Latest / Predictable with Stu Burguiere / Ep 1095 | Plastic Cutlery: IDIOTIC Math Error Fuels FULL YEAR of Leftist Environmental Panic | Guest: Josh Hammer

Transcript

Ep 1095 | Plastic Cutlery: IDIOTIC Math Error Fuels FULL YEAR of Leftist Environmental Panic | Guest: Josh Hammer · Predictable with Stu Burguiere

• 0:01
  Stu does America.
• 0:06
  Welcome to the program.
• 0:07
  We've got a ton to get to.
• 0:08
  Uh,
• 0:09
  Josh Hammer is here with the truth behind
• 0:10
  the horrific famine photos coming out of Gaza,
• 0:13
  plus a look at grading
• 0:14
  Trump's second term so far.
• 0:16
  But we're gonna get started by doing
• 0:18
  the great black plastic spatula
• 0:21
  panic.
• 0:22
  Yes,
• 0:22
  very easy to say,
• 0:24
  the easiest
• 0:25
  title of all time.
• 0:25
  By the way,
• 0:25
  we've got spatulas here,
• 0:26
  you know,
• 0:27
  uh,
• 0:27
  spatulas all day long,
• 0:28
  um.
• 0:29
  These black,
• 0:30
  these,
• 0:30
  uh,
• 0:30
  I mean,
• 0:30
  don't you have these around your house?
• 0:31
  This is a,
• 0:32
  like a strainer,
• 0:33
  you got that.
• 0:34
  You got these kind of,
• 0:34
  uh,
• 0:35
  you got,
• 0:35
  you got the ladle,
• 0:36
  you get the ladle.
• 0:37
  Um,
• 0:37
  how about these,
• 0:37
  uh,
• 0:38
  these are the ones,
• 0:39
  these are the classic ones,
• 0:39
  right?
• 0:40
  Spatulla,
• 0:40
  black spatulas.
• 0:41
  Everyone's got these around the house,
• 0:42
  right?
• 0:42
  At least they did
• 0:43
  until recently.
• 0:45
  These black spatulas are evil.
• 0:47
  They're killing you.
• 0:48
  Didn't you know that?
• 0:49
  Why aren't you more panicked about it?
• 0:52
  That's really the problem.
• 0:55
  That's kind of where the society went a few months ago,
• 0:58
  actually.
• 0:59
  Uh,
• 0:59
  there was a real panic about this.
• 1:01
  Maybe it didn't hit you,
• 1:02
  um,
• 1:02
  but I bet you there's a chance,
• 1:03
  uh,
• 1:04
  maybe somebody in your family was chucking these things.
• 1:07
  If you're looking for where,
• 1:07
  where did they go,
• 1:08
  I bet this is where they went.
• 1:10
  And a lot of it comes from this one article.
• 1:12
  Throw out your spatula.
• 1:15
  Throw out your black plastic spatula.
• 1:17
  It's probably leaching chemical chemicals into your cooking oil.
• 1:21
  God,
• 1:22
  that sounds terrible.
• 1:23
  Who would want chemicals?
• 1:24
  Now,
• 1:24
  of course,
• 1:25
  everything on Earth is built of chemicals,
• 1:27
  but chemicals sounds like a scary word,
• 1:29
  so we're not going to.
• 1:30
  Uh,
• 1:31
  uh,
• 1:31
  we're not gonna be calm about it,
• 1:33
  that's for sure.
• 1:33
  We're gonna freak out.
• 1:34
  And everyone's gonna take their spatula
• 1:36
  and they're gonna throw it away.
• 1:37
  That's what's gonna happen
• 1:38
  with the spatula.
• 1:39
  Now,
• 1:39
  this led to a legitimate
• 1:42
  craze,
• 1:42
  a panic,
• 1:43
  I would say.
• 1:45
  Everybody covered this
• 1:47
  at the time.
• 1:47
  This was a huge,
• 1:48
  huge story.
• 1:49
  It's hard to describe how big and viral this went.
• 1:52
  Uh,
• 1:52
  let me give you some examples.
• 1:53
  Scientific American flame retardants and black plastic spatulas
• 1:57
  concern scientists.
• 1:58
  Black plastic kitchen tools might expose you to toxic chemicals.
• 2:02
  Here's what to use instead,
• 2:04
  says the wire cutter
• 2:06
  with surely
• 2:07
  sponsored links.
• 2:08
  Yes,
• 2:08
  you should really toss that black plastic spatula,
• 2:12
  says the Wall Street Journal.
• 2:15
  Uh,
• 2:15
  KQED,
• 2:17
  why it's time to ditch your black plastic
• 2:20
  cookware.
• 2:21
  Uh,
• 2:21
  yes,
• 2:22
  throw out your black spatula,
• 2:24
  but the harder part is
• 2:25
  what comes next,
• 2:27
  says the San Francisco Chronicle as they were
• 2:28
  stepping over human feces in the street.
• 2:30
  And finally,
• 2:32
  The Los Angeles Times,
• 2:33
  your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you.
• 2:38
  Study says,
• 2:39
  here's what to do,
• 2:41
  surely with some
• 2:42
  sponsored links.
• 2:44
  This was a legit freak out.
• 2:45
  I mean,
• 2:45
  people were throwing these things out like crazy
• 2:49
  all around the country,
• 2:51
  um,
• 2:51
  and it
• 2:52
  led to people,
• 2:53
  uh,
• 2:54
  you know,
• 2:54
  changing the way they cook their food.
• 2:56
  And this is a big focus of my life right now,
• 2:58
  I will say,
• 2:59
  it's a big fascination of mine.
• 3:01
  It's how people take these things,
• 3:03
  stuff like this,
• 3:04
  and they,
• 3:04
  they make major life changes based on it.
• 3:07
  And,
• 3:08
  you know,
• 3:08
  you wonder,
• 3:09
  does it really do anything?
• 3:10
  I mean,
• 3:11
  are you really like
• 3:12
  focusing on something you maybe read online or maybe saw on a TikTok
• 3:17
  that's gonna change your life and make it terrible and
• 3:19
  uh and terrify you.
• 3:21
  So you do all these things and you work really hard and you go to restaurants,
• 3:24
  you have them separate their food some weird way.
• 3:26
  Or you have them not cook it this way,
• 3:29
  or you don't go to that place,
• 3:30
  or you,
• 3:31
  everyone comes home and they don't like the food anymore because you're
• 3:33
  not cooking it with any ingredients that taste good because you're terrified.
• 3:36
  And,
• 3:37
  you know,
• 3:38
  a lot of the stuff,
• 3:38
  no one ever examines again.
• 3:40
  You get the big headlines,
• 3:41
  you get all the clicks,
• 3:43
  and then what,
• 3:44
  right?
• 3:45
  Well,
• 3:46
  here's then what.
• 3:47
  That's our focus of today's program,
• 3:49
  the great black plastic spatula panic.
• 3:54
  This is from New York Magazine.
• 3:55
  Let me give you some of this.
• 3:56
  This is a fascinating,
• 3:58
  fascinating tale,
• 3:59
  but again,
• 4:00
  you probably saw
• 4:02
  headlines about
• 4:03
  the black plastic spatulas when all this happened,
• 4:05
  but
• 4:06
  have you read about the updates to the story?
• 4:08
  Zoe Schlanger,
• 4:10
  a science writer at The Atlantic,
• 4:11
  a science writer at The Atlantic.
• 4:13
  Again,
• 4:14
  Atlantic,
• 4:14
  very respected science,
• 4:16
  uh,
• 4:16
  science can never be questioned.
• 4:18
  Uh,
• 4:18
  she was looking for a story last October when she got an email about a new study.
• 4:22
  Stop right there for one second.
• 4:24
  Let me just
• 4:25
  address you one more time on this point because I don't think I say it enough,
• 4:28
  even though you may have heard it 100 times.
• 4:30
  The news does not happen like you think the news happens.
• 4:33
  If you're not in the news,
• 4:35
  you don't know this.
• 4:36
  Why would you,
• 4:37
  right?
• 4:37
  Certainly things happen and the news gets covered in a normal fashion,
• 4:41
  right?
• 4:42
  Giant earthquake in Russia.
• 4:43
  People talk about it,
• 4:44
  is there a tsunami coming?
• 4:45
  That's normal sort of news coverage.
• 4:47
  And then there's the way that we picture the news happening
• 4:51
  in every movie.
• 4:51
  There's always like.
• 4:52
  You know,
• 4:53
  it's Deep Throat.
• 4:53
  They're in a parking garage.
• 4:55
  They're getting tips on something.
• 4:57
  I mentioned this with the Media Matters stories earlier this week.
• 5:01
  There are no group of reporters sitting
• 5:02
  around wondering about Media Matters finances.
• 5:05
  They were messaged by,
• 5:06
  I would argue,
• 5:07
  Media Matters,
• 5:09
  telling them,
• 5:09
  Hey,
• 5:10
  you need to cover this because we need X,
• 5:11
  Y,
• 5:12
  and Z to happen.
• 5:12
  We need more money to come in or whatever.
• 5:15
  That is how news works in almost all circumstances.
• 5:19
  It is someone coming to them,
• 5:21
  not like a Deep Throat
• 5:23
  or I need to tell you the truth,
• 5:25
  a whistleblower,
• 5:26
  nothing like that.
• 5:27
  What it typically is is some organization
• 5:30
  that wants attention on its organization or its cause,
• 5:33
  writing to the authors of
• 5:36
  the news stories and saying you should do a story on this.
• 5:41
  And then they do it dutifully.
• 5:44
  So that happens right here and they tell you about it in this story.
• 5:47
  A science writer at The Atlantic was looking for
• 5:49
  a story last October when she got an email
• 5:52
  about a new study
• 5:53
  warning how the chemicals in black plastic
• 5:56
  cookware could be leaching into our food.
• 5:59
  The study
• 5:59
  by a nonprofit called
• 6:01
  Toxic Free Future.
• 6:04
  Outlined how potentially cancer causing hormone disrupting chemicals
• 6:09
  were found in far more food grade plastics
• 6:12
  than previously known.
• 6:13
  Now,
• 6:13
  I don't have to advise you of this,
• 6:16
  but like when you get an email from
• 6:18
  someone saying,
• 6:19
  hey,
• 6:19
  did you read that
• 6:21
  toxic-free future study?
• 6:24
  What do you think it's gonna say?
• 6:25
  Do you think they're gonna.
• 6:26
  To say actually we found there's nothing wrong with this cookware.
• 6:30
  Do you think there's any chance that would be the result of that study?
• 6:33
  Obviously this is an advocacy group pushing for a specific position,
• 6:36
  and anyone,
• 6:37
  the second you read this,
• 6:38
  you should be highly skeptical of it,
• 6:40
  right?
• 6:41
  Is it being replicated in other studies?
• 6:43
  What more?
• 6:44
  How deep can we go?
• 6:45
  Well,
• 6:45
  that's not where this reporter actually went.
• 6:48
  Uh,
• 6:48
  instead,
• 6:49
  uh,
• 6:49
  she wrote,
• 6:50
  uh,
• 6:50
  up this story and,
• 6:51
  and New York Mag talking about it here.
• 6:53
  There was a wave of general interest reports on the peer reviewed study,
• 6:55
  but Schlanger's story,
• 6:57
  Throw out your black plastic spatula hit a nerve.
• 6:59
  The story became one of Atlantic's top posts
• 7:02
  of the year.
• 7:05
  Hm,
• 7:05
  and led to a trend of TikTok videos using the screen grab as a way
• 7:10
  into the conversation.
• 7:11
  Friends texted Schlanger about how her story convinced them,
• 7:15
  or their parents
• 7:16
  to ditch
• 7:17
  black plastic in the kitchen.
• 7:19
  There was even one funny.
• 7:20
  Text hilarious funny text from a friend in Vermont saying the entire city
• 7:25
  of Burlington was throwing black plastic spatulas out their window in unison.
• 7:30
  She says,
• 7:30
  I can tell you this,
• 7:31
  if the city of Burlington is ever doing anything in unison,
• 7:34
  you shouldn't do it.
• 7:36
  That's just a rule,
• 7:37
  uh,
• 7:37
  but that's,
• 7:38
  uh,
• 7:38
  maybe another story for another day.
• 7:40
  Now,
• 7:41
  it is important to understand again,
• 7:42
  you've got toxic-free future giving you the science in this particular study.
• 7:47
  And then it comes through a science writer at The Atlantic
• 7:50
  called
• 7:51
  Zoe Schlanger,
• 7:52
  who is she?
• 7:53
  She is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
• 7:55
  She's the author of The Light Eaters,
• 7:57
  about the world of plant behavior
• 7:59
  and intelligence research.
• 8:00
  You might be like,
• 8:01
  that's kind of a weird thing to combine.
• 8:03
  Here's the book.
• 8:04
  By the way,
• 8:04
  on sale,
• 8:05
  uh,
• 8:05
  on sale right now was 1999,
• 8:07
  now
• 8:08
  1599.
• 8:10
  So if you wanted to get the light eaters,
• 8:11
  you could pick it up with a $4 discount
• 8:14
  right now.
• 8:14
  You might say,
• 8:15
  it's kind of a weird thing though,
• 8:16
  plant science and intelligence research like
• 8:19
  AI and plants,
• 8:20
  like what what what's she doing?
• 8:21
  No,
• 8:22
  it might seem weird to combine those two things,
• 8:24
  unless your goal
• 8:26
  is to combine those two things,
• 8:28
  because the book
• 8:29
  is about
• 8:30
  how plants
• 8:32
  are intelligent.
• 8:34
  In looking closely,
• 8:35
  we see that plants rather than intimate rather than imitate human intelligence
• 8:41
  have perhaps formed a parallel system.
• 8:43
  What is intelligent life,
• 8:44
  if not a vine
• 8:45
  that grows
• 8:47
  leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs,
• 8:50
  a flower that
• 8:52
  shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak
• 8:54
  of its pollinator.
• 8:56
  A pea seedling
• 8:58
  that you can hear water flowing
• 9:00
  and make its way toward it.
• 9:02
  Joey Schlanger takes us across the globe,
• 9:04
  digging into her own memories.
• 9:06
  It's
• 9:06
  always an
• 9:08
  interesting place to find science and.
• 9:09
  Into the soil with the scientists who have spent
• 9:12
  their waking days studying these amazing entities up close.
• 9:15
  Now,
• 9:15
  of course,
• 9:16
  it is obviously true that some plants
• 9:19
  have intelligence.
• 9:20
  We saw that in the documentary
• 9:22
  Little Shop of Horrors,
• 9:23
  um,
• 9:24
  and I don't know for sure,
• 9:26
  uh,
• 9:26
  whether feed me is a particularly intelligent sentence,
• 9:29
  but it's pretty impressive coming out of a plant.
• 9:31
  You gotta admit that.
• 9:32
  Don't get too close though.
• 9:34
  Um,
• 9:34
  so.
• 9:36
  This woman
• 9:37
  takes a,
• 9:37
  an environmentalist crazy organization that did the science.
• 9:41
  She's a science reporter who thinks plants are intelligent,
• 9:44
  and then she's just,
• 9:45
  um,
• 9:46
  you know,
• 9:47
  put that through,
• 9:48
  gave it a great little headline there.
• 9:49
  Throw your black plastic spatula out,
• 9:51
  that went viral on TikTok.
• 9:52
  Biggest post of the year for The Atlantic.
• 9:54
  Everyone's throwing these things out
• 9:55
  all over the country.
• 9:56
  OK,
• 9:56
  there we go.
• 9:57
  That's our
• 9:57
  premise for the story,
• 9:58
  but
• 9:59
  And by the way,
• 10:00
  it,
• 10:00
  it even led to,
• 10:01
  uh,
• 10:01
  huge sales,
• 10:02
  of course,
• 10:02
  of different types of spatulas.
• 10:04
  Uh,
• 10:04
  the study even had its own sales boost.
• 10:06
  Three companies
• 10:07
  selling silicon or non-plastic cookware,
• 10:09
  Our Place,
• 10:10
  the Silicone Kitchen,
• 10:11
  and GIR say they noticed revenue increases as the black plastics panic spread.
• 10:15
  Even OXO,
• 10:16
  the name brand for black plastic in the kitchen,
• 10:18
  noted that stainless steel and silicone tools were out outpacing
• 10:22
  plastic
• 10:23
  sales.
• 10:26
  So what did the study actually say?
• 10:28
  Why would people freak out this much?
• 10:29
  Now,
• 10:30
  many of the people who did this,
• 10:31
  of course,
• 10:32
  didn't read past the headline that I already gave you.
• 10:34
  That's the normal way people consume the news,
• 10:36
  but let me go a little bit deeper
• 10:38
  uh with you on this,
• 10:40
  and,
• 10:40
  uh,
• 10:41
  cos it's,
• 10:41
  it's
• 10:42
  so typical.
• 10:43
  If you were using a contaminated spatula,
• 10:45
  the study said.
• 10:46
  You could be exposing yourself to 80%
• 10:50
  of the daily EPA limit
• 10:52
  for a chemical called BDE
• 10:54
  209,
• 10:55
  a flame retardant found in the plastic in TVs,
• 11:00
  computer casings,
• 11:01
  and other things that should not be lit on fire
• 11:04
  or eaten.
• 11:06
  If you're,
• 11:07
  you know,
• 11:07
  making,
• 11:08
  I,
• 11:08
  I'm going back to the initial,
• 11:09
  uh,
• 11:10
  headline here.
• 11:10
  Throw out your black plastic spatula.
• 11:12
  This is the thing that went viral.
• 11:13
  Uh,
• 11:13
  on here is this picture.
• 11:15
  The picture is a spatula and the spatula is melting.
• 11:18
  It's just melting.
• 11:19
  Now,
• 11:19
  of course,
• 11:19
  plastic would melt
• 11:21
  and heat,
• 11:21
  unless of course.
• 11:23
  You put a flame retardant on it,
• 11:25
  which would be the reason it wouldn't melt every single time
• 11:28
  you were cooking something,
• 11:29
  right?
• 11:30
  OK,
• 11:30
  so,
• 11:31
  that's the panic though,
• 11:32
  right?
• 11:32
  Uh,
• 11:32
  80% of the EPA daily limit for a chemical called BDE
• 11:37
  209.
• 11:39
  Now,
• 11:41
  Something in that sentence implies something.
• 11:43
  Do you know what it was?
• 11:45
  The recommended daily limit.
• 11:51
  Of this chemical,
• 11:52
  the daily limit,
• 11:52
  what does that mean?
• 11:53
  If you're 80% of the daily limit,
• 11:55
  what does that mean?
• 11:56
  It means that you're
• 11:58
  under
• 11:59
  the daily limit,
• 12:00
  OK?
• 12:00
  So,
• 12:02
  Even if all of this were true,
• 12:05
  OK,
• 12:05
  you are under the daily limit for this chemical,
• 12:08
  OK?
• 12:09
  That's something to understand.
• 12:11
  Now you might say,
• 12:12
  Well,
• 12:12
  what if I use that spatula 3 or 4 times a day,
• 12:14
  then I'm way over the daily limit,
• 12:16
  and I guess in theory that would be
• 12:18
  accurate.
• 12:19
  So let me take you through for a moment how they figure out
• 12:23
  what the daily limit is
• 12:25
  for something like this chemical.
• 12:26
  OK.
• 12:27
  This example uses pesticide,
• 12:29
  but the similar the way they figure this out
• 12:31
  is relatively consistent throughout the EPA
• 12:35
  under rules that the EPA implemented from the agency's inception.
• 12:38
  You first determine the minimum amount of pesticide
• 12:41
  required to make an animal sick,
• 12:44
  then
• 12:44
  you reduce that dose slightly.
• 12:48
  This is called the no effect level,
• 12:50
  or Noel or Noel,
• 12:51
  if you're in the mood for Christmas.
• 12:53
  To allow for the possibility that humans are more sensitive to the chemical
• 12:58
  than the test animals,
• 12:59
  you divide that number,
• 13:01
  Noel,
• 13:02
  by 10.
• 13:04
  Then
• 13:05
  you divide it by 10
• 13:06
  again.
• 13:08
  Because you are worried about especially sensitive humans,
• 13:11
  but it doesn't stop
• 13:13
  there.
• 13:14
  When Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996,
• 13:17
  the law authorized the EPA at its discretion
• 13:20
  to use yet another tenfold safety factor,
• 13:23
  dividing Noel
• 13:24
  by 1000 instead of 100 to protect
• 13:28
  children.
• 13:28
  So got it.
• 13:29
  You put some chemical,
• 13:31
  if it makes an animal sick,
• 13:32
  you reduce it,
• 13:33
  so it's less than the level that makes the animal sick.
• 13:35
  Then you take that level,
• 13:36
  you divide it by 10.
• 13:37
  Then you divide it by 10 again,
• 13:39
  and you might even divide it by 10 again,
• 13:41
  which would be way less than 1% of the level that didn't even make the animals sick.
• 13:45
  We're talking about getting to 80%
• 13:48
  of that level,
• 13:48
  that was the big panic.
• 13:51
  Turns out though,
• 13:52
  that even that was a little bit crazy
• 13:55
  because
• 13:55
  the science in the study was,
• 13:57
  uh,
• 13:57
  let's say a a bit
• 14:00
  just a tad flawed.
• 14:02
  How clear was the science?
• 14:04
  asks New York Magazine.
• 14:05
  It turns out
• 14:07
  that toxic-free Future and the team
• 14:10
  overestimated the level of potential BDE 209 by a factor of
• 14:15
  10.
• 14:16
  How did this happen?
• 14:18
  How could this possibly have happened?
• 14:20
  Well,
• 14:20
  it was a simple math error that caused all the panic.
• 14:24
  The researchers based their study on a result that was 7000 times 60,
• 14:29
  and that equaled 42,000.
• 14:31
  And you might not be a mathematician,
• 14:32
  but that might make you.
• 14:33
  Crinkle your brow a bit
• 14:35
  because the correct answer is 420,000,
• 14:38
  not 42,000.
• 14:40
  That means the potential exposure from a black plastic spatula is not 80%
• 14:45
  of the EPA limit,
• 14:46
  it is
• 14:47
  8%.
• 14:53
  People throwing their spatulas,
• 14:55
  the whole town of Burlington threw out their spatulas.
• 14:58
  It wasn't 80% of,
• 15:00
  by the way,
• 15:01
  we should note,
• 15:02
  a safe standard that is well,
• 15:04
  well,
• 15:05
  well below anything that could be potentially even dangerous.
• 15:09
  But it's actually not 80% of that number,
• 15:11
  it's 8% of that number.
• 15:13
  Got it?
• 15:15
  You might say,
• 15:15
  OK,
• 15:16
  that's pretty bad,
• 15:17
  8%.
• 15:17
  But still,
• 15:18
  if I use
• 15:20
  my spatula.
• 15:23
  13 times a day or so.
• 15:26
  And then
• 15:27
  below that's,
• 15:28
  that's the,
• 15:28
  and then a little bit more because we want to get to the actual daily limit,
• 15:32
  and then realize that's 100 times below
• 15:34
  the actual problematic levels.
• 15:36
  So let's say you use your spatula 1000 times a day,
• 15:38
  that could be a problem.
• 15:39
  OK,
• 15:39
  that's true.
• 15:41
  Except
• 15:43
  Just a few weeks ago on July 3rd,
• 15:46
  Toxic Free Future announced a second error.
• 15:51
  This is unbelievable.
• 15:53
  Their formula estimating BDE 209 exposure to hot oil
• 15:57
  found that a potential exposure was even less,
• 15:59
  not 8%,
• 16:01
  but 1.8%.
• 16:05
  Of the daily EPA.
• 16:08
  Limit.
• 16:09
  I kid you,
• 16:09
  this is real.
• 16:10
  I'm not making this up.
• 16:12
  This is,
• 16:12
  again,
• 16:12
  not even from a conservative source.
• 16:14
  This is from New York Magazine.
• 16:17
  After both errors,
• 16:19
  Toxic Free Future announced it was burning its own building to the ground.
• 16:22
  Now,
• 16:23
  unfortunately,
• 16:23
  that's what they probably should have done.
• 16:24
  Uh,
• 16:25
  they announced they were standing by,
• 16:26
  of course,
• 16:27
  standing by the paper's overall conclusion
• 16:30
  that a deeply flawed recycling system results in unexpected
• 16:33
  exposure to toxic flame retardants in household items.
• 16:37
  None of the three scientists in the study responded to requests for comment.
• 16:40
  I bet.
• 16:42
  But a press representative for Toxic Free Future did note
• 16:45
  that no one from Big Plastic
• 16:48
  ever filed a lawsuit against them over the mistakes.
• 16:51
  Oh,
• 16:51
  that's nice,
• 16:52
  that's the standard I think we shoot for in science.
• 16:54
  Will Big Plastic sue us or not?
• 16:57
  By the way,
• 16:58
  uh,
• 16:59
  there's no such thing as big plastic,
• 17:00
  but whatever organization represents plastic companies,
• 17:04
  please sue them over this,
• 17:05
  please,
• 17:05
  I,
• 17:05
  I beg of you.
• 17:06
  Anyway.
• 17:07
  Uh,
• 17:08
  if you've held on to your,
• 17:09
  uh,
• 17:09
  uh,
• 17:10
  uh,
• 17:10
  black worn or your worn black plastic spatula,
• 17:13
  or take out containers from hangovers past,
• 17:15
  take solace in the fact that they may contain less flame retardant than we thought
• 17:19
  during last fall's freak out.
• 17:21
  Now they're just calling it a freak out,
• 17:22
  and that's the thing that's so interesting.
• 17:23
  There's never the midpoint.
• 17:24
  You never get the midpoint.
• 17:25
  You get the freak out and the oopsy.
• 17:28
  There's never like the period uh there in the middle where you're like,
• 17:31
  hey,
• 17:31
  wait a minute.
• 17:32
  What's going on here,
• 17:33
  and you never get the part after the freak out,
• 17:35
  which is,
• 17:36
  shouldn't we never listen to one of these organizations again?
• 17:40
  How do we get held responsible?
• 17:41
  Is this woman still writing at The Atlantic?
• 17:44
  How does this happen
• 17:45
  over and over and over again?
• 17:46
  I mean,
• 17:46
  and to give her at least,
• 17:48
  I mean,
• 17:48
  again,
• 17:48
  she's talking about plants being intelligent,
• 17:50
  give her a bit of a break,
• 17:51
  and she's reporting on,
• 17:52
  you know,
• 17:52
  somebody else's science,
• 17:53
  she should just be a lot more skeptical.
• 17:55
  OK?
• 17:56
  The people at the actual toxic Free Future organization should just close down.
• 18:00
  They should just close the business.
• 18:01
  Uh,
• 18:01
  at least throwing out plastic stuff does provide it,
• 18:04
  listen to,
• 18:04
  listen to this,
• 18:05
  this is after,
• 18:05
  by the way.
• 18:07
  All of this
• 18:08
  is known about the study.
• 18:10
  At least throwing out black plastic stuff does provide
• 18:13
  a degree of agency on a planet contaminated.
• 18:17
  You're insane if you think that's true.
• 18:19
  It doesn't give you any agency to
• 18:22
  to throw away something that does nothing to you.
• 18:25
  That's the last thing it does.
• 18:27
  It's the reverse of agency.
• 18:28
  You're at a situation
• 18:30
  where you are
• 18:32
  having some TikTok idiot
• 18:34
  who posts a picture
• 18:35
  of a headline that you didn't even read,
• 18:38
  so you're throwing away your black plastic spatula,
• 18:41
  and at the end of the day,
• 18:42
  they're making the decisions.
• 18:44
  You're not.
• 18:45
  That's not agency.
• 18:46
  It does nothing for you.
• 18:48
  If it makes you feel good,
• 18:49
  you're feeling wrong.
• 18:54
  Nearly at the atomic level by micro and nanoplastics that have contaminated us.
• 18:58
  Again,
• 18:59
  this is what's so great about my life.
• 19:00
  Let me give you a little story,
• 19:01
  a little peek into the life of Stu here for just a moment.
• 19:06
  I never.
• 19:08
  Ever
• 19:10
  Never
• 19:11
  Never,
• 19:13
  never,
• 19:14
  never spend one
• 19:16
  waking moment
• 19:18
  thinking about microplastics.
• 19:20
  Or at least,
• 19:21
  I guess I do a little bit,
• 19:22
  worrying about microplastics.
• 19:24
  Do you know how much better that life is
• 19:26
  than everybody else's that does worry about it?
• 19:29
  If you're sitting around all the time where like,
• 19:30
  gosh,
• 19:30
  I can't eat this,
• 19:31
  or I can't have that,
• 19:32
  or I can't drink this,
• 19:33
  or what bottle does that come in,
• 19:34
  or what cup does that come in?
• 19:36
  Does it have microplastics?
• 19:37
  If that's you,
• 19:38
  your whole life is disrupted by this nonsense.
• 19:41
  You know it isn't mine.
• 19:42
  Now you might say,
• 19:43
  you're gonna die
• 19:44
  at,
• 19:44
  how old am I?
• 19:45
  I don't know.
• 19:45
  Let's say mid-50s,
• 19:46
  because of all the microplastics.
• 19:48
  And look,
• 19:48
  if anyone is,
• 19:49
  It's going to be me.
• 19:51
  I'm constantly
• 19:52
  utilizing plastic containers,
• 19:54
  and I love them.
• 19:55
  I love plastic.
• 19:56
  I love big plastic.
• 19:58
  I'm happy big plastic companies exist.
• 20:01
  I'm glad they do wonderful things for us,
• 20:03
  and I cheer them on every step of the way.
• 20:05
  But I mean it's a big situation for a lot of people who freak out over this stuff
• 20:10
  and constantly think
• 20:11
  that they're dumping
• 20:13
  tons of energy in their lives towards something that makes no difference,
• 20:17
  and I think it's honestly really freaking sad.
• 20:19
  I really do.
• 20:20
  Now,
• 20:20
  you make your own decisions.
• 20:21
  I'm not gonna cry that much about it,
• 20:22
  but like,
• 20:23
  you're,
• 20:24
  you're,
• 20:24
  you could be doing so many more important things.
• 20:26
  Things that actually make a difference in your life.
• 20:28
  And all these freaking publications are constantly trying to
• 20:30
  scare you into doing things that don't do any,
• 20:32
  don't mean anything.
• 20:33
  Anyway,
• 20:34
  action is good,
• 20:35
  says uh New York Magazine.
• 20:36
  Again,
• 20:37
  this is the story that told you all the science was fake.
• 20:39
  Action is not good when the science is fake.
• 20:42
  Have we not learned that lesson over the past few years?
• 20:46
  Freaking out is bad.
• 20:47
  Both microplastics and stress are causes of inflammation.
• 20:50
  Stress,
• 20:51
  you're the ones causing the stress over nothing.
• 20:54
  But at least this particular one is being cured.
• 20:56
  By the way,
• 20:57
  you should note,
• 20:58
  on the day they put this out there and told
• 21:01
  you all that science was fake about black plastic spatulas,
• 21:03
  they also had this piece.
• 21:04
  Remember when everyone freaked out and threw away their black plastic spatulas?
• 21:08
  Well,
• 21:09
  even if it wasn't as bad of a situation as originally declared.
• 21:12
  There's still plenty to be concerned about when it comes to plastic,
• 21:15
  no matter the color,
• 21:17
  coming in contact with heat.
• 21:19
  That's one major cause of the shedding of microplastics or leaching of chemicals.
• 21:24
  You might find it more reassuring to keep
• 21:26
  that plastic away from your cooking altogether.
• 21:28
  It might be more reassuring.
• 21:29
  It doesn't mean it's real.
• 21:31
  On the other hand,
• 21:31
  here's the headline from that story.
• 21:33
  Still looking to ditch that plastic spatula.
• 21:35
  We have plenty of alternatives.
• 21:36
  Keep that on the screen for one moment because I want
• 21:37
  you to focus on the very small box on the side,
• 21:40
  which of course indicates
• 21:42
  that all the links
• 21:43
  in this article
• 21:45
  have commissions attached to them,
• 21:47
  because
• 21:48
  of course they do.
• 21:49
  You know what,
• 21:50
  go home today,
• 21:51
  make a good
• 21:53
  meal that you freaking love,
• 21:55
  dump some extra fat
• 21:56
  and salt and sugar into it,
• 21:59
  and then serve it to your family
• 22:00
  with a black
• 22:01
  plastic spatula.
• 22:14
  Well,
• 22:14
  we've all been there.
• 22:15
  You've tried every diet out there and what happens?
• 22:17
  First of all,
• 22:18
  you eat it off of a spatula and then you die.
• 22:20
  No,
• 22:20
  I'm only kidding about that part,
• 22:21
  but
• 22:21
  you end up miserable and you end up hungry.
• 22:24
  That's pretty consistent for most people.
• 22:26
  Nobody wants that,
• 22:26
  but
• 22:27
  there is good news.
• 22:28
  Doctors have finally created something better.
• 22:29
  It's called Lean.
• 22:30
  Lean is a totally different supplement.
• 22:32
  It is a simple supplement that makes sense.
• 22:35
  Doctors combine powerful natural ingredients,
• 22:37
  including an.
• 22:37
  Appetite
• 22:38
  controlling extract from a cactus native to India,
• 22:41
  known naturally to manage cravings and stabilize blood
• 22:45
  sugar and convert that stored fat into real
• 22:47
  usable energy.
• 22:49
  No gimmicks,
• 22:49
  no bizarre eating rituals,
• 22:51
  just a practical approach to weight management that can keep you
• 22:54
  energized and satisfied.
• 22:55
  Take Lean today and get 20% off your order.
• 22:59
  Just take lean.com.
• 23:00
  Take lean.com.
• 23:01
  That's the place to visit.
• 23:02
  Use the promo code SU20.
• 23:03
  Give this a shot,
• 23:03
  see if it works for you.
• 23:04
  I hope it does.
• 23:05
  Hopefully it works better than your black plastic spatula.
• 23:08
  Again,
• 23:08
  it's promo code stew20 at takelean.com.
• 23:11
  Takelean.com.
• 23:13
  These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.
• 23:15
  This product is not intended to diagnose,
• 23:17
  treat,
• 23:17
  cure,
• 23:18
  or prevent
• 23:19
  any disease and is not a substitute or alternative for
• 23:22
  healthcare from a healthcare
• 23:24
  provider.
• 23:27
  I want to bring in Josh Hammer,
• 23:28
  senior editor at large for Newsweek,
• 23:30
  host of the Josh Hammer Show,
• 23:31
  and author of Israel and Civilization,
• 23:33
  The The Fate
• 23:35
  of the Jewish Nation
• 23:36
  and the Destiny of the West,
• 23:38
  which you can pick up
• 23:39
  wherever you get your books.
• 23:40
  Josh,
• 23:40
  thanks so much for coming back on the program.
• 23:42
  Stu,
• 23:42
  it's always a pleasure.
• 23:43
  Thank you.
• 23:43
  I appreciate it.
• 23:44
  I was gonna say like,
• 23:45
  ah,
• 23:45
  he's the guy who wrote the book on Israel,
• 23:46
  but I do feel like there were previous authors
• 23:48
  that have written a book about that topic as well.
• 23:50
  Important to note,
• 23:52
  um,
• 23:52
  but,
• 23:52
  uh,
• 23:52
  I,
• 23:52
  I did want to come to you because I find this to be an interesting time with Israel.
• 23:58
  Um,
• 23:58
  we are hearing that it is a terrible famine going on in Gaza right now.
• 24:04
  People are starving to death,
• 24:05
  left and right.
• 24:06
  And I,
• 24:07
  I,
• 24:07
  it's kind of hard to find the truth,
• 24:09
  especially if you're reading The New York Times.
• 24:12
  Give me your like 40,000 ft view of what the current situation is.
• 24:17
  Well,
• 24:17
  Stu,
• 24:18
  first of all,
• 24:18
  this is,
• 24:18
  uh,
• 24:18
  it's been an active war zone in Gaza for almost 2 years now.
• 24:22
  So I,
• 24:22
  I,
• 24:22
  I,
• 24:22
  I,
• 24:23
  I have no doubt,
• 24:23
  I have not been to Gaza,
• 24:24
  obviously,
• 24:25
  virtually no one other than Gazans or active duty IDF soldiers with some
• 24:30
  rare humanitarian aid group exceptions has actually
• 24:32
  been there to see for themselves.
• 24:33
  So I can only glean based on,
• 24:35
  based on what I read,
• 24:36
  the footage I see,
• 24:36
  and so forth there.
• 24:38
  I,
• 24:38
  I,
• 24:38
  I would not be the least bit surprised that,
• 24:41
  that there is definitely some,
• 24:43
  some hunger,
• 24:44
  some folks who are being undernourished and,
• 24:46
  and,
• 24:46
  and,
• 24:46
  and,
• 24:47
  and underfed there.
• 24:48
  I think it's important to talk about though who bears culpability for this.
• 24:52
  Uh,
• 24:52
  this is the part of the story I think a lot of people are totally missing here,
• 24:55
  which is a lot of people are very quick
• 24:57
  to,
• 24:57
  to blame Israel.
• 24:58
  First of all,
• 24:59
  Stu,
• 24:59
  let's,
• 24:59
  let's kind of zoom out just for a second here.
• 25:01
  I find this notion,
• 25:02
  which has been kind of universally accepted by
• 25:04
  people seemingly all across the political spectrum.
• 25:06
  I find this notion.
• 25:07
  That Israel,
• 25:08
  which was massacred,
• 25:09
  brutally butchered in Nazi-esque atrocities on October 7th,
• 25:13
  and then they
• 25:14
  invaded in a defensive war to secure their borders,
• 25:17
  secure their people,
• 25:17
  and preserve their way of life,
• 25:19
  it,
• 25:19
  it is,
• 25:20
  it is ludicrous to suggest that a nation involved in a defensive war after such a,
• 25:24
  a,
• 25:24
  a rape and pogrom and massacre
• 25:26
  would be forced to provide humanitarian aid to the enemy.
• 25:30
  I,
• 25:30
  I,
• 25:30
  I compare this historically,
• 25:31
  Stu,
• 25:32
  would,
• 25:32
  would the United States have offered humanitarian aid to the folks of Japan?
• 25:36
  Prior to Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the folks in Germany prior to
• 25:39
  to Dresden,
• 25:40
  I,
• 25:40
  I,
• 25:40
  I think that question frankly answers itself.
• 25:42
  I think General Dwight D.
• 25:43
  Eisenhower in the European theater,
• 25:45
  what his jaw would have dropped.
• 25:46
  He would have laughed at such a notion there.
• 25:48
  So,
• 25:48
  so this,
• 25:49
  this entire notion
• 25:50
  that a country in this situation should be forced to provide humanitarian aid,
• 25:53
  I think is deeply ahhistorical.
• 25:55
  It certainly is not what is required by by international law
• 25:58
  and the laws of armed conflict and the laws of siege.
• 26:00
  But in any event,
• 26:01
  kind of holding that aside there,
• 26:03
  the reality on the ground is essentially as.
• 26:04
  Follows for at least the past
• 26:06
  3 to 4 months or so there's been an
• 26:08
  American-based group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF.
• 26:12
  This is being run by a very good man,
• 26:14
  a man that,
• 26:15
  that I know.
• 26:15
  His name is Reverend Johnny Moore,
• 26:17
  and this,
• 26:18
  this this organization is operating in conjunction with the Israeli government,
• 26:22
  but it's essentially a privately contracted American operation there.
• 26:25
  This is the first attempt since the war in Gaza started
• 26:28
  to deliver aid to the Gazan people from Israel into Gaza
• 26:32
  in a way that gets.
• 26:33
  Around Hamas because what Hamas does do is they take most of
• 26:37
  the aid that has gone in there for the past 2 years
• 26:39
  and then they seize it immediately
• 26:41
  and they,
• 26:41
  they,
• 26:42
  they,
• 26:42
  they resell it to the Gazan people
• 26:44
  at astronomically inflated prices there because these,
• 26:46
  these,
• 26:47
  these,
• 26:47
  these folks are not just jihadists,
• 26:48
  they're also kleptocrats in that part of the world.
• 26:51
  kleptocracy stealing from the people
• 26:53
  is about is about as common as,
• 26:55
  as the day and the night are long,
• 26:57
  and I,
• 26:58
  I,
• 26:58
  I think that we can just illustrate this in very simple fashion.
• 27:01
  A lot of folks are saying.
• 27:02
  Oh my God,
• 27:02
  you know,
• 27:03
  Hamas,
• 27:03
  you,
• 27:03
  you know,
• 27:04
  they're the ones in charge,
• 27:05
  and why would they have any interest in starving their own people?
• 27:07
  Stu,
• 27:08
  they literally use their own people as cannon fodder,
• 27:11
  as human shields.
• 27:13
  They,
• 27:13
  they are literally putting them out there to die and have done this for
• 27:16
  15 to 20 some odd years now,
• 27:18
  all in a devious,
• 27:19
  cynical and demonic attempt
• 27:21
  to try to throw Israel into the bus and to get
• 27:23
  the Western world and easily duped Westerners to hate Israel.
• 27:26
  The notion that they would not try to starve their own people,
• 27:29
  of course they would,
• 27:30
  of course.
• 27:30
  They would there.
• 27:31
  So yes,
• 27:32
  I'm sure that there are some folks in Gaza,
• 27:34
  I have no doubt who are being malnourished,
• 27:36
  underfed.
• 27:36
  There's a war zone,
• 27:37
  etc.
• 27:38
  there,
• 27:38
  but the party who is at fault there is Hamas
• 27:41
  and frankly the United Nations,
• 27:42
  which is operating in large swath in conjunction with Hamas.
• 27:45
  Israel itself is not culpable here.
• 27:47
  Yes,
• 27:47
  and I would also note that every piece of reporting that I've seen
• 27:50
  still says that the warehouses that stock food for the Hamas fighters
• 27:55
  still full.
• 27:56
  They're not having problems getting fed at all.
• 27:57
  It's just the children.
• 27:59
  Supposedly that are not,
• 28:00
  and,
• 28:00
  and,
• 28:01
  and you know watching this,
• 28:02
  and you know I,
• 28:02
  I bring it back to the New York Times for a second,
• 28:05
  watching this coverage,
• 28:05
  it's so hard to understand what's going on because
• 28:08
  there is this like immediate jump in
• 28:10
  every single one of these situations to try to make Israel into the bad guy.
• 28:14
  Like that is the
• 28:15
  the reaction every single time.
• 28:18
  If,
• 28:18
  if a hospital gets bombed immediately,
• 28:21
  it's Israel is doing it probably intentionally.
• 28:24
  Here it's the same thing where like
• 28:26
  it is odd that after multiple years of war,
• 28:28
  all of a sudden.
• 28:29
  Hearing about this big starvation problem
• 28:31
  and
• 28:32
  when we look into some of these individual cases,
• 28:35
  these children that are being put on the covers of newspapers all over the world,
• 28:40
  we're finding out that actually they had many other problems
• 28:44
  that were going on that would explain their appearance.
• 28:47
  Their siblings
• 28:48
  seem to be not in the starvation situation.
• 28:51
  Their parents don't seem to be in a starvation situation.
• 28:54
  And now we have an apology,
• 28:55
  sort of from the New York Times saying,
• 28:57
  hey,
• 28:57
  uh,
• 28:57
  by the way,
• 28:58
  that kid that we were telling you about,
• 28:59
  it doesn't seem like we had that one right.
• 29:02
  Yeah,
• 29:02
  so the,
• 29:03
  the child in this photo that has been
• 29:05
  disseminated throughout large swaths of the Western world,
• 29:08
  the New York Times,
• 29:09
  the BBC,
• 29:09
  all the usual actors have gotten in on this one there.
• 29:12
  The,
• 29:13
  the,
• 29:13
  the child has a,
• 29:14
  a,
• 29:14
  a,
• 29:15
  a,
• 29:15
  a rare,
• 29:15
  very rare muscular condition that he has had his entire life there.
• 29:19
  And,
• 29:20
  and,
• 29:20
  and in fact,
• 29:20
  if I understand correctly,
• 29:21
  he's actually been evacuated by the Israelis in order to receive treatment.
• 29:25
  So,
• 29:26
  nothing in that photo is what it seems.
• 29:28
  This,
• 29:28
  the,
• 29:28
  the,
• 29:29
  this kid.
• 29:30
  Has a has,
• 29:30
  has a serious muscular condition that he that he has had since birth,
• 29:34
  but it,
• 29:34
  it has nothing to do with malnourishment or being underfed.
• 29:37
  And the fact that the New York Times would,
• 29:38
  would put this on page A1,
• 29:40
  I mean,
• 29:40
  Stu,
• 29:40
  this is the same newspaper that routinely buried coverage of the
• 29:43
  Holocaust during World War II back to page A13 14,
• 29:46
  the back of the newspaper there.
• 29:47
  So frankly,
• 29:48
  nothing surprised me when it comes to the New York Times and the BBC.
• 29:52
  The,
• 29:52
  there's a word for this actually,
• 29:53
  Stu.
• 29:53
  It's called Pollywood.
• 29:55
  You know,
• 29:55
  this is kind of Palestinian Arab Hollywood.
• 29:57
  Pollywood has been a cottage industry for those of
• 29:58
  us who follow this conflict closely going back 25,
• 30:01
  30 years.
• 30:01
  The Palestinians,
• 30:02
  as Megyn Kelly put it earlier this week,
• 30:04
  are,
• 30:04
  are masters of propaganda.
• 30:05
  They have been for many,
• 30:07
  many,
• 30:07
  many.
• 30:07
  Years there,
• 30:08
  you know,
• 30:08
  there are all these videos of these Hamas guys going on camera talking
• 30:11
  about how their struggle is the same struggle as George Floyd from Ferguson,
• 30:15
  Missouri to,
• 30:16
  to Gaza.
• 30:17
  They,
• 30:17
  they know really well how to play into
• 30:20
  the minds of easily duped young vulnerable,
• 30:22
  impressionable people in the West and and in
• 30:24
  the United States perhaps in particular there.
• 30:26
  It's all a lie.
• 30:27
  All deceitful
• 30:29
  and it's frankly just awful and all Israel can do is speak the
• 30:32
  truth and we have to frankly hope that the truth one day,
• 30:35
  God willing,
• 30:35
  sooner rather than later,
• 30:36
  will win out.
• 30:37
  Should they do anything else here,
• 30:39
  Josh,
• 30:39
  because you're totally right.
• 30:40
  I agree.
• 30:41
  Like no one is saying why isn't Russia dropping aid into Ukraine right now?
• 30:45
  Like no one's,
• 30:46
  no one's saying that.
• 30:48
  Certainly they're not saying why isn't Ukraine dropping aid into Russia,
• 30:52
  which would be maybe a more
• 30:55
  accurate representation since the invaders are the ones
• 30:58
  that apparently are supposed to get the aid.
• 31:00
  I don't understand how that works exactly.
• 31:01
  So I totally agree with you on the concept of the floor of this.
• 31:04
  There is though a decent amount of reporting even from places like the Free Press,
• 31:08
  which are pretty favorable to Israel that are saying that like,
• 31:10
  hey,
• 31:11
  this does look like it's worse than it's been before.
• 31:13
  There are some of these situations,
• 31:15
  some of these people do need help.
• 31:17
  You know they're certainly not all Hamas fighters.
• 31:19
  Should Israel do more?
• 31:21
  Should they do more to just allow outside countries to get in there and drop more aid?
• 31:25
  I know they're starting to do some of that.
• 31:27
  What should they be doing?
• 31:28
  Well,
• 31:28
  they are doing some of that.
• 31:29
  They've started to allow the UAE,
• 31:31
  the UK,
• 31:31
  to start air dropping aid.
• 31:33
  Look,
• 31:33
  there,
• 31:34
  I've literally seen footage on social media of
• 31:36
  these investigative journalists who are going down to
• 31:37
  the border and showing these convoys full of aid that are waiting to go in,
• 31:41
  but Hamas and the United Nations are not allowing them.
• 31:43
  So the pressure from the international community.
• 31:45
  Uh,
• 31:46
  you know,
• 31:46
  Trump is doing a good job,
• 31:47
  but,
• 31:47
  but the,
• 31:47
  the rest of the so-called
• 31:49
  enlightened liberal Western international community,
• 31:51
  they really have to be applying pressure on the
• 31:53
  United Nations and Hamas to allow this gate,
• 31:55
  this aid,
• 31:55
  excuse me,
• 31:56
  to enter
• 31:57
  and to arrive as proper destination.
• 31:59
  There are all sorts of other tools of statecraft that can,
• 32:01
  and in my opinion,
• 32:02
  should be used here.
• 32:03
  11 of the great tragedies of this war from day one,
• 32:06
  from an American perspective,
• 32:07
  because the United States gives
• 32:09
  a lot of money in foreign aid to.
• 32:10
  Egypt every year.
• 32:11
  Egypt is one of the largest recipients of US aid for somewhat arcane,
• 32:15
  abstruse reasons.
• 32:16
  We should be applying that aid
• 32:18
  vigorously to try to get them to open up their border and to allow more,
• 32:21
  more of these Gazans to get in there.
• 32:23
  More generally speaking,
• 32:24
  this would be a perfect time for Donald Trump to have a full scale pressure campaign
• 32:28
  on the other Arab countries in general.
• 32:30
  You guys finally want to solve this Palestinian
• 32:32
  Arab crisis from the 1948 Israeli independence war.
• 32:35
  This is a heck of a time to do.
• 32:36
  So,
• 32:36
  I would think,
• 32:36
  isn't it there?
• 32:37
  So there's all sorts of creative opportunities there.
• 32:39
  Donald Trump's a very
• 32:41
  outside the box kind of guy,
• 32:42
  and I look forward to seeing what he does.
• 32:43
  But the final thing that I will say is that Trump also,
• 32:46
  if you look at what he's saying there,
• 32:47
  and,
• 32:47
  and,
• 32:48
  and he said it earlier this week too,
• 32:49
  during his trip to Aberdeen,
• 32:50
  Scotland to inaugurate this new
• 32:52
  Trump family,
• 32:53
  Trump Organization golf course there,
• 32:54
  he was,
• 32:55
  he was asked about Bibi and Hamas and Gaza there,
• 32:58
  and he basically said,
• 32:59
  you know,
• 32:59
  Israel's gonna face a very difficult upcoming.
• 33:01
  Choice.
• 33:02
  It's not,
• 33:02
  it's not for me to tell them what to do,
• 33:03
  but I know what I would do.
• 33:05
  And the heavy,
• 33:05
  heavy implication,
• 33:06
  and he's implied this numerous times,
• 33:08
  is that if he were Bibi Netanyahu,
• 33:10
  he would just go hard as hell and finish this job ASAP.
• 33:15
  And it's somewhat frustrating,
• 33:16
  Stu,
• 33:17
  to see our,
• 33:17
  our president,
• 33:18
  President Trump,
• 33:19
  communicate this to Netanyahu pretty clearly
• 33:22
  and for Netanyahu to seemingly not get the message.
• 33:24
  So I,
• 33:25
  I do blame Netanyahu to an extent.
• 33:26
  And for that there this war is dragging on a long time.
• 33:29
  It's a difficult task there,
• 33:31
  but unfortunately American favorability ratings of this conflict are,
• 33:34
  are,
• 33:35
  are really dropping at a pretty precipitous rate,
• 33:36
  and Netanyahu,
• 33:37
  I think,
• 33:37
  really has to read the message and just
• 33:40
  cloud out the noise for now and just finish this job once and for all ASAP,
• 33:44
  God willing.
• 33:45
  Um,
• 33:45
  before we go,
• 33:46
  uh,
• 33:46
  Josh,
• 33:47
  I want to get to your column,
• 33:48
  uh,
• 33:48
  grading the second Trump presidency six months in,
• 33:50
  and you have it up in Newsweek and.
• 33:52
  You do go into the foreign affairs.
• 33:55
  You give Trump high marks on foreign affairs
• 33:58
  in his first six months,
• 33:59
  and it's interesting like his approach is,
• 34:01
  I think,
• 34:01
  different than almost every other president,
• 34:03
  right?
• 34:03
  Like
• 34:04
  he,
• 34:04
  he,
• 34:04
  he seems to start
• 34:06
  these interactions with.
• 34:07
  With high hopes,
• 34:09
  he seemingly has even tried that in Syria.
• 34:11
  He's certainly tried it in Russia.
• 34:13
  He's tried to
• 34:14
  give
• 34:15
  these world leaders,
• 34:16
  maybe people that are in conflict zones,
• 34:20
  a chance to do things what he sees the right way.
• 34:23
  And if they don't step up,
• 34:25
  he's ready with the stick instead of the carrot.
• 34:29
  You like this approach.
• 34:30
  You think it's working.
• 34:32
  Give me a sense of what you feel like as far as globally Trump has done so far.
• 34:37
  I,
• 34:37
  I love Donald Trump's foreign policy.
• 34:39
  You know,
• 34:39
  going back to Trump's first term,
• 34:40
  I said that his foreign policy was my,
• 34:41
  was my single favorite part of what Donald Trump brings to the table.
• 34:44
  I,
• 34:45
  I love the judges.
• 34:46
  I,
• 34:46
  I clerked for a federal
• 34:47
  appeals judge there in North Texas who was nominated by President Trump,
• 34:51
  the,
• 34:51
  the great Judge,
• 34:52
  uh,
• 34:52
  James C.
• 34:53
  Ho,
• 34:53
  who I hope will be our next SCOTUS justice.
• 34:55
  He,
• 34:55
  he's done tremendous work when it comes to shaping
• 34:57
  the judiciary and a lot of other issues,
• 34:58
  but above all,
• 34:59
  I,
• 35:00
  I think Donald Trump's foreign policy is just commonsensical.
• 35:03
  It,
• 35:03
  it is normal.
• 35:04
  It is prudential,
• 35:05
  and he basically rejects the extremes of both ends.
• 35:07
  He,
• 35:07
  he rejects the hard isolationism of,
• 35:09
  of the Ron Paul types,
• 35:10
  and he rejects the hard neoconservatism of the George W.
• 35:13
  Bush types,
• 35:14
  and he arrives
• 35:15
  at a prudential nationalist,
• 35:17
  sober
• 35:18
  foreign policy that is inherently conservative and also
• 35:21
  meets the American people where they are.
• 35:23
  And,
• 35:23
  you know,
• 35:24
  kind of just looking at more concrete conflicts around the world,
• 35:26
  he's also been a tremendous peacemaker thus far in the second term.
• 35:29
  I mean,
• 35:29
  we just had a brand new ceasefire in this.
• 35:31
  Thai-Cambodian conflict this week.
• 35:33
  There was a ceasefire between two nuclear powers,
• 35:36
  India and Pakistan.
• 35:37
  That ceasefire really kind of flew under the radar.
• 35:39
  There was a ceasefire between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• 35:42
  He has done all the right things in the Middle East.
• 35:44
  His,
• 35:45
  his very brief intervention in the 12-day war to kind of do the death blow
• 35:49
  on the Iranian nuclear facilities after Israel
• 35:51
  had cleared the way was total brilliance.
• 35:53
  That is Trumpian foreign policy 101 there.
• 35:56
  I think he's taking a very sober approach to Russia.
• 35:58
  Ukraine there,
• 35:58
  put pressure on both parties,
• 36:00
  be willing to adjust as the circumstances change on the ground.
• 36:03
  I actually love Donald Trump's foreign policy,
• 36:06
  and I look forward to seeing what happens now in the next 6 months as well.
• 36:08
  Yeah,
• 36:08
  and that's just not not the highest grade you even gave Trump for his 1st 6 months.
• 36:14
  Watch the and do read the whole breakdown at Newsweek grading
• 36:17
  the 2nd Trump presidency 6 months in by Josh Hammer.
• 36:20
  He's senior editor at large at Newsweek and host of the Josh Hammer Show,
• 36:23
  also author of Israel and Civilization.
• 36:25
  The fate of the Jewish nation and the destiny of the West,
• 36:28
  you can be sure to grab a copy of that
• 36:31
  today as well.
• 36:31
  Josh,
• 36:31
  thanks so much for coming on the program.
• 36:33
  Thanks as always too.
• 36:42
  So have you ever stopped and wondered if someone's messing with you,
• 36:45
  uh,
• 36:46
  because the corporate media,
• 36:46
  they love the chaos.
• 36:47
  They love messing with you.
• 36:48
  They love confusion,
• 36:49
  they love
• 36:50
  that you're mad and then that you
• 36:51
  keep coming back for more.
• 36:53
  But Blaze TV sees through all of that.
• 36:55
  We're not,
• 36:55
  uh,
• 36:55
  here to play along.
• 36:56
  We break down the facts clearly,
• 36:58
  call out the nonsense,
• 36:59
  and trust you to think for yourself.
• 37:01
  If you're done being fed anger and frust.
• 37:03
  Administration and division.
• 37:05
  Blaze TV is where you belong.
• 37:06
  Sign up now for just $8 a month.
• 37:08
  Use the promo code Ste that saves you $20 off the yearly plan,
• 37:11
  just 26 cents a day.
• 37:13
  Head to SteoAmerica.com.
• 37:14
  StuoAmerica.com.
• 37:16
  Get access to the entire network
• 37:18
  and get the news
• 37:19
  you deserve,
• 37:20
  like what's going on with Oprah,
• 37:22
  right?
• 37:22
  I'm sure they're covering that.
• 37:24
  At the blaze,
• 37:24
  maybe not.
• 37:25
  I will say I was seeing a lot of this on social media last night.
• 37:27
  You have the earthquake that happens.
• 37:29
  There's this big tsunami warning.
• 37:31
  It's very strange in that they know the exact time
• 37:33
  it's going to arrive,
• 37:35
  like to the minute
• 37:36
  in Hawaii,
• 37:38
  but then
• 37:39
  it really seemingly.
• 37:39
  They had no idea whether it was going to be a big deal or not.
• 37:42
  It didn't seem to turn out to be that big of a deal,
• 37:44
  but people were panicked.
• 37:45
  They were trying to evacuate,
• 37:46
  get to higher ground,
• 37:47
  as one very crowded road passes by where Oprah Winfrey apparently has a home,
• 37:53
  and her home is up on the hill,
• 37:54
  as you might imagine.
• 37:55
  So
• 37:55
  their walk coming by like this,
• 37:57
  there's an opening over here that you could go up this private
• 38:00
  road slash driveway.
• 38:02
  And go up,
• 38:02
  up,
• 38:02
  up,
• 38:02
  up,
• 38:03
  up and be on higher ground instead of waiting to go down,
• 38:05
  uh,
• 38:06
  on this longer road,
• 38:07
  and people were pissed off.
• 38:08
  They're like,
• 38:08
  why won't Oprah open up her road?
• 38:10
  What's wrong with her,
• 38:11
  she won't open up the road.
• 38:12
  Now Oprah is defending herself today.
• 38:15
  She says as soon as we heard the tsunami warnings,
• 38:17
  we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA
• 38:19
  to ensure the road was opened.
• 38:21
  Local law enforcement are currently on site,
• 38:23
  helping residents through 50 cars at a time to ensure everyone's safety.
• 38:27
  The road will remain open
• 38:28
  as long
• 38:29
  as necessary.
• 38:31
  It didn't wind up turning into a big.
• 38:33
  But
• 38:33
  again,
• 38:33
  she was,
• 38:33
  didn't seem like she was even there.
• 38:35
  Like I don't know what she was supposed to do.
• 38:36
  It's hard to open up a road when you're not on the island,
• 38:39
  uh,
• 38:39
  but they did get it open,
• 38:40
  apparently,
• 38:40
  uh,
• 38:41
  so I don't know,
• 38:41
  it seemed like it was a lot of people getting pissed off.
• 38:43
  The problem with the story is
• 38:45
  people can't blame the typical people they blame,
• 38:48
  which is like Republicans,
• 38:50
  guns.
• 38:52
  Global warming,
• 38:53
  like none of that can really happen when it comes to a an earthquake slash tsunami.
• 38:59
  So
• 38:59
  you just have to go,
• 39:00
  I guess you just look around for the next nearest rich person,
• 39:03
  I guess that's the way that works.
• 39:04
  Uh,
• 39:04
  by the way,
• 39:05
  two top Biden aides are set to testify in the probe of Biden mental.
• 39:09
  Decline.
• 39:10
  We saw a couple of high profile,
• 39:11
  the doctor,
• 39:12
  Anthony Bernal,
• 39:13
  who is
• 39:14
  seemingly the
• 39:15
  antagonist in a lot of these books that
• 39:17
  have been released recently on the administration.
• 39:19
  They would not
• 39:21
  testify.
• 39:22
  Steve Rischetti and Mike Donlin,
• 39:23
  two big ones,
• 39:25
  very close to Biden,
• 39:26
  they are going to testify.
• 39:28
  We also saw Ron Klain testify,
• 39:29
  and he said that Hillary Clinton had expressed concerns in 2023
• 39:34
  that Biden's age was an issue the campaign was not dealing with effectively,
• 39:38
  so.
• 39:39
  We're getting a little bits and pieces out of here,
• 39:41
  not
• 39:41
  too much so far.
• 39:42
  Zoran Mamdani is a new poll out on,
• 39:45
  on the race in New York City.
• 39:47
  If you thought,
• 39:47
  well,
• 39:48
  maybe someone will catch him,
• 39:49
  uh,
• 39:49
  maybe a bunch of people will combine to catch him,
• 39:52
  so far the answer to that is really no.
• 39:54
  Zoran Mamdani beats out all NYC mayoral candidates combined
• 39:58
  in a new poll.
• 39:59
  This is broken down a bunch of different ways.
• 40:00
  It is from a very left wing pollster,
• 40:02
  so.
• 40:02
  That's an important context.
• 40:04
  However,
• 40:05
  it shows,
• 40:06
  you know,
• 40:06
  whether it's,
• 40:07
  even if it's Mom Donni versus Cuomo,
• 40:09
  straight up,
• 40:10
  Mom Donny wins.
• 40:11
  If it's Mom Donny versus,
• 40:12
  uh,
• 40:13
  Eric Adams,
• 40:13
  straight up,
• 40:14
  Mom Donnie wins.
• 40:15
  Uh,
• 40:15
  if it's a three-way race,
• 40:17
  Mom Donny wins.
• 40:17
  If Sliwa stays in,
• 40:18
  Mom Donny wins.
• 40:19
  Like whatever it is,
• 40:20
  Mom Donni is going to win this race,
• 40:22
  at least as the polls are now.
• 40:23
  I will say the shooting,
• 40:25
  um.
• 40:26
  It is not a good thing
• 40:28
  for Mamdani.
• 40:29
  You have that situation where it's not a good thing for anybody,
• 40:32
  I would argue,
• 40:32
  but it's not a good thing for Mamdani because it focuses people on holy crap,
• 40:36
  do we really want a person who wants to defund the police
• 40:38
  and cheers on when police officers are murdered and
• 40:43
  their
• 40:45
  partners are left to survive in their cars crying.
• 40:48
  He cheers that on.
• 40:50
  Um,
• 40:50
  people who,
• 40:51
  uh,
• 40:51
  cheer on,
• 40:52
  people that executed
• 40:54
  healthcare CEOs,
• 40:55
  we want that,
• 40:55
  those guys like
• 40:57
  ahead of our city.
• 40:59
  What,
• 40:59
  what's gonna,
• 40:59
  what's that gonna look like in a few months?
• 41:01
  So maybe this will remind them,
• 41:02
  but I'm not particularly hopeful,
• 41:04
  honestly.
• 41:04
  And of course the other choices outside of
• 41:06
  Curtis Curtis Sliwa are all really bad anyway,
• 41:08
  so I'm not sure that it matters all that much.
• 41:10
  And finally,
• 41:11
  Pete Buttigieg,
• 41:12
  he was asked about Momdani,
• 41:14
  as a lot of Democrats will be.
• 41:16
  He dodged endorsing him but praised his extraordinary campaign.
• 41:20
  Typical Pete Buttigieg.
• 41:21
  He never really answers a question,
• 41:23
  and always trying to walk some like,
• 41:25
  you know,
• 41:25
  slithery line as to how he can stay in the favor of everybody.
• 41:30
  He is a guy who's now trying to pitch himself.
• 41:32
  He was for a long time a big DEI guy and a big left wing guy.
• 41:35
  Now he's trying to pitch himself as more of a centrist.
• 41:37
  Oh,
• 41:37
  I can't believe they let women
• 41:39
  or men play in women's sports.
• 41:40
  Isn't that crazy?
• 41:42
  All that stuff's,
• 41:42
  you know,
• 41:43
  nonsense.
• 41:43
  He's just trying to position himself for a 2028 run,
• 41:45
  which he will surely.
• 41:47
  going to be difficult for Democrats to deal with this type of stuff,
• 41:50
  especially if,
• 41:51
  as you might expect,
• 41:53
  New York City embraces this guy and has a pretty significant downturn
• 41:57
  afterward.
• 41:58
  We will see if that happens and how difficult this is to watch,
• 42:01
  and we will see it all probably with a big box of popcorn.
• 42:19
  It's time to introduce a new segment of the program,
• 42:21
  um,
• 42:22
  nerds
• 42:23
  with too much money.
• 42:24
  Uh,
• 42:25
  this happens often in our society today.
• 42:27
  Let me give you a couple of examples of it.
• 42:28
  A stormtrooper helmet from Star Wars A New Hope
• 42:31
  sells for $256,000
• 42:35
  at auction.
• 42:36
  A stormtrooper helmet,
• 42:38
  not even the entire costume.
• 42:39
  One stormtrooper helmet,
• 42:41
  $256,000.
• 42:42
  Number one,
• 42:43
  Glenn,
• 42:43
  I'm sorry if this was you buying this.
• 42:45
  I apologize for mocking you.
• 42:46
  But number two,
• 42:47
  they also had a bunch of other stuff that sold,
• 42:49
  uh,
• 42:50
  $38,000 for a Phantom Menace
• 42:52
  light saber.
• 42:54
  Uh,
• 42:54
  I mean,
• 42:54
  you got to buy the original trilogy,
• 42:56
  right?
• 42:57
  Uh,
• 42:57
  original lightsaber,
• 42:58
  uh,
• 42:58
  Hill's prop screen
• 43:00
  used by Darth Maul,
• 43:02
  uh,
• 43:02
  $76,000.
• 43:04
  Wow.
• 43:05
  Finally,
• 43:05
  we also have another one in,
• 43:06
  uh,
• 43:06
  Star Wars related,
• 43:07
  Nerd with too much money.
• 43:09
  Star Wars vehicle is now real,
• 43:11
  and you don't need a license to fly one.
• 43:12
  This is from,
• 43:13
  uh,
• 43:13
  Blaze Media's Return.
• 43:15
  Uh,
• 43:15
  this is,
• 43:15
  let me show you the video of this real quick.
• 43:18
  A real cedar bike
• 43:20
  actually made,
• 43:21
  existing today.
• 43:23
  I must have myself one.
• 43:25
  That looks awesome.
• 43:27
  I,
• 43:28
  I,
• 43:28
  I'm happily be a nerd with too much money if I can get myself one of those.
• 43:31
  All right,
• 43:32
  we will,
• 43:32
  uh,
• 43:33
  see you tomorrow.