John Bolton's House Raided By FBI, Cracker Barrel Is Dead, And Hillsdale Prez Stirs It Up

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. Today, you got Tom and Erika at the LOOPcast, of course, brought to you by The Loop, every Catholic American's favorite morning newsletter. So, if you're not subscribed, go subscribe now. It's a fantastic Friday. We have a great show planned for you. Yes, my title is correct. I declared myself the vice president while Josh is in Poland, and he's probably not on the time zone thing, so he won't know, and it's a he said, she said situation.

So, I'm running the ship today. No paper trail. No paper trail, so you know what I'm saying. Speaking of paper trail, John Bolton's house was raided this morning. That name might ring some bells, and I had to go back and do research on mine as well. He's got a very iconic mustache, I found. So, we're going to get into the full John Bolton situation, house raid, what Trump had to say about it. It's all kind of breaking, so I did as much as I could.

Yes, we're going to talk about Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel has been on every American's mind obsessively for the last... Day, I would say. And I did want to get a little bit beyond, is this just the classic, oh my gosh. Exactly. Oh, the woke-ification. Yeah, we're going to go deeper. I'm going to go deeper. We're going to get deeper into that. It's going to be fun. And yes, we're going to talk Hillsdale. Hillsdale, Larry P. Arnn, who I consider as a childhood conservative, like everyone's sweet conservative grandfather.

President of Hillsdale made some comments. It stirred it up a little bit. It might have stepped in it a little bit. Larry Arndt did. It stirred it up a little bit. We are going to talk about it. Disappointed and no-suit Tom. Yeah, no-suit today. No-suit today. Sorry, Rosie's bothering me. I'm trying to start the show. So, one thing I actually want to get to right up top before we even get into anything. So, Pope Leo actually called for today to be a day of fasting and prayer.

So, I'll share the CatholicVote article that we did on it, and I think this is a great opportunity, especially if you're here live with us, but whenever you're listening to this. So, Pope Leo has invited Catholics to observe August 22nd as a day of prayer and fasting to ask God for peace and justice in a world currently plagued by many wars and conflicts. The Church observes August 22nd as the memorial of the queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Leo noted in the appeal given to his August 20th general audience.

Mary is the mother of believers here on earth and is also invoked as the Queen of Peace. And while our earth continues to be wounded by wars in the Holy Land and Ukraine, And in many other regions of the world, I invite all faithful to devote August 22nd as a day of fasting and prayer, imploring the Lord to grant us peace and justice and to dry the tears of those who will suffer as a result of ongoing armed conflicts. Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede so that peoples may find the path to peace.

So if I may. I will be fasting and praying today. I've really been trying to implement specifically fasting as more part of my spiritual life, and I've found a lot of fruit out of it. So, maybe give up something simple, have smaller meals today. There's a lot of different ways you can do it. Say a rosary today, pray for peace. It's a really easy, concrete way to pick up Holy Father's call, and also, I personally feel very powerless covering a lot of this stuff.

The information is tough to decipher. Everyone has different opinions. The one thing I think we should all get behind is actually living an intentional spiritual life for peace. Amen. Yeah, and I would encourage you, too, if you have kids, to involve the whole family. When the Holy Father calls for these days of prayer and fasting, I think it is really important to kids' spiritual life, too. Obviously, fasting strictly on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday does not apply to small children, but they can still be part of that and feel like they're contributing.

And listening to the Holy Father's words, so say like, you know, kids, we are not going to do dessert today as a family, or we're not going to do meat today as a family, because the Pope has asked us to pray for peace. And so, definitely involve your kids, involve your family in this. I do believe praying as a family is truly powerful. No question. And transformative. Yeah, so do it. No question. But before we get into the bold news, we have a new sponsor today.

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I thought my skin looked pretty good. They didn't ask me to leave this out. You do look radiant, Tom. Radiant. Listen, my routine involves putting soap on my face, and bam. Well, just think how much more radiant you could be with a little Nazareth organics. Look, I'd throw it on. I'd give it a shot. It sounds awesome. Thank you, Nazareth organics. So, as we get into today's show, yeah, I woke up to the news of John Bolton. This is how it's being rated.

Here's the article, the FBI. Raid John Bolton's home in high-profile national security probe, and then pop over from a source familiar with the AM's raid on Bolton's home. This is related to a national security investigation of Mr. Bolton that was shut down by the Biden administration for political reasons. It involves stealing classified documents and weaponizing them for political purposes. Kash Patel and Dan Bongino have reopened the investigation, hence this morning's raid.

A source says Bolton wasn't detained, but he's fully expected to be charged. Not only were they raiding the house, they were also raiding, I believe, an office I saw in D.C. So, shot across the bow, no question. I'm sure that there's a lot of people in D.C. now kind of like, if I do have some documents, maybe I shouldn't have. We should be working with the Justice Department. But let's go back for a second, for those who don't remember, who is John Bolton, Erika?

I had to go do a little refresh here. So, for those of you who need the same refresh that I did, he has a long and storied history in the federal government. He served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations in 2005. ...to 2006 under George W. He was later appointed National Security Advisor, serving from 2018 to 2019 under Donald Trump. He was fired, and it got a little spicy amid what we're calling policy disagreements. Yeah. It was not pretty.

Top line, big time hawk. Dude loves war. Big time war hawk. Yes. In fact... Trump, I don't know if you're going to play Trump's commentary from this morning, but Trump had an amazing commentary on John Bolton as reporters were like, did you know about the raid? Did you know about the raid? And Trump's like, yeah, I mean, he was really good for me because I would send him into a room and all the other nation leader, foreign nation leaders would say, oh, no, we're going to get bombed.

And he's very bad at what he does, but he worked out great for me because every time he doesn't talk, he's like a very quiet person. except on television, if he could say something bad about Trump, he'll always do that. But he really doesn't talk. He's quiet. And I'd walk into a room with him with a foreign country, and the foreign country would give me everything because they said, oh, no, they're going to get blown up because John Bolton is there.

He's not a smart guy, but he could be a very unpatriotic guy. We're going to find out. I know nothing about it. I just saw it this morning. They did a raid. Do you expect the DOJ to bring people on this? No, they'll brief me. And for the audios, he's wearing a hat, 45-47, Trump was right about everything.

I mean, the guy is on brand at all times. Trump is just so himself. Well, back to this. So, what happened in 2019? Why was Bolton fired? Again, the official reason was policy differences. Bolton had been working on a tell-all book, though, that when he was fired, Bolton rushed to get this book out, and it was called The Room Where It Happened, Little Shades of Hamilton Going On. There, you could start singing in your head. Trump fired Bolton in September of 2019.

He rushed to get this book out, which the book itself, because it was a tell-all, it required a classified information review by the Trump 45 intelligence community prior to the 2020 election. So, he's getting this book out as the election is kicking off, and the book depicts Trump as... Incompetent and unfit for the presidency, Bolton is known for telling Bret Baier that he would totally vote to not only impeach Trump, but he also would have voted to convict Trump had he been a senator at the time.

It's very lengthy. It includes long quotations from conversations about highly sensitive topics in the room where it happened. And it really crosses into that sort of gray area of Intel speak where. They refer to things as if they're not strictly classified, they were born classified. So, just not a seemly book, right? The controversy over the book and the legal ramifications involves, A, whether Bolton, this is from National Review Online.

Who are kind of pro-Bolton, I have to say. I was going to say, yeah. Interesting choice of source. I wanted to go to a source that was going to be sympathetic, since we are not as sympathetic. But A, whether Bolton maintained classified information, e.g. his notes, in non-approved spaces while hastily writing it, which I imagine is part of what they're looking for in this raid. And B, whether the book compromised intelligence information, including methods and sources that should never have been put out to the public.

Sorry, we need to get into this book specifically. Yeah, the room where it happened. Casual observer. This is treasonous. He was the national security advisor, wanted to bomb everyone, pro-Iraq war, pro-regime change in Iran and North Korea. I mean, the most hardline neocon. He was gifted a grenade for his time when he was working for USAID, and he said this was a big honor somehow. Dude loves war. You spend time in the most insensitive, like, wartime environments, potentially, in 2018, 2019, and then turn around in 2020, right after getting fired, to try to cash in on a book based on sensitive, even if you disagreed with the president, how could this not come back?

Not only cash in, but influence an election. Totally. Like, this was totally part of it. And he was pro-Mar-a-Lago raid. Oh, yeah. That's even kind of beside it, but even if you're a government official, and you know you're talking with world leaders on, like, world-changing war, potentially. And your first instinct is, I'm going to cash in on a book. He went forward with it with the publisher, which, of course, they're going to do this. It's going to sell numbers, and he wanted to get his name out there, and then what ended up happening was the Trump administration was suing him on it, saying it's pure fiction.

You can't put this out. It's classified, and then the books ended up in a warehouse, fully printed, fully published, and then couldn't get out, but, of course, journalists got a hold of it, and then it all got published online. So, to me, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around enough. The treasonous instinct here of, yeah, I'm going to cash in on a book deal. It's not like this is Kamala Harris saying, well, I ran a nine-day campaign. You are in conversations that could actually harm Americans, potentially hurt American soldiers abroad.

Pure treason. I think this is suspect number one, if I were to go after people. That's why people are like, why is it Bolton? And then also kind of smart on his part, it's a Republican. It's someone within the party, as opposed to, say, a Democrat. Then you get the partisan accusations. And I look forward to people making. John Bolton, somehow, a hero. Like, there's going to be a student walkout for John Bolton now. Right, well, yeah, Politico's reporting, oh no, sorry, it's Axios.

Axios' reporting this morning was fun because the third paragraph down, I think I counted, it said, President Trump, who is known for prosecuting his political opponents, you know, went after or denied all knowledge of the rate. And you're like, have you been anywhere for the last five years? Ten years, like ever since Trump came down that escalator. Talk about like victims of, but anyway, I'm looking forward to the National Review online editors giving their take, which will undoubtedly be, but this is so unseemly, and we should not use the weapons of our enemies against them, which I can see the argument.

However. John Bolton, this was another part of that, the Trump lawsuits, trying to get him to stop from releasing the manuscript, right? So, the judge ultimately denied the request for injunctions and blocking the release of the 200,000 copies that were in that warehouse. The judge denied the request, but warned Bolton. And said, quote, Bolton had, quote, exposed his country to harm and himself to civil and potential criminal liability. So, the very judge that said, well, the media already has a hold of this.

We're going to let the warehouse release the copies. The same judge is like, dude. Dude, this is probably criminal. Yeah. So, it's not like... Even if this specific thing, I can't do anything about it as the judge. Like, you shouldn't... Basically, this is the classic case. Like, you just shouldn't be... It's un-American. Like, I don't know any other way to say it. Like, it's un-American. It's treasonous for you to try to catch it in a book right after that. And, of course, he got on all the MSNBC...

I mean, all these clips are coming out about him of saying, well, we got to see the Mar-a-Lago raid through. Like, we'll see what happens. You know, getting in his digs at Trump or whatever, and it's just like, these people frustrate me to no end that their entire relevance is.

Getting to bash Trump after being in this position, it is another reminder of how different this cabinet is, in my mind. The cabinet that Trump put on in 2016 and 2020, I am sure he just had people in his ear saying, oh, you have to go with this because you are the president now, so you have to make more of an official. You have to have people who have experience or whatever.

Obviously, not realizing the people with experience. This was the equivalent of Dick Cheney and their cabinet during the Iraq war. He was around for this. John Bolton was fully on board with all of that. Oh, he was right there, yeah. I think John Bolton is like Exhibit A of the first Trump administration, that Trump comes in and he's elected by the American people in this revolutionary reaction against the Obama, the Hillary, and really the deep state, this populist revolution. But Trump's first term is so just hamstrung by the presence of these continued deep state operatives and John Bolton being one of.

Like I said, Exhibit A of how that first term was so weighed down, and then Trump, in the four years, and Josh says this all the time, like, maybe it was actually a really good thing that Trump lost in 2020, and he had those four years. Yeah, and he had those four years to plan and to be like, okay, regroup, what happened? How do we be more effective? And the answer is, we clean house, and that's what we're seeing here with, I mean, this raid is.

Say what you will about, like, maybe you don't like it. Maybe it's, you know, maybe there would be a better way. Maybe Trump should rise above. Maybe he should, what was the, Andrew McCarthy or Kevin McCarthy over at National Review was like, he should just see his popular vote win as his vengeance on his enemies.

No, he's here to clean house. This isn't about, oh, I have a symbolic win because I got the popular vote. This is about actually changing the way we are operating the government, and that involves prosecuting the members of the deep state, Republican or Democrat. Because in another part of this equation that's funny to me is that this was scuttled by the Biden administration.

Because it's so just business as usual. Like, this guy clearly, in my mind, committed treason or had his hands on some type of classified documentation that he shouldn't have. And instead of actually holding people accountable, getting them out of government, because what happened after he was fired by Trump? He just went off to whatever consultancy, I can't remember the name of the organization, but they just keep cashing in on their security clearances. And I know that Tulsi Gabbard was going after a lot of different security clearances.

Right. It's just, I don't understand how you can sit and look me in the eyes and say that this is, oh, this is all political, like the Democrats now saying, oh, this is just a political witch hunt, going after all these people. It's, I think, willful ignorance of the fact that no one ever gets punished. No one gets punished, no one's held accountable, no one gets fired. I voted for people to get fired, and I voted for people committed treason to be held accountable for this, and I saw lawyers even looking at this, both sides are like, Yeah, he could do real time in jail for, you know, putting state secrets out there and putting our nation at risk.

Right. And so, yes, if he has it, I mean, sure, give him his day in court, right? Like, go find all the evidence and make a case. Hey, I'm a fan of due process. I'm a fan. Yeah, and to pretend as though the Biden administration didn't have any heavy-handed arrest tactics, I present to you Mark Houck, who had his house raided for pushing someone in front of an abortion facility. It's not like... Yeah. I would argue that this is completely appropriate.

They did it in the morning. They're not going to give them an advance warning. They don't want them to shred the documents. So, and yeah, after the Mar-a-Lago raid, all of your defense now is completely destroyed. I mean, what, you're going to pretend as though this is somehow not the modus operandi? I don't think he's doing anything wrong here. I'd love to see what comes of this. Yeah, and contrast this with the political prosecution of Donald Trump, the lawfare. Against him.

I mean, just this week, we had the New York judge vacate the fine that Trump was ordered to pay based on this conviction, these ridiculous convictions under Letitia James as the New York City, is she the AG? Oh, my gosh. Josh would kill me. Yeah, the Attorney General of New York. Thank you, thank you, the AG, but contrast that with the way that that prosecution was carried out, where we had these ridiculous convictions under Letitia James as the New York City, where we had these ridiculous convictions under Letitia James as the New York City, where we had these ridiculous convictions under Letitia James.

First of all, charges brought against Trump that in no way rose to the level of felonies. So, they're like, oh, no, we need to convict him of a felony. Let's make these charges into felonies. And the moving of the goalposts, and John Bolton sitting there on all of the talk shows saying, oh, Trump should just, no one should get upset. We're just trusting the process. I'm like, no, they're not doing the process. They're changing the process to prosecute the man. This is not about accountability under the law, versus now, I mean.

Say what you will about Trump. He's following the law. They're talking about, okay, in D.C., oh my gosh, Trump took over the D.C. federal thing, and he's cleaning up D.C., and he's a total dictator, and oh my gosh, no kings. He's actually just following the law. The law allows the president of the United States to do that. Now, if he was doing the same thing in Chicago, or the same thing in Los Angeles, then he'd be like, okay, he's changing the law.

He's a dictator. No, there's actually a legal... There is a precedent for him to actually do that. I am not actually convinced that that is illegal. Okay. They did it during the George Floyd riots. It is true. They sent a National Guard over there. They sent a National Guard, but they were in collaboration with the local people for those. Sure, but I would not even concede that, because I think you are kind of getting at the point here.

There has been injustice because the law that is put in place for the common good has not been followed intentionally, and that's why we get our cities full of crime, homelessness, drugs, to the point where they're not safe for American citizens, and it happened in our nation's capital, so this was done. In this case, we have a cadre of lifetime diplomats and state officials that clearly flaunt the law. I mean, the greatest example of this would be… The Russiagate stuff. The Russiagate stuff, and then Peter Stork, I think he had an affair with someone, and then was texting about how bad they wanted to get Trump out of office, all on paper.

And the hubris of these people to know that they're doing all this illegal stuff and know that they're never going to get punished for it because they're just going to get covered for, has been the status quo of the government for however many years. I mean, maybe since the beginning of the country, but it's wrong. And people need to get punished for it, but if any punishment happens, it is going to be partisan, or the accusations are going to fly, but I think the reality is that should be the status quo.

This is what the law actually demands, but of course, people are above the law, so you get no one is above the law thrown around, which is a hilarious quote considering Trump when they invented a novel financial crime that no American has ever been charged with, essentially to get a catchphrase to be able to call him a felon, which is the funniest and most meaningless. I think, if anything, that made him more popular. Yeah. The moment I actually thought Donald Trump had a chance in 2024 was when they raided Mar-a-Lago.

I said, there's no going back from this. This is the total, there's no going back. This has never been done to someone before. The treatment of it was insane, and I'm like, you're just fueling his fire. If you could have left him alone, maybe he fades into irrelevance, but I knew at that point, I was like, he's probably going to be president in 2024.

Good for you. So, we'll see. It took for me the assassination attempt, and I was like, that's over. We're done. Yeah, that was kind of like, okay. Fight, fight, fight. They tried to shoot him. They tried to put him in jail. And for people that are questioning whether or not he'd be spending the rest of his life in jail right now if he lost that election, hilarious. He'd for sure be in jail right now. They would bankrupt him. They'd humiliate his family.

I have no doubt in my mind that would have been what happened. They all said they'd do it, so. Yeah. Believe them. Believe them when they say it. Anyway, curious to see where this all goes, but before we get into Cracker Barrel, Erika. Hey, guys. I have a double header for you. Here's another great product. Did you know that American homeowners have over $32 trillion in equity? That's a lot, and criminals are targeting it with a growing scam the FBI, hello, Kash Patel, calls house stealing.

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So, for the Cracker Barrel heads here in the LOOPcast audience, Cracker Barrel underwent a bit of a redesign. Here is the old logo here that you may know and love, and the new logo, as some commentators have said, no longer have the cracker or the barrel on it. They now have this new flat design font with a little hex. There's a hexagon, a rounded hexagon around it, and let's just say people are not thrilled.

Not happy. Here's the inside of the aircraft. Worse. This is worse to me. Worse than the logo is what you see before you now. What they did to the interior. Yes, the interior, so there's no longer any rusty farm equipment on the walls. It looks like if Johanna Gaines got a hold of the redesign and threw some shiplap up. Excellent. And here's what it looks like. It is a little bit brighter, but I did want to, so everyone got into low-hanging fruit, right?

They went woke. This is terrible. I want to look a little deeper into this. Why does, we just talked about on this podcast, why does every logo, everything go super minimalist? Why do they lose all their character and style? Remember, M-S-N-O-W. So, I consulted.

Designers, myself, I wanted to see what's going on here, so I have interesting thoughts on all that, but before we get into that. The story behind this. So, they have a new CEO as of 2023, Julie Feiss Messino, and they were rebranding, in their words, to address declining relevance and attract a broader, younger customer base while maintaining its core identity. Noted that the brand had lost some shine due to flat sales, a tumbling stock price, and reduced customer frequency. They announced a $700 million transformation plan aims to modernize the chain's image.

And so, this is updating the menu. This is remodeling stores. They're going to update about 40 of the 660 locations with brighter, less cluttered interiors, modern lighting, more comfortable seating to create a fresher, more welcoming atmosphere. And then, yes, the logo caught the brunt of it. What is more welcoming than my grandmother's front porch? Like, hoarder southern grandma front porch. Like, that is the most welcoming. I don't know how this is more welcoming. Just my, sorry, I will keep, oh. All good.

I'll save it. You may finish your story. Save it, yeah. Well, so I was looking to the CEO, because she, of course, has the black, thick-rimmed Mark Cuban glasses, but... Uh, she was previously at Taco Bell, which was interesting to me. Taco Bell 2018 to 2023, because they have updated their branding quite a bit. Um, so she was the president of Taco Bell. She also served at Starbucks in leadership's positions between 1998 and 2018, so she had a lot of time.

She's like a Starbucks maid. That was where she cut her teeth for sure, man. Yeah, lots of experience. Uh, I think it makes sense, and then I was looking into the financials, I mean, because I was like, okay, Cracker Barrel. I personally have not been into a Cracker Barrel in a long time. I imagine a lot of other people probably not as well. So, since 2019, customer traffic has declined nearly 20%, indicating a significant loss of relevancy. Stock performance reflects all these struggles, with shares dropping 37% in 2024 and 70% over five years.

Ouch. The company netted a net loss of $9.2 million in Q3 in 2024, compared to a $14 million net income the prior year. Yeah. Not great. So, it seemed to me like they needed kind of a Hail Mary, or at least that was the approach. But, you know, clearly what was done didn't net, I think, what they were hoping. Here is their stock price after the announcement. Wiping out, I believe, was like $100 billion in.

Yeah, over $100 billion. It's crazy. Yeah, Sean Davis over at The Federalist had an interesting analysis. It's a fun read, too. He's a great writer. And he noted that a lot of this goes back to COVID, of course, and that, you know, you have the decline in customer traffic. So, looking at these numbers that you just quoted.

Mostly from 2020, the decline in the stock shares, it is really that Cracker Barrel never recovered from COVID, and he said anyone who is a regular connoisseur of the Cracker Barrels has noticed since then that we had shrinkflation, so the portions got smaller, they stopped bringing you the free biscuits from the honey for a while, customer service really.

tanked, people were angrier, less welcoming, took less pride in their work, and they just never recovered. And they bring on this new woman two years ago to fix it, and Like all high-level corporate marketers, instead of going and saying, okay, how do we hire people who take pride in their service, who love the mission of Cracker Barrel, who love the heritage and the brand loyalty? They're like, it's a branding problem. We're going to change your brand. And so, you get this.

You look at the price tag on the $700 million transformation plan. I have seen estimates that between $300 and $500 million of those dollars went to consulting firms for marketing on what should we do with this brand. It took three mega firms to come up with that logo that you share. Can you put that back up there? The logo, yeah. It is, this is a. A rip-off, right? Hundreds of millions of dollars to these consultants to say, take off the cracker, take off the barrel, and just give us, I mean, it looks like...

Someone suggested I should interview this guy. Yeah, we need to find him. Let's see what his thoughts are. We can go find him. All of us have him in our family tree somewhere. Steak and Shake was getting in digs, too. I mean, you know it's bad when Steak and Shake's getting in. Democrats are even saying this is bad.

Um, so I... But you talked to a designer. Yes, I talked to a designer. What is the underlying theory here of why everything is becoming the same and ugly and minimalist? I talked to someone who went to design school, because I'm like, you pay all this money to the consultants, and you come up with this, and my first thought was, is this 4D chess? They intentionally made something bad to get attention, and it worked. It's a lot of attention.

Because you never notice redesigns when they're good. You only notice the bad ones. So, the designer perspective is there's a school of thought called flat design. It's an offshoot of Swiss design. And so, if you see, and Apple was the one that really put this on to everyone, and everyone was an imitator. But if you go to design school.

She had some interesting thoughts. She went to design school. It is much different than art school, so designers are not artists, and they are not trained as such, so they are very pragmatic and practical. The flat design school is, so examples would be, like, say, the Pringles design has kind of become more minimalist over, like, every design you can think of has become more minimalist in terms of the logo. Right. Simple equals recognizable, and I believe there's actually some digital arguments for making your logo more recognizable from far away and simpler so that you can reformat it on different, say, like, mobile applications or web pages, on billboards.

Like, there are arguments for it. But I think the big, here, I have an example of Apple, which is going to give you a good taste of what flat design is. I mean, everyone will recognize it because everyone's lived through it, but so.

Yeah, here is flat design, iOS 7 flat design, and then this was iOS 6, was what it was before. So, you see a lot more gradients, shade, and then this is just no gradients. Yeah, brighter, simpler. Simple, flat in the word. It is a point and click. It is easier to just like. Yeah. It's functional. Yeah, so like if you take a look at the logos here for a comparison, say like Burger King going to here, which is funny. I think that was actually their 70s.

Burberry going simple. Yeah, it's much more back to the 70s. Oh, Burberry, that makes me sad though. But funny, Burberry's back. So, it was here, and then it went here, and now it's back to closer to this logo. It went back to St. George. Oh. And so, the interesting designer perspective on all this was Flat design is actually on its way out. Oh, Tom left. Don't leave me, Tom. I'm on my own. Yeah, I don't know what to say at this point.

He's back. He's back. I've tried so many different things. You went minimalist, like no sound, Tom. I flattened. I flattened. But, so the funny thing about this was, even from a designer perspective, it was almost like they got on the trend too late. Like, people are going back to more, say, maximalist or... Like, something with more character, something that's more complex, because people are so tired. This might have been, I think someone was saying the flat design has been the longest living digital trend ever, since we've had the internet.

And so, people are getting away from that now, or back to their roots. So, it's almost like they moved too late. Like, you paid all this money for someone to do something that's not even in right now. But of course, I don't think that fully addresses, like, why people are upset. People are upset because... You are, like, quote, de-branding or taking away the heart and soul of something that people love. I think Cracker Barrel started in the 1980s, I think late 1970s, and the intent was this should be like visiting your grandma, like you're on your way to your grandma's.

It's why you don't stop at fast food, and you stop in here for a meal, and people have all their memories there and the nostalgia there. So, Sean Davis, who is apparently a connoisseur, he's been there all the time, I think he's right about how food quality, they were cutting corners everywhere after 2020, as many places did, but they also had a, if you don't remember, they painted one of their chairs rainbow, and they started all of these in 2024, and it was a big scandal, and they tried to cover it up, and they also have all these ridiculous LGBTQIA-type groups.

So, the transition had started, so I'm like, I think they do earn. Somewhat of their, quote, woke stripes. But even if you go back, I think there was a scandal in the 90s. They had... Their values basically are like, I think they went after people they saw as effeminate or something like that. It is crazy how much it has changed since then, but the New York Times said it in their write-up on this, is they wanted to get away from their racist connotations or their whatever connotations, and people are just realizing, oh no, this isn't actually about...

I think there is an element of out-of-touch New York, even where they promoted this. They did all their promotion for this in New York City. They went to Good Morning America. They had like a pop-up in some trendy part of Brooklyn or whatever, and I think that just says it all, right? I mean, this Cracker Barrel started in Tennessee. They clearly didn't ask any of the patrons what they loved about this. On her Good Morning America appearance, the CEO was like, oh my gosh, we've had such great feedback.

Are you rotating on the same planet I am? Because I have seen zero positive feedback from anyone who has ever patronized a Cracker Barrel on this. But she's like, yeah, everyone loved it. And not just our customers, our team, our workforce also.

I really would like to talk to these people who love it, but I think, too, you know, much has been said about the low-hanging fruit is, oh, they went woke, go woke, go broke. Robbie Starbuck is promising some kind of massive uncovering today, so maybe we'll have more news on that. But I think just in general, the philosophy of Life, the philosophy of art, that the whole critical race theory, the whole critical woke theory, diversity, equity, and inclusion. I think that whole philosophy...

Does tend towards ugliness, monoculture, samification, and here's why. Because art is highly susceptible to ideology, and it's also, in turn, a driver of ideological takeover in places. And so, with these logos, with the architecture and the interior decorating that is so flat and same, it's reflecting a conviction that Safety is found in sameness and in not sticking out, finding the sheepfold and staying well within the walls, not breaking out and being yourself, because it's when you break out that you can be targeted as, oh, they're racist, or they're different, or they're exclusionary, they're not like us, us being the people in power, which in corporate America have been.

The DEI and the woke and the LGBTQ, and so the art reflects that conviction as well. I think it also has something to do with this conviction in the higher levels of corporate and marketing and branding that Americans have nowhere else to go, right? If all the restaurants become the same, people can fight about it and scream about it, but they're going to end up back at Cracker Barrel anyway, because there isn't anything else, and it is hard to break into.

The fast food chain restaurant business, because it's so monopolized, and it's so huge. If I wanted to start my own restaurant here in Connecticut and just be an indie, how hard would that be? It's much easier to just buy a franchise and be like, I'm going to open a Cracker Barrel. So, I think that there's a sort of the mass affluence of our culture is also contributing to the sameness or the fact that these companies are hoping to be able to survive doing something that so many of their customers clearly hate.

Yeah, and I think there's a, I'm not like a capitalism worshiper, and I think this is actually a case in which unfettered capitalism and monopolies actually objectively make life worse for consumers, because clearly consumers don't want this. But what are they doing this for? Like, they're doing this for the New York Stock Exchange. They're hiring the biggest consultants in the world to come, you know, do them. How are you supposed to start your own?

Cracker Barrel. How could you compete with, say, a McDonald's franchise? Exactly. So, we've lost all of these local places that have flavor, they have life, they're family-owned. And I know that there are family-owned chains, but it isn't the same. I was even going back and looking through historic footage of San Francisco in the 50s, and you'll note a few things. One, I don't see too many drug addicts in this part of town. Sidewalks are clear. Don't see a lot of graffiti.

But even, I was looking at the logos, like even down to the font, the buildings. A lot more diversity, dare I say. Yeah. Yeah, I think the internet certainly has a, I think, a conforming effect on. What everyone decides to do, it just comes copycat, but... Yeah, got to feed the algorithm. The algorithm only wants one thing, success. Yeah, I do think there's a revulsion to this, and the other point, too, I think that's actually an argument for nationalism, properly understood, is that I want Italy to look like Italy, and I want America to have its own feel and culture, and this kind of like...

It's conformist to everything being the same, or that there'd be one group of people making choices for everyone, whether or not that's global behemoth companies or a coalition of governments or something. I think it just inevitably leads to something like this. And everyone kind of hates it. I do think that even very gentrified parts of cities, you see kind of... A revulsion to the sameness of everything. Yeah. Well, and people who can afford to go to the local, the boutique, to shop with local artisans, people who can't afford that, do it, because, yeah, people hate sameness, and, like, yeah, you feel like a slave.

At the same time, we also love it. Because it's cheap and affordable. Yeah, but yeah, if you ever want to get radicalized, go to a small, what do you call it, like city, small towns, city hall. They're all unbelievable. Like, you could drive through Indiana and find an unbelievable city hall in a tiny neighborhood. Yeah, like the ones built in the 1900s, early, early 20th century. Yeah, and like, we just don't build. Like that anymore. That's a whole other episode, but on beauty and why it's important.

Okay, good news. Good news. Okay, the teens are going to be okay. So, if you'd gone to D.C. four weeks ago, you would have, perhaps, if you'd gone out after dark, been watching roving gangs of 14- and 15-year-olds, smashing things. It was not a safe place. I mentioned up above, Trump has... Totally turned this around by sending in the National Guard, by calling in for help, by taking over the D.C. police force, massively cleaned up, all the numbers. But this video really got my heart strings, so if you could pull that up.

It turns out there are some really good teens who live in D.C. who did not want to be part of the 14- and 15-year-old gangs. They just wanted big trucks. They just wanted to sit on some Humvees. And so, we have these videos coming up. This is just one of many. The National Guard troops, they park the tanks, they park the Humvees, and look, there's these teens who come up. They're talking to the National Guard guys. They're sitting on the Humvees.

There's a story about one guy who let the teens go and sit in the driver's seat and see what the inside was. But this is great, guys. This is what teens should be doing. This is like touch a truck, but for 14-year-olds. Like, go check it out. Getting pictures in front of the trucks. Getting the pictures taken, selfies with the National Guard. Look, guys, we can all work together. We can have clean streets. We can have teens who are aspiring to serve their nation in the armed forces because they just love the trucks.

This is healthy. This is a good DC. Yeah, I'm a big truck guy, for sure. I love those videos. Okay, my good news comes from a listener, so I'd like to give a shout out to Kelly. I'm not going to give the last name, but Kelly, thank you for sending this in. I'm a faithful LOOPcast listener and wanted to share this fun story I just heard. I believe you might be familiar with the mission of Our Lady of the Angels in Chicago.

The history behind the parish, its school fire that took the life of so many children in the 50s, its unfortunate closure, and now rebirth as a mission are itself a great story. The now Bishop Bob Lombardo has taken the mission given to him by Francis Cardinal George in what has become a crime-ridden community and done amazing things. He established the mission Feeding and Spiritually Nourishing Over 800 Families a Week, began a new religious order including a marathon running sister, a Food Network Chopped Champion, and now a second-place finisher in Chicago's Venetian Night Boat Parade last month.

You'll have to watch the link to see their name. This is hysterical, I guess. I was unaware of this, but there's a Venetian boat competition, and it looks like Pope Leo made an appearance, if not in person, in spirit.

I'll play a little bit of this. Oh, my gosh. This is great. Second place. I need to go to this. It's a Pope Leo Venetian boat. Down to the outfits, too. Like, they had... Even the extras. They had Pope Leo waving.

In the river. So cool. Love to see it. Yeah, I just wanted to give a shout out. I went and found some video of the mission. I want to play a little bit of it. Yeah, what's this new religious order? It sounds really cool. Some awesome work.

Get an ad here. Get an ad, because everything's fake. All right, what do we got? Yep. All right. I'm Sister Stephanie Villiga, and I'm a member of the Franciscans of the Eucharist of Chicago. The Mission of Riley the Angels is located in West Humboldt Park, which is one of the most neediest and difficult neighborhoods in the United States of America, and most people live under the poverty level in our neighborhood. And all of the statistics that are associated with poverty come along with that.

So, we exist here. We live here in the neighborhood to be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the neighborhood. We have, by the nature of our work, are mostly in one place, and we just don't have the capacity right now to go out a lot, a lot, in the neighborhood farther than our immediate area. We receive about 45,000 pounds of food a month here at the mission, and a lot of that food is used for our regular pantries, but we also package a lot of that food up to be shipped out with the Alexian Brothers for the food delivery.

Our partnership with the Alexian Brothers for our food delivery program began during the pandemic. It was very clear at the beginning of the pandemic that we needed to deliver food to seniors and handicapped people and people who were stuck at their house, and we began this on a very small scale with another group, but it was very clear that the need was extraordinarily large. Without the Alexian Brothers, we would not be able to do this food delivery. We do not have the capacity to do food delivery right now, and we...

We absolutely need them to be able to do this. If not, it wouldn't exist. My name is Alberta Frencher, and I'm a recipient of the goodness of God through these brothers who deliver food to me twice a month, which sometimes I can't get out and get things. It's a great service to the community and a great service doing God's work for them.

Well, all week, except for the Alexian Brothers, who will come and bring them this food, spend some time talking to them, and pray with them, to be able to know that they are loved. And it is more than just about the food, because we can be there with them.

All right, young ladies, it seems like they need some more help. So, if any of you are discerning a vocation, and you just want to serve the poor and love Jesus. This looks like a good opportunity. Shout out to Our Lady of the Angels. Yeah. That was sick. That was awesome, Tom. Great good news. Okay, now we get into the... Oh, boy. What we've all been waiting for. What we've all been waiting for. Any Hillsdale fans in the chat? Yeah, my conservative uncle or conservative grandpa.

George Washington's first inaugural. Part of it written by James Madison. Our republic is founded in the great fact and the whole course and economy of nature, the indissoluble connection between virtue and happiness. That is just a summary of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. And you said something really important with the letter that Washington writes to the Jewish synagogue. There is a difference between liberty and toleration, that those were not identical. So, religious toleration is … We have an established church. We have a state religion.

We will tolerate those who are dissenters. Liberty is a more expansive definition, and until you were reading it there, again, I had forgotten that Washington makes that important connection. Yeah. Hillsdale College is famous, which is a good thing, almost always, but some mischievous journalist writes, but they are admired by the Christian nation. And I wrote a letter to the editor, and they probably printed it. I just said, somebody admiring somebody else doesn't necessarily say anything about somebody else. That's right. But if they do admire Hillsdale College, they will learn from it.

That a Christian nation is not possible because Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. Oh, boy. And the internet exploded. A Christian nation is not possible because my kingdom is not of this world. Yep. And everyone went, blah. Yeah, that attracted some controversy, some people not thrilled about that statement, and it just warmed Erika's philosopher heart. And then Larry P., he kind of dug his heels in, which I would say, if you're in a hole, I wouldn't grab a shovel. But here's what he had to say.

I appear to have made some people mad by saying, you know what? I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. A Christian nation is impossible. Let me propose another formulation that I have used often and for years. America is the most Christian nation because it recognizes the principle of religious liberty, which comes from the mouths of the founders and of Jesus himself, when he says that his kingdom is not of this world.

At Hillsdale, we believe that Jesus is the maker and savior of all. We also believe, with the founders, that no law is good that compels anyone to believe that. Laws that compel belief are what led to centuries of religious persecution and warfare in the so-called Christian Europe. So now, not only has he said a Christian nation is impossible, he is now throwing shade at the so-called Christian Europe medieval period.

Erika, any thoughts on this? Yeah, I mean, first, case in point. Twitter is a terrible place to hash out intellectual nuances about anything, particularly about religion and politics. But nevertheless, Twitter is what we have. First, it is really important when we are considering this question to make some definitions, and I do think, like, give him a benefit of the doubt, obviously, and Larry Arnn, he deserves the benefit of the doubt, and he deserves the most charitable reading. This is a, yeah, this is a critique of Larry P.

as a person or his accomplishments. This is just a fun debate about ideas. Yeah, but it is like he said, it is like he said something that was probably poorly chosen in words, and then he had to go back and defend it and just kept digging. So, I think, like, My understanding of what he's trying to say is that Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world, and because Christianity is predicated upon the freedom to embrace and choose belief in Christ and to conform our lives morally, that free choice, because Christianity is so predicated, it is impossible to have a fully Christian nation understood as a theocracy which compels belief in all of it.

It compels moral uprightness in all of its citizens, because the two can't go together, right? And I think there's a certain amount of truth. It is true, right, that you can't compel belief, and what many of the founding fathers were.

What we're trying to avoid in the establishment of the American nation is what they saw as an impossible project of the state trying to legislate what people believed about God. But to go back and say that, the first formulation that a Christian nation is impossible is too broad of a stroke, right? Because what do we mean when we say America is a Christian nation? And I do believe America is a Christian nation understood not as a theocracy, because obviously, we don't have a law, like the Constitution doesn't say, here's a statement of faith you have to ascribe to in order to be an American citizen.

That was never the case. That was never the case. It was never even a thought. In the heads of the founders. I mean, this wasn't even argued in Philadelphia that, oh, should we have a statement of faith? I think there were arguments about it, probably around in the smaller arguments going on in the states or in puritanical circles, but it wasn't really like a thing ever. But in the sense that America, from the beginning, had a sense of Christian morality, and pardon me, Tom, the Judeo-Christian tradition, so including the Old Testament and into the New Testament.

I don't like what you're insinuating there. Yeah, right. I know you don't. That's why I'm going to say my thing, and you can dig at it. But the notion, the idea that America would persist only so long as we were a moral people that willingly lived out the Ten Commandments, that of our own. Of our own desires and our own choices, believed things like inhuman dignity, believed things like equality under the law, which is a Christian concept, believed things like it is wrong to steal, you shouldn't murder people, like unborn children, for example.

That's a modern example. America would only flourish as a nation so long as we were a Christian people, is very much true. And the idea that the so-called Christian Europe dig, that was just... That's bad. Yeah, that was... Like, you don't think that there were... Yeah. What is that even saying? Are you saying that, like, the Holy Roman Empire wasn't a Christian nation, that they didn't do anything good? Again, like, what I think would happen is, if you sat Larry Arnn down in a room, and you're like, Larry, were you really, like...

Putting yourself against, say, John Paul II, who told, when the European Union Constitution was being formulated, was like, if you are not a Christian Europe, you will cease to be Europe. Would you really be like, oh, he was wrong? There's no such thing as a Christian Europe, so-called Christian Europe. No, I don't think Larry would do that if you sat him down in a room, which is, again, why Twitter is the worst thing ever. But why didn't you just say that, like, a theocracy isn't?

Like, what is the distinction between a theocracy and a Christian nation? Right. So, I went back, I listened to the whole conversation with the man he is talking with here, Kevin Lee DeYoung. It was taken as a whole. I would encourage everyone to go back and listen to the entire thing. It was really interesting, especially as a Catholic thinker, to listen to these two Protestant men discuss this question, because it is kind of a window into a world that I am an outsider, too.

And there were some really interesting points made. Kevin Lee DeYoung, he was sort of, he is clearly of the conviction that we are a Christian nation, and that America flourishes so long as, to the extent that Americans conform their lives and their morals to the Christian tradition. He referenced this, looking back at American history, this historian called Samuel Goldman, who wrote After Nationalism.

Who framed America as a covenant, a creed, and a crucible? So, the first Americans were very specifically theocrats, right? You have the Puritans who arrive in the New World, who have statements of faith in order to belong to their communities. The idea then of America grows into this like city on a hill, God's chosen nation, even echoes of this in Manifest Destiny, like we are destined to take over this continent.

As Americans, this is the fulfillment of Christian nations here. And then you come into the Civil War era, the melting pot. This is what he calls the crucible era of American history, which again, while it's moving away from the city on a hill Puritans, it's still a Christian struggle. How do we more closely conform our nation to ...to the calling of Christ, to the divine order, when we are becoming a melting pot. We have Catholics coming into our cities in vast numbers.

We have the question of slavery, which is clearly a violation of Christianity. And that is when you get Hillsdale's founding. Hillsdale is a great example of this struggle to be a melting pot. Hillsdale, unlike most of the schools of the era, like Harvard and Yale, it does not have a statement of faith. It doesn't say, oh, you need to- So, can I be more precise? You're saying melting pot. Are you referring to, say, liberalism? Yeah, it's like true liberalism, right? Like, how are we going to- Small-L liberalism, yeah.

Small-L liberalism, not liberals like we understand progressives. Right, it's got lost in the way, yeah, for sure. Right, exactly. So, that's this era, and then we have sort of America as a creed, with its own creed. This comes into the more progressive, like America as an idea, right? We all ascribe to the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, for those of us who are more conservative Americans. We all ascribe to MLK, I have a dream speech for the progressives. Right? America as idea.

And I thought that, but in all of those, there is an element of being a Christian nation. And for me, I think a huge part of that is just the conviction that there is a truth that, and there is an objective standard of human flourishing that, as Christians, we believe finds its fulfillment in. Jesus Christ and in divine law, and that America is a Christian nation only insofar as we conform to the divine law. Any nation, it doesn't have to be America, can be Christian by conforming to it.

Yeah, and again, because you're much more than I am, much more well-read, so to put a finer point on it, I think that part of the... The liberalism debate, or that people have kind of drank the Kool-Aid of John Locke, is that... Who came up a lot in this conversation. Right. The main Catholic critique of John Locke is that he doesn't actually have any metaphysics behind his philosophy. His philosophy is very pragmatic. He rejected metaphysics. Right. The idea of human rights being a construct that is pragmatic and helpful for...

...for society to organize itself, as opposed to, say... More of like an Aquinas or an Augustan idea of, say, like a natural law, that there is a rhythm behind everything. An order. An order, and that by aligning laws to that order, you can have the common good and people flourish within that society. And so, then everyone's like, well, was the country more founded upon more of a classical understanding of natural law, or on this very practical, pragmatic, Lockean version? Of what the country is, and then what does that say, then, about the people that inhabit it?

So, like, could you live in America if you're not Christian? So, I don't know. That's typically what I hear. Again, I'm not very smart, and I don't understand. Stop it. No, no, no. Seriously, people really get into this, and they get mad. You know what I mean? People get all fired up about it. Well, and I think, too, that's why I really liked the way they framed Kevin here in the conversation, framed this historically as a progression, because we have the founding of the United States, and the framers clearly have a grounding in natural law, right?

So, they're… They're trained in the classics, they're trained in the tradition, but they also are influenced by the Enlightenment. And I think that what we see is the founding was solid. It has potential, though, as the questions of history and the challenges of history unfold, to go in two different directions. One would be the purely pragmatic, power-based Enlightenment, like whoever's power is the answer. There isn't a natural order, there isn't... A divine law against which we are ultimately judged. It's a matter of goals, and how do we pragmatically get to those goals?

And we see this in the current Democratic Party. We see that direction being taken in progressivism, right? There's also the option America could go. Which way, America? John Paul II asked us. Which way? The other direction we can go is that natural law direction where... It is. A nation's laws are good and just to the extent that they conform to the divine law, and people are like, oh my gosh, you're going to legislate morality. It's all right for the law to say things like people who murder other people should go to jail.

That's the obvious example that both sides should be able to agree on. And from what I understand, too, even Locke himself, this difference between liberty and license, he would have been all for it. There was blasphemy laws in early America. You couldn't blaspheme.

Our Lady or Jesus, like, you'd be put in jail for that, and I don't think you would have seen any problem with that. Same with, say, like, rape or incest or things like that being illegal and wrong. Like, you don't have the full freedom, the liberty to do that.

That's the lie of the naked public square, right? The lie of, like, oh, laws can be perfectly neutral. And I think Alexis de Tocqueville is my absolute favorite prophet of the founding era. Well, really, like, you know, the 1840s, but he's... So, Alexis de Tocqueville comes over from France, and he's seen the French Revolution, he's seen the American Revolution, and he comes over and he tours the country, and he looks at America and he sees the way for her to go is to become more religious, and not only more religious, but he believes, he doesn't say it in exactly these words, but I think he believes that it is the Catholics of the United States who can steer the country.

...in a direction that is long-lasting and conformed to natural law. And he says, this was a quote from Democracy in America that I pulled up. He said, the Catholics of the United States, and this is at a time when Catholics were seen as, oh, they have their primary allegiance to the Pope, so they're bad Americans, right? They hang out in Maryland, you know? Yeah, these are your bad Americans. But he said, the Catholics of the United States are at the same time the most faithful believers in their own faith and the most zealous...

And he continues, The Catholic faith places all human capacities on the same level. It subjects the wise and the ignorant, the genius and the vulgar, to the details of the same creed. All Catholics have to believe in their creed. It imposes the same observances on the rich and the poor. It inflicts the same austerities on the strong and the weak. It listens to no compromise with mortal man, but reducing all the human race to the same standard. It confounds all distinctions of society.

So, he's saying Catholics are going to make the best Americans going forward. They're going to provide the direction to the country that the country needs because of their creed. You can't legislate their creed. But that creed is what will save the United States, and I think he's absolutely right.

George Washington had a quote, too, about religion basically being like the fourth rail or like the fourth pillar of society, something in regards to that. Yeah, he said, religion and morality are the firmest props, and I have it here, of the duties of men and citizens, meaning of the law.

Right, so again, is the issue that people have with the Larry P. statement is that... Because of all the outside observers say, not even outside, in the case of George Washington, but Alexei de Tocqueville, everyone's saying that in order for America to work, it has to be of a religious people, of a Christian people, specifically.

That is what makes it a Christian nation, not the fact that it, like, from the top says, America, in parentheses, Christian nation. It's that that needs to be a firm part of what happens here, otherwise it just will not be able to sustain in the way that we designed it. I think there's that in terms of how to sustain. The United States of America, it must continue to be a Christian people. And because the way that Larry P. Arnn framed it in both his response and in his initial comment seems to be ignoring the actual history of what happened, which is such an irony because you think of like Hillsdale equals history.

Larry Arnn is a historian. So, it seems to me it was careless. It was lacking in nuance, and then he dug in on a platform that doesn't allow for nuance. Right, right. And then tangential, too. I saw that Anthony Esselin had something about, I think this is somewhat a case in the regard of how we treat the Middle Ages and Catholicism. He was talking about how...

There isn't the, you know, the flat earthers that came around? Oh, yes, I do. Yeah, right, but it's used as a slur as though, like, the greatest thinkers in Western civilization thought at one point that the earth was flat, and they're really, that's actually kind of like a revisionist history. Most of them didn't think so. They thought that it was round, and they knew that it was round because they had reason, and they weren't stupid. That is totally WASP history based on, like, the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

It is such, it is so, like, anglicized. Totally, which is why it's really fun to get into history on, like, what, it almost feels like you're reading something dangerous, because if you go back and you read it, like, oh my gosh, like, these people actually didn't think the earth was flat. They actually weren't stupid. And then you ask, why would someone make you believe that people, that these people thought that the earth was flat? And in my opinion, it's an intentional ploy to make you think that those people are dumb, and that we're creating something new, and we're smarter, and we got a brave new future ahead of us.

And people, you know, you can discard their ideas, basically, because they're unserious people, either in this small intellectual matter, but then all the other things are probably dumb and stupid about. Yeah. And I think this is somewhat the case with medieval Catholicism as well. Like, people just, if you don't actually go back and you ingratiate yourself in the material and actually read what was being written at the time, primary sources, you would think that they were just selling indulgences, and they had to know.

A moral quest behind whatever they're doing. It was just total, you know, chaos, and they're just killing a bunch of Muslims, and like... Yeah, this also touches on the AI thing, because if you go and you interrogate ChatGPT about this kind of stuff, they're going to give you the wasp... Wouldn't do it. No, do not do it. Like, you can't even... Do not trust your Google search anymore, because that is just wasp-informed history. You have to go back to primary sources, 100%.

The world is... The Middle Ages are so much more colorful. And interesting and smart than any of us learned who had to take a view of European history. Go read about knights. Knights fire me up. Knights are cool.

Yeah. Templars. I'll just bring it down to the simple. Go back and read about knights, because you're like, oh, they just put on suits and fought people. Like, did you know about their prayer lives? Did you know about their routines? Like, it was crazy. Yeah, their festivals, they were party. It was awesome. They were ripping mead, having a good time. So, okay. Twilight Zone now. Oh, we're back in the Twilight Zone. Okay. All right. Speaking of words, and we just had this memo dropped from an organization called Third Way.

Which advises Democrats on how they're going to take back the country. And I love the title of this memo is, was it something I said? Third way. Awesome. And in fact, it was something you said, but it's not actually it. But they have given us a black list, if you will. Tom, I'm going to ask you to enlighten us about black lists. You got to go through it first. You do, you do. Okay, so here are some words that Third Way is telling Democrats now, we need to stop saying these words on our podcasts, on our social media posts.

We need to stop saying words like privilege. In which, I haven't confirmed, but I'm sure the DNC threw them a couple million dollars to do this study, right? Yeah, yeah. We need to pay them to figure out... Megan Bank. Yeah, right. Okay, go ahead. We have to change our language. These were, so I loved this, these were some of the words that they categorized as therapy speak. Words that say, I'm more empathetic than you, and you are callous to hurting other people's feelings.

So, words like this to avoid privilege, environmental violence. No, no, no. It said violence, and then in quotes, as in environmental violence. As in environmental violence. Holding space, safe space. These are therapy words that need to be avoided. Other words are what they call seminar room language. So, stop saying things that make people feel like you're saying, I'm smarter and more concerned about important issues than you. Your kitchen table concerns are small. Phrases like critical theory, subverting norms, postmodernism, Overton window, which I think I'm guilty of using, heuristic.

And it goes on and on. We also have, like, don't say things like the unhoused, food insecurity, body shaming, chest feeding. I'm glad they're going to get rid of that. Incarcerated people. Cisgender, Latinx, BIPOC, incarceration, involuntary confinement. Now, one that was interesting to me, a person who immigrated. Yeah.

As opposed to what? Immigrant, maybe? You're supposed to not say that anymore. But yeah, so we have this list of words. The problem is, as Tom McCluskey, Tinfoil Tom, has pointed out to us, and I completely agree with him, the problem is that the Democrats are trying, they're going at it the wrong way. The problem is not the words. The words are bad. I hate the words. They're easy to make fun of.

They're easy to mock. So, yeah, maybe they should watch their language. The problem isn't the words. It's that they actually believe what the words signify. They actually believe that we are a society with endemic microaggressions and that we are systemically racist. That's the problem, Democrats. That's why you're falling flat. It's almost better than what you just said there. The Democrats sat down and they're like, hmm, we're at a 19% approval rate. We're somehow... Coming up to a midterm where we're out of power, which means we should be doing really good right now, somehow doing worse than the Trump administration.

So, instead of sitting down and saying, hmm. Is it our policies? Is it potentially what we're putting forward as solutions? Our ideas are bad? That cannot possibly be the case. Let's spend a couple hundred million dollars to, or a couple million dollars, or whatever it ended up being, to a third way, to a non-profit, for them to really dig into this. For them to pull a cracker barrel. It's not the ideas. It's the branding. No, no, no. And I want to make this clear to you third way.

It's not our ideas. Clearly, that can't be the reason. It has to be the words that we use. So, could you just give us a list of words? To blacklist, which is hysterical that someone used the word blacklist for words that you shouldn't use, and then they just went on and named a bunch of hilarious words. There are so many layers of cooked that they can't even realize. They're like, it can't possibly be this. It has to be the words. They come back with the words, and then they realize, okay, we just can't speak.

This is an average Kamala Harris speech. Yes, this is all the words. She is the torchbearer for our party right now. Yeah. Seriously, all of these words have popped up in a Kamala Harris speech. So, it's almost even better than what you described. It's like, no, it can't possibly be us, right?

It can't be us. All right, well, Erika, I hate to one-up you one, but it might be Twilight Zone of the Year. Mansplain it to me. It might be Twilight Zone of the Year. I'm sitting on it right now. I've been laughing about this all morning. Okay, I'm excited. Bring it on. So, you know...

The protests have been elderly and white lately. I'm just going to call for what it is. This is what I'm noticing a lot of these protests are. Heavily female, okay? I submit to you the final boss of signs. Okay, if we can zoom in a little bit. Oh, zoom in on that, baby. You got to read this for the audio.

All right, dang it. I can't zoom in on it. All right, just context while you're zooming. This is outside of Winsome. Is it Winsome Sears? I'm actually going to hold what this is for, because it almost makes it better. So, the sign just reads, is that a protest for a school board meeting? Hey, Winsome, if trans can't share your bathroom, then blacks can't share my water fountain.

And it is being held up by what looks to be an elderly white woman. Oh my gosh. I'm going to read that again. Hey, Winsome, if trans can't share your bathroom, then blacks can't share my water fountain. Now, there's a couple elements to this.

Winsome is black, which just adds a whole nother layer to this. This woman was very proud of the sign. She realized at one point she was starting to go viral, and she was made aware of her virality at one point.

So, here I have it. Negative. If you couldn't hear her, she said, is it good? And he said, negative. Yeah, so this is getting a lot of play online right now. Is it good? Nope, negative, and she just gave, like, a classic, like, shrug. Whatever.

Unbelievable. What was this over? Now, this really just makes us all... Maybe this makes it better. So, this man, if you want to take a look at what he looks like, used... Okay, so when a mother of a nine-year-old girl attending swim lessons at Arlington Public School's high school pool complained about a naked man loitering in the locker room... School district staff said there was nothing they could do because he claimed he was a woman. Again, this guy.

After they, after you, what is this? The U.S. Department of Education investigated Arlington and four other Northern Virginia school districts. The Office of Civil Rights concluded that their policies allowing self-identification in sex-segregated spaces violates Title IX. Arlington refuses to comply with Title IX and risks losing federal funding. District leaders and activists will claim victim status. They're wrong. The women and girls who were told they had to share a locker room with this repeat sex offender. Oh my gosh, who is naked?

Who is naked in a girl's bathroom in which nine-year-old... The nine-year-old. Oh, my God. And then they were totally couldn't do anything. So, that's what this woman's protesting with her racist side. That is what this woman is protesting. She showed up, and she is protesting. So, if the sex-convicted rapist who claims he's a woman can't go into the bathroom with the nine-year-old girl who's there for swim lessons, then she thinks black people shouldn't drink at white water fountains. I don't know what she possibly was thinking.

Am I overthinking this? I think I'm overthinking this. That's truly the wildest sign I've ever seen out in public. I don't understand. I'm kind of speechless, Tom. I think you hit it. Twilight Zone of the Year. That might be Twilight Zone of the Year. I've never seen, and it, of course, is just blowing up, mega viral. It does not hold, lady. We need 1,000% tariffs on signed materials. How does one even get?

To reach, you know, this is the time, maybe you don't have grandkids, unfortunately, like, this is the time you should be enjoying your life. Are you comparing black people to the sex offenders? No, she probably, she thinks she's making some bold stance. I know she does. I know, I have relatives who do this, but like. Right, but like, guys, like, this is, you should be with your grandkids. Like, you should be, why are you riled up at making insane signs that, I like, I feel bad for this woman in a way.

Yeah. Like. If that's the purpose of her life right now. Is making sense? I truly was rendered speechless. We need prayer and fasting. Prayer and fasting is the only answer. Oh, my goodness. No, I don't know. I don't know what the Christian spin, like, where are we at in, if you don't remain a Christian country, should we tell George and Alexi about?

Sharing restrooms. The concept of restrooms would probably be pretty cool to them, in terms of running water and electricity. Just having bathrooms in general. Oh, this is great. Like, what are you doing with it? Yeah. We're letting men and women. Yeah.

What? Oh, man. Wow. What a time to be alive. Yeah, man. I don't know what to say. Sorry, Arlington. Arlington's had a tough week. This has been a tough week for Arlington. I'm not really sure. Sorry, any Catholics who are there. I know it's a thriving Catholic diocese. I guess maybe the church thrives under persecution because that is some special stuff going on. Yeah.

I think it is really an injustice that Josh was not here to give his thoughts on this sign. Yeah, it might have been better for his soul. Yeah, he is probably posted up in Poland. Borderline, one could argue a Christian country, but you know, that is not going to happen.

I am going to hop off the Larry P, you know, give him a hard time, because I love Larry P, but yeah, that was not it. Okay, so how about the show? Check out our sponsors, Nazarene Organics and Home Title Lock. Thank you guys for sponsoring. Leave us reviews. Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Oh, I hope people haven't clicked off when they heard me say that, because we got a new deep for you, and man. Ha ha.

Let me look it up. Oh, thanks. Yeah, the new deep is chilling, but really slick. I mean, the video editing on this, Simon Michael, was amazing. Edits by Simon. And yeah, it's something that everyone should be totally aware of, though.

Get a sip, drink, sit down, watch the deep. It's going to be amazing. Yeah, I'm pulling it up right now. I want to watch the intro. Designer babies, except they're not actually designer babies. That is a false advertising. This one was a heater. All right, I'll play the first minute.

...and new reproductive technologies, it is now possible for prospective parents to create multiple embryos, test them for a multitude of genetic disorders, and even IQ, and select their optimal child before they're even pregnant. Silicon Valley Tech CEOs are pushing this technology, claiming to give parents the power to protect their future children and give them the best lives possible. One such CEO was recently asked some hard questions. ...questions about her company's product, and the vision she laid out for the future of childbearing is shocking.

We already live in a world where sex and making babies have been, if I can borrow a marital metaphor, divorced. She says it very clearly. Sex is for fun, orchid and embryo screening is for babies. Yes, I didn't want to quote that to you because I thought it was so ridiculous, but go on. I actually don't. Shout out to Ross. Ross is like... Hitting his stride. Someone had a great quote tweet on Ross. I can't remember who it was. It was just like, Ross is doing the Lord's work by just asking, like, basic intuitive questions to complete psychopaths, and it's just, and it's complete magic.

Like, yeah, basically that's what he's doing. He's asking very, like. I have a family, and I'm a normal dude, questions to the most insane people from Silicon Valley, and it is awesome. The Peter Thiel interview was crazy, too. Yeah, I know. I keep using Ross in the deep because he's going where no man has gone before. You got to start giving Ross some checks. Seriously.

Yeah, he's going to need to get a cut, his odd man. Yeah, go check out. I'll do this. Go check out Interesting Times. Ross Thuthat, one of my favorite shows. So, yeah, but after you watch the deep. Actually, all of the deep. Go through all of the deep episodes before we go over interesting times. Watch all the deep first, and then go watch rest. Yeah. All right, gang. Good Friday. Hey, prayer and fasting today. So, reminder, fast from something today. Pray today.

I will end with our daily prayer. It is a dedication to Mary, Mother of God by St. Augustine. Very appropriate. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, we offer ourselves to your loving care. Today, we choose you as our Mother, Guide, and Friend. May we always be faithful to you and desire, say, and do only what is pleasing to you. O most tender and loving Mother, we beg you through the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ, your Divine Son, to keep us especially dear to you and to obtain for us the strength to lead a holy life, a life of goodness, purity, and love.

Offer to God in thanksgiving and praise. Be present with us at all times, O Blessed Virgin Mary, and especially at the hour of our death. Then, Mary, protect us from the evil one, the enemy of our souls. Guide us safely into the presence of Jesus, the risen Lord, so that we may, with you and all the saints, share his life, happiness, and love forever. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pray for us. Pray for us. Have a great weekend, guys.

We'll be ready. Actually, we're going to be live with Kelsey Meinhardt on Monday in person. It's going to be awesome. Kelsey. We'll see you guys all then. Peace.