Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / We're not WORTHY or READY for Michelle, a Gambling Curveball in Pro Sports & the Ongoing Atrocities against Christians in Nigeria Week In Review

Transcript

We're not WORTHY or READY for Michelle, a Gambling Curveball in Pro Sports & the Ongoing Atrocities against Christians in Nigeria Week In Review · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome in his verdict with Ted Cruz, we can review
0:04
Speaker 1: Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the big stories
0:06
Speaker 1: that you may have missed that we talked about this week.
0:08
Speaker 1: First up, Michelle Obama going scorched earth on Americans. She says,
0:14
Speaker 1: it's your fault that a woman hasn't become president, and
0:18
Speaker 1: that also means she's not gonna grace you as a
0:21
Speaker 1: candidate because you don't deserve her. We'll have that in
0:24
Speaker 1: a moment. Also, there is a big gambling issue that
0:28
Speaker 1: has come to light with game fixing or prop bet
0:31
Speaker 1: fixing in major sports. So now what does it mean
0:35
Speaker 1: for Congress getting involved. We'll have that for you as well.
0:39
Speaker 1: And finally, Christian persecution Nigeria. It is a real problem
0:45
Speaker 1: and it's time that we all sound the alarm and
0:47
Speaker 1: we'll let you know what you can do to get involved.
0:50
Speaker 1: It's the weekend review and it starts right now. Yeah.
0:53
Speaker 1: And if you think that, by the way, that the
0:55
Speaker 1: only ones that are discontent right now, you would be wrong.
0:59
Speaker 1: Let's move to Missie Czell Obama. She has come out
1:02
Speaker 1: and basically said I will not grace you with my
1:05
Speaker 1: presence as a president of the United States of America.
1:09
Speaker 1: You don't deserve me because there's too many massagests out there,
1:13
Speaker 1: and I'm not gonna give you my candidacy.
1:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, she was asked whether or not she would run
1:19
Speaker 2: for president. Her response was, as we saw in this
1:23
Speaker 2: past election, sadly, we ain't ready. That's why I'm like,
1:27
Speaker 2: don't even look at me about running, because you all
1:30
Speaker 2: are lying you're not ready for a woman. You are not.
1:35
Speaker 2: And she says, you know, we've got a lot of
1:36
Speaker 2: growing up to do. And there's still, sadly, a lot
1:40
Speaker 2: of men who do not feel like they can be
1:41
Speaker 2: led by a woman. And we saw it what utter
1:44
Speaker 2: and complete nonsense by the way Joe Biden was getting
1:47
Speaker 2: his ass kicked. Now, I understand the Democrats can't tell
1:50
Speaker 2: the difference between a man and a woman. So maybe
1:52
Speaker 2: Michelle Obama, a woman, is right that thinks that Joe
1:55
Speaker 2: Biden is a woman. But Trump was winning when Biden
1:58
Speaker 2: was the nominee. Trump was winning when Missie Tell Obama
2:00
Speaker 2: was the nominee. Trump was winning a because the Biden
2:04
Speaker 2: Harris Democrat agenda was a train wreck that hurt the
2:07
Speaker 2: American people, and b because the American people wanted president
2:10
Speaker 2: Trump back in the Oval office here, I want you
2:12
Speaker 2: to give a listen to exactly what Michelle Obama said,
2:15
Speaker 2: Give a listen.
2:16
Speaker 1: Do you think that that impacts the room that we've
2:19
Speaker 1: made for a woman to be president?
2:21
Speaker 3: Well, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we
2:26
Speaker 3: ain't ready. That's why I'm like, don't even look at
2:29
Speaker 3: me about running, because you all are lying you're not
2:32
Speaker 3: ready for a woman. You are not, So don't waste
2:36
Speaker 3: my time. You know, we got a lot of growing
2:40
Speaker 3: up to do. And there's still, I'm sadly a lot
2:43
Speaker 3: of men who do not feel like they can be
2:45
Speaker 3: led by a woman. And we saw it.
2:48
Speaker 1: What was the question I just said, so we don't
2:55
Speaker 1: need to ask it again. You answered it. I mean
2:59
Speaker 1: you would say that and the room goes wild with women.
3:01
Speaker 1: It was clearly a female audience that she's talking with there.
3:05
Speaker 2: It was also a feminine man. Don't don't don't forget.
3:08
Speaker 1: Oh that's true. We can't as I mean.
3:10
Speaker 2: This is this is the Democrat Party.
3:12
Speaker 1: Yes, we can't assume from the high pitchedness of the
3:15
Speaker 1: screams in the room that it was actually when it
3:17
Speaker 1: could women, it could be people that identify as a woman.
3:20
Speaker 1: That's true, valid point. I apologize.
3:22
Speaker 2: When you have a male who's taking estrogen and like
3:25
Speaker 2: wearing a tight strap to like tuck in, they have
3:29
Speaker 2: pretty high squeals.
3:30
Speaker 1: Well you know, they jape during the holidays and shavit
3:33
Speaker 1: target get those tucking swimsuits for them, right, And half
3:36
Speaker 1: of them used to work at the White House anyway,
3:37
Speaker 1: so there's always that as well. When I heard that.
3:42
Speaker 1: When I heard that, I laughed because I thought it
3:44
Speaker 1: was so funny. One, I don't think there's a bunch
3:47
Speaker 1: of people that are wanting her to run run right
3:49
Speaker 1: now for president. Her best shout at it would have
3:52
Speaker 1: been a coronation like we had with with with Kamala
3:56
Speaker 1: Harris that obviously didn't happen. But she's like, you basically
3:59
Speaker 1: don't deserve me. That is the weirdest Jedi mind trick
4:03
Speaker 1: political thing I've ever seen.
4:04
Speaker 2: Well, look, it's just arrogance, and you're right, had she
4:08
Speaker 2: wanted to do it, they would have handed it to
4:10
Speaker 2: her instead of Kamala Harris. And you and I talked
4:12
Speaker 2: about this a lot on this podcast. By the way,
4:15
Speaker 2: this podcast predicted more than a year before the Democrat
4:19
Speaker 2: Party pulled the rug out from under Joe Biden. We
4:21
Speaker 2: predicted on Verdict. Regular listens to Verdict. No, we regularly
4:25
Speaker 2: make predictions. We make predictions that frankly are risky, that
4:29
Speaker 2: are out there, and the overwhelming majority of the predictions
4:33
Speaker 2: we make on this podcast have come true. When you
4:37
Speaker 2: and I said a year before Joe Biden was yanked
4:40
Speaker 2: unceremoniously off the ticket, that Biden would be pulled off
4:43
Speaker 2: the ticket, you and I, and by that I mainly
4:47
Speaker 2: mean me. I was mocked mercilessly.
4:54
Speaker 1: Hold on, I agreed with you at the time. Get
4:56
Speaker 1: me a little bit, then come on.
4:57
Speaker 2: No, no, you did agree with me, but they didn't
4:59
Speaker 2: make fun of The press went after me and says
5:03
Speaker 2: Cruise is a moon bat numbskull. I think they kind
5:06
Speaker 2: of bake into the cake that you're moon bat numbskull.
5:09
Speaker 1: So do I do host this show with you? So
5:11
Speaker 1: there's that, right, Yeah.
5:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's guilt by association. Sorry about that, But like
5:16
Speaker 2: literally the corporate media went crazy. They had episodes mocking me.
5:20
Speaker 2: What a crazy thing for Cruz to say Biden's not
5:23
Speaker 2: going to be the nominee. Obviously, anyone with any sense
5:27
Speaker 2: at all knows he's going to be the nominee. Well,
5:29
Speaker 2: we were right, and if Michelle Obama had wanted it,
5:32
Speaker 2: she would have been the nominee. Last time we predicted
5:35
Speaker 2: that as well. She didn't want it, but the dripping
5:38
Speaker 2: arrogance of her you know, you listen to her comments.
5:40
Speaker 2: The American people have a lot of growing up to do. Yeah,
5:44
Speaker 2: like the absolute condescension. You people are too immature to
5:49
Speaker 2: elect my magnificence. Why not because my ideas are terrible,
5:55
Speaker 2: Not because the Democrat ideas are horrible and have resulted
5:58
Speaker 2: in open borders of results in people being murdered and
6:01
Speaker 2: women being raped and children being assaulted. Not because we
6:04
Speaker 2: had rampant inflation. Not because Joe Biden the Democrats caused
6:09
Speaker 2: war all over the earth, turn peace and prosperity into
6:11
Speaker 2: a war in Ukraine and October seventh and a war
6:14
Speaker 2: in Gaza, you know, Not because every single thing we
6:18
Speaker 2: touched turned to absolute garbage. No, no, no, no, That's not the
6:22
Speaker 2: reason Kamala Harris lost resoundingly. The reason, according to the
6:27
Speaker 2: leftist ideology, is you all are bigots and your racist
6:31
Speaker 2: and your sexist, and that's the only possible reason. And
6:34
Speaker 2: I got to say that contemptuous condescension is one of
6:40
Speaker 2: the worst characteristics of the Democrat Party today, but it
6:43
Speaker 2: also does indicate this is not a party that is reassessing.
6:49
Speaker 1: You know, normally, we got to lose.
6:51
Speaker 2: An election, and you lose an election badly. At least
6:54
Speaker 2: some people with sense in the party go, huh, I
6:58
Speaker 2: wonder why the voters rejected what we say. Maybe we
7:00
Speaker 2: should change, you know, you think back to in nineteen
7:03
Speaker 2: eighty Reagan was elected. In eighty four, Reagan was re
7:06
Speaker 2: elected one forty nine out of fifty states, came within
7:10
Speaker 2: a few thousand votes of winning every single state in
7:12
Speaker 2: the Union. Reagan won California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, every
7:17
Speaker 2: state but Minnesota. Nineteen eighty eight, George Herbert Walker Bush
7:21
Speaker 2: was elected, and after losing three consecutive presidential races, Democrats said, huh,
7:27
Speaker 2: maybe nominating Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale and Michael Ducaucus
7:32
Speaker 2: was a bad idea. Maybe crazy left wing loons do
7:36
Speaker 2: not command a majority in an American What did they do?
7:38
Speaker 2: They pivoted, They moved dramatically towards the center, and they
7:41
Speaker 2: nominated what was then a moderate to conservative Democrat, the
7:45
Speaker 2: governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton won
7:48
Speaker 2: two consecutive elections because they shifted. You know what, I
7:52
Speaker 2: don't see any Democrats doing that right now. I don't
7:55
Speaker 2: see them looking and saying, why did we get clobbered?
7:58
Speaker 2: Why did did win all seven of the swing states.
8:03
Speaker 2: I don't see Democrats saying that at all, and Michelle
8:05
Speaker 2: Obama saying, you people are a bunch of biggots and
8:08
Speaker 2: sexists and you just need to grow up. You know
8:11
Speaker 2: what I'm saying, Whoever the Democrat nominee is in twenty eight,
8:14
Speaker 2: please make Michelle Obama your spokesperson because we really need
8:18
Speaker 2: her lecturing the American people how much the voters suck,
8:22
Speaker 2: because you know that historically has proved such an effective
8:26
Speaker 2: way to campaign.
8:27
Speaker 1: Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
8:30
Speaker 1: you can go back and listen to the full podcast
8:32
Speaker 1: from earlier this week. Now onto story number two, I
8:36
Speaker 1: want to move to another issue, and that is sports gambling.
8:40
Speaker 1: This is a issue I just genuinely this is like
8:43
Speaker 1: my TMZ, my soap opera. I'm loving watching the corruption
8:50
Speaker 1: slowly unfold before our very eyes. I say that because
8:53
Speaker 1: I'm a sports fan. You are as well, we've gone
8:55
Speaker 1: to games together, we've got to playoff games, and I've
8:58
Speaker 1: noticed and I've got friends that are that literally play
9:01
Speaker 1: pro sports and they will watch games and they'll textbo,
9:04
Speaker 1: that's not normal. That was weird. The end of that
9:08
Speaker 1: game was strange. Look at the points spread, what the game,
9:12
Speaker 1: what the gambling line was here? Look at the over under.
9:16
Speaker 1: I mean, I have friends are in these sports and
9:19
Speaker 1: they're like they even are like this is a red flag,
9:23
Speaker 1: Like this doesn't make sense. What just happened the last
9:26
Speaker 1: two minutes of the game or the last four minutes
9:29
Speaker 1: of that game. And now we're finding out we weren't crazy.
9:32
Speaker 1: There's a lot of fixing that's going on now. It
9:35
Speaker 1: may not be fixing the outcome of the winner and
9:37
Speaker 1: the loser. And that's what people need to understand. The
9:39
Speaker 1: caveat here. A lot of times this is like total
9:42
Speaker 1: number of points that are going to be scored, yep,
9:44
Speaker 1: the margin between the two teams. How much will want
9:47
Speaker 1: to win by losing. It can even be as simple
9:49
Speaker 1: as a certain player not hitting what they were projected
9:53
Speaker 1: in points or three pointers or even free throws. And
9:57
Speaker 1: you see these these anomalies, A weird things that happen
10:01
Speaker 1: with an individual player or faking an injury so that
10:04
Speaker 1: they make sure they don't finish the game. This was
10:07
Speaker 1: happening in a widespread way among sports, and there were
10:12
Speaker 1: people that were literally getting rich off it. It's called fixing.
10:15
Speaker 1: It may not be fixing the game as in a score,
10:18
Speaker 1: it's fixing aspects of the game that you can bet on.
10:22
Speaker 2: Well, look, you and I are both big sports fans.
10:24
Speaker 2: Sports is an amazing thing and brings people together and
10:27
Speaker 2: gives you something to cheer for. It's powerful, it can unify.
10:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so fun.
10:31
Speaker 2: But you know, look, unfortunately, as long as there's been sports,
10:34
Speaker 2: there's been some risk of corruption in sports, and I
10:37
Speaker 2: got to say the proliferation of betting on sports has
10:41
Speaker 2: increased that risk. And it's not just betting. It's one
10:43
Speaker 2: thing to bet that your team's gonna win or lose. Presumably,
10:46
Speaker 2: if you're betting particularly that your team will win, the
10:49
Speaker 2: incentives are aligned that all the members of the team
10:52
Speaker 2: want to win. But you now have these prop bets
10:55
Speaker 2: where you can bet on all sorts of different aspects
10:57
Speaker 2: of the game, and that I think significantly increases the
11:00
Speaker 2: risk of corruption because a prop bet an individual player
11:05
Speaker 2: can can have really significant impact on the outcome of
11:09
Speaker 2: that bet. And so we've seen there's an ongoing criminal
11:12
Speaker 2: investigation involving the NBA, involving coaches and players fixing games,
11:17
Speaker 2: and Major League Baseball as well. And so I'm chairman
11:21
Speaker 2: of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Part
11:24
Speaker 2: of the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee is sports, both
11:27
Speaker 2: college sports and pro sports. And so I've launched an
11:30
Speaker 2: oversight investigation into into the problem of corruption and the
11:36
Speaker 2: impact of prop bets in particular on sports. And so
11:40
Speaker 2: I want to read to you a portion of I
11:42
Speaker 2: sent a letter to Major League Baseball and and let
11:46
Speaker 2: me just just read you a portion of it, because
11:48
Speaker 2: the facts are really concerning. Here's what my letter said,
11:52
Speaker 2: Dear mister Manfred, game fixing allegations are not new to baseball.
11:56
Speaker 2: One hundred and five years ago, a Chicago grand jury
11:59
Speaker 2: indicted a Chicago White Sox players for allegedly rigging the
12:03
Speaker 2: nineteen nineteen World Series, labeled the Chicago Black Sox in
12:08
Speaker 2: the press. The players were eventually acquitted by a Chicago jury,
12:12
Speaker 2: even though some had earlier confessed, and all eight were
12:15
Speaker 2: banned from baseball. For life. Major League Baseball and American
12:20
Speaker 2: sports generally are facing a new integrity crisis. Last week,
12:23
Speaker 2: prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an
12:27
Speaker 2: indictment against two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians, accusing them
12:32
Speaker 2: of rigging their own pitches to make a profit. That
12:36
Speaker 2: indictment comes just a few weeks after prosecutors leveled similar
12:39
Speaker 2: allegations against coaches and players in the NBA. Ranking member
12:44
Speaker 2: Cantwell and I sent a letter to the NBA requesting
12:46
Speaker 2: documents and information about that matter, and we now seek
12:49
Speaker 2: information from Major League Baseball about how the league is
12:52
Speaker 2: addressing alleged game manipulation and threats to baseball's integrity. The
12:57
Speaker 2: recent indictment alleges Cleveland Guardians played Immanuel Clay and Luis
13:02
Speaker 2: Ortiz purposely threw certain pitches.
13:06
Speaker 1: For balls or strikes yep.
13:09
Speaker 2: Both players allegedly told friends of their plan and to
13:13
Speaker 2: place prop bets beforehand. Clace allegedly even made some bets himself.
13:20
Speaker 2: Perhaps most shockingly, this scheme lasted more than two years
13:24
Speaker 2: before Major League Baseball found out. On May nineteenth, twenty
13:28
Speaker 2: twenty three, Clay, pitching in relief against the New York
13:31
Speaker 2: Mets allegedly informed friends he would throw a pitch faster
13:35
Speaker 2: than ninety four point ninety five miles per hour. He did,
13:40
Speaker 2: and his accomplices won twenty seven thousand dollars.
13:44
Speaker 1: I mean, can you just hit pause there for a second.
13:46
Speaker 1: This sletter so people understand this is like making a
13:49
Speaker 1: mockery of the game, but it's also just fixing the game,
13:52
Speaker 1: where you're like, hey, I'm going to perform differently so
13:56
Speaker 1: that my friends can get hooked up and make twenty
13:58
Speaker 1: seven thousand dollars. There. It went on for years, and
14:02
Speaker 1: it's not like this was like one person. Yeah, I
14:04
Speaker 1: actually believe this is probably a lot more widespread than
14:08
Speaker 1: we are being told. And part of that is I
14:10
Speaker 1: think that Major League Baseball and others are going to
14:12
Speaker 1: cover their ables. Is they want to make sure that
14:14
Speaker 1: we don't realize just how bad it actually was or
14:18
Speaker 1: is well.
14:18
Speaker 2: And with individual players and prop bets, they have almost
14:21
Speaker 2: total control over the outcome of that bet.
14:24
Speaker 1: Yep.
14:24
Speaker 2: And so look, the twenty seven thousand dollars is not
14:26
Speaker 2: the worst part. Let me give you a few more
14:28
Speaker 2: of the facts from the letter. Clace would go on
14:31
Speaker 2: to blow a save opportunity as the Guardians lost ten
14:34
Speaker 2: to nine and extra innings. In June twenty twenty three,
14:39
Speaker 2: Clace flung a pitch into the dirt in two separate games,
14:43
Speaker 2: well short of the strike zone. Well Cleveland fans were
14:47
Speaker 2: shouting in frustration. Clace was apparently cashing in. In both games,
14:52
Speaker 2: he allegedly sent texts notifying his friends that he would
14:56
Speaker 2: throw balls. They placed prop bets on his pitches, winning
15:02
Speaker 2: a combined ninety six thousand dollars unbelievable across other games
15:09
Speaker 2: from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty five. Clays and
15:12
Speaker 2: his accomplices are accused of winning at least four hundred
15:16
Speaker 2: thousand dollars through fraudulent bets.
15:19
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a lot of money, folks. And that's
15:21
Speaker 1: just one example that got busted. You got to wonder
15:24
Speaker 1: how many others are out there, right, I mean, we've
15:27
Speaker 1: seen what's interesting. I was reading an article the other day.
15:30
Speaker 1: I was talking about there has been an uptick in
15:33
Speaker 1: wild pitches. Yeah, because you can bet on that, and
15:37
Speaker 1: there's they're just saying there is there is certain data
15:41
Speaker 1: that has significantly changed since prop betting got introduced nationwide. Basically,
15:47
Speaker 1: you know where everybody can bet on these things and
15:49
Speaker 1: has grown and it's like that didn't happen for fifty
15:52
Speaker 1: years of baseball before when we have data or thirty
15:54
Speaker 1: years in football of data or whatever it may be.
15:58
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden they're like, Wow, this
15:59
Speaker 1: is happening a lot more often. This is weird that
16:04
Speaker 1: they would get worse at these anomalies when technology and
16:09
Speaker 1: cameras and coaching has gotten so much better. You think
16:13
Speaker 1: that would actually reduce the number of these unique moments
16:17
Speaker 1: that happened in sports, And now we're finding out, Yeah,
16:18
Speaker 1: it may not be unique at all.
16:20
Speaker 2: Well, and negative prop bets are one hundred percent within
16:23
Speaker 2: the control of an individual player. So if you think
16:26
Speaker 2: about it, if you or I were a major league pitcher,
16:30
Speaker 2: we may not be able to win a bet that
16:32
Speaker 2: my next pitch will be a strike because you might
16:34
Speaker 2: try to throw a strike and fail. I could not
16:37
Speaker 2: throw a major league strike. But you know what, you
16:39
Speaker 2: and I could win a bet on that my metch
16:42
Speaker 2: next pitch will be a ball, because as much like
16:46
Speaker 2: I suck at baseball, but yet I can throw the
16:48
Speaker 2: ball into the dirt, I'm quite confident I can pitch
16:51
Speaker 2: a ball. I could pitch a ball one hundred percent
16:54
Speaker 2: of the time with no deviation and some of the times,
16:57
Speaker 2: and in this instance, you know, someone who good at
17:00
Speaker 2: cheating would not pound it into the dirt. They would
17:03
Speaker 2: just be a little bit outside the strike zone, so
17:05
Speaker 2: you couldn't tell. It looks really obvious when you don't
17:08
Speaker 2: even make it to home plate. But that problem. Look,
17:13
Speaker 2: you were a Division one tennis player. I'm pretty sure
17:17
Speaker 2: they didn't have a sure.
17:18
Speaker 1: I could double fault on command. I could hit a
17:20
Speaker 1: ball long on command, one hundred percent of this to
17:23
Speaker 1: the net on command. I could whiff at a ball
17:26
Speaker 1: if that was a prop bet and make money off
17:27
Speaker 1: of it. Yes, all of those things you can a hundred.
17:31
Speaker 2: By the way, I want our listeners to know, if
17:34
Speaker 2: you also get in Ben's head and screw with him,
17:37
Speaker 2: you can make him double fault even when he doesn't
17:38
Speaker 2: want to. But that's a totally different He's an infinitely
17:42
Speaker 2: better tennis player than I am. But I do have
17:44
Speaker 2: a little bit of ability to taunt him, and if
17:46
Speaker 2: he gets pissed enough that that that can happen.
17:49
Speaker 1: Either that or you're going to get hit with the ball.
17:50
Speaker 1: It's one of the two of the one of the
17:52
Speaker 1: two is gonna happen one of the two, and that
17:56
Speaker 1: would be a great prop bet. By the way, Okay,
17:58
Speaker 1: there is that other.
17:59
Speaker 2: The sad thing is when Ben and I play tennis,
18:01
Speaker 2: we usually play together, So if he's hitting me with
18:03
Speaker 2: the ball, he's really doing it wrong. Because it's one
18:06
Speaker 2: thing to hit your opponent. If you're hitting your teammate,
18:08
Speaker 2: good god, you're doing it.
18:09
Speaker 1: It's only when you get lacksaday'sical can you become a target.
18:12
Speaker 1: It's just motivation. It's just a straight up motivation. There
18:15
Speaker 1: final question on this, I've seen a lot of people
18:18
Speaker 1: in sports journalists say, how do you fix this? If
18:23
Speaker 1: it's not saying no more prop bets, right, you have
18:27
Speaker 1: normal gambling on games, Like I don't know if you
18:31
Speaker 1: can even fix this? Is that far out of control?
18:33
Speaker 1: And is it the job of major league sports to
18:36
Speaker 1: police their own or can they be trusted?
18:39
Speaker 2: Look, I think there need to be some steps taken
18:42
Speaker 2: to fix this. I'm not sure exactly what those steps are,
18:45
Speaker 2: and so I'm starting with sending letters to the NBA
18:48
Speaker 2: in Major League Baseball because you've got scandals in both sports.
18:51
Speaker 2: And listen, as you know, I'm a die hard Rockets fan.
18:55
Speaker 2: I'm a die hard Astros fan. By the way, did
18:58
Speaker 2: you happen to see the Rockets last victory against Orlando? No?
19:02
Speaker 1: I did not. Was it Was it a beat down?
19:04
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, it was an overtime victory. It was spectacular. Look,
19:07
Speaker 2: the Rockets actually were trailing almost the entire regular season,
19:11
Speaker 2: and I DVR every Rockets game and so I watched
19:13
Speaker 2: this actually.
19:14
Speaker 1: Way, by the way, you haven't mentioned my almost rebels
19:17
Speaker 1: in a few weeks, and I just want everybody to know.
19:19
Speaker 1: That's because we're winning and we're now, what is it
19:21
Speaker 1: ten and one? I think that's right. Just want to
19:23
Speaker 1: throw that out there. Beat the Gators. Just now back
19:25
Speaker 1: to your Rockets. But when my team loses one game
19:28
Speaker 1: this year, there's two shows in a row that it
19:30
Speaker 1: was brought up the other ten weeks. Not a peep
19:33
Speaker 1: out of you. I just want to be clear about
19:35
Speaker 1: that record. Keep going.
19:36
Speaker 2: Look, I got to say, as a Texan and beating
19:38
Speaker 2: the Gators, I'm kind of like, that's that's that's interesting.
19:42
Speaker 2: That's it's one of my favorite images. When when Florida
19:45
Speaker 2: played a and M I tweeted out there was a
19:48
Speaker 2: giant barbecue truck in College station that had I think
19:51
Speaker 2: five seven foot gators on a rotisseri rotating around being cooked.
19:57
Speaker 2: So so, okay, fine, I'm going to you know, you
19:59
Speaker 2: guys beat the game.
20:00
Speaker 1: That's fine, thank you, Thank you for that moral support there.
20:03
Speaker 1: I felt that. I felt that tonight.
20:07
Speaker 2: I'm just saying that the Rockets win against Orlando was
20:09
Speaker 2: really sweet because we were not playing great during the
20:12
Speaker 2: whole of the game and then it was this huge comeback.
20:15
Speaker 2: And Katie, I'm going to say right now, I think
20:18
Speaker 2: the Rockets can win the whole damn thing.
20:21
Speaker 1: Oh that's an early season prediction right there.
20:23
Speaker 2: Now, look, most seasons, I think the Rockets can win
20:26
Speaker 2: it all. But listen, last season, we.
20:28
Speaker 1: Got at it the way you just said it with me.
20:30
Speaker 1: With me, like's there's hoping and then there's like the
20:33
Speaker 1: real possibility. So you think they're the real deal this year.
20:36
Speaker 1: I really do.
20:37
Speaker 2: They've got a ton of young talent. They're really good.
20:39
Speaker 2: Our problem last season is we didn't have a closer.
20:42
Speaker 2: We didn't have someone who in the last two minutes
20:45
Speaker 2: of the fourth quarter you could give the ball to
20:48
Speaker 2: and he could bring it home. And Katie, I mean Look,
20:51
Speaker 2: he's one of the greatest players in history. And in
20:53
Speaker 2: the game against Orlando, I mean it was you want
20:56
Speaker 2: to talk about cold, he hit two three pointers that
21:00
Speaker 2: were just devastating, and and and you had scheng Don,
21:03
Speaker 2: who's who's a great center who played a great game
21:06
Speaker 2: as well.
21:07
Speaker 1: But butt on that over time. By the way, I'm
21:09
Speaker 1: just curious, because you're really into this right now.
21:13
Speaker 2: I didn't. I just had great joy. And as I said,
21:15
Speaker 2: I DVR the games and I watch them typically late
21:17
Speaker 2: at night at the end of the day. But anyway,
21:20
Speaker 2: my point is it's one thing. And I will say
21:23
Speaker 2: I like to I like to play poker, but but
21:25
Speaker 2: I've never been in sports betting, so so so among
21:28
Speaker 2: vices that that is not one that that has impacted me.
21:32
Speaker 2: But I get you know, I'll put five bucks in
21:35
Speaker 2: a March Madness pool, and I'm gonna say my picks
21:37
Speaker 2: are almost always wrong, so I don't know that I've
21:39
Speaker 2: ever won a March Madness pool, but I'll throw in
21:42
Speaker 2: my five.
21:42
Speaker 1: You're what we referred to as a charity bracket, and
21:44
Speaker 1: we appreciate your service to the charity community.
21:48
Speaker 2: Okay, so I actually I just pick a homer thing
21:50
Speaker 2: I picked Texas teams. I tick teams I like, and
21:53
Speaker 2: I'm just like, I'm gonna go with I think my
21:55
Speaker 2: final four year or two ago was I think three
21:57
Speaker 2: Texas teams in the final four.
21:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, worked out too well for you. I'm not gonna lie.
22:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, excuse me, did ole miss when the turn?
22:06
Speaker 1: We do football very well, sir, We do football very well.
22:10
Speaker 1: We win natties and golf, baseball and tennis. I'm just yeah,
22:15
Speaker 1: I know where I am, I know where we live.
22:17
Speaker 1: Basketball is not there yet. I'm okay with that, but
22:20
Speaker 1: I don't pick them to go to the final four.
22:22
Speaker 1: That I can promise you.
22:23
Speaker 2: Yeah. So look on the question of gambling, and by
22:26
Speaker 2: the way, you got pro sports, but I'm also concerned
22:28
Speaker 2: about college sports, and in any ways, with such a proliferation.
22:32
Speaker 2: You know, you look at a small school with a
22:36
Speaker 2: game that's not in the headlines, and an individual player there,
22:40
Speaker 2: you know you may have It's one thing for you know,
22:44
Speaker 2: am I that worried about massive superstars making millions or
22:47
Speaker 2: tens of millions of dollars of being corrupted? Well, yes,
22:50
Speaker 2: because we're seeing this in the NBA and Major League Baseball.
22:54
Speaker 2: But the incentive is less than some you know, nineteen
22:57
Speaker 2: year old kid playing at podunk school, Boule who has
23:01
Speaker 2: a chance to make ten grand fixing the game. And
23:06
Speaker 2: so I think that is a real challenge. I think
23:09
Speaker 2: the leagues can maybe take some steps about it, but
23:11
Speaker 2: it would not surprise me to see Congress act. And
23:13
Speaker 2: it's one of the reasons I'm just trying to start
23:15
Speaker 2: with saying, Okay, tell me the facts of how many
23:18
Speaker 2: allegations you're getting of cheating. What are the facts you know?
23:22
Speaker 2: Tell me what you know, and then, particularly the more
23:27
Speaker 2: serious the problem is. My hope is we may see
23:29
Speaker 2: Congress acting a bipartisan way to fix it.
23:32
Speaker 1: As before. If you want to hear the rest of
23:34
Speaker 1: this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
23:36
Speaker 1: dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
23:39
Speaker 1: entire thing. I want to get back to the big
23:43
Speaker 1: story number three of the week you may have missed, Senator.
23:46
Speaker 1: One of the reasons why you do this show and
23:47
Speaker 1: why I love co hosting it with you, is we
23:49
Speaker 1: get to talk about issues that are not getting the
23:53
Speaker 1: attention they deserve. One of those right now is the
23:57
Speaker 1: persecution of Christians Nigeria. It is shocking what is happening there.
24:02
Speaker 1: And I just came back from Israel. We haven't got
24:05
Speaker 1: to talk about that as much as we thought because
24:06
Speaker 1: the government shut down and we're going to get to that.
24:08
Speaker 1: But one of the things that you see when you
24:10
Speaker 1: see that people are under attacked because their faith, and
24:12
Speaker 1: I witnessed it going into the kibbutz, into the homes
24:16
Speaker 1: of those that were killed, including that nine month old child.
24:19
Speaker 1: When I met with the parents who lost their loved
24:22
Speaker 1: ones on that soccer fill as their kids were just
24:23
Speaker 1: playing soccer. When I went to the north and I
24:26
Speaker 1: saw the homes that were destroyed and met with people
24:29
Speaker 1: whose lives were destroyed by Hamas there and you witness
24:33
Speaker 1: this type of persecution and death and destruction, and went
24:37
Speaker 1: to the site of where the music festival was and
24:39
Speaker 1: watch people die just because they were Jews. It makes
24:42
Speaker 1: me angry to now see what's happening in Nigeria. You're
24:47
Speaker 1: shining a lot on that. The White House is doing
24:49
Speaker 1: that as well, and the American people need to know
24:51
Speaker 1: what's going on.
24:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, radical Islamic terrorists, they hate Christians and they
24:57
Speaker 2: hate Jews, and they have murdered vast numbers of Christians,
25:01
Speaker 2: they had murdered vast number of Jews. They continue to
25:04
Speaker 2: do so, and they also murder a significant number of Muslims.
25:07
Speaker 2: Radical Islamic terrorists. If you don't embrace their radical jihadist view,
25:13
Speaker 2: their ideology justifies violence or even murder to force you
25:18
Speaker 2: to submit. And the thirteen years I've been in the Senate,
25:21
Speaker 2: I've spent a lot of time fighting for persecuted Christians,
25:24
Speaker 2: fighting for persecuted Christians all across the globe, especially those
25:29
Speaker 2: being persecuted by radical Islamic terrorists. Bokoha Ram that is
25:33
Speaker 2: in Nigeria is a vicious radical Islamic terrorist group. And
25:38
Speaker 2: if you look at there is no country on planet
25:40
Speaker 2: Earth where more Christians have been murdered in the last
25:46
Speaker 2: twenty years than Nigeria. Since two thousand and nine, more
25:50
Speaker 2: than fifty thousand Christians have been murdered in the country
25:54
Speaker 2: of Nigeria.
25:55
Speaker 1: I mean literally, these Christians are being hunted down.
25:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, they absolutely are are. Over twenty thousand Christian churches
26:03
Speaker 2: and schools have been burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed.
26:07
Speaker 2: I mean that this has been mass murder and it
26:11
Speaker 2: is horrific, and so I filed legislation in the Senate
26:14
Speaker 2: to direct the administration to designate Nigeria Country of Particular
26:19
Speaker 2: Concern and to impose in particular sanctions on the government officials,
26:23
Speaker 2: because there are many government officials who are acquiescing in
26:27
Speaker 2: this mass murder against Christians, and so my legislation would
26:32
Speaker 2: impose sanctions on particular government officials. That there are twelve
26:36
Speaker 2: states in the North where Sharia laws or blasphemy laws
26:40
Speaker 2: are enforced. There's also federal Sharia and blasphemy laws that
26:44
Speaker 2: are enforced, and the government officials use those laws to
26:48
Speaker 2: discriminate against and to persecute Christians. In some instances, they
26:52
Speaker 2: simply just turn a blind eye as Bokoharam and other
26:55
Speaker 2: radical Islamic terrorists murder Christians. In other instances, they actually
26:59
Speaker 2: use use the law to facilitate the persecution. But after
27:04
Speaker 2: I filed the legislation and I began pressing the administration
27:09
Speaker 2: to designate Nigeria's a Country a Particular Concern, President Trump
27:13
Speaker 2: did so and he sent out a tweet. Here's what
27:16
Speaker 2: his tweet says. It says Christianity is facing an existential
27:20
Speaker 2: threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed radical
27:24
Speaker 2: Islamist are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby
27:28
Speaker 2: making Nigeria a country a particular concern, but that is
27:33
Speaker 2: the least of it. When Christians or any such group
27:37
Speaker 2: is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria thirty one hundred
27:41
Speaker 2: Verses four four hundred and seventy six worldwide, something must
27:45
Speaker 2: be done. I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with
27:49
Speaker 2: Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately
27:52
Speaker 2: look into this matter and report back to me. The
27:56
Speaker 2: United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening
28:00
Speaker 2: in Nigeria and numerous other countries. We stand ready, willing
28:05
Speaker 2: and able to save our great Christian population around the world.
28:09
Speaker 2: Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, that was
28:12
Speaker 2: exactly the right thing to do. I saw President Trump
28:15
Speaker 2: shortly after he issued that designation and I thanked him.
28:19
Speaker 2: I said, it really makes a difference. It's the right
28:22
Speaker 2: thing to do. He was happy to do it. And
28:25
Speaker 2: I'll tell you the government in Nigeria is deeply dismayed.
28:30
Speaker 2: And their response, their main defense they say, well, they
28:34
Speaker 2: argue it's not a genocide. And what they say is well, yes,
28:39
Speaker 2: fifty thousand Christians have been killed, but you know what,
28:41
Speaker 2: Buko Haram has also killed Muslims, so it's all fine. Well,
28:45
Speaker 2: it is true they have killed Muslims. Nobody's disputing that
28:47
Speaker 2: they've killed Muslims as well. But radical Islamic terrorists target
28:52
Speaker 2: Christians in particular for persecution, and the government is complicit
28:57
Speaker 2: in that persecution. That's what this is designed to address.
29:02
Speaker 2: And you know, I got to say, you and I
29:05
Speaker 2: have talked about before that those who hate Jews hate Christians,
29:11
Speaker 2: and those who hate Israel hate America. That that is true.
29:15
Speaker 2: We've also talked about rising anti Semitism, and we've talked
29:18
Speaker 2: quite a bit about Tucker Carlson because I think Tucker
29:21
Speaker 2: has unfortunately gone down a very very dark path, a
29:25
Speaker 2: path where he brings on Hitler, praising nutjobs onto his
29:29
Speaker 2: show over and over and over again. But it also
29:33
Speaker 2: results not only does he attack Israel at almost every
29:37
Speaker 2: show he does, but when you go on the path
29:41
Speaker 2: of hating Israel and blame everything on the Jews, that
29:46
Speaker 2: often that same dark path leads you to embrace the
29:50
Speaker 2: enemies of America. So Tucker has said we should apply
29:53
Speaker 2: apologize to the family of Osama bin Laden no, no,
29:56
Speaker 2: we should not. Tucker has said he doesn't know that
29:59
Speaker 2: Hamam is a terrorist organization. They might just be a
30:02
Speaker 2: political group. I'm sorry, but when you murder twelve hundred
30:06
Speaker 2: innocent civilians and rape women and children, you are most
30:09
Speaker 2: definitely a terrorist group. And Hamas has killed a great
30:12
Speaker 2: many Americans. But it really was striking. Just recently, Tucker
30:17
Speaker 2: did a show where he talked about Nigerians and he
30:20
Speaker 2: disputed that Christians in Nigeria are being persecuted. I want
30:23
Speaker 2: you want you to give a listen because he took
30:26
Speaker 2: the chance to basically defend Boko Haram. Give a listen.
30:31
Speaker 4: But he's all of a sudden, kind of out of nowhere,
30:33
Speaker 4: deeply concerned with the play of Christians in Nigeria, which
30:35
Speaker 4: I want to restate maybe a tolly all concerned now,
30:38
Speaker 4: But that's weird. What is that, all of a sudden,
30:41
Speaker 4: everybody's cocern about people who clearly have no track record
30:43
Speaker 4: being interested in Chritians at all, including San Cruz. What
30:45
Speaker 4: is going on?
30:47
Speaker 1: That to me was pretty unhinged.
30:49
Speaker 2: Senator, Look, I gotta say, listen. I understand that Tucker's
30:54
Speaker 2: told the world there's no one he hates more than
30:56
Speaker 2: Christian Zionists, and he singled out me and Mike Huckabee
30:59
Speaker 2: as the people he hates the most in the world.
31:02
Speaker 2: But that's truly a bizarre claim what he says there,
31:05
Speaker 2: which is that I have no interest in defending persecuted Christians.
31:09
Speaker 2: I've literally spent thirteen years doing that. You know, I
31:12
Speaker 2: might ask Tucker that does he have any idea who
31:15
Speaker 2: Miriam Ibrahim is? And I suspect he doesn't. So Mariam
31:19
Speaker 2: Ibrahim was a Christian woman in Soudan, and she was
31:24
Speaker 2: imprisoned and she was sentenced to receive one hundred lashes
31:28
Speaker 2: and then to hang by the neck until dead for
31:31
Speaker 2: the crime of being a Christian. And this was during
31:34
Speaker 2: Barack Obama's presidency. This was early in my time in
31:36
Speaker 2: the Senate. And I spoke out vocally for Miriam Ibrahim.
31:41
Speaker 2: And she had two little kids. She had a son
31:44
Speaker 2: named Martin, and she actually gave birth to a daughter, Maya,
31:47
Speaker 2: while she was in leg irons. And I'll tell you,
31:50
Speaker 2: I repeatedly practically begged the Obama administration for President Obama
31:55
Speaker 2: to just say her name. He would not do it.
31:58
Speaker 2: He never once said her name. I went to the
32:00
Speaker 2: Senate floor, I gave floor speeches. I shined a light,
32:04
Speaker 2: and globally many the pope got involved shining a light
32:07
Speaker 2: defending her, and the pressure became so great Soudan released
32:11
Speaker 2: her and Ben, I'll tell you it's an amazing thing.
32:14
Speaker 2: I actually got to meet Mary Abraheim when she came
32:17
Speaker 2: to Washington, and I asked her. She was a little
32:20
Speaker 2: bitty woman. She's not very very tall, maybe five to one.
32:24
Speaker 2: She couldn't have weighed more than one hundred pounds. And
32:27
Speaker 2: I asked her. I said, Maryam, tell me, when you
32:29
Speaker 2: were in that prison cell and your babies are in
32:32
Speaker 2: front of you, and you've been sentenced to die for
32:35
Speaker 2: your faith, how did you not give up hope? And
32:40
Speaker 2: she looked at me with a peace that I'll never forget,
32:43
Speaker 2: and she just said Jesus was with me. And I mean,
32:47
Speaker 2: it was powerful, incredible. But I think this illustrates how
32:53
Speaker 2: anti Semitism is a poison that ends up poisoning every
32:57
Speaker 2: other view. So now Tucker is running her around defending Hamas,
33:01
Speaker 2: defending Book of Haram, saying well, I don't know that
33:04
Speaker 2: Nigerians or Christians are being killed in Nigeria, and why
33:07
Speaker 2: does anyone care about that. And apparently Tucker is only
33:11
Speaker 2: interested in atrocities if he can blame them on Israel,
33:15
Speaker 2: and since it's not Israel that's killing Christians in Nigeria,
33:18
Speaker 2: it's not a concern for him. Look, I think we
33:21
Speaker 2: should defend Christians when they're being persecuted. I think we
33:24
Speaker 2: should defend Jews when they're being persecuted. I think we
33:27
Speaker 2: should stand up and and and and make a difference.
33:31
Speaker 2: Now that doesn't mean that we invade every country in
33:34
Speaker 2: which there's injustice, but it does mean we use our
33:38
Speaker 2: voice as a voice to stand up for those. And look,
33:43
Speaker 2: as you know, my dad was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba,
33:47
Speaker 2: and so I have a particular heart for for people
33:51
Speaker 2: who are unjustly detained uh and and have spent a
33:55
Speaker 2: long time highlighting and and doing everything we can to
34:00
Speaker 2: get people out of unjust attentions, whether in in Sudan
34:04
Speaker 2: or China or Lebanon or anywhere. And I'm very glad
34:12
Speaker 2: President Trump is standing up for the Christians in Nigeria.
34:15
Speaker 1: As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senter
34:19
Speaker 1: ted Cruz ben ferguson whether you don't forget to deal
34:21
Speaker 1: with my podcast and you can listen to my podcasts
34:23
Speaker 1: every other day you're not listening to Verdict, or each
34:25
Speaker 1: day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
34:28
Speaker 1: have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts,
34:31
Speaker 1: and we will see you back here on Monday morning.