The President's Daily Brief - July 28th, 2022. Big Five Update: Biden and Xi. The Definition of Recession. Trouble for American Ranchers. Border Patrol Reports Illegal Crossings. COVID and the Common Cold.

Episode Date: July 28, 2022

It’s July 28th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ We’ve got a Big Five Update this morning, five issues that we have covered in previous podcasts, but with some important updates. First, we’ll be talking about Joe Biden’s phone call today with China. Also today, numbers and a debate over whether we have entered a recession. Third, America’s ranchers are getting hit hard. We’ll discuss what’s happening, and a request for how you might. Fourth, the Border Patrol is reporting how many illegals have slipped past them. It’s a big number, folks. And finally, a connection between the common cold and COVID-19. It might explain why some people get mild symptoms — or none at all. Plus, your listener question of the day: Jenna in Alliance, Nebraska. She said my family history sounds like the TV show 1883 and wanted to know more. Happy to share. All up next on the President's Daily Brief. ------ 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

It's July 28th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning Intel starts now. We've got a big five update this morning, five issues that we have covered in previous podcasts, but with some important updates. First, we'll be talking about Joe Biden's phone call today with China. Also today, numbers and a debate over whether we have entered a recession. Third, America's ranchers are getting hit hard. We'll discuss what's happening and a request for how you might help. Fourth, the Board of a Troll is reporting how many illegals have slipped past them. It's a big number, folks. And finally, a connection between the common cold and COVID-19. It might explain why some people get mild symptoms or none at all. Plus, your listener question of the day, Jenna in Alliance, Nebraska. She said that my family history sounded like a TV show, 1883, to be specific,

and wanted to know more. Happy to share. But let's get started with the first of today's Big Five updates. Joe Biden is picking up the phone this morning to call China's President Xi. The White House confirmed yesterday that he will probably talk about Taiwan and tensions in the South China Sea, and that's it. When asked for more specifics, the National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Biden's call would be, well, mostly about, quote, relationship tending, end quote. I have no idea what that means, by the way. Reporters did ask specifically if Biden might discuss fentanyl.

That, of course, is the horrific drug that has killed over 100,000 Americans just in the past year, and it gets its deadly start in Chinese chemical factories. Now, the White House wouldn't say if Biden would be talking fentanyl with the Chinese. You can decide if that is good leadership. Meanwhile, we got the same kind of response on whether Biden would demand answers or compensation for the COVID-19 pandemic, which, of course, at least one agency within the U.S. intelligence community is saying that China actually started that in a bio-weapons laboratory in Wuhan.

The cost for that pandemic, just by the way, in case anybody wants to know, is at least $16 trillion. That's according to an analysis that was done by Harvard University's economists a while back. And finally, the White House refused to say, if they would discuss it. China's industrial espionage. You all know from previous briefs that China hacks and steals our trade secrets, and that costs us upwards of $600 billion a year.

So the point of all of this is to say that there are lots of things that Joe Biden could discuss and should discuss. Now, you should probably pay close attention to what comes up and what doesn't, because it'll tell you what's on Biden's radar and what has slipped off. And if you get busy, don't worry, I will be watching this closely and I will keep you posted. Second big update this morning, the economy. The U.S. Commerce Department is releasing figures today on what's called the gross domestic product or GDP. That number basically measures the value of goods and services that are produced in a period of time,

in this case the last three months. Now, this number is important because it broadly tells us whether or not the economy is in the toilet, or it's doing great. So the last time that we got this number about three months ago, it showed that the economy was not doing well at all, declined. And so if this warning, we get another GDP number that declines, well, that means that we are in a recession, or does it? That is the game that's being played. Let me explain. You see, recessions have generally been defined as two consecutive quarters of declining GDP numbers, which basically means six months of data saying, nope, your economy's going down. So if we get that second batch

of bad numbers today, and you combine that with the first set that we got three months ago, well, that should mean recession. But the Biden administration is trying to change that definition. They want to use something different. It's an assessment done by the nonpartisan group called the National Bureau of Economic Research. Now, that group doesn't just look at the GDP number, but some other data as well. So what are we to believe the historical definition of recession or the Biden definition? So to answer that question, you might want to ask why Biden's team is doing this switcheroo in the first place. Well, here's a hint.

During the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, that National Bureau of Economic Research, they took about a year to determine whether or not we were. were officially in a recession. And that is pretty typical for this group. They usually take a long time to officially declare a recession because of how and when they look at the data. And that's why this National Bureau has never been used as a real-time assessor of recessions. That's why historically we have always used the GDP numbers.

So why would Joe Biden want to use the National Bureau and its delayed numbers if everything is so slow? Well, a cynic might point out that there is an election in about three months. Democrats are not expected to do well with polls showing voters very angry about the economy. So maybe, just maybe, it would be politically helpful to delay labeling this moment in history a recession. As always, I'll let you decide, but it is curious, isn't it? and that takes us to the third big update inflation and food prices now normally when we talk about this we talk about what you pay at the grocery store but this morning we're going to talk about the source of

those groceries we're going to talk about ranchers now what you might not know is that things are not going well for a whole bunch of ranchers in this country in places like texas and Oklahoma, pasture and range land for cattle is now considered poor or very poor quality by the Department of Agriculture. And that's because of triple digit summer heat and drought. So in turn, that's forced many of these ranchers to use supplemental feed, mostly hay but also corn too. Well, the price of corn is at its highest in a decade, while the prices for hay were about 55% higher in April compared to the same period last year. Now, it is true. True that the price that ranchers get for their cattle has climbed about 15% from a year ago.

But that's not enough for a lot of ranchers when you add up big feed bills for hay and corn, plus sky-high diesel expenses and big labor. That's led a lot of ranchers to sell off big chunks of their herds. In fact, America has the smallest herd of cattle since 2016 down for the third consecutive year. So those low numbers will probably mean lower calf numbers for the next two or three years, which in turn could affect the price that you pay for beef. Now, I know that some of you all are ranchers listening this morning. Some of you have big ranches, others small cowcalf operations.

So for instance, Leanne and your husband, plus her two kiddos out in northwestern Colorado, also in Colorado, Zila. And then Frank, Mary, you all are in Texas, just a few folks who have emailed me in the past couple of months. months. So what I'd like to do is figure out a way for everybody listening to help. And here's what I'm thinking. I know that there are direct-to-consumer ranchers out there who sell their beef right to folks listening to programs like mine. So I need you all, ranchers or not, to email me with the ones that you like and that you use. And my crew and I will reach out to them and see if we can't do our part. So the email address, as always, is PDB at

thefirsttv.com. Again, email me with the website or the name of the direct-to-consumer beef company that you like or use. And you send that to PDB, in other words, president's daily brief, right? So, PDB at thefirsttv.com. I'm going to keep you posted on this one because it's really important to me. All right, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, two more updates, one on the southern border and one on COVID-19. Plus, A question from Jenna in Alliance, Nebraska asking about my pioneer family. I'm very, very happy to share. We'll be right back.

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So a bit of a drop there from May to June, but there was actually an increase in the number of children traveling by themselves, which no matter what side of the aisle you're on is awful. Anyway, overall, we are looking at over 1.7 million encounters and apprehensions in this fiscal year, and that's the most since 19, Well, as bad as all of that is, I've got a new number for you. 500,000. That is the number of gotaways that have entered America so far this fiscal year. Now, gotaways, as the name suggests, are those illegals that sneak through and evade capture. So we've got 500,000 of those this fiscal year with no idea where any of them are at this point. Meanwhile, last fiscal year, there were about 400,000.

thousand gotaways in total. So that takes us to about a million people, uninvited, unvetted, who are now in this country over just the past two years. So to give you a sense of how many people that is, we're talking about the size of Dallas, Texas. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was asked last week about how he would describe America's southern border. And he said, quote, look, the border. order is secure, end quote. I will let you decide if he and the Biden administration are telling you the truth on that one, or whether they define secure in the same way that you do. Finally, this morning, an update on COVID-19, and this one has a lot of good news in it, which is a

pretty good way to wrap up the Big Five update. But first, let me give you some quick viral background. You all might know that COVID-19 is a coronavirus, but what you might not know, is that the common cold is also a coronavirus. Not exactly the same thing, of course, but they're in the same viral family, viral sort of cousins, if you will, very similar viral structures. Now, when we're kids,

we tend to get the common cold over and over again, and that actually helps us build a strong immune system. It's kind of like as we go to school, our immune system does too. It learns how to recognize viruses and bacterias and how to respond. Well, years later as adults, our immune systems remember those previous infections, and we tend to have far fewer colds than when we were younger.

In fact, adults tend to get sick with the cold on average only once about every eight years. Again, that's all because of that exposure we had when we were kids. So all of that got some very smart people thinking, specifically doctors and researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, which is an outfit in California that researches immunology and immune system disease. Well, they were wondering whether some of that immunity from the common cold, you know, the stuff that we get from when we were kids, could actually help us fight COVID-19 because they're viral cousins.

And perhaps that could help explain why some people have never gotten COVID or just had mild symptoms. Anyway, those were the theories, and that is what they tested. So they opened up their freezers and they pulled out some blood samples they had of young adults who had never been exposed to COVID-19, but had been exposed many times to the common cold. And then they exposed that blood to COVID-19 to see what would happen. Well, some good news. That blood, or more specifically the antibodies and other immune fighter cells in that blood, well, they all recognize the parts of the COVID-19 virus that it shared with the common cold.

And they all fought back. So the medical term here is cross-reactivity. So what this means, practically speaking, is that as more infections happen, more immunity builds, especially in kids when their immune systems are in school. Now, that means that when these reinfections eventually happen, they should become less frequent, just like the common cold. And COVID-19 symptoms should be much less severe. So that's great news for kids, but also some good news for adults too.

This research actually builds on other research that says that even though our immune systems can't go back to school and learn as rigorously as kids as it were, well, we still do all right. And that's because our older immune systems still recognize the similarities between the common cold and COVID-19. We're just a little bit rustier at responding, especially if we are obese. So do your immune system a favor. Eat right, get that exercise in,

and maybe take some vitamin D if your doctor says to. Because this study highlights the good news offered by Mother Nature. Our immune systems can fight back if we keep otherwise healthy. Up next, one more thing before I let you go. Jenna and Alliance, Nebraska asking about my family and the TV show 1883. I've got some details, but first, a quick break. Own it all.

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So she said, dear Brian, I loved all the questions and answers, but, You said one part so fast, and I want to know more. Your family came to America a long time ago, that I heard, and then I think across the Oregon Trail. That sounds kind of similar to TV show 1883. I would love to know more. Well, Jenna, I would love to share more, at least for a few more minutes, because the story of my family tells you, well, a lot about me and why I love this country.

So let's go back to 1787. There was a constitutional convention in Philadelphia going on that spring, wrestling down the nation that we would become. Now, a little further north in Massachusetts, my fifth great-grandfather, Jeptha, was born. At some point, he and his mother moved to New Hampshire, and he eventually married and moved to New York, and he farmed. Then after a couple of years, he went out to Michigan,

and he worked as a blacksmith. He moved one more time to Stuban County, Indiana, and 1839. He had 10 kids who lived into adulthood. And when his sons turned 21, he had a tradition. He gave each of them an axe and told them to leave. They hadn't already. Some tough love there. Get out of the nest.

Well, anyway, two of his sons were still in Indiana, but they were ready to go. There was Anson. He was 25. And his brother, Albert, he was 27. So those two brothers decided to head west on the Oregon Trail. and they did so in 1852. Now, I want to pause here and restate their ages. So Anson was 25 and Albert was 27, leaving on a wagon train into the Wild West.

You know, I look around at other 25 and 27-year-olds, and I wonder, how many could do that now? Yeah, I don't suspect too many. At any rate, the winter of 1852 was approaching, so Albert and Anson decided to split up once they got to Iowa. So Albert was going to stay behind with his wife and two girls, while Anson could travel faster by himself. He wasn't married. The idea would be he would get to Oregon faster and he could settle their land first. So that's exactly what they did. Anson got to Oregon safely, quite a journey. We actually have a diary. He's really incredible to read. And then Albert followed in the spring of 1853. And on the trail somewhere in the Nebraska territory, his wife gave birth to a son.

named Silas. Again, to pause here, that poor woman gave birth in a wagon, all by herself, bless her. Well, praise God, Albert and Anson both made it to Oregon, and they raised sheep for about six years. And then quite suddenly Anson died. We're not really sure how, but sadly he never married, no children, and he died at the age of 31. Albert and his family carried on for a bit, and then they decided to leave that farm. They went east this time over the Cascade Mountains and into eastern Oregon. They built a tiny cabin and wintered there in 1871. And then they started over.

Albert and his sons built a new home. The government actually used it as a post office and a stage stop. They had a schoolhouse that doubled as a church and a community center. We have old diaries of lots of dancing and music. French harps and accordions were all to rage back then. Must have been quite a time. At any rate, one of Albert's boys, Anson, he was an absolute legend. For a time, he actually lived with some of the native people,

and he spoke at least three of their dialects. And it actually saved the family at one point, his relationships that he had with the Indians. There was a local chief, and he discreetly warned Anson that there was an Indian raid coming up against white settlers. So the family took protection. It saved the ranch. And without that friendship, I would not.

be here. So I have a thousand more old stories like this, like, well, one of my favorites. A cousin about a hundred years ago or so decided to take the wool crop to market. But instead of coming home with the cash, he spent it all on booze and gambling and ladies of the night. Anyway, he came home and the family was completely distraught, nearly broke them. At any rate, I am so happy to share all of this because wherever you are in America this morning, I guarantee that you or your neighbors have stories like this. Incredible men and women who overcame all sorts of adversity, braved every challenge imaginable. And together, we built something pretty magnificent. We built a nation. And if I may, we built the most incredible nation that this planet has ever seen. Because we have a

Constitution that tells us that our rights to life and liberty in the pursuit of happiness, they're not just given to us by our government, they're ours by birth. And the government, we own it. It does our bidding. That is the genius of America. And that's what makes it so great. But our founders set up a challenge for us, didn't they? Benjamin Franklin was once asked what kind of government they had set up during those days of deliberation in Philadelphia. And he responded, a republic, if you can keep it. That seems harder than ever these days, doesn't it, to keep it? Because there are a lot of people in America who don't want to keep it.

They want to destroy it. People like former Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York saying four years ago that we're not going to make America great again because America was never that great. Now, he's not alone. We all know that. We all see that every day on the news. But I'll tell you, when I get down and fearful, I think about men like my great-grandfathers who struck out in the world against the odds, and they built farms and ranches. I think about great-grandmothers who gave birth on wagon trains. And I think about Hugh Redmond of Yonkers, New York. And I shared his story with you all on July 4th. If you haven't had the chance to listen to the

that story, I sure hope you do. Please do so today, in fact, right after this brief is over. But in the meantime, I'll tell you this. Hugh Redmond was a CIA officer who was held in a Chinese prison for at least 19 years. And he refused to admit anything to the communists. Not once did he break over 19 years. Folks, we come from good people. We are fighters. And that's part of why I do podcast to give you all the news, the facts as best I know them, and then inspire you to go out into the world and keep fighting. So on this Thursday morning, July 28th, I hope you go out and do just that. We've got a country to keep, folks. We've got a union to protect. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, I conclude 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.