Ep. 340 - Another Failed Bombshell
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode of the podcast, I discuss the latest White House whistleblower complaint against the Director of National Intelligence, Joseph McGuire, and why you shouldn t be listening to it. I also talk about why the Democratic Party overplayed their hands with this one.
Transcript
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OK, it seems seems pretty straightforward from here. OK, here's the here's the seven step process.
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Number one, impeach Donald Trump. Step two, Pence is vice is president. Step three,
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Pence appoints me vice president. Step four, Pence resigns. Step five, I'm president. Step six,
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I impose the death penalty on everyone who FaceTimes in public or ditches their shopping
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cart in the middle of the parking lot. Step seven, utopia. It is that is our path. I just I just
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laid it out. Things look pretty dicey right now, but we could be headed towards really paradise on
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Earth. It is it is within our grasp. So that's my plan anyway. Now, the whistleblower complaint is,
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as I'm sure you've heard, in the director of national intelligence, Joseph McGuire,
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testifying on Capitol Hill. Lots of stuff going on, which we're going to talk about in just a moment.
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All right. First, let's talk about this whistleblower thing.
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And look, one of the things I hate about these kinds of stories is that everybody becomes an
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expert, right? I'm sure you've noticed. Everyone's an expert. Everyone, especially talking heads like
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myself, suddenly act like they have some sort of relevant expertise that will enable them to give
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meaningful insight. They say, I've looked at this whistleblower report. And according to my
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experience, of which I have none, I admit that I have no expertise here at all. I can only just
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read this stuff like you and follow the news reports and give you my general impression for what it's
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worth, which probably isn't that much. So now that I've told you why my opinion doesn't matter at all,
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and you shouldn't listen to it, I will move on to giving you my opinion. First, I think again,
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with this whistleblower report, just like with the transcript yesterday or the Mueller report or
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anything else, the Democrats have overplayed their hands significantly, which is a stupid move
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politically, obviously, because it can overshadow or blunt the impact of otherwise troubling revelations
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or allegations. And that's why you don't hype things up too much beforehand. Everybody knows
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that. Everyone should know it. This is a classic blunder. If you really think you've got something
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good up your sleeve, you don't need to tell anybody ahead of time. Like the other night, just as an
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example, I made some absolutely amazing meatballs. But I didn't tell my family ahead of time. Now, I knew
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the meatballs were great, but I didn't say them. I didn't tell my wife and my kids, oh, these are great
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meatballs. You're going to love them. Instead, I just gave them the meatballs and I let them experience
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them and be brought to tears of joy over how great the meatballs were, which is exactly what happened.
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No exaggeration. So yes, I am comparing the whistleblower report to meatballs. This is the
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level of commentary you can expect from this show. I don't even know why you're watching it. Now,
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what does the whistleblower complaint primarily consist of? It seems it mainly consists of
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recounting the transcripts we already read and talking about media reports that we've already
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seen. The only troubling part is the part that alleges what could be, if it were true, a coverup.
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Let me read from the whistleblower report. It says, White House officials told me that they were
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directed, that's in quotes, by White House lawyers to remove the electronic transcript from the
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computer transcript of the call between the Ukrainian president and Trump, in which such
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transcripts are normally stored for coordination, finalization, and distribution to cabinet level
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officials. Instead, the transcript was loaded into a separate electronic system that is otherwise used
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to store and handle classified information of an especially sensitive nature. One White House
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official described this act as an abuse of this electronic system because the call did not contain
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anything remotely sensitive from a national security perspective. Now, and then there's a couple
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other references to that. And the claim here that's being made is that this is something White House
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officials have done on a number of occasions, not just with the Ukrainian thing, but with other
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politically sensitive material that they have put into and they've stored in a separate server to
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keep it away from prying eyes. I don't want to get into cliches about the coverup is worse than the
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crime, but well, there you go. It is. And yes, this is third-hand anonymous information. This is an
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anonymous claim from someone who heard it secondhand. So therefore, for us, it is thirdhand. So you take
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it with whatever amount of salt is necessary, and it probably is a pretty heaping dose. But the claim
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that a computer system is being used as a means to hide politically sensitive material, well, the claim
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is there. It might not be true, but it's there. It's in the report. So now it's going to be investigated.
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And I have no doubt we're going to hear more about this, and it will become maybe the key
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point in impeachment as we move forward. But at any rate, that, as far as I can tell,
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is really the only relevant part of the complaint. The rest of it restates what we already read,
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either in the transcript or in other media reports. That should be something. If you
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if you really want this whistleblower report to be true and to be an actual documentation of criminal
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activity. Now, it's sad that so many people do want that. They want the president to have committed
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a crime. That's a totally separate discussion. But if you do want that, it should trouble you
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that there are so many references to media reports. Why would a whistleblower need to reference things
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that were in the hill.com? But Democrats aren't focused enough to home in on this aspect of it.
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Instead, we get. Well, in fact, let's watch Adam Schiff in his opening statement before the DNI's
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testimony this morning. I think he this is this is pretty remarkable. Watch this. And so what happened
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on that call? Zelensky begins by ingratiating himself and he tries to enlist the support of
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the president. He expresses his interest in meeting with the president and says his country wants to
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acquire more weapons from us to defend itself. And what is the president's response?
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Well, it reads like a classic organized crime shakedown. We've been very good to your country.
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Very good. No other country has done as much as we have. But you know what? I don't see much
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reciprocity here. I hear what you want. I have a favor I want from you, though. And I'm going to say
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this only seven times, so you better listen good. I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent
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and understand lots of it. On this and on that, I'm going to put you in touch with people and not
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just any people. I'm going to put you in touch with Attorney General of the United States,
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my Attorney General, Bill Barr. He's got the whole weight of the American law enforcement
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behind him. And I'm going to put you in touch with Rudy. You're going to love him. Trust me.
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You know what I'm asking. And so I'm only going to say this a few more times in a few more ways.
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And by the way, don't call me again. I'll call you when you've done what I asked.
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This is, in sum, in character what the president was trying to communicate
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with the president of Ukraine. It would be funny if it wasn't such a graphic betrayal
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of the president's oath of office. So you see what he just did there, right? He gave a fictional
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retelling of the transcript. That lengthy quote that he offered was not real. That's not actually
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what was in the transcript. He made that up. I started my show yesterday as a joke.
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Making up a Trump transcript, a damning Trump transcript. It was a joke. Adam Schiff,
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in this, was supposed to be a very important hearing nationally televised. He actually did it.
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He just made up his own transcript, which is pretty jaw-dropping. And I'm sure it will have
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the desired effect for some viewers. Pretty straightforward, really. He did that because
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he knows that a lot of ignorant people watching are going to have not done their own research,
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not have read the transcript themselves. And they're going to hear that, and they're going to
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say, oh my gosh, this really is damning. I can't believe he said all that.
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Instead of talking about the scandal itself, this is what Schiff wants us to talk about.
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But it also gives Republicans a very valid deflection, which is why I think it's a
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politically stupid move. Because now Republicans can talk about this outrageous, dishonest spectacle
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from Adam Schiff, rather than talking about the hearing itself. So again, the only thing that
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really stands out is that bit about the politically sensitive documents being stashed somewhere on an
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NSC computer server. But third-hand anonymous claims are a problem. And we've seen enough of them,
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and we've seen enough of them not pan out to be very, very skeptical of them.
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Maybe the White House does have a file somewhere where they put records of all the stupid things
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Trump says in phone calls. That wouldn't really surprise me. It also wouldn't necessarily be
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criminal. But I don't know. And just reading that written in a document anonymously is not enough,
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not enough to assume that it's true. And if we've learned nothing from the last three years,
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Something else I wanted to say here, because there's a separate issue related to this that's
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been on my mind. Over the last week, there have been a lot of videos floating around online.
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You've probably seen some of them comparing what various prominent politicians are saying now about
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impeachment to what they said about impeachment in 1998. Not surprisingly, the Democrats, who are
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very much in favor of impeachment in 2019, were very much against it in 1998. And then you can also
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find quotes from Republicans who were all about it in 1998, and now are saying that it's a terrible
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thing to do. Here's just, this one I think is probably the most striking. Here's one example
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of those videos featuring the lovely Nancy Pelosi. Today, the Republican majority is not judging the
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president with fairness, but impeaching him with a vengeance. In the investigation of the president,
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fundamental principles which Americans hold dear, privacy, fairness, checks and balances,
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have been seriously violated. And why? Because we are here, as we are here today, because the Republicans
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in the House are paralyzed with hatred of President Clinton. And until the Republicans free themselves of this
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hatred, our country will suffer. I rise to want to oppose these unfair motions, which call for the removal of the
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president of the United States from office. The independent counsel knew that the president was exonerated
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with Travelgate, Whitewater and Filegate. This was not fair. Indeed, it is the responsibility of any prosecutor
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to immediately release information that is exculpatory.
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Therefore, today, I'm announcing the House of Representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.
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I'm directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella.
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I thank our chairman, Chairman Nadler, Chairman Schiff, Chairman Cummings, Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
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Madam Speaker, never before the president has been convicted by the Senate. What does this accomplish if the Senate doesn't convict?
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So what jumps out at you about that? I'll tell you what jumps out at me when I see videos like that. It's that
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these people have been in power for way, way, way too long. That's the thing that I notice. It's all the same players.
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I also saw a there was another video I saw this morning. I won't I won't play it because I'm not gonna play all the videos.
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But Nadler is another video is a video of him when 20 years ago when he was looked to be about 300 pounds heavier.
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And he was talking about what a you know, how impeachment is is erasing an election and it's an attack on the voters.
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It's all the same people. It's all the same characters still in there.
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So if we take nothing else from this, we should take the need for maybe term limits.
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That 20 years have passed between this impeachment scandal and the last one, and it's all the same people.
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Well, not the same things, really opposite things from what they said before.
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That that that is that's sad. And that's not how a democracy is supposed to work.
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All right. Let's move on to to here's an important story.
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Everybody else is talking about whistleblowers and impeachment. But to me, this is the thing we need to focus on.
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Mattel is is Mattel is releasing gender neutral dolls.
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And Time has a whole story about it. They're very excited about it.
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I want to read a bit just just a little bit of it to you because it's funny, but also because there's a point I want to make here at the end of this.
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OK, so this is Mattel on the gender neutral dolls says a child opens a box.
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Not an unusual sound in the halls of Mattel's headquarters where researchers test new toys.
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But this particular toy is a doll. And it's rare for parents to bring boys into these research groups to play with dolls.
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It's rarer still for a boy to immediately attach himself to one the way that Shia just did.
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An eight year old who considers himself gender fluid and whose favorite color is black one wink, pink the next.
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Shia sometimes plays with his younger sister's dolls at home, but they're girly princess stuff.
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He says dismissively. I'm going to stop here for a minute and I'm going to sound like a broken record.
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But an eight year old. Who considers himself gender fluid, that sentence means nothing.
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It means nothing, first of all, because the phrase gender fluid means nothing.
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Um, despite what we're, what we are told gender is a, is an objective thing.
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It's not a, it's not a, it's not a, it's not a fluid. It's not a spectrum.
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But even aside from that, even if gender fluid did mean something, uh, an eight year old who considers himself that.
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Well, nobody does because it doesn't mean anything.
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But he has very little clue what it even means to be a boy or a girl.
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If you ask this eight year old child to define what is a boy,
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he would probably have a difficult time giving you, especially a scientific definition.
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Yet somehow he's decided that he doesn't quite identify as that.
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Also, do you think it's a coincidence that his name is, uh, Shia, that's S-H-I apostrophe A.
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So he, so he has this kind of, um, ambiguous name and then he ends up identifying as an ambiguous child.
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Well, it says this doll with its prepubescent body and childish features looks more like him,
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The hair is just like mine, Shia says, swinging his head in tandem with the dolls.
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Then he turns to the playmate in the toy, uh, testing room, a seven-year-old girl named Jahase
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and asks, should I put on the girl hand, the girl hair?
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Shia fits a long blonde wig on the doll's head and suddenly it is no longer an avatar for him, but for his sister.
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Um, I only really have one point I want to make here.
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Have you noticed that, ironically, and these dolls capture it,
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ironically, um, gender fluid, non-binary people,
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they all end up looking kind of the same, with same style and everything.
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People identify this way so they can distinguish themselves and express themselves and be individuals.
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But then they end up looking indistinguishable from everybody else who's trying to be an individual.
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It's like when I was a kid, some people, uh, wanted to be different and unique,
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It's the same basic idea, um, where it's just people who want to,
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I don't want to fit in with the crowd, I want to be different.
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But then the big joke with the goth kids is they all looked exactly the same.
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Um, because if I said to you, if I said to you, picture a girl.
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You might have a general image in your mind of what a girl basically looks like.
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But, um, a girl could look like so many different things.
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So you're not, you're not going to be able to get very specific.
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But within those general parameters, a girl could look like many different things.
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There could be a wide diversity of what a girl looks like.
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But if I said to you, picture someone who identifies as gender fluid,
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you immediately have in your mind an exact image of this person.
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Because gender fluid is, ironically, a very rigid, specific kind of thing.
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In, in their effort to be different and to be unique,
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they end up looking like everyone else who's making the same effort.
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And that's because, um, actually, as it turns out, you know, there, there isn't anything constricting or rigid about just being a boy or girl.
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There's a lot of leeway within those parameters to express yourself however you want.
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But then when you try to leave those, when you want to be such an individual that you leave those parameters behind,
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that's when you end up in this very narrow box where you look like everybody else in the box.
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Okay, I wanted to mention, I wanted to mention this too.
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This was a couple of days ago, not related to whistleblowers or impeachment or Trump at all.
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But I had to, I've got to play this for you because it's so weird and also funny.
00:21:17.960
Um, it was a, it was a hearing on the dangers of e-cigarettes.
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As we have talked about, there's, there is a, an effort now, um, and this is one, this is, this is why I always say, by, when you hear bipartisan, when something is bipartisan, that's when you should really be worried.
00:21:35.280
Whereas the media always tells us, oh, we need bipartisan agreement.
00:21:38.560
No, actually, that's, that's when it's really bad.
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If both sides are agreeing on something, now you got to run for the hills because you know it's something really stupid.
00:21:46.720
Um, the e-cigarette thing is a, is a good example.
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This, this idea of banning e-cigarettes or certain flavors of them.
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Look, if, if the Democrats and Trump can agree, then you know it must be a really, really bad idea.
00:22:04.720
And this is just to show you, this is one thing that's very frustrating for people who, and I don't, I don't smoke e-cigarettes myself.
00:22:12.400
Um, I guess smoke isn't even really the right term, but I don't use e-cigarettes.
00:22:17.100
Uh, it's, it's, it's a similar thing when we talk about marijuana.
00:22:21.440
Um, the, the people who do use e-cigarettes or, you know, marijuana, they always get frustrated because it seems to them that the people who are opposed to it and want to ban it have no idea what they're talking about and don't know anything about it.
00:22:41.400
And I think those people who are frustrated have reason to be frustrated.
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Rashida Tlaib, uh, she was, uh, one of the, uh, representatives involved in this House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee.
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And first I'll play this clip for you because this was just weird.
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This was just a weird, a weird moment, um, from Tlaib.
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You, you call yourself a cons, cons, converted, conservative, and reformed Marxist?
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I, I think my politics are entirely irrelevant to this hearing.
00:23:14.100
Why were you winking at one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle?
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I didn't know what the winking was because I thought maybe there was something like a conspiracy thing going on there.
00:23:31.040
You think there's a conspiracy in this hearing, ma'am?
00:23:33.820
I actually think people are speaking truth here, and you can provide information.
00:23:41.660
Well, the truth to you is very different for the majority of people in this room who do believe that children are being smacked by babies.
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The truth for me is I quit smoking with these cigarettes and so did 8 million other people.
00:24:00.680
But here's the part, and this is where it gets frustrating for, let's say, people who do vape.
00:24:10.140
Because here's the part where Tlaib makes a claim, a scientific claim.
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This is the party of science, but makes a very anti-scientific, scientific claim.
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You know, I go in to speak to kids all the time.
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You know, I do the second grade and third grade reading class.
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They always ask, well, what do you do, you know?
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And I tell them I work at the Capitol, and I show them the picture and tell them where it is geography-wise.
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And then I tell them, you know, when I was your age, I used to go to restaurants with my parents.
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And they say, you know, right now you go, and they say, how many people in your group?
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When I was little, they said non-smoking or smoking section.
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And I was like, yeah, they would say non-smoking or smoking, because they smoked cigarettes in public places like restaurants, hospitals, schools, planes.
00:25:04.200
And I said, yes, even though scientists, people were saying secondhand smoking was worse, was worse than directly smoking cigarettes.
00:25:12.540
And even though health experts and others were coming forward, you had big industry, corporate greed, misleading information out there to the public, what the real impact was on health.
00:25:25.580
And so it's so important that you all continue to speak truth.
00:25:29.060
She says scientists say that secondhand smoke is worse than directly smoking.
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How could secondhand smoke be worse than directly smoking cigarettes?
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When you smoke, you are inhaling directly from the cigarette.
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As the person who is smoking, you are going to be closer to the secondary.
00:26:03.680
I mean, unless, unless, maybe, if you're smoking and you've got someone tied down, like onto a chair, and then you're directly smoking in his face, just blowing it right into his face, maybe then.
00:26:19.320
But in a normal circumstance, if you're smoking, you're inhaling directly from the cigarette, but the smoke that comes out, you're also inhaling that, too, because that's in the air around you.
00:26:29.260
So what Tlaib is claiming is that it's worse to only inhale some of the secondary smoke than it is to inhale all of the direct smoke and most of the secondary smoke.
00:26:47.220
I mean, it's not, I don't think anyone's going to claim that it's a health benefit.
00:26:50.900
I don't think there's any studies showing that it's going to help you health-wise.
00:26:54.600
It is, though, it is an open question whether or not secondary smoke or secondhand smoke has any significant health, you know, has any significant negative impact on your health for people who are, you know, now if you have asthma, emphysema, something like that, bronchitis.
00:27:17.780
Then, obviously, being around secondhand smoke is a different matter.
00:27:21.520
But if you're a basically healthy person, the jury is kind of out on what kind of impact secondhand smoke is going to have on you, especially in a casual environment.
00:27:32.120
Now, if you're in an enclosed space with somebody smoking constantly for years at a time, then, again, that's going to be different from someone who's sort of casually around it.
00:27:42.420
But the link between secondhand smoke and cancer, there have been some studies that have found a link.
00:27:49.960
There have also been studies that have said that there's no link, there's no discernible link.
00:27:53.680
But putting all that to the side, this claim here is completely ridiculous.
00:28:01.460
And this, again, is exactly what is frustrating.
00:28:05.960
When you're someone who enjoys using a certain product, whether it's e-cigarettes or regular cigarettes or marijuana or whatever, alcohol, and you've got other people advocating a ban on it.
00:28:22.080
And then you notice that, or how about guns, maybe the number one example of what I'm talking about here, where famously the Democrats who are the gun grabbers, when they get to talking about guns, you discover, you realize very quickly, they have no idea what they're talking about.
00:28:36.540
They've never used, they've never probably even held a gun before.
00:28:39.920
They don't even know the difference between the different types of firearms.
00:28:45.380
And it would seem it would behoove you, it's your responsibility at a minimum, if you're going to advocate for banning something, at least learn what it is first and what it actually does.
00:28:57.400
So that goes from being funny to then when you think about it, it actually just ticks you off.
00:29:06.420
I have one more thing I need to discuss before we get to emails.
00:29:09.160
And I save this for last, even though it's probably the most important issue of the day.
00:29:12.220
I don't make a habit of attacking my coworkers in public.
00:29:19.380
But one of my Daily Wire colleagues last night lashed out with the most bigoted attack I've ever seen.
00:29:33.040
And it was something that, well, Amanda Prestigiacomo, she's, if you read the site, you know the name.
00:29:40.700
She gets approximately 95 trillion hits a day on her articles, I think.
00:29:52.920
Essentially, it amounts to her coming out as a Nazi.
00:30:00.200
And, like I said, I'm very sorry that I need to publicly denounce someone who works for the same company.
00:30:11.220
She says, this is a really weird pet peeve of mine, and it's probably crazy.
00:30:15.660
But I really dislike men who are not on the beach wearing flip-flops.
00:30:20.500
What if a woman has a flat tire and you have to help?
00:30:25.600
Now, underneath this outlandish, prejudiced, discriminatory screed, there are a bunch of women agreeing somehow and insisting that, as men, we should forfeit our First Amendment rights to wear flip-flops.
00:30:43.860
Including, I should add, Allie Stuckey, a former colleague of mine at The Blaze.
00:30:48.380
And this, I'm just going after everybody now, but what am I going to do?
00:30:54.360
But she, and look at this, you aren't going to believe it.
00:31:02.780
Apparently, Allie hasn't learned, doesn't realize, that body shaming is illegal in the United States.
00:31:09.160
Now, I need to speak up here, because sandal shaming has become one of the great crises of our time.
00:31:19.200
Men, like myself, who wear sandals, especially flip-flops, we are subjected to harassment, abuse, murder.
00:31:30.740
Yes, men are murdered routinely for wearing flip-flops.
00:31:49.960
And if I wear socks with my sandals, which I do, it is not because I am ashamed of my feet.
00:31:59.780
This whole notion that sandals are unmanly is absurd.
00:32:20.060
I mean, they probably couldn't because they weren't familiar with the technology.
00:32:38.020
But, sure, yeah, I guess it would have been better if they all were never born, according to Amanda.
00:32:51.140
I'm going to end this debate right here, and then we're going to move on.
00:32:53.500
But, let me, I want you to, I'm going to show you something.
00:33:08.820
Although, by this picture, you'd think maybe it was from Minnesota because he's pretty white.
00:33:12.840
He's maybe a lot whiter than you thought he would be, given that he's a Middle Eastern man.
00:33:37.760
Anyone out there, next time you think of shaming a man for his flip-flops, think about that.
00:33:56.360
I love this email because it's a pretty hilarious backhanded compliment, and that's why I'm going to read it.
00:34:00.960
It says, Matt, I have to confess that I hated your show at first.
00:34:03.300
I thought it was preachy and boring, and you seemed completely humorless.
00:34:06.540
I really wish that you would be fired for a long time.
00:34:09.300
But I came back to your show a few months ago, and either you've changed completely or I have.
00:34:16.680
You're my favorite show on the Daily Wire now, the one I make sure to listen to every day.
00:34:20.800
I still think you're kind of a jerk, and you get overly emotional about things sometimes and seem to ramble too much at points.
00:34:29.300
There isn't another show out there quite like yours, and I love it.
00:34:32.240
There was just so much insulting and complimenting packed into one paragraph there, and I really appreciate that.
00:34:46.360
You know, that's one of those things where someone says that, and your first reaction is, what?
00:34:51.180
But then when you leave, you're thinking, hold on a second.
00:35:03.540
Says, Matt, your comments on Twitter about push presents were very dangerous for your health.
00:35:08.280
My recommendation, get your wife a push present.
00:35:13.780
Yeah, so my wife, what she's referencing, my wife recently brought up this thing called push presents.
00:35:21.520
Well, I had to Google it, and my wife is pregnant, by the way.
00:35:29.340
But a push present is apparently presents that evidently the husband is supposed to buy for the wife as a congratulations, I guess, for the fact that she gave birth.
00:35:39.760
Here's my point, and this is what Maggie is referencing.
00:35:44.360
But I think that the man should be receiving the push present because I think you could argue, and I tried to explain this to my wife, you could argue that pregnancy is harder on the man than it is on the woman.
00:36:00.080
Now, yeah, she's the one who has the physical side effects to wrestle with, but I think the emotional toll on the man having to deal with, I mean, not deal with, deal with, but listen.
00:36:13.040
All I'm saying is that sometimes it can tend to be, you know, trying.
00:36:20.240
But, you know, women, when they're pregnant, can be difficult.
00:36:26.860
Not difficult, but you get, so anyway, I hope my wife doesn't watch this show.
00:36:38.900
Matt, a few times now I've heard you almost flirt with the lie of evolution.
00:36:43.080
You've never come out and explicitly said that you believe in it.
00:36:46.160
I'm wondering if you have the guts to do that if you really do believe it.
00:36:49.360
I'm sure you must recognize that evolution is called a theory for a reason.
00:36:53.020
It's just a guess made by scientists with an agenda.
00:36:56.340
They want to think we are descended from chimps because they want us to live in a godless world.
00:37:02.600
I hope that you have not been deceived, but I'm afraid, based on your comments, that you have.
00:37:13.980
First of all, and thanks for bringing this up, actually, because I think it's a really interesting subject.
00:37:20.660
But, first of all, don't accuse me of flirting with evolution.
00:37:32.440
I don't know if believe in it is really the best phrasing.
00:37:41.140
Do I think that the evidence overwhelmingly points in its direction?
00:37:50.380
And I think any honest reading of the science behind it will lead you to that conclusion.
00:38:05.060
And there's a few things you said in your email that are factually incorrect.
00:38:11.080
Because I really believe that there are a significant number of Christians in America who either flat out reject evolution
00:38:22.600
I think maybe for a lot of them, if they understood what the theory really is,
00:38:26.940
and I don't mean this as an insult, I think that a lot of people, they really don't know what it is.
00:38:30.880
They don't really understand what the claim is.
00:38:34.680
And that's what I notice anyway when I talk to people about it.
00:38:37.820
Because they say things that are, well, no, that's not evolution.
00:38:41.140
Okay, so for instance, you say it's just a theory.
00:38:49.700
But theory, in a scientific sense, is not a guess.
00:39:18.860
It is a tested, verified explanation for what we observe in nature.
00:39:30.780
The phrase, just a scientific theory, is absurd.
00:39:34.260
It's what you're saying is, well, it's just a tested and verified explanation.
00:39:38.200
The just in that sentence seems kind of out of place, you know?
00:39:44.760
Now, why do you think we still speak of the germ theory of disease or the theory of relativity or the heliocentric theory or the theory of gravity?
00:39:54.020
Does that mean that gravity, germs, and the Earth's orbit are all guesses?
00:40:03.200
It is a fact that the Earth orbits around the sun.
00:40:14.200
But they are explanatory facts, and that's why we call them theories.
00:40:25.700
Which is to say, here's how it has risen to that lofty level of being a scientific theory.
00:40:33.500
Because Darwin came up with a workable model to explain the diversity of life on Earth.
00:40:50.820
And I know the word science is thrown around a lot these days, and there are people claiming things that are science that aren't.
00:40:54.980
We just gave an example of that with Rashida Tlaib.
00:40:57.100
But if it's real science, that means it's testable.
00:41:07.300
Ever since he postulated the theory of evolution, subsequent discoveries have consistently confirmed it, while nothing has disconfirmed it.
00:41:21.540
Every relevant discovery, every relevant discovery since that theory has had the effect of confirming it.
00:41:33.400
There has not been one relevant discovery to have a significant disconfirming effect.
00:41:39.360
So his theory had predictive power, which is how you know it's good.
00:41:44.660
Keep in mind, Darwin, he came out with the origin of species.
00:41:48.360
It wasn't yet known that the Earth is 4 billion years old.
00:42:01.340
Mendel was working on that sort of parallel to Darwin, but they weren't working together on it.
00:42:07.400
Yet, in order for Darwin's idea to work, the Earth would need to be billions of years old.
00:42:13.720
And there would need to be some kind of mechanism whereby our traits are passed down through the generations.
00:42:22.600
Subsequent discoveries in geology and genetics, as well as archaeology, paleontology, chemistry, cosmology,
00:42:27.880
really every field of study, have confirmed that.
00:42:31.500
They've all lined up perfectly with what was originally proposed.
00:42:43.700
It's just like the scientists who came up, based on mathematical equations,
00:42:53.820
you had scientists who came up with this idea that black holes must exist somewhere in the universe,
00:43:06.780
When you come up with it, when you say, okay, if I'm right about this,
00:43:15.920
That is a very, very strong indication that the original idea was largely correct.
00:43:19.380
I focus on genetics because that's really where it's at.
00:43:22.220
People get caught up on fossils and everything, but fossils really almost don't matter.
00:43:28.560
The stuff about how there's a missing link and we haven't found it, that's not true.
00:43:35.960
But the vast majority, I mean, the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of life forms
00:43:40.220
that have ever existed on Earth are not going to fossilize
00:43:42.920
because you need a certain specific condition for fossilization to occur.
00:43:50.500
And the small, small minority that do fossilize, the vast majority of those will never be found.
00:43:56.960
So what that tells you is that fossils are important, but you can only learn so much from that
00:44:03.380
because the sample size is going to be so small.
00:44:11.260
According to Darwin, what he said, long before anyone could actually confirm this,
00:44:14.620
but he said that we are most closely related to chimpanzees
00:44:18.020
and then further down the family tree would be mice and dogs and things like that.
00:44:22.760
And then further away would be fish and other life, lower life forms.
00:44:28.460
And by the way, let me back up because you had another mistake in what you said.
00:44:32.380
You said that, you know, we're descended from chimps.
00:44:37.760
It's not, no, that's not what, that's not how the theory goes.
00:44:40.780
Nobody thinks we're descended from chimps any more than you are descended from your cousin.
00:44:45.240
And this is why when people say, oh, well, if we're really descended from chimps,
00:44:49.180
That's like saying, if you're really, if I'm really descended from my grandfather,
00:44:54.580
The idea is that 7 million years ago, we shared a common ancestor.
00:45:01.160
Like we are, like, you know, your, your great grandfather was a chimpanzee.
00:45:04.400
It's, we share a common ancestor a long time ago.
00:45:10.740
So, and that's, and that's what Darwin proposed.
00:45:14.360
Well, finally, a century later, when we could look at the human genome,
00:45:18.880
we found that, what do you know, we shared 99% of our DNA with chimps.
00:45:25.180
A little bit less with mice, far less with fish, and on and on down the line.
00:45:33.620
I think genetics just puts to rest any reasonable doubt on this subject,
00:45:38.160
because we could look at our genes and we can see the familiar relationships.
00:45:46.660
although he wasn't right about everything he said, obviously,
00:45:48.640
but he was basically right, or, or God is trying to trick us.
00:45:53.340
God is playing a fun little trick by making our DNA exactly match
00:46:04.020
This, again, genetics, this is a testable, workable thing.
00:46:11.180
Scientists can go into a laboratory, they can look at your genes,
00:46:14.640
and they can tell you who you're related to, and they will be right.
00:46:17.860
Because you can establish relations through genetics.
00:46:23.800
And it's by that same system, in that same field of study,
00:46:27.800
where they can establish relations between the species.
00:46:33.120
Which is exactly what you would expect if Darwin was right.
00:46:37.940
And it's exactly what you would not expect if Darwin was wrong.
00:46:43.480
If Darwin was wrong, then when we were finally able to look at the human genome,
00:46:47.560
we should have discovered that there is no similarity at all between us and chimpanzees.
00:46:53.820
That's what we should have discovered if he was wrong.
00:46:57.400
And there have been many, many, many other confirmations of evolutionary theory over the last many decades.
00:47:04.780
You know, one of them is that we have seen it happen.
00:47:09.280
We have observed evolution happening in real time.
00:47:12.980
For example, certain species of moths during the Industrial Revolution,
00:47:17.480
over the last 100, 200 years, have turned darker.
00:47:25.840
Because, well, because darker blends in more with the environment now,
00:47:28.680
living in a concrete jungle with air pollution and everything else.
00:47:40.420
Actually, there was someone else who at the same time came up with a similar idea.
00:47:42.860
But in any case, natural selection is very simple.
00:47:49.860
Genetic mutations produce different traits in living things.
00:48:00.060
You have genetic mutations, and they produce different traits.
00:48:05.660
Now, those genetic traits are passed down through the generations through reproduction.
00:48:21.000
Some traits are going to be advantageous for survival, and some won't be.
00:48:27.380
So, the creatures that have those advantageous traits are more likely to survive, thus are
00:48:37.940
And so, those traits are going to pass down, while the traits that are not advantageous for
00:48:42.820
survival are going to die off, because the people with those, whatever creature we're
00:48:48.280
talking about, whether it's moths or people or whatever, are going to die off.
00:48:57.380
And in 100 years or 200 years, it can produce mild changes, like a moth changing color.
00:49:05.220
No one thinks that it's, you know, you hear this analogy sometimes where evolution is like,
00:49:11.760
it's like claiming that, you know, if you took a bunch of pieces of metal and jumbled
00:49:19.380
That's not what evolutionary theory, of course, that's absurd.
00:49:28.560
It's the, you have certain traits, advantageous for survival, those are going to live on,
00:49:35.180
while the ones that are not advantageous die off.
00:49:46.480
In 100 million years, so a million times longer, the changes will be more significant.
00:49:58.360
It's perfectly sensible, confirmed by science, observable, testable, logical, no problem.
00:50:05.860
And, you know, you can, that's why I would just, if people just understood what it actually
00:50:17.320
is, I think a lot of this controversy would go away.
00:50:22.120
And when I say study it, you know, to go on Google and type in how to debunk evolution
00:50:29.520
or whatever, you know, and we all study things that way.
00:50:32.640
I think a lot of us, when we claim that we research something, that's really what we did.
00:50:36.940
Where we had our conclusion already in mind, based on our preconceived notions, and then
00:50:42.700
we look specifically for talking points on the internet that would help us support that
00:50:54.460
You gotta look, you have to look at the whole context of something.
00:50:57.780
And you have to try to find sources that do not appear to be propaganda, that don't have
00:51:06.060
But if there's a clear bias, a clear vested interest in a certain conclusion, you gotta stay
00:51:18.280
So, with evolution, don't just read some debunking website without actually going to the scientists
00:51:26.080
themselves and seeing what they, read a whole book written by a scientist explaining what
00:51:35.960
Don't have someone else tell you what's wrong with it.
00:51:45.500
Find a book explaining evolution, not written by someone who's a skeptic debunking it, giving
00:51:50.380
you talking, but a whole book explaining what it is.
00:51:59.340
Now, how does this affect things theologically?
00:52:05.440
God has obviously chosen to create things in a gradual way.
00:52:10.300
God guides the formation and development of life, and he does it gradually.
00:52:18.440
Does that mean that we can't interpret the, you know, the Genesis 100% literally?
00:52:28.840
The Bible talks about the sun moving in the sky around the earth.
00:52:40.900
The earth moves around the sun, not the other way around.
00:52:44.400
A lot of people, for hundreds, for many centuries, a lot of people thought that those verses that
00:52:52.420
seem to indicate a heliocentric model of the universe thought that those verses were
00:52:57.260
And that's what got Galileo in trouble when he came along and said, eh, no.
00:53:03.320
And so a lot of people did what I think some Christians are doing today, where they're saying,
00:53:08.920
no, there's no way to interpret this metaphorically.
00:53:14.380
And so therefore, I insist that the sun moves around the earth.
00:53:24.740
And so Christians were prompted at that point to go back and realize that they had misinterpreted
00:53:35.080
the verses that they thought were literal, apparently were not exactly.
00:53:43.200
And my point is simply that you can't really take this high and mighty pose of, well, no,
00:53:56.000
We know the Bible is a book with many different genres saying and doing many different things.
00:54:00.520
It's not one book written by one person with every page and every chapter and every book
00:54:06.100
within it trying to do and communicate and say the exact same thing.
00:54:10.120
Yet dozens of authors over a thousand years doing and saying different things.
00:54:19.180
And that's one of the questions with theology and exegesis.
00:54:24.060
But you can't take this high and mighty pose of, oh, no, I refuse to take any of this metaphorically.
00:54:31.740
If we were having this conversation 600 years ago, you would be insisting that the sun goes around the earth.
00:54:39.800
And you would be saying that for me to claim otherwise is to call God a liar.
00:54:46.380
What was once a theological controversy, you accept is there's really only one side to it.
00:55:13.700
We don't believe that God literally reached down with his hand out of the sky and wrote the Bible physically.
00:55:28.120
And it is quite a complex, fascinating, beautiful code.
00:55:35.000
Well, if Genesis is literal, then human DNA, which clearly points to familial relationships between species,
00:55:51.760
You know, God knowing that the evolutionary theory would one day be formulated.
00:56:02.720
Knowing that after the formulation of that theory, we would be able to look at human DNA and draw these conclusions.
00:56:10.640
Knowing all that, God still made it seem as if we are related in some way to chimpanzees.
00:56:19.780
That to me seems like you're calling God a liar there.
00:56:23.760
You're telling us he's lying to us through our genetic code.
00:56:51.400
I think there's no problem with the DNA says what it says.
00:57:10.700
God is telling us something through Genesis as well.
00:57:13.300
Well, I'm just suggesting that maybe, Aaron, you're a little bit wrong about what God is telling us.
00:57:29.020
So you can't come to me and say, oh, you're saying God is, you know, I'm not talking about God.
00:57:39.580
But I do appreciate the, I really do appreciate bringing that up because I think it's a really interesting subject.
00:57:46.560
And I find it fascinating, you know, and I really love to learn about the physical world and how life developed and all that.
00:57:58.560
And I think that Christians should not shy away from that.
00:58:01.740
I think we should embrace this because it's amazing and fascinating and beautiful.
00:58:15.580
And I thank everybody for watching and listening today.
00:58:18.180
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe.
00:58:24.020
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00:58:28.180
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00:58:32.520
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00:58:39.660
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00:58:48.500
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00:58:57.420
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00:59:00.380
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