Historic: Israeli Hostages Freed and Trump Visit, Eucharistic ICE Stunt, And Shutdown Update

And we're live. Are you feeling it now? The gang is back together. Josh has returned from his abroad travels, back from Spain, looking nice and tan, looking crispy, looking fresh today. We got Erika. We got Tom, whole gang. LOOPcast brought to you by The Loop. Of course, every American Catholic's favorite morning newsletter. We got a new mug. We got a new mug. New mug in the rotation. We're feeling good. It's just great to get the gang back together. Josh just came back with a mug.

But, we've got a great show for you today. Really historic, what's going on, actually, by the minute. I believe Trump just landed an Air Force One in Egypt, which... I mean, it is a whirlwind. He was in Israel this morning. He came overseas. He is answering questions on planes. I mean, what is going on right now is completely historic, and I plan to cover it. So, we are going to cover what happened with the hostage release this morning. Excellent news. Great news for peace, I think, but we will get into it.

Second, we had a bit of a stunt over the weekend in Illinois at a Broadview ice facility that is really making the rounds, and we want to give our analysis. Kelsey, our president, gave a great statement on it. We would like to get into that. And then finally, the rifts are here. The government is still shut down. I actually, I'll pre-tease this. I got to have a conversation with a congressman from West Virginia, Riley Moore. Great conversation. He had a bold prediction on how long this shutdown is going to last, and he has an exact date he thinks it will go to, and maybe I'll pre-tease that, but that one's going to be coming out this week.

It was a great convo. Christmas Eve, was it? Not Christmas Eve. Is that what he said? No, no, he did not say Christmas Eve. Good guess, Josh. But before we get into that, Erika, why we can do the show today, and then I want to get into some of Josh's travels.

That's right. So, from God's hand to your skin, Nazareth Organics is a family-owned skincare company that handcrafts premium balms and serums using clean ingredients from nature. They have just released a new product this month. If you think I'm looking bright and shiny today, here's why. The Brightening Serum, composed of oils rich in vitamin C, like sea buckthorn and cockatoo plum.

I learned something new today. This light yet hydrating blend is designed to brighten your complexion and promote an even skin tone. The brightening serum will leave your skin feeling refreshed with a dewy glow every morning. Josh, look into it. Also, try Nazirth Organic's original tallow balm. For those who can't go to Spain for a week in the summer. Oh, right. If you can't go to Spain for a week, try the brightening serum. They also have a tallow balm. Infused with frankincense and myrrh, a powerhouse combo fit for a king, maybe King Jesus, proven to calm inflammation and revitalize the skin, or try their Sleep Balm, a magnesium tallow blend with magnesium sourced from the ancient Jechstein seabed right off the coast of Holland there, that helps your body relax in peaceful sleep.

St. Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and must be cared for. You are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. Visit nazareth-organics.com and use code LOOPcast at checkout. Thank you, Nazareth Organics. All right. Josh, you have returned from Spain. You have walked a lot. Olé. I would like some details about your trip.

Yeah, so, I mean, there are people that do the full, you know. Camino routes. There are many different routes that people take all through Spain. People come up from Portugal. People come from all over Europe through the French route. People come from southern Spain through Madrid. You have to do at least 100 kilometers of pure walking the trail in order to get the official certificate. So, even though, if you count the total number of steps I did over the last week, I probably hit the mark.

I was not all on that trail. So, I didn't get the certificate like other pilgrims did, but I did go to lots of different places that are pretty cool. Here is a picture of the Virgin of the Boat. That's the name of the title for this church. Amazingly, appropriately enough, I should say, because it's right on the ocean. Absolutely gorgeous view. It was perfectly sunny that day, too, and I got to go to a... Mass was a bunch of German pilgrims.

That was kind of cool. So, the Mass was in German, even though it was in Spain. It was quite fun. Interesting. But, I mean, everywhere you went, so like, you know, what people do is they take this Camino route, right? And so, if you are not familiar with it, it is the Way of St. James.

Basically, what happens, and I will get into more of this. I am going to write a whole article about this. I think it is kind of fascinating or whatever, but, you know. So, St. James was called, you know, like Christ sends the Twelve to go spread the gospel, and James goes to Spain. He ends up, he is preaching in northwest Spain, and then he goes back to the Holy Land for a little bit, gets martyred, right, and his two disciples are like, we need to bring him back to Spain.

So, they take him back to Spain, and they go to this little place in northwest Spain where he was preaching. And they buried him. The thing is, so, I mean, they buried him, like, right, whatever, 50 AD or something like that, and no one knew where he was buried for, like, the longest time.

In the 700s, what happens? Do people know your history? The Muslims take over Spain. It took them two years to get 90% of the Iberian Peninsula. It was a total wipeout, practically. I mean, and they established a caliphate. People forget this. They weren't taught this. Like an actual Islamic state in the Iberian Peninsula. And the Christians in Spain were basically held to a little bit of a rump on the northwest part. Wait, I was told the Crusades were completely evil, and there's no justice.

Yeah, they weren't defensive at all. Hello. Islam is a peaceful religion. Wait a second. Wait a second, Josh. This goes against everything I've been taught. So, just what's going on, right? Well, a star appears in the forest, and it's like, oh, what's here? They go underneath the star? And they find, they dig, they dig, they find the tomb of the Apostle St. James. Wow. Like, this is kind of cool. And then the king, Alphonse II, is like, we need to, like, make this kind of a deal.

And so, like, he had his money and his troops, like, let people take this pilgrim route and walk towards to see this tomb. They had to build a church, and they start building another church. And what happens? This becomes a major, major, major pilgrim route in the medieval ages, and so people, to this day, walk the Camino route, too. It actually kind of fallen out of favor for a while, and a good priest in Spain made it popular again in the 80s, and it has been just picking up ever since.

Obviously, most of the people that take the Camino, this Camino route, are Spaniards. Naturally, it is their country. Number two, you think, okay, maybe it is Portugal or France. America, man. Americans are number two on this. They jumped the list. It's awesome. It's really cool. Is that Stella Morris, or am I mixing my... Stella Maris is Queen of the Sea. I mean, it is a very close devotion. I mean, it is basically similar. Okay, okay. Sorry, I thought that was associated.

Go ahead. So, anyway, there are just so many things. I am going to show you this, too, this little bridge. I just think this is kind of a neat thing. I mean, it is a gorgeous bridge, but it used to be a Roman bridge. There was a Roman bridge where I was at there, and the disciples are carrying the The tomb of St. James crossed this bridge, and as soon as they crossed the bridge, the bridge collapses. A Roman bridge. Give me a break, right?

And so, like, the Romans couldn't, they couldn't seize the body, and they couldn't, you know, destroy it, because they got across the river. And now, they've since built, this is the medieval bridge they built to replace the Roman bridge, obviously, you know, much later after that. And so, it's like, this bridge is like, oh, this is so cool. Like, it was a Roman bridge, but they couldn't desecrate the body of St. James. I mean, there's just so many cool things about this trip that you learn, you know, I think this was, now you have to remember in The year, like, 800 or 900, as people are taking this pilgrim route to go see St.

James, then they would just continue onward to the coast, just to prove people I made it, and they'd pick up a shell. That's why people have shells. That's a big thing in the Camino. Yeah, science. And then this is at the edge of Spain. So, you get done with the pilgrim route, and you walk, and you're like, well, dude, I walk like... For weeks, I might as well just walk another two, three days and get to the coast, right? And then I can prove people I really did it.

I pick up like a shell from the beach or whatever, and they put a cross here. And of course, in the year 900, they don't know that there's a whole new world, right? They just think if you kept going further, you're just going to get water to get all the way to the other side of the planet, right? They didn't think the world was flat, by the way. People think that. So, they put this cross there. Yeah, they put that cross there, and they called it the end of the world.

Do you have a shell? I do, and in fact, I don't think, I think it's, I mean, I'm unpacking stuff at midnight. Yeah, Josh, Josh Show and Tell has become a regular feature. Show and Tell from Europe, from around the world. And I'd also like to make a moment while you look for that. I appreciate Josh utilizing Instagram in its peak form. Just post some pictures in the moment. Just, hey, I'm here, bang, picture, throw it up on the ground. I do have something.

He's back. He found something. I don't have the shell. I don't have to wait for next time. But when you walk on the Camino route, okay, so here is the thing I really want to stress. This is the article I am going to try to write about. When you hear about, like most people, like Eric and I, we have lots of children, and we are busy with that, and you are just getting started with the kids, and you are busy. Usually, most people that do something like a pilgrimage to Europe, or certainly the Camino route, it is actually college kids.

Mm-hmm. Youth groups. It's the time to go. But the most people are in their 60s, because their kids are in college, and they've graduated, so they've got more time, they have a little bit more money, and they make this route. That's my plan. But people go to, when they think of pilgrimages or religious things, going to Europe.

Obviously, Rome is at the top of the list. People are like, oh, I've got to go to Lourdes or Medjugorje or whatever, but I'm telling you, for the hundreds and hundreds of years, if you were the Pope, you're like, well, where are the places I want to go?

If you're Pope in the year 1100 or something like that, you want to go to the Holy Land, and then you'd want to go to Santiago. You'd want to go here because you're like, this is amazing. There's so much history, and people have sort of forgotten about it. It's like, I think we need to up our game here a little bit, but anyway, when you go, they give you this. It's like a passport for pilgrims, and so as you're going on the route, like every 20 kilometers or so, you can stamp your little passport thing, and so here I am at the, you know, this is a monastery that was, you know, started in like the 900s or whatever, and then I stopped by, oh, this guy, they had some good chocolates there.

I bought a lot. And then, I don't even know half of these. I mean, it was just great. You know, like, oh, I got to get a stamp. St. Nicholas, that was a beautiful little church. I ran into a priest. You know, his English was so good, you know. It wasn't like, it's like, oh, man. Better than your Spanish.

Yeah, well, my Spanish was nothing. I'm like, what's going on here? Like, everyone's like, your Spanish is really good. And he said, I mean, I said your English is very good. Yeah, I was going to say. I'm sorry. I'm a little jet-lagged here, bro. So, your English is really good. He's like, oh, actually, I studied in the United States. Oh, where? The Chicago Theological Union. In fact, he goes, I was there at the same time Pope Leo was there. Whoa. I'm like, what?

Robert Prevost. He's like, yeah. I'm like, well, you need to get to Rome and be like, hey, Bob. That's amazing. That is so fun. So, it is just like the people that you meet, and I mean, I met a couple. They weren't necessarily religious. They were just doing this out of the 25th anniversary. There are a lot of people who do it for religious reasons. There are a lot of people who just do it because it is cool for hiking. Yeah, I was actually interested when I talked to someone that went how many people that are not religious or not Catholic do it.

But you know what? We as Catholics believe beauty. Is a great evangelist. Of course, God in his own creation, I mean, like some of the photos I show you, like the ocean or whatever, God's creation itself is, you know, an apology for him, you know, belief in the, you know, like, hey, God, that's one way God tries to work through people through transcendent beauty. And then when men and women create works of art, whether it's beautiful paintings or, you know, these churches that I've seen, I mean, even the small little tiny little.

You know, here is one from, you know, a chapel they built in like the 8th century, and you are just like, this is just amazing. It is tiny, but it is beautiful. And so, like, when I told you about that, so I was there, I was the only religious journalist. The other journalists were pretty secular or whatever, and I talked to them about this. One was a secular Jew, and the other one was, you know, secular, but he grew up Greek Orthodox, and I am just like, I am always trying to work at the angle here, Tom.

So, I am like... The priest, he tells us about Pope Leo, and I am like, hey, Father, would you bless me? And he blesses me, or whatever. And that guy, or the second guy, is like... Father, would you bless me? That is awesome. Me, too. I want one of those. I was just low-key evangelizing, not like in a Bible-thumper way or whatever, and the guy goes, I like you. Some people who are religious are kind of like, I would say, jerks sometimes.

I'm trying to, I'm trying to, I could be a jerk most of the time. I'll calm down for this one. I'm only a jerk online. In person, you're a teddy bear. I'm like, hey, here's my Instagram. Tune in Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Yeah. You probably don't want to listen to my podcast.

That's awesome, man. All right, cool. Well, we got a lot to get to today. Thank you for sharing, Josh. I'm going to start up top, and I'm leaning on, actually, Politico had a great report on this. I felt like good snapshot in time. This is updating literally by the minute, so I'm going to give you where we're at right now. Do my best. So, shortly after 3.30 a.m. Eastern Time, the final Israeli hostages were released from Gaza two years and six days after they were captured by Hamas during the October 7th attacks.

Amid joyous scenes across Israel, the 20 hostages, all male, all aged under 50, were handed over to the Red Cross and then, finally, back to their families. Trump on Air Force One, the war is over, Trump told Dasha Burns aboard Air Force One last night. It's over. You understand that.

I think people are tired of fighting, he told reporters. The ceasefire is going to hold, and he predicted future peacekeeping will not be an arduous task. I think people will behave, he said. Everyone knows their place. It's going to be great for everyone.

Very Trumpian aboard Air Force One, but I have some views for you guys. Him flying into Israel, greeted with a huge... This looks like a beach mural almost. Yeah, it's painted on the sand. Heroes welcome in Israel. It says, thank you, and it's got Trump's outline on the left, and it has some Arabic.

It says home in English, but here's the gathering on the beach. There was this banner that was displayed on the beach in Tel Aviv, a giant thank you, just to kind of speak to the moment, Sarah, of what kind of Israel is bracing for right now. As the president is expected to be here, he's only going to be here for less than five hours on the ground in Jerusalem, but he'll be speaking to the members of the parliament. He'll be meeting families of hostages and hostages themselves and partaking in that as we see him also standing alongside the president.

And then you get thank you Trump chants from the streets. That's not as much as the President's report. Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Thank you Trump! Pretty incredible scenes. Quick visit, five hours, as I said. We got Pope Leo weighing in on it, and I'll share his tweet here. In recent days, the agreement to begin the peace process has brought a spark of hope to the Holy Land. I encourage the parties involved to continue courageously along the path that has been set out toward a just, lasting, and respectful peace that honors the legitimate aspirations of both the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.

Let us ask God, the only true peace of humanity, to heal all wounds and to help, by his grace, accomplish what now seems humanly. impossible to rediscover that the other is not an enemy, but a brother or sister to look upon to forgive and to offer the hope of reconciliation.

Pretty incredible. It is incredible, and I have to say, going to bed last night, I was thinking, like, while I'm sleeping, hopefully these men who have been, apart from their families, held in the most horrendous conditions, not knowing if they're going to live or die, when I wake up, hopefully they'll be back with their mothers and their fathers and sisters, brothers, wives, one man.

I had a little three-year-old son waiting for him, who didn't remember his father. Another had a little five-year-old boy waiting for him. And just at a human level, this is an incredible story. I'm so grateful to wake up and see that it actually happened. I was definitely holding my breath. Yeah. And just remembering- Let's see how it lasts. I mean, I haven't seen that piece, but they're home. Today, this should be all rejoicing. That's what everyone wanted. That's what everyone pointed to, that these hostages needed to be released, and they were.

And now we're seeing the Palestinian detainees being released as well. I mean, honestly, I was so entrenched. I was like, there's no way this is possible, and this is something that Trump gets to now claim over the previous president, Biden, who was unable to pull this off in any way, shape, or form. Oh, yeah. Nasty bloodshed between two countries that clearly hate each other at this point, and I mean, maybe the turning point was both these countries don't know what the F they're doing.

I'm really almost in disbelief. I mean, he's headed to Egypt. He just landed. He's doing a peace celebration there. Look, it's not... I almost think it's just a great time to think there was so much destruction, so many lives lost, horrible tragedy on both sides that's probably going to scar generations of children, especially Palestinians, but also Israelis, too. Like, if you ever go look at on-the-ground reporting in Israel, there's so much hatred, there's so much animus, and sadly, a lot of it very understandable.

But for us to be able to come in and mediate at this point, get on board not only the Pope, it seems like, but also other regional partners. Look, you say what you want about the agreements. He was going to be pro-peace anyway, but I just want to point out. I think it's a huge win. Yeah, absolutely, and I've long said I do not care at all for Jared Kushner's domestic policy, but got to give him a hand on this one on foreign policy.

Yeah. And let's just go back to the. The New York Magazine and all the other liberals mocking him. Jared Kushner claims he can solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because he has read 25 books on it. Well, it seems like he did something that Obama, Biden, you know, George W. Bush, a lot of guys couldn't do in terms of the Middle East. So, Matt, maybe he ignored all the State Department hacks and everyone else who says, oh, I'm the expert on this. Maybe he decided to look anew.

Yeah, remembering, too, I think it was Hillary Clinton during one of the debates, she just like pointed at Trump, and she's like, look at him, his personality. He's the one who, he's going to start wars. He's going to start World War III. You'll never have peace again if you elect this man. And look at what we've got. I mean, what he's up to, like eight wars in eight months that he's negotiated down. I mean, we almost had nuclear disaster between India and Pakistan, China and Taiwan.

It still could go off, but it hasn't yet. We've got the Gaza deal now. This is incredible. And I think you're right, Josh, it's because He and his team, Jared Kushner, Steve Wyckoff, they're willing to try something different. They're not afraid to be mocked. They don't care what people say about them. They're like, we've got to do something different here. And look, we're at step two of 20. It could still go off the rails. It could still go wrong. Step three, I think, is supposedly the next two days we'll get the dead bodies back from Hamas of hostages who were either executed.

So, like, that's the next step, and of course, we need Egypt now to host these peace talks. We're going to bring in Turkey and Syria and Qatar and Georgia. I mean, just the list of dignitaries he's able to bring together here is astonishing, and it could all go off the rails, but today, just getting these living hostages back, everyone should be honoring Trump. And hey, even Jonathan Capehart went on with, I think, David Brooks last night. And he's a PBS commentator.

He said, you've never heard me say this before. You'll probably never hear me say it again, but kudos to the president. Like, even Jonathan Capehart. I think President Obama couldn't bring himself to mention him in his tweet saying celebratory, of course. This is a great moment for America and the world. And you're like, say his name. Yeah, I don't even know. I guess what's the important thing here? And I think Trump himself was saying this. Like, the important part is that the hostages are back.

People said it would never happen, that it can never be done, that there can never be peace between these two places. Depending on, you know, who you're listening to, or all the propaganda wars, this and that, it almost is besides the point. Like, this is the accomplishment. This is what no one thought could be done, and it's so funny, Steve Witkoff, too, someone made a joke, like, apparently the next step from being able to negotiate real estate deals in New York City and Las Vegas with the Jews there is to actually go to the Middle East and broker peace, which he did.

Him and Jared Kushner did it. It's like, I almost can't believe it. Like, I didn't think... I'm going to break your kneecaps language there, but yeah. So, I mean, they did the award last week for the Nobel Peace Prize, and they gave it to that wonderful anti-communist woman from Venezuela. Yes. And she, of course, turns around and says, I really- It's my twilight zone. I think it belongs to Donald Trump. Sorry. Smart move on her part, by the way. But I actually am okay with this, because it's like literally the ink is not even dry on this agreement in the Middle East.

But it is going to be a big test of the elite left that if 12 months from now, when they have to decide the Nobel Peace Prize for the last year, and let's say this piece holds, are they going to actually have the guts to swallow their pride and give it to Donald Trump? Because who, I mean, if this piece thing holds, like... Dude, no one else deserves it better. They'll have to come up with like a dual award to the head of the Israeli and the head of the Hamas.

Now, have the guts to call it right. I don't think it matters. No, of course I don't. I love to point this out. The Nobel Peace Prize, right? It was given to Obama, who loved drone-striking people. Didn't Yasser Arafat get it? He got it before he was even president. That was it. The only person who can think of it really, you know, deserted, like, you know, Mother Teresa. I think maybe John Paul got it, so he would have got it if he got it, he deserved it.

I just want to remind people, yeah, don't, don't, who cares, right? I just bring it up for fun. The guy, Nobel, how did he make his money? Making dynamite. Yeah, I'm familiar. Here's the one that's making the rounds at this point. It's hilarious that we get in theological debates over this, but this was just a funny moment on Air Force One. Here we go.

I don't think there's anything going to get me in heaven. Okay, I really don't. I think I'm not maybe heaven-bound. I may be in heaven right now as we fly in Air Force One. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make heaven, but I've made life a lot better for a lot of people. And, you know, as an example, had the election of 2020 not been rigged, you would have millions of people living just in Russia, Ukraine alone. That would have never happened, and it didn't happen for four years.

And I knew Putin very well. It was the apple of his eye that all the things I've said would have never happened. We had an incompetent administration, we had an incompetent president, and because of a crooked election, millions of people are dead. And by the way, the Israeli thing was much harder to get settled because of the best administration. He just exploded so many heads with that, like off the cuff. He exploded all the Christians' heads. They're like, you can't say you're never good.

Jesus will get you to heaven. No, no, no. Christians aren't going to be mad at that. No, no. Christians are mad at it, Josh, by the way. No, they aren't. Really? Why? That's the most obvious thing. No, because they're like, you know, then there's the dispensation. It's a whole thing, Josh. Well, of course, people get stupid, but like that was a beautifully, not the stuff where, I mean, I don't care whatever he says about Putin, all of that stuff. Like, if we're going to just talk about the theological thing, it was actually very, it was a beautiful moment of self-reflection, where he's thinking about and remarking on his own sinfulness.

Yeah. And, of course, we would just say, like, look, buddy, I mean. You just repent. Isn't that simple? Yeah, I mean, Paul. You and me both, brother. Saul was persecuting Christians, you know. Yeah. The guy who's hanging on a tree next to Jesus. Like, all these people, I deserve everything.

I deserve everything I'm getting. And it's like, no, no, that's okay. If you repent and believe in the God and Jesus, then you can still, you can get out of heaven too, Trump. I like this, though. I like that unscripted moment like that. I mean, it's, it's actually, it's. That's quite beautiful. Before we move on, I just wanted to point out, too, that the first step, the hostages coming home, miraculous. Like I said, I was not sure last night if this would actually happen this morning, and it did.

The other piece that, after our reporting last week, felt very miraculous was that the first step of this was the Trump administration actually got the IDF to move back to the line of demarcation. And to move out. So, we were there monitoring it, because obviously, to get the hostages out, you needed a clear line to get them from Hamas' tunnels, too.

To Israel, to the handoff point, I should say, and that Netanyahu, they did. They had a ceasefire, a true ceasefire. They moved those early soldiers back to the lines agreed upon, and the video coming out of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, when the bombs stopped falling and the shells stopped falling, was so beautiful, because the whole church just burst into song. There were little children in there singing, and My heart was just so lifted up by that moment of they've been praying and going to mass in that church with bombs falling, literally hitting the church recently, people dying there, and you hear the noise stop, and then they just burst into song.

So, that was another miraculous moment. Yeah. Celebration on both sides. I think Trump said in his speech, too, I mean, both sides dancing in the street right now. It really is amazing, and I think it's a good time to just take a step back and be like, wow, I really can't believe it. I think I'm just really, yeah, as you said, encouraged.

A long way to go, of course, for both sides. A long way to go. I mean, Hamas has already executed 27 members of families who were not pro-Hamas enough, behind the lines. Now that no one's there, they're doing what they do again. It's going to be tough. I mean, 85% of Gaza is in rubble right now. I mean, I even saw it pretty amazing, too.

And everyone's going to know I'm mad about this or whatever, but it was pretty interesting. Trump said... Last night, the reconstruction of Gaza will take years, but predicted the world will see a great miracle over the coming decades, and asked if he'd like to visit the strip himself. Trump replied, I would. I'd be proud to visit. Now, of course, hopefully this isn't some Gaza lago, you know, we're going to make this into casinos or whatever. But if it actually does reconstruct for the people there in a way that rids them of the terrorist presence of Hamas, total miracle.

Again, long way to go, but that would be pretty amazing for the world and for the region. All right, we move on now, but before we get to that, Erika, another sponsor. Yes, thank you to Home Title Lock. Did you know that American homeowners have over $32 trillion in equity, and criminals are targeting it with a growing scam the FBI calls, appropriately, house stealing? Scammers can transfer your title out of your name using a one-page document they file at the county, then they take out loans against it or even sell it behind your back.

And the scariest part is... You won't find out about it until collection or foreclosure notices start arriving in your mailbox, leaving you with a financial and legal nightmare. The best way to protect your equity is with Home Title Lock's exclusive million-dollar triple lock protection. This 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.

When was the last time you checked on your title? If you were like me prior to this gig, the answer is never, and that is exactly what the scammers are counting on. The good news is we here at LOOPcast have partnered with Home Title Lock to offer you all 60 days for just $1.

Click the link in the description below or over in the chat and use our promo code loop 60 to get 60 days for just $1 and you will get a free title history report to ensure you're not already a victim. And make sure you check out the million dollar triple lock protection details. When you get there, click the link below and promo code loop 60. Thank you. Home title lock. Excellent.

Alright, so the next one, I have a viral video that happened over the weekend. I will just show it, and then I'll explain the context after it happened at the Broadview Ice Facility. Here we go. This happened on Sunday, I believe.

So, I say we pause there. Actually, this was Saturday, October 11th. A group of Catholic clergy and lay faithful attempted to enter the Broadview Ice Facility in order to deliver Holy Communion to the detainees. The effort was a part of a Eucharistic procession organized by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership. Participants met at St. Eulala Catholic Church in Maywood before marching toward the facility. The procession was led by Fr. Larry Dowling, pastor of St. Agatha Church in Chicago.

There was no ICE or federal representatives there. The Illinois State Police... Present reached out on behalf of the group to make a request over the phone, and they say they were denied. So, in this video, you can see here is pretty clearly the monstrance, which I assume, by all intents and purposes, is a consecrated host in there. That is the Eucharist, and here we have the Illinois State Police.

So, this sparked a lot of controversy online, a lot of accusations of politicizing the Eucharist, other people mad that they couldn't get in. I will just leave it at there. How do we feel about this? Not good. Mercer, you want to go for it?

Yeah, I mean, there is a right way to do this. I mean, if you are concerned about the people who are being detained making sure that they receive the sacraments, that they can go to confession, that they can receive the Eucharist.

First of all, these guys probably are not Cub Scouts, so I am not sure how many of them are really desperate to be able to receive the sacraments anyway, but presumably, let us take the best. Yes, actually, they wanted this, and they wanted to be able to provide the sacraments. Wonderful. Do what the bishops of Florida did when it came to alligator Alcatraz. You petitioned the governor, both privately and then publicly, if you have to, and say, we would like to be able to provide sacraments to the people who are being detained.

And what happened? The state of Florida, and they finally said, okay, sure, fine, yeah, you can provide the sacraments. That is the way to do this, but what they did is they used Jesus as if he was a political placard, like a poster. And they just went down there and barged on the door and said, let me in. It's like, that's not the way to do it. And like, it wasn't even INS guys. Illinois State, we don't know what's going on here.

Like, it was all a staged effort to try to win approval in the public and in the media for what they were doing. It was not, I don't believe that their real concern, their stated concern was the sacramental life of these people, but I don't believe that. Yeah, it would be one thing if they showed up with some priests who had unconscious, and they just asked, can we please go in and say mass and consecrate the host and distribute communion or hear confessions?

That is one thing, but to take a beautiful monstrance, to get all dressed up in the coat, and to take Jesus Christ himself in the flesh, in the Holy Eucharist, and walk up there and say, we are here to distribute communion. That is not how Catholics do it. Distribute communion. We don't walk around with monstrances, right? There's proper ways to preserve reverence for the person of Jesus Christ himself, body and blood, soul and divinity. He is not a political prop. He's not theater.

Look, we are as concerned as any Catholic should be that people who need the sacraments are not barred from them, regardless of their legal status, regardless of what they have done. We believe inmates on death row facing the gallows should see a priest. They should be able to confess and receive the sacraments. A hundred percent.

But that is not what was going on here, and it suggests to me that the priest who was carrying that monstrance has a warped view of who the Eucharist actually is, that he would agree to do something like this for the cameras. That video, one more thing, that video didn't show it, but he showed up with a whole retinue of protesters wearing bright yellow shirts, and then as another priest was talking to the state troopers, and he showed up with a whole retinue of protesters wearing bright yellow shirts, He backs off, and he has the monstrance.

He's holding it like this, and he's looking around the monstrance. There was no proper reverence here for the Blessed Sacrament. This was a travesty, and it should not have been done. It is disgusting and blasphemous. I mean, so I have a couple of points on this, because to your point, there is a way to do it that can actually work. Here is Bishop Michael Olson. For example, it was a joy today to baptize and confirm seven women who are incarcerated at the FMC Carswell Fort Worth.

Please pray for them, because they are praying for us. I think it is a great example. You could have very, if your main concern was the sacramental life of people who are detained, you could have done it very quietly. Respectfully. What was done here was clearly an activist stunt. I mean, I looked into the background of whatever this collective, the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, nonprofit focused on grassroots organizing, economic justice, and addressing systemic inequities through a lens of liberation theology, founded in 2017.

So, you are showing up with a bunch of activists, disrespecting the Eucharist, getting in a position where you know that there could be some type of altercation. I mean, I think that was probably the hope, and then, of course, you check all the headlines the next day. Who's covering it? CBS, NBC, and what are they covering it as? We were denied entry. I mean, this is classic. Political activism. I mean, you see it every way. If I were to show up with a thousand people outside of a prison holding the Eucharist, do you think they would just let in a thousand people, especially when they're all dressed and riled up?

Or even the one. Or even one, right. Or even one, right, because that's not the proper way you coordinate to actually get in to do prison ministry. Anyone who's actually attempted to do something like that knows how this works. But of course, I just want to be abundantly clear, the intention was the headline. The intention was not to actually get the sacraments to people. The intention was, of course, to bring more controversy to an already very contentious area of the country.

Now, there's ways, and I don't think I'm going to be able to say it any better than Kelsey Sutter, our president, because this angers me at my core because it's disgusting and blasphemous. The absolute casual nature, he's carrying the Eucharist, and as if somehow you can just carry this wherever you want to make whatever point you want is disgusting. It's completely anathema to our entire faith in the entire way. That the sacrament is set up and that the church is done.

I mean, the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. This isn't something to just casually throw around, so I'd just like to make that point up top. But here's Kelsey's statement, and I think it's probably the best way to say it, and we can talk after that. A priest chose to lead a Eucharistic procession flanked by activists in bright yellow vests toward a federal office, arriving on a, I think it was actually Saturday, not Sunday, when no officials would have been present, only to lament to the cameras that no ICE or federal representatives were there.

Any Catholic with a beating heart recognizes the moral call to bring Christ to the suffering, including migrants and the imprisoned. The church has a duty to ensure access to confession and Holy Communion for detainees. That is not negotiable. But that sacred mission is accomplished through fidelity, order, and perseverance, and the bishops of Florida have shown in securing sacramental access for detainees through established channels without spectacle, without turning the Eucharist into a gesture of protest. Or consider that the Most Reverend Michael Olson, Bishop of Fort Worth, on the same Sunday in person baptized and confirmed seven women incarcerated at FMC Caswell, Fort Worth, without fanfare.

This is not a dispute about immigration policy. This is a dispute about what the sacraments are and what the church is. The church is not a theater, and since the Eucharist is the heart of the church, it should not be instrumentalized as a tool of political campaign, and I would love to draw the line there as a precedent. It should not be used on either side for any reason or whatever. It completely destroys what we're all about, so I'm really disgusted with this.

Yeah, we had some firing back and forth here. Emily Zanotti, who has a huge following on Twitter, she's... She comes back, and she's like, this is nonsense. We're called, against Kelsey, we're called to witness for justice and dignity of the human person. Simply because you're politically aligned with those committing injustice does not mean you can claim that our witness must be in private. I'm certain that, like me, you do not feel our witness at abortion mills must also be kept in the dark, and this is no different.

No, this is completely different. If pro-lifers started taking the Holy Eucharist monstrances to Planned Parenthoods, And holding up the Eucharist and demanding entry, that would also be... That was actually literally Kelsey's response to Emily. Yes, and then Kelsey said that. Because it ships in the night, of course. They're not addressing the real problem, and that's part of the problem with Twitter. Whatever it is, you get some of these... Conservative Catholics who are like, they're like, yeah, like, this is not the proper way to protest against, you know, like, give me a break.

I mean, like, I don't know. I guess CatholicVote gets under Emily Zanotti's skin for some reason or whatever, because, you know, she can just, she just loves to be able to say, no, you're wrong, you're wrong, everyone's wrong, I'm the only one who's right. Sure, hon. So over that.

I actually don't even have a problem. Like Kelsey said, I don't even have a problem that they would show up and protest the policy, and that they would have the monstrance, as long as it's done classy. You're not making Jesus Christ a placard. We think that people in there are having their rights violated, and we're here, we're bringing Jesus here, but expect to open the door and let us in. That is the part that just kind of drives you crazy. Yeah.

You know, and like, you guys all look like you're at a political rally, rather than, like, when pro-lifers bring the Eucharist outside an abortion facility. They kneel down and pray in adoration. Right. That's what they do. Seriously, I mean, like, I hate to even blagger the point here, but kind of what we're talking about, if you just scrub through this video, I mean, look at... Look at what's going on. He's just here holding it. He's just hanging out. And then wait for the, of course, then the mics are going to get in his face here, so he's going to get, you know, he's holding it, giving a press conference.

And what's frustrating about this, too, look at all these cameras. It wasn't like, this was like, oh, we're just out of our goodwill, we're going to go do it. Of course, all the cameras are there, because they want the cameras there. This is not about... Yeah, they told them all that they'd be there, and the media is like, so awesome. This is so disgusting. That's disgusting. Because the media says... Is this going to make Republicans look bad? Then we're there for it.

But if another priest called these reporters and said, I'm going to bring the Eucharist outside an abortion facility, I'm going to pray, you know, feel free to bring your cameras there, they'll never show. Right, and I'm just going to leave this on the screen. We should have reasonable debates in our country about how to enforce our laws to have order. And yes, there's going to be specific examples where something wasn't carried out correctly, someone's dignity was violated, and like, Yes, let's have debates about that.

Let's rectify it. The people in this detention facility are not all Boy Scouts. We, as a country, now have to enforce our laws after four years of legitimately being evaded from every country in the world with pedophiles, rapists, people that are Lake and Riley, people that murdered our own citizens, and the Trump administration has been left to clean up that mess, which is extremely challenging. Do they get a free pass to do whatever they want? No. But shouldn't we be all on the same page?

Like, you know nothing about What these people inside have done. So, you should just let in a thousand people to create an absolute ruckus, to have a problem in there? No, that is obviously not the solution here. Again, the bishops of Florida, they have showed the way. The discourse on this is so frustrating to me. I think most people are on the same page. I would hope all Catholics would be on the same page. I never want to see this again.

I never want to see another news conference with someone literally holding our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in his hands, flippantly, with mics in his face, fielding questions. Amen, break. In a diocese where the bishop had any sense of the Holy Eucharist, what would happen is this priest would be, you know, publicly, at least privately reprimanded, and the bishop would make a statement about the integrity of our Lord and how our reverence for him should be paramount to all that we do.

Unfortunately, this is the Archdiocese of Chicago, so I am not expecting a lot. No, I remember the last Eucharistic procession where they sprinted around the corner like nothing even mattered. Seriously, I did not forget. They were like running in the Eucharistic procession. It is not like he took the Eucharist through the Archdiocese of Chicago during the year of the Eucharistic procession.

Uh, the Congress, right? Yeah. Sprint around the corners if he's embarrassed, and like, I have to say, the fact of the matter is, I mean, we just saw what Cupich polled with Durbin, and then I was at the Pope Leo Mass, in which he really gave, in my opinion, kind of an embarrassing, tacky homily, where he said the people that mow our lawns are now, you know, at threat in our country. So, unfortunately, unsurprised by the Archdiocese of Chicago and the leadership there.

And it's just, it's so, it's just, it's so tacky. It's not productive in any way. If you want to go have a protest outside of there, be peaceful, do your thing. Great. That's your right, and as American, if that's what you believe in, great. Start a conversation. Stop weaponizing the source and summit of my faith to make your point. And for the rest of us, maybe we should consider doing some First Fridays in reparation for these sins against the Eucharist, because this would be a big one.

Yeah. All right. Good news now. Erika, what do you got? Oh, this is great. So, I love my Surrounded debates on Jubilee. They're a good watch. Some of them get kind of frustrating as I... So, explain to the audience what Jubilee is. Yeah. So, Jubilee is a YouTube channel, and they hold these debates called Surrounded Debates being... You know, it's a certain format, but they have one person who's in a hot seat in the middle of a room, surrounded by 20 people on completely opposite ends of the spectrum.

So, for example, we did Jordan Peterson versus a bunch of atheists. I did a rundown on that one, and I actually ended up debating one of the interlocutors there, Cade, so you can check that out over on The Deep. We also had, for example, Charlie Kirk is a famous, he had a wonderful episode in the hot seat versus a bunch of progressive Democrats, and this one just dropped over the weekend. This is Allie Beth Stuckey. She's a Protestant Christian influencer, public commentator, and I have my disagreements with her for sure theologically, but she just nailed this, and important context.

So, she's a Christian surrounded by 20 progressive people, and I have my disagreements with her for sure theologically, but she just nailed this, Christians. And she gave four statements. They were allowed to come in the hot seat for a certain amount of time in conversation with her, and she just did a great job. And it's important, she let everyone know over the weekend that this was filmed the day before Charlie Kirk's memorial.

Charlie died a month ago, and this was dropped a month after his death on the 11th. And it was just great. This particular clip really moved me, because she did a great job. She did it proud, so let us play a little bit of this. Let us do it.

Okay. The heart of it was there. So, I am a pastor of a church that is growing, and not just with straight individuals, not just people who look like me, but queer individuals that have some of the greatest fruit. Of the spirit that I've ever seen. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, all of those things. First, I just would love to hear your thought on how someone so sinful could produce such wonderful fruit, but I'm really happy to talk about this stuff, but I just want to hear that, because you've given really interesting and good arguments, but that's one that I have a hard time reconciling.

Well, all of us sin, and all of us struggle with sin, and I've met lots of people from all different walks of life that are joyful and kind, and God gives us... What we call the gift of common grace, that there are people who are not Christians who might exude some of the characteristics that we want to embody as Christians, but that doesn't mean that everything they do, or everything they believe, or everything they say is in alignment with Scripture. And so, that's what I would say there.

I have no doubt that the people that you know who identify as LGBTQ are also really kind, and really patient, and really joyful, and might have characteristics that we all want to emulate, but that doesn't mean that every part of their life is in alignment with what we see God say in his word. And because of that, they wouldn't inherit the kingdom of heaven, like pretty much every one of those things. Well, all of us, if we don't pick up our cross and follow Christ, by the grace of Christ, by the way, it's not our own merit.

None of us bring any... None of these individuals, yeah, I'm with you. Yes, nothing that we could do could ever deserve salvation. God gives it to us in Christ, but because of that grace, because of that love that he has given us, all of us... are told to deny sin. All of us are told to repent, and so I think when we tell someone who says, you know what, this is how I identify, it's not in alignment with what God calls good and holy, that we are actually burdening them with more sin, whereas we all need to be free of our slavery to sin.

I would agree with that. So, one of the biggest critiques I hated about Yeah, and she really nailed this. She came with the fire. She was completely prepared. And she said on her Twitter account this week that when she came, she was determined because Charlie had texted her just a few days as she was preparing to film this, and he'd given her a couple of pointers, and he said, first of all, kill them with kindness. Like, just go there determined to be kind to them.

And she said, and I did. I went there. Charlie had just died. I was like, I'm going to do what he said. And she said, when I walked in that room, though, The first thing that they did was kill me with kindness. Like, most of the people in that circle went up to her and said, I'm so sorry about your friend, Charlie, before they sat down to do this. That's cool. And it shows in this that some of these Jubilee debates get really, you're just like, this is so ugly.

Food fight. Yeah, it's a food fight. This was different. So, if you've never watched one before, this is a really good place to start. And yeah, she really brought the thunder, I have to say. Go, Allie. Awesome. Josh. Okay, so when I grew up, of course, the United States had surpassed England, but the British Empire, I mean, it was just amazing to be seen. The sun never set on the British Empire, right? That was in the 19th century. And then even in the 20th century, still very strong, very proud people.

And of course, Poland was a communist hellhole when I was growing up. But since 2019, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Poland's economy has grown by 19%. The United Kingdom has only gone up by 1%. And at this rate, Poland's economy is going to surpass the United Kingdom by the end of the decade. It's just an absolute wonder to me. I find it shocking. Do you have any insight there?

Well, Europe, the greatest minds and elite minds in Europe told us that if you want your economy to improve, you need to import tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East. That is going to help your economy prosper, because they are so worried about the birth dearth and all that kind of stuff. And Poland is like, yeah, I don't think I want a bunch of… I don't know, hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East to come to our country, and yeah.

Change our culture, right. How about we embrace our own culture and try to embrace more of a free market style, and they have trended towards more free market, not complete pure capitalism or whatever. There is not really any country that is like that, but they have embraced more market measures, and the United Kingdom has gone the opposite way. So, okay.

This one comes from our very own account, CatholicVote account. We had over 200,000 faithful Catholics gathering in Fatima to mark the 108th anniversary of the miracle of the sun and Our Lady's final apparition. The light of the Catholic faith continues to shine brightly. Very cool video here. I don't know if we're going to get copyrighted on the music, but it's just incredible to look at these crowds.

That is so beautiful. It is a great day. It is also Columbus Day. Happy Columbus Day to everybody who celebrates, which would be everyone. It is a federal holiday again. Oh, yeah. Columbus Day is back. Columbus Day is so back. We are so back.

Some other revisionist history on Columbus, of course, because he is the most evil man to walk the earth. Supposedly, yeah. Discover the new world. Guy had some gumption. You got to give him that. I almost, for my good news, did the Sopranos scene, where the son's reading. In this house, we celebrate Columbus Day. I love seeing that guy got right, right? Yeah, that's right.

I already saw on Twitter, everyone does this. Happy Columbus Day to those who celebrate, and it's the chyron of Cuomo. It's like, I'm not perverted, I'm just Italian. Look it up, direct quote from it. Oh, I remember. He might be the next mayor of New York. Yeah, it's possible. It's good to be back with you guys.

It's back together. I should collect my 10 favorite chyrons of all time, and that is top five. Top five chyron of all time. And just for the audience, no one on this podcast is Italian, so none of us.

You don't have any Italian? No, I'm not Italian. No, I have none. No Mediterranean whatsoever. No. I'm Croatian. Yeah, exactly. I'm Croatian. I'm good. I got some Irish in me. I get angry sometimes. Okay, shutdown week two. I just wanted to get a quick update because I see Friday Night Massacre in terms of federal workers.

The riffs have begun. Riffs are here. Riffs have begun, and then I, again, I'm going to challenge again, because I always get people email in about federal workers, and that there's good federal workers, and so to celebrate firing, you need to qualify that, I guess. So, I'm going to say again, we don't want to fire the bad ones, but like, I don't think people understand the bloat of federal bureaucracy. Right. I don't understand why they get offended. It's like... Because people know people that work for the government, but everyone I know that works for the government basically makes jokes about how they don't do anything, and they're like, I can't wait to get another job, because I We can make jokes about lawyers, and people don't, oh, you're saying every lawyer is bad.

No, I'm just saying that 99% of lawyers give the 1% a bad name. I mean, that's all. It's not a big deal. All right. There you go. Yeah, and I think drawing a distinction, too, between what you're celebrating and celebrating permanently reducing the government bloat is something to celebrate. But we're actually celebrating the first time in like what?

40 years, we're like, let's actually examine how many people we need for this agency, because it's all been autopilot, hiring more, hire more, hire more, hire more, and just the immense of it. Yeah. Corporations, when they, you know, make a plan and it goes haywire, they have to readjust, and companies sometimes fold, you know? Families have to tighten their belts a lot. A lot of our families are having to tighten the belts because of inflation. The one area that never seems to ever have to worry about, you know, managing or making their budget, the government, because when they screw up, like, that is why we need more money.

That is to raise the debt ceiling. Yeah, exactly. So, drawing distinctions, a lost art. Erika, I asked you to look into this. What is going on with these reduction-in-force rifts? Yeah, I'm going to tap this for my Twilight Zone, since Josh already dropped mine, but I'm going to go. I'm going to go in here. So, yes, we are in week two of the shutdown. The Senate is still at an impasse on how to proceed. There is no end in sight, although apparently Tom has a prediction for when it will end.

Yes. Someone said, quipped over the weekend, even the Groundhog Day jokes are getting old now. The House Democrats will be on the Hill tomorrow for an in-person caucus. But there's just, like I said, this is not great. 750,000 workers have been furloughed, at least temporarily, but yes, on Friday, we got this tweet from Ross Vought over at OMB, and he said, the RIF's reduction in force notices have begun.

So, according to a court filing from the Trump administration late Friday, at least 4,100 federal workers across eight agencies may have been sent RIF notices, with the bulk of the staff reductions being at Health and Human Services, with 1,100 to 1,200 workers impacted, and the Department of Treasury, IRS, with 1,446 workers receiving RIF. Yes. And so, there was a wonderful graph that I couldn't find. Again, just to help the audience along. Yeah. Like, when the federal government, now that it's shut down, there are a bunch of people who are furloughed.

They're like, okay, you're not like, you know, you're working. The essential versus non-essential is not super helpful. I mean, the idea here is like, there's some work, like, you know, paperwork stuff that governments have to do. Like, what?

Stay home. You are furloughed. You do not need to come back. So, furloughed workers are workers who still have jobs. You do not have money to pay you, and so just take a break, take a vacation. Right. What is happening is when the government turns on, they will get all their back pay, by the way. They basically get a free vacation.

Yeah. The force is different. These are people like, you are not getting your jobs back. We are removing these jobs. Right. They just won't exist anymore. And I wanted to add some context, is that you hear those 1,100, 1,200 numbers, like what does that mean? I think right now, HHS is at approximately 62,000 employees. Right. So, I don't know, if you do a quick percentage, this is a pretty small percentage of 62%. But it's not nothing. Right. This is just the start.

So, what does this mean for these employees? They'll have between 30 and 60 days before any dismissals actually. Take effect. That's just federal regulations. So, again, government could turn on again. This could all go away, but the process has begun. Interestingly enough, with the back pay thing, Josh, on Friday, the OMB also quietly removed language from shutdown guidance in its regulations about guaranteed back pay for furloughed workers. That was under the 2019 Fair Treatment Act. So, there is going to be some...

Reform, perhaps tighter control over compensation. There, of course, the legal challenges have already begun. The Anti-Deficiency Act. Which governs what the government can do when appropriations lapse, limits spending, and generally prevents executing new permanent actions during a shutdown. So, under this act, there have been challenges from different unions, federal unions, brought against the Office of Management and Budget and Personnel Management over the threats of dismissal. So, we are already going to start going through the courts on this, but you know what?

I think Russ is here for it. I think he was born for this moment, and he has said one of his Primary goals is to shrink the government permanently, and if the Democrats are going to give him an opening to do that through this ridiculous shutdown that they're trying to grasp at straws here, he's going to do it. Get rid of non-essential positions permanently, even perhaps privatize some certain associations like the FAA, maybe the TSA, and reduce the IRS. He's going to do it.

And, yeah, Friday night. Speaking of the day, I'm just thankful that a lot of the guys in air traffic control are still showing up for work, because I myself was flying yesterday, and I'm glad that there was an airport that I could fly to, and they were all unpaid. I made sure to thank everyone. That was there for showing up for work, even though they weren't getting paid, necessarily. So, kudos to them. Kudos to everyone in federal law enforcement, like ICE and all those who are working without pay right now.

So, thank you, boys. Yeah, and thank you to the military, too. The military keeps working, and one thing that Trump promised on Friday was that, in spite of the fact that Democrats will not agree to the continuing resolution and open the government back up, That he will make sure they find the money to pay the boys in uniform, boots on the ground. Well, at least this next paycheck, which is, by the way, just brilliant stroke of genius, because it's like Democrats are like, all right, technically you can't do that, but are they actually going to have the guts to go to court and try to sue them against it?

To keep soldiers from getting paid. You're going to prevent me from actually paying these boys? Like, really? That would be amazing. I mean, take the bait, boys. I have to. I have to. I have to say this. Yes, okay, and this is the Friday Night Massacre. Friday Night Massacre. The CDC just lost dozens of its top scientists and its entire DC office.

This isn't streamlining the government, it's dismantling our ability to detect and respond to outbreaks before they spread. You can't cut your way to safety. Now, could you imagine a scenario in which there was a pandemic? Originating from a country that we had a lab devoted to said disease in the country, and through insane response, we didn't solve it at all. We made it worse. We came up with arbitrary rules, shut down the country, and then injected a foreign substance into thousands of people if they wanted to work.

What are we going to do if we shut this down? I don't know what we're going to do, but this was the reaction on the left. This is what they chose to make the top headline, was that we have laid off CDC officials who act as pandemic response coordinators and disease detectives, and everyone's heads exploded because what will happen if there is a pandemic? I voted for this, by the way. I voted for basically the CDC to be destroyed. I never want a complete scourge on our American history.

Destroy it. I want everyone at the CDC gone, or at least replaced. Like, seriously, everyone who's responsible. That was the greatest violation of civil liberties in my entire life. Yes, and HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon got out ahead of this, and he said, look, all HHS employees who received reduction-in-force notices were designated as non-essential by their respective divisions. HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda.

They fired a bunch of people. They've rehired like 18 of them because it was like a clerical error that they were... So, this is ridiculous, but Friday Night Massacre doesn't... I found that quote just for you, Pogo. Justice. I saw that, and I thought of you. Justice. I thought of Tom. Seriously, like, anyone associated with that shut down the response? We were all waiting to see. Oh, dude, just, if you're in the private sector, bro, if you're in the private sector and you did something that insane and damaging, you would be fired and blacklisted from ever working in that industry ever again, and that's how it should be.

Go learn to code. Yeah, exactly. In what world do we live in, in which you would not only keep your job, but get promoted? And then you get a cushy parachute after you do, like, the worst injustice to American health of my lifetime, of many lifetimes, blacklisted. I want the entire CDC fired, and nothing happened. I voted for it. It's happening now. Thank you. It's beyond time.

Okay, Josh, Twilight Zone, thank you for that report, Erika. Welcome. Thank you for that moment. Josh. You're welcome. You're up. Hey, just in case you're curious, you know, the left thinks they're in control of your children. Here is a school board member who did what in politics call the Kinsley Gaffe, where it's not like you say, oh, you said the wrong thing. Like, no, no, you accidentally said what you really believe, and that's a Kinsley-style DC Gaffe, where the politicos actually tell you what.

They really, really, truly think. Roll the tape. The parents do not have the all-encompassing right to raise their child. Uh-oh. Wait, wait, Josh. This is November 6, 2018. Oh, well, it's making the rounds again. I just, I love it. Oh, my gosh. I mean, people do believe this. Oh, did you see the latest? There's another school board person that they had a group chat. Um, saying, like, this B-word needs to die, and they were texting about another member of a school board.

I can't remember where this was. Yeah. And he dropped out of the race as soon as someone took a picture. This was at a press conference, or like a meeting or something, and they're texting in this group chat, just out in the open, making insane remarks about this person. It's like, okay, yeah, you'll get fired. Yeah, you need to leave. Maybe Jay Jones should take a little note from that. Oh, did you catch the debate on that, by the way? I did.

I watched Winston Sears. And what's her name? Spanberger. Abigail Spanberger. She's going to win, too. Something else. Spanberger's going to win. It's at least close now. I mean, it shouldn't have been close. I mean, I obviously prefer Winston Sears, but like... It's within two points, right? The Democrat has actually fumbled it, and she could actually... Here's the funny thing, though. I have to... I mean... There's a little spat about this about a week ago where, I don't know if it was Politico or Axios or one of these left-wing political blogs was talking about the trans issue.

It's coming up in Virginia and all this other stuff, and Senator Tom Tillis, the Republican rhino who decided not to run for re-election, thankfully, so we'll get a good Republican out of North Carolina. He was talking about how this was just such a bad idea. I can't believe- Republicans are running on this issue because, of course, to him, he just wants to talk about tax cuts and golfing and bombing foreign countries, and he doesn't like this new populist version, and so they asked Terry Schilling, my good friend over at American Principles Project, what he thought about what Tom Tillis said.

He said, Tom Tillis is an idiot. I mean... It's just perfect, and then what's happening now... Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one. What's happening now, they're asking, you know, the Democrats now about, like, hey, what about this, you know, having, you know, you want men and girls bathrooms now, and the Democrat, Abigail, is like, like, goes on for, like, three minutes, word salad, and can't say anything, and it's like, hmm. But I was told by Senator Tom Tillis that this was not a winning issue.

I'm so surprised. Yeah. I mean, I hope that Winston Sears can just, like, take a page out of, what was the ad that defeated Kamala in Pennsylvania? Kamala is for them. They're already running that, by the way. They're running that? Good. They just need more money, honestly, like the Democrats. Well, the Spanberger situation is so obvious that she lacks...

organic political talent, and that she's just kind of the next up, like, picked out from the deep state. It's like the Kamala Harris thing in California. Like, she was just the next up. You wait your turn, you get the machine going, and then you put her in place. She's not a talented politician. I kind of disagree, because she had actually shown previous talent before, and then she just came into this, and I think she was, like, coasting. You know what I'm saying?

Like, she thought she had this in the bag, because she was up by, like, 12 to 15 points. For the whole year, so she's just like in coast mode. So, it's not that she doesn't have political talent. I mean, I don't like her. I think she's crazy wacko, Lib, but she actually has some chops. I don't know. She let it atrophy because she thought, oh, I got this in the bag, and you never should do that. I don't care what office you're running for.

You always run like you're 10 points behind. You run the race till the end, until you run through the end of the race. And she was like already coasting and went some shears. I love Winsome Sears. She is not even campaigning that hard, but she had a great debate performance, and her abs are starting to land the punches. So, I wonder with Winsome Sears, but this is my point on this. Abigail Spanberger trying to answer basic questions about this guy, Richard Cox, who is a legit pedophile, who says he's transgender so he can get into YMCA bathrooms in Fairfax.

She was given, like, Four or five attempts to try to answer that question are like, where do you stand on the transgender issue in sports? Where do you stand on this? And just gave the most inorganic, insane, robot answers, didn't answer it. Well, I think that's what Josh is saying. She coasted. She didn't. That is the question. Right, but she had no- She knew the question was coming, but she's just like- No, she didn't. I don't- Maybe to Josh's point, she didn't know it was coming, or she didn't suspect, because there was no preparation to answer that question in a way that sounds like a human being.

She didn't feel like she needed to do anything. I mean, again, it is the tortoise and the hare. Like, they just, oh, this race is over. I can just take my time. It is like, problem. Aesop's fables for the win again. I mean, seriously.

So, yeah, my 12 zone, I donate. It's just the officiating against the Chiefs last night was just unbelievable. I can't. The Chiefs have a blood oath with refs or something. I don't really. It was unbelievable. It was such a hard game to watch last night for that regard. We didn't bring our best, but that is the first time I've seen a touchdown be a flag thrown 15 seconds after the play ended in which we scored a touchdown, and then it somehow comes back.

And that the Chiefs were perfect Boy Scouts last night, committed no penalties, no team has done that in the last, like, 700, 800 games. Yeah, so I'll end on that. I actually didn't really have one. Mine's kind of sad. Yeah, yours is sad. That monastery on fire in France is the same monastery that...

Yeah. Carlo Acutis. Carlo Acutis received his first communion. The cloistered nuns are okay, but I mean... The whole thing's destroyed. We're never going to get this comet back. Yeah. So, I hate to see fires like this, and hopefully we can do something like Notre Dame, where they try to reconstruct... Was it immigrants from Sweden, or was it... I don't... I haven't looked into, you know, the origins yet, but I mean, this is gone. 17th century monastery, it's like... You just never get that back.

It's like flip a coin. Was it atheists or, you know, Antifa? Islamists. I don't know. I don't know. But anyway, that's what we got today. Good show, gang. Oh, two things. So, yeah, that Riley Moore interview is going to be coming. I'm going to make sure we get that up this week. And then, yeah, the Shroud of Turin interview.

Does Gangbusters on YouTube. Hey, I listened to that with my son, my 12-year-old son, who loves history so much. Really enjoyed it, Tom. Good job. Thank you. Good job with Bob. Yeah, I feel like I was a perfect foil to Bob because Bob is very smart and technical, and I... I was like, dude, slow down. This is the most logo LOOPcast we've had.

I was like, Bob, man, you got to, like, you're talking about neutrons right now, like, let's bring it down for a second. String theory, it always is there. Yeah, string theory. I just had to stop. I felt like it was like, you know, like it was a Marvel movie or something, and I was like, dude, string theory, like, hold up. Let me make sure I understand that. And then I just. And you did. Like, I'm an eight-year-old with a mustache.

Exactly. I mean, in regards to string theory and physics, yeah, probably. I mean. It worked out, and then the Mississippi Miracle, Erika's last deep episode. Yeah, super fun. It's reaching the masses, great episode, super fun, so go check those out. If you can't get enough LOOPcast, those are our last two products, so go check us out. YouTube, subscribe, that's where you can find that, but we end in prayer today. Today, we just got the morning offering, so we'll hit that, and then send you guys off into a great week.

We'll see you on Wednesday. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Oh, Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your sacred heart in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world for the salvation of souls, the reparation for sins, the reunion of all Christians, and in particular, for the intentions of the Holy Father this month. Amen. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Father Guadalupe, pray for us. And we will see you guys on Wednesday. Have a great day. See you then. Peace.