0:00

It's Wednesday, June 26th, and aid

0:02

to Gaza is barely staying afloat.

0:05

We start here. Amid

0:09

threats to shut down aid shipments,

0:11

America's floating pier is back open

0:13

for business. And we've now changed

0:15

into body armor instead of white preservers.

0:18

But is this pier trying to

0:20

break apart beneath your feet? Our

0:22

team got a waterfront tour. Meanwhile,

0:24

Israel tells its citizens, religion no

0:26

longer gets you out of the draft.

0:28

We prefer to die and not to go to

0:30

the army. Why this policy change

0:32

could be a political nightmare for Benjamin

0:35

Netanyahu. And this Pride Month, we're talking

0:37

to the trailblazers. We really have a

0:39

very boring life. I

0:42

don't think... Well, it's not that boring to me. It's not boring

0:44

to us. What we've learned 20

0:46

years after this country's first same-sex

0:49

marriages. From

0:52

ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm

0:54

Brad Milkey. There

1:01

have been several new developments in the Middle East over

1:03

the last 24 hours. Perhaps none

1:05

of them more important than this. As you

1:07

know, humanitarians, humanitarian

1:10

operations have repeatedly

1:13

been in the crosshairs in Gaza.

1:16

And the risks, frankly, are

1:18

becoming increasingly intolerable. Yesterday, reports

1:20

began circulating that the United

1:22

Nations is considering suspending aid

1:24

to Gaza, shutting down its

1:26

shipments of food and medicine.

1:29

Not because people there no longer need it, of course.

1:31

A report yesterday said half a million

1:33

are now at risk of famine, of

1:36

starvation. More than 96 percent

1:38

of Gazans are currently food insecure.

1:40

Another report says 20,000 children in

1:42

Gaza are now dead or missing

1:44

from their families. No, the reason

1:46

the UN might shut down their

1:49

aid is because their

1:51

own people can't be guaranteed safety.

1:53

In recent days, UN warehouses have been

1:56

caught in crossfires. UN-run schools have been

1:58

struck by Israel. amid suspicions that they're

2:00

used by Hamas. And when it's not

2:02

Israeli weapons, it's armed gunmen on the

2:05

ground holding up UN food trucks, taking

2:07

supplies for themselves. Of course, what would

2:09

make a difference here is more aid

2:11

getting into Gaza in the first place,

2:14

and big changes by Israel and Hamas

2:16

in how they operate. Well, there had

2:18

been developments in several of these areas,

2:20

and we've got multiple correspondents standing by

2:22

this morning. So, we're going to hit

2:25

a couple stories back to back. Let's

2:27

start with ABC's Chief Global Affairs correspondent

2:29

Martha Raddatz, who has just returned

2:31

from the floating pier. Remember that? Erected

2:34

by the U.S. military, basically broke apart

2:36

within days of being deployed. It's now

2:38

back online. And Martha, you

2:40

actually stood on this thing, right? Like, what is it like

2:42

out there and what's it like to get there? Well,

2:45

first of all, you travel from a

2:47

military base in Israel, and you're on

2:49

the water for about an hour in

2:51

a military boat on

2:54

pretty strong seas. And

2:57

suddenly what you see first is

3:00

the destruction in Gaza. We were

3:02

very close to Gaza. So, you

3:04

go along the coast, along the shore,

3:06

and suddenly you see

3:12

this floating pier, this

3:14

floating dock out of nowhere. As

3:16

we pull up to the floating

3:19

pier, and we've now changed into

3:21

body armor instead of light preservers.

3:23

But you see some smaller boats

3:25

around it. You see protection. You

3:28

see military officers

3:30

armed on that floating

3:32

pier. And it was a bit

3:34

smaller than I imagined and much,

3:37

much closer to Gaza than you get

3:39

a sense of. You're about 1,200 feet

3:43

away. There are no American boots on the

3:45

ground. They are not supposed to go on

3:47

shore, but they get

3:49

within about 50 feet of

3:52

shore. We have to stay on this

3:54

tritepyr. So, you can imagine the tritepyr

3:56

is touching the shoreline, but

3:58

we don't touch the shoreline. stay on the pier. Everywhere

4:01

you looked you could see the

4:03

destruction in Gaza. You could see

4:05

smoke rising from Gaza and buildings

4:08

that were just completely obliterated. As

4:13

soon as you step onto the

4:15

pier from the boat you are

4:17

rocking and rolling. Oh boy.

4:20

And the swells were by no means

4:22

as large as they've been in the

4:24

last couple of months. You

4:28

can hear this incredible clanging sound.

4:31

I think that surprised me more

4:33

than anything. It's like a massive

4:35

Lego set made of metal

4:37

and all of these parts are banging

4:40

into each other with every sea swell.

4:42

You guys are unbelievable that you're out

4:44

here all day. Unbelievable. I frankly had

4:46

a hard time standing up sometimes

4:49

because it was rocking and rolling

4:52

so much. So you get a

4:54

sense of how the pier broke apart.

4:56

So right now we're watching the weather. It

4:58

seems like it's bad right now. This is

5:00

actually very very good conditions. We're

5:02

watching the weather several days in advance and we

5:04

will pull this pier before it takes that kind

5:07

of damage again. They've closed down this

5:09

pier three times now. First

5:11

of all it was because it broke

5:13

apart and they had to repair it and that

5:15

was just about a week after they

5:17

started moving trucks off of it. That was

5:20

back in mid-may and then

5:22

they decided on their own that they

5:24

would remove parts of it so it

5:26

wouldn't break apart. So they they shut

5:29

it down on their own twice after

5:31

that and basically they said look

5:33

we've learned our lesson and

5:36

we will take it apart if we think

5:38

there are large sea swells. We just don't

5:40

want it breaking apart once again but you

5:42

can you can just feel it and hear

5:44

it. What you're seeing before you has never

5:47

been done before. You hear the the tridip here here

5:49

the clanking the

5:53

the sea state a little bit of sea

5:56

state that's that's normal business with jaylides. It

5:58

is a marvel event. engineering that

6:00

you can do this, that you

6:02

can have these massive trucks, semi-trucks

6:04

roll up onto that floating pier

6:06

from the ships, but you

6:09

can see how things have gone wrong. But that's the

6:11

thing, Martha, at one point a correspondent was talking about

6:13

trucks of aid on the pier, and I

6:15

was like, I think you mean truck loads worth of aid,

6:17

like these big pallets. And they were like, no, no, no,

6:19

I mean trucks, Brad, like trucks go on and off of

6:21

this thing. How much aid is at stake here when you

6:23

have to close up shop because of conditions? There have only

6:26

been 18 days where this

6:28

has been operational. I think in the

6:30

beginning, last March, the Pentagon said, look,

6:32

we hope to provide as many as

6:35

two million meals a day. That has

6:37

not even remotely happened because it has

6:39

been shut down so often. But when

6:42

we arrived, we did see several

6:44

huge trucks and not just truck loads,

6:47

but huge trucks drive onto that pier

6:49

from one of those landing crafts that

6:51

lines up with the end of the

6:53

pier and go towards Gaza. Some of

6:56

the aid is just sitting on the

6:58

other side and has not been delivered

7:00

yet. But as the American

7:02

military will tell you, we try, we

7:05

keep trying. They say they have

7:07

delivered possibly 13 million

7:09

meals to the other side of that

7:12

floating pier, but it is not nearly,

7:15

nearly as much as they thought

7:17

they could deliver and obviously not

7:19

even touching how much they need

7:21

in Gaza right now. Now

7:25

we are delivering 800 pallets a day. That

7:27

is several hundred metric tons. Every day crosses

7:29

this pier into Gaza. So it is making

7:31

a significant difference, but the system does have

7:33

to answer to the sea and that is

7:36

what we have done. I talked to several

7:38

service members who were on the pier and

7:40

some of them in the

7:42

military base about this mission. And you know, they

7:44

will always say, look, we just want to do

7:46

what we can. But this was a $230 million

7:48

pier. Any food, I suppose, is helpful, but it

7:56

is not enough. And I think they know that

7:58

very well. All right. Raditz reporting

8:00

from Israel and from the Mediterranean here.

8:02

Thank you so much. You bet, Brad.

8:09

Okay, so that's the situation just off the

8:11

coast of Gaza, but back in Israel, there

8:13

was a tectonic shift yesterday that could really

8:15

affect the military and political situations there. Let's

8:18

go to ABC's Matt Gutman, who's in Tel

8:20

Aviv, where he's been reporting on the IDF.

8:22

Matt, what is happening

8:24

here? Brad, this is a political,

8:26

military, legal earthquake in Israel. The

8:29

Supreme Court ruled that all

8:32

these ultra-orthodox students whose full-time

8:34

job, whose vocation, is

8:36

to study religious texts all day,

8:39

that they have to be conscripted

8:41

into the military. That there are

8:43

no exemptions, no exceptions. And

8:48

it's not like these exemptions are new.

8:50

This has been in place since Israel's

8:53

founding in 1948. It was part of

8:55

a deal cut by Israel's founding father,

8:57

David Ben-Gurion, and the deal was that

8:59

he would provide exemptions to these full-time

9:01

ultra-orthodox, highly religious students so that they

9:04

would not have to serve in Israel's

9:06

military like the rest of the Jewish

9:08

population, men and women, typically serve between

9:10

two and three years starting at the

9:12

age of 18, and that's

9:15

mandatory for them. But it hasn't been

9:17

for the ultra-orthodox. Wait, so

9:19

just so I'm clear, you're saying not only

9:21

are there religious groups that have always been

9:23

sacrosanct and they don't get drafted into this

9:26

compulsory military apparatus that Israel has, but

9:28

they get paid to not be part

9:30

of that apparatus, and a

9:32

lot of their interests are defended by this

9:34

military that they don't have to join. So

9:37

for many years, for decades, in fact, Brad,

9:39

they have said that they are serving by

9:41

studying these religious texts, by going to Yeshiva,

9:43

by praying for the state of Israel, and

9:45

that they serve a critical purpose for the

9:47

state. They want us to be, to go

9:50

to the Israeli army. For that it means

9:52

to us, they don't want us to be

9:54

religious. Therefore, we prefer to die and

9:56

not to go to the army. These

9:59

are one-issue parties. They care about

10:01

maintaining, you know, a certain

10:03

religious status in the state, about

10:05

making the official observance of Sabbath

10:08

part of the government and

10:10

of course Ensuring that their young

10:12

men get to study in these

10:14

yeshivas instead of being conscripted. Does

10:16

that cause resentment within

10:19

Israel? There has been massive resentment

10:22

Against the ultra-orthodox and against governments that

10:24

have supported them by rank-and-file Israelis who

10:26

not only pay taxes And don't get

10:28

the stipends to study religious and biblical

10:30

texts But have to serve in the

10:32

military and not only do they have

10:34

to do their conscription of for men

10:36

about three years at the Age of

10:38

18, but then they

10:40

have to come back for reserve duty

10:42

year after year sometimes for decades We

10:45

are at war. We need every soldier

10:47

and the days of disavowing their responsibility

10:49

are over So there is a massive

10:51

amount of resentment In fact, there are

10:54

certain political parties that have been established

10:56

simply to try to create more equality

10:59

between secular Israel versus religious Israel

11:02

This is a major issue and

11:04

it's something that is a massive

11:06

political liability for Netanyahu because

11:09

now that he can't provide them this cover of

11:11

the Exemptions where their

11:14

young men are not forced to be conscripted

11:16

in the military It's the

11:18

kind of thing that might cause them to bolt

11:20

from Netanyahu's government Even though is that is that

11:22

Netanyahu that made this decision, right? It's the Supreme

11:24

Court who said no, this doesn't make any sense

11:26

legally But you're saying this could still have a

11:29

political effect on Netanyahu Yeah, because they

11:31

have nothing left to stay for arguably

11:34

it might cause them to bolt his

11:37

coalition, which is pretty fragile, right? If

11:39

one of these parties leaves he doesn't

11:41

have a ruling party He loses the

11:43

prime ministership and he exposes himself to

11:46

not only commissions of inquiry about

11:48

the war But other legal troubles

11:50

he's in including three criminal cases

11:52

at this moment He's

11:55

got to try to keep this coalition together.

11:57

It's unclear what he's going to offer the

12:00

ultra-orthodox political parties, but they are

12:02

probably not very happy right now.

12:04

And Brad, if it gets

12:06

to the point where the government can't create a

12:08

new law that perpetuates,

12:10

or at least for the time being,

12:13

keeps these exemptions going, meaning that these

12:15

ultra-orthodox students don't have to serve in

12:17

the military and are not conscripted, then

12:20

it will create some problems for Netanyahu in

12:23

the long run. Wow, and to hear you

12:25

tell it, Matt, like I think I understand

12:27

now how this agreement back in the day

12:29

was meant to preserve this tiny group of

12:32

religious students, it's now become this booming population.

12:34

I think it's a million ultra-orthodox in Israel.

12:36

Tens of thousands of people's kids could end

12:38

up getting drafted, who we're not expecting to.

12:40

Huge moment in Israel. Matt Gutman, thanks for

12:43

walking us through it. Thanks, Brad. Next

12:47

up on Start Here, they said gay people

12:49

getting married would ruin it for the heteros.

12:51

Twenty years later, how's that working out? The

12:53

new findings after the break. As

13:01

we post this, the Biden administration has

13:04

just announced a new action. Today, the

13:06

president will pardon several former military service

13:08

members who were convicted under a military

13:11

law banning gay people from having sex.

13:13

Remember, up through 2011, it was illegal

13:15

to be openly gay in the US

13:18

military. There were outright bans, then there

13:20

was the law called Don't Ask, Don't

13:22

Tell, that was upheld by the Supreme

13:25

Court. At the time,

13:27

there was all this anxiety about

13:29

troop readiness, unit cohesion, questions about

13:31

whether straight soldiers could possibly shower

13:33

or sleep in the presence of gay

13:35

soldiers, some of the same concerns being

13:37

raised now when it comes to transgender

13:40

troops. It's funny how time

13:42

can change a conversation. It's

13:46

exhilarating. It's really, it's absolutely thrilling.

13:48

We're gonna get married. I'm so

13:50

happy. Twenty years ago, the first

13:53

same-sex marriages were legally performed in

13:55

the state of Massachusetts. Again, there

13:57

were dire warnings at the time.

14:00

A decade later, same-sex marriages became legal

14:02

nationwide. The Supreme Court recognized that the

14:04

Constitution guarantees marriage equality. And this morning,

14:06

as we head into a historically busy

14:09

three-day stretch of Supreme Court decisions —

14:11

we're going to be getting opinions today

14:13

and Thursday and Friday — ABC

14:16

senior Washington reporter Devin Dwyer, who covers

14:18

the court, has been examining how that

14:20

debate over marriage has evolved over time.

14:23

Devin, clearly a lot of challenges for

14:25

LGBTQ Americans just in the last year,

14:27

but you've been reporting on some gains

14:30

as well. What can you tell

14:32

us? And this 20-year milestone, Brad, really

14:34

has been a moment of optimism for

14:36

LGBTQ families, you know, especially now as

14:38

they're looking at these new battles

14:40

over transgender rights. The breakdown of the family

14:42

is something that we cannot afford in this

14:45

country. Just 20 years ago,

14:47

there were so many apocalyptic warnings

14:49

being thrown about, both in our

14:51

political and social spheres, in intense

14:54

debate over marriage. The children of

14:56

America have the right to have

14:59

a mother and a father. Barely a

15:01

quarter of Americans 20 years ago

15:03

supported same-sex marriage rights. Now it's north of 70

15:06

percent, and many people

15:08

don't even think twice. These families are

15:10

now interwoven into the tableau of American

15:12

society. And in fact, there's

15:14

some new research now that is backing up

15:17

the findings and benefits of that

15:19

social shift 20 years ago. The

15:21

Rand Corporation, which is

15:24

a nonprofit, nonpartisan, very

15:26

well-regarded research organization, has

15:29

conducted the most comprehensive and extensive

15:31

analysis of the impact of

15:33

same-sex marriage ever performed to

15:36

date. Across 96 studies,

15:38

we found no negative consequences whatsoever.

15:41

I talked to Benjamin Carney. He's

15:43

a UCLA psychology professor who was

15:46

on this team of researchers. He

15:48

told me they undertook this report, Brad, because

15:51

this is no longer a guessing

15:53

game. There's concrete scientific evidence now

15:56

about the impacts that this change had.

16:00

the mental health of same-sex couples,

16:02

to the economic wellbeing of same-sex couples,

16:05

who are more likely to apply for

16:07

mortgages and make more money

16:09

in their household income. The

16:11

children of same-sex couples did better when

16:13

their parents were allowed to marry than

16:15

when their parents were forbidden from marrying.

16:18

Families are much happier. Relationships are more

16:20

stable. Discrimination against LGBTQ

16:22

people has declined in a lot

16:24

of cases because of the normalization

16:27

and legalization of these marriage rights.

16:29

Rates of hate crimes, rates of

16:31

STDs, went down for same-sex couples

16:34

and for LGBT individuals. And he

16:36

said that there was absolutely no

16:38

evidence that it had a negative

16:40

impact on anybody, especially different-sex couples.

16:42

In the years immediately subsequent to

16:44

a state legalizing marriage for same-sex

16:46

couples, there was a

16:48

slight rise in marriage

16:50

rates for different-sex couples. But

16:53

he says for now the science says same-sex

16:55

marriage in the United States, which was

16:58

legalized nationwide in 2015, but

17:00

those marriages have been performed since

17:02

2004, 20 years ago, it's

17:04

been a positive development. And Devin, I

17:06

remember having this conversation with friends and

17:08

family and people in my community 20

17:11

years ago, and you'd hear people say like, you

17:14

know, why do they have to call it marriage? That's

17:16

fine, like, to be committed, but

17:18

like, why does it have to be the same? We're not the

17:21

same. These are people who largely have

17:23

changed their minds completely. Like, there are exceptions, but

17:25

you spoke to people who were

17:28

actually married under these initial state-level

17:30

laws. Seeing this up close

17:32

and then with 20 years in the rearview mirror,

17:34

I mean, how do they look at how this

17:36

debate now has evolved? Well, we went to ground

17:38

zero where the first legal same-sex marriages were performed

17:40

in the United States. That's in the state of

17:42

Massachusetts, Brad. By

17:44

the time the day is through, hundreds of

17:46

couples will have applied for a marriage license

17:48

here greeted by nearly as many supporters. 2004,

17:52

this debate was raging. It was the

17:54

height of the presidential campaign at the

17:57

time. Our nation must enact a

17:59

constitutional- And there were Maureen Brodoff and Ellen Wade of

18:01

Newton, Massachusetts. In

18:04

Massachusetts, it turned into a battle. We

18:07

are evil. We

18:09

are accountable. Almost a constant demonstration

18:11

and lobbying and very intensive effort

18:13

at the State House. I

18:16

believe we should preserve that which has endured over thousands of

18:18

years. And

18:21

Mitt Romney was the governor at the time

18:23

and he was very opposed. They had already

18:25

been together for almost 20 years. Met

18:28

in law school. Their commitment really grew into

18:30

this deep love. Did you feel urgency to

18:33

say your vows that day, that first possible day? Oh,

18:37

I mean that day was such a historic day and

18:39

we definitely wanted to be part of it. What

18:45

had changed personally was the ability of our friends and

18:48

our family to

18:50

celebrate that relationship with us, which

18:54

on that day was just incredibly moving. And

19:00

here they are in the words of Ellen Wade

19:02

living a pretty boring life. What's the

19:04

secret? I think

19:06

we kind of try to take each other as

19:08

we are and accept what we can't change. They

19:15

have a daughter now, Kate, who is

19:17

a professor and she, you know, is

19:21

doing well. But they say

19:23

that this example, this fact, this 20

19:25

years, looking back almost 50 years for

19:27

them in a committed relationship with each

19:29

other, that

19:35

gives them hope as they look ahead to these other

19:37

fights that you were talking about when it comes to

19:39

LGBTQ rights specifically in the area of trans issues. Well,

19:41

and I'm curious, Devin, because we have seen so much

19:43

hate recently directed at LGBTQ Americans, right? We've

19:49

seen pride flags torn down. We've

19:51

seen assaults, right? And

19:53

yet the same sex marriage part of

19:55

it has not necessarily been the first

19:57

thing on a lot of these assailants.

20:00

minds. So I guess I'm wondering

20:02

where LGBTQ people feel like the next debates

20:05

are and which ones I guess are settled

20:07

to them. Is same-sex marriage something that

20:09

seems like a permanent right now or something

20:11

that could be rolled back

20:13

as attitudes change once again? Well,

20:15

the Supreme Court extended marriage rights

20:18

nationwide in 2015, but there's still

20:20

a little bit of unease about

20:22

how rock solid that

20:24

right is. In the wake of the

20:26

Dobbs decision overturning Roe versus Wade, there's

20:28

concern that this could happen

20:31

to the marriage rights as well. I mean,

20:33

the Obergefell decision was one of the ones

20:36

that Justice Clarence Thomas said should be reconsidered.

20:39

Should those constitutional rights be

20:41

revisited, do you think? No,

20:44

and I think there's a lot of

20:46

hysteria about Justice Thomas's dissent. I talked

20:49

to a leading analyst at the Heritage

20:51

Foundation, a conservative arm that's planning a

20:54

blueprint for a second Trump term agenda.

20:56

And I don't think any conservative scholars

20:58

are calling for that. Precedent is precedent

21:00

for a reason. And Sarah Portial Perry

21:03

says rescinding marriage rights isn't

21:05

on the table. It is within the

21:07

ability of the Supreme Court in a

21:09

single day to roll back our rights

21:11

of the last 20 years, 40 years,

21:13

50 years, right? But that's no solace

21:15

for advocates like Kelly Robinson,

21:17

the human rights campaign president who says

21:21

LGBTQ people have their eyes wide open and

21:23

they're very aware that any of these rights

21:25

can go away at any time. And this

21:27

year, you know, I'm actually celebrating my fourth

21:29

wedding anniversary with my wife. And I'm very

21:32

clear that if I look back 10 years

21:34

ago, 15 years ago, our life just is

21:36

not possible without some of these landmark decisions

21:38

and even more so without the movement of

21:40

people that showed up for equality and showed

21:42

up for progress. So

21:45

there's a little bit of cautious optimism

21:48

about the future of marriage rights for

21:50

LGBTQ people, but the real fights right

21:52

now, Brad, you touched on them are

21:54

in the area of transgender rights. Teenagers,

21:57

children, they're not. capable

22:00

of making life-altering decisions. Gender-affirming

22:03

care for minors, can transgender

22:05

athletes, student athletes participate in

22:07

those sports, benefits

22:10

for transgender people in the military

22:12

and public service on

22:15

university campuses? That's really where

22:17

the flashpoint is now. Backtracking

22:19

on rights for trans people,

22:21

the backtracking on the

22:24

book burning, it signals a

22:26

lot of intolerance. What's

22:29

giving so many of those activists and

22:31

families hope, pushing for

22:33

those rights, is looking at the case of

22:35

the marriage fight. It was intense, it was

22:37

ugly, it was politicized

22:40

at the time, but here we are

22:42

20 years later and you talk to

22:44

Maureen Brodoff and Ellen Wade and they

22:46

say they are so happy now with

22:48

how much change has happened and they

22:50

say people in their community need to

22:52

have hope that it can happen on

22:55

all these other issues as well. If

22:57

you know families like us, your opinions

22:59

are more likely to change. We really

23:01

have a very boring

23:04

life. I don't

23:06

think it's going to be that boring to us. It's not boring

23:08

to us. Really

23:11

excellent reporting here and worth just sort of

23:13

remembering this historical context. 20 years is both

23:15

not a lot of time but also enough

23:17

time for us to see how attitudes can

23:19

change. Devin Dwyer, thank you so much. Thanks

23:21

Brod. Okay,

23:24

one more quick break. When we come

23:26

back, the hungry hungry caterpillar became a

23:28

tired, tired butterfly. One last thing is

23:30

next. And

23:38

one last thing. I have always

23:40

marveled at migration. Animals that instinctively

23:42

traveled great distances where they know,

23:44

sight unseen, that food and sunshine

23:46

will be waiting for them. Like

23:48

my hometown in California is famous

23:50

for the annual return of the

23:52

swallows, which somehow fly thousands of

23:54

miles from South America back to

23:56

specific communities they know. down

26:00

to Western Africa, and then

26:02

the wind blows, and they get caught up in

26:04

it, and they travel the whole way across the

26:06

Atlantic. If this is true, that would represent a

26:08

migration of more than 4,000 miles in less than

26:10

a month. Now,

26:13

some butterflies, like the monarch, do these

26:15

long journeys, but A, over land, and

26:17

B, over several generations. They fly, they

26:19

give birth, then their young carry on

26:21

without them. We have never seen a

26:23

single butterfly cover this type of distance.

26:26

They died on that beach, they were kind of

26:28

gasping for life, their wings were tattered, they

26:30

had no energy left, but they

26:32

made it. Jason

26:35

says this raises new questions, not just

26:37

about butterflies, but insects in general. After

26:39

all, if we're just learning about one

26:41

of the world's greatest migrations this year,

26:43

how many others have we been missing? We

26:46

can't just put a GPS tracker on a

26:48

Painted Lady butterfly. They're too small, and

26:51

that technology has not gotten that small yet.

26:53

This, he says, is just one more reason

26:55

to believe that there are more incredible journeys

26:57

to discover, we're just waiting to hitch a

26:59

ride and learn about them. I

27:04

was once reading a book about butterflies, because I'm not

27:07

a nerd, I was just reading a book about butterflies,

27:09

and I heard about the South American guy didn't speak

27:12

a lot of English, who called them flutterbys. Well,

27:14

that sounds like a way more appropriate word, I'm

27:16

gonna start saying that. Hey, big day at the

27:18

Supreme Court, about to get underway, so keep your

27:21

antenna on ABC all day. I'm Brad Nielke, I'll

27:23

see you tomorrow.