Caller / Listener (18:56)

We need people working in the front lines of local law enforcement to protect our citizens from. From the worst of the worst. The worst of the worst are not the immigrants. The worst of the worst, records show, are native born Americans. And they are committing crimes that hurt our citizens and our cities. And you're working against it and thank you for that. But by trying to get our local law enforcement, where we have an undercount of officers in Memphis, to leave Memphis and go to work for ICE to deport people is a wrong priority.

Michael Knowles (19:25)

Print it, print it, cut it, print it, run it. In every midterm, congressional race. Democrats say the worst of the worst are not illegal aliens. The worst of the worst are American citizens. Native born Americans. They're the worst. And look, they do believe that Steve Cohen accidentally admitted this. But what is he saying? Particularly what is he even intending to say? What he's intending to say from his perspective is almost as bad when he says it's not the illegals we have to worry about, especially in cities. The worst of the worst violent criminals are not the illegal aliens, they're native born Americans. What he is really saying amid all those euphemisms is don't worry about Hispanics, worry about blacks. That's what he's saying. He's talking about Memphis. He's talking about crime specifically in any city. But if you wanna really drill down in Memphis, what native born Americans is he talking about? Is he talking about the WASP Methodist family down the street living just a few blocks off Beale? I don't think so. What he's talking about specifically is black people. And so his pitch to voters, I guess on why they secretly don't want the mass deportations that they voted for in 2024, his pitch to voters is Hispanics aren't the problem, it's blacks that are the problem. Let's go after them. Now of course he would never say that. He's trying to speak in euphemisms to say, no, no, no, it's really a dichotomy between the illegal aliens and the native born Americans. But if we're talking about the particulars that he's bringing up here, we're talking about Memphis, Tennessee, that's what he's saying. And furthermore, he is missing the whole point of the illegal immigration crime conversation because you'll hear these libs, sometimes they'll say, actually do you know that the illegal aliens commit crime at a lower rate than the native born population? And that's also not really true. Depends on how you slice the statistics. But it's not really true. Regardless. Even if it were true, the difference here is that we have to deal with the people born in America. We have to deal with the American citizens. There are plenty of American citizens across all races, across the country, in cities and country that I would love to deport to Bukele to get them out of here because they're bad for America. There are plenty of them. But we can't do that because they're American citizens and they're entitled to certain rights. So the best we can do is have a robust police presence, enforce the law, keep them off the streets so that they can't harm innocent Americans also of all backgrounds throughout the country. That is not true of illegal aliens. None of those illegal aliens should be here. Every single crime that an illegal alien commits in America was needless. It didn't have to happen. Every single American who is victimized by an illegal alien is victimized specifically because of the perfidy, the treachery of Democrats who insist that the illegal aliens stay. Every rape, every murder, every robbery, every drug deal, every, every, every, every, every was unnecessary. We don't have to deal with those illegals. They're not supposed to be here. If we followed the law, none of them would be here. That's the difference. Even if you could argue well really the worst violent criminals aren't the illegal aliens. They're those native born Americans in Memphis. Wink wink, Steve Cohen little dog whistle there. Even if that were true, you're missing the point. All of the illegal alien crime is needless. And you, Steve Cohen, you and people like you, every Democrat in congress and every squish Republican who doesn't vote for immigration enforcement, you are responsible for every one of those crimes. The same cannot be said of crimes committed by native born Americans. Before we go on, you need to go to JoinRelay app and use code Knowles. I'm gonna paint a picture for you. And I hope this picture doesn't describe your life. But maybe it does. Statistically it actually probably does. You're traveling for work, or the wife and the kids are leaving and you're home alone. And you get a lustful thought. And maybe it's that same lustful thought that you've been struggling with for years. And you tell yourself, you know what, I'm gonna power through this. I'm not gonna look at pornography. And then you succumb to the urge and then afterward you feel like a big loser and you tell yourself, you know, that was it, I'm never doing that again. And then you will do it. Again, well, if I just describe your relationship with porn, you need Relay. Relay is a men's health platform that helps you quit porn for good by using Christian principles and teaching evidence based skills. They are so confident that you will see a decrease in your usage of that very nasty habit and vice in your first 30 days that if you do not, you will be offered a full refund. Porn is like one of the greatest causes of evil in the entire world today. Cause it just opens people up to all sorts of really bad sources and turns your brain to mush and ruins your relationships and it's just really bad. So with Lent just a few days away, your problem is the exact thing that you should be working on to grow closer to God. You know how terrible it feels to be in that cycle. Use code Knowles K N W L E S for a free trial. Get the help you need. Gain freedom. Be the man God is calling you to be. Join Relay today. Now there is some good news on immigration. We have a report now from cbs. So they've made a move a little bit more toward the center. They were pretty left wing. Now Bari Weiss is running cbs. Barry Weiss, though, is center left. She's not center right. She's not a conservative in any way, really. She's center left. She's just much more reasonable than the other guys who are running it. Well, CBS has a story on a record number of illegal alien detainees giving up their cases and voluntarily leaving the country. And that figure only appears to be climbing. So you look at this is a great, great story. The percentage of detained cases that end in voluntary removal, they're receiving their due process. And they say, you know what, whatever, I give up, I'm going back to Venezuela. It started at 1985. You're looking at like 6, 7%. Then it jumps to 19% by the end of the Reagan era. But then after that Reagan amnesty, oh, it goes way, way down. By the 90s, you're looking at 3%, 2%. Then it kind of hovers around there for a little while, jumps up a little bit again. Best you're getting is right after Trump was elected. You get it up to 21%, then it starts to go back down as he has trouble enforcing the border. And then look at this. He gets reelected in 2024, spikes 28%. So last year, Trump formally removed something like 525,000 illegal aliens, which is much better numbers than certainly than Biden and then Barack Obama even. And they called, they being the liberals say that Obama was called the deporter in chief. And that was kind of faking it because Obama was counting the illegals that he just turned away at the border. So he artificially inflated those numbers in any case. 525,000, you say? All right, that's a good start. But we got something like 20 million illegals in the country. The real story, though was there were a lot of self deportations, a lot of people who just chose to leave the country. And I know some people on the right were skeptical of this. They didn't totally believe it. But we're seeing this come up in numbers, in labor numbers. We're seeing this come up out of think tanks. We're now seeing this reported by CBS News. 28% of these detainees just choosing to remove themselves. Those are not counted in the formal deportations. That's pretty good. That's a pretty good number. So why is this happening? Other people on the right have criticized the White House for putting on a show of deportations, but not really carrying it out. So they put on the show. The cruelty is the point. They have these really cool edits that come out from the social media accounts, DHS and ice, and it's them smacking these illegals on the ground, cuffing them up. You see this big show of force in Minneapolis, which the left tried to fight Trump on. Ultimately though, I think it was either a draw or Trump kind of won because he got the locals to start handing over the criminals. In any case, some of those people on the right say, I don't want the show, I want the deportations. We all want more deportations. But the show is important. I mean, look down at Bukele. I mentioned Bukele a lot. The wonderful leader of El Salvador to whom we send a lot of these illegal aliens. When Bukele started rounding up the criminals in his country, face tattooed gangsters, in some cases Satan worshiping gangsters. When he started doing that, he didn't just kind of do it quietly and get the job done quietly. He made these great videos, absolutely humiliating these people. He then made videos destroying the graves of their members and family members, like going in with sledgehammers and smashing up their graves, gravestones and treating these people like cockroaches and then putting them on camera looking like cockroaches and sending a message. The message was heard because El Salvador went from being the most dangerous country in the Western hemisphere, maybe the most dangerous country in the world, to one of the very safest countries in the hemisphere. Very impressive. The flamboyance was the point. Sometimes the lib say the cruelty is the point, as if Republicans are just, you know, sadists or something. No, no, no. The cruelty is not the point. We don't want to be cruel. We don't want to be unjust. But the flamboyance is the point, actually. The showmanship is the point. It serves a practical, strategic purpose. When you have these videos of ICE showing up and getting a little rough with people, totally within the confines of the law, but a little rough, that sends a message. When you show ICE not backing down, when you show leftists try to attack ice, drive their cars into ice, and ICE finally protects themselves, follows the law, ICE shoots back. That sends a message. And the law is a real teacher. So the question, of course, was, well, is the flamboyance really paying off, or is it just a way to mollify conservatives who aren't getting enough deportations? I think the numbers are pretty clear here. They are resulting in self deportations. They are resulting in people voluntarily leaving as they're awaiting processing. This is good stuff, folks. Very exciting for President's Day. Daily wire memberships are 47% off. Don't let me convince you to subscribe to Daily Wire. Well, you should let me convince you to, but how about you take it on the advice of Roger Avery, who wrote Pulp Fiction and who is very, very prominent writer and filmmaker. Speaking to Joe Rogan just the other.

Ben Davies (30:12)

Day, have you seen the Pendragon cycle, the Rise of the Merlin?

Michael Knowles (30:19)

No.

Ben Davies (30:20)

Okay. So I had a chip on my shoulder when I started watching this. I was like, okay, this is very unlikely that I'm going to enjoy this production. But they did it for, like a. For a micro budget, effectively. They made something that is absolutely. Kind of reinvents the mythology, and they do it like proper television, where you kind of love the characters and they weave an entire reality and universe that is just fantastic. And it's done for, like, you know, for very, very little. You know, they're spending billions making these Lord of the Rings things, and, like, nobody cares. They're just awful to watch. And in the meantime, these guys just, you know, without anybody paying attention, cranked this out. And I've only seen four episodes of it, but I am, like, completely blown away by it.

Michael Knowles (31:09)

That's so interesting.

Ben Davies (31:10)

The Daily Wire. This is, to me, as good as classic television.

Michael Knowles (31:15)

Okay? You don't need to take my word for it. Take one of the great men of Hollywood's word for it. Joe Rogan. Go check it out. Go Become a DailyWire plus subscriber and most importantly, follow me when you do that. There are two stories I have to get to and I'm gonna have to fly through them because I, I know I have to get to the mailbag. But the State Department has identified Code Pink and other far left groups as Chinese tools. These left wing groups as just fronts basically serving the purpose of foreign adversaries. And also Shakespeare might be a black Jewish woman. First of all, I want to tell you about Toupes and company. Go to tupesandco.comknowles have you thought maybe you've been like a lot of people, you thought that for years everyone was just using clean skin care. You know, you buy the trendy brand, you read the labels, you try to do the right thing and it all seems perfectly fine, right? And then you start digging into what is in those bottles, past all the pretty marketing and you realize that you have no idea what's in those bottles. Well, that is one thing that is leading a lot of people to Tupes and Co. When I look at Toupes and Co's ingredients compared to all those other brands, the difference is night and day. Most products are mostly water fillers, things you can't pronounce. Tupes is the opposite. It's real nourishing ingredients that support your skin. Their tallow balm is made from 100% grass fed tallow, which sounds old fashioned because it is. Our great grandmothers knew that tallow mimics our skin's natural biology better than any plant oil ever could. Sweet little Elisa, she's an expert on these. She's very beef tallow bomb pilled. She is. She totally is. Okay. I encourage all people to be like sweet little Elisa. If you're tired of wondering whether your skincare is messing with your hormones or adding to your body's toxic load, make the switch. Go to tupesandco.com knowles T-O-U-P-S and co c o.com knowles they're offering our listeners 25% off your first order with code knowles toopsnco.com knowles code knowles for 25% off your first order. My favorite comment yesterday is from jsumner 6999 says this lawyer. Oh, the lawyer. In the case of that squatter, the squatter in Maryland, I think it was that lawyer who went on and just didn't know how to say anything. It was great. If you missed the clip, go check out the show yesterday. Anyway, the comment is he adds an interesting connotation to the term criminal lawyer. Yes, that's true. There are a lot of criminal lawyers, aren't there? A lot of double criminal lawyers? Okay, real quick. The State Department has just identified CodePink. CodePink is an anti war group. It's been around since I was a kid as a tool of the Chinese Communist Party. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Sarah Rogers, as partisan hacks, spent years peddling the phony Russia collusion hoax while turning a blind eye to the sprawling web of far left activist organizations who push the agendas of the Chinese Communist Party. Organizations like CODEPINK and the People's Forum denigrate the United States, whitewash the violence of Marxist regimes, and run cover for China while enjoying an influx of cash from a donor network with connections to the Chinese Communist Party. The State Department will pursue complete transparency for the donor and NGO networks that lobby for our adversaries and seek to weaken the resolve of the United States. The Department assesses that China, Iran and Russia aggressively use state media proxies and digital platforms to spread propaganda and falsehoods, undermine U.S. credibility and policies, and expand their influence. This is a little bit of a complex issue because you're going to have to hold multiple ideas that are in tension with one another in your mind at the same time. But this is part of growing up, and we all have to grow up politically. Idea number one, Donald Trump did not collude with the Russians. The suggestion that Donald Trump colluded with the Russians, that the Russians rigged the 2016 election, is Democrat propaganda, ironically cooked up by the Democrats with Russian intelligence. The idea of the Russia hoax is in a certain way a Russia hoax. But that was fake. That isn't real. Next thing to know, certain groups that are on the left that in some cases now are even being embraced by the right can have serious ideas. Maybe not serious ideas, but really sincere ideas. Code Pink sincerely hates it when America goes to war and there are people on the right. I mean, look, we all kind of hate it when we go to war, but some wars are justified, other wars are not justified. The Code Pink idea is that basically whenever America goes to war, we're always in the wrong. But they might sincerely believe that. Students for justice in Palestine, another great example. There is a serious conversation to be had about the rights or overstated rights or underserved rights of the Palestinian people and a political solution to the problems in the Middle east and the legitimacy of the Israeli state and on what grounds the Israeli state is to be justified. And there is a serious conversation to be had about all of that. And here's the Third part you have to hold in your head. Our foreign adversaries actually do use sincere ideas and political candidates to advance their agenda against America. They actually do that. The Russians did not collude with Trump. Trump did not collude with the Russians. Trump was much harder on the Russians than the Democrats were. But it benefited Russia when the Democrats cooked up the Russia narrative. And again, Russian intelligence, like, indirectly kind of worked on that. But that is true. That whole thing was beneficial to the Russians. They had a stake in the Russia hoax. Our adversaries, Russia, Iran, China, do fund and promote these groups like Code Pink or Students for justice in Palestine or whatever. They do it. That is why I'm real loathe. I mean, first of all, the Students for Justice and Palestine thing is just kind of silly. The notion that we need some grand alliance with Islamists is, I think, contrary to the historical experience of Christendom. The notion for Code Pink, the notion that wars cannot be justified and that America is always on the wrong side of wars, I think is ridiculous. But I am sympathetic to the people in the traditional territory of Palestine, especially to Christians there. What Christians remain. I am sympathetic to the idea that we don't want to go to war frivolously. I'm sympathetic to all of that. But also foreign adversaries are using those groups to destabilize America. This has been going on for a long time. Probably the clearest example from recent history is the civil rights movement. There were great aspects to the civil rights movement. There were some bad aspects to the civil rights movement, too, but there were some great aspects and motivations to it, without question. And also, the Soviet Union was funding the civil rights movement. I know it's difficult to hold those ideas in tension, but that's growing up is recognizing that growing up is that there are legitimate domestic political concerns that are exploited by our foreign adversaries. And so we need to be a little careful when we talk about those domestic concerns. In fact, the reason that they can be exploited by our adversaries is because they're real concerns. There's a certain reality to it. Nevertheless, we don't want to inadvertently be promoting the propaganda of people who have ICBMs pointed at us. Okay, last question. Is Shakespeare a Jewish black woman? Here is a recent news report.

News Anchor / Narrator (38:58)

What if the Bard wasn't a white man from Stratford at all? What if William Shakespeare was actually a Jewish black woman? Yes. Quaintly outlandish theory, that is all being published in a new book by historian Irene Coslid. And it's titled the Real Shakespeare. And in this, Irene or argues that Emilia Bassano, a Jewish woman of North African descent, one of the first women to actually publish poetry in the early 1600s. Well, she was actually the man we all refer to as Shakespeare. Some of the most beloved works of all time, some of the most famous. Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet. Yes, those are all actually Amelia. That's according to this new theory that's been put forward by Irene.

Michael Knowles (39:46)

What if. What if Ifs and buts were candy and nuts? Well, then we'd all have a merry Christmas. The answer to the question, just to wrap it up, the answer to the question, was Shakespeare a black Jewish woman? No, he wasn't. Wouldn't that be wacky if he were? I love this story and the news anchor here is kind of winking at it. Cause she knows it's totally ridiculous. But I just love it matters politically. Because so much of the way that we treat literature, philosophy, history, so much of how we treat our education these days, it really just boils down to what if it were opposite day? Yes, yes, yes, I know. What thinkers have always thought and what the wisest men of history have always believed and considered. Yes, I know. But what if it were the opposite? That's modern education. So anyway, what if? What if, what if? Our mailbag is sponsored by Pure Talk. Go to peertalk.com knowleskanywlas. You'll get 50% off your first month. Take it away.

Caller / Listener (40:46)

Hi, Michael. I have a question for you and Mr. Ben Davies. I'm really interested in pursuing acting as a career, and I know that both of you had had experience in that field. I'll be graduating high school with an associate's degree in two years, and I'm ready to put in all the hard work and effort required into getting into the industry. I know acting can be very tough in many ways, but I'm willing to go through that journey along the way. What is your advice on getting into the industry and making myself known while avoiding the pitfalls common with actors? Thank you for your time and thank you for your show.

Michael Knowles (41:16)

Good question. Run, run. Do anything else? Run in the opposite direction? No. Look, I really enjoyed the craft of acting, especially as a student. I really enjoyed it the same way that I enjoy playing, I don't know, ukulele or piano or something like that. More so even I took it very seriously. I was at very serious acting conservatories, really delved into. Delved into it. Especially following the modern form of acting, which comes from Stanislavski in The Moscow Art Theater, up through the group theater in New York. Teachers like Stella Adler, Harold Klurman, Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner. I studied with one of Mizner's assistants for a long time. I have rethought the morality of acting in recent years after I quit it. I sometimes say I'm the only guy in history ever got cured of the acting bug. But I've rethought the morality of it in part because of modern acting, because in order to act well, especially for the screen, but in the style of acting that came about in the 20th century, it's not enough to just like, put on a silly show and be representational and wear silly masks or something. To do the new form of acting which is now predominant, the more naturalistic form of acting, you have to cultivate desires in you. So if you're in love with some woman on screen, you have to really fall in love with her in order to achieve some objective on the stage or on the screen, you have to really desire that objective. So you're messing around not just with the things you're playing pretend at, you're messing around with your heart, with your soul, with your loves, with your desires, which I think is damaging at least and very likely immoral. So I am discouraging you from doing that. It's a great craft. There are a lot of great stuff. I'm thrilled that I was an actor and that I studied. Gave me a lot of great stuff. I can memorize things. It makes me more persuasive. It teaches you about human nature because you really have to try to figure out how human beings tick. It's very helpful to politics. It's why a lot of actors go into politics. But you need to be very careful. I was just listening to a lecture as I was driving into work this morning about St. Augustine and how St. Augustine inveighed against the theatrical productions of Rome. Should we ask Mr. Davies? Mr. Davies, are you there? Is Mr. Davies in the room? Hello?

Ben Davies (remote participant) (43:36)

I'm here. Can you hear me?

Michael Knowles (43:37)

Yes.

Ben Davies (remote participant) (43:38)

Michael?

Michael Knowles (43:38)

Yes. What do you think? Are you going to encourage him to do acting or should he quit?

Ben Davies (remote participant) (43:42)

I think you are being an entirely wet blanket. However, I do think that, yes, you should run. I think if there's anything else that you find interesting in your life, you would rather spend five to 10 years mastering that craft and having success versus risking everything, spending a ton of money working in bars, trying to make a living while you're trying to be an actor in the process.

Michael Knowles (44:02)

When I was hold On. I just want to clarify. Your argument differs from mine. We're giving him the same practical advice, which is don't be an actor professionally. But yours differs from mine in that. Yeah, I mean, I totally grant. The reason I have actually a fair bit of respect for actors, even though they're nuts, is because actors really are staking everything on the lottery, basically, which is either a sign of madness or a sign of courage. And the line is a little blurry, but. But my argument is that the craft of acting as it has been practiced for the last hundred years or so is morally dubious at best and not conducive to you living a great life. In other words, I know very successful actors, top of their profession, and even they are not that happy. So it's not just that not making it will make your life miserable, but actually making it might make it even more miserable. Your argument is just you're not likely to succeed.

Ben Davies (remote participant) (44:55)

Well, I was going to get to that. Per usual, you are correct. But there's a lot of actors that I know that have perfectly terrific lives and families and love their craft and are terrific what they're doing. Your example, though, of, like, wanting to fall in love with the person because you have to almost, in these intimate scenes, you don't actually have to do that. You just have to have a really strong feeling towards that person. So I actually know an actor I'm not going to name, but he did a terrific romantic performance, but his goal was to actually hate this person.

Michael Knowles (45:20)

Interesting.

Ben Davies (remote participant) (45:20)

And so if he was passionately hating that person, not falling in love with in those scenes, it was intense and awesome. So that was almost something he did to guard himself in those scenes, but still give a great performance.

Michael Knowles (45:30)

Wow, that's very interesting. Now, one could make a moral argument that it's actually bad to cultivate hatreds of people, too, because if you hate your brother, you're like, you've murdered him. But that's very interesting. I hadn't considered that. Okay, well, anyway, the upshot of all of those aspects of advice is you should not. I mean, I think it's worth studying acting because it teaches you about human nature and it gives you actual practical skills. Maybe the only quasi practical skills I actually possess. But as a good lawyer friend of mine told me some years ago, it's not conducive to a distinguished life. That's true. That's definitely true. Okay. All right. It's Fake Headline Friday. I want to get to More Mailbag, but maybe we'll get to More Mailbag in The membrane segmentum. The rest of the show continues now. If you want to see it, if you want to be part of it, if you want to hear more. Mailbag, if you want. You need to download the app. Hold on, I'll calm myself down. I'm spiking my cortisol. I have to calm myself down. Download the app on your phone, on your television, on your typewriter. Subscribe, use code Knowles. You get two months free on all annual plans. Follow Michael, ignore the other guys. And then you will see the Membroom segment.

Actor / Character in Pendragon Cycle (46:52)

What was it like, Merlin, to be alone with God? Is that who you think I was alone with? I knew your father.

Michael Knowles (47:09)

I am yet convinced that he was.

Actor / Character in Pendragon Cycle (47:11)

Not of this world. All men know of the great Taliesin.

Michael Knowles (47:18)

Who are my father.

Actor / Character in Pendragon Cycle (47:19)

That the gods should war for my soul. Princess Garrus, savior of our people. I know what the bull God offered you. I was offered the same. And there is a new pirate work in the world. I've seen seen it. A God who sacrifices what he loves for us. We are each given only one life.

Michael Knowles (47:42)

Singer. No.

Actor / Character in Pendragon Cycle (47:44)

And we're given another. I learned of Yazu the Christ and I have become his follower.

Michael Knowles (47:52)

He's waiting on a miracle. And I think you can give him one.

Actor / Character in Pendragon Cycle (47:56)

Trust in Yael. He is the only hope for men like us. Fate of Britain never rests in the hands of the great light. Great light, Great darkness. Such things mattered to me then. What matters to you now, Mistress of lies? You, nephew. The sword of a high king. How many lives must be lost before you accept the power you were born to wield? Still clinging to the promises of a God who has abandoned you. I cannot take up that sword again. You know what you must do.

Caller / Listener (48:38)

Great life.

Michael Knowles (48:39)

Forgive me.

Actor / Character in Pendragon Cycle (48:47)

The time has come to be reborn.

News Anchor / Narrator (48:56)

Did you know 39% of teen drivers admit to texting while driving? Even scarier, those who text are more likely to speed and run red lights. Shockingly, 94% know it's dangerous, but do it anyway. As a parent, you can't always be in the car, but you can stay connected to their safety with Greenlight Infinity's driving reports. Monitor their driving habits, see if they're using their phone. Speeding and more. These reports provide real data for meaningful conversations about safety. Plus, with weekly updates, you can track their progress over time, help keep your teen safe. Sign up for Greenlight Infinity at greenlight. Com Podcast.