1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,240 Speaker 1: Wow, Dragon, you played that last talkback really fast after 2 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,160 Speaker 1: I recorded it. I don't know if it was really 3 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:08,160 Speaker 1: that timely or that interesting. So now I'm afraid that 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:11,600 Speaker 1: maybe we're short of talkbacks and I'm gonna hear some 5 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: kind of cackle soon. So here's another one, just to 6 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:17,799 Speaker 1: keep everything going and be sure we're all protected. 7 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 2: Well, yes, I always want more talkbacks. But that's the 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 2: amazing thing of the talkbacks feature on the iHeartRadio app. 9 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 2: When you hit that little red microphone button. As soon 10 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 2: as you hit submit, it gets to me within seconds. 11 00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:37,440 Speaker 2: The longest part is me listening to it to make 12 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 2: sure it's radio friendly before I can put it on air. 13 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 3: But he raises a point for perhaps this audience we 14 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 3: don't emphasize enough about what one we love the talkbacks 15 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 3: because usually it can it gives me something to as 16 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 3: a segue. It's also something that maybe I can turn 17 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 3: into an entire segment. Sometimes causes me to chase squirrels. 18 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 3: So there are a lot of positives. But we also 19 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 3: have over here, what you might say, an incentive, and 20 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 3: the incentive is rot dragon. 21 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:14,199 Speaker 2: Oh, there's a couple of cackles that we could play. 22 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, she's still out there on the campaign trail. She's 23 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 3: still pushing the book. What was it one hundred and 24 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 3: seven days or something, She's still pushing that book and 25 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 3: she has a horrible, horrible laugh. No, it's not Hillary, 26 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 3: it's the other one. Yes, And if we don't get 27 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 3: talkbacks in place of the talkbacks, I have no control 28 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 3: over this. It's in this contract. He gets to do it. 29 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,240 Speaker 3: He can play. Now, see i's Hillary that now, that's 30 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:46,000 Speaker 3: not Hillary. That's not still. But there's a real bad 31 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 3: one that he can play. Don't play the real bad 32 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:56,240 Speaker 3: one right now. So that so if you don't want 33 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 3: to listen to that, we need talkbacks. This question may 34 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 3: sound like it comes from a late night comedy writer. 35 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,399 Speaker 3: Should the federal government now remember one of them? In fact, 36 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 3: I just did a spot for Rocky Mountain Men's Clinic. 37 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 3: They treat in addition to things like low testosterone, Rocky 38 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 3: Mountain Men's Clinic also treats erectile dysfunction ed, and they 39 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 3: have all sorts of ways to do it. They can 40 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 3: treat all sorts of disorders. I am a I'm a 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 3: client of Rocky Mountain Men's Clinic. They're exceptionally good at 42 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 3: what they do I think they might agree with me 43 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 3: on this topic? Should the federal government use your tax 44 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 3: dollars to pay for viagra or any other sort of 45 00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:03,519 Speaker 3: erectile dysfunction medication for a convicted sex offender? You got 46 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 3: your answer. Now, before you answer, and I think I 47 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 3: know your answer, let me tell you that the United 48 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 3: States Senate had this exact question in front of them 49 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 3: sixteen years ago this week, and they punted, totally punted. 50 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 3: It was yesterday, March twenty fourth, twenty ten the country, 51 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 3: if you go back in history, the entire nation was 52 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 3: consumed by the Affordable Care Act, the biggest and the 53 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 3: worst healthcare overhaul in an entire generation. In the middle 54 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 3: of that fight, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma offered a 55 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 3: simple amendment, no federal money for erectile dysfunction drugs for 56 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 3: people on sex offender registries. He included rapists, child molesters, 57 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 3: convicted sexual predators. Now, now how hard is that? That 58 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 3: amendment failed fifty seven to forty two, almost entirely along 59 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 3: party lines. One Democrat crossed over one one Democrat voted 60 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 3: for that amendment. Now, remember, amendment is pretty clear, no 61 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 3: federal money for ED drugs. For people on sex offender registries, 62 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,719 Speaker 3: rapist chartle monisters, convict the sexual predators, and one Democrat 63 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 3: crosses over. Now here's the defense that the Democrats offered. Well, 64 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 3: this was just a procedural move, and that Senator Coburn, 65 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 3: now deceased, was playing games, and any amendment to the 66 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 3: Reconciliation Bill would force the whole thing back to the House. 67 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 3: So the Democrats claim, well, we can't vote for it, 68 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:00,920 Speaker 3: even if they agreed with it, because that might kill Obamacare. 69 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 3: They have to start all over. 70 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 2: Now. 71 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:09,960 Speaker 3: I'll I'll give the Democrats this. That explanation is technically true, 72 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 3: but it is also a perfect illustration of exactly what's 73 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 3: wrong with Washington. And it's true today. What sent me 74 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:27,719 Speaker 3: down this path was I am so fed up with 75 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 3: this debate over now. Look, don't forget I spent yesterday 76 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 3: explaining how I thought TSA was an abomination, that we 77 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,440 Speaker 3: ought to get rid of it. We got to contract 78 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 3: it out. We have the mechanism by which to do it. 79 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 3: You gotta be asking yourself, why doesn't Denver International Airport 80 00:05:45,279 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 3: do it? Why doesn't your local airport do it? It's a 81 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 3: question that needs to be asked and I'm going to 82 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 3: get to ice being involved in just a minute, but 83 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 3: in trying to answer in my own mind, why are 84 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,320 Speaker 3: we dealing with this, it took me back to March 85 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 3: twenty four to twenty ten, and the Democrats explanation about 86 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 3: reconciliation is correct. If they voted for that amendment, that 87 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 3: means it has to go back to the House and 88 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 3: it has to start all over, and that might kill Obamacare. 89 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 3: And that is a perfect illustration of what is wrong 90 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 3: with Washington then and now, because here's what the Democrats 91 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 3: were saying, we know it's the right thing to do, 92 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 3: we just can't do it right now because we have 93 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 3: bigger fish to fry. And the fish never stopped being 94 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 3: in the frying pan, do they. There's always another fish 95 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 3: to fry. And here's what makes it even worse. This 96 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 3: wasn't a new problem. In twenty ten. A two thousand 97 00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:53,240 Speaker 3: and five government audit had already found that nearly eight 98 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 3: hundred convicted sex offenders across fourteen states had indeed received 99 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:04,480 Speaker 3: taxpayer funded ed medication. Through Medicated eight hundred convicted sex 100 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 3: offenders getting ed drugs paid for by taxpayers. The comptroller 101 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 3: in New York had already written to the federal government 102 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 3: demanding action New York, New York claiming that this is wrong. 103 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 3: And that was five years before the late Senator Tom 104 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 3: Coburn from Oklahoma introduced that amendment. The Senate knew it 105 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 3: was a problem. They just didn't care enough to fix 106 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 3: it cleanly. They didn't want to fix it. And after 107 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 3: they voted it down, let me ask you another question. 108 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 3: Did they fix it? Later? They did, but quietly through 109 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 3: regulatory guidance. States were told they could restrict coverage, not 110 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 3: that they should, but they could restrict coverage if they 111 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 3: wanted to, and low states tried. But here's the punchline. 112 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 3: In twenty nineteen, that would now be nine years after 113 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 3: the Senate vote, New York's controller released a new audit. 114 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 3: Sixty three thousand dollars in ed drugs had been paid 115 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 3: out to forty seven registered sex offenders, including level two 116 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 3: and level three offenders. Those are the ones that are 117 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 3: most likely to reoffend again. The ban was on the books, 118 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 3: but there was no enforcement, and clever doctors had found 119 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:35,239 Speaker 3: a work around anyway, prescribed the drug for pulmonary hypertension 120 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 3: or prostate problems. Now, what's different The coding the number 121 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 3: that you put next to the prescription and nobody catches it. 122 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 3: The problem wasn't the law. The problem was that Congress 123 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 3: never actually fixed anything. They just moved the mess off 124 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 3: their desk and said, let's go home for Easter break. 125 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:03,080 Speaker 3: Does he that sound familiar? Does it? Fast forward to today? 126 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 3: You want to talk about DHS funding. Congressional Republicans could 127 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 3: not agree on a budget for months, so the Democrats 128 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 3: used every procedural tool available so they could block, delay, 129 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 3: and dilute, and the result we got the stereotypical, the 130 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,319 Speaker 3: same bullcrap we get over and over again, and that's 131 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:27,000 Speaker 3: continuing resolutions, stop gap measures, funding crisis as a permanent 132 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 3: management strategy, management by crisis. You want to talk about 133 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 3: the border, We had a bipartisan border deal that both 134 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 3: sides killed. Republicans didn't like it because it wasn't pure enough. 135 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 3: Democrats didn't like it because it was a political liability. 136 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:51,439 Speaker 3: So nobody fixed anything, and the problem persisted. Hillary kentn't campaign, 137 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:57,960 Speaker 3: she persisted. You want to talk about biological males and 138 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:03,840 Speaker 3: women's sports. That's the late Senator Coburn's amendment, but in 139 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 3: a different uniform. It's a clear, definable issue, majority public support, 140 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 3: and yet Congress can't get out of its own way 141 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 3: long enough to pass a clean bill because every issue 142 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 3: gets weaponized. It gets turned into a bargaining ship, a 143 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:28,199 Speaker 3: campaign ad, or a poison pill. That's the pattern. Every 144 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 3: issue is weaponized. It becomes a bargaining ship. They use 145 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 3: it for their campaigns, or they use it for a 146 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 3: poison pill to kill something else they're trying to get 147 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 3: rid of. That's the pattern. Congress doesn't solve problems. Congress 148 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 3: does not solve problems. It manages them. It keeps them 149 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 3: just alive enough so they can use it as fundraising material, 150 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 3: just unresolved enough to blame the other side. So what 151 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 3: happened back on March twenty four to twenty ten, that's 152 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 3: just a weird footnote about viagra or ed medication. It 153 00:11:04,559 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 3: was actually a preview, a case study in how Washington 154 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 3: works when political survival staying in power outranks moral clarity, 155 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:21,200 Speaker 3: when it becomes quote, we agree with you in principle 156 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 3: becomes the prelude to doing absolutely nothing. The American people 157 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:30,959 Speaker 3: see keep sending people to Washington to solve problems. We 158 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 3: have problems in this country. I know that becomes a 159 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 3: shock to you, But I think we have problems, and 160 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 3: we have serious structural, financial, economic, cultural, social, religious, what 161 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:43,679 Speaker 3: every kind of problem. We have problems of every kind 162 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 3: you can possibly imagine. We are a washing problems, and 163 00:11:50,200 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 3: we keep sending people to solve problems. Now I know 164 00:11:55,320 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 3: the Marxist socialist communists, but I'm repeat myself, keep sending 165 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 3: the same people back. And once the state turns blue, 166 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:07,960 Speaker 3: everybody gets really upset and pissed off that everybody goes 167 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 3: to their corners and we all want to change that 168 00:12:10,040 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 3: state from blue to at least maybe purple if we could. 169 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:15,680 Speaker 3: But primarily we'd like to turn it red because we 170 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 3: believe in certain principles free markets, freedom of speech, the 171 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 3: basically the bill rights, in constitutional governance, in individualism, the 172 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 3: right to be left alone. That the government ought to 173 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:34,199 Speaker 3: just want guarantee our rights. That's the first and foremost 174 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 3: the primary duty of the government. Now, I know some 175 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 3: people will tell you, oh, you know, the first and 176 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 3: foremost obligation of the governments to protect the people. No, 177 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:49,880 Speaker 3: that's not the primary purpose of government is to protect 178 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:54,400 Speaker 3: and preserve the Constitution of the United States, to guarantee 179 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 3: the rights that we have both natural god given and 180 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,200 Speaker 3: those those that are written in the Bill of Rights. 181 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 3: And so we keep sending, we keep voting for people 182 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 3: that we think are going to represent that point of view. 183 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 3: But the other side keeps sending people that don't believe 184 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,200 Speaker 3: in that. They want more government, they want more control, 185 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 3: they want more influence over every single decision that you 186 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 3: have to make. In fact, they sometimes want to take 187 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 3: away your decision making all together. And then Washington keeps finding, 188 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 3: so both sides show up, and then they keep finding 189 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 3: reasons why this particular problem or that particular moment in 190 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,439 Speaker 3: this particular legislative vehicle or that particular bill just cannot 191 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:38,760 Speaker 3: be addressed right now because we have bigger fish to fry. 192 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 3: And then the problem is just keep piling up and 193 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 3: the trusty roads, and now here we are today. Senator 194 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:52,240 Speaker 3: Coburn tried to fix something simple, one singular thing that 195 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 3: seems to be obvious, probably not even an eighty twenty issue, 196 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 3: probably one hundred percent issue. Well probably not with the 197 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:03,479 Speaker 3: yah we have in this country now. The ill educated, 198 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:08,480 Speaker 3: the uneducated, the miseducated, the useful idiots in this country now, 199 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:11,480 Speaker 3: they probably would agree that and probably think that you know, 200 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 3: a child sex offender ought to be able to get 201 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 3: ed medication. As I say, the problems just keep piling 202 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 3: up the trusty roads and Central Culbrin was just trying 203 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 3: to fix something very simple, what I believe would probably 204 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 3: be realistically a ninety nine to one issue. The Senate said, well, 205 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 3: we're not going to do it today. And sixteen years, 206 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,040 Speaker 3: sixteen years later, and everything they're doing is still we're 207 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 3: not going to do it today. We're not going to 208 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 3: do this today. We're not going to do anything today. 209 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 3: We don't want to do anything at all. It's absolutely 210 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,800 Speaker 3: amazing to me that that's where we're at. But that 211 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 3: is where we are at. Yes, I put add at 212 00:14:53,400 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 3: the end of the sentence. So considering that as background, 213 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 3: let's take a moment to appreciate the magnificent bureaucratic performance 214 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 3: art that is now playing at an airport near you. 215 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 3: And I do mean bureaucratic kabuki performance art. Here's the scene, 216 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 3: a TSA checkpoint. The line stretches back to roughly the 217 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 3: Eisenhower administration. Weary travelers clutch their boarding passes, their three 218 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 3: point four ounce hampoo bottles carefully segregated into a court 219 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:38,320 Speaker 3: sized ziploc bag, their laptops removed from the cases. They're 220 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 3: hues in hand in some cases, because we're still doing 221 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 3: a shoe thing twenty four years after Richard read but 222 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 3: I digress. Then that's the scene. Enter Immigrations and Customs 223 00:15:51,680 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 3: Enforcement agents. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not TSA, not airport security, 224 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 3: not even run A cops with a badge upgrade. No, 225 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 3: the people whose actual job description that involves tracking down 226 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 3: people who crossed the river illegally, or came into a 227 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 3: country via airline, or sneaked into a beach front somewhere 228 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:22,680 Speaker 3: are now deployed to stand behind people who chose to 229 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:25,480 Speaker 3: work for the federal government and are currently engaged in 230 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 3: what will diplomatically call a robust exercise of their sickly benefits. 231 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 3: It's now become DHS versus DHS, a paid arm of 232 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:45,280 Speaker 3: the Department of Homeland Security propping up an unpaid arm 233 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 3: of the Department of Homeland Security in the same building, 234 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 3: under the same secretary, technically answering to the same chain 235 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 3: of command that leads rights to the same oval office 236 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 3: that created the situation in the first place. It's organizational cannibalism. 237 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 3: But they got nice uniforms. But wait, it gets even better. 238 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,400 Speaker 3: So let's go back to where we are. I want 239 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:17,119 Speaker 3: you to think about how it does get better. ICE 240 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,800 Speaker 3: agents trained federal law enforcement officers, people who execute warrants, 241 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 3: they conduct a surveillance operation, they coordinate with foreign governments. 242 00:17:27,119 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 3: Those people they're handing out water to travelers in line 243 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:38,120 Speaker 3: at the airport. Water. Just let us think in a minute. Now, 244 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 3: I hope they're doing in a container. There's no larger 245 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 3: than you know, larger than three point four ounces. And 246 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,440 Speaker 3: I hope they're putting in a clear plastic bag because 247 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 3: that's the still apparently the hill that we're going to 248 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:53,280 Speaker 3: go die on. These are the same ICE agents who are, 249 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:59,200 Speaker 3: in other contexts, the subject of progressive protests, congressional hearings, 250 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:06,440 Speaker 3: and seventeen different documentary films. In today's assignment, apparently hydration 251 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 3: duty at gate B seven, apparently they're standing around going 252 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,720 Speaker 3: excuse me, sir, are you traveling with any undeclared liquids? 253 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:15,639 Speaker 1: No? 254 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:16,360 Speaker 3: Officer hyme? 255 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: Not? 256 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 3: Okay, Well good, here's some water. Have a say flight now, 257 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:25,320 Speaker 3: to be fair, that'll be fair for just one second. 258 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 3: There is a logic to federal presence during a soft 259 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:36,520 Speaker 3: work action the optics of chaos at American airports. That's 260 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,920 Speaker 3: bad enough. The administration obviously doesn't want viral videos of 261 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,360 Speaker 3: three hour TSA lines becoming the nightly news b roll 262 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 3: for an entire week. So what do you do? You 263 00:18:46,119 --> 00:18:50,560 Speaker 3: have flood the zone with federal uniforms. You project competence 264 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 3: just through sheer body count, and then you hope the 265 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,119 Speaker 3: cameras catch an ice agent cheerfully handing a bottle of 266 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,119 Speaker 3: the sunny water to a grandmother from rather than a 267 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 3: gate to gate gridlock. Fine optics have been managed. We 268 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 3: got the message. But let's call it what it is. 269 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 3: It's booked. It's kabuki security theater performed by the wrong 270 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 3: cast in the wrong venue, with props of violate carry 271 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,120 Speaker 3: on regulations. But there's a deeper absurdity. And here it 272 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:29,040 Speaker 3: isn't just logistical, it's philosophical. We have now spent more 273 00:19:29,080 --> 00:19:33,560 Speaker 3: than two decades, hundreds of billions of dollars building this 274 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,800 Speaker 3: post nine to eleven security architecture, the sprawling Department of 275 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:42,800 Speaker 3: Homeland Security, twenty two component agencies. Remember the color coded 276 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 3: threat levels. We got biometric scanners, we got behavioral detection officers, 277 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 3: We got sky marshals, we got viber teams, We fused 278 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 3: the intelligence community, We built fusion intelligence fusion centers. We 279 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 3: create a bureaucratic colossus. So the left hand knows what 280 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 3: the right hand is doing. What a joke do you 281 00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:08,639 Speaker 3: believe for a minute that the left hand knows what 282 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:12,720 Speaker 3: the right hand is doing, because today the left hand 283 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 3: is handing the right hand a bottle of water because 284 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 3: the right hand, called is thick. The mission of ICE, 285 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 3: stated plainly in its own charter, is to quote protect 286 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 3: America from cross border crime and illegal immigration that threatened 287 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:36,119 Speaker 3: national security and public safety period close quote noble important, 288 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:41,560 Speaker 3: serious work. The mission of TSA to screen passengers and 289 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:46,439 Speaker 3: baggage for threats to aviation security. That's also noble, and 290 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,439 Speaker 3: it's it's important, and it's serious work. But neither mission, 291 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 3: it should be noted, involves one agency babysitting another agency's 292 00:20:55,119 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 3: workforce dispute while simultaneously serving as an airport beverage. What's next? 293 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,880 Speaker 3: Are you going to put FEMA employees running the Chick 294 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,600 Speaker 3: fil a over at concourse? Ce border patrol agents collecting 295 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,719 Speaker 3: boarding passes, Secret service agents reminding you to remove your 296 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 3: belt before you go through the magnetometer. Actually, I should 297 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,280 Speaker 3: shut up. I'm probably giving this some ideas. The real 298 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:26,359 Speaker 3: tell here is not necessarily the deployment governments do improvise 299 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,879 Speaker 3: in a pinch. The real tell is the water itself. 300 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 3: Because somebody somewhere in some DH conference room or some 301 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 3: slack channel or hastily drafted operational memo decided that the 302 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 3: best use of federal law enforcement officers badge guns, something 303 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:46,639 Speaker 3: TSA does not have the entire authority of the United 304 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:50,760 Speaker 3: States Government behind it, was to walk a line of 305 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 3: cranky travelers and off of them bottles of water. That's 306 00:21:56,280 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 3: not a security posture, that's a partise a patient trophy 307 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 3: given by the administration to itself. Why because Congress, going 308 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:14,199 Speaker 3: back to my point about the ed medication, won't do 309 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:19,199 Speaker 3: their job. And now, oh, I could play until the 310 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 3: cows come home. Soundbites of Republicans talking about the Democrats 311 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:28,400 Speaker 3: shutdown and Democrats talking about the Republican shutdown. How don't 312 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 3: we just talk about the shutdown? How do we talk 313 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 3: about the inability, the incompetence, the unwillingness of either side 314 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 3: to do anything. Now you may want to chime in 315 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 3: right now and say, oh, but Mike, I've heard that 316 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 3: the Republicans that come out and they said they've got 317 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 3: a way around that they're going to get funding for DHS. Yes, 318 00:22:54,280 --> 00:23:00,080 Speaker 3: by caving, they're going to cave in. They're going to 319 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 3: blink and this Save Act that everybody says, is this 320 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 3: eighty twenty issue. That John Thun, the Cinemajority leaders himself 321 00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,760 Speaker 3: said that this is what I'm going to do. By gully, 322 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 3: we're going to get this pass. He just caved. They 323 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 3: just utterly caved. Why because the Republicans don't like to 324 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,240 Speaker 3: see people standing in line for three or four hours 325 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 3: missing their flight because they can't they can't get through TSA. 326 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 3: I have a simple question, why are we not blaming 327 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 3: the Democrats for that? Because the Democrats are the ones 328 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 3: who are demanding the changes, not Republicans. And by the way, 329 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:51,840 Speaker 3: if you recall Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last year in 330 00:23:51,880 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 3: the one Big Beautiful Bill, they got their appropriation, they 331 00:23:57,359 --> 00:24:03,320 Speaker 3: got their funding. So we are literally holding one part 332 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 3: of DHS hostage. And the administration's response is to send 333 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:15,879 Speaker 3: a funded component of DHS to pass out water to 334 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,040 Speaker 3: make you say, hello, how are you today just walking 335 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 3: around standing around doing nothing? Oh, I shouldn't say doing 336 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 3: nothing handing out water. Michael, I'm with you. 337 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: I think that giving viagra to sex offenders should not 338 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: be a hard decision. 339 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 3: At least somebody got it. I'm so believed that somebody 340 00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 3: got it. So here we are with a standoff. This 341 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:53,639 Speaker 3: is not a security posture, as I said, I think 342 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 3: it's a participation trophy and it captures perfectly where we are. 343 00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 3: It's we have a government at war with its workforce. 344 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:04,879 Speaker 3: They're deploying one agency to pay over another agency's problems, 345 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:07,679 Speaker 3: and they measure success by whether the guy from Omaha 346 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 3: waiting for his connection to Charlotte got a the sawny 347 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,199 Speaker 3: water bottle before his flight took off. We ought to 348 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,359 Speaker 3: measure whether or not you get to show up a 349 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:18,639 Speaker 3: day early at the airport. I mean it used to 350 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 3: be no show up, an hour early, show up, two 351 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 3: hours early, show up, three hours, four hours early, five 352 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:29,080 Speaker 3: she show up the day before. Sleep on the bench. Security. 353 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 3: Kabooki Theater has had a lot of memorable performances over 354 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 3: the years. The stupid sheer removal, the laptop out ritual, 355 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 3: the court bag liturgy, the random pat down that somehow 356 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:44,159 Speaker 3: always catches the seventy four year old retired school teacher. 357 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,560 Speaker 3: But this ice agents at TSA checkpoints handing out water. 358 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,879 Speaker 3: This is the understudy going on for the lead, and 359 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 3: they've never read the script. They're in the wrong costume, 360 00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 3: playing for an audience that just wants to get home 361 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 3: TSA pre check I don't know. I guess it's still 362 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 3: an operation. The stock for clear, the private service to 363 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,160 Speaker 3: get through that stock is just skyrocketed. I forget how 364 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 3: many hundreds of not thousands of people have applied because 365 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 3: they're fed up. People will go find their own solution, 366 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 3: and somebody in a free market will provide that solution, 367 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 3: and we see it. It's clear this is the fault 368 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:36,520 Speaker 3: of both parties. But I'd like to give you the 369 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 3: real picture as of this morning, because it's genuinely complicated. 370 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:43,320 Speaker 3: Both the scales, I do think tip in one direction. 371 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:48,719 Speaker 3: This whole thing began on February fourteenth, after the Senate 372 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 3: Democrats refused to support the DHS funding bill. After the 373 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 3: killing of Alex Pretty by Customs and Border Protection in 374 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 3: Minneapolis in late January, that's the predicate. Democrats decided an 375 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 3: enforcement shooting was grounds to defund the entire Department. So 376 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 3: on day forty WORTHI they stand. Republicans have moved substantially. 377 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 3: Leader Soon says Republicans have been as accommodating as I 378 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:21,880 Speaker 3: think you possibly can and negotiations, accusing Democrats of moving 379 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 3: the goal post, saying it happen multiple times, including most 380 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:29,840 Speaker 3: recently over the weekend. The current GOP officer offer is 381 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 3: concrete fund ninety four percent of DHS, with holding only 382 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,960 Speaker 3: five point five billion specifically for ICE's Enforcement and Removal 383 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 3: Operations branch, not for ICE in general, for the branch 384 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 3: that deals with enforcement and removal operations. That's the one 385 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:53,440 Speaker 3: thing that Democrats said they objected to all along. Schumerck 386 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 3: knowledge receiving the offer and confirm the Democrats will counter 387 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 3: and assured reporters that the counter will contain significant reform 388 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 3: to ICE. So they're still demanding structural policy changes as 389 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 3: the price of simply reopening the government government. TSA has 390 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,720 Speaker 3: already lost more than four hundred and eighty officers during 391 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 3: this shutdown. At some airports, it's forty fifty percent of 392 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,879 Speaker 3: the workforce calling out on any given day, producing the 393 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 3: highest TSA wait times in history, some over four and 394 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:29,840 Speaker 3: a half hours. The agency is warning it may have 395 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 3: to close smaller airports. Democrats started this by holding DHS 396 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 3: hostage over the Enforcement shooting, something which still is going 397 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 3: through an investigation. Republicans offered to carve out the one 398 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:48,600 Speaker 3: thing Democrats said they objected to ICE deportation operations. Yet 399 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:53,680 Speaker 3: Democrats are still demanding structural reforms as the price of yes. 400 00:28:54,240 --> 00:29:00,200 Speaker 3: That's not negotiating good faith. That's using TSA workers paychecks 401 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 3: leverage for policy wins that they could not and did 402 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 3: not even try to get through normal legislation. Where's Where's 403 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,040 Speaker 3: where's the blockade? Democrats