Ep. 152 - The 'Bidens Busted, Barbie, and (Russell) Brand' Edition

The 'Bidens Busted, Barbie, and (Russell) Brand' Edition

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
This is the FCB Podcast Network.Okay, hey y'all, welcome back to

(00:27):
another episode of Marble Halls and SilverScreens. It's been a long hiatus,
and I apologize for that. Ihad a lot of travel this summer,
a lot going on, and soI just kind of put the podcast on
a break. But I am back, and uh, of course I've missed
a lot of news that I've wantedto cover, but again, just kind

(00:49):
of went on hiatus, and soI'll try to cover I'll try to start
slowly and cover a little bit ofthat. Now. So what the three
topcas I think that I want tocover today. Obviously, so much has
been happening with the Biden corruption scandal. There's a lot of other things happening

(01:10):
out there too, but that's theone I want to focus on because to
me, that's the one that counts. The gun charge. You know,
Trump's indictments. You know, Icould talk about the Rico thing in Georgia,
but I actually honestly don't think justlike I didn't think JA six was
the real story, I don't thinkthat Trump's indictments are the real story either.

(01:34):
I think the real story is thefact that our current president sitting president
while he was vice president. Thereis some very credible proof that or credible,
I don't even know if you cancall it proof at this stage.

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The allegations that he was engaging ininfluence peddling, essentially selling his office and
decisions he might make in his connectionswhile vice president to foreign nationals and other
countries to benefit financially for him andhis family. There's a lot of documentation
that suggests that that is true.So to me, that's the big story

(02:16):
right now. So I'm going totalk a little bit about that. I
also finally did watch Barbie. Icouldn't decide if I wanted to watch it
or not. I finally thought it, So I'll tell you my thoughts about
that, and then I want totalk about Russell Brand, because that is
happening, the Alligator, the sexualassault allegations against Russell Brand. I think

(02:38):
maybe we can finally talk about somenuance in these things. You know,
the aftermath of Me Too has beeninsane, and I think I want to
start this by just saying, andwe'll cover it at the end of the
show, but I think I wantto start by just noting that being inappropriate,

(03:00):
being kind of a latch within relationships, being a little bit of a
jerk, being a flirt. Thatdoes not make you a rapist. Women
who you know, and I don'tknow what the who these women are,
but women who are in consensual relationshipsand later regret some of the things that
happen, or find out that theguys not who they thought they were.

(03:23):
This is not This is not areason to ruin someone's life. So yeah,
maybe that sounds like I'm not standingup for the sisterhood, But trust
me when I tell you, we'veall been there and you have to make
some pretty strong decisions in those moments, and that kind of determines what you
are as a woman, how you'regoing to proceed through life. So I

(03:46):
want to talk about the Russell brandallegations as well. But before we get
into all of those things, let'sstop very quickly for a commercial break,
and when we come back, wewill jump into all of these and I'll
try to keep this podcast since we'rejust coming back, I'll try to keep
it kind of short today. HopefullyI've got some people still out there listening,
so yeah, sit tight, We'llbe back in a few minutes.

(04:14):
Okay, Hey, guys, we'reback. Let's just jump in, shall
we. Let's talk about the Bidencorruption scandal that the House is actually having
their first hearing. The House Oversightand Accountability Subcommittee, I guess, is
having a hearing beginning next week thetwenty eight. I think to start looking

(04:38):
into this and what this If you'vebeen under a rock and you don't know
what this relates to, is thebest way that I can say it in
the shortest way that I can sayit is the sort of scheme that Hunter
Biden was involved in that benefited hisfamily, including his father Joe, where

(04:59):
he was making deals. This hasto do with sitting on the board of
Bisma. This has to do withJoe Biden getting the prosecutor of Ukraine fired
withholding government funds that were promised tothem unless they fired this prosecutor who was
looking into Barisma, which was thecompany that his son sat on. There

(05:19):
are also other allegations related to othernations like China. Where was another one
that was discussed, I can't remember, I can't. I think it was
one of the Middle East nations.So the point is that the House Republicans
have discovered bank records that have ledthem to believe that this was all actually

(05:41):
happening. And then what it amountsto is that Hunter Biden was cutting these
deals with some of these, youknow, people in these foreign nations,
kind of selling Joe's power in thegovernment when he was vice president in the
Obama administration, selling his father's influence, influence peddling. That is a huge

(06:04):
crime if that was happening. Thebank records seemed to suggest that there were
several LLC's that were set up tojust drop money into several of the Biden
families bank accounts. Peter Schweitzer wason with Maria Bartromo on Fox the other
day, and if you don't knowwho Peter Schweitzer as, you should look

(06:26):
him up. He's the one thatbasically wrote the definitive book on the Clinton
Foundation, Clinton Cash, I believeis what it's called, kind of talking
about how all of this influence peddlingstuff works. He's now, I want
to say he is. I thinkI had his title down. He's now
the president for the Government Accountability Instituteand he's written a new book called Red

(06:46):
Handed. So Schweitzer was on withMaria Bartromo, and he's particularly interested in
this five point two million dollar discrepancy. In twenty eighteen, Joe Biden's taxes
showed a twelve point six million dollarincome. By twenty nineteen, when he's

(07:08):
filling out government disclosure forms financial disclosureforms, he's claiming only seven point four
million in income through one of theseLLC's, And so Schweitzer says, where's
that five point two million dollars?And his suggestion on Bartromo show was that
because the scrutiny had increased in twentynineteen, you know, all of a

(07:29):
sudden, these millions of dollars areno longer being reported, So why so
these are questions. I believe thatnext week at the first Oversight Accountability hearing
will start to be paving the wayto get some of the answers on this.
And I think that the House GOP, particularly Comber, they have some

(07:50):
things up their sleeve that they haven'trevealed. And it's so that's not what
Comber saying. Comer had the funniestquote. Actually, he was actually asked
if the if the committee is goingto cover new ground, and he said,
well, I think that some ofyou need to have a refresher course
on the existing evidence. So we'llprobably rehash some of it, if for

(08:13):
no other purpose to help educate theWashington DC press corps. And what he's
basically alluding to there and very fairly, is that no one's covering the story.
You have to go to conservative mediaor independent media to see that it's
out there. And this is ahuge story if this turns out to be

(08:33):
true, which it's looking pretty badfor the Bidens. We haven't seen corruption
like this ever at this level ofour government. So this is a big,
big, big deal, and ithas gotten big enough. It has
it has reached the level of scrutinysuch that the legacy media is actually having

(08:58):
to pay attention to it because it'sthat bad. I mean, they don't
want to pay attention to it,but they're finding that they have to.
So you just can't ignore it.I mean, people are wanting information about
it. It's a big deal.So that's what's going on right now.
Look for that hearing next week.I think it's going to be an open

(09:20):
hearing. I don't think that it'sclosed, but you'll have to look that
up and double check. By theway, that that quote from Comber is
actually in the Hill. The headlinefor that article is GOP to hold first
impeachment hearing next week subpoena Hunter Bidenbank records. So if you want to
look that up and read it,I suggest you do that as well.

(09:41):
So that's our first news piece.Let's go ahead and talk about Barbie.
Okay, Barbie. When I firststarted watching Barbie because I want ahead and
rented it at home, I didn'tsee it in the theater. Initially,
I was like, I don't thinkthis is very good now. I had
to stop watching it and come backto it the next day, and a

(10:03):
young lady that I know, ateenage girl, when I told her I
wasn't really I saw her later thatevening and hadn't finished the film and I
told her I wasn't really getting intoit. She looked a little bit bummed
out by that, you know,like, I think that a certain age,
and I'm sure if I were seventeenright now and saw Barbie, I

(10:24):
would think it was the most profoundthing ever in the world. That's how
things are when you're young, rightAs you get more experience and you start
to understand people a little bit betterand what their motivations are, and you
get exposed to higher art, youstart to sort of see things for what
they are, if they are actuallyas deep as they are trying to be

(10:46):
things like that. But she didtell me that it does get better,
and she was right. It didget better. It ended up being pretty
good film, although the hype Ithink was certainly overblown. I still love
Margot Robbie. She's a fantastic stickactress. There were some some interesting moments
in it. But but the thingthat it wasn't terrible, but the but

(11:09):
the it was visually great, like, it was fun to look at.
It was candy colored and all ofthe things, and at its core,
the central message was quite good,which was that you know, we're all
gonna die for lack of a betterof a better way of saying it,
which I think is a very goodmessage. Not particularly that deep, though,

(11:31):
which is my issue with the film. That's just a fact of life.
Everyone knows it. There's nothing reallythat deep about it. Thoughts of
death. You know, that's somethingthat poets have been doing for a very
long time, analyzing death. Itdoesn't really make you deep, but just
sort of makes you aware. Truedepth is talking about life and the philosophy

(11:54):
of living. That's where you startgetting into, you know, the things
like, you know, is thisall happening in my mind or is it
stuff that's actually happening outside of me? Those are the that's the deep stuff.
I don't think Barbie really got intothat too much. The depth supposedly

(12:15):
in this film was that, youknow, Barbie was women are more complicated
than these boxes they've been put into. And oh, by the way,
these are all just things that helpus. These boxes and these you know,
patriarchy ideas and all of this stuff. That's just stuff that we use

(12:35):
to make life interesting because we knowwe're going to die someday, and so
it distracts us from that. Ithink that's true. I'm not saying that's
not true. I just didn't findthat a particularly deep conceit. So it's
Barbie was a movie that thinks it'sa lot It has a lot more depth

(12:56):
than it does. I think itreally took itself very seriously at heart.
And I understand the packaging, youknow, was supposed to be shiny,
shiny, happy people and then ithad a dark little core. But again,
that's a trope that's not that difficult. You know, the things that

(13:16):
really make you think are not thateasily defined, right, So ms okay.
And also I don't think I wasreally the core audience for this film.
There was a lot of woke nonsensein it. I really hate that
word, but but it's the onethat fits, it's the one that works,
So I'm going to use it.You know, when you when you
hear allusions to citizens United, andthe fact that not one male character was

(13:43):
likable or smart in any regard inthis film, which really truly bothers me
because I know a lot of reallyfine, intelligent noblemen and there wasn't a
hint of that. And if therewere a hint, if if there was
a hint of it, it wasa trans guy dressed as a woman.
So I disliked it for that,and I think that that's again ultimately shows

(14:09):
just kind of how shallow it was. It was pulling in all of these
extreme cultural examples trying to make apoint about humanity, and you can't really
do that, Like, people arenot just these things that are easy to
put on film, like, they'revery complicated. If you've ever seen a

(14:35):
Grand Trino or like a Clint Eastwoodfilm, his characters are so multifaceted.
It almost gives you a headache.But that's people right. This one thought
it was doing that. But thisfilm really, to my mind, did
not do that. And it washyped as this, you know, this

(14:56):
this speech that America Farraga, whereit's like all the way that women are
supposed to be. And that's whyI say, I'm not the core demographic
for this film. It was I'mlike, this is the way extremely anxious
women that have to take mother's littlehelper to get through the day are.
A lot of women are not likethat. I'm not like that, So

(15:18):
I just don't stress out over youknow, all the time over you have
to be this way. But thenpeople think you have to be this like
you just that's just that way liesmadness, and so at some point you
put it down and you go,I just am what I am. So
it was, Yeah, it wasfine. I get why younger women would

(15:39):
think it was brilliant in a way. I think it's a good gateway drug
to understanding you know, higher artand film, but I don't think it
achieved that. And I think that, you know, it's also this weird
sort of circular thing that happens whereif you say that about Barbie, it

(16:00):
would say, yeah, but that'sthe whole point, right, It's supposed
to be surface and then it's gotthis. So it's hard to even argue
that because then the retort will beBut that was the point. It's supposed
to look surface but be deep.I just don't think it ever really got
that deep. Frankly, it thoughtit did, and I just don't think
it did. Beyond that, whateverit was, Okay, it was a
fun little watch. Do I everthink I'll see it again? No?

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Was there anything in there that mademe go wow, that was one of
the best things I've ever seen.No. I did like the message about,
you know, kind of distracting usfrom this notion of death. That's
true. Will Ferrell is always prettyfunny in what he does, so Plus
for that America Ferrero was charming,Margot Robbie is always brilliant. I love

(16:45):
Kate McKennon, So there were somethings I liked about it. But also
I should say it didn't deserve thehate either. It was it was pretty
Anna dyne really, so it wasweird to hear them kind of allude to
to citizens United and corporations as peoplebut I'll leave it there. Okay.

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So, finally, on the Hollywoodside of things, Russell Brand, who
has been seriously red pilled over thelast couple of years. I think COVID
really really helped him along in hissort of newfound distaste or distrust of,
you know, the powers that beall of the sudden, and he's gotten

(17:29):
a very very popular podcast that millionsof people watch. He's kind of gone
at the Tucker Carlson route where hehas just gone out on his own and
has been saying things that are incrediblyuncomfortable things, and people don't like it.
Well, lo and behold, allof a sudden, we have several

(17:52):
women coming out and saying, manyyears ago he raped me, or many
years ago I was in a relationshipwith him and he did things sexually that
I didn't like. Or many yearsago I was very young and he had
me. He had a car sentto my house to pick me up to
take me to his house. Okay, this is always a tough one.

(18:14):
Do some of these things make himan absolute creep? Yes? If they're
true, Are they criminal? Isit criminal behavior? More to the point,
I can't answer that. I don'tI'm not sure I believe these women,
and that's where me too has gottenus, and that's where cancel culture
has gotten us. I reflexively don'tbelieve them. Isn't that terrible? I

(18:37):
reflexively don't believe them. The timingis so suspicious. Russell Brand gets red
pilled all of a sudden. Heis a sexual predator. We have seen
far too many times where this ishow men are taken down. There was

(18:59):
justice story out today about a guyat Yale who probably was a creep.
He slept with this woman while shesays she was very impaired. He thought
it was consensual. He said itwas consensual. He actually won that case.
He's now free. Connecticut Supreme Courthas now allowed him to sue the
school and the girl for basically damaginghis reputation. I think he may have

(19:22):
gotten kicked out of school. Ican't remember the details. She ruined his
academic career. And it sounds like, because he was found not guilty of
these things, that she had aconsensual sexual interaction with him and then regretted
it. And you can, ladies, that is not rape, Okay,
it's not rape. The issue ofRussell Brand in the sixteen year old that

(19:45):
one's the one that makes me go, oh, but let me just say
this for us. Norman's out here, Yeah, we're like, yikes,
dude, Hollywood doesn't give a crapabout that stuff. And the fact that
they're trying to does politics and thefact that they're trying to destroy this man.
Now, if that indeed happened,is again obviously tied to you know,

(20:11):
the fact that that he's no longersaying things that they want him to
say. It seems very clear tome. Doesn't mean it didn't happen.
But would have My question is,and this is my final question, and
it's the one that I think everyoneshould be considering. Would we have known
about it? Would they have hiddenit? Would they have kept it covered

(20:33):
up? If it's true? Hadhe not broken ranks? And I want
to leave you guys with that question, and I want you to think about
it, and then whatever answer areyou come to, I want you to
consider why that matters. Okay,And I'm going to let that be the
end of today's show. Since we'rejust now coming back. I haven't talked
about the Ken packs and stuff.I'm gonna leave that one alone. He

(20:56):
has been acquitted down in Texas,so he's not going to be impeached or
whatever they do with the AG downthere interesting situation in Texas. George has
got some interesting stuff going on too, And at some point in the future
I will talk a little bit aboutwhat I think the battle is within the
GOP at present. I don't thinkit's as serious as people think it is,

(21:18):
but I do think there is onegoing on. And now we'll talk
about that later. For now,I'm gonna let you guys go. Be
kind, be strong, be goodto each other, be safe. We'll
talk again in a few weeks.When the nut, when the night Watch

(21:41):
from the psychiatric ward's faces up onthe bulletin board with a reboard, he'll
stab you with the sword. Don'tbe fooled by This has been a presentation
of the FCP podcast network, whereReal Talk lifts. Visit is online at
FCP podcast dot com.