1. Michelle Obama and Presidential Politics
- The discussion begins with Michelle Obama’s comments about not running for President of the United States.
- She stated that America is “not ready for a woman president,” citing sexism and societal immaturity.
- Her stance is arrogant and condescending, and she argues that Democrats blame election losses on bigotry rather than policy failures.
- Historical comparisons are made to how Democrats shifted toward the center after losing multiple elections in the 1980s.
2. Sports Gambling and Corruption
- The conversation shifts to sports betting, particularly prop bets (bets on specific aspects of a game rather than the outcome).
- Allegations of corruption in Major League Baseball (MLB) and the NBA are discussed, including:
- Criminal indictments against players accused of manipulating game elements for profit.
- Example: Cleveland Guardians pitchers allegedly threw pitches to influence bets, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars.
- Broader concerns about integrity in sports and the potential need for congressional action are raised.
- Prop bets create incentives for individual players to cheat because they can control outcomes like pitch speed or fouls.
3. Persecution of Christians in Nigeria
- The final section addresses religious persecution, focusing on radical Islamic terrorism in Nigeria.
- Boko Haram is identified as a major perpetrator, responsible for killing over 50,000 Christians since 2009 and destroying thousands of churches and schools.
- The discussion highlights U.S. legislative efforts to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” and impose sanctions on complicit officials.
- Former President Trump’s tweet acknowledging the crisis and calling for action is quoted.
- The speakers criticize Tucker Carlson for allegedly downplaying or dismissing the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, linking this stance to broader issues of antisemitism and extremism.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome in his verdict with Ted Cruz, we can review
Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the big stories
that you may have missed that we talked about this week.
First up, Michelle Obama going scorched earth on Americans. She says,
it's your fault that a woman hasn't become president, and
that also means she's not gonna grace you as a
(00:21):
candidate because you don't deserve her. We'll have that in
a moment. Also, there is a big gambling issue that
has come to light with game fixing or prop bet
fixing in major sports. So now what does it mean
for Congress getting involved. We'll have that for you as well.
And finally, Christian persecution Nigeria. It is a real problem
(00:45):
and it's time that we all sound the alarm and
we'll let you know what you can do to get involved.
It's the weekend review and it starts right now. Yeah.
And if you think that, by the way, that the
only ones that are discontent right now, you would be wrong.
Let's move to Missie Czell Obama. She has come out
and basically said I will not grace you with my
(01:05):
presence as a president of the United States of America.
You don't deserve me because there's too many massagests out there,
and I'm not gonna give you my candidacy.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, she was asked whether or not she would run
for president. Her response was, as we saw in this
past election, sadly, we ain't ready. That's why I'm like,
don't even look at me about running, because you all
are lying you're not ready for a woman. You are not.
And she says, you know, we've got a lot of
growing up to do. And there's still, sadly, a lot
(01:40):
of men who do not feel like they can be
led by a woman. And we saw it what utter
and complete nonsense by the way Joe Biden was getting
his ass kicked. Now, I understand the Democrats can't tell
the difference between a man and a woman. So maybe
Michelle Obama, a woman, is right that thinks that Joe
Biden is a woman. But Trump was winning when Biden
was the nominee. Trump was winning when Missie Tell Obama
(02:00):
was the nominee. Trump was winning a because the Biden
Harris Democrat agenda was a train wreck that hurt the
American people, and b because the American people wanted president
Trump back in the Oval office here, I want you
to give a listen to exactly what Michelle Obama said,
Give a listen.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Do you think that that impacts the room that we've
made for a woman to be president?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we
ain't ready. That's why I'm like, don't even look at
me about running, because you all are lying you're not
ready for a woman. You are not, So don't waste
my time. You know, we got a lot of growing
up to do. And there's still, I'm sadly a lot
(02:43):
of men who do not feel like they can be
led by a woman. And we saw it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What was the question I just said, so we don't
need to ask it again. You answered it. I mean
you would say that and the room goes wild with women.
It was clearly a female audience that she's talking with there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
It was also a feminine man. Don't don't don't forget.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh that's true. We can't as I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
This is this is the Democrat Party.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yes, we can't assume from the high pitchedness of the
screams in the room that it was actually when it
could women, it could be people that identify as a woman.
That's true, valid point. I apologize.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
When you have a male who's taking estrogen and like
wearing a tight strap to like tuck in, they have
pretty high squeals.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well you know, they jape during the holidays and shavit
target get those tucking swimsuits for them, right, And half
of them used to work at the White House anyway,
so there's always that as well. When I heard that.
When I heard that, I laughed because I thought it
was so funny. One, I don't think there's a bunch
of people that are wanting her to run run right
now for president. Her best shout at it would have
(03:52):
been a coronation like we had with with with Kamala
Harris that obviously didn't happen. But she's like, you basically
don't deserve me. That is the weirdest Jedi mind trick
political thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, look, it's just arrogance, and you're right, had she
wanted to do it, they would have handed it to
her instead of Kamala Harris. And you and I talked
about this a lot on this podcast. By the way,
this podcast predicted more than a year before the Democrat
Party pulled the rug out from under Joe Biden. We
predicted on Verdict. Regular listens to Verdict. No, we regularly
(04:25):
make predictions. We make predictions that frankly are risky, that
are out there, and the overwhelming majority of the predictions
we make on this podcast have come true. When you
and I said a year before Joe Biden was yanked
unceremoniously off the ticket, that Biden would be pulled off
the ticket, you and I, and by that I mainly
(04:47):
mean me. I was mocked mercilessly.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Hold on, I agreed with you at the time. Get
me a little bit, then come on.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
No, no, you did agree with me, but they didn't
make fun of The press went after me and says
Cruise is a moon bat numbskull. I think they kind
of bake into the cake that you're moon bat numbskull.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So do I do host this show with you? So
there's that, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, it's guilt by association. Sorry about that, But like
literally the corporate media went crazy. They had episodes mocking me.
What a crazy thing for Cruz to say Biden's not
going to be the nominee. Obviously, anyone with any sense
at all knows he's going to be the nominee. Well,
we were right, and if Michelle Obama had wanted it,
(05:32):
she would have been the nominee. Last time we predicted
that as well. She didn't want it, but the dripping
arrogance of her you know, you listen to her comments.
The American people have a lot of growing up to do. Yeah,
like the absolute condescension. You people are too immature to
elect my magnificence. Why not because my ideas are terrible,
(05:55):
Not because the Democrat ideas are horrible and have resulted
in open borders of results in people being murdered and
women being raped and children being assaulted. Not because we
had rampant inflation. Not because Joe Biden the Democrats caused
war all over the earth, turn peace and prosperity into
a war in Ukraine and October seventh and a war
in Gaza, you know, Not because every single thing we
(06:18):
touched turned to absolute garbage. No, no, no, no, That's not the
reason Kamala Harris lost resoundingly. The reason, according to the
leftist ideology, is you all are bigots and your racist
and your sexist, and that's the only possible reason. And
I got to say that contemptuous condescension is one of
(06:40):
the worst characteristics of the Democrat Party today, but it
also does indicate this is not a party that is reassessing.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You know, normally, we got to lose.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
An election, and you lose an election badly. At least
some people with sense in the party go, huh, I
wonder why the voters rejected what we say. Maybe we
should change, you know, you think back to in nineteen
eighty Reagan was elected. In eighty four, Reagan was re
elected one forty nine out of fifty states, came within
a few thousand votes of winning every single state in
(07:12):
the Union. Reagan won California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, every
state but Minnesota. Nineteen eighty eight, George Herbert Walker Bush
was elected, and after losing three consecutive presidential races, Democrats said, huh,
maybe nominating Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale and Michael Ducaucus
was a bad idea. Maybe crazy left wing loons do
(07:36):
not command a majority in an American What did they do?
They pivoted, They moved dramatically towards the center, and they
nominated what was then a moderate to conservative Democrat, the
governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton won
two consecutive elections because they shifted. You know what, I
don't see any Democrats doing that right now. I don't
see them looking and saying, why did we get clobbered?
(07:58):
Why did did win all seven of the swing states.
I don't see Democrats saying that at all, and Michelle
Obama saying, you people are a bunch of biggots and
sexists and you just need to grow up. You know
what I'm saying, Whoever the Democrat nominee is in twenty eight,
please make Michelle Obama your spokesperson because we really need
her lecturing the American people how much the voters suck,
(08:22):
because you know that historically has proved such an effective
way to campaign.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week. Now onto story number two, I
want to move to another issue, and that is sports gambling.
This is a issue I just genuinely this is like
my TMZ, my soap opera. I'm loving watching the corruption
(08:50):
slowly unfold before our very eyes. I say that because
I'm a sports fan. You are as well, we've gone
to games together, we've got to playoff games, and I've
noticed and I've got friends that are that literally play
pro sports and they will watch games and they'll textbo,
that's not normal. That was weird. The end of that
game was strange. Look at the points spread, what the game,
(09:12):
what the gambling line was here? Look at the over under.
I mean, I have friends are in these sports and
they're like they even are like this is a red flag,
Like this doesn't make sense. What just happened the last
two minutes of the game or the last four minutes
of that game. And now we're finding out we weren't crazy.
(09:32):
There's a lot of fixing that's going on now. It
may not be fixing the outcome of the winner and
the loser. And that's what people need to understand. The
caveat here. A lot of times this is like total
number of points that are going to be scored, yep,
the margin between the two teams. How much will want
to win by losing. It can even be as simple
as a certain player not hitting what they were projected
(09:53):
in points or three pointers or even free throws. And
you see these these anomalies, A weird things that happen
with an individual player or faking an injury so that
they make sure they don't finish the game. This was
happening in a widespread way among sports, and there were
people that were literally getting rich off it. It's called fixing.
(10:15):
It may not be fixing the game as in a score,
it's fixing aspects of the game that you can bet on.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Well, look, you and I are both big sports fans.
Sports is an amazing thing and brings people together and
gives you something to cheer for. It's powerful, it can unify.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
But you know, look, unfortunately, as long as there's been sports,
there's been some risk of corruption in sports, and I
got to say the proliferation of betting on sports has
increased that risk. And it's not just betting. It's one
thing to bet that your team's gonna win or lose. Presumably,
if you're betting particularly that your team will win, the
incentives are aligned that all the members of the team
(10:52):
want to win. But you now have these prop bets
where you can bet on all sorts of different aspects
of the game, and that I think significantly increases the
risk of corruption because a prop bet an individual player
can can have really significant impact on the outcome of
that bet. And so we've seen there's an ongoing criminal
(11:12):
investigation involving the NBA, involving coaches and players fixing games,
and Major League Baseball as well. And so I'm chairman
of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Part
of the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee is sports, both
college sports and pro sports. And so I've launched an
oversight investigation into into the problem of corruption and the
(11:36):
impact of prop bets in particular on sports. And so
I want to read to you a portion of I
sent a letter to Major League Baseball and and let
me just just read you a portion of it, because
the facts are really concerning. Here's what my letter said,
Dear mister Manfred, game fixing allegations are not new to baseball.
(11:56):
One hundred and five years ago, a Chicago grand jury
indicted a Chicago White Sox players for allegedly rigging the
nineteen nineteen World Series, labeled the Chicago Black Sox in
the press. The players were eventually acquitted by a Chicago jury,
even though some had earlier confessed, and all eight were
banned from baseball. For life. Major League Baseball and American
(12:20):
sports generally are facing a new integrity crisis. Last week,
prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an
indictment against two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians, accusing them
of rigging their own pitches to make a profit. That
indictment comes just a few weeks after prosecutors leveled similar
allegations against coaches and players in the NBA. Ranking member
(12:44):
Cantwell and I sent a letter to the NBA requesting
documents and information about that matter, and we now seek
information from Major League Baseball about how the league is
addressing alleged game manipulation and threats to baseball's integrity. The
recent indictment alleges Cleveland Guardians played Immanuel Clay and Luis
Ortiz purposely threw certain pitches.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
For balls or strikes yep.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Both players allegedly told friends of their plan and to
place prop bets beforehand. Clace allegedly even made some bets himself.
Perhaps most shockingly, this scheme lasted more than two years
before Major League Baseball found out. On May nineteenth, twenty
twenty three, Clay, pitching in relief against the New York
(13:31):
Mets allegedly informed friends he would throw a pitch faster
than ninety four point ninety five miles per hour. He did,
and his accomplices won twenty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I mean, can you just hit pause there for a second.
This sletter so people understand this is like making a
mockery of the game, but it's also just fixing the game,
where you're like, hey, I'm going to perform differently so
that my friends can get hooked up and make twenty
seven thousand dollars. There. It went on for years, and
it's not like this was like one person. Yeah, I
(14:04):
actually believe this is probably a lot more widespread than
we are being told. And part of that is I
think that Major League Baseball and others are going to
cover their ables. Is they want to make sure that
we don't realize just how bad it actually was or
is well.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And with individual players and prop bets, they have almost
total control over the outcome of that bet.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
And so look, the twenty seven thousand dollars is not
the worst part. Let me give you a few more
of the facts from the letter. Clace would go on
to blow a save opportunity as the Guardians lost ten
to nine and extra innings. In June twenty twenty three,
Clace flung a pitch into the dirt in two separate games,
well short of the strike zone. Well Cleveland fans were
(14:47):
shouting in frustration. Clace was apparently cashing in. In both games,
he allegedly sent texts notifying his friends that he would
throw balls. They placed prop bets on his pitches, winning
a combined ninety six thousand dollars unbelievable across other games
(15:09):
from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty five. Clays and
his accomplices are accused of winning at least four hundred
thousand dollars through fraudulent bets.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I mean, that's a lot of money, folks. And that's
just one example that got busted. You got to wonder
how many others are out there, right, I mean, we've
seen what's interesting. I was reading an article the other day.
I was talking about there has been an uptick in
wild pitches. Yeah, because you can bet on that, and
there's they're just saying there is there is certain data
(15:41):
that has significantly changed since prop betting got introduced nationwide. Basically,
you know where everybody can bet on these things and
has grown and it's like that didn't happen for fifty
years of baseball before when we have data or thirty
years in football of data or whatever it may be.
And then all of a sudden they're like, Wow, this
is happening a lot more often. This is weird that
(16:04):
they would get worse at these anomalies when technology and
cameras and coaching has gotten so much better. You think
that would actually reduce the number of these unique moments
that happened in sports, And now we're finding out, Yeah,
it may not be unique at all.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well, and negative prop bets are one hundred percent within
the control of an individual player. So if you think
about it, if you or I were a major league pitcher,
we may not be able to win a bet that
my next pitch will be a strike because you might
try to throw a strike and fail. I could not
throw a major league strike. But you know what, you
and I could win a bet on that my metch
(16:42):
next pitch will be a ball, because as much like
I suck at baseball, but yet I can throw the
ball into the dirt, I'm quite confident I can pitch
a ball. I could pitch a ball one hundred percent
of the time with no deviation and some of the times,
and in this instance, you know, someone who good at
cheating would not pound it into the dirt. They would
(17:03):
just be a little bit outside the strike zone, so
you couldn't tell. It looks really obvious when you don't
even make it to home plate. But that problem. Look,
you were a Division one tennis player. I'm pretty sure
they didn't have a sure.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I could double fault on command. I could hit a
ball long on command, one hundred percent of this to
the net on command. I could whiff at a ball
if that was a prop bet and make money off
of it. Yes, all of those things you can a hundred.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
By the way, I want our listeners to know, if
you also get in Ben's head and screw with him,
you can make him double fault even when he doesn't
want to. But that's a totally different He's an infinitely
better tennis player than I am. But I do have
a little bit of ability to taunt him, and if
he gets pissed enough that that that can happen.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Either that or you're going to get hit with the ball.
It's one of the two of the one of the
two is gonna happen one of the two, and that
would be a great prop bet. By the way, Okay,
there is that other.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
The sad thing is when Ben and I play tennis,
we usually play together, So if he's hitting me with
the ball, he's really doing it wrong. Because it's one
thing to hit your opponent. If you're hitting your teammate,
good god, you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's only when you get lacksaday'sical can you become a target.
It's just motivation. It's just a straight up motivation. There
final question on this, I've seen a lot of people
in sports journalists say, how do you fix this? If
it's not saying no more prop bets, right, you have
normal gambling on games, Like I don't know if you
(18:31):
can even fix this? Is that far out of control?
And is it the job of major league sports to
police their own or can they be trusted?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Look, I think there need to be some steps taken
to fix this. I'm not sure exactly what those steps are,
and so I'm starting with sending letters to the NBA
in Major League Baseball because you've got scandals in both sports.
And listen, as you know, I'm a die hard Rockets fan.
I'm a die hard Astros fan. By the way, did
you happen to see the Rockets last victory against Orlando? No?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I did not. Was it Was it a beat down?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Oh no, no, it was an overtime victory. It was spectacular. Look,
the Rockets actually were trailing almost the entire regular season,
and I DVR every Rockets game and so I watched
this actually.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Way, by the way, you haven't mentioned my almost rebels
in a few weeks, and I just want everybody to know.
That's because we're winning and we're now, what is it
ten and one? I think that's right. Just want to
throw that out there. Beat the Gators. Just now back
to your Rockets. But when my team loses one game
this year, there's two shows in a row that it
was brought up the other ten weeks. Not a peep
out of you. I just want to be clear about
(19:35):
that record. Keep going.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Look, I got to say, as a Texan and beating
the Gators, I'm kind of like, that's that's that's interesting.
That's it's one of my favorite images. When when Florida
played a and M I tweeted out there was a
giant barbecue truck in College station that had I think
five seven foot gators on a rotisseri rotating around being cooked.
(19:57):
So so, okay, fine, I'm going to you know, you
guys beat the game.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
That's fine, thank you, Thank you for that moral support there.
I felt that. I felt that tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I'm just saying that the Rockets win against Orlando was
really sweet because we were not playing great during the
whole of the game and then it was this huge comeback.
And Katie, I'm going to say right now, I think
the Rockets can win the whole damn thing.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Oh that's an early season prediction right there.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Now, look, most seasons, I think the Rockets can win
it all. But listen, last season, we.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Got at it the way you just said it with me.
With me, like's there's hoping and then there's like the
real possibility. So you think they're the real deal this year.
I really do.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
They've got a ton of young talent. They're really good.
Our problem last season is we didn't have a closer.
We didn't have someone who in the last two minutes
of the fourth quarter you could give the ball to
and he could bring it home. And Katie, I mean Look,
he's one of the greatest players in history. And in
the game against Orlando, I mean it was you want
to talk about cold, he hit two three pointers that
(21:00):
were just devastating, and and and you had scheng Don,
who's who's a great center who played a great game
as well.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But butt on that over time. By the way, I'm
just curious, because you're really into this right now.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I didn't. I just had great joy. And as I said,
I DVR the games and I watch them typically late
at night at the end of the day. But anyway,
my point is it's one thing. And I will say
I like to I like to play poker, but but
I've never been in sports betting, so so so among
vices that that is not one that that has impacted me.
But I get you know, I'll put five bucks in
(21:35):
a March Madness pool, and I'm gonna say my picks
are almost always wrong, so I don't know that I've
ever won a March Madness pool, but I'll throw in
my five.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
You're what we referred to as a charity bracket, and
we appreciate your service to the charity community.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Okay, so I actually I just pick a homer thing
I picked Texas teams. I tick teams I like, and
I'm just like, I'm gonna go with I think my
final four year or two ago was I think three
Texas teams in the final four.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, worked out too well for you. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, excuse me, did ole miss when the turn?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
We do football very well, sir, We do football very well.
We win natties and golf, baseball and tennis. I'm just yeah,
I know where I am, I know where we live.
Basketball is not there yet. I'm okay with that, but
I don't pick them to go to the final four.
That I can promise you.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah. So look on the question of gambling, and by
the way, you got pro sports, but I'm also concerned
about college sports, and in any ways, with such a proliferation.
You know, you look at a small school with a
game that's not in the headlines, and an individual player there,
you know you may have It's one thing for you know,
(22:44):
am I that worried about massive superstars making millions or
tens of millions of dollars of being corrupted? Well, yes,
because we're seeing this in the NBA and Major League Baseball.
But the incentive is less than some you know, nineteen
year old kid playing at podunk school, Boule who has
a chance to make ten grand fixing the game. And
(23:06):
so I think that is a real challenge. I think
the leagues can maybe take some steps about it, but
it would not surprise me to see Congress act. And
it's one of the reasons I'm just trying to start
with saying, Okay, tell me the facts of how many
allegations you're getting of cheating. What are the facts you know?
Tell me what you know, and then, particularly the more
(23:27):
serious the problem is. My hope is we may see
Congress acting a bipartisan way to fix it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
As before. If you want to hear the rest of
this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
entire thing. I want to get back to the big
story number three of the week you may have missed, Senator.
One of the reasons why you do this show and
why I love co hosting it with you, is we
get to talk about issues that are not getting the
(23:53):
attention they deserve. One of those right now is the
persecution of Christians Nigeria. It is shocking what is happening there.
And I just came back from Israel. We haven't got
to talk about that as much as we thought because
the government shut down and we're going to get to that.
But one of the things that you see when you
see that people are under attacked because their faith, and
I witnessed it going into the kibbutz, into the homes
(24:16):
of those that were killed, including that nine month old child.
When I met with the parents who lost their loved
ones on that soccer fill as their kids were just
playing soccer. When I went to the north and I
saw the homes that were destroyed and met with people
whose lives were destroyed by Hamas there and you witness
this type of persecution and death and destruction, and went
(24:37):
to the site of where the music festival was and
watch people die just because they were Jews. It makes
me angry to now see what's happening in Nigeria. You're
shining a lot on that. The White House is doing
that as well, and the American people need to know
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, listen, radical Islamic terrorists, they hate Christians and they
hate Jews, and they have murdered vast numbers of Christians,
they had murdered vast number of Jews. They continue to
do so, and they also murder a significant number of Muslims.
Radical Islamic terrorists. If you don't embrace their radical jihadist view,
(25:13):
their ideology justifies violence or even murder to force you
to submit. And the thirteen years I've been in the Senate,
I've spent a lot of time fighting for persecuted Christians,
fighting for persecuted Christians all across the globe, especially those
being persecuted by radical Islamic terrorists. Bokoha Ram that is
in Nigeria is a vicious radical Islamic terrorist group. And
(25:38):
if you look at there is no country on planet
Earth where more Christians have been murdered in the last
twenty years than Nigeria. Since two thousand and nine, more
than fifty thousand Christians have been murdered in the country
of Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I mean literally, these Christians are being hunted down.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, they absolutely are are. Over twenty thousand Christian churches
and schools have been burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed.
I mean that this has been mass murder and it
is horrific, and so I filed legislation in the Senate
to direct the administration to designate Nigeria Country of Particular
(26:19):
Concern and to impose in particular sanctions on the government officials,
because there are many government officials who are acquiescing in
this mass murder against Christians, and so my legislation would
impose sanctions on particular government officials. That there are twelve
states in the North where Sharia laws or blasphemy laws
(26:40):
are enforced. There's also federal Sharia and blasphemy laws that
are enforced, and the government officials use those laws to
discriminate against and to persecute Christians. In some instances, they
simply just turn a blind eye as Bokoharam and other
radical Islamic terrorists murder Christians. In other instances, they actually
use use the law to facilitate the persecution. But after
(27:04):
I filed the legislation and I began pressing the administration
to designate Nigeria's a Country a Particular Concern, President Trump
did so and he sent out a tweet. Here's what
his tweet says. It says Christianity is facing an existential
threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed radical
Islamist are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby
(27:28):
making Nigeria a country a particular concern, but that is
the least of it. When Christians or any such group
is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria thirty one hundred
Verses four four hundred and seventy six worldwide, something must
be done. I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with
(27:49):
Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately
look into this matter and report back to me. The
United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening
in Nigeria and numerous other countries. We stand ready, willing
and able to save our great Christian population around the world.
(28:09):
Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, that was
exactly the right thing to do. I saw President Trump
shortly after he issued that designation and I thanked him.
I said, it really makes a difference. It's the right
thing to do. He was happy to do it. And
I'll tell you the government in Nigeria is deeply dismayed.
(28:30):
And their response, their main defense they say, well, they
argue it's not a genocide. And what they say is well, yes,
fifty thousand Christians have been killed, but you know what,
Buko Haram has also killed Muslims, so it's all fine. Well,
it is true they have killed Muslims. Nobody's disputing that
they've killed Muslims as well. But radical Islamic terrorists target
(28:52):
Christians in particular for persecution, and the government is complicit
in that persecution. That's what this is designed to address.
And you know, I got to say, you and I
have talked about before that those who hate Jews hate Christians,
and those who hate Israel hate America. That that is true.
(29:15):
We've also talked about rising anti Semitism, and we've talked
quite a bit about Tucker Carlson because I think Tucker
has unfortunately gone down a very very dark path, a
path where he brings on Hitler, praising nutjobs onto his
show over and over and over again. But it also
results not only does he attack Israel at almost every
(29:37):
show he does, but when you go on the path
of hating Israel and blame everything on the Jews, that
often that same dark path leads you to embrace the
enemies of America. So Tucker has said we should apply
apologize to the family of Osama bin Laden no, no,
we should not. Tucker has said he doesn't know that
(29:59):
Hamam is a terrorist organization. They might just be a
political group. I'm sorry, but when you murder twelve hundred
innocent civilians and rape women and children, you are most
definitely a terrorist group. And Hamas has killed a great
many Americans. But it really was striking. Just recently, Tucker
did a show where he talked about Nigerians and he
(30:20):
disputed that Christians in Nigeria are being persecuted. I want
you want you to give a listen because he took
the chance to basically defend Boko Haram. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
But he's all of a sudden, kind of out of nowhere,
deeply concerned with the play of Christians in Nigeria, which
I want to restate maybe a tolly all concerned now,
But that's weird. What is that, all of a sudden,
everybody's cocern about people who clearly have no track record
being interested in Chritians at all, including San Cruz. What
is going on?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
That to me was pretty unhinged.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Senator, Look, I gotta say, listen. I understand that Tucker's
told the world there's no one he hates more than
Christian Zionists, and he singled out me and Mike Huckabee
as the people he hates the most in the world.
But that's truly a bizarre claim what he says there,
which is that I have no interest in defending persecuted Christians.
(31:09):
I've literally spent thirteen years doing that. You know, I
might ask Tucker that does he have any idea who
Miriam Ibrahim is? And I suspect he doesn't. So Mariam
Ibrahim was a Christian woman in Soudan, and she was
imprisoned and she was sentenced to receive one hundred lashes
and then to hang by the neck until dead for
(31:31):
the crime of being a Christian. And this was during
Barack Obama's presidency. This was early in my time in
the Senate. And I spoke out vocally for Miriam Ibrahim.
And she had two little kids. She had a son
named Martin, and she actually gave birth to a daughter, Maya,
while she was in leg irons. And I'll tell you,
I repeatedly practically begged the Obama administration for President Obama
(31:55):
to just say her name. He would not do it.
He never once said her name. I went to the
Senate floor, I gave floor speeches. I shined a light,
and globally many the pope got involved shining a light
defending her, and the pressure became so great Soudan released
her and Ben, I'll tell you it's an amazing thing.
I actually got to meet Mary Abraheim when she came
(32:17):
to Washington, and I asked her. She was a little
bitty woman. She's not very very tall, maybe five to one.
She couldn't have weighed more than one hundred pounds. And
I asked her. I said, Maryam, tell me, when you
were in that prison cell and your babies are in
front of you, and you've been sentenced to die for
your faith, how did you not give up hope? And
(32:40):
she looked at me with a peace that I'll never forget,
and she just said Jesus was with me. And I mean,
it was powerful, incredible. But I think this illustrates how
anti Semitism is a poison that ends up poisoning every
other view. So now Tucker is running her around defending Hamas,
(33:01):
defending Book of Haram, saying well, I don't know that
Nigerians or Christians are being killed in Nigeria, and why
does anyone care about that. And apparently Tucker is only
interested in atrocities if he can blame them on Israel,
and since it's not Israel that's killing Christians in Nigeria,
it's not a concern for him. Look, I think we
should defend Christians when they're being persecuted. I think we
(33:24):
should defend Jews when they're being persecuted. I think we
should stand up and and and and make a difference.
Now that doesn't mean that we invade every country in
which there's injustice, but it does mean we use our
voice as a voice to stand up for those. And look,
as you know, my dad was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba,
(33:47):
and so I have a particular heart for for people
who are unjustly detained uh and and have spent a
long time highlighting and and doing everything we can to
get people out of unjust attentions, whether in in Sudan
or China or Lebanon or anywhere. And I'm very glad
(34:12):
President Trump is standing up for the Christians in Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senter
ted Cruz ben ferguson whether you don't forget to deal
with my podcast and you can listen to my podcasts
every other day you're not listening to Verdict, or each
day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts,
and we will see you back here on Monday morning.
Welcome in his verdict with Ted Cruz, we can review
Ben Ferguson with you. And here are the big stories
that you may have missed that we talked about this week.
First up, Michelle Obama going scorched earth on Americans. She says,
it's your fault that a woman hasn't become president, and
that also means she's not gonna grace you as a
(00:21):
candidate because you don't deserve her. We'll have that in
a moment. Also, there is a big gambling issue that
has come to light with game fixing or prop bet
fixing in major sports. So now what does it mean
for Congress getting involved. We'll have that for you as well.
And finally, Christian persecution Nigeria. It is a real problem
(00:45):
and it's time that we all sound the alarm and
we'll let you know what you can do to get involved.
It's the weekend review and it starts right now. Yeah.
And if you think that, by the way, that the
only ones that are discontent right now, you would be wrong.
Let's move to Missie Czell Obama. She has come out
and basically said I will not grace you with my
(01:05):
presence as a president of the United States of America.
You don't deserve me because there's too many massagests out there,
and I'm not gonna give you my candidacy.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, she was asked whether or not she would run
for president. Her response was, as we saw in this
past election, sadly, we ain't ready. That's why I'm like,
don't even look at me about running, because you all
are lying you're not ready for a woman. You are not.
And she says, you know, we've got a lot of
growing up to do. And there's still, sadly, a lot
(01:40):
of men who do not feel like they can be
led by a woman. And we saw it what utter
and complete nonsense by the way Joe Biden was getting
his ass kicked. Now, I understand the Democrats can't tell
the difference between a man and a woman. So maybe
Michelle Obama, a woman, is right that thinks that Joe
Biden is a woman. But Trump was winning when Biden
was the nominee. Trump was winning when Missie Tell Obama
(02:00):
was the nominee. Trump was winning a because the Biden
Harris Democrat agenda was a train wreck that hurt the
American people, and b because the American people wanted president
Trump back in the Oval office here, I want you
to give a listen to exactly what Michelle Obama said,
Give a listen.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Do you think that that impacts the room that we've
made for a woman to be president?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, as we saw in this past election, sadly, we
ain't ready. That's why I'm like, don't even look at
me about running, because you all are lying you're not
ready for a woman. You are not, So don't waste
my time. You know, we got a lot of growing
up to do. And there's still, I'm sadly a lot
(02:43):
of men who do not feel like they can be
led by a woman. And we saw it.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
What was the question I just said, so we don't
need to ask it again. You answered it. I mean
you would say that and the room goes wild with women.
It was clearly a female audience that she's talking with there.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
It was also a feminine man. Don't don't don't forget.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh that's true. We can't as I mean.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
This is this is the Democrat Party.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yes, we can't assume from the high pitchedness of the
screams in the room that it was actually when it
could women, it could be people that identify as a woman.
That's true, valid point. I apologize.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
When you have a male who's taking estrogen and like
wearing a tight strap to like tuck in, they have
pretty high squeals.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Well you know, they jape during the holidays and shavit
target get those tucking swimsuits for them, right, And half
of them used to work at the White House anyway,
so there's always that as well. When I heard that.
When I heard that, I laughed because I thought it
was so funny. One, I don't think there's a bunch
of people that are wanting her to run run right
now for president. Her best shout at it would have
(03:52):
been a coronation like we had with with with Kamala
Harris that obviously didn't happen. But she's like, you basically
don't deserve me. That is the weirdest Jedi mind trick
political thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, look, it's just arrogance, and you're right, had she
wanted to do it, they would have handed it to
her instead of Kamala Harris. And you and I talked
about this a lot on this podcast. By the way,
this podcast predicted more than a year before the Democrat
Party pulled the rug out from under Joe Biden. We
predicted on Verdict. Regular listens to Verdict. No, we regularly
(04:25):
make predictions. We make predictions that frankly are risky, that
are out there, and the overwhelming majority of the predictions
we make on this podcast have come true. When you
and I said a year before Joe Biden was yanked
unceremoniously off the ticket, that Biden would be pulled off
the ticket, you and I, and by that I mainly
(04:47):
mean me. I was mocked mercilessly.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Hold on, I agreed with you at the time. Get
me a little bit, then come on.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
No, no, you did agree with me, but they didn't
make fun of The press went after me and says
Cruise is a moon bat numbskull. I think they kind
of bake into the cake that you're moon bat numbskull.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So do I do host this show with you? So
there's that, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, it's guilt by association. Sorry about that, But like
literally the corporate media went crazy. They had episodes mocking me.
What a crazy thing for Cruz to say Biden's not
going to be the nominee. Obviously, anyone with any sense
at all knows he's going to be the nominee. Well,
we were right, and if Michelle Obama had wanted it,
(05:32):
she would have been the nominee. Last time we predicted
that as well. She didn't want it, but the dripping
arrogance of her you know, you listen to her comments.
The American people have a lot of growing up to do. Yeah,
like the absolute condescension. You people are too immature to
elect my magnificence. Why not because my ideas are terrible,
(05:55):
Not because the Democrat ideas are horrible and have resulted
in open borders of results in people being murdered and
women being raped and children being assaulted. Not because we
had rampant inflation. Not because Joe Biden the Democrats caused
war all over the earth, turn peace and prosperity into
a war in Ukraine and October seventh and a war
in Gaza, you know, Not because every single thing we
(06:18):
touched turned to absolute garbage. No, no, no, no, That's not the
reason Kamala Harris lost resoundingly. The reason, according to the
leftist ideology, is you all are bigots and your racist
and your sexist, and that's the only possible reason. And
I got to say that contemptuous condescension is one of
(06:40):
the worst characteristics of the Democrat Party today, but it
also does indicate this is not a party that is reassessing.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You know, normally, we got to lose.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
An election, and you lose an election badly. At least
some people with sense in the party go, huh, I
wonder why the voters rejected what we say. Maybe we
should change, you know, you think back to in nineteen
eighty Reagan was elected. In eighty four, Reagan was re
elected one forty nine out of fifty states, came within
a few thousand votes of winning every single state in
(07:12):
the Union. Reagan won California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, every
state but Minnesota. Nineteen eighty eight, George Herbert Walker Bush
was elected, and after losing three consecutive presidential races, Democrats said, huh,
maybe nominating Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale and Michael Ducaucus
was a bad idea. Maybe crazy left wing loons do
(07:36):
not command a majority in an American What did they do?
They pivoted, They moved dramatically towards the center, and they
nominated what was then a moderate to conservative Democrat, the
governor of Arkansas named Bill Clinton, and Bill Clinton won
two consecutive elections because they shifted. You know what, I
don't see any Democrats doing that right now. I don't
see them looking and saying, why did we get clobbered?
(07:58):
Why did did win all seven of the swing states.
I don't see Democrats saying that at all, and Michelle
Obama saying, you people are a bunch of biggots and
sexists and you just need to grow up. You know
what I'm saying, Whoever the Democrat nominee is in twenty eight,
please make Michelle Obama your spokesperson because we really need
her lecturing the American people how much the voters suck,
(08:22):
because you know that historically has proved such an effective
way to campaign.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Now, if you want to hear the rest of this conversation,
you can go back and listen to the full podcast
from earlier this week. Now onto story number two, I
want to move to another issue, and that is sports gambling.
This is a issue I just genuinely this is like
my TMZ, my soap opera. I'm loving watching the corruption
(08:50):
slowly unfold before our very eyes. I say that because
I'm a sports fan. You are as well, we've gone
to games together, we've got to playoff games, and I've
noticed and I've got friends that are that literally play
pro sports and they will watch games and they'll textbo,
that's not normal. That was weird. The end of that
game was strange. Look at the points spread, what the game,
(09:12):
what the gambling line was here? Look at the over under.
I mean, I have friends are in these sports and
they're like they even are like this is a red flag,
Like this doesn't make sense. What just happened the last
two minutes of the game or the last four minutes
of that game. And now we're finding out we weren't crazy.
(09:32):
There's a lot of fixing that's going on now. It
may not be fixing the outcome of the winner and
the loser. And that's what people need to understand. The
caveat here. A lot of times this is like total
number of points that are going to be scored, yep,
the margin between the two teams. How much will want
to win by losing. It can even be as simple
as a certain player not hitting what they were projected
(09:53):
in points or three pointers or even free throws. And
you see these these anomalies, A weird things that happen
with an individual player or faking an injury so that
they make sure they don't finish the game. This was
happening in a widespread way among sports, and there were
people that were literally getting rich off it. It's called fixing.
(10:15):
It may not be fixing the game as in a score,
it's fixing aspects of the game that you can bet on.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Well, look, you and I are both big sports fans.
Sports is an amazing thing and brings people together and
gives you something to cheer for. It's powerful, it can unify.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah, it's so fun.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
But you know, look, unfortunately, as long as there's been sports,
there's been some risk of corruption in sports, and I
got to say the proliferation of betting on sports has
increased that risk. And it's not just betting. It's one
thing to bet that your team's gonna win or lose. Presumably,
if you're betting particularly that your team will win, the
incentives are aligned that all the members of the team
(10:52):
want to win. But you now have these prop bets
where you can bet on all sorts of different aspects
of the game, and that I think significantly increases the
risk of corruption because a prop bet an individual player
can can have really significant impact on the outcome of
that bet. And so we've seen there's an ongoing criminal
(11:12):
investigation involving the NBA, involving coaches and players fixing games,
and Major League Baseball as well. And so I'm chairman
of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Part
of the jurisdiction of the Commerce Committee is sports, both
college sports and pro sports. And so I've launched an
oversight investigation into into the problem of corruption and the
(11:36):
impact of prop bets in particular on sports. And so
I want to read to you a portion of I
sent a letter to Major League Baseball and and let
me just just read you a portion of it, because
the facts are really concerning. Here's what my letter said,
Dear mister Manfred, game fixing allegations are not new to baseball.
(11:56):
One hundred and five years ago, a Chicago grand jury
indicted a Chicago White Sox players for allegedly rigging the
nineteen nineteen World Series, labeled the Chicago Black Sox in
the press. The players were eventually acquitted by a Chicago jury,
even though some had earlier confessed, and all eight were
banned from baseball. For life. Major League Baseball and American
(12:20):
sports generally are facing a new integrity crisis. Last week,
prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an
indictment against two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians, accusing them
of rigging their own pitches to make a profit. That
indictment comes just a few weeks after prosecutors leveled similar
allegations against coaches and players in the NBA. Ranking member
(12:44):
Cantwell and I sent a letter to the NBA requesting
documents and information about that matter, and we now seek
information from Major League Baseball about how the league is
addressing alleged game manipulation and threats to baseball's integrity. The
recent indictment alleges Cleveland Guardians played Immanuel Clay and Luis
Ortiz purposely threw certain pitches.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
For balls or strikes yep.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Both players allegedly told friends of their plan and to
place prop bets beforehand. Clace allegedly even made some bets himself.
Perhaps most shockingly, this scheme lasted more than two years
before Major League Baseball found out. On May nineteenth, twenty
twenty three, Clay, pitching in relief against the New York
(13:31):
Mets allegedly informed friends he would throw a pitch faster
than ninety four point ninety five miles per hour. He did,
and his accomplices won twenty seven thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
I mean, can you just hit pause there for a second.
This sletter so people understand this is like making a
mockery of the game, but it's also just fixing the game,
where you're like, hey, I'm going to perform differently so
that my friends can get hooked up and make twenty
seven thousand dollars. There. It went on for years, and
it's not like this was like one person. Yeah, I
(14:04):
actually believe this is probably a lot more widespread than
we are being told. And part of that is I
think that Major League Baseball and others are going to
cover their ables. Is they want to make sure that
we don't realize just how bad it actually was or
is well.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And with individual players and prop bets, they have almost
total control over the outcome of that bet.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
And so look, the twenty seven thousand dollars is not
the worst part. Let me give you a few more
of the facts from the letter. Clace would go on
to blow a save opportunity as the Guardians lost ten
to nine and extra innings. In June twenty twenty three,
Clace flung a pitch into the dirt in two separate games,
well short of the strike zone. Well Cleveland fans were
(14:47):
shouting in frustration. Clace was apparently cashing in. In both games,
he allegedly sent texts notifying his friends that he would
throw balls. They placed prop bets on his pitches, winning
a combined ninety six thousand dollars unbelievable across other games
(15:09):
from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty five. Clays and
his accomplices are accused of winning at least four hundred
thousand dollars through fraudulent bets.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
I mean, that's a lot of money, folks. And that's
just one example that got busted. You got to wonder
how many others are out there, right, I mean, we've
seen what's interesting. I was reading an article the other day.
I was talking about there has been an uptick in
wild pitches. Yeah, because you can bet on that, and
there's they're just saying there is there is certain data
(15:41):
that has significantly changed since prop betting got introduced nationwide. Basically,
you know where everybody can bet on these things and
has grown and it's like that didn't happen for fifty
years of baseball before when we have data or thirty
years in football of data or whatever it may be.
And then all of a sudden they're like, Wow, this
is happening a lot more often. This is weird that
(16:04):
they would get worse at these anomalies when technology and
cameras and coaching has gotten so much better. You think
that would actually reduce the number of these unique moments
that happened in sports, And now we're finding out, Yeah,
it may not be unique at all.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well, and negative prop bets are one hundred percent within
the control of an individual player. So if you think
about it, if you or I were a major league pitcher,
we may not be able to win a bet that
my next pitch will be a strike because you might
try to throw a strike and fail. I could not
throw a major league strike. But you know what, you
and I could win a bet on that my metch
(16:42):
next pitch will be a ball, because as much like
I suck at baseball, but yet I can throw the
ball into the dirt, I'm quite confident I can pitch
a ball. I could pitch a ball one hundred percent
of the time with no deviation and some of the times,
and in this instance, you know, someone who good at
cheating would not pound it into the dirt. They would
(17:03):
just be a little bit outside the strike zone, so
you couldn't tell. It looks really obvious when you don't
even make it to home plate. But that problem. Look,
you were a Division one tennis player. I'm pretty sure
they didn't have a sure.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
I could double fault on command. I could hit a
ball long on command, one hundred percent of this to
the net on command. I could whiff at a ball
if that was a prop bet and make money off
of it. Yes, all of those things you can a hundred.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
By the way, I want our listeners to know, if
you also get in Ben's head and screw with him,
you can make him double fault even when he doesn't
want to. But that's a totally different He's an infinitely
better tennis player than I am. But I do have
a little bit of ability to taunt him, and if
he gets pissed enough that that that can happen.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Either that or you're going to get hit with the ball.
It's one of the two of the one of the
two is gonna happen one of the two, and that
would be a great prop bet. By the way, Okay,
there is that other.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
The sad thing is when Ben and I play tennis,
we usually play together, So if he's hitting me with
the ball, he's really doing it wrong. Because it's one
thing to hit your opponent. If you're hitting your teammate,
good god, you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
It's only when you get lacksaday'sical can you become a target.
It's just motivation. It's just a straight up motivation. There
final question on this, I've seen a lot of people
in sports journalists say, how do you fix this? If
it's not saying no more prop bets, right, you have
normal gambling on games, Like I don't know if you
(18:31):
can even fix this? Is that far out of control?
And is it the job of major league sports to
police their own or can they be trusted?
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Look, I think there need to be some steps taken
to fix this. I'm not sure exactly what those steps are,
and so I'm starting with sending letters to the NBA
in Major League Baseball because you've got scandals in both sports.
And listen, as you know, I'm a die hard Rockets fan.
I'm a die hard Astros fan. By the way, did
you happen to see the Rockets last victory against Orlando? No?
Speaker 1 (19:02):
I did not. Was it Was it a beat down?
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Oh no, no, it was an overtime victory. It was spectacular. Look,
the Rockets actually were trailing almost the entire regular season,
and I DVR every Rockets game and so I watched
this actually.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Way, by the way, you haven't mentioned my almost rebels
in a few weeks, and I just want everybody to know.
That's because we're winning and we're now, what is it
ten and one? I think that's right. Just want to
throw that out there. Beat the Gators. Just now back
to your Rockets. But when my team loses one game
this year, there's two shows in a row that it
was brought up the other ten weeks. Not a peep
out of you. I just want to be clear about
(19:35):
that record. Keep going.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Look, I got to say, as a Texan and beating
the Gators, I'm kind of like, that's that's that's interesting.
That's it's one of my favorite images. When when Florida
played a and M I tweeted out there was a
giant barbecue truck in College station that had I think
five seven foot gators on a rotisseri rotating around being cooked.
(19:57):
So so, okay, fine, I'm going to you know, you
guys beat the game.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
That's fine, thank you, Thank you for that moral support there.
I felt that. I felt that tonight.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I'm just saying that the Rockets win against Orlando was
really sweet because we were not playing great during the
whole of the game and then it was this huge comeback.
And Katie, I'm going to say right now, I think
the Rockets can win the whole damn thing.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Oh that's an early season prediction right there.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Now, look, most seasons, I think the Rockets can win
it all. But listen, last season, we.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
Got at it the way you just said it with me.
With me, like's there's hoping and then there's like the
real possibility. So you think they're the real deal this year.
I really do.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
They've got a ton of young talent. They're really good.
Our problem last season is we didn't have a closer.
We didn't have someone who in the last two minutes
of the fourth quarter you could give the ball to
and he could bring it home. And Katie, I mean Look,
he's one of the greatest players in history. And in
the game against Orlando, I mean it was you want
to talk about cold, he hit two three pointers that
(21:00):
were just devastating, and and and you had scheng Don,
who's who's a great center who played a great game
as well.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
But butt on that over time. By the way, I'm
just curious, because you're really into this right now.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
I didn't. I just had great joy. And as I said,
I DVR the games and I watch them typically late
at night at the end of the day. But anyway,
my point is it's one thing. And I will say
I like to I like to play poker, but but
I've never been in sports betting, so so so among
vices that that is not one that that has impacted me.
But I get you know, I'll put five bucks in
(21:35):
a March Madness pool, and I'm gonna say my picks
are almost always wrong, so I don't know that I've
ever won a March Madness pool, but I'll throw in
my five.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
You're what we referred to as a charity bracket, and
we appreciate your service to the charity community.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Okay, so I actually I just pick a homer thing
I picked Texas teams. I tick teams I like, and
I'm just like, I'm gonna go with I think my
final four year or two ago was I think three
Texas teams in the final four.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Yeah, worked out too well for you. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Yeah, excuse me, did ole miss when the turn?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
We do football very well, sir, We do football very well.
We win natties and golf, baseball and tennis. I'm just yeah,
I know where I am, I know where we live.
Basketball is not there yet. I'm okay with that, but
I don't pick them to go to the final four.
That I can promise you.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah. So look on the question of gambling, and by
the way, you got pro sports, but I'm also concerned
about college sports, and in any ways, with such a proliferation.
You know, you look at a small school with a
game that's not in the headlines, and an individual player there,
you know you may have It's one thing for you know,
(22:44):
am I that worried about massive superstars making millions or
tens of millions of dollars of being corrupted? Well, yes,
because we're seeing this in the NBA and Major League Baseball.
But the incentive is less than some you know, nineteen
year old kid playing at podunk school, Boule who has
a chance to make ten grand fixing the game. And
(23:06):
so I think that is a real challenge. I think
the leagues can maybe take some steps about it, but
it would not surprise me to see Congress act. And
it's one of the reasons I'm just trying to start
with saying, Okay, tell me the facts of how many
allegations you're getting of cheating. What are the facts you know?
Tell me what you know, and then, particularly the more
(23:27):
serious the problem is. My hope is we may see
Congress acting a bipartisan way to fix it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
As before. If you want to hear the rest of
this conversation on this topic, you can go back and
dow the podcast from earlier this week to hear the
entire thing. I want to get back to the big
story number three of the week you may have missed, Senator.
One of the reasons why you do this show and
why I love co hosting it with you, is we
get to talk about issues that are not getting the
(23:53):
attention they deserve. One of those right now is the
persecution of Christians Nigeria. It is shocking what is happening there.
And I just came back from Israel. We haven't got
to talk about that as much as we thought because
the government shut down and we're going to get to that.
But one of the things that you see when you
see that people are under attacked because their faith, and
I witnessed it going into the kibbutz, into the homes
(24:16):
of those that were killed, including that nine month old child.
When I met with the parents who lost their loved
ones on that soccer fill as their kids were just
playing soccer. When I went to the north and I
saw the homes that were destroyed and met with people
whose lives were destroyed by Hamas there and you witness
this type of persecution and death and destruction, and went
(24:37):
to the site of where the music festival was and
watch people die just because they were Jews. It makes
me angry to now see what's happening in Nigeria. You're
shining a lot on that. The White House is doing
that as well, and the American people need to know
what's going on.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, listen, radical Islamic terrorists, they hate Christians and they
hate Jews, and they have murdered vast numbers of Christians,
they had murdered vast number of Jews. They continue to
do so, and they also murder a significant number of Muslims.
Radical Islamic terrorists. If you don't embrace their radical jihadist view,
(25:13):
their ideology justifies violence or even murder to force you
to submit. And the thirteen years I've been in the Senate,
I've spent a lot of time fighting for persecuted Christians,
fighting for persecuted Christians all across the globe, especially those
being persecuted by radical Islamic terrorists. Bokoha Ram that is
in Nigeria is a vicious radical Islamic terrorist group. And
(25:38):
if you look at there is no country on planet
Earth where more Christians have been murdered in the last
twenty years than Nigeria. Since two thousand and nine, more
than fifty thousand Christians have been murdered in the country
of Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
I mean literally, these Christians are being hunted down.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah, they absolutely are are. Over twenty thousand Christian churches
and schools have been burned to the ground or otherwise destroyed.
I mean that this has been mass murder and it
is horrific, and so I filed legislation in the Senate
to direct the administration to designate Nigeria Country of Particular
(26:19):
Concern and to impose in particular sanctions on the government officials,
because there are many government officials who are acquiescing in
this mass murder against Christians, and so my legislation would
impose sanctions on particular government officials. That there are twelve
states in the North where Sharia laws or blasphemy laws
(26:40):
are enforced. There's also federal Sharia and blasphemy laws that
are enforced, and the government officials use those laws to
discriminate against and to persecute Christians. In some instances, they
simply just turn a blind eye as Bokoharam and other
radical Islamic terrorists murder Christians. In other instances, they actually
use use the law to facilitate the persecution. But after
(27:04):
I filed the legislation and I began pressing the administration
to designate Nigeria's a Country a Particular Concern, President Trump
did so and he sent out a tweet. Here's what
his tweet says. It says Christianity is facing an existential
threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed radical
Islamist are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby
(27:28):
making Nigeria a country a particular concern, but that is
the least of it. When Christians or any such group
is slaughtered like is happening in Nigeria thirty one hundred
Verses four four hundred and seventy six worldwide, something must
be done. I am asking Congressman Riley Moore, together with
(27:49):
Chairman Tom Cole and the House Appropriations Committee, to immediately
look into this matter and report back to me. The
United States cannot stand by while such atrocities are happening
in Nigeria and numerous other countries. We stand ready, willing
and able to save our great Christian population around the world.
(28:09):
Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, that was
exactly the right thing to do. I saw President Trump
shortly after he issued that designation and I thanked him.
I said, it really makes a difference. It's the right
thing to do. He was happy to do it. And
I'll tell you the government in Nigeria is deeply dismayed.
(28:30):
And their response, their main defense they say, well, they
argue it's not a genocide. And what they say is well, yes,
fifty thousand Christians have been killed, but you know what,
Buko Haram has also killed Muslims, so it's all fine. Well,
it is true they have killed Muslims. Nobody's disputing that
they've killed Muslims as well. But radical Islamic terrorists target
(28:52):
Christians in particular for persecution, and the government is complicit
in that persecution. That's what this is designed to address.
And you know, I got to say, you and I
have talked about before that those who hate Jews hate Christians,
and those who hate Israel hate America. That that is true.
(29:15):
We've also talked about rising anti Semitism, and we've talked
quite a bit about Tucker Carlson because I think Tucker
has unfortunately gone down a very very dark path, a
path where he brings on Hitler, praising nutjobs onto his
show over and over and over again. But it also
results not only does he attack Israel at almost every
(29:37):
show he does, but when you go on the path
of hating Israel and blame everything on the Jews, that
often that same dark path leads you to embrace the
enemies of America. So Tucker has said we should apply
apologize to the family of Osama bin Laden no, no,
we should not. Tucker has said he doesn't know that
(29:59):
Hamam is a terrorist organization. They might just be a
political group. I'm sorry, but when you murder twelve hundred
innocent civilians and rape women and children, you are most
definitely a terrorist group. And Hamas has killed a great
many Americans. But it really was striking. Just recently, Tucker
did a show where he talked about Nigerians and he
(30:20):
disputed that Christians in Nigeria are being persecuted. I want
you want you to give a listen because he took
the chance to basically defend Boko Haram. Give a listen.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
But he's all of a sudden, kind of out of nowhere,
deeply concerned with the play of Christians in Nigeria, which
I want to restate maybe a tolly all concerned now,
But that's weird. What is that, all of a sudden,
everybody's cocern about people who clearly have no track record
being interested in Chritians at all, including San Cruz. What
is going on?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
That to me was pretty unhinged.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Senator, Look, I gotta say, listen. I understand that Tucker's
told the world there's no one he hates more than
Christian Zionists, and he singled out me and Mike Huckabee
as the people he hates the most in the world.
But that's truly a bizarre claim what he says there,
which is that I have no interest in defending persecuted Christians.
(31:09):
I've literally spent thirteen years doing that. You know, I
might ask Tucker that does he have any idea who
Miriam Ibrahim is? And I suspect he doesn't. So Mariam
Ibrahim was a Christian woman in Soudan, and she was
imprisoned and she was sentenced to receive one hundred lashes
and then to hang by the neck until dead for
(31:31):
the crime of being a Christian. And this was during
Barack Obama's presidency. This was early in my time in
the Senate. And I spoke out vocally for Miriam Ibrahim.
And she had two little kids. She had a son
named Martin, and she actually gave birth to a daughter, Maya,
while she was in leg irons. And I'll tell you,
I repeatedly practically begged the Obama administration for President Obama
(31:55):
to just say her name. He would not do it.
He never once said her name. I went to the
Senate floor, I gave floor speeches. I shined a light,
and globally many the pope got involved shining a light
defending her, and the pressure became so great Soudan released
her and Ben, I'll tell you it's an amazing thing.
I actually got to meet Mary Abraheim when she came
(32:17):
to Washington, and I asked her. She was a little
bitty woman. She's not very very tall, maybe five to one.
She couldn't have weighed more than one hundred pounds. And
I asked her. I said, Maryam, tell me, when you
were in that prison cell and your babies are in
front of you, and you've been sentenced to die for
your faith, how did you not give up hope? And
(32:40):
she looked at me with a peace that I'll never forget,
and she just said Jesus was with me. And I mean,
it was powerful, incredible. But I think this illustrates how
anti Semitism is a poison that ends up poisoning every
other view. So now Tucker is running her around defending Hamas,
(33:01):
defending Book of Haram, saying well, I don't know that
Nigerians or Christians are being killed in Nigeria, and why
does anyone care about that. And apparently Tucker is only
interested in atrocities if he can blame them on Israel,
and since it's not Israel that's killing Christians in Nigeria,
it's not a concern for him. Look, I think we
should defend Christians when they're being persecuted. I think we
(33:24):
should defend Jews when they're being persecuted. I think we
should stand up and and and and make a difference.
Now that doesn't mean that we invade every country in
which there's injustice, but it does mean we use our
voice as a voice to stand up for those. And look,
as you know, my dad was imprisoned and tortured in Cuba,
(33:47):
and so I have a particular heart for for people
who are unjustly detained uh and and have spent a
long time highlighting and and doing everything we can to
get people out of unjust attentions, whether in in Sudan
or China or Lebanon or anywhere. And I'm very glad
(34:12):
President Trump is standing up for the Christians in Nigeria.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
As always, thank you for listening to Verdict with Senter
ted Cruz ben ferguson whether you don't forget to deal
with my podcast and you can listen to my podcasts
every other day you're not listening to Verdict, or each
day when you listen to Verdict. Afterwards, I'd love to
have you as a listener to again the Ben Ferguson podcasts,
and we will see you back here on Monday morning.
Host
Ben Ferguson
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