Hey BillOReilly.com Premium Members and everybody else on this Columbus Day.

I hope you're having fun if you're off. If you're working, I'm sorry. I'm working, so I can sympathize. 

What we're going to do today is do most of our segment on your questions about policy. And the reason I'm doing this and opening it up to everybody is because obviously we want to display so much wit and wisdom in the next half hour or so that you become a Premium Member. Because this is it. This is the daily news analysis that will matter to your life.

And I don't want to sound cocky but I have watched now for the past six months an unbelievable disarray of cable news and radio stuff that I know is false. And you know, there's very few places that you can get the truth and here is one of them. 

All right. So Columbus Day, I've written a column, it's posted on BillOReilly.com, I wrote it for TheHill.com, you can access it either place, about Columbus, alright, and why he's under fire from the PC nuts. And I think you'll enjoy the column and I do want to mention that this is the only ethnic holiday for Italian Americans and it should remain so. And you read the column and you'll find out why. 

A few things in the news I want to get to. And I'm going to tell you about my trip to Maine over the weekend. It's pretty funny. 

Bowe Bergdahl pleading guilty, finally. 2009, as you may remember, he splits his unit in Afghanistan, he deserts. Guys are sent out looking for him, they get hurt, a couple get killed, allegedly, searching for Bergdahl. Taliban grabs him, keeps him in captivity for five years. President Obama makes a trade, trading five Taliban commanders for Bergdahl to get him back. And then Bergdahl goes into the military system, which drags its feet and really didn't want to try Bergdahl because it's embarrassing to the military to have a guy like this on the docket. 

And then his platoon members come in and say, "hey, yeah, you know, I got my leg blown up search for this guy and he doesn't deserve any consideration at all." So Bergdahl pleading guilty to desertion and misconduct in front of the enemy. He'll get maybe 10, 10 years. In that range. I'm sure they made some kind of deal with his attorneys if he pleads guilty, we won't send him to life. 

So anyway, that's the Bergdahl deal. That happened last week. I just wanted to bring you up to date. 

Vice President Mike Pence goes to the Indianapolis Colts/San Francisco 49ers game and of course the 49ers, the most radical team in the league, they embarrass the flag again and Pence walks out of the Indianapolis stadium. So right away the far left, which wants America denigrated as much as possible, "oh, it was a stunt. Pence went to the game, he knew he was going to walk out." 

Yeah, I believe that. I believe it. I don't think Pence wanted to walk out, but I think the San Francisco 49ers are such an out of control team that he knew something was going to happen. So he left and said, "look, I don't... I'm not going to stay in a stadium where one of the participants is disrespecting our country." So that got a lot of play.

Now, San Francisco is no wins and five losses. So, perhaps the owners of the team might sit the guys down and say, "you know what, maybe we want to concentrate on playing the game." Because the franchise is embarrassing. 0 and 5. They were terrible last year, they were terrible year before. They're just terrible. Doesn't matter if they change the coach, doesn't matter what they do. They're terrible. So if I were the fans in San Francisco, I'd probably be kneeling down outside the stadium with my season ticket going, "I'm getting shafted. This is a terrible team."

Around the NFL, these protests are getting fewer and fewer because team owners like Jerry Jones in Dallas said, "look, if you continue this you might not be back." That's happening. I'll tell... I know it for sure because I know some of the players. So some of the owners are basically getting the word out. You continue to embarrass the team and the country, you're probably not coming back. Is that fair, that kind of threat? I don't know. 

If I'm a team owner, I told you what I would do. I'd say, "look, you don't want to respect your country? Stay in the locker room." But when contract renewal comes around, I have to... I'm a human being. And if it's a marginal player and I can get somebody as good or better I'm going to go for that. Can't say it's not in the back of my mind, it's human nature. 

So that's where we are in the NFL protest. I always think to myself, I would love to get one of these guys, maybe this guy Marcus Peters from the Kansas City Chiefs, a good player, and talk to him, not debate him, but interview him. OK, so what is it about America that you, Marcus Peters are objecting to very specifically? So what is it that you feel has to be brought out so you're not going to stand up? 

Now, I assume he'll say, "well police brutality..." and then I'll trot out all these statistics about police and African-American confrontations, and they're not out of whack or out of line. They're not.

All right. So that would probably be number one. Then it will be oppression. That's the new famous word now. Oppression. OK, so I would know a little bit about Mr. Peters' background. And I said, "well, let's take your case. Where have you been oppressed? You know, you're in an industry, very competitive, very skilled player. You got there by using your God given abilities. Are you oppressed in the National Football League?" OK, maybe no, he said, "no, I'm alright, but my...I know..." OK, so other people, give me an example of somebody who's oppressed.

You know, I want to know. And I sincerely want to know. I'm not being a wise guy. 

So I'd love to have an interview with one of these guys. But I'll tell you what, they'd never do it. In a million years, they'd never do it, because then if they did it, you would expose the depth of their thinking process just like I did in the Columbus Day column, which you're going to enjoy.

So, if you don't know anything, if you're operating under erroneous assumptions like "hands up don't shoot," if you believe falsehoods, then your protest really doesn't matter, does it? Doesn't matter because you're not living in the real world. 

So it's complicated, it's emotional. I think it'll die out. There will be a few die hards that will always do this. San Francisco 49ers, I, you know, I've got to tell you, I just don't... that's ownership there. So can't say I care a lot. 

OK, so let's get to your policy questions and we got tons of them. Can't use them all. Some are very good, but some of them are a little too small, a little micro, you want to know about things that are not wide, as they say. I mean, we got hundreds of thousands of people looking at this, so I've got to keep it on the wider range of issues that affect the most people. 

So, here's Susan Janel in Hartford, Wisconsin. 

"Bill are there any socialistic countries that are successful? And if so, in what ways? I'd like to arm myself with facts when my kids or lefty friends start talking about how great Sweden or other European countries are." 

So, there are countries in Western Europe, Sweden one of them, that operate fairly efficiently and the government runs the show, what they call these cradle to grave entitlements. Holland, a good example of that. But the populations are very, very small. 9 million in Sweden, I think it's four and a half, five in Holland. And those societies work. There's not chaos there. But your options are limited. 

So, I remember being in Sweden a few years ago and it was the afternoon and I wanted to get a late lunch. Couldn't do it. Every shop was closed. And from like 2:00 to 5:00 in the afternoon, everybody is closed. And this is in Stockholm, in the main tourist area. So, I was talking to a shopkeeper, everybody speaks English. 

I said, "why are you closing in midday at prime hours with people around?"

He goes, "because if we stay open and we earn over a certain amount of money, the government takes it all." So the merchants can only earn up to a certain point and anything other than that is taken. So why work? 

So it just depends on what you want. If you want security for everything, you want to be a heroin addict and you don't want to work... the government will... you'll survive over there. They'll take care of you. But opportunity? There's not that much in a socialistic system. 

Kenneth Almond. Medford, Oregon. 

"Columbus Day question. I was 100 percent for the Iraq war when it started. And I see now that it's much more complex. I don't regret my decision. What do you think about Korea? How should one think about this? Should we go to war with major consequences in life and the world or allow nukes and focus on defense to shoot them down?" 

Look, Kenneth, I don't want a war with North Korea and I don't think any sane person does, because yeah we'd win, but the cost to the world would be staggering. You don't want that. It looks to me like the world has had enough of this guy and they're going to strangle them economically. And if he can give it maybe six months to a year more, then the whole place will collapse because they just don't have enough food and fuel. So that's where I'd be working, just to make it collapse, if I were the president. 

Susan Watts. Woodinville, Washington. 

"We're Glad to be able to see your happy but pale face." I am pale, I've had a little cough over the past five days. I know I'm pale, but I'm Irish and that's what it is. Alright, "Is there an old school Democrat you would support to replace the Pelosi/Schumer leadership?" 

I think Joe Manchin from West Virginia is an honest Democrat. And if he were in a position of leadership, the party would be much better off. Dianne Feinstein is very left, but I think she's honest. She just announced that she is going to run for re-election. She's got seniority. I don't think she's crazy like Pelosi is. And Schumer's just ruthless. 

But you don't hear many moderate Democrats because they're threatened by their own party. You know, you've got to toe the left wing line there. 

Nancy Berlet, one of our most loyal BillOReilly.com Premium Members up in Glastonbury, Connecticut. 

"Bill, you are the foremost historian of our nation." Thank you. "And have chronicled the significant times in our history. Here is a question you may want to consider. Hatred seems to engulf our nation now. What do you think is more dangerous for the survival of the USA, the enemy within, political infighting, racial divide, dishonest media, or the international enemy (ISIS, Taliban, North Korea, Russia)?"

I think that the cultural war that is underway is probably the most profound thing we've got to deal with, Nancy, because there's a movement, about 25 percent of Americans who just want to blow the whole system up. And we've talked about it extensively. And the media sympathizes with those people. So they've gotten a lot of power in the last five or six years. President Obama gave them power and now with the anti-Trump movement, they've gotten more. 

Overseas, we've got some big threats but it seems the CIA, FBI are doing a pretty good job in protecting us. And ISIS is on the run everywhere now, so that's good news. North Korea, as I said, you know, we've got to be patient there. But I would say the cultural civil war on all the hatred it is engendering, it's a big problem.

Kimberly Patterson. Maple Grove, Minnesota. 

"Bill, how often do you speak with Donald Trump? Does he listen to the podcast? Hope he does. You have the best and most concise analysis anywhere."

Well, look, I talk to a lot of powerful people, Kimberly. But I would never say it because these are private conversations. So if somebody calls me, I'm absolutely respectful. And if they say, "look, Bill, this is off the record," it's off the record. 

I'm not going to tell you or anybody else who's on the line if they don't want that. I think that's... I'm an honest guy. So, you can assume that the powers that be in Washington know what I'm saying. You can assume that. And whether they care or not who knows. 

Donna Cook. Fort Worth, Texas. 

"Bill, love the podcast and the studio. I'm reading Killing England along with my granddaughter who's studying to be a history teacher at Texas Tech." Wow, good for her. "My question is do you think the confusion that the bishops and Pope have created within the Catholic Church will hurt it? We are experiencing a push from the bishops in Fort Worth and Dallas to change the culture in our parishes and among other issues, support sanctuary cities." 

OK, there's always been in the Catholic church a a doctrine called liberation theology. And Pope Francis is on the periphery of that. And that theology says that above all, generosity and help toward the poor is the goal of a Christian person. Above all. That's what you're seeing. Ok, you're seeing that some bishops, priests, whatever in the Catholic Church are putting that as the top priority and American law down as a lesser priority. 

It's happening. I know it is. It's up to the pope to provide guidance there. 

So, in the past, in Vietnam for example, civil disobedience was embraced by some Catholic priests in the protest movement. To me as a Catholic, Jesus is clear. You render to seizure and if the government has immigration laws, you obey those laws. On the other hand, I myself have helped immigrants, some legal, some illegal, I'm sure, who were suffering grievously. I've helped them as a human being. I have. I didn't say, "well, I'm only going to help the legal ones." I didn't do that because I don't believe Jesus would have done that. And he's the guiding force for Christians. 

So a very complicated issue. There's no doubt about it.

Barry Shoor. Miami, Florida. 

"Bill, I love the podcast and can you give us an explanation as to why the left, according to your analysis, wants to rewrite the U.S. Constitution?" 

Of course, it's easy, Barry. We've gone over this, I don't want to be redundant. I've got a better Word of the Day, but redundant is a good word. 

Look, the far left hates capitalism. So, that's number one. They want socialism. And the Constitution promotes capitalism. So, the constitution's got to go. Number two, the far left thinks the country was forged by white supremacists who actively put into the constitution things that keep minorities down. 

I know it's hard to believe, particularly when you read the Bill of Rights, but that's what they believe. So, they want to throw it all out. You know, they don't want the electoral college, they don't want that. They don't want capitalism, They don't want the Supreme Court, absolutely don't want that. They want a huge federal apparatus to call the shots like in Sweden. 

Harold Johnson. Maple Valley, Washington. A lot of mail from Washington State, beautiful state. 

"Why did the Attorney General Sessions say he will neither prosecute Hillary Clinton or those involved in the IRS scandal? Morally, I can sort of understand, but from a legal point of view, I'm appalled." 

Look, the Trump administration does not want to get bogged down in anything Hillary Clinton. You know, Trump jabs her, you should be in prison, lock her up, but he doesn't want to put resources in there. The Justice Department right now is trying to impose immigration law on the nation once again. That's their top priority. The second priority is to protect us from guys like the Las Vegas killer. So they've got their hands full with, you know, very, very complicated issues. Hillary Clinton, bye bye. 

Andrew Wede. Grand Island, Nebraska.

"What's the status of Kate's law?" 

It's around. But with all the other madness, Obamacare, tax cuts, tweeting, all of that, it's kind of gotten... I don't want to say lost. I think it will come back. Lawmakers are aware of it. But it's considered small ball now, unfortunately. Because that should have been passed a long time ago. Harry Reid was the villain there that killed it. 

Leslie. Seattle, Washington. Another Washington post.

"Question for Columbus Day. I just finished watching the Ken Burns series on Vietnam. I thought the show was fabulous. Factually complete but biased I felt toward the anti-war progressive left. What did you think of the show, Bill? Did you detect a bias? Any thoughts on writing Killing Vietnam?"

I'm not going to write a book on Vietnam. I've been there. It's a complicated issue, as Ken Burns pointed out. Burns himself is a liberal man. I watched some of it, not all of it. I thought it was all right. I thought they missed motivating factors in why the United States was even in Vietnam in the first place. I thought the history leading up to the war wasn't well told. But the actual war itself was. 

And I feel sorry for all the American vets who went over there, most of them drafted, suffered for their country and were, you know, ignored, sometimes even criticized for their service. That's the big thing for me. In hindsight, we shouldn't have fought that war. Ok, you can't fight that kind of war. You know, we were fighting World War II in jungles and those people weren't going to give up because they lived under Communism and Communism says if you're 15 years old, here's your jacket, here's your rifle, here's your helmet, here's your grenade, and you're going to go out and kill Americans. 

And if you say, "well, I really don't want to," you get a bullet in the head. All right, so it's easier for communists in the totalitarian regime in Hanoi to basically mobilize every single man they had. And you know, they had squads walking out with these guys and they better fight or they weren't coming back. Whereas in South Vietnam, you had a corrupt government based on capitalism, crony capitalism, awash with narcotics. So who's going to win? 

So, on hindsight, bad war to fight. Korean War, no jungle, and we won that war in the sense that we kept South Korea free from communism. Big jungle and Vietnam. It was the hottest place I've ever been in my life. It was so hot, you can't imagine. 

Smack in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

"In past years, you've spoken about a war on Christmas. Yesterday, I went to a locally owned store and they were putting out decorated Christmas trees to be sold. It's not even Halloween yet. Never mind the trees were artificial. Knowing commercial is part of the American economic engine, what's your opinion on the commercial side?" 

I don't have any problem with the commercial side of Christmas. You know, if a store is too early don't go there. I don't want to see Christmas decorations. So if I walk into a store, which I rarely do, and there's Christmas decorations, I'll probably go right back out. Let me see Halloween, then let me see a little Thanksgiving, and then I'll be ready for Christmas. That's capitalism. 

Dr. Ann White.

"Just wanted to find out..." And Ms. White is in Pensacola, Florida. "Just wanted to find out what I will learn in Killing England I didn't get out of Legends & Lies: The Patriots?" 

Excellent question, doctor. Legend & Lies: The Patriots is snapshots of various things that happened during the Revolutionary War. Various people. They're snapshots, each chapter is a different look at someone new or another situation. Killing England is an arc from the beginning of the Revolutionary War to the end. It tells the whole story. Why it happened, what happened, how brutal it was, puts you on the battlefield, tremendous characters. Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin... Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, on and on and on. Washington, of course. 

So, what we did with Killing England was what we always do in the killing books. We drive this very fast narrative so you know what happened. Whereas, Legends & Lies is a specialty thing. You don't know the whole war, you just know some of the things. 

Paul Dappen. Pharr, Texas.

"Bill, just finished reading Killing England. I think it was a good read." Thank you. "I have two questions. The first being, do you have another book in the killing series?" 

Three more to deliver, three more killing books to deliver. That'll bring us up to ten. 

"Is the Killing England book the chapter dealing with Ben Franklin going to France, your book mentions that Franklin took his two grandsons with him. What became of those grandsons?" 

One grandson, one nephew. They stayed with Franklin the whole time, they were educated in France and they got government jobs when they came back in the colony... in the new United States of America. 

So, Franklin took the boys, educated the boys over there, boys came back and did public service. 

Gerald Wegrzyn. Orchard Park, New York, up in Buffalo.

"In Killing England there's mention of another country that was an ally to Great Britain, which were the Hessians. What was the reason the Hessians were willing to fight with the British against the colonies?" 

The Hessians is not a country. The Hessians are Germans. It's a region, Hesse. H E S S E in Germany. And they're warriors. They train their children to be warriors and then those warriors hire themselves out for pay. They're mercenaries. So the British... and they were known world over, the Hessians, as being a very disciplined fighting force. Brutal, absolutely brutal these guys. 

So, the British soldier was a conscript, drafted, all right, out of Liverpool and all of those poor British cities. Some of them were ok and some of them weren't. But the Hessians were a professional fighting force, very well paid. So that's why they fought the British. They didn't have any love for the British. They would have fought for anybody who paid them. 

And they came in, and the USA, George Washington and the colonial army kicked their butt in one of the most dramatic parts of Killing England in the battle of Trenton, Christmas night. Kicked their butt. Killed the Hessian commander. Now, that was stunning, that farmers and, you know, regular folks that Washington had with him, beat one of the best armies in the world. And not only beat them, it was a catastrophe for the Hessians. 

So, that's what happened and that's why Killing England is so provocative, I think that's the best word, and entertaining. And it's doing great and we really appreciate it. Next Sunday, number one on the New York Times list. This Sunday it was number two, we open at two. And we bopped Hillary Clinton off to be number one. And we hope you spread the word. You'll like it. 

Word of the Day. When writing to BillOReilly.com, do not be lugubrious. 

All right. We're going to end this with my trip to Maine. 

So, Maine is a beautiful state, particularly the coastline. Huge state. And I like to go into New England, either Maine or Vermont New Hampshire or Massachusetts during the fall foliage season because it's really fun. Now, here in the Northeast, we have like this incredible humidity, no leave changing down here in New York, it's very hot and sticky and unpleasant. I said, you know what, let me go up to Maine. 

So I could have driven up to Maine from Long Island, it would have taken about six hours to get to Portland, which is a very nice town. And then I wanted to go further up to a place called Camden, Maine, which is right on the ocean and a very nice setting. So all in all, it would have taken me about eight hours to drive. 

So I say, you know what, let me hop a plane and fly up to Portland and rent a car. Big mistake. Huge mistake. Never again. 

So I get to LaGuardia Airport. Do not go to LaGuardia Airport. It is destroyed. They're rebuilding it. It's beyond belief what has happened there. I had to walk a half mile to the gate. 

Now I'm whining and I'm complaining, ok. You got it. I am. I admit it. 

So then I get to, and I'm not going to tell you the airline because the airline crews, generally speaking in America, best in the world. And I don't want to besmirch them. So I get to the gate, a little plane. That's what I expected. And I could barely get in the plane, barely fit in the plane. That's how small this plane was. 

You're like this... I'm 6'4", I'm about 210. All right, I'm not going to be playing middle linebacker for the NFL but I'm a big boy. All right, an hour delay. No reason. No reason, I sit there for an hour. It finally gets out. The flight was 45 minutes. Bip, boom. 

Portland airport, Very good. Get off, get the car, zoom around. Maine was beautiful. They had some foliage, they had some striking reds and great lobster and had a great time once we got there. Ok, great time. 

So then I drive back to Boston, because they don't have a lot of flights out of Portland and I wanted to get a late flight out back to New York. So I zoomed down to Boston and we stopped in Kennebunkport where the Bush compound is and had a nice meal there. Great fried clams. You're not supposed to eat that stuff, but you have to when you're up there. 

And so we zip into Boston and the flight is delayed 90 minutes. So I go up to the gate and I say, "why is the flight delayed?" 

Weather. 

I said, "the weather's fine. Fine here. It's fine in New York. There's no problem with weather." 

Wind. 

Now, you have the machines so you can, you can track all this. Wind was eight miles an hour. Eight. Eight. Now, I could tell the woman was lying. Now, whether she was lying on purpose or was she told to lie, I don't know. 

I said, "there's no weather, there's no wind." 

OK, nothing I could do. An hour and a half late. So, I'm sitting across from the gate and here comes the flight crew an hour late. Here they come walking down the Logan runway to the gate. That's why the plane was late. They didn't have a crew. 

So instead of telling the passengers we don't have a crew, we screwed up, but we're still taking your money anyway, they wouldn't. The crew gets on. Excellent crew. Excellent crew. All right. We're back. Land at Kennedy, didn't go back to LaGuardia. Get out. Pandemonium at Kennedy, but not nearly the horror that it is.

So, I'm saying to myself, both flights were 45 minutes. And once we got in the air, they were fine. But who wants to do this? And I know people have to do it. They have to do it for work, they have to do it to see their children, they have to do it to see their parents, whatever, they have to do it. But this is wrong. This is the most sophisticated affluent country on earth. This is wrong. 

I want the government to come back in, and I know this sounds crazy because the government is so inefficient. I get it. I know that. But they can't be worse than these private companies. So, the government has got to come in and fine the companies when they're late for no reason, when they screw up, they've got to pay fines to the government and that'll help the infrastructure in the airports. And they've got to have a strict regimen of fines. You do that, this whole place in America will turn around within three months. You won't have this mass chaos. But right now, there's no penalty for abusing airline passengers. None. And believe me, they do it every blankin' day. 

That's it. That's my uplifting Columbus Day message for you. Read my column.

Tomorrow, Laura Ingraham in the studio. Miss Laura has a new book. Going to rock and roll about the Trump administration and all of that. Laura Ingram, the studio tomorrow, October 10th, Tuesday. See you then.

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