WEBVTT - Back From Bibi's Back Office 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.199 It has been a tough couple of weeks for freedom. 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:08.320 New threats to our freedom of speech, free elections, freedom 0:00:08.360 --> 0:00:12.160 of movement, the freedom to defend ourselves, even the freedom 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:19.280 of nations to oppose woke corporations. Thankfully, Senator Cruz is 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.640 finally back from meeting with bb net and Yahoo. He's 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.200 back from Israel. We can hash all of this out. 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:33.680 This is Verdict with Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.199 with Ted Cruz. I'm Michael Knowles, Senator, Welcome back to 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:39.519 the States. I'm glad you're back. Michael. Good to be 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.320 with you. So I want to hear all about Israel. 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:44.040 I want to hear about this meeting with bb net 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.800 and Yahoo. You were with him on actually rather an 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.519 historic day. But I don't want to talk about that 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.000 right now. I want to be very selfish and first 0:00:52.040 --> 0:00:55.840 get to things that directly affect me. Namely, there is 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:59.320 a new rule being passed by the ATF. That's the 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:03.720 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and firearms, three of my favorite things. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.800 We were warned that the new ATF picks were on 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.319 the radical side, but the headlines I'm seeing is that 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.400 there are new threats to very popular weapons and the 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:18.320 Second Amendment. What is happening? Well, so the ATF put 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:24.360 out a new rule today that prohibited stabilizing crips on pistols, 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:29.440 so shoulder stocks on pistols, and under the law, what 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:32.760 basically they say, if you attach a shoulder stock to 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:37.600 a pistol, you turn it into a short armed rifle. 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.000 And short armed rifles under the law have to be 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:45.000 specially registered. Now why does this matter? Well, it matters 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:49.680 because according to the Congressional Research Service, they're anywhere between 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.400 ten million and forty million of these stabilizing grips that 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:59.200 are out there that Americans own, and so by the 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:03.880 flip of a pick in ATF may be making anywhere 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.320 from ten million to forty million Americans into felons unless 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:11.240 they suddenly go and register their firearms. And all of 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:14.560 this is being done by arbitrary fiat. Now, is there 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:19.120 any legitimacy to the argument? I mean, I see your point, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:22.320 the political point that this is going to basically just 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:25.320 take a ton of guns off the table, which seems 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.960 to be the ultimate goal of the Biden administration. But 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.800 is there any legitimacy to the argument that, Well, actually, 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:33.680 when you put this sort of stabilizing grip on actually 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.799 it does kind of turn it into a rifle or 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.440 is it just an excuse? So if the objective is 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.000 preventing crime, there are no data to suggest that that 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.240 adding a grip to a pistol suddenly makes it more dangerous, 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:49.240 suddenly leads to more crimes. That those are not the 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:52.320 weapons that tend to be used in crimes. The most 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.520 common weapons that are used in crimes are revolvers. You know, 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.880 you go to the city of Chicago where you have 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.040 gang members shooting each other, They're not using stabilizing grips. 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:08.200 They're just shooting each other with handguns. This is Look, 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:10.360 you could debate what the rules should be on the 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:13.240 front end, but this is worse than changing the rules 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.640 on the front end because it's arbitrary under the fact. 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.880 After the fact, if you've got ten, twenty, thirty, forty 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.799 million people that have pistols at home, have these stabilizing 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.240 grips at home, yesterday they were perfectly legal. Now you know, 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:30.600 presumably those forty million people, not all of them know 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:34.320 that the ATF suddenly issued this new rule. And it's 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.600 really dangerous when the government can turn you into a 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:41.600 felon without your knowing. You know, you're doing something that 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:45.200 it was perfectly legal when you bought it, but suddenly 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.839 the Biden administration decided they don't want it to be legal. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:50.520 And the problem is are they going to arrest all 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.800 forty million people? Probably not, but you can count on 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:58.400 them using it as an arbitrary club that if they 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.800 want to go after you, suddenly you've committed a crime 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:03.880 that you had had no idea about it. And it 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.600 doesn't It doesn't accomplish anything. It's not actually stopping crime. 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.800 It's just with the stroke of a pen, turning people 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.160 into criminals. That's a point I had not considered because 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.919 I could see these this quibbling over. Well, now it 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:21.840 looks more like a rifle, and in a way, it 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:23.599 kind of find what is a rifle really? You know, 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:27.680 I could see all of that as a way to 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.840 obscure the issue. But your point is the point of 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.040 these regulations is to prevent crime, and we know that 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.080 forget this particular kind of alleged rifle, but rifles of 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:40.680 all kinds are really not the guns that are used 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:43.120 in most crimes. It's really just revolvers or as standard 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:47.599 issue semi automatic pistols. So I think that does tip 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.719 the argument. It's actually good, good Ammo, to use in 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.320 a debate, if you'll, if you'll pardon a labored metaphor. Well, 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:56.560 and I'll point out, Michael, you know you mentioned the 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.240 nominees for ATF, so that dominated me. The head of 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.839 ATF is the sky David Chipman. We had his hearing 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:05.080 in the Senate Judiciary Committee couple of weeks ago, and 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:09.840 this guy is extreme when it comes to gun control. 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:15.479 He works for one of the major gun control organizations 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.800 in this country, and it was interesting at the hearing. 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.680 I asked him if he wanted to ban AR fifteens, 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.839 which are the most popular rifles in America, and he 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.039 said on equivocally yes, he wants to ban them all. 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:34.000 And the leading Senate legislation to do that is Diane 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.799 Feinstein's legislation that would ban some two thousand different types 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:42.840 of rifles that she specifies. And Chipman made the argument 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.520 he said he thought Feinstein didn't go nearly far enough 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.760 and he would go much further. So Feinstein would ban 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.760 the sale of new AR fifteen's. Chipman wants to make 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:56.200 it illegal for anyone to own one, which sets up 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.240 the same scenario we're talking about, which is the federal 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:03.839 government being able to knock in your door and confiscate 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:08.520 your guns or declare your criminal otherwise. And it's striking 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:10.840 Number one, this is who Joe Biden is picked to 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:14.400 lead ATF. But number two, this new rule on the 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.280 stabilizing grips didn't come from Chipman. He hadn't been confirmed yet. 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.200 So this is just the career folks at DOJ at 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.920 ATF listening to the political folks at DOJ that it's 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:30.679 really ominous for the direction the Biden administration is going 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:36.200 in terms of arbitrary power and hostility to law abiding 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.359 gun owners. Right, this isn't even the entree. This is 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.120 just the appetizer. This is the amuse boush to the 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.360 kind of radical rules we're going to see it. Okay, 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.400 I'm sorry, I don't know what a namuse Bush is 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.240 well putting putting the boushes aside here. Yes, this is 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:54.040 a terrible announcement. We'll see when this rule actually goes 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:58.440 into effect. Hopefully hopefully it does not. But not looking good, Senator, 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.600 if you wouldn't mind now that we've out with our 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:05.800 freedom of self defense I'd like you to disappoint me 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:10.480 on another aspect of our freedom. These vaccine passports, Yeah, 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:13.600 seem to be cropping up on the international stage, and 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.760 there are a lot of politicians in the United States 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.320 pushing for them here at home as well. Now, actually, 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.040 I should say, there is a little glimmer of hope here, 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.119 and it came out of you. You introduced a bill 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:28.320 to ban this stuff. So I did. I introduced a 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:32.640 bill that would ban mandatory vaccine passports, would ban the 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.480 government issuing vaccine passports. Now, listen my view on it. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.840 I support vaccines. I think vaccines are a good idea. 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.040 I've gotten the COVID vaccine. Heide's gotten the COVID vaccine. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.240 My parents have gotten it, her parents have. God did 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.680 I think it makes sense for most people to get it. 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.880 We've not given it to our girls. Our girls are 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:53.960 ten and thirteen, actually ten year olds. There is in 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.320 a vaccine that's recommended for kids that young, and I'm 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.640 not sure the cost benefit analysis makes sense for a 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:04.080 teen ager. But I think whether you get the vaccine 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.680 or not should be a question of individual choice. It 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:11.440 should be up to you, as as an individual, to 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:14.040 look at your own health situation and decide do I 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:15.960 want the vaccine or not? For me, I wanted it. 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.880 I wanted the peace of mind, I wanted the freedom 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.320 that comes from getting it. But you're right, there are 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:26.320 a whole bunch of politicians that are wanting number one, 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:30.040 the government to issue a vaccine passport, an official thing 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.839 like your passport, like your driver's license. But number two, 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:38.400 for that passport then to be mandatory for certain activity. So, 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.840 for example, a lot of people are I think understandably 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:44.120 concerned about airlines. Are they going to not let you 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:46.960 get on a plane unless you can prove you've had 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:51.480 a vaccine employment. We have seen instances across the country 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.280 of people being terminated if they don't get vaccinated. And 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.080 my view is that's wrong, that that that that should 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.839 not be permitted. And so what my legislation does is 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:06.959 prohibits the federal government from issuing a vaccine passport, prohibits 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:11.360 the government from requiring proof of vaccine status. It protects 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.240 the privacy of your healthcare information. And you think about 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.439 everything else that your healthcare information, that that privacy is 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.120 protected by law. And then it adds whether or not 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:25.319 you're vaccinated to the list of federal civil rights protections 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.600 that are protected in the course of employment. So just 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.160 like you can't be fired from your job because of race, 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:36.839 because of ethnicity, because of gender, because of religion, it 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:40.079 likewise says you can't be fired from your job because 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.559 of whether or not you've chosen to be vaccinated. And 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.360 on this piece, essentially, what the legislation does is it 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:51.439 incorporates the framework of the Americans with Disability Act. So 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.200 there may be some jobs for which being vaccinated is 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:00.079 an employer could reasonably conclude that that is necessary for 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.600 that particular job. You know, maybe dealing with patients who 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.760 may or may not have have COVID and may be immunocompromise. 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.360 That might be one example where where you could conclude 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:16.240 it was reasonable to want care providers to have to 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.240 be vaccinated. But but the way the Americans with Disability worked, 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.640 the way the Americans with Disability Act works is if 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.120 you have a disability, your employer has to make a 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:29.680 reasonable accommodation. And likewise, if you choose, as a help, 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:33.760 as a matter of personal choice, not to get the vaccine, 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.280 if my bill passes into law, the employer would have 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.880 to make a reasonable accommodation for that individual choice you made. 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.440 I was so pleased when I saw this headline. I 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.079 really I'm I'm not flattering you in any way, because 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:49.480 we've seen some moves to ban these things at the 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.560 state level, but we hadn't really seen anything at the 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:55.640 federal level. And I just thought, the way this issue 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.559 is being presented, you have to either insist that everybody 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:02.120 get the vaccine immediately to a regardless of circumstance, or 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:03.599 you have to say that the vaccine is going to 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:05.200 cause you to grow a third eye in a tail, 0:11:05.600 --> 0:11:07.720 and it's got, you know, the worst thing in the world. 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.360 And what you're bringing into this conversation two very important things. 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.040 Choice that you know, you have faculties of reason you 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.079 can kind of figure some of these things out yourself, 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.640 and prudence, which is a related virtue, the idea that 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.760 for certain people it might make a lot of sense 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:24.800 to go out and get this thing right away, and 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.040 for other people the risk is just lower. And we're 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.160 free people and we should be able to make that 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:33.840 calculation ourselves. Well. And look, I can say in my family, 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:36.400 my dad was pretty skeptical about the vaccine. He didn't 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.760 want to get it and I spent probably a month 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.680 arguing with him, saying, look, Dad, you know you're in 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:46.600 your eighties. You have been staying home mostly, you've been 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:49.240 social distancing. You want to get out. He's a preacher, 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.600 he wants to be back out with people. I said, 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:53.560 you know, you'd be much happier if you get the 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.880 vaccine and you can go out and interact with people 0:11:56.000 --> 0:12:01.559 and return to some semblance of normal life. And ultimately 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:03.960 he was persuaded. But I think families can work through 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.600 this and consider the pros and cons. Are there risks 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:10.520 to any experimental drug. Of course there are, and that's 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:15.040 where rational adults can make their own cost benefit analysis 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.600 and decide what makes sense for now this issue, I 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.440 suppose it's it's more on the conservative side of things. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.000 I've noticed the left and the Democrats tend to be 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:27.319 much more more in favor of government mandates generally, but 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.360 certainly with regard to this. Is there any way to 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.640 price some Democrats over to come and support a federal 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.679 ban on the vaccine passports. I don't know. I'll confess 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:41.600 I'm skeptical. I have not seen any Democrats in the 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:46.800 Senate expressing concern about vaccine passports. Now, the most promising 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.679 aspect is actually the Biden administration. Jensaki, at a White 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.439 House press briefing said the Biden administration would not be 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.480 requiring vaccine passports and would not be issuing them. That 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.959 the federal administration wouldn't be a shooing them. That's good, 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.160 and so part of what I'm saying as well, Look, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.040 if Joe Biden is saying this, then we ought to 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.280 be perfectly willing to codify it, to put it into statute, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:12.000 and more importantly, to provide some protection so that you 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:15.400 can't be fired arbitrarily if you choose in your own 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:20.120 life not to get a vaccine. And in a normal circumstance, 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:24.280 there would be Democrats willing to protect health privacy that 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:29.520 that that often is a bipartisan issue. Sometimes protecting civil 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:34.000 liberties is a bipartisan issue. With COVID, I don't know 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.400 that I'm all that optimistic that Democrats are going to 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:39.880 be interested in doing so, because they're they're really vested 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:44.920 in the authoritarian state when it comes to COVID, and 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:50.760 so I'm certainly going to try. I hope Democrats will agree, 0:13:50.800 --> 0:13:53.240 But but you know, if you ask me, I'm going 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:54.800 to hold my breath on this Now, I'm not going 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:56.920 to hold my breath on this one. Well, there may 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.560 be some hope here, I suppose because of the timing 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.800 of this all. You know, I know how much you 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.000 hate to say I told you so. You know how 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:09.400 much I hate to say I told you so. However, 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.400 we told you so. On this program. We raised a 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:18.559 lot of questions about the prevailing narrative on the coronavirus, 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.000 on the lockdowns on China, on all of these things 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:24.280 well over a year ago, and people called us koops 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.880 and conspiracy theorists and rubes and all sorts of things. 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:29.480 And it turns out that we, and not just us, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.640 there were other people too, were completely right. And that 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.400 seems to have been proven this week with the release 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.760 of doctor Fauci's emails, three thousand emails obtained through an 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.480 ordinary Freedom of Information Act request. Does the release of 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:46.760 the Fauci emails change any of the political situation on 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:49.080 COVID in Washington, Well, let me point out, as a 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.520 matter of logic, just because we were right doesn't mean 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.960 that you and I are not kops and conspiracy theorists 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:58.400 and a bunch of rubes. Your good point, as the 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.840 old line says, just because you're Parinois does not mean 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.240 they're not out to get you when it comes to 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.200 the origin of the vaccine. Actually went back and looked 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.840 and this podcast in March of last year. We were 0:15:10.840 --> 0:15:15.840 one of the very first podcast news outlets kind of 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.200 outlets anywhere. So we had two different episodes, one in March, 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:21.160 one in April of last year where we went through 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.800 in real detail the evidence that we knew at the 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:27.680 time about COVID, about where it came from, and we 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:32.160 walked through how Wuhan they're two different labs, Chinese government 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.280 labs studying coronaviruses, studying coronaviruses from bats, that one of 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.840 the labs is four hundred yards away from the wet market, 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.960 that the odds were statistically really slim that this was 0:15:44.000 --> 0:15:48.240 a coincidence. And we said on this pod in March 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:52.400 of last year that the preponderance of the evidence supported 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:56.280 the conclusion that this escaped from a Chinese lab. Now 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.800 I'm amazed we haven't been banned yet so far. Verdict 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:02.320 is out there. And I say that midway through this episode, 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:05.440 and suddenly I may stop mid sentence, So I don't 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:10.400 know but you look at these Fauci emails. I gotta 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:12.760 say this, This Fauci guy is a piece of work, 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:22.320 you know, smug, condescending, willing to control people arbitrarily, and 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.840 the emails. So you have emails where where scientists are 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:31.440 raising with him in the spring of last year, Hey, 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.000 this virus looks like it may have been manufactured in 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:36.600 the lab. And actually when we talked about it, we 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.320 broke it down into two aspects of the theory. One 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.400 was did it escape from a lab in other way? 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:48.240 And two was was it manufactured in a lab? And 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.160 what we said a year ago is we said on 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:54.960 the ladder, the evidence supports the conclusion. Yes, we don't 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:57.760 have we don't have direct evidence. We need an investigation 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.480 to determine if that in fact happened, But the proponderance 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.040 of the evidence we have suggest that it escaped from 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:08.000 the lab. On the first question, was it manufactured in 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:12.080 a lab? You recall there were several that were Washington 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:15.480 Post fact checks and others that had scientists saying, we've 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.080 looked at the virus and concluded that based on the 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.360 characteristic of the virus, it's naturally occurring. It wasn't made 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:25.240 in a lab. And listen, you and I aren't biologist. 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:26.679 We don't I don't know how to look at a virus. 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.239 So I was like, Okay, if the scientists say that, 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.560 I guess that sounds So we said at the time, okay, 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:37.000 I'm not not maintaining that it was manufactured in a lab. Well, 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:39.879 unbeknownst to you and me, at the exact same time, 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:44.840 all of the press was orchestrating these stories. Scientists within 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.560 the NIH were saying, gosh, looking at this virus, it 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:49.760 looks like it may have been manufactured in a lab. 0:17:50.480 --> 0:17:54.200 And there's something called gain of function research. And I 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.480 think it's worth Michael pausing and reflecting on that because 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.879 people are hearing that term and they don't necessarily know 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:03.399 what it means. I mean, that's kind of a weird term, 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.879 particularly if you're not a virologist to know what it means. 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:12.000 And my understanding, kind of a layman's interpretation of gain 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:16.240 of function research is that you take a virus and 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.440 you alter the genetic code in it, and you alter 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.560 the genetic code to make it more deadly, to make 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.760 it more contagious, You change it to basically turn it 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.280 into a supervirus. And it's a very controversial type of research. 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:36.280 It is research that FAUCI and congressional testimony insisted, No, 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.199 that wasn't going on in Wuha. No, the federal government 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.440 wasn't funding it, the US federal government, And we now 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.600 know from the FAUCI emails and other sources, Yes, it 0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:49.360 was going on. There was gain of function research going on. Yes, 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.360 the federal government was funding it. Yes, FAUCI was funding it, 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:56.520 and we now know from the emails. There were scientists 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:01.040 raising at the time that it appeared this may be 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:06.000 a virus genetically modified by the Chinese labs to make 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.720 it more contagious among humans, if that's true. Look, it's 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.159 one thing. If if sloppy security at the wuhuant Institute 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:18.080 for Virology resulted in an accidental leak, that's that's really bad, 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.080 and China bears culpability for the millions of death and 0:19:22.320 --> 0:19:25.399 trillions of dollars of devastation that have come from this. 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:30.000 But if on top of that, they made the virus 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.240 and then screwed up and let it leak it, it 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:37.600 is a level of responsibility that is really I don't 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:40.000 think earth shattering is too strong a term for it. 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:44.440 And that Fauci was getting emails suggesting at the time, 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:48.240 and then he would go out publicly and adamantly conclude, no, 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.439 this wasn't manufactured in the lab. We know that it 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:56.120 occurred naturally. I'm sorry. That's not science. That's propaganda. And 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:00.680 and and the most disturbing aspect of these fouch emails 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:05.120 is his consistent willingness to be a propagandist, that he 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:10.040 has a political message, and it's his decision making is 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.480 not driven by the science, not driven by the evidence. 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.120 He's not going, oh, well, that would be highly concerning 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:16.960 if it was gained a function. How can we examine 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.680 the virus? How could we examine what the science tells us. 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.440 That's not his concern. His concern was this is a 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.080 bad political story, so let's make sure we quash it. 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:31.040 And I got to tell you on top of that, Michael, 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:32.680 I don't know if you read a story that came 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:35.320 out a few days ago in Vanity Fair. I try 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:37.600 to avoid Vanity Fair, but I did not see it now, 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.200 so I'm not a reader of Vanity Fair. I don't 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.200 believe I've ever actually held a copy of the magazine 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:48.080 Vanity Fair. That being said, there is an investigative journalism 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:52.159 Peace and Vanity Fair that is jaw dropping that goes 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:56.760 through the massive cover up that was occurring within the 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:01.440 federal government, within the State Department with NIH of essentially 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:07.320 deep state bureaucrats trying to cover up information about GATA 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:11.600 function research, information about federal taxpayers funding it, information about 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:14.199 this might be a lab leak. And one of the 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:20.879 stunning things is the individual Peter Dazak, who received the 0:21:21.040 --> 0:21:25.960 grants from the NIH to do this research. Vanity Fair 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:29.399 revealed he is the one that organized the list of 0:21:29.520 --> 0:21:34.119 scientists that wrote a letter in Lancet denouncing this theory, 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.919 and he literally was covering his own ass. He was 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.240 organizing a bunch of scientists to put out a statement 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.800 that all of the press treated as conclusive, and that 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.320 Facebook went so far as to ban anyone who disagreed. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.240 This is propaganda of an Orwellian nature and it's really 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:56.960 it's corrupt, it's frightening, and it's wrong. You know. To 0:21:57.040 --> 0:21:59.760 be fair to Vanity Fair and other outlets too that 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.280 are left wing outlets, every now and again you will 0:22:02.320 --> 0:22:05.560 get a really great piece in there. And now we 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.679 can see the emails for ourselves. It's also worth pointing 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.119 out on this question of a Michael, how damning is 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:15.800 it to the Washington Post and the New York Times 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:20.920 and the self declared arbiters of news that Vanity friggin 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.760 fair kicked their ass like that they actually went and 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:26.160 did journalism a year and a half late. But it's 0:22:26.160 --> 0:22:30.159 a really good, carefully research story. And are you telling 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.280 me there's no reporter at the New York Times that 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:36.080 could do this? And they just they didn't care because 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:38.960 the political narrative didn't suit what they wanted to say. 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:44.040 And every one of these self declared arbiters of journalism 0:22:44.040 --> 0:22:48.840 who have stacks of Pulitzers on their shelves, ought to 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.480 be embarrassed and they ought to fundamentally, they ought to 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:56.840 have a public discussion about why they didn't investigate this, 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:00.480 why they didn't ask these questions, why they stepted the 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:03.520 government Propagain, I don't believe any of them will, but 0:23:03.600 --> 0:23:06.680 if they had even the tiniest shred of journalistic integrity, 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:08.520 that's what they should do. I won't hold my breath 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:12.320 on that, of course, but worth pointing out too before 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:15.879 before we move on. Not only is there this issue 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:17.919 of the sort of research that was going on at 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:20.600 the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Not only is there the 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:22.960 issue of the total cover up by parts of the 0:23:23.000 --> 0:23:27.120 government and by the media, but you have doctor Fauci 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:30.440 on record defending this type of research. This is very 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:33.800