Eric Butler’s New York City 2020: Gotham Unglued exposes pandemic-era crime surges—subway stabbings, armed robberies (e.g., Times Square heists)—and questions lockdowns, prisoner releases, and protest-driven impunity. His May 2020 arrest for carrying U.S. flags contrasts with unchecked George Floyd protests, revealing perceived double standards. Butler frames Critical Race Theory as divisive mental gymnastics, blaming white people for crimes by others like anti-Asian attacks, while mocking its adoption amid conservative policy opposition. California’s recall election and Caitlin Jenner’s Republican shift become fodder for partisan critiques, with vaccine segregation policies (e.g., Yankee Stadium’s "fully vaccinated" sections) labeled as coercive CDC overreach. His work underscores systemic distrust in institutions and a broader cultural unraveling. [Automatically generated summary]
Eric Butler is an independent reporter who covers the urban decay of some of America's biggest cities, including NYC and San Francisco, where he's lived.
You can watch him on the podcast Unauthorized Opinions with yours truly on Instagram at ReportandOpine.
And also his newly released book is out, New York City 2020, Gotham Unglued, available on Amazon and Barnes ⁇ Noble.
Eric, how are you doing today?
Thanks for joining me.
Absolutely amazing.
Thank you for having me.
No problem.
Now, you chronicle the abhorrent state of places of NYC and San Francisco where you've lived over the last couple of years.
Now, what exactly prompted you to start doing this?
Was it failed government policy?
Was it culture?
What made you want to start recording and taking pictures of all this stuff?
Well, really, it was just being in New York and not being able to go to work, right?
I mean, they told us that the virus was outside your front door and that going to the office, you know, participating in the New York City economy was just deadly.
So when they told me not to leave home, I naturally had to figure out what was really going on.
And I just, I really just started, I never set out to make a book, right?
I just set out to explore some parts of New York that I had never seen, take the train to stops that I had never been to.
And it wasn't until much later when I had accumulated thousands of photos that I decided I might want to make it into a little bit more permanent project.
I want to show some of the crime, which is exactly what I think you're talking about.
And it's gotten worse over the last year.
You've mentioned stuff like subway stabbings.
Here's one man stabbed robbed in Queen's subway station.
From what I've read, the attacks and subways, attempted murder of people being pushed on the tracks has gone up exponentially.
There's also been armed robberies.
I think we have a news article clipping for that as well.
Yeah, stealing candy and socks from Times Square's Eminem store.
Is this a result of defunding the police, Eric?
Is it another policy or is it culture?
What are the answers here to the problems that we're seeing?
What's the cause?
You know, that's a really tough question because I think we all know that New York has always been a little gritty, right?
It's never, I mean, I think, you know, we think about like some of the old movies and, you know, gangs in New York, and it's never been like the perfect picket fence type of place.
But I think that when, you know, when you had the summer of the summer of love, right, last year, 2020, I think a lot of people, and this is just my opinion, of course, is that a lot of people started to realize that they could literally get away with anything.
There was no consequences because when you see that, you know, if you if you protest and you burn down everything and literally nothing happens to you, then why not keep going?
And these stories that you bring up are just the most recent.
They're just the most notable.
I mean, the whole reason, I mean, the straw that broke the camel's back for me when I got up and left New York was I was just going to work one morning when there was a drive-by shooting outside my place at 8 a.m.
You know, so and that and that never got any coverage.
You didn't see that on NBC or CBS.
That was in the hood out in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
You know, that wasn't in Times Square.
So it gets no, it gets no coverage.
But I think to answer the question, I do not know.
I think there's a kind of a bunch of things that go into this, right?
So from people being locked up, I mean, locked down, I should say, on top of that, to actually have let prisoners out, right?
So they could contain the virus inside the prison, but let dangerous people onto the streets, along with the notion that there are no consequences.
So there's a number of things that go into this.
And it's scary because just when you think it hits rock bottom, when I think it could get no worse, it somehow does, which is crazy.
D Phone the police, let the prisoners out.
Solid strategy.
Now, last year in New York, from what I've been reading, is that you were at a protest at City Hall.
I know there's videos with a lot of the stuff that happened.
You were with a group that was, I don't know if you were with them or just in the same place, daring to hold copies of the Constitution and, of course, U.S. flags, all very dangerous things.
And you guys were, there's a picture of a guy holding the flag, I think, from the protest there.
And you guys got detained at a police station.
And then two weeks later, some George Floyd protesters occupied the exact same park and didn't receive the same treatment.
Am I reading that correctly?
Well, it was a little bit more than two weeks.
It was probably closer to six weeks, but I mean, you know, at that point, you're kind of splitting hairs, right?
Because we, I think there were no more than 30 of us.
We're talking about two dozen people, a lot of them, you know, older in age.
You know, there were women there that were probably old enough to be my mom.
You know, this was not a violent mob of protesters with Molotov cocktails and spray paint.
These were people that just wanted to go back to work and they blasted us with propaganda.
So the cops that were there, I mean, there were probably more cops than there were protesters or rallygoers or whatever you want to call it.
But they were blasting us with propaganda from a boombox.
They didn't even talk to us, really.
They just, you know, this gathering is unlawful.
It was on a recording, but like very, you know, dystopian.
And so they got, they gathered us up.
And just for the record, I actually obeyed what they told me to do.
I actually have footage of me leaving the park as they're telling us to leave the park.
I have video of the cop actually locking the gate to the park.
So I was doing what I was being told to do, and I'm just walking backwards recording them.
And one of the guys, so I'm walking down.
I'm not in the park anymore.
And one of the guys came from, but I was under the impression that I was doing exactly what they were telling me to do.
But apparently, I didn't do it fast enough.
He wanted me to cross the street and I didn't cross the street because at that time, I'm not even joking.
I thought if I just scurried across the street, then I would get like a Jaywalking ticket or something.
It was kind of a catch-22.
But that was May 9th of 2020.
And then George Floyd happened, you know, a year ago today, May 25th.
And then it was less than a week after that, the protest started in that very same park.
And we're talking about hundreds of people, not two dozen, you know, elderly folks and a couple of college kids.
We're talking about hundreds of people from, you know, 20 years old all the way up to probably 50 or 60.
And they camped out there in that very same park for three weeks and got what they were demanding from the mayor.
You know, that's a very similar topic to what's happened here in Toronto.
Protesters, which were actually, they were called Afro-Indigenous Rising.
David Menzies loves them.
Give us Back native land.
You're on stolen land protests.
That lasted three weeks at City Hall in Toronto.
And all they had to do was leave and go to another park, which apparently is allowed as long as you're not right on the City Hall doorsteps.
But very similar situations where you can't be punished for one set of politics and another set of politics, questioning the authority is definitely an arrestable offense, I guess.
So you were, were you charged, or was the group there is an promise to appear?
Or what happened when you guys were brought to the police station?
Yeah, so another just weird thing is while I was actually in the plastic riot cuffs, they, after we got out of a van, so nine people in a van built for 10, so no social distancing, when we got out of the van into the police station, I'm still cuffed, and the guy puts a mask on my face for me.
Caitlin Jenner Controversy00:15:13
So just think about that.
I just rode 20 minutes in a van with no social distancing and no mask.
So it's all just very theatrical, right?
And yeah, they gave us a least, I'm pretty sure all nine of us got these notices to appear.
I'm 99.9% sure that all of those cases were dropped.
And you got to keep in mind, though, when that happened, it was already absurd.
But to have the double standard, the hypocrisy of the Floyd protest happen a month later just makes it, I mean, it's absolutely astonishing.
And it just goes to tell, like, not to be hyperbolic, but New York will take political prisoners.
Like, if you do not, you know, tow the far left-wing line, then they will put you in jail.
It's insane.
Time to paint BLM on your car, Eric, I think, is what you're saying.
Yeah, yeah, you could do that.
There's something else I want to bring up with you, and it's a big movement that's happening finally trying to get critical race theory out of school because of the effects it has on children.
I want to play a clip from a school board meeting, and I want to get your opinion on what's going on here with parents standing up to their school boards.
Parents giving Forsyth County school board members an earful.
If you have materials that you're providing where it says if you were born a white male, you were born an oppressor, you are abusing our children.
One speaker after another accused board members of introducing so-called critical race theory about whites, blacks, and U.S. history into the classrooms.
Parents saying that CRT is now indoctrinating students, disguised in the school system's initiatives on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.
The DEI program is a Trojan horse that will bring in a slippery slope.
A slippery slope that will ultimately end in critical race theory, white repentance, and the McDonaldization of America's students.
Please get back to just teaching our children math, science, factual history, equity of opportunity, and teaching them how to think and not what to think.
McDonald'sization.
You don't hear that one too often, Eric.
Now, in all seriousness, to play both sides here, is this an overreaction from parents, or do you think, or is this necessary?
I think it's necessary.
Now, I don't have kids, so it's not a huge issue for me.
But I will say that as far as I know, growing up in California and hearing stories out in New York as an adult, is that this is kind of the logical next step in an already corroded public school system, right?
Now, I can also testify to that because my mother was a teacher in California and she wouldn't send me to a public school.
Now, she worked, you know, she was a special education teacher and she kind of knew a little bit more about the public school system.
But from her knowledge of the system, she decided to send me to private school.
And that was, you know, a long time ago.
So it makes sense that this already awful system is only getting worse.
And another thing about this critical race theory, I don't, you know, I'm definitely not an expert on it.
I think everything has just been wedged into racism, right?
I mean, right?
Like, they're literally, I did, I posted some things on my Instagram story a couple of days ago where I was just Googling.
I'm not joking, kind of like how, to harken back to the Chicago challenge that we did, where I just would Google, are microwaves racist?
Are televisions right?
I was just putting, and you could find a story like about how eating healthy was racist.
So everything is racist.
And this critical race theory, to me, as far as I understand it, is just a form of mental gymnastics so that nobody has to take responsibility, right?
Well, except for the white people who are, you know, obviously the oppressors and the mean-spirited, you know, cause of all of our problems.
They're the only people.
So you can, I mean, right, you have people out there that are saying white supremacy is the cause of the attacks on Asians that we all know are mostly happening by black people.
And think about this.
If we saw a white person attack an Asian person, that would get wall-to-wall coverage for the next month.
But since it keeps on being black people, they kind of cover it.
They throw a little blurb up there.
Oh, another attack.
But they don't really, you know.
I mean, think about those girls out in DC that killed that guy when they were trying to, you know, hijack his car.
But according to, again, I'm not an expert on critical race theory, but as I understand it, you can use those sort of logic, that mental gymnastics to make sure that those girls are still not responsible for their actions.
And I think that's what they're trying to do in schools.
And I wanted to ask you as well: why do you think that this is not only being championed by, let's say, people who believe strongly in a Black Lives Matter organization or people who are Black and feel they've legitimately been oppressed, for lack of a better word?
Why is it also being championed by white people who end up being the victims or the perpetrators of this?
In critical race theory, the white person is the person doing the impressing.
You're born as an oppressor.
Just as we saw in that clip, somebody mentioning that children probably the ages of 12, I'd have to imagine and younger in a lot of these cases.
That was in Georgia specifically, that they're being taught that as soon as they get out of the womb, they've done some sort of racial crime just by existing.
Why do you think there are so many people who are willing to villainize themselves like that?
I don't know, man.
I guess it's just a sense of guilt and what I think maybe is more commonly known as like the white savior complex.
Like, so they really think that, I mean, right, it's so, it's, it's such a roundabout way of still kind of being, for lack of a better term, a white supremacist, right?
I mean, that line of thinking implies that they are better.
I mean, think about the voting thing, right?
Like, oh, well, black people can't get an ID.
Black people don't have cars, Joe Biden said.
They didn't know how to use the internet, right?
Like, I mean, Joe Biden, maybe I'm getting a little bit off the topic here, but I think that's the line of thinking is that, like, well, these people, they just need help.
They can't do anything without us, which is very strange because I don't remember hearing that when Barack Obama was president, right?
But their brains have all melted out of their ears since Donald Trump was president and they just don't know what to do.
So, I mean, think about how to shift a little bit from critical race theory to the term like structural racism or institutional racism.
I mean, if, right, like it goes without saying that people like Joe Biden, who are getting close to 90 years old or whatever it is, that have been implementing these laws for decades, is that structure, right?
I mean, everybody on the left, the entire media, you know, conglomerate, mafia, big tech, all of those people, that is the establishment.
So if those people, right?
Kind of like to your point, it's like.
You're pointing the finger at yourself almost, right?
Like all the white people championing critical race theory are not only the oppressors, but they're also, I mean, it's just again, it's, I'm not like, it's so.
I think what you're trying to say is we're so oppressed that we believe in the oppressors.
And everybody who was against the government before is now saying, no, the government is the one who we need to enforce this, even though they're oppressing us.
But please help us, Joe Biden.
I think it has to do with not having anybody to blame now that Trump is no longer in office.
And if a lot of these places actually condemned those who were immediately in their city council or immediately as their mayors, they wouldn't like the answers because in a lot of these cities like Baltimore and Chicago and Detroit, it is black leadership.
But I digress on that topic.
I want to push over to the other side of the country.
We are also from in California.
There's a big push to get Gavin Newsom out now, finally, but his main competitor is none other than your favorite Caitlin Jenner.
There's a lot of controversy here.
Is it good or bad?
How do you see this panning out?
I do not see this working because A, Caitlin Jenner is just not really.
Now, of course, California hates conservatives, but from where I'm standing, Caitlin, Bruce, he, she, whatever you want to go with, is not truly a conservative, not just because of the transgender thing, but I think if you look at some of her comments about immigration and race and police reform and the election, those are all moderate,
if not a little bit, left positions.
Now, unfortunately for Caitlin, that's not going to work because she's already come out as having voted for President Trump, even though now she says that, well, the election was fine, nothing was wrong there, which, you know, there's still a lot to be debated.
But the point is, that person is not left enough for the left.
They already do not like her, right?
If you're living in California still, Eric, are you voting Caitlin Jenner or Gavin Newsom or abstaining?
Abstaining.
No, I mean, I think there's some other people.
I think there's a guy, Cox or Major Williams.
There's a couple of other people who are on the ballot who probably don't stand a chance, but at least you got to try because the point I'm making is Caitlin is too far left for an actual conservative and doesn't toe the line of every single weirdo left-wing policy for the left.
So she's in the middle trying to please everybody and nobody's going to like it.
It's not going to work.
That's what I think.
Now, Caitlyn Jenner is under some criticism from, you know, the establishment that doesn't want to, the same establishment that wants to criticize anyone who questions anything a transgender person says is now criticizing Caitlyn Jenner because of a Republican R in front of his name, in front of her name.
I think this ship, this clip of Jimmy Kimmel shows that the veil might be lifting.
Let's play that and I want to get your reaction.
What I liked about Donald Trump is he was a disruptor.
You know, he came in and shook the system up.
After Caitlin Jenner's Fox News Town Hall, Jimmy Kimmel is blasting the former Olympian and reality TV star for comments she made about her airplane hangar and California's homeless population that many called out of touch.
Jenner, who is among those running to replace California Governor Gavin Newsom, who will face a likely recall election in November, granted her first interview to Fox News host Sean Hannity from her airplane hangar.
On Thursdays, Jimmy Kim Alive on ABC, the host noted Jenner oddly mentioned her plane a number of times before talking about others who own an airplane hangar.
This is how well Caitlin Jenner understands the plight of everyday Californians here in LA.
Kimmel then showed a clip from her Fox News interview where Jenner opened up about how her friends are quote leaving California.
Actually, my hanger, the guy across Frederick Reference, he was packing up in his hangar and I said, where are you going?
And he says, I'm moving to Sedona, Arizona.
I can't take it here anymore.
I can't walk down the streets to see the homeless.
Here was Kimmel's response.
Ah, homeless people can't walk around them, can't fly over them.
You know, the late night host went on to say this: Is it transphobic to call a trans person an ignorant a-hole?
I mean, or does calling that trans person an ignorant a-hole, even though she happens to be a trans person, show that we don't discriminate against ignorant a-holes?
Erica reminds me of the late great comedian Patrice O'Neill, who'd always point out how uncomfortable an audience gets when he makes a joke.
And I feel like that's happening to Jimmy Kimmel's audience there.
He's talking about like a form is a form of elitism against Caitlin Jenner.
Yet, I promise you, he's got more money than her.
He hangs out with Howard Stern and everybody out in Connecticut all the time.
He hosts all the huge Hollywood parties with the celebrities.
So, for him to mock somebody for talking about their hangar, which was obviously done so that they can avoid any guidelines or any laws about social distancing to have the interview and everything, for him to say that is kind of just pretending like he's one of the people.
He's still the host of the man show.
That's sort of just like a beside.
But at the same time, I feel like this is the same person who would be saying, calling people transphobe if they question the director of education.
Am I wrong there?
Do you think the veil is starting to lift about what we can criticize regarding a transgender person?
Is it just because Caitlin Jenner is coming out as a Republican?
I think a little bit of both, right?
And let's make no mistake.
Kimmel is no more than an empty Hollywood puppet.
He is going to speak the lines, right?
He is not going to have any of his own thoughts.
He is not going to have any of his own opinions.
He is an establishment puppet to the fullest, right?
I mean, and nobody wants to talk about when he did Blackface or when his ex-wife or ex-girlfriend also did Blackface, and he was, you know, famous for the show with the girls jumping on trampolines and all that stuff, right?
But now that he toes the line so perfectly, it's all gone out the window.
And this is just like the other topics that we talked about.
I mean, with the critical race theory, it's the mental gymnastics have gone full circle to the point where they are literally eaten, like, or not literally, but like figuratively eating their own tail, right?
Like, he's, it's a rich guy, a rich Hollywood elite, making fun of another rich Hollywood elite for being a rich Hollywood elite, just like the white people that are pro-critical race theory making fun of or looking down upon other white people who are not for, I mean, it's just, it is an absolute mess of these people who are who have twisted themselves up into a pretzel at the at the woke altar.
It just doesn't make any sense.
So, but to answer your question, I think it think about it.
If Caitlin, if Caitlin were to run against Newsom as a Democrat, we would, it would be a completely different story.
You wouldn't be able to, you wouldn't be able to talk about the time when she smashed somebody with their car.
You know what I mean?
But now that now that she has an R in front of her name, like you said, it's all fair game.
And I don't know where this ends, man.
I really don't.
And the Bay Area, California as a whole, is just not looking good right now.
It's very sad.
Last question on that subject.
Stick to Your Guns?00:02:05
Is it better for the Republicans to sort of pitch this big tent theory and try to get everyone under them or to stick to their beliefs because the big argument I'm seeing with Republicans or a lot of people don't identify as Republicans anymore.
I shouldn't say that.
A lot of conservatives, like I don't know if you're familiar with a young guy named Vince Dow.
He's having a lot of debates with people based on the fact that they believe Caitlin Jenner, albeit having good policies or not, they don't think that Hispanic immigrants or residents in California, permanent residents, immigrants, citizens in California of Hispanic origins, they don't think that they would vote for a person who's transgender.
So is it better for them to go with this big tent theory and try to prevent people from branching off?
Or should they stick to their guns of what are supposed to be Republican viewpoints or opinions?
I mean, I would say stick to your guns, right?
Now, unfortunately, they've already given far too much leeway.
I mean, it was the old saying that Republicans are just Democrats from 10 years earlier, you know, where they just keep sliding further and further left.
I mean, I was doing some research about the passing of medical cannabis in California, and it sounds eerily similar to like what we're seeing now with this critical race theory and this weird gender ideology, where it took them years, you know, over a decade, chipping away at them trying to legalize weed.
George Soros was actually a part of that.
I mean, you know, he's famous for these hard left-wing movements, but it just rings very similar.
So unfortunately, I think at this point, they may have to go with a big tent thing, but it's really tough to say.
And I only would say that simply because they've already given up too much ground.
If they had stood their ground a decade ago, then maybe you could still stand your ground.
Vaccine Segregation Controversy00:07:34
But now it's like, can we just not be communist?
That's the only thing that's pretty much the only thing.
That's a fair request, I think, to make.
So I want to throw back, Eric, behind the paywall now to your second home in New York City where sports teams have started vaccine segregation for where people can sit and attend the game.
Let's take a look at this video right now.
It was like old times in the Bronx tonight with the message: vaccinate New York on the field.
Fans were back at Yankee Stadium, kicking off a big weekend for New York sports.
CBS2's Nick Calloway was there.
Well, the Yankees beat the White Sox in a close one here tonight, but the real winners here are baseball fans in New York.
It was a big night at Yankee Stadium.
Many fans are catching a game in person for the first time since before the pandemic.
Very excited to go back and actually go to a normal sporting event, you know.
So glad to be here.
It was like Christmas to me.
Dan Hollywood came with his brother, a White Sox fan, for some baseball and a return to some kind of normalcy.
This is like the old days.
I mean, last year was no games at all.
And here I am on my second game.
So happy.
You know, feels back to normal.
Their trip to the Bronx comes as the Yankees unveil fully vaccinated seating sections at full capacity.
No more social distancing, but fans have to prove they got the shot.
The plan did come with some headaches.
Frank Farigno got his second dose a week ago, only to find out that wasn't long enough to get into the fully vaxed section.
And they won't let us in our section.
So now I'm running around in circles, and now I got to swap my tickets over.
So it's a little frustrating.
The Nets announced the City Field will have 21 sections for vaccinated fans starting Monday.
And it's not just baseball.
The Knicks and Nets will have fully vaccinated, full capacity fan sections for playoff games starting this weekend.
It's just like the old Bronx with segregation.
Is this a good route to go down?
Or is this just going to, I mean, it sounds like a thin veil of coercion to me.
You can enjoy all this stuff if you get this, if you buy this product.
And it is a product, whether people want to want to say that or not.
Were people duped with a false sense of freedom if they got the vaccine?
Because this guy who got it, it hasn't been long enough, buddy.
You've got your vaccine, but you haven't gone past these extra parameters.
What do you think about all this?
Yeah, it's absolutely insane.
You can all already see in that little story about some of the hiccups that's going to happen.
And obviously, I mean, look, if everybody just said no to the vaccine, then it wouldn't even be a question, right?
Like, it's totally coercion.
And I mean, the list goes on, right?
I think, what was it, a month or six weeks ago where everybody laughed about the donuts, and that was only the beginning, right?
Like, we've gone from beer to plane rides to, you know, every single thing under the sun that they're trying to coerce people with to get this experimental vaccine.
But it's so sad because is this permanent?
Do they mention anything about, you know, we're going to do vaccinate?
Because they also say a full capacity, which is just not true because half of the arena is socially distanced.
So it's not full capacity.
It's full capacity for half of the stadium.
See how it doesn't really make any sense?
And what if, you know, what if you're with a family member who has the vaccine and another one doesn't?
I mean, what if you have a food allergy or you have a certain condition where you can't get it, but your family member got it because they're a nurse or a doctor?
I mean, this is going to bring up a number of problems.
And all these, it's just, okay.
I want to know when the peanut-free section is coming.
Exactly, right?
Exactly.
It's very similar to that.
And if this were even remotely as dangerous as they say it is, then you wouldn't have seen out in Texas three or four weeks ago their first game at full capacity, no sections, you know, this, that, and the other.
This is just another completely corrupt political theater move.
Even though Greg Abbott, I believe his name's Greg, or Abbott out in Texas, I think he's kind of a swamp creature and I don't really trust him, but he knows where to draw the line.
Like Cuomo out here or DeBlock, whoever's responsible for this, it doesn't make any sense, right?
Like we saw the number, Texas lifted the mask mandate and the left and the mainstream media freaked out and said, this is, I think Gavin Newsom, of all people, said, that's completely reckless.
And of course, that number said that sorry to cut you off.
Just to give people some context, Joe Biden called it Neanderthal thinking and Beto O'Rourke called it a death sentence for Texas.
But now we've got Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Vegas is now opening up with no social distancing.
You got to get people back in the casinos, obviously.
You mentioned the donuts.
There's french fries as well.
We saw the mayor eating in such creepy videos.
He's eating a thing of french fries at like nine in the morning, trying to convince people to get a vaccine.
There's even a New York lottery for vaccination.
Is that true now?
Absolutely.
So again, I think there's, you know, the grand prize, if you get the number one scratcher or whatever, it's $5 million.
But it goes down, I think there's like 10 different prizes all the way down to like $20.
So the coercion is just in over a drive, which is hilarious because where I'm at right now, you just don't see it.
I go, I mean, I go to the grocery store.
They have a little pharmacy over there, and there's like a little sign that says, oh, inquire at the pharmacy about the vaccine.
But you go to New York and it's like, you can't walk a city block without being bombarded with propaganda.
But why is that?
Right?
Why are these hard blue states?
I mean, the CDC was the gospel for them six weeks ago.
And then the CDC said, ah, you know what?
You guys can throw away the mask if you've been vaccinated, wink, wink.
And now people like Lori Lightfoot and Gavin Newsom just don't want to obey it.
No, nope, we don't trust the CDC.
I didn't trust the CDC in March of 2020.
I don't trust them anymore or any less now.
I think they're completely worthless.
Just political, they're just bureaucrats, right?
And Fauci, like if you didn't agree with the CDC a year ago, you're banned from everything.
If you don't agree with them now, you're being extra cautious.
Absolutely.
And it's the same thing with the lab leak theory that's happening right now.
Like, you know, Trump says, ah, you know, I maybe know a little bit about it.
And then they're like, get him out of here.
He said, drink bleach and all sorts of things, get him out of here, kick him off Facebook.
We can't have this guy.
But now that somebody on CNN says, actually, this is not looking too good.
You know, now I think it was either a PolitiFact, I think, who had to rebunk or like they, at first, it was a debunk conspiracy theory, but now that it's true, they've re-bunked it.
Cannot Escape Words00:01:25
Or I don't know what happened.
It's a mess, man.
It's an absolute mess.
And just to bring it full circle, I do not think that the vaccinated and unvaccinated sections is going to keep up.
I don't think it's going to work.
Just like the Excelsior pass that he tried to push, right?
It had a bunch of glitches.
It had a bunch of bugs.
It was easy to hack.
You could get people's information.
I mean, this stuff is not going to work.
It's awful.
All right.
Eric Butler, thanks for joining me.
That's all the time we have in the paywall zone.
We'll call it.
I need to come up with a name for it.
The plus paywall zone.
I need a baseball to come flying through.
Where are these sirens coming from?
Oh, sorry.
Sorry.
You can't escape it, Eric.
Last words to you.
Wait, what'd you say there?
Last words to you.
You can't escape the violence, it sounds like.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know what's going on out there.
Nothing, man.
Just go ahead and check out this book.
It is an amazing documentary, photo documentary of some of the decline.
And unfortunately, I think it's only gotten worse since all these photos were taken.
And naturally, check out the Unauthorized Opinions podcast.
All right.
Thanks a lot, Eric.
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