Ep 452 | Knock Knock. Who’s There? Joe Biden!
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Summary
What's going on in Cuba and why we should support the Cuban people. Also, the Biden administration is going door-to-door to encourage people to get vaccinated. And Matthew West's controversial music video gets a lot of criticism.
Transcript
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Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Monday. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. All right,
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we're going to briefly talk about Cuba today, what's going on there. We're also going to talk
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about the vaccine and the Biden administration going door to door and encouraging people to
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get vaccinated. A lot going on. We have a lot to talk about this week, some good interviews and
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some hot topics to cover. One of the topics that I really want to cover this week is modesty and
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Matthew West's modest is hottest music video that apparently got a lot of blowback from progressives
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and professing progressive Christians. That is a topic that many of you have asked me to address
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and I hope to get to it on Thursday. But today, because this is probably the biggest story that's
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going on right now, I want to talk about Cuba first. So the cries for freedom are coming from
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the people there who have been bearing the weight of tyranny of a communist regime for almost or for
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a little over 60 years. These are the biggest protests Cuba has seen in decades. People are
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tired of being oppressed. They're tired of being starved and mistreated and jailed for dissent.
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So they are pushing back. And it's really remarkable. Like I said, we haven't seen something like this
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coming out of Cuba in a very long time. The Biden administration, you may have noticed, liberal media
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are saying that the protests are because of covid, the lack of medicine that they've been able to get.
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But that is clearly not the case. If you actually look at the videos of these protests, they're in the
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streets chanting things like freedom, liberty, down with the dictatorship. The New York Times tweeted
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that the protesters are shouting, quote, freedom and other anti-government slogans. I just thought
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that that was such a funny way to say what the word freedom is. Yes, sure. I guess it is anti-government
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slogan. They're flying American flags and the liberal media. And I think even the Biden administration
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don't want to admit that these Cuban protesters are pushing back against communism because communism
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is an ideology of the left. But we all know the Cubans here know that's that's why they supported
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Donald Trump so significantly. And we should just consider that for a second, like consider that
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those who have fled to America from real oppression and authoritarianism so significantly supported
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Donald Trump. I just think that that that's interesting to note. Anyone who tells you, by the way, that
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the starvation of the Cubans and the dilapidation of the country has to do with America's sanctions just does
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not understand how corrupt regimes work. Lifting the sanctions and thus enriching the Cuban government is not
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going to help Cubans themselves. Corrupt governments hoard the money. They starve the people and they continue
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down a destructive path. So we need to support the Cuban people in their push for freedom however we
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can. Cubans understand better than many leftists do here. It seems that America is the last bastion of
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freedom that exists. That's why they're in the streets carrying these American flags just like Hong Kongers
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did before China took them over and squashed all dissent last year. And I feel like we need to be talking
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about that a lot more. By the way, we've talked about it here a few times. We actually talk about
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China quite often, but I'm not sure if we in the West in general have really come to terms with the
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fact that what was once an autonomous democratic city is now part of communist China. Every pro-democracy
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news outlet in Hong Kong has been shut down by the government and every pro-democracy dissenter
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has been jailed or killed or silenced in some way. That's a really big deal. And we should just hope
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that Cuba does not go the same way. A threat to liberty somewhere is a threat to liberty everywhere.
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There are a lot of people who know a lot more about the political history of Cuba, and I hope to have
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them on this week to give us some insight. But what I do know, what's obvious, is that communism
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is a scourge in the world that has killed more people than any other ideology by far. And the idea
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that anyone here in America, where our very poorest people are living in the lap of luxury compared to
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the average person in Cuba with access to food, shelter, clothing, emergency care, vaccines, government
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help, should be looking to communism or socialism as a better way. It's just absurd. But as we know,
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unfortunately, anti-American propaganda, like we talked about last Tuesday, is prevalent right now.
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It has been actually for a long time. It's come from socialist countries over the past 100 years,
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like Soviet Russia, even North Korea. China has infiltrated many of our major institutions,
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especially academic institutions. Ashton Kutcher, of all people. Now, I think that he has some
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very good and interesting views, but I say of all people, because you just don't really expect
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celebrities to say things like this. He's actually warning about this kind of propaganda coming from
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TikTok. He said this in an interview on YouTube, according to Fox News, quote,
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if I'm China and I want to create a problem in that area of the world, specifically a naval problem in the
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South China Sea, I would probably want to utilize TikTok in order to influence the minds of Americans.
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The article goes on to say in Fox News, he noted that such social media platforms can be used to
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create, quote, an anti-US propaganda, anti-Taiwanese propaganda effort that could result in any war from
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the United States being extraordinarily unpopular. And I think he's absolutely right about that. I mean,
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it's amazing to me that young people here don't realize that they're so easily manipulated to hate
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freedom and hate their country, to somehow ignore the past 100 years of of failed communism and
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socialism, to ignore what happened in Hong Kong, what's happening right now in Cuba, and to still
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insist that these collectivist systems could somehow work here. I mean, just think about the
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misinformation and the misunderstanding it takes to get to that conclusion. There was a poll from issues in
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insights that came out a few weeks ago showing that Americans between the ages of 18 and 24
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are the least likely to be proud to be Americans. Only 36 percent are extremely proud or very proud
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compared to 86 percent of Americans 65 plus who are very proud or extremely proud. I mean, doesn't that
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tell you something that maybe the people who have seen more, who know more, who have experienced more
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might have a better grasp on how good of a country America is, especially compared to the rest of the
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world? And yet I think that number is going to continue to go down among young Americans as long
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as the tenets of critical race theory and anti-American leftist ideology are being pushed in
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schools. I do not think it's a coincidence that people 18 through 24 are also the most likely to have
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an affinity towards communism and socialism are the most likely to be liberal, as well as the most
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likely to not be proud of our country. I mean, as long as students are being told that the very
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foundation and all of America's institutions are infected with racism and bigotry, as long as they're
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being taught that America has been a force for evil in the world, young Americans will not only
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continue to dislike their country, but also themselves and each other, because that's what
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this kind of ideology and thinking actually produces. It produces resentment and ingratitude
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and weakness of the country through division, which is exactly what our enemies like the Chinese
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Communist Party want. They and the rest of the unfree world have been trying to get Americans to hate
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themselves, to hate our country and to hate each other for decades. You are less likely to fight
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for your country, to keep the secrets of your country's military and industries, to prioritize
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the economic well-being of your country, to rely on the manufacturing of your country or defend the
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principles of liberty of your country if you think that your country is inherently bad. And we already see
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that happening with corporations, for example, like Nike or Disney or others who talk about how America is
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racist and so bad, yet praise the CCP, which is a racist, evil regime that is enslaving and colonizing
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as we speak. So that kind of thing is already working. And we touched on this last week, but I just want to
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mention it again because it's been on my mind. It seems that people from every other country are able
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to manage to have some sort of patriotism, even though their country isn't perfect or in some
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cases is really bad. My husband has been into watching UFC lately, and I've honestly started to
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like it myself. I know that might be kind of surprising. It's not really my brand. But we watched
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the big fight on Saturday night. And if you don't know what happened, I was telling people at church on
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Sunday, like what happened? Like I'm some like huge UFC expert. I'm not, but it was, I mean, it was a good
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fight. There were a lot of good fights, but the last fight, Conor McGregor, you know, the infamous
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Irish fighter fought against Dustin Poirier. I think that's how you pronounce his last name.
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And in the first round, if you don't know, McGregor stepped back and his leg snapped right
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above his ankle. Oh my goodness. It was so hard to watch, especially like the show, the slow-mo and
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everyone who's showing it on social media. If that kind of thing grosses you out, I don't recommend
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looking it up. But it was, if you can somehow catch the fight and see what happened, it is,
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it's pretty incredible to watch. And it was pretty disappointing as well, because everyone wanted
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to see them in the next rounds. But of course, that didn't happen. And I also learned, this is
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just a side note for a second. I also learned that I do not understand Irish English. Like it is a
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completely different language. I mean, he was trash talking. Some of you probably saw
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after the fight. And I literally could not understand a word he said while Joe Rogan was
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interviewing him. I needed some kind of translator. But anyway, so back to the point. He's got this big
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Irish flag coming out there like he always does. Clearly, he loves his country. He's proud of his
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culture. And you look at the other fighters too, who always do the same thing. You've got fighters
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from Nigeria, from Brazil, from Russia, places with serious human rights violations and very corrupt
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governments. And they're all so proud to wrap their country. And you see this not just in the
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UFC, but in the Olympics, in any event where people are representing their country. People love where
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they come from, even in third world countries, even if they don't love the leadership or all the
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policies, because people understand that patriotism isn't about liking all the policies and the
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politicians that are put in place. It's about something much deeper than that. It's about either
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founding principles and values or just the culture from which you come. Now, you could say that
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some of the people in some of these places are forced to show patriotism, and that's absolutely
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true. But I really think for the most part, people just have an affinity for where they come from,
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even if they fled the country because of tyranny. More immigrants, you guys know we talk about this a
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lot, flee to America than to any other country by far every year. And they often choose to retain
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much of the culture of the country from which they fled because they still love it because countries
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are like families. They're not perfect, but they're yours. And you still have a deep love for them
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because of that. So all this to say, don't you think it's just a little sus, speaking it in Gen Z
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language, that you, college student, with all the opportunity, freedom, luxury in the world,
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hate your country, when people in much worse countries with much less are still patriotic?
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Like, isn't it a little sus that you loathe the country to which millions of people are fleeing to
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for a better life? Is it not strange to you that you white Gen Z-er are sure this is a terrible,
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racist country while brown and black people from India, from Africa, from China, from South America
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sacrifice everything every year to come here? And when they do, are able to achieve incredible
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success, often rising above the American-born population when it comes to things like income
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and their careers and graduation rates? Do you think it's just that they didn't get the memo that
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America is an awful white supremacist place and that somehow they lucked out when they got here?
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Or do you think it's possible, do you think there's a possibility that you are the one who has been
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lied to for nefarious purposes? And that people who are older than you, people who have a bigger
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perspective than you or me, people who actually know what communism and socialism and fascism and
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authoritarianism and oppression are, may have a better understanding of what kind of country America is
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than you? Like, could it be that you're blinded by your own privilege because someone, a professor,
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a classmate, a social media influencer, at one point told you that ragging on your country is cool
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or sophisticated or intellectual sounding? Now, I'm reading Great Society by Amity Schlaes,
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and I am, I'm realizing how much socialism we already do have implemented in the U.S.
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and how big the federal government is compared to what it was originally intended to be. But that said,
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we are still freer and more capitalistic than the vast majority of countries, and we have a ton of
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success to show for it. So we should be talking about that. We should be grateful for that. We
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should be happy about that. Thanking God for that. I don't mean that we don't have bad parts of our
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country. I always give that caveat and that we have bad parts of our history that we shouldn't be
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talking about. I'm not talking about whitewashing history. Actually, I think that Americans should be so
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confident in our founding principles and so confident in liberty that we are comfortable
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talking about the ugly things that America has done, unlike authoritarian countries that have to
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cover up the bad that they've done in order to stay in power. But remove yourself from your place of
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privilege for just a second, which I and everyone in this country occupy, and look to the people who
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love liberty and waved the American flag in Hong Kong, look to those waving the American flag in
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Cuba and realize how incredibly blessed you are and how much America and her freedoms are worth
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fighting for. There are people who have rioted with Antifa and with BLM for the past year who have
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actually burned the American flag in the streets. Instead, they've raised the Chinese communist flag or a
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flag with the communist race fist or the communist symbol on it. And look, I'm going to be honest,
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I would not be against some kind of voluntary exchange program where the citizenship of the
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people who hate America and love communism are given to the people in other countries like Cuba who
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love America and love freedom. But I mean, isn't it interesting that people who flee to America for
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freedom are like, wow, you know, I love my country, but I just have to leave. And then there are people
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here who hate America who are like, I hate my country, but I'll never leave. Like, it just doesn't make
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sense. It's just something to think about. Now, we should be we should be absolutely praying for the people
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of Cuba. They will be facing a lot of opposition from their government. I don't know what change is going to
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look like there. But if we care about human rights, if we care about their well-being, if we care about
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justice and freedom, which I think we should, then we should care about and pray for Cuba.
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All right. That's all I have to say on that. Like I said, hopefully we'll talk about it again this
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week. I hope to get an interview with, I've got a couple of people that I've reached out to that I
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hope will come on the show and give us more insight and some personal testimonies of what it's like in
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Cuba and why these people are rising up in the name of freedom. But in speaking of authoritarianism,
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I want to at least scratch the surface of another topic that you guys have been asking me about,
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and that is this COVID vaccine and specifically the push to make it mandatory or at least as
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mandatory as possible. So we'll get to that in just one second.
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Now, when I say authoritarianism, I'm actually not talking about the Biden administration. They
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have not issued a mandate, and I'm not sure that they will. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra
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said on CNN recently that they're trying to give people the sense that we have as much freedom and
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choice as possible. I thought that was an interesting choice of words, but that they're going to knock on
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people's door to encourage them to get the vaccine. He said people don't have to answer the door,
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but if they do, the government representatives will talk to them about the vaccine and any of
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their concerns. And look, do I think that that's kind of creepy? Yes, I do. Like Ronald Reagan said,
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some of the scariest words in the English language are I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
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But honestly, I actually commend the Biden administration for now for trying to do everything
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they can short of making it mandatory. They actually deserve some kudos for that. They're
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going door to door. They're trying to reach out to people about something they think is important
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without actually forcing them by law to do it. So whatever. You don't have to answer the door like
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they said, but that's an effort that they're trying to make. But not everyone outside the
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administration feels the same. And this is why I talk about authoritarianism. And I don't mean in the
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governmental sense. I'm just talking about this authoritarian attitude that a lot of people on
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the left seem to have, especially in relation to this vaccine. So Leanna Nguyen, former Planned
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Parenthood president and CNN commentator. So just judging by her professional history, I'm not really
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sure if we want to listen to her when it comes to subjects that have to do with saving lives,
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considering she has presided over the killing of unborn children. But she did have this suggestion.
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And what we really need to do at this point is to make vaccination the easy choice. It needs to be
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hard for people to remain unvaccinated. Right now, it's kind of the opposite. It's fine. I mean,
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it's easy if you're unvaccinated. You can do everything you want to do anyway. But at some
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point, these mandates by workplaces, by schools, I think it will be important to say, hey, you can opt
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out. But if you want to opt out, you have to sign these forms. You have to get twice weekly testing.
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Basically, we need to make getting vaccinated the easy choice. That is what it's going to take for us to
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So basically, what she's saying is, while the government can't force you, we should make it
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very difficult for people to enjoy life at all or access basic services. Then there was this tweet
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from I don't even know who it is. It sounds like a very, I'm not trying to be rude, but crazed
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left wing blog called the Palmer Report. Lots of lots of followers, but it's always tweeting very
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strange things. Said this, Leanna Wynn is correct. Unvaccinated right wingers are a threat to national
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security. What about unvaccinated left wingers, by the way? It's not just right wingers that are
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not getting the vaccine, but just unvaccinated right wingers. OK, unvaccinated right wingers are
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a threat to national security. And the only thing they understand is consequences. Force them to get
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constantly tested, lock them out of public spaces, public places, force them to stay home by default.
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They'll whine, but they'll cave. All right. And then someone underneath replied this. I just wanted
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to include this because it's just so stunning and sad. Someone says Gen X resists. They should
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have to. That's what their handle is. They should have to wear a scarlet letter C and heavily tax the
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willfully unvaccinated. I mean, are you guys? Are you OK? Is there some other virus that only
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infects the brain that I'm not aware of? They are going to be a preventable burden on the medical
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system for a generation. I mean, yikes, huge yikes. There are all kinds of just hellacious replies
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under that tweet of people celebrating the prospect of death for people who aren't vaccinated,
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saying that they shouldn't get medical care at hospitals if they refuse the vaccine.
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Let's just let's tease out that logic just a little bit. So someone shouldn't get medical
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care at a hospital if they refuse the vaccine, which basically is saying if someone refuses to
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do something that could have probably could have prevented sickness, they shouldn't get care.
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So if someone refuses to stop smoking, they shouldn't get treated for lung cancer. Is that
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what we're going with? Like if someone refuses to lose weight, they shouldn't get treated for
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diabetes. If someone refuses to get sober, they shouldn't be treated for a drug overdose.
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Wow. Yes. I cannot wait to turn over our health care system to the absolute control of these kinds
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of people. Super compassionate. Very excited about it. It should be noted, by the way, that according
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to a Gallup poll, conservatives are two and a half times more likely to answer correctly the
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question, how likely is it to be hospitalized because of COVID? So 41 percent of liberals believe
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that the answer is 50 percent plus, that you've got a 50 plus percent chance to be hospitalized if
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you contract coronavirus. Only 9.8 percent of them got the answer right, which is that you have a one
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to five percent chance to even have to go to the hospital with COVID, whereas 25.6 percent of
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conservatives got that answer right. But actually, both conservatives and liberals way overestimate
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the risks of COVID. But conservatives are far more likely to get that answer right. And that's
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because liberals, just to be honest, have been on a steady diet of panic porn for a year. That doesn't
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mean that people shouldn't take it seriously. I've said that a million times over the past year,
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but we should have an accurate idea of the real risks, right? Okay, I'm going to get to more of
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that in just a second. Now, here's what Leanna Nguyen and other left-wingers seem to understand.
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I'm judging from their rhetoric that I'm not sure that the Biden administration understands, or if they
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do understand that they're not showing it, if someone has not gotten the vaccine at this point,
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it is very likely not because they don't know how, or they haven't heard about it, or that there's some
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logistical issue. They really don't need someone coming to their door telling them about it. It's
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because if they haven't gotten it yet, they don't want to. They've weighed the risks, they've weighed
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the benefits, and they just don't want to get the vaccine. And look, I understand that there are
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people out there who think the decision not to be vaccinated is selfish and stupid, but you also have
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to understand that there are people with legitimate reasons for not wanting to be vaccinated. It's a new
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vaccine, hasn't been out that long, hasn't been out long enough to study long-term effects. We have
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heard about questionable, albeit rare, side effects, like changes to menstruation for women and
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heart inflammation for young people, especially young men. This is what NBC reported about it in
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June. Quote, a higher than usual number of cases of a type of heart inflammation has been reported
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following COVID-19 vaccination, especially among young men following their second dose of an mRNA vaccine.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, overall, 226 cases of myocarditis or
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pericarditis after vaccination in people younger than 30 have been confirmed. Dr. Tom Shimabukuro,
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Deputy Director of the CDC's Immunization Safety Office, said during a presentation to a Food and Drug
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Administration advisory group. Further investigation is needed, however, to confirm whether or not the
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vaccination was the cause of the heart problem. Normally, fewer than 100 cases would be expected for this
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age group. Teenagers and people in their early 20s accounted for more than half of the myocarditis cases
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reported to the CDC's safety monitoring systems following COVID-19 vaccination, despite representing a fraction
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of people who have received the shots. Okay, 226 cases out of millions and millions of shots means that this is really
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rare. But it is still a risk that some young and healthy people are not willing to take. The New York Times reported
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that young people are the biggest barrier to immunity because they're just nervous about taking it. And they also know that
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complications from COVID are super rare unless you have some kind of underlying condition. So here's what the New York
00:26:01.140
Times reported in June. Rare but real side effects have emerged as a serious concern, especially for young people
00:26:07.520
who feel they're at low risk from the virus itself. Johnson & Johnson vaccinations were paused briefly this spring
00:26:13.980
after the discovery of rare blood clots in young women. And federal health officials said last week that the
00:26:20.420
Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have caused heart problems in about 1,200 Americans, many of them under
00:26:29.800
age 30, though they said the benefits of the vaccination continue to far outweigh the risks. Just a reminder that
00:26:37.820
also, according to the CDC, for people under the age of 19, the flu is significantly deadlier than COVID. For people
00:26:45.220
under the age of 40, the flu and COVID are equally deadly, which means not very much at all. The people
00:26:53.540
for whom COVID is riskier than the flu is people who are above 60. Those who are 60 plus are much more
00:27:03.500
likely to suffer serious complications from COVID than from the flu, even though those serious complications
00:27:09.900
are very rare. And I understand that we are concerned about these unvaccinated people passing it along to older
00:27:17.820
people. But A, not being vaccinated against a virus doesn't mean you are a carrier of the virus. That's very
00:27:24.920
important to know. And being a carrier of COVID is going to become increasingly rare, as there are still so many
00:27:30.780
people who are vaccinated. B, most older people are vaccinated. So they're at very, very, very low risk, which I think
00:27:39.860
is a great thing. By the way, there is no question in my mind whatsoever that if you are elderly, the
00:27:45.200
benefits of getting the vaccine actually outweigh the risks. But again, I think it's a it's a personal
00:27:50.460
decision for you. But for young people, maybe not. Maybe the benefits don't outweigh the risks. And
00:27:56.880
since cases and deaths have dropped across the country so drastically, it doesn't seem like the
00:28:01.960
people who choose not to get the vaccine need to be excluded from polite society or unable to travel or
00:28:07.780
or go to work in person or go to concerts, it just doesn't make sense. It honestly doesn't even make
00:28:14.360
sense to force unvaccinated people to wear masks. Like, I know that's controversial to say, but from
00:28:19.220
all the data that we've seen that we've collected over the past year and a half, there seems to be
00:28:24.040
no correlation at all between the number of COVID cases and mask mandates or lockdowns. And actually,
00:28:31.240
in many cases, you've seen lower cases in free states like Texas and Florida than you have in
00:28:36.420
locked down heavily masked states like New Jersey and New York. Those are just the facts. There's also
00:28:42.220
a racial equity portion to this as well, considering that a large percentage of unvaccinated people
00:28:50.840
are black Americans who just don't want to get the vaccine. It's not because of a lack of access. So
00:28:57.420
much money has been dedicated to getting minority populations to get vaccinated. And a lot of them
00:29:04.600
just don't want to. So are you really going to segregate society along largely racial lines
00:29:10.100
because of this vaccine? I mean, if you want to follow the science, that means you don't just
00:29:15.480
shut down the critical thinking part of your brain and listen to whatever Anthony Fauci says.
00:29:19.900
It means you think, you ask questions, you look at the data, and you're willing to form conclusions
00:29:24.680
based on factual information that may be unpopular. And I say all this as someone who has never been
00:29:32.460
anti-vaccine in my life, just full disclosure, up to and including now, no one in my family is
00:29:38.080
anti-vaccine. I used to be actually more of a vaccine caring, if you will, wanting everyone
00:29:43.740
around me to get their flu shot, etc. But I've eased up. I've eased up on that. I'm not anti the COVID
00:29:51.340
vaccine, although I don't think it's your business if I'm vaccinated, nor do I think it's my business if
00:29:57.240
you're vaccinated. I also always complied with the masking rules and all of that, but it didn't bother
00:30:03.200
me when other people didn't. So you can't say that I'm some kind of crazed anti-masker, anti-vaxxer.
00:30:09.440
That's just not factual. I am a big fan of choice. I'm a big fan of liberty and factual information.
00:30:17.280
It's hard for me to understand how those two things don't, like some people cannot carry those
00:30:24.740
two things in their mind at the same time. The vaccine, I will say, is not the mark of the beast.
00:30:30.620
That's just bad theology. It's not magnetic. It's not inserting a tracking device, but it is a new
00:30:36.940
vaccine, even though it's made from old technology. And people are not crazy to assess the risks for
00:30:44.720
themselves. In fact, that's much more scientific than the people who apparently think that science
00:30:50.320
means just accepting everything bureaucrats tell you without questioning anything. And if there seems
00:30:57.020
to be cumbersome restrictions for living your life that you just think are unjust, call your state
00:31:03.640
legislators, email them, see if there's anything that can be done about it. Trampling on freedoms isn't
00:31:08.680
just something that the government can do. Big business can do it, too. And state lawmakers may be
00:31:13.920
responsible to act in some cases. If the Biden administration shows up at your door and you
00:31:20.640
don't want to talk to them, treat them like a Jehovah's Witness. So either you just ignore them
00:31:27.220
and you don't answer the door, or you can invite them in for tea and crumpets. Go for it. Share the
00:31:33.040
gospel with them. Explain to them your reasoning for not getting it if you want to, if you're not going to
00:31:38.260
get it. I think your options are to be kind and hospitable and truthful with them or to not answer
00:31:45.920
your door at all. I don't know if there's any reason necessarily for animosity. I think that it
00:31:51.800
actually can be an opportunity to tell them about Christ. Who knows? Maybe that's part of why
00:31:59.560
God is allowing that particular program. You certainly could use it for His glory in that way.
00:32:07.440
So I hope that answers some of your questions. I understand this is a controversial topic with
00:32:12.660
a lot of, I think, respectable and valid opinions across the spectrum on that. But I wanted to try
00:32:18.840
to give you a neutral and balanced view on it. And I'm sure whenever I talk about this subject,
00:32:25.640
there are always people who are disappointed on both sides. And that is perfectly fine with me.
00:32:31.340
All right. We will be back here tomorrow with a really good topic that I'm excited about.