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| All content taken from The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel. Each weeknight by 6 PM EST a preview of that evening's show will be posted and then updated with additional information the following weekday by noon EST.
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Guests:Dr. Keith Ablow and Carl Hart
"As you may know, I believe the increasing acceptance of marijuana among young people is a bad thing for the country, and now even some liberal media people are agreeing with me. Tina Brown, the former editor of Newsweek, tweeted, 'Legal weed contributes to us being a fatter, dumber, sleepier nation.' That's true and the stats back it up. If you use any intoxicant, your goal is to leave reality. Some adults can handle that on occasion, but putting intoxicating agents in the hands of children can be devastating. Teens using marijuana before the age of 18 are far more likely to develop psychosis, and one in six children who try pot will become addicted. So why is this all happening? One reason is that pot legalizers have made the drug glamorous and the media has played along. Celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, and Miley Cyrus flaunt their association with marijuana and very few speak out against it. For more bad news, combine the drug aspect with the Internet. 33% of teenagers send more than 100 text messages a day and 66% say their parents have imposed no rules regarding texting. Young people in America are combining drugs, alcohol and high tech to build false lives and run away from reality. This is an epidemic that will lead to a weaker nation; anyone who tells you different is lying to you."
The Factor was joined by neuroscientist Carl Hart, has studied drug addiction and casual marijuana use. "I don't recommend kids using pot or alcohol or smoking tobacco," he began, "and anybody that can think would agree with you. But the last three guys who occupied the White House all smoked marijuana in their youth, and I'm not aware that texting is an addiction. I have a son who's in an Ivy League school - he texts quite a bit but he also gets all A's." But psychologist Keith Ablow raised red flags about texting. "The bottom line is that any time you try to exit the real world in favor of a fantasy land where your emotions aren't troubling to you, there's a price to pay. Those are called addictions - texting, the incessant use of Facebook, and the use of marijuana. And parents are caving, they're telling their kids, 'Oh, it's only marijuana.' We are weakening our young people because we're suggesting to them that it's okay to be high." The Factor lamented that America may pay a steep price, saying, "I see a tsunami building with the drugs and the high tech abuse, I think kids texting 100 times a day is abuse." |
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Guests:Juan Willams and Mary Katherine Hamm
FNC analysts Mary Katharine Ham and Juan Williams joined the fray over marijuana and the tendency of liberals to favor legalization. "If you start to arrest their children," Williams contended, "I think people say, 'Wait a second, this is soft drug use, why are you giving this kid a record?' But nobody wants their own young children using pot because it's damaging to their cognitive skills. And I would say that about alcohol and cigarettes." Ham put forth her libertarian argument in favor of legalization. "Anything that is not done in moderation can be a problem, but does that mean it has to be outlawed? I would rather not have my child smoking weed, but that does not mean it has to be illegal. Freedom is likely to be far less damaging than paternalism and a nanny state." |
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Guests:Brit Hume
President Obama has been lamenting "income inequality" in America and the Democratic Party will use that issue in this year's elections. FNC analyst Brit Hume examined the Democratic playbook. "One reason the Democrats want to extend unemployment benefits," he said, "is that four-plus years into this recovery, unemployment is so bad that it still constitutes an 'emergency.' They want to extend benefits for the fourth or fifth time. Republicans say let's pay for that with offsets, but the Democrats are not interested in that. If you look at the whole picture of 'income inequality,' it has deteriorated during the Obama years. So the President is hoping to resurrect his party's political fortunes by saying he's going to fix problems that have worsened under his administration." The Factor argued that the left's proposed solutions can actually worsen the underlying problems: "The only way to do what the Democrats want is to boost taxes, but when you boost taxes on the wealthy and corporations it slows the economy further." |
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Guests:The incomparable Jesse Watters
The Factor reprised a few of Jesse Watters' memorable encounters from the year gone by. In Key West, Florida, one man offered this sage observation: "You come to Key West on vacation, you leave on probation, and you come back on violation." On another Watters expedition to a "mushroom festival" in Colorado, a celebrant explained, "You'll actually see sounds, potentially." And one angry fellow had this advice for the interloper Watters: "You have made so many bad decisions that have led to where you are, you deserve what you have earned. It's called damnation! Go away!" Jesse did indeed "go away," but vowed to return with a vengeance in 2014. |
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Guests:Karl Rove
Some political observers claim Hillary Clinton is engaged in a "shadow campaign," getting geared up for the 2016 election. FNC's Karl Rove entered the No Spin Zone to explain. "Hillary Clinton has been briefed by some Democratic operatives," Rove said, "about deadlines, costs, legal requirements, and pitfalls. She and her people also have worked out an arrangement between two competing political action committees. She can't coordinate with these groups when she becomes a candidate, but now she's able to have her people work out the arrangements of how they'll operate." Rove added that a presidential run is a mighty expensive undertaking. "In 2012 there was a $1-billion-plus campaign on behalf of President Obama and slightly less than that on behalf of Mitt Romney. We'll be looking at those kind of numbers again." |
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Guests:Charles Krauthammer
With violence and chaos throughout the Middle East, The Factor asked Charles Krauthammer how President Obama can combat the Al Qaeda resurgence in Iraq. "His options are all extremely bad," Dr. K groused, "and that is because he made a terrible decision to pull out in 2011. Obama proposed a miserable, small number of residual Americans who would stay behind, about 3,000, and the Iraqis understood we were not serious. Even the New York Times says the United States and Obama created a vacuum by leaving nothing behind and thus invited Al Qaeda and created the resurgence. It is a mess and the reason at root is the evacuation ordered by Obama." |
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| Be more aggressive in protecting your health, especially if a particular malady runs in your family. |
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Dino Messori, Yardley, PA: "Liberals believe that Pope Francis is advocating government care of the poor. I trust the Pope would support charitable works done through churches rather than the government."
Larry Russell, Atlantic Highlands, NJ: "The far left condemns the Catholic Church on issues like abortion and gay marriage but loves the social justice stuff." |
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| Be more aggressive in getting regular checkups and protecting your health, especially if a particular malady runs in your family. |
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