10-3-25 - 8am - Riyadh Comedy Festival, War with Venezuela and Climate Church

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As long as we're on the topic of how to
pronounce things, is it Caribbean or caribbean?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
These are half pinbal hinges with the right leaverage, the
proper application of strength, the door reliffery. What makes you
think Bob books World give up a shipped to you
as you say, it's a master of leaverage.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
There you go, There we go. They can always come
through Caribbean, Caribbean, Caribbean potato tomato. It's fine, yeah, Caribbean.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
So let's go back to the Saudi Festival, the re
odd Comedy Festival, as I said, it's still ongoing, goes
through next week, I think next Thursday sometime. Fifty of
the world's top comedians. They didn't invite Dragon. I don't
know why. And it's all part of Prince NBS's vision

(00:59):
twenty thirty. Everything's twenty thirty Jenda twenty thirty. I mean
it's crazy. So all these comedians of international renown are
performing their stand up satire sketch, they're doing improv. The
contracts imposed certain limitations. The comedians reportedly agreed not to

(01:21):
make jokes about the Saudi royal family and not to
make fun of Islam. Now, some attendees such as Tim Dilley,
Dylan and Namesh Patel. Do you know, I don't know
who Namesh Patel is. I didn't look him up. They
declined or they were removed from the list due to

(01:44):
either prior remarks or ethical objections regarding the Saudi policies.
The Saudi attendees were obviously enthusiastic. I mean, obviously you
find irony and novelty in political satire in a country
where you really can't engage in political satire, particularly when
that political satire targeted the United States on Saudi soil.

(02:10):
But there's some human rights groups and some comics across
the festival and participants that are being accused of whitewashing
or so called art washing, and they're accused of white
washing Saudi Arabia's reputation by noting that the regimes continued
harsh cracked down on dissent continues. They're the murder of Koshogi,

(02:33):
that so called journalists that occasionally wrote something for the
Washington Post, and their ongoing human rights violations. I get
that Prince Mban NBS is trying to modernize the country,
but they ain't quite there yet. Now, central theme among
the comedians that performed, which is exemplified by Chappelle's stand up,

(02:56):
was somehow perceived great. It was the perceive greater freedom
to speak and read compared to current US debates over
cancel culture. At the same time, observers wanted to highlight
the deep contradiction and comedians advocating for free speech while
performing in a country where genuine political dissent carries very

(03:19):
great consequences. Now, there were some comedians and some advocacy
groups that called for the performers to use their platform
to actually address abuses by the Saudi royal family or
to boycott and protest. But the critics contend that the
government uses these festivals to try to deflect scrutiny from

(03:40):
its repression of free speech and other rights. But let's
shift gears, and I want to go back to Chappelle
for a moment. As I said, he's addressing an audience
of six thousand people, and he joked, right now, in America,
they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk that

(04:00):
you'll get canceled. And I don't know if that's true,
but I'm going to find out, and then added very pointedly,
it's easier to talk here than it is in America.
But that's not where he stopped. He knewsed about his
own reputation, according to The New York Times, saying that
when he gets back home, he fears, quote, They're going
to do something to me so that I can't say

(04:22):
what I want to say. But here's where it gets controversial,
and that is he's telling these jokes, and the jokes
themselves are not coming under fire, but they're coming under
fire for being held in a country widely criticized for
human rights violations and an oppressive regime.

Speaker 5 (04:42):
Now.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
Comedian Bill Burr, who also performed at the festival, took
a different tact on his podcast efter opening night.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
This is according to Variety magazine.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
Burr said, quote, it it was great to expe verience
that part of the world and to be a part
of the first comedy festival festival over there in Saudi Arabia.
The royals loved the show. Everyone was happy. The people
that were doing the festival were thrilled. The comedians that
I've been talking to are saying, Dude, you can feel
the audience wanted it. They want to see real stand

(05:19):
up comedy clothes quote. He goes on to talk about
how it was a mind blowing experience. In fact, he
says it was definitely top one of the top three
experiences he's had as a comic. And then it's somehow
going to lead to a lot of positive things. So
while the laughs might be loud and the headline's even louder,

(05:45):
the re comedy festival is it's more than just obviously
a blockbuster cultural event for the Saudis. It's really a
flashpoint for debates about free speech, artistic freedom, and the
unintended consequences of crossing cultural and political lines in pursuit
of global you know, entertainment.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
But why is.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
It that Chappelle has to prostrate himself before the Saudis,
Because even if you take the money from the Sadis,
you don't have to in my vernac, you know, you
don't have to nine to eleven your friends. Dave Chappelle

(06:26):
when he talks about it's easier to talk here than
it is in America, do you know that Saudi law
makes it illegal to challenge, either directly or indirectly, the
religion or the justice of the king or the crown Prince.
What's also illegal is this any attempt to cast doubts

(06:47):
on the fundamentals of Islam. Now you can find screenshots
of the contract the comedians were apparently asked to sign
that barred them from saying anything derogatory about Saudi Arabia
or the royal family, or to even make a joke
about Islam. Chappelle said, if you've ever watch Chappelle, he

(07:13):
has this kind of creepy, conspiratorial audience whisper, which is
kind of funny in of itself. And I would say
it's probably one of his trademarks. It's got to be
something I would never say in practice. So if I
actually say it, you'll know never to listen to anything
else I say after that. And here's the phrase, I

(07:36):
stand with Israel. Nice Chappelle, enjoy your stupid freedoms. Will
not enjoy your stupid freedom. Let me rephrase that, Hey, stupid,
enjoy your freedoms. I why do you have to diss

(07:57):
or why why do you have to try to? I mean,
I haven't seen it. I have to confess I've not
seen the skit. I've not seen his routine there. Oh,
I'm sure that they got something in the contract allowed
him to make an HBO special out of it, and
if he does, I'll probably watch it because I just
I like to watch Chappelle. I guess he does. He

(08:17):
walks up to the line and like people that walked
up to the line, but probably less controversial than Chappelle,
at least in Saudi Arabia. It was Kevin Hart, who
might be I don't know, maybe the world's great to
sell out. I love what y'all are doing here. I'll

(08:38):
continue being a positive ambassador of your change.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
To the world.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
With that, the positive ambassador of T Mobile, the cell
phone company, and Capitol One the credit card company, went
back to his hotel suite to wallow in his pile
of gold.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
I just find it.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
They're free to go do what they want to do, don't
get me wrong. They're free to go to Saudi Arabe
and they're free to say whatever they want to say,
and they're free to go out and to diss the
lack of free speech in America. I do want to
rehash and relitigate everything about what people said that was
so derogatory about Charlie Kirk that it got them suspended

(09:30):
or fired or in trouble or deplatformed or whatever. But
it had nothing to do with free speech. It had
to do with companies making a decision that what you
say or do does not reflect well on us, and
we have a right to make to care for our
corporate image.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
So you're out of here.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
You can go say what you want to say, but
you can't say it as an employee of this company.
It drives me nuts is continued conflation of the First
Amendment and the right of the private sector to limit speech.
We should always think about the real purpose of the

(10:13):
First Amendment, and that is to enable us. I know,
culturally it's that we have an inherent, God given right
to speak our minds. But it's also that Congress shall
make no law abridging the right of free speech, that
the government cannot do that. And then yet Chappelle and

(10:36):
Kevin Hart and the rest of them go to a
country where it is actually illegal to criticize not just
the government, but to criticize the state sanctioned the theocracy
that is Islam that rules that nation, or the people
that implement their version of Islam in that country. You

(10:56):
cannot criticize that. Yet you will diss us about a
misunderstanding of free speech and go to a country and
collect here hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars
and criticize us in a country where you have contractually
agreed not to say things. Drives me crazy. And I

(11:19):
think it's and in many ways it is. It is
nine to eleven the people of America, because yes, the
Saudis knew about nine to eleven. Now that doesn't mean
that I'm opposed to trying to help the Saudis. And
I'm in favor of the Abraham Accords, and I'm in
favor of, you know, whatever agreements we can make, and

(11:40):
I think it is important to have relationships with the Saudis,
But doesn't mean you have to act that way when
you go as an American citizen. Venezuelan's government no segue here.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
Of course, no segway. Best segue.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
Visuel's government slammed what it called the illegal incursion Thursday
by US fighter Jim into an area under Venezuelan air
traffic control, and of course Venezuela is now accusing the
United States of a provoc provocation that.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Threatens national sovereignty.

Speaker 4 (12:11):
Well, if there was if there was some space, if
there was some delineation between the narco terrorists and Nicholas
Maduro and the Venezuelan government. I might say you you
at least have an argument, but you don't have an
argument here because the Venezuelan government the narco terrorists are
all one and the same. They feed off each other

(12:33):
and they need each other. They're operating as one single unit.
The Venezuelan Foreign end Defense Ministry said the planes were
detected seventy five kilometers from our shores, but what they
didn't say was whether or not that violated Venezuelan air space.
And I don't think that it did. Their defense minister,
some guy named Pedrino, claim that five US fighter jets

(12:56):
had dared to approach the Venezuelan coast been detected by
air defences in the tracking systems at the Maqueisa International Airport,
which serves Caracas. In their joint statement, the Defense and
Economic ministries accused the US of fouting international law and
jeopardizing civil aviation in the Caribbean Sea. Well, that's interesting
considering that we've seen all these cigarette boats, speed boats

(13:18):
coming out across the Caribbean or the Caribbean and trying
to bring drugs in this country, and of course, we've
seen the hilarious I'm sorry, it is hilarious black and
white footage of those Narco terrorists bringing all the illicit
drugs into this country in his boom disappear from the water.

(13:40):
Trump just a few days ago last month dispatched ten
at thirty five aircraft Puerto Rico. That's probably the biggest
military deployment in the area. And I don't know, twenty
thirty years. He has sent eight warships, eight submarines of
the region, all operation to fight the drug trafficking crossing

(14:04):
the Caribbean into the United States. And don't get me wrong,
I'm all for that, and I think that's another example
of how we need to stop we stop the flow
of the illegal aliens. If we can stop or minimize
the flood of illegal drugs in the country, then I'm
all for that too. But I can't help. At the

(14:25):
same time, question and I don't know the answer. I'm
just questioning out loud. If we're sending that much personnel
and equipment into the Caribbean to fight Venezuela or to
fight the narco terrace, which is venivlad again one of
the same, what is that done to our presence in

(14:45):
the Middle East? What has that done to our presence
and in the Indo Pacific Now, I don't know. Maybe
it didn't do anything again because I'm not privy to
exactly what's where and how much we have anymore, but
it does worry me. So Maduro is accusing us of

(15:07):
a covert bid to bring about regime change. Well, if
it's truly a covert bid, why would we blatantly and
openly send you know, a dozen or ten or whatever
it was F thirty five's Puerto Rico, send a couple
of nuke subs, send some warships into the Caribbean. That
doesn't seem very covert to me. Seems to be pretty

(15:28):
obvious what we're doing. And then blowing up four boats
belonging to the drug traffickers in recent weeks. Okay, well,
have at it, but be careful what you wish for.
I'd like to see Maduro gone too. But you can't
ever look at any singular thing we do in one

(15:50):
part of the world without stopping and looking at what's
it doing to us in another part of the world.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
I know people will.

Speaker 4 (15:59):
Say, oh, bron you want us to be the world's policeman,
not in the sense that I want us to intervene everywhere,
but in the sense that I want us to have
a presence everywhere to keep our enemies at bay. And
I still believe that China is the number one existential
threat to this country. Is a threat to us internally,

(16:19):
it's a threat to us externally. And when we pull
the rubber band over here, what happens over there? When
we push the balloon in over here, what happens over there?
And I don't know. I'm just simply raising the question
and hoping that you will think about it, because I'm
sure there'll be all over the news about old Trump's

(16:41):
going in for regime change in Venezuela. But right now
it seems to be just fighting the narco terros and
I'm fine with that. But where's the media asking questions
about and what does this mean for I guess because
of the shutdown, there's nobody to ask the question of

(17:01):
what's going on the body to give the answer, and
so we'll never know until the government shut down is
over or maybe center. I don't just stop and think
about it. That's all I want you to do, is just
think about it.

Speaker 1 (17:35):
The traffic light was indeed out due to the government
shutdown that claimed the life of dead Gooper. However, Dead
Gooper was found to have COVID, so was his death
solely due to the government shutdown.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
It's a twofer government shut down and COVID. Yeah, that's
a that's a win win situation right there. The congregants
in the Church of the Climate activists are busily trying
to change things, to save humanity by destroying humanity, trying

(18:23):
to improve our lives by making us go back to
caveman days. And thirdly, they're trying to change something that
naturally occurs. And we know we've talked before about CO
two and that CO two is a naturally occurring gas.

(18:45):
I'm exhaling CO two right now. It's necessary for the
cycle of life on this planet. Plants use it, we
get rid of it so they can live, and then
they put off oxygen so we can live. It's it's
it's it's they're great.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
You know what.

Speaker 4 (19:01):
It's almost as if some being greater than us designed
it and put it together. That amazing, like maybe some
God put it together or something. But you know, the
Church would never admit that. Why do we continue to
try to change things for which for which there is
a natural cause for it to exist. Once again, let's

(19:29):
go this time not to the Community Access whatever it
was fund that would enterprise fund we talked about in
the first hour. But now let's go to something called
the Regional Air Quality Council and the Colorado air Quality
Control Commission. I guarantee you've got something similar.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
In your state.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
According to this story, they're going to the Regional Air
Quality Council is going to present a report to the
Colorado Air Quality Control Commission sometime in November. And in
this report, it's going to have all these proposals of
things that we can do to reduce the ozone along

(20:13):
the Front Range. Now, if you're out on the Eastern Plains,
or you're in southern Colorado, or you're over on the
western slope somewhere, or you live high up on the
Continental Divide, doesn't apply to you, but it's going to
affect you. It's this is the source where I'll make

(20:36):
the general statement that I'll explain the details. This is
the source of the regulations that are coming about the
prohibition of gas powered lawn equipment.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
That initial rule is going.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
To be about state and local governments or large businesses
using gas powered equipment. Now, I don't know whether that's
going to apply to the I. You know, I got
a group of guys that come and mow my lawn
and trim the lawn, and you know, they do all
the work on it, and they use all gas powered equipment.
Now it's a small company. It's owned by you know,

(21:12):
one Vietnamese guy, and who is a citizen, by the way,
One Vietnamese guy, and he's got like three or four workers.
They and they, I mean, he's got one hell of
a business. Basically what I pay and I calculate how
busy he is, I'm thinking, shoot dragon and I except
it's like it's actual physical labor. We should go do that,
but we're not because it's physical labor. Will it affect

(21:35):
a business like kids. I don't know the answer to that.
But what I do know is that when this report
comes out, they're going to have stuff in there that's
going to be absolutely mind boggling stupid, and it's going
to affect the cost of doing business in this state.
For example, this Colorado Sun by the way. Finally, Bucket

(22:00):
three involves enactment of emissions reduction strategies by twenty thirty
that could have significant long term impacts, but may take
more the time than objectives in the first two buggets
to implement. These involved mandates for indirect sources. We're talking now,
we're talking about not just CO two, but about ozone,
because we are in a severe non compliance standard with

(22:23):
the EPA.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
For ozone levels.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
And so this now, this Colorado Air Quality Control Commission
is in November going to receive a bunch of recommendations
that will make it costlier for us to do business
or to even live here. So I got to thinking, first,
what is our condition about ozone? Colorado is currently considered

(22:47):
in severe non compliance with the ozone EPA ozone requirements,
but specifically for the Denver metro North Front Range area,
not the eastern planes, not the western slope, not southern Colorado,
but right here in the urban area in the Front Range.
They designated us a severe non attainment area based on

(23:11):
a two thousand and eight standard of seventy five parts
per billion, and then a serious non attainment area for
the twenty fifteen standard, which is seventy parts per billion.
Severe non attainment status imposes all these regulatory requirements, including
tighter controls on major sources of emissions and mandates for

(23:31):
reformulated gasoline. Another reason why your guest costs more, But
I was curious, including tighter controls on major sources of
emissions and mandates for reformulated gasoline.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
The current three.

Speaker 4 (23:47):
Year average ozone concentration in this area where we set
right now is well above both EPA standards, averaging about
eighty one parts per billion in twenty twenty two through
twenty twenty four. And we're projected not to even meet
the two thousand and eight standard by July twenty twenty seven.

(24:08):
And our state modeling, which tells me we'll just change
the models then and will be in compliance, does it
forecast compliance by July twenty twenty seven. So we've submitted
a revised state implementation Plan to the EPA, which is
going to impose further regulatory requirements on how we do
business and how we live our lives. But if you

(24:31):
thought about ozone itself, ask yourself this question. How much
of Colorado's ozone problem is caused by the geography along
the counties on the Front Range. In other words, how
much of the ozone is the result of natural geographic
conditions as opposed to man made conditions.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
Huh.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
When you start asking yourself that question, you start realizing
there were chased seeing something that we can't alter. Natural
geography and weather patterns along the Front Range play I'm
just gonna use the word significant for the time being,
play a significant role in this ozone pollution air quote

(25:18):
here problem that we supposedly have. But what's the rule about?
Butts more than half of the ozone measured in this
region in the Front Range is actually classified as background
and natural. Oh so this Colorado Air Quality Control Commission

(25:46):
wants to reduce emissions that are background and natural. What
does that mean? Back, background and natural? Well, these natural
factors is what traps and concentrates ozone precursors which then
react to form the ground level ozone hot summer temperatures.

(26:10):
Oh so when it gets hot in the summer, what
are we gonna do, giant air conditioning fans? How about that, oh,
frequent sunshine something that you know we tout three hundred
and sixty days a year of sunshine. Atmospheric stagnation because
of the mountains and we live in a bowl, and

(26:33):
localized wind patterns like the Denver cyclone. All of those
trap and concentrate those ozone precursors, which then react to
form the ground level ozone. Regional geography, just to give
you the specifics, regional geography causes air stagnation that traps
the pollutants against the mountains, especially when the prevailing winds

(26:56):
from the plains to the Fitthills blow that direction, resulting
at higher ozone compcentrations in the western urban mountain area,
So like in jeff Co. And then down here you know,
in Denver County. Oh yeah, because of the geography and
the prevailing wind conditions, it goes slams up against the mountains.
It causes those precursors to kind of flip over and

(27:16):
come down and it forms ozone. Then the frequent sunny day,
the dry climate, the elevation of sites along the front
range increase ozone formation during the summer. It's naturally occurring.
But it goes beyond that. Natural emissions biogenic volatile organic
compounds from trees and wildfires. Well, I guess we could

(27:39):
just stop all wildfires, but we can't do that until
we start cleaning up the forests. All that contributes substantial
background ozone that accounts for more than half of the
total measured concentrations in this region. So ozone and precursors
periodic call also blow in from neighboring states, neighboring countries
in the wildfire, you know, Canadian wildfire, and the smoke

(28:02):
comes down here and that further elevates background levels beyond
local control. So we're chasing something that we can't change. Yeah,
motor vehicles, oil and gas operations, you know, airplanes. I
guess we ought to get rid of Denver International Airport

(28:24):
and our population. You know, we drive, We have heavy
vehicle use. So maybe she'd just quit driving, but that
would solve less than half the problem. What they're trying
to do is solving something that the majority of the
problem is caused by natural conditions for which they cannot
do any change.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Total insanity, Michael, I thought it was obvious AOC and
Bernie already told you why.

Speaker 1 (28:50):
I died because I lost access to medical care.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
I had an ing ground tone.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Now, oh, so you're an illegal alien.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Now I understand, I understand. I I'm not Catholic, so
don't take this wrong. But the Pope blessed a chunk
of ice on camera.

Speaker 5 (29:19):
Pope francis Is Climate Summit, which helped set the toad
for the twenty fifteen Paris Climate Agreement. He was joined
on stage by actor and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
who washed as Leo placed his hand on a large
chunk of ice taken from a melting glacier in Greenland.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Taken from a melting glacier in Greenland? And did he
do this as a Vatican Did he do it in Greenland?
Because how did the ice get from Greenland to wherever
the Pope blessed it? That seemed to have maybe used
a little bit of energy. He touches the ice. Arnold

(30:06):
stands up.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Lord of Life, bless this water. May it awaken our hearts,
cleanse our indifference, soothe our grief, and renew our hope
through Christ, our Lord.

Speaker 5 (30:30):
Hope. Leo presided over the gathering, which brought together around
one thousand representatives from environmental and indigenous groups. At the event,
the pontiff spoke at length on climate change, just days
after US President Donald Trump said at the UN General
Assembly that it's a con job of global warming, dismissing
renewable energy initiatives. Hope Leo also quoted his predecessor, Pope

(30:54):
Francis's follow up published in twenty three, in which the
Argentinian pope challenged world leaders before a UN conference to
commit to binding targets to slow climate change before it
gets too late. Pope's blessing to the ice block drew
both admiration and ridicule online. Some conservatives walk the ritual,

(31:17):
while others question the appropriateness of a pope engaging in
symbolic environmental acts. Char Seneger praised the pontiff as a
real world action hero for taking a visible stance on
the climate crisis.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Why is the Pope saying that we have more power
and dominion over the earth than God does? I just
explained to the last segment, how, for example, the majority
of ozone in the Front Range right here where we're
sitting is primarily caused because of natural geographic reasons. We

(32:05):
didn't build the mountains, yeah, we built the homes here,
so we're in the way. The winds were always blowing
this way, so whenever it blows smoke or anything else,
and it slams up against the Front Range, and then
those precursors, you know, start forming ground level ozone.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
That's a natural phenomenon.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
And the glaciers melting, you know, I haven't finished studying it,
but there is a report out that the glaciers that
are melting is not coming from warm air, but from
warmth on the ocean floors that the core of the
Earth goes through and I don't remember the wording for it,

(32:47):
that goes through this oscillation where it heats up and
gets hotter than cools off and hotter and cools off.
And that's just a natural thing that goes on in
the core of this planet. And so it's heat from
the bodym them that is causing glaciers and icebergs to melt,
or Antarctic or Arctic sea ice to sometimes you know,

(33:09):
waver be smaller, larger, depending it's all because of something in.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
The core of the earth, not because of anything that
we're doing.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
I'm going to keep studying and reading about it before
I bring all the details to you.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
But Catholics, I don't know. This almost I don't know.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Seems to me vi a little little uh maybe not idolatry,
sacriligious or something.

Speaker 3 (33:36):
It just bugs