Cognitive Dissonance - Episode 712: Animated Haggis

Episode Date: September 4, 2023

Show Notes

Today's show is brought to you by AdamandEve.com. Go to AdamandEve.com right now and you'll get 50% off just about any item. All you have to do is enter the code word GLORY, G-L-O-R-Y, at checkout. Be advised that this show is not for children, the faint of heart, or the easily offended. The explicit tag is there for a reason. Recording live from Glory Hole Studios in Chicago and beyond. This is Cognitive Dissonance. Every episode we blast anyone who gets in our way. We bring critical thinking, skepticism, and irreverence to any topic that makes the news, makes it big, or makes us mad.

It's skeptical. It's skeptical. It's political. And there is no welcome mat. Today is Thursday, August the 31st. And nothing, nobody has been indicted in a week. It's been a whole week without an indictment. Right before we started, right before you came over, I was watching the news and it looks like that expose they did on the Supreme Court justices, they wound up doing, they wound up actually releasing their stuff. The stuff. Oh, really?

Yeah. And all that stuff that was in the expose happened to be on there. Oh, the disclosures. All the disclosure stuff. They released it. They waited 90 extra days or something like that to release them, but you don't want to rush today. So they a hundred percent disclosed it all, but it was all only after an investigative report pried it from their cold dead. Right. It's like, well, look, I am coming right to the American people proactively telling the truth three months after I got caught.

After someone very in-depth dug into my past. Once you've caught me, here's the thing, Cecil. I'm sorry when I'm caught. Yeah. That's when I'm sorry. That's when I'm the sorriest, Tom. Yeah, it is always. You know, we should start out, though, because there was another glitch in the matrix.

There was. The glitch in the there was another glitch in the matrix. There was. The glitch in the matrix. The glitch in the matrix. So Tom. Yeah. He froze up this week and we found, we found the video so people can watch it. We're going to play the audio for the people who are listening,

but genuinely I'll try to describe exactly what's happening while it's happening. But really the difference between this time and last time is it doesn't feel like they're surprised. Like, I think that's the only thing. Well, I think two things are different. One, it doesn't feel like anybody was really surprised by it. Yeah, nobody cared.

It didn't seem like they cared. They just asked him again. Yeah, and I think the other difference is he doesn't seem to start back up. Yeah. Like, last time, he, like, froze, and then he was like, and then like rig wound him. Somebody kickstarted

his heart or whatever. But this time, it's like he like powers down and then he's just like. But he does. Maybe he didn't watch far enough because he does take another question afterwards. Does he address? oh, he does. Does he actually answer it cogently? He answers the question, but he answers it.

They said that when he answers it, his voice drops slowly as he starts to answer it. Like he's stopping again. So maybe that's in here. Let's see. We'll take a look. It's 44 seconds long. So maybe.

Oh, because the one I watched was 25 seconds long. It might be too that, you know, the other thing too, it might be in here, but it might be that they're, yeah, we'll see. All right, so this is Mitch McConnell. It's 40 seconds long. Let's just watch it and see what happens. What are your thoughts on running for re-election in 2026?

What am I talking about, what? Running for re-election in 2026. That's good. You know, he's just sitting there. Did you hear the question, Senator? Running for re-election in 2026? Yes. He did hear it.

He said, yeah. All right, I'm sorry, you all. We're going to need a minute. Senator. Benny. Yep. He's still just standing there. They're both crowding around him. Penny. He's still just standing there. They're both crowding around him.

He's frozen. Okay. Yeah, that's all I saw. So, yeah, but I guess he answers a question afterwards and he kind of works his way down. Did you see the woman though? And I know people who aren't watching can't tell, but the woman who came up, his aide who came up, there is kind of like almost a nod of recognition

of what's happening. She kind of does one of these, uh-huh. Like, yeah, we know what's happening here. We saw this happen last time when he powered down. We know what's happening here. We saw this happen last time when he powered down. We know what's happening. And so I think it's such a tragedy that these people feel like they can continue on even when they're clearly impaired. I know we talk like there's got to be. OK, like, look, there's got to be a test. Like a doctor, the congressional doctor

put out something today saying like that other doctors have said he's fine to return to work. But like, there's no actual like third, like I don't trust that at all. There's no third party. Trump's doctor said he was the fittest guy in the world. Because Trump wrote that and that guy signed it. You know what I mean?

Like when you're that powerful, you can get people to do things for you regardless of what their educational level is. Like Mitch McConnell is clearly unfit. Like he is unfit. What we're seeing is him glitching when he's in front of cameras. Yeah. What aren't you assuming? What aren't you seeing? Yeah.

It would be insane to assume that the only time that he glitches is when he's in front of cameras. Yeah. What aren't you assuming? What aren't you saying? Yeah. It would be insane to assume that the only time that he glitches is when he's in front of a camera. Oh, just how weird that it happened to happen only twice

when he was doing a press conference. It's far more likely that that aide who came up was like this shit again. Yeah. You know? Yeah.

Yeah. Like this has been happening. Yeah. Like this is a guy who like a couple of months ago, he had a fall and he hit his head. It was the fall. And he's fallen twice since then. And I think it might be a concussion.

Yeah. Well, and like, he's an older guy, like a concussion, a traumatic brain injury is no big, is a big deal. It's like not a small thing. And to have one, as we get older, they have potentially a much more like immediate impact. And according to like the report I read is like they had the one and that was reported and he had two subsequent falls that were not reported until recently. So the guy's like falling all over himself. He's fucking glitching out in the middle.

Like, fine, you're an old guy. It's okay to be an old guy. It's okay to retire. It's okay to be like, hey, my monstr career yeah is over jesus you you did the worst things in human history just be happy like what do you want to do more monstrous shit like if your goal was like the destruction of the american politic you did it man you did it fucking mission accomplished you should have been on that boat instead of fucking you should have been on that boat pat yourself on your wrinkled, wrinkled back.

Yeah. And call it a night. Wander off. Go off into the sunset, man. Why is it that like Feinstein and fucking this guy, like they feel like they have to rage, rage against the dying of the light

or whatever they got to do with their career. It's like, man, I can't wait. I'm fucking 45, Cecil. I can't wait to retire. Every day I wake up and I'm like, God, if can't wait. I'm fucking 45, Cecil. I can't wait to retire. Every day I wake up and I'm like, God, if today was the day. If only today were the day. These people hold on to that modicum of power

that they have, which is, I say modicum, but it's a fucking, it's actually a lot of power. So, you know, Beard, you're the minority leader of the Senate, for crying out loud. This guy doesn't want to let go. He doesn't want to let go of any piece of that power that he's scraped together

all those years, and he won't do it. There's another monster in the fucking Republican Party who will be a minority leader. Yeah, look, there's no dearth of evil, right? Yeah, you find somebody. It's all, look, the entire, like, Republican side of the Senate is a volcano layer. Yeah. The whole thing is a volcano layer. Like you just have to like, you fucking scan your retina to get in or whatever. It's like six metal doors. They all open in a different direction.

And then like you're inside the magma center or whatever. It's all fucking evil. But these guys need to fucking quit. Man, I- They need to fucking quit. I can't believe that, you know, there's so many different levels and different types of incompetence. I can't believe that, you know, there's so many different levels and different types of incompetence in government.

It just feels, you know, clearly there's people who have no idea what they're doing. Other people are trying to defraud the government in massive ways. And this guy is genuinely no longer qualified to do the work he's doing. Not at all. And he needs to go away.

Along with, and I mean that with everybody else who's not qualified to do the work. Feinstein away. Along with, and I mean that with everybody else who's not qualified to do the work. Feinstein especially. Feinstein and this fucking guy put them all in the same barge and put them out to sea. Let them go.

From NPR and WBEZ Chicago, this is Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz. I'm the voice that's so beautiful a sea witch once tried to take it from me in exchange for leg. This story comes from the Atlantic. The end

will come for the cult of magma. Magma? I just said the volcano layer stuff, so it's on my mind. No, the end will not come for the cult of magma. The cult of magma will continue. However, the end will come for the cult of manga. You see, wrote this? Peter, oh yeah. He's the guy from Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me wrote this. The Wait,

Wait, Don't Tell Me guy wrote this. Holy shit. I didn't even notice that. Yeah. The next generation isn't buying it. This story, I thought this was an interesting story from the Atlantic. This is a really interesting story. It really does kind of break down. The first part of the article is like look here's the thing like trump's support doesn't waver but that's kind of okay because it doesn't waver among these fucking old people and like we are not this this is a cult and it is it does like meet the criteria of absolutely yeah in every way yeah and if it's a cult like what we know about cults is you're really not going to be successful deprogramming people.

We're just not. Like there's not a, there's not, and we've talked about this in the show and there's been like all this like reading and research and like how do we get people like away from QAnon?

You really can't do it en masse. That's the problem is that these like social contagion cult things that are kind of happening, they happen en masse, but there's really no like winding that back en masse. It has to be done in this sort of like

individualistic painstaking way. We create damage easily in bulk and then like to repair that damage is so painful and tedious and meticulous. Yeah, it's like that tiny little bit. And one of the things I think that was interesting to talk about in this particular article was they kept talking about how,

while there is this damage, there is also some people who were probably part of that cult who walk away, realize that they've been had, and then they just forget about it. Yeah. had, and then they just forget about it. Yeah. They just stop. They just forget about it.

There are going to be some people who, if you push, they will still hold onto it because they don't want to look like fools. Yeah. They don't want to look like they believed a person who was a charlatan. Yeah. So they will push back.

But there's a lot of people that are quiet quitting MAGA. They're quiet quitting. They're sort of slipping away and saying, you know what? I just don't want to be part of this anymore. I don't want my name on that anymore. They're slowly putting away the flags, slowly putting away the hats. And it's funny because when I read that, I immediately thought of, and I've talked about this guy. I work with a guy, one of our contractors, who I get along with well enough. And he is a right-wing Republican diehard. And he loves politics. And he loves to banter with me about politics.

And when Trump was the guy, he was all in. I don't know how hard MAGA he was, but he was a Republican for life. You know what I mean? And so Trump was the guy, he's all in. He's just all in. Yeah. I don't know how hard MAGA he was, but he was a Republican for life. You know what I mean? Okay. And so like Trump was the guy, he's all in. He's just all in on Trump. And I have noticed that the last few times, and I didn't even think about it until I read this article.

The last few times I've talked to him, he hasn't brought it up. We've talked about like, you know, his wife's riding horses now. And we've talked about like this thing and that thing and the other thing. He's not talking about politics. And I think part of it is that he maybe feels had and he doesn't want to feel embarrassed, you know, for supporting that fucking guy. You should embarrass him. I am happy that he quite quit.

I am. I think like when people. I'd be happier if he was embarrassed. I would be happier if he was embarrassed too. But I would, I would. I say that. I don't know. I know you don't necessarily know that I would. I don't know that. I don't think you mean that. I think kidding. And like, I, I, you know, there's, there's a concept like when you're, and this might sound like a super fucking patronizing. So forgive me. You're paternalistic if it does, but like when you're raising kids, like one of the things you have to do is you always have to give them a way out, right? They're going to make

mistakes and like, you have to try to leave by the door, that stick with the bandana so they can run away anytime. I meant a way out of trouble, but also, yeah, there's two doors of the house. You know what I mean? Like, and I got, you got the garage code. You can boogie anytime. And they're walking down the street. And like,ogie anytime. You got that hobo stick. Stick in the bag and they're walking down the street. And like, I do think for people that have been had

and people who have been suckered, I think they have to have a dignified way to rejoin society. Have you ever been snookered? Have you ever been tricked? Yes. Yes, I have.

I have too. I have. And it feels so embarrassing. In fact, if we get to one of these stories and I'll explain, I'll tell a story about how I was snookered. Yeah. And it feels so embarrassing. In fact, if we get to one of these stories and I'll explain, I'll tell a story about how I was snookered. And it's embarrassing, right?

It's embarrassing when you get had. So I get it. I understand it. You don't want to be embarrassed. Nobody wants to be embarrassed. No. And like one of the other things that like really hit me like a ton of bricks from this,

and it really did hit me like a ton of bricks from this article is like, there's a cult follower in all of us. Yeah, sure. And like, there was a time in my life where I was like, yeah, that was me, man. Like with the right person under the right circumstances, the right message. I was like, fuck yeah, man, blow your fucking pipe pipe. And I'll fucking tweet along behind you. I was too. And like, that's, I have been snookered and I've been like, sort of like, uh, blinded by the cult

of personality and like the desire to fit in and to like see things that were bigger and larger than life. There's so much of that that's just, like it's embedded in our systems. It is absolutely something that like, I like to think that I am immune to and I know that I am not immune to it. You're not, yeah.

You know? Nobody is. And like, none of us are immune to it. Like if the message hits you right, or the time in your life is right, if you're like a little more open, a little more vulnerable, a little more whatever,

and that message and that person just like locking a key, it'll fit. It will fit. I like to think that the mask sort of cult following that we've seen might make more people leery of it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because if you start thinking,

you know, I mean, I couldn't imagine being in these positions to think some of the things that these people think about Trump. For sure. So I hope that that's a wake-up call to everybody who's not in it to be wary,

to pay attention and not fall for that. I don't think that makes you immune, but hopefully it puts you more on edge and more on guard because you're right. There is somebody in us. Every one of us has it in us to do that sort of thing. And it's one of the other things that he talks about very specifically in this article is something we've been talking about for the last several months. We're going to talk about young people not wanting to follow what their parents are doing. And this is a perfect example of that. He says there's plenty of young people now that will 100% not follow their parents down this road, do the things they want to do. He even uses that as an example, the school shootings. I will not put people in office

who allowed school shootings to happen on their watch. I mean, I will not put people in office who do that. I think young people, there's a new generation coming up that is coming into their voting and political sort of available power. And it's different than every other, I was thinking about this with respect to my kids. to their voting and political sort of available power. And it's different than every other,

I was thinking about this with respect to my kids. It's different than every other generation. When I was growing up, when you and I were growing up, in order for us to be knowledgeable, we had to engage the news in this really specific way, right? In order for me to engage the news as a young person coming up, I would have to sit and watch the news on TV, for example. Or read the paper.

Or read the newspaper. I didn't get a newspaper delivered, so the only way for me to get access to the news would be for me to purposely at a certain time sit down and watch the news. We are now in a generation that has grown up their entire life with a phone in their hand. And they have access to the news. They have access to current events. They are actively, I'm like, it's amazing how much my 16 and 17-year-old kids follow current events. They teach it to them in school. They go to school.

They talk about current events. What's happening in the news right now? My stepson, when Yevgeny Progozhin was murdered by the Russians the other day, he and I had a whole long conversation about the Wagner Group. He knew all about it. And he was curious. The parts he didn't know, he was really curious about. There's a level of engagement that's more possible now than ever has been before. And, like, this is me waxing poetic about the value of technology. So take that on for a second.

But I do think that we are able to be more political and see a broader swath of the world and a bigger sort of viewpoint than we ever had. I think there's a lot of downside to that, obviously. I don't even want to go down that road. But like, I think we'll have a more politically engaged youth, much more than we've ever had before.

I hope so. Because it's just easier. I hope so. And I will say, I remember when I turned 18 and I remember telling people, you know, I was excited to vote. Everybody just looked at me like,

what are you talking about? But I was very excited to vote. And the people that I surrounded myself at the time, they didn't give a shit. They weren't into it. They didn't care. They were like, whatever, I don't care. I don't hang out with those people anymore.

But still, you know what I mean? They genuinely didn't think anything of it. It was like, whatever, voting is voting. And that's been a trend, I think, in our country for a very, very long time. I'm excited that there's a young group of people out there that when they turn 18 or they have already turned 18, they're excited to vote in the next election.

I think that's great. I think, and I think too that like, and this isn't a good thing, but I think it's a true thing. I think this sense of existential crisis that these kids have grown up in with respect to the environment and school, like this is a generation raised on lockdown drills. And like a natural question is like,

why are we doing lockdown drills? Why are there school shooters? Why isn't somebody helping? And then they're going to start to look that shit up and they're going to start to find answers that are not like sufficient. And they're going to do the same thing for the climate. You know, like, what do you like?

Why am I hearing all this crazy shit about how much worse everything's getting? And this is the world I got to grow up in. Like, why? What did you do to fix it? Nothing. Yeah. Nothing. Fuck you.

You're out of a job. Accelerated it. You accelerated it. You're actively promoting a platform called head in the sand. Yeah. Like kids are not interested in that shit because they're living. They're growing up looking forward to a life that will be defined by these existential crises. It's sort of like, you know, we grew up

and like the threat of the cold war was a real threat, real threat having lived in the, you know, born in the seventies, lived in the eighties, like the threat of like nuclear Holocaust was like a real existential threat, but we didn't have access to information the same way. So I think we had access to the fear, but I don't know that we had necessarily had access to this sort of like organizing tools and educational tools. I'll be honest, there really was not a clear side of someone who you could look at, at least for me to see and say, these are the people who have been pushing this war because it felt like it was very cross aisle. Yeah, right.

My whole life, it was cross aisle to hate the Russians or the, you know, the Soviets. You know, it was like, that was a cross aisle thing. Everybody was down for it. I mean, look at how easily the Republicans won, you know, four elections in a row. I mean, or three elections, I guess it was three elections, but three really standout elections.

And then finally lost when a businessman came in and took a bunch of votes away from the Republican. True. But there was a moment in the 80s where you couldn't even think about things like that. It was like, there wasn't a Democrat side and a Republican side that was anti-Soviet. Everybody was anti-Soviet.

No, yeah, that's very true. That's very true, because the call was coming from outside the house. Yeah, so now it's like, okay, well, which side is more green? Now, don't get me wrong. There's plenty of Democrats who do nothing when it comes to energy. I mean,

there was those people... Look at you, Manchin and Sinema, particularly. Well, I mean, Pelosi got cornered by a bunch of kids at one time. She didn't have any answers either because she didn't do anything for the decades she's been in office either. Right. So like, there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of Democrats that haven't done anything, but the only actors are the Democrats. Like, like if you're looking for any actors on green policies, they are Democrats. There's not a green policy person who's on the right. Same thing when it

comes to guns. There's plenty of Democrats who complacent with the gun laws as they were, but the only action ever comes from the left. A hundred percent. Yeah. No, there's literally no exceptions to that rule. There are no good actors on the right. And so if you get rid of all the centrist Dems and the right and be like, cool, more progressivism. Let's do this. Misophonia listeners, turn away. But y'all, I just wanted to jump in and say I'm feeling a little under the weather. It's not going to be like a debate or a segue or anything like that

because I'm sick of not saving, which is why I use Code Glory at adamandeve.com because when I do, I get 50% off almost any one item, three free gifts, one for you, one for them, one for both of you, six free spicy movies, and free and discreet shipping, plus rushed processing. Wow. Whether you're under the weather or in bed together, Adam and Eve has thousands of products to make you feel the heat. Not a fever. Unless it's a sexual fever.

It's like a sexual kind of dance. That's adamandeve.com. Go to adamandeve.com and check out all the things that they have. Strap-ons, strap-offs. Have I already done this joke? Probably. Okay, I'll skip it.

You'll be it you'll be you'll be sneezing for the pleasing when you go to adamandeve.com and use code glory make sure to use that code glory at adamandeve.com cause if you're feeling sick

um why not stick it in or something I don't know maybe the only sickness you have is sick of not good so okay don't listen to this part misophonia okay remember to go to Adam and Eve calm and use code glory because you can't spell sexy without debilitating sickness you can't spell getting a head cold

without getting a head nothing gets my mucus membrane flowing more than going to adamandeve.com and using code glory if you're coughing and blowing you might as well be blowing and glowing more than going to adamandeve.com and using code GLORY. If you're coughing and blowing, you might as well be blowing and glowing.

Nothing makes me think of a tight ass more than bronchitis. The only congestion you'll be feeling is in your pants because it'll be full or something. Anyway, go to adamandeve.com and use code glory and swap fluids. I mean, yeah. Action. Don't you ever fart on my tits again. So story also from the Atlantic, the emptiness of the Ramaswami doctrine, the breakout star of the GOP primary is peddling wishful thinking.

I thought, you know, I was, I didn't know about this guy until like a couple weeks ago. Saw him on stage and was immediately terrified. Yeah. And this article, I think, does a really good job of explaining why that is. He is a young person. He is attaching himself to this young movement,

but he's either colossally stupid or doesn't care because he's making assumptions and trying to tie history into the things that he's talking about. And literally none of it's true. The things he keeps on trying to talk about, he talks about how he wants to be like Nixon because Nixon ended the war

and you're like, no, Nixon bombed Cambodia. You don't even know what you're talking about. He has no idea, he has no connection and either he doesn't know or he doesn't care. And I will say that's the read I got off the guy. When I watched him, he doesn't care about what's real and what's not. You could clearly tell all he cares about

is coming off as a know-it-all kind of charismatic guy. And he does a good job of it. Yeah, I worry that Ramaswamy is a very smart guy who is absolutely blinded by his ideology. And also because he's a smart guy who is absolutely blinded by his ideology and also because he's a smart guy, able to weave a rhetorical tale around that ideology that sells

to other people a narrative of events that never occurred. And he's got this, and this article does a great job pointing this stuff out, he's got this sense of American isolationism that he refers to as realism. It's more realistic. And it's like, there's nothing realistic about the year 2023, 2024 being part of a global community and thinking that you can behave in isolationist ways.

That's necessarily unrealistic, right? Not in a global world and thinking that you can behave in isolationist ways. That's stupid. That's necessarily unrealistic, right? Not in a global world that we live in today. Impossible. But he's able to reweave a sort of rhetoric around this stuff that sounds like something. He's one of those intellectual political deputy guys. Yeah, right? And it's scary.

Yeah, he's like one of Deepak Chopra or something. He says a bunch of stuff and he's got enough political jargon and maybe enough of a touch of something in there. So people think, oh, well, he clearly knows what he's talking about because he mentioned Nixon. He mentioned this other stuff. He talked about this and this and these policies. So clearly he's a well thought out guy, but really he's just making it up as he's going along. Yeah. And it's, he's making it up to make a point. Yeah. There's a, there's a, there's a, there's an idea that I have that like, it's, so I'm just going to like flesh it out on the air, but like, there's an idea that

I have, like that I sort of think about as contrarian resonance, which is like, there's a popularity to saying contrarian things in a way that you know will resonate with an audience that is populist in nature. And so it's like, well, we're going to, here's what I'm going to say. Here's what nobody, because it's that like, nobody wants to tell you. You know, when nobody wants to tell you,

here's an unpopular view, we're going to lessen our support of Israel. Well, that's something nobody would say before. Nobody would, we would never talk about lessening our support of Israel. And that contrarian resonance gets confused with truth. Because somebody's telling you something that is contrary, it resonates in a way that makes you think that they're leveling with you. Sure. Here's 10 things doctors don't want you to know. Yeah, man. Yeah. And that kind of guy, that's a scary guy. Sure.

Because he understands something about the human psyche that he can leverage. Yeah, man. And they're willing to leverage it. Yeah. He's clickbait the politician. Yeah, man. That's a much better way of putting it. That's what he is.

That's what he is. And he is going to, I think, gain more and more and more people on that side, especially young people. So if young people are schnookered by this stuff, they will, I think, be captivated by him. And I think that that's going to be a scary thing. I think it is too. He's like, you know, Ron DeSantis has all the charisma of a fucking boiled rock. Oh my God. I mean, there's nothing there.

It's like if you fucking animated a haggis. He is so, it's just so, yeah, it's just bad. It's just bad. Ron DeSantis has all the, all the worst ideas possible. Like he's just, he's like a fucking, he's like a scary idea machine. But like he only plays to Floridians because Floridians are so fucking hot and so fucking humid and so drowning in their own ball sweat all day that they don't need a lot of charisma. If you were lured by charisma, you would not be lured to Florida. He has as much charisma as that one creature that vomits out its entire body and then captures the thing and then sucks it back in.

Whatever that is. Maybe it's a frog. Maybe it's a snake. I don't know, a lizard. I don't know. Something that vomits its entire body out and then captures what it's going to eat and then reintroduces its own body into itself.

That's Ron DeSantis. You ever go deep sea fishing and pull a fish up from like the fucking depths of the ocean and its stomach turns itself inside out on the way up that is a more attractive political prospect than Ron DeSantis like by a lot by a lot

so like he scares me but I do think that like there's a parochialness to his appeal that I don't think will play I just don't see like some guy in Wisconsin being like, oh, hey there, that's my guy there.

Oh, Rhonda, you know, like that's not going to happen. Like I'm not worried about Rhonda Santus in the same way. He appeals to the fucking hot and humid, bug-ridden fucking swamp dwellers.

Did you see his smile the other day? No, can he smile? Oh, God. Did it crack his fucking corners of his mouth in half? I want to play it. I fucking love the Daily Mail when they're being a snarky asshole.

Like, the Daily Mail is a trash paper, but like this writing is so good. Okay, here we go. Hang on. Ron DeSantis' excruciating attempt to smile during GOP debates sweeps the internet. DeSantis tried to conclude a rousing vow with a warm smile, but the bizarre rictus expression that followed became the talk of the internet. This is it.

This is the rictus. But it's even worse than this. Like, they tried to catch it in the moment, but it's even worse than that because the...

Hold on. Let me see if I can find it, Tom, because it's so good. Here it is. So I'm going to play it. And I will not let you down. Holy shit. So, guys, here it is someone to play it and I will not let you down holy shit so guys guys who are watching this

no I need to see it again I need to see it again forever people who are watching this can see it but people who can't Ron DeSantis he does a total

a total Ted Cruz for human president he does where he doesn't know how to be a person he forgets how to be a person and he doesn't he doesn't smile naturally and he a person. He forgets how to be a person and he doesn't, he doesn't smile naturally. And he kind of tries to tack it on at the end. And he looks like he's

farting. He does. He looks, he seriously, he looks like you ever like you've, you've got a fart, but you can't fart. It's just clenching your ass as hard as you can. And you're like, kind of cramps up a little. Now you got like a fucking asshole cramp and then you shart yourself and then you catch yourself. And he's doing that like at the same time that he's like sitting for his school picture. So here we go. So I'm going to play it one more time for the people who are watching. And I will not let you down. He looks amazing.

He looks insane. Genuinely, like how's that guy going to, how is that guy going to capture people? You know what I mean? Like, you're not going to capture, because he's a crazy person, right? And he doesn't know how to work his own face. Yeah, right. So, no, he's not going to capture.

Humans smile like this. It's like, holy shit. You humans enjoy raw heads, correct? I mean, like, that's. Now I shall bare my teeth at you. I am Rhondo Sanchez. I chew with ease. He looks so crazy.

He doesn't look like a person. He looks like someone told him, like it almost feels like he's in one of those, you know, those telephone, that telephone game when you were a kid and somebody describes smiling on one end and that's what came out.

Yes. Like, seriously, guys, if you saw a chimp do this to you, the next thing you would see it be in ripping your genitals off. Like this is, this is terrifying. Yeah, it's a hundred percent. Like you should avert your gaze if somebody does this. But he's not going to capture anybody but this this other guy is and i think like there's a couple of people on there i don't know how trump did it because trump isn't trump doesn't feel like a human being either it

doesn't feel like a regular person at least yeah no uh but ronda santos feels 100 alien like everybody who's not trump has such a fucking high bar to try to hurdle over in order to get that nomination that I don't know. I don't know how much it really means that anyone else is on the stage. The story from the Hill says that Trump's support dropped six points after he failed to show up or chose not to show up strategically to the GOP debate. And that sounds bad, like a six point drop is not nothing. But if you look at the graph, it's like he dropped from 56% support to 50% support.

So everybody, so you got like all these other people fighting for the other 50%. Yeah. If you're Trump, you're like, whatever, I'll drop a fucking steamer on that 6%. I don't care. As things start to collapse

and as support starts to collapse, and as support starts to waver, the people who are probably not voting for Trump now probably won't do it again. They're probably not people who are interested in having Trump, period. The choice is Trump. So if you're choosing it

right now, you're the crystal Pepsi guy. You're the guy who's like, no, it really does taste good. It is. No, it's good. It's good. It gives me cancer, but it's okay. You're the Crystal Pepsi guy.

So when Pence drops out, those people will latch on to one of the other three. And then when Haley drops out, those people latch on to the other two. They won't go to Trump. They probably won't go to Trump. Probably not. So the person who's below him will continue to gain.

Yes. And if he keeps missing, he may keep dropping. He might. I think, you know, the worry that I have is that like, and I don't know if this, how like good this math is, right? math is, right? But like from what I've heard on some of the shows I listen to is like about 33% of the likely voters for the primary

on the Republican side, about 33% of them are always Trumpers. So they don't give a shit. They're going to vote for Trump. They're going to vote for him if he gets like a felony. They're going to vote for him if he gets fucking pantsed on stage. They don't care. So like walking in with a third of the vote

locked in no matter what you do, that's a really difficult thing for everybody else. It's like the incumbent. The incumbent almost always has an edge. It's such a strong, such a powerful edge. But it was encouraging to see

that not showing up to the debate cost him something. Like refusing to engage in the civil process that we have established to pick our fucking leadership should cost you something. It should.

This isn't a game. And I think there are some people who are like, I will say, what this also shows is losing six points among the Republicans. Like, how much do you lose

over the undecided? Because the general is all that matters. Yeah. At the end of the day, the primary— If it's Trump, it's Trump. Right. If it's Trump, it's Trump. There's just nothing you can do about that.

I just think—I just genuinely think that as a general election, Trump is wildly unpopular. And he's so galvanizing in a really easy attack ad way. And I think you're absolutely hitting on to something. If you're losing six with the people who already poll really highly with you, and they sat on this thing that this is a shock even to the pollsters. They were saying it's a shock even

to them because this poll is very right-leaning and it's very Trump-heavy all the time. And to see it drop that much is a pretty big shock. But what happens if you're an undecided? What do you think What do you think about him now? How was it? Nine points between undecideds? Was it more than that? Right. You know, so I think I think his overall general election support is going to be very, very low. And he's also the perfect candidate to run against. Yeah. There's nobody better to run against than Trump

because he's so polarizing. He'll create turnout. We 100% know that people will turn out in droves to not have that fucking guy again. He'll create turnout both ways. He creates a lot of turnout. He creates a lot of turnout from people who really enjoy sticking it to other people.

That's all they enjoy. That's the only light that they can have in their life is to stick it to somebody else. That's true. But the rest of it, I mean, you're right. I mean, the people who came out to get him out of there, look at how many people came out. A lot of fucking people.

More people than ever voted in any election came to get him out of there. We have only to remove those who oppose us. So this story comes from Vanity Fair. Georgia Republicans say they'll move to remove... They'll move to remove. Move to remove.

Isn't that a song from the 80s? Move to remove. It's difficult to say. Move to remove? Move to remove the move. They'll move to remove Fulton County DA Fonny Willis from office with new state law.

This is dirty tricksterism. Yeah, we talked about this last week, right? I was wrong because I was the one who brought it up that if he goes to jail that he might get pardoned. But here's the thing. We're already presuming he's going to go to jail. Right. They are not presuming he's going to go to jail

because they, the Republicans, have 100% done dirty shit forever and will continue to do the dirtiest shit they can possibly do. The rule on the books for this DA was put in place specifically for people who don't prosecute lesser crimes. So these DAs sometimes don't prosecute lesser crimes

because they feel like it's a waste of resources. So someone might get caught shoplifting or a whole bunch of people get caught shoplifting and they don't prosecute them. And this is made specifically, I think, to go after people who do stuff that when they get arrested in mass, they normally let those people go

and they don't like this. And so these Republicans in those states are saying, if you don't do that, we'll fucking fire you from your DA position. Even though you're a duly elected representative, that's fucked up. They create it. And again, right? You know, all these rules that they put in place are there to fuck everybody but them, right? And so they put this rule in place and now they're saying they're going to twist it to say she's not doing the job we want her to do.

Not that she's not prosecuting, it's that she's prosecuting the wrong person, the person who we don't want prosecuted. Yeah, there's a deep hypocrisy to creating a bill to flex your tough on crime muscle, which is what this was. Like the law, it's like, flex your tough on crime muscle, which is what this was. Like the law,

absolutely right. It's like, look how tough on crime. We're so tough on crime that if the DA chooses not to prosecute people and we think that they should, we'll fire the fucking DA. We'll fucking, everybody's prosecuted.

Throw them all in jail. Wait a minute. You're throwing my guy in jail. Hang on a minute. Bring that DA in here. We were tough on crime, but not Rico. It turns out not Rico. We were tough on crime, but not Rico. It turns out not Rico.

We're not going to be tough. It's fucking a hypocrisy. It's hypocrisy, but it's also dirty tricks. It's fucking dirty tricks. It's fucking dirty tricks. And whenever they can do anything they can to stall or stop this stuff, look at what they're trying to do. They're trying to bring people in front of Congress now with Jim Jordan trying to muck up all the stuff that's happening

in the Justice Department. Look at what they're trying to do in Georgia. Every place where he's being prosecuted, they're trying to stop it. Why do you want to stop it? If he's innocent, what the fuck are you trying to stop? Yeah, like the reality is

that there would literally, there would be no functional Republican Party without structural trickery. Yeah. You know, like McConnell reality is that there would literally there would be no functional republican party without structural trickery yeah you know like mcconnell was absolutely the like master he's the master of senate structural trickery sure the gerrymandering that has been done all across this i mean you could say mcconnell had a master stroke he did he operated by strokes of genius or stroke. He did. He operated by strokes of genius.

Oh, we're not sorry because he's bad. Here's the reason we're not sorry. Because McConnell's evil. He also didn't die. He didn't die. He just powered down for a second. Like I say, he didn't die.

It's not like he's dead. He's lying on the ground. He literally walked away't die. It's not like he's dead. He's not lying on the ground. He literally walked away from that. So don't send me your message. But you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. They have for years manipulated every system that they can. That's why we have the Supreme Court that we have. They wouldn't win any elections. You're absolutely right. They wouldn't win any elections if it wasn't as gerrymandered as it was. You're going to see, I think, as time goes on and hopefully more influx of young people who are voting, these systems get flushed out.

Yeah. I think these systems will start getting flushed out. But we're in a really weird time right now. And the time that we're in has Trump possibly being prosecuted in a place that is hostile towards the DA. And that is a bad place for her. I hope that they, they, they said there's an injunction right now to try to stop these people from firing her because they, they basically can. Yeah. I know. So this is scary. Like this is like, it's scary because, again, like, the intent here is not to pursue justice.

The intent here is not to, like, it's so fucking frustrating because it's like the system should work to protect the American people. And there has been, there is clear and, like, there's so much evidence. And if they're so, like, this is bullshit, then let a jury decide it. That's how we do things in this country. Let a jury decide it. Put your fucking best foot forward. The problem is like, every time these guys put a legal case forward, they get slapped the fuck down. Because all of their legal arguments are jib jab.

It's fucking twas brillig in the slithy tove. It's fucking jabberwocky by law, man. It's nothing. There's nothing there. So, like, they don't want to take this to court because they're going to have to stim up, and all this nonsense that they try to spew and all the stories that come out

will be public record for all of us to read. And there's no hiding. Yeah. I hope, it's fingers crossed hope because we were so excited. She has all this RICO experience. Yeah. And for her to be taken off this case,

you know, and they could, essentially, they would just drop the charge because if she gets removed, then whoever they, you know, gets put in,

they'll just choose not to prosecute. So it could be a ton of stuff in Georgia that could just go away because they make this decision. So again, you know, I think we were putting the cart before the horse when we're talking about pardons. Yeah, I think so too. I do think if this doesn't happen,

I'm going to throw this out. I'm curious what you think. I think genuinely, I think that Mark Meadows will flip. I think a bunch of these fucking guys, I think Mark Meadows is going to try to push us to federal court. It's not going to work. The case is going to get sent back to state court. He's going to look and say, you know what? Fuck this. I'm not going to jail. I think at least a handful of these people, because

at the end of the day, especially the younger ones, I'm thinking the younger ones for sure. Because what does it matter? Rudy Giuliani's got like four weeks left. Whether he stays it in the Rudy Giuliani's got like four weeks left. Yeah. Like, I mean, whether he stays it in the apartment that he's got to sell in New York

or he stays it in a jail. Does it matter to Rudy Giuliani? No, he doesn't. He's barely cognizant of where he's at. And he's also like

part snail anyway. So it doesn't matter where he's at. Just put him somewhere moist and he'll slither around. He'll be fine. I think a handful of true believers, they'll never flip, right? Because they're too deep into the cult.

I think like a younger, like life ahead of him kind of guy like Mark Meadows, I think some of these guys, they'll flip. I don't think they're true. She's flip. Yeah. I think some of these guys are going to flip. They're going to be like, look, I'm not going to jail. Like we're too close. It's too risky. You know what? I think the prosecution would be happy going to flip. They're going to be like, look, I'm not going to jail. We're too close.

It's too risky. And I think the prosecution would be happy to say, all day you get immunity. You know who I think too? All day. All the people who were involved in the elector scam. Yeah. Because that's a long felony for doing,

just signing your name to a piece of paper, especially if you got told by somebody that it was cool. Dude, for sure. I would 100% be like, I didn't do this on my own free will. I did it because they asked me to do it. They said I'd for sure. I would 100% be like, I didn't do this on my own free will. I did it because they asked me to do it and they said I'd be fine. I listened to them.

I would 100% be flipping if I was up. I wouldn't be in that position, but you know what I mean. Right. If I got suckered though. Yeah. If I got suckered into something

or you know what, even if I made a bad call and was like, fuck, you know what, I believed that this was possible. And like, look at a couple of those people and they look like dads and moms.

Yeah, man. They don't look like somebody who's had a career in politics. They're the tiny county's GOP representative. And I think that's exactly it. They're a bake sale person, man. I think like,

you're going to get some fucking PTA guy, you know, some bake sale person. They're going to like, they're going to be like, fuck, you know what? I really thought this shit was stolen. Yeah. I'm a fucking hardcore Trump supporter.

But like these lawyers came to my door and they're law talking guys and I'm not, and they're big politicians and I'm not. And they said I would be fine. And they said this was right and legal and okay. And I was like, yeah, fuck yeah. Let's fight to the very end. And I did. Now I'm going to go to jail. I'd be like, no, man, I didn't understand. Yeah. But here's what I know. Write me an immunity check and you get every fucking thing I know. I would flip like a bitch. Fingers crossed that some of those people flip like crazy. Man. Fingers crossed that they flip like crazy. Hey, I want to jump in here real quick with an addendum to this particular story. It appears we either weren't aware when this came out or it broke after this story came out that the Georgia governor is actually not going to allow this particular method to remove the DA. I left it in specifically because this is a common tactic of the Republican Party and it leads into other stories that we talk about.

But this particular avenue looks like it's closed off because the governor is not going to allow it. He said we were ineffectual liberal jerk-offs. This is another one of those Republicans tried to fuck everything up forever stories. This is, again, this is like fucking with the system itself in order to like achieve a result rather than letting like democracy do what it's supposed to do. Wisconsin Supreme court flips liberal creating a seismic shift. So this happened not that long

ago. Um, the Wisconsin, I guess they elect their Supreme court representatives. I didn't realize they said it was the most expensive judicial nomination and election series ever. Wow. So they said it was millions and millions and millions of dollars went into this race. Well, and I know that fundamentally a couple of two important things that I understood from my reading ahead of time at stake here in Wisconsin was one, the future of abortion rights, the future of medicine for women, I should say, was very much at stake. I don't want to call it abortion rights anymore. This is like, this is medical care for women. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, like, like it's just, I feel like narrowing it in that way is really fucking mean and reductive. Like, this is just like, yeah, like, you know, women want to go get fucking medical care that should be between them and their doctor. And like, whatever they decide, I don't give a shit if it's about fucking statins

or fucking abortion. That's none of my fucking business. Great way to put it. So like, that was on the table for sure because there's some like bullshit ye olde law in Wisconsin that's going to damage like women's ability to seek medical care.

And so like, if that flips, then it could rise up to the Supreme Court and that could get tossed the fuck out. And the other big thing is that Wisconsin has been ridiculously gerrymandered forever. Wisconsin should be a blue state. By the numbers, Wisconsin should be a blue state. Milwaukee, Madison, like your big population centers are very blue. Not Green Bay, but yeah. Yeah, not Green Bay. But like, they're very, very blue. And so like, but they've gerrymandered the fuck out of that state in this like really like insane way. And if you look at like the maps, they look like fucking jigsaw puzzles drawn by blind people. It's unreal.

It's intense. It's intense. And so that was what was at stake. And so they went to election and this liberal justice got the nod. And now what they're trying to do is basically change all of the rules to totally disenfranchise their own Supreme Court. Yeah.

It's crazy. And what they did was, for the longest time, create rules to give that body power, right? So they created a bunch of rules and they used those rules like a fucking cudgel for decades, right? They used these rules to push people to manipulate

and to do the things that they wanted to do, to follow their agenda. And they did it for a long time. They had, on occasion, a guy who would once in a long time. They had on occasion, a guy who would once in a while, he's like their Roberts, who would kind of vote Democratic once in a while or vote liberal once in a while.

And he was the one pin that stopped it from them from throwing out their election because they came to them and it went all the way up to the Supreme Court and the one guy who was, because they did have a conservative majority, that one guy voted with the liberals to say no, but all the other four voted that they should throw the fucking election. So I mean, like these are not good people. These are not like good, wholesome people just trying to get by. These are people

who have manipulated the system for decades. And the moment somebody comes in and says, OK, well, if that's the system we have, then let's change some things around here. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, right. And then immediately they're going to start changing laws because they have super majorities in other places. They're going to try to impeach this person. They're going to do whatever they can to try to stop. They're already asking her to recuse herself from the two things that she talked about

while she was campaigning. Even though the other guy who she was, I'm sure the guy who she was running against talked about those things too. Was he going to recuse himself? You know what I mean?

I thought that was crazy. It's like, if this is an election, they have to campaign on something. Yeah. Not just, I promise to read the book better than the other person. Yeah, right? They have to like, something. Yeah. Not just, I promise to read the book better than the other person.

Yeah, right? They have to like, and it's also bullshit because every time that there's a Senate confirmation hearing of a Supreme Court justice, they ask them specifically their views on abortion.

Yeah. And every single time, almost every single time, in the past, they've said, no, that's precedent, whatever. And then they just changed it. Then they just changed it.

So like, what does it matter anyway? Yeah, Kavanaugh and Barrett just fucking lied. It literally doesn't matter because they fucking lied to everybody. So like, what are you doing? What are you trying to do? Instead, they're just trying to get their way.

That's all they're trying to do. They don't have, there's no, we have to wash from our heads that there is some sort of like law that they're following or some sort of moral code or something. It's none of that. What it is, is they just want their way and they're going to do whatever they can to get their way every single time. They're never following a rule of law. They're never following any kind of traditions or anything like that. They are doing whatever they can to

manipulate the system every single time to get what they want immediately. Period. Yep. Yeah. They're all butthurt that, you know, they're like, well, look, elections have consequences. They said in this article, like somebody who's gone on the rightist court is saying, look, elections have consequences. And we all understand that, but this is just beyond the pale, basically. They're just, they're using all the, they're using all of the tools that we use to oppress them to, to, to turn around and, and do things we don't like.

And it's like, well, yeah, fuck wit. That's how that works. To be honest. We've talked about like the problem of the creep of executive power before. It's like the problem assholes is it creeps on everybody. Yeah, it creeps on it. And the problem with giving certain bodies different powers

is when that creeps and you don't like it when the other people are in charge. And so you've got to make sure that we keep things as even as possible all the time, even if you're on the losing end to that. You've got to just suck it up and be like, okay, well, we're on the losing end of that, but maybe in the future we won't be.

And the stuff that they're upset about is nothing. It's nothing. The person is going to sit, they're going to make a decision on who's going to be like the head justice. Yeah, right. The current chief justice is a Republican.

And the chief justice has historically had, you know, some rule-making ability and decision-making ability. And they were like, take case to take and things. Yeah, and so they were like,

well, actually, we're going to have a committee do that now. And the chief justice, well, but it's my job. And they're like, well, actually, like constitutionally, it's not necessarily your job. We're actually going to have a committee decide says, but that's my job. And they're like, well, actually, constitutionally, it's

not necessarily your job. We're actually going to have a committee decide that, which is a better system, by the way. That's a better system than the capricious whim of one guy. That's just objectively better. And they're flipping their shit about it. But again, this could be, again, another way that they can wedge their foot

in the door and fuck things up, even after they've lost. At any rate, zombies don't have heart attacks. So this story comes from The Hill. The majority, majority of U.S. dog owners now skeptical of vaccines, including for rabies. So I want to tell a story. When I first got a cat, this was my first cat I got was in the early aughts, right? So the first time Sarah and I, we had just gotten married within a year or so of getting married, we, you know, we decided we wanted to get some cats. And so we got some cats and the people who we got them from,

we talked to them. And, you know, when we got the cats, we're talking to the lady and the lady said, don't get the vaccine, the rabies vaccine and the lady said, don't get the vaccine, the rabies vaccine. She's like, don't get the rabies vaccine. It gives the cats cancer. It can like shorten their lifespan by a lot. So please,

you know, I would, you know, definitely suggest just skipping it. You know, there's no need. They're inside cats. They shouldn't need it.

And I believed her. I was like, sure. Okay. I mean, you said something. Yeah. Clearly you should. So I was like, okay. So I I mean, you said something. Yeah. Clearly you should.

So I was like, okay. So I went to go see the doctor and the doctor's like, no, the baby's vaccine's fine. But there's a group of people out there. And I, and for a little while I pushed back. I was like, no, but why would this person lie to me? Why would this person go out of their way to lie to me about something like this? You know, and the way that they put it was, you know, very much what people say about doctors, which is the doctors are just trying to sell you something. They just want to, you just got to pay a little bit of money for this stuff. And these people,

they stick poisons in your cat and your cat. And I didn't, I wasn't in a mindset at that point in my life to push back on that. I didn't think to question. Somebody had said something to me. I didn't question it. And I just followed their lead. I went in, I pushed back.

And a cat that lives inside doesn't necessarily need a rabies vaccine. The only way a cat inside, at least when I was talking to my vet, the only way that a cat inside could possibly get it is if a bat comes down. Sure, right. And a bat bites your cat.

I said, what about a rodent? They said, well, no, that really wouldn't. Even if they ate it, it probably still wouldn't do anything. They're like, definitely a bat would be probably be the only way. And you probably never have a bat in your house. So it's not a big deal. Right. But if I want any kind of procedure done to my cat at all, they have to have a rabies vaccine. So I've just, since then, just 100% had them have rabies vaccines and just like, like just do it. But when I was, you know, for years, for a couple of years, at least I didn't do that. I was like, no,

they don't need them. They're kittens. They don't need that sort of thing. Because again, I listened to somebody and I have a feeling a lot of people are listening to somebody. They just, it's just a person who told them this stuff and then they just think they're an authority on it. Yeah. and I'll call myself out. I, at one point, entertained the idea of vaccine harm as a possibility. I was like, I heard some shit, and I was like, oh, fuck, really? What is that? Let me find out about this.

I was like, fuck, I'll entertain that idea. And I don't think that there's anything wrong with entertaining the idea, right? I really don't. Like, I think we should think about these things and then go find out about them and go talk to experts. Sure. And that's how you find out about things, is you go talk to experts.

The problem is, like you're just saying, the problem is like, we're not talking to the experts when we go find this stuff out. We're talking to some fucking guy right who's like expert adjacent at best often yeah sure right so you're talking to somebody who's like a fucking chiropractor or like a cat breeder or like and like yeah they know something about something i'm not in the case of a chiropractor but like they know something about something what is it no i get it no you're absolutely right like they know it's like they know about cats

like and like the thing is and the problem is like you go talk to somebody about your cat and they tell you this story about your cat and you're like fuck I'm taking their advice

on all this other stuff sure yeah they're telling me what to feed them they're telling me like how to take care of them how to change the litter here's the litter

that they like right all this stuff and you're like yes writing it all down sounds good sounds good they don't get the vex

whoa wait what what is that it's all coming from the same source sure that you have imbued expertise in this broad subject with. So it's a really understandable thing to do. What this article though, really scares me. And this is like, at first I laughed. I was like, really fucking, are you serious? Dogs, like dogs. And then I was

like, fuck man. Like if a majority of dog owners are like hesitant to get a rabies vaccine, that vaccine, the anti-vax, COVID anti-vax messaging, we can pretty much conclusively say now that that is going to cause generational harm. It was more powerful than you thought. Yeah. Yeah. When you hear this- If it bled over to your dog, it's going to bleed over to everything else.

Yeah, when you hear this, you're like, oh, okay, no, this can't just be, they heard it from a person. This is more substantial than that. This is way more people than you thought are not thinking that vaccines are effective, or if they are effective, they at least cause harm. And they're thinking about it now,

clearly in broad categorical terms. Wide swath of vaccines. So it's not just like, oh, it's just the COVID vaccine. Like I think, like we were, like, I think we're at a place now where we can pretty conclusively say like, the COVID vaccine did not create any sort of like herd immunity, right?

Because you can get the vaccine and still get sick. You can get the vaccine and still spread it. What it does is it individually helps you get less sick. So if you get sick, you're less likely to be hospitalized or die. That's what most of everything says now. I think in the beginning we thought, okay, cool, if we nip this in the bud fast enough. But, like, the chances of doing that worldwide were always very, very low. You know what I mean?

Like getting that vaccine out to everybody in the world to prevent it. So, but like these other vaccines, man, for measles, for chickenpox, for fucking like, for HPV, for like shit that we could eradicate. We don't have to have this much human suffering. You can get rid of it. Vaccines as a technology, as a category, are so much better than like any other treatment modality, right? Because they're not a treatment. They're a stop it.

You stop it ahead of time. You don't get it. They're just like for most of these things, they're a stop it. You 100% want the vaccine over getting measles. For sure, man. And then're a stop it. You 100% want the vaccine over getting measles. For sure, man. And then treating the measles. You 100% want the vaccine. Like there's bacterial meningitis vaccines.

You get fucking bacterial meningitis, you're dead in 24 hours, 48 hours. That shit is like wild. People lose arms and legs. They die. It's like, you know, the measles vaccine, the fucking like, we don't have to suffer. Yeah. We don't have to the fucking like we don't have to suffer we don't have to go blind we don't have to like get polio

polio's back dude I know what the fuck is even going on well I mean measles and polio could have easily been wiped off the face of the earth eradicated

could have been wiped off the face of the earth if we had just you know and we were traveling around the world doing that work we were so close we were close for both the doing that work. We were so close for both.

The only thing missing now is the crazy billionaire. This story is from Scientific American, how wealthy UFO fans helped fuel fringe beliefs. So this was a really interesting article about how evidently a handful of billionaires, really just one billionaire in particular, has this fucking total UFO kook. Yeah. And he just shits money down these fucking UFO rabbit holes. And like, if you're a big enough

kook at a high enough fucking monetary level, you actually can get shit done. Like you can like bring a big spotlight to bullshit. Yeah. It's crazy. And he has not only brought it to Congress, right? There's a big push from his money to bring it there. But one of the specific things that's so egregious is these educational institutions that take his money because it's a huge amount of money and then do lip service to some of the stuff that he wants to study. Right? Some of the things he wants them to look into, they'll take the $50 million or whatever and then spend a million dollars looking into life after death stuff

and then take the other $49 million and do whatever they want. Go do whatever they want with it. Build a new fucking student center or whatever and then be like, cool, anyway, we did that life after death stuff and it didn't work out anyway and then move on. But that Anyway, we did that life after death stuff and it didn't work out anyway. And then they move on. But that's shady as fuck.

It is. To take money from somebody specifically because they want to follow this research and you're giving them your good name, right? You're putting, you're giving them, you're validating this research by putting your name on it. They mentioned the MIT at one point doing stuff.

This is, they're valid. I know they want the fucking money. Of course you want the money. Sure you want the money, but don't fucking put your name on this. There's other people out there that can give you, I mean, you could get fucking Jeffrey Epstein to come by and give you money.

You don't need this guy. Like, you know, and that's exactly, that's exactly part of the problem, right? When you get an organization like MIT, and let's say they take $50 million. They spend $1 million, like you said. They spend $1 million just placating a billionaire's ego

for his fucking pet project of wackiness. And then they think in their minds, yeah, but I'm doing $49 million worth of good work. You are. And you're only wasting a million dollars on bullshit. Also true. except for the story is not going to be written. 2% of this fucking money went to bullshit in order to get 98% of these funds, right? What the story will be written is some clickbaity bullshit of MIT researching aliens, extraterrestrial life, subject of serious scientific concerns at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Now all of a sudden people are like, wait a minute, those are words I know. That's an institution I've heard of. There's an instant garner of respect now. And I'm like, man, it's harder for me to be dismissive as like a regular Joe. It's harder for me to be dismissive of bullshit. And like our book,

The Grand Unified Theory of Bullshit, points out like bullshit is additive. Bullshit accumulates. It aggregates. It seeks bullshit unto itself. You can't believe in Bigfoot and say, I'm a skeptic. You can't have a skeptical mindset and be like,

yeah, but also I think the Loch Ness Monster is probably real. Or like, yeah, I think fucking aliens are coming down. The Bermuda Triangle has something to it. The Bermuda Triangle. It is a triangle. It is a shape you can draw with a ruler.

Shit. It's not even the same. You did a great citation needed a year ago. One of your first ones. We did cover it on the Bermuda Triangle. You did, right?

It was yours. Yeah, I did. One of the first ones we did. It was one of the first ones we did. The guy that does this, that winds up getting this stuff put in front of everybody all the time, also, you know,

is donating to people in Congress and things to get them to bring it up. So, you know, these are national stages that this person puts it on there. And it naturally influences how we think about these things. I'm reminded of a conversation you mentioned you had with your boys where they thought there had to be something to this

if it was being heard in Congress. If there is a guy who heard a thing and saw a thing, there's got to be something to this. And you're like, no, there's just a lot of money behind this because there's some crackpot who thinks it's interesting. Yeah. And it's funny because the boys are pretty skeptical, but they were pretty dug in on this.

Yeah. They were pretty dug in. And now, again, they're 16 and 17. So part of the reason that they're dug in is because it's interesting and they kind of want it to be true. Sure, of course. And I know that about them.

And I was in that phase at one point in my life, too. I read all the Whitley Stryber communion books and the Area 51 books from the fucking library and all that. Everybody kind of goes through a, yeah, but what if phase, and that's fine, and that's good. But they were more dug in than on other issues with this and part of it was like i don't know dad like congress is looking into it like what do you know dad yeah congress is looking into it and i want to be like yeah but you're assuming that like congress is a like an esteemed body of serious people no and that veneer has been long done washed away and i did tell him like like congress is not like a bunch of serious people in suits getting together to make real decisions.

Congress is a bunch of clown shoe ass motherfuckers controlled by special interests seeking to be reelected in perpetuity. That's what Congress is. Who are looking for a megaphone. Right. Yeah, exactly. so this upcoming thursday we'll be releasing a long form article on all our feeds a review of that article tom read that long form article for our two dollar patrons uh and above that article is elon musk's shadow rule it's from the new yorker uh it's about an hour worth of tape that tom read and we will will be giving that to patrons

and they will get a chance to listen to Tom read it. And then we will be talking about it this Thursday. So come check us out this Thursday when we talk about Elon Musk for an hour. And we'll be back on Monday with a full show. Hopefully something has happened in one of these juicy, juicy cases between now and then.

Uh, but we're going to leave you like we always do with the skeptics. Great. Credulity is not a virtue. It's fortune cookie cutter, mommy issue, hypno Babylon bullshit couched in scientician, double bubble toil and trouble pseudo quasi alternative acupunctuating, pressurized, stereogram, pyramidal, free energy, healing, water, downward spiral, brain dead, pan, sales pitch, late night info-docutainment. Leo, Pisces, cancer cures, detox, reflex, foot massage, death in towers, tarot cards, psychic healing, crystal balls, Bath in towers, tarot cards, psychic healing, crystal balls, bigfoot, yeti, aliens, churches, mosques and synagogues, temples, dragons, giant worms, Atlantis, dolphins, truthers, birthers, witches, wizards, vaccine nuts, shaman healers, evangelists, conspiracy, doublespeak, stigmata, nonsense. Nonsense. Expose your sides. Thrust your hands.

Bloody. Evidential. Conclusive. Doubt even this. The opinions and information provided on this podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. All opinions are solely that of Glory Hole Studios LLC. Cognitive dissonance makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information and will not be liable for any errors, damages, or butthurt arising from consumption.

All information is provided on an as-is basis. No refunds. Produced in association with the local dairy council and viewers like you. you