Latest / The Rita Panahi Show / The Rita Panahi Show | 7 September

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The Rita Panahi Show | 7 September · The Rita Panahi Show

0:03
Speaker 1: Starting right now, The Rita Panaghi Show.
0:09
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to The Rita Panaghi Show.
0:11
Speaker 3: Coming up tonight, Labor's push for greater online censorship exposed
0:16
Speaker 3: in its so-called digital safety reforms. Daniel Wild will join
0:20
Speaker 3: me to cover the day's top headlines. And Stonington City
0:23
Speaker 3: Councillor Tom Humphreys warns how this bill gives more power
0:27
Speaker 3: to Annika Wells and the East Safety Commissioner.
0:30
Speaker 2: He'll join me in the studio shortly.
0:33
Speaker 3: Josh Hammer will have the latest from the US, including
0:36
Speaker 3: what the Lindsay Clancy trial tells us about the modern left.
0:40
Speaker 3: And calls from the Jewish community for Ed Sheeran to
0:43
Speaker 3: dump his support act, Macklemore. Kinsey Schofield will have all
0:48
Speaker 3: your celebrity and royal news later in the hour. And
0:51
Speaker 3: Lefty's Losing It features highlights of Socialism 2026. It's a
0:57
Speaker 3: conference that includes revelations that fitness is adjacent to fascism.
1:03
Speaker 4: You have to give up the fantasy of being fitter
1:07
Speaker 4: than the fascists. It's not just that it's cringe or
1:10
Speaker 4: strategically bad.
1:12
Speaker 3: But first, Labor could bow to a radical Greens demand
1:16
Speaker 3: that would require users to opt into algorithms to secure
1:20
Speaker 3: parliamentary support for its so-called digital safety reforms. The party
1:24
Speaker 3: will release an exposure draft on its proposed digital duty
1:28
Speaker 3: of care bill this week. One model, backed by the Greens,
1:32
Speaker 3: would make social media platforms algorithm-free by default. Now, that
1:37
Speaker 3: doesn't sound so bad, but this legislation is about censorship,
1:41
Speaker 3: no matter how it's dressed up. Labor and the Greens
1:44
Speaker 3: are terrified of people accessing information they don't like. This
1:48
Speaker 3: bill includes an onus on social media companies and other
1:51
Speaker 3: online services to take reasonable steps to remove content that
1:56
Speaker 3: Labor considers poses a seriously harmful threat to public safety.
2:01
Speaker 3: And a new power that will give the communications minister,
2:04
Speaker 3: or even worse, the leftist activist eSafety Commissioner, acting as
2:09
Speaker 3: the minister's delegate, the ability to designate additional categories and
2:13
Speaker 3: types of harm by regulation. Reminder, the East Safety Commissioner
2:18
Speaker 3: had a tweet stating that men can't breastfeed removed because
2:23
Speaker 3: according to her, it's harmful or causes a serious threat.
2:27
Speaker 2: To who exactly? She has similarly targeted other.
2:31
Speaker 3: Factual posts about the behaviour of far-left bureaucrats. And of course,
2:36
Speaker 3: there was the attempt to ban worldwide footage of an
2:39
Speaker 3: alleged terror attack in a Sydney church. That's what they
2:43
Speaker 3: mean by social cohesion, keeping the ugly truth.
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Speaker 2: From the masses.
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Speaker 3: Joining me now is Deputy Executive Director at the Institute
2:51
Speaker 3: of Public Affairs, Daniel Wild. Dan, what's your assessment of
2:55
Speaker 3: this legislation?
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Speaker 1: Well, exactly what you said there is spot on. This
3:00
Speaker 1: is going to be censorship. We know that. Now, when
3:04
Speaker 1: it comes to what the government is saying, they go, well,
3:06
Speaker 1: we're protecting kids. We're just giving you an option to.
3:10
Speaker 1: Default or log out of the algorithm. And look, if
3:13
Speaker 1: they just do that as a toggle switch on your
3:15
Speaker 1: social media account, fine, that's not a big deal. But
3:18
Speaker 1: as you mentioned quite rightly, they insert terms like social
3:22
Speaker 1: harm or serious harm and vague terms like this that
3:27
Speaker 1: they've used before. We've seen this with the misinformation and
3:30
Speaker 1: disinformation laws that they pulled from parliament because they were
3:33
Speaker 1: so unpopular. And when you actually look at the discussion
3:37
Speaker 1: paper that's been put out, it's clear that what they
3:40
Speaker 1: want to do with this is they're wanting Australians to
3:42
Speaker 1: get out of the algorithm and go into the elbow
3:45
Speaker 1: rhythm because that's what this is going to be. This
3:49
Speaker 1: is going to be Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party
3:54
Speaker 1: toggling your social media because they lost to One Nation
3:58
Speaker 1: in Western Australia. That's what this is about. It's just
4:01
Speaker 1: like when they lost the voice to parliament debate. They said, well,
4:04
Speaker 1: the reason people voted no is because they were misled.
4:08
Speaker 1: They were too dumb or they were racist. And that's
4:11
Speaker 1: why they reckon people are voting for One Nation against Labor,
4:13
Speaker 1: because people are being subject to misinformation. So, you know,
4:17
Speaker 1: this is going to be the single biggest attack to
4:19
Speaker 1: freedom of speech on the Internet that we have seen
4:23
Speaker 1: in peacetime history in this country. This is going to
4:26
Speaker 1: be bigger than COVID because it's going to be permanent
4:28
Speaker 1: in terms of what they're embedding into their laws. So
4:31
Speaker 1: we'll wait and see what exactly is in the draft
4:33
Speaker 1: legislation that they reckon they'll release tomorrow. But, you know,
4:36
Speaker 1: this has got censorship written all over it.
4:38
Speaker 3: Dan, do we know if the Coalition is going to
4:40
Speaker 3: take a stand on this issue? Because in the past
4:43
Speaker 3: they've been rather weak. Are they going to fight it
4:46
Speaker 3: tooth and nail or submit?
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Speaker 1: Well, I think the Liberal Party will be no on
4:50
Speaker 1: it because if they're not, they're going to become politically
4:52
Speaker 1: extinct pretty fast. But you are right. They have been
4:56
Speaker 1: in favour of certain curtailments on freedom of speech. They
4:59
Speaker 1: were in favour of the under-16 social media ban, as
5:02
Speaker 1: an example. They've been big supporters of Julianne Mangrant at
5:05
Speaker 1: the Safety Commission. But I think on this topic, they're
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Speaker 1: probably going to oppose it pretty strongly. They did oppose
5:11
Speaker 1: the misinformation laws as well a couple of years ago. Now,
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Speaker 1: the key thing here, though, is not just opposing it,
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Speaker 1: But as you've indicated, running a campaign on it, and
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Speaker 1: I don't mean just at election time, I mean on
5:22
Speaker 1: the substance of the issue, because make no mistake, this
5:26
Speaker 1: legislation will be defeated if there is a campaign to
5:29
Speaker 1: do so, because it will not hold up to scrutiny.
5:32
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese or his communications minister, Annika Ushies-Wells, are not
5:37
Speaker 1: going to be able to defend these policies, right? Labor
5:43
Speaker 1: has never won an argument with the public. You know,
5:45
Speaker 1: the only time they tried was with the Voice to
5:47
Speaker 1: Parliament and they got pollaxed. So if this is exposed
5:51
Speaker 1: to a genuine campaign against it, I guarantee you the
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Speaker 1: government will back down.
5:56
Speaker 3: Well, have a listen to Communications Minister Annika Wells taking
6:00
Speaker 3: a break from using ushies to lecture us about Labor's
6:03
Speaker 3: housing policies. And here she is, of course, pushing for
6:07
Speaker 3: greater online censorship.
6:09
Speaker 5: The Coalition are blaming teachers for rising rates of misogyny
6:12
Speaker 5: amongst young men and boys. Blaming teachers rather than looking
6:16
Speaker 5: at the toxic rabbit holes that social media are sending
6:19
Speaker 5: our young men and boys down. They can throw rocks
6:21
Speaker 5: at teachers, but we'll be holding big tech to account.
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Speaker 3: Dan, she talks there about saving young men from going
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Speaker 3: down misogynistic rabbit holes, but why do I get the
6:31
Speaker 3: feeling that in Labor's eyes that includes fact-based information, messages
6:37
Speaker 3: around gender and masculinity?
6:41
Speaker 1: Well, that's right. I mean, other than these laws, the
6:43
Speaker 1: truth will be banned as well. I mean, the truth
6:45
Speaker 1: will not be any defence. It's just whether they like
6:48
Speaker 1: it or not. Now, what Annika Wells has said then
6:51
Speaker 1: is also misinformation, right? I mean, I don't think anyone
6:54
Speaker 1: from the coalition has ever said that teachers are to
6:56
Speaker 1: blame for toxic masculinity and misogyny. I mean, has anyone
6:59
Speaker 1: actually said that or is she verbaling people? So, you know,
7:03
Speaker 1: I know Matt Canavan, I mean, Matt Canavan had comments
7:05
Speaker 1: about concerns around you know, what's happening in schools and
7:09
Speaker 1: this negative approach that's often taken to men and boys,
7:11
Speaker 1: which I think is 100% correct. But has anyone actually
7:14
Speaker 1: said that teachers are causing misogyny in our society? That's
7:17
Speaker 1: never been said. So, you know, Annika Wells is one
7:20
Speaker 1: of the chief purveyors of misinformation. So these politicians need
7:24
Speaker 1: to look at themselves. They are the ultimate hypocrites in
7:27
Speaker 1: all of this. I'm surprised that she actually managed to
7:29
Speaker 1: find the front yard of a school when she's not
7:32
Speaker 1: in a corporate box, you know, the AFL getting funded
7:34
Speaker 1: by a taxpayer playing with her whooshies or something. I mean,
7:36
Speaker 1: they're just so far out of their depth. But they
7:39
Speaker 1: are playing with fire on this because the community does
7:42
Speaker 1: not support this. The community is aware now of what
7:45
Speaker 1: governments are doing. They saw it throughout COVID. They saw
7:48
Speaker 1: it through the voice of parliament. They saw it in
7:50
Speaker 1: the wake of Bondi, this rampant censorship that's taking place.
7:53
Speaker 1: They can say whatever they want about it, but the
7:55
Speaker 1: community will see through this and it will not be supported.
7:59
Speaker 3: We're going to have more on Annika Wells and the
8:02
Speaker 3: Albanese government's attempts at censorship a little later on the program.
8:06
Speaker 3: But now to One Nation having a branch meeting in Sunbury,
8:11
Speaker 3: a suburb of Melbourne, cancelled last week due to safety reasons.
8:16
Speaker 3: It comes after the alleged bashing of a grandmother and
8:19
Speaker 3: One Nation volunteer in Queensland last month. That 60-year-old woman
8:24
Speaker 3: ended up having to be hospitalised with a broken rib.
8:27
Speaker 3: And One Nation's Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, said the party
8:31
Speaker 3: has already lost candidates due to threats of violence. Dan,
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Speaker 3: Pauline Hanson has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of inciting
8:40
Speaker 3: violence against her and her supporters last week. Tell me
8:44
Speaker 3: about this climate of fear that exists. They've got candidates
8:48
Speaker 3: opting out because they are concerned for their safety.
8:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, incitement is a very strong word. I would
8:57
Speaker 1: say that he's sort of creating an environment where it's
9:00
Speaker 1: OK to dehumanise other people that disagree with him. And
9:03
Speaker 1: Anthony Albanese has a track record of doing this. And
9:06
Speaker 1: certainly that's happened with One Nation, where there are people
9:09
Speaker 1: including it in. in government and in high levels of
9:12
Speaker 1: society that are saying or insinuating that Pauline Hanson and
9:15
Speaker 1: therefore anybody who supports her or wants to work with
9:18
Speaker 1: her is a threat to our democracy and a threat
9:21
Speaker 1: to our way of life. And, you know, this is
9:24
Speaker 1: the kind of rhetoric that people, you know, may take literally.
9:27
Speaker 1: And unfortunately there are people out there who, you know,
9:31
Speaker 1: may act upon these kinds of thoughts. So there is
9:34
Speaker 1: an obligation of those who are in power to make
9:36
Speaker 1: sure that they're not Creating an environment within which their
9:39
Speaker 1: words could be interpreted in such a manner. But unfortunately,
9:43
Speaker 1: as you say, it's already having an impact. It's having
9:45
Speaker 1: a chilling effect. I suspect you're quite right that there
9:47
Speaker 1: are potential candidates that would otherwise say, yeah, I'll put
9:50
Speaker 1: my hand up for One Nation. But then they're worried
9:53
Speaker 1: about how they may be treated in public. Now, that
9:56
Speaker 1: doesn't mean, you know, people will say things and that's
9:59
Speaker 1: a part of democracy. and part of being a candidate.
10:01
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that the kids' gloves have to be
10:02
Speaker 1: put on, but I am saying that there is a
10:04
Speaker 1: line in the sand when it comes to dehumanising your
10:07
Speaker 1: political opponents and that's something. Also, I will say that
10:10
Speaker 1: it was, I think, the Attorney-General, Michelle Rowland, who sort
10:14
Speaker 1: of engaged in this bizarre victim blaming of saying, well,
10:16
Speaker 1: Pauline Hanson should look at herself. I mean, this is...
10:20
Speaker 1: This is really not the kind of language that anyone
10:23
Speaker 1: should be engaging in.
10:25
Speaker 3: Particularly when it's a female who's facing these threats and
10:30
Speaker 3: talking about victim blaming, we have Nikki Savva on the
10:34
Speaker 3: ABC claiming that One Nation's brand is all about inciting
10:38
Speaker 3: conflict in the community.
10:41
Speaker 6: The brand of One Nation is, which is to increase
10:45
Speaker 6: the level of anger in the community, the level of
10:47
Speaker 6: division and and to incite conflict.
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Speaker 3: Sounds like victim blaming to me, Dan. And I love
10:54
Speaker 3: that Nikki Savva is the ABC's.
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Speaker 2: Version of a conservative.
10:59
Speaker 3: Her words echo this rant from Green Senator Sarah Hansen-Young.
11:04
Speaker 2: How dare she play the victim?
11:06
Speaker 7: One nation gets to trade in hate and division.
11:09
Speaker 2: Because it is expected.
11:11
Speaker 7: Pauline Hansen gets to say nasty things about just about
11:15
Speaker 7: everybody without consequence. One Nation's business model is hate thy neighbour.
11:22
Speaker 7: But when she's called out for this, Pauline Hanson, she
11:26
Speaker 7: cries the victim, says everyone's ganging up on her. She
11:29
Speaker 7: hides from the media, only talks to those who praise her.
11:33
Speaker 3: That was really an extraordinary attack, Dan, when these women
11:37
Speaker 3: know that Pauline Hanson has credible death threats against her.
11:41
Speaker 3: There's one alleged incident currently reported Before the courts, as
11:45
Speaker 3: for Sarah Hansen-Young talking about friendly media, when's the last
11:48
Speaker 3: time she appeared on News 24 in the prime slot,
11:52
Speaker 3: primetime slots? She hasn't appeared on Bolt, Credlin, this program
11:57
Speaker 3: as far as I know. What do you make of
12:00
Speaker 3: that sort of commentary around Pauline Hansen?
12:04
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, maybe the algorithm censorship is a good idea,
12:07
Speaker 1: so I don't have to see this stuff. I don't know.
12:09
Speaker 1: Maybe I could support it if we could. Maybe there's
12:12
Speaker 1: no Sarah Hansen-Young toggle they could put on there, and
12:14
Speaker 1: I could probably get around it, actually. But I mean,
12:18
Speaker 1: this is just hypocrisy, as you suggest, which is a
12:22
Speaker 1: lot of these politicians who say, oh, well, Pauline Hanson's
12:25
Speaker 1: not fronting the media. They themselves very rarely would front
12:28
Speaker 1: someone that's going to put tough questions to them. I
12:31
Speaker 1: think the point about the The sort of the women
12:33
Speaker 1: and the female angle is very interesting because, you know,
12:36
Speaker 1: if this was happening to a politician on the left
12:39
Speaker 1: who was receiving a similar level of threats or even scrutiny,
12:44
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of the scrutiny of Pauline
12:45
Speaker 1: Hanson and One Nation is totally justified. You know, they're
12:47
Speaker 1: a major player. And with being a major player of scrutiny,
12:50
Speaker 1: I think that's totally fair enough. But even if the
12:53
Speaker 1: scrutiny was just applied to a left-wing party that was
12:56
Speaker 1: on the rise, you can imagine that the response would
12:58
Speaker 1: be very different. So, you know, as always, it's the
13:01
Speaker 1: hypocrisy that annoys people, you know, so much about this
13:04
Speaker 1: and myself included.
13:08
Speaker 3: Now let's go to a credible story of Israeli athletes
13:12
Speaker 3: who were set to compete in a triathlon in Northern
13:14
Speaker 3: Ireland over the weekend. They were banned from the race
13:18
Speaker 3: after organisers raised concerns.
13:20
Speaker 2: About their participation.
13:21
Speaker 3: Northwest Triathlon Club said, Its stance was not directed at
13:26
Speaker 3: anyone because of their religion or ethnicity, but was a position,
13:30
Speaker 3: and I quote, concerning representation of the state of Israel
13:34
Speaker 3: in international sport and the attempt to present normality on
13:38
Speaker 3: the international sporting stage while Palestinians continue to suffer. Dan,
13:43
Speaker 3: however they want to dress it up, they banned Jews
13:46
Speaker 3: from Israel from competing. How they can rationalise that or
13:50
Speaker 3: say it has nothing to do with their religion or ethnicity,
13:53
Speaker 3: I think is quite outrageous.
13:57
Speaker 1: Well, obviously it does. And, you know, this is pretty concerning. Now,
14:01
Speaker 1: I hope that this is, you know, isolated and, you know,
14:03
Speaker 1: maybe it's just a bunch of wokesters who are running
14:06
Speaker 1: the sort of HR marketing department of that particular competition
14:10
Speaker 1: that have sort of hijacked it. But, you know, I mean,
14:12
Speaker 1: this is where things can go, unfortunately, where you have
14:15
Speaker 1: a group of people that are singled out and demonised
14:17
Speaker 1: and people think it's fair game just to continue to
14:20
Speaker 1: do that. And, you know, it is actually quite unsettling
14:22
Speaker 1: that it involves sport as well. You know, sport is
14:25
Speaker 1: something that should bring people together It should be free
14:28
Speaker 1: of politics. I know that it can never be completely free, probably,
14:30
Speaker 1: but as far as we can, it should be free
14:32
Speaker 1: of politics and all these other things that we have
14:34
Speaker 1: to deal with in our life. So how else can
14:37
Speaker 1: you interpret this other than an incredibly divisive dimension into
14:43
Speaker 1: that particular competition?
14:46
Speaker 2: Daniel Weil, thank you so much for your time.
14:51
Speaker 3: My next guest is Stonington City Councillor Tom Humphreys, who
14:55
Speaker 3: has called out Communications Minister Annika Wells complaining about people
15:00
Speaker 3: having too much information through social media.
15:03
Speaker 2: So much information that they no.
15:05
Speaker 3: Longer believe her even when she's telling them face to
15:08
Speaker 3: face what the Albanese government intends to do.
15:11
Speaker 8: I had mobile officers last week and a lady came
15:14
Speaker 8: to talk to me about her various grievances and I
15:18
Speaker 8: was struck by how I could say to her, I'm
15:21
Speaker 8: a member of the cabinet, That's not true. We're not
15:24
Speaker 8: doing that. That's a scare campaign from online. I look
15:28
Speaker 8: you in the eye and I tell you that will
15:30
Speaker 8: never happen in this government and she didn't believe me.
15:34
Speaker 9: Wow.
15:34
Speaker 8: And I've always found until this year even that the
15:38
Speaker 8: way to solve that malaise and that sense of distrust
15:43
Speaker 8: in the establishment was to go and knock on people's
15:45
Speaker 8: doors or look them in the eye in.
15:49
Speaker 10: Banyoke.
15:50
Speaker 8: And human to human, they'll believe you. And what I'm
15:53
Speaker 8: noticing now is that they don't, that the power of
15:55
Speaker 8: online is so strong, the power of the algorithm is
15:58
Speaker 8: so strong that it is overwhelming our public institutions and
16:03
Speaker 8: the decline of trust is problematic for everybody.
16:07
Speaker 2: Tom, that is.
16:08
Speaker 3: Quite an astonishing admission there from Annika Wells, perhaps. People
16:13
Speaker 3: no longer believe her because they've seen the Albanese government
16:16
Speaker 3: lie and lie again. Everything from energy bills to not
16:21
Speaker 3: getting rid of negative gearing and capital gains tax changes.
16:25
Speaker 3: Maybe that's the big difference, not some magical algorithm that's
16:29
Speaker 3: come about in the past year.
16:30
Speaker 1: Exactly.
16:31
Speaker 11: And this is the thing is public now have enough
16:33
Speaker 11: information to make up their own mind about whether the
16:36
Speaker 11: government's telling them the truth or not.
16:37
Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
16:40
Speaker 2: They want to change the laws.
16:42
Speaker 3: They want to change the regulations around social media algorithms,
16:47
Speaker 3: around what is considered harmful.
16:50
Speaker 2: And as always, they take a safety approach. That's the sell.
16:55
Speaker 2: But really, it's about hiding the ugly truth from the voters.
17:00
Speaker 12: Well, exactly.
17:01
Speaker 11: And under the... They haven't even released the legislation for
17:03
Speaker 11: people to look at, and they're going to try and
17:05
Speaker 11: ram that through in this sitting session, apparently. But the exposure.
17:09
Speaker 11: Discussion papers outlined harmful content without defining what harmful content
17:14
Speaker 11: is and would give the minister discretionary powers to define
17:18
Speaker 11: that of their own volition, which outside of a parliament
17:21
Speaker 11: is extraordinary as an attack on freedom of speech.
17:24
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
17:25
Speaker 3: And Labor's Digital Duty of Care Bill would give more
17:28
Speaker 3: power to Annika Wells and the Safety Commissioner, Julianne McGrann,
17:31
Speaker 3: to crack down on so-called hate speech. Now, do you
17:35
Speaker 3: feel comfortable with those two determining what is hate speech?
17:39
Speaker 11: Well, it's extraordinary. I don't think anyone would really be
17:42
Speaker 11: comfortable in a government minister having total power with no
17:46
Speaker 11: recourse or any real way of challenging that. That's an
17:49
Speaker 11: extraordinary amount of power to put in one person's hands
17:52
Speaker 11: and particularly in unelected person's hands.
17:54
Speaker 3: Well, given Julie Inman Grant's track record, I think we
17:58
Speaker 3: know exactly how she's going to behave if she is
18:01
Speaker 3: given those powers. So Labor know what they're getting. She
18:04
Speaker 3: may have been a Turnbull-era appointment, but she has been
18:08
Speaker 3: a leftist activist in that role. Now, Labor spend a
18:12
Speaker 3: lot of money on social media. They're not very good
18:14
Speaker 3: at it. I would argue the Liberals aren't very good
18:16
Speaker 3: at it either. You are one of the better ones.
18:20
Speaker 12: Tell me, what.
18:20
Speaker 3: Advice would you give to politicians about how best to
18:23
Speaker 3: use social media? Who do you think is good at
18:27
Speaker 3: it in federal or state politics?
18:29
Speaker 11: In state politics, particularly Jess Wilson and Nicole Werner are
18:32
Speaker 11: very good at it. But for social media, it's just
18:35
Speaker 11: make sure your message is clear, to the point and engaging.
18:39
Speaker 11: You don't have to get on with all she's and
18:40
Speaker 11: explain different ways of explaining tax treatments and particularly just
18:44
Speaker 11: be honest with people, be straightforward with them. And that
18:47
Speaker 11: message really does convey a long way.
18:49
Speaker 3: Well, this is the thing with Labor. I would argue
18:51
Speaker 3: One Nation is the best at using social media. They're
18:54
Speaker 3: sort of masterful at it, despite their limited resources. Labor
18:58
Speaker 3: and Liberal, I think, particularly at the federal level, struggle.
19:02
Speaker 3: And with Labor, it's the talking down to the electorate,
19:05
Speaker 3: using ushers to explain housing policy, like they're talking to kindergartners.
19:10
Speaker 1: Exactly.
19:10
Speaker 11: Or eating Maltesers and explaining the housing policy as well.
19:13
Speaker 11: And then I think having a sausage roll in a
19:15
Speaker 11: car is the New trend among some Labor senators.
19:17
Speaker 3: It's like they're desperate to go viral and that desperation
19:20
Speaker 3: really just makes their content cringe, as the kids say.
19:24
Speaker 2: Tom Humphries, thank you so much for your time tonight.
19:27
Speaker 1: Thank you.
19:27
Speaker 3: Still to come, lefties losing it, plus the latest from
19:31
Speaker 3: the US, including what the Lindsay Clancy trial tells us
19:35
Speaker 3: about the modern left.
19:37
Speaker 2: Josh Hammer is up next.
19:40
Speaker 3: MUSIC You're watching The Rita Panahy Show and it's time
19:50
Speaker 3: for Lefties Losing It. Let's start with Gen Z socialists,
19:54
Speaker 3: the dim-witted, privileged young'uns who have decided to embrace communism,
19:59
Speaker 3: the most destructive and deadly ideology, directly responsible for millions
20:04
Speaker 3: of deaths. And it's incredible what these commies find possible.
20:08
Speaker 3: objectionable in 2026. For example, fitness is bad now. Fitness
20:13
Speaker 3: is a symbol of fascism or capitalism or something.
20:17
Speaker 4: We have to give up the fantasy of being fitter
20:21
Speaker 4: than the fascists. It's not just that it's cringe or
20:24
Speaker 4: strategically bad. Fitness is a measure of relative disposability under capitalism.
20:31
Speaker 4: Our task is not to become less disposable. to become
20:35
Speaker 4: more useful to the ruling order. The point is not
20:39
Speaker 4: to beat the fascists at their own game. It is
20:43
Speaker 4: not to lay a better claim on their own territory
20:47
Speaker 4: by being fitter.
20:48
Speaker 3: And of course, they're in masks. They're really into masking
20:52
Speaker 3: at Socialism 2026. This conference should have been held in
20:56
Speaker 3: an asylum.
20:58
Speaker 2: Watch this panel, all of them masked, naturally.
21:01
Speaker 3: Discuss the problems with far-left activism in the tech sector.
21:05
Speaker 12: The form of a strike that is well known to labor.
21:09
Speaker 13: What the movement needs now is to discover where tech
21:12
Speaker 13: worker leverage actually lies. This is going to look different
21:16
Speaker 13: for different workers, bigger fights down the road. Some people
21:20
Speaker 13: were like, well, if you don't want to strike, you're
21:22
Speaker 13: not militant.
21:23
Speaker 3: And if that wasn't profound enough for you, get a
21:25
Speaker 3: hold of this word salad from Raven Schwam-Curtis, who is
21:30
Speaker 3: quoting University of Virginia professor Tiffany King. This is all
21:33
Speaker 3: about black folks grappling with white settler colonialism and indigenous dispossession.
21:39
Speaker 10: On a very gut and visceral level, it is a
21:41
Speaker 10: resistance to a very sloppy conflation that discursively makes white
21:45
Speaker 10: settlers and black people's relationship to native people an equivalent one.
21:50
Speaker 10: White settlers and black people are not ontological structural equivalents
21:53
Speaker 10: in this hemisphere.
21:54
Speaker 2: Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I
21:57
Speaker 2: said that.
21:58
Speaker 3: Now to actress and hard left activist Miriam Margulis, who
22:01
Speaker 3: is in the habit of calling everyone else racist, insisting
22:04
Speaker 3: we all embrace diversity. She's written a book that discusses
22:08
Speaker 3: the rise of the far right and racism. But it's
22:12
Speaker 3: Miriam whose racist commentary had TV producers.
22:16
Speaker 2: In a panic. Watch this hot mess. What accent would
22:20
Speaker 2: be normal for you? What are you? What am I?
22:23
Speaker 1: I'm me.
22:23
Speaker 2: Well, you're a mix, aren't you? I'm a mix, yes.
22:26
Speaker 1: No.
22:26
Speaker 2: So you've got a black daddy and a white mommy. No, no, no,
22:28
Speaker 2: my both parents are black. Both parents black?
22:31
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes.
22:32
Speaker 2: Oh, I think you're what I would call a high...
22:33
Speaker 2: What's June put on me? Am I a lighter shade
22:35
Speaker 2: than normal? I think you're high yalla. High yalla? What's
22:38
Speaker 2: high yalla? That's... That's what they call it in America.
22:42
Speaker 11: Oh.
22:42
Speaker 2: When someone isn't deeply black.
22:44
Speaker 13: Right.
22:45
Speaker 2: I didn't even know there were shades. There are shades.
22:47
Speaker 9: Oh, OK.
22:48
Speaker 2: And this is what we have to incorporate. They're getting
22:51
Speaker 2: nervous now. They're getting nervous now. Don't be nervous. They're
22:53
Speaker 2: getting nervous.
22:54
Speaker 1: Don't be nervous.
22:55
Speaker 11: Don't be nervous.
22:55
Speaker 2: We welcome everybody.
22:57
Speaker 14: Oh, yeah.
22:57
Speaker 2: And that's what I want to write about in my book. Well,
23:00
Speaker 2: that is what it is.
23:00
Speaker 5: Yes.
23:01
Speaker 2: It's about inclusion.
23:03
Speaker 5: Yes.
23:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's all about inclusion, including racist terms. She is
23:08
Speaker 3: very inclusive of those sorts of racist terms. Can you
23:10
Speaker 3: imagine if a conservative had said that? They'd never be
23:14
Speaker 3: seen on TV again. To the Lindsay Clancy case now,
23:18
Speaker 3: it ended in a mistrial. Really, if you still have
23:21
Speaker 3: faith in the criminal justice system in blue states, you're
23:24
Speaker 3: a little naive for this. Well, this was a mass
23:28
Speaker 3: psychosis event and you knew.
23:30
Speaker 2: The jury was cooked.
23:32
Speaker 3: When two of the women arrived at the courthouse dressed
23:34
Speaker 3: in pink, dressed in the colour embraced by Lindsay's sad fangirls.
23:39
Speaker 3: Justice in the blue, Democrats, it is only as good
23:42
Speaker 3: as your jury pool. Thankfully, there was one lone sane
23:47
Speaker 3: man who withstood the lunacy to ensure mistrial, to ensure
23:51
Speaker 3: Clancy did not literally get away with triple murder. And,
23:55
Speaker 3: of course, now the supposedly compassionate awfuls, the affluent white female.
23:59
Speaker 2: Leftists, are desperate to dox that juror. They want to
24:03
Speaker 2: destroy his life. Me and the devil.
24:11
Speaker 15: What the extra is.
24:12
Speaker 8: Going on in the world?
24:17
Speaker 16: It's so terrifying because those are all things that I've...
24:24
Speaker 16: Those are all things that I've said or thought or
24:27
Speaker 16: written at some time.
24:29
Speaker 17: The reason we support her is because she's not just
24:31
Speaker 17: a man who annihilated her family because she wanted out
24:34
Speaker 17: of a marriage. She was a woman who was failed
24:37
Speaker 17: by systemic patriarchy. Take a moment, absorb that one.
24:43
Speaker 3: We're now blaming the patriarchy for a privileged woman murdering
24:48
Speaker 3: her children. Now watch this next intellectually vacuous rant from
24:52
Speaker 3: former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
24:54
Speaker 2: I know when I saw it.
24:56
Speaker 3: I was reminded of that biblical proverb, as a dog
24:59
Speaker 3: returns to its vomit, so a fool.
25:02
Speaker 2: Repeats his folly. Chris, for a time, did try to
25:06
Speaker 2: do better. We thought he did.
25:08
Speaker 3: He tried to memory hole all those COVID lies and hysteria,
25:12
Speaker 3: the Russian collusion hoax, the blatant propaganda for the Democrats, but.
25:18
Speaker 2: He is what he is.
25:19
Speaker 3: He's a fool, a fool who apparently doesn't know what
25:22
Speaker 3: hypocrisy means, and he also struggles with analogies too.
25:26
Speaker 18: I'm going to let all this noise clear the zone
25:29
Speaker 18: on the Lindsay Clancy situation and the lone holdout juror
25:33
Speaker 18: who admitted he had reasonable doubts about the prosecution's case
25:36
Speaker 18: but refused to let her go. I'm going to let
25:39
Speaker 18: that noise clear. But here's a signal. Why are so
25:44
Speaker 18: many people who are in favour of punishing Lindsay Clancy also...
25:48
Speaker 18: MAGA supporters when you favour no legal accountability for the
25:54
Speaker 18: President and his administration despite obvious illegality and corruption.
25:59
Speaker 8: Hmm.
26:01
Speaker 18: Hypocrisy much?
26:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder why MAGA folk want to see a
26:05
Speaker 3: woman who admitted to brutally murdering her babies one by
26:08
Speaker 3: one after carefully researching every aspect.
26:12
Speaker 2: Of the crime. I wonder why they would want her punished.
26:15
Speaker 3: Isn't the bigger question why Democrats want her celebrated, why
26:19
Speaker 3: they have raised over a million dollars for her? Joining
26:23
Speaker 3: me now is Article 3 Project Senior Counsel and Shulman
26:27
Speaker 3: Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Centre. Josh Hammer, Josh,
26:31
Speaker 3: this case, this Lindsay Clancy case, will have shaken the
26:35
Speaker 3: faith of so many people in the criminal justice system.
26:39
Speaker 3: I've said more than once, justice in blue states is
26:43
Speaker 3: in jeopardy. Justice is only as sound as your jury pool.
26:49
Speaker 19: You know, Rita, I'm really quite taken aback by that
26:52
Speaker 19: clip we just heard from Chris Cuomo. I mean, this
26:55
Speaker 19: notion that you want accountability for a woman who murders
26:58
Speaker 19: her children, and yet you don't think that Donald Trump
27:01
Speaker 19: and his family should go to jail, that's somehow hypocritical.
27:03
Speaker 19: I mean, you might as well say, you know, you
27:06
Speaker 19: love to eat steak, but man, oh man, you just hate—
27:09
Speaker 19: egg salad. What a hypocrite you are. You know, what
27:12
Speaker 19: a hypocritical appetite you have. I mean, what a blithering,
27:16
Speaker 19: bloviating moron. I mean, what a waste of oxygen. I mean,
27:20
Speaker 19: what is this guy putting out there into the ether?
27:22
Speaker 19: One thing literally could not possibly have less to do
27:26
Speaker 19: with the other. This whole saga, this Lindsay Clancy case,
27:29
Speaker 19: has been yet another data point, Rita. Unfortunately, in America's
27:35
Speaker 19: dark descent into a culture that simply does not prioritize
27:38
Speaker 19: human life. And the core layer of that is a
27:40
Speaker 19: culture that has something of a lust, a fetishization for violence.
27:45
Speaker 19: I think that the Lindsay Clancy cultural moment here in
27:48
Speaker 19: America should be very much seen in one with the
27:52
Speaker 19: Luigi Mangione assassination of Brian Thompson and the horrific, horrific
27:55
Speaker 19: trend in the far left of some people even naming
27:58
Speaker 19: their children, their male sons, Luigi, after this cold-blooded assassin.
28:02
Speaker 19: with the open celebration of the murder of my friend
28:04
Speaker 19: Charlie Kirk coming up in just a matter of days
28:07
Speaker 19: now on the one-year anniversary of that, and on and on.
28:09
Speaker 19: It's a culture that simply does not value human life.
28:13
Speaker 19: And when I found out that there was one holdout
28:15
Speaker 19: juror the other way, I thought maybe there would be
28:18
Speaker 19: a holdout in favor of just Eleven trying to convict
28:23
Speaker 19: one who was on her side. No, it's actually the
28:25
Speaker 19: other way. And, I mean, just wow. I mean, what
28:28
Speaker 19: does that say about the jury pool in Plymouth, Massachusetts? Plymouth, Massachusetts,
28:33
Speaker 19: which I might add, has, I don't know, more than
28:36
Speaker 19: a bit of history here in these United States. That's
28:38
Speaker 19: literally where the Pilgrims landed in 1620, Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower.
28:42
Speaker 19: You know, Rita, I'm actually working on a new book
28:43
Speaker 19: right now. And I've been doing a lot of reading
28:46
Speaker 19: and researching about how the Puritans actually governed in Plymouth
28:50
Speaker 19: Colony back in the 1600s. And frankly, I know what
28:54
Speaker 19: would have happened to Lindsay Clancy if that kind of
28:56
Speaker 19: regime was in place back in Puritan-era Massachusetts. And sometimes
29:00
Speaker 19: looking at what happened to her in this case compared
29:02
Speaker 19: to back then, Rita, I can't help but think that
29:04
Speaker 19: sometimes it might have been a little bit better back
29:06
Speaker 19: in the day, so to speak.
29:08
Speaker 3: Josh, this case has been described as OJ Simpson for
29:11
Speaker 3: white leftist women, but it's worse than that because there
29:15
Speaker 3: were two male jurors who were willing to see her
29:18
Speaker 3: walk free to be found not guilty for reason of insanity,
29:23
Speaker 3: despite the evidence, which was overwhelming. Now, what they heard
29:28
Speaker 3: was horrific. The lengths this woman went to to murder
29:31
Speaker 3: these children, the planning, the research, the And the fact
29:36
Speaker 3: that she claims she heard voices just this once, just
29:39
Speaker 3: this once whilst was murdering these three babies. But she
29:42
Speaker 3: managed to take a phone call in the midst of
29:45
Speaker 3: those murders and appear completely normal and then go back
29:49
Speaker 3: to murdering these defenceless children. And I do wonder whether
29:53
Speaker 3: the jury coming to that courthouse through those crowds of
29:56
Speaker 3: Lindsay Clancy supporters seeing the signs, seeing the fervour, whether they.
30:02
Speaker 2: Had any impact.
30:04
Speaker 19: Yeah, no, I mean, the Code Pink gals were out.
30:07
Speaker 19: They were out, they were dressed in pink, and they
30:09
Speaker 19: were cheering on Lindsey Clancy as if she was a
30:11
Speaker 19: rock star. I mean, as if she was Britney Spears
30:13
Speaker 19: back on tour, you know, oops, I did again, circa 1999, 2000. And,
30:18
Speaker 19: I mean, this is a woman who is only known
30:21
Speaker 19: because she devised a horrific, diabolical scheme to convince her
30:26
Speaker 19: husband to leave for a few hours, and then when
30:29
Speaker 19: he came back, his three children were dead, and she
30:31
Speaker 19: had jumped out of a window after trying to kill herself.
30:35
Speaker 19: I mean, this is beyond contempt. I mean, this is
30:38
Speaker 19: beyond sick. Now, I should note that there is one
30:42
Speaker 19: additional wrinkle in this broader equation. So putting in my
30:46
Speaker 19: legal cap for a second to read, I was struck.
30:49
Speaker 19: I was absolutely struck. when I did a little bit
30:52
Speaker 19: of some more advanced reading as to the relevant Massachusetts
30:55
Speaker 19: criminal code in question here. Massachusetts is the only state
31:00
Speaker 19: in the country, literally the only one out of all
31:03
Speaker 19: 50 states, that in a situation like this, where someone
31:07
Speaker 19: who's been accused of murder pleads insanity, the burden then
31:12
Speaker 19: falls on Massachusetts, apparently, to the prosecution to prove entirely
31:17
Speaker 19: that she was not insane, which I have to say
31:21
Speaker 19: is crazy. I mean, that is itself, no pun intended, insane.
31:26
Speaker 19: I don't know how the heck the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
31:28
Speaker 19: ended up with a law like this. But if nothing else,
31:31
Speaker 19: if nothing else, first of all, let me be clear.
31:33
Speaker 19: I hope that this case gets retried.
31:34
Speaker 12: It's a mistrial.
31:35
Speaker 19: I hope it gets retried and God willing, we get
31:37
Speaker 19: an actually just result this time. Personally, Rita, I've been
31:41
Speaker 19: calling for the death penalty. It's not going to happen,
31:43
Speaker 19: but that's what should happen in a case like this.
31:45
Speaker 12: That's my hope.
31:46
Speaker 19: But if nothing else, if absolutely nothing else, I hope
31:48
Speaker 19: that the legislators in Massachusetts and Boston look at this
31:51
Speaker 19: saga and say, my God, what have we done? Unfortunately,
31:56
Speaker 19: my hopes are not up because of the same state
31:57
Speaker 19: that just passed an abortion up until the moment of
31:59
Speaker 19: birth bill. So they clearly do not exactly value human
32:02
Speaker 19: life there in the Bay State. But this, as you say,
32:06
Speaker 19: is the reality in blue states in America today, and
32:08
Speaker 19: that should send a chill down all of our collective spines.
32:12
Speaker 3: Now let's talk about James Tallarico in Texas. You wrote
32:16
Speaker 3: a fantastic piece for the New York Post about the midterms,
32:19
Speaker 3: what we can expect to see in the swing states,
32:22
Speaker 3: and what we can expect to see in Texas.
32:24
Speaker 2: For over a decade, Democrats have touted.
32:27
Speaker 3: The purported inevitability of Texas turning blue. It hasn't, but
32:33
Speaker 3: they think Tallarico is the man to get the job done. Josh,
32:37
Speaker 3: what is your assessment of that race? Do you believe
32:40
Speaker 3: the polling that has him in front of Republican Ken Paxton?
32:45
Speaker 19: So I think it's close. I think it is probably
32:49
Speaker 19: within the margin of error. I don't personally trust the polls, Rita,
32:53
Speaker 19: to be honest with you. I think that polling in
32:54
Speaker 19: America is in a generally sordid state. And if you,
32:58
Speaker 19: if you look at the averages of the past few cycles,
33:00
Speaker 19: you see that most polls typically undervalue Republicans by about
33:04
Speaker 19: three points on average. So if I were a betting
33:06
Speaker 19: man in the race for tomorrow. I think that Ken
33:09
Speaker 19: Paxton would indeed win this race. Here's why I wrote
33:12
Speaker 19: this column, because that's not actually guaranteed. And there are
33:15
Speaker 19: some concrete things that Ken Paxton can do to make
33:18
Speaker 19: sure that Texas does not, God forbid, actually go blue
33:22
Speaker 19: this cycle. The thing is that Ken Paxton, I used
33:24
Speaker 19: to live in Texas, Rita. I'm a barred lawyer in Texas.
33:28
Speaker 19: my concealed carry licenses in Texas. In many ways, I
33:31
Speaker 19: have a lot of Texas ties. I know the state very,
33:32
Speaker 19: very well. Ken Paxton is a lightning rod in Texas.
33:36
Speaker 19: I am personally a fan. I am personally a fan
33:38
Speaker 19: of Ken Paxton because he is a rock-ribbed conservative warrior
33:42
Speaker 19: who has been on the tip of the spear of
33:43
Speaker 19: the legal backlash against the Biden administration. helping Donald Trump
33:47
Speaker 19: in the States. The guy is an absolute, absolute MAGA warrior.
33:50
Speaker 19: But there are a lot of squishy Republicans who don't
33:54
Speaker 19: particularly like him for a lot of reasons. And he
33:56
Speaker 19: does have some personal baggage. It's not really worth getting
33:59
Speaker 19: into the details here.
34:00
Speaker 12: But here's the thing.
34:01
Speaker 19: If Ken Paxton is trying to consolidate Republican support and
34:05
Speaker 19: all of the crosstabs in the polls, if you want
34:07
Speaker 19: to go to the second, third line of the polls,
34:08
Speaker 19: what you see is that the reason it's close is
34:11
Speaker 19: because Tallarico has 90 plus percent text Democrats voting for him.
34:15
Speaker 19: Paxton only has about 85, 90% Republicans. He has not
34:19
Speaker 19: fully consolidated Republicans yet. The way to get over the
34:21
Speaker 19: line is to run a relentless negative campaign exposing Tallarico
34:27
Speaker 19: as the absolute leftist cartoon character lunatic that he is.
34:31
Speaker 19: A guy who has said that God is non-binary. A
34:33
Speaker 19: guy who has said that the annunciation of Jesus justifies abortion.
34:38
Speaker 19: A guy who has said that when he was a
34:39
Speaker 19: teacher that his illegal alien students were the most patriotic ones.
34:43
Speaker 19: The guy who said that the southern border should be
34:45
Speaker 19: as wide open and welcoming as your own front porch.
34:48
Speaker 19: I mean, you can't make this crap up. This is Texas,
34:50
Speaker 19: for God's sake. This is not California or Massachusetts. So
34:53
Speaker 19: you run that campaign, Rita, and I think M. Paxton
34:55
Speaker 19: wins this in space.
34:58
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
34:59
Speaker 3: All you have to run is a campaign campaign. featuring
35:02
Speaker 3: Tallarico saying what you've just said. There is video of
35:06
Speaker 3: him saying this stuff and more.
35:08
Speaker 2: I mean, he has just said the most ridiculous stuff.
35:11
Speaker 3: He was asked, what do you love more than your
35:13
Speaker 3: own children or your family? And he came up with
35:17
Speaker 3: trans children. I mean, it just, he's just a weirdo
35:20
Speaker 3: on so many levels. And just some of the stuff
35:23
Speaker 3: he has said about God being non-binary, I think that
35:27
Speaker 3: would get the job done. Now, there was a big
35:29
Speaker 3: announcement from President Trump in the past 48 hours. He's
35:33
Speaker 3: signed executive orders to boost America's beef producers by cracking
35:37
Speaker 3: down on major meat packers and their dominance they have
35:41
Speaker 3: on the industry.
35:43
Speaker 9: We're creating a program where small and medium-sized and large
35:48
Speaker 9: ranchers can sell their products directly to consumers so that
35:52
Speaker 9: they don't have to go through the big four, processes
35:55
Speaker 9: and middlemen. They're not going to be happy when they
35:58
Speaker 9: hear this. I don't know who they are, but they're
36:00
Speaker 9: going to be coming at me at different angles. Will
36:02
Speaker 9: you people please protect me? I'm going to need protection
36:06
Speaker 9: from my NFL guy.
36:10
Speaker 3: Josh, this seems like an obvious move.
36:12
Speaker 2: What are the drawbacks?
36:14
Speaker 3: Why wasn't it done earlier by previous administrations?
36:18
Speaker 19: Well, this is just a lot of anachronistic, outdated regulation.
36:21
Speaker 19: That's essentially what it is. And by the way, beef
36:24
Speaker 19: is not the only industry that operates like that, Rita.
36:26
Speaker 19: Alcohol famously in America operates on a three-tier system whereby
36:30
Speaker 19: you have the producers, the beer makers, the whiskey distillers.
36:33
Speaker 19: And then you can't actually sell from Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser, from
36:39
Speaker 19: Jack Daniels.
36:39
Speaker 12: You can't actually sell alcohol.
36:41
Speaker 19: Straight to a supermarket, actually then has to go to
36:43
Speaker 19: a middleman, only then gets to the front-facing marketplace, and
36:48
Speaker 19: then to the consumer. So there's a lot of industries
36:51
Speaker 19: that have these outdated structures.
36:54
Speaker 12: A lot of it is, frankly, just old-school protectionism. That's
36:56
Speaker 12: all it is.
36:57
Speaker 19: It is just trying to create more costs to drive
37:01
Speaker 19: up the costs.
37:02
Speaker 12: For American consumers.
37:03
Speaker 19: And that's ultimately what this executive order is trying to do.
37:05
Speaker 12: It's trying just to cut costs. It is a very
37:07
Speaker 12: simple measure.
37:08
Speaker 19: Trying to make the cattlemen happy, trying to make the
37:10
Speaker 19: farmlands of America happy, and then ultimately just trying to
37:13
Speaker 19: get costs down for consumers. I would only say that
37:15
Speaker 19: there are, as I mentioned, alcohol is a big one.
37:17
Speaker 19: There are a lot of other industries in America where
37:19
Speaker 19: this exact same middleman price-raising, anachronistic structure is in place.
37:24
Speaker 19: I would encourage the president's highly capable team of advisors
37:27
Speaker 19: and lawyers to maybe not stop with the beef industry.
37:31
Speaker 19: I would also add that a corollary of that though,
37:34
Speaker 19: when it comes to beef, Donald Trump has recently announced
37:36
Speaker 19: that he's actually now cutting some selective tariffs on beef
37:39
Speaker 19: when it comes to other countries around the world. It's
37:42
Speaker 19: probably time, I think, in this election season to try
37:44
Speaker 19: to pare back a number of these selective tariffs, especially
37:47
Speaker 19: when it comes to consumer staples.
37:49
Speaker 12: After all, the election is in November.
37:52
Speaker 19: That's right around the corner from Thanksgiving, big meal purchasing holiday,
37:56
Speaker 19: big meal purchasing season in general for Americans there. So
37:59
Speaker 19: I think all that we can do to get these
38:01
Speaker 19: prices down in this election season, I think will only
38:03
Speaker 19: redound to the president's benefits and to his party's benefits.
38:07
Speaker 3: Now, before you go, I want to play you a
38:09
Speaker 3: clip from the US Open. Watch here as a player
38:13
Speaker 3: approaches the chair to complain about the strong stench of marijuana,
38:18
Speaker 3: something that is prevalent in almost every big US city.
38:24
Speaker 14: Oh, yeah.
38:29
Speaker 6: I don't know if you could hear that at home,
38:31
Speaker 6: but apparently there might be someone smoking a little marijuana.
38:37
Speaker 3: Josh, the commentators made light of it and laughed it off,
38:40
Speaker 3: but in my eyes, it's part of the degradation of America.
38:45
Speaker 3: The decriminalisation of marijuana means cities like New York stink
38:50
Speaker 3: of the stuff. When you visit from Australia, when we're
38:53
Speaker 3: not used to that, it really can be a shock
38:55
Speaker 3: to the system.
38:58
Speaker 9: Yeah, so.
38:59
Speaker 19: A couple things come immediately to mind. So if I'm
39:01
Speaker 19: not mistaken, I think that was Irina Sabalenka, who's actually
39:04
Speaker 19: the number one ranked player in the world on the
39:06
Speaker 19: women's side.
39:07
Speaker 12: I'm a big tennis fan. So good for her.
39:09
Speaker 19: This is not a no-name player, by the way. This
39:11
Speaker 19: is literally the most famous women's player.
39:12
Speaker 20: Absolutely.
39:13
Speaker 19: In women's tennis for the past five, 10 years. So
39:16
Speaker 19: good for her for saying that. I have a little
39:18
Speaker 19: bit of a personal experience in this arena, not smoking weed,
39:21
Speaker 19: to be clear, when it comes to tennis. I grew
39:23
Speaker 19: up in the New York area. I went to the
39:25
Speaker 19: US Open essentially every year. I actually worked at the
39:27
Speaker 19: US Open. I actually worked at the US Tennis Association
39:30
Speaker 19: one summer many years ago. I was on site for
39:32
Speaker 19: three weeks. Years ago, this was 2009, 2010, I have
39:35
Speaker 19: no recollection of this. I don't remember a single time
39:38
Speaker 19: walking around that compound.
39:40
Speaker 12: And smelling weed.
39:41
Speaker 19: So this is a very recent, let's call it a
39:44
Speaker 19: post-Bill de Blasio, definitely post-Zorah Mamdani phenomenon, but it's happening
39:50
Speaker 19: across America. I mean, I live here in Florida where
39:53
Speaker 19: marijuana is not legal on a recreational basis, and thanks
39:57
Speaker 19: to Ron DeSantis and our great government here. But even here,
40:00
Speaker 19: you smell it sometimes, let alone in places like New York,
40:03
Speaker 19: Los Angeles.
40:03
Speaker 12: It's everywhere. And frankly, it's awful. It's absolutely awful.
40:06
Speaker 19: It is a real lifestyle deterrent for a lot of
40:10
Speaker 19: young families who are trying to get out into the open,
40:12
Speaker 19: go to the park there. You don't want to smell that.
40:14
Speaker 19: You want to take a young kid to the park.
40:15
Speaker 19: You want the kids to run around and splash and
40:18
Speaker 19: live their childhood. You don't want that to have a
40:21
Speaker 19: corrosive effect on the community. But again, this is the
40:23
Speaker 19: reality of blue America in the year 2026.
40:25
Speaker 12: I don't want that. I guess some people in New
40:27
Speaker 12: York apparently want that. Not me, though.
40:29
Speaker 3: Josh, apparently that stench was coming from the influencers' box.
40:34
Speaker 3: For some reason, the US Open has been taken over
40:36
Speaker 3: by Instagram and TikTok influencers, and that is putting a
40:42
Speaker 3: lot of noses out of joint, understandably.
40:44
Speaker 2: Josh Hammer, thank you so much for your time.
40:45
Speaker 12: Thanks as always, Rita.
40:47
Speaker 3: Still to come, calls from the Jewish community for Ed
40:50
Speaker 3: Sheeran to dump his support act, Macklemore. Kinsey Schofield will
40:54
Speaker 3: have all your celebrity.
40:56
Speaker 2: And royal news. Welcome back. Now, rapper Macklemore is back.
41:10
Speaker 2: You remember him.
41:11
Speaker 3: He dressed up in Jew face. It seems he can
41:14
Speaker 3: barely hide his disdain for the Jewish population. And Macklemore,
41:18
Speaker 3: who is currently appearing at big stadium shows as Ed
41:22
Speaker 3: Sheeran's support act, is using his time on stage to
41:26
Speaker 3: push more political messages.
41:28
Speaker 17: A big part of the reason why I wanted to do.
41:32
Speaker 9: This tour in the first place is so I could
41:35
Speaker 9: stand up in stadiums like this and say two words
41:41
Speaker 9: that are.
41:42
Speaker 13: Very near and dear to my heart.
41:47
Speaker 14: Free Palestine.
41:50
Speaker 2: But it gets worse.
41:51
Speaker 3: He's not just pro-Palestine, or should that be anti-Israel, he
41:55
Speaker 3: is now open borders, calling ICE agents criminals. a terrorist organisation,
42:01
Speaker 3: and he also wants to free Iran and Cuba, not
42:04
Speaker 3: from the Islamists and communists who respectively control those nations.
42:09
Speaker 3: He wants to free them from US attacks.
42:12
Speaker 2: This guy is nuts.
42:14
Speaker 20: I say free Palestine.
42:18
Speaker 17: I say free Lebanon.
42:21
Speaker 20: Free Cuba to the Congo to Sudan to Iran and
42:25
Speaker 20: all the people living in America that have to live
42:29
Speaker 20: in fear because of this terrorist.
42:31
Speaker 2: Organisation, ICE.
42:33
Speaker 3: Joining me now is host of the Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered podcast. Kinsey,
42:38
Speaker 3: this latest tour is getting all sorts of backlash, which
42:42
Speaker 3: is also reaching Ed Sheeran. Executive Director of Stand With
42:46
Speaker 3: Us Israel, Michael Dixon, is among those who has... pointed
42:51
Speaker 3: out that Ed Sheeran must in some way approve of
42:53
Speaker 3: this messaging. He tweeted, If Ed Sheeran had a warm-up
42:58
Speaker 3: act that did blackface, he would be gone before he
43:01
Speaker 3: sang or rapped a note. So why have he and
43:04
Speaker 3: Live Nation not yet dropped Macklemore, who does Jewface and
43:09
Speaker 3: has stunk up Ed's tour with his divisive and hateful politics?
43:13
Speaker 2: Dump him now. Kinsey, what more can you tell me
43:16
Speaker 2: about this backlash?
43:18
Speaker 12: Well, it's severe.
43:19
Speaker 14: I mean, if you hijack someone else's stadium tour for
43:22
Speaker 14: your political manifesto, eventually the headliner, Ed Sheeran, inherits the controversy.
43:27
Speaker 14: Ed now has a Macklemore problem on his hands, whether
43:31
Speaker 14: he asked for it or not. And people are demanding
43:34
Speaker 14: to hear from him. The larger question, to your point,
43:36
Speaker 14: is whether entertainment companies apply their standards consistently. If the
43:40
Speaker 14: promoter believes certain conduct or rhetoric crosses a line, that
43:44
Speaker 14: line shouldn't magically move depending on who's doing the offending.
43:49
Speaker 14: So I do think we're all kind of sitting around
43:51
Speaker 14: waiting to see what happens next because something has to happen, right?
43:55
Speaker 12: This can't go on.
43:56
Speaker 3: Well, I can tell you if an act was putting
44:01
Speaker 3: forward far-right messages on a consistent basis... They probably would
44:06
Speaker 3: have all sorts of issues, but far left messaging, it
44:09
Speaker 3: just seems to be accepted in the entertainment world.
44:12
Speaker 2: I'm not about cancel culture. I'm happy for everyone to.
44:15
Speaker 3: Have free speech, but there's a double standard and that's
44:19
Speaker 3: what we're calling out here. Now, actress Susan Sarandon claims
44:23
Speaker 3: she has lost potential acting roles because she's pro-Palestine.
44:27
Speaker 15: In terms of the power structure, I've still had movies
44:31
Speaker 15: taken away recently. There are still very strongly held positions
44:38
Speaker 15: within my industry that are held by Zionists and who
44:44
Speaker 15: have not relaxed their feelings towards me.
44:50
Speaker 3: Kinsey, do you believe that assertion that her activism is
44:54
Speaker 3: costing her jobs?
44:55
Speaker 2: Because she pushes views.
44:56
Speaker 3: That are pretty widely held in Hollywood. Many others have
45:00
Speaker 3: said similar things.
45:02
Speaker 14: Yeah, I think she's oversimplifying this by saying I'm losing
45:05
Speaker 14: my job because of my politics. Hollywood is full of
45:08
Speaker 14: those people. Susan consistently generates controversy. She has made activism
45:13
Speaker 14: part of her public identity for decades. She's been arrested
45:16
Speaker 14: at protests. She's even had to apologize for things she
45:20
Speaker 14: said in the past. From a studio's perspective, I think
45:23
Speaker 14: the calculation is likely we disagree with Susan Sarandon, but
45:28
Speaker 14: we're also concerned that she's a liability. She's unpredictable. what
45:34
Speaker 14: if they cast her in some big blockbuster? Then she's
45:37
Speaker 14: thrown in the slammer because she can't take a Trump tweet.
45:40
Speaker 14: That's a legitimate concern.
45:44
Speaker 3: Yes, these activists, yeah, they're not used to any sort
45:49
Speaker 3: of heat for their activism. Whilst they've watched their Fellow
45:52
Speaker 3: actors who are even slightly conservative be completely blacklisted in
45:57
Speaker 3: Hollywood and they've never raised any concerns about that.
46:01
Speaker 2: Now, actor Javier.
46:02
Speaker 3: Bardem, he's called for a boycott of Adidas after they
46:07
Speaker 3: featured an Israeli veteran who lost his leg in an
46:11
Speaker 3: ad campaign. Adidas' single shoe promotion helps amputees buy a
46:16
Speaker 3: single shoe for half the price, kidsy. This is really ugly,
46:21
Speaker 3: even by Hollywood standards. Is Javier Bardem really that hateful?
46:26
Speaker 12: It seems so.
46:27
Speaker 14: I mean, when the rhetoric becomes this inflammatory, you risk
46:30
Speaker 14: alienating a significant part of your audience. And Hollywood is business. Eventually,
46:35
Speaker 14: casting directors are going to say, you know who looks
46:38
Speaker 14: exactly like Javier Bardem? and comes with considerably less controversy,
46:42
Speaker 14: Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Javier can say whatever he wants, but
46:46
Speaker 14: there are commercial consequences, and Jeffrey is much more handsome,
46:50
Speaker 14: in my personal opinion.
46:53
Speaker 2: He is. He's sort of an improved, younger and better version.
46:57
Speaker 3: Seriously, if you showed me that picture, I would say
46:59
Speaker 3: that was Javier. I wouldn't even know the difference. Wow,
47:03
Speaker 3: that is a good call. Now, Kinsey, the Daily Mail
47:07
Speaker 3: senior editor-at-large, Richard Kay, claims Prince Harry has begun approaching
47:11
Speaker 3: Princess Diana's old friends to take part in a film
47:15
Speaker 3: about his mother. Kinsey, do we know if Prince William
47:20
Speaker 3: is on board and what else can you tell me
47:22
Speaker 3: about this project?
47:24
Speaker 14: Prince William would absolutely not be on board for a
47:27
Speaker 14: project like this. This is exactly why I have sympathy
47:30
Speaker 14: for Prince William. Diana belongs equally to both of her sons,
47:34
Speaker 14: but William has made a conscious decision not to continually
47:37
Speaker 14: commercialize or publicly litigate his relationship with his mother. Harry
47:42
Speaker 14: has increasingly incorporated Diana into his public narrative. I think
47:47
Speaker 14: we are one paycheck away from Diana Wood, Kensington's theme
47:51
Speaker 14: park with Earl Spencer's new book signed and Meghan's loose
47:54
Speaker 14: fruit spread available in the gift shop. So I doubt
47:57
Speaker 14: Prince William would be happy about this at all.
48:01
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about that because the reports that the
48:04
Speaker 3: royals were surprised, blindsided by Harry and Meghan's return. Have
48:09
Speaker 3: the couple got what they wanted all along? They wanted
48:13
Speaker 3: to be this half in, half out arrangement. The late
48:17
Speaker 3: queen said that was not an option, but that seems
48:20
Speaker 3: to be what they've ended up with.
48:23
Speaker 12: You're right.
48:23
Speaker 14: Unfortunately, it's optics. The optics are that they are getting
48:26
Speaker 14: exactly what they want. What they may have achieved, I think,
48:30
Speaker 14: is something much stronger. Proximity to the monarchy. responsibility to
48:36
Speaker 14: the monarchy. They can live in Britain, use their titles,
48:40
Speaker 14: generate enormous attention, and pursue commercial projects, while Buckingham Palace
48:44
Speaker 14: has virtually no control over what they say or do.
48:47
Speaker 14: I suspect it's Prince William that will come down on
48:50
Speaker 14: them like a ton of bricks. King Charles doesn't seem
48:53
Speaker 14: to have the backbone.
48:56
Speaker 3: No, and Prince William is said to be particularly upset
49:00
Speaker 3: about Harry's return. There's reports that he doesn't even want
49:04
Speaker 3: to hear his name mentioned. Is that bad blood going
49:10
Speaker 3: to continue or do you think there will be a
49:13
Speaker 3: genuine attempt from Harry to mend those bridges? Because perhaps
49:18
Speaker 3: if there is an apology forthcoming, Prince William will soften
49:22
Speaker 3: a little bit.
49:24
Speaker 14: I don't think that Prince William has any desire to
49:27
Speaker 14: have Prince Harry in his life while Meghan Markle is
49:29
Speaker 14: his wife. If they separate, which we're all watching very
49:33
Speaker 14: closely right now because this move is bizarre, then I
49:36
Speaker 14: think you might see Prince William allow Harry back into
49:39
Speaker 14: his life. But while Meghan Markle is still there, absolutely not.
49:44
Speaker 3: Now, before you go, Nicola Peltz credited her husband, Brooklyn Beckham,
49:49
Speaker 3: as she accepted her Rising Star Award at the Venice
49:53
Speaker 3: Film Festival on Saturday night. She said her husband and
49:56
Speaker 3: family were the reason that I can reach to the stars.
50:00
Speaker 19: Kinsey?
50:01
Speaker 3: What in God's name was this Rising Star Award for,
50:05
Speaker 3: for red carpet theatrics, family feuds, being a Nepo baby?
50:10
Speaker 3: I'm really struggling to understand what this award was for.
50:15
Speaker 2: Who was she in contention with?
50:17
Speaker 14: I mean, you're 31 years old, not 13. You're married
50:20
Speaker 14: to a Beckham and you've been acting since you were
50:23
Speaker 14: a child. At this point, I think the star is
50:25
Speaker 14: either risen or we're going to need a stronger telescope. Also,
50:29
Speaker 14: if you look at the pictures from that day, she's like, oh, Brooklyn,
50:32
Speaker 14: I'm so grateful. Did he shower? I mean, he had
50:36
Speaker 14: if he had any more grease in his hair, we
50:37
Speaker 14: could have made one of his grilled cheese sandwiches on
50:40
Speaker 14: top of his head. Yeah, I mean, I expect more
50:43
Speaker 14: for a rising star. I feel like we should be
50:46
Speaker 14: talking about a fetus, a child, not a 31-year-old woman
50:50
Speaker 14: who is bankrolled by daddy.
50:53
Speaker 3: Well, Kinsey Schofield, you always say it like it is.
50:56
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for your time. And that's it
50:58
Speaker 3: from me. Up next, it's Late Edition.
51:02
Speaker 2: Good night.