This is Michael Moore and you're listening to rumble.
Michael Moore has been running around for decades promoting
policy that would wreck the economy and that was Rush
Limbaugh who passed away this week.
I can't think of anybody who did more elevating.
The hate elevating, the racism misogyny.
Go down the list, over the past 30 plus years, she's longer than
that. I think a lot of you have
parents relatives People that time, uh, listen to him like a
religious experience everyday East Coast, time was noon to 3
p.m., he had a lot to say and did have an tremendous
brainwashing effect on a lot of people improved Trump learned
this, the best. Trump probably considered him a
mentor. Learned, that best way to get
ahead is to lie. I I was a favourite topic of
Russia's for all those years. Starting really, almost really
big. He'd be 30 years ago with my
first, film, Roger, and me, and I just kept, I used to try to
keep his his rants about me because they thought they'd make
a nice archive someday, but then it just got to be so many I gave
up on the project. So just I was a recurring
character. On The Rush Limbaugh.
Show don't let my daughter's give you a few examples.
The this one here that you just the beginning of what you heard.
Just now I believe is this last. This past year, his last bit of
talking about me and II saw him play another, 20 seconds of
that. You can only take so much of the
some We're not gonna do the whole show on this.
We had I got some important things to talk to you about but
let's just go back. We'll give you a little bit of a
rush. Through The Years here I
promised you'd like just a minute or so of this.
Let's listen to the rest from 2020 Rush Limbaugh.
Talking about me, we're find out just exactly how blockheaded,
the people on the left are that we're dealing with and it were
going about dealing with them in the entirely Rhine wrong way.
We can't deal with them logically because they're not,
they're not using Any semblance of mental acuity to arrive at
whatever, they believe, they are strictly, recipients of
propaganda and that's it. They can't tell you why.
They think what they think when you challenge them, that's when
the insult start aimed at you, you're racist.
You're a bigot. You know what you're talking
about. They can't defend what they
believe, unless they have had some propaganda.
They think the different they using logic on them as a waste
time. If you're debating among Twitter
for Had it. It's a total waste of time.
You're not even on the same wavelength with these people
because they're not using thought, they're not using any
brain activity whatsoever other than memorization of propaganda.
The next one is rushed talking about myself and Jesse Jackson.
This comes from your 2011 Rush Limbaugh.
The all these guys who keep calling for civil war and
revolution, Jesse Jackson Michael Moore.
They've Better. Remember all they've got fire
hoses. They can't compete with us.
Their fire hoses. Not going to intimidate us.
That's right. We only have hoses.
Jesse Jackson and me. Fire, fire hose has Wan hoses.
What kind of hoses did he say? We have it actually, I think
history will show that his side the right wing, the bigots the
fascist. I've always been the ones with
the fire hoses hosing, down the defenseless of this last ones
from also from 2011 Rush talking about my fight.
For the people in Wisconsin, every hard-working American
family. I know is led by a long-haired,
maggot-infested, Michael Moore fan, bused in, from out of state
to raise holy hell, shutting down the Wisconsin State Capitol
building while chanting. This is what democracy looks
like. The left is imploding.
We see it in front of our eyes. We're seeing it around the world
and there you go. I guess that's our tribute.
Dude, to wash Limbaugh, I don't like to speak ill of the Dead.
I think he made it quite clear who he was and how he lived his
life. I'm sure his family and his
friends miss him and we won't. But that's the worst I'm going
to say about it at this point. I feel bad for this country that
we have so many tens of Millions.
That bought into this. So sad sadder than anything,
really on some level. And the way that ignorance was
encouraged you know, the way that stupidity Was fomented, you
know, before you get to the hate somebody, you first have to be
ignorant of them or of the issue, whether it's healthcare
for all or whatever. And his show was a daily daily
place where people could go to become more stupid and more
ignorant. And that just grew and grew and
grew. But first, you have to be
ignorant in order for them to second.
Phase of their mission is fear because you're afraid of what
you don't know. You don't know.
A group of people, you don't know a particular issue or an
ism, then you become afraid of it and the fear reaches a
certain level and then phase 3 kicks in hate and you hate it.
Then you hate them. And that boils and boils and fed
every day at noon, noon to 3:00. It's fed and fed fed on Fox
News. It's fed on all these and then
finally phase for occurs, from ignorance, to fear, to hate to
violence, and we got an awful dose of that last month.
When for the first time, ever our own citizens, attacked our
Capital. The first time, ever our own
citizens, tried to attempt a coup of our democracy, ignorance
leads to fear, fear leads to hate, hate leads to violence.
That's the equation. That's what we now.
Have to deal with. And the stupider that people can
become the better, the better that those in power can
manipulate them and can control the situation and my friends,
you can't get more stupid than the state of Texas.
I meme. It is tragic.
What? We're witnessing this week in
Texas but it is the result of leaders there.
Who I don't think are so stupid. I think they know exactly what
they've always been doing is to try to make their own people
stupid by having a shitty education system, by doing
things, like trying to control our textbooks, not just in
Texas, you know the story. Right.
That that because Texas by so many textbooks.
No, textbook publishing company will publish a school textbook
without getting the approval of the Texas Board of Education,
and their book committee, their book approval committee.
So if they don't like something, they say that has to come out.
And if it doesn't come out then, they don't buy the books.
They don't buy the books, they are just goes, you know, a huge
chunk, maybe 10 15, Percent of the profits of a Textbook
Company out the window, they're not going to let that happen.
So for decades now they go to Texas.
First they get approval of what's in our textbooks for the
whole country and then the rest of us have to read what Texas
wants their students to read. Do you know this look look the
story up, we should do, we shoot an episode on this someday.
Maybe a lot of people don't know this.
I was on the board of education back home.
So I I've heard this the known the story from Many, many years.
And that's how you help increase the stupidity of the country.
So because we the rest, the country have to read what our
kids have to read in their textbooks.
What Texas wants us to read the dumbing down of America is
helped by this in doubling down, is what Texas is all about.
Now, I need to say this because there's a big part of me.
As I watched this happen with the weather this week in Texas,
it's just like you are the state, they keeps voting for
Republicans. You're a big Trump State, you're
a state that you support the politicians that say, climate
change is a hoax. It's not real.
And you reward them by re-electing them over and over
again your state representatives in your Senators to the US
Senate? Yes.
Right. We all saw the pictures of Ted
Cruz, trying to sneak off to Cancun and he got there.
He got there but then the word got out.
It he wasn't going to stay behind with everybody else in
suffer. He put the family on the plane
along with himself down to go down to Cancún and then it kind
of came out and then he had to lie and say Oh no, I was just
taking the kids down there because they want to be with
their friends, come right back. So he was forced to come back.
The next day. But he thought people would be
stupid enough at least in Texas. Maybe he thought that was right.
Yeah, they would be stupid enough to buy that.
He was just doing it for the kids.
But I want to say this because as angry, as I could continue to
be about the state of Texas, in the politicians, it gives us,
you need to know something. And I need to be reminded of
something about Texas, just like we saw Georgia in one way but
that was the old Georgia. We didn't really understand that
Georgia in the last decade or two have become 33 percent
African-American. That Georgia was a different
place. And, and that, and what we don't
understand about Texas, is we have, I believe four states.
Now, were whites are no longer the majority of the state.
You can probably guess them, right?
Hawaii, obviously this one New Mexico is another which you can
probably figure that out because the clue is in the name of the
state, New Mexico. California, this pasture.
White people became the minority.
And then finally, Texas Texas, you probably wouldn't have
thought of that, right? Because again, we have this
image of these don't mess with Dix's, you know, dudes in their
hats and all this kind of nonsense.
But the truth is, is that 57 percent of Texas is brown or
black or Asian? Or something that's not white.
57 percent. White.
I mean, white white, white people make up 43% of Texas.
That's it. Now, that's a lot once you
sprinkle in some voter suppression, once you do things
to help create a situation where whites continue to be elected
and re-elected and people like Trump are voted for a state that
gives us not one, but two bushes. then then you sort of
you can understand why a state that has so much racism.
And stupidity gets to be this way.
But it's because the people of color don't hold the power.
But they hold the power demographically 57% announce and
this is what why people are so upset.
A lot of white people I should say, not everybody because
you've got always got a good strong percentage of liberal to
Progressive. Citizens, even in especially in
a place like Texas. but, White people, no times up.
And so as long as black and brown people, there are on the
lowest rungs of the economic ladder.
Don't have access to the healthcare that white people
have are still being paid. A minimum wage, that is not a
living wage as long as, as all of that occurs, then black and
brown people don't have the power to fix things and white.
People continue to do the stupid shit like like not in case their
electrical power stations, in any kind of cement, or Or
anything to protect it from the elements, be it, a hurricane be
in a snowstorm. I mean, think about this, how do
I mean when you see a state where we're at least the
majority of the people that are are voting in the majority of
its politicians. Say, climate change is a hoax.
And they get hit by Hurricane after Hurricane or in this case,
zero degree weather, as it was in the Panhandle.
In even way down in Houston, I think it was less than 20
degrees. Over and over, they get hit by
the weather and they don't even want to consider what might be
going on. You almost want to say okay, you
want to live that way. Have at it?
Good luck. See.
You don't want to be a except they have children.
It's our moral responsibility to protect them and we know that
the poorest people in Texas are going to be hit the hardest when
things that happen, like what happened this week happen.
The people that are black and brown are going to get, hit the
hardest. So, we have to have huge
compassion. If I were Biden.
I get on a plane and go down there right now and say, look,
I've seen the situation here, we're gonna do everything we can
to help you, and then we're gonna have to fix some things.
Even if your stupid leaders don't want them fixed your
stupid racist leaders. Sorry, we're going to fix it for
you watch. Texas, turn blue in the next
election. If Biden, in the by
demonstration does Because they've had the shit kicked out
of them this week. It's just awful.
I saw the trucks pulling up with those water bottles.
I can Flint, you know, pulling up with because there's no
water. Why isn't there water because
water needs electricity got to help the pumps.
Need electricity to pump the water.
You know, all the Fox News going off on solar in the wind and all
this. Well, yeah, I you need to say to
people that you can't transmit the wind in the Solar if you
don't have electricity or some kind of natural gas plant,
powering and backing up the wind and the solar doesn't work
without it. You have to use fossil fuel,
everybody should know that by now.
It doesn't just happen on its own.
So, Texas, depending on which numbers you want to believe is
it's about half Natural Gas. About close to 20 percent solar
and wind. And then another maybe 20% with
between coal and nuclear. And those numbers change all the
time but I'm just giving you the rough estimates of it.
So 75% of solar and wind did go down, not just because the
windmills froze or whatever but because they they need the
backup of the electric plants, to produce the electricity, to
help maintain them, transmit, the energy.
And as a backup, if the wind stops, then the electric part
has to kick in If the sun doesn't shine, there's no Solar
Sun hasn't been shining this week.
So they have to have the backup plant.
So so obviously yes, solar and wind got, hit the hardest
because they also on when can't operate without fossil fuels,
that's we've talked about this a lot on this before.
And I'm sorry that otherwise good people, but who have taken
too many grants and too much money from the wealthy, from
Wall Street from the energy companies.
They've Sold the country. Sadly of the wrong bill of goods
when it comes to our environment and protecting our environment.
And we're that much farther behind now and saving planet
Earth. I shouldn't say saving planet
Earth because I think the Earth in the battle between the Earth
and the humans, I'm afraid the humans are probably going to
lose the Earth has a has a way now for quite a few, quite a few
years about lasting anything that would try to hurt it.
But stupidity rained. And this Texas, Remember the
Alamo the independence were, we're not even a state, you
know, they don't call themselves a state, their Republic.
It's called The Republic of Texas.
Like they've never really, really wanted to be part of this
even after stealing so much from the Mexican people, but but
somewhere along the line they got they were in the part of the
United States. Long enough to have slaves.
Be a slave state be part of the Confederacy for the Civil War.
And and in this case with energy, they decided that have
their own grid. So there's the East Coast grid
and there's a West Coast grid. That's how the electric
situation works in this country except for Texas.
They did they hate the federal government?
They don't want, they don't really like the idea of the
United States and so they wanted their own Republic of Texas grid
and they got it for just about the entire State little piece of
the Panhandle. That's not part of it.
There's a little piece of Far Eastern, Texas.
And then there's El Paso, they're all part of either the
west or east coast grids except the bulk of Texas is not and so
when you go down you have no interdependence e with the other
grids. That's the end of you and the
News came out. Here.
I think last night it was they were talking about they were
actually just seconds, maybe minutes away from losing the
entire grid. If that happened, it would take
them at least a half of year to rebuild, which means there would
be no electricity for six months, which means there would
be an addition to, a whole bunch of other things.
No water in your home. And that my friends would have
created a climate e of proportions.
We don't even want to think about the human body cannot go
without water for more than 4 days.
That's it. That's how we're constructed.
We can go without food for almost 40 days.
But water for days. And then we start the body
starts to shut down. I've talked about this a long
time ago here in a long time. I'm in a we've only been doing
this for a little over a year that the Grid's.
The two big grids, the east and west coast grid.
I talked about the solar storm that happened in 1859, I'm sure
you remember the story in 1859, a solar storm, got through our
atmosphere and as a result, well we didn't have electricity.
Then there were where there were no electrical lines or whatever,
but we did have the Telegraph and that did.
But the principles of conductivity and it fried, it
fry the telegraph system. And the country, it took a while
to rebuild it, but they rebuilt it.
We've been due for one of these solar storms to get through our
atmosphere. Now, for some time, scientists
have tried to warn us about a nobody wants to talk about it.
Republicans don't want to spend any money on infrastructure so
they don't want to pay the money that we need.
We need a backup grid across the whole country.
For if the, if the Grid goes down, we have a backup to turn
on because again that's solar storm that fried the telegraph
system in 1859 if that got through.
Now it would fry it could fry the East Coast, the whole East
Coast grid could go and they they predict scientists that it
would take about a year and a half to rebuild, you're going to
go a year and a half of that. Water going to go a year and a
half of any electricity with the inability to charge your phone.
Phone. Go on the computer.
Do your work get to work. Let your car.
We're going to plug it into. This is such a serious problem,
though. Is this lat you almost sound
like you know the sky is falling when you talk about things like
this. It's right in there with the
people who are trying to warn us that the oceans are dying that
large swaths of the ocean. Don't have fish in it.
Don't have fish that we can eat. There are all these things you
know that are in the on-deck circle and we've got a taste of
it from the pandemic and so we know just how bad things can get
when we're not ready. And Texas was not ready.
Didn't believe? It could happen.
Didn't believe in climate change.
So therefore, why would they try to protect their substations?
Where the electricity is sent from neighborhood to
Neighborhood. Why would they do that?
Why would they do anything to make sure the natural gas
pipelines are protected from the freeze in the ground?
Why would you do it? Because there's no climate
problem. People are paying a serious
serious price for the stupidity this week, and from the
political philosophies of the Republican party in Texas, which
is against regulation. So there is no regulation of any
of this. They're against the federal
government because they don't want some government DC telling
them what to do. Over.
They'll take our help now. Yeah.
I almost, I don't know, this just sounds like you don't want
to condition anything on anything because again, kids are
in danger. Poor people are in danger But
you really don't you really just want to say to these Texas
politicians. Yeah, we'll help you but You're
going to have to change. You're either in the country or
not and we're on this together or we're not and you can go your
separate ways, the Republic of Texas, we don't need you.
Don't worry. There won't be a civil war.
And all the black and brown and poor people who want to get the
hell away from, you will be more than welcome in the other 49
states. Maybe 46 days.
And you can keep your Houston Astros and they're cheating ways
to, by the way, just have to get that out there and your bushes W
wo W he seems so so, so sweet and Charming now doesn't he?
We're going to pay for his Wars. These for the rest of my life,
many of your lives. Trillions.
Hundreds of thousands of dead iraqi's.
Thousands of our own troops. Thanks to the man from Texas who
executed more than any other governor.
Death penalty man, George w-- Bush.
And while he was President for those eight years, he banned
stem cell research. So, which means he banned using
stem cells because some of those cells came from fetuses that had
were known, didn't make it to birth either because of
miscarriage or abortion, and so the stem cells, help scientists
deal with disease. And epidemics and things.
That's how that's how they it's one of the ways.
They, they find out how the human body works and what you
can do to give it some sort of inoculation or or treatment or
whatever. Eight years, we lost eight years
of Science and helping People's Health because of bushes stem
cell ban I'm not going to go down the list.
Any longer you get the idea? We know what Texas is we know
what we have to deal with, and we know what the children and
the poor and the black, and the brown have to deal with in
Texas. So I'd like to figure Texas out
and do figure out what to do about them.
I think we're going to have a lot of Texans on our side after
this. I think the light bulb went off
in a lot of people's heads and ultimately as you know my
friends we have to deal with an economic system.
That is unjust, it's unfair and it's not Democratic they call it
capitalism, I call it greed, it has to be ended.
And don't, don't worry, I know. Remember you've been made stupid
so we don't teach economics and our Public Schools.
What, you know what capitalism means these days?
What socialism is what? Communism is all these terms,
get thrown around nobody really knows what it is. yes without
capitalism, you will still earn, you have the potential to earn a
very good wage and also making sure that there will be a safety
net in case a day comes when you can earn that wage You'll be
able to start a business, you'll be able to come up with a great
invention. It's good for all of us, all
that stuff. In a Social Democratic state.
Until we have that other words, a state a government where we,
the people truly do control the government.
Until we get rid of the Electoral College were once that
happens, we the people decide who the president is and that's
that. Sometimes it'll be somebody.
I like sometimes. It'll be sorry.
I don't like, but it doesn't matter.
The majority of Americans decided.
This is what they wanted to be wanted to be president, I'd
States. Okay that's a call to democracy.
What we have now is not a full complete democracy, we get rid
of that things like Texas have less of a chance of happening.
Because the people not the prophets will make the decision.
The profit motive will not be in charge.
We, the people will be, I'm sorry.
The people of Texas. Probably many of them can't even
listen to what I'm saying, right now.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
What's been done to you? I think I can speak for most
people listening to this that we care deeply that we've been
crushed. Witnessing what has happened to
you that we will do, whatever needs to be done.
To stop the madness. And the stupidity in Texas, And
this Republican party so many so many crimes against the people.
It's don't worry my friends. This it will come to an end.
People will rise up, they won't tolerate this that when they're
freezing to death in their homes that when their kids have
nothing to eat and that when they're shipping shipping and
trucks with water bottles, like it did for Flint.
Once you privatize The new very basic needs this is they tried
to do in Flint, they tried to make a profit off of water which
resulted in making the people drink from the river and Poison
every single person in the city and especially the lead
poisoning of the children, 10,000-plus with permanent brain
damage because we wanted to make a profit because they want to
privatize the water system. They want they want to privatize
the Grid in Texas this The end. And by the way, those water
bottles, you see them Trucking in.
Let me just, I just just so you understand.
The Flint math, you can look this up, the average American
human uses about 70 to 80 gallons of water a day for all
the uses, we use water for from taking a shower, to cooking
drinking water, brushing your teeth, doing your laundry for
the dog and the cat, you know, it's add it all up about 70, 80
gallons a day, For human in the United States.
So let's just give the people in, Flint, 50 gallons a day.
It's easier to do the math and plus, you know, they're from
Flint a lead. 50 gallons, 50 gallons.
I'll do the math, for, you know, those water bottles of the ones,
mostly, there's 16 ounces of average one that you drink water
out of, you know, pull and spraying her, whatever, 16 ounce
bottle, okay? So how do you get to 50 gallons?
All right, so there's eight of those 8 times 16 now.
So now you've got a gallon Right now times 50, you do it, you got
it. It's about 400 water bottles a
day per person. Nobody in Flint, ever got that.
And that's why taking a shower went to once a month, and that
was. So if you could get somebody in
a friend or a neighbor or maybe a relative that lived in in Ann
Arbor or Lansing or Grand Rapids, you drive there to get a
shower, get the kids, a shower, you didn't do laundry, you had
to go somewhere for that. Or you could do it in the poison
water. If you wanted to the suffering,
this is going on in Flint for almost seven years, the
suffering. And they're saying that.
The water has so many pipes, broke from the fries in Texas,
it will be months. Before they have the water back
up and running, there are not enough water bottles in all the
world to ship to Texas so that each human in Texas, can have
400 water bottles a day of water.
We're better than this. Many of us, most of us are
smarter than this. The enforced stupidity and
ignorance must be brought to an end.
And no better time to do that than now in the month or two.
After the idiot president. Was removed from office.
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In other news, we haven't talked about covid for a while and I
don't want to belabor this too much here today but man.
Oh man. So we hit the half a million
Mark of deaths here, overnight. What can you say about that a
half a million dead Americans? My entire mother of the world
though. They half a million dead here.
No action was taken. When it was needed.
No preparation was done. Even though for years, we were
told, this could happen something like this could
happen. And now we're being told it will
happen again. There will be future pandemics
in the future. Could be next year or the year
after that. What are we going to do?
To give science and whatever else needs the money and the
help. To protect our citizens.
The mutations, you know, they talk about the UK variant or the
South African variant. The Brazilian listen, that is
stopped. It's almost you got to stop
watching the news. There was at least a dozen.
Now, what they're calling homegrown variance, that means
mutations, that have taken place right here in the United States
right here, right now. Will the vaccines everybody's
getting? Will it protect them from these
somewhat maybe? Yes.
No, we don't know, is the answer?
We will know. And if we find out that they
don't, we then we all got to line up for another shot and
then another shot after that, my friends, this is why Biden is
trying to make this job one. And put this as the top priority
and we don't want to hear from a single goddamn Republican
getting in his way, trying to stop this.
These people who told us this was a hoax for a year and
supported this past president. In his, even though he knew.
And he told Bob Woodward, and there's tape of this, can we
just roll the tape again of what he told?
Bob Woodward nine, ten months ago.
This thing is a killer. If it gets you, you're the wrong
person. You don't have a chance.
Yes, yes, exactly. Now, the minded require, this is
a Scourge and the plague. There you go.
See you Trump new. And did nothing Nero fiddled
while Rome burned. And now we lost a half a million
Americans. More will die.
Many more? The doctors are all saying that
these next three months of March, April and May maybe our
deadliest months yet. I don't like hearing this.
I don't like having to say it to you.
I don't like saying it out loud. You probably already know this.
There is nothing more important right now than fixing, this
problem, and fixing it now. What part of this do I have
wrong? What part of this are you
willing to tolerate any longer? And you know, for our part, we
all have to quit. Kidding ourselves here.
Just because we have these little Peaks and valleys in The
Valleys at, you know, there's less people being hospitalized
and less people being tested positive.
Then we start to feel better, we can't feel better.
I know, you want to feel better. I want to feel better, I hate
this. I know we're all going a little
batshit crazy over this, but my friends.
When they say double up on the mass now, that's what they're
trying. They're trying to tell us
something. You know what, they're trying to
tell us double up on the masks. The Masks, the hand-washing and
the social distancing, are the three, most important things we
can do. On some level more important
than the vaccination though that has to happen every single
teacher to the front of the line.
Every single teacher has to be vaccinated.
If I had kids of school and school age, I would not have
them go to school unless the teachers were vaccinated.
And as soon as kids can be vaccine or at least teenagers,
they should get it too. Please, anti-vaxxers don't write
me. I I'm sorry, you've confused an
apple with an orange here. I don't know what to say.
Everybody needs to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Well, Mike, I can't believe you just said that.
You drank the Kool-Aid. My friends, everybody.
This is criminal that we don't have enough doses that Trump had
no system setup to get those doses put in arms.
I know. Biden is doing the best he can
do. He's our he's doubled since he
took office. The number of doses being given
the people per day, they took office or something like 800
thousand doses going into American Arms.
Now it's, it's 1.7 million, so that's good.
Still not enough. You know, we should try to get
everybody vaccinated in 100 days.
That's three million doses, a day now to the people listening
to this in other countries, you're so good to me and thank
you for listening to this podcast.
And, you know, that I have to spend a lot of time.
Encouraging my fellow citizens to do certain things.
You know, as I'm aware, you're aware, you write to me.
So, you know what American does America, does you see you write
to me and you say, you know, what America does affects the
rest of the world? I know, I know, we know Trying
to fix it. You have to do, you can do.
And we have to help you do it too.
That's who we supposedly used to be, right?
We not only helped ourselves. We hoped we helped everybody
else. At least.
He said we did. Did we think we did?
I don't know. Maybe not.
But right now everybody is in the boat together.
And we my friends Americans. We have to fix this right now.
We have to insist that Biden and company that they be in charge
of these factories to create the doses.
The government has to run this program, not a private
profit-making Corporation. I'm not saying that you have to
work for free week, the government can pay them just
like the government paid General Motors during World War Two to
build the tanks, and the planes and whatever.
But still, you can't leave the decision making power to them.
We have to do this, we the people have to be in charge of
the vaccinations of beating covid.
In each of us, have to wear those masks.
Each of us, we cannot be meeting with people.
We can't be in groups of people unless other people that live
with us under the same roof And we all know that's how this
works. Even I just thought, geez, I
hurt this is awful story. Here this week.
Of. You know, that this couple they
wanted to get married. They were tired of putting it
off, they put it off for a year and so they decided to have a
wedding with just themselves. Both sets of parents and the
just the one bridesmaid in in 1s, ma'am.
And they had it at, I think it was the bride's house.
It's the bride had to work. Wasn't able to like a lot of
people work from home. Forced to go into work.
Weeks Later her husband, her new husband's father was dead.
Everybody else. Nobody else worked.
Nobody else went anywhere. Everybody else.
Had been sort of staying to themselves except except she had
to work. She did not have covid at the
time but she did have it. And they determined that's how
the groom's father got it. It is son's wedding and died.
Now I know and I know because I'm just like all the rest of
you you have this, this thing, you know, at least it's family,
we're not going to we're not infect each other all family.
We've all we all. I'm pretty careful and you know
Gracie here the you know she had to work but she's very careful
at work and kept her distance from people and did everything.
None. Then it kills her father-in-law.
At the wedding company happened at the wedding.
I traced it back to figure this out of course, but they tested
her them violent, she added. Nobody else died.
But there was never enough. Was it worth the wedding?
Was it worth having the wedding? I guess?
So, because you're in love, you want to be married you were
going to do it. Last June.
Put it off and you put it off, you put it off and it's like,
come on. We don't know anybody that's
died of this. Do we know, okay.
And then, boom. Unless you live with the people,
you're around us, they live in the same house, issue. and
unless everyone in that house, Stays home and it's the one
thing the Chinese figured out after will Honda the number,
they said was it 70% of people who died in China or in Wuhan
were killed by family members. Who picked it up outside the
house. And, and then, it may even after
they met were told, the first, they had covid.
This is before the Chinese, you know, so quickly build some
covid, hospitals and boarding houses and hotels or whatever,
just for covid people. You know, they test them for
covid-19, I got to go back home, stay in your bedroom, you know,
for 14 days and you'll get through covid.
Well, people went home and they infected each other.
And that's what's caused a lot of what we're doing here because
well, this is my lifelong friend.
I'm with here. What could go wrong?
These are my nieces and nephews visiting from across the state.
We're all family. What could go wrong?
Ignorance. My friends, we're all guilty of
it. We need to be smarter.
When you look on the list of countries and all this, we kind
of look like the dumb country. That's getting so many people
sick and so many people dying. Come on, come on.
Enough of this. We've got some serious things in
front of us and we need to make plans for now, not stick our
heads in the sand. Mike, don't tell me the bad
news. Yes, I'm sorry.
I'm not telling it to you so that you'll get depressed.
I'm telling it to you. So that you and I and everybody
else will demand that the government, put everything
possible into this. To, what do we do about these
mutations? What are we doing to protect
ourselves from the next pandemic?
Eric. That's our job as Citizens.
That's all I'm asking you to do. Is that a lot?
I know. But it's so depressing.
Yes, you're right. It is depressing.
It's very depressing. But that can't be paralyzed us.
If you sink into your despair. You're finished.
We're all finished. Action is the antidote to
despair. Action.
Is the antidote in a democracy, especially action action.
Is what saves us? Thank you, Georgia.
You prove that to us. You showed us what action can
do. To the 81 82 million Americans
that came out and voted for Biden.
You showed us what action can do, it can Crush.
A malignant narcissist and a fascist.
Thank you for taking action. And when it comes to these
mutations, when it comes to the next pandemic, that's on its way
action in our brains, not our stupidity, our brains, we'll
figure out what we need to do. And we will stop it, or we will
contain it. We will have a plan this time.
That's the country. I want to live in.
Not an idiot Nation. Nation of people who've got a
brain and want to use it. Am I asking for too much?
Yes. And we have to hold our hand out
to Texas. We have to help them because
there's going to be just enough Texans now.
To say I'm tired of living this way.
I'm tired. But I'm not giving up and I know
you're not going to either. This is probably a good time to
thank our other underwriter for this episode, HBO documentary
films and for their outstanding documentary from this year
called, Welcome to chechnya. I'm sure some of you have seen
this film already. If you have an iron, Courage you
to see it. It was directed by one of our
great documentary filmmakers, David Prince, David France was
nominated for the Academy Award for his incredible film, how to
survive a plague an important documentary on the movement to
bring about the containment of AIDS and HIV.
It didn't happen on its own. It only happened through citizen
action. And I mean, hardcore, Or citizen
action, how to survive a play, which was also edited by one of
my editors, T, Woody Richmond. Who was one of the editors of
mine on Bowling for Columbine in Fahrenheit 9/11, David France.
Also made another great documentary, the death and life
of Marsha P Johnson this film right now.
Welcome to chechnya has just been shortlisted for the Oscars
this year. The upcoming Oscars this in
April and it's one of 15 films of the 230 qualified
documentaries this year. David's film is one of the 15
and rightly so these films of David.
So I just want to say they hid been at the Forefront of
exposing bigotry and our society of especially anti lgbtq
bigotry, championing the rights and freedoms of the community in
America and around the world. And that's exactly what he has
accomplished. Now, again in this new film,
which I urge you all to see, welcome to chechnya.
It's a film about a group of activists who risk their lives
to confront, the ongoing persecution in the repressive,
Russian Republic of chechnya. I don't want to give too much
away here about the film because so many of its subjects,
actually are still in danger in this film.
He uses a, what? A sort of a pioneering deep fake
technology to digitally mask, the faces of those.
You see in the film, but not in the old old school way, but also
Of these volunteers who are in chechnya trying to end the
madness. And in this the way he does
this, he preserves their Humanity while protecting their
anonymity. Welcome to chechnya.
His, it's been winning Awards all year.
It premiered, at Sundance a big hit last year at Sundance.
It won the special jury prize for editing.
And by the way, it was edited by another one.
My editors, Tyler walk and Tyler was one of the editors of where
to invade next. David's film walk.
Chechnya was also the winner of the courage Under Fire award at
the international documentary Association awards, it won the
producing award. It DOC NYC.
Incredible Film Festival here in New York City and it won for
prizes including the audience award at the Berlin Film
Festival. It's now available on HBO, mix,
and I'll have a link to it right here and a description right
here on my podcast website, I want to thank again HBO.
He films for supporting this podcast, for supporting my
voice, and for supporting such powerful films as welcome to
chechnya. An old friend of mine passed
away this week. Name was Jim Ridgeway James Rich
way. You may have heard of him.
He was a political writer investigative.
Order for the Village Voice for over 30 years.
He started his journalism back in the 50s when he was writing
for the new Republic. He was the leave.
The first person to write about Ralph Nader.
He came across this this lawyer who was doing this investigation
at General Motors and this car this very, very unsafe car.
The General Motors built and he did a story on Ralph Nader in
the new Republican. A year later Ralph wrote, his
first book unsafe at any speed. And boom, that was the end of
that car Ridgeway then through his investigative reporting
discovered, the General Motors had hired spies that followed
Nader and violated his privacy wrote that story.
That resulted in General Motors, having to apologize to Nader in
having to pay later and out-of-court settlement as a
result of them interfering with his life.
That's that was the beginning and near the beginning of Jim
Ridgeway. Some journalism career, I first
met him when I was at my office in Flint one day and knock on
the door and I go to open it. And he introduces himself as Jim
Ridgeway and I read The Village Voice of the postmaster told me
in town that. You know, there's there's only
like two people here in Flint that read the that get the
Village Voice sent to them and you're one of them.
I should have asked I probably because I believe in privacy so
I didn't ask who the other person was and maybe my life
would have been down a whole different road but there he was
Jim Ridgeway at the door and so cool.
Yes. Clow with, why are you in Flint?
He said, well, I'm doing a story on the rise.
This is not, this is in the 80s. This is when the first big round
of layoffs started taking place at General Motors.
I'm going to do a story on how the Klan and the neo-nazis and
these white supremacists are taking advantage of the, what
was then the 29 percent employment rate in Flint?
Twenty nine percent unemployment and they were convincing.
A lot of people, a lot of white people to join their groups.
And so he wanted to do a story on that.
And he and this other this filmmaker were thinking of
coming and doing a documentary on of their income coming to
Flint and They had heard that the all these white supremacist
groups wanted to have like a big, big national gathering just
outside of Flint. And they were thinking of
filming and, and did I know anything about these groups?
And I subbed, I know a lot about them.
I've interviewed them, I've gone to their their places where they
worship and He said, wow can I can you show me a, you know,
some back issues or whatever your newspaper paper that I
started called the Flint boys? And I said, yeah, sure and I
gave him some bad copies of stories.
I done on the local white supremacist and he, he said that
word, you know, we're probably going to want to get back in
touch with you and they did. And the other is that his
partner was Kevin Rafferty filmmaker and documentary
filmmaker. I spoke of number of months ago
because he also passed it away this year and so they asked me
if I would help them and come with them on the shoot, it's the
first time I'd been on a movie shoot and wow, I was like,
really so impressed with their work and everything they were
doing. And then but by the end of the
first day they were, they were kind of rattled by the by these
Clan guys, Nazis. And they said, you know, you
know, because you're kind of from here.
Would you mind like doing the interviews?
Like will give you a questions and you'll have your own butt?
Yeah, sure. I'm not afraid of these guys.
It's no problem. So the first time I like, did
anything like this on camera. This is 1980, 85 86.
And if you watch the film is called blood in the face, which
is a something from the Bible that says, you can essentially
is how they white people are identified.
Because if, if you touch the skin, pinch it slap it, whatever
it turns red. You see the blood Whereas in
their, in their, in their religion, of how they viewed
this, that people of color don't show blood is easily.
So, blood in the face is the name of the documentary if you
want to look it up and you'll see a very young me sitting in
Breaking Bread, Lisa Nazis, and Clan types, and and then getting
in their face. And I can see, once I saw the
film, I thought we I now I know why they didn't want to
interview these guys themselves because it looks, it didn't feel
scary in the moment but I when you see the film and it will
look somewhat scary that I rattled the white supremacists
in the way that I did. But it also gave me an idea that
maybe I should think about making a movie.
That, that is the great gift of Jim Ridgeway and Kevin Rafferty
that they had me be part of their film.
I learned how to do it essentially quick learner.
I think I hope and a year later, I was making Roger and me for
the next three years, basically, trying to teach myself, but
Kevin mostly and Jim somewhat also teaching me in whenever I
needed to go to d.c., you know, it's where Jim lived.
Where he did his reporting, he was the Washington bureau chief
for the Village Voice. And so I spent time with him,
his wife, Pat some David such good people and I Jim was a
person that was critically responsible for I can trace the
line from this microphone that I'm speaking into all the way
back to Kevin refereeing James Rich way.
And Jim died this week at the age of 84, the times had a nice
will bitch worried about him in the worky.
The last 10 years of his life. He spent on trying to get rid of
solitary confinement, which the UN and all human rights groups,
is they have to have declared a to be a crime to be a human
rights violation. He lived his whole life like
this. I haven't seen him a number of
years, makes me feel bad, but I you know that list I told you
about how I've been, I made a list of people in their 80s and
90s that I know that. I each week I call one of them
to checking. In how you doing?
Staying in touch, during this pandemic, I've had some great
conversations and Jim was on the list, but I hadn't gotten to
him. And I felt so bad when I It was
in the time. It's how I found out.
I was in the times on their their website.
There it was and Actually, Basile her producer here, send
me the link. And that's, it's really open to
popped up on my screen. That's why.
It's all of you is dead. So many people have died this
year. I mean it's just people, I know.
But people, you know people, we all know.
I don't know, as I have said about Kevin.
About Terrence McNally about. Hey, Karen.
They all live, they all live on. I'm not talking about heaven or
whatever, however you whatever you believe or whatever.
It's But they live on in us, the effect they had on us what they
did for us the love, they gave us the inspiration.
They gave us whatever. It was whatever we do for the
rest of today or tomorrow. There's a little tiny piece of
them in US. I know, I know that for a fact
about Jim Ridgeway because I'm doing it right now.
I'm talking about the things that he wrote about.
They wrote about for 60 plus years.
Of his journalism. So it was sad to learn this this
week and I am grateful for his friendship.
I'm grateful for his inspiration.
I'm grateful for him knocking on my door that day and Flint
because I don't know I might I might be doing something else
right now. I wonder sometimes.
You probably have the same things that happened in your
life. One little decision in one small
day. And everything changed.
You didn't know it at the time but when you look back now that
person you met Book, you read. That child who is suffering.
Whatever it was something in you clicked and you became a
different, a better person. And so to that extent, Jim
Ridgeway lives on As will you an asshole?
I And all the 500,000 half a million who have died this year.
Let's make sure they didn't die in vain.
Let's make sure every single one of them what they gave us lives
on and how we act, what we do. yes, how we fought everything,
what we do for Texas and the Texans That way death isn't
death. Maybe that's what the the
Hebrews traveling through the desert for 40 years or the early
Christians or the whatever Buddhist all had, the sense that
this wasn't really the end that there was a life after death.
And so, you know, maybe, I don't know.
They came up with this idea. They wrote it in the book.
But what I do know is that it does it does go on after us if
especially if we've lived a life.
Where we gave? Where we sacrificed.
Where we did something. Then we live.
We live on. Thanks so much for listening to
this episode. Wow, we began with the death of
Rush Limbaugh. The deaths of Texans victims of
ignorance and stupidity of those in power covid, the dead and the
dying that we continue to live with.
And my good friend, Jim Ridgeway.
I'm okay. I am just reflecting.
On the importance of all of this.
In the good, good, the canoe, the good.
I believe that, I believe it cuz I'm going to get up from this
chair and do something. I hope you do.
My thanks to our executive producer, bezel Hamden, our
editor and sound engineer. Nick wants all the people who
listen to him support the show. Send me an email here.
Mike, Mike more.com, if you want I read all my email.
Leave me a voice message here. There's a link right here on the
podcast page. Tell people to listen to this
shared. It's all free and I'm grateful
grateful to all of you who participated in this with me and
Michael Moore. And this is rumba.
I can't feel you anymore. I can't even touch that, but
still here at time, I crawled past your door.
I've been wishing I've been double-crossed.
Separated you from me.