Verdict with Ted Cruz - May 04, 2024


Jim Biden Bigger Offender than Hunter, the Highly Organized College Protests & New Legislation to Make Kids Safer on Social Media Week In Review


Episode Stats

Length

32 minutes

Words per Minute

158.52832

Word Count

5,149

Sentence Count

363

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

19


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.
00:00:02.600 Guaranteed human.
00:00:05.500 Welcome. It is Verdict with Ted Cruz.
00:00:07.600 Weekend Review. Ben Ferguson with you.
00:00:09.760 These are the big stories that you may have missed that we talked about this week.
00:00:13.100 First up, a major report the media is not talking about.
00:00:17.260 It involves the president's brother, Jim Biden.
00:00:20.420 And he may have been making more money than anyone selling access to his brother,
00:00:24.940 even more than Hunter Biden.
00:00:26.800 So who is paying him and what do they get in return?
00:00:28.820 We'll break it all down for you.
00:00:31.080 Also, you know what's happened on college campuses.
00:00:34.580 You've seen the protesters.
00:00:36.280 So who's paying them?
00:00:37.580 It's clearly organized.
00:00:39.100 And how much are they getting paid?
00:00:40.600 We've got the financials.
00:00:42.240 And we'll have that for you in a moment.
00:00:44.040 And finally, new legislation that's bipartisan that Senator Cruz wants you to know about
00:00:48.940 that deals with keeping your kids safe and your grandkids safe on social media.
00:00:54.300 It is Verdict Weekend Review.
00:00:57.120 And it starts right now.
00:00:59.260 Senator, one of the reasons why I just I love doing this show with you is we get to talk
00:01:03.960 about issues that the media is not covering.
00:01:06.460 The last one's a great example.
00:01:07.720 But there's also one that needs to have everyone listening share on social media.
00:01:14.080 And that is this new report out that it wasn't just Hunter Biden that was getting in on the on the action of selling access to daddy.
00:01:21.540 Jim Biden was getting in on the action and actually may have been a bigger offender based on what we're finding out.
00:01:29.580 Jim Biden is now being accused of being in business with Qatari officials, the actual government.
00:01:34.360 And Hunter Biden.
00:01:36.100 Yeah, he leverages ties to his dad.
00:01:38.380 We've seen that.
00:01:39.420 But Politico has a new report out that says that Joe Biden's brother was winning business deals with business partners that were directly linked and tied to foreign governments.
00:01:50.400 Those that were actually tied to terrorism.
00:01:52.840 According to the outlet, Jim Biden, the president's brother, was in business with Qatari officials to fund his health care venture.
00:01:59.620 That would be, quote, some of the closest known links between a Biden relative and a foreign government.
00:02:09.160 Well, that's exactly right.
00:02:10.620 This was a bombshell report that came out three days ago in Politico.
00:02:14.120 The title of the report is, quote, fund manager indicates Jim Biden was in business with Qatari officials.
00:02:20.640 And Politico explains, quote, new details about Jim Biden's foreign fundraising efforts are spilling out into a Kentucky bankruptcy court.
00:02:29.020 Where recent testimony indicates that President Joe Biden's brother partnered with the Qatari government officials in his quest to find money for a U.S. health care venture.
00:02:38.900 The sworn testimony by fund manager Michael Lewitt, a former business partner of Jim Biden's, attests that two companies that facilitated the efforts were part owned by members of the Qatari government.
00:02:52.780 One company named in the testimony partnered directly with Jim Biden in the multi-year fundraising efforts.
00:02:57.780 The second company provided financial backing for a series of loans that a hospital chain paid Jim Biden to arrange, according to documents and testimony Lewitt submitted in the course of the federal bankruptcy proceedings.
00:03:11.240 If substantiated, the alleged arrangements would constitute some of the closest known financial links between a relative of President Joe Biden and a foreign government.
00:03:22.940 It's also about following the money.
00:03:26.940 Yes.
00:03:27.200 We're hearing now that this money that was coming in was not just going to Jim Biden, but it was also going into the pocket of the now President of the United States of America.
00:03:40.340 This testimony that came out in this bankruptcy, these documents, and now this individual that did business with the Bidens, he said, look, at first there was a bridge loan to AmeriCorps that coincided with a payment from AmeriCorps directly to Jim Biden.
00:03:58.300 The report says Biden said in testimony in February that the roughly $600,000 payments that he received from AmeriCorps around the time where his role was in arranging, quote, loans and many other services, quote, unquote.
00:04:15.800 And then in March of 2018, Jim Biden transferred $200,000 of the payments in question to then his brother, Joe Biden.
00:04:28.560 Well, look, that is exactly right.
00:04:31.620 And you didn't understand.
00:04:33.600 Qatar has some of the most problematic foreign policy of any country on Earth.
00:04:39.500 And so this is, you know, it's amazing.
00:04:41.820 The Biden crime family and that phrase, I got to say, a while ago, it sounded like hyperbole.
00:04:46.520 It no longer sounds like hyperbole because the entire Biden family is engaged in a business where they only do business with our enemies.
00:04:54.440 They somehow never seem to do business with Canada.
00:04:56.960 They never do business with the United Kingdom.
00:04:59.240 They never do business with France or Spain or Japan.
00:05:02.480 They only do business with Russia.
00:05:05.040 They do business with Ukraine.
00:05:07.500 They do business with communist China.
00:05:10.460 Let me read from this political article because it lays out, quote, in June of 2017, Qatar's neighbors led by Saudi Arabia ganged up and cut diplomatic ties with the country, citing its alleged support for terrorism.
00:05:26.640 The ensuing financial and physical blockade through the country, a peninsula that juts out from Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf into a sustained crisis.
00:05:36.340 In response, the country's rulers began showering well-connected Westerners with gifts and financial benefits, sometimes in the form of investment funding.
00:05:44.960 The Qatari influence offensive strengthened the country's ties to the U.S. and Europe, but also led to corruption scandals, including the European Parliament's sprawling Cuttergate fiasco.
00:05:58.080 Around the time of the blockade, Jim Biden was embarking into a foray into the health care business in which he worked closely with the troubled hospital chain AmeriCorps.
00:06:06.620 And by the way, when Jim Biden was was raising money, he pitched himself very directly as so, for example, here's what Jim Biden said in a draft letter to official at Cutter Sovereign Wealth Fund.
00:06:21.620 He said, quote, my family could provide a wealth of introductions and business opportunities at the highest level that I believe would be worthy of the interest of his excellency on behalf of the Biden family.
00:06:37.120 I welcome your interest here.
00:06:39.940 That's how he was pitching it.
00:06:42.660 And and it resulted in payments of roughly six hundred thousand dollars from AmeriCorps that he received.
00:06:50.480 And Jim Biden transferred two hundred thousand dollars of those payments directly to Joe Biden.
00:06:58.220 Now, understand who Cutter is also.
00:07:00.540 Do you know where the leaders of Hamas live?
00:07:03.600 Where is that?
00:07:04.920 Cutter.
00:07:05.640 There you go.
00:07:06.720 They live as billionaires.
00:07:08.180 They live in incredibly lush, opulent apartments.
00:07:11.960 They fly private jets.
00:07:13.400 Cutter gives them sanctuary.
00:07:14.980 Cutter supports them.
00:07:16.100 Cutter protects them.
00:07:17.360 This is the same Hamas that carried out October 7th.
00:07:19.880 This is the same Hamas that murders Israelis and murders murders Americans.
00:07:25.620 And yet the Biden administration consistently refuses to sanction Cutter, refuses to stand up to Cutter.
00:07:31.240 And suddenly we discover that that the Biden family has been bought and paid for.
00:07:39.500 By the way, can you go back and read that one line?
00:07:42.720 Because I do think it's an important one.
00:07:44.880 Hold on.
00:07:45.660 Let me read a different line.
00:07:47.400 Yeah.
00:07:47.640 Which is Jim Biden presented a presentation on behalf of AmeriCorps saying that AmeriCorps was seeking $30 million in financing to acquire hospitals.
00:07:58.240 Do you know how the presentation described Jim Biden?
00:08:02.640 I'm going to guess Joe Biden's brother.
00:08:05.180 It described him as totally separate person with no connection to the vice president of the president.
00:08:11.740 No, no, that actually is not correct.
00:08:14.280 I'm going to read you what it said.
00:08:15.980 This is a quote.
00:08:17.840 Jim Biden, quote, brother and campaign finance chair of former vice president Joe Biden.
00:08:26.840 So it ain't complicated.
00:08:28.580 Why do you want to give him money?
00:08:29.920 Because he's Joe Joe's brother.
00:08:32.520 And by the way, the money you give him, he'll give to Joe.
00:08:36.880 Why is this not on the six o'clock news, Ben?
00:08:40.280 Because it indicts the president of the United States of America in a pay to play scheme that would bring down, I would argue, any other presidency.
00:08:48.860 Look, in any normal sense, that would be right.
00:08:53.840 But if you look at this, these documents, these documents are being ignored by the media.
00:09:04.340 So, for example, Lewitt wrote to Jim Biden to express confidence that his funds would be repaid immediately for its loans to AmeriCorps with money from Dubai, according to an email that emerged in the bankruptcy litigation.
00:09:17.560 Quote, nothing else changes in terms of what I will be doing re-AmeriCorps since I will be just as responsible for the Dubai dollar, dollar, dollar, three dollar signs with the added worry of being driven around the desert.
00:09:36.960 LOL.
00:09:38.400 Wow.
00:09:39.000 I mean, I'm sitting here and I say, wow, and I mean it.
00:09:42.980 Rarely am I speechless.
00:09:44.260 But I go back to that that sense I wanted you to read again, where the pitch is to his excellency.
00:09:50.560 I mean, they're saying, hey, do business with us.
00:09:53.380 You guys need access.
00:09:54.820 You're in trouble.
00:09:56.340 This is how you get the Biden family on your team again.
00:10:00.040 It's just going to cost you millions of dollars in, quote, business.
00:10:04.580 Yeah.
00:10:05.120 Let's be clear.
00:10:06.220 Here, the entire pitch, it was not about Jim Biden's financial acumen.
00:10:12.220 It's not about what he knew about health care.
00:10:15.480 As far as we can tell, he didn't know a damn thing about health care.
00:10:18.380 Here's what he wrote.
00:10:19.860 I'm going to read it again.
00:10:20.720 The draft letter from Jim Biden read in part, quote, my family.
00:10:25.080 It's not even me.
00:10:25.820 My family.
00:10:26.600 And who's my family mean?
00:10:27.680 He means his brother.
00:10:28.700 It's just like Hunter Biden when he says, my father.
00:10:31.400 They're all talking about Papa Joe.
00:10:33.300 So my family could provide a wealth of introduction and business opportunities at the highest level that I believe would be worthy of the interest of his excellency.
00:10:45.680 And his and excellency are both capitalized on behalf of the Biden family.
00:10:52.060 I welcome your interest here.
00:10:55.020 Yeah.
00:10:55.260 Meaning I'm speaking on behalf of my brother.
00:10:57.740 Just like Hunter Biden said, I'm sitting here next to my father, to the Chinese communist.
00:11:02.840 If you do not give me five million dollars right now, my father will retaliate.
00:11:06.720 It wasn't just Hunter.
00:11:08.040 It was Jim.
00:11:09.120 It was the entire family.
00:11:10.580 And I want to underscore.
00:11:12.100 Why didn't they do business with the French or the British or any friends, the Japanese, the Canadians?
00:11:18.260 No, it was only enemies of America.
00:11:20.600 It was only countries that provide comfort and shelter to Hamas and terrorists who murder Americans.
00:11:27.340 That was their business strategy is find people who hate America, find countries who are enemies of America, but who need favors from Joe Biden and go get hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars from them.
00:11:43.000 Yeah.
00:11:43.200 And this comes, by the way, two weeks after James Biden.
00:11:46.360 And it came out in court documents as well, apparently secretly negotiated one hundred and forty million dollar settlement deal in 2012 between a U.S. company and the Saudi Arabian government, quote, due to his relationship with then vice president Joe Biden, court documents revealed.
00:12:01.900 And no one talked about that story either on the nightly news, as you mentioned a moment ago.
00:12:06.640 Look, it reminds me of Mel Brooks's movie, History of the World, part one, where he says repeatedly, it's good to be the king.
00:12:13.360 It's good to be the king.
00:12:14.480 And that that's how the Biden family sadly approaches government.
00:12:18.980 Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation, you can go back and listen to the full podcast from earlier this week.
00:12:26.120 Canadian women are looking for more, more of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders and the world around them.
00:12:32.420 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:12:36.240 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:12:37.320 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:12:38.540 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:12:41.920 entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians and newsmakers, all at different stages of their journey.
00:12:48.060 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:12:51.280 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:12:55.360 Now on to story number two.
00:12:59.560 Let's let's go back and look at the hierarchy of this.
00:13:02.500 And just to put it in perspective, in the hours after the attack on Israel, you had to call out the United States government.
00:13:10.220 Yeah.
00:13:10.480 The Biden administration.
00:13:12.060 Repeatedly.
00:13:12.500 And I want you to go through that quickly in a second.
00:13:15.520 But you had to call them out for basically holding Israel to a standard they're not holding Hamas to, which is if Israel responds and protects itself and anyone dies, that they're somehow evil.
00:13:27.420 You then have a White House that's doubled down on that.
00:13:30.240 You then have people like Olam Omar and others in the Senate and the Democratic Party that have done the same exact thing.
00:13:36.200 You then have that trickle down to the presidents of these universities, and we saw them go before Congress.
00:13:44.080 And none of them, by the way, got fired.
00:13:45.700 Some of them aren't presidents anymore, but they still got their six-figure salaries.
00:13:48.820 They're still indoctrinated kids on campus.
00:13:50.820 None of them lost their access to the university, which they've taken away from even some Jewish professors this week.
00:13:57.080 So then that trickles down into the base professors, which we just played a moment ago, which then trickles down into the students that can hate Jews.
00:14:03.680 And then it trickles down into the outside non-students who are the protesters that are there.
00:14:09.040 And yet you could fix all of this the way that we've seen in Texas this week, the way we've seen it in Florida this week, where these protesters come out in those universities in those states and they said, we're not putting up with this crap.
00:14:19.320 So this is all being done and organized and allowed by the universities, by law enforcement, by Democrats who are locally elected, and they could stop it all in a matter of days.
00:14:29.520 But they're saying, no, no, let's keep going and let's keep this growing.
00:14:33.680 I want to read something that was tweeted by Carol Markowitz.
00:14:36.480 Now, Carol Markowitz is a columnist at the New York Post, and she said something online that I think was really quite powerful.
00:14:43.300 She said, quote, a lot of Jewish friends, especially those who are finally awake after October 7th, say things like, quote, how is this America?
00:14:55.160 Or, quote, it's so scary that this Jew hatred is happening everywhere.
00:15:00.900 But it's very much not America, and it's absolutely not happening everywhere.
00:15:12.760 In South Florida, Jews wear the dinner plate Megan David's, and no one says one word.
00:15:21.220 In rural Michigan, churches put Pray for Israel on the signs outside.
00:15:26.480 I'm not naive.
00:15:28.480 Obviously, Jew haters can and do live anywhere.
00:15:31.560 But they're only thriving, open, proud, in blue areas.
00:15:39.560 And I'm not going to let people ignore that.
00:15:42.660 A lot of liberal Jews are trying to parse things right now.
00:15:46.320 They imagine that they are still of the left, but just on this one tiny little thing, their right to exist, they disagree.
00:15:56.640 No, my friends.
00:15:58.520 It's a house of cards, and you're pulling the one from the very bottom.
00:16:03.060 The whole left ideology is corrupt, and you're going to have to face it.
00:16:10.800 You can't spread the blame around.
00:16:13.060 The hatred, the rage, the violence, the dehumanization is all coming from one side, yours.
00:16:21.280 A second example is an op-ed that was written in JNS.
00:16:24.840 It was written by Jonathan Bernitsky.
00:16:26.720 It's entitled, Jewish Democrats Wake Up.
00:16:30.140 And it says at the outset, quote, the anti-Semitic right is a fringe phenomenon, while the anti-Semitic left is mainstream, powerful, and shaping America's future.
00:16:40.860 And I'm just going to read the beginning of this because it's really quite powerful.
00:16:44.020 Quote, this is addressed to you, my fellow Jews, since most of you are Democrats.
00:16:49.420 You've heard from liberal colleagues that Tucker Carlson, whose show you've never watched, has been flirting with anti-Semites.
00:16:57.620 You've been told by liberal friends that Candace Owens, whose show you've never watched, has been picking fights with Ben Shapiro, whose show you've never watched.
00:17:08.420 From CNN and MSNBC, you know that a pack of guys with citronella tiki torches march through Charlottesville while shouting, the Jews will not replace us.
00:17:21.840 And that's why you've convinced yourself that there are far more anti-Semites on the right than there are on the left.
00:17:28.960 I wish to pose several questions.
00:17:33.200 How many of the thousands of individuals who gathered in Times Square on October 8th, 2023, and chanted, resistance is justified, and glory to our martyrs, are registered Republican voters and plan to cast their ballots for Donald Trump?
00:17:47.860 How many of the thousands of individuals who rallied in Manhattan on December 25th, 2023, and carried banners emblazoned with the words,
00:18:16.880 quote, by any means necessary, and quote, resistance until return, are registered Republicans and plan to cast their ballots for Donald Trump?
00:18:26.800 How many of the thousands of individuals who assembled at Columbia University on February 2nd and shouted,
00:18:35.060 globalize the Intifada and death to the Zionist state, are registered Republican voters and plan to cast ballots for Donald Trump?
00:18:43.340 How many of the individuals who amassed in Dearborn, Michigan, on April 5th, and yelled,
00:18:49.420 death to America and death to Israel, are registered Republicans and plan to cast their ballots for Donald Trump?
00:18:57.100 How many of the thousands of individuals who blocked traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and other cities on April 15th and carried the flag of Hezbollah,
00:19:05.920 are registered Republicans and plan to cast their ballots for Donald Trump?
00:19:10.280 How many of the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have participated in the thousands of anti-Zionist and pro-Hamas protests across the country since October 7th,
00:19:24.140 are registered Republicans and plan to cast their ballots for Donald Trump?
00:19:27.780 And then he answers it.
00:19:29.360 He said the answer to every question posed above is close to zero, if not none.
00:19:36.940 He goes on.
00:19:38.940 Yet we've been told by reporters and commentators at august publications and news networks, leaders of esteemed nonprofits,
00:19:47.140 academics at prestigious colleges and universities, and career civil servants at major three-letter federal government agencies,
00:19:54.640 that anti-Semitism is solely a problem of the right.
00:19:58.700 Yes, fringe right-wing anti-Semites are a problem.
00:20:02.740 Well, they should be considered a threat, but they are on the fringe.
00:20:08.880 And because these fringe elements continue to be the near-exclusive target of the left's so-called, quote, quote,
00:20:17.140 fight against anti-Semitism, it's more apparent than ever that our elites are purposely engaged in a partisan game.
00:20:27.000 This next paragraph is the most important paragraph in the op-ed.
00:20:31.960 Right-wing anti-Semites are kooks and grifters.
00:20:38.280 Left-wing anti-Semites are college professors, newspaper editors, Hollywood stars,
00:20:46.540 a growing number of Democratic members of Congress, and quite a few Biden administration officials.
00:20:52.760 They have immense cultural and political influence, and they are decisively shaping the future of America.
00:21:02.660 I don't know how you can dispute one word that was written there,
00:21:06.300 and that is a point that explains why these universities are sick,
00:21:11.140 why these college students are being fed poison,
00:21:15.320 why the administrators are afraid to stand up to the bigoted lies,
00:21:21.320 why Democrat politicians are celebrating the bigoted lies.
00:21:25.960 AOC and Ilhan Omar are going and cheering on the anti-Semites,
00:21:31.600 and why even so-called mainstream Democrat politicians, like Joe Biden,
00:21:38.480 stand happily by while the squad cheers on the anti-Semites.
00:21:43.040 Senator, last question I want to ask you about what's happening on college campuses is,
00:21:49.460 we talked about following the money, and we now know who's behind it.
00:21:54.680 Isn't there an obligation now for people that went to these universities to stand up and say,
00:22:00.140 not only do we think at Columbia the president should resign,
00:22:03.140 but you're not getting another dime from me until we see significant changes?
00:22:07.380 You look at Robert Kraft, the Patriots owner, he really came out and did some interviews.
00:22:11.640 He didn't just stop the flow of money, and there are buildings named after him at Columbia.
00:22:17.600 He has been a massive donor.
00:22:19.340 He said, they're not getting another dime of my money, and he didn't just say it.
00:22:23.380 He went out and explained it and challenged others to do the same thing.
00:22:27.080 We need people to do that all over the country in a big way.
00:22:31.280 Absolutely, yes, and you look at Robert Kraft with Columbia.
00:22:36.240 You look at Bill Ackman with Harvard.
00:22:37.980 Bill Ackman played a pivotal role in Claudine Gay stepping down.
00:22:42.020 You look at Mark Rowan with Penn.
00:22:44.560 Mark played a pivotal role.
00:22:46.140 These are all very, very successful leaders in business who've been massive, massive,
00:22:51.320 multimillion-dollar donors to these universities who've taken leading roles, speaking out and
00:22:56.520 saying what is happening is disgraceful.
00:22:59.040 The anti-Semitism, the radicalism that you are allowing, the DEI oppression.
00:23:04.040 And by the way, this anti-Semitism is the fruit of DEI.
00:23:09.120 For people that don't know what DEI stands for, explain that quickly.
00:23:12.060 It is diversity, equity, and inclusion, and it is the vehicle within universities where
00:23:16.820 they teach this nonsense, they teach this racism, they teach that Jews are oppressors
00:23:21.920 and Palestinians are victims.
00:23:23.560 Look, here's an illustration, and let's play this as our final clip.
00:23:27.260 Ilhan Omar talking about the protest.
00:23:29.900 Give a listen.
00:23:30.800 How do you think this will translate to the Jewish students who are facing anti-Semitism
00:23:34.120 here on campus?
00:23:34.900 So I actually met a lot of Jewish students that are in the encampment, and I think it is
00:23:41.120 really unfortunate that people don't care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept
00:23:47.760 safe, and that we should not have to tolerate anti-Semitism or bigotry for all Jewish students,
00:23:55.280 whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.
00:23:59.060 What utter garbage, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.
00:24:04.820 Understand what she's saying.
00:24:06.020 If you're not protesting in favor of Hamas, then you are a pro-genocide Jew.
00:24:15.100 Now, Israel is not remotely committing genocide, and in fact, they go to extraordinary lengths
00:24:21.260 to avoid civilian casualties.
00:24:23.280 They are killing terrorists.
00:24:24.420 Do you know who is trying to commit genocide?
00:24:27.360 Hamas!
00:24:27.880 Hamas, when they entered on October 7th, they were only murdering Jews.
00:24:33.660 They were looking for Jews.
00:24:34.700 They were murdering them because they are Jews.
00:24:36.780 That is genocide.
00:24:37.660 When you are trying to wipe out a people.
00:24:40.060 Look at the rocket attacks the other day.
00:24:41.500 They weren't targeting any one building.
00:24:43.440 They were just targeting any part of Israel.
00:24:45.640 Any Jew.
00:24:46.400 Like we started off with the Columbia organizer.
00:24:48.700 He wants to kill Zionists, by which he means Jews.
00:24:51.080 She's saying, and this is where the left, it is Orwellian, they turn things upside down.
00:24:58.720 You know who is pro-genocide?
00:25:00.340 Hamas.
00:25:01.320 The same Hamas she supports.
00:25:03.320 The same Hamas the protesters support.
00:25:05.740 You know who is anti-genocide?
00:25:07.680 Israel.
00:25:09.360 Israel is trying to save the lives of civilians.
00:25:12.520 Hamas is also, ironically, pro-Palestinian genocide.
00:25:16.300 Why?
00:25:16.600 Because they put Palestinian civilians in harm's way, and they want them to die because they
00:25:21.960 know the useful idiots will use the deaths of those Palestinian civilians to attack Israel.
00:25:30.120 That is the sad reality of cultural Marxism.
00:25:35.140 This is the fruits of this poison that has taken over our institutions.
00:25:39.520 As before, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation on this topic, you can go
00:25:45.200 back and download the podcast from early this week to hear the entire thing.
00:25:49.800 Canadian women are looking for more.
00:25:51.880 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.
00:25:56.060 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.
00:25:59.800 I'm Jennifer Stewart.
00:26:00.980 And I'm Catherine Clark.
00:26:02.200 And in this podcast, we interview Canada's most inspiring women.
00:26:05.980 Entrepreneurs, artists, athletes, politicians, and newsmakers.
00:26:09.520 All at different stages of their journey.
00:26:11.720 So, if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.
00:26:14.920 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
00:26:20.740 I want to get back to the big story number three of the week you may have missed.
00:26:25.480 Finally, Senator, I want to get into something else.
00:26:27.800 It's a very important piece of legislation that you're working on.
00:26:31.780 And I have actually seen a little bit of this be talked about on social.
00:26:36.780 There are some people that don't actually think they understand the intent of what we're trying
00:26:41.420 to accomplish when it comes to protecting kids on social media.
00:26:45.320 So, explain why this legislation is something that parents really need to know about.
00:26:49.900 Well, this is legislation I introduced this week.
00:26:53.780 And it's bipartisan legislation.
00:26:55.560 I teamed up with Brian Schatz, who's a Democrat from Hawaii.
00:26:58.760 And the bill is called the Kids Off Social Media Act.
00:27:01.760 And it does several things.
00:27:03.380 Number one, it prohibits children under 13 from accessing social media.
00:27:09.540 So, kids, there's no reason for an eight or nine-year-old to be on TikTok or to be on social media.
00:27:14.520 And there are a lot of harmful things.
00:27:17.200 I'll tell you, listen, you and I are both parents.
00:27:19.940 And any parent who is dealing with—I'm dealing with teenagers.
00:27:23.280 Your kids are not teenagers yet, but if you blink, they will be.
00:27:28.280 Any parent dealing with teenagers or adolescents, how to deal with phones and social media is one of the greatest challenges
00:27:36.480 because phones are really a portal for kids to access all sorts of harmful content.
00:27:42.600 And so, this bill says if you're under 13, you can't be on social media.
00:27:47.260 And then it says for kids younger than 17, big tech companies are prohibited from using algorithmic boosting to send messages to them.
00:27:57.820 So, we know right now, and there's been a lot of testimony in the Senate,
00:28:00.860 that big tech companies send messages to our kids, to our teenagers, that are really harmful.
00:28:06.600 They send messages that undermine their body image.
00:28:09.500 They send messages that encourage self-harm.
00:28:12.300 They send messages that increases suicidal ideation.
00:28:16.420 They send messages that increases their feelings of depression and anxiety.
00:28:23.260 They send messages encouraging dangerous behavior.
00:28:26.700 They send messages pushing radical beliefs, things like pro-Hamas beliefs.
00:28:31.260 And so, this bill says if you're under 17, big tech cannot target using algorithmic boosting to send messages that are addicting and that are harmful.
00:28:43.020 And then the bill also includes a separate bill that I had introduced previously, and I introduced it with John Fetterman.
00:28:49.820 It was also bipartisan.
00:28:51.060 And my separate bill was called the Eyes on the Board bill.
00:28:54.800 And the Eyes on the Board bill, which is now part of this bill, says that any school that receives federal funds has to block social media on campus.
00:29:06.560 And the basic idea is, while our kids are in school, they ought to be listening to teachers.
00:29:10.780 They ought to be doing schoolwork.
00:29:11.920 They don't need to be posting on Instagram while they're in school.
00:29:16.300 For older kids, they can do that when they get home.
00:29:18.940 But at school, they ought to be focused on the schoolwork.
00:29:22.140 Yeah, they should be.
00:29:22.940 And this is legislation that you mentioned is bipartisan here.
00:29:26.320 What does it look like, the chances of this moving forward, since it is a bipartisan piece of legislation?
00:29:31.280 So I'm actually quite optimistic.
00:29:34.760 We are likely to have a markup in the Senate Commerce Committee next week.
00:29:39.280 I'm the ranking member, the senior Republican on the Commerce Committee.
00:29:42.680 And I think it is very likely to pass the Commerce Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.
00:29:48.540 I think there's a good chance it'll pass unanimously.
00:29:51.260 And I think there is a good prospect of this bill being passed into law.
00:29:55.240 There are two other bills called COSA and COPPA that are both dealing with things like online predators targeting kids.
00:30:01.960 And I think there's a real possibility of all three of these bills being put together and brought to the Senate floor.
00:30:08.280 And I'm hopeful we can pass all three of them.
00:30:10.420 We'll keep you updated on it.
00:30:11.560 It's so important, especially preventing children under 13 from having access to these social media sites.
00:30:17.480 And also, as you mentioned, programming those algorithms for teens younger than 17.
00:30:22.460 This is a really important job well done.
00:30:24.900 And we'll keep everybody updated on how this looks moving forward.
00:30:28.980 Well, that's right.
00:30:30.020 And, look, I'll say something also as a parent.
00:30:32.380 I mean, these are hard issues.
00:30:34.000 And one of the things – I talk to a lot of parents.
00:30:36.020 I don't know a parent who disagrees on this issue.
00:30:38.640 And that's true right or left.
00:30:40.520 That's true regardless of politics.
00:30:42.880 We're all worried about our kids.
00:30:44.260 I mean, it's really – it's hard to be a teenager right now.
00:30:47.000 The pressures on our kids.
00:30:48.880 You and I didn't have these kind of pressures when we were teenagers.
00:30:51.060 It's really tough what is all of the influences that are pounding our kids.
00:30:57.680 And it's hard to be a parent right now.
00:30:59.060 And one of the challenges – because some people say, well, parents ought to just restrict this.
00:31:03.300 Look, it is a hard dynamic when your kid – when every student in their class is on the social media platform.
00:31:11.460 When that's how the kids communicate, when that's how they schedule playdates, when that's how they interact.
00:31:17.280 No parent wants to socially ostracize their kids.
00:31:21.600 And so a lot of parents will talk to each other and say, I wish they were all off of it.
00:31:26.240 But I'm not willing to have my kid the only one that's not able to interact with their peers and have a social life.
00:31:31.820 And that's one of the reasons why – you know, it's interesting in the Senate, the folks that are coming together and supporting this bill –
00:31:37.720 so myself and Brian Schatz and we've also got Katie Britt – we're all about the same age.
00:31:44.520 We're all in our 40s or 50s.
00:31:46.020 We all have kids the same age.
00:31:47.440 I have to say the senators that are in their 70s or 80s, they don't quite get this issue in the same way that if you're a parent, you're dealing with it.
00:31:55.700 And so I'm hopeful that we'll see some real bipartisan agreement that we ought to enhance the tools parents have to keep their kids safe.
00:32:05.380 As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you.
00:32:10.640 Don't forget to download my podcast and you can listen to my podcast every other day you're not listening to Verdict or each day when you listen to Verdict afterwards.
00:32:17.680 I'd love to have you as a listener to, again, the Ben Ferguson podcast.
00:32:21.400 And we will see you back here on Monday morning.
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