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Ep. 209 – The Real Life Deadpool: A Knee-Slappin’ State-Sponsored Serial Killer  image

Ep. 209 – The Real Life Deadpool: A Knee-Slappin’ State-Sponsored Serial Killer

Growing Up Christian
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298 Plays2 months ago

This week discussion seems to revolve around death… Personal loss, remembrance, sentimental attachments, and lastly, a Special Forces operator named John “Shrek” McPhee. Known as “the Sheriff of Bagdad,” John McPhee served as a Delta Force sniper among other things in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and now he teaches combat training. He came to our attention because he’s been playing the podcast circuit lately, and his gruff, sarcastic, matter-of-fact descriptions of killing are kind of shocking. We take a look at some clips from his recent appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show podcast and discuss the implications and aftereffects of war. Kind of a weird one, this week, but we hope you enjoy it!

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Transcript

Disturbing War Stories

00:00:00
Speaker
And then so, literally, man, I can't tell you how many days I got where we just killed so many people, you can't even count.
00:00:11
Speaker
So, what there's a I mean, no, basically zero rules and engagement. Just kill everything that shows up. I used to call it State Department by Shrek. I'm the fucking State Department here. I make the decisions. Kill everybody. Let's go.
00:00:30
Speaker
Yeah, I love chaos. It's my jam.

Introduction and Family Events

00:00:51
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Grown Up Christian. I'm Casey. I'm Fam. And it's been, it's been an eventful week or so for my family. So my grandma, like three, well, it was about 18 months, two years ago, had a stroke. Okay. And two two days after receiving as a certain shot, but but we don't have to talk about that.
00:01:20
Speaker
but yeah No, are you kidding? It's just inopportune timing. What shot? What shot? The COVID vaccine? Yeah. Okay. What other shot would I be talking about? I don't know. Dude, there's plenty now that you're not supposed to take. I think just don't take any shots. Everybody's like, RFK is going to give us measles. It's like, maybe you deserve measles. Maybe your kid deserves measles.
00:01:52
Speaker
Isn't it just like, it's just like ah amped up chicken pox? I mean, we need to thin the herd, let's be real. Overpopulation is

Health Concerns and Skepticism

00:02:00
Speaker
a problem. I think if we could like, I think that's what was sad, you know, covid obviously COVID was hard, but the hardest part about it was people's just sheer desire to live, I think. should Like you see, like you go, look, I'm just saying,
00:02:20
Speaker
that could have That could have been great for the economy, right? We could have opened up some more jobs. ah Controversial take, maybe. We're on Gen Z with all their like...
00:02:32
Speaker
I want to die jokes. They sure gripped onto life as hard as they could. I know. It's like you told your parents last week that if they didn't pay your college tuition bill, you're going to kill yourself. Then what? You're just holding on for dear life, trying to get as many COVID vaccines as you can? Get the fuck out of here. I just want to live long enough to vote Republican again.
00:02:55
Speaker
yeah But yeah, I just need to live long enough to disappoint my parents and let them know they wasted all their money on me. it's Just long enough for my dad to know that I have an Onlyfans. Just long enough for my dad to know that I'm in a throuple.

Elderly Care and Family Dynamics

00:03:17
Speaker
So yeah, so she had she had a stroke and she started off in real rough shape. I mean, she was wiped out, you know, like half of her body was pretty much inoperable. And um then she sort of recovered over time and stuff like that. But, you know, my my grandpa took care of her for like a year, year and a half. Thereabout. Okay. um Which was really like not safe.
00:03:48
Speaker
you know like she can't walk and stuff at that point and like he can't lift her you know in and out of her chair and stuff so it was just real sketchy I mean I think she could she could like support her weight to some extent you know like to get to and from bed or the chair or whatever but you know just not in a good state and then finally like They had ah an incident or two where she fell down and he couldn't get her up, you know, so he ended up like making the choice to, you know, put her in a 24 hours facility. And that, which was a good thing to do. It was a very hard thing for him to do, but it was like what she needed. And it was just, it was so much more safe for both of them to have help and have like medical staff on hand and stuff.
00:04:37
Speaker
So she did all right in the in the and that facility for you know quite some time. and then um It's interesting cause like she, like she was a very reclusive person. Like she didn't really do a whole lot outside of the house. Like when I was a kid and stuff, I mean, they had their, they would like, they had old cars and they would go to like car shows on the weekends and stuff. And then they would go eat dinner places, but that was about it. Like she never really like socialized much. All of a sudden she's like in this home and there's all these other, you know,
00:05:10
Speaker
old people there and nurses and all this stuff. And she and actually seemed like she kind of enjoyed it like oh yeah see it. It's interesting to see somebody who fought that sort of thing for so long, like all of a sudden forced to socialize and interact with people and seemingly like against all odds, like really benefit from it and enjoy it. yeah So that was kind of cool. I mean, it was a it was not something that I would have expected.
00:05:40
Speaker
dude that's like my wife's grandparents are in their 90s now and it's just been a steady decline for several years you know ah like we were over there a few nights ago a few ah yeah a few days ago whatever for dinner and it um ah My wife's grandpa for a while was like, was talking to her. And it was me and Jill and my kids and my kids, that they play in the, we they play in, there's like a hallway that they play in. And we have we we told them they have to start playing there because if they play in the living room and have stuff out, like the grandparents can trip over it. Like they're not yeah steady on their feet at all anymore. So they play in the hallway. and
00:06:24
Speaker
Jill's grandpa was just like talking to Jill like, yeah, the kids over there, the kids like they, ah they like to play in the hallway. And we realized after like 10 seconds that he's talking to her, not realizing that he's talking to his granddaughter. Like he's telling her about these kids.
00:06:42
Speaker
and And that was like, it sunk in because like it was a little bit before that. like i Jill got there first. i I was making dinner over at their house. So I went to the store and so in and came by after. And he was like, where's the boss? like Talking about Jill. and i'm like But at first I was like, which one? like Who are you talking about? And he's like, oh yeah, okay. She's out with a friend. i was like What i I think I maybe thought he was talking about ah my foster son. And I was like, oh, he's doing such and such. And he goes, oh, he's out with a friend, which is not what I said. He just doesn't hear anything right. And I was like, yeah. And I just walked in. But I guess he had told somebody else ah because Jill was making a dessert for Thanksgiving with um with her uncle.
00:07:38
Speaker
Her uncle's from Hawaii and he he comes to visit a lot, he's retired. ah The house that her grandparents live in was kind of like their house prior to that was like completely falling apart, an old farmhouse, unsalvageable.
00:07:53
Speaker
Like they'll the basement was basically like

Humor in Family Interactions

00:07:55
Speaker
a shallow swimming pool full of snakes. Like this, it was, uh, it was not, out of it yeah, there was nothing you could do to like fix it, to bring this house into repair. So they, they built a new house behind it. And it was Jill's uncle and aunt uncle from Hawaii and her aunt who lives in Texas. Uh, they, they built the house, um, for the grandparents. And then. Did they move the snakes with them or did they? Why does your basement look like the Swiss family Robinson joined the Viet Cong?
00:08:29
Speaker
yu pit or whatever yeah It literally was just like you couldn't go down the stairs the stairs to get anything without like walking into a giant like Jumanji style cobweb
00:08:45
Speaker
ah He could literally like you get your face stuck in it and you can pull your feet up off the ground Yeah, you could do pull-ups on it. It's a it so they built the house behind it So when the grandparents go that's still gonna be her aunt and uncle's house ah to come visit That was a lot of unnecessary information. But so our uncle from Hawaii is up visiting for the holidays and ah Jill's parents came by and her grandfather says to them, he's like, yeah, Mike's in there with some girl. I don't know. It's like he didn't know it was his granddaughter in there. He thought like Mike had a friend over who's half his age.
00:09:24
Speaker
and uh it is i i i forget what you said that got me off on this tangent but it is like with them getting older oh the home thing like dude the best place in her grandfather is like thinks he's the mayor he's been in the same town his entire life he's got a baseball field named after him in town like everybody knows this fucking guy and He loves being the center of attention. He loves going out to eat on like a Friday night. They still go out to eat and they don't drive anymore. So Jill's parents bring them. But he goes he gets up, walks around the restaurant, shakes hands with everybody that he
00:10:03
Speaker
knows or thinks he knows now he doesn't even get people right anymore he just thinks he knows who they are it's fucking funny dude and it's like a home if you that he he I mean this guy until end into his mid 80s would get up on a roof to re shingle it like and we're all like get down like you're gonna die dude like and uh If you put him in a home, as much as he thinks it's the worst thing he could ever that could ever happen to him. Day one, he would be like shaking the hands of everybody. Think he's the mayor of the place. I know he would fucking love it. It is funny how like old guys like that, because my grandpa on my mom's side was very kind of similar to where like his his level of confidence exceeded his bone density at some point. You know, it's just like.
00:10:54
Speaker
it He's just like a little kid just taking unnecessary risks at all at all points. Like you're like you're too old to operate a chainsaw. That's what we were going through with Joe's grandfather. Like you're going to cut your leg off, dude. At some point, like just walk like old people that age walking. It's like you're it's like you're walking around on snowshoes made of like ah uncooked spaghetti noodles.
00:11:21
Speaker
like just just big connects feet it is it's actually scary to watch like I'll her her grandparents can't go from like the living room to the kitchen without all of us being like oh oh my god oh oh my god like you have to catch him it's it's unsettling to watch like someone be that unsteady on their feet it's funny how to like um Like it's not a very original thought, but how, how many things in your old old age mirror, like, you know, your, your earliest years as, as a baby, you know, and to the point where like, yeah, and it just like.
00:11:58
Speaker
People with babies and with old people, like people speak to them as if they're like cocker spaniels. Oh, yeah. Just just yell and i treat them like they're total imbecile. The way that people talk to people that age is like the way they would have talked to an Asian person 30 years ago.

Loss and Family Reflection

00:12:25
Speaker
that's so true hi i'm sam what's your name they're like i speak perfect english you're like oh you're one of those ones oh man yeah so she she was doing pretty good in that home and then um Yeah, you know, like stroke strokes are just wild and yeah, don't always make like, at least to me, they don't seem like they always make a ton of sense, like what happens and the rate at which it either, you know, deteriorates or gets better. It just seems like there's such wild variants there. But like she also, I mean, she smokes and she was like 12, you know, most of her life. So her lungs were kind of shot and she had like
00:13:18
Speaker
I remember if it was kidney or liver disease, but it was like stage four. She's crazy because she's not like a drinker or anything, you know, just, I don't know, something along the line. She ended up getting like a really bad infection that they couldn't figure out. And like her white blood cell count was like cratering, you know, she was she was pretty out of it. And like, I don't know, maybe like less than a week before she passed away,
00:13:47
Speaker
Like they told my grandpa, they're like, look, uh, she's got dementia and it's, it's advancing quickly. I guess they do some sort of a test, you know, with you, like a cognitive test where like the score is like one to 15, 15 being like the highest, most cognizant, and okay you know? Um, and she scored a 10, which I guess is not good. And they told my grandpa, they were like,
00:14:15
Speaker
Hey, look, don't be surprised if you come in here one day and she doesn't know who you are. And so that is just like, that's so hard. I can't, I can't imagine what that would be like for my grandpa. Cause he's, my grandpa was a really interesting guy, you know, cause he's, he's, he definitely of that generation has a lot of the same sentiments and stuff as you would expect, you know, but he's like a very.
00:14:40
Speaker
he's he's a He's a thoughtful guy that pays attention to what you say and how you react and the way you look and your tone of voice and like he stresses a lot. so like he He says things to me and he thinks he made me angry and he just like stews on it for a week until he you know maybe sees me again the following week and he's like, Hey, ah you know, i I didn't mean such and such that I said the other day. ah you're Are you upset at me or I hope I didn't make you mad? No. You didn't make me mad?
00:15:15
Speaker
and you're the age warrior I'm not gonna take anything you say to heart anymore. Like that's what's Like with my wife's grandfather it's like he could say he can there isn't anything he could say that would cause any sort of like friction in a relationship because we just know he's at that point where you're like that happens you're in you're're in your 90s you're gonna start saying shit like we all have thoughts that run through our head that we go don't don't fucking say that like don't do it they don't have that anymore and that's like once they're over a certain age you go you can't even say anything to make me upset yeah i mean at some point it's like you
00:16:01
Speaker
You kind of catalog them as a, as a person from a different time. They're going to have sentiments that just don't line up, you know, anymore. And it's, it's funny when people say something a lot about like older family members about how like, Oh, if they.
00:16:15
Speaker
You know, if they think this or they think that like, you know, you should, you should cut them off or tell them that you're not going to see them until they, you know, whatever you see stuff like posts about it on Reddit or whatever. yeah like Nobody ever says that about their grandparents or whatever. They, it's always, they always mean that about yours, you know, it's over. Probably do. I'm in a Facebook group for the worst kind of people. Uh, it's like an ex evangelical raising kids.
00:16:44
Speaker
Facebook group I joined it years ago I joined it years ago because I was like oh interesting ah and I quickly realized it was a fucking sass pool and I'm just a lurker in it now I just it's kind of rage bait for me I just read it and go, oh, you're the worst. Like all the time. That's all I do. ah But they're the amount of posts lately of like about people talking about how they're just like cut off their families and they're not doing Thanksgiving with them or ever going to see them again until they can say and do the right things. I was just like, yo, this is pathetic. Like it honestly, some of what some of it's probably not even that bad.

Identity and Acceptance

00:17:23
Speaker
Like a lot of people draw the line of voting for Trump. We know that. Like, yeah, yeah add it here I'm
00:17:29
Speaker
Of course, that's annoying for me. I find that annoying, but I am like, I'm a nuanced individual and I understand. Like even the reasons my mom but and my dad, like the reasons my mom voted for Trump or my dad voted for Trump and my mom probably won't even come out and say it. It might come up in a very particular conversation, but I know my mom's going to vote blue every single election from now until she's dead. Like.
00:17:55
Speaker
it doesn It just doesn't matter who who's going to be on the ballot. she's gonna like just she'll She'll think about abortion or something and then be like, I have to vote this way. like and She's going to vote red, you mean? Yeah, sorry. I said blue. Yeah, there my mom's going to vote red forever. I thought I was going to have to cut her off. The reason my dad does is like way different.
00:18:17
Speaker
ah but i can I can just manage it. I can handle it. I'm not going to like, whatever. We don't need to go down that road again. But this group is like, it it is infuriating because it's full of stuff like that. And then I go, I just read their comments and the way they talk. And I go, your family's the one that should cut you off for being an insufferable fuck. Like, This is you bring this to the table all the time you make everything about you you make everything about things that aren't about it's like snide preachy like It's got it's got the same energy as like if it was 20 years ago It'd be the ah you know went to Barnes and Noble and moved all the Bibles to the fiction section Dude, that's it. I mean, I don't think did I tell I don't I think I just told you I
00:19:04
Speaker
about that my recent family dinner. But I don't think I shared the story on the podcast. I think I'm comfortable sharing it. A lot of dynamics going on in my family. I refer to my I know one of my siblings who I often still call brother because that's i he's been my brother for 36 years, ah does go by they them pronouns and that's hard for me to you adjust to. Also, my family doesn't talk about this kind of stuff, so I have learned that. No one has said that to me firsthand. he but My sibling has not said that to me firsthand.
00:19:42
Speaker
um So the dynamic of my family dinner recently, if anyone should cut somebody out, it's somebody in my family for something they don't like. Obviously, my I've talked about you know the ideologies of my parents, and I accidentally ended up being the one to host a family dinner when my sister was in town. So I cannot clear my throat. I'm very sorry.
00:20:07
Speaker
um my So my sister was the first person in the family to come out as something other than just heteronormative. um My sister's bi and yeah my dad's reaction was pretty typical. ah She was maybe 18 when she came out or something like that. I don't really remember but it was like Her saying she was by like provided him just enough hope where he was like, Oh, maybe you can like maybe, well, I hope then at least you end up dating like a man. Like as long as she ended up with a guy, it was like, he'd be fine. She's like, I don't know. We'll see. No promises. And my sister's great. Cause she goes, yeah, the conversation went exactly how I thought it would. Like my sister loves my, my parents. And despite the the contention in belief systems, she's like,
00:20:55
Speaker
that's what I expected and I've come to terms with that and I'm okay and I can still have a relationship and um my oldest sibling goes uses they them pronouns ah they're married and then my younger brother is in I'm not sure I my brother's in a long-term relationship with a woman who is bi and they're like some They're like polyamorous. i they I don't know the extent to which, but I know the current dynamic is that my brother is dating a woman who is also in a relationship with a woman who's trans.
00:21:40
Speaker
And I end up hosting a family dinner, not expecting everyone to all be there. ah So I'm like, spent three days with anxiety but over having my like, uber conservative parents, my, my sisters in town, like, and there's a lot of there's some drama, like,
00:21:59
Speaker
I know there's some drama between different people and within this group and then the friends groups that follow. So I'm like, I know about it. I'm like, I'm going to throw all um I'm throwing all these people into my tiny ass house where it's like my super conservative parents, my sisters in town, my brother with his like, throuple situation. And I'm like, all of us should but by the standards of this Facebook group and the people in it should have cut everybody off from our lives for not accepting people for who they are. ah yeah it's It actually went well. I spent way too much time in my head about it and it went great. Great time. Everyone was great. I had hadn't met the person that my brother's girlfriend is in a relationship with too. I didn't know that she'd be coming, but she did.
00:22:52
Speaker
and Even my dad i was amazingly pleasant. My dad's a nice, my dad's a very pleasant man. He's very nice. He actually, he genuinely loves and people that he meets. He's, it's like, it's that dissonance, right? You hear what they say and then you see the way they interact with people and go, you don't, you're not like that to the point where like my dad referred to her as a him.
00:23:15
Speaker
when it was just me and my dad outside, like I let my dog out, I was outside with my dad and he goes, oh, i he mentions this person and says him. And I go, ah just so you know, dad, this person goes, is is it is trans and goes by, is it like she, her, whatever. And he goes, oh,
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. I'm trying I'm I was waiting for I'm trying but I'm trying and like I was waiting for anything else It was just an honest to God. Oh, oh, yeah, I'm trying I told my siblings that and they were all like wow, that's incredible like huge moves for dad like huge props to dad he's just he is genuine he was genuinely trying and It's a world that he doesn't it's stuff. He doesn't understand but it's like what but but Facebook and whatever is ah they're just all on their high horse and go you need to cut all these people out of your life. Instead, we had the opportunity to just put everybody in a room together and be like, wow, we made this actually pleasant. Nobody got mad. Everyone had a good time. We all went home with no complaints. I was shocked, but grateful. Like, well, I robbed your opportunities. Like most people are just not the awful ogres that you're you're
00:24:31
Speaker
Like you're made to expect them to be in a way. For sure. Which is is its weakness on your own part for like falling prey to that sort of thing. I do it all the time. I mean, I wasn't a while I threw something out to you and you're like, I don't know, man. take And then I think about it for two days and then I go, okay, well, maybe um maybe I'm way off base here. you know but And that goes both ways. we I do the same.
00:25:01
Speaker
I think it's like ah all you get all you can ask is that people like try. You can't demand that people understand, but if like that's coexistence, right? It's like both sides agreeing to, it's like a mutual assumption of goodwill. Like everybody is here at the table. Everybody needs to assume the best of people's intentions, you know? until <unk> until there's actual evidence that it's not that way. Right. and like Because we all know there's a line. But like, I don't know, that's where it's, you know, I don't, I mean, you know, some of our friends who are gay and stuff would be better, to you know, would have a better opinion on some of this stuff. But like, it, it seems like the, I think yeah like both parties need to have reasonable expectations of each other, you know? And if you are gay and you have like,
00:25:59
Speaker
And if you're around people who genuinely make you feel bad about yourself and uncomfortable because they can't resist. Throwing in that like blob and that grenade in from time to time, like that's entirely your prerogative. I would, I think what I caution is that a black and white language of you don't think the way I do. So I cut you out. It's like.
00:26:20
Speaker
I have reasonable expectations for how you're going to treat me when I'm around. And if you can't follow that, I'm just not going to show up. so There's nothing wrong with that, of course. Like if you're if a person as an adult can't control their impulse to say the dumb fucking shit they want to say just because they need to like poke the bear. Yeah, we get that. That's a different scenario than like some of the other things or when you have like a violation of that, you know, that.
00:26:48
Speaker
Goodwill contract that you have with each other.

Navigating Family Differences

00:26:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah is really what it comes down to And I think that I think one of the things that's frustrating about that sort of deal because every one of us has been at Family get-togethers or something where it's like somebody just wants to bring up politics or something so bad or they keep dragging it into conversations and stuff and it's like yeah I at some point you you you start to realize like Oh, this isn't about me. This is about you. You're you're trying to you're consistently trying to tell me who you are. And I know i know who you are. Like, we don't need to talk about this. Exactly. Like honor the truce here. You know, dude that was the other part. I forgot that family dinner mine that I was worried about. It was also on the night before Election Day. And I'm like, if
00:27:37
Speaker
I was like I can't if anything I was like rehearsed I'm like looking in the mirror rehearsing like I think it's time for you to leave like just like shit like if people thought oh this dinner party's over like whatever dad if Liz Cheney can reach across the aisle you ought to be able to too ah I derailed your ah you're heartfelt story about your grandma. Well, yeah, so she passed away last week and...
00:28:11
Speaker
It was one of those things where like, I didn't know. I just worry about my grandpa because like I said, he like, he's a sensitive guy and yeah he, he stresses about things. He worries about things. And I was just like thinking to myself, like, I don't know how he's going to be handling this. Cause my, my parents were gone. They were in South Dakota. So like, when she take us yeah. So the minute they got the phone call, you know, they,
00:28:38
Speaker
jumped in the car, they drove all night to get back, you know, but so it's, it's just my grandpa, you know, and, and so I went over there that night and like sat with him and I don't know, we talked for like three hours or something like that. And I, I probably got to be careful about how how I guess not, I don't know. So my company is the company that I work for is pretty conservative. Like, yeah, it's, it's not unusual to like open a meeting with a word of prayer or like a pledge of allegiance. Like there, it's that kind of play. It's not bad. It's fine. Like I can play along. It's good. it You know, it's, it's not a bad thing, really. It's just a little different than what you would expect from like a decent size company.

Workplace Culture and Support

00:29:28
Speaker
And, um,
00:29:30
Speaker
we We have a company chaplain. dude I love I love that. you look It's not bad. And that's fine. But I would literally like every single time I was in a meeting where people opened with a word of prayer. and The irony is, dude, I stayed in Christianity to an extent way longer than you did.
00:29:50
Speaker
I still don't really know where I classify myself and you're more comfortable with praying with people than I am. like you'll just Like you can roll with it. I would be like, how do I, I need to blow my brains out right now is how I would feel.
00:30:03
Speaker
but I think it's so funny how you can just kind of like roll with it. I love that. It's a good quality and in your air, especially like your area too. Like it's it's a good quality to have. I wish I had less of a visceral reaction to stuff like that. I would, when it happens, I just go, I, I'm just kind of like wide eyed, like, Oh fuck, when's this going to be over?
00:30:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a little awkward at times, you know, but it's like, I think what's what's weird about that is that, you know, it's it's easy to look at that and be like, that's so nuts. Why are they doing that? Like, that it's 2025. You're a big, you're a decent sized company. Like, you can't be, you know, honoring one certain religious perspective in the company level. Look, it we're in a transitional phase between being like, you know, what they've always been, which is a, so you know, a small to mid size, like, you know, grassroots, you know, company run by good old boys and regular people. And, you know, it's gotten so much bigger now.
00:31:14
Speaker
And you know, some of that stuff is like, that's the kind of stuff that makes you a small, you know, warm, sincere feeling place, as opposed to a big, you know, brick and be like, concrete block corporate, you know, behemoth that is totally devoid of like, any sense of sincerity or, or, you know, ah ah love for what you do. So like, it's, it's kind of like, you know, what is it that we're,
00:31:43
Speaker
What is it that I want them to be that's different than what they are right now? And like i don't I don't mind that aspect of of who the company is. I think I've gotten more tolerant over over time. But anyway, so we have a company, Chaplin. And I haven't been the warmest guy in the world to this person.
00:32:07
Speaker
Cause I just, I had a lot of, like the conversations I had with him were always like very, they always felt very superficial and goofy, you know? um And I've, I've told you a couple of them, but like just, yeah yeah it's, it's awkward pastor crap, you know? Where it feels like this guy who's kind of out of touch with the normal world, you know, showing up and kind of doing his pastor thing with normal people. And pastors have that vibe anyway.
00:32:36
Speaker
They do out of like the irony of the being a pastor is they're supposed to be in touch with everybody. But there is such a feeling often of them being like, just not really connected. And then they get to cry burnout and take a four month sabbatical and pretend like their job is harder than everybody else's. ah yeah Exactly. Like there's there's plenty of reason to have that kind of a ah yeah know thoughts about somebody who's a who's a ministry guy. But You know, i I've never been mean to the guy or anything. I just, I don't, I, I don't try to stay in conversations with him. Like I, Hey, how's it going? Pastor so and so like, all right, I'll see you and just kind of move on. But, um, you know, I'm like sitting there Tuesday night, like my grandma died, you know, six hours ago.
00:33:27
Speaker
talking to my grandpa and, you know, listen to stories and all that kind of stuff. It's like eight o'clock at night and the doorbell rings. And we're like, uh, who in the world would be at the door? Like my parents are gone. It's not April. She's at home. You know, like, who there's nobody that this could be. She opened the door and it's pastor so-and-so, the company chaplain.
00:33:50
Speaker
Like showed up at, you know, eight o'clock at night on a Tuesday. Dude, nothing's scarier than anyone ringing your... I hate the sound of anyone coming to my door. It's never... Oh, and if it's dark outside, it's way worse. 90% of the time, it's like a Jehovah's Witness. And other times, i the 5% is like a gamble on whether it's a serial killer.
00:34:13
Speaker
Or, I mean, there's no good options. that If someone rang my doorbell at eight o'clock at night, I'd be like, this is a, I need to just make peace with everything I've done and who I am and call it a day. Like, I'm done for. it Yeah, it's like, pause the hitcher well so I can answer the door. yeah But yeah, so he showed up and sat with sat with us and chatted and stuff. And I i thought to myself in the middle of it, I'm like,
00:34:43
Speaker
I don't think I've been fair to this person. Yeah. And I don't know. It's like, I guess, kind of a humbling thing. And it's I really appreciated that he came there. It meant a lot to my grandpa, you know, like the the amount of people from my company that called him, you know, while I was standing there was unbelievable. You know, that's really nice, man. That's so it's very cool. It's just it's a good place. And like, you don't have to like everything about someplace like that. But like,
00:35:13
Speaker
It's a good place. There's a lot of good people there. like well i'm I'm lucky to work for a group. of My whole family has worked for them. you know we're We're very lucky that we found such a ah good place to work. That's awesome, dude. Yeah. So all that to say that um I'm stuck. I don't know if I'm going to pay cash for it or if I'm going to try a Kickstarter or what, but I'm, I'm considering hiring Matt Gaetz to read my grandma's use eulogy du that would be

Funeral Traditions and Critiques

00:35:45
Speaker
on Cameo. And she would appreciate it. She would. Yeah. She would legitimately would. So, I mean, what better way to honor the legacy of your grandmother. See, that's the thing people, because my big problem with funerals, right? Uh, some of the ones that I've been to.
00:36:02
Speaker
Uh, a lot of Christian funerals, right? They get, uh, they're kind of hijacked. I have had, I think only negative experiences with Christian funerals in the last 20 years of my life where they, well, let's go 10 when I started to wake up and you go, this isn't even about the person who died anymore. It's an altar call.
00:36:25
Speaker
it's yes It's awful. eight it's Now, let's I'll be fair, or some of the people who have died would have been like, thank you for using my my life as a way to try to invite people into what I think is the only way you can spend eternity in heaven.
00:36:44
Speaker
ah but eight it It could be gross sometimes and you go, i I showed up to a funeral to hear this person eulogized and you talked about how great they were for three minutes and then spent 20 minutes giving a salvation message. fine That's exactly what happened for my grandpa's funeral on my mom's side. Yeah. Like I was supposed to go and then there was a blizzard. It was during COVID, like in the middle of COVID.
00:37:09
Speaker
That's right. That's one of the coolest guys of all time. Everybody loved this guy. I mean, he was just like a he was just a bright spot, you know, in the middle of the prairie. Nicest dude ever loved to everybody. Fun. Just fun to be around. Always fun.
00:37:29
Speaker
accident prone, always getting into a wreck or a crash or breaking something or whatever, you know, like, you know, like the last five to six years of his life, he had two like near fatal four wheeler accidents. And he was just like the coolest guy ever. There was so much to say about him and I couldn't be there at the funeral. And so I'm watching it like live streamed on dial up internet, you know, at this funeral home. And the guy literally just reads like, he reads like the, the most basic of facts about my grandpa. You know, Ed was born at such and such on December, whatever, for me you know, 1902 or whatever it was. And, uh, you know, he had three kids and, uh, his wife and you Ed loved to hunt and fish and shoot guns.
00:38:25
Speaker
I think, you know, deaths are a peculiar time because they really make us contemplate, you know, where we are headed as ah as a, you know, it just starts in on that two time transition. I was mad that I couldn't be there because he was like, such a ah pivotal person in my like development, you know, and and then to watch this live stream where it's just this scumbag con artist using my grandpa's death to like pedal his nonsense. And it just makes me so angry because it's like, this isn't the place to talk about my grandpa. Like, what is wrong with you? Yeah. It made me so angry. Yeah. And thankfully, I don't think that they're going to
00:39:08
Speaker
I think my grandpa is not going to have a funeral. I think we're just going to do like a family get together. Like, I don't know, do sometime in the next month or so. I appreciate it. Like funerals are so fucking expensive anyway. Like to go through a funeral home is crazy. i the only legacy I want to leave everybody who knows me knows I'm a frugal piece of shit and the only legacy I want to leave like is i I want people to know me enough to know that if you spent too much money on my funeral I'll be rolling over in my grave like
00:39:45
Speaker
Cheapest option, cheapest coffin. what I know you can just like go and down in a cedar box that has no frills or whatever, but like i don't cremation probably has a good price tag to it. I'm not sure. You drill a few holes in it to give the worms a head start. Yeah, dude. anything Whatever the cheapest option is,
00:40:04
Speaker
Keep it out of a funeral home. to i Dude, it makes the idea of how much money. Dude, the the amount of fucking times I have had conversations with people who lost loved ones and they can barely grieve properly because they talk to you about how stressed they are over how much all this bullshit costs to bury a dead body. It's fucked up. Yeah, I'm not OK with it. I don't I do not want that for me. I don't. What? I don't see why I couldn't just like Can I put in my will ahead of time to like take me to a taxidermist instead? That would be amazing. And they could make your dick huge, dude. They could. ah Yeah. I mean, yes, they could, but that full body stuff, that's pretty expensive too. Like I want to be, from mal alive from ellaide i hear I hear the cost of formaldehyde has gone way up, especially with the new formaldehyde tariffs. I think one of those pickled babies from like turn of the century in circuses.
00:41:03
Speaker
ah pickled punk. No, I want to be like a European mount. you know like ah where they They put you in a like a ah dilapidated, unworking freezer full of flesh-eating bugs, and they clean your bones off.
00:41:21
Speaker
ah Okay, so wait, your your bones so you want to be like, you want to be like one of those skeletons that that hangs in the

Sentimentality and Possessions

00:41:28
Speaker
doctor's office. I think I'm Yeah, but maybe something more fun like posed cool. Yeah, you know, or like kind of ah strung up like a marionette so like you can, you can make me kind of do like the high knee dance. There you go.
00:41:43
Speaker
do know I mean, honestly, you can just, you could just do my, if you, if you just did my head, that would be fine too. And then there's nothing really more metal than like your, your body being left out for like coyotes. Your, your ultimate goal is to be turned into a Jeff Dunham puppet.
00:42:02
Speaker
yeah
00:42:09
Speaker
angst The American dolt puppet.
00:42:16
Speaker
would be cool I have a lot of cool ideas for death though. Like I've I've thought about like um Like you ever seen those videos where something like I didn't have a real science class so we never got to do it in person but you ever seen those videos where they like the science teacher will put a banana and Liquid nitrogen and then like pound a nail in with it. Oh, yeah. Yep And so like, what have I wonder if I could be frozen and shattered. Yeah. I be i mean, you could be carbon freeze like Han Solo. That'd be sick. That would actually be really fucking cool. I mean, Viking funeral. Yeah. But like, I kind of want to be like, uh, naked face down, you know, head turned to the side, maybe with a little grin. I'm not.
00:43:02
Speaker
It's funny, because I'm not a very sentimental person. ah like i have I'm a very emotional person. um It doesn't take much to like give me that like choked up feeling. ah But when it comes to like objects, I really don't apply sentiment to objects that were owned by people I cared about. I had an uncle who passed away, and like I had a hat of his for a while.
00:43:27
Speaker
and i was like i I had to deal more with the guilt that I didn't care about this object more than I had to deal with the feeling of being upset about it. Like, so I eventually honestly got rid of it, which feels really like fucked up to say, but I just don't. My, when my grandmother died, I went to her house and there was a few things that I took. One of them was like, I think I told this story. Uh, I didn't take it, but I,
00:43:58
Speaker
But my grandmother's house was very, very old. um She had more kids than bedrooms. And it was just one of those like old, old style things where you just like makeshift things. So they like turn, they like turn the basement into bedrooms. And in it is not a nice basement. That is not a bedroom basement. There are no windows.
00:44:22
Speaker
They just threw a rug down and put a bed on it and were like, here's where you sleep now. Did you guys all argue over who gets her Sibian? I moved ah when I was when I was but when my grandmother died and we were cleaning out the house. I found it was like a like a nightstand. It was an old record but like a record cabinet.
00:44:43
Speaker
Yeah. And that, see again, not sentimental. Like I don't have a record player, but if I did, I probably wouldn't, my grandfather loved jazz. He could tell you anything about the, all these different jazz musicians had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jazz records.
00:44:58
Speaker
And I wouldn't have taken any of them because I'm just like, I don't, what am I going to do with that? Like I don't, I don't need objects to remind me of people. It doesn't, it doesn't connect me to them. It doesn't mean anything to me. So I'm, I moved this record cabinet and it's like this old ass. Like it had to have been from the seventies, like some like early seventies playboy magazine that had like been water damaged and all the pages were stuck together.
00:45:26
Speaker
And from water damage, let's be clear. sure And I was dying because I just start thinking, I'm like, oh my God, the boat I wanted to keep that more than anything else in my grandmother's house because I was like, this was, it was either my grandfather's and he hit it down under his record collection. So my grandmother didn't know about it, which would be hilarious to me.
00:45:49
Speaker
Or it was like, it could have been my uncles who slept down there and they might've hid it under there. i I was like, I was just dying over the fact that this has been here for 50 years. And it hasn't started of making paper mache out of this thing. like and thirty I loved it.
00:46:06
Speaker
But like when my grower dad, the only thing I took one thing, uh, two things, the glass, they're these glass mugs that my brother and I used as kids when we would sleep over. And I was like, Oh, that's cool. Like I grew up drinking out of these. And then of course I, I get them and my kids broke one in like 48 hours, but No, but I didn't feel that bad. I was just like, ah it's a thing like. And then the other one was ah my grandmother lived in Brockton and she was like a big part of ah like a park society. D.W. Field is the park in Brockton. And she had a D.W. Field mug with like there's a tower, an old town, like a watchtower like thing there.
00:46:46
Speaker
built out of stone and it's got that on it. I was like, that's the one thing I took. And I love it. I do love it. I think this is the that's the first object in my entire life where I've connected sentimental value to and the to the thing. If it breaks, I'll be okay. I really, I'll be fine. But I do like that. But it is funny. I don't i don't have that like sentimental connection to to objects.
00:47:13
Speaker
I don't necessarily that much either. Like the exception would probably be something that I knew was really important to them. You know, like, um, I know like my, my great grandpa, he had like.
00:47:31
Speaker
One of those, you know, old guys can wear jewelry, which is kind of cool, but he had like this black pink black onyx ring on like a gold setting. And it was like square. And it's kind of cool. Like, I don't, I don't know what I would ever do with something like that, but he wore it every time I ever saw him from the time I was a little kid, you know? And like that to me, that could be, so that was, that's something that I could see like.
00:47:57
Speaker
Oh yeah, this is kind of special because it was special to him, you know? But just like picking the idea of like picking a random object out of their house and being like, this object was set down in close proximity to them several years ago. Like, yeah, it doesn't really do a lot for me either. I don't know, what would be, okay, so if I was trying to, if you died, what would be the most sentimental thing that somebody would,
00:48:28
Speaker
could possibly ah shoplift from your you're wake. Dude, ah nothing. Nothing. i have I don't have collections. i don't I'm pretty minimalistic. I don't have i don't i don't have anything that i I really feel like would connect, would that someone would be able to be like, this reminds me of him. How about you like salty blue baseball cap?
00:48:53
Speaker
Probably smells like corn off the top. Imagine that. I have one hat that I wear and I've been wearing it for years and it's the only one I really wear. And I could see somebody being like, oh, that's that's a big part of that. That's just something that's very him. He always wears his hat. If you see me, you see me wearing that hat. I could see somebody taking that. If I die tomorrow. It smells like his brow. Yeah.
00:49:19
Speaker
If I died tomorrow, I could see somebody being like, Oh, I would like to hang. I'll just, I'll hang that up. That's him. Uh, and I think that might be it. Uh, I don't wear jewelry, but you know, you got a wedding ring on. I do. I do. Uh, is there not like a ton of sentimental connection to that? I mean, it's just, it's a white gold. Technically it's a women's ring too. I, uh.
00:49:46
Speaker
Cause I had no money when we got married. So, and I don't like, I hated men's rings. I didn't like, I don't like jeweler. They're like gaudy and big and shit. And I was like, Oh, what about that one? They're like, that's a women's ring. I was like, okay. like desire It's just a smaller version. That's just not like.
00:50:06
Speaker
It's just a white gold, very small, like skinny ring, whatever. like it I don't know. I really don't think there's a lot that people would connect to me ah when it comes to like something you could take. i don't Everything in my house, there'd be more for my wife than for me. you know There's things that she's more attached to.
00:50:30
Speaker
I feel like I have a lot of things that I love, but they're I love them from a practical sense, not necessarily like because they they mean something to me emotionally or whatever. like I think the the only thing that I can think of is my shotgun that I use all the time. Shotgun. Yeah, or that, one or the other.
00:50:53
Speaker
I don't know. There's so many though. I mean, I don't even know which one. If you died, I would want one of your guns. I think that's what would remind me of you. I'd be like, I need one of Casey's guns. I want you to have the 44 mag if I die. Yeah. Put it in your will, dude. I'll write that down somewhere.

Military Stories and Personas

00:51:09
Speaker
They're like, this goes to Sam. You saw me like hard as a fucking rock while I shot that. You're like, dude, take it easy.
00:51:21
Speaker
Oh, boy. So that's a that's a good transition. ha you Speaking of being hard as a rock wall shooting. um So I came across some clips of this guy. OK, so first of all, have you heard of a guy named Sean Ryan? No. So I don't really know much about him.
00:51:45
Speaker
but it's like all of a sudden everybody is telling me about Sean Ryan podcast. He's like a military guy and I i guess he's like, I think he's top five now, top five podcasts in the world now. right It's so crazy what the, how that shifts. Yeah. Like I've listened to, so I think I listened to one episode of it at one point cause he had Nick Bryan on the journalist and um,
00:52:11
Speaker
I mean, he seems seems like a good podcast host, like he's very low key, reasonable, seems to ask good questions and stuff. But I just like overseeing like random clips of podcasts and stuff. um He had this guy on this week that was fascinating in ah in ah in a weird sort of way. and And maybe one of my favorite kind of ways. he Yeah, I thought this guy is ah Sam will love this guy. So this guy the guy that that caught my attention, his name's John McPhee, and I'll just kind of read you the bio here from his website.
00:52:56
Speaker
says John McPhee, widely known as the Sheriff of Baghdad or Shrek, is a retired U.S. Army Special Operations Sergeant Major with over 20 years of distinguished service. Specializing in various special mission units, he kind accumulated extensive combat experience across multiple theaters. Since retiring in 2011, John has been a trailblazer.
00:53:18
Speaker
yeah right Since retiring in 2011 John has been a trailblazer in video diagnostics training analyzing shooting techniques with unparalleled precision through a specialized app um And so this guy was again doesn't he doesn't lift his body count
00:53:36
Speaker
No, but OK, we're going to we're going to get to that here in a minute. So he was a guest on the Sean Ryan's podcast, and I saw another podcast playing clips of this and kind of like, ah you know, poking fun at it. And it's it's it's shocking. I thought it was shocking to hear someone talk about war and and what they did in it this certain way. let me Let me just kind of jump in. I can't remember which clip of this is like the best one to start off with, but they all kind of have a similar tenor. For you to say it's shocking means I'm going to be appalled. Okay, let's try this clip first. But ah yeah, first 10 days of the war.
00:54:25
Speaker
And we just killed and captured so many people. I don't think guys really understand like you know the the lone survivor story, right the Taliban you know on the Navy SEAL team. You know what I'm saying? And and it didn't go well for the SEALs. OK.
00:54:44
Speaker
Yo, bring 400 of your friend. Tell them to bring their fucking trucks. Tell them to bring their machine guns. And, like, we would just kill all comers. All comers. You know what I mean? And you'll hear other guys. There's other times we'd eat even more of this than I ran off. We'd just kill everyone that shows up. So it's like the lone survivor story. Like, I don't even understand it, because we would kill hundreds of people in a fucking day. Like, yeah, show up. We'll kill you, too. We don't even care.
00:55:12
Speaker
I didn't understand how those things really happened, you know what I mean? Compared to my experience and what I saw, you know what I mean? Jesus fucking Christ. Dude, the whole thing is like this. Like this guy's kind of a goofy character. He's huge. At least from what I can tell, he looks like an enormous dude. And in this interview, he is like very fidgety and just like volatile hyper. It seems like he's on something and like, my PTSD is just on dealt with. I don't think there's any part of this guy. though no
00:55:52
Speaker
These are like the best years of his life. I mean, I- Dude, this is like, this is the kind of shit where you go like, ah like if you're inclined towards serial killing, Special Ops is the place for you.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like if you want, if you're like, I've always been curious was like, like people have these ideas, right? Like we've all thought this shit before, not that, not to that degree, but you all, every single fucking person on this planet, I swear to God has placed maybe more men than women, but like you've placed yourself in a fantasy scenario where you go, what would I do in, in this situation? Would I kill this person? Do I have that in me?
00:56:36
Speaker
like You think about that. ah like For example, ever since I started working in a school and we have like lockdown drills and shit, I go, what if somebody actually came in here? What if this really went down? like you And you go, what would how would I handle that? What would I do? Do I have the courage to try to like stop this person? And you think. like And the more you go with it, the more you go like,
00:56:59
Speaker
yeah You could get dark with it right like about you know thinking about the way like if you had the opportunity to stop it and kill them you're like Oh my god, like could I could I? um So I think people think about people do think about that stuff. That's in everybody's brain a little bit Do I have the capacity to kill and in a serious situation? um and then the people who go real far with it are like I should really test this out. I should put myself in a position. Yeah. Well, and it's a whole interesting subject that I've thought about a lot and I've like kind of thought about talking about it here at some point, but the first time you killed someone. Yeah, exactly. And how, how, uh, you know, I couldn't, I was just so giddy. Yeah. You could like, you were like, who needs Viagra? Who needs Viagra?
00:57:51
Speaker
Call your doctor after, you you've like you're like, I've had a boner for four hours. I don't know what to do about it. This guy definitely he falls into like that that group of people who is just like unashamed. They they love this stuff. and I do have a little in it. I mean, he had so much fun over there in just like in the chaos of it. I have a slight distrust of special um people who talk about killing, though, because in almost all scenarios, like people don't talk about it.
00:58:26
Speaker
They are like, what happened over there happened over there. I did what I was trained to do. ah I obviously have ah concerns about that, but it is not something that I have a friend who has a family member who's married to someone who was a sniper, I believe. And it's like, I mean, no chance this guy hasn't watched heads explode hundreds of times.
00:58:53
Speaker
yeah And i don't i i think there I think there's some clear effects from that ah in his personal civilian life. um But you just go like, of course there is. like like people don't and It's not like he's ever gone out of his way to talk about it and brag about it.
00:59:11
Speaker
You know, like people in the, in that world, they usually are like, uh, they, they probably have to be masters of compartmentalization in some way too. Right. Where you just like, yeah, you don't, people don't, it's a faux pas to ask about it and you don't talk about it. And so when you find these outliers who are like, a like just so, uh, matter of fact about it, like it's like they won. It's like they bought a scratch ticket or.
00:59:40
Speaker
Like, I don't know, i told like like it's someone one was misbehaving in a grocery store and they told him to knock it off. Like, it's like they talk about it in such a benign way that it's, that's what's- It violates like social conventions that we all kind of like- and it's more concerning. Like, to me, that's more concerning. Like, we know this is happening with people whose roles it is to do these things.
01:00:00
Speaker
And when they're this comfortable talking about it, you go, ah that is a major red flag for me. I find that incredibly concerning. Like I go from feeling like sympathy for the ah struggle of what it's like to reacclimate to going, I don't think you're a safe person to be around.
01:00:18
Speaker
Yeah, well, and like, especially in these environments where, you know, this is like the, like the times that he's talking about are like, early, early days of the war to where like, there is, you know, this isn't, this isn't like 2005, when there's some like, US infrastructure there and stuff like this is early on.
01:00:40
Speaker
you know Afghanistan first first like few weeks of the war and stuff is part of the time period that he's talking about in iraq and um I think the the the rule of law that you assume is somehow enforced by the military like this is an early stage point where like that's just not in place yet so like this is kind of him talking about some of that and then so Literally, man, I can't tell you how many days I got where we just killed so many people you can't even count.
01:01:15
Speaker
So, what is I mean, no, basically zero rules and engagement. Just kill everything that shows up. I used to call it State Department by Shrek. I'm the fucking State Department here. I make the decisions. Kill everybody. Let's go. Yeah, I love Cass. It's my jam.
01:01:37
Speaker
Hilarious! That's so funny. The way he says it. He's funny. It's great. His comments are just full of shit. I shrek! Love him or hate him, he says it like he feels it, and I respect that.
01:01:48
Speaker
L.O.L. glad to have this guy on our side. Right. and du it It is glad to be, in in all honesty, it is that kind, he is that kind of psycho that you are glad is on your side. i guess Like if you're over. Unless we're fighting a totally unnecessary war where we destabilize an entire country and eventually leads to like millions of deaths directly and indirectly, then you kind of feel like ah maybe, maybe we don't need either one.
01:02:13
Speaker
I just mean if you're, if you're sitting somewhere and your life depends on the person next to you, you'd be like, well, at least I had that psychopath next to me. Like, yeah, I'm surprised he hasn't shown up for, uh, the Ukraine yet. I'm waiting. Like, you know, he could go over and slaughter so many people if, uh, if he wanted, it doesn't have to stop. He could opt that body count even more. It's so.
01:02:39
Speaker
so my thought are initially in like what the the podcast clips that I was talking about like Immediately like when you hear this guy talking about it like there's another clip I'll play here in a second where he talks about like, you know his first kill and sniper Work and stuff which he was doing your impulse is to be like this is absurd and this can't be true But like I've not found I mean I've only you know, it's not like I've done extensive research here but in the last like two days I I've poked around a decent amount and like, I, there's, there's nobody calling this guy's bluff and he's everywhere all of a sudden. Like, dude, uh, I can just Google in him here sports illustrated did a writeup on him last month. Really? Yeah.
01:03:24
Speaker
So like, I don't know why this guy is so present all of a sudden he kind of seems like one of those characters that pops up once in a while or it's like this almost it feels like somebody wants me to see this person right now and they're just everywhere, you know, because he yeah I mean, ah a guy like this is podcast vibes. I am surprised that he has.
01:03:43
Speaker
Like a write up in Sports Illustrated. Like this is the kind of guy who does do podcasts because podcasts are a place to say whatever you want in any unhinged manner without any without any ah like ah publications have more guardrails on the type of things that they want to.
01:04:06
Speaker
Publicize podcasting any podcast are like, oh, that person's entertaining. Let's get him on like it. So I it it I'm not surprised that he would be able to like that. Whatever. i don't i want I wonder where his story started and how like what his first podcast was or what his first thing was that got him into any sort of like but that that public sphere. I think he's I think he's ah well, he has is like he has a brand called like SOB Tactical.
01:04:36
Speaker
where he, I don't know, sells like witty t-shirts and shooting classes and stuff like that. About freedom, t-shirts about freedom and stuff. Oh, I think it's just all like this this persona, like his Deadpool-esque persona just like boils down into bumper stickers. Maybe that's why it's working. People saw a Deadpool and they're like, oh. Here he is. This is way worse in real life. Yeah. Somehow.
01:05:03
Speaker
But, uh, that's the other thing too is like, there's a part, like, cause I just, to me, I just can't help think like, okay, what is the angle here? Like, what is this really who this guy is? Which I think it is to some extent, but it's also like, gu he's building a public persona, obviously.
01:05:22
Speaker
And a lot of that is based on him being like this super tough guy that's killed a million people and like just kind of laughs at danger. He's trying to get that American sniper movie. That's all like he's just trying to get he's probably he wants a movie made about him or a book deal or some shit. Dude, he wants he he wants to be American sniper but directed by like James Gunn.
01:05:45
Speaker
Yeah Can we put that guy on ice I that I don't even know movies from James Gunn, please and thank you Wait, what's a James Gunn movie? I'm just like in the middle of that peacemaker show. Oh Yeah, okay. Yep. It's very it's very loud. I see this guy wanting like Quentin Tarantino to make a movie about him Yeah, oh there was that uh There was that Delta Force movie that Larry the Cable Guy was in. Delta Farce, I think. No way. Some people say that that was Larry the Cable Guy's best film. I don't know.
01:06:24
Speaker
i I hate making a hierarchy out of art. You know what I mean? It's not fair. And I think sometimes our criticisms are unwarranted. Like when people pour their blood, sweat, and tears Into ah God I was trying to think of a comedy that just was a major flop ah But scary movie six. Yeah. Thank you Scary get something like that when something was like they're trying to make high art They're pouring their blood sweat and tears into it. Like who are we to really criticize it? I mean, I've been going through I I decided ah Several weeks ago that I wanted to watch every movie in
01:07:04
Speaker
in the Alien and Predator universe. So i'm I'm going through it in release order. Some people say I should do chronological ah based on the timeline of the film series. I'm a release order guy through and through.
01:07:17
Speaker
I believe in release order. i think I think I have the ability to place the films where they should be.

Movie Franchises and Critiques

01:07:24
Speaker
ah But it, wow, some of those are flops. Oh my God, dude. Alien versus Predator and then Alien versus Predator 2. Requiem. i'm on I'm on Requiem right now. at Alien versus, so the interesting, Alien versus Predator was the only PG-13 movie in the film franchise.
01:07:44
Speaker
And my understanding is that they moved in that direction because they had Alien, they had Predator, and then McDonald's started selling those as toys. ah I don't think McDonald's really did, but it was more, I mean, I had, a I had Alien and Predator toys as a kid. These things were, they all, because they turned into comics. So Alien versus Predator were comics before they made the Alien versus Predator movie.
01:08:05
Speaker
um the The movies launched a whole comic book bunch of comic book series. So they they really Marketed the shit towards kids even though it had a heart pretty hard our rating They were pretty brutal like they're they're both slasher films essentially ah like suspense Characters getting I mean, it's like a Freddy versus Jason but with an alien and whatever so it's I mean, I mean a Freddy Freddy Jason Freddy versus Jason a VP whatever the fuck and I'm like it My understanding is AVP was the first movie that came out after they started marking the toys. ah So they they put the the studio pushed hard for a PG-13 rating so that way they could continue to market it towards children. ah Because at some point there was a shift where they go, you can't market toys towards children for R-rated movies.
01:08:58
Speaker
And, uh, but after that, basically selling a serial killer with like a horseshoe crabs face. o So after that they go, uh, but after AVP, everything else was radar, but I'm on AVP Requiem in.
01:09:13
Speaker
It revolves around like teenagers and shit. I'm like, this is like, this is like teens go to camp and get killed by a, like this is teenage slasher shit. This is terrible. It is bad. It's so bad. No more movies about teenagers either. I would love that. No James Gunn, no more movies about teenagers. They're the least interesting. I think the last good movie about teenagers was Charlie Bartlett. Charlie Bartlett? That's a movie?
01:09:42
Speaker
Anton yell yeahp Yelchin was that his name? The kid who died um in a freak car accident or some shit. ah Yeah, fantastic comedy, dude. It was a it came out while I was in college and it's about this kid who just is like a total like silver spoon kid, crazy rich parents. They have their own personal psychiatrist who work like all this stuff and ah he he ends up doing this thing where he like he like he meets he sits in one bathroom stall and someone else goes into the bathroom stall next to him and they explain to him all of their problems and what they're going through
01:10:23
Speaker
and how they're feeling. And then he he goes to his psychiatrist and repeats that information. And his psychiatrist prescribes him meds. And then he goes and give those meds to the kids whose information he provided to a psychiatrist. That is an insane plot. Yeah, it's great. It's so good, dude. It's such a good comedy. I loved it so much. ah Kid was taken before his time. Anyway. Yeah, I know. Hi, Art. I remember.
01:10:52
Speaker
You have movies that are just, you know, classic, fantastic. movie like The Godfather, right? And it's The Godfather. There's and then there's Alien versus Predator Requiem. And who are we to decide that one is better than the other? It's not really. Right. Neither one of them has Larry, the cable guy in it. And not enough stuff has Larry, the cable guy in it. You know, when people start arguing over which is the best Alien versus Predator movie, you know what I say to him? I say, here's your sign. That's Bill Engvall.
01:11:28
Speaker
So okay, let's all right. Let's try this last clip here of ah of this fella and I mean and then Yeah, so these guys argued and I just took the time to just focus and kill as many human beings as I could They'd fucking shoot at us. We'd fucking level it. We'd move up. They'd shoot at us. We'd level it. We'd move up like Pretty simple pretty simple. Yeah, it's crazy that people like that are walking amongst us. Oh dude It's it's so weird like in the midst of all it because I've had maybe it's just because it's on my mind right now but like I've had a couple of conversations with people like military people about this kind of stuff.
01:12:08
Speaker
um One guy who, you know, I pretty, I know fairly well, um, he

Military Ethics and Media

01:12:16
Speaker
spent a bunch of time in Iraq and, uh, it was interesting cause I was talking to him about stuff and he kind of what started in on that, like very 2005 conservative rant about like hora rules of engagement and how ridiculous they were.
01:12:33
Speaker
I love when people hate the idea of rules of engagement. yeah That's like having a problem with war crimes. How dare you call it a crime? Yeah, like there's so many things that you can pop you can point at, like how the US s behaved during the Iraq war and they have no just the war and terror in general. And like they just pale in comparison to like what Israel has done in the last year. Dude, it's wild. Yeah.
01:13:01
Speaker
it is incredible what Israel's gotten away with internationally and of course the ICC finally issued like arrest warrants for him but which won't do any no of course they're not going to go anywhere but it's it's sending a message what would he have to do leave ah he would have to go He would have to go to a country like other than he would have to go somewhere where he could get around. Like I don't even really get Justin Trudeau is going to put him in cuffs. If he goes like, yeah, that yahu come to canada might to Canada. Might sneak up on him if he's got one of his disguises on.
01:13:40
Speaker
It depends on the time of day, but he could.
01:13:47
Speaker
and god yeah I don't know. This guy just shocked me. And then like, Oh, so today, today I'm like doing some training at a store in town here. And, uh, are you talking about your, like, uh, your, your militia trainings? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Something close to that. It's kind of like a militia meet and greet, I guess. I'm chatting with this guy and he said something about, he just, somebody made mention of him being, uh, uh, special forces.
01:14:17
Speaker
And so I asked him something about it. I'm like, Oh yeah, you were in the, in the service. And he's like, yeah, I th I forget what he, he was a ranger. So, good um, so he did all that stuff. And then he's like, yeah, he goes, I was in the rangers. And then, um, you know, when I, when I finished my deployments and stuff like that, then, uh, I w I was a contractor for a bit and then I quit doing that because of, uh, I dunno, moral reasons.
01:14:45
Speaker
And I was like, Oh, hang on a sec. What do you mean? He's like, Oh, I just, I just didn't like what we were doing. And so I quit and I'm like, well, which contract did you work for? And he, he said Academy, which Academy is rebranded, uh, Blackwater. Okay. So after, I don't know the exact timeline of events, but the early 2000s Blackwater is contracting for the government in Iraq, I think mostly probably both, but Iraq.
01:15:15
Speaker
And, uh, they had a little PR snafu when they opened fire on a marketplace full of civilians and killed a whole bunch of them. Whoa. It's a really like ugly story. And I think it's part of like, if you watched dirty Wars, which is old documentary that Jeremy Scahill made, by the way, Jeremy Scahill still rules. Now he's doing, uh, it's him and Ryan grim that made that, uh, drop site.
01:15:42
Speaker
news. Oh, Ryan Grim school. I mean, Ryan Grim is I always tell I constantly talk about him with you. And I'm like, God, he's, he's the most boring part, like smart person I've ever met in my life. He's so on point. But he's just like, he's like, he's like, very funny, buddy. And he's like, kind of poorly spoken. Like, you read what he writes, and you go this guy Nails it and then you listen to him talk and you go is this year Are you are you public speaking in front of your eighth grade class right now?
01:16:14
Speaker
Dude, it's perfect though in those White House press briefings because he comes across as so unassuming and then hits them with questions that just like stagger them. That is true. That's a good point. but Yeah. that on Matthew Miller like like has to pause to wipe the blood off of his incisors to like stammer out an answer. Scum, dude. So, so ready for those scumbags to be out.
01:16:39
Speaker
And noel <unk>ll they'll all be running for office here in a couple of years and we'll get to hear about like what ah a stellar record they had is like the White House press secretary soft pedaling us like straight up child murder. ye oh Yeah, can't wait. Can't wait.
01:16:54
Speaker
du that's why like After the ICC issued the arrest warrants for Netanyahu, i'm like my first thought was like, and biden has no cult the Biden admin has no culpability here. like We've funded the war. It's our missiles that are, but like ah it's our bombs that are like being dropped on them. and where They vetoed a so a piece a ceasefire resolution.
01:17:17
Speaker
59 last week they were they vetoed the most recent one. They're the only ones that have the US has used their veto power 59 times to prevent at any action against this whole fucking scenario Yeah, like any any vote on any sort of moral issue. It's like the world versus the US, Israel and Moldova.
01:17:38
Speaker
yeah what those cut It's always like one of these like tiny South Pacific countries. Just like one island. Like the island is literally just like a volcano with a palm tree off the edge. They have the right to defend themselves.
01:17:59
Speaker
oh My god the ah sort of place where I a cartoon coconut would wash up yeah yeah But yeah, dude, I just this this guy is just baffling because he he is so like It's like the vulgarity of how he talks about it. And it's you know, he's talking about combatants I guess and far As far as we know, as far as we know, he's talking about combatants, you know, but that has a significant civilian casualty rate, no chance he doesn't know. And, you know, he says things like in other interviews where he talks about like he he supposedly did like some solo missions where he would like go over, he would go across enemy lines and like ID a target, you know, and.
01:18:49
Speaker
Like I was listening to him talk about one of these missions where he was like in, I don't, I don't remember where he was, if it was Afghanistan or where, but anyways, he was in hostile territory. And the way that he talks about the civilians there, he, he absolutely killed a whole bunch of, like there's no other way to like, you you can't dehumanize people to this extent.
01:19:13
Speaker
and and not haplessly kill them in the midst of your you like racking up hundreds of kills per day or whatever. But like, like when he's talking about like his, he's like, Yeah, he goes, you know, I, ah so you know, I was gonna get Driven over across enemy lines, you know, I had to blend in as much as I could in the guys like, well, how did you, how did you do that? And he's like, he's like, you just wear savage clothes. God damn dude. He, he, his favorite part about sneaking around at night is the opportunity to wear blackface. That's yeah. He did. He talked about he's, I've, I heard him say this story on multiple podcasts, but he was talking about like going across the line and getting stopped at a checkpoint, you know,
01:19:58
Speaker
And having an AK-47 like poke him in the chest and you know guys like like chattering at him in whatever language you know trying to like asking who he was and stuff and he's like they're like how did you how did you get out of it and he goes he goes I just like turned the volume up to 11 and just active retarded. That was his, that's his story. He's like, he's like the guy's chattering at me and stuff, you know? And I just like, I just like bumped my volume up and went until finally they waved me through. And I just keep, I did, I like, I listened to this story. I'm like, is that, like, is this true?
01:20:36
Speaker
This doesn't seem like this could be true, but there's like nobody refuting any of it online. I mean, like everywhere that I looked, it's like, you know, he ah he's been vetted by a lot of other guys. Tell these stories. there and The human instinct is to embellish. There's no chance that there isn't part of that.
01:20:57
Speaker
I will say that like his motion at solo missions if if you're doing a solo mission you're telling me exactly how it went down I don't I believe with certainty that you're adding to it to some degree or another yeah it's gotta to be I mean and like I did notice that like I listened to clips of him from like several different podcasts and this one that he did with Sean Ryan and maybe it's because he has a huge platform so he was like you know up in the antics and playing it up for it but like he seemed way more high strung and over the top like
01:21:35
Speaker
bellicose on this podcast than he did on the other ones I listed, like the other ones, like it's still the same guy, but he's not just going like we killed all comers, you know, like hundreds of people a day.
01:21:48
Speaker
So I don't know if he was on something or if he was just playing it up for the camera. I mean, I don't really know. But like, I mean, there's just I really wanted to think that like half of this stuff at least wasn't true or that it was like heavily embellished. But like there's certainly nobody around online refuting what he has to say. That's why I look.
01:22:09
Speaker
This might be my second controversial opinion of the night, but I do believe that if you engage in special operations like this and you've been, you go, I think part of the contract should be, I'm committing to do these things and I can do them as long as I work for the United States government. And as soon as I'm done, I'm put to death. Fair? Reasonable? Maybe. I mean, I would it' i would have,
01:22:37
Speaker
I really don't know because I mean, it's it's such a mixed bag. Like there's so many of those guys that are very quiet and reserved about what they did and stuff like that. You know, whether it's like haunting them or not, I don't I i doubt it is it certainly is another great reason to just not carry on. Right. Let's be that's a very facetious opinion. I'm not being real. I don't think these people should be put to death. I think this guy might benefit from that. And we all might too. ah But there's There's a lot. like youre You're like it is. There's an irony, though, to the United States government creating a level of insanity that they just release into the public. Oh, yeah. And for what? I mean, for what? You know, and and it's interesting because like this guy of all people, like does Sean Ryan, like asked him his opinions on the war and he's like, you know, do you think that it was do you think that it was worthwhile? And he's like, no. And he goes,
01:23:37
Speaker
I mean, do you think that we shouldn't have been there at all? He goes, he's like, nothing good happened from taking out Saddam. He's like, that's what I think. He said, if you basically just like created just a firestorm, you know, that that is still a problem. And now it's, and you know, of course, the the the rhetoric amongst ultra conservatives and stuff is like, well, Iraq's just run by Iran now. Oh, yeah, they love that. Well, maybe they're just not. Yeah, it's kind of like.
01:24:06
Speaker
It's kind of like some of the Baltic states and stuff where it's like they're not expressly run by American puppets. So they must be controlled by the Russian government. yeah like I don't know. Maybe there's a middle ground in between the two somewhere here. I don't know. Maybe there's a level of sovereignty in the way that certain states act. That is wild. though ah Also, two things is crazy that that the the level of exuberance that he talks about his killings with and then ah for him to be like, yeah, I mean, obviously it was a waste of time and we shouldn't have been there and nothing good came of it. But it's funny to think that like, like when when it would, when it comes to the legitimacy of what the United States actions are in another country, the the last people whose opinions I want on that are the people who were there.
01:25:00
Speaker
ah Like I don't know about that. I mean they saw firsthand like what happened as a result of it So maybe they have a large perspective of their own but like I would much rather hear what they have to say about it than like I don't know some armchair analyst like myself I Don't know I feel like so maybe I shouldn't say the last but I I feel like the amount of times that like that could Given some of the people I know who are in who are current participants in the United States military of some sorts, the level of like brainwashing that I've seen is just infuriating. whether they're just they just buy like These are some people who are fairly low level that don't have like high intelligence clearance.
01:25:45
Speaker
that will tell you things like, you're not, regular people aren't so supposed to know this, but here's what's really going on over there. And I go, I don't think you know that much more than I do about what's really going on over there. Like I think they're fed things think you' be much to fee to sell it to them. Like because you need buy-in. And I think that's where I find my, I have an inherent distrust of people who who have an opinion on what happened over there is the united states government doesn't give a fuck about you you're not there to have an opinion you're not there they will feed you information that they think is helpful for you to get the job done and i don't i really don't buy that like i think you can walk away from that would have experience of
01:26:30
Speaker
holy shit that was fucked up and that's what happens people walk away from it with that experience and they go what I was told isn't what I experienced but when I just don't always buy that you're like low level like inventory in A lot of the people in the military have like, of I don't think that they really have, I don't think they're really being fed information that is entirely

Information and Misinformation in Military

01:26:54
Speaker
true. no They're being fed information that will allow them to do the job and not ask questions. Probably not even getting fed that stuff from the military. It's probably coming from like similar sources. I mean, it's internet forums and stuff like that where they're reading this crap, Twitter and whatnot. My current feeling based on people I know who are active.
01:27:16
Speaker
is that, like, I don't know how far down the information comes, but it's like, well, my commanding officer told me that X, Y, and Z. I'm like, well, where's your commanding officer? Like, it's probably it's telephone phone game sort of stuff, you know? it's For sure. It's Gossip Circle.
01:27:32
Speaker
Yeah, and maybe this guy probably has a higher I understand like if you're for I don't even know like if your job is like trained to kill and your job is to go in and level out a certain area like I don't what information do you really need other than like this guy is high level I mean he's the Special Forces dudes are a lot closer to You know, are they closer to the information or they just, I think so prepared to manage high, like high intensity situations and they're like, they're not really supposed to know or care, right? They're supposed to just like, here's your job. You go and you do your job. And the only understanding you need is that you're protecting the United States of America. But I don't think it's really that simple for stuff happening at that level. Like these guys are actually having to like find
01:28:19
Speaker
Target, you know, they had the deck of cards with all the guys names and faces on it, you know, and they were trying to Identify those targets and take them out and stuff, you know, I don't know. I mean who I would love to be able think Talk to a special forces person who I would think is acting in like more good will and have a conversation. I would be I would love a conversation like this with someone like I felt like was trustworthy. This guy, not I would, too. I mean, I would really like to talk to some people who are actually like active military and and, you know, in a combat role, I would like to hear from those people like what how they feel about some of that kind of stuff, too. I, you know, it's it
01:29:03
Speaker
Just the whole conversation that we started out with about like whether or not you have it in you too to kill somebody or whatever. I think all of us do for the most part. Every single person does, for sure. Sometimes I think about the fact that like you know my revulsion at the idea of killing people for you know, whatever the US government's like, covert purposes are, or whatever, you know, during a war or whatever. Like the idea of like, I would never kill somebody is ah about as like, hollow and vapid as like most Western values were like, it doesn't, it doesn't cost us anything to say that like, we would never kill somebody, you know, yeah and I'm not even comparing that to somebody like this, or You know, somebody who, who enlists in the military and, but like, if you're, if you're a young guy living in Southern Lebanon right now, like for you to say, I refuse to kill somebody, I refuse to participate in violence. Like that, that has a cost associated to it. And it's, it's not only is it like, you know, could be the obvious, like, you know, if you don't fight back, like the sum, you know, then the IDF is going to take your neighborhood or whatever. It's not even.
01:30:22
Speaker
Like sure, but it would, there's, there would have to be a social cost to something like that amongst your community

Violence and Non-Violence Debates

01:30:30
Speaker
too. Like they could be, I think there's a lot of non-violent activists who would disagree with some of the premises you're making though. Like, so here's the thing though, like, okay. So, cause this is kind of the weird back and forth over Hamas, right? Like, um.
01:30:47
Speaker
It's very easy to be like Hamas is a terrorist organization and they did a terrible thing, which which is true. They did. Right. But, you know, if you look at the like January, or I always get the two big stuff, October 7, like what they did on October 7.
01:31:05
Speaker
for us i mean For most of us, I wasn't following the progression of Israel-Palestine relations or anything like up to that point. you know This seemed like out of the blue, completely unprovoked, a random act of violence and aggression towards civilians and stuff like that. But like, if you look at it against the backdrop of, you know, that they've they've been oppressed since the 40s, you know, like, Israel has done like all these military operations there and and, you know, destroyed their houses and all this different stuff, taken more and more of their land, killed more and more of their people.
01:31:45
Speaker
And then at the same time, you have like, you know, these, the worst allies in the world, which is like these satellite Arab nations that, I mean, if you look at the history of this conflict, you know, places like Jordan and Syria and Egypt and now Saudi Arabia, yeah, they, they have been the worst allies in the world for the Palestinian people. I mean, there's times when they've acted. There's a lot of times when they haven't done anything, you know,
01:32:13
Speaker
And like Israel's normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and stuff like that. And if you're a young guy living in Palestine, watching this stuff progress, like them normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia is basically like a death sentence for your people. It's like, we are just going to be like marginalized and quietly snuffed. It's going to take time. They're going to, you know,
01:32:41
Speaker
Just take a little more and a little more and a little more same with the West Bank and stuff like that. But like, yeah, we're going to be extinguished and most of the world is never going to even know. And you know, when you, when you think about it in that context, like, you know, I don't think what I don't agree with what they did at all, but like.
01:33:00
Speaker
that's the kind of That's the kind of impetus that that pushes somebody to do extreme things. Yeah, of course. So like for a person in that situation to say like, I'm going to be a nonviolent activist and I'm going to advocate for peace and and try to protect my people through diplomatic means, like that's a noble pursuit. But it's also one that it just doesn't seem to be working.
01:33:25
Speaker
Sure, but also if you're, you know, an individual that takes up arms to go fight, like, it's not really working either. You're just gonna get the shit bombed out of you. Like, I'm not, I'm not here to really, I'm not trying to make a claim that one, I mean, I think, I think historically, nonviolent movements ah have, they have results that are less ah fraught, they are less ah likely to kind of flip back the other way. I think there's a lot of... How often are they successful, though?
01:33:54
Speaker
It's a higher success rate than violent revolutions. This is like, this is like one of those statistics that people out like, you know, if you have a gun in your house, you're more likely to hurt yourself than you are on a home invader. Well, I mean, which is a statistic for a reason. But I mean, statistically, ah nonviolent revolutions are more successful.
01:34:16
Speaker
ah vi remind I don't know I'm just saying I just got data i know what you mean I know't know oh name oh you're wearing a you're wearing a and August Burns red shirt name your five favorite songs like yeah that guy doubt have oh you like Nirvana I almost said name three but then I was worried that you might be able to
01:34:41
Speaker
Uh, no, I look it's not violent revolutions have worked too in saying that one statistically more likely to work like if one's 40 and one's 35. It's like, whatever. I'm not here. I don't know. I don't fucking know. I know that. And there's a point in me where I would probably I can't I can't reasonably say I wouldn't take up arms and for a call to violence. I don't know that.
01:35:08
Speaker
i don't ah and I'm not saying as those people who are under like the these forms of oppression that it's even wrong to just be like, fuck it. like If I'm going to die, I'm going to die with a gun in my head. You're going to snuff us out. like you got to take you have to You have to do it in front of the world.
01:35:26
Speaker
Right. So I'm not ah I'm not make I don't I don't I even by saying nonviolent revolutions are more likely to be successful in the long term. I'm not even trying to make a claim that violence revolutions haven't been or that there isn't a reason for an individual to engage in violence. I think there's good reasons that people have for believing that they shouldn't and taking a nonviolent ethos.
01:35:50
Speaker
ah I don't, I would have found that myself in that camp ah ah most of my life, not most of it, but for a good portion of it. um i don't know what it would take for me to to kill or to fight but I I lean towards I lean towards not ah But I don't whatever who gives a shit when I think that look at me. Well, you oh, okay You you lean towards not fight. That's because I'm a pussy dude. i can like shit i i agree with like I agree with everything you're saying I do I think I
01:36:27
Speaker
The front, like my frustration sometimes comes with people who so dismissively like rattle off these little idioms and stuff that, ah that like, it it's like, it's like, it costs them nothing to be like, of course, this is never the answer. And it's like, okay, well, you don't ever have to even consider that like, because you don't live in Gaza or, you know, you don't live under Paul pot. I mean.
01:36:55
Speaker
it doesn't cost you anything to just have that like matter of fact view of this, you know. And I don't know that it's wrong. It's just, I don't know, man. It's just, it's so weird like how we're so, we're so protected from everything here. right Like, like we we literally like, in order to to end up in in a violent situation where you have to fight for your life, you know, I mean, like you pretty much have to volunteer for it.
01:37:25
Speaker
You do it, which is also which is a great point and a crazy idea that like we're one of the few countries in the in the history of the world where ah violence is something you opt into, not something that comes to your front door at some point. It's this weird contradiction that we have here where like.
01:37:45
Speaker
We can, on the one hand, like like just dismiss the idea that violence is like necessary in some way and stuff. and then then and Then two weeks later, we can be like repeating State Department talking points about why this is the good war. you know oh my god like this is the This is the just war, finally, that we've been looking for. and We've been looking hard. but We've turned over every rock. Yeah. it's It's like we've been dying for this before, but like it's like the the obsession with like World War Two and only the European theater of World War Two, because that's the clean war that we can all be, we can all agree, you know, the Nazis can be the bad guy in every movie because they have no redeeming qualities. And like, it's just so clean and easy to to hate the Nazis, you know? But like, nobody talks about the Pacific theater. Why not?
01:38:39
Speaker
You know, why do we not talk about like the the war with Japan? I mean, all the things that you can say about the Nazis, like the awful things that they did and stuff, the Japanese did the same, sometimes worse things too.
01:38:52
Speaker
Filipinos to the chai. Oh my god, dude. What they did to the chinese is it's it's insane But like people don't talk about it, you know, it's dark terrible stuff It's not something that you should just go rooting through. I mean, it's it is really it's the the pits of depravity but like because of how that part of the conflict ended and because of You know how it's it's just we we dropped nuclear bombs on two civilian You know, cities laden with civilians. We firebombed like, ah you know, I don't remember what city it was I mean, like the horrors of what we had to do to to.
01:39:35
Speaker
reach a conclusion to that conflict. And I had is not even is such a fraught term in that context, too. But like it it just pisses me off like the way that people like talk about war and frame it. And then just ah in like like they're so eager to find like the next like they're playing party that they can they can like, oh, it's time to join the good fight against, you know, the Russians or whoever else in its stuff. And it's like,
01:40:03
Speaker
You think like even the conflict that you think is completely clean and easy to end like you can play video games about it and you can you know watch a million movies about it and all this stuff like that and feel nothing like even that one is fraught with all sorts of terrible things that we are not like war is not clean ever.

Political Leadership and Rhetoric

01:40:24
Speaker
And like, to just advocate it for like, for whatever reason, you know, like, some flavor of the month cause because you know, democracy or whatever, like, it's so irritating. It makes me so angry to see, you can, you can have good reasons to think that like, you know, something has to be done about the Russian Colossus. And you know, what they've done to Ukraine is that like, you can make a good argument. I mean, Charles McBride,
01:40:50
Speaker
He and I think very differently about that subject, but Charles has been there. He knows the history of it. He is an informed opinion that differs from mine on why it's a good thing that we've propped up this conflict and stuff like that. But like, just this like, well, you know, we have to support sacred democracy, you know, shut up.
01:41:12
Speaker
God, she shut him up. like how many million like How many hundreds of thousands of people is worth dying over like democracy, quote unquote, whatever that means? like you know Also under the like the irony that like people think that we're living in like some true utopic democracy is hilarious anyway. like ah like we have Democracy is so important. It's like, bitch, you don't even fucking live in one. No.
01:41:40
Speaker
but I'm not trying to pick a fight because I know we've had like conversations about this in the Discord and stuff. I'm not trying to pick at anybody in particular or anything like that. i' just it' just I'm venting my frustrations over this issue. There's a lot to be frustrated about and it's obviously very convoluted.
01:41:56
Speaker
ah I don't I don't know I I don't that's why it takes like ah an insane like being in a global like globalism is basically made you have to be an absolute fucking psychopath to run for political office where you think you get to decide these things it's Yeah, but the problem is those like yeah we really need people who don't think that they should be their job. I don't know. We're in such a weird spot in human history where some fucking chuckle fucks with no like no qualifications are winning the highest office.
01:42:37
Speaker
offices ah based on rhetoric alone, rhetoric alone. And you go, what, what, what the fuck even is anything anymore? Like, what do we? Yeah. And these people will get to decide this shit now. They get to vote thumbs up or thumbs down on whether or not we go to war because and then you it's like you guys who paid 17 year olds to let them molest. Right. It's dude. I don't fuck man. I don't know. Whatever.
01:43:04
Speaker
We could go down this rabbit hole forever. If any of this resonates with you and if you live in the Carolinas, if you could just, I don't know, if you could take them the batteries out of the carbon monoxide detectors in Lindsey Graham's house, that'd be swell.
01:43:23
Speaker
He needs to go. God, I hate him. I hate him more than pretty much anybody in office. Like, yeah, he is a despicable scumbag. Like Trump is like not a real person. But Lindsey Graham is like the most like the truest form of disingenuous, disingenuous, like talking out of both sides of your mouth, huckster fuck face that you just go like, and it and it someone needs to so Run for office against him. Yeah, that would be awful. I was trying to drop, ah what was Nancy Pelosi's husband? Paul Pelosi. Paul, I was trying to think of Paul. I was going to say someone used to Paul Pelosi his ass, but... Dude, just a ball pea net turned net.
01:44:14
Speaker
Christ. All right, well, we sell old ladybugs. We solved some problems tonight. Yeah. This was like this was a fat-heavy episode. Yeah, it was really weird. Covered a lot of ground. I guess we'll get to my... ah yeah Last year we did great um ah what the Great American... Family Network? Great American Family Network. um Last year we looked at that the one that Candace Cameron-Berg is involved in. Last year we looked at all the... like the 7000 holiday specials they had coming out that were even cheesier than typical Hallmark specials because they have good Christian values in them. ah They do have a they have a whole holiday lineup this year. And like last year, I want to look at ah
01:45:01
Speaker
Some of the great, we were talking about juing not judging art, Casey, and I don't i don't and don't mean to do that, but I would like to discuss some of the ah exhausted plots of their upcoming films. of like it's It's like a lot of like someone left the hometown but came back to the hometown is my guess. One of them is definitely getting, more than one will definitely include some military veterans.
01:45:26
Speaker
um Oh, man. That's a high percentage. What are some of the other tropes? like to ah Recently divorced ah woman has to go back home and stay with her parents for the holidays. I don't know. they They're endless. I'm looking forward to diving in because if if you're going to bust out like 40 movies in a holiday season from and do that every year, we we're you're going to be rehashing some of the same stuff. But it's always fun. So I'd like to, well, we might look at that next time. Although next time I think we'll have a guest. Maybe he'll want to do it with us. But you know what I say? Get her done. ah That's what I always say. Ask anybody. You never stop saying that. It's become a real prize for a lot of people. That adheres your sign. You've love saying here's your sign.
01:46:17
Speaker
And you might be a redneck. I don't know. you've read i Honestly, the Blue Collar Comedy Tour is essentially your personality at this point. You're kind of like a mix of all four of them together. You know how successful that would make me in my job if I just ah appropriated Blue Collar Comedy Tour as a personality? You'd rise to the top. I'd be the best. it King of the Midwest. Oh, my God. Well, thanks, everybody, for listening. And hey.
01:46:47
Speaker
If you've got something to say, if you'd like to congratulate me on how right I am about everything, the best place to do that is in the discord. So go to the link in our Instagram description and our Instagram bio and, uh, follow it to our discord server, which is a cool place full of cool people. And if nothing else, um, you can post your, you know, whatever Chelsea impact song you're listening to while you, you know, um,
01:47:16
Speaker
slowly poison your you know you're beguiled uncle. That one didn't. I i lost my my ah point of reference as I was going through that. That's okay. You're forgiven. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.