Editor’s note: So how did President Trump do in the big “60 Minutes” interview?  You told us, plus a thing or two about our podcasts and issues we’ve covered lately. Drop us a line at letters@dailysignal.com.—Ken McIntyre

Dear Daily Signal: Frankly, I could think of better responses than President Trump’s on some of those issues, but in general I agree with him and think Lesley Stahl was disgraceful in the “60 Minutes” interview last Sunday night (“6 Big Moments in Trump-Stahl Rumble on ‘60 Minutes’”).

On the single issue of what Stahl called Obama’s “not enforcing” the law on the border, is that what we all support? Presidents who choose what laws to enforce and what to ignore?

Because that means the law is not the law any longer. That we are no longer a nation of law but of men, the exact opposite of Thomas Jefferson’s belief.

And that philosophy perfectly summed up Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder. They believe the law means what they want it to mean instead of what it says, and that can destroy everything this nation stands for and is why activist judges must be opposed.—Wayne Peterkin

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Wouldn’t we love to see President Trump interview Lesley Stahl, or any media loudmouth hack like Stahl? That would be prime time entertainment.—Redigo Gubernatio

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What Lesley Stahl has done is to reveal the adroitness of a president who is doing his job as it should be done—honestly.—Jerry Hewes

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I don’t know what to say about Lesley Stahl. Just looking at her and hearing her voice made me want to pull my hair out listening to that interview. I wanted to grab her through the screen and choke her. She is full of it. I’m speechless.—Delilah Fleharty

Just who the hell does Lesley Stahl think she is, demanding a “pledge” from the president on climate change?

If Stahl is so worried about Greenland and melting ice, is she willing to give up flying on planes, or being transported from one place to another by vehicles powered by fossil fuels? Is she willing to refuse to purchase any goods or services that have been transported to markets by vehicles (trucks, planes, ships, or freight trains) powered by fossil fuels?

Is she willing to heat and cool her home(s) only with power generated by solar panels and/or wind power? Is she willing to make a “pledge” to President Trump that she will do so?—Drew Page

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How would she hold him to the pledge? Didn’t Obama pledge to have the most transparent administration in history? Why wasn’t he held to that?—Herman Mueller

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I thought Trump was at his best describing what a lying, dishonest, and scurrilous cesspool Washington, D.C., was—even compared to New York City. That New Yorkers were children compared to the underhandedness and dishonesty in politics.—Bob Armstrong

Diversity and Feminism on the Podcast

Dear Daily Signal: This is in response to Daniel Davis’s interview with Manhattan Institute scholar Heather Mac Donald on The Daily Signal Podcast (“How ‘Diversity Ideology’ Killed the University and Is Infecting America”). Multiculturalism, diversity, identity politics—all devices of the globalists to tear down existing nations.

The problem is that they are faulty concepts that also tear down the human spirit and prevent a true high moral ground based on belief in God. People have become miserable under these new “progressive” policies.—Anna Hale

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The only reason young, impressionable youngsters go to college is to become ignorant, dysfunctional, gender confused, radicalized, communist, useful idiots who no longer can think for themselves and/or can’t defend their beliefs without assaulting someone and then attempt to justify their immoral, radicalized behavior.

By the way, somebody ought to tell them they are a minority outside their far-left, communist liberal, Democrat-controlled cities and colleges and they won’t survive very long outside their radicalized “safe zones” because we don’t have those kind of places where cowards and bullies hide in our neighborhoods.—Bob Shoemaker

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Thank you very much for concise articles and stimulating podcasts. I read mostly, due to a very active life. When it is quiet, I actually like to think my own thoughts at my own pace.

Today I did listen to the podcast and found “The Diversity Delusion” author Heather Mac Donald interesting. Her breakdown of developments in the academic world since the 1960s was helpful.

Also, as my ESL students recently covered a unit on robotics and RFID technology, and as the sex robot topic came up briefly, I wanted to see if I might refer the podcast to them for listening. Your discussion was articulate and engaging.

The one area in which you may want to improve a bit is pronunciation, as the “Diversity” author pronounced “Kavanaugh” in a new way, and in the robot interview I may have heard a word that sounded something like “exposional.”

I desire to refrain from being hypercritical; however, I think it is imperative for conservatives to recognize that we are always under the microscope in ways not applied to others.  And I want you to be your best. Thank you for your quality work. It is a go-to resource for me.—Barbara Durbin, Nebraska

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Good interview. This is the real goal of the people who want to destroy America as it is:

“In the long term, we need to work for systemic change in order to transform the societal beliefs and structures that maintain inequality and create the context for resistance to social justice.” So writes Diane J. Goodman in the textbook “Promoting Diversity and Social Justice: Educating People from Privileged Groups.”—Thomas Wayne

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My thoughts on your podcast  interview with Allie Beth Stuckey (“Conservative Millennial Allie Beth Stuckey on Feminism’s Biggest Flaws”): I’ve never doubted or questioned women’s equality. In my view, if a person can do a job, then he or she can have it and get the same pay for it that anyone else would get.

However, in my experience growing up in the 1960s and 1970s and living as an adult since then, feminism hasn’t been about equality. It’s been about women scolding, condemning, persecuting/prosecuting, condemning, and otherwise controlling men.

Frankly, after a half-century of that, I’ve had enough. If any woman attempts to belittle or criminalize me because I’m a man, I’ll have nothing to do with her. She can go her way, and I’ll go mine.

I think unwanted sexual provocation—i.e. unwanted “softcore pornography”—is sexual harassment or assault and it’s everywhere: television, internet ads, movies, websites, the workplace. I should have the right to watch a Super Bowl halftime show without seeing the male or female performer’s crotch consuming my television’s entire 2-foot by 4-foot screen.

If I choose to look at pornography, that’s my business. But if I don’t choose to look at pornography and am forced to anyway, by any objective measure that’s unwanted sexual provocation, i.e. sexual harassment or assault.  It’s everywhere. I want it stopped. I want equal enforcement of laws.—Andy Haraldson, Miami

AARP Gets Some Competition

Dear Daily Signal: About your recent podcast on the 60 Plus Association, “Meet the Conservative Alternative to the AARP,” I’ve been seeking an alternative to AARP for some time.

AARP’s insurance rates are higher (by far) than the rates I now pay with a Pennsylvania Blue Shield HMO. I’m well aware of AARP’s left-leaning agenda, and don’t support it.

There’s also an AARP alternative advertised on conservative talk radio where I live. It’s called AMAC, for Association of Mature American Citizens.

60 Plus President Saul Anuzis should get his website up and running soon, with lots of details. Many of us will want to take a good, long look at it.—Barbara Grancell-Frank

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When your customers say, “Hey, your competitor has products,” and your competitor gets the money, that makes it a powerhouse marketer. AARP wants to offer politics and not products.

These guys need to: 1)  listen to the market and offer products and 2) create a set of rules and guidelines that are explicitly and aggressively anti-entryist and anti-leftist, so that the infrastructure they create won’t just be stolen.—Joe Katzman

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I have another year of membership in AARP, and if this is a better deal, I would happily change and take the loss. I will go to the website for further information.

One area you may not have thought of, is senior citizens centers. They would mostly know about AARP and AMAC, but as for me, this is the first time I have heard of 60 Plus.

Seniors go to the centers for a good, hot lunch and various fun activities. In some to most cases, that is their only interactive organization. I was a senior center manager for three years in my last job before retirement.—Karen Callaway, Northeast Florida

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I much prefer written news to podcasts.—Tuiray Lockwood

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I appreciate your podcast and honest reporting.—Shirley Welden, Tulsa, Okla.

More Feedback on Our Podcasts

Dear Daily Signal: I have listened to The Daily Signal Podcast  for almost a year, and enjoy it very much.  I had a free moment at work today and thought that I would finally let you know.

I am a 57-year-old black man who is a physicist in Washington state. I am an Army veteran (1982-1986) who also served during Desert Shield/Storm (1990-1992). Please keep up the great work.—Mike Williams, Spokane Valley, Wash.

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I can’t thank you enough for your podcast on abortion, “‘Gosnell’ Filmmaker Shares Why This Story Had to Be Told.” I hope the movie “Gosnell” is a success and at some point convinces the public that these murderers of the most innocent in our society ought to be jailed for their crimes. This madness has to stop.

One question I always have had: If a mother is going to wait for seven or eight or nine months to kill her baby, why not birth him/her and adopt this little person out to loving, waiting parents? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Please don’t use my name; I’m fearful of repercussions.—J.B.

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About the interview with CBS News’ Major Garrett on the podcast (“White House Reporter Major Garrett on the ‘Thrills’ of Covering Trump“): Book sales aside, this is an excellent presentation that helps us to better understand President Trump. Thanks, Daily Signal.—Ted Duke, Reston, Va.

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This is the second time I have caught up with your podcast.  A range of topics including human dignity, abortion, and a comedian who just lost her show, which were all interesting, well and succinctly delivered.

I am going to forward those links to others who are conservatives and volunteers in my area.  I am a supporter of The Heritage Foundation and a Sentinel for Heritage Action.—Christine J. Paul, Dallas

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Podcasts increasingly are being used in the conservative media. I don’t listen to them. I’m not an auditory learner, in addition to having hearing issues.

Some producers also have available print text for podcasts. Do you? I’d appreciate knowing where to access those, so I too could enjoy what you are offering through a podcast.—Annemarie Maynard

 Editor’s note: We now run transcripts of major interviews on our podcasts within a few days of the podcast date. Look for these written versions in Morning Bell.

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The Daily Signal’s podcasts cannot be “read” or forwarded easily.  Transcripts are easy for you to create.  Why not do that?—John Leary, Hardy, Va.

Editor’s note: To forward a podcast, or any of our posts, click on the “envelope” icon between the headline and the main photo, then forward in the email format that pops up. See the note above regarding transcripts.  

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I anxiously await your daily podcasts. I find them informative and interesting, with the mix of updates on current happenings and interviews of guests with credentials linking them to issues, circumstances or developments of interest to me. Keep up the good work.—Irv Markley, The Villages, Fla. 

Climate Warriors Burrow Into State Governments

Dear Daily Signal: What Trump wants to do is remove the totalitarian power that Obama gave federal agencies, is my take on Kevin Mooney’s report (“Government for Hire? Emails Show ‘Climate Industry’ Funds Jobs in Offices of Governors, Attorneys General”). That allowed the Obama administration to circumvent Congress and create their own laws, with no oversight.

Trump has done almost nothing to weaken real environmental protections. Using the Environmental Protection Agency to force businesses into an agenda has nothing to do with saving the planet. It’s about control.

Obama’s No. 1 goal was to fully control business. It’s socialism through total control of the means of production, rather than direct government ownership of it.—Anthony Alafero

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It is my opinion that the evidence suggests we’ve done a reasonable job with air pollution in virtually all of the First World. Emerging industrial Second World and Third World countries are a different story.

Where we can and do need to improve our game is with our estuaries and oceans. Runoff from a multitude of sources large and small, in my opinion, is the biggest problem.

Can we improve air quality? Yes. Should we improve air quality? Yes. But we don’t need ham-handed policies that destroy the economy or property rights in the process.—Viron Payne

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California Gov. Jerry Brown threatened to sue Trump for damages to California caused by climate change, after Trump had been in office for four months.

And California’s weather isn’t made in the USA—it comes from the West, from the Pacific, over which not even Obama had any authority or control, despite his illusions.—Francisco Machado

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Gov. Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown is delusional. He has set up California to cater to government employees, the very rich, and the very poor. A recent U.S. News & World Report lists California as the state with the worst overall quality of life (50th out of 50).

Yes, there are beautiful places in California for the very wealthy to live and squalid places where hundreds of thousands of poor people live. Slowly but surely, once beautiful cities are being turned into slums for the homeless.

Middle-class individuals (those with annual family incomes of $75,000 or less) are being driven out of the state by high taxes, the high cost of housing, and a growing crime rate.—Drew Page

The Left Turns on the Electoral College

Dear Daily Signal: Funny, when the Democrats win an election, they praise the Electoral College as being brilliant (“Electoral College Foes Continue Push to Make Popular Vote Winner President”). When they lose, it’s an anachronism from earlier times that has no place in the modern world. Which is why we need to keep it.

There’s no legal precedent for sidestepping the amendment process. It has to be accepted and legislated by a two-thirds majority of the state’s legislature. They can come up with ways to get around it, but none are constitutional and they’d be challenged and the sitting Supreme Court would decide the issue.—Chuck Cochran

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The change to “winner take all” was approved by voters who knew no history. By that, states disenfranchised up to nearly half of their voters and turned the Senate into an upper House of Representatives. Senators no longer have to follow the votes of state governments, and ignore them with impunity.—Ted Duke, Reston, Va.

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This is the same crowd that compares Trump to Hitler in one breath and then wants to abolish the right to bear arms in the next one. Makes perfect liberal sense.—Connie Maynor

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You can bet the farm that if Hillary Clinton had won the electoral vote majority, the Democrats would have no problem whatsoever with the electoral vote system.—Drew Page

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Democrats are finally openly admitting that they are socialists. They want an electoral system like the ones they have in communist countries, where the dictator can say they won 110 percent of the vote.—Jim Scofield

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Our Founding Fathers set up the Electoral College so every state would have a dog in the fight. We were founded as a constitutional republic, not a democracy. Which is mob rule. If we go to a popular vote, we will be forced down the road to pure democracy and our republic dies. At that point the only thing that has a chance of saving our republic will be a violent revaluation.—Rick Alenn

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Changing the Electoral College has constitutional considerations. A state may not change the Electoral College just because it does not agree with the process.—Donald Leegh, Augusta, Ga.

Studying Transgender Teens and Suicide

Dear Daily Signal: I don’t think there’s much news here in the study that is the subject of Kelsey Harkness’ commentary, “The Alarming Findings of a New Study on Transgender Teens and Suicide.”

The medical professionals at Johns Hopkins who worked with transgendered individuals for decades, and for a time even offered surgical procedures to help them transition, have known for years that they have a much higher than normal suicide rate as well as lifelong issues with socializing. These are issues that persisted even after they had undergone various chemical and/or surgical procedures.

Of course those findings and years of research weren’t found to be acceptable to the LGBT crowd and the progressives pushing their agenda. So it’s become hard to find that data or the writings by those professionals who dedicated their careers to helping trans people come to terms with their issues.

As an aside, why would anyone not think that peer pressure and a sort of “monkey see, monkey do” effect wouldn’t cause sudden onset body dysphoria in the same way that adolescent suicides often come in twos and threes?—Robert Minor

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To aspire to get common sense back into this: If one is born with certain parts between their legs, they should accept this reality. That is what God, nature, and genes and DNA created them to be.

This “PC” infomercial for the gay/transgender lifestyle that kids are getting exposed to is a false path to self-realization. The grass is not really greener on the opposite side of the street.—Cynthia Weir, East Texas

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With numbers like these, one also can’t help but wonder exactly how “well-meaning” the advocates of transgenderism truly are.—C.W. Smith, N.D.

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Lisa Littman’s study on rapid-onset gender dysphoria, mentioned in this commentary, was peer-reviewed. It was reviewed by an ethics board before she undertook it, it was supervised throughout, and it went through the PLOS One peer review process before it was published.

That’s why there was such an outcry from the academic community when Brown University pulled its press release. Backing away from reviewed research like that is astonishing and largely unprecedented.—Natasha Chart

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Gender dysphoria is a mental illness that should be treated through psychiatric help. The fact that many of our gender dysphoric youth are now committing suicide bears out this conclusion. The idea that being gender dysphoric is a normal condition does not hold true when those that have the affliction cannot live with it.—Donald Leegh, Augusta, Ga.

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Certainly these kids should not be bullied at school, but neither should they expect or force others to accept their lifestyle choices. They are mentally troubled kids that need God to help them.—Richard Donahue

A Pediatrician Looks at Transgender Suicide

Dear Daily Signal: Parents will be sent a clear message under the circumstances Dr. Michelle Cretella describes in her commentary: Help your child transition, or you may lose them to suicide—and it will likely be your fault (“I’m a Pediatrician. Here’s What You Should Know About a New Study on Transgender Suicide”).

While I do agree with most of Cretella’s article, I do have one nit to pick: That Swedish study actually does support the idea that transition lowers suicide rates compared to pre-transition transgender people, but only slightly.

See, having a suicide rate of 19 times the general population is bad, but not as bad as the rate was before transition. In my opinion, it’s still better to help the child come to terms with his or her biological gender, since most feelings of gender dysphoria do not persist into adulthood.

And if you can choose between trying to help your child have the suicide rate of the general population or affirming them and guaranteeing they’ll have the pre- or post-transition suicide rates, both of which are very high, it’s an easy choice.—Sonnet Murray

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No information that would appear to support Dr. Michelle Cretella’s illegitimate opinion is considered appropriate by experts in the field, nor would it be peer-reviewed or intellectually accepted. Additionally, Cretella is not considered an expert in this area.

Why don’t we recognize that someone who simply feels they don’t like a particular topic or who allows some mysticism to sway his or her intellectual capacity isn’t writing on said topic with any sort of academic purity or rigor? If you take issue with appropriately conducted research and peer-reviewed results, simply produce your results of equally rigorous research supported by experts in that field.

Of course, we’ll see a bunch of comments by equally intellectually lazy persons who’ve made life decisions to reject education in their own lives while choosing to make uneducated comments on topics they are only vaguely familiar with.

Now, that seems like the height of illegitimately gained arrogance. When I was growing up, we were taught to stay quiet about topics we knew nothing about, so that people who actually did know something about those topics didn’t immediately know how ignorant we were.—Klaire Kay

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In order to be “the cool parents” among friends who are social justice warriors, some parents are refusing to put a sex on birth certificates. Children are being told before they have any hope of “understanding” that they might not be the sex (gender) that of course they are.

The parents are doing this for “praise” and recognition. They are destroying their own children so that they will be celebrated among their friends as being “brave.” They should be arrested and charged with child abuse.—Joseph Sarnak

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Crazy parents. Unless the kid is intersex, with both male and female organs, it’s pretty obvious what sex he or she is born as.—Rhonda Reichel

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We need sanity and objectivity. How can there be any discussion about this issue when the translobby will not accept any criticism?

It is political correctness run amok, and virtue-signaling. I tried to think about this rationally. So-called gender identity, which is made up of expected gender social norms, will force children who are just gender nonconforming to choose one of the sexes.

What is so rational about claiming you are the other sex when you are not born with the corresponding body parts? Children need to be told that they are male or female because of biology, not gender identity. Many adults need to learn and accept this distinction too.—May Loo

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Political correctness is killing Western civilization.—Mike Briggs, San Diego

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If you are biologically a woman yet think you are a man, how is that not a mental illness? Remember your oath, physicians: First do no harm. Doctors who push this leftist agenda not only are anti-science, but enabling this mental illness and severely harming their patients.—Lynne Hallman

Loaded for Bear in Louisiana

Dear Daily Signal: The left calls us fascists, but can’t point to what we do that is fascist. Meanwhile, they never stop being or trying to be fascist.

As Jeff Landry’s commentary suggests, leftists want their supporters to have rights while taking away the rights of the rest (“How Louisiana Stood Up to the Anti-Gun Corporate Elite”). The Second Amendment and religious rights are part of the foundation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Statism only works when government fully controls the people. That is what our left seeks.—Anthony Alafero

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I fail to see any reason a corporation should be advocating gun control unless it is beholden to policies orchestrated by people who want to establish world control at our expense .—Jerry Hewes

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The quotation of the Second Amendment is missing the opening reason for the amendment—”well-regulated militia requires.” That doesn’t say an individual outside of a well-regulated militIa. I am a gun owner, and the security of my home and family is very important to me.

We need to remember the situation when the amendment was written. To protect myself from a colonial army is not really the reason I need a gun today. Well-regulated was recognized even then.—Robert Townsend

Pennsylvania Bureaucrats Make Their Own Law

Dear Daily Signal: “Discriminate” is not a bad word, is my response to Monica Burke’s commentary (“Pennsylvania Agency Goes Around Legislature to Impose Gender Ideology”). We all discriminate every day, and it is legal to discriminate.

Example: Every time we make a choice, we discriminate against what we did not select. People tend to forget what the word means. All discrimination is not a violation of our laws.

Just like the word “racist,” the word “discriminate” has been hijacked to mean something entirely different from what it is supposed to mean. I blame it on the current liberal education system, where no child is left behind.

Certain legislatures and governing bodies get carried away with the latest political correctness, making our rules and laws dependent upon the whims of the moment.—Donald Leegh, Augusta, Ga.

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The state of Colorado is now trying to set up baker Jack Phillips because it lost its case at the Supreme Court. The state will send every type of nonheterosexual to Phillips’ place of business to try to get him to do something illegal—at least what the state of Colorado will consider illegal—just to get him back in court. This is evil.—Gerry Costa

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What utter nonsense. The point of the anti-discrimination laws is to protect everyone’s rights and to protect each of us at long last from having someone else’s views about how things should be crammed down our throats. It has nothing to do with socialism or liberalism.

If you believe all humans are created in God’s image, then so too are all humans who in any way are not like you—including LGTBQ people. Anything else that differentiates human rights by characteristics other than whether you are human is doctrine created by men, and should be disavowed.—J. Anthony Vittal

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When being a liberal fell out of fashion, the left adopted progressivism. In my humble opinion, this is a mild, watered-down version of communism—but described as the Hamiltonian concept of positive government, a national government directing the destinies of the nation at home and abroad.

The progressive has contempt for the strict construction of the Constitution; the real enemy is states’ rights and limited government.

The government knows best how to address the needs of its people, what speech is acceptable, how to allocate the funds extracted from its subjects to equalize inequality in income. It creates agencies and departments with a specific mandate, i.e., to clean air and water, and then supplies automatic funding increases as the agencies make laws and add personnel to carry out their newly manufactured mandates.

The big problem is that America now has four generations of indoctrinated journalists, and they are all in for their hatred of Trump and his attempts to upset their well-crafted apple cart of progressive policies.—Carl Casino

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If you order steak, you are discriminating against fish. Liberals play with the language to make themselves feel above everyone else. The Personnel Department became the Human Resources Department. We can’t say “illegal alien,” and so on.—Dave Stovall

Troy Worden and Sarah Sleem helped to compile this installment of “We Hear You.”