The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - Episode 143 – Suitcases Stuffed With Ballots in Georgia？ I’m Voting for the MORE Act. Negotiations for Coronavirus Aid. Austin Mayor Urges Citizens to Stay Home While Vacationing in Mexico...

00:00:00.000 You ever watch this guy on television?

00:00:03.820 You all were not telling the truth and you should not be trusted.

00:00:06.580 Congressman Matt Gaetz, thank you for what you did for your country tonight.

00:00:09.300 Be offended with the Democratic whip, not House of Republicans.

00:00:12.260 Like a machine, Matt Gaetz.

00:00:16.080 Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:00:19.240 Let's talk about the news.

00:00:20.960 Here in Washington, D.C. today, the news is swirling about the potential deal on coronavirus legislation.

00:00:27.760 Price tag at about $908 billion.

00:00:32.360 A good chunk of that money, about $300 million, going to small businesses.

00:00:37.420 The Paycheck Protection Program, seeing some enhancements as a consequence.

00:00:42.800 No stimulus directly to Americans, but an additional $300 in unemployment benefits provided in the bill.

00:00:51.340 Also funding for frontline workers and hospitals.

00:00:54.420 This has the features of a deal that could get done.

00:00:59.160 Now in the swamp of Washington, D.C., there are always extra ornaments that they hang on the tree.

00:01:05.160 We want to make sure there's not funding for illegal immigration.

00:01:08.580 That there's not a way that the federal treasury is used as a backstop to poor decisions in states or cities that have nothing to do with coronavirus.

00:01:18.720 But I do believe that there's going to be a vote.

00:01:22.980 Not sure how I would vote because I don't make those decisions until we see the final legislative text.

00:01:29.040 But support for our frontline workers, additional assistance for our small businesses, ensuring that we have a robust health care system.

00:01:36.960 Those all seem to be goals that the Trump administration is pursuing, and they are finding some bipartisan agreement.

00:01:43.160 If I had to handicap it, I'd say we're back in Washington next week with a vote on major coronavirus legislation.

00:01:51.740 We'll see if that's something that our office can support.

00:01:54.900 Suitcases full of ballots counted in the absence of legally required oversight in the state of Georgia.

00:02:06.860 Now the legislative hearings there are uncovering what is very strange behavior in an election.

00:02:13.400 And footage does appear to show these suitcases with ballots coming out from underneath a table after supervisors told poll workers to leave the room and then four people stayed behind to keep counting votes.

00:02:28.360 Take a listen.

00:02:29.440 At about eight o'clock in the morning, we're going to roll this back and show it to you.

00:02:32.680 There you go.

00:02:33.760 So now they're going to start pulling these ballots out from under this table.

00:02:36.320 This table, the black one, was placed there by the lady with the blonde braids at about 8.22 a.m. in the morning.

00:02:46.840 So she put that table there.

00:02:49.480 So the same person who's staying behind now, the same person who cleared the place out under the pretense that we're going to stop counting,

00:02:55.360 is the person who put the table there at 8.22 in the morning.

00:03:00.900 Yeah, I saw four suitcases come out from underneath the table.

00:03:04.480 So what are these ballots doing there separate from all the other ballots?

00:03:09.180 And why are they only counting them whenever the place is cleared out with no witnesses?

00:03:14.180 Is the question.

00:03:17.300 So these machines can process about 3,000 ballots an hour.

00:03:24.340 You have multiple machines there.

00:03:27.380 And they're there for two hours.

00:03:29.280 So you do the math.

00:03:30.140 How many ballots went through those machines in those two hours when there was no one there to supervise,

00:03:35.600 to be present, consistent with your statutes and rules, to supervise the tabulation?

00:03:41.380 We believe that could easily be and probably is certainly beyond the margin of victory in this race.

00:03:47.220 Will Section 230 get repealed in the National Defense Authorization Act?

00:03:56.700 And if it isn't, will the National Defense Authorization Act be vetoed by President Trump as he's threatened?

00:04:03.100 Now, Section 230, as we've covered in other podcasts, allows tech platforms to get to a size and scale with liability protections

00:04:12.280 that gives them license to both produce content and curate content in a way that disadvantages those that they don't agree with,

00:04:23.100 whether that's from a market perspective or a political perspective or otherwise.

00:04:27.960 So President Trump has said he'll veto the NDAA if a repeal of Section 230 is not included.

00:04:34.480 And this isn't the first time that we've seen policy areas melded with the NDAA that might not have an immediate nexus to the military itself.

00:04:44.800 In fact, it was the NDAA that was the legislative vehicle for paid family leave, which was a major priority of Ivanka Trump. 0.62

00:04:53.120 And so I'm here on Capitol Hill. I've had a few meetings on this issue this morning.

00:04:58.880 And what I can tell you is that the vote on whether or not to override a potential veto will be very different than the initial vote on the NDAA.

00:05:08.820 The NDAA passed both the House and Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.

00:05:13.800 I didn't vote for it because I thought it put too many barriers in front of the Trump administration for troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.

00:05:22.300 And if you can believe it, even Germany, the armed services committees in the House and Senate think that we haven't progressed to the point to be able to draw down to 25,000 troops in Germany, for goodness sakes.

00:05:34.920 I mean, World War Two has been over for a while.

00:05:37.540 So President Trump, I think, seeing that the NDAA took a few positions that were adverse to his administration, has no problem threatening to veto that bill, flexing some legislative muscle, wanting to see a repeal of Section 230.

00:05:53.280 Now, the Senate Armed Services Chairman, Jim Imhoff, is a key player here.

00:05:58.280 He recently indicated that he will not work in the conference committee to include the 230 repeal.

00:06:05.020 President Trump tweeting at Imhoff that he was disappointed in that and that he may, in fact, veto the bill anyway.

00:06:13.340 So I think that the vote on a veto override proposition before the House of Representatives in the Senate would go very different than the initial vote on the NDAA.

00:06:23.240 And it's my hope that we use this opportunity to create online fairness.

00:06:29.520 How people interact with online platforms is so central to how we live our lives.

00:06:35.300 And we ought to have the ability to communicate freely.

00:06:38.700 We ought to have a dynamic and creative and innovative marketplace of ideas online.

00:06:45.300 And I'm glad that the president is fighting for the people of our country against these tech oligarchs.

00:06:52.200 And it's interesting to see who in Congress is on the side of the president, who's on the side of the people, and who is just doing the bidding of their Silicon Valley donors.

00:07:04.040 Should a private business be allowed to force their employees to wear gay pride shirts?

00:07:14.040 That's the question being ripened in a lawsuit brought by a Christian woman against Starbucks. 0.88

00:07:19.600 We get the story from LifeSiteNews.com.

00:07:23.680 And in this particular circumstance, Starbucks had a pride shirt and the employee asked whether or not she would be required to wear that shirt,

00:07:33.160 arguing that it would be tantamount to forced speech by the company since her Christian faith recognizes that marriage can only be between one man and one woman.

00:07:43.180 Her manager told her that she wouldn't have to wear the t-shirt at work,

00:07:47.120 but then she was informed by the district manager subsequently that she had been terminated.

00:07:52.240 So in these types of employment cases, you get to all the different causalities,

00:07:57.460 whether or not truly the reason this woman was fired was because she would not wear the gay pride shirt. 0.99

00:08:02.960 And I don't believe that any company should be able to force their employees into any sort of political statement or religious statement.

00:08:12.400 I think we all ought to be able to go to work and do our jobs.

00:08:15.060 And you ought to be fired from your job for doing a bad job, not because someone thinks you have bad politics or bad religion.

00:08:23.380 We'll follow the story and the litigation.

00:08:25.580 And it may say a lot about the way in which corporate America is bending to the woke-topia

00:08:32.020 and the tools that they might or might not have at their disposal in their relationships with their employees.

00:08:38.560 The Moore Act. Cannabis reform.

00:08:45.040 On the agenda, up for a vote today in the House of Representatives.

00:08:48.760 I go into great deal on the substance of this bill in episode 80 of the podcast,

00:08:53.200 but I want to give you a flavor of the debate we had on the floor prior to the bill's passage today.

00:08:59.500 Here's Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee describing the legislation.

00:09:03.140 To summarize the provisions of the Moore Act, they fall into three categories.

00:09:07.440 First, simply, it would remove marijuana or cannabis from the list or the schedule of federally controlled substances.

00:09:14.340 This means that going forward, individuals could no longer be prosecuted federally for marijuana offenses.

00:09:20.980 This does not mean that marijuana would now be legal in the entire United States, as some have tried to argue.

00:09:27.000 It would simply remove the federal government from interfering with state laws and state structures from the business of prosecuting marijuana cases

00:09:37.480 and would leave the question of legality to the individual states.

00:09:41.840 Those states choosing to decriminalize can do so without ongoing interference from the federal government.

00:09:48.420 And those states that choose to continue to make marijuana illegal can continue to do so as well.

00:09:54.740 Second, the bill would establish a taxation structure to collect a sales tax on marijuana,

00:10:01.360 which over the course of five years could increase from five to eight percent.

00:10:05.840 Finally, the bill would expunge and seal federal marijuana arrest and convictions and resentence offenders as appropriate.

00:10:12.760 I also offered debate on this imperfect bill, but a bill that I think would help the country take a listen.

00:10:19.940 The Moore Act is flawed.

00:10:22.760 It uses cannabis policy to do a great deal of social engineering, to create new taxes and new programs and redistribution of assets.

00:10:33.360 But I am here as the only Republican co-sponsor of the Moore Act, and I'm voting for it.

00:10:38.720 Because the federal government has lied to the people of this country about marijuana for a generation.

00:10:44.520 We have seen a generation, particularly of black and brown youth, locked up for offenses that should have not resulted in any incarceration whatsoever.

00:10:55.520 I'm also deeply troubled that the current policy of the federal government inhibits research into cannabis.

00:11:01.940 Research that could unlock cures and help people live better lives.

00:11:06.320 My Republican colleagues today will make a number of arguments against this bill, but those arguments are overwhelmingly losing with the American people.

00:11:16.780 In every state where cannabis reform was on the ballot in this country, it passed.

00:11:22.400 It passed with overwhelming support.

00:11:24.960 Matter of fact, the only thing that I know that's more popular than getting out of the war on drugs is getting out of the war in Afghanistan.

00:11:32.160 But if we were measuring the success in the war on drugs, it would be hard to conclude anything other than the fact that drugs have won.

00:11:41.680 Because the American people do not support the policies of incarceration, limited research, limited choice, and particularly constraining medical application.

00:11:53.140 We are here in a time where many people in our country are suffering.

00:11:56.140 They are in pain, and it is documented that states with medical cannabis programs see a reduction in the prescribing of opioids and the number of opioid abuses and deaths.

00:12:09.280 We've held hearings in the House Judiciary Committee where people in our government must confess that this is in fact true.

00:12:15.600 That the more we give people access to medical cannabis programs, the more we see a blunting of this horrible scourge of opioid addiction and opioid abuse.

00:12:28.060 We talk all the time on the right about the need to empower people and empower states.

00:12:34.040 Right now, the federal policy on cannabis constrains our people.

00:12:38.380 It limits our states, and I would only hope that in the 117th Congress, after this bill invariably dies in the Senate, that we'll actually come back and pass the States Act.

00:12:48.060 Because the States Act acknowledges that we have screwed this up in the federal government.

00:12:54.560 And while we've screwed it up, states have taken action, they've designed programs in the way that our great federalist system promises.

00:13:00.800 And if we were to pass the States Act, then best practices would emerge, states that developed applicable programs for their people would be replicable, and we would see better policies.

00:13:12.640 I'm going to vote for the Moore Act. 0.97

00:13:14.120 It won't pass the Senate.

00:13:15.640 It won't become law.

00:13:16.860 But then we should come back in the 117th Congress, and we should truly do more for our people.

00:13:23.760 I thank the gentleman I yield back.

00:13:24.980 Of course, we get our share of weird stories that come out of the state of Florida, but it seems lately California has been more than pulling their weight.

00:13:37.460 We get the story that in the San Diego School District, teachers are now being forced to attend white privilege training.

00:13:47.380 They're told they're racist.

00:13:49.240 They're told that there is inherent racism in all of them, and that this is now somehow an essential requirement of being able to provide instruction to young people.

00:14:01.000 Americans are not inherently racist.

00:14:04.340 We are good people.

00:14:06.120 This is a loving country.

00:14:07.700 We want our schools to be places where everyone is accepted and given the opportunity to advance themselves and contribute to a growing skill library within their own lives.

00:14:22.340 And so the notion that we've got to take time that could be spent giving teachers more digital instruction, more assistance in the unique complexities of teaching in the era of COVID.

00:14:35.000 Instead of doing all that, we have to sit down teachers and tell them they're racist and that their work is the subject of privilege.

00:14:43.180 That's nonsense.

00:14:44.560 It shouldn't be happening in San Diego, California or anywhere.

00:14:48.400 We pick up the story from NBC WESH.

00:14:56.400 Carol Baskin of Tiger King fame at Big Cat Rescue saw one of her volunteers have a very tragic encounter with one of the tigers.

00:15:06.880 The volunteer apparently reached into the cage during the feeding time.

00:15:10.520 The tiger grabbed that individual's arm.

00:15:13.020 The injuries are serious, but it appears as though they won't be life-threatening.

00:15:20.100 Take a listen.

00:15:20.940 Following another developing story, this is happening in Tampa where a volunteer has been seriously hurt at Big Cat Rescue.

00:15:27.460 This is owned by Carol Baskin, who rose to fame after being featured in the Netflix hit Tiger King.

00:15:33.800 That volunteer was reportedly feeding a tiger when the big cat grabbed the volunteer's arm, nearly tearing it off.

00:15:40.740 It happened, authorities say, around 8.30 this morning.

00:15:43.780 We're going to bring you more information as it becomes available.

00:15:46.000 Big cats are dangerous.

00:15:47.620 They're probably not meant for people's backyard or roadside zoos.

00:15:52.920 And I think in many cases, these quote-unquote rescues are not necessarily acting in the best interest of the animals.

00:16:01.300 They're acting in the best interest of the humans.

00:16:04.180 So we need to ensure that if there is, in fact, a legitimate rescue mission, that it's treated as such.

00:16:11.840 But, gosh, if it's just like a roadside tiger zoo where people are getting their arms ripped off,

00:16:16.660 maybe we need to have a more critical view of that activity.

00:16:19.500 Would you ever eat chicken that wasn't really chicken, that was cultured or created in a lab?

00:16:29.500 The people of Singapore may soon have the opportunity to do just that as a consequence of the company Eat Just,

00:16:37.380 which has developed a first-in-the-world regulatory approval for their chicken bites that are animal cells created in a lab.

00:16:48.660 Now, this won't be a big fillet, a chicken breast.

00:16:51.620 It will start out in their nuggets.

00:16:54.240 And Singapore appears to be first to give this option to their people.

00:16:59.420 We'll see how many folks taking advantage of it.

00:17:02.260 I prefer my chicken to have had feathers at some point and been clucking and then to end up on a barbecue grill.

00:17:10.200 The American people do not like it when their leaders tell them that they have to change their living activities and their lives as a result of coronavirus.

00:17:25.620 But then those very same leaders go out and enjoy the full compliments of life.

00:17:31.880 Austin's mayor is sort of the latest to get tagged with this hypocrisy as a consequence of a video he made urging residents to stay home while the video was shot from Cabo.

00:17:44.440 Take a listen to the mayor's message.

00:17:46.180 The thrust of the most important messages trying to get out to the community right now is that our numbers are increasing.

00:17:53.020 And everybody has to be aware of that.

00:17:55.660 And we need to, you know, stay home if you can.

00:17:59.140 Do everything you can to try to keep the numbers down.

00:18:02.360 This is not the time to relax.

00:18:04.600 We're going to be looking really closely.

00:18:06.460 And it's just quite something that he delivered this from Mexico and thought that somehow he wasn't going to get busted for it.

00:18:14.560 I don't begrudge people in office who want to get their hair done or have dinner or go on vacation.

00:18:21.100 Matter of fact, I want to do all those things, too.

00:18:23.040 I just think it's troubling when they feel as though their reaction to the coronavirus must be some lockdown or edict that they clearly themselves don't believe.

00:18:34.500 Right. And what it does is it undermines people's confidence in any edict from government when the very leaders don't seem to treat it seriously themselves.

00:18:44.420 And I think during covid, we've really seen a dynamic where local leaders want to appear to be doing something.

00:18:51.680 They they want to appear to be empathetic to the pain and loss that people are enduring.

00:18:57.240 And so they go and take these lockdown steps without really understanding the nexus to the science.

00:19:04.080 And then when they don't understand the nexus to the science, they, of course, don't adhere to that themselves.

00:19:09.420 And then other people don't as well.

00:19:11.560 So I believe that we ought to trust the people, not the politicians.

00:19:16.860 And the mayor of Austin has shown that that's probably the right way to go.

00:19:22.300 Thanks for listening to Hot Takes.

00:19:23.980 I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz.

00:19:25.400 You can give us a big hand by offering a five star rating on iTunes or your listening platform of choice and write in the comments section if there are stories or questions you have about the inner workings of the United States Congress.

00:19:38.560 We hope you subscribe and join us next week for more Hot Takes.

00:19:43.140 We'll see you next week.

00:19:48.860 Bye.

00:19:50.620 Bye.

00:19:50.920 Bye.

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00:20:11.700 Bye.

00:20:12.820 Bye.

The Anchormen Show with Matt Gaetz - December 04, 2020

Episode 143 – Suitcases Stuffed With Ballots in Georgia？ I’m Voting for the MORE Act. Negotiations for Coronavirus Aid. Austin Mayor Urges Citizens to Stay Home While Vacationing in Mexico...

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