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Ep. 216 – Executive Disorder: The Accelerating Decline of the American Empire
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This week we’re taking a momentary break from the Book of Mormon to grouse about the avalanche of executive orders from our new old president. We didn’t even come close to covering all of them, but we did drill down on a few of Sam’s favorites. It’s wild out there, and it’s hard to say what could happen over the next few years. Buckle up, folks. This pleasure cruise is starting to feel more and more like the boat ride from Willy Wonka…
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Transcript
Introduction and Mark Zuckerberg's Appearance
00:00:00
Speaker
like with these wealthy fucks that as they get like richer and try to be more like public you notice their tanning goggles lines way more like yeah zucks are pretty bad right now ah his eyelids are so white and he's a pasty bitch for he's worked really hard to not be quite as pasty but the ah his hit ah right around his eyeballs is still very white Nothing that he ever does physically is going to make him like an attractive or cool looking guy. Like it's just not going to happen. Like like he went to your barber and being like, I'm thinking about a change 80s baseball player with a cleft palate, like but not going to work. he He went with the tick tock broccoli cut, which is crazy for him in his 30s.
Hosts' Return and Current Affairs
00:01:08
Speaker
Hey everybody, we are back with growing up Christian. I'm Sam. I'm Casey. And obviously a lot has happened in the past week ah since we've been together and not much of it's good. Most of it's not good. ah Not feeling good about much of anything at this point, but I do think before we get into any of the heavy hitting stuff,
00:01:35
Speaker
ah yeah Amber Viola sent me um a post today, and I just did the laugh emoji at it, um thinking like, Oh, I thought I thought it was a satire post.
Satirical Legislation: Contraception Begins at Erection Act
00:01:50
Speaker
So I just laugh emoji.
00:01:52
Speaker
uh that was today at 11 13 a.m and just 10 minutes ago i responded to it and it was like what the fuck i thought this was satire god damn it a mississippi i do you know this one yet the mississippi lawmaker mississippi state lawmaker introduces contraception begins at a erection act with fines for masturbation so i don't know dude i um um'm done i be kidding um a Democrat dude a Democrat so don't let's not pretend like ah
00:02:30
Speaker
Let's not- A Democrat did this? A Democrat. Oh, is he like trying to make a point? Is that what he's trying to do? I actually can't tell. he's got him He's got to be trying to make a point, because that's so ridiculous. There's no way that it that that that's like a literal thing that he wants. A Democratic Mississippi state senator introduced legislation this week. This is from the Hill, by the way. um This week that would make it unlawful for men to masturbate without the intent to fertilize an embryo.
00:02:58
Speaker
with the lawmaker criticizing anti-abortion measures that only focus on the women's role. The bill dubbed the Contraception Begins at Erection Act was introduced by State Senator Bradford Blackmon on Monday for those convicted of violating the law, of financial penalties will be imposed and will gradually increase. The first penalty would be $1,000. The second one would be $5,000. And then a fine of $10,000 would be imposed for third or subsequent offenses. His name's Bradford what? Blackmon. Blackmon. It's like,
00:03:33
Speaker
B-L-A-C-K-M-O-N. He's a first time legislator and it included two exceptions if you're donating to a sperm bank and the other when using the other one using contraception that would prevent fertilization.
00:03:53
Speaker
That's interesting. So if you you have to wear a condom and or you have to have sex with someone on birth control. Otherwise, if you impregnate a woman and she wants to like, oh, I like if felt because they there's a full blown abortion ban in Mississippi. So I get what he's doing now. um And it won't pass. It's obviously going to this. But this is um It's a publicity stunt. Yeah. So the idea would be men are complicit in this. And if you jizz in a woman without protection, you are going to be fined. If she can't have an abortion, you should also pay a financial penalty. It is a publicity stunt ah to a degree.
00:04:31
Speaker
it if it's mostly Republican controlled or Democrat and it's not gonna pass we all know it's not gonna pass but hilarious I laugh so hard I honestly and what but I thought it feels like a satire post and then when you read the blurbs it makes it sound like someone did it for real, um but that that second exception wasn't noted in any of the original blurbs that I read, but man, what ah what a great time in politics,
Political Pageantry Critique
00:04:58
Speaker
right? boy that's yeah That's what you have to do to to make any sort of waves, to prove any sort of point.
00:05:06
Speaker
Long gone are the days of ah public and um respectful discourse. It's just, that's what you got to do now. It's all pageantry and showmanship. That's so wild. Wouldn't it be great? Like it would be so much fun to talk to, and I i guarantee you these people exist, but it would be fun to talk to a a a drug dealer that only sells birth control.
00:05:32
Speaker
Like they have to exist now, right? Somebody is trekking birth control pills, like back to Louisiana and selling them to people. Like playing bees and shit. Yeah, that would be awesome. That would be sick. I bet we could get the well, who's that guy that Trump just part in that ah had a um like a black market, but a dark web kind of.
00:05:55
Speaker
he had a dark He created like this dark web website so you could buy and sell illegal drugs. And Trump just gave- Silk Road guy? Yeah, and like Trump gave him like a full pardon. and He might know. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's fine. I'm good with that. Yeah.
Silk Road and Libertarian Politics
00:06:11
Speaker
that was yeah he he ah I don't know the whole story. I guess I shouldn't endorse it. of bit but Yeah, he so he created, if it's the guy I'm thinking of, he created Silk Road and they basically like went super hard at it because it they did what they do with everything that they don't like. They're like, this is just a place for people that, you know, people only use Bitcoin to buy child pornography and and bombs. Oh, okay okay. Well, I don't think that that's the case. They're so, it's all just murder for hire out there on on the Silk Road. It's like, no, maybe.
00:06:46
Speaker
Maybe these people buying weed and stuff. Who cares? Yeah. Yeah, it is funny, though, because with, the you know, the whole rights like hard on crime ban illegal substances, it's just bizarre. its It was a bizarre move to give. Like not a lot of what's happening isn't like it doesn't none nothing has to make any logical sense anymore. And I think that's why my brain feels like it's breaking. Well, I think that one's quid pro quo. Like that was something that the libertarian party was pushing for.
00:07:20
Speaker
Okay. And because all the libertarian guys posted about that when it happened. So I think that that was something that he promised them he would do in order for their, and basically for their endorsement, because they more or less didn't even run a guy this time. They had somebody on the ticket, but like no promotion, never heard from the guy. Like he was basically just a placeholder, I think.
00:07:43
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I didn't even think of that. I mean, I guess with an election, with this eye of a profile, like, what are what are we doing? Like, what would be the point of sinking all that money? Well, tell that to the Green Party, I guess. Yeah. Well, there's there's like the hilarious thing about like ah the difference between like Trump and like the the Democrats is yeah Trump views those people as up for grabs. Like, libertarians aren't my enemy. I could get them to vote for me, and I bet you a lot of them will. So he went and spoke at their convention and courted their favor and all of that stuff. And like, ah most of them voted for him, I think, you know, whereas like the Democrats treated Jill Stein as like the the ultimate enemy.
00:08:32
Speaker
the evil, you know, like seductress, like stealing votes from Kamala Harris. And it's like, well, you could just go in court green party votes. I mean, it's pretty simple the things that they want stuff like health care and an end to the genocide in Gaza, like you go and appeal to that, or or you could call them the enemy and and run a smear campaign against them.
00:08:54
Speaker
what we either way whatever yeah that is true and that's like our that was our biggest gripe the whole like this whole election cycle was like this this like cliche model of like of pandering to the base. like like They really didn't think that they needed under 35, 36, basically millennial and and younger votes. They're like, yeah, I don't think we need to worry about them. And it's like they they said none of the things that we wanted them to say, and yeah they suffered for it.
00:09:29
Speaker
we have to make sure that it every Now we all suffer for it. We say explicitly that we are not going to change course in foreign policy and that we will not stop
Biden's Executive Orders Reversal
00:09:38
Speaker
supplying weapons and things like that. like They took every opportunity to say that. This is all stuff I've said before.
00:09:45
Speaker
you You had a long list of grievances. Yeah. What's next on the long list? I was just looking at I was thinking of all of with day one executive orders, right? ah And it was true. It's just truly shocking where we're at.
00:10:00
Speaker
um So let me just go down the list. We can stop whenever we want. So, uh, Trump, I can't remember if it was a Biden executive order or if it was a bill that he, he signed, but I think it might've been an executive order. Um, but Trump reverses, uh, by an order that would, that eliminated department of justice contracts with private prisons.
00:10:24
Speaker
like just what eight i I just none of the none of any of the ones I could maybe some of these some people ah and would make an argument for that it's fine or it's um irrelevant maybe as I get go down this list but but preventing the DOJ from contracting with private prisons seems in like ah i mean i don't know I don't know if you could find a single person in the country. Really, that would be like, that seems like a pretty good thing. like Why would you want the Department of Justice contract? yeah That's so wild. um like's That's a prison lobby ah vote trade. You get the endorsement from these people and in return, you tell them like, hey, I'll revoke this executive order that
00:11:15
Speaker
that killed your cash cow. Yep. So and there is a strategy here too that I was listening to breaking points and soccer mentioned he's like this. There's like a ah you know ah ah flooding the system sort of strategy to all this where like you you throw enough stuff out there, your unpopular stuff just doesn't get like the kind of radio play and and attention that it would otherwise because there's so much to talk about. and that's Case in point, I hadn't
TikTok Ban and Data Privacy
00:11:47
Speaker
even heard of that one. I didn't even know that was a thing.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah, well, I think the like ah it in that same vein that you think of the the TikTok ban, right? That's on my list, but I'll bring it up now. And how it was like Trump started the TikTok ban. That was his whole thing. He started it. China has our data. China shouldn't have our data. It was initiated by him. He kind of endorsed that. Like he endorsed that policy in the and in the original. But like the deep the the security state is like pretty anti-TikTok.
00:12:19
Speaker
Right, and but not for the reasons that they want you to think, not not which that that as begins every conspiracy theory, but I think this one's legit. It's it's because Trump in 2017 signed a bill that made it legal for tech companies to sell your data without consent to whoever they want.
00:12:39
Speaker
um so the issue isn't Every tech company ever has your data. The issue isn't that China has our data. The issue is that we can't sell it to them anymore. And that's what pisses them off. So you start talking about a TikTok ban and how it has to be sold to a US company in order to stay alive. You've already legalized the selling of all of our data to our foreign enemies, all that kind of shit. And then whatever he's, whatever, I don't know what kind of backroom dealing me with TikTok to get that cool message about how like,
00:13:10
Speaker
TikTok's down, but hopefully Trump will save us soon. And then like four hours later, it's like, thanks, President Trump. You saved TikTok. And now we're talking about meta or Mr. Beast or Elon buying TikTok essentially. So like the idea is to get to just own TikTok and then just keep selling our data whoever the fuck we want. It's not about our data. Everyone has our data. Our data is has not been safe for ah well over a decade. Right.
00:13:38
Speaker
And, but all of that, like all these conversations about data, this data, that protecting your data. Also ask millennials and Gen Z years. They don't give a fuck.
Political Corruption and Lobbying
00:13:47
Speaker
None of them care. None of them care. Maybe some should care more. Not saying people caring is, um, a necessarily like a good, like, yeah.
00:13:58
Speaker
could you if democratically speaking if if enough people don't care then it doesn't necessarily matter but i'm just saying there no one's no one was worried no one's like that worried about this issue and it's definitely not an issue of national security it is absolutely that's like such a know effect that's why i don't know if that's the case i mean maybe not for normal people i guess for like regular people maybe not although i think they can do a lot if they have like a backdoor access to your phone like they can map buildings and all sorts of stuff if they do, but I don't know enough about this stuff. But the irony, the i know like dude. Dude, if you work at the Pentagon, you should not have TikTok on your phone. but the Dude, what's fucked up though is that in this whole thing, when they were when they were when the TikTok ban, whatever the fuck the legislation was, how it was written,
00:14:51
Speaker
Before it got signed, they carved out a clause that allows government officials to keep TikTok for like market research and like basically like, ah what do what do you call it? When you try to investigate the enemy. opposition research type shit. they they They were like, oh, certain government officials can keep it because it's important for them to be able to have access to what the platform's pushing in X, Y, and Z. And so like, they're you're already carving out exceptions for the government officials to maintain access to TikTok. Well, yeah, I mean, there's gonna be that.
00:15:25
Speaker
I don't know. What did he do? He granted an extension on this, right? They still are under the sell order if they want to operate here long-term, but he gave them another, what, 60 days or something like that to find a buyer. They'll basically sell to some majority. They'll have a majority shareholder here if they decide to sell.
00:15:48
Speaker
Yeah. And there's a good chance that one of them, uh, that the buyer has is just paying to play to pay to play politics now. So that's where we're moving. Right. um Um, this one, I could see people being a little split on given, um, you know, ever since COVID, I don't think their popularity is, uh, skyrocketing, but, uh, we pulled out of the world health organization, um, pulled out of the Paris climate agreement.
00:16:18
Speaker
reversed a Biden executive order that prevented legislators from accepting expensive gifts and bribes from lobbyists. Just I would like to understand. I need to read about that because I don't know.
00:16:32
Speaker
It just doesn't make a lot of sense in any sort of way. It does, though. I think it does for Trump. It's you should be. He's he's all about pay to play politics. And if you can allow lobbyists to I mean, he the corruption is just all out in the open now. no There's no hiding it. No one's even trying to hide it. And he's getting paid millions of dollars by every fucking person that has a seat at his table. And then he has their ear because he values people with money. And you just go, oh,
00:17:02
Speaker
he but He just believes you should be able two to buy votes. I think that's just that simple for him. I think his entire political career shows that that's how he feels.
00:17:15
Speaker
I think that some of this stuff is happening regardless, and it's just absurd that it's like out in the open now. like like We're not going to make any effort to hide what's going on anymore. just going to like It's legal now. so you know Your senator can accept like a weekend retreat to the Maldives you know in exchange for like reconsidering his vote on this bill or whatever. right you know And of course, you would always hear of people getting caught taking those expensive private jets to X, Y. They all do it. They're all scumbags. But to just go like, I'm just going to, you know what? People do it. Oh, I guess since everybody does it, we'll just say it's cool now. Right.
00:18:03
Speaker
operationally we'd have a there's a problem but to just be like to executive order reverse a ban on receiving expensive luxury gifts from lobbyists is insane that's in it that's it that's just pushing us i mean that's just going like a full loving embrace towards an oligarchy which is a guy from new jersey right now that's and that's under That's and on trial for that like receiving foreign gifts and stuff that Bob Menendez, I think is his name. yeah Okay. He's like a senator from New Jersey or something like a congressman, whatever. And ah I mean, he was literally like accepting gold bars from.
00:18:45
Speaker
Oh, yes, I think, or I can't remember who exactly it was, but it was an absurd story. Like it just like a guy with just no sense of how to like cover his tracks at all. I know. Like he's basically like the guys that that like they're under investigation for like killing their spouse. And then they look at their Google searches and they're like, how to dissolve body in bathroom. yeah I was just curious. ah i How to receive gold bars and hide them so the government will never find out. Basically.
00:19:23
Speaker
ah
00:19:26
Speaker
um We also had like, what, right before his election, I basically, he very much bragged about working out a ceasefire deal. And then ah look where we're at now. He's just like giving them like full. He's just like, yeah, yeah I mean, look, no different than the it's not any different than the Biden administration. Netanyahu is like both Biden and Trump have given us like basically unfettered, uninterrupted a ability to just bomb the complete fuck out of Gaza with phase two.
00:19:56
Speaker
But that's disgusting. Um, but why fake the, why like pretend like you've, you've like worked up the C's because he already had one. Like, well, I don't, having to get when he fire it's hostage release. Like he wants the PR benefit of saying like, I got the hostages out of there. He wants that like Reagan moment, like with the Iranian hostage, we're like day one, I had the hostages coming home, you know, just like whatever.
00:20:22
Speaker
maybe he could have done that if um if Israel didn't two days after the ceasefire just Just fucking drop more bombs on God like they just didn't they they didn't they don't think they made it two days times and then like they but they invaded the West Bank Yeah, like we did a military invasion of the West Bank and they're probably gonna annex it They're like, um Israel's basically like the warmongering version of a sex addict that swears he's not gonna masturbate anymore, you know? He's like...
00:20:54
Speaker
Maybe two days at best, you'll make it before you just start blowing loads. ah you know a it's it's a I hate that I'm saying this because it's so cliche at this point, but dude, the state of Israel is they are the Nazi Germany of our time. Like the stuff that they're doing, I mean, literally like their story today about like just snipers unloading on a family and shooting like a little kid in the head and stuff. I mean, it's just.
00:21:22
Speaker
It's every day is a new set of just despicable atrocities, you know? Oh, they're raping people in their prisons, you know, like under, you know, to during, ah you know, the um interrogations, quote unquote, like, it's just, I don't know, it's it's really, it's so dark. And there's, there's no stopping it now. I mean, there is no hope of stopping it at this point.
Global Conflicts Comparison
00:21:48
Speaker
No, there really isn't. Uh, I think you're right. I don't think nothing. I don't think anything's going to shift that tide. Um, and man, that's a a rough comparison, but it's hard to, know I mean, it's what's going on. There is definitely some of the darkest shit that's gone on.
00:22:06
Speaker
out in the open around the globe in my lifetime. It's horrific. Things like this have happened before, like the Cambodian genocide and stuff like that, but in our lifetime- Yeah, which probably wasn't my early lifetime, but- I think that preceded us. That was like Vietnam, just after Vietnam.
00:22:31
Speaker
But nothing nothing this this like this to this scale, this brazen has happened like in our lifetime. it's It's truly disgusting. It tops what we did in Iraq. It's crazy, because that's what one of... At least we spread out the murders a little bit.
00:22:47
Speaker
Right. We did it over 20 years or whatever. I mean, I guess to to point out the obvious, the thing that would immediately come to some people's mind that they might want to argue you ah i argue the point on is Russia, Ukraine. that's That is like so the scale of the civilian death is so much lower.
00:23:11
Speaker
And it's not that it's good or that it's clean or that Russia is in any way trying to avoid civilian casualties. They're awful, terrible government as well. They're not going out of their way to avoid them, but they're not actively trying to also bomb and brutally murder them constantly.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, like the civilian death toll is significantly less. And we're talking about a three year period here. Whereas like the, the Palestinian conflict, I mean, is what, like 15 months old? I mean, it's literally like 15, 16 months. And I bet you the civilian casualties are double. I don't know what they are in Ukraine, but like, I bet you they're at least double, maybe triple. Yeah.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yeah. um The other one that we know isn't going anywhere, but the fact that he did it is just killing me, dude.
Birthright Citizenship Controversy
00:24:05
Speaker
I think one of the ones on the most, I'm the most angry about this one because of the the hypocrisy of the right. And I haven't heard a lot of commentary on the right from this.
00:24:17
Speaker
um But signing an executive order to stop birthright citizenship um Explain birthright citizenship to me because I don't know if I totally understand what it is It's just ah the 14th amendment just basically states very very plainly and clearly to the point where this is already getting shut down by Conservative judges like and no that you're not he's not gonna make oh, I can't imagine he'd make headway on this but it basically is um if you're born here, you are a citizen. So it allows it basically if if people illegally cross the border, but then have their child here, they that child's a citizen, and the parents are not um right. So he wants to he wants to reverse that. So regardless of the age,
00:25:05
Speaker
five, six, 12, 74. If you were a recipient of birthright citizenship, he wants to be able to send you back to a country you've never known, to a people you've never been a part of. um And that's insane. That one is, yeah it's insane for two reasons. One, your kid, you you have no control over that. um That's not, like if your whole family crosses and then your whole family gets deported,
00:25:33
Speaker
it's look like whatever your feelings on immigration and whatever like but that one you can you can find a ah reasonable case to make that that that it's not ethical maybe ethically wrong or uh i don't know if that's the right way to phrase it but you know what i'm saying like you can make a case that that's a reasonable approach for a government to take For a kid, you know, who just is like, I'm a citizen. I could, he could be five years old. Uh, I mean, some of the problems we're going to have is that the parents will get deported, but the five-year-old is a citizen and, um, and that, and then they will just go into the system, which is fucked beyond belief too. Yeah, which is that's worse probably, I guess. I mean, it's, it's, it's a weird deal. Cause it's like.
00:26:19
Speaker
it It seems like you would regulate something on the parental side of that as opposed to like just revoking, like denying a kid citizenship, you know, a baby. But I don't know. I don't know what the I don't know what the answer to that situation is. I mean, I guess they've been talking about like anchor babies since we were in, you know, grade school or whatever. That's I'm assuming that's where that that maybe I've never heard that term. ah But so yeah, it's already looking like everyone's thought so far that I've read across this political spectrum is that that you might get like an extreme they're trying to argue like a word or two in the wording in the context and blah, blah, blah.
00:27:05
Speaker
There might be one more extremely conservative judge, but just like the typical conservative Supreme Court justice, there's there's no real belief that this will make any headway. So I don't know why I do, other than just to show you how much you hate immigrants.
00:27:22
Speaker
um But I think what I hate the most about it is the hypocrisy is mostly ah one of silence from the right because all they ever do is just they just can't shut the fuck up about acting like the left wants to ban the Second Amendment.
00:27:37
Speaker
They can't stop talking about it. It takes up 80% of the time on Newsmax. They never shut the fuck up about that because they love the Constitution, because they're constitutional purists. They talk about the importance and their love of the Constitution. They get we the people tattooed on their fucking arms constantly. The amount of fucking we the people tattoos that have popped up in the past five years is wild.
00:28:04
Speaker
ah and then And then Trump does this and they just go, well, I mean i mean mean, nothing. They say nothing. Fuck you if you say nothing. If you pretend you love the Constitution, you say nothing. Jump off a fucking bridge.
00:28:17
Speaker
It seems like if this was if you if you thought that this was a problem with the Constitution, then that the way to handle it would be to try to amend the Constitution. Which like that we can do, that but they hate that conversation. They won't entertain the idea of modern day amendments to the Constitution because it always is in the context of the left and the Second Amendment.
00:28:39
Speaker
Right. And so it's shut down immediately. It's never entertained. The idea of modern-day amendments has been shut down unequivocally by the right my entire life. And so you can't just start acting like now it's a reasonable conversation unless you just want to admit that you absolutely don't care about the
Immigration Crisis Analysis
00:28:58
Speaker
Constitution and you only care about structuring power for your benefit. And that's it. Yeah. I mean, i I feel, we've talked a little bit about immigration. You and I differ a little bit on that, I think, but this is clearly, like this is, whatever you think of like the, the legal immigration situation, like this is not the way to go about fixing it. Like this is not even a necessary, yeah how, what, what percentage of illegal immigration could this account for? You know? None. I mean, cause it's not illegal really. I mean, if you're, if your idea is to rev,
00:29:34
Speaker
If your idea is to revoke it to prevent people coming over here and having children and making them citizens, it's low. It can't be that high. It has to be negligible compared to the actual border crisis. And there is one. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like ah there's an easy answer to the immigration crisis. it is um it's an and it's so It's unmanageable. It's unmanageable. And people are waiting five, six years for their day in court. like it's There's a huge problem and you either need to allocate resources to deal with it judicially or find an alternative. Putting people in you know cages and separating families is a terrible way to deal with it. I think most people who have a conscience would argue that that's true, but like we have a problem.
00:30:22
Speaker
And that's why the right can get so much momentum on it. And that's why the left finally tried to pretend like they agreed ah publicly this election. But there is a problem. And that accounted that alone is accounted for a lot of Trump's votes. Right. And I think like the the reaction from the public That hurt the Democrats the most is like the the things that like happened during the Biden administration that like compounded it like the the whole like um the asylum provision where like you can come over the border and then you can file for asylum here and then just kind of.
00:31:08
Speaker
meander out into the country while you await this like never like this never-ending line of court cases and stuff like you're talking about. like that's mean meanwhile you don't want to so system yeah you go like You can't like get it a job really. It's not like you give ah get a work visa and you get... like These people would be more than happy to work and pay their taxes. they don't That's not what they're worried about.
00:31:30
Speaker
But yeah, you're right. That system doesn't work. If you're going to have – I mean, asylum is a – it's great. It's fine. But if you're going to have it, have it. It is, but it's abused the way that it's being used now, like where just anybody can file for asylum and like, hey, while you're waiting, just, you know, go hang out wherever, I think is a bad system. Like, and Biden specifically – my understanding is Biden specifically, like, revoked the, like,
00:31:58
Speaker
the provision where like if you were coming across the Mexican border or to file asylum, like you had to wait for your asylum case on the other side of the border. Yeah. And you, but you also can't just, it's not like Quasimodo going into the church and yelling sanctuary. It's not that, it's not that simple. and Right. Like you need, there, there are, there are parameters around it, but to your point,
00:32:27
Speaker
Even if you meet those parameters to then be like, all right, and I will see you in seven years. Like if you're going to have asylum, have asylum, right? Deal with it. Don't just like, don't do it this way. It's obviously stupid to do it this way.
00:32:43
Speaker
Well, and like what it it's it was such a like ah like a bad way to go about dealing with this problem to just like use the momentum that you had from the left to like you know revoke an order like that. or or you know I mean, 10 million people have crossed the border in the last four years.
00:33:03
Speaker
and I think like even on the Republican side, at one point there was like, you know, among like kind of centrist Republicans and stuff, there was a lot of support for amnesty, you know, and that's gone. Nobody, nobody's talked about amnesty for like 12 years. I can't even recall that being talked about. So yeah.
00:33:25
Speaker
Yeah, i was like a it was like a centrist Republican meets the you know Democratic side provision that they never acted on or did anything with. and like I feel like we're living in the reactionary stage right now of like a public who has seen this
Executive Orders and Global Trust
00:33:43
Speaker
problem just grow and grow and grow, and and we've had no action from the people in leadership and now it's like trying to fix the whole thing through executive orders. I mean, it's it's dumb and it's not feasible and like it's gonna cause a lot of pain for people who are, you know, by all accounts, people that we would like to have here, you know? For sure. I mean, du even to the executive order point, like the fact that we try to manage so much by executive, and I think they've gotten more,
00:34:16
Speaker
I think they've gotten more polarized and more ah frequent in the maybe the last like 18 years or so because like I feel like it was normal to sign a couple for some pretty reasonable things and they would make one side mad and the other side happy like sure but like the way that executive orders function now is like an attempt to rewrite the direction of the country and when you're talking about doing like the paris climate agreement or. What was the um the one we had with i with iran oh yeah the ran nuclear deal. Yeah. Where it was like, Hey, you X, Y, and Z, we come in and do a check and this and that. And then it was like, Oh, well actually, no, we're going to tear that up. Like to sign these agreements with countries and then to have a new president come in and just tear it up. It's like, are the word of the United States is is worthless at this point that no one's going to enter into an agreement or a deal with us with the expectation that it'll last more than four years anymore.
00:35:16
Speaker
and that is a problem agree or disagree with the agreement but if you literally have no if your word means shit in global politics like That's gonna come back to get us. No one's gonna want to work with us No one's gonna want to make deals with us. No one's gonna rely on us and we won't have anything Like and if if they if we can't rely on our ability to offer something to other countries Then we're not gonna get shit back either Like this is a huge just this back and forth every four years. We tear up and sign new agreements is so fucked Yeah, it really is
00:35:51
Speaker
It's got to seem ridiculous to somebody like Xi Jinping, you know, to watch like the country just like oscillate between two extremes and, you know, scream at each other endlessly and never get anything of value done. Yeah. Meanwhile, like.
00:36:08
Speaker
you've got these guys that pretty much drive the country any which way they want to, you know, it's like one guy pushing the buttons. Yeah, it's crazy. I honestly I'm really feeling and I, I don't think I've been this I don't think it's hyperbolic and I don't think I've had this extreme of a perspective and it could you know maybe it's just all this unknowing and anger and frustrations just like hitting me like a tidal wave but with watching the um i oh my god the inauguration watching the inauguration and just seeing the billionaires that just paid for that seat at the table and just it's just all out in the like we were a we're a we're just a fucking full-blown oligarchy
00:36:55
Speaker
in countries don't usually come back from that and I'm feeling I'm feeling pretty fucking down I think that this is like a I think that this is somewhat of a you know andve been moving towards this but I feel like we've kind of hit this point of no return I don't know if countries come back from this I don't know if they do I mean, the Gilded Age was kind of like an example of this, wasn't it? I mean, and you had like the the, just these massively rich families that pretty much controlled how things went. And it took somebody, you know, people like Theodore Roosevelt to come in and like point trust bust and stuff. It's just, well, it's kind of like the thing with, with healthcare, care you know, that we've talked about where it's like a CEO gets shot in the back of the head on the street.
00:37:42
Speaker
And like the and like the entire public basically like claps the guy on the back and says, hey, you know that was rough. You probably shouldn't do that, but it's pretty funny. And like for for a politician for like one side of the aisle to not look at that and go, wow, this is a lot of energy and it's uniform pretty much across all sociological like you know groups and stuff like that. like Everybody is very upset about the healthcare situation to the point where they don't even care that some guy got like murdered in the street. We should capitalize on that and maybe push for some sort of policy measures that make sense to those people. like That would probably garnish us a lot of votes.
Political Representation and Change
00:38:30
Speaker
It's going to happen. It's just like it's crazy that it's not happening any faster.
00:38:35
Speaker
Right. We just need a few more CEOs to get murked before we get a fucking movement. Like anything that has that broad of public support, like it would be crazy for for one party or another not to like jump into the fray and be like, yeah, you know, I'm with you guys. Vote for me.
00:38:55
Speaker
I literally have been thinking so much. So I think i I've mentioned it to you, but the the my representative in my district for obviously just state government, um he ran unopposed this this election cycle. I think he ran opposed last election cycle, but unopposed the one before that. So two out of three election cycles he's run unopposed.
00:39:20
Speaker
This bitch has never written any legislation. his never he You can look at there's voting record, right? He doesn't show up to vote. This motherfucker just collects a paycheck and does jack shit. And i i'm like i I talk all the time about running. And it's crazy because it feels like you can't. It feels like these are unaccessible things.
00:39:41
Speaker
And then I just think of like your fuck faces like Fetterman like Fetterman let us down. We know he let us down. We don't need to go down that rabbit hole. so Watching him at the inauguration. I was watching Jon Stewart ah talk about the inauguration and he just shit all over Fetterman because he's like,
00:39:57
Speaker
Federman is basically like the teenage son of the Senate at this point. Like it's fucking 12 degrees out and he rolls up in shorts and a sweatshirt, refuses to wear a coat. Like, I don't like that. I'm not comfortable. It doesn't look cool. I'm not wearing i'm not wearing pants to grandma's funeral. Like he just, he shit all over Federman. Federman's a joke. Yeah. He's a slovenly douchebag.
00:40:21
Speaker
What got him elected, though, was that unconventional Trumpian type of heir about him, right? Like that, fuck it, I'll say whatever I want, I'll dress whoever I want. Well, but wasn't he also like a union leader and stuff? yeah like He kind of he kind of built like ran on the like... Hey, I'm a Democrat, but I'm kind of a more traditional Democrat. like yeah I'm a Union blue collar guy that you know cares about things that affect you, and and I'm going to be an advocate for normal people, and then and then just wasn't he just did not.
00:40:57
Speaker
and Like I it's so funny for that guy to show up to like the house and senator whatever and like his his You know pajamas. It's the one time he did wear a suit was when Netanyahu came to visit and spoke Jesus Christ This is the only time i've I think I've ever seen him. He is back. God damn it. He sucks so bad. But there's something about like a realness that people are gravitating towards in politics. And I'm like, I keep wondering if I ran, if I did it. And dude, running is fucking easy to like, and I mean, get, look, no.
00:41:35
Speaker
Let me rephrase that getting your name on the ticket is easy. You need like a hundred signatures outside your local grocery store. It is not hard. I've looked into it several times. I would absolutely be able to get my name on the ballot. And I live in a town that just goes like they're just Republican.
00:41:54
Speaker
ah There's not enough Democrats to win just by default like this guy has forever. um But I keep wondering if I did run and I started just kind of being inflammatory and in some ways swear on public access television a couple of times. That's all it takes to get some dumb shit to go viral at this point. You know, if I could do that and just just.
00:42:18
Speaker
go for like the kill shot every time i got a chance to talk about how much of a waste of fucking space representative birthing has been for the past eight years how much of a man the people he isn't how whatever how he hit his dog and people know about it and talk about it in town I don't know if that one's true. I wouldn't lie. I would not lie. I do not believe in and that. ah But just in general, just being the way I talk here. If I talked the way I talk on this thing about people and him and try to run, maybe maybe that would connect with some people.
00:42:51
Speaker
And I don't know. I don't I don't know. I just keep thinking I'm getting so fucking fed up with the way shit is and everyone's mad and you just sit around and like that's feels like the worst way to try to make a change. But I don't have the guts to shoot a CEO and I have a family to take care of. I got too much to lose. So that's why I'm like, OK, I guess I have to settle for maybe running for reference state rap. I don't know. i Maybe I'll score it. Start small. I mean, I think you know If anything, you could use another thing on your plate. i yeah but like If you get elected, I want to be like your
Running for Office as a Response
00:43:29
Speaker
Matt Miller, just like a slick smirking scumbag flim flam man. and I'll just go up there and be like, well, we've we've shared as much information as we can as we can divulge right now. as ah
00:43:43
Speaker
No, Senator Sam does not know what clapping means. And that's the last question I'm going to answer about clapping. Thank you. I would love to see you do press secretary shit like that. I could do it. You could, dude. I could handle it, dude. Because I think you'd handle that pressure really well. I think you not only would handle it, I think you'd kind of get energized by it. You have that personality. I would shut down immediately. I spent a lot of time in front of an audience that hates me, so.
00:44:12
Speaker
Yeah. I know how to work the room.
00:44:18
Speaker
Oh my God. Dude, a couple more. Let's get through. um And then we'll talk about my plans to either run for representative or become an expat. We're kind of on the fence right now. um He, executive lawyer, they obliterate the diversity and equity initiatives. No more DEI, just Whatever, just, who cares? Yeah, I don't really care about that. Equity sucks. It's all fake. Kit, ki no, no, I disagree. i don't I totally disagree that it's all fake. And then when you look at all the companies that followed suit being like, we're no longer doing equity initiatives, it's pretty fucked up. like And it's gonna have a major impact on ah minority populations. I wonder.
00:45:01
Speaker
It will because it is it just the initiatives did a lot for them and people go on meritocracy. This isn't a meritocracy. We already know that there's plenty qualified people. So stop just hiring qualified whites because your boss is white because their boss is white.
00:45:18
Speaker
I don't know, man. I i guess i I don't know what it looks like on the ground level, but I know that the stuff that's that makes headlines and gets the press, is it's like it's got the same feel as like ah you know a bunch of celebrities singing you know Imagine but on ah on a video call.
00:45:40
Speaker
like I don't know. I don't know. I don't know enough about this to really say much, I guess, but I i mean, it's possible that some of the ones that make headlines are ah make headlines for that reason um that it's like a talking point. It's something for people to.
00:46:00
Speaker
argue about and divide over. That's typically what makes the news. But I think that those initiatives have done a lot for people of color. I think it's given a lot of people opportunities that wouldn't have had them simply because if you are a white male, you are way more likely to hire a white male. You are likely to hire people that you connect with in a job interview Not maybe dude. There's no study that's ever said different. No study has ever said differently at least I just I I don't know I want to see some like actual like I want to see some actual numbers from a real company Not like a government study that supports like they're they're predetermined cause I don't know the government's really doing in these studies the most studies are peer-reviewed independent um But also like dude even just being tall
00:46:52
Speaker
Being tall in increases your chances of getting a promotion. Well, that one obviously I disagree with, okay? I feel like some legislation in that case would probably do us all a lot of good, but mostly mostly me. ah All right, moving on from that third rail. um The cancellation of sanctions for West Bank settlers, we texted about that. We know there's not many, but we just, it's just another step in the direction of do whatever the fuck you want over there. okay Yeah. Just the violent, hateful mob, just like destroying people's houses and and and throttling families. I mean,
00:47:33
Speaker
Yeah, disgusting. It's wild. st ah Labeling drug cartels, ah foreign terrorist organizations. This is one that like the right wing people are kind of like stroking themselves to, but like I cannot imagine how this could result in anything good. No, it allows us to, it's it allows us to do to Mexico what we did to Iraq is what it's going to allow us to do. Yeah. And I mean, that was a success, but I don't know if we can do it again.
00:48:01
Speaker
I know who's two for two with war, dude. That's you know, you're right. It is funny how like we're always like ourselves on the back for like our military and stuff. And it's like, well, since I've been alive, we don't have a great record. Yeah, we we've lost everything since World War Two and our military has only gotten more money and is more powerful.
00:48:24
Speaker
It is. It's funny I get it with, you know, because inevitably like when the like Second Amendment debate comes up and people are like, like well regulated militia, you know, is it's a hedge against tyranny and people are like,
00:48:38
Speaker
you You're going to go up against the US army. They have drones and bombs and this and that and the other. it's like yeah i mean They're not great at wiping out insurgent groups. though yeah That's one thing that they don't excel at. That's a good point. I also like when people make that argument and i and like a well-regulated militia and they go, oh, what militia group are you a part of?
00:49:04
Speaker
They're like, ah I'm keeping my options open. I'm an army of one dude. And how well-regulated is it? How often do you meet? how Well-regulated militia is the army reserves. I don't know what to tell you, but that's probably as good as we're gonna get for a well-regulated militia. but Probably. Yeah, it's hilarious. 15 people doing monkey bars in your fucking backyard is not a well-regulated militia. why always Why are they always doing monkey bars?
00:49:36
Speaker
That is like the ultimate of physical fitness if you're like a Taliban guy, dude Have you tried doing monkey bars lately? It's fucking hard. It's so hard I did try to do it somewhat recently and I did not do well. I feel like I pulled my shoulder out of joint. I could, I could absolutely, I haven't done pushups in probably six months, but I know, and it would be hard, but I know I could do at least 15, maybe 20. And I could do, I could probably do one to three monkey bars. I mean.
00:50:11
Speaker
ah I've never been able to do pull ups like that motion, that curling motion. I can't, I'm just terrible at it. I got no strength there. Now pushups, I can do a bunch. I can do a ton of pushups that I've always been good at those.
00:50:25
Speaker
But pulling not good. It's tough. i got I mean, even when I was trying when I was actively doing pull ups daily, ah I don't I don't know if I could ever do more than like I want to say 15 is the most I ever did in a row. And like for a set, it was like.
00:50:42
Speaker
And it's, it's that one where you're like, you're pulling up and your body's just convulsing your, all your muscles are shaking. You're like, I'm going to hit 15. I'm not going to bitch out. And it's, yeah dude that and that was with like, I'm probably three or four months of not maybe probably, it was one summer. I remember being more active and actively trying to work out. And I probably did it like really three to five times a week. And by the end of the summer, I was probably like,
00:51:09
Speaker
I would do 15 and then I would do 10 and then I would like do them till I capped out at probably like eight. And it's so hard. So yeah. He told me that the other day he's like, yeah, he goes, I do, I do pull ups every day. I'm like, you do? He said, yeah, he's like, I do, I can do X number. I'm like, I, I've never done more than one pull up. It's why I never got the like gold presidential fitness thing. Cause I couldn't do pull ups. So I'd always have to do like the, you know, like where you just hang.
00:51:40
Speaker
Oh yeah. Like who can like a like a douche.
00:51:46
Speaker
Um, yeah, so yeah, labeling drug cartels that that
Drug Cartels as Terrorist Organizations
00:51:50
Speaker
really just get, yeah, it primes them to be able to go to war if it becomes, uh, advantageous for them in some way or another, which i I considering their feelings about the border, I could imagine going to war with drug cartels. It would solve, they might be able to find a way to solve their border crisis in a very violent, swift and effective way. Yeah.
00:52:13
Speaker
Well, they say that they, that the drug cartels make more money off of human trafficking now than they do. Wow, that's wild. Drugs. I think, I think that's the stat that I've heard, but you know, you figure they lost their weed, their weed market pretty much. Yeah. I mean, for the most part. Fentanyl, that's going strong. People love that shit. Yeah. Fentanyl is cheap, isn't it? It's not a gash cow like cocaine was.
00:52:37
Speaker
Most people are still doing coke and they just lace it with fentanyl, but it is cheaper. Yeah. I think they, I think people keep getting dirty coke because it's being sold at like good coke prices and they cut it with fentanyl. And there's another one too. That's a, it's another form of animal tranquilizer, tranquilizer. I forget what it's called, um but it's something that people will mix with coke and shit too. Yeah.
00:52:59
Speaker
the I don't know will cue you and any statistics about it. Trank? Is it called Trank? That's like one of the Crank Street drugs, isn't it? ah Sure. ah This one was just kind of a dick move. It's not overly consequential. It's just a dick move. As someone who's worked for a corporation through COVID,
00:53:19
Speaker
and got to work from home. He ordered all federal employees ah that work from home now have to go to the go to their office. they can't No more work from home for federal employees. ah People who haven't been able to do that? I i don't know.
00:53:33
Speaker
I don't know what, I don't really know how it's playing out. He signed an executive order that made federal employees have to go back to work ah in the office. He also did, it was also, um he did a massive, like a full blown hiring freeze too, which is interesting. Well, the VEX out of the the Doge regime. regime What's that? Vivex out of the like Elon's doge thing. That is something I've been hearing about, but I was really unfamiliar with. I keep hearing conversations about it, but I haven't actually looked into what's going on. I don't know this one. It's like Department of Governmental Efficiency and they're supposed to like, they're saying they're going to cut like X number of federal employees or something like that.
00:54:20
Speaker
I don't know, dude. Elon Musk can jump off a cliff, dude. I'm so tired of him. He's such an annoying prick. He's so annoying. He's like a, it's like, he's like a three Stooges character. He's like an old, like 1940s cartoon idiot. Yeah. He's like a, he's just a, he's like a dork masquerading as like a cool guy. Like.
00:54:43
Speaker
he's kind of got like a lot of these guys are right zuckerberg you see that now yeah it's like such he's freaking like Slater from saved by the bell hair chain what do you what I like about him I like this I love a shower drain with your head is it looks like what you pull out of a shower drain i right I like how like with these wealthy fucks that as they get like richer and try to be more like public, you notice their tanning goggles, lines way more like. Yeah. Zucks are pretty bad right now. ah His eyelids are so white and he's a pasty bitch. ah So for he's worked really hard to not be quite as pasty, but the ah his that's a lot of time in a tanning bed at the right the right setting because
00:55:37
Speaker
Hit ah right around his eyeballs is still very white. Yeah, he he nothing that he ever does physically is going to make him like an attractive or cool looking guy. Like it's just not going to happen. Like like he went to your barber and being like, I'm thinking about a change 80s baseball player with a cleft palate like but not going to work.
00:56:02
Speaker
he He went with the TikTok broccoli cut, which is crazy for him in his 30s.
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's like when your friend's dad, who's like 48, started shopping at PacSun back in the early 2000s. What are you, are you skateboarder now? Is that what you do?
00:56:28
Speaker
um The sweeping pardon for all Jan sixers. It was interesting and even a point of conversation with ah on the right. ah Because yeah, there's something like, ah feel how you want about it. i don't I don't know how much time you should really serve if you were there and you meandered your ass into the fucking Capitol. But even the ones that like beat the fuck out of cops with flagpoles are just like, yeah, you're good. You're out. We're good. And that's wild to me. I think we're all blanket. I think some people even on the right are, they're not talking about it because they never want to talk about the things that don't go well for them. But it's kind of like, I don't,
00:57:09
Speaker
I'm not sure what they were. It was a been like, dude, if you're going to be like a law and order, whatever person, you know, like anybody who crossed that boundary into the building, like if you cross the crowd control line, you should, you should go to jail for some period of time, maybe not eight years, you know, right but like,
00:57:33
Speaker
This should be on your criminal record forever, that like you did that. like You deserve it. You you violated like the ah you know a pretty important boundary by walking into that office. And certainly, if you did something violent like against somebody, I mean, you should be in there for you should be in there for a while. Yeah. But I think... like I don't know. I don't really know who that's for. I i i listened to an interview with someone ah breaking points to the interview. I don't remember who the person was, but um she was like, yeah, he he met a lot of these people.
00:58:12
Speaker
he would bring he would have He would bring them in to like Mar-a-Lago and talk to them. And she's like, i it seems by all accounts from everyone who is in some form of in the know that he identifies with them because he believes that he's been unfairly but persecuted and prosecuted. And he views them as patriots that were, of course, publicly.
00:58:41
Speaker
Like we know for a fact that Trump has said behind closed doors that he lost the election. He will never say that publicly, but it's come out. ah well we don't I guess we know for a fact that people close to him have said that he's acknowledged it. but It's not like we have a recording of him. i i don't think I don't think we have a recording of Trump saying that, but it's we it stands to reason that he does now.
00:59:04
Speaker
And the truth is irrelevant to him, but he few he sees those people and like that they're like him. And she it seems like the best, most plot the most plausible reason for him doing that is simply because he's like, yeah, I know what it's like to be persecuted for trying to do what's best for the country. And that was it. It didn't it didn't need much more for him. Well, and I think like just he likes anybody who likes him.
00:59:33
Speaker
Yep. And like those people showed a level of devotion to him. And so like, he, he feels like a sense of, ah you know, camaraderie with them because of that. That's why I like some of these foreign leaders, you know, when they're like, um Oh, God, what is it the guy from like, Denmark or something like that? Who is it that controls Greenland? I like I don't remember. It's a it's like Denmark or, or one of those countries, but like their, one of their leaders got on stage at like some UN n thing this week and was like, Mr. Trump Greenland is not for sale kindly go F yourself. And it's like,
01:00:12
Speaker
I get that you're like getting a, this is a publicity stunt for you. Like you're getting your media clips and stuff out of it. But like, if you actually wanted something from the guy, like this is exactly the opposite of how you should go about that. And like who at this point doesn't know that? Like you can't even argue like that. You didn't understand that you took a calculated risk by like opposing him publicly. And I can't imagine it's because you think that's what's best for your country at the end of the day.
01:00:42
Speaker
Right. Now they're probably going to get like, they're going to get sanctions or some shit. and some Yeah. I mean, he'll go to war with them. They they want Greenland. like he's so Places like Greenland are going to somebody. Like somebody is going to have a controlling interest in Greenland and it's not going to be Denmark.
01:00:59
Speaker
so gonna Denmark came up on my, ah I got ah my expat quiz. Denmark was in my top 10 places to move if I want to be an expat based on the questions that I answered.
01:01:12
Speaker
I don't know if it's a points-based immigration system. I don't know if they'll let you in. i know i don't ah They say that you should know how to speak Dutch if you're going to go there. like A lot of people in Denmark know how to speak English, but if you want to build meaning meaningful relationships, Dutch is the primary language and it can be really hard to assimilate if you don't know Dutch. Maybe it's best to be honest and just tell them you don't want that. Yeah. like I have enough friends. I don't have any room in my heart for any new people. I'll be friends if I move.
01:01:42
Speaker
I'm going to make an effort to not learn Dutch. I'm going to do everything I can to but never know what you're talking about. Ireland and Scotland are on my list too. Those would be easy. Norway came up. I'll just hang out with Peter Espoval in Norway, I guess. um ah Taking floor right out of the water. I don't know if an executive order has been signed on that or anything like that yet, but you know with the obliteration of the EPA.
01:02:08
Speaker
Um, but the EPA, he wants to, the whole F the, the FDA, uh, he wants to make some, uh, top down changes there. Uh, what's RFK getting? Um, health and human services is what he's after, right? Okay. think But look, I get, I disagree. I don't feel like there's any point in having a conversation about whether or not we should remove fluoride from the water. I know people like to have that conversation.
01:02:34
Speaker
Oregon has already done it in a several cities ah based on ballot initiatives. So I guess they can be
Fluoride Debate in Drinking Water
01:02:41
Speaker
our test pilot. I like that they're our control group now.
01:02:46
Speaker
I know all the reasons why people don't want it in there. I don't really understand. so I don't know the reasons why people want it there or like why it was put there. Was it? I mean, it can't be dental hygiene, right? It it did. it Yeah, it really kind of is. It made a difference it because that's why kids toothpaste has fluoride. There's an argument to be made that because i Kids to you don't put fluoride in kids toothpaste until like a certain age or something like that. I don't remember what it is. But it's not like constant mental development. There is this idea that it's prevented not idea that so I mean, it's well documented that
01:03:27
Speaker
fluoride prevents tooth decay like there's this really cool study on brushing teeth that was done in I forget what it was it was before they started putting fluoride in toothpaste though um and the the study was okay does brushing your teeth uh, more frequently prevent cavities. Um, and they had two groups. They had people who just brushed their teeth at night, maybe in the morning, but just like they normally would. And then they had, and they followed these people for like, it was like four years. It was high schoolers. And those high schoolers had a brush brushing routine where they would brush like three times a day throughout the day.
01:04:12
Speaker
Um, and then after like four years, they looked at, you know, the, the tooth health of all of the people in the study and the people who were brushing more frequently, uh, compared to the people brushing less zero difference. Uh, we didn't see a significant difference in brushing teeth and its impact on your teeth until fluoride was added to toothpaste. Um,
01:04:37
Speaker
So yeah, like removing tartar, plaque, sugar, and whatever. Like yeah, if you get that off your teeth every once in a while, you're it helps, but it's the fluoride that like really protects and builds up your teeth. so Like your enamel or whatever.
01:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it helps prevent tooth decay. So the the decay of your enamel, ah because once you lose your enamel, you can't get it back. ah doesn't cut That's not shit that comes back. You can't lose strength in it. It's just gone. So it it just prevents the decaying of teeth. um So yeah, there there was... And then...
01:05:11
Speaker
So after they started putting Florida in the water, there has been a significant reduction in in tooth decay in children. So like, whatever. i Yeah. And you could say, you know, are you drinking tap? That's why there's like, you should get, you should.
01:05:25
Speaker
get bottle, you should get a water purifier. It's not great. We know it's also not good to ingest fluoride. That's where they tell you not to swallow your toothpaste. That's why when you go to the dentist, they make you spit instead of swallow that shit. Like we know fluoride is not good to ingest in doses, especially over long periods of time. So there's also such a small amount in water. And I get, I know there's a, people can debate about it. I don't think there's anything problematic with flora and the water.
01:05:55
Speaker
Uh, I will not, I just, i I know that some people want to die on that. hill I won't let that be a red herring from like everything else that we've talked about tonight. Let's put it that way. Yeah. If, if that happens. Yeah. Cool. We might, we might see more tooth decay and you know, more dentists can drill for dollars, but I, um, I'm less concerned out of all the things we've talked about tonight. That is at the bottom of my list of concerns.
01:06:24
Speaker
I'm on Butler County rural water, the good stuff, straight out the aquifer. so and no for yeah At least I don't think, I honestly don't know.
01:06:36
Speaker
ah I got a couple more for us. um He does want to gut the EPA. he wants I'm a little concerned about him wanting to gut the Department of Education. I wish that RFK was like going for an EPA position.
01:06:51
Speaker
Yeah, because I mean, I would rather have him there like he's a pretty accomplished environmentalists, you know, over his career. I mean, he's done a lot of cool things in that regard. I would I would rather him be there pushing environmental measures than like.
01:07:08
Speaker
I don't know. i don't know i don't I don't really know what to think about. He's just lost his appeal to me for sure. I don't know if he's like the devil incarnate or anything, but like, no he's just I wish he was wrong about stuff.
01:07:22
Speaker
be he He's just wrong about some things with a big platform and people and and he's he people worship him. ah Some people seem to worship him, and when you're wrong about some things and people think you're God, then then you stay the masses. I think it's a small group, though.
01:07:40
Speaker
I mean like he had a, he gained a following because how unappealing like the other two candidates were in the race, you know? But a lot of his following dropped significantly when like yeah one, and he he started after October 7th when he started just kowtowing for the Israeli government.
01:08:01
Speaker
And yeah two you know when he, I don't know, he just threw his lot in with Trump and kind of boned a lot of his supporters and stuff along the way. Uh, yeah, yeah. i I don't know what he was going to do in either of his positions. He just kind of cocked himself to, he just became a simp. I don't know. Whatever. Right. He's, he's, he's just another trash ass Kennedy now. That's fine. ah Can we just make a law that we just get rid of political dynasties? I don't want to see another Clinton, Kennedy, or Bush on any fucking ticket for as long as I fucking live. Let's, let's preemptively say Trump too.
01:08:41
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah
01:08:44
Speaker
I actually, so I've been reading this book called um the devil's chess board. That's about Alan Dulles and like the founding of the CIA and stuff. And, uh, every, everything that I, every new thing that I hear about.
01:09:01
Speaker
ah John F Kennedy makes me like even more of a fan of it that guy ruled not perfect had problems not good some of the things that he did especially like a dude what a bitch dude I'd bullet time that thing I'd be grassy mo all over the place
01:09:24
Speaker
um But yeah, he did some really cool stuff. And like, it's interesting in the book, you know, they talk about like the dynamic that he had, because he really put he he became, he was at odds with the CIA and like the security state. Okay. And like he and his brother were like the only voices like advocating for peace and and and restraint. And, you know, talking about like,
01:09:53
Speaker
um you know, diplomacy and stuff with some of these like Cold War enemy states and everything. And like, they kind of make it seem like JFK was like the measured, well-spoken kind of, you know, the more politically clean and correct of the two. And RFK was like a sledgehammer.
01:10:16
Speaker
So like they would have a they would have a meeting and Kennedy would like lay out what he wanted to see and stuff. And then when he left the room, ah RFK basically closed the door and be like, all right, listen up. you know This is what you're going to do. And I'm not going to hear any backtalk on it. that's an over so that's That's an absurd simplification. But like they were quite a pair until they both got shot.
01:10:42
Speaker
But now if there's one good thing to come out of all of this, um, I sent you what I don't, I haven't even really read much about it. I just sent you the, the real news, no bullshit page. Um, Instagram post on it. No, I just played the audio by accident, but Trump orders declassification of files related to assassinations of JFK.
01:11:10
Speaker
Senator RFK and Martin Luther King Jr. That's wild. That is wild because people have been asking for that for a long time. Now I i said to you when we I texted you about it that i have I imagine, you know, there'll be some sort of like, uh, they'll, they'll try to use it in some, like whatever happens, they'll, they'll use it for some deep state narrative because it's likely that these, these, these shits were inside jobs of sorts. Like, Yeah, government sanctioned assassinations. We, the government was not happy with MLK. You mentioned is probably the CIA or the FBI, which do function independently from the government, which is pretty wild. ah They don't technically, but they do kind of. It's very strange.
01:11:57
Speaker
i'm And there's a lot of like, we don't ask those questions. ah We don't talk about those things. And then no one has to testify like
Declassification of JFK Files
01:12:08
Speaker
it. The CIA FBI government relationship is insanely bizarre and highly problematic. But I assume that he'll use whatever whatever and and information comes out, he'll use that narrative to try to garner and gain or gain control over both, which would be a huge problem.
01:12:30
Speaker
ah And he probably, he would already know what's in them. And I guarantee he has a nefarious agenda with this, but at least, at least the countless, the thousands, the hundreds of thousands of hours of books and podcasts and conversations that have happened over these topics might finally, uh, get some answers. Uh, and honestly, that might be kind of disappointing for those people because what will they talk about now?
01:13:00
Speaker
but that's Unless of course they release all these documents and it's just pages and pages of like Bart Simpson at the at the blackboard say writing redacted over and and over again but we get like the words and he and then it's like three paragraphs that are redacted Cuba And then the one i just saw today i listen to a little piece on my way home from work today and i'm done for now is a 500 he signed a 500 billion dollar investment into private sector ai infrastructure and already the people that you would expect
01:13:41
Speaker
ah who have a seat at his table are arguing about how they get to use that money and who gets the biggest checks and why it's going to be so good for the country to invest $500 billion dollars into AI because every tech giant right now has mostly used AI to replace labor.
AI Infrastructure Investment
01:14:01
Speaker
ah ah It's been used pretty well by the Israelis to murder a lot of Palestinians. there they yeah They've loved AI for ah for their ah bombing strikes, missile strikes. um
01:14:18
Speaker
ai but Money going to AI infrastructure at the top like that is very likely likely to have horrible implications for the everyman. Also, it's I'd like to see what people on the right do say about that because they've been they've been talking about their worries about AI and it taking like their jobs, their blue collar jobs for a very long time. So for their their Lord and Savior to sign a $500 billion dollar deal with basically
01:14:50
Speaker
their global enemies um is is interesting. And I'd like to see the spin they put on it. And I'm sure I will when I eat dinner at my in-laws on Tuesday because I'll get to watch it all on Newsmax.
01:15:05
Speaker
yeah Yeah, I don't know if you saw the clip of Alex Jones. He's shilling for for Elon Musk. People are telling me I sold out. Alex, you sold out because you know you're not critical enough of Elon Musk. but you know i Hey, I'm sorry. Elon Musk has stood up for free speech. Elon Musk this, Elon Musk that. and it's like just Oh man, all your globalist crap. Like, right? Who's the guy? It is funny too about like the dissonance with the right and things like like those figures. Because I mean, the first like cracks in the facade were the H-1B visa conversation.
01:15:50
Speaker
And look, like if we want to talk about immigration that affects American jobs and stuff like that, H1V seems to me like that would be priority number one. I mean, those are like high paying, highly skilled positions that these giant companies can like farm out to people from other countries who, you know, basically like become indentured servants to their corporation for lower pay. Right. Way lower.
01:16:18
Speaker
that the like the The threat of being like sent fired and sent home hanging over their head so they can't complain or ask for more or whatever. Like it seems like if that was what you were concerned about was like, you know, American jobs and like protecting American workers and stuff. I don't really understand how you can come out on the other side of that one.
01:16:44
Speaker
But you know, of course, Elon, he's he's a big, you know, all of these tech giant billionaires are big fans of H1B programs, so. Right. Which should be cause for concern. if When you watch billionaires all get on the same page about stuff, you just have to go, it's obviously bad and wrong for everyone else. Right. and just You don't have to think about it at that point. If you can watch five of the world's richest men walk into a room and all agree on something, you go, this is definitely bad for us.
01:17:14
Speaker
I mean I what I heard the stat today that 80% of Americans have 7% of the wealth in this country now as of 2025 like or maybe it was done 20 that last one was uh it's pretty early in 2025 maybe that was a 2024 stat but when you just go like what the fuck like that doesn't make sense you can't build a country on that you can't be a country Like, yeah there's just, of course, were of course we're gonna be in decline. for Until we fix that, until you renew and restore the middle class, this there's no hope.
01:17:50
Speaker
And they want to put $500 billion dollars into AI to make more people poor. It's like, it's going to be good for the country. No, whenever a fucking tech billionaire says it's good for the country, it means it's good for their wallet and poor people can die in the streets and they don't give a fuck. That's what's funny about like the whole, you know, like the retort to the backlash on that, you know, is like,
01:18:12
Speaker
Basically, if you want, you know, if you're a patriotic American that wants America to win in the global arms race here, like you need to just shut up and stay out of the way and support like these measures that we billionaires like. And it's like, okay. All right. First off, like what does America winning quote unquote mean to you? Because.
01:18:34
Speaker
It seems to me like if America winning just means more and more of the pie is like concentrated in the handful of like, you know, 250 extremely wealthy people. like That doesn't seem like America winning. No, of course not. this I really think that like this can't continue. it's just It's like we've talked about a lot of times. That's why my depression is hitting hard because I feel like it can and we're fucked. If the pain gets bad enough, people will freak out.
01:19:07
Speaker
that's That's the problem that we've got. That's kind of like the nefarious part of some of these like measures. is they They know if they if you're just comfortable enough, then like you have too much to lose to make a statement.
01:19:23
Speaker
You know, like um coal miners in like 1900, early 1900s, West Virginia, who were basically being worked to death by the time they're 40 years old, who owned nothing, who lived in a company house and got paid in company store credits and stuff like that had nowhere to turn. They were basically slave labor. Like they the pain was bad enough that they literally like rose up, revolted. you know Sometimes it was protests. Sometimes there was violent reaction to the protests. And so you know they organized into militias and things like that. But like the pain level has to be bad enough for people to go, I'm willing to risk what I have to try to improve this. because I can't deal. I can't live in this situation anymore.
01:20:13
Speaker
And that's dude, I really feel like, um, you know, having grown up for so many people, the organization, like at least with coal miners, there was like a group of them all like rallied around the same thing. They all went to the same coal mines. They were there.
01:20:28
Speaker
There was an ability to organize and a lot of people are in pain. A lot of people are feeling it. A lot of people feel hopeless and destitute and they and they there's there's no way to organize them. There's no way to organize that and that's a problem. I think there's enough people in pain, enough people poor enough, enough people hurting, and enough people who aren't just satiated by their scraps to just go along and get along because they can afford that one vacation a year.
01:20:57
Speaker
Like there is so much fucking poverty and pain in this country and there's no way to rally people. And I think that's what's hard. I think there will be, but it's it's at that point that.
01:21:11
Speaker
I feel like things get very dangerous because yes, that's when we start, you know, like it's violent. Yeah. Well, and, and I'm sure they can find a foreign distraction, you know, to ship a bunch of our people off to die in a ditch somewhere or something like that, you know, like, but I think like having grown up in like middle-class suburbia, Michigan, where, you know, like you were,
01:21:39
Speaker
You were kind of surrounded by people who were UAW workers. But the people who weren't in the UAW had a very low opinion of, of it, you know, like, which I don't think people always understand, but yeah, like growing up in Michigan, like the people who weren't directly involved in the UAW did not like the union and thought of them as like a unnecessary hindrance on, you know, the automotive companies and stuff. Like there was a lot of anti-union sentiment, but I think, I think that's going to change.
01:22:13
Speaker
big time. And I really feel like organized labor is the only way to check the power of these corporations. It is the it is the only way. Dude, they're not gonna pass legislation. There will not be legislation that brings some of these problems under control. The the idea that like they're gonna pass some sort of like major minimum wage hike That keeps up with market conditions and like the cost of inflation and stuff like that. Like it's probably just not going to happen. The only way to combat some of this stuff is for workers to, to organize and, and demand, you know, like yeah a seat at the bargaining table, but that's a big task and they are rightly are doing everything they can to, to disarm it before it starts. Right, I mean you look at Starbucks and Amazon and the like the way that they're everything they've done to like for the to bust unions and shit like that.
01:23:14
Speaker
Starbucks is just like, oh, you're gonna try to unionize? We're gonna close your store. Which union busting is illegal, but no one's checking them on. No one gives a fuck. No one's coming to their rescue.
Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and X AI Grok
01:23:24
Speaker
It's it's wild, dude. I don't know. we're we're all ah We're heading into some wild times. ah For anyone who wants to look it up, ah yeah that to um tailor your Google search,
01:23:39
Speaker
It's Elon Musk and Sam Altman are the ones who've been arguing about. the Oh, yeah, he's the open AI guy, right? Yeah. And he's like, oh, this is going to be so good for America. And Elon is just being petty because he wants. ah What's the name of the the X AI that he's using? It's something really stupid. I don't know. It's a it's so it's it's called the X AI Grok.
01:24:06
Speaker
grok rock i haven't even heard of that it's uh gr okay it's i don't know what it stands for dude i i think that i think that this you know like love affair between Elon and Trump is going to be short-lived. He's too annoying. He's too in the spotlight, too visible. Like Trump doesn't, he's like a Sauron. He doesn't share power. Like he's not going to share the spotlight with Elon indefinitely.
01:24:42
Speaker
And now that he's got his office and he's secure like I have a feeling that Elon finds himself like pushed out of Mar-a-Lago and sort of resigned to the to the sidelines. Same as he did with Steve Bannon, you know. Yeah. And Steve Bannon hates Musk right now big time. He's been going after him hard.
01:25:01
Speaker
Yeah, well Bannon was kind of like the whole architect behind his like populist run in 2016. And then after he left, that's when Trump's messaging and stuff really fell apart is my understanding of it.
01:25:13
Speaker
ah Yeah, that makes sense. But yeah, I don't know. It's ah this is some wild shit.
Trump's Executive Orders Impact
01:25:19
Speaker
ah We just covered a lot of just I mean, this is all in what? The first 24, 48 hours, um obviously more to come. Obviously, he signed over 200 executive orders, which is insane. ah So what ah we talked about 10 at most. Like, I don't know what else has been signed, what else is going out there, which ones we're never going to really notice because the media won't grasp.
01:25:43
Speaker
them uh i don't yeah he and he uh i know one of them was he instituted a 50 statewide bald eagle hunting season which is cool unlimited bag limit that's just as many as you can knock down love it The only, the only requirement is you have to get them all taxidermied in cool poses. Yeah. Like they all have to look like they're grabbing a fish out of a stream, but yeah, or do they have like articulated claws so you can yeah that tough scowl behind it ah an American flag backdrop.
01:26:19
Speaker
Dude, you got to do the classic like, like log cabin deer mount, you know, with the hands that would, that were like a shelf. Like you got to have an articulated claw on the Eagle so he can like hold the shotgun that killed him. yeah I would like to position them properly so that way he could hold a shot glass. There we go. That'd be one way to do it.
01:26:42
Speaker
i do ha excuse me I don't know, man. um' I don't know. I got nothing else. ah no more No more executive orders to riff on. It just feels better to talk about it for sure than just to like endlessly take in hours of like commentary on
Moving Abroad for Better Opportunities
01:27:03
Speaker
it.
01:27:03
Speaker
We yeah, and like I said, I joked about the expat thing, but we looked I mean I i as I mentioned On a episode a week or two ago. I don't remember I'm getting ready to sell my house and ah Before in the meantime, I'm Gonna we're gonna stay with my in-laws for a minute until the right house comes up on the market for us But then we're just like what if we just put that money in a high interest saving a high and high-yield interest savings account and looked into ah like both my wife and I've given our our degrees in our fields are considered skilled workers in a lot of countries and we could get work visas and It might just be cool to like give something like that a shot. Just fuck it. Just let's go to, uh, go to Ireland for a few years, even a year and just rent. I rent. I go, this wasn't what I needed to be. And then you move back to the U S like, well, I don't know. I doubt I'll do it because I don't have that adventure spirit, but people just do shit like that. I have the ability to do that now more than I ever have.
US Healthcare and Education Critique
01:28:08
Speaker
Um,
01:28:09
Speaker
And it's not, not appealing given the direction things have gone so fucking rapidly to just, I even, I just want socialism. I, it doesn't feel like too much to ask. I don't, we'll never get it here. I'd rather pay higher taxes and get better healthcare and better education and not have to.
01:28:29
Speaker
not have to pay ten thousand dollars for the birth of my child ah because that we pay for that we pay so much fucking money for kids to be born in this fucking country we also have like a high ah I mean i'll just giving everything in this country is just so sub par at this point we're not number one in anything the the death rate for women giving birth is incredibly high for first world, quote unquote, first world developed, I should say, ah developed countries, infant mortality rates, incredibly high for a developed country, like we're just no good in anything. It's it's with we're low across the board on every metric in the developed world. So why the what the fuck? What about hubris? We got to be number one at that. yeah
01:29:16
Speaker
ah Just being a hottie cunt. Yeah, we got that in the bag. We the best. Number one. ah DJ Khaled. Yeah. Oh, fuck. All right.
Global Instability Fears
01:29:27
Speaker
Well, I hear there's a big mineral boom going on in Kazakhstan right now. Yeah, okay. I'm supposed to go camp out. Isn't that where Borat came from? Yeah. Okay. Dude, you could just, you could rock like a full prospect or get up. Like the one from Toy Story 2.
01:29:44
Speaker
I could dress so cool. Dude, you could be Stinky Sam.
01:29:49
Speaker
Walk around with a pickaxe is just part of my average, like just my regular everyday get up. Yeah. just like you It's like your LTC here in the south. It's like when you walk into Walmart or you go anywhere in the south and someone just walk around with a fucking AK-47 or whatever the fuck. And then that'll just be me. I'll just LTC with a pickaxe, dude. Yeah.
01:30:12
Speaker
You sell your car, get a burrow for Holland, or it'd be pretty cool. No, I don't know. Uh, I, I don't know. I hope that this is just like the introductory nonsense and that things settle down a little bit. I don't know. I just feel, I just feel like.
01:30:34
Speaker
everything is so unstable. Like all this stuff aside, like the global stage is so volatile right now. And I just, man, I'm just legitimately like scared that we're going to end up in some sort of conflict with another power and just watch like, you know, an entire generation get wiped out over, you know, political grandstanding and yeah Yeah, just I don't know. Maybe it's ridiculous. I guess I don't know. I don't know. I just gotta just look at how crazy like things are. And.
01:31:10
Speaker
I don't see how any of it could get better as a result of what we have. but yeah i feel Yeah, I'm in the same boat, man. It's been a bummer of a few days. ah i don't i just don't I mean, what?
Challenges in Legislating a Divided Nation
01:31:24
Speaker
we We suffer four years of this lunatic and maybe enough people get so sick of it where they go home.
01:31:31
Speaker
Even the ones who didn't vote or the ones who did their protest vote go Oh fuck that didn't work out the way I thought it was gonna because everyone talked up in this point look yeah He says these things, but is he really gonna do he's been saying he's gonna do it He pretended like he didn't know what Project 2025 was and then he goes and was like, I mean, I've read it. And then he just, all he did was lie about that. And then day one in office, he checked about 30 boxes off of Project 2025 with executive orders. This bitch knows what that was. He knows what he's doing. He, everyone said he was going to do it and everyone, their protest votes or they're like, they're, Not wanting to vote. I mean, there was just a lot of, uh, how bad can it really be? We survived the first four years. Dude, he came out fucking swinging. He came out swinging this, this election. I think it's just going to get, I don't, I feel like it's going to get worse. It's retaliation. It is. It's a matter of how long it lasts. So what do we, if, I mean, and most people, uh, who at least feel similar to the way that I do about things,
01:32:39
Speaker
Really are wondering what the next transfer of power is gonna look like I think Trump's gonna find try to find a way to Rally his base and get another fucking term out of this I don't think he's gonna just step aside after four years unless he dies of High cholesterol or whatever the fuck but I mean there's a good chance of that I mean at that point you just shoot him in the head I guess it's like an act of war you just assassinate him. I don't know do whatever you have to but i owe I just don't know like what that would look like. I'm worried that he's going to do that. And even if he doesn't, and he's just like, well, I did what I could to tear apart this country and line my pockets. ah I don't know how you come back from what we are going to be going through in the next four
Voter Behavior Criticism
01:33:26
Speaker
years. i don't Who's going to come back and legislate that?
01:33:29
Speaker
I mean, we're so divided in our representatives and our senators, the the divide is so strong. And there's so much political grandstanding, like you said, like, like, even even when you look at like the border crisis that we've talked about, it was like, there was a it was a bipartisan border bill that Trump was like you guys need to not vote for this because if they look like they make headway on the border we might it might impact the election like nobody fucking cares about anything this is this this ravages our political system and and I just don't see four years going by and then everyone coming together to make this fucking shithole a better place I don't see it
01:34:13
Speaker
I don't think people are smart. I think the people who voted for this, they could be fucking tired put into a human centipede situation. They'd be like, no, this is what's best for us. Trump said that this is best for us. so we you said doing I honestly, dude, he's insane.
01:34:31
Speaker
All of the incentives are for him to try to make some improvements on certain factors at least. Like stabilize the economy. Unless he knows he doesn't get four years. Unless he knows he's out after four years. I don't agree. It doesn't matter. Like it's not even worth your time. He can't get impeached. Dude, I could not disagree with more. I think he has zero incentive to try to do anything good for this country at all. What do you think he's just going to run it into the ground on purpose?
01:34:55
Speaker
I think he's going to ah find a way. I think he's just, I think the only interest is lining billionaire pockets because he's never going to deal with the plight of the average man.
Trump's Self-Interest Focus
01:35:03
Speaker
He's never going to deal with any of the repercussions of his actions and neither will his cohorts. It'll never touch him.
01:35:10
Speaker
It'll never touch his kids. It'll never touch anyone he cares about. So yeah, i I really don't think it matters to him. I don't think he has the faculties to even consider what it's like. He never had to consider what it's like. He was handed an empire and he built it out of lies and deceits. He was a terrible businessman who could afford good lawyers.
01:35:30
Speaker
And now we get that for a president and he has zero interest, motivation or incentive because it didn't matter that he lost. It didn't matter that the economy didn't improve on him. It didn't matter what his failures were. He just yeah told everyone he was the best and that he did it great. And they all fucking believed him. The other side is going to have to actually sell us something worth buying into. I mean, that's the whole thing is like they literally came to the table with nothing this time around.
01:35:58
Speaker
yeah like they didn't combat this message at all. And that's why we're here. They left every turn to like, but you know, embrace some sort of democratic process where you let maybe your constituents you know, decide who runs for the office ah to endorse policies that make sense to average people.
Emergence of New Political Figures
01:36:18
Speaker
Like, I yeah i don't know, dude, I just
01:36:22
Speaker
I don't know what's going to happen. At least I think we might get a fresh pick in four years because Hillary's out, Biden's out. like it's gonna i mean yeah It's going to be someone somewhat establishment. This certainly won't ever try to run Kamala again. That's for sure. No. God no.
01:36:38
Speaker
So at least we'll have a real primary this next time. We'll have some fresh faces. We'll have to deal with Gavin Newsom. Oh my god, dude. Him on his like little like emergency press tour trying to like salvage some sense of like a a decent image throughout like while his state burns is so irritating to watch. He is an absolute scumbag. yeah I've heard a lot of things. I don't i really truly don't know anything about his governing policies. He is a ladder climbing loser. Yeah, I mean.
01:37:13
Speaker
Congrats on a good hairline, dude, but like youre it's not gonna happen. That's half the battle in politics, dude. Just looking all right. It helps. Looking good goes a long way.
Humor and Religious Merchandise
01:37:23
Speaker
Can I share my gripe? You got your big list. Yup. Yup. Okay. I went out on a mission today to... Mission strip? Sort of, yeah. I just, I went to buy a copy of the Book of Mormon and I could not find one. I looked at Walmart, nothing.
01:37:42
Speaker
I went to Barnes and Noble. They said, no, we don't stock them. They're print to order. So, you know, we can get one for you, but like we don't have any here. Try a Christian bookstore. So I was like looking around and we have one of those like Mardel Christian stores. Do you know what those are? I don't. We had LifeWay up here. was lifeway ever I think they were a big one, but they've mostly reduced or maybe are have gone belly up.
01:38:10
Speaker
I think Mardell sells like curriculum and stuff. Like it's like homeschool or store. It's basically, I've never been in there before. It's more or less like a more obnoxious hobby lobby. ah okay That's sort of what it is, but they have a big book section and stuff. I asked a big cross stitching section.
01:38:29
Speaker
I thought, yeah, I think so. Yeah, dude, there was a lot of arts and crafts. There was a lot of really cool t-shirts. I could have gotten a Newsboys t-shirt. No way. That's pretty sick, actually. Are they even around anymore? I don't know. That's why it's wild.
01:38:43
Speaker
i Yeah, they had some they had some, they had an entire wall. like like They had like a Spencer's gift wall of just Christian t-shirts with witty sayings on them.
01:38:55
Speaker
Hell yeah. It was like like one with a deer skull on there that said, all I need is Jesus, my family, and hunting. Is that the new skillet song? It should be. I can't wait for his like outdoorsman arc.
01:39:13
Speaker
and
01:39:15
Speaker
a There was some pretty stupid ones. There was one with like a little cartoon taco on there and it said, like want a taco about Jesus? It actually hurts. Dude, so many of them just maybe want to like swallow a bullet. Like they're so bad. and I walked around and just kind of like, but it was awkward in there. It's very quiet and everybody there is clear. Like everybody who works there is clearly like a ah homeschooler on work release.
01:39:45
Speaker
yeah cheap labor maybe Yeah, I get to stock shelves in between youth group meetings or whatever. but so It's a very specific type of person that's like manning the the registers and stuff. of there so i I felt like too uncomfortable to take pictures of the stuff that I was looking at. I'm going to make a Z. I'm sure they assume already that I'm here to make fun of them. I go over to the book section and do they have an entire wall of different Bibles like I bet you this this walls like it's like 30 feet long and this is probably five rows of shelving on each one but all of them just just Bibles and then there's an entire um level study stuff and
01:40:33
Speaker
Oh, I should have checked for, I didn't see one. I bet they don't have a single Bible where the commentary is done by people who engage in legitimate academic criticism though.
01:40:45
Speaker
think yeah It's a, I don't know, they had a lot of stuff, but I asked, there was a girl like stock and shelves on the, in the Bible section. And I was like, she was in a floor length floral skirt that was home zone.
01:40:59
Speaker
I think she was wearing pants, but she was a youth group girl. It's progressive. All right. She's like, can I help you with something? And I was like, yeah, do you guys have a copy of the Book of Mormon? And she's like, I'm sorry, we don't stalk that. She was mad at you. She got so mad. ah She felt uncomfortable. She could feel the demons trying to jump out of you and into her. Dude, you could feel it. Like there was ah there was animosity in in her reply.
01:41:27
Speaker
Like I've been told we don't sell Marilyn Manson CDs. Yeah. Yeah. But they did have a Catholic book section. And so I did get a copy of King James Apocrypha. Hey, nice. So we're going to have to do some more Apocrypha now episodes at some point. There's all the wisdom of Solomon. Yes. I think I read out of that from my grandfather's funeral.
01:41:53
Speaker
Oh. When I was like 13, maybe 13 or 14, something like that. you Was he in purgatory at the time or what? He might have been. He might still be, given how purgatory works.
01:42:06
Speaker
Maybe you better buy an indulgence for old grandma. Dude, nothing's like, no shade to my mom. I love her to death. But nothing's more uncomfortable as an evangelical kid and their teens.
01:42:18
Speaker
asking the my like I asked my a mom about well as you know as grampy in heaven My grandfather, so when my mom was a ah ah young teen, 13 maybe, ah her she had a brother who was a year younger than her and he he died of an asthma attack. um and that wow My mom talks about how pivotal that was for the family. Of course it was pivotal. I mean, of course. Yeah, that's horrible.
01:42:49
Speaker
And they never went really back to church again after that. and They she grew up
Family Tragedy and Faith Struggles
01:42:53
Speaker
Catholic. ah My grandfather loved being out on the ocean in a boat, and um they just started doing that on the weekends, going out on a boat. and um It's way cooler. Yeah, way cooler. Honestly, like... Like, why'd you break family tradition, Mom? yeah But, ah you know, that's when you realize... like that's what i I feel like that's when you start seeing some of the cracks. You go,
01:43:17
Speaker
She's like, well, you know, you know, only God knows this heart and it's like, maybe he accepted Jesus. Because, you know, Catholics weren't real Christians unless they accepted Jesus on their turn, on concern on ah evangelical terms.
01:43:32
Speaker
ah But maybe there was like a soft spot in God's heart for some of them if they lived right or thought right about some things in their heart. But you could just hear like the mental gymnastics. And it's like, well, hey maybe. And like, hopefully, like maybe before he died, he he accepted Christ. and So, you know, only god ah like only God knows. And I just remember feeling sad. i was I mean, at the time, I was fully invested in that world. I was sad.
01:43:58
Speaker
um I could see that it was so hard for my mom to talk about. and like You ask that question flippantly, why? Because you're 13, 14 years old, and you can't grasp for these concepts as much as like you think you do, and you'll tell everyone that you know, oh, this is the right thing to believe. I memorize all the facts.
01:44:16
Speaker
but to not really know that to how to feel like I felt I remember feeling bad that I didn't feel as bad that I didn't know because of how horrific hell would be if it if he went there like and how horrible that could be and like I don't know I remember like I feel like that's even like there are some cracks that formed and in my understanding of Christianity then it was just like and you ignore it you know I shoved that shit down but Um, anyway, all that just because you mentioned purgatory, but I remember my mom mentioning like trying to talk around it and how hard that was. And it was like, man, that's a fucking, that's a fucking bummer. Like I, I hate how, I hate how death, how Christians are robbed of the ability to just effectively mourn and deal with death because of the implications of the their loved ones burning in hell for all of eternity. It really fucking sucks. And they can't.
01:45:12
Speaker
they be because of the like obsession with certainty and knowing the right answers and stuff like.
Contemplation on Faith and Loss
01:45:21
Speaker
I mean, probably the thing to do would be to say like, well, I'd like to think so. Grandpa was a good guy. And I know at one point he went to church a lot and stuff. Um, I hope so. I hope he's there. Yeah. But like you can't do that because you have to, well, it's, you know, it's important that I drive home the point that like, if he didn't accept Christ as his saint, nothing then you can blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, I don't know. It just seems like a more reasonable.
01:45:50
Speaker
explanation to a kid and and even thought to yourself is like, well, I mean, I don't know for sure, but I think so. Man. But dude, we almost didn't end on a bummer, but here we are.
01:46:06
Speaker
Shout
Conclusion: Personal and Political Reflections
01:46:07
Speaker
out to ah Sam's grandpa. Yeah. He was a boatman. All right. Well, um yeah, sorry, guys. This is kind of a bummer of an episode, I guess, but I don't know. we we are Nobody knows what to do right now. so you know I feel like it helps me to talk about it, and unfortunately that doesn't help you. But I have to think about me right now. Right. Of course. That's the right thing that's the Christian thing to do.
01:46:39
Speaker
and um And whatever, I mean, do what you gotta to do, but whatever you do, if you live in um Mississippi, don't jerk off. Don't jerk off. No. Unless it's in a well-contraceptive vagina, then you could be fine. But otherwise... Well, and like, if if you if you are going to, like, you're that far already, you might as well have gay sex.
01:47:04
Speaker
And it is- You're an outlaw anyway. Yeah, that's true. Might as well just, you know, make the jump. I also wonder, cause it says ah conception starts at erection. hu I don't know if this guy knows what it's like to have sex in his close to late thirties, but sometimes it's not quite that hard. So is that the loophole? Is that? Who knows? Yeah. There's a portion of the time that it's nothing to worry about, I guess.
01:47:33
Speaker
When you have to like squeeze the base and kind of mash it in there, does that count? Just like, don't think about it. Don't think about it. Oh, I'm just thinking about it. ah ah All right. yeah Everybody have a great week and we will talk to you next time.