← The Josh Hammer Show
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I'm Josh Hammer, and this is the Josh Hammer Show. Well, it's action packed as always out there, folks. The Middle east continues to go one way and then the other way. What is actually happening on the ground there? Or more accurately, in the water, in the Strait of Hormuz and in the region more generally? Could we see the resumption of hostilities as soon as possible, potentially? Well, today or tomorrow, we've got the latest for you on Operation Epic Fury and Operation Economic Fury. Furthermore, all sorts of updates at the United States Supreme Court, the issue of abortion is now back in front of the justice, while simultaneously Sam Alito makes a delectably a delightfully snarky commentary. Brown, Jackson, all of that and more later on today's show. But for now, we are going to begin with this. Of all the issues that are facing American public life and frankly, Western public life at this moment, one that I did not particularly want to talk about today is one that we actually are going to talk about today to open today's show, and that is the rise of anti Semitism in a way that simply cannot be ignored at this particular juncture. So the immediate reason that we are bringing this up is because overnight, just over the past 24 to 48 hours in Queens in New York City, Queens, New York, where Donald Trump is from, where my mother is from, there is a very large Jewish community in Queens, as there is in, frankly, all five of the boroughs of New York City. So just over the over the past day or so, multiple Jewish homes, a synagogue and a Jewish center which houses a Jewish preschool were all vandalized with swastikas and various other anti Semitic graffiti. Queens, if you paid attention to such matters closely, was also the borough where there was not a pro Palestinian protest, but an openly pro Hamas quote unquote protest, like a pro terrorist demonstration outside of a yeshiva, like a literally a place where Jews go to learn and to study Torah, to study the Bible. This happened just a few months back and it's impossible to ignore at this point. We, of course, know that there is Zormadani who is currently sitting in Gracie Mansion. He is the mayor of New York City. This is a man who is essentially an open anti Semite. He says that he's not, but he is. And he is the mayor of the city that houses the nation's largest Jewish population, frankly, the world's largest Jewish population of any city. Because New York City, because it's so large, has more Jews actually than any city in Israel, Jerusalem or any other. But if this were just a tale about New York City, of course the story would end there and perhaps it would not be worth our commenting. Unfortunately, the story does not end there. We have briefly mentioned that there has been a shocking slew of incidents across the pond over in the United Kingdom, a country that has been frankly been going on the wrong path when it comes to such matters for a very, very long time now. The UK is one of the European countries that has been most aggressive in aiding and abetting the Islamization of the European continent. And also Great Britain, the is the island of Britain. This started decades ago. In fact, the now infamous rape gangs which were covered up by British elites for decades. Predominantly Pakistani nationals, oftentimes in English Midland or Northern English cities. This is a practice that goes back at least as far as the 1990s, but it has reached something of a fever pitch just over the past few weeks. So there were multiple anti Semitic stabbings? Yes, attempted murders of Jews out in the open in the British neighborhood in London known as Golders Green. It is a community there in London with a heavily Jewish population. There have been all sorts of other attempted arson attacks, actually attempted Molotov cocktails, attempts to essentially set synagogues on fire. All this has been going on in London just over the past few weeks. And this of course comes in the aftermath of just last October on Yom Kippur, which is the day of atonement, the holiest day of the year for Jews. This came in the aftermath of a lethal attack of a lethal attack at a synagogue on the holiest day of the year for Jews at a synagogue in Manchester in northern England. So all this has actually led Keir Starmer, who was the Prime Minister of the uk, not exactly known as a beacon of moral clarity, I think would be a polite way of saying it. All this has led Keir Starmer, of all people, to say that Britain must tackle the crisis of rising anti Semitism, that they are directing the Metropolitan Police Department there in London to put all sorts of additional resources, whether it's through synagogues Just more cops on the beat, frankly, when it comes to the Labour Party and Keir Starmer, I will believe it when I see it. I do not trust these people as far as I can throw them. The actual chief of the police over there in the UK is saying that this is a problem though. But again, this is not just a British phenomenon, nor is it just a New York City phenomenon. It's very much also an American phenomenon. More generally speaking there I was looking at a graphic this morning. It's a really harrowing graphic where you track the total number of anti Semitic incidents in the United States. And an incident is defined in this particular study pretty broadly. It could be something just verbal, someone chanting like the Nazis were great or whatever in a Jew's face, spitting on a Jew up to and including, God forbid, the murder that was motivated by anti Semitism. So take that for what's will. But based on that definition, the number of anti Semitic incidents in the United States from 2008 to 2024 goes up from roughly 1300. It goes down to a low of 751 incidents in 2013. In 2024 it reached 9354. Overall, you are looking at an 893% surge in anti Semitic incidents in the United States just over the past decade, with the most dramatic spike coming just over the past couple years since Israel launched its defensive war against Hamas after the horrific pogrom of October 7, 2023. Overall in New York City, anti Semitic crimes constitute roughly 59%. Nearly every three in five hate crime in New York City. A crime that's committed because of the identity of the victim, whether it's religious identity, sexual, racial, etc. Roughly three in five of them are committed just because the person was Jewish. So people complain about Islamophobia and this there. No, it's actually anti Semitism. According to all of the FBI's federal statistics, according to all of the New York City measles statistics, and frankly all of the international statistics that show that Jews are getting the brunt of this. So what does this mean? And perhaps more accurately, what does it actually not mean? Well, I've got a lot of thoughts on this, as you can probably imagine. But for now, folks, I wanted to tell you a brief word about our sponsor of today's show, which is Balance of Nature. You know, I eat a very healthy diet, or at least I try to. We're all imperfect, of course. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables there, but frankly, it's really hard. The day goes by very quickly there you wake up, before you know it, you're going to sleep there. You had a lot going on the day there. It's very hard to make sure that you get that balanced meal, you actually get your nutrients there, especially that you pack it with phytonutrients, which are these very valuable elements in some special, dare I say even superfoods. Balance of Nature has these wonderful dietary supplement supplement pills. It supports a lifestyle of eating whole foods. These products are lab tested. There are no binders, fillers or flow agents. The Balance of Nature process is they take whole foods that are dried using a tailored vacuum called process and they powder it and package it up. Trust me folks, I've been taking it. I feel like a million bucks when I do so. The whole health System gives you 47 ingredients of fruits, vegetables, spices and fibers. To be clear, it is not a substitute for a healthy diet, but it is a wonderful, wonderful supplement. Go ahead and check out balanceofnature.com check out their whole health system today. Balance of Nature is our sponsor for today's show. So what does the rise of antisemitism across the United States and the West? What does it not mean? Well, here's what it does not mean. Then we'll tell you what it does mean. What it does not mean is that the Jews are the bearers of all of society's ills. This has of course been the delusion of anti Semites going back literally since the Bible. At least in my telling of the story, the world's first aggressive anti Semite, at least as a political ruler, is arguably Pharaoh, our early pharaoh in ancient Egypt there. So ever since then going to the present, the Jews tend to here, there and everywhere be a scapegoat or be a group that a society that has something else going on, that society, that leadership then takes it out on the Jews as way of trying just to deflect blame from failed leadership, from failed policies, or frankly more generally speaking, from some sort of broader societal, cultural or civilizational rotation. This is a big theme of the book that I wrote last year, Israel and Civilization, the Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West. And without giving away too many details, it's going to be a core theme of my next book as well. Stay tuned for some news on that potentially sooner rather than later. The thing is, when I as an American and I also as a Jew think about what is happening here in the United States and across the West, I'm not actually scared at all. Frankly as a Jew I'm really not. I'm really, truly not. The Jewish people have been around for a very, very long time. People as wide ranging as Alexander Hamilton of the American founding generation, Benjamin Disraeli, the great British Prime Minister, and many others have noted that the endurance of the Jewish people to this day, despite all they've been through for thousands of years, is the greatest proof we have that God is real and God exists. Don't take it from me, that's literally from countless luminaries in Western history, including our own Alexander Hamilton. So I'm not really worried as a Jew. I trust God on this one. I think that God actually has this one figured out. The fact that there is a vibrant and flourishing, if embattled, state of Israel also makes Jewish security more, more known and less of an unknown. So that's what I'm not worried about. Here's what I am worried about. I'm worried about my country. I am worried about America. You see, when a country turns on its Jewish population going back hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, it is here, there and everywhere an indication that something in that society has gone wrong. There has been a collapse in the ability to tell right from wrong, fact from fiction, truth from lies. The Jewish people were the original recipients of God's word. They introduced monotheism and therefore moral objectivity into a world filled with idolatry and moral relativism. Christianity, of course, spread it to the masses, for which we should all be eternally grateful. The Jews were the original recipients of that indispensable, absolutely indispensable notion. So when the Jews receive the brunt of a society's outpourings of anger or frustration, it is a symbolic way of taking out that society's frustration when it comes to moral objectivity and truth itself. In other words, the Jews get the blame because truth is descending, because moral objectivity is descending. And in its place are lies, conspiracies, lethargy, laziness, moral relativism, nihilism. Is that not what we're experiencing in the West? Is that not what we're seeing all across us right now? This scourge must be combated. It will always be here. To be sure, I am not delusional. I am certainly not delusional enough to think that antisemitism will ever go away. It will not. It is a part of God's plan. We can ask why, but it just is. It's part of the cosmological order of things, you might say, but it still must be combated. For the mind virus that it is, as our late friend Charlie Kirk used to say, because again, it's not really about the Jews. It really is about something much, much greater. In this case, ultimately, it's about America itself. Folks, stay with us through a quick commercial break. We'll be right back with more on the other. Welcome back. So as if the anti Semites need a reason to talk about the Jews, they obviously don't. That's part of the whole nature of being a conspiratorial anti Semite is that you are just constantly looking to deflect your problems onto others and so forth. But as if you needed any other reason there, the anti Semites are certainly up in arms about this war against the Iranian regime, a war that was that was commenced by President Donald Trump, who they say is controlled by the Jews, control that there is no as Pete had Seth, affirmed yet again this morning, that is simply not the case. And Trump continues to try to figure out exactly what is the path forward here when it comes to Iran. So the latest for you is that just over the past day or two, hostilities kind of sort of really did take off again. So there initially actually were two US flagged vessels. Initially they were able to breach the IRGC's maritime maritime blockade of the Strait of Foreign Moves. Actually, here was Pete Hegset talking just this morning at the Pentagon about that very fact.
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Two US Commercial ships along with American destroyers have already safely transited the strait, showing the lane is clear. We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the strait. They do not.
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And here's actually more from ptac. Seth, just this morning talking about this red, white and blue dome the United States has established over these 304 moves. Here is clip 3.
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As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait. American destroyers are on station supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones and surveillance aircraft, providing 247 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels. Except Iran's, of course, which is why our ironclad blockade remains in full effect as well. In fact, six ships tried to run the blockade out of Iranian ports as Project Freedom commenced and they were all turned around.
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Now, Iran did openly fire missiles at American naval vessels, at American commercial vessels just yesterday. All those missiles ultimately were turned away. The UAE actually continues to get hit. So on yesterday's show, we reported that the United Arab Emirates continues to actually take incoming fire. They are typically able to repel these missile and drones here because they have their own form of missile defense. Just earlier today, the UAE reported that the drones and missile attacks continued for a second straight day. And the Emirati Foreign Ministry, saying that they reserve the right to respond as they see fit, saying that they have a full and legitimate right to do so. So America's Arab neighbors are none too pleased with the current situation. And we continue to hear reporting that a lot of Emiratis and Saudis, people like that, are telling Donald Trump behind the scenes because these Arab cultures are typically too cowardly to say so openly. They're encouraging him to respond with some sort of full force. So what exactly is actually happening? Well, Donald Trump was meeting yesterday at the White House on Monday with a group of small business owners. He referred to it as a mini war, what's currently happening on the ground. He referred to it as a quote, a little detour. And he said that it's working very nicely. So this mini war is a somewhat odd situation, nonethele to be in. We explained on yesterday's show how it's really not a war. It's also really not a ceasefire. Again, actually, just this morning, Hegseth and Dan raising Cain, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, they said, they reiterate actually that this is still a formal state of ceasefire. I don't really know exactly what that means, to be honest with you. When Iran is literally firing drones and missiles at American naval vessels and American flag commercial vessels and we're intercepting them. I don't think that's really much of a ceasefire, to be honest with you. It seems like this is done for more of optical reasons, trying to appease, perhaps some of the domestic skeptics of the war say that. Hold on, hold on, things are not really happening here. And on the other hand, they're also trying to make sure that Congress does not freak out because as we've noted here, the War Powers Resolution, which purports, purports it's not a legitimate statute, but it purports to limit the executive's ability to wage war past 60 days absent congressional approval. I think that Hegseth and Kaine and by extension the President, are trying, trying, trying to appease certain, certain restive domestic factions, namely those war skeptical factions, while also simultaneously trying to throw a bone, throw a bone to Congress that they don't get too antsy when it comes to the War Powers Resolution. The problem is that this rhetoric just does not match the reality on the ground. And the Wall Street Journal reporting that Donald Trump is essentially trying to have it both ways Here he doesn't really know what to do. On the one hand, he doesn't want to risk a serious escalation. For that matter, no one does. No one wants to risk a serious escalation. No one wants that. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, Donald Trump feels very, very strongly that the Iranians are acting out of line and that they must pay a price for it because they are not operating good faith. They are not coming to the negotiating table in good faith. Frankly, they're barely able to come to the negotiating table because the entire nature of their regime is deeply, deeply fractured to the point where it barely exists, if it exists at all, as a concrete, cohesive entity. But again, the messaging right now from the administration, is that what you're seeing right now in the Strait, this Project Freedom, this maritime vessel escorting enterprise, they're seeing that this is distinct from Epic Fury, which is the actual military hostility. So Trump is reserving the right to recommence Epic Fury. But this right now is different than that. Hegseth and General Kane took pains pains this morning to emphasize that. Let's go ahead and also play clip two here. Here was Pete Hegseth talking about how Project Freedom is distinct from Operation Epic Fury.
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Well, as you know, President Trump has directed US Central Command to restart the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz under the umbrella of Project Freedom. To be clear, this operation is separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury. Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope and temporary in duration, with one mission, protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression. American forces won't need to enter Iranian waters or airspace. It's not necessary. We're not looking for a fight. But Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway.
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So it makes sense to this extent. It makes sense insofar as Project Freedom is defensive. Insofar as we're just trying to get these innocent vessels in a safe passageway, that's fine. That is in contrast to offensive minded bombing campaigns trying to bomb the crap out of the irgc, the mullahs, the nuclear scientists, that this, the, that, that. No, I get that that makes sense insofar as it goes, but it only goes so far. It only goes far because again, if our ship are taking incoming fire, that's not much of a ceasefire. So Trump again understands this. I'm not saying that the commander chief does not understand. He obviously clearly does. The President was actually on, on Hugh Hewitt show our sister program here at the Salem Pockets and on The Salem News Channel. And what President Trump told Hugh Hewitt is that this is not acceptable. And he said that he understands that this mission has to end with Iran's enriched uranium not being in Iran. So in other words, he says we have to actually get the uranium. That's a big deal. That's one of our, of our four criteria, if you recall, for declaring this operation a success. Free passage across the street of Hormuz, end of Iran, financing of their terrorist proxies in the region, end of the ballistic missile and the drone program, and getting all the enriched uranium out. Trump telling our colleague Hugh Hewitt that he is adamant and that he recognizes that number four, the uranium part, which is perhaps the most important, that that simply must happen. So that's very good news. I'm not entirely sure quite yet how to square that circle with this notion that we're still in a ceasefire. Clearly, the President wants a deal, and who can blame him? We all want a deal. The problem for 47 years is these guys don't want to deal with the United States or by extension, the West. We'll see where it goes from there. Trump's going to have actually a fascinating, fascinating opportunity to try to assess where we're at when it comes to Iran on a global geopolitical scale when he is scheduled to actually meet with Xi Jinping. So this meeting with Xi Jinping is actually scheduled to happen now just next week, May 14th and 15th. It was actually initially scheduled to happen in late March, I believe March 31st. It was pushed back there. Very, very, very, very high stakes meeting for Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. China being America's by far number one geopolitical rival here in the 21st century. By the way, Trump will actually be going to China unless things change at the last minute. So that's actually going to be a big symbolic victory, certainly for Xi Jinping. But Trump is tough these situations. He's not going to bend over backwards there. Iran is a, is a client, say, of sorts of China. And China should be made to feel a lot of pressure for their support of Iran. China does a lot of bad things on the world stage. So this would be a very, very, very interesting barometer is how this meeting goes. Can Trump successfully communicate both to China directly and to the world? More generally speaking, can he communicate the American position and sell it? And ultimately, of course, oriented towards the end goal of seeing this mission through on its own terms Again, we've made a lot of progress, folks. We are not actually quite there yet, folks. Another commercial break. We'll be right back with more after this. Welcome back. Donald Trump is the first president in the history of the Islamic Republic to actually take on Iran directly. Really? He truly earnestly is. There is no prior president who has directly taken on Iran, which is itself a pretty striking sentiment given that this regime was founded, was founded in 1979 on revolutionary anti American zeal. Yes. They stormed the US embassy in Tehran as their very first act, the on the ground revolutionaries. This is one of the many things that in my estimation makes Donald Trump, as I've argued previously, a great man of history. Yes, I have argued that. And yes, I will argue that again and again because I believe that it is true. Well, a man who definitely does not think that Donald Trump is a great man of history is the Adelbrand, former Republican congressman, the quintessential never Trumper, Adam Kinzinger, who really, really went on a doozy. And he was saying that in five or 10 years, there won't be a single person left that will ever admit to supporting Donald Trump. Let's go ahead and play this clip.
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Yeah. I mean, it's part of it is like, hey, we told you so. Right. But then I also still am heartbroken at the number of people that are told every day by a same news organization that didn't cover the January 6th hearings, by the way, on purpose that everything's fine, everything's great, Iran is one. And so there's people out there that still don't know. And I think the tough thing for me in the aftermath has not been anything except like, I just feel that I feel bad for the people that are being misled down this, down this path. But I guarantee you something, and I know this, in five or ten years, there won't be a single person left in this country that will ever admit to supporting Donald Trump, except for those that have their stuff all over Twitter. Because I think the speed at which he's spiraling, I mean, we're a year and a half into him. The speed at which he's spiraling, I think is just going to increase and eventually people are gonna be like, yeah, we've had enough.
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Okay. You want someone, Adam, who will admit in five or 10 years to voting for Trump, this guy. This guy. I mean, I voted for Trump multiple times. Hello, not going anywhere. Very proud of those votes. In fact, look, it is true that the administration's approval ratings have, generally speaking, because it depends on the poll, have generally been going slightly downward over the past few months. Harry Enton over at CNN reporting that Republican leaning independents are breaking away from Trump at a fairly seismic rate. That's not good. And the administration definitely ought to be focused on it, as should the rnc, the nrsc, the nrcc, all the various Republican Party campaign apparatuses and political arms should be laser focused on that as we gallop towards November. Ultimately, ultimately trying to get those affordability and economic issues front and center in the voter's mind. But the notion, Adam Kinzinger, that Trump will not have any open supporters years from now, what is wrong with you? Well, okay, a lot. But how do you not see some of the most obvious things that Donald Trump, first of all, kinder saying that Iran is winning the war. Are you delusional? Like, do you literally live in reality? In what world is Iran winning this war? Their Navy gone, Air Force gone, Blissy missiles often buried, not fully gone, but a lot of them are. Ayatollah gone. Essentially the top echelon of the regime's mullahs and clerici are all gone. Iran is getting its butt kicked, its absolute butt kicked. And by the way, going back to Xi Jinping and China and Russia, totally embarrassing. I would argue for Russia and China that one of their allies and client states, Iran, has gotten its butt kicked this badly. But more generally speaking, the delusion for people like Hinger that no one will remember Trump years from now and will recall him fondly. Donald Trump has done incredible things that his supporters will remember for the rest of their lives. He is the first president to meaningfully confront Xi Jinping and China, which, God willing, he will do again next week when it comes to China's economic stranglehold over the United States. He's the first president since Richard Nixon also visited Beijing back in the early 1970s to try to reset this horrific mutual bear hug of American Chinese economic relations. He's the first president to meaningfully take it to the Iranian regime. He's the first president to meaningfully try to secure America's southern border. He said multiple Supreme Court justices nominated and confirmed. We'll see if he has more this summer. I could go on and on and on here. He's done a lot, really. The man has done a lot and a lot of it. We should be extremely proud of. Extremely proud. So the notion that we will not be proud to vote for Donald Trump or say that we did so is utterly ludicrous. And I guess that is really just the TDS porn that you see nowadays on a day in, day out basis on Ms. Now, I guess, frankly, the only thing that we should be Somewhat grateful for watching that Kinser exchange on Ms. Now is that they're not openly clamoring for Donald Trump's political assassination, which frankly, they've come shockingly close to doing on Ms. Now, which these days, frankly, is part of just the left wing political violence fetish that is continuing to cause so many issues and so many horrors all across this country. In any event, I digress. So speaking of Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominees, some of them have been in the headlines recently. As you know, we had this big case, the Louisiana case, the Voting Rights act case, decided at the Supreme Court last week, essentially saying that the Voting Rights act, that the Voting Rights act of 1965 cannot countenance and cannot permit explicitly race consciousness drawing of congressional maps. A very commonsensical ruling that nonetheless was not recognized for various reasons for decades, which is kind of shocking. But now it has. So part of the in the weeds kind of legal back and forth since this decision came down is where it actually stands procedurally in the Article 3 judicial chain of command. And not to get too bogged down here, but there's a thing called the mandate. I actually didn't learn what a mandate was until my first day as a law clerk on the 5th Circuit back in January 2018, which is a little embarrassing. But a mandate is basically think of it as a baton. A baton in a relay race where you hand off. So for the Supreme Court to pass the mandate in the Voting Rights act case means that it is now back to the lower court to figure out a remedy, which means how to actually enforce a new map. Okay, in the weeds legal stuff. So the debate was how expeditiously, how quickly can the Supreme Court issue the mandate in this case given the fact that they have a background default rule of a 32 day waiting period for a losing party to prepare a petition for rehearing. But that 32 day period cannot be square with the fact that Louisiana's got a freaking primary to do. And the governor, Jeff Landry, has already delayed the primaries to call in a special session to redraw these maps to. Yeah, to actually comply with the Supreme Court. So long story short, by an 8 to 1 decision on Monday, the U.S. supreme Court said that the mandate is issued. We are not going to follow our default 32 day rule. And this has to happen ASAP because one Louisiana, your maps are illegal because they run afoul of the 14th Amendment's race neutrality. This whole race conscious scheme stinks in general and is irreconcilable with our colorblind Constitution and more generally speaking there's no one to argue to rehear this thing. So this 32 day rule is stupid. Well guess who objects. Oh yeah, the one person who objects in this court is Ketanji Brown Jackson who has this ridiculous dissent and says over and over and over again how the court is violating its normal procedures and is doing its that there and is just not listening to anything that we're doing. You guys are doing this for all for partisan reasons. You're doing it for partisan reasons they say. Well, Sam Alito wrote a brief concurrence in this joined by Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch who is not happy Alito is not happy with Tantric Brown Jackson. He says the dissent levels charges that cannot go unanswered and he ultimately says that one of them offers one of the dissent's objections are simply trivial. The other is offensive. Like it's offensively stupid essentially is what Alito is saying to Ketanj Brown Jackson and he ultimately concludes and again this was signed off by two of the justice gorge and Thomas. He says the dissent accuses the court of unshackling itself from constraints. But it is the dissent's rhetoric that lacks restraint. Pretty harsh to be honest with you. This now happened from Amy Coney Barrett towards Jackson, from Sonia Sotomayor, the other liberal far left liberal towards Jackson from Elena Kagan. Elena Kagan recently said Jackson doesn't really understand free speech. Pretty shocking for another Democrat nominee here, Katanj Brown Jackson. The gift that keeps on giving. This woman's utter stupidity is just going to keep on paying dividend dividends. She is alienating her colleagues and winning over nobody. Except of course for good results because good results happen when Jackson alienates even her liberal colleagues. Folks, one final break. We'll be right back with more after this. Welcome back. So before the break, I was bringing to you some of this concurrence yesterday from Sam Alito who's my personal favorite justice in the Supreme Court. We'll get to Clarence Thomas here in just a moment or so. He's the other goat, the other amazing, arguably greatest of all time justice. But I love Sam Alito and I just find this so utterly delectable. And he actually says I have to read one more thing he says to Justice Jackson, quote, the dissent goes on to claim that our decision represents an unprincipled use of power that is a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge. So he's just really, really, really ticked off. And this is not exactly the kind of behavior that you normally see from Supreme Court justice, to put it mildly here. Jackson has really elicited this. Again, not just from Alito, but even from her liberal colleagues. I mean, Clarence Thomas hates her. Go back if you're so inclined. Go back to the affirmative action case, the Harvard versus Students for Fair Admissions case, the landmark case in 2023, three years ago now. And look at the dueling opinions of Katandra Brown Jackson, who basically takes the Ibram X Kendi view of race, of racial determinism, that you're predetermined, your success or failure in life due to your race. Frankly, it's actually the exact same theory as the Ku Klux Klan and Jim John Calhoun, excuse me, just in reverse. Disgusting. Clarence Thomas not having it. So Jackson has lost everyone. And just yesterday she had no one, literally no one, sign on to her unhinged dissent in this order when it comes to Louisiana's maps, not even Sotomayor or Kagan. On the other hand, you have Thomas and Gorsuch joining Alito, just letting it rip on her. So being a Speaker of justice is complicated. You're not just trying to do what you believe to be the correct and most principled thing. You're also trying to manage coalitions. It's a lot of emails and correspondence. You're trying to win votes. It is a little more political than you think. Not in the way that you're trying to change the outcome, but you're trying to massage the language to win over the moderates. It's a little more political behind the scenes in that respect. There. Jackson has no political skills. She is frankly just an idiot. She is a standard deviation, at least lower IQ than anyone else on the court and that includes Sonia. So mayor who is not exactly immense, a genius, really. I can't believe this woman is on the Supreme Court. And if you recall, this is all due to the fact that Joe Biden campaigned in 2020 that if he had the opportunity, he would nominate a black justice. He did that in response to Jim Clyburn, the black congressman from South Carolina who might be out of a job by the way soon because of this Louisiana case, because he's in one of these majority minority districts which are now unconstitutional because of their race consciousness. So in trying to win the South Carolina primary to salvage his campaign after a fifth place finish in New Hampshire, Biden basically tries to get Clyburn's vote. He's like the big black kingmaker there in South Carolina Democratic politics. So Clyburn endorses Biden in exchange, the quid pro quo is that then Biden says he'll nominate a black woman. Oh, it's gotta be a woman. Gotta be a black woman. A black woman. In the event that there is a Supreme Court retirement. So fast forward about two years later, Stephen Breyer, the Clinton nominee, retires from the court. That's how you get tanyama Jackson the gift that keeps on giving. She is just truly something else. The issue of abortion is actually now back to the Supreme Court as well. So the abortion pill mifepristone is a very, very, very controversial drug, to put it mildly there for those of us who are earnestly pro life, mifepristone is 1000% of abortion. If you believe, as I do, that human life begins in its most scientific and biologically real and natural state at fertilization, when sperm fertilizes an egg. They necessarily must view mifepristone as being a very early stage abortion insofar as it prevents an already fertilized egg from implanting itself in the uterine lining into the uterus. There. This is the earliest stage abortion possible. There's. The abortion pill is now the most popular method of abortion in America. We're actually gonna have a conversation later this month with Lila Rose, who is the founder and president of Live Action. And I expect that this topic will come up there because mifepristone has been an issue, has been a huge issue ever since the Dobbs case. Back in 2022. There was a heroic, yes, a heroic court ruling from a district court judge in Texas by the name of Matthew Kaczmarek. I used to be colleagues of Matthew Kaczmarek at First Liberty. He is maybe the single most outstanding federal district court judge in America. I'm a huge fan of Kacmarek's. Judge Kaczmarek ruled against the abortion pill in a procedural context when it comes to some administrative rule kind of in the weeds, legal stuff there. He ruled against it in a pretty heroic and courageous ruling, I would argue there. Long story short, this ruling ends up being affirmed by a panel on the 5th Circuit, the federal appeals court that I clerked on. This happened just this past Friday, actually. It was actually. It's actually a unanimous panel, three to zero. You had Judge Kyle Duncan writing opinion essentially affirming that the Biden administration illegally acted to lessen the requirements in order to get the abortion pill. So the Biden administration basically said that the abortion pill, you don't actually need to go in person to Planned Parenthood or some Other godforsaken, heathen, satanic, demonic abortion provider. No, you can actually just get it via telemedicine. So you call up, I want abortion. Okay, here you go. You know, basically treating the abortion pill like it's Tylenol, which it's not. It's actually a potentially lethal drug. Again, more on that later this month when we bring on Lila Rose. Long story short, Fifth Circuit affirms Judge Kaczmarek and then Supreme Court puts a brief, brief stay on this. That stay actually just, just happened on Monday. A lot of people are trying to read into this. I would encourage you not to read much into this. This is very typical procedure when it comes to how the Supreme Court operates. They are oftentimes going to stay a lower court ruling for a week or two in the context of one of these emergency appeals on the so called shadow docket. Give the parties more time trying to get their briefs and their arguments in order there when it comes to a ruling or decision. More on the merits. So I would not read much into this. It was actually Sam Alito. Speaking of Alito, Alito was the justice who actually issued this day. Anyone who thinks that Sam Alito has any sympathy whatsoever for the abortion pill is gravely mistaken over who Sam Alito is and all that he represents. He actually was the guy who wrote the Dawes majority opinion there. So I would encourage you not to read too much into this. The abortion bill itself tends to poll favorably for the most part, with the American population at large. So a poll from Pew, one of America's most widely known pollsters. This poll was just about two months ago on March 12th. So 60% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Now 38% say that it should be illegal. That's a little less than the 50, 50 divide that we used to have in most abortion polling. Again, these things fluctuate sometimes based on the year. So the abortion pill is not exactly a winning political issue for Republicans. I don't claim that it is. What I do claim is that this is an issue of principle. If you believe, as I do, that life begins at conception, at fertilization. And by the way, there are studies on this. There have literally been global surveys of biologists. I used to know a guy who got his Ph.D. actually, and he, among his things that he did to get his doctoral degree, he actually surveyed three and a half, 4,000 biologists around the world. When does life begin? 95 percent said at fertilization. So if you take that seriously, then you have to accept that mifepristone is problematic. So we'll see what the Court does. But this is the current abortion fight. The current abortion fight, at least the federal level, is the fact that the fda, which is under hhs, under Bobby Kennedy's agency, they have not fully, not fully done, in my opinion, have not done enough to go backwards on the Biden administration's attempts to universalize and to disseminate and to spread more generally the abortion pill. That is really where the pro life fight at a federal level currently is at this moment. Finally, just a brief word. Perhaps we will revisit this later this week. Clarence Thomas, the single greatest living American in my estimation, man who just gave a sweeping speech at the University of Texas just a few weeks ago, about an hour long speech about the notion that progressivism is irreconcilable with American Constitutionalism. This week he's becoming the second longest serving justice in the history of the United States Supreme Court. That is an incredible achievement. Frankly, if he hangs on for just a little longer. So he's actually, he's passing John Paul Stevens this week. If he stays until May 20, 2028, he will pass William Douglas to become the longest serving justice literally ever. We'll see if that happens. The rumors as we've reported here are swirling. There could be a retirement this summer, likely Alito or Thomas. Although Molly Hemingway thinks it actually will be John Roberts. We shall see. Clarence Thomas is just an incredible human being. There's no other way to say it. He has a shocking life story. Growing up dirt poor, didn't even speak English, living in the Jim Crow south, has risen to the heights of his profession. And he is such a staunch, principled man who never ever, ever, ever ceases to do that which he believes is right and proper. All in service of upholding and defending the Constitution. That is the greatest charter for self governance ever crafted by men ever. Thomas is the most principled originals on the court. He is an icon. Watch his documentary from a few years ago that they did on him, Create Equal. It's an amazing, amazing documentary film. But for now, congratulations Justice Thomas on becoming the second longest serving justice ever. You sir, are a hero and an inspiration to so so many of us. Folks. Have a great rest of your evening. Josh Hammer signing off for now. We'll be right back. As always, Josh,
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