107 Just Two Good Old Boys

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Howdy Ben.
How are you today?
I'm doing okay, gene.
I am tired.
I did not sleep worth a craplast night, but I'm all good.
And how was she?
Ha, ha, ha, ha.
Funny If only that were thecase, I would be a much happier
person.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
No, so what's going on?
Man, you been uh busy with work, or what are you busy for?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
oh my goodness, work has been nuts.
Uh.
We've got huge projects allover the place.
Doing a major project right now, working, uh, working on a few
things for the island of PuertoRico, and oh, that's us
territory, I believe.
Yeah, and like network designsand stuff for literally the

(00:52):
entire island.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
So aren't they all just using Starlink out there?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
No, no, they've got a lot of aerial fiber, lots of
things that they kind of want toget away from because when
hurricanes hit it causesproblems?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
yeah, I would imagine .
Uh, yeah, that's not a goodthing.
Well, actually, satelliteshould work during a hurricane,
or not immediately during, butafter a hurricane, right?

Speaker 1 (01:16):
yeah, and you know satellite links and links for
you know point to point wirelesswhere needed as backup and
things like that where you can'tdo direct burial is also an
option.
But you've just got a speedissue with that.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
How big is that?
I've never been to Puerto Rico.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
It's a pretty big island.
I haven't either, but I willprobably be going this year.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Cool.
Yeah, I've seen photos of itand I've got a number of, I
guess, acquaintances not likeclose friends or anything, but
people that I've known wellenough that invited me out there
, but I've never actually had areason to go.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Well, it looks like I will be getting a work trip to
Puerto Rico, so that's okay.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yeah, well, hopefully not in the middle of summer.
Why?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
it'll be really hot.
Oh, it won't be any hotter thanhere yeah, maybe it's.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Uh, it's always nice to get trips down south in the
winter, though, indeed, indeed,and especially the winter we've
been having here in texas, oh,jesus, it is it.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
I was just sitting outside when you texted me.
Hey, you want to?
start early because I try andsit outside whenever possible
and drink my coffee, and youknow, just be outside.
I'm in front of monitor twodamn months, true story, and uh
and it.
You know, it's in the 30s hereand even with my patio heater

(02:48):
and stuff like that going, I'mbundled up and everything, but
it's cold it is.
We had some sleety icy rainthis morning and it's all
melting now, but it's just thatat that humidity level and just
enough breeze that it is cold.

(03:10):
Yep, so yeah, yeah, that's true, it's.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Everybody up north is like shut up, they're laughing
about it.
Yeah, they're like 30 degrees,give me a break but really that
that turning point at 32 degreesis really the worst weather,
and I will say that as somebodythat spent a good chunk of my
life in minnesota with snowevery winter, because if it's

(03:35):
like 20 below that, snow iscrisp, it's light and crisp and
the wind kind of blows it around.
When it's around 30 degreesit's slushy, it is thick, it is
heavy, it is slowly becomingwater and it tends to stick to

(03:56):
you a lot more.
So I would much rather have itmaybe 10 degrees below freezing
than at freezing.
At freezing is really kind ofthe worst of it.
There's a video I watchedrecently um, and then we jump
into politics and it was one ofthose random like you're

(04:18):
scrolling through videos videoof a guy wearing a heavy winter
coat with uh.
Of a guy wearing a heavy wintercoat with uh, uh.
You could see his breath ashe's breathing out and he says
so.
Somebody asked me recently ifthere's a difference.
Can you feel the differencebetween 40 degrees below zero
and 70 degrees below zero?

(04:39):
So I'm gonna assume this guy isat the south pole.
That looked like one of thoseyou people that's working out
there on the aliens.
And he said, yes, yes, you can,because at 40 degrees below
zero you can see my breath, butyou can't hear it.
And then he showed a video.

(05:02):
At 70 degrees below zero, youcan hear somebody breathing out.
Isn't it freezing?
It literally crystallizes it infront of you and then falls to
the ground.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Oh, Can you imagine that?
No, no, I can't, I don't wantto.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
No.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
That sounds terrible.

Speaker 3 (05:21):
The coldest I've ever experienced outdoor was 43
below zero, and that was.
It was definitely the kind ofweather where you do all the
experiments you take a cup ofcoffee outside and then you
throw it out and you see itlanding on the ground already
thick.
It's not quite like an icicle,it's not a cartoon thing.

(05:46):
But you know it comes out closebut by the time it hits the
ground it's already slush.
Yeah, yeah, it's, it sucks theuh the warmth out of everything
really quick.
Um, but I've never gone, I'venever done uh, ice swimming,
which a lot of people fromnorthern climates tend to do,

(06:07):
the polar bear swims.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Why?
Why would anyone do?

Speaker 3 (06:11):
that.
Well, the irony is the water iswarmer than the air at that
point, and that's something thatmost people don't really think
about.
But water in its liquid form isnever going to go below
freezing.
Where, in its liquid form, isnever going to go below freezing
, whereas the air temperaturesthat you're in with you know
having to punch a hole throughthe ice is absolutely below

(06:32):
freezing.
So, relatively speaking, it'sthat point where you take your
clothes off before you feel itthe most?
yeah that you feel the coldestand then when you jump in it's
like, oh, this is cold, but it'swarmer well, I remember, uh, so
I'll tell a story.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
You know, I, I lived in idaho and my dad and I were
up on door shack reservoir, uh,fishing.
And you know, door shack is bigman made lake, and it was.
It was not yet, it was rightaround Thanksgiving, hadn't been
Thanksgiving yet, but it was.

(07:10):
It was, summer was over, youknow.
And I was like you know what?
I want to go skiing.
He's like what?
It's, no, what I'm like, yeah,no, I want to ski, and he's
anyway.
So I got out there in a fullbody wetsuit and got up and the

(07:31):
problem is, you know, in thewater I was fine because I'm in
the wetsuit, right, but as soonas you stand up, the water
drains out of the wetsuit andneoprene is porous.
Yes, yes, so the wind.
I, I'm just standing therefreezing my ass off, but I was
going to do it for a bit.
And we're going and I'm waterskiing and we're passing these

(07:53):
other boats and the looks on thefaces of these people yeah,
you're nuts.
It was you know who.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
The hell is that it does get in those looks.
When I went jet skiing here inaustin in like december yeah,
because people are like it'sdecember, yeah, it's december,
but it's like 60, it's notfreezing, uh, and in minnesota
typically.
So I used to windsurf, uh, formany years, and you know

(08:24):
minnesota is known for landing10 000 lakes, blah, blah.
So there's tons of wateropportunities, but typically the
season would start on memorialday, so end of may.
It'd be too damn cold beforethat and, uh, it would end at
labor day, which is about as farback in the year as you could

(08:45):
reasonably have fun and still bein the water, yeah, yeah, and
anything outside of those twodates.
Um, it was just too damn cold.
And even if you actually wentout on memorial day or on labor
day, you would get weird looksfrom people like what the fuck
did?

Speaker 1 (09:05):
well, I mean, I've seen it snow in, you know, july
in uh, in idaho and it.
It's not a common thing, it'snot a normal thing, but it is a
thing that happens and anywayit's you?

Speaker 3 (09:21):
what years were you the hope?

Speaker 1 (09:25):
what years were I?
What years did I live in idaho?
That's literally what I justsaid.
Yes, uh, uh-huh.
That's not quite what you said,but that's okay.
Um, I lived in idaho from 95 to, uh, 2003, 2004 well, that's
long enough.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
You probably would have experienced like a really
cold year them.
Oh yeah, because you usuallyget like cold years once a
decade or so.
Yeah, yeah, did you get stuck,uh, in snow anywhere out there?

Speaker 1 (10:02):
or you.
I got my driving uh permit anduh license.
Uh, I got my permit at 14 andmy full license at 16.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
so you're driving around hardship for years with
your dad.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
No, no, no, no, it was a hardship, so, um,
literally, I was driving bymyself at 14.

Speaker 3 (10:27):
Yes, well, damn, yeah , that would have been fun.
I didn't get to do that, yeahthat's uh sorry yeah, I know,
man, I got, I got screwed out oftwo years of driving apparently
well, you know, we, we livedoutside of town enough.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, just, I don't know.
It makes sense.
However, idaho decided that youknow, yes, you qualify for.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
I think the more rural state, the more they have
stuff like that, because knewpeople in iowa that were driving
at 15, but minnesota is 16, soI have to wait a little longer.
Um, yeah, it's um now, wouldyou agree with me?
I've said this many times thatI think growing up as a kid in a
state that has all four seasonsis way more fun than like

(11:26):
growing up here in Texas.

Speaker 1 (11:28):
Well, I mean, it all depends because it you, it just
depends on what you're going todo, because you do things that
are different.
Right, it's, it's not.
It's not the same.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
So it's not a big deal in my mind, but I I think
as a kid, meaning you're notresponsible for driving to work
every morning.
It's like snow was fun, thefall weather and going apple
picking and doing all the sortof harvest activities and

(12:02):
getting attracted, that was fun.
Sort of harvest activities andgetting attracted, that was fun.
Uh, watching spraying with allthe the blooming and the flowers
and the grass during green it.
We just don't have, though,that same kind of thing in texas
, like right now is the greenseason.
This is the only time a year mygrass is green.
The rest of the year is brownshould, you should water your
grass Gene.

(12:23):
It's getting watered, but it'svery pathetic looking.
I mean, you'd have to spend athousand bucks on the water if
you wanted to look like a golfcourse.
Nah, not at all, and you justgot to fertilize correctly, it's
well, it's all a householdassociation thing here, but, um,

(12:43):
yeah it, there's definitelylike the wet season is the
winter year and that is the timewhen things are greener and
there's not really a huge spring, at least not in this part of
texas.
That you see, certainly there'ssome blue bonnets that are
blooming.
Those are fun, you know.
You get to see them all alongthe highways, but it's very

(13:07):
different than being in thenorth of the state, where
literally everything that wasdead all of a sudden just wakes
up and you just see everythingin bloom and it's.
It's something that I I kind ofdon't think about it's okay I do
miss it, I, but when I'm flyingout to uh like uh, seattle,

(13:27):
which is northern climate ornorthern latitude, but it's
right on the water, so theweather is a lot more temperate
um, I mean seattle's also aplace that has freezing fog, so
yeah, but it's like it literallynever gets below that.

(13:48):
Like you know it's.
It's barely below freezing mostof the time.
It's it's going to be abovefreezing in winter.
But either way, when you, whenI'm flying out there like, and I
look out of the airplane, I seeall in the fall, see all the
red trees down below me, I'mlike, oh, I do miss that and we
just we don't have a fall here.
It the truth.

(14:08):
The leaves go from green tobeing off the trees.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, one day fall you know, I guess I just I don't
care about that as much becauseyou know where I lived in idaho
was, you know, mostly evergreentype forests, so I just I've
never really cared about, oh,the changing of the leaves or
anything like that.
It's just never mattered to me.

(14:34):
I I, but I prefer warm weatherover cold.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
You know, I do too, obviously.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
I prefer being able to swim and do things in water
and even though I like skiing, Ilove to snow ski.
I really do, uh, and I miss it.
I would love to take the kidsand go on a vacation in the
winter and uh take them skiing,because I think they would just

(15:00):
go crazy over it.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
I had a, a, uh, a downhill hill, uh.
That was about three and a halfmiles away from where my uh, my
parents house was and I used togo out there probably three,
four days a week to go skiing.
Oh yeah, I mean, it was justlike it's.

(15:22):
It's so close.
In the summers I used to takemy uh, my bike out there and go
mountain biking down the hill.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yep, Uh, yep, I, uh, I I've.
I need to show you the scar onmy left arm for mountain biking
at some point in time.
But yeah, you know, hey, it'sfun, I like it, um, but I'm just
, I don't know, man, uh, I, nowthat I'm older and have money,

(15:55):
that's a, that's a vacationthing, not a, not a um oh yeah,
yeah, and that's why I said, asa and I think that that's the
thing is sort of like as anadult, this is great, I love
this.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
I love not having to worry about bad roads due to
weather.
I actually kind of like beingfar enough away from the Gulf
that I don't have to worry abouthurricanes either, like this is
a very good location in termsof Natural disaster type shit or
even just weather related typeshit.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah you just have to worry about, you know, nukes,
that's all yeah, but everybodyhas to worry about things.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
There's not a whole lot of places in the country
where you don't have to worryabout things.
Okay, oh, if you look at themap, I mean there's there's
probably three states,everything else.
There's some kind of a highpriority target, but also I
don't worry about nukes at all,because if you worry about the

(16:57):
nukes you're not gonna doanything.
I mean, it's just like that.
Could that could be a, adisabled, this debilitating fear
, um, and frankly, if you'regonna get new, there's an
argument to be said that youwant to be right at the very
yeah, they have the center.
So yes, so you're just gone andyou don't even in less time

(17:18):
than it takes the signal totravel from your skin to your
brain.
Yeah, exactly yeah so speakingof nukes yeah dude cash patel
has dropped yeah, that was a bigone that I was definitely
waiting for, and um, I I thoughtif they were going to stop one
of the nominees, it would havebeen cash.

(17:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's verygood.
Uh, it's, it's good news.
I like Cash.
I've always liked him, eversince I saw him on Joe Rogan, I
think first time, and then hewas on Tim Pool as well.
So it seems like a good guy.
He's got weird eyes, though.
He looks a little cockeyed,doesn't he?
Well, that's kind of racist ofyou, but it has nothing to do

(18:02):
with his race.
It has to do with his race.
That's due with his eyes.
I think he's got a geneticdefect.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Uh well, when I say stuff like that, you know you,
you throw it at me like that, soI'm just giving you crap I know
that's because you're an actualracist, so it's all good oh, oh
, jesus gene, no, but uh, himgetting in is huge um oh yeah uh
, what's her name?

(18:27):
The um, the which one oh?

Speaker 3 (18:34):
the lawyer position the attorney general.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, yeah, the attorney general said last night
that the mlk files on her desk,yeah the jfk files and the rfk
files are on her desk, alongwith epstein's client list.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, she's gotta, she gotta have a security detail
.
I'll tell you that because alot of people would be willing
to pay good money to make surethose never reach the public.
Oh yeah, so did you see thatKash Patel is also the head of
the ATF now?

(19:12):
I saw Gorka's comment that thengot taken down rather quickly,
yeah, so I think he's theinterim head of the ATF, which
is fine, and I always justsuggested that Trump appoint an
interim person and then justwait for four years to find the

(19:34):
permanent person, Because thatway the interim person doesn't
have to go through all the crapwith the Senate.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Yeah, there's pros and cons to that um it.
I think that would be too muchfor any one individual dealing
with the fbi and the atf.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
So yeah, I don't think it should be the same
person.
I just said that I like I thinkyou should just put brandon in
as temporary right, but whatGorka is saying is that it's
cash.
Yeah, it is cash.
That's why I've seen on otherreports as well.
But that could also mean thathe very quickly, within the
month, essentially folds the ATFinto the FBI, and that would

(20:20):
make sense why he would be incharge of both, because he will
be in charge, and that wouldmake sense.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Why he would be in charge of both?
Because he will be in charge,and Trump yesterday started
talking about merging agencies,including the, the post office
and the Commerce Department,which I don't know.
I don't really want to see the,the ATF, merged with the FBI.

(20:48):
That's not something I want tosee.
What I want to see is the ATFabolished and the laws that they
are using to govern with andyou know I don't want.
The FBI has a bigger budgetthan the ATF.
Why would I want to give themmore ability to go after me?

Speaker 3 (21:05):
Well, let me make the argument for that.
Um, so I I think that you youneed to first remove the laws
that the atf is allegedlyenforcing, which means the atf
will never go away because thoselaws will never be removed.
So I would be much more in favorof reducing the ATF's headcount

(21:30):
and making the ATF be a smallgroup within the FBI rather than
its own agency, because as itsown agency it's duplicating a
ton of efforts that are alreadybeing done by the FBI and all
that hand count can go away.
I don't think that moving theATF into the FBI turns all of

(21:56):
FBI into ATF because, frankly, alot of those agents are that.
That's not why they're in theFBI, like they want to deal with
the money laundering stuff,they want to deal with the
cartels, they want to deal withother things, not with being tax

(22:16):
collectors for gun parts.
So I don't think that thedanger of saying, well, if we
fold the atf into fbi, thatmeans the entire FBI is going to
start becoming the ATF I don'tthink realistically that holds
water and it also is going to bein large part dependent on
who's running the FBI as well.
So right now we basically hadas the head of ATF under every

(22:42):
administration, including thefirst Trump one anti-gun people.
I would be much happier if weget it under the FBI where at
the very least, theadministration changes from
Republican to Democrat and youhave people that are less
anti-gun in some years and moreanti-gun in other years, have

(23:05):
people that are less anti-gun insome years and more anti-gun in
other years, like they're.
The atf has been just reallystaffed as an anti-gun agency,
even during republicanpresidents, even during bush
both bushes, for that matter.
So I I think this is a goodmove to fold the atfn.
Just get rid of it as an agencyaltogether.
That removes its whole budgetand they'll be able to get rid

(23:30):
of a lot of the people that havebeen there by giving them
retirement packages so thatthey're not polluting.
The new people that are comingin that are going to be doing
that type of work if the fbi.
But ultimately you got to getrid of the laws, man.
As long as you have the laws,somebody will be enforcing them

(23:57):
did I lose you?

Speaker 1 (23:58):
no, my, my, your music.
Yeah, I, and I had to go intowindows settings to unmute my
mute button on my uh stream deckwouldn't unmute make sure you
run your stream deck software ifthat happens, and then you can
quit right back out of it.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
I've had that happen before yeah, well, anyway.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, what I was trying to say was look, the the
problem is the ATF shouldn'texist, these laws shouldn't
exist, agreed, and we have tofigure out a way to roll them
back as best as possible.
Brandon Herrera's plan, which alot of people were like oh my

(24:44):
God about, I actually like, Iactually like a lot.
I think there's a lot of goodthings there and a good
thoughtful process.
You saw he was in DC the otherday.
Right, I saw he was at theWhite House.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
Yeah, which you know?
I wonder.

Speaker 3 (25:10):
Is there anything there?
Or is that just me being hyper,hyper, hyper Cash?
Patel knows who Brandon?

Speaker 1 (25:15):
is I mean, they've mentioned each other at least
concerned that I am, uh, justthinking wishfully about this,
you know, and that's what I wantto avoid, I guess yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
And and this is a a problem for a lot of the gun
tubers out there, I think isthat they've tended to think
that with trump in, like, allour problems are solved.
It's like, yeah, trump's notreally known for being mr, go
out and go shooting like he iscertainly pro-gun but eric is
eric and don jr are yeah, yeah,both of those guys.

Speaker 1 (25:58):
And don jr's freaking house is filled with trophies
yeah, I mean, that guy's ahunter, he's a real hunter yeah,
and I think his daughter is aswell.
Uh, but it's a yes, you'rejailbait there, uh you would be
legal soon.

Speaker 3 (26:18):
I'm sure there's a countdown clock on the internet
somewhere.
I am sure she's kind of dorkylooking, but but it seems like a
sweet girl you know what I mean?
I mean, she's just anyway, uhbut.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
But apparently uh spends a lot of time with
grandpa trump yes, and I'mpretty sure grandpa trump and
daddy trump would kill you, andthey have the money to hire hit
squads.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
So I don't know what you're talking about there, but
anyway, the um.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
I man local Austin man found strangled by snake
while wearing a tracksuit.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
Uh, that that's a little too close to real there.
Yes, you don't say things likethat, otherwise'll get questions
at some point saying, well,what'd you know about this?
Uh, no, snakes, thanks, notgonna strangle anybody.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
He's a friendly pet, he's yeah, a pet that you know,
my, my cat is a friendly pet.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
But you know I'm under no illusions that if my
cat had the try the chance tokill me and eat me probably
would yeah, yeah, and man, I'vealways said that if, if I ever
hit the jackpot and or won thelottery or getting fed, I like
ridiculous money that I wouldabsolutely get.

(27:44):
A puma is the mountain line.
It's.
It's really the biggest cat youcan have that isn't just going
to want to eat you every dayLike it can absolutely kill you,
but as long as it's fed welland as long as you know you, you
get it as a little baby kittenit'll it'll see you as like not
not food, but it'll see you aslike the food you eat last.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
So, yeah, I, I don't know, no, no cats big enough to
kill me thank you.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
I mean realistically.
People have been killed by evenuh main coons.
So, and bobcats kill people allthe time.
It's, it's a cat doesn't haveto be as big as you to kill you.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
I, I, this I understand, but it's you know,
uh, it's gotta be closer to mysize to be able to kill me.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
Closer for sure, yeah , yeah, um, but you never know.
I mean, you know cat canscratch your eyes out when
you're asleep and then good luck.
I'm just saying cats are verythey're like the most miniature
stealth killers that you canhave as a pet.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
They are absolutely the most predatory thing we have
as pets Like dogs do not evencompare, no, not even close.
Not even close.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Dogs have just been so neutered over time oh yeah,
but even as wolves they don'thunt for sport cats do depends
on what you mean by sport you.
You don't eat it, you just killit because you like chasing it
down and killing it.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yeah, sure, and cats will absolutely have that play
instinct.
I mean you see that in kittensall the time right, or a cat
that catches a mouse.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
I had a cat that killed a rabbit every single day
and the only part of it itevery ate was the ears and they
it the only part of it at everyeight was the ears, and they
would leave the little trophiesaround the outside of the house
for my mom to bitch aboutpicking up.
Um, you know, theoretically me.

(29:56):
So next time on pet talk, yeah,exactly, I just I've always
liked predatory pets.
I think that's a.
If we have dinosaurs right now,I would totally be the guy with
the Raptors.

Speaker 1 (30:11):
Oh, Jesus Christ, Dude that play with fire much.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Exactly If you, if your pet can't kill you, what?
What good is having him as apet?
Um?

Speaker 1 (30:24):
well, what good is any pet?

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Well, it creates a responsibility.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
That's mostly what it's good for yeah, I mean pets
are good for.
You know, having someone arounda little bit Dogs, you know,
early warning system.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
And I'm not.
They're things I like.
Certain dogs, uh, early warningsystem like, and I'm not there.
There are things, there aredogs, my.
My only issue for dogs, or whyI haven't had dogs, is because
they require attention morefrequently than I'm willing to
give it.
so it would not like.
I would need to have three orfour dogs that could take care
of, playing with each other andnot bother me to justify having

(31:04):
a dog.
So it's really like in the bestinterest of a pet dog to not
have me as an owner I mean, oryou could totally have, you know
, like a lazy coon dog type likeI have.

Speaker 1 (31:15):
That's just like scratch my head every now and
then yeah, maybe, maybe.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
I mean I guess I've been around mostly pretty active
dogs.
Most of my friends have dogsthat are very active and, like
I've, I've made meet one of mybuddies.
We regularly meet at dog park.
When he goes out to play withhis dog or to exercise his dog,
I should say, um, so you know, Idon't mind interacting with
them and throwing the ball andstuff and petting them.

(31:42):
I just I know that it would benot fun for a pet dog to have me
be in the house but not tonotice it for like six to eight
hours at a stretch oh sure youdon't want to do that to your
dog whereas with a cat, that'sfine with that snake, absolutely

(32:05):
fine with that the snake willliterally be asleep that entire
time and not even notice thatI'm not interacting with it.
What You're here, it is amazing.
I always thought that there'ssome animals that tend to sleep
a lot.
You think of cats very much.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
they're usually curled up unless they're eating
or hunting or something snakecan.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
I've seen the snake sleep for two days without
waking up, like 48 hours.
It doesn't take a single drinkof water, it doesn't move, it
doesn't get up.
You think it's dead, but no,okay, you just.
You just look at its eyes,they're closed, it's sleeping.
Uh, occasionally snores alittle bit and then, um you know

(32:52):
, then they'll wake up and yawnand crawl out and go, go, take a
, get a drink of water, swimaround a little bit and then go
back and sleep again I justdon't see the appeal of having a
snake as a pet the appeal, Ithink, of having a snake as a
pet.
Well, first of all, lowmaintenance, because I used to

(33:13):
travel a lot, so I neededsomething I could leave at the
house for a week, week-long tripand not be worried that it's
going to die and I'd have to paysomebody to take care of it.
Okay, that was number onepriority.
That pretty much cuts out dogsand cats, but I don't travel as
much these days.
But the other appeal is whenyou do interact with them,

(33:34):
having something that's over 100pounds and 18 feet long, uh,
and is uh just non-starter totravel with yeah, definitely not
a travel pet, but uh, I don'tknow, it's fun and I've had this
thing since.
It was just three feet long likeit was a baby when I got it,

(33:55):
and what really endeared it tome, I think, was the first time
that I I filled up the bathtubfor it to go, you know, soak in
and swim around and, uh, it heldon to my arm by its tail while
it was swimming in the bathtub.
Oh, okay, it was almost like acartoon moment.

(34:16):
Right, it was very cute, butwhat do?

Speaker 1 (34:18):
you attribute that.
To do you attribute that it'safraid?

Speaker 3 (34:20):
to fall off.
It would hold on to a branch ifthere was a branch there
exactly.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
So this is not, you know, this is not something.
I'm not anthropomorphizing thesnake, I'm just I've enjoyed
watching these things okay uh, I.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
I loved it when I had huge aquariums.
Back in minnesota in my officeI had 125 aquariums make more
sense to me.
I mean how much interaction doyou have with the fish?
You're mostly just watchingthem.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Absolutely, but you know exactly that's.
All you're doing is justwatching the fish.
But that's fine.
They're pretty, they are veryappealing to look at.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
I think it's very pretty.
Yeah, okay, especially rightafter it sheds.
It has iridescence, thisparticular type.
It has iridescent skin, so it'sactually refracting light.
So you get a full rainbow goingdown the length of the snake.
So I guess the gay snake.

Speaker 1 (35:25):
And that's owned by you.
You know, I did hear that parton the white guns on, just you
know, unrelenting the other day,so it makes sense the way, oh,
yeah, yeah, the white guns, yeah, so you know, darren keeps
saying well gee, I wonder if beneven listening.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
He hasn't sent any money in.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Y'all giving me too much shit,that's for sure.
So, other than cash and whatwe've seen, the movements there.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
The other thing that I thought was really interesting
is you know you had lawsuits tostop some of these firings
Judge immediately says, or likeliterally anything that is an
executive order at this pointthere's a judge either in New
Jersey, new York or California.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
that stops it, it tries to.
I mean the ruling in thefederal court was immediately
yes, the president can firethese probationary employees um,
which is fantastic.
You know him, him firing theirs agents huge deal huge deal
and people are like well, yourrefund may be late, uh, okay, uh

(36:35):
, I I'm okay with that, I youknow.
But a lot of people have amoron still get a refund jesus,
exactly because my I usuallyhave to pay.
Yeah, um, you know, most peoplearen't like us in in that what
they do is usually that's, youknow, that's their new car money

(36:57):
, that's their.
We're gonna do like that ismoney from the government for
them even though it's their ownmoney, which is just horrible.
It's very sad that that's thestate of our country, but that
is something we have to realize.
But you know, this shouldn't umreduce your refund time or make

(37:19):
it take longer to get yourrefund.
If anything, it'll just reducethe number of audits.
So yeah, I I see no downsidepeople is always good, you know
yeah, and I'd love to see thatfurther downsized and you have
to remember basically what he'sdoing with these firings is he's
firing people who are still inthe probationary period, because

(37:41):
he can do that without any hroverhead, headache or dealing
with the bureaucracy and theprotections on government I
don't see a problem with justhiring people, firing people in
general, because they're workingfor him and he can leave it up
to the departments or up to theagency to figure out what
criteria to use.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
But the president can absolutely say trim 5 000 jobs,
uh, so there's some debate andthe debate has come in.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
Well, this really isn't an executive agency.
It's an independent agencyestablished.
I'm telling the argument here.
Okay, this is an independentagency established by congress.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
He doesn't have the right to do this um, the fuck he
doesn't, that doesn't exist ingovernment that there is no
qualification in theconstitution for an independent
agency right.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
so if that is the case, then the uh fbi, the
department of justice, all thesethings that were created via
executive orders should notexist, because they have to be
created then by.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Anyway, well, they shouldn't I agree with that?

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Right, but the point is, the unitary executive is a
real thing and people need tostop acting like it's not and
it's the only thing Congressdoes is it, it.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
It funds things and they can choose not to fund
something, and they've had noballs to defund agencies up to
this point, which is sad,because they could have
absolutely defunded some ofthese agencies in the past,
should have, absolutely yeah,but they didn't.
And so now, finally, we havetrump doing it.
Now, what trump can't do isdefund a state agency or fire

(39:26):
people from a state agency.

Speaker 1 (39:27):
Obviously, but if it's in the federal government,
it does roll up to him.
Did you see him and thegovernor remain going at it?
Yeah, I sent you that dude.
That was hilarious.
I didn't know that.
I saw it.
Uh, if you sent it, I missed itwhen you sent it.
But yeah it, just you know.
Hey, why aren't?

Speaker 3 (39:45):
you in court, yeah okay, that'll be easy, you're
not gonna be there long, yeah,yeah, and start thinking about
what you're gonna do afteryou're a governor oh, jesus,
yeah it's.
It is pretty damn funny becausetrump just says the shit that I
would be saying and it mostpeople wouldn't say that kind of
stuff.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Well, and here's the thing it's every fucking day
that something is dropping andit's something new, fairly big,
it is damn near impossible tokeep up.

Speaker 3 (40:16):
Yeah Well, I'll tell you when those federal
protections on Maine lobsterscome in.
The governor of Maine is goingto be fucked.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
What do you mean?

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Well, lobsters are endangered.
We can't be killing them.
Sorry, maine, no, no, thatcould happen.
That could happen very easily.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
So the addendums to the endangered species list
actually takes an act ofCongress.
And I will say say as someonewho, the very first time I went
to dc, was lobbying against theaddition of the kent's red lee
sea turtle to the endangeredspecies uh list you're just a
turtle hater, that's all you are.
No, but the impact on industryand the people is not okay and

(41:03):
it's a bullshit use of power.
It's not a government power.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah well, my point in the constitution where you
have the ability to do this butthey could just federalize the
waters off the coast of maineand use them for a chemical
spill testing facility yeah butpeople immediately point to the
commerce a lot is my point oh,easily, but all he's talking
about doing is immediatelywithholding federal funding.

(41:26):
Yeah, which I don't know whatthat means.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
You're not complying with this.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
What is Maine getting from the federal government?

Speaker 1 (41:33):
They have not any disasters.
You're joking right.
What disaster do they have?
No, no, no.
All federal funding is on thetable.
That means transportation, sohighways, stuff like that.
That means education funding.
That means Medicare, medicaidfunding Like he can pull a lot

(41:54):
of stuff.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
I don't think he can pull the highway funding,
because that is actually paidfor by the residents of Maine
through gasoline tax.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
I mean literally states.
The reason why we have 21 isthe drinking ages is because
previous presidents had held umhighway funding as a uh, as a
tool to get, to get the statesto raise the age from 18.
Yeah, and, and I think this wasa mistake and certainly stop

(42:28):
education funding, especiallysince it's a title nine
violation well, we should stopeducation funding for all I
agree, that's an obvious given.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Just get rid of it.
I agree should not be adepartment of education, never
should have been.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
It's the department of dumbing down the populace is
what it is well, unfortunately Idon't know that any public
schools are going to necessarilyget better to me and what.
I've said over and over again,is we need to abolish all public
schools.
Education isn't a right yourparents either come together and

(43:02):
join a small local school orsomething to support and
willfully pay for your educationor they don't absolutely yeah.
So yeah, there's no reason thatpeople like me, without kids,
ought to be paying for anybody'seducation well, and there's no
reason someone like me should bepaying for other kids education

(43:23):
when I could get all that moneyto my own kids.
Yep.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
Exactly so.
It's a dumb idea.
I think what we ought to haveis more of a Like.
If there's a place forgovernment federal government at
all in education.
The only thing I would leave upto them is to create and
administer standardized tests,because you want to have the
same tests across all states.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
I totally disagree with that well I don't believe
in standardized testing at allwhy do you not believe in
standardized testing?

Speaker 3 (43:58):
what do you mean?
What do you think?
An a in mississippi is the sameas an a in texas.
I don't care, it's irrelevant.
Well, those grades are used forsomething.
Then they shouldn't be Okay.
So what does that mean?
What do you mean?
They shouldn't be what theyshould be?
You want to not distinguishbetween stupid people and smart

(44:20):
people.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
We do that with different things.
Yeah, they're called tests,sure, and you have the SAT, act,
asfab and those sorts differentthings.
Yeah, they're called tests,sure, and you have the SAT, act,
asfab and those sorts of things.
Those are the standardizedtests that should should exist.
But what I would say?
they shouldn't be part of thedepartment of education.
So when you say standardizedtesting, I'm thinking, hey, the

(44:42):
history final has to have thison it, right?
No, it doesn't.
We're not going to teach thetest.
What we're going to do is teach.
And if you can pass the testlater, then great.
And I'm fine with universitiesor colleges having entrance
exams that they do themselves.
But as far as saying here's ournational standard, no, because

(45:06):
that just goes to the lowestcommon denominator and is not
the way I want to go.

Speaker 3 (45:12):
That's fine, then we just need to administer IQ tests
.
Cool.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Sure.

Speaker 3 (45:17):
And as long as it's a privatized thing that there's
competition in.

Speaker 1 (45:23):
I'm all for it.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
What do you mean?
Competition?
What are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (45:27):
I mean competition.
What are you talking about?
I mean competition in what youwould have more than one company
offering an iq test.
It wouldn't be the governmentstandardized iq test.
Because number one iq testshave to be re-calibrated every
few years because of changes inthe iq, because 100 iq is

(45:49):
average at the time of that testyeah, but you don't have to
calibrate the questions, youjust have the different.
You shift the iqs if more peopleget questions wrong sure, but
my point is do you wantgovernment doing that?
I don't think that's a functionof government and I'm good with
competing companies sayingwe've got the best one, no,

(46:12):
we've got the best one, andletting the market figure it out
yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Uh, that's fine.
I said, if there's a place forgovernment anywhere, the only
place that I see it is increating a standard like I.
I think there should be.
It should be something likethis right, here's what.
The here's what should beincluded on your test and how
you should do it.
If that's the standard, theyshould.

(46:36):
If we have standardized testsfor schools as part of this, I'm
totally fine with them.
Sure, totally fine with them.

Speaker 1 (46:43):
So there's some place if nist still exists, uh, which
you know well, they're stillgetting funded right.
So far, so far they haven't cutnist out but I mean, you know,
trump is talking about mergingentities left and right here.

Speaker 3 (46:58):
So yeah, you know, and the post office and the
commerce department, you knowthis is the national institute
for Standards and Technology.
Yeah, and it's been around for,I think, 100 years.
Anyway, I have spent way toomuch of my life reading NIST
standards.
Their budget is $1 billion.

(47:19):
Yeah, it's going to get cut.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
It's not a high target, but it's going to get
cut.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's not a high target, but it's gonna
get cut.
Yeah, yeah, and I, you know,certainly, back when I was in
cyber security, I was using thisshit left and right and it's,
um, uh, like that's what I meanby government standards.
Right, that's what I'm talkingabout.
I'm talking about like thereneeds to be a single place
against which you can measurethings.
What I don't want is a wholebunch of different tests being

(47:53):
done and then those same scoresare compared to each other,
which is going to just createchaos well, I, I mean, I think
it'll even out, because whatwill happen is, you know, an a
in math and mississippi versusan a in math somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Well, it depends on what part of mississippi, what
school right right, I thinkthings are how you know, and
maybe entrance a reputation, doit maybe.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Maybe you don't worry about how smart kids are all
the way up until 12th grade, butthen at the end of 12th grade,
when they apply to college.
If they apply to college, thenyou give them an entrance exam
that demonstrates what theiractual knowledge is, although
it'll be too late for them to doanything about it.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Not my problem.
Not everybody needs to go tocollege, I agree with that Most
people don't.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
In fact, I would say I'm with that.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
Most people don't.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
In fact, if you and your family, I would say I'm
going to be on that right now,nobody should go to college,
because all it is is anindoctrination camp.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Yeah, but my point is , if you and your family didn't
plan ahead so that you couldpass the college entrance exam
and do what you need to do to golive your dream, that's on you,
bucko.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Yeah, that's fine, and I would still think that an
entrance test would be a muchbetter way to determine who
qualifies for college than whatthey're currently doing at the
uh, the Ivy leagues, which isusing mostly race.
Well, they got sued over that.

Speaker 1 (49:29):
You can't be Asian and you can't be white.
Harvard got sued over that.
I thought that got dropped.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
MIT still doing it.
Maybe they didn't drop it inHarvard MIT still doing it by
race.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
Which is totally discriminatory against Asians
and whites, yeah, so it's uh, Iam really lucky that I ended up
not going there.
Oh yeah, were you gonna gothere?
Um, it was a one of the schoolsI applied to and uh wanted to,

(50:04):
wanted to go to, but my parentsand grandparents uh basically
said you're not going in.
If you can go anywhere you want, but here's where we'll pay for
.
So okay.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't apply to MIT.
Uh, I did uh Worcester Polytechand I did uh Michigan Institute
of Technology and I gotaccepted in both of those.
But I kind of had the samething as you, which is like OK,
but then where my dad was goingto be was going to be University

(50:39):
of Minnesota.
I was like OK, well, at least,at least I know people there.
Well, and it I know people there, well, and it's paid for, yeah,
yeah, for whatever good thatdid.
And then I kind of say thatjokingly because I've mentioned

(51:04):
this on the podcast previouslybut I started off as an econ
major, off as an econ major andthen, um, I very quickly, after
taking my first philosophy classat university level, realized
that I really like philosophy alot, and so I just started
taking philosophy classes and,uh, not really focusing on any
any practical life things.

(51:25):
Okay, so if I would have goneto a tech school, that may not
have happened.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
That's my point yeah, and if I went to a tech school
I would have probably gotten.
Had I gone to mit, I probablywould have gotten my phd in
physics and then doing whateverI would be doing then, and I
grant applications Exactly.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
That's mostly what you do as a PhD Teaching other
students to hate themselves.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
I saw the politics of academia and I'm glad I got off
of that track.
It just would not have workedvery well for me, especially as
much as I like meritocracy.
Academia is not the place forthat?

Speaker 3 (52:11):
no, no it's, it's it's really.
Academia is very medieval.
If, uh that's the best way Ican describe it is it's all
about relationships,backstabbing who you know and,
uh, being at the right place atthe right time to get in the
onto a grant, I mean it.
There's a video by my favoriteyoutube physicist, uh that,

(52:36):
where she recently I was aboutto say what's her name yeah,
yeah, no, it's, uh, and she'snot attractive either.
But but she's really good, uh,let me find it.
Uh, because I forgot her name,um, so I'll look her up.
Uh, but she talked about howscience is completely fucked

(52:59):
right now, because, basically,for physics in particular, which
is her area, yeah, um, because,uh, they've there's been zero
new useful technologies comingout of physics for 30 years and
they're basically just scamminguniversities and grant writers

(53:22):
to get more money to do thingsthey know aren't going to result
in anything I mean it's like aself-propagating prophecy kind
of thing there.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
There is some of that , but what I would say is it's
because our theoretical physicshas so far outstripped our
material science that there's noway to there's no way there's,
it will take quite a bit tocatch up, and we're not there
yet so yeah, sabine hasenfelder,there you go.

Speaker 3 (53:50):
Okay, I'm sure you've watched her videos before.
I've probably sent you some ofher stuff.
I don't think I have, butreally I've been watching her
for like a decade.
But she's a german, um uh,theoretical, theoretical
physicist.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Gene likes the German chicks.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Dude, I like smart chicks.
This has nothing to do withGerman or non-German.
Intelligence is a veryattractive quality.
There you go.
I just sent you a link,although what's funny is she
actually has music videos out aswell.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
she, uh, she's a singing physicist, oh god did I
ever tell you about my um, mylab, ta, my freshman year in my
physics lab?
We, we all walk in and he's anormal looking white guy and he
goes I must apologize, englishis not my first language and

(54:52):
we're all sitting there going.
Oh crap you know this is notgoing to be good profanity is oh
nice, yeah, so it was like okay, okay you know multilingual and
profound yeah, exactly, he hada good sense of humor and it was
a good thing that's good.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Yeah, I, I have to say.
Unfortunately, I had thestereotypical physics class
experience in college which,even back then, uh, was
basically asian grad studentswith a horrible command of the
English language at goingthrough the physics text at a

(55:31):
very fast pace without reallystopping and asking any
questions.
I mean it was about as bad ascenario as you can do and, of
course, on top of it, then if Iwas trying to figure something
out and I would talk to my dadabout it, who used to teach
physics, then he would give me acompletely different answer or

(55:56):
a different way to worksomething through.
That didn't actually help me indoing my homework.
So it was like, god damn it,this sucks, because I loved
physics in high school, um, butI very quickly started disliking
it in college, not the subject,but the way that it's taught
interesting okay yeah, it wasannoying.

(56:21):
Um, but yeah it was.
I don't know.
I think I still have a.
I made the best of theexperience in college but, it
was arguably not reallyapplicable to anything that I

(56:43):
did for the next 20 years.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Okay, fair enough.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
So I'm totally on board with the not everybody
needs to go to college thing.

Speaker 1 (56:58):
People don't, and it's one of those things that we
have to realize and remember.
Hey, it's okay for this to bethe answer that you know not
everyone needs this.
It's okay, you know plumberscan make a hell of a living and

(57:22):
there's no reason to make moremoney than almost anybody else.
It's certainly per hour, yeah,in.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
Austin.
Here electricians are makingabout $180,000 a year.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
And what people need to realize is, you know like I
had some guys come out yesterdaybecause I had a plumbing vent
leak on me, so literally thelittle rubber seal around the
plumbing vent just got hard.
What's a plumbing vent?
uh, you know, leak on me, soliterally the little rubber seal
around the plumbing vent justgot hard plumbing vent I don't
know what that is okay, so forall your drains, so that they

(57:57):
will actually drain and notcreate back pressure from a
siphon effect.
Literally, if you look in youruh, on your roof, above your
bathroom and so on, you will seeplumbing vents going through
the roof.
It's just a pipe that sticks upto allow airflow.

Speaker 3 (58:14):
Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha OK.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Anyway, I had a plumbing vent, one of the
collars leaked on me and, Ibeing me, I was going to get up
on the roof and go do it.
And then I tried to get up onthat roof and my roof is steep
and it's cold and it's nasty andI've got a shingle roof and the
granules on the shingles aren'treally sticking because it's

(58:36):
cold enough and it's like I'mgonna hire someone to do this,
you know, and they were out herefor a few hours and went up
there and cocked and made a fewhundred dollars.
But it's okay, it's just partof it.
It was worth it to me to notrisk my fucking life doing that,

(58:59):
because I didn't have theladder that I really needed.
I didn't have lots of things,so it's just the way it should
be.

Speaker 3 (59:06):
Yeah, know lots of things, so it's just the way it
should be.
Yeah, yeah and uh, as somebodythat that fell off of a not even
all that tall like a one-storyheight in a construction site
and then fucked up my knee, Ilike, as you're describing this,
I'm I'm feeling my knee startto go kind of tight.
I'm like, uh, yeah, anytimethere's stories of like people

(59:30):
slipping on the roof orsomething, I just kind of tense
up.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Well, uh, not fun yeah, anyway, I I haven't fallen
off a roof, but I've put onplenty of roofs and I've been on
steep roofs, but I just Iwasn't doing it, uh without time
, like I would have had to havegotten a uh rope across the roof
right and tied off and you knowI've had like that.

(59:56):
That would have been the onlyway I could have done this.
Yeah, and it wasn't worth itfor me.
You know they came with a bigand long enough ladder and a
couple of guys, so we'reliterally they just had the
ladder going up the roof thewhole way and he was holding on
to the ladder and being able tomove it around Worked for them
Makes sense.

Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
So you sent me a couple of links here.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Oh, this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:00:21):
Yeah, you want to talk about any of that stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Well, I sent you a picture of my new mini PC last
night with uh halo master chiefcollection and uh elite
dangerous installed I, I did seethat.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Yeah, so now did you play either one.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Uh, I just started them up to make sure that they
were going to work on this thingand all right, I'm.
I'm actually.
I will say if anyone's lookingfor a decent budget mini PC, the
Geekom A6 is a pretty good buyand value for the money.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Yeah, and some of the all right did you already.
Do you want me to just use thelink you sent before?

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
I can stick it in the episode yeah.
Yeah, yeah, I've posted it onTwitter and a couple places, but
right now you can get them foraround $450.
And you get quite a bit there.
So you've got dual channel DDR5.
It comes with 32 gigs.
You can upgrade it to 64 if youwant.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
I love that it comes with 32.
That's enough for most people.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
It's enough for what I'm using it for.

Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
Even if.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
I'm playing a game or something it's enough.
Right, I'm not renderinganything with this.
It's got a decent AMD processorin it and a decent little
graphics card and 2.5 gigEthernet built in and all that.

Speaker 3 (01:01:47):
Not bad, although you're almost at the price point
of a mac mini yes, but I don'twant a mac I.
I don't know what that means,but uh I don't like mac.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
I I don't and I hate windows 11.
I was cussing windows 11 lastnight setting this up I was
trying to get to my NAS.
I was trying to map a networkdrive so I could run a backup
script and copy some files andeverything else.
And I open up Windows Explorerand I type in slash slash IP
address, slash enter.
It brings me up authenticationand all that Cool, nope, not

(01:02:24):
found.
What do you mean?
And I go to command line andping?
No, I can ping it.
Let's see open browser.
I can get to the nas.
Okay, let me remote into one ofmy linux boxes downstairs.
Yep, I can get to the nas fromthere, anyway I I had a security
setting wasn't it?

(01:02:45):
it the Windows 11 stupidsecurity bullshit, like running
this PowerShell script that I'vegot written to copy files in
different places In Windows 11.
Now, by default, you are notallowed to run scripts.
Yep, you have to change yourpolicy settings to be able to

(01:03:08):
run scripts.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
It's just.
Did you do it through theregistry or did you use the tool
?

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
I used the command.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Yeah, it's.
I've run into a couple of thosetypes of issues on my Windows.
My laptop is Windows 11.
My desktop is still on 10 there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:30):
There's just a lot of things about um, about windows,
that I don't like.
But what I will say?
The things that I don't likeabout windows, um, pale in
comparison to the things that Idon't like about Mac OS, because
Mac OS is absolutely egregiouson its.

(01:03:55):
You know, oh, don't do that.
That might be dangerous babyishmentality and I can't stand it.
Yeah, but you can turn all thatoff.
Yeah, you can, but then you geta mac os update that says uh no
, you can't look at other thingson your network.
Why the fuck is that a thing?

(01:04:15):
Why am I isolating myself onwhat like, what?

Speaker 3 (01:04:20):
why is this not seeing that update?
I don't know what that is.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Yeah, it hit one of my coworkers.
Oh, I probably had somethingwrong.

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
Yeah, the thing about Mac is by default it is
absolutely locked down, way morethan Windows is, although maybe
not any more than Windows 11.
But it is certainly possible toturn off those locks for more
of a power user and if youreally wanted to, you could use
command.
In fact, uh, darren's beenusing terminal quite a bit out

(01:04:52):
of his mac I use.

Speaker 1 (01:04:54):
I literally am in the terminal on my mac work laptop
almost every fucking day and youknow I this is why I like linux
.
It works out of the box, Idon't get babied and it actually
you know, I can't complain toomuch about the, the mac os shell

(01:05:15):
, because you know it'sessentially bash so it's not a
bad thing, don't get me wrong,but like there's just so much to
hate about the amplification ofthese operating systems and it
bugs the crap out of me.

Speaker 3 (01:05:35):
But you realize how it happens.
It was very incremental, sure,and so if you've been using a
Mac for over 30 years, the way Ihave, you've seen all these
changes one at a time, and so itdoesn't seem like that big a
deal because you know how toturn it on and off.
But I totally get it.
If you're coming into it from anew perspective and you're used

(01:05:57):
to Linux with basically theopposite mentality, where
everything is turned off and ifyou want to lock it down you got
to run some scripts to lock itdown manually then yeah, I could
totally see how the mac justseems like they're preventing
you from doing things you want.
But it's.
They have a certain user basethat's been around for a long

(01:06:21):
time, that they also can't pissoff too much, and so there there
have to be ways to turn theshed off.
It's just.
It may not be intuitive, and Itotally get that.
And and frankly, it's just toofun trying to bring up the Mac
to you, cause I know exactly thereaction I'm going to get every

(01:06:43):
time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:44):
Well, so some of the links that I sent you we've
already talked about right therewas there, was that uh let the
bodies hit the floor.
Moment of cash patel.
That I thought was hilarious,yeah, but uh.
The other thing that was themain thing was the reuters story
on merging the us postalservice and commerce department
yeah, so I haven't heard thatbefore, that seems interesting.

(01:07:07):
So that came out of a Trumpconversation.
He was literally the one to sayhey, I think this is an option.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
I'm not sure that the US needs postal service anymore
.
When it was established, therewas no alternative right.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Yeah, but here's the problem.
So to get rid of the PostalService literally, literally
takes an act of Congress.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Takesa constitutional amendment.
What?
The Postal Service is in theConstitution.
Really, I don't remember thatword.
Yes, the Postal Service is inthe Constitution.

(01:07:54):
Okay, well, yes it, the postalservice is in the constitution,
okay, uh, well, does it specifyanything about it in the
constitution?
Yep act, I hold on uh postalclause.
So the us constitution, article1, section 8, clause 7, known
as the postal clause.
Let me find the text.
Yeah, I'm looking at it.
Congress shall have the powerto establish post offices and

(01:08:14):
post roads.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
Yeah, so they can disassemble them as well.
The right to establish meansthe right to disestablish.
Yeah, yeah, we can get rid ofit, but it is going to take an
act of Congress.
Yeah, because, honestly, atthis point, like Amazon, has
more addresses to deliver tothan the US Postal Service.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
I don't know.
Amazon uses the US PostalService quite a bit for that
last delivery leg Very little,at least here.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Delivery lag Very little, at least here.
The other alternatives, ofcourse, with FedEx and UPS being
available as well.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
I just don't see a reason to keep it around well, I
mean I, I, I think the maildelivery to your house is
important, I think, but ithasn't been to the house in ages
like I have to walk a block topick up my mail yeah, me too,

(01:09:14):
but, and I think it should goback to the house.
Yeah, I agree, I think we shouldget rid of all these, uh, these
items where companies cancharge you a fee for not, uh,
not, going, uh electronic ontheir notifications.
I, I'm sorry, I'm someone whowants paper.

(01:09:35):
I want a paper record of whatwe're doing.

Speaker 3 (01:09:39):
Yeah, I would go the other way, I would actually make
it.
Uh, make it that they, theyhave to do the electronic for
free yeah, sure, but don'tcharge me for wanting a paper I
throw away.
I don't need a mailbox rightnow yeah, okay, but you're the.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
This is the same sort of argument on should uh apps
and services be able to say, um,no cash, or you know no cash.
You have to use a card with us.

Speaker 3 (01:10:11):
It's a little different, because cash is in
the law.
Cash is defined as somethingthat shall be, uh, considered
the legal currency of thecountry.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
So yes, I think it's harder to make an argument to
eliminate cash.

Speaker 3 (01:10:29):
But if you ask me, when is the last time I used
cash?
Probably three years ago I.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
I use cash all the time.
I use cash.

Speaker 3 (01:10:37):
Yesterday I never use it.
It's dirty like.
Why would I want to get myhands dirty?
You want to touch shit thatother people have been touching.
There's more and more incidents, incidentally, of there being
these.
Um, what do they call this typeof drug that is so potent it
goes through your skin of yourfingers when you touch paper

(01:10:59):
with it on?
Uh-huh, and they're drugstypically used in abducting
people, and the cartels areusing them left and right, by
the way.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
I am not worried about drugs on cash.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
I am worried about the government tracking me and
doing lots of things.

Speaker 1 (01:11:21):
It shouldn't be.

Speaker 3 (01:11:22):
You can absolutely pass a law that says that there
shall be no tracking and if theelectronic means exist, a record
of it will exist and can andwill be used against you well, a
record of it can exist, but youcan absolutely, through legal

(01:11:42):
means, make it not be usable incourt and you can frankly create
fines for companies that holdinformation longer than they're
supposed to.
And that would include therecords from the ATF as well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:55):
Well, exactly, and that's exactly where I was going
to go.
We also passed laws to say thatthe ATF could not and should
not establish any sort ofdatabase around US citizens
owning firearms.
Yet they have.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
Yeah, but they did it in a sneaky way.
Not really.
Well, they effectively have aloophole for being able to
maintain records of any FFL thathas shut down and they've shut
down a lot of.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
FFLs.
They go beyond that becausethey also, with the electronic
forms and stuff like that, havedirect access to those forms,
whereas before they didn't.
And there's lots of things here.
Yeah, what it comes down to isI I think that the government
ends up abusing these thingsmore than it's a benefit to us I

(01:12:55):
don't disagree with that.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
But also, just because the government can't
abuse it doesn't mean that youshouldn't use it or you
shouldn't do it.
I mean it's like and you're oneof the guys that I remember
when we first talked about guns,when we first met each other,
you told me that you've neverbought a gun in the store and

(01:13:21):
therefore you'd never filled outany paperwork correct, and I
was like, well, that's cool, Iactually like to buy new guns,
so I have filled out paperwork,and so even if there is a record
that shows how many guns I have, I mean that's, I don't really
care and obviously I have sincechanged my opinions on certain

(01:13:42):
things because, you know, thisalso comes down to um
convenience.

Speaker 1 (01:13:48):
It's not just that, it's um.
It comes down to I am not goingto be the guy that says I lost
my firearms in a boatingaccident because at that point
in time it's already too lateand I should have used them.

Speaker 3 (01:14:07):
But I still know other people that stick to what
you used to and that is to onlybuy firearms at gun shows.
Yeah, and I mean that's fine.
I'm not going to condemn themfor doing that.
They can do that.
My issue is just that you'regiving up an ability and a

(01:14:30):
convenience to just walk into astore and buy a new gun for the
possibility that you may dosomething someday which will put
you on a target list by the ATFand then they will have all
those records of the types ofguns that you own.
I don't know that it makes adifference whether I have five

(01:14:50):
guns or I have 25 guns to theatf I I especially if

Speaker 1 (01:14:56):
I didn't buy them all at the same time yeah, I will
just say that I am 100 if I amnot on a target list.
Some people are doing their.
They're just doing it wrong.
I'll leave it at that so, yeah,you wait.

Speaker 3 (01:15:13):
Wait till there's a podcast tax, I'm sorry, wait
till they establish a podcasttax for the use of public
internet.
You know, shit like that'scoming because they haven't
figured out a way.
Tax for the use of publicinternet.
You know, shit like that'scoming.

Speaker 1 (01:15:27):
Because they haven't figured out a way to scam money
off of us.
So, unfortunately, I thinkdigital ID is definitely going
to be here and I think the.
Trump administration very wellmay be the administration that
brings it in.

Speaker 3 (01:15:37):
Could be.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
I know Musk has talked about it.
Well, it's not just Musk.
I know Musk has talked about it.
Well, it's not just Musk.
It's really about being able toprove who you are online and
they're going to bring it inunder the guise of
accountability.
And I get it, andaccountability is largely a good

(01:16:00):
thing, but I think we need someanonymous trolling capacity as
well.

Speaker 3 (01:16:06):
Personally, yeah, I've thought about this for a
long time because I think therecertainly when I was a youngster
, doing a variety of activitiesthat may or may not have been
considered to be good or bad bycertain agencies there is
definitely a benefit to havingan ability to be anonymous.

(01:16:27):
However, I think, as an adult,I think so much of the shit
that's floating out there, somuch of the shit that's floating

(01:16:49):
out there and by shit I meanall the uh little ukrainian uh
flags on people's uh avatars andjust all the pro hamas crap,
all that stuff that's floatingout there would be so much less
prevalent if you knew exactlywho that person was that's
posting it and where they worked, because as if you know who

(01:17:13):
they are and it's easy enough toget the rest of the info, and
so I think it would be a muchless of a much less people
acting like a very differentperson online than they are in

(01:17:34):
real life, because in real life,your actions have consequences
and and unfortunately, we'vecreated an expectation that your
actions online have zeroconsequences, and I'm one of the
people that really would loveto see that change.
Fair enough, and I've lived myentire life knowing that

(01:18:01):
anything that I post out in theworld will be preserved and can
be used against me, and soeverything I've ever written has
gone through that filter.
In fact, I've been I've beenarguing for this for probably 20
years, telling people don't saywhat you're saying, because you

(01:18:21):
know that this is going to getyou in trouble.
And then people said, ah,you're full of shit, I should be
able to say whatever.
Okay, well, if you think youshould be able to say what you
want, say it to your boss andsee what happens.
See what happens, because it isunreasonable to have a group of

(01:18:45):
people that are living on theInternet as though they're
playing a video game and they'redoing activities which are very
anti-societal and then toexpect zero consequences from
that.
So I think that they hopefullywill be here while I'm still

(01:19:07):
alive, because I think that doesneed to change, because right
now there's very littledifference between online and
the real world in terms ofgetting things done, getting
work done, getting you knowforms filled out, getting Well
like you probably got your uhthat you found to come out and
repair your roof through theinternet, right?

Speaker 1 (01:19:28):
uh, no, actually I texted the guy who yeah, I
texted.
The guy who does my lawn sayshey, do you know a handyman that
come do this?

Speaker 3 (01:19:34):
okay, okay, well, you're you are the old school
guy you I swear to god, you'relike, uh, you know you're.
You're living, uh, as thoughyou were born in the 1950s.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
Back in my day we had wwwsquat.

Speaker 3 (01:19:48):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:19:51):
So a couple of other stories that we ought to cover.

Speaker 3 (01:19:53):
Well, do you want to reply to any of that?
I mean, I kind of feel like yousomewhat disagree with this.
You want anonymity.
I just think that anonymitylike there's a difference
between 1984 there is absolute,complete observation of a person
24, 7 and everything they do,say and think yeah and just

(01:20:17):
publicly being able to call for,you know, destruction of a uh
of the current president of thecountry, and that somebody had
to go and take care of that andthen have zero consequences yeah
.

Speaker 1 (01:20:33):
So what I would say is freedom is dangerous.
That is, that is the point Ishould be, but on the internet.

Speaker 3 (01:20:44):
If it's anonymous, it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:20:45):
If I get to respond or not.
I prefer dangerous freedom overpeaceful slavery Part of that
freedom and living in apseudonymous society that we
have on the internet, because isnot truly anonymous, as we all
know, um, but what I would sayis it is a very good thing that

(01:21:11):
those people can be as horribleas they want to be, because it
also allows me to stand up andsay something righteous when the
whole world is wrong, and thatthat is the differentiation and
the the other thing I would sayon this but you want to say
something righteous anonymouslyand be protected from it uh, at

(01:21:32):
times when it's dangerous, yeah,there are times when that is
what you need to do okay, I willlive longer and be more
effective so really you're theone compromising them?

Speaker 3 (01:21:41):
not at all.
You are because you're hiding.
You're hiding, your.
Really you're the onecompromising them?
Not at all.
You are because you're hiding.
You're hiding your trueidentity.
You're not attributing your ownname to the words that you say.
You're a pussy.

Speaker 1 (01:21:53):
I mean, it's pretty easy to figure out who I am, so
I don't know that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:57):
Well then you shouldn't care.
Why do you want to pretendthere's anonymity then?
Because all right.
Why do you want to?

Speaker 1 (01:22:01):
pretend there's anonymity Because All right.
So there's the effect of thepanopticon Right and the problem
with the Internet is it's notjust a panopticon where you
never know if the guard islooking or not.
The guard can always go backand look at what you did at any
point in time.
Absolutely History.
Yeah, that is a hugely chillingeffect to people, so that's not

(01:22:22):
a good thing, maybe it is.
That is a hugely chillingeffect to people, so that's not
a good thing.
Maybe it is.

Speaker 3 (01:22:27):
People that aren't willing to put their name to
their words, their words aren'tworth anything.
Then we didn't have theDeclaration of Independence sent
over anonymously, did we?

Speaker 1 (01:22:42):
No, but we got to the point where we would send the
declaration of independence bysitting anonymously in bars and
taverns and having no, not atall anonymously.

Speaker 3 (01:22:51):
Everybody knew who those people were.
That is ridiculous to say thatwas anonymous.

Speaker 1 (01:22:56):
There was no anonymousness, first of all
there were pen names used allover the place.
If by the pamphleteers andeverything else, because had
they, when they were speakingout early, had they spoken out
with their full name, they wouldhave been killed.
The there was no doubt as towhat would happen with them okay

(01:23:17):
so no, the revolutionary warwas definitely started due to
hush conversations and this iswhy king george again, this is
why king george sent his agentsto go to the bars and taverns.

Speaker 3 (01:23:31):
This is how we get the word gossip there's nothing
wrong with hush conversations,but when you're posting, posting
something publicly, like on X,for the world to see, having
anonymity right now allowspeople to say things that they

(01:23:52):
absolutely would be disgracedover by their friends, by their
coworkers, by their bosses, byeverybody, and they're just
doing it because they know it'sanonymous.

Speaker 1 (01:24:02):
Yeah, but see, the those people are not the people
I'm talking about.
They're not the people I'minterested in protecting.
I'm interested in protectingthe whistleblowers.
I'm interested in protectingthe people who are willing to
stand up and say no, I don'tcare what society says, this is
wrong, this is what I believe,and you can agree with me or not

(01:24:23):
, but shouldn't matter.
And the the other thing I wouldsay is you know, I, I flat out,
uh went up against my ceoduring covid um I've told you
those stories.
Yeah, I flat out, you know,publicly protested the lockdowns

(01:24:44):
and the mask, mandates and therules, because it was just no,
this is too far and I am notgoing to comply with this period
.
Yep, yep, um.
So you know, I don't know manthat's not anonymous?
No, it's not, but I had thedecision to make and everyone
should be making that decision.
Yes, but they should also havethe ability to be somewhat

(01:25:11):
anonymous or less known.

Speaker 3 (01:25:14):
You're also talking about in 1776, if you decided to
go to a different town and sayyour name was Jim Bob bob
instead of no one would know sowe're talking about an entirely
different society here, and thathas to be understood yeah, but
that's my point is that rightnow, where we are, is we have

(01:25:34):
people that are literally doingdespicable things, things and
then going, you know, workingtheir shift as baristas in
starbucks.
And I think that I don't knowabout you maybe you have a
different opinion this if I findout that somebody that is
working for me is trying to killthe president or maybe not

(01:26:00):
something that drastic butbasically is a supporter of
communism, that will be the lastday they're working for me.
I do not want to financiallysupport anyone who is trying to
destroy my way of life.

Speaker 1 (01:26:16):
Yeah.
So what I would say is Ibelieve all discrimination laws
should be repealed.
Agreed, I think everyone shouldbe able to discriminate.

Speaker 3 (01:26:27):
However, they want and let it damage themselves
however they want.

Speaker 1 (01:26:32):
So if you want to right now, I would say I
shouldn't be fired for being,you know, a closeted libertarian
, because I don't like sayingI'm a libertarian anymore, but
you know a, a, a, a libertarian,because I don't like saying I'm
a libertarian anymore, but youknow a, a, uh and uh small, l
libertarian yeah yeah, exactly.
Um well small l libertarianslash republican, small r um

(01:26:54):
small r small r republican.
Like I believe in a republicanform of government, that's yeah,
where that I I've.

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
I've.
Actually I have not been doingit recently, but for a while
there I was just referring tomyself as a jeffersonian yeah,
yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 1 (01:27:07):
Um, but what it comes down to is I wouldn't want
someone firing me over that andI think that's unreasonable.
I think I personally thinkfiring someone over anything
other than their work product,or judging their work based off
of anything other than theirwork product is not right and
that's not the way I operate.
Why?
Because I don't play games withoh.

(01:27:28):
I only want to work with thepeople I like.

Speaker 3 (01:27:30):
But you realize the scenario that that brings.

Speaker 1 (01:27:33):
No, the scenario it brings is I want to work with
the people who have the besttalents to accomplish the job.

Speaker 3 (01:27:37):
The communist revolution.
Because if you want to have thebest farmers working for you
that are the best at gettingyour grain, but their politics
is that companies are evil andwe really need to just take over
this land and split it amongstus, because we're the ones doing
the farming, and not them.
If you want them working foryou, then that's exactly what's

(01:28:00):
going to happen You're going toend up getting thrown over and
toppled and they're going tosteal your shit and take over.
I think, beyond justmeritocracy, you have to look at
character, and that's somethingthis country has forgotten.
And we used to look atcharacter for most of the age of
this country, but not for thelast 30, 40 years.

(01:28:21):
We've kind of let people haveany character that we hire, and
if I want to not hire anybodywith blue hair because that's a
sign of a particular mentality,then I should do that.

Speaker 1 (01:28:33):
Repeal all the discrimination laws and let the
market decide.
Let the market decide.
Okay.
Well, you know we're going toend up with uh, you know, bipoc
only coffee shops and stuff likethat yeah, which I'm totally
fine with it.

Speaker 3 (01:28:52):
Yeah, I think it is unnatural to prevent people from
being able to create socialgroups and then gather in those
groups and, frankly, the mostextreme of people are doing it
regardless of laws anyway.
Because if you look at thesomali population in minnesota.
Do you think they give a shitabout any of those laws?

(01:29:14):
Do you think that they willbring in white people just to
diversify?
hell no, they, they've totallyself-segmented, yep and the only
people that care about this isliberal white women.
I guess that's the group thatcares the most about diversity.
No other group of people,including the ones that the
liberal white women want to getall diversified with, want

(01:29:38):
diversity.

Speaker 1 (01:29:40):
Nobody wants it well, the diversity that matters.
It's so to me.
I don't give a shit about yourskin color.
I don't give a shit about yourreligion.
I give a shit about yourthoughts and you know what you
think.
Yeah, and that's like Iactually think, martin luther

(01:30:02):
king had a pretty good um linewhen he said the content of
someone's character and not thecolor of their skin.

Speaker 3 (01:30:09):
Exactly, I actually got to use that yesterday on a
tweet yeah, uh, yeah, I, Itotally agree with you, but that
is not reality for most of theworld most of the world, again,
including very much thecountries that these liberal
white women all want to promote.
Don't act that way.

(01:30:30):
You try being a white dudegoing into Ghana or Uganda or
you know.
Pick a random country in thethird world and see how people
act towards you.
Okay, yeah, you're not going tobe treated just like everyone
else on the character you knowand purely on the character that

(01:30:52):
you have.
It's.
It's different in the realworld, and the only reason that
america has been able to putlaws in place to forbid
discrimination is because thiscountry has had an enormous
financial advantage.
Since World War II, likeliterally the rest of the world

(01:31:14):
got pulverized with war, lostmillions of people, lost
millions, if not billions, ofmoney of their local currencies,
and the us basically lost a fewaircraft or a few ships in
hawaii.
That was the extent of damagewell, a little more than that.

Speaker 1 (01:31:32):
We lost quite a few ships in the pacific, even some
in the atlantic theaters duringthe fight, but you know lots of
things that but like the actualterritory, the actual industrial
base was not damaged at all.

Speaker 3 (01:31:45):
And so, that said about the uh, really, the age of
america we we were the onlyindustrial base left untouched
agreed.

Speaker 1 (01:31:54):
yeah, so let, since we're talking that and we're
kind of moving to this postbretton woods world, yeah, what
do you think of the talks abouta new Bretton Woods-esque
agreement, and people are evencalling it the Mar-a-Lago
Accords?

Speaker 3 (01:32:14):
Well, I mean what you mean, the new splitting up of
territory, or what specificallydo?

Speaker 1 (01:32:23):
you mean Really, it's about the monetary system.
So, just like Bretton woods wasvery much, you know, we're
going to be the global reservecurrency.
You're going to accept thisbecause we're going to open the
seaways, we're going to do theMarshall plan, we're going to do
all these things.
What this is really about islooking at a reset of the us

(01:32:47):
dollar.
Uh, in a slightly different way, and there's a pretty good
rumor.

Speaker 3 (01:32:53):
Didn't we talk about this last show about from that
podcast of the virginia dude?

Speaker 1 (01:32:59):
similar.
Yeah, not quite the same but,uh, you know the, basically all
these international agreementsare named after the resort.

Speaker 3 (01:33:07):
That yeah because you got to have a, a nice place to
go while you're having theseconversations.
I guess, yeah, yeah, um, I, Idon't know think I think it's
interesting and I think Trumpmay be in a position where he
can uniquely, in a lot of ways,create some kind of a shim into

(01:33:35):
bricks to not allow bricks tocompete with the US.
Like he may be able to come upwith a way to insert the US into
the BRICS structure in a waywhere BRICS is going to be still

(01:33:56):
relying on the US dollarBecause the organization exists.
You're not going to get rid ofBRICS.
The countries are effectivelyalready trading in different
currencies.
But if you make it moreattractive to get back to using
the US dollar, I think all thecountries, frankly, would be
more than happy to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:34:17):
Well, since Trump has basically pulled us out of the
World Trade Organization bydeclaring the reciprocal tariffs
right, so that's fundamental asto what we're talking about
here.
What if he went in and said youknow what, vlad, I want to join
.

Speaker 3 (01:34:34):
BRICS.
Well, the US doesn't need tojoin BRICS.
That's the thing it's like.
Brics is still smaller than theUS.

Speaker 1 (01:34:41):
Yeah, but no, no, no, you missed the US.
Yeah, but no, no, no, youmissed the point.
Yeah, because it neutralizesthat emerging threat.

Speaker 3 (01:34:48):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, if we were purelytheoretical and the US decided
to join BRICS, it completelymakes the US the biggest player
in BRICS and, by default, makesthe US dollar be dollar, be
untouchable.
Exactly, yeah, but the us wouldhave to join bricks to do that.

(01:35:08):
I'm not sure the us is willingto do that, I don't know.
And and it would complete.
I mean, they're already fuckedin europe, but think about how
much the us joining bricks wouldfuck with europe dude, victoria
new Nuland said it over andover and over.
I've been playing that clip.

Speaker 1 (01:35:27):
Fuck the EU.
And you know I listened to partof Unrelenting this morning.
I didn't get through it allOkay.
So whenever you talked about me, I haven't gotten there yet.
But what I would say is I thinkyou're wrong on Ukraine joining
the eu no, I didn't say that.

(01:35:48):
What darren said they're goingto join the eu I don't think
yeah and I I think they might nothey won't, because it will
fuck the eu, because it willgive us the impetus to say if
you are going to expand yourterritory, most, most of you.
We have military defensetreaties with ie NATO.
If you're going to expand yourterritory and you're already

(01:36:09):
talking about a European army.
You're already talking aboutthis thing.

Speaker 3 (01:36:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:36:13):
We must dissolve NATO .
Yeah, we should, yeah, yeah, Ithink so.

Speaker 3 (01:36:19):
Yeah, we should have dissolved NATO, probably In 1992
.
Well, more than that, I'd sayby 2000,.
We should have dissolved NATO,probably in 1992.
Well, more than that, I'd sayby 2000, we should have
dissolved NATO.
I think it was reasonable totake longer than the fall of the
Soviet Union, but certainlysomebody had to realize that a
large military without a war isa problem, and that's always

(01:36:40):
been a problem in every countrythat's ever had a large military
.
The problem in Rome is aproblem in France is a problem
in Russia is a problem, andthat's always been a problem in
every country that's ever had alarge military.
The problem in rome is aproblem in france.
It was a problem in russia'sproblem in a lot of places.
So I, that's really what nato'smain problem is is it's a, it's
a military searching for a war.
Now so yeah, I, but my thoughthere's my current, and this is

(01:37:05):
subject to change, certainly onwhat happens.
But my current thought is themost likely scenario is the
parts that russia is occupyingin what was the former western
side of russia are going to bekept by r?
Oh, and that the parts that arenot currently occupied are
going to be called Ukraine.

(01:37:25):
There will not be NATO inUkraine.
That's definitely going to be ahard line, but it may end up
being a continue to be aseparate country, like it is
right now, as there will be acountry called Ukraine.
The part that I predicted at thestart of this which at this

(01:37:47):
point I'm not sure is likely tohappen is I always expected
Poland to get Western Ukraine,because it's always been part of
Poland.
So if they don't, it's a rareopportunity.
Maybe they're one and only shotat getting levive and throwing
territory back, yeah, but uh,maybe they won't, I don't know.

(01:38:10):
But in either way, europe, andat least the leaders in europe,
and what they're talking is itlike.
I don't know what kind of drugsthey're doing, but it's
something.
Because, uh, there's no waythat you're going to have
ukraine either as part of theeuropean union, which by de
facto.
Here's what being part of theeuropean union means.

(01:38:32):
It means that it becomes astate rather than a country, and
as part of that state, thatmeans that germany can move its
troops into ukraine anytime atonce, and russia will never
allow that.
That's.
That's a non-negotiable thing.
Bringing european countriestroops closer to the border

(01:38:56):
ain't gonna happen yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (01:38:59):
so I I think that there is definitely a world
where, well, the European Unionisn't a, you know, it's an
economic union, it is not amilitary union, right?

Speaker 3 (01:39:15):
What happens when we dissolve NATO?
All those countries Iunderstand, I agree.

Speaker 1 (01:39:19):
And they're already talking about spending the money
to establish a.

Speaker 3 (01:39:24):
European military what is the official term for it
?
When a country has money inother countries' banks Reserves?

(01:39:47):
They already took all ofRussia's reserves that were in
Europe.
The US put a freeze on Russianreserves that are in the US.
Europe confiscated thosereserves.

Speaker 1 (01:39:59):
So far they've confiscated the interest.

Speaker 3 (01:40:02):
Really, it was my impression that they confiscated
the reserves, so they'veconfiscated the interest.
Really, that was my impressionthat they confiscated the
reserves, so they just startedtalking about what they're going
to do.

Speaker 1 (01:40:09):
As far as that goes, okay, because that's going to be
another big point.

Speaker 3 (01:40:15):
Like the us on freezing russian reserves,
normalized relations makes totalsense, uh, but europe, look,
whatever they may say they'redoing, believe me, they've
already spent the money.
It's not like that money issitting anywhere.
They would have to tax theirpopulation to get the money back
to, to pay it back to russia,and they're not going to do that

(01:40:37):
.
So I think, uh, this is onearea where the US can totally
normalize relationships withRussia and unfreeze their
reserves, which Russia will notmove because that that'd be the,
the agreement Right Is thatwill unfreeze them, but they

(01:40:57):
still stay as reserves.
You can't then pull in yourreserves, um, but it effectively
it'll bring us to where we werefour years ago.
Europe, I don't think, can dothat, and then they don't want
to do that.
They have no interest inunfreezing russian funds at all,

(01:41:17):
and um, and so I think really,what's happening right now is
we're seeing a further divisionbetween europe and america and
we have a financial reason forthe us to figure out a creative
way to insert itself into bricks.

Speaker 1 (01:41:40):
Yeah, and I don't think that'll be by being a full
partner, because, frankly, Ithink that will upset some
countries sure, but what I'm,what I think, so you're, you're
kind of coming around to my wayof thinking on that then uh, I
kind of I think well, I don'tthink, I was not thinking the
same thing, I was just callingit a different thing, because I,

(01:42:02):
I don't.

Speaker 3 (01:42:02):
I don't think the us can, from a variety of reasons,
most of them political, can justbecome a member of bricks like
that breaks too many things.

Speaker 1 (01:42:14):
But the us should have you seen what the trump
administration is doing lately.

Speaker 2 (01:42:19):
It's a good point like that is the modus operandi
right now.

Speaker 3 (01:42:22):
That is a good point yeah, um, but I mean it would be
wild if that happened, uh, butI, I just, I still don't think
that's that, the us that that,or just say you know what europe
we're done with you and vlad.

Speaker 1 (01:42:40):
Let's, let's recreate instead of the Warsaw Pact
versus NATO, let's create theAmerican Russo Alliance.
Right, the Alaska Pact,Whatever sure.

Speaker 3 (01:42:55):
Yeah, I mean that's funny to say.
I don't think that's likely tohappen either, but I do think
that the problem with Europe andit's the same reason that
europe was ahead of the rest ofthe world for so long the
problem with europe is you haveway too many people that all

(01:43:16):
have many reasons to hate eachother.
It's chock full of a bunch ofcountries that have historical
bad standing with each other,and now they're all part of the
same package in the eu, and aslong and what that means is, in
order for european states to notfight each other, they all need

(01:43:39):
a big bad guy to fight, whichis why Ukraine is so damn
convenient for them.
It's like well, you know, wemay hate each other, but the,
the Hungarians may hate thePoles, but they both hate Russia
, and so that's very convenient.
The minute that goes away,they're going to start having a

(01:44:02):
lot more internal troubles.
And they're like well, evenright now, Poland is already
being withheld a whole bunch ofEuropean funds that they're
supposed to have, because theydon't accept a whole shit ton of
random immigrants coming in.
Like they're not taking all theuh, all the Muslims coming into

(01:44:24):
the rest of Europe.
The other thing about Europe,and we're seeing it more in the
UK right now, but it's just astrue in Europe.
I think they're just better atkeeping the news.
Propagandized is really whatyou could legitimately call an

(01:44:45):
Arab crusade of Europe.
Yeah, there are growing andgrowing areas.
Where European law does notapply, sharia applies, not apply

(01:45:11):
, sharia applies.
And, uh, you know, paris isprobably about 40 of that.
Um, a lot of other smallertowns have just completely been
taken over.
Um, you know, there there is a,I think, misconception that was
taught about history in theCrusades, in that the evil
Europeans decided to go hurt thepoor Muslims in the Middle East

(01:45:33):
and invade, but the reality is,the Holy Lands were always
accessible to all pilgrims ofChristian or Jewish faith.

Speaker 1 (01:45:48):
Right and the amount of attacks inside Europe and
everything else versus.

Speaker 3 (01:45:52):
Yeah, I mean, the Crusades were a response to a
clampdown by not just Arabs, butspecifically by Muslims, of the
Holy Lands and the path, theHoly lands, through Turkey.
Like until that happened, therewas no talk of the crusades.
The crusades were a we need toallow free travel back to the

(01:46:14):
Holy lands for European Knightsor not just Knights, but you
know, the European.
What do they call them?
People that travel forreligious reasons, pilgrims,
pilgrims, pilgrims, pilgrimsthere you go, that's the word.
So we need to make thepilgrimage to the Holy Lands
possible without the fear ofdeath.

(01:46:36):
That was the Crusades, and theydid that for about 200 years and
then eventually got pushed backfor about 200 years and then
eventually got pushed back.
But it's a.
What we're seeing, I think, ina lot of ways, is a conquest, a
second conquest of Europe byIslam.
And again, if people aren'twilling to talk about it, then

(01:46:56):
they're just putting their headsin the sand.
That is literally what'shappening People coming over
that are being treated as thoughthey are political migrants.
They're politically refugeesfrom countries with bad politics
, are instead bringing thosepolitics with them and

(01:47:17):
implementing them in thecountries they're settling.

Speaker 1 (01:47:23):
Yeah, but you're seeing a huge backlash against
that we're seeing a smallbacklash against that.
I don't think it's huge by anystretch well, I think it's huge,
given the laws in the uk andother places.
And this goes to thatpanopticon effect that we were
talking about.
Yeah, so when you know youcan't even speak out and say
what is happening here is wrongwell, that's racist.

(01:47:43):
So you can't say, speak out andsay what is happening here is
wrong well, that's racist.
You can't say that You're goingto go to jail now Yep.
That is a chilling effect andthat is where having some
anonymity is a good thing.

Speaker 3 (01:47:55):
Disagreed.
I think it is absolutelynecessary.
What the population forgetsquite often in in any country,
this one included, is that thereare more of us than them.
There are three milliongovernment workers.
There are what?
Not anymore what do you mean?
Well, there were three millionfine there were three million

(01:48:17):
government workers hey, manyou've seen the doge clock right
.
Yeah, 300 million Americans.
My point is the government is1% of the population, the
federal government, let's sayanother 1% for local government.
Okay, so 98%?
You're telling me 98% of thepeople cannot have a revolution

(01:48:40):
against 2% of the people.
Really, sure.
And I've said this phrase abillion times, both on this show
and in my life, pretty muchsince high school.
Every country has thegovernment they deserve, because
they either elected them orthey failed to depose them.
By failing to depose yourgovernment, you're accepting it.

(01:49:05):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:49:08):
Hey man, I am in the burn it all down crowd.
I know Same here.

Speaker 3 (01:49:14):
My point is that anonymity prolongs the phase
where you don't burn it downbecause you go out, you bitch
online and then you go back toyour government job.
No, fuck that shit man.
You need to put your name on it.
You need to have the governmentrealize that, holy shit, we are

(01:49:36):
at a point where there could bea revolution, because we've got
way more people commentingnon-anonymously online about how
horrible the government is.
That's a real threat.
You know, this is the same thingI posted a few weeks ago, when
there's a bunch of people, uh,online posting about how you

(01:50:00):
know there's a vote for fortulsi and it looks like she may
actually not get in because anumber of Republicans are
willing to vote against her, andI'm like, dude, you can post a
billion times on Twitter an Xabout this and it will have zero
fucking impact because, firstof all, everybody's using a fake

(01:50:21):
name and then, secondly, it'sthe same people bickering to
each other.
What you need to do is stopposting an ex, pick up the phone
and call the office of yourSenator, which I did, and then
make sure you actually get to ahuman being.
Don't just leave a message inthe machine and um, and tell

(01:50:42):
them what you think, because forevery phone call that comes in
that says what I said, which is,if you don't vote for Tulsi,
then you will be primaried forevery one of those calls they
get, they know that that callrepresents thousands of people,
because for every person thatcalls, there's a thousand that
don't call.
And so when there's a hundredof those calls, they know it's

(01:51:05):
not just a hundred peoplebitching and wanting them, the
Senator, to vote a certain way.
If they get a hundred calls,they know that there's a hundred
thousand people thateffectively think this way.
They've got the exact numbers.
I'm using round numbers, butthey have the exact numbers.
That's all statisticallycalculated.
So if you want to make adifference but they have the
exact numbers, it's allstatistically calculated.

(01:51:26):
So if you want to make adifference, don't anonymously
bitch online.
That does nothing other thanmake you temporarily feel good
for thinking you have the rightopinion.
What you need to do is soundoff with your real name to the
government.
That's the only way change works, so I am 100% on board with
calling and I'm talking with myhands right now, just so you can

(01:51:48):
visualize yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:51:49):
So I am good with calling stuff out, I am good
with, you know, I calling mysenator and everybody else and
stating my opinions.
I again covid everything else,but when the whole world is
wrong, it becomes dangerous tobe right, and that is what you

(01:52:10):
have to recognize absolutely,and it should be to an extent,
yeah, because freedom isn't freeuh, to an extent I agree yeah,
no, I think that's absolutelyright.

Speaker 3 (01:52:25):
Plus, I want to make a distinction here.
If it wasn't clear, places likex are public platform.
Anybody can go and read that.
What should still exist isprivate communications, like we
have on signal, and that shouldnot be something where you're
required to provide your youknow, know Now that that will go
away.
There's a difference between oneto one communication and

(01:52:48):
publicly broadcast, and theanonymity in the publicly
broadcast is the one that Ithink causes more problems than
that.
The anonymity in a private oneon one communication can exist
all you want that.
That is a whole different ballof wax.

Speaker 1 (01:53:04):
Well, I agree that it's a whole different ball of
wax, but I still think the othershould exist.
Anything else we want to coverGene?
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:53:19):
You got me kind of riled up here talking about
these topics I'm very passionateabout.
Yeah, I still love what'shappening with Trump.
I am blown away that he doesliterally a podcast every single
day now, with reporters askingstupid questions.

Speaker 1 (01:53:47):
And calling them out like the one, like the one abc
lady recently she said somethingabout, uh, voters in red states
not liking what he's doing tothe government and he says how
do you figure you know who youreport for?
Oh, abc.
Oh, of course you do.
It was just so perfect news.

Speaker 3 (01:54:04):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's been doing a great job.
I just, uh, I really hope thathe takes all his vitamins and,
you know, doesn't burn out,doesn't get overstressed,
doesn't end up having a heartattack god forbid, or something,
although I will say, everythingI keep hearing from vance is as

(01:54:25):
good, if not better, becauseit's more eloquent than trump.
Yeah, sure, uh, vance was uhresponding back, um, about the
whole europe thing and, uh, youknow, he pretty much summarized
what we're talking about, whichis that Europe needs to

(01:54:45):
understand that the reason thatwe have a close relationship
with them is based on sharedvalues.
And if those shared values goesaway, so does the close
relationship.
And it's great that he'sactually saying that, because
that's that's what I want.
I want there to not be anautomatic.

(01:55:06):
Well, we're always friends withgermany.
Well, you know what we weren'tlike 80 years ago and his speech
was fucking brilliant.

Speaker 1 (01:55:15):
And calling out and saying, hey, you can't censor
your own people, you can't, youknow, do this.
Uh.
You can't overturn an electionbecause of a few hundred
thousand dollars worth of ads on, yeah, uh, facebook.
That that's not real.
You can't do this and if youare, then you're not a democracy

(01:55:37):
.

Speaker 3 (01:55:37):
And yeah, calling them out for that, that was
brilliant and I think that issomething that should happen, oh
my God, If not yearly, at leaston a you know, every four years
presidential basis.
We need to reevaluate who ourfriends are, Mm-hmm, and who
maybe used to be our enemies.
Now I don't like the fact thatwe just gave Syria to ISIS.

(01:56:21):
Because of what ISIS is.
We're going to be less likelyto do things like that, because
it should have been obvious andapparent that maybe keeping a
dictator in Syria is actuallybetter for stability than having
ISIS in charge and justbeheading people left and right

(01:56:43):
because they don't like themwell and, quite frankly, what we
have to realize is it's not ourplace to topple regimes in
other countries again.
That's what happens when you gotan army looking for something
to do well, it's just not ourbusiness.

Speaker 1 (01:56:58):
and what it comes down to is, if the Syrians want
to change their form ofgovernment, they have an
inalienable right to establishthe type of government they want
Yep.
So there you go.
Yep, oh man.
All right.
Well, I think we ought to callit for now.

(01:57:19):
And we'll come back next weekand do it again.

Speaker 3 (01:57:24):
Yep, that sounds good .
I'm sure we'll hear more aboutBen's computer issues.

Speaker 1 (01:57:29):
What computer issues I'm running great.

Speaker 3 (01:57:32):
Okay, well, let's see if that's what you still see
next week.

Speaker 1 (01:57:35):
Why wouldn't I I?

Speaker 3 (01:57:37):
don't know Ben, We'll find out next week.
Stay tuned, all right.

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