Latest / 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary / Revolting Anti-Charlie Kirk Video Exposes the Campus Left

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Revolting Anti-Charlie Kirk Video Exposes the Campus Left · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Grab a stool next to Greg Karambas of Radio America
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: and Jim Garrity of National Review.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Three Martini's coming up.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: So glad to have you with us for the Friday
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: edition of the Three Martini Lunch. Jim Garrity is away
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: again today. Here in his place is Scott Bertram, General
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Manager of WRFH, Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 on the campus
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: of Hillsdale College, where he's also a lecturer in journalism.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: He also directs the Hillsdale College Podcast Network and hosts
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: A lot of the podcasts in that network, including the
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Scott, great to have you again today.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Appreciate your time.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Greg, good to be here. Thanks so much for having
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: me again.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Well, I wish we were starting with better news. The
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: good news is this would never happen on the campus
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: of Hillsdale College, which we may return to in just
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: a moment. But, of course, in September of last year,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: we saw the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Valley University. Way too many of us saw it in
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: almost real time. on social media. And one of the
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: truly deeply disturbing things about, in addition, of course, to
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: the horrific murder itself, was how many people on the
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: left were celebrating this thing to the point where they
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: filmed themselves and posted themselves. And at no point along
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: the way did they bother to think about whether that
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: was a good idea or why in the world am
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: I happy that someone was brutally murdered? And then they
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: would whine about it when those social media postings would
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: get them fired in some cases. Well, There are other
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: people still doing the work to some extent that Charlie
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: Kirk was doing through TPUSA. One of those is a
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: group called Pick Up the Mic. And one of these
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: was held at University of Texas, San Antonio. And the
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: guy in the booth, his name was Christian Collins. And
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: then a female student, at least I think she's a student,
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: comes up. And this, Scott, is the exchange.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: If you could announce your name and speak loudly, thank
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: you so much.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: I go by Pamper Baby. Yeah, okay, so I took
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: a plan B, and I'm an immigrant this morning, like,
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: feeling kind of guilty, so I wanted to read a
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: poem that I actually wrote. It was like, I don't know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: felt a little.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Do you have a question, though?
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: No, I just wanted to share. I felt like, you know,
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: freedom of speech. I wanted to share a poem I
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: wrote for everybody.' Twas the night before the Kirkiversary, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: even a mouse. The flags were hung proudly, the memes
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: all on deck. as we solemnly remembered, a shot to
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: the neck. The podcast fell silent. The hot takes grew wary.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: For tomorrow, dear friends, is the great Kirkiversary. So I'll
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: see everyone at the Squirt for Kirk. We're hosting that
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: also on October 10th. I'll see y'all there. It's a BYOE.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: You know, vaccines included. It's free.
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: See y'all there.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: That's all. Are you happy with yourself now? I mean,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I think that was... Baby, I'm thrilled.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: You're brave for being out here. No protection, no nothing,
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: no neck brace.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: I'll pray for you. So Scott, obviously that's a few
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: weeks ago. This is now going viral on social media.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: But as Jim and I mentioned at the time of
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: the anniversary of the horrific shooting back in September, this
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: is not an isolated incident. Even in remembering the murder
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: of Charlie Kirk, there was internal messages from California's Claremont
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: College chats that came out where people were You know,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: where are we going for the rager for the Kirkiversary
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: and so forth? And I don't want to paint with
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: the broad brush that, you know, every lefty college student
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: is like this. But as we saw at the time
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: and as we've seen since then, a disturbingly high percentage
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: of them are like this to the point where they
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: want to do this in public. So how do we
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: deal with this?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I got to solve this problem now. Oh, boy.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: I had managed to avoid watching this until you instructed
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: we talk about it today. I saw it up, and
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: there's no reason for me to click on that. I
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: don't have to see someone mentally damaged expose themselves for
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: all to see. But I clicked and watched and watched
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: it again now as we look back at it. It's
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: so performative as to be... Does she believe those things? Well, yeah, probably.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: There's an aspect here that doesn't necessarily reflect real life.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: It's as if they're walking through a simulation. And what
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: they do and what they say on these college campuses
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: and around their friends have no bearing on life, no bearing,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: no consequences. Nothing they do actually matters in the long run.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: And like I said, there's no consequences. No one that
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: she goes back to is going to say, maybe you
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: didn't want to do that. She'll get high fives and
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: she'll get applause and They'll scroll through TikTok and Instagram
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: and say, isn't it amazing? You're everywhere. I see your poem.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: So I don't know what to do about it. It's
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: caustic to society. It's caustic to relationships between not just
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: families and friends, between people on both sides of the
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: political aisle. I don't think it stops. I think what
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: we're talking here on the 30th, I think tomorrow, if
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: you're on college campuses across the country, I would wager
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: you'll see some Charlie Kirk and not good Charlie Kirk
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: costumes being worn in various places around the country. There
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: is this cognitive dissonance that doesn't connect these real-life events
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: with sort of cliques and popularity and doing things for
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: attention and doing things to get some sort of notoriety.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I'd prefer, I guess, that they are clear and upfront
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: about this kind of stuff. If they have this sort
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: of desire to make a big deal about their thoughts
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: and feelings and how they think about people who don't
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: have the same sort of, again, political perspective that they do, okay,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: bring it forward. I don't know what the answer is.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: The fact that it's not just one or two people,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: I think, is the worst part. I mean, you could
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: hear people cheering what she had to say there. And,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: you know, if this is even five or 10%, and
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: I have a feeling it's even higher than that, that's
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: a really bad situation as these people enter adulthood and
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: are so polarized and so agitated that they're literally openly
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: publicly celebrating the murder of people who just happen to
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: have different political and more deeply held beliefs than that even,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: than them. And that's, That's a problem that's even harder
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: to solve than just I prefer this candidate versus that
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: candidate and how intense that can get. That's a tougher
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: nut to crack.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Let's remember it didn't start with Charlie Kirk, right? It
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: probably didn't start exactly here either, but Luigi Mangione and
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: the assassination of the healthcare CEO in the streets of
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: New York outside a hotel that I stay at. Most
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: times I'm in New York in midtown Manhattan. There were
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: people cheering and there still are people cheering and applauding.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: And in that case- It's not just college students, right?
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: There are prominent people that essentially say, well, it was bad,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: but we've got to understand there are people out there
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: that are very set in their beliefs, and healthcare companies
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: have wronged them. We've got to hear their message, and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: if that's what it takes for us to hear their message,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's totally ridiculous. lines of thinking, but it follows, right?
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Healthcare CEO harmed people and deserved what he had coming
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: because there was a larger message that had to get out.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk's not really a person worthy of respect or
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: worthy of even life because he believes these things that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: are harmful and are violence against me. He says things
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: that are violence against me or my friends. That strain
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: of thinking leads to very dark corners.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it certainly does. And we've saw the same thing
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: with Trump on social media. There's not that it's not
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: a small number of people who after Butler and after
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: the press White House correspondence dinner situation or the guy
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: in Florida, it's like, why can't we find more competent shooters?
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: That's their that's their reaction to this. And Scott, I'm
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: guessing at Hillsdale College, regardless of political ideology, the students
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: are not in any way like this student. And I
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: think that's a good thing.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: It's a good thing, although I will say, you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and Greg can speak from experience, of course, there's a
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: I think there's a thinking. I think there's a thinking
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: that everything's homogenous here. There's a lot of different perspectives
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: here on campus, not just fractured among the right, right,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a populist and libertarian and sort of constitutional conservative or originalist, right?
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: There's a fracturing on that end, but there's a college
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Democrat organization on campus. There are people who aren't conservative
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: who are here as students and elsewhere. And it's right
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: there in the student code that everyone agrees to. You
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: can make and defend any argument on campus as long
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: as it is done in good spirits, good faith discussion,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: good faith disagreement. And we have those all the time
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: here on campus.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: So as it should be free exchange of ideas and
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: let people make up their own minds. But once you
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: start celebrating that kind of mayhem, we've really lost the plot.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: So obviously, Hillsdale should be the model on that as
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: well as I'm sure other places. But UTSA, I don't
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: know what they did about that student, but disgraceful to
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: say the least. All right. Better than that, although sometimes
• 9:30
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• 9:33
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• 9:42
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• 9:46
  Speaker 3: they don't. And when they don't, you definitely need HomeServe.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: We have had neighbors have breaks in that line, that
• 9:53
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• 9:57
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• 9:59
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• 10:35
  Speaker 3: void in Florida. All right, Scott, Tuesday is election day.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: We talked quite a bit yesterday about politics in Michigan.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Now we'll talk a little bit about politics where I
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: live here in Virginia. We had former Virginia Attorney General
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Ken Cuccinelli on the show last week, and we walked
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: through the three proposed constitutional amendments that were passed out
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: of the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. We talked about the egregiously
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: awful abortion until the moment of birth bill, but also
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: even goes to the point where he's worried that it
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: would no longer exist. make statutory rape a crime in
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: the Commonwealth of Virginia. And then there's also one about
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: gay marriage. And then the third one is about restoring
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: voting rights to felons. The question is, should the Constitution
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: of Virginia be amended to provide for the fundamental right
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: to vote in the Commonwealth to revise the qualifications of
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: voters so that a person convicted of a felony is
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: not entitled to vote during his period of incarceration, but
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: is automatically invested with the right to vote upon release
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: from incarceration and And they update also the existing prohibition
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: on voting by persons found to be mentally incompetent to
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: instead apply to persons who have been found to lack
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: the capacity to understand the act of voting. So basically,
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: they want to restore voting rights to anyone once they're
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: out of prison. Right now, the law is that the
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: governor has the flexibility to restore them on case by
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: case basis. This would do it automatically. OK, so that's
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: kind of the shot in this in this martini. Here's
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: the chaser. This is what's happening with Virginia paroles. Jim
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: and I also had a martini on this earlier in
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: the year about how those are ramping up under Democratic
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: run parole boards. Here's the latest.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: The board granted parole to three of the four women
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: up for parole today. Two were serving life sentences for
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: murder and one was serving time for felony drug crimes.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: The board tabled the vote on a fourth convicted murderer.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: 7 News has been tracking every parole board meeting this year,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: and we found that Governor Abigail Spanberger's parole board is
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: granting parole to significantly more felons than former Governor Glenn
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Youngkin's parole board. Under Youngkin, just under 2% of felons
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: were granted parole. After taking office, Governor Spanberger fired Youngkin's
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: board and appointed new members. Since then, the board has
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: granted parole to nearly a quarter of the felons up
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: for parole.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: That's one way to choose your voters, I suppose. Let
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: them loose and let them vote. Why do we prevent
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: felons from voting? Well, when you're behind bars, I think
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: there's an obvious explanation for that. Once you've been released,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: why should we continue to prevent you from voting? Probably
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: the best solution. argument is something along the lines of
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: if you're willing to break the law in such an
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: egregious way that you are eventually sent behind bars for
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: a felony conviction, then why should you be able to
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: make be in the process of making laws for others,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: you know, either indirectly through voting for candidates who will
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: then write law or directly, you know, in the case
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: of this question, You know, imagine if felons could vote
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: on this question. You know, they'd all vote in one
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: particular way in this constitutional limit, I would guess. Or,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: like I said, even directly voting on questions like this.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Automatically restoring those rights seems like the wrong tack to take.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: There is, you know, probation, parole after you're released from prison.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: If we deem this to be a good idea that
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: you have served your time, You have done your punishment
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: and we want to consider giving you back some rights
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: that have been taken away. I could foresee perhaps a
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: system in which there is a certain length of time
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: that we wait and see if your behavior has changed.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe it varies based on the severity of the crime.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: But can we at least take a breath after someone's
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: been released from prison and say, all right, have you
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: been changed? Has your time behind bars changed the way
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: you want to run your life? Has your time behind
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: bars changed the way you will act in the future?
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: If we have some sort of track record that that's
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: the case, all right, let's go back and maybe down
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the line, uh, we can, we can hand you back
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: a right like that. Uh, in other cases, uh, We
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: know the rate of recidivism is fairly high. I don't
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: have that percentage on the tip of my tongue. But
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: people who commit felons, felonies many times and back in
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: the system committing further felonies. Should those people who upon
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: release already sort of have their eyes on the next
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: big score, their plots being put together for the next
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: crime be allowed to vote? Probably not.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: So.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: I'd vote no. I think actually, you know, the second part,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: certainly the first part, as you as you laid out
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: when you're releasing more felons, that that's an issue. But
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: the second part about the the mentally incompetent, the current
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Constitution bars anyone deemed mentally incompetent from voting and the
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: amendment would adjust the Constitution to require a court. To
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: specifically determine the person lacks the capacity to understand the
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: act of voting. It seems to me taking that, you know,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: having to go through a process of going to court
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: to make that happen means that there'd be far more
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: who would be deemed mentally incompetent people voting in elections
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: than there would be today. So there's a lot of
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: moving parts with this particular amendment. Oh, absolutely right.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: And the other amendments are pretty convoluted as well. And so, Scott,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: it's just fascinating. I mean, some of these cases, murderers,
• 16:12
  Speaker 3: rapists getting out with decades left on their sentences. I
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: have no idea what Abigail Spanberger is trying to do here.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: But as the report there from the local ABC7 in
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: the Washington, D.C. area points out, you know, she fired
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: the entire board for that Glenn Youngkin had that was
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: very tough on paroles. And now these are her people
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: letting people out with much greater pressure. And it just
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: goes back to the old argument that Democrats are way
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: too nice to criminals, whether it's not charging them, whether
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: it's letting them out with no cash bail, whether it's
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: low cash bail, whether it's, you know, letting them out
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: way too early. For some reason, it's the criminals who
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: have the sympathies of way too many people on the left.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: And as I have said throughout this year, Virginia, They
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: got their trifecta. They ran on affordability last year. They
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: ran to be moderates publicly. And as soon as they
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: got into power, you know, they did the gerrymandered map.
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: They got these crazy amendments. They've got this whole aggressive
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: left wing gun control agenda and so much more. So people,
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: as you vote, if you haven't voted already, when you
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: hear these supposedly middle of the road arguments. Don't buy it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: Don't buy it. If the left has power, this is
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: what's going to happen. And Virginia is paying the price.
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: I would prefer if the other the other states didn't
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: pay the same price. But you got to learn the
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: lesson before we can move in a different direction.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: And, you know, down the road, you got a DSA
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: candidate says abolish all prisons. Then, hey, no one ever
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: loses the right to vote.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: That's how it goes.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know what they do in that situation. You
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: just you just let him go. There's no crime. There's
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: no conviction. What do you sentence him to just pick
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: up trash on the side of the road for a
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: few weeks for murdering people? I don't know what their
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: solutions to that are.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Lots of ankle monitors.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: I think that's what it comes down to. It's just unbelievable.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: They're not serious. I mean, they are serious, but their
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: ideas are not serious at all. It's just amazing. All right. Well,
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: let's face it. We spend a lot of time protecting
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: our homes and we're going to need to do that
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: a lot more with Abigail Spanberger as governor and our families.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: But what about our digital lives? Google your name and
• 18:09
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• 18:12
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• 18:16
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• 18:19
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• 18:23
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• 18:27
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• 18:29
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• 18:36
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• 18:39
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• 18:43
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• 18:47
  Speaker 3: they can't harm you if they can't find you. So
• 18:50
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• 18:55
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• 19:04
  Speaker 3: Your purchase is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. All right, Scott,
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: yesterday we talked about the New York Times exposing how
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: the Democrats were allegedly actively recruiting other Dan Sullivans to
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: run for Senate in Alaska. And with their weird rank-choice system,
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: they'd be on the ballot at the same time, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: people who like the current Republican senator, Dan Sullivan, might
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: vote for this other Dan Sullivan, and that would help
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: the Democrat, Mary Peltola. She insists that she had absolutely
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: nothing to do with it, despite all the text messages
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: and so forth that the New York Times published. But
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: the follow-up story to this, in addition to further investigations,
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: both at the federal and state level as a result
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: of this, is is how the media is reacting to this.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: On the one hand, good for the New York Times
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: for actually publishing this story in a way that would
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: probably not be very favorable to Democrats just a few
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: days before the election. Other media not happy about that
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: at all. So yesterday, this is according to Fox News,
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: CBS News editor-in-chief Barry Weiss wanted to make this a
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: pretty prominent story in their coverage going forward. She says
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: this is a scandal, but other prominent figures on the
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: CBS News team tried to downplay it. One of them
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: is Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan, who we've played
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: enough Margaret Brennan clips over the years that she's not
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: exactly playing it straight, not calling balls and strikes. She says,
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: according to Fox News, that when Weiss asked for examples
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: of Of other examples of ballot confusion, Brennan pointed to
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: the New Hampshire Senate candidate John Sununu, suggesting that midterm
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: voters might confuse him with his brother, former New Hampshire
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: governor Chris Sununu. Meanwhile, CBS News political correspondent Ed O'Keefe
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: also insisted that such tactics are nothing new. He said
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: it could be a dirty trick, but it's not illegal.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: So I guess they do have people on their way
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: to Alaska to report on this, but the pushback in
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: the newsroom of, ah, This is no big deal. Scott,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: I don't think that would be the case if this
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: story came out and the party situations were reversed.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: CBS is still in trouble, despite Barry Weiss's appearance there.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Now things might be better on the edges, but there's
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: still lots of work to do. This is a story
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that is another piece of evidence to that conclusion. The arguments,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: I have to emphasize, the arguments the CBS reporters are
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: making as excuses to not These are journalists afraid of journalism,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: journalists against journalism, journalists who have no curiosity about exactly
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: what's happening in Alaska that might be of interest to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: viewers and voters. I mean, Margaret Brennan's point is so
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: off topic as to be a giant middle finger to
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Barry Weiss directly. I mean, you can imagine your child
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: making an argument like this and then being smacked down
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: in some way because they try to get your goat saying, oh, well,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it's just like Sununu because people could confuse him with
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: someone else named Sununu. It's not anything like what we're
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: talking about in Alaska. And Ed O'Keefe also arguing that
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: it's not a dirty trick. This is Look, I talked,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I mentioned yesterday, look, yeah, in Chicago, you get the
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: nice Southside Irish city councilman who's being challenged, you know,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: by a strong Latino candidate. And all of a sudden, wow,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: another candidate with a Latino sounding name pops on the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: ballot and splits that vote. Yes, that happens. This is
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: totally different and really unprecedented because it is such a
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: specific situation. The exact name of the exact same person
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: is on the ballot. in a system particularly designed to
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: make it problematic. It's not a primary. It's a general.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Everyone's on the ballot at the same time. And there's
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a crazy ranked choice voting system which could exacerbate the problem,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: which is exactly why Democrats wanted this to be in place.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: And to argue or at least entertain this conversation that
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: it's not a big deal and we shouldn't look into
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: it and there's no reporting to be done is, again,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: an utter lack of you know, a disqualifying lack of
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: curiosity on the reporters quoted, or at least what paraphrased,
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: in this piece over at Fox News. To have your
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: news boss say, I think there's a story here, and
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: your best excuse is, well, it's like this, you know,
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: it's like Sununu. There could be another Sununu, and then
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: there's confusion, so we don't have to do anything about anything.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Because also, where did Margaret Brennan get this idea? You
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: think she came up with that herself? No. She saw
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: it in some blog or some... Some some Democrat made
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: this argument somewhere yesterday that she read and decided, oh,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: that's a strong argument not to investigate this story. So
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: you can also see the water those reporters are swimming
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: in where they get these ideas that that's not a
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: big story. These excuses that we shouldn't investigate this story. Yeah, absolutely.
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: And no surprise to the Democrats on. They get almost
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: the full time, however long they want to answer. They
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: ask Republicans questions. The second they say something that's not
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: in line with the Democratic talking point, which is pretty quick,
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: usually it turns into a debate. Dana Bash does this
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: all the time over on CNN. Kristen Welker, you know,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Democrats get to have their full multi paragraph answer. And
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: Republicans get about three words out before the moderator starts
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: punching from the Democratic perspective. It's not that hard to see.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: It goes to– I'm sure you guys talked about the
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Kristen Wilker and Mike Rogers interview from this past Sunday
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: where she talks to Abdul El-Sayed and just says, oh, Abdul.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Let's get this out of the way once and for all.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: You're not really you don't really like the Muslim Brotherhood,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: do you? And he says, no. And that's the end
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: of the conversation. Mike Rogers is on and they have,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: you know, they've got the pool ready to go. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: she's I've got I've got you saying this thing about
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: she's ready to counter any possible thing. Mike Rogers says
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: that the drop of a hat, because that's the sort
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: of preparation they do when Republicans are on. And she
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: didn't have any of the. any of the circumstances, any
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: of the evidence that she might want to present to
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Abdul-Mosad in that first interview?
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the Democratic moderators protect the Democrats almost
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: like the refs protect Patrick Mahomes. I mean, it's pretty
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: obvious when you're watching these interviews how that goes.
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: Sorry, Chiefs fans, but you know, it's true. All right.
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Let's talk about your business real quick. Your business, hopefully
• 25:34
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  Speaker 3: when you go to Quo.com slash 3ML. That's Q-U-O dot
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  Speaker 3: com slash 3-M-L. All right, Scott, tomorrow is Halloween this weekend, Saturday,
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: Halloween 2026. I have not really worn a costume since
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: the sixth grade. I did wear a Charlie Brown shirt
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: because my kids wanted to be Peanuts characters a number
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: of years back. So that's the most I've done. in
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: several decades. But according to the Associated Press, Halloween candy
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: sales are off to a slow start this year as U.S.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: consumers grapple with high living costs and eye-popping chocolate prices.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: It says Halloween candy sales fell 6.7% in the month
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: ending October 17th compared to the same period last year.
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: The story basically goes on, Scott, to say that it's
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: not just candy prices, it's high gas prices, high other
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: grocery prices, and there's just not enough candy money left
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: for candy now you have different options when it comes
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: to candy you can get the really nice candy or
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: you can get the less than nice candy with the
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: bite-sized stuff and you know can't types of candies that
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: you would never actually eat yourself and so you hand
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: them out generously um.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: They're bite-sized when you when you when you uh bring
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: the the can of green beans to the food drive
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: like you look in your cabinet like i wasn't gonna
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: eat that anyway i guess i can bring that to
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: the the food.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: Drive exactly so so uh obviously there are some economic
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: factors here but uh what do you make of the story.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: Well greg you know me i'm a cheap cheap guy
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: and so uh smart shoppers out there know you you
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: don't buy halloween candy before halloween you buy halloween candy
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: the day after halloween when it's all 50 off and
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: if you wait two weeks it becomes 70 off and
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: you just stock up you know for like easter you
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: might have a you know a pumpkin on it but
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: it's okay no one really cares So that's why I
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: do the majority of my Halloween candy shopping is post-Halloween.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: But you do have the kids come to the door,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: so you've got to buy a few things beforehand. It
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: seems to me this is a story that has been
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: happening annually for the past three, four years. People aren't
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: buying candy, not as much candy. Cocoa is expensive. You'll
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: know that it's slow because stores will discount the good
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: candy even before Halloween. That's how you know they're having
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: problems moving the product. And that did happen. this year at, uh,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: you know, my store of choice Kroger here in the
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: upper Midwest. I think all the, all Halloween candy was
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: 30% off two weeks ago, encouraging people to buy before, uh,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: October 31st. So yes, I did get a couple of bags. Uh,
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: it says, you know, in the story, um, 135 pieces
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: of Milky way tricks. It says tricks. Did you notice that?
• 29:13
  Speaker 3: Trix are for kids.
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: They mean Twix, but they wrote Trix and Snickers. So
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: they're really good stuff. That's $ 20, and it's about the
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: same price consumers paid for a 250-piece bag some five
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: years ago. So like anything else, prices are rising for candy.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: For health nuts out there, the ancillary benefit is maybe
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: now you'll only buy what you need to give away
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: and not the stuff you squirrel away so you can
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: have some you know in a couple of weeks before
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: halloween so not you're you're to tighten up your purchases
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: and only get what you need to hand out so
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: it'll help your waistline.
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: Scott bertram is a genius shopper so take his tips
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: and apply them instantly You know, I'm still glad that
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: Halloween hasn't been totally ruined by the left. It doesn't
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: seem like you have a lot of razor blade and
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: needles and candy stories coming out anymore. What I could
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: do without, though, Scott, I don't know if it's like
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: this in Hillsdale, the nine foot giant skeletons and sometimes
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: like demonic faces on these things that are seemingly in
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: a lot of people's yards. I'd like to get back
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: to slightly more. Normal, less psychotic Halloween decorations.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: My dog is very scared of those blow-up things in
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the yards. I'm not sure if she's scared around Christmas,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: but she's definitely scared of these Halloween ones. My son,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: by the way, I won't be here next week, so
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I can't tell you. It's his last year. He's eighth grade,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: so you want to do it one more time, fine.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: My son has chosen. I swear I had nothing to
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: do with this. No one will believe me. My son said,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I want to be Rico Kasich of the cars for Halloween.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: So I have been tasked with recreating the look of
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Rico Kasich of the cars circa 1979. Now, I tried
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: to get my daughter to go as Polina Porizkova, and
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: she didn't go for that. That one I did, and
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I did ask, and that was a no-go. She's a ladybug.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: So Rico Kasich and a ladybug. If you see them
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: out and about, you'll know.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: Okay, so you didn't influence the decision that he wanted
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: that to be his costume. But the fact that your
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: eighth-grade old son knows who Rick Ocasek is and appreciates
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: his music.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: It's his favorite band.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, your influence, I think, is pretty involved in that.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Look, there's a little steering, but I'm not with him 24-7. So,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: you know, he can choose. He can choose his favorites.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: And he loves the cars. Loves the cars.
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you just got to— You know, he'd like to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: go see him play live, but I have to tell him,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you know— two-fifths are not with us anymore.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: That's going to be a problem.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: Including both lead singers, so very, very hard.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not touring anytime soon, unfortunately. But he will
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: get noticed. I don't think there'll be too many Ric
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: Ocaseks out getting candy in Hillsdale this year. But Scott,
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: always great to have you with us. Have a great weekend.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: Talk to you soon.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Greg.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: Scott Bertram, General Manager WRFH, Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 on
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: the campus of Hillsdale College. Scott also lectures in journalism
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: at Hillsdale, and he directs the Hillsdale College Podcast Network,
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: and in host many of them, including the Radio Free
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: Hillsdale Hour. I'm Greg Karambas of Radio America. Jim Garrity
• 32:08
  Speaker 3: will be back on Monday. In the meantime, please subscribe
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: to the podcast. If you don't already, tell your friends
• 32:12
  Speaker 3: about us as well. We'd love to have them listening.
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: Thanks also for your five-star ratings and your kind reviews.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: Please keep those coming. Get us on your home devices.
• 32:18
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• 32:21
  Speaker 3: Follow all of us on X. Scott is at Scott
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: Bertram with one T in Scott. Jim is at Jim Garrity.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: I'm at Greg Karambas. And follow 3 Martini Lunch on
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: Facebook and Instagram. Have a great weekend, and please join
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: us again Monday for the next Three Martini Lunch.