Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, And Capitol Hill Madness, Odyssey Thoughts, And Bison Survival

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. Great to be back with you guys. No shortage of news going on. Some of it somewhat morbid. We had the sudden and unexpected passing of Lindsey Graham, died at age 71. We have...

Status update, potentially, on Mitch McConnell. I started that ball. I'm going to try. I'm going to do my best. I started it last show, and we're continuing. So, we got a lot of Hill craziness. The National Defense Authorization Act sparked a lot of headlines as well. I believe the bill is now put in cloture. There's a lot of fun technical terms that I'm sure policy wonks and Hill people really care about. That's why Josh is here. We have a resident classicist.

Erika has thoughts on the Odyssey that is releasing, I believe, tomorrow. So many thoughts. You have a lot of fun. A date planned with your husband for him to nap in a comfortable chair and you to watch a three-hour film.

So, excited to see that, but there was a couple interview clips that went around, and I already was kind of getting Erika's thoughts, thought we should bring it on the podcast. And then also, we have hostilities resuming with Iran. Trump just gave an interview this morning, detailing a little bit of his plans there. Wanted to impose a 20% tax, and quickly backed away from that as we got some oil numbers this morning. I'm going to do my best to draw a through line there for everyone, but of course, we have good news.

We have Twilight Zone. We're going to have fun. Over our two-hour slot here, it's not just going to be doom and gloom, because we're happy warriors here. But before we get into today's show, we have to talk about Charity Mobile. Now, more than ever, it's important to do business with companies that stand with you and your beliefs. Charity Mobile is a pro-life phone company that serves pro-life customers and supports pro-life, pro-family causes. They send 5% of your monthly planned price to your favorite charity, and they have sent millions of dollars to charities over the past 30 years.

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To learn how physical gold and silver can play a role in your long-term financial strategy, thank you, St. Joseph Partners. Awesome. Alright, I say we get into it here. Erika, I had you line this up up top, and I mean, I remember, it was one of those things where when my wife came to me, I wasn't even paying attention over the weekend. She's like, Lindsey Graham died. Yeah. And I thought it was one of those, like, fake posts to get people to react, because, you know, unfortunately, it's kind of become...

It doesn't happen. And he's kind of enemy number one for a lot of, say, like, America First populist types, but no, I mean, I saw... There was one like that two weeks ago with the fake news. It was a... One of the news outlets had accidentally published Mitch McConnell dead when he wasn't. Right. Pull that back.

Or Alito's retiring, and he wasn't. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, just give me the facts here. What happened with Lindsey Graham? What's the official story? So, here's the facts, and of course, like, the first thing Tom said to me when we got on to talk about this yesterday is, do you think there was something fishy going on? Because that's what exploded online. He was at a Russian drone factory. Yeah, he was. Okay, before we even get into this, because people are going to accuse me of this, my first thought, genuinely.

Was to pray for the repose of his soul, and I did. And I hope that that's everyone's thought, because with politics, you get all fired up, and you got your enemies, you got your people that you're mad at. But, you know, Lindsey Graham had a lot of very controversial foreign policy positions and things that he supported, in which I truly believe probably put his soul at danger. I mean, we all have some things. But let's go through the rundown. Go through the rundown.

I thought to pray for his soul first before I get into conspiracies. Go ahead. Absolutely. May he rest in peace, save from all that can harm him. So, Lindsey Graham, he died at what was... First, characterized as a brief and sudden illness, this was late Saturday night. He'd just gotten back, as Tom alluded to, from a trip to Ukraine, where he did tour a drone facility, and the preliminary cause of death was ruptured aorta that was brought on by a chronic heart disease.

Interestingly enough, his own dad died at age 69, so almost the same age of the same thing. So, this obviously ran in the family, and the D.C. Medical Examiner's Office ran a toxicology report. Full review, and so far, no news there as well. So again, he had spent his final days, and yeah, this really was chilling to me. Literally, I think six hours before he dropped dead, he was like, I can't die yet. I have to finish this deal, and God knows when our time comes.

So, he had actually called his scheduler shortly before his death and said, I'm not feeling so well. I think I need some help. Scheduler's like... Have you called 911? And Lindsey Graham apparently said, no, that's why I called you. So, the scheduler called 911, and by the time they arrived, he had passed. So, yes, always with the case of sudden death, pray for the repose of the soul.

No evidence that anything funny was going on. Sorry, Tom. So, I think that the big controversy then was, you know, other than the reactions online, which were, some of them were absolutely disgusting. Like, Anna Kasparian was like, yay, three tears. And you're like, come on, that's just not... Ben Shapiro parlayed his death into an ad. I mean, like, it's really crazy. Some of the, and like, people were immediately like, Lindsey Graham was a better Republican or conservative than Thomas Massey immediately, like within 24 hours.

So, all sides are like, wait a minute, wait a minute, people online do weird things. Yeah, exactly. Whoa, whoa. It's crazy. Talking heads are bizarre. Yeah, I know. Ask me how I am one. But so his, the question then became, what does this do to the balance in the Senate? Everyone knows that the Senate. Our majority there is super slim and fragile, and I think between Mitch McConnell's disappearance, quote-unquote, I'll get to that in a minute, and the death, the sudden death of Lindsey Graham, that fragility just sort of, you know, hit everyone in the face.

Not that we weren't thinking about it before. But under the 17th Amendment and South Carolina state law, the governor gets to, who's a Republican, Governor Henry McMaster, he went ahead and he gets to appoint a temporary... And now, Lindsey Graham was up for re-election anyway in November. He was probably going to take it home. Like, he's totally a political... Endorsed by Trump. Yeah. It wasn't like this seat was up for grabs anyway. But they went ahead and with Trump's support and Senator Tim Scott's endorsement, they put in Lindsey Graham's sister, his much younger sister, much younger, I think 13 years younger, Darlene Graham Nordone.

And so, she was sworn in yesterday. We have a little footage there, if you want to play it. No sound. So, she was sworn in yesterday, and she will, you know, sit in for her brother, you know, going forward. And she'll fill out the rest of the term, which will expire on January 3rd, and then the new senator will be sworn in at that time, because the election this November will be for six years. The thing is, the funny about this is that people online get all crazy about this.

Like, what do you mean his sister? No, that's not the way it goes. Defend the Constitution of the... Sorry, no sound there. And also, how old is Chuck Grassley? He's in his 90s, dude. Oh, my gosh. I know, let's just point out that dying at 71, that's like a young whippersnapper in the Senate. Okay, how about this?

Lindsey Graham succeeded a senator. Who had ran for president in 1948. Oh, my gosh. The person who occupied the seat that Lindsey Graham had replaced was none other than the legendary Strom Thurmond, who ran as a Dixiecrat in 1948, upset that Harriet Truman was too pro-civil rights.

And then Strom Thurmond served in the Senate from like 1952 till his death. He was 100 years old as a senator. Age limits now. We need to do this now. Okay. So, just to give you an idea, Lindsey Graham and Strom Thurmond have been in this seat for 75 years combined, which Lindsey wasn't even that much since 2002 compared to the other guy. Compared to Strom, yeah.

That's crazy. So, okay, wait. So, you're saying you don't have, because immediately the debates began about his sister being appointed. You don't have any issue with his sister being put in the position? I do not. First of all, number one, having her being in a temporary position, and she's unlikely to be able to convince a bunch of voters that she's wanting the office for six years, so what are the chances that she's going to do horrendous damage, you know, especially going against her brother and her brother's legacy?

One thing has come out of all this. Is that Lindsey Graham, for as much as I angrily upset about his foreign policy, and I think we should talk about, you know, when someone dies, their bad legacy, too, not just the good stuff, and there's a lot to go for him on that. The way he took care of his sister has been nothing short of miraculous and beautiful.

So, Lindsay and Darlene lost their mother and father within 12 months of each other. She was a teenager. He was in college. He was 13, yeah. 20s, I think. And what he did is he raised her as, you know, a parent, not just an older brother. He legally adopted her, right. That's right. You know, poor area. He joins the Air Force, adopts her legally so that he can provide health care benefits and all this other kind of stuff towards her. Took care of her.

You know, just dedicated his life to making sure he was, you know, that she had a great upbringing, and then all the photos, like, about a month ago, showing Lindsey Graham at Disney World, and I laughed at it, too. I'm like, what is this? This is weird. He did make fun of you. No, he took all the arrows on it. He didn't care. He was there for his, for Darlene and their family and the kids and grandkids, and he didn't care that everyone made fun of him.

He was there to, you know, he was going to protect the privacy of his family. He was there because he's, like, the uncle. For all these guys, or the grandpa, essentially. Well, it wasn't some of the critique because it was during the war.

I mean... I get you on that. Yeah, okay. But all I'm... All I was to say, I was concerned that the governor, in this case, might actually pick somebody as a replacement that would then want to run for six years. Yeah. And I don't think that's a good idea. Not... I mean, nothing against Henry McMaster, but I would actually prefer...

This situation of what we've got, you put his sister in there, she's going to make sure she doesn't step on his legacy, go crazy, or do anything. She's going to coast for a couple of months, fine. If we need her for a vote, she'll vote the right way. I'm 90% confident. But then what this allows us to do is have a contest in South Carolina to see who should be the senator for the next six years. And that gives, and I think that's why Trump wanted the sister appointed to the seat, because then he could go in and say, okay, of all these candidates who are going to be running now.

Here is the one I think is going to be better for this movement for the next six years. Can I briefly, Josh, because out of the three of us, you have been paying attention to politics the longest. Lindsey Graham has been around for a long time. I was doing a little bit of research on him because he has been around for so long. Very anti-Trump, huckster, con artist, all that started off that way. Very anti-Tea Party as well, actually. Very much despise the Tea Party movement.

And he kind of—so, like, some people are like, oh, the lesson from Lindsey Graham is political maneuvering into power because he started off being very anti and then being very pro at the end when he was able to kind of achieve some of his stated foreign policy goals in terms of bombing other countries, being a hawk on Iran and being a hawk on Ukraine.

So, what's the legacy to you? You've been paying attention the longest. You've seen the movements. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just leave it at that. So, he's like a senator that we're used to getting in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even into the 90s, and he wanted to maintain the Senate that way, but the Senate has transformed, and I think, and I'll get to that in a second, but the idea is he voted for Elena Kagan to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.

He voted for Sotomayor, and the reason why he did is because he feels Like an old school senator, like the president of the United States should be able to nominate who he wants, unless they're a complete, you know, psychopath or corrupt or something like that. If they're just a regular liberal, then yeah, a liberal president should be able to put a liberal person on the Supreme Court. That's the way it is. That's how he looked at it, right? And, you know, there's a tribute that was made to him by Cory Booker, the senator from New Jersey, who's also very liberal.

And Cory Booker said, I wanted to work with you, Lindsay, on You know, some criminal justice reform stuff, which I think was going to be bad, obviously, and Lindsey's like, what are you doing? Don't talk to me now. I got a primary. Come back to me in eight months. And it's kind of funny. I mean, he's like literally an old school senator. Like, his idea is, we'll fight like heck, and then when the election's over, okay, we actually do have to govern, and there's going to be compromises, and there's going to be bipartisanship, you know, and too often conservatives look at that as like, yeah, there goes my wallet.

Or there, you know, that means, you know, bipartisan equals we, you know, conservatives lose. We caved, yeah. And there's something to be said for that. But I think, you know, I think Lindsey Graham and a lot of Americans, frankly, understood that that way of thinking, that type of Senate, pretty much died during the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.

Which were one of his shining moments. Absolutely. I mean, there's a reason it's in all of his clips, because he said, this is a sham, what you're doing to this guy. His high school yearbook? I mean, are you kidding me? A rape gang? One of the best arguments, actually, Lindsey Graham had about this whole thing is, you're telling me that this guy comes off as a bookish nerd.

He was in a rape gang as a 16 and a 17-year-old. Like a group of guys raping a bunch of women, and then he did nothing after that? He goes, pretty much when somebody does something like that when they're 16 or 17 years old, they don't stop.

And yet, we've heard nothing of it since then, and so he did phenomenal. I will always be thankful for how he responded to the Kavanaugh thing. He was the lightning rod on this. He was absolutely the indispensable man in that case, and actually, I thank Susie Collins for voting for him.

Your favorite. Your favorite. No, but I mean, so that's what we're getting at, and after Kavanaugh, it became clear. That all the pomp and circumstances, the pageantry, all the, you know, norms, all that kind of stuff, they're all gone. Yeah, smashed norms. It's all smashed mouth. It's all scorched earth. And it's like, okay, that's the way you want to play. And Lindsey could play that way. He just lamented it. And I think when he died, there's a lot of senators who are saying, you know, he was the one warning us about getting away from that kind of congeniality.

Now, in terms of what you said about maneuvering and stuff like that, I mean, it is kind of interesting. A guy, he really was a true believer in these hawkish principles, because it is not like he was paid off by defense contractors. He was one of the poorest guys in the Senate. He didn't make a lot of money there. Like, it's not like he was selling his votes to McDonnell Douglas or something like that, you know, or Raytheon. Or trading on insider information.

Although, funny, so I don't think this actually goes against your point, but he did receive a ton of money in his primary, or like his primary re-election races. Yeah, they supported his campaigns. They supported the campaigns, but in terms of personal wealth, you're right, he was not enriching himself, it appears. Yeah, no, I mean, all indications are. And so, you know, he really believed it. So, he looked at the Tea Party. And he looked at Donald Trump in 2016 as going against this kind of older way of looking at politics, where, yeah, we talk crap about each other in elections, and then afterwards, we settle things up, and we move forward and govern for the American people, right?

And so, he looked at the Tea Party as, you know, screw this, throw all the bums out, or Trump, like, you know. Drain the swamp. You suck. And so, he looked at that as like. That's just, you're coming off like a toddler. That's how he looked at it. And it's like, well, actually, we are upset. And frankly, the point I've made is that conservatives were sick and tired of asymmetrical warfare, because it's like, Lindsay, it may have taken you to 2018 Kavanaugh hearings for you to realize and open your eyes and see what was going on, but some of us saw this 10, 15 years earlier.

Like, we remember the Bork hearings. We remember Clarence Thomas. We remember this stuff. I'm glad that the third time was the charm, I guess, and you woke up and realized that these guys are coming for our throats. So, would you predict that that...

That brand of senator is now gone forever. There will not be another post-2018. There's not going to be another kind of congenial, we're all going to have fun, older. I mean, you never say never, but like in the foreseeable future, you're not going to see that. And the other thing you have to think about is that, like if you look at the Republicans in the Senate, like John Cornyn just got booted from a primary, so he won't be here next year.

Mitch McConnell is retiring, you know, and obviously Lindsey Graham dying. So, the number of Republicans in the Senate that are going to... Are you going to be more adept and willing to participate in fighting back in this kind of smash-em-off kind of stuff? It's going to go up, and you can say, I wish it wasn't like that. I wish it was more congenial and senatorial. It's like, look, we can have that discussion, but the thing is, what I won't go for is unilateral surrender.

If both parties want to come together and say, here's the way we need to debate these things, here's the way we're going to do things. And like, I don't know, start with apologizing for the Carriker assassination of Brett Kavanaugh, you know, but no, in fact, they don't, and as we had hearings where Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan, the two Supreme Court justices, one on Capitol Hill, and they testified about stuff, and give credit to Senator Collins. She draws out and says, now, wait a minute, now, there was a senator, she didn't name by name, it was Schumer.

Who sit outside the Supreme Court and, you know, threaten Kavanaugh. The world was going to come for you. So, like, you know, if you want to get rid of these smash-mouth politics and return to a more congenial thing, the Democrats have to put down the swords, you know, and why would, and Republicans over time were like, hey, you know, this is a dangerous precedent. You may not want to do this. It may come back to backfire on you. McConnell warned them, and they're like, they pressed ahead.

Yeah, that is how we got Trump. Yeah, I feel like we are past that. I do not know. It is interesting seeing the politics in which you grew up in versus the politics of a 28-year-old kid, let alone a kid who is coming of age 20, 22. I mean, even... I think this all kind of corresponds to the trust in institutions. It's so funny. They come out with a new poll of, like, Americans all-time low. I think it's, like, 23% in terms of favorable of institutions.

Congress is at 7%. Oh, my gosh. I mean, yeah. Way too high. COVID is the ultimate. I just, yeah, I really don't know how people... I think they just benefit from the system or the framework, so they just continue operating and not even pay attention or listen, but COVID smashed every single norm, any goodwill I had for anyone in the government, any government agency, any congressman. I mean, the people that I elected to actually stand up for me, they all folded.

Well, Tom, I mean, here's the thing. I think your life experience would be illuminating to a lot of these senators and even people on the podcast who are 60 plus, and they don't realize, no, actually. For people who are now Gen Z, they grew up not only with the COVID thing, which is a pain, but like being white and a male and a Christian, like that's three strikes against you. And like, oh, come on. No, really? Like, that was like the only acceptable racism, you know, and like trying to get a job, like after the great wokeness, it's like, forget it.

Like, so there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of... Righteous, properly understood anger. Totally, but what I would say is the lesson to the now Trump administration would be just because the ship changed hands doesn't mean all of a sudden my trust in institutions is restored, because any impropriety in the case of Epstein, in the case of war now, in the case of corruption with the Trump family, people profiting off of stocks, this all of a sudden didn't just become whitewashed, all this pent-up anger.

And even what they're doing with intelligence agencies, they didn't really fire people. No one really changed hands. This is all the same stuff. So, just relying on this goodwill that they think is out there is gone. You need to prove it to me, and I guess that's why I get so big on Doge and things like that. Identifying the problem alone is not a problem. Exactly, and even in terms of deportations, I don't know if we're going to have time today, but I see that there was two shootings in the past two weeks on vehicle-related stops.

And then now Mark Wayne Mullen comes out and says, we're going to pause this indefinitely. Two big differences I noticed already, because I don't know if we'll have time for it. One, Chrissy Noem didn't get out in front and say, this person was a genocide maniac trying to kill my people, which is like, okay, just lesson learned. Awesome. I'm glad that we're taking some time. The second being, we haven't gotten deportation numbers really posted since a year ago, I think, from ice officially January, and that's what I care about.

I joked before the show with Josh, I was like, I know more about obscure geography in Iran than I do about deportation numbers. Like, you want to prove it to me? Like, go get me deportation numbers and put it up. You know, in tactics, I think that you can make prudential judgments, as I've already been, you know, I've liked better the approach from Mark Wayne Mullen and Tom Holman of saying, we're going to analyze what we can do better, we're going to make sure that this doesn't happen in the future, we can change our tactics, we can do a better job.

It's already light years better. Do you know where one of those shootings happened? Texas and Maine, right? Texas and Maine. So, the senator from Maine, Susan Collins, says to the secretary, Mullins, maybe we should take a beat on this, and he does. And what does that tell the people of Maine? Susan Collins gets results.

They're still struggling to find a successor for Platner, by the way. There has not been, like, a consensus. No updates there, in case anyone was wondering. Speaking of updates, Erika, Mitch McConnell. Yeah, okay, we found Mitch. We have proof of life. Yeah, here's the picture. Yeah, he was admitted to the hospital, so the story is he fell June 14th.

And he was hospitalized, and he's been at his age. He is 84 years old. Again, Lindsey Graham, gone too soon. Mitch McConnell at 84. Once you have a fall like that, that's a lot of time in rehab for most elderly people. So, we had a strange sort of, I don't know, just like a flurry of senators, and Scott Jennings got in on that, too, of like, we talked to Mitch for 20 minutes. He's sharp as a tack kind of stuff. So, of course, everyone's like, they're coordinated.

It's not true. I do not know, but the fact is that he has missed dozens of Senate votes at this point. Some of them, we might be glad he missed. So, he missed the SAVE Act. That was, yeah, so he missed the SAVE Act vote, which just update, as of this morning, the SAVE. Well, so, Josh, okay, so it passed, but it did not pass. Did it?

Never mind. No, are you talking about the national? They're trying to tie it in with defense funding, which is a scumbag move. It hasn't passed the Senate. They're trying to attach it, as Tom says, to the NDAA, which is one of those must-pass legislations.

Yeah, that hasn't passed. Which you know the attacks are already coming for people that don't want to pass the NDAA in current form of being against the troops. It's just like the lowest brow. I can't believe they do it every time, and then people fall for it. That is what is going to happen.

I loved it. Under the Biden administration, one of the NDAAs was, it had like, the draft was going to have daughters in it, so they had to get, that was great. We're not dealing with that this time. We have other issues this time, but we'll get to that. So, he's missed all of that debate on the NDAA, the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the Trump administration nominees, so he's missed supporting them or fighting for them. And so, of course, Right. So, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who I agree with about 0.01% of the time, she was actually like, at what point, how many Senate votes can you miss before you're not a senator anymore and people get to replace you?

Well, and the only proof of life we have is, like, if my wife one day ever posts a picture like that and says, all good, after having a heart attack, like, yeah, I just did this, things are not good, is the first thing I would say. But that's all the proof of life we have, is one kind of bizarre picture with a newspaper strategically placed to try to give the date, and like... Well, it's one piece, and then, you know, we would have to assert that people like Scott Jennings and others are lying, which he's a media guy, maybe he is.

I doubt it, though, but, you know. The only physical piece of evidence we have is that picture. Josh, are you really gonna... Yeah, sure, people can talk. Politicians would lie. I agree with you. We need more than that. Like, we need a video, even the video. I'm sensing distrust in our institutions, Tom. Yeah, imagine that. If we didn't have the 17th Amendment, if we didn't have the direct election of senators, then the legislature in Kentucky could recall and put in a new person.

That probably should. Okay, can you talk me through that? But you briefly brought this up, and I feel like that's all we're going to know about McConnell right now. So, I see the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, has passed for 65 years and just did not pass. We get the Zeal News article. I believe it's going to go to cloture. I don't even understand how this works, Josh. If you could just give the simplest possible explanation for what is going on in terms of funding.

Our military seems kind of vital at this time. Yeah, so, I mean, again, you know, I think that we're going to see some backroom deals. I think that this is going to come forward again. I mean, ultimately, you know, the Senate is going to, I would be stunned if the Senate didn't pass this bill and get appropriations. I just think, I feel like we're going to have... A few weeks of, you know, loggerheads on this before the August recess, but I think it gets passed, and maybe not in its current form.

They'll probably have to do a few changes, but... So, but even in simpler terms, this is how the military gets funded every year? Well, yeah, it's the defense authorization bill, so you have to authorize it every year. The military needs its funding, so, I mean...

You know, you don't want a partial military, you know, shutdown where our troops are, you know, having to continue to serve while not being paid. I would not like that. My sister certainly wouldn't like it, you know, but they get back paying all that stuff when they do those kind of things. But, no, I think it's the kind of thing where, ultimately, I would be shocked if this doesn't.

So, then why did John Thune, majority leader, vote no? So, the majority leader will oftentimes, if it is going to pass, and he needs his vote, then he votes yes, and it passes. If he votes no, procedurally, it allows him an opportunity to bring the bill back up. That's just a recent one. Later, right. Also, sorry, Josh, wash your hands. I think it's at the bottom of your mic stand is rumbling when you touch the desk. Sorry. All good. So, you decided not to.

I know there's a lot of critics, like, especially, I mean, sex in 224 is a huge sticking point. Yeah, I got texts about this from my anti-Semitic white dad's chat group that I am somehow a part of in my text group. So, I got all these texts. It's like, we're merging our military with Israel. There is nothing concerning about Section 224 to you, in terms of sovereignty and military ability? I am just setting it up, Tom. I am just setting it up.

Don't put words in my mouth. You are already discrediting these people. No, but that is just who they are. They are totally proud about it. So, I was being an accurate journalist. That was my source. So, I was like, wait, really? So, I go and I look, and Tom McCluskey, of course, is saying, no, we are not actually merging our military with Israel. So, Section 224, or Section C, you might have also seen. Hold on, I have to pull it up again, because it's on this massive PDF.

The bill is 505 pages long, but it's matters relating to Israel. So, what it does do, and what is a bridge too far for many people, is extending the war reserve stockpile for Israel that was already established. So, it's just extending the existing relationship with Israel.

It's also modifying and extending the authority for the Secretary of Defense to do R&D, basically, with the Israeli military and to collaborate with them on intelligence in the Middle East, specifically with regarding anti-tunnel capabilities. So, you remember Hamas and Hezbollah, they use a lot of tunneling in their strategy, in their wartime strategy. And then, again, it's more just extending R&D. Testing and evaluation of technology, and specifically unmanned systems. So, we're talking about drones or AI boats or what have you here.

I do think that it has been overstated what the current language in the NDAA will do. It is pretty much just status quo with Israel, but clearly, that over the last year, since the last NDAA, has become a massive issue for obvious reasons. Yeah, and it is frustrating when Benjamin Netanyahu, I really do not understand why he gets so much airtime on U.S. media, but he is positioning this as, oh yeah, we are trying to merge. I mean, we want to get rid of the aid system.

We want to have more of a collaborative system, so when he's talking about it that way, it's like, well, you're just adding fuel to the fire here, buddy, and then if you're looking at this, like, well, what is one of the reasons why we can't stop this war? Because you won't get out of Lebanon. You won't stop bombing them. You won't get out of Syria. The president of the United States has said, stop doing this. He refuses to. Many members of the cabinet refuse to do this, too, so if we can't get a hold of them now, what makes...

Further collaborating, further merging, however, you know, whatever language you want to use, I can see this being, this, not, I can see this, this is a sticking point and a frustration for the American public. If that gets to their representatives, then yes, any motion further merging these militaries is a problem to many people in the country. So, like, it makes sense why this is happening. I think there's other people that are just concerned with the number. I see 1.15 trillion.

We get 50, 46, not enough to get to 60. So, yeah, basically like the too long, don't read, you're going to get a lot of backroom deals. They'll probably strip certain elements of this or give concessions elsewhere, and it'll come back up. So, we have to do this every year, and it didn't happen this year. So, the big takeaway is there's new fizzes over- It hasn't happened this year yet. Right. We still have the until the August recess, but the fact that it's stalled and that the rhetoric that's being put forth by the people objecting to it is centering on the war in Iran and Israel.

And just to push back a little on that, I think it does matter what we call it. I think it's important to not use the term merger when it comes to this, because people are so hyped up on Israel. And again, there could be very good reasons for that. We can get into the much longer discussion on that, of course, and I do with, you know, before the show, we were talking about this yesterday. This is like every show prep meeting, right?

Yeah, the sovereignty of the country and our military is important. Yeah, I think that one of the dangers of the online discourse is that we end up arguing about something that's not even real or written into the law, and certainly merging the militaries of the United States and Israel is their collaboration. Obviously, like, yes, that's what that's happened. We do R&D together. We obviously support them financially. We give them, you know, weapon technology and all that, and I think there's a very good argument to be made for walking that back at this point, because like you said, it's not doing, but to then, to take it, you know, the Candace Owens five steps further into the abyss of blackness and being like, oh, we're merging, like Benjamin Netanyahu's sitting in the Oval Office, like on the phone.

It doesn't. It doesn't help any of the situations, and it doesn't get us closer to walking that back. It just drives people further and further into their opposite camps on this issue. And you can be opposed to further collaborations with the Israeli government, but that doesn't mean that this position, this proposal, would merge it.

And just to clarify, I mean, this is the annual budget, so it would start funding for October 1, so they can drag this out even into September if they have to. But the Republicans, in general, try to get these bills done in the summer, so that we're not running right up to the clock, you know, September 30th.

Which we have done many times. I mean, especially this year, with an election year, people don't want votes on this, you know, like three or four. Five weeks before they vote on election day. Well, and you think of all the people running for re-election, that if they can push back on this NDAA and be like, I've pushed back on Israel and mergers with Israel, and if there can be a little bit of change to the language, I hate to be cynical, but that's another big reason here to make a big brouhaha over this.

Well, right, but the reason— Oh, for sure, they do that. I mean, there might be senators who are— The reason they're doing that, though, is because public sentiment is, you know— Yeah, they read the polls. Proveably anti-Israel, and the relationship does not make sense. People are frustrated with the status quo. So, it's almost like, okay, we're going to argue about the political maneuvering here. Like, the reality on the ground is people are frustrated forevermore. But I would say, I would agree with Tom in this sense.

Like, you know, Benjamin Netanyahu has done a lot to really sour American people on what's going on in Israel. And you know what? Rightly so, because his government is horrible. And so, we have all been very critical of Netanyahu's government, and we have made the distinction between we are against the Netanyahu government's policies in Gaza and other places, but we are not. Anti-Jewish. You know, like, I have nothing against that. Like, I have a problem with Netanyahu's government. And so, when it comes to something like this with the NDAA, we can say, I don't know if we want to further collaborate or not, but I don't want to fall into, oh, this is a merger.

It's not. I want good arguments against bad policy or bad proposals. And in this case, I mean, it is not the most horrendous thing. I have a bigger problem. I would like to focus, as we usually do, just on how Netanyahu's government is terrible. Yeah, I mean, did you see the post-command in New York?

This collaboration, to me, in and of itself, is not, I do not know, it does not strike me as a massive problem. American Jews in New York, plus five Mamdani, I believe negative 30 on Netanyahu, negative 35. I mean, what more do you have to say?

You know? Yeah. I don't know what to tell you. Well, and he's making an election, too, so it's elections for everyone this fall. I like to be specific about the arguments as well, and I find it, like, it's so annoying when you get in the pocket circuit and people are like, well, I'm going to argue against the straw man of the worst possible anti-Semitic and come up with, like, of course, I'm against that, too. But... In this specific case, looking at the military action of the Netanyahu government in Israel, do we have a more safe and secure Middle East?

No. Have Americans been dragged into a war that was deeply unpopular, still is deeply unpopular? Yes. Has the action in the West Bank and Gaza been inhumane, and like 80,000, I'm seeing 80,000 numbers of women and children, most women and children killed? The AI targeting programs that are being tested in Gaza are disgusting, and I do not want to see come anywhere else. Yes. All of those are problems. It is enough. I am saying, just me personally, I am happy to make those arguments, and I love to, but I am saying, politically speaking, this is the first groundswell.

The fact that we are arguing about a niche part of the NDAA should be enough to tell people we need to rethink. Right, times are changing, in particular with young people, and the fact that Lindsey Graham is, you know, pray for their proposal on its way out. That type of senator, in terms of, I know more about his stated positions. on israel and russia than i do on anything domestically for south carolina like i literally never heard that out of his mouth is a problem and that that should go by the wayside by the way like we need to get back on the domestic here people are sick of israel anything that has to do with other countries and the world we need to focus on either way here's an interesting thing about politics since you brought up lindsey graham sure you One of the things that he was, his office was phenomenal at is constituent services, so if there was something that there was a problem.

Like, if a church, you know, somewhere in South Carolina had someone on a mission trip, like, as my friend said, in Belize, and, like, he's sick, and we need to get him back home, like, the senator would just move heaven and earth to get that person back. You know what I mean? Like, those kind of things, those are important parts of politics and make it work, and when we have these discussions about what should be the right policy, you know, in foreign policy, Israel, whatever, or domestic, how should we You know, taxes, school choice, that kind of stuff.

We have to remember that politics also is where kind of like the rubber hits the road, and where people go, wait a minute now, I just got fired from my position. I need someone in the government to, you know, make sure that this isn't discrimination. There's that side of politics that we kind of sometimes, the podcast circuit, people, when they're talking about these ideas, they forget about. Like, no, these are actually, really, they are important parts of what politics is. And so, when you start to understand that.

And that's why, how is it that some senators are super boring, but they keep getting re-elected? Because they deliver for their constituents in ways, not just on the poor, you know what I mean? They deliver for their constituents in a way that they're responsive to, you know. And that's what elected representatives should. Like, if the bureaucracy is, you know, giving you a once-over, you're like, wait a minute now. Like, I had an issue with the IRS, and it's like, I went to my congressman.

I got it solved. Did you really? Yes. Heck yeah. Let's go. Josh, I'm a boy navigating the swamp. Speaking of the swamp, Josh, you actually have some going on tonight or tomorrow night? No, it is tonight. Hey, we're having a wonderful live cast with Mark Hock, the pro-life champion and hero. We're a big fan of him. We're opening this up, this discussion. He's the pro-life guy, if you remember.

Who was witnessing outside an abortion facility, and some abortion, they call them clinicals court, was getting rowdy with him and his son, and he defended his son, and then, you know, everything was fine for a while, or whatever, and then all of a sudden, the Biden administration throws the book at him, and they put him on trial, and I think it is just an amazing story. Catholics from around the country were praying for him and his family.

It's just, there's so much we can learn about him and his story and the pro-life work that he does. Mark Hock is joining us tonight. For a live webcast, it is only available, actually, for people who are champions of the CatholicVote. So, if you want to be a champion of the CatholicVote, go to CatholicVote, sign up to become a champion with just $10 a month. That is not too much to ask. A couple cups of coffee here, and we will give you that link.

You can join us tonight, 8 p.m. We are going to have a really fun discussion, and I am going to be asking questions that I have for Mark. And then I will be asking questions that our champions have sent in. If you want a chance to ask Mark a question, sign up for the Champions Club, get your questions in before the buzzer. We will join you at 8 p.m. tonight.

Love it. Sweet. Okay. Okay. So, we're back to Iran. All right, Josh, your favorite. Well, actually, no. Before we do this, I'm actually curious your thoughts on this, because Amy Coney Barrett has gotten a lot of heat since her tenure. Let's put it that way.

So, she gave testimony talking about death threats and bulletproof vests. Justice Amy Coney Barrett gives harrowing look into life of justice after the fall of Roe. Actually, do we have the exact? We have my kids, and then we have threats designed to intimidate. Yeah. Should I play one? Yeah, I would go with, yeah, we can just sort of describe. So, the first one, yeah, and then we can play the threats designed to intimidate, because that's what really got like all the, oh my gosh, women shouldn't be justices dialogue going.

But so, just to set it up, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan, actually, they appeared in front of the appropriations subcommittee, because the court is seeking an additional 10%, a 10% increase on their budget. Primarily for security enhancements, both in their homes and also protection details to follow them around. And so, they were giving testimony about the increase in threats against the justices. Back in last year, in 2025, there was a 25% increase, and they're projected to increase another 38% this year, 2026.

And if you'll remember, the threats really took off following the Dobbs leak. Well, before, during, and after. Before, during, and after, the whole Dobbs decision, and it continues to this day. But Amy Coney Barrett described in very personal terms that, you know, she came home from a security briefing, and they had given, after the Dobbs leak at the end of May in 22, and they'd given her a bulletproof vest. She got home, she throws it on the bed, and her 12-year-old son walked into the room and was like, what's that, and why do you need it?

And so she said, you know, I was... Surprised? Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that serving in this office would require me to wear and have an explanation for wearing this for my children. It was moving. The threats were very real. Obviously, the threats against Justice Kavanaugh actually came to pass when the man appeared outside his house. He'd been doxxed. He was carrying zip ties and knives, and I believe a gun. That man is currently serving nine years in prison. So, this has been a very real, real issue and struggle for them.

But here's where one of her responses. Sort of took off. You can roll that tape. These security cases and the threats and things like that, do you believe that they're intentionally designed to intimidate you to alter or change the opinions of the court?

It's hard to see how some of them are not designed to do precisely that. I think they're designed to intimidate or designed maybe to punish after decisions that the person sending the threat didn't like as a warning not to do it in the future. It's hard to interpret, particularly those anonymous deliveries that are sent in the name of Judge Salas' murdered son as anything other than an attempt to intimidate and influence decisions.

So, the response online to a lot of this, the criticisms have been, you know, if you can't lump it, you should leave, right? People have thrown up side-by-side videos of Clarence Thomas saying, I would rather die than withdraw my nomination, and then Amy Coney Barrett saying, I have feared for my life, right? And they're like, well, you clearly don't have the stamina, would it take? You might have addressed this, Erika. What was the purpose of this hearing?

Yeah, so the court is seeking additional funding, and of course, that comes from Congress. So, they were doing... Gotcha. So, she was asked to come forward, basically, to be like, these are all the threats. I'm scared, so we can get more... Yeah, I mean, they chose her and Kagan to both. Yeah, different justices will testify before Congress. You know, it's not always the same ones, but yeah, this time, it was Kagan and Barrett. So, does this move you, Josh? Well, I mean, I think the online response to this is...

Again, people are just frustrated because she didn't vote for citizenship on the citizenship case. Birthright citizenship, yeah. Right, so they're disappointed in her, and there's a few other cases where she hasn't voted the way that they wanted to, so therefore, some conservatives put her in the, you know, she's a disappointment camp.

And I would just say that she is a conservative justice, you know, moderately conservative, let's say, as opposed to Alito and Clarence Thomas, who are solidly conservative. I point to two things. Number one, she's the only justice that we could have got confirmed in 2020 with five weeks before Election Day. Of a presidential election. So, you can get frustrated that we couldn't have got, well, we should have had someone better. There was no better choice, number one. Number two, the fact that we have six justices on the Supreme Court now means that conservatives are legal scholars, conservatives, elected officials, whether it's the Attorney General of Texas or it's the President of the United States, are going for reach cases.

They're going to try to go for it all. There's no way, I shouldn't say no way, but can you imagine if President Trump had gone for birthright citizenship, like in 2017, you know, when the court was the way it was? Like, it would have been an absolute no way. He would have got two or three votes. But the fact is, now that the conservative court has got six people on the court who are not psychopaths, who are not communists, you start going for bigger victories.

And so, therefore, you don't always get those. You're not going to get 100% of the cases, but just arguing birthright citizenship and getting a lot of votes on it, it's like, wow, things are changing. Here's the thing. It's worth recalling, because we have six justices now that are conservative on the court, and let's look at her record. They're concerned that she was intimidated.

Well, she voted to ensure that Colorado couldn't kick Donald Trump off the ballot, so she voted that way. She voted to give him presidential immunity. She voted to let the President of the United States fire left-wing bureaucrats. She actually voted to allow the President of the United States to deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians, despite the fact she adopted Haitian children.

So, this idea that she's living in fear and she's going to vote liberal on all these things is a misnomer. It's misguided. She's not as conservative as Thomas or Alito. I know that. If we had had 55 or 56 senators in 2020, we might have gotten somebody more conservative in that four or five weeks right before the election. But she is a remarkable improvement, massive improvement. over our Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Like, it's like not even a... It's night and day, yeah.

All right, can I also... Wait, wait, wait. Also, before you get into Carrie Severino, can I also just say, you know, wow, Josh being pragmatic, surprise, surprise. The point of this hearing was to get her to say that her life is in danger, which was pretty easy because her life is in danger. She's in the Supreme Court. Right. And therefore, you do this so that you can get more security, which I'm unfamiliar with the current security apparatus, but it sounds like it'd be nice to get them as secure as possible because they do face threats with this kind of thing.

So, what are people mad at? People are mad at her about the birthright decision, birthright citizenship decision. They're not mad at her about... Like, not having the stones for the job. Sorry to use a crass word there. Yeah, they are. That's what they're claiming. I know, but that's the real reason they're mad at birthright. They're not mad at ACB. I agree. Because she did what she was supposed to do in this situation, if you've got to, like, actually analyze the context.

So, it's odd. People are using this as the example to attack over birthright. They're not saying that there's anything inherently bad about it. And then, of course, they get into women, and it's like, yeah, if we really got to have a grown-up conversation about it, yes, men are... Is that a crazy thing to say? That's true. That is the mango to work.

She's become a liberal justice because she still voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. She still voted to deport. Yeah, the record is... Well, and for those who put Clarence Thomas as their gold standard, in the last term, she voted... Yes, which I do.

Yes. Love that guy. I read his dissents for fun at the end of a long day. But for those who... She voted with him 88% of the time this term, right? So, like, do I wish it was 100? Sure, but it's not going to be. She actually has her own brain. This was an op. Yeah, and so this was a total op, and people need to just take a chill pill. It's the same people who are like, we should repeal the 19th Amendment, get the women off the court.

Come on, guys. And Lindsey Graham was poisoned in Russia. Look, I said it. Well, I mean, I think the best argument would have been like Helen Andrews' argument that when an organization becomes majority female, you do get to these, you know, things where it fundamentally changes what it is, you know? I have an episode on that. Yeah. But, you know, the three leftists on the court are all female, and then you have Amy Coney Barrett. So, like, there are now four women on the court.

And so, if I had all things being equal, is the next, you know, Republican President who has a nominee for the court, he might opt to have another man rather than allow it to go majority female. Yeah. If we get a Democratic president, what identity checkboxes are we going to see? Because Biden had to have a Black woman. That is how we got the Ketanji.

Yeah, I don't know. What a disaster. All right, let's get into good news. All right, all right. Yeah. This is crazy. All right. This is sad. Oh, speaking of Josh's favorites, I always love dipping into Josh's favorites. I forget what I put in here. So, Susan Collins, she pops up. Oh, right. This is her on Chuck Schumer. Wait, sorry. This isn't Kamala Harris.

I said my favorite senator. Harris is no longer a senator. Politician, politician. Yeah, we already touched on this, but just for Josh, let's play it. It'll make him so happy. This is really quiet. For example, a senator stood in front of the Supreme Court building and called out two members by name, saying that they had released the whirlwind and that they will pay the price. All right, can I just pause? Yeah. She's too old.

She seems a little shaky. If you shake and talk like that, you're too old. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I, listen, people are just like, you're just mad at the boomers. You're mad at the old people. Like, I know we have wonderful elderly members of the LOOPcast community, but I would not wish this upon my grandfather. My grandfather is 80. He should not be under this much pressure. God, this is so crazy. So, that was not your goodness. I made it a bummer.

I'm sorry. I heard her speak. No, that's all right, because we actually already touched it. You anticipated it, but here's my actual good news. That was just for you, Josh. Just wanted to put Susan Collins up there, but July is like married saint month. We just had Louis and Sally Martin. We have Priscilla and Aquila. We've got Ann and Joachim. It's a great month for married people, and so I was so moved when Matt Fradd brought one of my all-time favorite living philosophers, Dr.

Peter Kreeft, onto Pines with Aquinas this week. So, just to set this up, Dr. Kreeft's wife sadly passed away just a couple of weeks before they filmed this episode, and just... Yeah, we got to do the whole thing. Here it goes. What advice, I know I've asked this, but I want to take another swing at it, give you another opportunity. What advice do you have someone watching this who's newly married or who is about to be?

Do you think that when you are very old, and your wife is very old, and ugly, and wrinkled, and fat, And not very bright, or even nasty, that you will still find her beautiful. If so, marry her. The last view I had of my wife in the nursing home, about an hour after she died, I fell in love with her again.

Here is a wasted, emaciated, wrinkled, suffering body. It's as beautiful as a crucifix. Because that body ain't going to last, but the soul is. So, if you don't love your soul, but just love your body, don't get married.

A giant of a man. A giant of a man. Did he go to the Josh Mercer school of landing the plane? I can only joke about this because I saw it before, and I already got a little teary. Yeah, he choked up. I did not know where he was going with. You're fat, decrepit, you know, fat, he tossed in fat, I was like, where is he going with this? Brilliant. And then, bam, punched me in the face. Totally. Two observations on this one.

One, Matt Fradd is a master interviewer. Yes, I knew you were going to say that. He just let the silence sit there, and I think he might have allowed the most profound moment the Daily Wire will ever see on any of its shows. To happen, because he's such a great interviewer. Second observation, you should show this to all of your teenagers. I showed it to, I was like, oh my gosh, they're like, mom, why are you crying? I'm like, you have to watch this clip.

So, I have three girls. We have 21, 18, 16. They watch the clip with me. I have more children, too, but this was the ages I let. So, yeah. So, they're like, oh, my gosh. They've been listening to the rest of the three-hour episode for the last 24 hours now. They're like, mom, it's incredible. He has this heart.

Kreeft is, and he talks about, he's written over a hundred books, and we're not talking like, you know, beach trash novels or anything. Like, we are talking hefty philosophical theological discourse apologetics. My favorite. This guy is a... You're just imagining Peter Kreef writing Beech Draft. Yeah, so he wrote one novel, and it was not Beech Draft.

Peter Kreef's stuff is not Beech Draft. Gosh, I'm sorry. You know, you just got to explain it the way people will understand. But he said, he says that this was, he was driving home from the nursing home after seeing his wife's body, saying goodbye, and he was weeping.

In the back of the car, and then all of a sudden, he heard God say to him, like, not locution, but in his heart, that the book is finished, and it's at the publisher's. And he knows what that feels like, and he's like, we finished the book. We finished the greatest book I ever wrote in my life. And he's like, and then I started laughing, and I laughed. People would have thought I was crazier having sex in the back of this car, because I couldn't stop laughing.

And that's how most of the interview goes. So, I am sending you all to the Daily Wire. I am sending you all to Pints with Aquinas. You have to watch all three hours of this interview. Oh, man. Wow. That is my good news. Yeah, that one was like one of the rare clips you see on social media where everyone collectively pauses, like, I got it. What do you even say to that? I mean, it just punches you in the face, stops you in the tracks.

Great call. And I was mad because we were putting the show together. I was like, Erika, you already stole this, didn't you? I stole it. As soon as I saw it, I am like, that is mine. All right, Josh, what do you got? Well, I mean. You know, Erika brought up a clip on the last things. I am going to be much more down-to-earth and practical. Sorry. Shock.

That is how the show works. So, all the people with the doom and gloom, guys, we have a race on our hands. First of all, President Trump's approval rating has ticked up about two points to 45%. Good for him.

A morning consult poll came out. They do this generic congressional vote. Would you vote for the Republican or would you vote for the Democrat for the congressional race in November? The Democrats three weeks ago were up by eight points, but the morning consult poll just released a few days ago, the Democrats were only up by three. Then in the last two days, Harvard-Harris poll and an RMG research poll each had Democrats only up by two.

Now, look, Democrats are still likely to win the House, but you can definitely see a path, even independent prognosticators are agreeing, you can see a path that Republicans could actually hold the House, which would be astounding. This map right here shows, if the election were held today, the Democrats would probably end up winning the House. I think, what does it say, 220?

I can't see that around my eye. Dems, 225 seats. GOP, 210 seats. So, 225, 210. I mean, not a massive majority. It would be a thin majority, but again, why is it? That Republicans' fortunes have improved. One reason, I think, you know, a lot of these, we've had a change with Iran over the weekend or whatever in the last few days, but these polls were taken when gas prices have come down about 75 cents, and it looked like maybe the Iran thing is sort of wrapping up.

I've got bad news for you, but... Hold on a second. So, that's why I'm explaining why those polls were the way they were for the last few days. And also, I think, you know... Again, the economy is kind of getting its footing maybe a little bit. We'll see.

But it's also the case where you have Democrats like Paige Cognati. She's running for The House of Representatives in Pennsylvania's 8th District, she referred to America as stolen land. Like, this is a seat that Democrats need to flip if they want to have the majority, and they're fielding some of these candidates. They're just crazy. So, she's not a full DSA, but she's definitely flirting with that. I do think...

The DSA takeover of the Democratic Party could be what puts their chances at winning a majority in jeopardy. Okay, I guess we will see. We have a race. Josh, I got two for you, both involving people standing on principle, okay? All right, here we go. My first one, I guess they just lost, but, you know, French losing doesn't really tear me up too much. But Kylian Mbappe, he's one of the most famous footballers in the world.

He refuses to be a part of advertisements that promote sports betting. Sports betting is destructive. It has ruined the lives of some people I know. That's why I refuse to appear in sports betting advertisements. Many of us come from the suburbs, and it destroys the lives of countless people there.

Good for you. Yeah. Good for you. I didn't really play football in France. We need a couple more people standing in principle. You know, the one thing I've noticed about these... Sports betting, it's just such a parasite, but even the advertisements that you see from them, they're doing the laziest AI-generated commercials. It's like every single element of the sports betting apparatus is just the laziest, most base- Profit motive. Profit motive just to suck money out of people, and it's disgusting, and I actually wonder if you'll see more of this, because these athletes that have, like, does Kylian Mbappe need more money?

No. So, like, people like this can easily make this kind of stand and just be like, yeah, I don't want any part in that. It's gross. It's crass. It's not good for people. It's not good for people I know. It's not good for my countrymen. So, respect on him, standing on principle. Real quick on that before we go to the next one. And the prediction markets, which I'm not a fan of either. There's attempts by legislatures to crack down on prediction markets because By who?

By the gamblers. The gamblers don't want the prediction markets because it's actually a prediction market where you can win or you can lose, but it's not totally rigged against the house like it is for gambling. So, keep your eyes on that. Not as much. Okay, I don't know, because part of that is they're making the argument they're kind of different so they can get more favorable legislation, but I think 80% of the traffic on these prediction market sites are on sports betting, quote unquote.

I understand that. So, they see it as a competition. Yeah, that's exactly what they see. You could say, let's get rid of all of it. I'd be more than happy with that. I think my approach would be similar to, you know, if we want to meet people halfway, just restrain it to casinos. Just say you have to go to Vegas, you have to go wherever. You have to be in person. You have to be in person. People should not have crack in their pocket at all times.

I would actually love to do away with it, whatever, create a black market, be my guest. I would much rather have that than The ubiquitous. It's everywhere. I mean, like, every young kid is always crazy. So, okay, on to, this is Josh. I found Josh, and Josh, you're Norwegian.

Well, I am. I'll just play the clip. It speaks for itself. The Viking row, people have loved it around the world, but one supporter was not happy. This is Emil Anners Lappen, in the middle of a crowd of rowing fans, but he went viral for refusing to join in. A little earlier, I asked him why.

First of all, I just find it really stupid. That's... That's the thing I thought when they came up with it, that it was stupid and annoying, and I didn't want to do it, and it copies a lot of what Iceland were doing.

And it's factually wrong. They didn't row. They sailed. Yeah, they were there. Okay, let's take it step by step. First of all, you said... Amazing. It's Mercer. Amazing. It's Norwegian Mercer. Yes. This section is about men standing on principle. He even looks like you. One, because he thinks it's stupid. And by the way, for people wondering, this has swept the world. Everyone is like, the Norway tradition is so cool. They all do the row. They bang the drum. It's so fun.

We all want to be involved. Not this guy, because it's historically inaccurate. They sailed. They didn't row. And, nice touch in this video, he has two paddles behind him. So, good for you. Reclaim, stand on principle. Like, in a just world, this man would probably be the president of some country. Like, he would be... He would be the Viking king of Norway. Exactly. We need guys like this. We need people.

Ridiculously principled. That's your cousin. It's stupid. I didn't want to do it. Ancestry.com. I say we find this guy, and we get an in-person interview with Josh, and they can just chop it up. About life in principle and being Norwegian, so. I am like 30% Norwegian, so. Yes. Okay, so listen, I'll give you a quick update on Iran. Things are escalating as we talk now. We have the truth social post from Trump floating a 20% tax. I'll just give you a little bit of a timeline here because this is no longer going to be the case.

Truth from Trump on Monday. The Hormuz Strait is open. It will remain open with or without Iran. We are reinstating the Iranian blockade, so named because it is only stopping Iran ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the strait. The USA will be, from this point forward, known as the guardian of the Hormuz Strait, all caps.

But as such, and as a matter of fairness, all caps, will be reinstated at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the world. The process and formation will begin immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump. Now, that's interesting because we spent a lot of breath and ink saying that tolls were unjust and not fair, and then we're rationing it up to 20.

And then, we have been bombing. The United States is bombing Iran since the start of this week. We get a question given by Kaylin Collins on the constant bombing. Here it is. Yeah, I think the deal is possible, sure. I do. But, Mr. President, you noted the United States is bombing Iran again. I mean, you've been bombing Iran for months now. Is this just the new normal for the American people? Well, you know, we were in Vietnam for 19 years. We're here for four months.

So, I think we've done a lot. We've knocked out their Navy in a period of one month. We knocked out their Air Force. Their Air Force is non-existent. We knocked out most of their missiles, most of their drones. We knocked out their drone manufacturing capability, about 92 percent. Their missile capability for manufacturing, we knocked out 89%. And they have a little capability, but they don't have any capability for us. This is almost a military skirmish. Now, with all of that being said, you have to get people that want to make something.

We had a deal with them two days ago, and then they said, oh, we can't make that deal. We have to negotiate it further. And this is what they've done for 47 years. The difference is nobody negotiated like it.

Yeah. And, Josh, you giggled at the Vietnam line. Well, I mean... You know, again, I think he is providing perspective. First of all, we don't have land troops there, number one. And number two, it is four months as opposed to a longer engagement. I mean, Vietnam was interesting that he pulled that. Like, Afghanistan was right there. That's kind of what makes me laugh. I mean, like, uh-oh. Vietnam, interesting choice of words. We get a response from Iran after the toll. POTUS is absolutely right.

Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. We'll be compensated for the service. Iran has always been the guardian of the straight and will remain so forever. 20% is, of course, too much. We will be fair.

We got the latest from CENTCOM. Since reinstarting the naval blockade against the Iranian port 17 hours ago, U.S. forces have redirected two commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade. The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance. Another interesting thing from CENTCON, we have the use of, it was talked about during the rescue of two service members down, but we are now using these one-way attack surface drones, as they're being called. Yeah, this is the first time we've ever used them.

First time ever used, we got some declassified or unclassified. Footage of a boat ramming into a port and blowing it up autonomously. So, we are seemingly adjusting to the new style of warfare. We also get President Trump notifying Congress of the resumption of U.S. military activities against Iran on July 10th under the War Powers Resolution. So, it seems all signs pointing back towards hostilities. A little bit of a wrap on what Iran has responded. These have all been confirmed by Reuters, and then I'll place them unconfirmed, but Iran is saying that they did.

Missile and drone strike attacks against U.S.-linked targets in Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait publicly reported engaging in Iranian attack drones while missile alerts sounded in Bahrain. U.S. Central Command said Iran launched dozens of missiles and drones toward neighboring Gulf states. Attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Multiple tankers were struck or came under attack, including vessels traveling through routes near Oman. Cruise missile attack against a U.S. naval vessel. Iran's military announced that it targeted what it called a hostile American vessel with cruise missiles.

Reuters reported the launch claim, although the extent of damage has not been independently established. And then drone attacks against U.S. military facilities or equipment in Kuwait. Iran has also said it struck the U.S. Fifth Fleet Command logistics and fuel facilities in Bahrain, hit a U.S. logistics center in Mina Abdullah, attacked an airbase in Jordan, reportedly more than once, and shot down a U.S. MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz.

After all of that, we reimpose this blockade, as I said, through CENTCOM, and then as of today, Trump quickly walked back that 20% fee. He abandoned the 20% fee on their cargo to cross or move under U.S. military protection. The president said Gulf states would invest in the United States as a repayment instead. Trump relented after shipping industry largely opposed the fee. The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, said mandatory tolls in the Strait are illegal. Maybe another reason he walked that back was, if you take a look at the shipping traffic, as of July 14th, I have a little bit of a guide for you here.

We're getting, you know, little to no movement in the Strait of Hormuz, which, of course, is going to be a huge problem for the looming... Well, it's little, but it's not no. It's little. You want to give a percentage? I mean, little as in, like, we're talking under 10%, probably, of what was happening. The reason why I guess I bring this up is...

It seemed like the last inflation report, I have some numbers on that as well, were positive, that it came down a little bit in terms of year over year. They were good news. Sorry, month over month as opposed to year over year. And I can get into a little bit more of those numbers, but there is clearly a sensitivity towards oil prices as we are in the summer and midterm elections are going to come up. It seems like a lot of this war has kind of been managed, or the ceasefire, quote unquote, has been managed around commodities prices, in particular energy.

But it looks like we pretty much overnight got a repricing, as it seems like the ceasefire is off. We're getting warnings of oil popping. So, oil popped to a one-month high. I believe it was in the $80 barrel range, and we're getting Goldman Sachs warning of a rise back over $100 a barrel. This is after Iran hit those two UAE oil tankers, and now Tehran is threatening to halt all Mideast energy exports after we get this blockade reimposed. So, as of recently, gas ticked back down, but it's back up to a national average of $3.89 a gallon for regular.

Diesel is pushing back towards $5 a gallon. I've definitely seen diesel over $5 in a couple areas around me, and it looks like Iran is kind of expanding by, I think they were trying to land in Oman. And are also now attacking a new gulf. So, they're trying to attack end-arounds from getting around the Stratiform Moose. So, it's pretty clear that energy is going to be the main source of attack here. So, that's kind of where we stand as of now.

Trump gave a press conference, or I guess an interview with Fox News this morning, basically getting back to the tough talk. Like, we're going to start bombing energy infrastructure, we're going to start bombing bridges, which of course are major escalations of what we have going on now. But it seems like, in terms of the economy, Probably going to start seeing some hurt in ways that we didn't before because we've really drained our strategic oil reserve in a way to kind of.

Take care of some pricing, and now we are kind of back to what looks like, you know, full-on war. Well, okay, so, but with regards to the price of what you mentioned, there was an adjustment upwards when the hostilities resumed, but it did not continue escalating in that same trajectory. So, like, oil prices today are a little changed. In fact, actually, August delivery lost 18 cents. It is down underneath. $80 now. September futures fell $0.57 to $84.18. So, you know, we'll see where it goes.

But it's like if that first uptick had continued that same trajectory, then you're starting to get concerns. But right now, it's kind of plateauing or whatever. And so, we'll see what happens. But yeah, if I could mention, I mean, I was looking at the inflation report and the big reason why consumer prices fell 0.4% in June. Was energy prices falling? They fell 5.7%. Gasoline down 9.7%, fuel oil down 9.2%, and electricity down 1%. Most of this was because there was a temporary ceasefire.

Or, like I said, things were managed around there being some type of understanding between the United States and Iran, and that is now seemingly gone. If you take the firing back and forth between the United States and Iran seriously over the last three days, and it doesn't seem to have a real end date as of now. We're not going to see that. Even the Fed chair is basically like, we're concerned. This is not good enough for us right now. Even looking at year over year, I know a lot of Americans have been feeling it, but...

We're talking month to month with those numbers. Year over year, gasoline is 26% more expensive than it was last year, which is why it feels like it, because it is. So, a lot of work remained to do. I think good news in some respects in terms of food prices, grocery, restaurant prices, but all of this, unfortunately, really hinges upon whether we can get some type of agreement, whether the United States can win control of the Strait of Hormuz to actually get oil flowing again.

Right, and that's the argument from the Warhawks right now, that our mistake was back in May, instead of going in and quote-unquote finishing the job and taking Karg Island and establishing American dominance in the Strait and just taking over, that that was where the mistake was, because it allowed Iran to take back and block it, and that's how we're in this quagmire here. So, I mean, the danger, of course, like, I don't want to escalate the horror, I don't want boots on the ground, but is it the case that at this point, we've worked ourselves into this corner where we either do that and just own the straight, or we pull out, and Iran takes back over the straight, and it's just, we've lost completely.

So, I think it's hard to see. Where there's a middle ground, and this was part of the warning that a lot of people gave when the MOU was announced, this memorandum of understanding back in early June or late May, that we were going to have all these negotiations, and eventually there would be this ceasefire after 45 days, and people were like, Iran doesn't negotiate. They don't have the same goals that we do. They're not going to honor agreements, which is what Trump is now complaining about every single, every day.

We get, you know, we had an agreement for two hours, and then they went ahead and broke the agreement and bombed this place or did this, and it's just over and over again. So, I think the real anxiety here is that we're stuck with either we go in and actually physically take. The geographical locations around the Strait, which makes no sense. I sound like AOC. We take the ground, right? The territory. Or we withdraw, or we stay in this sort of like back and forth forever.

Yeah. Churchill's back and forth forever. I would just say this, like, you know. Politicians, of course, will always try to give the best case scenario for their side and all the other kind of stuff. And so, when it comes to anything that's going on with Iran, I just honestly, I look at the cost of a barrel of oil.

And if it uptakes a little bit, that means people in Wall Street are like, okay, just going to kind of watch this. If it spikes, then they're like, okay, it's about to hit the fan. We saw the cost of the barrel go over $100 during this offensive. It's now about $80. So, if it spikes back up to $100, then You know, I trust that as a better gauge. We're talking about people who are investing not just millions, but billions of dollars, and they know whether or not they can get the oil out of the strait or not.

They know whether or not they can fulfill the demands of customers. So, I look to that as a real indicator of whether or not, how things are going to heat up, not any politician, so. Yeah, I mean. Show me the money. Show you the money. It feels like it's going on forever. The reason I bring it up is because President Trump himself has restarted the war in terms of the war powers, has started striking again. Iran is now striking things again.

So, yes, I agree. I mean, we're getting into that. The question is, is it like what it was in May or June? You know, we'll see. Again, I would just say, look at the cost of a barrel of oil. That's a better answer. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely prosecuted the war, or what is this? It's a war now, right? Or it was a skirmish or conflict or it was a ceasefire or whatever. It's a war now. It's prosecuted this around oil markets.

It's prosecuted around the economy. But yeah, and then this conversation is so annoying because you go back to, yeah, these were all the warnings of why you shouldn't do this, and here we are. But we got to go somewhere, and we're faced with an escalation ladder that does not look. It would not be popular to the American people.

Anyway, Erika, I want to talk about something more fun. Yeah. We've got to be fresh for modern audiences. We've talked a lot about this, but The Odyssey is coming out on Thursday. You know, I think a lot of people, a lot of classics enjoyers rejoiced when they saw that big name, or maybe not. I don't know. Christopher Nolan, obviously. There was some trepidation. Trepidation, but excitement for telling this story in a way that it deserves to be told with the money and resources and talent.

But we see interviews like this, and maybe I'll just start this as the starting point. And I'll just hand it to you, Erika. But this interview came out, got a lot of attention. Yes, there's a lot of attention. I'll just play it. The language as well is very modern. It's a very contemporary, easy-to-access way of speaking. I mean, you say dad rather than father. Sure. I mean, what's the thinking behind that? Because I wouldn't have even said father back in the day, would I?

I wouldn't be in Greek, so it's no less correct, I think. People bring, you know, when you look at... This world, when you look at the ancient world, people tend to view it in weird ways. There is a lot of cultural prejudice. There is a lot of elevating it because it is old, whatever it is. When you go to the poem, what you find is something that is really earthy and grounded and inaccessible. So, for me, in building the world of the film, what I talk to all the actors about is, I just want to center it on that and make it feel very fresh for modern audiences.

Do away with some of those assumptions that aren't based on anything logical. They're just, as I say, cultural prejudices or things over time. There's a lot of stylistically, you know, aesthetically, people tend to look back to the romantic era and art, a lot of paintings where, you know, people aren't wearing very much, like a little bed sheet wrapped around them or whatever it is, a lot of classical architecture, even though that wasn't the architecture of the Mycenaean period and things like that.

So, you know, we went back. To what is in the archaeology, what does that tell us, and what gaps does that leave? What do we know about Homer's time? How were things portrayed in the earliest possible portrayals of that? And looking at how do you create a consistent and accessible world around that that feels vital and credible? Are you satisfied with that answer, Erika?

So, guys, I have to put this out there for the chat, because you're my best friends. So, I have been wrestling with this script for The Deep. Next week, I'm going to go see the movie this weekend, and next week, you will get my full review as someone who has seen the film. So, I have been digesting.

This is the trust tree, because you guys are the best friends. So, that's coming. Get ready next Thursday. Make sure you're subscribed, notification bell. But... This question of, I mean, there is no classic film adaptation, I think, since like the Snow White, that has gotten this much blowback and hate online, and oh my gosh, the woke-ification of Western civilization, and I mean, then this film. And I wanted to narrow it down because, yeah, you can get upset because like Helen of Troy wasn't black, but they cast Lupita Nyong'o, who thinks that Homer was a misogynist, and it's all this judging the past by the standards of modern-day progressive ideology that I think people, they see any whiff of it, and they have these reactions, even if they haven't even seen the film.

So, I think that's what's going on online from what I've been seeing. But this point in particular, Christopher Nolan, who I admire as a film director, I really enjoy his movies in general, but as he was approaching the Odyssey, the only translation that he cited in these interviews has been this translation, and this is going to be in the weeds, by Emily Wilson, which came out in 2017. Emily Wilson... Nolan deliberately chose to use this plain, quote-unquote, accessible language for modern audiences because she, and this is a quote from her explanation in the introduction, she wanted to correct an anachronistic misogyny, and she wanted to add to, that was done by these male translators in the past, which is what Nolan's talking about with, like, this cultural prejudices of the Romantic era.

And she wants to make visible the cracks in the patriarchal fantasy rather than honoring it. And so, when I hear... First of all, the response from Tom Holland was like, well, I wouldn't have said father in ancient Greece, would I? Because the syllables didn't match the language or something. No one's making that argument. The issue with this pedantic language of like, daddy, and let's go, or hey, dude, you know, that kind of language that we see in the trailers. The issue is that the reason it was chosen was to...

To bring down, or to remake the Odyssey in our own image of the progressive ideology, that instead of Odysseus being, you know, this hero who represents all of us on our journey home through life, our desire for home, messing up the temptations, the struggles, the battle, they want instead to give him this sort of moral ambiguity of like, it's complicated, which is exactly how Emily Wilson describes him, and is the first line. So, I think that... That Nolan, and then in this video, going on and on about...

We wanted to, you know, there's all these weird ideas people have about the Odyssey and cultural prejudices, and they look back at these paintings that aren't historically accurate, so we went back to the archaeology of it, but then in the trailer, you see they're actually using a literal Viking longship for Odysseus' boat, and they're using, like, Robin Hood armor for the Greeks, and you're like, I don't know if you're actually being honest with us about how you're honoring the text and being so historically accurate.

So, Again, I haven't seen the film yet, but I totally get the backlash, because I, too, at this point, have allergic reactions when all of the stars are like, we have to bring women forward because Homer didn't honor women, or we're going to have, you know, queer Elliot Page, who's a woman who thinks that she's a man now. Erika, did you watch Dune?

I did. I have watched Dune. What did you think of Dune? I like Dune. I like the movies, but see, I haven't read the books. Okay, right, right, right, because, yeah, I haven't read the books yet. We have to. But, okay, so there's two things going on, because, like, the boys are fired up about the Odyssey. Yeah, totally. In the same way that I think the boys are fired up about Napoleon, when Napoleon came out. And Napoleon kind of suffered from a similar critique, like it just was kind of panned, and so I think I didn't really end up going to see it, but even the fact that it was being made...

It was actually the women who ran Napoleon's campaigns, yeah, yeah. I didn't even, yeah, I didn't even go to, but just the fact that people are excited about this kind of thing, and Dune also was like this big cultural moment, too, because people want to see big, epic... Yeah, it is a summer blockbuster. Summer block, yeah, but it is not like Marvel, you know, like this is, it feels like there is something, like with the Odyssey, like yes, I want to see, you know, a Cyclops, or I want to see someone that is huge, or even with Achilles, like I want to see Brad Pitt as Achilles, because these are stories that excite men.

You are good. So. Well, I guess you don't even know what the point, like, I'm excited for it, but it is frustrating to see the cracks of, like, I'm going to take... You're excited for Odyssey? Yeah. You're not, Josh? He told you. No interest in it at all. I mean, if it's going to be this woke, this seems stupid. Yeah, but that's the thing. Okay, so this is what I'm saying, but, like, what if you watch it, and it is awesome, and people are reading...

Oh, you want to hate watch it? Oh, well, no, I... Not hate watch it, but what if it's good, and then we're all just... I doubt it. I doubt it. So, two people who I really admire have seen the, they saw the screening, and they loved it. So, Jonathan Pagiot. I saw he was gassing it, yeah. Yeah, he apparently, I haven't seen his video yet. It comes out today because he was on an embargo, and the Tom Holland, the actual Tom Holland, like the historian.

Dominion. Yeah, Dominion dude, and he really liked it as well, and they're like, oh, it's a total Trojan horse. Because they have this horse that looks like it's all woke and feminist and progressive, but on the inside, it's actually communicating. I'm like, I don't know if we're that smart, though. Christopher Nolan, I don't know if he's that.

Why should anyone care? Why should anyone care about the Odyssey? Not even in terms of movie, but in story. Yeah, I mean, the Odyssey and the Iliad with it are the founding epic poems, the myths, the stories of Western civilization, and they have withstood, I mean, we're looking at 3,000 years at this point of these stories being told over and over again, and It is important. People are like, well, it's just interpretation. Like, all adaptation is interpretation, so you can't judge one over another.

Yes, you can. Some adaptations and interpretations are worse than others, and the ones that are worse, what makes an interpretation bad, and I think what people are concerned about going into the Odyssey, are the ones that, instead of connecting us to what is universally confronted by human beings, What is true to human nature that survives the centuries, that survives the pandemics, that survives disasters, that survives wars? We're still here. Like, what makes us human? Why are we still here?

The interpretations that sever us from the past because we judge the past harshly as being misogynistic, or they had slaves, or all these bad things happen. And so, all we're going to do is focus on that and tell us how complicated these people were in a bad way.

Those deprive us of the very stories that make life worth living, and that get us through things like wars, and pandemics, and personal disaster, and families falling apart. We need these to live human lives, and that's why it matters what Christopher Nolan did to the Odyssey.

Josh, are you convinced? Are you on Twitter right now? I just did the whole deep episode. No, I mean, you know, I would love, you know, an Odyssey movie that would be really profound and epic or whatever, but the fact that they took a woman who thinks she's a dude, I'm like, uh... Dude, be real. Be real, Josh. Have you read the Odyssey?

Yes, of course. How... I had to in high school. We had to. College, high school? It was still required reading. I read it in college as well. I mean, at Classics Minor. I love this stuff. No, I love the story. The question is, can they, you know, do a film adaptation that's worth its, you know, weight? Yeah. I do find it interesting if you look at movies right now. So, obviously, you know, all this flood of comic book stuff, and people, I think, are just, like, getting kind of bored of it.

Supergirl gets at the box office. Supergirl tanked. I mean, the most predictable. They lost $200 million. And then the movie Obsession, which was like filmed for $750,000, it's like raking in like $200 million or something. Like, it's crazy.

Do you hear the theory on that? It's an actually unique story. No, I think there's a rumor. I want to say it's either Tarantino or Scorsese that they like... Because they're concerned that the next movie they put out is going to flop, they ghost write, or they ghost direct one film a year, and that this potentially was the one that he ghost filmed a year. Maybe, but I guess my point is, like, and I haven't even, I mean, I don't go to see movies in theater anyway.

I got a lot of children or whatever. No Young Washington? Young G-Dub. Maybe that one. You should go see it. Again, with Young Washington and Obsession, I think Americans are thirsty for stories instead of just another comic book movie. Yeah, tell me the story. Yeah, and again, and they're sick of the woke stuff, and so I think that's why, okay, Christopher Nolan's really good at some of those Batmans or whatever, but like, I don't want to see, you know, Elliot Page, so no thanks.

And again, take a woman, sub-Saharan African woman as the Helen of Troy. Like, what? I get you don't want to have like, I mean, maybe Dan Kruger in 2004 was like too white, too Northern European, but like... Give me a break. I mean, this stuff, I just, I think it's so crazy. Yeah, the Greeks are all upset about it, because apparently there's, like, no Greeks in the whole cast, and they're like, this is our story. It's the one thing Greece has left at this point.

It's the Odyssey, and they took it from them. They're all mad. Oh, Tom left. Tom, stop talking. Tom has gone to the theater to stand in line to be the first to see The Odyssey. That's what Tom's doing. But yeah, you should totally go see Young Washington. It was great, and you would have loved it. But yeah, so stay tuned for The Deep on that. Tomorrow, we have another one on why your french fries taste the same everywhere. It's going to be really good.

Oh, wait, no, that's not tomorrow. There's another one. I'm so ahead. I don't even know what's going on with The Deep. Oh, by the way, I do want to tell people. Yeah. I watched your deep episode on Catholic education. Fantastic. Highly recommend. Thank you. Five out of five stars. Everyone should go watch it. Really well done. I mean, of course, all your stuff is really well done, but go watch that one. Oh, thanks, Josh. No, that means a lot to me coming from you, because Josh does not give five out of five stars all the time to all the episodes, for sure.

All right. All right. So, while we're waiting for Tom to reappear, our next story was on just an update on the SSPX. I know we've covered it the last two weeks, actually. So, obviously, we had the excommunication. Having Tom's back. Hey. Yeah. Not to put any... I think Selene might have joined and kicked me, but I'm back.

Selene, don't... She probably has better thoughts than I do, anyway. That's right. So, anyway, we were going to move into church corner, unless you have any last thoughts. Okay, so the SSPX responded, and you might remember that at the actual ordinations, the Episcopal ordinations, they read a bull, and then they put out a statement saying that they do not recognize any penalties imposed by Rome as a result of this ecclesiastical ordination done without the Pope's permission, because they found it to be an administrative act.

Instead of an apostolic act. And in fact, on July 13th, we got another statement saying that they were appealing the excommunications and the schism term. So, directly from the statement, quote, through this appeal, the society wishes to exercise the right that the church recognizes for any person who considers himself harmed by an administrative act to request its rectification.

...in a spirit of respect toward ecclesiastical authority and of faithful adherence to justice, truth, and the good of the Church. And the statement adds that the appeal is, quote, the prior requirement before the eventual filing of a hierarchical recourse, which is technical for their appealing all this and asking reversal.

It has the effect, here's the confusing part, the society is claiming that this has the effect of suspending... The execution of the decree in accordance with Canon 1353 of the Code of Canon Law. So, what this has meant to SSPX friends or adherents is the society is saying, our confessions are still valid. You will remember that the Vatican's initial decree said the confessions and marriages are not valid anymore from priests of the society. They are saying, no, they are, until the appeal has run its course.

Hopefully, this is reversed, which is what they're hoping. So, that's where we stand with SSPX. Again, from my point of view, reading the statement, reading the initial bull, reading the appeal. It comes down to how do you define a spirit of respect, which might be like Christopher Noland saying, I'm honoring the original text of the Odyssey. What do you mean by honor? Because the spirit of respect here does not mean honoring the Pope's withholding of his blessing on these Episcopal ordinations.

And I understand Phil Lawler has made several arguments about this. It was strange how the Vatican did it. It was strange the way that the DDF and Cardinal Fernandez put out, which is not the first time it's been strange the way Cardinal Fernandez did anything, but it's strange. They made this blanket statement that anyone who adheres strictly to the SSPX is also excommunicated, and how that's different, because the Pope himself didn't say it, so is this just administration? Is it apostolic?

But the bottom line for me, it comes down to that question of, did they ordain the bishops with or without the popes? And they said themselves in the bowl that they had chosen to ordain the bishops without his blessing, which is automatically an act of schism. So, the appeal is very technical. Obviously, what they're saying is we're appealing to the justice, truth, and good of the church, but they mean by that the pre-conciliar church. They mean the church before what they see as the utter corruption of it in Vatican II.

They don't mean the good of the... The church, or the authority of the church, as Pope Leo means it. And Pope Leo happens to be the person who can pontificate what that means. Did you get my pun? That was pretty bad. Clocked.

Clocked. I did. Clocked. Four out of five, Josh? Can I get a four out of five on that one? I have seen better, Erika. I got high standards. All right, all right. I got to get a high standards for you. Thank you for the update on that. I say we ride Twilight Zone now. Okay. All right, so I just want to set this up.

You know, I do not watch as much baseball as people used to or whatever. Keith Hernandez was a fantastic baseball player. Josh, confirm, fake baseball fan? No, I do not watch as much. I am a casual fan. Okay.

Keith Hernandez was with the 1986 world champion New York Mets. Fantastic athlete, all-star. You can go on YouTube and watch some of his clips. He was a first baseman. One time, this guy was laying down a bunt, and he was so close, he scooped it up right away, threw it to third, to first, double play. I mean, the guy was amazing. His older brother actually also played baseball, only in the minor leagues. Didn't make it through to the major leagues like he did.

So, Gary and Keith are these two phenomenal baseball players, right? I set that up. Now, Keith Hernandez is currently... An announcer for the New York Mets, and the Mets are terrible right now, and so he is pontificating on the broadcast about his posterity.

This, again, a massive, awesome athlete in his youth. Let us hear what these guys talk about. I want to get back to the last tip, and you were talking about burning out the line. Yes. I didn't think that we could leave that unattended. It's very convoluted. Jesse, my oldest, has two kids. She's my adopted daughter, so she's not in my line. So, my brother has two kids, and they're in their 40s, and they're not married. I don't think they're going to have kids.

My two. In their 40s, they're not going to have kids. I won't go into one of them. Oh, that's not going to happen. So, the line has burned down. It just ended. In what possible context could this come up in? Two pitches happen. They didn't say a word about two full pitches and a foul ball, and his lineage is gone forever.

His lineage is gone. It's gone. Who said baseball is boring? Oh, my gosh. This is like, I mean, there's such a long list of funny announcer moments. Well, Josh, you remember the, oh, and there goes a deep shot. To Castellanos, after... There's so many moments of announcers just like... TMI, as the kids would say. This might be, I think, the definition of TMI. No, no, no. Hold on a second, though. This is, I think, a very frank discussion, because... During a game.

I mean, he kind of giggles about it, like, because the other commentator says to Keith, well, now there's not going to be anybody with, you know, your physical attributes, you know, you're a great athlete, and, you know, the way you think about the game and all that kind of stuff, you don't have that to pass on, you know, and they kind of laugh, like, ha-ha, the world would be better, you know, wouldn't it be better with more people like me, kind of ha-ha giggle.

He's kind of playing it off, but there's a sadness behind that mustache, Keith. You can tell. I mean, it's beautiful that he loves his adopted daughter, but they're not biologically his kids. Yeah. This, to me, is a very Old Testament moment for me, because it used to be men, like, you want to try to achieve in life. You want to be successful in your career or whatever, but it was always, and then you wanted to pass on to your children, and you wanted their children to pass on, and you wanted to be proud of your line.

Especially, like, in the Old Testament, the Jewish fathers, they just want to have. Lots of children, and then their children to be successful, and again, I am not trying to crap on the boomers or whatever, because it was the generation before them, too, but like, you know, la, la, la.

I mean, all the songs, like, Who Cares About Tomorrow, Let's Live For Today, and that's what they did. Tomorrow's here, buddy. Yep, tomorrow's here. Yeah, I'm working on another script about what happens when we stop having kids, and I mean, you can chalk it up to the pill, but there's obviously, like, you know, there's a lot going on with why we've stopped having children. Yeah, and there's all the economic stuff that's really interesting, but then there's just this... This spiritual sadness that kind of like speaks to me through this clip, and it's so tragic.

You're right, Josh. It is biblical. Because, like, what was the worst thing that could happen to one of the fathers in the Old Testament? You couldn't have children, right? That was the miracle of Abraham. The worst. And it's a blessing today. People think it's a blessing. How lucky I can have a son. I won't have any children. Like, what in the world? I don't understand it. I'm an Old Testament soul, and I always have been.

Tom has a thinking emoji coming out of his head. Oh, I do? It was there. Because I'm thinking, did I play too much baseball? That is not my takeaway from this at all. My takeaway is the Mets are so bad that their people that are paid to commentate on the game veered into my entire lineage is burnt.

For like multiple pitches, that was a whole... I love it. I play too much baseball. That's crazy, bro. I'm glad the Mets are so bad that they could have this discussion. That's the kind of stuff that people should talk about. No, you shouldn't. Yes, you should. Yes, you should. No, no. Off air. Could you imagine Tony Romo doing this during an NFL game? Just like, hey, let me take a step here. I'm going to have no. I have no grandchildren. What the game's going on, bro?

This is one of the most fundamental questions of literally of the human existence. I grant. I grant. Well, here's why it's important, though. Here's why they should talk about it. It's because if there's one, like, there's, no, on air. This is why, if there's one 22-year-old kid watching this with his fat dad next to him, and that kid hears this and looks at his dad and thinks, I should maybe think about prioritizing having children and, like, having a real life. Maybe, maybe.

Why the dad got to be fat? I also, like, you got to understand, you got to understand. I guess I live in the Catholic bubble. Like, I'm in the trenches. Everyone I know has kids. Everyone I know has so many kids. There's nine, ten grandkids. We all got married in 2020. We have, like, ten grandkids now. Bubble. You go outside of that bubble, and you're like, my parents have, how many grandkids are your parents up to now? Like eight? Eight grandkids?

Nine. Nine grandkids. Yeah. And people would look at you like, wait, what? You know. Is this a weird cornfield sensation in the Midwest? We have all these. Well, I mean, I would say this. One thing that's changed. A little bit, is that, you know, when I tell people, oh, I got, you know, six kids or whatever, it used to be, 20 years ago, people would be like, what on earth is wrong with you? And now, more and more people are like, well, that's really cool.

They're impressed. Oh, for sure. That's the... That's been a positive development. But again, I do think, I mean, this is, like, this is a man, he would love nothing more than one of his two kids to have actual children, so he could dote on his biological grandchildren. He still loves his adopted daughter and those kids, but, you know, have another Hernandez who maybe could play sports or do, you know. You know, here's when I realized it was different, Josh. Maybe you'll appreciate this.

Like, I can't remember if I told this story on here, but. We, like, I grew up, my dad always had beaters. Like, my dad's a very frugal and wise man, so he never did, like, leases or new cars or anything like that. Like, we would always get, like, a minivan that was a beater on a good deal or something like that. And so, that was my experience. And so, therefore, you know, when I become a father and I'm looking at, you know, we've got to get cars, we've got to get cars for the kids or whatever, I'm looking at beaters.

Like, I'm looking to try to get deals. I'm looking on Facebook Marketplace. It's a great way to live. Exactly. That's like, that's where they get you is the leases or loans and stuff like that. And so, one car is kind of going down. We're like, yeah, I don't know. We're looking at this. I was talking to him. He's like, you can't get that. I was like, Dad, what are you talking about? You raised me this way. He's like, my grandkids are not going to be driving in that.

And I was like, okay, something different is going on. Like, you were like this with me. How much do you love my grandkids as their grandfather is like a whole other level to the point where, like, they should not be driving in beaters. So, we switched decisions based on that, but I can only imagine, like, and Josh, you know, and Erika, really, like, I hope you guys, you know, keep going on this path. We're blessed to have this experience, but to see Like, the love that my parents have for their grandchildren, and maybe because, like, when I was growing up...

I was hoping that the grandkids would be better than the kids, and in your case... Yeah, exactly. No doubt they will be. No doubt they will. But, I mean, I grew up, and I looked at my parents, and I saw, like... My dad worked so hard for us, and there were years where he looked like a zombie in pictures, and I didn't fully understand it as a kid. I was just like, why is dad always tired? And he did so much with us, and now that I have children, and now there's pictures of me looking like a zombie, it all started to make sense.

But, and maybe you just like get out of the numbness, like bleak state of like never having sleep and constantly having to do stuff, and you become a grandparent, you retire, and you now get to look at the kids, and when we bring the kids over, it's like, there's a, I couldn't be conscious of it. Maybe this was the case when I was that age, but looking at them now and seeing the joy in their face is like a unique joy I've never seen ever before for young kids.

It's living for the children and the grandchildren, and that's what I'm saying. And that's what Keith understands about his adoptive daughter and those beautiful grandchildren that they have, and he's just lamenting that his other two children, who are his biological children, didn't do that same track, and the line just ends. Yeah, definitely. I totally understand that. Like, even over Fourth of July, we got my son to sit on the lap of his great-grandfather, who's in his 80s, and they were just chopping it up about trucks.

Like, they were just talking about trucks and tractors. And, like, you just, it's priceless. You can't, it's priceless for us, because we get to watch that. We get to see that's how many generations, and then also for my, you know, it's my in-laws, my great-grandfather on that side, get the experience of seeing the, he has a lineage of probably like 50-plus people that he's responsible for in the world that all gather around him to honor him in that place that he kind of started.

It's like, you go back to the Kreef stuff, like, isn't this what it's all about? That's what I'm saying. So, it's good that the normal sports, blah, blah, blah, could have a moment of, like, make you profoundly think. I like it. Yeah. The Mets are so bad at getting people to think. Okay. Erika, where are we going? I was going to do a really sad one, but I'm actually just going to go totally superficial here. I found myself, this is the gift of the World Cup, I found myself Googling last night, are raccoons native to North America?

Because Erling Harland was on his way back to Norway. They lost to England. I was very sad. Given citizenship. Yeah, totally. And he gets off the plane, and this is the image that we as the world are given as we say farewell. Can you throw that up on the screen? There he is. Zoom in on that. He's the best. What is he carrying? That, my friend. Is a taxidermied raccoon drinking a bottle of vodka.

Erland picked this up for $750 in Dallas, Texas, and this was his take-home as he was leaving the United States of America. He also picked up two taxidermied squirrels that were, one of them was holding a can of Budweiser and the other wearing a sheriff's hat.

But that's not where the story ends. Then we get this TikTok video. This is from the establishment in Dallas where he purchased the raccoon. You want to roll the tape? This is just adorable. All right, so we're back at Wild Bills, but not for this. For this. We had no idea, neither did he, actually. I was getting phone calls before I even saw our socials about Holland exiting the plane carrying the raccoon, and then people started coming in and taking pictures of this one.

We had no idea what was going on. This guy over here is $750. The last one we had that Holland got was holding a... Bottle of liquor. The whole experience has been so incredible. It's more than we expected, and we're having a little fun with it. This one's already sold, and it's going to Norway tomorrow. We have more on the way, and that's it. We're taking good care of this guy until we ship him off. This is going to be awesome until his wife makes him move this to the garage.

Yes. Norway bought up all of the taxidermied raccoons at Wild Bills in Dallas. All of them are on their way to Norway. This is America's gift to the world. They drank Boston Dry, and they took all the taxidermied vaccines out of Texas.

Everyone's thrilled about this, except the one guy that doesn't like the rowing. Okay, Josh, I know you've got to bounce pretty soon. We're going to stick in the animal theme. I can only play this now because I've confirmed that the guy is alive. I'm going to start with that. If people have not seen this, a bison in Yellowstone. Buckle up, kids. Listen, buckle up. I'm playing the whole video. There's no sound. I can give you a little play-by-play.

Listen, I thought it was AI. Here's our guy with his grandson in a Dolphins jersey, and they went on a vacation to Yellowstone. His name is Carl Isom McDaniel. And I swear, I don't know if it's because of the camera quality, so it was done by a local photographer. It's so good that I thought it was AI, because it's not done in iPhone.

They're taking video of this bison here, and the bison, it's right about mating season. It's like early mating season. He is slamming his body on the ground, this bison. He, I think it's a male. Oh, that's a male. Starts charging this truck, and it's... You know how I know. I'm stressed. Cortisol spiked already. He's chasing down this grandpa around this tree.

This is... Here he comes. He's out. He's running away. He's playing kind of like Ring Around the Rosie with the tree, which is a smart play, because you're not going to outrun this bison. They can run 30 miles an hour.

Chasing him around, chasing him around. I mean, the mobility on this thing is crazy. Bam! He flipped, he flipped, the boys got him, he got our boy, flipped in the air, and then started, I think, coming down a little bit. Now, again.

I wouldn't even have played this or mentioned it if the guy wasn't okay. Yeah, if he actually was hurt, we would not be enjoying this. If he was dead, I mean, it's possible he'd be dead. I mean, this bison's 2,000 pounds. Oh, my gosh. Now, I love this guy. This guy is a patriot, a great American, because he was in a lot of pain with his leg. Otherwise, he was conscious the whole time in good spirits and joking after getting hit by this bison.

Being hit, being launched. Launched, I mean. Around 10 feet into the air. This is kind of, you know, every time, every once in a while, you get nuggets of what the internet used to be. I feel like this just used to be the internet. It was just dudes getting launched by Bisons. This is why YouTube was started for this. Yes, like it was so, it warmed my heart to see that. And they interviewed, the New York Times interviewed them. The photographer got an interview too and was talking about it.

And the thing with Bison. Listen, if you're going to Yellowstone, I actually will be out in Wyoming. Flight booked. Next episode of Time Across America, after the moment we release, will be in Wyoming. I will be taking part in a rodeo out there, so if I see some bison, I don't want anything to do with these bison. I mean, it is crazy how big and strong they are. So, the guy's okay. He was joking about it. Patriot. His grandson's okay, too, because the grandson was with him when we were running.

Watch out for bison in mating season. They're very unpredictable. So, I wouldn't recommend stopping and taking pictures of them at really any distance. I would just clear out. Shout out to this guy. I still can't believe this video is real. I thought it was AI for so long, and I was waiting for confirmation, and they found him. I should find him.

Bye, Josh. We love you. See you, Josh. See you. All right. So, we end today. It's a beautiful Wednesday. Erika, you have next episode of The Deep. Yeah, next episode of The Deep, and I can't even keep track of which one we're on, but it's going to be epic. It'll be great. And then Odyssey is next week, so tune in. Yes, go see it. Let us know your thoughts, LOOPcast.catholicboat.org, if you're heading over to The Odyssey.

All right, well, today in prayer, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. God be in my head and in my understanding. God be in my eyes. And in my looking, God be in my mouth, and in my speaking, God be in my heart, and in my thinking, God be at my end, and at my departing.

St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Arlie, Guadalupe, pray for us. Great show, gang. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Enjoy your Wednesday. Check out The Deep on Thursday, and have a great day. Peace.