Dave Smith and Robbie Bernstein critique the White House's selective intimidation tactics and condemn Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for reducing abortion morality to economic metrics. They analyze Senator Rand Paul's opposition to $60 billion in Ukraine aid, arguing it exacerbates U.S. debt while Democrats prioritize resource control over democracy. The hosts decry proposals for government-regulated internet disinformation as dangerous overreach that could imprison truth-tellers, ultimately suggesting mainstream Democrats prolong the conflict to prevent Russian access to lithium, with Smith now claiming Paul works for Putin. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Rolling Back The State00:09:44
Fill her up.
You're listening to the Gash Digital Network.
We need to roll back the state.
We spy on all of our own citizens.
Our prisons are flooded with nonviolent drug offenders.
If you want to know who America's next enemy is, look at who we're funding right now.
Every single one of these problems are a result of government being way too big.
You're listening to part of the problem on the Gash Digital Network.
Here's your host, Dave Smith.
What's up, everybody?
Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
I am Dave Smith, the libertarian Tupac, the most consistent motherfucker you know.
And he is Robbie the Fire Bernstein, the king of the caulks, COVID Jesus, and forever, my partner in crime.
How are you, sir?
I'm great, man.
Had fun in Lady Lake, Florida.
Some report stores cooking along.
Next one in California with Brian McWilliams.
So I'm having a good time.
How about you?
Beautiful, beautiful.
Yeah, I actually was just in Florida a few hours ago myself and just got back.
So yeah, I am, I'll be honest, I am tired.
Very tired.
I do apologize for the schedule being messed up.
I had a number of obstacles this week.
I was supposed to record out of my hotel room last night and the internet and the hotel went out.
So yeah, I apologize for that.
I did this week two days ago, I recorded State of the Union with the great Ari Shafier on his podcast, Skeptic.
How'd that go?
I was great.
I mean, we went, I think we went for like four and a half hours or something like that.
It's just, it was, but it was great.
I always, it's always like one of my favorite things to do.
What was the big theme this year?
Well, it was everything.
I mean, we, so we missed it last year for the first time, I think since 2013, we missed a year.
And it was, you know, I had a baby last year and with a whole bunch of complications.
So there was a lot going on there.
And Ari is always traveling and stuff.
So we just, we ended up, so we like covered all of kind of everything since our podcast in 2020.
So it was all the stuff about, I mean, the vaccine, the vaccines, reflecting on COVID, you know, the response to COVID and everything, the Biden becoming president, withdrawing from Afghanistan, media, a whole bunch of different stuff, you know, just everything from the last few years.
So we tried to just go over it all.
And it was great.
I always really enjoyed that.
And then earlier today, I was down in Fort Lauderdale, went down there to go do like a libertarian panel on Valutainment, which is Patrick Bett David's show.
He was great, man.
Really, really enjoyed it.
It was a great show.
He's an incredibly impressive guy.
I don't know if you guys aren't familiar with him.
He's got a huge YouTube channel.
He does interviews.
He's interviewed like tons of just huge, really important people across all different types of industries and business and politics and sports and stuff like that.
And just really, really sharp guy.
He gives you like very, he really grills you, but he asks really intelligent questions and he's really good follow-up questions and stuff.
It was really, really interesting, really fun experience.
I did that with Spike Cohen and Larry Sharp and Jessica Vaughan.
So it was a great time that we all went out to lunch afterward and him and his wife came, came out.
They were really great people, really cool.
It was really interesting to just talk to him for a while and kind of soak up some of his knowledge.
He's a very impressive guy.
So anyway, I don't, I think the episode with Ari should be out fairly soon.
That episode for the Valutainment with Patrick is up already.
So please go check those out.
And that makes up for there's more content for you that makes up for us being off of our schedule this week.
But anyway, I'm back home.
My flight home got delayed.
I literally walked in my door about 15 minutes.
Airlines are out of recording.
Delta canceled my flight by an entire day.
And then the next day, it seemed like they got massive jets now and they're just consolidating flights because they don't have pilots.
Maybe.
Well, I'll tell you, not the mask mandate being gone is pretty goddamn sweet.
Oh, it makes such a difference.
Oh my God, it really is.
It's so great.
It's amazing how quickly you're just like, and we're back.
We're back to just normal times.
It's also just a very weird thing.
This has been happening throughout COVID.
And of course, we're the ones, you know, who are amongst the loudest ones who have been basically against every single, you know, COVID restriction.
And, but it really is this like amazing thing when they finally stop.
Like it's so, I don't know, revealing.
And I imagine it must be that way for so many people.
Like you're just like, yeah, all of a sudden we're not doing that anymore.
We're just not.
And it's not, you know, like with so many of these things, I mean, they happen for different reasons.
Often it's like the political will just isn't there anymore.
You know what I mean?
And they just stop like in Texas or something like that.
They're just like, all right, we're not going to do it anymore.
In this case, it's like because a judge struck down the mandate.
So we just stopped.
But it's not as if there was ever like, okay, that we've taken a Faucian, you know, assessment of the data.
And we now say that the science TM tells us we don't have to.
No one's even pretending this has anything to do with the science.
It's just a couple of weeks ago you had to wear masks on the plane.
Now you don't.
And you're like, okay, so what's the disaster that's attached to this?
Oh, nothing.
Oh, there's no problem.
You know, nothing.
Right.
That's a good point.
The data's in that it was never necessary.
Well, right.
It's like, so you were doing this like crazy thing.
Now it's gone.
And there's no real problem.
There's no evidence at all that there's been an uptick related to this.
So it just right away, it's like this like demonstrable proof right in front of you that like, it's not like we needed to do this two weeks ago and we don't need to do this now.
If we don't need to do it now, we didn't need to do it two weeks ago.
How about two weeks before that?
How about a month before that?
Like, why?
You know, it's, I don't know.
It's just, there's something about just going back to real, like regular life and realizing that, yeah, we could have just been doing this the whole time.
And I think we should segregate ourselves from the masochists who still voluntarily want to be subjugated from to government stupidity.
I mean, people voluntary just in masks where you're just like, I don't know how I can just relay some information into your brain that you might absorb so that you can experience some freedom.
It's a strange thing when you see people.
I will tell you one thing I find really encouraging is that being in the airport, you know, and I've been, you know, I mean, I travel a decent amount.
So I was, well, I was on an Amtrak when I went to Providence and I was at, and then, you know, I flew yesterday and today.
I'd say just roughly guessing it, 10%, maybe 15% of people had masks on.
There's overwhelming majorities have just taken them off completely.
And so that's kind of encouraging in a way.
You know, you're like, oh, okay.
It does seem like a lot of people, like as soon as the mandate was gone.
And that's, that's a thing that's like, it's a weird thing that you, you know, that like when there are mandates, and then sometimes there'll be like these opinion polls about who supports the mandates and who doesn't.
And human beings are weird.
Like sometimes when they're being forced to do something, they'll go, Yeah, I'm okay with being forced to do this, you know?
But when you really find out where people stand is if you stop forcing them, it's it's like uh, you know, I know I've mentioned this a million times before.
It's a very basic libertarian point, but when people will be like, you know, like, I want to pay my taxes, I have no problem paying my taxes, or they'll go, you know, Medicare is a really popular, you know, a really popular program.
And you'll go, like, okay.
But in a way, that's just because everyone just like takes it as a given that you're forced into these things.
And if you're like, if you're going to say Medicare is a really popular program, like, okay, fine, but let's find out.
Let's just make it voluntary.
And then we'll find out immediately how popular it actually is.
Like, let's let everybody know, you know, every person who's working a job, like, you know, that little part of your pay stub where it's like, this is what's taken out for Medicare.
Like, okay, you can keep that now if you want to, or you can pay it to Medicare.
Make it voluntary.
Because you, you know, like, you know, that like the overwhelming majority of people are going to take that money.
So don't tell me how popular it is.
It's like, I don't know.
It's like fucking kidnapping somebody and then telling me how much they really want to be there with you.
It's like, okay, so then don't kidnap them.
So then just ask them over.
That's the, that's the way to really find out if they want to be there.
Otherwise, this is all just a weird, you know, like game that you're playing.
So anyway, it was encouraging to me to see so many people not want.
Now, of course, there is that other 10, 15% of people.
Some of them were wearing N95 masks.
I saw some people with that.
At least, I almost have at least more respect in some way for those people, even though they seem, you know, a little bit paranoid.
Intimidation Tactics Within System00:13:38
I was like, who knows?
Maybe they have some like crazy underlying health condition where getting COVID would be really bad from.
I kind of doubt it, but at least they're wearing something that you could argue maybe does something.
You know what I mean?
Whereas like the people wearing the clothes, the masks at this point, you're like, what are you doing, man?
This is just so ridiculous.
This is doing, there's no evidence this is doing anything.
Just breathe, man.
Breathe.
Anyway, but for me, as somebody who's not insane and enjoys breathing, you know, but riding on a plane sucks enough already.
So it's, it's not so bad to at least not have to have the face diaper on.
So there's that.
So that was pretty nice.
Anyway, also very nice to just be back home.
I really love the feeling of getting back home.
Whenever I'm out on the road, I used to love the road so much.
When I was a young single guy, I never cared about coming back home.
Now I love coming home so much.
Every time I leave, I'm like, I really shouldn't leave this place.
It's such a mess.
And then I just really don't want to come back to the mess I left.
Oh, yeah, that's brutal.
Coming back to a messy apartment.
I remember that, dude, from like my single days.
Oh, yeah, it's the worst feeling.
The worst feeling is like being on the road for like a full weekend or full week.
And then you come back or you're just like, ah, fuck.
Coming back.
I still haven't decided if I'm going to clean it or throw it out.
I think it's at the point where I just have to throw it out.
Oh, single guy brought.
This is why you got to get you a wife, Rob.
You really do.
It's a good, it's a good call.
Anyway, yeah, it's happy.
But it's funny.
Like, I never, you know, like, now I got like a nice house and a beautiful family and everything.
And I'm like, oh, I hate leaving and I love coming home.
And I used to be like, I love going on the road.
And then I realized I was like, no, I didn't.
I just didn't love my home.
Like, that's just, I was just like, yeah, it's fucking living in a little shitty, messy apartment.
You're like, yeah, hotel.
Fuck yeah.
Go stay there for a while.
That sounds better.
I'm like, there are towels here.
This is the best day of my life.
And I get as many as I want.
I could just ask for more if I'm out of them.
That was incredible.
Someone comes and just picks them up, brings me fresh ones.
Oh, yeah.
Anyway, it's also just nice to, you know, going down to Florida, man, is like, I know you were just in Florida too.
It is like a real thing where you feel like you feel all around you.
Yeah.
Well, the funny thing is, right?
It's like, yeah, people are about to die all around you, but that they don't feel like it.
Like there, you can feel that this is the place that was like free for so long, you know, and that wasn't, it didn't go through the same thing that everyone else did.
Not to say they didn't go through anything, but not the same.
I went to a kosher, like a kosher style deli in a retirement village.
I never felt more at home in my entire life.
Oh my God.
I was going to say that's like where you belong.
Like literally, like you're like, it's, you might as well, you probably run into some family members there.
Good for you.
All right.
So there's some things that have been going on over the last few days that I think are worth talking about.
One of them, this was in the news today.
Evidently, there's been, so we talked about, I think, did we mention this on one of our previous episodes that the addresses of the Supreme Court justices were leaked in a very blatant attempt to kind of intimidate the justices.
I did not see this coming, but it was interesting that they protested outside Nancy Pelosi's house as well.
Not exactly sure what they were, they were like, she's been, huh?
I think that's old footage from when she shut down the salons.
I don't believe that there was recent protest, but I might have that wrong.
I believe they protested outside Nancy Pelosi's house also.
I could be wrong.
No, as being like, as being too weak to stand up for abortion or something like that.
It was very bizarre.
Anyway, so there was a clip of the, there was Jen Saki discussed this and really was, this was quite an amazing little moment that we had there.
So let's play the clip and then we'll discuss.
I do want to ask as well, I mean, the Department of Justice was very swift in responding to school board members who felt like they were being harassed and intimidated a couple months back.
Does the president feel that the demonstrations outside of, say, Justice Alito's home are those attempts to interfere or intimidate?
Well, I think I said yesterday, but I'm happy to repeat because I think it's important for everybody to hear, that the president's longstanding view has been that violence, threats, and intimidation of any kind have no place in political discourse.
And we believe, of course, in peaceful protests.
What I do find is interesting, and I think most many people have noted, is that there are voices on the right who have called out this protests that are happening while remaining silent for years on protests that have happened outside of the homes of school board members, the Michigan Secretary of State, or including threats made to women seeking reproductive health care or even an insurrection against our capital.
So I know that there's an outrage right now, I guess, about protests that have been peaceful to date.
And we certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges' homes.
And that's the president's position.
But the silence is pretty deafening about all of the other intimidation that we've seen to a number of people.
So by the way, you notice like the people who love to use this dumbass term, like somehow this doesn't get counted as what about is or whatever, right?
It's just always, it's amazing.
It's just like, no, no, no, the right-wingers are the bad people.
I mean, remember January 6th and all of this.
But then she actually says, no, we encourage the protesters outside of these justices' homes.
Like, I don't know.
I'm sorry.
Feel however you feel about protesting outside of politicians or political, you know, Members of the government, government workers' homes.
It's obviously an intimidation tactic when you go and start protesting outside of someone's home, right?
Isn't that fair enough to say?
Wouldn't you agree, Rob?
Yeah.
And it makes no sense outside of justices' homes because they're not supposed to be influenced by the public.
Like if you were to look, for example, at even protesting slavery outside of a Supreme Court, their job is to uphold the Constitution, right?
So they should be completely removed from people because you got to go protest Congress to change the laws.
Like they're not supposed to, they're supposed to uphold whatever's within the Constitution.
So you're protesting the wrong people.
It makes no sense.
That it literally undermines.
I mean, I don't believe in the system and I think it's a flawed system, but telling people to go protest justice, like Supreme Court justices undermines what their job is, which is to be removed from people or the opinions of people and uphold whatever's in the Constitution.
And you can amend the Constitution.
You can go protest people in Congress.
You can go do that.
But it literally makes no, like to encourage people to protest judges is basically telling them, like, go make sure that that judge is too intimidated to do what their job is.
Congress makes sense to let them know you're going to vote for sure.
That makes sense.
Sure, sure.
Yeah, no, that's a fair point.
And particularly, like, okay, you could make the argument, like, if you're an anarchist or something like that, that, like, well, I don't care.
I don't believe in this system anyway.
I want to put pressure on them.
But for the press secretary, for the president of the United States to say, we encourage you to go protest.
It's like, wait a minute, but that's your whole system here is predicated on the idea that these people are supposed to be, you know, like completely neutral to the whims of the public, that that's not supposed to have any like impact on them.
Also, I mean, I think the reporter made a very good point.
It's like, well, what is it?
It's like, they literally, the Department of Justice was calling these parents terrorists who were coming down and protesting at school board meetings.
And you know what I mean?
Because they were furious about what they're, you know, masking up and propagandizing these kids and stuff.
The thing about it is that I think a lot of these people like it starts like it's almost as if there's this effort here to push right-wingers to the point of embracing some of these tactics.
And in some ways, I think almost like this is what January 6th and things like that represent.
That it's like, you kind of like, it's like you push people to the point where it's like, well, this is the only thing that works and that people respond to.
And then they'll call them terrorists if they do it.
And they really will crack down on them with the full force of the government.
But just imagine for a second that like these intimidation tactics were successful.
Imagine that like conservatives are on the heels of getting this victory that they've always wanted in for my entire life and decades before I was born.
That you could, or a decade before I was born.
Man, I'm old.
Anyway, I was like, man, that's 50 years ago.
That's a few decades before I was born.
You're like, nope, I guess just one.
Anyway, but you know, and imagine this works.
The judges are just too scared.
They take back this decision and they go a different direction.
You go, what message would that send to the entire right half of America?
Like, well, that's it.
I mean, it's like, you have no, there is no playing within this system anymore.
And that's kind of like so much of like January 6th, whether obviously a lot of people there at January 6th, like believed that, you know, the election was stolen on, you know, election night and the next couple nights.
But regardless of that, I mean, I think on some level, they received the message loud and clear that even though you played within the system and got your president elected within the system, it doesn't matter.
We're still going to find a way to like undermine that.
And if this were to work, it's almost like sending the message to the entire right half of America that it doesn't matter.
Like you can play within the system.
It doesn't matter.
You can get your president elected and then have him appoint Supreme Court justices and then have the justices overturn this policy that you or this Supreme Court decision that you think is so wrong and evil and leads to the murder of babies and all of this.
It doesn't matter.
We will form a mob and intimidate these people to get things the way they want it.
It's like, if you really wanted to like fucking really try to undermine the underpinnings of our society, that would be a great way to do it.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, I mean, imagine if they actually, someone took out one of these Supreme Court justices and then all of a sudden you got a liberal elected onto the court, how mad America would be.
Well, it's only about like how insane that would be if that actually took place.
Well, it's kind of like it reminds me of, and like through the fucking COVID thing, and I've, you know, experienced this in a number of different areas, but where like, you know, like for just for example, it's like when if there's like, just for example, like, let's say, do you remember toilet paper?
People were like hoarding toilet paper at the beginning of COVID because we're a country of idiots, you know?
Um, so people are hoarding toilet paper, and your initial response is like, guys, can we all just be civilized people here?
And like, just get hands in the sink, you'll be all right.
Yeah, right.
Civilized.
But you know what I'm saying?
It's like, you go, listen, can you do if we all just don't do this, then we'll be fine and there'll be enough for everybody.
But when other people are doing it and you go there and the shelves are empty, and then you see like there's a few roles one day, you kind of go, well, now I got to buy all of these.
Because if everyone's doing this, then this is the game.
And now I, if I don't do this too, then I'm just going to like it becomes rational to be irrational, if you get what I'm saying.
Like at a certain point, if everybody else is hoarding, then you go like, okay, well, then I better hoard too.
Otherwise, I'm going to be the last one who doesn't.
And I'm like, my family is not going to have what they need.
So in a similar sense, if it gets, if you were to say, like, intimidate, or, you know, maybe even something worse than that, but just if you were to intimidate the justices to like back down on this, it sends the message that, look, you can't play within the system.
You have to embrace these tactics.
You have to embrace the only way to win here is now you go and try to fucking intimidate the other fucking side.
Except the right can't play by those tactics because as soon as they do, holy shit, will there be a different response?
All you have to do is look at the difference of the response.
Violent intimidation, terrorism, far right.
Look at the response from the corporate press and the government between the Black Lives Matter riots and the January 6th riot.
And just look at the difference.
I mean, it's like, that's how it'll be.
So it almost seems to me like that's what the game is.
It's like entrapping the right side into embracing these rules and then cracking down on them when they do.
It's a very dangerous game.
And I don't know.
We'll see.
We'll see where it goes.
Taste The Moink Difference00:02:00
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Reproductive Rights Debate00:09:32
Anyway, there's been, it's been interesting to watch the fallout from all of this stuff on abortion.
I get there was a clip that you sent me from Janet Yellen, who is, of course, quite an evil person, Fed chairwoman, chairwoman, is that what they call it?
Yeah, the former chair of the Fed and is currently the Treasury Secretary.
And yeah, so she, you know, not exactly the person you'd think would be talking about abortion, but she sure did.
And this is what she had to say.
The ability to have full control over one's reproductive health has real world economic consequences.
According to the Institute for Women's Policy Research, current state-level abortion restrictions already cost the United States about $105 billion annually due to reduced earning levels, increased job turnover, and time off for women.
So, Secretary Yellen, if the draft of the court's majority holding in Roe versus Wade is the actual decision, what impact will the loss of abortion access mean economically for women?
Well, I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades.
Roe v. Wade and access to reproductive health care, including abortion, helped lead to increased labor force participation.
It enabled many women to finish school.
That increased their earning potential.
It allowed women to plan and balance their families and careers.
And research also shows that it had a favorable impact on the well-being and earnings of children.
There are many research studies that have been done over the years looking at the economic impacts of access or lack thereof to abortion.
And it makes clear that denying women access to abortion increase their odds of living in poverty or need for public assistance.
For half of the population of America, eliminating a right that has existed for half a century, particularly for low-income and minority women who have already showed that much of the burden from the COVID pandemic would be a disaster.
So, Rob, you sent me this clip.
What are your thoughts?
It's disgusting because if you want to make an argument for abortion, it's that there's a particular juncture of time in which this is not yet a life and it's not considered a human being.
It is not an economic discussion.
This is like having an economic conversation where the South goes, hey, listen, we can't get rid of these slaves because we need them.
And here's the economic bit.
You don't have conversations about the economic benefits of doing something that's evil.
The conversation about abortion is whether or not it is or is not murder.
That's the only conversation that should be had.
You want to have a medical professional up there and say up until a certain juncture in time, we don't consider it a kid.
That's at least a conversation to be had.
To say that, hey, there's an economic cost that will go into killing kids.
That firstly, it's a disgusting conversation.
You shouldn't be having it.
And if that is the conversation that you're having, then you got the issue of, all right, so I guess that's all the way up until birth or what's the cost of getting rid of your one-year-old?
What's the cost?
Right.
Well, that's kind of what it says to me.
No, what about if that's maybe there's an economic benefit to just killing five and under, right?
I mean, what's what is the, if we're just talking about this from an economic lens and you're not even going to grapple with the morality of it, then like, yeah, what's, I mean, wouldn't that, wouldn't all of those arguments apply to poor people killing their two-year-olds?
It shows her point of view that she will calmly have this conversation, like, this is the conversation to be had, is to look at this like that's disgusting.
Yeah.
And there's, there's something interesting about it too, to me, that it's like, it's kind of revealing that this really is the way a lot of these people think about it.
That it's like, well, I mean, if this woman, you know, like has a baby, then she's probably going to be at home taking care of the baby a whole lot and she's not going to be working and paying taxes.
That's because we'd rather her be working and giving money to us.
That's such a huge part of what they like when they talk about child paying for child care services.
So they're trying to socialize the cost of educating your child so that you go get a job because there's no taxing you being at home with your kid.
They want everyone in the system working.
They want to create credit asset bubbles where basically you have to take on debt to afford the things that you need so that you're always a slave to the system.
That's what they're working for.
Well, exactly.
And this is, and it gives you a whole nother angle of why is it that the biggest statists, you know, like the people who really push for ever increasing, you know, size and scope of the government are also always pushing all of this kind of like feminist ideology.
You know, like it doesn't, it doesn't seem, you know, on its face that those two things have to go together.
You know what I mean?
Like, but yeah, you realize that they, this, what Janet Yellen just said, this is how they think.
Now you think about things like, well, what's if you have like, let's say a mother who's a full-time mom who's at home with the kids, or for that matter, a father, just more often for, you know, obvious reasons, more often it is the woman who ends up doing that.
I mean, you know, like for those of you who have kids, you probably understand it's like, well, you know, women like, first off, they're, they, they're the ones who get pregnant.
They're the ones who breastfeed.
You know, they're like, it's, it just makes more sense since they're already going to be taken out of the workforce for a certain amount of time that they'd be the ones who stay home.
But either way, if you have one parent who's home with the kids all day, full-time raising the kids, and the other one is working and paying taxes, well, that is not as beneficial to the government as if you have two people working and paying taxes.
They double up their tax base.
Now, it does happen to be a lot better for the children.
But that, again, as you said, Rob, that's not how Janet Yellen is looking at this.
Like, none of that is even entering this conversation.
But it's not as good for the government.
That's for sure.
So, yeah, they'd rather not have that.
So, we'd rather these women keep killing babies inside of them so they can get back right back out there and work.
It's very interesting.
And the other thing that I just hate is like, and this is what I was talking about in the abortion episode that we did last week.
It's like, it's one of the things where I was talking about how very, very often, again, not all of the time, but very, very often, people who are arguing the pro-choice position do everything they can to avoid the actual argument involved.
And they use these just incredibly weak, lame.
I was going to say euphemisms, but I don't even know if that technically counts.
They say things like, what did she say in this clip?
She said that I think women should be allowed to choose when and where they and under what conditions they have children.
And you're like, yeah, that's not really the art.
I also think how often do women get pregnant exactly when they want to get pregnant.
Right.
But at the same, it's like, it's not as if, right, that's a fair point.
But then also, it's not as if like the pro-life position is like, you shouldn't be able to choose.
It's like, the point is that you can't kill it.
Like, I don't know.
This thing about reproductive rights.
Like, what do you mean?
The right to reproduce?
Yes, you have the right to reproduce.
You also have the right to not reproduce.
But it's again, like, this would be, this is in the same sense that you made the point and I echoed it about how like the argument she's making would apply just as much to killing your six-month-old baby as it would to a six-month-old fetus, right?
Like it would apply either way.
This argument would like if you were to say, hey, it's illegal to murder a six-month-old baby, right?
Everybody agrees on that, at least as of right now.
Even progressives still agree.
You can't kill your baby when it's six months old, right?
But if you were to say, oh, I want to kill my baby, and I, you know, my response to that was like, well, I believe that women have the right to choose, you know, if they want to be parents or not.
Where you're like, well, yes, I also believe they have the right to choose if they want to be parents or not.
That's a different thing than becoming a parent and then killing the baby, right?
You know, I just, I believe in reproductive rights.
What?
What does that mean?
This is just like, it's like you're not, you're not even responding to what the topic at hand is here.
Like, okay, if you've got a great argument for why there's no moral problem with killing the baby when it's inside of you versus when it comes out, then okay, lay it on me.
But don't sit here and give me this bullshit about like, well, I just believe in reproductive rights.
What?
I believe in the right to reproduce also.
I've done it a couple of times.
It's great.
Simplify Shipping With Stamps00:02:10
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But that's not what we're talking about here.
You're talking about the right to kill the baby inside of you.
I don't see that as a right.
Anyway, that's, I did find this whole thing to be just bizarre and kind of fascinating.
And she did get called out later by another by some Republican congressman who's like, it was pretty funny.
Actually, he's like, pardon me?
Like, what did you just say?
Did you say killing babies is good for the economy?
And she's like, well, I wouldn't put it that way.
Anyway, okay.
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Billion Dollar Ukraine Aid Bill00:15:56
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All right, let's get back into the show.
So, switching gears a little bit here, another, of course, big story that's been going on here has been the huge package of money and weapons that we are sending over to Ukraine.
That's right, because, of course, we have to, I don't know, seemingly prolong this war there.
Yeah, Ukrainians to kill.
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
Literally, we have to make sure that more Ukrainians die and more Russians die as well, and that the war is prolonged because, of course, that is the sane thing to do.
Sacrifice Ukrainian lies and bleed Russia dry.
That does seem to be the plan, pretty explicitly.
Anyway, Rand Paul addressed this when he was challenging this bill in the Senate, and it was a pretty great moment.
So I thought we would play that and discuss a little bit.
Let's play that clip: a bill to provide aid to Ukraine.
That the only amendment in order be the Paul Amendment, which is at the desk, that the Senate vote on the Paul amendment with 60 affirmative votes required for adoption, that the bill be read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill is amended, if amended, and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, all without intervening action or debate.
Is there an objection, Madam President?
Senator from Kentucky.
Reserving the right to object, my oath of office is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any foreign nation.
And no matter how sympathetic the cause, my oath of office is to the national security of the United States of America.
We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the U.S. economy.
In March, inflation hit a 40-year high.
Gasoline alone is up 48%, and energy prices are up 32% over the last year.
Food prices have increased by nearly 9%.
Used vehicle prices are up 35% for the year, and new vehicle prices have increased 12% or more.
Yes, inflation doesn't just come out of nowhere.
It comes from deficit spending.
The United States spent nearly $5 trillion on COVID-19 bailouts, leading to one of the highest and most sustained levels of inflation in U.S. history.
Americans are feeling the pain, and Congress seems intent only on adding to that pain by shoveling more money out the door as fast as they can.
This bill under consideration would spend $40 billion.
This is the second spending bill for Ukraine in two months, and this bill is three times larger than the first.
Our military aid to Ukraine is nothing new, though.
Since 2014, the United States has provided more than $6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, in addition to the $14 billion Congress authorized just a month ago.
If this bill passes, the U.S. will have authorized roughly $60 billion in total spending for Ukraine.
For those who say this is not enough, for those of you in this chamber who say that our military spending is never enough, let's put $60 billion into perspective.
According to Elias Youssef, a security assistant at the Stimson Center, Kiev would become the largest yearly recipient of U.S. military aid of the past two decades.
Except for the top five countries, $60 billion is more than every other country in the world spends on their entire military expenditures.
If this gift to Ukraine passes, our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia.
And it's not as if we have that money lying around.
We will have to borrow that money from China to send it to Ukraine.
The cost of this package we are voting on today is more than the U.S. spent during the first year of the U.S. conflict in Afghanistan.
Congress authorized force, and the President sent troops into the conflict.
The same cannot be said of Ukraine.
This proposal towers over domestic priorities as well.
The massive package of $60 billion to Ukraine dwarfs the $6 million spent on cancer research annually.
$60 billion is more than the amount the government collects in gas taxes each year to build roads and bridges.
The $60 billion to Ukraine could fund substantial portions or entire large cabinet departments.
The $60 billion nearly equals the entire State Department budget.
The $60 billion exceeds the budget for the Department of Homeland Security and for the Department of Energy.
And Congress just wants to keep on spending and spending.
Our allies and partners have sent aid to Ukraine.
Some of them even broke long-standing traditions by sending military assistance.
Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, and others are stepping up to defend Ukraine like never before.
In other words, it's not all about us.
It isn't that we always have to be the Uncle Sam, the policeman that saves the world, particularly when it's on borrowed money.
Yet the United States accounted for nearly half of what's been spent so far.
With a $30 trillion debt, America can't afford to be the world's policeman.
The U.S. is trying to recover from the $1.6 trillion we spent on wars in the Middle East, not to mention the $5 trillion borrowed for COVID.
We should not forget that the Soviet Union collapsed in large part, not because it was defeated militarily, but because it ran out of money.
In an attempt to save Ukraine, we will doom or will we doom the United States to such a future.
In the past two years, the U.S. has borrowed more money than at any time in our history.
We are already experiencing the greatest rate of inflation in over four decades.
The assault on monetary discipline is untenable, and it cannot go on forever.
Unless we put an end to the fiscal insanity, a day of reckoning awaits us.
Congress should evaluate the cost of continuing down this path.
The biggest threat to the United States today is debt and inflation and the destruction of the dollar.
We cannot save Ukraine by killing our economic strength.
So I act to modify the bill to allow for a special inspector general.
This would be the inspector general that's been overseeing the waste in Afghanistan and has done a great job.
So, therefore, I ask the senator to modify his request so that the senate proceeds to the immediate consideration of calendar 368 HR 7691.
Furthermore, that the Paul Amendment that has be considered and agreed to, the bill as amended, be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill as amended with a 60 affirmative vote threshold for passage.
Okay, let's pause it right there.
So, because I want to play the end of this video as well, I wanted to play that whole thing because I just thought it was so great.
And man, I really got to say, you know, I know I've been critical of Rand Paul at times, and particularly of his presidential campaign in 2016 that me and a lot of other hardcore libertarians were very disappointed in.
But man, he has just been so great, so great over the last two years.
And like, I understand there's only one of him in the Senate.
And, you know, okay, he doesn't, as you guys may have guessed, if you, if you want the spoiler to this, this amendment doesn't go through and he's, you know, there's only one of him and he doesn't have enough support there.
But goddamn, if we had like 60 Rand Pauls in the Senate, what a different country we'd live in.
And I just think it's so good to at least have one of them up there making these kind of points.
He's just been so great over the last two years.
So goddamn great.
Like it really is like, it's like he's really like, he's done his father proud over the last couple of years, just being the guy who is so great throughout all of COVID, grilling Fauci, making him look like a fool on national television over and over again.
He's been just incredible on this whole conflict here.
And what a brilliant, you know, like, I don't know.
I don't even know other than that, what I can add to this.
It's just like, what a, what a fucking like, who could even argue with what he's saying?
I mean, if you, if you just like stop and think about it for a second, he's like, it's not like we have this money.
We're $30 trillion in debt.
We have to borrow this money in order to give it to Ukraine.
I mean, how ridiculous is this?
I just imagine, like, if you were in, you know, imagine being like some type of big wig, you know, like you're making really good money and you're helping everybody out.
You know, you're like lending money to all your friends and family and all this.
And it's kind of like you take it, but then you run out of money and you've maxed up all your credit cards and you're just out, you know, you're out of money and you're like, okay, well, I'm still going to give you some money and help you out.
I just got to open up another credit card to borrow the money to give it to you.
And you're like, what?
Then you're not in a position to help other people.
He's also talking about like, you know, how like, I need you to think about like $60 billion is a lot of money.
Think about it.
$60 billion?
I mean, if a person had $60 billion, they're one of the richest human beings in the world.
Like up there, right?
Probably top five or something like that of the richest people in the world.
$60 billion.
I mean, just like, think about how much money this is.
Think about how much value you had to create in the marketplace to acquire $60 billion.
My God.
I mean, you know, a million dollars is a crazy amount of money.
A billion is a thousand million.
It's $60,000 million.
This is an insane amount of money.
It's essentially you've created like Amazon.
Yeah.
That's basically, and then think about how much sales Amazon has to do on a daily basis that the guy who created that, I mean, he probably has 120, but yeah, I mean, just to conceptualize.
That depends on the valuation of the stock.
Yeah, right.
Like, exactly.
I mean, it's just, it's, it's like ungodly amounts of money.
And then it's like, look, like, you know, as the country's falling apart and people here are suffering, you're sending this over there.
So it makes all of these great points.
And then, of course, the very eloquent point that he's like, look, you know, like what crashed the Soviet Union was them running out of money.
Nations have been destroyed under a mountain of debt and currency devaluation.
And that's where we are right now.
This is very dangerous.
So here's Rand Paul's all, you know, here's Rand Paul's all, you know, brilliant points.
And so I just want to play and then we'll come back and get your thoughts.
And here is the response to all of that wisdom from Chuck Schumer.
This request.
Reserving the right to object is clear from the junior senator from Kentucky's remarks.
He doesn't want to aid Ukraine.
That is not the case for the overwhelming majority here.
Again, all he will accomplish with his actions here today is to delay that aid, not to stop it.
It's aid desperately needed by a valiant people fighting against authoritarianism and defending democracy.
So I will not modify.
Okay.
So that's his response.
Well, you don't even want to help them.
And they're great.
And they're all for democracy.
I mean, you know, sure, you have to ignore the part about imprisoning political opponents and, you know, banning other political parties and taking over state, you know, the control of the media and all that stuff.
But like, okay.
You know, it's like weird to be in watching this.
You always go like, what's it like from that woman, the woman who's like chairing this thing?
Like, how do you even just look at that and just like, look at what Rand Paul just said.
Look at what he just said.
And not just go like, oh, gee, you really had nothing.
Like, you had no type of response to any of these.
Just like so obviously like brilliant, wise points that Rand Paul is making.
And your response to that is, I guess you don't care about democracy.
These people, I guess you don't even want to help.
Jeez, man.
What a bizarre little moment there.
Anyway, Rob, any thoughts?
Yeah, I think the most interesting point that he made was that we're about to hand them what we spent on a full year of war in Afghanistan.
I'd also like to...
You get out of Afghanistan.
We got to find somewhere to spend it, right?
No, but then you also have, it's not like this is the last thing that we're going to hand them.
It's hard to even keep track because they keep trying to pass new bills.
But it seems to me that we're handing them the amount of money that's required to fight a war for a year.
Like that, you know what I mean?
It seems like that's a pretty specific number.
And they're basically going, hey, here's the cost of fighting this war for a year.
It looks like the strategy is we don't really care about Ukraine.
We don't really care about the people.
We're going to hand them the money so that they don't, you know, sign some deal with Russia and end the war.
And we're going to try and keep this war going.
We don't care how much pain and suffering there is.
We don't care what happens to world supplies next year.
We're just trying to fuck Russia at any cost.
And it's disgusting.
I mean, that's the move that they're playing here.
And so Schumer's involved.
He knows what's going on.
So now he wants to go, oh, no, we got to help Ukraine.
You're not helping Ukraine.
You're prolonging a crisis in their country with no care for human suffering or deaths because you refuse to negotiate with Putin and de-escalate the situation.
Yeah, no, 100%.
I mean, look, if you really cared about the people in Ukraine, first off, you would, you would have, in the past, you would have done everything you could to not provoke Russia into this move.
And if you cared about the people of Ukraine, right now, you'd be trying to negotiate a peace.
It's that simple.
If your position was that, you know, you didn't, you didn't want innocent people in Ukraine to die, which of course none of us do.
And this is like why we all oppose wars.
We're anti-hardcore, anti-war people.
We don't want innocent people dying.
And we don't want to see wars.
War is the worst thing.
Thing.
It's the worst thing that human beings do.
So you want to see an end to this.
But the way to get there is not to send in $60 billion of weapons to one side.
That's like that's if you wanted to see war, if you wanted to see death, that's what you do.
What you do here is you reach a deal.
And it's not going to be the deal that you want.
It's not going to be 100% of you, what you want.
And it wouldn't be 100% of what Vladimir Putin wants.
But you reach some type of deal.
That's it.
And I'll throw this in there just as an unverified possibility that Putin's really won this thing and they don't want him walking away with a trillion dollars worth of lithium that's in the ground in the regions he's conquered.
And so while the easy way out of this is essentially Putin's won, he gambled.
He taken regions with enough resources to cover his war losses and they kind of split the country and move on.
It could be that the lithium there is so valuable the U.S. just won't have it.
But I like, what does that just go on forever?
Like, how does that play out?
I don't know.
Maybe.
It does.
It seems to me like the Democrats have been, I guess, maybe, and maybe this is something that I fucked up on over the last few years and in hindsight, maybe shouldn't have.
But when you really start to put the pieces together of, say, the last five years in this country, the amount of war propaganda toward Russia that's been coming out from the Democrats has been really remarkable.
Calling Democrats Crazy00:04:38
I mean, they were the ones who were, they were the ones who were telling the American people for years straight that Vladimir Putin interfered and undermined our democratic process, stole the presidency from Hillary Clinton and installed Donald Trump.
They were telling you that he put bounties on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
They were telling you that he created a, I don't even know what was the accusation, that he created a fake laptop of Hunter Biden, you know, and trying to interfere again in an election to get Donald Trump back in there.
There's been all of these types of things.
If any one of these accusations were true, none of them were, of course, but if any one of them were true, this would be an act of war, someone trying to undermine our country.
And so now when you see them actually shipping in tens of billions of dollars into a war zone against Russia, you're like, oh, well, I guess, you know, while, you know, I always kind of looked at that as, oh, they're just trying to make excuses for why Donald Trump's in there.
They're just trying to undermine Donald Trump.
And of course, I think all of that was true.
But perhaps there is something a lot more to this where they really were trying to push war with Russia the whole time, which, man, what a goddamn dangerous fucking game.
What a dangerous game this is.
You know, you sent me one of Glenn Beck's, Glenn Beck, excuse me, Glenn Greenwald's tweets that he tweeted the other day.
And I subscribe to his sub stack, so I read everything Glenn Greenwald writes.
But he was talking about just how even on the like more left wing of the Democratic Party, there's just like no pushback against this.
It's really something.
It's really kind of remarkable.
Like even the ones, even of the squad and Bernie Sanders and stuff like that, it really shows you, you know, like when there's a Republican in there, they'll be okay sometimes on some wars.
But in this one, man, when it's a democratic war, and this one particularly, the most dangerous one in the history of the world, perhaps, at least, certainly since the Cold War, in this one, there's just nothing, no sentiment coming out of them whatsoever.
It's all coming from like Rand Paul and Thomas Massey and some of the more like America First type Republicans.
They're the only ones who are presenting any opposition to this, you know, and people like to kind of shit on like, what's her name?
MTG.
What's that woman's name again?
Who's a little bit the kind of weird Congresswoman, very MAGA, the one who got kicked off Twitter.
Yeah, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
She Roger Waters face.
Yeah.
A little bit.
But even, you know, they call her crazy all the time and all the stuff.
And I don't really know that much about her.
Maybe she is a little bit, but she's been good on this.
And I'm sorry.
You know, it's funny.
It's like you could call as crazy as some other people might be.
And I don't even know enough about her to call her crazy.
I don't know if she is or she hasn't.
But, you know, it's like whatever policy you might think someone has on something else that's kind of crazy.
It's like, there's nothing crazier than this idea of just provoking a war between Russia and the United States of America.
There's nothing more reckless and insane than that policy.
And it's really interesting that like that is the only like, of course, the libertarians have, you know, are good on this, but that's the only like people who are giving any pushback.
It's like the libertarians, like, you know, like us, the libertarian leaning Republicans and the America First Republicans.
And then, of course, you know, like people like the good left-wingers who are like disgusted with the Democratic Party, like Jimmy Doerr and Clenn Greenwald and people like that.
But it's really something.
It's really something to see this.
And that's what I thought was so fascinating with that exchange with Rand Paul and Chuck Schumer there.
It's just so obvious.
He's gotten nothing.
Like he's gotten no response to any of the real concerns raised.
It reminded me of old Ron Paul's stuff where he would like go off on these just beautiful, like so much wisdom and such a profound argument about why this is so dangerous to our country and not in our interest.
And then their response is like, you hate America.
Join CrowdHealth Community00:02:39
You love the terrorists.
I guess you just don't want to help and you don't care about democracy.
What the fuck does that mean?
What does any of this mean?
See, Ukraine, the bastion of democracy.
All right.
Okay.
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Truth In Social Media00:12:43
All right, let's get back into the show.
All right, so before we get out of here, there was one other video that you sent, Rob, that you wanted to play.
I have not watched this yet, but evidently, now that we have the new Ministry of Truth, me and you are going to make an effort to try to be more truthful and figure out what the truth really is.
Because obviously, we have been guilty of being purveyors of misinformation and occasionally disinformation.
And I'll be honest, I still haven't learned the difference.
I think I have a theory on the difference.
You ready?
Okay, yeah, I would love this because I don't know what's the difference between misinformation and disinformation.
This is what I believe the difference to be, but I haven't heard anyone say this.
I believe misinformation is if you originate an idea that they believe to be not true.
Okay.
Disinformation is if you say something criticizing what they've put forward already.
Hmm.
Okay.
So it would be disinformation like during the Russia collusion thing to say Trump is not working with the Russians.
It would be misinformation.
That would be disinformation.
That would be disinformation.
Even though it was true.
Yes, but during that time period, it would have been disinformation.
So it was disinformation, even though it's true.
Okay.
All right.
I'm sorry.
I'm not sure.
Okay.
No, I'm saying in that time period, that would have been disinformation.
It would have been misinformation to say that the FBI secretly spied on.
So like when you're putting, when you're putting forward like your own news, like it's misinformation.
If you're criticizing what they've said, it's disinformation.
And then this can also change, I believe, right?
Oh, yeah, most of the time.
It could be misinformation one day, and then the next day, it could just be fine.
Yeah, kind of like getting a booster vaccine.
Great idea one day.
It turns out it might kill you the next day.
Yeah, it can happen.
So being skeptical, being skeptical of your fourth booster was misinformation at one point, but it no longer is.
Was it ever disinformation?
No, skeptical would have been disinformation.
Okay.
Putting forward that it was dangerous would have been misinformation.
Misinformation.
Okay.
And the fact that both turned out to be true, that's neither here nor there.
That's not, don't get done that.
Right.
No, you're not allowed to say it until they change the narrative.
You just got to be in line with what they're saying.
They're allowed to change it.
All right.
And then you're allowed to support their change.
But until they change it, saying anything like, you know, different from them was either misinformation or disinformation, depending on what you put forward.
Okay.
I'm trying to get this.
I'll be the first to admit it's a little confusing for me, but I'll try to get this.
I've always been under, like my thing has always been just tell the truth, but now I get it.
You have to really like understand misinformation versus disinformation, which both can be the truth, but not at the time because it hasn't been allowed yet to tell the truth.
So, okay, I'm going to work hard.
I'm going to try to improve.
Let's hear from the new head of the Ministry of Truth, and maybe she can help us sort some of this out.
So, one of the things that's the most worrisome to me, a trend that I've seen building over the past, I would say, year to 18 months, is the pivot to privacy on social media and other digital platforms that has kind of driven disinformation underground.
And this is kind of a result not only from the backlash from the 2016 election and the crackdown on social media companies over things like Cambridge Analytica and privacy scandals related to that, but also because of the way people are changing their behavior online.
Rather than broadcasting things to a large audience, people really are trying to connect one-on-one with their friends and family more often.
And as a result, bad actors have been driven underground.
So they're organizing themselves more in private and closed groups, or if they've been deplatformed in some cases, talking not about Facebook and Twitter, they're moving to places in the more mainstream, like Reddit or farther afield like Gab, 4chan, 8chan.
And that makes, you know, all of these conversations and the spread of disinformation and its narratives a lot more difficult to track.
There's a lot that's going on in the basement of the internet that is hard for researchers to track and very hard to then combat.
Not only can we not know what is being done.
So let's, hold on, let's pause for a second.
Now, just to be clear, I hadn't seen this video yet.
Rob sent this over to Brian and said he wanted to play it on the show.
I had not taken a look at this yet.
But so if I'm following our minister here, so there are these people who spread disinformation, which we've already established is quite often the truth.
But regardless of that, she's when it's disinformation, because the authorities have told us it's disinformation, these people are often silenced on social media platforms.
But that's not good enough because she says that they can still then go talk to, quote, friends and family.
So we don't just have to silence these people from being able to speak to large audiences, but they might even talk about these ideas, which of course are disinformation, which might be true tomorrow.
But right now, they've been deemed disinformation, but they might be talking to like their uncle and their neighbor.
And so that's also a big problem.
And it's also very hard to track these people on Gab.
Well, that's not insanely creepy.
All right.
Let's see.
If it was up to them, we would be in jail.
And she's clearly making a statement that once somebody is silenced from Twitter, government needs to track them online so that we're aware of what they're saying and where they're saying it.
It's a pretty painful red pill to swallow, but it's something that's worth it for like you, Rob, and everybody who's listening to us right now to really swallow and come to terms with and accept is that there are very powerful people who would like to see us.
When I say us, I mean me and you and Brian for producing this show and you, the listener.
There are very powerful people who would like to see all of us in jail for this.
That would be fine to see us in prison for this show.
And there are probably millions of your fellow Americans who would support it.
It's a pretty goddamn difficult thing to swallow, but that is, look, man, this has been true for a while, but the- Think about how many lives could have been saved and how much quicker we could have ended the whole COVID thing if you and I weren't out there letting people, oh, wait, I think they've retracted everything that we were right, but still they didn't know that at the time and we can't question the guy.
And it doesn't, it doesn't even matter.
It's like, but that's something, that's something you should really be well aware of.
There's, there are people who would be fine with you being like imprisoned, like removed from your family and friends and thrown in a cage for this, for us talking about what we think is true.
And that they would, there would be a lot of people who would support that.
Like, I don't know exactly how many people would support that, but it's in the millions of Americans, maybe in the tens of millions.
I don't know.
All right, let's keep playing.
I want to learn more about truth and misinformation.
Can we not know what is being talked about?
But it's hard to fact check that or, you know, downplay that if we're talking about something that's algorithmic.
So I'm worried about that specifically related to COVID.
We've seen a lot of, you know, miracle cures and hucksters peddling snake oil on the internet over the past couple of months.
Oh, she's talking about the vaccines?
More of that.
Probably.
I mean, Johnson and Johnson.
We've seen hucksters peddling fake cures.
I'm sorry.
I just, I'm trying to learn this misinformation thing.
Was she talking about the vaccines or are we talking about something else?
I'm sorry.
I'm not following.
I'm just, I'm trying.
I'm trying my best.
I don't want to be a preveyor of misinformation.
Okay.
And unfortunately, you know, without greater regulation on a federal level or, you know, more cooperation that is kind of ad hoc between social media platforms and the government or researchers for that matter, because there has been a lot of reticence on the behest of social media platforms to give up that data to researchers.
I think we're going to be in the dark for a long time.
And I don't know what the cure is, especially for the scientific community to be able to reach out to those people.
And there is a certain extent of, there's always going to be people who believe in conspiracy theories, whether they're on the internet or before the internet existed, those folks always existed.
And perhaps we should be reaching out to the more average folks, not the ones who are on the fringes.
But as we've seen, that sort of behavior increasingly is able to migrate and be amplified to a much wider audience thanks to the tools that we have online.
Yeah, look at that.
The fear of democracy comes back in again.
That people are just so goddamn stupid that if they're able to amplify these conspiracy theories, so many people will believe them.
Maybe it's because there's a lot of conspiracies.
Federal regulation of the internet and collusion between the social media platforms and the propaganda divisions of our government.
That's what she's advocating for.
Yeah, pretty blatantly and really extensive.
I mean, she's literally saying that like even this censorship regime is just not enough.
And with a nice tearful smile, that we could get everything under control and get the good information if we just put some nice people in jail and make sure that it's just the official narrative.
Yeah.
God damn, is that just about the creepiest thing I've seen in quite a while?
Well, all right, Rob, we're going to wrap it up on that one.
I am goddamn exhausted.
Let's plug some live shows, though.
First and foremost, next weekend, I am out in California at Brian McWilliams' house doing stand-up live podcasts.
I got my resident non-scientist COVID expert coming out, telling us everything that's been in the data leaks and all the excess deaths since the vaccines have come out.
This weekend, I'm in Connecticut with BK Chris.
He's headlining.
I'm doing some time on his show.
My friend Silly Selly put that together.
You and I, only 10 tickets left for Chicago.
So if you're out there and you want to come out for the stand-up show, you better hop on that because that thing is nearly sold out.
Reno, a couple tickets still available for the late show.
We have any other gigs planned yet?
I don't think so.
We got to get some more on the books.
Yeah, that's right.
But I think we got, we're going to do stuff in Philly.
We're going to do a show in Brooklyn coming on.
Pork Fest.
Check out the Free State Project.
They got cool stuff going on over there.
They got some wins in their local government.
We're going to be up there for their annual big blowout event, but go check out what they got going on.
I know people that have moved up there and love it.
So go check out their stuff.
Hell yeah.
No, that's great.
A big fan of the Free State Project.
I love all those guys.
Some really great people up there.
And New Hampshire is beautiful, particularly in the summer.
That's why I always like to pop in in the summer.
But if you don't mind cold winters, it's actually really gorgeous in the winter as well.
I don't know.
But that's it for that.
There are a few tickets left for the Reno late show on the 26th there, and literally only 10 tickets left in Chicago.
But that's going to be a real great time, too.
Haven't been to Chicago in a while.
It's been like three years, I think, since I've got a lot of people.
We got to go to that bean.
We got to go to some blues bars.
I might go to a Cubs game on Sunday.
You're going to have to fly home, but I want to get hammered at a Cubs game.
All right.
There you go.
Rob, if you want to go get hammered with Rob at a Cubs game on Sunday, go check that out.
All right.
Thanks, everybody.
There you go.
Thanks, everybody, for listening.
Catch you next time.
Peace.
Saw from the Russians.
So I repeat again: the senator from Kentucky is now working for Vladimir Putin.