Pope Leo: Solidarity With Migrants NOT Open Borders, Congress Votes On Epstein, And May I Meet You?

We're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. The LOOPcast is brought to you by The Loop, every American Catholic's favorite morning newsletter. Guys, excited to be here today. We have a fantastic show for you. Pope Leo has actually officially responded to some of this immigration conversation, the special statement from the bishops, and maybe it wasn't what everyone cracked it up to, you know. I think some apologies are maybe necessary to Pope Leo for putting words in his mouth.

We're going to go through the exact statement. Clearly, there's a lot of interest. We got a lot of feedback on our episode. On Monday. So, we're going to hammer all of that. The second point, the Epstein files unanimously voted very quickly. I think Senate just unanimous vote. It will be sent to the president's desk, and I was challenged last episode, you know, why is this important? I want to put a finer point on that, but then second, it should have been this kind of unanimous unifying moment dunk for Democrats, and there was this crazy fight that happened on the House floor about someone getting taxed during a congressional hearing.

So, I'm excited to share that story. That was super surprising to me. And then Erika, of course, my source of truth for all things education. We had public school enrollment drop significantly, and I was really surprised to hear what was going on behind the scenes there. So, of course, good news. May I meet you? We'll come up in the twilight. That'll be nice and lighthearted. But so glad to be joined by all of you today. Also, we are very close to 40,000 subscribers.

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We got global reach here. International. International reach here. That's awesome. So, before we get into the episode, we can do today's show because of Ave Maria Mutual Funds, LOOPcast's sponsor for today. Now more than ever, Catholics want to align their investments with their moral beliefs. And a great way to do that is by investing in the pro-life, pro-family mutual funds from Ave Maria. The professionals at Ave Maria have a morally responsible investment philosophy that is aligned with Catholic teaching. In their search for attractive investments, they apply moral screens to eliminate companies that engage in support for abortion, pornography, embryonic stem cell research, or that make corporate contributions to Planned Parenthood.

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You're not into that? Why would I want Christmas lights up right now? You get it done before the snow. It just snowed in Erika's hometown. What? No. Wow, okay. I mean, look, I love Shirty Mobile, and we're going to allow them to have a cute little baby with a Santa hat on, okay? But I live further north than any of you, and I don't have Christmas lights up because I'm not going to step on Thanksgiving. Josh, don't lie. You never put Christmas lights up.

Do you actually put Christmas lights up? I don't really like Christmas lights. You, that was going to be the answer. You're disqualified. There we go. I have a larger nativity set in my front yard than you do, so I don't have Christmas lights. Very true.

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So, they say the February 2nd, so that means they offer it up until the very last possible that you could consider the Christmas season, which is the presentation of our Lord, if I am not mistaken. Love it. February 2nd, and just another little bit of Catholic trivia, my birthday, which I know all my loopers will celebrate, February 4th, is the absolute earliest possible Ash Wednesday could ever be. So, there could be a year, like 250 years from now, where... Literally, you'd have one day of ordinary time between February 2nd and February 4th.

Which would necessarily be Mardi Gras, which is not ordinary at all. That is very true. So, I could go from presentation, Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday. Talk about like Catholic whiplash going on. Do you guys do the little cakes? Are they, what's, king's cake with the babies?

We do that. We do do babies. We don't do the king cake. We just like make something out of Duncan Hines' box and stick a little plastic baby in it. There you go. Whatever it takes. Shout out to my Louisianans, the Cajuns down there. But that's cool that they do their Christmas deal all the way to February, too. That's very liturgical. Good for Charity Mobile. Good job, Charity Mobile. Yes. Awesome. So, hey, we got a statement here. So, Pope Leo made one of his clearest public interventions yet on immigration policy.

I love that section of the loop, and I think it's absolutely correct. Told journalists outside the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo that defending the dignity of migrants should never be confused with the advocation of open borders. His remarks delivered spontaneously in response to questions from journalists, which, you know, we all rightfully have a little bit of shock whenever we hear that. With PTSD. You know, and I actually don't use that because I don't want to make light of it, but I do have some shock.

I'm not kidding. So, I have the clip here. We can just listen to it in its entirety. It's actually pretty clear, and we'll get to some commentary after. So, let me share that. The bishops have made a very strong statement about the deportation and detention of migrants. What do you think of it? And they kind of said that you've got their back. Were you behind that? Well, I've made some statements about that already. I appreciate very much what the bishops have said.

I think it's a very important statement. I would invite, especially all Catholics, but people of goodwill to listen carefully to what they said. I think we have to look for ways of treating. How do you deal with the problem of people being treated humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have? If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts. There is a system of justice. I think there are a lot of problems in the system.

No one has said that the United States should have open borders. I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter. But when people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there has been some violence, unfortunately, I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said, and I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them.

I mean, it's good-ish. How do you feel, Josh? A little good. I mean, I'm thankful for the fact that he's acknowledging that, you know. We're not, as Catholics, called upon to support wide-open borders, which would be absolutely reckless and chaotic, and it is a violation of the duty that a state has to protect its own citizens. So, yeah, that's good to hear. I mean, and it's, of course, I don't expect him to say bad stuff, because he probably agrees with the statement that the bishops made.

If he had been Bishop of, let us say, Philadelphia right now, he would have joined in on the video. I mean, that is pretty obvious to me. He would not have been like, I do not know about this, guys. No, he would have been perfectly fine with it.

And again, the video itself is like, is it inherently wrong? Of course not. Like, how can you be against it? They are calling for the dignity of migrants. I am like, okay, good, sure, great, fine. But what does that mean? Who is against this?

But the point is, you know, even in his statement there, which I'm very happy that he said that you don't have to believe in open borders, you're still saying, well, what about people who are here 10, 15, 20 years, and it's like disrespectful in the way that they're being deported, and we need judges. Like, there are immigration judges that are, you know, mitigating these. But you don't disagree with any of that. As I'm like, he's making it seem like there's, you know, just rounding them up rather violently and just, you know, tossing them out of the country.

It's like, well, I mean, we are adjudicating this. Like, you know, there are lots of different immigration courts. We're hiring a lot more immigration judges, you know, and we're processing these people. And it's only, you know, like, does anyone think that ICE is being violent if, you know, if people are peacefully complying with law enforcement? I mean, I suppose, you know, there are circumstances where sometimes law enforcement, you know, officers don't act perfectly. I'm not trying to justify this, but for the most part, if you peacefully, you know, comply with law enforcement, and I just want to be careful, like some of the words are saying, make it seem like it's done rather violently.

Like, I mean, really? Right, but I'm sure there are examples, but then when those examples happen, then we all, as Catholics, should be like, yeah, that's bad. Yeah, I mean, obviously, but again, it just... You know, he's still coming off making it sound like the immigration policy of deportation is just rather not the best idea in the world, and I'm like, I guess you can potentially think that, but I think... I actually somewhat disagree. What I think has been happening for the last year, we've had about 500,000 people deported in this country, and I think that's...

A good thing. It's a good start. I don't think he said that. Yeah, and I think that the statement, again, like Josh, I wasn't overwhelmed with, oh my gosh, he's read Kelsey's report, and he's clearly quoting Kelsey Reinhart here. But I did, in this particular interaction with the journalist, see at least some movement towards acknowledging the other side of the coin, the other side of justice here. There is a question of justice when it comes to the countries who have a right to determine who comes in, when, and why.

And I appreciated that, because in previous statements, it had come across that there shouldn't be any kind of deportation, there shouldn't be any kind of regulation. And again, it's not like he ever directly said that, but this at least... It articulated more towards what the Catechism is saying, more towards that both and justice and mercy have to work together here. So, I appreciated the movement towards clarity, and the one thing I mostly disagreed with was that he said that I think the U.S.

bishops have been very clear. Yeah. Well, I mean, that statement was just... Can I briefly... Josh, no, no, no, Josh, no, Josh, no, no, I got to say this, because, you know, you had a lot of time last show, and I understand your frustration, I understand everything you're saying, but he essentially articulates paragraph 2241 in Catechism of the Catholic Church, okay? Catechism states that countries have the right to secure their borders, which he said. And that immigrants must be treated justly and humanely.

I don't think anyone would disagree with that. And that immigrants must respect the laws and culture of their adoptive country. Now, maybe he didn't get to that, but my point is, I don't even think Pope, I don't know what people want Pope, I don't know what people want Pope Leo to say here. And I don't think that it would even be prudential or wise for him to come out and be like, I support everything President Trump is doing. You know, I wouldn't want him to hitch his wagon to the U.S.

government in that way, because if they do do some bad things, then that reflects poorly upon him. His role is to be a voice of moral clarity across the world, not just in the United States, and I think it is important to thread that needle as the leader of the global church, where he didn't say that we can't have, he actually literally said, I didn't say no open, I didn't say open borders, I didn't say this and that. He didn't even say deportation is inhumane or wrong in principle, because it isn't, because if he said that, that would be wrong.

He didn't say that. I think that it is a lot of stuff he didn't say, which is good, fine, but I mean, like, look. Why would you not want to give deference to the Holy Father, though? Like, I understand the frustration, and there's all this background frustration, which I totally understand, and I share, but, like, I look at the situation in Charlotte. Maybe you should understand what I'm trying to say a little bit better, though. Sure, go for it.

I am happy. That he made a statement saying that, you know, we don't have to be in favor of open borders. That is a very positive development. Good. I sort of feel like Chris Rock, like, I take care of my kids, like, yeah, you're supposed to. So, the fact that he said the United States government has the ability to no longer, doesn't have to have open borders is an objective good. I'm glad he said it. Okay. Everything else he said in that statement, though, was not, I'm not saying it was wrong, but everything else, the majority of what he was getting at was to support the bishops and their framing of this issue, which is just like, you know, people have been there for 10, 15 years and removed, and that's disrespectful and oftentimes violent.

I'm like. Okay, I just feel like, again, Pope Leo, as well as the U.S. bishops, the way they're looking at this issue, I think, is just, it doesn't have the proper perspective, and a majority of Catholic voters across the country and other voters in this country disagree with their assessment, because they keep saying, we've got to have the respect, the dignity of these migrants, and we're like, we do. We actually do, but we can still actually deport people, and we feel like you guys were just like undercutting and de-emphasizing the massive human rights problem that we had on this border for so long, and that was what was, you know, so like, in other words, do I object to what Pope Leo said there?

No, I'm actually, in general, happy that he said it, but again, it would be really nice if it was like a resounding, like, you know what? Not only do they not have to have open borders, but there are circumstances where countries have the ability to restrict migration to their country.

And why do I care about this? Because the report that was put together, and it was written by my good friend Benjamin Mann, I encourage everyone to go to CatholicVote.org. I think it is a very great report. I think it has the proper balance that the bishop's video statement just seemed to lack. Okay? I love the bishops. I'm not trying to—you know me. I'm not, like, beating up— Yeah, no, I do. —or whatever. Yeah. I just feel like our statement on immigration was far more balanced, and the reason I say this is because, as Ben noted in his report on immigration that we have at CatholicVote.org, he said there are people like Donald Kerwin.

He's a leading voice in the open borders, you know, amnesty lobby type thing, and he wrote a paper called And You Welcomed Me. He wrote it for the Migration Policy Institute. Ben notes this in the report, in which he claims to summarize the church position on migration policy.

In this document, Kirwan falsely attributes the positions of the radical immigration lobby to the entire Catholic Church when he says, the Church does not believe that criminal prosecution and deportation of unauthorized immigrants offer a viable, much less a humane, approach to the problem. It's just not true. Here's the thing. It's just false. Church teaching, he's claiming, Donald Kirwan is claiming that that's what church teaching says. That's not true. But the fact is, if you watch the video, That was put out by the bishops.

You would think the bishops basically agree with Kerwin, and Leo didn't thankfully step back a little bit by saying, no, no, no, hold on, open borders. That's not what the church teaching requires. So, am I thankful for that? Yes, but in general, it would be nice to have the shepherds of our church have a little bit more appreciation for, yes, actually, you're not evil. You're not sinful if you believe in Law and order, regulation of borders, and saying, okay, you know what?

A lot of you people came in illegally. We need to return this, and in fact, I am open even to saying. We should maybe give them some aid as they leave. Like, you know, that was like Trump gave like $1,000. Well, yeah, we've already done almost 2 million people under that. Germany had a pilot program very similar where they pay people to report. But, Eric, I want to hear from you on this. Well, I was just going to say, too, another point that I'd like to get some clarity on in terms of how we think about this, too, is he made a comment about how, well, people who are here 10 or 15 years, and then you say now you have to go, that that's somehow inherently inhumane.

He didn't say inherently, but he said he made that as an example. Right. I actually don't think that's necessarily the best way for a country to be like, well, if you broke the law, but you got away with it for 10, 15, 20 years, now somehow you have, like, is it statute of limitations or something? So, that's just giving people the message, you know, come to America, and if you don't get caught for 10 years, then you get to become a citizen.

To me, that is the sort of wrongheaded thinking that's hollowed out our laws and hollowed out all meaning from our laws. So, It's examples of thinking about the law like that, where, yes, immigrants have to respect the laws of the country. Well, part of that is, if you came here illegally 10 or 15 years ago, yeah, it might be time for you to go, and that's going to be really hard. It's going to affect if you had children here. It's going to affect the relationships you formed here, your employers, your parish community, but the reality is, like, the bill comes due, and can we do it in a respectful way and say, Look, we've had administrations that did not enforce the law.

That was wrong, but now we are enforcing the law, and unfortunately, you will have to leave. Like, that's what the corporate effects of sin are. It does hurt, but to get a bet, to heal our country's notion of its own laws, its own respect for its own laws, unfortunately, sometimes that's going to be the way it goes.

Well, I mean, I'm actually maybe... A little bit softer on you than that, slightly. I mean, certainly people who come in over the last five years, you know, I don't have much sympathy, but if someone has been here for 10 or 15 years, yeah, I mean, maybe we can make some other kind of accommodations or whatever. It's still obviously not a path to citizenship unless they go through the normal processes of it. So, there's not, I mean, I think most Americans are like, okay, if you've been here for 15 years.

We can try to work something out, but it still has to be, again, getting the border secure, and I'm not, you know, Donald Trump proved this possible, but I haven't heard anyone on the Democratic Party applaud him other than John Fetterman for doing it, you know, and so, like, I'm convinced that once a Democrat gets elected president again, that door gets busted wide open all over again, and so, like, this is the issue. You know, one of the preeminent, like, non-social issue, I care abortion number one, but this is the most other really important issue because it's like, what kind of a country do we have if we're just going to allow millions of people into this country and Irrespective of the laws that we've passed, it's mind-boggling, and you're a bigot, and you're a hater if you actually believe that our laws should be enforced.

Right, I totally understand the demonization angle. I think, and some points that I want to address here, I think a lot of people intentionally do not let this conversation get beyond the kind of like, for example, Cory Booker, like, quote, tweeted, faith without works is dead, over the bishop's statement. I'm like, Cory Booker. Maybe keep this to yourself. I highly doubt he's Christian. I haven't looked into his background. I love it when non-Catholics tell Catholics how to be Catholic. Exactly. This has no bearing on anything that I do or say, but I know that for some reason, Jesus controls you, so I'm going to say what it is.

That's not helpful at all. I understand all the frustration. I understand the hurt. I understand the anger. Everyone in the chat, I totally understand. We need to look forward, and the Trump administration is in the process of moving forward with a very difficult problem, a difficult problem for many people.

I understand the empathy there, and I understand the culture of fear. So, the Bishop of Charlotte, which I know we've given Charlotte a hard time on this. Bishop Michael Martin, he issued a pastoral message, and I was looking at this message. I'm really trying to cut through and just give people a fair shake here. He asked the faithful to take four specific actions.

One, reach out to those living daily with this uncertainty and assure them of our love and care for them. Speaking of people, I assume, that are here illegally. Observe this Friday, November 21st, as a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with all migrants around the world. Three, do not vilify federal agents who have been sent into our community, because there's an operation going on right now called Operation Charlotte's Web, in which I believe CBP is doing a lot of enforcement action.

Four, contact your elected representatives in Washington and let them know that comprehensive immigration reform is long overdue, and that given the political parties have repeatedly called for this, It is their responsibility to get it done for the common good. I actually have no problem with any of those four statements in principle, and I look at Operation Charlotte's Web. I'm really grateful that federal agents were sent to Charlotte because I'm looking at the rap sheet here, 44 criminal illegal aliens whose crimes include aggravated assault, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a police officer, battery, driving under the influence, hit and run, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, many of which have been deported several times.

I saw one has been deported up to five times. I think his statement, do not vilify, and the fact that, you know, cooperate to a level with federal law enforcement to get these people out of the community is good. It's good for the common good, and I actually have plenty of common sense immigration reform ideas that aren't even that revolutionary. So, like, one, for example. Yeah, let's go. Yeah, no, I'm really ready. You're ready to H-1B visas. Correct. Let's repeal Hart-Seller and return it back to, you know, countries of Western Europe.

Yeah. That have the same kind of cultural that we have, and reduce legal immigration by 75%. Yep. That's a good start. That's a great start. I mean, I had 10 things that have already been proposed and actually enjoy majority support among Americans. I think the one for the 10 to 15-year, say, legal immigrants that's big is to make E-Verify mandatory, and it already exists in places like Florida. With teeth, right, because I think the current fine is like $1,200 for repeat offenders.

In many ways... Who propagates this illegal immigration scheme? I think the Biden administration certainly, but big business completely relies on a shadow workforce of people that do not have the same rights as everyone else. It lowers wages for Americans. It creates dangerous situations for the people that work in these roles, and they're beholden to the employers. Two that do this the most, H-1B immigration, and then immigrants from Latin America that work in building trades. It's bad because buildings don't get built up to code.

They're not good. There's no safety for the workers. There's no safety for the system. There's no safety for anything. So, here's the thing. So, mandatory e-verify, and then we can create a system where people have been working here for a while to get on board with that, start paying taxes, start working into the system, it's safer for them. And then, actually, my frustration with this kind of continual illegal immigration shadow workforce is it stifles innovation, because it makes people, it hooks people on low cost of labor, and there's no incentive for businesses, instead of, say, innovating and becoming more efficient or having a better product.

We'll just be able to lower costs by hiring illegal immigrants that we can control, and it's just a bad situation for everyone. So, E-Verify, no-brainer, catch and release. E-Verify with teeth. With teeth, correct. Because Florida's done it with teeth. DeSantis and those guys down there got it done.

By the way, just a little news item that came across the wires here recently. The interim general manager in Charlotte of the Myers Park Country Club says he's consulting with legal. After Border Patrol entered their private grounds without warrant or permission, you know, and this cracks me up, but people thought this was going to be so great. So, you are telling me country club managers in Charlotte, North Carolina, fighting against, you know, ICE.

Yeah, no, I mean, this is something that anyone who's ever worked in the service industry understands, just as well. And that's why I also like to bring up the H-1B point a lot. And I've had people emailing me about it. Anyone that's worked in tech or Silicon Valley, even related, they understand how pernicious of a problem this is. I'd say like a third of their team on development sources have H-1B visas. We currently, Eric Schmidt had a great thread on this.

We have more people graduating in STEM. The highest unemployment rate for recent graduates are STEM graduates. That is a five-alarm, you know, red alert problem for the country because these are not our, like, laziest or entitled or whatever. Right. These are people working hard. These are students who went into engineering. Yeah. Went into engineering, not an easy degree, and cannot get jobs in this country. Why is that? Because we have a shadow workforce of easily controlled H-1B laborers. The whole program's fraudulent.

It's the same thing with E-Verify. It's the same thing. And I'm going to go over catch and release. This is the real problem. So, let's get past. I almost am like, When the immigration thing comes up, Pope Leo, I think, just articulated Catholic teaching. I'm glad he's not hitching here. The Bishop of Charlotte, like, even though there's some things, I'm kind of like, okay, that's a little annoying. I largely agree, but the real path forward here is let's get past this kind of dumb Cory Booker moralizing language, and let's actually put solutions on the table that protect the American workforce, protect the safety of immigrants.

Another one that I had in my list here of just, like, easy fixes, and I think Trump administration is doing good on this. One second, Josh. Just a little bit on what you're saying, though. I am trying to make my points, and you keep making points that I already agree with. I understand what you are saying.

No, but it is like the Bishop of Charlotte saying we have to have compassion and dignity for these migrants or whatever. It kind of reminds me of how the United States and China basically said, yes, there is only one China. But China and the United States meant different things by it. True. You know what I'm saying? So, this is kind of what it's getting at. The Bishop of Charlotte, he calls for us to respect the dignity of migrants, and we're like, yeah, we agree.

But left pregnant is this idea of where we disagree. And the Bishop of Charlotte and other bishops across the United States think it's really just, cannot believe that we're actually deporting hundreds of thousands of migrants. And I have not only no problem with this, I think it's a good thing. I agree.

Well, my point is, let us have that conversation. Rather than just say, oh, thank you for making that statement about dignity. We believe in dignity. I mean, we do. We do. But I would like to engage these bishops in a constructive conversation. That is what the whole point with this report that we have released is. You actually can completely, fully believe in their dignity and still think, you know what? We should deport people if they are here illegally. So, I am not contradicting you, per se, but it is like, you know.

Only saying the good, you know, because the bishops haven't outright said, you can't deport, because I believe, of course, my church teaches they can't. Right, so that is why I am saying, getting in semantic arguments with the bishops that have enjoyed, say, like Catholic Charities. It is not a semantic argument. I just, I have no faith in the bishops to actually, you want to have a debate that the bishops are not going to have. And so, I'd rather move on to the United States immigration program, where we can actually score wins at the political level, and then, at best, say the bishops don't critique it.

That's my highest hope that I have for them. And I actually agree with everything they're saying. We should respect the dignity of migrants. We do have a degree of solidarity. I understand the anger and the frustration, but you're asking something from the bishops that is never going to happen because they've enjoyed material support. Of, say, the open borders migration system, as we saw with all of the filings over the last four years.

So, it's not that I disagree, Josh. It's just I think I'm thinking about it much more practically, and then I think it's good to have somewhat of an uplift from the Catholic Church on, like, you know, I don't expect much, but I think we should think about the individual soul. We should think about the dignity of people made in the image of Christ, and I don't have an issue with doing that. I don't think it's contradictory to good faith immigration enforcement.

I know that you think they probably do. But if you're just saying everything they said. Okay, yeah, I agree. That's fine. No problem. And then just continue on with advocating for enforcement policies and deportation policies. And I'm just saying, it's not harmful to actually try to engage with them on these topics themselves, rather than just say, okay, you're saying all that stuff about dignity, which we agree, and then carry on with what we're doing. Because what's obvious that the media is doing is saying, this is obviously, even though not directly by name, this is a rebuke of everything that Trump's saying, and they're advertising.

To the entire world. That is why Cory Booker got in on it. Not to believe. Wouldn't they do that regardless? Wouldn't they do that regardless? I care about what people in this country think about what the Church's teachings are. Me too, but I think the media. And that is why I want to engage with these bishops and say, look, look what is happening. Your words are being manipulated. And, of course, they would not necessarily have a problem with that, I would think, because they kind of want people to think that we should not have enforcement.

I mean, if you ask them. Like, what should we do? Like, they're all would be against Trump doing this. They're not against, necessarily, the border closing, but the deportations, it's obvious. Like, 94% of the bishops would be perfectly fine if Trump decided today, we're not going to deport anyone more. Great. So, by your engagement, you think you'd be able to convince, what, 4%, 5%? Like, to me, I'd rather have this discussion and to engage and say, why is it that, you know, you think.

And you're trying to let everyone think in this country who are in the pews and are not necessarily Catholic, because I think it's a bad counterexample. I want people to know that the Catholic Church's actual teaching allows for the deportation of, when we had a situation the last four years where millions of people came into this country illegally, it's perfectly normal.

It is understandable that we would say, you guys need to return home, and we are not going to be jerks about it, but you do need to go home, and for the bishops, for everyone to think that the bishops think, oh, you really should not do that. But they do. That is what they are saying. But they do, and they are not going to change their mind. So, then what are we doing? I would like to engage them on this. I do not think they are changing their mind.

Maybe that is where I disagree. I think that is a waste of breath. They have financially benefited off this system. It is going to take a long time. Here is the thing about financial stuff. I think that is largely not a… In terms of practical, I think that is largely not a helpful argument. I mean, honestly, I think the U.S. bishops believe in their heart of hearts. I mean, I cannot say anything about Cupich, but the vast majority of the bishops in this country would support this, whether or not they were, even if they disentangled themselves completely from a financial aspect of it.

I actually think they are true believers. Whether they look at it like, hey, these are going to be people who will fill my pews for the next 20, 30, 40 years, that might be part of it. I do not really. Honestly, I don't look at them like, oh, these are just more customers. I don't find that argument that persuasive. I don't either, but I think that they're too entangled. They're outside of the United States in that way, and I think it's good in some ways that they are, because They wear their hearts on their sleeves.

Right, but even if someone is a felon, or if someone is whatever, they still should receive the sacraments. What I'm saying is that there's a lot of good bishops in this country. This idea that most of our bishops are super liberal, that's actually not true. I know. Amongst the U.S.—well, I mean, I'm helpful to the audience, maybe, to give an understanding of this, because, you know, the new U.S. president of the U.S.C.C.B. is very conservative, actually, relatively speaking. Coghly, yeah. Yeah, and now, with regards to immigration on this issue, I do not think it's primarily a financial reason why bishops—I just feel like their heart is on their sleeves.

They're like—they kind of have, like, I've got to be like St. Francis of Assisi. I've got to help. I've got to help. But they do. Of course. If I could step in, I also want to take the 50- and 100-year view here, because we are looking at the 250th birthday of our country next year, and I would like it to last another 250 years, and I would like the Church in our country to flourish even more in the next 250 years than it has in the last 250, and I think a big part of that is to continue to engage with the bishops.

And we just did that amazing episode on The Deep, thank you to the whole team, about how the politics and the theology of our priests, who will be the next generation of bishops, are shifting. And by engaging with the bishops now as they are, Tom, you can say, oh, well, that won't change their mind, so what's the use? Like, we just keep doing what we're doing, blah, blah, blah. That's not taking the long view. Yes, maybe an individual bishop is of a certain generation.

He's a true believer that all deportation is bad and not a lot, but by having this conversation publicly and behind closed doors, we are actually investing in the understanding of the bishops of the future as well. So, I think it's It is important to continue to keep going, because we do, as Catholics, take a multi-generational view. I agree.

We all agree. I think we all agree. I don't understand the friction here. I think we're on the same page. I'm just like, I would like to move past, like, we should always have the moral debate. But what everyone says is, well, everyone, everyone all around says the immigration system is broken, and I agree. So, let us start as Americans starting to have the debate about, and I know we agree about this, but that is my point. Well, you have to understand that for 85, I know, but 95% of the elites in this country, of the elite opinion, national politics for.

30 years for Dominic, like, yes, we need comprehensive reform. It always meant amnesty. Right. And it is only in the last 5, 10 years where we are saying, yeah, let us have reform, and not be, you know, amnesty. Yeah. We can move on. Agree. All right. I know, and people gave me a lot of time for- Now on to something completely not controversial. Epstein. Yeah. Yes, so the Epstein file- I think Epstein is so much boring. I completely disagree, and I'm shocked that people don't see this as important, but the Epstein files have now quickly moved through the House and the Senate.

The House, I think, just did a unanimous, they're like, all right, we all pass it. No, the House is all but one. No, the House is not unanimous. I said the Senate. Okay. The House approved in a 427 to 1 vote. And then pass in chamber on receipt and be forwarded to the president's desk for his signature. The only one to not sign, Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana, was the lone no vote in the House, saying he doesn't do enough to protect the names of the people who might be innocent, which I'm somewhat sympathetic to, but that's not my large issue with that.

But I always have to admire the lone no vote. You know, just you have to have a certain kind of respect for that. But yeah, go on. Yeah, sure. So, again, what does this include? What does this mean? Required release. All unclassified Department of Justice materials must be published in a searchable, downloadable format within 30 days of the bill becoming law. Protections. The DOJ can withhold victims' personal information or materials that could jeopardize ongoing federal investigations.

And congressional reporting. Within 15 days of release, the Department of Justice must submit a report to Congress detailing released-slash-withheld categories, redaction summaries, and a list of named government officials or politically exposed individuals. So, this is going to go to the president's desk. We talked about this last show. If you want to hear that conversation, you can go back to that. The one thing that I did find interesting was this seemed to be kind of a moment, like a dunk moment, a win moment for Democrats.

Like, we, you know, we look at how they fumbled this, you know, they're so corrupt, deep state, they're covering, etc. Well, they're framing it as this is a Trump scandal. Yes, as if. So, I have the story of Representative Stacey Plaskett in front of me.

And I'm going to take a trip down memory lane briefly, and we'll see if anyone finds, you know, issues with what was going on. And there was a debate on the House floor over this specifically. So, 2019 texts with Epstein during a hearing questioning Michael Cohen. So, a quick reminder. February 27, 2019, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard from Michael Cohen. He was the former personal attorney and, quote, fixer to then-President Donald Trump. Testified publicly for the first time. Again, Cohen accused Trump of directing hush money payments.

He was not a fan at the time, described Trump as a conman and a racist after working with him for a long time, and the hearing was a key moment in this Democrat-led investigation into Trump's business practices and potential impeachable offenses. It is crazy how fast the news cycle moves. I forgot about this period of time, but it was surreal. But the reason this is coming back up now...

Is that Stacey Plaskett, she is a Democrat from the Virgin Islands, was a non-voting delegate. She was among those who questioned him for her allotted five minutes, and what happened was, November 6, 2025, there was a massive release of documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate. ...by the House Oversight Committee as a part of a broader Epstein-filed disclosure.

So, it turns out Epstein, a financier and convicted sex offender, and he pled in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution. So, at this point, he is a sex offender. He is, I believe, a felon at this point. He, of course, owned private islands in, you guessed it, the U.S. Virgin Islands. Epstein, the infamous Epstein Island, I believe, is in the Virgin Islands.

And she was in Plaskett's district, donated thousands to local politicians, including her campaigns, over $34,000 via associates before his 2019 arrest. So, the texts were initially redacted to hide the recipient's identity. They were analyzed by the Washington Post, which matched their Pacific Time timestamps to video footage of the hearing, confirming Plaskett as the recipient.

Epstein, who was not yet arrested, that occurred in July 2019, but already a felon and a sex offender at this point, appeared to be watching the hearing live and commenting in real time. The conversation began around 11 a.m. ET, 8 a.m. Pacific time, and continued throughout the afternoon. So, they found out he was texting Plaskett during this hearing to question Michael Cohen specifically, because, of course, he knew Michael Cohen. So, here's some of the text. Cohen has opened the door to questions.

Who are the other henchmen at the Trump org? Plaskett texts back, yup, very aware, waiting my turn. Cohen brought up Rona, keeper of the secrets. Rona, quick, I'm up next. Is that an acronym from Plaskett? Epstein, that's his assistant. At the very end, Epstein... Trump's longtime assistant. Right. At the 2.34 p.m., Epstein, good work. This is immediately after questioning ends.

Additional exchanges include Epstein asking if she was chewing visible on camera, to which she replied, it was a nervous habit of biting her cheek. Epstein continued text after Cohen is a liar but useful. Plaskett's office confirmed the authenticity, but emphasized the messages were unsolicited among hundreds from staff, constituents, and the public, and that she welcomed tips as a former prosecutor.

So, how does this play out today? Senate Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Representative Jamie Raskin, who was Plaskett's former law professor, defended her on the House floor debate. Raskin called it taking a call from a constituent and had noted no House rules were violated, framing it as routine service.

Critics called it colluding with a convicted felon, which is probably what I would call it. And introduced House Resolution 888 to censor her and remove her from the House Intelligence Committee. This is someone on the House Intelligence Committee taking texts on how to question someone.

Michael Cohen, back in 2019. Well, the problem would be that it's from a sex offender that she's getting the information from, but I wouldn't have a problem with her texting with someone. Yeah, she said she didn't have any knowledge at the time that he was connected, perhaps, to the intelligence community, although now we know. I have a very, very, very, very, very hard time believing that. So, the resolution failed 2014 to 209. Democrats and three Republicans voted against it. My point on all of this, right, why does this matter?

And why is this merited to the American people? Tell us. Please, I'd like to know. Okay. Josh seemingly doesn't care about this. Potential exposure of a large-scale child sex trafficking blackmail network. Okay. Including people. Okay. I don't want to accuse you of that. I don't want to accuse you of that. I'm not saying you don't care about it. But that's the one where people are like, why do we care about these sordid tales that he's blackmailing people? Like, we don't want to re-bring up the victim's trauma.

Fine. My bigger question is that in 2008, he received a sweetheart deal, and then he seemingly died by, officially died by suicide in 2019. He received an extraordinary, lenient, non-persecution agreement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, then headed by Alex Acosta, later Trump's Labor Secretary. That deal immunized potential co-conspirators, and then in 2019, of course, he dies in this very strange way, supposedly by suicide.

My bigger thing is the implication of current and former public officials across both parties and the world. I mean, we're talking about Bill Clinton. 26 flights on the Lolita Express, Prince Andrew, who just got stripped of his title, Bill Gates, Alan Dershowitz, Lexi Wexner, Larry Summers. I mean, these are the most powerful, some of the most powerful people in the world, in politics, outside of politics, etc. Ayyub Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister, at his house multiple times.

And then the final point is public trust and rule of law, which I don't, it's crazy to me that people don't see this. We, because this is going to expose a system of continual cover-up. There's favoritism of potentially intelligence asset, which we don't know or don't know, but people have been let off the hook. We clearly have a two-system tier justice system. Sorry, two-tier justice system. I got you. I got you. And that is what bothers me and many people, because you can't run on draining the swamp and claiming there's a two-tier justice system, in which you were literally the victim of, and then to just say, no, this is Democrat hoax.

I understand they could potentially use things against him at this point. But that's his own fault, because he didn't release the stuff in the beginning. I'm all for Congress getting this done. I don't know. I guess I'm skeptical at how much information is going to come to light of it, but, I mean, if we actually get some sunlight, and, you know, all for it. Sure, take the win. Yeah, I'll take the win. I think that it's been said before, and this is not necessarily about Epstein.

There are a lot of horrible criminal cases involving sex trafficking. What's different here is, like you said, Tom, this is a question about, a deeper question about what our government can and cannot do, and it speaks to that whole distrust and the question of who is actually running the U.S. government, and we talk a lot here about the force. Branch of government, so are we actually a republic at this point? Are we actually represented by our elected officials, or are they representing someone else?

And so, the question to me is, like, who was Epstein? Who was he working for, right? Who was he working for, and how was it that this horrific crime, and it's a crime, right? How was it that this horrific crime went unprosecuted? He gets this deal, etc. And like Josh said, I am highly skeptical. What are we going to do? Are they going to release his autopsy reports? Are they going to do more flight records? Are we going to get more redactions?

I'm glad that it happened. I'm glad that it had some appearance of unity across the aisle for whatever reason, but at the same time, I'm not holding my breath that somehow now we're going to expose who's really running the U.S. government. Let me give you two examples of things that I would care about more along this kind of same vein. If, number one, like, I don't know, after the murder of Charlie Kirk, we actually got people arrested, you know, like, if we actually put the smackdown on Antifa all across the country, which is, you know, the left just allows for this paramilitary organization.

It's the brown shirts of the left, right. Right. Like, I mean, it's their KKK that just goes around and causes all sorts of havoc. Do you think Antifa murdered Charlie Kirk? No. I am saying the domestic kind of violence that the left circles in. So, I do not think it is Antifa responsible for the murdering of Charlie Kirk, but it is Antifa that is going around and causing a whole ton of violence on the left. And so, if we could smash these networks of left-wing radical violence, that would be...

Awesome. Please do that. I care about that 10x more than anything we're going to see from the Epstein thing. Maybe it's because I don't have anything. You don't see the two as connected? I just don't see any... I mean, look, I would love to be surprised. I just don't think, other than Larry Summers now has to quit OpenAI because the emails are coming out. Okay, good, fine. Maybe a few more major guys will come. Prince Andrew's not a prince anymore. He's like Mr.

Windsor or something. Yeah, he's just Mr. Mountbatten or whatever now. Mr. Tudor. What does... Windsor. Anyway. And the scandal involving the fact that the FBI... Put the wiretaps on 20% of all Republicans in the Senate. Like, to me, that is, like, how is this not, like, Watergate level? Like, people should be taken out of the FBI. People should be in jail. We should be impeaching the judge who signed off on it. Like, Senator Tuberville was talking about that today. Like, this, to me, is like, both of those things, to me, is like 10x more important.

I care much more about... Smashing Antifa and getting people from the FBI who targeted Catholic churches, who, you know, who looked the other way while Antifa was doing all these horrible things, and then they put wiretaps on 20% of the Republicans in the Senate. Like, to me, do we have a republic? Like, how is this not, like? Issue number one. Like, to me, that's just, like, unbelievable. So, like... How humbly could I posit that it's related? I think on those two things I'm mentioning, I think the ability for us to have points on the board and actually do something are so much higher than Epstein-Files.

Like, if he was really murdered... In high security things. There's no... Okay, if he was, then you're telling me that there's still files somewhere in the FBI that are going to be anywhere really meaningful? I just... Maybe the reason why... Sure, but the nihilistic approach to this isn't the point. I don't think I'm nihilistic. I just feel like I have much less faith in you that we're going to get anything meaningful out of this. So, go ahead. Go for it. Right.

So, go for it. That's why I don't understand all the hesitancy. We know nothing about Thomas Crooks. Actually, no, it's not that we know nothing. We were lied to about what we knew about Charlie. So, I guess the main point, Josh, I think you and me disagree on this. The CIA and the FBI essentially operate as rogue organizations that have no oversight and accountability. Clearly. I mean, everything you just named is a failure of any type of oversight or accountability for these intelligence agencies.

They clearly were involved. With Jeffrey Epstein, Beyond the Shadow of a Doubt. He was clearly an asset of some kind. It's hilarious that people would act like it's not, but the reason they're protecting him, and they did protect him, is the same reason we have the problems with Charlie Kirk. We have the problems with Thomas Crooks. Same reason we have the problem with Antifa, because they're not being forthcoming about the activity of these intelligence agencies, and they need to be. If we actually run the country, if I'm a citizen, my input means anything.

We need to basically smash the FBI. We need to smash the CIA. I think so, but the FC files are going to come out, and it's going to be a... You know, mostly a nothing burger, I think. I hope I'm wrong, but I think as there's so much redaction, there'll be a few other people like Larry Summers, like, oh, see, we got someone else or whatever. But if we actually had an attorney general, like if Ron DeSantis had been attorney general, for example, we'd actually have people, FBI agents, being pulled out of Foggy Bottom with actual handcuffs.

Like, let's go, guys. In public view. Yes, and I think we might actually get somewhere there. Like, okay, you actually were violating the First Amendment rights of Catholics by spying on them in churches. Let's do the perp walk with handcuffs. Hey, you guys, you recommended to a judge that we should wiretap 20% of the Senate Republicans. That is absolutely unacceptable. Maybe they don't need leg chains, but pull them out in handcuffs. Get them out. To me, that would be so much more meaningful than anything I think is going to end up with this.

I hope we get something out of these abstinence files. I hope we actually get a smoking gun. I'm just not that optimistic. No, but the people that are advocating for transparency aren't advocating for a smoking gun. There might be some people on the side that aren't going to be satisfied by this. Fine. But we are searching for the same thing, so I don't see why the movement on this is negative in any possible way. Even if we don't get a smoking gun, fine.

The bigger problem is Kash Patel and Dan Mancino have done a terrible job at the FBI. And they have covered all of this up. And then he's spending his time suing people over talking about his bizarre girlfriend, who's like 26. So, these are the problems, Josh. We have problems with the FBI and the CIA in this country.

Yeah, I know. So, I don't know why we're going back and forth so much on this. We agree. Well, like, the Epstein thing is such a big deal to you. It is a big deal. It's not that big of a deal to me because I'm not that optimistic that we're going to get anything from it. That's my point. Great, but it's still a big deal.

Sure. It represents something larger, a larger problem that we just detailed. Can we talk about Tom Cruise? I want the larger problem to be focused on. This is a part of it. Maybe. Okay, moving on to the good news now. Erika, what do you got? All right. Here we are, 11.53 a.m. Tom Cruise got an Oscar, finally. I mean, sort of.

After a career of snubs, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Tom Cruise with an honorary Oscar, not quite the same thing as an Oscar, at the 16th Annual Governor's Awards in Hollywood for his contribution as an actor and producer. He gave a very emotional speech, as one might expect from Tom Cruise. If anyone remembers the Oprah couch, he's a very emotional person, which is why he's a great actor. So, I wanted to just pitch to you guys.

I mean, Tom Cruise should have gotten an Oscar a long time ago. And Josh and Tom, if you were asked what is the one role for which he should have gotten a real Oscar, not just like an honorary, you're too old to get one, what would you give him that for? We have options. He was actually nominated for Best Actor, Born on the Fourth of July. Jerry Maguire, Magnolia. He was the producer on Top Gun, Maverick. He was in Rain Man.

Rain Man? Oh, Josh, that does my heart good. I love that movie. That was fun. And it was genuinely interesting, and there was a great turn on that. So, you know, like the Mission Impossible movies, I remember someone writing about this. I thought, that's actually a really good point. Like, you never walk away feeling like, oh, I guess that was entertaining, but it didn't have any suspense to it, because you always know he's going to find a way out. Yeah, you know he's going to win.

It's like Doctor Strange. Yeah, there's no aha moment or anything. And Rain Man was full of those, like, whoa, I didn't see that coming. That was good. My personal favorite Tom Cruise media moment is the Matt Lauer interview. Are you familiar?

I forget that one. What was that one? He was proved completely correct about SSRIs and I think Ritalin. I think it was Ritalin specifically. It was Ritalin. No, it was Ritalin, ADHD. He's like, Matt, you don't know what you're talking about. And then, was that the same one where he was wearing the turtleneck and did the, I can move things with my mind because I'm a Scientologist?

I mean, basically, the interview go, by the way. He should have gotten an Oscar for some of those, but the Matt Lauer interview is completely correct on, and exonerated later. An honorary Oscar, I guess, is better than no Oscar at all, but it reminds me of when Governor, I mean, when Ronald Reagan received an honorary degree, he said, man, you know, Eureka College gave him an honorary degree, because I thought my first one was honorary.

I should have got one for a few good men, too. Few Good Men was really good. I also loved, this is like a little known one, but Valkyrie. Valkyrie, the story of the group that tried to assassinate Hitler. Tom Cruise was great in that. He played like the main assassin dude, and really, actually devout Catholic, not Tom, but the character. Really good movie. Check it out. A Few Good Men is one of the rare, really outstanding movies, because it presides two sides of the debate, and it's like.

You can see why... And everyone's kind of right, yeah. It actually lets you decide, as the audience member, and chew on it, instead of being like, here's what you should believe, here's the... Here's the cartoon villain, yeah, no, it's good. Yeah. Yeah. Two good men. Who was the general, the... Jack Nicholson. Jack Nicholson.

Of The Shining. Yeah, so good. Okay, Josh. Actually, I think it was kind of quietly pro-life, but that's good. He's good. Okay, so remember I talked a few episodes ago before rent control. I just want to give you guys a heads up. Reason Magazine just did a write-up on this. It goes, we actually had this happen recently where somebody tried to do a change on rent control, where Javier Malay, the leader of Argentina, basically ended rent control. And what happened?

The real estate market improved significantly. Many more apartments came up for rent in Buenos Aires because the rent controls were abolished. So, supply went up so much that actually the cost of rents went Down. And young couples, it was cheaper for them to actually live in a hotel. Now, we're able to actually get apartments. So, this is a good thing. So, if there is a Supreme Court race, a Supreme Court case on this, and they actually do move on it, this could improve Gotham in a major way to get rid of rent controls.

They're not going to do it on their own, certainly not with a Democratic Socialist mayor. Let's see. I'm hoping. We have data. We know what can work. Let's do it. Okay. My good news, I was talking about the Ford CEO a couple of shows ago, I can't remember, about the mechanic jobs, and I'm happy to report I got some emails back from people that are either... We're mechanics or are working in the space, and I got to read some of them because, you know, never blackpill on Twitter is the answer.

Okay, so email, my son attended a mechanic class as a high school senior and loved it. He missed out on the certificate program because he was moved during his high school years. When he graduated high school, he was about to go to tech school to become a mechanic, but then found a dealership that offered to hire him as a lube tech and teach him the mechanic position on the job. He worked hard and moved up quickly, even though his mentor was transferred to a different location before my son felt ready to be on his own.

He kept pushing through and succeeded better than his peers, who did go to school before starting at the dealership. He is now three and a half years out of high school and is on track to make over $100,000 this year with significant training classes and certifications under his belt, paid for by the company. He is selling his first house that he bought at 19 years old, buying a nicer house closer to town. He is also engaged to be married.

So, pray for them. They're about to get married, and request. They're requesting prayers, and they're welcomed. My point in this is that even tech school isn't always necessary. Apprenticeships need to be encouraged for both sides, the mentors and the mentees. European post-high school paths include a lot of apprenticeships. Europeans aren't great at everything, but I think this is a place we can learn from them. For college debt, why aren't companies including school loan repayment in their benefits packages? They're the ones who need slash want the degree in accompanying education and knowledge.

Shouldn't they be a part of the solution? Shout out to Mindy. She sent in that email. That was awesome to hear. I also got an email from someone from Nebraska who works for a major agriculture company. He works as a service tech, and he gave me a lot of good information. I'm keeping him somewhat anonymous. He went to the Navy and was an electrician there, and then he went around Nebraska and started at somewhat of a lower wage, but they gave a sign-on bonus, and basically how it works is the more work you do, the faster you get the job done, the more you can make.

Unless you screw up, rework comes out of the bonus incentive pay. So, this can turn a position with a starting average salary from that kind of 50 to 60K range into the 100K range. I was told this being offered the job by my boss's boss. He said all good techs will make more than 100K, and he said, thanks be to God, already looking at that kind of money. Effective wages here, depending on season, for harvest seasons that are more lucrative, are varied between That range, and I'm not sure the differences between automotive dealership and my agricultural equipment dealership.

Ag equipment being more expensive means I put in higher revenue than perhaps an automotive mechanic does. So, very happy to see this. He's got two kids, and he said, well, I see how unattainable the American dream has become for most people. I'm blessed to still see it within my reach. I hope this information is useful for your inquiries into mechanic careers, and you can promote it to the benefit of young men and their families. I think I have direct quote. I think especially in rural America, the mechanic is a low-key optimal trade for a man.

So, in the first two years, I have been able to purchase all my tools with a little thriftiness while supporting my wife and two sons, again, start building wealth. So, super awesome. Shout out to, I will keep him somewhat anonymous, but shout out to him and his family. Pray for them. So, I was really happy to get some good emails there on how people are doing, and curious if you got more, send them in, LOOPcast at catholicfoot.org. American Dream is still possible.

We can do it. Okay, on to the Twilight Zone now. Josh, what do you got? So, a very popular liberal just shared this, encouraging his audience. He has got like 60,000 followers on Twitter. He is encouraging their audience to buy this book, and the book is about, it is called They Should Have Been Hanged, and it is a book about how all the Confederate generals who are traitors should have been executed.

This is interesting. So, why is it that you think that there, you know, it is okay, of course, to revisit our history and try to learn from our mistakes, but why is this so going against, you know, Abraham Lincoln's admonition to, you know, with malice towards none? Like, that was Lincoln, that is what Lincoln called for, and they still killed him.

But after that, we didn't see retribution against the South. After he murdered Lincoln, we didn't go execute a bunch of people. Why is the left, why would they put out a book like this? And why would the left promote this? I think I have an answer. I think they want to try to associate Confederates with Trump supporters and basically justify Violence. Because, you know, in their mind, they want to associate abhorrent political views with you deserve to die. I think that is what is going on here.

Yeah. This does kind of worry me. Do you know what that reminds me of? So, those gun clubs, the John Brown gun clubs that have been starting all over the country, they put up a sign at one of the universities. I think it was, was it Georgetown? I do not want to say the wrong university, but it was a major university. John Brown gun club. Basically, I think they were saying like Charlie Kirk deserved to get shot or something like that, or arm yourselves to that effect.

It was a big controversy. Do you know who John Brown is? Oh, yeah. I can sing the song. I can't sing the song, but I think that it somewhat relates in a way of, like, who are the heroes of which side, and what are they glorified for? I mean, John Brown, one of the most violent, you know, whether he saw the problem or didn't see it, the way they chose to handle the problem was total anarchy and really violent action. Yeah.

I will say, too, on— You can support the right political thing and be immoral, right? Yes. Totally, totally. And I think one of the most admirable parts about the Civil War was that they were brothers, and a lot of times literally brothers, but cousins or people that knew each other. And Robert E. Lee, at the end— He gave up. He surrendered when he could have fought to the bloody end, but it was for the better of the country going forward, and Abraham Lincoln had the grace to accept that as well and to give him somewhat of a place of honor and bring people back into the fold to unite the country.

That is the takeaway. It should not be, hey, we should have hanged all those SOBs. We should have hung all those guys. Yeah. I mean, we still took Lee's plantation and buried our dead there. I mean, it is not like he was— Right. It is not like he was— Yeah, of course. It is a great place to go, but yeah. Of course. Of course. But that's why the Civil War is compelling. Obviously, moving forward as a country beyond the obvious problem that was on the horizon for the founders, that is slavery, and then fulfilling our promises as a nation to what we claim to believe, but the fact that we had literal brothers fighting each other to the point where the country almost fell apart, and the heroics of a few brave men coming together.

I'm actually watching I started watching Death by Lightning. Have you guys heard of that? Ooh, have not heard of that. It's a really interesting Tom from Succession, or better known as, he was in Pride and Prejudice. All the, like, homeschool girls know who he is. The bad Pride and Prejudice. The bad Pride and Prejudice, yeah. Yeah. But it's about James Garfield's assassination, and they had a really cool scene of the Republican Party Convention, and Ulysses Grant was running again. And he had just had a big scandal of impropriety financially.

I think it was based on the spoil system, selling offices, things like that, and the country was just out of the Civil War. It was like Reconstruction Era, and James Blaine was running against him. Neither were popular, and James Garfield emerges as this dark horse candidate to become president. James Blaine. The wickedly anti-Catholic dude. The Blaine Amendments of Maine, yes. The Blaine Amendments. Oh, boy. But to watch their, they did such a great job of immersion within the era. It was in Chicago, and to walk inside the Republican Convention, and American flags everywhere, and George Washington is in the middle, and there was no microphones at the time.

And so, you had to speak, you had to project, and I was laughing. I was like, I think this would probably be considered Nazi propaganda at this point, because there were so many American flags, and it was so unapologetically American, and I feel like with Trump's recent one, there was all those kind of accusations, this is what fascism is or whatever, and I was thinking about that, and I'm like, all these guys personally experienced not just the Civil War, but were in living memory of probably the War of 1812.

And many other. Certainly the Indian Wars, right? Certainly the Indian Wars, yeah, but it had grandparents involved in that. I mean, the Revolutionary War, not far away, it was about 100 years. And what it must have meant to them to be, so I'm almost positive they just used a straight read-off of James Garfield's actual speech, would be my guess. I didn't look it up, but I assume. And I literally got chills watching the speech because it was so good, and that was part of, like, the story was he gave a speech on behalf of John Sherman from Ohio.

And it was such a good speech, at least how they were telling it in the story. I'm not sure how true this is. It was so good that someone voted for him to be the representative of the Republican Party. He's like, oh, no, I don't want this. I did it on behalf of John Sherman, and it really embarrassed John Sherman. But even if you don't watch the series, go and look up the speech. And it just literally gave me chills as an American to think what was going through their heads at the time post-Civil War, moving forward as a country, dealing with corruption, what it meant to be American.

It's amazing. So, that just reminded me of that. Sorry to take that over, Josh. No, I don't mind. It's all good. Love the country. So, I'm kind of on the same line as Josh. We're like, our minds are on the same wavelength, because here's something else that's a little disturbing to me. We have a video from senators who have served in our military force, and they all got together to give a message to our armed services. Go for it.

I'm Senator Alyssa Slotkin. Senator Mark Kelly. Representative Chris DiLuzio. Congressman Maggie Goodlander. Representative Chrissy Houlihan. Congressman Jason Crowe. I was a captain in the United States Navy. Former CIA officer. Former Navy. Former paratrooper and Army Ranger. Former intelligence officer. Former Air Force. We want to speak directly to members of the military. And the intelligence community. Who take risks each day. To keep Americans safe. We know you are under enormous stress and pressure right now. Americans trust their military. But that trust is at risk.

This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution. We know that it's a difficult time to be a public servant, but whether you're serving in the CIA, the army or Navy, the air force, your vigilance is critical and know that we have your back because now more than ever, the American people need you.

We need you to stand up for our laws, our constitution and who we are as Americans. I think we got the picture. Okay, Lisa Slotkin. So, I like a former CIA. I mean, she's still. Yeah, bro. We all know that. Come on. One CIA, always CIA. Are you kidding me? Yeah, I mean, this whole thing, Carter, sort of smacks of a little insurrection, mutiny. I mean, you must disobey. So, again, like, on principle, yes, members of the military can disobey non-constitutional orders.

But this, as a piece of propaganda coming from the left... That made the audacity. It is. It was interesting. No one did that when violating religious exemptions from the vaccine. Yeah. It's interesting. Every general and everyone on downforce that, and everyone, no one disobeyed that. Well, actually, I consider... Well, whatever. Vaccines might event. Yeah, that's like. No, religious exemption, that was actually. Dude, shout out my boy, Adamo. He's a Marine.

But. Yeah. Slot. One CIA, always CIA, that's all I'll say. And they know a lot about insurrections and color revolutions and experimental treatments and everything like that. Yeah, but anyway, piece of propaganda, which is being pointed to by certain members of the Democratic Party as this is evidence that, in fact, the Constitution is under attack. I'm like, no, this is actually... By the way, can I just say, I, in general, hate these, like, compilation videos, whether they're Hollywood celebrities, or they're just, like, eight or nine congressmen and senators or whatever, including...

I mean, just shut up. Like, if one of them would stand up and say, here's the concern I have, and just say it for, like, a minute and a half, like, okay, great. You know, I'm Joe from Ohio. I'm Bill from... Oh, shut up. You're so stupid.

There you go. Agree. All right, here we go. I feel like this was like an episode of the LOOPcast where Josh gives his two cents on dating. Like, this seems like in the same category. Someone said it was the most unk advice of all time.

Bill Ackman. My kids say that word, unk. I don't even know what that means. You got unk energy. Here's Bill Ackman advice on how to solve the... The fertility crisis here in America. I hear from many young men that they find it difficult to meet young women in a public setting. In other words, the online culture has destroyed the ability to spontaneously meet strangers. As such, I thought I would share a few words that I used in my youth to meet someone I found compelling.

I would ask, may I meet you before engaging further in conversation? May I meet you? I almost never got a no. It inevitably enabled the opportunity for a further conversation. I met a lot of really interesting people this way. I think the combination of proper grammar and politeness was the key to its effectiveness. You might give it a try. And yes, I think it should work for women seeking men as well as same-sex interactions. Just two cents from an older, happily married guy.

I mean, the guy's a billionaire, so the question is, did this work for you before you made a billion dollars? Josh, check the views on this. 36.9 million views. This is like nuclear viral, and I could not stop laughing.

So, first off, people are recording themselves trying this, so they'll record themselves hitting someone with, you know, may I meet you. Someone also said it was similar to this approach. My name is George. I'm unemployed and I live with my parents.

I'm Victoria. Hi. Which is one of my favorite Seinfeld threads. Here's another one. I heard honesty is attractive. Tim Cook. I guess so. How I'd be firing off May I Meet You messages tonight. And then someone pointed this out. Oh, there we go.

Selena Gomez, and I believe her husband now, said, life after saying, may I meet you. Is that really her husband? That is her husband. She's a cutie. So, how does this pass Josh's unk advice? I don't know what unk means. Is that an insult, I'm guessing? No, it's just like someone's uncle. You're like the cool uncle. Yeah, you're like the cool uncle giving advice on how to meet. Meet chicks, you know what I mean? Well, I mean, look, no one would call me a Casanova, but I mean, why would you say, may I meet you?

That just sounds so beta. Like, I mean, may I meet you? First of all, it sounds like a double entendre. What's your alpha advice, then? What's your, you know, alpha Josh Unk advice? Meet the ladies, solve the fertility crisis.

Well, I mean, my biggest thing is these guys who are like, now, I mean, it's going to start happening here soon, or my boys are going to be, you know. They're not yet quite old enough yet, 16, 14, and 12, or whatever. But my whole point is, like, get on out there and ask, and just prepare yourself for a no. Like, what happened for me, what changed it for me, was in my mind where I'm just like, it's house money. If you just count on the fact that she's going to say no.

Then it removes all the stress. So, I would just start asking, when I was single, I would just start asking girls that were ridiculously way too gorgeous. Shoot or shoot. I got to absolutely slam the door on me, and then I get used to how I handle the nose. And when I finally found this really, really smoky and gorgeous nurse.

And I asked her out. She's in the chat. And I married her. Hey, Louie! My friend Ben said, did you kidnap her? He couldn't believe it, that this girl was that beautiful. Who would have ever said yes? I said, well, who knows, you know?

But my advice is, well, gosh, you're going to get rejected. You know what? Hey. Shoot or shoot. Closed mouths don't get fed. I got the biggest, I got the same for you. You know, it's hard to move a parked car. Like, you know, so like whatever you want to do, whether it's dating advice or like, should I go to this college or should I go to that college? Should I take, should I apply for this job or apply for that job?

Like, and if you don't do anything, that's the problem. Like it, well, what if I do, what if I make a decision? It is the wrong one. Well, short of suicide, like most decisions you make, God can turn that around somehow and get you on the right path. So, just start walking, and if you are walking the wrong way, God can turn you around. But like, you know, analysis paralysis that so many people have, and it is because they are on the phones all the time.

And what the problem with the phones is that it serves up to you entertainment. It serves up to you all the different things to do, and you just are passive, and you are just kind of taking it all in. Well, you know what? Life You know, touch some grass, get out there, ask a girl out, go for it.

Someone said, unk equals elder statesman. I think that works. That's some great unk advice. I think you set the bar low enough, you exceed it every time. I mean, it's simple. Shoot or shoot. Erika, do you have any... I mean, my biggest thing... Let's get... Erika, if someone came up to you... If someone came up to you and asked you, may I meet you, where's your head at? I think... Well, so, I haven't been on the market for a very long time, but I think, like, back in the day as a young college student, if someone's come...

You know, I did... I have had, in my past, like, guys just come up and be like... Hey, do you want to, can I, can I take you out for coffee? Can I take out for a date? So much more respect. And I was much more inclined to just say, yeah, to like a guy that I'd met, maybe met once through class or something who had that kind of guts to be like, Hey, can we go out for coffee? I'm much more inclined to say yes to that than like the guy who just is like your beta friend and like hangs around for like nine months.

There's this one guy in college, James, I love you. But like, he just like would hang out. In the room for months, and I'm like, why is he hanging out in our dorm? Why is he in here? And finally, the girls are like, Erika. I'm like, well, why didn't he just ask me out for coffee? So, I am all with the, maybe not, may I meet you, but just ask her. And what's the worst thing she does? She says, no, there's a song for that.

I get knocked down, but I get up again. Yeah, banger. May I meet you. Although, I will say the funny thing about this is, I think this potentially could be 4D chess, because if someone is in on the may I meet you joke, they will think it's funny, and then that's your open door. You're way overthink. Everyone needs to stop overthinking this. Like, that is so feminization. Women overthink these things. Don't be feminized, Tom. Just ask the question. She says no, move on, right?

Ah, I love it. May I meet you, bro? The thing is, like, It is, what is it like, probably, what, 3% of people end up marrying the first person they ever ask out? I mean, it's got to be, it's got to, if that, right? Wait, 3%? I can't imagine it being higher than like 3%, right? We have to dig into this. This is a deep episode. I did. I actually researched this. I mean, it's hard to quantify, but they said it's like, so my point is, if there's only really like a 3% chance that the first person you ask out is going to be the person that you marry, then it removes the pressure.

Like, it's almost certainly not going to be the person you marry, so just, hey, ask the girl out. And guess what? What happens is she either shoots you down, or you go on a date, and you find out that she's not the person. Like, okay, now I have more information. Like, I start dating a girl, and I'm like, oh, you're a vegetarian. Wonderful. You're going to find a wonderful spouse who's not going to be me. Done. I'm out. So, we all know Lori is not a vegetarian.

Dude, I use Latin to riz up my wife. My future wife. I hit her with salve in Latin class, because that was part of the assignment. How is that less dorky than may I meet you? Yeah, I guess it's kind of, but the thing was, we're in the same Latin class, CEQ girl, I just met her at ordination.

He said, you have to go around the room and say salve to three people. She was in the back, I was in the front. What? I can out-geek you on this one. But then I went straight to the back, went straight up to my lovely wife. Now, wife's hit her with salve, and she literally left the section. The next class, she was not there. She was gone. Didn't pronounce Solveig correctly. Maybe she was a Solveig type. I don't know, but then the excuse was we all started hanging out.

I'm like, hey, we could do Latin. We could help each other with our Latin homework, and I had taken two years of Latin, so I did not need help with Latin, and that became abundantly clear. I think the second session, she's like, you know Latin, don't you? I was like, yeah, that's not why I'm here. Hey-o, I like it. There you go. That is so cool. So, my wife, well, Lori was a nurse at the University of Michigan Hospital, and she was working that weekend, you know, long shift, and she was trying to convince all of her friends to go to the evening mass on Sunday, and they're like, no, no, we want to go to, you know, mass, and then go to brunch, and I go, no one should have to go to the Feast of the Assumption.

Right there, guys. Oh, man, that's awesome. Put a ring on it. No, Josh. That's way better than may I meet you. Oh, man. You know he didn't say that. You guys are great. That's awesome. Your wives are great. Was it for you, Erika? Hey, would you like to watch the most depressing World War II documentary we could find together? In fact, I think one of the first movies we ever watched together was The English Patient.

Yeah, if girls want to get married, go to Home Depot, watch war documentaries. Tell me more about World War II. Yeah, tell me more. What were your thoughts of the Blitzkrieg offensive? Yeah, the funny thing is, we basically do, so when we hit record, we put on our serious hats. We're like, all right, we got to talk about the Epstein list. We got kind of serious today. Yeah, but this is what we talk about outside of the show. So, I don't know if this is even good for public consumption, but that's what we had today.

We just had to blow it off. We're going to blow up some steam at the end of the app. Don't say how, may I meet you, go with the relevant feast day associated with. Or salve. Or salve. It's up to you. Or, hey, you want to catch Schindler's List with me? Yeah, right. No, dude, no. Don't do that. No, dude, no. Don't do that, Erika. Bad advice. Bad advice.

Okay. Good show, gang. If you want to help us out, we're close to 40,000 on YouTube, so go ahead and subscribe. That'll help us out to reach that milestone. Appreciate it. We have a great episode of The Deep coming for you tomorrow. Really fun one we worked on. So, you'll find that on YouTube. Reviews, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Help us out. Thank you to all of our champions, catholicfoot.org slash champions, where you can join them. The reason we can do the show today, thank you for all of your support. We are so grateful for you. We are going to end with our daily prayer today, and send you off to a great Wednesday afternoon. In the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen. Grant us, we pray, O Lord, our God, the constant gladness of being devoted to you, for it is full and lasting happiness to serve with constancy the author of all that is good.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. May I meet you. On to that one. Great show, guys. Catch you on the next one. Let's do that. Peace.