The Michael Knowles Show - December 14, 2017


Ep. 75 - ‘Net Neutrality’： Trump Makes The Internet Free Again


Episode Stats

Length

45 minutes

Words per Minute

178.18935

Word Count

8,178

Sentence Count

619

Misogynist Sentences

6

Hate Speech Sentences

22


Summary

Donald Trump s FCC makes the internet free again. We will explain so-called net neutrality since apparently nobody has any idea what it is. Then, Cabot Phillips and Paul Bois join the panel of deplorables to discuss deregulation, sex, and the deregulation of sex. Finally, the mailbag.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Donald Trump's FCC makes the internet free again.
00:00:03.860 We will explain so-called net neutrality,
00:00:06.640 since apparently nobody has any idea what it is.
00:00:09.160 Then, Cabot Phillips and Paul Bois join the panel of deplorables
00:00:12.080 to discuss deregulation, sex, and the deregulation of sex.
00:00:16.300 Finally, the mailbag. I'm Michael Knowles, and this is The Michael Knowles Show.
00:00:26.760 Trump just deregulated the internet. This vote just came out.
00:00:30.000 Good stuff. Very, very covfefe.
00:00:32.840 Now, I realize nobody knows anything about net neutrality.
00:00:35.620 Actually, that isn't true.
00:00:37.380 It's that nobody who supports net neutrality knows anything about it.
00:00:41.220 So, very quickly, here's what you need to know.
00:00:43.600 Today, there was an FCC vote to repeal Obama-era regulations on the internet
00:00:48.300 that the judiciary has consistently struck down.
00:00:51.240 The vote, led by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai,
00:00:55.100 who himself actually was appointed to the FCC by Barack Obama,
00:00:58.180 means that broadband providers will now be able to offer people
00:01:01.780 a wider variety of service options and price points
00:01:04.720 and have more incentive to build networks,
00:01:07.480 especially in rural areas and underserved areas.
00:01:10.740 How awful. I know. It's so terrifying.
00:01:13.000 Net neutrality, that phrase, is an Orwellian-named regulation
00:01:16.760 that empowers the government to force broadband networks
00:01:19.640 to treat all data traveling over their networks in the same way.
00:01:23.360 Downloading high-speed porn, uploading your child's book report,
00:01:27.160 internet providers can't offer different plans for different purposes
00:01:30.040 under net neutrality, which is now struck down.
00:01:33.100 How did all of this begin?
00:01:34.940 In 2005, the FCC declared that broadcast internet,
00:01:39.020 the internet that we all use, broadband internet rather,
00:01:41.560 is specifically not a telecommunications service,
00:01:44.820 and therefore it is not subject to common carrier rules
00:01:48.180 and rates and services and regulations.
00:01:49.800 This made total sense.
00:01:51.580 The freewheeling, unregulated nature of the internet
00:01:53.920 is why it evolved so rapidly, so efficiently to serve customer demands
00:01:58.100 ever since Al Gore invented it.
00:01:59.700 It's really blown up.
00:02:00.700 It's dynamic.
00:02:01.700 The line in the internet between successful investment and failure
00:02:04.960 is very thin, so it makes a lot of sense
00:02:08.300 not to regulate this thing to death.
00:02:10.180 Things got a little murky in 2008.
00:02:12.420 So even though the FCC explicitly acknowledged,
00:02:15.300 three years earlier,
00:02:16.420 that broadband is not a telecommunications service,
00:02:19.140 it issued guidelines, which in 2008, it bizarrely started to enforce.
00:02:23.880 They're just guidelines.
00:02:24.880 You don't have to follow them.
00:02:26.300 In 2008, for some reason, they changed their mind
00:02:28.440 and started forcing these companies to follow guidelines
00:02:32.120 that it itself said they don't have to.
00:02:33.980 Now, fortunately, a federal appeals court in 2010 smacked the FCC down.
00:02:38.460 They pointed out that the agency itself had admitted
00:02:40.940 that it didn't have regulatory authority.
00:02:44.240 Undeterred in its quest to grab government control of the internet,
00:02:47.340 later that year, the FCC adopted formal rules regulating the internet
00:02:51.760 under the very Orwellian terminology net neutrality or open internet,
00:02:57.400 that sort of thing.
00:02:58.320 Regulating the internet means open internet and free internet is bad.
00:03:02.460 I don't know how they arrived at this terminology.
00:03:06.240 But even then, even after they adopted these formal rules,
00:03:09.460 there had to be exceptions.
00:03:11.000 Winners and losers selected arbitrarily by the government.
00:03:13.700 Some people and services hog bandwidth.
00:03:17.100 On the innocent end of this is Netflix and Hulu.
00:03:19.720 On the other end, and I know none of our listeners know anything about this,
00:03:23.040 but on the other end, there are people binging high-speed internet porn.
00:03:26.440 So the FCC had to exempt, quote, reasonable network management.
00:03:31.800 This included certain mobile networks.
00:03:34.580 Obviously, they had to do this.
00:03:36.400 Otherwise, it would have slowed the growth of the internet
00:03:39.840 and internet companies tremendously.
00:03:40.700 But all of it was pretty unfair.
00:03:43.120 So the internet service providers sued in 2014.
00:03:47.020 Once again, the courts struck down the FCC's rules
00:03:50.160 because the FCC lacked authority.
00:03:53.500 So in 2015, this godless, headless regulatory agency, the FCC,
00:03:58.940 got tired of the game.
00:04:00.580 Emboldened by Barack Obama's governing principle of
00:04:03.500 if it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving, regulate it,
00:04:06.600 if it stops moving, subsidize it,
00:04:08.260 the FCC changed its tune, and they insisted that they indeed had the right
00:04:12.540 to regulate broadband and therefore the internet as a public utility
00:04:16.260 like the phone company.
00:04:17.300 This decision was doubly awful.
00:04:19.100 It was awful for two reasons.
00:04:20.480 On the one hand, the federal government should get its grubby paws off of the internet.
00:04:25.060 Go away.
00:04:25.680 We don't want you there.
00:04:26.760 I know Al Gore invented you, but that's enough.
00:04:28.760 We'll keep the internet free.
00:04:30.060 Thank you very much.
00:04:30.900 On the other hand,
00:04:31.860 if the federal government is insisting on making the internet less free,
00:04:36.360 it should be our elected representatives in Congress who do it,
00:04:39.860 not some totally unaccountable, unelected bureaucracy at the FCC.
00:04:44.960 Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, explained this.
00:04:47.960 She said,
00:04:48.700 if there are net neutrality rules, it's something to be done by Congress, not the FCC.
00:04:53.160 They're on our turf, and we need to reclaim it.
00:04:56.280 Absolutely right.
00:04:57.160 Now, the pro-regulation crowd are typically hysterical.
00:05:00.960 They predict that you will not be able to access video streaming services.
00:05:05.160 ISPs will have total control over customers.
00:05:07.960 This is what they always say.
00:05:09.580 It just doesn't happen because these companies, they're not out to get you.
00:05:13.140 They're not out to oppress you.
00:05:14.320 They want your money.
00:05:16.180 They want your business.
00:05:17.700 Less regulation means there's more room for competitors to swoop in and offer you a better deal.
00:05:23.000 This always happens.
00:05:24.320 Deregulation does not raise the price of goods.
00:05:27.860 It decreases the price of goods.
00:05:29.680 Now, there has been no case in the courts of an ISP violating net neutrality
00:05:34.840 that actually arose involving the dominant internet provider abusing its market power.
00:05:41.700 In reality, that hasn't happened.
00:05:43.640 In the fantasies of hysterical lefties, that happens all the time, but not in reality.
00:05:48.480 The main industry that's freaking out is high-speed porn.
00:05:51.940 Pornography is a $100 billion per year industry.
00:05:54.160 It makes all of that money by giving you free, bandwidth-hogging videos that display ads
00:05:59.700 and infect your computer with viruses.
00:06:02.440 Mashable's Cassie Murdoch, Mur-douch, I don't know, exemplifies the lefty hysteria.
00:06:07.060 She wrote, quote,
00:06:07.620 Thursday's FCC vote to end net neutrality will kill many of the things you enjoy most about the internet
00:06:13.860 in its current form, but chief among them is your ability to access copious amounts of free adult entertainment.
00:06:20.880 This is true.
00:06:21.300 She isn't kidding, by the way.
00:06:22.160 That's not satire.
00:06:22.940 She writes about how awful it is that we're going to lose our precious, our precious, our most favorite thing,
00:06:28.620 fast internet, free internet porn, which, by the way, isn't true.
00:06:31.920 It was around before 2015.
00:06:33.540 It'll be around long after.
00:06:35.320 Now, last year, Pornhub viewers alone used 3,110 petabytes of bandwidth.
00:06:42.960 Petabyte, that's one above terabyte, which is above gigabyte.
00:06:47.220 That's over 3 billion gigabytes on just Pornhub.com alone.
00:06:52.120 That's one porn website.
00:06:53.620 People are paying basically nothing for it.
00:06:55.900 Now, the porn industry is so desperate to keep these rules, these unfair regulations in place,
00:07:00.940 these government subsidies of porn or government incentives for cheap internet porn for users at the cost of ISPs and other internet users,
00:07:10.100 they're threatening to dox Republican politicians who oppose the deregulation.
00:07:14.440 Snagglepuss porn CEO, that's the name of the company, Snagglepuss porn CEO, Andrew Kennard, said,
00:07:21.320 there are lots of Republicans who just assumed we'd keep their dirty boy secrets.
00:07:25.640 We assume they wouldn't screw with us.
00:07:27.900 I guess that unofficial deal is off.
00:07:30.640 So what do you need to know?
00:07:31.460 The people in favor of the euphemistically titled net neutrality government regulation of the internet are Democrats, pimps, and extortionists.
00:07:39.800 But I repeat myself, the people opposed to net neutrality regulation are conservatives, libertarians, federal judges, and economists.
00:07:47.700 In particular, FCC's own chief economists before, during, and after the regulation, Michael Katz, Timothy Brennan, Michelle Connolly,
00:07:56.500 all of whom point out that net neutrality regulations make no economic sense.
00:08:01.460 Barack Obama's FCC regulated the internet just two years ago.
00:08:06.340 You wouldn't know that from looking at Twitter.
00:08:07.940 You would think that it's been around since the country was founded.
00:08:10.860 Net neutrality is two years old.
00:08:12.780 Did the internet work just fine two years ago?
00:08:14.800 Then there is no reason not to repeal net neutrality.
00:08:17.940 There's no reason not to.
00:08:18.880 What are you so worried about?
00:08:20.200 It was fine two years ago.
00:08:21.400 It'll be fine next year.
00:08:22.520 When hysterical lefties who tell you that the internet will be ruined forever
00:08:26.520 because two-year-old anti-constitutional, anti-liberty regulations will be repealed,
00:08:31.660 just get out your leftist-tears tumbler.
00:08:33.660 Collect them.
00:08:34.680 Drink deep that salty, delicious ambrosia
00:08:37.520 because President Trump hasn't even finished out his first year in office.
00:08:42.540 It's too good.
00:08:45.260 Mmm.
00:08:46.160 They're almost too salty today.
00:08:47.340 I have to put that down.
00:08:48.080 I need some water to wash that down with.
00:08:49.600 To discuss, we will bring on our panel Cabot Phillips and Paul Bois.
00:08:54.720 But listen, gentlemen, before we get to this, I do want to talk about net neutrality
00:09:00.980 and mostly just all of the copious leftist tears that are pouring out from all sides
00:09:05.920 because no one understands what that is.
00:09:07.540 But it's not time for that yet.
00:09:09.700 Do you know how I know that?
00:09:10.420 Because I'm wearing my movement watch, my sweet movement watch.
00:09:13.680 Look how cool that is.
00:09:14.840 So movement watches was founded on the belief that style shouldn't break the bank.
00:09:20.420 The watchmaker's goal is to change the way consumers think about fashion
00:09:24.020 by offering very high-quality, minimalist products at revolutionary prices.
00:09:28.540 Now, I really like watches, and I really hate paying a lot of money.
00:09:31.580 So if you went into a department store, a watch like this could easily cost you $300, $400.
00:09:36.020 But the movement watch guys have figured out that they can skip all of those markups
00:09:39.900 by selling direct to you online.
00:09:42.440 That's why they've sold over 1 million watches to customers in over 160 countries around the world.
00:09:49.760 It has solidified itself as the fastest-growing watch company,
00:09:53.160 and it's because there are no regulations.
00:09:55.180 You don't have a lot of regulations on the watch industry,
00:09:57.600 so they're able to give customers what they want.
00:10:00.160 Very fitting for our topic today.
00:10:01.940 Now, holiday shopping can be tough.
00:10:03.440 Christmas shopping is very tough.
00:10:04.840 Thanks to movement, all that gift-giving anxiety can disappear with the press of a button.
00:10:09.460 The price point that these begin with, these watches, is $95.
00:10:13.940 That is nothing for a quality watch.
00:10:15.860 It is a really, really good deal.
00:10:17.940 So finish your holiday shopping.
00:10:20.100 Christmas is just around the corner.
00:10:21.680 Get a movement watch for someone on your list or yourself.
00:10:24.840 That's what I would go on.
00:10:25.980 I'd say, oh, I'm going to get it for my brother or my yada, yada, yada,
00:10:28.920 and I'd just get a bunch for me.
00:10:30.040 Because at a price point like $95, you can afford to get a few,
00:10:33.940 put them on, wear them with different outfits.
00:10:36.140 It's really nice.
00:10:38.260 So movement watches, $95, over 1 million watches sold.
00:10:43.660 Get 15% off today.
00:10:46.360 That is just for our listeners.
00:10:48.120 Free shipping and free returns.
00:10:49.820 There's no risk at all.
00:10:51.020 You'll save 15% if you go to mvmt.com slash covfefe.
00:10:57.400 C-O-V-F-E-F-E, movement.com, mvmt.com slash covfefe.
00:11:03.560 It is the time right now to type that in.
00:11:06.200 The watch is a really clean design.
00:11:07.400 It makes a great fashion statement.
00:11:09.140 Now is the time to step up your watch game.
00:11:11.020 Come on.
00:11:11.400 You're an adult.
00:11:12.460 We're not little kids anymore.
00:11:13.960 You need to wear a watch to, one, keep track of your own time,
00:11:18.020 and to let people know that you have places to be and people to see.
00:11:22.000 So step up your watch game.
00:11:23.180 Join the movement, mvmt.com slash covfefe.
00:11:26.400 Okay, let's bring on our guys.
00:11:29.580 Gentlemen, let's begin with Cabot.
00:11:32.000 Cabot, with all of the right enemies,
00:11:34.740 is there any argument for Obama's net neutrality regulations?
00:11:39.600 Well, the argument that they're trying to make is that this is going to hurt people.
00:11:43.300 You see on Twitter millions of people are going to die from this.
00:11:45.460 I don't see a legitimate argument that's being made by the left that, you know,
00:11:49.780 the arguments they're making sound convincing,
00:11:51.440 but that's because they're not based in fact.
00:11:53.720 And it is interesting to see how the left is always talking about
00:11:56.040 how they care about the little guy.
00:11:57.760 They want to support people in need.
00:11:59.960 If they actually cared about, you know, low-income families in America,
00:12:02.820 they would support what happened today.
00:12:05.360 Because now this means that for that family that doesn't need the world-class internet,
00:12:10.220 you know, in these low-income areas and can't afford it,
00:12:12.460 they can now pay for a cheaper package and just get what they need.
00:12:15.140 They don't have to get the same internet.
00:12:16.600 It's going to make costs cheaper for them many times.
00:12:18.720 It's going to be better for all Americans.
00:12:20.040 Look, when I'm driving to work on the highway,
00:12:21.660 and I look over and I see people in the express lane,
00:12:25.640 you have to pay a $10 toll to get in that lane.
00:12:27.880 And so I understand those people are driving that lane right now
00:12:30.500 because they paid a little bit more because they had the resources to do so.
00:12:33.420 And that's why they're getting the best possible service right there.
00:12:36.300 And I think it's a little bit similar with what's happening with net neutrality today.
00:12:38.980 And again, anyone that supports a regulated industry,
00:12:44.200 they should oppose what happened today.
00:12:45.640 Anyone that wants actual, the market to decide what's best,
00:12:49.140 anyone that wants businessmen to decide what's best for their companies
00:12:52.420 and Americans to decide what's best for their families,
00:12:54.340 this is a win for the free market.
00:12:55.860 And like you said, making the internet free again,
00:12:58.000 I don't know if you coined that, but I hope you-
00:12:59.700 I am, I'm going to trademark it.
00:13:00.540 That's exactly what happened today.
00:13:01.280 You're absolutely right.
00:13:02.560 Regulation always hurts the little guy.
00:13:05.000 On both the consumer side and on the industry side,
00:13:07.760 it hurts the little guy who can't afford the big expensive internet package
00:13:12.300 that the government forces you to buy.
00:13:14.040 He just wants the cheaper internet package so he can, I don't know,
00:13:18.080 get some work done, help his business, educate himself, this, that, or the other thing.
00:13:22.720 And it also hurts the little guy in business because you have these giants
00:13:26.260 who are trying to squeeze little people out with burdensome government regulation.
00:13:30.360 They're saying that this is going to stop the free flow of information on the internet.
00:13:34.280 Nothing could be further from the truth.
00:13:35.700 First of all, we're just talking about bandwidth.
00:13:38.320 We're talking about whether ISPs can prioritize certain information over other information,
00:13:44.300 certain websites over other websites in a free market, in a market where there is competition.
00:13:49.660 And certainly there will be more competition as these technologies evolve, as they always do.
00:13:56.120 But there are people who are preventing the free flow of information on the internet.
00:13:59.980 That's Google, that's YouTube, that's Facebook.
00:14:03.500 I mean, these guys are blacking out information.
00:14:06.420 They're killing conservatives.
00:14:08.420 The other day, a friend of mine tried to post an article on Facebook.
00:14:13.320 It was a conservative article, but it was absolutely truthful.
00:14:16.440 Facebook wouldn't let him do it.
00:14:17.680 Facebook said, do you know that this is fake news?
00:14:19.880 Do you know that this might not be real?
00:14:21.700 Consider looking at this fact-checking website,
00:14:24.780 this left-wing fact-checking website, before you post it.
00:14:27.460 Those are the guys who, if the government's going to regulate anybody, it should be them.
00:14:31.640 It should be Google and Facebook and YouTube, but certainly not the ISPs.
00:14:38.040 It's a total distraction.
00:14:40.220 And the fact that people who support this repeal today can explain pretty easily what net neutrality
00:14:47.040 is and what it means, and the people who are screaming about people dying can't do that.
00:14:52.540 They have no idea what it is.
00:14:53.480 They don't know that it's only two years old.
00:14:54.920 That tells you everything you need to know about this issue.
00:14:57.120 There's a lot of demagoguery on this issue, and it's all on the left.
00:15:00.700 Paul Bois, your cardinal, your eminence, will this actually hurt the porn industry?
00:15:06.160 They are baring their fangs.
00:15:08.260 They're very upset about this.
00:15:09.560 Is it going to damage this gazillion-dollar-a-year industry?
00:15:13.560 Unfortunately, no, Michael.
00:15:14.820 It's not going to hurt the porn industry.
00:15:17.040 All right.
00:15:17.500 I mean, no, that's terrible.
00:15:18.380 That's awful.
00:15:18.880 That's terrible.
00:15:19.340 It's too bad.
00:15:19.960 Unless we go back to the days where porn is illegal in this country, I'm sorry to say
00:15:25.680 that porn is probably going to be doing quite well in this country.
00:15:29.980 Something tells me that even if people were getting charged $100 extra a month, it would
00:15:34.380 still be doing well.
00:15:35.340 My profits might even go up.
00:15:36.960 I mean, the worst that could happen is that some guy who spends three hours a day on Pornhub
00:15:43.140 might, and I emphasize the word might, be charged a tiny extra a month.
00:15:49.220 But something tells me even competition will root that out.
00:15:52.500 So, no, the porn industry is not going to die, unfortunately.
00:15:57.040 But the thing is, who can put a price on self-degradation?
00:15:59.840 Who can put a price on it?
00:16:00.880 It's priceless.
00:16:01.320 Speaking of weird sex, this is actually a pretty sad story.
00:16:06.440 Dan Johnson, a Kentucky lawmaker who was accused of drunkenly kissing and grabbing a 17-year-old
00:16:13.060 girl on New Year's Eve four years ago.
00:16:16.080 She was 17 four years ago.
00:16:17.940 He shot himself in the head yesterday.
00:16:20.120 A day earlier, he denied the allegations on social media.
00:16:23.400 He asked his friends to stay strong for his wife.
00:16:25.520 Johnson was 57 years old with five children and nine grandchildren, two more on the way,
00:16:32.060 in the tummy, as he wrote.
00:16:33.640 Lefties on Twitter celebrated the suicide.
00:16:36.200 Cabot, how does this end?
00:16:38.360 We are way past Harvey Weinstein now.
00:16:40.540 What he's accused of is not Harvey Weinstein's behavior.
00:16:44.340 Now drunken passes at young women over the age of consent are being conflated with rape
00:16:49.420 and pedophilia.
00:16:50.220 Does every guy who has ever acted stupidly around women now have to shut up or kill himself?
00:16:57.680 Yeah, I think that's where the danger comes in.
00:16:59.860 It's really tempting to just pour on anytime, you know, someone comes out and says, you know,
00:17:04.800 this person did this to me, whether it's right or wrong, I think it's really easy to
00:17:09.200 just say, oh, this is horrible.
00:17:10.380 We can all agree.
00:17:10.980 This person deserves this.
00:17:12.200 They deserve this.
00:17:13.160 And it's really easy to get involved in that just character assassination.
00:17:16.180 I think it's important that, A, we gather as many facts as we can before we're making
00:17:20.140 serious accusations like this.
00:17:21.840 And in a case where, you know, you're not able to prove anything, is it really, you know,
00:17:26.640 something where someone's life should be ruined automatically where there's no way of proving
00:17:31.660 it, even if it is something that did happen?
00:17:33.920 It's tough.
00:17:34.960 I think, you know, these cases as often as possible need to be handled in criminal courts
00:17:39.980 where, you know, in actual, you know, we can have actual investigations into what's
00:17:43.620 going on.
00:17:44.040 But the he say, she say, she say, that's, it's dangerous.
00:17:47.440 And it's certainly, it's sad to see when it comes to this.
00:17:51.320 It's not something anyone would say.
00:17:54.020 I don't know.
00:17:54.280 I don't know what to make of this.
00:17:55.320 You know, it's, it makes you wonder if this guy was innocent and he was just not wanting
00:18:00.040 to deal with all this, or if he was guilty and was dealing with the guilt of all of it.
00:18:03.560 But I don't know where this goes.
00:18:05.160 I don't think this will be the first time this happens.
00:18:06.880 I think we're going to continue to see people dealing with, you know, these kind of accusations
00:18:11.760 in this way.
00:18:14.340 And it's important that we get all these cases out in the open so we can start to find
00:18:17.420 out, you know, who's a good person, who's not.
00:18:19.340 But you never want to see it end like this.
00:18:20.940 And also you don't want to see, you know, false accusations happening.
00:18:23.180 So it's, it's, it's tough to, to really go.
00:18:25.760 But in the case of this guy, the accusation, even if we believe the accusation, which I
00:18:30.920 don't know if there is evidence for it or against it, the accusation is that four years
00:18:35.280 ago, he made a pass drunkenly at a New Year's Eve party, the drunkest night of the year.
00:18:40.400 He made a drunken pass at a young woman who's, who's over the age of consent.
00:18:44.840 She's still a teenager, but there's nothing illegal about that.
00:18:48.080 He made a pass at her and that was it.
00:18:49.620 It apparently ended there.
00:18:51.080 No Weinstein like rape, no stalking, no craziness.
00:18:54.740 This is not the sort of thing that one should kill oneself over.
00:18:58.220 But in this present climate, I can see why that temptation would exist.
00:19:02.400 But comparing this guy to basically any other politician in the country, he's pretty much
00:19:06.900 a saint to compare him to the sex crimes that we're hearing from the people who have already
00:19:13.020 fallen in Congress and in the Senate and, uh, and just, and the people who we haven't heard
00:19:18.360 from yet, compare him to Bob Menendez, who's accused of repeatedly having sex with underage
00:19:23.940 hookers, not 17 year olds over the age of consent, talking about like very, very young
00:19:29.140 girls.
00:19:29.980 Uh, it, it's really, uh, reached a fever pitch.
00:19:33.100 And speaking of Menendez, uh, Cardinal Bois, can we get that guy to resign before January
00:19:39.100 17th, before there's a Democrat governor of New Jersey?
00:19:42.640 Or is that just not going to happen?
00:19:44.420 No, it's not going to happen, Michael.
00:19:46.780 Unfortunately, uh, Bob Menendez, uh, was not found guilty, uh, in court and the Democrats
00:19:52.000 certainly-
00:19:52.420 He wasn't found innocent either, by the way.
00:19:53.840 And by the way, that trial had nothing to do with the sex stuff.
00:19:56.560 That trial was just about corruption.
00:19:58.360 It was a mistrial.
00:19:59.460 But federal and federal prosecutors who said he might have had sex with those underage
00:20:04.940 hookers, they have not filed charges.
00:20:06.660 No, they have not filed charges, but, uh, it seems as if the left is going to go off
00:20:11.360 of accusations, uh, against, uh, people like Al Franken, uh, because I think that was politically
00:20:17.320 advantageous for them at the time when Roy Moore was, uh, being inundated with allegations.
00:20:23.540 And they're not going to do the same thing for Bob Menendez, I believe.
00:20:26.980 Even, like, while the trial was taking place, people were being asked, uh, Dick Durbin was
00:20:31.100 asked, uh, several other senators asked, would you pressure Bob Menendez resigned?
00:20:35.000 They would not give a clear, straight answer.
00:20:36.780 I think the media is just essentially is going to bury it and they're not going to push it
00:20:39.900 any further.
00:20:41.260 Absolutely.
00:20:41.920 All right.
00:20:42.520 Gentlemen, sad, sad to end on that low note of not impeaching Bob Menendez, but c'est la
00:20:47.560 vie.
00:20:48.000 What can you do?
00:20:49.020 Good to see you all.
00:20:50.080 Uh, thank you for coming on.
00:20:51.460 That is Cabot Phillips and Paul Cardinal Bois, his eminence.
00:20:54.920 I'll talk to you both soon.
00:20:56.120 Now it is time for the mailbag.
00:21:00.640 The first question comes from Joseph.
00:21:03.200 Oh, you know, I'm sorry, guys.
00:21:05.900 I want, this is such a good question.
00:21:08.120 It's about Islam.
00:21:09.420 It's about the religion of peace.
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00:22:15.340 Okay.
00:22:15.860 This question's from Joseph.
00:22:17.560 High potentate nulls.
00:22:19.060 If Islam is the religion of peace, then why do so many of the flags that represent Islamic
00:22:25.460 countries have swords crossing over the nation of Israel?
00:22:29.300 Joe, I'm not sure about the Israel part of that, but yeah, there are swords on these Muslim
00:22:33.320 flags.
00:22:34.040 I've traveled a bit around the Middle East and the UAE and Oman and Lebanon, and yeah, you
00:22:40.440 see the symbolism of the sword pretty frequently.
00:22:44.020 The reason for that is that Islam spread by the sword.
00:22:47.060 I don't know the symbolic significance of it and why they chose it for their flag, but
00:22:51.100 the reason that it rings true for us and makes us wonder about the connection is that
00:22:56.820 Islam spread by the sword.
00:22:58.420 So Islam began, a lot of people don't know this.
00:23:01.900 Islam began when Muhammad, the supposed prophet of the Islamic religion, when Muhammad accompanied
00:23:08.580 his uncle Abu Talib on a trip to Syria.
00:23:11.960 And while in Syria, they came across a heretical Christian monk.
00:23:15.900 His name was Bahira or Sergius in the Latinized version, but is known as Bahira.
00:23:21.940 And he was a heretical monk.
00:23:23.240 They don't know which version of heresy, but it's supposed to be either Arianism or Nestorianism
00:23:29.240 or Gnosticism, Nazareanism, all various heresies that deny the divinity of Christ.
00:23:35.280 It was immediately after this trip that Muhammad began to form the Islamic religion and to write
00:23:41.860 the Quran and go on conquering much of his area.
00:23:45.900 We know when it comes to the sword that when Muhammad arrived at Medina, he slaughtered a
00:23:52.000 Jewish tribe there, the Banu Kareza, slaughtered all of them, beheaded all of the men in that
00:23:57.240 group.
00:23:57.940 It's very hard to describe that as a religion of peace, but really that is just a euphemism
00:24:03.320 and a platitude that is used by people who don't want to grapple with religion itself.
00:24:09.200 And the good that Islam contains within it, and also all of these bad things that clearly
00:24:15.320 have led to horrible atrocities all around the world, and certainly within our century.
00:24:20.480 They want to bury their head in the sand, to use an image, and they don't want to acknowledge
00:24:26.280 that.
00:24:26.780 But you can't solve a problem if you're not willing to engage honestly with it, and engaging
00:24:32.140 honestly with what Islam offers, which is theologically true and good, and what it carries with it,
00:24:39.320 what cultural baggage it carries with it, and historical baggage that is very much not
00:24:43.980 good for civilization, that's the first step to solving the problem.
00:24:47.680 Next question from Seth.
00:24:49.300 Dear Michael, what is your best reason for being Catholic as opposed to Protestant, and
00:24:53.980 what is it that you think that Protestantism is lacking?
00:24:57.240 It's lacking the Pope, of course.
00:24:58.580 Also, do you believe in the idea of a rapture?
00:25:00.600 Thank you for a great show.
00:25:02.120 I love listening.
00:25:02.780 I haven't missed an episode yet.
00:25:04.000 Thank you very much, Seth.
00:25:04.760 Appreciate that.
00:25:05.740 The reason I'm a Catholic, I suppose I was baptized as a Catholic when I was a baby, and by the
00:25:11.720 time I was confirmed, I was an atheist or strongly agnostic.
00:25:15.720 That's why I chose Thomas as my confirmation name.
00:25:18.100 I was an atheist for about a decade, and slowly various philosophers and writers and conversations
00:25:25.540 I had began to chip away at my atheism, and then I reverted to Christianity.
00:25:32.240 Some evangelical writers brought me back to Christianity, certain Calvinists, and then
00:25:36.600 ultimately I've arrived full circle back at the Catholic Church.
00:25:40.400 The reason for that, there are a few reasons for that, but I'll give you just a handful.
00:25:45.460 It seems to me very convincing that the incarnate Son of God, the divine logos of the universe,
00:25:53.300 the total metaphysical, becoming physical, entering into his creation in a particular place,
00:25:59.120 in a particular time, in a particular body, through a particular woman, with particular
00:26:03.160 apostles, dying on a particular cross, executed, condemned to death by a particular man, it
00:26:10.360 would have a particular church.
00:26:11.980 It would have a church that is real and tangible.
00:26:14.760 It would have a clergy.
00:26:15.680 When he says to Peter, Peter, Simon, I now call you Peter, and on this rock, which is a
00:26:21.680 pun, I will build my church, and here are the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever
00:26:27.480 you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.
00:26:29.400 Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
00:26:31.680 And he's giving that to a man.
00:26:33.560 That isn't meaningless.
00:26:34.840 We can't etherealize that or try to universalize that.
00:26:37.980 He's talking to a person.
00:26:39.900 And so there's that aspect.
00:26:43.060 The reality of the sacraments, the reality of the physical and the metaphysical coming
00:26:47.300 into union, heaven and earth coming into union in the bread, which is the sacrifice.
00:26:52.140 Paul writes about that wonderfully, and Christ talks about it very seriously.
00:26:57.760 And he says, I know this is a hard saying.
00:26:59.200 I know you don't believe me, but you have to, because it's true.
00:27:02.160 So there's that aspect.
00:27:04.640 It also was basically the unquestioned position of civilization until the 16th century.
00:27:11.540 So there were always little heretical movements.
00:27:14.680 Santa Claus, St. Nicholas famously punched the heretic Arius in the face at the Council
00:27:18.940 of Nicaea.
00:27:19.600 But even after the Great Schism, there was still a recognition of one universal church
00:27:24.940 with a clergy, with a theology that had a leader.
00:27:29.040 And there was some question over how much power that leader should exert temporally.
00:27:34.240 There's that aspect as well.
00:27:36.680 There is much to offer in Protestantism.
00:27:39.760 Protestants, or, you know, C.S.
00:27:41.020 Lewis is one of the greatest apologists of the century, and he's ostensibly a Protestant.
00:27:45.180 And the issue of various Protestant denominations, one, you see that they keep multiplying.
00:27:52.620 There's so many.
00:27:53.380 A church will always break in two if it isn't grounded on that solid foundation, on that
00:27:58.660 rock.
00:27:59.880 But G.K.
00:28:01.660 Chesterton writes about this in Orthodoxy.
00:28:03.340 He said, the trouble with heresy is not that it's the promotion of vice.
00:28:08.520 It's not just saying, yeah, in our version of the church, we're going to go cheat on our
00:28:12.700 wives, yeah, that's going to be a lot of fun, ha, ha, ha, we'll show you, Pope.
00:28:16.880 It isn't that.
00:28:17.680 It's that it's the promotion of one virtue at the expense of others.
00:28:22.200 So one might, one church might focus only on mercy or on compassion to the exclusion
00:28:30.720 of justice or to the exclusion of prudence.
00:28:33.120 Might say, well, you know, we don't think that we should punish any crimes whatsoever.
00:28:38.240 Another church might say, we are going to punish crimes as hard as possible.
00:28:41.060 We're going to deter everybody.
00:28:41.960 Those are two extremes.
00:28:43.860 In a theologically illuminating extremes, there is grace and there's liberty.
00:28:49.880 So some churches might say, you have absolutely no free will whatsoever.
00:28:54.640 You are just a mindless robot being sucked up in various waves, and only grace matters
00:29:02.080 whatsoever to your life or to your salvation.
00:29:04.620 And then moralizing churches might say, yeah, grace, that doesn't play a big part.
00:29:08.160 It's just your liberty.
00:29:09.540 It's your choice.
00:29:10.180 It's your ability to do things and earn your way into heaven.
00:29:13.800 But that isn't true.
00:29:14.980 And then there's the Catholic answer, which balances these extremes.
00:29:17.980 And it says, God comes down the mountain, but you have the free will to turn to him.
00:29:22.060 And we see this in Mary, in the annunciation of Christ to Mary.
00:29:29.020 The angel Gabriel comes down and says, Mary, hail Mary, full of grace.
00:29:32.940 You're blessed among women.
00:29:34.560 You are going to conceive a baby of the Holy Spirit.
00:29:37.640 And then heaven holds its breath.
00:29:39.940 The heavens and the earth hold their breath.
00:29:41.200 And Mary says, I am the servant of the Lord.
00:29:44.580 I am your obedient servant.
00:29:45.860 Thy will be done.
00:29:46.580 And she says yes.
00:29:48.260 She obeys and she accepts that.
00:29:50.060 And that unity of grace and free will is glorious, and it results in the incarnation.
00:29:54.580 It results in the divine logos becoming a man.
00:29:57.100 So one thing that recommends the Catholic Church, I think, is balancing itself between these extremes and these ideologies.
00:30:05.580 It's no coincidence that the Protestant Revolution in part caused modernity, in part was caused by modernity.
00:30:12.160 And it breaks off into various ideologies.
00:30:15.780 But when it comes to religion, I would resist ideology, and I would look for the sturdy bark of Peter that doesn't tip all the way to one side or the other, but remains stabilized.
00:30:26.040 Okay, next question.
00:30:28.060 From James.
00:30:29.060 Dear Michael Knowles, King of Trolls, in your infallible, except when fallible, opinion, how should proponents of traditional family structure view homosexual couples adopting children?
00:30:39.200 Being raised by biological parents is in the best interests of the child.
00:30:43.140 But there are situations where it isn't, and adoption is the best option.
00:30:47.020 If the parents can't care for the child, if they're dirty, rotten bums or addicts, absolutely.
00:30:51.000 Can same-sex couples create a loving and healthy climate for the child as effectively as heterosexuals?
00:30:57.920 If yes, should same-sex couples be permitted to adopt children?
00:31:01.200 Where should we draw the moral and legal line?
00:31:03.880 P.S.
00:31:04.180 Would you ever consider growing a mustache?
00:31:06.640 Okay, good question.
00:31:10.180 Obviously, they can provide a good home for a child.
00:31:13.320 That's certainly the case.
00:31:14.180 The legal issue when it comes to this is, can single parents adopt children?
00:31:23.100 If single parents can adopt children, if a single woman can adopt a child, then of course a homosexual couple should be able to adopt a child.
00:31:30.060 And it's been for decades now that single parents can adopt children, so given that premise, homosexual couples should be able to.
00:31:36.620 Can they give a good home?
00:31:37.680 Of course.
00:31:37.980 There is a question of what a marriage is and what a family is, so there is a modern view that the sexes are identical, that men and women are exactly the same, they're not different, and therefore, by that logic, of course, homosexuals could raise children just as well as anybody.
00:31:53.700 There's also the complementarity of the sexes, which is that men and women are different, they complement one another, they're not the same thing.
00:32:00.200 And this seems to be the ideal unit for children to be born and raised.
00:32:07.660 This is probably why until modernity, until very, very recently, that was the only way that children could be conceived and basically the way that they were raised.
00:32:16.360 We have shifted culturally and legally, so certainly it will be the case in the future that homosexual couples can adopt children, but these questions of gender, are men and women the same, are they different, that's totally going to inform it.
00:32:33.040 Until we say that men and women are complementary, that children are not something to have to make us feel good, but we have to struggle to have children, we have children and we serve them, and it's about the child, not about the parents, we're going to see the same culture that we've been seeing now.
00:32:53.420 And it would be disingenuous to say, well, single parents can adopt kids, but not gay couples.
00:32:59.820 That would be discrimination, and given those premises, it doesn't work.
00:33:03.360 Next question, Mike Miley.
00:33:05.200 I often get into discussions regarding the great economy Trump inherited from Obama and how nothing in our present economic state or because of anything Trump has done.
00:33:14.500 In fact, they add that he's done nothing.
00:33:16.820 Can you give me some talking points as a response to these claims?
00:33:19.740 I would be glad to do that.
00:33:21.740 Second quarter economic growth was 3.1%.
00:33:25.180 Third quarter economic growth was 3.3% over the expectation, which was 3.2%.
00:33:30.220 Barack Obama is the first president since Herbert Hoover not to achieve 3% economic growth in any year of his presidency.
00:33:37.920 Closest he came was 2.6% in 2015.
00:33:41.060 Unemployment is at 4.1%, a 16-year low.
00:33:44.880 Under Barack Obama, 0% interest rates got unemployment down to 4.9%, but underemployment was rampant.
00:33:51.280 The gig economy was everywhere.
00:33:52.620 A lot of that is part-time work.
00:33:54.320 Consumer confidence is at the highest level since 2000.
00:33:57.020 NFIB shows that small business optimism is way up since the election.
00:34:01.620 These are changes since the election.
00:34:03.480 Sure, the stock market has grown steadily for a decade or for nine years or whatever that is, but all of those other numbers we can attribute to Donald Trump and we can't attribute to Barack Obama.
00:34:13.720 That is a sign of the Trump economy.
00:34:16.180 Obviously, there are – the economy is complicated.
00:34:20.120 You can't say that on the late January when Donald Trump is inaugurated, then it all becomes President Trump, but he has done marvelously well, and no economist would question that.
00:34:29.120 From Casey, dear Michael King Trolls Knowles, my Lutheran mother will be accompanying my Catholic aunt on a trip to the Vatican for Easter Sunday Mass.
00:34:39.780 That's very nice.
00:34:41.300 Even though my mom is not Catholic, she understands the magnitude of the trip.
00:34:45.080 She would like to take this opportunity to do something special for other family members who are Catholic, but she doesn't know what to do.
00:34:51.060 Do you have any suggestions that would make for a meaningful gift?
00:34:54.960 Yes.
00:34:55.720 One thing you could do, which is entirely free, and I know that that is a price that we all can afford, is to get tickets for a papal audience.
00:35:03.800 So I did this.
00:35:04.820 I just kind of stumbled into it when I was there.
00:35:06.820 I was still basically an atheist, I think, at the time.
00:35:09.360 I got into St. Peter's, and we were – there were a lot of people there in the square.
00:35:14.760 But you were right up there, and I saw Pope Benedict give a blessing and speak in a gazillion languages and pray.
00:35:20.720 And it was really beautiful and really, in retrospect, sticks with you.
00:35:24.840 It's a very significant event.
00:35:26.580 So you can do that.
00:35:27.940 I would be wary of any of the rosary beads blessed by the Pope that they sell around the Vatican.
00:35:34.320 I'm very skeptical that the Pope has blessed all of those gazillion rosary beads that they sell there.
00:35:39.800 So in terms of physical things, I wouldn't quite do that.
00:35:42.520 If you're in the neighborhood, I would go check out Caravaggio's The Calling of St. Matthew, which is San Luigi dei Francesi.
00:35:48.680 It's right near the Pantheon in the Piazza Navona.
00:35:51.260 It's a really wonderful painting.
00:35:53.540 There's so much to do around there.
00:35:55.100 And if you're totally out of options, take her out to a nice lunch.
00:35:57.860 The Italians do lunch very well.
00:35:59.620 It takes a very long time, and you'll be very full afterward.
00:36:02.320 Next question from Zachary.
00:36:04.140 Professor Knowles, my 16-year-old little sister is starting to be influenced by her lefty friends in high school
00:36:09.700 and is questioning why she should be a Republican.
00:36:12.660 Republicans are, of course, mean and illogical.
00:36:14.980 Luckily, she's open-minded and wants to chat with me about my conservative values.
00:36:19.760 How should I begin my explanation of conservatism to my little sister?
00:36:23.000 Help, it's not too late.
00:36:25.360 Your little sister is in high school.
00:36:27.200 She's being influenced by her lefty friends.
00:36:29.560 That's good.
00:36:30.240 That's the time for that.
00:36:32.000 The time to believe lefty thoughts is when you're a teenager and you don't know anything.
00:36:35.880 And then when you know things, then you'll move further to the right.
00:36:38.300 I even went through a little bit of this phase when I was in high school because these left-wing thoughts are appropriate to children who are both arrogant and uneducated.
00:36:49.520 And then hopefully you can work on both of those things over time and you will move further to the right, I'm sure.
00:36:54.520 I wouldn't shove it down her throat, though.
00:36:56.120 I would take almost like a meta-political approach to this and ask her why she's so confident that these dummies are right and why these things that she's learning are right.
00:37:07.720 Probably the curriculum that she's studying from is teaching her a lot of nonsense and the people don't know very much and it's an age where you're just insufferable.
00:37:18.640 So I wouldn't give her too much grief for that.
00:37:20.800 I would point out that all of those people and all of these assumptions she's taking for granted are – they're on shaky ground.
00:37:29.280 The poem that comes to mind is a little learning is a dangerous thing.
00:37:34.120 Drink deep or taste not the Purian spring.
00:37:37.420 There shallow drafts intoxicate the brain and drinking largely sobers us again.
00:37:43.900 So Bill Whittle talks about this.
00:37:46.180 He says there's Island 120.
00:37:47.540 Island 120, there's around IQ of 120, you know, and it's people – it's like the New York Times editorial board, the New York Times op-ed columnists.
00:37:55.580 They all have a kind of middling intelligence and they are extremely left-wing.
00:38:00.640 And people of kind of middle intelligence, they're like, yeah, man, they're totally right.
00:38:05.120 Oh, man, David Brooks, yeah, Paul Krugman, they're really speaking to me.
00:38:10.020 And people who have lower intelligence or higher intelligence are both conservative.
00:38:14.000 So they're more conservative, it's a sandwich, but it's just people in the middle who don't realize how stupid they are, but they're smarter than your average Joe.
00:38:23.040 They're the ones who are convinced of lefty stuff.
00:38:25.480 I would go to that.
00:38:27.260 You know, and then you can tell her to read, I don't know, Edmund Burke or Bill Buckley or whatever.
00:38:32.480 But in the meantime, I would have her look around and say, are these people really so smart?
00:38:37.860 Are these ideas that you're being told really so convincing or is it just fashionable?
00:38:44.100 And teenagers are contrarian and that might get to her.
00:38:47.580 From Samuel, dear Michael, recently Pope Francis stated the English translation of the Our Father ought to be changed from
00:38:54.260 and lead us not into temptation to and may we not be led into temptation or a few other versions of that.
00:39:01.640 He was speaking in Italian when he made these remarks, I think.
00:39:04.060 He says that this is a more accurate translation from the Vulgate version.
00:39:07.820 Et ne nos inducas in tentationem does not seem to support his story.
00:39:13.200 Can you enlighten us on the Greek front and what are your thoughts on his decision and opinion on the matter?
00:39:17.340 Sure. I wrote a piece on this and I don't have ancient Greek and my Latin is very poor.
00:39:22.320 But fortunately, the heir to the throne of the multiverse, Spencer Clavin, is an ancient Greek scholar at Oxford.
00:39:28.540 So I talked to him about this.
00:39:30.620 Pope Francis's translation, while creative, doesn't appear to be precise because in –
00:39:39.800 and this is a reminder too that the pope is only infallible when he's speaking infallibly and that's not very frequently and not in this case.
00:39:45.720 But the Greek ae seems to be into, just like in the Latin inducas in tentationem is into.
00:39:54.040 So it's someone is leading us into temptation in this line.
00:39:58.340 And who is doing the tempting or who is doing the trial or who is doing the experiment is unclear.
00:40:04.380 Someone could lead me to a boxing ring and then some other guy could beat me up.
00:40:09.880 But the question is who is doing the leading and then who is doing the tempting.
00:40:13.040 It's unclear who is doing the tempting, which is Pope Francis's point.
00:40:17.020 He says God doesn't tempt us.
00:40:19.920 That's his view of things.
00:40:22.620 But the leading is pretty clear because we know from two paragraphs earlier in Matthew, that prayer comes from Matthew.
00:40:28.080 And two paragraphs earlier, Christ is led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
00:40:35.540 And then two paragraphs later we get lead us not into temptation.
00:40:38.120 So it seems to me who is doing the leading is very clear and that is God.
00:40:43.560 And this more creative, abstract, looser translation that the Pope has suggested is just not as precise and it's not as theologically difficult to grapple with.
00:40:56.520 Nevertheless, God is doing the leading from the scripture in the Greek, in the Latin, in the English, in the Italian.
00:41:03.700 And the question of why he does that, why he leads us to be tested, to the trial, even to be tempted by the devil.
00:41:12.120 In the book of Job, God allows the devil to tempt Job all he likes.
00:41:15.540 Why he does that is a theological question and I think that problem helps us to understand the world a little bit better in our relationship to him.
00:41:24.040 But I would stick with the old translation.
00:41:26.940 I think it's good enough for me.
00:41:28.240 That old-time religion.
00:41:29.480 Okay.
00:41:30.960 One last question from Garrett.
00:41:32.860 It is often said that you need to understand the other person's argument better than they do to beat them.
00:41:38.180 How far should I take this?
00:41:39.360 Should I read Marx and books written by atheists?
00:41:41.580 Or should I deepen my understanding of capitalism and Christianity instead?
00:41:45.540 In short, I'm worried that if I take the understanding, the other person's side point of view, too literally, I could have used that time to better my understanding of my own ideology.
00:41:55.080 Let's begin at the last part.
00:41:56.600 Don't have an ideology.
00:41:58.000 Don't try.
00:41:58.520 Resist ideology.
00:41:59.540 Obviously, our political thinking becomes ideological to varying degrees.
00:42:04.680 Don't set out for one.
00:42:05.920 The reason you believe certain things, the reason you might line up with some ideologies is because you see the world in a certain way and they describe it.
00:42:13.740 But ideology, as Michael Oakeshott said, is the formalized abridgment of the supposed substratum of rational truth contained in the tradition that is a lot of degrees away from the tradition and the world that we see before us and reality and truth.
00:42:27.860 I would go for that first.
00:42:29.180 I wouldn't worry too much about saying I think I'm a conservative or I think I'm a libertarian and so I'm only going to read these right-wing books.
00:42:35.320 Or, conversely, I'm going to read Marx and Engels exclusively so I can prove them wrong.
00:42:41.260 I wouldn't even read those books that way.
00:42:43.560 I would read them openly.
00:42:45.000 I wouldn't read them in the school of resentment where you hate the writers and you prejudge the texts.
00:42:50.660 Read the texts.
00:42:51.740 Let them speak to you.
00:42:52.680 You'll understand why Marx is wrong.
00:42:55.080 Here's that line that lefties read Marx and conservatives understand Marx.
00:42:59.240 That's certainly true.
00:43:00.200 I might go back a little further before Marx, before modernity, and read where those works come from.
00:43:05.600 I would read classics.
00:43:06.920 I would read the classic Greek philosophers and writers.
00:43:10.080 I would read all the way up through the Roman Empire, through the Middle Ages.
00:43:16.180 Then you're bumping up against modernity and then you can start engaging with those.
00:43:21.700 But certainly read everything.
00:43:23.740 The reason that you should believe certain political points of view and religious points of view is because you think they're true.
00:43:29.720 And if you think they're true, then you don't need to worry about reading an atheist or reading Marx because they might shake your worldview or the way you see things.
00:43:40.060 The truth comes above all things.
00:43:42.420 C.S. Lewis said some version of a madman can no easier block out the sun by writing darkness on his cell walls, his insane asylum walls, than we can block out the truth by repeating falsehood.
00:43:57.280 You can't block it out.
00:43:58.020 The truth will shine through, the truth above all things.
00:44:00.760 So read those.
00:44:01.720 I'd read it with an open mind.
00:44:02.980 That's what separates us from those ideologues.
00:44:05.260 And then you'll come to hopefully correct conclusions and you won't be all angry and ideological like those lefties.
00:44:11.520 Okay, that's our show.
00:44:12.400 We've got to run out of here.
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00:44:16.340 So go over the Clavenless weekend that will save you.
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00:44:42.860 We appreciate it.
00:44:43.680 Until Monday.
00:44:44.700 I am Michael Knowles.
00:44:45.560 This is The Michael Knowles Show.
00:44:46.440 I will see you then.
00:45:16.440 This is The Michael Knowles Show.
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