1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:02,640 Speaker 1: Hey, Michael, I'm kind of snowed under up here and 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:04,600 Speaker 1: I was hoping I could just get your thoughts on 3 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:07,640 Speaker 1: the news that Pallenteer is moving out of Colorado down 4 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:08,160 Speaker 1: to Miami. 5 00:00:08,440 --> 00:00:14,440 Speaker 2: Thanks. Man. Yeah, he's such a jerk. He's just a 6 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 2: total jerk. You if we, if we were decent human beings, Dragon, 7 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 2: we would reach out to the Alaska Department of Health 8 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 2: and Human Services and get a welfare check done on 9 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 2: the girl because growing up in that household, she doesn't 10 00:00:32,440 --> 00:00:32,960 Speaker 2: have a chance. 11 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: Correct, well, she doesn't have a chance, girl, mom. I mean, 12 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: there's there's there, you know, girl. 13 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 2: Mom, I think might be tied up because we never. 14 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: Hear from never. 15 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,879 Speaker 2: Heard from her once. She may hate our guts for 16 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:52,640 Speaker 2: all we know, so you know, who knows. Or she 17 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 2: might be you know, he might have her buried out 18 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 2: in an igloo in the backyard. Ever thought about that. 19 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 2: She's just a yeah, yeah, she's just right. She's a 20 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 2: blow up doll. Oh my old mind, I have any 21 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 2: I've had a chance to read it yet, but Hank, 22 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 2: who's one of our goobers, sends me a letter data 23 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 2: oh stated today February eighteen from John Hickenlooper, United States 24 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 2: Senator uh in which Hank asks why are where are 25 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 2: you on voting on this? In Colorado? We show ID 26 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 2: to vote. I show ID to post to postpone, to 27 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 2: postpone my mail to post office when I'm gone for 28 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 2: a few days. I show ID to do anything to 29 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 2: my cell phone. I show ID to fly, I show 30 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 2: ID for anything with social security. Help me understand why 31 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 2: we do not show idea across this nation to vote. 32 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 2: I do not understand. Thank you, Hank. That's the way 33 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 2: to write a letter to a US senator, where are 34 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 2: you on voting on this? And then you give just 35 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 2: a short example of a very short letter. So, Hank, 36 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:06,200 Speaker 2: I'd say you wrote a very good letter. And of 37 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 2: course the letter I don't know how you whether you 38 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 2: copied and pasted this to the email or what. But 39 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 2: if this is the way that John Hickenlooper replies to 40 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 2: emails without formatting paragraphs, spacing, or anything else, he's a 41 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 2: bigger goofball than I thought that he was. One of 42 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 2: the things that drives me crazy about my about my background. 43 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 2: You only have. All I can do is tell you 44 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 2: what happened, and you have to take my word for it, 45 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:47,720 Speaker 2: because there are no if well, I can't say I've 46 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 2: searched every record that I've kept, but there are no 47 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 2: records that I have found that delineate my objection to 48 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 2: the creation of the Transportation Security Administry. All I can 49 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 2: tell you is that as the as the bill is 50 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 2: going through Congress, Bush put together a transition team even 51 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 2: before the bill passed, so that we could watch what 52 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 2: Congress was doing react to it, and then we would 53 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 2: spend a lot of time meeting with the sponsors and 54 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 2: the drafters of the bill or people, you know, the 55 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 2: different committees who had different jurisdiction twenty two or actually 56 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 2: I think it was more than twenty two committees, and 57 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 2: we would try to mold them and try to convince 58 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 2: them of doing things our way, not their way, because 59 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 2: the congressional way is usually the back assird way to 60 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 2: do things. When the whole idea of telling the airlines 61 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 2: that the federal government was going to take over airport security, 62 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 2: I had of this role reaction, and my reaction was, 63 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 2: that's a horrible idea, because vital government doesn't do much 64 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 2: of anything right other than the military. And I say 65 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 2: that even though we got one, you know, jag officer 66 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 2: up in Alaska, that's pretty incompetent. But beyond that, most 67 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 2: of them are actually, you know, pretty good soldiers and 68 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 2: you know seamen and airmen, and they do your coasts 69 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 2: and they do all the great things. There's just that 70 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 2: one anomaly up in Alaska. Anyway, I kept posing the 71 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 2: question who has the greatest, most significant vested interest, which 72 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,359 Speaker 2: I don't really know. You should need those adjutives to 73 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 2: add on to vested interest, But who has the vested 74 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 2: interest in making certain that security is done efficiently, effectively, quickly, 75 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 2: promptly and protects the investment of you know, a multi 76 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 2: million dollar airplane eject. The airlines do, and of course 77 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,359 Speaker 2: maybe the airport's to some degree, but the federal government 78 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 2: really has no interest in that. We just want to 79 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 2: make sure that they take off in land and they 80 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 2: travel the you know, the patterns correctly. All of that 81 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 2: but fell in deaf ears because Congress was determined simply 82 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:19,039 Speaker 2: because they the hijackers were able to get through logan 83 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:23,920 Speaker 2: and dulles and board airplanes. That was all the fault 84 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:27,800 Speaker 2: of security, No, it was the fault of imagination. It 85 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 2: was the fault of understanding what the threat was because 86 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 2: we knew since nineteen ninety three that they wanted to 87 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 2: do this, so it was a complete failure of connecting 88 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:43,119 Speaker 2: the dots and doing the most simple things and leaving 89 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 2: the current security system in place. Nonetheless, it got past 90 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,960 Speaker 2: and a friend of mine, Asa Hutchison, who used to 91 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:53,799 Speaker 2: be a congress from Arkansas governor of Arkansas for a while, 92 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 2: became the undersecretary for I forget what it was called, 93 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 2: but he hasa under histories. Fortunately I did not. Well, 94 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 2: I'm want to tell you a story. I'm wanna tell 95 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 2: you a story about Terry Rowlin. Terry is seventy nine 96 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 2: years old. He's a retired railroad engineer, and he lived 97 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 2: through the Depression. So he did what Depression era Americans 98 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,679 Speaker 2: kind of tend to do. He didn't trust the banks. 99 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 2: He kept his life savings eighty two, three hundred and 100 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:28,000 Speaker 2: seventy three dollars hidden away in his home, every dollar earned, 101 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,839 Speaker 2: every dollar saved over a lifetime of honest work. Terry 102 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 2: moved into a smaller apartment, so he asked his daughter, 103 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 2: whose name is Rebecca, to take the cash to Boston 104 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 2: because he wanted Rebecca to open a joint account so 105 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 2: he could finally get his teeth fixed, and he wanted 106 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 2: to get his pickup truck repaired. So before Rebecca flew 107 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 2: out of Pittsburgh, being a responsible adult, she actually went 108 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 2: online and she checked. He wanted to know is that 109 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:06,039 Speaker 2: legal to fly domestically with cash? The government's own website 110 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 2: said yes, there are no restrictions, there are no reporting requirements. 111 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 2: Just go ahead, You can fly with whatever amount of 112 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 2: cash you want to. So she packed the money into 113 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 2: her carry on, obviously not going to put it in 114 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 2: checked luggage, and she headed out to the airport. Guess 115 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:26,360 Speaker 2: what happened next? The Transportation Security Administration spotted the cash 116 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 2: during screening and apparently did what TSA apparently does. They 117 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 2: called the reg Enforcement Administration, the DEA, so a DEE 118 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 2: agent came over, saw the cash. It was in a 119 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 2: tupperware box, told Rebecca to call her elderly father to 120 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 2: verify the story. So they called. They woke carry up. 121 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 2: He was confused because he's old. He's elderly, which is 122 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 2: literally why Rebecca was helping him manage his money in 123 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:02,240 Speaker 2: the first place. So the DEA agent decided the stories 124 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 2: didn't match up perfectly, not perfectly enough anyway, so the 125 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 2: DEA seized every single of the eighty seven thousand plus dollars. 126 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 2: There were no arrests, there were no charges, there was 127 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:23,880 Speaker 2: no crime. The money was just gone, gone, seized at 128 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 2: the airport. Now, before you jump ahead, yes, I know 129 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:32,360 Speaker 2: that if I want to engage in a ten thousand 130 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 2: dollars transaction, I want to pay Dragon ten thousand dollars, 131 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 2: and I'm going to write him a check, or wire 132 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,719 Speaker 2: him money or do whatever which would be I'd have 133 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:46,560 Speaker 2: to be out of my ever loving mind to do that. 134 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 2: But if I were to go crazy someday and decide 135 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 2: I want to give Dragon ten thousand dollars, I have 136 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 2: to report that, which is why I would probably and 137 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 2: this would be a violation of the law too. If 138 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 2: I wanted to purposely violate that Treasury regulation, I just 139 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 2: give Dragon nine nine ninety nine dollars and ninety nine 140 00:09:05,679 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 2: cents just to be an ahole. But here's what That's 141 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 2: not what happened here. The one time that I went 142 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:22,599 Speaker 2: through TSA and was a little panicked, was Tary and 143 00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:27,559 Speaker 2: I were taking a short trip to Vegas. Now I 144 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,200 Speaker 2: without I'm not gonna tell you how much, I'm not 145 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 2: gonna tell you where, But because I've been through too 146 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 2: many disasters, and my advice to use the same is 147 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 2: to do exactly what I do. People look at me 148 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 2: like I'm crazy when I tell them this. You should 149 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 2: always have readily available within arms lengths. No, mine's not 150 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 2: quite arms link right now. You should always have it 151 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 2: depends on what your lifestyle is. But I would always 152 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,599 Speaker 2: say you should have at least one thousand dollars in cash. 153 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 2: One thousand dollars because if if Excel decides that, well, 154 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 2: it's windy today, so we're going to shut down all 155 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 2: the power. The gas pumps won't work, the ATMs won't 156 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 2: work unless they just happen to have generators. You won't 157 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 2: be able to walk through King Soupers or a Whole 158 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,920 Speaker 2: Paycheck or anyplace else and buy your groceries because you 159 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 2: can't use your credit card. In fact, you may even 160 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:24,839 Speaker 2: have a hard time using cash, depending on how their 161 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:28,160 Speaker 2: point of sales set up. But nonetheless, you have the 162 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,480 Speaker 2: opportunity to say, look, here's a head of lettuce, or 163 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 2: here's a pound of hamburger. What's a pound of hamburger? 164 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,640 Speaker 2: Now like five bucks or something? 165 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:38,839 Speaker 1: I don't know, I'd say probably closer to nine or ten. 166 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: I thought, really, it's getting up there. 167 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:44,720 Speaker 2: Holy crap, I got to get another socide of beef fast. 168 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 2: At least you might be able to barter and say, 169 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 2: here's a here's a ten dollar bill. Who's on a 170 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,160 Speaker 2: ten dollars bill? I remember whoever's on the ten dollar bill? 171 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 2: Here it is? How about that pound of hamburger? You 172 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 2: might be able to do that. Otherwise you're sol completely sol. 173 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 2: Oh you know what that means. Go to the Michael 174 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 2: Brown acronym book. You are s out of luck. But 175 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 2: here's why I want your blood to boil. The government 176 00:11:09,440 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 2: told Terry and his daughter that they had to prove 177 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:19,560 Speaker 2: that money wasn't connected to criminal activity. Now in America, 178 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 2: this is the story goes back to twenty nineteen, and 179 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 2: I'll tell you why in just a minute. The burden 180 00:11:25,240 --> 00:11:28,359 Speaker 2: was on an innocent seventy nine year old railroad retiree 181 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 2: to prove that his own life savings wasn't dirty money. 182 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 2: So that's guilty until proven innocent. The Fourth Amendment apparently 183 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,400 Speaker 2: goes on a sabbatical the minute you walk into an airport. 184 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 2: It took six months and a federal lawsuit filed pro 185 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 2: bono by the Institute for Justice before the Drug Enforcement 186 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 2: Administration finally gave the money back, and even then they 187 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 2: handed it over like they were doing the family a favor. 188 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 2: Now here's the part the government really doesn't want you 189 00:11:56,200 --> 00:12:00,839 Speaker 2: to focus on. De seized money doesn't just disappear into 190 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 2: some accountability void. It goes into the federal forfeiture fund 191 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:12,600 Speaker 2: that gets split among law enforcement agencies involved. TSA happened 192 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 2: to be the one that tipped off DEA. DEA sees 193 00:12:16,960 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 2: the cash that everybody got a piece of the pie. 194 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:24,320 Speaker 2: The Institute for Justice's lead attorney called it exactly what 195 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:30,640 Speaker 2: it is, the government treating travelers like an ATM. Between 196 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 2: two thousand and twenty sixteen, federal agencies sees more than 197 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,439 Speaker 2: two billion dollars that way. More recently, between twenty two 198 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,160 Speaker 2: and twenty twenty four, the agents participating in just this 199 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 2: airport program sees twenty two million dollars. Know how many 200 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 2: arrests they made to get twenty two million dollars fifty seven? Meanwhile, 201 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:57,959 Speaker 2: the DEA's actual sophisticated drug investigations over that same period 202 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:03,080 Speaker 2: netted one point four billion and thousands of arrest So 203 00:13:03,440 --> 00:13:08,800 Speaker 2: these shakedowns at the airport shake shakedowns at the airport 204 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:15,080 Speaker 2: weren't even effective law enforcement. It was just effective cash collection. 205 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:20,679 Speaker 2: So the Institute for Justice they turned tarrying and rebecusiccation 206 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 2: into a federal class action lawsuit. The lawsuit survived the 207 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 2: government motion to dismiss. Well, how olu, you got some 208 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 2: decent federal judge somewhere. The core claims are pretty straightforward, 209 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 2: and they ought to make every civil libertarian, except, of course, 210 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 2: the Americans for Civil Liberties. The ACLU. It ought to 211 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 2: make every civil libertarian, left right or even libertarian furious. 212 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 2: TSA not DEA. But TSA violates the Fourth Amendment by 213 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 2: seizing bags containing currency, and they do it without probable cause. 214 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 2: Then DEA steps on top of that, and DEA violates 215 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 2: the Fourth Amendment by taking the cash without probable cause 216 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:09,200 Speaker 2: of any criminal activity. And TSA exceeds its statue statutory 217 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:15,119 Speaker 2: authority in the first place, because TSA's job is security screening, 218 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 2: not to act as a DEA tip line. So late 219 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 2: last year took this law twenty twenty five, under pressure 220 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 2: from the Department's Justice own Inspector General, the DEA quietly 221 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 2: ended its airport consensual They called it a consensual Encounter program. 222 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 2: And I use the word consensual loosely because when a 223 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 2: federal agent intercepts you at the gate and demands to 224 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 2: search your bag, I'm not talking about the ESA, I'm 225 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 2: talking about DA. How consensual does that feel to you? 226 00:14:52,320 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 2: But here's the problem with quiet administrative fixes, which is 227 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 2: what this is what the DEA by memo, the DEEA 228 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 2: can restart by memo. There's no permanent legal protection. The 229 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 2: class action lawsuit is still live. And Congress still hasn't 230 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 2: passed the Fair Act. That's the legislation that would actually 231 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:20,920 Speaker 2: end the profit incentive, close the loopholes, and guarantee every 232 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 2: American whose property sees that they get a day in court. 233 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 2: The Fair Act. We've heard about the Save Act. Haven't 234 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 2: passed that. They haven't passed the Fair Act. Oh, by 235 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 2: the way, what have they passed? Oh they're on vacation. 236 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I forgot. It's President's Day week. Now. I know. 237 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 2: Dragon and I were lucky because our company gave us 238 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 2: President's Day off. We didn't get President's Week off. Good grief. 239 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,200 Speaker 2: The founding fathers put the Fourth Amendment in the Bill 240 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 2: of Rights because they had lived under a government the 241 00:15:56,360 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 2: British monarchy that treated every subject as a presumptive criminal. 242 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 2: They had experienced exactly this. Agents of the Crown empowered 243 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 2: dessurgencies on the flimsiest of pretexts, with the proceeds flowing 244 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,800 Speaker 2: back to the Crown's coffers. They called it tyranny. You 245 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 2: know what, we call it civil asset forfeiture, and somehow 246 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 2: we act like, well, it's different. It's not Terry Rowland 247 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 2: earned that money. It was his money. The government took 248 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 2: it with no more justification than a mugger on a 249 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 2: dark street, except the mugger doesn't have a badge and 250 00:16:29,080 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 2: a fortune. A forfeiture fund to split with his partners, 251 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 2: like the TSA flying with cash is legal, It always 252 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:43,960 Speaker 2: has been, and the government knows it. They just figured 253 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 2: out what most of that. Most Americans sippy won't fight 254 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 2: back because fighting back means, well, you've got to hire 255 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 2: a lawyer, you gotta file emotions, you got to spend 256 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 2: months tangling with a bureaucracy that has infinite resources, and 257 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,720 Speaker 2: you don't. But thanks to the Institute for Justice, Terry 258 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,439 Speaker 2: and Rebecca did fight back. So did the Institute for Justice, 259 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 2: and so should we. But what's the framework for all 260 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:15,679 Speaker 2: of this. TSA was created by the Aviation and Transportation 261 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 2: Security Acts of two thousand and one, passing those panic 262 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 2: weeks after nine to eleven. Its statutory mandate is unambiguous. 263 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 2: TSA screeners are authorized to search passengers and their bags 264 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 2: for weapons, explosives, and other dangerous items that could threaten 265 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 2: the safety of the aircraft. That is it, by the way, 266 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:44,920 Speaker 2: you know, as I didn't mention ID. No, I didn't 267 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:50,360 Speaker 2: mention ID. Their job is to search a passenger and 268 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 2: their bags or their persons for weapons, explosives, and other 269 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:59,760 Speaker 2: dangerous items that could threaten the safety of the aircraft. 270 00:18:00,680 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 2: And I suppose by extension other passengers now the airlines 271 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,159 Speaker 2: as a private entity they can ask for an ID 272 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 2: because they use it as a mechanism to control revenue. 273 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 2: They don't want Michael Brown buying a cheap airline ticket 274 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 2: and then finding out the last minute I can't go 275 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 2: and saying, hey, Dragon, I got this cheap ticket to Potipsie. 276 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 2: You want to go? And Dragon says, sure, i'll go. 277 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 2: So I just give the ticket a Dragon. He goes 278 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 2: to the airport, and you know, he just goes and 279 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,919 Speaker 2: goes through TSA and boards the airplane and they don't care. No, 280 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,439 Speaker 2: airlines don't want you to do that, so they require 281 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:41,399 Speaker 2: an ID. The statute does not authorize TSA to detain 282 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 2: passengers or their property after a security screen he has 283 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 2: cleared them opposing a threat to the aircraft. Once TSA 284 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,280 Speaker 2: determines that your bag contains cash, but it doesn't contain 285 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,040 Speaker 2: a weapon, doesn't contain a bomb, doesn't contain any threat 286 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 2: to aviation, their statue of statutory authority is completed, done, exhausted, 287 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:10,640 Speaker 2: You passed the security screening. That transaction is over and complete. 288 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 2: But what TSA has been doing instead is treating the 289 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 2: discovery cash as the beginning of a new of a 290 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:23,679 Speaker 2: separate law enforcement investigation one they have zero authority to conduct. 291 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 2: What they're essentially doing is they're mood lighting. Is drug 292 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 2: enforcement agents on a legal authorization that says nothing of 293 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:33,639 Speaker 2: the kind. This is called ultravirus beyond the scope of 294 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 2: the delegated authority. It's a fundamental principle of administrative law. 295 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,239 Speaker 2: Agencies can only do what Congress specifically empowers them to do. 296 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 2: TSA was empowered to find bombs. They decided unilaterally, Hey, 297 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 2: we're gonna look for drug money too. Congress didn't authorize that. 298 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 2: And the statutory claim is significant because it doesn't even 299 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,040 Speaker 2: require you to win the constitutional argument because of the 300 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 2: cour degrees that TSA simply lacks the authority to do 301 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 2: what it does, full stop. No Fourth Amendment analysis required. 302 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:09,679 Speaker 2: The practice ends as a matter of administrative law. Is 303 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,440 Speaker 2: the legal equivalent of winning on a motion to dismiss 304 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 2: before you ever even get to the merits. But what 305 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 2: about that pesky Fourth Amendment? Joe, let me get this 306 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:21,679 Speaker 2: stray brownie. You're in Denver, Colorado. 307 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,560 Speaker 3: You're going to walk out to your car in the 308 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:26,800 Speaker 3: parking lot, and you just told everybody in Denver, Colorado 309 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 3: you have at least one thousand dollars in loss. 310 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 2: I didn't say that at all. I said it might 311 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 2: be within arm's length and somebody, and somebody on the 312 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:47,879 Speaker 2: text line has a good product, a very good practice, Michael. 313 00:20:47,880 --> 00:20:49,879 Speaker 2: Pretty hard for most people to keep one thousand dollars 314 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 2: on them. I keep four hundred in my vehicle, a 315 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 2: one hundred dollars bill, a fifty dollars bill, a couple 316 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:01,640 Speaker 2: of twenties. Talk to my wallet, yes, spread it around. 317 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:04,399 Speaker 2: I'm not gonna carry it all in one place. 318 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,720 Speaker 1: I would also add for anybody curious about Michael Brown 319 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,960 Speaker 1: leaving the building at twelve oh one today heading out 320 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: to his white beamer. Uh, just saying that he may 321 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:21,440 Speaker 1: have also something else right, just exactly exactly. You may 322 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: want to exactly. 323 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, but then we're gonna set off the whole debate 324 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 2: about whether I should have around chambered or not. And 325 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 2: now we're gonna have that argument, you know. 326 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: So. 327 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,199 Speaker 2: You're gonna have to You're gonna have to pull it 328 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 2: out of your holster or you know, maybe and maybe 329 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:40,960 Speaker 2: there's more than one. Just like this guy keeps more 330 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,320 Speaker 2: than just, you know, one stash of cash, he keeps 331 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,240 Speaker 2: multiple stashes. Maybe I keep more than just one defensive 332 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 2: weapon around, which is actually true. 333 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, but if you're paying attention to the laws here 334 00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:56,920 Speaker 1: in Colorado, it needs to be in a hard case, 335 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: locked in your vehicle. 336 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 2: There's something wrong with this microphone. I don't know what's 337 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 2: going on. Back to here's what changed. In twenty twenty four, 338 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:22,880 Speaker 2: the Department adjust the DOJ Inspector General issued a really 339 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 2: skating memo finding that the DEA's airport program created a 340 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 2: substantial risk of constitutional violations, that the agents were not 341 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:36,480 Speaker 2: adequately trained, and that the documentation was so poor the 342 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 2: government couldn't even properly defend the seizures in court. So 343 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 2: the administrator of the DEA issued a memo ending the 344 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 2: quote Transportation Interdiction program close quote. He ended the airport encounters. 345 00:22:53,560 --> 00:22:57,439 Speaker 2: But critically, that was an administrative decision. It was not 346 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 2: a legal decision. No court ordered to, no statue was changed. 347 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 2: The next administrator could be started all again tomorrow. So 348 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 2: Congress has repeatedly introduced the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration Act, 349 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 2: the Fair Act, which would do four things. One, it 350 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:26,560 Speaker 2: would require a criminal conviction before civil forfeiture, pretty fundamental. Two, 351 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,639 Speaker 2: it would shift the burden of proof back to the 352 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:37,280 Speaker 2: government innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Three, 353 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 2: it would end the sharing as a profit mechanism because 354 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 2: buried in the story about mister Roland was the fact 355 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 2: that the TSA agents kept some of the money too. 356 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:55,959 Speaker 2: On what I mean, that's just theft, that's just pure theft. 357 00:23:57,119 --> 00:24:01,720 Speaker 2: And four, if a guarantee every property owner a day 358 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:07,160 Speaker 2: in court, it has never passed. It ostensibly has bipartisan 359 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 2: support in the abstract and listen to this, it has 360 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:20,840 Speaker 2: determined opposition from law enforcement lobbying in the concrete, so 361 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 2: bipartisan support abstractly determined opposition from Leo's Concretely, let's go 362 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,879 Speaker 2: back to the person who said, is this state purple 363 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 2: or blue? And it's unequivocally blue when I hear that 364 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:47,760 Speaker 2: the Fair Act is just languishing, like the Save Act 365 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:52,679 Speaker 2: is right now, and that civil asset forfeiture is just 366 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:57,520 Speaker 2: continuing unabated. But it's even worse than just civil asset forfeiture. 367 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 2: There was actually a transportation interdiction program and even TSA 368 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,880 Speaker 2: agents were like, oh, hey, you found this thousand dollars 369 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:07,560 Speaker 2: or twenty thousand or one hundred thousand, whatever you found, 370 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:12,119 Speaker 2: here's your tip? What fifteen twenty five percent? What do 371 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,040 Speaker 2: they get? Go back to the story about me and 372 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 2: Tim are taking a trip to Vegas. So I don't 373 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,720 Speaker 2: know why, but I had some money in my backpack. 374 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:26,679 Speaker 2: I'm not gonna tell you the amount, but I had 375 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 2: some money in my backpack because I was going to Vegas. 376 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 2: We're gonna play it, play play a few games, and 377 00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 2: I didn't want to play the fee on the ATM, 378 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:39,679 Speaker 2: which I guess was just stupid on my part. It 379 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:43,399 Speaker 2: was the one time that I got stopped for a 380 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 2: secondary inspection, And I've always wondered not I shouldn't say 381 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 2: the one time. I usually get stopped for a secondary 382 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 2: inspection every time, because it's usually the farmer under Secretary 383 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 2: of Homeland Security that hates TSA is coming through. Yes, yep, 384 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:04,320 Speaker 2: giving the rectal examination. Yep, that's me. The Supreme Court, 385 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:07,760 Speaker 2: in the case from twenty nineteen Times versus Indiana, it 386 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 2: was unanimous, by the way, held that the Eighth Amendments excess. 387 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,600 Speaker 2: He finds clause applies to the States via the Fourteenth 388 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 2: Amendment directly applicable to civil asset forfeiture. Just as Thomas, 389 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 2: concurring even went further in question whether civil forfeiture has 390 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,280 Speaker 2: currently practiced can ever be squared with the original understanding 391 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 2: of the Fifth Amendments due process clause. Thomas wrote, this 392 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 2: historical support for civil forfeiture is not nearly as robust 393 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,880 Speaker 2: as the government suggests, and that the Court may need 394 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:42,399 Speaker 2: to reconsider its precedence on the practice. That's a significant 395 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:48,560 Speaker 2: signal there's a fundamental constitutional tension here. The deepest legal 396 00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 2: question in this case presents the government's entire civil forfeiture 397 00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 2: regime wrestle on the legal fiction that somehow property can 398 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 2: be guilty of a crime in dependent of its owner. Now, 399 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,360 Speaker 2: that's a theory rooted an admiralty law from the seventeenth 400 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,159 Speaker 2: and eighteenth centuries involving ships and contraband on ships. The 401 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 2: founders who wrote the fourth and fifth amendments were operating 402 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:16,119 Speaker 2: in a world where n rim forfeiture was understood to 403 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,400 Speaker 2: apply to contraband itself, items who's very possession was illegal. 404 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:25,120 Speaker 2: They weren't contemplating a system where lawfully owned property could 405 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 2: be permanently confiscated without a criminal conviction based on a 406 00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 2: government agent's suspicion. Even worse, just drifted even further from 407 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 2: that foundation. Brown versus TSA are finally beginning to force 408 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 2: courts to either defend the drift intellectually or least acknowledge 409 00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 2: that civil asset forfeiture has currently practiced is simply incompatible 410 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,119 Speaker 2: with Bill of Rights. I think the plaintiffs here in 411 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 2: this class action lawsuit, which is still ongoing. I know 412 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,640 Speaker 2: somebody on the text language, well, this is boring because 413 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 2: this is all old news. No, this is still an 414 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,119 Speaker 2: ongoing class action, you dumbass. So stick up, I mean 415 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 2: stick with the program here. I think the players have 416 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,919 Speaker 2: strong claims on all three fronts. The statutory claim is 417 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:16,639 Speaker 2: probably the strongest. It's clean, well bounded. It doesn't require 418 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:19,360 Speaker 2: the court to weigh into some sort of constitutional territory. 419 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,080 Speaker 2: But if they do, the Fourth Amendment claims are very 420 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,639 Speaker 2: well supported by existing precedent and the documented absence of 421 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 2: probable cause in those cases. The government's legal position instead 422 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,679 Speaker 2: would require the courts to accept that the act of 423 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:41,680 Speaker 2: carrying your own lawfully earned money through a US airport 424 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 2: justifies its seizure by the federal government without charges, without 425 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 2: a warrant, and with a recovery process designed is literally 426 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,320 Speaker 2: designed to make you give up or to not even start. 427 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 2: That's not a legal argument, that's a description of what 428 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 2: governments do when they've decided the rules don't apply to them. 429 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 2: And that's precisely why the Fourth Amendment exists. So, mister Rowland, 430 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 2: you got your money back. But the Institute for Legal 431 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 2: Justice is still moving forward on the class action lawsuit. 432 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 2: But why wait for the courts. Congress pass the Fair 433 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:30,080 Speaker 2: Act stop this. You can support law enforcement and tell 434 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 2: them as I'm doing right now. When it comes to 435 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 2: civil asset forfeiture. You're just wrong. 436 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,960 Speaker 3: Haa, Michael Brown, you silly goose. You're sitting here bitching 437 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 3: about the TSA and their overreach, and you're one of 438 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 3: the creators of it. 439 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 2: No no, no, no no, no. Congress created it. We 440 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: objected to it. You can't. There's no way you can 441 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 2: put that one on us. No way. Nice try, but 442 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 2: no cigar on that one. Here's a fun little experiment 443 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,400 Speaker 2: I want you to do. If you have an iPhone, 444 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:11,720 Speaker 2: pull out your iPhone, your iPhone right now. You see 445 00:30:11,720 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 2: the drag can pull your iPhone out. You see that 446 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,240 Speaker 2: Apple News app. It comes pre installed. 447 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 1: I just needed it a long time ago. 448 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 2: You didn't ask for it. Apple just decided that you 449 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 2: needed it. And apparently they also decided what you need 450 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 2: to read through Apple News. The Media Research Center analyzed 451 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:37,680 Speaker 2: six hundred and twenty stories featured in Apple news high 452 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 2: traffic morning slots during all of last month January of 453 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. The results pretty astonishing. Four hundred and 454 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:54,200 Speaker 2: forty stories seventy one percent came from left leaning outlets. 455 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 2: The remaining one hundred and eighty so called centrist public 456 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 2: cation conservative outlets. Zilt's zero not one. As of last week, 457 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:12,000 Speaker 2: Apple News had gone over one hundred consecutive days without 458 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,960 Speaker 2: featuring one single story from a right leaning source in 459 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:19,680 Speaker 2: its curated top stories. The last back in November five 460 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 2: from a British paper, and that story was buried behind 461 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 2: a paywall. Now Apple comes out and says, oh, don't worry, 462 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:34,200 Speaker 2: you can customize your feet. Okay. Sure, So the default 463 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:38,440 Speaker 2: setting that tends tens of millions of people will never 464 00:31:38,560 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 2: change is apparently a fire hose of the Washington Post, 465 00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 2: the Huffington Post, NBC News, the Network's MSN now whatever 466 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 2: it is. Oh, you know, everybody in the cabal right, 467 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 2: purely coincidental. I'm sure FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson didn't think 468 00:31:55,720 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 2: it was coincidental, so he sent a letter directly to 469 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 2: Tim Cook apples Tim Cook, same Tim Cook that personally 470 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 2: delivered a Golden trophy to Donald Trump, and the letter 471 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:11,400 Speaker 2: warned him that systematically suppressing news based on political viewpoint 472 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:17,560 Speaker 2: might violate the Federal Trade Commissions Acts Prohibition on Unfair 473 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:22,400 Speaker 2: and Deceptive Practices. Because here's the legal theory. If Apple 474 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:26,680 Speaker 2: tells you that it's a news aggregator but secretly has 475 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:31,760 Speaker 2: its thumb on the ideological scale. That's potentially a material 476 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,520 Speaker 2: omission to consumers. So think about it. He bought a phone, 477 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 2: The phone came with an app. The app purports to 478 00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 2: show you the news, and without telling you the editors 479 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 2: that Apple decided that half the political spectrum simply doesn't 480 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 2: produce news that's worth your time. Apple's defense, well, we 481 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:54,600 Speaker 2: have folks news. The New York Post is available, Yes, available, 482 00:32:54,640 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 2: the way that brussel sprouts are available at a restaurant 483 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 2: technically on the menu, never actually making it to my table. 484 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 2: The broader picture is simply this Apple News reaches tens 485 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 2: of millions of Americans every single morning. It's not neutral, 486 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:13,720 Speaker 2: never was neutral. And the question is whether Apple has 487 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,520 Speaker 2: a right to curate. However, it was the First Amendment, 488 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 2: in my opinion, gives them the right to do that. 489 00:33:18,400 --> 00:33:20,480 Speaker 2: The real question is whether they should get to do 490 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:24,880 Speaker 2: it silently, without telling you, while presenting themselves as simply 491 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 2: delivering quote the news. It's not a news app, it's 492 00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 2: an editorial page that forgot to call itself Apple Editorial 493 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:34,760 Speaker 2: News