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Oct. 6, 2022 - Stay Free - Russel Brand
01:20:24
Stay Free with Russell Brand #007 - What Happens When You Challenge Dominant Power?
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I'm going to go ahead and get the camera.
I'm going to get the camera.
In this video, you're going to see the two surfaces.
Let's look higher.
Let's look lower.
Yeah, enjoy your life.
Enjoy it.
This is your life.
You're living.
You're lunatics.
This is Stay Free with Russell Brand.
We're streaming live.
Hello to all of you watching us on Rumble right now, or locals.
You're discussing your ages.
There's so much diversity in here, says Desire44.
I'm 47, says someone else.
Martian.
Hello, all of you.
Whatever age you are, wherever you're from, wherever you've been, Whatever the hell it is you've done, you're welcome here.
Don't matter what you vote for or if you don't vote at all.
Don't matter where you're from in the world, there's a place for you here.
Here, we give you the news that the news won't give you.
We give you insights on the news that they simply won't reveal and we point out silly stuff that they have said as well.
Sometimes it will be deep and it's... Oh, shit, the pound's gone down a bit.
Sometimes it will be... Oh, not again.
...deep, bloody thing, keeps going down a bit.
Sometimes it'll be deep and insightful.
Sorry, let me get my hair right.
And sometimes it'll be a bit silly.
That's just life, okay?
Then you'll die, eventually, and you'll leave a transcend and become part of some unknowable cosmic force.
Or there'll be nothing, or you'll be reincarnated, or something I can't even conceive of because of the limitations of the human mind.
In today's show, we're asking you a simple question.
What happens if you challenge the dominant power?
Not dominate power, like it says in my teleprompter, which doesn't make any sense at all.
Dominant power.
What happens, and the reason we're asking you this, There's a number of reasons.
Elon Musk has challenged... I mean, look, it's difficult to portray Elon Musk as like a plucky little match girl, an innocent victim of circumstance, because he is, I think, the richest human there's ever been.
But he's coming on our show.
He's not coming on today's show, but he's coming on our show soon.
I could text him sometimes, I could message him now, but I've got just such a terrible history for doing live messages to people.
If you're a British person, you'll know about this.
If you're from somewhere else in the world, you won't know about it, and I'm not going to tell you.
You'll have to work it out in one of your chats over there at StayFreeAF, if you're a member of our community, or just on the Rumble stream, if you're watching us on Rumble, and that's the only place you can watch us.
That's the only place where we're free to be who we really are.
For example, I'm like that.
This is the only place where I'm free to be.
I actually gave myself a rib spasm there.
Do you put much thought into your text to Elon?
A lot of thought.
Yeah.
I was going to say, you wouldn't do it now because you'd surely... You've got to put thought into it.
Yeah.
When I text Elon, I put thought into it.
Yeah.
Like, thought goes in it.
How many did you do?
Was it like you were texting a new girlfriend or something?
Yeah, you know like you really love someone and you're not actually sure if they like you yet because you're you're you so you're you know you don't you you know you you're an idiot right so when you're texting someone you want them to love you you're like hi going through various things that you think different personalities you think might possibly work with Elon I'm like I'm trying to be quite cool.
Right.
It's complicated because Elon Musk, I happen to like him.
I think he's really funny.
In that conversation I had with him, like a long conversation, I text him because I got his number off Joe Rogan.
Yeah, I guess I'm friends with powerful people.
Don't really talk about it.
Don't really talk about it.
Anyway, right, and then I text Elon Musk, and he goes, if you want to chat sometime, he goes, I'm free now.
And I was like, suddenly I was in it, on the phone to Elon Musk, and it was like, alright, mate, and he was sort of, he was okay.
He went all over the place.
He was talking about the origins of certain aspects of, like, Saxon Britain.
He was all over the shop.
He knew a lot of stuff, man.
And I thought, nah, he's probably on Google.
But, like, he also...
He's got a wide-ranging and brilliant mind.
So anyway, when I'm texting him now, also because I want him to come on the show, and he said he's going to come on the show after the deposition, and part of the news is he's getting Twitter, isn't he?
Well, he said he will.
He said he will now.
Oh, sorry, I spoke over the... Go on.
Go on, do the news.
Do it.
Right.
Elon Musk's trial against Twitter will press on regardless of New Deal, judge says.
They can't deposition him and he's buying it.
That's what they're saying.
It doesn't even make sense.
So he said, I'm not going to buy it.
And they said, well, you'll go to trial then.
He'll go, all right, I am going to buy it.
Well, you'll still go to trial.
It's still a trial.
You're not getting away without trial.
They just want to do a trial.
So like, the reason I suppose that this question of the show is what happens if you challenge dominant power is that Elon Musk, because of his unique cultural position, he's basically a one man country, isn't he?
Like he's richer than some little countries.
He is.
He's nearly as rich as the country he come out of.
That's right.
Like, he's from South Africa, and if he carries on just a few more millions, or is it billions?
Billions.
Few more billions, 35 more billions.
That's right.
He'll be as rich as his own country.
Yeah, he's got more worth than Colombia, Finland, Pakistan, and Chile, and Portugal.
That's amazing!
You could just be a country.
Like, in that David Foster Wallace book, Infinite Jest, which I've not read all of because it's too hard, it sort of suggests that in the future, countries will become corporatised.
That, you know, you'd have a whole country sponsored by Apple, and I bet you will.
What would it be called?
Elon or Musk?
Muscovia.
Oh, nice.
Elandia.
Because I'm, of course, hoping to take over some countries one day.
You wanted to buy an island at one point, didn't you?
I still would like an island.
The thing is with me loving Elon Musk is, generally speaking, with the billionaires, you're not, you think, oh, these billionaires.
But Elon Musk is a nice billionaire, is he?
He's a funny billionaire.
He's a funny billionaire.
He's not playing by the rules.
And also, when you've spoken to someone, then you know about them as a human.
And it makes you look at them differently, I suppose.
And also, there's sort of lots of things to consider.
I mean, actually, on this channel, we do believe in the possibility of some kind of global revolution.
These are things you have to consider if you are interested in challenging real power.
And believe me, power is real.
Because later on the show, I'm talking to Stella Assange, wife of Julian Assange, and like, you know, Some of you will be old enough to remember, based on the chat.
Some of you are too old to control your memory, or to contain it, at least.
And, like, you know, Julian Assange was a hero initially with WikiLeaks.
He was sort of, like, the white-haired rock god of hackers.
And then...
He was smeared and slandered and is now in Belmarsh Prison.
So, ultimately, his wife Stella explained, in a way that's presented as a sort of a legal situation, he's, you know, like, charged with espionage.
But actually, she says she rejects that entire legal framework.
It's not done anything wrong.
And when it's presented legally, it's just sort of a binary situation.
You can have a trial.
You'll either be proven guilty, not guilty.
Well done, Pound.
And the challenge is, for her, he's not done anything wrong.
It shouldn't be a legal framework.
What's he doing in prison?
He revealed the war crimes of America and other complicit nations, and there was a CIA plot to assassinate him.
You can't extradite someone to a country that said they're going to assassinate him.
So a figure like Elon Musk, because of his enormous power, Assange, because of those revelations, both of these figures, I think, in their own way, reveal There is such a thing as dominant power.
Elon Musk is so powerful that he can say, well, look, do we want a diplomatic solution to this situation between Russia and Ukraine?
It's likely to be this.
And Zelensky will respond online.
And that brings an important question.
I think, to the forefront.
When you say you support Ukraine, how much do you support Ukraine?
Do you support Ukraine enough to change the picture in your bio?
Do you support Ukraine enough to put a sticker up in your work?
Do you support Ukraine enough to attend a protest?
Do you support Ukraine enough to support military action in Crimea that might lead to nuclear attacks?
Let me know in the comments, let me know in the chat.
Well, I guess also how much of that military action is potentially affected by, I don't know, the US allegiances with the West also.
I mean, that's another question, isn't it?
What do you mean, Gail?
Well, that it's not necessarily.
I mean, we know about the influence of UK and the US within Ukraine.
Like, for example, it's alleged that Boris Johnson slowed down imminent peace talks.
The accusation is that he told him not to enter peace talks.
Don't do a peace talk!
Why not?
There's a war.
Peace talks is exactly what you should do.
No!
That's sort of more or less what happened.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm praise-seeing.
Yeah, so like, there's a lot to consider, and really what we're considering is the location and reality of real power, but here's some other normal, normal news, so just so that you know what's going on, you know, in the world of normal news.
Alright?
We're going to tell you some important stuff, and normal stuff as well.
Putin signs Ukraine annexation laws amid military setbacks.
So he's sort of simultaneously annexing places and militarily retreating.
Is that right?
Well, he's suffering setbacks, certainly.
I mean, the Ukrainians say that they're retaking certain cities.
But he's signed the final papers.
Um, and the Regents are apparently accepted into the Russian Federation now, the documents say.
So you're saying, like, I've annexed that?
I've done that.
That's all annexed?
Yeah, even though it doesn't seem like he's in control of them.
Which is a bold claim, isn't it, to make?
That's mine now.
Bagsy'd!
I think it's mainly because of that handshake thing he did the other day.
He just kind of has to, he can't come back from that.
He can't back off on that five-way boy band, the Backstreet Boy handshake now.
No.
It would be embarrassing.
Yeah.
Google teams up with UN for verified climate information.
That was the story that Google have supported the UN's preference that when you Google climate change, certain stories come up.
There's no climate change, what they would say, climate change denial.
We own the science, was what Melissa Fleming, Undersecretary for Global Communications at the UN said.
We're going to have a deeper look at that later this week.
In a sense, we want to look at the implications of that.
The idea that there's collaboration between big tech and the UN.
Whether you agree with climate change or don't, let me know in the chat below.
That's something we'll be looking at in more depth.
Biden has told officials on a trip to Florida, no one fucks with a Biden.
Don't look at Hunter's laptop, is what I'll say, because you might see evidence to the contrary there.
Let's have a look at him saying that.
That's exactly right.
I won't pinch you.
I'll kick the finger.
You ain't great to me, man.
I won't. No one's f***ing with my man, god damn it.
I can't argue with you brothers outside the house.
That's exactly right. That's exactly right.
Do you think so?
Like he's just trying to be friends with that bloke and saying stuff?
Yeah, I think so.
Like me, when I'm texting Elon Musk, I'm thinking, what do I say so as Elon Musk likes the text?
Yeah, and he does seem to like it.
I noticed when it was written up in the newspaper, it said, the president also told the man, and you'll notice, you can't argue with your brothers outside of the house.
It just says, it's unclear what the president was referring to.
Right.
Inside the house.
Damn you!
Once you're out there, hey baby.
What's the measure for at this point?
I don't think that's a metaphor, do you?
I think that's a literal rule about... Look, this is what it is.
Joe Biden, I think we all know now, he's a bit forgetful.
So I think he's sometimes reaching this stuff.
Like when he's doing those jokes that are meant to be owning his older age, he ends up saying weird things like, I was 30, she was 12.
What?
No!
There's no context!
Ah!
You know, and this is kind of like... I think what he's referring to is the idea that in your household, you might be... ...bissin' and a-cussin' and a-roarin' and a-rowin' with your family members, but if anyone else crosses them... Got it.
I think that what he's trying to do is appeal to a certain kind of blue-collar mentality.
Rough and rumble.
This is Corn Pop territory.
You know that when he likes to talk about Corn Pop?
Oh yeah.
Corn Pop was a bad dude.
Oh, I'd brawl with him when I was a swimming guard.
That's what it was, isn't it?
Yeah.
This is that.
It's again that politicians have to continually present themselves as normal, but Joe Biden, whatever he is and whatever he once was, it has to be acknowledged that he's a career politician who's been in Congress for sort of like 45 years that has Extraordinary business relationships.
It's been recently alleged on Tucker Carlson's show that he's indeed significant in Hunter Biden's business arrangements.
Maybe like the chair of them.
Is that what's been alleged?
Well, the chief.
Wasn't he referred to as the chief?
He's the chief.
That's not even the sort of words you're supposed to use.
He's the head honcho.
He's a bigwig.
He's the main man.
Yeah, so I suppose whilst he operates in a very particular political sphere, he has to present himself as normal in order to be appealing and affable.
Now he has the additional challenge of the old forgetfulness.
Let me just do a bit more news for you guys.
OPEC tries to keep prices high and cuts output by two million barrels in a move that Biden calls unnecessary.
Yeah, he's angry about this because, you know, he went over to Saudi Arabia, didn't he?
Do you not remember he did to do the old fist pump with the Grand Prince?
It doesn't seem to have worked.
Yeah, even though they said that they would make Saudi... Biden pledged to make Saudi Arabia a pariah if he got into government, but then he did go there a bit and be double friendly with Saudi Arabians because of geopolitical necessities.
Again, this is how power really operates.
There's necessary rhetoric, When you're campaigning and then geopolitical realities kick in, the fact is, is there a certain petrodollar and economic relationships that have to be conserved, so whilst it might be plausible to say stuff when you're running for election, you can't make good on those kind of promises within that system.
That's it.
Well, it didn't work anyway because so I started a part of OPEC plus and they're the plus part.
They're the plus part.
They're not OPEC.
No, they're the plus part.
So this is the world's... It's like Cosby, Steeles, Nash and Young.
That's it.
Young's actually the best bit.
He is.
I don't know what you imply in there.
Yeah, like that Saudi Arabia, even though they're just the plus, they've got a lot of clout.
Yeah.
Like Young, he's got a lot, I've got a lot of songs.
So anyway, this is the world's top oil producing countries who've agreed to cut the amount they export in a decision which will raise prices around the world.
So they're saying it's doing it to, you know, basically make sure that the prices don't keep going up to kind of stabilise oil prices.
But obviously Biden's seeing this as a kind of slight on America.
Also, I suppose this is something that we have to consider in the context of this ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
And also, whether or not the Nord Stream 2... Not the Nord Stream 1, is it?
That's a perfectly good pipeline, that's still fine.
Nord Stream 2 pipeline, has it been sabotaged or did it just accidentally break?
Certainly, resources and energy are a component in this ongoing crisis and loads of you will want to see again.
Jeffrey Sachs, an American academic and professor at Columbia University, just sort of overtly stating that he thinks America does it.
Like, even though, even if you've seen this clip, it's worth watching it again, mostly because of Jeffrey Sachs' chided face.
Now we know what Jeffrey Sachs looks like when he's told off, and potentially in a whole range of other situations.
...to make it definitive, the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, which I would bet was a U.S.
action, perhaps U.S.
and Poland.
This is speculation.
All right, Jeff, you've got to stop there.
That's quite a statement as well.
Why is he like... That's a really lovely little face he's done there, isn't it?
Yeah.
Like he really didn't want to be told off.
Yeah.
I think he's just a bit surprised about the guy who's telling him off.
Well, he is.
He's a surprising guy.
Look at him.
Why do you feel... Like, what's that look?
Well, he's gone back to the 1920s or something.
That's outrageous, you don't need to look like that in those mad glasses in that time.
Your glasses are too big, your bow tie's too small, your microphone's from a hundred years ago.
I think his reaction was just like that was the first time he saw him.
He's like, what?
I've been interviewed from the past!
He is able, however, to back up his accusation in a number of ways that make it seem pretty plausible.
Wait, that that was a US action?
What evidence do you have of that?
Well, first of all, there's direct radar evidence that U.S.
helicopters, military helicopters that are normally based in Gdansk, were circling over this area.
We also had the threats from the United States earlier in this year that one way or
another we are going to end Nord Stream.
We also have a remarkable statement by Secretary Blinken last Friday in a press conference. He
says this is also a tremendous opportunity. It's a strange way to, sorry, it's a strange way to talk.
It is a strange way.
Yeah, it is.
But other than that... Yeah, but aside from... Come on!
You're really catching at straws now.
Stop it!
Yeah.
It seems like he's got a... We'll get him on, will we?
We'll get him on, Jeffrey Sachs.
I like him and I reckon we should try and see if we can get him... Shock him.
Huh?
Shock him.
Yeah, I want him to do that face again.
Just constantly try and shock him.
I'll pinch him if it takes that.
Get that pound a little bit lower.
That bloody thing's gone right down.
What kind of comments are we getting, Soobs?
Lots of reaction to your question for the show.
So Maury says, I'm binge watching your Rumblecast and I'm caught up.
Your content is much better than MSNBC, which is Bill Gates' pocket.
Yes, yes.
Embarrassing these days to say that they're from the US.
Roberta says, what Was that the ageist comment at 68, her memory is great when you made fun of people?
No, no, no, someone said they were 81 and I don't think you can really allege that there is no impact on memory as one declines or advances in years when you look at dear old Joe Biden Dodgering his way through life, seldom able to make his way off the stage.
What kind of comments have you got there, young Putin?
So-called because you look like young Putin, not because we have anything other than stern condemnation of Russia's military action in Ukraine.
Do you know, I asked Stella Assange when I spoke to her a little bit earlier, when we recorded it, because we wanted to be sensitive, as a matter of fact, because I thought, this is a person who's living a pretty intense life.
She's married to someone who she loves, who's in Belmar, whose situation is complicated.
Anyway, so that's why we pre-recorded it.
And like, I goes to her, did you think Trump might pardon him?
And she said she did think that a little bit.
She leaves, you'll see it in the interview, she leaves a very long pause.
She goes, I couldn't tell because Donald Trump is... And then she's in that pause, I thought, oh God, what's she going to say here?
It's fascinating.
Went on for quite a long while.
And ultimately she said, unpredictable.
Good choice.
That was one of the moments when I think it became clear that Trump is not what his most avid supporters hope for him to be.
A genuine maverick who is outside of the system.
And the establishment.
Yeah, the establishment.
Because a genuine anti-establishment president would go, yeah, I'm pardoning him.
Oh my God, whoa!
Because the truth is that Julian Assange's case, amongst many other things, demonstrates the general alliance between nations and political parties Clinton, Obama, Bush, Trump, like everyone basically has the same stance and the use of the Espionage Act.
Anyway, this stuff's covered pretty well in the conversation, but I think it's a good way of understanding
lack of journalistic integrity, media censorship, collaboration between the government, between global
governments and the media.
So much is tied into that case and also sort of the true nature of power.
If you do something that genuinely disrupts the interests of the powerful, the response will be terrifying.
That's why Elon Musk is such a fascinating figure.
He's outspoken, he's radical, he's difficult to categorise.
Part Willy Wonka, part Donald Trump, part Steve Jobs, part Richard Branson.
Nearly as rich as the nation that he comes from.
Guest on this show, let me know in the chat, let me know in the comments how I should tweet him.
Maybe I'll tweet him and ask him on Twitter, when you coming on mate?
So let me know how you would phrase it and you'll get back to us guys with versions of the question.
Remember, I'm trying to do a lot of jobs here.
Be charming, flattering, Kind.
Acknowledge that there is some complexity when dealing with a billionaire.
Like there are sort of, you know, like if it was, sort of, think of Bill Gates, right?
Where do we stand on Bill Gates, guys?
And the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Bill Gates donations to media, and his interest in certain medicines.
Or, you know, if it was even Jeff Bezos and his cockle rocket.
He's rocketless like a cock, which he sends up to Skyfire.
You'd want an invite on that, I think, out of a Rounds of texts with him.
You'd want to get to the point where he was going.
Come on, listen, I'm going to space.
Do you want to come up me and my brother?
We're going to go fuck space.
Do you want to come up there with us?
I was once going to go space.
I know, I remember that, yeah.
But I didn't go.
You declined.
I'll not go.
Thank you.
I was nearly going to go space when they started selling commercial space flights, but I don't actually know where my ticket is no more.
It was a gift.
Oh, sorry.
From a different era.
But, like, I don't actually know if I want to go space, and I also don't know where that ticket is, and I don't think people did go space in the end on Virgin Rockets.
Did that happen?
I'm not sure.
I mean, it's definitely in the works, if it's not happened already.
Yeah, I don't know that it's happened.
November.
What, they're going to go to space?
Apparently out of Cornwall.
Look at that, Cornwall to space!
Dust off the old ticket, hop down to Penzance and get me up there into space.
Do you want to, like, listen, tell us in the chat, we'll do a quick poll now and tell us quickly, get ready, do you want to see the, do you want me to tell you ...in depth about Elon Musk and analyse what does support for Ukraine really mean.
And of course everyone, anyone except for psychopaths, are sympathetic to people suffering in war and anyone wants to end war and suffering.
Let's take that as read because it's bloody obvious, obvious to most of us.
Do you want to see me talking about that, or would you like us to talk about a grand chess master with beads up his bum as a communicative tool?
Let us know quickly in the chat.
The next first five people to respond will go with what you say, although we are going to talk about both those things ultimately and eventually because...
You know, Grand Chess Master accused of using anal beads to win a likely cheat a hundred times.
I mean, that's... I don't think he's doing it for the chess anymore.
Once you've, like, done it a hundred times, used anal beads as a communicative tool, it seems to me that chess is secondary.
I still don't think there's any actual proof.
I think it's a strange jump to make from, he's winning all these games, to, it must be anal beads.
You're good at chess!
Thank you.
Let me look up your arsehole!
Excuse me!
I've been practicing, bollocks!
Let me have a look up there.
Relax it!
I can't see up there.
Let me have a poke about with this lolly stick.
That's the only way to be sure that you're not cheating.
I've practiced.
I read a book about it.
I went to a special school.
No, you never.
What are people saying?
What's the...
Elon, Elon, Elon.
So listen, you lot want to know what is the space that Elon Musk occupies in our culture?
What does he tell us about power?
And what do we really feel about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine?
What does the support of Ukraine really mean?
How far are you willing to go?
It's time now for Here's the News.
No, no, here's the effing news.
Thanks for refusing Fox News.
Here's the news.
No, here's the fucking news.
Elon Musk is the news!
Whether it's buying or not buying Twitter, robots that move about like Joe Biden, or trying to solve the Russia-Ukraine war, Musk is a news machine.
So is he right?
Is he wrong?
Should we listen to him?
He's coming on our show.
Guess which side we're on.
Let's get into today's news.
Elon Musk did a poll presenting a potential solution to the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Like all people, my sympathies lie with those suffering as a result of this conflict.
So that's just my opinion, so you know.
But Elon Musk is presenting potential solutions and is facing a backlash as a result, not least from President Zelensky himself.
Let's have a look at this story in detail and ask ourselves a few fundamental questions.
One, Does Elon Musk have the right to say whatever he wants?
Two, should people be looking at potential diplomatic solutions to this current conflict?
And three, what do we mean when we say we support Ukraine?
Are we to assume that we mean support Ukraine up to and including a nuclear conflict?
I'm not saying that we shouldn't.
I'm saying that if we are going to, then we should be aware that that's what we're doing.
Because there's a difference between changing the picture in your bio, putting a sticker in your window, and living in a post-apocalyptic hellscape.
Well, I'm not saying don't do that.
Some things are worth dying for.
Some things are worth dying for.
But you should know that that's what you're doing.
On Monday, Elon Musk prompted an online row with Ukraine's president after he asked Twitter users to weigh in on his ideas to end Russia's war.
Now, some of you will say, well, who's Elon Musk?
Who does he think he is?
And Elon Musk is a unique figure in our culture.
Part Steve Jobs, part Donald Trump, part Richard Branson.
What is this guy?
Elon Musk is a figure that could only exist now Evidently a genius in a number of areas.
He's doubtless a controversial and polarizing figure.
He garners affection and following that no other billionaires do.
Why is that?
But he also attracts criticism that no other corporate and potentially invisible powerful billionaire figures attract.
Why is that?
What is the meaning of Elon Musk?
In a tweet, Musk suggested UN-supervised elections in four occupied regions that Moscow has falsely annexed after what it called referendums.
If you're going to have an election, make sure it's properly run and that all the votes are correctly counted and there's absolutely no skullduggery.
Right, kids?
The votes were denounced by Kiev and Western governments as illegal and coercive.
Not only was it illegal, you forced people to do it.
Russia leaves if that is the will of the people, Musk wrote.
OK, seems like a sensible selection.
I'm certainly not claiming to be an expert on that complex geopolitical situation.
We've done numerous videos about the history of the region, NATO escalation, potential sabotage.
We've done lots of videos on this subject.
And I just want to clarify again and again, my sympathy lies with people that suffer as a result The Tesla chief executive also suggested that Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014, be formally recognised as Russia, that water supply to Crimea be assured, and that Ukraine remain neutral.
He asked Twitter users to vote yes or no to his idea.
So far, it seems to me that a powerful figure is using his platform in order to provoke debate.
Now, I suppose, up to this point, How can you disagree with that?
Do you want the Twittersphere and the world of Instagram to be entirely limited to profanity and idiocy and inanity?
Oh, Happy Meals, football in space!
I'm quite interested in that football in space.
And happy meals.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky weighed in on Twitter and asked with a poll, which Elon Musk do you like more?
One who supports Ukraine or one that supports Russia?
So obviously, he's agitated by that response.
And what we're being invited to do there, I would say, is like, you know, for me, Zelensky seems like a heroic figure.
Didn't he used to be a comedian?
Now he's running the country.
You can see why I'd be into that idea.
But also with Zelensky, if you look at what's being asked there, is for blind, unquestioning support.
Now, I don't think blind unquestioning support is a good idea, sort of, ever.
I mean, even if it was a member of your family or something, like, I'm gonna blindly unquestion... You might do that, emotionally.
You might say, I don't even care if they murder someone, I'm just gonna love them till the end of time.
But, some people, you would hope, would remain objective and neutral in that situation.
Ultimately, don't all of us want that war to end?
Ultimately, don't all of us want a peaceful solution?
Ultimately, don't all of us want the individuals of this world and the communities of this world to be free from suffering and for people to have the ability to run their own lives?
I know that's what I want.
Let me know in the chat.
Let me know in the comments.
Now we are in a complex conflict that is becoming more conflict.
that doubtlessly involves certain financial interests and imperialist interests on both sides of the argument.
It seems, from my perspective as an uninformed observer, that Putin does not respond well to escalation.
He doesn't behave like an ordinary strategist.
Given that he's a Russian and they are famously great at chess, he don't seem to be like a Kasparov-like figure.
You do this, then I do that.
You do this, then I do that.
He's more like, ah!
I'll bite my finger off!
Ah!
So when you're dealing with someone like that, you can say, well, I've got principles.
I'm going to carry on with my principles.
Or you can say, what's likely to be best for the planet overall?
Now, I think Elon Musk probably has such expertise, excellence, brilliance, and ingenuity in so many areas.
Oh, people want cars to be like this.
Do them like that.
People want rockets to be like this.
Do them like that.
People want flame throwers.
People want, he's got to come up with so many ideas.
And people seem so interested in his opinions that it's Perfectly natural, I imagine, for him to say, well, how would you solve this conflict?
I mean, don't all of us do it?
But it seems what he's proposing is a potential diplomatic solution that would put an end to the conflict.
And if he's like, well, we don't want to capitulate to a bully, yeah, well, this isn't school.
This is like a potential nuclear war.
So I'm not saying don't support Ukraine up to and including nuclear Armageddon.
Maybe that is your position.
If it is your position, declare that.
I don't care if there's a nuclear war.
I've put the sticker in the window.
I've changed the picture in the bio.
And if it means that all our pets die in the garden and for 50 years the soil is untillable, I am willing to die for it.
That's a question that I think you need to sit with.
And then what's the reality of Musk's views and actions in the Ukraine-Russia conflict?
Well, this is interesting.
In a response to the criticism, Musk said he continues to support Ukraine, but he fears the Kremlin will eventually escalate and trigger a nuclear war if the fight expands to Crimea, which Russia currently controls.
As evidence of his support for Ukraine, he pointed to SpaceX funding of Starlink in the countries, an internet network.
SpaceX's out-of-pocket cost to enable and support Starlink in Ukraine is $80 million so far.
Our support for Russia is $0.
Obviously, we are pro-Ukraine, he wrote in a tweet.
So on that basis, if it's true, seems like he's pro-Ukraine and he's got an opinion that's pro-diplomacy.
And the real problem is that there's a very simple line that you're supposed to tow around this subject, which focuses on the thing that's obvious.
The suffering of Ukrainian people is bad.
That's obvious.
That's called fatic.
That's when something is so obvious you don't need to say it.
It's obvious, that.
So, what he's trying to do is open discourse into areas that are more complex.
Now, do you want to just focus on the Happy Meals and the football in space, or are you a grown-up?
Me?
It's a bit of both, actually.
I want the Happy Meals and the football in space, and I want to be a grown-up.
I don't want to be tyrannised into dumbness by a state and centralised big tech alliances with the state that see me as an idiot and just want me to eat my mush.
Potentially in space.
Trying to retake Crimea will cause massive death, probably fail, and risk nuclear war.
This will be terrible for Ukraine and Earth, which I believe is where we all live.
So there you go, that's certainly an interesting perspective from Elon Musk.
This is George Beeb from Responsible Statecraft.
Elon Musk is right.
Perhaps not in the particulars of the peace settlement for Ukraine that he recently proposed for his millions of Twitter followers.
Such a settlement can only be determined over the course of multidimensional diplomatic negotiations.
But Musk is right that if things in Ukraine continue along their present course, the United States and Russia are headed toward a collision that could have catastrophic consequences for all parties to the conflict and for the world.
And he is right that America's approach to this mounting problem requires an urgent adjustment.
How many of you agree with that?
Musk appears to grasp what the Biden administration does not.
That Putin is not following the script we've written for him in Ukraine.
That script involves a calculation of costs and benefits that will lead him to back away from confrontation with the United States and NATO.
Musk has done much to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion.
Now he is doing Ukraine, the United States and the world a service in highlighting the need for a diplomatic track to accompany the military pushback we've employed so far against Russia in Ukraine.
Confronting Putin with a choice between humiliation and nuclear escalation is a formula for disaster.
Seems to me to be a pretty sensible and intelligent opinion.
Elon Musk is a unique figure.
Part jobs, Part Trump with his outspoken populist tendencies, part Branson with his ability to understand marketing, he is a peculiar creature of our times.
No doubt an innovator, and on the personal contact that I've had with him, seems like a pretty good person, and I'm very excited to have him on our show.
How does he dominate the news space?
Because he has the power to openly speak and not be afraid of censorship, and because he has the platform through Twitter to reach a lot of people.
We are doing the work of the censors in trying to prohibit and inhibit Elon Musk.
He is an unusual and idiosyncratic figure and he is a billionaire and I suppose therefore you could make the arguments you could make against anyone with that much wealth and power and those are arguments that I would certainly like the chance to present to Elon Musk in person.
But as for this issue in the Ukraine, I guess he invites us to consider, what do you really mean when you say you support the Ukraine?
Do you support the Ukraine up to the point of nuclear Armageddon?
If that's where you are, then I admire you.
Myself, I would prefer a diplomatic solution.
I would prefer an end to all suffering through war.
I pray that we are at the point in our personal and social evolution where we are beyond that kind of unnecessary, pointless conflict that only benefits elite institutions and establishment figures and ultimately causes more and more suffering.
Well, that's just what I think.
why don't you let me know right now what you think in the chat and I'll respond to your comments.
You lunatics, you beautiful, beautiful awakening lunatics, in a minute.
My brain, my choice goes, the leaders of both nations need to talk
and stop the destruction of their people.
Hooded claw, all people don't want war, only our leaders want it.
Fire Snake Zero.
Our only hope for a just end might be that Russians turn against Putin if he tries to launch nukes.
That's what you're saying.
Do you know what our young Putin over here says?
Do you think that if people press rumble it's going to be good for us in some way?
I believe so.
Press rumble right now because we feel like it's good for us in some way.
Like, look, we're not... I'm scientific of you!
Elon Musk!
Hmm, riddle me this!
But yeah, I recognise that I'm not a technological great, but he says, young Putin, that if you lot press rumble, like you know what I mean, like rumble rumble, press it, it's good for us in some way.
Like the algorithm.
Look, we've been censored once on YouTube, we've had a strike, we've had a warning, well rumble, we're not making that mistake again, we're going to rise to the top cream of the crop, aren't we?
Absolutely.
Right, press a rumble then.
Are they pressing it?
Press in greater numbers, would ya?
I don't think it's hard.
Oh bloody hell, yeah.
That went up like a thousand rumbles.
There, I'll do it!
We'd love that!
See?
Freedom of speech!
It's working like crazy!
We're going to continue talking about Elon Musk, his unique position, and we're also talking about the complexities of the geopolitical tectonic plates that shift around war.
But first, here's some stuff you've been sending.
Keep rambling, you lunatics, around just in focus, said about Elon.
If you challenge the dominant power, you will be marginalised.
If you challenge the dominant power and people actually listen, you will be commandeered and your movement will be co-opted by the dollar.
You're so clever to say that.
You're really clever.
In a minute, I want to show you that clip from the movie Network.
Not the bit where the newscaster goes all nuts and decides to tell people the truth.
I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!
Not that bit.
Although...
I did a good job of rendering it.
Round of applause, everyone.
No, just, no, no.
That's the first time that's ever happened, and it didn't feel authentic, did it?
But the bit at the end, when he is confronted by his boss, who owns the corporation, that owns the TV network, that he's the TV anchor for, you see there the face of real power, like Mephistopheles, like the power behind the power.
And he explains, there is no such thing as nation, there is no such thing as your Petty human beliefs and tribal alliances.
Real power is money.
Do you think that there's anyone that is ideologically driven anymore?
It's a fantastic speech.
And I suppose when asking the question, what happens if you challenge dominant power?
You can look at a symbol like Julian Assange, a living sign like Julian Assange.
You can look at an outlier, an anomaly like Elon Musk.
But ultimately, we have to, I think, find ways to challenge that power through, I don't know, maybe through pressing rumble.
That might be one of the ways to do it.
Gabby Rios, 59.
Elon Musk is a box of chocolates.
You never know what he's going to do from one day to another.
That's not, chocolate don't do that.
No.
Chocolate always do the same thing.
What, you're saying we can use the Twix as chopsticks and just use it to like eat chow mein?
I'm not sure that was what they're implying, was it?
You can't!
BTC Bobby, tell him, hey Elon, come on the show, let's solve this Ukraine crisis.
He seems very interested in that with his tweets recently.
Well, I don't know, I don't want him to think I'm taking a piss, mate.
This is John Kershaw talking about Julian Assange.
The fate of Assange is the fate of us all.
Okay, mate, what do you want to, like, you've got some... Bit of follow-up?
Yeah, do some follow-up on Here's The News there.
Well yeah, I suppose speaking of the dollar and the power of money, so some analysts estimate the true figure of the U.S.
commitment to Ukraine at the moment is up to $40 billion in security assistance or $110 million a day over the last year.
The relentless stream of funding announcements in the absence of any public discussion of what the U.S.
is doing to seek an end to the conflict has signaled to critics a recognition that there is no end in sight to the war and that the U.S.
is committed to supporting Ukrainian defense efforts for the long haul rather than pursue a negotiated end to it.
The US is really preparing for a long war.
It's actually preparing for endless war in Ukraine, says Stephen Semler, co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute.
Now, when we start looking at some stats, the Pentagon has spent over $14 trillion since the start of the war in Afghanistan, with one half of the total going to military contractors.
That's extraordinary.
That's an extraordinary amount of money.
So when we talk about, you know, the power of money and the kind of potential reasons for endless war, obviously a lot of people mention the kind of proxy war with Russia, but also another potential way of thinking to endless war is how much money has been spent and therefore accrued by military contractors since the war with Afghanistan started.
Yeah, because military spending doesn't necessarily mean that service personnel are getting well looked after and taken care of.
Far from it.
There's a lot of reports that suggest that conditions are deteriorating for American military personnel, even while they're in the military.
let alone what happens to veterans, which I'm sure you know better than I do, is often
a life of suffering and homelessness and alcoholism and mental illness. The way that veterans
are treated is broadly acknowledged as a disgrace. It seems like with the kind of figures that
you're citing there, Gareth, that Julian Assange's famous quote about the Afghanistan war still
He says, of course, the goal is to use Afghanistan to wash money out of the tax bases of the United States and Europe through Afghanistan and back into the hands of a transnational security elite.
The goal is an endless war, not a successful war.
So what we might regard as a success with our Primitive little minds, victory on the battlefield, the achievement of certain strategic goals.
It's not relevant if what you're trying to do is accumulate or more likely move assets and money around.
No, and in this time of economic crisis, so last year the average taxpayer in the US contributed $2,000 to the military, and half of that went to corporate military contractors.
And I'm sure that's money that people would rather be spending on energy bills.
How much, mate?
So $900.
That's mental.
That's like what, like every American taxpayer is giving $900.
It's weird isn't it?
Because you don't think of it like that.
Like, you know like how we divide ourselves along the lines of left and right?
Particularly around the base of like a basis of tax.
Me, I traditionally would have been regarded as a left-wing person and now like I'm a like rich left-wing person.
It's like, oh well, it's good that I pay a lot of tax and that kind of stuff.
But no one really likes paying, like, tax.
You don't actually want to pay the tax.
The only way you can justify it is it's like, no, it's helping people.
If I'm going to be a part of a country like Britain or the United States, whatever country, I want to feel like it means something and that we have good schools and we have good health care and we have good roads and people that live lives of service.
The key workers that we were proud to celebrate during the pandemic, not so proud to celebrate after the pandemic, they're looked after and taken care of.
So under those circumstances, I don't mind paying tax.
But when you find out that in reality your tax, you know, to the tune of $900 a year is going to corporate military contractors so they're justifying foreign action, and I'm not suggesting that's what's happening in the case of Ukraine, but certainly historically it's true, then it's not so easy to lean into the idea of nation.
And it starts to seem that the notion that a nation is a panacea Used to seduce and distract us.
Used to control us.
This, um, like we had Annie Mashon whistleblower and spy the other day.
She's a real-life James Bond.
She's a...
She came on here, the other day, telling us about when she, she was in the MI5.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling- What do you mean?
You've been spying?
Basically, she just described spying, didn't she?
But, also though, she said, it was really good, she goes, they were doing a plan to kill Gaddafi, they were funding an al-Qaeda group, you wouldn't believe this, they're funding an al-Qaeda group that... kill Gaddafi, will ya?
Them lot in Al-Qaeda ballsed it right up.
They can't even carry out a simple assassination of Colonel Gaddafi.
But then years later, when Colonel Gaddafi was killed, it was similarly by a group, well it wasn't necessarily Al-Qaeda, but it was by a group that she seemed to imply, and I don't want to get this wrong because I don't want to put myself or Annie in a predicament, but seemed to suggest that it was potentially a secret agency funded terrorist organisation that killed Gaddafi.
So, there's all sorts of shady shit going on.
The old man who led to poor Colonel Gaddafi being jostled about in the back of that Jeep, like Weekend at Bernie's.
I've always thought, that ain't proper, is it?
To jostle a fella, when he brown-bred, in the back of a Jeep.
Anyway, that's not my point.
No, I didn't think it was.
Well, it is my point, then.
Hold on.
Let's get that pound up a bit.
Well done.
Pound, get up there, son!
She told us also about this, the project for the New American Century.
Let us know in the chat.
Let us know in the comments if you're familiar with this thing.
It's a pretty famous deal, like Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, all those dudes from when the Republicans were the in-power baddies rather than the Democrats' in-power baddies.
For me, it makes no difference whether you're talking about Assange and the refusal to pardon him from subsequent administrations, or the way that you're taxed, or the wars that go on, or the Iraqi kids that are dying.
I don't think it matters what bloody, whether it's a donkey or an elephant, the logo, do you?
Anyway, this is that project for the new American century.
So it's a U.S.
government plan in the 1990s to protect the petrodollar involving resource wars and regime change in five countries and rebuilding America's defences.
Years before George W. Bush entered the White House and years before the September 11th attacks, ...set the direction of his presidency, a group of influential neoconservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power.
The group, the Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, which is not as good as, for example, Tupac, was founded in 1997.
Among its supporters were three Republican former officials who were sitting out of the Democratic presidency of Bill Clinton, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz.
The group called for the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime of power and a shift towards a more assertive US policy in the Middle East, including the use of force if necessary to unseat Saddam.
In a report just before the 2000 election that would bring Bush to power, the group predicted that the shift would come about slowly unless there was some catastrophic and catalyzing event like a new Pearl Harbor.
But I don't feel like I can remember anything happening in like 2000, 2001 that was a galvanizing, catastrophic, catalyzing event like Pearl Harbor or anything.
Do you?
No, I can't remember it.
Can't remember anything like that really going on.
Life's not really like that.
There's no galvanising events going on.
And if there are, that's a coincidence!
A lucky break!
Like when pipelines just break.
Like a lucky old American government!
And they're lucky breaks, whether it's pipelines or other things that...
I mean, there's freedom of speech here, but there's not freedom of speech to hurt people's feelings.
Absolutely not.
We're not interested in that.
Give us a rumble!
Press rumble right now!
See if it does something to the algorithm.
I don't think you hurt Dick Cheney's feelings, can you?
I don't think so, because when I've seen Dick Cheney, he don't got the look of a man whose feelings would be easily hurt, when he's sort of like snarling, I support my daughter, Liz Cheney, Donald Trump's son of a bitch.
Like that.
My daughter, I grew her proud!
No, I don't see you like mincing up to him in his feelings.
Hey, Dick!
Listen, I'm pretty pissed off about what you've done in Iraq and with Halliburton!
I'll kick you in the bloody shins, you carry on like that!
Better get the fuck out of here you little man, bitch Well, we'll soon see what me
Oh, yeah.
We bring about a global revolution.
Come on, Dick.
That'll have work all over their face when we form autonomous communities in the Confederacy of Unified People that ain't bothered about cultural differences, that are determined to face the elites, that are willing to fight power and corruption wherever we find it.
Then Dick Cheney will be sorry he called me a man-bitch in my imagination.
Brand versus Dick.
That's what we want.
Yes!
I see you, Dick!
And I will look you straight in the eye, Dick!
And you can stand up firm to me if you want, Dick!
And you can spit right in my face!
But I will jostle you, Dick!
I will jostle you good!
Yeah.
There we go.
That's what'll happen.
That's exactly what we wanted to happen.
That's what we wanted to happen, and now it's happened.
Now, uh, there's lots more to talk about, as you can probably imagine using your mind.
For example, Julian Assange is facing extradition to the United States and a 175-year sentence.
Now, just checking the files, people don't actually live that long.
No.
Do they?
No.
There's some people, someone called Seth, from the Bible, he lived maybe that long, uh, but we don't actually have any proof that that's true, do we, Gal?
No, we don't.
Now, we do have John Bolton saying he should get more than that, in case you want to see.
Oh, yeah, let's see John Bolton.
Because John Bolton... John Bolton's a lot of things.
Firstly, he is not Michael Bolton, who I prefer.
No, he's not.
Because I like his voice, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
John Bolton, he's up for a war, isn't he?
He is.
He loves a war.
Don't ask John Bolton, war, what is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
It's good for quite a lot of things.
Revenue for New American Century, petrodollar.
Another thing about John Bolton is you wouldn't want to get him as your card in Guess Who?
Because he's got too many identifying features.
Moustache, glasses.
He's a Guess Who nightmare!
Let's have a look at him wanting a war.
I hope he gets at least 176 years in jail for what he did.
He's committed... Is that it?
Like, one year?
One year.
I mean, I think at the point of 175 years... Yeah.
Might as well do another one!
I know!
I mean, I'm dead already!
I've been dead for probably a hundred years.
Yeah.
What's the point in giving a sentence that's longer than someone can live?
I don't know, but that's a petty comment, if ever I've heard one.
I think he should get 176 years in a day!
Yeah.
Bolton, why don't you concentrate on making finger-licking good Kentucky Fried Chickens and a bit less on being a bastard?
He's no more a journalist than the chair I'm sitting on.
That's not a phrase, is it?
You're no more journalist than the chair I'm sitting on.
Yeah, that's not a phrase.
People don't say more than the chair I'm sitting on.
Also, what he's done there is he's made me think of the action of him sitting.
I'm now thinking about his buttocks.
I'm thinking about the warmth accumulating beneath him.
I think it's these elderly political figures in the States like Biden talking early on.
They just make up phrases.
I like the phrases of the South.
They say weird things like, bettin' a chicken in a bucket.
Bettin' a frog in a road.
They say stuff like that.
I'm fuckin' hell, what are you saying?
But it's all sort of interesting.
Don't do a hog on a Wednesday and expect supper on Tuesday.
They say things like, whoa, these fuckers are crazy.
But his ones, here, corn pop in my chair, bettin' the chair I'm sittin' on.
You'll do 107, 60 years before in a day.
It's so good, isn't it?
No.
That's not proper talking.
Talk like us, the British.
We know how to talk proper.
You heard all those things I said about a dick.
Give me some sort of an award.
Give me the Mark Twain prize.
Give me something.
For God's sake, give me something.
Anyway, I spoke to Stella Assange.
She married to Julian Assange.
We did toy with the idea of interviewing Stella Assange and not once mentioning Julian Assange.
Actually, that's not responsible.
It's the wrong approach, isn't it?
It's the wrong approach.
It's not how to do an interview.
No.
You don't get someone on, like, get John Bolton on and go, let's just not talk about Walsh, just talk about... Talk about Michael Bolton.
Do you sometimes wonder why we hold on with tears in our eyes, John?
Is that him?
I wonder why we hold on... That is actually Curtis Stigers.
Oh, yeah.
With tears in our... What's Michael Bolton?
He did some good ones.
Oh, classics.
Come on!
Why don't you remember?
Well, Will's too young.
Young Putin's too young.
Subi, you should know.
I don't know.
Why don't you know?
I don't know Michael Bolton.
You should know.
Oh, yeah, I do.
I used to have his greatest hits.
Did you have his greatest hits?
I did, at one stage.
When I was a young man, and I was addicted to drugs, don't know if I mentioned it, I had Lionel Richie's CD, and I was listening to it in my room, in my house, when I was 16, I'd left home young.
People laughed at me for listening to the line.
Go on, what's he done then?
Man loves a woman?
Yeah, but that's a cover.
He's not defined by that.
Oh, okay.
What else?
That's the one I know.
How am I supposed to live without you?
Tell me how much!
Like, what he done is he strained, didn't he, Bolton?
He did, yeah.
Like, if ever a singer was gonna do a poo or a fart or give himself a haemorrhoid singing, it's Bolton.
How am I supposed- oh shit!
Are we talking about John Bolton or Michael Bolton at this point?
Both, actually, because he could get himself so worked out.
He's 176 years.
He no more.
He on chair, I'm sitting up.
Give me that lolly stick!
Up you go!
You go back in there!
You go back in with your brothers and sisters!
I think it's the right call that Stella Losangelo's not live at this point.
Sorry Stella, why are you crying?
Cheer up Stella, it won't be out any day now.
John Bolton says he's only got to do 176 years.
Yeah, you're right, because what we didn't want to see was insensitive... Okay, we should play this clip soon, I think.
Just put a pound down with that.
Put a pound right down.
See if it's confident.
Press rumble!
Rumble me this, Sonny Jim.
Anyway, uh, on Saturday, a human chain is being formed.
Oh, God.
Oh.
What's wrong?
Why are you saying that?
Sorry, I thought you were still talking about Michael Bolton and his toilet habits.
Michael Bolton has got a sort of a chain made out of human coming out of his ass because he's sung too hard.
He's sung so hard that he's sort of got a string made of himself and his own bum innards have come out.
He's wearing it as a scarf.
He's chucked it over his arm.
HELMET!
So Buckle up!
God, that's his goodness, because I can't pay my fuel bills
because of the cost of living crisis.
HELMET!
Go on, put one round his nan.
Hup!
No, another hemorrhoid.
Hup, put that one, that's for you, Nan.
HELMET!
Look, there you go.
There we go.
Michael Bolton solves cost of living crisis by singing hemorrhoids out of his own bottom.
That's the news.
On Saturday, a human chain of a different type is being formed
to demonstrate against the continuing imprisonment of Julian Assange.
If you think that's funny, Gareth, I feel sorry for you.
I actually feel sorry for you.
If you think it's funny for someone to do 176 years in jail for a crime they didn't commit, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire Assange's team.
Julian Assange, right, should be released.
I had a conversation with Stella Assange, Earlier.
Here is a bit of that conversation where we talk about... Hold a minute, it was a good bit.
Chris Hedges?
Yeah, Chris Hedges who used to be in the New York Times and now he's basically doing news down an alleyway to sort of mice because like censorship has gotten sort of out of hand.
They'll bang it up next.
He'll be banged up.
You can't do news these days, he's not allowed.
I don't want to go to jail.
No.
I can't do our time.
No.
I need to be free.
I know.
Freedom's everything.
You've got to be free to be who you are.
People just want to be left alone.
You don't need centralised power telling you what to do.
Don't bother arguing with people on the basis of race or culture, gender or sexuality.
Silly.
Unite and allow people to be who they are against genuine power.
Julian Assange is an important figure and he's a political prisoner.
On Saturday there's a demonstration in London.
From 1 o'clock.
I'm going to go down there and I'm going to be in a human chain.
Not like that, don't be childish.
A human chain of people holding hands around Parliament.
I asked how they were going to do it.
Getting across the Thames was what I thought was going to be an issue.
Because if you go around Parliament, they're not going to let you around that back bit.
It's right up against the Thames Parliament.
Don't know if you know this.
Anyway, they're going to use the bridges.
It's perfectly simple.
You don't need to worry.
Yeah, they've got these bridges, we use them.
And I did say to her, don't let it mess with the traffic, British people don't like that.
It annoys us, doesn't it?
Let us know in the chat, let us know in the comments.
Anyway, so have a look at this bit of conversation.
Remember, and if you're in the UK, where we are, go along, support Stella, support Julian Assange and the incredible sacrifices that are being made in order for us to understand the truth of some of the campaigns that the West engaged in in the Middle East.
led to the massacre of innocent people. Julian Assange revealed that information.
This Saturday there's going to be a protest. Here's me talking to Stella Assange in yet another
ludicrously coloured hat. Have a look. And this is a good quote from Chris Hedges who's a prominent
supporter obviously of your campaign and a friend of Julian's.
He said, let's name Julian Assange's executioners Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Scott Morrison,
Theresa May, Lenin Moreno, Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Mike Pompeo, Hillary Clinton, Republican or
Democrat, Conservative or Labour, Trump or Biden, it does not matter.
Empires always kill those who inflict Deep and serious wounds.
Do you think that there's something about the, not only Julian Assange's actions, your husband's actions, but also his subsequent condition and conviction that tells us about the way that power manoeuvres and operates and about the insufficiency of contemporary democracy, that there is no significant or prominent public politician anywhere in the world that will advocate for Justice for Julian Assange, or like a fair trial, or a free trial, or even a more unbiased analysis of this case.
Well, Julian's actually a symbol for press freedom, for democratic accountability in many parts of the world.
You have the President of Mexico, who on Mexico's Independence Day just two weeks ago talked about Julian's case, how he should be free, how he is a victim of empire.
And really, Julian's persecution The fact that he's a political prisoner in the heart of London is a symbol of the decline of Western imperialism, of the Western ability to keep the narrative, and it's also
the West losing the kind of values competition that it's had in the past, during the Cold War,
where it could say, you know, the Eastern Bloc isn't free, we have press freedom,
we have all these things. They can't say that anymore. So now you have, you know, China or
Azerbaijan saying, look at the UK, they're imprisoning a journalist and they're keeping
him in prison and they're killing him. And then they come to us and talk about press freedom.
And what that does, it's not just about hypocrisy, because hypocrisy is kind of a bit of a stillborn
argument, I find. It's what it does is it licenses everyone to do the same,
to persecute people. It's a global race to the bottom.
So.
you That's me talking to Stella Assange.
Again, you can support Julian Assange's campaign for freedom by attending a protest one o'clock this Saturday.
It's in a couple of days in London, UK.
Everyone's going to hold hands, make a human chain around Parliament.
I'm going to go there if I can.
I've got kids and all that.
What I'll do is see if I can get in with the in-laws.
Anyway, they've got to prioritise it.
It was an innocent man in prison.
A lot of personal details there, Russ.
Because of my kids and the in-laws.
Can the in-laws take the kids?
Thing is, my mother-in-law plays tennis on a Saturday.
It's a bit difficult.
Julian Assange in Belmarsh.
All right.
This is nearly the end of the show, but I've got some stuff I want to tell you.
Here, Soob's got these tweets.
Thanks, mate.
We asked you what tweets I should send Elon to get him on the show, or whether I should just text him.
That's quite a good one.
That's the winner so far.
I'm not sure it's your style exactly.
Why, what should I say?
Should I think about Michael Bolton and hemorrhoids?
I think so, yeah.
Michael Bolton.
Add some hemorrhoid stuff.
Yep.
Spice it up a bit.
Exactly.
Why, what should I say, Shane, about Michael Bolton and hemorrhoids?
I think so, yeah.
Michael Bolton. Add some hemorrhoid stuff.
Yep.
Spice it up a bit.
Exactly.
Patriot Sean, my text to Elon might be, in my effort to unite humanity and create a better,
peaceful world, Elon, your input would be an asset and greatly appreciated.
Would you like to help in this endeavour?
That's very well worded.
What, it's still not my style?
I don't think so.
I mean, I've received many texts from you and they don't go like that.
They're not like that in style?
No.
What are they more like?
Well, the Michael Bolton stuff.
Yeah, them on Michael Bolton-y.
All right, well, you might like Tally 922's one, then.
Elon, how boite a beer?
That's against my accent, I think.
How boite a beer in my studio?
Diabolical laugh here.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
That's what you suggest.
Earwig Witch, tell him you have a packet of ob nobs and a cup of Yorkshire tea with his name on it.
You could put the world to rights.
That's very British, that.
I could do that.
GinPhoenix22, where is the rumble button?
Rumble, but I don't know.
Where is it, young Putin?
I'll have to check on mobile, but it's bottom left if you're on desktop.
Bottom left on desktop, mate.
And then on the phone... Who's on a desktop?
Desktop!
Yeah, it's a good point.
Is that what you don't say?
I don't know.
Do the kids use desktops these days?
I was on my desktop.
Oh, no.
Listen to the weather forecast.
Actually, though, weather forecasts have gone very modern.
Now, we're going to just stay with you for a couple more minutes, then we're going to stay free AF.
That's our members area.
Uniquely... Oh, sorry about that.
I've got... I keep some prisoners down there.
One of my hostages just fell over.
Listen, we'll release ya when the pounds are the proper height!
Bit better now.
Um, you stay in there.
I don't care about the Geneva Convention.
Mind your own business.
Geneva?
That's not even a proper place, is it?
Is that Switzerland?
Switzerland?
That's not even a proper land, is it?
Switzerland?
I've never even met a person from Switzerland.
What's that, from the Toblerones?
It's not proper country.
Write down in the chat if you think Switzerland's proper land.
I don't think it's real.
I'm not sure that's a real land, to be honest with you.
Anyway, we're doing a special deal where you can join up for the Stay Free AF at a very, very reasonable price.
We're doing it for thirty-three quid.
Thirty-three dollars.
I don't know, like, because of the old poundy-o, this is a really good time to do it.
So, sign up to Rumble now.
Sign over right now, because we're going to carry on.
I'm going to show you this bit out of the Film Network.
We're going to chat to you about that.
Me and Gareth are going to do stuff.
I'll take my top off, if you like.
I'm not bothered.
I don't think anyone's asked for that, are they?
Sorry about that.
Just lowered the tone.
Musk's net worth exceeds the GDPs of Colombia, Finland, Pakistan, Chile.
We've told you that once, but were you focused?
Did you absorb it?
You read that out like it was a new story.
I know.
I know, I was so pleased with myself for that.
Look, just wanted to let you know a few more of your comments.
DubDoc, why are we so convinced nuclear conflict would begin with Putin's decision?
Shit, yeah.
More likely to be some BS false flag action that gives Russia no choice but to respond to it and then it will spiral out of control.
Do you know, I really don't want a nuclear war, do you?
No, I'd rather not have one.
Does anyone actually think, yeah, it might be alright, reset.
If you're a homeless person, for example, you're ahead of the game in this instance, isn't it?
It's not the way I would think about it, if I was them, but...
Like you're outside.
Yeah.
I want to think I'm ahead of the game here.
I know.
Wait a minute.
Suddenly, a bit of a shift.
Now I'm, huh, who's the new kid in town?
Forest Colt, yeah.
Welcome to my world.
Stuff in the sky, yeah.
Get used to it.
I'm in charge.
I'm the boss now.
I'm the daddy now.
Everyone do what I say.
Anyway, have a look at this before we go, just have a look at this.
Sometimes you wonder, is there, are there simultaneous multiverses colliding?
Is the limitation of consciousness as we perceive it, simple as individuals?
But not all there is.
Are there great realms of consciousness waiting to be born?
Have a look at the bloody weather.
It's interdimensional weather, finally.
Check it out.
57 and Marshall 50 is the current temperature right now in Winona.
Ooh, that's funky!
What is going...
Oh, I like how she responded to that man.
Not only did she make that interdimensional, she made it damn sexy.
There's something sexy about the weather, isn't there?
Is there?
I'm not sure, is there?
Well, quite often the weather is a bit sexy.
Is the weather sexy?
Like, quite often you see that the vibe of the weather is sexy.
Yeah, I think it's usually because they're doing like normal news and then they go to the weather for a bit of light entertainment in a way.
Death, murder, lies, treachery.
Let's have a look at the weather now.
Oh my god, this is another dimension!
It's weird, isn't it?
I just see a bit more of us.
I don't really know what's going on!
I really like that.
I should always do that on the weather.
Like, it's gone crazy.
Mmm.
Because the world is crazy.
Reality is crazy.
Hey, join us on Stay Free AF.
You can sign up for this additional content.
It's not just you get to stay with us for a Q&A every day.
We continue this chat.
We continue this.
And I relax a little bit more.
I get crazy.
More relaxed?
It's a bit like when you go...
You know, like a last day of term, when you can bring games into school?
It's a bit like that!
Also, though, there's long-form conversations with Wim Hof, Vandana Shiva, Eckhart Tolle.
All of those are going to be guests on Rumble over the coming weeks.
But you get more conversation with Stay Free AF.
Also, my stand-up special is going to be on there pretty soon.
Also, we'll do, you know, whatever you want.
We're trying to evolve these communities out, really.
Just basically trying to stay out of trouble, aren't we?
Basically just trying to create a lot of beauty in this crazy world.
We do live events, we've got a community event coming up next year.
Free day event in the countryside.
Can you imagine?
Wim Hof, Vandana Shiva, me.
Michael Bolton.
Michael Bolton will be there.
You know, instead of bunting, you know what we're gonna have?
Instead of bunting, we're gonna get Michael Bolton.
There comes something, string him up, string him up, we'll put little tea lights in him.
Michael Bolton's lit up hemorrhoids.
That's the atmosphere that we want.
That is a promise.
That's a promise!
We will deliver unto thee, Michael Bolton's tealight lit hemorrhoids.
And if we don't do that, what kind of world is it?
Buy a little bit of merch.
Remember, all of our profits go to B.A.C., O'Connor, and other treatment centers that help sickos, drug addicts, what can't cope with life.
Yeah?
All right, listen, sign up for the Stay Free AF and you can stay with us.
Sign up right now.
It's like $33 or something.
We do additional content every day, additional podcasts, and we'll be responding to your questions.
We've got loads of stuff here.
All right, I love you.
See you tomorrow.
We're back tomorrow.
We're talking about censorship, how the U.S.
government work with Google to influence people.
A whole bunch of stuff.
There's them t-shirts, if you want to look at them.
And, oh, also, we've got a brilliant, brilliant news item.
The EcoHealth Alliance are... Can you believe that the EcoHealth Alliance that were working out of Wuhan at the same time as the old coronavirus started, which definitely came from a wet market, they've given them more grants to study more bat coronaviruses.
How interested in bat coronaviruses can you be that you're willing to cause all these pandemics?
Allegedly.
Anyway, so we've got loads to talk about over the course of the week, but join us.
Stay free AF.
Sign up now.
Give us a rumble.
Sign up.
See you in a minute.
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