The Glenn Beck Program - Best of The Program | Guests: Sen. Mike Lee, Andrew Roth, & Bethany Mandel | 5/10/21

Episode Date: May 10, 2022

While President Biden won’t condemn the protests at Supreme Court justices’ houses, Sen. Mike Lee joins to explain why they’re clearly illegal and “really creepy.” State Freedom Caucus Netwo...rk president Andrew Roth joins to discuss the importance of organizing at the state level. ESG scores will soon affect states. Deseret News contributing writer Bethany Mandel joins to share the truth about the baby formula shortage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Look, Air Canada does a sold world. Super, an offer for the assort, station thermal,
Starting point is 00:00:06 volcano. You've seen the price for the Japan? M, it's pardg and sushi. Wow, the sold
Starting point is 00:00:12 are good for Mayork also. We could go to the plage and make a place and to the
Starting point is 00:00:18 beach in Sicil. Mmm, I'd adore the canol I'm a lot. Decidiv
Starting point is 00:00:23 VIT, this soold Densurisuris limited, reserving to RKKanda com or to
Starting point is 00:00:27 your agent of voyage. The conditions can't So Stu and I thought we would just start telling the truth. And we thought, you know, it just doesn't get better, was one of them. But that was kind of a bummer. You know, it might be a reflection of our mood today.
Starting point is 00:00:44 And then I thought, well, it does. But the real problem is if it's not one thing, it's another. Right? Right. Yeah. You know, sometimes cliches have a way of being completely right. And that's where we are today. Right. And we decided not to say this in the actual podcast because we didn't want to bum people out.
Starting point is 00:01:05 Well, we want to bum you out. Well, you figure you're here for the long haul. I mean, you subscribed. So you know. You know what it's like. You know what it's like. Hey, today's cheery podcast. Actually, it's got some great stuff in it. Brought to you by Relief Factor. If you're one of the millions of Americans who suffer every day from pain, listen up. There is hope. And it comes in the form of Relief Factor. I take it three times. a day because it has really changed my life. So you want to get out of pain,
Starting point is 00:01:32 you want to get your life back, you want to start doing the things that you used to do, but now you don't feel well enough to do it. Try Relief Factor. Not a drug developed by doctors, and you can get the three-week quick start to try for 1995 and 70% of the people who try it, go on to order more.
Starting point is 00:01:48 You want a drug-free, natural way to get your life back? Relieffactor.com. That's Relieffactor.com. You're listening to. the Glenn Beck program. I'm going to read two things to you. First, the New York Times. The New York Times wrote,
Starting point is 00:02:21 Two days before a mob of Trump supporters invaded the United States Capitol upending the nation's peaceful transition of power and leaving at least five people dead, the right-wing radio star Glenn Beck delivered a message to his flock of 10.5 million listeners. It's time to fight. It's time to rip and claw and rake. Mr. Beck said on his January 4th broadcast, it's time for you to go to war as the left went to war four years ago.
Starting point is 00:02:49 Now, they updated that, even though we gave them all of this information a week before the story aired, two days after publication, they updated it with this. Mr. Beck did not lobby for his listeners to invade the Capitol, and a day later, he urged marchers in Washington to channel your inner Martin Luther King, adding violence. is not who we've ever been. But the language he used on his January 4th show was typical of the aggressive rhetoric that permeated conservative talk radio. Okay. I mean, again, you specifically said not to go. I know.
Starting point is 00:03:29 So couldn't that, why would they use you as an example? It makes no sense. Here is the latest story today. Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot, set social media ablaze Monday evening with a call. to arms that's a quote quote to my friends in the LGBTQ plus community the Supreme Court is coming for us next this moment has to be a call to arms we will not surrender our rights without a fight we will fight a fight to victory hmm I wonder if the New York Times is going to say the same about her she's calling to arms I don't know what
Starting point is 00:04:10 that means except call to guns. Isn't that what arms imply? But there's a double standard here. The president won't, will not disavow those who are now marching in front of the Supreme Court justices homes, which is my understanding it is clearly illegal to do if you are trying to intimidate or change the verdict of a Supreme Court justice. Mike Lee is joining us now from Washington, D.C. Hello, Mike. How are you? Hello, Grant. Well, it's good to be with you. Good.
Starting point is 00:04:56 And, you know, what they did to you at the times, that sounds like reckless disregard for the truth to me. That's actionable defamation. Oh, really? Huh. Absolutely. All right. You told them what you had actually said. They ran the story anyway, not reflecting that.
Starting point is 00:05:13 That is... Does it matter that they corrected it two days later? No, because they still defamed you in the meantime. Nobody reads the corrections like they read the original story. Yeah. This is part of what's disgraceful is that they get away with this. So let's talk a little bit about, first of all, what is happening to the Supreme Court justices in front of their homes?
Starting point is 00:05:37 Mike, that's clearly illegal, is it not? It is. It violates a Virginia statute. It also quite arguably violates a federal statute. 18 U.S.C. Section 1503, I think it is, that would seem to suggest that this is unlawful. But more than anything, Glenn, this is just really creepy. It carries with it an implicit threat of violence. because it says to the occupants of the home where they're protesting, we know where you sleep.
Starting point is 00:06:14 Correct. The only purpose it serves, and that has no place in society. You know, I actually dealt with it. First time I ever dealt with this, I was 11 years old. My father, who was serving as President Reagan's Solicester General at the time, filed a brief in a case, and it dealt with an issue related to abortion, related to Grover v. Wade. The abortion rights movement didn't like it, so they protest. I sit in front of our home.
Starting point is 00:06:40 I was the only one home at the time. Actually, my older sister, Wendy, was there, but she was asleep the entire count. She slept long. So I went out and talked to them. You know, the movie Home Alone hadn't come out yet. It wouldn't come out for another 20 years. But when I saw that movie many years later, I thought I know how that kid feels. I started thinking, what do I do?
Starting point is 00:06:58 Do I break out the illegal fireworks stash that I had from where my cousins bought on the Indian reservation the summer before? Do I turn on the sprinklers? And it occurred to me if I did any of the, those things news crews would show up, that would be bad. So I just went out and talked to them instead. And the very first thing the lady said to me, there's a lady who appeared to be in charge of all of them, we'll call her Karen. And Karen said to me, well, hello, little boy, we're not here to hurt you. That's creepy. And it's creepy anytime you protest in front of the
Starting point is 00:07:27 home of a public official. Right. That's what's wrong with it. And I'm wondering if that would even be said today. A lot of these protesters, I mean, it's vile what's going on. Just as it was vile on January 6th. That was a mob and not everybody, but the ones that really kind of broke down the door, et cetera, et cetera.
Starting point is 00:07:50 Those people were in a mob mentality and just vile. So Mike, yesterday, without anybody condemning these people and saying it has to stop, the Senate voted to pass a bill to provide security
Starting point is 00:08:06 services to the Supreme Court justices and their families, and it was a unanimous vote. Yes. How can somebody on the left say that this isn't violent and yet vote unanimously to provide security? Well, if one of them were on the show with us, and I'm sure all the lefties come on your show constantly. All the time. So you can probably provide the answer. I'm sure they would say, look, the potential is there.
Starting point is 00:08:38 we want to make sure they have safety when they need it. But look, there's no reason for them to not condemn this, no reason for them to not call it off. It is inappropriate. I have yet to have this conversation with any of my colleagues, Republican, Democrat, otherwise, in which they will disagree with the suggestion, it's inappropriate to show up to someone's home to protest.
Starting point is 00:09:02 It's not appropriate. I don't know why it is they can't find the moral courage to express publicly what I think all of them believe privately, which is that that is unacceptable. That was the problem with January 6th, for many of us. We were like, where is Donald Trump? Why isn't he stepping up to the plate right now and saying this is horrible?
Starting point is 00:09:22 Stop it right now. Let me ask you, there's a bill now going through at the Senate, and it's to codify Roe. Can you explain what's going on here? Yeah. The bill moving through the Senate and they want to codify Roe, but it's Roe on steroids. It's worse than Roe, far worse. It basically says that no state can have any law restricting abortion in any way and guarantees abortion right up until the moment of birth without any restriction by any other law.
Starting point is 00:10:02 And so this is a very radical proposal. This is substantially farther to the left than what you'll see from any ordinary American. Americans understand that regardless of how they feel about abortion more broadly, they understand that the closer you get to birth, the closer you get to the point where a baby could clearly survive outside the womb, nearly all Americans support some restrictions on abortion. But they want to get rid of even those. This act is intended to protect all people with the capacity for pregnancy, cisgender, women, transgender, men, non-binary individuals,
Starting point is 00:10:45 those who identify with a different gender, and others who are unjustly harmed by restrictions on abortion services. Mike, I got to believe if I were running for the Senate and I was kind of in a purple state, I would be really upset at the Democratic leadership if I'm running as a Democrat. Yeah, and why wouldn't you be? But look, they're trying to impress a certain radical French element of their own base, and this is where they're going to do it. The next step they're going to do is they're going to try to pack the Supreme Court
Starting point is 00:11:19 or hashtag expand the court, as many of my liberal colleagues are now using that hashtag. They want to add justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, which is itself a huge mistake. All these things are designed to delegitimize and denigrate and isolate those Supreme Court justices inclined to vote for Justice Alito's masterfully written majority opinion. Mike, you were part of the crew that you were a leader in the crew to find these Supreme Court justices. They're saying now that it looks like this is going to be the filing rule, ruling.
Starting point is 00:11:53 Do you believe that? Yes. I do believe that. And I also believe that the reason these people are freaking out so much is that there are afraid of the same thing. And so that's why I think if this does in fact happen, pivot will happen very, very quickly, and they'll move on to saying this is an illegitimate court, so we're going to have to change it. We haven't seen this since 1937. It's why I started seeing this coming about a year and a half ago. That's why I started writing the book that comes out
Starting point is 00:12:24 June 7th, available for pre-order now called Saving 9. Saving 9 explains what happened last time they did this, how we stop it, and why it's such a horrible idea. It's a, it is, it is, is a book that is right on time called Saving Nine and very good. Mike, the bill that they are trying to pass, let's just live in fantasy land. We say that it passes, okay? Isn't that still what the Supreme Court was saying shouldn't be done, that it should go to the states.
Starting point is 00:12:58 It's not a federal issue? Yes. So the Supreme Court draft majority opinion written by Justice Alito said that these are the sorts of decisions that ought to be made by the people's elected lawmakers and not by nine lawyers wearing robes on the Supreme Court of the United States. The simple reason that there's nothing in the Constitution that makes this something that the courts decide, nothing in the Constitution that even makes this federal rather than state. Now, there are some places for federal law to weigh in on most areas, but most laws, most of the time that affect most of your day-to-day life are state laws, not federal laws. So it follows logically that given that there's nothing in the Constitution making abortion distinctly a federal issue, most laws dealing with abortion should be handled at the state level. Does that include if New York or California includes, you know, partial birth abortion or after-birth abortion? which is now strangely being talked about in those states.
Starting point is 00:14:03 Does the federal government have a role in stopping any of that? For Congress wanted to push the envelope, Congress could try to assert more authority in that area. My personal view is that this is one of those areas that really is perfect for the Constitution, for the constitutional principle of federalism. Because look, there isn't a lot of national unity, national consensus on this issue. Right. People in Utah would decide this very differently than the people of New York.
Starting point is 00:14:37 And people in Mississippi very differently than those in the state of Oregon. And, you know, sometimes that is part of the constitutional compromise. That's part of who we are. That is the compromise. Right. We allow people to govern themselves differently according to local preferences. Well, Mike, I want to thank you for all the work that you did with Donald Trump. and Ted Cruz to get these guys on the Supreme Court and women as well.
Starting point is 00:15:09 It's because of, I think, your work that we have these people. And I am hoping that when we get a Republican in office, that you are appointed to the Supreme Court, because I think you would make a tremendous Supreme Court justice. Thank you so much, Mike. Thank you very much, Glenn. You bet. By the way, if you want to support Mike in his,
Starting point is 00:15:31 race for Senate. You can do that by, I don't know, checking out, I don't know, Mike Leif or Senate or whatever the hell. I don't know. The best, the best way to point people to his site, but yes, you should go look at his site. And this is an important week, I think, by the way, to consider that if you are a person who looks at the ruling from Alito and looks at that in a positive light, and maybe have dreamt of the day that Roe versus Wade would be overturned your entire life, for example. It's important to highlight, as you did right there at the end, the really vital role that Mike Lee has in this ruling. He was the guy, basically. That's why they're coming after him so hard. Right.
Starting point is 00:16:21 He was the guy who put together the list along with the Federalist Society, a couple of other people that you mentioned. But he was really the driving force to get that list in front of Donald Trump that he wanted. up selecting from these three justices. And in the office with him, campaigning for these people, really trying to educate Donald Trump on who they were and getting them to be the candidate. Without Mike Lee, you don't have the situation that we're looking at this week. That's how, that's how crucial he's been to this process. And if you care about this issue at all, you should remember that as you look at who you're voting for here in Utah over the next. Well, you have Edwin McBuffin who's running against him.
Starting point is 00:17:01 who is pro-choice. And so that's, you know, that's one thing that you'd have going for you. Is he pro-choice? I don't even know that. Yeah, I guess he's pro-choice. Regardless, I mean, it's one of these things that even if you had somebody else you were considering, like, this is such a vital issue. And he was so vital to it. And I tell you that the left knows it. Too bad the right doesn't know it.
Starting point is 00:17:19 But the left knows exactly what he's done. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program. So there is an opinion in the Washington Post. I was listening to a podcast the other day featuring two hard left. Americans in their late 30s. I won't name names, but you know the type, socialist intellectuals who use terms like dissident to describe themselves. The conversation mainly centered around a few themes. The kids today are too self-righteous and judgmental. The Democratic Party is corrupt and uninspiring. Donald Trump wasn't nearly as bad as everyone said, and I miss the good old days.
Starting point is 00:18:08 this op-ed is so worth the read today in the Washington Post. Again, are millennial leftists aging into right-wingers? Yeah, and I think there is a real pushback, and hopefully there is a pushback not to the uninspiring Republican Party, which everybody says the only thing we have. Well, that's the only thing we have because nobody's doing anything about it, except for the Freedom Caucus. Freedom Caucus is inside the Democratic Party, just like the progressive caucus was inside the Democratic Party.
Starting point is 00:18:47 And this is the antidote to the progressive disease. And I just hope that it is spreading all over the country because we need people that will stand together in the shade of the Constitution. Andrew Roth is the president of the state Freedom Caucus Network. He is trying to create more freedom caucuses all around the country, and he is with us now. Hi, Andrew. How are you? Hey, thanks for having me, Glenn. You bet.
Starting point is 00:19:21 You just started one in Nevada and South Carolina, right? And just last week in Illinois, we've got five total. Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Nevada, and Illinois. Our plan is to launch another five to seven this year so we can have maybe 10 to 12 total going into the new year. Okay. So what does the Freedom Caucus, so for people that don't know, what does it stand for? And what are you looking for? Well, hopefully your listeners know about the House Freedom Caucus, and we are operating under their blessing and under their auspices.
Starting point is 00:20:01 and they believe in limited government, more freedom, both economic freedom and cultural freedom from the woke left. And they have made great strides in the halls of Congress. But if we're going to take back this country, they recognized as do a lot of people that the fight is at the state level now. There are all these big issues that need to be won at the state level, whether it's election integrity, school choice, CRT, the list goes on.
Starting point is 00:20:33 Right. So we need to organize at the state level. And I'll confess, like a lot of people don't know who their state senator is or their state rep. And there is a lot of mischief and a lot of corruption happening at the state level. But the good news is that there are a few conservatives in each legislature who we can help organize by bringing them resources and expertise that we have to create. create these state freedom caucuses. So that's what we're doing.
Starting point is 00:21:03 And I'll tell you what, it's an exciting project. And we're going to change things around as quickly as we can. I will tell you, what I've seen traveling around and talking to the different state legislatures, there seems, without the Freedom Caucus, there seems to be a group of people that are angry and can't work within the system. and you understand it because in some of those states the system is so corrupt on both sides. But there's got to be an organizing factor that can get things done. And I think that's what you guys are doing in Washington.
Starting point is 00:21:44 And to me, this is the answer. The answer is coming right now from the Freedom Caucus, which is don't play the game on either side. Just let's return the power to the people. That's exactly right. And these state lawmakers, I mean, just think about it. Everything is working against them. First of all, they're citizen lawmakers.
Starting point is 00:22:10 You know, they've all got full-time jobs, or at least most of them do. So they're either busy, you know, harvesting the crops or, you know, doing their nine to five job and they're taking time out of their busy life to go to the Capitol and be a representative, which means they don't have a lot of time. to read the bills to understand how things work. So the establishment already has them under their thumb. Plus, they don't have staff. And if they do have staff, it's usually provided to them by leadership,
Starting point is 00:22:42 which means they have an actual spy in their office. So anytime a conservative in any state legislator wants to do something proactive to limit the size of government, there are a lot of forces working against them. But we can change that. And that's what we're trying to do. We're going to bring them resources, staffing, all sorts of things so that they can strategize, they can meet, and they can figure out which bills to kill and which bills to push up. And here's the best part, is that we can build a coalition of supporters behind them.
Starting point is 00:23:17 You know, as I mentioned before, a lot of people don't know who their state rep or their state senator is, but we plan on changing that. We want to turn these people into heroes because if they, see that fighting for limited government and liberty is something that people will respond to, they're going to do more of it. And so their colleagues are going to follow them as well. So are you going – Are you going into the state houses or you're talking to the reps that you look at and say, these are the kind of people that we want? And you're talking to them one-on-one.
Starting point is 00:23:52 This is both the grassroots, but does the public? politician come first to make sure you have somebody that you can support right away and then gather the support for that person? Oh, definitely. We have a pretty rigorous vetting process. We reach out to the grassroots and we basically ask them, who's the most conservative member in the legislature? And they usually land on one or two people. And then we start talking to them. And then we give them bylaws, like a template, which they can take to their colleagues. And it's basically an accountability document. Basically, it tells them who they can invite into the Freedom Caucus, how they can kick people out. When a Freedom Caucus takes a position,
Starting point is 00:24:38 it's expected that all members follow that position. And if they don't, they need to submit a letter, basically explaining why they can't. And if you rack up too many of those letters, then it's time for you to go. So the bylaws are an important part. And then after that, we tried to identify somebody in state who knows how things work who can help that Freedom Caucus operate,
Starting point is 00:25:03 kind of the person behind the curtain who can help read the bills, make vote recommendations, build coalitions. None of this is happening right now. And this is what we're going to change. And I got to tell you, it's working. I mean, we're just in five states right now, but it's working. We've had some major successes. A couple of chairman of these states.
Starting point is 00:25:25 Freedom Caucuses have been on your show and have explained the success that they're having. So I think the best is yet to come. Well, I hope that you're right because a lot of these people who I happen to believe in all over the country, they are, they're beating their heads against the wall. They're so outnumbered and they see what the problem is, but it's so dirty. I mean, I am, you know, because I'm fighting against ESG, the money that is being pushed around by the big banks and the lobbyists is just insanity. And people don't have the time to do their own homework on it. It's a problem.
Starting point is 00:26:12 Yeah, and that's why we just need to bring more resources on our side to level the playing field. In South Carolina, in fact, today, There's going to be a big bill decided on certificate of need. And I know a lot of people don't know what that is, but basically, if you want to build a hospital in some area, you literally have to get the permission of the incumbent hospitals. Right. It's a racket that the government has set up. Yep.
Starting point is 00:26:43 And in South Carolina right now, the Senate wants to repeal certificate of need in the entire state. and the majority leader in the House, a Republican, promised to repeal it. But then when he realized that there were enough votes to actually do that, he killed the bill. Well, the South Carolina Freedom Caucus is not taking no-for-an answer. So they're going to attach an amendment to a new bill that will repeal it. And we're going to find out today if that's successful or not. Wow. But I hope it is.
Starting point is 00:27:15 I know here in Texas, my local area wanted to build a whole, hotel, a hospital, and had to get, you know, the certificate of need. And the entire thing was just a scam. I mean, it's people don't understand how many things and how many big businesses have colluded with your state government to get special things that you don't even know about. You just don't know. Yeah. It's, it's, I would call it a soft form of corruption, but maybe it's a hard form because it's happening every day without people knowing about it. But that's what we're trying to change. So if we're able to repeal it today, I think it's going to be a huge victory. And you know, everybody's favorite state, Florida doesn't have certificate of need and everything's
Starting point is 00:28:06 doing just fine down there. So any excuse that we need it for the health of, for public health reasons is just nonsense. So we're really excited about it. Okay. So how do people get involved if they are, if they want to get involved at all in help? What do they do? So our website is state freedom caucus.org and there you can go and see which state freedom caucuses we have up. We also urge people to recommend state reps in their state. We're having conversations with state lawmakers all across the country. We're not quite to Vermont and Hawaii yet. We're getting there. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:47 And I'll tell you what, there are actual patriots in states like that. Oh, I'm sure. Sometimes I think the liberal states are our best opportunities. Of course. Because the Democrats have been in charge for so long that they've gotten lazy. Yeah, I mean, it's, you know, you're, you know, it's one thing to be a Catholic in Rome and another thing to be a Catholic in China. You know, when you're not surrounded by it, you have to work for it. and I was a I think I was much sharper when I had to be in New York every single day,
Starting point is 00:29:21 you know, battling it out every day, even in the streets and a dinner and everything else. You can get a little loose if you're in if you're in a very conservative area. Yeah, you're in the lion's den. Yes. So I really do have a lot of hope for states like that. In fact, like I mentioned, we just launched the Illinois Freedom Caucus. And those guys are going to fight for right to work. lower taxes. They're going to take on the corrupt pension system there. They've got a lot of work.
Starting point is 00:29:48 Yeah, they've got a lot. There's a lot of conservatives in Illinois who need a voice to get behind. Andrew, thank you very much. This is Andrew Roth. He is running the State Freedom Caucus. You can find it, state freedomc caucus.org. Statefreedomcocis.org. You want to sweep up and clean up your state and get it back to where it should be. This is a very good start. State Freedom Caucus.org. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program. Mandel, she's a contributing writer for the Deseret News, editor of Heroes of Liberty Book Series,
Starting point is 00:30:35 and the latest target last night of a man once known as Keith Oberman. I mean, I sure that's still his name, but most people don't know his name anymore. We'll get into that here in a second. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. You bet. You bet.
Starting point is 00:30:55 So we were talking about this yesterday in a meeting, and I don't understand it. The baby formula shortage, I don't know why nobody is doing anything about it. And I don't, I really, this bothers me that we're living in a country that is now just expected to, you know, get over it. You know, and that's not America. So what's... No, no, it's not. So what's happening with this? Take us from the problem to possible solutions.
Starting point is 00:31:30 Sure. So, I mean, everyone is having supply chain issues across the board from, you know, everything from lumber to, you know, the car chips. Yeah. So, I mean, it turns out that there are consequences to shutting down your economy. No. A year and a half. Shocking.
Starting point is 00:31:47 Yeah. Shocking probably to all your listeners, but there are unintended consequences to such an action. And this is one of those unintended consequences, almost 50% of the baby formula that our babies in America use is made in China. And, you know, Shanghai is currently locked down and you can't get things on and off boats to and from China. So there's a lot of that going on. There's a lot of sort of staffing issues across the board that are leading, you know, to drug stores and all these department stores having a hard time getting things on the shelves. but the sort of major precipitating factor was a massive recall at one of the biggest formula companies called Abbott.
Starting point is 00:32:28 And they found that there was a bacteria that had made its way into the formula can that was extremely dangerous to babies. And two babies died. So it wasn't a super duper overreaction on their part. But they decided to, in my personal opinion, do a recall that was maybe a little bit too broad. And they pulled a lot of formula off the shelf. And there was no real plan for what do we, how do we replace it in the marketplace? And so there's also not really been a plan to test the formula that they pulled off the shelf to see if it was in fact safe. And it wasn't, hang on just a second, but it wasn't, it wasn't that they just pulled this all off.
Starting point is 00:33:10 They also shut the factory down and the factory's still not operating. Yeah, because they had to clean it. There was a bacterial infection so severe that it killed. two babies and hospitalized, I think, six. So, I mean, it was a really serious thing. And parents have to know that, you know, what they're feeding their baby is safe. But this is sort of the lack of urgency that we see on the part of the government in so many ways that we've really gotten a window into in the last two years, a total lack of urgency
Starting point is 00:33:39 to treat this as an emergency. One of my sort of favorite stories about this is during COVID, we learned. that the vaccine was somewhat dangerous to teenage boys that it was causing heart issues. And the FDA scheduled a meeting three weeks away on Juneteenth. And then when Juneteens became a national holiday, they were like, you know, we're going to honor that holiday. We're just going to push it back another few weeks. And so we were administering a vaccine to teenage boys that was potentially, you know,
Starting point is 00:34:14 life-threatening to their hearts. And FDA pushed it off for five weeks. And that sort of lack of urgency and government bureaucracy that we saw with, you know, hearts of teenage boys, we're seeing the same thing with formula right now. So, you know, it's crazy. This is why, you know, centralized planning never works. It just never works because the people in charge of all of it that have to give the go-aheads and everything else, they're government workers and not necessarily, you know, the fastest or understand the concerns down the line. competent, let's be honest. What'd you say?
Starting point is 00:34:50 We're the most competent, let's be honest. All of us have sat in the DMV before, and those with people right now who are sitting on the manufacturers, the ability to get food out. What is the company waiting for from the government? I mean, they have to get the okay, that everything is safe and that everything is sanitary and that they can release everything that they've pulled off the shelves. So they have they, so they have complete. The company has completed everything it was supposed to. We're just waiting for inspectors? Basically, yeah.
Starting point is 00:35:24 Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. So, I mean, they are ramping up. I mean, the issue is also, you know, they are ramping up production, but they're afraid to sort of pour more money into it because then it's going to increase the cost of formula, which has already gone up significantly with inflation. And so, you know, this is something the Biden administration can do. and say, we will pay the difference. We will get more people in so that you're running 24-7, and we will foot the bill.
Starting point is 00:35:56 We need a affordable formula produced right now today, and we will do whatever it takes to make that happen, because this is a priority, and babies are our most precious natural resource, and you're not hearing that from the Biden administration. And you would be, I'm quite surprised, because that sounds like a public-private partnership, and they love those.
Starting point is 00:36:17 Yeah. Okay. So what is it that parents can do? Because I'm seeing all these warnings. No, don't do anything. I'm not going to let my baby starve. And I'm pretty sure that, I mean, I was probably getting a little whiskey in my nipple when I was, you know, growing up with a bottle. You know, they had to have done a lot. Pardon me? It does explain a lot. But there had to be things that, you know, we were feeding our kids back in the day before formula that we can do again. Not for every child, the special needs children, but for the regular baby? So I'm going to push back a little bit on you with that. So most regular babies who don't have special needs, there's enough switching that you can do that you can find an alternative. If, like, you know, the CVS brand is in stock. you could get like the target print. Like there's some wiggle room.
Starting point is 00:37:15 Okay, so it's not a shortage. Oh, it's not a shortage for average babies as well. So it is, but not nearly to the extent that it is for babies who are on special formula. The special formula shortage is particularly acute. And those are the majority of the parents that I'm hearing really panicked. Like the parents with the average baby, no health needs just can take formula. they can they can sort of run around to different stores and usually find something in stock not saying that that's right and that you know whatever but yeah but it's not a panic situation
Starting point is 00:37:48 right right and and i and i think that that's if i were that parent that is what i would do the the formulation of formula is really specific and there are a lot of different minerals and nutrients that are in there that you can't just do at home or you might not get precise I spoke to a pediatrician actually in Texas. My name was Whitney Morgan, and she told me, you know, I've seen babies come into my office and I've seen babies die when I was working in a hospital. Their parents tried to stretch a formula can and put more water in, and it messes up their electrolytes very quickly, and it can lead to hospitalization and death
Starting point is 00:38:28 more easily than I think anyone wants to consider. But also one of the sort of scary things is, you know, all of these recipes, and I sent her one of those recipes and I said, what do you think about this? Sort of break down the recipe and she said it is lacking in a couple nutrients that, you know, in the short term will absolutely keep a baby alive. But in five months,
Starting point is 00:38:51 we're going to notice some cognitive issues that are now, you know, permanently in place because this baby was not getting the brain food that they needed, basically. So, you know, a lot of people, you know, grew up on this homemade formula, but a lot of people didn't grow up. There's a lot of room for error, and we saw that room for error with what happened in the Abbott Formula Company that, you know, they had the best safety protocols in the world,
Starting point is 00:39:21 and two babies died of the bacterial infection. So I would really, really caution parents against DIYing formula because it can go really wrong, really fast, and I think it's more dangerous than the shortage. that's not an answer I wanted but I'm glad you told me the truth I just I mean we don't understand how blessed we have been as we are losing things nobody thinks a baby formula as I mean this this is you know if if this would become acute for a long period of time it would change our society. A lot of babies would die or, I mean, it's, you don't even think of that because we're so used to having it. Yeah, no, absolutely. One of the first things that I have five kids and I mostly breastfeed, but I also understand that like life happens. And one of the first things I did when COVID started was buy a couple of cans of formula just in case because we saw things flying off the shelves.
Starting point is 00:40:27 And I was like, you know what, I'm just going to have a couple cans. I'm breastfeeding my baby right now. but life happens, things can change. And this is one thing that I'm scared of, I'm scared of flying off the shelf. Okay. Let me switch topics. You were, can you give me the tweet here, still, from Keith Oberman? I don't know. I mean, I guess he's just sad in his nursing home tweeting things out.
Starting point is 00:40:55 But he came after you yesterday because you were homeschooling. actually. On Mother's Day, perfect. After Bethany had responded to Steve, Steve Schmidt tweet, Keith Oberman said, imagine putting homeschool mom in your bio and not understanding you've just ruined the lives of five innocent children.
Starting point is 00:41:17 This guy's the worst. That's incredible. Yeah, I mean, he's like a really sad human being, honestly. Like, we have this sort of saying in Yiddish,
Starting point is 00:41:28 like Nebach, like, oh, this like poor soul. And that's honestly how I feel about him. Like he, I don't know if you remember, he went after Mitt Romney at Christmas time last year. Romney posted a picture of his like beautiful enormous family that's like perfect in every way. And he treated something like this is like my worst nightmare or something. And it's like that really says a lot about you. That's sad. It's really sad. And anybody who can't see that homeschooling, I mean, just what we've learned about the teachers unions and
Starting point is 00:41:59 and CRT and SEL, all of these things, how do you not see that putting your kids in the wrong school is much, much worse, much worse? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, and the test scores that have been released about what happened over the last two years are mind-blowing. Oh, I know. The of children in middle school to do math went from like,
Starting point is 00:42:31 they were testing at like 60, 70 percent to about 5 percent on level. I will tell you. Oh, I know. I'll tell you I'm having a hard time with my kids in high school because they're just, they just, it's like they just lost. I don't know. Well, they did.
Starting point is 00:42:51 They lost two years. And they're just struggling. so hard to get anything back. We've just destroyed a generation. Yeah, no, we absolutely have. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, Bethany. God bless. Thank you so much, Glenn. You bet. You can find her at her website, Heroes of Liberty.com, Heroes of Liberty.com, or follow her at Bethany Shandark.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.