September 13th, 2022

On Tuesday’s Mark Levin Show, the program reflects on the life and legacy of former Aplleleate Judge, Independent Counsel, and US Solicitor General Ken Starr. Starr was best known for his work on the Starr Report concerning the investigation of then-President Bill Clinton. Then, President Joe Biden is praising himself for the so-called Inflation Reduction Act while inflation was just measured at 8.3% (year-over-year) with increases in gas measured at 25%, electricity at 15%, and food at 11% with eggs alone at a 40% increase. The Federal Reserve cannot keep up with controlling the monetary side of Biden’s policy because the fiscal side of his spending is so out of control and will only add to inflation. Later, those criticizing ‘forever wars’ citing Ukraine as ‘none of our business’ doesn’t understand U.S interests abroad. it’s one thing to disagree with the accounting of funds disbursed, but it’s another to say we should surrender our position against genocidal maniacs. Afterward, US Sen. Marsha Blackburn joins the show to express her disdain for the Biden Administrations’ tacit support for Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Blackburn added that Israel has been forthright in their concerns and agrees that Congress should have a role in these unilateral decisions.

Photo by Alex Edelman

The podcast for this show can be streamed or downloaded from the Audio Rewind page.

Rough transcript of Hour 1

Hour 1 Segment 1

Hello, America. This is a very sad day before coming on the air and an hour and a half ago, I learned, as you did, about the passing of Ken Starr. Absolutely. Shocking. A new Canstar. It was a great patriot, was a brilliant, brilliant man. He had a terrific sense of humor. A man of deep faith and family. He had a and wonderful wife and kids and he will be missed. He appeared on Life, Liberty and Live in several times. We asked for him about four or five, six weeks ago, and we were told quietly that he wasn’t doing great after surgery. I had no idea how bad it was. Apparently, the last time he was on was May 15th of this year. Just a few months ago. Will you also discuss other subjects? I cannot allow the passing of a monumental. Patriot. A monumental legal mind. I cannot allow him and that to pass without acknowledging him here he was on life, liberty and living just a few months ago. Cut. Twenty three go. Welcome back, America. Our first guest really needs no introduction. I’ll give him one anyway, is Judge Ken Starr. He was a judge on the D.C. Court of Appeals. He was solicitor general of the United States, independent counsel, one of the great legal minds in the country. Judge Starr, I have a question here. Have you ever seen anything like this in your life with a leak? First draft with a political party encouraging protests at the homes of justices with at least early on the Department of Justice taking literally no steps to protect these justices? What do you make of this? No, it’s been one outrageous thing after another. The leak itself was, as Chief Justice Roberts said in his written statement, an egregious breach. We all know that. And I have frankly been very disappointed that there hasn’t been unanimity in the condemnation of the leak as opposed to simply ignoring it. And then, yes, the protests outside different homes, but especially Justice Alito’s home is really another outrage and one that just cries out for the government to use for the federal government to use its enforcement power. You identified the law. It’s a criminal law. It’s been on the books for a long time. And it should be enforced. It should be faithfully enforced. What do you think would happen if the shoe was on the other foot, if there was a decision that conservatives that Magga, so forth didn’t like and all of a sudden people started showing up the homes of the more liberal justices, harassing them, trying to coerce a decision. And Kevin McCarthy comes out and says, I support these efforts because I want them to change their ultimate decision. What do you think the reaction of the media would be? One of condemnation and rightly so. That is simply unacceptable. It is a form of mob rule when people take to the streets targeting a judge’s home or a justice’s home and essentially trying to intimidate them, that’s the only natural consequence of what it is or the intent of these individuals. So I think they would just be a sense of outrage. How dare these people do this? They’re interfering with the orderly conduct of government. As I said, you were a federal appellate judge. You had conferences with your fellow judges to writing opinions who would write the opinion, sending drafts back and forth and so forth. Can you explain to the American people how bad this is, that when somebody, perhaps a law clerk we don’t know yet, leaks a first draft of what is a majority opinion and the impact that has on the ability of judges to work together and the court, because it’s so unprecedented, it’s almost impossible to predict the long term consequences. But the short term is this. There will be now a lack of trust on the part of the court toward those who are working in the court. And it’s so consequential because the judges depend on the confidentiality of one another to be able to speak freely, just as the United States enjoys executive privilege, just as members of Congress enjoy the speech or debate privilege, their privileges that are designed to do want to protect the orderly and lawful functioning of government. This totally disrupts this. The train has left the tracks and we need to do everything that we can, beginning with identifying this individual and bringing this person to justice. But we also need to know, and the chief justice has been reassuring in this respect that this is not going to interfere with the work of the court. It will be steady as she goes, but it’s incredibly disruptive and very destructive. Judge Ken Starr, when you go back and you look at the confirmation process, starting with Robert Bork, the effort to intimidate would be justices to destroy their character. These are preeminent legal scholars with tremendous careers behind them. So if and when they get on the court by then, they hope they’ve been already coerced and so forth. This is something that’s been building for several decades, isn’t it? Yes. The confirmation hearings set a new and incredibly low standard of character assassination. That’s exactly what happened there. And it’s happened time and time again. We had a brief reprieve with the justices, Ginsburg and Scalia, enjoying essentially a quiet confirmation process. But the process erupted again with Justice Clarence Thomas. We saw it at its source again with Justice Brett Kavanaugh. So we need a restoration of civility and kindness and decency in the process. But I don’t hold out any hope whatsoever in light of what we’ve now seen erupt in the wake of the improper disclosure of the draft opinion. And the Democrats have the media supporting them, the Mediapart. Dissipates in these in these horrendous smear campaigns, and I just don’t see how we get out of this. I don’t think there’s an exit ramp right now. It takes leadership. It takes a leadership, obviously, of both parties. But I agree with you, this has been very one sided in terms of the nature and extent of the attacks, the very personal attacks and vilification. So it is very much in the hands of the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the other members of the Senate, whoever is in control, to say we need to set a tone of decency. And now the second part cut. Twenty four go Judge Ken Starr. We talk about Roe versus Wade and Casey. And yet the other evening, the Democrats in the Senate voted in favor of abortion on demand right up to birth. Is that what Roe and Casey say, that abortion on demand right up to birth is to be legalized throughout the country? Is that what they say? No, absolutely not. And in your opening, you described correctly the original holding of Roe v. Wade and the core provisions of Roe v. Wade within reaffirmed 20 years later in Planned Parenthood versus Casey. And in that third trimester, the state can come in as it sees fit and essentially forbid abortion, save for the safety of the mother, the health of the mother, whereas this proposed legislation, which happily did not pass the Senate, would have opened the doors to abortion to the very last minute, as you rightly said. So that represents a very significant, I would say, a radical expansion of Roe versus Wade. You know, we’ve had a lot of lectures about the science the last few years when it comes to the virus, when it comes to masks, when it comes to vaccines, when it comes to shuttering, when it comes to our businesses and on and on and on, follow the science. That’s what they tell us. Don’t you find it interesting that not one of these so-called government scientists or college or university scientists, professors have been asked, well, what exactly is the science when it comes to abortion at one point? Is that a baby? What is the science tells? Isn’t it interesting that we spend almost no time on that? It is. It’s an enormous area that should have been discussed very fully in the public debate. Happily, the Supreme Court had the benefit of a number of briefs that go into the science of the child in the womb and how early the heartbeat at five weeks human features very early on the ability to experience pain early on. The DNA is there from the very outset. And so all these things have been made known to the court and I think were helpful to at least the five member majority and the draft opinion and say we need to right this constitutional wrong, informed by the science to essentially, which is what the draft opinion does, return this issue, as you said in the opening to we the people for debate and discussion, just as we handle other very sensitive issues, very sensitive issues such as the right to die, physician assisted suicide and the like. And the Supreme Court has been clear to say, just let the debate unfold. And we, the people within limits of reason, decide for themselves what the policy is of their particular state. Interesting. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said virtually the same thing in nineteen ninety two when she was interviewed for the Columbia Law Review. Let me ask you something about stare decisis or precedent. Just a yes or no answer. Was Dred Scott good law? No. Was Plessy versus Ferguson good law? No. Was Korematsu good law? No. Slavery, segregation and the internment of Japanese Americans innocent didn’t commit any offenses. And three Supreme Court decisions, all of which have been effectively overturned. Isn’t that correct, sir? Correct. Infamous decisions that it took the court a long time to correct, but at least the court eventually did it. And in one of the footnotes in the draft opinion, Justice Alito, the author, points to some twenty five cases where the court has overruled its prior precedent. And there over one hundred and fifty such examples. So the court has a duty to get it right and to overrule that which it believes is wrong. So an argument that Roe has been in place for forty nine years. Isn’t that affected that Roe is not constitutionally based like these other decisions, and I might add, this Supreme Court decision, in my view, was quite modest. It didn’t take a position on abortion. They said that’s not our job. There’s nothing in the federal constitution. And so they basically said, hands off. And somehow that is a radical decision attacking women’s rights. Every single woman in America is having her rights attacked. What do you make of that? Well, there has been a terrible distortion of what the court or at least the opinion says is a restoration. It is saying we were wrong in Roe v. Wade to take this issue out of the cauldron of debate. That’s what Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in 1992. And now the Supreme Court is saying, let’s allow debate to go forward, which is the way it should have been all the way along. Mm hmm. And effectively, the Democrats demonstrated the other day in the Senate that they don’t believe in Roe v. Wade either and they don’t believe in Casey either. They believe in the most radical form of abortion on the planet, on the face of the earth, that you can abort a viable baby, a human being, right up to the last second. Ken Starr, I want to thank you very, very much for your contribution to this country over the decades. And for coming on tonight. God bless you, sir. My God bless you. And I’m back live and. I always looked up like Ken Starr. Very decent, thoughtful, rational person, even when he was under vicious attack as the left is one. The Dow stood firm on his principles, didn’t buckle, and just enormously thoughtful, truly gifted mind committed to this country, absolutely committed to this country. He served as the solicitor. He served as a federal appellate judge who could have had that job the rest of his life. And, boy, would he have been a fantastic Supreme Court justice. And there are certain people the country will miss. And I believe Ken Starr is certainly one of them, certainly one of them. Was good man. May he rest in peace and may his family find peace. I’ll be right back.

Hour 1 Segment 2

The show must go on, show must go. You know, it’s like Payton said and my favorite movie partner. And that speech at the beginning, glory is fleeting. Glory is fleeting. I’ve always kept I’ve always kept myself with as much as I viewed myself with as much humility as possible. I really do. That’s how I live my life. Oh, running around, patting myself on the back or trying to draw attention to myself. And that was Ken Starr is a very modest man. Enormously decent, very kind. And. And his family will never move on, but the nation moves on, but we benefit greatly, you know, God knows why we’re born here in the United States of America, but we are so thoroughly blessed and most of us know it. But those who don’t are really disgraceful. They’re disgraceful not only what they do to their own lives, that’s up to them, but what they do to everybody else’s life or the or the people they reach. And star lady, a fantastic life. When we come back, the economy. We’ll be right back.

Hour 1 Segment 3

You know, folks to perfect over the White House, Joe Biden and the Democrats, the Democrats who are now telling you they don’t want to campaign with Joe Biden, every one of which every one of which voted for this phony inflation reduction act, 800 billion dollars on top of the student loan giveaway, up to a trillion dollars, according to University of Pennsylvania. They’re having a party there as I speak. They’re celebrating what they did. They’re praising themselves and Joe Biden today. I’ll play some of it if we have time praising himself. Talking about how he’s tamed inflation, more to do, of course. How he’s tamed inflation, how he’s the first to control big pharma, and by the way, those price caps don’t even kick in for four years. But he’s trained. He’s he claims that he’s controlled now big pharma. And of course, what this means is if the next three, four or five years, one new medicines are are to come out on cancer and so forth, new medicines won’t be coming out. After that period of time. But they are celebrating. I just want you to know, and this is what I meant the other day when I was on with my buddy Bongino on his show Saturday, I said, this is like Animal Farm. And at the end of the book, the pigs at the table are the Democrats. It’s not hard to spend money, ladies and gentlemen. It’s not hard to go into debt. And spending money and printing money and going into debt is what causes inflation, not trade unions. Not businesses, not consumers. Not the American people, your government. It’s very simple. There’s nothing complicated about it. When you spend like this, you create inflation, when you keep spending like this, you create stagflation. And if it keeps up, you create a depression. The Federal Reserve is trying to control the flow of money from a monetary position, you have monetary and fiscal. From a monetary position, it can’t keep up. With the record spending that’s taking place in the Democrat controlled Congress, with Joe Biden as president, it can’t keep up. On September twenty one. Or soon thereafter, it’s going to raise interest rates by another three quarters of a point or a full point, and it’s probably going to do this three more times this year, driving up the cost of money. Because the Democrats keep printing it. And as I explained months ago. You have the monetary side, the Federal Reserve trying to control. The inflation rate, you have, the fiscal side, Congress, Biden. Who keep printing money. And spending and creating debt. This is a big deal. So tonight, they’re having a party over at the White House, Democrats, Democrats, staffers, White House staffers, the president. I call them the let them eat cake Democrats. They’re very happy with themselves, why? Because more and more power comes into Washington, more and more control over the private sector, more and more control over your lives. But you’re paying a price for these so-called freebees. This is a massive tax increase across the board that affects everybody, regardless of who you are, regardless. If you’re a part time, full time worker, if you’re a small businessman, big businessman, it doesn’t matter what you earn. Over at CBS News.com, Terry Jeffrey, the Consumer Price Index report released today by BellSouth, the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that prices on all items in the United States increased by eight point three percent from August twenty twenty one to August twenty twenty two. With the price of gasoline rising twenty five point six percent, the price of electricity rising fifteen point eight percent and the price of food rising eleven point four percent. The report indicated that the eleven point four percent year to year increase in the price of food was the highest in 43 years. All of this was avoidable. All of this was manmade. All of this was done by the Democrats. The food index continue to rise, increasing point eight percent over the month, one month to the next. As the Food at Home Index rose point, seven percent said the report. The food index increased eleven point four percent over the last year, the largest 12 month increase since May 1979 when Jimmy Carter was president. Overall, the price increases from August to August. We’re slightly less than the increases from July to July. The all items index increased eight point three percent versus eight point five percent, but there were supposed to go down a lot. Now why? Because the price of gasoline went down. So what gives the price of everything else is going up? The price of fuel. August, twenty twenty one to twenty twenty two is up sixty eight point eight percent. Other motor fuels, 53 percent. Eggs up 40 percent, margarine up 40 percent. Airline fares up 35 percent. Utility pipe gas like natural gas up 33 percent. Milk up 17 percent. Chicken up 17 percent. Bread up 16 percent. Potatoes up fifteen point two percent. Rice up 13 percent. The single biggest year to year price increase was for fuel oil, fuel oil, which increased almost 70 percent, the second other motor fuels, which increased 53 percent, the third eggs, which increased almost 40 percent. The fourth margarine up 40 percent. The fifth airline fares because of fuel prices up over thirty three percent, thirty three point for the sixth for utility pipe gas service. Increased thirty three percent year over year, the price of bread jumped sixteen point two percent and, you know, chicken, potatoes, rice, price of baby food jumped twelve point six percent. This is not do. To employers or executives making millions, this is not due to trade unions. This is not do. Consumers like you. Washington did this. The government did this. That is, the Democrats did this. And they’re having a Roman like party. At the White House. Filling their faces with food at your expense. With booze at your if your expense. Take the Leterme crowd. I don’t know what it’s going to take to have an overwhelming victory in November. I don’t know what it’s going to take. Everything that’s going up should be coming down. And everything that’s coming down should be going up. I don’t know what it’s going to take, everything you look at is in extremis, everything. Inflation. Recession, I say it’s stagflation, I’ve been right all along. The border. What’s happening to communities in this country? Law enforcement is overwhelmed with the open borders. School districts are overwhelmed. Hospitals are overwhelmed. And even more. And the language. That comes out of the Democrat Party and Joe Biden. Trashing they’re not trashing half the country, they’re trashing two thirds of the people, not the two thirds of the people voted for Donald Trump. But two thirds of the people did not vote for Joe Biden. He’s trashing anybody who disagrees with him. That’s what he’s doing. You’re fascists if you don’t agree with him. And yet, who’s the real fascist with the executive orders? And look at them, the Democrat Party. At the White House. Having a grand old time. Well, so many of you have to make ends meet. I heard it said today for the average family, you’re losing almost 500 dollars a month. That is your you’re paying almost 500 dollars a month more more than you otherwise would be paying. That’s a lot of money for a lot of families in America. And there’s your tax. There’s your tax, the Democrat Party tax, but the party’s happy because the party’s more powerful because they’re going to hire, they’re almost 90000 IRS agents. They’re doing everything they want to do and everything they can do to empower themselves and the time that they have left. You must crush them in November at the ballot box. If you have early voting, you must crush them. They’re destroying our classrooms. They’re destroying citizenship to destroying our currency. They’re destroying our constitution and destroying your way of life. If you don’t stop them at the ballot box, there’s no stopping the. I’ll be right back.

Hour 1 Segment 4

The greatest increases are in food, transportation and rent. There’s a kind of basics, aren’t they, Mr. Producer? Food, transportation and rent, not mink coats, not jewelry, food, transportation and rent. And you know what would their foot on the throat of our oil companies. This is going to get a lot worse for a long time before it gets better. These fools are doing exactly the wrong thing. Exactly the wrong thing as they celebrate themselves. Everybody knows you don’t spend more government money and borrow more money and print more money in the face of inflation. Everybody knows that, but they’re driven by ideology. They’re on the move, they got to enact whatever they can as fast as they can, as broad as they can, as expansive as possible. As they hold on to Congress by the skin of their teeth. It’ll be up to you whether you put an end to this or not, it’s going to be up to you. No candidate’s perfect out there. But anybody’s better than this. And, of course, the stock market tanked, all the indexes tanked. You know why? Because they see what’s coming, so Joe Biden used to blame Putin. Now he’s blaming the Republicans. But Joe Biden did this, he in this pea brain of his. Just four months ago, the Fed interest rate, that is the rate in which it loaned money to banks was zero. It’s now four percent. But it’s not four percent to you. It’s four percent of the banks. And you haven’t even seen yet what they’re doing to the supply of fossil fuels. It’s a disaster when you have industries that have heavy research and development like pharmaceutical companies or heavy capital investment like oil companies. The consequences of decisions today really aren’t felt in full for a couple of years. You’re feeling some of it now, but the full brunt of it takes a little while. That’s why the markets are tanking, because they see that this is going to persist. They see that while you, the American people. You break your ass to take care of your family, to put money aside. You’re going to have ninety thousand more IRS agents chasing you. But even more. These investors, these financial gurus, they see a White House. That is celebrating in the face of this, they see a Congress. That past this most irresponsible spending and borrowing, they see a president who violates the Constitution by issuing. Effectively, ten thousand dollar checks to the wealthiest Americans to help them pay down their loans to schools. Not only is that unconstitutional, that’s another trillion dollars or so pouring into the economy, getting printed, printed, printed. So when you see the price of gasoline go up, bread, eggs, the price of everything going up, that’s why. Because there’s an idiot in the White House and the idiots in Congress. I’ll be back.