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Economic Gains And Policy Wins You Probably Missed
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Median household income hits a 58-year high and child poverty hits a record low, yet most people never hear the numbers. We start with that disconnect and talk honestly about why personal financial pain can still be real even when national data shows improvement, and how voters should weigh both lived experience and hard statistics when the economy dominates election season.
From there, we move into big policy developments that tie directly to immigration enforcement and government spending. We break down the DOJ’s shift on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families reporting, why states may now face new obligations, and what supporters see as a commonsense transparency move to protect taxpayer dollars and reinforce border law. We also look at ICE arrests staying near record highs and what changes when local law enforcement is allowed to cooperate more directly.
We then tackle media accountability and the growing use of lawsuits as a weapon in politics. Even when cases lose, we discuss why a public figure might keep filing, what “lawfare” does to public trust, and how the high defamation standard for public figures shapes the press landscape. Finally, we share two education stories that surprised even us, including a New York ruling on pride flags in classrooms and a Tennessee teacher who pushed back on reading same-sex marriage books to first graders.
If you care about faith and culture, constitutional limits, public school battles, and election consequences, this conversation connects the dots. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us what part of the good news you think the media is missing most.
Welcome And Good News Friday
SPEAKER_00Welcome to the Intersection of Faith and Culture. It's the Wall Builder Show, taking on the hot topics of the day from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And today it's all good news. Good news Friday. I love the last day of the week for Wall Builders Radio. You can go to our website, wallbuilders.show, to catch up on any of the shows you missed this week. But today we wrap up the week with a stack of good news from David and Tim Barton. I'm Rick Green. Thank you so much for joining us, David and Tim. Let's get to some good news.
Income Up And Poverty Down
SPEAKER_00David, what's first?
SPEAKER_01Well, guys, we're coming up to election, and I keep hearing how important the economy is in the election, and it is. Everybody wants a good economy, uh, and that's going to be the deciding factor. It's interesting that with all the stuff that's going on and the increased gas prices, which we've seen because of the war in Iran and other things that are happening, grocery prices. There's also some good news out there, and I just haven't heard much about it, but it's it's some significant good news. So let me throw out some numbers that just came out. Um the the numbers are out that we have the U.S. household income hits a 58-year high. So the median household income uh hit a high that it's the highest on record. They started keeping records of this in 1967. So it's the best it's been since 1967. Um the median household income shows an increase of $2,250 over last year. So that's good news. Um also they show the official poverty rate fell for the third straight year, and child poverty hit a record low. So those are all positive indicators. So in the midst of all we're hearing about the the economy and what's out there with the economy, there's still a lot of good stuff going on. And we'll see if any of that affects the election or not. But at least there's some some good news on the economy for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I th I think too, David, it's like, you know, uh a lot of times there's our personal situation can be different from what the overall economy's doing. And no matter how good the overall economy is doing, if it's tough on us individually, then you know it still hurts. And uh, but I think those good signs are definitely worth worth talking about. Well, Tim, what's your first piece of good news?
DOJ Tightens Welfare Reporting Rules
SPEAKER_02Well, guys, I'm starting with something from the DOJ. This headline says an historic shift. DOJ rules all states with federal welfare programs must report illegal immigrants. Now, this is a huge shift uh because it used to be that uh the obligations um for reporting the undocumented status was on uh the program operating inside the state. Now it's putting the burden on the state. And and specifically, this is the temporary assistance for needy families program. So it is a welfare kind of program. The Justice Department's office of legal counsel uh actually went back to a Clinton-era opinion and that back then it required that welfare programs had to report undocumented immigrants. But they said we we're we're updating that. Uh, and actually, what's great, the assistant attorney general uh T. Elliott Gazer, the Justice Department, Office of Legal Counsel, he said Congress wrote this requirement plainly. When a state chooses to participate in TANF, it accepts the obligation to report illegal aliens in the United States. Tax dollars intended to help vulnerable Americans should not perversely encourage illegal entry in the United States, but rather should reinforce our laws and our borders. Uh, guys, overall, this is remarkable because TANF, uh, Social Security, some of these different different programs, but they get uh tens of billions of dollars annually. This happens in all 50 states. And so now that the the Justice Department, or specifically uh the Department of Justice, is requiring states in order to qualify for this grant welfare program, the state has to report uh the illegal immigrants that are receiving it, which obviously is just gonna help ICE know where some of these individuals are and catch them. So you can imagine there's gonna be a lot of liberal states that are not gonna want to do this, and then they're gonna lose some of their funding for this program. So I I just applaud the fact that President Trump continues to find a way, that his uh his cabinet continue to find ways to get things done in spite of the inactivity of the Senate, uh, in spite of the in unproductivity at times of the House. President Trump is still on the boo and restricting the welfare going to illegal migrants. Guys, overall, that is remarkable news. Makes me very happy to think that I'm not being taxed more and more. Actually, this won't change my taxes yet, but at least my tax dollars are not going to people, many of whom have come here not just illegally, but come here illegally and hate this nation. Want to see the overthrow and destruction of the nation. They don't want to assimilate, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So, guys, overall, really good news.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Tim, that's one of those that uh, you know, are uh I can't remember if Bill Bennett was Secretary of Education under Bush 41 or 43. I can never remember that. But remember how he always said, you know, sunlight's the best disinfectant. I mean, this is just transparency. It's it's making sure that our government's transparent, where's this money going, who's getting it? And like you said, not only when you have those problems in the House and the Senate, but then the states that are not cooperating with the federal government, and Trump just continues to find ways uh to make the system work and to force that accountability and to force that transparency. Uh, we would call it playing hardball. And finally, we have somebody in the White House willing to play hardball on these things and just push on every single front. So, yeah, very, very good piece of good news. Tossing it back over to David, what's next for you, man?
Trump’s Media Lawsuits Strategy Debate
SPEAKER_01Well, this is one I'm going to spin as good news, and you guys are gonna have to react and tell me whether you think it's good news or not. But I'm gonna start off with the fact that what we've seen just in the last few weeks is Trump trying to punish the media uh for bad coverage. For example, he he told uh three of the networks, you're not welcome to the White House press conferences anymore. Um, we're we're kicking you out because you're not reporting the news right. So there's that kind of media.
SPEAKER_02Well, let me clarify. He didn't punish the media. He targeted the bad actors of the media who were promoting propaganda. He didn't say no me, and I'm saying this only again to couch this correctly. He didn't say no media in the White House. He said, Hey, I'm not gonna give you special access if you're gonna keep lying about what's happening. Let me put people in here, let me fill these seats with people who are going to tell the truth of what is going on. So he did not, contrary to what CNN might tell you, he did not ban the media, he did not abolish CNN. Again, contrary to what they might tell you, he just said if you're not going to report honestly, you don't get special access, which is totally reasonable. By the way, also when you consider that their their market, their viewership is shrinking, et cetera. So I I I know you have somewhere you're going with this, but just to be careful, he's not banning media. He just said, if there are certain outlets that have very bad coverage and they're being dishonest, why would we give them special access and he revoked special access? He did not stop them from reporting or being a news organization.
SPEAKER_00Well, Tim, I was gonna fix David's statement with just one word. He punished the media hacks, just to add the word hacks on there, and then it's an accurate statement.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's the way he he definitely phrases it, coups it, and sees it. And, you know, in that particular case, it was CNN and MS Now, which used to be MSNBC and Politico. He said, you know, you guys get all this information from us of the White House, and then you go out and you report your own stuff. You don't even report what what you've been told. And so he he went after them on that basis. Um he he this week lost that. The the court said, no, you can't throw them out of the White House. They they get access. Uh another one that he lost this week was uh an Iowa lawsuit back in the election of 2024, where the newspaper in Iowa published a poll that showed Harris leading when he won Iowa. And so he went after that for fake news and bad poll. And and of course, any of this, any of this, you you could have just gotten wrong. I I mean we're already seeing polling wrong this year to a great degree. And so he went after them because their poll was wrong. And so far, this year, he's filed 16 lawsuits against different media outlets for defamation because they're not reporting the news accurately and straightly, and he's lost every single one of them. Now, he's had in in the last few years had 30 cases that he's done this, and it's like, wait a minute, how is that good news? And I, you know, here's my spin. You guys tell me what you think. Why would he keep doing this if he loses every one of them? He hadn't won one yet, but he keeps doing this. And I think there's several reasons. I think number one, those that are in the room don't want to have to face a lawsuit where they're gonna have to spend a million dollars to defend themselves and win in court. So they they have less resources available, so they'd be more careful how they present the news and maybe have less of their rhetoric themselves and report their beliefs as if it is news, be a little more accurate with what's there. Uh so I think it's a shot over the bow because there's hundreds of media outlets that get access to the White House. So he's he's taken these that are the really visible ones and made a big deal out of it. And then they have to defend themselves on their own media programs. No, we are fair and balanced or whatever they're gonna say. And I think he's really put them on the defensive. And and the others that have not been sued, I think they're more careful about how they say what they say, and I think he's getting a better result out of it. And so I I I think this is I don't know, I see the strategy that I think is going to help and I think has helped uh get better media with what he's doing, even though he's lost every single case. I don't think it's a waste of time or money.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I think it shows them he's willing to fight, our side is willing to fight. You know, just the other night I was I was up in DC doing one of the events with the the White House faith office, and they were talking about I I want to say it was 70 lawsuits in the last two years that they've had to deal with, that he's had to deal with, and it's been hundreds of different lawsuits in the last, of course, 10 years since he's been involved. And that's the ones against them that other people filed. And so the other side fights like that, and we we haven't always fought like that. So I I totally agree with you, David. I think it's a necessary step, not only for like what you're saying, it's kind of just it's making them be a little more honest. Not completely honest, because we know how they are, but it's making them have to not, you know, it's it's like they they don't just get a free pass, in other words, they there's a price to pay uh for their you know, hackery, if I could use that makeup a word for us today on wall builders. But um, so I would totally agree. Tim, what do you think?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think it's a strategy thing for sure. And I think ultimately he's showing them that uh, you know, two can play at this game. If if this if this is the rules of the game you're setting, then right, if every time somebody something happens you don't like, you can bring a lawsuit. Here's how that works. Now, also to some extent, I don't think uh necessarily all of these lawsuits were completely frivolous. I I think some of them you already know going in, like that's probably there's not good grounds for that. But we would have said that about virtually every lawsuit that's been brought against him as well. Uh, one of the things we've talked about in this program a lot is lawfare. And ultimately, we should all oppose lawfare. That this shouldn't be the way that you win in in a realm of ideas and communication and First Amendment. But when somebody is putting their foot on the scale to shift the balance of power and communication, uh, the messaging, et cetera, it makes sense why he would be fighting back. And again, uh ultimately to give them things that will keep them busy that uh their attorneys have to work with and navigate. I think there's a lot of factors involved. So I definitely think it's a strategy decision. And I also think it's something that he's just so tired of dealing with these lawsuits that he's just repeating the method and the games that he's seeing played against him and sending them back the direction of the the group that's been targeting him. So I I get where it's coming from. Ultimately, I I am opposed to all this kind of law affair, but I definitely understand why it's happening. And I think it is very intentional and strategic.
SPEAKER_00And I'll throw one more thing in there, too, because, you know, and we've we've all been involved in defamation suits where we had to sue someone who absolutely lied about us, right? And we know how hard that is as a public figure to win those suits. You've got to prove both that it was, or not both, all four things. You've got to prove it was false, that the person knew it was false, that they did it maliciously, and that it caused you damages. I I don't know this because I haven't heard his legal team say this, but probably part of the strategy is even if they don't win the suit in terms of hitting all four, if they can at least prove it was false, even if the reporter claims, well, if so-and-so told me, so I thought it was true, they've at least been able to create a documented uh paper trail and and in a lawsuit that the thing that was said was false, which to me is way better than just letting it be said and not responding at all. I, you know, we don't have the kind of money it takes to constantly do that against anyone. I think both of our defamation suits, we just both reached a level where we said, this one's so bad, we have to fight back, or else people are going to assume it's true. And a lot of times you just don't have the money to fight back, or you don't even know about the claim until it's been out there for a long time. So anyway, I just throw that out there because I bet that's part of the strategy is just punching back to say this was a false statement. Yeah. Even if you can't win. You know, New York Times we select, and needs needs to be Claris Thomas has even said that that standard is way too high for public figures. It's it's crazy what people can get away with and say about you as a as a public figure. So anyway, that's just uh some of my thoughts on on why the strategy I think it can pay off in the long run as well. Uh let's see, I think that was David's. So we're going back to Tim, but let's take a break first. When we come back, Tim Barton's up next with more good news. Stay with us. You're listening to the Wall Builder Show.
Declaration Signers Book Spotlight
SPEAKER_02Okay, we want to let you know about a new product we have here at Wall Builders called Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor, the Signers of the Declaration. Like most Americans, you might be someone that you recognize some of the names of the Founding Fathers, but do you know their story? We want to help remedy that. My dad and I have written biographies on all 56 signers of the Declaration to help reintroduce people to the men who literally signed their names on the line for the sake of the nation. And when they did this, they knew that they were essentially signing their death warrants. They were risking everything for the hope that they might be able to purchase freedom for the rising generation with their lives, their fortunes, and sacred honors. In spite of the hardship that every one of them endured, none of them recanted or backed away. Now, if you don't know their story, you can get to know all 56 of them. Go to wallbuilders.com and look for the book Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor, the signers of the Declaration.
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to the Wall Builder Show. Thanks for staying with us. Tim Barton with the next piece of good
New York Court Backs Classroom Limits
SPEAKER_00news.
SPEAKER_02Well, guys, this one's coming out of New York, and it actually it's more than one level of good news. Uh, the good news is dealing with a legal challenge uh that was not successful, but there's an uh an underlying piece of good news. I had no idea, guys. New York district, they banned pride flags and stickers that cannot be displayed in school classrooms. Had y'all heard that? I had no idea.
SPEAKER_01No, you meant to say Alabama. You you said New York, but you you meant to say Alabama, right?
SPEAKER_02Uh well, here's what's crazy. It's I know you're like, we're joking. This had to be a conservative state. I'm not even sure conservative states have gone this far. And in New York, New York has a ban on pride flags and stickers. So here's part of the headline, or the article rather. And there was a federal appeals court in New York uh ruling that teachers do not have a constitutional right to hang pride flags in their classroom. And as you can imagine, people got outraged. Uh, Christopher Dulcey, an openly gay math teacher, filed a lawsuit uh against the Connequat. Uh, I don't know how to say that name, but it's their central school district. After a different math teacher was ordered in 2022 to take down a pride flag and LGBTQ stickers from the classroom, Dulcie claimed the policy was discriminatory and demanded that the district pay homages or rather pay him damages. Uh hundreds of students and parents rallied in 2022. So this is when the challenge really happened. That the thing that is now coming full circle is that the the court struck this down, and actually, uh Governor Kathy Hokel uh directed the Division of Human Rights of New York State to investigate the district for potentially violating the human rights law of the state, which is gonna be fascinating to see how they come out with that. Because of course they would say, well, yeah, you know, you can't hang up your gay flag. They're discriminating against your human rights, because clearly one of your human rights is to hang up your gay flag. I'm assuming that's probably what their finding will be. But the district noted in the court um the policy did not restrict personal displays, such as maybe a rainbow pin worn by a teacher, the LGBTQ pin, or even teachers could display a photo of themselves and their same-sex partner. They just couldn't put up the flag, and that's where the lawsuit was. But again, the federal appeals court ruled that teachers do not have a constitutional right to hang pride flags in their classroom. Guys, I am blown away again at the layers of good news. First of all, again, that New York had abandoned this, and then that it's being upheld in a federal appeals court in New York. That is just incredible good news.
SPEAKER_00Now, Tim, I'm I must have heard you wrong. There must be an uh a New York City, Texas that we're talking about. Is that do you mean that New York? That's how you would think. This is from that New York? Yes. Wow, good news from New York. The big apple itself. Wow. Impressive.
SPEAKER_01All right, David, you got to top that, brother. Well,
Tennessee Teacher Pushes Back On Curriculum
SPEAKER_01this one probably not gonna top that, but it's in the same general direction. Uh, this one comes out in Nashville, Tennessee, which not quite the blue state that New York is or the blue city New York City is. However, it deals with the same issue. Um, so Eric Rivera's first grade teacher in Nashville, and he was required to read to his first grade class two children's books on same-sex marriage. And why that's in first grade and why that's a topic of first grade, and why he's required to read that, who knows? But he said, No, I'm not, I'm not reading that. I thought that violates my conscience. I'm definitely not doing that to first grade kids. So we got another teacher to read that because it's required that they read it and it's required as part of the curriculum by the school. So they the school came after him and said, okay, now we've notified you, we've given you a final warning, a termination, and you're gonna be on your way out of here, and you are going to use the materials that we give you, and you're going to read what the curriculum says. And at that point, he called the attorneys. And so, as it turns out, Tennessee has a law that says, oh, you don't do sexual orientation, gender identity stuff with elementary kids or anywhere in the schools of Tennessee. So there's a state law that says you don't do that. And when the state uh or when Nashville schools said, oh, really? A state law says we can't do that, as it turned out, they cleared his record and then they wiped all of those books out of the library, and they went through the library and removed the other books on LGBTQIA plus. So they ended up pulling about 30 books or 20 books out of the library, first that the elementary library. So him standing up and saying, I will not, led to a complete policy change for the entire school district. They came after him, looked like he was going to lose his job, get all this disciplinary action. As it turns out, the state was behind him because the law was behind him, and the schools, to their credit, actually obeyed the law, followed the law, and pulled the books out. So good news out of out of Tennessee.
SPEAKER_00I don't I don't think uh Tim, you know, as I toss back to you here, you can't do another public school good news. That would be above our quota. That was two good news items from public schools in America. So one from one story from New York, then Tennessee. I'm kidding, man. Whatever you got, if you got another public school window, that that will break a record for us.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, this certainly would impact public schools, but no, this is not directly public school related. This is ice
ICE Arrests Surge And Local Cooperation
SPEAKER_02related. And the headline is ICE arrests stay near record high with 50,000 in August. Now, just reading to this article, there's so much good information. Uh, we know Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, who is now the Homeland Security Secretary. He took over under President Trump uh for Christine Ohm. Uh the article points out he's had a very different strategy where Christine Ohm um was a little more high profile. Uh she did things where that brought attention to it. Um, and he has had a different approach, a different style. And with his different approach, they are continuing over the last several months, every month, they every month, they have had a greater number that they have been able to arrest in this process. And they've been able to target places like airports, immigration courthouses, check-ins. They have expanded. I'm reading from the article, um, getting this information. They have expanded cooperation with different law enforcement, which this guy's is boggling my mind that this is that they somebody had to give authorization for this, but he's authorized local law enforcement to be able to arrest some of these individuals and turn them over directly to ICE. Now, that's mind boggling because I would think from the very beginning, like that's what local law enforcement should do. If you catch illegal aliens doing criminal activity, uh this is a no brainer. You turn them over to ICE, but in some districts, in some states, uh law enforcement was prevented from doing that. And so they've been able to expand that coordination. Operation. And so this is this is now an all-time high for Trump's second term of the ICE uh arrests and um coming up on deportation. So, guys, really good news that the Trump administration is continuing to crack down on so many of the illegal migrants that have come here again, so many of them with nefarious purposes, not coming to assimilate, not coming to do good things. And it's also worth noting that some of these people, maybe they didn't have evil in their hearts, but when you are violating the law to be here, that there's a reason we have doors that you're supposed to go through. There's a process to go through so that there can be all the proper checks and channels, etc. And so to see ICE continuing to do this, to see Senator Mark Wayne Mullen embrace a brilliant strategy that he is under the radar. Most people have no idea what's going on. And yet the fact that ICE is uh their arrests are at an all-time high, really good news. And and dad, you mentioned earlier in the program, you know, things that that people see that impact the election. This is not one that necessarily people are gonna see that impacts the election, but these are things the Trump administration is doing that will have huge positive consequences for the future of the nation, even though it's maybe not visible enough to drive out all the votes. We talk about this a lot. Elections have consequences. Elect the people. Pretend like you're playing a game of chess. Elect the people that are going to help advance the game, move the chess pieces in the right place for you ultimately to win the game in the long term. It's not always a temporary, it's not always the right now, but make strategic decisions with your vote and election. And certainly some of what we're seeing from the Trump administration, in my mind, there is no doubt we want more of this, not less of this. So we should let that be reflected in our vote. Either way, really good news, what ICE has been doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and
Early Voting And A Strong Vote Push
SPEAKER_00I we could we could do so many stories today of things that are happening that aren't in the news that are good behind the scenes, even within some of the committees, even within, like we were saying, the White House faith office. There's so many positive things happening that people aren't hearing about. So this is not a time to be blackpilled and think everything's falling apart and you know, none doesn't matter, Republican or Democrat, all of that. It absolutely does. Make sure you're going out to vote. All right, David, take us home with a final piece of good news.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and guys, with that topic, let's just kind of stay there for a minute because I just got off the road um just yesterday, the day before, the day before, the day before, and where we were this week were in states that have already started voting. They're already voting right now. Early voting started. Uh we were doing get out the vote rallies in some of those states. We were just in Virginia. They've got three terrible ballot initiatives on the ballot in Virginia, and the voting has already started there. And and by the way, there's no reason. There let's let me do it differently. There's no excuse for not voting. Uh, because that is something that that stewardship of the country, I think we answer to God for what we do with our vote. He gave it to us. We can't just hide it and expect him to say, well done, good and faithful servant. You got to use what he gave you. And at this point, I don't care how you feel about the election or how you feel about the economy or how you feel about Trump's personality or anything else, you got to vote. And in a lot of the states this time, there are really serious ballot initiatives in those states. Virginia is one of them. We're going to cover this probably some next week with some of these ballot initiatives and let you know what's out there. But you got to go vote. This is super important for sure.
SPEAKER_02Well, and dad, let me add to that. When you're saying I don't care how you feel, do the right thing. Well, yes, let me add on. I do hear care how you feel, but understand, don't be short-sighted and think, well, I'm upset, so I'm going to stay home. That's not going to solve your problem. That's going to compound it and make it worse. When good people sit out, all that happens is you are creating space and opportunity for people that don't have your values, that don't have your vision to get involved and vote for things that are only going to make it worse. Socialism is only going to make it worse. When you sit out, if you are a Christian, if you're a conservative, if you sit out, people are going to vote for the opposite ideology that is going to make it worse. Don't sit out, even if you're frustrated, maybe especially if you're frustrated, and get involved, cast your vote. It's going to be the lesser of two evils. Hold your nose, but cast your vote.
SPEAKER_00That's right. All right. That's so true, guys. Last night I was with uh Congressman Brandy Gill at an Andy Hopper event, a state rep in Texas, and he made it very clear, man, this is literally you're fighting communists at this point. So you have got to get out and vote. We've got to push the communists back. The Democrats Socialists of America cannot take over America. So get out there and vote, folks, this weekend. Start telling your friends and family as well. And let's go win these elections. Thanks so much for listening. You've been listening to the Wall Booter Show.
