WEBVTT - Dan Carroll 10/14/26 0:00:02.150 --> 0:00:05.930 700-WLW-908, Dan Carroll till midnight tonight. The show we like 0:00:05.970 --> 0:00:12.239 to call the Midweek Crisis, Wednesday night edition. Russ Jackson 0:00:12.300 --> 0:00:16.640 running the big board in the 700-WLW Command Center, 513-749-7000, 1-800-THE-BIG-ONE. Man, 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:18.100 just a ton of stuff to get to tonight. Always 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:31.170 good to see Lance McAllister. You know, I tell you what, 0:00:31.350 --> 0:00:34.669 it's hard to follow Lance. Hey, his shows are so good, man. 0:00:35.530 --> 0:00:38.220 It's just so easy to listen to his shows. I'm 0:00:38.260 --> 0:00:42.540 driving in, and, I mean, he's telling you people are 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:46.879 telling stories about the different venues. One guy called in 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.960 talking about the Fairfield Championship football team. I had totally 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.120 forgotten about that. But, as always, just great stuff from 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.700 Lance McAllister. So I got to follow Lance and try 0:00:56.740 --> 0:01:00.780 and do a good job. Keep you listening until midnight tonight. Um, 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:06.100 Simon Hankinson is from the, uh, the heritage foundation and 0:01:06.140 --> 0:01:07.680 he is, I I've had him on the show a 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.620 couple of times in the past, but he is a 0:01:11.770 --> 0:01:16.330 senior research fellow in border security and, and, uh, immigration 0:01:16.350 --> 0:01:20.350 center at the heritage foundation and just a very interesting guy. 0:01:20.390 --> 0:01:25.759 And he's written a piece, uh, talking about Islamophobia and 0:01:25.780 --> 0:01:28.399 the title of it is what caught my opinion. But 0:01:28.420 --> 0:01:30.840 then of course I read the piece and, I thought, 0:01:30.900 --> 0:01:34.160 I really want to get this guy on. And he writes, 0:01:34.180 --> 0:01:38.290 is Islamophobia irrational? And I think that is something that 0:01:38.390 --> 0:01:42.750 I know that I'm dealing with right now. I think 0:01:42.790 --> 0:01:45.390 there's a lot of people who are looking at the 0:01:45.430 --> 0:01:52.540 world around them right now. And sometimes you're hesitant to 0:01:52.580 --> 0:01:55.860 be critical. I know I am. And so we will 0:01:55.880 --> 0:02:00.440 discuss this with him. And he talks about, as I 0:02:00.500 --> 0:02:04.610 talked about on the show that I did on September 11th, 0:02:04.660 --> 0:02:08.210 or I guess the eve of September 11th, that we 0:02:08.250 --> 0:02:11.190 have a generation now that has grown up with little 0:02:11.230 --> 0:02:16.270 memory of 9-11, even as Islamic violence continues to shape 0:02:16.310 --> 0:02:21.329 debates over terrorism, immigration, religion, and free speech. So we 0:02:21.389 --> 0:02:24.070 will discuss that with him. And I invite you to 0:02:24.110 --> 0:02:26.770 stay tuned for that. I mean, he's really an interesting guy. 0:02:27.610 --> 0:02:31.910 I also have on our buddy Adam Kaler from the 0:02:31.930 --> 0:02:36.130 Cincinnati Exchange. You know, one of the things that I 0:02:36.169 --> 0:02:39.130 want to do when I do this show, and I 0:02:39.169 --> 0:02:42.700 decided this a long time ago back in– well, I 0:02:42.780 --> 0:02:44.980 was doing the show back in 2010, 2011. And then 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.600 the current stint that I'm on now started that in 2020. 0:02:58.740 --> 0:03:02.300 And one of the things I want to do is 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.160 provide some value for you to be listening to this show. 0:03:07.250 --> 0:03:09.250 And I try to do that by keeping you ahead 0:03:09.290 --> 0:03:12.970 of the curve of what is coming down in a 0:03:12.990 --> 0:03:16.869 political sense or what's going on. I probably don't do 0:03:16.930 --> 0:03:21.780 a great job of covering daily events or the current 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.400 events or the comings and goings of all the folks 0:03:24.580 --> 0:03:28.730 at City Hall. I talk about City Hall some. But 0:03:28.830 --> 0:03:30.990 one of the things that I'm pretty proud of right 0:03:31.050 --> 0:03:34.960 now is that I had on Adam Kaler from the 0:03:35.030 --> 0:03:40.360 Cincinnati Exchange, and it was the day after we had 0:03:40.380 --> 0:03:45.820 the flooding back in June. Or was it July? Of course, 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.440 now I can't even remember what it was. But in 0:03:49.500 --> 0:03:55.800 any case, we had the flooding, and of course, the 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:57.620 folks down there near Duck Creek, and we had the 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:00.950 the floodgate that wouldn't close and all the rest of that. 0:04:02.390 --> 0:04:05.510 And he did some investigative reporting on that and found 0:04:05.550 --> 0:04:11.290 that the floodgate couldn't close because the arms were chained, 0:04:11.750 --> 0:04:14.400 the arms that come down and block traffic on the road. 0:04:14.500 --> 0:04:17.900 It's a mechanical process. First thing that happens, the arms 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:22.000 come down, they block traffic, and then the traffic stops. 0:04:22.020 --> 0:04:24.500 And then, of course, the floodgate closes because it goes 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:28.589 across the road there. And you don't want cars driving 0:04:28.630 --> 0:04:35.350 into the floodgate. And because of a lack of attention, 0:04:35.390 --> 0:04:38.150 a lack of care, a lack of maintenance, they were 0:04:38.190 --> 0:04:40.770 having difficulty with those arms. And so the arms would 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:44.940 fall and come down on their own when they weren't 0:04:44.980 --> 0:04:48.020 supposed to. It could happen at any time. So the 0:04:48.060 --> 0:04:50.960 solution was to chain the arms in the up position. 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:53.339 And then, of course, when the flood came and the 0:04:53.360 --> 0:04:57.170 gate needed to close, well, they couldn't close because of the, 0:04:57.350 --> 0:04:59.839 of the difficulty there. But we talked about that. Uh, 0:04:59.910 --> 0:05:02.050 it was either a day or two days after the, uh, 0:05:02.170 --> 0:05:08.660 the actual flood itself. And so, uh, just this past week, uh, 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.300 I get a, I get a, uh, text sent in my, 0:05:11.440 --> 0:05:14.360 in my, uh, text message and it's channel five. It's 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.520 got a story. And well, lo and behold, they, uh, just, uh, 0:05:17.580 --> 0:05:19.640 figured out that there, uh, there was a floodgate failure 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.230 and they were saying, well, it didn't, didn't work. Well, 0:05:24.260 --> 0:05:26.190 you know what it, If you would have been listening 0:05:26.230 --> 0:05:29.109 to this show, you would have been way ahead of 0:05:31.210 --> 0:05:35.050 the curve on that one. So Adam Kaler is going 0:05:35.070 --> 0:05:36.710 to be here. He is the main man behind a 0:05:36.730 --> 0:05:40.670 website called the Cincinnati Exchange. And I'm a big fan 0:05:40.710 --> 0:05:44.930 of that website because they, I mean, you will really 0:05:46.710 --> 0:05:48.860 find in from news and information there that you do 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:53.659 not find anywhere else. And so, yeah, let's see. It 0:05:53.860 --> 0:05:57.170 was July 23rd. City Manager Cheryl Long called the issue 0:05:57.210 --> 0:06:00.310 not related to the arms. Let me see. I know 0:06:00.410 --> 0:06:03.929 he's got the date in here of when it happened. But, yeah, 0:06:04.430 --> 0:06:08.050 it was July 22nd. So, yeah, July and August last year. 0:06:08.250 --> 0:06:11.090 Or this year. This past summer, I should say. So 0:06:11.450 --> 0:06:13.770 Adam will be here. That will be about an hour 0:06:13.830 --> 0:06:16.880 from now. We will be talking to him. So I've 0:06:16.900 --> 0:06:22.280 been getting ready for the show today. And Just been 0:06:22.300 --> 0:06:26.279 reading a ton of stuff on the Ilhan Omar case. And, 0:06:26.300 --> 0:06:30.000 of course, Ilhan Omar, when they had the raid, the 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:31.880 pre-dawn raid at her D.C. 0:06:31.940 --> 0:06:32.219 Home. 0:06:34.660 --> 0:06:37.180 Of course, the first thing that the media did was 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.380 come out and say it's a vendetta by Trump going 0:06:41.460 --> 0:06:47.469 after his political enemies. And then you, of course, you 0:06:47.510 --> 0:06:51.240 look at the facts. And the facts don't suggest that 0:06:51.260 --> 0:06:58.170 at all. The investigation actually began during the Biden administration. 0:06:59.070 --> 0:07:06.650 Jonathan Turley, who is a well-known legal scholar on Fox News, 0:07:06.710 --> 0:07:09.320 talks about how the raid was approved by a longtime 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:15.280 Democrat donor and a Democrat ally. The warrant was approved 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.380 by Judge Matthew Sharbaugh. He was a registered Democrat and 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:24.880 a Democrat appointee. So the Department of Justice went to 0:07:24.980 --> 0:07:28.920 that judge, said, here's our evidence, and that judge said, well, 0:07:28.940 --> 0:07:31.720 you've got enough there to sign off on a warrant. 0:07:35.300 --> 0:07:38.140 Courtroom paperwork backs up Turley's assertion. And by the way, 0:07:38.180 --> 0:07:41.690 the Western Journal and the New York Post have done 0:07:41.730 --> 0:07:47.110 great reporting on this. Courtroom paperwork backs up Turley's assertion, 0:07:47.150 --> 0:07:51.540 the document, from the U.S. District Court of District of Columbia, 0:07:51.580 --> 0:07:55.490 shows Judge Charbaugh has been on duty since October 3rd, 0:07:55.530 --> 0:07:59.790 remains there until October 16th. Another document confirms Charbaugh was 0:07:59.830 --> 0:08:03.790 sworn in two years ago by Chief Judge James Boesberg. 0:08:05.690 --> 0:08:08.320 And if that name sounds familiar, it should, because Boesberg 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.780 has been an absolute thorn in the side of Donald Trump. 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.930 Boesberg is the same Obama appointee who issued an order 0:08:18.950 --> 0:08:22.710 last year stating he'd found probable cause to hold members 0:08:22.730 --> 0:08:26.510 of the Trump administration in criminal contempt for not complying 0:08:26.570 --> 0:08:30.360 with his directive to stop deporting criminal illegal aliens to 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:39.680 El Salvador. So there's a total array of judges and 0:08:39.740 --> 0:08:45.510 legal processes that have to be adhered to here. that 0:08:45.590 --> 0:08:48.890 work against this administration. Of course, Trump said he doesn't 0:08:48.910 --> 0:08:54.870 have any part in it. Let's see. And there's just, 0:08:54.990 --> 0:08:59.150 I mean, there's so many components to this. Let's see. 0:08:59.910 --> 0:09:04.319 Ilhan Omar's dad was never a refugee, according to an 0:09:04.380 --> 0:09:05.939 expert on the matter. This is a piece in the 0:09:05.980 --> 0:09:09.780 Western Journal. In a new wrinkle in the immigration rate 0:09:09.820 --> 0:09:14.350 against Ilhan Omar, an expert scholar And the Somali Civil 0:09:14.370 --> 0:09:18.980 War says the congresswoman's father was a military commander in 0:09:19.030 --> 0:09:22.600 a dictatorship that killed up to 200,000 people in the 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:28.700 East African country. Muhammad Haji Ingress, an Oxford University historian, 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:33.540 speaking with the New York Post, said Omar's father misrepresented 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:37.569 himself as a refugee when he was, in fact, a 0:09:37.670 --> 0:09:43.790 perpetrator of the chaos in the country. Omar's home was 0:09:43.830 --> 0:09:47.860 raided Monday as part of the investigation into whether she 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.380 misrepresented herself as being a minor when she received US 0:09:51.420 --> 0:10:00.290 citizenship through her father in the year 2000. Let's see. 0:10:01.670 --> 0:10:05.340 Public sources up until 2019 listed the Minnesota Democrat's birth 0:10:05.380 --> 0:10:09.819 year as 1981. A viral video calling into question the 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.420 route of her citizenship led Omar to say she was 0:10:12.460 --> 0:10:18.750 born in 1982. The New York Post reported Tuesday. Had 0:10:18.809 --> 0:10:20.910 she been born in 81, she would have been 18 0:10:20.910 --> 0:10:23.570 or 19 at the time of the naturalization and thus 0:10:23.790 --> 0:10:30.100 ineligible for citizenship through her father as a minor. So 0:10:30.130 --> 0:10:36.439 there are questions about those records and when they were changed. 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:43.720 The New York Post has more on that story. And 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.439 Miranda Devine, or I'm sorry, this is Josh Christensen at 0:10:46.460 --> 0:10:54.470 the Post, Ilhan Omar's staff helped get her birth certificate 0:10:54.510 --> 0:10:58.310 changed in public records once the Minnesota Democrat was elected 0:10:58.350 --> 0:11:04.050 to Congress in 2018. A switch that has since spurred 0:11:04.110 --> 0:11:08.630 frenzied accusations that she misrepresented her age to secure U.S. citizenship. 0:11:10.340 --> 0:11:12.559 The altercation could offer a big clue as to what 0:11:12.700 --> 0:11:17.360 federal immigration agents were searching for when they raided her D.C. 0:11:17.380 --> 0:11:22.310 home on Monday. If the congresswoman is actually one year 0:11:22.470 --> 0:11:26.410 older than she claims to be, that would mean she 0:11:26.490 --> 0:11:33.250 couldn't have legally become a U.S. citizen in 2000. Critics content. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.260 Omar's birth date had been listed in the Minnesota Legislative 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:44.700 Reference Library as October 4, 1981, as well as on 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:48.459 reference sites such as Wikipedia and in media outlets like 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.290 the BBC. for the entire time that she served in 0:11:52.330 --> 0:11:57.150 the State House for several months into her congressional term. 0:11:59.220 --> 0:12:02.980 But the Congresswoman's staff moved to shift the date forward 0:12:03.020 --> 0:12:08.220 by one year in May of 2019. After a video 0:12:08.300 --> 0:12:12.950 from a political opponent went viral that claimed Omar was 0:12:13.030 --> 0:12:16.809 fibbing about her age, according to emails reviewed by the Post. 0:12:18.980 --> 0:12:24.000 May 17, 2019, library staff were informed by Omar's congressional 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.699 staff that her birth year was incorrect and requested that 0:12:26.780 --> 0:12:31.920 we change it to 1982, wrote the director of the 0:12:32.020 --> 0:12:35.689 Minnesota Legislative Reference Library in an email just days after 0:12:35.730 --> 0:12:40.870 the change was made. Omar's congressional staff working with Wikipedia 0:12:40.950 --> 0:12:43.930 and the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress and 0:12:44.070 --> 0:12:48.229 other sources to correct her birth year on those sites. 0:12:51.130 --> 0:12:52.990 As of today, the birth year has not been corrected 0:12:53.030 --> 0:12:56.530 on two of the sites. The director added in May 0:12:56.580 --> 0:13:02.040 of 2019 in an email then. So it certainly appears 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.480 that there was an effort to change her birth year. 0:13:06.540 --> 0:13:13.760 Then there's a tenant of the investigation that looks into 0:13:14.260 --> 0:13:22.510 her financial dealings. Janine Pirro. told Fox News that her 0:13:22.610 --> 0:13:27.860 office is opening an investigation looking at her financial disclosures. 0:13:29.340 --> 0:13:34.300 Pirro's investigation has honed in on one particular or peculiar development. 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.340 Her husband, Tim Minot, saw the value of his business 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.340 skyrocket from being worth about $ 51, 000 in 2023 to about 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:42.699 being worth to about $ 30 million in 2024. So from 0:13:42.700 --> 0:13:54.430 51 grand In 2023 and one year later, you're worth 0:13:54.429 --> 0:13:59.410 $ 30 million. How does that happen? Well, there are supposed 0:13:59.450 --> 0:14:03.720 to be financial disclosures that spell all that out, but 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:10.120 apparently some of that information is lacking. The information came 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:17.760 from Piro yesterday after the raid. They said the raid 0:14:17.780 --> 0:14:23.420 was part of a larger ongoing case. What else? There 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:29.980 was the financial stuff. Let me see. And then Jonathan 0:14:30.020 --> 0:14:34.950 Turley says she could be in line for denaturalization and 0:14:34.970 --> 0:14:37.890 that the immigration laws are very clear. So this isn't 0:14:37.930 --> 0:14:41.410 something that, you know, the networks and all the defenders 0:14:42.210 --> 0:14:47.290 want to pretend that this is something that is extra constitutional, 0:14:47.850 --> 0:14:49.970 that they're just making this up as they go along. Well, 0:14:52.750 --> 0:14:56.130 If you look at the real reporting on this, it 0:14:56.150 --> 0:14:59.730 looks like everything is in there where it needs to be. 0:15:00.170 --> 0:15:02.870 Of course, she's trying to raise money on this. Then 0:15:02.890 --> 0:15:07.940 there was a subpoena for Ilhan Omar's sister, Sarah Noor, 0:15:08.820 --> 0:15:13.780 who is linked to the Feeding Our Children scandal in Minnesota. 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:19.490 New York Times reported that yesterday. Federal agents investigating Ilhan Omar. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.380 issued subpoenas to some of her relatives, including her sister, 0:15:23.460 --> 0:15:28.550 Sarah Noor. This goes on, this piece goes on to 0:15:28.610 --> 0:15:34.250 talk about her sister has ties to the state's massive 0:15:34.370 --> 0:15:40.940 government fraud scandal back in July. This scam was robbing 0:15:40.980 --> 0:15:45.760 American taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars intended to 0:15:45.820 --> 0:15:48.580 feed needy children. And already a whole bunch of people 0:15:50.570 --> 0:15:54.930 have pleaded guilty in this case there in Minnesota. Her 0:15:54.990 --> 0:15:58.460 sister registered her consulting company at a Minnesota residence connected 0:15:58.500 --> 0:16:02.320 through business records to several major figures in the Feeding 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.300 Our Future operation. And, of course, I think it'll be 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:09.870 interesting to find out how much she knew about that 0:16:10.210 --> 0:16:16.530 and did she pull the strings that enabled that fraud 0:16:16.630 --> 0:16:24.580 to continue. And so there are literally five different crimes 0:16:26.540 --> 0:16:31.040 that she could be facing right here. And each one 0:16:31.060 --> 0:16:33.140 of these crimes could lead to bigger and more crimes. 0:16:35.010 --> 0:16:39.510 You've got the immigration fraud because of her father. You've 0:16:39.550 --> 0:16:44.830 got immigration fraud because of her own statements. You've got 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:51.920 her husband's work. promising legislation for African clients. That's the 0:16:52.060 --> 0:16:56.640 consulting company. And then, you know, there's the curious case 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:02.860 of the winery. Rose Lake Capital claimed to manage $ 60 0:17:02.780 --> 0:17:06.890 billion in assets. He had a few years, yet few 0:17:06.950 --> 0:17:12.010 in American financial markets had heard of that company. Mine 0:17:12.050 --> 0:17:14.810 it ran. E Street Company didn't pay its taxes. Omar 0:17:14.850 --> 0:17:16.930 reported her husband's net worth up to $ 30 million, beclaiming 0:17:18.850 --> 0:17:22.010 before claiming it was a clerical error and that his 0:17:22.090 --> 0:17:24.129 net worth was actually zero. So how do you go 0:17:24.170 --> 0:17:29.130 from 30 million to zero? And then, of course, the 0:17:30.410 --> 0:17:36.090 claim or the investigation into her sister about feeding the future. 0:17:36.590 --> 0:17:40.659 So there's a lot there. And it's a lot to 0:17:40.700 --> 0:17:44.600 take in, I know. But my point is that this 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.820 is not the kind of stuff you see reported on 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:49.670 the media. And that's one of the things I like 0:17:49.690 --> 0:17:51.850 to do on this show is tell you stuff that 0:17:52.250 --> 0:17:56.090 you don't see reported. You have a better understanding of 0:17:56.109 --> 0:17:57.990 what's going on. We've got to get to a break. 0:17:58.810 --> 0:18:01.090 It is 926. I'm a little bit late for this break, 0:18:01.130 --> 0:18:02.890 but after the news here at the bottom of the hour, 0:18:04.369 --> 0:18:08.590 I will be joined by my guest from the Heritage Foundation, 0:18:08.650 --> 0:18:13.940 Simon Hankinson. And we'll talk about his latest piece discussing Islamophobia. 0:18:14.300 --> 0:18:15.800 So we hope you can stick around for that. It 0:18:15.859 --> 0:18:19.199 is the Wednesday night edition. On the Midweek Crisis, we 0:18:19.270 --> 0:18:26.230 roll till midnight tonight. Dan Carroll, 700 WLW. 700 WLW, 939, 0:18:26.230 --> 0:18:28.930 Wednesday night edition of the Midweek Crisis. I'm Dan Carroll. 0:18:34.050 --> 0:18:38.850 Simon Hankinson is my guest from the Heritage Foundation. And 0:18:38.869 --> 0:18:41.470 let me just read to you a little bit of 0:18:41.510 --> 0:18:46.510 what he wrote. Is arachnophobia, fear of spiders, irrational? There 0:18:46.550 --> 0:18:51.350 are nearly 54,000 species of spider, but only 1% are 0:18:51.390 --> 0:18:55.830 dangerous to us. So a general phobia of spiders is irrational, 0:18:56.830 --> 0:19:00.050 but a fear of black widows isn't. And there is 0:19:00.090 --> 0:19:03.350 a reason my Australian friends tap their shoes upside down 0:19:03.410 --> 0:19:08.070 before putting them on. Funnel web spiders like shoes, and 0:19:09.030 --> 0:19:12.790 they are deadly. And Simon Hankinson of the Heritage Foundation, 0:19:13.170 --> 0:19:15.510 it is great to have you back on 700 WLW. 0:19:15.550 --> 0:19:18.710 Good to talk to you, sir. Appreciate you being here tonight. Well, 0:19:18.859 --> 0:19:21.880 it's my pleasure, Dan. And I'm glad that you wrote 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:28.020 this piece entitled, Is Islamophobia Irrational? And this is something 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:31.520 that I've been talking about a lot over the last 0:19:31.540 --> 0:19:37.210 several years, and especially since we had the anniversary of 0:19:37.270 --> 0:19:42.100 September 11th a little over a month ago. And you 0:19:42.140 --> 0:19:44.490 talk about what I was talking about, how we have 0:19:44.530 --> 0:19:49.390 an entire generation now of people who obviously were not 0:19:49.450 --> 0:19:54.940 born then. but because our educational system, because our media 0:19:56.420 --> 0:20:00.680 sugarcoats these things and downplays these things and tends to 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:05.760 put them down the memory hole, that lack of awareness 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:11.540 on the part of so many now millions of Americans 0:20:11.619 --> 0:20:14.530 who really don't have a connection to it, I think 0:20:15.030 --> 0:20:19.250 that gets exploited by people who bear the United States 0:20:19.330 --> 0:20:19.950 no goodwill. 0:20:22.550 --> 0:20:27.429 Unfortunately, people have a short memory, and our schools are 0:20:27.450 --> 0:20:29.940 doing a pretty terrible job of teaching history. I think 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:36.390 the last test, 2024, the national assessment showed that only 11% 0:20:36.390 --> 0:20:40.490 of American high school kids knew American history to a 0:20:40.490 --> 0:20:44.129 proficient level. So they couldn't tell you who won the 0:20:44.190 --> 0:20:47.790 civil war, let alone what happened in 2001. And that's, 0:20:48.330 --> 0:20:50.350 that's a lesson we really have to teach our kids. 0:20:51.430 --> 0:20:53.290 Um, yeah. 0:20:53.410 --> 0:20:55.290 And you taught, and again, the, the, uh, the, the 0:20:55.470 --> 0:20:59.180 young people who, who, uh, who don't know about this. 0:20:59.260 --> 0:21:02.820 And I think the other component of this is, is that, uh, 0:21:02.900 --> 0:21:05.859 people who are your age, people who are my age, um, 0:21:07.000 --> 0:21:09.680 I've sat behind this microphone so many nights and said, 0:21:09.700 --> 0:21:12.300 you will not find a stronger supporter of the First 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.280 Amendment than me. And I am all in favor of 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:21.389 the First Amendment. And religious freedom is part of that 0:21:21.450 --> 0:21:26.330 First Amendment. So I think the vast majority of Americans 0:21:26.410 --> 0:21:32.020 have this sort of built-in notion that you are not 0:21:32.060 --> 0:21:35.980 to criticize religion. And you tread carefully when you do, 0:21:36.060 --> 0:21:41.119 because we believe in religious freedom and the free exercise thereof. But, 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.580 you know, when I look around and I see what's 0:21:44.619 --> 0:21:50.179 going on, I sit behind this microphone and I do criticize. 0:21:50.380 --> 0:21:53.800 I do criticize when I see groups trying to come 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.719 in and infiltrate a certain city or a community. And 0:21:57.760 --> 0:22:02.350 then it seems like that community slowly gets taken over 0:22:02.970 --> 0:22:09.420 by individuals who, again, bear us no goodwill. And so 0:22:09.780 --> 0:22:12.369 to call that out, I think a lot of people 0:22:12.690 --> 0:22:16.150 sort of shy away from that sort of criticism. 0:22:18.290 --> 0:22:22.159 Yeah, we've had in the last decade, I think, a 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.859 woke movement that has tried to shame people for having 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:30.600 opinions that for 2,000 years were completely normal. I wrote 0:22:30.740 --> 0:22:33.200 a book called The Ten Woke Commandments You Must Not Obey, 0:22:33.220 --> 0:22:35.210 and I kind of go through some of these opinions. 0:22:35.510 --> 0:22:40.290 these shibboleths. You can't say that if a dude in 0:22:40.330 --> 0:22:44.470 his 50s suddenly decides to become a woman, you can't say, well, 0:22:44.550 --> 0:22:47.850 that's still a guy. He can live how he wants, 0:22:47.910 --> 0:22:51.590 but it's still a biological man. You're called a transphobe. 0:22:52.330 --> 0:22:57.879 If you criticize Any element of the Islamic faith or 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:00.660 any particular individual who happens to be a Muslim, they'll 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:04.560 call you an Islamophobe. If you criticize someone or at 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:08.000 least suggest that maybe being 350 pounds is not conducive 0:23:08.020 --> 0:23:10.780 to good health, you're called a fatphobe and on and on. 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.540 It's a way to shame people out of making judgments 0:23:13.580 --> 0:23:15.220 that are rational and normal. 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.510 Rational and normal. And it just seems that there are 0:23:19.550 --> 0:23:22.050 so many things that are going on, especially when you 0:23:22.090 --> 0:23:26.690 look at, and you've included a brief list of different 0:23:26.730 --> 0:23:30.359 terrorist attacks that have happened here in the United States 0:23:30.410 --> 0:23:33.780 and have happened in Europe. And I think if you 0:23:33.859 --> 0:23:36.980 ran most of these attacks going back to 2004, you 0:23:37.020 --> 0:23:40.320 talk about Madrid, bomb on a train kills 191 people. 2005, London, 0:23:40.340 --> 0:23:48.220 suicide bombers kill 52. I mean, all these 130 dead 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:53.990 in Paris in 2015, all these attacks, even though they're 0:23:54.010 --> 0:23:57.210 spaced apart and they don't easily come to memory, I 0:23:57.230 --> 0:24:00.550 think a lot of people would be surprised to see 0:24:00.609 --> 0:24:03.470 this list. And if you include the list, that includes 0:24:03.650 --> 0:24:09.090 even much smaller casualty numbers and death counts. I think 0:24:09.150 --> 0:24:12.380 most people would be surprised to see how these ongoing 0:24:12.440 --> 0:24:18.699 attacks really haven't slowed down at all. In the last, 0:24:19.180 --> 0:24:21.540 I mean, what is this, 2026? So if you're talking 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:24.400 about the last 20 or 30 years, it's amazing. 0:24:26.290 --> 0:24:31.090 Yeah, it's amazing. And there's a phenomenon that the media 0:24:31.109 --> 0:24:35.170 exhibits that I call wrong Vic, wrong Perp. they have 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:38.860 to have the right victim and the right perpetrator before 0:24:38.940 --> 0:24:41.960 it's a front page headline. If it's a white supremacist 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:46.510 killing an innocent victim of color, particularly if they're from 0:24:46.570 --> 0:24:50.330 some other minority group, they can say that's the case 0:24:50.350 --> 0:24:52.570 we wanna put on the front page. That's why the 0:24:52.609 --> 0:24:56.150 George Floyd case and so many others got national attention. 0:24:57.060 --> 0:24:58.939 But if one of those elements is missing, they don't 0:24:58.980 --> 0:25:03.250 pay any attention because Muslims are often considered one of 0:25:03.290 --> 0:25:06.659 the world's best groups, which is a bit of a 0:25:06.720 --> 0:25:11.460 twisting of history and reality and geography. If you have 0:25:12.060 --> 0:25:17.109 a terrorist attack, a knifing, a car ramming attack, anything 0:25:17.130 --> 0:25:20.850 committed by someone from a protected community, it's not going 0:25:20.869 --> 0:25:22.590 to get the same kind of headlines that it would 0:25:22.990 --> 0:25:25.359 if it was done by someone else. And so over time, 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:28.820 I think we've kind of memory-holed the reality of what's happened, 0:25:28.840 --> 0:25:32.200 which is that, by and large, if there's a terrorist attack, 0:25:32.700 --> 0:25:35.850 committed by someone for religious reasons, it's going to be 0:25:35.869 --> 0:25:41.070 a jihadist, someone motivated by Islamist ideology and not by 0:25:41.590 --> 0:25:45.430 Judaism or Christianity or Buddhism or Jainism or some other faith. 0:25:45.990 --> 0:25:49.500 Yeah, my background is in media. And so I have 0:25:49.780 --> 0:25:53.040 a lot of criticism for media because I've got a 0:25:53.240 --> 0:25:56.540 pretty good idea how the sausage is made, so to speak, 0:25:56.580 --> 0:26:00.380 when you get to the end product that is put 0:26:00.460 --> 0:26:04.280 on TV and and what people see that is supposed 0:26:04.320 --> 0:26:07.700 to be considered news. And I'm glad you talk about 0:26:07.760 --> 0:26:12.180 the Charlie Hebdo incident that happened in France. And I 0:26:12.220 --> 0:26:15.500 remember giving a little talk about that. And I was 0:26:15.560 --> 0:26:20.880 talking about Charlie Hebdo. There was an attack at that 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:26.770 magazine because they dared to print, I guess, a cartoon 0:26:26.830 --> 0:26:32.889 character of the prophet Muhammad. And they were attacked and 0:26:33.070 --> 0:26:35.600 people lost their lives in that. And I remember at 0:26:35.619 --> 0:26:40.179 the time, the media would not. And of course, it 0:26:40.200 --> 0:26:42.159 got a lot of the attack itself, got a lot 0:26:42.180 --> 0:26:46.820 of media attention. But the media, all the networks would 0:26:46.940 --> 0:26:52.770 not show a rendering or a picture of the offensive 0:26:52.830 --> 0:26:55.109 cartoon because it's so offensive to Muslims. 0:26:56.010 --> 0:26:56.290 And then. 0:26:57.510 --> 0:27:00.750 The newsroom I was working at, so that day, the 0:27:00.790 --> 0:27:04.330 same day we reported on this Charlie Hebdo attack and 0:27:04.890 --> 0:27:07.010 we always had to put that disclaimer out there. Well, 0:27:07.030 --> 0:27:09.250 we're not showing a picture of the cartoon because it's 0:27:09.270 --> 0:27:13.510 so offensive to Muslims. In that same newscast, a little 0:27:13.530 --> 0:27:16.990 bit later on, there was a story about a piece 0:27:17.030 --> 0:27:19.490 of artwork in, I believe it was on display in 0:27:19.510 --> 0:27:23.250 New York City. But it was a rendering, an image 0:27:23.510 --> 0:27:28.139 of the Pope that was done with condoms. So the 0:27:28.180 --> 0:27:30.200 condoms were arranged in such a way that, oh, look, 0:27:30.260 --> 0:27:32.920 it's the Pope. And we had no problem showing that. 0:27:33.600 --> 0:27:39.090 So when you try to square these religions, and I 0:27:40.750 --> 0:27:44.650 remember saying that we won't talk about it because we 0:27:44.710 --> 0:27:51.389 know if we show as an immediate outlet the image 0:27:51.750 --> 0:27:55.620 of the prophet, which you're not supposed to do, then 0:27:55.859 --> 0:27:57.590 there's a good chance, I mean, you know, do you 0:27:57.619 --> 0:28:00.550 set yourself up for being targeted by these folks? But 0:28:00.590 --> 0:28:03.530 if you show an image of the Pope, you know, 0:28:03.890 --> 0:28:09.359 Christianities or Catholics, you know, most holy figure, the representation, 0:28:09.400 --> 0:28:12.760 the embodiment of Christ on earth, you have no problem 0:28:12.780 --> 0:28:15.240 showing that because, you know, there's a pretty good chance 0:28:15.260 --> 0:28:17.140 you're not going to get attacked by a bunch of Catholics. 0:28:18.060 --> 0:28:20.070 You know, they're not going to come and try and 0:28:20.109 --> 0:28:22.629 bomb your facility. You see the point I'm trying to 0:28:22.650 --> 0:28:23.090 get to there? 0:28:25.010 --> 0:28:29.120