Erick Erickson HR 2

to have you with me. The phone number is 877-97-973-7-4-25 if you wish to be on the program. If you text the word Eric, E-R-I-C-K to 33-777-7. You can get all the links to follow me on social media, follow the show, get the live stream, the podcast, the four things know in the afternoon. The very first link is the show notes email, which my friend Lynn Vittert on NewsNation says is the best conservative newsletter on the market. And I would agree. And at noon every day... We send out all the links to all the stuff I'm going to be talking about on the show, including what I'm about to get to right here and you can follow along. I don't want to tell you what to think. I want to give you the information. You think for yourself. Years ago in the 1980s, boy, do I feel old, there was a very famous anti-drug ad. All of you who are my age, a little bit younger than me or older than me, you know the ad. Dad comes into his son's room. The son's laying on the bed. The father has a metal box, and in it is drug paraphernalia. The kid's stoner have been smoking weed. The father confronts the son with his drug habits. Says, where'd you learn this? Where'd you see this? How'd you know about this? You all know the famous line. The son replies, say it with me. You all know it. I learned it by watching you. And the camera pans to the stunned look of the father, who himself is now exposed by his son as a pothead, and the son learned his degenerate habits from his degenerate father. He learned it by watching him. It's part of Nancy Reagan's Just Say No Campaign, a PSA. I learned it by watching you. It's become a famous rhetorical line. I learned it by watching you, Dad, all your degenerate habits. That means my son is going to be a terrible golfer who drinks bourbon and says bad words on the golf course. He learned it by watching me.

Conservatives have caught on. They're learning new tactics, and they learned it by watching the left. Just like the drug. Nancy Reagan warned those progressives, and they mocked her at the time. There is a new situation, and to get there, I must tell you about the Flores settlement. You have to understand the Flores settlement. In the 1980s, a lawsuit began to make its way through the federal court system. Flores versus Meese. Ed Meese was Ronald Reagan's Attorney General, who now works at the Meese Center with Advanced American Freedom, Mike Pence's group, Ed Meese, an extremely famous conservative jurist. Ed Meese, you should know. could be an exceedingly wealthy person right now. And Ed Meese and his wife poured so much of the money that he's made over the years into the conservative movement into church causes. They live a comfortable middle class existence. He's very old now. Ed Meese is a great human being. And this lawsuit, Flores v. Meese, was filed on July 11, 1985 by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and two other organizations about Ginny Lizette Flores. Ginny Lizette Flores had been placed in a detention center after being apprehended by, at the time, INS, Immigration Naturalization Services, illegally crossing the U.S. American border.

And the case went to the United States Supreme Court about the treatment of minors held in custody. Ginny Lizette Flores at the time in 1985 was a 15-year-old from El Salvador, was placed in this detention center and held there for quite a while. And the case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. And the Supreme Court sent it back down. And by the time it wound its way through the United States Supreme Court and got back through all the cases, we'd gone through the Bush administration. It had made its way back up in 1991 to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. It went to the Supreme Court in 1993. And by then the case had been retitled Janet Reno versus Flores. And then they held that an unaccompanied alien child had no constitutional right to be released to someone other than a close relative, nor was their automatic review by an immigration judge. You see, essentially, the courts had said that... If the government was holding the child, and there was no relative to give the child to, the child could be held. The child crossed the border illegally and was placed in government control, government custody, and there was no relative to release the child to. Well, the child could be held. So Bill Clinton came into office. And in 1997, Janet Reno, on behalf of the Clinton administration, entered into a settlement agreement binding the federal government. And what the Flores settlement said is that a child held in government custody must be released by the federal government within 20 days.

If there was no adult to release the child to, well, the child still needed to be released. That was the settlement. Let me read you from Wikipedia, which has a pretty good accurate summation of this. The Flores Agreement has set strict national regulations and standards regarding the detention and treatment of minors in federal custody since then. Among other things, the federal government agrees to keep children in the least restrictive setting possible and to ensure the prompt release of children from immigration detention. The Flores Agreement sets nationwide policies and standards for the detention, release, and treatment of minors in the custody of immigration by prioritizing them for release to the custody of their families and requiring those in federal custody to be placed in the least restrictive environment possible. Not only that. The settlement requires immigration authorities, release children from immigration detention without unnecessary delay in order of preference, beginning with parents, and including other adult relatives, as well as licensed programs willing to accept custody. If a suitable placement is not immediately available, the government is obligated to place children in the least restrictive setting appropriate for their age and any special needs. You've got to give them medical care. You've got to give them housing. You've got to give them everything possible to keep them comfortable and release them within 20 days. And there are groups that have been set up funded by left-wing interest groups around the country where if their parent is not available, they can be released to these groups. And you know we've found in the last few years, some of these groups steer them into child labor.

But what the Clinton administration wound up doing before a favorable left-wing judge in California was negotiate a settlement that the progressive groups wanted that bound the federal government. Now, this is something that the left has done for a while. They sue, for example, California and other states will sometimes sue the federal government before left-wing judges when there's a Democratic president. and the Democratic president will authorize the Attorney General to settle the case on the terms the states want and bind the federal government to the settlement. Nationwide, bind the whole government. Well, Ron DeSantis learned by watching the Democrats. The Trump administration is very good, by the way. The Trump administration has struck a legal settlement that binds the federal government to end mass immigration parole programs. The state of Florida sued the Department of Homeland Security. said the Biden administration had expanded parole beyond the legal means. Now, what is parole? Parole is a special exception to the immigration system. It allows Homeland Security to admit someone into the United States without a legal visa when they don't have the legal status to be here, not even amnesty. and when the parole expires, they're supposed to return to their previous status. It carries some benefits. You release someone into the country under parole. They get work permits to compete for jobs, and they can get the earned income tax credit. They can take advantage of. The law requires parole be used on a case-by-case basis, and only in the case of urgent humanitarian need. What Secretary Mayorkas and the Biden administration did was they created a categorical parole program that allowed in the Afghans, the Ukrainians, and a whole lot of others, the Haitians and a bunch of others, and said, y'all just come on into the country and we will sort you after you get here. You come into the country, we will give you parole, and then we'll figure out whether or not you should have gotten it and walk it back. And the Ron DeSantis. Team in Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court before a Trump appointed judge, and the Trump administration has agreed to the Ron DeSantis terms, saying that you can no longer grant parole in this way. That's right. The judge, by the way, said 3 million people flooded into the United States on parole. Of the 11 million who came over by the Biden administration, 3 million were given parole. It was supposed to be on an individual basis, but the Biden administration made it blanket. The Biden administration gave it to classes of people. So now the United States government will agree it will no longer issue blanket parole.

San Francisco teachers are striking. Now, this is striking, no pun, well pun specifically intended. Having talked about how the southern states, which don't have strong teachers unions, are outperforming states like California, New York, and Massachusetts. Massachusetts tends to have the best public schools of the nation. They spend three times as much as Mississippi does on their students, and Mississippi has greater literacy rates now than Massachusetts students do in elementary school. In fact, you are three times more likely to be able to read as a third grade black child in Mississippi. than a black child in California where the teachers are striking. And what is also very striking about the teacher strike is they have sent out guidance to parents, actively discouraging parents from getting their kids' independent study help. Quote, if many families participate in independent study, it reduces pressure on the district and can prolong the strike. If you are able, we ask that you do not participate in the independent study provided by the district. That's the teachers union in California. asking parents not to get their kids instruction time while the teachers are striking. God forbid the students stay engaged with their minds and studies. God forbid the students get smart and prove that the teachers are not as dispensable as they thought. This is wild and crazy stuff. And again, there's a reason southern states that are actually teaching kids reading, writing, arithmetic, or getting ahead of the states that teach the indoctrination of critical theory in the gender unicorn or have the teachers go on strike and discourage actual education. Parents, do you care about your kids? If so, you probably want to get them out of California schools. Now, I need to tell you about my bank, Old Glory Bank. One of the fastest growing banks in the country, their deposits are sore. The amount of businesses they're helping has gone up. They're going to be listed, it looks like. NASDAQ, this is great growth for the company. And it's my bank. I started using Old Glory Bank before. I started advertising for Old Glory Bank. I have a checking account with them, and I have a savings account with them. If you go to Old GloryBank.com slash Eric today, you can too. And if you're a business, particularly if you're a conservative, one of the reasons I started doing business with Old Glory Bank is I knew they were started by conservatives to protect conservatives, to protect my privacy, to stand up on my behalf. When progressives come calling, demanding they cancel me, they will protect you as well. Oldglorybank.com slash Eric, one of the fastest growing banks of the country.

online bank, don't let that deter you. They are fantastic and they are very hands-on helping businesses. You get checking accounts, savings account, mortgages, CDs, you name it, they got it. And in fact, if you're a business, if you're an active duty military, they're going to take care of you. Oldglorybank.com slash Eric. Oldglorybank.com slash Eric, member FDIC, Equal housing lender, terms and conditions apply. Hello, America. Glad to have you with me. The full number is 877-977-9-37-7-4-25. Should you wish to be on the program, I would be totally delighted to have you if you can make it past the call screener. Don't forget to text Eric to 33777. All right, we got to move on. The New York Times editorial board today. Now, I realize it's the New York Times, but this is actually worth noting. The New York Times editorial board has come out making a lot of news today that actually we have a marijuana problem in the country. Anyone who has driven in an urban area knows we have a marijuana problem. I'm actually, I got to acknowledge, I'm kind of floored by the people who just casually like smoke weed in their car and it stinks. We, for example, in my house, have largely stopped using instant cart for grocery shopping. One, it's priser. I'd rather go to the store myself and pick out the produce. But more often than not, it shows up at the house and it smells like weed because the driver was high as a kite doing the grocery shopping, which explains why they picked the worst possible selections of fruit, vegetables, and meat. It just, y'all, it stinks. I mean, use edibles if you're going to go that route as opposed to lighten up in your car. I kid you not. So there's a sandwich shop in my town that I go to on occasion. Get a double chicken salad with bacon and I get a large chili and they're the wonderful people. And normally I would say the name, but for purposes of the story, I won't. but they know it because several of them listen, and they're just delightful people. I went in there last week. And these two women pulled up as I was getting out of my car to go inside, these two women pulled up, and they were in this white Kia car. I pulled up, I went in, I got my order, visited for a little bit, I came back out. The owner was lighting the fireplace. Oh, it was so nice in there. I love the smell of the fireplace. It came out. And as I was getting back into my car, these two women got out of their car, and I realized they've been hotboxing in the car. And when they opened the door, the leftover smoke came pouring out. They were essentially sitting there finishing their marijuana. And the smoke rolled out. I turned on my car, and the air conditioner came on and sucked in the smell. And it reeked. My car stunk. And that is becoming normal behavior. I see it more and more. And it happens in cities. You get on the connector in Atlanta is the downtown where they have I-75 and I-85 run through Atlanta. And where they're merged as a single interstate through downtown Atlanta, it's called the connector. You get on the connector and you can smell it everywhere. Go to Las Vegas. Las Vegas prohibits smoking weed outside, but it's legal to sell. And the whole place reeks of marijuana. It just stinks.

I actually think cigarettes don't smell as bad as most marijuana out there. Occasionally you get like people smoking fresh weed and is a little spiny, but normally it smells like skunks, and it's disgusting. You can use edibles and other things, and then the problem is this as well. It's a much higher potency than your stoner parents or grandparents and the hippies from the 60s and 70s. It's much higher potency. And increasingly, there are massive numbers of studies showing schizophrenia. Now, you've got to understand there is a lobbying campaign by marijuana, and it is in full force with a bunch of chatbots on social media today denying everything, saying, but marijuana actually keeps people off of harder drugs. There's actually copious amounts of data that that's not true. And in the name of sympathy, and this is where my friend Joe Rigney and Al Mueller and others who are critical of empathy and the way the left has weaponized empathy, this is where they have a winning argument, I think, is in the name of empathy with the sick and people suffering PTSD and stuff, we've opened the floodgates to marijuana as a medicine, and it's not actually a studied as people think. They claim it is, but actually you get into the studies, it's not, particularly for things like epilepsy and self. passion and empathy. We've opened the Bill Gates to marijuana. And now, even the New York Times is saying, guys, I think we have gone too far. New York Times. 13 years ago, no state allowed marijuana for recreational purposes. Today, most Americans live in a state that allows them to buy and smoke a joint. President Trump continues the trend towards legalization in December looting federal restrictions. This editorial board has long supported marijuana legalization. In 2014, we published a six-part series that compared the federal marijuana ban to alcohol prohibition and argued for its repeal. Much of what we wrote then holds up, but not all of it does. It is now clear that many predictions were wrong. Legalization has led to much more use. Surveys suggest about 18 million people in the United States have used marijuana almost daily or up to five times a week in recent years. This was up from around 6 million in 2012 and less than 1 million in 1992. Most Americans now use marijuana more daily than alcohol. The wider use has caused a rise in addiction and other problems. Addictions, they marijuana have said, wasn't possible with marijuana. Every year, nearly 2.8 million people in the United States suffer from cannabinoid hyper-emesis syndrome, which causes severe vomiting and stomach pain. More people have also ended up in hospitals with marijuana-linked paranoia and chronic psychotic disorders. Bystanders have been heard, including by people driving under the influence of pot. America should not go back to prohibition to fix these problems. The war on marijuana brought its own costs. Yet there's a lot of space between heavy-handed criminal prohibition and hands-off commercial legalization.

Much as the United States previously went too far in banning marijuana, it's recently gone too far in accepting or even promoting it. They add this. We want to emphasize that occasional marijuana use is no more a problem than drinking a glass of wine with dinner or smoking a celebratory cigar. Many Americans find it enjoyable to smoke a joint or eating edible with friends or alone. Some people with serious illnesses have found relief. But as a policy, it's not harmless. And increasingly excessive use is a major problem. Now, there are a lot of people who can't bring themselves to deny this. But you know what a bigger problem is in the country? Sports betting. The United States is a nation that is bored at war with itself and embracing all the vices. Only fan subscriptions, outnumber subscriptions to chat GPT and some other subscription services. I think I saw that OnlyFans has surpassed like multiple major subscriptions. OnlyFans is basically a porn site. And porn has been embraced, gambling, sports betting embraced, marijuana is embraced. Alcohol consumption is actually down. As people have embraced porn and marijuana, alcohol consumption is down. You know what's on the rise in the country? Schizophrenia among the young. And in fact, more and more studies are showing that the more people who use marijuana in earlier age, the more likely are to develop schizophrenia. And even middle-aged people who smoke marijuana every day are increasingly by the time they turn 65 schizophrenic. There's a clear, undeniable link between early age marijuana use and schizophrenia and the marijuana potency of vapes and some edibles in some cases 90% or more. And then there's sports betting. Here's a statistic to blow your mind. We put it in the show notes today. How much money was bet in all of Nevada, which has legalized gambling in the state? How much money was bet on the Super Bowl? $133.8 million in sports betting in all of Nevada, including Las Vegas. How much was bet on Kalshi? $497.7 million, almost $500 million bet on the Super Bowl on Kalshi compared to $133 million in all of Nevada, including Las Vegas. I've got a friend who's very sensitive on the subject because he makes money doing a podcast on sports betting and the odds. And cannot recognize, doesn't want to acknowledge the harm. but increasingly the data is showing young men are getting addicted to sports betting. And in fact, there's a big research report out the other day how one of the online betting apps, if you're very good at making sports bets, you're very good at figuring out who's going to win a game or what a player's going to do. They impede your ability to bet on their app. They slow it down so your bets aren't going through. You start having technical problems. It's now well documented.

I have a policy on this program that I will not do advertising for sports betting. Now, I get complaints from people all the time, hey, we heard it somewhere and somewhere. You're not going to hear it in my voice. You're not going to hear me endorsing sports betting product. I've turned down millions of dollars. Because I will not do sports betting apps on this program. I see where this is headed. And I have friends who engage in sports betting. And I got to say, at the same time, I'm like, you know, if you want to do this with your friends, I don't really have a problem. A lot of my friends, you know, they come over on Sundays. We watch games on the porch, and they've been talking about their bets. Occasionally they do parlays. That's where they really get you. But the incentivization of it, you go to LSU and it's like you got a big sports betting sponsor for the games. You go to other college sports. College sports is being ruined by sports betting. We're now arresting players who are trying to rig games to help their friends who place bets on the games. That in marijuana, we are destroying our society, one vice at a time. And we swung very, very hard. towards legalization of marijuana everywhere. There are very few states left where it's not legal. And in those states, a lot of local progressive prosecutors aren't enforcing it anymore. Here in Georgia, the reason it's so common in a lot of the big cities is because it's illegal, and yet the prosecutors aren't prosecuting people for using, selling, buying, trading marijuana. We're turning a blind eye to the societal effects. And frankly, a lot of people are throwing a lot of money around to say it's no big deal. Here in my state, every year in our state legislature, the casinos come, MGM and the others throwing lots of money wanting to build a casino in the state of Georgia. The old mayor of Atlanta, Casimir had a great line, said Las Vegas is in a desert for a reason. I'm going to be in Las Vegas in a week or so. I enjoy going out there. Don't really gamble. I'll play craps on occasion. I go to play golf. Go to the Grand Canyon, shoot machine guns, eat, relax, take advantage of room service. I enjoy going to Las Vegas. I don't go to Las Vegas to gamble. I go to Las Vegas to be spoiled by room service and go smoke cigars with friends and go to the Grand Canyon and just unplug for a few days where I'm not having to take care of my family. I can get taken care of. But Las Vegas is in the desert for a reason. We as a society are ruining ourselves and the livelihoods of a lot of young men in this country in particular. It's young men, even more than young women, who are smoking more weed, engaged in more sports betting, wiping out their futures. The war on men has transformed. We've all become aware of the war on men. A lot of people talk about it. You know, increasingly there are some colleges of the nation that are giving young men scholarships in excess of what they're given to young women because they're so disproportionately female on campus. They're trying to attract young men to their campuses. We understand that problem, but concurrent to that problem, we also need to recognize that we're ruining a lot of people's futures.

We're increasing the risk of schizophrenia in young people. We are increasing the risk of schizophrenia and senior citizens now by the middle-aged embrace of vice. We can turn it around if we choose. Have a friend online who says regularly, decline is a choice. Decline is a choice. Too many Americans have chosen to decline. What great subsidies fallout and bailouts will this country go through with the demands of the left in the future as people have ruined themselves and their communities? What societal fallout will we have a lot? I think about... the sheltered environment we placed our kids in, and I increasingly think it's a good thing. They are aware of the world around them, that they can't, my kids in particular, can't ignore the world around them in large part because we've had people show up at our home to threaten my family. They understand the bad guys out there. But I also think that you shelter your kids in good schools. and teach them the ways the world while they're sheltered, they're going to be aware of the stuff when they get out there and they're not going to make some of the decisions that other kids I see in one of our local charter schools here in Middle Georgia's is just now overwhelmed with kids on drugs and poor behavior. It's sad to watch a population commit suicide knowingly. It's good that the New York Times, which went all in on marijuana legalization a number of years ago, is now like, hey, I think we swung too far one way. It's like San Francisco in crime realizing they went too far one way. Declines a choice. Too many people have made the choice to decline. But you know what? You can make the choice to not decline if you want to do it. But I think a lot of people, a lot of voices are paid a lot of money to convince you that it's not a problem when it really is from sports betting to marijuana. When the truth seems hazy, Eric will clear the way. It's the Eric Erickson Show.

Giving you the truth, not the talking points. It's the Eric Erickson Show. Welcome back. It is Eric Erickson here. The full number is 877-9-37-37-37-3425. Surprise, surprise. We have another winner. Oh, boy. Remember... The pattern is to deny that it happens. And then when you provide them evidence that it happens, they call you a bigot and say it's none of your business. Well, we have another situation here. A transgender California high schooler snatched up first place for the girls' triple jump at a winner championship on Saturday. A.B. Hernandez, a senior at Jarapa Valley High School in Riverside, California, recorded a jump of 39 feet 10 inches, while second place recorded a jump of 39 feet 3 and a quarter inches at the VS California Winter Championship. Vs Athletics, a specialized sporting goods retailer, declined to comment. A.B. Hernandez is a male.

and said, quote, I get a lot of hate comments, but I don't really care. I'm a 16-year-old girl with a strong attitude. Do you really think I'm going to listen? And Hernandez came out as trans in eighth grade. tied for first place in girls high jump, got first place in triple jump at another championship event in June. Obviously sparking controversy and, well, biologically, Hernandez is male. And nobody seems to think there is anything wrong with the situation. I just, I don't know that, I mean, in Blackadoo places like California, I guess this is going to keep up. It's just deeply troubling to me that we continue to downgrade the value of girls' sports by letting boys in who can't compete in boys' sports. Because when you compare female athletes to male athletes, the female athletes never are able to exceed the boys. In fact, middle school boys have beaten the American women's soccer team, middle school boys. But we pretend there's no biological differences. We make excuses, and it keeps happening. Now, I need to tell you real quick that the FBI has released video of the suspect coming to Natharie Guthrie's home. Savannah Guthrie's mom, it is deeply disturbing. We'll get into that when we come back. First, I need to tell you about the Eden Pure Thunderstorm. You can get three of them and save $200 by going to Eden Pure Deals.com. Put in the discount code, Eric 3. The Eden Pure Thunderstorm is an air purifier. It gets rid of dust, pollen. It gets rid of pet dander. It also eliminates 99.9% of it. It also eliminates ozone that goes out into the air. It also eliminates 99.9% of it. I've used them in hotel rooms where someone smoked in the hotel room or smoked next door to me in the hotel room. Or I've used it in rental cars where people have smoked in the rental car and the rental car stunk like cigarettes and it wipes out the odors. Makes the air smell clean. You can plug it up with the USB cord or plug it into the wall. You get three of them. You save $200. It comes with a money back guarantee if you don't think it'll wipe out the odor. Go to Edenpuredeals.com. The discount code is Eric 3, E-R-I-C-K-3 at Edenpuredeals.com. Edenpuredeals.com. Edenpuredeals.com.