Government Shutdown: What You Need To Know, Durbin Declines Cupich's Award, And Paper Clips

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. LOOPcast brought to you by The Loop, every Catholic American's favorite morning newsletter. Go sign up if you haven't already. Very excited to be here today. We have a great show for you. The government shut down, first time since 2018. It did. The lights are off. Lights are off, but it's reached the broader consensus now, and we need to explain it. So, what does that mean? Why did it shut down?

What are the insider negotiations? Josh, of course, I want to know about all the politics of it. It is going to be great. Senator Dick Durbin has... Pope Leo declined his invitation to receive this award. We have a lot of insider information on that I'm happy to share as well. It even reached Pope Leo. We have his answer there for you, so we're going to be covering that as well. We got quite the speech from the new Secretary of War that I'm happy to cover.

We got New York Times interviews. I mean, it's just going to be a great show. Good news, Twilight Zone, always. Buckle up. Buckle up. We got a ton. Happy Feast Day, St. Therese of Lisieux. That is a trendy saint pick, and that is not talking about St. Therese of Lisieux. She is great. I feel like every girl I knew at a Catholic school growing up, that was their thing. I mean, a shower of roses. Who doesn't love a shower of roses?

Who could go wrong with roses? My wonderful grandmother passed away on this day, on this feast day, two years ago, and I just love it because... You know, her middle name was Hildegard, which is a doctor of the church. She dies on the feast day of a doctor of the church, and her husband died on a feast day of the doctor of the church, all female doctors, so just... Okay. I love you, Grandma. Shout out, Grandma. Shout out, Grandma Mercer, for real.

Wow. Or is it grandma on the other side? She's the next turn. It was a 50-50 coin flip there. Before we get into the show today, we have plenty to get to, but why we can do it, thank you to our sponsors. First up, Ave Maria Mutual Funds. I'd like to introduce you to today's LOOPcast sponsor, Ave Maria Mutual Funds. Now more than ever, Catholics want to align their investments with their moral beliefs, and a great way to do that is by investing in the pro-life, pro-family mutual funds from Ave Maria.

The professionals at Ave Maria have a morally responsible investment philosophy that's aligned with Catholic teaching. In their search for attractive investments, they apply moral screens to eliminate companies that engage in support for abortion, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, or make corporate contributions to Planned Parenthood. An advisory board composed of prominent Catholics meets regularly to guide the fund's choice of moral criteria. And since its founding in 2001, Ave Maria has become the largest Catholic mutual fund family. And now manages over $3.8 billion in assets for Catholics and other investors who have pro-life, pro-family values.

Starts your morally responsible investment journey today by visiting AveMariaFunds.com slash LOOPcast. In the link below, the good people at Ave Maria will send you a free information kit. You can also get the kit by calling 1-866-AVE-MARIA and use the promo code LOOPcast. That's 1-866-AVE-MARIA or clicking the link. Thank you to Ave Maria Mutual Funds. Always a pleasure having them. It's important. Align your investments with your beliefs. It's simple enough. I think that we can get really overwhelmed in modern society and all the complexity of it, and we're like, okay, we have to find the moral way to consume news and the moral way to do healthcare and the moral way to invest.

And the key to not being overwhelmed is to find your trust tree. And for me, Ave Maria Mutual Funds, 100% in the trust tree. All the moral questions for you. You can trust them to align with your beliefs. So, really important in modern life to find these organizations like this. I think that's why people like the loop, is that we go through this kind of stuff, and we talk about Netflix not supporting organizations that undermine your values. Well, Charity Mobile, another perfect example.

Speaking of the trust tree, welcome to the other branch of the trust tree, Charity Mobile. Now more than ever, it's important to buy the way you believe and do business with companies. That's part of what you stand for. Are you sensing a trend with some of our sponsors here that I'm very proud to present? We love it. We love it. That's why you should switch your cell phone service to Charity Mobile, the pro-life cell phone company. They send 5% of your monthly plan price to the pro-life, pro-family charity of your choice at no extra cost to you.

Unlike some mobile carriers that resort to gimmicks to retain customers, Charity Mobile doesn't do three-year price locks because they have never raised their mobile plan prices in their 30-year history, and all plans start under $50 before taxes and surcharges. You can save even more on every line you add, making them a perfect choice for families also. New customers can use promo code LOOPcast to get a free phone with every new line, plus free activation and free shipping, or you can bring your own compatible devices.

You'll enjoy the same nationwide coverage as the big guys, and the live customer service is based right here in the United States. To get started, visit CharityMobile.com and use promo code LOOPcast. That is CharityMobile.com, promo code LOOPcast. Thank you, Charity Mobile. Thank you to our sponsors for making this show possible.

I always appreciate you guys. Okay. So, I've done the research. I frantically woke up and got all the information I could because I suspected it was coming, and sure enough, it did. We preempted it on the show. The government has now shut down. The federal government has shut down for the first time since 2018, late last night. I think they debate the exact time. Was it 1159, 1201? I'm not sure. I'll say 1201, so I guess it'd be this morning. I want to be very specific.

And just for some context, the why is important here. Congress failed to pass a funding measure known as a continuing resolution. For short, CR, to keep government operations running beyond the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. Under the U.S. Constitution and federal law, appropriations must be approved annually. Without them, non-essential services halt. So, what does that mean? Immediate impacts. Non-essential federal workers, potentially hundreds of thousands, are furloughed without pay, though they'll receive back pay post-resolution per a 2019 law.

Essential services, air traffic control, military operations, social security payments continue, but with reduced staff, staff... And programs like SNAP and WIC face quick disruptions, passports and visas proceed, be funded, and national parks may close. That is typically what goes on whenever the government shuts down or temporarily shuts down. I think the one in 2019 lasted almost 30 days. Was it 35 days, Josh? I do not know. It was not nothing. Yeah, it was a long time.

So now, what happened? What were the internal deliberations that broke down? Republicans presented what is known as a clean continuing resolution. And for context, a clean CR is a temporary funding bill that extends government operations at current spending levels without adding new policies, programs. ...or significant changes to existing ones. Interestingly, I was looking at the history on this, Congress passed 13 clean funding bills while the Democrats had the majority the past four years with a Democrat in the White House. So, whenever you hear...

Oh my gosh, this is unprecedented, yada, yada, yada. The numbers are not lying to you here. They have passed clean CRs. Republicans have passed clean CRs. They did one in March. Exactly. They did one in March for the same funding levels. So, what happened here? There was a break. From tradition, actually, with Democrats' recent tradition, and the break, I was trying my best to figure out, because there's a lot of grandstanding on both sides as to why the government didn't get funded, and from what I could find out was that the main sticking point was over healthcare funding, and the Democrats wouldn't commit to voting to pass this short-term bill.

Again, that's clean. It would just continue funding at current levels, unless Republicans agreed to extend- It was going to, yeah, for seven weeks. Seven weeks. Seven weeks while we were- Work on the bigger, larger annual budget. Correct. And they wouldn't commit to voting to pass this short-term bill unless Republicans agreed to extend tax subsidies through the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare for short, until the end of the year and reverse the cuts to Medicaid in President Trump's big, beautiful bill. The president told Politico he did not want to help Democrats subsidize health insurance for undocumented immigrants, even though they're ineligible for ACA coverage.

Now, that's the line that I kept seeing everywhere, because both sides now are arguing these subsidies covered illegals. These subsidies don't cover illegals. It's... From what I've found, it seems like a bit of a semantics argument. And so, whenever you see that, like, yes, technically, they were ineligible, according to the letter of the law, people that are here, undocumented, illegal, whatever you want to say, they're ineligible for these benefits, or ACA coverage in general, that's Obamacare coverage. But, what we found in the last four years, and this is what's contested by Republicans is, and this comes right from the CBO, I believe there's a congressional investigation into this.

1.2, illegal immigrants or non-citizens made eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies via Democrat-created loopholes who will no longer receive Obamacare subsidies after years of Biden-Harris abuse of, quote, lawful presence definitions. So, I was looking into this, and this is what... So, it's hilarious. Like, if you just go to a fact-checking website, and actually, Tucker just had someone from Wikipedia, which I think explains a lot of this. Oh, man, that was fascinating. If you go to a fact-checking website, they're like, well, according to fact-checkers, they're not receiving benefits.

They're like, okay, who's the fact-checker? Snopes. What are they referencing? Another Snopes article. So, I think it's a little bit of that. The other thing is, a lot of people, pretty much everyone that came to the border from 2020 to 2024 was granted asylum status immediately. Many of them actually dropped their passports at the border with instructions, hey, choose a name that you like. It is going to be your name according to the U.S. government. You are going to be granted temporary asylum, and yes, then you have access to all of these benefits.

Everyone was given asylum status, so everyone was eligible for this. So, that is immediately, I just want to paint a picture of, we are talking about... Definitions. All the Haitian migrants in Ohio, yes, they currently were under temporary protected status, but that was a new directive when they were flown into the country and put in Ohio. So, all of those people, yes, eligible for healthcare as well. The other thing that was hotly contested on that was complying with income and other verification requirements designed to stop waste, fraud, and abuse.

So, this is, for example, people that are just permanently unemployed, not working towards any type of job or receiving healthcare. So, I think there's legitimate concerns, but... The second part of all of this was there was a counterproposal brought forward by Democrats. I believe it was DeLauro, and I forget who the other person was. That's mine.

And so, basically, they put in all these poison pills where they're saying, hey, we'll pass this, but we want all of these things. And they're a little bit in the weeds, but, for example, preventing these starts. They put their goodie bag list, yeah. Right. So, just so people are aware of the game here, they're like, hey, we're not going to fund this clean bill, or we're going to shut the government down, but we want all of these ridiculous demands, which we know that you will not want.

Right. Even though the main fight we're going to go publicly about is this healthcare thing, there's all these kind of little poison pills that they know that. Basically, all that to say, I'm curious on the political strategy on this, Josh, because from what I've seen, government shutdowns are pretty unpopular across the board. No one's really happy by it. It looks really desperate, I think, from Democrats. So, what could possibly be the strategy here for Democrats to just actively try to shut down the government?

Well, I think the strategy here is that Chuck Schumer is petrified that he might lose a Senate primary to Democrat AOC. I think that is why he has got to look like he is tough, and he is taking on Trump, rather than rolling over. So, I think that is all that this is, because if you realize what happened on the final vote, okay, this is so peculiar.

Democrats are like, well, you guys are in charge of the shutdown of the government because you own all the House and the Senate and the presidency. Well, under the current rules, Democrats still have the ability to filibuster or block final passage of the budget. So, we need Democrats in the Senate, not all of them, we just need like eight or seven to vote for it, and then we can get it done.

Well, actually, eight, because Rand Paul didn't vote for it. And what happened? Actually, three Democrats voted for it. So, in my mind, Chuck Schumer is like, so principled, Stan, this is so horrible, but yet three vulnerable Democrats are like, yeah, I'm not going to shut down the government. Fetterman being one of them. Not just Fetterman, but you had the senator from Nevada, and I forget the other one who did. I think Shaheen. Was it Gene Shaheen? Could have been. So, you had three Democrats who are not going along with this.

I think it was Angus King, maybe, but keep the government going. I just think that that means that Schumer does not have as much leverage as he would hope to have. Oh, this poll from the New York Times, Sienna. This is like, even the New York Times could not come up. With a way to make this look good for Democrats. This one, I was reading this last night, so this was views on whether Democrats should or should not shut down the government if their demands are not met.

All respondents, what is it, 65% were like they should not shut it down. Even among Democrats, 43% of their own party that said they shouldn't shut it down, 59% of independents, and of course, most Republicans, like over 90%. 92%, yeah.

This just looks so bad. This tells me that in the court of public opinion, Democrats will get blamed for this, and it's sort of going to upend the narrative that, oh, Republicans are always to blame for a shutdown. I would also like to take this moment to say I would be perfectly happy. I actually support the filibuster, and I like it to stay in place, but when we're talking about funding the government, I'm perfectly happy.

If John Thune and the Republicans in the Senate say, let us nuke the filibuster for appropriations, because this idea that you could have a minority shut down the government and stop it from running and paying its bills, to me, that is just absolutely asinine. I think that is just ridiculous. It is like, oh, Republicans own the government, and you shut it down. No, we did not shut it down. Why would we do that? We own the government. Right.

It is bonkers. I also found it interesting that Axios was reporting that Chuck Schumer and his staff are closely coordinating their shutdown strategy with outside liberal groups, including Soros family organization, spearheading a pressure campaign to push Democratic senators to vote against funding the government and force a partial shutdown. So, it is not even like this is an inside deliberation on potentially what is best. I mean, this is clearly an outside pressure campaign to... Make a stand here for, like, it really doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

And then the other thing that doesn't make sense to me is this gives Trump a lot of power to potentially reshape the federal government. I don't know if the thought process is, if he actually acts on that, that they're going to say they can use that as a point. Like, oh, he's firing these people. He can reshape agencies. He can. Like, he was using that as a. Waiting that around is a stick, but yeah, he actually can do that. So, it doesn't make sense on both.

It's not popular, and you're giving him the opportunity to reshape the government more. So, one theory that I've seen in terms of why the Democrats are pushing for this right now in this way is that the one issue that Democrats are polling even slightly ahead on right now is healthcare, right? Like, they've lost immigration, they've lost crime in the cities, they're even losing on the economy. Because the tariffs didn't crash the economy the way that we were told they were going to, and Jerome Powell's like, oh, yeah, inflation's not as bad as we thought.

The one issue that Democrats can hope to distract from everything else that they've screwed up is on health care, and so by making this about health care, they're throwing all their eggs in that basket. I don't know what you think about that one, Josh, but trying to understand why are they doing this. They've got to, they have to change the national conversation. They have to get it away from Charlie Kirk. They have to get it away from crime on buses. They have to shift it somehow.

Portland, yeah. And if they can be like, we are making a principled stand on health care. Knowing that that is maybe the last area that they have any sort of control. They have so little leverage going into this shutdown, though, and so I think one of the things that President Trump did right away is Russ Vogt, his head of OMB, immediately started freezing infrastructure funding to New York City, day one.

Hey, Chuck Schumer, how do you like that? And so Chuck Schumer is going to feel a pinch on that right away. And so, I think that is another attempt by Trump to bring them back to the bargaining table quicker. I think, ultimately, There is no, I just cannot imagine Republicans allowing this government to be reopened by giving to the Democrats, like, healthcare for illegals, but you might be in a situation where Republicans are like, okay, we are still going to keep subsidies, you know, in Obamacare, fine, whatever, and that is not going to be that damaging to them, so if they do that, that is fine.

You know, give some sort of, you know. Fig leaf to the Democrats, but not much, and then they'll crow about how, oh, we did so successful. We won. We stuck by our principles. Can I tell you my favorite Democrat demand?

Which one is that? That would be they wanted Trump to agree to reinstate funding for NPR and PBS. Oh, yeah, I saw that. No, that is not. Shut it down for Elmo. Shut it down. It took us forever to snipe, Big Bird.

Yeah, seriously. Well, I guess we will see what comes from that. I also saw a relevant, you brought up, Erika, it was the end of the deferred resignation program last night. So, there was a buyout, essentially, right? And the last night to take the buyout was last night, so we had a bunch of people resign. Yeah, so this was one of Trump's first executive order slash memos when he got into office. It was called the fork in the road, and I think we covered it here because I think it was the fork in the road, and I think we covered it here because Oh, yes.

I mean, the fork in the road. So, this was the Office of Personnel Management to all employees of the U.S. Federal Civil Service, and it went out to about 2 million people. It offered that deferred resignation program for those who did not want to work under the Trump regime, as they were calling it. They were like, fine, we would be perfectly happy for you to resign. You'll continue to be paid for up to six months, I believe it was, and that's about 100,000 people.

That period ended yesterday, and 100,000 left. Now, the headlines and the way MSNBC panels were talking about this was, federal workers take brave stand against Trump cutting the workforce, and they all just resigned. That's not what happened. They just were the ones who wanted to take the deal, take the paid leave, and now they no longer work for the federal government, because it's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new fiscal year.

That is what they say. Great. So, we'll see what comes of all that, but yes, the government is officially shut down. Before we get into that, Erika, we have another sponsor. Yeah, we've got Home Title Lock, and I would encourage everyone to stick around. At the end of the show, we're going to play the interview I did with Matthew Cox, who himself was a convicted fraudster, sentenced to 26 years, and it's a great interview because he gets you inside the mind of the criminals and inside this growing scam that the FBI calls house stealing, and he tells us how.

Home title lock is going to solve this problem for us, because scammers, you see, can transfer your title out of your name using a one-page document they file at the county. Then, they take the loans out against it and even sell it behind your back, and Matthew explains this whole process, what he did to get this done. The scariest part, of course, you don't even know your house has been sold out from underneath you until you get the foreclosure notices arriving in your mailbox.

That is a nightmare you don't need. The best way to protect your equity. Is with Home Title Lock's exclusive million-dollar triple lock protection program, that service offers 24-7 monitoring, urgent alerts, and if fraud should occur, their U.S.-based restoration team will spend up to $1 million to fix the fraud and restore your title. So, let us begin. When was the last time you checked on your title? If you were like me before I did this interview, the answer is never, and that is exactly what scammers are counting on.

The good news is we have partnered with Home Title Lock to offer you all 60 days for just $1. So, click the link in the description below, check out the chat if you're in there now, and use our promo code LOOP60 to get 60 days for just $1, and you will also get a free title history report to ensure you're not already a victim.

Make sure you check out the million-dollar triple lock protection details when you get to the website, so click that link below and promo code LOOP60. Thank you, Home Title Lock. Excellent. Thanks, Erika. Okay, so now we have an update on a story we've been following for a while. So, officially, Cardinal Cupich has announced, as of September 30th, that the Democratic Senator Dick Durbin has declined to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Archdiocese.

Brings to an end a mounting scandal over Cardinal Superch's controversial decision to honor Durbin, a strident promoter of abortion, the Marriage Equality Act, basically all kinds of anti-Catholic stuff. Friends. Yeah. All of it. All of it. All the things.

Okay, so there's a lot of interesting elements. To this, and I'm curious, Josh, on a lot of those points. It has reached Pope Leo at this point, and we have his answers, so a lot of people are now talking about that. I'd say we just maybe start with Pope Leo's answer to the question, and then we get into a little bit more of the fallout here, responses from bishops, etc. So, I'll start with Pope Leo.

I just wanted to ask one thing that has become a bit of a divisive subject in the U.S. right now, with Cardinal Cupich giving an award to Senator Durbin. Some people of faith are having a hard time with understanding this because he is pro, or rather, he's for legalized abortion. How would you help people of faith right now decipher that, feel about that, and how do you feel about that? I'm not terribly familiar with the particular case. I think that it's very important to look.

At the overall work that a senator has done during, if I'm not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate, I understand the difficulty and the tensions, but I think, as I myself have spoken in the past, it's important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the church. Someone who says, I'm against abortion, but says I'm in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. So, someone who says that I'm against abortion, but...

I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States. I don't know if that's pro-life. So, they're very complex issues. I don't know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another, and that we search together, both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics, to say we need to, you know, really look closely at all of these ethical issues and And to find the way forward as a church.

Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear. Josh? Yeah, so... I'm not super surprised, but I'm not really happy about this answer. I think it's just best. Again, this is why the teaching office of the Pope should, I mean, I just, in general, I've said this for many years, I'm not a big fan of press conferences for the Pope. I wish Popes would not do press conferences, because even said, I don't have all the facts.

Yes, exactly, which is why, when you don't have all the facts, you should say, respectfully, I'll review that, but I don't have time right now to give an immediate response on something where I don't have all the facts to it. And as my good friend Kelsey Reinhart said, you know who does have all the facts?

Bishop Paprocki, the bishop that, he is the Senator Durbin's bishop. Right. He's been Senator Durbin's bishop for over 20 years, and Bishop Paprocki, you know, and there's even this claim Dick Durbin's like, well, I don't live in Springfield anymore. I live in Chicago. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no. When Senator Durbin announced this April that he was not running for reelection anymore.

He made that announcement on his back porch at his home in Springfield, Illinois, to a bunch of reporters. That is your home. That is what you are saying is your home. That means your bishop is Bishop Paprocki. And here is the thing. I am actually kind of glad Senator Durbin declined the event, so we are not going to go on with the celebration. Why? Why did Senator Durbin do it?

Well, I think, ultimately, there is probably a conversation between the Archbishop and the Senator about the mess that was created. Was it that Durbin declined, or did Durbin say, do you want me to withdraw? How do you want to handle this? I am sure there is behind-the-scenes talks going on here, but ultimately, I am relieved. But the bigger scandal here is that Dick Durbin has been a supporter of abortion for well over 20 years. When he was first elected to the House of Representatives 40 years ago, he actually was pro-life.

He was. And then he turned his back on the unborn as he tried to climb the ladder of the Democratic Party, and that is to the eternal shame of the Democratic Party. Dick Durbin realized, oh, if I want to get ahead in this party, I've got to turn my back on the unborn and support abortion at every turn, and he's been one of the biggest supporters of abortion ever. And Cardinal Cupich said, well, I just want to be clear, because he announced yesterday, hey, by the way, Senator Durbin's withdrawing, I'm kind of saddened by it, but I respect his decision, right, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Yeah. But then Cardinal Cupich said, I just want to make sure we're not awarding him this for his stance on abortion, we're doing it for the immigrants. And I'm like, This does not work. This does not work, okay? Imagine somebody, because the point that Cardinal Supich is making is that Senator Durbin is fantastic on immigration. Therefore, we're giving him a lifetime achievement award for his work on immigration.

I'm sorry, this doesn't pass the smell test. Imagine you gave, let's say there was someone in the Senate who had voted for all these years and promoted immigration precisely the way Cardinal Cupich wanted, but that guy also owned a bunch of strip clubs. Would you give him a lifetime award? What if another congressman supported everything the Archbishop of Chicago wanted on immigration, but he was a total racist and he never hired any black people? Would you give him a Lifetime Award?

What about Chicago's own? I did not imagine. Al Capone. Al Capone was great at serving the poor. I think he shot a few people. Would you give Al Capone a Lifetime Achievement Award? I mean, it would be like, what if David Duke? The Klansmen, right? What if David Duke helped out immigration in a way that the Archdiocese of Chicago liked? Would you give David Duke an award? No way. He's a member of the KKK. He's absolutely, abhorrently vile and racist. You would not give him an award just because he was good on another issue, right?

So, if he owned a strip club, if you were a member of the KKK, those are deal breakers. You wouldn't care how good they are on immigration. You would not give them an award. Somebody who supports killing of babies in the womb, and he's not indifferent on it. He has voted time and time again, not just in favor of legal abortion, but to make us pay for legal abortion. The guy, there's no wiggle room. There's no, well... Well, and fire doctors and nurses who don't want to perform abortions, right?

The religious freedom element of it as well, the whole thing. And I think that the reason why Catholic Twitter just blew up Last night, when the video of the Pope started circulating, is because what they heard him saying was that there is some kind of equivalence between, whether he meant this or not, I don't believe he did, because he's had other statements where he says abortion is an intrinsic evil. But what came across in the way that the secular media, the local ABC station is talking about it, is, oh, the Pope points out that there's some kind of equivalence between Your stance on abortion and how you think about immigration and your stance on immigration policies, and that somehow you're disqualified from being pro-life if you disagree with, say, you know, the Democrats on immigration policy.

And I think people, after the last papacy, people are just... And yes, it was disappointing to hear because abortion is intrinsically wrong. It's an intrinsic evil. There's no way about it. The death penalty is not. It is not intrinsically evil. And that has been the consistent teaching of the church for 2000 years. Can you briefly explain intrinsic versus?

Erika? Sure. By the very definition of itself. Yeah, it's... There's no other way. I just want to be crystal clear. Right, that there are acts, there are human acts that, by their very object of the act, the act itself, there is no circumstance, there is no intention that can somehow make that act okay, right? It might mitigate your guilt for the act. So, for example, it is always wrong to directly take innocent human life. That taking of the innocent human life, there's no circumstance that can make it okay.

Now, you may or may not be morally culpable. If you don't know, that's what you're doing. That's why we have degrees of manslaughter or something like that in our law, and God ultimately is the judge of whether or not it falls into the category of mortal sin, but this would be what we call grave sin, right? Grave moral evil. That is not mitigated by circumstances, or political consideration, or prudential judgment, right? Yeah. I think it's entirely unacceptable for people to say, to try to mitigate against it, like to try to rationalize it.

Like, Democrats have been strident supporters of legal abortion for decades, and that is a scandal. That's the scandal. Right. There's no whole picture there. You know what? Like, Senator Durbin has turned his, you know, he said, I'm not, I declined this. You know, Lifetime Award, what he's really turned his back on is the Eucharist. And that is much bigger than some sort of, you know, Lifetime Award. Like, can you imagine that? Like, I just can't imagine being in a situation where I would separate myself and the rest of my Catholic community with, you know...

From being able to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, but because Senator Durbin was obstinate in his public support for abortion, he's not been able to, you know, he's been asked since 2004 no longer to receive the Eucharist, and I just, you know, to me, that's just...

It is shameful, and like, well, let us talk about other issues. They always want to talk about other issues. Oh, let us talk about the immigration. Let us talk about death penalty. How about we just talk about, like, maybe not killing babies for once? Yeah. Can we do that? Because anytime we try to talk about that, you guys want to talk about anything else. Yeah. It is really frustrating. It feels like, it feels very disingenuous, too, when people, because even I agree with you on the frustration of off-the-cuff interviews based on not total information, because if it comes from the head of the church, it's not just going to be interpreted that way by, say, lefty Catholics.

It's going to be interpreted that way by secular media. It's going to be interpreted that way by Protestants. You know what I mean? It just makes our lives so much harder to actually just articulate what we actually believe. I don't know a single pro-life, you know, as in following the teaching of the church, Catholic, that is for inhumane treatment. I actually feel like we agree on a lot more than we disagree. I'm yet to find a theological explanation for against deportation, or against enforcing your border laws, because it doesn't exist.

It typically comes from people that have no respect for anything you believe in, using the phrase off the cuff, welcome the stranger. And some Catholics do it, but usually it's secular media. And I'm like, okay, let's get past that and have a mature conversation about how it works. How to enforce the laws of our country to have order that's actually ordered towards the common good. It's not towards the common good. The last four years were not ordered towards the common good for American citizens or for the migrants themselves, and we could talk until we're blue in the face.

I'm just saying, in this instance, it's frustrating to have that equivocated. Same thing with the death penalty, which there's a long Catholic tradition of, and it can be actually used for the common good. I'm not saying it should be used all the time. I'm saying it should definitely be taken in solemn, but again, I think most people of goodwill... We want to have that conversation about, here is why it might be necessary in certain places. Another good example, we are dealing with this with the Ukrainian migrant who was stabbed by someone who had been incarcerated multiple times.

There was someone a year ago in South Carolina, a 22-year-old girl, stabbed by someone who was in and out of jail almost 30 times. The law to put people who have been convicted of violent felonies after the third time away for life. Is a good measure towards law and order to protect the citizens, especially the victims, because if you did that, you would eliminate 90% of crimes, because those 90% of violent crimes are committed by the same small group of people.

So, again, I think these are mature conversations that we can all have together in good faith, based on first principles and Catholic teaching, but this just opens it up to something not that, and it gives ammo to people who genuinely do not like. Good faith Christians. And that's just, I guess, what's frustrating. And I don't even want to pin this immediately on Pope Leo. I can't imagine how embarrassing this probably was for him to have Cardinal Cupich, who he knows and probably wants to give the benefit of the doubt to.

Say what you want about that. It's neither here nor there. I think that's just the reality. To double down after being confronted by a brother bishop to say, hey, do not do this. There's good reasons why I barred him from the Eucharist. I did it way back then. You should not do this. This is a scandal. Please rescind, and he said, no, I'm going to do this. I know it's going to cause disunity. I know it's going to cause scandal. I'm going to do it because I want to, and then you have to get 10 other bishops involved.

Burbage just put out a statement this morning, too, and now it gets to Pope Leo. Who doesn't have good information, probably, isn't fully familiar, and then gets put on the spot and has to now give something out like this. Maybe he didn't have the time, as a thoughtful man, as I understand him to be, to actually sit down and write exactly what he wanted to do and dictate it forward. So, I just feel like this is probably a huge embarrassment for Pope Leo to be like, now I've been put in this situation, and it's going to now, you know, continue to divide.

It's like we get back to the Francis thing, which I think he's done a pretty good job avoiding so far. So, like, I just wish we could kind of have mature conversations instead of speaking in slogans. I was there for the Pope Leo celebration mass, and Cardinal Cupich gave the homily, and it was super politically charged, and he talked about, well, what about the people that take care of our lawns, which is hilarious and racist, in my opinion, and just ruined a very hopeful, paternal event, I think.

Pope Leo's message was not that, too, so maybe I just selfishly kind of hope that that's kind of a dying breed of Catholicism. And some of these cardinals and bishops are going to be aging out of that, and it's just not what the people on the ground want or need right now. Like, we need very clear direction. We need nuanced conversation. And I agree, we do need unity, but it's kind of gaslighting from Cupich to come out with a statement after and say, all I want at the end of the day is unity, after doing something hilariously divisive, obviously based on voting record and public history.

He asked him privately to rescind it. It didn't have to be public. That's how Papaki was the bishop. In this scenario, he was the best of all the three bishops. He was acting in the best way. He did the biblical way, trying to correct your brother in private, trying to avoid a scandal, but warning him, like, if you don't do anything, I'm going to do this. And it wasn't even Proprache who initially told him. Uh, Durbin to withhold the Eucharist. It was his parish priest back in 2003, who later has now become Bishop Vann.

He went, he's now Bishop of the Diocese. And Paprocki saw that, that he said, yep, that remains in effect. I agree with that. Good for him. And really, again, this is so many things about this are inverted here. Really, who should have been in Charlie Kirk's position? It should have been one of our priests. It should have been one of our bishops. We've had so long of just... Being company men, hiding, not taking on hot button issues. Sure, the Overton window has shifted on abortion, which is great.

I feel like now there's more priests that are willing to talk about it. There was a time people were too scared to talk about it. Our church leaders, and of course, we get into this position. What are the issues of our day-to-day? Transgender surgeries on our youth, mutilating our youth. I can't imagine an institution more poised to be strongly against that, and we just, we haven't seen that. Just imagine if we had 60 million Catholics who are opposed. ...diometrically to mutilating the body parts and genitals of children, and we're against murdering kids in the womb.

Boy, that'd be great. The priests and bishops should be at the hospitals, right? I mean, as soon as we have migrations... The moral competency thing that you say, though, is absolutely the most infuriating thing about this completely, because it's like, I get it. I understand. The Catholic liberals think Catholic conservatives are way too strident on immigration. No matter what you think of our position, it is not an intrinsic evil. To deport people, okay? It is not like the ICE is going to people's houses who are illegal, oh, are you illegal?

And murdering them right on the spot. That is not what is happening. Returning them safely to their homeland is not intrinsically evil. So, do not even try this moral equivalency garbage. It is not equivalent. And frankly, it is completely justified to deport people. Every country has done it forever. And at great risk to their own personal lives, financial. To cost the country, and like, even when that guy shot into the ICE facility, there were ICE agents running towards the migrants to protect them.

Right. And so, it's like, it's crazy the way, and then also, they have to wake up to people doxing their home addresses, politicians calling them Nazis. It's like, it's insane how inverted this is. And Dick Durbin isn't good on immigration anyway, Mr. Sturbridge. Yeah. Sorry. Right. So, yeah, that's all subjective. Exploitation of labor. Yeah, it's frustrating on all fronts, but. I think you threw immediately, like, hero of the year, Bishop Peperocki, for handing this the way that he did, and all the bishops that stood up, and it's like, this isn't about some stupid award.

It's about the truth, and I actually appreciate bishops taking this seriously, because how many more things can we just roll over on at this point? If you can't take a stand on anything, then where are we going to go? You have to take on these issues head on. So, shout out to Pep Rocky. Yep.

Anyway, sorry, I've got a really full show today. Erika, you were up first for good news. Oh, this was just a beautiful moment at the White House. The First Lady posted. They hosted the Gold Star families, so people whose children have given the last full measure, who have died in the course of duty.

And there were just some beautiful pictures that came out of there, and lovely little video, and Melania saying, Last night, we honored the Gold Star families and the fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. Their courage and love inspire us all, reminding us of the profound cost of our liberty. And I could not help but, in my mind, contrast this with the images of Joe Biden checking his watch as the coffins arrived from Afghanistan and the tarmac there, and the fact that he never once met with these families.

And this was just fitting, and yes, I voted for this. I think the President of the United States should host these parents in the White House and give them all the honor due to them. And for those who don't know, Gold Star families?

Yeah, their children were killed in the line of duty. Yeah. Afghanistan pullout in response is one of the, Joe Biden was responsible for a lot of bad things, and who knows how much he's responsible for. I don't know how much he was there, but that was, I'll never forget that. That was like the most embarrassed I've ever been to be American. It actually was the one thing that most Americans remember. It was the turning point in a very negative way for Biden.

That's, again, after that fallout from that, and it wasn't going to go away, that's why Biden should have said, You know, for the good of his own party, not to run again, but, I mean, hey, whatever, dude. Worked out. Josh, what do you got? So, as promised, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has brought Jesus.

Out of the basement, he came back to the Merchant Marines, and he made that talk when he spoke to them several months ago. They had this massive painting of Jesus, and the Biden administration took it down and put it in the basement. Well, it is back up. Let us roll the tape.

Is there a video here? No, I thought it was. No, it's just a picture. There it is. Look at it. That's beautiful. Don't worry. I got plenty of videos of mine. It's military-related. Oh, boy. Oh, it is. This is military good news. Military good news.

That's a beautiful painting. Sorry to interrupt. But so many of you heard about this meeting of the troops, meeting of the generals, and lambasted in the media. You're pulling them out of war zones. This is so unprecedented. So, for those curious, they met up at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. It was titled, Addressed to Senior Military Leaders. It featured speeches from Secretary of War. It is not Secretary of Defense anymore. Secretary of War actually really liked this change. I think it is just more honest.

Department of Defense was super... So, I was like, what's this speech going to be about? Is it going to be any good? And actually, I know we have some service members or vets listening, so I'm curious what you guys thought of it. But I'll play a few clips, and then I got my thoughts afterwards. So, here we go.

Very clear about this. This is not about preventing women from serving. We very much value the impact of female troops. Our female officers and NCOs are the absolute best in the world. But when it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral.

If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it. That is not the intent, but it could be the result, so be it.

It will also mean that weak men won't qualify because we're not playing games. This is combat. This is life or death. As we all know, this is you versus an enemy hell-bent on killing you. To be an effective, lethal fighting force, you must trust that the warrior alongside you in battle is capable, truly, physically capable of doing what is necessary under fire. You know this is the only standard you would want for your kids and for your grandkids.

Apply the War Department Golden Rule, the 1990 test, and the E6 test, and it's really hard to go wrong. Love that. I'm going to briefly say, and this will come back, why did this need to be said? Yeah, because some people think that men can be women. I will show the next clip. I'm going to keep repeating the same question after each part, but here's another part. With physical fitness and appearance. If the Secretary of War can do regular hard PT, so can every member of our joint force.

Frankly. It's tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it's completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon. Or sitting in front of me. And leading commanders around the country and the world. It's a bad look. It is bad, and it's not who we are.

So, whether you're an airborne ranger or a chair-borne ranger, a brand new private or a four-star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass the PT test. And as the chairman said, yes, there is no PT test. But today, at my direction, every member of the joint force at every rank is required to take a PT test twice a year, as well as meet height and weight requirements twice a year, every year of service.

Also, today, at my direction, every warrior across our joint force is required to do PT every duty day. Should be common sense. Nice. I'll ask you another question. Why did that need to be said? No more fat generals. No more fat generals. All right, and then I'll add this one and ask another question.

To remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department. To rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses. No more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris.

As I've said before, And we'll say again, we are done with that shit. I've made it my mission to uproot the obvious distractions that made us less capable and less lethal. That said, the War Department requires the next step.

Underneath the woke garbage is a deeper problem, and a more important problem that we are fixing and fixing fast. Common sense is back at the White House. So, making the necessary changes is actually pretty straightforward. President Trump expects it, and the litmus test for these changes is pretty simple.

Would I want my eldest son, who is 15 years old, eventually joining the types of formations that we are currently wielding? If in any way the answer to that is no, or even yes, but, then we're doing something wrong.

Because my son is no more important than any other American citizen who dons the cloth of our nation. He is no more important than your son. All precious souls made in the image and likeness of God. Every parent deserves to know that their son or their daughter that joins our ranks is entering exactly the kind of unit that the Secretary of War would want his son to join.

This is exactly right. Correct. That is the litmus test. Yeah, I like it. Why does it need to be set? Why does it need to be said? Well, maybe because we had an admiral for the last four years, who is literally a man, who literally put on a dress and heels, and was in a position of leadership in our Health and Human Services Division. That is why it needs to be said, because we have had people in charge of these positions for the last four years, and even before that, who have no sense of generational thinking and of the traditions that we hold.

That we have to carry on and pass on to our children, because they're not interested in children. It was all about them, all about theater kids, all about people who are sick in the brain and thought that they could switch genders, and that's why it has to be said now, and I am so glad he is saying it. Yeah, I think the, I was even surprised I went back through a lot of the Biden era reversals, even just in the last four years.

How crazy. The Navy's professional reading list added Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Anti-Racist, BASIS hosted drag shows. Yeah, it was like How to Hate America, American Troops. Identity Months, DEI factors influence promotions with quotas for women and minorities in leadership. Over 40% of held-up promotions supported DEI publicly. West Point taught on whiteness as a threat to equity. I mean, why did it happen, Tom? We know why it happened, because... Why is it that Obama, but especially the Biden administration, targeted the military?

Because it was the largest institution in the country that was not captured by communist, neo-Marxist, racial, DEI baloney. You know, not that it was like inherently strongly conservative per se, but it just wasn't captured. And over time, with the, you know, promotion of Politically correct admirals, you know, it became a ripe opportunity for capture, and they did capture it. I mean, I remember thinking, I don't want my sons joining this. Me, under Biden? There's no way. No, that is the litmus test, by the way.

And I think, personally, I think about it, I think a lot of people think about it this way. We have a record of the past 30 years of people starting wars and not sending their children, and it's disgusting. That used to be the standard for most of human history. That if you were to be involved in a war, your family would be involved. You would be in the war. If you were a king, you were fighting in the war. Your sons were in the war.

They took prominent places. And we have these chicken hawks starting useless wars in the Middle East. I mean, I have my issues with the wars of the last 30 years, and even with some of what's going on right now with the Department of War and the industrial complex around the military. However, this reads to me like you inherited a bad football team with a horrific culture that maybe had a good history before. And these are the steps. You need to summon all of the many generals and tell them to their face that they're fat.

It's a wake-up call, but it's true. Would you want a fat personal trainer? No. Would I want someone fat defending the country? And then for the last four years, to lower standards to include people as if this isn't something based on killing people? That's what it is at the end of the day. It was, I think, embarrassing. I really am curious what service members thought of this, because is this just too rah-rah? Is this not what you want to hear? I don't know.

For me, I'm like, I would be embarrassed if I was in the military, and I had these people controlling me. I had these people representing me. This is what was being presented to the public. When you sign up to serve the country, protect and defend, et cetera, I think that's what most people do, and it's a huge, huge task for him to have to reverse this, but I think one of the generals Complain to the media after said this could have been an email.

No, you cannot have an email calling you fat to your face. Like, it just needed to be done. I don't understand. So, I'm really happy about this. And people are even complaining about Pete Hegsath lack of qualification, yada, yada, yada. You get Pete Hegsath because the most obvious things were neglected for years. I remember Lloyd Austin just disappeared for two weeks. Gone. So, like, look, you might not like him, but this is what you get now because he apparently is the only person.

Don't tell me about standards, right? Right. There were no standards. So, look, this is what you get, and I'm happy we're getting it. Good news. Let me know, service members, vets, what you thought of this. I'm curious. I'm not one, so.

Yeah, let me know. C-Block, Erika, there's an interesting interview with Tanisha. Yeah, and yes, there is a reason why we are bringing this up to you, because it is important. These two men I'm about to tell you about are sort of representative of the faculty lounge New York Times thinking that does trickle down and has tremendous effect on the people who would like to take over your government. That would be the left. So, this was an interview that dropped this week between Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates, and just a quick overview of who these guys are.

If you haven't heard of them, God bless you, but Ezra Klein is an impressive journalist, policy, he's a co-founder of Vox, and now he's full-time with the New York Times, sort of like the evil twin of Ross Douthat or something, but not as smart. He's good at what he does. I give him a lot of credit. He's very good at what he does. He is very good at what he does, and he wrote this book last spring after the election. And it came out, and it was a big deal called abundance, and how a Democrat, he's asking the question, his big question is, how did we get here?

How did we let, quote, these people get back into power? What went wrong with our politics? What are Democrats doing wrong? A lot. So, he's like, who can I talk to to help me answer this question? Oh, how about Ta-Nehisi Coates? Who is he, you might ask? Well, he is a celebrated essayist on race, culture, and... Well, rewriting American history. He wrote a book called Between the World and Me. His major essay that really kind of launched him into the public square and sort of made him the public intellectual for the leftist movement was called The Case for Reparations.

It appeared in The Atlantic. His big fans, his big champions, Barack Obama, Toni Morrison, who wrote Beloved, and Oprah Winfrey. He was also a big friend of, oh, who's the same? Jeffrey Goldblum. Wait, Jeffrey Goldberg over at the Atlantic. Wait, was he the one that had the signal chats leaked to him? Of course, yes. Same guy. So, this is his buddy, Ta-Nehisi, and his big themes, of course, are whites have stolen black wealth, the story of America, the story of racial inequality, and very Marxist, the struggle is eternal.

This is the eternal struggle. So, what are they talking about? Ezra, you might remember, he wrote a reflection after Charlie Kirk's assassination. In which he basically said, look, I didn't agree with the guy, but he did politics right. Charlie did politics right. Ta-Nehisi Coates, who Ezra introduces in this interview as one of my best friends, because he's best friends with everybody, said he fired back, and he said in a response to Ezra's reach across the aisle.

Was silence not an option? You should have just shut up and said nothing, because there's nothing good to say about Charlie Kirk. Ezra should not have reflected at all. There should be no self-reflection on the left, and there is nothing good to say, quote, about a man like that. What a winner. What a winner. So, we get Ezra. Ezra is like, I got to talk to you. Let us just talk to each other. So, Coates gets on, and Ezra asks him, well, why was Charlie Kirk winning so much?

This is Ezra's great question, since Trump won the second term. And what Coates says is, I'm going to roll the tape in just a second, any sort of sober examination of the history of America says that those of us who believe in equality, this is the left, we are up against some really powerful forces of history and narratives. However good we felt in 2013, however good we felt in 2008, there will always be a backlash. And here's what he thought of Charlie Crook.

I don't take any joy. In saying this, but we sometimes soothe ourselves by pointing out that love, acceptance, warmth, that these are powerful forces. I believe they are. I also believe hate is a powerful force. I believe it's a powerful, powerful, unifying force, and I think Charlie Kirk was a hate monger. You know, I really need to say this over and over again. I have a politic that rejects violence, that rejects political violence. I take no joy. In the killing of anyone, no matter what they said.

But if you asked me what the truth of his life was, you know, the truth of his public life, I would have to tell you it's hate. I would tell you, I'd have to tell you it is the usage of hate and the harnessing of hate towards political ends.

Yeah, we're an asshole. It gets better. No, no, it gets better. The nun told you to tighten that. I know, I know, I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, Sister Mary Angela. It gets better because then Ezra's like, oh, okay. So, basically, the message is this guy was so bad, not worthy of any kind of self-reflection on our part. So, then Ezra's like, okay, well, Coates, can you tell me, why do we keep losing? And Coates says, we always lose. It's always a struggle.

It's always a catastrophe. So, this is the leftist politics. It's not progressivism, like we are progressing towards a better future. For him, there's no happy ending for minorities, for blacks, however he wants to identify himself as. There's no happy ending for LGBT trans, because we will always be put down by these horrible, evil white people like Charlie, who are all about hate. And so, Well, actually, you should just roll this one. This actually might be why. Did he ever ask him in this interview that maybe there's people out there that would say the same thing about you?

No, and the other thing that never happened in this interview, they both kept going on and on about Charlie Kirk was a hate monger. Everything he said was hateful. You read these things he said. You heard these things he said. They never actually quoted Charlie Kirk. They never actually played a clip of him, and they never actually read anything he'd written. Wait, you're accusing someone of hatred and not quoting him? And Ezra never pushed him on this.

Oh, I know. Josh is like, oh, I feel it. Yeah, this might be why they actually lost. Right, right, Raggy. Right, a majority of the country believes things about trans people, about what policy should be towards trans people, about what language is acceptable to trans people, that, like, we would see as fundamentally and morally wrong. Right. And what politically, not in a column or something, but politically, should our relationship with those people be?

Do we win them over? Do we compromise with them? Like, this feels like a very salient question. The Republican Party is going to make sure this is a relentlessly salient question. Right. So, where does the approach leave us? Where do we go on that? Yeah, no, I think that's a great question. Look, I think a couple things. I think...

Again, look, my tradition is the only thing I have a reference point for, so I'm sorry to keep going back to this, but when I look at the times that we have lost, if I think specifically about the Black tradition, for instance, it's hard for me to say politically they did something wrong. You know what I mean? Like, Reconstruction Falls. What was the thing that should have been done?

Yeah, so they never did anything wrong. Wait, wait. Could you color in the dots? What is the thing that majority of Americans believe about? Oh, so things like men shouldn't be in women's bathrooms, boys shouldn't play in girls' sports were the specific policies that I believe he was referring to. I did watch the whole interview. You're welcome. Oh my gosh, I got to go take a shower. But the point, he was like, these people are fundamentally and morally wrong who think that men shouldn't be undressing in front of small girls in YMCA bathrooms.

Yeah. That's what his argument is. And then his question is, what do we do with them? A good summary of the ending, like where this all went, this is how they're thinking about this problem. These are like the leading lights of the democratic intellectual property management here. He goes, I think, Ezra, a lot of the country just feels like we don't like them.

How do we change that? Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Yes, and Coates says, you know, the problem with asking that question, the problem with musing about that, and even having a conversation like this with these people, even to discuss winning them over, is to abandon our principles. He doesn't want to have this question. He's basically saying, like, yes, I hate them. Why should I have to talk with these people? All right. I'm going to offer an olive branch here.

Actually, I don't even, I don't, okay, so, I brought up the case in Virginia of the guy that keeps going into young girls' bathrooms and, you know, acting, I'm not going to say the word, but it's gross, acting. Vile, yeah, looking at my junk. And according, so according to the very, like, base principles truth of that position is that, really, there is nothing that we can do about that. There's not. They belong in there. Maybe outside of the vile acts. Not only nothing we can do about it, we should welcome that.

That's the base. I don't know if they would, well, maybe eventually, in terms of sexual freedom or something like that. But I'm just, yeah, exactly. No, no, no, that's what I'm saying. But like, is there even something, is it even possible? I think he's kind of correct in a certain way. Because I personally can't bridge a gap with someone that would believe that, you know, 60-year-old creep has a place in my daughter's bathroom. I can't. Like, there's no, and so I guess then they also would not, but then they're just frustrated.

Actually, I just, I kind of disagree with you, because, I mean, like... We could, I mean, I'm not suggesting this should be the policy, but liberals could say we can accommodate this by giving people who are transgender a separate bathroom.

You know, if you're talking about a YMCA, there's tons of showers and locker rooms and all that kind of stuff. It would not be that hard to have like a smaller room. Like, okay, if you are a dude that dresses like a girl, use that small room over there, and don't expose yourself to seven-year-old kids. No, because, you know, do you know what Ta-Nehisi Coates compares that to? He compares that to having colored water fountain. Oh, gosh, I knew that was coming.

So, Josh, you are just as bad as Jim Crow Daddy. I mean, can I just bring it home? I want to bring it home. So, Ta-Nehisi Coates, he doesn't want to talk to, he doesn't want to have public debate conversation. You can't talk to these people. Got it. But Ezra. Ezra still wants Democrats to win. He wants them to win the next election, and he doesn't want it to be close. He says this. So, here's his solution that he's come up with so far.

Awesome. He uses an example of Barack Obama. In 2008, he ran as a public opponent of gay marriage, and Ezra leans in and says, now, we all knew he was not opposed to gay marriage. He said most of us never thought he was at heart opposed to it, but he was playing politics, and I'm saying... Direct quote from Ezra. That kind of playing politics is what we need. So, basically, the Democrats just have to go back to lying about their agenda.

Because they know they can't, they don't have an argument. They know they can't win people over by saying dudes in girls' bathrooms is fundamentally immoral. The best part, though, is I was there in 2008, and I was saying, you're lying. Yes. And they're like, no. And everyone knew it. He totally believes in marriage. And Ezra's like, Democrats just have to start lying. He's like, I know you're, I know he's lying, I know you know he's lying, and you're lying about him?

Erika, Erika, I really need to double-check on this. Is this a direct quote from the transcript? Yeah, I have it right here. I transcribed it myself this morning. Again, you're welcome. So, you didn't have to. So, I'll read that again. I'm saying that quote. His example, Obama, ran as a public opponent of gay marriage. Most of us did not think he was at heart opposed to it, but he was playing politics. Anyone, I'm saying that that kind of playing politics is needed.

Yes, lying. Lying. Like, seriously, like, what other interpretation is that? Lying. There are Christians who support the Democratic Party that were looking for lies like that. That's the thing. The Catholic Democrats knew Obama was lying on that, but they're like, wonderful, thank you for lying so that I can soothe my conscience and vote for you. Right, 100%. I hate it. Wow. Living up our lies. So, I just, everyone, you're welcome. Wednesday, hump day, I just gave you a window into the mind of the people who are planning the next presidential campaign for the Democrats.

I hope. Well, let us all just go say some St. Michael prayers now. Go run the pick six. Because this is bad stuff. I like, yeah, I really, I do. I am a big Ross guy. I enjoy Ross' interviews because I just ask very basic human being questions to some of the craziest corners of the intellectual circuit, but.

Do they just not have, I just have no hope for this circle to ever succeed because, well, one, they're just like, well, we just got to lie, number one. And I'm not saying that Republicans don't lie either, but it just doesn't feel like they have.

The Midwest American as a part of their team, and therefore, how could they ever possibly win over enough of America to succeed at the national level if this has become... They're confused why this is a priority. Why is the trans thing even a priority to most Americans? Oh, yeah. As if they somehow could not see why a man beating their daughter in a sport is a problem, why a man being in a bathroom is a problem, why the way we instruct our children is a problem.

Every normal American... Are they just, I guess, are choosing not to? Like, is this just a hive-think-a-bubble problem? Like, they're just not interacting with normal people, or couldn't see, or couldn't empathize with the problems? I don't know, but that party deserves to be crushed. 100%. And put on the dustbin of history, and we deserve to have two political parties that are not psycho on these issues. Yeah, just like the normal American party. I don't know. And I'm frustrated with Republicans, too, but this, to me, is like, I've never seen someone misunderstand.

Americans, so badly, and just choose a small percentage. I want to rule you, you who I hate. Yeah, and I will lie, too, to get what I want. So that you will elect me, right. I hate you. I will lie to you. Vote for me. What a winning battle that is. What a message. Good job, Ezra. Keep trying. All right, here we go. What do we got first? Josh? Okay, so...

We had the radical forgiveness that Erika Kirk gave to the man who murdered her husband. Then Tim Allen was like, yeah, dude, I'm going to apologize to the guy who murdered my dad. I don't know, man. This is radical forgiveness of a kind. I don't even know what to think of this. A bunch of members of the Latter-day Saints, which we effectually refer to as Mormons, are raising money.

For the widow and the family of the man who killed Mormons. Yeah. I mean, that's just, that's amazing. I don't even know what to say about it, but they felt awful about, obviously, their own fellow churchmen dying, but they also felt bad about the children and the widow, and this is a radical kind of forgiveness and love, and I just was like, kind of.

I don't know. I am almost speechless. Beautiful. I believe, as of last night, it was over $67,000. It is over $100,000. Is it over $100,000 this morning? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. That is crazy, and beautiful, and yes, inspiring. Come on, Catholics. You can do this, too. Yeah. Wow.

And then, yeah, someone went through all the comments on the Give, Send, Go. Praying for your family. You and your family are loved. Praying for the Sanford's. There's peace in Christ, as I have loved you. Love is spoken here. In Christ, we find healing.

Wow. Mourn with those who mourn, regardless of cause. Prayers for your family. That's the best. Can we just end it there? Yeah, we fumbled the bag on that one, because mine is not going to be as awesome. Yeah, Josh, you win. Well, I mean, I'm only worried, I mean, there is the, again, the perverse incentives. You've got to be careful about this. You certainly wouldn't want to create a negative incentive. So, again, got to be careful on it, but I do appreciate the fact that, you know, they're like, we don't want this family, you know, in a bad situation, because he killed him.

I don't know if he killed himself, or he was killed by law enforcement, or whatever, but. We certainly don't want the kids to suffer. Right. I get that. Oh, Mark in the chat is remembering when the Amish did the same thing with the guy who shot up the Amish school. Yeah. Beautiful.

That's awesome. Amen. Amen. Erika. Yeah, mine's not nearly. I mean, I'm going to make you watch Randy Weingarten, guys. Oh, man. Let's bring it down. Let's bring it down. Let's pull that up. Can we pull it? We played ourselves. We got last. I mean, it's up to you. Never play yourself. I'm the childless head of the National Education. Childless cat lady. Here we go. Let's just, she's wearing a new symbol. We have an American flag. We have another little, yeah, what is that?

An accessory? There is a reason why in Norway, when the Nazis took over Norway, that is why I am wearing this paperclip. I wear two things now. The American flag, nobody can take patriotism away from me, and a paperclip. What did the teachers in Norway do when there was a Nazi occupation? They started wearing paperclips. There is a reason why.

So, Brandy here is doubling down on they're all Nazis. I am the equivalent of a resistance fighter in Norway, and Mary Catherine Hamm, who's one of my favorite public commentators, shout out Mary Catherine Hamm, she had the best take on this. She said, this and the conversation that Ezra Klein had with Ta-Nehisi Coates suggest to me that there is no visible path for moving the national leaders of this coalition. From a maximally insane 2020 mindset. And they will look at Republicans and say, maximally insane?

Trumpism worked, so this will work too. But here's where they're wrong. Trumpism looked less insane than they're insane and earned new voters. Lib insanity communicated they disliked intensely. Hello, men. And they are nowhere close to acknowledging the true insanity of the 2020 mindset and how it read to those new voters and the voters they lost, who might not be adhered to Republicans, but you'd have to do some actual work to earn them back. And I am not sure what happens here with the paperclip.

On her lapel. So, I looked up. I was like, well, what were these Norwegian teachers wearing paperclips for back in actual Nazi days? Yeah, it turns out that the Nazis were forcing them to join the Nazi Teachers Association, which was a union, and Randy Weingarten, of course, is head of the teachers union. I found some pictures of actual Norwegian teachers in actual concentration camps for wearing paperclips. Erika, you are not going to like the top comment.

Oh, no. So, here they are? Yep, here they are. And I scroll down to the top comment here. Oh, no. And resistance is still needed. The far right is on the rise again. Of course, of course, but Randy doesn't look like she's been anywhere near concentration camp ration. We had a rule at the illustrious Auburn University, and I was a humanities or West Civ class. There's two things you cannot do. One, use the phrase spreads like wildfire, and two, make any references to Nazis at the Holocaust.

Yeah, we just need an embargo on that. No one's allowed to say. Yeah, in making points. In argument. So, it would be like, yeah, it's... I have two film recommendations. For anyone who's interested in what actually happened in Norway, you can go and judge for yourself whether or not her analogy is correct. We have The King's Choice from 2021, and Narvik, another great, both of them in Norwegian, so you've got to put on the subtitles. But I watch World War II films when I'm pregnant and have COVID, and I have vetted them.

Both excellent. Erika has a strange choice in movies when she's sick. Usually, it's like every man picks their war that they really dive into, and apparently Erika's... I'm on board with this, too. So, World War II for you, huh? Yes. Well, I go in phases. It was World War II. I was doing French-Indian War last winter, but yes, I've had a World War II phase.

Yeah, I go in phases as well. I was Spanish-American as of late. Very interesting. Teddy Roosevelt. Yeah. Hilarious. He just resigns from his government position, rides down with the boys, and then he's like, I want to go to Cuba. Like, let's throw down. Yep. That's Pete Hagseth. That's what he's talking about. Teddy Roosevelt, for sure, would have qualified. 100%. You want book recommendations, too, Odysseus? I'll get you those next time. We'll do books on Friday. All right. So, for mine, I'll end it.

I'm really confused at what's going on here. I've tried my best to dig into it. I haven't found great answers. We have been finding... So, Democrats states such as New York and California have been issuing CDLs to illegals as, quote, no name given, with Republican states like Oklahoma stating that they have already apprehended 125 illegals with such IDs. If you take a look at some of these, too, so you see under where your name should be, it says no given name, like a couple of these have real IDs.

You know what that means. They can vote. Oh, my gosh. Well, the real idea is that they've tracked down your birth certificate, and you're allowed to fly. Yeah. Okay. Now, are some of them voting? Of course, some of them are voting. We mentioned with the guy who is the superintendent of public schools in Des Moines, who is an illegal. Yeah, voted in Maryland. He's on the voter rolls in Maryland. That guy, that story, we could do a whole other episode on just that guy.

It keeps going. It keeps getting crazier and crazier. His own personal biography disputes his own date of birth, according to different surgeons. It's insane. But I'm focusing on the CDLs, okay? Because we've had real problems, if you haven't noticed. Illegal immigrants getting CDLs and then causing crashes because they don't- CDLs, commercial driver's license. Commercial driver's license, thank you. So, I saw Governor Stitt has said his OHP performed enforcement action along I-40, on I-40 alone, and apprehended 125 illegal immigrants. 125.

I can't imagine he hasn't been doing this long. 125, that's like hard to wrap your mind around. Now, the one thing that I did, I was really digging into this to be like, how is it possible to have no name given? And I think what I found was... If you come from a country where people have just one name, so no first and last, just one name, when they come to the United States, normally their paperwork is filed as FNU, first name unknown, putting that single name as the surname.

And about a year ago, a bunch of posts popped up on Reddit that these people's renewal documents now say, no name given, which is causing issues with the paperwork lining up. And so, when they become citizens, and then they adopt a new name, at that time, they become citizens. So, up until that point, they're no name given.

And then, this is from the account Still Not In Place. She did the digging on this. Well, I can understand and respect that a culture has a different given name prerogative. So, there has to be a better solution for those who come here legally. If someone is here illegally, they simply shouldn't have to worry about this because they shouldn't qualify for things like social security cards and driver's licenses, which is, of course, what has ended up happening. I don't even understand how many stages down you could even get to this point, but I'm happy we're cleaning it up.

That's a real danger to Americans, is what I would have to say on that matter. Crazy. Clean it up. Crazy. Clean it up. Thank you, Governor Stitt. I mean, if he did it just on I-40 and found 125, I cannot even imagine. That's right. And all the people that issued these, all the businesses that issued these, should be sanctioned and fined into oblivion. Are you kidding me? Wait.

You're saying the businesses who hired these men should be also sued? Yes. Fine. Yes, okay. But I mean, the license themselves are issued by the state. California, New York, which they should all be in jail, in my opinion, and then the people that they put in the position to do this, and then the people that willingly facilitated should also be fined, and then these people should be deported. I don't, this is.

When people have died in crashes because of this. In other states, too. Those are preventable. Like, every single one of those deaths is completely preventable. Same thing with the people that have like a million convictions and still are on the street and get killed. Completely preventable. Yeah, and this is absolutely a federal issue because now we're talking about decisions made by crazy people in California and New York affecting and killing people in other states that have very different laws. If I get on the road after this show and someone's in the wrong median because they don't speak English.

So, just to put it in perspective, crystal clear, if your kids are on the road and this happens, they die. So, I don't even understand how this is compassionate. Like, we were talking the whole thing about, oh, good on immigration, bad on this. I'm like, this is bad. No one's good on this that's involved with this at all. Like, this is a huge problem. Democrats don't seem to have a problem with illegal aliens in this country driving cars illegally. Driving semi-trucks illegally.

So, again, I have made this point long in time again, that the Democrats are perfectly staged to win back the House of Representatives in the midterm elections next year, maybe even the Senate. It is kind of a reach. But, man, you keep promoting policies like this that are absolutely insane.

Yeah, maybe the voters are going to reject you. Yeah, every single one of these is preventable. Okay, so we're going to end up with a prayer, but before we do, I want to also let you know, after this, Erika did do that interview.

This guy is like the Frank Abagnale of home title theft. Yeah, yeah, again. He did a six-hour interview with Lex Friedman. Yeah, you don't have to watch the six hours because I got it done for you in like under 20 minutes. You get all the same good stuff, and it was really interesting.

He is so knowledgeable about how to protect your home title, why it's so important. So, yeah, seriously, everyone should go to Home Title Lock and check out your triple lock protection plan. Get the discount with the code LOOP60 for $1. If you're still not sold, this is going to sell you on it. Again, promo code LOOP60. It's going to give you all 60 days for just $1. You might find out something that... You'd rather not know, but if you do, if something bad has happened to your title, then they're going to walk you through it.

And Matthew makes really clear in this interview why that service is so important today, especially with AI and the internet making stealing your house so much easier. He was like, I can just go to Starbucks and like steal your house right now. I was like, oh, that's comforting. Please don't, please don't. But check out the interview. It'll play right after we pray. But it is the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, so we're going to end with her prayer, and then normal prayer, and then after, I'm going to run the interview.

So, if you guys want to pray with me, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Oh my God, I offer thee all my actions of this day for the intentions and for the glory of the sacred heart of Jesus. I desire to sanctify every beat of my heart, my every thought, my simplest works, by uniting them to its infinite merits. And I wish to make reparation for my sins by casting them into the furnace of his merciful love.

Oh my God, I ask of thee for myself and for those whom I hold dear, the grace to fulfill perfectly thy holy will, to accept for love of thee the joys and sorrows of this passing life, so that we may one day be united together in heaven for all eternity. Amen. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, pray for us, and we'll run the interview. Thanks for joining today, guys, and we'll catch you on Thursday, episode of The Deep, and then Friday, live for another show.

Peace. He has been declared One of the most prolific mortgage fraud con artists of all time by CNBC's American Greed, Bloomberg Businessweek called him the mortgage industry's worst nightmare, while Dateline NBC described him as a gifted forger and silver-tongued liar. But all that is behind him now. My guest today, Matthew B. Cox, is now a former licensed mortgage broker and business owner, and he is an expert, being himself. A one-time practitioner of it, of white-collar crimes, specifically the creation of synthetic identities, the fraudulent acquisition of credit cards, personal loans, and mortgages, in addition to real estate scams, and on the other side of his jail time, can I say that?

He has consulted now with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, and we get to consult with him today. Matthew B. Cox, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. All right. So, for viewers who have never heard of it or who are not experts like me, can you just explain what exactly is title fraud in very plain English? Title fraud is... The fraudulent acquisition of someone's, the title to their home. You own a house, and you have a title which is registered downtown in public records, and a lot of damage can be done by fraudsters if they can get a hold of that title or alter it in some way.

I'll give you an example. Let's say you're a house right now. Let's say you live in a half-million-dollar house. You've got a $450,000 mortgage. You think you're safe. I could drive through your neighborhood, see your house. When I was doing it, I had to go downtown, but now I could sit in a local coffee shop and pull it up online. So, I could pull up the public records on your house, and I could transfer the deed.

That is currently in your name into a synthetic identity's name, a stolen identity's name, my name, anybody's name, and I could then borrow against that property. Even if you have a mortgage, I can satisfy the mortgage. I could file a one-page document. With a notary and satisfy the mortgage on your house, and I could borrow against your house. I mean, this is something that happens more and more, and people are just completely unaware of it. Yeah, so tell me a little bit about that.

What has changed that this type of crime is increasing today? Well, I think that it's probably because it's spreading so quickly on the internet, right? When I was doing it, there was... I don't want to say there's no internet, but it wasn't what it is now, right? It was budding, right? So, it was just starting out, you know, it was a slow, it was email. Anyway.

And now you can go online, there are videos about this crime, there are videos showing you how to do this crime, there's the dark web where people are showing each other how to do the crime, and it's extremely lucrative, and people are unaware of the crime, and as a result, they're not looking out for it, and by the time it happens to them, it's too late. That is crazy. I will give you an example. If I steal your credit card, let us say I get your credit card.

First of all, you are probably going to get notified. Let us say I get a hold of your credit card. So, for some reason, I'm able to go, what am I going to do? I'm going to buy gas. Maybe I'm going to go get a Rolex. Even though I doubt it, they'll probably notify you. I'm going to maybe be able to run up a few thousand, maybe $10,000, but with your house, I can borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars, and you would probably not be aware of it for Three months?

Four months? It could be a year if I continue to make the mortgage payments until basically the new mortgages that I take out on your house, until those mortgage companies show up and start foreclosing. And I can give you an example of that later if you want. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so you don't realize until three months in, by the time the homeowner realizes that they have been scammed, what steps have taken place? Like, what documents are targeted first? And then just walk me through from, like, identity theft to the forged deed to the cash out.

I could do multiple things. The simplest thing I could do. Is that I could go downtown and satisfy the mortgage on your house. It's a one-page document, and it would say, let's say it's ABC Mortgage Company. You owe $450,000 to. I would then create a satisfaction of mortgage from ABC Mortgage Company, stating that your mortgage had just been paid off. It's satisfied, and I would sign it with.

I would sign it as the vice president of the bank, let us say, or mortgage company, whatever, the financial institution. And that name, by the way, I don't even have to know that person's name. I used to sign these as Simpson characters. I would sign, like, C. Montgomery Burns, which is the aging tycoon that owns the power plant. Homer's boss. Yeah.

So, I would sign that, and then I would order multiple notaries. I used to have to go order notaries at, let's say… Office Depot. Right. And I'd go pick them up. You know, you pay 12 bucks, you go pick up. Now, of course, you can just do it online. They'll deliver them wherever. Oh, my gosh. So, you then create a one-page document that says that your mortgage was satisfied, see Montgomery Burns signs off on it, you know, John Doe notarizes it.

I then file it. I could do it online, or I could go downtown, and I could file it for $10, and now anybody that looks at your title thinks that your house has no mortgage on it. You own it free and clear. Right. I could then...

I could either pretend to be you, right? I could steal your identity, or I could just transfer the title of your house into someone else's name that I'm in control of. Maybe it's a co-conspirator, maybe it's a synthetic person with somebody I just made up, or maybe it's a soul in my identity. Yeah, an AI character, right. Anybody. And then what I could do is, now keep in mind, I haven't walked in your house yet.

I can then go online, and there are companies that will buy your house or houses where they don't do a full appraisal. They simply send an appraiser out to do what's called a drive-by appraisal. They drive by your house. They look at your house. They come up with an appraisal. Typically, those appraisals aren't really solid, so if your house is worth $500,000, they might come back and say, oh, we'll give you... $420,000. And of course, me as the fraudster, I'm going to go, gosh, I don't, only $420,000?

What do I care? It's 100% profit for me. So, so far, I've filed two or three documents, paid for a notary stamp. I've got a couple of dummy email accounts. I'm doing all of this sitting at the local coffee shop. I schedule a closing. I say, okay, I'll accept $420,000. We schedule a closing.

I could close it remotely, where I don't actually show up, or I could actually go and get, especially a sale. I'm not borrowing money. I'm selling your property. So, typically, you would do some kind of a remote closing, but if I had to.

I would certainly, for $420,000, I'd walk into a closing. You could very easily get anyone to walk into a closing with the correct documents, which you can order online. You can get a Russian website where you can order documents. You send them a JPEG of your picture, and they'll come up with a Florida driver's license or Nevada driver's license, whatever. So, we close on it. I could also open a bank account online. I'm sure you know you can do, and then we're going to have the title company wire transfer.

All that $420,000 into that account, and you may not even have the person that bought the house show up for weeks. A real estate agent may show up weeks later. In order to go and go to get in the house, and of course, that is when you are notified that, why are you at my house? It was sold. Oh, my gosh. Right. It has been sold months ago, or weeks ago, and then let us say they do not believe you. Let us say you say, no, that does not make sense.

They look at the documents. They say, no, no, we have clear title. We have a title policy. Now, you have to go and get an attorney, and you have to fight to try and keep your house, because I promise you. Whatever company, and one of the companies that's big, I'm not going to use their name, but you know these large companies that buy up hundreds of thousands of houses, they're not, they're compassionless, right? Like, they're not going to stop and say, oh my gosh, I had no idea.

They're going to throw this. This issue up to their lawyers, and their lawyers are going to start the foreclosure process, or they're going to start trying to get you out of the house, and you're going to have to go hire an attorney to stop the process. I mean, that's one way, and believe it or not, even though I know it might sound complicated, that's very simple. That doesn't actually sound that hard when you have a computer and the internet. So, my thought immediately goes to, if this happens to you, what should you do?

Or what can you do ahead of time to make sure this never happens to you? So, maybe understanding what makes someone a particularly easy target or particularly appealing as a target to someone who's driving around a neighborhood looking for a house to steal. So, let's start with that. What are the top three markers that make a homeowner an easier target or an appealing target to someone like you used to be? I think... You know, unfortunately, it's not like you can put an ADT sign in your front yard, right, to notify title thieves that this house is protected, and that's a problem.

So, it's really more of a, what, What you would do, it's like having a credit card where you get notified every single time it's being used. You know, you get those, what do they call them, push notifications? Yeah, they're great.

Right, yeah. At least three times a year, I get this. Yeah, they're like, we're shutting down your card because something happened, and you can go in and approve it. Or they notify you. Right. Where they notify you, hey, someone just bought something, or did you just buy something for $150? $130. It says, hey, you just purchased whatever, a couple of t-shirts and some socks. Was this you? Right. Right. Well, they don't even necessarily say that. I have to have some of my credit cards where it just says $123 just went through your credit card at Dillard's.

And so, I can immediately say, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I didn't buy anything at Dillard's. And so, that is Having your credit cards monitored, that's really what has to happen with your home, you know, unless you want to, I guess you could put, you probably, this probably might be a good idea, put a sign in the front yard saying, my title's monitored.

Yeah. So, other than that, and keep in mind, too, you don't have to drive through the neighborhood. I could just go online and do this. And Zillow, right? Exactly. Yep. If the house is in fairly good shape. It's able to have mortgages borrowed against it or be sold. That's all you really need.

So, you really need to have your title monitored so that there's any activity on your title, the deed, the... Your warranty deed, or your quit-to-claim deed, or any type of a deed is transferred or filed on the title. You get notified immediately. You get an email. But then, what do you do then? Who do you contact? Yeah, if it happens, tell us now. Right.

I always say I would get home title lock, and here is the reason I like home title lock. I like home title lock because, one, they are an advocate for you, right? Like, if you are notified by the… Let us say a public records notifies you and says, hey, the deed to your house was just transferred. That is all they are going to do. If you say, what do I do now? They say, oh, no, no, we just, that is all we do.

We cannot help you. They legally cannot give you any advice. They cannot tell you to get an attorney. They cannot tell you to call the police. All they can do is notify you this happened and explain what happened. That is it. So, with home title lock, they will notify you. You can call them and say, okay, I do not understand what this means. You just said my The deed to my house was transferred. What does that mean? Or there was a new deed filed.

What does that mean? Well, they can talk you through the process once they determine, hey, this clearly was not you. They'll hire an attorney. One, they'll help you talk to you about filing a police report. They'll help you get an attorney. They'll pay for the attorney and spend up to a million dollars on those legal fees in order to correct the problem. Suddenly, now the homeowner's in the driver's seat, not the fraudster. Right. You have an advocate, right? It's so important to have an advocate, have somebody there to help walk you through them.

You're not alone. Yeah. Right. So good. So, I do have to ask you, you once exploited all these weaknesses. You were convicted. What turned you around? I, you know, I mean, the appropriate thing to say is, you know, I had this huge change of heart, and, you know, I had the, you know, come to Jesus moment, you know, right? But I'd say a big part of it was just, I just...

It started small. It wasn't like an epiphany, but I just can't. I went to prison for a long time, and during the course of that prison stay, I just kind of realized that it's probably just better off living the rest of your life as a decent human being and never having to come back to this place, and it's funny because The moment that I did that, and I started behaving that way, and I got out of prison as a famous convicted fraudster, terrified I was going to end up at McDonald's, I was going to start at the bottom, and a lot of that did happen.

I started at the bottom, but very quickly, things began to kind of be laid at my feet, and it felt like a path was just... ...laid out for me the moment I decided I was going to start just being a decent human being. Yeah. And I met the people at Home Title Lock. I actually used to watch the commercials in prison, and I thought to myself... I should talk to these guys, and when I got out, I had a friend that said, have you seen these commercials?

And he said, would you mind if I reached out to them for you? And I was like, sure. 20 minutes later, I had an email from the people at Home Title Lock, and I was on the phone with them probably an hour later. So, yeah, it is, you know, things just, if you just decide to be a decent person, things work out. This has been total education for me.

Personally, so thank you. What a story of redemption, too. You get to help people who used to be your victims, and that is really cool. God is so good that he gives us these opportunities in life to make up for. Man, it is great. What a good story.