Michael Knowles (3:20)

Foreign.

Michael Knowles (3:35)

Welcome back to the show. Why is everyone all of a sudden going on paid propaganda trips to Qatar? I don't, I don't have any. Well, I mean, I'm not going to say I don't have anything against Qatar. I've, I spent a little time at a layover once in Qatar. I like, I like being in Arabia, certain parts of it. And we've known for years about the paid propaganda trips to Israel and to other. I've actually been invited to even other countries. Me though, all I want is a paid propaganda trip to Liechtenstein so we can restore the Jacobite line of succession to the UK what is it about? Why, what's, why is everyone going to Qatar? And where's my invitation? First, I want to tell you about Hillsdale College. Go to Hillsdale. Edu Knowles. This episode is sponsored by Hillsdale College. This There is so much confusion in the world today, it can be hard to find clarity and truth. A new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America offers a powerful reminder that the first Americans were searching for the same things they believed faith and reason revealed God's design for the world and that understanding became the foundation of their bravery and freedom. It is a stirring look at the ideas that still hold us together. Hillsdale College has created a fascinating six part doc where their professors explore the religious, political, cultural and economic ideas that shaped America's unique character during the colonial period. You will discover why the idea of liberty, especially religious liberty, drove settlers to risk everything crossing the Atlantic, how early Americans built local governments to rule and protect themselves, and why America became a place where virtue could lead to peace and prosperity. While most of us know the Declaration of Independence as the birth of our nation, this course digs deeper into something more fundamental. The forging of the American character that made the revolution possible in the first place. I just love it. I love working with, I regularly work with Hillsdale College. They're just amazing. One of the last great learning institutions in America right now. Go to Hillsdale. Edu Knowles to enroll. No cost. Easy to get started. Hillsdale Edu Knowles to enroll for free. Hillsdale Edu Knowles. What do we know about the alleged pipe bomber? He was arrested. Attorney General Pam Bondi gave a press conference about it joined by FBI Director Kash Patel. Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino. They got him. His name is Brian Cole. What do we know about Brian Cole? He doesn't seem like a right winger. We don't know. The FBI was pretty tight lipped about it but he doesn't seem like a right winger. There is reporting out now from New York Post that Brian Cole is an anarchist though this is just sources say. Sources say we don't have real confirmation on it. That would make sense as planting pipe bombs is the sort of thing that anarchists do. Very much in the wheelhouse of an anarchist. The fact that they targeted the DNC and the rnc, it's kind of anarchist mo not the sort of thing a Tweety Burke and conservative generally does. What else do we know? According to the suspect's grandmother being reported by the New York Post, this suspect is a young man born I think in 1995. Works at the family bail bonds company, Bail bonds for criminals. Not generally a right wing business, a little bit more of a left wing business. Brian Cole Bail Bonds which has been raided by the FBI. Also being reported though again it's a little bit foggy right now that they specialize in immigration bail bonds. So okay, that put another notch in the left wing corner. According to the grandmother, he would never make eye contact. Almost like he just didn't see you. It's always the quiet ones. He's almost autistic like because he doesn't understand a lot of stuff. I hope he is not talking again. This. Well, I guess little touch of the tism cuts both ways. It can be left wing or it can be right wing. Often leads to a lot of very online behavior. We know a lot of people have been radicalized especially to anarchism and to other left wing ideologies online. But the grandmother maintains he's very naive. He would not hurt a fly. He's just not that kind of person. This very, very much in keeping with grandmothers when they are interviewed after their grandchildren are arrested for crimes. They always interview the grandma and the grandma always says he was a very sweet boy. They interview the neighbors, oh, very quiet boy. Oh, it wouldn't hurt a fly. And you know, you find out he's some total psycho. So all of that is not that interesting. I always assumed it was a left winger. We don't know that for certain. Now I'm just going off of my prejudice. And every fact we know, it could be the case that, that despite every single fact, we know thus far, what he did, what he targeted his family, what he worked for, his family business, all the rest, the fact that he wasn't prosecuted under Biden or discovered or arrested, or it could be the case that all the evidence points in one direction and yet through some quirk of chance, he's a right wing MAGA guy, but it doesn't look like it. And the FBI is being relatively tight lipped. The most interesting thing that the FBI said.

Michael Knowles (8:38)

Was how they made the arrest. Here's FBI Director Kash Patel.

FBI Director Kash Patel (8:44)

We did not discover any new information. What we did an investigation spearheaded by the Deputy Director and the ADIC of our Washington field office, brought in a new team of investigators and experts, reexamined every piece of evidence, sifted through all the data, something that the prior administration refused and failed to do. As a result of that, we generated numerous investigative leads, executed multiple legal process with their U.S. attorney partners and came to this conclusion today.

Michael Knowles (9:15)

No new information. What was new here? Something was new, but it wasn't the information. All of these facts, and we have a lot of facts. This guy allegedly bought the materials for the pipe bomb with credit cards. There were electronic records of this at places like Home Depot.

Michael Knowles (9:35)

They had a tail on this guy. It was all there. But the facts weren't new. The facts had been known by law enforcement for years. The investigators were new, the leadership at the FBI and the DOJ was new, the President was new.

Michael Knowles (9:51)

So two options here.

Michael Knowles (9:56)

Best case scenario, this was malign neglect. Best case scenario, Biden's FBI and DOJ just didn't really look into it that much, didn't care about it, didn't track it down. Maybe you could say it was just total incompetence. But they weren't incompetent. When they were arresting all the Midwest grannies, they sent the US Marshals out all over for months and months and months. They tracked down every single person from eccentric yahoos to well meaning conservative supporters who took selfies in the Capitol and they rounded them up, they arrested them. In many cases, they put them in solitary confinement. So I can't say it was just incompetence. That's implausible. To me. It was either malign neglect, not benign neglect. It was malign neglect. They looked at it and they said, you know, pipe bomb, that doesn't. I know that all the people that were at the Capitol on camera with the MAGA hats, I know that they're Trump supporters. So we're, we're gonna go in and round up every Trump supporter we can. I don't know who planted that pipe bomb. And every sign that I see suggests he's probably not a right winger. You know what, we're just not gonna go there. We're just not gonna pursue the leads that we're getting. That's one scenario. The other scenario is it was an active cover up that the Biden, FBI and DOJ saw. Yikes. Okay, we got some info on this guy. Doesn't fit the narrative. We, we need January 6th to be the worst event in the history of the world. We need it to be a right wing insurrection. And this doesn't fit that narrative. So you know what we're gonna do? We're exclude it. Sometimes overzealous prosecutors will intentionally exclude exculpatory information.

Michael Knowles (11:42)

In criminal cases. Well, maybe it's something like that. Those are the only two options.

Michael Knowles (11:49)

And look, I hope for the Democrats sake it's maligned neglect, it makes them look a little bit better. But everything. We don't know that much. We will learn more. It's very important, it's very important that the Trump administration pursues this. Because if it is the case that this person had anarchistic tendencies, had been radicalized into a left wing ideology, was simply just a kind of a left winger, if that is the case, then it shows you something that we've been seeing increasingly, which is that the left is the terror problem. Even the Atlantic, a liberal magazine, had to admit it. Left wing terror is on the rise. Left wing terrorism is the chief form of domestic terrorism in the United States. Without question.

Michael Knowles (12:37)

It shows you another data point on this trend that the media and the Democrat politicians have tried to suppress and actually invert for years. And it shows you the corruption of the DOJ and the FBI under Joe Biden. Very important. Took him five years, huh?

Michael Knowles (12:55)

That in itself is a data point. Took him five years to round this guy up round the Capitol. Hmm. Hmm. I don't wanna get ahead of my skis. That's all we have now. I'm sure a lot more is going to follow. Now, speaking of apparently left wing violence, there's a clip going around from Jubilee that unfortunately, I don't think people paid a lot of attention to it. There's this guy, Tim Miller, who, man, if not for Trump, this guy was the Republican Party. This guy worked, he was a spokesman for the RNC. He was Jeb Bush's spokesman in 2016. He was the press secretary for The I don't want. Sorry, not Jeb. It's Jeb for the Jeb campaign. And now he is a radical, liberal, left wing writer, commentator, goes on msnbc, very pro lgbt. So he goes on the Jubilee show surrounded, and he argues with a very, very articulate woman and he argues over this term fascist, this specifically over the assassination of Charlie Kirk and how it's not that the left calls Republicans fascists because it's accurate and it's not that the left targets and tries to kill Republicans because they're fascists, it's that they call them fascists in order to justify killing them. They've been doing that with Trump, they've been doing that with a lot of people. They obviously did it with Charlie. Listen to Tim Miller's hideous callous response. This guy used to be a press secretary for a Republican presidential candidate recently.

Michael Knowles (14:32)

I'd like to address the fascism claim that you made, specifically the fascism, because we've seen even, for example, Charlie Kirk last month was shot and killed. And so what happens when we use inflammatory flames like fascists? It paints people, certainly.

Daily Wire Promo Announcer (14:45)

I hear you, Noel, but here's the thing. If they don't want to be called.

Michael Knowles (14:47)

A fascist, that's like me saying, if you want lax border policies, then you're an anarchist. It's a false equivalency.

Daily Wire Promo Announcer (14:53)

If the right calls the left communist and enemy within all the time you.

Michael Knowles (14:57)

Do this, then that just. I'm just saying. Look, that's not a thing.

Daily Wire Promo Announcer (15:00)

Look, if they don't want to be called fascists, they shouldn't act like fascists. I just think that if this was not this country, if you saw unmarked cars, Max Mass, people hassling and all, look at the story.

Michael Knowles (15:10)

If they don't want to be called fascists, they shouldn't act like fascists. It's no wonder that Tim Miller goes on msnbc. It sounds just like the guy who was on msnbc, Matthew Dowd, Democrat strategist while Charlie was dying, who said, well, you know, if you don't want to get killed, you probably shouldn't, shouldn't use this hate speech. His exact words were something close to, you know, hate breeds hate, doesn't it? As if to say Charlie had it coming. Tim Miller's saying exactly the same thing. Yeah, if they don't want to get called fascists, they shouldn't act like fascists. Now of course they don't. Republicans actually could probably learn a lesson or two from slightly more stalwart rock ribbed people. Okay? The Republicans are quite liberal in Their political philosophy, in their premises and often in their behavior. Nothing even close to. I mean, the most right wing mainstream Republican today is to the left of Democrats during the Bill Clinton era on most issues. And yet he says, look.

Michael Knowles (16:12)

The first starting point is if you're a fascist, we can kill you. If you're Hitler, if you're a Nazi, if you're a fascist, we can kill you because you're posing this existential threat to the country. And so we can kill you. And no, we're not going to stop calling you fascists. Even though the guy who murdered Charlie, I called him a fascist, said, hey fascist, catch. We're not gonna stop calling you fascist. If you want us to stop calling you fascist, stop, stop being a Republican, stop being a conservative, then maybe we'll stop killing you.

Michael Knowles (16:42)

Total confidence doesn't change his mind at all. This is not some extreme left. I mean he is an extreme left winger, but this was a Republican recently. This is a moderate. This is a guy who still writes for outlets that pretend to be at least slightly conservative.

Michael Knowles (16:59)

It brought me to this conclusion that most of liberalism in theory and in practice is upheld by widespread and fanatical belief in things that just aren't true.

Michael Knowles (17:15)

No, you are fascists. No, you're not. Here's all the evidence as to how they're not fascists. Here's the. Nope, sorry. Listen, just one last clip from. It's unbelievable. It's worth watching the whole episode. Another very articulate young woman explains why it's helpful to her to be able to exercise her second amendment rights. Because men can threaten her.

Caller/Listener (17:36)

If they were to think that firearms can be owned by anybody, that reduces the amount of them coming into my home in the first place. And second of all, if I were to have a gun, that is the ultimate equalizer. I cannot fight a 200 pound man off and free for me, it kind of braces the security.

Daily Wire Promo Announcer (17:53)

Might be able to.

Michael Knowles (17:56)

You might be able to, huh? This like cute little girl, this cute little girl says, hey, I obviously cannot fight off a 200 pound man. You might be able to. You don't need a gun. You might be. No, no, you can't. Under no circumstances can any woman fight off any 200 pound man. It's not even like, well, most women can't fight off most. No, not one, not one single woman on the face of the earth who has ever lived can fight off with her bare hands any 200 pound man. I don't care if he's the fattest, least healthy slob I Don't care. I don't even care how old he is. It just can't happen. Tim Miller, I think, has a lot of confusion about the difference between men and women, but it's true. It's not just him, it's all of liberalism. It is in many ways. Ronald Reagan said, well, the problem with our liberal friends is not just that they're ignorant, it's that they know so many things that aren't so. And that's right. So much of it is based on just.

Michael Knowles (19:01)

Absolute, complete confidence in things that simply are not true.

Michael Knowles (19:08)

And if you contradict them in any way, especially these days, what they will tell you is, ha ha, well, maybe we'll just kill you. Yeah, well, I mean, if you don't want us to call you fascists and then use that designation as a justification to murder you, nearly murder the President, murder the most prolific and prominent defender of civil debate in all of America on a college campus for trying to talk it out, commit violence at all sorts of other conservative speaking events, and also, by the way, try to blow up the party headquarters. Then, you know, then you just shouldn't state the truth.

Michael Knowles (19:45)

And doesn't that he. I bet that guy didn't lose 1 second of sleep after that. So what do we do about it? You know, on the left and the right they this I guess getting to my point, on even the most rock ribbed conservatives being like kind of liberal in their assumptions, every everyone seems to agree. We just gotta talk more. And there are debates on exactly how to talk on the left, but the left would still say in principle that they support free speech. And the right has for years said we're free speech absolutists and what do we need? We need a free marketplace of ideas. Go to policygenius.com knowles. You know, this Christmas season, everybody's thinking, what am I going to get? You get a gift card, you get a this, you get a that. Maybe you should have a gift that can last a lifetime. With our show sponsor, policygenius, you can give your family a gift that endures the security of life insurance and lasting peace of mind. Nearly half of American adults would face financial hardship within six months if they lost their primary income. Policygenius makes finding life insurance simple, helping you secure real coverage so your loved ones have the financial safety net they need when it matters most. If you've been putting off life insurance, now is a good time to sort it out before the year ends. Policygenius makes the whole thing way less painful than you'd think. It's a simple online marketplace where you can compare quotes from all the major insurers in one place, totally free. They've got a team of licensed experts who will walk you through everything, answer your questions, deal with all the paperwork, help you figure out what coverage actually makes sense for you without all the confusing insurance jargon. The whole point is to find you the most affordable policy that fits your situation. Based on thousands of five star reviews on Google and Trustpilot, they're obviously quite good at it. With Policygenius, real users have gotten 20 year $2 million policies for just 53 bucks a month. Don't wait until next year. Give your family the gift of security today with Policygenius. Policygenius.com Knowles Compare Life Insurance quotes from the top companies. See how much you can save. Policygenius.com knowles why is everybody going to Qatar? You know Rob Smith? Rob Smith is a, he's a military veteran. He's been on the right wing speaking circuit for a long time. I don't think he does quite as much today as he used to, but seven, eight years ago, he was everywhere on the right wing speaking circuit. He's publicly gay. So that, you know, that is now kind of, especially now more discordant on the right. But seven, eight years ago, that was really hip and cool. That was really chic to say, like I'm gay and I'm a conservative, you know, what's the matter with that? You know, it's kind of cool and I don't know, maybe it helped people win elections. Obviously there was a contradiction there. There is some tens. But anyway, so Rob Smith posts this thing. He says, my first trip to Qatar has been eye opening. This is a very different Middle east than I experienced as a U.S. army soldier deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Long before I was a political commentator, media personality and podcaster, I was a United States soldier tasked with defending my da, da, da. Did you know there's this air base in Qatar? It goes on forever. It's like a whole book and it doesn't read like an organic tweet. Maybe it is. Maybe that's just how Rob writes now. But it reads like a carefully scripted essay that is intended to convey something that's trying to sell something basically. And do we have the picture? Where's the picture? Yeah, so the picture and there's this picture of Rob looking good, looking chic, you know, looking slick on some kind of brutalist building overlooking what looks like it could be, I don't know, Irvine, California or something. But I guess It's Qatar. Says, this has been eye opening. It's great, it's wonderful. And then, so I see this. I was like, that's kind of weird, but whatever. I don't know. I spent time in Qatar. I had a long layover there once. I was visiting a buddy in Dubai and we had been traveling all over the Middle east and India. And then I had this layover in Qatar and I thought, well, I could either go out in Qatar, but I think there's a bunch of Hamas people here. So I don't really want to go out. It's the middle of the night. So I just hung out in a cigar lounge in the airport. And it was good. I had a great time. It was nice. But then I see our friend Emily Saves America. And she takes this picture in Qatar, too. And she's overlooking it looks like the same exact scene, says, so beautiful, can't wait to come back. And.

Michael Knowles (23:57)

I love Emily, so I should have her on to talk about it. But I see it and I think, look, I'm glad you had a nice time in Qatar, but that's not beautiful.

Michael Knowles (24:07)

That looks like, I don't know, like a just brutalist 1960s government buildings or like, I don't know, like public college campuses or something, or.

Michael Knowles (24:21)

Bureaucracy halls or. I don't know. It's not beautiful. You talk about beautiful, it might be a nice country. The people might be nice, maybe, but the ones who aren't in Hamas, but it's not. What is this about? Why are people going on these trips to Qatar? And then you remember, okay, well, if you're a media influencer, especially if you're in politics, at some point you've gotten offered a paid trip to Israel. Israel's famous for this. There's no secret here. I don't think people were totally aware that Qatar does this, but everyone knows that there are all these Israeli trips for lawmakers and media and influencers. And by the way, it's not just. It's kind of funny because those two are opposed to each other. And I think Emily is pro Israel. I assume Rob is, too. I'm not sure, but. So it's kind of funny. You got these two rival countries, Qatar and Israel, and they're both trying to vie to get these media personalities to come. It's not just them. There are countries all over the world that do this. And everyone's scratching their heads and saying, why are they all going to these random countries? I don't know the details. I don't know if they were paid how much they were paid, I assume the trip was paid for at least. I don't know. I've never done one of these trips. I've been invited on plenty of them. I've never done one. Not to be on my high horse. A lot of it is just that I don't really have time and I'd rather go out to other places and I don't want to do it. But why are they doing it? And there's a very simple answer. Everyone thinks it's all nefarious. There's a very simple answer. It's different. Imperial territories vying for political influence within the empire. The empire being the United States, Washington being the imperial capital. Political commentators, influencers, pundits, do carry some degree, some modicum of influence. And so it's no surprise that these various countries, regardless of what they believe, would like to persuade them that they are good countries and that the United States should support them more, give them more money, give them more privileges. I don't know. Whatever it is that none of that should be surprising. I know a lot of people, they insist. They say, oh, Qatar is the most nefarious country on Earth. They say, Israel's the most nefarious country on earth, or whatever. Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein doesn't have a big lobby. But they all say, oh, it's all. This is all surreptitious. I don't know. I don't really find it to be that way. It's all just. It's just the tedium of the business of empire is really what it is.

Michael Knowles (26:38)

I don't find it all that scandalous. I think the way to find this scandalous is if you believe what you learned on, you know, I am a bill up on Capitol Hill, Schoolhouse Rock. If you think that our country is a yeoman republic of farmers, a nation separated from other nations by an empire, by oceans, and that's that then, yeah, it's pretty weird that Qatar and Israel and all these other countries are paying people to go visit them and trying to make them like their country. But if you recognize we're just, hey, we're just an empire. That's just how it works. And.

Michael Knowles (27:14)

We gotta accept that. And if you don't like the current state of things, then the only way to reform it is from the premise of what is real, which is that we're an empire. That's what you have to do. It's kind of funny. I don't know. Maybe I got to go to Qatar now. Qatar? Where's my invite? Why didn't I get that invite. I would at least. I don't know if I would actually go outside in Qatar, but I would go back to the airport cigar lounge. It was very, very nice. I think I bought my way in for like 50 bucks or something. Maybe. Maybe 80. I don't know. Maybe there's inflation. Anyway, speaking of occupations, there's a really ridiculous headline in the Atlantic.

Michael Knowles (27:51)

Does Heritage support discrimination against women? The organization's recent hiring reveals a willingness to countenance views decidedly outside of the American mainstream. There's a piece by Henry Olson, who and I like a lot of Henry Olson's commentary on elections, things like that. This angle, I think is kind of odd.

Michael Knowles (28:11)

He's going after Scott Yenor, a family policy scholar who's at the Heritage foundation, says poses serious questions about the institution's beliefs concerning the equality of women in the workplace and perhaps even as citizens. Yener's views are, to say the least, controversial. In a 2021 speech at the National Conservatism Conference, he labeled professional women medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome.

Michael Knowles (28:34)

Easy to take issue, hard to exactly find the error in. Anyway, he goes on, he has echoed the online rights use of the term awfuls for affluent white liberal females, female liberals awfuls, in his writing and had to step down from an appointment at the University of West Florida's Board of trustees when it became clear that the state senate wouldn't confirm him or whatever. And he's criticized people on the right, and he's not a feminist. He doesn't seem to think that getting the women into the workplace is like the top priority. And I have to ask, why should he?

Michael Knowles (29:11)

He is a conservative. Right? You know.

Michael Knowles (29:16)

I know there are plenty of Republicans who, they get really excited when they say the female unemployment rate is lower. Now it's gone down. We have the lowest female unemployment ever. Why is it a good thing? First of all, the female employment rate does not reflect the actual employment of females because females, historically speaking and even today, do a lot of things that, that are not calculated by GDP and do not fit into the labor participation rate or the unemployment rate. Women do things like raise children. The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. Women do things like cook and clean and educate within the context of the manage a home. Women do all sorts of things. They also work in the widget factory. They also, I don't know, they're like electricians, I guess.

Caller/Listener (30:08)

I don't know.

Michael Knowles (30:08)

They also do stuff in the public, you know, economy. But.

Michael Knowles (30:15)

Why do I want. Why Do I want women in greater numbers to go work in the widget factory? Why is that a good. Why. Why is that now the barometer of conservatism? Are you kidding me? This was a very, very, very liberal view for virtually all of history until, what, the 90s? And now we're being told that the most prominent conservative think tank, the Heritage foundation, has gone beyond the pale because they've hired a family policy scholar who thinks that maybe women should be allowed to raise their families and that maybe women should not universally aspire to go work for some other man. The crazy situation where for many women, I know many, many young women who have young kids, for many of these women, they want to stay home and raise their kids. They feel that they cannot. And maybe they could, maybe they could make do with less. Maybe they don't need a giant house. Maybe they don't need another nice car. Maybe they don't need. But it's hard. It's hard out there in this economy and in societies. We do keep up with the Joneses, we're memetic creatures. That's just how it works. And when everyone else is living at a certain standard, then there are a lot of pressures to live at that standard, too. So I actually sympathize with it. Even if one could live more simply on one income. Moving further out, I sympathize at the very least. But I know a lot of women who say, I wish I could stay home, but I just, I need the money, I need the job. So then what happens? What happens is either women do their jobs less, that happens plenty of the time, or what they will do is they'll put the kids in daycare 20, 24 hours a day. Not literally 24 hours, but they'll put them in full time daycare. And then the husband is in this weird position where he is going to work to make money, the wife is going to work to make money, and then he takes that money, the wife goes to work, can't raise the kid, takes that money to pay some other woman who has to go to work to make money, and pays that other woman to raise the kid. It doesn't make a lot of sense. And now if you criticize that, what, you're beyond the pale of conservatism.

Michael Knowles (32:19)

That's how we lose, man. That's how we lose. That's really sad. It's really sad. I don't. So I, for one, hello, I'm the guy in the Norman Rockwell painting. You know, I stand up. I. I for one think Women should be allowed to raise their children and maybe we should encourage that. And maybe working in the widget factory isn't the be all and end all of life that makes us all so happy. Maybe it's crazy. Maybe I'm beyond the page. And here I was. My backup. If the podcast ever fell apart, my back. I was gonna go work at the Heritage Foundation. Now I guess I'm not allowed to. Too far right wing. Go to PureTalk.comKnowles in all the time that I've endorsed PureTalk, my wireless company, I can tell you I've never seen an offer like this from them before. And when I saw it, I called my father, I demanded, I said, you know people, especially the boomers, they don't always wanna switch their cell phone. They're really attached to their cell phone plan that they got in the 90s. I said, you have to do it now because you can get unlimited talk, unlimited text and unlimited data.

Michael Knowles (33:27)

Data you don't even need. But everyone wants unlimited Data with a 30 gig hotspot for just 29.95amonth. That alone, you say that's crazy. That's unbelievable. For life. Because then when you tell them, they say you get it for 29.95amonth. Wow, that's amazing. That's an insane deal. But I bet you know in a year or two they're going to raise the prices. No, for life. You get all of that right now. This is PureTalk's top tier plan. It's normally 65 bucks a month. Now through December 7th, coming up just 29.95amonth. You are saving over 50% a month, every month. For life. That is on their crazy fast 5G network. I love it. Amazing network. You can take it overseas even if you want to travel. It's fabulous. Make the switch in as little as 10 minutes. Keep your phone, keep your number. Start saving with unlimited for life 29.95amonth. It's purertalk.com knowles to switch to my wireless company, PureTalk. Taxes and fees not included. Some restrictions apply. PureTalk.com for details. Offer ends 12 7. 25. Today's it. This is the last day. If you want to get your 50% off your Daily Wire plus membership, you go to DailyWire.com cyberweek. You get everything. The shows, the docs, the movies, the epic Pendragon cycle. You get it all. This is the best deal of the year. You're not going to get it for another year. At least get it now. This is the Last Day DailyWire.com CyberWeek it's time for the mailbag. Our mailbag is sponsored by Pure Talk. Go to PureTalk.com knowlescanna wlas to switch to my wireless company today. Take it away.

Caller/Listener (34:52)

Good morning, Michael. I loved Harry Potter growing up. I still do. And I never understood why some Christians wouldn't let their children read it. But now that I'm a mother and I understand that people actually practice witchcraft, not as it is in Harry Potter, but still, I can see how parents could be concerned that their children might be caught up in the fantasy and attempt to pursue magic however they can. So at what age is it appropriate to teach children that witchcraft actually exists in a way in the real world and not just in stories? And would it be prudent to avoid stories like Harry Potter that glamorize magic?

Michael Knowles (35:33)

I was always relatively open on Harry Potter. I think it's weird, especially for millennials. There's so many for whom it's like the only book they've ever read. It's the only book they've ever read. Their entire view of morality and the cosmos comes from Harry Potter. If they're ever gonna make a literary reference and say, oh, you know, that's so Slytherin, or what? I haven't even. I read them when I was a kid. I read the ones. I read the ones that were published when I was a kid, when I was a kid and then I got older, I aged faster than she wrote. And then the ones that were published after I was a kid I didn't read. But I enjoyed it when I was a kid and I was open minded on it though. My friend, father Dan Rehill, the Exorcist, you can watch our long interview has 8 million views or something on the Michael Knowles YouTube channel and on Daily Wire. He kind of Harry Potter pilled me and convinced me that there is at least some spiritual danger to it because it introduces kids to ideas like magic in a particular way. Not like a medieval fantasy story, not like JRR Tolkien where people know that hobbits don't exist and Middle Earth doesn't really exist and it's all fantasy. But Harry Potter takes place in London or outside of London, but it takes place in the modern day. So that's a little spiritually confusing. It suggests that there's good magic and bad magic. If it's not handled properly, that can be confusing. And as the literary critic, the late literary critic Harold Bloom pointed out, the writing is not great. He was particularly snobbish about it, but he said that it would be better for children to watch television than to read Harry Potter because it puts stale metaphors in their heads. So for those reasons and more, I would say maybe read Tolkien. If you want to give your kids some fantasy, maybe read Tolkien. When do you tell them about the occult? As they get a little older, Tell them about God first. Focus more on telling them about God. And part of that we'll be talking about hell and that part of that will be talking about the devil and the fallen angels. And part of that will be talking about the personality of evil and spiritual temptation. Part of going to confession will involve that if you believe in sacramental confession, even if you believe in a kind of direct confession, you're at least you know you're teaching about sin and temptation. So that's how I would do it. I've become more close minded on Harry Potter as I've aged. Okay, next question.

Commercial Announcer (37:57)

Hi, Michael. I love the show and love what you're doing. I have a question. I am expecting my second child and it's made me think a lot about maternity leave. I feel like maternity leave in the US is pretty limited and it's one of the few points where I really kind of agree with the left. And I'm wondering what your opinions are and how you think maternity leave could be improved on in the United States. Let me know your thoughts.

Michael Knowles (38:29)

Yeah. I support a vastly expanded maternity leave. I support 18 years of maternity leave for each child. However, this would be difficult for the companies to shoulder the burden of. It would be difficult for the state to shoulder the burden of, and probably imprudent. And so I wish that our economy had not been socially engineered in such a way that women felt obligated to go to work, as many, if not most women do. It's a real pity. And there are ways for women not to have to work.

Michael Knowles (39:06)

In many, many cases it can be done. It will involve not going on vacations or as many vacations, but maybe not any vacations. It will involve maybe not having two cars. It will involve not ordering dinner out. It will involve not going out to eat often. It will involve a lot of sacrifice. Maybe you don't want to make that sacrifice. And I get it. I sympathize with it. As our society has developed, I sympathize with it. I think for a lot of women it is possible. And for some women it's not possible. Certainly for single mothers, it's not possible for women given their circumstances. If you have a lot of debt, if your husband has trouble finding employment, it's tough. It's tough. There are cases where the wife is the bread earner and the husband is more the nurturer. And that happens. It really does happen. It's more the exception than the rule, but it certainly happens. I have friends like that, family members. So.

Michael Knowles (40:01)

What do we do about it?

Michael Knowles (40:05)

Ultimately, that burden can't fall on the companies, and it shouldn't fall on the state because that's gonna introduce all sorts of state meddling into the family. And there's too much state meddling in the family already. So I think what's going to have to happen is you need some state support for families in the form of tax credits. The new Trump baby bonuses are a good idea. Maybe some from private philanthropy, like the Dell family. That was Beautiful. Contributing over $6 billion to help promote childbirth. But what will ultimately have to happen is women will have to be so fed up working that they're going to have to demand changes to the political economy. That's ultimately what's gonna have to happen. Because let's say, okay, let's say you get two weeks maternity. You get more than that. Let's say you get two months maternity leave. So I wish we were like France and we had six months, or I wish my company were like Google and we had five months. I don't know how many, but, you know, I wish we had. Okay, in six months, then you're going to be happy to leave your kid? I don't think so. Maybe for some women, sure. But what if you got nine months in nine months, then you want to leave your kid? Not really, no. It's. All of these solutions are just half measures, I think, for a lot of people, and especially this is true, the more kids you have, at a certain point, I think people might say it's. I don't know. And childcare is so expensive. On top of that, say, okay, well, when you take out the childcare and you add on to this and you. That I'm still bringing home an extra 10 grand a year, 20 grand a year, maybe more. That's good money. I'm not knocking 10 grand a year or 20 grand a year, but at a certain point, I think people are gonna find it's not really worth it. Next question.

Caller/Listener (41:44)

Hi, Michael. I recently reposted something on social media about the pervasiveness of gluttony and slothfulness in the church that turned into a metaphorical nuclear bomb. Gluttony being the excessive consumption of food or drink, a vice. Satisfying physical appetites and sloth being a spiritual or physical laziness or lack of effort, a vice of self indulgence, focusing on worshiping comfort. It seems to me church leaders are fine, boldly teaching about the insistent snare, snarement of lust, porn addiction, greed, etc, but holy neglect, addressing the sins of gluttony and sloth. I'm not talking about a weight thing, though it can be an indication. But it's a heart thing, a bondage thing. How can the church be strong when its people have no physical discipline, no self control, no ability to say no to the cravings of their flesh? The physical body matters to God. We are commanded to treat our bodies as a temple of the Holy Holy Spirit. Here's my question. Why aren't the sins of gluttony and sloth called out loudly and clearly and frequently from the American church? And how do we get the American church leadership to start caring about its pervasiveness, this literal, deadly sin that rules so many of its people?

Michael Knowles (42:55)

Are any sins called out in church anymore? Are they? I don't know. They are in my church. I go to. I go to a great church. You know, it's much, much more traditional and extremely orthodox, but a lot of churches. And by the way, I'm not even really distinguishing Catholic, Protestant.

Michael Knowles (43:14)

Is sin really talked about all that much? I'll tell you from my experience as a Catholic. We have confession. We believe that if you commit, there are venial sins and mortal sins, which comes from the Epistles of John. All unrighteousness is sin, but there is some sin which is not mortal, which means there are these two categories. Venial sin compromises your. Weakens your relationship with grace and mortal sin severs it. And so you have to repent and receive absolution. And we have sacramental confession. It comes from the. You see it in Scripture when Christ says to his apostles, you have the power to forgive and retain sins. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven, whose sins you retain are retained. Anyway, we go and the priest says, I absolve you of your sins. You are not to receive Holy Eucharist if you're in a state of mortal sin and you haven't been to confession. And yet the Catholic Churches, they hear confessions for 30 minutes, once a week maybe. How are you going to get your whole congregation in? It's not possible. So they don't take sin serious, Any kind of sin. The Protestant churches, in my experience, I have a lot of Protestant friends, yeah, they don't really focus so much on sin or they don't take it seriously in other ways. So it's a major, major problem. And I agree. Sometimes maybe they talk about sexual sin. Sexual sin is tied to gluttony, though. I mean, a traditional, very basic bit of spiritual combat advice is if you're struggling with lust, you should fast. Fasting is prescribed for that, and it will mitigate the lust. So these things are tied. I totally agree with you. Gluttony is a big one. And sloth too. Yeah. You have an obligation to be diligent. You know, every minute there was some Eastern Orthodox guy I was just reading said, you know, every minute that you're doing something that's not oriented toward God, it's a waste of time. Do we have one more? I know we're late. I don't care. Do we have one more?

Michael Knowles (45:04)

Hi, Michael.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (45:05)

My name's Taylor and I obviously love your show so much. So my amazing husband and I are both 28, and next month we'll have been married for four years. And we actually also grew up together, so it always reminds me of you and sweet little Elisa. But he's an active duty pilot for the Navy, which I am so proud of him for. But sadly, this comes with deployments, and we've really been thinking about kids and just the timing of it all with that. And I have this constant internal battle where part of me wants to just start trying. And if it happens and he ends up missing the birth or really special moments in the pregnancy or a baby's life, just deal with it emotionally. But it just really breaks my heart thinking about not sharing those moments with him. I think they're just so critical in marriage and having kids and the blessing of that. And anyway, he thinks we should wait a few more years so he wouldn't have the chance of being deployed at all because he wants, of course, to so badly be there with me and our baby, God willing. But I'm just feeling so sad about that, too, because I really want a baby. I'm just feeling that, you know, instinct right now. So, anyway, I'm just wondering your thoughts on this. And he also comes home this week from an eight and a half month deployment. And I'm so excited. I've missed him so much. Thank you, Michael.

Michael Knowles (46:25)

Wonderful. Great to hear from you. Please thank your husband for his service. That's great. Another tie in the Knowles family has a lot of Navy in it. You got a lot of Navy in that family? Cousins and uncles. And my grandpa was a Navy captain. He was a career Navy officer. And he and my grandmother had six kids and it's tough. So you say, well, your heart would be broken if he missed the. If your husband missed the birth. You know what would break your heart more? If you don't have a kid. Have a kid. You guys need to have kids right now. You have to have kids right now. He's coming home from deployment. He's great. Light the candles, get the music on. Maybe I'll do a little ukulele rendition for you. Set the mood and have a kid. You should do that. It's tough. I've heard plenty of stories from my family about my grandpa being deployed. Eight months, nine month deployments. And yeah, you miss a lot. It's tough. I mean, obviously his line of work involves an immense amount of sacrifice. Even without the deployments, though, even just getting orders, moving around, that's tough. That's gonna take a toll on the kids. It's gonna take a toll on you. A lot of the burden of that is gonna fall to you. The. That's it. That's what you guys signed up for, and we're very grateful for it. As Americans. It's wonderful. It's a great. A very noble profession, but that's part of it. So. No, you can't put off having kids until, what? Okay, then maybe you won't have deployments, and I guess in most circumstances, maybe, but maybe you will. And then, who knows? And if he remains in that line of work, and then. Come on. Come on, have a kid. Because you can't have your second kid until you have your first kid. Let's go. You can't have your third until. Come on. Come on, man. Come on, man. Okay, it's fake headline Friday. I know I'm late. I'll move fast. I'll move fast. In the Membrum segmentum, if you're not there, use code ns w ly wire.com. get two months free on all annual plans.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (48:23)

All of this is an illusion. An echo of a voice that has died.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (48:29)

And soon that echo will cease.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (48:42)

They say that Merlin is mad.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (48:49)

They say he was a king in Dovid, the son of a princess of lost Atlantis. They say the future and the past are known to him. That the fire and the wind tell him their secrets. That the magic of the hill folk and druids come forth at his easy command.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (49:11)

They say he slew hundreds. Hundreds. Do you hear that? The world burned and trembled at his wrath.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (49:23)

The Merlin died long before you and I were born.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (49:29)

Merlin. Emrys has returned to the land of the living.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (49:34)

Vortigern.

Commercial Announcer (49:35)

Is gone.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (49:36)

Rome is gone. The Saxon is here. Saxon Hengist has assembled the greatest war host ever seen in the island of the mighty. And before the summer is through, he means to take the throne.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (49:50)

And he will have it if we are too busy squabbling amongst ourselves to take up arms against him. Here is your hope. A king will arise to hold all Britain in his hands. A high king who will be the wonder of the world.

Michael Knowles (50:06)

You.

Michael Knowles (50:09)

To a future of peace.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (50:13)

There'll be no peace in these lands till we are all dust.

Michael Knowles (50:17)

Men of the island of the mighty, you stand together.

Michael Knowles (50:22)

You stand as Britons.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (50:25)

You stand as warned.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (50:29)

Great darkness is falling upon this land.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (50:33)

These brothers are our only hope to stand against it.

Michael Knowles (50:38)

Not our only hope.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (50:40)

Esay Mirthin slew 17 men with his own hands. I Cathay, he slew 500.

Narrator (Pendragon Cycle) (50:49)

No man is capable of such a thing. No mortal man.

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Michael Knowles (51:08)

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