Loading summary
Dave Smith
Foreign. What's up? What's up? How is everybody doing? Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem. I am Dave Smith. He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein. How you feeling, brother?
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I'm doing well. How are you, Mr. Smith?
Dave Smith
Good, good. I cannot complain, Cannot complain. A little bit of a busy morning here. I was just recording with Aaron Mate and Katie Halpert over on their podcast, which was great. I really love those guys. So it was fun. It was cool.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Who is that?
Dave Smith
Aaron. Aaron Mate, He's a. He's a journalist. He wrote for the Nation for a while and then I want to. Hold on. Am I getting confused on this? I shouldn't say it wrong, but I think he's over at the. You know. He is, yes. He's at the Gray zone now with, like, that's Max Blumenthal and Aaron Matei out there. He's. He's great. He was one of the absolute best journalists on Russiagate. Just phenomenal. Like, he's a left wing guy that. He was just totally all over that. Like, look, this is just the most ridiculous thing ever that the CIA is saying Trump's a Russian spy. And did like, great work on just tearing it apart, like, going through each one of their claims and what the evidence was. So he was very helpful for me during that. He's also did great reporting on. On Syria back in like 20, I want to say, like 2016, 2017, 2018 in those years. Just great. So anyway, it was just a lot of fun to talk to talk with those guys. It was, I think, a very interesting conversation. So go look for that on their podcast. I am not sure what the name of it is, but I'll tweet it whenever it's out. I'll tweet it.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yesterday I brought my skis into the shop. I'm hoping that my legs hold up and gonna be skiing out in boozman.
Dave Smith
Well, if not, then you know how the Robbie the Fire Bernstein story ends. It ends with a tragic skiing incident where his knees were separated from his body.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
And I sure hope not. But there is a possibility of hitting one mogul, retearing whatever I tore over the summer, and then having to take the ski patrol down and sitting on a stool on stage and being like, I'm an idiot.
Dave Smith
Oh, dude.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I mean, that is possible. But I'm going as.
Dave Smith
Even as you say it, I'm like, would be really funny, though. Like, I mean, you don't even got to worry about jokes for like the first five minutes of your set. Like, you Could. You'll. You'll find enough. There's a well right there that you'll be able to dig into. But yes, Edit, wait. We will be out in Bozeman, Montana, just coming up now in a little over a week. So go grab some tickets. Still a few seats available. Comicdavesmith.com and then of course, the following week, we will be out in. What do we got? We got Louisville, Kentucky, one night only, January 30th. And then January 30th and 31st, we'll be in Fort Wayne, Indiana. And then. Oh, I'm sorry, wait a minute. January. My mistake. January. January 30th we're in Louisville. January 31st and February 1st, we're in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The following week after that, Key West, Florida. Then Buffalo, Boston, Chicago, Rosem, Appleton, Wisconsin, Denver, Cleveland, Tacoma, Spokane, Tampa, and still a few more dates on there that have not been added yet. So we're, we are going to be busy this year.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I'm just smiling because, like, it's like you just schedule drinking for me. Like, those are, those are a dangerous three weekends in a row. I've been looking forward to traveling to Louisville, Key West. It's remarkable how much drinking goes on down there. And then Buffalo. I've never seen anything in my life. That one time I went into a bar in Buffalo and it was freezing and I ordered a Maker's Mark on the rocks and got a milkshake glass. And I'm like, I don't even, I guess I'm having one. I don't even understand the, the economics on this, on how that was only $8. But sure, I'll drink a bottle out of this glass.
Dave Smith
They are, yeah. I have scheduled some drink I should also put on my website. Like when Rob needs to go get blood work done, when he needs to take liver enzyme medication. We'll schedul all at. Don't you guys worry. But I am looking forward to a lot of these shows anyway. Comicdabesmith.com for all those ticket links. All right, so to start today's show, I just listen. I can't not. That's my only, that's my only disclaimer. I'm just, I get at this point now in this weird world that we live in, in this weird career that I've carved out for myself, I get flooded on social media whenever Chris Cuomo says something dumb. It's my cross to, to bear. I don't know, but they are always. And everybody's just, you know, like, oh, Dave, you got to Knock this one out of the park again. And so I don't know, particularly in this clip, where I do feel maybe this is just my own narcissism, but I do feel like I'm a little bit a part of these rants. Like, it's always kind of directed at me. I mean, the last time he actually called me out by name. This time he doesn't mention me, but.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
As I've made clear, like, it was about you. I don't think that was narcissism if it feels like he's talking about you.
Dave Smith
I mean, the. The real issue is that Cuomo just can't get over it. He's just can't get over the fact that in his mind. And I get it, you know, like, he's a Cuomo. He was the mayor's kid, and then. I'm sorry, the governor's kid, and then his brother became governor, too, and he's the number one show on cnn. And then he comes into this debate with some podcaster, comedian, and just gets walloped. And that's. I understand that can be tough, but that's not really my fault. And as I've said before, I reserve the right to just destroy you anytime I want to. So that's where we are. And then I. Chief Nerd is like one of my favorite accounts on Twitter. And then he always posts these videos. And so I always see him because I'm always interacting. He's like, in my algorithm or whatever. And then even if he wasn't, I mean, Jesus, man, the amount of people who just sent this to me was pretty nuts. Anyway, no further ado. Let's. Let's go to our guy, Chris Cuomo, and his latest.
C
So, no, I'm not. Not going to be able to cover the world the way CNN can.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
But whatever.
C
I'm covering my reporting. What I know my sources.
Dave Smith
I'm.
C
Okay. A lot more than these guys on digital media. I mean, are you kidding me? They're not reporters. They don't have sources. That's why they go with some sources and they take it from other places and then they package it in an opinion, which is fine. But the idea that they are at an advantage against the Wall Street Journal because they cherry pick every time somebody gets something wrong. Like, you know how easy that is to do. How often do they get things wrong? How often do they have truth? They want you to believe that the vaccine that Donald Trump got us faster than we could have ever gotten it otherwise, he says, and everybody seems to agree. The man they Voted for and supported for president, wound up producing something that's poison.
Dave Smith
All right, so just pause.
C
COVID vaccine.
Dave Smith
Just how sad is all of this? I mean, what can I even say here, Rob? It's just. I mean, just pathetic. It's the same old thing. The same Sam Harris thing where you're just counting on, like, the. The esteem of the Wall Street Journal and how can you. How. You know and, like, look again. Sure, fine. The Wall Street Journal has a budget and they have journalists and they have sources and they have. You know, but what is all that result in. It ends up resulting in just being, what, the CIA's mouthpiece or something like that. So, okay, yes, there's. There's these people online who just have opinions, who just point out when someone's getting something wrong, and that's easy to do. All right, fine. It does come fairly easily to me. I agree. It's what an advantage. All I have to do is point out what you guys are wrong about, which, by the way, was everything. Everything. And then, you know, again, I understand he's not, like, saying me by name, but I don't know exactly who the fuck he's talking about here. And it's like. And then he goes, oh, well, you know, I actually, for a second there, kind of like, got my eyebrows up. Like, when he goes, when? The first time I heard this, not just now, but when I heard this, where he goes, like, well, anyone could do that. I mean, I could point out what you're wrong about. And I'm kind of like, okay, yeah, that's right. That's how these things work. I can point out what you're wrong about, and you can point out what I'm wrong about. So what do you got on me? What, that the vaccine is poison? That Trump, the guy you voted for, is the one who did that. But I mean, like, if he's not talking about me, who's he talking about? Like, any of the Rogan. Hey, first off, none of us supported Donald Trump the first time, so that doesn't really work. Right. And it's like, yeah, the. None of us said the vaccine was poison. Exactly. That's not what we said. Why don't. It's like, if you want to point out the things that were. If it's so easy to point out the things we're wrong about, then why do you have to lie? Why can't you just take on something we actually said? I don't know. It's become a theme in my career, which is that, like, everybody who's so outraged about me. Always asked a totally straw man what it is I'm saying. Again, I understand this one isn't specifically about me, but if it's so easy to do so then tell me, what did I get wrong? Like, but make it something I actually said and like, yeah, Donald Trump, what even is the claim here? Donald Trump got the vaccine faster than it could have been done without Operation Warp Speed. Okay, I guess I'll concede that.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Sure.
Dave Smith
It probably happened faster because of that. The claim isn't that the vaccine is poison. Okay, now it might be for some people. Like, is, is the, is it true that people get vaccine injured by this vaccine? Yes, undeniably. Nobody denies that anymore, not even Chris Cuomo. Okay, now Chris Cuomo certainly would have denied that when we were saying it was true and he was saying it's not like when he was at cnn. He certainly would have denied that. But no, the claim. And look, let's, let's just make them real simple here. The claim is that, number one, the vaccines did not work at all as they were sold, that they were sold on lies. Two, it's not that they got it wrong, it's that they lied about it. Okay, so like, in other words, when Foushee was out there, and by the way, the, the new director of the National Institute of Health, assuming he, he gets through, Jay Bhattacharya was one of the best guys on pointing this out. It's not like when Foushee was saying, if you take this vaccine, you can't get Covid and you can't transmit it. He was totally like just being inexcusably reckless when he said that. I don't know if Jay Bhattacharya would actually call Fauci a liar. Like, I'll call him that. I don't know if he'd use that word. He would say something more professional, sounding like a real prince for smart, genius guy that I'm not. But he would have said something like, you know, the data does not back up this claim at all. Okay, but like, I'll take that and say, yeah, he's lying. He had no. There was no scientific evidence that this was true, and yet he told people that. This was repeated by people like Chris Cuomo and Rachel Madd and this guy. Have you heard of Joe Biden? He was the President of the United States. He also said the same thing. It was repeated by everyone, that if you get the vaccine is safe and effective, and if you get it, you can't get Covid and you can't transmit Covid. That's what was told to anyone. And then a bunch of people took it who never should have. Okay? And that's claim number three, that a huge portion of the people who took the vaccine never should have, that they were taking a risk for absolutely no reward. And that the truth is that people who were not immunocompromised, who were not old and sick particularly, here's the one group that I just never get. There's no scientific response from this. Young, healthy people who had already had Covid, were in many cases forced to get the vaccine and then forced to get boosters on top of it. That is. That is totally based on pseudoscience. There is absolutely no justification for that. Now, if it's so easy to point out what's wrong. Wrong. Chris Cuomo, here's the challenge. All right? I know you're never going to debate me again, but here's the challenge. Point out what's wrong in any of that. Tell me what I'm getting wrong. Take on something I'm actually saying, and tell me what's wrong about that. Because it's so easy to just sit back and point out what other people get wrong. Okay, let's hear it. Any thoughts, Rob?
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah, I, you know, I don't remember all the ins and outs of COVID anymore. I certainly had it all in my brain at the time. I remember my grandfather used to read a lot about the Civil War. At some point, he stopped reading about it, and he's like, I don't remember any of that. Like, I used to be able to tell you every detail of the wars and this and that. But if I had to give a shorter just theme to what we were talking about is, hey, they're lying to you, and they shouldn't be taking away our freedoms. And so I think he's kind of misrepresenting it with the poison claim. I mean, I think I said that there might be risks and that there's really no upside here. So I don't know why you would take it, but I don't think we ever went to. Personally, I don't think we went too extreme on. I mean, I made jokes. Dick was gonna fall off. I think the freedom.
Dave Smith
And that turned out to be right.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah, well, I wanted to have it removed anyway. So for me personally, it was convenient. But anyways, I think we were always a little bit more concerned with the freedom part. And, you know, three years later, it's very easy to try and re litigate these things. And then now get a detail wrong. And it doesn't matter because we were 100% right at the time when it was actually important. Just one more thing, and this is technical. I agree with everything you said there. But I do read the Wall Street Journal on a nearly basis, nearly daily basis. I've been reading it for over a decade. I don't. I think there's a lot of terrible media out there and in the opinion sections, I certainly think that they over pitch wars and maybe through the COVID era they were guilty of omission and that other people did much better coverage about how the regime was getting things, getting things wrong. I don't know that I would slap the CIA title on the Wall Street Journal the same I would CNN or.
Dave Smith
Like maybe the Washington Post deserves it more than than the Wall Street Journal. I'll say this, the Wall Street Journal is the most interesting of the newspapers to read because the Wall Street Journal is what they're saying to people who make 400k a year. It's not exactly the same. They're not talking in just like their lowest level of tax cattle. Like they're talking to kind of like class tax cattle. And so you just get more of you just get more. And by the way, I'm also not trying to act like there's good stuff, but there's been good reporting in the New York Times and in the Washington Post too. They often try to pretend like they never reported that when the narrative changes later. But I do agree with you. There is some value in the, in the Wall Street Journal. So I'm not, sorry, I'm not trying to offend your sensibilities. I, I see where your loyalty is, Rob. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is ProtonVPN. Proton created ProtonVPN to further protect the journalists, activists and everyday citizens who use ProtonMail. ProtonVPN breaks down the barriers of Internet censorship, allowing you to access restricted online content. Proton secure VPN sends your Internet traffic through an encrypted VPN tunnel to keep your browsing data safe, even over public or untrusted Internet connections. And as a Swiss VPN provider, Proton does not log user activity or share data with third parties. Their anonymous VPN service keeps your browsing history private and enables an Internet without surveillance. ProtonVPN is available on all of your devices. This includes PCs, Macs, smartphones, even routers. A secure Internet connection you can trust is essential to maintaining your privacy on your laptop at Home, your mobile device on the road or your workstation at the office. And to check out an exclusive and limited time offer, go to ProtonVP Dave Smith. However, like I said, this is a limited time offer, so go check it out today. ProtonVPN.com Dave Smith. All right, let's get back into the show. But anyway, I just think that this, again, as always with this whole, you know, it's, it's very similar to the Sam Harris critique. I get saying, oh, come on, the Internet just has these random guys. But this isn't a replacement for the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, Henry Kissinger or whatever. Again, if you're going to make that argument, fine. I think it's a valid argument. But you also have to deal with the fact that all of these institutions have completely failed. And even to your point on the Wall Street Journal, it's like, yeah, but like, when, when it really mattered the most. It's not like you're, like you said, a lot of the really important shit's going to be omitted from those pages.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
By the way, to state it differently, I agree with him. It'd be nice, it would be much nicer to live in a world where the people that have all the resources to do journalism and get these stories right. Got it right. I would prefer to live in that world. By the way, I like writing jokes. It's a lot easier to just read the actual information and then write jokes about it than to have to sit through it and go, hey, I don't think you're giving me the real information. And to go one step further, if we lived in an honest world, in an honest environment, people like us that have been on, I wouldn't call it the sidelines, because we're on the forefront of kind of the Internet, news media, political commentary game. But like, in a different environment, I think people that like to make money might step in and go, wow, these guys are actually really good at this. Why aren't we giving them a producer? And, you know, what does Sean Hannity make a year? $30 million or whatever. That's what I'm. How many producers?
Dave Smith
I'll do it for half. Yeah, I'll do it for half that.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
So I'm just saying, to further combat what he's saying, I wish that the news organizations that had all the resources didn't use all the resources to lie to us and sell government agendas, because that's typically what I'm watching them doing. And on the same note, if you gave us all those Resources.
Dave Smith
Yeah.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
You know how much better at this we could be. I'd love to, I would love to be a full time drunk and just get talking points from someone that does my job and just puts it together.
Dave Smith
Well, well, this is what's so interesting about this. And this is part of the reason why I've, you know, I've talked about this several times on the show. I mean, number one, it's just, it's, it's kind of, it's interesting to me and it's a little bit surreal. It's weird to debate the guy who was the number one show at cnn. It's weird to be called out by Sam Harris by name, you know, and then, okay, so there's a little, my own like ego in this, I'll fully admit that. But there's, it's like when they make this point, you're like, listen, dude, no one agrees with you more than me. Do you know, do you know how disconcerting it is? Like, do you. If I, me, the comedian from the Legion of Skanks, who has a fucking portion of my garage turned into a podcast studio, if I was going to debate the number one show host at cnn, I should find myself against somebody formidable and I should be like, whoa, this guy knows way more than I know about this stuff. This guy's read every book I've read and then he's read five books, slapping down the stuff of the books that I've read. And this guy is just like a wealth of knowledge and information, wisdom, and I just can't even compete with it. But that's not what I find when I go to debate the number one show host on cnn. Right? So like, I'm sorry, you can't turn around and blame me for that. The point is that the institutions have failed. They got it all wrong. And no, I'm sorry, Chris Cuomo, it would not like if you want to try to do again, I mean, I don't know, you know, like when we debated, he had prepared to some degree, you know, he mentioned Legion of Skanks and he mentioned a few things about me. So like he had watch few hours, you know, or, or I don't know how much, but he had watched some of my content. But like, if Chris G. Wants to sit down and watch the last three years or four years of part of the problem, for him to sit there and say, like, oh, it would be just as easy for me to sit back and point out everything you've gotten wrong. I don't think so. Like I, I, I will gladly, as I said to his face in the debate, I will gladly put my track record up against yours and we can see who got what wrong and right and how important the things we got wrong were, and if we got something wrong, how quickly we adjust it, you know what I mean? And like it took in the new information. That's, I'm happy to do that. All right, let's, let's keep playing.
C
The COVID vaccine kills the coven. COVID vaccine kills more people than it helped in any way. That's what they want you to believe. And you should have never been forced.
Dave Smith
Pause it right there. Pause it right there. By the way, again, just, and, and just bring it back a few seconds because he's going to get into this. Forced to take it. But again, it's just, and this would be my only thought, this is why it's so easy to debate a guy like Chris Cuomo. Because like, if we were in a debate and he says something like that, you're. The follow up question is just, okay, who said that? Go ahead, Cuomo. Who, who said that? Who said that? The whole thing is that the vaccine has killed more people than it helped. By the way, that's like, first of all, I don't know how you would even measure that. I don't know how we would even know, you know, like, that. How do you measure the people that the vaccine helped? I mean, it's like the standard during the height of the craziness, Rob was just assuming that it would have been worse if you hadn't gotten the vaccine. Right? So, like, if you get the vaccine, you remember this during COVID like, if you get the vaccine and then you get Covid and you get very, very sick, well, that's proof you would have died if you didn't have the vaccine or something like that. I don't think anybody's necessarily claiming that it hurt more people than it helped or killed more people than it helped. As I've said, I do think that there was an argument that people who were very vulnerable at the very beginning, when there were still very deadly strands of COVID out there, might have been better off taking this vaccine. Like, I, I don't really know. I don't, I'm not like claiming to have not. What I'm saying is that there were people who didn't fall into the risk category at all. Like, I, I use the example a bunch of times was just because I happen to know the kid, there was literally a guy, he was 25 or something. Like that. And he was at a, an Ivy League grad school and he literally, they made him get the, the two doses of the vaccine. Like get the vaccine at first. And then like whatever it was, months later he got Covid. And then the next month the school decided that the policy was to get a booster. So they made him, a month after get having Covid, get a booster for Covid when he's a young, healthy guy. Had already had Covid, had already had two shots. I'm saying that makes no sense. And there's lots of people who were forced into this category to get it. And some number of those people did get vaccine injured. And 100% of the people who got vaccine injured didn't need to be. They, they were just in a group where Covid was never a threat to them. It was statistically non existent, the threat of COVID So like that's the point. And nobody seems to want to take on that. And at the time, at the time that this was happening, basically everyone was like, you're a bad person if you even bring that up. If you even bring up that this vaccine is being pushed on people who should not take it. All right, let's keep lying.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I also.
Dave Smith
Sorry, go ahead, Rob.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
It's the wrong place to litigate this, which is around government. There were unintended consequences of government shutting down the country and going full Covid nonsense. And that's what we were against. We were against government removing freedoms. Telling you that you couldn't pursue your job, telling you that you couldn't go exercise. You look at missed education, you look at miscancer diagnosis like you look at the fact that people stop living life for a year or two years, or people are still trying to put their careers together, or they lost their restaurants, they lost their businesses, they built their whole lives over. There are secondary conversations to be had about the dangers of the actual vaccine, of which the data, well, I think has been too muddy to really prove.
Dave Smith
Yeah.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
As to, you know, I think, and I think the government purposely manipulated the data with things such as not considering you vaccinated until two weeks after you got it and all sorts of other script. And anyone with an unknown vaccine status is considered to be unvaccinated. They pulled all sorts of shenanigans throughout the entire thing. You're never going to have a good data set. But that was never the core part of the conversation that we were having, which was, hey, they're lying to you and we shouldn't be shutting down the country over this. And what Data, do you have to suggest that we should. And why are they enforcing. Removing your medical freedoms over this vaccine that hasn't been properly studied? So I think he's just having kind of a different conversation. And you could have that argument, but, like, you're already jumping nine. Nine levels past kind of the terrible decisions that government made that we talked out against. And Cuomo sold on his TV show.
Dave Smith
Yep. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Fume. Fume has been with us for a long time, and I really love Fume. Fume is a flavored air device that helps you give up your bad habits. I know there's a lot of people who have a lot of bad habits out there, and a lot of us are trying to quit, myself included. Fume is great for this. It draws flavor to your mouth. It gives you something to fidget with. It gives you something to pull on. And this is very helpful when breaking bad habits. As we all know, it's a total, totally healthy alternative. There's no vapor, no nicotine, no toxic flavors, no batteries. It looks awesome. It's got a nice weighted feel, and like I said, it's made to fidget with. It's very good for calming anxiety when you're trying to give up bad habits. Fume has served over 300,000 customers, and you can be their next success story. For a limited time, if you use the promo code problem, you'll get a free gift with your Journey Pack. Just go over to try fume.comt R-Y-F u-m.com and use the promo code code problem. Or you can scan the QR code on the screen and get a free gift when you order the Journey Pack today. All right, let's get back into the show. Perfectly said, 100%. All right, let's, let's. Let's play the rest.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I believe.
C
And you should have never been forced to take it. Now, by the way, I don't believe you were forced to take it. There was freedom of choice. There wasn't freedom from consequence for those choices. You got the government, Donald Trump, saying, this is what we need to do to do it. And then you think you're gonna get the same access everywhere if you don't do those things. And you don't think that the numbers show that when the vaccine came out and made it into the vulnerable communities, we didn't see a precipitous drop in the cases. And in serious illness, it's not even a Close call.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Okay, so now I'm not gonna be. Those are the bombshells right there of stupidity.
Dave Smith
Yes, this is right. So these are the bombshells of stupidity. So, like, let's really take this apart a little bit. First of all, this just tired, brain dead argument that like, oh, you weren't forced. Freedom of choice doesn't mean freedom from consequences. Okay, so I guess if I put a gun to your head and say, give me your wallet or I'll blow your brains out, that's not me forcing you to give me the money, right? No, you have a choice. See, you have a choice. You can give me your wallet or you can have your brains blown out. It doesn't mean freedom from consequences, Rob. Right?
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
The consequences are from you. That's mob. Hey, do this or I'm gonna do the following to you. So that's not a choice. That's. You are going to do those consequences. That's not like I, I can't even think of the.
Dave Smith
It's not even rob. It's not even mob. It's mob shit from the very dim brother of the Don or the, the son of the previous Go. It's Fredo mob shit. Okay, this is like, who are you expecting to actually believe you? You're saying, like when he's saying, oh, you're not going to be able to go everywhere. He's talking about the vaccine passports. And these were not decisions, by the way. It's like if you want to make some libertarian argument, as if, you know, Chris Cuomo is going to pretend to be a libertarian all of a sudden. But if you want to say that like, okay, like if your employer would fire you, you know, because there were like tons of, say, like privately enforced vaccine mandates. So if you want to claim that like your company deciding you had to take the vaccine isn't force, okay, there's an argument there. You're still wrong. We could get into that if you want to. Like, that still is really force in the context of how much government intervention there was in this process to begin with. But, but you're talking about like the, the government of major cities across the country decided for a while we were straight up second class citizens in New York City. You couldn't go to an event at Madison Square Garden, you couldn't sit down at a restaurant, you couldn't go to like movie theaters. There were all types of things you weren't allowed to go to. And that's the government coming in and telling those businesses, look, I remember, I've told you this story before, I'm not going to tell it again now. But the story when me and my wife got turned away from that restaurant because we didn't. I wasn't gonna show the fake vaccine card. I told you, the guy who I was almost like getting in a fight with, this Mexican guy at the spot, he literally what snapped me out of it was he was like, it's a thousand dollar fine for everyone. I bring it. Like he was literally going, dude, of course I want your business, but I can't risk the fine that'll come with it. Like this was a little diner in, in Washington Heights, you know what I mean? We were gonna maybe spend 60 bucks there. You can't risk a thousand dollar fine for like a $60, you know, potential revenue. That's forced, dude. That's force. They're forced. You were fining the businesses if they served vaccinated people. The businesses were being forced to tell people they weren't allowed to come in if they weren't vaccinated or didn't have the dumb card, which everyone could get a fake one anyway. It was all stupid. It was just a matter of like whether you wanted to play that game or not. Which I did not on principle. Didn't want to play that. But look, I mean the argument that it wasn't forced because you had choice, but there were consequences. Yes, consequences imposed by the governments which you are forced to live under. You don't. There's no opt out process. There's no. If you're in New York City, you can't go. I don't really like the government of New York City and I would like to live under a different government. You don't have that option. So yes, it's force. So there's. I don't know, any, anything else you want to jump in with, Rob, please go ahead. And then I could, could get to the next part.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Let's get to the next part because it's also gloriously stupid. But I was just so irritated by that freedom. The consequences from you. You're just describing force. That's the way force works. If I tell you, hey, if you don't do what I want you to do, I'm going to come punch you in the face. Isn't that. That's force. That's coercion.
Dave Smith
Well, right, I mean, and you just. It's not. Look, I suppose as is always the case with laws and governments, I suppose you could argue that there are. It's a few levels removed from like the naked blatant Force. But like, so when, you know, when that you know, the store owner or the diner, the guy who works at the diner there is saying, hey, it's a thousand dollar fine. Okay? So if he gets that fine, you're gonna be like, okay, well, he. It's not force. It's, you know, it's just these are the consequences of the choice that you made, right? So the choice you made was to somebody who doesn't have proof of vaccination, eat at your restaurant, and then the consequence is a thousand dollar fine. Because. Okay, so let's say that that guy who, who owns the diner says, no, I'm not paying that. What happens next, Cuomo, huh? What happens if he says, I'm not paying you the thousand dollars? I mean, take, take me through this. I mean, okay, they'll probably be like a notice. They'll probably be a follow up letter. Maybe the fine will be increased, maybe. And then eventually they'll come take it. They'll come take it by force. That's what's always there. That with any law or any government policy, the threat of force is always right behind it. It's always like, yeah, okay, if you don't do that, like with any ticket, with any fine, it's like, yes, eventually they will come with naked force. And it's only because there is that threat that anybody has to listen to it at all. Right? So anyway, that's all. Okay. And then. All right, so what was the other big one? Now I'm getting so hung up on this one, I forgot for a second. I'm sorry, what was it?
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Yeah, replay it. I also.
Dave Smith
Yeah, okay, here, play, just play the, the last few seconds of that, that clip. It'll come right back to us as soon as we play it. But there was one more real dumb thing. He went. There was one more real Fredo moment at the end of that and see.
C
A precipitous drop in the cases. And in serious illness. It's not even a close call.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Not even a close call, Dave.
Dave Smith
Not even a close call.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I mean, you want to have great data set. Put them up against Tom woods on that one.
Dave Smith
I mean, let's, let's look if we could. Natalie, see if you could pull up, even just in the US The COVID death rate. But like, if we could get it by year, is there a way to do like the COVID death rate from say 2020 through maybe 2023 or something like that? Because he's wrong. This is just like an objective question and he's straight up Wrong about that. And if you remember Rob, they had to pivot to what the reason was for that which was too much like vaccine hesitancy or something like that. But it is just not the case case that as soon as you saw the vaccine rollouts you saw this huge drop in Covid cases and COVID deaths. Right. Am I, am I, I don't remember.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
But even if you were to have had that, you wouldn't be able to prove that it wasn't post spike in the area. So I think the better proof against this would be the Tom woods thing of looking at the, which you've spoken to but looking at the charts and like the vaccinated or what. What was, what was that?
Dave Smith
Well, Tom woods, okay, so he had a whole thing which by the way I really highly recommend Tom's book on this if you want to go through. It's like the best book that was written about COVID at least so far called Diary of a Psychosis. And I, I if you just google that and Tom woods you'll, you'll find the book real quick. I think it was like covidbook.com but so he would look at these areas. You look at the areas and you do not just about the vaccine but just like about lockdown.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Not lockdown, right.
Dave Smith
Well it was lockdowns. Non lockdowns. It was is mask mandates versus not mandates. Mass compliance versus where they didn't have high mass compliance. And there's no trend, there is no trend like you cannot look. You could not pick them out on a map. In fact he did the whole quiz thing where the joke of it was that no one can get it right because you simply, the virus simply acted the way it was going to act. None of these measures mitigated it. Now we don't have real good honest data out of China where they had like some real hardcore authoritarian lockdowns. And it is possible that the most authoritarian lockdowns, like the lockdowns where you let people starve to death in their house because you won't let them out to go to the supermarket, it is possible that that had a meaningful impact on Covid. But short of advocating that you want to do something like that, doing these sloppy, dumb lockdowns the way that we did it in the United States of America where you just deem the majority of people non essential but you're still allowed to go to the grocery store and you're still allowed to go to the liquor store and you still whatever it did nothing. There's no and, and of course there was the. What. Who was the, the Ivy League school that did the, the major study on this where they found that same thing about lockdowns that basically there was, there was little if any difference between the areas that locked down and didn't. But there was enormous difference in the economic devastation, in the devastation toward children's learning improvements and things like that and depression and suicide and stuff. It was enormously costly with no discernible benefit at all. And the exact same thing is true about the, the areas that had vaccine mandates or vaccine passports or anything like that. There was absolutely no trend that enforcing this. And yes, it was forced Cuomo. There's absolutely no evidence that enforcing any of this stuff actually did anything to mitigate the virus. To be clear, I'd still be against the stuff even if it did. I, I believe in liberty and I don't think you can ruin people's lives of, you know, in this way. So even if there was just to be clear, even if there was like a substantial say decrease in the death rate or not the death rate but in the total deaths or a decrease in the transmission rate or something like that in lockdown areas, I'd still be against lockdowns because I don't think you have the right to rob people's lives from them. Them. That being said, there just wasn't. There just is no benefit. And no, I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure about this that I'm right that it did not. It's not true that there was a huge drop in Covid cases and deaths as soon as the vaccines came out. Let me see.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
You know, I guess I pivoted what he, what he said in my head to just the overall strategy with the lockdowns. I don't remember the specifics on this. However, I do remember when, when kids started getting it and Fouchy had to answer for that. And then you know, he started talking about the new variant. But don't worry, it's not as deadly.
Dave Smith
Yeah, yeah, it was all it. He's just, look, he's just not right about this. Okay, so let's see here because I just got this chart right here.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
So we could always just do a follow up on this. I'll send it over to Stephen, my wonder boy non scientist autist on autist of the run your mouth enterprises and he'll give us a quick answer, no problem.
Dave Smith
Well, but look, even just looking at this, right. So let's, let's take a look at this, this chart that I just sent Over. Because I would say at the very least, it is very unclear. So here, let's see here, Natalie, just if you could pull up. And this is a Pew Research. It says this is two years of coronavirus deaths in the United States. Can you pull that up, Natalie? Here, let's see. I just. Well, let me see the one that I just sent you. Did that come through? Should. Yeah. Okay, so here's. So if, if we could zoom in a little bit on that. If we could just make it a little bit bigger. I mean, so here you have. Right. So you could look there you have. What you're going to have with COVID is you. Let's keep the chart up. You're going to have these typically had dips in the summer and spikes in the colder season, which is pretty consistent with upper respiratory viruses. Okay. So you have the initial wave, as you can see in March when it comes in going into the summer, that's a real bad wave. In the black is. Is excess deaths. And in the Blue is reported COVID 19 deaths. Okay, so then you have another massive wave in the winter of, of 2020. Okay, this is before. So right there in the middle, that middle kind of big jump that you see over December. This is before the vaccines are rolled out, right? The vaccines are rolled out in. In early. Okay, so then you have the summer of 2021. You have another dip. You could argue the dips a little bit lower than the dip in the summer before. Doesn't seem to be any drastic relation. But as soon as it gets cold again, look at these peaks. The peak is as high as it was in March of 2020. And then actually here at the end, in the, in the end of, In December of 2021, it seems like the numbers are higher than they were originally in 2020. So like, look, there's. Obviously with all of these things, and this is what you were talking about with your, your Covid expert buddy. There's a lot of different ways to interpret data like this. And I'm, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's different arguments that can be made, but no, it is absolutely just not the case that there's this obvious drop once the vaccine comes out. Like, look, if you're, if you're talking about finding a cure for a disease, right, And a cure for a disease that, that was. I mean, I remember, you know, again, we'd have to go back and look at all the numbers of this, but very pretty early on, like by the time. So if we go back, I'm sorry. If we pull that chart up again, by the time, if you're looking at the last jump there, the jump that's at the end of, of 2021, this is after already 70 something percent of the adult population has been vaccinated. So if you're talking about you have a cure for a disease and then you're going to argue like, look, this was obviously the cur at the drop after the cure was introduced. Well, no, I'm sorry, like, that's not the case. You could come up with some alternate explanation perhaps for why this was the case. This is all the fault of the unvaccinated or something like that. But you went from, in 2020, you had 100% of people not being vaccinated, and by the end of 2021, you had like 20% of people not being vaccinated at most. So no, if you're bragging that there's. This was just so obvious, you would expect to see a drop like a real. You know what I mean? Like this thing is going down. That's not what you're seeing there at all. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show, which is Public Rec. If you're tired of squeezing into stiff dress pants, you gotta check out the Game Changer Pants from Public Rec. They are the office pounds that look like Monday but feel like Sunday. Imagine clocking in while feeling as cozy as if you were still in bed, sipping hot cocoa with a soft hand feel and smooth drape. These pants are a fan favorite for a reason. Whether you're closing deals in the boardroom or mingling at company parties, the Game Changers will keep you looking sharp and feeling great. Public Wreck is the ultimate men's clothing brand for blending comfort and style seamlessly. And trust me, you won't be disappointed. I, I can tell you personally, I, I am not a fan of dress pants. And I just, I, I like to be comfortable. And if I was, luckily for me, I'm not in an office environment, but if I was, this is the type of thing I'd be looking for. Something that looks like dress pants but feels real comfortable. So stop suffering in those regular pants and get comfortable. And for a limited time only, our listeners can get 20 off when you use the promo code problem at checkout@publicwreck.com. so the website is publicwreck.com that's P U-B and use the promo code problem at checkout for 20 off your order. All right, let's get Back into the show. Cuomo's just making a case. Now, if Cuomo actually want. First off, he's not capable of actually getting in, like, getting into the data and, like, really looking through it. But, like, no, it's just. It is not the case. What he's saying is absolutely not true. It's just another. I know it's easy to sit here and point out things that people say that aren't true. True, It's. It's easier for some of us than others. But, no, it's just not the case at all that the vaccine came out and then they weren't. And this is why I was remembering is because I'm remembering, like, you know, like, I'm. I'm like, you, too, in the same way where, like, all this stuff was in my brain. And now we're going back a few years, and I've been thinking about other stuff since then, and I don't have it as fresh, but I do just remember, like, Israel was the example that we looked to a bunch where they had. Because they were, like, way ahead of everybody else. They were like, they had, like, the highest vaccine rates, and then they were already, like, on boosters for their seniors before anyone else. And it was after that that they had their. They broke all their records for worst week in terms of transmission, worst week in terms of deaths, all these things that came after. So, no, I'm sorry, but again, this. It's kind of like, I. I know this isn't like. Like, the deepest, like, full proof explanation of all of this stuff, but much like with a lot of these psychotropic drugs, much like SSRI and like that, it's like, if you. If you're telling me this is the cure for depression and you came out with the cure, and depression has risen since then, I think it's reasonable for me to question whether that was really a cure cure or not. And likewise, if you come out with a cure for Covid and you force it on the pub, on the public in large numbers, and then after a year of this, we're having a wave where it's as bad as the year before the vaccine was out, I think a reasonable starting point is to be skeptical of that cure, because typically speaking, when you have a disease and then you come up with a cure for the disease, what you see is deaths from that disease going way down. So what Cuomo's doing here is he's trying to pretend that that's what happened in this example. Like, he's trying to pretend like we could all look at a chart. As if you could look at a chart and just see, like, okay, Covid was. It was all the way up here and then it just went down. Like, after the vaccine came out, it just went down and down and down out. If that were the case, there would be a much stronger argument here. It's just not. And you look at the data that's not at all what happened. And you could have some different interpretations for, like, why is it that, you know, this spike was worse than that spike or whatever. And there's lots of different, you know, obviously, like, natural immunity is a huge factor in all of this as well, but it's just not the case that that exists when you actually. The data doesn't bear that out. I don't know. All right, any other thoughts, Rob, before we switch over to our next topic.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Real quick, it seems to me like you have the data stuff right there, but I just want to go back to. It doesn't matter. Government did not have the data it needed to, you know, pretend like there was an emergency and strip us all of our freedoms. And if anything, we learned the dangers of giving emergency powers to the government and their ability to abuse it. And I think the burden of evidence was, was on them. And I don't think the vaccines were, were overwhelmingly good or tested to a T. And I think the broader strategy of shutting down and removing people of their freedoms was a detriment to our society. And Foushee's probably a liar and hopefully will be prosecuted.
Dave Smith
Couldn't agree more, my friend. Couldn't agree more. All right, let's just to end this on some. On, on a light note, let's go check in with our friends over at Morning Joe. I saw this one this morning. Oh, my God. Was. This is just. This is glorious. Here is daughter of Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mika Brzezinski on Morning Joe. She still thinks he could have been right.
D
So I'm just gonna wait for that conversation. So.
Dave Smith
Give your theory that you think.
C
He could have won.
D
Look, everyone knows how I, I made it very clear after the debate that I thought he should continue, but that was not what most people wanted. But Joe Biden is the kind of person who pulls himself up from rock bottom. And I think he could have stumbled into it. I really do. People responded very badly when he beat Trump during that campaign. To Trump bullying him or going after his remaining son.
Dave Smith
Yeah, Paul's. Go ahead.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I know that she's going to say, say significantly dumber things, but I Have to call out the, stumbled into it where the best hope that she has for him is that he could have Mr. Magoood his way in. That's her pitch. I mean she's, she's going to say much dumber things. But her pitch was not, hey, he could do the job. It was, he might have been able to stumble his way in.
Dave Smith
And her pitch was, it was, ah, you, you know, you see a schizophrenic guy on the subway, I don't know, you see him again the next day, he's still alive. No one knows exactly how he did it, but everything tends to work out. It's Joe about, hey, he's going to walk around. Yeah, he'll fall a couple times but at the end of it he'll probably stumble his way into it. Literally. That's her argument. I mean literally just seeing how much this guy has fallen apart since then. Since then, since the debate when he was unable to speak words into a microphone. Seeing how much more he's fallen apart since then. Knowing that Donald Trump went on to win by, by such a wide margin, knowing that the internal polling that the Biden White House had was even worse than what Ed ended up happening. They had Donald Trump getting 400 electoral votes and she's still going to hang on to this view that he would have won there. Let's play the rest. Let's hear explanation for it.
D
Son. People stood up for Joe Biden because they knew who he was, they know who he is. And I think an aging Joe Biden is very self aware about that and so is his team around him and he's still 10 times more qualified than what we've got and he's qualified to manage the world stage. I think after that disastrous debate he did a news conference. Remind me, Lemire, was it the NATO summit a couple weeks later?
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
NATO summit was launched.
D
Eight at night. And yep, he got names wrong. Yep, he had to correct himself a few times. But his knowledge of world affairs was in depth and clear and generated exactly what was the reality that this guy could manage the many different.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Isn't the opposite of clear? Isn't fumbling names literally the opposite of clear? And when you say, well, the American people know who he is. Yeah, an old guy with dementia that shouldn't be working the job. That's what we know. What is this other version of the person that was so laughably bad they had to oust him from office. Who's this other person that we know who he is? Because the version that we know appears to have dementia and lacks clarity.
Dave Smith
Yeah, I mean, look, I don't even know. I don't know why I'm. This is what's coming to my mind. But I remember in like maybe like 2016, somewhere around that point, I remember when, when like radical feminism was really on the rise, it was like kind of like woke culture amongst like young kids was really like the cool thing. And I remember like arguing with like feminists about this. And there was a. Back then, rape culture was a big thing. They would talk about how we live in a rape culture. And I remember it was like I was arguing with this feminist chick who. She worked at a comedy club. She's. She was a nice chick, but she. We would argue and stuff and it was summer, summer in New York City. It was in the East Village. It's the middle of summertime and literally outside the window, like at Eastville Comedy Club, it used to be the front was like a big glass window. So you just look onto the street and outside the window it's the East Village and it's young girls dressed in like, you know, scantily clothed young girls. And like, I remember just being like, well, like you're saying there's a rape culture are. But like, look out on the street and girls are like walking around like. I'm just saying you don't find that in the Congo. You know what I mean? Like, it's just like a kind of thing where you're like, well, I don't even know what to say when you're claiming this. And. And she was literally claiming Congo stats. Like she was going, one in four women are raped and all of this stuff. And I'm like, But like, wouldn't that with you if like, I was like, hey, in the Congo where actually one in four women are raped, they don't tend to be walking around in short shorts with their booties hanging out, like kind of flirting with the guy. You know what I mean? Like, you just, just don't. It's kind of. And again, I, I almost like, I remember being at a loss where I was always almost just like. I don't know how to take on your argument other than to just be like, but look. But like, like, are we both talking about the same world here? And again, I'm almost left with this feeling when. When you describe Joe Biden and your words to describe him are aware and clear. It's like, I mean, I get. It's like compare to what I mean. Yeah, I guess we live in a rape culture. In the sense that, like, there are people who are raped. You know, I mean, I, I guess Joe Biden is clear compared to a golden retriever, but compared to like other human beings who talk what. Those are the adjectives that you would use to describe him. Clear, self aware, a depth of knowledge. Joe Biden speaks in slogans and he can't even say the slogans. He stutters them, forgets what slogan he's in the middle of saying and then says, well, no, you know the thing. And like, look, the fact that she even, like, Rob, like you ever. The fact that she even has to say he could have stumbled his way out. The fact that she even has to bring up that the NATO Summit was at 8pm Rob, 8pm like, only to a senile person. Is that the wee hours of the night. Who, like what, what functioning healthy person has. I'm sorry, 8 p. 8pm as an excuse that it was at 8. Like, it'd be one thing if you were saying 3 in the morning, but you're saying it was after dinner. And you know how he gets sleepy. This is just so ridiculous. And, and like, I mean, I don't know, man. Again, look, I did not. She said, everyone knows. I actually did not know that Mika was on the record saying he shouldn't drop out, that she was one of the few who actually dug in. But, like, the idea that after all of this, this, you're going to try to like, rehabilitate the idea that Joe Biden wasn't too senile to run for president. It's like of all, it kind of feels like the corporate media and the Democrats are almost like they're. They're just under fire from like, the opposing military and there's nowhere to hide and everyone's attempting to, like, dive behind like bushes or something like that that aren't really going to protect you from bullets whizzing everywhere. And you're almost. And it's like, like, I don't know, like Mika is choosing the shrub with the least amount of leaves or something where you're like, there's no. Why would you go hide behind there? At least go hide behind the. Like we went too woke or something. You know, you're hiding behind the. Like, no, Joe Biden really wasn't senile. Anytime. You cannot. If I said pull up a clip of Joe Biden from this year, there's not one clip you can pull up where it's not just obvious. All right, guys, let's take a moment and thank our sponsor for today's show which is sheath underwear. Sheath. I've been telling you guys about them forever. The best pair of brocks or briefs you're ever going to get. Sheath uses moisture wicking technology to create underwear that keeps everything breathable and incredibly comfortable for you downstairs. I'm telling you, put on a pair of sheath underwear. Get one pair. That's my challenge. Get one pair of sheath underwear. You're going to put them on and be like, oh, these are the most quality, comfortable boxer brief I've ever worn. I guarantee it. Sheath underwear.com promo code problem 20 for 20% off your order. Once again, sheathunderwear.com promo code problem 20 for twenty percent off. All right, let's get back into the show.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
I have a brilliant idea. You ready for this? Why don't we run the Dina Brzezinski experiment and just tell Joe Biden he's still president. I don't think he'll realize. And ask him any world issue that you want to ask him how we should deal with this. Just get a room, decorate it like it's. Well, he doesn't even go to the Oval Office anymore. He just has the little teeny tiny desk outside of the Oval Office. So it wouldn't take much to Truman show convincing Joe Biden that he's still the president and let him make. How much money does Joe Biden need? I think he's made it all run through Ukraine or whatever. I mean, like I said, I mean the amount of people they're making on these payouts. You got this book deal for Kamala for 20 million. Who? Let's keep that dumb ass in front of the TV cameras and see what horseshit she says next. I say for both of them, let's get them television contracts. But the Joe Biden show will be like the Truman Show. And we'll get him that little teeny tiny desk that he makes his little announcements from. We'll get him a teleprompter. We can keep his team intact. And let's see how he presidents over the next four years.
Dave Smith
I'd like literally get Joe Biden in an interview and just ask him. Because President Biden display a depth of knowledge on any issue. Issue. Your choice.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
You know me.
Dave Smith
Your. Your choice. What issue it is. No, really explain a depth of knowledge. By the way, this is what's so. This is what's so, like maddening and also hilarious about Sam Harris or Chris Cuomo talking shit about me, you know?
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Oh, yeah, this is the lady with the team. This is the lady who got better data than us, then she's standing by. No, Joe Biden can still do the job. That's the team of journalists behind her doing the research so that she can make more informed news than us. Us.
Dave Smith
Exactly. Those are the people with a team. And the person she's talking about is the President of the United States of America. And say whatever you want to about my views on the history of the conflict in Ukraine or in the history of Israel, Palestine or anything like that. Joe Biden can't show a depth of knowledge on any issue that could even compete with what I know about this shit. And that's. That's objective. I'm not saying nobody could. There's lots of people who can. There's lots of people who have a depth of knowledge way beyond my time. Plenty of them. But like you're criticizing, the President of the United States doesn't have that. And this whole media apparatus with all of their prestige and money and resources, they're sitting there just pretending that he does when we all know it's. All right, listen, I do. I gotta wrap on that because I do got to get moving. But thank you to all you guys for listening. I apologize for the. The switch up in the schedule. That was my fault. Don't blame poor Natalie. She's a good girl. But I will get the members only episode out to you guys in the next day, so look forward to that.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
If you never checked it out, go check out the run your mouth podcast, Robbie the fire all one word, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter. And even if you don't want to check out the whole episode, I'm doing these wild new spoof intros. So go check them out. Give it a watch.
Dave Smith
Hell yeah. All right, catch you guys next time. Peace.
Robbie the Fire Bernstein
Sat.
Podcast Summary: "Cuomo Fails Again"
Released on January 10, 2025
Hosted by GaS Digital Network
In the latest episode of Part Of The Problem, host Dave Smith and his co-host Robbie the Fire Bernstein delve into a heated discussion centered around Chris Cuomo's recent critiques of COVID-19 policies. The episode provides a thorough examination of Cuomo's statements, counterarguments from a libertarian perspective, and broader implications for media credibility and governmental authority.
The episode kicks off with Dave Smith recounting his recent collaboration with fellow podcasters Aaron Mate and Katie Halpert, emphasizing his interconnectedness within the digital media landscape. However, the core of the discussion quickly shifts to Chris Cuomo's ongoing criticisms.
Notable Quote:
“Cuomo just can't get over the fact that in his mind... he's the number one show on CNN.” (05:17)
Dave expresses a sense of personal stake in Cuomo's rants, feeling indirectly targeted even when not explicitly mentioned.
Cuomo's statements on COVID-19 vaccines form the crux of the episode. He asserts the superiority of traditional media over digital outlets in reporting, while critiquing the vaccine rollout.
Cuomo’s Statement:
“I’m not going to be able to cover the world the way CNN can.” (06:24)
“The COVID vaccine kills more people than it helped in any way. That’s what they want you to believe.” (21:50)
Dave challenges these assertions, arguing against the notion that vaccines were more harmful than beneficial. He meticulously deconstructs Cuomo's claims, addressing issues like vaccine efficacy, mandates, and the accuracy of reported data.
Dave and Robbie engage in a robust debate over the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and the legitimacy of governmental mandates. They argue that the vaccines were overemphasized, leading to unnecessary health risks for certain populations.
Notable Quote:
“The vaccines did not work at all as they were sold, that they were sold on lies.” (07:15)
Dave elaborates on his belief that the vaccines were pushed without sufficient evidence of their benefits, particularly for young, healthy individuals who were unlikely to suffer severe consequences from COVID-19.
The conversation shifts to the broader impact of government-imposed lockdowns and mandates. Dave and Robbie criticize the suppression of personal freedoms and the economic and social fallout from prolonged restrictions.
Notable Quote:
“There were unintended consequences of government shutting down the country... removing our freedoms.” (25:03)
Robbie underscores the negative outcomes, such as missed education opportunities and the collapse of small businesses, attributing these to government overreach during the pandemic.
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing COVID-19 death rates and case trends in relation to vaccine rollout. Dave presents data to refute Cuomo’s claims of a precipitous drop in cases post-vaccine introduction, arguing that the data does not support a direct correlation.
Notable Quote:
“It's absolutely just not the case that there's this obvious drop once the vaccine comes out.” (35:03)
He references studies and charts to demonstrate that the decline in COVID-19 cases was not as significant as Cuomo suggests, highlighting inconsistencies and potential manipulation of data.
Dave and Robbie extend their critique to major media institutions like the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and CNN. They argue that these outlets have failed to uphold journalistic integrity, often acting as mouthpieces for governmental agendas rather than providing unbiased reporting.
Notable Quote:
“That's not the case, and this is part of the reason why... the institutions have failed.” (17:50)
Robbie acknowledges some value in the Wall Street Journal but maintains that most large media organizations have compromised their credibility.
The episode also touches on Mika Brzezinski’s comments regarding President Joe Biden’s competency. Dave and Robbie dismiss her defense of Biden, labeling his performance as indicative of cognitive decline and incompetence on the global stage.
Notable Quote:
“Joe Biden can't show a depth of knowledge on any issue that could even compete with what I know about this shit.” (52:53)
They argue that Biden's frequent gaffes and public missteps reveal a lack of preparedness for the demands of the presidency.
In wrapping up, Dave and Robbie reinforce their commitment to libertarian principles, emphasizing the importance of personal freedoms and skepticism towards governmental interventions. They advocate for greater accountability and transparency in both media and government actions, urging listeners to critically assess information from established institutions.
Final Thoughts:
“The point is that the institutions have failed. They got it all wrong.” (35:03)
This episode of Part Of The Problem offers a deep dive into the contentious discourse surrounding COVID-19 policies, media integrity, and political leadership, all through a libertarian lens aimed at promoting individual freedoms and accountability.