
🎙️ Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook analyze the media coverage following the shocking Boulder, Colorado terror attack, where an illegal immigrant threw Molotov cocktails at Jews advocating for hostages held by...
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Josh Holmes
This guy basically threw Molotov cocktails at him, tried to burn him, tried to kill him, and then had this whole scene. Much of what you've seen in video, we're not gonna play it because we don't dignify that. But like, it was basically like free Palestine. And I saw this thing on Twitter, which I thought was fascinating, was like, free Palestine is basically the modern day hail hailer. And it jars you when you hear that because it's a Democratic Party constituency in the age of the media, the corporate media, as it is today, there is a permission slip. He's Donald Trump's number one enemy in Congress, Chicago Senator Dick Durbin. And now Dick Durbin has a new scheme, a government takeover of your credit card. Today, consumers have thousands of choices in credit cards, all with equal strong security. But Durbin's plan is less competition and less security, and that means more risk for your credit and your identity. Tell Republicans in Congress, stop Dick Durbin's takeover of your credit card before it's too late.
Michael Duncan
Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.
John Ashbrook
Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lids.
Michael Duncan
It's time for our main event.
Josh Holmes
Good Tuesday to you. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. I'm Josh Holmes along with comfortably smug Michael Duncan and John Ashbrook, left to right across the radio dial. As always, big week back here in Washington. Congress is back in session. Big things to do, but there's also just a lot of things that happen over the weekend you ought to know about. We're gonna have some fun here on this program, too. The first thing, obviously, incredibly ridiculous attack in Boulder, Colorado. You've heard us talk a lot about this ever since October 7th, if not before. Just about where political violence in this country has stemmed from the left cheat code and how that's manifesting itself in this particular day and age, intersectionality and such, which has become absolutely ridiculous. And this one in so many ways is, we're going to explain all of it. We're going to explain a little bit what happened, but then the media coverage of it, which I think outrageous. I think it will give you a good sense of why we've been so fired up about this topic for a couple of years now. I mean, really forever. But as watching the left become just an anti Semitic movement, it's really become something. We're going to talk a little bit about that. We got a great guest today. We were invited to do the Great American Road Trip kickoff from the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy. And so we went out, headed on out, out into this, like, field, basically in front of the Department of Transportation. We did a car show and all kinds of different things that we participated in. Had a great conversation with Secretary Duffy.
Michael Duncan
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Will of a guy.
Michael Duncan
It was incredible conversation. Within two seconds, the guy was busting balls.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Michael Duncan
He understands us like few people do. I love talking to him.
Josh Holmes
Totally. You guys had a good time with that?
John Ashbrook
Well, I mean, it was. I remember we got the message. They're like, secretary Duffy's office wants to know if you guys want to come hang out at a car show. Yes. Like, I immediately, I was like, yes, 100%. And it was even more fun than I thought. It was going to be awesome.
Sean Duffy
It was also a great kickoff to, you know, America 250 celebration of America with, you know, that, that anniversary coming up. Got to see a lot of really cool cars. A Winnie. There was a cyber truck with a Airstream attachment. I don't want to spoil the whole thing, but you're going to want to see that.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, you're going to want to see that. So we got a big interview on that then. We obviously do Variety, which I've come to find out, like, over the weekend. We get as one does. You text and you sleep and there's different things that come across your radar and you're kind of having some yucks the last few weekends. Smug is like just pulling deep.
John Ashbrook
If something hits my algorithm on one of my feeds that I think is a banger, it's going in there and we're gonna have one for Variety Day.
Josh Holmes
So he's doing all that. Let's start with the serious stuff. We'll get the veggies up front for you. We'll get the veggies up front for you. You know, not any sense in talking about the world of sports. We're waiting on the Stanley Cup. We're waiting on the NBA Finals. You know much what governs us on a weekend not relevant here. But what is relevant is the news that happened over the weekend. Boulder, Colorado. So FoxNews.com reported Boulder, Colorado, suspected terror attacks. Mohammed Sabri Solomon faces hate crime and murder charges. If you haven't seen this story, you just need to get familiar with it because it speaks. It's not just a random act of violence. Comes on the heels of a lot of different attacks upon Jewish people. You saw the shooting and killing of two people in Washington, D.C. a couple of weeks back outside of an Israeli. What was it, a museum?
Sean Duffy
Museum event. Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Sean Duffy
For the Israeli embassy, I believe.
Josh Holmes
Right, right. And, and, and what? We've been saying forever is like, you don't understand. Like this thing is deeply rooted. This is not a situation where you've got a few loose cannons which like the Nancy Pelosi's and Chuck Schumers would like you to believe that there's a few loose cannons within the Democratic.
John Ashbrook
And also don't forget, it's coming, that attack, those two murders are coming on the heels of the governor of Pennsylvania having the governor's mansion firebombed by the same Free Palestine crew.
Josh Holmes
Yeah. So we've been saying basically since October 7th, and then watching what was initially the Biden administration's response that was, I would categorize it initially as responsible immediately. This is our ally, we'll stand with our ally. We'll do what we need to do. And then you watched the degradation of support over Israel and what needed to be done to eliminate Hamas.
Michael Duncan
And then everything you see in the Middle east, all the fighting that we've all kind of grown up watching, that happened overseas, suddenly happens here in America.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, I mean, to me, that's the most troubling thing is it's been allowed to creep from the media. Having an obvious pro. This Free Palestine becomes the thing that like the young people in the slack at the New York Times and everything are pushing. That became like their movement of like, okay, now we got to make sure everyone's pushing this non stop to. Then you saw them starting to rip posters down of like kids who got kidnapped in New York and how quickly that transformed into. You've got the governor's mansion being firebombed, you've got people being shot on the streets of D.C. you've got Molotovs being thrown on people in Colorado and they're all chanting the same thing.
Josh Holmes
Yep.
John Ashbrook
It's like this is now a violent problem. These are violent terrorists. And this whole situation needs to be treated as such. And the way the media has been treating it is disgusting.
Josh Holmes
It's completely disgusting. But if you take a step back, it's entirely predictable when you have a political party in this country that is basically giving a permission slip for this belief that somehow there are two moral sides to this discussion. I mean, just recall October 7th, you had Hamas indiscriminately raping, murdering, killing everybody from babies to the elderly, because they could and because it was what they said they were sworn to do. And any response that you had to any of that, that was the war crime. And then it's gotten more and more and more predominant within Democratic philosophy to the point where Kamala Harris can't pick Governor Shapiro and as a vice presidential nominee for fear of offending that core constituency of the Democratic Party.
Sean Duffy
Well, and then you had Democrats, you know, having to say, you know, these college kids chanting intifada, Intifada on campuses and targeting Jewish students and locking down buildings. Maybe they make some good points about peace in the Middle East.
Michael Duncan
It's insane. You hear them say globalize the intifada, which is the point you were making. And all of a sudden it's globalized. All of a sudden it's happening in Colorado, it's happening in Pennsylvania, it's happening in Washington, D.C. but if we're being.
Josh Holmes
Honest, the reason why it's globalized in the United States is because there is a constituency for it that was not treated as like say, the KKK amongst the Republican Party.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
Anytime anybody accuses the Republican Party of racism and there's some like one off white supremacist who endorses a Republican somewhere, you get a Republican Party that immediately mobilizes like, no, no, no, we don't want that as a part of our coalition. We're not interested in it. And then there's a residual set of stories like, how not interested are you in it? Like, well, maybe your messages are misconstrued because they clearly think they're a part of your movement and you have to go out of your way for a series of weeks as a Republican to say no.
John Ashbrook
I mean, the way that they tried to put, they pushed that hoax that many Americans still think exists, the Donald Trump lie about fine people on both sides. That's the way the media treats it.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I mean, that's the way they treat it when it resides within what is perceived to be not even actually in existence, but perceived to be the American right. On the American left, we've had people who have had all out calls for the extinction of Jewish people on this planet. And they're like, we don't want to offend them. They're a core constituency. And you don't get, nobody has to answer the question. Nobody has to say, like, no, we don't want that as a part of our coalition. That's not who we are. In fact, it went so far as to reach the highest office in the land, the Vice President of the United States, who is actually trying to choose one person that would supplement their candidacy best in 2024. And the person that everyone knows would supplement their candidacy best can't get the job because, wait for it, they're Jewish and they're Worried about how that would impact Dearborn, Michigan, or they're worried about how that would impact grassroots donors to their cause, but that's a real thing. So if you take that forward, and knowing that there is now a constituency that has not been relegated to the extreme fringes of society, it's basically embraced at some level. I'm not saying the violence has been embraced, but I'm saying the ideology at some point has been embraced. It's not surprising this shit is happening.
Michael Duncan
Yeah. I will tell you that. That there are a lot of conversations out there about the money that is flowing to the left, money that is flowing to universities, money that is flowing to their parties, money that is flowing to their candidates. That makes people wonder if there's a reason why Democrats all of a sudden are against Jewish people, you know?
Josh Holmes
Yeah, I mean, it's just. You don't need to wonder about it. They've told you. They've told you. And it's whether it's money or whether it's votes, whether it's a basic. I've said it for, like three years now, that Hamas is a constituency of the Democratic Party in this country. It just is. Either you wake up to it, acknowledge it, or you don't. And if you don't, you're just. All you're doing is emboldening this situation. So listen a little bit about this. The violence on Sunday against a pro Israel group advocating for Hamas. This was a group of, like, elderly people. Elderly people, children. It's in Boulder, Colorado. Like, they're not. It's just not the national mall in D.C. right. Some people are taking a little bit of time on a Sunday to express their view that the hostages that Hamas continues to hold should be released. Well, what happened was this guy basically threw Molotov cocktails at him, tried to burn him, tried to kill him, and then had this whole scene, much of which you've seen in video. We're not gonna play it because we don't dignify that shit. But, like, it was basically like, free Palestine. And I saw this thing on Twitter, which I thought was fascinating, was like, free Palestine is basically the modern day hail hailer. And it jars you when you hear that, you know, like, it. It jars you. Like, that's like an emotional response, and it's kind of like, hard to process. But if you think about it in practice, is there a real difference?
Sean Duffy
Well, it's like what Ashbrook always says. It's not like they're not chanting, two state solution, two state solution. No, like the what they actually are calling for is the eradication of the state of Israel and Jewish people.
Michael Duncan
And the guy was here illegally. Yep. He came here under the Biden administration and stay overstayed and violated his visa here illegally. He's holding two Molotov cocktails in his hands while he's on video. And you have to wonder, is he the only guy here in America right now, today who is capable of doing something like that, who is here illegally? Like, this is. This is the biggest problem that I have on our illegal immigration. It is not just the people flowing over from Guatemala. Yes, that's something the president needs to handle. But there are North Africans or Uzbeks or guys from Tajikistan who are 23 years old who came over our border to do us harm. And nobody's talking about them.
Sean Duffy
Well, and not just the border. It's the visa overstays. Like. Like that is always identified here is that he came in on like a tourist visa or whatever, and like he was supposed to be in the country for five days, and then they just don't leave, you know, and then they apply so that they can stay, and then they do shit like this.
John Ashbrook
That's the thing is, so this, this guy was an illegal, like we've. We've already mentioned. But you look at the timeline that DHS has given on this guy, and not only did he get in under the Biden administration, his visa expired in February of 2023. But after that, in. In March of 2023, the Biden administration then gave him a work permit. They're like, oh, well, we know you're here illegally, you're overstaying your visa, but here we'll help you out.
Josh Holmes
Anyways, this comes on the heels of a very real discussion in which the media thought they just had. The Trump administration and Marco Rubio had to field these questions where they were talking about college students that came here who were advocating free Palestine, and they were creating riots on campus, major damages in university, making Jewish students at universities feel like they couldn't attend those universities at all. Many, many testimonials to that effect. And his point was, you don't have a right to come into this country, particularly when you are advocating for something that is not only disruptive of, violent to our people. And the media was like, that's the First Amendment right. That's the First Amendment. They can say whatever they want.
Sean Duffy
We're required to import foreign nationals and educate them in our universities.
Josh Holmes
Yes, we're required.
Michael Duncan
Exactly. And if you lived through 9, 11, you think back to the late 90s and early 2000s when people came to this country and you wish the government had done a little more spade work on who these people were and that are coming into our country. You know, there are thousands of people who are here right now who have the exact same intentions for us, regular old American people and the people who are listening to this show exact same intentions as the Saudis who flew those planes into the Trade Center. It's true. They hate us and they're here and the libs want them to stay. And President Trump and his administration are trying to kick them out. I really hope they succeed.
John Ashbrook
And I don't understand why we can't just be rational about this. It's like, okay, if you are visiting a country, if you are that country's guest, what country can you go into? And you're like, you know what? I want to show up and I want to start riots. I want to tell the country that they're genocidal maniacs.
Josh Holmes
I want to radicalize a generation of them to ensure that they hate the country as much as.
John Ashbrook
I can't do that if you go into other countries, no way. You shouldn't do that if you come into this one. But the media thinks it's like your obligation. Like, you show up to a campus here, you better start riots. Like, are you for real?
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
Well, it's youthful indiscretion.
John Ashbrook
After all, if you come to this country as this country's guest, act right, act like you want to be here. Respect the people who are here, respect the rules that are here, keep the peace, You're a guest.
Michael Duncan
Yeah. The mindset of the media is like, no, there's a plaque on the Statue of Liberty that says you're allowed to terrorize us.
John Ashbrook
It's unreal.
Josh Holmes
It totally is. But what really makes this grip is what we're about to get to in how all of this is reported and commentated upon. So in the face of the growing trend of these horrific anti Semitic attacks, again, not new. It's been going on for quite some time. The media and top Democrats continue to do everything possible to muddy the water, downplay these attacks, make this sort of unclear how all these things are happening. We're going to break all through that right after this.
John Ashbrook
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Josh Holmes
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Michael Duncan
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Josh Holmes
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Michael Duncan
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Josh Holmes
Learn more@lightsonenergy.org paid for by the American Petroleum Institute. Okay, so look, the attacks that we just discussed in the first segment, they're bad enough. And we gave you our perspective on why it is that all these are happening. It's basically a permission slip. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not, we're willing to say it. There's a permission slip in American political culture where the Democratic Party has suggested is this is a significant constituency in a way that is entirely divorced from how we have handled radical violent constituencies in a two party system in this country. Going back to like Bull Connor. Yeah, right. I mean, we have done a pretty good job of isolating this entire. I don't care who you hate and who you want to commit violence against. We've done a really good job of pointing it out and making parties be like, we're not, we're not a part of that until now. And because it's a Democratic Party constituency in the age of the media, the corporate media, as it is today, there is a permission slip. So let's just take a look. Let's see how they handle these things. Graphic one, please, if you wouldn't mind spaghetti. Okay, this is interesting. Multiple Gaza hostage awareness marchers.
John Ashbrook
Gaza hostage awareness marchers.
Josh Holmes
Gaza hostage awareness marchers injured in Boulder.
John Ashbrook
What did Obama say? Like Easter celebrators or what did he call it? What is wrong with you people?
Josh Holmes
So the Gaza hostage awareness marchers, for those of you who are a little slow on the uptake, they're Jewish people.
John Ashbrook
Gaza hostage awareness folks.
Josh Holmes
You know, there are many of us who are aware of the hostages in Gaza who are not being firebombed by a radical fucking Islamic. The people here in question, they're just Jewish. Including, if I'm not mistaken, a survivor of the Holocaust.
John Ashbrook
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Which is what we're talking about here. This is very specific and very intentional about who it is that we're trying to harm. They're not Gaza hostage awareness marchers. They were Jews.
John Ashbrook
What a lie.
Josh Holmes
There were Jews, by the way. We would have saved you a bunch of characters on that headline.
Michael Duncan
Right?
Sean Duffy
I mean, we all know what they're doing. They're trying to minimalize it. Well, you do anything in their power to not say those words.
Michael Duncan
Minimal. Minimalize it and blur the lines of who's the victim.
Sean Duffy
They want you to be looking at that story and be like, oh, I don't know. So they sounds like there's just some random acts of violence out there.
Josh Holmes
The good news about social media and things that we do and everything else is that you can shame some of these corporate entities into changing it. I don't know if it's a lot better, but it's a little better. They changed their headline. Suspect charge with murder after fire attack on Israeli hostage advocates in Colorado.
Sean Duffy
Okay, more true.
Josh Holmes
Touch better. Yeah, touch better. But again, if you look at what we're about to present to you, there's a difference between journalism in terms of supporting one point of view or another. There's another about journalism omitting the key fact. And it is a.
Sean Duffy
It's the most insidious.
Josh Holmes
It's the most insidious.
Sean Duffy
The lie by omission is the most insidious form of.
Josh Holmes
It is the most insidious.
Michael Duncan
It is. Why not write Terrorist throws Molotov cocktails at Jewish boomers in park in Colorado.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Michael Duncan
I mean, like, literally, it makes no sense unless you are driving to a point that you think, like, they're supporting one side.
Josh Holmes
Radical, illegal Islamist extremists, attempts to kill Jews in Boulder, Colorado.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
I mean, that. That is. That's what happened there.
Michael Duncan
Right?
Josh Holmes
That's what happened there. Like, why don't you just say that? Anyway, we got more. CBS decided to have a submission in this in graphic three, not surprisingly, attack at Boulder's Pearl Street Mall in Colorado burns several people.
John Ashbrook
It's amazing.
Michael Duncan
Police say.
Josh Holmes
Police say.
Michael Duncan
So you have to believe the police, not your lion.
John Ashbrook
There's no details on this attack. It's not like the guy was screaming anything to give any, like, hint at what could have caused this. They're like, oh. And the police said it.
Sean Duffy
I gotta say, CBS News truly on a generational run of being terrible.
Josh Holmes
Oh, God. It's like. It's like Jordan in the 90s.
Sean Duffy
I know.
Josh Holmes
I mean, it's nothing but net. Yeah. So the subheader. Several people burned. Several. Several people suffered burn injuries after an attack on a Colorado male.
Michael Duncan
Police say, take their word for it.
Josh Holmes
A suspect in custody. Okay.
John Ashbrook
That's all they can report.
Michael Duncan
Random person.
Josh Holmes
Well, you know, just some local flavor.
John Ashbrook
News, you know, some suspect did something.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, this also people shoplifted some things in Wichita over the weekend.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, right.
Josh Holmes
You know what I mean? Like that has no bearing from a national standpoint. They know they have to file it as a national news story cuz it has impact but they're not telling you what's happening. And the omission, that's what journalism is. Journalism is ultimately informing the American people about what's happening that has significance in their lives. It's not a national news story unless it has some significance. That's what national means.
John Ashbrook
So that's the thing is like even the basics, the who, what, when, where, why, how, they tried to not have a single one of that in the headline.
Josh Holmes
We have, we have where, we have where. That's it.
Michael Duncan
It raises the question why is there money changing hands? And there has never been a full accounting for the amount of money coming from anti Semitic forces in, into these taxpayer licensed broadcast organizations. I think that there should be, I.
John Ashbrook
Mean that grant money that they get from overseas, they love it.
Josh Holmes
It's a decent question because look graphic four this is cnn. They felt the need to put in quotes around peaceful when describing the pro Israel demonstrators.
John Ashbrook
That was so nuts.
Josh Holmes
These are the, so nuts. These are the elderly victims I added. One of them was an actual Holocaust survivor. And the way that they put that thing back on the screen so people can see it. A man reportedly set people on fire in Boulder, Colorado, leaving multiple individuals injured. The city's police chief said as people gathered for a quote, peaceful, unquote pro Israel demonstration. So it's not, it's not about like if you inverse what happened, the demonstration here is what's of concern because it's, I don't know was it peaceful or not? The person who decided to try to murder these elderly people.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
Are the, they're not in that subhead.
Sean Duffy
Right. Like the instigator of the violence is the prison protest, the demonstration.
John Ashbrook
It wasn't even a pro Israel. They were, this was for the hostages. This is asking hostages to come back. And they're like well it was pro Israel.
Michael Duncan
Exactly.
John Ashbrook
Because they want to automatically try to taint that in your minds of like this is a political thing, this is a political thing. This could have been peaceful.
Michael Duncan
Exactly. They were like was that old lady's shirt too short? Shirt too short?
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
John Ashbrook
No, no.
Josh Holmes
Did she have it coming?
Michael Duncan
Right, exactly. That's the way it was written. Can I read you guys something that caught my attention over the weekend, Please? So the New York Times, at the exact same moment that this Boulder terrorist attack was playing out on Twitter and on X and everybody was learning about it and sharing news, at the exact same moment, the New York Times sent out a push alert. What did their push alert say? Six people were injured. I'm sorry, hold on a second.
Josh Holmes
26.
Michael Duncan
I'm sorry. At least 20 Palestinians were shot and killed and 100 others were wounded, according to Palestinian officials. This is something that happened in the Middle east and that's what they were reporting on as this was the break from the Gaza Health Ministry.
Josh Holmes
Did they. Did they?
Michael Duncan
Wasn't until 9:59. So that was at 6:22pm that push alert went out. Okay. Right when this was being reported. It wasn't until almost 10pm at night, four, five hours later, that they reported on what happened in Boulder, Colorado.
Josh Holmes
What makes this worse, what we found out about that initial push alert was that the story was false.
Michael Duncan
It wasn't even real.
Josh Holmes
No, I mean the story. At least 26 Palestinians. This is a CNN headline. At least 26 Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces opened fire near a Gaza aid distribution center. The Palestinian Red Crescent said today. We have since found out that is not a true story. And Israel itself has provided video evidence to suggest this was not accurate. It was in fact Hamas that was doing what they accused Israel of doing.
Michael Duncan
What is going on in our media that they rush to tell the story of Hamas and they won't even talk about regular old Americans.
Josh Holmes
For two years we've talked about this, though. Do you remember? Like, we had great yucks on this comment on Our commentary post October 7th, when you would get this balanced story out of the New York Times where they'd be like, here's what happened in the news today. And Hamas says. And then it would be like a Hamas reinvention of reality. And they would treat it the same as they were treating Benjamin Netanyahu, reliable.
Sean Duffy
Narrator, Hamas terrorist organization.
Josh Holmes
Like, they bombed the hospital. Well, it turns out they didn't bomb the hospital. Remember that?
Sean Duffy
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
You know, and like, of course it's not true, because they are fucking liars. They've been lied. They're terrorists. These people, like, literally live to kill people. They surround themselves with innocent people in order to be more difficult targets as they committed attacks against Israel.
Michael Duncan
But I was told by NBC and CNN and the New York Times, their greatest concern is disinformation in this Internet age. So why is it they're being Swept up by this disinformation.
Josh Holmes
Well, maybe because Hamas is a constituency of the Democratic Party. It just is, folks, until you get your eyes open to this, you're not going to understand why this would be like. Do you think that, like, Baghdad Bob was gonna get a pushback headline in the New York Times about, like, well, but Baghdad Bob says the American forces aren't anywhere near Baghdad as bombs are going off behind him. No, because there was no constituency in it for them. Everybody was on the same team at that point. In this point, they're not all on the same team. They've created a constituency within the Democratic Party Party of which all these publications have a huge constituency. They don't. Like, we are. We don't read this like, we read it. So you don't have to. None of you are listening to this. Are like subscribing to New York Times and being like, what is it that they have to say about this? Like, maybe the truth. Maybe the truth is there. They don't, you know that. You've already known that the truth doesn't exist within these publications. So their whole goal is to service their constituency, their constitution. Constituency is pro Hamas.
Michael Duncan
It is. And I will go back to something that really concerns me. And, you know, Twitter and social media in the rise of citizen journalists has replaced the need for legacy media. Right. Am I right about this? Smug people. People are going to different sources than the, you know, the traditional legacy media. And so do you think that that means that traditional legacy outlets are scrambling for resources from places they maybe previously wouldn't surprise me.
Josh Holmes
It's entirely possible. It's entirely possible. I don't know we can prove that or not.
John Ashbrook
But I think, I mean, the overseas grants are insane that these places get. I mean, those have been public from the NGOs of like, oh, and now we're going to give a grant. And. And these are major corporations getting these grants. It's like, oh, the grant is being given to Bloomberg for reporting on. It's like Bloomberg. They're owned by one of the richest men on earth. They don't need grant money. Are you serious? Well, maybe they want to take it. And then the person who's giving this grant might have a viewpoint that they need to be shared. You've seen it tons, tons of that.
Josh Holmes
And I think so. Look, some of the clarity that we have on this. We're people who live through 9 11. We're people who live through the ramp up of 9 11. To know that this is not just sort of an idle he said, she said. Discussion. There is an entire population of terrorists funded by Iran who are trying to do real harm within the United States all the time. I mean, literally all the time. And this isn't some, like, weapons of mass destruction discussion like it. This is just what it is. We've come to grips over this over the last 25 years. This is not an idle international diplomacy conversation. This is very clearly one of the moral questions of our time. You may ask yourself, like, how does it affect me? Like, why do I give a shit whether Israel's got trouble with Hamas or whatever? I don't live in Israel. I don't have any relatives in Israel. If that's your. Look, I'm sorry, if that's your perspective, but if that is your perspective, consider for the fact that, like, I don't know, it's our only steadfast ally in a region that has been waging attack on Western allies in every single country that is an ally of the United States, including the United states, for now, 25 years, 30 years they have. Does that matter to you? Probably doesn't matter you until two planes hit the World Trade Center.
Michael Duncan
Right, exactly.
Josh Holmes
But you live through that and all of a sudden you get a different perspective about something like that. Now we're 20 years removed. 25 years removed from that situation.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
And so that may not hit home in the same way that it does us who watch that. But if you look at the placation of terror as one did in the early 90s, and you look at the ramp up of what people are trying to do and create constituencies of ambivalence within the United States about whether or not we have moral clarity on something like this. It's exactly the same.
Michael Duncan
It is. Dude, it's terrifying. It can happen again. It really can. And I think that anybody who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves.
Josh Holmes
They're crazy. It is what it is. You don't have a dog in the fight until all of a sudden 3,000 neighbors get killed.
Michael Duncan
Dude, that's exactly right.
Josh Holmes
Into the two biggest buildings in your neighborhood.
Michael Duncan
That's exactly right, man. It's terrifying. And it absolutely can happen here because the people who have been let into our country hate us. Trump really needs to redouble the efforts and make sure that they are not here. And I sincerely hope that that's something they're focused on.
John Ashbrook
Can we see when you speak about, like, the danger that this country faces?
Josh Holmes
This is good.
John Ashbrook
Yeah. Can I get clip one?
Unknown Speaker
I think that the press conference that we saw, one thing was Abundantly clear. Is they the local authorities? And I'm not sure we got the name of that person who was speaking. He seems to be a chief or somebody in charge there. Yeah, he. He is really being very, very careful, and I think that's the right approach at this point. They don't have a clear idea that they're willing to communicate to the rest of the world yet of even exactly what happened, who was there, how they were attacked with fire, and what the purpose or the motive of that attack might have been. So he was very, very clear to say that they're not drawing any conclusions about terrorism or anything else at this point. They're trying to figure out who they have in custody and what that person might have done and who he. Who he was trying to hurt with that action. So it's hard to imagine that the FBI has more or better information at this point to kind of rush out with the conclusion within like, 10 minutes after we all started hearing about this, that it's a targeted act of terror.
Michael Duncan
Look, it's one thing to use the word alleged. It's another thing to not want to rush to the cameras with the name of a person. It is something completely different to just sideswipe the whole thing that is happening in our country. And this guy was in charge of the FBI for quite some time. An organization that's tasked with keeping us safe first and foremost. Isn't that the entire point?
John Ashbrook
I mean, that's the thing is, like, this guy who used to run things at the FBI is right now being like, let's not rush to conclusion, folks. We have an illegal immigrant, Mohamed Sabri Salman, who is shouting, free Palestine. We don't know what caused, what could have done it. What could be his motive, do you think?
Josh Holmes
I mean, maybe a misfriend.
John Ashbrook
Disgruntled man in disgruntled Colorado, man.
Josh Holmes
Turns out his wife broke. She broke things off. He has a huge payment that he's doing.
John Ashbrook
I mean, this is. This is a guy who's at the FBI being like, whoa, why is FBI Russia? The cash needs to slow down.
Josh Holmes
They have signs that say, free the hostages. This guy shouts, free Palestine. Throws fire on him, and he's like, it could be anything.
John Ashbrook
Is it not.
Michael Duncan
Is it not terrifying that a guy like that was in charge of the FBI for a period of years while all of these people were flowing over our southern border, coming in like this. This Egyptian guy who. Who ultimately was throwing Molotov cocktails? Like, it's no wonder why that guy got through.
Josh Holmes
Why is this guy here, I mean.
John Ashbrook
Last week, great question, why is this.
Josh Holmes
Guy here in the first place?
John Ashbrook
I remember last week Democrats were complaining the FBI has been helping DHS with deportations. This is why. This is why.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
All right, so the second clip that we want to show you, Jamie Raskin, you'll remember him from the impeachment hearings. This guy's commitment to truth is less than anything that I have ever encountered in. In politics, which is saying something that's like, that's like a. We're in a shift level stuff here. But. But what he does, because he, look, he's a Jewish guy, what he's doing here is positively contemptible. Clip two, please.
Unknown Speaker
We are still in the midst of a gun violence epidemic. So we need to be acting with due concern for human life. I mean, this is why, of course, we have been fighting for a universal violent crime criminal background check. We are for a ban on military style assault weapons in the country. You know, our lax gun laws are a danger to everybody in America. And that's something that we can act with some legislative determination to turn around.
John Ashbrook
Bro, someone throws Molotov cocktails and the Dem runs out and he's like, it's time for gun control. Like, exactly.
Michael Duncan
If anything, the gun violence epidemic is not strong enough because there should have been somebody in the crowd that gunned this asshole down.
Josh Holmes
There should have been gun violence. Somebody should have said that he was apprehended in and of itself after throwing Molotov cocktails at elderly people. He should have been gunned down.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
You know, like where I came from, that probably happened and I would imagine, like Colorado.
John Ashbrook
Any place other than Colorado's gone.
Michael Duncan
Blue is fine, but no, it terrifies you if you live in a blue state where you're not allowed to have firearms to protect yourself, all of a sudden, you know, that's the terrorists are looking for.
John Ashbrook
Well, there was a time when I was growing up there when Colorado was a red state. You think you'd have these illegals able to take apartment buildings?
Josh Holmes
No. Hell no. You'd have been.
John Ashbrook
Now look what's happened.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, no, it's true. But listen, I mean, this is the whole picture that we thought you ought to see because it's gone back now for two years that you've been listening to us to talk about this larger picture. This isn't just a one off moment where you're like, wow, there's a crazy person who did crazy things. Media screwed up and how they characterize it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not saying it's intentional from everyone. It's intentional from some people. But the omission of the fact that Hamas is a constituency of the Democratic Party has given license to people like this, literally, admission to this country for people like this to come in and do something like that.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
And until you wrap your mind around that, you don't really understand the consequence of what it is that we're dealing with. This isn't just bad journalism. This isn't just, like, politicians you disagree with. It's a permission slip for people to firebomb the governor's mansion, to kill two people in Washington, D.C. to throw Molotov cocktails at senior citizens of Boulder, Colorado. And God knows what's next.
Michael Duncan
It is, dude. And I hate to keep coming back to September 11th, but the fact remains, every single year, people stand at the memorial and they read off the names of the dearly departed. And the hope is that everybody remembers what happened, remembers the names and the people who lost their lives in the hopes that it never happens again. And we're always supposed to remember. We're told to remember. We're supposed to never forget what happened that day in hopes that it won't happen again. And what guys like that will do is let it.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Michael Duncan
And it is the worst thing that can happen in our country. We absolutely have to. We have to be vigilant. You know, who cares what names people call us?
Josh Holmes
Listen, it's well said. Our question of the day is, what can President Trump do here to stop what is very clearly an Islamic extremist agenda that is perpetrated within our university system of people who do not necessarily even identify with Islam. It's the whole intersectionality of the left, the whole idea that anybody but a white person is to be defended and everyone else is to be murdered. And where that is manifested in and of itself is a foothold within Hamas, within the United States? It's not Hamas. It's Hezbollah. It's Iran. It's Islamic extremism. It's the roots of Al Qaeda. It's all of that shit in this country. What can he do? What do you think the most important thing that he can do to address this topic? Because I can tell you right now, this will not be the last story that we're covering like this.
Michael Duncan
It's terrifying.
Josh Holmes
It will not be. It just will not be. It's sad, but it is true. So you tell us what you think, and when we come back, we're gonna get to your comments from last week's episode when we talked a little bit, remember, about the men?
John Ashbrook
Dem's trying to talk to men.
Josh Holmes
They're like, we need men's. How do we get the men's? And we asked you, like, what do you thought about the PowerPoint presentation? Like, what the hell did that thing look like? Great comments right after this.
Michael Duncan
Okay, folks, time to sound the alarm. Trump's big, beautiful tax cut is coming down to the wire in Congress, and my friends at Americans for Prosperity want your help to get it across the finish line. If the bill doesn't pass, the average American family is looking at a $1,500 tax hike. Americans for Prosperity says not gonna happen. Right now. Some members of Congress are getting very shaky with every special interest in D.C. pounding on their doors. But AFP thinks it's time for hardworking Americans to do some pounding of their own. So AFP and its grassroots army is already out there pushing back on crazy ideas like raising tax rates and supporting the congressmen who want to cut taxes. AFP is the only organization I know that can bring this kind of grassroots pressure to bear. If you want to join the fight to Protect Prosperity, visit ProtectProsperity.com to help Trump get his big, beautiful bill. That's ProtectProsperity.com.
Josh Holmes
Okay, so last episode, we asked you the question of the day about the men pitch the Democrats $20 million.
Sean Duffy
Just a pittance, a drop in the bucket for them.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, they went out and they solicited some dollars from the liberal left and decided, how are we going to get men back in the Democratic Party? Well, we pontificated about that, and then we asked you to provide your point of view. And this is what we've come up with. To that, we start with the voice.
Michael Duncan
Okay. First one comes from Bea Foster. And Bea Foster writes Word on the street as the PowerPoint presentation hatches a scheme to mobilize the trans females who have been dominating women's sports, smashing records and snatching up championships to inspire the next generation of men that they, too can become winners on the left just as they have.
Josh Holmes
I love it. The whole pitch is just like, no, we have to get more men just to identify as women. That's how we get men.
Michael Duncan
You got a shot at an Olympic championship.
Josh Holmes
That's good. That's good. I like it.
Michael Duncan
2028, Los Angeles. One of us could be the 100 meter winner.
Josh Holmes
Harun, what do we got?
Sean Duffy
This from John Ambrose. He provides a full PowerPoint here. Slide number one. Simple syntax and words should be simple. So the yahoos can understand us.
John Ashbrook
2.
Sean Duffy
Athletics. Use analogies from sports. Avoid polo and lacrosse, however. 3. Macho. Make your content. Macho. A little Spanish lingo never hurts. And we may have been having some problems with Hispanic males, so this would help slide 4. For another 20 million, we will host another Son of Sam session at a left coast luxury hotel. We guarantee results. Note, if they could authentically laugh, not a Kamala Cackle, they would stand a chance. Best unvarnished advice. Listen to the fellows in their five star program for laughs and enlightenment. Banger bravos to your show from Richmond, Virginia.
Josh Holmes
I love that, John. Thank you so much. That's such a good take, smuggles.
John Ashbrook
Comment 3 is from John Beaumont. John writes, I can't help but picture Donald Sutherland's character from Animal House sitting in front of a room of libs, gasping for air and fainting when he tells them a real man can't menstruate and have an abortion while simultaneously trying to explain the rules of football and why we drink bourbon neat. That's right. A mass gathering of deer and headlights. That's. That's the thing is they have boxed themselves into this insanity.
Sean Duffy
I mean, the visuals of these comments are fantastic.
Josh Holmes
They're fantastic.
Michael Duncan
That was perfect for smug because he also drinks bourbon neat.
John Ashbrook
That's the only way to roll.
Josh Holmes
Well, it really paints a picture, doesn't it? And no one could identify.
John Ashbrook
I want to say real quick, not in the script, but when you mentioned sports, I saw this weekend. We've had, we've discussed the enhanced games.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, yeah.
John Ashbrook
It's like the Olympics or whatever. Yeah, everything's legal. They're having the like preliminaries going on right now. A dude just broke the world record in swimming.
Josh Holmes
No way. Really?
John Ashbrook
Yeah, it's already worked. Like they had a photo of him side by side of before he. Because like before he was. He was competing just on, on reg. Like, he wasn't taking any juice. But then he started training on the Juice Bro's Delta. Like, he is shredded. Yeah, shredded.
Sean Duffy
It's like a superhero movie.
John Ashbrook
I mean, literally, he looks like he Man.
Josh Holmes
Now, this is a strange vernacular of the variety program. If for those of you who are new who find out that we're very traditionalist, except we somehow support juicing.
John Ashbrook
It should be legal.
Josh Holmes
Let's see.
John Ashbrook
Humans at their max and doctors are like monitoring all his shit. It's like his heart won't blow up or anything. But he set the world record. It's happening.
Michael Duncan
We're gonna have humans, superheroes, trans athletes get to do It.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, that's a good point. It's a good point. All right, when we come back, the fellows are joined by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. A absolutely terrific event that we appreciate the invitation towards. And I think you're going to get a kick out of this right after this.
John Ashbrook
Every year, America's freight railroads invest 23 billion of their own capital, not taxpayer money, to maintain the world's most productive freight network. That massive scale is key. It enables railroads to move goods with unmatched efficiency, driving down costs for American businesses and consumers. From energy and agriculture to retail and automotive, freight rail serves every corner of the real economy and it's essential to America's re industrialization. Put simply, manufacturing depends on rail. Freight rail is America's engine, built on private investment, driving the nation forward. Learn more@aar.org.
Josh Holmes
We are absolutely thrilled the ruthless variety program to welcome a very special guest and an incredible backdrop here at the Department of Transportation. Mr. Secretary, Sean Duffy.
Michael Duncan
How are you, sir?
Unknown Speaker
I'm doing well. Thank you guys for having me. Thanks for coming to the Great American Road Trip Expo, which is our car show. Yeah, with. With DOT as a backdrop.
Josh Holmes
I mean, this is something else. So you're rolling out this entire summer of activity around the Great American Road Trip.
Unknown Speaker
Well, the first activity we're doing here is drinking Leinenkugel's, which we're not going to drive with beer.
Josh Holmes
That's very thoughtful of you, Mr. Secretary.
Unknown Speaker
You're welcome. Safety is first, right? You guys can't drive.
Josh Holmes
That's right.
Unknown Speaker
So each department has been tasked by the president to celebrate our 250th birthday.
Josh Holmes
Right.
Unknown Speaker
And we have the best idea. We're gonna have the best rollout.
Josh Holmes
Is it a competition amongst the Cabinet?
Unknown Speaker
They don't know that, but for me it is. We're gonna win. So we're gonna do a road trip. And again, think, you think about freedom. I mean, freedom is cars and getting in the car and be able to move. And our country is so beautiful. And I don't know if you can. Guys went on road trips with your family or take your kids on road trips. It is the. By the way, sometimes when you're doing it, it's like this socks in there. You're fighting. But you think back and it was some of the best times you had with your parents when they took you or when you were taking your own kids. So we want to encourage people to get in the car, see the country, be with their families, put the phones away. So it's family and it's country all together in one.
Josh Holmes
But you have like a thousand kids, right?
Unknown Speaker
There's a Winnebago over there. I was like, hey, that's pretty nice. Nice.
Josh Holmes
Yeah. I was just gonna say, when Duffy family does a road trip, do you need like a caravan or a 16 wheeler?
Unknown Speaker
I could hook like a detachable like that. What's the. The Airstream or whatever. The.
Josh Holmes
Put them in back, strap them into the.
Unknown Speaker
I'll get a radio.
Sean Duffy
How do you handle, you know, pee breaks when you got that many kids? Because I remember when I was growing up, we didn't stop unless dad was ready. So my.
Josh Holmes
My mom.
Sean Duffy
My mom had to always bring an empty, like down here, fabric softener bottle. And that was our pee bottle. Because we ain't stopping unless dad's ready to stop.
Josh Holmes
See, I would.
Unknown Speaker
I would do that, but my wife would say, no way, you gotta stop. I'm 53, so I probably stop more than my kids want to stop. We're gonna stop again.
Josh Holmes
Kids two and a half miles down the road. What are you talking about? No way to understand America unless you travel it.
John Ashbrook
And the best highway system on earth is not even close. Like you can take any. How you take 40 from North Carolina and you end up in Santa Monica. Like coast to coast, you just have a highway. It's incredible.
Josh Holmes
Well, we like our cars, right? I mean, it is distinctly American. Right? Every country's got their thing with trains or whatever. We like to. The road trip.
Unknown Speaker
We like cars because it's. It is. It truly meshes with freedom. Freedom in cars. Go hand in glove anywhere you want. By the way. On the roads and bridges, by the way. The last administration, they had all these requirements on dei, social justice, environmental. So the. The amount of money that was spent on stupid compliance shit, can I say, yeah, we should say whatever you want was ridiculous. So we pulled all that stuff out and we're going to actually build more roads and bridges with less money and faster than the last ridiculous administration.
Josh Holmes
I mean, that's a good.
John Ashbrook
Finally some good news.
Unknown Speaker
Yes, good news.
Josh Holmes
So, you know, obviously the beginning of the. Your term disasters, a plane crash at dca. I mean, you're barely sworn in before you're dealing with all this stuff. And, you know, you were walking into a Department of transportation where Pete Buttigieg was the last guy at your desk. I imagine there was quite a bit of stuff you found that you were like, what?
Unknown Speaker
Truly, I don't think a lot of people came to work. You know, if you work from home and everyone's at Home. You do lose focus and you don't, you know, engage with. With your other teammates. You don't see the things that you should see. And what you realize is what we do truly impacts people's lives. People. If you get it wrong, people can die. The focus of what we're doing has been clear. Job number one is we're going to fix air traffic control again. The stuff we're using, you'd be like. I was up in the, the. The Burbank Tower.
John Ashbrook
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Is this like the paper passing this.
Unknown Speaker
So they're all. They're all. They're all papers. They're all paper passing. They put. They put a piece of paper, the. The strip of flight in a metal. In a metal little box rectangle. And they have these rails. It's like a train and rails. And they push it up over the edge and it slides down to the side to the controllers that are front facing out to the airport. And then they ring a bell, ding. Got new planes coming. You're like, come on, this is the shit. We use truly floppy disks. And you go, we're the greatest country on earth. Who let it get this bad? Who didn't pay attention?
Michael Duncan
I've got an idea.
Unknown Speaker
So now the.
Josh Holmes
I got an idea. Yeah.
Michael Duncan
He rode his bike to work.
Unknown Speaker
Rotor Rod, his biker drove in the Suburban.
Josh Holmes
Suburban to bike.
John Ashbrook
Photo shoot was done. He hopped off, jumped in the Suburban. Incredible work.
Unknown Speaker
Rumor has it. Rumor has it he was a big biker. He did bike a lot.
Josh Holmes
Okay, well, to his great credit.
Unknown Speaker
To his credit.
Josh Holmes
By the way, I hate bikers.
Michael Duncan
They never follow the rules of the road. They're always in the middle. They never take signal their turn. They never stop at a stop.
John Ashbrook
Can you jail the bikers?
Sean Duffy
Get into the important stuff with the secretary.
Unknown Speaker
I would say not for riding the bike, but I don't think men in spandex look good at all.
Josh Holmes
That's not.
Unknown Speaker
I'm sorry that the guys that bike. But it looks like. Listen, you don't. Women in spandex, beautiful. Men, not so much. Right.
Josh Holmes
But look, you got this whole setup here which we'll walk through in a little bit. You've invited people come down, showcase new American cars. Which by the way the administration making it cheaper to buy a car people cheaper to drive a car. With gas prices, there's tax deductions in this latest big beautiful bill for buying a new car. It's an important part of the.
Unknown Speaker
So gas prices down, inflation down. In the big beautiful bill, you'll get up to $10,000 in tax credit on interest paid on an American made vehicles. Right. I mean the number of jobs and good paying jobs that come from the company that manufacture these vehicles are significant. But you know, sometimes you think of the DOT as hard hats and, and the construction vest, which we are that. But we are one of the most innovative spaces in I think all of government. So if you think of, of autonomous vehicles, right. That, that's, that's us.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
And it's going to change the way people move in vehicles. Right. I think we lose 40,000 people roughly a year to two car crashes. I think we can truly reduce that number. Again, the safety side of autonomous vehicles is going to be huge. The, the congestion I think will reduce because vehicles can come closer together, less spacing because they're smarter. We do drones. Yeah, right. We do evitals, which are Ubers in the air, the drones for humans. It's going to change the way people move, the way products move. The radically.
Josh Holmes
This is, he's talking about it without fear.
Unknown Speaker
Right.
Josh Holmes
Which is typically what you hear out of an administrator, certainly the last administration. But people that are secretaries of transportation, it's like, yeah, hold your horses on the technology.
John Ashbrook
We need to do more studies on.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, another drone's gonna affect.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, exactly.
Josh Holmes
It's a racist drone. That's really what it boils down to. But you know, you're embracing this and saying let's do it safely, but let's embrace the technology and change it.
Unknown Speaker
You don't put it in a box and put it away. It's going to, it's going to happen somewhere else. Right. It's going to happen in China or India or somewhere else. And if you think of all the technology on autonomous vehicles or on drones or evitals, listen, if that technology, if that information goes back to China, it's a national security risk. Like you have to develop the technology here. And by the way, we want to develop it here and then export it to the rest of the world. And there'll be American jobs that are driving that technology. So you can't go too fast. Right. Because if there's crashes or accidents, it's going to set you back a decade. You can't go too slow or you lose the innovator. So getting the right pacing is critically important.
Josh Holmes
Listen, we're going to do a little walk around, you're going to show us some stuff and the people you invited here.
Michael Duncan
Well, here's the thing. I'm a car guy. I actually love cars. My grandparents gave me some savings bonds when I was a Kid. And instead of putting the money in Apple stock, I bought a Jeep grand cherokee with a 5.2 liter engine. And I was pumped about it. And now I wish I hadn't done it, but that's what I bought.
Josh Holmes
You had an EL50?
Michael Duncan
I had an F150. I. I love. I love trucks. I love SUVs.
Unknown Speaker
What do you have now?
Michael Duncan
Now, I got a BMW, but it's got horsepower.
Unknown Speaker
Of course you do.
Michael Duncan
But here's the thing. Here's the thing. The lesson you learn. The only thing better than horsepower is more horsepower.
Josh Holmes
That's true.
Michael Duncan
So that's what I was going for.
Unknown Speaker
Once you get a little bit of it, it's like you want more. It's never enough.
Michael Duncan
That's right.
John Ashbrook
Great.
Unknown Speaker
All right. What do you drive?
John Ashbrook
Well, that's the thing is, I'm actually in the market for a car right now.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
John Ashbrook
So that's what.
Josh Holmes
When we think.
John Ashbrook
When we were. When we were told that we were going to have this event out here.
Michael Duncan
I was like, this is perfect.
John Ashbrook
Two birds with one stone. I get an interview, and I get to look at some cars.
Unknown Speaker
So what are you looking at?
John Ashbrook
It's got to be an suv, and it's got to be extremely safe. My wife will be driving it. Extremely, Extremely safe.
Unknown Speaker
A lot of technology.
Josh Holmes
It sounds like you don't trust your driver. That's what it sounds like.
Unknown Speaker
Like, every husband I bought for my. For my. My son, he had to bring the kids back and forth to school. I bought him a Subaru, an Outback. He gets relentlessly mocked. He's 18.
Josh Holmes
He did it purposely, right?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. No, it's a safe car.
Josh Holmes
He's not gonna pick up any girls in this.
Unknown Speaker
And he hasn't. You suck, dad. But he has a car, right?
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Michael Duncan
And it's safe. Yeah.
Josh Holmes
I feel like. I feel like it's a dad's job to have that sort of, like, underlying knock on the. Like, if you can't get your kid a nice car that he's going to be able to show off. Right. I mean, that's like eliminating your whole dad view of how you got to handle that situation.
Unknown Speaker
Don't drive it. I don't care.
Josh Holmes
You want to sit at home, you.
Unknown Speaker
Got a bike, Your bike, or the.
Michael Duncan
Subaru, it's up to you.
Unknown Speaker
Try the Subaru.
Michael Duncan
Very smart fathering.
Josh Holmes
It's perfect.
John Ashbrook
This guy. When we first showed up, it's cyber truck with an Airstream. That seems like the great American road truck, like, right there.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, you can get some.
John Ashbrook
I mean, that might Be able to fit your nine kids.
Unknown Speaker
What Rachel now would have a great time in front their own bathroom.
Josh Holmes
This is the solution.
Unknown Speaker
It's such a peaceful trip. By the way, when they have to pee.
Josh Holmes
I'm like, didn't know, didn't.
Unknown Speaker
I didn't know. I could.
Michael Duncan
They couldn't tell me there's a back door.
Unknown Speaker
The walkie talkie didn't work right. Just open it up the window.
Sean Duffy
So good.
Josh Holmes
I love it.
Unknown Speaker
And I mentioned this, you guys, all American made, right? Not every company is American in, in where they're headquartered, but all the cars here are, are made in the country.
John Ashbrook
Every single one.
Unknown Speaker
Every single one. So what's interesting is the president and what, what he's done with tariffs, what he's done to say, come back home, get out of China. I was just meeting with the executive teams of all the, of all the companies. They're all, they're all coming back. They're all trying to get here. They're all trying to realign their supply chains.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, that's the intent.
Unknown Speaker
It's real.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
And again, it's really good paying jobs, so.
Josh Holmes
Totally. I mean, that's the thing, you know, Spent a lot of time in Kentucky. Big Toyota plant there employs huge number of people. When you bring those jobs here, it makes such a difference in communities across the country. Like that BMW plant that we were talking about in Spartanburg, South Carolina. You. It matters, dude.
Unknown Speaker
It changes the whole community.
Michael Duncan
Yeah.
Unknown Speaker
It changes the region.
Josh Holmes
Right?
Unknown Speaker
Listen, so by the way, I did reality tv.
Josh Holmes
Oh, I know.
Unknown Speaker
Part of it was Road Rules. Yeah, the Winnie the Winnebago.
Josh Holmes
By the way, when you were doing Road Rules, did you picture being the secretary of this situation?
Unknown Speaker
Yes, I was like one day in the winning one day.
Josh Holmes
I can't thank you. Thank you enough for inviting us to this. This is absolutely incredible and really important deal that you're doing here. We're just encouraging Americans to get back out. It's cheaper now, more effective. You can just go see the country on your own terms.
Unknown Speaker
Totally true. Can I just ask one last question before we go?
Josh Holmes
I'm worried.
Unknown Speaker
No, but when you drive and you get a coffee, cars, America, you oftentimes need sunglasses. Where did you get the sunglasses?
Josh Holmes
As with everything, my wife gets me everything.
Unknown Speaker
I can't tell you. BMW. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate you the best.
John Ashbrook
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Michael Duncan
Thank you. Hey, Duncan, are you thinking about buying this?
Josh Holmes
I'd love if you bought it.
Sean Duffy
You know?
Josh Holmes
You know.
John Ashbrook
Okay, hold up. Look inside this this might be like the ruthless road trip wagon. Honestly, take the show on the road. Are you seeing this?
Michael Duncan
That'd be a great idea.
Josh Holmes
Get spaghetti to drive it around. Maybe we could sit in back. What do you think? You know what else is crazy about these things is every time I look inside one of them, it's like they've got a big screen TV mounted on the right dash.
Sean Duffy
It's like what Trump says. It's all computer.
Josh Holmes
It's all computer.
John Ashbrook
Everything's computer.
Michael Duncan
That's why I don't want one.
John Ashbrook
So glad I heard that line at least once.
Josh Holmes
It's quite a vehicle idea.
John Ashbrook
So do you guys have some kind of like an influencer podcast program where.
Josh Holmes
You give us these? So we got to see the Winnebago, though, fellas.
Michael Duncan
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
I mean, because here's the thing I've always had. And there's no way I can sell my wife on this because it's just like the insanity of the kids and everything, but I've always had this sort of dream of doing a road trip in a big, like, Winnebago.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, yeah.
Josh Holmes
You know, and this thing, I mean, it looks to me like you could.
John Ashbrook
Get that this is. I mean, look at that. It's like you don't have to give up any comforts of home. You just put it on wheels, paint.
Josh Holmes
This sucker black, and put Ruthless on the side of it, fellas. This is how we get to work at the serious.
John Ashbrook
That is it. This is the tour bus. Yeah, this is the actual tour bus.
Michael Duncan
This is the tour bus. Retractable awning. Wow.
Josh Holmes
A full size bed in back there. You could do atrocious situations.
Sean Duffy
My wife knew we were going to get one of these Ruthless. She put a pillow over my face.
Josh Holmes
Can you imagine?
Sean Duffy
Oh, you're going on tour.
Josh Holmes
Every morning the thing makes the rounds and picks all of us up at our houses. That's.
Michael Duncan
That would be perfect.
Josh Holmes
That's something to aspire to.
Michael Duncan
Can you imagine if. I mean, would it play music when it's rolling down the street? Like, you would hear it coming.
Josh Holmes
Oh, like an ice cream truck. Yeah.
John Ashbrook
You knew, you knew.
Michael Duncan
You knew you had to run downstairs and be ready because it doesn't stop. It just roll slowly. All right.
Josh Holmes
Duffy. What? 10 of 10, dude. I mean, it took us all of about, I don't know, 15 seconds before we were like, hey, man, like, do you want to hang out?
John Ashbrook
That's the thing is, like, you don't need to have an event to hang out.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, right.
John Ashbrook
That's cool too.
Josh Holmes
Just A great dude. I mean, look, he's had a ton of challenges at transportation. His first day was dealing with the crash at dca, which a helicopter hit a commercial plane. He's now trying to figure out not only how you reinvent air traffic control because, like, buttigieg.
John Ashbrook
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Boot Petaj was, like, sleeping.
John Ashbrook
He thought it was a no show job.
Michael Duncan
Yeah, right.
John Ashbrook
Turns out it's very important. Ride your bike, take a photo, then hop in the Suburban. That was. Pete was like, okay, job done for the day. Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Yeah. And where's my G6? I need to get to a Chicago. A movie about himself, about myself.
John Ashbrook
This guy, it's insane that he's real and he fixed bread prices. Like, and he keeps showing up. It's actually real.
Josh Holmes
He keeps showing up. Like, I saw him in a bunch of different podcasts where he's like.
John Ashbrook
They're like, yeah, you can talk to dudes. I grew a beard.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
John Ashbrook
Grew beard, dude.
Josh Holmes
Yeah. Listen to me. Listen to me. I'm a dude. I'm going to tell you about all of that, man.
John Ashbrook
I hope to God he gets the nomination.
Josh Holmes
Oh, I do too. Yeah, I do too. Anyway, do you guys want a little variety?
John Ashbrook
Always.
Josh Holmes
We can stay on genre, the transportation area.
Michael Duncan
Okay.
Josh Holmes
This is a big thing for you, Smuck. So a man abandons a grieving partner in economy after getting a free upgrade to business class on a 14 hour flight. This is according to Yahoo News. You flagged this for the fellows. I'd be curious about your upshots on this particular story. Smug.
John Ashbrook
So it says here that when her partner was bumped to first class, she assumed he would stay behind so she wouldn't have to fly alone. But he didn't.
Josh Holmes
She was pregnant, right?
John Ashbrook
Yeah, it says. No, she wasn't pregnant.
Josh Holmes
Oh, no.
John Ashbrook
She had a friend who was grieving, so it's not like she had a personal loss.
Sean Duffy
Yeah, I think it was her friend had lost a child.
Josh Holmes
Okay. All right. So there's grieving involved.
John Ashbrook
And so he got the upgrade and she thought that he would, like, refuse it and stay with her and he didn't. Yeah. So, I mean, my take honestly here is everyone is bad. All of them are bad. First off, I don't think airlines should upgrade people. You can always tell the folks who don't belong, right? You can always tell. Oh, boy. This guy saved his points up, didn't he? He's really kicking it back and thinking he's a king for the day. Like, you can always. You didn't pay for your ticket. You saved the coupons this is the coupon dude here. He's like, I'd like my champagne before takeoff. First time, aren't you? First time? First time guy. They put him in Bulkhead. You can tell him every time you can pick him out. So he's that kind of guy, you know, right off the bat. Second of all, for her. Why should he stay back? Why should he stay back? It might have been the move. She's his wife. They're married, right?
Michael Duncan
Mm.
John Ashbrook
If only one of you has to survive an escape coach to let her have it, that might be a thought. But at the same time, I don't think anyone should be allowed to be upgraded. And for her to be like, why didn't you stay back with me with the animals? It's like, are you for real? Like, that's your takeaway from this? Be like, I'm grieving. My friend had the loss, so now I'm demanding I be the center of attention. No, this is about me being the victim. Your friend's the victim. Their friend is mine. Suffering.
Josh Holmes
I want to get this straight. She had a friend who went through an unfortunate circumstance.
John Ashbrook
Yeah.
Josh Holmes
Don't want to downplay the unfortunate circumstance, but it was her friend. He's flying along with his wife.
John Ashbrook
This isn't even, like, to a funeral or anything. This is just, like a separate thing.
Josh Holmes
This is.
John Ashbrook
And she's like, it's about me.
Josh Holmes
And he was upgraded, and she is now discomforted by the fact that he chose to accept the offering from the airline to sit in first class.
John Ashbrook
And she said, is this for.
Josh Holmes
Is that really. Do I have the sequence?
John Ashbrook
That is correct?
Josh Holmes
Yeah, that's right.
Sean Duffy
Right. I think what they're. What they're writing between the lines there is like, she's. She's at a vulnerable place right now because she found out this news about her friend, and now she's gonna be alone for this. A 14 hour flight. 14 hour flight.
Unknown Speaker
What?
John Ashbrook
Bro, imagine what the animals are like in the back after 14 hours. It's gotta be wild, like.
Michael Duncan
But here's the thing. When you get married, I wouldn't stay back there. Here's the thing. Listen, fellas, when you get married, you agree to adopt all of the things that your wife has. And so if she is grieving, you are grieving. Wait, that's.
John Ashbrook
Who has to say, I don't know if I signed up for that.
Michael Duncan
Who's to say he wasn't grieving for her friend?
Josh Holmes
Well, in the first class.
John Ashbrook
Just like I'm grieving for two.
Josh Holmes
In the. In the Grieving took place in a different section of the airplane.
Michael Duncan
Right.
Josh Holmes
Is what your point is.
Michael Duncan
That's my point.
Josh Holmes
Which is fine.
Michael Duncan
He was doing his best.
Josh Holmes
This is while she decided to drop the issue, her partner brought it up again later, leading her to second guess herself. He said, my reaction ruined his flight. I just accepted it. She admits, okay, well, maybe he did marry him.
John Ashbrook
Okay, so that was the one flight.
Josh Holmes
She got to the. She cut to the quick.
John Ashbrook
I like that he brought it up later and he was like, you ruined my flight.
Josh Holmes
He's like, you're the one that ruined my flight. I couldn't even enjoy the first class cabin because of how much stress you put me through.
John Ashbrook
Again, you can tell the coupon people, you know what? In a second.
Josh Holmes
Coupon people.
Sean Duffy
I'm gonna defend the man for one second. And that is simply to say if this man had to carry all of the luggage that I typically have to when I travel with my wife.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
Sean Duffy
I, you know, threaten a shoulder, a rotator cuff, you know, carrying those things, getting them through security, getting them weighed and all that sort of thing. I deserve a lie flat. You deserve that after putting up.
John Ashbrook
That's not a bad argument at all.
Josh Holmes
Can I.
Sean Duffy
If I, If I was him, that would be. That'd be the logic.
Josh Holmes
Can I put a finer point on it? Look, if I'm traveling with my children and my wife knowing our personal travel issue, if I were to just show up and just take the upgrade and leave her with two kids.
Sean Duffy
Yeah, I mean, that's. That's gonna be hard.
Josh Holmes
I'm. I accept the bullet in my forehead, which is coming.
Michael Duncan
It'd be chloroform.
Josh Holmes
Yeah. I mean, I'd be a dead man. That's fine. What we're talking about here is a woman who is friends with another woman who had an unfortunate circumstance, and she is upset to the point where it's now a national news story on Yahoo that he didn't just sit bitch between these two gals.
Sean Duffy
Couldn't they just do like a seven hour swap of this thing?
John Ashbrook
No, dude.
Sean Duffy
You know, maybe rotate it, rotate it a little.
John Ashbrook
Dude, if you allow that, then all of the back is gonna start taking their 10 minutes. I want my free drink. I want my peanuts. Give me snacks and drinks. It's like gremlins, bro. You can't fe them or give them any drinks.
Sean Duffy
I knew raising that would get a good response from smug gremlin.
Michael Duncan
I want my free drink.
Josh Holmes
I want my peanut.
Sean Duffy
I just knew it. I knew it.
Josh Holmes
Last one. That smug flagged Clip three, please. Okay, so this is a zoo, apparently, in Chongqing, China. And interesting, interesting.
Unknown Speaker
Place your windows.
Josh Holmes
But what you have is people who are in cages driving in, like, a modified bus.
Sean Duffy
Yeah, it's like a reverse zoo. You're caged in and the animals are out free.
Josh Holmes
The animals are doing what? But then.
John Ashbrook
And they hang meat on the side. So then the animals come running.
Josh Holmes
So they're, like, attacked by lions and bears and. And the like. But these things, like, jump hard.
John Ashbrook
Yeah, like, so. It's like, you know those. For our listeners on audio only, you know those, like, cages that people look at? Sharks. When you go under the water.
Josh Holmes
Yeah.
John Ashbrook
Imagine you put that on wheels and surrounded like lions.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, yeah.
John Ashbrook
That's what you get here.
Josh Holmes
What confused me about this? What confused me, there's a longer clip that you're not going to see here. What confused me is it, like, the road that they're driving this thing. Alliance are just throwing themselves at this thing. But what confused me is there seem to be traffic.
John Ashbrook
Yeah. There's, like, cars that are in this, too, which is wild, because if you're not like an armored vehicle, what are you doing?
Michael Duncan
No, it's like a Volkswagen looking for the right of way.
John Ashbrook
This is so rad. There's bears hanging on to the side of this thing, trying to eat the, like, steaks that are hung to the side of it.
Josh Holmes
And, like, so. So the Chinese have understood a different zoo experience.
John Ashbrook
This. So it's Chong. Where is Qing Chong? China. Which is already. I mean, you have my attention at that point. And then you've got animals being fed meat off the side of a truck that you could ride in. Like, this is. Why don't we have this in America? Like, this is something that Texas could pull off.
Michael Duncan
Like, maybe spaghetti should set something like this up for us.
Josh Holmes
It is not for the record, in case you're interested in traveling Qing Chong, China. It is Chongqing.
John Ashbrook
Okay.
Josh Holmes
China.
John Ashbrook
I almost had it, but it should be here. We should have that in Texas. We should have it in Texas.
Josh Holmes
Just an important, you know, in case you're booking travel to try to be a part of that.
John Ashbrook
She'll end up in Ching Chong. Be like, I'm in the wrong place. They don't have the zoo on trucks.
Josh Holmes
Ching Chong, very different. Very different town. No. No zoo on truck. No zoo on trucks. All right, so remember our question of the day, which is, what can Trump do to stop Middle Eastern terrorism coming to America? Like, and subscribe. If you like and subscribe, we'll read your stuff. And we'll read all of it and we'll come back to you on Thursday with your results. Got a big week. We got Taylor Gooch coming into the program. Often we have a professional athlete. He's a live guy.
Sean Duffy
Yeah.
Michael Duncan
But big LIV tournament in the Washington, D.C. area this weekend.
Josh Holmes
Yeah, exactly right.
Michael Duncan
He's playing in it. He won in 2023 and won the whole thing. He did. He did. Great golfer.
Josh Holmes
And Ben, the best argument that LIV has had for participation in live golfers, being a part of the PGA and that whole reunification. So if you're into golf, you definitely want to check it out, even if you're not. Good guy, good lessons. A lot of good stuff there. Check it out on Thursday. Thanks for watching like and subscribe. Check out some merch while you're there. I think we did it.
John Ashbrook
I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to Secretary Duffy and thank you so much to our listeners. Remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube hit that subscribe. It's more fun in video. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you Thursday. Stay ruthless.
Unknown Speaker
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Ruthless Podcast: Uncovering BIAS In Boulder Terrorist Attack Coverage – A Deep Dive
Release Date: June 3, 2025
In this compelling episode of the Ruthless Podcast, hosts Josh Holmes, Michael Duncan, and John Ashbrook dissect the media’s handling of the recent terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado. The discussion delves into perceived biases within mainstream media outlets, the implications of political party constituencies, and broader national security concerns related to immigration. Additionally, the episode features an engaging interview with Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, highlighting the podcast's signature blend of serious analysis and variety programming.
The episode opens with a grim recount of the Boulder, Colorado attack, where Mohammed Sabri Solomon allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a pro-Israel group, resulting in multiple injuries. Josh Holmes sets the tone by stating:
"This guy basically threw Molotov cocktails at him, tried to burn him, tried to kill him... it was basically like free Palestine." (00:00)
The hosts emphasize the severity of the attack, portraying it as part of a larger pattern of anti-Semitic violence linked to pro-Palestinian sentiments.
A significant portion of the discussion centers on how major news outlets reported the Boulder incident. The hosts criticize the media for downplaying the attack's violent nature and obscuring the victim's identity. Josh Holmes criticizes the headlines:
"Why don't you just say that? Radical, illegal Islamist extremists, attempts to kill Jews in Boulder, Colorado. That is what happened there." (23:33)
They argue that media outlets like Fox News, CNN, and CBS often omit crucial details, leading to a blurred understanding of the incident's true nature. For instance, CBS's headline:
"Attack at Boulder's Pearl Street Mall in Colorado burns several people." (23:03)
was criticized for lacking specificity, which the hosts believe minimizes the anti-Semitic motive behind the attack.
Josh Holmes posits that the Democratic Party harbors a constituency sympathetic to Hamas, which he argues has emboldened similar attacks in the U.S. He asserts:
"Hamas is a constituency of the Democratic Party in this country. It just is." (12:07)
The hosts draw parallels between past negligence in immigration policies and current security lapses, suggesting that lenient visa overstays have allowed individuals with extremist intentions to enter the U.S. Michael Duncan adds:
"There are North Africans or Uzbeks or guys from Tajikistan who are 23 years old who came over our border to do us harm, and nobody's talking about them." (14:50)
They express concern over the administration's handling of illegal immigration and its impact on national security.
The episode transitions to an interview with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, discussing the "Great American Road Trip" initiative. Duffy highlights efforts to promote American-made vehicles and infrastructure improvements:
"We're going to have the best rollout... we want to encourage people to get in the car, see the country, be with their families." (51:10)
The hosts engage in light-hearted banter with Duffy, touching on topics like autonomous vehicles and the importance of American manufacturing. Despite the serious overarching themes, this segment provides the podcast's characteristic variety and humor.
Returning to their primary discussion, the hosts address listener comments and continue their critique of media biases. They also explore lighter topics, such as amusing anecdotes about road trips and humorous takes on current events. For example, they dissect a Yahoo News story about a personal conflict on an airplane, using it to illustrate broader social issues with a comedic twist.
Josh Holmes concludes with a call to action for listeners to engage with the podcast on social media and subscribe for future episodes, maintaining the show's interactive and community-driven ethos.
Notable Quotes:
Josh Holmes (00:00): "This guy basically threw Molotov cocktails at him... it was basically like free Palestine."
John Ashbrook (05:57): "These are violent terrorists. And this whole situation needs to be treated as such."
Josh Holmes (12:07): "Hamas is a constituency of the Democratic Party in this country. It just is."
Michael Duncan (14:50): "There are North Africans or Uzbeks or guys from Tajikistan who are 23 years old who came over our border to do us harm, and nobody's talking about them."
Sean Duffy (50:38): "Safety is first, right? You guys can't drive."
Josh Holmes (23:33): "Radical, illegal Islamist extremists, attempts to kill Jews in Boulder, Colorado. That is what happened there."
Conclusion:
This episode of the Ruthless Podcast provides a thorough analysis of the Boulder terrorist attack and the surrounding media coverage, highlighting concerns over political biases and national security. Through a combination of serious discourse and engaging variety segments, the hosts offer listeners a critical perspective on current events, encouraging vigilance and awareness of underlying societal issues.