YOU KNOW NOTHING | TMT 167

Summary

Too Many Tabs with Pearlmania500

Episode 167: "YOU KNOW NOTHING"
Release Date: March 8, 2026
Hosts: Pearlmania500 (Mr. Pearlmania, "B") & Mrs. Pearlmania ("A")

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Overview:

This episode explores the forgotten history of the “Know Nothing” Party, a nativist, anti-immigrant movement of mid-19th century America—how it started, why it mattered, and the chilling echoes it has in the present day. Originally intending to research Brooklyn, Mrs. Pearlmania instead finds herself drawn into the Know Nothings' dark legacy, including the violent riots in Philadelphia and surprising modern-day consequences.

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Major Themes

• How nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment mirror the politics of today
• The role of secret societies in American history and their modern analogs
• How anti-Catholic paranoia exploded into deadly violence in Philadelphia
• The ripple effect of historical bigotry: from education to real estate to Trump
• Why Mrs. P can’t help but connect everything back to Philadelphia
• The ironic (and tragic) legacy of Brooklyn, gentrification, and American capitalism

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1. Setting the Scene: Brooklyn, Gentrification & Research Rabbit Holes

(Segment: 00:56–05:17)

• The episode starts with the duo visiting Brooklyn, reminiscing about old times, and noting how the borough has changed:

  “It’s been gentrified pretty—yeah, pretty heavily.” (A, 02:38)

• Mrs. Pearlmania resolves to do less Philly-centric content, intending to create a Brooklyn episode. But her research takes a sharp turn when she discovers an obscure political tag:

  “But then I see there’s a mayor and next to his name it says Know Nothing.” (A, 04:33)

• The iconic realization:

  “I laughed at myself. And I’m like, yeah, politicians don’t know nothing. But that’s actually the party… So then I’m like, well, what is the Know Nothing party?” (A, 04:38)

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2. America’s OG Anti-Immigrant Rage: Birth of the Know Nothings

(Segment: 06:22–13:54)

• Mrs. P describes the context: a surge in Irish immigration during the Great Hunger (potato famine), and the rise of “nativists” who called themselves “Native Americans”.

  “Since the first immigrant landed… that person said, I don’t like any other immigrants. That’s what I learned from the Know Nothing party.” (A, 05:19) “They called themselves nativists and also Native Americans.” (A, 06:33)

• The secret societies behind the movement:

  “Secret societies start popping up. One called the Order of the United Americans, and then there’s another one called the Order of the Star Spangled Banner.” (A, 08:26)

• Parallels to today:

  “These are literally the exact words out of like Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk.” (B, 11:45) “Nothing is new. Everything is just reinvention.” (B, 12:07)

• The party’s name comes from their secrecy—a running joke and branding triumph:

  “If you ask members about the organization, they would say, ‘I know nothing.’” (A, 12:41)
  “If you come up with an insult for us, eventually that insult becomes our whole personality.” (B, 13:09)

• Extends to today’s “Groypers” and internet radical groups.

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3. Know Nothings: Imagery, Irony & Modern Echoes

(Segment: 13:54–22:09)

• Party’s names: the American Party, the Native American Party.

  “The Know Nothing’s party’s official name was the American Party… They also referred to themselves again as the Native American Party.” (A, 15:20, 15:27)

• Connection to Elon Musk’s “America Party”.

• Influence on mainstream American identity and its symbolic links to “Gangs of New York”.

  “That’s the Build a Butcher flag.” (B, 15:44)

• Their exclusionary platform:

  “They wanted… only immigrants who had lived in the US for 25 years could become citizens.” (A, 21:59)

• Notably, the Know Nothings focused their hate on Catholics, particularly Irish—and were not overtly antisemitic:

  “Not antisemitic… the Know Nothings did not really focus their negative energy towards Jewish people. They had to prioritize their disdain for the Irish, German, and French Catholic immigrants.” (A, 24:24–25:08) B’s shock: “I’m legit shocked.” (B, 24:25)

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4. The Philadelphia Riots: Nativism Turns Violent

(Segment: 26:06–79:48)

The Setup (Pre-Riot)

• The Know Nothings achieved significant local power, including in intensely Irish cities like Boston and Chicago.

  “Famously non Irish cities. I think you named like the most Irish places in America. Oh, yeah, Boston.” (B, 28:13)

• In Philadelphia, rumors fly that Catholics want to “ban the Bible” from schools.

  “This feels like verbatim. I’ve heard this story like a hundred times already, like…‘They’re trying to get God out of our schools.’” (B, 30:24)

The Riots (1844)

• May 3–8, 1844:
  • Nativist rallies in Kensington end in street fights, shootings, and mobs torching Catholic churches, schools, and homes.
  • Violence explodes as rumors and anti-Catholic speeches escalate.
  • Outnumbered, constables are powerless while slow-moving sheriff posses are delayed by 19th-century communication.

    “This is pigeons, but legit. This is like how fast… What’s as fast as Jerry can get over there?” (B, 42:17)

  • At its peak, the unrest leads to:
    • 14+ killed, 50+ injured
    • Equivalent of $5 million in property damage
    • Entire city paralyzed by fear

Notable Quotes:

• “The nativists ran away. They bitched out… They talked a lot of shit and then they ran away.” (A & B, 38:13–38:18)
• “The fighting spills outside… nativists were shot at by people in the windows of nearby houses and buildings… One or two nativists were reportedly killed.” (A, 40:03)
• “I want to congratulate these soldiers for having rocks thrown at them and not immediately killing kids…” (B, 62:13)

Weapon escalation:

• Mob and state both bring cannons to street fights.

  “The crowd… went to a nearby wharf and got their own cannon… and pointed it at the church.” (A, 66:41)

• “Have you ever been push a massive cannon a mile down the street mad?” (B, 67:53)

Aftermath:

• Bishop Kendrick, originally pushing for Catholic Bibles in school, gives up and pushes for separate Catholic schools—explaining the proliferation of parochial schools in Philadelphia.

  “I can’t stress to you how insane that is that this is why Catholic schools existed in Philadelphia.” (B, 81:00)

• The violence and the inability of the patchwork police to stop it leads to:

  • Formal police force creation,
  • Consolidation of Philadelphia’s districts.

  “Their inability to maintain order effectively in the suburbs directly led to the consolidation of the city in 1854.” (A, 78:42)

• Suits for damages by the Catholic Church become precedent for property law and religious rights.

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5. Brooklyn After All: Fraud, Mortgages, & The Trump Connection

(Segment: 84:36–91:49)

• Mrs. Pearlmania finally brings the story back to Brooklyn with a tale from the 1930s:

  • J. Lehrenkrauss & Co.: A mortgage company running fraudulent mortgage schemes during the Depression collapses, devastating small investors.
  • At the bankruptcy hearing (attended by thousands), among the onlookers: Fred Trump, future real estate tycoon and father of Donald Trump.

    “A Queen’s native… Fred Trump. After attending the hearing, Fred Trump acquired the mortgage servicing subsidiary.” (A, 90:24)

• This acquisition allows Fred Trump to buy foreclosed properties cheaply, making his fortune—and laying the groundwork for the Trump family empire:

  “Because of a Ponzi scheme in the 1930s, Donald Trump’s dad was able to snatch up a bunch of tenement housing for a steal… and then… that man’s son [became] the President of the United States.” (B, 91:08)

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6. Key Insights & Contemporary Parallels

• The cycles of nativist politics, anti-immigrant hysteria, and exclusionary economics repeat again and again—from the Know Nothings, to property scams, to Trumpism.
• Institutional responses, like parochial schools or city police, often have roots in riots and violence, not grand planning.
• Secret societies, coded language, and group branding (from "Know Nothings" to "Groypers") never go away—they just get new labels and platforms.
• “Historical rhymes” echo in everything from school board fights over Bibles to internet echo chambers and TikTok rumors.

  “Nothing is new. Everything is just reinvention.” (B, 12:07)

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7. Notable Quotes & Iconic Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |---|---|---| | 04:38 | A (Mrs. P) | “…I see there’s a mayor and next to his name it says Know Nothing.” | | 06:33 | A | “They called themselves nativists and also Native Americans.” | | 11:45 | B | “These are literally the exact words out of like Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk.” | | 13:09 | B | “If you come up with an insult for us, eventually that insult becomes our whole personality.” | | 21:59 | A | “…only immigrants who had lived in the US for 25 years could become citizens.” | | 24:25 | B | “Not antisemitic… I’m legit shocked.” | | 28:13 | B | “Famously non Irish cities. I think you named like the most Irish places in America.” | | 34:32 | B | “They took Jesus out and put kitty litter in. That’s going all the way back to the 1840s. It’s the same story, same shit.…” | | 40:03 | A | “The fighting spills outside… nativists were shot at by people in the windows…” | | 67:53 | B | “Have you ever been push a massive cannon a mile down the street mad?” | | 81:00 | B | “I can’t stress to you how insane that is that this is why Catholic schools existed in Philadelphia.” | | 90:24 | A | “A Queen’s native… Fred Trump. After attending the hearing, Fred Trump acquired the mortgage servicing subsidiary.” | | 91:08 | B | “…Donald Trump’s dad was able to snatch up a bunch of tenement housing for a steal… that man’s son the President…” |

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8. Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:56–05:17 — Opening, Brooklyn reminiscing, why Mrs. P went down this research path
• 06:22–13:54 — Nativism, secret societies, Know Nothing origins & ideology
• 26:06–79:48 — The Philadelphia Riots, escalation, cannons in the street, foundation of modern policing and parochial schools
• 84:36–91:49 — Brooklyn mortgage scams, Fred Trump’s origin story
• Throughout — Running commentary drawing parallels to present-day hate, conspiracy, and scapegoating

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9. Conclusion & Legacy

• The Know Nothings’ legacy—of exclusion, scapegoating, and institutional violence—lives on in American political life, city planning, even school choice.
• Historical violence sets deep precedents—from who gets to be “American,” to the creation of our cities, schools, police, and even real estate empires.
• The ripple effects of bigotry, rumor, and economic predation persist far into the present, often echoing almost beat-for-beat in today’s news and scandals.

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Final Thoughts

The episode masterfully weaves together history, personal anecdotes, and sharp humor, drawing unapologetic lines between the past and today’s culture wars and political grifts. Both hosts are keenly aware of how old prejudices and power plays never really fade—they just get rebranded, retweeted, or funneled through a mortgage scam and sold to the highest bidder.

“Nothing is new. Everything is just reinvention.” (B, 12:07)

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To keep up with the Pearlmanias, find ad-free episodes, bonus content, and more at pearlmania500.net.

Transcript

[A]

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[A]

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[B]

against plaque, keep gums tight and enjoy long lasting gum health. Strong, strong gums, healthy smile. I know nothing. You know nothing about the Know Nothings, a political movement from the 1800s that has dire consequences on America today. That's right. This is a deep dive episode on a topic that you've never heard about, that you're gonna actually be fascinated so rapidly by. And then at the end, she's gonna boom you with an uppercut that hurts all the way to this very day right here on Too Many Times. Remember to smile. Welcome to Too Many Tabs, a podcast where a husband and wife duo sit next to each other at a table. And as you guys know, if you've watched this show before, if you listen to this show before, if you've given it five stars, wherever you enjoy your podcast, then you'll know this is a show where one of us does research on a topic. And this week, like most weeks, that research was done by Mrs. Pearl Mania.

[A]

That's right. I got into the Internet.

[B]

Yeah, you got into it, didn't you?

[A]

And it got weird.

[B]

It did get weird. That's how life always goes with us, though, whenever we start opening up tabs on the Internet.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where did you start your tab journey this week, Mrs.

[A]

I started my tab journey in the real world in Brooklyn, New York.

[B]

That's right, because you and I just went to Brooklyn.

[A]

Yeah, we had a fun time.

[B]

Yeah, we were up there with Phil DeFranco because we announced the Crashing Out Live, the first ever one we're going to do.

[A]

I heard it sold out already.

[B]

It's sold out like almost instantly, which is very cool. And we're going to have more announcements about that in the future. But it also had time where you and I got to walk around Brooklyn.

[A]

Yeah, we were cool. I haven't been to Brooklyn since my 20s.

[B]

Oh, really?

[A]

Yeah. Like, I used to party there when I was young.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And then when we were back up there, it's very different now.

[B]

It is very different.

[A]

There's a lot of corporate stuff going on up there.

[B]

Yeah. It's been gentrified pretty.

[A]

Yeah. Pretty heavily.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we had a good time.

[A]

We had a great time. And, well, you did complain a lot about hipsters.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But as I was walking around Brooklyn, I was like, you can see a lot of history in the buildings, the architecture. And I was like, you know, I don't know a lot about Brooklyn.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And so I started. Started thinking like, okay, I've gotten some feedback in the past that maybe some of our episodes are a little Pennsylvania specific centric.

[B]

Most people pointed out that for some reason, no matter what you're talking about, you seem to be able to get it back to Philadelphia.

[A]

That's not my fault. And so I was like, here's what I'm gonna do. An episode about Brooklyn.

[B]

Okay. Got it.

[A]

I wanted to open. So I started. I opened up a Wikipedia page on Brooklyn.

[B]

No sleep till.

[A]

And I started tippy tapping around.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And Brooklyn has an incredible history. There's. It's a seaport, a manufacturing center. There's the 14th Brooklyn Red Legged devils who Abraham Lincoln himself called into service during the Civil War. And the boroughs have incredible diversity. And it's really interesting how it shifts over time. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All interesting things to look into. But that's not what happened. What happened is I'm looking at a list of Brooklyn mayors on the Wikipedia page.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

As one does, I'm like, who are these mayors? Who's running this joint?

[B]

I didn't know Brooklyn at one point had their own mayor.

[A]

Yeah, they were like, separate from New York completely.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Because they were like, the five boroughs were like different little towns. And then they got incorporated. Now they're all run under a Mandani.

[A]

So, mum, Donnie, we thanked him a lot while we were up there.

[B]

We did. We literally. We literally walked around, we're like, oh, man, Montanhy's doing great.

[A]

He's doing a great job.

[B]

Better than Sherrell Parker. Whoa. Not to bring it back to Philly.

[A]

So then I am looking at this list of mayors and they're like, you know, it's like, Democratic, Republican.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wig with an H. Yeah.

[B]

Everyone forgets about the W party.

[A]

But here's the thing. I knew about the Wig party. I've Lived with you long enough to know a little bit of weird history. And I was like, the wigs, Heard of them?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But then I see there's a mayor and next to his name it says know Nothing.

[B]

No nothing.

[A]

And I laughed at myself. And I'm like, yeah, politicians don't know nothing. But that's actually the party. Yeah, I didn't know that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So then I'm like, well, what is the Know Nothing party?

[B]

Okay, well now you know something about

[A]

the everything about the Know Nothing.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

And I need to tell you all the things, things I've learned, I'm very

[B]

excited to learn about.

[A]

So also here's the thing I found out when I was doing all this research about the Know Nothing party. Is that America, if there's one thing America hates, it's immigrants. And America hates, hates immigrants since day one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Since the first immigrant landed.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That person said, I don't like any other immigrants. That's what I learned from the Know Nothing party.

[B]

Yeah. Basically it is kind of. And you. And if you're wondering if to look at what that looks like today, it would be a guy with a accent demanding to see someone else's papers while we. He wears a. Masks in Minnesota.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I do want to be clear. I intended to write this episode about Brooklyn, but we did. I did end up in Philly. I did end up in Philly.

[B]

How do you do that?

[A]

I did. I don't, I don't know how it happened. I'll tell you exactly how it happened.

[B]

Tell me, tell me.

[A]

When we get back from this,

[B]

I'm going to be live in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Not only doing stand up, but also teaching a class on social media. That's right. We're. I'm getting into classes. I'm going to start teaching them. That always ends well. But specifically that social media and you know, different ways of how you can use it and how you can grow your platform and things on that side. But also a daytime comedy show with some really close special friends. You're not going to want to miss it. It's at Soldiers in Pennsylvania in Pottstown. Check it out. Link in the description below.

[A]

It's the 1800s. Immigration is on the rise.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And people that were born in the United States start to feel resentment about these new arrivals.

[B]

New arrivals. Okay.

[A]

Yeah. The new immigrants. And I swear to God these native born Americans start calling themselves nativists and also Native Americans.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. That's a whole thing that a bunch of people are like, yeah, my, you know, my dad got over here and then I was born here. Therefore, I'm better than you because you just got here. Like my dad. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Hypocrisy, day one.

[B]

Yeah, it's. Listen, we're real good at it. Yeah, we're American. Like, when it comes to any sort of policy, American hypocrisy is number one. A number. Usa. Usa.

[A]

So the catalyst for this nativist movement was an increase of immigration, specifically large numbers of Irish immigrants coming into the East Coast.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because there was the great hunger, the Famine in the 1840s, Ireland. Irish people started really coming over to America.

[B]

Heavy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that the great famine that you're talking about is the potato famine.

[A]

But it wasn't a famine of potatoes alone.

[B]

No, no, no.

[A]

And the British did a lot.

[B]

Yes, the British did a lot. It actually was the great starvation. They had enough food to feed everyone in Ireland, but the British kept exporting it over to London and then selling it throughout the world.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And they were forcing the British to eat a potato crop. That bug in it.

[A]

Yeah. They were forcing the Irish live off the potatoes.

[B]

And there's a whole working and there's a whole thing about that.

[A]

And anyway, I made Irish potatoes yesterday.

[B]

Yes, you did. For our vibing with the food, idiot.

[A]

That you can find a candy, a Philadelphia candy. It's a coconut candy with cinnamon.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If you want to learn how to make an Irish potato, the candy from Philadelphia, go to our Patreon and listen to our Irish potato episode I just

[B]

put out@Pearl Mania500.net okay, so, okay, so here's what's happening.

[A]

A bunch of Irish immigrants coming in

[B]

to the east coast in the 1800s.

[A]

A bunch of small political parties start talking about. They start popping up everywhere, right? And these specific political parties, they're small, they're not the big guys, and they're. They're talking about this nativism, this nativist culture that they're breeding. Right. Also, at the same time, secret societies start popping up. One called the Order of the United Americans, and then there's another one called the Order of the Star Spangled Banner. And these members of this secret society, they start making sworn oaths to keep immigrants out of America or at the very least, keep them out of mainstream society once they arrive.

[B]

You know, it's very interesting because as the 1830s, 1840s, there is this entire thing about secret societies. It actually was a problem in America for a very long time. And people think that they've gone away, but the thing is, the secret societies have changed now, obviously, when we get into, like, stuff like there's a. There's a note in the Epstein files, literally, about Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel talking about creating their own secret society.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But beyond that, a lot of people look at stuff like the Masons, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you look at the Klan, the Ku Klux Klan, that's a secret society.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All these different things. Most people don't feel they're part of a secret society now, but many of you are, and you don't actually realize it when you go look at things like discord servers, when you look at things like subreddits, when you look at things like a patreon, [e-mail] these are areas of organizations of people that are coming together around a common idea or ideal or interest.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because like, even something like a pickleball league is a society now. How secret is it? How do you get in? Are there rituals? These are things that start to change it and make it a little bit more serious. But back in the day, societies and small groups like this were how to organize people and also for them to generate their own third and fourth spaces.

[A]

Oh, okay, okay. Like the Pickler.

[B]

Like the Pickler. Yeah, exactly like Pickler. We were looking at pickleball recently, and I was like, I don't know if I'm there yet.

[A]

I don't know if I could do it.

[B]

Yeah. But she saw a place called the Pickler.

[A]

I was like, the Pickler.

[B]

Yeah. I was like, I don't know if I love that.

[A]

That's pretty cool.

[B]

I don't love it. But these different groups.

[A]

Sounds like an evil villain.

[B]

It does seem to say, oh, the Pickler. Yeah, 100%.

[A]

Look out for the Pickler.

[B]

Oh, he's the Pickler. But no, the. The thing that when you're looking at all these different things, like, people seem to miss and when they talk about this stuff, they talk like it's in the past and it isn't. Is also still in the present. It's just slightly changed.

[A]

Yeah. So secret societies still exist. These secret societies back these days. Yeah. These secret societies again. They're just trying to keep immigrants out of the mainstream and make sure that everybody hated them.

[B]

Like that was their goal. The Secret Adventurers. The Secret Christmas Adventurers Club. What don't. You haven't seen the movie? Don't worry about it. Okay.

[A]

The nativist movement believes that alleged Romanist conspiracy to subvert civil and religious liberty in the U. S. Was being Hatched by the Catholics.

[B]

Yeah. Romanist is a different term. Usually they yelled Papist.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Therefore, they sought out to politically organize native born Protestants in defense of their traditional religious and political values. They saw Catholics as dangerous, illegal voters under the control of the Pope in Rome.

[B]

Hmm. That's interesting. It's interesting that people would import Catholics. It's almost as if they want to have them take over by changing the demographics. These are literally the exact words out of like Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk.

[A]

That's why when I was reading this, I was like, this is still the same thing.

[B]

It's the same thing.

[A]

Fucking thing.

[B]

And what's ironically, though, is usually they're complaining about Catholics.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because they're complaining about Hispanics. And most Hispanic people are Catholic because they're coming from Central and South America. And that's a very heavily Catholic, Papist area. But of this, this is nothing new. Nothing is new. Everything is just reinvention.

[A]

So, okay. The other thing is that the, the name, the Know Nothing, that's what I saw on the Wikipedia page. Right. And I was like, what the heck is a Know Nothing?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The name is actually because when political people would talk to them, like established political people, like Democrats, Republicans and Whigs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They would be like, so confused by the Know Nothing Party because they would. They would never publicly reveal who they were. And so if you ask members about the organization, they would say, I know nothing. And so this, like, weird answer led to people just calling them the Know Nothings.

[B]

And then eventually they call themselves the no Nothings. Because the number one thing we do here in America is if you come up with an insult for us, eventually that insult becomes our whole personality.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All right. And we're saying this. Listen, there's a reason why people in Philly like gritty. It's not because it's well designed. It's because it got insulted by somebody else. Didn't like the Pittsburgh Penguin. The Pittsburgh Penguin. Talk shit on gritty. And then gritty was like, sleep with one eye open, bird. And then we're like, that's our boy. That's our fucking boy.

[A]

Gritty.

[B]

How dare you? Like, legit. There was about four hours when gritty rolled out. We all went, what the fuck? And then we're like, fuck you. That's our guy. But it's the same thing. You can look in like, we're talking about different groups, Right. I think back to 2016, a lot of MAGA people, before they call themselves MAGA, you know what they call Themselves Deplorables. Exactly. And that comes from a Hillary Clinton speech. Yes, a Hillary Clinton speech where she called the MAGA coalition a basket of deplorables.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When we call ourselves, the people call themselves Yankees. Right? The New York Yankees. The Southerners called the Northerners Yankees. If you travel overseas, Americans are called Yankees and we use the term Yankee around. That is a joke that the British used to insult Americans with. Yeah, Yankee Doodle Dandy, macaroni in his hat, all that different shit. All of that was supposed to be like, yeah, look at this stupid yokel. Yeah, like that's what it is. It was an insult. And then slowly we made it our whole personality. When I look at something like a no nothing party, I think immediately, especially a nativist, anti immigrant party that is also like trying to control things while being organized in these little pocket cells all across the country. The Groipers, Nick Fuentes and the Gripers. And a groiper is a nickname that they kind of gave themselves, but also it was a secret. It was a. A dog whistle that they could put in plain sight. Do you know Pepe the Frog?

[A]

Yes, that's the meme.

[B]

Yes. The Pepe the Frog meme was grabbed on. A few different people who were like, looking into extremism noticed that Pepe. The Pepe meme showed up everywhere. And even the guy who made Pepe was like, I don't love this. Groiper is an offshoot of Pepe. He's a fat Pepe. That's what it is. And then they started calling themselves the Groipers. And then that became kind of similar to the Know Nothing, a term you could use out front.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And you start to hear this. The next one you're going to hear a lot is noticers. You'll hear them a lot. Don't worry about that. We'll get to that in the future.

[A]

Okay. Anyway, the Know Nothing's party's official name was the American Party.

[B]

Shut up.

[A]

Yes. Formed in 1849 and they had a flag. They also referred to themselves again as the Native American Party. This is the flag.

[B]

Oh, wait, I've seen this flag. Okay, I've seen this flag. This is the flag from Gangs of New York.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Oh, that's the. That's the. Build a butcher flag.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He's like, hold. It's against the wall. Native Americans beware of foreign influence.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, that's the foreign.

[A]

Oh, yeah, that's. That's what the. That's how they were walking around as Native Americans.

[B]

You know what's interesting though. You said that they called themselves the American Party.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, there's an America pac.

[A]

No.

[B]

And there was a guy pretty recently who wanted to split from the Republican Party.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And he started calling this new third party that he was creating the America Party.

[A]

All right.

[B]

And you know who that man was?

[A]

No.

[B]

That man is who? South African born. Elon Musk.

[A]

No.

[B]

Yeah. Immigrant Elon Musk.

[A]

I really thought I wrote an episode where Elon Musk wouldn't come up.

[B]

No, no, he's here because again, he's also ripping off a lot of this different stuff because again, it plays into the same mindset of people. Elon Musk got to America and then immediately. Because he went down to the border.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

During And I think 2023, 2024, he put a hat on the wrong way and then stood at the border, Eagle Pass with his weird chin going, look at all these foreigners trying to illegally come to this country the way Elon Musk illegally came to this country. He did. He came here on a student visa and then stayed. He should be deported.

[A]

Anybody?

[B]

Anybody?

[A]

The know nothings and their anti immigrant and very specifically anti Irish fervor became incredibly popular.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. They were. They had a building, right? They were building up a little.

[A]

Yeah. People were really into it. They were really into it.

[B]

Well, also, because it's old world hate.

[A]

Huh.

[B]

There's a thing that happens where if you bring something from Europe, right. Like an old world feeling or idea, and you bring it over here and then claim that it's new, that people jump onto it. So one thing that's happened here in this case.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The, the hatred of the Irish, specifically Irish Catholics, is because of British populations in America.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So people have British ancestry, specifically English ancestry. Many of them were raised Protestant. And when you went over in England before the Revolution, there was. There were constant fights. The English Civil War was a fight between Catholics and Protestants. The, the. The Glorious Revolution, which was a bloodless coup that changed the British government over there. That was all about the Catholic, you know, the Catholic Protestant split.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And like how these divides went. And then that spread. Like almost every war in Europe was Christians fighting Christians over whether or not what type of hat people were wearing or which book they were reading from or whether or not they could use a printing press. All of this different. And so when that got over here, it devolved. And then it's also a way for, like, you can get an Episcopalian, a Methodist and a Baptist together by saying, listen, I know all of us are different, but we're not Catholic. And that is literally how these things work. And that's what. This is, what bigots do.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They go and they find a difference. So they can then unify a bunch of other people together. It's a weird thing. It's Bismarckian theory.

[A]

Okay. So the Know Nothing party also created a lithograph, which is a type of art print.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And they were sold to people who were big fans of the ideas of the party.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And back then, people would buy lithographs, these pictures of like botanicals, like pictures of plants or whatever, and hang them up.

[B]

Oh, I know what you're talking. Like the big flower pictures.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

My mom had a bunch. Do you have a couple of them?

[A]

I do, yeah.

[B]

They're like. They look like hand drawn. Like reprints.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

They're like really, really pretty.

[A]

Yeah. Very detailed. So the Know Nothing party creates their own lithograph.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And it's an art. It's an art print created in 1854 that depicts the party's ideal of an American citizen. He is a well dressed white male and there's an American flag and an eagle. Frame the image and it's titled Citizen Know Nothing. I'm gonna show you a picture of it.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

First thing, gay. Second thing, just look at that guy. That is a Yankee Doodle Dandy.

[A]

That's a Yankee Doodle.

[B]

That's a Yankee Doodle Dandy. But this is incredible because it just shows me right now because a lithograph is not a picture. It's a portrait. It's. It's a hand drawing.

[A]

Well, it's like. It's almost like a screen print.

[B]

No, I know it's a screen, but I'm saying, though the baseline they're using ye not a photograph. Because photography was still like on the infancy or not even quite there yet. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This image, though, this is 1840s AI.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Because that man never existed.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And so he is an amalgamation of all these different people that they're putting together. And then like what we put on this, this is what we want. This is. We want the perfect American to look like. And I'm just thinking about how often I see MAGA content creators, conservative influencers, Facebook groups, all these others where they use AI to create the argument that doesn't fucking happen. Because they can't exist in the real world.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They have to exist somewhere among Plato's forms also.

[A]

I love that. Okay, so if I didn't know anything at this point, out of context.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

This picture literally says, citizen Know nothing.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm like, okay, that doesn't. You're not.

[B]

Okay. So we see Citizen Idiot.

[A]

Yeah, that's really not getting your point across. You don't know what's going on out of context. But also, I like that they're like, this is the manliest American, and he has a fucking. It's like triple layered fluff ascot and the swaggiest hat, like, dipped over one eye.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm like, okay.

[B]

And I think that's a little bit of Jerry curl. I just want to throw that. Yeah, a little bit of curl in there.

[A]

I'm just saying.

[B]

But also, I can't because I grew up watching Hogan's Hair Heroes, specifically Sergeant Schultz. I. Every time you say know nothing, I hear him say, I know nothing. I just hear that clip running in my head over and over and over again, and I just can't get over it. But also, also, I Know nothing is the. Today it would be the no Comment party.

[A]

Yes, exactly.

[B]

They didn't have that lingo yet.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They were just like, I, I don't know. I. I know nothing. But now, hey, did you. Did you. Were you in the Epstein files? No comment. No comment. But, yeah, I find this whole thing, this is very interesting.

[A]

So the Know Nothing candidates had to be born in the United States.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Their main platform was that they wanted to change the law so that only immigrants who had lived in the US for 25 years could become citizens.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So that's their main goal of running for any office, is to change laws so that immigrants had to be in the country for 25 years before they could be a citizen. Which means they couldn't vote for 25 years.

[B]

Got it right. Also meant any other. Any sort of other things that they could get out there that they could have as a benefit. It's important to remember that at those times, our immigration was vastly different. Yeah, it was vastly different in that you could almost get audited, basically, if you were born in Western Europe, specifically, I'm looking at England, France, Germany in particular. And then eventually, what they issue that a lot of these guys had was the fact that the Irish and the Italians were also being allowed in. And the Spanish, when they saw those groups come in, they started to flip out a little bit more. But when you got here, basically, you were almost granted immediate citizenship.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because we had a different view on immigration because it took forever. You had to get on a boat to get over here. You couldn't fly over. Now, this is obviously is very different when we're looking at things like the southern border, especially because there's a different view on that when it comes to race and everything else. But when we're looking at especially Eastern Europe in the 1840s.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because this is also before, I think it's like, right around, like, the Texas war and all this other different stuff. It's like around that same time. But. Yeah, that's. That's crazy. And also, just so you guys know, there's only one. There's only one office in all of America that you have to be born a born US Citizens for, and that's President of the United States.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You can immigrate to America, become a naturalized citizen, and then you can run for any other office in the entire country. Mamdani was not born in the United States. Yeah, Mamdani was born. I believe it's. What's the. Uganda.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

He was born in Uganda.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then his family moved to the United States, and then he became a naturalized citizen. So, like, a lot of people are like, oh, I want Mandani to be president. Like, he can. He literally, under the constitution right now, he legally cannot become president.

[A]

But constitution isn't real anymore.

[B]

Constitution isn't real. That is true. You know what? Hey, let's just do it. Let's just do it.

[A]

Let's what? I gotta tell you something crazy, though. You're not gonna believe this fact. These guys, the nativists.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not anti Semitic.

[B]

What? That's confusing as hell. Yeah, That's. Honestly, I'm legit shocked that actually. Hold on, I need a minute here. That's because everything you describe usually goes, like, hand in hand.

[A]

I knew you were waiting for me

[B]

to be like, I was waiting.

[A]

And also.

[B]

Well, this is one of the things that happens to me. I'll find somebody in history. I go, oh, this guy's kind of cool. And then I get to a tab. It's like, thoughts on the Jews. And you go, here it is.

[A]

Here we go. So despite a lot of xenophobia and religious bigotry, the know nothings did not really focus their negative energy towards Jewish people. They had to prioritize their disdain for the Irish, German and French Catholic immigrants.

[B]

That's so crazy.

[A]

Know nothing party quote had nothing to say about Jews, according to historians, reportedly because they believe Jews, unlike Catholics, did not allow, quote, their religious feelings to interfere with their political views.

[B]

That's so fucking insane.

[A]

That's anti Semitic.

[B]

That also is just like, so. That's so. Oh, God damn it. I Don't even know how to process that. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So listen, the Know Nothing party did have some success for a little bit of time, right?

[B]

Electorally.

[A]

Electorally.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

They. Especially in the northeast corridor, Right. New England.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The Tri State area, as some would say. They got eight governors, 100 seats in Congress. They got a lot of mayors. Boston, Salem, Chicago, San Francisco. Brooklyn. What? This episode's about. Brooklyn.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And of course, Philadelphia.

[B]

God damn it. Here it is.

[A]

So let's take a break, and when we come back, I want to tell you about how the Know Nothings fucked around so hard in Philly, they ended up in Kensington and caused the city to come together to get them out and. And invest in an entirely new police force.

[B]

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[A]

This was an episode about Brooklyn.

[B]

And now we're in Philadelphia.

[A]

It just keeps happening.

[B]

But I want to go over the list of cities you said before Philadelphia real fast.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Can you scroll back up to that real fast? You just read them off. So this is the Anti Irish party, and they had mayors and other elected officials in what cities?

[A]

Brooklyn. No, I'm sorry. Brooklyn.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Boston, Salem, Massachusetts. Chicago. Chicago and San Francisco.

[B]

Okay. Famously non Irish cities. I think you named like the most Irish places in America. Oh, yeah, Boston. When I think about his.

[A]

Game up, dude.

[B]

Sorry.

[A]

Protestants.

[B]

Yeah. Let's see. How well did the know nothings do? Well, they. They were. They had a big. They did a lot in Boston. Oh, home of the Celtics. Home of the fucking Celtics. Let me. Next thing you're going to do. I was surprised.

[A]

Fighting Irish.

[B]

Yeah. I'm surprised you didn't tell me that. They were. They. They were running no trouble. Country. Notre Dame.

[A]

Notre Dame. Yeah.

[B]

I'm Catholic. Chicago. Chicago we're talking about.

[A]

This is either River Green.

[B]

Dude, this is a March episode. Officially. This is basically our St. Patrick's Day episode. Yeah.

[A]

It happened.

[B]

And literally every single place you mentioned is green in like two weeks.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Everybody's gonna be like, kiss me, I'm Irish. It's spelled patties, not Patties. It's Patties.

[A]

We're getting on the Irish Extended Express. We're gonna get drunk.

[B]

We're going on.

[A]

People do that?

[B]

The Aaron Express.

[A]

Yes. Other people do that.

[B]

You think? I.

[A]

Well, I mean, what happens is bars rent school buses.

[B]

It's a whole.

[A]

And then they fill them with drunks and drive them from bar to bar. And usually they'll put a keg of green beer on the school bus. Yeah, you just get really drunk and there's green vomit anywhere. Anyway, we have to go to Philadelphia to talk about what the no nothings

[B]

did there in the 1800s. Okay, okay, let's. Let's hear about no nothings in Philly because I've met a lot of people in Philly who know not a lot of stuff, but they'll tell you.

[A]

How dare you.

[B]

Okay, well, that's.

[A]

Violent encounters between immigrants and quote, native born Americans would occasionally occur in many American cities throughout the 1830s and the early 1840s. Now, in July of 1844, riots broke out in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. Nativists battled Irish immigrants, and two Catholic churches at a school were burned by the mobs.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

At least 20 people were killed in the mayhem.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

So let me tell you how this starts.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Five months prior leading up to these riots.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

The nativist groups had been spreading rumors that the Catholics were trying to remove the Bible from public schools.

[B]

What?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, this. This feels like verbatim. I've heard this story like a hundred times already, like, like in my life.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Of like some random person. They're trying to get God out of our schools. This is literally what they're starting with.

[A]

So during the 1840s students in Philadelphia schools began their day reading the Protestant version of the bible.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

On November 10, 1842, Philadelphia's Catholic bishop, his name was Kenrick, wrote a letter to the Board of Controllers of public schools asking that Catholic children be allowed to read the Dway version of the Bible which is used by Roman Catholics. He also asked that those students be be excused from other religious teachings while at school. As a result, the Board of Controllers ordered that no child shall be forced to participate in religious activities and stated that children were allowed to read whichever version of the Bible their parents wished. And the Protestants, AKA nativists, got pissed.

[B]

Uh huh.

[A]

Okay, okay.

[B]

I can already see like this is. Yeah, yeah. This is literally. Do you guys feel this? Are you guys already. If you're in America, have you not already heard this? Yeah, so many times. I mean, in the atheist side of things there, or like you look at some, especially some southern schools where they've been forcing the Ten Commandments.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In the places like depending on the transit translation and even depending on which book of the Bible you're reading, the Ten Commandments are slightly different.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like there are all these different things. And so they're literally arguing over this Protestant Bible over here, which I'm assuming is going to be like the King James version that they don't like the Catholics. Like, well, we don't use that one because it has. They over here they say shall instead of will. Like that's really what we're arguing about is like which word, which translation is slightly different. And that drives like this is, this is stuff that back in Europe would have let you burnt at the stake.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Back in the day. And so they're like, hey, okay, I heard things are different over here. So I'm here at the meeting. Hi, I'm at the meeting. You started the timer. Three minutes. Hi. Hello to the school board. I just like to say that our Catholic kids don't want to read the King James Bible, they want to read the Catholic Bible. I know it seems confusing because Catholics don't typically read the Bible, but it's a whole thing. We would prefer it that way. It would make the community happy around here. Oh, you guys agree? Cool, cool, cool. Well, the people outside with pitchforks don't.

[A]

Yeah, they want to ban that book.

[B]

They want to ban that book.

[A]

So like a year later.

[B]

Okay. A year later.

[A]

A year later, a rumor was circulated that a school director who happened to be Catholic was visiting an all girls school and he demanded that the principal stop Bible reading in school this Story claimed that the principal refused and said she would rather lose her job. The gentleman, his name is Clark. Clark denied this version of events and claimed that after finding out several students had left a Bible reading to go read a different version of the Bible. He had commented that if reading the Bible caused such confusion, it would be better if it were not read in school. Protestants claim that Catholics with direct influence from the Pope were trying to remove the Bibles from school.

[B]

Oh my God. So first thing, the first half of that paragraph.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Is a Facebook post. Yes, that is a fucking Facebook post. Yes, that is a one of those Facebook screenshot posts that is just getting shared in a group chats and. Or it's an email forward.

[A]

Cat.

[B]

Kitty cats. Cat. Yes. 100%. That's exactly what's about to go with this. Yeah. This is, you know, at my kids neighbors next door babysitter's aunt's school district there is a young. They them wearing cat ears.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And now because of the school board in the wokes the school has to have kitty litter because they identify as a cat and they poop in a litter box in the corner in front of everybody. I heard a janitor told me that this is true.

[A]

They're trying to put kitty litter in the school.

[B]

They're trying to put kitty litter. They took Jesus out and put kitty litter in. That's going all the way back to the 1840s. It's the same story, same shit, it's the same. And literally it's just because the guy was like, you know what? If this is such a fucking problem, why do we do this here?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like hey, hey guys, why are we doing this here?

[A]

Maybe we don't need Bibles in school.

[B]

Maybe the school. Because he's like, well the concentration of the school is math. Right. We're trying to make sure the math and reading.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Well maybe we just haven't read a different thing. Ah, he's trying to get rid of

[A]

our different books to ban.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Okay, now we're.

[B]

This is literally.

[A]

Usually I don't get hard pressed on dates, but I gotta start dates just real fast. Yeah.

[B]

This moment. Libs of telegraph instead of Libs of TikTok. This is Libs of telegraph. You'll never hear. You'll never guess everybody. What? I thought I clipped this telegraph of what the evil Catholics casts of telegraph. That's what they would be called. No, cats of telegraph.

[A]

May 3, 1844.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A Protestant nativist group held a meeting in a predominantly Irish part of Philadelphia called the Kensington District, which for people not from Philadelphia, is in the northern area of Philadelphia.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

At the time, it was considered a suburb of Philadelphia.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Those of us from there know it's not the suburbs.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. A group of Irish residents attacked the people on the platform where the speakers were happening, and all the nativists retreated and ran away.

[B]

Yeah. So there's a lot there. There's a lot there. So one thing is, this is actually a common occurrence in now Northern Ireland. This is very similar into partisan fighting and all those different things, but it's also. This is similar to what's been happening in Minnesota.

[A]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

Not just among ice, with ice skies, going there with the mask and everything, but there have been people who have been. There's this one guy named Jake Lang, who is a January 6th guy. He was convicted for January 6th and then Trump pardoned him. He has been going and like, the same thing, like the Nick Shirley guy, like, going and trying to start fights with Somalis.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Going into their communities and trying to be like, look at what assholes they are. To, like, try to. Again, in his case, he's trying to make clips so then he can go and try to get content. He's trying to create content. But this is exactly what these nativist groups are doing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They're going to create content. So they're going into an Irish neighborhood to literally stand on a platform. They had to build a little stage.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because they don't have amplified. They don't have microphones, they don't have the bullhorns and that shit. So they have to actually have a stage. So they've built a stage. They're standing on it and they're yelling, talking shit. Talking mad shit. They're not doing this on Twitter. No, they're not. They're not hiding in the comments section. They don't got an anime profile pic. These motherfuckers going into Kensington. Now, you mentioned that Kensington is a suburb in this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What people need to understand is at this time, Philadelphia was a strip, what we call Center City. If you look at a map, the middle of that is Philadelphia. Everything else is little townships all around neighborhoods. Yes. They're the neighborhoods. Now, when we say suburb of Philadelphia, you think because we have cars, Quakertown, you think Quakertown, you think we fucking see you Quakertown. But no, we think like Cherry Hill. Yeah. You think like Delco, Chester County. You might even think women's like Wilmington, Delaware is viewed as a suburb. That's because we have cars now. Now, 20 miles is 30 minutes yeah. Back then we are in horse and buggy, a couple trains, that's what we got. So back then, a suburb is literally like a half mile walk.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because that is the equivalent that you would have in a car.

[A]

So anyway, they ran away.

[B]

They ran away. The nativist ran away.

[A]

The. They bitched out.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They talked a lot of. And then they ran away.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because the Irish. Because the Irish punched him in the face.

[A]

Yeah, literally.

[B]

Because literally they're like, hey, you, I don't like you. All right. And now, now instead they would just

[A]

be tweeting that maybe we need to bring back. Okay. So that was on the 3rd, May 6th. Three days later, the nativists returned to Kensington in greater numbers. This time they were like, we're having a rally. Okay. During the rally where they're talking mad again, it begins to rain and the meeting, the rally is moved indoors to a nearby market.

[B]

Got it.

[A]

Now the inflammatory remarks continued inside the market.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Where fighting immediately broke out between the local Irish Catholics and the nativists.

[B]

Yeah. There's a reason they're called the Fighting Irish. It's also one of those things of like, again, you got to remember about these Irish. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

These Irish are coming from plantations back home that are owned by the English and that they're. They were treated as second class citizens. These are people who literally just escaped oppression. They showed up to America where they were immediately. They've been told propaganda and they've been told the entire time, you are an equal citizen. You are not a second class citizen. Nobody can talk to you like this. There's a first amendment. You have a right to defense. There's a second amendment. You have all these laws. You are an equal. It doesn't. Whether or not you were born here or not, you're an equal. And then some motherfuckers who shows up and go, ah, you're not my equal. You're actually a second class citizen and I should be allowed to oppress you. Those motherfuckers were like, ah, no, no, no. I know exactly how this goes. I just left that shit. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So the fighting spills outside of the market.

[B]

Yeah. And it's old timey fighting. It's very put up your dukes where

[A]

nativists were shot at by people in the windows of nearby houses and buildings.

[B]

Shut up. This is like, this is like flintlock pistol time too.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

This is like. But like, you had to. When you wanted to shoot a. Back then, you couldn't just do what bam, you couldn't do a quick draw. You had to pull that.

[A]

Put it in your windowsill.

[B]

Yeah, you gotta, you gotta. You gotta pull a little rod out. Yeah, you gotta. Yeah, you gotta bite the paper. You gotta pour the gunpowder in. Yeah, you gotta load the bullet. You gotta aim it. You gotta put it on your arm and aim it. Pop. Fuck. Missed. And then you got to go reload it.

[A]

People didn't miss. One or two nativists were reportedly killed.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

A mob of nativists then left the area a bit and attacked a seminary of the Sisters of Charity and several Catholic homes before the riot ended. Numerous people were injured and two more nativists were killed. Okay.

[B]

So they got pushed out of the market area where they were initially started their. Yeah, and they said, we'll go over there. They're not expecting us over there. Yeah, they kind of reformed.

[A]

They attacked a seminary where priests are born or whatever.

[B]

Well, not born.

[A]

They're trained there.

[B]

No, they're trained. Seminary is where the priests are trained. And so legit. They're going there with guys who are like, no, we're men of peace. And like, kill them. That's what they were doing.

[A]

Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Yeah. Now nuns running everywhere.

[A]

All this is happening. Right. The district constable was powerless to stop the violence because in the 1840s, most of the suburban districts of Philadelphia were police by elected constables and part time watchmen. When violence erupted in a district, there was a time consuming process which involved the constable summoning the county sheriff who would then summon and organize a posse who would then go to where the violence was. So during the May 6 violence, the posse arrived late, armed only with clubs, and we're powerless to do anything.

[B]

And it's not like they even have uniforms. No, that's the other thing too. Just remember this is just like a series of guys.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they're like. I don't know, like. Like sometimes they would do like an armband thing or they would try to do something to like as a signifier of I'm on this side. Maybe the little. The tin badge or whatever. Yeah, but it's crazy. Just to remind everybody. Summoning. They didn't have text.

[A]

No. Pigeons, baby.

[B]

Yeah, this is pigeons, but legit. This is like how fast. What's as fast as Jerry can get over there?

[A]

Yeah, as fast.

[B]

Literally run over. But before Jerry goes over. Well, I gotta write. Let me write it down and press my seal.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And it's like time like these things were designed initially to be slow because they didn't foresee stuff like this happening.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And now I'm thinking about it now we would do like the text tree.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Or like a call chain. Back when, like, schools used to get school closures. But, like, they didn't have radio. They couldn't put out an emergency broadcast system. You didn't have a mass text you could put out. You couldn't just pick up the phone and call any of these different things. And so where we're talking about in Kensington versus, I'm going to guess City hall is where the sheriff is. That is like a mile and a half.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And like, even on horse, at best, that's a 20 minute.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To get to him. And then he's got to collect dudes from all over.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To get a bunch of them, he's

[A]

got to send out. Oh, send out other horses.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

In other directions. To get more guys.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That all that have to make it to where the riot is.

[B]

But I mean, before they make it over, they have to then group.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

To this other place. You have to have a mustard state.

[A]

Hand out billy clubs.

[B]

Yes. 100%. And then get all the way over to the last place. Do you see how long that takes?

[A]

And they're still loading guns in their windows.

[B]

Yeah. And that's the whole time. And so the whole time, there's dudes throwing matches and trying to burn down houses, screaming at each other.

[A]

May 7th. Next day, the nativists denounce Catholics, like, and more like, more. And call on Americans to defend themselves from, quote, the bloody hand of the Pope. A mob marched into Kensington where they carried an American flag and a banner bearing the inscription, this is the quote from the flag. This is the flag that was trampled by Irish papists.

[B]

That's what they wrote on the flag. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. But also imagine, just. Just for the listeners, imagine if January 6th happened and then they did it again on January 7th.

[A]

Yeah. They showed.

[B]

This is literally what this is. This is the same thing. If they could do the same crowd. Honestly, what's crazy is a lot of the guys at January 6th actually were Irish and a bunch of them were Catholic. But it's the same mentality, mentally. It's the same people. And so this is show up with their flags. Yeah. And they're like, we got to do this for Ashley Babbitt.

[A]

Like, and as soon as they hit the Kensington border.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The line gunfire immediately broke out. Catholics are like, just immediately pelting them.

[B]

This is why we need the second Amendment. All right. This is why immediately they're Marching with. They were. I guarantee you. I guarantee you. They had a drum and fife corps.

[A]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

They had a little drummer and that guy with a little whistle, and they got their little flags and they were marching together and they crossed. They crossed an imaginary boundary that they do not know about.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then suddenly it just.

[A]

Gunfire.

[B]

Gunfire everywhere. That's so funny.

[A]

During this riot, the nativist mobs set fire to and destroyed the fire station, 30 homes, and that market where the original violence had occurred. They went and burned that down.

[B]

They burned down the market. That let them in.

[A]

Yeah, it was raining. They let you in.

[B]

This is why you don't give quarter to bigots, say, because they will always turn back on you. Ben Shapiro, you fucking idiot.

[A]

Joseph Rice, who was described as a bystander, was shot dead.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

He was the only known Catholic killed. I just want to talk about the numbers. I'm just talking about the numbers. Every time I say somebody died, it's. They're not Catholics except for Joseph Rice. Rip, dude.

[B]

Rip, rip, rip, dude. Honestly, Pope Leo sounds to me like we got a martyr. Pope Leo sounds to me like we got a Philly saint over here.

[A]

I'm saying.

[B]

I'm just saying make him the saint

[A]

of podcasters so he. He passes away. The violence did not end until the state militia arrived to disperse the crowd.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

So they were just rioting until the PA. State he showed up.

[B]

Yeah. Which again, would have to be a letter that's being sent from the governor in Harrisburg, which is the middle of the state, to another mustard station to get the. The local. The guys together.

[A]

While the main R contained itself in Kensington, other nativist mobs had started to gather within other areas of Philly itself. They gathered at St. Augustine's Catholic Church, which is on, like, vine street at 4th.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But the city had troops stationed by the church, and the mayor, his name is Mayor Scott, pleaded for calm, like, in the streets, begging people to calm down. Rioters threw stones at the mayor, ignored the troops, and burned down that church, cheering on while the steeple fell. A nearby school was also set ablaze.

[B]

That's.

[A]

So this was all about schools.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They had more Bibles in schools, and now they're just burning down public schools.

[B]

Yeah. Just a reminder for everybody. This started as a basically a Libs of TikTok Facebook post, and now they're cheering as churches fall to the ground.

[A]

This started as an episode on Brooklyn.

[B]

Oh, yeah, that's right. This is supposed to be about Brooklyn.

[A]

But I got lost in the tabs.

[B]

Yeah, but Mrs. P. Yeah, real fast. I know this is supposed to be about Brooklyn, but I also want to make this about our sponsor. And we'll be right back after this. Stop overpaying for wireless just because you always have. That's why Mint Mobile exists. Same coverage, same speed, unlimited text, talk and data, all in the nation's largest 5G network. Mint Mobile plans start at 15 bucks a month for three months. And I just want to say we switched over to Mint Mobile last year and we, you know, we want to try the promo code. We tried all of our promo codes, but the thing we discovered beyond the great service was how many people we already knew who were already using it, who were like, yeah, why have you been paying so much for the same service? We've had big carriers in the past and even we were a little worried about the travel. But once we got on the road with Mint Mobile, we had the same exact coverage. It was so great. And the thing I love most of all is that low bill. Ditch big wireless and bring your current phone and number over to Mint. No long term contracts, no hassle. Mint makes it Easy with a 7 day money back guarantee. If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop [e-mail] tabs. That's mintmobile.com tabs. Upfront payment of $45 for three months. Five gigabyte plan required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customer offers for first three months only. Then full price plans, options available, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com for details. Thank you so much to that sponsor and all of our sponsors who've been helping us through [e-mail] where they get access to ad free listening and also things like vibing with the food Idiot, our paywall podcast where we just discussed Irish potatoes.

[A]

Also the after party where we respond to your comments.

[B]

Yes. Which you're gonna leave down here on the YouTube, like comment, subscribe, hype. All those fun things. Hit us with the next part of this story.

[A]

Okay, so the. During the riots, okay, at least 14 people were killed.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

It's estimated that well over 50 people are injured.

[B]

This is all.

[A]

Over a hundred people fled their homes and the damage total was approximated at $150,000.

[B]

150,000.

[A]

And when I put that into the Bebo Bop machine, it told me that that is the equivalent of $5 million.

[B]

Oh, Jesus. Yeah, that sounds about right.

[A]

So this was a lot of damage.

[B]

Yeah. So it's $5 million in 2026 money.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That went up. 14 people dead, 50 injured. 200 people have just fled the area completely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They're like, I can't live here.

[A]

Churches burned down. A school burned down. A firehouse burned down.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's crazy, right?

[B]

That's wild.

[A]

In the days afterwards, the mayor set up a task force to protect Catholic churches, and Bishop Kendrick ordered all churches to be closed the following Sunday to avoid any provocation and possible violence. And all the valuables that were in all the churches across Philadelphia were hidden in homes for safekeeping.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because there's one thing Catholics love. It's a tchotchke.

[B]

They love a little.

[A]

Love a shiny little gold. We love collecting bones of our saints and hiding them in altars.

[B]

A lot of finger bones. Yeah, just a little finger bones.

[A]

Slice a bone.

[B]

Every candelabra, every incense burner.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

Every little bauble. Every.

[A]

Like.

[B]

I always think of Catholic Church because I was raised Protestant.

[A]

Protestant.

[B]

I know. My mom's a Protestant, my dad's a Jew, and I'm just kind of stuck in the middle with you. But the thing I always think of, whenever I think of Catholic churches, I always think of TGI Friday, TGI Fridays, TGI Fridays, Bennigan's. All those that were ground around those 90s. I used to call them shit on the walls. Restaurants where you went in and they just had stuff on the walls, and then you'd open up their menu, and they'd be like, we have Irish nachos. Like, what does that mean? Those potato skins.

[A]

It's potato skins, but also about Bennegan specific.

[B]

I'm talking I miss a Bennett.

[A]

Bennigan's had the best spinach artichoke dip, which is a recipe that I also put on our Patreon.

[B]

All right, well, enough product integration here, Mrs. P. What I was gonna say, though, in general, though, is, like, there is a thing to me that's always been when going into a Catholic cathedral especially.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But also, Catholic churches is like, y' all got icons.

[A]

We love.

[B]

You got little statues.

[A]

We love a vibe. We love incense. We love a scented air. We like gold. We like murals.

[B]

You like a presentation.

[A]

Marble.

[B]

You like a presentation. So what I'm saying, though, is, is when they're like, we gotta hide all the good stuff. Yeah, there's a lot of good stuff.

[A]

I just like. You know what? It'd be so funny, though, because I'm

[B]

picturing all the little plate with the treats on it. Yeah, sorry, sorry. Maybe not treats. The community, the communion wafers, the little Treats.

[A]

I was just thinking about how all the moms and pop ups for the rest of their lives would be talking about if you got selected to be the house that stuff got hidden in.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

Like, if my mom was the. Was the parishioner that they're like, mayor, we're going to need you to hold the chalice. She would have told everybody that the

[B]

rest of her life. The rest of her life. And then the kids would have brought

[A]

it on the fucking tombstone.

[B]

Yeah. Protector of the chalice.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Here she lies.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I lied in state. My Lord and savior Jesus Christ, along with the Pope himself, through the Catholic bishop, asked me to hold the cup that holds the literal blood of Christ, because that's the difference.

[A]

Because the Protestants were going to come steal it.

[B]

The Protestants think that the wine is a metaphor and they're wrong because it translates. Substantiation. All right? People died over this. And that cup came into my house and I put it in behind a wall, behind a brick wall in my basement that is half dog out down there before we knew what radon was.

[A]

So. Okay, now we're gonna skip ahead a little bit. Same year, though.

[B]

Same year.

[A]

July.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

July 3rd.

[B]

We're only going a few months.

[A]

Only a little bit.

[B]

Two months different July. Okay.

[A]

Because we were at like, maybe Philadelphia.

[B]

It's hot. It's muggy.

[A]

And it's muggy. And also all insufferable in July.

[B]

We're all insufferable. And the. The. The people of Philly who did not escape to the beach that are left.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Are preparing for the worst, for war. Because it's July 4th, and that's our best. That's one of our big days.

[A]

So this is July 3rd.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Father John Patrick Dunn of the Church of St. Philip in South Philly was warned that his church might be attacked during the upcoming July 4th parade because the Native American party, the nativists, plans to hold a large Independence day parade on July 4th.

[B]

It's driving me crazy that these people call themselves the Native Americans when they're literally at this moment slaughtering Native Americans.

[A]

Literally.

[B]

I literally, like the whole time. They're literally committing a genocide on. On actual Native Americans.

[A]

Yeah. And indigenous peoples here is so overwhelming. The whole time.

[B]

Yeah, the whole time.

[A]

The whole time. They're like, I don't like immigrants. I'm an immigrant. We're Native Americans. We're gonna kill the Native Americans.

[B]

Yeah. It's the same. It's so fucking day one.

[A]

From day one, like, been like this and again.

[B]

But this Is also one of those things where that bet, like, they. They get here and then immediately, not only do they want to pull up the ladder behind them, they want to shut the port down.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And they want to start firebombing anybody else who's trying to crawl to safety.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Huh.

[A]

Okay. So to prepare for violence, the church applied for an arsenal and volunteer militia.

[B]

Wait.

[A]

To use in case the church was attacked. Here's what you need to understand.

[B]

Okay. Because I'm confused. They applied for an arsenal.

[A]

There is an arsenal in Philadelphia.

[B]

I know that.

[A]

Okay. You could, at this time apply with the state. So they had to go to the governor.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

David R. Porter. I looked it up. And you could ask to borrow some of the arsenal. Just a couple muskets.

[B]

Wait. Okay. Are you telling me America is so addicted and, like, so gun horny that we used to have gun libraries? Basically, yes. Okay.

[A]

Gun socialism.

[B]

That's insane. Oh, my God. Please get your library card for the actual books.

[A]

Gun library card.

[B]

This is so wild.

[A]

Need to bring it back.

[B]

Mumdani. You match it. All he has to do is go to trump with a fake newspaper.

[A]

Oh, my God. Trump. Be like. I think he's right.

[B]

I think he's right.

[A]

Also very handsome.

[B]

I. I think. Listen, did I start a war last week? Yeah. But I'm gonna weirdly post about Mamdani out of nowhere. He did.

[A]

He did.

[B]

He's obsessed with them because he's. He just wants. He just wants someone cool to like him. He wants someone nice to like him so badly. But real fast, I am just obsessed with this idea that back in the day, we actually had a system where you could borrow guns.

[A]

You could borrow guns.

[B]

They death.

[A]

I know. And. And all the things. And men and men and men and bullets.

[B]

That's so wild.

[A]

So this church asks the governor if they could have some guns. Some muskets.

[B]

Please, sir, can I have some guns?

[A]

Fearing that the nativists are going to attack them.

[B]

I know.

[A]

So the governor agrees and gives them 25 muskets.

[B]

25.

[A]

25 muskets.

[B]

Okay. That's still. Again. That's so wild. And the muskets is. Again.

[A]

Pop them.

[B]

God. Do the thing.

[A]

So here's what happens. They get the 25 muskets, but while they're checking them as you do, you check your rentals.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Five of the muskets that were placed at St. Philip's Church were discovered to be defective and were sent back to the arsenal to be repaired.

[B]

Yeah. Because you want to make sure you

[A]

don't you don't want a musket that doesn't work because it'll blow back on you.

[B]

No, but not only that, you might not get your security deposit it back.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

That's why. That's why guys make sure whenever you're renting, when you rent a place, take pictures of the whole place before. Before you move in. Yeah, because those landlords will try to do. I'm sure back in the day they had a whole checklist.

[A]

So for the muskets, no violence occurred before or during the parade on July 4th.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But July 5th, some guy saw the five defective muskets being returned to the church. So there's just some guy outside, he sees five muskets being carried into the church and says, what do they need them guns for? So he goes and tells a bunch of other nativists and a mob forms. Thousands of people gather at the church demanding to know why the fuck they have weapons. And then they. They basically drag the sheriff there, his name, Sheriff McMichael. And they demand that the sheriff go in and search the church to remove the muskets.

[B]

This is so fucking insane. This is one of those things where. This is how. This is why, like rumor and things like that is so fucking dangerous.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because legit. They got the guns to protect themselves from the mob. And it was like, it's like a self fulfilling prophecy. Yeah, we got the guns bred stuff from the mob just in case the mob shows up. Then the mob shows up because why do you have those guns? And so protect himself from them. And then when people start thinking of like religious people, like I think of like the images though, of like Malcolm X holding the gun, looking through the window and stuff like that. But like when we think of people like mlk, like, yeah, he was peaceful, but there were other people in the movement are like, yeah, okay, Martin, you can be peaceful. But like some of us know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What we need to have. And this is the reason why we have a second amendment, weirdly in this country.

[A]

So, okay, the sheriff and two guys that are with the sheriff go into the church and they search it to get the muskets and they remove 12 muskets. Follow the math.

[B]

Okay, wait, hold on. There was supposed to be 25.

[A]

There was 25.

[B]

There are 25. Now. This is also another part too of again, breakdown of communication. Because the. I'm sure this is what happened. The church asked the state. The state never told the sheriff.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so the sheriff is now showing up like, I don't know. Okay, listen, I'm just trying to de. Escalate the situation. We're going to come in, we'll just remove them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So he comes in. There are still 13 muskets loose.

[A]

Okay? They. He leaves the church. After they leave the church and remove 12 muskets, the sheriff urges the crowd to disperse. Yeah, okay. He left a volunteer posse of people to guard the church. The mob did not leave.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Now, one of the guys that was injured in those May riots in Kensington, he gets on a crate or some and starts giving a speech to the crowd saying that they need to do a second search of the church because the Catholics are definitely hiding more guns.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

The sheriff and the alderman and 17 nativists enter the church. And when they get Inside, they find three armed men, 53 muskets, 10 pistols, a keg of gunpowder and ammunition for it all.

[B]

Yeah. Up the raw, baby. That's crazy. That's. They were like. No, they. They. They had 25 rentals.

[A]

The rentals weren't covered. The rentals were covered. Crazy.

[B]

They're like, you gotta come over here. Oh, no, no. I saw what you did in Belfast. You're not doing it here in Philadelphia. You sons of. Nah. When we eat the bread, it becomes the flesh. That's fucking wild. You let me hang out with this weird virgin. He talks directly to God.

[A]

By midday the next day, the crowds had returned to St. Philip Church.

[B]

This is July 6th. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[A]

The general. Okay, So a general comes in.

[B]

Okay, okay.

[A]

They send in a general from the state.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

The general. A general orders the crowd to disperse. They did not.

[B]

I love how, again. I love this again.

[A]

They keep upping it.

[B]

They keep upping it. But also, again, going back to, like, January 6th and looking at all these other different things. These are always the dudes who are screaming that they're for law and order. And then the second someone says, okay, I am law and order. Disperse. And they're just like, ah, you. You can't tell me what to do. Yeah, this is America, baby. Like, this is just like how they are. There's like, you can't tell me why people. Yeah. The laws are threats. So.

[A]

Okay. By the evening of July 6, July 6, the sheriff had come back, and this time he had 150 people with him. He's getting his numbers up.

[B]

Yeah. But again, there's thousands of these crazy Protestants.

[A]

Yeah, Protestants.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Now, the military presence grew along with the military presence. Three cannons were stationed on the streets.

[B]

Cannons.

[A]

Cannons.

[B]

Like. And these, again, this is 1840 something.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So these are like the Civil War cannons. Yeah, these are like the be rolled out with the big wheels. Yeah, like these are cannon.

[A]

The soldiers cleared the streets near the church despite being pelted with rocks mercilessly by the mob.

[B]

Well, can I congratulate real fast? I want to congratulate these soldiers for having rocks thrown at them and not immediately killing kids. Like the idf. Yeah, because that's just what used to happen all the time. Legit. People would just grab whatever the fuck's around them.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And start throwing them back. And the soldiers. Because this is actually what happened with the Boston Massacre. Yes, the Boston massacre is 100. Like it was snowballs. Some of the snowballs had rocks in them and they threw them at British soldiers. And then the British soldiers opened fire into the crowd. And then actually one of the American founding fathers defended the British soldiers. And then when you look at like what's happened at stuff like in Minnesota with Alex Pretty and Renee, Good. In those situations as well, it's the police overreacting. Because in these situations the job of the police, the job of the soldiers is supposed to be to de escalate. Yeah, it's supposed to be to de escalate. When they start escalating, that's when the issues really begin to blow up.

[A]

Should we throw more rocks? Okay. Responding to the rock throwers, the general ordered a cannon to be fired into the crowd.

[B]

Okay, so what I said before about escalation because Jesus Christ, they're throwing rocks. Okay, so they went right, they went right to idf. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, well, I mean when you have three cannons, so it's kind of. This is one of those situations when all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like nails. My perfect day has sand, salt water and friends. But my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to Skyrizi. Risankizumab RZA a prescription only 150mg injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy. With Skyrizi, Most people saw 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque free at four months. Skyrizi is just four doses a year after two starter doses.

[A]

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[B]

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[A]

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[A]

So there was a U.S. congressman there. U.S. congressman Naylor was present. He was also, like, trying to get the crowd to chill out.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And he begged the general not to fire. And when he was begging the general to not fire into the crowd, he. And then a bunch of other nativists were arrested and held within the church.

[B]

Got it. So this guy is like every. But it sounds like to me that this guy is telling. More the general to calm down.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the general's like, well, you fucking psychos need to leave. And he's like, well, you need to calm down, General. I'm a congressman.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This is the. So he.

[A]

And then they put them in cuffs or whatever they do.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And put them in the church. It was in the Catholic Church was spit on them.

[B]

That's a. That's.

[A]

They don't like that.

[B]

But also like, using the very building that you're defending as a. As a makeshift jail. Yeah. Is pretty wild. Also, when they're firing into a crowd like that, they typically use a thing called grape shot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is. If you think of the idea of a shotgun shell that's full of little BBs, it's the same thing with that. It's supposed to. It's a scatter shot. Because if you just did one with a big cannonball, that big cannonball is just going to do, like, a straight line shot. You want to spray. And that also is used for crowd control back in the day.

[A]

So it's July 7th.

[B]

Now it's the next day. So now we've shot a cannon at the crowd.

[A]

We shot it, and we've got a congressman imprisoned in a church, is tied up.

[B]

I'm going to. I'm going to say right now he's been tied up with rope.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

That's. That's. There's no way. It's not.

[A]

Any of the soldiers had left, but the crowd hadn't. Now they. The crowd is demanding the release of the congressman, Naylor. They're literally screaming that they need to release them. The. The guy, the general, he released everybody except for the congressman. He had a bunch of prisoners.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

He released all of them except for the congressman. He said, no, not him.

[B]

Yeah. Because he knows what he did.

[A]

The crowds grew and grew and grew. And what happened is the crowds, the nativist crowd, went to a nearby wharf and got their own cannon.

[B]

Shut the up. Oh, my God. Cannon escalation.

[A]

They rolled the cannon to the. To where they were and pointed it at the church.

[B]

Okay. All right. So what's wild about this.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Is I like cuz. Okay, this is. What. Where'd you say this was? This is like 4th and Vine.

[A]

No, no, they're in South Philly now.

[B]

Oh, this is South Philly. Okay. So they went down to, like, the shipyard.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In South Philly and just grabbed. Because that's a military. United States military installation there where they. They still have some. You can go down to the shipyard in South Philadelphia, and there are US Navy ships down there, and they would build and rebuild ships and things like that. So they had weaponry just around.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So these guys. So that is a naval cannon that they grabbed, they stole, which are typically also even bigger than the land ones, and they rolled it all the way up. And also, again, this is one of those situations that like. Yeah. They kind of got on a cart for part of the way with like a. Again, horses are pulling it. But there's a certain point where these guys are just pushing a cannon. Yeah. For a. Miles. Miles, mind you. And the whole time they're going, this is a good idea. Like, this is a good idea.

[A]

Fucking Catholics.

[B]

I want you to think about how mad this. I want you to think about how mad you've ever been. Have you ever been push a massive cannon a mile down the street mad? No. No, you haven't. Then you need to start figuring out how to do that.

[A]

So after further negotiations, Naylor is released.

[B]

Oh, okay.

[A]

And he's carried home on the shoulders of the mob like a hero. That was cheering.

[B]

That was probably his biggest day.

[A]

Biggest day.

[B]

That was his biggest day.

[A]

Once they.

[B]

He's being bounced around. Hey, it looked like, like. Like during a Jewish wedding when I had the chair dance.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So after they. They drop off Naylor at home.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The mob goes back to the church.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

And they shoot the church with the cannon.

[B]

God. Yeah. Well, they had a cannon. It was Chekhov's cannon the whole time.

[A]

The thing is, they also went and got a second cannon.

[B]

Why is it. Why are there so many cannons and we need cannon control in this country?

[A]

Fired the second cannon at the church, too.

[B]

That literally. Oh, my God. This is. You know what's crazy about this, right? Again, this is the hatred of Protestants and Catholics is an old world thing. Yeah. We actually have that happening right now in this country. Dr. Oz. Remember Dr. Oz from our Oprah episode? Dr. Oz is in charge of Medicare

[A]

in this country for some reason.

[B]

For some reason. And he is Turkish. Turks hate Armenians. And so one of the first things Dr. Oz did is travel to LA and drive around Armenian communities and start accusing them of fraud based on random things that he found online and pointing at different buildings. And one of his. The excuses he said was, look at this. It's being written in this. This strange dialect. Because he doesn't view Armenian, their language of what they speak.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

As an actual language. He is degrading it by calling it just a dialect of, like, Turkish or Arabic or even something else. And so it's this old world hatred brought to America that is then confusing for the people who don't give a shit about this. Like, I'm sorry, if you take anybody from, like, this area of Philadelphia, they all just look like Philadelphians to us. Yeah, they're all wearing gray sweatpants. They all. Yeah, they all have, like, really, really, really strong opinions about what type of pork roll you should have. And then be. While they're over here, like. No, they pulling out medieval cannons and blowing up cathedrals.

[A]

By the evening, a large number of soldiers had arrived with orders to clear the streets, only to be stoned in the process.

[B]

And when I mean stone, they mean stone. But they're not getting into cloud.

[A]

After the captain was attacked, the order was given to fire on the mob, which resulted in seven fatalities and nine injuries. Not long after, people with muskets and cannons arrived, and the fierce fighting broke out between soldiers and the mob.

[B]

Wait, hold on. So you're saying the soldiers showed up, and then when you say people show up with muskets and cannon, these, again, are just street people.

[A]

Yeah. Who have more people, more cannons, more muskets.

[B]

Okay, got it.

[A]

Fighting lasted for several hours.

[B]

And this is urban warfare in 1840s Philadelphia. Narrow streets with horses. Horses and poop everywhere.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

All right. The streets are slick. This is a hard street to run down. Cobblestone. Cobblestone covered in poop. Everything is muddy. There's dead horses everywhere.

[A]

Fighting lasted several hours, with the soldiers being fired upon from alleyways and windows to nearby buildings. The soldiers brought in two more cannons of their own and fired into the mob.

[B]

Imagine having PTSD because you went to Philadelphia.

[A]

So I have it because I grew up there. The mob returned fire using their own cannons armed with such items as nails, chains, knives, and broken bottles.

[B]

They. That's a blunderbuss.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

So you guys ever see those. Those pictures of, like, the 1800s where there'd be the guy with the big really wide front gun. It looks like a tuba. Yeah, that's a blunderbuss. You can stuff it with basically anything. Well, that's the idea of like a grenade. It's. It's the shrapnel that gets you. And so a lot of cannon with knives and nails.

[A]

And you wonder why I am the way I am.

[B]

Yeah, that's true.

[A]

So in an attempt to capture the mob's cannons, soldiers charged one cannons position, only to be knocked off their horses by a rope tied across the street just out of view.

[B]

Like they're the fucking Ewoks. Oh, my God. They tied a rope. That's no big. Legit. In Star Wars Return of the Jedi, there's the Imperial scouts are on their speeder things, and the Ewoks pull a rope real tight and they fall off.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like they're getting taken out by Home Alone Tactics. Yes. This is fucking insane.

[A]

The cannons were all eventually captured by early morning on July 8, and the fighting had ended.

[B]

They. Oh, my God. This is so insane. At least why were there so many cannons?

[A]

At least 15 people, including rioters and soldiers, were killed in the riot, and at least 50 people were injured. The riots had gained national attention and condemnation and were used as an issue in the 1844 U.S. presidential election. The Democratic Party condemned the growing Native American party.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because again, it's an offshoot split party. Can I. Can I say something real fast? Which is just number one, this feels very much like an episode of the Dollop. And to let our listeners know, I am actually going to be guesting on the Dollop live in Philadelphia at the Fillmore. And we'll put a link down below if there's any tickets left.

[A]

This is an episode about Brooklyn.

[B]

I know is an episode about Brooklyn, but this is so fucking wild. And I was just thinking about how Philadelphia is known for a few things, one of which is like throwing snowballs at Santa Claus.

[A]

And batteries.

[B]

And batteries.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I want to say I think that Philadelphia did that to bury this. Yeah, I think. Because also the other thing to know about America at the time is we used to have more riots a lot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

This is. If you guys are. As you're picturing this, I hope you've been picturing Gangs of New York.

[A]

Yeah, for sure.

[B]

Like the Martin Scorsese movie Gangs of New York, which is set around this time. Actually, that's a little bit later. Yeah, that's set in, like, at the beginning of the Civil War, and there's a whole bunch in there. About that. This is just like. This is.

[A]

We should watch Gangs of New York.

[B]

We have watched that.

[A]

No, but we should watch it again.

[B]

Yeah, I remember watching it with you in your little apartment actually around the corner from where this was.

[A]

Oh, you're right.

[B]

The apartment very close to this is very, very clear. The little apartment that you used to have off of Gerard.

[A]

And let me tell you something, I had this, this cute little girly pop apartment. It cost me 700amonth for a one bedroom. I bet you if I looked it up on Zillow, it costs 2500 right now.

[B]

The one I had, I had a seven. When we first started dating, I had a 700 apartment in South Philadelphia. It was 700 bucks. I looked it up. It's now. I think it's. It's 2400.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

They didn't change anything.

[A]

No.

[B]

Everything inside of it.

[A]

Not an upgrade to be found.

[B]

Same pipes, same bad kitchen, same creepy guy in the basement, just the whole thing. And they're just charged. They just charge triple.

[A]

So, okay, in New York City, after all this happens, right? Many people feared that the nativists were going to start targeting New York City's Catholic churches. Now, the Archbishop in New York City, his name was Archbishop Hughes, organized Defenders of the Church and told the mayor flat out that if Catholic churches in New York are burned, quote, New York would be another Moscow. Wow.

[B]

Holy fuck. That's crazy. Can I. And okay. I think people don't understand.

[A]

You gotta explain it.

[B]

Yes. They don't understand. This would be the equivalent of saying that New York would be another Hiroshima or New York will be like. Or saying something about ground Zero. What they're talking about is when Napoleon the First, remember, because we covered the third, Napoleon the First took the grand army to Russia, specifically to Moscow, and he conquered. But they, the Russians, as they were falling back, they kept burning their own villages and fields and including. They burned Moscow themselves. And so the capital was completely destroyed. It was basically flattened. And at that time, it was considered one of the worst city destructions. The only way biblically, they could have said something like Sodom and Gomorrah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which is, you know, again, a town that was destroyed. But I don't think the Catholic Archbishop would want to say New York is the new Sodom and Gomorrah. So I think this is why I went with that reference. But this was a very fresh reference in people's mind. This is like 30 years after, because the. The what that happened with Napoleon, that's around 1812. 1814.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And Napoleon, just so you guys know, was considered one of the Antichrist. The way we talk about Hitler now is how most of the world talked about Napoleon because his actions killed so many people. And, and fun, fun story. Guys want to know how Napoleon came to power? By rolling rolling cannons full of grapeshot into the streets of Paris and firing on protesters because most of the other generals wouldn't do it. But Napoleon was an artillery guy and he just saw people coming at him. He's like, fire. And they did. And then his Italian ass eventually became emperor.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

Because that's how it goes. And that's why I always find it funny whenever people are screaming like, we need to have a French style revolution. I'm like, they end in Napoleon. And literally millions of people dead every time.

[A]

Okay, July 11th, okay, we're still in this timeline. Remember?

[B]

Crazy.

[A]

July 11th, Philadelphia passes an ordinance that gave this city a battalion of artillery, a regiment of infantry, and at least one full troop of cavalry to preserve peace within the city when necessary.

[B]

They literally occupied Philadelphia.

[A]

They were like, we are going to put money towards this. We are hiring the people. We have to make sure we have this under control.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Now also, the riots led to the PA General assembly to pass an act that required Philadelphia, the township of Moya Mensing, and the unincorporated districts which we were calling the suburbs at the time, Spring Garden, Northern Liberties and Penn, to maintain a police force of one man, perhaps 150 taxable inhabitants.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So they were like you are required now by law to have police force. In 1850, another act that established that Philadelphia police force would police the city and the seven surrounding districts. Their inability to maintain order effectively in the suburbs directly led to the consolidation of the city in 1854.

[B]

Yes. And so what that means is today the city of Philadelphia and the county of Philadelphia are the same lines. Back then, the issue they had was Philadelphia was this little strip in the middle and then around it, the suburbs around it were these now we look at as neighborhoods.

[A]

Yeah. Their neighborhood.

[B]

So like Kensington, South Philly, Moya Mensing, the places she's now saying West Philly was called Westville. All these different areas were their own little townships. Yeah. Now they, they, they bled together. They slowly merged. When you look at the eastern seaboard of America, someday, maybe 100 years from now, or whatever it is, we've been looking at it as turning into a megalopolis. From the sky, it looks like one continuous city, all from D.C. all the way to Boston. You can actually like kind of Angle it this way. It looks very interesting in that. But going back then, as. As your map gets bigger, the. The giant city gets smaller in your mind.

[A]

Yeah. Also this same thing to bring it back. This is a Brooklyn episode.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The same thing happened in Brooklyn, basically, is that Brooklyn, what had its own mayor, Brooklyn was its own thing. And then eventually, because of all this stuff happening, they became part of New York. Yeah, it went differently, but it's all very similar.

[B]

But it's also as. As these, these systems grow, they're like, oh, we actually have to, like, we have to figure out a better way to not only control it, but also just to run it.

[A]

Okay. After the riots, they're done. The riots are done for now.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Another very fun outcome was that Bishop Kenrick again, he's the bishop in Philadelphia,

[B]

at the Philadelphia bishop, the one who asked for the guns.

[A]

The one who in the very beginning of this story was like, can we just have Catholic Bibles? Right. That bishop.

[B]

Okay. That bishop. Okay, gotcha.

[A]

He's the bishop of all Philadelphia. Right. He ended his efforts to influence public education system. So again, the whole time, this all started because he said, could we put Catholic Bibles into the public schools so that the Catholic kids don't have to read the Protestant Bible?

[B]

Right.

[A]

After the riots, he just completely stops doing that and instead comes up with a plan and begins encouraging the creation of Catholic schools. With 17 Catholic schools being founded within

[B]

the decade, I can't stress to you how insane that is that this is why Catholic schools existed in Philadelphia.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Is because he tried. Oh, my fucking God. This is. Okay.

[A]

This is directly related to me not knowing algebra very well.

[B]

Yes. So because what. So because of a. Basically a Facebook post in 1844.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You were taught about cherubims and seraphims.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Instead of the Pythagorean theorem. Yes. That's insane. That's. That's where they would. That's how we got here. Oh, my God. Also, the thing that drives me insane about it is this is also the beginning of the framework of how we've had this run throughout history. Where in America, specifically. I've been thinking about this a lot, about how you'll have your mainstream or your general thing and then a thing that's created in parallel. So in education, Right. We think a lot about how conservatives. They started becoming homeschoolers. Conservatives started pushing Bible study. Conservatives started doing these same thing with their media. Right. You had CNN over here. So then they build Fox. Fox isn't far right enough. So then they Build the podcasting networks. The podcasting networks become the aren't far right enough. So they build their groipers. There's this area that ends up becoming built in parallel for people to have an offshoot on because they don't want to battle anymore in the center. So they build this edge. And that's exactly what's happening here. The Catholics realized, like, oh, if we continue to try to integrate inside of the public school system, it's just going to keep being a problem. So we'll just create one in parallel and remove ourselves from it because completely.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And now, decades later, generations later, they reintegrate because slowly, over time, the Bible study is removed from school because they started to concentrate more on regular things and all these other things happen. This is so fucking wild. That's just wild to me because I've been thinking about it a lot, about when people started screaming about how we need a left Joe Rogan.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

A liberal Joe Rogan. That's how I feeling.

[A]

The Friars of The Church of St. Augustine sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church with adequate protection. This is all after the rights.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Claiming $80,000 in damages, the city's lawyers argued that the Friars could not claim their civil rights were violated as The Order of St. Augustine was a foreign organization under the Pope. Furthermore, the city argued that the Friars had taken a vow of poverty and could not be property owners.

[B]

That's so crazy. The city of Philadelphia claimed that. They said, listen up here, you poor foreigners. You off? We don't owe you shit. Yeah, that's crazy.

[A]

The August Palestinians ended up proving in court that the order had been incorporated in Philadelphia in 1804. And they were awarded $45,000.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For repairs.

[B]

They're like, our paperwork's here, dummy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

That's so wild.

[A]

So listen, let's take a break, okay? And when we come back, I want to tell you, I want to close with a wild ass story about Brooklyn, because I did research about Brooklyn. I was like, this is an episode of Brooklyn. But then I opened so many tabs, I got lost in the sauce. But I did find a story from the 30s in Brooklyn that I think that you really need to hear.

[B]

The 1830s?

[A]

No, the 1930s. Oh, we're gonna jump ahead a little right after this.

[B]

My perfect day has sand, salt water, and friends. But my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can take me out of the moment. Now I'm all in with clearer skin thanks to Skyridge, Risankizumab, RZA. A prescription only 150mg injection for adults who are candidates for systemic or phototherapy with Skyrizi. Most people saw 90% clearer skin and many were even 100% plaque free at four months. Skyrizi is just four doses a year. After two starter doses.

[A]

Don't use if allergic to Skyrizi. Serious allergic reactions, increased infections or lower ability to fight them may occur before treatment. Get checked for infection, infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor about any flu like symptoms or vaccines.

[B]

Thanks to Skyrizi, there's nothing on my skin and that means everything.

[A]

Nothing is everything.

[B]

Ask your doctor about Skyrizi, the number one dermatologist prescribed biologic in psoriasis. Visit skyrizi.com or call 1-866-Skyrizi to learn more. And we're back and I'm about to find out this. This incredible story that I have no idea.

[A]

It's not incredible. It's. It's something that I just need you to know.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Because I was opening tabs about Brooklyn, I was trying to learn about the history of Brooklyn and I found this company called J Le Herin Cross. Okay, I'm gonna spell it and then we're gonna come up with how I'm gonna pronounce it. Right. L, E, H R E, N, K, R, A U, S S. We're gonna

[B]

go with Loren Cross.

[A]

Lorenz Cross. Okay. J. Loren Cross Corporation was a banking and insurance conglomerate founded in 1878.

[B]

Don't love that.

[A]

The firm was trading in what was known as certified mortgages during the great 1920s building boom to pay for the residential properties going up all over New York City.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Mortgage banks and title companies began to cert certificate mortgages, that is to divide them into little shares that were then sold to the general public like bonds.

[B]

That always ends well.

[A]

So this company certificates were very popular with small investors because they continue to pay out a respectable amount despite the depression.

[B]

Got it. Okay. So they're certifying mortgages even though so many mortgages are going under and banks are closing. Because that was a big thing with the Great Depression. So many banks closed and it was before we had fdic. It was before we had certification.

[A]

We have a bunch of episodes about that.

[B]

We do. We have so many things about this. But yeah.

[A]

So then in early December 1933, the firm, it was discovered this is quotes had been running a deficit in operations for years, covering expenses and salaries with a haphazard assortment of schemes that included issuing watered stock, writing up mortgages based on either inflated or non existent evaluations selling mortgage certificates worth more than the mortgage they represented and taking out bank loans against mortgages that had already been certified.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[A]

With the depression holding down its cash flow, the company soon found itself underwater.

[B]

Uh huh.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So they were lying about everything because again, money is not real. Yeah, Money, it's got punch.

[A]

Ponzi. Scheme energy, it's got.

[B]

It does have Ponzi.

[A]

Ponzi.

[B]

But they're literally borrowing money against things that have already have money borrowed against it. So if anything fails, there's nothing secured against it.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Yeah. Okay. Got it, got it, got it.

[A]

On January 25, 1935, the company, the, the guy, Julius, who's the head of the company, the 67 year old head of the firm, was convicted of mail fraud. That's how they got them. They always get you with mail.

[B]

They get your mail fraud for the

[A]

sale of over $1 million in stock through the mail. Okay, okay.

[B]

Because he was selling faulty stock.

[A]

Exactly.

[B]

Now they would do wire fraud.

[A]

Government prosecutors alleged that the business was bankrupted. Was bankrupt in 1932. And he knew that.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So like that's the whole thing is like this stock was sold that didn't

[B]

even have anything behind, no value behind it. He was selling NFTs.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, this is just bitcoin.

[A]

So he received a suspended sentence because of his advanced age. He was 67. Very old back then.

[B]

Yeah, back then they were like, sir, there's no, no one would ever vote for you. You're so close to death.

[A]

So 2 of the part.

[B]

Now we call that Spry and Young.

[A]

Two of the partners and a former salesman for the firm were given real prison sentences.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

But the big boss wasn't because he was too old.

[B]

Well, the part that's shocking is that anybody, because now, now they would just become the Secretary of the treasury or something.

[A]

Something. So the hearing for this entire court situation was held at the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

On January 15, 1934. Okay. And it was attended by over 3, 000 people, more than 10 times the capacity of the courthouse. This was the most people that had ever been in the courthouse. That's how much he fucked over people

[B]

in Brooklyn because that many people lost money or got fucked over. Okay, Okay.

[A]

I need to know what was going on.

[B]

Now.

[A]

The company's mortgage servicing subsidiary was still actively making money as he was going to jail. Yes. There was still a part of the company that was making money. So the court ordered that that part would be sold to pay back some of these really angry investors.

[B]

Gotcha.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Because they have, because they're committing a lot of fraud. But there are some legitimate things that are working.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And if you get rid of all the fraud part, this little core over here is still.

[A]

Yeah. And they're like, we need to sell this because.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So that we can pay back some of these people that were defrauded.

[B]

Right, Gotcha.

[A]

So we got 3,000 people at this courthouse. And you know who is in the courthouse watching all of this go down that day?

[B]

Who?

[A]

A Queen's resident, a Queen's native, a man from Queens, a small time real estate developer named Fred Trump.

[B]

Fred Trump.

[A]

After attending the hearing, Fred Trump acquired the mortgage servicing subsidiary. This gave Trump access to the titles of many properties nearing foreclosure, which he bought at an extremely low cost and sold for an extremely high profit. The quick and extreme success of this deal made him famous and solidified his name and fame as one of New York City's most successful businessmen.

[B]

And his son's name?

[A]

Donald.

[B]

Uh huh. So you mean to tell me because of a Ponzi scheme in the 1930s, Donald Trump's dad was able to snatch up a bunch of tenement housing for a steal? Mm. Okay. And then he. Then, then the, the know nothing tactics from a century prior were digitized and made that man's son the President, United States, who is now rapidly throwing us into World War Three.

[A]

Yeah. And I was writing an episode about Brooklyn. It.

[B]

I hate butterflies. Can I say that, you butterfly.

[A]

Stop. Butterflies are nice.

[B]

No. Stop flapping your wings.

[A]

We love butterflies.

[B]

When you know who we do love.

[A]

Who?

[B]

Our listeners, especially everybody, joins us over on Patreon. Pearlmania500.net Everybody who's liked, commented, subscribed, everybody who's gotten down there and told us all about the different things that they love about this show. Also remember, we have a lot of. There's a lot of different links of different things that I'm doing out there, including comedy shows, events, and more. Find it all down in the description, Mrs. P. Any final words?

[A]

Have a great week.

[B]

Too many frauds and too many scammers that we wish weren't real. Too many cons and too many spammers. And we're starting to feel like we've got too many tabs. Open it. Too many tabs. Remember to smile.