Tag: Strait of Hormuz

16-38 Common Sense vs. Crazy — How Policy Becomes Law, and the War Iran Is Waiting Out

16-38 Common Sense vs. Crazy — How Policy Becomes Law, and the War Iran Is Waiting Out

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Heritage Action sums up American politics in four words: “common sense versus crazy.” This week, how a think tank’s white paper turns into an actual law — and why a regime running out of money is betting everything on the American midterms.

Doug Blair, press manager for Heritage Action and an Oregon native, walks through how the Heritage Foundation’s model legislation actually becomes law: the congressional scorecard and key votes that hold members accountable, the Sentinel grassroots network, and the three priorities heading into November — the SAVE Act, codifying border control into law, and keeping advanced AI and semiconductor technology out of the Chinese Communist Party’s hands, including the Chinese money behind the campaign against American data centers. Plus Blair’s own reporting on how the closure of Dammasch State Hospital put Oregon’s mentally ill onto the streets of Portland, and why he says Housing First has failed.

Then retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler, Senior Research Fellow for Naval Warfare and Advanced Technology at the Heritage Foundation, on the Iran war: why it won’t become a quagmire, a regime losing $120 to $170 million a day against $34 billion in reserves, a leaked internal Tehran document putting popular support at 10 percent or less, why Iran is stalling peace talks until after the American midterms, and why gas prices remain near five dollars in Oregon with the Strait of Hormuz nominally open.

Full show notes, source links, and transcript: https://www.ispyradio.com/heritage-action-save-act-iran-war-gas-prices

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16-12 Same Enemy — Two Fronts?

16-12 Same Enemy — Two Fronts?

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War on Prosperity. Same Enemy, Two Fronts?

Release Date: March 21st & 22nd, 2026

Duration: 47:55

Host: Mark Anderson

Guests: Jen Hamaker, president of ONRI, and Craig Rucker, president of CFACT


About This Episode

Show 16-12 exposes the growing “war on success” narrative, examining new policies aimed at unlocking America’s natural resources—from revitalizing Oregon’s timber industry to restarting California offshore oil production. Featuring Jennifer Hamaker and Craig Rucker, the episode explores the “maximum productivity” model, U.S. energy independence, and how domestic oil production now exceeds consumption, reshaping economic and geopolitical strategy. It also dives into the shift from climate-focused policies to a rising “plastics agenda,” revealing the broader impact on energy prices, supply chains, and American prosperity.

Show Notes

  • 00:00 – Host opener. Jen updates us on the status of Trump’s executive orders on timber production after one year. Working? Or just more of the same old same old? How is the Left combating it? The reality of what the EOs actually do. Incredible illustration of just how much 1 billion board feet of wood actually is.
  • 08:42 – Oregon produces 13 billion board feet annually. But when Oregon chooses to let the wood rot or burn, just how much is lost? Another terrific illustration of just how much we lose when that happens — the Labor Day fires as just one example.
  • 15:50 – Sorry, tree huggers and uninformed Leftist “environmentalists.” There is WAY more wood than you think there is. Just how much we could be doing. The exciting news from the Bureau of Land Management — the revision to Oregon’s O & C forest lands. What this means for Oregon’s counties. Why is the Left the enemy of prosperity?
  • 24:46 – Craig Rucker joins us, we talk just how much oil the US is producing, how this changes the impact of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Genuine energy Independence.
  • 31:27 – Oregon and California’s war on prosperity. Why and how Trump is beating them anyway. The impact if Democrats finally got on board with supporting America. Why it’s amazing Trump has been able to get anything going with the economy.
  • 38:49 – Green mandates. How things would be going if Trump hadn’t made the changes he did in his first time — and not getting credit for his current changes. The UN has given up on Climate Change. And what their next war is. Meaning, where now the cash cow?

Transcript

(Opener only) Way back in 2012 and again in 2013 and 2018, we interviewed Vicky Steiner, a North Dakota state representative, and the Executive Director for the North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties.

Seems like ancient history now but if you remember back in those days North Dakota was having a massive oil boom thanks in large part to fracking. They could not get enough workers in fast enough. Wages skyrocketed.

And that’s great to be suddenly making a lot of money but there’s the other side of that. They did not have the infrastructure. People were sleeping in tents or their trucks. And it gets cold in North Dakota. Esp in winter. Temporary housing was brought in. Water and plumbing and electric lines all needed to be run. Which meant another boom they needed electricians and plumbers. There was constant food shortages — and… whenever supply is short, prices on food and everything else shot up. Roads needed to be built or repaired — rural schools suddenly had twice as many students.

It was like squeezing 15 years of civilization into about one year.

So when we talk to Vicki she said something that has always stuck with me. She said, “I don’t understand Oregon. Here in ND we realize at some point these wells will go dry. You guys have trees and they grow back. Why aren’t you harvesting them? That’s an endless supply of money just sitting there. None of us can figure that out.”

Trust me, I said. We don’t get it either. But it’s the radical left. We’re largely handcuffed by environmentalists and the democrats and to a lesser degree republicans are scared of them.

Oregon is a tremendously blessed state when it comes to natural resources — we are the envy of other states. The problem is we are cursed with junked up junk science. That carbon dioxide is somehow “the enemy” (which goes against what most of us learned in second grade science — That plants depend on carbon dioxide). And the overriding junk science of “Climate Change” is costing us a massive amount of money — money that we could be earning.

But instead the idiots in charge — currently in charge — are far more interested in getting and spending other people’s money than doing anything to fix other people’s problems

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Additional Show Notes, Links Mentioned, Related Info

Our Guests’ Websites:

  • Jen Hamaker is president of Oregon Natural Resources, ONRI.us
  • Craig Rucker is co-founder and president of the Committee For a Constructive Tomorrow, CFACT.org

Links Mentioned