Why A Presidential Pardon Could Backfire On Fauci

Transcript

Clay Flies Solo Without Elsa

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Hey folks, it's uh Clay Novak. Welcome to the Elsa Kurt Show with Clay Novak. Uh Elsa is not here this week. She's down in Florida doing the thing that she loves the most, which is go see those grandbabies of hers. And so you've got me flying solo. Um, it's been uh it's been busy the last couple of weeks. I was uh on a vacation last week. I think uh Elsa was traveling or or something, but uh we're back. The show's back this week. I am hosting solo. Elsa will be back next week. We'll be back together. So bear with me as I try and manage all this stuff that uh that normally Elsa manages. You know, as you guys know who watch every week, you know, I put the topics together, uh, I recommend them, and then Elsa does a lot of the producer responsibility kind of stuff. So when I fly solo, I'm trying to do all this on my own, and it's always a challenge. Um, today we are I am recording on Wednesday at uh 3 p.m. East Coast time, just to give you a time reference.

Fauci Testimony And COVID Accountability

SPEAKER_01 1:28

And probably the thing that's at the tip top of all of the news cycles is uh Fauci's testimony today. And so, you know, Dr. Fauci uh you know spent a lot of time, 40 years working in the government. Uh, I knew it was a long time. I guess I didn't realize it was that long, but he worked at NIH along with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. Uh, that's a much longer acronym, uh, from 84 to 2022. And obviously, most notably, we all know him from COVID. And so, you know, there's still been a lot of questions about COVID since COVID ended, uh, quote unquote ended, uh, you know, quite a few years ago. Uh, but always, especially since 2025, there's been a lot of unanswered questions. Uh, and with the addition of the blanket pardon from President Biden, uh, there's been a lot of discussion about what exactly was Fauci responsible for and what should he be held accountable for, and how, since there has been a blanket pardon from President Biden, how can he be held accountable? And the efforts today, uh, specifically by uh Rand Paul and Josh Howley and some others, um, was to bring Dr. Fauci in, get him to testify yet again on COVID. And the speculation, and I think it's fair speculation, is that you know, the attempt is to get him, one, his pardon ended with actions and activities on the date of the pardon. In other words, President Biden could not and did not uh pardon him for all future uh crimes and misdemeanors, you know, for the rest of his life. So up until the date of 2025, when the pardon was signed, he's covered, quote unquote. Um, so this is almost in a arresting and prosecuting Al Capone for tax evasion kind of effort. There's a lot of people, myself included, who think that there needs to be a way for Dr. Fauci to be held accountable for his role in um everything associated with COVID. Uh, the way that it was handled, the things that were covered up, uh, the things that weren't allowed or discouraged from happening, including treatment programs and medicines like ivermectin and some other things. Um and so specifically, Rand Paul has been leading the charge on this. And today is another one of those days where in the release, well, the release of his uh Fauci's diary is part of this, but Rand Paul has been leading the charge and trying to get Fauci held accountable for all of this. Um so he was brought in to testify today, and I truly believe the intent was to get him to perjure himself um in his testimony so that he can be prosecuted. Again, this is the Al Capone tax evasion uh kind of discussion. So they brought him in and they sat him down.

Fauci’s Diary And The Fame Factor

SPEAKER_01 4:52

A few days before this, backtrack a little bit, Rand Paul released Fauci's diary. If you have not, you don't need to read it all. Uh, it was a digital diary that he kept on a laptop. It was his personal, you know, his his own words, again, not handwritten but typed. And there's no denial that this is his. In other words, there's no one saying, oh, well, it's on a computer, it's not his handwriting, it's not Fauci's words. He didn't say these things. There's no denial there. So this is definitely his diary, and Bran Paul released it within the last few days. I have read bits and pieces of this. Um, you know, there are there was clearly a relationship issue between Dr. Fauci and President Trump. Um, there is a lot of um star-struck uh personality stuff from Fauci in there. Um, his relationship, newfound fame relationship, uh, and newfound relationships with celebrities, and how he was very star-struck, not only with himself, but with the people that he was meeting because of his role. You know, there's mentions of Katy Perry and I think Kardashians and some other things, some other people, uh, where Dr. Fauci, you know, sounded more like a teenage girl than he did, a man of medicine and science. Um, but also in his own super narcissistic way, talking about himself and his appearances on television, as well as his appearances uh in magazine articles, on magazine covers, photographs that were taken of him, etc. So there's a lot of that in there. But you know, that was the lead up to this testimony. And you know, Dr. Fauci came in, he came in with a team of lawyers. Um one of them was removed. And so when you have somebody like this testifying in front of Congress, any of the committees, which is what this was, um the only one who's actually invited there is the person who's testifying. In other words, Dr. Fauci. Um, their attorneys, their team, their advisors, etc., have no right, no ability to speak out publicly in chambers in front of the committee. So it's very rule-bound, it's a very strict kind of thing. And so one of the attorneys that was there with Dr. Fauci kept interrupting, kept speaking out loud, kept responding and replying, and got disruptive to the point where Rand Paul had him removed, which I truthfully think was a that was on purpose. I think it's a distraction. I think it was meant to uh disrupt the proceedings. I think it was, I don't think it was an accident. Uh, I think there was probably a meeting beforehand with uh Fauci's team, and they designated one guy to be that guy, to be the disruptor, to see how long he could be disruptive until he got kicked out and they met the threshold. So um Rand Paul did have him removed. Now, in the midst of all this, um, Dr. Fauci was asked a number of questions regarding his role in COVID, about his opinions on the origins of COVID, um, you know, things in his diary where he spoke about both the gain of function in a lab theory, uh, which many of us, most of us agree is the most likely theory, but also on the you know, wet market, the jump from a animal disease, coronavirus, jumped from animals to humans, being the the bats in wet markets in China theory. Um he was asked about all kinds of things, about um, you know, the vaccines, he was asked about all kinds of things related to

Fifth Amendment Wall In Congress

SPEAKER_01 9:09

COVID. And he invoked his Fifth Amendment right 111 times today. Um and it and it got ridiculous to the point where Josh Howley asked him what color tie he was wearing, and Fauci pled the fifth, what color the carpeting was, uh, and he pled the fifth. What I think he even asked him what day of the week it was, and he pled the Fifth Amendment. Um, so it got it got embarrassing and uh to Fauci to the entire process. And so there is a lot of speculation at this point. One, we got we got none of the answers that anybody wanted. Um we also got none of the attempts to get Fauci to perjure himself because he just stayed hard line fifth amendment, you know, Fifth Amendment. I'm I'm not gonna respond. Um, so there was no there is no chance of a of a coming perjury charge. Um but what it what it got to the level of is now there's a consideration for contempt of court.

Pardon Limits And Contempt Strategy

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Um and there is based on the fact that once you have been pardoned, you essentially have no right to the Fifth Amendment. This is uh a 150-year-old decision from the Supreme Court. It's been upheld a number of times. So, in other words, um Dr. Fauci being questioned about everything that happened within the inclusive dates of his pardon, uh, which I believe go all the way back to 2014, 2014 to 2025, um, he has no right to plead the Fifth Amendment, to invoke the Fifth Amendment, and therefore, you know, the self-incrimination is out the window because he's already been pardoned. Um and so with him continuing to invoke the Fifth Amendment and claim his Fifth Amendment rights, even in the case of his pardon, now the attempt is going to be made through the Department of Justice for him to be brought up on contempt charges for refusing to answer uh invoking the Fifth Amendment when he doesn't have the Fifth Amendment right because of his pardon. So it's kind of this self-licking ice cream cone. It's just a very circular discussion. Um, but that is in the failure of getting him to perjure himself, this is the new tact. And again, I I know this sounds petty, but I I actually I support this. I do think that a guy like him with enough evidence out there, I think that he should be prosecuted and held accountable in some way, shape, or form. Even if people see it as a technicality. Uh again, it's the Capone tax evasion thing. Al Capone, you know, went to jail for a long time for tax evasion when he should have been in jail for, you know, murder, racketeering, all of those charges, but he went to jail. And and that's really what matters is that he spent that time. Uh, and and I think that him being held accountable in that sense is very similar to Fauci being held accountable for everything that he was a part of as related to COVID. So I do support this. It's almost a legal loophole in reverse. You know, usually people get get out of charges or get charges dropped, or you know, don't get the punishment that they deserve due to loopholes. Well, this is a loophole that's being exploited to make sure that there is a punishment given to a man who deserves punishment when unfortunately they can't punish him for the things he needs to be punished for, if that makes sense. Um but that that happened today. He testified over a number of hours. And listen, I know that the next part of this discussion is that President Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment a number of times in his trials over the you know number of years that the Biden administration, you know, weaponized the DOJ and went after him. Okay. He did. And and if they felt that they had a case to prosecute him for contempt of court, then they should have. I I'm not hiding behind that. I'm not disputing that. If they really think that that was a viable course of action, and if that had any value whatsoever, then they should have done it. But the fact is they they didn't, because, in my opinion, all of that was a sham and they knew it. And so they knew not to push the outcome as it was and accept what they got. Um but you can't cry about it now because they didn't pursue it. Uh, you can believe that it's not, you know, just and right that Fauci gets prosecuted for it because Trump didn't get prosecuted for it. However, Trump didn't get prosecuted for it because nobody pursued the prosecution. They didn't charge him with it. Whose fault is that? Um again, these are the legal loopholes. This is the the litigious society that we live in right now. And so I'm okay with Fauci paying for it in that sense. I really, really am. So if that's what comes out of it, and supposedly that decision is gonna come next week, um, that's the next step in this process. So we will keep an eye on that one. Um, listen, nobody's forgetting COVID, and nobody's forgetting Fauci's role in COVID. Uh, and certainly Rand Paul is not gonna let this go. He is a dog with a bone on this topic. It's it's not going away, it's not going anywhere, and he won't let it go anywhere. Nor should we allow, as the American public allow it to be forgotten, which is what I think a lot of people would prefer happens. So um, yeah, so we'll we'll see what happens. I don't think that there's any more testimony scheduled for Dr. Fauci in the near future. Uh, I think the next step is the determination on his contempt of court charges. So we'll see what happens in the next in the next week or so.

Mamdani Threatens Netanyahu Arrest

SPEAKER_01 15:30

That's the estimate. Um, so at the same time, uh, we've got uh you know a continued rise of the DSP Democratic Socialist Party of the United States led by this friggin' guy, uh Mom Dani. He is not the leader, but he is a leader. Uh and yes, you can say he's a communist. And yes, I would agree with you that he is a communist, but he does kind of fall into that DSP Democratic Socialist Party of America group, you know, with the folks like Ilion Omar and AOC, and you know, et cetera, et cetera. Um but Mamdani versus Netanyahu has become a real thing. It's a stupid thing on the part of Mamdani, and Netanyahu's not biting, but it has become a thing. So um this is, you know, uh a week or so, two weeks ago, uh Mayor Mamdani, again, Mayor, keep that in mind. Uh Mayor Mamdani said that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, BB, comes to New York City, uh, that he will have him arrested. So mistake number one uh is that Netanyahu has diplomatic immunity to an extent. I mean, there there is diplomatic immunity that comes with being the prime minister of Israel. Um so he he doesn't Mamdani doesn't have the ability or the authority to arrest him. That would have to be a federal, not a local, because he hasn't violated any local local New York laws. Um and he has he has diplomatic immunity anyway. So that's mistake number one. Um mistake number two is that Mamdani said based on the warrant from the ICC, the international criminal court, that he would arrest him based on that warrant. Okay, so the international criminal court issued a warrant in 2024 for crimes against humanity for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu. Here's the problem. The United States, along with Russia, China, some others, we're not a signator nor a member of the International Criminal Court. Uh and so Mamdani again has no authority inside of the United States to arrest anyone uh without endorsement from the federal government. So that's a problem. Um and and lastly, if Mamdani thinks that the NYPD is going to step in and arrest Netanyahu without any conflict between those officers and the protective detail of Netanyahu, he is sorely mistaken. There is no way on God's green earth that the security detail, Mossad, or anybody else associated with security for Benjamin Netanyahu would allow a New York City police officer to touch Netanyahu with the intent to arrest him. There is no way that would happen. First of all, I don't think Mom Dani could get a detail to volunteer to do that. Political, you know, leanings, religious leanings, it's all of that out the window. It doesn't matter. No New York cop is dumb enough to step into that arena and have that kind of altercation. None of them. Um and so I I kind of wish that he would make this attempt. I really do. Uh, I really wish that Mam Dani would personally, that would be the most beautiful thing, would be for him to get a detail of really dumb and or force a group of NYPD police officers to do this and him be there and lead this confrontation and see what happens. Uh I think that the NYPD would melt, uh, not out of cowardice, but out of common sense. They would look at the situation and go, we're not doing this, no matter what he says. Uh and then to watch the embarrassment that comes with that, to watch the security detail step in to not allow any kind of personal conflict to occur between Mom Dani and Netanyahu, and watch BB stand there and smirk and laugh as Mom Dani is embarrassed in his own city because of his own stupidity. That would be a beautiful thing. I kind of wish he would try it. I really do. Um now, Netanyahu will be here in the United States on the streets of New York in September for the UN General Assembly. He comes every time they have it. Every time that he's been the prime minister and there's been meeting of the UN UN General Assembly, I think he has made it unless there has been some security concerns of some kind. This is not one of those. Um, but he's come every time and he won't be deterred by somebody like Mom Donnie. So he has already said that he will be here. Um and he's called out Mom Donnie as basically a crap. Mayor, because you're the mayor of New York City, the melting pot of the United States, where every culture comes to blend. Every nationality, every language, every culture is resident in the city of New York, where Mamdanny is the mayor, but he is putting a divide in the city. And this is, in my opinion, very much an Obama tactic. We all know he's been called it, whether you agree with it or not, you have to recognize the fact that Obama has been labeled as the divider-in-chief for the eight years that he was in office. He has, you know, he spent eight years invoking racial tensions and has fomented those, you know, in the years since he has left office. Um and I believe that Mamdani is the same within the city of New York between Muslims and Jews. And I think he's doing it on purpose. Um, it's the same tactic, right? He is trying to build a Muslim stronghold within the city of New York. I think he is trying to drive the Jews out. Uh, I think that he it's a power play. If he can get rid of the Jews and build this Islamic Muslim stronghold in the city of New York, or at least folks that are sympathetic, then he and people of his ilk can stay in power for generations to come. I think that's the plan. And again, it's right out of the Obama playbook. Obama's division, black to white, Democrat to Republican, you know, him driving a wedge at every single opportunity over every single issue possible. That was all a power play to keep Democrats in power and keep him in charge, et cetera, et cetera. And Mom Dani is following the same playbook, specifically between Jews and Muslims. And BD's not backing down. He said it. I'm coming. I am I'm I'm coming to New York. Uh, he's not gonna arrest me. He can't, and and listen, Mom Dani has backed off and even you know, cowered a little bit and said he overstated his ability and his authority. Um, but Netanyahu basically called him out and said he can say whatever he wants. I'm still coming to New York, and there's not a damn thing he can do about it. And I'm going to the UN General Assembly, and Mom Dani is, you know, the great divider in the city of New York, and he's a crappy mayor. Um, so I don't think, and we've got a month plus before the UN General Assembly. I don't think anything is gonna happen. I don't think anything is gonna come of this. I think this is very much in the Mom Dani way of doing things. This is all for hype, it's all for show, it's to keep him in the national and international news cycle. Um, and that's all it is. I think it's all garbage. It's the uh, you know, it's the new, the new grocery stores with 30% lower prices, it's the you know, freezing rent, it's the you know, all of the things that he is doing. It's it's all about the show. And that's Mom Donnie because there's no teeth behind this. He can't get away with it, he won't do it. I'll call him out. I I mean, not that anybody's gonna listen to me, but I I would dare him to try it. I would enjoy actually him trying it. Uh, I would love to see it. Uh, I think uh a lot of the American public would love to see it. Um, so go ahead and try, Mom Donnie. Give it a shot, see what happens, see what kind of a big man, tough man you are. And I think that uh you're not gonna get any help. So you better bring a couple of pairs of handcuffs and maybe even a taser with you, and then see what happens when the security detail gets involved. But you're not arresting Netanyahu, it's not happening. Um, so go sit in your mayor's office and allow the big kids to talk over to you in General Assembly. Okay, uh moving on. But uh some things just continue to cycle back.

Biden Interview Tapes And Classified Notes

SPEAKER_01 26:29

So 70 hours of interview tapes have been released, uh, with President Biden being one of the two primary people in the recordings. So these recordings were made way back in 2017. So this is uh post Vice President Biden, this is public citizen Biden, pre-presidential Biden, during the first Trump administration. He was doing interviews with his ghost writer for his biography, a guy named uh Mark Zwann Zwanitzer, something like that. Um there's 70 hours of tape uh that the ghostwriter used to write the memoir. And again, this is before he was president, this is before COVID. This is before he was sitting in his basement during the presidential run in 2020. Um these tapes reveal what we have all known, but it reveals it at a much earlier timeline than I think any of us realized. I think those of us that paid attention to Joe Biden during the Obama administration knew that Joe Biden was an idiot. Um even President Obama knew that Joe Biden was an idiot, right? What's the famous quote? Um, you know, Joe Joe has an innate ability to F things up, or something to that effect. Um and so in 2017, the ghostwriter was invited to the Biden residence, and they sat down, and President Biden was interviewed, and there were 70 hours worth of tapes which have been released. I have not listened, but I have seen many of the transcripts associated with these recordings. There is evidence in there, admission by President Biden, that he had not only classified notes in his house, he had classified documents in his house. He didn't know what was or wasn't classified. He knew some things were classified, he didn't know exactly what was and what wasn't. Some things he could put in front of the ghostwriter and say, that's classified. Some things he said, I don't know if this is classified or not. Be careful with that. Um he admitted that the he had notes, clap notes on classified issues that the White House didn't know he had, and he had them in his house, in his personal residence. So there's that. Um he admitted that. He admitted to not only having them, he admitted to sharing them with the ghostwriter, who, my understanding, did not have a security clearance of any kind. He may have, but from what I have read, he did not have a security clearance. So President Biden, having those notes, having those classified documents in his possession in his home, decided to also share those with his ghost writer biographer. Another violation. The you know, I don't know, I don't remember. I was gonna ask you something. I don't, it could all be um dismissed as you just forgot. I forget shit all the time. Um but that's not according to those that have listened to all 70 hours, um, that's not what this is. There is distinct evidence of memory and mental capacity issues in these tapes, in the 70 hours worth of recording. Um and so thanks for confirming what we already knew. But again, it's on a new timeline. Uh, or the evidence is on a timeline that none of us were anticipating or were tracking. I again, I me included, I just thought he was an idiot. Uh and I but I and I think he I do still think he's an idiot. But I think that the evidence of his mental acuity and his memory issues uh appearing is much earlier than most of us realized. And so now he's an idiot with a bad memory and potentially mental acuity issues, going back to even as far back as when he was the vice president, not just dumb, but also on the mental decline, which he carried all the way through a four-year presidency. And people knew it. Right? Now we have evidence. Now we've got evidence that at least at a minimum, his biographer knew it. Um, or his ghost writer biographer knew it. There were also, I know, some aides on aides as in presidential aides, vice presidential aides, um, people that worked for President Biden at the time as part of the recording. In other words, there were conversations had where there were aides in the room or were part of the conversation. So they knew, they knew back then that there was an issue. Um, so again, thanks for confirming what we already knew about President Biden. You just gave us more evidence that it was worse than we thought earlier than we thought. And uh so everybody again, everybody involved in the Biden presidency should be held accountable. Everybody. I I still say top of the list is his wife. Dr. Joel Biden, and I use the term doctor very loosely. Um she should be prosecuted for elder abuse. Sorry. Um Kamala Harris, Vice President Harris, should be prosecuted as well. They all knew, folks, they all did. Um you can get out of the uh you can ignore the criminal charges of you know the Biden crime family or whatever you want to call it with Hunter and everybody else, and you know, barisma and all of those things. At a minimum, those folks need to be held accountable for allowing him masking and hiding his mental ineptitude uh and putting America at risk. It's shameful. Uh, and now we've got it on tape, we've got more evidence on tape. So um, I don't know what all is gonna come out of that, probably nothing, but again, it's a nice reminder or at least confirmation that those of us that knew were not crazy. We weren't. Um, all right, let's take a quick tour around the globe as far as there's obviously some global conflict going

Ukraine Meeting Drones And Patriot Missiles

SPEAKER_01 34:48

on. Um, President Zelensky came to the United States, had a meeting with President Trump, which evidently went pretty well. Uh, I am still not a fan of the United States getting involved in Ukraine, period. Over and out. Zero. We should have zero involvement. Uh, that is a NATO problem. And when I say NATO, I'm talking the European nations uh that are a part of NATO. And I get it the whole, like if he attacks, if the you know, if one member of NATO is attacked, they're all attacked. Okay, fine. That's not what this is. Ukraine's not a member of NATO, uh, but this is a NATO European defense issue. And I think that the United States should be very indirectly involved, if involved at all. I still hold to that. But President Zelensky came and talked to President Trump. They had a discussion, and if you all remember a couple of years ago, uh year and a half ago, I guess, um, you know, President Zelensky did not have a good meeting in the White House. Well, the meeting was good. The public press conference afterwards was not good because Zelensky got slapped down by both President Trump and Vice President Vance uh because of his conduct. His conduct in private was great, and they had reached a deal, and then when they stepped out in front of the cameras, Zelensky, who couldn't help himself, decided to act a fool and say things that were not agreed to or uh say things that were out of line with the agreement. And that's when President Trump and Vice President Vance got pretty irritated and put him back in line, put him back in line. So it sounds like he has recovered from that misstep uh and that he is uh, I won't say in a place of favor with President Trump, but he's in a better spot than he was 18 months ago. And so um, President Trump admitted it was a good meeting. Um, there is uh discussion about the U.S. interest in the drone technology that's coming out of the fight between Ukraine and Russia. Uh, and it's wild. Like the drone development, counter drone development, drone warfare, the style of warfare that's happening over there is wild uh with the uh employment of drones and counter-drone technology. So there's an interest for U.S. defense in what is being done in that realm. So President Trump has an interest there. Um additionally, there is discussion on potential uh Patriot missile type technology uh being exchanged or given to the Ukraine as part of their defense against Russia. Not a huge fan of that. Uh I am a bigger fan of that versus employing U.S. troops and U.S. patriot missile launchers in the region to defend Ukraine. I'm a much better, much bigger fan of giving them some taste of the technology and telling them to figure it out on their own than I am putting uh America's sons and daughters in harm's way uh over Ukraine. Um but that was a significant portion of the exchange between President Zelensky and President Trump, is those two pieces of technology drones and patriot missiles. Um there's a discussion about uh the diplomacy piece of this. In other words, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. I think President Trump weighed in on that as he is the deal maker. That's who he is. And so um President Zelensky is no longer in the doghouse with the White House. Again, hopefully that doesn't commit the U.S. to more than what we're doing now, which is close to nothing and should remain there. But that's kind of where we're at on Ukraine. Uh, but I I can promise you that President Trump would not back Zelensky if he didn't think that he had a good solid chance of winning the war between Ukraine and Russia. So that may be a positive thing to pull out of that would be the backing from President Trump to back Zelensky. Because he doesn't back losers. I know people are gonna use that and they're gonna say he, you know, they're gonna take that and manipulate it, but he doesn't back losers, habitually. And I think he sees Zelensky as a as a winner. So um that's where we're at uh on Ukraine.

Iran Missile Attack Into Jordan

SPEAKER_01 39:36

Uh let's talk Iran. Again, it's the topic that never goes away. So last Friday, President Trump put a pause on all U.S. military operations uh in Iran. That included air strikes and drone strikes and fixed wings and you know attacks into Iran and bombings and all that other stuff. He put a pause on it. And everything's been pretty quiet. Today's Wednesday. Last night the Iranians launched ballistic missiles uh from Iran into Jordan to uh targeting U.S. personnel and facilities inside of the country of Jordan, Kingdom of Jordan. And so obviously, after five days of quiet um and perceived progress with the Iranians, President Trump was not happy. Evidently, there was an expletive-filled response uh to the Iranian attacks. President Trump dropped some F-bombs in there and made some threats. Um and I've said this before, and I will say it again, and I will continue to say it until somebody listens to me. You cannot trust anything the Iranians are doing. Nothing. You can't trust a pause in hostilities, you can't trust a memorandum of understanding, you can't you can't trust anything that they say or do. Nothing. And so there is probably going to be a reinitiation of or a continuation, whatever you want to call it, of U.S. strikes inside of Iran. But we're at the point now, folks, where, you know, I won't say we're playing whack-a-mole, but all the hard targets have been hit. And they've probably some of them have been hit more than once. So my guess is the ballistic missiles that they launched uh into Jordan were launched off of mobile launchers. Uh, so I'm sure we'll target and destroy those immediately. We'll probably try and find where they were hidden, target that. So that we're these are opportunistic targets. I think the target list that existed at the beginning of this conflict with Iran has been exhausted. Uh and so we're we're now just taking in new intelligence and building new target lists, but I think they're all short. Uh, and I think that uh you know, we're getting to the point where we're expending munitions on things that have been hit two and maybe even three times, and and I don't know what the value is of that. So we'll have to see how the U.S. responds um to that specifically, to that attack out of Iran, ballistic missile attack out of Iran and into Jordan. Um, and so what we've got though is a another situation, another expansion, another avenue, another venue, whatever you want to call it, in the US versus Iran conflict. And and it's actually happening, it's expanding from Iran into Iraq, and I'll explain that in a second, and from Iraq into Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Strikes Against Iran Backed PMF

SPEAKER_01 43:07

So the Saudis joined in, uh, Saudi attack aircraft joined in with the United States in the fight against Iran and the IRGC terrorist spot or IRGC sponsored terror network that exists because they just got targeted. Um, so the Saudis joined in, they conducted some airstrikes inside Iraq. Now I know that sounds confusing, but let me explain. So, biggest picture you've got the Islam Muslim infighting between Shias and Sunnis. Okay. You have Iranians predominantly Shia, Saudis, and others predominantly Sunni. Iraq has been very On a number of different occasions on Shia Sunni divide within the country. There are within the structure of the Iraqi military, there is something called the Popular Mobilization Forces, the PMF. The PMF are IRGC Iranian-backed Shia militias that have been integrated into the Iraqi defense structure. So as an example, when I was when I served in Baghdad, you know, the Iraqi army reconstructed post-U.S. invasion 2003. I was in Baghdad 2008-9. So the Iraqi army was responsible for border security and external threats to Iraq. Like Iraq, Iranians coming across the border, right? Those kinds of threats. The Iraqi federal police, who I spent a lot of time partnered with, had the responsibility for counter-terror, counter-insurgency defense inside the border of Iraq. They were a paramilitary organization that were fighting against the terrorists inside Iraq. Then you had the Iraqi police, which were responsible for police type activities, crime, you know, like just crime level stuff, non-terror related murders, thiever, those kinds of things. Well, somewhere, I think 2014-ish, uh the MFP pulled in a bunch of Shia-backed uh or Shia-based IRGC-backed terror organizations that existed inside of Iraq, including one that operated in my area of operations in Baghdad in Baghdad, which is Kitab Hezbollah, um, and they integrated them into the Iraqi defense infrastructure. Those MF or uh PMF, right, popular mobilization forces conducted attacks into Saudi Arabia uh within the last week or so, uh, attacking Saudi oil facilities. And so the Saudis manned up, they got their aircraft in the air, and in concert with the United States, they killed some PMF dudes who attacked them. Uh, and again, so this all wraps into Iran because they're backed by the IRGC, they're Shia, they're backed by they're an Iranian-backed terror organization inside the Iraqi military structure conducting attacks into Saudi Arabia as terrorist forces. Listen, folks, this is this is the Middle East in a nutshell. This literally, this if I you couldn't write this any better to encapsulate how confusing things can be inside of the Middle East. Um, and so the Saudis have said they're they have no intent and don't want to escalate issues within the region, uh specifically by attacking into Iraq. That was not their intent. However, they do defend their ability and their right to defend themselves when they are attacked. So they don't want to escalate things, but they're really not being given a choice, and they're really not being given a choice to have to do these things inside of the Iraqi borders because of these organizations that are in the Iraqi military infrastructure or structure that are backed by Iran. I don't think there is any chance that Iraq, they may publicly say that they're not happy with Saudi Arabia. I think that they may publicly say they'll denounce what the Saudis did, uh, etc. But they're not, there's going to be no action by the Iraq military or the Iraqi government against Saudi Arabia. There'll be no retaliation, retribution, whatever you want to call it. There's no way that's happening. Um, but they can't sit there and just allow the Saudis to do whatever they want. There's a little bit of saving face that has to happen. So um, but that is the first time that the Saudis have really taken an active role in this, uh, especially inside the, you know, crossing the border into Iraq, and good for them for doing it. We need to see more of that. We need to see more of the region policing the region in ways like this, holding each other accountable, keeping, you know, and some of it may boil down to Shia Sunni kind of stuff, but we can't always be the police force. We should never be the police force there, but we have been for about uh 35 years now. Um, but we need to see more of that within the region. And Saudi Arabia is one of the places, one of the nations that has the ability to do that. Um, and good for them for doing it. So uh I don't again foresee much more Saudi activity, but I wouldn't say that it's zero percent chance either. So we'll have to see what happens, and again, good for Saudi Arabia for stepping up and being part of the solution and instead of sitting on the sidelines.

Cracker Barrel Rebrand Fallout And Golden Parachute

SPEAKER_01 49:52

Okay, folks, uh one more small one. Uh, but this is a follow-up to a story that Else and I covered quite a while ago. Does everybody remember the cracker barrel misstep in their rebranding? Remember, they went very woke. Uh I want to say it was somewhere between a half a dozen and a dozen restaurants. They'd started to rebrand and redecorate. They'd taken down all of the cracker barrel stuff, all the antiques on the wall, and the um, you know, the cedar, you know, decoration, the the the whatever they call that, uh, you know, the the all the wall, the planks of cedar on the wall, and uh, you know, the the old signage and uh all the old farm tool tools and guns and animal heads and all the stuff that was in Cracker Barrel that made it Cracker Barrel. And the CEO came in and decided to do a rebranding. Her name was Julie uh Massino, M-A-S-I-N-O, and it was a colossal failure, this rebranding. Uh, this was a year ago, probably, pretty close. Um, and in those 6 to 12 restaurants, there was a massive backlash from from fans, from patrons that were like, we don't want this. This is not the cracker barrel that we like and we ask for, and we come to every week for Sunday dinner or whatever. And uh it was not received. The feedback was not well received. Well, the feedback was received, uh, it was just feedback that the folks didn't like what was going on, and so that CEO um has finally agreed to step down from Cracker Barrel. Finally, uh, what is amazing to me, bordering on appalling, is the golden parachute that she is walking out with. Hold your breath for this one. This is amazing. In her colossal failure in this perfect example of go woke, go broke, in the millions of dollars of revenue that she lost to Cracker Barrel, they are paying her four point six three million dollars over the next two years. And she is being provided personal security for an indetermined but reasonable amount of time. I I don't know why. I know people were upset about Cracker Barrel. I don't think they were that upset about Cracker Barrel. I don't think anybody was vandalizing her house or or stalking her in a parking lot. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they were. I don't know. Um, but $4.63 million they're paying her over the next two years. That is her golden parachute for being a massive failure at her job. I wish I got that kind of payout. I wish I could have screwed up that bad and been that kind of gotten that kind of payout. Isn't that appalling? I think if you were a stockholder and for Cracker Barrel or whatever parent company owns Cracker Barrel, um you should probably voice your opinion and voice it pretty loud. Um, I know that this may be an industry norm uh or somewhere in the realm of a norm, but like this kind of stuff's crazy. 4.63 million dollars for failure. That's what she's gonna get in two years. So, I mean, she can take that and invest the holy bejesus out of it and probably be okay for a very, very long time with her personal security detail uh that is going to be provided by Cracker Barrel. Yep, that's where we're at. Julie Messino is her name, but she's finally leaving Cracker Barrel after all this

Wrap Up Books Socials And Veteran Charity

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time. Um, folks, uh, you know, that that's all I've got for this week's show. Uh, as always, this is a challenge without Elsa. Both of us enjoy it much better when the two of us are here. We've got somebody to bounce back, you know, back and forth with. Um, you know, a little bit of her uh her humor and and the hilarity that comes, everything Elsa, I appreciate. Uh, I don't enjoy doing this by myself. She tried it, she agreed. It is not an easy thing to do. I appreciate everybody who tunes in every week and listens and watches. Um you can find me, Clay Novak, out on all the socials. I am on X, uh, I am on Instagram, uh, I am on Facebook. You can look up my name, Clay Novak or C Novak author uh on Instagram and X. I am on LinkedIn a lot. Um I am also the author of a series of novels, action fiction. If you like Jack Ryan, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne. You can find my novels on Amazon. They are the Terry Davis series. Uh, the first book is Keep Moving, Keep Shooting. The second book is Cross to Bear, and the third book is Rebellous. Again, those are available on Amazon. You can search my name. It's the Terry Davis series. Uh, I also co-host on occasion, guest host, another uh another podcast called the Warlocker Podcast. Uh you can check that out. They're on the socials as well. If you like uh soldier, uh military, first responder, police, EMS, fire. Uh, if you like that kind of environment, those kinds of stories and those types of guests, go check out the Warlocker. And those guys over there, great bunch of guys. Um, and again, I co-host on there occasionally. They bring me in as a guest host, uh, you know, as needed. Um, and then lastly, uh, I am uh the on the board of directors board of directors for the Alan J. Lynch Medal of Honor Veterans Foundation. Um, I've mentioned it on this show a few times. Uh this is a veterans foundation that is based out of the Chicago suburbs, and we currently serve and assist veterans in need from the tri-state uh Wisconsin, Chicago, Indiana area, although we are looking to grow in the next few years. So uh, if you've got a soft spot for helping veterans or uh would like to contribute, you can go Google the Alan J. Lynch Medal of Honor Veterans Foundation and you can go to our website and make a donation there. And I can tell you right now that about 99.8% of our uh incoming funds go to help veterans. Um, so if you're worried about your money going somewhere where it's not supposed to, um I can rest assured, I can I can reassure you that that is not the case with our foundation. So um you can go check that out online. And again, as always, thank you for tuning in. Uh thank you for um both myself and Elsa. And uh as always from me, keep moving, keep shooting.