Issues And Ideas: News Commentary & Analysis With Chris DeBello April 5 2026

Join us for expert honest and fearless analysis and commentary about today's issues, news, politics, economy, healthcare and current events.
 
(00:00) Michael O'Neill, VP of Legal Affairs with the Landmark Legal Foundation, gives his analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing on birthright citizenship, the arguments made by both sides and what's actually established by the U.S. Constitution along with related immigration laws.

(12:56) Tracy Byrnes, Financial Advisor with Lebenthal Global Advisors and host of the Women Wealth & What Matters podcast, offers tax filing tips for last minute filers and those planning ahead as well as information on what's required when filing a tax filing extension.

(24:00) Ed Hajim shares stories from his life which took him from orphanages to the heights of Wall Street and explain how his Life Design Course provides school students with direction for their lives.

(39:18) Dr. Donald Small discusses the state of Faith in America today, why people are turning away from worship and what the goals of the Prayer At The Heart program are.

(49:56) Chris DeBello examines how the Bible reveals the importance of the resurrection of Jesus.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, welcome to Issues and Ideas Time, Christopher. Regarding the U.S. Constitution, the framers work to define its various ideas and elements as best as possible. Their original intent can be realized in the words of the document, along with the numerous notes and letters that the framers addressed their work through. Additionally, numerous times over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court reinforced the Constitution when it was being challenged. Last week, the Trump administration took aim at the idea of birthright citizenship, which is established by the 14th Amendment. This is certainly not the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has been called on to examine immigration and citizenship issues. And whether legal history supports either is Vice President of Legal Affairs with the Landmark Legal Foundation. Michael O'Neill, Michael.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

I'm good, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Good to be with you.org is the website starting as a foundation for utility to section one of the 14th Amendment. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside, those states shall make or enforce any law which will abridge the privilege or immunities of citizens of the United States Act, or shall any state deprive any person of the life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. So that's the foundation we're working with here. What was the case that the Trump administration is making? It seems like they're hanging on the phrase subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

unknown 1:45

Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:46

President Trump issued an executive order interpreting the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, which you just specified, as to meaning more than subject to the jurisdiction thereof means more than mere territorial presence. And now the common interpretation of that provision, again, subject to the born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. The common interpretation of that for the past 70 or so years, at least since we've had the advent of all of the immigration, has been that anybody who's born within the territorial confines, territorial jurisdiction of the United States is sub is a is conveyed automatic birthright citizenship. Simply being born here makes you a citizen. Now, they they are challenging that interpretation, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, and that's what a lot of the arguments focused on earlier this week is. What does that mean? And so what do you how do you try to define, how do you try to understand what is subject to the jurisdiction thereof mean? Well, the court tried to you stand in the shoes of the individuals, the ratifiers and the drafters of that provision of the 14th Amendment. You start with, well, what was the time frame where where the 14th Amendment was ratified? Well, you're talking about this is post-Civil War, this is the Reconstruction era. So the y the first thing you derive from that is, well, this was past post-slavery, right? The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery, and the 14th Amendment wanted, what was the goal of this? Who was this who is this to apply to? And I think you could start with the argument that this was originally the drafters never considered immigrants, right? They never, that wasn't something on their mind. What was the forefront of their mind? Well, that was the children, the slav uh former slaves and their children and their descendants. They didn't want to see efforts by recently readmitted or in the process of readmitted states making efforts to denaturalize those individuals who were former slaves or their children. So the application, of course, was for former slaves. The it was never intended originally for to apply to immigrants. And I think that's where you start with. But a lot of the arguments centered on that term. What does subject to the jurisdiction thereof mean?

unknown 3:46

Aaron Ross Powell, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Now, just hypothetically, if the Supreme Court were to agree with that, would that not mean they were disagreeing with the 1898 decision, U.S. versus Wong Kim Ark, which the Supreme Court then said a child born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents was a U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment.

SPEAKER_03 4:03

Right. That's a fantastic question. And there was a lot of qu there was a lot of discussion about the applicability and what exactly Wong Kim Arc means. And what's there's an out there's a sophisticated, if you listen to oral arguments or read the transcript, there's a really an in-depth analysis of that case. And you can read, you can read it's funny when you read these cases 100 years, 130 years after the fact, is you you you read it and you try to, if you're an advocate and it's against you, you try to find how you could interpret the case to maybe be beneficial to you. And I think the Solicitor General took that, took that to heart and noted that there's a extensive discussion, and actually the issue in front of uh the court, and they what they were called upon to decide was whether a domiciliary, and this is somebody who was if you think about it, you could distinguish the case, or you can use the case to help you, or you can find language that helps you, or you can just offer the argument that it was wrongly decided. I think here the Solicitor General said, look, number one, the the the children, the child in Wong Kim Mark, who was found to have birthright citizenship, a right to it, was here legally, right? His parents were here legally. And also, he was a domiciliary, and that was a lot that was an issue that can came up repeatedly in Wong Kim Mark, whether you had to be a dom you had to have a domicile in the United States to establish jurisdiction. And that I think they said the word domicile comes up about 22 times in the opinion here. So I think what the Solicitor General was kind of hanging on with regards to finding support from Won Kim Ark was the simple fact that the the court assumed that a domiciliary, somebody who is a domicile who made their residence in the United States, was subject to the jurisdiction thereof. And you can distinguish that from the executive order where you're talking about people who are here illegally and who are who you know might simply cross the border to have a child. You're talking about anchor babies, or you're talking about birth tourism. There's no establishment of that domicile. Therefore, there's no establishment of jurisdiction. So that's that's a jump that the court was actually, that the solicitor general was asking the court to make. But I think they were taking uh Wong Kim Ark, the case you you you mentioned, Chris, head on and trying to say, hey, look, rather than interpreting this to hurt us, you can actually interpret this in a manner that actually helps the president's arguments.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

While the Solicitor General of the Trump administration wants to expand the limitations of the Fourteenth Amendment, doesn't the phrase subject to the jurisdiction thereof automatically set the bar for limitations of the Fourteenth Amendment, primarily uh residents of uh any Native American under the uh reservation laws, uh diplomats come to mind too.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Yeah, exactly. What you're saying there is, and and that goes back to the time of the enactment of the ratification and the enactment of the uh the 14th Amendment, is that the drafters carved out exceptions and they knew that there were that that this wasn't an all-encompassing right to convey to anyone and everyone, and so they they knew that there were limitations in place here. That means they never meant that subject to the jurisdiction thereof encompassed every person who was born in the United States. You know, obviously, subject, you know, you're talking about uh individuals who were Native Americans at the time, and then you're talking about uh children of diplomats. So that was kind of used, and Justice Thomas explored that a little bit. Well, what was the common thread of those exceptions? Well, they all they all lacked the domicile uh effort. So that was kind of what we were talking about. So therefore you could say, again, we're talking about, you know, we're trying to what are we trying to do? We're trying to, what was the court trying to do here? What is the court trying to do? It's trying to discern the best meaning of subject to the the jurisdiction thereof. One other thing that I don't know if it was discussed yesterday, one other interesting thing is you read the you read the entire uh section one of the 14th Amendment. There's another part in there you said uh regarding equal protection and due process rights is uh extended to individuals, people, persons who are within the jurisdiction. So look at that. So you actually actually see within the 14th Amendment, you see two terms. You see subject to the jurisdiction, and you actually also see within the jurisdiction. I think you can make an argument that within the jurisdiction is territorial, uh, territorial presence, because within, I think that's clear what that means. So anybody within the territorial, territorial uh jurisdiction of the United States is within the jurisdiction. And you could say, well, why are there two different words mean? You know, if if the drafters wanted to use within the jurisdiction earlier in the in the 14th Amendment, we're i.e. in the birthright citizenship clause, in the birth in the uh the citizenship clause, they could have said within the jurisdiction. Instead, they use subject to the jurisdiction. I know this is a lot of lawyer-y talking about here, but words have meanings, and that's what we're trying to get at. What is the meaning of the term subject to the jurisdiction? So there's a little bit of textual support for the interpretation of the president. Um now let me be clear here. I I I don't think that there are, you know, a lot of commentators are making this case, and it's probably something you haven't already heard, but it's very skeptical. The the court, the general takeaway was the court was probably skeptical about the authority of the president to do this. And I think that at some point the the odds certainly are in favor of those who are challenging this executive order. In other words, there's a there's a fairly decent chance, a fairly large chance, honestly, that the president loses. Now, the degree which he loses is something that to remains to be seen about how how the court crafts its opinion. But let me be clear, you know, I'm making a lot of good cases for why that why Donald Trump and the Trump administration should win. There were a lot of arguments that were proper on the other side that were saying why he should lose. And I think the court might have been more, a majority of the justices might more might have been more amenable than some of those arguments.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

And certainly the court, as well as the opponents of the what the Trump administration is trying to do here, they can along with the Constitution, if they want to further the argument, they had the Immigration Nationality Act of 1952, which just reinforces the narrow exceptions of the Fourteenth Amendment versus trying to expand the limitations of the 14th Amendment.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

Yeah, let me talk about the implications there because I think this is probably an interesting take on this. Now, there's when I talk about losses, there's there's there's degrees of loss here that we're talking about, and there's also degrees of victory. Now, if the court engages in a constitutional analysis and simply concludes, now that's a high stakes, right? If you're if you somehow, if the the Supreme Court is saying that the Fourteenth Amendment conveys a birthright a birthright citizenship, in other words, a right to citizenship by virtue of your territory of birth in the United States. If they find that if they find that that's a right, that that right is enshrined within the 14th Amendment, just like our right to free speech is enshrined in the First Amendment. That means if you're going to pass, you can't, any law that contradicts that, you know, seeks to limit that that right is unconstitutionally and unconstitutional, and the only way to amend it is by constitutional amendment. Now, if the court simply limits its analysis to the law, and you just you just posited the law, it's the in INA of 1940 and 1952, which even though the language largely mirrors it, if the court simply says, and they don't get into uh a a constitutional analysis, if they simply limit their analysis to the law, and how does the court do that? Well they say, okay, well, the intent of the the draft the of Congress in 1952 was that this applies to anybody born here. We're not gonna we're not gonna get into what what they meant with the 14th Amendment. We're just gonna simply say the executive order is contrary to the law, i.e. the INA that you just talked about, and the president's executive order is is is vacated, is null and void. So they throw that out. But what does that do? That preserves a political uh resolution of this. In other words, Congress passed a law in 1952, as you just said, Chris, they can pass a law in 2027 saying that birth tourism is illegal. And so there is that preservation. So what happens here is we're talking about high stakes here. We're talking about stakes. The stakes are if there's a constitutional analysis and a constitutional decision, a majority of the justices determine that. The only way to make any change after that interpretation is via a constitutional amendment. If they only rule on the law, then you have the political branches that can make a change. Now, again, we're talking I'm I'm aware of Congress and how inept they are. But the court can kind of wash its hands and say, hey, look, look, we've preserved the political process here. If the political branches want to solve this problem, then it's their problem that they can solve. And so we're only going to rule on the law on this. We're not gonna we're gonna utilize what is known as the canon of constitutional avoidance and not get into saying what the what the 14th Amendment means. Now, again, the co Trump could win huge, right? He could say, no, no, no, subject to the jurisdiction thereof means this is limited, and Trump's executive order is consistent with that. He could win big, but he could also lose big, or he could lose little or win little. You see what I'm saying? It's complicated, but it's it's important to understand these distinctions.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

And plus the implic implications of whatever the ruling happens to be, there still could be a path into what the in some part what the what the goal of the executive order was. We have to wrap up here, but the expected ruling is going to be sometime toward the end of June. If you want to keep an eye out for that. Learn more about this issue and other legal issues of the landmark legal foundation focused. Landmarklegal.org. Here's the Vice President of Legal Affairs, Michael O'Neill. Michael, thank you for the insight. Always appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Take care, Chris. Have a good day.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Imagine that you're in a casino at the blackjack table. Had a great run. I stack a hundred dollar chips in front of you. It's time to leave. So do you get up and leave those chips on the table? Well, we'll love it if you got that, but no, of course not. Let's get with her new book. Teaches you how that's exactly what you're doing. When you file your taxes, you're leaving money on the government's table, and the boy, the government loves that. Her book will not only help the last-minute filers, but it'll help everyone plan better for next year. She presents all this and deduct everything. Hundreds of tax tips, legal write-offs, credits, and loopholes. She's a financial advisor at leaving follow global advisors, compliments at the Daily Signal, host of the podcast, Women, Wealth and What Matters. Tracy Burns. How are you today, Tracy?

SPEAKER_01 13:43

I'm actually Chris, how are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Good to have you here. And TracyBurnsWealth.com is Tracy's website. We do have the link at her homepage as well. Check out her book. More importantly, get her book because you're you are amazing, Tracy. 254 trips uh tips, and your book is not the size of a Nelson Deville novel, which those things usually ran like 700 pages, so well done on that.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Thank you very much. And I actually I'm I'm a little bit of a movie buff, so there's a bunch of movie references in there too. I tried very hard to make it as fun as possible, even though I realize tax isn't fun as a complete oxymoron. Um but you gotta it's it's one of those things in life we have to get through, so we might as well have a good time doing it.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Let's start with some basics because when you sit down and do your file uh do your tax filing, it's even at the last minute when you might be rushing, you're even more prone to missing out on on the blatant and the obvious. Some of the the basics like uh deductions and credits, what's the major ones someone has to look at in this last minute, last few days of filing?

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Well, I think the good news is the standard deduction is higher, so you you might not have to go through the itemized deductions on Schedule A, depending on your income level. I think a lot of people miss out on um things around their kids, right? The dependent care deduction. Do you send your kid to summer camp so you can go to work? That's a deduction, believe it or not. There's a lot of things for families in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, believe it or not. I think tax on tips has been a little misleading out there. You have to report all your tips. You want to pay into Social Security and Medicare, even though I don't know if I'm gonna get it, but I'd like to believe my my parents are. So um, but you still need to report it, and then you see if you qualify for this$25,000 deduction. Same with overtime. Again, misleading. Please report all your overtime. You don't want to have to pay back uh interest and penalties on income you haven't reported. Report it all, then see if you qualify for the$12,500 uh dollar deduction. So there's a lot in there, but I think my biggest tip is to take your time and flip through the book. That's why we did it in that little bits and pieces. Flip through, see if things apply to you, then read the tip, either take it to your preparer, or if you're like me, I actually use the online preparation programs or your pour your drink of choice, sit down, be patient, walk through it, answer every single question, because then you'll then you'll be able to see what you actually qualify for.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Help the person, especially new homeowners, understand the salt deduction because up until everything was finalized, it seemed like one day it was going to be one thing, another day was gonna be another thing, and it was gonna go up, it was gonna go expectations versus reality. How did it all land and what's it mean for the for for those taking the salt deduction?

SPEAKER_01 16:35

I mean, for New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, California, it's it's great news. You get this 40, it could be up to$40,000 depending on your income limits, uh your income, uh, your gross adjusted gross income. That's the thing with just about everything, right? There is a cutoff. Nothing is unlimited. And if you make a lot of money, unfortunately, you're you don't get a whole heck of a lot out of this tax uh tax code these days. That is why it it fascinates me that you know we think the rich are getting away with murder, but meanwhile, they don't qualify for anything. So there's an income limit. You're depending on your adjusted gross income, you may or may not be able to deduct up to forty thousand dollars on of your state and local taxes. That's great news.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

When it comes to saving, can saving save you a tax time, meaning catch-up donate uh contributions, uh Roths and Iris. What what are some of the the primary points for focus that a uh a saving a saver should have in their current and future planning for the best tax benefits?

SPEAKER_01 17:35

Right. So everyone forgets the savers credit. Pay attention to that. This year going forward now, if you are over 50, so myself and all my cohorts, that extra catch-up contribution for your 401k, it is now going into a Roth. So if you max out your 401k and you still are putting in that catch-up contribution for those of us 50 and older, it is going into a Roth. On some level, people might be annoyed about that because that means your take-home pay will be a little higher because that's after tax dollars. But I think you'll be very happy in retirement when you get to pull that money out. All the growth, all the contributions tax-free. So that's a big that will be a big deal. And I think for a lot of companies, especially the smaller ones, they may or may not be prepared for this. So be patient with them because that but that's going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

So Tracy Burns, Financial Advisor, Leventhal, Global Advisors, Columns of the Daily Signal, host of the podcast Women, Wealth and What Matters. Deduct Everything, her new book. Learn more about the world of Tracy Burns at TracyBurnsWealth.com. And you are listening to It's Choose and Ideas. How much of a tax benefit can your vehicle be? I'm thinking, I'm reading that section. I'm thinking back to my days in radio advertising sales and man, that's uh that mild, mild deduction. I thought I was gonna get a red flag because the amount was literally astronomical, but that just made made me from a taxpayer to a return receiver.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Look at but that that's the thing with all these things, right? If you qualify, take it. So many people are afraid to take deductions because it looks too big and they think they're gonna red flag the IRS. If they do, they do. If you have the backup for it and you qualify for it, you should take it. So if you drive, make sure you take the mileage deduction. If you use your car for work, make sure you take the deductions for that. The new thing in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is this potential to deduct up to$10,000 in interest on a car loan. Again, very misleading. Has to be an American-made car. Again, you have to hit certain income limitations. And it is the only the interest on the loan. It is not the actual loan. But again, if you bought a brand new American car, not a used vehicle, make sure you tell your tax repairer and have them run the numbers to see if you qualify. And like and like you just said, if you do a lot of driving, then you deserve that deduction back.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

As well as for unreimbursed workplace expenses, too. A lot of people, I think, overlook that one.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Totally, totally. If your employer doesn't re reimburse you, make sure you keep track of these things. If you are a 1099 employee, please, please, please keep track of all your stuff because man, there's a lot of opportunity there to deduct things because you are self-employed and you're doing it on your own, and the government actually appreciates your hard work. And so make sure you keep track. You're keep good records. I will say also that the IRS has finally become entered the digitized world and would prefer everything be digital. So don't send the IRS a shoebox full of receipts. Don't just they don't want that. They don't even want your paper check anymore, quite frankly. They would rather you went on the IRS's site and paid that way or had it deduct out of your bank account. But keep track, keep track of all your expenses online. That way, if, God forbid, I'm Cecilia, we say God forbid, God forbid, the IRS does ask for proof, you have it. And that's it. Don't be afraid. If the IRS questions you and you're right, you're right. They are not always right. They're wrong often, too.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Although, even though your title, your book title does say Deduct Everything, don't go crazy. Don't start declaring your dog as a security system.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

A hundred percent. That's what I'm saying. If it's a legit deduction, deduct it. Take it, and make sure you get your money back. But you're right, people push the envelope, right? Someone tried to deduct their wedding because they thought it was a networking event. I've heard of people trying to deduct their pools because it's uh it's for medical reasons. But if your doctor didn't write you a note, it's not a medical reason. So just be careful with pushing the envelope on stuff.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Final question, and especially with the last minute filers, if you can't pay what you owe or think you're going to owe, the biggest mistake you could possibly make that you can't that you need to really avoid.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Yeah, pay something. Pay something. So, first of all, if you're not going to be ready by April 15th, that's fine. File an extension of form 4868. Just file it. I would say the IRS is like a little kid. Just wants a little attention once a year. Give it the attention it wants, send the form and say, I know I owe you something, but I'm not ready. That's it. Then you have till October 15th to prepare your return. You do not have till October 15th to pay. So if you ballpark as best you can, if you don't know the exact number, send something. And I will say the IRS is pretty lenient when it comes to gunning on payment plans, and they offer all different methods of paying now. Take advantage of all of it. You can use your credit card, which is I think is a terrible idea, but if you need to use it, but pay something because otherwise you will be hit with interest, late payment penalties, you don't want all that. That stuff adds up so quickly.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

And if you really annoy them, they might slap you with another just because they can.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Unfortunately, it it's you know what? That's the problem. Everyone's scared of the IRS because they sort of do things out of left field sometimes, and you're like, wait, I'm an upstanding citizen, I work really, really hard, and now you're coming after me when you know Joe Schmoe down the street is making a zillion dollars. Yes, yes, it happens, unfortunately. But just document everything and don't be afraid.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Well, if you're a last-minute filing or if you want a better plan because you paid and you realize, oh, I I deserve better than that, Tracy's book is the go-to. Deduct everything, hundreds of tax tips, legal write-offs, credits, and loopholes. Find more, find out more about Tracy at tracyburnswealth.com. Tracy, you are alone with being a jersey girl. We like that around here. You are indeed a savior for tax time and tax stress. Thank you so much for being here today.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

It was my pleasure, and I do love being a Jersey girl.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

If you're listening to us on your favorite podcast platform, don't forget to follow or subscribe to us. Back in 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to students at Barrett Junior High Schools in Philadelphia and delivered a teaching asking those youths, what is your life's blueprint? It was unplanned stop, and or even the film of that speech is because a student took it upon themselves to film it, and that still holds a lesson. But I believe my next guest greatly expands through his work of helping youths find and develop a direction for their lives by embracing a passion and building a plan for their lives, taking advantage of situations, like a high school student in Philadelphia did, taking an opportunity and taking it. His life. It's certainly a testimony, by the way, to how this can be done for and the rewards that come from that focus and drive determination. His life took him from orphanages to military service to Wall Street leadership. He's developed a life design course that's been adopted by many schools and universities. He tells his story in the book, The Road Let's Travel, The Unlikely Journey from the Orphanage to the Boardroom. He's also written a companion book which presents the ideas of his life design course. That's called The Four P's, Modern Fables of Preparing for Your Future. Ed Hey Jim, how are you today, sir?

SPEAKER_05 25:13

I am great. Nice to be on your show.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Well, thank you for providing such a great uh guidance for so many youth who are in such need as we see and survey and poll and survey after poll. Go to the website, Ed Hajim at H Aj I M.com. And we'll also find more information. At our homepage as well. It is often said Ed that our youth years determine our lives and who we'll wind up being. And to say the least, your life is quite the argument against that theory. Talk about your early years and some of the things you had to uh endure and even survive.

SPEAKER_05 25:52

Well, it's a little bit of a long story, but uh I basically, my first uh uh 18 years, I spent time in hotels, motels. My father and mother got divorced when I was three. Mother basically got custody, took me from Los Angeles to St. Louis. My father got visiting rights on Sunday uh and five dollars a week of alimony and child support. He came a couple months after I was in St. Louis, picked me up, and instead of taking me to the movie or in a park, he basically kidnapped me and took me back to Los Angeles, told me that my mother basically passed away. He told her not to look for us. You want to find out what happened, you have to read the book. But anyway, over the next 15 years, I basically spent my time in hotels, motels. When the uh war broke up, my father was drafted in as a radio operator on a merchant ship, and I spent the entire war in five different foster homes. After the war, we came to New York, New York, and I spent the summer in the YMCA of 34th Street, and then a hotel room in Tony Island. I did pretty well at PS 106 when my father couldn't find last land-based work, so I ended up going back to sea, and I ended up in a couple of orphanages, one in by Rockaway, which I did very well with, but I aged out of there, and my father totally disappeared, which was a very long story, and I became a ward of the state, ended up getting put in another orphanage in the Awkers, New York, which was close to a very good high school. And from there I had a lot of luck. I did well in school, and I the only three, four scholarships I could get. I got the Naval Scholarship, NRTC. That changed my life. And that's basically why uh one of the reasons I'm very strong on scholarships for kids. They can get to a certain point in their life and need a small amount of funding to take them over that next hurdle. That's where I'm spending most of my philanthropy. I spent my life in edu in addition to Wall Street in education, boys' school, and the business school, and I also became the chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of Rochester.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

What do you see missing in kids today in youth? Because uh I remember the comedian Jerry Lewis. He he said there is various stages of life infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. But between adolescence and adulthood, he called it there's an age of stupid. And how long that age exists is really based upon the individual. What what what you see in youth that compelled you, motivated you to come up with the life design course?

SPEAKER_05 28:15

Well, see, I I believe there are two kinds of education. One teaches you how to make a living, and a lot of our schools do a pretty good job of that. The second type of education is to teach you how to make a life. That was left to religion and parents and so forth in the old days. And with the change in the society, the advent of AI, the advent of social media, the basically, you know, the geopolitical reconfiguration, the game is starting to be very complicated. So I think that I have a crusade, it's presumptuous, but I want to add a dimension to high school and college education, where kids sit around and think about who they are, where they want to go, how they expect to get there, and if they've got time to find out if they get there, are they going to be happy about it? That's what my life design course does. And it's a simple course, it's it's been basic as I've taken it out to universities and high schools. I have nobody turn me down so far. They all agree that today's youth need time spent formally. Now, it used to be done in the dining room and in dormitories and so forth, conversation. Formally in a freshman year, a student sits down, goes through this life design course, ends up with a plan, which he tries to execute over the next four years, testing various things. So when they graduate, they end up with a diploma and a roadmap for life. Now, by the way, the diploma has a lot of parts of it which become useless in a very short period of time, like my slide rule capability when I was an engineer in a few years ago. It was worthless, you know. But this life, this roadmap for life, can last a lifetime. And I use that because I used it. I had these yellow pads, which I went through the what I call my four P's, finding your passions, finding your principles, find your partners, and find your plans. But, you know, this thing can last a lifetime, and I really believe people should start thinking about it. And it's only because the system has gotten much more complex. You know, grandpa went to went to school, learned something, spent his whole life in one company, and died. Today, kids have to pivot a number of times. What I'm trying to give these kids is a vocabulary for their inner voice, which will allow them to handle change. And that's basically what the life design course is. And it's simple, basically, just saying, Who am I? You know, and where do I want to go? And what's what does that road look like? And I go back through my life, and in many cases, I I did those tests my sophomore year. I wanted to be a physicist. So I, as I was an engineer, I took an advanced physics course. Well, in a very short period of time, I realized that this was not for me. And you know, testing these things, these these words you you give people. What is an engineer? You know, what is a what is a lawyer? What do you do Monday morning? And getting those questions answered early on so you don't make too many mistakes in your life, I think is very important. But it is really because the system has gotten to be very complex now. As I've taken this out to schools, they say, absolutely, we need this. And it's been very interesting. I now have it in 10 schools, and I have it at both ends of the spectrum, as I call it. I have one where there's a very upscale, you know, a secondary school, and then I have one in Newark, which is basically mostly first gen. And they both seem to acquire an interest in it and find it very fascinating. I mean, let me take a simple example. You know, when a kid is 16, 16, 18 years old, is a combination of her his or her genes and their environment over which they have no control. So, in a sense, you have no control of who you are. And somewhere in that period, 18, 19, but what Jerry Lewis said, you come up, wake up one morning and you say, This is who I am. These are the parts of me I want to keep. These are the part of me I'd really like to get rid of or eliminate, reduce significantly, and these are the parts of me I want to add. And that's what I want kids to do. And I want it to be overt where they say, I really want to learn this because. And so that's my my crusade. Uh, you know, it's I spent my life, I say, and besides the Wall Street, I I spent my time, my life in education, being the chairman of the board of trustees of a boys' school, being the the uh Harvard Business School, taking up being the on the Dean's Advisory Committee, which is the board basically, and then of course Rochester. I spent uh 30 years as a trustee at the University of Rochester. So I've really been immersed in education. This is what I see is needed. This this you you gotta give them money to get over that little hump there between 17 and 18. I gotta go to college, cost a little bit of money, so I basically concentrate on my philosophy, philanthropy, and and and and and basically scholarships. But on the other hand, we've got to take these young people and say, here's some just take a little time off formally to ask the questions which are very important for you for a lifetime. And that's what Martin Luther King said. I think it's absolutely terrific, exactly correct. And I think it can really help young people get that first step right, and that's most important. Sorry for the long answer.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

No, no, I I love long answers because that's how we all learn. I I'm here to learn from you as a listener right now. I don't I'm not one of these hosts who come in thinking I'm gonna know all and compete with you. I'm certainly not gonna do that. We're talking with Ed Hai Jim and uh his story, his life at edhagym.com. We have the link of the homepage, you're listening to it, students and ideas. I think the key to your uh your program to it is that uh it's uh it doesn't have one point of focus to have passions, principles, partners, plans, because so many programs, so many education systems have just one direction, and that direction doesn't work for that one specific student. Well then what? And with with passion, Zed, do you find because I I know I found this over over time, the toughest question you can ask someone of any age is what's the what are your what's your passion? Not one not what you like.

SPEAKER_05 33:36

Passion is an overused word. You know, it's true your your your your interests, your talents, and your and basically also your context. I mean, today in Kiev and and and and and and New Jersey are two different contexts. They've got to be your passions are very different. But you should dig down deeply and say, what do I really like? And also, I make it very clear to people, passions change over time. So you've got to check in with yourself on a regular basis. I I kid about this, but high school is when the first passion saw a real passion. If you want to be an ice cream truck driver or something when you're four years old, but somewhere in that that again, that period Jerry Lewis talked about, you start to come with real passions. My work, math, science, baseball, basketball, and girls. And you know, those are my passions. And you know, then I went to college, those sort of morphed. Baseball and basketball died after my freshman year, and it moved into extracurricular activities. And math and science have evolved into chemical engineering. But even in now, when I moved into extracurricular activities, I in my junior year I started a magazine. And basically I found my real passion was putting people together to solve a problem. I really loved doing that. And that taught me that I had I really wanted to be a manager. So these are the kinds of things when you start testing yourself, you start to feel excitement. In fact, inside that I found what I really got a kick out of, and I didn't find it until 10 years later, basically, I really got a kick out of helping people do better than they thought they could. And that's really very interesting because that makes you a very good manager because you're really interested in other people, and that's what really drives the system. And I think that was my success. Actually, I I got a young fellow told me that someone middle career said, I really like working for you. And I said, you know, why? He said, Because you really want me to succeed. So these are the kinds of there's there are subtle passions. I have to play baseball. There are other passions which are deep-seated, and I think people have to keep sorting those things out. What's my passion now? I mean, my passion used to be stock market, you know, managing people. Now I'm trying, my passion is trying to get an idea out in which is going to be very important. I always find this one sentence I love is, you know, you're not gonna live forever, but try to make things that will. And this course could go on to become, you know, very important. If it gets important, I mean, I have a few years left in my life and I'll do the best job I can. I'm hoping I'll create some uh some, you know, some some some other people which will take it and run with it. And I've, you know, my course basically is not my course. I tell every one of the schools, here it is, you've got to make it your course because you have a unique population. Each population needs different things. You know, Sacred Heart, they're gonna spend more time on principles than they may be on passions and and partners. You know, a place like uh New Jersey Technical Institute is gonna spend more time probably on passions, and other people are gonna start saying your most important thing is your partners. But I think these this is a vocabulary. Keep asking yourself, what are my passions? Have my principles changed? And principles are very important. I mean, there's some basic principles, as you know, do unto others. But as life goes on, one of my principles on Wall Street was to live happy was to live hidden. No, it's don't go in the press. I had a company run, I was a CEO, so I didn't, I didn't know press, no TV, no magazines, nothing. Now, of course, when I'm selling ideas and and books, I've I've gone. My Instagram, it scares me to death, and you know, it's LinkedIn and so forth. But you have to change your principles as well. And that's what I say, you know, once every couple of years you sit down with yourself and say, let's go through this thing. But it's nice because you have a vocabulary to go back and reference. It's not just starting all over again. Long answer short question. Sorry, Chris.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_05 37:03

My daughter says, sort of my weaknesses.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

No, I'm I'm I'm learning it's your passion too, what you're doing here, and that's important because it's we have to wrap up here, but it's a it's uh not just doing something, but watching what you're doing to make sure that it's working for you and it's what you want to be doing, and you always have to keep a level of awareness about yourself as you're going through life. Just to wrap up, talk uh how do schools bring you your program in? What do they have to do? How can how can they get to you?

SPEAKER_05 37:29

Well, you know, I I I go to the school and I show them the program, and there's usually somebody in the either development or career career counseling or one of the one one co one schools in the English department, somebody who's a zealot, you know, catches on and says, Hey, I want to do this, and they go for it. Recent Stony Book picked it up and was picked up by uh the the career the career the career center. At Rochester, the the career center is doing over 200 kids in ten different sections. Uh Hobart has it as a required freshman course. Uh Brunswick School has a required senior course. So each school is a little bit different. You have you have to find the person that's really interested. And of course, you know, some can't, you know, they need funding and so forth. I do a little bit of funding uh to help out because when you're starting something new, you know, somebody's got to say, how am I gonna upset the cost? So that's a problem. Some schools just can't do it, period. But no, I said I've I've approached 10 schools as I'm operating right now and have another 10 schools that are in various stages of interest. So I'm having fun with it, and I think it's real because it's I'm getting people, you know, I'm getting feedback from schools saying kids have really changed. They really have, they've changed their direction. They've they've changed their interests by by by studying themselves. So that's kind of fascinating to me.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

You can find out more at Ed's website at Hey Jim, H A J I M.com. Learn more about his books, The Road Less Traveled, as well as the four P's, the modern fame of preparing preparing for your future. We have the link over to our homepage as well. Ed, when it comes to building a legacy that makes a difference long term, you have certainly succeeded in that, as you have in so many points of of your life. Your life is indeed a lesson to learn from. And thank you for sharing that that wisdom, that knowledge, that experience, and thanks for being here today.

SPEAKER_05 39:11

Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's always good to talk to somebody who who likes what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

I hope you don't need me to tell you today is Easter, the day of faith, a day of prayer and praise. Sadly, this is one of only two days, and that's even maybe the other being Christmas, that a growing number of people turn to. Faith, prayer, and praise. As we see all measures of hope and happiness decline among Americans for a variety of reasons, our next gift is leading an effort to bring people to what lifts spirit strengthens and guides us prayer and faith. This effort is called Prayer at the Heart, and joining us to explain how its goals will be achieved, as well as the role that you can play in the program, is the founder and executive director, Dr. Douglas Mohl. How are you today, Doctor?

SPEAKER_04 39:59

Well, Chris, thank you so much for having me. Well, thank you with you.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

Thank you for doing this. And the website to find out more, we do have this link at our homepage, prayer at the heart.org. I want to start with a few statistics. This is from a variety of sources, so I pretty much averaged out the numbers. U.S. adults who pray daily range between 44 to 55 percent. An additional 21 to 23 percent prey either weekly or a few times a month. And if you look at the demographics, as they call them, women more likely to be to prey than men, 50 to 37 percent, and older adults meaning sixty-five and older, much more likely to pray daily than those under 30, 65 to 41 percent, respectively. What was your motivation, Doctor, for creating the Prayer with the Heart program? What were you seeing that you think you can have with the power of the people behind you, have the answer to respond?

SPEAKER_04 40:59

Well, Chris, there there's so many ways I could answer that question. Your your statistics uh focus on general prayer. In some ways, it focuses on what James, the brother of Jesus, would call caucus prayer, a bad prayer. It's self-interested prayer. And what we're trying to do is say to the nation, you don't understand how critical your role is in intercessory prayer, in redemptive prayer, in inviting God to come to America. We've closed the door in many ways to him. And so this effort, we we took 3,000 people to the heart of the nation six years ago. All 50 states were represented. It was a six-hour event, they say a million people tuned into some part of it. Then the goal was to go to the heart of every state and every city and every county until out until everywhere there's outside public gatherings of prayer, crying out for a fresh spiritual awakening. That's what the nation uh really, really needs.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

I say it's an old joke and it's it's meant that way, but uh after a school shooting, people will say to a Christian, Well, where is your God? And the Christian says back to those people, he's trying to get into the school, but you keep slamming the door in his face.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

Yeah, we have uh we have for uh 60 years now uh just watched the dominoes fall to exclude uh God, but there is a resurgence that began to happen from Asbury forward, college campuses where you get a thousand or more kids being baptized, the uptick in uh uh a search for God, a search for meaning. In many ways, Chris, I think we're not post-Christian. We may be pre-Christian in the sense that you have a whole generation now in America that doesn't know anything about Christ. They're walking into churches and saying, I've never been in a church before. Where do I go? What do I do? There's a hole in their heart that only a father, uh, a a good father, a loving father, a forgiving father, can uh can heal. So a part of our uh thrust is is come home. Come come home to church. Come home, go home you've never been to before. Come home to God, come home to your father. And uh and we're hoping that a million Christians will share their faith by Pentecost Sunday. We're saying pray for ten, care for five, share Christ with three, win one, and and and do it with two other people so you're not alone, you're not discouraged. In in the 3.2 billion people who came to Christ in Billy Graham's Crusade, 80% were saved by this method. Eighty percent were on somebody's what they called the Operation Andrew uh guide. And this person and two of his friends were praying together every week, you know, for John and Sally and Sue and whatever else. And and and they brought them to the crusade and they came to Christ. That's what we're praying. But on Pentecost Sunday churches will be full of people. We've got seven weeks to do this full of people who have given their heart to Christ or they're ready to give their heart to to Christ.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

And that certainly does please God when one sinner can be reformed. And you mentioned people walking into church now not knowing what to do the same thing with prayer. How do I pray? What do I pray? And the answer is is very clear in Matthew 6, 5, 15 God first, our true needs, forgiveness, and refusing to temptation.

SPEAKER_04 44:56

And and Paul gives us another thing in Timothy too. He says he talks about petitionary prayer and then worship and then intercessory prayer which means to meet with the king in behalf of another person and then Eucharistia thanksgiving. And this is really Paul's concise theology of prayer. I think the part we've been leaving out is we don't understand that we are the gap between God and lost people around us. We've confused intercession with spiritual warfare it certainly does involve that, but it it's that's only incidental. The real issue in in intercession is reconciliation. The first movement in evangelism is prayer where you step in the middle Halloween said you're like a satellite dish. You catch the beam of heaven and direct it here and here and there and there. Brugelman the theologian says we pray here and God moves there. We pray now and God moves in. We're that indispensable mysterious link in the middle even though we don't think anything's happening the Holy Spirit is witnessing with us the book of Acts says and waking up their their their heart to Christ to the reality of who God is and his love.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

So how are you having people involved is it a matter of the individuals or churches organizations?

SPEAKER_04 46:20

All the above you can go to prayer at the heart and there's actually a guide that you can pull down it's a 50-day prayer guide but there's also a kind of a kind of an organizational thing just for you and then there's one for the church and then there's one for the county and then there's one for the state so we're looking for a kind of layered participation. Our prayer going into this is that is that all 50 states would be involved and we now have all 50 states where we have a state leader or state advocate we wanted all um uh 3100 uh counties involved I think we're going to get to a little less than half of that this year we'll repeat this next year and then uh our goal is to see 25,000 churches involved I know that there are 25 to 30 Christian denominations or organizations involved in promoting this on their own. But the big thing Chris is is I'm asking people I'm asking your listeners to be one of a million reaching one of a million one of a million reaching one of a million pray for 10 care for five share with three win one and a million would be twice as many as we've seen saved in recent years among all denominations for an entire year. A million would be like a it would it would be a domino we would feel it's not the we need 35 million we need a tithe of the nation we need we need to get to a tipping point here but that's too many to begin with so a million would get us twice as far down the road in 50 days as we've been getting down the road but and because we're afraid we're intimidated we're fearful of sharing our faith so I'm just asking Christians to break your silence and and it's not about confronting people or quoting but the scripture it's it's really about hearing their story and and then letting them hear your story about how God changed your life and and then letting them hear his story. It's a blessing the first word of God to us in the Bible the Father was blessing the last word of Jesus was blessing. Even the crucifixion could not quiet could not quench that blessing that's what we speak Aaron spoke it over the people we're we're speaking we have this extraordinary privilege of saying to people God bless you he wants to bless you and and he said to Aaron if you'll speak the blessing I'll do the blessing.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Which is why Jesus says too if you think that you're you're introverted or you don't want to impose or you're going in unarmed for a lack of a better word Jesus in Matthew 1820 says where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there in the midst of them. You are not alone you're not in this alone and for those who are seeking answers let them know that they're not alone through prayer they can make the connection and feel God's love and be blessed in every way that they're in true righteous need of find out more at prayer at the heart dot org it's it's time the time is now the program starts today the goals are set your efforts your prayer efforts your spiritual efforts are needed to make this whole thing work again prayer at the heart dot org Dr. Douglas Mall thank you for this inspirational opportunity for all those who are giving prayer those who receive prayer thank you for being here today thank you Chris thank you so much reading from Matthew chapter twenty eight verses one through eight now after the Sabbath as the first day of the week began to dawn Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb and behold there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stones from the door and sat on it. His countenance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow and the guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women Do not be afraid for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here for he is risen as he said, Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead and indeed he is going before you into Galilee there you will see him, behold, I have told you. So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to bring his disciples word. Today on this Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by taking very careful note of the three most important words in verse six He is risen. Not he has risen, not He was risen, he is risen. It's important to understand this in order to understand and acknowledge that Jesus is forever. As Jesus declares in John chapter eight verse fifty eight Jesus said to them Most assuredly I say to you before Abraham was I am this is why Jesus could foretell and reveal to his disciples what was to fall upon him. We read his words in Luke chapter 9 verse 22 the Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. This prophecy by Jesus is also revealed in the eighth chapter of Mark with an extra message for those who cast doubt at the resurrection in Mark after Jesus reveals what's to come Peter rebuked him here's how Jesus responded in Mark chapter 8 verse 33 but when he had turned around and looked at his disciples he rebuked Peter saying Satan for you are not mindful of the things of God but the things of men. Did you know that the resurrection of Jesus means the resurrection of us we're spiritually dead with him we are brought to a resurrected life as it explained to us in first Peter chapter one verses three through five blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last day. Paul goes even further and more direct in Romans chapter six verses four through six therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we've been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also should be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Discussions of the resurrection of Jesus will often lead to a discussion about the shroud of Turin, the burial cloth of Jesus is it real? Is it fake? Yeah that debate has gone on for centuries, hasn't it? In fact this past week I read two news articles one said that nuclear scientists have proven that the shroud is legitimate another news report the very next day said that the authenticity of the shroud can't be proven because of all the foreign matter it's picked up over the centuries. Let me ask you this question. Did God allow the shroud to be turned into a test of faith? Do you need the shroud of Turin to be authentic in order for you to believe that the resurrection of Jesus is true. Are you what doubting Thomas? You remember Tom don't you Thomas was one of the disciples when Jesus appeared to his disciples after his death and resurrection Thomas wasn't in the room he was on the coffee run that morning when the others told Thomas about what he missed didn't believe them. Well Jesus took care of this matter in John chapter twenty verses twenty six through twenty nine and after eight days his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace to you then he said to Thomas reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it into my side do not be unbelieving but believing and Thomas answered and said to him My Lord, my God Jesus said to him Thomas because you have seen me you have believed blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed part of living a resurrection life involves living the words found in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 for we walk by faith not by sight. So rejoice on this Easter for he is risen. Say it with me for he is risen. Be sure to check out our website issuesandideasradio.com that's where you'll find more information about the guests who joined us here on the show today and if you've been listening via your favorite podcast platform don't forget to subscribe or follow us so you never miss a single episode. Always thankful for your time and attention very special and important to us look forward to being with you right here this time for our next edition of Issues and ideas. Have a happy and blessed Easter