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S15 EP150: Hour 2 - Why COVID Broke Trust In Everything

Episode length: 37m

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent goes live to open the sanctions campaign against Iran, with OFAC hitting more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels, new sectoral determinations on digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping, a promise that every branch of Bank Melli goes dark, and a hint that a major financial institution gets sanctioned by the end of the week. Erick Erickson translates it (the UAE and Dubai have already cut Iran off, and China will tell us to pound sand), then laughs at the San Diego City Council opening its meeting with a Kumeyaay Nation land acknowledgment and takes a caller from Dayton, Ohio on Canada, Ohio HR 194, and a Charter of Rights whose freedoms are subject to "reasonable limits." The hour's centerpiece is a full accounting of why Americans no longer trust the people asking them to accept Flock cameras and data centers, told through sand dumped in skate parks, an arrested paddle boarder, and five years of experts who lied.

  • Scott Bessent's live Treasury press conference: secondary sanctions, OFAC sanctioning more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels, Bank Melli shuttered, a deliberate cure period rather than an immediate hammer, and a hint at a big bank by week's end
  • Why the UAE and Dubai closing the Iranian crypto and oil laundering route matters, why Erick Erickson expects China to refuse, and Bessent's swipe at Mark Carney when a reporter asked about Canada
  • The San Diego City Council's Kumeyaay Nation land acknowledgment, plus Amanda in Dayton, Ohio on Ohio HR 194, the push to add Canada to the Religious Freedom Special Watch List, and pastors jailed under the Charter's "reasonable limits" clause
  • The trust monologue: San Clemente's sand-filled skate park, the arrested paddle boarder, unbolted basketball rims, Gavin Newsom at the French Laundry, Brian Kemp and The Atlantic's "experiment in human sacrifice," Chris and Andrew Cuomo, Daniel Uhlfelder's grim reaper, Rachel Maddow's vaccine promise, the Wuhan lab emails, and the Hunter Biden laptop
  • Why Erick still backs Flock cameras and data centers with restrictions and a facial recognition ban, why the 2000 Mules retraction and the Mark Andrews settlement prove character is not a partisan issue, and why Delta, Coca-Cola, Amazon, and JP Morgan taught Americans to fear AI
Host:
Erick Erickson