The CEO of TikTok showed up to Capitol Hill yesterday to persuade lawmakers not to ban the social media app, and things did not go particularly well. But TikTok knew the questions that they were going to be asked, and what they ve done is what TikTok has now made an effort to reframe the debate.
00:04:26.620But what TikTok has done, and I suspect this will be successful, is they've now made an effort to reframe the debate about banning TikTok.
00:04:36.540The idea of banning TikTok, certainly from government devices, but from all American devices, was gaining a lot of steam throughout the country.
00:04:45.580And what TikTok has done is come in now and say, hold on, if you want to ban this Chinese spy app, that sounds kind of xenophobic, doesn't it?
00:04:55.900You wouldn't want me to call you a racist, would you?
00:04:59.900And that won't persuade serious Republicans with real national security concerns.
00:05:06.880But that might persuade a lot of Democrats.
00:05:09.040That might even persuade people in the middle, because the worst thing to be called in America is racist.
00:05:45.300I pointed out at the top that the reason that Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and Google are so concerned about TikTok is not because of privacy concerns.
00:06:18.400One's own government has much more of a right to do these kinds of things than a foreign government.
00:06:24.160So we should treat these things differently, and we should treat them differently precisely because one of them is foreign, the others are domestic.
00:06:32.240All of that said, they can ban TikTok, they can not ban TikTok.
00:12:01.640When the libs protest colonialism, you better bring those protest signs and take a look in the mirror.
00:12:07.400Speaking of cultural differences, a Michigan college has just announced a number of new graduation ceremonies.
00:12:14.680This is Grand Valley State University.
00:12:17.380The Multicultural Affairs Office over at Grand Valley State has now announced there will be graduation ceremonies or celebrations for black students.
00:14:24.700So as long as that persists, then you're going to get,
00:14:28.120you're going to get more of these sorts of graduation ceremonies.
00:14:32.740Though there is a kind of subtle, there is a subtly colonial or racist undertone to this whole thing,
00:14:43.320which is, oh, there's the Latino graduation, there's the gay graduation, there's the black graduation.
00:14:49.640But the main graduation, that's the white graduation.
00:14:52.280I don't think the Libs are totally conscious of it, but it's the same accident of their invectives against colonialism and racism that you see in their affairs in Africa.
00:15:06.540Speaking of wokeness at schools, there is some good news out of higher education.
00:15:12.200You remember a week or two ago, Stanford Law had that horrific display where a judge, the Fifth Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, came to town and was giving a lecture.
00:15:21.720And these lunatic students, these students who obviously should never have been admitted, certainly should be expelled, certainly should never become lawyers,
00:15:28.300they come out, they start screaming obscenities, weird sexual obscenities,
00:15:32.380all sorts of four-letter words at this guy to shut him up from speaking at a Federalist Society event.
00:15:36.440So, at that point, a dean of diversity and inclusion walks in, takes the side of the screaming banshee students, starts yelling at the judge,
00:15:47.820and I said at the time, if the students aren't expelled and the dean isn't fired, then we're just seeing empty talk.
00:15:58.260Okay, yes, Stanford apologizes, but talk is cheap.
00:16:59.520They are not doing their job if they're not constantly stirring the pot, undermining the rules of the university, undermining the pursuit of truth, undermining academic standards, and ginning up racial grievance about nonsense and imaginary problems.
00:18:26.660The consensus wisdom is that the reason that school choice is winning now is because during lockdown, the kids came home and the parents were able to see what they were being taught in schools because the learning started to take place on laptops and the parents could be in the back of the room.
00:18:44.940And the parents were so shocked at what the kids were being taught in schools that this renewed a push for school choice.
00:18:52.340I have a little bit of a different take, though.
00:18:54.860I think that one of the big reasons that school choice is winning now is because parents recognized the possibility of alternatives in education.
00:19:07.780I think humans are creatures of habit and we can get stuck in a rut and we can lose our imagination and think that if something is a certain way right now, it always has to be that way.
00:19:19.020And so, yes, parents saw that their kids' education was even crazier than they previously thought, but they knew it was a little bit crazy.
00:19:28.460The kids are coming home and talking about all this weird stuff, the transgender and the pan-sgender and the thank you, ma'am gender and all the rest of it.
00:19:34.080So they know that. It's like that scene in The Sopranos when A.J. comes home and he's talking to Anthony and Carmela and he says,
00:19:42.520America is a terrible place and Columbus was a genocidal maniac and then Tony starts screaming at him.
00:19:47.460Parents know that their kids are being taught nonsense in schools.
00:19:50.720They didn't know there was an alternative.
00:19:52.460And then for two years, the kids were sitting at home on their computers.
00:19:58.120Parents were exploring homeschool pods.
00:20:00.520They were exploring certain private education methods and they were recognizing that the education was not particularly high quality.
00:20:09.660And they said, wow, another option is available.
00:20:11.920I think if people just see that there are choices, if people just see that they're not stuck with whatever the libs hand them,
00:20:20.780that gives people a lot of encouragement.
00:20:23.460Encourage is not only a virtue but the prerequisite for all of the other virtues.
00:20:42.220Living a healthy lifestyle is not always easy, especially when you are always on the go.
00:20:47.760You need simple, manageable routines to make sure you are getting the proper nutrition every day,
00:20:53.260which is why I'm a huge fan of Balance of Nature.
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00:21:50.340My favorite comment yesterday actually does not come from the show.
00:21:54.040My favorite comment comes from the Democratic Socialists of Purdue University.
00:22:00.780So, you know, I'm in Indiana right now.
00:22:04.080There were hundreds and hundreds of protesters.
00:22:06.460There were 500 or more protesters at a separate venue down the street where they were performing a drag show.
00:22:15.960It may have been like 800 protesters or something.
00:22:18.180But then even just right outside the lecture hall, there were at least 300 protesters last night screaming and shouting during my whole speech.
00:22:26.020Luckily, the room was relatively soundproof, so we were able to get through it.
00:22:29.420There were protesters holding up all these sorts of signs, kill yourself, Michael Knowles, kill the fascists.
00:22:37.100Now, I did the math there, and you see, if I am a fascist, and they are holding up a sign that says kill all the fascists, that would appear to be a call to kill me.
00:22:48.500But, oh, I mean, screaming like banshees, obscenities, trying to block people, calling people all sorts of terrible names.
00:22:54.160They obviously had tried to get the event shut down previously, and this is the quote that the young Democratic Socialists of America, Purdue, gave to the college fix.
00:23:05.040They said, the presence of Michael Knowles on a university campus should cause embarrassment to anyone who values intellectual honesty and free inquiry.
00:23:15.660I don't, is that, the presence of a conflicting viewpoint should embarrass anyone who wants free inquiry.
00:23:28.480I don't, just as coherent as everything else they say, right down to the suggestion that a man can really be a woman.
00:23:40.820I now have to get to, speaking of Florida, my absolute favorite clip I've ever seen from any legislative committee hearing.
00:23:53.660I guess at this committee hearing, they were hearing objections and commentary from various constituents.
00:23:59.460And so people put their names forward to be called on, and then this legislator would read the names that were put into the hat to be called on during the committee.
00:25:53.640Anger is often your body, your mind, your soul's way of telling you that you are worth something, that other people are worth something, that justice counts for something.
00:26:58.640He says, anger is the devil's cocaine.
00:27:01.960I'm not saying there is no place for righteous anger.
00:27:05.720There is a far greater place for righteousness, broadly.
00:27:08.800Yes, there can be a case for righteous anger.
00:27:12.440But most of the time that you are getting angry, you are falling into a temptation, and you're falling into the sin of wrath, and it's going to lead you astray.
00:27:19.160And you're going to feel justified in doing it.
00:27:21.040Because your enemies might really be as bad as you think they are.
00:27:25.680And the way that they persecute you might really be as bad as you think it is.
00:28:03.020If you're dealing with a rogue employee, like I'm dealing with Mr. Davies all the time, you know, gallivanting around, carousing, doing all sorts of nonsense.
00:28:10.680When I'm going to, you know, bring down the hammer, you don't do it when you're angry.
00:28:15.620Because you're going to lose your rational faculties.
00:30:57.220We desire certain things because they desire those things.
00:30:59.620So, the way to live in a flourishing way is not to just look at yourself and then imitate yourself in this infinitely regressive way and recursive way until you're talking about nothing at all.
00:31:40.860If you do that, you're not going to be living authentically as yourself, but paradoxically, you will be living most authentically as yourself because you were made in the image and likeness of God and you were made to do good.
00:32:59.240In Exodus, Jordan is joined by a group of esteemed scholars, theologians, artists, and my great friend, Dennis Prager, to discuss one of those seminal books in the Bible.
00:33:11.000New episodes are coming online every week exclusively for Daily Wire Plus members.
00:33:14.420Join now at dailywire.com slash subscribe to watch Exodus.
00:33:19.520Now, finally, finally, we have arrived at my favorite time of the week.
00:33:23.820This mailbag is sponsored by PureTalk out of puretalk.com.
00:35:05.500The purpose of this glass, not quite as good as a leftist tears tumbler, but the purpose of it is actually to drink wine, though I'm not a lush quite that much.
00:35:25.060The purpose of my mouth is to eat and to taste.
00:35:28.120And the purpose of some of those other parts, like the ones that Dennis Prager was talking about earlier, the purpose of that is for a woman, not for yourself.
00:35:42.420Obviously, sex is a huge driver for men in particular.
00:35:46.300You're married, so I would encourage you to have a conversation with your wife and maybe say,
00:35:52.000Hey, look, you know, I am so drawn to you that we need to express that a little bit more for the generation and education of children and for the unity of the spouses and so that I don't fall into this sin, which is obviously a sin.
00:36:10.500I've been thinking about the possibility of impeaching Joe Biden, and I generally agree with you when you say that it's not expedient for Republicans at the moment to do so.
00:36:19.620But with all of the corruption that's coming out about Biden's family and Hunter and the laptop and all that, if he were to be impeached, I feel like this would be a game changer for the Republican field in 2024.
00:36:36.380Because it would set Ron DeSantis apart as being someone among those three people, Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, that has not been impeached when the other two have.
00:36:49.740And you can't say that about Donald Trump.
00:36:52.080So do you think that an impeachment of Joe Biden would make a nomination of Ron DeSantis more likely?
00:37:03.260Maybe, there are plenty of reasons why people prefer Ron DeSantis to Trump, but I'm not sure that that would necessarily be one of them.
00:37:12.780It might sway people who don't pay very close attention to politics, and to just hear a talking point, I'm the only guy who hasn't been impeached.
00:37:18.800But as impeachment becomes nakedly political and not based on the legal criteria that are outlined in the Constitution for impeachment,
00:37:30.240impeachment will become a badge of honor.
00:37:33.260The risk for DeSantis there is that people will say, wait, this guy wasn't even impeached?
00:39:50.700I think that there could be some advantages of a woman president, maybe, but it depends a little bit how you view the presidency.
00:40:01.760There have been great female rulers in history, but they've tended to be monarchs rather than prime ministers or presidents.
00:40:13.960The president in the United States is weird because he's a little bit monarch and he's a little bit prime minister.
00:40:18.920In other countries, they divide that office up so that the head of state, the president, is mostly ceremonial and meant to unite the country,
00:40:26.700whereas the prime minister is the efficient politician who is driving at policy and day in and day out of government.
00:40:36.420In the UK, they've got a king who is dignified or is supposed to be dignified and he unites the country and then they've got the prime minister, which is the efficient politician.
00:40:48.180In the US, the president is both of those things.
00:40:50.900So you think of some of the great Queen Victoria, very important and wonderful world leader.
00:41:24.940The idea that you would pledge your loyalty to the wife of a lord and because women are just so much more sympathetic and men put women on a pedestal, that maybe could work.
00:41:40.840There have been some, there's one example, really, of a really tough-as-nails, conservative, efficient political leader in recent times.
00:42:18.300And I have another question I wanted you to express your opinion on.
00:42:23.100What are your thoughts on citizens' arrests or citizen justice, if you will?
00:42:28.380Well, I started mulling over the idea that citizens who are properly armed know the difference between right and wrong actually tend to produce more results than just waiting and calling for the police, and it reduces fatalities of good people.
00:42:44.260But I wanted to take a look at the possibility of the negative consequences, whereas if somebody does not know the difference between right and wrong, but they think that they're just to take out somebody who disagrees with them, i.e. the libs, if you tell them that they can't use the women's bathroom,
00:43:04.020and then they drag you out and they beat you to death because of that, then how would we define what is the actual definition of right and wrong for this sort of thing, even though we all know what the difference between right and wrong is?
00:43:19.700We can infer from the moral order and deduce what is right and what is wrong using our moral conscience, and that is guided by tradition, by the inherited wisdom, by the civil law.
00:43:41.060We can use our faculties of reason to work through these questions, but you're saying, what about in the heat of the moment?
00:43:49.080We have a right to self-defense, to defend ourselves, to take down the immediate threat.
00:43:55.600But in the example that you've just given, the people who go into a woman's bathroom, drag the guy out who's mostly just minding his business, then beat him to death on the sidewalk, they would not just be defending themselves or defending women.
00:44:12.480They would be engaging in an act of vigilantism and murder in that case.
00:44:19.860To say that you have a right to self-defense is not to say that you now have the right to go be a vigilante and go find every bad guy like Batman.
00:44:27.820It's to say you have a right to stop the threat and then allow the civil authority to come in and do what it does.
00:44:37.000But you have to be restrained in that regard, and so I don't see any fear of that.
00:44:41.260You always have the right to defend yourself.
00:44:43.720That just comes from the law of self-preservation.
00:44:47.720But to go further than that, you have to give it up to the civil authority, even if the civil authority is corrupt and stupid and lazy and does all sorts of problems, as is often the case.
00:44:57.400That would be how you protect against that, and in the long run, how you have a better shot of ensuring justice.
00:45:07.180You will help me pick the correct, or the fake headline, rather, out of the five that Mr. Davies is trying to stump me on.
00:45:14.560The only way to do it is to become a member of the Creme de la Creme, not Juhoy Poloi out here on YouTube, just like a leech, sucking up all this free content without parting with your hard-earned money so that you can help me figure out which headline is fake on Fridays.