Your News Talk America with Jake Smith

Show Notes · June 19, 2026 · Real News. Real Talk. Real America.

9:00 · Show Open: Iran, the Hormuz MOU, and the Stagflation Question

Todd Sheets opens the show with his assessment of the Iran war and the Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this week, and what it means for the Strait of Hormuz. Plus his latest piece asking whether stagflation is really back.

• Todd wrote a May 31 assessment of the Iran war. His read on the new MOU and how it affects the Strait of Hormuz.
• His Substack piece, Is the Stagflation Sky Falling? Or Is It Just Chicken Little?
• The May inflation report came in hot at 4.2 percent, and markets fell 1.5 to 2.0 percent depending on the index.
• Bond yields have climbed over recent months, feeding talk of a return to 1970s style stagflation, stagnant growth paired with rapidly rising prices.
• Are the dire predictions right, or just a modern version of Chicken Little?

Sources: Iran war assessment (Substack) · Is the Stagflation Sky Falling?

Panelist: Todd Sheets, author of the newsletter On Wealth and Progress (also on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple) and the book 2008: What Really Happened. substack.com/@toddsheets

9:20 · Oil Slides: Energy Dominance and the Strait of Hormuz

WTI traded in the mid $70 range this morning. How low will it go, and what does it mean for the U.S. economy and for consumers?

• WTI in the mid $70 range this morning. How low does it go?
• Long term and short term effects on the U.S. economy and on consumers.
• Daniel Turner of Power the Future argues American energy dominance works, and falling gas prices prove families pay less when the country produces more.
• In 2022, the national average topped $4 a gallon for six straight months, hitting a record $5.03 in June.
• Could Iran suffer lasting damage to its oil market if some customers never return to the Strait?
• India has been approached by other producers, including Russia, for oil.

Source: Power the Future: Falling Gas Prices Show American Energy Dominance Is Delivering Results

Panelists: Todd Sheets (substack.com/@toddsheets) and Daniel Turner, Executive Director, Power the Future (powerthefuture.com).

9:35 · Monologue

Jake's daily monologue.

9:45 · Warsh Takes the Helm: Is the Fed About to Change Course? (Publius)

Kevin Warsh has taken over as Federal Reserve chairman. What his first meeting reveals about his economic philosophy, and where rates head next.

• What Warsh's first Fed meeting reveals about his economic philosophy.
• Whether interest rates are likely to move later this year.
• The ongoing battle between inflation and economic growth.
• What consumers should expect for mortgages, credit cards, and savings rates.
• How Wall Street is reacting to the new Fed chairman.
• Whether the Fed can achieve a soft landing for the economy.
• The impact of energy prices and global instability on inflation.
• What investors should watch for in the second half of 2026.

Panelist: Dennis Kneale, author of The Leadership Genius of Elon Musk. Veteran business journalist and proud Florida resident. His latest book: Oregoner.

10:00 · 24 Hours on Capitol Hill to Save America

The case that only judicial accountability can end what the segment calls a judicial coup. Former Congressman Louie Gohmert on the Freedom Center's push for accountability.

• The argument that a cabal of radical judges has connived to block the president across dozens of areas.
• Week after week, another lawsuit and another order, with momentum lost to the Left.
• Why the segment frames judicial accountability as the remedy.

Source: FrontPage Mag: 24 Hours on Capitol Hill to Save America

Panelist: Louie Gohmert, former Texas Congressman, currently Senior Fellow for Political Statesmanship with the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

10:30 · Schools as Mental Health Clinics, Grades, and Misconduct

Carolyn Gorman of the Manhattan Institute on federal school safety funding, passing students who are failing, and rising teacher misconduct cases.

• Congress treating schools like mental health clinics.
• Schools giving failing students a passing grade, and the ramifications.
• Why we are seeing so many reports of teacher misconduct with students, and what should be done about it.

Sources: City Journal: School Safety and Federal Funding · Carolyn Gorman on X

Panelist: Carolyn D. Gorman, fellow at the Manhattan Institute. x.com/CarolynGorman_

10:50 · Pomegranate: The First Iraqi American Feature Film

Writer and director Weam Namou on her film Pomegranate, cultural divides in suburban Detroit, and the Dearborn Heights police patch debate.

• Pomegranate, widely recognized as the first Iraqi American feature film, has swept more than 50 international film awards and drew Home Alone producer Scott Rosenfelt as executive producer.
• The film explores what happens when immigrants who fled the same country argue with one another over the American Dream.
• Do Iraqi immigrants in Dearborn consider themselves patriotic Americans, and have they assimilated into American culture?
• The Dearborn Heights proposal to add Arabic script to police uniform patches, and the reactions for and against.

Source: Fox 2 Detroit: Dearborn Heights Arabic Police Patch Decision

Panelist: Weam Namou, writer and director of the film Pomegranate.

11:00 · The Edwards AFB B-52 Crash: What Investigators Will Look For

As investigators examine the wreckage of the B-52 Stratofortress that crashed shortly after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California, killing all eight people aboard, Captain Mark Harris breaks down what may have gone wrong.

• What we know so far and what may have gone wrong.
• What investigators will be looking for, and how long it could take before definitive answers emerge.
• Those who were lost will be remembered today on Salute the Troops.

Panelist: Captain Mark Harris, USAF (ret), a decorated former Air Force Special Operations pilot who served in a combat zone, an FAA examiner, and author of Houses of the Holy. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of North Georgia (Magna Cum Laude, top physics graduate) and a master's in Aeronautical Engineering Technology from Arizona State University, and currently trains corporate pilots from around the globe.

11:30 · Countdown to 250: Independence and Government Spending

Celebrating 250 years of American independence. Murray Sabrin on the Virginia Declaration of Rights and on independence and government spending.

• 250 years ago, Thomas Jefferson was drafting the Declaration of Independence and borrowed heavily from the Virginia Declaration of Rights (Daniel L. Driesbach).
• Independence and government spending, from the Sabrin Substack.

Sources: Law & Liberty: The Virginia Declaration of Rights at 250 · Sabrin: Independence and Government Spending

Panelist: Murray Sabrin, PhD, a Mises Institute Associated Scholar and Emeritus Professor of Finance at Ramapo College of New Jersey.

11:50 · Salute the Troops

Salute the Troops remembers those who died earlier this week aboard the USAF B-52 that crashed in California.

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