Ep. 1076 - FBI-book Suppressed The Hunter Biden Laptop
Click here to join the member exclusive portion of my show: https://utm.io/ueSEl
Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that the FBI instructed Facebook to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story, Democrats’ Pennsylvania Senate candidate says his top priority is letting murderers out of prison, and Shia LaBeouf becomes Catholic thanks in part to the Traditional Latin Mass.
Become a DailyWire+ member today to access Matt Walsh’s documentary “What Is A Woman?”, movies, shows, and more: https://utm.io/ueMfc
—
Today’s Sponsors:
Stop funding woke corporate agendas. Switch to PureTalk instead. Save 50% OFF your 1st month when you enter promo code KNOWLESPODCAST at puretalk.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Of all the chicanery and shenanigans that Democrats pulled during the 2020 election, perhaps the most brazen and significant was Big Tech's decision to censor the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The censorship was outrageous and dangerous in and of itself, a group of billionaire oligarchs deciding what could and could not be presented in the public square before an election.
But now the story has gotten even worse, thanks to Mark Zuckerberg's revelation on the Joe Rogan podcast that he and Facebook and big tech only censored the story because the FBI told him to.
Basically, the background here is the FBI, I think, basically came to us, some folks on our team, and was like, hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert.
We thought that there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election.
We have it on notice that basically there's about to be some kind of dump of...
That's similar to that.
So just be vigilant.
So our protocol is different from Twitter's.
What Twitter did is they said, you can't share this at all.
We didn't do that.
The distribution on Facebook was decreased, but people were still allowed to share it.
So you could still share it.
You could still consume it.
So when you say the distribution is decreased, how does that work?
Basically, the ranking in newsfeed was a little bit less.
So fewer people saw it than would have otherwise.
So it definitely...
By what percentage?
I don't know off the top of my head, but it's meaningful.
But we weren't sort of as black and white about it as Twitter.
We just kind of thought, hey, look, if the FBI, which I still view as a legitimate institution in this country, it's very professional law enforcement, they come to us and tell us that we need to be on guard about something, then I want to take that seriously.
So Facebook censored the story, but actually only a little bit, but actually pretty significantly, but actually Mark Zuckerberg doesn't remember how much, and it did so because the FBI told it to.
Little tough to follow the contradictions and the equivocations, but at the very least, Zuckerberg is telling us that the FBI, the allegedly nonpartisan federal law enforcement agency that had been illegally attacking Donald Trump since before he even became president, interfered in the allegedly nonpartisan federal law enforcement agency that had been illegally attacking Donald Trump since before he even became president, interfered in the 2020 election to
Information so damaging that 17% of Biden voters in swing states, according to one survey, said that they would not have voted for Biden had they known about the laptop before the election, would have swung the election to Trump.
The deep state pressured big tech to help elect Democrats and kick a Republican president out of the White House.
But remember, if you question our oligarchs, you're a threat to democracy.
I'm Michael Knowles.
This This is The Michael Knowles Show.
Welcome back to the show, Mike.
My favorite comment yesterday is from Dolly Shortcake who says, I'm really pissed about this.
I paid all my loans off for my bachelor's degree and we now have to pay for deadbeats who don't want to work or got a stupid degree.
I've had it with this administration.
Just terrible.
I think that's resonating for a lot of people.
I think just as the Libs think that current Hispanics who either were born in this country or legally immigrated to this country, that they're really in favor of illegal immigration.
And it turns out they're not.
You can just see it poll after poll.
Hispanics, immigrants, and the descendants of immigrants who are here in this country actually hate illegal immigration.
Well, it's the same thing here.
They think that college graduates are going to love this giveaway of the free student loan forgiveness.
In fact, I think a lot of people who took out student loans and paid them off are going to be much more resentful, actually, than just the regular old taxpayer who's going Because they're going to say, I did the right thing.
Why are people who were perhaps irresponsible or who were just friends with Democrats or who majored in something that wasn't going to pay off later on, why are they getting a free ride when I did the right thing?
You know, it drives you crazy.
The Democrats, not just the Democrats, the Libs, Because we're not just talking about the political party, we're talking about the whole kind of liberal establishment, especially in the bureaucracy, but through all the rest of society too.
The libs reward their allies and punish their enemies.
That's how they do politics.
And it is pretty much Politics 101.
It is pretty much the most basic way of thinking about politics, going all the way back not just to ancient Greece, but going back to the days of the cavemen.
You reward your friends and you punish your enemies That's how they do this The way they do this is Before the election, the FBI comes knocking on Facebook.
They say, hey, listen here, listen.
Listen, my bosses over there in Washington, D.C., they sure would appreciate it if, look, there's going to be some information about Hunter Biden coming out, you understand?
We don't want that to come out, you understand what I'm saying?
That would be very unfortunate if that came out.
So we're going to just, we're going to sweep that one under the rug, right?
Right?
There's a nice tech company you got here.
Sure would be a shame if something happened to it.
Okay, we're good.
We're good.
Okay, good.
That's what they do.
And what does Facebook do?
First of all, Facebook is just full of libs and it's part of the liberal establishment anyway.
So they're probably more than happy to oblige.
But even if they weren't, they're feeling the force of the government, the permanent government, the administrative bureaucracy, the deep state.
And they're saying, okay, I don't want to get on the wrong side of the FBI. Don't forget what Chuck Schumer said.
He was in a way making fun of Donald Trump, but in a way he was giving a warning to everybody.
In a way I think it was quite sincere when he said, don't go against the intelligence community.
They'll kill you nine ways from Sunday.
They could destroy your life so easily, just don't do it.
And that's what happened here.
That's what happened.
It's the same sort of thing you're seeing on the student debt forgiveness.
There's not much of a principle at play here.
It's just a political payoff.
The Democrats are paying off their friends, and they're doing that in a very direct way.
And then in a less direct way, they're punishing their enemies.
The people who don't go to college, who are less likely to vote for Democrats.
The people who are financially responsible and paid off their student loans, who are less likely to vote for Democrats.
Those guys are going to now have to foot the bill for the people who are getting the free ride.
Even among the staffers of the White House, RealClearPolitics' Philip Wegman just reported that one in five White House staffers currently has student debt.
At least 30 senior White House officials have outstanding student loan balances.
This is according to financial disclosures representing one in five of the staffers who are required to file the documents.
And so Biden's giving a handout to his friends and he's punishing his enemies.
And maybe Republicans should learn a little lesson from that.
You know, Republicans They're so eager to prove that they're really neutral and they're really high-minded and they're really above politics.
The conservatives are so eager to do that.
That's what the Never Trump movement was.
The Never Trump movement was, listen, I don't support all this tribalism.
I don't support these party politics.
I mean, you always hear the squishes in almost every election.
You'll have some moderate Republican who comes out and says, look, I'm a Republican, but I'm going to break with my party.
A meaningless statement.
You join a party because you think it'll help your country.
You think it's the best thing for your country.
So, country before party is a distinction without a difference.
But they do it because what they're really saying is, look, I'm not just going to help my friends and punish my enemies.
No, no, I'm above it all.
Frankly, I'm fairer to my enemies than to my friends.
That's how high-minded it is, and that's how you lose.
That's how you lose at politics.
That's how the libs take over the whole culture for the past 60 years.
Maybe conservatives should learn a little bit of a lesson from the libs.
We shouldn't do things that are unjust.
We shouldn't do things that are immoral, which the libs often do.
But I think we can engage in regular normal politics where you have alliances and you help out your constituents and you don't just constantly cave in to your opponents.
The libs are not messing around.
Have you ever heard of swatting?
Swatting not like when you swat a fly, swatting like when you call a police department and you make a false claim about a violent incident at the home of one of your opponents or enemies in the hopes that they will send a SWAT team there with guns drawn to bust down the door and who knows what happens at that point.
Have you ever heard of that?
Marjorie Taylor Greene has heard of that because the Libs have swatted her now twice.
And this is not just Marjorie Taylor Greene claiming this.
This has been confirmed by the police.
Marjorie Taylor Greene wakes up in the middle of the night because the police are there with a major show of force because they get a call that there's a violent incident.
Who knows what the call contained?
This has happened to my friend Tim Pool.
Tim Pool has been swatted now multiple times.
Swatting is attempted murder.
Guys, I don't think I'm being hyperbolic here.
You are calling this in.
You're saying, there are guns being fired.
There is a major violent incident.
So that the cops bust in the door in the middle of the night and start shooting.
Because what happens?
If I wake up in the middle of the night and someone busts down my door, maybe I reach for my gun.
Maybe I assume naturally that there's a home invader there.
Maybe then you get into a provocative situation with the police.
The only reason to do it Is to kill your enemies.
I don't see why else.
If you just want the doorbell to ring, you can order them a pizza.
If you want them to just get in trouble, I don't know.
I don't know what you could do.
You could call in some lesser crime.
You could say, I saw them jaywalking.
But when you call in the SWAT team, you are calling in a hit squad to kill your enemies.
That's how the libs are playing here.
And it's not just that they've done it to Marjorie Taylor Greene.
It's not just that they've done it to Tim Pool.
They've done it to a number of people.
You don't hear the same thing happening on the right.
Furthermore, we're now seeing federal law enforcement being used as a tool of the left.
You're seeing it with the FBI censoring the Hunter Biden laptop story.
You're seeing it with the FBI busting down the doors at Mar-a-Lago.
I think we've got to get a little bit more serious about our politics here.
Certainly swatting should be classified as attempted murder and prosecuted as attempted murder.
And whoever does it should be thrown in the can for life.
But I think we've got to wake up a little bit and see the way our politics is actually working.
And the right-wingers, the squishes, who insist that we just need to uphold the norms and traditions of the value-neutral public square with all the institutions that are apolitical and all, that doesn't exist.
And that hasn't existed for many years.
And burying our heads in the sand and really wishing that we could go back to a time in the past which probably never existed in the first place when politics wasn't really politics.
That's not going to help anything at all.
We've got to get together.
We've got to talk really, really clearly.
When you want to speak clearly to your friends, you've got to check out Pure Talk.
Right now, head on over to puretalk.com.
Use promo code KnowlesPodcast.
Thanks to Bidenflation, you are paying way more than you should for gas and groceries.
Polls show that 94% of Americans are upset or concerned about the impact of rising prices, and 95% believe that soaring inflation is very or somewhat serious.
Obviously, it is.
As a result, every business is trying to nickel and dime you, not just inflation, but shrinkflation.
They're trying to figure out how little a product they can give you for the same price or a higher price.
One thing you don't need to be worried about is spending more money on your phone bill.
Pure Talk gives you talk, text, and plenty of data for just $30 per month.
No price increase there.
It's actually probably two-thirds cheaper than what you're currently paying.
I am a Pure Talk customer.
They are incredibly reliable.
I love it.
I travel a ton, as you all know, for work.
The 5G coverage is phenomenal.
By switching to Pure Talk, the average family of four is saving $75 every month.
Customers are realizing that they don't need as much data as they thought that they did.
And when you make the switch from your current provider, it'll take you 10 minutes.
It's super quick.
Pure Talk is offering their best discount ever to our listeners.
One month for free.
Lock in talk, text, and data on America's most reliable 5G network for just $30 a month, plus get one month free when you make the switch today.
Go to puretalk.com, enter promo code KnowlesPodcast for this special offer. That's puretalk.com, code KnowlesPodcast.
Speaking of murderers.
And John Fetterman, the socialist Democrat candidate for Senate from Pennsylvania, is really awful.
Everything about him is just bad.
And pretty much everything.
He's probably one of the worst candidates out there right now that the Libs are running.
And somehow he keeps getting worse.
John Fetterman was asked if there were one thing that he could change in society, what would it be?
His answer?
He would let murderers out of prison.
If you had a magic wand and you could wave it and fix one thing, what would it be?
Life without parole in Pennsylvania.
We could save billions in revenue long term.
We could save thousands of lives and not make anyone less safe.
And also expunge as many permanent records of people that have been living their best lives and have been paying well beyond when they should have for a charge that they caught, you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago.
If you had a magic wand, it's not even if you had to deal in practical politics.
If you had a magic wand, what's the one thing you would change about society?
Would you solve world hunger?
No.
Would you cure childhood leukemia?
I don't know.
All the horrible diseases, all the good things that happen to bad people?
No.
You would let murderers out of prison.
So says John Fetterman.
Because he says, look, these guys who committed murder, some of them have been in prison for 10 years already.
Come on, that's way past the amount of time that they've paid their debt to society.
This is as radical as it gets.
I really, really don't want that guy to enter the United States Senate.
Unfortunately, the Republican candidate, Dr.
Oz, is not running a very good campaign right now.
Hope they turn that around.
Because this guy, we talk about how AOC is so radical.
We talk about how Raphael Warnock is so radical.
They are.
They're pretty radical compared to, I don't know, even 10 years ago in American politics.
This guy makes those people look like Ronald Reagan.
He's got just kind of a weird look to him.
He's just something weird about the eyes.
He's never held a job in his life, and he's been on his parents' cell phone plane.
He's been getting 50 G's a year from them to support his lifestyle.
He's just not good.
Not good.
No bueno.
Pretty weird stuff.
Speaking of terrible crimes, the Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., Has just admitted to something that the Libs were telling us was a crazy right-wing conspiracy theory.
And we're learning this thanks to one of the great journalistic outlets out there, Libs of TikTok.
For a while now, the conservatives have said...
We've just been right about everything.
We've said that if we allow weird sexual revolution stuff, pretty soon they're going to be doing it on kids.
And the Libs said, that's a slippery slope.
And we said, yeah, maybe, but we're slipping down it, so that's going to happen.
Obviously that did happen.
We said if we tolerate the weird sex change gender surgery stuff, pretty soon they're going to be doing it on kids.
We were told that's a crazy conspiracy theory.
Turns out that was true.
Then it was reported just a couple of weeks ago that there are hospitals who are performing transgender surgeries, like surgically removing the womb from little girls.
We were told that's crazy, it's a conspiracy theory, you're misinterpreting it, it's not true, move along, move along.
So Libs of TikTok called up the Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C. and just asked them.
They said, hey, do you perform hysterectomies on 16-year-old girls and even younger?
Here's what they said.
Hi, I was calling because I'm looking for information about the gender-affirming hysterectomies that you guys offer. - Okay.
Yes.
This is the clinic.
Did you want to make an appointment?
So they would do it for that age?
Yes.
Okay, great.
Is it a common procedure that you guys do for that age?
Yes.
We have all different types of age groups that come in for that.
For the hysterectomy?
Yes, ma'am.
Okay.
Just out of curiosity, do you know, like, what's the youngest age you would do it on?
I'm not sure, but I have seen younger kids.
And I'm not, you know, either hip, I'm not allowed to say that, but I have seen younger kids, like, younger than your child.
The gender-affirming hysterectomy surgery?
Yes.
Okay.
Um, okay.
I really appreciate your help.
Right from the horse's mouth.
And you can't even say, listening to that, oh well, that receptionist, she didn't understand the question.
No, the conversation was very, very clear.
And the receptionist even knew that she wasn't supposed to say what she was saying.
She goes, you know, there's HIPAA laws and...
I probably shouldn't be admitting this, but she thought she was talking to a new customer, so she was trying to entice the customer to come in.
The customer being a pervert parent who was going to rip her kid's womb out.
And she says, yeah, no, we do this.
We rip out the wombs of 16-year-old girls to make them pretend that they're boys and get them on a lifelong regimen of expensive drugs and mutilations.
Yeah, yeah, we do that.
Actually, we do it for kids who are younger.
Actually, we do it for kids who are a lot younger.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what we do.
All of which is to say, there is no argument for supporting the Libs in any way.
There is no argument for voting for a Democrat.
There is no argument for never Trump.
There is no argument for rewarding your enemies and punishing your friends and your allies.
There's no argument for that.
If there ever was, that's gone now.
No principled argument.
No dignified David Frenchy in response.
No.
Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney.
Well, look, I think actually there's a lot we can work with these Democrats on.
There's not.
They're ripping out the wombs of little young teenage girls.
There's not.
And they already were supporting killing hundreds of thousands of babies a year.
And they sick federal law enforcement on you, on your enemies.
And anybody who squishes to these people, let him be anathema.
Okay, I don't know how else to put it.
We're so past that.
We're so past, well, you know, look, reasonable people can disagree on whether to rip the wombs out of little girls.
They can't.
They can't.
And the libs don't want to reconcile.
The libs don't want to meet in the middle.
The libs don't want to concede anything.
They want to sick the SWAT team and the FBI on you.
And look, hey, if you answer that door at 2 in the morning with your gun drawn and something bad happens, well, that's too bad.
At least then we can take your kids and trans them.
That'd be really important.
And then we'll have more political power, us libs, and then we can do the most important thing if we had a magic wand in society, which would be to let all the murderers out.
Do you think there's any meeting in the middle with that kind of worldview?
I don't.
I don't think so at all.
They're not even really making arguments for it, by the way.
They're not making arguments for any of the things they're doing right now.
They're not even making arguments for the student debt relief.
Corinne Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, was just asked, hey, I know that you're giving this handout to your friends, and I know you're punishing your enemies, but can you make any even attempt at a facade of a reasoned argument as to why this is a good thing for society?
Here's her answer.
The HEROES Act hinges on student debt cancellation being tied to the pandemic and that being a national emergency.
But the administration argued in court that the pandemic is over at the southern border to lift Title 42.
It's so over that the government's going to stop buying vaccines in the fall and shift to the private sector.
So how...
Is this a national emergency?
Has COVID a national emergency when it comes to student debt?
It's a very good question and I'm glad you asked it.
Look, we use the HEROES Act because there are going to be some people when we lift the pause That's still going to suffer.
They're still going to have a little bit of a hard time.
And so that's one of the reasons that we made this decision.
Because as we're lifting up the pause, yes, some folks having not to pay for two years has been helpful to them, and we're able to save, and we're probably going to be able to pay those monthly payments.
But there's going to be some folks who are going to have a hard time.
Yes, indeed.
Because they're just in a different bracket, right?
Just because they've probably had a hard time before.
Okay, did you catch that at the end?
At the beginning, she said, we're using this act, the HEROES Act, which says that in times of national emergency and really wars, the president can forgive debts.
And so we're using that now, and we're saying the emergency was COVID. And so then this reporter says, well, hold on.
One, that doesn't really count.
And two, that's not happening right now.
And three, how did that emergency stop these kids from being able to, or these adults now, from paying back their student debts?
And what does Karine Jean-Pierre say?
She says, oh no, you're right.
It wasn't some emergency.
It wasn't COVID. It wasn't any of that.
Yeah, they're just in a lower income bracket right now.
Or they don't have enough wealth right now.
And yeah, they were actually probably having trouble long before COVID. So it's not an emergency.
So it has nothing to do with the Heroes Act.
So there's no legal basis for this whatsoever.
But they're going to do it anyway because they want to reward their friends and punish their enemies.
Because they're going to engage in politics 101, which the conservatives refuse to do.
Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?
No.
Sounds like in a world with so many downsides, we really need to get upside.
Right now, download the free Upside app.
Use code TMKS. From cringing at the pump to getting an eye-popping check at your favorite restaurant, inflation is hitting us all where it hurts, where it really hurts.
That is why you've got to start using Upside.
Upside is an incredible app for anyone who buys gas or groceries or dines out.
Is that you?
Yeah, I think it's all of us.
With every purchase, you can earn cash back thanks to Upside.
It's incredibly easy to use.
You get cash back every time you fill up on gas, even at certain fast food restaurants and coffee shops.
It is not too good to be true.
I can assure you it really, really works.
To get started, download the free Upside app.
Use my promo code TMKS. It's very easy to remember.
The Michael Knowles Show.
TMKS. Get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.
Next, claim an offer for whatever you're buying on Upside.
Check in at the business.
Pay as usual with a credit or debit card.
And get paid.
Simple as that.
In comparison to credit card rewards or loyalty programs, you can earn three times more cash back with Upside.
Upside users are earning more than a million dollars every week.
That's probably why Upside has a 4.8 star rating on the App Store.
Download the free Upside app.
Use promo code TMKS.
Get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more using promo code TMKS.
Speaking of not making arguments...
Speaking of the libs just whining and crying and instituting their own tyranny of will, there is an event called the Podcast Movement.
I had vaguely heard of it, but I don't really know very much about it.
It's some conference where podcasters go and have booths and talk to one another.
And since we here at The Daily Wire are one of the largest podcast companies in the world, I think we're number six or number five or something like that, obviously we had a booth at this event.
And what do you know, the founding editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, first show on our network, Ben Shapiro, shows up to the podcast movement.
Makes sense.
One of the most prominent podcasters in the world would show up to the podcast movement at The Daily Wire booth, because The Daily Wire is one of the biggest podcast companies.
This...
This was a really big deal.
The podcast movement tweeted out their heartfelt apology for allowing one of the most prominent podcasters in the world to show up.
Take a listen.
Ben Shapiro briefly visited the PM22 Expo.
Though he was not registered or expected, we take full responsibility for the harm done by his presence.
So do I get to get a picture?
One, two, three...
God bless you.
Hey, thank you.
We agreed to sell The Daily Wire a first-time booth based on the company's large presence in podcasting.
The weight of that decision is now painfully clear.
All right.
Pleasure to meet you.
It's good to meet you.
During event planning, the dangerous nature of the company's messaging was overlooked.
I love what you're standing for.
Those of you who called this unacceptable are right.
Podcast movement has made mistakes.
The pain caused by this one will always stick with us.
Truly harrowing.
It's amazing that those people survived.
for forgiveness.
They say, those of you who called it unacceptable are right.
In nine wonderful years growing and celebrating this medium, we've made mistakes.
The pain caused by this one will always stick with us.
Please, we take full responsibility.
Please, if you have any questions, we're here to talk.
I have questions.
And furthermore, I do not accept your apology.
I don't think that these tweets cover the irreparable harm done by Ben's appearance, and I want monetary reparations for that.
That's what I want from the podcast movement.
The irony, of course, here about the podcast movement, which is some two-bit conference, who knows, I don't even know where it is, of them attacking Ben and the Daily Wire, is that we are the podcast movement.
We are.
Not you, not some two-bit conference.
Us, the guys who are actually some of the biggest podcasters in the world.
Not just the Daily Wire.
I think, what are we, number five or number six on the charts?
But it's us.
It's Rogan, obviously.
There are a few other groups.
It's really not just us.
But it's a handful of us, okay?
We're the ones doing it.
And by the way, the big podcasters skew disproportionately to the right, or at least anti-leftist.
Joe Rogan's not on the right, but he's not a leftist, that's for sure.
This company obviously skews to the right.
The reason for that is that the people for years had been prevented from accessing conservative information because of the left-wing gatekeepers in the institutions of the media.
And then podcasting comes around, and podcasting is a pirate ship.
That's what Adam Carolla calls it.
Another guy who skews at least a little bit to the right, who's not a leftist, he was the pioneer of podcasting.
And the libs are furious about that.
They hate that the conservatives are able to get their message out there in a relatively freer platform.
So they're doing everything they can to shut it down.
And they make themselves look ridiculous because they're afraid of Ben Shapiro, who is a relatively moderate center-right voice, as mainstream as they possibly come in America, the least intimidating person on earth, who's just a sort of very polite guy who is standing around generously giving of his time to take photos and say hey to people and leave.
So, it's the way they make it sound.
It's as though the guy showed up with an Uzi or something like that.
But they can't make arguments.
Speaking of gathering people together, this is my favorite story of the week.
Shia LaBeouf has converted to Catholicism.
That alone I love.
Shia LaBeouf, who's had some problems, who, like a lot of actors, has been kind of eccentric and explored lots of different things.
Shia LaBeouf has converted to Catholicism.
He was doing a movie about Padre Pio, who's a great Catholic saint.
And my favorite part is the reason why Shia LaBeouf converted to Catholicism.
The Holy Spirit would probably be reason number one.
Reason number two?
Because of the traditional Latin Mass.
Latin mass affects me deeply.
Deeply.
How come?
Because it feels like they're not selling me a car.
And when I go to some mass with the guitars and stuff, and I'm from, you know, Santa Inez, right?
So that's where I was catechized.
And there's a lot of guitar playing.
And there's a lot of, like, what feels like they're trying to sell me on an idea.
I was always an agnostic, even when I was a Sam Harris, TED Talk, you know, Christopher Hitchens guy.
Which is who I was before I fell in.
I always had a belief, but I never had a connection.
Latin Mass gave me something where I felt connected, which took me out of belief into connection.
I had belief because that's the rational, logical...
It's not logical or rational to be atheist.
If you really go deep enough, you get to the Big Bang and then you're screwed again.
You have to account for it somehow, which puts you in a belief situation.
But too much of that logic and too much of that rationale takes me out of feeling, which takes me out of connection.
So he's describing it at the end in this kind of actor-y way, which is this immersive experience he's had at the traditional Latin Mass.
But I also love that line at the beginning.
I love the Latin Mass.
I'm drawn to the Latin Mass.
Why is that?
Because I feel like they're not trying to sell me a car.
And it's so true.
The mass that existed for most of the last 2,000 years until 1970 when a bunch of boomer libs decided to destroy the liturgy.
Not just the boomers.
It was even the generation before.
When that happened, and then they instituted all the weird guitar churches and all that kind of stuff, it drove people away.
It drove tens of thousands of priests away.
It drove countless laity away.
Because they feel like All of a sudden they're just being sold something.
You know, the priest is no longer facing the altar and we're all facing it together.
But the priest is facing you and he's doing a little soft shoe and he's telling yuckity yuck jokes.
And it makes it all about you.
But you go to church to get out of everything being all about you.
Everything's all about you for your whole week probably.
You go to church to experience something different outside of yourself, outside of the world.
You go there for an experience of heaven, and that's what Shia LaBeouf is describing.
He says, I feel like I'm let in on a secret, like I'm part of something, like I'm really witnessing a miracle take place.
And it's not just a show to entertain me or to please me.
I love it.
Probably it's the liberal kind of church reformers who are going to be the hardest hit because it turns out the youths don't want squishiness and electric guitars.
They want truth.
They want orthodoxy.
They want smells and bells and a glimpse of heaven.
That's what they want.
This is wonderful stuff.
Welcome to the church, Shia LaBeouf.
Is it ironic to make an ad for an ad-free viewing experience?
Maybe it is.
That's exactly the type of experience that you will get when you subscribe to Daily Wire Plus.
This is our growing hub for all things Daily Wire, where you will find shows and podcasts like this one and movies and bonus content, and coming soon, kids' content.
Daily Wire Plus is everything you love about the Daily Wire Plus, so much more, minus the ads.
Go to dailywireplus.com, become a member today, get 35% off your new membership.
That's dailywireplus.com.
Now finally, we've reached my absolute favorite time of the week when we get to the mailbag sponsored by Pure Talk.
Go to puretalk.com, select a plan, enter promo code KnowlesPodcast.
Be sure to do that.
Right now you will save 50% off your first month.
Without further ado, let's get to the voice mailbag.
Good morning, Michael Knowles.
Two questions for you.
One quick and one a little less so.
First, does The Daily Wire have a tip hotline for newsworthy tips?
And second, congratulations on your new baby boy.
My wife and I just had our first child a month ago or so.
Question is, where do you go for your vaccine info?
We have already been denied service to a pediatrician for not giving our newborn the Hep B shot.
I said she doesn't live in a brothel, which I'm sure didn't help.
But who can you trust?
I'm not anti-vax, but 72 shots before our daughter is four seems ridiculous.
Does Daily Wire have a resource page we can turn to?
Thank you so much for all you do, and may God bless you and your family.
Really great question.
I had the exact same experience that you did.
I'm in the hospital, certainly with my first kid, and they tried it again with my second kid.
They say, okay, we're going to give your kid a thousand shots.
I said, uh, I don't think so.
I don't really know.
What shots are you giving my kid?
So, well, this, that, and the other thing, and obviously we've got to give your kid the shot for hepatitis B. I said, hold up.
Why are you doing that?
Do you think that my kid is going to go shoot up heroin on Skid Row?
Do you think my kid is about to go find some hookers before he nurses and goes into his bassinet?
And they had no answer.
The closest thing to an answer they had was, well, sometimes the husband cheats on the wife before birth and doesn't tell her, and then the wife gets hepatitis B and she doesn't know it and then passes it to the kid during birth.
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
That's really...
I assure you, none of that happened.
So no, you're not going to give my kid that shot.
And really what it is, I think, is the public health people...
Knowing, okay, we've got these people here, we want to pump them full of everything that we possibly can, because on a macro scale, maybe that will slow down the spread of certain viruses, and also because there's regulatory capture by the big pharma companies that want to sell shots.
So, okay, because of all of that, we're going to pump your kid full of a bunch of stuff.
You say the thing that all the conservatives have to say now, which is, look, I'm not an anti-vaxxer.
Don't you think it's kind of weird that the COVID vaccines don't really do the thing they were supposed to do?
And look, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but it is kind of weird how there's a vaccine court that gives out compensation for vaccine injuries that was specially established by Congress.
And look, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but I'm open to certain vaccine shots, but...
No, I'm fairly skeptical of them now.
I'm fairly skeptical of them because I'm fairly skeptical of the public health establishment because they've just lied to us for two and a half years.
And if they lied to us about COVID, and they lied to us about the COVID shots, and they lied to us about the masks, what else have they lied to us about?
Or even if it hasn't been an intentional lie, what else have they gotten wrong?
When I was a kid, I got my vaccines, most of them at least, but The numbers that are being given to little babies now are so much higher.
And I think, are those really necessary?
Why would I engage in any medical intervention that is not necessary?
Especially if the potential benefit is very small and there is risk to any medical intervention.
So I wouldn't feel bad about your skepticism on a lot of vaccines.
I don't have one resource page.
It's mostly just my wife kind of Googles things.
But you can look those things up, and some sources are more credible than others.
Usually peer-reviewed scientific studies are more credible than others, but you can find stuff all over the place, and I think you should not be ashamed of your skepticism.
Next question.
Hey, Michael.
Love the show.
So recently I've had the weirdest phenomena, which is that I will be walking my dog and my baby, my baby son, who is super cute, and...
People will comment on how cute the dog is and like not even acknowledge my son.
And it's just like a really weird thing.
And I've noticed there are like two types of people.
There are people who acknowledge your dog and there are people who acknowledge your human child.
And this also kind of goes hand in hand with me noticing recently that there are a lot of people who are walking their dogs in strollers like as though it's a child that they're pushing around.
Just wonder if this is like a larger trend or maybe just something in my area.
I'm not sure.
Thanks.
It's a major trend.
Dogs are the new kids.
It's very sad.
It should not be the case.
You should not treat your dog as your kid.
You should love your dog as your dog.
I'm not saying you should be mean to your dog or not get a dog or not have affection for your dog.
No, you love your dog.
Your dog in a way has a soul.
It's not a rational soul like a human being has, but a dog has a soul proper to its nature.
But a dog is not a kid.
And if you treat the dog as a kid, you're only going to end up unhappy.
You should, if you can and so desire, you should have a kid.
If you can't, a lot of people can't have kids, and you really want a kid, you should consider adopting a kid.
And if you don't want any of those things, but you want a dog, you can have a dog.
But treat the dog like a dog.
Don't put the dog in a little stroller.
I have friends of mine who do this.
It's really, really sad.
You know something has gone wrong in society.
Where we just coddle the little puppies and we sort of stop on the street and say, well, how cute that little puppy is.
And then we ignore the kids when we don't kill them in the first place.
Michael, I think you know a question I'm going to ask you because I bet you've been bombarded with this question.
Why did you have to bring the Little League into politics the way you did?
I mean, when I was 12 years old, if I hit somebody in the head with a baseball, I would be traumatized.
I'd just be thinking the worst.
I'd be terrified that that kid was injured.
You'd have to go to the hospital.
I mean, you are shaking and terrified.
You're a kid.
And for another kid to come up and maybe give me a hug or let me know it was okay.
As a kid, where you're immature and you're still learning about life, I'm down for it.
I just want to know, do you want to take back anything you said about that incident?
Or do you stand by everything you said?
Even though I know that what you said, the principle about being tough applies to politics for sure.
Just want to give you an opportunity to either defend yourself or to explain yourself a little bit more.
I'm very curious.
Alright, thanks.
Have a good one.
I stand by everything I said.
I haven't been bombarded on that.
For those who missed it a week or two ago on the show, I played this clip that had gone viral of the Little League World Series, and the pitcher kid beamed the batter in the head, and the kid went down, but he was okay.
You know, it knocked his helmet a little, but it still bounced off the helmet.
And then the kid takes his first base, and then the first baseman walks over to the pitcher and gives him a hug.
I said, man, I bet these are such good kids.
They're such good kids.
It's wonderful.
That's a great act of friendship to do that.
I hope these kids go out and get an ice cream cone after the game.
But...
The game is not the place for that.
There's a time for every purpose under heaven, a time for war, a time for peace, a time to embrace, a time to refrain from embracing, and the game is not the place for that.
And so you're making the point, yeah, sure, we've got to be tough in politics, but we shouldn't be tough on the Little League field.
Actually, that's the point of Little League.
That's the point of introducing kids to sports.
That's the point of education, is to model the right behavior for them and teach them the appropriate times for behavior.
And so, yeah, if the pitcher had knocked the kid down and he were taken out on a stretcher, maybe that's a different circumstance.
But he knocked the kid down.
Kid got right up, dusted himself off, took first base.
The pitcher was still a little shaken up about it.
Okay.
But the purpose of these sports is to teach kids how to work through these kinds of things.
And how to maintain their composure.
And how to follow the rules.
And how to play the game.
And how to be competitive when you're supposed to be competitive, and how to be sportsmanly when the game is over.
And the problem here is not that the kid who got beamed with the baseball was nice to the other kid.
The problem was the timing.
There's a time and a place for everything, and that was not the place for it.
So no, stand by it.
I wouldn't punish the kids for it.
You know, you might say, oh, that was very nice of you, Johnny, but it's actually not the place for that.
The place for that is at the ice cream parlor or the soda fountain after the game.
Next question.
Hey, Michael.
I'm a big fan of the show and everything going on at Daily Wire.
I watched your interview with Yuram Hazoni and the book Conservatism, A Rediscovery.
I decided to pick it up and read it and thought it was really insightful, but I was wondering where you fall on the dichotomy that he set up between the hyper-rationalist view from the Enlightenment and what Yuram posited as the more conservative historical empiricist view.
And I'd never really heard of historical empiricism, so that's kind of why I'm asking you about this.
Do you think that our ability to reason and know all these universal truths is all that we need?
I think our liberal elites would agree with that, but I think maybe even a lot of people on the right might, before hearing about historical empiricism.
Or would you agree with Yoram that the conservative perspective is more based on tradition and knowledge that's inherited through the ages?
Love to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks, Michael.
I'd love to get to meet you one day.
You inspire me a lot.
Oh, thank you very much.
It's very kind.
I think you can reconcile the two with Christianity.
I think Christianity uniquely reconciles the two, in part because the divine logic of the universe, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is incarnate and becomes man.
And the gospel is a journalistic account of things that actually happened in time and place.
So right there, you're reconciling not just rationalism, you're reconciling reason himself with historical empiricism.
But you refer to the Enlightenment as this kind of beginning of rationalism in politics.
And that's fair, depending on how you want to use that word rationalism.
But yes, the Enlightenment was wrong about pretty much everything.
The Enlightenment should not be called the Enlightenment.
It didn't enlighten very much.
The Enlightenment, if anything, represents a move away from Christian civilization.
But to try to preserve the good stuff from Christian civilization while taking God out of it.
And the early Enlightenment thinkers were not so overt in their atheism and secularism, but the logical conclusion of the systems that they devised, I think, is atheism and secularism.
Now, there is a pre-Enlightenment kind of rationalism.
You think of the scholastics in the Middle Ages.
You think of St.
Thomas Aquinas would be a great example of that.
And Thomas Aquinas is right, again, about pretty much everything.
But that's different because that's a rationalism that is centered around God.
Much different than a rationalism centered around a vacuum in which God should be.
So, yeah, if you're going to try to reason from a world without God, you're going to go off the deep end.
If you reason from a world with God and the natural law...
Then you're going to be a little bit better off.
And all of that is conditioned with a little bit of epistemological humility, with a little bit of a kind of recognition that we're not going to recreate the world anew through our own unfettered reason, that our brains are not just the simplest way to do this.
But actually, there is a wisdom of the ages that inherited wisdom, prejudice in the really...
Proper meaning of that term is good, and we should defer a little bit to the wisdom of the ages and tradition and have a stable, good, flourishing society where the best stuff has survived.
Those, I think, are very easily reconciled, but the kind of rationalism of a world without God, that's going to drive you off a deep end.
All right, before we get to the member block, I do want to get to one question that was written in the regular old mailbag, not just the voice mailbag.
This question from Rich.
Michael, you discuss and call out rhinos frequently.
Is there such a thing as a dino?
Thanks, Rich.
No.
No, there's no such thing as a dino.
The reason there's no such thing as a dino is the reason there are rhinos is because there is an incentive for the squishy Republicans to suck up to the liberal establishment because they get all sorts of goodies from it.
So, you get the Republicans there, but the pressure of the media and academia and the corporations and the bureaucracy and all that pressure gets to them and then they squish.
There's no similar incentive or pressure on the Democrats to move to the right.
So there's really no such thing as a dino.
You get one or two somewhat moderate Democrats left in America, Joe Manchin and sort of Kyrsten Sinema.
That's it, though.
Whereas on the right, you could name, I mean, we could be here all day.
We could name hundreds of them.
Maybe we will in our member block.
The rest of the show is continuing now, and you do not want to miss it.
