The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 225 - Outrageous Miscarriage Of Justice In The Smollett Case

00:00:00.000 Today on the Matt Walsh Show, in an outrageous development, Jesse Smollett, who staged a fake

00:00:05.660 hate crime against himself, has been let go. All charges dropped. So we will discuss this incredible

00:00:11.280 miscarriage of justice and we'll figure out what, if anything, we can learn from it.

00:00:17.160 Also, the president of CNN made a stunning admission about his network and about the

00:00:22.920 nature of journalism. And finally, I've got a video of Pope Francis that you just have to see

00:00:29.000 to believe. It's pretty, it's pretty incredible. All of that today on the Matt Walsh Show.

00:00:41.080 Okay. Don't panic everyone. I am in a, in a real studio. I went from, it's kind of a, it's,

00:00:46.560 it's a rags to riches story. I went from homeless in my car, yelling into my phone. And then I was

00:00:52.960 in my mom's basement, uh, in front of a fake cardboard fireplace. And now I am at least

00:00:58.320 temporarily for a couple of days in a studio of sorts. It's just, it's a temporary thing. I'm

00:01:03.000 visiting LA and, uh, they said, yeah, you can go in a studio if you want. You can have the makeup and

00:01:06.660 all the things and all that. Uh, it's kind of like a take your child to work day sort of thing. It's

00:01:10.880 just, they're just humoring me with, with this, uh, little setup. So there's a lot that we got to get

00:01:16.680 to, including the, uh, Jussie Smollett madness. But before we do that, let's check in with Freedom

00:01:21.620 Project Academy. Uh, this year, nearly $70 billion. Okay. Think about that. $70 billion of

00:01:28.720 taxpayer money will be spent on public education. Yet a new report finds that just two in five

00:01:35.000 American students are ready to attend college. So to be perfectly frank about it, you're better off 1.00

00:01:39.820 sending your kids to go be raised by squirrels in the woods for 13 years than you are, uh, in sending

00:01:45.700 them to public school. That's basically where we're at. Um, so many of you are, are searching

00:01:51.260 for a school that offers a real education, one that is appreciably better than what a squirrel

00:01:55.800 could provide a school with traditional values, um, that helps students develop strong foundations

00:02:01.100 in math, science, English, American history. But most importantly with a school, the idea

00:02:05.060 with education is you're teaching kids how to think critically, not just what to think,

00:02:09.380 not regurgitating, but actually how to think. Well, the search is over. Freedom Project Academy

00:02:14.780 is an accredited online school built on Judeo-Christian values and classical curriculum for students,

00:02:20.540 uh, from kindergarten all the way through high school. So they do the whole thing.

00:02:23.500 This is a complete interactive educational experience where students attend live classes

00:02:29.660 with other students. So it's just like they're in a real, a real classroom, uh, a physical,

00:02:33.820 you know, classroom. Freedom Project Academy provides live and recorded lessons, homework, tests,

00:02:39.180 tutoring, grades, transcripts, everything you could possibly need. So go to freedomforschool.com

00:02:45.020 and request your free information packet today. That's freedomforschool.com. Enroll by March 31st.

00:02:50.220 You've got five or six days to do this and you get some discounted rates on that. Don't forget

00:02:54.380 to subscribe to their weekly podcast, the Dr. Duke show available on iTunes and more. Um, take back

00:03:00.940 control of your kids' education. That's freedomforschool.com, freedomforschool.com, freedomforschool.com,

00:03:06.060 freedomforschool.com. Well, I was planning on, I was, I was flying up here, uh, on the plane,

00:03:13.980 flying over here, I should say. And I was planning on, um, starting the show. I have to admit by doing

00:03:20.860 a bit of gloating about what a great week it's been, you know, for right wingers and what a terrible

00:03:26.780 week it's been for left wingers. But then this Smollett thing happened. And I, I think that the,

00:03:33.820 the timing I imagine is not actually coincidental. Um, just breaking this afternoon, the state

00:03:40.060 attorney's office in Chicago has swooped in to drop all of the charges against Jussie Smollett.

00:03:47.820 Now that office is headed by a woman named Kim Fox. And you may, if you've been following the

00:03:54.780 Smollett case, you may remember that name because, uh, we were told about a month ago that she recused

00:04:01.020 herself from the investigation. And it wasn't exactly clear why she recused herself, but then

00:04:06.540 we find out that she's got some sort of connection to the Smollett family. Uh, but now she's back and,

00:04:11.900 uh, she's giving Smollett a walk. So the police department is furious. The mayor is furious.

00:04:17.180 I'll play those clips a little bit later on. Um, and that is when I talk about the police department,

00:04:22.460 let's remember that the police department is, and I feel like I have to in this, in this day and age of,

00:04:26.700 of identity politics, I have to make a note of the fact that the police department is headed by 0.91

00:04:32.380 a black, uh, police chief. So this is not a case of, you know, racist white police officers trying 0.83

00:04:38.620 to railroad an innocent black man. That's not what's going on here at all. Um, what did the

00:04:44.460 prosecutor's office say to, to justify this decision to drop all the charges? Well, they haven't said a

00:04:50.380 whole lot, but they did say this after reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case,

00:04:54.940 including Mr. Smollett's volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond

00:05:01.580 to the city of Chicago. We believe this out, this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate

00:05:07.900 resolution to the case. Notice what they're not saying. They're not saying that the evidence,

00:05:17.740 that the evidence wasn't sufficient. They're certainly not saying he didn't do it. All they're

00:05:23.500 saying is that he's already done some community service. And so there's no point in pursuing this.

00:05:28.540 That's what they're saying that, well, yeah, he, you know, he, he, he tied up all these police

00:05:32.220 resources. He, um, he took advantage of racial tensions. He lied. He did all that, but you know,

00:05:38.060 he's done some community service in the past. So that's essentially the statement. They're also

00:05:44.620 keeping his bond. Um, they said in reviewing the case, Smollett's agreement to forfeit his bond is

00:05:51.980 part of the reason why they're letting him go. Now that is an insane reason to let anyone go. I mean,

00:06:00.460 whether they're, they're, you know, innocent or not, but, um, it certainly isn't a reason that you're

00:06:05.420 giving if the man is innocent, an innocent man gets his bond back. That's the whole point. Uh,

00:06:12.300 and an innocent man doesn't have to do any community service either. So this is not what

00:06:16.540 they say. If, if it's just, you're brought up on charges and then they find out that, oh,

00:06:20.140 you know what? There's no, they're there. They're not, they're going to drop the charges. There's not

00:06:24.380 going to be any talk of community service or, uh, or, or, you know, you agreed to let them keep your bond. 0.91

00:06:30.860 Joe maggots, uh, maggots. I don't know how to pronounce his line. Interestingly enough, 0.58

00:06:36.620 his name is spelled M a G a T S. So MAGA T S. Um, that's the assistant state's state's attorney.

00:06:44.220 He has specifically clarified. This just happened recently that Smollett is not exonerated. This is

00:06:50.140 not an exoneration. He says, this is what he said. Here's the thing. We work to prioritize violent

00:06:55.020 crime and the drivers of violent crime. Public safety is our number one priority. I don't see

00:07:00.460 Jussie Smollett as a threat to public safety. We stand behind the investigation. We stand behind

00:07:05.580 the decision to charge him and we stand behind the chart. Listen to this part. We stand behind

00:07:12.140 the charges in the case. The mere fact that it was disposed of in an alternative manner does not

00:07:18.140 mean that there were any problems or infirmities in the case or the evidence, uh, disposed of in an

00:07:24.540 alternative manner. Isn't that nice? If you ever get brought up on, uh, you know, if you ever commit

00:07:30.780 a crime and wouldn't it be nice if they dispose of the charges in an alternative manner, but that's

00:07:37.740 very interesting. They're saying that they stand behind the charges. We stand behind the charges, but

00:07:41.740 we're letting him go. Translation. They know that he's guilty as hell, but they're giving him a pass.

00:07:47.740 Anyway, um, nitwits on the left, uh, morons on the left are celebrating as if Smollett has been vindicated 1.00

00:07:58.620 when actually the exact opposite has happened. You know, I just read for you the statement, 1.00

00:08:04.540 they stand behind the charges and it's not an exoneration. So not only does this not indicate

00:08:10.220 his innocence, but it actually only further indicates his guilt. And it also indicates the

00:08:15.420 corruption of the, uh, judicial system in Chicago, which we already knew about.

00:08:20.300 You've got the state's attorney's office coming in, interfering, going behind the police department's

00:08:26.060 back to let a rich celebrity walk on charges that, uh, she herself never claims were erroneous

00:08:33.340 and that actually they say they stand behind. Now, by the way, this is exactly what the left

00:08:39.340 thought, um, was going to happen with the Mueller investigation. What they said there,

00:08:45.260 what they were worried about, they said, they told us for two years, what's going to happen

00:08:48.620 is that a, a biased third party is going in this case, Trump is going to interfere to shut down an

00:08:54.460 investigation despite overwhelming evidence of guilt. Now that didn't happen with Mueller and Trump.

00:09:03.660 It did happen with Smollett. In the end, uh, it turns out that it's always the liberals who do

00:09:10.940 the colluding. Have you noticed that? This is another case of collusion.

00:09:18.460 So every time you hear liberals talk about collusion, it is always projection because what,

00:09:22.540 you know what they're really upset about? They're upset that you're, you're treading that or they

00:09:26.140 think that we're treading on their territory because what they're saying is, no, that's,

00:09:30.700 you guys aren't supposed to do that. That's our thing. That's our move. Okay. Get your own moves.

00:09:36.460 Um, if you're wondering whether justice existed exists in this world, consider this case and

00:09:41.020 consider that Smollett will, will now be worshiped as a hero on the left. And you already see that

00:09:46.300 developing. Um, he'll get his job back. In fact, he'll probably get the raise that he did all of this

00:09:53.020 to attain in the first place. And, uh, the left is to embrace him now. Well, unless they are total

00:10:01.900 absolute brain dead idiots, which is possible, but they're not all that. Okay. The ones who are not 1.00

00:10:07.900 brain dead idiots, they know that he's guilty, but they're going to overlook the fact that he's 1.00

00:10:13.180 guilty. They're going to overlook the injustice that was done here. They're going to overlook the 1.00

00:10:16.940 fact that Smollett exploited racial tensions and did all this stuff for his own gain. And they're

00:10:21.660 going to overlook it for ideological reasons as usual. So let me, uh, play a couple of clips for

00:10:28.380 you. Here's, um, here's Smollett, uh, gloating outside of the courthouse. I've been truthful

00:10:35.100 and consistent on every single level since day one. I would not be my mother's son if I was capable of

00:10:41.100 one drop of what I've been accused of. This has been an incredibly difficult time, honestly,

00:10:46.780 one of the worst of my entire life, but I am a man of faith and I'm a man that has knowledge of my

00:10:52.860 history and I would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this. I just

00:10:58.220 wouldn't. Okay. I can only, I can only stomach so much of that. What an absolute sociopath. Um,

00:11:06.300 um, but he wins. Let's face it. And why does he win? Well, he certainly doesn't win because he's

00:11:15.180 innocent. The evidence against him was and is overwhelming, including the fact that his two

00:11:22.060 friends admitted to the whole thing. Okay. They've got the accomplices confessed and said, yeah, this is

00:11:28.780 what happened. Have you noticed that they're not, um, resolving Smollett and his attorney and the

00:11:36.060 prosecutor, they haven't resolved to go out and find the real culprits and find out who are these 0.98

00:11:42.220 racist white people that are prowling the streets, looking for black people to assault. Nobody is 0.98

00:11:47.180 saying that they want to go find those people. Why is that? That's because they know that the real

00:11:52.380 culprit is the guy who just waltzed out of the building, a free man. In fact, um, Smollett's

00:11:59.740 lawyers today came out and, uh, in a, in a really incredible admission, they admitted that the Nigerian

00:12:07.420 brothers, the friends of Smollett who were arrested, and they're the ones who confessed to this whole

00:12:11.020 thing and, and, and spilled the beans. Um, his lawyers today in the press conference admitted that

00:12:17.980 they were the ones who attacked Smollett. So they said that Smollett, yes. Okay. Smollett was attacked

00:12:23.740 by, by these two Nigerians who Smollett knows yet somehow his attorneys claim that Smollett wasn't

00:12:31.420 lying. Well, hold on a second. If I'm not crazy, I thought the whole thing here was that Smollett said

00:12:37.180 that it was two white racists who attacked him and shouted, uh, this is MAGA country, right? So to

00:12:43.580 believe in Smollett's innocence, here's what you have to believe. You have to believe that two

00:12:49.900 Nigerian friends of Smollett decided to randomly assault him on the street at 2 30 AM, you know,

00:12:57.180 in the morning in December and scream, this is MAGA country. And that Smollett not only did not

00:13:04.460 recognize them as his friends, but didn't even recognize them as Nigerian and instead thought that

00:13:11.100 they were white. Um, that's, you're going to have to accept that if you want to believe in 1.00

00:13:16.060 Smollett's innocence. And that is simply impossible to believe. So back to the question, why does he

00:13:22.540 win? Uh, why does he get away with it? The answer I think gets us closer to understanding

00:13:30.940 the true nature of privilege in this country. He gets away with it first of all, because he's rich and

00:13:37.820 famous. All right. Um, there is a two tier justice system in this country. There is the track that,

00:13:44.860 that, you know, plebs like you and me will be on. If we commit a crime, we're going to be on the normal

00:13:49.580 track. And if we did it and they have evidence, we're going to go to jail for it. We're going to

00:13:53.580 face the consequences. And then there's another tier for people like Jussie Smollett, um, who have

00:13:59.500 the money and have the clout and the fame and all that kind of stuff. Um, so don't, don't make the

00:14:06.620 mistake of thinking that, Oh, so, okay. So now we're allowed to file false police reports. And

00:14:11.660 now I'm going to go and file false police reports until my heart's content. No, don't, don't make

00:14:16.860 that mistake. Uh, because you need to get a few TV gigs first and then, uh, and then maybe get a

00:14:21.420 high rise apartment somewhere in Chicago. And then maybe you can get away with it. Um, although even

00:14:26.300 then you might not get away with it because, you know, think about this. James Woods, let's just say,

00:14:32.220 uh, is a famous celebrity, right? White conservative celebrity. I assume pretty wealthy.

00:14:40.380 Well, do you think that if he had fabricated a story about two liberal black men assaulting him

00:14:46.220 and, uh, you know, on the street corner, do you think that if he had made up that story,

00:14:51.020 he would have faced no consequences for it? No, of course he would have. Because there's one other

00:14:56.220 factor that matters here. And that factor is identity politics. Smollett has everything going

00:15:02.060 for him. He has wealthiest fame. He has a whole fistful of victim tokens by virtue of his, uh,

00:15:08.380 of his race and his sexual orientation. And he's a liberal, he's a Trump hater. Um, I refer you back

00:15:15.580 to the victimhood flow chart that we talked about a few, a few weeks ago. Well, Smollett just has too

00:15:21.100 many victimhood points. Um, he, he, he, he is simply untouchable, which is why there was really

00:15:29.820 never any chance of him facing real justice, especially in a place like Chicago and the

00:15:35.020 state's attorney's office. They may have well just, they may as well just come out and said,

00:15:41.020 did you really think we're going to prosecute this guy? Come on, come on. That that's their whole

00:15:45.420 statement should have just been that come on guys. What did you think was going to happen?

00:15:48.460 And I would have respected that. I would, I would have respected that statement a lot more because

00:15:53.020 at least it's honest. Um, all right. I want to play a couple other clips for you because, uh,

00:15:57.900 not everyone in Chicago is taking this lying down. So here's Rahm Emanuel, uh,

00:16:03.660 mayor of Chicago speaking out. Where is the accountability in the system? You cannot have,

00:16:10.540 because of a person's position, one set of rules apply to them and another set of rules apply to

00:16:17.900 everybody else. In another way, you're seeing this play out in the universities where people pay

00:16:24.780 extra to get their kids, a special position in universities. Now you have a person because of

00:16:30.060 their position and background, who's getting treated in a way that nobody else would ever,

00:16:33.980 sorry about that, would don't get near. I'm doing near my sermon here that would ever get close

00:16:40.460 to this type of treatment. Okay. So he he's, he's pretty angry and it's nice to see that from him.

00:16:47.500 Uh, I wasn't expecting that to be honest. And here is the, uh, the police chief who also is

00:16:52.060 not happy about this. So listen, um, I'm sure we all know what occurred this morning.

00:17:01.340 My personal opinion is that you all know where I stand on this. Um, do I think justice will serve? No.

00:17:09.180 Where do I think justice is?

00:17:13.260 I think this city is still owed an apology. And, and let me digress for a moment. When I came on this

00:17:18.940 job, I've been a cop now for about 31 years. When I came on this job, I came on with my honor,

00:17:24.060 my integrity and my reputation. If someone accused me of doing anything that would circumvent that,

00:17:31.500 then I would want my day in court period to clear my name.

00:17:38.300 I've heard that they wanted their day in court with TV cameras. So

00:17:42.620 America could know the truth and though they chose to hide behind secrecy and broker a deal

00:17:48.940 to circumvent the judicial system. My job as a police officer is to investigate an incident,

00:17:56.460 gather the evidence, gather the facts and present them to the state's attorney.

00:17:59.900 That's what we did. I stand behind the detective's investigation.

00:18:06.860 I'll let Mary Emanuel comment further. Now, remember that these are Democrats. Okay. At least,

00:18:14.700 uh, Rahm Emanuel is, I don't know about the police chief. I kind of assume he is because it would be

00:18:19.660 really hard to get to a position of leadership in a place like Chicago, if you're a conservative,

00:18:24.220 but even these guys are, um, saying that this is bogus and that it's wrong and it's a fraud.

00:18:33.260 So to summarize, let's say there's a new rule now. Okay. The new rule is

00:18:41.660 you aren't allowed to complain about wealth and privilege and wealth disparity if you're cheering

00:18:51.020 this on. And if you go on social media right now, you're going to find, uh, a lot of

00:18:59.340 social justice warriors, a lot of liberals who are very, very happy that a, a, a wealthy, uh,

00:19:08.220 celebrity has gotten away with committing a crime by virtue of his wealth and his fame. Um,

00:19:18.220 and, uh, and his privilege. And so that's just, that's just not going to work.

00:19:26.300 All right. I want to go back to, uh, to Mueller for, or Mueller for a moment. Uh,

00:19:32.220 Mueller, Mueller, Smollett, Smollett. I don't know. Smollett, Smollett. I don't know.

00:19:36.140 You know who I'm talking about. Uh, and I want to talk again about the implosion of the news media.

00:19:40.860 Um, there's a report in the New York times about news media leaders who are trying to defend their

00:19:48.140 performance, uh, in recent months and years, especially with regard to the Russian collusion

00:19:55.180 case. Um, various people were interviewed in this report in the New York times,

00:19:59.740 but I want to zone in on Jeff Zucker, who's the president of CNN.

00:20:05.740 Now CNN beclowned itself perhaps worst of all, but if you're thinking that Zucker is ready to, uh,

00:20:15.340 come out and take accountability and admit his faults and pledge to do better or whatever,

00:20:20.380 no, he's about as, about as apologetic as Smollett is. So, uh, this is what he told the times. Now,

00:20:28.140 this is a really incredible quote. Okay. This is, again, I emphasize, this is from a,

00:20:36.220 the president of an alleged news organization. Okay. He says, um, we are not investigators.

00:20:44.540 We are journalists and our role is to report the facts as we know them, which is exactly what we

00:20:52.460 did. A sitting president's own justice department investigated his campaign for collusion with a

00:20:57.820 hostile nation. That's not, um, enormous because the media says so that's enormous because it's

00:21:03.900 unprecedented. Now, did you, did you catch that?

00:21:08.140 Yeah. We're not investigators. We're journalists.

00:21:16.140 This is a fascinating statement. It's, it's as if a surgeon went to perform an operation on you with

00:21:22.540 his hands still smothered in like barbecue sauce from the, from the ribs that he had at lunch.

00:21:29.180 And you go, Hey doc, can you wash your hands before you cut me open, please?

00:21:32.700 And he said, Hey man, what do I look like? A hygienist? I'm not a hygienist. Okay. I'm a doctor.

00:21:38.460 Yeah. But you're kind of a hygienist too. If you're a surgeon,

00:21:42.620 I mean, it comes with the territory, doesn't it? You can't properly treat people, which is your job,

00:21:49.420 if you're spreading the infection and you're spreading diseases.

00:21:53.420 So something similar could be said about journalists. Your job is to report the truth,

00:21:59.980 but you can't report the truth if you don't first find out the truth. Now I shouldn't have to explain

00:22:06.300 this to someone like Jeff Zucker, who again is a, the president of a news organization.

00:22:12.460 And if you want to find out the truth, that is going to entail some form of investigation.

00:22:17.420 But if you don't investigate before reporting, you're just in spread, you're, you're spreading

00:22:24.060 infections. You're spreading disease. You're spreading fake news and misinformation and propaganda.

00:22:29.660 So yes, in a journalist is an investigator. I mean, this, the quote you see being,

00:22:42.140 you see being tossed around online all the time about how, you know, journalists are like

00:22:47.340 courageous firefighters that are running towards the fire. Well, yeah, you're not just running towards

00:22:53.340 the fire to gawk at it, right? You're supposed to be running towards the fire, figuring out what's

00:22:56.780 going on, how, who set the fire, you know, figuring out all the details. So there's going to be some

00:23:02.780 element of, of investigation. You know, so if I know this, if I understand this basic fact about news

00:23:11.100 reporting, it's very disturbing that the guy who runs CNN does not understand it. And that really tells

00:23:18.460 you everything you need to know. I mean, everything you need to know about, about the modern news media

00:23:26.140 has been just been distilled right there in those two sentences. We're not investigators. We're

00:23:31.420 journalists. And as I talked about yesterday, uh, that, that is actually very true that at least

00:23:39.420 these days, that's the case where now, you know, investigation and journalism are seen as these two

00:23:45.740 mutually exclusive pursuits. And in most cases, yeah, a journalist, uh, although he should be an

00:23:52.540 investigator is not, he's more of an, an entertainer or, um, or a, uh, you know, a propagandist,

00:24:01.020 a smear merchant many times, but not an investigator. So Jeff Zucker unwittingly, uh, told a very profound

00:24:09.580 truth there. All right. Finally, I have to play what is without doubt, um, without hype, I think the most

00:24:19.900 awkward 45 second video clip that you will ever see in your entire life. Um,

00:24:30.140 take the cringiest moments in a show like the office and ramp it up to 11. And this is so much

00:24:36.300 worse because it's real as far as I know. Now, before I play this, let me give you a little bit

00:24:41.820 of a, a little bit of a setup. Pope Francis was celebrating mass as he does. Um, and afterwards,

00:24:49.500 he formed a greeting line to say hello to the pilgrims who came out to, uh, to see him.

00:24:56.380 Well, standard protocol, if you're not Catholic, um, maybe you don't know this, but standard

00:25:00.860 protocol, if you're Catholic is when you meet the Pope, you're supposed to kiss his ring.

00:25:05.820 Now the Pope, I assume knows this because he's been Pope for like seven years, I think six or seven

00:25:13.020 years, but it appears that he's not a fan of that particular protocol. So, uh, this is just

00:25:21.100 unbelievable. Watch this.

00:25:33.980 Good job.

00:25:50.700 Thank you.

00:26:20.700 Thank you.

00:26:50.700 I would have collapsed into myself and formed a black hole that would have sucked everything

00:26:56.120 into itself and obliterated existence as we know it, almost.

00:26:59.820 I have so many questions about this.

00:27:03.980 Number one, if Pope Francis doesn't want to do the ring-kissing thing, then why doesn't

00:27:12.220 he have his people make an announcement, like publish the new protocols, right?

00:27:17.460 Let everybody know that you don't do that so they don't make fools of themselves.

00:27:21.480 Has he really been doing that for seven years?

00:27:25.280 And the thing is, if you saw the video, every time someone tried to kiss his ring, he lurched

00:27:29.720 back like he was shocked.

00:27:31.100 He was like, what are you doing?

00:27:32.300 Hey, man.

00:27:33.200 He reacted like I would react.

00:27:35.080 If I went to go shake someone's hand in a social situation and they leaned in to kiss my hand,

00:27:40.580 I would have been like, whoa, hey.

00:27:41.580 I don't know where you're from, but we don't do that around here.

00:27:45.480 That's how he reacted.

00:27:46.720 But this is, people have been kissing his ring for seven years.

00:27:51.000 Second question, I understand why the first couple of people got rejected, but wouldn't

00:27:56.580 the fourth or fifth person in line start to figure it out?

00:28:01.580 I mean, you're all in line.

00:28:02.660 If you see all these people getting rejected, by the time it gets to you, wouldn't you just

00:28:06.600 go in for the fist bump or something?

00:28:07.900 Why do you still lunge for the ring kiss?

00:28:10.840 It seems like they were really desperate to kiss his ring.

00:28:13.540 Number three, this isn't really a question, but a statement.

00:28:18.720 The Pope's behavior here is truly inexcusable.

00:28:23.080 I mean, it's kind of hilarious, but it's also inexcusable.

00:28:26.500 Even if you don't like the ring kissing thing, the fact is that these people apparently weren't

00:28:32.120 told that he doesn't do it.

00:28:34.260 And this was their one chance to meet the Pope.

00:28:36.820 And I'm sure they were really excited, but then this is what happens.

00:28:40.320 They get rejected.

00:28:41.920 Their one encounter with the Pope was probably the most awkward, cringiest encounter they've

00:28:47.400 ever had in their life with anyone.

00:28:50.460 If the president had some weird thing about not wanting to shake people's hands, I would

00:28:56.640 respect that.

00:28:57.840 I respect germaphobes.

00:28:59.420 I respect people who don't like to make physical contact with anyone in any situation except for

00:29:04.820 close family members.

00:29:05.760 I'm that way.

00:29:06.460 You know, I never want, there are about, you know, five or six people in my life who

00:29:10.800 I ever want within, like, it's like, this is my, you can't come closer than this for

00:29:15.560 me, unless I know you very, very well.

00:29:19.260 So I respect that.

00:29:20.360 But let's say the president had a thing like that.

00:29:22.060 Well, then it's his responsibility to tell people that.

00:29:25.260 So they know ahead of time.

00:29:26.460 And so there's not an awkward thing where people go to shake his hand and then, and then there's

00:29:29.980 the, you know, when you go to shake someone's hand, they don't shake yours.

00:29:32.140 And it's kind of like this, you know, you don't know what to do with your hands.

00:29:35.200 So I think that's the Pope's responsibility.

00:29:38.860 Fourth point I'll make about this is as a Catholic, and I know that I may lose some Catholic street

00:29:47.580 cred in saying this, but although I think the Pope handled this terribly, I would be fine with

00:29:54.480 getting rid of the whole, the whole ring kissing rigmarole.

00:30:00.860 I do find it a little strange.

00:30:05.880 I know that, see, what Catholics will say is, well, it's, it's not a sign of deference to

00:30:10.420 the man.

00:30:10.940 It's a sign of deference to the office, which, which is, I get that, which is fine.

00:30:16.580 But as human, you see, as human beings, we, we don't really deal well with abstract concepts

00:30:23.900 like in office, right?

00:30:25.860 We deal with people.

00:30:27.500 And so inevitably, even if we talk about respect the office, have pay homage to the office,

00:30:33.660 it's, it's really going to end up being, no, where we are paying homage to the man who

00:30:37.900 holds the office.

00:30:38.840 We can't help, but do that.

00:30:40.300 We can't help, but draw that connection because as I said, we don't deal in abstracts.

00:30:44.820 Uh, we deal in what is personal and right in front of us.

00:30:48.780 So I think that a lot of the pop, pomp and circumstance surrounding the Pope, uh, I, I

00:30:55.980 think in many ways it sends the wrong message.

00:30:58.000 And, um, I think that these men in leadership positions in the church could do well to, uh,

00:31:06.120 to be humbled, uh, and to be, be treated more like just regular men, because at the end of

00:31:13.760 the day, that's what they are.

00:31:14.720 They're just men like you and I.

00:31:16.840 Um, so any effort to inject some humility and take out some of the pomp and circumstance,

00:31:25.820 I think that's a good thing.

00:31:27.220 I don't know if it's really helped matters, especially in recent, in recent years.

00:31:32.280 And I say that, and that doesn't just go for the Catholic church, by the way.

00:31:35.160 Um, now other churches might not have the, the ring kissing bit, but there are, there are

00:31:41.060 churches that in effect have that.

00:31:42.840 Um, there are plenty of other churches, other denominations where the pastors are treated

00:31:48.460 like, like celebrities, like their own little gods.

00:31:51.580 And, uh, and other churches like mega churches, the pastors, they might live in big mansions

00:31:56.040 and people go and they, they, they treat the pastor like he's a, you know, the lead singer

00:31:59.860 of a boy band or something like that.

00:32:01.820 And, uh, and, and that doesn't help either.

00:32:03.680 That's no good either.

00:32:04.480 And that's certainly not in keeping with the, um, with Jesus's style, let's just say.

00:32:13.320 All right.

00:32:13.980 Uh, let's go to some emails.

00:32:15.720 You can always email the show, of course, at mattwallshowatgmail.com, mattwallshowatgmail.com.

00:32:20.540 Don't think that just because I'm in this fancy studio that you can't send me emails

00:32:25.340 and now I'm unapproachable or something.

00:32:27.040 It's still, Hey, it's still just me.

00:32:28.360 Okay.

00:32:28.600 Um, this is from Lisa says, you read my email on your show today and you said that, uh,

00:32:35.180 where this came in yesterday, you met, read my email on your show today.

00:32:38.320 And you said that teacher raises should be given on a case by case basis.

00:32:42.460 While I understand that argument, the public school system is too broken for that to work.

00:32:46.780 Here's why the raises would come from the school administration and they define teacher

00:32:52.060 success by their student failure rate exclusively.

00:32:55.160 As I've already in my experience as a teacher, as I've seen already in my experience, teachers

00:32:59.880 will get easy work, will give a easy work and hand out A's as grades just so their failure

00:33:05.160 rate is low and administration is happy with them.

00:33:08.240 Admin doesn't care about anything else.

00:33:10.100 So if you're a good teacher who actually holds students accountable for their learning,

00:33:14.380 you probably will have a slightly higher failure rate.

00:33:17.980 Admin does not like this because it puts the school state funding in jeopardy to admin.

00:33:22.400 You are immediately a bad teacher if you have a failure rate higher than they like.

00:33:26.580 And that's simply not the case, especially if you teach a hard subject and students are

00:33:29.720 on their phones the whole time refusing to learn.

00:33:32.320 So if admin is in charge of the raises, then the do nothing teachers you described as giving

00:33:36.700 out worksheets and never teaching would get all the raises and the good teachers who actually

00:33:40.260 care about the, about learning would not.

00:33:42.980 That would definitely not encourage them to stay or even encourage them to become a do nothing

00:33:47.020 teacher themselves.

00:33:47.800 If they see it works for their lazy colleagues, basically the system is too broken for improvement

00:33:52.600 and needs to be demolished.

00:33:56.740 So this is coming from someone in the system who's saying the system is broken and needs

00:34:01.060 to be demolished.

00:34:01.720 And I have to tell you that I get so many emails from teachers and people who are in the

00:34:05.220 public school system, because I talk about this kind of, these kinds of issues all the

00:34:08.080 time.

00:34:09.120 And you would be shocked, or maybe you wouldn't be, if you saw just how many teachers will say

00:34:15.220 exactly that to me, they'll say, listen, I'm in this system and it's, it's a disaster

00:34:21.100 zone.

00:34:23.280 That's very concerning, but I appreciate your honesty there, Lisa.

00:34:26.780 Here's another teacher chiming in.

00:34:29.120 This is from, well, unfortunately I didn't get this person's name.

00:34:33.820 Well, it says, hi, Matt, I love your podcast.

00:34:35.400 I just wanted to chime in on, on your discussion about teacher salary.

00:34:39.160 I am a second year teacher teaching kindergarten in a high, in a high poverty charter school

00:34:44.220 in Ohio.

00:34:46.080 That being said, I worked there on purpose.

00:34:48.240 Many teachers do.

00:34:49.600 I want you to know that I wholeheartedly agree with most everything you have said regarding

00:34:53.080 teacher compensation.

00:34:54.880 Here's the sitch. 0.91

00:34:57.020 One, every teacher in America knows the deal before they sign up for it.

00:35:01.040 You can Google median teacher salary any minute you please.

00:35:04.320 I didn't start teaching and think, wait one damn minute, where are the riches I was promised?

00:35:08.160 If you're trying to make a lot of money, cool. 0.99

00:35:10.760 Don't be a teacher.

00:35:12.100 Two, but teachers have the most important job in America.

00:35:15.040 They mold the future.

00:35:15.900 They need to be paid more.

00:35:17.160 Hell yes, my job is extremely important and the perks I enjoy from it are extremely rare

00:35:20.840 compared to other professions.

00:35:22.640 A, into work at 730, out by 330.

00:35:25.780 B, you can tell this person's a teacher, by the way, by how they've organized their email.

00:35:30.200 It's great.

00:35:31.100 A, into work at 730, out by 330.

00:35:33.480 B, federal holidays, random days off at least once a month.

00:35:36.880 C, fall break, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, spring break, summer vacation.

00:35:41.120 I mean, come on.

00:35:42.560 D, children come to work with you and ride home with you.

00:35:46.340 Three, wait though, teachers don't really work for only eight hours a day.

00:35:49.600 They work way more than that.

00:35:50.980 Yep, we definitely do.

00:35:51.940 But again, this is the profession you chose.

00:35:54.020 You knew going in that teaching is a unique profession.

00:35:57.240 I work many evenings and most weekends, newsflash, because I want to.

00:36:01.720 Four, okay, but still, even with all those ridiculous benefits,

00:36:04.600 teachers don't make enough money to pay their bills.

00:36:06.520 I make $44,000.

00:36:07.940 That's enough to pay the bills, including the monumental loan debt

00:36:10.840 that I knowingly signed on to incur the debt, pay the debt. 1.00

00:36:15.260 Additionally, some teachers suck, like really suck. 1.00

00:36:18.400 Raising wages across the board is ridiculous. 1.00

00:36:21.060 Performance-based raises, yes.

00:36:22.820 Blind raises for people who teach because you can literally glide on

00:36:26.460 without being questioned, how about no?

00:36:28.660 I think teacher burnout occurs from having to perform not only as a teacher,

00:36:32.900 but as a stand-in parent.

00:36:34.900 This is the failing of the family.

00:36:36.940 And it goes on from there.

00:36:37.980 It's just a great email.

00:36:39.520 Concerning email in many respects, but great and very honest.

00:36:45.560 And the last two emails that I read, this is what I was talking about yesterday.

00:36:48.640 There are really great teachers out there who, as I've said many times,

00:36:52.800 are up against it because they're up against a broken system and they're also up against,

00:36:59.460 as this emailer mentioned, they're up against these parents who don't do any parenting

00:37:07.420 and then they send their awful kids into school and the awful kids behave awfully.

00:37:14.500 And what happens when the teachers try to deal with that problem and instill some discipline?

00:37:19.920 Well, now the parents are going to swoop in and finally take an interest in their child

00:37:23.960 in order to come to their defense and interfere with the discipline.

00:37:29.180 So that, it's not anything that I would want to deal with.

00:37:32.520 That's for sure.

00:37:34.460 Finally, this is from Phil, says,

00:37:36.640 Since you have three children, do you find it easier to raise one sex over the other? 1.00

00:37:42.900 This is an interesting question.

00:37:44.440 And the standard answer to this question is that boys are way easier.

00:37:48.200 And I'm going to agree wholeheartedly with the standard answer.

00:37:52.800 I have a five-year-old boy, a two-year-old boy, plus a five-year-old girl.

00:37:58.620 And the boys are no big deal, honestly.

00:38:01.180 It's just like having a couple of like rabid raccoons running around the house.

00:38:05.280 They're climbing things, knocking things over, eating everything,

00:38:09.140 emitting strange odors all the time.

00:38:11.420 But it's pretty straightforward.

00:38:13.940 And you know how to deal with them.

00:38:15.380 And plus, I know what kind of games to play with them and everything.

00:38:18.560 One of our favorite games is, we call it tackling.

00:38:21.400 And it's a really interesting game.

00:38:22.680 We just go outside, we run in circles and tackle each other.

00:38:25.180 And that's the game.

00:38:26.500 But my daughter is much more complex.

00:38:28.760 She's more like having, I don't know, a really moody cat or something in the house.

00:38:39.180 If you've ever been around a cat, they always seem like they're up in their head,

00:38:41.880 like they're plotting.

00:38:42.700 It's kind of like that, having a girl.

00:38:45.920 And she gets upset for reasons that are often mysterious to me.

00:38:50.780 And I can't snap it out of her by making a farting noise like I can do with the boys.

00:38:56.400 She's a lot trickier than my son.

00:38:59.160 Like she can hatch these various schemes and plots and enlist her brother into them.

00:39:03.800 And then set him up as the fall guy when it all goes to hell.

00:39:08.460 It's impressive that she could do that at five. 0.99

00:39:10.700 But it's also sort of terrifying.

00:39:13.700 I will say she's much more helpful around the house. 0.96

00:39:16.180 Like she's, my son is useless when it comes to chores.

00:39:18.920 But my daughter likes to clean and cook and do dishes and fold laundry and all that kind of stuff. 1.00

00:39:25.220 She's very helpful, very smart, very joyful when she wants to be.

00:39:28.960 But also prone to drastic and mysterious mood swings.

00:39:32.280 And she's terrifyingly adept at manipulation. 0.95

00:39:35.100 So she's a girl, in other words.

00:39:36.520 And God love her.

00:39:37.820 And God love them all.

00:39:42.060 But it is the greatest joy in the world to have these raccoons and cats running around your house.

00:39:49.400 We'll leave it there.

00:39:50.460 Thanks, everybody, for watching.

00:39:51.520 Thanks for listening.

00:39:52.580 Godspeed.

00:39:53.020 Hey, everyone.

00:40:06.940 It's Andrew Klavan, host of The Andrew Klavan Show.

00:40:09.460 How is it the press so disgraced itself in their miscoverage of the Russian non-collusion scandal?

00:40:15.420 Easy.

00:40:16.020 They didn't cover the corruption of the Obama administration. 0.97

00:40:19.140 Who appointed all the clowns who got the scandal rolling? 0.99

00:40:22.780 Obama. 0.98

00:40:23.360 We'll take a look on The Andrew Klavan Show.

00:40:25.560 I'm Andrew Klavan.

The Matt Walsh Show - March 26, 2019

Ep. 225 - Outrageous Miscarriage Of Justice In The Smollett Case

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript