CBS News' Margaret Brennan might be stupid (02-17-2025--Hour3)

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[00:00:29] I often say that if you don't understand the outcome, reassess your assumptions, right? And so my assumption for a long time was that the people who are anchors, particularly at the major networks, that they are trying to do a good job and they're trying to pursue stories and they're trying to bring light to certain things.

[00:00:56] Yes, they have bias. But now I'm forced to reassess that assumption. Specifically with Margaret Brennan from CBS News dot com or not dot com. Well, I guess they'll probably just be a dot com at some point. But yeah, I assume that you get to the top anchor chair at one of the big three, you know, ABC, CBS and NBC that.

[00:01:25] That you're there for, you know, the reasons I outlined rather than to just. Get posterized. By. Every Republican that comes on your show. And apparently I was mistaken. This is what Margaret Brennan chooses to be. She wants to be. A meme. For. The right. That's the only like I cannot explain.

[00:01:55] How somebody can keep doing the things that she's doing repeatedly over and over again, unless, of course, she's just stupid. And like I'm trying not to make that assumption, but I will go back and reassess my assumptions if this persists. But right now I'm going with the she intentionally is trying to get clicks or something. So she wants to be. I say posterized. You know what that means?

[00:02:20] Posterized means it's like you've seen the famous pictures of basketball players when they dunk the ball. And there's always like some defender underneath them. That's just getting worked. You know, like somebody. Somebody's there to defend the goal. And a basketball player comes along and just dunk. So on top of them. And that guy underneath is like cringing and recoiling. And somebody's like jamming the ball.

[00:02:47] And it's just it's like, oh, you got posterized because then they take that picture and they turn it into the poster for the guy who's doing the dunking. Right. So it seems like Margaret Brennan is simply interested in being the person getting dunked on all the time because, man, she's been getting dunked on a lot over the last like what? Well, since November, because Margaret Brennan, you'll recall, she was one of the moderators at the vice presidential debate.

[00:03:09] She cut off J.D. Vance's microphone during that debate when he was fact checking, he was correcting something that either she or Walls had said. I forget. And she didn't want to hear it. So she cuts him off. And then that launches all of these dunks on her. So over the weekend, after J.D. Vance does the speech in Europe, and I covered all of that in the first two hours of the program.

[00:03:37] If you didn't listen, go back, get the podcast, thepeatpod.com. Go back and get the podcast and listen to the highlights of his speech where he's basically saying just essentially. Like you're elected to represent your citizens. You should not be censoring them because the things that they want or the things they are saying is of a different opinion than you. You shouldn't be trying to clamp down on them.

[00:04:02] Because, like, for example, they want to limit migration into their country. And you censoring that speech or I got a message here also from Chris because one of the other examples J.D. Vance mentioned was the free access zones. And the praying in the privacy of your own house in a free access zone could get you in legal trouble.

[00:04:31] And so Chris wants to know, do you happen to know why Scotland made such a draconian law as to punish somebody for engaging in silent prayer even in the privacy of their own home? So the free access zone is around abortion clinics. So imagine if you will, you live in a house and then right across the street opens up an abortion clinic. And then they map out an area around the abortion clinic to be a, quote, free access zone.

[00:05:00] And so you are now banned from praying silently in that zone. And so as a form of protest of abortion, right? Well, if I'm living in this house and you move in across the street from me and now I find myself in a free access zone, you're saying now I can no longer pray privately in my own home against abortion. First off, again, how would you even know that?

[00:05:25] Unless, of course, there's somebody in your family that's pro-abortion and they rat you out because they know you're anti-abortion. So they rat you out. Your roommate, teenager, because, man, teenagers. But, like, they would rat you out. And again, this is one of the hallmarks of every authoritarian society. Family members and neighbors reporting each other to the Stasi, to the secret police. That's where all of the tips came from. Well, the vast majority of them.

[00:05:55] It's one of the dirty secrets about these authoritarian regimes. So after Vance makes his speech, then you get the German defense minister, Boris Pistorius, gets up there and he's like, we have to defend democracy. You know, we let everybody speak, which isn't true. You don't. You employ social media censorship tools to prevent people from speaking because you don't allow them to say things that you think are, you know, destructive to the democracy.

[00:06:23] So then, against this backdrop, you've got CBS News, Margaret Brennan, over the weekend, she has on the program for an interview, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State. And she makes an argument. I must admit, I had never heard this argument before she articulated it. But then I went and looked into it. But here's here's the argument.

[00:06:51] She advances to Marco Rubio. Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide. And he met with the head of a political party that has far right views and some historic ties to extreme groups. The context of that was changing the tone of it.

[00:07:17] And you know that, that the censorship was specifically about the right. No, I have to disagree with you. Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were a sole and only party that governed that country. So that's not an accurate reflection of history.

[00:07:48] Correct. I never heard this argument that free speech led to the Nazis. Did you ever have you ever heard this? Apparently this is making the rounds on the left. That, yeah, I looked into it over the last 24 hours and sure enough, this is what the leftists are saying. And that's why Margaret Brennan advanced it. Is that somewhere, somebody sent out the talking points that actually the free speech allowed the Nazis to occur.

[00:08:19] And it's not true. Much like the, you know, the Second Amendment or I should say gun ownership issues in Germany. Same sort of, same sort of thing. Like the left doesn't know these, these historical points that the right does because the right has had to argue this stuff for darn near 40 years.

[00:08:45] And on the, well, on the gun control issue, which is like, you know, the Weimar Republic that preceded the Nazis. They were the ones that created the gun registration. They were the ones that made the lists because they wanted to keep them out of the hands of, well, Nazis, right? They were like, oh, we don't want anybody having guns. So, you know, let's make some lists of who has all the guns. And then, of course, the Nazis take over and they're like, oh, look at these lists. These are very helpful.

[00:09:12] We are going to go take all of these guns from people, right? Same thing with the free speech issue. They believe that, erroneously, that everybody had free speech. And that's why Hitler was able to rise to power. When in fact, the opposite is actually true. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain?

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[00:10:37] Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. CB.S.'s Margaret Brennan. So she makes this argument that, you know, the Nazis rose to power because of free speech. Again, I had never heard this dumbassery before, but I say, you know what, I got to take a look into it.

[00:11:07] Is that even true? I don't think it's true, but I kind of remember something about Hitler being elected with not even a majority of the votes because there were all these different parties and people and whatever. And so, like, he got, like, 30-something percent, and that's how he ended up getting in. And then, you know, him being an authoritarian dictator, like, that's – and then he went about, you know, murdering a bunch of people.

[00:11:30] Anyway, so I started looking into this theory, and there's actually a name for this. There's a name for what she espoused to Marco Rubio, which is the Weimar Fallacy. The Weimar Fallacy. And we have somebody who shall explain it for us. This is Nadine Strawson.

[00:11:54] She is a senior fellow at fire.org and a former ACLU president. If Germany had only had anti-hate speech laws and had censored the Nazi speech, Hitler would not have risen to power. The Holocaust would not have happened. Okay, that's the theory. This is from fire.org.

[00:12:20] Some experts refer to that theory as the Weimar Fallacy, referring to the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1933. And the word fallacy because it is, in fact, not true that there was free speech for hate speech, including Nazi speech, during the Weimar Republic. To the contrary. Uh-oh.

[00:12:46] Germany then had multiple laws that restricted hate speech, insulting speech, speech that advocated or might incite violence against various groups, including religious groups. Laws against defaming or insulting a religion, including the Jewish religion. And all of those laws were very strictly enforced. What?

[00:13:12] Including by the leading Jewish organization at the time. There was a very large organization, I think it's quite similar in concept to the Anti-Defamation League in the United States, that had offices all over Germany and made sure that all of these laws were regularly enforced through both criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits.

[00:13:34] And many of the leading Nazis were repeatedly prosecuted and convicted and even served prison times. There were court orders suppressing the publication of various Nazi newspapers. Pamphlets that were anti-Semitic were punished and were suppressed. Hitler himself was actually banned from public speaking for several years.

[00:14:03] We obviously know that despite the speech suppression, the punishment of speech, it was hardly effective in preventing the rise of Nazism. To the contrary, the Nazis themselves, as well as many historians, believe that the net impact of those laws censoring Nazi speech was to amplify their message,

[00:14:31] to give them attention that they otherwise would never have received, and to gain sympathy that they otherwise never would have received. This is a common phenomenon that provocateurs to this day seek to take advantage of, the so-called forbidden fruits phenomenon, that people become more interested in an idea or an expression when it gets the publicity of being subject to censorship.

[00:15:02] Well, now, Margaret Brennan is an idiot. Okay. No, she could just be misinformed. But you would think, before you go into this line of questioning, that you would ask whether it's true or not. Right? Or maybe she just relied on, like, maybe she's, you know, anchorman, Ron Burgundy kind of a character, where you just put something in front of her and she reads it.

[00:15:28] And maybe some producer, you know, all of 22 years old, saw it on a Reddit thread or something, and they're like, oh, yeah, this is it. Ask Rubio this. You know? That's possible, too. But, yeah, like, I could see how that would backfire, especially if you've got these Jewish organizations that are helping to shut down your speech. You then use that to say, see that? The Jews control the media.

[00:15:55] The Jews won't let me tell you how awful they are. Look at this. They're throwing me in jail. Right? So it's like the opposite of what Brennan said to Rubio. And good for Rubio for pushing back on her dumbassery. All right. If you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events. And I know you do, too. And you've probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with Ground News.

[00:16:24] It's an app, and it's a website, and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash Pete. I put the link in the podcast description, too. I started using Ground News a few months ago and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The Blindspot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right.

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[00:17:15] So we have established that CBS's Maggie or Margaret Brennan might be an idiot, but also she was wrong that Hitler did not rise to power because of free speech. In fact, there were all sorts of restrictions on free speech in the Weimar Republic, and that was actually helpful to the Nazis because they got to play victim.

[00:17:41] You know, they're being oppressed and suppressed, and they won't let you know the truth and all of that stuff. So that's the first thing. That's CBS News. And then last night, CBS runs their 60 Minutes magazine program. Does anybody even watch it? The only time I ever see anything from that show is when people are pulling clips to talk about how stupid they are or if it happens to come on because I haven't changed the station

[00:18:11] after an NFL show or a game. If I'm watching the Panthers and then like, you know, usually they've lost and I walk away at some point, usually, you know, around the third quarter. And then I come back in. It's like, oh man, what is this? 60 Minutes? Ah! You know, and then I turn it off. Last night, 60 Minutes, and I have the story right here.

[00:18:36] The headline is, Germany is prosecuting online trolls, which that to any legitimate media outfit that values freedom of speech and the free press, that should automatically give you pause.

[00:18:59] That should be sort of the bright red warning sign that something has gone awry in Germany, right? They're prosecuting online trolls. And it says, here's how the country is fighting hate speech on the Internet. Spoiler alert, it's not just, quote, hate speech. It's name calling too.

[00:19:26] So if you call, I learned a word, by the way. I learned a word. I don't want to mispronounce it because it's, oh yeah, here we go. A guy by the name of Grote. That's his name. And somebody sent out a tweet and they called him a Pimmel. P-I-M-M-E-L. Pimmel.

[00:19:55] And that is a German word for the male anatomy. So Grote got called a Pimmel and he was very mad. His complaint triggered a police raid and accusations of excessive censorship by the government. Well, accusations? Yes, that's censorship. If I can't call an elected official a Pimmel, I don't want to live in that society.

[00:20:24] I don't even know, like, I don't even know what Pimmel meant, you know? And it, like of all the things to call somebody, really. Like, it's not even, you're a Pimmel. It doesn't even land, you know? It doesn't have any kind of oomph, you know? And I want my insults to carry some weight. I want the weight of the word to land. To do maximum amount of damage, right?

[00:20:52] And Pimmel is just not getting it done, okay? Which would be a different kind of problem. But anyway, here is a clip from the 60 Minutes program. I don't know the, I think her name is Ashley or something. The reporter you're going to hear. And she's interviewing these three German prosecutors. None of whom are named Hitler, which was weird.

[00:21:16] But three prosecutors who are taught, listen to the way they talk about going after people. And the punishments that they are enforcing for simply saying things online that are hurtful, that are offensive. You offended somebody. It's illegal to display Nazi symbolism, a swastika, or deny the Holocaust. That's clear. Is it a crime to insult somebody in public? Yes. Yes, it is.

[00:21:45] And it's a crime to insult them online as well? Yes. The fine could be even higher if you insult someone in the Internet. Why? Because in Internet, it stays there. If we are talking here face-to-face, you insult me, I insult you, okay, finish. But if you're in the Internet, if I insult you or a politician... That sticks around forever. Yeah.

[00:22:08] The prosecutors explain German law also prohibits the spread of malicious gossip, violent threats, and fake quotes. If somebody posts something that's not true, and then somebody else reposts it or likes it, are they committing a crime? Yeah. In the case of reposting, it is a crime as well, because the reader can't distinguish whether you just invented this or just reposted it. That's the same for us.

[00:22:34] The punishment for breaking hate speech laws can include jail time for repeat offenders. But in most cases, a judge levies a stiff fine and sometimes keeps their devices. How do people react when you take their phones from them? They are shocked. It's a kind of punishment if you lose your smartphone. It's even worse than the fine you have to pay. Because your whole life is typically on your phone now.

[00:23:02] You can't access all your necessary data to conduct daily things. Isn't that a rip? Oh, my goodness. Guy Benson, Fox News contributor, he pointed out,

[00:23:33] They're laughing about it. Like, we've become so reliant to do everything in our lives on our phones. And so you take it because you called a politician a pimmel. And so a judge takes it and finds you. Like, one of the numbers I saw was like almost 4,000 euros.

[00:23:58] And if you repost, retweet, or like something that the German prosecutors think is too offensive or is false, then you can have your phone taken as well. Why would anybody engage in any kind of public discussion of anything? And, of course, that's kind of the point. It's to keep people scared so they don't participate in their self-government.

[00:24:27] And then, of course, you give preferential status to other people, protected people, privileged people, so they can say stuff. They can do marches. Right? They can do a whole bunch of things. And they're allowed to run wild. And that's why you're seeing the rise of these populist right-wing parties in Germany. It's the same dynamic, folks. And they will not learn from their previous mistakes in the Weimar Republic, apparently. All right.

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[00:25:52] Trust the experts at Create a Video, conveniently located in Mint Hill, right off I-485, and online at createavideo.com. Russ is asking, Pimmel, where aren't the left and media, but I repeat myself, who celebrate this kind of censorship just laughing and cheering? Is it a similar word on TV like a week ago, or is that different? Yes, that's different because Democrats did it. It's always different when they do it.

[00:26:21] Hey, these are the same people, think about it, that spread lies about J.D. Vance and a couch. Thought it was hilarious, right? And now they're over, highlighting how the German government will take your phone and fine you thousands of dollars if you call a politician a Pimmel. Can I say Pimmel on the FCC airway? I think I can. No, you don't think I can? It's just, no, it's an anatomical correct term. That's all.

[00:26:50] That's, hey, can we bleep that? Just to be safe. Steven Miller, a writer for The Spectator, he says, So on CBS News Today, in one single day, their lead Sunday morning show host claimed free speech led to a Holocaust in World War II, and then their most recognizable news program featured pandering interviews and an endorsement of German criminalization of speech laws.

[00:27:18] Also, this was all in service against a sitting vice president whom the same host, Margaret Brennan, during a nationally televised debate, cut the microphone while Vance was calmly debating an opposition party's border policy. He says, So I just hope everybody is pretty clear eyed on what is happening and what corporate media conglomerates are screaming at you in the face about what they think, believe, and will act on.

[00:27:48] Right? This is what we like to refer to as a clarifying moment. Very clear. Right? This is very clear what's going on. They're talking about, in positive terms, speech laws to imprison, to fine, to punish people for calling politicians anatomical parts. They think it's just fine.

[00:28:18] Dozens of police teams across Germany raided homes before dawn in a coordinated crackdown on a recent Tuesday. The state police were not looking for drugs or guns. They were looking for people suspected of posting hate speech online. As prosecutors explain it, the German Constitution protects free speech, but not hate speech. See, that's a different thing. And here's where it gets tricky, says 60 Minutes.

[00:28:44] German law prohibits speech that could incite hatred or is deemed insulting. You can't even insult people on social media, which I think that's the whole point for its existence. Perpetrators are sometimes surprised to learn that what they post online is illegal, according to Dr. Matthaus Fink, one of the state prosecutors. I think that's how he pronounces it.

[00:29:11] One of the state prosecutors tasked with policing Germany's robust hate speech laws. Authorities are prosecuting online trolls in an effort to protect discourse and democracy. You knew that was coming, right? Yeah, sorry, you can't call that politician a pimmel, because if you do, democracy dies. We're just protecting discourse, you see.

[00:29:37] It is a crime to publicly insult, or it can be a crime, to publicly insult somebody in Germany. The other two voices you heard on that clip, Svenja Mininghaus, or Mininghaus, something or other. Frank Michael Lau, whatever.

[00:29:59] In 2015, a video of a local politician named Walter Lubke went viral after he defended then-Chancellor Angela Merkel's progressive immigration policy. Lubke was fatally shot in the head after he made that speech. The video went viral, and he was murdered. Four years later, he was murdered. Four years. Okay, so that's the reason why they passed this law, supposedly.

[00:30:28] That's what, although the law was, sorry, it was a decades-old law, but it was then strengthened after this guy's murder in 2015, or 2019. Then, after a man with links to neo-Nazis was arrested in that case, Germany ramped up the creation of its online hate task forces. There are 16 units across the country. Lau, a career criminal prosecutor, leads the lower Saxony unit.

[00:30:58] Which works on around 3,500 cases a year. Nine investigators work out of the office. They get hundreds of tips a month from police, watchdog groups, and victims. His unit... This is the secret police, guys. Like, that's what this is. This is like the Stasi kind of thing. They have successfully prosecuted about 750 hate speech cases over the last four years.

[00:31:25] To build their cases, they scour social media and use public and government data. So they're just sitting there looking at Facebook all day. You've got 750 cases. You have... I don't even know how many... Hundreds of these people employed to just look at comments on Facebook. Which I think is probably... I think that was one of the layers of hell. Right? In Dante's Inferno. I think that was there. I'm pretty sure it was in the book. All right.

[00:31:54] That'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecalendershow.com. Again, thank you so much for listening. And don't break anything while I'm gone.