Michael Knowles (0:00)

These are questions that take cultures thousands of years to answer. During Answer the Call, I take questions from people just like you about their problems, opportunities, challenges, or when they simply need advice.

Beto O'Rourke (0:12)

How do I balance all of this?

Michael Knowles (0:14)

Grief, responsibility? How do you repair this kind of damage? My daughter Mikayla guides the conversations as we hopefully help people navigate their lives. Everyone has their own destiny. Everyone. As President Trump reasserts federal Authority over Washington, D.C. former future President Beto O' Rourke has a message for his fellow Democrats. We are in a basketball game right.

Beto O'Rourke (0:44)

Now, if you'll excuse the metaphor, where the refs have left the arena and the other side is just clobbering the out of us, just punching us in the face, kicking us in the nuts. And we're kind of throwing our hands.

Michael Knowles (0:54)

Up and we're asking the crowd, the.

Beto O'Rourke (0:56)

People of America, hey, do you see what's going on here? This is unfair.

Michael Knowles (1:00)

This isn't the rules that we agreed to play by.

Beto O'Rourke (1:03)

Well, who cares about the rules right now? Punch back, kick back, dunk over their.

Michael Knowles (1:09)

Heads and win some power. When I look at Beto, it seems to me as if Dr. Frankenstein dug up the bodies of a millennial and a Gen Xer, then cobbled together the most putrid parts and then animated the monster with estrogen. Let's throw the rules out the window, man. Gee, what a novel concept from the party that brought you open borders, abolishing prisons and mutilating kids. What if we just, like, disregarded all the rules and took power, man? Yeah, you did that. You did that for a long time. That's why the people gave your opponents power last November. That's why they gave us power. And in case there was any doubt about the wisdom of the people doing that, the D.C. police chief just vindicated Trump on the very point in question. We'll get to it. I'm Michael Knowles. This is the Michael Knowles Show. Welcome back to the show. A Harvard professor is wondering if an alien spaceship is going to reach us in 115 days. Whenever a Harvard professor says anything, I usually assume the opposite is true. But that is a true story. That's what the Harvard astronomer is warning about. Hold on one second. There's a lot more to do first, though. Go to everydaydose.com knowles if you feel like you keep juggling expensive supplements that are just getting less and less affordable to keep up with, then Everyday Dose will be a lifesaver for you. Everyday Dose transforms your morning coffee into a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals and amino acids, all in one affordable cup. Just 30 seconds to prepare and you are getting your caffeine fix plus all the nutrients your body needs. One delicious cup. One simple solution. Everyday Dose is not just coffee, it's coffee plus benefits. They've infused their 100% Arabica beans with lion's mane chaga, collagen protein and brain boosting nootropics for clean, sustained energy without the crash or jitters. You can choose between their mild Coffee plus, which is light, smooth and gentle on sensitive stomachs. It's very, very good. Or if you're more like me, you get the Coffee plus Bold, which is a rich, full bodied medium roast with an extra energy kick. Both deliver the same functional benefits and undergo rigorous third party testing to ensure you're getting the best quality. I absolutely love it. Strongly encourage you to get it. And you can also get 45% off your first subscription order of 30 servings of Coffee plus or Bold Plus. Get the Bold Plus. You'll also receive a starter kit with over $100 in free gifts, including a rechargeable frother and gunmetal serving spoon by going to everydaydose.com knowles or entering knowles at checkout. You'll also get free gifts throughout the year. That is everydaydose.comknowles for 45% off your first order. I guess I need to address the elephant in the room. I need to address the Fuhrer in the room. Hitler is in my set today. Hitler and Papa Pio dodecesimo. You know who we're talking about, baby? We're talking about Papa Pius xii. Because I have a new series that's debuting on Daily Wire right now. It is called the Pope and the the Secret Vatican Files of World War II. It addresses the horrible calumny, the horrible smears that have come up against Pius XII over the 20th century, early 21st century, including calling him Hitler's Pope. So we'll get to that. Over my shoulder today, the angel and the devil we'll have today on my shoulder, Pope Pius xii. Hitler. Which way, Western man? Which way? Let's get to more prosaic public figures first. That would be the police Chief in Washington, D.C. a lady for some reason named Pamela Smith, who was asked about President Trump's recent federal assertion of power over the Washington D.C. police Department. She was asked a question, a very basic question about what this means, but she did not know what the words of the question mean, what the chain of command is. Now. What does that mean? Well, is it Pam Bondi speaking to the mayor? How does this work? The executive Order is clear. The President has requested. It doesn't matter. You can take her off. It's fine. That single response, that beautifully reflexive response from the Washington D.C. police chief totally vindicates President Trump asserting federal authority here. Hey, okay, so President Trump has asserted this authority from the Home Rule act because it's federal district. So what is the chain of command? And the police chief in our nation's capital says, what does that mean? What is the chain of command? How do you want me to do you want me to mime it? It's a very simple question. What's the chain of command? Me no understand what those words mean. Well, maybe you shouldn't be the police chief. Maybe you're proving President Trump right. Because not only can you not command authority and enforce the law in Washington, D.C. you don't even know what the words mean, which is the point. And it's the problem. And it's why that city is now full of smash and grabs and carjackings and murders and vagrancy and homelessness and allegedly, according to reports from NBC News, even cops trying to cover up all the crime by cooking the crime statistics. Trump totally, totally vindicated here. Now, speaking of law enforcement at the federal level, not the failures at the municipal level. And in the District of Columbia, there is an amazing survey just came out. This is from the center for Immigration Studies. You remember I mentioned a CIS study a couple of months ago showed that the immigrant portion of the population seems to have dropped by about a million people in the first four or five months of the year. And this was right around the time that Trump's critics on the left were cynically mocking him. And Trump's critics on the right were petulantly mocking him for not deporting enough people fast enough, for failing, supposedly on the immigration issue because the arrests were lower than they wished or the official deportations were lower than they wished. But then CIS came out with this report. So hold on, we're missing a million people. A million migrants, mostly illegal immigrants were here in January. They're not here right now. What happened? It's not that Tom Homan exactly threw them out of the country. It's that they self deported, which is something that President Trump campaigned on. It's something that his DHS under Kristi Noem has really prioritized, even creating an app to encourage people to self deport. Well, apparently it was working. And now the number of apparent self deportations has gone from 1 million in four or five months. Pretty good number. To 2.2 million in seven months, 2.2 million. This is the overall foreign born population in the United States down 2.2 million from January to July. The illegal alien population is estimated to have fallen 1.6 million this year. That's 10%. That's 10% at the high number from the conservative estimate. Conservative estimate is that there are 11 to 16 million illegal aliens in the country. So 1.6 million. There you go. That's 10% or maybe more. Where did they get these data from their lies, damn lies and statistics? Well, they got the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the household survey, which is officially called the Current Population Survey. So it's not even as though they went to Justice Department statistics. It's not even though they're just showing who's working, who's actually employed, who's doing stuff. In many ways these numbers are much more reliable than Justice Department numbers. 1.6 million fewer illegals this year. So Trump may have, according to CIS pretty reliable source, may have taken care of 10% of the illegal alien problem. Now of course that leaves you 90%. We're already halfway through the first year, little over halfway through the first year. You only get four years. So he's actually kind of on track, right? He's fixed one, he's gone through one eighth of the time that he has and he's fixed one tenth of the total problem. Those are pretty good numbers, especially when you have people on the left who don't wanna fix the problem at all, cynically mocking him. And these petulant saboteurs, a small number of them, but they still exist. And they're very mouthy. Them on the right who are saying, oh, see, this is why I didn't wanna vote for Trump. This is why I'm so precious and moral. And I sat the election out and I would have let Kamala Harris be president. He's not even deporting enough people. I'm so special, I'm so important. I mean, I've never done anything, but I'm criticize Trump and the DHS and. Well, I don't know, bro. First of all, if you're a true immigration restrictionist, as I am, and I think most Americans are deep down right now, then 2.2 million total is pretty good. But 1.6 million illegal aliens gone means the self deportation is working. It means the Trump administration policies are working. It means the plan trusters are vindicated and the Panicans look like total schlubs and losers yet again. Have I put too fine a point on it? I don't think so, because at a certain point, I don't want it to seem as though I just automatically defend anything the administration does. I have criticized the admin for certain things over the years. As I've said, Trump doesn't get things 100% right. It's about 97.8% of the time. He gets it total, maybe even higher. But he's a human being. Sometimes they get things wrong. It's just at this point, they've gotten things right so many times on so many issues on immigration, on war, on trade. Remember when tariffs were gonna destroy the global economy and then none of that happened and it didn't even cause inflation to spike. And actually inflation's looking great right now. And actually Trump was gonna be terrible for the pro life cause. And what happened? He got Roe v. Wade overruled. And actually, and actually, and actually. And just at a certain point, the reasonable conclusion is to let the guy cook and trust the plan a little bit because it seems to have worked out. And that is true yet again, proven true. We've got two major data points now on immigration. Now, speaking of great masses of people, have you noticed all the sorority girls dancing? Hold on one second. Go to hallow.com vaticanfiles Folks, this August, I want you to join me for St. Michael's Lent challenge on Hallow. It's a 40 day journey of prayer, fasting and real spiritual growth inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi's devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel. I also love that it's in partnership with the Norbertines out at St. Michael's Abbey. Some of my very favorite men of the church. This is not your typical self help program in as much as this one will actually help you. St. Michael's Lent is an ancient tradition that calls us to virtue, sacrifice and sanctity. You will tackle the seven deadly sins head on. Pride, anger, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony and greed. With insights from Fulton Sheen's Victory Over Vice, read by Chris Stefanik and Father Isaiah. You'll hear honest, sometimes hilarious stories from people like comedian Shane Smith about battling vice in real life. Plus, you'll journey with the real St. Francis. Not the sanitized version, but the bold radical saint who is completely in love with God. The challenge includes The Litany of St. Michael, Gospel Reflections and a powerful closing novena. As we Approach Michaelmas on September 29th, remember to wish me a happy Michaelmas. Also, take your chance to arm up spiritually. If you're tired of soft secular approaches, ready to grow in grace through real spiritual discipline. Join St. Michael's Lent. It begins August 13th. That is by my count today on the Hallow app. Our listeners get three months for free. Thank you, Hallow, also for sponsoring the Pope and the secret Vatican files for World War II. Check out the Hallow app today. Get three months free hallow.com Vatican files. Sorority girls are going viral, aren't they? They're always sort of going viral. People generally like sorority girls. Well, they're going viral. For dancing. She's a hot little number in her pickup truck Teddy sweet money done jacked it up She's a party all nighter from South Carolina A bad mamma Jammer from down in Alabama She's a Ragin Cajun Done a take from Bronx Le It's a family show I need custody of the eyes, but you get the point. The sorority girls have been going viral. I have one question right off the top. Did that ever stop? I know that things got kind of crazy there for a little bit in the 2000 teens and 2000s, early 2000s, but there were sororities the whole time, right? And they were, like, good looking and they did dances and they partied and they had. That always happened. I'm not convinced that ever stopped. I think that always happened. And a lot of the. I don't know that that's a huge, massive win for conservatives and that. I'm sure a lot of them voted for Kamala or whatever, but. But I guess it's good. I guess it's good, right? It's good that this is at least going more viral. It's good that this is at least getting more attention. It's mostly good in the sense that five years ago, the people going viral would not have been cute little sorority girls. They would have been androgynous, fat, deviant transvestites, right? So it's the Jaguar to Sydney Sweeney pipeline. It's the general move, especially among young people, to the right. And so to the sorority girls who are dancing and going viral, I say two cheers. Two cheers for the sorority girls. It's not three cheers, though, for the same reason that Sydney Sweeney's not three cheers. It's two cheers. It's good. It's an improvement. Better than the transvestites. But it's not three cheers. Because I remember when I was in college, the sororities did not have houses, or if they had houses, most of the sorority girls did not live in the house. Do you know why? This is probably apocryphal, but the explanation that was given was it dated back to the blue laws in Connecticut that whenever you had more than seven or eight girls who were not related to each other living in a house, it was considered a brothel. And I think that's apocryphal, but it certainly comes from real laws that used to exist. And it's not. Sororities are not. It's not the ideal. The ideal is good, solid, stable societies where we have modesty, where dating is done in a good, orderly, respectful, good way. But if you're telling me that that's out of reach for most people at the moment, and my choices are tranny polycules or cute sorority girls jiggling to country music, obviously the latter is to be preferred. And nature is healing, no doubt about that. Okay, speaking of sexualized content, this story came to me by way of a friend of mine. I didn't notice it. I haven't played video games really since Grand Theft Vice City. Before that it was probably Donkey Kong country, but EA Games is that. The biggest video game manufacturer. EA Games in recent years came out with Sims 4. I remember Sims from when I was a kid. The little guys, you play as little guys and it's just a little town, whatever. So they came out with Sims 4 and an automatic update to Sims 4. This is the real key. So you go out, you buy Sims and you just get your regular Sims and then there's an automatic update that you did not ask for that more importantly, your kids did not ask for that allows you to choose avatars that are trans. So this came out, this came out around the height, the peak of the trans craziness. But this kind of stuff is still around all throughout video games. The parent buys the kid the video game, then there's an automatic update and EA tells you what's new. Top surgery scar. Under the same body category, all players can find a body scars category with an option for teen and older male Sims masculine or feminine frame to add a top surgery scar to their Sims. That's. That's the scar for when girls get their breasts lopped off. And then there's that horrifying Frankenstein scar there. You can choose that now for teen and older. But teen Sims, you can also choose binders and shapewear. With this update that you can't refuse. It's just an automatic update. Players can find two new assets in Create a Sim. Under the tanks in the tops category, you'll. You'll find a binder top asset for your teen and older Sims. In the underwear category for Bottoms. There's a new Shapewear asset. Shapewear asset for your sim. So it's the weird trans instruments, and it came out a couple years ago. I don't think this would have come out new today, but it's around and it was automatic and it was designed to bypass parents. And it's a reminder that this radical stuff, not just on the trans issue, though, that was the most visible, but on all of it, the racial issues, on everything, it's not organic. There's a guy sitting in a boardroom who makes this decision. And they don't ask the parents and they don't even really ask the kids. They just push it on you. And because we live in society, because we're not just atomized individuals who are wholly immune from the effects of living in a country, because it actually does matter what the environment around us is like, that affects how we live, because we don't live in a vacuum like the liberals think we do or the liberals pretend to think that we do. Because of that, these social contagions spread until people have finally had enough. So the fact that this is still permitted to exist is insane. This seems like a really easy fix for me, for Republicans in Congress and for the White House, which is to just require, at the very least, a warning label. I mean, I think the people who push this stuff should be arrested and thrown into Alcatraz or St. Helena, but at the very least needs a warning label, promotes sexual content, radical sexual content, lgbt, whatever, and then watch the sales of those things drop. And if people violate it, toss them in the can. You know, I mean, this is totally crazy stuff. An easy win for conservatives, especially because the culture is very much on our side now. Things are looking pretty, pretty, pretty good. Now, speaking of warnings, a Harvard professor is worried that an alien spaceship is going to reach us in 115 days. Here he is. Harvard Professor Avi Loeb says aspects of these images, including the brightness around the object and its unusual trajectory, suggests it's not natural. Instead, he argues, it could be alien technology. You heard that right. So does this mean ET Is real? Joining us to discuss is Professor Avi Loeb. He is the director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard Smithsonian center for Astrophysics and the former chair of Harvard's Astronomy Department. The object looks strange. It reflects a lot of sunlight, and from that one infers that the diameter is 20 km. And there is not enough rocky material in interstellar space to provide such a big object every decade. You're not necessarily saying it is Alien technology? Or do you think that there is a possibility or a probability? How probable do you think that is? I actually defined a scale where zero is a natural object and 10 is definitely technological. And I put it at four right now. Okay, at four. So you're saying 10, it's definitely happening. Zero, it's not happening. You're saying there's a 40% chance the Harvard professor, what was he, a top Harvard astronomer, all these academic honors, is saying there's a 40% chance that an ET alien spaceship is going to arrive at Earth in 115 days. Intellectuals will do literally anything to avoid admitting that human beings are special. That's what this is all about. What this is all about is intellectuals doing anything in their power to deny the possibility that human beings are in fact special. Because that's my view. I think human beings are special. I think we're made in the image and likeness of God. I think we're unique on this planet because we alone have reason and will. We're like the animals in that we are bodies and we have appetite and instinct. But unlike the animals, we have reason and will. And I know, I can already hear some PETA donor out there who's saying that. Actually, you know, animals are really smart too, and they can reason and they're much smarter than we think they are. Oh, yeah? Well, then put one of them on trial for biting you. You gonna do that? Are you willing to do that? Dogs are so smart. Oh, they're so smart. Then put them on trial and imprison them for biting you make them pay restitution when they commit crimes and transgress the moral order. Oh, you're not going to do that. Why? Because they can't violate the moral order because they can't reason. Oh, right. Oh, but did you know that elephants actually sometimes walk over the graves of their dead or. Oh, do they? Okay, cool. Are we going to give elephants loans from the bank? Are we going to give them 30 year mortgages? Are we going to subject them to our legal system? Are we going to. No, we're not. Because they're animals. We all know they're just animals and they don't have reason and will, and we all behave that way all the time and none of you actually believes that they have reason and will. So we're like the animals in that way. We're bodies. We do have instinct, we do have appetite. But we're like the angels in that we have intellect and will and we're special. And what the libs say and what all these intellectuals say. They say, well, not even intellectuals, just popular people who refuse to accept religious truths. They'll say, well, Michael, the universe, man. Hold on one second. The universe, man, it's so big. It's statistically impossible that the universe could be so big. But we're the only intelligent life with will and reason in it, man. And you say, okay, that's an interesting claim. Where do you get that from? What are the statistics? Tell me about the probabilities. How is that? Why? Well, it's just so big. Yeah, so what? Why does the bigness of the universe imply that there is intelligent life elsewhere other than Earth? Well, because it's just the conditions that allowed intelligent life to arise. What conditions? What conditions? This is the crucial question. Tell me, in your story of things, how we went from inanimate matter to life, first of all, and then how we went either from inanimate matter or from unintelligent life to life that has reason and will. Tell me how that happened. Because in order to assess the probability of that happening elsewhere, I need to know how you even think that happened in the first place. And you're not gonna give me an answer? Not you. You're very intelligent people. But I'm talking about these Harvard professors, I'm talking about all the geniuses on Reddit. I'm talking about all these people who say it's totally impossible that the universe could be big, but there not be other human like creatures in it on other planets. In order to know that probability, you have to know anything whatsoever about how life began and how intelligent life began. And you don't. I have a thesis. Here's my thesis. I think that God fashioned man after his own image and redeemed mankind. And you're gonna say, well, you're just a religious person, Michael, you're just a Catholic or what? Yeah, I am. You're right. Yes, that's my view. What's your better story? What's your more persuasive argument? I haven't heard it. Have not heard it whatsoever. These are people who think we should arrest gorillas for attacking people at the zoo. These are people who think we should give elephants 30 year mortgages because they're so smart, aren't they? Hold on one second. Go to oldglorybank.com knowles here's an uncomfortable truth. Most big banks in this country are not neutral. They're actively working against you. They take the money you deposit. They use it to fund things that you oppose. They use it to undermine faith, family and freedom. They Use it to support gender ideology, abortion activism, ESG mandates, you name it. You are usually unwittingly helping them do it. Well, you can't say it's unwitting anymore cause I'm telling you that's why. You need to open an account at Old Glory Bank. Be like me. I heard about Old Glory Bank. I go straight to the website. It's very easy to open an account. I highly recommend it. It's FDIC insured, built by people who fear God, love this country, still believe in right and wrong. They don't fund evil. They don't cancel people for standing up for truth. They protect your money and what you believe. Super simple. Even I can do it and I have a short attention span. If you believe stewardship matters, put your money where your heart is. It only takes minutes to switch. Stop letting your money serve the wrong side. Join me. Join tens of thousands of customers on the right side of banking@oldglorybank.com knowlesoldglorybank.com K-N O W L E S Don't let yourself get debanked. Go to oldglorybank.com knowles Speaking of man's role in the cosmos, really, really great news coming out of the state of Israel. One does not hear that very often, but there is really great news going out of the State of Israel, which is that the Hebrew Catholic association has launched. What is the Hebrew Catholic association, you ask? Good question. Regis from the Catholic News Agency, A group dedicated to providing a welcoming space for Jewish converts to Catholicism, has launched in Israel. The association of Hebrew Catholics celebrated its official launch with a Mass on August 8, the eve of the feast of its patrons. St. Edith Stein, who was a Jewish convert to Catholicism. The Syriac Catholic Exarch of Jerusalem, Bishop Yakub Ephrem Seman, acted as the host for the event. There are Catholics, though, who are really into this. The Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pizzaballa, who was papabile, he was considered one of the Pope candidates this recent cycle. He's really wonderful. He's been outspoken in a really clear moral way on the situation in Israel, Gaza. He's managed to irritate partisans on both sides, which is how you know, he's probably right. And reportedly Cardinal Burr is encouraging of this move. I love it. You know what I love about this story? You know what I love about the Hebrew Catholic association story? It is going to be criticized simultaneously for being philosemitic and anti Semitic. It's at the same time people are going to say that it is hateful to welcome the Jews to Catholicism to Christianity, and that we don't want those dirty, rotten Jews in Christianity. At the same time, it's gonna. The people who say they're the great defenders of Jews and the people who hate the Jews, they're both gonna criticize this Catholic organization with the support of some of the most important men of the church and some of the most important prelates. That's how you know it's a great organization. Because, of course, if you, like me, think that the Incarnation is real and the crucifixion and the resurrection really happened and that Christ really is who he says he is, and this is the real, this is the true religion. Catholicism means universal. It's the true religion. It's true for everybody. Because we have human solidarity. Because humans really are special. And we do have something that unites all of us. And we descend from a common ancestor and we're redeemed by a common savior. If you believe that, then you. If you believe that and you have charity, which St. Paul tells us is the prerequisite for all of our actions in life, all of our religious life. You can have faith, you can have hope. You don't have charity. You're nothing. If those two things are true, then you want people to come on over and embrace the fullness of truth. You're not going to be like the Muslims and make them do it at the end of a sword, but you want them to come over to the truth. You want to welcome them. And I think it's just a marvelous, marvelous organization. Wonderful thing for everybody. And I think it also exposes people who don't really believe it. If you are a Catholic and you say, well, I don't like this. Let the Jews just do their own thing. We don't need to go evangelize to the Jews, then either you're saying you don't believe Catholicism is true, or you hate the Jews, but you have to be saying one of those things. And likewise, if you say, well, look, I love the church, of course, but I don't want those dastardly Jews bringing their Hamentaschen and bagels to my Sunday brunch after church. Well, what you're revealing is you don't have charity. And maybe you believe that the faith is true in some way, but you lack charity. Charity. And you don't want to incorporate others or fellow men into the mystical body of Christ. You don't really believe in the Great Commission making disciples of all nations. Not all nations, but one. But all nations. I think it's Terrific. I think it's just wonderful, and it's good to see some happy news coming out of the Levant. Okay, Speaking of Catholics, our vice president, J.D. vance, is. He's firing some shots off. The vice President is. While everyone else is focused on myriad and sundry other issues, he's reminding us, you know, the Democrats wielded power in a rather unjust way over the last 10 years, and we all experienced this during COVID and the political class. The president experienced this during the Russia hoax and the undermining of Trump's whole first term. I mean, the Democrats, in many ways, stole Trump's first term from him and. And therefore stole the right of the American people to pick their president in 2016. They stole that. They severely undermined that based on lies, things that they knew were not true. They cooked up fake news about Trump between the Clinton camp and the FBI, and they used that as an excuse to destroy his first term. And no one has been held to account for that. No one whatsoever. The vice president coming out there and saying, look, we have the receipts, and a lot of people are going to get indicted. Do you want to see indictments?