Mamdani's Inauguration Speech, Fraud Updates, And NYT Discovers ICE

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. LOOPcast brought to you by The Loop, every Catholic American's favorite morning newsletter. Good morning, everyone. It's good to be back with you guys live. We had the... Happy New Year, the non-live episode on Wednesday, and then what are the streets calling Erika and Josh combo? LOOPcast. Tell me another suggestion for what that is. Not good enough.

Yeah. Midi LOOPcast. Oh, man, but kind of first time talking to both Erika and Josh. I'm not sure if anyone else is dealing with them. Coming off of a little bit of a sickness, and it was one of those fun ones where both parents get sick and the kids are sick. Oh, my gosh. So, humble suggestion. To the pre-Cana powers that be, if we could possibly simulate having both of you be sick and just give you a sick child to see how you handle that, it will really tell a lot for the success of a marriage, fortunately.

You know, my wife, I think, passed with flying colors, but man, brutal. And, Erika, I sent Erika my holiday reading. I'm reading a biography on George Washington. Yeah. He had smallpox and dysentery multiple times. Before, I think he had like six diseases before 27, and four bullet holes in his hat, so I'm counting my blessings, you know? I just took some aspirin or whatever, you know, and just kind of kept it pushing, but George Washington was dealing with some different stuff back in the day, so it makes me thankful, but built different for sure.

But, happy New Year. We've got a great show for you guys. In the New Year, we have a very interesting experiment going on in New York City. Zoran Mamdani, Zoran Kwame Mamdani has been sworn in officially. He did it, I think, in a private, and then did the public inauguration January 1st, and we have the speech now, so we're going to get into that. The second, we have an update on fraud. My New Year's resolution, strangely, is coincidence. I was going to start a daycare, a fake daycare with no kids, and start making some money.

Bacon in the dough. Because apparently, that's kind of the move these days. So, we're going to talk a little bit about that, how it's kind of expanded. The search into fraud has expanded, and maybe our $600 hammer moment, we'll see. And then Cblock, we have some international stuff Josh loves, but we have some movement on Venezuela, some casual movement on Venezuela, which is interesting, and then some movement in the Middle East as well, right, Erika, in Iran.

Iran, possibly. So, we're going to hit all that, but before all of that, most importantly, first Friday devotion. Now, Josh, you went to Mass this morning, which, good for you, and we actually encourage everyone, we actually have as a part of our... 250th anniversary coming up here at CatholicVote. Catholics urge to attend First Friday Masses for countries in rule. This year, we will celebrate America's 250th, and the U.S. bishops will consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June.

CatholicVote is urging Catholics across America to further demotion to the Sacred Heart by observing First Friday's devotion. This involves attending Mass and receiving Communion on the first Friday of the month for at least nine consecutive months and offering prayers in honor and in reparation to His Sacred Heart. Josh, why is this? Well, so, of course, the United States bishops have decided to, you know, as you said, in June, for the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, which will be, I think, June 12 or so, right around there, the U.S.

bishops have decided to consecrate the entire United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And we at CatholicVote just thought, hey, what better way to consecrate the entire United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus? To try to do our part as laity and encourage greater devotion to Christ's sacred heart and pray for our country's renewal, and to encourage people to the First Fridays devotions. And, you know, there's a lot of promises of the sacred heart that were made by, we believe, Jesus to St.

Margaret Mary. If you attend Mass and receive communion for nine consecutive First Fridays, and we're like, hey, you know what? I mean, that'd be great. Why don't you go for broke and hit all 12 in the year of 2026, and pray for our country's renewal, our 250th anniversary. All of our hearts in this country need to get closer to the heart of Jesus, so we thought it'd be a good idea to recommend that. Amen to that. And if you didn't make it today, it's okay.

Just... You know, you got 11 more months. Let's go. 11 more months, let's go. I love that attitude. And people are calling for an Erika book club. Oh my gosh, that was such a fun episode to do. Yeah, so for those of you who missed it, we released a special deep episode on Tuesday this week, and it was books I read in 2025. The reflective journey that I went on as I went through all these titles was pretty fun. And yeah, looking forward to 2026.

I'm off to a galloping start already, because we too had a plague, and so I've had more reading time. And yes, may the Lord preserve us all from more flu this season. But hey, I'm game for it. You already read two books.

Yeah, exactly. What are we on? We're on like 24 hours in. Yeah, that's where people realize that Erika really do be reading. I do be. Do be reading. That was quite a few books. Yeah, and I actually had several books that people called. They were like, wait, you didn't mention my book, and I'm like, because I didn't finish reading it, and it would not have been honest.

Right. But, yeah. Honesty is important. It was an honest book list. Unless you want to make some money, then start a fake daycare and rake in the cash. I'm thinking about it. Okay, let's get into today's top. Now, Zoram Abdani, sworn in as mayor of New York City, and I would like to use his... All right. Soran Kwame Memdani, 34, Democratic Socialist, of course, as we all kind of know now, rose to power with a social media savvy strategy, kind of an unknown.

I believe he was a part of the state government in Queens, representing Queens, and just came out of nowhere, it seemed like. Now, as the New York City mayor, he had a private swearing-in at the historic train station, City Hall subway station.

Cute nod to making public transportation more free with the buses. Yeah, no, but what's the rest of it, Tom? Do you know that this, that station was started by a private company, and then they took it over, and now it's vacant? And now it's vacant.

It is iconic. Josh, just keep chipping in with the anecdotes, because really, I have a hard time even getting through a lot of this. You mean, continue to do what I do? Yeah, exactly. I keep doing you. He is the first Muslim leader of America's biggest city. He took the oath using historic Quran. The book is undated, but I believe, Erika, you put me onto this. It is a very specific version of the Quran, correct? Yeah, so its binding suggests, as reports say, that it was actually produced in Ottoman Syria in the late 19th century, which would be just before the Ottoman, yeah, basically the height of the Ottoman Empire as it was starting to devolve into what would ...become the chopped up Middle East.

Anyway, very dark times there that this book was produced during, including the eve of the Armenian genocide in those countries. So, I'm a little bit chilled, a little chilled by the symbolism there. Not a fan. Not a fan of swearing in on the Quran. Yeah, I mean, we talked about this a little bit before. I'm curious, Josh, if you know anything more in the history of this.

We have been swearing in the Bibles for a long time here in America. Erika, I think you said it goes back to English common law. Yes. Am I crazy? Across England, yeah. Here is my thing. I don't think anyone should be swearing in on anything other than the Bible, in America at least.

I mean, of course. If you're not a Christian, you can just, you know, be sworn in on some other book. By the way, which United States president was sworn into office on, not a Bible, but a Catholic bravery?

Oh, it's Kennedy. It must have been Kennedy. Biden? Was it really Biden? No, it was Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson. They got on the plane, and I think Jackie handed him the bravery, and he took this oath. That's actually really interesting. Legitimately not the Bible, actually. It's kind of one of those nuggets of history.

But, I mean, obviously, like, my biggest problem with, you know, being sworn in on the Quran, I mean, I don't even know if he's, he doesn't strike me as a true believer, of course. He's about as... Very pro-gay. Like, he, yeah, exactly. And what is the common thread, though? Like, that, okay, so for him, he's, he claims to be a Muslim, he's sworn in on the Quran, and yet he fully embraces the LGBT agenda.

And then you have, like, the Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan, who now talks up that she's Catholic now that she's running for the United States Senate out of Minnesota, but then she wore a burqa when she was, you know, meeting with Somalians in Minneapolis to get their votes, and it just strikes me as, like, absolutely bonkers, and it remains an open question whether or not, you know, You can have a free republic with adherence of a religion who don't believe in freedom for other people.

They only believe in freedom for themselves. There was someone who was making a point about all these Somalians who have come into the country in the last few decades, and then also the ones that came into Dearborn, but before, about 50 years ago, The Muslims that were coming into the United States 50 years ago were people who were fleeing sort of tyrannical regimes, and they were more like, if you'd call them secular Muslims. In other words, they didn't hold tight to the views of the Koran.

Zohar al-Mamdani would be like the perfect definition of a secular Muslim. Like, he has all the liberal bona fides. What I'm talking about, like the secular Muslims that came to the United States like the 50s, 60s, and 70s, they didn't believe in jihad. They didn't believe, they fully embraced. The cherished rights that we have in our Bill of Rights, whereas Mondami is this weird hybrid. He's like, the thing is, I remember during the Obama years, all these cranky conservatives said, Obama's a Muslim.

I'm like, yeah, no, he's not really a Muslim at all. He's not. He doesn't believe, I mean, I don't think he's Christian either. He's an atheist. That's the problem. Why would Mondami be sworn in on a Koran? And then be totally in favor of the LGBT agenda. What do they have in common, bringing in all these Somalians into this country, supporting the LGBT agenda? It seems so at odds with each other, but then you think, well... They're both capable of destroying this Christian republic, so therefore, they are allies in arms.

It's just kind of bizarre. Yeah, let me, so to zoom out a little bit, so he had his public inauguration speech January 1st, and even just to like, let's just set the scene. Of course, there's like the political experiment element of that. This is going to be really interesting, but the new coalition that's formed, it feels like something different is happening in New York City. Everyone kind of feels it. So. Progressive leaders that were there, U.S. Rep. AOC, delivered opening remarks calling Mamdani's win a choice of courage over fear and prosperity for many.

Bernie Sanders swore him in, actually. Well, he introduced him before he gave that speech, and then even during the speech, Mamdani himself called Bernie Sanders his idol, his political idol, who he sought most to emulate. And I think why people see this as a bit of an experiment is Bernie Sanders has been Betrayed, backstabbed, without much of a fight back by his own party. Like, the AOC, Bernie Sanders wing, progressive wing of the party, has never really held the gears of power just about anywhere, really, outside of potentially the Senate.

Like, even think of New York City mayors, like de Blasio, Cuomo. They're all institutional Democrats. They're all Chuck Schumer. But then you look at the people that were there. So, you go, Kathy Hochul was there, Bill de Blasio, Eric Adams was there. Well, Ken Hill was the governor, but yeah. Right, so we're kind of seeing, maybe for the first time, I mean, go take a look. It's New York City's first Muslim, South Asian-descended, African-born, millennial mayor.

Talk about like a mouthful there. And then Bernie Sanders across from him, introducing him to speak, and then AOC coming before. It's like, I think there's a lot of people asking, like, the promises are bold here, of course. Rent freezes, free transit.

In his speech, he said, I'm a democratic socialist. I'm not going to change because people think that's radical. This is kind of like a real roll of the dice, it feels like, for the first time of like, okay, you've been talking a big talk for a long time. Can you actually govern? Can you actually make things happen? And, you know, I think there's a lot of people skeptical. I don't know what you guys think about this, but it's impossible. The first 783 times socialism was tried and failed.

Maybe it'll work the 784th time. Like, no, of course it's not going to work. It's going to be an absolute disaster, and I mean, real estate agents in Florida and Texas are just smiling because people are going to be flocking on down.

Yeah, I mean, I think that, obviously, Zohan Ramdani, under current law, he'll never be able to run for president of the United States. But you had there the lineup for the far left of the Democratic Party. You had Bernie Sanders, who's too old, really, I think, to take the mantle. For sure. And then you have AOC, who's been touring the country with him at all these rallies for the last eight months, basically, as his sort of protege and the heir of the radical left.

You had in the subway there, that was Letitia James, who's rebranded herself as Tish, swearing him in, and so, yeah, I think that you've got this. Bernie and AOC kind of see New York City right now as they get to watch him try and govern according to the tenets on which they would base a presidential campaign. For sure. So, they're going to watch it very carefully. Although he himself cannot run for president. Right. That's true. But the Democratic Socialist wing, led by Bernie Sanders, is definitely on the ascendancy because look at what's going on in Maine.

They got their Senate candidate there, the guy who had the Nazi tattoo. Yeah. And you've got in Michigan, they're supporting Saeed. He's running in a three-way race. That's kind of a clown car going on. Then in Minnesota, they're going to be backing, I think, Peggy Flanagan. So, they're actually supporting candidates across the country in hopes that they can increase the number of Bernie Sanders clones in the Senate. And the open question, though, is whether or not AOC has.

The power to win over audiences. I mean, she's done well, I mean, effectively, at winning over people through Instagram or whatever, but I don't know if she's got the... I don't know if I'd go... So, I always appreciate your input because you kind of temper me a little bit, but here's my observation. Like, really, who do we have to blame for this other than institutional Democrats and probably institutional Republicans completely failing?

Completely failing for the last 20 years. I mean, even look at the last mayors of New York City. Cuomo, with one of the most high-profile scandals with the nursing home thing. He was the mayor. He was the governor. Governor, but then he was running for mayor, and it's like, okay, you're going to vote for this guy? No. And then de Blasio, horrible as well.

Really bad. So, it just feels like the institutional offering for Democrats has been so bad, and it's just failed the city so long that it feels like they need something different. And then look at the institutional Democrats at the national level. They put forth Biden, who was barely alive. Barely alive. And then over all of these other preferred candidates, and then they didn't even offer a primary to people to be able to vote. They just gave you Kamala Harris, who was, I guess, their version of Oprah Winfrey mixed with Michelle Obama.

But then, you know, got neither. It was basically like the worst of those worlds. I don't buy the no primary thing. I'm sorry. I mean, I get it, kind of, but like, you all supported in the Democratic Party in 2020, Joe Biden, and then that means you pick whoever he's going to pick as the VP, and then if he steps aside, you're all saying that she should have been the president. So, it's healthier in a democracy to have that person run as well.

I agree. I mean, that's why I thought. Joe Biden should have done what Lyndon Johnson did and bow out, you know, in January or whatever it is, and allow his party to pick somebody else, and it would have been wide open. She would have been the frontrunner for sure, but there would have been the ability for other candidates to, you know, to kind of pick her apart and see, test her mettle. Okay. She didn't have that. Like, I'll give you that, but I'm just saying, like, my larger point here is that.

The reason why he exists is because of the failure of institution for a long time. It is the same reason Trump ascended. It is the same reason Trump ascended, yeah. So, to see it as anything other than, like, there is a vacuum now because of poor government, and so the solutions that are being offered now are radical. Like, Trump's solutions in 2016 were radical. They were different. You can have arguments now about whether he has changed. This, to me, feels like the next Trump moment, and I will even notice, I went through the speech.

Not one dig at Trump was my biggest takeaway, because he, I think for a lot of people, was like, the playbook for Democrats to succeed, at least they thought. Look at Crockett in Texas. He's like, I'm just going to be like the anti-Trump person, right? Like, I'm going to be the person that Trump hates. Which, to be fair, to be fair, Mamdani's campaign was very anti-Trump. Very anti-Trump, but as soon as he gets in the point where it's like, okay, can, you know, govern a little bit, he visits the White House right before, and there's like this odd bromance, which I guess makes sense, because he won.

He captured something. And then, and Trump likes winners, if nothing else. Game respects game, that's true. Not a single dig against Trump in that speech. I think there's a comment, there's a thread here. It's just, so, with the Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Mondami wing, they certainly attack Trump because everyone in the Democratic Party demands you, you know, scream that Trump is the worst of worst of all.

Okay, sure. But amongst, actually, like the establishment Democrats and the Newsoms, Gavin Newsoms of the party, they're actually more focused on anti-Trumpism, whereas Mondami, AOC, and Bernie Sanders are more focused on, like, here are the socialist things that we would like to have. These are the policies we would like. Medicare for all. Which is why he won the nomination. So, they're actually more focused on policy than they are being anti-Trump. I mean, they're certainly anti-Trump. Don't get me wrong.

So, like Mandami, he's not going to just coast and say, oh, I won, who cares? He really is going to do, that's what makes him very dangerous. He really is going to do these rent freezes and all this other stuff, and he's going to destroy, I think, New York City. I think people are going to flee it in a crazy way. So, Mandami, AOC, Bernie Sanders, these guys are true believers.

Whereas Gavin Newsom, you know, he's, I mean, that's the problem with the Democratic Party, though, right now. Mark Halpern was talking about this a lot. Like, so many people in the Democratic Party, they don't really have a core agenda. It's just they're anti-Trump.

And to me, this is what... What happens if I elect you? I don't... Right, but to me, this is what separates it, is like, we know the promises of Mom Donnie outside of Trump, is free universal childcare, free transportation. And so, to me, this is the interesting thing about the experiment. We get the first real national political figure, almost independent. I know what you're saying, like implicitly you attack. He's only national. This is national.

Why are we talking about him right now? He's nationally known because New York City is a massive city. The largest city in America. Right, I know that. And I'm saying he is the litmus test to see, can we use this nationally, the affordability agenda? Right. To the point where Trump even had to come up and say, affordability is a hoax, da-da-da-da. He even had to address it or make it as part of his campaign strategy, which is crazy. He didn't do that already, but...

This is national. I understand your point, but this is truly national. Right, his policies are going to be localized, but the import is national, for sure. Yeah, so it's going to be interesting to see. I think the one slip-up, I will say, in the speech, maybe it was intentional or not, I'm curious what you guys think about this, was everyone is talking about this part of the speech. This is entirely intentional. Okay, there we go. Sorry, one second, I've got to share it.

We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearn for solidarity, then let this government foster it. Because no matter what you eat, how you pray, or where you come from, the words that most define us are the two we all share. All right, Erika, I'm giving Erika a first chance on this one. Erika, what do you think? It was 100% intentional.

Yeah, so he is, and right before this, he had said, I was elected as a democratic socialist, I'm going to govern as a democratic socialist. And this is the philosophy, right? That rugged individualism, which is sort of the ethos of the American way, for better or for worse, there's free market. There's, and he's associating it with, you know, capitalists who have used their wealth to downtrod the workers of New York City. This is rugged individualism, as he's identifying that with billionaires who are on, you know, Fifth Avenue.

Yeah. And so, we're going to instead have the warmth of collectivism. And all I can picture when I think of collectivism are the collective farms in Ukraine during the whole of their famine, and it was not terribly warm. Obviously, the memes going around of like North Korea at night from space, you can see North Korea is black, South Korea, even China, which is not totally socialist anymore. It's all lit up. North Korea is just a black hole. They're like, oh, the warmth of collectivism.

Erika, sorry, briefly, can I actually, I want to challenge you to explain those two situations because And maybe I'll just say it from my lens. I watched the speech. I actually thought it was really good. I thought it was, he clearly knew New York City. He referenced it many times, talked about growing up there. Like, I can see why people would. You know, take this speech and be like, it was effective. I thought it was a very effective political speech. Yeah, it was effective.

And then that line, like, to me, I was like, almost like slipped in, or people are now picking at it, and I don't think people have read enough or like don't understand. So, when you make those, we're kind of laughing about it right now, but like, so you talked about Ukraine, you talked about North Korea, so like, what specific examples, when you hear that, when was it used, and how did it? Well, so collectivism would be the, it's an anti-Christian, anti-Christendom ethic.

Political ethic, where the rights and the interests of the individual and of the family, I will add in there, are subsumed under the interests of the whole, or the collective, or whatever the government deems to be the collective. And you can be in it, you can be out of it. In every case of collectivism being actually played out, there has always very much been an you're in the collective or you're out of the collective. And people who are out of the collective...

They either have an ethnicity, religious convictions, political beliefs that put them at odds with the government. And so, he said multiple times throughout the speech that, like, we're going to have Jews, we're going to have Palestinians, we're going to have whatever your religion, never mentioned Christians, whatever your beliefs. He didn't. That was another interesting point. He did not. Whatever your beliefs, we are all in this solidarity that all New Yorkers long for. And the practical, historical playing out of the philosophy that this speech exemplified to me, and it was.

It was an effective speech to his base. He got them all riled up. He promised more of what he's promised. It's just going to keep going. And I think that the actual living out of this has always been to the detriment of groups that are not in favor with the political party in power, namely Zoran Mamdani. Can I ask you another quick question, Erika? I'm sorry to interrupt. Go for it. But you said the collective, and then immediately, to my mind, the common good came to mind.

How does the collective differ from the common good? Yeah, the collective, that is a really good question, because you will also see on social media right now, people being like, oh, Catholic social teaching, collective. That immediately came to mind, yeah.

Right. No, so the common good is based on the inviolable human dignity of every human person, and the collective, however, treats each individual as in service to the collective. So, the individual does not have dignity. They have usefulness. They have a function to the collective, right? Whereas the common good, if you read through, you know, Aquinas' treatise on government, the common good is only achieved insofar as the humanity, the dignity, the God-given, the image of God is allowed to flourish in the members of the community as mothers, as fathers, and as individual children of God.

So, it's... It is actually sort of, you know, Stranger Things is really big right now. It is the upside down. The collective is the upside down of the Thomistic common good. Well, I mean, again, it reminds me of the 1980s, where you had the Soviet Union that was collectivism, and they were yelling at capitalism, whatever, and it was the workers.

A solidarity movement in Poland that we're saying, no, no, no, you're not in favor of the working, because all you do is to treat us as if we're inexhaustible resource. To serve the interests of the state. The producers. You have no recognition of our individual rights, our human dignity, property, anything like that. Anything can be taken away. The collective serves all. And that actually, it is funny, because here in the United States, we had the Democratic Party assuming the mantle of the workers for generations.

For generations. They were the ones that claimed they were in favor of workers from, you know, FDR, Truman, you know, Kennedy, Johnson, all the way down the line. They were the party, the Democrats, the party, the working class voters. You're Catholic. You must, why aren't you voting for Democrats? They're there for the working man. That's all gone now. That's all gone. Like, Mondami gets the office in New York City because he actually won. Election because of foreign-born voters. If no foreign-born voters were able to vote in New York City, Cuomo is the mayor.

Right. And you look at that, and you have this new coalition opening up, like, for example, Tim Walz in Minnesota, realizing, hey, wait a minute, we can import 80,000 Somalians into the frigid Northland of Minnesota. And I will get permanently reelected all the time, and that is, in fact, why their crazy Attorney General Keith Ellison got elected. He won by this much, but hey, he got 80,000 Somalians, that is why he won.

And so, the Democratic Party is like, we don't need working-class voters anymore. Forget them, and that is what Obama and Biden did. Obama and Biden ticket said, go to hell, workers. We don't need you anymore. We have got a coalition of, you know, we have got Blacks, Latinos, foreign-born voters, and white liberals who drive their little Priuses. We don't care about you anymore, and the working-class voters are like, we have no home.

Because what was the Republican Party offering? Romney, McCain, Bush, all this garbage. And finally, coming down that golden escalator was the Donald J. Trump. And he's like, why don't you come into this party? Let's take it over. Yeah, I guess that's interesting. To get into the philosophical of it is interesting to me because I think... What you just described of collectivism, that you are at service to the larger collective that you can either, you can be exercised from at any time, like you can be inside or outside of, you know, the good graces of whoever.

Animal farm. Right. Not the perky version. It feels like there are forces that are doing that, that are capitalistic forces as well. Like, I think of like big tech, AI, certainly the way they're talking makes me nervous, as though you are. to be exploited, your attention is to be exploited, your money is to be exploited for these larger companies that don't have any allegiance to your country. They're just global, transnational. I think like one of the original sins in my mind of hurting the American worker was George W.

Bush and the World Trade Organization and selling our manufacturing overseas, allowing China into the World Trade Organization. And so I think this is an attempt to address a feeling that we all kind of have right now, one that has literally never worked, and so I'm banging on the drum of, like you said, Trump has come closest to it, but now we're facing new challenges of someone needs to address. That's why I get so frustrated about H-1B, illegal immigration, hurting the American worker, because the American worker...

Is the heart of the middle class, the middle class being the heart of what provides, you know, this family environment for people to flourish, to have children, to continue the race, etc., to continue America. Let me just interrupt you for a second, Tom. I mean, it sounds like what you're saying is we're finding both political parties are stagnant, and they're not adjusting to the times, whereas two political parties are Donald Trump on the Republican side.

And Mondami on the Democratic side, they're offering like, it's like break up the icebergs and offer something different. Now, of course, Mondami's is poison. Right. And it's hilarious. A bunch of his fans came up to this block party, and they're disappointed there's no food or bathrooms available.

And then, you look at the swearing in, and Manami's wife has got $630 booth. I saw that, yeah. This, as Dan O'Donnell said, he's the guy running the radio show out of Milwaukee, this is socialism, perfectly summed up in just two tweets. Yep. Yep. Thank you for that, Josh, and you can be sad. Pretty much it. And so, I guess, when I think about this, you look at Trump, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for what he's done, but he's a boomer.

He's in his 80s. Right. And so, now the big fight over the right of who is going to be the future of the party, it looks like, we will see what happens in New York City, but a millennial mayor is like the new young face of at least answering this question. I am curious what that is going to be like. You missed it though, Tom. You missed it on Monday when you were out, and Josh and I established that it would not be Mike Pence.

He was not the future of the right. You would have loved that one. Glad we can check that one out. Yeah. Just to give a plug to my boy, Leo, though. Leo XIII. We read, I remember over the summer, we read Rerum Novarum as a staff here at CatholicVote, and I think that Catholic social teaching does have the answer to the pain that we feel when we look at the options before us, and it seems like excesses of capitalism, and then the danger of this collectivist socialism.

That we're going to now try in New York, I guess, for the next six years. For how many years does this turn? Four years. And we're just going to give it a shot and see how it goes. Again, even though we know the answer to this plot, we're like Thanos, we know what's going to happen. No, seriously, take the time and go back. That's a great recommendation. It's not that long, Ram Navaram.

Yeah, very readable. Fascinating, really fascinating, because you, especially if you put it in the context of the times, because a lot of people were expecting at the time that he was going to forcefully come out against these facts. That is the question. You know, child labor, unsafe conditions, like really taking advantage of workers. Like, oh, he's going to come out against capitalism, and he did not. He's going to come out against private property. Like, one of the first things he does in Ram Navaram is, no, private property is actually like a sacred right of the individual.

It is what your labor ends up getting put into, and you own, and it really is beautiful. And he forcefully comes out against socialism, which people at the time were like, oh, we thought this was, you know, going to be the answer. This is going to be the answer to the problem. And it wasn't, so I highly recommend remembering them. Yeah. So, do you think in the next, like, two or three years, Wall Street up and moves to, like, Miami? Because I'm kind of thinking they might.

A lot of the financial capital. If not officially, effectively, it could happen. Who is going to come to bat for these Wall Street owners that have... Largely taken advantage of. You're asking me if the governor of Texas or the governor of Florida would welcome in these large, you know, investment firms. Well, Florida already has. I mean, isn't it like Raymond James down there? Like, New York is the financial capital of the United States, or, you know, kind of the world, depending on London, but, you know.

Do you think that it might not be Miami? It could be, you know, five, ten years from now. I don't think it would happen that fast, but, you know, I guess anything can happen. Things can move quick. We could all be out of jobs because AI is going to replace us. Who knows? Strange times. I think Zohan Mamdani might make his peace with Wall Street very quickly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When he starts enjoying more of those $650 shoes the wife had.

Yeah, I love the OG Bernie dilemma, is how many homes that he owns for being a socialist. We have a housing crisis. Excuse me, you have three houses. Sorry, the cough's coming back. Josh, stop making me laugh. Okay, fraud update. So, like, totally coincidentally, this is crazy. I was just at a lot of time off, and I was thinking of business ideas, and I swear, I just thought, like...

So much money in daycare these days. What if I just created a fake one and claimed I'm having children, I'm Catholic, I'm having kids. Just say I have a daycare and then just say it's not actually a daycare. Or I'll say it's a daycare, but not have kids, and I'll make a ton of money. Someone beat me to that, which I'm kind of mad about. I just wake up after this break. Apparently, tons of people have been doing it across the country, especially Minnesota, which is interesting.

They all happen to be Somali. Well, not all of them, but there is particularly one, and I was looking into that a little bit. So, I would like to update on the Somali situation. So, the reason we're talking about it now is this YouTuber, Nick Shirley, he went and basically knocked on doors in Minnesota.

Daycares, and I believe it was called Little Mogadishu now. It is where a lot of the Somalian immigrants have settled, and they have not assimilated, obviously, and they have been taking advantage of something called Child Care Assistance Program. It is at the state level, and so he went and knocked, and I think the places he knocked collectively retained like $110 million from the CCAP, and none of them were open during normal business hours. You could not see any children.

You know, really bizarre. Weren't answering any questions. Blacked out windows. Right, like, obviously bizarre. And, you know, quickly, CNN, of course, had to go. Did you see the CNN debunk? Did you show that in the show? No, we didn't. Oh, my gosh. That came out after the show. Yeah. Don't worry, CNN, doing some hard-hitting reporting.

I got to show this. Yeah, you got to show this one. This is like you don't hate the media enough theme that we love to. Yep. It's like, there was legitimate things you could have actually done here, like journalism, and this is what they chose to do. Done enough. I mean, they would say, look, these fraud cases have been going on, but they've already done like 80 indictments, the cases have been going on, you know, for years. And why did I show up one day in Minnesota and go to all these daycares, no children, they're receiving millions of dollars, we encourage nearly $110 million in fraud in one day.

How do you know that all the allegations that you're making are true? How do I know that they're true? Well, we showed you guys what was happening, and then you guys can go ahead and make your own analysis. We're coming, so we can make our own analysis. Are you 100% sure you're true? Of course you can.

You're a journalist. Okay. Hi, my name is Whitney Wild. I'm a correspondent for CNN. We reached out to several of the daycares featured in the now viral video. Only one daycare facility answered and said they are a legitimate business. Oh, they said, okay, good. You know, purporting that some of these daycares don't have... I mean, like, this would be like, honestly, calling him, like, hey, there's all these stories, Senator, about how you cheat on your wife. Did you cheat on your wife?

Like, oh, no, no, I didn't. He said he didn't. The best. I can't believe they'd even admit that. They're like, well, so first off, they called all of them, and many didn't answer, by their own admission. And then the one that did was like, oh, no, we're legit.

They've done the meme. This is literally, what are the sources? Trust me, bro. Yeah, literally trust me, bro. Yeah, my other favorite one was there was a CBS guy. And Barry Weiss needs to give him a call, because the CBS guy, he does this handheld phone reporting, and he says he's in Minneapolis, but all there is is blue sky behind him, and he's like, don't worry. I've dug into Nick Shirley's allegations. I called the government offices here in Minnesota responsible for the payments, and they said it was all fine.

It was like, okay, it's not journalism. So, Minnesota's at the state level have been screaming about fraud for a while now. And the other crazy thing about this, too, was they provided some data to, I believe, Nick Shirley about the CCAP. So, the one place he went to was called the Quality Learning Center. It was misspelled to Quality Leary Center, so they couldn't even spell it right. That place alone was set to receive $1.9 million in 2025.

Guys. That's quality. How is that even possible? Okay, so even just set aside, say this is fraudulent. Say this isn't fraudulent. Why is the government giving $1.9 million to any daycare center, period? Even if they had kids in the daycare, it's still money laundering. Like, people presumably pay for daycare at some point, right? I mean, they pay at least something. Do you really need $1.9 million?

Yeah, it reminds me of the PPP loans, which we might bring up later, during COVID, where they were sending checks to companies that were two and a half times the necessary funds to pay employees during the COVID lockdowns. You're like, wait, why? Why two and a half times? Up to $10 million.

And it just... Thank you. Why? Why are we sending all this money out there? So, this is not the first time that this community in Minnesota has been accused of fraud. Actually, I believe indicted. The other one was over food during COVID, and I had this in my notes. Let me go grab that.

It was feeding our future. So, they're accused of stealing over $250 million in pandemic-era federal child nutrition funds by claiming to feed millions of meals that were never provided. This is the largest COVID-related fraud scheme in U.S. history. 78 people charged, most of Somali descent, 57 to 62 convictions, with more trials pending.

Funds were allegedly used for luxury goods, properties, including overseas in Kenya, and some reports claim portions sent to Somalia with unconfirmed allegations of links to groups like al-Shabaab under Treasury investigation. Yeah, I'd say it's probably time to look into this.

And to me, the interesting thing, I was kind of, like, watching this passively without doing the show, but it does kind of feel like this has reignited some of the original, like, Doge energy, and I don't know if, like, this specific instance of a child care with no children making millions of dollars is so specific and potent, it reminds me a little bit of, like, the $600 hammer situation in the Department of Defense, Josh, if you remember that, where we all know there's so much You know, abuse, like fraud in these massive pork-filled budgets, specifically with the Pentagon, which is what I'm talking about.

But no one had anything specific enough to be like, okay, this is kind of ridiculous. Someone went through and found that someone had spent $600 on a hammer in the Pentagon budget, and they're like, all right, it's time to, you know, crack down on whatever the heck's going on here. So, I really hope that this is, like, this is a big moment, honestly, for the Trump administration, because it is so potent politically. And now there's actually people going, like Washington State, people are going to places claiming to be daycares and asking questions, and they're like, they're just people's houses.

Like, it's just someone's house. The cottage industry of YouTubers just being like, oh, fraud. I mean, because it is everywhere. There was some numbers, Arthur McWaters, who's an independent journalist, he pulled up some numbers this morning, I think, or yesterday. And he was saying that federally, the United States collects about two...

$2.4 trillion in income tax every year. The fraud that we, that the estimates right now coming out of the federal government, the FBI, et cetera, is $1.5 trillion. So, that means if we weren't paying for fraud, if we weren't paying these trillions of dollars in fraud, only $900 billion would need to be collected from the American people on their paychecks. And that's, I think that's like getting to what Josh and I were talking about Monday is why fraud Is truly the second lowest circle of hell, that it is an offense against charity.

I mean, I think of my state, Connecticut. Every year, they're like, we have to raise the taxes because we're in the red. We're going to raise the taxes. We're going to raise the taxes. And now I'm thinking, maybe if the state of Connecticut just took a look at the amount of fraud going on here.

I mean, we're already on. There's like a fraud tracker online. Connecticut's already there. Maybe we wouldn't have to raise taxes for like years. And you start to think, like, you know. Why is it that this is going on? Why is so much money being misspent, misused, and stolen? Because that's what's going on with these small daycares in Minneapolis. They're stealing taxpayer money, and how could they not find out about it? And once they find out about it, how could they not have stopped it?

It's because they want it to happen. They funnel that money, and somebody noted that all these daycare centers from You know, Minnesota, Ohio, all these other places have donated millions of dollars to Democratic candidates across the country. So, you know, of course, I'm sure they get to keep a good chunk of the money themselves, but, you know, they are using our money to funnel it to their... To their voters, who then turn around and give it to candidates who get elected.

Yeah, it's like the OG spoil system. It's like a new branded spoil system. It is a new spoil system, and you have to think to yourself. You know, we may yet get to the point where we can track down all the fraud, and we may get to the point where we try, but like if they're willing to fleece us, if they knowingly allowed millions of dollars to be stolen from us right underneath their nose, and they knew about it, and they were okay with it, and they're actually mad that it's being exposed, then it makes you think, and they thought Trump was Hitler.

Are they? Is it beyond the pale of, you know, is it beyond the possibility that they might actually steal votes? Could they have snuffed ballot boxes? You know, could they have, I mean, like, this is where you start to like, hmm. Starting to sound like an election denier, Josh. Hey, I'm there. Uh-oh. But, of course, what happens? What is the reaction for the mainstream corporate media, the stenographers of the regime, the protectors of the regime?

As Megan Basham pointed out, there's a tweet by NPR, and it says, Shirley is a 23-year-old self-described, quote, independent YouTube journalist. Unquote. Who made prank videos in high school, see, just already like making fun of this guy, you know, before pivoting to politics. He participated in a White House roundtable in October. See, he's part of Trump. He's complicit. January 6th, probably. And so, NPR is like, what to know about Nick Shirley, the YouTuber alleging daycare fraud in Minnesota. So, again, the first instinct, as Megan Basham says, is always to go after the reporter.

Not to actually investigate the issue itself. Right. Here is another example from Columbus. Over 40 daycare centers reportedly opened in Columbus, Ohio on the same day, all linked to the same inactive shell entity, and together pulled in $14 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies in a single year. Same paperwork, same structure, same funding stream.

40 in the same day. It makes me so angry. It's like, okay, so you know what this reminds me a little bit of, Josh, when we talked about it on the show, was the USAID. So, Trump, first day in office, goes and surprisingly punches the biggest boy on the block, USAID, and reveals all the laundry. And you see we're funding gay comic books in Botswana. Transgender. You know what I mean? Like, just crazy stuff. Transgender stuff everywhere. Or even just, not even that, but just like, funding, you're like, what?

Like, none of this funding makes sense. But then it makes sense when you understand, like, Either we are funding covert, The stuff going on overseas, we're trying to gain influence with different countries, and you're just like, okay, great, let's just cut it all off, right? Let's cut it all off. But this feels like the same thing going on inside of our own country now. This, to me, is similar. I don't know, unless we get more documentation, like I hope we do, which would be a total easy win from the Trump administration.

I saw that Kelly Loeffler from the Small Business Administration, they've already frozen all the funds, which is like, oh my God, no brainer. I'm surprised it wasn't done before. Here's the tweet. Over the last week, SBA's reviews reviewed thousands of potentially fraudulent pandemic-era PPP and EIDL loans approved in Minnesota. Today, our agency took action to suspend 6,900 Minnesota borrowers amid suspected fraudulent activity. In total, these borrowers were approved for 7,900 PPP and EIDL loans. eidl loans worth approximately 400 million dollars oh my gosh these individuals will be banned from all sba loan programs including disaster loans going forward we will also refer every case where appropriate to federal law enforcement for prosecution and repayment After years, the American people will finally begin to see the criminals who stole from the law-abiding taxpayers and held accountable, and this is just the first state.

So, the first thing I'd say is, like, whenever Congress gets together and you see them arguing on the floor over how to spend certain money, they're talking about, they're arguing over, like, 5% of the federal budget, maybe 10. The other 90% is all going to entitlements. It's going to Social Security, it's going to Medicaid, it's going to Medicare, it's going to stuff like this, PPP, etc.

Well, yes, yes, but like, for example, Social Security is almost like a pure, like, Payment system. The government is cutting checks directly to people, as opposed to Medicaid, where there's money from the federal government going to the states in block grants, and then the states spend the money as they see fit, and sometimes there's this corruption. That's kind of the difference. Okay, let's simplify it. So, what percentage of the federal budget goes to entitlements? No, I mean, I'm disagreeing with your system.

Right, right. Exactly, exactly. So, what I'm saying is… I'm just saying that the different entitlements… They operate a lot differently. Sure, they operate differently, but the biggest savings to me aren't going to come on the, you know, that 5% on me. Here's what I like. They're going to come on ripping this fraud up. You know what would be nice? It would be nice if Donald Trump used this as an opportunity to say, you know something? The United States federal government should focus on the military, the space program, social security, interstate roads, and making sure we have good trade deals with the country.

And then the rest of this stuff, whether it is charity, helping women and children, food stamps, daycare stuff, we are going to just lower taxes. And let states decide how they're going to want to do it. So, we're not going to have federal money wasted in, you know, Minneapolis or Columbus or whatever. This is a joke. Like, this is, and it's our money. So, I mean, I, of course, I have family.

In Minnesota, some outrage on their behalf, but it is like, this is, by the way, the reason why the Somalian story, you know, you can just tell on certain things when a story breaks through. Yeah. Like, this is like absolute perfect timing, of course, because people are at home for the holidays and Christmas and stuff, and it is kind of a low news cycle time, and this one jumped onto social media, and it took off like a prairie fire.

But there's, I mean, I'm a sports fan, not as much as other people, I guess, but I follow different people on Twitter or whatever that are like 100% involved in sports, you know? Yeah. And there's this guy, Thor Nystrom. Thor, I mean, obviously, he's a Vikings guy, right? And he just tweeted out something, I'm like, okay, this is interesting. If this guy's talking, this guy never talks about politics. For sure. He would never guess that he was like a conservative or whatever.

You know, if anything, I guess you probably would have been a liberal, honestly. He said, but he tweeted out after this whole Somali thing he goes, I'm a one-issue voter in the next Minnesota election. If you didn't pull every lever available to you to attempt to stop the fraud, I'm voting for the other candidate. Don't care about the party. I thought that was pretty darn good. Yep. Because in Delano, you might vote against Tom Emmer, the Republican, because he was part of the Somali caucus and wasn't really helpful at all.

But mostly, it's Democrats. Yeah, it'd be interesting to see if we get some real reform candidates come through, like with this kind of energy. There's been other times in U.S. history. There's opportunities. There's people all across Minnesota saying, hey, maybe I need to do what I can, roll up my sleeves and run for office. Erika, it kind of reminds me a little bit of the Death by Lightning with James Garfield. James Garfield, right. Where Ulysses S. Grant was just like notable, you know, fraudster at the time, like, you know.

Yeah, he was an establishment Republican at the time. Establishment Republican at the time. He was an establishment. Now, Josh, don't, okay, I understand where you're going to go with this, but I'm just saying. At the time of that election... I'm holding back. At the time of that election, was mired in a lot of fraud accusations, and James Garfield was considered, you know, and much better than James Blaine. By the way, the spoil system of the 19th century, everyone loves to dunk on it, how terrible it is.

Oh, I'm actually not... But having the fourth estate of a permanent bureaucracy, that's worse! Yeah, we're in worse than death by lightning right now. That's why, yeah, that's what's funny about that, is like people, people, yeah, I was going back to the spoil system, I was like, this kind of makes sense. I wish New York politicians were bribed with, like, cases of whiskey. That would be, I would feel wholesome about that. Better than communism. Yeah, seriously.

Ugh. How far did we go? How Ron Swanson has fallen from trying to destroy the Parks and Rec Department to bourbon on the... He was good in Death by Lightning, by the way. He was very good at the role. Yeah, he was good. I'm not sure Chester A. Arthur was that interesting. Yeah, I mean, Chester Arthur, he might have done him no good turn, but he was really good at the role. Good job, Ron Swanson. Yeah, good job, Ron. Good news.

Okay, good news. Erika, what do you got? Good news. Okay, this is a little whimsical. But I do love my Italian pasta. I'm very excited about Italian pasta. I'm not anti-tariff, but I was sad because in October, the United States under Trump had said that 13 Italian pasta companies, including all the companies that I can afford, would face an extra 92% duty.

On top of 15% rate on most EU imports, starting in January 2026. So, the pasta was going away. La Molisana, Garofalo selling pasta, and of course, my representative in Congress, Rosa DeLauro, who's 500 years old and has purple hair, she used this as a social media firestorm that all of the little delis here in New Haven and all the Italian...

You know, bodegas, or do we have bodegas, Italians? Sure, why not? They were all going to go under because of evil Trump. But, I was very happy to learn, this is the good news, that after review, in fact, at the stroke of midnight on December 31st, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced they were cutting the tariff.

For Malone La Mola Sana to 2.26%, and Garofalo's rate was set at 13.98%, and the Italian foreign ministry confirmed that I will not be paying an additional 92% on my pasta. Interesting. Why did he set two different rates for... Does he just prefer La Molisana over Garfalo's? I think it's the Godfather. I think there's something mafia going on here. Rosa DeLauro worked her magic.

I don't know what turned this around, but I just took it as a gift from God. Yeah, you're going to get your pasta back. I need my pasta. The tariffs are so funny to me, because you're like, oh, there's a grand strategy to this. Or, Trump just prefers La Molisana to Garfalo's. And it's like, we're going to keep that one lower.

Who knows what's going on with these tariffs, bro? Like, we need our pasta. Yep. Glad you can get your pasta, Erika. Good news on that. Good news on that. All right, Josh, what do you got? Well, it's good news. The Trump administration is suing the Commonwealth of Virginia for giving in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, while Americans from other states have to pay full price. What? They were doing that? I can't believe it. I'm shocked.

Supposedly, the only benefit for giving foreign students admission anyway is because they pay full price. Well, that is foreign students. These are individuals who are in our own country illegally, and so the Democrats are like, well, wait a minute. Now, this person resides in Virginia. They should get in-state tuition. It is like, they are in Virginia illegally.

Like, what are you talking about? So, someone who came into this country illegally and lives in Virginia. You're going to give them a lower rate than taxpayers from Ohio that want to go to school in Virginia? It's just a catastrophe. So, I mean, it's totally against federal law, and I suspect the Trump administration is going to win on this one easily. Let's do it. Yeah. All right. Mine, the Hoosiers keep rolling, and I can't get enough of this.

Fernando Menoza, kid, he gives the funniest post-game interviews. He's super wholesome. Here are the boys. Father Patrick Hyde, the ride continues. They won the Rose Bowl. They dismantled. I watched that game sick on my couch, but man, they dismantled Alabama. I love when they throw up comparison statistics. They did a comparison of Alabama versus IU in terms of how many... How many Rose Bowls they've played in, how many games they've won in the playoff, and it was like 144, and then IU's like two.

Which is awesome. Total underdog story, but yeah. I love the medieval garb there. The shout out to the Dominicans who showed up for their boys. I love that they're the chaplains there, and they come full habit. It's awesome. Well, I've been thinking about this, Tom. Yeah.

And quickly, Mendoza stopped by, and here is the quote. He came over, and we walked out, and there, in an Amazon box, was the Heisman Trophy. Yeah, here he is with the boys at IU. I assume this is at their Newman Center, which I've heard great things about.

Shout out to the Dominicans, man. They're the best. And they've got a Heisman Trophy winner now. As much as the SEC was talking up how awesome they are forever, right? I mean, if Indiana pulls this up and keeps winning, they could become the national champs, and that will mean Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan are the three states that are the last national champions.

I mean, that's kind of the West's best. Midwest power. Well, Michigan kind of cheated, though, didn't they? Oh. Oh. Oh, you're going to pass on that one? Oh, my gosh. Sign stealing? I use doing it ethically. I'm not against Indiana.

I really like that. All right, we'll save some of the Venezuelan and Iran stuff, I think, for next week. That is going to evolve. We'll still be there on Monday. Yeah, and maybe that's our Christmas gift to Josh. We don't have to talk international.

We're on Twilight Zone now. Josh, do you have one? Well, I do. Why don't you load up Erika's first, though? Okay, I'm just going to keep it. How much time do we have? Hey, we have time. This was actually fun. New York Times.

Awesome. This is just, the mainstream media continues to deliver everything we expect. New York Times reporter on the ground outside an ICE career expo. Yeah, I mean, we just got to watch. We just got to watch. Well, you just got to roll the tape. I just want to see Josh's face as he watches the roll the tape. We're going to get a Josh reaction on this one.

Recruitment fair for ICE. I want to talk to folks and see who wants to be a deportation officer and why. I'm a college student, recently graduated. Former flight attendant. I did eight years in the Marine Corps. Doors haven't even opened yet, and already there's a line of more than 100 people waiting to get in. I saw this event advertised on ICE's social media account. The benefits they're offering are pretty extensive. There's an up to $50,000 signing bonus, $60,000 in student debt reduction, up to 25% overtime rate.

The Trump administration is adding tens of billions of dollars to the budget, and is trying to make immigration enforcement really the center of law enforcement in this country right now. This is the eSports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. It's usually a space for gamers.

Today, ICE is hiring for a variety of different positions. The lines have been the longest for deportation officers. That has the lowest bar to entry. College degree is not necessarily required, and ICE is trying to hire 10,000 deportation officers.

The signage behind me says, defend the homeland. What were the attractions of working for ICE? I'm very patriotic. You know, guarding America, guarding the homeland. When I saw Uncle Sam pointing that finger, I just had it in my heart. You're thinking, look at this guy. He's an immigrant. He wants to become a deportation officer. It doesn't make any sense to you. It makes 100% sense to me.

We're saying a bit of the speed and scale. Oh, no, you didn't get to the best part. Oh, okay. Give me the best part. The protesters. There's a lot of criticism of ICE and its tactics. and enforcing immigration law. You can hear the protesters behind me shouting at applicants as they walk in, calling them Nazis and fascists, and even identifying them by name. They're looking up people's license plate numbers. So are you worried about being called a Nazi?

I don't mind risking my freedom to safeguard yours. What a bully. I love this guy. Yes. Look at his face, too. He's just like, yep, I know what you're up to. Was that the New York Times, or who was doing this video? It was the New York Times. New York Times. Yeah, the New York Times also chose to ring in the new year with a massive editorial board. They gave a massive profile of January 6th, because we haven't talked about it enough.

Wait, of what? Oh, yes. Their entire thing was, Trump is a January 6th president. That was yesterday morning's editorial. Look, there's a lot of things you criticized Trump over right now. Really? That's what you got? That's the best you got in the New York Times? Oh, my gosh. We had an election after that, I think, and the American people said, yeah.

They said, yeah. Well, that was what the board was concerned about, Josh. That was their concern, was that the American people had said yeah to that. Yeah, it was a huge 3,000-word essay, did not mention Ashley Babbitt once.

Erika, but come on. I love this video, too. But why did this video stick out to you? I think it was totally the immigrant boy who was like, just... Telling it to the New York Times reporter. And again, like, it encapsulated for me this American moment where we have the vast majority of people being, you know, the 80-20 issue with the deportations, and there's people coming out, they can articulate why they want to be deportation officers. And then you have, like, the 12 angry white liberal protesters out front who are just angry and sad and recording license plates numbers.

Like, what are you going to do with those? Names. Well, they were getting their names. They're probably going to try to get their home addresses. It's crazy. Doxing them. Yeah. And then, of course, the mainstream media guy who's this dweeby kind of white dude who's like, you don't need a college degree to get a job at ICE.

Well, I love when they were like, and look what's on the car behind me, defend the homeland. Defend the homeland. Then didn't say anything about it after, and I was like, okay, I kind of know what you're getting at there. Well done. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, my immediate observation was, wait, and I wonder if they tried their best to not make this the case. Most of the people that were applying were not white, and a lot of them were immigrants themselves.

And then the protesters were all old and white. And there was like 10 of them, and they were being the nastiest, you know, taking license plates. I'm surprised they even put that in there. That's nasty. That's like not... Yeah, that is really dark stuff. And then what did you hear from, like, you heard them call them Nazis and fascists, and then you interviewed the immigrant, and it's like, you know, I'm willing to sacrifice some of my safety to protect you. Your freedom to call me an immigrant.

Boom, dude. I love when people do that. It's like, instead of answering back angry, you kind of take the high road, and you get them with the... It's even better. You get the dig in better, because you're like, I'm being magnanimous. Jordan-level dunk. I love that. Love that. Love that video. They discovered ice. Okay, Josh. All right, so my wife and I watched a lot of TV shows together, and we're like, hey, what about this show? What about that show? And then she kind of teased me a little bit.

She's like, hey, why don't we watch this FBI show? It's got that one girl you think is cute or whatever. I'm like, no, not watching it. Not watching the FBI show. Vindicated. This video from 2003. I had not seen this before. Former FBI Director James Comey. Let us roll the tape. We are not getting him, right? Probably not. Probably not. He will never see jail. I did a strange thing at the FBI. I worked very hard to try and get people like Dick Wolf to produce TV shows about the FBI.

Because I saw that as another way of showing the work to the American people. It turns out that paid off. I remember meeting with them and saying, why do I turn on the TV and see NCIS all the time? They are a fine organization, but there are like eight people who work at NCIS, and now I turn on the TV and I got FBI all over the place. That is a good thing in the main. It is incomplete. Your work is much more reality-based, but it helps.

To show an organization to the American people that matters. Yeah, Josh, you're laughing at this. This is smart. This is Hollywood to do propaganda, and we're going to give credit to Cernovich for boosting this video of this interview years back.

Where Claire Danes is on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and she's talking about the information that they get to help them do their show, that Homeland Show, about the intelligence agencies. So, I got that clip there, too.

Yeah, here we go. Just watch what happens when she says something she shouldn't have said, apparently. It's my camp for us producers and writers. Really? Yeah. Is it like, you know? Yeah, so we park ourselves in a club in Georgetown and talk to, like, real spooks. And, you know, people in the intelligence community, and the State Department, and journalists, and people who really... What do they tell you? What is the most surprising thing that they have told you about their jobs, or something you would need to know?

Well, every year it is different, right? We have been at it for a while, and the climate has changed. But this year it was all about, you know, the distrust between the administration and the intelligence world, and the intelligence community was suddenly kind of allying itself with... With journalists, which usually they're not such good friends. How long ago did you start shooting this thing? Wait a second.

He just jumps in there. And, like, hair on the head, and, like, body language, like... How long have you been thinking about... Oh, my gosh, Stephen. Spook's working with journalists. Wait a second. How long have you been on this TV show? Could not exit the car. Oh, yeah. Spook talking to Spook.

Josh, you're... This is in your twilight zone. You're talking about that like that's not smart. I think that's smart. I mean, okay. It's bad, but it's smart. I'm just alerting our audience. The fact is, we have an intelligence community that is trying to undermine the American people, that they are collaborating with journalists, they are collaborating with Hollywood to try to get the message out. It is like Americans, the Chinese people look at us like, why are you watching TV? Don't you know it is all propaganda, like the TV news?

We know it is propaganda. You don't know? Because Americans just think, well, it is just the news. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same thing with, it doesn't seem too dissimilar to, like, Trump choosing his entire cabinet based on how they look and how they speak to camera and appear on TV. It's just smart. It's just smart politics. That's smart politics. Okay. And also, the Trump administration is propaganda, too, Josh. Like, I think about this category difference here. Propaganda, right. Between saying, if you have two competent people, this guy would be a great Secretary of Defense.

He knows all the issues. In and out, and then Pete Hegseth has a lot more TV camera time, and he is more handsome, and he is better able to communicate the policies. Go for that. That's different than people understanding that we have members of our clandestine offices that are spending money to try to convince Hollywood to do shows that will propagandize what the government's doing, or to try to tell journalists, here, here's information, report on stuff that we find favorable. That is a category difference.

I don't know how you couldn't see that. You don't think the Trump administration has journalists that report on them favorably, and that they leak stuff to? You're alleging something I didn't say. Okay, yeah, yeah. I'm just saying, like, I see this. So, okay, so the difference would be... That the FBI largely, you know, operates with impunity, and they have no accountability, and so they're leaking things. They're acting poorly behind the scenes and have no accountability, and they're leaking to make that look good.

Yes, is of course probably the more, demographically, it's aged older of the three different networks, and the CBS News is more, you know, old and ossified. But it has a tender, older audience, and so, like, Comey going on there and trying to get Dick Wolf to put a bunch of pro-FBI TV shows, like, yeah, smart. Smart politics. I think it's reprehensible.

Yeah. Yeah. Listen, I will not be defending the FBI. You will not catch me defending the FBI. I actually think it should be completely dismantled. I think I've said that a few times. But you probably won't see a Netflix miniseries on why the FBI should be dismantled anytime soon. It was not done initially by law. It was done by executive order. So, Trump could abolish the FBI instantaneously if he wanted to, and then start and ask Congress to start a new agency that would only be focused on, for example, bank fraud, kidnappings, sex trafficking.

You're right. He could do it. So, it's interesting that he hasn't. We will see. Let us put it that way. You may find it useful yet. True. Okay, I am going to take a completely different direction. Do it. This has been, you know, jerking the tears on social media. Oh, no. So, I am going to hit you all with this, especially in a new year. Good to keep some perspective. Here we go. Get my Kleenex out. Good luck.

And somehow, I woke up. I'm 80 years old, and somehow, I woke up in my 32-year-old body, just for one day. I wake up to little hands tugging at the blankets. Mom, wake up, they shout. I blink, and I sit up slowly. My babies, they're small again. They climb into bed, giggling, wiggling. I remember rushing through mornings, but not today. I pull them close. I hug them tight. I kiss their messy hair. I hold their little hands. This time, I soak in every second.

I catch my reflection in the bathroom mirror. No deep lines, no grey hair, my younger face. I used to think I looked old at 41. What a silly thought. I find my husband in the kitchen making coffee. He looks strong, and he looks young. I wrap my arms around him tightly. He looks surprised. Maybe we didn't hug enough back then, I think. We talk about the day, and today, it all feels big. I memorize the sound of his voice. We pile into the car, kids arguing over seatbelts.

Someone drops a snack. There's crumbs everywhere. I used to get so frustrated, but today, I soak in the noise and the chaos, because I know my car will be quiet and spotless for many years to come. Dinner is loud and unorganized. No one wants to sit still. There's shouting, giggling, arguing, and so much life. I don't clean up. Straight away, I just sit and I watch, trying to burn it all into my memory.

Before bed, I pick up the phone. I call my mum and I hear her voice. I haven't heard this voice in so many years. I close my eyes and I let her words wash over me. I tell her I love her again and again. I never want to hang up. And this time, I don't leave anything unsaid. At bedtime, I don't skip pages in the story. I read every single word. And then I ask, can we read one more book? And they say, yes, I don't want this day to end.

I got one more day, and this time, I knew that this was joy, this was love, those little hands, our strong young bodies with no aches or pains, our parents who are still alive. It all mattered so much more than we ever realized at the time.

Getting me all choked up. So, it didn't work on Josh. Too much. Come on. Was it the British accent or the guitar? Yeah, I mean, no, it's just like... I don't know. There are a lot of people living with regrets that they didn't participate actively in their lives with their families, I guess.

So, wouldn't this be a reminder to do so? My wife is like, I just wish our kids, because they're 10 to 18 now, they're 19 or whatever, so they're not little anymore. She's like, I just wish you were so little, so cute, cuddly. I'm like, nah. We'll have grandkids. We're done with that. I want teenagers. I much prefer teenagers to toddlers. Life. Embrace it. Live it. I don't want to hit rewind. No.

I don't know. I get kind of bothered when people are always like, to young moms especially, like, oh, enjoy every minute because it goes so fast. And it is like, that is just a task to a young woman who is there with all her toddlers on top of her. Like, you, Tom, you just went through the flu, and you're like telling Colette, Colette, just enjoy this because in 10 years, we'll have the flu and we'll be alone. I wish you could go back to when you had the flu.

Okay, yeah, I don't want to dunk on this. It means a lot to a lot of people, and I totally get that, and yeah, I have moments now. Dude, it worked on me. I know it worked on you, because you're a softie. You're like a little teddy bear, Tom. Yeah, I thought maybe, Erika, I knew that Josh was going to have, predictably, the most annoying, cynical take. Like, we should just make a new segment of the show. Show stuff that people really...

Appreciate treasure and makes them feel, you know, nostalgia, and then just put it in front of Josh so he can just destroy it. Well, the thing with this clip is that it was utterly lacking for me in Catholic hope, and like, yeah, are we going to be 80 years old and miss these times because it was good to feel young? It was, yeah, like, I will probably never run again. Like, that's just the reality of having seven babies and slipped discs.

I will never run again. Do I wish nostalgically that I could still run six miles or go do that 10K? Yes, absolutely, but I also live in Christian hope for the fact that every ache and pain that my body adds on is a promise that I'm that much closer to my eternal reward, hopefully, like if I can keep it, right? But it's that I love the nostalgia. I do like the feels around Christmas, but without the Christian hope added in, for a lot of people, it just becomes regret and pain and despair.

Fair. And that's why this video did not do it for me. It was a drug. Just another dopamine hit. Oh, yeah. There's plenty of literature about, like, nostalgia. Nostalgia actually being bad. Like, being overly nostalgic being too bad.

It can't replace religion, or you do. But listen, I'll take the other end on this. I thought it was cute. I thought of my little kids. I thought maybe I would enjoy small moments a little bit more and not be as frustrated.

That's good. You know, when things are messy, or you want to just get a kid down for bedtime, and they're being bad, and you're like, I've got to read another book. You know, I like hearing from my parents. I think I'll be sad when I don't get to hear from them anymore one day. You know, that makes me a little sad. So, I think it, maybe, you know, call me crazy, but just appreciate your blessings, like right now, and don't get caught up over stuff that really doesn't matter in the long scheme, and keep your thing clear.

100%. My wife is like, you're so anti-sentimental. It's like you were raised by a wolf. Yeah, it does seem like that at times. All right, new segment alert. I am just going to find stuff like this and put it in front of Josh. So, I am going to get a really measured, well-read takedown of sentiment from Erika. I am going to get a really good takedown from Josh, and then I am just going to be like, that is cute. That is why the show works, guys.

That is why this works. I want Josh in this one. That is why we are still here in 2026 for you. Still rocking. Okay, I wanted to... So, yeah, sorry, this is a little bit heavy, but I heard you guys prayed for, or talked about praying for him, but it looks like Micah Joseph, who is the son of Catholic speaker Paul J. Kim, has passed away after spending several days in life support. Micah has been very busy already, as I see the Lord using him and sending him on missions to bring millions of people closer to God, Paul wrote on social media.

So, if you guys could pray for... The Kim family, especially for the person who sold Micah Joseph, Micah Joseph, Kim, and for peace for their entire family. I'm really sad. So, and, you know, we have hope for higher things and eternal life, but it's always good to appreciate life as you have it. Even when I was sick, I was just like, being sick is like kind of...

I'm trying to offer up the discomfort of everyone. You feel like you're never going to be healthy again. You're just like, this is crazy. What is being healthy? What is being normal again? And it just makes you appreciate it. You're like, wow, I'm just grateful for my health. I'm grateful to be here.

So, pray for Micah Joseph. So, we're going to pray and the show with prayer. We're going to have a show ready to come for you on Monday, and we had a lot of fun stuff. So, Erika had the book list. I actually do think a book club would be really cool, so maybe we'll incorporate that for, you know, in all of Erika's free time.

Yeah, I think that is what we got for today's show. So, we are in prayer. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen. Eternal rest, grant unto Micah Joseph Kim, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of the faithfully departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Arle Guadalupe, pray for us. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Good show, guys. Catch you ready to rock. On Wednesday. See you then. Monday. Oh, sorry, Monday. Yeah, it's Friday. Shortest work week ever. Peace.