Bill began Thursday with President Trump's surprise agreement with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.  The triumvirate essentially exchanged emergency aid for Hurricane Harvey victims for a three-month extension of the debt ceiling. 

Bill posited that all of this is being done with a larger goal in mind:  "What Trump is doing is clearing the table for tax reform.  I've told you that Donald Trump's administration hinges on getting tax reform passed.  To him, the debt ceiling is an annoyance, but he really wants the tax cut because he knows that if the administration can get tax relief for you, there is a good chance he will win reelection.  If he cannot do that, he's toast!" 

Bill devoted much of the Thursday's podcast to the culture wars, especially the controversy surrounding an article written by two law professors, Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania and Larry Alexander of the University of San Diego.  "Their article says that young Americans will succeed if they live by bourgeois values," Bill reported, "which means hard work, self-discipline, not having children out of wedlock, and obeying traditional tenets. Professor Alexander didn't take a lot of heat, but Amy Wax is getting hammered at the University of Pennsylvania, where some professors blasted her as being 'hateful and regressive.'  The grievance industry in America are looking to be offended every single day and blame their life circumstances on others.  This grievance industry has now overwhelmed this country!" 

Bill endorsed the article's main points and added this: "If you are covered with tattoos and can't speak the English language, how are you going to earn a living?  You have to know how to do something.  If you have no education and no parental guidance and your school stinks, you are going to fail and have a terrible life.  Younger Americans have to know this, but the media won't tell them that." 

Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute, an author and social observer who knows Professor Wax personally, added her perspective.  "Amy Wax is one of the most courageous people out there," Mac Donald said, "and she is not going to be browbeaten into silence.  She is committed to her views and she knows they are right, but very few faculty members have the courage that she does.  She has dared to question the cult of victimhood and says that people have responsibility for their own lives."  Bill added that Professor Wax is fortunate to have tenure because "these far-left PC people would like to get her off the campus, they don't want opposing points of view." 

Mac Donald went on to theorize that today's victimhood and political correctness have their roots in the 1960s counterculture.  "The universities have been perfecting this racial victimology," she lamented, "and coming out with a discourse that says the predominant causal factor in American life is white patriarchal racism and sexism and homophobia.  Those ideas are spreading into society, carried by graduates of the universities and the media, and the left believes it is taboo to talk about the dysfunctional behaviors that you have listed.  The 60s revolution embraced anti-authoritarianism and an adolescent wish fulfillment fantasy.  Industries catered to adolescents, who had power like never before and felt they were self-righteous rebels taking on American injustice.  That became the elite view." 

Bill contended that the media "has aligned itself with the progressive movement" and encourages much of the anti-social behavior that often leads to poor life outcomes:  "The progressives want to allow the grievance industry to destroy anyone who would tell the truth and that is a real sea change in our country.  Children are being told that they are victims, that they need a safe space, that this is a bad country, and that we have to silence anyone who disagrees.  It's a scary situation and this country is changing for the worse." 

Turning to politics and polls, Bill reported that one new poll indicates that Donald Trump has enjoyed a recent rise in his approval ratings, while another finds that Americans view President Trump far more favorably than Hillary Clinton.

Bill also pointed out that, for reasons unknown, the crime rate in much of America is plummeting.  Chicago and some other cities are exceptions, but effective policing and anti-crime technology are pushing crime way down.  "You would think that in an uncivil society like we have," he said, "it would lead to more violence, but it is not.  If any of you have theories about why crime is falling, let us know." 

In their emails and on the message boards, many Premium Members sounded off about DACA and the "dreamers," generally agreeing that President Obama's executive order created a situation that has no easy solutions.

Finally, Bill admitted that he occasionally, but rarely, makes a grammatical error in the course of ad-libbing for a half-hour.  It was a humble confession from your humble correspondent.