The Manosphere Report

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2:12Hey guys, we are back.

2:13On Normally, the show is normal -ish takes for when the news gets weird.

2:16I'm Mary Calvin Hume. And I'm Carol Markowitz.

2:19How are you doing, Mary Catherine?

2:20I'm good. I saw a survey the other day from the Institute of Family Studies

2:24that said that parents who have strict rules for their kids on bedtime, screen time,

2:29and homework time have healthier, happier teens and relationships with their kids.

2:35So I'm hoping that's the truth.

2:38Right. We're trying to get our little ones to finally go to bed instead of

2:41just throwing them in there and having a free -for -all.

2:44Sure. We're being a little more strict.

2:47And Dad told them a couple times the other night, hey, you got to quiet

2:50down. You got to go to bed.

2:51And they didn't. And on like the third time, he took away their baby doll

2:54and their stuffed lion. They're little buddies.

2:58And I hear this uproar and I'm like, oh, what's happening?

3:01They're out and I'm like, oh, okay, got it.

3:02So we say to them, the second you quiet down and lay down in your

3:06bed, get your lion and your baby doll back.

3:08And they're like, okay. Immediately quiet.

3:12Give them to them. Everybody sleeps.

3:13No one's traumatized. The next morning, the four -year -old comes to Steve with an

3:19Easter storybook and she points to Jesus and she says, Jesus, no take stuffies, Dad.

3:28Jesus, no take stuffies. He no take stuffies?

3:31I felt like Jesus might take stuffies.

3:33I don't know. She's really New Testamenting us.

3:36Mercy. Anyway, it cracked me.

3:38It works. It works. You know, the whole parenting thing, they tell you it works

3:41and then you do it and it works.

3:43It's amazing. Yeah. We're doing the thing over here, but we are getting called out

3:48occasionally by our own children.

3:49Listen, not all of us can be Jesus.

3:53Exactly. That was our argument.

3:55We're doing our best over here.

3:57Anyways. All right. Shall we talk about the State of the Union?

4:03Oh, must we? Okay, fine.

4:05Let's do it. You know, I have to say I am a super political nerd

4:09and I hate watching the State of the Union.

4:12They're just, the amount of time it takes, the sitting, you know, the standing up,

4:16the sitting down, the applause.

4:17I really, I prefer to read it.

4:19And I know that that's kind of, you can't really do that because you need

4:23the vibe. You need, you know, Rashida Tlaib mouthing KKK instead of USA.

4:31You need the whole atmosphere in the room.

4:33Did she do that? I missed that.

4:34She really did. Like, as they're chanting USA, USA, she looks over at Ilhan Omar

4:40and she is saying, she's mouthing KKK, KKK, like, what?

4:45What? You know, it's, yeah.

4:48So, but I mean, you need to see it.

4:50You need to see Fetterman in a suit, the hockey team, the chanting USA, the

4:54honoring of a World War II vet.

4:55I mean, it needs to be a visual thing.

4:57I just wish there was like an edited version I could watch that could be

5:02like half an hour. I have to say, I always enjoy it more than I

5:06think I will. Going into it, I'm going, oh my gosh, I'm going to spend

5:10two and a half hours of my life doing this.

5:12And then the response on top of it.

5:13Right, right. However, I think I like the new model where Trump just treats it

5:19like this is your life.

5:21Who's going to come next?

5:22We have no idea. Well, yes, he knows how to put on a show.

5:26Oh, for sure. And that's why it's worth watching, actually watching and not reading.

5:31And I think it probably gets more eyeballs.

5:34It probably gets more attention.

5:36I have long said that I would vote for someone who just promised to send

5:39a letter like the old school presidents did.

5:42You're not better than TJ.

5:43Like, just send a letter.

5:44And so I agree with you on that part, on that front.

5:47And also, no president in a modern era can give up this golden opportunity to

5:52stand in front of the whole country and really have just such an advantage over

5:58opponents. Like, you can't, the best you can do is no harm when you're sitting

6:03listening to him speak, whether it's even in a Biden situation.

6:07Just be boring, suck it up, sit there in the gallery, and then have your

6:11talking points afterwards and make your argument.

6:13I think the yelling, no matter who you are, no matter if you're right on

6:16the facts, doesn't work. It looks lame.

6:20The response always looks lame.

6:22Oh, yeah. Yeah. I always feel bad for the person who's making the response, no

6:26matter who it is. I mean, you know, Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, last night's Spanberger,

6:31they always look so small in comparison.

6:34But yeah, I thought there was a lot of outbursts yesterday.

6:37I was surprised they let it all go on as much as they did.

6:41I mean, how many times did Ilhan Omar yell things?

6:44She was just like basically having a conversation with Trump that the rest of us

6:50weren't really privy to. I thought that that was a bit much.

6:54Thinking back to, you know, when Joe Wilson interrupted Obama in 2009, and he screamed,

7:00you lie, he ends up getting censured by the House.

7:04Nothing's going to happen to anybody who yelled back last night.

7:08Another point, of course, you were saying, you know, that they look petty when they're

7:12yelling. They look super petty when they're not standing for the U .S.

7:16hockey team. And they look super petty when they're not standing for the various guests

7:21that Trump has brought. Some of them victims of horrible crimes or, you know, Erica

7:26Kirk or just the whole thing.

7:29A Venezuelan political prisoner. Yeah.

7:32Reuniting with his family. I mean, come on.

7:35Yeah. Yeah. I think. Yeah, he had he has a way with these things.

7:40And you talked about the gold medal wins before the Internet blew up.

7:46Internet. We touched on it, but who knew they were going to make it a

7:49three day story? Yes. So like this thing spun out of control and attempted to

7:55break containment and become a big a big to do, which is the idea that

8:00Trump told a horrible sexist joke and all the men on the team laughed at

8:05it. You know, I've actually listened to the video.

8:07And in fact, the joke is like basically just a silly aside.

8:10And then the men say, absolutely, the women should come to the White House.

8:14And then they because they're awesome.

8:16Yeah. And then they chant two for two, which is a celebration of the women.

8:20But the Internet really got mad about this.

8:23And I think the bat signal went out about halfway through the day, Carol, because

8:26I saw Stephanie Cutter and Joe Scarborough be like, hey, guys, maybe we shouldn't cancel

8:33the men's gold medal winning hockey team because they can't help themselves.

8:38They really can't. My whole like normie world was celebrating like the people who I

8:43know vote Democrat were celebrating the U .S.

8:45men's hockey team. It wasn't a political issue until the left forced it to be

8:51a political issue. And they were on the losing side of that.

8:54Again, if you're not standing for the U .S.

8:56men's hockey team after they have this giant win on the world stage and everybody's

9:00going nuts and everybody's rah -rah America.

9:03What are you there for?

9:05Who are you and who are you representing that wouldn't want you to stand?

9:09Yeah, it seems self -defeating.

9:11And it was a wonderful moment to watch them come in from the back of

9:13the gallery. And also, I just want to point out that it's normal for teams

9:18that represent the country to be honored by the head of the country.

9:23That is normal. Yeah. So them coming is not out of the ordinary.

9:26It's normal for American heroes to be at a State of the Union.

9:30Reagan's pointing up to the gallery and pointing out American heroes.

9:33Obama's pointing out American heroes in the gallery.

9:35This is a normal thing.

9:37It was a very cool moment.

9:40Love their matching sweaters. Want one for myself.

9:42Oh my God, I love it.

9:43How come everything's sold out?

9:45Like nobody told me where, you know, we're supposed to be buying this stuff.

9:48I would have done it in advance.

9:50He then gives the Medal of Freedom to the goalie.

9:56Big moment for goalies. As a former soccer goalie, you know, you spend a lot

10:00of time waiting back there for your chance to make a difference.

10:03And so I think he really speaks for all of us when he's up there

10:07getting that award. I think that one was a surprise and very cool.

10:12Very. Yeah. You got it.

10:14I almost felt like he came up with it on the spot.

10:18He was like, a lot of athletes have gotten this.

10:21Well, not a lot. There's a few athletes that have gotten this.

10:24He was so, yeah, he was so trumpy about it.

10:27I almost feel like in the moment he was just like, you know what, let's

10:31do this. And that's the thing.

10:32Again, he knows how to make it a show.

10:35I know people hate that.

10:37I can completely understand. But yeah, the man knows how to put on a performance.

10:43And speaking of when Biden would give the State of the Union, we would all

10:48sit there holding our breath, like, just make it through.

10:52And look, I know. Obviously, you and I were never Team Biden, and yet we

10:57were like rooting for him to do a good job because we didn't want the

11:01American president to fail in front of the whole country.

11:04It's just I don't see that same semblance of not patriotism, but unity from the

11:10left. Neither patriotism either. Let's not let's be serious here.

11:15But I'm specifically talking about they just won't unify.

11:18And it's crazy. I mean, their take is that he's just beyond the pale.

11:24Right. But if you make that rule, you make that rule for every Republican ever,

11:28which is what they will continue to do from now until forever.

11:31Right. Mitt Romney was beyond the pale.

11:33I mean, he possibly. Yeah.

11:35Mitt Romney gave a woman cancer and wanted to kill dogs.

11:38Like, I remember all this.

11:39This isn't just about Trump.

11:41And again, the fact that they're OK, let's say you hate Trump and that's that's

11:45that's your life view. What are you doing hating the U .S.

11:51men's hockey team? Like, how does that make sense to you?

11:54And I was thinking that the most I hear of this kind of gendered, you

11:59know, conversation is when I talk to my daughter and we say things like we're

12:03going to have to bring the boys.

12:05We're going to dinner. The boys are going to have to come.

12:08Yeah. People do it. It's a joke.

12:11Like, relax. Just relax. Well, and they I think I was I was watching this

12:15hockey non -traversy be turned into something because the I think a lot of it

12:21might be bots also. But they're swarming the social medias of these guys to say

12:27that they're out of line and they're terrible and they're losing all their fans.

12:29I mean, it's actual insanity.

12:31Yeah. Meanwhile, in the real world, each of these guys has gained 300 ,000 Instagram

12:37followers in the last five days.

12:39Right. Because normal people don't think this way.

12:42But I think some of it is an allergy to the unity and the patriotism

12:46that was displayed. And that's why I think maybe bots are involved, because what do

12:51the Russians and the Chinese want to do and are happy to fund us to

12:55be mad at each other over a double gold overtime?

12:58Yeah. Hockey win. It's crazy.

13:00Right. But I mean, there are you're absolutely right.

13:03I think it's a lot of it is a bot operation, but there are prominent

13:07voices on the left like actually angry about this.

13:11No, useful idiots for sure.

13:12Jessica Valenti, who I believe her book is called Abortion.

13:16She tweets, this isn't my newsletter's usual beat, but I had to write something about

13:20the U .S. men's hockey team locker room talk.

13:23And then she quotes it as being, I can't help but wonder how many of

13:26these players have daughters and whether they've told them that they can be hockey players

13:29one day too. How many have told them that the women's grit game matters just

13:32as much? Do they think their daughters will still believe them after they hear their

13:36dads laugh? Yeah, they will.

13:38They will believe them because it's a joke.

13:40Relax. Red Seas, Stephen Miller, points out that, of course, Jessica Valenti didn't have a

13:45single post about the women winning gold in overtime last week.

13:49Nothing about the game, nothing about the medals, not even a repost.

13:54That's a tell. That's a tell.

13:56Well, yeah, and the women's team, by the way, several members have been, or at

14:00least one member has been asked about this.

14:02Ellen Hughes pushed back by being normal.

14:06And one of the women was interviewed somewhere and she was like, it was what

14:10it was. And I'm focusing on the positive and this amazing win by both teams

14:13and the unity and the outpouring of love.

14:16Yes, girl. Yes. Well, they also can't say it's no big deal because like so

14:21many people are going to come after them.

14:22They understand that they can't laugh it off because you're going to have the Jessica

14:27Valentis of the world calling them pick me girls or whatever and saying that they're

14:31not standing up for women.

14:32There's just no winning for them.

14:33Which is why I thought she handled it well.

14:35She was like, nod, move on.

14:38Yeah. That's that's the correct.

14:40But the fact that they have to be put in this position, all of them

14:42at all. Yeah. It's so silly over accepting a phone call from the president of

14:48the United States of America.

14:49My friend Vic Mattis pointed out to me that Mondale was in the locker room

14:53with the 1980 team and Carter received them at the White House.

14:58Again, these are normal things.

15:01Don't let the left take your joy from you and make these things abnormal.

15:04They're not. I mean, if you really don't like the U .S.

15:07men's hockey team, you just let us make this into a four day story.

15:11Like it has been. And you know what?

15:12Days one and two, I was annoyed at the response.

15:16Days three and four, I was like, bring it.

15:18Continue on with your insanity.

15:20You look crazy. You look crazy to the average normal person watching.

15:24And the people who didn't stand for them last night.

15:26I got texts from my, you know, not in politics friends saying, did they really

15:31not stand for the U .S.

15:34men's hockey team? It's not a good look.

15:35No, it's really, really not.

15:37All right. What about that response?

15:39What do we think? I actually I feel like you're not going to like what

15:44I'm about to say. But Abigail, yeah, Abigail Spanberger came off as normal.

15:52Yeah, that's kind of her specialty.

15:53I would note the line from her profile in The New York Times where when

15:57asked how she was a successful CIA officer, she said, well, you want to appear

16:01trustworthy. She's very, very good at that.

16:04In her speech, she says, I mean, in the most innovative and exceptional nation in

16:09the history of the world.

16:11And I was like, wow, a Democrat called us an innovative, the most innovative and

16:16exceptional nation in the history of the world.

16:18Going to get in trouble for that, right?

16:20I don't know. I don't know.

16:21I don't know. Bye. Now, she can put on the face.

16:24I will say just as a TV note, why are we in that tight shot

16:27where all I can see is a white wall and a white shirt and her

16:30white face and her white hair?

16:31I just like let's let's.

16:34It actually was a beautiful room and a pretty nice setting.

16:37It was the House of Burgesses in Williamsburg.

16:39Bring it out a little bit.

16:41The audience. Again, this is the disadvantage of being in a small room after we've

16:45just seen a joint session of Congress.

16:47It's 11 o 'clock. They've told them they have to speed it up.

16:50There's an audience there, which I think is smart because you have someone to play

16:53off of. That's probably partly why she sounded pretty good.

16:57However, the audience was clearly told that they could clap for exactly 2 .5 seconds

17:02each time they clapped. Don't clap.

17:04And it sounded like a track.

17:06But I think she hit mostly the right notes, didn't do any harm, which as

17:11a State of the Union response is about all you can do.

17:14Can I ask you one question about the in the gallery?

17:17How effective for the president or damaging for Democrats do you think the moment was

17:23when he said, stand if you believe it is your duty to protect American citizens

17:29as opposed to your first priority, which we know is illegal immigrants?

17:33I have to imagine he did that for the midterm ads.

17:36It is such a powerful visual visual.

17:39It's really like, how did they not stand?

17:41I come on. Come on.

17:44You know, they don't want to do what he says.

17:47Right. And also, a lot of them don't believe it.

17:50Yeah. And that's why it's to me, it is a concern of mine.

17:56When I look at my governor, who's looking normal, giving a response.

18:01Yeah. And then I look at the policies of her party and her.

18:06I say, you do place illegal immigrants and citizens who commit crimes above law -abiding

18:14taxpaying citizens. That is the result of your policies.

18:18And it is not gauche for me to wonder who you're working for.

18:23Speaking of working for, are you working for me, Abigail Stamberger?

18:27That's absolutely true. Right. I look, I, I, I'm just talking about her, the way

18:32she sounds. Yeah. The trustworthy stuff.

18:34She sounds like you're like, if the Democrats were more like this, it wouldn't be

18:39so bad. And then it's like her policies don't match what she says at all.

18:43I just, you know, also a highlight from Ben Dominick tweets, Abigail Stamberger's speech was

18:50riddled with AI flags, began with this line.

18:53We are gathered here in the chambers of the House of Burgess.

18:56In 1705, the people of Virginia Colony gathered here to take on the extraordinary task

19:00of governing themselves. Ben writes, this is a lie.

19:03The building Stamberger addressed the nation from isn't 321 years old.

19:08It's not even 100 years old.

19:09My house is older than her speech location.

19:11Maybe yours, too. She was speaking from a replica, not even on the same ground,

19:15that the Rockefellers funded in 1930 as a tourist site.

19:18I mean, that's the thing.

19:20It all sounds good, but it's not real.

19:23Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think you're right.

19:25That's going to be in a bunch of ads.

19:27I don't know if it's enough to stem the midterm tide.

19:30But it is a thing that people worry about.

19:33It is the reason that Republicans, despite just an onslaught of bad press, have the

19:41edge in trustworthiness on the issue of immigration.

19:45Well, yeah, yeah, absolutely. No matter how much Ilhan Omar yells at Trump, I don't

19:52think that's going to change that part of it.

19:53Right. I mean, Chuck Schumer is still pushing his amnesty for what he says is

19:5911 million illegal immigrants. He's, by the way, had the same number, illegal 11 million

20:03for like 10 years now.

20:05It has not moved. We haven't added any.

20:07No, zero. But, you know, in his plan about this, like, oh, we give them

20:11amnesty and for that we get to secure the border.

20:14And it's like Trump has already secured the border.

20:17Yeah. What are you arguing for here?

20:19And I just don't think the average American is going to want amnesty for the

20:24people who broke the law to come here.

20:25I saw you highlight the CDL issue on your ex.

20:30I think that is such a normie coded issue.

20:34I think people learning that illegal immigrants can get a commercial driver's license.

20:39I think that's an eye opener for a lot of people.

20:42I think that that moment is a moment that where a lot of people learned

20:46that we don't we don't already prevent them from doing that.

20:49Yeah. And I think the CDL thing might be more salient than a lot of

20:53Washington denizens think, because where I came from with a thousand good old boys, it

20:59was a career goal to get a CDL.

21:02It was a big deal.

21:03It opened doors. It gave you higher pay.

21:05A lot of guys I knew got it for driving moving trucks in the summer,

21:09things like that so they could make more cash.

21:11It was like a large deal, a medium to large deal.

21:15The idea that this is happening regularly and it is happening regularly that people Americans

21:20are killed by illegal immigrants who have these CDLs who cannot drive.

21:24And the reason I know they cannot drive.

21:26These aren't simple mistakes is because there is.

21:30Dramatic dash cam of these events, which is also something that will make it more

21:34salient. And I just think, like, we're not even doing the easy stuff.

21:38Like, just do the do the basics.

21:40Yeah, exactly. Right. Can before we move off of this, can I just mention Chief

21:45Warrant Officer Eric Slover, who was the helicopter pilot.

21:49And. venezuela who was shot three times in the leg and still extracted everyone he

21:53was awarded the congressional medal of honor last night another medal of honor recipient royce

21:58williams who like shot down a bunch of migs many many years ago in a

22:0335 minute dog fight but he wasn't allowed to reveal all of that or be

22:07honored for it because at the time during the cold war it would have caused

22:10problems and so he has waited all these years to be 100 years old and

22:14get his medal of honor buddy taggart was also there a world war ii veteran

22:19who is turning 100 on july 4th and then we also had petty officer scott

22:23ruskin who was the rescue helicopter guy who took 150 plus little girls and women

22:30and staff out of the flooded camps in texas uh in 2005 and or 2025

22:36and finally andrew wolf the national guard member who was shot in the head and

22:41was sitting next to his mother and standing and so glorious to see him healthy

22:47there despite the fact that his compatriot of course was honored with a posthumous purple

22:51heart from the president as well her family was there to to be honored too

22:56so it was beautiful that was uh the highlight for me the honoring of the

23:02service members is really top of my list and i'm so glad to see people

23:06get the medal of honor who we went through a long period of time where

23:11they didn't give it to anyone who hadn't passed away and it's like no give

23:14it to people who deserve it or living all right we're going to take a

23:19short break and come right back with more on normally so do you want to

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26:23that's odoo .com we are back on normally and talking the continuing attacks on erica

26:34kirk erica kirk was at the state of the union last night and you know

26:38i love to see her in public and living i think that's what charlie would

26:44have wanted i think that's the right thing to do and yet the daily mail

26:49chose to highlight this as a headline as erica kirk finally comes out of hiding

26:55finally all capital letters comes out of hiding at state of the union shock new

26:59expose plagues giggling widow who can't shake questions over her tears and those leather pants

27:06wow that's like what's wrong with you by the way i love how she's in

27:13a double bind where she's finally you out of hiding but also when she appears

27:20that is bad too so what is she supposed to do exactly it's so galling

27:26and disgusting i don't know what to say about it it's one thing that candace

27:32owens who is an absolute monster is going after erica kirk it's another thing that

27:38the daily mail is piling on and it's also another thing that so many people

27:42remain completely silent on what candace is doing to their allegedly their friend charlie's widow

27:49and i i said this yesterday on x but you know would charlie be surprised

27:55that his absolute bestest friend in the public sphere is actually ben shapiro who has

28:01defended erica at every single turn has been there for her has taken so many

28:07shots because of it and yet he has defended her continuously and his so -called

28:12friends are completely silent and his really good friend candace is the one trying to

28:17destroy his widow no it's it's truly disgusting it's something beyond what i actually could

28:24have imagined and i can imagine some things i've been a widow in the public

28:27eye and people can be really really awful to you particularly if you insist on

28:31speaking living being in public obviously living people who don't like you already or don't

28:38like what you stand for will do not take kindly to that and will tell

28:42you about it but this level of sustained bullying over this long period and we

28:49were talking daily content from someone who can send hordes of people to harass you

28:56i've been amazed at her ability to stand up despite it i think she has

29:01been really remarkable throughout and she must be just praying through it every day because

29:08there's she has to be no difference what she does the people who don't like

29:12her particularly candace who like i guess just got friend zoned the hardest of any

29:17person in the history of mankind she's gonna hate everything she does regardless but she

29:23has behaved with bravery and kindness there was one moment where candace was like here's

29:29a video of erica kirk telling in an internal meeting hey employees if you need

29:33to take some time off to grieve then do so and alleging that that was

29:37somehow a knock against her i'm like oh wow a compassionate manager do tell it

29:42just the motivations i don't understand i can't understand we're going to do a full

29:49investigative series now and the people i don't want to give attention to it yeah

29:55and i also don't want to give it a pass like you have to you

29:58have to thread this needle and i understood turning point trying to turn a blind

30:03eye for a little while yeah for a little while i don't know i feel

30:07like they need to come out guns blazing now no i mean like i mean

30:11like the first two weeks right understand understand that yeah you be like okay this

30:15person seems to be yeah let's let's see where this lands let's not let's not

30:21barbara streisand affect it but there's no danger of that anymore and i i think

30:25you can't give this a pass it is just some of the most awful stuff

30:30i've ever seen in politics or widowedom i've done both yeah yeah i remember just

30:36when i would see comments to you that i get flaming mad and it was

30:41just horrible you know what's crazy here you said people who don't agree with your

30:46opinion will come after you the thing is this is largely people on the right

30:50yes and normie non -political types like i have a normie friend completely invested in

30:57candace's getting to the bottom of charlie kirk's murder because she explained to me bullets

31:02don't do that when they hit a neck and i'm like what the hell do

31:05you know about what bullets do when they hit a neck like how have you

31:09become an expert on this and it's really it's hard to watch i would echo

31:15ali beth stuckey who has said you know we need to be discerning not every

31:20incident particularly real life incidents with real people's lives in the balance is a soap

31:27opera yeah a true crime podcast they are real people's lives and as you and

31:32i try to be with every news cycle even though it's hard and even though

31:36there's so much news we try to gather information be fair about what we're seeing

31:42and be fair about what we're telling and to have things that back it up

31:45and there are people who are happy to make a ton of money not backing

31:50anything up but but creating these soap opera true crime threads right that lead you

31:58only to frankly crash outs just crashing out yeah i was just going to note

32:06tangentially that part of this crash out about the u .s hockey team has brought

32:10in meredith gaudreau who is the uh widow of johnny hockey who died a year

32:16and a half before this event and would have been on the olympics team they

32:20of course honored him with his jersey on the ice and brought his children on

32:23the ice and there's a lot of really nasty talk online about how she hasn't

32:27signaled hard enough and that they they can't just get wiped clean of their sins

32:32by being nice to a widow for five minutes i mean it is horrible crazy

32:36stuff out there yeah awful i i want to just add that you know i

32:41think a lot of people focus on you we can't do that you can't even

32:44try that out there The anti -Semitism of stuff like people like Candace, I think

32:47that's really important only because I think that's a tell.

32:50My issue with someone like Candace is, you know, the anti -Semitism stuff is it's

32:56definitely bad, but I think she leads people into conspiracy nonsense.

33:00And that is so bad for all of us.

33:03It's not just going to be bad for Jews.

33:05It's going to be bad for all Americans.

33:07And it is already. And you know what else?

33:10I posted some old pictures of me and you on X the other night.

33:14You and I have obviously known each other a long time.

33:16When people hear about this show, they ask me, you know, how did you guys

33:19meet? And I was like, well, the first thing that we ever did together was

33:22at the Ground Zero site in New York.

33:25I think it was like 2003, 9 -11 conspiracies were starting to become really popular.

33:30And you and I did this thing where we handed out pamphlets that said the

33:35real truth about 9 -11.

33:37And when you opened it, it was like 19 Arab hijackers with planes into buildings.

33:42It was like the real story.

33:44We were ahead of our time.

33:45Carol, we were such cheeky young women.

33:47Look at us out there.

33:48I know. It's been a, we've, we've had some, you know, I think we've, uh,

33:52and we stayed normal through all of it.

33:54I don't think that you and I either have ever veered off of into insanity.

33:59And look, you know, a lot of people describe it as like, oh, those from

34:03the before times, um, you know, people who are on the internet early are kind

34:07of still normal and sane.

34:08And it's the people who realized like five years ago, 10 years ago, that they

34:11could make money doing insane stuff on the internet that have lost their minds.

34:16I think people just need to not follow the, the really insane stuff, even if

34:22it's sensationalist, even if it's fun to watch.

34:24Well, and there was someone, I can't remember who, it was there someone from the

34:27Daily Wire who had worked with Candace in the past and said, look, if you

34:30are drawn in by this, if you're, if you find it really compelling, know that

34:33you are listening to a very gifted communicator.

34:38She is, yeah. This is a person who has spent a lot of time drawing

34:42people in. But in this case, your fandom is being used for something profoundly evil.

34:49Yeah. And that's, that's just real.

34:52That's the gist of it.

34:53You're harming Charlie Kirk's widow.

34:56Like, listen to yourself. Think about that.

34:58You were a fan of Charlie Kirk, and now you're trying to destroy his wife.

35:02How could you live with yourself?

35:04Mother of his children, guys.

35:06Yep. We're going to take a short break and come right back with one more

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38:17We are back on normally where one of our favorite topics is literacy.

38:23And the New York Times actually had an op -ed by somebody who noted the

38:29literacy rates were higher in places like Louisiana and in Mississippi, and that maybe, maybe

38:36teachers unions have something to do with that.

38:40I mean, the fact that this is in the New York Times is actually quite

38:44good. You know, we're maybe a little bit surprised by it, but the line is,

38:49in fact, in American public education's dismal last decade, it is red states with weak

38:55unions and stronger centralized control, states like Mississippi and Louisiana, that offer good news.

39:01Fourth graders in these states now read slightly better than the students in California and

39:05New York, which spend far more per pupil and have lower child poverty rates.

39:10That's a big point, by the way, the poverty rates.

39:12Another positive outlier is the District of Columbia, which offers $27 ,000 raises to help

39:18retain great teachers. Merit pay, huh?

39:21You don't say. You don't say.

39:23Right. Yeah. It's interesting because Alex Stapp, who was tweeting about this from the, I

39:29believe it's the Institute for Progress is the name of it.

39:33Yeah. He said, this seemed crazy.

39:35This stat can't be true.

39:37So he fact -checked it and was like, actually, yeah, this is true.

39:40Yeah. You should, you should, you should listen to normally, Alec, really.

39:43Yeah. And you sort of, the truth is, if you lay aside your priors, now

39:48I have anti -union priors, obviously, but in looking at the numbers, an honest assessment

39:52requires you to say that the ability of kids to learn is inversely proportional to

39:58the strength of the union.

39:59Like, the stronger the union is, the less learning is happening in your state for

40:04all economic sectors, but obviously the least among us are going to get the worst

40:08of it. Look, the thing is that we know that the teachers' unions play a

40:14direct role in the harm of the education of children.

40:18We knew that during the pandemic, the places where the unions were the strongest is

40:24where the kids didn't go to school.

40:26That is an insane reality that people who are pro -union need to face.

40:31I mean, I think that's what it comes down to for me is that a

40:34lot of the times people refer to these unions as strong.

40:37I mean, it's even in this New York Times column, they say, you know, strong

40:40in red states with weak unions.

40:42It's not the unions that are weak.

40:45It's the politicians are stronger in these states and say no to the unions.

40:49It's a special interest group.

40:50And they say, no, I'm not going to do what's best for you.

40:52I'm going to do what's best for the kids.

40:55When you have that line, you see that the unions being strong or weak is

41:01irrelevant. It's the politicians who set the agenda and they could say no to the

41:06unions and politicians in blue states and blue areas choose not to.

41:11Well, I would argue constituencies in places like Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana are also just less

41:18willing to hold these unions up as somehow precious to their way of life.

41:23They don't believe that. They want to be supportive of good teachers.

41:26They want to be supportive of kids learning.

41:29And to the extent that those work together, great.

41:31But the union is not going to come ahead more likely in a less union

41:38heavy area than somewhere like New York or Northern Virginia, where you get just such

41:44a mess. I do think this is a definitely a vibe shift going on here

41:48where centrist Democrats or like sort of normie Democrats are trying to say, hey, if

41:55we want to be the party of government, the government has to work and it's

41:58not working. The premise of this piece is public labor unions prevent government from delivering

42:04services in any kind of way that normal people can appreciate.

42:08So what are we going to do about it?

42:09And the fact is, you have to get yelled at by unions and you have

42:11to fight them. And I don't think they can do that.

42:13No, they absolutely can't. I mean, I always point out that on day one of

42:18the Biden administration, Randy Weingarten and her counterpart were in the White House.

42:25Day one, they sent the message that these are their most important people that need

42:29to be in the White House on day one.

42:31And of course, kids were largely not in school at that time when Biden took

42:34office in January 2021. And he still wanted the teachers union support and he still

42:40wanted their adoration and cooperation and all of that.

42:44And look, you know, he came into office saying he's going to have these kids

42:49back in school in 100 days.

42:50He didn't. And the union stood in the way of that.

42:54And I'm never going to forget or forgive.

42:56And the literacy thing is just another piece of it where they're standing in the

43:00way of kids learning to read, learning to read better, doing better in school, having

43:05more productive schooling, you know, anti -unions all the way.

43:09And over and over again, you will see that if power is the goal, not

43:13children learning, not delivering services, they will sacrifice delivering services and children learning every time

43:19to have the money and the power from the unions.

43:21And that money, by the way, comes from you when it's a public employee.

43:24Yeah. All of it's yours.

43:26Yep. Yep. Absolutely. Well, thank you for joining us on Normally.

43:30Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts.

43:34Get in touch with us at normallythepod at gmail .com.

43:37Thanks for listening. And when things get weird, We act normally.

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Normally Podcast: Trump’s State of the Union: Hockey Controversy, Democrat Optics & the Teachers Union Literacy Wake-Up Call