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Oct. 12, 2023 - On Brand

02:39:51

OB #24 - The Ukraine War

We take a retrospective look at Rush Limbaugh before delving into Russell's present-day coverage of the Russo-Ukraine war. How far will he go to defend Putin? Support us on Patreon! - patreon.com/OnBrand

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	This is On Brand, a podcast where we discuss the ideas and antics of one Russell Brand.
	I'm Al Worth, and each week I go through an episode of Brand's show with my co-host, Lauren B. That's me!
	And I haven't got the slightest idea on the subject that we will be tackling today.
	Uh-huh.
	And none of it's good, which is why we do the good thing before the bad thing.
	So, Lauren, what is your good thing before the bad thing this week?
	Sunglasses.
	Alien sunglasses.
	Roswell, New Mexico.
	Okay.
	Yes.
	For those of you that cannot see or are not watching, these amazing sunglasses were, they had them at the Visitor Center.
	It was awesome.
	Everyone's wonderful.
	It was great.
	Roswell was incredible.
	So yeah, so we spent, um, This, like, weekend-slash-early week in Roswell.
	Having the weirdest possible vacation that we could.
	And we did.
	And it was... It was very kitschy.
	It was very kitschy.
	Everyone was so nice, even though some of them are really... will tell you how anti-vaxxer they are and how many times they've had COVID.
	Oh, great.
	Okay.
	What are you trying to communicate to me?
	Anyway.
	Please, please take a step back, sir.
	Thank you.
	Yeah!
	I sure hope we don't have COVID from Texas or New Mexico!
	Forgive me for not shaking your hand!
	But we camped a lot, so I'm sure it'll be fine.
	But yeah, and I will say Lubbock also was, UFOs of Roswell was really wonderful too, and I got to talk for the first time with some friends of mine that listened to the show, and I got to drunkenly scream at them about Russell Brand in person.
	Oh nice, that feels good.
	That's a good feeling.
	BFD, BFD for me.
	Um, so yeah, it was, it was really great.
	I mean, you know, road trips can be stressful and exhausting, but so it's your good thing.
	My good thing this week is my kiddo, my daughter, has started at a new nursery!
	Which is great!
	Which is great!
	And it's just round the fucking corner from me as well, which is wonderful.
	I can literally walk her there, which is great.
	And she's loving it, she's having a great time, she's making friends and she's playing and stuff.
	There was a little bit of emotion in kind of the settling in sessions, you know, like, especially when I left and came back, you know, and like, she was fine the whole time.
	And then when I got back, she was like, It's okay.
	I did come back to get you.
	You're fine.
	Don't worry.
	She's not been in a while.
	I don't live here now!
	Yeah, exactly.
	She's not been in a while, so she's kind of not been used to it.
	So it's been a lot of me and her.
	It's really good.
	It's really good.
	She's very happy.
	Yeah, yeah, no, it's really nice.
	Really nice.
	My mother's favorite story to tell about young me was – you know it's coming, it's going to be dramatic – was to relate to the experience that I'm sure y'all are going through right now.
	It was preschool.
	It was the first day that she dropped me off.
	I was little, and as soon as she goes to walk away, I was like, "How could you do this to me?"
	(laughing)
	So that's what I think of anytime someone tells you.
	And then the next day I was like, bye, fine, get out of here.
	You're cramping my style.
	It was like a 180.
	Because the thing is, as a parent, the first one is how you feel.
	The first one is what you feel like you're doing.
	You feel like you're abandoning your child with a bunch of strangers.
	Just like, good luck!
	And that's it.
	But yeah, most of the time, when she's in nursery regularly, she won't even look back.
	She'll just be like, I'm going to go play with this thing over here, I'm gonna go see my friends.
	Yeah, I've already made a best friend for the rest of my life, and you can't tell me otherwise.
	You are no longer relevant.
	Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
	But it's like two different heartbreaks for a parent, which is just like... Yes, yeah, in complete opposite directions.
	Just like, oh, you need me, you need me.
	Oh, you don't need me.
	Oh, God.
	You've thrown me away.
	Like, yesterday's jam.
	You've just tossed me aside.
	Absolutely.
	Discarded like a soggy tissue of shame.
	Okay.
	Right, we have a show to deal with, but first we should thank some of our new patrons.
	So first up, Crisco!
	You are now an Awakening wonder.
	You are indeed an Awakening wonder.
	Thank you, Crisco!
	Thank you, Crisco!
	And thank you for making fried chicken so great!
	I appreciate you!
	Can't argue.
	Brian St.
	John, you are now an Awakening wonder!
	You are indeed an Awakening wonder.
	Thank you, Brian.
	Thank you, Brian!
	Amir, you are now an awakening wonder.
	You are indeed an awakening wonder.
	Thank you, Amir.
	Thank you so much.
	And Charlotte Napthine, Napthine, not sure.
	You are now an awakening wonder.
	You are indeed an awakening wonder.
	Thank you very much, Charlotte.
	Thank you, Charlotte.
	Big fan of your web.
	Appreciate it.
	Yep, yep.
	Or the princess, Princess Charlotte.
	We have one of those.
	Oh, the favorite.
	Yes, yes.
	Yeah, right.
	I also have another shameful correction to make.
	I made out one of our patron shoutouts to a David Smales, but it was actually supposed to be for Lily the Labrador, our second dog patron.
	So, Lily the Labrador, you are now an awakening wonder.
	You are indeed an awakening wonder.
	Thank you, Libby!
	Thank you!
	You're a good girl!
	Who's a good girl?
	Who's a good girl?
	Libby the Labrador.
	Great.
	We're going to have an army of dogs by the end of this.
	It's going to be awesome.
	I'm so into it.
	I'm so into it.
	We are not speciesist, by the way, any animals.
	You know, Scorpion the bird as well.
	We're going to have a little I'm sure Scorpion the Bird can probably ride one of these dogs.
	Maybe Magnus the Great Dane is probably quite rideable for a bird, I would say.
	Yeah, yeah, we could stack them up.
	I think it'd be great.
	Oh, stackable dogs?
	I'm into this.
	Yeah, let's go.
	Let's do it.
	Let's do it.
	Build a pyramid without the slaves.
	Cats, lizards, bunnies.
	Yeah.
	I'm not going into slaves and pyramids again.
	There's a throwback.
	If anyone wants to support us in what we do, become an Awakening Wanderer, join the Invisible Hand, or donate on an elevated tier, head to patreon.com slash onbrand and you will have our eternal gratitude.
	It's this which allows us to be editorially independent and ad-free.
	As a patron, you will also get a shout-out on the show like the ones we've just had, and access to our patron-only show Offbrand, where we talk about pretty much anything but Russell Brand.
	And please note that while you can easily listen to our audio version anywhere, you can find podcasts, you can also watch us on YouTube, or if you listen in the Spotify app, the video should come up there too.
	Hello, we are waving enthusiastically to people who can see that, which is great.
	Uh, we have no real updates this week on anything legal against Brand, though it has been confirmed his fence had to be taken down, and instead he now has a goon in a high-vis jacket patrolling the perimeter, which is deeply funny to me.
	That's amazing.
	He's just got someone wandering up and down!
	That's merch I can handle.
	It's very funny.
	Do you guys want a goon?
	Do you want a high-vis goon?
	A tiny little stuffed one?
	A high-vis goon in front of a fence?
	Oh god.
	Fantastic.
	I can make that happen.
	I can make it happen.
	That's funny.
	Oh man.
	Lauren does also have a clarification she would like to make, so over to you, Lauren!
	I do!
	I have a, yeah, it's a multi-layer clarification.
	Um, because I felt like, uh, I, I, it felt tangential and incomplete last week whenever I was talking about Rush Limbaugh and comparing the dynamic that he brought to, um, to his like talk show, basically to Candace Owens.
	And, um, why was I comparing?
	Um, it didn't seem totally fleshed out, but because we need to know her enemy.
	That's the point of this whole show is we have to know our enemy.
	We have to know kind of like what we're dealing with.
	And my concern is like, she's so vitriolic that, um, she could be infinitely more effective because what I think people don't necessarily like either you've never interacted with Rush, with Rush Limbaugh at all.
	And that's wonderful.
	Don't.
	Yeah, it's great.
	But!
	It's great.
	Also, maybe do a cursory- because like, all you have to do is a cursory Google.
	Even just the words Rush Limbaugh, if you put Rush Limbaugh worst, That'll give you- Rush Limbaugh bad.
	Yeah, Rush Limbaugh bad, Rush Limbaugh worse.
	Rush Limbaugh racist, Rush Limbaugh misogynist.
	You'll get so many results that you won't know what to do with yourself.
	I had a list of all the quotes just to make sure that I was getting them right, and oh my god, there's so many more.
	There's so many more than I thought there were.
	And so my concern is that since Candace Owens is so like, and I'm not saying that she's like a
	brilliant genius of a person, but being smart in the way that they are smart, she strikes me
	as quick on her feet in the same way to engender both outrage and victimhood.
	like someone can be... that's...
	That's really effective, and it's a tool that he was really open about.
	And in fact, it's crazy, like reading all of these quotes from like 1990, 1994,
	that were just way ahead of the game. Like he was absolutely a creative pioneer in the concert.
	There was no conservative talk radio.
	He did it, and it was like 1988, so basically like 87, the Fairness Doctrine was basically vetoed by Reagan, and so the FCC could overturn it, and basically the Fairness Doctrine was Totally abolished.
	And it's really just licenses for media.
	It wouldn't have even affected cable, so it wasn't even really a Fox thing.
	But the guy behind Fox, Roger Ailes, was Rush's producer before he ended up with Fox.
	Oh hey, another sex offender.
	That's shocking.
	Yes, exactly.
	It's an incubation kind of play.
	So there's this whole process, and the quotes thing is... I did want to bring attention to, like, there are a couple quotes that are especially heinous, but like, man, you would pray for the Richmond, North of Richmond, like, fudge rounds accusation, Reading just a snippet of what this man would say on a regular basis.
	And he also originated the three hours a day, it was just him.
	No one else was doing that.
	Because Larry King was on the radio and his personal politics before the Fairness Doctrine basically went away, his personal politics had very little to do with his actual show.
	It was callers and interviews.
	And Rush didn't do any of that.
	He did the Zoo Crew sound effects, he used music, rock and roll, all that kind of stuff.
	And if you're familiar with Knowledge Fight, if you're familiar with coverage of Alex Jones, he is a piss-poor mimeograph copy of Rush.
	Rush can do it.
	And so I see that kind of...
	Creativity.
	For lack of a better word.
	Or maybe it is the right word.
	Creativity.
	And I see that in Candace Owens.
	And what I fell into In talking about it was calling Rush fat, and I don't necessarily see it, like, it didn't really dawn on me, especially because, like, at the time when people first started raising concerns about Rush Limbaugh in, you know, the mid-90s, like, Al Franken wrote a book, Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot, and was trying to warn people for literally decades, and now, like, what are we gonna do about it?
	And that's part of what he said, was like, I don't know what we do about this.
	The cat is out of the bag.
	This creature has grown into, like, I mean, even like his obituaries and stuff were, you know, he was a controversial figure.
	Um engaging and uh you know was adversarial he was a monster he was an absolute he said the most hideous outrageous things every single day and again if you're familiar with the knowledge fight coverage Then you know that the coverage of Alex Jones and Infowars that usually the stuff that makes it to the news is this little piece that does not express the whole picture and can kind of be like funnier or sillier and not nearly as like as
	Expressive of the actual problem out of context.
	And specifically when I was a kid and I had to listen to Rush, it was often as political or religious homework was what I would get as punishment, or if I wanted to be treated well.
	That's a punishment.
	Yeah.
	Well, that, like Creflo Dollar, that was a bad one.
	I knew that I had screwed up whenever I had to watch Creflo Dollar, which was a televangelist.
	If you're acknowledging that it's punishment, then what's up?
	Anyway.
	But yeah, so I have vivid memories of hearing Rush.
	And what the, like the focus so often, especially in the 90s was like the quote unquote
	welfare queen.
	And that's, we know that that's black women and just anyone in general that is enrolled
	in an entitlement program in America is like poor, you know, like poor people and marginalized communities
	Fat, lazy, stupid.
	And that was how Rush talked about people every single day.
	And I specifically remember hearing the most egregious shit being said.
	Well, quote-unquote welfare queens, boy, like, and actually if you, you know, look up the research on the one woman who was a prolific scammer that was used as this example of a welfare queen, when she was just like a really good, she was a very adept scammer.
	It was one person.
	Yeah, yeah, that's usually the case.
	Yeah, well, and so that was rhetoric that was across the board.
	And so I remember hearing him talk about poor people and marginalized people as, like, fat slobs.
	And also, I went and read through some articles that everybody else called him stuff because he was such a bully.
	And so, what I think is like... He puts it on the table.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	If he's willing to judge other people's appearance, he puts himself on the table.
	Absolutely.
	At that stage.
	We got a comment on YouTube pointing out that I had mentioned it, that's what I said, and I don't want anyone to think that I'm... It's not that I don't want to think, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings.
	I don't equate fat and bad, so it doesn't occur to me.
	No, we are not a fatphobic podcast.
	No, well, I mean, what I do think is that bullies who say that stuff are the ones that take it seriously, and therefore that's what you use as an insult as part of why I'm sure Al Franken used the same kind of understanding for the name of his book.
	So I would hear the way that Rush Limbaugh would talk about people's appearance, and then I would hear it parroted by Every man, every man that wasn't my grandpa, using the exact same language.
	So it wasn't this cute joke.
	I watched it permeate culture, including myself.
	I heard the same words argued about me.
	And I was eight years old, and it was after we had gone to Six Flags, and I heard the exact same words argued about my little eight-year-old fourth-grade body.
	So I'm very aware.
	And I remember seeing a picture of Rush Limbaugh.
	I think it might have been the Newsweek cover.
	And I was like, wait, he's fat.
	And like, you know, when you're a kid, it's not hard to understand hypocrisy.
	And so I'm like, wait a second.
	I don't know.
	Like, I think that's wrong.
	Why do you get to say that?
	And that was, it left an impression on me.
	And so that was honestly the first thing that came out because it was a little bit triggered.
	I would like to share with folks a few of the things that he said, just to give you an idea of this fucking monster.
	Because seriously, it's prolific.
	And also is credited for, a lot of people throughout media credit him for pioneering Misinformation, the way that he could lie and incense, and he was praised, and let's see.
	He was a trailblazer.
	Yeah.
	He did not ride the wave of polarization.
	He was the engine of the speeding train.
	So Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, which people wouldn't even think about that guy anymore.
	Glenn Beck, Tucker, and Trump all owe their style and their approach, and also Alex Jones.
	And even folks were talking about in the subreddit, like, is Russell becoming Alex Jones?
	And like, let's be concerned about who, honestly, like, made the blueprint, right?
	So let's see.
	And yeah, and he made tons and tons of money off of conservative religious poor people.
	So let's see.
	And he started in 1990.
	Well, he started in 1988.
	He moved from Sacramento to New York City, and he kept working until the last year of his life.
	And so think about the fact that he is the most listened to radio personality in America for the last 30 years.
	Hands down, bar none, no one is reaching more conservative ears than this guy.
	And he also said, oh, if you can't take a joke, oh, too bad.
	It's all a joke.
	So I think it was--
	so in 1990, he had 25 million listeners.
	And still, he--
	I mean, he averaged like 15 million listeners weekly up until he died.
	Also fucking great, I'm glad he's dead.
	I hope it hurt really bad.
	So let's see, he coined the term feminazi, and also claimed that women getting the right to vote ruined America.
	Let's see.
	PC Police?
	He didn't coin that.
	So there's a lot of conspiracy theories and stuff, like the Clinton body count, that kind of stuff, that can be traced back to him specifically, exacerbating this.
	Because he's putting it out there to people that are... You know, you think about how big podcasts are, and it's a drop in the bucket for talk radio.
	I think that there were... He was on 600 stations.
	Nationally.
	So he's got, and he's got a lot more, I think way more reach than Alex Jones probably ever had.
	So if we're worried about Alex Jones, let's worry about Rush.
	For a good 20 years of that as well, you know, podcasts didn't exist.
	There wasn't an alternative to these things really, you know.
	And if it's on your radio.
	Because my stepdad was an HVAC guy, so he was just in his truck all day, every day, driving around, being radicalized.
	It wasn't a far stretch, but whatever.
	So basically, he co-captained the Republican Revolution in 1996 with Newt Gingrich.
	A lot of early 90s and mid-90s political movements Can be directly attributed and tied to his involvement, even though he also said he's not a journalist, he's an entertainer.
	He's not political.
	He was a culture warrior.
	That was his whole deal, so he could claim all these things that everybody else started saying.
	So yeah, let's see.
	Women should not be allowed on juries where the accused is a stud.
	That's a good one.
	Let's see.
	This is a later one, 2011.
	He was, which again, this is another Alex move, making racist, fake Chinese noises.
	Fill in the blank.
	It's long.
	I read it.
	It's long.
	Oh dear.
	And claiming he was translating for the Chinese President Hu Jintao over one of his speeches.
	That's cool.
	So also jumped to Trump's defense when other right-wingers faltered.
	So Access Hollywood, Charlottesville, the Ukrainian, the perfect phone call.
	So he knew when to prey on people's grievances and resentments.
	Um, he was early in claiming, so it's February 24th, 2020, that COVID was just a cold and everyone needs to calm down and that masks were a symbol of fear, quote unquote symbol of fear.
	Yeah, and so let's see.
	Yep.
	And, uh, For me, I think it was the reading the names of AIDS victims while celebrating good times.
	I was wrong about the song.
	Yes, but yeah.
	Yes, but yeah.
	So basically in 1990, he was protested, like act up, found out about what he was doing and protested.
	And initially, it's crazy, it's quote by fucking Pat Sajak, right?
	And Pat Sajak was like, I've never seen a man so shaken and ashen at this protest.
	But then, because he also always apologizes for this stuff publicly.
	And it's always bullshit.
	It is always bullshit.
	So he, like, has this experience where ACT UP, you know, that whole, like, they protest and they continue to protest and he's like, oh no.
	And then he goes back to his radio show and a month-long quote-unquote AIDS update A segment every day, or maybe a couple times a week.
	Not entirely sure how often it happened, but yeah, he would find names of AIDS victims that had died and read them out, and the songs were, like, let's see, Back in the Saddle Again by Gene Autry, and specifically the song I'll Never Love This Way Again by Dionne Warwick.
	Oh, Jesus.
	Isn't it gross?
	I did not know this, but Dionne Warwick in 1987 was the outspoken activist who forced Reagan to say the word AIDS publicly for the first time.
	So he knew.
	I didn't know that.
	I didn't either!
	I didn't either!
	So he knew!
	That, that was, like, that, it's a very pinpointed kind of accusation.
	Yeah, that's specific.
	That is a really specific fucking thing.
	Isn't it?
	It's crazy!
	And I mean, yeah, so there's a, let's see, he called Chelsea Clinton when she was 12 years old, called her a dog.
	That's cool.
	Kind.
	Yeah, the women were- Kind man.
	Right.
	Oh, regarding rape, no means yes, if you know how to spot it.
	That's cool.
	It's a cool thing to say.
	I'm shocked, I tell you.
	Coming from Russia, I'm shocked.
	The list is so, and the racism is so crazy.
	He called the NBA, they should change the name.
	He just hates it.
	I don't know why.
	I don't know what the context was that he was saying this.
	It's full of black people.
	It is full of black people.
	There we go.
	He's like, oh, it looks like they should call it the Thug Basketball Association because it looks like... Oh, that's 100%.
	It's full of black people.
	I hate it.
	Because it's black people.
	And yeah, Thug Basketball Association because it looks like, yeah, it's because they look like gangs and the NFL.
	Basically looks like the NFL is actually, to him, appeared to be Bloods versus the Crips.
	Like, he made excuses for slavery.
	He said that, like, he's like, well, it wasn't a great idea, but, like, got a lot done.
	Streets were safer at night.
	He called Slavery made the streets safer.
	That's a take.
	If any race of people should not have guilt about slavery, it's Caucasians.
	That was a thing.
	What?
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	This is just, oh, played the Jefferson's, because again, using music and using sound effects, doing the Zoo Crew thing.
	Was part of the innovation that he brought to talk radio, especially conservative talk radio, which, like, the amount of gay people, the amount of black people that are in the songs that you are using, that to me is a whole other insult.
	Right.
	So he played the Jefferson's theme when he talked about Carol Moseley Brown, the first black woman to make it to the Senate.
	The NAACP should have riot rehearsal.
	Because again, we've heard people in media recently talk about the BLM protests and how conservatives are like, this is Armageddon for America.
	He's been doing this since the Rodney King riots, which he also said, the riots in LA weren't about the Rodney King verdict.
	They were caused by rioters, so they rioted.
	Okay, so they were just looters.
	They just wanted to break shit, so they break shit.
	Okay.
	Yeah, so the NAACP should have riot rehearsal.
	They should get a liquor store and practice holdups.
	Yeah, practice robberies.
	Quote, have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals look like Jesse Jackson?
	Fuck me.
	Yeah, man.
	Let's see.
	Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women access to mainstream society from an incredibly disgusting unattractive man, who was also a sex pest.
	He got in massive trouble for sexual harassment of his female interns.
	So I did think that it was an underage thing.
	I was corrected.
	They were technically of age, but still.
	I didn't have that ready.
	In a position of vulnerability, compared to him.
	Also, I think what people don't necessarily remember is like, 89 to 92, that was like the height of the AIDS epidemic.
	And I cannot think of a person that had that kind of You know, like that social standing that was so wildly vicious to people that just, it was so bad.
	It was so, so, so bad.
	And yeah, he had like month-long, you know, he would do gay community updates, he would do, like, he, They think, I think it's a Mother Jones article, I think that they trace back the popularization of the gay men in gerbils myth.
	They think that they could even trace that back to him because he's the one that spread it around because he would exploit any kind of gay panic I mostly heard that one about Richard Gere.
	I found out about so few things that were real in grade school.
	And I fucking knew about that.
	Poor Richard Gere.
	He doesn't have a career anymore.
	He's an actor.
	I don't think it affected him that much.
	I hope not.
	I don't know.
	You can only look so sad for so long in so many movies.
	He was also described by someone who had to, at Media Matters, had to actually, like, look at all of his stuff.
	It's rough.
	You can tell some of these Media Matters reporters are, like, scarred from having to look at his shit.
	It's terrible.
	You would be from having to do that job.
	I'm scarred from having to do this job already.
	I know!
	Right.
	So, also the most prominent and cocksure denier of human-induced climate change in news history.
	Nice.
	Okay, so I feel like that's a good overview to let y'all know.
	He's the worst person.
	And you know what?
	It was also inaccurate because, you know, he wasn't fat when he died.
	He was, and I hope that he was emaciated and miserable and every single cell of lung cancer in his whole body, he deserves it.
	He deserved it.
	He was a vicious, racist, bigot, sexist...
	single-handedly made this entire planet worse.
	Yeah.
	And there's proof all over the place.
	I do not, but listen, I don't think that that is bad.
	I think Rush is bad, and I'm really sorry.
	If you're tracking it, I feel like, you know, that there is a degree of, without Rush, there isn't Russell doing this, you know?
	There's a degree of that.
	Thank you.
	That is absolutely my point.
	And you know what?
	I suffered directly from it as a kid.
	And I heard every fucking man that I- every adult man I knew said some bullshit.
	That he popularized.
	And he basically was like, he was the virus.
	He's the one that spread this.
	Cause it just wasn't, especially like, broadcasting was not like this.
	He was the one who fucked a bat, right?
	That was Rush Limbaugh.
	Yeah, absolutely, right?
	Yeah.
	Made love to a bat, excuse me.
	Yeah, oh, the things that he would say about, like, AIDS.
	Also, he always had a complaint about funding.
	So, like, funding AIDS research.
	Funding AIDS NGOs in Africa.
	That's what he would, like, rail against.
	Oh, where do we get the money?
	Where do we get the money?
	Right.
	So we hear a lot of the same stuff, and it's crazy to read the shit in the 90s that he was saying this stuff, and we are still dealing with the same old bullshit.
	And it's really fucking upsetting.
	Again, I do not want to make anybody feel bad or less than, and frankly, you don't fucking deserve to feel bad or less than because of whatever your size may be.
	That's fucked up, and that's not right.
	But if you're a person that does call other people fat, Get fucked.
	That's terrible.
	It's not good.
	But if you do say it, the thing is, then you deserve to get called it too.
	Yeah, your appearance is on the table.
	If you bring that in, fuck you.
	That's it.
	I was feeling quite heated.
	A little bit salty in the moment.
	I was a little, I was a little triggered.
	Sodium enriched.
	Yeah.
	And it's because I thought about, even when I was a kid, like I wanted to get in that man's face and scream at him that he's fat.
	Cause that's what I heard him say about people.
	And it was so un-fucking-fair.
	And it was like, so that was, and I mean, and it was in the Zeitgeist and I did not remember until I went through and read all these articles.
	I was like, oh man, everybody's talking about it.
	What else do you fucking deserves it?
	Cause that's like one of the first things that you would come out the gate and insult people for.
	And it's the same.
	I mean, Bill Maher is saying the same shit, like about.
	Packaged differently, but yeah.
	Yeah.
	But it's, that's the thing is like, it's, it is packaged differently, but it's the exact same vitriol.
	He was still like, he was going to quit broadcasting and then he came back January 7th.
	To defend the January 6th insurrectionists.
	So, he was still at it.
	Rush, that is.
	Yes, thank you, I'm sorry.
	Rush.
	Not Bill.
	Rush came back.
	Yeah, no, no, no, no.
	Who knows?
	I don't think Bill Maher defended them, but you can never tell with that guy, is the problem.
	I mean, yeah, he also could use neoliberal talking points to be self-righteous.
	Who knows?
	Who knows?
	But let's see, so Forbes estimated in 2018, Forbes estimated his earnings at $84.5 million.
	Jesus Christ.
	estimated his earnings at $84.5 million.
	Jesus Christ.
	So he made a massive amount of money off of poor people that he was riling up and upsetting
	and manipulating and lying to.
	I've never read so many articles that are so vitriolic, are so like...
	The sense of urgency.
	in like, "Oh my god, he was so bad."
	So, I, like, I'm, I, again, I apologize if I hurt anybody's feelings, I really did not want to do that.
	And I even, like, you know, the original comment on YouTube, I got my fur up
	because I was like, "Why would you defend Rush, you monster?"
	That's ludicrous.
	But then I realized that the comment is defending fat people, not Rush.
	It's not about defending Rush, no.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	So I had to take a minute, and I was like, okay, that's not what this is about.
	But also, I understand that people have not interacted with any One human like that because he would kind of be deplatformed but like not really and I don't know who's going to like and again with the Candace Owens thing like I am scared that someone is going to pick up the torch because there is a vacuum that he has left and these people are somebody's gonna try to take it and somebody is going to figure it out and that scares me because he still got the Congressional Medal of Honor.
	Like the year before he died.
	That's absurd, isn't it?
	So, I'm not confident that our country is equipped to deal with another one.
	I don't think it's very bad.
	I don't know who would be the right candidate for that.
	Candace Owens is, yeah, maybe.
	I don't know.
	Tucker's a good one for it, if he ever commits himself to radio or something, or that kind of thing.
	But I don't know if he wants to do that.
	I don't know.
	And I don't know if it's Joe Rogan, like because there's a lot of like whitewashing and like, I don't know.
	I don't know.
	I sure hope it's not Russell.
	If it is Joe Rogan, I'll take that over any of the alternatives that I've mentioned so far.
	I'll take Rogan over Tucker any fucking day.
	That's not how you do that.
	Anyway, so that's my, you know, but that's that.
	I did want to make that point because we need to we need to keep an eye on the ball.
	We need to keep an eye on who our enemies are.
	And that's that's also why I like I want to keep that, like, eyes on the prize.
	I don't know.
	I think that Russell, like, regardless of his thoughts and feelings on the inside, his presentation is just not as abrasive.
	And that's, I wonder if that's the new effective tool.
	Like, Yeah, yeah, as things have developed away from, you know, hyper-masculine, you know, cigar-smoking fat guys.
	Right!
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Like literally looking like a political cartoon from the 30s.
	Yeah, right.
	Crazy.
	You know, whereas, yeah, Russell has an appeal to...
	To women?
	Yeah, to women and to a far more kind of androgynous side of society.
	I don't know, there's just, there's a different appeal there, and that in itself is dangerous.
	Well, thank you for affording me the moment, you know, the little rush corner.
	Of course, I think that was worth mentioning, I think.
	It's so yucky.
	Real piece of shit.
	So, hey, everyone, bear that in mind going forward.
	That's the originator of where we're about to go, pretty much.
	Yeah, a little background.
	A little background moment.
	Because, yeah, this is all of where it came from.
	And also, exploiting new media has been the purview of conservatives, at least from what I can... I mean, I'm sorry, I was in the History Rolodex.
	It's always been that way.
	Grifters and conservatives, sometimes one and the same.
	Usually.
	Allegedly.
	Right, so new media is usually the way it happens, because they can get in there before they really get policed.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	And, you know, even when they do start getting policed, some shithead comes along and makes rumble, and here we are.
	Um, so Brad is still doing, uh, he's still doing a show from his house.
	Um, and it's still, it's still terrible.
	Um, even, even the audio editing is suffering, right?
	So, you know, last week I mentioned how they'd mute one side of the conversation when the other person is talking in like an interview.
	Um, well that stopped happening.
	So the consequence of which is that you can hear Russell every time he decides to loudly pick up a bottle of kombucha drink and take a swig.
	Usually over whatever the other person is saying.
	It's distracting and bad.
	Everything is suffering with this show.
	Consequently, I had mixed feelings about what I wanted to cover this week.
	I'm like, well, I don't want to listen to this.
	This is terrible.
	There were a number of shoddy and disingenuous interviews from the likes of Substack journalist Lee Fang, we've had to deal with him before, and Stella Assange as well, but nothing much was said that was really worth discussing.
	And I know people might be curious to hear what Russell has to say about Israel declaring war on Hamas, but it happened too late into my workflow so it'll have to wait.
	I'm also not really comfortable talking about that right now.
	I think that we don't really know a lot.
	Yeah, yeah.
	No, I agree.
	It's just really bad.
	It's a really difficult subject to broach in general, and I am not excited for it.
	I may or may not have... Mike was showing me stuff.
	I also didn't get any phone reception the entire time I was in Roswell, the city.
	I don't know why.
	It was terrible.
	Aliens, that's right.
	It must be.
	It must be all them tinfoil hats.
	I don't know.
	But yeah, news was coming in.
	It's the greys.
	Yeah, and Mike was showing me stuff like, hey, this is a video on Instagram right now.
	It's like, oh my god.
	I'm not going to cry in this coffee shop in Roswell.
	Knock it off.
	It's been tough, and I'm glad that we're not... because I feel woefully ill-equipped.
	No, no, no.
	I don't want to jump the gun on it, and Russell's not commented that much on it yet anyway, and just... Let that sleeping dog lie.
	We'll give it a week to breathe, and I'm sure he'll have an editorial on it at some point this week, we shall see.
	We'll see what his expert take on it is.
	Or maybe he'll leave it the fuck alone, who knows?
	Boy, that'd be better.
	It would be better.
	He's still not mentioned Azerbaijan and Armenia, even once, even tangentially.
	Where it's just like, man, this is right in your wheelhouse, but nope!
	We're staying out of this!
	Okay, that's interesting.
	Yeah, so in an effort to reduce exposure of our audience to the terrible home studio show, what we have here today is an editorial.
	I tried to pick something that would be neatly representative of the narratives the brand is hitting hard right now, and here is how he opens up the piece.
	Biden told the UN that Russia and Russia alone are responsible for the current war.
	Meanwhile, the UK have got boots on the ground in Ukraine, which, it was said, would never happen.
	So we ask, was Tucker Carlson right when he said there'll be a hot war between the US and Russia within a year?
	It's got nearly everything he loves all in one place.
	Anti-Biden, pro-Russia, outright lies, and the added bonus of getting to suck Tucker Carlson's dick while he does it.
	The only thing missing is Covid and anti-vax narratives, but he usually finds a way to wedge those in somewhere, so...
	I will say, not listing victims of AIDS over insulting songs.
	True, true.
	True.
	As far as, like, perspective.
	Yes.
	Yeah, no, no.
	That's true.
	I, um...
	I'm not sure.
	I'm not sure.
	But you know, there's a different kind of danger, isn't there?
	No, yeah, no, you're right, you're right, you're right.
	This is much more insidious rather than just outright hate.
	Absolutely.
	This is a gateway drug to outright hate.
	I think he is dragging a lot of people in.
	Yeah, so in the next clip, Russell introduces a portion of a speech from Joe Biden, which he's addressing to the members of the UN, right?
	Please take a guess, how many seconds of it are played before Brand interrupts him?
	Five.
	Five seconds.
	Okay, let's check it out.
	Let's have a look at the man himself, the President of the United States of America.
	Get ready, because here he is.
	Let me be clear.
	Well, we don't...
	Clarity Joe, whimsical anecdotes, bizarre half-truths about the nested fires, fudge facts, lies, concealment of information, endless wars.
	You're our man.
	Clarity.
	One second, or four words.
	It's possible to parody!
	You're a fucking cartoon of a man!
	Jesus Christ!
	And look, he can bitch about Biden's clarity all he wants, but his favourite candidate for president, RFK Jr, can't answer a question without taking ten minutes of a deep dive into fake history.
	And god-king of Brand's audience, Donald Trump is a famous know-nothing who'll rattle off random ad hominem attacks rather than answer a policy question, so there.
	Yeah, that was less than one second.
	So, starting off strong, yeah!
	Alright!
	Yeah, he's willing to hear Biden out, that's what we've gotten clear.
	So next up, Russell is just outright wrong, which is shocking.
	Certain principles of our international system are sacrosanct.
	Sovereignty, territorial integrity, human rights.
	These are the core tenets of the UN Charter.
	The pillars.
	Peaceful relations among nations.
	Also, though, they are principles that are regularly transgressed, as revealed by WikiLeaks by Julian Assange.
	That's why he's in prison right now.
	There's not another reason, like, oh, do you remember he did all that shoplifting?
	No, it was that he revealed a bunch of war crimes.
	In fact, as you know, because we've told you, the International Criminal Court cannot be utilised to prosecute Russia for their criminal invasion.
	It was a criminal invasion.
	Because the US would have to tacitly acknowledge that so many of their previous invasions have also been criminal.
	Wars like the Iraq War, which Joe Biden lobbied for and supported.
	So no they wouldn't.
	That's just very obviously no they wouldn't.
	I do agree that in an ideal world and parallel universe, Bush, Blair and their respective cabals should absolutely be tried in the ICC for what happened in Iraq and subsequently Afghanistan.
	But that is a far cry from the situation that we're dealing with between Russia and Ukraine.
	I'm going to preface this by saying, surprise surprise, international law is incredibly complicated, especially an international court designed to prevent horrific war crimes.
	Essentially, states have to sign on to allow members of their countries to be tried by the International Criminal Court.
	The ICC can only prosecute individuals, not states or organizations, so it would be Putin on trial, not Russia, and you can't take the entire USA to court.
	So, you know, it's not like the entire of America would have to be like, oh no, we need to defend ourselves against, you know, it's bullshit.
	Or even the Congress.
	That Congress was a while ago.
	No, it would be Bush.
	As of now, 123 states are parties to the Statute of the Court, though each individual statute requires signing and ratifying by each member state.
	The particular statute dealing with what we're discussing is the Rome Statute, drafted in 1998 and made effective in 2002.
	It established four core international crimes, those being genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
	There is, however, a bit of a wrinkle with the ICC.
	According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, a state that has signed but not ratified a treaty is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of the treaty.
	However, these obligations do not continue if the state has made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty.
	As things stand, only four countries have opted to make their intention clear of not becoming a party to the Rome Statute.
	Lauren, which four countries do you think those are?
	US.
	China.
	Russia.
	Question.
	Oh, interesting.
	Okay.
	I don't know.
	Oh, my God.
	I know who doesn't do that.
	Well, not even the climate stuff.
	That's just us.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So good guesses.
	So it's Russia.
	Liechtenstein?
	Yeah, Liechtenstein.
	So I've just got to throw back to a knight's tale.
	Ulrich von Lichtenstein.
	So no, it's Russia, Sudan, Israel.
	So that's good in light of things that are currently happening.
	And the United States of America.
	So you were 100% correct on that.
	China actually, I don't think they've ratified it.
	I think they're among the 34 countries that haven't ratified it.
	So they're still obliged to not do things that would defeat the object and purpose of the thing.
	So yeah, meh.
	Yeah, so because these countries have made this intention clear, so Russia, Sudan, Israel and the US, it essentially strips the ICC of the right to prosecute individuals from those countries for those aforementioned four crimes.
	Yeah, so this is precisely why there have been investigations from the ICC into war crimes committed by UK soldiers in Iraq, but not investigations into US soldiers who were also implicated.
	There's evidence of it, it's just they can't do anything because they're not part of the thing.
	To me, it seems incredibly fucked up and stupid.
	Yeah, it's like really bad.
	Yeah.
	It's really, really bad.
	That's a big problem.
	Also, speaking of the Trump administration acknowledging and maybe playing favorites with 90s nightmares, or early 2000s nightmares that I remember very well, not just giving Rush the Congressional Medal of Honor, but Trump Pardoning the Blackwater guys.
	Oh yeah!
	That was a day in my home that I was like, oh, I feel crazy.
	I was losing my shit.
	And I'm like, no one cares.
	Why does no one care?
	Yeah, no, that is completely insane.
	It's completely insane.
	That in and of itself is a crime, I think, to pardon them.
	It should be.
	It fucking should be.
	But who's gonna do anything?
	America's a bunch of psychotic murderers.
	On the bright side, he's old and unhealthy.
	He'll be dead soon, right?
	There's another point here about prosecuting the US and Russia for their invasions.
	See, if the US were still a party to the Rome Statute, individuals could absolutely be tried for war crimes during the Iraq War.
	There's enough evidence to have made that clear, but the invasion itself is a different question entirely.
	See, despite having acts of aggression written into the statute, back in 2006 when this was all being investigated, the first time round by the ICC, the prosecutor said, quote, The International Criminal Court has a mandate to examine the conduct during the conflict, but not whether the decision to engage in armed conflict was legal.
	As the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, I do not have the mandate to address the arguments on the legality of the use of force or the crime of aggression.
	This is because, while it's listed as a serious crime, no legal definition for the crime of aggression has been agreed upon.
	And though there was a review and subsequent amendment to the statute made in 2017 where they attempted to figure that out, there still isn't an agreed upon definition for the crime of aggression.
	So even if Russia were still parties to the Rome Statute, invading a sovereign country isn't yet technically a crime because no one can agree on the definition.
	Right.
	That said, Russia absolutely could be tried for war crimes during the Russo-Ukraine war, had they not made it clear that they're not a party to the Rome Statute.
	But again, they essentially opted out of it, so the ICC is completely toothless in that regard.
	It is mind-blowing to me that I am currently having to sit here and say that technically, from the perspective of the International Criminal Court, Russia invading Ukraine wasn't illegal because there's no specific definition against doing so.
	But here we are.
	There's no rules that say dogs can't play basketball.
	What are you gonna do?
	Exactly.
	Russell doesn't have a fucking clue what he's talking about.
	I think that's abundantly clear.
	Oh my god, well we kind of... So wrong, he was so right, because he keeps calling it an illegal invasion and in the back of my mind I'm like, technically that's not true.
	At least from that perspective anyway.
	Yeah I mean like the... From the ICC perspective, there are wider perspectives thankfully, but...
	But legality is very specific.
	Yeah, very specific and very important.
	Also, side point, the real reason that Julian Assange is in prison is not for whistleblowing, but for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, meaning hacking into a government computer, which carries a five-year maximum sentence in the UK.
	Specifically, there are chat logs of evidence of him helping Chelsea Manning crack a password hash so she could use a different username to download classified documents and not get caught.
	Whistleblowing isn't illegal, but hacking into government computers is.
	So, no history of shoplifting, but a verifiable history of aiding criminal activity, however noble the intention may have been.
	And I reiterate from a couple of weeks ago, Julian Assange should have been tried in Sweden for rape, unlawful coercion and multiple counts of sexual molestation, but he managed to wait out the clock on the statute of limitations like a little bitch.
	Accordingly, I'm not particularly sorry he's in prison right now and suffering.
	Also, fun little tidbit, back in May of this year after the coronation, Assange sent a letter to King Charles III saying he was a political prisoner and that the King should come and visit him in prison.
	Fine.
	Okay.
	King Charles III visits Belmarsh Prison.
	Yeah, I can see that happening.
	Old Chucky should just frame it and put it on the wall.
	That's great.
	Good.
	I would.
	That's nuts.
	If you're ever feeling down, just look at it.
	Ah, Jules.
	I mean, we have a letter of cease and desist for art we made, and it's one of the proudest moments of my life.
	Absolutely.
	Absolutely.
	I mean, that's a token you can't fake.
	Yeah, but also, if you were...
	If you're a political, like, political prisoner is like a thing.
	Yeah, that has meaning.
	That has meaning.
	Yeah, that has meaning, and obviously, like, I am no fan of the carceral state by any stretch of the imagination, like, not at all, but if you're gonna break the rules, then enduring the consequences of breaking the rules for this thing that you found was very important to you.
	And that's even though I'm a political prisoner in the same way.
	Usually political prisoners are put in prison for something different than what they did.
	Yeah, no, for sure.
	Trumped up, railroaded or whatever.
	So I can't even really... I'm not comfortable using the same term necessarily.
	Yeah, no, no.
	To quote Sean Connery in some heist film that I saw when I was a kid and I can't remember what the fuck it was called.
	If you can't do the crime, don't do the time.
	No, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
	That was it.
	He didn't get it the wrong way around.
	See, this is why I don't have a career in acting, right?
	Five years maximum?
	Right, he should be out soon anyway, so this is my thing.
	And there, right?
	I mean, he's not in jail in America.
	No, he's in Belmarsh.
	He's complained about not being treated very nicely.
	I'm like, well, you're also a piece of shit, so I'm not gonna- As is your right as a human citizen, sure.
	But no, he's emaciated and not eating very much and everything.
	I'm like, The rest of the Belmarsh prisoners are eating fine.
	I don't see what's wrong with you.
	Yeah, yeah.
	So next, Brand remembers that he's a comedian.
	Without which we cannot achieve any of our goals.
	That has not changed.
	And that must not change.
	You know like in museums where you see an animatronic model of a president?
	In four score years and ten.
	Like, the one of that of Joe Biden will be better.
	Let's see if they wore underwear back then.
	Yeah!
	Yet, for the second year in a row, this gathering dedicated to peaceful resolution of conflicts.
	That's what we're dedicated to, the peaceful resolution of conflicts.
	That's why the first thing I want to tell you is we're going to be looking for a diplomatic and peaceful solution.
	Plainly, Russia have their own agenda, their own imperial agenda, and their invasion was criminal, but Like I just said, we need peace.
	That's the reason we exist.
	So this is what we're going to do.
	We're definitely not going to mess with the Minsk Accord.
	We're definitely not going to send Boris Johnson to Ukraine to shatter a peace deal that was on the table.
	They did do all of that.
	They don't exist for peace.
	They require war.
	You know that already.
	It's darkened by the shadow of war.
	A profitable shadow of war.
	An illegal war of conquest brought without provocation by Russia against its neighbour Ukraine.
	Just saying stuff, it's mad.
	Biting analysis there.
	I was just saying stuff.
	I'm like proud of that.
	It's weird that there are things that Joe Biden says and I'm like, yeah, good.
	Yeah, he's fucking right.
	Good on you.
	Good on you, Joe.
	Yeah, no, absolutely.
	Like a second at a time.
	Yeah, there are so many valid criticisms of the man, and yet every single time we're dealing with him on this show, I look at him and I'm like, no, you're 100% right.
	It's like the best advertisement I've seen for Joe Biden.
	Because what are we going to get from Trump?
	Oh, there's good guys on both sides?
	Like, stand back and stand by?
	Okay.
	So, the US didn't mess with the Minsk Agreement, which is essentially a tentative drawing up of territories that happened in 2015.
	There was a draft bill in the Ukrainian parliament to reintegrate Crimea and Donbass, but it was withdrawn at Russia's request due to contravening the Minsk Agreement.
	As for what Boris Johnson did, well, here Russell is parroting Russian propaganda.
	So, after Johnson's visit in April of 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that, quote, the Americans and the British forbade Ukraine to conduct further dialogue with Russia, and since then the Ukrainian authorities have been shying away from the negotiation process, unquote.
	Guess who was parroting this propaganda immediately after the fact?
	Branko Markatic at Jacobin!
	Yeah, there was a deal on the table prior to Johnson's visit, that much is true.
	It's one that would have forced Ukraine to accept neutrality and have curbs on its armed forces in exchange for protection from the UK, Turkey and the US, and they'd have to agree to never join NATO.
	I'm no military analyst, but it seems to me this deal would leave Ukraine much weaker from a military standpoint, and when you're dealing with someone like Vladimir Putin, might not be the best idea.
	From all accounts, it seems Johnson arrived to act as an advisor to Vladimir Zelensky, as there were strong diplomatic ties, basically.
	And if anyone knows a liar, it's Boris Johnson, because he is one.
	Accordingly, his advice to Zelensky was, paraphrased, we'll stand with you with anything you sign, but we don't trust Putin because he'll only agree to this for as long as it's politically expedient to do so.
	Which, I think that's fair.
	Where's the lie?
	Yeah, exactly.
	Johnston described negotiating with Putin as like negotiating with a crocodile who has your leg in its jaws.
	His illusions are always weird.
	Yeah, no, no, his similes are bizarre.
	He'll reference some random book from 1805 that three people have read, and it'll be like, okay.
	But it also doesn't make sense how he explains it.
	No, no, no.
	There's a logic there, somewhere, to someone from 200 years ago.
	to someone from 200 years ago.
	Yeah, okay.
	Yeah.
	Right.
	But yeah, the other big problem with the position that, "Oh, the West are trying to prolong the war,
	it's all for money and to weaken Russia,"
	is that it requires taking Russian officials and Vladimir Putin at their word
	that they genuinely want a diplomatic resolution.
	And I wouldn't trust Putin or his government as far as my three-year-old could throw them, because they are demonstrable liars and murderers who have repeatedly lied and murdered for their own nefarious ends.
	But that doesn't seem to matter to people like Russell.
	And again, not the Russian people, the Russian government.
	Russian government.
	That's really tough to like, hear all of this goofy ass news, quote unquote, the fucking news analysis and like, man.
	Here's the fucking news.
	Yeah.
	Because that's also how he's referring to it.
	It's like he's referring to blocks that he's got playing with in a fucking sandbox or something.
	It's just absurd.
	Yeah, that's pretty much it.
	If I assemble these in the right way, I can make money.
	Pretty much.
	We've seen how Russell will go to pretty much any lengths he can to discredit or fling shit at Biden and the left, and in that vein he has a weird complaint about this speech.
	In a way, this rehearsed, revised and presumably scripted speech that he's, I imagine, reading from a teleprompter is just as mad as the stuff he spontaneously says to console victims of massive fires.
	I was in my house, it burned down, it was lightning, it struck the pod, I got a Chevy, I backed my cat caught fire, we got the insurance money though, Honda, he's one of the best people I know, Corn Pop was a bad dude.
	Like even his spontaneous sort of Fever Dream Joyce-ian prose makes as much sense as his carefully prepared remarks at the UN because none of it's true!
	This one didn't take much debunking.
	Yes, it is true and you're a liar.
	Also, haven't heard about Corn Pop in a while, have you?
	Okay.
	We hear about corn pop far too much, all the time.
	Do you?
	It's so stupid.
	Corn pop, laptop, I'm sick of it.
	Come on.
	Yeah, yeah.
	Figure something else out.
	Yeah, I don't get what the issue is around the corn pop thing.
	It's like, okay, an old man did a thing when he was younger.
	Yeah, old guys have stupid stories, we know.
	It's like a shocker.
	Seems to be true as well.
	Okay, that's interesting.
	That's interesting.
	There's so many other things to complain about.
	No, I know, I know!
	Yeah, I love how he complains about it being a scripted speech as well, as though Biden should just instead be addressing the United Nations with off-the-cuff remarks.
	We'll push him onto the podium and see what he says!
	Convoluted commentary?
	Glass houses, my guy!
	Right!
	For someone who just reads a bit of the news and then riffs on it, like, buddy, shut the fuck up!
	And you can tell when he's like reading something that he's also written, and it's not more, well, it's slightly more coherent.
	It's definitely more, but like, that's on a Russell scale.
	Not by much.
	Not by much, yeah.
	That's adjusted for the Russell curve.
	Graded on a curve, yeah.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Absolutely.
	Okay.
	Okay, buddy.
	We get back into Biden's speech here, where Russell just can't resist bringing up one of his heroes.
	Like every nation in the world, the United States wants this war to end.
	Whoa!
	Hold on then.
	Couldn't you dedicate your time, attention and significant resources to bringing that about?
	Not all of you will love Donald Trump, but all of you will have heard him say, I'd end this war in 24 hours.
	I will end that war in one day.
	It'll take 24 hours.
	It'd be perfect phone call, perfect phone call.
	Listen, I'm not claiming to be an expert in geopolitics.
	What I'm claiming is it's visible, demonstrable, verifiable and evident that the United States is prolonging this war for its actions.
	Joe Biden, bad.
	Donald Trump, good.
	Okay, buddy.
	Trump also said he's like 6'2", 190 pounds.
	He says a lot of things.
	He says a lot of shit.
	I will say technically Russell is correct that the US is prolonging the war by making sure that Ukraine isn't just obliterated, I guess, because that's the alternative and that's what Russell is shooting for, even with all of his talk of, you know, Ukrainians, you know, looking after him and them being
	saved and served and whatever else.
	Them being human beings that should be allowed to live.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, no.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He pretends that's his position, but it's definitely fucking not.
	Yeah, what if his ethnostate that he wants got invaded by Russia?
	How would that go?
	Because, you know, he wants his little, like, groups.
	In his conception, I suppose, Russia would also be divided into little ethnostates, and so that would solve all of that problem as well.
	But yeah, I don't know what would happen if his neighbouring ethnostate invaded his ethnostate.
	I don't know what his response to that would be, to be honest.
	I feel like he's got a baby brain.
	Doesn't think about anything.
	There would be no wars!
	Human nature would change!
	Okay, thanks Russell.
	So next we get Rapid Fire Conspiracy Theories.
	No nation wants this war to end more than Ukraine.
	And we strongly support Ukraine in its efforts to bring about a diplomatic resolution that delivers just and lasting peace.
	I don't know that the best way to get just and lasting peace is through, like, I don't know, bombing Crimea.
	I think there might at least be diplomatic solutions.
	I recognise that sometimes when you're dealing with a historic geopolitical conflict with deep roots, like the conflict that is regionalised between Ukraine and Russia and the historic conflict between the United States of America and Russia, there is a degree of complexity that's unlikely to be perfectly disseminated, broken down and understood in an online video.
	But what we can say with some certainty is we're not being told the truth, the media aren't investigating it correctly, they are functioning as amplifying propagandists for a state message, that this is beneficial to certain state interests, there is a unipolar agenda that America have themselves explicitly spoken about.
	Numerous times you've heard people say stuff like, This is actually a cheap war.
	For 3% of our budget, we're able to reduce the capacity of Russia to a significant extent.
	We've just seen Chrystia Freeland and Hillary Clinton say, we're sending a clear message to China, you're next.
	Democracy is fighting back.
	But in advance of you fighting, so fighting forward.
	I suppose.
	All those things are relevant.
	So this is not a discussion about whether there's a conspiracy at play.
	This is simply an invitation to look at a variety of questions that have to be ignored in order for this narrative to be maintained.
	You can't talk about 2014 coup.
	What's their version of why that happened?
	You can't talk about NATO infringement on former Soviet territories.
	You can't talk about Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, etc.
	and the military-industrial complex's ongoing profits.
	You can't talk about the location of those biolabs and how they're funded.
	There are so many actual just questions.
	It's not conspiracy theories.
	They're legitimate questions.
	And the reason those questions don't get asked by the legacy media is because they are propagandists that normalize the agenda of the powerful and shut down dissent in voices by any means necessary.
	It's becoming clear to me.
	Ah yes, you've been shut down by any means necessary, haven't you?
	Never mind that your YouTube subscriber rate is currently up 300% compared to where it was a few weeks ago.
	Oh my god.
	Yeah, we'll leave that out of it, shall we?
	Ya fuck.
	These questions are actually really easy to answer.
	So in 2014, Ukraine had a revolution.
	You know, that thing that Russell is supposed to be all about?
	In order to throw off the shackles of their oppressors.
	Said oppressors being the Russian government and the former Prime Minister of Ukraine at that time was a Russian asset along with other members of that same party.
	There was an enormous public protest which descended into violence caused by the riot police.
	Over the five days of violence there were around 120 deaths and 1500 injuries.
	the Ukrainian parliament voted to oust the prime minister and things progressed from there. They
	got rid of the whole party in general at that stage because they were all Russian assets.
	The notion that it was a coup d'etat at all is in fact Russian propaganda which has once again
	been parroted by, can you guess it, Branko Markatic at Jacobin.
	Uh-huh!
	Uh-huh!
	Same fucking guy!
	His evidence for the US orchestrating the 2014 situation is that Senators John McCain and Chris Murphy supported the protesters, And the U.S.
	Assistant Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, handed out sandwiches to the protesters and had a phone call with the U.S.
	Ambassador to Ukraine in which she supported the opposition leader who became Prime Minister in the aftermath of the Maidan uprising.
	That's it.
	That's the evidence.
	That's the smoking gun.
	Well done, Branko.
	You fucking... Yeah.
	How is that blown out of proportion?
	That seems difficult to blow out of proportion.
	Were they getting paid?
	And yet.
	Was there money?
	And yet.
	For the US people?
	For John McCain?
	Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
	No, no, no, no.
	They were just like, oh no, we support these people.
	They were just like, good idea.
	Good on ya, neighbor.
	Yeah, pretty much.
	That was it.
	Handing out sandwiches to protesters.
	That's a smoking gun.
	Handing out sandwiches.
	Yeah, that's the evidence.
	And now, you know, it's gotten to this point, where on this show, it's now written into history as, oh yes, the US orchestrated a coup.
	The sandwich coup!
	Yes, the sandwich coup of 2014!
	As for NATO infringement on former Soviet territories, we've covered that one pretty extensively.
	And also, the key word there is former, right?
	Former territories!
	Britain can't just get upset about, you know, people doing things in fucking India or whatever.
	We don't own India anymore, right?
	Well, they can get as upset as they want!
	It doesn't matter!
	The thing is, get upset all day!
	Doing something is wrong!
	Yeah, we wouldn't be able to get upset about it and then invade India being like, hey, you know, that's just, that's not acceptable.
	What an excellent parallel example!
	Oh, thank you.
	Now, arms companies and the military-industrial complex making a huge profit off the war, well, we're not allowed to talk about that, according to Russell, which is why, after a cursory Google search, I found articles in Bloomberg, Reuters, the Financial Times, the Atlantic, Fox News, all discussing the same thing, which was, hey, these companies are making a lot of money off this.
	That's it.
	It's everywhere.
	It's everywhere.
	In Bran's conception of things, every single one of those writers is about to be accused of sexual assault because they're so dangerous.
	Oh no.
	The final point he made there was about the supposed US-funded biolabs in Ukraine developing biological weapons.
	That made me sit up straight.
	It's Russian propaganda turned conspiracy theory which took hold with the alt-right in the US, right?
	This was everywhere for a little while.
	It was so widely debunked that there were articles in the New York Times, in Reuters, in Bloomberg, and on the BBC, having to make the point that it's bullshit.
	The short version is, there are medical research labs over there that are funded by the US.
	That's it.
	It's completely transparent.
	In responding, the US government had to make the point that they've also had the same kind of cooperative research program with Russia for 21 years.
	As an aside, Russell has spent an unusual amount of time this week talking about Hillary Clinton.
	Not saying anything of substance, of course, just shitting on her in general.
	There was a painting of Hillary Clinton unveiled and she gave a speech and he went through that and shat on her for a while through that.
	And I'm just like, Why, I know you all love to hate Hillary Clinton, I know, like the Trump people especially, but how is she relevant anymore?
	I just, I don't, I don't get it!
	I don't, I don't understand.
	Also, that's like the one, she's the one person that will start a fight in my relationship, and it's about levels of hating her.
	So it's not like she's this bastion of American, you know... No.
	No, there are good reasons.
	Yeah.
	Yeah.
	She's very fucking beautiful.
	Not usually the ones that these people are saying, but there are reasons.
	No!
	No!
	Why not?!
	Like, it's just... That's the thing.
	Every single thing that he listed, except for the Bio... I was like, oh, Bio... No, no, no.
	Biolabs?
	Girl, come on.
	Come on.
	But all the other stuff he was listing, it was like...
	You're picking the wrong thing to yell about.
	Again, why?
	Why not just pick the things that are... Because I don't disagree that there is a corporate... Oh, that was another thing that Rush said that people couldn't pin down his... Again, in the 90s, couldn't pin down his political affiliation.
	And he said, like, I advocate for corporate America.
	That was his... And he said that.
	Openly.
	I advocate for corporate America.
	That's who he supports.
	Corporations.
	Interesting.
	Yeah!
	Crazy, right?
	I feel like Russell is more, I advocate for myself.
	I feel like that's Russell's tip.
	It's absolutely different, but also like the corporation, you know, like obviously corporations have an outsized influence on our politics and that bleeds into our, I mean, corporations Big, terrible corporations run all of our legacy media.
	Yeah, there's a lot of problems.
	Obviously, this is not how you fix that.
	This is not how you go about it.
	Whoever's living where the politicians who are keeping the Pentagon from being audited, We have a black box of money going to the military.
	There's a lot of things that could be done, and it's a couple of people that are standing in the way, and it's not Hillary fucking Clinton anymore.
	Yeah, no, no, no.
	It's a picture!
	Somebody made a picture of her!
	It's a painting that I think is hanging somewhere in the White House now.
	Fucking fine!
	She was there a lot.
	She was!
	She was there a lot.
	She was first lady for a good chunk of time, you know, like fucking who gives a fuck.
	Well, yeah, would I throw soup at it?
	Yeah.
	Do I care enough?
	No.
	No, no.
	The next clip is something I honestly was not expecting.
	Russia alone bears responsibility for this war.
	It's just not how, like, history works, is it?
	Like, even something like... The Nazis.
	Like, something plainly bad.
	Unless you're in Canada when it's raining!
	The Nazis!
	Don't!
	Like, you have to know... Oh yeah, God, I suppose, yeah, the First World War.
	Oh, the Treaty of Versailles.
	Yeah, God, it was complicated.
	Maybe there could have been a better resolution to the First World War, and there are two imperialist forces, or numerous imperialist interests and all... It's complicated!
	Nazis, it's complicated.
	That's where we're at in modern day.
	Stay free with Russell Brand.
	Nazi apologism to cover for Putin.
	Also, Canadians, what are you doing?
	That's bad.
	Did you see what happened?
	Yes.
	Wow.
	I will clarify for the audience.
	The Canadian applause thing, if you haven't seen it, was that the Canadian Parliament, with Vladimir Zelensky and Justin Trudeau in attendance, ...recognized a man in their gallery as a 98-year-old war veteran.
	He was described as, quote, a Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians, and a Ukrainian hero and a Canadian hero, unquote.
	It later turned out that the man in question served in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, a Nazi military unit whose crimes against humanity during the Holocaust are well documented.
	Oh yeah, oh yeah.
	And he volunteered, right?
	He was like, me!
	Yeah, no, absolutely.
	It was all the fault of the House Speaker, Anthony Rota, who did all of this of his own accord without getting the guy properly vetted.
	He didn't tell anyone about it beforehand.
	Oh, that's also what everybody's like, blaming their aides.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, exactly.
	To a person, they're like, nobody gave Google enough.
	He didn't mention it to anyone, and so it's his fucking fault.
	Profuse apologies followed with many red faces and a lot of hand wringing.
	Which is, you should.
	Yes, absolutely.
	Immense fuck up.
	Of course, Russell and his ilk have had a field day with all of that, claiming it was all intentional and that Zelensky's a Nazi.
	So they're like, oh yeah, great.
	Great!
	But yeah, Nazis, it's complicated.
	That's the official- No, it's not.
	It's fucking super not.
	It's literally not.
	The official position of stay free with Russell Brand.
	Is he gonna be, like, broadcasting from Argentina soon?
	This is crazy.
	I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that.
	That's a lot.
	That's one of the reasons why I was like, we have to cover this editorial.
	Because that is insane.
	Oh my god.
	But also, hey, he's a national state fan, what are you gonna do?
	Yeah, no, it's true!
	I'm betting that there are some views that align, I think.
	There are some things that line up between him and the Nazis.
	Well, I bet it's a fucking accident because he's too stupid to know any better.
	Like, honestly, because there's a lot of that, like, you know, the theosophical kind of, like, esoteric woo-wee-woo-woo stuff.
	There's a lot of bad... There's a lot of either, like, strict conservatism or actually Nazi beliefs.
	Like, there's a lot of, like, of... Oh, what are my words that I'm thinking of?
	Help me.
	Oh, come on.
	Not phrenology.
	Eugenics!
	Like a lot of eugenical ideas that are deeply ingrained.
	And guess what eugenics makes?
	Genocides!
	Woopsie poopsie!
	Like all genocides.
	Like the one that is happening or attempting to happen.
	It's really not cool!
	And this guy is defending the Nazis in order to provide cover for the other guy attempting a genocide.
	No!
	This week!
	Oh my god!
	The next clip, we need to move on from Nazis.
	Fuck me.
	Show done!
	The next clip, it uh, yeah we need to move on from Nazis, fuck me.
	Show done!
	[Laughter]
	Well, it would be, but as it is, Russell decided to give me a sense of deja vu.
	So this, plainly, with the stuff I've just listed a bunch of times, just because I've listened to Jeffrey Sachs and a
	variety of other people, journalists and academics worthy of the names, rather than
	systems of amplification for propaganda, and academic institutions that are funded in ways that
	simply mean they're going to support imperialist notions and mainstream narratives.
	Wink!
	No!
	To say that Russia and Russia alone, it's not that.
	Like didn't NATO, that Stoltenberg dude, the other day goes, oh well what happened was Putin said, if you do this, we're going to do that.
	And we just did it.
	President Putin sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign to promise no more NATO enlargement.
	That was a precondition for not invade Ukraine.
	Of course, we didn't sign that.
	The opposite happened.
	I mean, that in itself, that's a form of provocation.
	Give me all your money or I'll beat you to a pulp.
	No.
	Well then I'm going to beat you to a pulp because you provoked me.
	Let everyone see that I have been provoked.
	That is apparently a completely fine scenario according to Russell.
	It's almost like the nuance of provocation is complicated and often needs to be examined more thoroughly.
	So he's been playing this clip of the UN almost every day and I am sick of it.
	Oh my god, really?
	Yeah, it's crazy.
	Like, dude, it's not a smoking gun no matter how much you say it is.
	Just move on.
	It's proving something wrong!
	Yes, yeah, it's ridiculous.
	This is nuts.
	He makes Biden look great.
	Like, all the time.
	And the clips are so rational.
	Yeah.
	Generally, that he shows.
	I'm like, what is happening?
	You have to have your brain to be cooked.
	It's like, oh, well, it's opposite day, though.
	And everything's opposite day.
	Well, there's something of a theme to this episode, to be honest.
	Because also, his journalists and academics are apparently not the ones pirating propaganda.
	That's news to me.
	Gotta be said.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, our evidence kind of says something different, as far as research goes.
	Yeah, I was gonna say, I've traced a lot of things back to propaganda so far.
	I think it's fair to say that Russell doesn't like the mainstream media, right?
	That's the idea.
	Well, next we learn how they could make him accept them.
	Like, why are we not, in a democracy, able to say, what's the role of NATO?
	Do we need NATO?
	What's the function of NATO?
	Are NATO behaving responsibly?
	Do we have a shared agenda?
	This is the truth behind all this.
	Your agenda and my agenda is not their agenda.
	That's it.
	That's it, put simply.
	The agenda of the government and the interests that they serve are separate.
	So opposing to yours that the only way that this massive conflict can't be exposed that would lead to revolution is through a media that lies to you.
	That's it.
	If they went, your government's gone mental, they're running a whole bunch of wars now that are none of your business.
	Do you want that?
	Let's have a vote on it.
	That's not possible, is it?
	If you're not voting on it, if you're not discussing it, it's because it's not in your interest.
	That's why Aha!
	So, if there were articles or news critical of, like, NATO, or at least critiquing NATO in some meaningful way, you know, that would be the way to get Russell to consider the mainstream media as at least somewhat trustworthy, because then they wouldn't be lying, right?
	I have good news.
	Russell can trust The Guardian, The New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Atlantic, The Financial Times, Reuters, and plenty of others, all the way down to the Miami Herald.
	All of which have articles critical of NATO.
	And if he wants criticism of war in general, that can go way fucking broader.
	And even criticism of supporting Ukraine in the Russo-Ukraine war, there are outlets like The Telegraph who spend a good chunk of their time providing cover for Putin.
	Yeah, good news for you, Russell.
	You can support the MSM again, which he often does cite their articles in his fucking show.
	Oh yeah.
	If he can find something that supports it.
	Especially from the Telegraph.
	Yeah, right.
	As an aside, I think NATO's interests are, generally speaking, pretty aligned with my own interests.
	Prevention of nuclear annihilation, general promotion of peace, even if it is through a collective defence treaty, not a big fan of having to have that, but I'm fine with it to stop shithead dictators rolling their way through Europe or elsewhere, as has happened before.
	She's almost like, that's why it was fucking created in the first place!
	Yeah, it could work better!
	Sure could work better.
	I completely agree with that part.
	Yes, it could work better.
	But also, not discussing it?
	Not voting, not discussing it?
	Sir, what are you talking about?
	I'm so curious as to what His alternative looks like.
	Draw me a picture.
	Yeah, I don't know.
	In terms of what he wants NATO to look like, I have no idea.
	But I know with everything... I know it's stupid.
	Honestly, I feel stupid even asking the question over and over.
	So he wants maximum democracy.
	That's the thing he always says.
	He wants maximum democracy.
	What that looks like, however, is fucking voting on every little thing.
	And, you know, if we were in his tiny little ethnostates, that would work somewhat okay-ish, I guess.
	You'd still be voting 15 times a day, you know.
	You'd have an app.
	You'd have to have an app.
	Right, and to be informed, I can't even be informed of all the judges I have to vote for in my district in Chicago.
	It's not that fucking easy to understand the nuance, but also in the same statement that he made, he's saying, oh, well, we both agree.
	He's assuming everyone's listening to him.
	It's that very like, oh, I just am saying what everybody's thinking.
	It's a silent majority kind of approach, which is fucking wrong.
	People have different opinions and they're nuanced and they learn about things and it's very difficult to generate consensus.
	Obviously, like what I, I, uh, obviously this man is frustrating.
	I just... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Speaking of frustrating, here's some more.
	Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately.
	And it's Russia alone that stands in the way of peace.
	This is astonishing when you actually look at it.
	This is propaganda live and we just carry on with our lives.
	I mean, I suppose because in some ways it seems irrelevant and abstract and in a way is abstract and irrelevant because you can't really do anything about it.
	Except, as I say, participate in a massive campaign of disobedience and join a movement that opposes this kind of thing.
	Red button.
	That's not a nuclear button, Joe.
	Because Russia's price for peace It's Ukraine's capitulation, Ukraine's territory and Ukraine's children.
	They actually want the children?
	That's actually, I'll tell you from personal experience, actually very difficult to bring them up.
	What I would say is that they want the capitulation of Russia.
	That's what they want.
	So they've said that.
	It's not me saying this.
	They've said probably the objective is to drain Russia.
	Remember that thing?
	Ukraine are getting casually adverse.
	This is the problem.
	This is why they want to censor these spaces because this is just from memory.
	You can just go, hold on, but they said that, they said that.
	The fact is, is through independent media like this, not exclusively us, but I'm proud to say it includes us, and we are here because of you, we can just say, no, wait a minute, it's not just Russia's fault because of these 10 facts.
	Boom!
	And if you can't address those 10 facts, what you've got yourself there is a conversation, a debate, and they don't want to have a conversation and debate because they're lying.
	I would love to see those 10 facts of his.
	Boom!
	So, we know with certainty that hundreds of Ukrainian children have been killed, and according to Ukraine, thousands have been kidnapped and deported into Russia.
	We will get into that in a little bit, but when Biden says that Russia are coming for Ukraine's children, it's not hyperbole.
	Also, he's now describing- It sucks!
	Are you kidding?
	Yes, it really does.
	He's there making jokes about this.
	Yeah, he's now describing his local channel of AwakendWonders as being a massive campaign of disobedience and a movement that opposes live propaganda, as he called it.
	He said that, and I was like, what does he... I'm still in that headspace of like, what do you think this looks like?
	And then he's hit the red button, right?
	Like, subscribe to my locals channel.
	And that's what he thinks he's selling to people.
	Capital T, capital R, the revolution TM.
	We all know that all that happens in his locals channel is access to the live streamed versions of his show before they're edited down, which is gonna be demonstrably worse, let's be honest, and a whole lot of racist talk in the chat itself, but he's now selling this as a movement Right?
	He's kind of edging further into the cult territory here.
	Like, you can really feel it coming.
	That's exactly my... I'm concerned!
	I don't like this!
	Between this, his saviour complex, and delusions of grandeur, combined with a hard turn to religious zealotry, and a desperate need to legally protect himself, at this point I'm willing to say it really wouldn't shock me if Brand in the very near future sets up a Christianity-based cult.
	Like, I know we've joked about it before, but he really does seem to be headed that way.
	Well, but I'm not joking, bitch.
	I'm not joking.
	No, no, no.
	Jokes are funny because they're true.
	I want it to be a joke.
	In my heart, I want it to be.
	I want to be kidding, but I know I'm not.
	And this is how that...
	There are other patterns.
	Again, true crime brain, this is a pattern, and we're watching it happen!
	Yeah.
	I don't like this!
	Yeah, no, it sucks.
	Man, oh man.
	Also, if you're going to describe something as a movement, surely you should have, I don't know, events, rallies, protests, something.
	Something, right?
	There should be something.
	It should be free.
	Yeah.
	I mean, right, like, you can donate to your party if you have it, but your, your resource, like, it should be, it shouldn't cost people to, that's a cult thing though, it's like, oh, well, it's not actually, you're not paying for the experience.
	It's you, you, the asceticism of giving up your, your, your earthly goods is what frees you to be spiritual.
	And for your guru to buy six Rolls Royces.
	There's a degree of sunk cost fallacy in there as well, I think.
	You know, you start throwing money in and then it's like, oh, well, you know, I need to keep throwing money into it to make this worth it.
	And, you know, at that point you're like, well, I can't leave because then all the money that I've thrown in there will be useless and will have been pointless.
	And I have to get something out of this because I emptied my retirement savings.
	Yeah, I'm familiar.
	I play poker.
	Right.
	I like a good game of poker.
	I can fall victim to that very mindset, and I have to pull myself out of it.
	So, you know, it's appealing.
	It works.
	It's very fucking effective.
	And also all these new people, apparently, that have shown up.
	A lot of new people.
	A lot of new people!
	Isn't that great?
	They hear he's a rapist and they're like, yeah, let's get on side.
	No one ever asked me why I ever have a thousand yard stare on my face.
	You know why.
	Right here.
	Just tell them to come and listen.
	So next we get a classic propagandist tactic.
	Russia believes the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence.
	Go on then, brutalise Ukraine without consequence.
	Night, night.
	Again, reductive simplification of a complex situation.
	But I ask you this.
	It's a speech.
	It's hard to buy any qualifications to work for Burisma.
	If we abandon the core principles of the United States to appease an aggressor, can any member state in this body feel confident that they are protected?
	If you allow Ukraine to be carved up, is the independence of any nation secure?
	I'd respectfully suggest the answer is no.
	Respectfully suggest.
	There's a weird rhetoric involved in this stuff.
	Of course, it's odd to hear the inversion of the facts.
	Isn't it, if we can do this, if we can say that, if they can do this, if they can do that.
	In a sense, the very thing that Biden suggests we ought be terrified of is already happening and he is its figurehead.
	We have to stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow.
	Ah, there's another war coming.
	Semiconductors in Taiwan.
	Get ready.
	Oh, if you enjoyed Star Wars, you're going to love The Return of the Semiconductor.
	OK, so here we get the classic alt-right turnabout phrase where any accusation is a confession.
	It's a profoundly stupid but also profoundly effective tactic that lends itself perfectly to Brand's inversion of reality through which he makes a profit.
	It's an argument on the level of I'm rubber and you're glue, but it serves both as a defense and cover for his side, the alt-right, and a way to bash his opposition while simultaneously spinning conspiracy theories about them because none of the arguments are true or based in reality.
	Take this example.
	He's saying that Biden is actually the one annexing sovereign nations and bombing hospitals and committing war crimes, which deflects from Putin's crimes and is absolutely not true.
	There's no great debunking of it to do because it's such a bald-faced lie, but he sells it well enough that it feels true.
	The information doesn't matter.
	It's the vibe, it's the feeling that he pushes.
	Biden bad, Russia good.
	That's the undertone.
	And then, of course, he encourages his viewers to join his movement and go from awakening to awakened wonders by joining his locals channel for $80 a year.
	And by that point, they're far enough down the misinformation rabbit hole that they may never come out again.
	And they absolutely will give their hard-earned and probably much-needed income to people like Brandon, those he promotes like Tucker fucking Carlson, because they've been convinced that he's the only person telling the truth.
	And they'll do it for decades.
	Yes.
	As illustrated by the Rush thing.
	They will do it until they die.
	I had no idea that he was around for as long as he was and was effective for as long as he was.
	And so that again, to me, the staying power is scary.
	That's the scary part.
	It's like how effective you can be over a long enough timeline.
	And also just like.
	This is exhausting.
	I mean, I just.
	This is the part where I've lost.
	I've given up.
	There's so many things!
	There's a good few episodes where I managed to sap the will to live from you and this is one of them.
	You've had a long day in fairness.
	Yeah, I woke up outside of Tulsa.
	Yeah, no, like, outside of St.
	Louis.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Well, but, like, even just the, the, I do want to say, like, every, it's, I mean, every accusation is a confession is not right, right?
	Like, Spurious accusations are often a confession.
	That is something that you can use as one element in an arsenal of tactics to understand misinformation.
	If everyone just walked around and just said the opposite thing all the time, that's insane.
	The world would collapse.
	That's what he uses.
	That's exactly his conception of how things work.
	We saw his thing the other day with the Trusted News Initiative.
	Oh, it's got trust in the name.
	That means we can't trust it.
	Oh my God.
	Yeah, it's so simple.
	And he's accusing other people of oversimplifying anything?
	Really?
	Yeah, right. Opposite day! Most simple concept! Stupid!
	Like, if you have a reason to understand that, like, someone is being misleading, then we
	can look for evidence. But, like... If nothing, like, I'm hearing all this stuff from Joe
	Biden and I'm frustrated we don't do more. I'm frustrated that we do send funds and our
	fucking alphabet agencies to fuck with as much as we do.
	That's not right.
	But like- Yeah.
	This is not what I'm complaining about.
	This thing that we're watching is like... No, it's fine.
	It's perfectly fine.
	Also, we've covered... This show makes me like Biden.
	What?
	Nothing else does.
	I know, I know, right?
	This show kind of sells me.
	Yeah.
	It's kind of crazy.
	I know, I'm not that big a fan and I have to spend a lot of my time defending the guy.
	I know!
	Oh my god, here we are.
	And the clips seem pretty good!
	Yeah, they're fine!
	They're fine!
	We've covered the Taiwan situation before as well, but there's not going to be a war there.
	Actually, Taiwan's global share of semiconductor manufacturing is declining because China's is increasing.
	In fact, they've had enough of the reliance and are attempting to go it alone at some point in the future, which, fair enough.
	The US is, of course, doing the same thing with the Chips and Science Act.
	Terribly named.
	And by, I'm just, you know, you think of what I call crisps, I think of, you know, the thing that we have with fish, you know, it's just, it's just, yeah.
	Eric Estrada, chips, I mean.
	I'm hungry.
	I want Neil deGrasse Tyson and a bunch of fries, just give me that.
	Chips and science, right?
	And by 2027, the U.S.
	is supposed to have a much more significant chunk of the foundry work involved in manufacturing the semiconductor.
	So basically, there's a manufacturing race happening, not a fucking war, right?
	That's just not what's happening.
	It's so absurd.
	As far as manufacturing goes, and products, China has us by the balls, and has for decades.
	Well, that's part of the reason for this act, is to try and remove reliance on Taiwan and China.
	Undo all of the...
	Vicious corporate outsourcing and gutting our manufacturing center that we used to have in America.
	Yeah, it was actually a really bad idea and people were really mad about it the whole time.
	No one listened because they wanted to make some money.
	Yeah, okay.
	Yeah, that's gonna go great.
	See, I hate the same shit just for a totally different reason!
	For actual reasons.
	Yeah!
	Come on, man!
	And again, I don't get to prepare.
	This is just off the cuff.
	And I also, I love that he was, the clip before this, that he's like acting like it's some kind of boon, like it's some kind of benefit that like, oh, I'm just thinking of stuff off the top of my head.
	I cannot, I've never trusted my memory less.
	I started this podcast, and I'm not mad about it, and I'm wrong all the time, or I'm inaccurate all the time, and I want to do better, and I hold myself to a standard that you have to talk me off of a ledge on the regular.
	Guys, that's never great.
	Research is always better than your memory.
	Your memory is not perfect.
	And he's acting like... This is why I don't just play the clips and make it up off the top of my head.
	Yeah, no shit!
	No shit!
	And that's the thing.
	He's like, we can all rely on our memory so we know that our right.
	Subscribe to my locals channel and join the revolution.
	That's what I'm getting from this.
	And it's also so fucking self-serving to use Ukraine as a cudgel, because it really feels like an ad.
	It feels like it's an ad for his local channel.
	Maybe just because I've seen his content more?
	Maybe it's the segment, I don't know.
	Yeah, there are four or five of those in every editorial.
	He really pushes it.
	And yeah, it feels gross because it is.
	When you're dealing with situations where people died, you know, much like the wildfires in Hawaii, right?
	That was gross as well.
	And he just keeps on doing it.
	Oh, so it'll probably just keep happening.
	Great.
	Cool.
	Sweet.
	Let's do it.
	Almost certainly.
	He's, you know, everything against him is just turning him into more of a raging success at this.
	So great.
	Next, we get our first source of the piece, finally.
	That's why the United States, together with our allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom.
	It couldn't even get to the end of the phrase 'territorial integrity' because it was so lacking in integrity.
	Okay, so there's some propaganda that was eagerly lapped up except for by old Baldy in front of Sierra Leone who was
	fact-checking what was happening.
	Excuse me!
	No, that didn't happen!
	Let's have a look at an alternative version of reality that might not be so valuable to the elites.
	The Biden administration used last week's meeting of the United Nations General Assembly as a platform to launch a full-throated tirade against Russia of the kind made by countries before they declare war.
	Oh, so Tucker Carlson might be right when he said there will be a hot war within a year.
	Let us know.
	He said, let's look at an alternative version of reality, and by God is he right about that one.
	Apparently, the speech that Biden just gave is exactly the kind given before going to war.
	The source being used is good old WSWS, the World Socialist website.
	A predictably reactionary left-of-left site that makes big ol' stretches like this one to be able to fling shit at Biden.
	We have dealt with them before on this show, and I've gotta say, they have not fucking improved.
	I also wonder if they know that their content is being used to bolster the alt-right.
	Hmm.
	Who knows?
	Oh, I can't imagine the care.
	I cannot imagine the care.
	No, no.
	I can't imagine the care.
	Given I know what's coming, I'm pretty sure they don't.
	Also, good look there, throwing shit at the guy with a stutter for his speech.
	Real nice.
	No mention on his show of RFK Jr.' 's voice at any point, however, only to say that it's improving.
	He said that this week.
	Oh, his voice is sounding better, isn't it?
	Fucking absolute prick.
	Yeah yeah it's it's yeah just just absolutely blatant yeah.
	Oh, people keep calling me right wing.
	I don't understand it.
	OK, buddy.
	Next, we get straight into the Whistleblower's article.
	In his speech to the UN Tuesday, Biden declared the United States, together with our allies and partners around the world, will continue to stand with the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their sovereignty and territorial integrity and their freedom.
	Of course, this is the kind of rhetoric that when you say it sounds good, sounds normal, sounds like what should be happening.
	But a lot of political speeches sound like when you use something Yeah, if that was actually what you were doing, everything would be okay, but simply lies and propaganda.
	Biden has said that Russia alone bears responsibility for the war in Ukraine, Russia alone has the power to end this war immediately, and it is Russia alone that stands in the way of peace, because Russia's price for peace is Ukraine's capitulation, Ukraine's territory, and Ukraine's children.
	Extraordinary rhetoric.
	I think when people say stuff like that you kind of know that they're lying.
	Another indicator might be if, for example, they lobbied all big tech platforms to deny Russia Today the ability to broadcast.
	So, for example, YouTube won't broadcast Russia Today because do you think that's because Russia Today's content is so brilliant that if you saw it you'd go, oh my god!
	Let's go and support Russia and become Putin apologists.
	No, it's just simply because it will provide a different perspective.
	And if you had a different perspective, you wouldn't be so malleable.
	And that's why you are members of this community.
	That's why we exist in this community, because we care more about truth than this math-giddy reception.
	Because they're not malleable.
	So it's yet more of the I know you are but what am I argument coming through here, this time in defence of both himself and Russia Today.
	Oh, is their content so brilliant that people will just fall for it and become Putin apologists?
	Well, that's what happened to you, mate, so I think it's fair to be wary of it happening to other people before we live in a world inundated with Russell Brands.
	The real reason that RT were banned is, of course, that they are a Russian state-run propaganda outlet, and at the beginning of the Russo-Ukraine war, the invasion of Ukraine fell under YouTube's violent events policy, and violating material would be removed, as would any channels that were repeat violators.
	Russia, of course, called it an atrocious attack on freedom of the press.
	Fucking rich coming from you, Putin!
	And yet again, I am forced to remind these fucking idiots that YouTube is a private company and can do what they want.
	That's it.
	If they want to remove Russia today, that's it.
	It's up to them.
	Incredible.
	That's another, okay, so this is another propagandist.
	Ooh, look who's a propagandist now.
	Propagandists or like misinformation tactic is like mollycoddling and pandering and flattering your audience.
	Listen, I'm gonna tell you, listener, at the beginning and the end of the show how I truly feel that I appreciate your time and attention.
	Oh no, we love our audience.
	We love our audience, that is true.
	I'll say it in the middle, because I know you're listening.
	And I don't need you, I'm not gonna pander, and I'm not gonna, like, coddle any people.
	We're not gonna fucking talk down to you at any point, right?
	We're not gonna suck up, we're not gonna talk down, we're not gonna do any of this shit.
	I respect your intelligence.
	I respect your intelligence, and I also, to a degree, respect myself, so I'm just not going to do either of those things.
	All of the above!
	But it's like the mollycoddling in the middle that feels like I'm watching a half-hour Time Life infomercial in my parents' basement.
	You know what I mean?
	It's like, oh right, you're selling something.
	Absolutely, absolutely.
	I already know y'all are listening.
	I don't need to flatter you right now.
	I can reserve my feelings.
	We are deeply appreciative and we make that pretty well known, I think.
	But it's a good, because it's something that kept getting mentioned in all the Rush articles that I listened to.
	So this is not a new thing, not new at all, and it's a tactic that we need to look out for.
	Yeah, absolutely.
	Since all the cult pieces seem to be falling into place today, I feel I might as well mention it.
	Jeez.
	Also, the nerve of saying that Biden's speech sounds good.
	Oh, but if he was only doing what he was actually doing, like he is.
	He's doing those exact things he said in the speech.
	That was the point of the speech.
	I know.
	How is it all propaganda and lies?
	I don't know.
	How is it that?
	Listen, I'll be hammered and hyperbolic.
	And I'll get heated, right?
	I'm not going to write that script and say it into a microphone, and as soon as someone says, hey, who's they?
	In that sense, I'm like, okay, fine.
	And I've got to be specific and temper my attitude from a little bit.
	This is nuts.
	Russell is a propagandist.
	He does a propaganda show.
	Even I wouldn't go so far as to say that every word that comes out of his mouth is propaganda.
	A good chunk of it's just bullshit.
	Right.
	Could the U.S.
	do a lot more?
	Absolutely.
	Could the U.S.
	make better choices collectively?
	Absolutely.
	Even just as rhetoric that's being said as a representative of my country is a good thing.
	There has not been anything that... I cannot turn my nose up at any of this.
	So it's a little crazy that this is the example you use?
	Mm-hmm.
	Seems oversimple.
	Yeah, he keeps doing that, but people simplifying things is a problem.
	Anyway, next we discover that WSWS may not have Ukraine's best interests at heart.
	This was not just a speech, it was an unrelenting attack on any notion that the United States is open to a negotiated settlement of this war.
	Well, that's good to know.
	It's the opposite of all of the language around peace and kindness and justice and standing together and freedom and posing tyranny.
	It's the opposite of that.
	The White House is demanding the unconditional surrender of Russia, accompanied by the overthrow of its government and its territorial breakup.
	That's mental.
	So they want to do what they're saying Russia want to do.
	Have you noticed that?
	Have you noticed this inversion of values?
	Have you noticed the vilification of anyone that dissents?
	Have you noticed that they claim to be telling the truth while lying, standing for peace, while going to war?
	Literal Orwellian inversion of language.
	There is a part of me, having seen these clips a number of times, that wants to scream in Russell's face, THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
	But I will refrain for the sake of our audience.
	So what WozWoz have just said is that the White House is demanding the unconditional surrender of Russia, the overthrow of its government, and a breakup of its territories.
	It actually took me a while to find this quote because it's in a different WusWus article to the one cited on the screen there.
	Yeah, it could be an intentional misdirect, but more likely incompetence exacerbated by Brand's show still being understaffed.
	Anyway, the evidence cited for this bold statement is...
	Non-existent.
	They're just making shit up here, and the US has not made any such demands whatsoever.
	It's just straight up bullshit from us.
	Wow.
	Yeah, that's a lot, right?
	To claim that the White House is demanding unconditional surrender and the overthrow of its government and the breakup of its territory.
	Yeah, that sounded insane to me.
	That's a lot.
	I kind of assumed that that was...
	The way that strikes my ear is like, oh yeah, you know, Ukraine is actually Russia.
	I don't know.
	That's weird.
	It's the way it hits me.
	It's weird.
	It's not weird, it's a lie.
	That's actually a lie.
	It's a weird lie.
	Yeah, well in propaganda, like the propaganda that makes the rounds, it's like Russian propaganda or whatever, that I have seen, there's stuff that I've had to debunk You know, just in passing, right?
	It's a thing that we do because we want to live miserable lives.
	And so... Yes, we want to be right on the internet, goddammit.
	Well, we're just like, having a conversation with somebody, we just like... Yeah, we want to be miserable, sad people, knowing the truth of reality.
	We have to be the people being like, actually... Or just like, well, everything you said was kind of...
	I did read where the article actually came from, and you just kind of misunderstood the whole thing.
	So let's use contest clues and figure this out.
	And usually, propaganda articles that I get sent as evidence and have seen as evidence before, and I look at it and I'm like, okay.
	It is the I'm rubber, you're glue.
	Like, well, Russia might be doing this bad thing, or China might be doing this bad thing, but the Americans do it too.
	That just makes two bads.
	That just makes two bads.
	That doesn't fix the first fucking thing.
	Yeah.
	And if anything, he's accurately or inaccurately calling out hypocrisy, which is not necessarily a lie.
	Also, we know that my definition of a lie that gets my fur up is very broad, but being a hypocrite is just two separate things.
	It's not a lie.
	And so hypocrisy does not indicate that, doesn't make one side and the other,
	like one side right and the other side wrong. It just means y'all both did something wrong.
	Like it's just, it's just the wrongs. So it doesn't negate anything. And so like pointing,
	because that is, and again, listeners look for that trend of that, well, but look at them over
	They're doing something bad too, so don't complain to me.
	That's not... It happens.
	It happens a lot.
	It's so common.
	And just keep an eye out.
	Usually the comparison is not a fair one as well.
	Exactly.
	Exactly that.
	It certainly isn't with Russell.
	We've had some of that already in this show.
	Yeah, I think that's a good barometer.
	If you're reading an article and you're like, why are they deflecting?
	Just think about it.
	I think it's useful.
	I always think it's useful.
	This next clip is probably the most infuriating in Bran's inversion of reality in this show, but on a brighter side, he does eventually tell us how we can become free.
	So there's that.
	Achieving this goal is impossible without direct U.S.
	involvement, transforming a proxy war into a direct conflict between the United States and Russia.
	The conflict in Ukraine is already America's war, for which the U.S.
	and NATO are providing logistics, weapons and intelligence.
	But the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive has led the Biden administration to conclude that achieving its objectives is impossible without turning the current proxy war into a full-scale conflict involving the deployment of U.S.
	and NATO troops.
	Escalation.
	Escalation that was pledged that the commencement would not occur.
	You can check that for yourself.
	You can literally go and watch Joe Biden, the man there, saying, you know, it's all Russia's fault.
	You can watch him saying, this will never lead to boots on the ground, this will never lead to a war, we're not at war, we can't do that, that would lead to World War III.
	All you actually need is a memory.
	That's all you need, is a memory.
	But they don't want you to have that.
	That's why there's this state of fear.
	That's why you're doing well staying with us.
	We're going, hold on a minute, I'm not going to just respond to fear, hysteria, propaganda and lies.
	I'm going to get deep, I'm going to stay true to myself, I'm going to discern.
	And then you'll be able to go, wait, hold on, didn't actually, who was that that said that there could never be a war because it would lead to Armageddon?
	Oh, that was Joe Biden.
	Wait a minute, didn't NATO say they spoke to Putin and he said that that escalation would lead to further war?
	Wait a minute, wasn't there a story last week where they said that Elon Musk was talking to the Kremlin and actually we found out that all he was doing was not letting Ukraine use Starlink to bomb Crimea?
	Hang on.
	They're lying because they're liars, and then you become free.
	Okay, that's how we do it.
	Yeah, like I said, infuriating.
	So, right.
	Elon Musk.
	Memory's a great place to start, guys.
	Memory's a great place to start.
	Not where you end.
	We can all do it together.
	You're doing so well coming here and staying with us and we won't be controlled by fear.
	Also, buy some gold.
	Except constantly reinforcing fear.
	Buy some gold, the world is unstable and terrible.
	So, Elon Musk denies having spoken to Putin, though he seemed to tell the then Undersecretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon that he did.
	This is all from October 2022.
	According to multiple sources, Musk seems to have been saying that he'd had many conversations with the Kremlin and had spoken to Putin personally, as he wanted to assure Putin that his Starlink wasn't enabling the Ukraine war effort.
	You know, they're providing internet and stuff, basically.
	Recently came the revelation that Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to disable Starlink satellite communications near the coast of Russian-occupied Crimea last year in order to sabotage a planned Ukrainian drone strike.
	So, he's essentially a literal Russian asset at this point, which comes to the great surprise of no one.
	But this is where the whole Ukraine wanting to use Starlink to bomb Crimea thing comes from, in that they had satellite support for visuals beforehand, and Musk switched them off during the operation, causing the drones to be destroyed.
	So that's great.
	It's so direct.
	It's so direct.
	It's A to B.
	Incredibly so.
	As for Biden escalating things into a hot war, there's not much to say other than there's no evidence of it.
	The US is still not at war with Russia, and to do so would mean the entire of NATO are at war with Russia, and I suspect that would be pretty big news and we'd have heard of it by now.
	Also, not bloody likely.
	No, right, exactly.
	Nobody, nobody wants that to happen.
	Not at all.
	The US doesn't want that to happen.
	Russia doesn't want that to happen.
	Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, none of them want that.
	The people who will make the most money off it don't want it to happen.
	Like, this is gonna be bad if we do this.
	Let's not do this, guys.
	Yeah, yeah.
	I do also want to point out that there's something of an intentional conflation in the reporting from WUSWUS in this clip.
	They say that the US and NATO are providing logistics, weapons and intelligence to Ukraine.
	Here's what NATO are actually providing Ukraine.
	Quote, NATO is helping to coordinate Ukraine's requests for assistance and is supporting allies in the delivery of humanitarian and non-lethal aid.
	Through NATO, Allies have already pledged 500 million euros to meet Ukraine's critical needs, including fuel, demining equipment and medical supplies."
	So that's what NATO themselves are providing.
	They go on to say, quote, Individual NATO member countries are sending weapons, ammunition and many types of light and heavy military equipment, including anti-tank and air defence systems, howitzers, drones and tanks.
	So, individual members of NATO are the ones providing logistics, weapons and intelligence, not NATO themselves, and WUSWUS are just flat out lying there, especially with their grand claim that there will imminently be a deployment of US-NATO troops because the Biden administration have concluded that achieving their objectives without going into a full-scale war is impossible.
	They provided no reference for that claim either.
	Just absolute horse shit from this website.
	And even just on a logistics level.
	On a marketing level.
	Do you think that Joe fucking Biden, who's going to try to get re-elected in the mummy race of 2024, is going to start a war to send troops to?
	Get bent.
	No.
	No.
	Well, yeah, we get a little bit more of that in this next clip, actually.
	It's been widely asserted in the American media that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes a change in the American government would lead to a shift in policy.
	This is a delusion.
	Nevertheless, it is the aim of the Biden administration to preempt such a policy shift by escalating the conflict to a point where, well before the 2024 election, the war will have involved a commitment of US prestige and resources, including manpower, that makes a diplomatic and non-military solution impossible.
	Consider this, this is from a socialist organisation, so before you decide who it is you hate in this world, consider that you might have allies in places that surprise you.
	What he's really saying there is that people who lie for money are the fucking same no matter which side they pretend to be on.
	Grifters unite no matter the cause, right?
	No shit.
	There are two immensely stupid ideas from WussWuss in this clip.
	First of which is that somehow if Trump got in that it wouldn't change the shape of the war in Ukraine.
	Trump is a Russian asset.
	Him saying that he'd end the war in a day with one phone call is probably not that far off because if he got back in power and pulled all US support to Ukraine, they would be in serious fucking trouble.
	Of course, there are plenty of- That's probably exactly what he means and what he would do.
	That's exactly what he means!
	He would serve them up on a fucking platter.
	100%.
	Yeah, don't get me wrong, there are other nations also heavily, heavily invested in supporting Ukraine.
	In terms of percentage of GDP given to Ukraine, the US are actually pretty low on the list.
	That's percentage, though.
	Yeah, that's percentage, right.
	I think Norway are actually at the top.
	It's impossible to deny the military strength that the US is able to offer and how taking that away would leave Ukraine severely weakened.
	The second stupid idea from WusWus is that Biden intends to escalate the war to ensure there's no way back and theoretically cement his re-election in 2024.
	That is so stupid.
	It's dumb.
	It's incredibly dumb, actively counter to what's been said.
	There's no evidence whatsoever.
	And again, listen, I was just spitballing, but I also am an American that lives here every day.
	Sorry.
	And I've been here for a minute.
	That would be so insanely stupid.
	Like, I understand the idea of like, oh, they're trying to get into a war to make sure that they're a wartime Britain, you know, and finish what they started and blah, blah, blah.
	We need a Pearl Harbor first because before that, Americans don't want to do it.
	It's true.
	It's true.
	Trump was considering it back in 2020 when he lost that election.
	He was considering war with Iran out loud because he was like, hey, You need me too much at that point.
	And it's a fucking House of Cards move.
	That's in House of Cards.
	It's a literal plot point in the TV show, House of Cards.
	Doesn't it wag the dog too?
	Sure.
	And you could argue that Bush too, his second term was because he was a wartime president or whatever.
	But I don't think that's necessary.
	I mean, it just, it's not, it already started.
	And also, we had 9-11.
	Attitudes got real wiggly.
	There was a thirst for blood around that time, and people wanted to continue it.
	This is absolutely a country full of psychos who think they're cowboys.
	That's absolutely true.
	To quote ACDC, if you want blood, you got it.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	They're very American, but they also don't, like, we're a revenge country.
	We're not.
	We're revenge people.
	That's made abundantly clear by the number of states that still have the death penalty, right?
	Yes.
	Or just their entire carceral systems, absolutely.
	Yeah, very true.
	The prison system in general.
	In the next clip, we get a quote from WusWus that really shows their true colors.
	Biden's remarks were followed by those of his attack dog, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose statements bordered on total insanity.
	That guy should know a thing or two about borders by now.
	Zelensky referred to Russia and Russians as evil and as terrorists and accused them of carrying out genocide against Ukraine.
	Again, when you use language like that, you deny the possibility of a peaceful solution.
	Well, how can you have a negotiation?
	How can you have a conversation?
	How can you have peace?
	How can you have treaties with terrorists and lunatics and genocidal maniacs?
	Oh, I suppose you can't.
	Zelensky condemned the United Nations for being overly afraid of nuclear war.
	You can't be too scared of annihilation, can you?
	Unless you've reached some sort of spiritual nirvana, recognized that consciousness undergirds all material reality, and then recognized that from that you could derive a new reality based on spiritual principles, but I don't think that's the point they're making.
	That's some really dumb shit.
	Because it'd be a stupid point to make, yeah.
	Yes, yes, because no one would stand in front of the UN and suggest, ha, let's achieve spiritual enlightenment so none of us fear death.
	But that's also, that's that fucking New Age thing of like, the only thing that New Age will mobilize you to do is nothing.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	And also, Zelensky is Biden's attack dog.
	That's crazy.
	We've learned that now.
	Sure thing.
	Wuss wuss.
	Crazy.
	Fucking morons.
	So apparently, Zelensky referred to Russia and Russians as evil and as terrorists and accused them of carrying out genocide against Ukraine.
	They specified there, Russia and Russians.
	Also, I always love it when a publication has to only put quotes around single words.
	It makes me really believe that what they're saying is accurate.
	Yeah, for those of you listening that didn't see the quote.
	And Russell kind of indicated it in what he was talking, but there was like four different words that were just single words in quotes.
	The only words that were quoted were evil, terrorists, and genocide.
	So let me read an excerpt from Zelensky's speech, which was delivered to the UN in English, which is his second language.
	Quote, unfortunately various terrorist groups attacked children to put pressure on their families and societies, but never before the mass kidnapping and deportation would become part of the government policy.
	Not until now.
	We know the names of tens of thousands of children.
	We have evidence on hundreds of thousands of others kidnapped by Russia in the occupied territories of Ukraine and later deported.
	We are trying to get children back home.
	But time, time goes by.
	What will happen with them?
	What will happen to them?
	Those children in Russia are taught to hate Ukraine and all ties with their families are broken and this is clearly a genocide.
	Evil cannot be trusted.
	Ask Prigozhin.
	The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our land, our people, our lives, our resources into a weapon against you.
	Many seats in the General Assembly Hall may become empty.
	Empty if Russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression."
	Yeah.
	The kids stealing.
	The kids stealing.
	Yeah.
	Yeah, you know what?
	That's a profoundly American move.
	Hell yeah.
	Americans have done that.
	Americans and Catholics, this is crazy.
	I will show you a fucking screenshot.
	I texted Mike about this last week, because I was listening to the Cuba season of Blowback, and I was just, I got real mad one day about how all the Catholics and Americans are stealing kids all the time.
	Yeah, it is a military tactic, and it is absolutely genocide, and everyone is wrong who does it.
	Everybody's wrong.
	It's incredible.
	Yeah.
	It's so sad.
	I did not know that was happening until right now.
	I did not know that that was a thing, and it's heartbreaking.
	According to Zelensky, hundreds of thousands.
	I mean, that's insane.
	That's insane.
	Yeah, because the Peter Pan kids from Operation Pietro Pan was like, what, 3,000 to 5,000 Cuban kids that were sent by their wealthy families, who were scared by propaganda, and sent.
	And those kids, to a person.
	I listened to interviews, and it was really sad.
	It was terrible.
	It changes every single person.
	You talk about, like, you listen to someone who had to go to a residential school, and, you know, it's a Native American that had to go, or like a First Nations person that had to go to a residential school.
	It's a level of evil that I honestly, it's hard to understand.
	It's so heartbreaking.
	And the fact that it's happening anywhere ever is a nightmare.
	The way that it can be accomplished, that's the thing, especially with concentration camps, all that kind of stuff.
	Yes, America, the US, Was a, was a laboratory for learning how to perfect quote unquote, those tactics to inspire other countries and other militaries around the world to do the same thing.
	Everyone's wrong.
	That's, that is, that's what genocide, like, cause it can also be pitched to anyone in Russia who is believing the narrative that they're being told that those kids are being rescued.
	Yeah, they're being saved, and they're being re-educated.
	And Russell knows all this, and he's making jokes about, they're not coming for the children, Joe.
	Yeah, they fucking are.
	They have.
	Subscribe to my locals channel.
	Hundreds of thousands of children.
	I would love to be able to get through one of our shows without having an immensely fucking dark point to make, but here we are.
	I don't think we get to have one.
	I think that's a different show.
	There is one under every fucking rock that we have to pick up.
	It's ridiculous.
	Also, how filthy is that to not give a shit about stealing kids?
	Because cults also love to steal kids!
	They really do!
	Yeah!
	Russell likes to fuck kids.
	I'll do that, oh no!
	As to Russell's question about how can you have peace with terrorists and genocidal maniacs, he's right in that you probably can't.
	I personally struggle to see a future where Putin is in charge of Russia and there is any meaningful peace in Ukraine, but that's not what Russell is saying.
	He's denying that Putin is any of those things and he's insinuating that it's just being used as cover to prolong the war.
	That's what he's saying.
	I'm saying with Putin still existing, there will be no peace because that seems to be the case.
	It just seems to be what he's decided.
	It's like so obvious that this one guy has like a rock in his shoe, you know?
	Yeah, to make him look taller, probably.
	Oh, God.
	Yep.
	Okay.
	All right.
	Yeah, no, this sucks.
	Yeah, we have more and now we get into missile systems.
	So, hey, that's fun.
	The statements by leading US officials were accompanied by equally reckless and provocative assertions in major newspapers.
	You're joking?
	In an editorial entitled Biden has done a lot for Ukraine but not enough, the Washington Post wrote that Mr Biden should stop dawdling and provide Kiev with ATACMs referring to the long-range missile system that would be used to strike deep within Russian territory.
	I wonder who makes those?
	I wonder who funds that news organization?
	The US and NATO are already in an undeclared war, providing logistics, weapons and intelligence.
	The only thing Ukraine is supplying is the bodies.
	Have you ever considered that the United States of America might not march you into Armageddon and therefore you might need to live a little longer?
	That is why I'm proud that we are partnered by Field of Greens.
	Now, the Mayo Clinic says if you want to help prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, eat five servings of fruit and vegetables every day.
	I'm out.
	For that, when you're being surveilled, when you're being censored, when you're being shut down.
	Each fruit and each vegetable in Field of Green is medically selected by actual doctors, real doctors, not people on the white coast that are trying to shut down free speech.
	I'm saying actual doctors.
	Actual doctors, okay.
	So, he's still going with the insane ad pivots, which are getting worse.
	Oh my god.
	That was bad!
	And Field of Greens don't have any problem with Russell promoting their products, despite the allegations against him.
	A few other people, like Mudwater, they won't let Russell do their thing anymore, but Field of Greens?
	Fine with it.
	Well, now I have to find out about Field of Greens for the episode that I'm going to have to put together for all the Funding shit, cause that's crazy.
	Yeah, right.
	Oh no.
	That was a pivot.
	That was a real like, oh god.
	That was rough.
	This is not the thing that ads- like, this is why Twitter is losing ad revenue by like, the millions daily, because like, this is the stuff they don't want.
	Yeah, no.
	I mean, at least with the abrasive bleep and then, you know, it's in a different room and, you know, the sound changes and everything.
	Different outfit.
	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
	Yeah, there's a disconnect.
	Whereas this is just like, horror, horror, horror.
	Here, buy this thing.
	Horror, horror, horror.
	Oh, my God.
	Okay.
	Yeah, like, oh, NBD.
	Thousands and thousands of kids are getting stolen.
	Buy some Fielder Greens!
	[laughter]
	Oh, dude!
	Um...
	So before that, Russell asked, "Oh, I wonder who makes ATACMS?"
	Because it's ATACMS, right?
	Not ATACMS.
	And I wonder who funds the Washington Post.
	ATACMS are made by Lockheed Martin, an arms company.
	The full title is Army Tactical Missile System.
	I think it would be weirder if it wasn't an arms company that made them, to be honest.
	ATACMS, now from Hasbro.
	But the Washington Post is owned by Jeffrey Bezos.
	And as far as I can tell, Bezos owns no shares in Lockheed.
	So Russell is just kind of- Yeah, that's the one thing that Amazon hasn't really gotten into.
	Yeah, no, they've not gone into that.
	Russell, he's throwing out insinuations here that it's the same people who own and fund both, and that's just blatantly not true.
	We know that.
	I mean, yeah.
	It's really, really obvious.
	That's not the case.
	That's not the case.
	Great.
	Also, your complaint is with antitrust.
	Your complaint is with the liberties that can be taken by corporations in modern America.
	Fucking capitalism in general!
	Again, your show should just be the anti-capitalism show, but here you are just like, give me money!
	He's like invoking, like, socialists.
	Listen, there's other organizations that have the word socialist in the name, but I happen to have quite a problem with their actual attitude.
	I mean, And just saying that socialist is in the name, honey, that ain't enough.
	Maybe national socialists, maybe there's something of a problem.
	But no, no, it's complicated.
	It's complicated.
	This is very, oh my God.
	See all those stolen kids?
	Wipe the Nazi thing right out of my brain.
	It's complicated.
	Okay.
	These national socialists, they are complicated, right?
	Okay, okay.
	So, next week we come out of the ad and we go back into the wuss wuss piece, right?
	Back to reality.
	That's promo code BRAD at BrickHouseRussell.com.
	There's a link in the description.
	Support us if you can.
	Thanks a lot.
	Right, let's get back To this global war we're being marched into by lunatics.
	The next step is the direct involvement of U.S.
	troops.
	This will require the massive mobilization of American and European military forces, including the possibility of a draft.
	The U.S.
	military is making active preparations for just such a war.
	The full 2023 edition of the U.S.
	Army War College Quarterly included an article, A Call to Action, Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force.
	It stated that The Russia-Ukraine war is exposing significant vulnerabilities in the Army's strategic personnel depth and ability to withstand and replace casualties.
	Army theatre medical planners may anticipate a sustained rate of roughly 3,600 casualties per day, with a 25% predicted replacement rate.
	The personnel system will require 800 new personnel each day.
	For context, the United States sustained about 50,000 casualties in two decades of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
	In large-scale combat operations, the United States could experience the same number of casualties in two weeks.
	So you have advocacy for heavy recruitment of new personnel within defence and military circles.
	Curiously, over at Lockheed Martin, they're making some interesting profit predictions for the coming quarters and the coming decade, in fact.
	Similarly based on escalating tensions and indeed conflict between Russia and the United States.
	So it's not a matter of reading the runes and mystical predictions.
	When military industrial complex companies and defense operatives are making the same claims, testimonies, then you recognize that oh well the reason they need more personnel is because there's going to be a war.
	The reason Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are predicting more profits is Because there's going to be a war.
	The reason Tucker Carlson said there's going to be a hot war between Russia and the United States is because there's going to be a war between Russia and the United States.
	And to use a Kamala Harris-like anecdote, it's almost like slowly incrementally turning up the temperature, we the frogs in the boiling water will not notice that we're being boiled to death by the chefs of war.
	Sorry, I said it was a Kamala Harris one.
	Kamala Harris badly used that analogy in an interview recently.
	That's all he's referring to there, and that was worth covering on his show for some inexplicable fucking reason.
	So yeah, arms companies profit off of war.
	I'm not a fan, don't like it, and in an ideal world, wouldn't be a thing at all.
	In the same ideal world, dictators wouldn't invade sovereign states though, so here we are.
	The piece that Wuss Wuss is quoting about bringing back the military draft is interesting because they're not lying about it, which is unusual for them.
	It was taken from the US Army War College quarterly parameters for autumn 2023 in which there's a paper called A Call to Action Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force, which was written by Katie Cromb and John A. Nagel.
	I'm going to say Nagel.
	It could be Nagel.
	I think it's Nagel.
	I took a look at the paper, and the two authors are advocating for at least a partial draft in the event of a full-scale war, which isn't great.
	But I also took a look at where they were getting their numbers from, because they seemed high.
	They got them from the 2019 Army Field Manual from the section Sustainment Operations, in which the Field Manual does state that, quote, during large-scale combat operations, the Army's theater medical planners may anticipate A sustained rate of 3,600 casualties per day.
	But here's the thing.
	Those numbers specifically would be an absolutely catastrophic result for the US Army.
	Those would be unprecedented levels of daily casualties, especially for a sustained period.
	For reference, the casualties for D-Day in 1945, which was supposed to be a massacre from the very start, and the Allies knew that going into it, they hit an estimated 10,000 casualties, right, for that day.
	In more recent history, the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, which was one of the largest campaigns of said war and lasted nine months, came in at around 45,000 casualties for the Allies, which evens out at about 166 casualties a day.
	Basically, I take issue with this paper and the figures it's based on because they feel pretty made up to me.
	And then the paper takes it that step further by suggesting that those casualties could be sustained for two weeks, which is insane.
	3,600 a day for two weeks.
	That would be fucking bananas.
	The war has been going on since February 2022, right?
	So roughly 20 months at this point, and the Ukraine casualties come out at around 200,000 total, which evens out around 333 casualties per day.
	And I have a suspicion that the US Army would likely be a bit better at the whole war thing than the Ukrainian Army.
	It just feels like the two people that were writing this paper just kind of wanted to bring back the draft a bit, you know?
	This is a couple of people making this claim and putting this idea forward.
	It's not like it's the U.S.
	Army's official fucking position.
	No one in power is saying this.
	That's what I was like.
	I was kind of getting a vibe that it was a little stub-stacky.
	You know, like a little like... It is.
	It's a paper that... What was the name of the publication?
	Could you read that again for me?
	Yeah, it was.
	It's from the U.S.
	Army War College quarterly parameters.
	You know, it's so it's like a like the Harvard National Lampoon or something.
	It's yeah, kind of.
	Yeah, kind of.
	Kind of from the War College, you know.
	Yeah, it's if it's a college newspaper, I mean.
	And listen, there could be plenty of weight behind that, but if I'm hearing that like.
	Yeah, I wrote articles in college.
	They were kind of bullshit.
	I mean, I don't know how robust that is as evidence, but also what I was hearing is like, if you're trying to be prepared, I would think that the potentiality for those, like that high casualty rate would, if it were me.
	And I were cheap, like the military.
	Because for individuals, the military absolutely is.
	Oh, hell yeah.
	Also, that level of casualty rate is impractical.
	It's unsustainable on a training level.
	It would be insane.
	That's a meat grinder that is not... They don't want to spend that kind of money.
	And so they want to figure out how to, like, oh, if we're projecting this level of casualty, I would expect an article that has anything to do with reality is like, if we're expecting these kind of casualties, we need to learn how to reduce those casualties with, say, drones and automation.
	Big fucking missiles.
	That America has a lot of.
	Right, like the 1800s Crimean War, right?
	Taught us more about germ theory and about sanitation.
	I believe Florence Nightingale was involved, the whole thing.
	Maybe I'm remembering two different things.
	Oh my God, I don't remember any of this at this point.
	See, I'm doubting my memory.
	This is why we don't trust memories.
	But I do very much remember A pie chart from the Crimean War and the massive amount of casualties were mostly from disease and it didn't have anything to do with the actual war.
	So we learned a lot from that conflict.
	There was a lot of reporting because we finally had statistics that were a little more like objective and scientific.
	And so we learned a lot about sanitation in wartime.
	And so that's something that's totally reasonable to talk about and study, and we're not saying we want more wars.
	We're not saying we want less sanitation.
	There's a lot that you can learn from a current conflict to apply to future conflicts if that's your business, if that's the thing that you want to do.
	Yeah, for sure.
	So it makes sense to me to use those numbers to reduce a casualty rate, because that is not a casualty rate that anyone is going to be sold on.
	What the authors of this paper should have done is looked up the actual number of casualties, which I did pretty fucking easily.
	And yeah, like, 333 casualties per day is not 3,000 per day, right?
	33 casualties per day is not 3,000 per day, right?
	That's a lot less, you know, and that's with Russia kind of throwing everything they've
	got at Ukraine, and that's the most that they could achieve of Ukrainian casualties, you
	Which is nightmarish, of course.
	It's horrendous, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
	It's really horrible, there are a lot of people dead.
	No, exactly.
	And the reality is if the U.S.
	came in and did put boots on the ground and did do all of the shit that the U.S.
	does in a wartime situation, I think it would probably be a lot less than 333 casualties per day.
	I also agree with that.
	That's the other thing that stood out to me.
	I figure you'd have numbers that would As soon as I was here I was like, that's a lot!
	Yeah, yeah, as soon as I saw it I was like, that seems high, I want to look into this, and yeah, it's somewhere in that field.
	Can y'all multiply?
	It gets really big real quick!
	Yeah, okay, all right.
	Wow.
	Wow.
	But anyway, there's gonna be a war between Russia and the United States, but it's a good thing you're here with us, because all those nasty legacy media people use fear to propagandize, and we don't do that here.
	But also, this guy, Who rails against the motivations of every other news source that you could possibly cite, but for some reason the, like, Army College Quarterly is the thing that you'll listen to and take that as gospel?
	Yeah, he's fine with that, and he's fine with wuss wuss.
	And he's fine with reclaimthenet.org, you know, the fucking spurious blog.
	So next we finally get to his whole point about the UK having boots on the ground.
	Another of the pledges that we were made, if you just use your memory and your mind and your own lying eyes, is that there would never be boots on the ground because that would demonstrate an actual war and that would lead to Armageddon and guess what?
	Boots on the ground.
	Meanwhile, UK troops may deploy into Ukraine for the first time to train soldiers as on-the-ground training efforts ramp up between the war-torn country and its international allies.
	Grant Shapps, the UK's Secretary of State for Defence, said in an interview with The Telegraph he was discussing a plan to mobilise British troops with his military chiefs.
	The media normalises the agenda of the powerful.
	I was today talking about eventually getting the training brought closer and actually into Ukraine as well, Schaps told the outlet, particularly in the west of the country.
	I think the opportunity now is to bring more things in country.
	What an opportunity!
	The plan, as stated, marks a dramatic shift from the UK and other allies' previous avoidance of implementing a formal military presence in the region to avoid direct conflict with Russia.
	Hot war within a year?
	Okay, so this is true.
	Grant Shapps did say these things.
	He said these things on September 30th, or that's when it was reported.
	Russell put this video out on October 5th.
	The reason I bring that up is that mere hours after Grant Shapps' words were reported, On October 1st, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had to come out
	and say, "What the Defence Secretary was saying was that it might
	well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine, but that's
	something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that
	will be sent to fight in the current conflict." Russell then releases this video four
	days after the fact, making no mention of Sunak's words. Why?
	Because he's a lying liar who lies!
	So there we go.
	There are no fucking boots on the ground.
	There won't be either.
	It's complete bullshit.
	He put this out on October 5th.
	I was being a little shady earlier that this week of all weeks.
	He was in his...
	Wait, wait, wait, wait.
	Yeah.
	Hey, listen.
	Fuck him.
	Yeah, I'm not going to rely on my memory and some bullshit, though.
	Unlike some people I'm looking at on this screen with too much of his...
	Yeah.
	Plants doing... passable.
	I don't know.
	Oh my god.
	Yeah, I don't know, I'm terrible with plants.
	Alright, we're gonna skip ahead a little here to how Russell ends the editorial.
	I'm keen to see other British companies do their bit as well by doing the same thing, Schaps said per the Telegraph.
	So I think there'll be a move to get more training and production in the country.
	Escalation of a war just being described like it's a church fete or a country fair.
	Schaps also floated the idea of the British Navy aiding Ukraine in the Black Sea.
	Well, at least it floats.
	So there you go, you've witnessed Joe Biden give a speech that was full of deception, half-truths, out-and-out lies that amounted to propaganda.
	Media continued to amplify a message that amounts to escalation of a war, which we've told you before, which you know already, you've told us in the chat, and continue to communicate in there, and remember, followers, could lead to Armageddon.
	How are they not Armageddon-averse in the same way that they noted Ukrainian people are becoming casually averse?
	Followers, also Armageddon.
	Why are better heads not prevailing?
	Why is nobody allowed to discuss peace?
	Is there an agenda?
	Are you witnessing, for example, dissent being shut down?
	Are you noticing that it's impossible to speak about this rationally?
	Are you seeing mainstream and legacy media outlets amplifying the message of the state?
	Or are you seeing healthy debate, open conversations, critiques, peace being presented?
	Or was the one time that a few Democrats went, could we have some peace please boss?
	Well they shut down, even prevented from raising it as a possibility.
	So what you have, clearly, is an agenda for war.
	So when Tucker Carlson says, hot war within a year, it sounds kind of shocking, but seems, I would say, kind of inevitable.
	But that's just what I think.
	Why don't you let me know what you think in the comments and the chat, and I'll see you in a second.
	Ugh, it's impossible to speak about the Russo-Ukraine war rationally because of an agenda for war, so Tucker Carlson is right as always.
	Again, what he's saying is just complete bullshit, but it doesn't matter much because it's the feeling that he's selling, right?
	Biden bad, Russia good, Tucker good, join my locals channel, Armageddon, join my locals channel.
	They want war?
	Straight up, they want war so bad.
	He wants it so bad.
	I think of the money he'd make.
	Yeah, I'm saying.
	He'd love it.
	He'd love it.
	Guys, everybody, he's saying one thing, he wants it.
	That will, like, wishing for it.
	If you experience and understand the coverage that we've been dealing with in the last, you know, several days, there is an attitude and an approach that I think is very stoic and reserved and concerned, not dismissive of 100,000 children being stolen.
	Re-expropriated?
	They want a thing to say, okay, well now we're going to go into this thing.
	That's obvious to me from this particular episode that.
	Yeah, they won't.
	But I honestly that I mean, that could have been gleaned from previous coverage that we've done.
	But it's just really obvious.
	Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.
	Absolutely.
	The the amount of money he would make the the the narratives he could spin the Oh, God, boys fucking love war day.
	Boys love fighting.
	It's so stupid!
	It's so crazy!
	Especially when they can claim that they're a pacifist and then actively profit off of the war itself.
	Oh, that's the way to go.
	And it's happened over and over again.
	This is not a new play at all.
	This is not a new play at all.
	Nope.
	Nope.
	Gross, man.
	Pretty fucking grim.
	Thank you, Russell.
	Yeah, so that's his current kind of... He's really hammering on the Ukraine stuff at the moment.
	It's a very regular feature, so I wanted to include that.
	There were other contenders, but we'll have to see what we get to this next week.
	I'm also still sorting out Primer Part 2, because that kind of fell to the wayside for a little bit.
	I need to pick that back up and put it on the main thing.
	I'm not quite sure what that's exactly going to look like.
	I think it'll be a combination of some old stuff and some new stuff, I think.
	You know, we'll see.
	We'll get there.
	We also had to switch tactics.
	Yeah, we had to, you know, we had our focus shifted a little bit.
	And yeah, we're also making our way quite nicely towards our next stretch goal.
	We're not that far off, to be honest, of having to cover Brandemic, which we will cover with at least one comedian guest.
	So, you know, that'll be fun because we get to deal with his comedy special.
	And, you know, I feel like with an actual Comedian there.
	We get to cover not just how baddy is it propaganda, but how baddy is it comedy.
	So that's good.
	That's gonna be fun.
	If you can hear a sound, my cat is sneezing.
	I was hearing a cat sneeze!
	That's my cat sneeze.
	I'm not editing that out, that's staying in.
	That is adorable.
	I mean, she's provided some pretty excellent comic relief in times of woe.
	It's true, it's true.
	But yeah, if you want to see us cover Brandemic, consider joining our Patreon and supporting what we do, etc.
	That's patreon.com slash onbrand.
	If you want to get in touch, send us an email.
	It's theonbrandpod at gmail.com.
	There is also a subreddit about this podcast.
	It's onbrand underscore pod on reddit.
	On socials, we are mostly the on-brand pod in most places.
	And personal socials, I am at elworthofficial and Lauren is at made.by.lauren.b.
	And yeah, you can find us, we're very active on Instagram, somewhat active in other places.
	Tryin'.
	I did just, I'm finally wrapped up the two most stressful weeks of my life.
	It's been busy.
	It's been fucking bananas.
	Okay.
	It's been straight up bananas.
	Um, but yeah, I would, and I, I, I miss, I miss interacting.
	I'm not just keeping my head down and working like a dog.
	Um, but yeah, we'll be on top of all that stuff and it'd be really nice to interact and talk to folks again.
	Um, It's gonna be great.
	Do you have any plugs this week, or are we all good?
	If I do, I forgot.
	I have no idea.
	Sleeping?
	Cool!
	Can I plug sleeping?
	Absolutely.
	Sleeping is fantastic.
	We've made it clear we're a consent-based podcast, we're also a sleep-based podcast.
	You'd think!
	I'd say we're sleep fans.
	I don't know that we're necessarily advocates.
	We're definitely sleep fans.
	We're big fans and we can get it.
	Definitely advocates for sleep I would say.
	We're recording a little bit later than usual and in preparation for this earlier I had a nap and it was fantastic.
	Genius.
	Genius.
	So good.
	So good.
	I have one final thing to show you that may replace my refrain for the last several episodes we shall see.
	Oh and also I raped someone once!
	laughter laughter
	Mmm!
	Just once?
	Yeah, that was in 2013.
	He said that live on a stage.
	Recorded.
	And people laughed about it.
	According to Rush.
	No means yes.
	If you know how to spot it.
	He was just telling us all along.
	Anyway, cool!
	Yeah, we love you very much, audience.
	Thank you so so much!
	And here's the thing!
	We aren't selling you a bill of goods!
	If you would like to join our Patreon, that's wonderful.
	It helps us make this thing.
	We're not gonna start a revolution.
	You get rewards in return!
	And we're not selling you a bill of goods.
	No, no, we're selling you this show on Off Brand.
	Support means we get to keep doing this.
	We get to keep doing this, and we get to do it better.
	And unfortunately, I think we've got a lot ahead of us.
	A lot of Russell.
	Possibly decades by the sound of it.
	Oh God, the concept of which I... Okay, bye everyone!
	Have a great day, thanks!
	I'm gonna go stare into middle distance for the next few hours.
	Alright, well yeah, thank you listeners, thank you patrons, we love you very much.
	Take care of each other and yourselves.
	Think about anything else!
	Bye!
	Think about anything else!
	Bye!

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