of the brain. It means deranged. We're just, we're frantic. blasting from one thing to next all day long nonstop to the point where as soon as you wake up in the morning your heart is beating because you're instantly being pulled in a million directions we weren't designed for this we weren't designed for a constant fight or flight all the time we just move too fast we'll talk in the next segment about what to do about that third

point there's a long way to go this sounds counterintuitive how is that supposed to make me feel better you'd think that to alleviate anxiety i would say don't worry it's almost over. The hard part's over. We'll be done soon. Nope. The thing that makes my anxiety go away is knowing that we got a long way to go. So settle in. This is just the way it's going to be. So let's settle in and embrace it. One of my favorite quotes of all time, Abigail Adams, to her son. She said these are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It's not the still calm of life where great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed and contending with difficulties.

Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the heart, which this year will, by the way, then those qualities which were otherwise laid dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman. There is no other time I'd wish to live. This year is going to be a real banger, as the kids say, but there's no other time I'd wish to live in.

There's no other time I'd wish to raise my three boys and daughter. To be in this world at this time where we so desperately need strong men and women of virtue, let's embrace this difficult time and come out purified and stronger in the end. I'm Mike Slater. The solutions to our anxiety next. 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. thing in between. It's what you want from the New York Post wrapped up in one snappy show. Ask your smart speaker to play the NY Postcast podcast. Listen and subscribe on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Mike Slater from the podcast Politics by Faith Filner for Bill O'Reilly today. So we just talked about some things that I like to keep in mind when I am about to fall into despair about the state of our country in this upcoming election year. Now let's talk a about some solutions. First thing, we need to slow down. Dallas Willard said you must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. All day long at work, it's putting out fire, fire, boom, boom, boom, boom, and then we rush home and we're at home and it's bum, bum, bum, boom, it's just nonstop all day long. We need to show our souls some mercy. Give your soul some time to wake up in the morning, enjoy some peace, give it a rest at night, and also some times in the day

to just slow down. Also, we need to find some depth. It was a great book called The Shallows about how the internet has changed our brains. And the author says, what the internet seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. So we need to counteract that. We need to look at art, read poetry, read a book, go for a long hike, camp with no technology, listen to classical music. Pop songs are short because they have to be. There's no depth to sustain them beyond three minutes. We're just always on to the next thing. We can't let the world force us into the shallows of life. Our country's too important. We need to be people of depth. And third solution to all this anxiety is to take in beauty.

I believe conservatives need to embrace the good, the beautiful, and the true. Conservatives have been focused on the true for a long time. This is great. We want to tell the truth. We're starting to spend more time on the good, realizing that we need to be men and women of verse. virtue, and that's wonderful. But I think conservatives have not given proper time and attention to the beautiful. We've handed that over to the left, and what have they done with? They've profaned art. They made it anti-art. They tear down beautiful statues of George Washington and replace them with statues of George Floyd. So we've given beauty to the left and they've profaned it. Beauty rescues, beauty heals, it restores, it revives, it renews. And we need to fill our life with reminders of it.

We need to fill our country with it as well. Trump, when he was president, he literally signed an executive order that all new federal buildings be made in the classical style, like the Capitol building in the White House. And Biden, of course, rescinded it. Heaven forbid, we build beautiful buildings again. So as we said in the first segment, 87% of Americans said that they have severe anxiety. So how do we overcome this and how do we overcome the despair that we may be having this election year? We've got to find beauty, find depth, and go slow.

We'll come out stronger in the end. I'm Mike Slater, feeling it for Bill O'Reilly. More coming up. Next. 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, lawmakers, 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. I'm Mike Slater from the podcast, Politics by Faith. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and a wonderful week back. We'll see you tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you.