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To read more about Episode 232, visit the main episode page. 

Michael Moore [00:01:04] Hello, this is Rumble with Michael Moore. I’m Michael Moore. Welcome, everyone, to today’s podcast. It’s been a couple of pretty incredible weeks here with the war going on, and I’ll have something to say about that later. I’m going to play you something that was recorded in Odessa a while back. And I think that it’ll be a good thing for all of us to listen to. But on today’s episode, I’m going to do something that we’ve done a few times in the past, and I like doing this because I love the fact that so many of you send me a voicemail to my actual voicemail that’s hooked up to the podcast platform page here. And any of you can send me one any time. It only lasts a minute and I have to promise you that I will not be able to call you back, otherwise I would get nothing done. Nonetheless, I listen to every single voicemail just as I read every single email or comment that you post on Substack. So today we are going to have one of our special episodes where I play your voicemails, and we’re not going to be able to get to all of them, but we’ll do what we can do in a half hour’s time. So we’ll play the voicemail and if there is a question or comment, I’ll answer it here, live. And in advance I just want to thank all of you for leaving these voicemails for me so I can share them with the hundreds of thousands of other people that are on our Substack and who listen to Rumble. 

Michael Moore [00:02:43] Before we get started, let me first thank our first underwriter for this evening on this podcast. And that underwriter is Netflix — and not just Netflix, but a Netflix film which has more Academy Award nominations this year than any other film, 12 of them, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, just go down the list. And that movie is “The Power of the Dog.” And I want to tell you a little bit about it here. First of all, I’ve seen the film. I love the film. It’s very powerful. It’s a western set in Montana in 1925. This film is made by Jane Campion. I don’t want to give too much of it away, but it deals with, in many ways, a lot of the issues that we’re dealing with today in terms of gender. It’s a powerful movie, tells a great story, tells a story of the Old West that we really haven’t seen. That’s what makes it so fresh. Some of the time you’re just sitting on the edge of your seat because you really don’t know what’s going to happen, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be very good whatever is going to happen to certain characters in the film. I was riveted by it, and I’m so glad that Netflix decided to underwrite our show today with this powerful, incredible movie. And here’s the good news — if you missed it when it was in the theaters, it is on Netflix right now. So if you’re one of the 130 million households that have Netflix, which is quite a few in this country, and if you’re listening from another country, I think you’re going to have no problem finding this film. I encourage you to watch it. Jane Campion, again, the director, one of the few women that has won the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. And it stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Also, there’s a great cameo with Keith Carradine in this. So be sure and go to your Netflix account and watch “The Power of the Dog.” And if you don’t have one, this is one of the great reasons to have a Netflix account — to see these movies. You know, this kind of movie would never come to where I grew up in Flint, Michigan. This kind of great work of art. You know, we get the big, you know, blockbuster films. But much of America doesn’t get these little films. And thank God for Netflix that we get to watch these kinds of movies these days. So watch “The Power of the Dog,” and thanks again to Netflix for supporting my voice on this podcast. 

Michael Moore [00:05:32] I also want to talk to you about another underwriter that we have sponsoring our show today, and that is Moink. Moink, thank you for sticking with us here. We really appreciate it. That’s Moink. Did you know that just four companies control 80% of the U.S. meat industry — four. Four companies. Well, our underwriter here tonight, Moink, thinks that it doesn’t have to be this way. Moink — that’s moo plus oink, Moink — is a meat subscription company that is making a big difference, and it’s one that you can taste. Their animals are raised outdoors on grass with no growth hormones, no antibiotics. They’re not in these small confined buildings. There’s there’s no sketchy growing practices, just good old-fashioned farming methods. Moink was founded by an eighth generation farmer who made it her life’s mission to make farmers financially independent outside of big agriculture and its unfair pay rates for farmers. Moink brings grass-fed beef and lamb, pasteurized pork and chicken, and sustainable wild-caught Alaskan salmon right to your doorstep every month. You can cancel any time, there’s no commitment, but I think you won’t want to do that — assuming you’re an omnivore. I know the vegans are listening to this right now, my sisters are two of them. God bless you, all of you, for for doing that. Good for the planet, good for your health and all of that. But what’s good for this podcast is that we have a collective of farmers who have integrity, who have values, who care about the humans on this planet. And I can tell you from personal experience, once you eat their farm, fresh meat for the first time, you’ll realize that you’ve been missing out on what these big factory farms have been feeding you. And you’ll be happy to make the switch to Moink. I know I’m happy about it, and I know you will be, too. Let’s keep American farming going by signing up for Moinkbox.com/rumble. So that’s Moinkbox.com/rumble. Do it right now. Listeners of this podcast get a free filet mignon for a year. That’s one year of the best filet mignon you’ve ever tasted. But listen, this offer is only for a limited time here. For those of you who support Rumble, don’t forget it’s spelled Moinkbox.com/rumble. Moinkbox.com/rumble. Moink, thank you for supporting my voice and supporting the voices of those who participate in Rumble. 

Michael Moore [00:08:27] Okay, let’s get to our voicemails here from the last few months. We’ve picked 20 or so that we think provide a variety of your comments and feelings about guests we’ve had on the show, topics, me. We’ll try to play a little bit of everything here. And so why don’t we just get right to it? Let’s begin with our first voicemail. It comes from Robert in Hawaii. And let’s give a listen to what Robert has to say. 

Robert’s Voicemail [00:09:02] Michael, this is Robert from Big Island, Hawaii. Big fan, watched all your movies, listen to your podcast, and have great respect for all your work. Listen, I’m really concerned about this RFK Jr. book on Fauci. It’s gaining a lot of traction, and I feel that the claims that he’s making really need to be addressed in a thoughtful way. A lot of people are believing it. And it’s making me have some doubts about what’s going on. I’ve been triple vaxxed and I’m a very left-leaning liberal, but we need to know exactly what’s going on with these allegations from RFK. I know he’s a bit of a crackpot in some ways, and he’s an anti-vaxxer, but please address in a thoughtful way. Thanks much. Aloha. 

Michael Moore [00:09:55] Aloha to you, Robert. Listen, this has been very disturbing — RFK Jr. But it started before COVID. Years and years ago, he was one of the early and most famous anti-vaxxers. And we’re talking about the basic vaccinations that we’ve been giving our babies for the last 50-80 years. And he just decided at some point that all vaccinations essentially were bad that we were giving our children, and he made the claim that it was causing autism and all this other stuff. And he’s been thoroughly debunked by all kinds of scientists and doctors. And there’s, you know, much you can read — I’m not going to go into it now — on what’s been said about his claims. I have to say, what’s personally just very sad about this is that, you know, he has the name Robert Kennedy. If you read my book, my memoir of short stories from my life called “Here Comes Trouble,” there’s a story in there about how my parents took us to the Capitol in D.C. back when I was — geez, how old was I then? 11? 11 or 12, somewhere in there. I got lost. And so I pushed a button for an elevator and got in the elevator and the doors closed and the man reading the paper put the paper down. And it was Robert Kennedy, the senator from New York at the time. And he said, “Are you lost?” I said, “Yes, I’ve lost my parents.” And I can still kind of see myself with my lip quivering and tearing up a bit and not knowing what to do. And he said, “hey, no problem. We’re going to get off at the next floor here and I’m going to take you and get you some help.” And so he took me. This would have been, geez I don’t know what year is this? It would’ve been ’66, ’67? I don’t know, ’65? I don’t know. He took me to the place near the rotunda of the Capitol, where the Capitol Police were set up, said, “I have a young man here who is lost and can’t find his parents.” And they said, “Oh, Senator, no problem, we’ll take care of this and thank you.” And then he said, “I’ll hang out here a little bit just to make sure everything’s okay.” When I look back on this now, I’m thinking he had a hundred other things to do than to worry about me finding my parents. And we stood there and we talked. We talked about the things that were going on then. Look, it’s the mid-sixties, right? We talked about Michigan and Flint and just it was really wonderful. And then I could see my mom and my sisters coming and my cousin and so he said, “okay, everything’s okay here.” I think they were probably a little surprised that I was being cared for by the United States Senator from New York and the brother of our former president. So, you know, I’ve always had this sort of interesting connection to his father — to RFK Jr.’s father, Robert Kennedy, who he himself was assassinated a year or two later in 1968. And RFK Jr., Robert Kennedy Jr. here, his son, very early on did many things and was supportive of trying to fix our environment and whatever. But before long he was into this anti-vax thing. And when he went that way, what was really odd at the time, is how many of our so-called environmental leaders stayed with him, let him in, let him be part of — I remember there was a protest down in Columbus Circle here in, I don’t know when that was 2015, maybe? Somewhere in there. And there’s Bill McKibben, and all these environmental leaders there with him. And I remember thinking at the time, what are they doing with him? This is not good. And now with COVID, he’s just gone crazy. He’s accused Fauci of killing millions of people and just stuff I don’t even want to repeat. Now, I know some of you listening to this also don’t feel good about the vaccine, you know, and you have every right to not trust the government, not to trust the FDA, the CDC. There’s a lot of bad history there with their behavior. I get that. But we’re, right now, in the middle of trying to prevent… we’re almost at a million deaths in this country. It’s probably, if you had the real number, it’d be beyond that. But anybody, especially Robert Kennedy Jr, has whipped up so much fear and so much nonsense with people as to whether or not they should get vaccinated or vaccinate their children, it’s slowed us down. We should not be at this many deaths right now. We should not be at this many hospitalizations. Yes, it’s gotten a little better here in the last few weeks. Let’s hope it stays that way. But I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet. I don’t think anybody who’s smart about what’s going on thinks we’re out of the woods, and yet we’ve got people like RFK Jr. doing this. I believe 5 or 6 of his siblings have either written Op-eds or written open letters to the public saying, “do not listen to our brother.” I know that’s got to be very hard on them. And I feel bad for them. I feel bad for their mom — she’s still alive. That’s his mother, too. And it’s just got to be a painful way for her, in her elder years, to see the namesake of her deceased husband, her son who I’m sure she loves dearly, doing this. I don’t know, if anybody plays this for RFK Jr. — Come on, buddy. Come on, man. This is. This is not right. You should know it’s not right. Look at all the lives that have been saved. Don’t be the cause of even one person dying or getting long haul COVID where they can’t taste or smell anything for the rest of their lives. Don’t be the one responsible for that, is what I’m saying. So that’s how I feel about that. And if you’re not vaccinated yet or if you haven’t gotten your booster, please do so. It’s clear the impact that this has had. And we’re very lucky for the scientists, the men and women who got this together, started working on it years ago. And as bad as it is, we have saved a lot of lives. 

Todd‘s Voicemail [00:17:26] What is the Critical Race Theory? Is it degrading white people? Just want to know some facts so they won’t be downgrading it. Can you give me a simplified statement of critical race theory? Appreciate you. 

Michael Moore [00:17:43] Okay, Todd. Thanks for asking. I’ll try to do that. Actually, I’m just going to refer to an article in Education Week. This has become part of the national discussion in the last year or so in a way that I think most people had never heard of it before. Anyways, it reads, “Critical Race Theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that race is a social construct and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something that is embedded in legal systems and policies and institutions throughout this country.” Well, I hope that explains the dictionary definition of this, but what’s happened here is that when you say, “does it degrade white people?” I think the way to look at that is, is that white people, some white people, a lot of white people have degraded black people, frankly, and have used this degradation to continue the racist attitudes that we still have in this country. And so a lot of people across the country, especially since the murder of George Floyd, have been trying to make sure that their local schools teach not something they don’t really know what this is, Critical Race Theory, but to teach the fact that we have a racial history in this country. And our students, our young people need to know about it, learn about it, and we need to become better people so that we do not participate in this kind of racism any longer. And that has driven literally millions of white people crazy. And they have packed school board meetings across the country demanding that Critical Race Theory not be taught – wanting to take things out of the history books about the lynching of black Americans, the real reasons for slavery, the real reasons for the Civil War. All this nutty stuff and a lot of school boards being bullied, being afraid, have gone along with this so that our students, our young people not be taught about the true history of this country, a history that is a living history that exists to this day. So, you know, I encourage people to go to your school board meetings to stand up for telling the truth to our young people. And to quit trying to sweep under the rug the ugly truth of this country. You know, you can love America, and you can love the fact that you’re an American and you’re living here and you grew up here and all that and still acknowledge what’s wrong here. Why are we still dealing with this? White people, 65-66% of white men voted for Trump. 53% of white women voted for Trump. Yeah. We should talk about this, and our kids should hear that discussion. And you know, I’ve participated in donating to libraries certain books that have been recommended by numerous scholars. Books about race that our kids should read. I want to encourage you to do the same, and to do whatever you can in your local school district and to support teachers. Don’t let them be fired because they’re teaching the truth to our kids. You know, if we just sit back and do nothing, the haters will take over and that can’t happen. Thanks, Todd, for letting me have a say about that. Okay. Our next voicemail is from Elliot. Let’s give a listen. 

Elliot‘s Voicemail [00:21:42] I’m Michael. I’m disturbed by what happens when I Google “Planet of the Humans.” Every liberal outlet’s review sounds exactly like Bill McKibben, and any other interview in this film, such as on questions about biomass. There seems to be no internet digging that can connect me with more community that supports this film. This film is that important. The only people on this planet who really already understand these reduction concepts so clearly demonstrated in the movie are indigenous communities all around the world. How can we, as white people, lend our automatically powerful positions in the system to lift the screaming, yet often neo liberally muzzled voices up so they can be heard on these issues? They already know how to solve climate change. Settler colonialism must end in our hearts. You must adapt to coexist, not adapt to fit our addictions. Thank you, Michael. The truth will be told. 

Michael Moore [00:22:39] Wow, Elliot. Yes, the truth will be told. And it was told in Planet of the Humans. And that is why that film has over 20 million views already. People have told other people, “you’ve got to watch this movie.” And it has spread around the country and around the world. And our hat is off to Jeff Gibbs, the writer, director, producer of the film, and the other producer, Ozzie Zehner. And of course, I’m executive producer of the film and very proud of it. And so I’m going to say I have some things to say about our so-called environmental leaders, the ones that have become beholden to Wall Street, to corporations. There’s such a scam going on right now, we are never going to fix this problem. It shouldn’t be called climate change, it’s a catastrophe. That’s what it is. It’s an absolute catastrophe. And it’s not just about climate. There’s 5 or 6 other things that are all feeding into an extinction event that is taking place. And we have to recognize it as that. We’re 50 years beyond where we should be. 52 years now after the first Earth Day and these so-called environmental leaders — what have they done? It’s worse now. Worse. You know, and as I’ve said before, there is no other movement that is worse off than they were 50 years ago. Women are not worse off. There’s still not the equality and the things that need to be addressed are certainly not there yet, but what other movement could we say where the people are worse off? Our planet is what’s worse off. And I’m sorry that I haven’t jumped in sooner. And I started by just having a… I mean, actually I did start. I was there on the first Earth Day, number one. And I made a slideshow of the pollution in the Flint area that I went around and showed all these community groups and churches and unions and whatever — this is 1970. And I got my Eagle Scout for doing this community service. So I’ve been talking about this since I was a teenager,  but I was very proud to executive produce Jeff’s film. But I, you know, I was pretty quiet at the time. I just let these people that have sold us out have their say, because there are too many, too many other things that were going on there in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, and then George Floyd, etc.. But I have just been kind of biding my time and I am going to have something to say on this podcast in the month of April, and I’m going to share some things with all of you in terms of what I think we all need to do. We can’t wait around for this any longer. We we are on the precipice here. There is an edge to a cliff. We are on it. And we have been sold short by the people that say that they care about the planet and what they’ve cared about is hooking up with Wall Street, with big money, with big green, the fake green companies, you know? Oh, man, I’ve got a lot inside here that I’m going to share with you. But as far as this film the Elliot mentions, everybody, you can watch it on my YouTube channel. Michael Moore YouTube channel. And I encourage you to do so. It’s about an hour and 40 minutes. And if you haven’t seen it, it’ll blow your mind. And then we all, all of us, have to band together to fight, to save this planet, to save this species. We have no choice at this point. And the worst thing to do would be to continue to listen to the people that have taken us down the wrong road. So thank you for watching “Planet of the Humans.” Please share it with others. This was a 20 year work of love by Jeff Gibbs and Ozzie Zehner. And I can’t thank them enough for doing what they’ve done to help inform people on this planet about what we need to do. So thank you Elliot for that. Okay, our next voicemail is from Jacquelyn. 

Jacquelyn‘s Voicemail [00:27:45] Hello. It took this obscene effort to sneakily reverse Roe v Wade after half century, it took this for left wing people like you, Michael Moore, to start paying serious attention to the specter of reproductive rights being smashed and smashed and smashed. I have long told leftists, you’ve got to pay attention to this. But they didn’t. And now look at what has happened. So thank you for doing this. And thank you especially for listing the names of abortion clinics that people I hope will contribute to. We are going to have another underground railroad soon. Thank you. 

Michael Moore [00:28:42] This is a very bad moment we’re in regarding women’s rights and their reproductive rights, the rights to control their own bodies. Did I detect the Jacquelyn was a little mad at me too? Hmm. Well, let me just say this, Jacquelyn. I did not just become aware of this issue. When I was a teenager in high school, abortion was illegal in most states in the country. It made it legal in California and New York and there might have been a couple of others, but it was illegal in Michigan. And so a friend of mine, not somebody I was in a relationship with her, but just a good friend, became pregnant. And I tell the story again in my book of short stories, of nonfiction short stories. She didn’t want to have a baby at the age of 16. So I said, “Well, Buffalo, it’s not that long of a drive from here. I mean, I think we can probably get to Buffalo in, what, 4 or 5 hours? Let’s find a clinic in Buffalo.” And so, I won’t go into the whole story here, but basically, we made this plan to drive to Buffalo. You know, again, you’re trying to get around your parents when you’re 16 years old. They don’t know exactly want you driving to New York to get an abortion or to help somebody get an abortion. And eventually, because she couldn’t do that, she ended up in what was called back then a back alley abortion in Detroit. And she almost died. And it was awful. Just awful. And I was so upset. And I just decided at that point, at age 16, 17, that I was going to set up some kind of method to where, you know, we could drive people to Buffalo and make sure their parents didn’t know about it. And so we started this process. And then just before Roe v Wade happened, I and some friends, including Jeff Gibbs, who we just talked about — we go way back, in case you haven’t figured that out — we started a it was called a crisis intervention center at the time, a hotline center. And one of the things we did — we did a number of things, it was all run by essentially teenagers and young, early twenties — so we set up a runaway house for runaways where their parents wouldn’t know where they were. Because we were young, we knew that a vast number of kids who run away from home are not running away because they just want to live the life of a hobo on the rails, you know? They’re often running away from home because there’s some bad shit going on in that house. And no adult would ever consider that possibility back then at that time, 1971, ’72, ’73. But we understood it because they were the same people we went to school with. So we set up a runaway house. We set up a women’s shelter where, again, the husband or the boyfriend could not find out where they were. This is all young people doing this. This is again, we’re back in Flint, Michigan, in the early seventies. And it wasn’t just myself. I mean, I was doing this in conjunction with lots of other people. And then getting people to New York to get an abortion. So I’ve done this since, you know… I have done this since a time where I didn’t know what the guy’s name was — Proust or Proust. I mean, I had a year of college finally when I was 18, but I knew right from wrong. And I knew being in the Catholic Church how much women were relegated to second class citizens, and how the Catholic Church became the warriors to control women’s bodies, to stop choice. And any time I would ask one of these top Catholics, usually men in the community, “can you just point out in the Bible here, New Testament, where Jesus says abortion is a sin, where it’s wrong?” It doesn’t exist. They couldn’t do it. And I thought, as a kid at the time I’m just saying, “why are they so obsessed with abortion and stopping it?” Of course, it didn’t take long into my twenties where I was maybe a little more evolved and thinking, “well of course, having control over women is a serious and important factor of how we structure our society. If they start having control, if they start running the show, if they start being paid the same as men, the whole system that’s been set up as a patriarchy is going to crumble.” And I, by the age of 21 or 22, I guess I’d figured that out on my own. So I’ve been very involved in this. And when we set up the crisis intervention center, one of the main things we did was do everything from running private pregnancy tests — this was back before they had the kits in the drug store — pregnancy tests for teenagers in high school. They knew it was completely confidential, we’d never tell their parents, and if they needed to set up an abortion — this is before most states passed laws prohibiting teenagers from having a right to their own bodies – but we were very active in helping them, those who didn’t want to carry to term a baby, to take care of this, to help them take care of it. And that’s what we did. And I’ve fought for this and stood up for this my whole life, as I do to this day on this podcast and all the different episodes we’ve had, trying to get ready, trying to let our voices be heard for the Supreme Court, because by June or July, they are going to undo Roe v Wade. They are going to take away a basic right from the women of this country. And we have to raise holy hell, my friends, now. I know we’re focused on all this other stuff going on in the world and in this country. But this… This is a core value. All humans have the right to their own bodies and to determine what they are going to do with them. And there’s no equivocation. There’s no caveats to that. So, Jacquelyn, thanks for bringing this up. You probably weren’t following my work 20 years ago, which is perfectly okay, but I just want to let you know, this has been a top priority here on Rumble. It will continue to be. And we will do our part in helping lead the way to try to stop the Supreme Court in whatever way we can. Our next voicemail is from Theresita. Theresita, let’s listen to what you have to say. 

Theresita‘s Voicemail [00:36:15] Hello, Michael. My name is that is Theresita. There is so much I would love to say to you, but I’m going to have to keep it to one subject. And it’s about my daughter. I wanted to thank you for inspiring her. She and I watched your films during COVID, and it was just awe-ifying for her. I hope we get to go to your movie theater. It’s one of our dreams. This year has been tough. And so thank you for helping me not take it so personal. So keep on keeping on. Thank you very much. 

Michael Moore [00:36:56] Wow. Well, thank you for those kind words. Thank you for showing my movies to your daughter. I always love hearing that when parents share my work with the next generation and those of you who are listening to this, I encourage you to do that in any way that you can. It’s much, much appreciated. And as far as coming to my theater, I have two theaters, actually, that I set up a nonprofit organization for in the town I live in in northern Michigan. It’s called Traverse City, Michigan. People are welcome to come. We have rebuilt a 105-year-old movie palace that was left for dead. And myself and a bunch of people in the community not only put it back together, but put it back together in a way… and the old art deco look of it is just beautiful. And the Motion Picture Association of America in their magazine number of years ago listed it as the best place in the world to go and sit and watch a movie. It was such an honor. It was like — the Palais in Cannes is number four. So I guess that’s enough bragging about our movie theater, but if you’re ever in the Northern Michigan area, stop by and see us and I’d love to see you. We show great movies. We only show great movies. We don’t show crap. And we have beautiful picture, beautiful sound — something I’m very proud of. And we have a film festival every summer. We haven’t had it the last two summers because of COVID. We’re hoping we can have some form of the festival this summer, so stay tuned for that. But thank you for sharing my work with younger people. It truly, truly means a lot to me. Okay, let’s see. Our next voicemail is from Lila. 

Lila‘s Voicemail [00:38:59] Hi, Michael. I just listened to your discussion with Samuel Moyn and I am furious and disappointed. I do think that there are two political parties in this country, but it’s not Democrats and Republicans. It’s politicians who value profits over people, and politicians who value people over profits. And most Democrats and almost all Republicans value profits over people. That’s just the fact right now. And we need a coalition of the poor and the working class and the lower middle classes to assert their power through nonviolent protest. I really don’t see any other way forward at this point. The corporate Dems are not my party. And they failed us. So anyway, thanks as always. Have a good day.

Michael Moore [00:39:53] Okay, Lila, thank you for saying that. And first of all, don’t give up. I hear it in your voice. And listen, you’re not alone. Millions and millions of us around this country, we know what the score is here. But the so-called two parties, the two factions in this country are those who have the money, and those who don’t. Those who have to struggle week to week just to get by, and then those who have made off like bandits during this pandemic. And it always seems to be that they get their way. You know, the Republicans, they’re very obvious about their love of money and love of the money and politicians. But where are the Democrats half the time? They talk a good line. They promise us that we’re going to have the child tax credit, and we’re going to have universal health care and we’re going to do this or that or whatever, and then they don’t. And then they say, “well, we can’t because we’ve got these two Democrats that don’t want to support it.” Well, then what are we going to do about those two Democrats, or how are we going to get more Democrats in the United States Senate? Where is the work that needs to be done and who’s doing it? And they should be on top of the mountain shouting this out and organizing the majority of this country that wants all the things the Democrats say that they want, and yet… And yet, where is it? Where is it? You’re absolutely right about that. You know, as far as political parties, we’re such a large country, you know, and we’re and we have a broad spectrum of political ideas and thoughts. There should be probably five political parties in order to represent all different groups in this country. Maybe that’s what we’ll end up with. You really need a parliament to do that, though, don’t you? Not the kind of crazy government that our founders thought was a good idea because it wouldn’t be like the British. Well, this you know, not that the British had thought this out way in advance to be a good idea, but basically it’s a good idea to have everybody represented in parliament or in Congress, all viewpoints, all kinds of people. The diversity that should exist isn’t there. So, I mean, we said this many times, women are the majority gender, and yet they have only 26% of the seats in Congress. So how is it that the gender that’s 51, 52% of the population only holds 26% of the power? And that’s political power. Economic power? How many women CEOs are there? How many women run these, you know, Wall Street? I mean, it’s just… It’s a joke, and I agree with you. And we just have to keep fighting it. We have to keep working at it. And yes, sometimes we have to vote for Democrats because it’s the only way to stop the madness, the avalanche of hate that comes from the right wing and the Republicans. But at the same time, we have to change the way this is being done. It’s not just about oh, let’s get behind the Democrats. And then that’s it. And many Democrats will tell you that you are right to do that, to not just get behind the Democratic Party. You know, a lot of people, now we know the squad and others that are in Congress, they’ve seen firsthand why the Democratic Party is not necessarily out for what’s best for the American people. And that we oftentimes have to vote for them just so that, like I said, the avalanche doesn’t succumb all of us. And let’s go to our our next voicemail from Holly. 

Holly‘s Voicemail [00:43:50] Hi, Michael. This is Holly. I’m a nurse who lives in San Francisco now, although I am from Madison, Wisconsin, and went to school in Ann Arbor. I’m just calling… I listen to you always, all the time, and I’m a little bit concerned that the call that you had with a guy from Nicaragua who worked for Starbucks — I’m a little bit scared that you probably got him in trouble. I know you were very careful not to try to lure him into dissing Starbucks, but the things that he said on there are very, probably very controversial to a place like Starbucks. And also, I mean, they tape all their calls and you had him on the phone for a very long time. So I just wanted to say it was a cool thing, but I am concerned about him. I don’t know if there’s any way for you to check on that later, or possibly not. Anyway, thanks for what you do. Bye. 

Michael Moore [00:44:46] I’m so glad you brought this up. We, too, were very concerned about this. If you remember the episode I had on the union organizers from the Starbucks up in Buffalo, which has now expanded all across the country to so many workers at Starbucks who are signing union cards. And so we had the idea, why don’t we just call up Starbucks headquarters out there in Seattle and see if they’ll talk to me about why are they trying to interfere with the union organizing? And we called the number and it turned out to be picked up by a man with a Spanish accent. And I just happened to say to him, “You’re not in Seattle, are you?” He said, “No, I’m in I’m in Latin America.” And I said, “Where?” And he said, “Nicaragua.” And I said, “Oh, I’ve been there.” We start talking about that — very nice guy. And I told him why I was calling — I wanted to tell the management at Starbucks to kind of leave these workers alone, and if they want to form a union, let them form union. And then he started talking about the importance of free speech. And it was beautiful. The things that he said and the respect that he showed toward the workers. And in the editing, we made sure that we didn’t, you know, put his last name in there, obviously, and we did bring it down quite a bit. But I did leave it a little long because I thought, how often do you get to hear from just an average working person in Nicaragua in this country, one who’s working for one of our big corporations? And I tried to, as you heard, if you heard it, I was very careful because I did not want to get him in trouble. But nonetheless, we’ve been worried about him ever since. And so we’ve started a process here to find out, make sure he’s okay, that he’s still employed. He didn’t say anything against Starbucks in what he said. I think if they were smart, the fact that he was a person who supported democracy and free speech and being good to workers all sounded good if I were running Starbucks. But what we know now, what Starbucks has become… So I promise you this, we will get to the bottom of this to make sure that he’s still employed, that nothing happened to him. And if something bad did happen, then I’ll tell you that, too. But we’ll find out sometime in the next month or so. Hopefully, we’ll get some answers to this. It’s a very good question and one that has kept us up at night. So thank you for asking it and reminding us of the responsibility that we have. Let’s do one more right now. This has taken a lot longer than I thought it would, and we picked the best 24 that we thought was a good, diverse group of things. And we’re not going to get to that today on this episode, so why don’t we promise to do part two of this maybe next month? Because I want you to hear these other voicemails and I have answers to them and maybe there’s questions in there that some of you have had, and I’d love to answer them. So why don’t we just agree to we’ll pick back up on this. We’ve got one coming. We’re going to close from somebody from Boca Raton. Always a good way to end any episode. But don’t go away after that, because I want to play you something from Odessa in Ukraine. Our last voicemail of part one of Mike’s voicemail will come from Roberta of Boca Raton, Florida. 

Roberta‘s Voicemail [00:48:16] Hi, Michael. This is Roberta calling from Boca Raton, Florida. I just want to tell you that I love all your articles and I sent you a memo that we must get rid of the Senate as it is. We should have Senate representing population. I don’t care if California gets ten Senators and the whole upper part of the country gets one Senator. That’s the way it should be in a democracy — or else the Senate should be like the House of Lords in England. Irrelevant. Only representative government. How can we make that happen? You are doing your best. I am spreading the word among the people I know. I love your articles. Thank you. Keep them coming. 

Michael Moore [00:49:05] Well, Roberta. Thank you — it’s a great way to close. Thank you for what you said. And let me agree with you. The Senate is not an institution of any form of what we would call a democracy. They are non-representative of the people. The fact that Wyoming, with four or 500,000 people, gets two senators, and California with over 40 million people, gets two senators — that is not Democratic equal representation, pure and simple. It was a bad idea from the get go. In fact, as I’m sure you know the history of it, the American people never got to vote for their senators until the early 1900s. Before that, they were appointed either by the state legislature or, you know, one outgoing senator. I mean, it was never meant to be democratic. Yeah, we live in the 21st century now. It’s got to go. Either the whole Senate should go, and we should just have one house. The House that represents each member of the House of Representatives — represents about 770,000 Americans so that it’s equal. And the Senate is not that. And the fact that we don’t have these things that we need right now, from health care to child care to elder care to a living wage, just go down the list of all the things we would have if it wasn’t for the non-democratic, non-equal United States Senate. So, Roberta, I hear you loud and clear. I think a lot of people listening to this hear you loud and clear. This would probably require some form of a constitutional amendment, which is scary in its own way. But it never gets discussed. We haven’t talked about it really — maybe one episode we did. But we should make this one of our priorities: to reclaim our democracy, to strengthen our democracy, equal representation for all Americans. And more than 26% of the House and Senate represented by the majority gender. Come on, we look ridiculous. And I’m telling you, to history 100 years from now, if the planet survives, we’re going to look really ridiculous. Why did the majority gender hold so little power? So I’m all for this. And it’s a great way to end this version of our voicemail. But I want to come back because I’ve heard these other ones and I want to play them for you. So sometime in the next month, we’ll do that. But I want to get to something with Ukraine here just for the last few minutes. 

Michael Moore [00:51:54] And before we do that, I want to thank our final underwriter for today’s episode, Raycon. Spring is almost here and it’s a good time to shake things up in our lives, right? Well, no matter how much you shake things up, rest assured that Raycons will stay in your ear every step of the way. That’s right. The Raycon earbuds. People love them, I love them. And they don’t just have to stay in your ear. Raycon’s every-day earbuds look, feel and sound better than ever, with optimized gel tips for the perfect in-ear fit. These earbuds are so comfortable and they will not budge — even if you’re dancing around in your apartment, as I do every day. No, I’m serious though — I don’t know how you are with earbuds, but some of them, especially the ones that come with your phone, they don’t stay very well. But Raycons, they’re comfortable, they offer 8 hours of playtime, and a 32-hour battery life. And that’s all at half the price of the other premium audio brands. It’s no wonder that Raycon’s every-day earbuds have over 48,000 5-star reviews. So right now you can get 15% off your Raycon order by going to buyraycon.com/rumble. That’s buyraycon.com/rumble to save 15% on Raycons. They’re incredible earbuds. Buyraycon.com/rumble. 

Michael Moore [00:53:37] Well I want to say something about Ukraine and what’s happening. I, like you, have been very upset at what’s been going on. And I remain hopeful. I remain convinced that if you watch the video of Putin addressing his generals, the generals are caught looking at each other with that look when you look at somebody and you’re trying to communicate, “that guy’s crazy.” And I think — these generals cannot be liking this one single bit. The Ukrainians have slowed down the Russian advance. They are not going to give up. They’re going to have another guerrilla war like they have with Afghanistan. There’s no way to win this. And it’s just madness. And I feel so bad for the Ukrainian people. But I ran across something — actually was sent to me by the cousin of the musical director of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra. And Odessa, of course, is one of the main cities in Ukraine. And it’s a video of… essentially the Philharmonic decided to do a flashmob symphony in the main fish market in Odessa. And Odessa, as you know, is on the sea. And so a lot of fish markets. And so I’m going to put a link on my podcast page here if you want to watch the video part of this, or just hit the arrow here to listen to the beautiful audio. It’s beautiful. It’s haunting. This happened, I think, around 2015, right after the first Russian invasion in the last decade in Ukraine, where they seized the Crimea section of Ukraine. And so the Philharmonic decided to put on a flash mob concert for peace. And bit by bit, they just show up at the fish market with their instruments, with their cellos and their violins and the horns. And and you don’t quite know what’s happening at first because the place is packed. So like on a Saturday morning and everybody’s buying all the fish and they’re scraping fish and all this, and then all of a sudden you see somebody with an instrument, then you see a second person, and then all of a sudden a whole bunch of people are setting up in the middle of a fish market. And it looks like in the background a bunch of people we learn become the choir. To sing this piece of this Beethoven piece that they decided to perform for the people of Odessa. It’s beautiful. I thought it’d be a nice thing to share with you today amidst all the all the grief and all the sadness and fear people have. And to remember that art, art is always there to stand up for us, to fight for us, to fight for the truth, and to remind us of our humanity. So here we go. Let’s just play this, or you can watch it on the link here. The Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra in Odessa, Ukraine, some six or seven years ago. And on that note, I will bid you all goodnight and we’ll talk soon. Take care. This is Michael Moore. This is Rumble. Thank you to our executive producer, Basel Hamdan, our editor and sound engineer Nick Kwas, and our jack-of-all-trades, Donald Borenstein. And to all of you, thank you. Be well. Peace.