The President's Daily Brief - December 22nd, 2022. Mr. Zelensky Goes to Washington, Will The War Ever End?

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

It’s December 22nd. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ A good day to you, ladies and gentlemen. I’ve got four briefs for you this morning that are shaping America — and the world. First, we’ve got updates on the War in Ukraine which will leave us asking, when will this war ever end? I’ve got some answers.  Second, we head to Ireland where that country’s government has confirmed that some of their cows must die to stop climate change. Third, a poll of American voters show that most of us think that the southern border is wide open and we largely blame one person for making it worse. Fourth, we’ve got a storm of viruses floating around the country right now. Some of us might reach for a vitamin or supplement to help us heal up a little bit faster. But I’ll explain why that might not be a good idea. Later, we close out the podcast with an update about Joe Biden’s billion-dollar commitment to Africa that he made last week. It now includes money for sustainable safaris. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. A good day to you, ladies and gentlemen. I've got four briefs for you this morning that are shaping America and the world. First, we've got updates on the war in Ukraine, which will leave us asking, when will this war ever end? I've got some answers. Second, we head to Ireland, where that country's government has confirmed that some of their cows have to die to stop climate change. Third, a poll of American voters show that most of us think that the southern border is wide open, and we largely blame one person for making it worse. Fourth, we've got a storm of viruses floating around the country right now.

Some of us might reach for a vitamin or a supplement to help us heal up a bit faster, but I'll explain why that might not be such a good idea. Later, we close out the podcast with an update about Joe Biden's billion dollar commitment to Africa that he made last week. It now includes money for sustainable safaris. But before we get to that, we got to get started with this. A brief this morning on the war in Ukraine. But before we dive into it, I want you to consider two questions as I brief you this morning. Namely, when will the war in Ukraine end? And what will the conditions be for any sort of peace deal? So I want you to keep those questions in mind as I provide.

you three updates on the war in Ukraine, one out of Washington, D.C., another from Moscow, and a third from Paris. So let's start in our nation's capital, where Joe Biden welcomed Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House yesterday. Selinsky later went to Congress and delivered what I think most folks would say was an impassioned plea for not just his country, but for more aid. Mr. Biden, for his part, was very happy to oblige on the aid part. He announced another $1.8 billion for military hardware, with one billion of that for one Patriot air defense system. So for those unaware, the Patriot system is one of the world's most advanced air defense systems. It's pretty darn good at shooting all kinds of missiles down, but most especially those

that the Russians have been throwing towards Ukrainian targets. Now, regardless, as Mr. Biden and Mr. Zelensky were speaking yesterday, they had one notable exchange that I want you to consider. Zelensky was asked by a reporter what will happen after he deploys and gets these new billion-dollar Patriot systems, to which he said, quote, we will send another signal to Mr. Biden that we would like to get more of them, end quote, to which Biden responded by saying, quote, we're working on it. So as the conversation continued, one reporter asked Zelensky, I think quite pointedly, about what would a fair peace deal look like in Ukraine? And he said, I don't know. It's a very philosophical description. He then added, quote, for me as a president, a just peace means no

compromises, end quote. So in other words, folks, the message from Washington, D.C. this morning is the same as always. The United States and our allies in Ukraine are focused on war, using as much money and whatever equipment it takes to win. No compromise, folks, no peace. Which is exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday in Moscow to his people. He was meeting with his ministry of defense and he pledged two things. First, unlimited funding to his armed forces for whatever equipment and hardware they need. Second, Vladimir Putin and his defense minister, Sergei Shoygu, said that the country's total military personnel would be bumped up pretty dramatically, from around 1 million fighters to 1.5 million, including about 700,000 contract soldiers.

So interestingly, Putin also said that the Russians need to develop and use drones more frequently, adding the, quote, they should be everywhere, end quote. And in case you're wondering, yes, the new Patriot system that Biden just gave Zelensky can shoot those drones down. But the math doesn't really work out very well if you're trying to run a war on a budget here. So each Patriot missile cost $4 million a piece, give or take. while each drone, that's less than 1% of that running around $10,000 a pop. Okay, so now that we know that we have commitments of total unending war by the United States, Ukraine, and Russia, let's compare that to statements made yesterday in Paris by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron.

Reporters were there asking him about the war in Ukraine and specifically the terms of any peace deal. So he said that while he supported an absolute deal, defense of Ukraine. Well, all the parties involved needed to have security guarantees. Quote, when I speak of guarantees, I'm talking about all of these countries from us here in France, but also for Russia, end quote. So let me translate what that means and why it's a big deal, especially why it's controversial. What he's saying here is that it's not just Ukraine that has legitimate security concerns. The Russians do too. They have reason to be worried about NATO and the turning Ukraine into a staging ground of sorts for attacks on Russian territory or interests.

And if you think perhaps that I'm taking some liberties here of Macron's statement, let me tell you what Mr. Macron said on French TV last month after he met with Mr. Biden to talk about peace in Ukraine. Here we go. Quote, one of the essential points we must address, as President Putin has always said, is the fear that NATO comes right up to Russia. Russia's doors and that the deployment of NATO weapons could threaten Russia, end quote. So, yes, he's arguing that Putin has a bit of a point that perhaps NATO poked the Russian bear

when they tried to draw Ukraine closer to Europe and to the West, and that has to be addressed in a peace deal. Now, Macron has faced a lot of backlash for saying this, but you know what he doesn't care. Here's what he said. Quote, to all the Europeans and Westerners giving me moral lessons about not defending Putin's position. Well, they should explain to me who's going to be around the negotiating table someday when we try to end this war, end quote. In other words, McCrone is saying, we've got to consider Russia's interests here, whether we'd like it or not. And that takes us back to how we kicked off the brief this morning. We have Biden, Zelensky, and Putin, all pledging total war this morning. Zalinski even said no compromise. And yet in Paris, the leader,

there is prompting a very different conversation by an effect asking, how do we end this war? What will be the conditions? Now, I'm going to let you answer those questions this morning, based on everything that I've just shared. But if I might offer you my counsel and opinion, I think that we need to start asking those questions about how we end this war, but much more loudly. Because right now, we are locked into a spiraling, never-ending war that is wildly expensive. As just one example, we just gave Zelensky one Patriot missile defense system, and he immediately said that he wants more. That's a billion dollar system. Plus, we've already given him 50 billion for the war effort,

and he still wants more. But to be clear, Putin's no different. He says that he wants more, too. Over half a million more soldiers, plus an unlimited budget for his military. So somebody has to demand that we stop and move towards peace. President Macron of France is trying. And folks, if you agree with him, you're probably going to have to vote for a new American leadership in a couple of years because the current fellow in the White House isn't likely to change course. As Mr. Biden told reporters once again yesterday, quote,

We are with Ukraine for as long as it takes. With that, let's move on to our second brief this morning. And we're actually going to stay in Europe for this one, Ireland, actually. And if you're concerned about farming or ranching or dirty green energy series, this brief is for you. According to the Irish Times, the government of Ireland has announced its climate action plan for next year. It'll cover Ireland's climate emissions from next year all the way through the year 2030. So they're trying to lower their emissions by targeting their country's energy sector. No surprise there.

also car emissions, no surprise there either. And they're also targeting cows. And you know what? No surprise there either. Because as I briefed you back on August 30th, the government of Ireland wants its ag industry to cut its emissions by 25%, with most of that coming from the cattle industry.

So at the time, a report was saying that that would mean 1.3 million cows would probably need to be slaughtered to hit that goal, which was 20% of the nation's entire herd. Well, that takes us to this morning's update. Ireland's agriculture minister recently announced that the coal number would not be 20%, but rather 10%. In raw numbers, that is 730 cows.

And they have to die, folks, just to make sure we're all tracking, because they either belch or pass too much gas. And that, according to these folks, well, that's all heat in the planet, way too much and too fast. So the cows got to die. The minister, though, has insisted that the slaughter would only be voluntary, that farmers and ranchers would have to agree to it. But when asked what will happen if cattle owners do not agree,

he didn't have much to say. Only later he added, quote, we are finalizing the details of the climate action plan where we outline how will we continue on the journey of being the most sustainable food capital of the world. So one final thought here, folks, for my analysis and opinion, if you think that this stuff is not going to come to the United States, I must say respectfully, I believe that you are wrong because it's already here. Back in 2019, Democrat Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Socialist Representative Alexandria Acosio-Cortez released what's called their new Green Deal legislation. Now, amongst a lot of things in that legislation, it called for the eradication of America's cattle.

in order to achieve net zero emissions. Now, that legislation has died. It's true, but that dream lives on for the folks in the environmental and socialist community. In fact, AOC has spoken of this. So as ever for my farmers and ranchers, my goodness, use those cattlemen associations to protect yourselves. And of course, elect leaders that will not give one inch on this. Because climate activists had made very clear where this thing's going, even if it means that they have to start with just a 10% coal.

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Welcome back to the PDB. I've got two more critical pieces of news for you this morning. We've got a new poll out that shows Americans are largely in lockstep. about the southern border. And that's a disaster, people are saying, and that there is one guy who has made the situation much worse. So here's what the data show. Harvard University and Harris polling last week

released their findings of Americans and their views of the southern border. 64% said it was a serious issue. And that second, Joe Biden bears most of the blame, all because his policies have encouraged illegal migration. In fact, 63% said that his policies have an effect opened the southern border. When asked what to do about it,

68% of voters said that people who crossed the border with Mexico illegally should be turned back to Mexico. Finally, and listen to this, when Americans were asked how many illegals are crossing each year, 87% answered incorrectly. They answered less than one million. Only 6% of us knew that it was 2 to 3 million. So I offer all that up to you this morning as a reminder for a couple of things.

First, when the White House says, as they did on Monday, that anyone suggesting that the border is open is, quote, doing the work of smugglers, my goodness, what a bunch of baloney that was. And by the way, those were the exact words of White House Press Secretary Corrine Jean-Pierre. Plus, second, folks, there's obviously a lot of work here to do on this border issue. if 87% of us have no idea how bad the problem is well that probably explains why there's not as much outrage as there ought to be but unfortunately it might be too late tens of thousands of illegals are camping out on the border this morning they're telling reporters that they know that title 42 is on the way out that of course is the rule that immediately ejects many asylum seekers and that that's why

they came. With Title 42 gone, the border, they say, is in fact, wide open. Finally, this morning, I've got a brief for you that I promised you probably a month ago, I think. It's a brief about how many of America's vitamins and minerals and supplements don't come from America at all, but in fact come from abroad and most especially from China. So I'm bringing you this today because, as you probably have noticed, this country is going through a nationwide viral outbreak, most especially the flu, the cold, and something called RSV. It's getting so bad that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said yesterday that it will release prescription flu medication from a strategic national stockpile.

It's called Tamaflu, and it helps fight the flu by stopping the virus from multiplying inside of an infected person's body. Meanwhile, we're also seeing a run on children's pain relief medication, especially children's Tylenol. In fact, to the point, we are seeing that sales are up 80% this year compared to the same four-week period as last year. That's according to the market research firm, IRA. So in the midst of all that sickness, a whole bunch of you are probably doing what many of us do. We reach for vitamins and supplements to help get us through.

In fact, CDC data show that about 60% percent. percent of Americans take this stuff to either improve or maintain our health. But should we? Well, to answer that, let's take a quick step back and look at the industry itself and how well regulated it is. Let's start with the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. So that's the law that serves as the regulatory foundation for the entire industry. Now, here's something you probably didn't know about this act. It states that dietary supplements aren't required to undergo any testing to make sure that it's safe before being sold. Instead, supplements are assumed to be safe until shown otherwise. But I'll tell you, if you've been watching this issue for very long, you know that that is

absolutely bonkers. So for instance, there was a workout supplement not too long ago called craze. And it turns out that stuff had an analog of meth in it. It's no longer on store shelves, thankfully. But what happened in this issue of testing and quality actually raises. is another concern, one that I've been looking into for a while. Where does this stuff come from? And by that, I mean, who's making the raw ingredients, the vitamins and the minerals and such that then go into the pills and the powders and the drinks? Are these American pharmaceutical companies, or are they from abroad? And if they're foreign, which countries are we talking about? And how rigorous are their testing procedures to ensure quality ingredients? So I reached out

to four of America's most well-known vitamin, mineral, and supplement companies. Probably some that you have in your cupboards and your medicine cabinets. These companies include Costco, Jaro, Now, and NatureMade. And I asked them what I think is a pretty simple question. Where do you get your raw materials from that go inside your pills and powders? And here's what they said. Costco told me, no comment. Now, to be clear, I didn't tell them that I was a lot of,

podcast host just that I was a consumer and they said sorry that's proprietary information they added that whatever is on Costco's website that's as much as they're going to tell me which is to say if you go to the website there is virtually nothing about where the ingredients come from but that's interesting why would Costco want to hide or protect where in the world they get their vitamins from hmm so then i asked nature mate and they gave me the same answer as Costco Although they said that their pills and powders are manufactured in America. But they still wouldn't tell me where they get their raw ingredients from that then in turn they make all the pills and powders.

Well, next I asked the nutrition company Jaro. And here's where it started to, frankly, make sense, perhaps why Costco and Nature Made were being so tight-lipped. I asked Jaro about their vitamin C in particular, because that's what so many of us use when we're sick. and they said that the raw vitamin C that they use for their pills come from China. They promised me, though, that the pills and powders are all manufactured here in America based on those Chinese ingredients, and that the raw Chinese stuff goes through lots of testing

for quality control. So finally, I asked the company called Now Nutrition, Specifically, where does your vitamin C, B12, and amino acids come from? and all three of those ingredients came from China. But they promised me they manufacture the pills and powders in the United States just like Jarrow, and only after vigorous testing. But to be clear, you have to take their word on that. There is no regulatory agency that confirms it.

So I'll let you decide if that makes you feel safe, or if you have a sudden urge to clean out your medicine cabinets. But I'll offer you two things before we wrap up. First, there's a bill in Congress right now called the Dietary Supplement Listing Act of 2022. It would require supplements to be registered with the FDA and to list their ingredients. But it would not require supplements to be tested for safety and effectiveness before going on to the market, nor to my understanding will they have to list the origin of those ingredients. In other words, folks, if you want the system to change, if you don't want to put Chinese ingredients into your body,

you're going to have to push your elected representatives to write some new, legislation or you're going to have to reach out to the vitamin and supplement companies yourselves you're going to have to email them and ask both where they manufacture their products and more importantly where they source their ingredients from especially if it's from china and i'll tell you you might be surprised by the results and if you're like me well you might be putting some of those bottles directly into the trash and with that ladies and gentlemen we conclude your morning brief. But I've got one more thing before I let you go. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the PDB folks. I've got one more thing before I let you go. Last week I briefed you on

how Joe Biden met with dozens of African leaders to reset his relationships with those countries and most especially to find ways to counter China throughout the continent. Now to do so, he promised billions of dollars in aid, 55 billion in fact, mostly towards health-related causes, but also installing dirty green solar panels and wind turbines in places like South Africa and Malawi. Now, I warned you that some of those billions would probably end up in places and projects that you as taxpayers might not like. And I'm sorry to say that I probably have one for you to consider this morning. The U.S. Agency for International Development or U.S. aid announced that it's committing $2.5 million towards a fund that will help safari operators across Africa help create sustainable or green safaris.

No exact details on what that means or precisely what that money will be used for. But the French media outlet AFP quoted an organization that said it will likely help protect and preserve wildland. And that in turn will help secure planetary health, stop climate change, and improve local communities with employment. My goodness, that is quite a list. for what it's worth i i've been on safaris into africa and i'm not sure how they're going to make these things green or sustainable although maybe they'll take the safari trucks and ban them and instead you're just going to have to walk around and look at the animals which if that's true one piece of advice when you book your green safari make sure you invite somebody to go along

with you that cannot run as fast now you You don't have to be the fastest, just not the slowest. Trust me, the lions will take notice. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show, reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32.

And you shall know the truth. and the truth shall make you free. Good day. This podcast is brought to you by Carvana. Selling your car should feel like one less thing on your list, not one more. With Carvana, it is. Just go to Carvana.com, and to your license plate or Vin, and get a real offer down to the penny.

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