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The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time, scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. I'm Josh Hammer and this is the Josh Hammer Show. So much to get to. Pete Hegseth and Raisin Dan Cain had another joint press conference this morning at the Pentagon. What is the latest when it comes to Operation Epic Fury? Meanwhile, another sad related sports story. And I'm not still bemoaning my beloved Duke basketball team. Rather this time I'm talking about Tiger woods and a horrific DUI happening on Jupiter island here in South Florida last Friday. We've not discussed this. What what does the fall from grace say about Tiger Woods? There's a lot to unpack on that story. But for now, there are two major headlines of the day that we want to focus on. And we begin therefore with this. There was a huge victory actually at Supreme Court this morning when it comes to free speech. Another case out of Colorado, another huge loss for Colorado in a culture war case. We'll get to that just momentarily. A man who was a culture warrior par excellence and a friend of mine is back in the news and it is Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk who really has not gotten out of the news since his horrific, unfathomable assassination last September 10th at Utah Valley University. He is now back in the news because of a court filing that the defense attorneys for Tyler Robinson, who is the alleged assassin and the overwhelming evidence thus far suggests that he is the sole and exclusive assassin. So his defense attorneys have submitted a court filing to the court there in Utah that is driving the crazies to just double and triple down as they've been doing for months and months and months and saying that, oh, Tyler Robinson did not act alone. Oh, there was someone involved there. Maybe the Egyptian planes were involved. Maybe it was, oh yeah, you guessed it, the Jews. Maybe it was Mossad, Israel. Insert your just stupid conspiracy talking point of the day. Now the idiots have been sowing the seeds of doubt when it comes to the Charlie Crook assassination since literally he was dead. Maybe, honestly, since he wasn't even pronounced dead at the trauma center yet, maybe Just as soon as he was hit, they were immediately saying that it was this or that. But they've been doing this for a very, very long time now. And there was a brand new court filing, as reported by the Daily Mail, that is just sending all the crazies into all new fits of hysteria. Marjorie Taylor Greene, you know the part that I just can't quite realize? A lot of these people, I mean, Candace Owens is in a whole nother league, but. Marjorie Taylor Greene, you've screenshotted text conversations of you and Charlie Kirk. You posted this. You and Charlie knew each other. I don't know if you were close, but you definitely knew each other. You were in communication. He invited you to speak to your conferences. And this is how you treat the deceased. This is how you do this, by fanning the flames of just countless conspiracies while you're letting a grieving widow, Erica Kirk, in this case, just, just cry. And to be torn to shreds by some of the worst propagandists and the worst provocateurs out there, it's just utterly shameful. So Marjorie Taylor Greene was among those just making hay of this new court filings. This new court filing essentially says, again, it's coming from Tyler Robinson's defense attorneys. Very important caveats. Okay? These are his defense attorneys making the best possible argument they can make for their clients. And in a new filing, the defense attorneys there have argued out there in Utah court, they are alleging that atf, which is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, posters housed within DOJ bureaucracy. They are alleging that atf, quote, was unable to identify the bullet recovered at autopsy to the rifle allegedly tied to Mr. Robinson. So there are approximately a million things that could be going on here. One is atf, they're saying, was unable to identify the bullet. Well, first of all, just how much of a concert effort were they actually trying to make to try to find the bullet? The bullet also could have been mangled, or a million things could have happened to that bullet. There were a lot of people speculating that the bullet itself, the fatal shot, might not have directly hit Charlie in the neck, might have actually hit his body armor, his vest, and then ricocheted into the neck. A bullet traveling at that sort of distance, hitting a very serious rifle resistant body, arm, vest, would have severely, severely mangled and twisted the bullet. More generally speaking, though, this filing, they're saying the rifle is allegedly. There's like, there's like a triple or quadruple alleged going on here. And again, the most important point Is that these are his defense attorneys. They are getting paid to make the most compelling arguments they can get to a man who seems to us to be clearly guilty. How do I know that? Tyler Robinson, again, you're technically innocent, proven guilty. But he seems really, really guilty. How do I know that? Well, he freaking confessed to it. He confessed to it pretty quickly, actually. To his freak furry of a roommate with whom he was alleged to be in a transgender romantic relationship. He confessed to his father. His father, who was the one to turn him in. He confessed. He literally admitted that he did it. All these text messages have been subpoenaed. They are in the court's view. We have seen him confess to the crime. This is not in doubt. More even than that, we have seen these shell casings that came from his rifle. And they completely matched the notion that this guy was a pro transgender activist in a transgender adjacent furry relationship with his roommate, it seems. And he put pro transgender, pro Marxist messaging on the shell casings. This is one of the first things that was one of the first stories in this very trying, emotionally horrific first few days after Charlie's assassination. There were several reported PBS at the time, several quote, seemingly sarcastic, irreverent phrases, many of which are common in gaming and online communities. These are the communities that Ty Robinson was known to frequent online along with his furry transgender roomma. He engraved them on the bullets and on the shell casings. Even the lyrics to Bella Chow, the very well known Italian pro Marxist, anti fascist old song. The words there were on the shell casings as well, or at least some words of it. So I'm not sure else to say. We have an E we haven't said in the show. We talk a lot on the show about brain rot. This is just another instance of brain rot. The difference between this particular form of brain rot and some of the other forms of brain rotation is that this has the horrific effect of impacting real world lives. You are making a widow, in this case, Erica Kirk, suffer every time you tweet out, oh, my God, we don't know that Tyron did it. Or if you're Joe Kent, the disgraced former director of the National Counterterrorism Center. And now Joe Kent is saying that he's prepared, if need be, to testify for the defense, testify for Tyler Robinson's trial. What is wrong with you, Charlie? Museum producers like Joe Kent. What? And now you're saying that you're so into your stupid Elders of the Protocol of Zion style dripping brain rot op conspiracies that you might testify for the defense. It's just disgusting stuff. Ultimately, this case seems to us here on the show to be very, very open and shut. Charlie spoke repeatedly about his opposition to brain rot. He actually called Jew hatred, hatred of Jews, one of the leading examples of brain rot in contemporary society. So it is dripping with irony and dripping with disgrace that many of the folks today who are trying to get to the truth, again, the truth seems pretty clear to us here on the show. These people are trying to get to the quote, unquote, truth. That's what they're purporting to be doing. In actuality, what they're doing is just engaging in one big, giant act of brain rot. You, the audience, know better. You will not let your brain be rotted. I want to turn to this huge Supreme Court free speech victory here momentarily. For now, folks, just a quick word from a sponsor. Our sponsor on today's show is ifcga, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Let me paint you a picture. It's midnight, sirens blare. You have only seconds to grab your child and run. Now imagine you're elderly. Your legs don't work like they used to. Getting downstairs feels impossible. And after all of that, you end up in a bomb shelter for hours, even days, because you can't make that trek again. That's what is happening across Israel as Operation Epic Fury continues. Children are being traumatized. Families are exhausted. Homes have been destroyed. That's why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is there on the ground bringing food, emergency equipment, care for children and help for the elderly, and supplying bomb shelters and medical centers with critically needed essentials. If you've ever wondered now what it looks like to stand for Israel and stand for good against evil, this is it. Now please ask, give $45 right now to rush life saving essentials to the vulnerable under fire. 888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-IFCj or go online at ifcj.org, ifcj.org, our sponsor today is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. So there was a wonderful victory for free speech, an issue that Charlie Kerr cared a lot about, I might add, at the U.S. supreme Court this morning. And it marks another loss for the state of Colorado in a string of high profile culture war cases for the state of Colorado. So first of Colorado attempted to oppress poor Jack Phillips, who is the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop. It is a cake shop, as the name would imply, in the near suburbs, the inner ring suburbs of Denver, Colorado. Jack Phillips is a man of faith. He is a devout Christian and he did not want to be compelled against his religious principles, against his free speech rights to bake cakes to celebrate things that he deems to be immoral and contrary to the tenets of his convictions and indeed of his faith. So he refused, goes the standard narrative to bake cakes celebrating same sex nuptials. If you go back and actually read the dissenting opinion of Sam Alito, more in particular in the same sex marriage case in 2015 Obergefell, you will see that he predicted this exact thing would happen. So a score one yet again for the great Justice Sam Alito. Colorado didn't just lose in Masterpiece Cake Shop and thank goodness they did lose in that case. They also lost in a major free speech case a few years ago called 303Creative, a very similar First Amendment free speech case where Colorado essentially took in this case, not a cake shop owner. In this case they actually took a Christian couple, I believe it was, who were involved in the wedding marriage invitation wedding design business. And similarly, a client, same sex couple says to them, I want you to design the invitations or the website for a wedding. And they say no for the same reason that Jack Phillips said no, understandably. So they sued and thank goodness they lost. So Three3Creative came out at the Supreme Court a few years ago as well. So the latest culture war case to come out of the state of Colorado and the stinking loss this time by an 8 to 1 margin came actually just this morning at the United States Supreme Court. So the case is Chiles versus Salazar. It was brought by Kelly Chiles, who is a licensed counselor, a psychological counselor who describes herself as a practicing Christian who sometimes provides counseling that is informed by her faith. She wished to offer talk therapy to minors who express interest or the parents do in reducing feelings of same sex attraction or other words just want to feel more comfortable in their own bodies. The problem, the problem for Ms. Chiles is that Colorado had passed a law in 2019 essentially trying to ban so called conversion therapy, which is a loaded term in of itself for minors. The upshot is that Colorado got absolutely smashed by the US Supreme Court today by a just utterly delectable 8:1 margin. Katanj von Jackson, not exactly covering herself in glory here in this ascent. We'll have the full details for you momentarily, folks. We'll be right back after a short commercial break. Much more on the other side. Hello, it is Ryan. And I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite Social Spin slot games on jumbaccasino.com I looked over the person sitting next to me and you know what they were doing? They were also playing Chumba Casino. Everybody's loving having fun with it. Chumba Casino's home to hundreds of casino style games that you can play for free anytime, anywhere. So sign up now@chumbacasino.com to claim your free welcome bonus. That's chumbacasino.com and live the Chumba Life Sponsored by Chumba Casino. No purchase necessary vgw group void we're prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions conditions apply. Welcome back. So before the break, we were starting to explain this huge victory for free speech out of the state of Colorado. Again, the margin just leaps off the page. Typically in these so called ideological cases, or at least very often you get this 6, 3 split where you have the Republican nominee Justice and the Democrat nominee Justice on the other side. Obviously that's not always how it shapes out. In particular, you have some Republican nominee Justice such as John Roberts, Amy Coney Barrett. Probably above all, every so often you get Kavanaugh Gorsuch, who will defect to join the liberals there. But this leaps off the page because it is an 8 to 1 result. So even Elena Kagan and Sonia Semayor in a concurring opinion end up joining the majority essentially in declaring that this law is null and void because it is unconstitutional and violative of the United States First Amendment. So long story short, what the court says is that when you are trying specifically to condition the licensing, in this case the licensing of the psychological profession, psychologists, psychiatrists, et cetera, there's when you are conditioning that on the content, on the substance of the types of speech that can and cannot be said there, you can't do that. That is a restriction on free speech. If you actually look at the text of the free speech clause, the First Amendment is a very clever argument that I've seen Philip Hamburger, the brilliant Columbia Law School professor, make the word the verb that is actually used by the framers of the text. It speaks of abridging, abridging the freedom of speech. A bridge, if you were being close textualist here, a bridge. They actually had a much lower threshold than simp. To outright censor, to abridge is to do anything whatsoever, to put any kind of thumb on the scale either in favor of some forms of speech or against other forms of speech. And clearly that is what the state of Colorado tried to do here by saying that if you are a therapist and you want to Try to counsel your clients when it comes to things like sex, sexuality and gender, then you're out of bounds for doing so. As long as you are talking about anything informed essentially by your faith and you're coming from a perspective that that same sex attraction, while going back for thousands of years, is something that should be avoided and that same sex nuptials relationships are something that are immoral and that are contrary to thousands of years of biblical civilization. So exception of Colorado said that you can't actually say that on your show. And the Supreme Court, again by an 8 to 1 margin is quite correctly saying that this is not permissible. So just a quick quote for you from the final page of the The Neil Gorsuch 23 page majority opinion. Justice Gorsuch writes, quote, colorado may regard its policy as essential to public health and safety. Certainly censorious governments throughout history have believed the same, but the First Amendment stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country. Pretty stirring stuff. The Supreme Court has been very, very good actually on the issue of free speech for a number of years now. Really, they've been very, very consistent in affirming free speech. I don't even actually know at the top of my head what the last example of a Supreme Court case to actually come out against free speech is. It's a very interesting question. I would have to really kind of do a legal search and find the point is it is there is no high profile recent example. There's not a single recent term high profile recent example that I can think of of the Court citing against free speech or frankly the Court siding against religious liberty. This Court has been very, very, very strong on the First Amendment. In fact, if you're trying to sum up the Roberts court as a whole, we've now seen two plus decades of the Roberts Court led by Chief Justice John Roberts, a man who is very, very far from perfect. I have been extremely critical of John Roberts at various times over the course of his career. But if we're now taking the longer two decade plus long view of the Roberts Corps, there are at least three areas that leap off the page as far as what this Court is very strong on. One is free speech. Two is religious liberty. Three, I would argue also is federalism. There's been a very pro federalism, pro state sovereignty type of court as well. That's not saying that they are consistently trying to undermine national sovereignty, rather is that they have been generally, not perfectly, but generally very good at affirming ratifying America's unique, unique dual sovereignty structure when it comes to both the national government being sovereign and the states being sovereign as well. Now, the most delectable part of this Chiles vs Salazar opinion are the dueling languages between the Elena Kagan concurring opinion in which Sonia Soamura joins and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Ketanji Brown Jackson is really kind of just the gift that keeps on giving. This is a, this is a woman who infamously couldn't even tell us what a woman was. If you think back to her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing In March of 2022, she was asked that very question point blank by Marsha Blackburn center of Tennessee and literally said she doesn't know. So presumably she doesn't actually know. I mean, I take right a word. We should take people at the word right. So I presumably don't know. And presumably she does not know what a woman is. So one she doesn't actually know whether she's a woman. More relevant for contemporary purposes, how is she qualified to adjudicate a content neutrality and viewpoint neutrality disputed free speech case out of Colorado that involves sexual orientation and the differences between male and female? How can she adjudicate here if she just admitted she doesn't even know the definition between male and female? It's just nuts. It's just nuts. And it shows just the idiocy of left wing intersectional wokeism really taken to a very high level. Much more to say on this, but for now, actually I want to just do another quick word from our other sponsor for today's show, which is Angel Angel Studios. You know, I recently joined the Angel Guild and I watched this amazing documentary that they produced called Death of Recess and I wasn't as bad thing as but you really need to see it. It is quite exceptional. It is very much well worth your time. What Death of Recess lays out is quite staggering. The modern classroom didn't just happen. It was built, it was intentionally centralized and it was protected by many powerful institutions. When you follow the money and the influence groups like the nea, the labor union, you start to understand why test scores are collapsing while the system keeps demanding more and more. The problem is that parents are being pushed out, kids are being pulled into ideological battles, and even something as basic as recess is actually disappearing. This is what happens when the teachers unions stand up to protect their own as opposed to the interests of children. And it's exactly why platforms like Angel Studios matter, because they're willing to tell stories others won't. You can go to angel.com hammer to join the Angel Guild and watch Death of Recess right now. Trust me folks, I watch this as the son of teacher, son of my grandmother's teacher. I come from a lineage of teachers. Great stuff. Well worth your time. Angel.com hammer to join the Angel Guild and watch the new documentary Death of Recess. So Katanj about Jackson is really just the gift that keeps on giving. And the way that I know this is that even Elena Kagan in her concurring opinion this morning came out blistering against Jackson and just really just excoriating her, essentially accusing him. Accusing her, excuse me, of. Well, I'm not sure if it's her or him because Jackson doesn't even know whether it's. Whether she is a her or him. I can't even citizen make it make sense because it doesn't. Anyway, Kagan in her footnote essentially accuses Jackson of not understanding what the law of the United States is. I mean, I mean that's not exaggeration. That's basically what she said. So here's an actual footnote from this Kagan concurring opinion. She writes, quote, just as Jackson's dissenting opinion claims, this is a small or even non existent category. But even her own opinion, when listing laws supposedly put at risk today offers quite a few examples. Her view to the contrary rests on reimagining and in that way collapsing the well settled distinction between viewpoint based and other content based speech restrictions. So it's not worth doing a deep dive in this perhaps another day. There are various types of alleged free speech violations. You learn this in any free speech class in law school. Essentially Kagan is saying that Jackson like literally just does not understand that like did not compute when she learned it in law school. Maybe she just didn't learn it at all there. This Woman's on the U.S. supreme Court. You know, I remember when Joe Biden announced, after Stephen Breyer announced that he was resigning in January 2022, he announced that that would take effect at the end of the term. In that, that summer, in late June, I read that Joe Biden announced that he was going to limit his search to only black female attorneys. He said that and he was trying to affirm a campaign promise. He actually made that campaign promise back in 2020. He was probably trying to shore up the black Democrat vote. He said a lot of this in the primary. A lot of it was kind of doubled down on in the aftermath of the death of the great martyr Saint George Floyd. And Biden said after Breyer announced resignation that he would only announce a black woman. The problem is that black women, last I checked, are 2% of the national lawyer pool in America. Two, not 22. You take 100 lawyers, pick them out of a hat, two are going to be black females. Now, if you think that that is inherently a glaring problem, then maybe, just maybe, you might want to try to do something about it. In terms of trying to do, I don't know, affirmative action, even though that's illegal, other ways to try to redress this alleged problem. To me, that's not inherently a problem. I don't buy this notion that because there is a disparity that is inherently discriminatory or inherently problematic. Anyway, that's another day. The point is, you're gonna run a real risk, aren't you, of not getting the brightest bulb, not getting the sharpest tool in the shed. Talk about Jackson is so radical that she is making Sonia Sotomayor the one time darling of Rachel Maddow and the MSNBC circuit. Jax is making Sotomayor look like a relative moderated comparison. Insane stuff. She is the gift that keeps on giving. She's pushing away even her left wing colleagues towards the very reasonable center. Hopefully she will be around and staying in this stupid, utterly inane crap for a long time. Because frankly, it's not just good for the court, it's frankly, ironically, it actually ends up being good for the country. So there's one more I want to get to, but just say a quick final word for now on this free speech victory out of Colorado this morning. So this was an 8:1 case, and I hear it asked sometimes, is there always going to be someone who's going to dissent on solo grounds just to make sure that the case does not come out 9 to 0 to make sure that the litigant doesn't feel like that he truly, truly wastes his time. And the answer is no. There are nine zero cases at the U.S. supreme Court. There definitely are unanimous opinions. It's not necessarily every day that you see one, but they do exist. So this actually really is nothing other than Tanja Brown Jackson just being a total, complete fool. And again, my, my take here is that her being a fool is actually helpful in the long run. In the short run, I'm sure that she is continuing the, the, the brain rot of a lot of impressionable, vulnerable young liberal law students in America. But because she is so stupid, frankly, and just so utterly radical, and she's clearly alienating even Elena Kagan and Sonia Semor, it's going to have the long term effect of alienating anyone who's not a total dimwit away from her position. And in the long run that is going to militate, I think, in favor of constitutional sanity and in favor, just generally speaking, of better and sounder court rulings from the nine robed oracles. One interesting final note here from the U.S. supreme Court. So because the way that this is structured, they typically rotate the justice to write opinions from different sittings throughout the calendars, the term famously begins in October and then it ends in late June. Sometimes they go into July, but it's usually October to June and in any given sitting, so October, November, December sitting, et cetera there there are usually Justices who then will write an opinion from that sitting later on the term when it get when it comes time to turn around opinions to actually write them. That's this time of the year March, April, May, June, etc. It's worth noting, as the excellent X account SCOTUS Wire observed this morning, that Justice Sam Alito is the only justice who has not yet written a majority opinion for the Court's October setting. And the major case out of October setting that has not been announced yet, it could come down any day now is the highly, highly charged, contentious race based redistricting case that could could be a huge conservative victory under the Voting Rights act of 1965. We will see. But if the court watchers are right on this one and Alito actually gets his opinion in this VRA case, that could be a genuine, genuine victory for Team Civilizational Sanity. A quick addendum before moving on here on the topic of the federal judiciary more generally. I had a bunch of people send me this interesting article this morning out of Northwestern University about how a lot of federal judges are reporting a broader adoption of AI tools. Apparently in a new survey, more than half of the responding federal judges reported using at least one AI tool over the course of their judicial work. My basic take on this is that most people these days in the white collar professions use AI. I'm sorry to say it. I'm sorry if you just think that everyone is doing it now on their own. But AI is here. And AI is not just going to transform the world. It is already transforming the world. I'm not predicting necessarily that that's going to be catastrophic in terms of mass layoffs, that that definitely could happen, at least in certain industries there. But there are ways to use this tool and there are ways to not use this tool. For instance, if you are a federal judge and you are ruling on a let's call it a section 1983 claim when it comes to an allegation of deprivation of constitutional rights. You probably shouldn't Type into the AI. Write me a 25 page majority opinion. No, I mean you should be impeached for doing that, to be clear. But if you're using AI to try to get sources, to try to aggregate sources, and this is going to save you time as opposed to doing it the old fashioned way of going to the old school legal databases, I don't have a problem with that. There's any number of ethical ways to use AI. There's any number of unethical ways to use AI, but virtually every white collar professional uses AI. One of my attorneys, in my private life, one of my own attorneys actually recently told me, told me that he, that he, that he used AI to help him draft the document that I needed as part of our ongoing closing and purchase of our first home here in South Florida. So this is very much happening in the real world. It's nothing inherently to be terrified of, but it is imperative, of course, that all this technology ultimately be regulated and channeled towards human flourishing and the common good, which ought to be the conservative approach of every technology platform unless there is a show. We talk about this in the context of social media. So too it applies just as much if not more when it comes now to the topic of AI. So in other news and international news specifically, the operation in Iran is continuing and there's no necessarily, there's no end in sight. It is definitely not our stance that there should be an artificially imposed manufactured end in sight. We discussed as a great length on yesterday's show with our guest Rebecca Heimrich. Make sure to go ahead and check that episode out in case you missed him. The latest was a fiery post on Truth Social this morning from the Commander in Chief, Donald J. Trump, who said this. He said, quote, all of those countries that can't get fuel because of these straight of Hormuz like the United Kingdom, which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran. I have a suggestion for you. And his suggestion is, number one, buy from the United States, we have plenty. Number two, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait of Hormuz and just take it. Frankly, seems to me like a lot of common sense. America is the number one producer and exporter of oil and natural gas in the world. I think a lot of folks don't actually realize this because it's actually only happened in the past 20ish years, maybe in the last 15 years specifically. Actually, Trump got us there to a net export of energy. Biden took us way back because of all these stupid environmental regulations. And now Trump, in just the first year plus of his second term, has now solidified America as the number one exporter of oil, natural gas. I think a lot of people, people think it's Canada, it's Russia, it's Saudi Arabia, Iran, it's this or that. No, it's actually the United States. So you, these guys could purchase from us. Trump is totally right that more generally, this notion of going to the Strait of Hormuz, you know, are these allies, actual allies or not? Our definition of an ally here on the show is that when the ally acts, when a country acts in its own national interest, and that national interest has the secondary or tertiary effect of helping the American national interests, that is a good heuristic and easy thumbs up, thumbs down test as weathered as a proxy. So by not taking any action really whatsoever, other than sending a few symbolic soldiers or sailors to the straits, are the European countries showing that they are allies or demonstrating that they are not allies? I think, frankly, it's an open question and it's a question, frankly, that your mileage may vary on. For what it's worth, Secretary of War Pete Hex, as I mentioned at the outset, had this joint press briefing at the Pentagon early this morning with our outstanding chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Raisin Kaine, and he was explaining here about how the Strait of Hormuz is actually not just an American problem, it's really an international problem. So let's go ahead and play Clip three.
- [30:28]
B
This Strait of Hormuz issue, which we've set the conditions for success and we will make sure Iran knows that very clearly is not just the United States of America problem set. We've been willing to lead President Trump's lead the entire time, but it's not just us. So ultimately, I think other countries should pay attention when the President speaks. He's proven that when he speaks, he means something. And he's pointing out, you know, you might, might want to start learning how to fight for yourself.
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A
That would be a very good idea. I mean, Trump basically saying that on true social, like basically saying, we're not always going to be there for you European powers, you probably should learn how to fend for yourself. Once upon a time, Europe knew darn well how to fend for themselves. All the wars they've been in, all the wars they've started, the wars they fought among themselves, within themselves. It's a very valuable lesson. I wouldn't bet on the Europeans actually heeding that advice, but if they were smart and they had their wits about them, they would do without that. Hegseth also at this same presser talking about how the last 24 hours actually saw the lowest number of total drones and missiles launched by Iran since the war started. Let's go ahead and play Clipfire for you as well.
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B
Of Note, the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran. They will go underground, but we will find them. We recently destroyed another one of their command bunkers. Leaders forced to flee. No water, no power, no oxygen, no command and control. Their faith in their caves diminishing. The latest intel is clear out of centcom. Our strikes are damaging the morale of the Iranian military, leading to widespread desertions, key personnel shortages and causing frustrations amongst senior leaders. Just last night we had 200 dynamic strikes alone.
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A
So the operation clearly is not coming to a rapid end. Just how rapidly or how slowly this conflict comes to an end continues to be the source of much speculation. It's worth noting that actually the other day on Air Force One when Trump is talking about how we're involved in negotiations and end might be in sight, it's worth noting that he actually said that Pete Hegseth was not particularly happy about this, that he seems to be enjoying the fact that America is finally taking on a 47 year long adversary that has thought of itself as being in a state of war against the United States for a very, very long time now. Hegseth and Dan Cain have really boosted their profiles over the course of this war. In my CPAC speech, I refer to Hegseth as emerging as a clarion voice of American resolve, as a consummate wartime consigliere. He was a disputed nominee for the Pentagon, as you may recall there. He has really, really shown his true colors here and his true colors, frankly are very, very good. Folks, one final break. Stay with us. We'll be right back with more on the other side. Welcome back. So we were unpacking just before the break this joint press conference this morning at the Pentagon between Pete Hegseth and Dan Cain. I have personally been very much looking forward to these joint press conferences. I think these two men have handled themselves quite adeptly with aplomb, we might say, since this conflict got underway. Another thing that was that was addressed this morning I think is worth unpacking a little bit. There is this ever thorny question hovering in the background of Boots on the ground is it going to happen. It's not going to happen there. Hexath addressed this one straight on as well. Here was the answer to that. Let's go ahead and play. Clip 4.
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B
As far as President Trump and boots on the ground, I don't understand why the base, which they have already, they understand, wouldn't have faith in his ability to execute on this. Look at his track record of pursuing peace through strength America first outcomes. What he's simply saying, and it's exactly true, and I've said from this podium too, we're not going to foreclose any option. You can't fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do to include boots on the ground. Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are. So if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the President of the United States and this department. Or maybe we don't have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work or maybe there's a different approach. The point is to be unpredictable in that.
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Look, you're not going to foreclose any options, but it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen in any capacity that you would think of it as being boots on the ground. If there are actual physical boots on the ground, those boots on the ground will look like a small presence on Kharg island trying to take the Iranian oil refining exporting facilities, trying to take some other strategic waterways near the Strait of Hormuz. I do not think that the folks who are starting to fret over an ever spiraling escalation that you have much to worry about here when it comes to the notion of boots on the ground. If I were making a prediction, I would actually predict that things are going to slightly escalate in the short term in service of a mid to long term off ramp. This is coming up to be a holiday weekend, obviously. So Jews begin Passover Wednesday nights. And more importantly, from an American perspective, it's also Easter Sunday. It is. This is Good Friday and Easter Sunday. So if you're trying to catch the Iranians off guard, this would be a very strategic time to do it. If you're the Iranians, you probably don't expect the United States to come attacking you on the weekend where there is Good Friday, Easter Sunday and at another point there in the press conference this morning, Hegsat talking about how the US And Israel were tag teaming Just last night, like literally just last night to bomb the crap out of certain IRGC installations, the Iranian capital of Iran. So if you're trying to cast the Emmy off guard, and Donald Trump is definitely someone who is trying to cast the enemy off guard, essentially repeatedly, he's quite good at it, actually. Then it just seems to me that this would be a very, very good time to go ahead and do that. In the interim, though, you're going to hear a lot of people continue to say, cut this out, end this, end this, end this. While these. While the price of gasoline goes up. I get it. The price of gasoline, I believe, was this morning. The national average, according to AAA, was just over $4, $4 at the pump per gallon. Just prior to the war, it was $2.98. So it's gone up, according to AAA, by over a dollar a gallon on the national average since the war. So that's a lot. That is a lot. I mean, no one's downplaying that. Absolutely no one. That is a serious, serious issue and a serious potential political handicap for Republicans and the Trump administration and their allies in this election year. Coming up on the elections this fall, however, however, you don't take this kind of action, you don't stop kicking the can down the road after 47 years of Iranian harassment against US AR interests unless you are prepared to finish the job and finish the job here, which Hegseth said. He said that he. So Hegseth actually made a surprise visit to the troops and he paid them a visit and he said how the number one thing he heard was not end this war. I'm scared. In fact, if you remember, earlier in the war, there was actually an incident where there were four American airmen in the fighter jets who were shot down in Kuwaiti friendly fire. They actually all survived, praise be to God. And what Hegsett said is not only that, are all four of those men still involved in Operation Epic Fury. They were all personally flying over Tehran last night and dropping bombs against the irgc. What valor. What amazing courage. So for the Panicans and the denizens of Podcastistan, as I called them, my CPAC speech, the folks involved in this brain rot op on the right, we're just saying, end this. End this. It's evil. It's evil, says Tucker Carlson. Maybe, just maybe, listen to the actual men who were there, who, according to our Secretary of War, deliver one message in unison, passionately, which is finish the job. Now, again, finish the job does not mean full scale regime change. This is not the de Ba' athification of Iraq. As Rebecca Heinrich explained in our show yesterday, rather, this is a more prudential military action, ultimately, ultimately attempting to neutralize the Islamic Republic of Iran as a threat to the United States and our interests. That is the goal. And when that is achieved, which is not quite achieved yet, when is achieved, then we will have the ability at that point to try to cut tail and to find some sort of off ramp asap. A quick note. Just when it comes to Islamic terrorism, the FBI has apparently confirmed that the horrific attack at the Reformed Synagogue in the suburban Detroit, Michigan area that happened a couple weeks ago, which we knew that this guy, the lone wolf jihadist who tried to kill a bunch of Jewish children, we knew that he came from a Hezbollah family, that his brothers were killed because they were Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, that they were killed by the id. The FBI, apparently under Kapsel, is now confirming that this attack indeed was a Hezbollah inspired act of terrorism, purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan. So say the official of the FBI on Monday, Jennifer Runyon, the head of the FBI in Detroit, the local office, saying that at a news conference, none of this is the least bit surprising. The policy solutions here should be somewhat straightforward. Ish, which is one, stop fricking letting in Hezbollah people into this country. Hello. On green cards, on visas as citizens, for God's sake. What are we thinking? Just unbelievable stuff. And then the other policy is if you are Jewish, you should really train with weapons. You should really, really train with weapons. King David speaks about it in the opening line of Psalms, chapter 144, about training our fingers for war. And you too must think of your security day in, day out. You might not like to think of it this way, but that's what's happening. You should think of yourself as being a situation where you should be constantly thinking and training about the possibility of violence. There is no harm in being prepared for the worse, even if, praise be to God, we all pray, we all pray that those moments of active shooters simply will never happen. Now I want to close this show by talking about another somewhat dour sports related topics. So on yesterday's show, I was talking about what I still cannot quite mentally process as this unfathomable, inexplicable collapse by my favorite team in all sports, Duke basketball, on Sunday against UConn in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, a loss that will haunt Duke fans for quite literally decades and decades. Today I want to have a brief word about Tiger Woods. Tiger woods was arrested this past Friday in Jupiter Island, Florida, he had a flipped suv, a flipped Range Rover. He was arrested for dui. Now, the day prior to that, I got lunch with someone. And he and I are both big golf fans. And we're actually talking about the possibility of Tiger competing at the Masters in Augusta, Georgia in a few weeks. And we were talking about how Tiger is still ripped. I mean, look at the guy. He still trains. He's now invested with his son, who's a prodigy golfer. And then the very next day, Tiger is arrested for being totally drunk out of his mind in the middle of the day and flipping his suv. Tiger has a long history when it comes to substance abuse, when it comes to driving and crashing. There was a horrific accident in California a few years ago, a Horrific accident in 2017 in Palm Beach County, Florida. Apparently even before this crash, the New York Post reported that Secret Service wouldn't let Tiger woods drive President Trump's grandchildren. Like before this most recent crash because he was so well known as a threat behind the wheel. Tiger woods was my favorite athlete growing up. I, like so many of my generation, first picked up a golf club because of Tiger Woods. When I was in middle school, I did a project based on Tiger woods biography. I used to wear the Nike hats on the golf course. I watched Tiger play live at a couple of tournaments, rooted for him every time he set foot on the course. Every single time. Watching his fall from grace has been a very painful thing, I think for many people to process. Yours truly included. At this point, my only wish for Tiger woods is that he hangs up the golf. Don't think about it. Let it go for now. You want to come back on the Senior Tour a few years down the line? Fine. That would be awesome. Get your life in order, man. Get your life in order. You're a father. You're still a global icon. You're still an inspiration to so many. You changed a sport single handedly. Act like it, think like it. You need the help of alcohol Anonymous, whatever. Please get that help. But you're better than this, man. We all loved you so much. And right now we still love you. But more importantly than that, genuinely, really, we're praying for you folks. Have a great rest of your evening. Josh Hammer signing off for now. We'll be right back. Tomorrow.