Judging Freedom - Reaction to the Alec Baldwin incident with Joe Piscopo

Episode Date: October 26, 2021

Judge Napolitano and his boyhood friend, Joe Piscopo, have a rollicking conversation about the cultural divide in America today, and the mess Piscopo’s friend Alec Baldwin is in.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Judging Freedom, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here, my new podcast where I get to think whatever I want and say whatever I think and talk to whoever is willing to stop by. Today, one of the funniest men on the planet and one of the greatest entertainers. And now a great social, cultural, political commentator who is also my boyhood friend because we were in grammar school together at Brookdale School in Bloomfield, New Jersey. And whose father tried cases before me in the Burton County Courthouse and whose grandmothers knew each other. The one and only the great Joe Piscopo. Joey, how are you? Joe, it's so great to see you, my friend. Here we are, a long way from Brookdale School, my friend, on Broad Street in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Yes, yes, we are. So I want to talk to you about a couple of things. And this first one is really right up your alley.

Why is the country so bitterly divided today? I don't remember hatred and animosity in the streets like this since the LBJ-Vietnam War, Vietnam draft era when we were both in college, which produced so much hatred. What's the source of all this? And how do we get our hands on it, my friend? When you were in Princeton, you mean, and I was down some little school, looking at anywhere else, you mean those days? Yeah, I remember that. Those days, you stinker. You know, I always use the analogy of that, Judge, because people forget. And I feel bad for people when they're younger than we are and they don't understand it and experience the history when a riot or a protest was almost justified, you know, led by the great Martin Luther King.

And we saw it. You and I, our families coming from the great city of Newark, New Jersey. We saw Newark burned down. We saw police officers being assassinated. And so it was, I believe, worse back then. Why did it happen now? It is, in my opinion, Judge, and I always say when we chat, you're really the brains in the outfit, forgive me but my humble opinion is it's a concerted effort on the media it's a concerted effort on the uh way way left we call them on my radio show the regressive socialists if they're so far left they want to change the country so much this is a concerted effort received this all right so i agree with you about concerted effort on the left but you really think do you think it's a concerted effort by the media to generate this animosity for political reasons or for ratings reasons, Joey?

We're both in this ratings business. You know, that's a great question. I can't figure out because I said today, I was talking on the radio, and I said, who sits in a room for the network news, Judge? And they're in a table. And then they start coming up with the news. They avoid subject matter under this presidency. On the last presidency with President Trump, they would create false narratives. Who's sitting in the room? Who's the adult in the room when they go around the round table and they do their pre-news show you know i can't figure that well i can't answer that question but i do know that those rooms exist uh in in every

media platform in the country uh in in fox it was a it was a glass line booth called the war room and the producers would meet there first thing in the morning before the sun even came up and decide what the stories were for the day. Such a meeting doesn't happen with you and me. It happens with your producer and you, my producer and me. But it happens at ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, everybody, because that's how they decide which way they're going to go. Do you think the personality of Donald Trump and the perceived weakness of Joe Biden gin this stuff up? Yeah, I don't think so. I think I have to go back to what you said about the news media. It could be for ratings, but if it was for ratings, they would have probably been a little kinder to donald trump only because you know you look at the ratings on it on cnn now msnbc trump produced trump produced

huge ratings for all the networks most of all my former employer fox but huge ratings for all of them everybody was watching so now right no no one's watching msnbc and and cnn are together can't even compare to fox and i said uh and and i don't like to talk you know ill about anybody but i heard norah o'donnell's days are numbered numbered at cbs because the media numbers are dropping down dramatically so to answer your question originally is it for ratings i think it's more than that i think it's just a mindset that the media has always had that is along the lines of a forgive me a socialist mentality that's the only so can i have for you uh came on air when i was chatting with malcolm the producer

who's out in arizona he said to me what do you think think of this dispute involving the New York Nets and Kyrie Irving? Now, they won't let him play. He's a superstar when he plays. They won't let him play because he won't get vaccinated. But to make this even worse, there was a riot at Barclays Center on Sunday where people stormed the barricades, pushed their way through the turnstiles and some sort of a manifestation of support for him. He wasn't even there. Yeah. Yeah. And then what about Brooklyn Bridge, the municipal workers on Brooklyn Bridge? They don't want to get faxed. They don't want to get faxed. It is so out of control now. So people are showing up. but the news, to our point, doesn't really cover that like they

should on a national scale. For some reason, if you don't want to get vaccinated, you know, we can't talk about that. Judge, I'm a hypochondriac. You know me long enough. Well, I know you're a hypochondriac. I would never have said it until you admitted it. I said, is there another another vaccination put it in my arm i don't care how many have you had huh how many vaccinations i've had two and and i'm i'm working on the third you know but i've had two but i take all the antioxidants and we advertise a lot of them on the on the radio show you know right right I take the zinc. I take the lemon juice in the water. Judge, I'm like.

I take the same stuff, and I've had three vaccinations. I've been in the hands of the same internist at Hackensack University Medical Center. I don't want to mention his name. He's a great guy and a brilliant guy. He's been taking care of my body for 30 years. And I said to him, Mike, should I get the third? He said, I want you to get the third exactly eight months after you had the second. So I had one, two, three, all it happens.

To your point, my doctor, I said, because we just did a blood test, my yearly blood test, you know, and the antibodies were very high. And my doctor said, he goes, you know, Joe, you really don't need that third booster. But you know what? Between you and I, I'm going to get the booster anyway,

because it's just in case. Just in case. Am I right? All right. Good for you. So I've already discussed this in public, and I was mentioning it to Malcolm again as we were coming on air. Yeah.

I was in St. Petersburg, Florida for the weekend to give a lecture on do we still have a constitution? Does it still work to the Mises Institute, which is a high-end libertarian think tank. And this is their annual supporters summit. So we were hobnobbing with the people that are generous with their, with their donations on my way down. Well, before we left at Newark airport,

I don't even want to tell you what airlines. We were out at the runway. All of a sudden, we turned around and went back. And they yanked a middle-aged professional woman off the plane. She showed her vaccine card that she had three vaccines. She wouldn't wear a mask. Her neighbor complained about her. So when this airline asked for my opinion of this and one of those digital things, I said, you guys are lapdogs to the feds.

The feds are asking you to enforce their whim because this isn't a law. Congress has not enacted a law. Thou shalt wear a mask on an airplane. This is just a Joe Biden whim enforced through the FAA. And you guys are complying with it because you're terrified of the government. That's what I said to this airline, which is one of the biggest in the world. Yeah. You know what? You're right on the money. I don't understand it. And again, I'll speak for myself. Vaccinated, you want me to wear a mask, I'll wear the mask. You don't have

the right, in my opinion, you know best, Judge Knapp, you don't have the right to dictate that. So I go to Washington. I was at the National Italian American Foundation this past weekend. Right now, you've been there. You and I were honored there jointly a couple years ago. It was fabulous, fabulous. Right? And it's like, so I'm down.

So I went into Washington. Judge, and I haven't been to D.C. in a while. It's like, forgive this expression. I don't mean. in a while. It's like, forgive this expression. I don't mean to be melodramatic. It's like a Gestapo state. The mask is everywhere. People are fearful. And then as you come out of beautiful Union Station, Judge, my friend, is there a better architectural building, really, than Union Station?

You see how beautiful that is? Homeless. Like I've never seen homeless all over. It's like a city that's gone off the rails, literally. So now and now I got to wear the mask, put the mask on. And people like so apologetic. And they're so in fear. I've never seen the fear in society like I have now coming out of this, in my opinion, administration. When you mention fear, and I want to mention one last thing about the mask, the most dangerous city in the United States for crime is Chicago. We all know that statistically and anecdotally. It's beyond dispute. The mayor of Chicago has ordered all the police to be vaccinated or she's not going to pay them. One third of the cops in Chicago, that's 15,000 police officers, have not been vaccinated. If she doesn't pay them under federal

law, they can't work. So she's going to take one third of the cops off the streets in the most dangerous city in America. That's what this has come to. Is there a Illinois statute that says all police shall be vaccinated? No. Is there a city of Chicago ordinance that says all police shall be vaccinated? No. There's just this command by the mayor, like we in New Jersey have commands from the governor, like Joe Biden announced he's going to issue commands to OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the Department of Labor. These are not laws written by people we've elected to write the laws. They're commands issued by people we've elected to enforce the laws.

In Chicago, it's going to cost innocent human lives. And it's happening in in Minneapolis, you have the Ilhan Omar, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar for Minnesota, blaming the police because of the high crime there. We are in an alternate universe right now. And you speak the truth always and better and more elegantly than most of us, Judge Napolitano. I'm on the radio every single morning. And I always ask judges, my friend, I'm an entertainer. I go out on the weekend. I entertain. What am I doing on the radio every single morning, and I always ask judges, my friend, I'm an entertainer. I go out on the weekend. I entertain.

What am I doing on the radio? You know what? It's a sense of responsibility now. I feel like I have to speak the truth. Well, you speak the truth in such a way that the audience loves it. I mean, again, I was saying to Malcolm before the show came on, he didn't know that we were buddies of 65 years. That's how long we've known each other.

My favorite is... And I won't say which of us is older, but you can Google us. And I told him that I had been on your radio show probably a hundred times, and it was a delight because we would, like we're attempting to do now, intersperse serious political analysis with humor.

Yeah. So if I were to ask if Chuck Schumer was sitting seated next to you, well, that would be an interesting show, wouldn't it? If I were to ask him, are there any limitations on laws that the Congress can write? It would probably take him a long time to think of one. Because to that big government crowd, and there are Republicans like this as well, Joey, they don't believe that the Constitution imposes any limitation on the federal government. They think they can write any law, regulate any behavior, tax any event. And this has led to Joe Biden saying, I'm about to sign an executive order requiring all employers of 100 people or more to force their employees on the private property of the employer to be vaccinated. Authority he doesn't have, authority the Congress doesn't have, authority the congress never uh never authorized and yet these companies like this

airline have already in fear of the government yeah begun to comply with this stuff it's exactly in fear of the government what about unclaimed wealth judge napolitano what about that that is that is just unconstitutional so they're going to tax us on unclaimed wealth that really isn't it's not existing money. It's not existing. That is against everything. Everything is going to, the Supreme Court is going to be so busy, and you know best. I mean, it's going to all end up in the court.

And what's sad about it, it shouldn't. Because what about representation? These representatives go down to Washington. They're paid off, in my opinion, by special interests. And they do what, supposedly, whether it's pharmaceuticals, whether it's a insurance company, whether, listen, the lawyers in New Jersey, you know, being the judge on the Supreme Court, the youngest one appointed there, by the way, in the history of the state. Thank you very much. You just promoted me from the Superior Court to the Supreme Court, but I'll take the promotion. Tom Kane, a mutual friend of ours, the greatest governor of New Jersey in the modern era, is the one who appointed me.

I don't say that because he appointed me. I say that because he's a great human being that you and I both know and love. We log for the days of the good Governor Kane, you know. But but the lawyers they make the laws in divorce court so and then you're a judge and you have to you have to you know back up these laws because some politician is bought off it's what you know judge we have to keep speaking the truth i think the pendulum's coming back i really feel that's gonna it's gonna come back you know on that we disagree i think it's gonna get worse before it gets better. I want the pendulum to come back. But these are very, very dark times in terms of freedom. The government trashes freedom every day.

The federal government forces the states to enforce federal law because the feds, even though they print money, don't have the resources to enforce all federal law. Now they're compelling private industry to enforce federal law. Now they're enforced. They're compelling private industry to enforce federal law. That is the definition of fascism, private ownership and government control. That's what I thought of when I saw this lady yanked off. And then I'm thinking to myself, you know, I'm sitting here quiet. Should I stand up and defend her? And I thought, my God, if I stand up and defend her, they're going to yank me off. I won't get to Florida in time. I won't be able to give this speech that these people are coming to hear me give. So I zipped my lip. It was difficult to yank me off. I won't get to Florida in time. I won't be able to give this speech that these people are coming to hear me give. So I zipped my lip.

It was difficult for me to do so, but then, of course, I unloaded on them. I don't even know if they read these damn things. In this digital questionnaire they sent you, I never answered them, but I was so angry at this, I answered it. Before we go,

you know, personally and and well Alec Baldwin. You worked with Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live and at many times in your career. What do you think about this? What do you think about this horrible event that happened out there? Did he have a moral obligation to know K-N-O-W, whether or not there was a live round in that gun before he kiddingly pointed it and pulled the trigger? You know, I like Alex. He's always been nice to me.

I like Alex Baldwin as we go. And he's a far left Democrat. I was a former lifelong Democrat. We were at the same functions. He was always nice. So I have nothing ill to say about Alec Baldwin. A lot of my friends are very upset because he did the Donald Trump impression

on Saturday Night Live, you know. And you know what? It's all comedy and comedy should be more open and more forgiving, if you will. Agreed, agreed, agreed. When I was on the set of the films I've done, whether it was Wise Guys or the Treat Williams movie, we did Dead Heat.

There were a lot of weapons. There was a weapon handler judge. He would, they called the armorer, and he would look at the guns. The guns would go to a prop person. He would check the guns. Let's say if a gun was being pointed at you, I would say, as the actor getting the gun pointed at, I said, look, forgive me, but do you mind if I take a look at it? Because that actor checks the gun. I check the gun.

I check the chamber. I check the clip. I check what it is. If it's blanks, I make sure they are indeed blanks. You know, they're almost like they're like, you know, half the bullet. But that's how I know. The only thing, so absolutely the actor always, always, and always has to look and check the gun, always. So I don't understand it.

The only thing I can think about, I was thinking about this because I knew you and I were going to chat about it right here, is when Alec Boone, he's a fine actor. And if he's rehearsing, and I'm obsessive like that, I have to rehearse something over and then over again and then over again and if he pulled the hammer back you know like this like in a western style and was that what happened and he was just rehearsing it and it was indeed an accident regardless regardless the gun should have been checked the gun you know there's a little bit

of um the politics should not enter a criminal investigation. You know, there's a little bit of, politics should not enter a criminal investigation or a criminal prosecution, but there's a little bit of politics here. These are all a bunch of lefties. They hate the Second Amendment. What were they doing the day before this tragedy occurred? Target shooting with those guns. These are people who don't want the rest of us to have guns. We're out having a good old time with them, and somebody somehow left a live round in that gun, and the armorer didn't check it.

The directors didn't check it. And your buddy, and I don't know him. I respect his work. I think he can be hilarious. A lot of people got mad at the Trump imitation. I thought it was sidesplittingly funny, as did you. I know his brother. His brother has had Fox a lot. But Alec didn't

check it. So the question is, under New Mexico law, did he have a duty to check it? Could he be prosecuted for what we call criminally negligent homicide? The use of a deadly instrument. Could be a car, could be a golf club. In this case, it was a gun.

In such a reckless manner that an innocent human being died. I don't know what the prosecutors in New Mexico are going to say about this. And it's up to them. It's up to the sheriff's office, correct, Judge? Well, the sheriff's office investigates. They hand the results of the investigation to the prosecutors. The prosecutors decide if under New Mexico law, there's a case for prosecution, who would be prosecuted? The person that left it in there? The person who pulled the trigger, who should have known what was in there? The person in charge of the guns, the armor? Now everybody's saying the armor was a two-bit armor that never really knew what the hell I mean, we shouldn't laugh at this because an innocent person is dead. Another innocent person

is in the hospital. Yeah. You know, it does seem like the narrative is coming off of, you know, the shooter. It's coming off and they seem to be blaming everybody else. Yes. You know, and it's interesting to see. But as unfortunate because it happened, it has happened before. Yes. Yes, it has happened before.

So, Joey, when am I seeing you again? When are we going to appear together again as we did at Pope John XXIII High School in Sparta, New Jersey, and at that Italian-American gathering, I think in an old post office. It was a magnificent place. It was. I was in the men's room, and I heard you rehearsing Sinatra. And I thought, that's not Joey. That's like the ghost of Sinatra.

This is better than Sinatra than himself. You know what? The Italian-Americans, I like to think things are getting better for the first time in years. And I say to your audience, Judge, if I may, the Italians, I'm so proud, Judge, and I'm so proud to be Italian-Americans. And where our grandfathers actually worked together. Yes, I said grandmothers. Our grandfathers worked together. We should tell them where?

For Thomas Edison, for the great Thomas Edison at the height of his career. I don't remember what your grandfather did. My grandfather was a draftsman. He used to design the ideas that Edison had in his brain, and he had a different idea every day. Yeah, and I've told you this before. I think my grandfather invented the light bulb. That's what I think happened. I honestly... We're just looking

for a percentage of the take. Joey, I'm going to let you go. Can we do this again? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Can we do it on radio? Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you on my show. I'm here anytime. I love you, absolutely. Absolutely. Can we do it on radio? Yeah. Yeah. I'll talk to you on my show. I'm here anytime. I love you, Judge.

You know, remembering the days of Brookdale and Bloomfield. It's the best of America, you know? Fine memories. And with our loving mothers. God bless you. Judging Freedom, one of the happiest programs we've had with the great Joe Piscopo. Judge Napolitano signing off until later in the week. Thank you, my friends.

My honor, Judge.