The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 247 - Burlesque For Kids

00:00:00.000 Today on the Matt Wall Show, Joe Biden is in the race, but unfortunately for him, there is no way he could win the nomination in the modern Democratic Party.

00:00:08.940 I'll explain why. Also, a burlesque show for kids.

00:00:13.880 Yes, that is a thing, apparently, and it is as horrifying as you expect.

00:00:19.080 So we will we'll talk about that.

00:00:21.180 And finally, I want to explain why my thinking on the death penalty has changed over time.

00:00:27.940 So we'll discuss that as well today on the Matt Wall Show.

00:00:35.080 You know, I got to say, admittedly, I am a pretty nervous and paranoid flyer.

00:00:42.660 Well, I'm a nervous, paranoid person in general, but especially when I'm flying, I happen to be that way.

00:00:46.900 So and I was flying down to Texas yesterday to speak at an event down here.

00:00:52.680 And so you can imagine my reaction when as we are flying there, we hit a little bit of turbulence and then the captain comes on the the intercom and he makes an announcement.

00:01:04.480 And, you know, it's it's all it's it's it's a problem for me that for whatever reason, when when airline captains give announcements, they they always mumble and they make no attempt to actually be heard when you know this is this is this is one announcement.

00:01:19.120 I want to hear like you're the person who's behind the mysterious door who's piloting this tin box 500 miles per hour over the clouds.

00:01:27.480 Our lives are in your hands. I want to know what you're saying.

00:01:31.020 So please enunciate. But anyway, so he's on there mumbling.

00:01:33.980 I can't understand what he's saying. The only thing I could pick up, I picked up two phrases.

00:01:38.520 He taught he spoke for about 45 seconds. I pick up two phrases.

00:01:41.460 I heard him say pretty chaotic.

00:01:45.020 And then a few seconds later, he said, isn't working.

00:01:49.360 OK, so I knew I didn't know what else was going on.

00:01:52.480 But all I knew is that something is chaotic, which isn't good and something isn't working.

00:01:58.080 And I had no idea what it is. And then I start I look around and no one else is reacting to this.

00:02:02.860 Like no one else is concerned that there is dysfunction and and chaos that is that is apparently made its way onto this plane.

00:02:12.340 No one else is worried about it. Anyway, we made it home.

00:02:14.500 We made it there in one piece. But it was I just look, if you're going to if you're going to use phrases like that and words like that as a as an airline pilot, just make sure we can hear everything you're saying in context.

00:02:27.860 I still don't know what was chaotic. It'll be a mystery until the day I die.

00:02:31.840 All right. So speaking of chaotic, the Democratic primary race, I do want to, you know, briefly talk about this.

00:02:42.240 Joe Biden, of course, entered the race yesterday.

00:02:45.940 So we all can rejoice. Biden, Biden, who first became a senator in 1973, that's 46 years ago.

00:02:53.360 He's held political office continuously over that entire time, except for the last two years.

00:02:58.980 And now he wants to be president. He's and I think I think that's enough reason to reject him.

00:03:04.980 There are other reasons to all the other stuff, bad policies, the creepiness, you know, all that kind of stuff.

00:03:11.760 But that doesn't even need to enter into the conversation.

00:03:15.540 The fact is that Biden is an almost 77 year old man who's had his hands on the reins of power for for half a century.

00:03:25.580 And I think we just say, you know, that's enough, Joe. Let someone else.

00:03:30.760 Take a turn. How about that? Why don't you let someone else get a shot at this thing?

00:03:34.240 It's 50 years, about 50 years. That's enough time.

00:03:37.400 You don't need you don't really don't need to go beyond that.

00:03:42.000 So that's I think that's kind of all you need to know about him.

00:03:45.480 And I'm not going to go into the whole I'm not going to get into a lot of inside baseball analysis of Joe's campaign rollout and his prospects and everything,

00:03:52.980 mostly because I don't care that much. But I will say that I will say just a couple of brief things.

00:03:59.960 Number one, President Trump really needs to up his his nicknaming game because it's fallen off, I think, sharply over the last year.

00:04:08.100 And that's a pretty concerning development, especially when his whole pretty much his whole strategy,

00:04:14.080 Trump's whole strategy against his opponent is just to nickname them.

00:04:16.800 So if that if you're going to if you're going to put all your eggs in that basket, you better really come with with the big guns, which he did in 2016.

00:04:24.100 But I don't know. Recently, I've so he's going with Sleepy Joe.

00:04:27.940 That's his nickname for Joe Biden. Now, I like that nickname.

00:04:31.920 I like the sound of it. It kind of sounds like maybe the sort of nickname that a mediocre baseball player might have earned in 1912.

00:04:39.660 You know, the shortstop of the Yankees in the early 20th century, Sleepy Joe.

00:04:45.580 It's all Sleepy Joe over there. But it doesn't work for Biden because Biden isn't known for sloth necessarily.

00:04:53.660 He's not known for being sleepy or low energy. It's not really. It's just it's not going to.

00:04:59.140 It's not going to click because that's not what we know him for.

00:05:02.300 Yeah, he's old, but so is Trump.

00:05:04.260 I mean, they're close enough in age to have attended the same high school at, you know, at the same time, basically.

00:05:09.860 That's how close back in the 14th century.

00:05:12.580 So Sleepy Joe doesn't work. Creepy Joe is much better.

00:05:17.280 You're going with Sleepy Joe. Meanwhile, you've got Creepy Joe just there for the taking.

00:05:24.540 Much more on brand, much more devastating, much more embarrassing for Joe Biden.

00:05:29.400 And I mean, it really it seems like Trump's nicknames have gotten sleepy, ironically enough.

00:05:35.480 Now, in terms of Biden's prospects, you know, in the general election, I think his prospects are pretty good.

00:05:45.080 The latest poll had him up by like eight points over Trump.

00:05:49.020 You decide whether to trust that poll or not.

00:05:51.120 But. I don't think Trump has to worry about it, because even if he's polling over Trump, he's not going to make it through the Democratic nomination process.

00:06:01.460 He's not going to be nominated.

00:06:02.960 The fact is, the Democrat Party has gone so far left so fast that they've they've they've left.

00:06:09.700 They've escaped Earth's gravity at this point, and they're hovering somewhere over Europa or something like that, despite what the polls may say.

00:06:18.180 I don't I don't think that a guy like Joe Biden, old and white and vaguely centrist, has a chance of winning the nomination in the modern Democratic Party.

00:06:29.020 I think a person like that could win in the general in a landslide, potentially.

00:06:34.560 But he couldn't make it through the gauntlet of the Democratic nomination process in the first place in order to get to that point, because he's going to be eaten alive.

00:06:42.620 And we're going to see that play out over the next few weeks here is, I think.

00:06:51.560 In my opinion, here's let me describe a candidate who could win 75 million votes in this country.

00:07:00.960 I think this would be a candidate who is pro-abortion up until only up until 20 weeks, pro-gay marriage, pro-welfare, non-interventionist, pro-gun, pro-immigration enforcement,

00:07:20.100 pro-free speech, critic of police brutality and police excesses, not perceived as racist, but also not an SJW.

00:07:34.040 OK, now, I would not vote for such a candidate because I disagree with a number of the positions I just outlined there.

00:07:40.280 So I'm not I'm not saying that this is a candidate I want to vote for.

00:07:43.080 I'm saying that I think that is where America is right now, that they would go for someone like that.

00:07:50.780 That combination of positions would actually stand a chance of attracting sizable numbers of people from both sides, from both parties.

00:07:59.700 And it is it's more of a leftist, more liberal platform.

00:08:03.180 And it's it's you know, if any party is going to put forward a candidate with that selection of positions on the issues, then it would be the Democrats.

00:08:13.200 But they just they're not going to do it anymore.

00:08:15.900 Basically, what I just described, that's that is essentially Bill Clinton in 1992.

00:08:20.660 I guess he pretended to be against gay marriage at that point.

00:08:24.580 But for the most part, that is what the Democrat Party was 30 years ago.

00:08:30.660 And I think that party in 2019 against Donald Trump would be formidable.

00:08:40.760 But the modern iteration of the Democrat Party is a totally different thing because parties changed dramatically since then.

00:08:48.140 It's changed. It's changed so much that if you've been paying attention over the last week,

00:08:52.520 a number of Democratic candidates were asked this week if they think the government should provide a third option for gender on on government forums and stuff.

00:09:04.660 And of course, several of the candidates will all of the candidates who were asked this question said yes.

00:09:12.120 Kamala Harris said yes.

00:09:13.500 Now, do you think that Kamala Harris really believes that there are three genders or 100 genders or whatever the left is saying now?

00:09:23.800 Do you think she really takes this transgender stuff seriously?

00:09:27.820 No, she she she certainly doesn't.

00:09:30.380 And we know all of these Democrats, almost all of the Democrats who are running, they don't really take this.

00:09:37.040 And I know that because most of them were on the political scene 10 years ago and they weren't talking about this stuff back then.

00:09:46.780 This is just where the base has dragged them to where they have to pretend.

00:09:52.400 Kamala Harris in particular, she's kind of an interesting case because she's she I think in her heart of hearts,

00:09:58.960 she's a little bit of a law and order reactionary even now. 1.00

00:10:03.960 She wasn't interested in law and order in California when it came time to prosecute Planned Parenthood for for for for selling baby parts because she is a minion of the abortion industry, 0.99

00:10:15.380 as all Democrats are. But aside from that, she's not exactly naturally a squish when it comes to law and order stuff. 0.63

00:10:23.260 Yet she has to temper that or stifle it completely, pretend it doesn't exist and affect this impression of a social justice warrior and, 0.83

00:10:33.520 you know, LGBT trans ally and all that kind of stuff.

00:10:37.320 It doesn't come naturally to her. It doesn't seem like and you could tell that she was she was asked at a at a town hall.

00:10:46.680 A few days ago, CNN. She was asked if she agrees with Bernie Sanders about letting felons vote in prison.

00:10:55.780 And her first answer was, yeah, well, that's a conversation we could have.

00:10:59.060 We can have that discussion, which is the answer I give my kids when they ask if we can go for ice cream or something later.

00:11:04.780 I'll say, oh, yeah, well, we'll talk about that. I'll think about it.

00:11:07.820 Well, that's a discussion we can have. And the answer is no.

00:11:11.660 But that was her tentative kind of answer, trying to get around it.

00:11:16.440 And then the next day she was asked again and she let her true colors come through.

00:11:21.920 And she said, no, you know, I'm a prosecutor and never mind. 0.99

00:11:25.140 I know I don't think these scumbags should be able to vote. 0.99

00:11:28.000 I'm paraphrasing. She didn't say scumbags, but that was the point she was trying to get across. 0.99

00:11:33.440 So she doesn't do a very good job in pretending to be an SJW. 1.00

00:11:39.580 Biden will be even less effective pretending to be a pink haired feminist. 1.00

00:11:44.200 I mean, Elizabeth Warren actually is a pink haired feminist. 1.00

00:11:48.020 And even she comes off awkwardly when she tries to portray herself that way.

00:11:54.380 The party's going so far left that even Elizabeth Warren is trying to catch up. 0.99

00:11:58.820 And so what that means is a guy like Joe Biden, even though I really think he could win in the general election,

00:12:07.900 especially if he ran on his real positions, what he really believes, not what he thinks the liberal base wants him to say,

00:12:14.460 that person could win, but he's not going to make it there because of where the party is.

00:12:20.780 Okay, speaking of crazy left-wing deranged lunacy, I'm going to show you this, and it's disturbing.

00:12:31.420 I should warn you, it's not appropriate for children.

00:12:34.400 So if you're watching the video right now and you've got kids in the room, then make them leave the room for a minute

00:12:41.540 because it's, as I said, disturbing.

00:12:46.060 All right, now here's a screenshot that came up on my Twitter feed yesterday.

00:12:51.000 Take a look at this.

00:12:52.680 All right, there it is.

00:12:55.120 This is, and if you're listening on SoundCloud or something, it is an image of a burlesque performer in lingerie

00:13:03.700 with a bunch of dollar bills protruding out of her underwear,

00:13:09.120 and a young girl, looks to be maybe about eight or nine years old, putting money into, stuffing money into her underwear,

00:13:17.220 while in the background you see adults, at least one of which would be the girl's parents, mother,

00:13:23.900 looking on approvingly and smiling and applauding and filming it on their phone.

00:13:29.320 That's the picture.

00:13:30.140 And this is an image from what I could gather.

00:13:34.780 If you look at the caption, some kind of event, some children-including or children-targeting event

00:13:43.800 put on by Bella Blue Entertainment, a burlesque, it says in the caption, brunch, apparently, for kids to go to.

00:13:54.440 And it was shared on Facebook by this company, proudly so.

00:13:58.540 They were bragging about it.

00:14:00.580 But they took it down after the backlash, yet defended it in a follow-up post, which was also taken down.

00:14:08.940 As a matter of fact, let me read the caption to you on this picture.

00:14:14.740 It says, from Bella Blue Entertainment, it says,

00:14:17.660 This little girl was at brunch a few weeks ago, and her family was encouraging her to tip and engage with me.

00:14:25.220 It's always so refreshing to see families actively destigmatizing and changing narratives around bodies and sexuality.

00:14:32.580 At the end, her mom came up to me and said, 0.99

00:14:34.760 Thank you for showing her that being a strong woman is okay.

00:14:37.980 And I told her, No, no, thank you for exposing her to burlesque and for encouraging her to experience it.

00:14:44.000 So there you go.

00:14:48.960 Thank you for exposing her to burlesque, because that's something that we all need our young sons and daughters to be exposed to.

00:15:00.880 Why am I sharing this extremely disturbing picture and story with you?

00:15:07.000 Well, because, for one thing, I think the sexual abuse of a child carried out in public should provoke a reaction from us.

00:15:17.380 It's the kind of thing that we should react to.

00:15:22.760 It's news.

00:15:23.860 It's a story, right?

00:15:25.760 I don't ever want to get to the point where I see something like that and I think,

00:15:30.060 Oh, that again?

00:15:30.920 Well, whatever.

00:15:32.200 What are you going to do?

00:15:32.960 If we have lost our ability to be outraged, really outraged, over stuff like this, then we've lost our humanity.

00:15:42.240 We've lost everything.

00:15:43.660 We've lost our spine.

00:15:45.000 We've lost our soul. 1.00

00:15:47.040 Outrage gets a bad rap these days, and for good reason, because people get outraged over stupid things all the time. 0.98

00:15:53.620 So we get tired of hearing about people being outraged. 0.95

00:15:56.780 But some things should cause outrage.

00:15:59.480 There are things that should provoke that in us, and this is one of them.

00:16:06.680 How do you think people would have reacted 50 years ago to a picture like this?

00:16:11.660 I think the reaction would have been fairly nuclear, as well it should be.

00:16:15.920 Children are now being groomed for sexual abuse right in front of our eyes.

00:16:19.800 There are events officially organized for that purpose, for grooming children, whether it's this or a drag queen story hour or a drag brunch. 0.89

00:16:33.380 I mean, they love to do the brunch thing, apparently, is a big thing now with degenerates who want to groom children for sexual abuse. 1.00

00:16:43.340 Because all of the worrying that conservatives did about the potential normalization of pedophilia down the road, well, here we are. 0.62

00:16:52.820 We're down the road.

00:16:53.980 We got there.

00:16:54.620 We arrived.

00:16:55.760 Right?

00:16:56.220 It's happening right now.

00:16:58.320 That's what this is.

00:16:59.260 It's the normalization of pedophilia. 0.53

00:17:02.060 In fact, I should back up because I called this grooming for sexual abuse.

00:17:05.880 I said, well, they're grooming this girl.

00:17:08.160 No, they're not grooming her for sexual abuse. 0.92

00:17:10.600 This is sexual abuse.

00:17:12.260 The grooming already happened.

00:17:14.280 That phase is over.

00:17:15.920 Now she's actually being abused. 0.99

00:17:18.840 This is the thing itself happening. 0.97

00:17:21.380 To bring your child to a burlesque show and have her stuffing tips into a grown woman's underwear, that is sexual abuse. 0.99

00:17:31.580 And the people responsible for it should be in prison.

00:17:36.180 Everyone in that picture, except for the child, should be in prison. 0.74

00:17:39.120 Maybe first throw them in the stocks for a few days, let people go by, let the townsfolk go by and toss rotten eggs and tomatoes at their faces.

00:17:48.920 And then lock them in a jail cell for a few years and let them think about it.

00:17:53.160 That's the way it should go.

00:17:54.160 That's the way it would be in a healthy society.

00:17:58.020 But we don't live in a healthy society.

00:18:00.760 So what happens is we see stuff like this and there are people who actually click like and send supportive comments.

00:18:12.200 And then everyone else kind of yawns or rolls their eyes and says, oh, it's just the way things are now.

00:18:19.180 Yeah, it may be the way things are now, but it shouldn't be.

00:18:24.620 And we cannot accept that.

00:18:27.440 I can't accept it.

00:18:28.740 We can't throw up our hands and say, all right, yeah.

00:18:36.160 So kids get sexually abused on camera and it's posted on social media.

00:18:41.400 All right. 0.66

00:18:43.240 That's our country.

00:18:45.600 No.

00:18:46.000 This is, the words, any word you use to condemn it is not going to be a harsh enough word.

00:18:58.260 All right.

00:18:58.840 One more item to cover.

00:19:01.400 John William King, age 44, I believe, was executed in Texas yesterday.

00:19:07.080 King is one in a group, the ringleader of the group, who kidnapped a man named James Byrd Jr., a black man, tied him to the back of their pickup truck, dragged him to death over the course of three miles.

00:19:19.660 And they did this for explicitly racist reasons.

00:19:23.280 The crime happened about 20 years ago.

00:19:26.220 King tried to get a reprieve before the execution, much like I'm sure Byrd begged for a reprieve from his execution.

00:19:35.780 But just as Byrd was not granted that, neither was King.

00:19:41.200 And he was executed by lethal injection.

00:19:43.860 And now he will be buried in a grave with a tombstone that has no name, just his inmate number.

00:19:50.960 And that's how he will be remembered or rather forgotten by history as well it should be.

00:19:55.580 I bring up this case because it's cases like this, not necessarily this specific case, because I've been going through this transformation over a period of months.

00:20:10.220 But these kinds of cases have caused me to change my thinking on the death penalty.

00:20:17.200 My thinking has evolved on the subject.

00:20:19.660 And I wanted to tell you about that.

00:20:21.400 I've been for and against the practice at various times.

00:20:24.880 Most recently against it.

00:20:26.860 And I was against it pretty firmly for several years.

00:20:30.500 But more recently, I decided that I can't justify a blanket opposition to capital punishment.

00:20:38.240 Crimes like this, it seems to me, simply cry out for the ultimate punishment.

00:20:45.400 There are things a person can do which, once having done them, cancels out their right to continue existing.

00:20:52.180 And when I say that, I realize the implications of a statement like that.

00:20:56.800 Because I have often said that the right to life is absolute.

00:21:00.300 I've said everyone has the right to life.

00:21:01.840 You can't lose it.

00:21:03.160 It's ingrained.

00:21:04.260 It's absolute.

00:21:04.760 I have made points like that in service to the pro-life case when arguing against abortion.

00:21:15.520 But I've realized that that's not the right way of framing it.

00:21:22.160 It's not exactly true.

00:21:23.480 It's an imprecise way of framing the pro-life argument.

00:21:26.440 Because your right to life is, of course, not absolute.

00:21:31.600 You can lose it.

00:21:33.300 And there are scenarios where we would all agree that you lose your right to life.

00:21:38.220 If you run into my house with a gun, I am under no obligation to respect your right to existence, your right to life.

00:21:46.180 That right is null and void in that situation, as far as I'm concerned.

00:21:50.120 You have forfeited it.

00:21:51.240 You forfeited it the moment you come through my door wishing to do me harm.

00:21:56.600 It would also be hard to argue that enemy combatants on the battlefield have an absolute right to exist.

00:22:01.960 Because if they did, we couldn't justify any act of war against them.

00:22:06.020 And that would be ridiculous, of course.

00:22:08.640 Maybe it's better to say that human dignity is inherent, is absolute.

00:22:15.940 And that I certainly believe.

00:22:17.500 If that inherent human dignity is naturally attended by a right to life, a right to exist.

00:22:26.780 But though you cannot lose your inherent dignity, and therefore even the condemned have a right to a humane execution,

00:22:34.060 you can lose that attending right to life.

00:22:37.440 Now, babies have not lost it and could not lose it because they are innocent.

00:22:44.780 They haven't done anyone any harm.

00:22:46.800 There's no such thing as an abortion in self-defense.

00:22:49.520 There's no such thing as a punitive abortion. 1.00

00:22:52.380 These are human beings who do have a right to life, certainly,

00:22:58.000 because they could not possibly have done anything to lose it.

00:23:01.560 But, as I said, the person running into your house with a gun can lose it, and does.

00:23:07.500 The enemy soldier on the battlefield can and does lose it.

00:23:11.780 The question is whether a man who ties another man to the back of a truck

00:23:16.540 and drags him until his body falls into pieces,

00:23:19.860 the question is whether or not that man can also,

00:23:25.260 and does also, lose his right to life.

00:23:27.580 And I would say, yes, there is no place in human society for such a person,

00:23:35.780 not even in prison.

00:23:37.560 There is just no place for them, by their own choice.

00:23:41.500 They have chosen to forfeit their place, their claim on existence.

00:23:46.360 And if they want to forfeit that claim,

00:23:50.740 and they express their forfeiture by killing the innocent,

00:23:54.700 then we have no choice but to respect their choice and abide by it,

00:23:59.180 and say, okay, you don't want to be a civilized human being

00:24:01.280 who lives in human society?

00:24:03.160 Have it your way.

00:24:04.440 You have forced our hand.

00:24:07.360 Now, that strikes me as just.

00:24:09.900 It strikes me as fair.

00:24:13.060 And it also is important to me that,

00:24:16.780 and I feel much more comfortable supporting the death penalty now

00:24:19.980 than I would have, say, 40 years ago,

00:24:21.960 because now we have DNA, we can do DNA evidence,

00:24:26.640 there is video surveillance everywhere,

00:24:29.840 GPS technology, all of these things

00:24:32.220 that make it theoretically very possible

00:24:35.220 to establish beyond any doubt whatsoever

00:24:37.460 that a person did commit the crime they're accused of.

00:24:40.880 I think one of the more powerful arguments

00:24:42.720 against the death penalty is,

00:24:44.820 well, what if you execute the wrong man?

00:24:46.980 And that is a powerful argument,

00:24:49.780 but it is also possible,

00:24:51.360 especially with all this modern technology,

00:24:53.140 to be absolutely sure that you have the right man.

00:24:56.740 And if you're not absolutely sure,

00:24:58.440 then they shouldn't be in the execution chamber.

00:25:02.440 They probably shouldn't even be in a jail cell in that case.

00:25:05.760 So I think the question comes down to this, really.

00:25:08.960 What is the point of the justice system?

00:25:11.800 What's the point of laws and trials and all of that?

00:25:16.980 Now, some will say that the point is segregation.

00:25:20.900 We have to segregate dangerous people from the innocent.

00:25:24.620 Some will say that the point is rehabilitation.

00:25:27.600 Some say the point is deterrence.

00:25:29.220 Some say the point is punishment.

00:25:31.540 I think that the answer is all of the above.

00:25:34.540 I would choose all four of these theories.

00:25:37.220 I think anyone in prison should be there

00:25:39.700 for at least one of those reasons, if not all four.

00:25:42.060 And if none of the four apply,

00:25:45.440 then that is probably someone who shouldn't be in prison.

00:25:49.940 That's why I think you could make the argument

00:25:51.660 that nonviolent drug offenders should not be in prison,

00:25:54.560 because they aren't necessarily a threat to society,

00:25:57.700 so segregation isn't necessary.

00:25:59.600 You're not going to rehabilitate drug abusers

00:26:02.000 by putting them in jail cells.

00:26:03.220 That doesn't work.

00:26:03.980 Jail does not appear to be an effective deterrent

00:26:09.100 against drug use.

00:26:11.020 And a person who does destructive things to themselves

00:26:14.980 experiences the punishment for those actions

00:26:18.400 in the action itself and in the natural consequences.

00:26:22.040 I don't really think a heroin addict

00:26:23.740 has destroyed their life, their health, everything.

00:26:27.140 I don't think you need to add extra punishments

00:26:29.120 on top of that.

00:26:31.680 So crimes that don't fit under any of those umbrellas,

00:26:37.700 those are people who probably shouldn't be in prison at all.

00:26:42.020 Capital punishment, I would say,

00:26:43.440 fits under three of those theories.

00:26:47.580 It permanently segregates dangerous people from society.

00:26:53.460 It does present some kind of deterrent to crime.

00:26:58.740 And most importantly, it exacts the ultimate punishment

00:27:02.100 for the ultimate transgression.

00:27:04.580 It is just fitting, I think.

00:27:06.560 It fits the crime.

00:27:08.260 The crime necessitates it.

00:27:11.460 And I think in the end,

00:27:13.860 that is the simplest argument for capital punishment.

00:27:18.180 It's the most kind of visceral argument,

00:27:21.040 and I think it's the best and most powerful.

00:27:24.040 That some crimes just warrant it.

00:27:28.760 And that's all there is to it.

00:27:33.360 I'll tell you, one other thing about this,

00:27:36.700 because I am, I still am,

00:27:38.940 I can see the other side,

00:27:41.020 the anti-death penalty side.

00:27:42.980 I'll tell you the one thing

00:27:44.420 that still holds me back a little bit

00:27:46.640 from becoming a full-on death penalty advocate.

00:27:49.080 And this may seem like a small thing,

00:27:52.480 but it's really not.

00:27:53.680 It's a serious consideration,

00:27:55.180 and it's one that I think we don't usually talk about

00:27:58.020 or take into consideration.

00:27:59.980 I am concerned about the psychological,

00:28:04.000 moral, and spiritual effect

00:28:05.620 that the death penalty has

00:28:07.480 on those who are tasked with administering it.

00:28:10.180 You could perhaps make an argument

00:28:13.940 that executing another man

00:28:16.840 is a job that nobody on earth

00:28:19.100 is really emotionally or spiritually equipped

00:28:21.100 to perform or handle.

00:28:23.020 That's an argument

00:28:27.100 that I hardly hear anyone ever make

00:28:29.040 against the death penalty,

00:28:31.060 but I think it's a powerful argument.

00:28:33.600 I think about the first scene

00:28:35.100 of a documentary called

00:28:36.520 Into the Abyss by Werner Herzog.

00:28:39.120 It's an anti-death penalty documentary.

00:28:40.700 Very compelling, I think.

00:28:43.920 Well done.

00:28:45.400 The very first scene

00:28:46.720 is an interview

00:28:48.000 with a Texas prison chaplain

00:28:50.080 who attends executions

00:28:51.720 and prays over the condemned.

00:28:53.780 And he'll even stand in the room

00:28:55.300 while the execution is happening

00:28:56.900 if he's requested,

00:28:58.140 and he'll put his hand

00:28:59.500 on the inmate's ankle

00:29:01.160 while he's being executed.

00:29:05.740 Now, in the interview,

00:29:07.700 he doesn't rail against the death penalty.

00:29:09.520 He doesn't give his opinion

00:29:11.340 about it at all.

00:29:13.640 He looked at it like,

00:29:14.920 okay, this is happening.

00:29:15.980 It's legal.

00:29:17.920 And it's my duty to be there

00:29:19.840 and bring solace

00:29:20.840 and hopefully some spiritual enlightenment

00:29:23.520 to the condemned,

00:29:25.060 which I think is a heroic

00:29:26.080 and much-needed vocation.

00:29:28.900 But in this interview,

00:29:31.720 just a few minutes long,

00:29:33.700 you can see in this man's eyes

00:29:36.380 and in his body language

00:29:37.860 and in his words,

00:29:40.520 you see what sort of toll

00:29:42.480 all of this constant death

00:29:44.220 and destruction and misery

00:29:45.400 has done to him,

00:29:46.920 taken on him.

00:29:48.480 At one point,

00:29:49.640 he starts recounting

00:29:53.900 this lighthearted story

00:29:55.360 of when he,

00:29:56.640 one time when he went golfing

00:29:58.640 and he was on his golf cart

00:30:00.240 and two little squirrels

00:30:03.240 were playing

00:30:03.760 and they darted in front 0.99

00:30:05.040 of his golf cart

00:30:05.820 and he stopped suddenly

00:30:07.740 before he ran them over.

00:30:10.520 And it starts like a

00:30:12.100 lighthearted antidote,

00:30:13.780 but then he,

00:30:15.060 he anecdote.

00:30:18.380 But then he gets emotional

00:30:20.120 and he starts crying

00:30:21.360 about,

00:30:22.620 as he's telling the story

00:30:23.720 and he says,

00:30:25.600 you know,

00:30:25.820 life is precious.

00:30:26.960 I couldn't,

00:30:28.400 I can't preserve the life

00:30:29.640 of the condemned men,

00:30:30.780 but I could preserve

00:30:32.360 this squirrel's life.

00:30:34.700 So this was a man

00:30:35.880 so broken,

00:30:36.760 so beaten

00:30:37.380 by all the death

00:30:38.540 and misery

00:30:39.040 that his ability

00:30:40.420 to simply save

00:30:41.440 one little squirrel

00:30:42.480 or two little squirrels

00:30:43.740 from an early demise

00:30:44.600 was something

00:30:45.600 that he grabbed onto

00:30:47.020 desperately

00:30:47.720 and he cherishes

00:30:49.360 even to this day.

00:30:50.320 that one little glimmer

00:30:53.040 of hope

00:30:53.700 and life

00:30:54.360 meant so much

00:30:55.920 to this guy

00:30:56.560 because he's surrounded

00:30:58.120 by death

00:30:58.980 all the time.

00:31:03.200 And I found that

00:31:04.480 to be powerful.

00:31:07.060 Can we,

00:31:08.080 as a society,

00:31:09.180 support an institution

00:31:10.440 that does that

00:31:11.840 to people?

00:31:13.460 Now,

00:31:14.060 we know what it does

00:31:14.800 to the person

00:31:15.260 being executed. 1.00

00:31:16.400 It kills them. 1.00

00:31:17.180 Okay, 1.00

00:31:17.540 but what about

00:31:19.100 what it does

00:31:19.720 to the people

00:31:20.400 who are,

00:31:21.540 whose duty it is

00:31:22.700 to be involved

00:31:24.160 and to carry

00:31:24.860 these things out?

00:31:28.400 Can we ask anyone

00:31:29.680 to perform those duties?

00:31:31.620 Or are those duties

00:31:32.960 that, again,

00:31:33.860 nobody is fit for

00:31:35.640 or equipped for

00:31:36.920 or prepared for?

00:31:40.220 I don't know.

00:31:41.120 That's my one

00:31:42.280 sticking point.

00:31:43.000 I think it's a big one

00:31:43.780 even though

00:31:44.300 no one really ever

00:31:45.660 raises that point.

00:31:47.380 But it is,

00:31:48.440 it's a difficult one.

00:31:49.380 I guess

00:31:49.880 maybe I'm not

00:31:51.080 as convinced

00:31:51.540 as I originally thought.

00:31:52.460 As I kept talking,

00:31:53.700 I convinced myself

00:31:54.420 back in the other direction.

00:31:55.460 So I don't know.

00:31:56.920 I guess I can still

00:31:58.060 see it from both sides.

00:32:00.700 So that was my

00:32:01.420 that was my long

00:32:02.160 and windy way

00:32:02.860 to get back

00:32:03.420 to the starting point,

00:32:05.540 I guess,

00:32:05.920 which is I still

00:32:06.720 don't know

00:32:07.000 how I feel

00:32:07.400 about the death penalty.

00:32:09.440 All right,

00:32:10.020 mattwalshowatgmail.com

00:32:11.460 mattwalshowatgmail.com

00:32:12.960 is the email address.

00:32:13.900 Let's check

00:32:14.280 some of your emails.

00:32:14.900 This is from JL

00:32:16.380 says,

00:32:16.780 hi Matt.

00:32:17.880 I was listening

00:32:18.580 to your show.

00:32:19.140 I heard you say

00:32:19.720 that there was no good reason

00:32:20.900 to go to college

00:32:21.900 and I've heard,

00:32:23.220 but I've heard

00:32:24.140 of a very good one.

00:32:25.120 First,

00:32:25.440 I want to make

00:32:25.960 something clear.

00:32:26.560 I agree with you.

00:32:27.660 I know people

00:32:28.300 who went to college

00:32:28.960 after school 0.98

00:32:29.520 and are losers now. 0.66

00:32:30.440 I also know people 0.83

00:32:31.140 who enlisted in the military

00:32:32.180 and are now great officers

00:32:33.260 making a good living.

00:32:34.640 But one argument

00:32:35.400 that I've heard

00:32:35.920 for going to college

00:32:36.620 right after school

00:32:37.280 is that you may meet

00:32:38.320 a girl,

00:32:38.820 get married,

00:32:39.700 and have kids,

00:32:40.760 then need to stay

00:32:41.700 in a low-paying job

00:32:42.700 and not have time

00:32:43.380 to go to college.

00:32:44.560 How do you reconcile

00:32:45.500 this with your belief

00:32:46.620 that you should get

00:32:47.560 married young,

00:32:48.240 which I also agree with?

00:32:50.120 Well,

00:32:51.920 sorry,

00:32:52.240 this was from Joey,

00:32:53.040 by the way,

00:32:53.600 not JL.

00:32:54.120 JL's the next guy.

00:32:55.360 Joey,

00:32:55.960 first of all,

00:32:56.760 I don't,

00:32:57.120 I certainly never said

00:32:58.660 that there's no good reason

00:33:00.220 to go to college.

00:33:01.040 There are many good reasons

00:33:02.040 to go to college.

00:33:03.600 I am not,

00:33:05.720 I would never make

00:33:06.580 a blanket statement

00:33:07.240 like that.

00:33:07.720 I think there are many

00:33:08.560 good reasons

00:33:08.960 to go to college.

00:33:09.940 My only point is,

00:33:11.700 you should know

00:33:12.660 what your reason is

00:33:14.200 before you go.

00:33:16.620 That's all I'm saying.

00:33:17.620 That's my whole point.

00:33:19.640 Figure out what,

00:33:22.140 have a plan in mind.

00:33:23.880 And I think for most people,

00:33:25.780 that is going to mean

00:33:27.920 not going to college

00:33:29.500 right away,

00:33:30.640 going into the workforce,

00:33:31.920 earning some money,

00:33:33.740 gaining life experience

00:33:35.120 and maturity,

00:33:36.540 figuring out

00:33:37.280 what it is you're good at,

00:33:38.560 what you want to do,

00:33:39.340 what your vocation is,

00:33:40.300 what your skills are,

00:33:41.100 and then make your decision

00:33:43.220 about going to college

00:33:44.260 or not.

00:33:45.700 That's my main point there.

00:33:47.480 As far as meeting someone

00:33:48.820 and getting married,

00:33:49.440 I guess I don't follow

00:33:50.200 your point exactly.

00:33:53.160 I mean,

00:33:53.680 you could meet someone

00:33:54.620 at college,

00:33:55.300 you could meet them

00:33:55.820 not at college.

00:33:58.060 I guess what you're saying,

00:34:01.280 my whole idea

00:34:02.220 of going to college later

00:34:03.400 might not work

00:34:04.200 because what if you get married

00:34:05.120 first and then it's difficult

00:34:06.140 to go back to college?

00:34:07.060 Yeah, look,

00:34:07.660 a lot of different things

00:34:08.460 can happen.

00:34:10.240 But these are the kinds

00:34:11.400 of considerations

00:34:12.040 that have led people

00:34:12.900 to the conclusion

00:34:13.540 that, well,

00:34:14.340 you've got to rush

00:34:15.160 out of high school

00:34:15.840 and rush right into college

00:34:17.460 right away

00:34:18.000 and kind of get that

00:34:19.280 out of the way

00:34:19.940 because you'll never

00:34:21.280 be able to do it later

00:34:22.220 and that's not true.

00:34:23.860 I could go to college

00:34:24.760 right now if I wanted to,

00:34:26.080 especially these days

00:34:26.960 when you've got

00:34:27.260 online colleges everywhere.

00:34:29.740 I've got three kids.

00:34:30.840 I've got three kids,

00:34:31.740 a fourth on the way.

00:34:33.420 I could go to college

00:34:34.400 if I wanted to.

00:34:36.100 If I wanted to take

00:34:36.940 some classes,

00:34:37.540 go online.

00:34:38.240 It might take me a while

00:34:39.640 to finish it all,

00:34:40.480 but I could do that.

00:34:41.540 Anyone could.

00:34:42.720 So,

00:34:43.800 that's why

00:34:47.040 you have to figure out

00:34:48.740 what your path

00:34:50.120 is going to be

00:34:50.820 and then follow it.

00:34:53.460 All right,

00:34:53.860 now this is from JL.

00:34:55.080 It says,

00:34:55.400 Hi, Matt.

00:34:55.820 Love the show.

00:34:56.680 More importantly,

00:34:57.400 the dense beard you sport.

00:34:58.840 Don't ever shave it

00:34:59.720 because your voice

00:35:00.360 might ascend

00:35:00.900 a few octaves higher.

00:35:02.980 That's why

00:35:03.520 I never would.

00:35:04.220 I agree.

00:35:04.880 That is my concern.

00:35:06.460 Anyway,

00:35:06.920 I read an article

00:35:07.560 from the New York Times today,

00:35:08.800 an opinion piece,

00:35:09.780 which was an interview

00:35:10.580 with Serene Jones,

00:35:11.900 the president

00:35:12.320 of the Union Theological Seminary.

00:35:14.320 I was pretty shocked

00:35:15.120 how she denied

00:35:15.800 that the resurrection happened

00:35:16.880 and called the virgin birth

00:35:18.080 a bizarre claim

00:35:19.200 and also proceeded to say,

00:35:21.120 I don't worship

00:35:21.780 an all-powerful,

00:35:22.800 all-controlling,

00:35:23.640 omnipotent,

00:35:24.240 omniscient being.

00:35:25.360 I just wondered

00:35:26.000 if you had any thoughts on this.

00:35:27.320 I'm a very active member

00:35:28.280 of my faith

00:35:28.940 and want to thank you

00:35:30.120 for how you explain

00:35:30.820 your positions on things.

00:35:34.180 Yeah, well,

00:35:35.060 this is the trend

00:35:35.940 that's been happening

00:35:36.600 in Christianity

00:35:37.120 really since the 18th century

00:35:38.920 and places like

00:35:40.960 Union Theological Seminary,

00:35:42.260 which is not a seminary

00:35:43.260 at all really,

00:35:44.020 but a hive of heresy.

00:35:46.100 They've been at the forefront

00:35:47.320 of this naturalizing

00:35:49.600 of Christianity.

00:35:51.020 I didn't read the interview

00:35:52.200 that you mentioned,

00:35:53.380 but I can already tell

00:35:55.520 that this person

00:35:56.320 is an atheist

00:35:57.200 who maintains

00:35:59.040 some emotional connection

00:36:00.660 to her Christian past

00:36:01.800 and therefore wants

00:36:02.860 to mine it

00:36:03.620 for some moral lesson.

00:36:06.420 She's digging through it

00:36:07.700 to see what she can salvage.

00:36:09.760 And that's all

00:36:10.400 that she and her ilk 0.90

00:36:11.460 think that Christianity 0.70

00:36:12.840 is good for.

00:36:13.560 It's a source

00:36:14.060 of moral lessons,

00:36:15.260 nice stories

00:36:16.020 that impart

00:36:16.640 little tidbits of wisdom

00:36:17.760 like Aesop's fables

00:36:19.300 or basically

00:36:20.400 a fortune cookie.

00:36:21.240 But this is not

00:36:24.280 Christianity, of course.

00:36:25.420 Christianity is the belief 0.93

00:36:26.820 in and worship

00:36:27.660 of precisely that

00:36:29.020 all-powerful

00:36:29.820 and omnipotent being

00:36:30.800 who she rejected.

00:36:32.240 A being who we believe

00:36:33.740 sent his only begotten son

00:36:34.880 to save mankind

00:36:35.880 from their sin.

00:36:36.800 If you don't believe that,

00:36:38.600 then you aren't Christian.

00:36:41.840 That is what Christianity is.

00:36:43.720 The word Christ

00:36:44.740 is in the word Christian.

00:36:46.560 It's right there.

00:36:47.320 Christ is a supernatural concept.

00:36:49.840 There's no such thing

00:36:51.020 as a naturalistic,

00:36:52.240 rationalistic,

00:36:53.680 non-supernatural

00:36:54.720 Christ concept.

00:36:56.920 So it's right there

00:36:58.400 in the name.

00:37:00.520 You've got to believe

00:37:01.200 in Christ

00:37:01.860 as Christ

00:37:03.080 to be a Christian.

00:37:05.200 If you reject

00:37:06.460 that premise,

00:37:08.340 if you reject

00:37:09.300 the supernatural,

00:37:10.980 then holding on

00:37:12.080 to Christianity

00:37:12.820 and Scripture

00:37:13.700 for just moral lessons

00:37:15.400 is not only pointless

00:37:16.880 but impossible.

00:37:19.020 Now, it's pointless

00:37:19.820 because you don't need it

00:37:21.540 for that then.

00:37:22.320 If you're not worried

00:37:23.180 about the supernatural aspect,

00:37:24.640 the afterlife,

00:37:26.000 judgment, sin,

00:37:27.320 all of that,

00:37:28.620 then go ahead

00:37:29.820 and get your morality

00:37:30.700 from a fortune cookie.

00:37:31.560 You might as well.

00:37:32.740 And then you also get to eat

00:37:34.040 a cookie at the end of it.

00:37:34.940 So it's a bonus.

00:37:38.180 But it's also impossible,

00:37:39.840 really,

00:37:40.260 to reject the supernatural

00:37:42.440 and then try to find

00:37:44.040 something else

00:37:44.720 in Christianity

00:37:45.580 because from the naturalist

00:37:47.760 viewpoint,

00:37:49.020 we really have no idea

00:37:51.160 what Jesus said,

00:37:53.400 if he said any of the things

00:37:54.960 he's claimed to have said.

00:37:56.680 We have no idea

00:37:57.340 from the naturalistic viewpoint.

00:38:00.000 Now, we as Christians

00:38:01.200 believe that the Holy Spirit

00:38:02.380 guided the sacred authors,

00:38:04.080 but if the Holy Spirit

00:38:05.660 didn't guide them

00:38:06.680 because the Holy Spirit

00:38:07.680 doesn't exist,

00:38:08.600 which apparently

00:38:09.400 this person

00:38:10.080 thinks the Holy Spirit

00:38:12.460 doesn't exist,

00:38:13.800 then that means

00:38:16.040 that these are guys,

00:38:17.660 were guys,

00:38:18.640 trying to record

00:38:19.480 entire monologues

00:38:20.920 and complex theological

00:38:22.540 exchanges from memory

00:38:24.360 40 or 50

00:38:25.680 or even 60 years

00:38:26.980 after the fact.

00:38:27.960 With the Holy Spirit,

00:38:29.400 sure,

00:38:29.780 they could do that,

00:38:30.600 but on their own?

00:38:32.540 No.

00:38:33.660 By the naturalistic logic,

00:38:35.940 there is no way

00:38:36.980 we can be sure

00:38:38.280 that anything in the Bible

00:38:39.480 actually happened

00:38:40.340 or that any of the words

00:38:41.880 recorded were actually spoken

00:38:43.480 by the person

00:38:44.540 claimed to have spoken them.

00:38:47.600 And so,

00:38:48.220 when you chop

00:38:49.980 the supernatural legs

00:38:51.440 out from under the Bible,

00:38:52.840 you're left with nothing.

00:38:54.340 You're left with a jumble

00:38:55.460 of words and stories

00:38:57.280 and you can't make

00:38:58.620 heads or tails of it.

00:39:00.380 And in that case,

00:39:01.800 why run a seminary?

00:39:04.300 Even a fake seminary.

00:39:06.040 Why bother with any of this?

00:39:07.660 Why bother calling yourself

00:39:09.920 a Christian?

00:39:10.360 Why not go and be a Buddhist

00:39:12.040 or something instead?

00:39:13.680 That's what makes no sense to me.

00:39:16.600 So,

00:39:17.240 you have to,

00:39:18.040 for many reasons,

00:39:20.740 you have to accept

00:39:23.500 the supernatural aspects

00:39:24.660 of the Christian faith

00:39:25.700 and be a Christian

00:39:27.240 or reject them

00:39:29.640 and don't be a Christian.

00:39:31.980 Those are the two

00:39:33.720 fundamental options you have.

00:39:37.800 All right.

00:39:38.200 This is from Taylor says,

00:39:39.520 my name is Taylor,

00:39:40.880 a long time viewer of the show.

00:39:42.180 I'm a devout Episcopalian

00:39:43.420 in Ohio.

00:39:44.520 I recently had a meeting

00:39:45.540 with the church's council

00:39:46.540 of elected officials

00:39:47.440 called the Vestry.

00:39:48.980 In the meeting

00:39:49.760 in preparation

00:39:50.300 for the bishop's visit,

00:39:51.440 the reverend brought up

00:39:53.440 not using the masculine

00:39:55.240 pronoun for God

00:39:56.520 and instead of,

00:39:57.500 instead using

00:39:58.200 gender neutral pronouns.

00:39:59.700 Not only has my church

00:40:01.200 adopted an SJW perspective

00:40:02.760 to the Bible,

00:40:03.760 but there is also

00:40:04.920 a socialist group

00:40:06.080 that meets in the chapel.

00:40:08.040 The very people

00:40:08.840 who wish to destroy us

00:40:09.820 need our help

00:40:10.980 to plot our demise.

00:40:13.420 Is there any way

00:40:14.260 I can reason

00:40:14.940 with the church council

00:40:15.780 to bring back

00:40:16.480 the more traditional aspects

00:40:17.500 of the church

00:40:17.960 or is it a lost cause?

00:40:20.800 Taylor,

00:40:21.360 I'm afraid to say,

00:40:22.440 and I hate to be the

00:40:23.520 bringer of bad news here,

00:40:25.580 but it is,

00:40:26.200 it is a lost cause.

00:40:28.680 It's definitely a lost cause

00:40:29.900 in the Episcopal Church.

00:40:31.440 Not universally,

00:40:32.520 but in the Episcopal Church.

00:40:33.840 The Episcopal Church

00:40:34.720 is lost.

00:40:36.160 So I would get out.

00:40:37.460 Don't bother with it.

00:40:39.000 You are not going

00:40:40.900 to be able to,

00:40:41.620 on your own,

00:40:43.020 drag the Episcopal Church

00:40:44.780 back into orthodoxy.

00:40:47.240 This is a,

00:40:48.480 they,

00:40:48.840 it's been a long drift

00:40:50.740 over many decades,

00:40:52.320 and now I would say

00:40:55.020 the process is irreversible.

00:40:58.260 What you're experiencing

00:40:59.420 at your church,

00:41:00.300 this is at every church,

00:41:01.560 every Episcopal Church.

00:41:05.180 Or,

00:41:06.080 maybe there are

00:41:07.340 a few exceptions,

00:41:08.120 but I tend to doubt it.

00:41:10.040 And,

00:41:10.500 so I would say

00:41:11.240 find a new church

00:41:12.620 for sure.

00:41:13.400 As far as the pronoun thing,

00:41:15.180 obviously,

00:41:16.100 as you,

00:41:16.600 as you know, 1.00

00:41:17.340 it's completely stupid. 1.00

00:41:19.940 And there is no support 1.00

00:41:21.300 for it in the Bible

00:41:22.100 whatsoever.

00:41:22.760 the Bible is

00:41:24.680 extremely clear

00:41:26.420 in referring to God

00:41:27.860 with masculine pronouns.

00:41:29.320 Now,

00:41:30.080 we can have

00:41:31.000 an interesting discussion

00:41:32.620 about what that means exactly.

00:41:35.220 Why is God

00:41:36.240 referred to

00:41:36.660 in masculine pronouns?

00:41:37.620 What does it mean

00:41:38.400 for God to be

00:41:39.320 quote-unquote

00:41:39.840 masculine?

00:41:42.960 And that's,

00:41:44.340 that is a fascinating

00:41:45.620 conversation

00:41:46.740 that we could talk about.

00:41:48.400 But,

00:41:49.200 as Christians,

00:41:50.500 we have to start

00:41:51.320 from the premise

00:41:52.200 of accepting

00:41:53.660 what the Word of God

00:41:56.080 says

00:41:56.600 on that subject

00:41:57.580 because it is

00:41:58.500 so overwhelmingly clear.

00:42:01.660 And,

00:42:02.100 and that's all there is to it.

00:42:04.420 All right,

00:42:04.820 we'll leave it there.

00:42:05.600 Thanks everybody for watching.

00:42:06.800 Thanks for listening.

00:42:08.140 Godspeed.

00:42:08.500 -

00:42:17.920 Godspeed.

00:42:18.220 Godspeed.

00:42:18.540 Godspeed.

00:42:18.680 Godspeed.

00:42:19.260 Godspeed.

00:42:19.960 Godspeed.

00:42:20.200 Godspeed.

00:42:21.600 Godspeed.

The Matt Walsh Show - April 26, 2019

Ep. 247 - Burlesque For Kids

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