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Clay
Hey Clay, if there was a summer camp for critical thinking, we'd be the chief counselors.
Balk
Those jelly heads in June would be intellectual warriors by August.
Clay
Be a lot of fun too. Some Bill and Ted's excellent adventure references.
Balk
Thrown in this podcast like a daily dose of that. Minus the campfires, archery and pranking the girls.
Clay
The bonafide boot camp for critical thinking. You can get in on it for free at the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Just search our names Clay and Balk. Listen and subscribe.
Doge
Doge also discovered that 1.3 million aliens are now receiving Medicaid. Millions received driver's licenses. Some registered to vote, and Doge says some actually did vote.
Ben Ferguson
You're listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson.
Balk
Good Wednesday morning, Ben Ferguson with you. It's nice to have you on the 47 Morning Update, and here are the three big stories we're covering. First up, Doge finds a shocking scheme for illegal immigrants to take your jobs with a massive amount given Social Security numbers. We'll expose all of this for you and why you should be so angry about it in just a moment. Also, Donald Trump says to China Fafo, it's official, a tariff of 104%. So what happens next? We'll explain that. And finally, you may remember the COVID mandate in the military is no longer a thing. Well, now the government official behind that mandate has been fired. It's the 47 Morning Update and it starts right now.
Ben Ferguson
Story number one.
Balk
Let me start by saying the story you're about to hear is one that you need to share everywhere you can on social media. Make sure you grab this podcast, hit that share button right now, and put it up wherever you have family or friends or text it to them, because this is a story that every American needs to know about. Elon Musk and the Doge team recently exposed how rampant immigration fraud and government corruption became so bad under the Biden administration. Specifically, they showed how aliens were getting Asylum can receive, quote, work authorization and with it, an automatic Social Security number, which enables them to obtain driver's licenses, commit voter fraud, and receive other government benefits. This already sounds alarming, but the truth apparently is even worse than that. Under the current U. S. Regulations, asylum applicants can apply for a work authorization document with the department of homeland security five months after their asylum application is filed, rather than five months after it's granted. There's no filing fee for asylum applications, meaning there is literally no cost involved in applying. This creates a huge incentive for inadmissible aliens to file fraudulent asylum applications to gain U.S. work authorization. And that means take away jobs from American citizens just like you. And while adjudicating, the asylum application can take department of homeland security or the justice department literally years to complete, the DHS prioritizes granting employment authorization applications averaging mere months to complete such applications. In other words, individuals can fraudulently apply for asylum and then receive work authorization shortly thereafter, safe in the knowledge that their asylum application may not be decided for literally years. And that is a loophole that was set up clearly to allow for massive amounts of illegal immigrants to come into this country. Here is how the story was explained on Fox Business with Stuart Varney.
Doge
Doge has found that immigration gave a work authorization document to illegals just five months after they filed for asylum. That document allowed them to work while they waited to hear whether their asylum request had been accepted or denied. So they could work as an illegal. Knowing it would take years before their case was heard. The immigration department mailed them a social. Social Security number. No interview, no proof of identity. Just put it in the mail. Here's your number. In 2021, Doge says 270,000 new aliens were issued Social Security numbers. 590,000 in 2022, 964,000 in 2023, and 2.1 million in 24. Right before Biden left office, Doge also discovered that 1.3 million aliens are now receiving Medicaid. Millions received driver's licenses. Some registered to vote, and doge says some actually did vote. Try and square that against democrat claims that Musk is destroying Social Security and cutting Medicaid. He's not destroying. He's weeding out people who don't qualify. Who is really guilty of misinformation in this case? It is not Elon Musk.
Balk
Now, the question that everyone should be asking is, number one, how is this not criminal? And how were the democrats able to get away with this costing you hundreds of billions of dollars at minimum? Now, if you think this is the only thing that Elon Musk is working on. I hate to tell you you're wrong. Another example of just how much waste, fraud and abuse there are is this. Federal agencies spending billions of dollars on furniture and you're the one paying for it.
Unknown
Since fiscal year 2021, executive agencies have spent more than $4.6 billion on furniture alone. That amount could buy 9.2 million American families a modest $500 kitchen table. During the peak years of the COVID emergency, from 2020 to 2022, agencies spent 3.3 billion on furniture. Even as work migrated to Zoom, the SEC managed to spend $700,000 furnishing a single conference room in New York. And social distancing guidelines failed to keep even the Centers for Disease Control from buying solar powered picnic tables with charging ports that by their own rules should have sat unoccupied. And an added burden for taxpayers is that many spaces are in long term disrepair. As we mentioned before, Federal buildings need $370 billion in fixes.
Balk
So yes, you heard that correct. Federal agencies put 4.6 billion worth of taxpayer dollars towards furniture in the past four years, even though the vast majority of staffers were working from home. How is this also not criminal? Well, DOGE is looking into all of it and saving American taxpayers billions and billions of dollars in the process.
Ben Ferguson
Now, story number two.
Balk
President Trump made it very clear on Liberation Day that tariffs were going to go into effect on countries that were taking advantage of America. There was no bigger abuser than China. And then China made a historic mistake by retaliating against the United States. Well, you can file this yet again under fafo. And when it comes to Donald Trump, he's not messing around. President Donald Trump has now implemented, at this exact moment, a comprehensive tariff strategy, increasing duties on imports from numerous countries, with China now facing the highest levy at 104%. This move is part of the administration's efforts, they say, to address trade imbalances and bolster domestic manufacturing in this country. Not just because we need to put American workers first, but also because of the issue of national security, especially when it comes to China. Now, here are the key points you need to understand about the China tariffs. The 104% tariff on Chinese imports aims to pressure Beijing into addressing the trade practices deemed unfair by the Trump administration. President Trump has expressed openness, by the way, to negotiating customized bilateral trade deals with countries that are seeking tariff relief, emphasizing that current tariffs will remain until trade imbalances and unfair practices are addressed. This is something he's made very clear he's not willing to compromise on this, especially when it comes to China. Now, the global impact is what you also need to know about. Beyond China, there are other nations, including US Allies such as Japan, South Korea and the European Union, that are subject to tariffs ranging from 17 to 25%. These measures are intended to encourage fair trade practices and reduce the US trade deficit. Well, guess what's happened. More than 70 countries have now reached out and are sending delegations to the United States of America to meet with the Trump administration to make a deal, which is exactly what Donald Trump said was going to happen. The administration asserts that these tariffs will incentivize companies to relocate production to the United States and thereby revitalizing domestic industries and creating jobs, but also creating jobs that are important in manufacturing areas that deal with national security. President Trump described these measures as a declaration of economic independence, underscoring his commitment to reshaping international trade dynamics in favor of American interest. Now, while these terrorists have introduced volatility in the global markets, the administration maintains that they are a necessary step towards achieving long term economic benefits for the United States of America. Another way of putting it is this, what goes down in the market must come back up. And that is what the president is saying. The White House talking about China and this 104% tariff. And here's what was said in the White House briefing room.
Unknown
You mentioned the 70 countries or so. I'm curious though, under what conditions at this point would President Trump talk to President xi about tariffs?
Ms. Well, look, I just spoke to the president about this and he believes that China wants to make a deal with the United States. He believes China has to make a deal with the United States. It was a mistake for China to retaliate. The president when, when America is punched, he punches back harder. That's why there will be 104% tariffs going into effect on China tonight at midnight. But the president believes that Xi and China want to make a deal. They just don't know how to get that started. And the president also wanted me to tell all of you that if China reaches out to make a deal, he'll be incredibly gracious, but he's going to do what's best for the American people.
Balk
Going to do what is best for the American people. So if you want to know what the president's mindset is, it is putting Americans yet again first before other nations that take advantage of all of us.
Ben Ferguson
And lastly, story number three, it will.
Balk
Go down in history as one of the worst moves ever made by any administration, especially when it came to military readiness. Between 2021 and 2023, approximately 8, 200 plus US military service members were discharged for refusing to comply with the Department of Defense's radical COVID 19 vaccine mandate. This figure encompasses personnel from all branches of the military. Well, In January of 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the reinstatement of these service members with full back pay and benefits. As Of April of 2025, the army has reenlisted over 23 soldiers who were previously discharged for vaccine refusal. Other branches are actively reaching out to eligible former service members to facilitate the return to service. Well, we now know who was behind that decision. That clearly discriminated against your right to, you know, choose what you're gonna do with your vaccines. A senior CIA official was the one who facilitated Biden's military COVID 19 vaccine mandate. Terry Aderim, a senior intelligence agency official and former senior defense official who played a pivotal role and potentially illegal role in the Biden administration's military vaccine mandate, has been fired from the agency. That coming from Breitbart News Adaram is a former senior Biden appointee at the Department of Defense who was performing the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health affairs and had decamped in December to the CIA as Director of CIA center for Global Health Services until about a week ago, according to sources. Her firing was related to a role in forcing service members to choose between taking a vaccine that was under emergency use authorization or being kicked out, according to sources. Now, on September 14th of 2021, that was about a month after the Defense Secretary, Laurie Austin, ordered the vaccine mandate. Adarim issued a Memo instructing the DoD health care providers to consider the vaccine available to service members, giving multiple ones saying they were interchangeable even though they were not approved by the fda. In fact, per her guidance that she wrote, she said the two vaccines are interchangeable and DoD health care providers should use doses distributed under the EUA to administer the vaccination series as if the doses were the license vaccine Translation if you don't have the Pfizer vaccine, we got another one that'll eventually get approved. So just, you know, go with that one now. Our memo was considered legally dubious even inside the Pentagon. That was reported also by Breitbart News. In September of 2022, a month after Adam issued her memo, a senior defense official proposed allowing service members who did not want to take the EUA vaccine to wait for the FDA approved vaccine before facing punishment for being unvaccinated The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, David Smith, proposed in a draft memo that would replace the Adaram memo saying, quote, if a service member after medical consulting declines the administration of the EUA manufactured product, DoD health care providers should engage with their logistics chains to secure and administer the manufactured bio Pfizer Intech product prior to any punitive action being taken against the service member. Right. This actually seems to make some sense. I don't know what this is. I don't want it in my body. I'd rather wait for the Pfizer bio in tech one. That's what I want to do. And what did the military say? Well, no, that is not what happened at all. Smith's actions memo was addressed to Adam with a recommendation for her to sign the draft memo with a proposed change. According to documents obtained by Breitbart News, the draft memo had been sent to the military services for coordination and a senior Air Force official objected to it, arguing that adopting the change could open the military up for more litigation and possibly force it to reverse punishments already given to those that had not taken the vaccine. So now you know how little they actually care in the Biden administration about those men and women that are willing to die for this country. And they looked at them as a headache and were willing to give them a vaccine that actually hadn't been approved yet. And what did they do to those service members that said they had real concerns? They said, you're fired. Well, now at least the woman who wrote that memo has also been fired. Paying off with what Donald Trump said. I'm going to get back into office and I'm going to put our war fighters at the forefront of my advocacy.
Ben Ferguson
Thank you for listening to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. And for more in depth news, also subscribe to the Ben Ferguson Podcast and we will see you back here tomorrow.
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Clay
Hey Clay, if there was a summer camp for critical thinking, we'd be the chief counselors.
Balk
Those jelly heads in June would be intellectual warriors by August.
Clay
Be a lot of fun too. Some Bill and Ted's excellent adventure references.
Balk
Is thrown in this podcast like a daily dose of that, minus the campfires, archery and pranking the girls.
Clay
The bona fide boot camp for critical thinking. You can get in on it for free at the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcast. Just search our names Clay and Bach. Listen and subscribe.
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson: Episode Summary
Episode Title: DOGE Uncovers Massive Fraud, China Gets FAFO'd & Covid Tyrants Get Canned
Release Date: April 9, 2025
Host: Ben Ferguson
Produced By: Premiere Networks
The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson is a daily podcast that delves into the latest news and political developments, with a keen focus on the U.S. President's administration, policies, and agenda. In the April 9, 2025 episode titled "DOGE Uncovers Massive Fraud, China Gets FAFO'd & Covid Tyrants Get Canned," Ben Ferguson, alongside co-host Balk, explores three significant and provocative stories impacting America today.
Overview:
The episode kicks off with a deep dive into alarming claims by DOGE, highlighting widespread immigration fraud and governmental corruption under the Biden administration. DOGE alleges that millions of illegal immigrants have exploited loopholes in the asylum system to gain work authorization, Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, and even voter registration.
Key Points:
Asylum and Work Authorization Loophole:
As detailed by Balk at [02:01], DOGE discovered that asylum applicants can apply for work authorization merely five months after filing their application, regardless of the application's approval status. This provision, free of any filing fees, purportedly incentivizes inadmissible aliens to submit fraudulent asylum requests to secure employment in the U.S.
Statistics Highlighting the Scale:
DOGE's findings reveal a staggering increase in the issuance of Social Security numbers to aliens:
Impact on American Jobs and Resources:
Balk emphasizes the detrimental effect on American citizens, asserting that illegal immigrants are "taking away jobs from American citizens just like you" and straining public resources.
Media Coverage and Counterclaims:
DOGE's revelations were featured on Fox Business with Stuart Varney, who countered some of the claims by stating, "He's [Elon Musk] not destroying. He's weeding out people who don't qualify. Who is really guilty of misinformation in this case? It is not Elon Musk." ([04:34])
Notable Quotes:
Balk urges listeners:
"Make sure you grab this podcast, hit that share button right now, and put it up wherever you have family or friends or text it to them, because this is a story that every American needs to know about." ([02:01])
DOGE elaborates on the fraud:
"Doge has found that immigration gave a work authorization document to illegals just five months after they filed for asylum... In 2021, Doge says 270,000 new aliens were issued Social Security numbers... 2.1 million in 24." ([04:16])
Overview:
In the second segment, Balk discusses President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff strategy against China, labeling it as a "FAFO" (Fuck Around and Find Out) approach. The administration has imposed a 104% tariff on Chinese imports, marking a significant escalation in trade tensions.
Key Points:
Tariff Implementation and Objectives:
As explained by Balk at [07:11], the 104% tariff is part of a comprehensive strategy to address perceived unfair trade practices by China, reduce trade imbalances, and bolster domestic manufacturing. The tariffs aim to protect American jobs and enhance national security.
Global Repercussions:
Beyond China, other nations, including allies like Japan, South Korea, and members of the European Union, face tariffs ranging from 17% to 25%. The administration anticipates that these measures will pressure these countries to engage in fairer trade practices and reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
Diplomatic Responses and Negotiations:
With over 70 countries reaching out to negotiate, the Trump administration remains firm. Balk cites a White House briefing where a spokesperson stated, "if China reaches out to make a deal, he'll be incredibly gracious, but he's going to do what's best for the American people." ([10:16])
Economic and National Security Justifications:
The tariffs are not only economic tools but also strategic moves to ensure that critical industries linked to national security remain robust and domestically controlled.
Notable Quotes:
Balk underscores Trump's stance:
"President Trump described these measures as a declaration of economic independence, underscoring his commitment to reshaping international trade dynamics in favor of American interest." ([09:30])
White House official on negotiations:
"The president believes that Xi and China want to make a deal. They just don't know how to get that started. And if China reaches out to make a deal, he'll be incredibly gracious, but he's going to do what's best for the American people." ([10:24])
Overview:
The final story addresses the controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed by the Biden administration on U.S. military personnel. Balk outlines the repercussions of this policy, including mass discharges and the subsequent reversal efforts spearheaded by President Trump.
Key Points:
Impact of the Vaccine Mandate:
Between 2021 and 2023, over 8,200 U.S. military service members were discharged for refusing the Department of Defense's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. This affected personnel across all military branches.
Reversal Efforts by President Trump:
In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order to reinstate these discharged service members with full back pay and benefits. By April 2025, the Army had reenlisted over 23 soldiers, with other branches actively reaching out to facilitate returns.
Accountability and Firing of Officials:
The podcast reveals that Terry Aderim, a senior CIA official, was fired due to her role in enforcing the vaccine mandate. Aderim had previously served in the Department of Defense and was pivotal in implementing policies that led to the discharge of service members who declined the vaccine. Her memo, which incorrectly stated that multiple vaccines were interchangeable, was deemed legally dubious and sparked internal opposition ([16:18]).
Critique of the Biden Administration:
Balk criticizes the Biden administration for prioritizing emergency-use-authorized vaccines over FDA-approved ones, leading to potential legal challenges and undermining military readiness. He emphasizes that Trump aims to prioritize "war fighters" and rectify policies that marginalized service members' rights.
Notable Quotes:
Balk on the consequences of the mandate:
"They looked at them as a headache and were willing to give them a vaccine that actually hadn't been approved yet. And what did they do to those service members that said they had real concerns? They said, you're fired." ([14:45])
On reversing the mandate:
"Donald Trump is going to get back into office and I'm going to put our war fighters at the forefront of my advocacy." ([16:18])
Ben Ferguson wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to subscribe for more in-depth news updates. The episode provides a critical perspective on current political and administrative actions, emphasizing themes of governmental accountability, national sovereignty, and the protection of American interests.
Final Takeaway:
This episode of The 47 Morning Update presents a strong critique of both the Biden and Trump administrations, highlighting issues such as immigration fraud, aggressive trade policies, and controversial public health mandates. Through detailed analysis and compelling rhetoric, Ben Ferguson and Balk aim to inform and mobilize listeners to stay informed and engaged with the pressing issues shaping America.
Notable Mentions:
Listening Information:
For those interested in staying informed on these and other critical issues, The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson is available for subscription on the iHeartRadio app or any major podcast platform. New episodes are released daily, Monday through Saturday.