You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
I'm Carol Markowitz.
And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations.
Thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday.
Normally.
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We have 20,000 sites where people can go.
And I urge people to, you can Google it or go on to any search engine and find out where free testing on the free testing site is available.
I've tapped Dr. Tom.
I hope I pronounced Englesby, correct?
Is that right?
And we could certainly propose legislation to see if people support bunny rabbits and ice cream, but that wouldn't be very rewarding to the American people.
Freedom is back in style.
Welcome to the revolution.
Where we are coming to your city.
Going to play our guitars and sing you a contra song.
Sean Hennity, the new Sean Hannity Show.
More behind the scenes information on breaking news and more bold, inspired solutions for America.
This is a special edition of the Sean Hannity Show.
America Trapped Behind Enemy Lines.
Day number 153.
All right, our two Sean Hannity show.
Thanks for being with us.
800-941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, I like what Dr. Mark Siegel said, Operation Snail Speed versus Warp Speed, and how embarrassing the White House had to correct Kamala Harris's claim that, oh, we're sending out 500 million tests next week.
No, you're not.
No, they weren't prepared for Christmas.
It is unforgivable that they ran out of tests.
They ran out of therapeutics, monoclonal antibodies, antiviral.
They ran out of everything.
And all of this was handed to them.
You can't even make up how bad it is.
Even the tests now are on back order with no sense of urgency.
And Joe is out there scolding Americans for not wearing masks.
These masks that they're talking about, I'm finding people that wear masks that are still testing positive.
So anyway, they announced a plan finally.
What is today's date?
The 14th of January.
We knew Omicron was coming.
In early October, they were offered 732 million tests a month and they turned it down.
That's not my reporting.
That's Vanity Fairs reporting.
You can't even make it up.
It's so bad.
Biden says if you're unvaccinated, you're 17 times more likely to get hospitalized.
Nobody trusts these people anymore.
Nobody.
And why should they?
Now, there was a CDC study that came out.
We already knew Omicron was more contagious and less lethal than the Delta variant.
The CDC study is saying the Omicron variant is 91% less fatal than Delta.
I just don't believe, I cannot in good conscience take that on face value and believe it.
It might be true, but unless I hear from somebody other than the NIH, other than Fauci, other than the CDC, you know, with their ever-changing, you know, the bar moves every day with them.
We have one Republican Senator, Roger Marshall.
He's from Kansas.
We've had him on the program.
He's introducing the Fauci Act after the doctor called him a moron.
Good.
I like that.
I like the Fauci Act.
Less than one-third of voters trust Anthony Fauci.
Only 16% trust Biden.
And 62% trust their own doctor.
You know, Fauci says we're not going to eradicate the virus.
Now we've got thousands of schools going to remote learning again.
Anyway, so they had a big blow as part of their awful week.
Let me play Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito in their arguments during oral arguments when they made some comments.
It's very revealing.
On the issue of whether you're trying to squeeze an elephant into a mousehole and the question of whether this is fundamentally different from anything that OSHA has ever done before, I want to see if it might be fundamentally different in at least two respects and get your answer to the question.
Most OSHA regulations, all of the ones with which I'm familiar, affect employees when they are on the job, but not when they are not on the job.
And this affects employees all the time.
If you're vaccinated while you're on the job, you're vaccinated when you're not on the job.
Isn't this different from anything OSHA has done before in that respect?
Your argument also be, would your argument be the same for any infectious disease that is taken into the workplace?
No, I think that with respect to other infectious diseases, it would be necessary for OSHA to develop the record to demonstrate that the requisite risk level that this action requires is satisfactory.
It's not that you would do it, but could you do it?
If there were, in fact, a grave danger to employees posed by another infectious disease, then yes, we think that Congress clearly contemplated that OSHA is obligated and charged with the responsibility.
Has OSHA ever done that?
OSHA has enacted any number of standards that address those kinds of threats.
For example, the blood-borne pathogen standard that we have pointed to before was intended to protect employees from the risk of viruses that they can contract through blood-borne transmission.
Is that in the general workplace or just in health care?
That standard applied anywhere where employees can predictably encounter blood-borne pathogens.
So it wasn't just the healthcare context.
It can apply to flight attendants.
It can apply to janitors.
It was a standard that directly targeted the exposure wherever it exists, just like this one does.
All right, all part of a disastrous week.
We've got to tip our hat to attorneys general all around the country and many other groups.
We had Jay Seculo and Jordan Seculo on yesterday from the ACLJ, the American Center for Law and Justice.
They had represented the Heritage Foundation in this case.
We've talked to so many, I can't even name all the attorneys generals, Bernovich out in Arizona.
Joining us now is Attorney General from Louisiana, Jeff Landry.
He was at the Supreme Court during oral arguments, and the Honorable Robert Henneke, General Counsel Executive Director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in both cases.
And he represents five Texas staffing agencies that sued OSHA over the mandate and obtained a first in the nation stay in the Fifth Circuit.
Gentlemen, take a bow.
Both did a great job.
Thank you for your hard work.
Robert, we'll start with you, your take on the ruling and what this means, because Joe Biden is now out there saying that states should ignore the high court's ruling.
Well, that's a lawless pronouncement.
And Sean, it's such a privilege to be with you.
Also glad to be joining my friend Jeff Landry in celebrating yesterday's milestone victory, which not just stopped the private vax mandate from the Biden administration, but let's reflect that this was going to impact over 80 million Americans who were going to be subject to this unlawful vaccine mandate that the Biden administration has invested nearly a quarter of its administration so far in terms of promoting and seeking to enforce.
So a milestone victory yesterday and a coalition effort.
I mean, with credit to the state attorneys general across the nation and all the private parties that came together to fight this with one voice, yesterday was the right outcome, but in some ways still leaves the insistence by the Biden administration that they have the power to do this, albeit in a different way, unresolved and part of the war to be fought and continue to be fought against this kind of tyranny.
Yeah.
And what's your take, Attorney General Landry?
Well, first of all, you know, Sean, thank you for giving me some time.
I definitely want to thank the Texas Policy Institute and the Pelican Institute here in Louisiana.
I think one of the things that really stood out in OSHA case were the number of actual plaintiffs, the number of businesses that went out there and actually joined attorneys generals from around the country in opposing this particular mandate.
I think that I don't know that Americans understand how close we came to basically an unbridled federal government that could reach into our lives at any moment.
I mean, if both of these mandates had been upheld by this court, the question is, is there a limitation to the federal government's reach?
I mean, because what these mandates do is they mandate a medical procedure on a person by coercing them with their livelihood, right?
So in other words, if you say no, they say, okay, well, we just take your job away.
I mean, think about the breadth of that in the United States of America under our Constitution.
Well, I look at this in the 6-3 ruling.
Let me ask both of you about part two of this ruling as it relates to hospital workers and facilities that receive Medicare Medicaid money.
What's your take on that, Robert Henneke?
The Medicare health care worker decision is going to be a disaster, and I disagree with it.
And here, the Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kavanaugh flipping sides to join with the liberals was the wrong outcome.
I'm really fearful of what this is going to be.
By the way, Kavanaugh is getting torched for doing it.
I mean, hey, they are furious.
Appropriately so.
I mean, which Brett Kavanaugh are we talking about here when two cases are decided in opposite ways?
But if you look at the percentage of health care workers who are front and center at this, let's say they're the most educated people that are out there about what COVID looks like.
If these individuals who have been caring for America for two years have chosen that they do not want to take the vaccine, they have every right to do so.
But if you eliminate the 10 or 15 or 20 percent of the healthcare workforce that is currently not vaccinated here in the next couple of weeks, it's not just going to be disruptive to nursing homes and hospitals and assisted living facilities.
It's going to be dangerous and potentially life-threatening when we have staffing shortages, especially at the time that you have high rates of illness because of the winter months.
So the Supreme Court got it wrong.
And I think that we're going to see here in short order the dangerous effects of that outcome.
Yeah.
Your take, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.
I agree as well.
And, you know, we forget about the whole class of medical professionals who had contracted the virus before there was a vaccine because they were taking care of COVID patients and then, you know, have natural immunity.
You know, it's like for 50 years, doctors have basically talked about the benefits of natural immunity.
And in 12 months, we basically have thrown it completely out the door.
I think this is a case of the court giveth and the court now taketh away.
And it's unfortunate to see the chief basically play politics with this.
And why Kavanaugh joined him?
Because again, if you look at prior opinions by both the chief and Kavanaugh, even when he was on the D.C. circuit, he was someone who believed in limiting the ability of the administrative state and the agencies.
This was the court's chance to strike a very fatal blow in doing just that and bringing the federal government back in line with the Constitution.
And what they did, they split the baby on us.
And it's unfortunate.
And I agree, it's going to have some impact.
Quick break, we'll come back more with the Honorable Robert Henneke, general counsel.
He's the guy that argued this whole case.
And Attorney General of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, he was he was in the Supreme Court for all the oral arguments on the vaccine mandate decision that came down.
But we continue with Robert Henneke, General Counsel, Executive Director, Texas Public Policy Foundation, Attorney General of Louisiana, Jeff Landry.
Both played a big role in yesterday's Supreme Court decision on vaccine mandates.
Let me ask you both this question because there are cities like New York or states like New York that are not going to adhere to the Supreme Court ruling.
General Electric instantly dropped the requirements earlier today, which I was glad to see.
So what does that mean for people that live in cities where they don't care about the Supreme Court ruling and they're making up their own rules?
Well, if you don't mind, I'll go first on this.
Here's something that is important to remember.
And Sean, I'm sure your listeners and many may not like what I'm about to say, but I think I speak the truth as it relates to the law.
In these pandemics and in these situations, the governmental structure is supposed to be inverted, right?
And so basically, states and locals share the greatest amount of power.
Why?
Because they govern closest to the people.
And so if the state of New York imposes a mandate, a vaccine mandate, they may or may not be able to do that based upon the state constitution and their state statutes.
What this case did, what the Supreme Court said, basically said that OSHA, and at least when it comes to this federal agency, is not able to apply that.
That's why I think we.
So you think that people in these states might be able to challenge based on the Supreme Court ruling.
Is that a fair assumption?
I don't.
I don't think this ruling, I think it's like apples and oranges.
I think if a state basically enacts some sort of vaccine mandate, then challenges have to be done in regards to what those specific Constitution of those states allow them to do in these particular situations.
Last 30 seconds, Robert Henneke, we'll give them to you.
What about states?
So that's where I think the Supreme Court decision yesterday misses the forest for the trees, because I do believe that the United States Constitution protects individuals from being compelled by government to undertake a medical procedure that they don't want to do.
And that's if it was compelled by government or if federal government, state government, or local government.
But because the Supreme Court refuses to take on those bigger constitutional questions and only decided yesterday on a limited textual reading of the statute, we don't have further clarity.
So that's going to remain unresolved.
And unfortunately, it's going to leave states like New York or Maine able to continue forward with their policies.
Well, I got to both of you, please take a bow.
I don't think yesterday would have happened without people like you.
And there were others as well, too many to mention, that challenge this.
I said it on the day that Biden gave his mandate speech that this is not going to fly.
I'm glad I turned out to be right.
We appreciate it.
Honorable Robert Henneke, thank you.
Attorney General of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, thank you.
Appreciate you joining us.
Quick break right back.
Hey there, I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
And I'm Carol Markowitz.
We've been in political media for a long time.
Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane.
That's why we started Normally, a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity.
We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor.
We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously.
So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass, you're our kind of people.
Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So download Verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Sean gets the answers no one else does.
America deserves to know the truth about Congress.
Hi, 25 to the top of the hour.
Linda, how many times did I say that laws weren't followed in the 2020 election?
For example, many of these states in question, they have a law that says partisan observers get to watch the vote count from start to finish.
That doesn't mean 20, 100, or 1,000 feet away, you can't see anything at that distance.
And anyway, it's a lot.
Right.
And the Constitution, if Pennsylvania wanted to change their Constitution, which puts great limits on mail-in balloting, they would have gone through the process rightly to change the Constitution.
That's more difficult than what they did do.
They tried to do it legislatively.
That's unconstitutional.
Well, Hannity, you lost in court.
No, we didn't lose in court.
The judges wouldn't take it up.
That's the point.
In Wisconsin, you had that 3-4 decision.
Wow, it was powerful.
What a powerful dissent by the Chief Justice of the Wisconsin state court.
But anyway, a judge now has ruled in that state that the absentee ballot drop boxes widely deployed in Wisconsin in 2020 were not allowed under state law.
What have I been saying?
We need integrity measures, the opposite of what Democrats want.
For whatever reason, why do you think they don't want voter ID, signature verification, chain of custody control so that nobody can tamper with mail-in ballots?
And lastly, I'd say now with New York City and Vermont and other places allowing illegal immigrants to vote in some elections, it's insane.
Anyway, and New York is no exception to that.
I mean, New York is one of these places where we now have almost a million illegal immigrants that are now going to be allowed to vote.
And the problem is that if you're an illegal immigrant, you don't have a social security number, you're not paying into the system, but you get to dictate the way that the system works.
It's, to say the very least, upsetting.
And it's happening all over the country.
I mean, the people on these border states, Arizona and Texas, California, I mean, they are so that completely, their systems are completely overrun.
The schools, the hospitals, the doctors.
And, you know, we as Americans, you know, give us, you're tired, you're poor.
You know, we want to take care of immigrants.
Just do it the right way.
And there's no way to do it the right way when our borders are completely overrun.
And now we're finding out that we had this reallocation of funds that could have gone to health and human services, but instead it went to billions of dollars.
Yes.
Right.
Did you see the story in the Washington Examiner about the federal judge shooting down Democratic lawyer, discredited dossier guy, Mark Elliot, to wiggle out of sanctions for misleading the court?
Remember, he was the Perkins Cooey lawyer, best known for his, quote, funding, according to the Washington Examiner of Christopher Steele's dirty disinformation dossier that actually Hillary Clinton paid for.
But remember, they funneled the money through that law firm.
And anyway, the reprimand, he was punished by a three-judge panel, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit of March.
The reprimand came for his deceptive behavior in a battle against a Republican-backed Texas law banning straight-ticket voting.
An attorney for Elias called him unprecedented.
There's somebody to keep an eye on.
And anyway, I keep hearing about these videotapes that might exist as well, but we'll see over time.
One really, really dangerous situation that has emerged in the country is on the issue of law and order.
I know most people, and rightly so, you don't care about New York, New York City.
If you're smart, I would tell people just stay away.
Don't bother wasting your time.
We have this situation.
They had a homeless guy.
Literally, you have a Good Samaritan walks up to a homeless guy laying in the street.
It looks like next to a subway.
Did you see this video?
I haven't.
Okay.
So the Good Samaritan takes off his winter coat.
It's cold in New York, puts it, lays it gently on top of this guy.
The guy, a homeless guy, you know, literally jumps up and mugs him and steals his wallet.
Prosecutors asked that the guy be held on $45,000 bail on second-degree robbery charges.
And, you know, eventually he got remanded on $25,000 bail.
But you got this new DA in New York City that is allowing all these crimes to pretty much go unpunished.
You can't even make this stuff up.
No, I mean, now, what is it?
I think it's murder.
And if you, I'm like, okay, so we still care about murder.
Okay, good.
And if you rob somebody and you cause them a lot of physical harm, if you cause them some physical harm, but their place of residence or business is still standing and they can still live and conduct their work, then they let them go.
I'm like, uh-huh.
And I'll tell you, Sean, as somebody who has given money to the homeless or given a sandwich, a lot of times I try to give food because I feel like if you give money, sometimes they can use it for drugs.
And I had a guy throw the sandwich in my face.
He's like, I don't want your stupid sandwich.
Give me money or get away from me.
I said, okay, great.
You know, I always, before I'll give money, and I do, and I used to not, but you know what?
I'm like, okay, I'll ask, are you going to use it for drugs?
Then I determine whether or not I think they're sober or not.
I determine whether or not I think they're going to use it for drugs or alcohol.
And if they are, I make the decision right there on the spot.
I'm not going to contribute to their demise.
I'm not going to do it.
Last item before we hit the phones.
Hunter Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen, will release a memoir and a book is going to break this summer.
If we break, it's a memoir of marriage, addiction, and healing.
She's going to discuss the heavy toll of Hunter's drug addiction and what happened in their relationship and talk about the affair that he had with his dead brother Beau's wife.
Oh, my gosh.
This family is such a disaster.
What a disaster.
It's disgusting.
It really is.
I mean, honestly, it's just gross.
You know, the pictures on the laptop, I mean, most people haven't seen what we've seen.
You know, just printed in the Daily Mail.
They printed the most pictures of anybody.
And the New York Post has done a great job.
All right, let's get to our busy phones.
Let's say hi to Scott is in the great state of Pennsylvania.
Scott, how are you?
Glad you called.
Thanks for being with us.
How do you feel about Dr. Oz, who I happen to be supporting in Pennsylvania?
Have you been following it?
A little bit.
You know, I'll take a look at some of the things.
There's a lot of people that are running right now to go for Toomey's position.
So it's getting to be a very crowded field.
So we'll have to see how things begin to shake out there.
Yeah, though, I'm sure.
Listen, there are a lot of good people that are running.
I just happen, when I know somebody personally and I know what their real positions are, then I tell you what I know.
And I wasn't wrong about Trump.
I don't know if you remember when I supported him pretty early, I got the crap beat out of me by my fellow conservatives because they said, you're supporting a liberal.
I'm like, no, I'm not.
And they'd say, how do you know?
I said, because I know the person for 25 years.
I'm telling you, he's not a liberal.
And he ended up, you know, governing just the way I told people he would.
But, you know, so be it.
The people that beat me up then became super Trump fans.
They could have said, you know what, you are right, Hannity, but I don't think that's in them to do that.
Scott, anyway, what's on your mind?
Well, so, I mean, it really relates to Congress in general.
And I guess my question is, when is enough enough?
And what I mean by that is, you know, most people would agree that, you know, that true power and most of the corruption that you see lies with Congress.
You know, the government threw Martha Stewart in jail for insider trading that today most people in Congress blatantly do and even worse.
And nothing ever happens.
Nothing happens to them.
So, you know, Congress has really stopped representing the people that needs to needs to change.
And at least my thinking is that at a start, at a minimum, they need to have some term limits.
And their pay should be based on the mean of the people that they supposedly represent.
You know, my question is, when is enough enough?
And how do we make those changes?
Because you're not going to be able to do that.
Well, the way minority leader McCarthy has been very straightforward.
And he's taken some heat from some quarters on this.
And that is that if you have, if you're a member of Congress, you can't be investing in stocks that you have any, basically you really shouldn't be investing in any of them.
You know, I actually employ this rule on my own anyway.
Linda, how many times have I people offered me, you know, we'd like to make you a partner and you could work with us.
And in other words, they want to use my name.
How many times do I say no?
I mean, it's just constant.
There's always somebody with an idea or a tip or something.
Have I ever said yes?
No, you always say yes.
Let's go the other way.
Have I ever said, I don't do it.
And the products that I do advertise on the show are products that I believe in and people that I know and things that I personally like.
And we go through a whole vetting process for that.
You know, it's interesting.
Money changes people.
I'm just, I will tell you that, you know, and I've been poor in my life and I now have some money in my life.
And I'm just money, you've got to be careful.
It's people's motivation when it comes to money.
Sometimes it just shocks me what people will do when it comes to money.
I personally, I don't give a flying rip, you know.
I have a big house for safety and security.
Okay.
So, yeah, there you go.
And I use my money usually to make my work easier and give as much away as I possibly can and be responsible so that I can take care of my family as well.
But short of that, Linda, do I dress like a slob or no?
You dress a lot better now.
I mean, I've been with you a long time.
We've moved on up.
Okay.
Because you guys convinced me to change my jeans and my shoes.
What else do I wear?
A baseball capsule.
You wear fireman t-shirts, New Year's MIPD t-shirts, baseball caps, sweatpants.
My daughter's team, you know, stuff like that.
That's what I wear.
And that one hour a day people see me is not the real me.
They make me wear that stupid suit jacket.
And half the time I either have jeans or sweatpants on.
But anyway, I've never wanted money to be the driving force of my life.
And I see that for many people it is.
I was happy.
I think back now and I wonder, how the heck did I not understand how what dire straits I was in, you know, living paycheck to paycheck?
But it never, I never dawned on me that I really didn't have any money.
But, you know, I go back, I look at old stone bank receipts when I lived in Rhode Island.
My total account value was $200.
But you know, Sean, there's something to be said for that, right?
So it's like, you know, you look at everyday people, like, look at all of these people all over the country right now.
And they need, you know, health care.
They need assistance.
They need whatever they need.
And they're going paycheck to paycheck.
And the things they value the most are their families, their time with their families, and the ability to keep a roof over their head and gas in the car and food on the table for their kids.
And it's the Biden, you know, bare shelves Biden that's making that harder than ever.
And then you top that with bringing in tons of illegal immigrants that now are going to get free health care and free education.
And starting with states of California, I'm like, why aren't we taking care of people in this country that need it too?
I think you got to do it first.
We don't have enough money for the world.
We just don't.
No, we don't.
And we're burdening our kids and grandkids with insurmountable debt.
And I think about that too.
That's actually very well said.
Very well said.
And their answer is pretty much full confiscation of wealth.
I mean, they're actually proposing, you know, you pay taxes your whole life.
And then if you invest it and you get lucky and you make a little more money, then you pay taxes again.
They get another bite at the apple.
This is chapter four of Live Free or Die, by the way.
This is socialism.
Well, exactly.
Now they want it.
If you save money after they've had their multiple bites at the apple, then when you die, you can't direct the money to the people that you love in your life because that's just not fair.
You're giving them an advantage.
Well, then why am I working my ass off?
Now, I don't work for money.
I work because I'm passionate about what I do.
And these two elections coming up are going to be the tipping point for this country.
Yeah, but in all fairness to you, you do what a lot of people don't, which is that you share your money.
You know, and that's being straight up and honest.
I mean, I have been out with you on numerous occasions, you know, where the team goes out, we're on remote, you meet somebody, and you're like, I'll get you a computer.
And I'm like, what?
I mean, it's like, you know, this is the, this is the, we've got a college plan for you.
Where do you want to go?
How can I help you?
Oh, this table can't afford their dinner tonight.
We'll pay for that table.
You know, just pay for all those tables over there.
They got a lot of kids.
What is happening?
I mean, I've seen you do it time and time.
I don't like talking about me.
I know, but I mean, you even bought dinner for CNN in Finland.
I mean, that was a big moment for you.
I didn't buy them, did I?
I think I just bought them drinks.
I don't know what you bought them.
Whatever it was, it was too much.
Whatever it was.
And then everybody else was eating what the moose.
Oh, my God.
That was so great.
Everybody wanted a mirror.
By the way, raw moose.
Disgusting.
Oh, gosh, disgusting.
But anyway, 800-941-SHAWN is our number.
You want to be a part of the program.
Freedom from me and call out the left.
Hannity.
Hey, if you know 075 or their website, LoneStarTransfer.com.
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
I'm Carol Markowitz.
And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations.
Thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.