Episode 27 - COVID Toilet Plumes. India-China Fighting. Police Reform Markup Highlights.
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Summary
China and India are seeing rising tensions on their border in the Himalayas. Coronavirus can spread in public bathrooms when flushed. Google is trying to demonetize the Federalist, and a hot take about borders.
Transcript
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You ever watch this guy on television? You all were not telling the truth and you should not
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be trusted. Congressman Matt Gaetz, thank you for what you did for your country tonight.
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Be offended with the Democratic whip, not House of Republicans. Like a machine, Matt Gaetz.
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Welcome to Hot Takes. This is Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news.
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Coronavirus-filled toilet plumes. That's in the news. The New York Times' Nouvelle Chique
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with a report today that details a study showing that coronavirus can actually spread in public
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bathrooms. That when you flush the toilet, apparently there is a three-foot-tall geyser
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of aerosols that erupt into the air and actually can spread coronavirus from what one person has
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deposited into the toilet into an adjoining stall as a consequence of the flushing.
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So I know a lot of us have been thinking about different ways that life might change following
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coronavirus, but the public bathroom experience just might be one of them.
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China and India are seeing rising tensions on their border in the Himalayan mountains.
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These are countries with two of the largest armies in the world. They are nuclear powers.
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There's a report out from BBC News. Really everyone has it, but this is a great report. We'll throw it
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up on social media that's got some of the maps showing this particular Galwan Valley.
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And it seems as though this conflict is not expressly driven by what's going on in the Himalayas
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as much as China's changing posture with their neighbors and throughout the region.
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As we know, China is becoming more aggressive in the South China Sea.
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They are utilizing their control over the marketplace more to put leverage on Southeast Asian countries
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economically. And you see with India more development in this area. Modi was part of
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constructing this road into the Himalayas that China views as a threat because they see that
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India could move materiel personnel to the area very rapidly and there has been an escalation.
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So originally in the reporting, we saw claims that three Indian soldiers had died with China
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taking casualties as well. Now that number looks like 20 Indians were fatally wounded in this
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conflict. And it's unclear at this point how many Chinese were, but there is no doubt that you're
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going to see rising anti-Chinese sentiment in India. Right now, Prime Minister Modi is having to deal
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with a pretty extensive coronavirus crisis in this country as well. As we know, India and Pakistan
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have seen some of their territorial flare-ups emerging in the Kashmir. And so we're going to
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watch this situation very closely. But again, I can't say that it's specifically a consequence of
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this area in the Himalayas where historically there's been poor marking of borders. There have been
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territorial disputes, I guess it's an area with ice caps and rivers that mark the boundary and as a
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consequence of the geography and the hydrology, those rivers and ice caps shift and change, which can
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create some resentment. And if there's a hot take here, it's the value of borders, clearly defined borders.
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They don't just help show where one country begins and one country ends. They also show where good
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ideas begin and end. That's why our country needs to prioritize our border to a greater extent. But
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right now with India and China, we'd love to see de-escalation and we'd love to see China as a better
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neighbor, both with India and with other countries in the region. The big tech tyranny continues now with
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Google looking to demonetize the Federalist. The Federalist is a fantastic news organization.
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It's where Molly Hemingway works. It's where Professor Margot Cleveland writes. And I can tell you
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that the Federalist was essential in the Russia hoax, breaking big stories, providing critical analysis.
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The Margot Cleveland piece on the double bind that Mueller was in regarding Russia's foreign
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interference in this election on behalf of Hillary Clinton and the DNC entanglement in that and his
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refusal to investigate this collusion on the other side of the 2016 presidential election was beautifully
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presented by Margot Cleveland. And in the days leading up to the Mueller testimony, that piece was
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really a central guiding document in how I crafted my questions. I'm actually going to post up on social
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media Margot Cleveland's piece on the Mueller double bind and the Democrats collusion with Russia
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to really undermine our democracy. And so now you see Google engaging in this new form of big tech
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tyranny. It used to just be maybe a reduction in your search results, moving people away from your
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content and your platform. But now Google is becoming a lot more aggressive in their efforts to silence
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conservatives. And in this particular circumstance, if you are unable to generate ad revenue from your
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website, you have no website, you have no business, just an enormous amount of Google's, or I should say
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the ad revenue on the internet is driven by Google and pushed through Google. So in the coming weeks, the
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antitrust subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is going to be putting out a big report on
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the way that digital platforms utilize their market power to hurt people. And we have antitrust laws in
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this country for a reason. I think we ought to use those antitrust laws. I think we ought to crack down
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on some of these tech platforms that are not fair to people. Here's Tucker Carlson's analysis from last
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night regarding big tech and the harm they're doing to our country.
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In all of human history, no single entity has ever had more control over information than Google does
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right now. So if you're worried about the concentration of power in the hands of a few
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unaccountable actors, and you very much should be, nobody has more unchecked power than Google does.
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This afternoon, NBC News decided to use some of Google's power to shut down a couple of its
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competitors. Power is useful for that. An NBC employee called Adele Macomo Frazier forwarded
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Google executives, a screed from a left-wing activist group in England denouncing two sites,
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Zero Hedge and The Federalist, as, quote, racist. Google immediately took the bait, of course. The
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company threatened to ban both news organizations from Google's ad platform. In other words, to cut
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off their revenue. Thanks to Congress, Google does have immunity. And that's one of the main reasons
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that Google's founders are some of the richest and most powerful people in the world,
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because Congress allowed them to be. Senator Josh Hawley pointed this out today. Let's hope he and
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his colleagues act soon to revoke this privilege. If Google will not extend 230 protections to others,
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Google should not enjoy those protections itself, obviously. And so our friends at The Federalist are
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fighting back. I hope you'll visit their website. I hope that you'll review their content and share it,
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because what the left is starting to realize is that if we all put out the truth, if we work together
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to amplify the truth, if we invite the country to participate in that discussion and review the
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evidence, well, then we have a very compelling case to make. And we have a very high probability of
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victory, not only in politics and elections, but on the public policy causes that we care about to
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improve the family, improve the country, to push back against all this effort to demonize America
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and make us believe that America is somehow a racist, terrible nation. That's absurd. This
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is the greatest nation that has ever existed. No apologies. Now let's make sure that the folks out
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in Silicon Valley are not able to redefine the political debate and redefine the truth. I believe
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that today there will be new legislation introduced in the Senate by Senator Tom Cotton, Senator Josh
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Hawley, and Senator Marco Rubio. Three fantastic senators, three people I know and have worked with,
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and wait till you see the legislation today regarding Section 230 that they're unleashing.
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Maybe I'll sponsor that and introduce it over in the House, but it's a good sign that we're getting
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our Senate engaged because if we do not win this fight over cancel culture, over shadow banning,
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over demonetizing conservative places on the internet, then there is no future for the conservative
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movement for young people. And I believe that we'll win the argument. We just have to have a chance at
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a fair debate. That's what America is founded on. And I'm excited about the fact that we're going to start
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demanding that fairness and that equity to vindicate the rights of people to speak their mind and to
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engage in productive dialogue. Today, the House Judiciary Committee took up the Democrats bill on
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policing reform. Here's Republican lead Jim Jordan making the Republican case to stand with the police.
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The vast majority of police officers do a great job. They risk their lives every single day to protect
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our communities. They're the individuals who rushed into the Twin Towers on 9-11. They're the individuals
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here on Capitol Hill who protect us every single day. They're the guys back in our back in our communities
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who put on that uniform every single shift and risk their lives. And we should remember that as we
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develop policy here in the Judiciary Committee. And finally, fourth, defunding the police, dismantling
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police departments is one of the craziest public policy proposals I have ever heard.
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Law enforcement do so many great things in our communities. Here's my effort to try to balance
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the needs of a community to have faith and confidence in law enforcement with the safety
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and effectiveness of our law enforcement officers. If the overall theme is to keep police engaged and
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proactive in their communities, you're going to find the president and Republicans in Congress very
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willing to work with the Democrat majority in the House on those issues. However, if the goal is to keep
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the cop in the car, if the goal is to have police so stripped of all immunities, so deprived of all
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of the use of force that they might need to preserve their own lives, if the goal is to have police
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essentially on a level playing field with cartels and criminals when it comes to their equipment,
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then we would be unable to support that. Because that would be the manifestation of an effort to defund,
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dismantle, and demoralize the police, not an effort to improve the police. We want to reform, we want to
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improve, we want to work together, and we hope our Democrat colleagues will take this amendment and others
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that are offered in good faith and that you'll speak out against the dangerous efforts to demoralize
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those who are serving us. The debate got a little heated with Democrats at times. Here's a little bit
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of that sound. I would yield to any of my colleagues on the Republican side who can unequivocally say,
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as we calibrate where we are right now, that black lives matter.
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Thank the gentleman for yielding. Does the gentleman believe that all lives matter
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matter as well? I think black lives matter. I think all lives matter. Reclaiming my time.
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Can anyone on the Republican side say unequivocally, black lives matter?
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Unequivocally, all lives matter. Why is that a problem to acknowledge? Reclaiming my time.
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Will the gentleman, you? In jobs. In education. Will the gentleman, you?
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Black lives matter. I'm sad to say no one on the other side will say it.
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Black lives do matter unequivocally. Black lives do matter. Every life is precious,
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Is the science of America polluted by China and other foreign interests? We see our colleagues in
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the Congress focus so much on foreign interference in elections. But what about foreign interference in
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science itself? And in the advice we get from our public health officials? There is a really
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explosive piece of journalism in ScienceMag.org by Jeffrey Mervis. And in the ScienceMag.org piece,
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there is reporting that 54 scientists at the National Institute of Health have been removed from their
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jobs. 93% refuse to disclose their relationship with China. There are 285 active grants totaling $164
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million that could be impacted by these terminations and the work of these scientists. And in 5% of the
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cases, even the peer review process appears to be impacted. Now, again, that doesn't sound huge,
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but I mean, look, if 5% of the advice that you got from public health officials over the last few
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months was bogus or informed by a desire to serve another country, that's still a substantial amount.
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And again, that peer review process is the mechanism by which we ensure that the work that's going on
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absolutely is accurate and that it can result in sound public policy choices by lawmakers. So I'm
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always deeply troubled when we see just how insidious and how determined some of our adversaries are to
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impact our country. I think a lot of them try to prey on our weakness and try to utilize our openness
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as a vulnerability. And it's one of the reasons why we've got to remain diligent in our fight against
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China. I don't know why we are allowing Chinese students to come into this country and study some of the
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the most sensitive, you know, rocket propulsion, physics, nuclear science, and then return back to
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the CCP and to the other allies of China, like North Korea to create problems in the world.
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The American education system should not be used against our country. And too often,
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the colleges are in on it. The colleges and universities love getting this money from China.
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They love sending their professors to China to study and get all kinds of perks. They love having Chinese
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associated or loosely affiliated entities fund endowed professorships. And now we see what the end
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result is we end up with scientists in our own government that have these links that have to
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be terminated. And it really calls into question whether or not the infrastructure of American public
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health is truly serving Americans. I think there's legislation introduced by Senator Rubio and others
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to try to impact the extent to which our country is resilient against this new offensive threat from China.
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Senator Tom Cotton spoke recently in the media about the types of education platforms that
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potentially should be restricted. It's a scandal to me that we have trained so many of the Chinese
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Communist Party's brightest minds to go back to China to compete for our jobs, to take our business,
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and ultimately to steal our property and design weapons and other devices that can be used against
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the American people. So I think we need to take a very hard look at the visas that we give to Chinese
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nationals to come to the United States to study, especially at the postgraduate level in advanced
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scientific and technological fields. You know, if Chinese students want to come here and study
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Shakespeare and the Federalist Papers, that's what they need to learn from America. They don't need to
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learn quantum computing and artificial intelligence from America. Thank you, Senator Cotton,
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for raising this issue. I think the political correctness police are likely to descend at any
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moment. But putting America first means putting American science first, and it means not allowing
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our scientists or universities or research entities to be sold out to the highest bidder.
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Retail is on the rise in the American economy. Apple News' Abra Batrani and Rachel Siegel reporting that
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retail sales spiked almost 18% in May. Now, they went down close to 9% in April. They went down close to 15%
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in March. So a rebound in retail is fantastic to see. I think it's a leading indicator for the economy
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because I think that if people are spending, that shows consumer confidence, a belief that there
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will be some semblance of normal returned. Obviously, we've got major problems with the unemployment rate.
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We've got to get people onboarded back to jobs. I think our Republican senators who've pointed out
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this bizarre disincentive where people are making more, in some cases, on unemployment than they would
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had they taken their job back. That's got to be fixed. But consumer spending drives about 70%
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of America's economy. And so with more of that occurring, I think you start to help on the jobs
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numbers. You start to help on the investment numbers. In all, consumers spent $485 billion in May
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on retail goods, groceries, and gas. And 17% of sales, about $86.4 billion were purchased online.
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So still a lot of e-commerce, but as people get out and engage in retail in person, we think that
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that you could even see those ratios shift further. So let's hope that we can get this great economy
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that President Trump built back on track. And let's hope that rising retail sales,
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rising consumer confidence is an important leading indicator.
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Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, make sure to subscribe so that you get
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updates with daily episodes. Give us a rating and a review. Let us know what you think.
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I'll be on tomorrow to let you know what I think with more hot takes.