Ep. 4 - Goo-Goo Ga-ttacaļ¼ The Dawn of Designer Babies
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Summary
In the wake of CRISPR gene editing being used to edit human embryos, some fear that it s the beginning of the end of the era of smart monkeys. What are the dangers of designer babies, and who are the potential winners and losers? Guest: bioethicist Leon Cass.
Transcript
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The tweets are in. Dawn of the designer baby. Scientists safely use gene editing to delete a
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mutation from a human embryo, bringing back ethical debates. Scientists have edited human
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embryos to safely remove diseases. What could go wrong? Great question. Trump is the designer baby
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of the GOP. Good point. Stoked for those who may benefit, but scared this might be the beginning
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of the end of the era of smart monkeys. Who are you calling a monkey? Last week, the MIT Technology
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Review reported that scientists in Oregon successfully modified the DNA of human embryos using the
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gene editing technique CRISPR to edit out a heritable heart condition, signaling perhaps
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the dawn of designer babies. Start saving your pennies, or you might wind up with one of those
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outdated, imperfect babies. Plus, roaming millennial Amanda Prestigiacomo and Paul Bois join the
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panel of deplorables to discuss Rosie O'Donnell's new women-only political party, White House
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aide Stephen Miller's smackdown of CNN, and the prospect of President Zuckerberg. Oh my.
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Stick around at the end because I will answer your questions from our first ever mailbag.
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I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.
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Now, this is a major news story that scientists have now successfully edited the human genome and
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deleted a mutation for a heart disorder, which is called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Luckily,
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we at The Michael Knowles Show, we have so many great live feeds. We have a live feed from the
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laboratory where this advance occurred. Can we cut to it? Genetics. What can it mean? The ability
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to perfect the physical and mental characteristics of every unborn child.
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The ability of genetic enter to choose the genes of the society.
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Oh no, that was the trailer for the 1997 sci-fi epic Gattaca. That was not the, we've got to fix that live
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feed. So it's a very good movie. Now, of course, left-wing outlets predictably are denying that
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this is the age of Gattaca. They're denying even not only the moral hazard, but even that this is
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happening in the first place. The Atlantic has a big piece out today, quote, the designer baby era is
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not upon us. American scientists have now used CRISPR to edit embryos. Doesn't mean we're entering
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into Gattaca dystopia. Steven Pinker out of Harvard has been denying that this is happening
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for a decade now. He wrote 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I think. The prospect of designer babies is
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very much in doubt. We can deal with the ethical conundrums if and when they arise, but thinkers
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should acknowledge the frailty of technological predictions and base policy recommendations on
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likelihoods rather than fantasies. But not all of the experts agree. Not even all of the experts on
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the left agree. There is a left-wing pro-abortion genetic study center. It's called the Center for
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Genetics and Society. And they're firmly against this. They're saying that what's being reported
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as research here is deeply misleading and, quote, there's no need to manipulate the genes
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of children to remove the risk of disease. So in this debate, it's very confusing. Let's
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turn to the foremost expert we have in channeling scientific technology to perfect human nature.
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Marshall, how many times do I have to tell you I don't speak German? I'm sorry. No, we don't all
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speak German, okay? Okay. Now, we're lucky that we also have an English-speaking analyst. I guess
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we'll have to listen to him on this. It's an expert out of the University of Chicago, Leon Cass. He's a
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brilliant humanist. He was also the chairman of President Bush's Presidential Council on
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Bioethical Inquiry. And he breaks down this issue a little more in depth for those of us who don't
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speak Nazi. Most of us cheerfully believe that we can both enjoy the promise and escape the perils
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of the coming biotechnological age. Most of us also believe that there is little connection between
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the promise and the peril or between the humanistic aspirations that fuel the scientific enterprise
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and the deadly or dehumanizing uses to which new technologies might perversely be put.
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But a powerful challenge to our complacent opinion is provided by an important exhibit prepared by the
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United States Holocaust Museum entitled Deadly Medicine Creating the Master Race. This exhibit
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documents the abominable uses that the Nazis made of science and medicine. But even more relevant for
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us, it also presents the scientific outlook on life and the aspiration to human perfectibility
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that the Nazis inherited and exploited. An outlook and an aspiration that dwell robustly in American
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cultural life today. So who said it better, Michael?
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Well, I certainly understood it better from Leon Kass. And I think that's why I'm always
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reluctant to make comparisons to the Nazis. But I don't think it's out of place here,
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because this is a disturbing trend that's happened for a while. But it is a break from Western
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civilization, the quest to perfect human nature scientifically and not merely socially. You know,
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it was put, I don't remember who put it this way, but it was put that previously in Western
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civilization. We had a God made man who saved us from sin through his suffering. And now we have
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man made God who is saving us himself from the sin of suffering. That is a really radically different
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way of approaching our lives and approaching the world. And it raises a number of ethical questions
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that we have not even come close to answering yet. And probably we should answer before we start
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creating these supermen, these little super babies. Will designer babies create radical inequality?
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If we are already selecting out through abortion, the people who have mental illnesses or who are
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mentally retarded, while they're still in the womb, the number of people with Down syndrome has
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decreased dramatically, because people are selecting against it. There is this radical inequality that
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could be created. And there's also the question of who has access to it. So if this technology exists
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to get rid of certain heritable diseases, or to augment intelligence, or so on and so forth,
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who's going to have access to them? It's going to be people who have the money to pay for it.
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And now, even if this is highly regulated by the government, of course, a black market will exist.
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And when we're talking about something as important and fundamental as human nature and as the human
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brain, that black market could breed a lot of chaos and trouble. Some other questions are the
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unintended consequences. Do we really want to unbound ourselves from our human nature? And when I say that
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this technology has the prospect to change human nature, I'm not speaking hyperbolically. The word
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nature is referring to how we are born, how humans are born into this world. So if we can eliminate
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suffering, and early death, or disease, or what have you, would we really want to? It's suffering and
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enriching an inherent part of the human condition. And if we say, well, we'll just get rid of the really bad diseases,
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how do we determine what these really bad diseases are? This heritable heart condition that affects
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athletes that we've selected against or edited out using this technology, is that the threshold or
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certain other diseases? I sneeze a lot. Will that someday be edited out? I joke a little bit, but it's
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really hard to draw that line. And also, does this affect the commoditization of life? We've seen that
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life can have a money value in the modern world, and life that's more costly to create will have a
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higher price tag on it. Do we want to further degrade life in the material world? And does it
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undermine concepts that are essential to our country and our civilization? Universal equality, equality
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before God, all men are created equal and have natural rights. Will we create men intentionally who
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are decidedly unequal, who have huge variability in IQ, or resistance to disease, or so on and so forth?
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And there's a generational ethical question, which is, you're not only affecting the genome for one
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person, you're affecting it all the way down the line. If you're taking out heritable diseases,
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then his children will not inherit them and his children and his children and so forth.
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And who gets to make that call? You know who I think gets to make that call? Our panel of
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deplorables. We bring on Roaming Millennial, you know her from the YouTubes. The Daily Wire is very
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on Amanda Prestigiacomo, and for some reason, Paul Bois, the voice of the Lord himself. Roaming,
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does this mean that one day we could even make an embryo that was destined to look like Paul Bois
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end up looking like you or Amanda? Because then very possibly I could get on board with it.
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Yeah. You know, this is an issue where honestly, I'm torn. I mean, you know, obviously when we start
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talking about steps to perfect the human race, I mean, yeah, that is, you know, Nazi whispers kind
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of start going off at the back of your head. But that was Paul's nickname in high school,
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by the way, was the Nazi whisperer. But I'm sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.
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That's a good one. But I mean, yeah, you know, at the same time, people are saying like, hey, look,
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we have the chance of eradicating a lot of these more serious diseases. And, you know, as someone who
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hopes to be a mother someday, I'm trying to put myself in that position. Or like, if I'm about to have a
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kid and, you know, this is a possibility, I can ensure that they are going to be healthy growing
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up. It's a really honestly, it's a hard decision to make. And I think it's something that,
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you know, we as a public should have more input on, right? I don't think we should just,
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you know, let this happen and kind of on the sidelines.
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And I think this, right, exactly. I think we do need to be having this conversation
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as a culture, because like you said, there's a ton of implications that we've never had to deal with
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before. And you bring up a great point. I think everybody wants it for their child. I want it for a
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little, little Michael Jr. for sure. I just don't want it for anyone else's child. And,
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and this raises the moral, this moral hazard. So Paul, to you, moral hazard, moral hazard,
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why shouldn't we just make our kids pretty and smart and wonderful?
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I mean, well, we can go on all day about what kind of world this opens up. I think the movie
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Gattaca really successfully explored the kind of caste system that would develop with genetically
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enhanced human beings. But I think an interesting point is one that was made by Dr. David King,
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when he said that by genetically enhancing people, we would therefore be forcing them
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to perform according to the way that we designed them to. So essentially, we're eliminating people's
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free will. So let's take, for example, you take a person who's born, and we design them to be like
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Ben Shapiro, a superhuman IQ intelligence. God forbid. God help us. That's the name of my show,
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actually. And let's just say this Ben Shapiro clone, he just decides one day he wants to sit
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all day on his butt and watch Brady Bunch. Who's to say that a government or an agency can't force
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him to live according to the way that he was designed to do so? So that's an interesting point.
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I think we just got a window into polls Saturday afternoons, just sitting on that couch,
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watching the Brady Bunch. Sounds good to me. Amanda, the secular left is always harping on
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inequality. They imagine inequalities, they create new inequalities, but they seem to be embracing this,
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at least a good percentage of them. Isn't there a disconnect here?
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Yeah. And you see the same thing in abortion, as you were talking about earlier. It's the same thing
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where they're eliminating Down syndrome babies. They talk about all this inequality, income inequality,
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that's what they're fixated on. When it comes to things like this, we are literally eliminating
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Down syndrome children through abortion. And again, this would be the same thing where you would
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eliminate whatever quality or whatever. I mean, I know they're talking about genetic diseases right
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now, but you know, where does this, where does this end? It's all in the name of compassion,
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isn't it? Just like the compassion to let little child. As always.
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As always, the same with abortion of compassion for the mother, but no compassion for the child.
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And again, like Paul said, no free will as well. That's a great point. Roaming,
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Leon compared this to the Holocaust, compared it to Nazi eugenics. Is that outrageous? Were the
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Nazi eugenics a bastardization of science, or is it the logical conclusion of this sort of scientific
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inquiry? Well, I mean, if we take the assumption that there are groups that we are as a society
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prejudiced against, I, I don't know, let's say, let's say gingers, because that's a pretty
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inoffensive way to go. It's not crazy to think that when we have to bleep this out,
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Richard Spencer back here again, with all her racist clap. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Roaming.
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But you know, it's not crazy to think that when we do have the ability to select which genes and which
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traits we want to pass on to our children, that these traits that we find less desirable will be
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eliminated from the gene pool. And you know, if you're, you know, if you're someone who is,
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I don't know, of a, you know, let's say again, let's go with gingers, let's say for gingers,
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right? I mean, I don't think it's crazy to make that leap and say like, hey, yeah, you know, maybe
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this is something we should be concerned about. Do we want to give people the power to, you know,
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kind of take these genes out of, out of our society, out of humans based on, I don't know.
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The answer is, of course, yes. We're probably going to get blocked on YouTube for all of this
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anti-ginger talk, but proceed. Right. To me, it's a lot of control to be giving to people,
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to scientists. Absolutely. Absolutely. And Paul, you're the more Catholic than the Pope.
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Would you say that people here are looking now towards science for their salvation? Questions
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that they might've prayed for or accepted suffering with acceptance and patience, they're now looking
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for science to fix. Is there something wrong with this? Is it going on? What do we do about it?
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Oh, absolutely, Michael. There's tons of things wrong with here. So, I mean, what you have here
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is really, it's a multi-pronged situation with different theological implications. Like,
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one is a conchable good, you know, which is the healing of certain diseases,
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while the other is a violation of natural law. And that's the enhancement of humans beyond their
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natural state. And so the church makes a clear distinction between genetic enhancement and genetic
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therapy. Genetic therapy essentially restores nature. I mean, as long as it restores the
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dignity upon a person, um, and genetic enhancements, uh, imposes upon them, uh, something that wasn't
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there already. Naturally, you know, you make them super smart or you make them super athletic. Um, and
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that is very clearly defined as, uh, morally defunct and to be avoided.
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An important distinction from Cardinal Bois. We have to move on. The DCCC, the Democratic
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Congressional Campaign Committee has signaled that there will be no litmus test for candidates.
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Just speaking of eugenics, they are suggesting that they'll allow pro-life Democrats to run and
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still fund them. Rosie O'Donnell is very upset about this. She's threatening to form her own all
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women political party if the Democrats don't kick out all of the pro-lifers from their party. For
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reaction, we go to president Trump. Well, Rosie O'Donnell is disgusting. I mean,
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both inside and out, you take a look at her. She talks like a truck driver. Rosie personally,
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because I was very happy when her talk show failed. The other thing that failed, and this was a real
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monster and everybody was suing her. Maybe her party will fail too. Amanda, it seems fair to say
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that Rosie O'Donnell will never need an abortion. Why does she care about this so much?
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Yeah, she, first of all, I'm just, I'm glad that she's speaking up and coming to the forefront of
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the Democratic Party as much as we can get her out there. I'm cool with it. She makes Lena Dunham
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look sufferable. So I'm okay with Rosie being as loud as she can. She's always loud. So it's,
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you know, it's a given. Well, I just, it's just so funny though, because this is, this is the
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Democratic Party. This is what they're up against right now. They're trying to move to the center
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because they know they keep getting their butt kicked and they want to win those voters that
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Trump won, those, those, that white working class. And they're not being allowed to because of crazies
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like Rosie who have taken over their party and pull them to the left. I mean, they're just saying,
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we're going to be open to the idea of someone who, who's, you know, not pro-Sacrament abortion,
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and they're losing their minds. She wants to start a whole new party of just women. By the way,
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women are not monolithic. They're not all pro-abortion. So, I mean, I think it's 40% of
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women aren't for abortion. That's right. Almost half of women are pro-life. They don't support
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abortion. And the numbers get even, even more interesting when you break it down by second
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trimester or late abortion, what have you. Oh, exactly. Paul, is, is Amanda right? Is the DCCC
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signaling that it should back away from the sacramental view of abortion? It might not play in Peoria?
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Yeah, I think they realize that it's been hazardous to them in the long run. I mean,
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this is a litmus test that was actually imposed upon by the Clintons. The last major pro-life
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democratic figure was Governor Robert Casey, who was disinvited to speak at the DNC in 1992 because
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of his pro-life views. And I think that after the election of Trump and the fall of the Rust Belt and
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the Midwestern states sort of going into the Republican party, I think they see a serious
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problem on their hands. And there are a lot of pro-life people that I know personally and out
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there voicing themselves who identify politically with the Democratic party, but they just are very,
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very uncomfortable with their pro-abortion views. So I think it's starting to hit them.
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It also seems like a bad strategy to keep killing the next generation of your political activists.
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That can't last for very long. Roaming- That's why they open borders.
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Yeah, that is why they open borders. Right, they want important ones.
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Exactly, yes. Roaming, if Rosie starts an all-women political party,
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will you be its nominee for president? And if so, what will be your first act in office?
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Well, absolutely, I would join the party and wanna be head of that movement. Because as we all know,
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the only thing women care about as voters is abortion. That's right.
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Obviously, just throw abortions at us, we will come a running. No, but seriously,
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I've never understood these left-wing feminists who try to make abortion something that all women
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should care about all the time. So I'm personally pro-life, but I know a lot of my friends who are
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pro-choice. And even for them, they understand that, hey, I may or may not have an abortion
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throughout my lifetime. And hopefully, Lord willing, it's never going to happen. But you know what I do
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do every day? I do go to work every day. I do pay taxes every day. I do live in a society that is
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influenced by immigration every day. Maybe those are more important to me. And when it comes to
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abortion, I've actually been shamed as a woman for actually saying that I'm pro-life, but I don't
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know if it's necessarily something I would withdraw support from for a candidate if they came out in
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a different position. I've been shamed by pro-life women for not caring- sorry, pro-choice women for not
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caring enough about this topic. I shame you too. For shame, Roaming, for shame.
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Right. But I mean, shouldn't the point of abortions be, even if you're for them to,
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I don't know, have as little of them as possible? So Rosie O'Donnell just seems one of those people
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who, I don't know, the sort of shout-your-abortion type of feminist who's trying to glorify it,
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make everyone wants one, just abortions on the street corner. And I just don't get it.
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Lena Dunham said she's sorry she hasn't had an abortion because she can't be a good ally for the pro-choice
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movement. And there is this conflation too of abortion with women's health. So all of women's
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health is abortion. I think someone else said it, but when you call up your grandmother and you say,
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hey, grandma, how you doing? Well, you know, my hip hurts and I don't walk as well, but at least I
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still have my right to have an abortion. At least I still have that. That's not what I hear from my
00:19:48.940
grandma. Okay. You know what? We have to say goodbye to Facebook and YouTube. You can keep watching all of
00:19:53.980
these great panelists, but only if you're not so cheap. You have to go to TheDailyWire.com
00:19:59.420
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Leftist Tears Tumblr the other day. I had iced coffee in the morning. No joke, I brought it in at
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It is a really good Tumblr, perfect for such a precious commodity as Leftist Tears. Go there
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right now, DailyWire.com. We'll see you to talk about the news and the mailbag.
00:20:42.060
CNN's Jim Acosta recently got into a heated exchange with White House aide Stephen Miller over
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immigration. The Statue of Liberty says give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,
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yearning to breathe free. It doesn't say anything about speaking English or being able to
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be a computer programmer. Aren't you trying to change what it means to be an immigrant
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coming into this country if you're telling them you have to speak English? Can't people learn how to
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speak English when they get here? Well, first of all, right now, it's a requirement that it'd be
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naturalized. You had to speak English. So the notion that speaking English wouldn't be a part
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of our immigration systems would be actually very ahistorical. Secondly, I don't want to get off into
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a whole thing about history here, but the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty enlightening
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the world. It's a symbol of American liberty lighting the world. The poem that you're referring
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to was added later is not actually part of the original Statue of Liberty. Jim, I appreciate
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your speech. Jim, I appreciate your speech. So let's talk about this. Jim, let's talk about this.
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In 1970, when we let in 300,000 people a year, was that violating or not violating the Statue of
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Liberty law of the land? In the 1990s, when it was half a million a year, was it violating or not
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violating the Statue of Liberty law of the land? Brutal. It goes on like that for about seven
00:22:04.060
minutes. I actually couldn't cut it anymore. Paul, I'm not familiar with international law,
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but did Stephen Miller technically commit a war crime in his Smackdown of CNN?
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Oh, lock him up, Michael. Lock him up. Lock him up. He triggered me. He, you know, he, I,
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my safe space was violated, you know, by the idea, the very idea that a government can put up standards
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as to who they can let in and let out of their borders is just extremely offensive. I mean,
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I mean, call UN, you know, call the courts. Yeah, absolutely lock him up.
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Roaming, this issue, illegal immigration has been a major issue for the last 10, 15 years.
00:22:41.100
And they've even accused those who want to limit illegal immigration of bigotry. But the issue of
00:22:45.820
limiting legal immigration hasn't really been discussed very much since maybe the 90s, maybe the
00:22:50.780
early 90s. And now I think it's clouded over with a great sense that if you want to limit legal
00:22:56.140
immigration, you're a bigot. Is it a legitimate opinion to say that a country should decide who
00:23:01.660
comes in and who comes out? I mean, legitimate opinion is, is such a,
00:23:07.500
such a broad term, right? I think it's not a racist opinion.
00:23:11.500
That is what I'm asking. Is it, is it racist? Is it bigoted to say we don't want as many people
00:23:16.540
from this country? We want more people from this country and more people with these degrees?
00:23:20.220
Absolutely not. And actually, you know, I'm, I'm an immigrant myself. I went to the US as an
00:23:26.620
international student for college after that, you know, student visa. After that, I got my OPT visa.
00:23:31.100
Then I did the long, arduous and expensive process of applying for a green card. You know, I've,
00:23:35.660
I've been through the system. And so, you know, what really bothers me is when people try to make it
00:23:40.860
seem like caring about immigration and wanting more skilled immigrants is somehow like racist or
00:23:46.860
anti-immigrant. It is neither of those things. And I think, you know, immigrants who actually
00:23:51.020
want the best for the United States and want to be, uh, you know, economic benefits to the United
00:23:55.340
States, they should understand that, hey, you know, this, this is a, this is a country where,
00:24:00.620
you know, welfare is already high. Uh, you know, the, the number of unskilled laborers is, is already
00:24:05.980
perhaps higher than the number of jobs for them. So, you know, do, do we want to bring in more people
00:24:10.460
who are going to compete with the most economically vulnerable people in the society? And, you know,
00:24:14.540
the answer is no. And what's so funny is that the people who are, who are against any sort of
00:24:19.020
skills or means testing for immigration, what they're actually in favor for is bringing in
00:24:23.500
people who are going to, again, compete with people who are the most vulnerable in American
00:24:27.580
society. So, you know, if you actually care about the American poor, this is a great policy.
00:24:32.940
If it were all roaming millennials coming across that Mexican border, I think we would all be Democrats.
00:24:37.820
Is that fair to say? I think that's fair to say. Amanda, a CNN reporter says that the poem that he
00:24:43.020
references is at the Statue of Liberty, but CNN is fake news. So is it possible that there's no poem at
00:24:49.420
all? Oh, that's, that's probably actually right. But I was unaware that poetry was, uh, U S law.
00:24:58.140
Whenever that, whenever that, yes. So whenever that happened, like, I wish I knew that during the
00:25:02.700
Obama years, I have, I have, you know, I can write some poetry. Um, but it's just, it's unbelievable.
00:25:08.140
First of all, Miller for president, Stephen Miller. He's tremendous. He is my favorite guy in that
00:25:14.060
administration. Oh, just so smart. Annihilated Acosta. And this is, this brings up one other
00:25:19.900
point that's kind of not that relevant, but there should not be cameras in these press briefings,
00:25:25.100
because this is what happens. This is just more confirmation that we should get those cameras out.
00:25:28.940
The grandstanding showboating. Absolutely. Yeah, it's ridiculous. But as opposed to,
00:25:35.260
I mean, just with regard to policy, this is actually really good policy. And this has to
00:25:39.740
do with green cards. So all like the agricultural stuff they're talking about is like a different,
00:25:43.740
it's not even with this policy. So I don't even know if they, if he understands what he's talking
00:25:47.820
about. And when it comes to speaking English, it's on a point system. So if you don't speak English,
00:25:52.380
you can still get in. You just don't get that point. So he's just wrong on so many levels.
00:25:56.860
He must've gotten lost in that beautiful, beautiful poetry. Sorry, go ahead.
00:25:59.980
Is he even pretending to be a reporter and objective at all at this point? Because you're,
00:26:05.420
you're literally an open border advocate at this point, right? You're arguing that they shouldn't
00:26:09.900
need to speak English. Like what, how is that? How's that journalism? How is that reporting?
00:26:14.460
You know, it's funny. I spent an afternoon one time with Jim Acosta. He came up to Yale because he was
00:26:19.740
covering a campaign that we were running there and he wasn't like this. He was actually just kind of a
00:26:25.020
TV newsman. He didn't seem to care at all about politics. Uh, I would say a little bit like that
00:26:31.100
Will Ferrell version of an anchor man in that movie. And now he's the biggest political activist in the
00:26:35.580
world. Who knows what a Trump derangement syndrome must be. Yeah. He got a taste of fame.
00:26:40.140
He got, that's right. Speaking of the presidential politics and endless immigration, Mark Zuckerberg,
00:26:47.180
the CEO of Facebook has hired Joel Benenson, a democratic pollster and the chief strategist for
00:26:53.020
Hillary 2016 to, uh, fuel rumors that the Zuck will run for president roaming. If Mark Zuckerberg
00:26:59.260
is so smart, why would he hire the strategist of the worst campaign ever?
00:27:05.260
Well, you know what? I, I believe in multiple intelligences, right? I think he's probably,
00:27:09.340
you know, gifted program or stuff like that. I think if the social network or whatever that movie
00:27:13.660
was taught us anything is that he may not be the best read on people. That's a very diplomatic way
00:27:19.500
of putting it. Amanda. Yeah, he may, I mean. Sorry, go ahead. Gender may not be on a spectrum,
00:27:25.260
but there's a good chance he might be. And you know, just like the decisions he's made about this.
00:27:30.380
I mean, I think we found the Zuck 2016 slogan. That's the, that's the bumper sticker slogan.
00:27:36.700
Amanda, what do you think we can look forward to in a Zuckerberg administration?
00:27:40.300
Uh, there, there won't be one. He, Hillary Clinton is more charismatic than Mark Zuckerberg.
00:27:48.620
A rock has a better personality than Mark Zuckerberg. It's, it's going to be tough for
00:27:52.460
him to win anything. He does have a ton of money and a ton of power. I understand that,
00:27:56.380
but he has a ton of data too. He knows everything about us. Yeah. Yeah. That's why it'd be terrifying
00:28:02.060
if he was, uh, if he actually did win. Um, but I think luckily I think we can bank on his terrible
00:28:07.900
personality and his zero charisma that he, he's not going to go anywhere. And then he's relying
00:28:12.300
on Hillary people. Has he not read Shattered? I mean, did he not know who won the election?
00:28:17.340
Who knew big brother would be so dweeby by the, probably everybody, I guess. Paul,
00:28:21.260
could Zuckerberg defeat Trump? Does he stand a chance or no?
00:28:25.340
Uh, no way. No, no way. I mean, it's pretty much just like, he represents everything that,
00:28:30.540
that Hillary represents, uh, in many ways. I mean, he's a Silicon Valley elitist. Uh,
00:28:36.060
he has no relationship whatsoever to people in the Midwest, uh, or especially, uh, Donald Trump's,
00:28:43.580
uh, working class base. Uh, no, I think he'd get creamed in election. I almost think he'd probably
00:28:48.220
lose in an even bigger landslide than Hillary. You heard it here first. Vox Dei, Vox Populi.
00:28:53.260
Paul Bois has settled it. All right, you get out of here. It's been great to have you. Amanda
00:28:56.860
Presto Giacomo, Romney Millennial and Paul Bois. Now for the first time ever, we're going to do the
00:29:01.660
Michael Knowles show mailbag. This is great. Okay. So some of these came in tweets cause we
00:29:07.900
didn't have it set up on the website yet. So they'll be kind of quick, uh, from Joel.
00:29:12.460
What are staff meetings like when a papist, a Jew and a Protestant all have their own podcasts?
00:29:17.740
I don't know, but we have them in a bar. Hmm. It's a lame joke. Adrian says,
00:29:23.500
can you give me some tips for the SAT? I'm assuming you had a near perfect score. Thank you
00:29:27.980
very much for the compliment. I can give you some, it's kind of funny. So now the SAT is two parts,
00:29:32.780
math and verbal, and it used to be two parts, math and verbal. But when I took it for like five
00:29:36.940
minutes, they had a third part and I did get a perfect score on two parts on math and verbal,
00:29:42.220
but I didn't get a perfect score on, on the third part, which was writing, which, uh, depending on how
00:29:46.860
you look at it is either ironic or manifest and obvious given my literary endeavors, uh, from Madison
00:29:54.620
Han. That question was intentionally left blank. I think you really get us here at the Michael
00:29:59.660
Knowles show. Great, great question. Uh, from Kristen, Mr. Knowles, first of all,
00:30:04.620
the show is great. Thank you very much. My question is simply to satisfy my curiosity.
00:30:08.700
What tweet is in the frame behind you? It has to be a good one to be in such a beautiful gold frame.
00:30:14.140
I will tell you what that tweet is. It is the moment that I knew we were living in a matrix
00:30:19.180
esque simulation. It's the tweet from president Trump endorsing my book, a great book for your
00:30:24.380
reading enjoyment reasons to vote for Democrats. Thank you, president Trump. And thank you for
00:30:28.300
the question. This question from beer belly. My name is beer. Sheltiel, bell Kennessy, AKA beer belly.
00:30:36.700
Hello MK. Do you mind if I call you MK? That's what I imagined calling you. If we were close friends,
00:30:40.940
I'm in dire need of help. I look like a regular guy, but in reality, I'm a transgender,
00:30:45.980
cross-dressing homosexual female. I've been happily married for a long time,
00:30:50.060
but my wife has decided she is now a transgender, cross-dressing homosexual male. She still looks
00:30:55.100
the same, but identifies as male. Now this has created an obvious problem. Of course, I identify
00:31:00.620
as female, but she, I mean, he now identifies as male. And since I'm a homosexual and she, I mean, he
00:31:05.260
is homosexual. We no longer have an intimate relationship. Help me figure out what to do.
00:31:10.220
I think I have to defer to the expert on this from everyday feminism, Riley J. Dennis.
00:31:14.380
Would you date a trans person? Honestly? Think about it for a second. Okay. Got your answer?
00:31:20.940
Well, if you said no, I'm sorry, but that's pretty discriminatory.
00:31:24.940
Get over your bigotry beer belly. Disgusting. I can't believe these people listen to our show.
00:31:29.660
Dear Mikeliest of Knowles from Mark. I'm curious about my general date, any general dating and
00:31:35.500
relationship advice you have. Also, did you win over your fiance's love before or after you became
00:31:40.940
world famous as one of the greatest authors of all time? How important is becoming famous overnight
00:31:46.620
in having a successful relationship? I'm very glad you asked this question. I think there's a lot of
00:31:52.060
misinformation out there about this. I did not win over sweet little Elise's heart before I became famous.
00:31:57.900
I did purchase her. It was very expensive. And I think that if you're going to ground a relationship
00:32:03.900
on something that isn't as fundamental as fleeting fame or a modest windfall of money,
00:32:09.340
you're destined for failure down the road. So remember to keep the important priorities
00:32:13.260
at the top. Thank you for your question. From Asa Hoffman, why are you Catholic instead of Protestant?
00:32:19.260
Because I want to go to heaven, of course, and it's the one true church. It's a good question.
00:32:24.620
We do have here podcasts with a Jew, a Protestant, and a Catholic. I was an atheist for a long time.
00:32:30.060
I was an atheist or practical atheist until I was about 20, 22. I was actually an atheist at the
00:32:37.500
time. I was confirmed in the Catholic church, which is why I chose Thomas as my confirmation
00:32:42.140
name. I'm convinced of the Catholic church for a few reasons. I do think Peter is the rock on which
00:32:48.540
Christ built his church. I do believe in the primacy of Peter and the Petrine line. And I do think that
00:32:54.140
Christ said to Peter, you have the kingdom, the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on
00:32:58.540
earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The apostles would
00:33:03.340
replace themselves. And I do believe in a clergy in the church. The other reason, which is, I think,
00:33:08.860
a little less rote and heard of before, is the idea that Christianity, unlike other world religions,
00:33:17.820
is a series of facts. It's not philosophy. It's not poetry exactly. It's a series of facts. A man was born
00:33:25.100
at a time in a place with bones. He wore clothes. He did things on earth. He was killed. He was
00:33:31.100
resurrected. And so it seems he had specific apostles. It wasn't a sort of simply generalized
00:33:38.460
ethereal spirit that he loosed on the world. He does talk to real people in real time. And so it seems
00:33:44.940
perfectly reasonable to me that that Messiah and that Lord would have a real church with real buildings
00:33:51.900
and real artwork on the walls and a real clergy that administers it. So that's one of the reasons,
00:33:57.100
and we can talk more about religion later on. That is all of the mailbag questions. That brings us to
00:34:08.220
The leftist project for centuries has sought to perfect human nature, and each social experiment
00:34:13.500
to that end has failed and left varying degrees of misery in its wake. Scientific experiments to achieve
00:34:19.580
that goal may prove more effective, but by no means any more desirable. Winston Churchill warned of
00:34:25.340
another scheme to craft the master race that we might sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more
00:34:31.340
sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science. Perhaps we should take a moment
00:34:37.340
to unpervert our philosophy and culture before we embrace a science with the potential to destroy our humanity
00:34:43.660
itself. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. No more shows this week. Tune back in Monday and we'll see you then.