Uptober Is Here! Ep. 276

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Thank you.

(00:30):
Hey, good morning, everybody.
Thanks for joining us.
Looks like Texas Toast is having some connection issues, but that's all right.
We'll carry on.
Guys, I'm telling you right now, this is going to be the best government shutdown ever.

(00:50):
The best government shutdown of your lifetime, even if it only lasts a couple of days.
We are here to enjoy it and want to be the first to welcome you to Bitcoin Veteran Spaces number 276,
where we talk about Bitcoin.
My name is Bob Van Kirk. I'll be your host this morning.
If we can keep Texas Toast up here, he will be your co-host.

(01:14):
Hopefully, we'll get some others to join us, throwing out a couple of invites here as we get started.
But today is Tuesday, the first day of October 2025, and we are at Bitcoin block height number 917,241,
with the Bitcoin price sitting just under $117,000, which means you can still pick up 855 sats for each U.S. dollar.

(01:41):
And before we kick off the show, a couple of announcements that I make every day.
If you'd like to come up here and talk to us, we'd love to have you kick around some topics.
Use that microphone in the bottom left.
You just click on that.
We'll review your request and hopefully let you up here.
If you're not following the Bitcoin veterans, myself or anyone else here on stage, we may decline.

(02:09):
Let's see.
If you want to leave a comment or have a question, snide remark, meme, whatever it would be,
use that purple pill in the bottom right.
Would love to hear from you down there.
We'll try to get to it during the show.
And also, we would love it if you would join us in Nashville, Tennessee, November 10th and 11th
for the Bitcoin Veterans second annual summit.

(02:33):
Going to be a blast, guys.
And tickets are available at bitcoinveterans.org forward slash summit 2025.
So head there when you get a chance, pick up your ticket
It's approaching, man, it's just next month now
So it's getting here fast
But I did want to go around the horn, small horn this morning

(02:53):
I know Pubby's out, at least for part of the show
Didn't hear from other people
But maybe everybody's out celebrating this government shutdown
I mean, it is kind of awesome
So I want to say good morning first to Producer Eric.
How's it going this morning, sir?
It's going well.

(03:14):
It is October, and we are gifted with a government shutdown.
I'm pumped.
Nice, yeah.
Texas Toast, do we have you?
Loud and clear.
It's a beautiful morning.
The sun is shining.
the green candles are rising your portfolio isn't at all-time highs you didn't stack enough

(03:40):
when it was lower all right you got to keep stacking
yeah it is a good reminder we did just cross 117 000 don't want to pay too much attention to price
but i do have the time chain calendar up here looking at uh all the stats and we also have ant

(04:01):
with us and he provides he's not up here on stage yet maybe we'll get him but uh he does have a
really awesome tool as well at timechainstats.com so check that out if you do get a chance um
yeah so where do we want to start off this morning guys maybe uh you know there's not much
news going on other than this government shutdown and i think department of war secretary pete

(04:27):
Hegseth just giving these generals and other high commanders the business yesterday.
Maybe we can start it off with, well, BFP is coming up.
So maybe we could say good morning to him first.
But maybe we could play a couple of clips that we pulled out.
Thanks again, Producer Eric, for doing that.

(04:48):
BFP, before we play a clip from Hegseth giving the business to these commanders,
I want to say good morning.
view. How's it going? Good morning, Bob. Just walking the dial, listening to this crazy
role. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining. So yeah, let's see. I think maybe one of the

(05:14):
interesting ones that we can pull out here is just this fact that we've had some strange
things going on in the military and it's a short clip but he talks about meeting the standards and
there's a couple of times in his speech and I'd love to hear maybe what BFP, Texas Toast or even

(05:39):
Eric think about his comments here on this one so bear with me one second. And that's why today at
my direction, the era of unprofessional appearance is over. No more beardos. The era of rampant and
ridiculous shaving profiles is done. Simply put, if you do not meet the male level physical

(06:00):
standards for combat positions, cannot pass a PT test or don't want to shave and look professional,
it's time for a new position or a new profession.
all right so uh we got neil up here too good morning sir wondered if uh yeah if you guys have
thoughts on this one were there other things from the speech that you pulled out i will say

(06:27):
i hear a lot of people on spaces uh saying that this whole thing was a giant nothing burger but
I actually disagree.
And being in a room full of veterans and friends,
maybe there's some differing opinions.
So we'd love to hear from you guys if you have any thoughts.
Go ahead, Texas Toast.

(06:48):
Yeah, I mean, a lot of SEALs are going to be really bummed out.
They're going to have to shave and cut their hair.
We'll see if it applies to them.
It got really weird towards the end of my service.
with all the no shave
shits and all this
crap so

(07:09):
I'm on board
I think clean shaven
I think one of his quotes
was like we're not a bunch of Nordic
pagans
so I like that
just trying to bring some uniformity
and regularity and discipline back
which I get
and what I really like is the male standard

(07:30):
for combat fitness
hopefully that applies to everyone it should just be the standard for combat fitness there's no
male or female you know there's no distinction when you're getting shot at and uh you know you
need somebody that is physically fit to to handle you in the situation so um hopefully that's what

(07:53):
he means by that that there's just kind of one physical fitness standard um i was in a special
program and there was there was alternate standards for for different people and uh it
created a lot of problems i was kind of at the the forefront of the dei diversity um push that

(08:13):
they were having in the military and that was a big reason i had a bad taste in my mouth uh as i
left but um yeah oh so it's good stuff i mean they it you know i'm a i'm a believer in small
government in every way but you know the federal government the one thing they have uh that i think
they should should have is a is a strong military in control of that so um it's good hopefully we

(08:39):
get back to making that efficient an efficient war fighting machine without um you know too much
bloat and politics and all this crap um so hopefully that's where he's going so i i like it i mean i
I didn't watch the whole thing or pay too much attention,
but I'm sure a lot of guys are pretty happy about it.

(09:01):
Yeah, I would say I'm not a veteran, so this is from a lay person,
but I wear a beard because it's easy, and I agree with Texas Toast.
I mean, if you're going to assume the uniform,
I think clean shaven is fine.

(09:24):
It adds discipline.
As far as I do have a comment on the testing for physical fitness,
I don't think the same should be for girls and boys.
If you're going to allow females in the military,
I do think they should be fit,

(09:45):
and they should have rigorous testing for them,
but their body is not the same, so it shouldn't be the same exact standard.
And I don't think the most elite fighting in the world should be designated to females.
I think they should have other roles, and I think there are plenty of roles for them.

(10:09):
military, but Navy SEALs, those guys, you're not going to get a female to do the things they do.
Yeah, thanks for that.
It looks like we have Mike coming up.
Maybe Mike has some comments.
He might have missed the clip there.
But just for those of you who are just joining, we are just covering a little bit of this speech

(10:34):
by Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
raising the standards for our combat troops and maybe just some of the clips that we've pulled from the things he said.
You know, honestly, guys, as I look back, I don't I don't I didn't watch the whole thing either.
But just in listening to a lot of these where I would say like the main idea clips, I think that this is man, it's high time for this.

(11:04):
And these the policies like it has been too politicized, I think.
And you can see where these things have been pushed into every area of our society.
And it includes the armed forces.
And so I just think that it's time to give give everybody a reset and make it OK for people to actually stand up and do what's common sense and do what's right.

(11:34):
And I think that's really the big spirit of this, but I would love to go to some of the hands and hear some of others' opinions, especially if you listen to some of these things.
So, Neil, I saw your hand first and then would love to hear from Mike as well.
Yeah, the little piece that I caught, I think it was probably towards the beginning, where he's just like, you know, they renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

(12:00):
And the whole shift, the whole focus is on the warfighter.
And like that resetting of like, what's the final end? What's the purpose of the military? Everything needs to serve that. And if it doesn't serve that end, you know, it needs to go away.
And like you're talking about, it's undeniable that the military became a political football.

(12:24):
Politics was injected into this profession to try to lever up, to try to use as a fulcrum to push social, cultural, basically to inject these changes into a culture.
And like that does not serve the warfighter function. That does not make better warfighters. And I had to witness that and I had to experience that.

(12:52):
And it's like that. I don't know. It's really disconcerting to, you know, have to set yourself on a trajectory to fight and to defend with your life, you know, your country and then to simultaneously have to be diverted away from that task.
Like, and I don't know, it's just, I hope that this is a reset.

(13:17):
I hope this is a realignment back to that singular function and they can do it.
But I mean, words are cheap.
I just care about the results, the action, what they actually do, if it actually means
anything that whether or not it's significant can only be kind of understood looking backwards

(13:38):
from the results.
yeah good stuff go ahead mike hey good morning guys and uh happy october it looks like um
i watched the whole thing uh believe it or not and i'm i'm personally like i'm not in the military

(13:58):
anymore but i'm excited and more proud of our military like with these just not necessarily
just because like all and everybody gets a green stamp because of p hegstaff's words but one thing
that and this kind of touches on what uh i was leaning into when we were um kind of like doing

(14:19):
that little marketing stint for my book yesterday uh at the end of the pod was when amongst the male
community and especially amongst the high performer male communities and triply so for the male high
performers that are in military you have to give them high standards to it to reach for otherwise
they're just like he like p hex has said i don't know if you guys caught it but if there aren't

(14:43):
high standards to aspire to and to grind towards then men are automatically demoralized um it's
kind of why it's one of the reasons why superman has been such a successful and popular comic book
character because he is literally impossible to live up to.
And also, believe it or not,
this is also why the Christ figure and Christ story is so impactful across

(15:08):
the, across Christianity,
because he is a standard that is impossible to live up to.
But like the core of masculinity is to constantly try and achieve that kind of
perfection, even though, you know, you'll never actually attain it.
um so pete hegseth coming out and not only stating that standards are going back to a harder world

(15:31):
but basic training is going back to the harder more rigorous experience of b of being able to
get touched by the drill sergeants and being able to get screamed at and cussed at which
i i went through basic training um pretty late i didn't go until i was 24 and by then
they had these ridiculous psychological waivers and when you go when i was going through i'd lost

(15:56):
a lot of uh the kind of gung-ho-ness um and like real kind of like hardcore patriotism that i was
looking for to get out of that basic training environment because it's like you don't come out
feeling like a badass that you made it through you basically got like kind of like green carded
all the way through and just got your hand held.

(16:16):
So I think we're going to see probably recruiting numbers continue to go up.
And then also one other thing that I particularly liked is it looks like they're starting to
cut down on the gamification of the DEI and particularly like the religious exemption
clauses for the military because I don't know if you guys caught it, but they're doing away

(16:40):
with the whole you can get a exemption for having beards in the combat roles um i don't know if they
were applying that for everything it seemed like um seemed like most of the stuff that was talked
about yesterday was primarily about the combat combat roles and combat operators uh and then
the last thing that i really really liked was that he called out the generals that were in attendance

(17:04):
and he said that he saw a lot of fat generals in the audience.
That's something in particular where if you're an officer,
if you're a leader in general, but especially if you're an officer in the military
and you're not adhering to the physical aptitude and fitness standards for your enlisted,

(17:25):
not only does that cause the enlisted to lose respect for you and not want to follow you,
But it just reflects poorly upon yourself because you're establishing and adhering to and enforcing and protecting a rules for the and not for me mentality.
And that's just patently, in my opinion, un-American.

(17:46):
And it's frankly, it's really, really weak and pathetic.
Yeah, Mike, I think that's an interesting point.
I was listening to what Bitcoin did and you're like, OK, so what?
Good for you.
But one thing that was pointed out as you studied the generations is it does seem to be a generational thing where, and again, not to poke fun at our baby boomer listeners or friends, but it does seem like as a whole, that tends to be their MO.

(18:16):
It kind of like well you should follow all these rules but this is not you know doesn necessarily apply to me And I think it was the Brandon Quittem one from late last week where he was talking about the fourth turning and just how different generations play different roles and have different MOs

(18:42):
And so I think it's interesting, but you're right.
But this is, it does seem kind of where, very easily,
where if you've ever been even in a work setting where someone's not doing what they're supposed to,
not pulling their weight, and they're in a position of leadership where they're not respected

(19:03):
and they don't get as much out of their team if they're not, you know, pulling their own weight.
And so it makes a ton of sense to me.
I wanted to go around and see if there's any other comments, BFP, Eric, or other thoughts from Neal and Texas Toast on this topic.
Otherwise, we can look at some other things that are going on, especially this government shutdown.

(19:30):
I've seen a lot of parody going on.
People saying all kinds of things like this is the best thing that's ever happened to us.
and others saying it's a big political thing.
And so I'm just curious if anybody has thoughts on this topic.
As we see the government shut down overnight,

(19:51):
and yet it seems like they will still be spending money and printing money for when this gets resolved.
So curious to hear.
Neil, go ahead.
Yeah, it's just kind of this point that, you know, don't be a soft, weak person.
You know, physically, mentally, spiritually, like these are all those domains are all related into the composite that is you.

(20:17):
And soft, weak people are easy to push around.
They're easy to control, easy to enslave.
And that's, you know, that's if you are a person that wants to control others, that's what you you want people just to be soft and weak, empty, hollow husks of men.
And I don't know, like you can how you go through your day and the decisions you make, the choices you make, whether that's the food you put in your body or the things you consume on the, you know, your social media content, all that stuff.

(20:50):
Like it all matters.
Like that's kind of like a terrifying thing to think that your decisions actually have consequences.
You know, what you decide to do with your day, where you invest your time and energy like that matters, not just for you, but for all of us, you know, in a community, as a state, as a nation.

(21:11):
Like it does matter. And it's a pretty terrifying thing to to accept that truth and to own the responsibility that you have for yourself and the others that you interact with.
you know so it's kind of like Mike was talking about those high standards to reach for like
reaching for that you know reaching to be able to say like hey I'm responsible and I'm going to

(21:37):
actually carry that responsibility in a proper manner that helps myself and others I mean like
that's that is a a standard that you should strive for and we all get better at it you know
No one's perfect, but the pursuit of that is important.
Go ahead, B.O.P.
Yeah, I was going to say with the government shutdown, more theater.

(22:01):
A true government shutdown was Nepal.
This is the government disagreeing and, you know, furloughing people they don't want to pay
and not putting money towards things they don't want to do.
So it's just, you know, shut down the IRS.

(22:25):
That'd be fine.
Let's see how that goes.
Yeah, so I wonder, what do you guys think the fallout is going to be from either of these things?
Like, have you guys considered, like, is the government shutdown really a nothing burger?
because really what we've seen in the past is they vote to essentially fund the government,

(22:51):
but also basically go back and pay all of those people that were furloughed.
So essentially we're getting, I mean, the way I see it is if some of these people have sent their workforce home
because there's no funding for them, it's really just government being even less efficient

(23:11):
than it already is because the money will be promised back to them for, you know,
their missing wages, and they really got no productivity out of them anyway.
Go ahead, BFP.
Yeah, I think the Wall Street, you know, the machine we call Wall Street, S&P 500,

(23:32):
all these, they love this.
Government isn't getting in the way.
So it's just going to be people printing money in the markets,
and hopefully they shut down the regulators and stuff like that.
But it just makes the government get out of the way a lot of meat,
because they're just sending things.

(23:52):
But it's a gang theater.
Yeah, they're just going to use it as a political football like anything else.
They're going to use it to apply pressure on the opposite sides.
Both sides are going to do it, which is going to be just nonsensical.
It's going to be just like a typical political campaign.
And then they're going to use that outrage to justify getting funding for whatever either side is trying to get pushed through on any sort of bill or whatever that's being hung up.

(24:20):
And then they're also going to use that as justification to print more money.
Like that's that's that's literally the game plan.
They've done it at least for the last 10 years that I've watched it.
And I think they probably also, kind of like to what BFE was saying,
notice how these always happen in Q4 of every year when markets do pump.

(24:41):
You can't ignore all this stuff.
It's a really disgusting, dastardly game that they play.
And I think, Bob, you mentioned how all those people are going to get paid anyway.
It's whatever.
I think it's a complete nothing burger.
It's really just another sign of more money printing. And on the funny thing is, though, is the 100000 federal workers that resigned are not going to get the free money out of the shutdown anyway, which I mean, unless they unless their resignation starts afterwards, you know, that that's whatever.

(25:17):
they probably missed out on the money.
Yeah, I really do think that this one is more political theater than anything.
Versus, I really do think that bringing all these guys in could be looked at as a huge turning point
for, I think, bringing sanity back to our armed forces.

(25:40):
It's good to see people taking it seriously.
I wonder what you guys think.
do you think there'll be fallout on this? Do you think there'll be generals that don't meet the
standards or just don't want to? Or other high-ranking officials? Do you think we'll lose?
Because I know one of the things that's been a problem over the last several years is
a lot of people don't want to go and go into basic training and be amongst all of the, I guess,

(26:06):
strange new policies that have come into force and effect over the last dozen or so years. And so,
I don't know. I mean, just looking at it, if I was a young, you know, 17, 18, 19, 20 year old kid, would I want to go and serve my country with a bunch of, as Pete Hegseth calls them, beardos?

(26:26):
Do you guys think that this, like, what do you think are the ramifications of this, if any?
Yeah, I mean, it's been the worst case scenario for recruitment, everything else.
It's like the people that have been joining for the last five years, you know, they're less so patriots and more so just need it.

(26:47):
They need the money and they don't have any other options a lot of the time.
And then at the officer level, you have, you know, these these political kids that are getting getting into the academies, which have always been kind of a cesspool, in my opinion.
but more so in the last five, six, seven years.

(27:13):
And so hopefully, I mean, hopefully he's cleaning the house,
and hopefully he's changing the attitudes,
especially at the academies, West Point, Naval Academy,
because that was really the center of a lot of this politicization of the military.
I mean, we saw these people come in that really had no business being there, and then they got shoved into positions that they were unqualified for.

(27:44):
They continuously failed to meet the standard.
And when they did, in a particular case that I was involved in, when they failed to meet the standard, they cried racism and sexism.
And so and nobody wanted to lose their job.
So they you know, the higher ups tapped them on the shoulder and said, you know, we're just going to push this person through.

(28:08):
And that was just a microcosm. I mean, that was happening all over the place.
And it was demoralizing. So, yeah, they really need a clean house.
They need to, you know, get some of these leftist, crazy people out of the academies, the universities that are that are teaching these these young war fighters.
It needs a whole purge. So hopefully this is just like the first step in that process.

(28:33):
And you see it in the generals and all these fat pieces of shit that are still in command.
They need to go away and they need to never come back. And we need to never hear from them again.
And they can go on to write their stupid fucking books and pin their medals on their thing.
And maybe go have a podcast with all their fake bullshit medals on their wall.

(28:56):
And, yeah, they can go to hell.
You know, it's funny because it is such a small, like, time set.
So it was only really for, what, maybe the last dozen or so years, maybe a little more, where this really started going.
And so it's like, wow, that was my legacy.
Like, I'm going to pin up all these trophies and these pins and write books and things like that.

(29:21):
It does seem kind of ridiculous when you put it that way.
Mike, go ahead, sir.
Yeah, I'm still laughing on top of what Toast said.
Because they are fat pieces of shit.
But the thing that I wanted to add to what Toast mentioned with, like, the reason why a lot of these guys have been joining up.

(29:44):
being joining for the money and not being patriots uh back in the day those were called
sellswords guys or aka mercenaries or um and the problem with that is you can't have that in a in a
national military or national army because if they're only there for the money that means that
they're up there for the highest bidder and anybody that's trying to be an external uh negative force

(30:09):
like an enemy that wants to weaken the national military,
all they have to do is come by and offer them more money than their national
military is offering them, and then they will easily flip sides.
But on top of that, I really, if I'm going to gain confidence,

(30:29):
because I'm excited right now, but I'm not confident that they're going to do
what is necessary.
and I think what Pete Hegseth really needs to do is he needs to come in with a hammer
and really and not call the entire thing but really send a message like I don't know something
drastic like 25 percent of the leadership that was there just ax them get them out show that you

(30:53):
guys are meeting business and then that should shock some of the other guys into uh correcting
their behavior.
And especially, so like, if you guys did happen to catch the part, he also mentioned that
they're trying to get rid of the leadership that has created this, I hate the word because

(31:13):
it's just so cringe now, but this toxic leadership environment within the military, the guys
that have created all the DEI nonsense and the puppy play bullshit that we saw during
the pandemic, those guys need to be the first to go.
They need to wipe them out.
And then they need to kind of they need to not be nice about it, not be soft about it.

(31:36):
Get that crap out of the military. Like there are specific standards that need to be adhered to.
And and there was one other point. But the mercenary and the leadership stuff is I think is the most important.
Yeah, it's kind of crazy stuff. And AC, maybe you have some comments on all this, too.

(31:56):
otherwise did want to reset the room, we can move on to maybe another topic that's kind of
floating around out there, shipped a little bit away from the nonsense of our government a little
bit and get back to Bitcoin. So if you guys enjoy the space, please do repost the room. Otherwise,
yeah, you help us out by using that comment box. That actually helps the room as well. I see

(32:22):
Pubby has joined the room. Maybe he can come up and laugh with us about our crazy military.
You know, one thing as you were talking, Mike, and Texas as well, that I got a picture of is,
you know, half these fat generals just going back to their hotel rooms, all withdrawn and sad,

(32:44):
and the other half fighting over all the treadmills in their hotel. And so you could just imagine a
bunch of fat guys well yeah i mean that's it and that that's what it is though it's like you know
the hopefully the 10 of the radicals get purged you know 10 20 of those get completely purged

(33:05):
and the rest especially at the officer level and all these high-ranking guys you know high
enlisted as well it's like to get to those positions you are political you are a political
animal and you are a yes man and you're just want the suck dick until you rise to the top. It's like,
it is what it is. Um, so, so it's like, they're all gonna go where the wind is blowing. And so

(33:27):
they'll, they'll, uh, they'll hop back on board and they'll act like they were never, you know,
on board with any of this crap. And, uh, and, and it is what it is. It'll, it'll affect change
in a big way if they can just act a good portion of them. And, uh, so yeah, I don't know. You can
tell I love officers and the top brass. I have an affection, a sweet affection in my heart for all

(33:50):
of them. I think they do wonderful work and are valuable members of the organization.
Toast comment. He reminded me what I wanted to say. Sorry, BFP, this will be quick. The other
thing that is part of the problem that this culling is going to help fix is the whole
fuck up, move up system.

(34:12):
It's been a real problem in the military.
And I think it's been a problem that has bled into corporate and just general
like employment markets in America.
Because when you get into the bigger organizations, you see it.
And I think it's I think it honestly is being rooted from the military mentality
of fuck up, move up.
And that that needs to be done away with.

(34:33):
Like the standards need to be very, very strict.
and if you screw up, you're not going to get moved to another unit or another platoon or another base
just so they can give you a promotion to get you out of there and onto something else
so that unit doesn't have the problem.
They need to also make the paperwork a lot more simplified to just get people out.

(34:56):
Yeah, it's good perspective from you both, and I do think it's great that we can laugh at this stuff.
Pubby, hey, thanks for showing up.
Hope everything is well, and we'd love to hear from you.
Yeah, yeah. As I told you, I had to take a dog in for an ultrasound there. But yeah, back. And you know, it's funny. I yesterday almost mentioned the mentality of Trump. And it reminds me of like sort of my grandfather was, I said, do you remember the scene in Patton in the beginning? George C. Scouting plays General Patton. He comes out and he's got the big American flag behind him. It's sort of an iconic scene in a movie. And I almost brought it up. And sure enough, that's exactly what you saw.

(35:33):
And what you're seeing here is this movement, thank God, finally, to having even physical standards again.
And a lot of the military, the big guys, the fat guys he talks about are more of the guys that you'll see at the Pentagon, which is just so top-heavy with brass and bloated with bureaucracy.
The guys I used to work with, you know, a lot of the guys in special operations, those generals are actually quite fit, man, and they take that stuff seriously.

(36:00):
so they're always
in good shape here man
Army SF
guys and the
Rangers and the Marines
so I think it's good man to have standards
again and it was funny watching
even this went into the Secret Service
Jose Hirohito was talking
about just how do we have these standards

(36:21):
when you're
going to make them do one pull up
and the guy's like fuck yeah
they gotta do a pull up this is the Secret Service man
You've got to have standards.
You've got to get back to a fighting force, not just a force that pushes paper around.
So, yeah, I'm all for it, man.
I am.
Good stuff.
Yeah, I think we've kicked this one around.

(36:43):
BFP, go ahead.
I was just going to say.
Oh, go ahead, Texas.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, the whole thing is that they want to – the problem was that they were pushing people.
okay so it's
the people that you want at the top levels of the enlisted and officer ranks they were getting pushed out

(37:09):
It's always the people that want to be politicians and want to advance their career.
Those are the people that stay.
It's the ones that really want to do the most good and help.
They don't want to get promoted.
They don't want to really, really climb that political ladder.

(37:30):
And a lot of times they're punished for it.
So that's kind of the goal, I think, in the future is to find a way to get the guys that
are just trying to do work for the boys and advance them.
Not not from some test or from all this this BS.
It's like it really is top down leadership and of just like seeing those that you need

(37:53):
and advancing them and promoting them instead of like these, these tests that they go through
and just checking all these boxes. Um, because if you just check every box and like have all these,
these, um, these like qualifications for advancement, and you're not just like seeking
out the, the men that, that people want to follow that a lot of times, um, you know, aren't, aren't,

(38:18):
aren't doing all the mundane, uh, paperwork crap to get advanced. Um, those usually want to be
leading. So hopefully there's, there's a way it's a really hard thing to do to, to, to figure that
out and advance the right folks. But, um, I really think it's a top down kind of thing where you got

(38:38):
to just put the, put the right people at the top and let that trickle down and that mentality. And,
And instead of being this like this check the box promotion kind of deal.
Yeah, real quick, I was going to say that it's a fighting force and it turned into like a giant corporation like a Coca-Cola or a Google and everything is political, you know, board meetings and who likes me the most.

(39:08):
that's what it seems to me and i'm not you know i'm not privy but from what all you guys say and
that like the chase spears when he came on was talking about the covid it's like how good at
being a yes man are you and that moves you up the ladder where a meritocracy in the military
should be how much of a badass you are yeah good stuff uh do you have puncher coming up here

(39:34):
and maybe he has some thoughts or maybe he's just joining in,
but would love to include him on this next topic.
I think we can shift.
Puncher, did you have anything on this previous topic?
And thanks for coming up.
Yeah, thanks for having me, guys.
I imagine it's – I just jumped on, but you're talking about Pete's speech yesterday

(40:00):
to the admirals and generals.
Is that correct?
um look i was i was in the military in 1991 i got in in 89 in 1991 uh for those familiar we used to
have a tailhook association meeting in vegas which was basically a big party all the contractors were
there and just it was just a time to get together and you know a lot of camaraderie and good times

(40:25):
and a lot of partying um we would rent out a whole floor of a las vegas hotel they would take out a
huge insurance policy on it we would trash it and then they'd have a whole new floor again the next
year through the insurance but in 91 uh when guys were coming back from the first gulf war
it got it was like particularly crazy and uh a couple women who were aviators at the time

(40:48):
helicopter aviators and a couple others who were full participants in the craziness
what is that i don't know they were like getting themselves their legs shaved things like that i
I mean, nothing too out of hand.
But that then led to them saying they were sexually harassed, which was ridiculous.
I know Paul Coughlin being one of them.

(41:09):
I mean, I know these girls and what they did there and saw it happen.
And that was used to then purge a lot of the warriors in the military.
It was Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright in particular, went in, and it was an interrogation.
the head of the blue angels ceos across the fleet were fired but it was only a particular type of

(41:31):
person and that was the warrior class and ever since that day as a side note i was not at that
i was i was going to go to the really infamous party but i had a big flight and i had to come
home the next day but you know i know i know guys who were there and again and there's pictures of
But anyway, that was used as a pretext.

(41:55):
And ever since then, there's been kind of a systematic purging of the warrior class.
It was purposeful.
It was political.
And by the time I got out, we were having safety stand downs on climate change and all sex is rape.
And you're a racist if you're a white male and you don't even know it and all kinds of bullshit.
And there were two channels inside the military of leadership.

(42:16):
The political class, the kind of left-wing leaning, hand-picked down, non-warrior class, and then there was the warrior class.
And if you got in a command that was, at least in a tactical unit, that was led by the wrong type of person, you were screwed.
And they knew who you were, and you knew who they were.
My contemporaries are Admiral Sam Paparo, good friend of mine, Indo-Pacific commander.

(42:40):
Dan Raising Kane, who is now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
So those are my contemporaries.
Those are warriors.
Matter of fact, Raisin was pulled back in out of retirement to purge this bullshit from our ranks.
And it is complete bullshit.
It's designed to divide and weaken our military.
And there's nothing more to say about it.

(43:01):
And I hope it's not too late.
But I got out in 2014.
And it seemed to me to be too late at that point.
So guys who've been in ever since then, I can't even imagine what it was like.
You don't even remember what the real warrior class was like, and I'll stop there.
Yeah, you know, you got me thinking about, and maybe this is conspiracy theory,

(43:21):
but it does seem like because our culture has been completely, well, demoralized and gutted,
our society has, and I don't want to blackpill everybody here this morning.
We try to keep it positive here every day, 10 a.m. Eastern.
But it does get me thinking that, like, you know, our enemies could very easily help perpetuate this societal decay, as we'll call it.

(43:49):
And I think this is just one example of where it does make us very vulnerable and weak.
And so to maybe change that trajectory or to push back against that is hugely important, not just from a military standpoint, but from a societal standpoint.

(44:12):
And so, I don't know, just kind of gets me thinking that way.
That absolutely is happening.
If you look at some, you know, some former KGB officers who've, you know, come over to our side and they give a speech about this, I'll find it and post it.
They talk very much about that demoralization phase.
But just one last thing.
I got out of the Navy and went to the Air Force because of this nonsense.

(44:36):
There was a big push to get women in combat.
And there was a certain female who was at the aircraft carrier flying EA-6B Prowlers, and I was the wing LSO.
And she was going to kill someone.
She was that unsafe.
And there was nothing I could do about it.
And I was told, we're going to turn.
We're going to get her qualified.
She had disqualified at the boat numerous times.

(44:58):
Then she's in the fleet, but barely passed by the skin of her teeth.
And every time she would go flying, there were three other souls on board that aircraft crane that would look at the flight schedule and go, oh, my God, is today the day I don't come home?
So I just said, look, I can't pass her.
I can't keep waving her.
She's going to kill somebody.
And it was like, nope, you're going to do it.

(45:18):
And I said, nope, I'm getting out.
And that was the catalyst for me leaving the Navy.
um you know anyway but that's just kind of one one example of the kind of shit that happened that
you lower those standards and people die and that's it and i'm sorry that's the case but it's
the case yeah great comments go ahead mike i wanted to just add briefly um the kind of like

(45:42):
you made it sound kind of like speculative and puncher really kind of like added weight to the
the potential, I'm going to put an air quote speculation.
I think it's actually legitimate.
I think it's a real component of an all-encompassing target softening strategy.
If you look at, I mean, shameless plug, if you check out my sub stack,

(46:03):
I've been keeping a long running string of events and developments
that I think are target softening strategies in the U.S.
If you take those and then mix in the cultural and psychological issues
within the U.S. military, particularly like what Puncher was just talking about
with the weakening and the pushing out of the warrior class

(46:24):
by focusing on DEI initiatives,
and you look at everything all together,
it is absolutely a directed attempt to weaken the U.S.
And the guy, Puncher, correct me if I'm wrong,
but the guy that you're talking about should be Yuri Bezmenov.
I believe he was KGB, but there's probably others that I have missed.

(46:46):
yeah that is correct and i just i just put it i just put it in the nest guys so if anybody wants
to watch it it's and this is from i believe this is from quite a long time ago so yeah if it's a
famous interview it should be from the 80s and he's talking about how all these strategies that
are so effective are already so um deeply ingrained and in progress in the in the u.s

(47:09):
that there's no way of stopping it that's right mike it is yuri bezmanov
yeah i'll definitely want to check that out i would encourage other people to
as well thank you puncher and did want to go to yomar welcome
up and thanks as always uh what are your thoughts sir
hey how's it going um yeah i watched that speech uh

(47:31):
there were the speeches yesterday uh i'd classify hegseth as a speech and trump's
is a i don't know he had some rambling thoughts
there but uh you know i think the one of the things that really stood out um i'm not like a
huge hegseth fan uh in general but like you know he mentioned how like you know people are being uh
conditioned i know we mentioned uh you know like the the foreign agents that want to get this kind

(47:58):
of like uh like toxic thought process in there to kind of uh destabilize and demoralize everybody
but i think part of it is internal as well you know like you can't do it they can't do it um
without like that internal aspect. And I think that's just, you know,
driven by greed, you know, like we have these, um, like,
I think back, like, you know,

(48:18):
I was a young enlisted and we had a new boot tenant come in and he was a hard
charger trying to break everybody off, you know, and, um,
our like seasoned gunny, you know,
took him aside and had some words with him and basically said, you know,
you stay in your lane and, you know, I'll, I'll stay in my lane.
If anybody's going to, you know, break these Marines off, it's going to be me.
like you go sit in the office you know um and i think you know in today's like uh

(48:43):
culture where they have everybody walking on eggshells like i wonder like would he have been
able to like say that or they've been like oh well you were too mean so like you know you're
gonna get uh busted down for like hazing or something you know because it it basically just
gives all these avenues for like punishment like arbitrary punishment um and it can prevent anybody
from you know like i said like hex has mentioned taking risks and stuff you know part part of

(49:06):
taking risks is like the ability to speak your mind and, and, uh, you know,
say when a plan is, uh, you know, not going to work when it's a shit plan,
you know, even if it's like your superior's plan, like there's that, uh,
that stage in the planning process where you can disagree and push back.
And, um, you know, if we don't have that, it's going to be just catastrophic.
So I think, uh, you know, just from that aspect,

(49:30):
getting rid of like all of these, um, arbitrary and like not war fighting,
things that the that uh you know uh these guys have to worry about um we'll let them focus on
like what's actually important which i think is you know overall a good step and like the the
you know he talked about how you know if women can't make it in the uh

(49:54):
in the combat arm stuff like too bad and like it's crazy that we ever shifted away from that
you know like nobody had like an issue with like oh you want to be like a a
you know, you're doing dead arms and, you know, we're doing pushups or pull-ups over here.
It's a little bit different, right? Like there's a reason why they have like,

(50:16):
you know, hard standards because, you know, like it's not going to, your buddy that gets hit is
not going to be lighter just because you're a woman, you know? So there's definitely women that
I think could probably, especially now in my, you know, decade plus of civilian life could probably,
you know smoke me and pt um but that's not all of them right and we shouldn't lower the standards

(50:39):
for just to get like a higher quota in there um so you know i think there was some good stuff in
there um in the in the speech i think definitely walking walking away from like the dei stuff is
probably a plus um and uh you know it's crazy that apparently like the uh drill instructors can't uh

(51:00):
like be mean to recruits now.
So like,
I guess that's good that that's coming back.
I mean,
I have some fond memories at the time.
It might not have been so fond,
but like,
as soon as you're done with bootcamp,
like those are like the funniest times when you,
when you really,
when you really fuck up and your DIs lose their mind.
Those are always fun to look back on and laugh.

(51:20):
Those are,
those were legitimate times of basic training.
Yeah.
Especially,
especially when you're in basic,
if you caught on to what the game was like the,
The real game in basic training is after you get through the kind of like adjustment period of just getting used to somebody screaming at you at the top of their lungs in your face.
You start to realize that like once and especially for somebody that's in good shape and you can just deal with smoking or like in my situation, I actually left basic training and in worse shape than I went in.

(51:51):
You end up actually trying to antagonize the drill sergeants to get a better smoking so you can get a decent workout.
and then they get to the point of where the smoking is no longer a punishment and you can
just fuck around with them and then they can't really do anything as long as you're not doing
anything stupid or getting somebody uh put into a dangerous situation then and then like it's like

(52:13):
yomar is talking about then it's fun and then uh a lot of the a lot of the stuff the the funny part
too for those that haven't been did you go to relax and jackson come on man yeah yeah that's
true too but the uh the other aspect though that that is fun uh is like realizing that a lot of the
stuff that at least when i went through the a lot of the stuff that drill sergeants were screaming

(52:34):
at you in your face about was actually funny stuff it's just that you're not used to it at
the time of being yelled into your face and particularly directed at you um i i don't know
i have fond memories memories of my basic training the full if you back watch full metal jacket if
You don't know how it used to be back in the day for Vietnam War, basic training with Arlie Ermey.

(52:59):
And I was there.
Yeah, we still had our head shaved.
They couldn't hit you in the face or stuff anymore.
But I heard back down like, oh, yeah, you don't even have to have your head shaved.
And if they're yelling too much, you can give them like a timeout card.
And I'm like, what the fuck are we becoming here?
Yeah, I don't know.
I went to basic at Benning in 99.
And I got both my ass whooped and everybody's ass whooped.

(53:22):
And we both got smoked and literally choked smoked in the fricking barracks because, I mean, look, guys, we were the best damn platoon.
We actually got platoon like of the like battalion and we still got smoked like to the end of our capacity.

(53:43):
Like it really didn't matter. That was actually kind of part of it.
It was like you had to, I remember, like, you guys remember that one of the last phases of training is where you have to crawl up the hill while they're shooting down at you with the tracers and stuff.
We actually lost a person in that shit.
Somebody stood up and died.
So, like, there were real consequences during those days.

(54:06):
And I think we just went so far away from that, that it's like, look, the reality of what made you a soldier.
Sorry, I got a call.
The reality of what made you a soldier wasn't that, you know, you basically had this gun that you had.

(54:31):
It was that you had this conflicting press charge on you from now on that the government is giving you a license to kill.
But that license to kill comes with the one condition that you have to use it protecting the guy next to you.
And when that starts going away, what you're doing is you're just giving a guy a gun and giving him an excuse to be a jackass.

(54:55):
So we really need to go back to the fact that like the reason the reason you went to basic training was to learn cohesiveness, camaraderie and being a damn unit.
Like that's what matters, because the second that it clicks in your head that one and all of you are one, there's a different shift in your mentality and you can't see the world the same again, because it's it's like the it's like being a parent for the first time.

(55:23):
You can't unsee having a child.
You can't unfeel that.
So I think it very important that this rite of passage number one I think it should be mandatory And number two I probably think it should be a lot younger Like we should be putting high school kids through like some sort of basic
training at 16, you know, and separate the male and female, because I think that is skills,

(55:47):
teams development, bar none. Yeah, I think, you know, just talking to normal people with like
high school age or middle school age males,
it seems like we screwed ourselves with the draft.
Like people freak out when they hear their son has to sign up with selective

(56:07):
service at age 18.
They're like, oh, the draft is back.
This is crazy.
But want to go to Yomar and hear his thoughts on what the Petro said.
Yeah.
I mean, just like back on like the DEI stuff, like to me,
like in the Marine Corps, we had, I forget,
I was going to make fun of you guys for being army, but you know,
it takes care of itself. So I'll skip that for now. Um, but you know,

(56:29):
in the Marine Corps we had, uh, there was always like the saying, like, you know,
we're all, we're all different shades of green. Like some of you are darker,
but we're all green. And like, that was it. Like that was the DEI training.
Like, like nobody gives a shit, you know, like move on with your life. And, uh,
and honestly it worked fine. Like there was no, like, uh, like, yeah,
there was like maybe a little bit of stuff, but there was nothing like,
nothing crazy. You know what I mean? It was mostly like nighttime race ever,

(56:51):
like or anything like that came up with just like talking shit and most of the time is like
friendly you know what i mean like people would just uh make fun of each other uh just make fun
of each other like nobody it wasn't really an issue um i don't know for like the pogues and
shit if it was worse or if there was like real issues but um you know the grunts i didn't really
uh i didn't really perceive there to be uh much of an issue um so uh that's like my thoughts on

(57:19):
And then, like, you mentioned, I think you bit Petro about, like, the rules of engagement.
Like, that's the one thing that I would say I did not like.
Like, I know that, you know, rules of engagement when we're in country are a bit of a pain in the ass.
And there are maybe cases where they go too far into the, like, the nonsense.

(57:42):
Like, but I think they are a vital aspect of setting us apart from everyone else, you know.
And if you look at the way we conducted ourselves before we had defined, well-defined rules of engagement, there's a lot of like horrible shit that came out of that, right?

(58:02):
Like if you look at the MyLi massacre, one of the articles I wrote about covers that in detail.
um but like one of the big things was like they didn't we didn't have like rules of engagement
and like good training on rules of engagement so dudes literally just did not know um you know
it was a bunch of kids the training pipeline back then i think was a bit quicker getting into vietnam

(58:22):
and you know they were just like i don't know this guy told me to do it so i did it like i don't know
the rules and like uh um there was a good point um you know that there's uh i forget exactly how
it goes i have it i think in the article it's basically like you know there's like the moral
safety net that most people have um but the problem is like when you're in those conditions like

(58:45):
you can lose it and then there's other people that just don't have it right and you know in
absence of that like you have like the rules of engagement so um you know that was the only thing
that i would like or at least one of the things that i would i very cautiously is like you know
i don't want um i mean there's no way i'm letting my kid in the military anyway nowadays but you

(59:06):
know, if I were, you know, I wouldn't want them, you know, free reign to be like the monsters that
we see over in Gaza, you know, like that's what happens, like Israel has a policy of not setting
rules of engagement. And we see the result of that, right? Like they're intentionally shooting
kids in the head. They're playing target practice on children. And that's the result of, you know,

(59:29):
you know, the I mean, it's societal sickness. But it's also, you know, if there was rules of
If they, you know, had something built around like the rule, the rules of war, you know, they wouldn't be less likely to do stuff like that.
So we have depending on the ALR that I'm traveling to, I got to do this computer based training to CBTs and all that.

(59:56):
And anyone that goes in or even active duty, they have like, you know, the joint law of war.
You go through the entire history of all of that. And, you know, what is a lawful command?
What, you know, what is your moral responsibility?
If anything, they're very handcuffed in places they go, especially, you know, guys I work with, you know, came back after serving so many years in Afghanistan.

(01:00:18):
And it's things like they saw they couldn't say anything about, you know, specifically military as as the helping force, you know, what they could do with with children.
They couldn't report because we needed them to get in and fight.

(01:00:38):
So, yeah, I know you're saying there is come a long way since those times.
But everyone has a very clear understanding of what's expected of them, what they can and cannot do.
And if anything, it's more hands off.
And there's things like that should be reported, but we can't just because of the political nature of it.
Yeah. And I mean, I think that's the way it should be.
We should be a little hesitant to.

(01:01:04):
I think I muted myself by accident.
Yeah, I think we should be a little hesitant there.
Like there's the push and pull, right?
Like there's the hesitancy can get you killed, but also like exuberance and carefree is,
you know, in the long run, that might be more detrimental.
You know, if you look at the down chain effects of that, you know, there's the insurgent math.

(01:01:28):
You know, if you kill, I think it was McChrystal, if you kill one bad guy,
how many bad guys you know there's 10 bad guys you kill one bad guy how many bad guys are left
it's like there's 40 bad guys left because that guy had cousins and brothers and this and that
um so it's important to remember that um i'm sure it expounds so let me ask you this mike mike so
what are we doing in venezuela shooting freaking drug boats which constitutes basically breaking

(01:01:52):
those laws and those those decorums well i think petra i think this is a shift to a more multipolar
world and this is just a muscle flex the only reason we're bailing out argentina is because if
if we don't china will um and the world's realigning and i think that's all that is
yeah i agree yeah but i mean if you're gonna if you're gonna flex over there i just don't

(01:02:17):
understand why we just don't impose an actual maritime embargo and and shut that shit down
i mean it's like why are we playing coy i just don't understand like if we're gonna go play
resource wars, I don't think anybody has a problem with us saying Russia, China, shush, shush, shush,
get on out, so long as Caracas is left somewhat standing. I think the big problem is that we're

(01:02:42):
playing this game where we're kind of, you know, supporting an illegitimate government and then
kind of saying, well, we don't like this guy. He's a narco trafficker, so we don't recognize
him as a government but the guy we backed yeah they're his country hates him so what are we
doing i mean it just seems like we are the ones destabilizing that region right now and i just

(01:03:06):
don't get it i'm not defending i'm not defending that what's going on what i'll say is the state
department is going to be the last one to be rooted out of all the career criminals um you've
got that's just rife with neocons and you know usa id holdovers and the whole mechanism of that
mike benz talks about like the state department is a hornet's nest of bad actors so i don't know

(01:03:33):
i'm not i'm not defending the policy at all it's obviously i agree with you um but where they're
going department by department and they haven't quite got around to the big ugly one and that's
the state department yeah i think it's important to note like you know bit petrol like you mentioned
like destabilizing uh you know south america um look at the effect that our you know wars in the

(01:03:55):
middle east have had right we've been constantly bombing that the middle east uh for decades right
um destabilizing toppling governments left and right the influx of refugees that europe has
uh been dealing with like that's a direct result from that right so like if you're telling me on
one hand like you want to stop uh illegal immigration and then you're destabilizing uh

(01:04:16):
nations that are, you know, you know, geographically, like they're, they're attached to us, right? Like
they can come up through Central America, you know, they can make it here. It's not a good policy,
right? Like we don't want to destabilize anybody near us. I mean, really, we shouldn't want to
destabilize anyone, but you know, that's to your point, like State Department, you know, has

(01:04:37):
different plays by different rules and, and, and they have their own sick game that they're playing.
But yeah, I don't think that like that we should be involved in any like regime change anywhere because it fails miserably each time we do.
I agree that we are shifting into a multipolar world.
Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I don't agree with that statement.

(01:05:00):
I actually think in this case, like the only hope of the Venezuelan people is for the United States to step in and remove this trash that is currently sitting at the top of its government.
Because there's no there is no standing military that will stand against that standing military.

(01:05:20):
And unfortunately, that's a standing military that's paid by not oil, but drugs.
And so as long as the drug trade is alive, those guys are getting paid and well.
So why are they going anywhere?
Yeah, I mean, I get it.
You're Venezuelan, but it's like you sound like a Persian guy that wants us to go into Iran.

(01:05:40):
It's like, where does it end?
It's like, we're Americans.
This is the American military.
And it's like, we can't do this anymore.
We can't regime change all over the world.
It doesn't work.
It causes more problems.
We need to step back.
And honestly, that's why we're all out of the military at this point, if you're not just super old, is we found a different way, a peaceful way, the Bitcoin way.

(01:06:07):
And we need to inject that and use that and help people where they are instead of, you know, bombing them and toppling governments and all this bullshit for people that aren't even Americans.
It's like, I get it.
I like helping people.
I'm a Christian.
We can help them where they are without bombing.

(01:06:29):
Mike, don't get me wrong.
I don't think there's a real good solution here.
Because here's the thing.
If you cut off the head, you, like you said, create a hydra.
And so you're just making the problem even worse.
So, like, this is a real, real problem that we kind of, like, let happen in the Western Hemisphere,
hemisphere, which is letting these left-leaning, let's call them governments, because they

(01:06:55):
might be, they might not be, they might be cartels, kind of take the idea of destabilization
and use it as a weapon.
And I mean, Venezuela is the best example.
They literally were using their refugees to destabilize all of the rest of South America
by sending the worst to the worst.

(01:07:16):
And now you have like really bad xenophobia going on all the way up to here.
So, I mean, the end that I was exactly that.
But a huge portion of that was because of sanctions that were applied to them and forced an economic hardship that was probably unnecessary.
It's like it is. So. So did we cause that or did they cause that?
It's like it goes around and around and around.

(01:07:38):
And until we we like stop with the bullshit and and just kind of help people where they are.
I don't I don't think that any of this sort of statecraft and regime change and sanctions BS.
It's like it's got to go. And that's what I'm here for.
100 percent. Look, sanctions don't work and sanctions don't work.

(01:08:00):
And the only thing that I'm proposing is like, hey, look, if we are going to act in any way, shooting drug boats is not the way because that's not an act of war.
That's just straight murder.
But if we're doing something like a military blockade, like an actual military blockade, I don't see anything wrong with that.

(01:08:21):
That seems like a better way to do it.
But my question is, like, why are we so philosophically corrupted that we can't see that as the very obvious thing?
And it's like, okay, let's not play statecraft, but shit, we are the captains of that sea.
We need to patrol our damn sea.
I mean, that seems to me like a very good idea.

(01:08:42):
I mean, you have to take in it.
There's two things I want to mention.
Like, one, like, if we really want to help, like, this is, like, the tool that we should have been using.
This is a tool that, you know, Washington wanted us to use.
And this is a tool that like most of the founders would want is like we can help.
We can help other nations and people in other nations by being like the shining city on the hill that we were supposed to be.
Right. We've gone so far from that that we like, you know, if we were just like the free, prosperous nation that we are supposed to be bound by the Constitution and dealing with other with foreign nations through trade instead of violence and war.

(01:09:16):
you know liberty is contagious people would see that like they used to see that and want liberty
for themselves unfortunately like we've tarnished our reputation so far through these direct actions
through sanctions through all these type of things that like we aren't that beacon anymore right
people don't look at america and and see it the same way they used to and that's a failure of you

(01:09:38):
know decades even centuries at this point of government right it's been kind of going downhill
at least since the Civil War.
And, you know, we got to get back to that.
If we want to really help people and help them obtain liberty,
then we have to be that like shining beacon on the hill.

(01:09:59):
And then like the second aspect of it,
like there's always going to be a drug,
like there's always going to be a drug war and a drug trade,
an illicit one, as long as we keep it illegal.
Like the easiest way to solve all these drug issues
is to just make it illegal and regulate it like we do alcohol.
You know, Ron Paul just that one time on stage and they were like, oh, so you want to do heroin?

(01:10:20):
They're like trying to mock him.
He's like, well, if they made heroin legal tomorrow, like I'm not going to become a heroin addict.
I don't know about you.
And I think that's kind of true, right?
Like I remember as a kid, it was easier to get weed, which is illegal, than it is to get alcohol,
which was legal because of the regulations and stuff and like the controlled access points.
um so like i i think like if we really wanted to end the war on drug the end like this and like

(01:10:45):
drain the cartel power that's the easiest way to do it and it'll be cheaper um we can probably
save lives because you'll have regulated substances so you won't be getting people
trying to get uh you know like high at a party doing coke or something snorting fentanyl by
accident because they got it at like a registered place um so it would solve a lot of problems and
I know like a lot of people get scared off by that because of like the,

(01:11:09):
the thought of like, you know, drug addicts on the streets and stuff,
but I mean, we have them already, you know? And again, like,
just because they made it legal, I'm not going to go out and try heroin.
I think that would be the same for a lot of people.
And you can regulate it a lot like more like stricter than we do with alcohol
to try to, you know, avoid the, you know,

(01:11:31):
the proliferation of usage. But I think that's the easiest and most honest way to end the problem
of the drugs. I agree. But the reason it's not going to happen is kind of circling back to the
State Department corruption. And those people are, you know, obviously propped up by the CIA
and, you know, used as informants and everything else. And so it's like until we root out the

(01:11:57):
the base corruption at the upper levels.
None of that stuff's going to change.
So we can only change ourselves and we can become more powerful and giving and, you know,
help more people by buying Bitcoin and going to a Bitcoin standard, choking the beast of

(01:12:18):
the dollar system and, you know, creating a new world and getting away from all this
bullshit.
And this, my friends, is why Texas Toast is my co-host.
Always able to bring it back to Bitcoin no matter what.
But I do have a sense of optimism.

(01:12:39):
I hope you guys do, too, with these changes in the military.
And you know what, guys?
We could go on about this for hours.
And really do appreciate everybody coming up.
Please do, if you're listening, follow everybody who's up here,
especially Mike who just bolted for my fun end of the show.
So, but yeah, please join us tomorrow.

(01:13:00):
We'll do this again.
And really do appreciate all of you guys.
I got to get to a meeting.
So we're going to end it.
And I'm going to wish you a very wonderful Wednesday.
Happy first day of October.
Have an October fest tonight.
And remember, do not shit coin.
Whatever you do, do not do that.

(01:13:23):
What are you, a little baby?
You need your mommy to hold your Bitcoin for you?
People that use fiat currency as a store of value, we call them a core.
We call them a core.

(01:13:55):
Thank you.