Transcript
Malcolm Guidry: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to our fourth episode of the Perspectives Pod. I'm Malcolm, joined here by by my wonderful kids, Joseph and Simone.
Malcolm Guidry: Guys, say hello.
Simone: Hello?
Joseph: Yo.
Malcolm Guidry: Yo. ah Today is the 23rd of February. I can't believe we're almost out of February. We're almost into March. It is flying by. Lots has been happening. We're going to talk a couple of issues not related to Trump and politics.
Malcolm Guidry: We're going to talk about Major League Baseball. We're going to talk about IVF. We're going to talk about a few other things. um But anyway, i hope everybody's been doing well wherever you are. We appreciate you viewing in.
Malcolm Guidry: Apologies for the delay in getting episode four out.
Joseph: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: Sometimes life happens and we can't get an episode out as quick as we'd like. Next week, we will be recording another episode. Unfortunately, Simone will be on vacation, so she will be out of the country.
Malcolm Guidry: But Joseph and I will probably put something together next weekend while Simone is out. She gave us her blessing. She said, yeah, you guys go ahead. So we do appreciate that.
Simone: Yep.
Malcolm Guidry: I mean, we are a team. But anyway, so yeah, you know, we'll do our best.
Simone: You'll be just fine. yeah
Joseph: we definite We definitely know we can talk at length about and just about anything.
Simone: okay
Malcolm Guidry: Definitely.
Simone: Yeah, you'll be fine.
Malcolm Guidry: Definitely. Yeah. Let's go ahead and get started. This time I'm going to go with Joe starting first. Joe, what to talk to us about your up at your your topics.
Malcolm Guidry: What's topic number one?
Joseph: Well, the first thing is, in my opinion, the most important thing, but only by ah small amount. And it's what we do in this current day and age in the United States where we feel like everything's crashing down and us average people aren't sure what to do.
Joseph: You know, we know what's happening in the executive branch, but I don't i don't have a pass to go in the White House. We know what's happening with our congresspeople, but and In my case, my Congress people don't give a damn, frankly.
Joseph: And I'm sure the same is true for a lot of people across the country. But it's important to not...
Malcolm Guidry: It certainly feels that
Joseph: I'm sorry?
Malcolm Guidry: You know, especially you know it's
Joseph: Oh, it it definitely feels that way. Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Especially if your congressperson isn't of your party, then you may think that they don't really care about your issues.
Joseph: And...
Malcolm Guidry: so
Joseph: It's very true. And even within that, there is a spectrum. There are some people on the opposite end who may not like your perspectives, but they'll at least hear you well.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Right.
Joseph: There are others who might openly laugh and say, call someone who cares. And then there are others who might, as we saw recently, get you pulled out of their town hall and possibly arrested for daring to speak up.
Malcolm Guidry: You're talking about the the former NFL kicker Clue, I think is his last name. Something like that.
Joseph: No, that is something else that happened.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: But I'm talking about a town hall that, and I don't remember the congressman's name, but it was a town hall being held. And this woman spoke up in the town hall.
Malcolm Guidry: Are you talking about Georgia?
Joseph: And I may have been in Georgia. She spoke up and someone who wasn't in uniform pulled her out of her chair and pulled her away as the congressman was mocking her and saying, among other things, you she decided to speak up and now she suffers the consequences.
Malcolm Guidry: Oh, no, I can't believe it. I'm not familiar with this.
Joseph: I'll post the link in the show notes.
Malcolm Guidry: In the show notes.
Joseph: Yeah. And I'll send you the link after we're done here.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: But it was just about the most totalitarian instance of action I've seen since the 70s.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: I mean, it was.
Malcolm Guidry: That's unbelievable. That's unbelievable.
Joseph: And this is part of where fighting engagement apathy comes into play.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: In that video, some people were recording her as well as the person who recorded the video itself. But no one actually made a move to stop her from being pulled out.
Joseph: And I understand why.
Malcolm Guidry: Okay.
Joseph: but The bystander effect is real. And there's also a lack of certainty on is she breaking a law? Is...
Malcolm Guidry: Well, explain, explain what you mean by the bystander effect, because it would seem to me that, that if someone, I mean, it depends on, on, especially with our divided culture today, depends on, on what sort of, of, uh,
Malcolm Guidry: you you know, culture she's submerged in, is she submerged in ah more rightward culture? um Because I guarantee you, if this would have happened in Manhattan, no, no, they would have been pulled out.
Malcolm Guidry: Or if they would have been pulled out, they'd have pulled been pulled back in and there would have, shit would have probably hit the fan. So it depends where you are.
Joseph: Well, i I think we all think that, but think when it happens is a different story a lot of times.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: Sometimes that will happen. A lot of times there are people who every day, every time, if something happens on their watch that they know is wrong, they'll step in.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: But a lot of people, myself included, will think they'll do the right thing. They'll see something happening they know is the wrong thing and then they freeze or they just they they hesitate because is should can I do that is this and they start guessing themselves and it's a very pervasive effect that is the reason why a lot of times you'll see video of horrible things happening but no one's stepping in and it certainly happens more in areas prone to traditionalist views and that's not so much an indictment of these views but it's
Malcolm Guidry: um Oh, cool. Okay.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Right. know
Joseph: If you trust in inherent goodness, an inherent rule of law, then if anything's out of out of sorts with that, you'll instinctively think, well, that's wrong.
Malcolm Guidry: right
Joseph: And that's just a symptom of a traditionalist view of thinking versus a non-traditionalist view. It's not good.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, there are ways that you can go about.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: First off, if you see something that is blatantly wrong, you know, that someone's being attacked, some some offense is being committed.
Malcolm Guidry: you can You can become involved in a myriad of ways. It doesn't mean you have to have to directly, if you're worried about your your safety, get on your phone, call the police, but do something. Don't just ignore it. Because I'll give you an example, aside from this person, i there have been several instances throughout the country of someone being sick or hurt, laying on a sidewalk, laying on the street, and people walking by and not even stopping to help.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: And to me, that's unconscionable. But that's for whatever reason. i don't know if you want to call that the bystander effect or what. But to me, that's just that's inexcusable. If you see someone hurt or if you see someone upon whom an offense is being committed, you can either get involved directly or if you're worried about your safety, get on the phone, call the police, tell them where it's happening.
Malcolm Guidry: You know, but you got to do something. You have a moral obligation.
Joseph: And the important thing is to make sure something is done. And what I say it that way because in this instance with this woman, there are rumors that the person who pulled her aside was and not a non-uniform sheriff.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: And if that's the case, then if you were to call the police, that wouldn't nothing would get done.
Malcolm Guidry: Okay.
Joseph: So in that case...
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: In this specific instance, people step in physically, people stop him from pulling her out.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: She wasn't breaking any laws.
Malcolm Guidry: Okay.
Joseph: She was speaking her mind in a town hall.
Malcolm Guidry: okay
Joseph: There was no threats of violence or anything.
Malcolm Guidry: What was she talking about? Do you remember what the issue was that she was addressing?
Joseph: all we All I saw is like the five seconds before they started pulling her away.
Malcolm Guidry: Okay.
Joseph: It's possible that she was more inflammatory beforehand, but based on all evidence we have, she was speaking, shouting, but not screaming.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: And a town hall is frankly going to be ah an affair where people are going to speak their mind. And as long as they're not drowning out everyone else, then.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, that's... Yeah, you're right.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: And that's what town halls are for.
Joseph: Yeah, it's where you you speak your mind and maybe you're in the minority in a town hall, but you still have the right to say what you're going to say.
Malcolm Guidry: and
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: You certainly do not have, you certainly are not subject to being pulled off by ununiformed people or people acting in uniformed authority.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Malcolm Guidry: Not at all. That's Nazi tactics.
Joseph: Right. It is literally, it is brown shirt, full blown SS tactics.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah.
Joseph: And that's where I say reject apathy. And you put yourself at a certain level of risk in that instance, because maybe you'll get pulled away too.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: They might punch you. But if we operate from a perspective of protect ourselves from any and all possible risk first, then do the right thing.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Right.
Joseph: The other side isn't operating by that. They are taking risks and they're going to eventually win in that that battle, so to speak.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: I'm not saying get your face masks on and get your Molotovs out.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Joseph: No, but you can act directly.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Joseph: You can stop them physically without having to be violent. Sometimes even just five other people standing up and standing in front of someone trying to do that will stop them. You don't have to raise a hand.
Simone: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: and And, you know, I think to me, that's a direct violation of the First Amendment because the First Amendment addresses freedom of speech that's being quelled, quashed by the government.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: She's at a governmental function. She's speaking her mind and she's being... ah She's being silent.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: And that's a violation of her rights.
Joseph: And even if this person who was pulling her away was a private citizen, the congressman in question was encouraging it, ah aiding and abetting it by open openly mocking her while it was happening.
Malcolm Guidry: no
Malcolm Guidry: I have to see this because I'm familiar with, um um I saw a couple of days ago a video of
Simone: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: a yeah Because, you know, Congress is in in recess now. And so all the Congress people have left D.C., gone back or most of them have left D.C. and they've gone back to their districts and they're meeting with their constituents in, you you know, sessions such as, you know, town hall meetings discussing various issues.
Malcolm Guidry: And there was one in a suburb of Atlanta. And a woman was speaking to this congressman. I want to say his name is Robertson or Robinson, something like that.
Malcolm Guidry: And he's Republican. And she was asking him about a particular issue and things started to escalate. But I am not aware of her being pulled out.
Malcolm Guidry: So anyway, we can address it.
Simone: Thank you.
Joseph: just happened This happened recently. i think it happened late last afternoon.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Joseph: So maybe there's more information that will come out. Absolutely.
Malcolm Guidry: It may be the same issue.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Post the link in the in the show notes and I'll look mine up as well. They they may be the same one.
Joseph: absolutely
Malcolm Guidry: But go ahead, though, Joe. I'm sorry. I i don't want to keep interrupting you.
Joseph: yeah
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: No, it's no problem. I mean, this is a very contentious issue. And um um i hope that passions are heightened around this because they need to be. and We need to operate competently and with thought.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: But at the same time, a little fire is important because this is not just a transgression of free speech.
Malcolm Guidry: All right.
Joseph: It's a transgression against our way of life, our government, the entire foundation upon that which we were formed. I say nothing of the other... um Recent examples of a modern day 1776 vibe, if you want to phrase it that way, such as Trump declaring himself king in a tweet, mostly a joke, but at the same time, i don't like to see my president joking about being the king.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: No, no one ah no one before him has ever done that.
Joseph: Yeah, because you just don't do that. You you you understand the foundational principles of us leaving the monarchy because of uncertainty.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, understand what he's doing, though. What he's doing is he's planting the seed for eventually running for a third term.
Joseph: Yes.
Joseph: Declaring himself king. Yeah. Yeah. Like he's he's continually talking about the third term as a joke, like he joked about being dictator for a day.
Malcolm Guidry: He's setting it up. Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: No.
Joseph: And something a lot of people refuse to admit or refuse to accept is that jokes can become reality.
Malcolm Guidry: No. No.
Joseph: and ah And a funny example, there's a word called yeet that came around about 15 years ago.
Malcolm Guidry: so
Joseph: It means to throw something. You say yeet when you throw something. When I first heard that word, I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world. I refused to say it.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: Then eventually I saw enough people saying it ironically where, okay, yeah, ironically, ye now yeet is in my goddamn vocabulary.
Malcolm Guidry: Uh-huh.
Joseph: If you joke about something long enough, you'll become familiar with it, and eventually it becomes less of a joke and more of just a thing.
Malcolm Guidry: Sure.
Joseph: And yeet is a fun word. Totalitarianism is is not such a fun word, and it's an even less fun way of government.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct. Correct.
Joseph: You know all of these jokes about – well, recently Elon Musk made a ah little joke where he made an account on Twitter, X, whatever the hell he calls it, called HitlerGov.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: And it was Adolf Hitler with quotes from Adolf Hitler. He made it an official U.S. government account just for like an afternoon –
Malcolm Guidry: Wait. He made it an official UOP.
Simone: for an afternoon.
Joseph: Yeah, Twitter has a label where yeah they label ah they can label an account an official government account. And HitlerGov was labeled an official government account for about three hours. And then it was disabled and the account was hidden.
Joseph: But it's just
Malcolm Guidry: so we need We need to post a link.
Joseph: everything that we're talking about, we're going to have links to in the show notes.
Malcolm Guidry: Absolutely.
Joseph: So don't worry.
Malcolm Guidry: because yeah
Joseph: you were We're going to make sure you can see this for yourselves.
Malcolm Guidry: People need to see this because this this is just unheard of.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Go ahead.
Joseph: Yeah, yeah. it's it It was surreal seeing it because, yes, it was a joke. It was a juvenile thing. But Elon Musk is, no matter what your perspective on what he's doing and what Trump's not doing, he is a very high up official in the United States government who has international influence.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: And he's joking about Hitler being an official government persona.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, I mean, he was a right-wing fascist sympathizer.
Joseph: That's...
Malcolm Guidry: he's He's got sympathies toward white supremacy.
Joseph: He is.
Malcolm Guidry: He's from originally from South Africa.
Joseph: And this isn't really territorializing. This is his support of AFD, a known right-wing party, his support of Trump, a known far-right figure, his support of everyone associated to him, as you mentioned, his roots in South Africa with his parents who were well known for being, let's say, dismissive of modern South African government principles.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: They're deeply rooted in this apartheid worldview.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, that's right.
Joseph: And that's just and's just factual information. That's not us trying to extract our opinions from what he's done.
Malcolm Guidry: No, not at all.
Joseph: That's the Nazi salute.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Oh, well, you're familiar with speaking of Nazi salute, you're familiar with the most recent occurrence of a Nazi salute, right?
Joseph: ah that Yes, it's
Joseph: Steve Bannon, I believe.
Malcolm Guidry: Steve Bannon at CPAC.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: child Yeah.
Joseph: Which I wish I could say was beyond the pale for CPAC, but they did just a few years ago call themselves domestic terrorists. So it's just the latest in transgressions, but it is still a considerable transgression.
Malcolm Guidry: What would drive you know, Steve Bannon or anyone. Other than maybe his effort to once more tweak the libs, um let's just say his his reason for throwing the Sieg Heil at CPAC was just to tweak the libs, to piss off off the left.
Malcolm Guidry: It's irresponsible because you make it seem like that's acceptable. Pretty soon you're going to see more and more people do that to allegedly tweak the left or piss off the libs.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, first, let me just say, this world isn't, isn't, um you know, isn't divided between liberals and conservatives. This world, people are very diverse and and and complex.
Malcolm Guidry: I am not a liberal. I am definitely a Democrat. I consider myself more of a moderate, little between center, left, but I am not a liberal.
Malcolm Guidry: I don't consider myself a liberal. But, you know, that kind of shit pisses me off because of what the Nazi salute represents. So for anyone to do that...
Malcolm Guidry: and And be a part in any way, whether in center or peripherally, to our our federal government, our our government, federal, state, local, it doesn't matter. When you do this, it's unacceptable. It's offensive.
Malcolm Guidry: And it should never be normalized. And it just worries me that that's within a month
Simone: you
Malcolm Guidry: Within a month, roughly, we've had two people, one a former advisor to the president, one a current advisor to the president, who have both thrown up C. Kyles.
Joseph: They have.
Malcolm Guidry: Who's next?
Joseph: More people, because that's the root of the concern here. I understand some people may see that and say, it's a tasteless joke and it should be condemned, but it shouldn't be acted against because it's an expression of free speech.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: And I understand that perspective.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: I am a former free speech absolutist because the importance of being able to express your thoughts, no matter how volatile they may be is a foundational principle of democracy.
Joseph: But if it's it in a broader sense, it's considered the tolerance paradox where if you tolerate everything, those who are intolerant will gain a foothold in your society.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: And that's where we're at now.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, let's face it, you know, right.
Joseph: yeah It's just a deal.
Malcolm Guidry: You know, your rights, you know, there's an old saying, your rights end where my nose begins.
Joseph: Mm
Malcolm Guidry: Regarding free speech, you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. Right. when When there's no fire.
Joseph: wonderful Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: So there are limits to to our rights, but they're common sense limits. Right.
Joseph: Well, at least we assume they're common sense limits.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: But the root of the issue, or I should say the root of this concern is if we keep letting them make these kinds of jokes, we don't need to ah guess where they're going to end up.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: We just look to history. i We keep saying we're in 1933.
Malcolm Guidry: right
Joseph: Depending on how things are going, we could very well be in a later year, 1934, 5, 6, because while the transition of government from ah Germany's republic to Germany's dictatorship only took a little under two months, it took several years after that on paper for it to become an oppressive reality.
Joseph: Right.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. But remember now, remember, though, the the German democracy at that point was nowhere near the maturity level that the American democracy is currently.
Joseph: That's true.
Malcolm Guidry: and
Joseph: Germany had a lot of tumult, which is partly why things be were such things were so unstable that the Nazi party was able to game ah gain a foothold.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct. Which is, you know, our our democracy, our system of government, our checks and balances, are very ingrained. um So we have a good chance of withstanding what's going on now. There will be, there is damage. There will continue to be damage as long as Trump and his administration are are not held in check.
Joseph: We have a chance, but it's not going to happen just because of our checks and balances.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct.
Joseph: They're in place as a guidepost, but as we're seeing, if people just ignore these checks, for example, if Congress just refuses to act on Trump ah asserting his authority over the purse, so to speak, then the checks and balances on paper don't matter.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: So at that point, it's up to to borrow a very commonly used phrase these days, we the people.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah Well, and you know, the Congress has the power of the purse.
Joseph: And
Joseph: They do.
Malcolm Guidry: They control it.
Joseph: They're just choosing to abdicate that power.
Malcolm Guidry: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Joseph: And part that's where the issue is. That's why people at these town halls, not just Democrats, but Republicans, too, people who care about their country are starting to speak up. And it's been slow to start.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes.
Joseph: But at the same time, it's been very quick, because remember, despite this feeling like we've been in 10 years of Trump land, it's only been a little over a month.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: And for for things to already get to the point where you've got people shouting up in town halls, where you've got massive crowds being drawn to someone like Bernie Sanders and deeply red districts, there's a lot of discontent and it's growing rapidly.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. one
Simone: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: and And that's a good thing. And I'm glad.
Joseph: But it needs to keep growing. We can't just see that and say, all right, well, we're good. Everything's just okay. We have to build on that.
Malcolm Guidry: Absolutely not.
Joseph: It has to be even louder.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: we
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: If we do it now, if we all lend our voices, I mean all, I know, look, I'm in deep red, I'm a deep blue type of person, but you can still lend your voice, call your congressman, add to their phones.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. know
Malcolm Guidry: Sure.
Joseph: You can reach out to other people in other areas, encourage them to go.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: if they live near where a protest is happening, just go there for a little while Make your voice heard, make your presence known. Every little thing may feel like it doesn't do anything, and individually it doesn't.
Joseph: But a thousand people doing nothing is something.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, exactly.
Joseph: And it's a numbers game. The more people we get involved, the greater our impact will be now and the less ah likely, the less ah possible, I'm butchering that, the more we do now, the less likely it is that we'll have violence occurring later.
Malcolm Guidry: people Oh, absolutely.
Joseph: Because if we do nothing now, we're going to have violence later.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. And what I would encourage
Joseph: I don't know we stop. Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: I would encourage people, i mean, write this phone number down. This is the phone number two to Congress in D.C., whether it's a senator, whether it's a congressperson. If you call area code 202-224-3121, that's 202-224-3121.
Malcolm Guidry: two two four three one two one that's two zero two two two four three one two one then you can be transferred to whoever it is that you're calling, whether it's your senator or congressperson, ah you know, in New York, Louisiana, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, it doesn't matter.
Malcolm Guidry: Call that number. And of course, you know, have an idea of what it is you want to express. I would encourage you to be, you know, factual and level in your emotion.
Joseph: Oui.
Malcolm Guidry: Try not to be too emotional and angry. But express your concerns. And that's what they're there for. That's what this phone number is there for, to call them and let them know how you feel. And you're going to get more if you call your congressperson that represents you. You live in their district, your senator, and you let it be known that, OK, this is my name. This is my address.
Malcolm Guidry: This is where I live. You represent me. I am upset about X, Y, Z. Let them know.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Congress has been getting lots and lots of phone numbers.
Joseph: All right.
Malcolm Guidry: I'm sorry. Congress has been getting lots and lots of phone calls recently from many people, including me, about what's going on right now in D.C. and And you're starting, as Joe just mentioned, we're starting to see some pushback from constituents, from citizens, from voters that are very concerned about what this administration is doing.
Malcolm Guidry: They didn't vote for this. that Some of them may have voted for Trump, but they're like, wait a second, we didn't we didn't vote for ah the dismantling of this program or that program. And we certainly didn't vote for doggy. Some people say doge. I call it doggy.
Malcolm Guidry: ah Going into the the servers, computer terminals, and extracting all this personal data of me and hundreds of millions of other U.S. citizens in a country of 350 million people.
Malcolm Guidry: So people are pissed off. And, you know, the Republicans, once you get angry and you call your your congressperson, your senator, and let them know that you're pissed off and they hear this enough, they're going to start to change their tune because they like being in Congress and they want your vote.
Malcolm Guidry: They don't want to lose. So, yeah
Joseph: And that matters. Voting matters. I know the pervasive opinion is that it's rigged. It's backroom deals. Voting doesn't matter. The reason Elon Musk put $250 million dollars into this election was not because voting didn't matter. He didn't buy the election.
Joseph: He bought the influence of the voters. And then they in turn voted for his chosen candidate.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: All this money goes into elections not to pay off the electoral workers, but to basically...
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: manipulate voters.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: That's how it is. we Our votes do matter.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: We need to leverage those votes. We don't we can't just go on whatever these ads tell us to do.
Malcolm Guidry: I don't understand.
Malcolm Guidry: I can't understand anybody, especially at this point, after what's been happening since 2016. I cannot understand anyone who is of voting age, who is a citizen, who just decides their vote doesn't matter and they're not going to vote.
Malcolm Guidry: To me, you're being irresponsible. And if that's how you feel, you really shouldn't live here.
Joseph: cool
Malcolm Guidry: Of course, you can. you know, you're a citizen, I will support your right not to vote, but I don't understand it when so much is at stake. And if you like freedom not to vote, then, you know, you want to protect that freedom not to vote.
Joseph: I agree.
Malcolm Guidry: You should vote. I know that sounds ironic, but it makes no sense to me that someone does not vote. That's how you lose your republic. what did What did Ben Franklin say to the lady when he came out of the Constitutional Convention, she asked him, yeah Mr. Franklin, what do we have? What is it, a monarchy or republic, she asked him? I can't remember.
Malcolm Guidry: But anyway, his answer was a republic if you can keep it.
Malcolm Guidry: So anyway, we're we're going kind of long here.
Joseph: spread
Malcolm Guidry: um
Joseph: We are, and I'll just, I'll sum it up by one last thing.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, go ahead.
Joseph: It doesn't matter what you do. It could be as simple as putting up a flyer that has the contact information of your district's congressman around town. doesn't matter if you're just talking to random people on the street who care to listen. Anything that might get someone to pay attention is important because voting costs very little. It costs really nothing.
Joseph: And if we all do it, we can all get what we want out of voting. The only reason that apathy is so widespread is because the other side of the people who are apathetic don't want you to vote.
Joseph: And the more we act in tandem with our beliefs in voting, the more of a result we'll see. so
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: And it doesn't matter who else is next to you in the voting booth. Maybe there's a former Trump voter who voted for him three times in a row, and you just can't understand why he'd do that. Maybe it's someone who didn't vote until that election where you're standing next to them.
Joseph: It doesn't matter what they've done in the past, in this moment. What matters is that they're willing to do the right thing at the current moment.
Malcolm Guidry: right
Joseph: We can deal with consequences after the fact. Right now, we just need to stop our democracy from fading away.
Malcolm Guidry: Right, right. Exactly. Exactly. All That was great, Joe.
Simone: I just want to say, love how you said in the beginning that you were going to not talk about politics or Trump and that is all you did for the first half of this.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: we're very damage We're very damaged people, Simone.
Simone: You realize that's what you said? Yeah.
Joseph: When we're this in tune with politics, it kind of messes with our heads. So and this is the this is basically our idiosyncrasies run amok.
Simone: Yeah.
Joseph: Thank
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, well, good listen, um as important as it is, it's hard not to talk about Trump and politics because of the rule.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Simone: I'll try harder because I don't want to do this.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, well, I'll talk about i'll talk about trying harder.
Simone: Moving to something more exciting.
Malcolm Guidry: I'm going let you go next. Go ahead.
Simone: The Yankees have gone red the yaji have gotten rid of their beard policy.
Malcolm Guidry: Talk to
Simone: So they had always required their players to be clean shaven with the exception of a mustache, but now they reverse their policy like every other ah team in the MLB to allow beards.
Simone: And you both have those.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct.
Joseph: That's very good.
Simone: So this, I feel like this is big news.
Joseph: I'm one step closer to playing in the Yankees.
Simone: What?
Joseph: I'm one step closer to playing in the Yankees.
Simone: Yes.
Joseph: Yeah.
Simone: Yes. um I thought that this was a very long time coming, although I don't know if it's that important. I mean, was it really stopping any players before who were maybe going to be drafted to play for the Yankees if they were like,
Simone: beard people and now they were required to shave it. Was that a concern before? And they felt like they were losing potential players because of this? and don't know. Or did they just want follow the Joneses?
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Well, I'll tell you where the ah the origin of the policy comes from.
Simone: Thoughts?
Simone: Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: The boss, George Steinbrenner, who you whose family still owns the Yankees. This comes back, gosh, um around 1970, don't know, 74, 75.
Malcolm Guidry: He had policy against long he had a policy against long hair against beards. Um, and it was inspired because of Steinbrenner's military background.
Malcolm Guidry: And he felt it it that it was important for members of the Yankees to be, you know, clean cut, clean shaven and disciplined. And that's where that comes from.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: So, but, um, I don't think I look, ah you know, OK, I get it. Football. you an example. Pro football. You've got some players with long hair.
Malcolm Guidry: And if I'm playing and if I'm playing football and I'm playing against you, let's say I'm a linebacker and you're a running back and you have long hair and that hair is coming out of your your helmet.
Malcolm Guidry: And if I'm trying to catch you and tackle you, I'm going to grab the first thing I can. And if that means I'm going to grab a handful of hair, I'm grabbing a handful of hair. Thank you very much. I'm going pull your ass down. But, you know, it doesn't.
Simone: Well, in baseball, that doesn't really matter because no one's tapping.
Malcolm Guidry: It really doesn't. I don't care if a player has a beard or has long hair. Can that player play? Can he hit 426 foot home runs?
Simone: Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: You know, can he catch? Does he have ah an arm for a cannon or a cannon for an arm? You know, can he throw like Bo Jackson could throw from Deep in center field or left field, I forget what position he played. Oh, my God, that's what I care about. Can he run fast?
Malcolm Guidry: So I don't care if the guy's got long hair and if he's got a beard. So what?
Simone: Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.
Joseph: Yeah. And i I think that's really what it is. It's an issue that doesn't really matter, but it's been a long time coming because it cost us, it will cost the Yankees nothing to remove that regulation.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: And there's a non-zero chance they could have had someone of considerable talent who really liked their beard and said, maybe I'll go to the Mets.
Malcolm Guidry: You know know, didn't Simone, didn't Noah say something like that earlier? Wasn't there a particular player that he and he pointed out? Noah is a dear friend of Simone's and a really good guy, and he's a big Yankees fan.
Malcolm Guidry: We had lunch with him and Simone today. And so yeah he was pointing out that there was a particular player who, what was it? He looked better with a beard or something? I forget.
Simone: I don't recall. I do not know. don't know that happened.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Simone: But that'd be crazy if he turned down what you're saying, he turned down the inkies because of his beard?
Malcolm Guidry: Well, yeah, I mean, I could see that, right, Joe? I could see somebody out of principle saying, well, you know what? I like my beard. I like my beard and i like my long hair.
Joseph: Is it a wise decision?
Malcolm Guidry: your Yeah.
Joseph: Maybe not, but it is a decision. And if they can hit that player,
Simone: It is your choice. can't.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. I mean, seriously. Granted, listen, we're talking about the New York Yankees, 28 World Series championships. the The greatest, um probably the most valuable sports franchise in the world, if not certainly one of the top two.
Malcolm Guidry: um And when it comes to baseball, who wouldn't want to put on those pinstripes? You want to play for the Yankees. What a legacy. To say you were a Yankee? Man, come on. But, hey, the Mets, you know, they've got a big fat pocketbook.
Malcolm Guidry: They're willing to spend some money. You know, you can have long hair and a beard over there. So maybe you want to keep your facial hair and your beard and you want to play for a team that's spending a lot of money on their players because they're serious about getting a championship.
Joseph: Yeah, they're going for the Yankees.
Malcolm Guidry: Go the Mets.
Joseph: They want to get the Yankees spot.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah. So interesting. Interesting. I mean, I'm glad to see that it's changed some more traditionalist folks. You know, you think about because I remember ah back in the late 70s when when people like Ron Guidry played for the Yankees. He had a nice mustache.
Malcolm Guidry: Thurman Munson, the catcher, he had a nice mustache. You know, um they weren't exactly they didn't have exactly, you know, short hair, but They were more presentable. at least they didn't. According to Mr. Steinbrenner, they didn't look like hippies, I guess.
Malcolm Guidry: You know, but yeah, very interesting. Very interesting. Anyway. Okay. Simone, what else, babe?
Simone: Some less exciting news, but interesting. There is this woman in Georgia, 30-year-old woman.
Malcolm Guidry: This is more exciting for me. This is very interesting.
Simone: Well, there's this woman in Georgia, she's a 38 year old woman, she's a wedding photographer. She is suing her IVF clinic for swapping, accidentally swapping her embryo eggs.
Simone: She um went through the whole IVF process with what she believed were her eggs and a donor sperm. and She went through the whole pregnancy. She gave birth and the baby that she ended up having was an African-American child.
Simone: This woman was white. um From what she remembered picking out, her sperm donor was white. um
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Simone: so Her immediate thought was that maybe they swapped out the sperm donors. There was an accident there. There was a mess up there. She ends up having the baby, goes on to raise it for the next four or five months.
Simone: and Then it comes out that it was not Her egg, it was a different woman's egg. um And she had to go to court and fight over it and ended up losing. And she had to give this baby that she had raised for five months to the original egg owner.
Malcolm Guidry: right
Simone: And it's it's very it's very sad. But now since she lost her child, she is suing her IVF clinic, rightfully so.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Simone: they ah They even told her that because she had more eggs, they told her that she... has another chance she can do it again. They still have her other eggs and she doesn't trust them anymore. How, how is she going to know that those are actually her eggs this time?
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Simone: So pretty,
Malcolm Guidry: yeah She was essentially an unwitting surrogate is what she was.
Simone: pretty much.
Malcolm Guidry: That's that's sad. And and having had to give up this this child, um because even though, you know, the child isn't biologically yours, she gave birth to the child.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: She kept she had the child. She had custody of the child for, what, five months?
Simone: Yeah. you know
Malcolm Guidry: So she becomes attached to that baby. I understand that. I understand that. um It was a royal screw up at the hands of this this clinic.
Malcolm Guidry: And it was in Georgia. I want to say they were out of Savannah, if I were recall. I looked this up and it's just it's unfortunate.
Malcolm Guidry: But this is one of the things that could happen. I mean, We live in an imperfect world. and Mistakes are made. This is one of those instances where you don't want these sort of mistakes to occur. um And every step should be taken. Every precaution should be taken to avoid mix ups like this, because it's going cost. They're going to be sued. They're going to have to pay a lot of money for the pain and suffering that this woman endured.
Malcolm Guidry: But the purpose isn't just to make her whole emotionally. It's also to prevent this sort of thing from ever happening again. That's why you have lawsuits.
Malcolm Guidry: That's why you sue and entities such as the clinic for lots of dollars. The clinic should have insurance. I imagine they do. and
Joseph: But even if they don't, I mean, the reputation hit is severe. Who's going to go to that clinic?
Simone: Yeah.
Joseph: Who's going to trust them after something like this?
Malcolm Guidry: Absolutely. Not only them.
Simone: yeah
Malcolm Guidry: ah You know, imagine imagine the effect this could have on other women who are thinking of of using IVF and having second thoughts now. Well, you know, what if this happens to me at my clinic in Michigan or in Nevada or in North Carolina?
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. know um Yeah, I would imagine and I would hope that all such clinics around the country are reviewing their policies to make sure that they do everything conceivable, no pun intended, but everything possible to make damn sure this doesn't happen to any of their patients.
Malcolm Guidry: I would not want to have to go through that. This woman's 38 years old.
Simone: I can't even imagine. I can't imagine what it was like in the delivery room that day Hmm.
Joseph: yeah
Malcolm Guidry: who Well, but I mean, come on, listen.
Joseph: At the very least, she knew it was a sperm donor situation, so there wasn't any concerns of infidelity. But at the same time, it's a problem.
Malcolm Guidry: but
Malcolm Guidry: I don't know. if it Was it a sperm donor snafu or was it, was it?
Simone: No, it was the egg, but like, um do you mean like the fact she had a sperm, so it's not like, yeah.
Joseph: yeah Her initial thought you had been, was, yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Okay.
Simone: And it's also the fact that it is her body, like she would know, you know.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, you know.
Joseph: Yeah, I mean, it's...
Simone: Like the man would be more surprised, like so the if the woman's like, if he's white, the baby's black, like whose child is this?
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Who did you sleep with?
Simone: Yeah. yeah Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Simone: But this was, it was just her, no husband, so.
Malcolm Guidry: I understand. Yeah.
Joseph: And it's extra tragic, in my opinion, because not only was this terrible mistake... but Not only did this terrible mistake occur, and she got the child she thought she didn't want,
Joseph: She turns out she did want it and she did start to care for the child. And then the child was taken away to someone who, you know.
Simone: It is interesting how long it went on for. Like, you would have run the tests immediately in the the hospital that day, that week, find out if this is your child or not.
Joseph: and
Simone: I don't really know. Like, did she know immediately after leaving or did they delay finding out? I don't know.
Joseph: Well, one thing I'm curious as well, did the original egg donor in this instance, does she want the child? Was she fighting?
Simone: does She does. Yeah, she fought for the child and that's why she had to give the baby up.
Joseph: Okay. Okay. okay
Malcolm Guidry: yeah i do believe Yeah, I do believe that the that the biological parents, um they started custody proceedings. So the the biological parents, according to the news article I'm looking at, and Joe, I'll send you the link, it's to The Guardian.com.
Simone: Both parents? Why would a sperm donor do that?
Malcolm Guidry: biological parents started custody proceedings, according to NBC News. Murray, the birth mother, voluntarily gave gave the child up when she was a few months old or when he was a few months old.
Malcolm Guidry: So granted, the child should go. Of course, the child should go with the biological parents.
Simone: ah you
Joseph: Yeah, assuming they want cloud.
Malcolm Guidry: But.
Joseph: In this case, they do.
Simone: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, but just think, I mean, i Simone, I think you'd mentioned this earlier. Wow. You know. You got your child. You didn't have to give birth.
Simone: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: And it is biologically your child.
Simone: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: So the woman was a surrogate mother, for essentially.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: ah Yeah, this is the one.
Simone: Yeah. But maybe she really wanted to give birth to her child also. So she also missed out on the opportunity of carrying her child in those first five months.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, absolutely.
Joseph: It was just a mistake upon mistakes.
Simone: ah
Joseph: And it's ultimately the IVF clinic.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Joseph: They're the root of all of this confusion, discontent,
Simone: For sure.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, yeah. This is this is really unfortunate. um It's not the first time that there was a switched embryo, believe it or not.
Malcolm Guidry: An Ohio woman, and I'm reading this from the same article on The Guardian, an Ohio woman was caught in a mix-up and carried another couple's child to term in 2011.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: A New York couple sued a California-based clinic in 2019 over an embryo mix-up, and two California women gave birth to each other's babies that same year. So this has happened.
Simone: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: These sort of mix-ups have happened before, which leads me to believe, okay, guys, this isn't the first time, so there should be procedures in place to prevent this from happening.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Simone: yeah
Malcolm Guidry: How many more times does this have to happen until you've got ironclad rules, regulations, and procedures to follow that will severely limit this from happening again.
Malcolm Guidry: Anyway.
Joseph: And it could be a personnel issue as well. They may have procedures in place. Maybe they had the wrong people. So if the procedures check out, they need to investigate the kind of people they hired to work there. Maybe they need a better attention to detail.
Joseph: Maybe someone fell through the cracks of performance reviews. I don't know. But there is a flaw, a deep flaw they need to address.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: So for those of you out there are thinking of IVF, IVF is a great thing. um You know, I have a nephew who he and his wife um went through IVF procedures and finally gave birth couple of years ago, three years ago to a beautiful little boy who is definitely all boy.
Malcolm Guidry: Goodness gracious. He's
Joseph: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: running and jumping all over the place. And he's just a sweetheart. um So they work. It's a wonderful procedure, but it, you know, mistakes can be made. So just be careful.
Malcolm Guidry: Anyway, what else, my dear? What else do you have?
Simone: That was it.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. OK. The only things I don't really have a whole lot that I wanted to talk about. I was mainly pigging but piggybacking off of you guys. But of course, I did have some notes in my iCloud Notes app, along with some links. You know, a couple of things that have been happening. You guys have heard about this, I'm sure.
Malcolm Guidry: Again, regarding Trump, this time regarding Ukraine. Ukraine. What has happened concerning Ukraine is embarrassing the way the U.S.
Malcolm Guidry: foreign policy has essentially done 180 away from our allies, our NATO allies, our European allies, and more toward Russia, more toward authoritarianism.
Joseph: Tom.
Malcolm Guidry: It's definitely un-American. um I read recently, and the link to the article will be posted in the show notes, What Trump has said is he wants Ukraine to pay $2 for every $1 in aid from this point forward. If we're going to continue helping you, you got to pay us 100% interest.
Malcolm Guidry: That's extortion. That's something that a mafioso would do.
Simone: right.
Malcolm Guidry: I mean, and Trump is a thug. He is a mafioso. So in a way, that doesn't surprise me. But that's disgusting. So it's a shame that we would present that sort of offer to a supposed ally. The reason we've given billions and billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine is to stop Russian incursion upon Ukraine's sovereign territory.
Joseph: and Europe's territory.
Malcolm Guidry: And Europe. And listen, speaking of that, Europe is going to be next because if you think, while we've we've got this this, what's developing into a a multipolar society in foreign policy, and I'm not claiming to be an expert, foreign policy has fascinated me since I was an undergraduate.
Joseph: before
Malcolm Guidry: And, you know, you've got unipolar world, you've got bipolar, multipolar. Bipolar was when we had the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Unipolar was essentially what we had after the fall of the Soviet Union. The United States was really the only superpower.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: But at that time, and until Trump was reelected last November, we had, you know, what was essentially, well, i don't know if you could still consider it a unipolar world because China we we've We were pretty much a bipolar world because China being so militarily and economically and politically influential.
Malcolm Guidry: Remember, Russia is a third rate power. They are a third rate power economically. They are a third rate power ah militarily. They're a paper tiger militarily. Ukraine was kicking the crap out of them.
Joseph: Russia, I would say, is essentially a regional power, but China, they were playing a very economy-strong game of building themselves to be a superpower.
Malcolm Guidry: That's it.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But what we have now is a multipolar world. And in a multipolar world, you've got more chance for conflict because what we're going to have, and this is what Trump wants.
Joseph: Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: He wants the the Americas, North and South America, for the United States. He wants Putin to go ahead and deal with Europe. Go ahead. Do what you want with Europe and then Asia. That's going to be left to China.
Malcolm Guidry: And I can assure you that our allies in Europe and in Asia are scared shitless right now because they feel abandoned by us because of the way our foreign policy has devolved, which it has.
Malcolm Guidry: We are no longer the good guy. Sad to say, but the United States at this point, we're being looked upon by our former allies. our I guess you could still consider them our allies, but they're looking at us like, what the hell happened to you?
Joseph: I would say that there are.
Malcolm Guidry: You're not the good guy once were.
Joseph: I would say there are former allies. They could become allies again, but it's dependent on our leadership. I mean, if you look at Canada, they're not going to be allied with us as long as Trump's in office, then they shouldn't be.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct.
Joseph: And I can think of no better example of how far we've gone where.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: Zelensky, the current president of Ukraine, he is very much the unassuming leader before this war started. He wasn't really a very spectacular person.
Joseph: He was not a bad person, but not a great person.
Malcolm Guidry: right
Joseph: He's risen up to be this lion-like figure for Ukraine who I guarantee decades from now will be seen at least as a Winston Churchill figure for Ukraine, if not as a washington a george Washington figure.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes. No question about it.
Joseph: And he's just recently come out and said, if Ukraine is accepted into NATO, I'll resign immediately because your goal is not power.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: His goal is protecting his country.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Oh, yes.
Joseph: And to have a man of that caliber, of this genuine genuine selflessness and leadership ah on one end of the spectrum, and then our current president trying to thug his way into
Malcolm Guidry: Yes.
Joseph: Owning Zelensky, calling Zelensky a dictator.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct.
Joseph: it's it's There's no stark contrast for how far we've lost it.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, yeah, correct.
Joseph: where The most Ukrainian man, I don't want to say American because they are Ukrainians, but they are embodying the ideals we used to embody in our leadership.
Malcolm Guidry: well we yeah correct
Joseph: really In our leadership.
Malcolm Guidry: Correct. ah You know, I think you're right. I think that's an excellent comparison. he will what he he History will look upon him as ah Winston Churchill, a George Washington, Cincinnatus.
Malcolm Guidry: I know you're big fan of ancient Roman and Greek history.
Joseph: Yeah. yeah
Malcolm Guidry: You know, these are men
Joseph: Just as a quick aside for anyone who's on the earth, Cincinnati is a dictator of the Roman Republic who, once he accomplished his goals twice, willing willingly relinquished all power.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes, yes. And that's something um um that's something that you have to admire. You know, he returned for his people, did what he had to do, and then left and went back to being a gentleman farmer again. That's the same thing with George Washington. George Washington helped us establish the republic.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: He was president two terms, and then he went back to farming afterwards. My hero, Harry Truman, who I've mentioned before, he left. They didn't even have, believe it or not, many people may not know this, but you know how how former presidents, you continue to receive your salary after you leave the presidency. And right now it's around 400, a little over $400,000 a year.
Joseph: yes
Malcolm Guidry: um When Truman was president, there was no such thing. You left, you had no pension. So, I believe it was under, I want to say it was under Eisenhower, maybe it was under Kennedy, who established that former presidents should have, because Harry Truman had to go back to Independence.
Joseph: I think you're right. Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: He didn't have to. He wanted to go back to Independence, Missouri, which is where he and and his wife, Bess, were from. Moved in with his mother-in-law, right?
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: This was a man who served as an officer in the military in World War war one became a haberdasher and Independence, Missouri, clothing store owner.
Malcolm Guidry: He, along with his is best friend, um Eddie Jacobson, I know my shit when it comes to Harry Truman, let me tell you, I've read books on the guy, but he admired that sort of leader that steps up for their for their country, for their people, serves, and then goes back home and resumes quiet life.
Simone: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Because another thing,
Joseph: it's like really It's an example to follow.
Malcolm Guidry: It is. it is. And, you know, one thing, another thing that Harry Truman said that I strongly believe in, if you're making money in politics, you're doing something wrong.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Harry, um ah Donald Trump is making oodles of money using the government, using his position, using this coin that he established to make billions of dollars.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: You're doing something wrong.
Joseph: And that's something that a lot of people...
Malcolm Guidry: You don't make money in politics. You don't become wealthy in politics. You shouldn't. You shouldn't. you know And there are lots of politicians on both sides, whether you're Republican or Democrat,
Malcolm Guidry: There are politicians who go in and accumulate wealth somehow because of inside information.
Joseph: Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: That is wrong. If you go in and you're only making $175,000 a year as a congressperson, sounds like a lot of money.
Joseph: Hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: It really isn't. I think they should be paid a lot more personally. I'd be happy if they raise their pay to at least $250,000 a year because they have to pay for a lot of expenses out of their own pocket.
Joseph: That's true.
Malcolm Guidry: So,
Joseph: A congressman typically has to have two apartments, one in D.C., one in their district.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes.
Joseph: They have to go to a travel back and forth so often to see their constituents.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: Yes. It's not easy. So it sounds like a lot of money, but it really isn't. They need pay raises and they need them soon. But you shouldn't be making, you know, you shouldn't come out of Congress with a portfolio worth several million dollars when you went into Congress with a portfolio of less than a million, if that.
Malcolm Guidry: No, you're doing something wrong.
Joseph: Mm hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: So anyway, that's my so my speech on that. But there were a couple other notes I had. Something else to think about. I heard this phrase in a recent... podcast, Ezra Klein, the Ezra Klein podcast, if you guys ever get a chance to listen to it.
Malcolm Guidry: Very, very interesting. He had, Ezra Klein is more left-leaning, but he had a conservative analyst from the American Enterprise Institute on his show recently. It was a couple of episodes ago.
Malcolm Guidry: Fascinating discussion. The guy was very well-reasoned, very logical, very intelligent. One thing he mentioned, which I wrote down, was an elected autocrat with a 45 percent approval rating is less dangerous than one with an 80 percent approval rating. So while Trump is in the in the upper 40s now, he's lost some ground.
Malcolm Guidry: And that's a good thing. He's not as dangerous as if he had. Imagine if his his approval rating were over 60 percent. We'd have a lot worry about. So that's a good sign. But don't give up the fight.
Malcolm Guidry: um So anyway.
Joseph: and I'd specifically just like to add to the idea of, you know, we're we're talking about Trump. We're saying Trump is the root of these issues.
Joseph: And he, at the very least, is heavily involved with these issues. But I would not want to see the pendulum swing so far opposite of Trump that we have someone who wants to enact essentially yeah borderline communism.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah no
Joseph: I would be more comfortable with a hardline left than a hardline right figure, but we need someone who can accurately represent the country and who will move us in a positive direction, even if some of us might not think that's a good idea, but they'll do it because they know it's right.
Joseph: But
Joseph: Those on the Republican side really need to take a long look at Trump and think, is that really who I want to lead this country?
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Joseph: Maybe he's the one who was most electable, but is he really the one I want to see as a president? We used to have Republicans like Reagan, like Nixon before his paranoia overtook him, like Eisenhower.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: And they were honorable men. They were decent men may who made many mistakes. And on the ah on the Democratic side, President Obama was a fantastic president who had quite a checkered result in his tenure, but he was not acting against the country.
Malcolm Guidry: right Well, and of course, we know the reason why he had such a checkered result, because Congress was as divided then as it is now. And there were a lot of things that they fought for.
Joseph: That's a big thing. I'm also speaking of, I'm also speaking of military actions taken and a possible over-reliance on drone strikes.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: drone drone strikes
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: He was not a perfect president. No president is.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: To be
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: caliber of man or person you need to be as president, you're going to have to have a certain level of megalomania, which actually Obama says directly in his autobiography, you're going to have to have a force of will necessary to act according to your own manner.
Joseph: And ideally, you have a team of people on your staff that keep you in check because have to
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, i don't know I don't know if I agree with the megalomania part. that's To me, that's a little extreme. He may have said that. I don't agree with it. I do feel that if you're running for for national office, you're running for for any kind of public office, but especially on the state and national level, it probably takes a little bit of narcissism, and there can be healthy narcissists.
Joseph: That's what he was referring to in a more eloquent way.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: But essentially the idea that out of 300 plus million people, you are the one to do this.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: That takes a very healthy ego to determine.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah. Healthy ego. Healthy ego. That's the that's the key phrase, because, you know again I again, I would like to see Trump succeed on behalf of all Americans and on behalf of the country and do what is possible.
Malcolm Guidry: best for the country, but his desire and his goals are not what is best for this country or for its people. um He is clearly an authoritarian who is in in it for himself, for self-aggrandizement, for enriching himself materially.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: Historically, he's he is a megalomaniac, and he's not a healthy
Joseph: And we deserve better. We all deserve better. Democrats deserve better. Republicans deserve better. Your crazy sovereign citizen neighbor deserves better.
Malcolm Guidry: Sure, sure.
Joseph: we ah My sincere hope, and this is a pipe dream perhaps, but the thing about pipe dreams is if enough people believe them, they can become reality, is that the 2028 primaries, one,
Joseph: will happen If anyone is sitting there thinking that elections are over and we're done, we're not there yet. We could get there, but we're not there yet, and we can stop that from happening.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: So in 2028, we'll have a hell of an election season between Democratic firebrands that really represent the people's economic interest and Republican stalwarts that understand the measured government is successful.
Joseph: who want to make sure that everyone has the ability to succeed under their own terms.
Malcolm Guidry: Right.
Joseph: If we had that, we would have one of the best elections we've seen in decades.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Simone: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah.
Joseph: Principled leaders.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Exactly. Which would be wonderful. couple other things I wanted i wanted to touch on. um This past Friday evening, there was a Friday night massacre, so to speak, because I'm a veteran, a nine-year veteran of the Air Force.
Joseph: Okay.
Malcolm Guidry: um I love my military. I love my Air Force. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General C.Q. Brown, formerly the chief of staff of the Air Force, who rose to the level of chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was fired by President Trump.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: um He was, you know, at at the at the demand of President Trump, he was probably fired by the Secretary of Defense. He was allegedly, according to the Secretary of Defense, he was allegedly and a DEI hire.
Malcolm Guidry: The other person they fired was the Chief of Naval Operations. The Chief of Naval Operations is the highest ranking person in the Navy who sits on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Malcolm Guidry: You know you have the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and then you have the different chiefs of each branch of the military.
Joseph: Thank you.
Malcolm Guidry: You got the chief of the the Navy, this person who's a woman, right? The first woman, she was fired. Okay. So why were they fired? They were fired because they were a ah person of color and be a woman.
Malcolm Guidry: That's it. This administration seems to feel that there can only be white men serving as as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, serving as the chiefs of each of the branches. That's a pile of shit, because I'll tell you something.
Malcolm Guidry: We had, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs? my I can't believe I can't think of his name. under He was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Clinton, if I'm not mistaken, and he was secretary of state.
Malcolm Guidry: um
Joseph: I'm not Donald Rumsfeld.
Malcolm Guidry: No, God, no, no.
Joseph: yeah Yeah, I'm sorry i'm getting my name confused.
Malcolm Guidry: What's an African-American, African-American. He passed away within the last couple of years. He was outstanding. He was outstanding. He could have run for for president. and I think he would have done a really good job.
Malcolm Guidry: And he was a Republican, a man of of fine character and and conscience.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Malcolm Guidry: He did a great job. There is no reason why we could not have a woman and sitting on the the the joint, sitting in the and the one of the members of the Joint Chiefs.
Malcolm Guidry: She was doing a fine job, I'm sure. You don't rise to that level unless you have the qualifications. So now Trump wants to replace the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, C.Q. Brown, with a three-star.
Malcolm Guidry: He's going to have to get ah a waiver because you have to be a four-star general or admiral in order to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. So this person who was a three-star general in the Air Force does not have the experience, does not have the qualifications to serve in that position.
Joseph: so
Malcolm Guidry: And that's damned unfortunate. But what Trump wants is loyalty. That's what he wants. That should scare the hell out of anybody because he wants to he wants to command the military to such a degree that They will go out and do his dirty work. If it even means going against civilian protesters here in the United States.
Malcolm Guidry: Get ready for that.
Joseph: He wants the airliners.
Malcolm Guidry: That is objective is. OK, so that's the one thing I'm trying to remember what the other thing was. Oh, I hope.
Joseph: Was it about the FBI? or
Malcolm Guidry: wow Well, Kash Patel, that's for another episode.
Joseph: Yes.
Malcolm Guidry: There's so much happening. But one thing that's concerned me is whether or not our country will fragment. And I've thought about this for a long time, even before Trump, because of the way things were going. There was a book that came out, I don't know, 10 or so years ago, maybe longer, called The Big Sort, and how citizens were starting to sort themselves at that point into you know little groups.
Malcolm Guidry: They were you know moving into gated communities and joining groups of people who are like-minded and they were sorting and they were fragmenting.
Malcolm Guidry: And at that point when the book was written, it seemed as if we were not as unified as a country as we had once been. and since that book has been published, we've certainly become more and more fragmented.
Malcolm Guidry: I hope to God that there is no further fragmenting. And I do hope that we remain one nation 48 contiguous states, and then including Alaska and Hawaii, of course, to make up our 50, plus our territories.
Malcolm Guidry: um But I do worry about whether or not this country will remain um And I know our enemies our enemies would love to see us fragment.
Joseph: I can say I've seen. Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: China would love to see it. Russia would love to see it. All the shit that's going on here, I'm sure they're sitting back and and they're ecstatic because you know they want to see the king of the mountain. When you're the king of the mountain, everybody wants to see you fall.
Malcolm Guidry: Well, you know let's let's not let that happen because we're stronger together than we are apart. E pluribus unum, out of many, one.
Joseph: Yeah.
Malcolm Guidry: That's the reason why we have that that slogan, if you will, on our money. That's what it means. Out of many, one. where Yeah.
Joseph: And if you want to see the effect of unification in that sense, just look to Europe. The European Union is essentially the United States in a looser sense. And Ukraine being invaded, the only reason they were invaded by Russia is because they weren't in NATO.
Joseph: If they had the backing of NATO back in 2014,
Malcolm Guidry: have happened.
Joseph: Yeah, but because that's you have to worry about everyone attacking. And I have noticed moving trends in the United States over the past 10 plus years.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: There's always been a push by... far-right radicals, white supremacists and whatnot, to move to the Pacific Northwest.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Right. Right.
Joseph: um There's a lot of left-leaning flight from the South. I am going to be one of them. I understand that I'm part of the shift, but I would prefer to live somewhere colder, but also somewhere with a governor and state leadership that
Malcolm Guidry: Uh-huh.
Joseph: honestly just listens to the people more. It's not so much that my current state, Louisiana, is right-wing, but they don't listen.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: They don't care about what the people say.
Malcolm Guidry: yeah
Joseph: They do what they feel they should do.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. Right.
Joseph: And it's not a healthy government, let alone democracy.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah. It's I don't know.
Joseph: But it's people in the
Malcolm Guidry: I hope it doesn't happen, you know, but, you know, we'll just have to wait and see. But anyway, we're already at an hour and three minutes, and I know we like to try and keep this at under an hour.
Malcolm Guidry: or So let's save any other issues for the next episode.
Joseph: Yes. Yes. We try to keep to an hour and we definitely don't go over an hour and 10 minutes. That's usually how.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah, yeah, we try. So, you know, but there will definitely be more that we'll talk about. I'm sure there'll be more news that we'll want to discuss. ah
Joseph: And I will endeavor to not immediately jump into the most obvious news of the day. Hold on.
Malcolm Guidry: No, that's okay. Listen, this is a good news conversation.
Joseph: It is. It is. But there's so much that we can also talk about.
Simone: Yeah.
Joseph: And while one of my topics coming up might not be such a good, a positive one, I do want to bring a certain amount of not levity, but look, we've got a long way ahead of us as a country, no matter how things turn out.
Malcolm Guidry: Okay, well, let's let's save it for the next episode.
Joseph: Yes, it's important to keep things nice, short and sweet.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah.
Joseph: And yes,
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. We're going have a lot more, though. Joe and I will be hosting. Simone, unfortunately, won't be with us. She'll be in Turks and Caicos.
Simone: Yep.
Malcolm Guidry: Right. She's taking her mom on a vacation.
Simone: You can talk about all the politics you want. i will be having margarita on the beach.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah. She's taking her mom nice vacation.
Joseph: Take
Malcolm Guidry: And I think that's so nice.
Simone: I'll do.
Malcolm Guidry: So.
Joseph: pictures. I'd love to see.
Malcolm Guidry: Yeah. Yeah. So, OK, guys, thanks for your time. um And I really appreciate we really appreciate everybody tuning in. And we'll see you again in another week.
Malcolm Guidry: Until then, ciao.
Simone: Ciao.
Joseph: Adios.
