Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

All Episodes

Previous Next

Aug. 30, 2023 - The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters

01:28:40

The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters #730

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	Good afternoon folks.
	Welcome to the podcast of the Lotus Eaters for the 30th of August, 2023.
	I'm joined by Stelios.
	Hello.
	And today we're going to be talking about the reaction to Trump's mugshot.
	I've deliberately let this kind of simmer for a while to allow all of the reactions and the data to flow in.
	We're going to be talking about Nordstrom leaving California.
	As they do.
	And we're going to be talking about the Notting Hill Carnival.
	You aware of what the Notting Hill Carnival is?
	No, but I saw some of the things you have prepared for the segment, and I'm really interested in seeing how you're going to approach it.
	Yeah.
	Nothing flattering, basically.
	But anyway, before we begin, we have a Rumble Live going on this afternoon, 3.30 UK time, that is, as you can see, entitled The Humiliation of Logan Paul, because I Wasn't going to talk about this, but it's been going on for weeks.
	Uh, Logan Paul is due to fight a champ called Dylan Dennis and Dylan has been absolutely destroying Logan Paul, uh, in a very conservative way.
	And it was the, the political aspect, the, the sort of social politics of it that I thought was worth covering.
	But the thing is he just kept going and going and I'm like, Dylan, bro, he's already dead.
	God's sake, just let him, let him just die and just bury him.
	I'll say I found it a bit funny because usually when boxers are competing each other, they are saying things to get on each other's nerves, but this is completely, this is a whole new level.
	Yeah, it's wild.
	Anyway, so let's, uh, let's talk about the reaction to Trump's mugshot, because I think this has been very interesting.
	Um, we can talk about like the, the crisis of the American Republic, which this clearly signals to have a president, a former president of the United States, uh, being persecuted by the, in the incoming administration.
	Makes it very difficult not to say, well, look, this is taking on the aspect of a banana republic.
	I mean, one of the reasons that the Republic of the United States has done so well and lasted for so long in such a stable way, civil war aside, is The fact that the previous president is not persecuted by his successor.
	And the reason that people say, well, this is starting to look like a banana republic is because that's the kind of thing that happens.
	You take retribution on your political enemies using the power of the state.
	That's not good.
	But that aside, I thought what we do is talk about just the way that people have interpreted the mugshot.
	And I thought we'd have to talk about the mugshot itself.
	Yes.
	Yes.
	I just find that interesting.
	But before we begin, if you want to support us, go to thelowseas.com, go and watch Stelios' latest symposium about historical inevitability.
	Because I'm of the opinion there is a kind of historical inevitability about the events that are going to follow.
	If you start going down the road of persecuting the previous president, well, what's the motivation for the next president to not persecute you?
	And it's not like Joe Biden doesn't have enough moral and legal baggage for his opponents to get stuck in on.
	What side of this did you land on, by the way?
	We are talking with Bo because Bo is the person to talk about history with and we are basically focusing on historical contingency and we are talking a lot about events that could have happened otherwise and that they were momentous.
	Bo has a wealth of examples that are really interesting to share.
	And it's a really interesting discussion.
	And we are also talking about the methodology behind claims that concern historical inevitability.
	And basically what we are saying in a nutshell is that there is a big difference between people saying that things are destined to happen, whether positively or negatively, on the one hand, and whether People claim that it is very likely that something will happen.
	So for instance, and what we are saying is that we are neither destined to an infinite progress, as some people would have us think, nor to an inevitable doom as other people may have us think.
	Because the arrest of Trump, and let's just get his...
	This wasn't inevitable.
	This was a series of contingent choices that the Democrats have made that has not, in my opinion, played to their favor.
	I just find this image quite fascinating to me.
	I mean, as you can see, it's 255 million views, and it's the only post that Donald Trump has made since being restored to Twitter as well, which gave it, of course, all the more impact in the, I guess we'll call it the elite space, but I imagine that Almost everyone in the public has seen this too.
	It's found to have been on every TV show and every newspaper.
	What do you make of it?
	Well, it seems to me that it has backfired a lot on the people who let him take the photo.
	But what do you make of the photo itself?
	It's laser eyes.
	It's a really good photo.
	I think that it basically elevates his image as someone who is anti-establishment.
	Yeah, I mean, you can't really get much more anti-establishment than being persecuted and criminalized by the establishment.
	Yes.
	It's actually turning the former president of the United States into a kind of outlaw Robin Hood figure.
	Yes.
	And if there's one thing everyone loves, it's a kind of Robin Hood figure.
	Yes.
	So this was really, really stupid.
	I mean, Trump has always been saying, oh, the deep state's out to get me.
	And the meme in the sort of boomer magosphere is, you know, Trump pointing, going, you know, they're not after me.
	I'm just in the way.
	Well, it's really proving the point, really, actually.
	It looks that way.
	And before we go on, actually, I just want to say, right.
	Conor and Harry covered this yesterday, but the attitude from the black community primarily, because it's being said that Trump is polling a lot higher in the black community now.
	I don't know whether this is true or not, whether it's consistent, whether it's going to last.
	I don't think it really matters, but we're not going to be covering that in particular.
	I thought we'd take a look at kind of the elite view of what the reaction to this has been.
	So I think it's very interesting because I think it belies a fundamental insecurity in their own position.
	And I actually think that Trump Giving this kind of mugshot, like I'm sure, absolutely certain that he spent a lot of time putting this on.
	I'm practicing it.
	Like he doubtless sat in front of a mirror or someone with a camera and was like, right, give us your most stern.
	Now that's too, a bit more, you know, a bit, put your chin down.
	You know, I bet that he, cause he, you know, Trump, the showman, Trump, the television, you know, star, uh, no doubt had a very good eye for all of this.
	But I thought I'd read just a bit from the New York Times, because I find this interesting, the way they characterize it, right?
	They say, his face is lit from above by a blinding white flash that hits his ash blonde hair like a spotlight.
	As usual, he is dressed in the colors of the American flag.
	Navy suit, white shirt, and a bright red tie.
	Though his typical flag lapel pin is either absent or invisible in the picture.
	He glowers out from beneath his brows, unsmiling, eyes rendered oddly bloodshot, brow furrowed, chin tucked in as if he was about to headbutt the camera.
	The image is stark, shorn of flags and fancy that have been Mr Trump's preferred framings for photo ops at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower or during his term in office that communicates power and the gilded glow of success.
	So what they're describing without saying it is that Donald Trump is He is in a fighting pose, like the, you know, chin tucked in, but it makes him, it makes him look dangerous.
	It makes him look like he's actually going to go and fight someone.
	Uh, which honestly is probably the best he could have hoped for from this mugshot.
	Because of course they all wanted to see him humble.
	They all wanted to see him embarrassed, humiliated, destroyed.
	Actually, that's really not the impression you get from this mugshot.
	This mugshot goes hard.
	And that's what I think a lot of people weren't expecting.
	I want to share something that Victor Davis Hanson said, who is a very great figure, by the way.
	And I really think that he has a lot of good insights.
	And this may be a bit worrying, what he said, but I don't know to what extent the people who are fighting Trump actually want to elevate him at the moment in order to completely Win every other Republican nominee and then hit him harder with legal stuff.
	So as he was saying that most probably what the incumbent government wants to do is to help him elevate his image as an anti-establishment figure.
	So he wins the Republican primaries and then hit him harder with illegal stuff.
	And I think he is onto something there because it seems to me that if anything is visible by the incumbent U.S.
	government's attitude, that is a kind of arrogance.
	They definitely think that they know better everything about anything.
	Yeah.
	And they just don't think that they are going to have any issue.
	Yeah, and just let me say one thing, because what it seems that they're doing here seems to me to be wrong even instrumentally.
	Forget the moral aspect.
	Even instrumentally, politically speaking, they have acted a bit indecisively.
	So it's either that they have been completely indecisive, and this is in classical republicanism that we both love reading about, this is the worst thing you can do.
	Yeah, this is just a complete blunder.
	So either they are completely indecisive, which may backfire against them and it's a complete mistake.
	Or they have something more sinister in mind and they're way more arrogant.
	I don't know what to make of it right now, but it's an interesting... I felt this all seems very insecure, right?
	Like, why would you need to persecute?
	It's not just Trump, it's also, as you can see by the photo, a bunch of people who are closely associated.
	Giuliani and... Giuliani, his lawyer, I think the other people are probably lawyers.
	And it just, why do you need to do this?
	And I think what it is, is they want to utterly crush the sort of MAGA movement entirely, right?
	I think they feel that this was some kind of peasant's revolt against them.
	But how are they doing it?
	This has the exact opposite effect.
	Well, it's actually making them more angry.
	Yes.
	They looked at their options and they said, well, we can essentially bring what I would characterize as basically a frivolous lawsuit against Trump in order to try and get him slapped with a bunch of charges so he can't run for president in 2024.
	But as you say, This is really, I think this is not an expression of power.
	I think this is an expression of weakness because they have access to the mechanisms, but they don't have the moral character and confidence in order to know when they should move and when they shouldn't move.
	And so I don't think this is covering them in glory at all.
	And in fact, one of the examples of this, when I say like the Democrats, what I mean is the Essentially, the entire structure of the coastal elites in America.
	So you've got the people occupying positions of direct power.
	You then have the sort of soft power of cultural influence and all of the like, you know, the layers of activists and people who are directly involved and invested in left wing politics in America.
	I mean, one example is the celebrities.
	Of course, the celebrities became very quickly politicized against Trump because Trump is racist.
	Okay, and you're insane and you're probably moments away from transitioning.
	So, you know, do I take your opinion on anything?
	But anyway, the crowing of the celebrities felt kind of like the laughter of the damned to me.
	Uh, you got, you had a bunch of them.
	Uh, Mark Hamill was like, I wonder if he's tired of winning yet.
	Uh, posted alongside the mugshot.
	It's like, well, this mugshot, isn't it now?
	No one's, no one is looking at this mugshot and being like, ah, look at that.
	Trump, the big loser.
	It's like, it does look like Trump, the persecuted outlaw.
	That's what this is.
	Uh, and how Hamill, uh, also said, may the fourth arrest be with him.
	It's like, yeah.
	I'm not sure.
	I'm not sure you're really winning anyone over because I mean, everyone hates Star Wars.
	Now you hate Star Wars.
	You hate what they did to you.
	Trump actually is in spirit and opposition to that kind of attitude.
	And yet, so you, you, you speak from within a kind of hostage situation.
	Go, haha, at least I'm not that guy.
	It's like, yeah, but everyone kind of, there's a lot of people on the outside who think, well, no, that guy actually, I think he's doing the right thing here by sticking it to them.
	Uh, they had Kathy Griffin.
	You remember Kathy Griffin with the severed Trump head in 2017?
	Um, and got essentially canceled for it basically.
	Um, but she says, I hope you guys appreciate that today.
	My phone is blowing up as if I'm personally arresting Trump.
	Yeah, I bet it is.
	But I don't think that you're really winning anything, right?
	She seems to have paid like a profound personal cost.
	And so, I don't know.
	It just feels like the laughter of the damned.
	It feels like, you know, how we've got him.
	It's like, yeah, but this isn't getting him.
	Do you think they pretend to do this?
	Or do you think that they are?
	I think they... Because let's consider this question.
	What if they actually know that it backfired?
	And they are trying to cultivate the image that it didn't, and they're just lying.
	And they're just trying to give us this message in large quantities.
	I think they're coping.
	I think they're, you know, it's the sort of the crying with the smiling mask on meme.
	Yes.
	You know, I think a lot of this is that where they can see actually this hasn't destroyed Trump.
	Because I mean, one of the things that I think they were hoping for Is that look, if we indict him, if we arrest him, if we get his mugshot out there, then surely the American public, I'm like, oh yeah, we, we, we would be supporting a criminal.
	Except all of the Republican candidates were like, well, if Donald Trump gets the nomination, yeah, we're going to vote for him.
	It's like, of course you are.
	You know, we're all going to support him.
	It's done.
	We'll get to, in fact, his polling in a minute.
	And so basically they were, I think the whole plan was to, you know, lawfare then him into being destroyed with his own base and with the general American public.
	And I just don't think that's happened.
	I mean, the only one that I thought was even vaguely justified, actually, was Rosie O'Donnell.
	Yeah, she has a beef with him.
	Yeah, for anyone who doesn't know, Rosie O'Donnell has a long-standing beef.
	Donald Trump.
	So I think she's the only one who can authentically say, well, yeah, I, I found it funny that you got arrested, um, because she hates him.
	I mean, then you've got like the view from the view, which are the Republicans.
	There are two purported Republican ladies on the view, uh, Alyssa Griffin and Anna Navarro.
	Who both, of course, condemned Trump and have condemned Trump for ages.
	And it's just sad.
	It's like a reminder he hasn't learned a thing.
	It's like, no, I think, I think that actually if you can turn your own arrest and mugshot into a national win, then you probably have learned something.
	You know, Trump coming out looking dangerous rather than defeated, uh, actually I think says quite a lot.
	Um, the Guardian were like, well, oh, oh, look, he looks like a foolish old man with anger issues and a presidential contender.
	But are you serious?
	I don't know.
	And he doesn't, I don't think he looks like a foolish old man.
	I think he looks like someone who's going to take heads.
	Frankly, you know, like the, the way that they, the way that they're Trying to frame it, I don't think is in fact reflective of what they're trying to describe.
	I think it is definitely cope.
	And even, I don't know exactly what's on their minds because I don't want, to be honest, I don't want to be in their minds.
	It's a bad place to be in, but it seems to me that, um, Even if they think that it did backfire, they wouldn't come out and say it.
	It seems to me, it reminds me of Gable's propaganda model, that throw a lot of mods, throw a large quantity of mods, some of it is going to stick.
	But that's the thing, there's this undercurrent of fear and deception.
	Underpins all of this.
	This is from this article, right?
	They say, as a work of art, it's not clear what the photographer's role is here, but it's hard not to think whoever pushed the button intended to make the sitter look ridiculous.
	If so, well done.
	This anonymous artist has made the once most powerful man in the world look like a foolish old duffer with anger issues rather than a serious presidential contender.
	I don't agree.
	I mean, that's a foolish statement, because when we are talking about politics, anger is not just a thing to be sidestepped.
	You need to actually ask yourself whether people are justified in being angry.
	You cannot just say that people are being angry, therefore they have anger issues.
	Politics isn't about how calm you keep yourself.
	Exactly and also this shows a kind of arrogance and that's why I'm maybe a bit more afraid than you are of this because it seems to me to be arrogant.
	Yes it's very arrogant.
	It's like saying anyone who is angry at what we are doing.
	It needs treatment.
	Yeah.
	But on the other hand, they're in favor of treating mental health and we should be sensitive.
	But also, conversely, you know, their entire political edifice is built on anger.
	Anger about social injustice.
	Something has to be done.
	Yes.
	OK, but there looks like an injustice happening right now to a former president turning your country into a banana republic.
	And you're sat there and you have this coming.
	It's like, yeah, but you can feel the uncertainty.
	There's a tremor.
	You're not supposed to be angry.
	About anything.
	Exactly.
	No, it's totally fine to be angry when you've been mistreated, which I think a lot of people are feeling that Trump is.
	Now, there are other places that are taking this a little bit more seriously.
	They were like, well, hang on a second.
	This wasn't supposed to go so hard, like this one from the Atlantic.
	The mugshot is a warning.
	Donald Trump's booking photo was supposed to be an exercise in humility, and he turned it into a threat.
	But you just, if Donald Trump just looking can be a threat, then at least you can admit that you're not on such stable ground as you thought you were on.
	Right.
	Um, and again, they, they look at this and they're just like, okay.
	We were expecting, as they say, one of two things.
	The event should have been a show of accountability for Trump.
	This became an act of concession to him.
	The typical mugshot, usually taken after the subject's unexpected arrest, bestows its power on the people on the other end of the camera.
	The alleged criminal in it tends to be disheveled, displaced, or small.
	But Trump, trailed by the news cameras that confer his ubiquity, found a way to turn the moment's historical meaning, a former president mugshotted, Again, there's a great deal of historical meaning to that that you're not acknowledging.
	He'd turn that into one more opportunity for brand building.
	He might have smiled, as some of his alleged co-conspirators did, making light of his legal jeopardy.
	He might have assumed an expression of indignation, the better to channel one of his preferred personas, the innocent man victimized.
	But he did neither.
	Instead, he looked straight at the viewer, seemingly incandescent with rage, taking the advice he has reportedly given to others.
	Perform your anger, turn it into your script, make it your threat.
	His menacing glare gives a similar stage direction to the people who follow him and do his bidding, both in spite of his disrespect of democratic processes and because of it.
	I mean, if you have the chance of being the only president with a mugshot, which makes you pretty unique, what kind of emotion would you want to show?
	I think that would be anger.
	They have it completely wrong, at least the way they present it.
	How dare you do this to me, the former President of the United States?
	What do you think you're doing?
	Who do you think you are?
	This is what Trump's mugshot is saying.
	Past all of the bravado of the idiots sat around slapping their fins together and honking like seals, you've got more serious thinkers who are like, hang on a second, this didn't go well, actually.
	And it also shows that he is aware of what is happening in the room.
	Yes.
	And you cannot say that about every politician.
	Like the current president.
	The Guardian had another article on it.
	Well, hang on a second.
	Trump is turning his mugshot into a badge of honor.
	Well, yeah.
	Yeah, you have acted unjustly towards him.
	You should have been satisfied with your victory at the ballot box, like any other administration would have been.
	And you should have taken that seriously, but instead you've gone on to persecute your opponents.
	As she says here, as it is, the mugshot is something of a political Rorschach test.
	Liberals see it as a sign of how far Trump has fallen, as if Trump has been staying in their good graces until this point.
	But you hate Trump, and you've done everything you can to try and publicly humiliate him, and this was just another step on that?
	Yes, but it's not just that it's a Rorschach test.
	There is something that both share.
	Both see him in a symbolic fashion.
	That's true.
	In fact, we'll get to that in a minute, actually.
	In fact, we'll get to it now.
	Because they are worried about what this reveals about his followers.
	As he says, no other generation looked at those pictures and thought, man, I wish that were me until this one.
	That's interesting, isn't it?
	As frightening as it might be to contemplate a former president being arrested for attacking democracy, what this picture reveals about his followers is what's truly worrying.
	It's like, good, I want you to feel like you're in a country where you're surrounded by people who hate you, don't trust you, and Know that your reign is illegitimate, right?
	Because that's what this is making them look like.
	You are looking like an illegitimate administration when you persecute the former president.
	And as one writer, Maureen Callahan in the Daily Mail wrote, well, this is turning him to a folk hero.
	Actually, this is the kind of thing, and Trump has played his part in this game very, very well.
	He has managed to make himself, I mean, again, to have a mugshot that everyone Even the people who hate you kind of admire is a very impressive thing to do.
	She says the image has turned the multi-billionaire president into a folk hero, a renegade, an outlaw.
	And America loves nothing more than an outlaw as Trump well knows.
	It's perfect.
	It conveys everything Trump clearly wants.
	He's a patriot, a political martyr.
	He won't stand for this and neither should America.
	This is a travesty that Trump will avenge.
	That's what I got from it.
	Yes.
	That's what I think a lot of people got from it.
	Yeah.
	And that's why the liberal elite are like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
	It's like, yeah, but that doesn't feel sincere.
	Does it?
	You know, you, you, you in fact sound scared.
	And I think maybe there's a reason to, um, Trump has of course raised millions of dollars off of this.
	And, and this was from two days ago.
	So God knows how many more millions he's raised.
	And I thought we'd just check on the polling.
	Um, this has done nothing to hurt Trump as the primary contender in the general, in the Republican Presidential nominations.
	Trump is, of course, still massively ahead of everyone else.
	I just don't see how it would harm him.
	But it just hasn't.
	That red line at the top is Trump.
	It's done nothing to harm him.
	In fact, has it increased support for him?
	Not really.
	It just hasn't changed.
	He's been, I mean, There was a dip a while ago, but you can see that that had already recovered to about 55% on average.
	And I'm just looking at the polls themselves.
	Again, this was from only two days ago, so the picture was out.
	And it's just been about the same the whole time.
	This has had no impact on his national polling.
	And it's also been no impact on Biden's national polling, which is roughly the same.
	It seems that about 40% of America on either side are just entrenched in their positions at this point.
	40% Democrats are just like, no, we're not having it.
	40% Republicans are like, no, we're not having it.
	20% in the middle.
	Yeah.
	Then the squeezed 20% of independents in the middle are just In fact, that's what this ABC News poll thinks, analysis thinks, which is like, well, I mean, I think the fact that things are just utterly calcified, nothing was changed with Trump losing the previous election.
	And I get the feeling that a lot of Americans are just tired of things.
	Yes.
	They're just tired of these things.
	But I personally am of the opinion that Trump is In a kind of heroic story, like Gilgamesh or the Iliad or Beowulf.
	And there are ups and downs in these stories and Trump has to come back and win.
	I think that this is an important thing to have happen.
	Um, so yeah, I thought I thought we'd just, um, go over this just because I, I think that they are revealing a position of fundamental weakness and insecurity.
	And I think their reaction to this, rather than taking this seriously, which I think they should.
	Cause I mean, this is a historic mugshot.
	This is historic.
	And it's not, I think, played well for the Democrats or the Left at all, but it hasn't changed the field of battle like they were expecting it to do.
	So I just think it's very interesting.
	So do you think that Hanson may have a point where he says that Right now, Democrats could want to elevate the image of Trump in order to make him win all the other candidates and then attack him even more with legal stuff.
	I mean, maybe?
	I don't know.
	I'm at the point where I don't know if, because what there is, is a giant industry.
	It's too early to know.
	One year in politics is a lot.
	It is.
	Yeah, that's very true.
	But the thing is, there's an entire industry that is built up around purely attacking Donald Trump, attacking MAGA, right?
	There are people who make their money doing this and they think of nothing else and they have done for the last four years.
	So I don't think they're very clear eyed about The competition, the engagement anymore, you know, and I'm not saying in any way there are people on the right who are like, ah, well, we're just clear eyed people who just have come to a rational calculation about the Democrats and just think they're wrong.
	You know, there are people who are deeply emotionally invested in this.
	We're not thinking straight on both sides.
	And I just side with the MAGA guys.
	I just want to show the difference between the rhetoric of accusations when he assumed office and afterwards because in the beginning they were saying that he was sort of an enemy of more like a democracy because the whole system was Against democracy.
	That was what the Democrats were saying because they say Hillary won the popular vote, but the system of the electors is a constitutional feature of the US system.
	And that is how he won the presidency.
	And they were saying that he did not my president.
	That was what they were saying on such grounds.
	And afterwards, they're saying that he's attacking the constitution.
	Yeah, yeah, they don't care about that, do they?
	It's, uh, yes.
	So, you know, it's very interesting how, as soon as Donald Trump wins, again, the popular vote doesn't really mean anything in America, because it's a decentralized, federalized republic.
	So it doesn't matter if, you know, more people in California vote for Donald Trump, or vote for Joe Biden, or whoever, that just doesn't matter what kind of Hillary Clinton it was.
	That just doesn't matter.
	What matters is the aggregate across the states in locale.
	But like I say, as soon as that was the case, we saw non-stop, oh, we need to get rid of the Electoral College.
	And as soon as the Supreme Court started doing things it didn't like, oh, and you've seen them talking about, well, we need to pack the Supreme Court.
	We need to increase the size of the Supreme Court.
	It's exactly as you're saying.
	These people don't really care about the system.
	They just care about winning at all costs.
	And I'm not saying anything about the previous elections because I genuinely don't know.
	What I want to say is that I didn't hear many people blaming the electorate system from the Democrats.
	That when Donald Trump won the presidency of November 2016, they were saying, not my president and the electorate system has to change.
	Yeah, but there were also lots of them saying it was stolen.
	Yeah, and in the next election, I think that they... Oh yeah, they didn't say any of that.
	The electorate system was another problem.
	Yeah, exactly.
	I'm just focusing on the rhetoric.
	No, no, no, you're absolutely right.
	They did exactly do that.
	And so now they've got to this point where they're just so pathologically obsessed with defeating Trump and MAGA.
	That they don't care about the damage that they're doing to the United States as a whole.
	They don't really, I don't think they understand really how they come across to someone who isn't deeply invested in this either.
	Because again, I don't think people were looking at that mugshot and being like, oh this is Trump's done for now, you know.
	But anyway, we'll leave it there.
	But just final point, I think it has to do with legitimacy.
	And they just think that they're incredibly legitimate and legitimated in the eyes of the general population.
	But I have a feeling that a lot of people in the US, they are getting angrier and angrier with the current administration.
	I think you're right.
	It does make them look illegitimate.
	But anyway, we'll leave it there for now because I'm sure they'll do something ridiculous tomorrow.
	Now, I don't know if you are one of those people who loves shopping.
	I don't really know.
	I don't love shopping so much.
	I like going on a shop, my eyes instantly go on the thing I want to buy.
	I buy it and then I leave.
	I don't like shopping therapy or something.
	Yeah, for me, shopping is a mission, right?
	Yes, exactly.
	I need to get X, so I go to the shop and if it doesn't have it, I'm annoyed and then I have to go somewhere else.
	And this is honestly why I use Amazon for stuff.
	Because it's just the easiest thing in the world.
	I'll just get the first one that's got five stars or the highest rating.
	Job done.
	I don't have to think about it.
	I'm totally eyes in the prize.
	When I walk in, just no nonsense.
	I look at what I want to buy and I buy it and that's it.
	But there are people who are saying that they want a lovely shopping experience when they go somewhere.
	A lot of women like it.
	Yeah, and some men.
	They just love looking at the aisles, surveying the products, and they're going to have tough times now with shoplifting because it is changing a lot the buying experience.
	Except for the shoplifters themselves.
	Maybe they're going to love this.
	But the problem is that shoplifting is becoming the new norm.
	And if you believe it, California will ban employees from trying to prevent shoplifting.
	Usually, that's the issue.
	When you have a normal activity, you want to penalize those who want to disrupt it.
	Now, the law is going to ban employees from trying to prevent it.
	But the problem with this is that we're thinking this on a very individual level, right?
	We think, well, it is morally impermissible for a person to shoplift, and therefore, if that person tries to shoplift, then they should be punished by the law.
	They are thinking of it on a collective level.
	They're thinking of this in terms of social justice.
	So they have in mind a particular demographic that does the disproportionate amount of shoplifting and they're thinking how can we protect that demographic on the assumption that other demographics won't just say well okay we'll do the same thing.
	And I think it is more sinister and cynical than that.
	More cynical than that?
	Yeah, because I don't think that they really care about the well-being even of that demographic.
	I think they want to play divide and conquer with the people.
	Quite possibly.
	Yeah, so before we say...
	I was going to give them the benefit of the doubt, but well, at least they really care about those communities that they're indulging.
	Yeah, but it could be that they don't at all.
	Let's see, let's see.
	Now, before we say more, you can visit our website and if you want to support us, you can subscribe with only £5 a month and you can gain access to all our premium content and watch videos such as the latest contemplations on Scientology. you can subscribe with only £5 a month and you Um, videos such as the latest, uh, contemplations on, uh, Scientology.
	Uh, this is, uh, Joshua's, uh, series and he's discussing with Bo and myself, uh, Scientology.
	So watch this.
	Cause he's been doing really deep dives into cults at the moment.
	I don't know why it suddenly got him really interested, but he spent weeks just, and he keeps coming out with all of this.
	Like, cause I sit next to Josh and Josh has told me, tell me something crazy about these cults.
	I'm like.
	Okay.
	You know, for some reason it's really captured his imagination.
	If Josh ends up leaving, then I disavow.
	It wasn't my plan.
	That wasn't the point.
	These are really good deep dives.
	This is the third one and we've done a fourth one as well.
	Oh, really?
	And it has gone very well.
	And I think it's a really interesting subject.
	Oh, it is a fascinating subject.
	Now, back to our topic.
	Now, I think we should start with the next video and just, we can let it play on mute here.
	This is from Nordstrom.
	We see a group of people with hoods, just shopping, not shopping, shoplifting, stealing stuff.
	Just shopping, California style.
	Yes.
	I think it's worth pointing out that Nordstrom is a high-end shop.
	Yes.
	And we can see from the quality of the goods, these are not starving people just who are in desperate need of just a quick hand.
	No, they're taking Really expensive things.
	Exactly.
	It is organized retail crime.
	It's not that someone is really hungry and dies of hunger and thirst and they go into a shop and they get a sandwich or a bottle of water.
	It's not like an Aladdin situation.
	Yeah, it's not like for bread.
	Exactly.
	You know, I'm thirsty.
	I'm thirsty.
	I'm gonna steal a $2,000 Louis Vuitton to quench my thirst.
	Yeah, exactly.
	It doesn't work exactly this way.
	Now, this is as we said at Nordstrom.
	Now, one thing, if we go on the next bit, this is afterwards.
	And again, we can play it on mute.
	You see it's completely empty.
	But not moreover, you can see they're packing the store up.
	Yes, they are packing the store up because there is only so much you can do and tolerate in California at the moment.
	And also probably just financially.
	There's only so many losses you can accept like this.
	Well, the business becomes unviable.
	Yeah.
	Now, one thing to say, if we have this image in mind of people storming in and just looting stuff and all this, what is interesting is that they're running.
	And I must say that, that a lot of people, when they shoplift, they don't run.
	I saw people shoplifting this weekend and they were just walking.
	And, uh, I just asked someone, I mean, what happened?
	Are you going to do something about it?
	And, uh, he said, uh, no, it's okay.
	We can't do anything.
	So the person in that shop, I'm not going to say what shop is because Harry disapproves of it a lot.
	Yeah.
	But, um, He didn't even get angry.
	Just totally resigned.
	Totally resigned.
	Yeah.
	Just people are going to shoplift.
	There's nothing to do.
	No one to call.
	There's just nothing.
	Anyway, I haven't got a comment.
	It's just awful.
	Yes.
	And I think everyone knows that this isn't how things should be.
	And maybe this is even worse than if they're running, because when they run, they fear that there may be a problem.
	There's at least like, um, A sense of danger?
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And like, as if, oh, there is an authority in place, there are structures in place that would normally prevent this.
	So I'm at least doing something wrong.
	Or there is another scenario we may have not considered that some of them are just adrenaline junkies and they know they're not going to get caught.
	They know they're going to get away with it.
	They want to act the part a bit.
	Yeah, that's possible.
	Right.
	Now, let's see this article from the Daily Mail.
	It says, San Francisco Nordstrom closes after nearly three decades in business amid the rise in crime.
	Uh, the closing of the store comes as San Francisco continues to experience a rise in crime, homelessness, and rampant drug use.
	And, uh, we say here, we can have, uh, says a video shows flagship Nordstrom store almost completely barren as the store closes after nearly three decades in business.
	The department store located in downtown San Francisco center closed Sunday amid rising crime, homelessness, and public drug use.
	So just the thing here, like I, I really think it's important that the, The people running San Francisco are aware that their city is losing prestige, right?
	It's one thing where it's like, look, the pharmacy is closing or like the local corner shop is closing because for some reason it is a certain demographic is essentially allowed to just flout all the rules of society and form social media mobs that go and gang loot the pharmacy is closing or like the local corner shop is
	But it's another thing when it's like, again, massive and stylish, prestigious companies that sell high-end goods that were the draw to the sort of beautiful women.
	Oh, I'd like to live in San Francisco because look at all the quality of life they have there, which of course draws successful men.
	And so this is a kind of thing, a kind of pyramid that's all built up together.
	We start taking major blocks out of that pyramid, but it renders the whole thing a lot more unsound.
	And we've covered this many times, how San Francisco has a massive budget shortage.
	It's got unbelievable amounts of office space.
	The streets are obviously disgusting.
	Why would I want to live there?
	That's a very big question, and I just ask myself this question every time I see Gavin Newsom, who is the governor of California, speaking in triumphant style.
	Yeah, it's so weird.
	Okay, this guy is talking like that and what is he governing?
	Is he governing the Elysium Fields or something?
	It's not exactly the Elysium Fields.
	I'm surprised here they haven't stolen the mannequins.
	They don't look cool.
	Maybe they want it as bait.
	They say, bring some more clothes so we can steal them again.
	Let me just scroll down here a bit because I want to show you some stuff.
	You see here Nordstrom being completely empty.
	Maybe, you know, it's people are leaving, but also things have been stolen.
	It's the hollowing out of civilization because of declining standards.
	Yeah.
	It seems like a post-apocalyptic scenery.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	This is like zombie apocalypse.
	Exactly.
	You know, everyone's gone.
	Everything's gone.
	We'll have more zombie-like stuff towards the end of this segment.
	Now, let's see the San Francisco crisis by numbers.
	They say here it's compared to pre-COVID levels.
	Worst case estimate.
	And they say, for instance, five-year budget deficit, minus $1.3 billion.
	Downtown footfall, minus 65%.
	People just don't want to walk there anymore for obvious reasons.
	First of all, it's not safe.
	It's disgusting.
	Yes, there are a lot of fentanyl users.
	We'll talk about it.
	But also if nearly a hundred major stores have closed, what are you going down there for?
	It's like Oxford Street in London.
	This is where all of the big, fancy, prestigious stores are.
	You might go in there and spend some money and blah, blah, blah.
	But you'd walk around there because there's stuff there.
	But if all the stuff's gone and the streets are covered in human feces and drug addicts are all over the place and could well attack you, well, of course I'm not going to walk down there.
	Yes, and let me just say, I think that this is a really important point to raise against those people who constantly talk about social justice.
	They just constantly speak as if entrepreneurship is something demonical, that they're always justified to raise taxes.
	Tax, tax, tax, tax people who engage in entrepreneurship in order to Take money from them and give them into other people in order to secure the outcomes that a social planner has thought in his or her mind that are going to be the ideal and just outcomes.
	But the point is that if we just be commonsensical for a moment and forget social justice stuff.
	If possible.
	If we could, for just a minute, governors of California, mayors of all the cities, all of the lower level politicians, councillors and whatnot.
	Just use common sense for five seconds.
	This is, I mean, elementary Hobbes.
	He says, where the fruit of your labor is not secure, industry doesn't thrive.
	And we see this here.
	Perhaps they should read some Hobbes.
	It's not like you needed a great philosopher to explain that to you.
	Exactly.
	Who is going to insure a company that is based on a place that is constantly raided and looted?
	Not even insure.
	If you're an entrepreneur and you say, right, I need $20,000 as a loan to set up a business, that's going to be great.
	I've got a great idea.
	And you go to the bank, you say, look, I just want to set this up.
	And the bank says, oh my God, that's an amazing business.
	Where are you going to get property?
	And they're like, San Francisco.
	No.
	Why?
	Why do it there?
	Why not do it in, like, Texas or something?
	So it says more than 95 stores have closed, office vacancies 31%, public transport use has been decreased by 65%, as well as downtown football that we said.
	And property tax revenue minus $196 million.
	And as you can guess, a lot of the property around has lost a lot of its value.
	This is an economic bomb.
	I don't see why Gavin Newsom is so happy when he's constantly talking about his administration.
	I talked about this with Harry the other day.
	There's a guy who set up a doom spiral tour or something where it's just come and see all the worst places in San Francisco.
	Yeah.
	Here we have San Francisco's major closures and departures.
	This is mad, actually.
	Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Hilton.
	You also have Omega, which is James Bond's watches.
	Oh yeah, yeah.
	It's the high-end stuff.
	Also, Banana Republic.
	Yeah, but that's like a fashion brand.
	But these are all the high-end brands that made your city desirable, that made some posh kids want to go to San Francisco to spend their dad's money.
	Yeah, Ray-Ban, they'd be spending daddy's money in all of these shops.
	Amazon is leaving as well.
	Yeah, but this is the Where the high-end people used to go.
	Yes.
	This is what you get when you don't listen to common sense and you just say that, well, listen, law enforcement is important for any community because in any community there are people who don't respect the law.
	And how long do they expect this social justice to persist for?
	So let's assume that a certain demographic of the San Francisco community who previously did not have access to, uh, high-end Nordstrom clothing now have, at least some of them have this.
	How long is it going to last for?
	Are they going to take care of these things?
	Are they going to pass them down as heirlooms to their children?
	No.
	You know, they're going eventually in like five years time, they're going to be like, okay, that's not fit to wear anymore.
	I can't go and buy another one.
	I can't even go and loot another one.
	So have you really brought about social justice?
	Maybe in their mind, but I don't think that what they have as social justice in the mind makes sense.
	Even if this is what they themselves can characterize as social justice, it's such short-sighted foolishness.
	This is not going to last.
	There's another local luxury furnisher, Gamps.
	And in early August this year, John Chachas, he wrote a letter to Gavin Newsom, and we have it here.
	It says, an open letter to Governor Newsom.
	He says, Gump's has been a San Francisco icon for more than 165 years.
	Today, as we prepare for our 166th Holiday season at 250 Post Street.
	We fear this may be our last because of the profound erosion of the city's current conditions.
	San Francisco now suffers from tyranny of the minority behavior and actions of the few that jeopardize the livelihood of the many.
	And he says many other stuff, but he says here, San Franciscans deserve better than the current condition of their city.
	And this is exactly what social justice is.
	It is to find the marginalized minority, who are often marginalized for reasons, and just elevate them above the majority.
	And so the majority of people now have to carry this minority on their shoulders as a burden.
	Now, let's watch the next clip, because there have been some people who have died while trying to stop shoplifting.
	Yes, let's watch the next video.
	Just in San Francisco, police records show close to 2,900 shopliftings were reported last year.
	That's way up from 2020, when shopliftings actually decreased by 34% when the COVID pandemic began and so many businesses shut down.
	But the crime rebounded in 2021, with shoplifting reports going back up 15% from pre-pandemic levels.
	There's no deterrent in the state of California to discourage theft at this point.
	Mike Leninger is a retired police officer and security consultant.
	Under current state law, shoplifting merchandise valued under $950 is considered a misdemeanor and often not investigated.
	They basically opened the gates to theft and you are seeing that in stores that are closing, chains that are lowering the number of stores under the guise of financial constraints.
	Leninger says what happened with the loss prevention employee in Pleasanton should have never happened.
	For the state of California for licensed security guards, they are mandated to observe and report only.
	They're not to take physical action.
	Our expert Leninger says that if you witness a shoplifting as an employee or as a customer, you should not engage the suspect.
	It is best to notify authorities and record only if it is safe to do so.
	Back to you.
	Let's find the authorities to do what?
	Effectively, what this person says is that there is actually no deterrent.
	Of course.
	The wrong message is taken across.
	Now, let's look at this bill here that is being put forward.
	It says, Bill to stop employees confronting shoplifters passed by California Senate.
	It says here, lawmakers in California are hoping to push through controversial legislation that would ban retail staff from stopping thieves stealing from their stores.
	So they're going to make it legally?
	Actionable if you try and interfere with the theft.
	Yes, and they say that this is what they're doing in order to protect the employees.
	This is a half truth to protect the criminals.
	Yeah, I think this is a half truth, but it's if we bear the context in mind, it is actually just.
	It's pure nonsense because I can definitely understand someone who says, well, I mean, I have a here a normal job and I don't work here in order to die.
	Yeah.
	But on the other hand, I think that this makes mobs even more afraid because and there's a kind of symbolic status here because I mean, it just it is kind of It is weird when your state bans you from doing something.
	There's almost an element of insult.
	If you're doing this, I think that you should be prevented from doing this and you will be punished for doing this.
	The question is who is protected by the law?
	Yes.
	And it's not the people doing their jobs.
	Yes.
	It's not the property owners themselves.
	It's literally the criminals.
	Yes.
	And now let's say one thing here because I have this article here for people who are a bit more interested to reading it.
	California's proposed shoplifting law would be a disaster.
	No kidding.
	Yeah.
	And let's focus a bit on the problem that is in California.
	So it's called Proposition 47.
	Right.
	And it reduces the penalty for thieving under goods of value under $950.
	It's been on the table for a while now.
	It has been since 2014.
	And I have a video that we can watch in a bit that shows where one of the persons who co-signed the bill is talking about it.
	And I want to show the incredible short-sightedness that was involved in the signing of that bill.
	But yeah, let's go and watch it. - Now Chief Lansdowne, you co-authored this proposition with San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon to reduce penalties for non-violent crimes, felons specifically to misdemeanors.
	What kind of crimes are we talking about?
	What we're talking about is petty theft, it's personal possession of small amounts of drugs, it's writing a bad check, all under $950.
	Embezzlement, writing false checks, some ID theft.
	It's really treating misdemeanors for what they are.
	But right now some of those are felons, like the check writing.
	Those in favor of Prop 47 say that it'll actually improve public safety and it'll save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
	How so?
	Well, I can tell you the prison system's broken.
	The federal government had to come in and do realignment because public safety couldn't fix it.
	It clearly is going to reduce the numbers of people in prison.
	There's about 10,000 that are in their last three years that it would affect.
	And the money saved anywhere is from $100 million to $250 million a year.
	It goes into three things.
	One is mental health and drug prevention.
	That's 65 percent.
	Twenty-five percent goes to school to keep kids in school.
	If kids graduate from school, the propensity to be involved in crime is lessened considerably, or 10 percent of it goes to victims of crime.
	So that's the public safety aspect that that's addressing, that's spending on that, because it seems counterintuitive to say that, hey, we're going to, you know, reduce these felons, felonies to misdemeanors, but it's going to improve public safety.
	Well, they still get sanctions, they still go to local jails, and the studies clearly show that in the local jails they get far better service.
	Fifty percent of the people in prison today are suffering from mental illness.
	It starts to address that before they get to prison.
	So, they did it for public safety.
	Yeah.
	And they say that basically that they are going to What they saw was the following.
	What he says is that the prison system is broken.
	It's costly.
	So in order to save money, to save people's money, we need to reduce the sentences.
	This is one of the age-old arguments that a lot of people who are against strong laws claim.
	But what I want to say is that I mean, there are all sorts of things at this.
	This is fishy.
	But what is mostly interesting is to see how this has evolved and to see that when we're talking about policy, we need to constantly bear in mind the whole society.
	What do you get when you have a not so closed border and actually you get A lot of people who come into a place and they don't exactly respect it.
	And let's play the next clip on mute and see how this has massively backfired with the fentanyl.
	I don't see any public safety here.
	There are thousands of clips.
	Well, this is going to show you how being abstract about your concerns about safety and the welfare of individuals really conceals What is obviously not a safe place with healthy people.
	Exactly.
	So what they saw was from a very, let's say, one sided perspective, they were saying, OK, well, it's it's a bad thing to have so many people in prison.
	Maybe we should reduce sentences.
	But once you do that in a context where there is an open border with some drugs that come into a country and a region within the country that massively that turns people effectively into People who do things like that, like the esteemed gentleman.
	Actually, you don't get any public safety.
	You get chaos and anarchy.
	And I think that this is what happens very frequently when we have people who constantly talk about social justice.
	They constantly, they have a very rosy idea of what it is they're doing, and they neglect the fact that they are proposing policies These policies are entirely harmful because they very frequently don't have the ability to look reality in the face, accept reality, and there are some harsh stuff we should accept.
	And actually, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
	I agree.
	So let's move on to more hell, shall we?
	Are you a fan of the Notting Hill Carnival, Stelios?
	I know nothing about it.
	Right, well, you're going to learn something about it today.
	The Notting Hill Carnival was a celebration of the Caribbean culture and community in London.
	It's been going since 1966, as I understand it, and I don't think you can really say where it is at the moment.
	It's a high point.
	of the Caribbean culture in London.
	But before we begin, if you want to support us go to locities.com five for a month and watch Dan's excellent Broconomics series.
	This one is a deep dive into Elon Musk's personal history and the things that he's done, the businesses he's built, how they've done and where he's come to now, which is always good to have a fascinating sort of biopic on it.
	But anyway, so let's begin with the Notting Hill Carnival.
	Now, visit London, the official tour guide or the official visitors guide, say join the city's biggest street party and one of the most popular carnivals in London, as the streets of West London are filled with Caribbean colors, music and flavors during the Notting Hill Carnival.
	I think that the ethnic particularity of this carnival is something That they can't help themselves.
	Let's try and emphasize.
	They really are like, look, this is the Caribbean for anyone who doesn't know that means the black community in London, and this is their festival.
	And so we're going to make a big deal out of it.
	And that means that essentially everything that happens there is kind of pinned on that community.
	Yes.
	I saw a really interesting picture.
	And if we scroll up the article, I saw some pictures of some people who don't strike me necessarily as Caribbean.
	And if it is about celebrating Caribbean culture, I don't see how celebrating, let's say, Far East Sure, you know, whatever.
	It's a carnival.
	It's not my thing, but I'm happy.
	I don't care about that.
	And so, OK, it's apparently quite a big thing.
	I mean, according to ITV, thousands of people took part in the carnival.
	And they say, in fact, thousands took part in an exuberant adult parade.
	Right.
	That's interesting, isn't it?
	That makes me a bit scared.
	Yeah, well, you'll get to see why in a second.
	People were partying, quote unquote, atop floats, followed by drummers and dancers and things like this.
	Meanwhile, the sweet, smoky scent of jerk chicken filled the side streets.
	Like, this is a stereotypical carnival.
	And various celebrities were there, and it is expected that more than two million people will have taken to the streets of West London by the end of the bank holiday.
	As the carnival, Europe's biggest street party, celebrates two landmark anniversaries.
	And I mean, there's some footage around.
	I don't know.
	Can we play this in there without the sound, John, so you can see?
	I don't know if that works.
	But you can see there are tens of thousands of people there.
	I don't know if two million to me strikes me as a bit high, maybe.
	But I mean, who knows?
	There are lots of people there.
	And as you can see, this is like the procession and lots of people going past it.
	Not all of them are celebrating the carnival.
	No, no, no, no.
	The sort of carnival procession is in the middle for anyone who doesn't know.
	But anyway, the BBC characterised this as a celebration of the Windrush legacy, commemorating 75 years since the first Windrush arrivals.
	London is a melting pot of diversity and culture, so it's wonderful that young people really get to...
	Young people really wants to represent Britain as well as the native country of their parents and bring them together.
	So it's them to literally say, well, we're from the Caribbean and we live in Britain.
	Okay.
	It's the legacy and memories of the Windrush generation that have brought to Britain.
	Everyone here is just so proud of their origins and their descent.
	Yeah.
	Would you ever hear that for any native community in this country?
	No, you're not supposed to be proud.
	Exactly.
	It's a bad thing.
	Exactly.
	But I'm here with my Granada flag representing my mom and dad.
	Yes.
	I'm here with my English flag representing my mom and dad.
	Am I allowed to?
	No, of course you're not.
	Right.
	But that's the thing.
	It's all about this kind of promotion of a particular ethnic group.
	When promoting other native ethnic groups, it's just not acceptable.
	And also if the erosion of national identity is the end goal, then one of the most powerful ways to destroy it is to momentarily empower other non-native national identities.
	Yes.
	And again, it's a divide and conquer that I think is what is being done.
	It's hard not to say that it's not.
	Also, it's hard to see how this really reflects well on the community that they're pinning this on, frankly, because I mean, it was all class.
	It's just all so classy.
	It's like, why?
	Yeah, very, very, very respectable communities out there.
	It's comical, actually.
	You go from the reporting and the cherry-picked images they have, and then these videos are all over Twitter, right?
	And there are loads of them that we can't show because this is going to go on YouTube, right?
	So, like, You just come.
	I just don't see how, you know, it's an issue of culture to jump on bridges and do things like that.
	Yeah.
	There are so many of these videos.
	Yeah.
	Like, and a lot of them, I mean, I, I, I mean, honestly, I might ask Jack or whoever to censor this to be honest, because I don't think that YouTube is going to be okay with this, but this was just going, I mean, they, you know, they did say it's an adult brain, but, uh, you know, okay.
	It's one thing, the Caribbean community twerking on each other.
	It's another thing, uh, twerking on the cops.
	Like, why is he just... That... Is that not sexual assault?
	Is that not like legally classified as sexual assault?
	I don't know.
	Maybe he likes it or something.
	Well, he walks away from it.
	So I think he was over at Stand There.
	Maybe his wife saw it.
	He backs away from it.
	I don't think he's trying to solicit that.
	Yeah.
	But it's just unbelievable, isn't it?
	Like there was a more famous one from 2017 where this female cop got pinned against a railing and dry-humped.
	How is that not something against women?
	Well, you would think so.
	And in fact, we'll get to it.
	I mean, I just come and check out the celebration of the Caribbean community.
	I wouldn't want them characterizing my community in this way, just saying.
	But anyway, the Metropolitan Police were like, yeah, we're working hard to keep everyone safe and Notting Hill.
	Uh, how do you think that went?
	Uh, bad.
	Yeah.
	Usually it turns bad.
	Yeah.
	Uh, eight stabbings, 275 arrests, and one police officer was sexually assaulted and two were bitten.
	What?
	Well, they say a number of officers were assaulted over the course of two days.
	These included sexual assaults and two incidents where officers were bitten, as well as eight people being stabbed.
	Well, I can't say anything right now because I don't have anything good in mind to say.
	Yes, that's exactly right.
	You'd be surprised at how many machetes were present, actually.
	There was a person running through the streets with a machete.
	Here's him being arrested.
	Thank God.
	Was it a celebratory machete?
	It was a proud machete, a machete don't text type.
	I honestly couldn't tell you, but this is the image that made it onto the front page of the Times.
	I mean, just amazing.
	Well, this is what you get when you basically preach impunity.
	If there are people who constantly act in a heinous way, they constantly get away with it because there are some, let's say, Bad people who are just psychologizing constantly.
	Yeah.
	And they're saying, well, it's okay.
	You, they grew up in a bad place.
	It's not their fault.
	It's society's fault that machetes exist and he decided to get one.
	Yeah.
	But again, eight people stabbed, two of them critically, obviously.
	No one died, thankfully.
	So that's a good start.
	But, um, but of course this, this means we'll hang on a second.
	This is not really sustainable, the police say.
	The Met Union police bosses have been like, well, the level of violence at Notting Hill Carnival has become unacceptable and unsustainable.
	As one officer was sexually assaulted and six others, six others are reportedly bitten now.
	So this is a couple of days afterwards and say, well, it was 308 arrests, actually, across the bank holiday weekend.
	More than 50 officers were assaulted by being kicked, punched, spat on, bitten, head butted, and even urinated upon from upper floor windows.
	Amazing.
	You can't have it that every single year come Tuesday morning, we're contemplating these types of injuries.
	There's no these numbers of injuries and sexual assaults and stabbings.
	It really is awful, says the vice chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Rick Pryor.
	Well, there we go.
	That's that's wonderful.
	Not really sure we should be sharing that video on YouTube.
	And I guess, thank goodness, Those who carried out the attacks have nothing to do with Notting Hill Carnival or its values.
	acts of violence.
	They say they deplore all acts of violence after a number of stabbings.
	Those who carried out the attacks have nothing to do with Notting Hill Carnival or its values.
	No comment on the degeneracy or sexual assault though.
	Do they condemn them wherever they come from?
	They didn't.
	They just said all acts of violence, so let's assume that they do.
	But they added that such stabbings were tragically all too common in our society.
	Yeah, our society is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, right?
	Because I'm not part of our society.
	I'm part of my society.
	I'm not part of that society.
	And in fact, they say, noting that 12,786 knife offenses were carried out in London over the last 12 months until the end of March, according to the ANS, Well, this is something that the mayor of London should be looking instead of focusing on the Uless things.
	Well, you would think so.
	But remember, Sadiq Khan ran on a platform of reducing stop and search because it was racist.
	And he appears to be the direct cause of the increase in stabbings, frankly.
	But anyway, just a quick thing on that really.
	The Notting Hill Carnival is exactly as disgusting as it looks, and I personally would never go to it.
	Right, let's go to the video comments.
	Society depends on young men who are willing to die for it, and young men are willing to die for women, basically.
	But it's a certain type of woman.
	And it's not some woman who shakes your butt around and pleasures them sexually.
	Strangely enough, men universally want to die for their mom.
	Past, present, or future.
	They'll die for future moms.
	They'll die for past moms.
	They'll die for present moms.
	Women and children first.
	Uh, and the thing is when men ask women to submit, it's so that those women are worth defending and we're just trying to make them submit so they become good moms.
	It's kind of wholesome and feminism turned it into this ugly thing.
	We just want you all to be good moms.
	You know, it's nice.
	It's wholesome.
	So we have this video coming on Monday.
	I don't know why, but it seems to be.
	Yeah, I'm not blaming you, John.
	It seems to be a lot more applicable after that Notting Hill part, right?
	And there's a great point, like who in, like you've got this crowd of guys twerking, women twerking on these guys.
	Do they think a single one of those guys is going to stand up for them?
	I mean, I can't see how they would.
	I don't know if it's a culture thing.
	I don't know what the values of that culture is.
	Who of those women are like, yeah, well, these men will fight for us?
	No, they're not.
	Why would they fight for you?
	Maybe they would fight against the enemy by twerking.
	None of the men are dependable, and that's the point.
	There's no reason at all that any of those men would spill a single ounce of their own blood for these women.
	I'm just going to leave, sensibly enough.
	Anyway, let's go to the next one.
	Quentin Tarantino did an interview recently where he was complaining that he's never seen Hollywood this bad since the 80s and the 50s.
	And since currently the trend is to try and recreate the feel of 80s films, does that mean in the coming decades we're going to have movies that are trying to recreate the feel of 2015 to 2020 era movies?
	Because that sounds like it's going to be hell!
	Maybe, but I don't think they're going to be capable of it.
	I think the decline is so palpable that, uh, yeah, we've had this one before as well.
	I think the decline is so palpable, but it'll just be a sort of shadow of a shadow at that point, you know, photocopy of a photocopy.
	Yeah.
	You mean sequel after sequel and remake after remake?
	It's not even that, like the quality of the image.
	You know, it's one thing to have a sequel that is at least of high quality and builds upon what's come before, but that's not what's going to be happening.
	It's going to be like just a photocopy, photocopy, photocopy, where the detail is just getting lower and lower and lower resolution until eventually you're just looking at something terrible.
	Let me just say one thing that I think 80s and 90s are one of my favorite, two of my favorite decades in movies.
	Oh, yeah, there's some great movies.
	Yeah, great movies.
	So I wouldn't mind if there was a recreation of the 80s.
	Yeah, but it's going to be artificial and poorly done of low quality and with people who don't fit, right?
	Because the thing is about the 80s and 90s is that they were the product of an authentic kind of person who lived through those things.
	They weren't trying to emulate something in the past, really.
	They thought they were on the sort of cutting edge of like, you know, human culture and technology and whatnot.
	And they were, really.
	Yes, but if it's a good, if it's something that is good and lasting and has lots of value.
	Yeah, but do you think Hollywood's going to do anything like that?
	Well, I think that, for instance, something like Stranger Things, that it has something that is... I kind of liked it.
	And I mean, it does have an 80s feel, but it's also... I'm just going to judge you, that's all.
	Let's go to the written comments.
	That's conservative.
	You want to go back to what was good.
	No, you don't want to go back.
	Well, that's the thing.
	There's no going back anywhere.
	There's only going forward.
	You can take things from the past with you, but you can never go back to the past.
	Yeah, you can take 80s movies.
	Yeah, but we have the 80s movies.
	We don't need a single remake.
	Anyway, let's go to the comments.
	Baron Von Warhawk says, Trump's mugshot is one thing.
	However, the more important aspect of this story that is often not discussed is his lawyers' mugshots.
	Well, that, yeah.
	Well, yeah, honestly, that's the thing.
	The fact that they're going after his lawyers as well shows that this is nothing more than a power play to stop him from running again, and that has nothing to do with justice or fair trials.
	This is a category of court that you'd expect in China.
	It's sickening.
	Yeah.
	And this is why I think this comes from position of weakness rather than position of strength.
	Just because you've got the mechanisms, you can pull the levers to make this happen, doesn't mean you should.
	And this is ridiculous.
	Derek says, what's amazing is that Trump has spent nearly his entire life in the limelight and understand how optics work.
	Uh, the so-called big media fails to understand this about him, and that's why Trump is able to play them like a fiddle while America's Rome burns.
	Uh, yes, that's totally true.
	Andrew says the timing of these charges suggests weakness as well.
	That's a great point.
	Given how many of these were supposed to be crimes from years ago, it's awfully convenient that the trials are set to begin right as elections start.
	Yeah, it becomes very transparent that this is just essentially what they, they're attempting election interference.
	Theodore says, in the Rome America comparison, I think Trump is fulfilling the role of the Gracchi brothers.
	See, I, I wrote, uh, did I write?
	No, I think Bo wrote a piece on this.
	One of the first things that he did for Lotus Eaters was called Remember the Gracchi.
	Um, because yeah, Trump absolutely more represents the populist reformers in the, uh, mold of the Gracchi than he does Caesar, actually.
	Um, Yeah, in the agrarian laws and reforms.
	Yes.
	No, this was really interesting.
	And there are lots of good comparisons we could draw with that era, because that era, there was a huge influx of people in the Roman Republic.
	And yes, exactly.
	And lots of the Roman, the plebeians, they had lots of problems with land and they were losing their jobs.
	And the Gracchi, the way I see, they were in favor of a kind of protectionism.
	Blackabsol says they're showing nothing but fear in regards to Trump.
	When you cut out a monk's tongue, you do not silence his message, but you show everyone that you're scared of what he's already said and what he'll say in the future.
	Absolutely.
	Rose says, Karl, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the possibility of another Trump presidency versus that of an RFK Jr presidency.
	He, RFK, has a multi-generational arc of his own to finish as well.
	Well, to be honest, I don't know much about Robert Kennedy Jr.
	I actually don't follow, I wasn't really aware of his career until very recently when he started getting in everyone's faces.
	So I would have to go and look at it, but I mean, you may well be right.
	You may well be right.
	Thomas says the plan is to ignore how good this makes Trump poll and to give key battleground states the pretext to remove him from the ballot completely.
	We're approaching the Battle of Athens situation at a federal level.
	Trump and his allies should be ensuring that states that remove him from the ballot illegally return electoral college votes to the legislatures as should happen in election interference cases.
	Well, yeah, I mean, again, the whole thing just, just feels weak.
	They feel as if they know they can't actually win an election.
	Right.
	I mean, like one of the things is like, it's one thing asking people on the street, Oh, well, what do you think about Trump and Biden?
	Right.
	And then my blog, well, you know, 40% yes, 40% no, both sides.
	But how likely are people who are saying yes to one side or the other actually to get out and go and vote?
	Because only about 69 or something like percent of the electorate actually goes and votes in any given case.
	So Essentially, if people are not very happy with Joe Biden, even if, in theory, they support Joe Biden and what he's done, I don't know why you would, but let's say, in theory, if you do, are you still going to be bothered enough to actually get off your ass and go and do the voting for him?
	Exactly.
	And I think that what I constantly see when I listen to Democrats nowadays, at least the incumbent government, the administration, they don't seem to talk about the future.
	A lot.
	They constantly talk about Trump.
	The future looks bad.
	Yes, they constantly talk about Trump and the past, and the Republicans seem to me to be talking more about the future.
	Uh, Lord Nerevar says scientists and politicians shocked to hear that when crime legalized robbery skyrockets.
	It's cultural now from a people from certain California communities will almost automatically try to steal whenever they can, because they've grown up and being conditioned into it.
	Now that it's easier than ever to get away with theft.
	Is it any wonder they're taking advantage?
	But also I think it's more than that.
	It's also cultural for certain kinds of people in California communities to see that happen and excuse it.
	It's the white progressive leftist in California, and probably elsewhere to be honest, has no option but to kind of morally defend, try and leap in the way of criticism of that.
	Yes.
	And it can't help it.
	And I think it's an insult to tell people that, you know, they are illegal if they're trying to prevent shoplifters.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Richard said Why protect scumbags and enable this behavior?
	Why protect the California Democrat lawmakers?
	The rest of society loses out when there are no shops left due to the actions of minority and the idiocy of officials.
	San Francisco was lovely when I went there in the late 90s.
	I wouldn't go to the US now, not until there is a change.
	Honestly, San Francisco wasn't that bad when I went there in 2017.
	But judging by what we see coming out of it now, it's just Jesus.
	SH Silver says, the thing is, you normally wouldn't want store clerks to risk their lives to stop robbery of the product they don't own, even if the police were doing their job.
	Even with the state willfully giving up that responsibility, larger stores should invest in security before the clerks step in.
	Well yeah I agree.
	Yes but one of the stuff that was shot was security stuff.
	I think that this also is supposed to they are going to say that this will apply also to security stuff.
	I totally get this claim but I want to say that if we focus on the entire.
	way the matter is handled, we will see that actually it doesn't help people.
	It doesn't make them safer.
	No, no, not at all.
	I mean, Screwtape Laser says, Never mind the luxury stores.
	You can't buy milk and eggs at San Francisco grocery store without asking an employee to unlock the cooler.
	Given the rate of closure of grocers, I give California two years before the government breadline start.
	Well, I mean, you've always got the Bernie Sanders.
	Breadlines are a good thing, actually, because otherwise people would starve because of how would they get the food?
	But I know we've covered The general degradation and sinking of San Francisco into the loam.
	But I think this is interesting is getting to the point now where even the things that made San Francisco uniquely appealing are also being eroded away by this unbelievable culture of of anything goes if you're not native.
	But yeah, so Kevin Fox says the Lords regarding shoplifting in the UK have been biased in favour of the shoplifter for years.
	I used to do retail security uniform and basically we just had to stand there because the scope rules regarding shoplifting are so hard to follow.
	Even if you do...
	Even if you do, you have to wait until the thief is out of the door before you can apprehend them.
	All they have to do is hand the stuff back and you can't do anything.
	Even back in 2009, shop managers were useless.
	I had to bring down a local drunk who had been in the store taking bites out of stuff.
	A customer told him to stop and got punched in the face, so I took the drunk down and held him for assault.
	The manager decided not to call the police because it was nearly closing time and he didn't want to be kept late.
	So he gave the go, got punched a bottle of wine and told me to take the drunk outside and let him go.
	I must say that also in Greece, a relative of mine, he was working in supermarket security and he lost his job because he pursued someone who stole.
	And it was visible outside the store and they said, this is giving us a bad name.
	Yep.
	I just, I just think the total opposite.
	If I see, if I see someone being arrested for theft, I think, well, good for them.
	The people being in force of the law, you know, uh, the French machete enjoyer says build the wall at the California border.
	Yep.
	Ross says, it's deliberate protection of the criminal class to demoralize the rest of the nation.
	And when I say criminal class, I mean class.
	They are a new demographic, promoted and protected by politicians, as can be seen by Antifa, Just Stop, Oil, These Thieves, etc.
	Yeah, no, that's exactly right.
	It is a way of essentially demoralizing mainstream society.
	But the thing is, they don't realize, OK, if everyone becomes that criminal class, sure, you'll be ruling over something.
	But your position will not be secure.
	You won't have the quality of people required to keep everything running.
	That is why I say that it is an insult to say that it is illegal to prevent shoplifters.
	Because when you're talking about illegal actions and who you are penalizing, you are actually telling who you don't want in your society.
	Yeah.
	Ethelstan95 says, if there's a music festival or football matches in which eight people were stabbed and the police were assaulted, I think it might make headlines.
	We still hear about how badly behaved football hooligans were in the 80s.
	Yeah, and they weren't stabbing each other or twerking on police officers.
	Baron Von Warhawk says, the Notting Hill Carnival is a success if you treat it like a dark pagan carnival for mad gods, where insanity reigns and blood flows through the streets.
	I hadn't thought of it like that.
	But you are, you are correct.
	If it, if it is a blood sacrifice to demented chaos gods.
	Yeah.
	Sacrificial culture.
	Yeah.
	Diversity and... I just can't take it, man.
	Derek says, I like cultural expressions.
	You may call me old fashioned, but I prefer expressions at your best, not your worst.
	It doesn't look good if you use a celebration to showcase depravity.
	But that's the thing.
	And the things that, like, I couldn't say on YouTube, they're just so eager to point, to pin, like, No, this is the black community in London.
	And it's like, okay, but every video coming out is just awful.
	Oh, it's a bunch of guys machetes and a bunch of absolute whores, like being whorish in public.
	And it's like, okay.
	But if I were a part of the black community, I'm like, I actually don't want that representing me.
	I don't want that being what people think of when they think of the black community.
	Yeah.
	But then what can I do?
	I'm not a part of it.
	I'm just watching what I'm told to watch.
	Sophie says, you do wonder if these people love the Caribbean so much, why don't they live there?
	Well, the answer is government assistance.
	You don't get that in the Caribbean.
	You can go to Haiti.
	They freed themselves from the tyranny of the white man by killing them all.
	I'm sure that place is basically Wakanda now, just like South Africa.
	Oh yeah, it's going to go to Haiti and everyone knows it.
	I will say that Caribbean cultural celebrations in Leeds and Gloucester that I've been to have never fallen into the degeneracy that's taken place in London.
	Now, isn't that interesting?
	And I think that is important to note.
	It doesn't have to be like this.
	In fact, it wasn't always that the Notting Hill Carnival was insanely violent and lecherous.
	It didn't used to always be this way.
	People will do what they can get away with.
	Pride Festival has shown that degenerate dressing and dancing in public is acceptable, and the Mayor and Met have openly condoned criminal behavior in the capital until this point.
	Until standards improve and our culture recovers its pride and its values and heritage, this will continue.
	And that is exactly the point.
	They, you will get what you signal towards, right?
	So if you say, look, we're totally permissive to you being weird and disgusting degenerates and violent, then those people who hear that and think, oh, brilliant, that's me.
	I will go, I will go and get on with that.
	And if you say, no, we're going to have a high, high standard, high quality, we're going to be decent and we're going to have a good, good, safe, wholesome time.
	Then people are like, oh yeah, I hear that.
	That signals to me, I'm going to that.
	And so you will just simply attract the different kind of person.
	And he's exactly right.
	Until the standards improve, then this is going to carry on, and it's just going to keep getting worse.
	Omar says, just like when you see the excesses of pride, the only sensible reaction is, back you go, whether that's the closet or the boat, depending on who's doing the humping.
	Even if they aren't sending their best, it still feels representative.
	Well, and honestly, I saw, I wish I'd had more time on the last segment.
	We're running out of time.
	But I could have put together a few other things to add to it.
	Because there were a bunch of black guys who were just like, look, I'm in London.
	I'm in the character.
	I'd never go to this.
	This is disgusting.
	We shouldn't be doing this.
	This is bad for our community, which it is.
	And I saw an interview with a bunch of the women at this thing.
	And they were saying, oh yeah, how's it going?
	Oh, we're having so much fun.
	And the woman interviewing was like, so do you think you're going to meet your future husband here?
	And this woman just goes, no.
	It's like, well, there we go.
	You know?
	There we go.
	Colin says, is it too cynical of me to say that at least no police officers were called lesbians?
	Well, we don't know that they weren't actually, but no one got reported for it.
	Philip says, how do officers know that the people with machetes aren't juggling?
	It's a carnival after all.
	Well, we actually have video footage of them attacking each other.
	So we actually know.
	La French Machete Enjoyer says, Notting Hill needs a carnival so the posh can have their moment of humiliation and submission every year.
	Yeah, I think that is another thing as well.
	Notting Hill is a very upscale place, and I think it really is about them feeling like they're attached to something as well.
	Because I mean, they're not allowed to be proud of their own culture, obviously.
	You can't have a celebration of native culture.
	And so they're at least like, oh, I can be weird and edgy and do some degenerate things, and I get to feel like I'm not a bad person for doing it.
	Because in their normal lives, they would You're not supposed to judge anymore.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	Which I disagree with.
	I love judging.
	Same.
	Yeah.
	Got this faculty of discernment for a reason.
	I'm going to discern against you.
	Ignatius says, Notting Hill Carnival is what you get when the dregs of other societies come by the million and are told they can behave like animals with impunity, hedonism, and violence.
	It's all they know.
	Well, this thing, like it's not like we've attracted the best, right?
	Like these, the best, why would they leave their own countries if they're doing well in their own countries?
	Of course.
	You get what you ask for, basically.
	I don't know, I'm just at the point where I'm just like... I just feel bad for those people who are in those communities who are respectable.
	I genuinely feel bad for them.
	These people are giving a bad name to these communities.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	This is what people think of your community.
	Normal people are just like...
	Um, Bleach Demon says, uh, when it comes to San Francisco, about the only thing that can save it is a massive, massive earthquake, uh, which I believe is overdue actually.
	So, um, Poseidon's probably biding his time.
	Um, Thomas says the plan is to, oh no, I read that one.
	Um, Randall Moorhawk says, The mugshot of Trump would hold more weight if the people taking the photo weren't the biggest criminals in the country.
	Just look at Joe sniffing kids, or Hunter's love for crack, or Hillary and Obama's body count in both the US and the Middle East, or the hundreds of celebs that went to Epstein's Island Yeah, or not just Epstein, Weinstein and, you know, a bunch of the other just disgusting things they do in Hollywood.
	It's like, yeah, this is the thing again about Trump's mugshot is it's being done by people who irrationally hate Trump.
	And so no matter what they say, even if they had a good and decent and legitimate criticism of Trump, it would be discredited by the fact that it came from them because of the way they have acted towards Trump.
	Yeah, I remember one of the previous comments that said that Trump knows of optics.
	Yeah.
	And yeah, he has taken full advantage of it now.
	Anyway, we're about out of time there, folks, so thank you for joining us.
	If you want more from us, come and join the Rumble livestream at 3.30 UK time.

▲