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University of Michigan Faces Backlash Over No-Grade Policy · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Grab a stool next to Greg Corumbus of Radio America
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: and Jim Garritty of National Review.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Three martinis coming up.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: So glad you're with us for the Friday edition of
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: the Three Martini Lunch. Yes, we've made it to the
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: end of another week, but unfortunately we start with bad news. Jim,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: this is the first Friday of August, which means this
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: morning we got the numbers from July when it comes
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: to employment, and let's just say they were disappointing. Here's
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Rick Santelli from CNBC.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Buckle up on this one minus minus twenty three thousand
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: on non farm payrels. I can hear the bond deals
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: falling right now, minus twenty three thousand. That would be
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: the second worst number of the year outside of the
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: only other negative number, minus one fifty six in February.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Now, if we look at the two.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Month revision, another whopper minus one hung dried in three thousand.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Manufacturing payrolls actually a bright spot manufacturing up five thousand.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: That would be what the best since it was up
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: fifteen thousand in March and that was the high water
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: mark going all the way back to twenty three.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So, Jim, the number is not good here. First of all,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I want to say, what would happen if Rix Andelly
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: and Harry Enton had a conversation. That would be the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: most high energy, high intensity conversation we've ever seen. But yeah,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the unemployment rate overall four point one percent, labor force
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: participation down to sixty one point four percent. Wage growth
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: not what was expected either. You know, it's still four
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: point one historically that's pretty good, but if you're trying
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to ramp up your party for a midterm election or
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: just make sure everybody's employed as well as they want
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: to be, not the numbers we wanted.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting. Rix Santelli is not even on the
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: floor of the exchange and.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: He's still yeah, I get you like this. He goes
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: home and say, honey, could you pass the salt?
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: And when I go to the grocery store, do you
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: need me to get some milk you that's kind of
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: his default setting there. Unfortunately, I think, like, whether you
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: want to characterize this as a five alarm fire, this
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: is not.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: This is a surprise, and.
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: This is not what you wanted to see in this
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: And there are a couple other facts you know, they
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: also revised down the June and the account for May,
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: and for June, the twelve months average job creation is
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: down to thirty four thousand.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: The other thing is kind of just.
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: You know, like it's we're now like five at the
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: last twelve months we've had job losses. That President of
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: the United States can't run around saying we're in a
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: golden age. When you have numbers like that, those they're
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: just not consistently good. There are some good months in there,
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: but I think it's very much a mixed bag. My
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: colleague Charlie Cook keeps pointing out he's written some good
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: pieces on this, this strange phenomenon we see in polling
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: where you ask people how would you rate the economy
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: and basically about a third or saying good or excellent,
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: and about two thirds or so are saying, you know,
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: pretty bad. And then you ask people how are you doing,
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: how are your you know, personal finances, and they about
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: two thirds say pretty good, but you know, only about
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: a third say not so bad. And so Charlie's point
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: is like that's a bigger split than you'd think you'd
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: think of two thirds of the people felt like, well,
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: I'm doing fine, then they would be rating the economy
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: at large. Charlie and I have gone back and forth
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: in this a bunch of times. I kind of wonder
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: do people check at gas prices or grocery prices once
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: a week and that's on their mind when they get
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: asked the question and they check their fourro one k's
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: once a month or more recently, Like, I don't think
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: you can say the economy is a disaster. We're not
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: in a state of recession. But I think you can
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: all say this is not great. This is not the
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: robust job creation we'd like to see. Workforce participation really
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: is dropping down, you know, that's just the number is
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: just not going in the direction you want to see.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: Stock market's booming but now and a decent number of
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: Americans own stocks, but not everybody. And so I think,
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: if you're a Republican running for reelection, this is really
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: not great. This is not where you wanted things to
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: be as we head towards the end of summer. Now,
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: is there is a possible perception of the economy will
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: change between now an election day. Yeah, but I would
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: not count on that very much. And I think that
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: the other nagging thought I have this came up in
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: my conversation with Charlie, is this idea that like, look,
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: you go to the end of twenty nineteen, people were
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: rating the economy really high.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Trump had a pretty darn.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: Good economy for the first three years of his first term,
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: and then you get to twenty twenty, and by March
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: twelfth or so, the entire country is shut down and
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: we're living out some early scenes of an apocalyptic movie,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: right of society shutting down. And I wonder if that
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: was such a shock to our system and such a
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: unpredictable black swan event that people are afraid to feel
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: good about the economy because last time they felt good
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: about the economy, something terrible came out of nowhere and
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: completely turned their lives upside down for really a better
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: part of two years. So that's my thoughts on how
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: Americans are feeling about the economy. Again, if you're a
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: Republican Congress and they do not have a lot of
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: seats to spare in the House and the Senates looking shaky,
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: this is not the jobs report you wanted to see,
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: you know, as August gets.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Rolling again, we've said this a million times, What have
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: you done on this issue, What do you want to
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: do that maybe the other party is stopping you from
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: doing with the filibuster or some other means, And what
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: would you do in another term in the majority? So
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: those questions need to be answered. The explanation of things
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: are great, Like you said, you need a little more
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: nuanced than that. You know, we've had this debate. If
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: you're not on social media, you've probably missed this whole thing.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: But there's this big debate this week about burritos and
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: whether you know gen Z is too entitled and they're
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: getting DoorDash all the time, or whether you should make
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: your own burritos and they should feed eight people for
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: less than twenty bucks, or or whatever I think you
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: can kind of do. Both things are more expensive than
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: we'd like them to be, and but you also need
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: to be responsible in order to make ends meet. So
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of different factors going on here. People
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: want answers, people want solutions. People want encouragement that things
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: are going to be okay. Like you said, the economy
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: is not terrible, but we're not seeing the kind of
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: job creation numbers that we'd like to see. And obviously
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: that's one way that people have their impression of how
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: the economy's doing.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Greg.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: I'm glad you brought up the twenty dollars burrito debate
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: because I wrote a long corner post about that yesterday.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I don't want to rehash the whole thing, but I'll
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: just observe one.
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: Food prices are up significantly, that you know, from higher
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: than the rate of inflation since twenty twenty. And I
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: think if you're a you know, whether you're the president,
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: whether you're a member of Congress running for relation, you
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: can't deny that. You can't downplay it, you can't ignore it.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: I think you have to address it along the way.
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: By the way, you know, Vance and Mark Theeson of
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: the Washington Post. We're going back and forth, and the
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: debate got pretty ugly, some some name calling there, but like, look,
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: you some of this is yeah. You know, eggs went
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: up were really expensive at the start of Trump's second
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: term because of bird flu. Eggs are actually not less
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: expensive than they were when Trump took office. You know,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: fuel prices as gasoline gets more expensive, diesel fuel gets
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: more expensive, transporting the goods to market is going to
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: get more expensive. Drought, higher cost of food, and fertilizer
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: that drives up beef prices. I'm not going to say
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: that tariffs are the main reason foods prices are higher,
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: but you know, coffee, fish, certain other products we generally
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: get a lot of from overseas, those are going to
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: be higher. Wages are more expensive, you increase the minimum
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: wage to the cost of food, all this stuff that
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: goes into it. Having said that, you know, it was
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: interesting because somebody said, ah, yes see, here's my receipt.
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: It is a twenty dollars burrito and mark theesnon observe that,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Like it's a twenty three thirty six you know bill
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: that includes a one forty nine delivery fee, three seventy
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: three service fee, two ninety nine express fee, four dollars tip,
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: and ninety one cents in taxes.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: So like more than half the cost is the delivery.
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: You go to the restaurant, the burrito is significantly less expensive,
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: or go to grocery shopping, make make that burrito yourself,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: Like there are fractors here, and so yeah, you know,
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: if gen z or millennials really have gotten addicted to
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: door dash, that's the single easiest expense to eliminate. But
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: apparently you know, people don't like hearing that. They like
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: hearing that it's all corporation's fault or.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Stuff like that. What if you feel like you're get
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: to go over charge? Why are you giving them money?
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Why are you not shopping around?
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, bottom line is employers, business owners need to
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: feel the conditions are right too higher and right now
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: they're not seeing that. So how can we improve those conditions?
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: That's what should be the laser focus economically for the
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: GOP and really every responsible lawmaker. Right now, Well, let's
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: talk about something better than that, and that is making
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: sure that your oral health is as good as it
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: can be. And you know, because when it's not, that
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: can get expensive too. Those are costs you definitely don't
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: want an addition to the pain. One of the easiest
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: ways to do it choose some gum. Lourenco is better
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: for you chewing gum that uses the same mineral your
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: teeth are made of to support daily enamel.
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: Health, nano hydroxy appetite. We have an appetite for more
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: jobs and more hiring, but you need to be thinking
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: about nanohydroxy appetite, which is the mineral that your enamel
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: is actually made of. So you know, using Loreenco, you
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: can strengthen your enamel and repair the damage. It comes
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: to tons of flavors including mid cinnamon, bubblegum, and berry.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: And don't forget they have a really great fluoride free
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: toothpaste as well.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: Just use the toothpaste again. It tastes great, it works great,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: The gum is fantastic and the fact that it actually
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: helps strengthen and keep your teeth healthy is fantastic as well.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: And so right now, Loreenco is offering our listeners up
• 9:23
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• 9:25
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• 9:28
  Speaker 2: e dot com slash three mL for up to fifty
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: percent off. All right, Jim, you know I'm from Michigan.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: You know I cheer for the Michigan Wolverine football team.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I am perfectly happy to celebrate the twenty twenty three
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: National Championship controversies aside. But when it comes to the
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: uh wokeness on campus, Michigan is no stranger to that.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: We've seen them. You know, embrace the students who want
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: to you know, globalize the en to thought and all that.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: But when it comes to actually grading students. Oh, that's
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: too much. That's too much. This is an actual statement
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and Arts,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: at least parts of it. The College is working collaboratively
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: with faculty and staff across campus to design a pilot
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: program that helps foster an environment where college students can
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: acclimate to the demands of a University of Michigan education
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: and pursue new academic challenges, beginning in the fall of
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty seven, So next fall, the college will designate
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: all LSA Literature Science and Arts first year students first
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: semester grades as pass or no credit on their transcripts.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: While the students will still receive grades and instructor feedback
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: and every course as they always have, final grades will
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: not be recorded on their external transcripts and will not
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: be reflected in their GPAs LSA students official transcripts will
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: state that all grades in the first semester are automatically
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: designated as pass or no credit. Why while we believe
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: that covering grades will help students start strong and curb
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: the mental health crisis unfolding among colleged aged individuals, and
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: because we can't have anyone with any sort of stigma. Jim.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: We have to include everyone in this, not just the
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: ones who might be struggling with mental health. If covered
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: grades are optional, covering an individual's grades will inadvertently become
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: equated with them not doing well in a class. If
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: the policy is the same for all students, it is
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: equitable across the board. Jim. I know this is a
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: tired saying for some, but you know, eighty years ago
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: we had eighteen year olds storming beaches. We had them,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: you know, coming out of a great depression and so forth,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: is maybe getting as see, the most damaging thing that's
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: going to happen to these people they can't mentally recover from.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, how fragile are we here?
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Greg?
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: Why can't they impose this at like completely random semesters.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: Back when I was in school, I didn't.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: First I went.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: Pretty well, those are usually introductory classes. It's later on
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: that I needed to make some of these grades disappear. Look,
• 12:06
  Speaker 4: first of all, recognizing that, you know, going from high
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: school to college is a big transition. I have one
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: kid in college. I have another one that's going to
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: be going in a couple of years now. For a
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: couple of years from now, and I you know, granted,
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: this is you you're living on your own for your
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: first time, like this is you know, you're you're away
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: from your family. This is a big step. And yes,
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: I you know you want to do everything you can
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: to smooth along.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I don't.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: First of all, as I understand it, University of Michigan
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: is on the semester system, not the quarter system. So
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: this is like one eighth of your college career that
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: you're going to have either you know, pass or no credit.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: We're not going to have you anygas.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: A bunch of schools, including my older ones, are on
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: the quarter system, so they're actually only taking three credit
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: three classes per quarter. But in case it's a two
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: month span, so like it's the same amount of work
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: you do, and it's very intense. You basically have classes
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: every day, so you end up doing the same amount
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: of work. So if you if they were on the
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: quarter system and it was one sixteenth of the time,
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: we're going to have this pass no credit thing, I
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: guess I could live with that. But that's you know,
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: this is this does seem like a lot. Secondly, Greg,
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: did you have you ever again? You know, I think
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: you're probably you must have been an academic all star.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: You're such a smart guy. Did you ever get a
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: grade in class where you're like, oh, I had no
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: idea I did that badly, or I had no idea
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: I did that well. Oh sure, I really okay, chausse
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: I was gonna say yeah every time I did badly,
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: I came out of that test saying, man, I did
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: not study nearly enough. I walked in thinking I was prepared.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: I was not. So the idea of the stress of
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: not doing well.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe you don't have it on your final transcript,
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: but you know how you did.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: You know how you how you did in that class.
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: Do you know how you fit, how you felt in
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: the class discussions, Do you know whether you did the readings?
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: You can like it? You know, it's like it's like literally.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: Putting a piece of paper over the grade. How you
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: did is still there, Whether you learn the material is
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: still there. And I just find this kind of somewhat employee.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: It's one of those things where it's like it's like
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: playing peekaboo. I strongly suspect if a class is stressing you,
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: because if you don't like the subject, material or it's
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: really hard, or the professor's very demanding. All that stuff
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: is still there whether or not you actually show the
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: test results. So I find this really it's probably well meaning,
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: but not going to be very effective. And it also
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: again considers this sense of really like, also, Greg, if
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: these folks could handle the grades in high.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: School, why alls off while you turned eighteen nineteen? Now
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: it's a lot harder. Is this really a matter of
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: You've heard about students who do this.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Where the good news is is that here in Fairfax County,
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: the schools are kind of like the Hunger Games, and
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: you just like, you know, we have relentless, you know,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: pressure to do great in high school. Do these kids
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: in other class and other communities do they kind of
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: coast through high school, get into college and then it's
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: a lot harder, and all of a sudden they fall apart.
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: Is that what's going on here? Because if that's the problem,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: you need to prepare the kids better. You don't need
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: to hide the grades to make them feel better about themselves.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Jim, I don't know what it was like for you
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: in high school and college and what your parents expected
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: or how much they pride about your grade.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: It's disappointment and disappointment.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: But you know, first of all, you're forking over tuition here. Secondly,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to imagine my mother saying how did the
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: test go?
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: And I'd be like, I pasted. They tested me and
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: I passed. That's how you got to put it.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: People, there are many challenges in life. There are things
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: that will be much bigger than not having a great
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: start to your college career. I think you can probably
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: handle it, and if you can't, maybe a gap year
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: or something else besides college is appropriate for you. But
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: that's absolutely ridiculous. Speaking of mental health and physical health,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: how are you doing? How is your doctor's visit the
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: most recent one? Oh, you haven't been lately. Well, ZocDoc
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: is the solution to that, because sometimes you just don't
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: know which one to go to. Maybe you need a
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: new specialist, maybe you need a new primary, maybe you
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: don't like the one you already have, maybe it's hard
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: to get in there. Well, zacdoc takes care of all
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: of that. They help you figure out the right one
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: to go to with all the great reviews, They tell
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: you where they are, they tell you when they're available.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: ZocDoc let's you search and compare local in network doctors.
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Greg school can be stressful. I myself generated more c's
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: than an agreeable Mexican. What a therapist has done me good?
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: Maybe didn't think about it back then because we didn't
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: have ZocDoc back then, but now we do have ZocDoc.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: ZocDoc will give you access to more than one.
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: Hundred and fifty thousand providers within two hundred specialties across
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: all fifty states. The website has tons of reviews from
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: real patients and detailed doctor profiles to help you choose
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: the right one. You get to see actual appointment openings
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: and click to instantly book a visit, and appointments typically
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: happen fast, usually within twenty four to seventy two hours.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: Sometimes you could even get a same day appointment.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Jim and I both of you. ZocDoc. It works great.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: It's so simple to use, no more excuses. Your health
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: matters and taking care of yourself shouldn't be complicated. Find
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: in book the right doctor with ZocDoc. Head to ZocDoc
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: dot com slash three mL to get started and check
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: that appointment off her to do list. That's ZocDoc dot
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: com slash three m l.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: All right, Jim.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: One of the things that's been most frustrating about the left,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: and there are so many to choose from it's hard
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: to really rank them or order them, but they're just
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: completely backwards approach to criminal justice as perhaps the most maddening.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: You know, George Soros and others have been bankrolling these
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: prosecutors quote unquote in some of these major cities, and
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: basically all they do is let the bad guys go
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: to reoffend again and again and again, even violent criminals.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Just a revolving door. And one of the other things
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: we're hearing a lot about lately, in addition to old
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: tweets about defunding the police and in some cases fairly
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: recent tweets about defunding the police, is abolishing prisons. That's
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: one of the long term goals of the Democratic Socialists
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: of America, and some of the DSA associated candidates are
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: in favor of that. Some of them are now backing
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: away from it. Bernie Sanders was on Pods Save America.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Those are the old Obama speech writers and so forth,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: and so quick clip of him talking about his approach
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: to defunding the police as well as prisons. Here's what
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: Bernie had to say, but.
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: Nobody I know, you know, believes in defunding the police
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: in terms of doing away with prisons.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: I hope the day comes.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: I hope the day comes when we don't leave the
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: world and the number of people who are incunserry. That
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: speaks very poorly of alur society.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: You have to understand through listening to the podcast that
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: Bernie is literally sitting in front of a sketch of
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: a red fist, you know, the communist symbol of you know,
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: and talking about you know, not for the for the
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: many and the not the rich or the elder or
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: whatever the phrase is there. So, Jim, this isn't a
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: hard concept. I think they believe that somehow the prison
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: system is unfair and if there was a wrongful conviction,
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: you know that that's wrong. But this idea that, oh well,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: prison's not the right way to rehabilitate these people, well,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: hopefully they do get rehabilitated. We don't want them to reoffend,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: but most importantly for a while, hopefully a long while.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: In case of violent criminals, they're not out there and
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: a threat to actually rape or kill or assault people.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Greg, if there's anything that socialists and communist regimes are
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: famous for it's their great reluctance to incarcerate people.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: It's called a gulag. Look it up, kids.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: So let's assume, by the way, we've been through this
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: several times before, where usually not burning. Usually some sort
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: of more mainstream democrat will say, oh, come now, no
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: one seriously wants to abolish the police or abolish prisons,
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: and then the activists, usually like in a New York
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: Times op ed, will say no, we literally mean abolish
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: prisons a polishly. Why do you not believe us? How
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: many times do we have to do this? But let's
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: assume that as a voter, you're like, well, they're never
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: really going to get their way. There's never going to
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: be the votes to do this. There's no harm in
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: electing a mayor or city councilman or people like that.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Who want to abolish the police.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: But you know, we all know politics as they are
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: of compromise and negotiation. They're going to get half what
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: they want, which means there's going to be fewer police.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: Right now, it's look around your community, look around at
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: the crime rates, look around at the Neighborhood's not just
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: maybe the neighborhood you live in, but other neighborhoods in
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: your jurisdiction. Do you feel excessively safe? Do you feel
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: like the streets have too many cops? Do you feel
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: like there is indeed always a cop around when you
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: need one, And do you feel like they're just that
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: you know that when you report a break in or something,
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: tons of people show up. This is not an American problem.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: My brother recently took a trip to Canada Montreal area
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: and unfortunately had their car broken into and not you know,
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: broke the window. Nothing really bad was taken, but it
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: was you know, frustrating, and apparently the police there they
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: don't even send out the cops if you have that,
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: they have an online form they want you to fill out.
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: They're driving back into the United States, the US Border
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: patrols check. It is like they look at the car
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: and like, let me guess Montreal, and my brother's like, yes,
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: you know, and it's like there's a little bit of
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: like why are you telling me as I'm coming back
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: into America, why aren't you warning me on my way
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: into Canada about how dangerous this is. But anyway, it's
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: one of those things like if you feel there are
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: too many cops in your neighborhood, in your community. Great,
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: then you can vote for the guy who says abolish
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: the police, because they won't abolish the police, but.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: They'll reduce the number of cops in the streets.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: If you feel like your crime problem in your community
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: is not solved, if you feel like there is still
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: a risk, if you feel like there's certain neighborhoods you
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: don't feel safe, if you don't feel like there aren't
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: enough police, whatever you do, do not elect these guys
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: because their objective is to reduce the number of cops
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: as much as possible.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Sure, maybe they won't abolish the.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: Police entirely, but they will do everything they can to
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: reduce police budgets, reduce police over time and result in
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: fewer cops on the beat, and that is not going
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: to make you any safer.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Way. Too many Democrats are pro criminal. There's no other
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: way to put it. And as our friend Andy McCarthy
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: has said a couple of different times, something for you
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: on this podcast, to get a long prison sentence is
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: basically a lifetime achievement award. Your first, second, third offenses.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: You know, they get pled down. This gets thrown out.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: This gets tossed, So you might spend a little bit
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: of time behind bars. Usually it's just probation, maybe on
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: the defense, depending on what you did obviously, but if
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: you're actually spending several years or decades behind bars, basically
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: you have piled up a rap sheet that is so
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: ridiculously offensive that there's no other option for you. Now,
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: they should have done that a while earlier to keep
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the streets safer. But the fact that people think it's
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: unfair that some people are getting long prison sentences, especially
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: for violent crime, which is insane, is just not seeing
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: the facts.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Well, Greg, you know the old saying in baseball, eleven
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: strikes and you're out, sir.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: We were frustrated with Clinton with the three strikes and
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: you're out. Remember that we're going to solve everything with
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: midnight basketball. Man, Those almost seem like nostalgia days compared
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: to letting this revolving door go with no bail and
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: never sending people to jail for violent crime. It's just
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: absolutely insane. Well, I'll tell you what it's not insane, though,
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  Speaker 2: no missed customers, All right, Jim and our chaser, Mitch
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: McConnell is not only out of the hospital, he's out
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: of the rehab center and he's home. And he's got
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: another statement. It's not on camera, it's not on audio,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: so I'll read it in Mitch's voice. Earlier today, I
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: was discharged from the rehabilitation center to continue my recovery
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: at home. Elaine and I are grateful for the many will,
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: wishes and support from French colleagues and Kentuckians, and for
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: the attentive care I have received from excellent doctors, nurses,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: therapists and hospital staff. I know, going way too fast
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: for Mitch, but he also says he's gonna maintain an
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: intensive regiment of physical therapy from home during the state
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: work period, and he'll continue to engage with his staff
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: and colleagues on important Senate business, which means we're not
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: going to see him until at least after Labor Day,
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: when the Senate comes back after the summer recess. So Jim,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: still no video, Still no sign that he's necessarily lucid
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: or what have you. I think we can assumed now
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: that he's not brain dead. I think we could have
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: assumed that a little while ago, given the pictures and
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: so forth. But still weird. Glad he's doing better, but
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: is he ever coming back?
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: First of all, Greg, your Mitch McConnell is even better
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: than your Al Gore and some that middle upper South,
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: that Kentucky Tennessee area. But you know, I thought I
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: was pretty good with Fred Thompson. This is gonna get
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: out of control. We'll be lucky if we live through it.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: But really you've just nailed both of those.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, on the one hand, glad to hear he's recovering.
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: Glad to hear he's out of the recovery Center'd be
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: nice to see him on camera. I know they've released
• 25:33
  Speaker 4: still pictures. It'd be nice to see him on video.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: It'd be nice to hear audio. Honestly, Greg, that should
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: just hire you and have you put out the audio
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: statements and everybody be fooled again. You have the sneaking
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: suspicion that, because we haven't seen video, he probably looks
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: pretty rough, you know, rougher than the still pictures can capture.
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: So again, hope he's fine, Hope he's able to bounce
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: back from all this, but we'd already seen him freeze
• 25:57
  Speaker 4: up and have some other tough falls and stuff get better,
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: Senator McConnell. But you really owe it to your constituents
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: to offer the fullest port you can about how your
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: recovery's going.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Yes, hey, it's the weekend.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Who cares exactly? And his absence may affect whether Todd
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Blanche becomes Attorney general because Collins and Murkowski are nos.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: Without McConnell, there one more no, and that thing's going down.
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: So as we were taping, Greg Cassidy said, Bill Cassidy
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: of Louisiana says, he's a yes. I think that puts
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: a Blanche in there, but I could be wrong. My
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: back of the envelope math.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Vance should be able to break the tie at
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: that point if Mitch is not back by the time
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: of the vote. So anyway, quite a week, Jim.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: See you Monday, See him Monday, Greg.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Jim Garretty, National Review. I'm Greg Corumbus of Radio America.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much for being with us today. Please be
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: sure to subscribe to the Three Martini Lunch podcast if
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: you don't already, tell your friends about us as well.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks also for your five star ratings and your kind reviews.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: Please keep us coming, get us on your home devices.
• 26:53
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• 26:56
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• 27:03
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• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Monday for the next Three Martini Lunch