The President's Daily Brief - President's Daily Brief - April 13th, 2022

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

It’s April 13th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. I’m your host and former CIA Officer Bryan Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now.  First up, inflation, and what a number I have for you; it's a 40 year record. We're going to talk about that and how you can make it through these very tough times. Second, everybody knows that communist China is bad. Well, except for Hunter Biden and "the Big Guy." Unfortunately, there's another group of Americans that love communist cash, American universities. Third, the war in Ukraine, Joe Biden is talking about more cash and more equipment for Kiev and the Pentagon, for their part, now wants more bases in Europe. And as always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. First, a lot of you don't like the Walt Disney company; we're going to talk why that might be. Second, Joe Biden faces off with a bird in Iowa during a speech. The bird won. All up next on the President’s Daily Brief. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's April 13th. 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. Before we start, a quick reminder to those new to the show, the brief you're about to hear is in the same spirit of the actual President's Daily Brief, which is a top secret summary of the most critical events of the past 24 hours, all delivered to the President each morning by the nation's spymasters. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I am your spy, and this is your brief. Here's what we're covering today. First up, inflation, and what a number I have for you. 8.5%. That's a 40-year record. We're going to talk about that and how you can make it through these very tough days. Second, everybody knows that communist China is bad, well, except for Hunter Biden and the big guy. But in addition to the Biden family, there's another group of Americans that love communist cash, American universities. There's a report out on that, and we are going to discuss it. Third, an update on the war in Ukraine, Joe Biden,

is talking about more cash, more equipment for Kiev, and the Pentagon for their part now wants more bases in Europe. By the way, do you know who thinks that's a terrible idea? George Washington. We're going to talk about some wise words of his that I think that we've forgotten. And as always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, a lot of you don't like the Walt Disney Company. We're going to talk briefly why that might be. Second, Joe Biden faced off with a bird in Iowa, a speech. The bird won. I'll share details. All up next on the president's daily brief. Your first piece of intel this morning, inflation. It searched 8.5% last month, a new 40-year high. That number is worse, by the way, than economists had predicted. Let me offer up some

of the numbers that we're talking about. None of them will be surprising to you because you're living it. Gas of 48% your electric bill, 11%. Don't even get me started. on used cars, those are up 35%. Your grocery list, that's costing you more, about 10 to 13%. One item in particular, eggs up 11%. Maybe you've heard about the issue there. It's due in part to avian flu. Chicken producers are dealing with a massive outbreak of the viral bug. 21 million birds have been slaughtered as a precautionary measure. There are affected farms in at least 25 states, mostly in the northeast and the Midwest. By the way, the avian flu is supposedly of low concern for you and I, the non-chikins. One doctor did say, and I'm going to quote him here, that it's probably nothing

to stress about as a human, this avian flu, but I personally wouldn't want to get it. Oh dear. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is trying to find ways to tackle those high gas prices. They've released oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve, though not everybody thinks that's a good idea as a topic for another show. Joe Biden is also issuing an emergency waiver so that you can buy a special kind of gas called E15 at the gas pump. As a name suggests, E15 is a blend that includes 15% ethanol. Now, you're probably used to seeing E10 when you fill up. That, of course, is a 10% ethanol mix. The problem with E15, according to Sone, is that this fuel produces more smog than non-blended fuel. So in the summer months, it's generally banned the pumps, but Biden has reversed

that rule. Now, there's some debate about whether or not this smog issue is real. I guess we'll find out soon enough. The other issue with E-15 is that while it might save you about 10 cents a gallon, give or take, there's a catch. It has a third less energy than actual gasoline. That means your car will get fewer miles to the gallon, so you're likely going to have to fill up more often. Oh dear, that doesn't sound like a good plan. So as always, it's time to ask ourselves, why does this story matter to you? Well, obviously, inflation matters profoundly to all of us. Higher bills are bad.

It's basically a tax, a pay cut of 8% in climbing. But what happens in moments like this, moments of profound economic stress, is that some of us start making bad choices. And I don't mean putting lots of debt on our credit cards, although that's true, we are. The data show that. I'm talking about bad personal decisions. I saw it when I was growing up in Oregon when a local timber mill shut down. The men became depressed, their wives despondent. Some of those folks picked up a bottle of booze to soothe the pain. Others swallowed a pill or two. We all know what happens next, addiction or worse.

In other words, we escape from our economic troubles with booze or pill. and when we wake up, if we wake up, our troubles are usually worse. To this point, there was a study released a few days ago that shows the U.S. is on track to see at least 105,000 overdose deaths. That's up from the prior year, by the way, sorry to say. And within that heartbreaking group is another sad statistic. We have a drug overdose problem amongst our kids, especially ages 14 to 18. mostly from fentanyl that was cooked up in Mexico with chemicals from China.

So my friends, I offer you this. I'm no pastor or rabbi. I'm not a man of any cloth. But I think we should be really intentional right now about surrounding ourselves with good people. Maybe that's a church or a veterans group, a gym or a runners club. Wherever you can find good people, make the effort to build those relationships right now. Because who knows, maybe you'll find a new job. through those connections or a cheaper apartment perhaps. That would help. Or maybe in a moment of

great weakness when you reach for that bottle of whiskey or that stack of pills, somebody is going to place their hand on your shoulder and tell you, brother, it ain't worth it. Or sister, don't mess with that stuff. Let's go to church. Or let's go lift some weights. Because that's how we're going to get through this. It's not about Joe Biden's ethanol policies. It's about not letting your head drop so low that you make it easy for the devil to slip on in. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th, and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets,

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Next up, everybody knows that communist China is bad. And as I mentioned at the top of the brief, there are, however, exceptions to that rule. Hunter Biden, for instance, his laptop is full of emails asking for and getting communist cash, not just for him, but for the big guy. And we all know who that is. But in addition to the Biden family, there's another group that loves Beijing just as much, American colleges and universities. That's right, federal data out in a recent report shows that American colleges and universities vacuumed up $120 million in contracts last year with Chinese-based entities, including the Chinese government. Now, it's not clear from the data exactly what the Chinese institutions were getting in return, details of the arrangements or few.

But we do know a couple of things. Mostly there is a lot of cash involved. The agreements between Beijing and our institutions of higher ed range between $100,000 and $32 million. There were more than two dozen universities involved in these deals, by the way. And if you're in Texas, listen up. The University of Houston reported the largest agreement with China, topping out at $32 million. The university is defending itself this morning, saying that the foreign cash came from the Dalian Maritime University in China. The two schools had formed a joint venture of sorts, with students graduating with degrees and various engineering programs from both schools. Lots of problems with this situation, of course. One of them, the Dalian Maritime University, actually falls under the Ministry of Transport back in Beijing.

The minister of that agency is a member of the Chinese Communist Party. The list of universities taking communist cash is long. I'm going to list a few of them. The universities of North Dakota, Arizona, Texas at Austin, Auburn, Central Florida, Michigan, Michigan State, Pennsylvania. All guilty. Harvard, Purdue, and MIT are all on the naughty list as well. Okay, so there are clearly quite a few reasons why you should care about this story. First, China uses these kinds of college relationships to plant their own spies in our backyard to conduct espionage in this country. Trust me, I know. They recruit professors, sometimes students, your kids maybe.

They steal research and technology. That degrades our economy, our economic ingenuity and viability. Our Congress knows exactly what's going on. They've been briefed. They've held hearings, in fact, about one popular Chinese front organization. the Confucius Institute, a, quote, cultural center. It burrowed its way into our college campuses. Congress passed a law late last year to crack down on it. That's good, of course. But the point is that these relationships between our liberal colleges and our liberal elites is still very, very strong.

For instance, do you remember the case just four months ago, a man named Charles Lieber? He was the former chair of Harvard's Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. China gave him $50,000 a month from the Wuhan University of Technology, plus up to $158,000 in living expenses, and more than $1.5 million in grants, all according to prosecutors. He was found guilty of filing false tax returns and making false statements, amongst other things. Now, you don't need to be a former spy to know that Mr. Lieber is likely not alone in his clandestine relationship with Beijing. That's why under President Trump, the Department of Justice, launched the very important China initiative, which was a national security program intended to thwart China's intelligence activities in the United States.

Now, the universities complained loudly about all this. They said it fueled racial profiling and bias. Never mind that it also made waves with their often secret Chinese funders. Well, Joe Biden listened to those universities and he ended the China initiative. Let me say that differently. Joe Biden, who has been credibly accused of taking secret cash from Beijing, shut down a special investigative unit into people who take secret cash from Beijing. Ah, well, that seems bad. The upshot, ladies and gentlemen, your universities and colleges are wildly influenced

or even corrupted by foreign cash, Chinese money included. The man who should be most outraged by this, America's president, he's not. That's why the Hunter Biden laptop story is so important. We have to get to the bottom of whatever happened between the Bidens and the Chinese. And you have to remember this story when you decide who to vote for this fall. Your final story this morning, an update on the war in Ukraine. Convoys of Russian soldiers and equipment continue to head south and east in Ukraine. They're sticking to roads because it's spring in Ukraine, and that means there's a lot of mud everywhere. If you go off road, you get stuck. You stay on the road, however, and you become a much easier target to kill.

Ukraine's forces know this. You can expect to see some fierce fighting in the next number of days and weeks. Russia knows this, too, and that's why they're looking to add 60,000 more troops to the fight. Putin's not giving up, folks. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has announced that it is considering enhanced artillery support to Kiev. That would allow Ukraine forces to better take on the Russians at much greater distances keeping Ukrainian forces safer. The equipment would be far better than some that we've given them so far, and that includes the javelin anti-tank missile. The new equipment, by the way, would be on top of the 2.4 billion worth of support

that we have provided in the last several months. The Pentagon, meanwhile, is also saying that it wants more, too. They're saying that it's time for an even greater presence in Europe. We're talking about brand-new bases, scattered throughout Eastern Europe and the Baltic. Army General Mark Millie, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee yesterday that the United States needs to add more troops on the European continent, which would be on top of the already 102,000 that are there. Now, Millie claimed that our NATO allies are very, very willing to build and pay for a permanent U.S. bases. Those allies include Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, and Romania. In other words, Europe, they'll build the barracks, but America's got to send our sons and daughters

and lots of taxpayer cash. This isn't a new idea, of course. The United States for decades has been expanding its footprint around the world, sending your kids abroad. But we were warned about this path that Millie and others in the Pentagon are cheering for. George Washington was the fellow who warned against it first. He was, obviously, America's first president. He knew a thing or two about military issues, after all, he defeated the British Empire against all odds. At the end of his second term, he delivered a farewell address to his young nation.

He had some great advice. First, celebrate that you are an American above all things. Second, don't fall into the trap of party politics. Parties don't serve the nation, he warned they serve themselves. He was also very clear that one of the greatest dangers he could envision for our young republic, was that it would get itself involved in what he called permanent alliances. He explained that Europe had its own very complicated set of interests, and the United States should keep its distance from European affairs. He believed that we should have a foreign policy

based largely on neutrality, as that would be the safest way to maintain national unity and stability. Now, Washington was not an isolationist. He acknowledged the need for the nation to involve itself in foreign affairs in the case of occasional war or other emergencies. But again, he argued that we must, and I'm going to quote him here, steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. Sounds pretty smart to me. And it makes me wonder, what would George Washington say today about his country? What would he say to General Millie and other Pentagon leaders who kept America and a 20-year war in Afghanistan and then lost? And what would George Washington say to us?

As Millie and those same Pentagon losers now insist that it's time to involve ourselves in another war with permanent bases and permanent war budgets, all at a time, by the way, when the people are paying double-digit inflation, struggling to pay rent and keep food on the table, I suspect I know what he would say, and I think you do too.

Finally, two other quick stories I'm following for future developments. Here's the first one. 68% of Americans, including nearly half of poll Democrats, are now less likely to do business with the Walt Disney Corporation following revelations about the company's sexual politics, namely their support for discussing sex without a parent's consent to children as young as five. This is regarding the bill in Florida. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it seems that Americans are tiring of the woke politics of corporate America. This story deserves far more time and care and thoughtfulness

than I can give it today. But I'm going to do a story on this and very soon. But there's something quite astonishing, isn't there? When 68% of Americans, including Democrats, can agree on much of anything these days, I think that's quite remarkable. We're going to talk more about that later. The second quick story, and this one's just for fun, Joe Biden was in Iowa yesterday. He was talking about all the things he'd do to address the horrible inflation numbers that we've already discussed, as he was offering his solutions, a threat emerged from the sky. It was a bird. Flying around the president high above, well, this was in Iowa, so we can assume that it had had a healthy diet of corn and delicious bugs. Well, you can probably guess what's about to happen next. Yes, the bird chose to

take a gigantic crap right on the president's chest, just above his lapel of an American flag. Now, I'm happy to report that the flag remained unsoiled. The same cannot be said of Joe Biden or his pride. Friends, if you're the praying kind, I'd ask that you stop by your local church one of these days soon. Fall to your knees and offer up a prayer to this anonymous bird wherever it may be nesting this morning. because while you and I would get tackled immediately if we soiled the president, Mother Nature appears to have legal immunity. And for that, we should give thanks. Ladies and gentlemen, you now have your morning brief.

I'm Brian Dean Wright. Follow me on Twitter, if you would. My handle is at Brian Dean Wright. That's Brian with a Y, Wright with a W. I will see you again tomorrow at 6 a.m. for the latest edition of the President's Daily Brief. me one other favor, subscribe to the PDB so you don't miss a single episode. This podcast is available on all major podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple, and the rest. But most importantly, as I leave you

this morning, a reminder of why we're here talking about our country. 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. How many discounts does USAA auto insurance offer? Too many to say here. Multi-vehicle discount, safe driver discount, new vehicle discount, storage discount, legacy.

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