Cognitive Dissonance - Episode 817: Confirmation Hearings for Hegseth, Warnings against RFK

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

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Starting point is 00:00:56 Ontario. This episode of cognitive dissonance is brought to you by our patrons you fucking rock. 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 Distance. 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 political,
Starting point is 00:02:00 and there is no welcome mat. Today is Thursday, January, the checks calendar 16th, which I knew off the top of my head, January the 16th. And there is, uh, there is no jail time. No jail time. We knew that we knew it was going to happen. There is no jail time. What are they going to do? They, they got to bring that.
Starting point is 00:02:23 They got to bring one of the Supreme court justices with a Bible to slam him into the bars. There's some dude with a fucking pack of Marlboro's rolled up in his sleeve standing next to him. He comes out for his inauguration, he's got a teardrop tattoo under his eye. Just... He's got a couple guys that are just making his ramen for him in the back. We knew there was going to be no jail time. We knew there was going to be no sentence. He got like an unconditional shaky finger is what he got.
Starting point is 00:02:56 Unconditional shaky finger. Don't you do it. This won't even be as bad as his sternly worded letter from the UN. The judge did tell him, I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. And that hurts the worst. That hurts the worst. I'm gonna take away your phone privileges, Chloe. Amazing. Yeah, man, it's not as bad as when you get grounded. That's basically what happened to him. Yeah, wait! He did! Dude, that's exact! He didn't even get grounded.
Starting point is 00:03:26 Did you get grounded when you were a kid? What was your... I wasn't grounded as much as I was beaten. So my dad came from a different school. Yeah, my dad came from a different school. I was beaten a lot. God. I got grounded all the time. Like I would get grounded just all the time. And then my dad
Starting point is 00:03:42 would make me write essays. That was my dad's other thing, is he would just be like, yeah, so is it a, is it a good thing to lie about something? I'd be like, no, you shouldn't lie. He'd be like, I'm gonna need two pages on why it's bad to lie. And I'd be like, what? Or he'd be like, as I got older, he'd be like, you know, this other thing like, Hey, should you come home on time? Yeah, I should, I should follow. I should come home on time. Is it good rule? Yeah, he asked me these like leading questions.
Starting point is 00:04:07 Very nice questions, yeah. And he'd be like, yeah. Yes, your honor. Uh-huh, right, yeah, I did. And he'd be like, I'm gonna need five pages on my... And he'd be like, oh, fuck. So I think I got good. I think the only reason I majored in English
Starting point is 00:04:19 is I got good at writing essays because I was in trouble. Did you have to write them by hand? Yeah, I had to write them all by hand. Brutal. Because at least with a computer, you could up the font a little bit. Yeah. Page 13 instead of 12. Yeah. It's like 14 font and it's also one and a half spacings instead. Yes. Yeah. I'm shrinking my margins in a quarter of an inch, you know, doing all the tricks. God. Yeah. I also, when I was little, I would have to write stuff.
Starting point is 00:04:46 Like, he'd be like, he'd be like, I write 500 times, you know, I will go to bed on time, or whatever I was in trouble for. I won't eat cookies and sneak food, or whatever fat kid shit I did. You know, and I'd be like, and he'd be like, and no writing, I, I, I, I, I, I will, will, will.
Starting point is 00:05:03 That made him so mad, and you so mad and you had to do the other Oh, I always did that when I had bad writing assignments I said the I will not not not not when you do that for me at least it gets slanty Oh, yeah, it moves a little bit moves a little and he's like no no, you're gonna write every size. It's gotta be perfect Could you imagine if judge Marshawn of signs Trump like an essay? I will not commit 34 felonies. I will not pay off a porn star with campaign money. Oh man, could you imagine how great that would be?
Starting point is 00:05:36 It'd be all in caps. Oh gosh. I laugh, but we're fucked. So yeah. This is bad. Yeah, it's really bad, but we're fucked. So yeah. This is bad. This is bad. It's really bad. It's really bad.
Starting point is 00:05:49 And it's not just that. All the other stuff, of course, went away. And then this week, the special counsel releases their report on their findings and basically says, look, this was a, they knew what they were doing. They were pushing these things out. I went to the Supreme Court and I said, hey, Supreme Court, why don't you skip the appellate court and why don't we just get, like,
Starting point is 00:06:12 hash this shit out in December of last year to figure out whether or not he has immunity? And they're like, no, no, no, it's gotta go through the appellate court. And then it goes to the appellate court and like, he has total immunity, fuckface! Ha ha ha! And then he, and then basically, then he has to rewrite his entire thing.
Starting point is 00:06:28 And then, and then it goes back. He has to rewrite his entire indictment. And then it goes back. And then they just ran the clock out. They knew what they were doing and they were in total collusion. Like, I know you can't say that, but I'm saying that they were in total collusion with each other. You kidding me? Come on, man. Absolutely. Dude, they there are there are
Starting point is 00:06:47 five justices perhaps six on that court that are de-fucking lighted to run that clock. Super happy. They think this is the fun This is like this is the joy of their lives like you got fucking who was it Sam Alito? Who's fucking flying flags in front of his house that are just basically like, fuck you, go Trump or whatever his flags meant, you know? Like these guys are doing like,
Starting point is 00:07:12 Clarence Thomas is like from a billionaire's yacht or whatever is mooning the White House at this point. Like get the fuck out of here. These guys are not serious, good, well-intentioned people. They are not coming to this in good faith. They are not coming to these decisions in good faith. All of this is a fucking show to reward the guy who put them in power.
Starting point is 00:07:35 For sure, for sure. And the ones who didn't get put into power by him to kiss the ring so they don't eat shit. Because everybody now, what we're seeing, I think very clearly with these Senate hearings, et cetera, which we're gonna talk about, but like what we're seeing is a complete capitulation. And it's not just the Senate hearings.
Starting point is 00:07:53 It's, you know, figures in the tech industry. Everybody who sees this writing on the wall cannot wait to fuck a Nazi. Like that's it, man. They're just like, fucking give me that Nazi dick. Yeah. They are. What's, what's really interesting is that you get a chance to see that, that capitalists
Starting point is 00:08:14 have no real beliefs. They don't have any beliefs at all. They don't believe anything. They don't think anything. They don't care about anything. All they care about is money. So they recognize that what's going to get them the most money is to capitulate. They don't care.
Starting point is 00:08:30 Like these people didn't care about DEI when they instituted. They don't care that they're tearing it out now. They didn't care. Zuckerberg didn't care when he put tampons in men's bathroom. He doesn't care that they're coming out. That literally doesn't matter to him. He hasn't thought about it for a single second of the day. All he cares about is making more money.
Starting point is 00:08:50 And he sees an equation on the wall and the equation says, I make more money if I bend a knee to the right. And that's what I'm going to do. And I think they're also all very aware that they do not want to incur the ire. So it's like, yeah, I do not want to be on the bad side of a man who has no conscience, is a motherfucking felon, has weaponized the entire United States government, and now is just given immunity. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:16 Like they should be scared. We should, like fear of that guy is the appropriate response. Fear of that administration is the only rational thing any of us should feel. Like it's crazy. We've got friends, you and I, we have mutual friends that work as scientists or did work as scientists for the EPA. And I was thinking about how incredibly glad I am that they are out, that they are both now retired from the EPA. Because like the new EPA director, Led Zeppelin or whatever his fucking name is, like Lee Zeldin I know.
Starting point is 00:09:55 But like every time I see it I'm like fucking Led Zeppelin's in charge of the EPA? Like he's in charge of- It's gonna go down like what Tom? It's gonna go down like a Led Zeppelin. He's in charge of gunning it. That's what his charge is. He's talking about moving it out of Washington so that people will quit. He's gonna move it to like Texas or Florida
Starting point is 00:10:15 because all these people are like, but I have a house here, are not gonna wanna uproot their family. Like it's just a way to decimate the institution. Remember that there are two cases here. And Eileen Cannon was in charge of the documents case. Yeah. There's three cases really.
Starting point is 00:10:32 There's the documents case, there's the January 6th case, and then there's the election interference case. That's right. So, but the documents case, they basically said that never sees the light of day. Yeah, yeah. Like, Jack Smith will be allowed to release the report for the election interference case. But people don't give a shit.
Starting point is 00:10:55 Because if you're on the right, you already think that's a poisoned well. So if I'm on the right, I'd be like, yeah, you can release that. What, are you going to release it to a bunch of idiots? These fucking mega goofballs who think that this is already a poisoned, you know, a conversational topic. Yeah. Release your report. We're going to read it. Yeah. The documents case though is so open and shut. It's so obviously, it's the easiest case. It's like, did you have a bunch of stuff in your fucking golden bathroom or whatever? That you shouldn't have? Right. Yeah, you did. Here a bunch of stuff in your fucking golden bathroom or whatever? That you shouldn't have?
Starting point is 00:11:25 Right! Yeah, you did! Here's pictures of it! Did you shuffle it around? Yeah! Like a shady fucking blackjack dealer? Yeah, absolutely! Like three card money with the fucking nuclear codes or whatever? Yeah, it's easy. That's an easy one. And so that one never sees the light of day?
Starting point is 00:11:42 No, it's never gonna go anywhere. They've buried it. They've essentially buried that one never sees the light of day. No, it's never gonna go. They've buried it. They've essentially buried that one. And it's so fucking obvious how much, like again, the right word, you used it, the right word, how much straight up collusion there is to obscure the truth, to hide reality, to bend, this is so, and this is not the wrong word, this is so Orwellian.
Starting point is 00:12:06 Yeah, man, absolutely. We are taking things that are true and happened and that we're saying loudly enough and with enough authority behind them that no, they didn't happen. That now, the record is almost correcting itself back over. Yeah, man. Like January 6th was the day of freedom and love
Starting point is 00:12:23 or whatever he's fucking saying. What manner of manner you that can summon up fire without flint or tinder? I am an enchanter. This next story comes to the New Republic. Mike Johnson vows to hold aid to California hostage after deadly fires. Republican leadership continues to use one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history as political leverage. On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson told CNN's Manu Raju that there should be conditions on the proposed federal aid to California in the wake of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County. Quote, it appears to us that state and local leaders were derelict in their duty in many respects. So that's something that has to be factored in. I think there should probably be conditions on that aid.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Holy shit. How many fucking Republican governors and people in power have fucked up these things that have happened in their states? And there hasn't been a single time that any Democrat in power has been like, we're gonna actually look, we're gonna make you crawl on the
Starting point is 00:13:26 Carpet and then we're also gonna what we're gonna do is we're gonna we're gonna say that you mismanage this like think how Easy it could be to say that about to Santas right? Oh every two weeks There's a fucking hurricane in Florida and so you can he's getting shit tons of money So it's so easy to just be like dude, you know, you should be doing more You should change stuff, you know like you should be on the leading edge of climate change because that's one of the major reasons why you're getting inundated with hurricanes every four hours. You know, like, like there's there's ways to make him pay for that, but nobody ever did. But now there's this there's this precedent that they're trying to set
Starting point is 00:13:59 where they make, you know, fucking you've got to, I don't know what fucking Johnson wants LA to have a promise ring with him He's got like he's got to have a fucking purity ball with with LA in order to fucking pay their dowry eventually Well and like when these things happen, you've got to look at him and say who eats the shit Who actually eats the shit? That's a great point man. It's a great point It's the people on the ground. Fucking people who lost everything. So here are people who they're through no fault of their own. Like even if you wanted to say, and I don't buy it, I've listened and read a lot.
Starting point is 00:14:35 Like I, from everything that I've read. Los Angeles County, no County is perfect, but California and Los Angeles County had robust zoning and wildfire controls. They did not anticipate a fire like this had literally never happened before, right? So like fires happen, but not like this. This has never happened before. Could they have done better? Certainly.
Starting point is 00:15:01 Nothing is perfect. But it's not like they sat on their hands and were like, I don't know, maybe fires might not happen. Like that's not a true. It's just not a fucking true. They had robust zoning laws in place to try to like, for fire prevention, they had some of the best trained firefighters
Starting point is 00:15:18 in the world working in that area. It's just a disaster. And sometimes disasters just happen. That's the nature of living on a planet. Like we have a planet full of water and brush and fire and climate change and like, you know, this, like the conditions could not have been more perfect. I was reading a thing that like the heavy rainfall
Starting point is 00:15:41 that we had gotten over the last few years in Southern California created an accelerated amount of growth, you know, of like brush and other, you know, tinder basically. And then when that shit dries out, we now have more of this shit than we had had for fucking ever. Yeah. And then you get these Santa Ana winds and they're blowing in sometimes a gust of a hundred miles an hour, these are forces that you cannot contend with. And who's going to eat the shit when your house is on fire? Like I'm going to eat that shit. I'm going to, I'm going to not have a home. I'm going to be the one like as the regular person who lost their
Starting point is 00:16:19 pets and lost their pictures and lost their furniture and has to fight with an insurance company to get a poultry and partial reimbursement of all the things that are irreplaceable. I'm gonna do all that. I'm gonna be homeless. I'm gonna wonder how many more nights I can put on my credit card in the hotel. That's what the, and the government's gonna be like, well, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:16:41 I don't like that Gavin Newsom, news scum or whatever. The fuck outta here. I don't know. I don't like that Gavin Newsome, news scum or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. The fuck out of here. Yeah. And the people are attacking Gavin. I saw a Fox News article. I talk about this on the other show that I do, the No Rogan Experience with Michael Marshall. We're talking about, because they just had Mel Gibson on it. Mel Gibson was talking about how they didn't do anything for the firefighters and they didn't do anything for the fires to fight these fires. And when I was researching,
Starting point is 00:17:06 I come across an article from Fox News and in Fox News they're like, Gavin Newsom cut a hundred million dollars from the firefighting budget. And so I started looking into it and he did cut some money from the firefighting budget. But since he came in, he increased that budget by over $2 billion.
Starting point is 00:17:24 So like he increased it by 2 billion but he cut it last year by $100 million. And you're like, well, okay, let's put those in a column where we're adding them up. And you tell me. Because they're saying, you know, on the largest podcast in the world, they're saying he's not spending any money on forest fire, on wildfire prevention. And you're like, that's just not true. They're spending an on, on, on wildfire prevention. And you're like, that's just not true. They're spending an intense amount of money on wildfire prevention. The other thing you mentioned too, that I have to touch on is there's those, the Santa
Starting point is 00:17:53 Ana winds and the hundred mile an hour gusts and those winds did not die down. Like, so those winds come in and then they keep going. Right? So it's not like it's just one day of bad winds. It's weeks of bad winds, right? 40, 50 mile an hour gusts. But the worst part is, is that many of the aircraft have to be grounded when those gusts are very high.
Starting point is 00:18:13 And that's how they mostly fight those fires. So when you have hundred mile an hour winds, you also don't have a bevy of helicopters and airplanes that are able to dip their, their snouts in the water and shoot it all over the place. They can't do it. So you're, you're only fighting with, with ground forces, which is not how those fires are meant to be fought. And that's not how we've planned to fight them for a long time. It's because of those wins. Not only was it worse because it made the fire bigger, but it also made the fire bigger because you couldn't actually fight it the way you normally do. Yeah, and there's an intense amount
Starting point is 00:18:47 of just straight up lying. Just straight up lying about, and like, I know like the term we're supposed to use or whatever is misinformation, I get that, and I like it, but this is like, this is straight up propaganda lying coming from the right. I saw a tweet or an X or a post or whatever from somebody like, and they were like a fairly
Starting point is 00:19:10 influential right-wing figure. I can't remember who the fuck it was, but it doesn't matter. It's one of these fucking liars for hire that are all over there talking about how because of the budget cuts you were talking about, which in context are not really cuts, that they were reduced to using, like, women's handbags to, like, hold water,
Starting point is 00:19:29 like, to splash water at the fire. That the firefighters were using, like, basically like purses to carry water. And then they had pictures, and it looks like these guys have these big satchels. And then you look into it, and there are firefighters that carry big like canvas satchels of water and they do that because one of the best ways to fight
Starting point is 00:19:51 these kinds of fires in spaces where the fires have been largely controlled is to go with these bags and put it out the embers so they pour it over the embers it's just more efficient than trying to get water pumped up hill with hoses and shit. It's a standard thing firefighters do. I don't know if I fuck anything about firefighters, except for what I just read. But like, they're not using purses and handbags. This is just like somebody was able to take a picture and then recontextualize that picture to make everybody think that something untoward is happening or
Starting point is 00:20:26 that these brave firefighters don't have the tools. That's the tool. That's actually the tool. These big canvas bags full of water are actually a really useful tool for putting out spot embers, which it is necessary for the firefighting. But like we just lie. Like people are just fucking lying about it. And like again the people that are gonna eat the shit, it's not gonna be Mike Johnson. It's never the Mike Johnsons of the world. And he's not trying to punish Gavin Newsom.
Starting point is 00:20:54 Gavin Newsom's house isn't on fire, man. It's like, but like there's a sense I think that if the feds can hurt enough regular people and get those people to feel like they should turn their anger and their blame, not on the feds, but on their local government that come election time. That's enough. It's an opportunity to, to, to, to evict them. So also big shout out to Tom.
Starting point is 00:21:23 We got a message from Esme. From Esme! Esme. From Esme! Esme, OG Esme. Esme has been listening since the beginning and she sent us messages. She's okay. She's in LA, but she sent a couple of videos and she talked a little bit about the fires out there. We just want to say hello to Esme. Gosh, she's been listening since a very, very early podcast. And so when I saw the name, I was excited.
Starting point is 00:21:44 I was too. I was like, oh my God, it's So I just wanted to say, I just wanted to shout Esme out. Oh my God, it's Esme. That's great. I smile. Yeah. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor.
Starting point is 00:21:52 Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor.
Starting point is 00:21:59 Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. And. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. And Doctor. Well, we miss anyone? Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor.
Starting point is 00:22:18 Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. Doctor. We're not doctors. This story comes from NBC News. Thousands of doctors urged the Senate to block RFK Jr. as Health Secretary for Trump Administration. More than 15,000 doctors have signed a letter urging senators to vote against confirming RFK Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, quote, the health and wellbeing of 336 million Americans depend on leadership at HHS that prioritizes science, evidence-based medicine, and strengthening the integrity
Starting point is 00:22:58 of our public health system, the letter reads. RFK Jr. is not only unqualified to lead this essential agency, he is actively dangerous. I don't know, man. I like, you know, a fucking whale head in every pot, you know? Yeah, man, fucking A, dude. Fucking A.
Starting point is 00:23:18 I want to make sure that there's a fucking dead bear in every doctor's office. Hey, if a bear can't ride a fucking bicycle through Central Park these days without dying of smallpox or whatever. And then, and then when it, when it, when they go to find it, there's just like, uh, used vaccine needles all the time. Yeah, look, you would have to have fucking brain worms to vote for this guy to confirm him.
Starting point is 00:23:46 It's gonna be such a farce, man. Dude, what a mess. I love that we got to, like, it'd be the best. It'd be that you get a, you get a fucking letter from 15,000 doctors that sign a letter. It'd been awesome if at the bottom it was just signed by Jay Z. It's like, I got 15,000 doctors at RFK81. And he's not one. He's not one. He's not a doctor.
Starting point is 00:24:09 Don't you hope that they brought them in like Santa Claus letters to port houses in that movie? I forgot what movie, Miracle on 34th Street or whatever. They're just pouring them on the fucking desk. They're just pouring them. And then a whale head accidentally falls out. I'm sorry about that. Sorry, that's mine. That's mine. That's my lucky whale head accidentally falls out like, I'm sorry about that.
Starting point is 00:24:25 Sorry, that's mine. That's mine. That's my lucky whale head. That's fucking amazing, dude. God, it's so stupid. We're going to put the dumbest timeline. It's like saying, it's like the Senate is basically, there's a bag of grain and then there's a chicken and then there's the Senate and and then there's the Senate, and they're like,
Starting point is 00:24:45 hey man, they're the Fox, and they're like, don't worry, we know for sure you need to take the grain to shore. It's crazy, this guy's getting nuts. It's crazy, man. He's gonna, he is gonna ruin a lot of shit. He's gonna ruin a lot of shit. It's the worst. It's my hope, he is gonna ruin a lot of shit. He's gonna ruin a lot of shit. It's the worst.
Starting point is 00:25:05 It's my hope. It's my great hope. There was a couple of places, I think it was No Illusions who said this when he was on the show when you were out. And he might be right. He had said one of RFK's greatest downfalls could be that he is too left on too many policies
Starting point is 00:25:24 and that bothers the right wingers and they might not allow him in because they just think they don't like his opinions on abortion and other things that he thinks are okay. He doesn't fall in line with a typical right winger and that might be his downfall. He's not like fucking Pete Hegseth who's gonna just fucking swallow the rights dick
Starting point is 00:25:45 He's he's kind of marches to his own, too. Yeah, I think that he was Politically the rights useful idiot. Yeah, you know, I really do and I think this like Secretary of Health and Human Services was his prizy that he got, you know Like sure and I don't think that they care that much if he gets it because like they already got what they needed from them. That's interesting. It's not like a Musk, right? And it's even not like a Hegseth.
Starting point is 00:26:14 I think they're digging in on Hegseth in large part because they want to flex their muscle. This is a chance for them to say, Hey, this is a really unpalatable, shitty, monstrous, unqualified candidate. We're going to get him through anyway as a way to fucking flex dick. But for RFK, they already got what they needed at RFK. He doesn't have any long-term value. He's not a billionaire. You know, he's not like a Musk. So like, I actually think that they could jettison him. Yeah, they could just tell him no. Right. And I think that'd be okay. I think, I think he might even, he might just be brought up there and then they'll be like, no, we don't like your policies. And then they'll have an opportunity to grandstand about abortion and then turn him down and then
Starting point is 00:26:55 get somebody else in there. Exactly. So stock up on your vaccines though. One, one, one chilling piece from this article that I want to read. This was written by, this is what Miller said. Miller said, RFK will be confirmed and those who are spending their time undermining him will have no place and no voice at HHS. Good luck and best wishes to them. And what that means is if you're not on the fucking Trump train,
Starting point is 00:27:27 we don't want to hear from you. I realize that there's a group of people out there, we're not reaching those people, those people don't listen to this show. But I realize that there's a group of people out there who need to hear that they're saying this. Because we need to show at every turn that they're actively not having a government of the people.
Starting point is 00:27:46 Right? When you get an office, you need to pay attention to everything. Doctors need to listen to each other. Right? Like this entire group of people need to work together to make sure we have, you know, the best healthcare that we can have in our current system. And if they're not working together and they're working unilaterally under one mind, that's not as good. And we, I think as a nation need to recognize that what,
Starting point is 00:28:11 what is happening is, is that if you don't march to a certain tune, you're not going to be heard in this administration. You'll be actively ostracized. We need to make sure that people know that has a real fucking bad thing. Yeah, yeah man, 100%. When Obama got into office, for all of Obama's faults, he really followed the Lincoln example. That was what he wanted to do, right? He wanted to have people in his administration that specifically disagreed with him
Starting point is 00:28:40 as a way to sort of have that intellectual safety, that check and balance. And I think it's important to have people in our lives that are like that, right? I'm not talking about MAGA goofballs. Those people are untouchable, unreachable. Some of those people are just like, you can't communicate. They're poisoned, like their minds are poisoned, right?
Starting point is 00:28:56 But I have been thinking about this, that it would be good to have more people in our lives that challenge our views, that do not have that echo. And that's just as a person, just as a human being in the world. But my God, if you're setting public policy, I'm setting policy, man. Don't I want more people to challenge my views
Starting point is 00:29:18 rather than less? Cecil, can I complain about vaccines for just a second? Go ahead. So you know I'm'm a giant crazy proponent of vaccines. I want all the vaccines. I want to drink vaccines. I want to shoot them into my fucking eyeballs. I do not want to catch diseases. So I want all the vaccines.
Starting point is 00:29:35 It makes me so crazy that I can't get an RSV vaccine. Even though RSV is going around and I have asthma until I turn 60. No shit. They just won't, I even, I asked my doctor, I'm like, dude, I got asthma. So I'm like, can I have the RSV? I don't want to get RSV.
Starting point is 00:29:57 It would be very unpleasant for me to get a respiratory virus, right? I don't want that. And he's like, yeah, sorry, I'd love to give it to you. He's like, I think it would be, but they test these vaccines sometimes only on the most vulnerable population. And if they're only tested
Starting point is 00:30:13 on the most vulnerable population, then they're only approved for that population because that's the only cohort that they were tested within. But it's like, but I don't want to get it. If it's safe for some 60 year old guy? It's safe for me at 47. I have an idea. During the pandemic, there were people who were selling ivermectin and
Starting point is 00:30:34 hydroxychloroquine. They were in unethical doctors who were, who were writing prescriptions for things they knew didn't work. Find one of those guys. And be like, hey, I would like to get a vaccine. And they- I told them, I was like, I'll pay cash. Like, don't put it through my insurance. They will show up at your house
Starting point is 00:30:54 and then they will open their coat and there will be all kinds of needles inside. I'll just be like a fucking porcupine. Which one would you like? I'll say yes. The same is true of shingles. I can't get the shingles vaccine until I'm 50. And that was because the shingles vaccine was only tested on a cohort of people 50 years and older.
Starting point is 00:31:17 But increasingly younger people are getting shingles. I had a mild case of shingles, thankfully. Yeah, you had mentioned, yeah. You can get it more than once. I don't really wanna have shingles. I had a little, I had a mild case of shingles. Yeah, yeah, you had mentioned, yeah. You can get it more than once. I don't really wanna have shingles. I didn't like it. You weren't a fan. I was not a fan.
Starting point is 00:31:32 It was a little, like thank God I had a very mild case, but it was like unpleasant. It felt like I had a sunburn on one part of my leg that just wouldn't go away all the time. That's all I had. Most people get a lot worse than that. I was very grateful. But like, I was trying to get that vaccine. I almost got the fucking chicken pox
Starting point is 00:31:49 vaccine just like, just give me that one. It's close enough. I'll take the lesser one. Yeah. Get ready for a Las Vegas style action at Bet MGM, the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. With our ever-growing library of digital slot games, a large selection of online table games, and signature Bet MGM service, there's no better way to bring the excitement and ambience of Las Vegas home to you than with Bet MGM Casino. Download the Bet MGM Casino app today! Bet MGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly.
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Starting point is 00:32:52 Hi, I'm Chris Gethered and I'm very excited to tell you about Beautiful Anonymous, a podcast where I talk to random people on the phone. I tweet out a phone number, thousands of people try to call, I talk to one of them, they stay anonymous, I can't hang up, that's all the rules. I never know what's gonna happen. We get serious ones. I've talked with meth dealers on their way to prison. I've talked to people who survived mass shootings.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Crazy funny ones. I talked to a guy with a goose laugh. Somebody who dresses up as a pirate on the weekends. I never know what's gonna happen. It's a great show. Subscribe today, beautiful anonymous. Okay, um, your dad's not trying to find you. Your son is. That kid's your son. You're the dad.
Starting point is 00:33:35 I made a huge tiny mistake. This was a very interesting article. This was out of the Guardian. Really interesting. There are a lot of bitter people here, and I'm one of them. Rust belt voters on why they backed Trump again despite his broken promises. Many in Youngstown, Ohio, believe the president-elect will tackle the town's decline this time. Others are worried about his character flaws.
Starting point is 00:33:57 Their concerns explain how he returned to power and how his second term might play out. This was a depressing article. I had feelings after reading this article, like for real, because on the one hand, they're describing, they paint this picture of Youngstown, Ohio, which is really the quintessential Rust Belt state example here in America.
Starting point is 00:34:21 It is a state that had, back in like the 1960s and 70s, it had a thriving industrial economy. And that economy really represented not just a town, but an America that no longer exists. And what I mean by that is like, there was a time in these, in these, in now Rust Belt, but in these industrial thriving communities where a single good paying job that you could get right out of high school could support yourself and a family. And those jobs dried up and went away. Those plants closed, that industry shuttered. And then another thing happened at the same time.
Starting point is 00:35:03 And I feel like sometimes the people in those Rust Belt towns kind of, they only got one of two important memos. The one memo is that like the industrial base in this country pretty much collapsed. That memo they definitely got. And I feel for all of these people, very, very much. But the other memo that seems to be sort of intentionally
Starting point is 00:35:26 not there because politicians lie about it all the time is that there is probably not going to be a return to an America where a high school degree or high school diploma will allow one person in a family to get a job that supports that family. That those times are probably just gone. We are probably in a new part of the American economy, which means that outside of a lucky few who are really at the top earner position, the middle-class base that allowed a single income
Starting point is 00:36:01 to support a family, that concept is gone. That economic reality is gone. That economic reality is gone. But we keep, politicians keep going into the rust belt and promising a return as if there's going to be this micro geographical economy where industry will reappear and at the same time that second memo goes away, the clock goes backwards, and a single income now supports an entire family. And it's depressing. It's upsetting because these people are just being fucking lied to.
Starting point is 00:36:33 And they're stuck, dude. And there's no getting them unstuck. And I think that one of the messages you should see when you read this article is that there's a group of people there that are angry. They don't believe politicians anymore. And they very much just want to upset the apple cart. Yeah, they very much just want to change what's happening because it's not good for them. They have to work too much. There's not as many they they don't they don't make nearly as much money to support themselves.
Starting point is 00:37:05 Every moment is second to second, not even paycheck to paycheck. There's a lot of people just in real bad hardship. When the politicians come there, they said most of these people that they'll talk to are like, yeah, we know they're all bastards, but at least Trump feels like he's saying he wants to change things, feels like he's saying he wants to flip things on their head, feels like he's saying the things they they don't. When you read this article, it almost seems like they don't believe him. Yeah, yeah. They're saying we kind of don't believe him. We think he's a liar, but it's better than someone just coming here and saying, everything's
Starting point is 00:37:46 okay. Right. It, it, it feels like it feels to me like Woodstock 99 where people are mad and they just want to break shit. And that feels like there's a huge, and I get it. Like I, like I understand because we have, we have dismantled the middle class in America. We've made it impossible to the point of ridiculousness to be middle class.
Starting point is 00:38:13 Wage inequality has grown and grown and grown and grown. And like wages have not kept up with inflation at all. The world that these people sort of grew up in is not available in them anymore in America. You know, like I said, the, the, the idea that, cause like, I do think that it should be the case that a single income should be able to provide a reasonable standard of living for a family. I don't think that that's that we should all be striving toward rebuilding that,
Starting point is 00:38:45 but we're not trying to rebuild that. No, our policies very clearly reflect and our, and really, if you look at kind of the philosophical zeitgeist in America, that idea that one person's income can support a family is now sort of touted as like, ah, fucking lazy. Why wouldn't you both want to work? Working is its own. Creating that like, I don't know, creating that sort of shame around both people not working,
Starting point is 00:39:14 despite living in the same environment with no safety nets and no childcare and no, you know, so like all those things that were expensive about having kids and raising a family are now actually more expensive than they've ever been. Housing is unapproachable. Child care is wildly expensive. We've made these things impossible. We've built these impossible barriers to the middle class.
Starting point is 00:39:38 And then we're kind of blaming and shaming the very people who want those things. Yeah. For not being able to have them and for not building them themselves in an environment where they're unattainable. It's fucking wild. It's just wild. I, I, I recognize these people's anger. I think that they, I don't think they thought this through completely.
Starting point is 00:40:00 Yeah. I feel like, I feel like, you know, like Trump's just lying to you, right? I think they, they, there are many that just lying to you, right? I think there are many that suspect it, but really he is. He doesn't care about you. He never cared about you. It's obvious if you just pay attention to him for a minute. I think they are in this, they're stuck in this mode, but I think aggressively, aggressively, the Democratic party or the left side of the aisle at this point, and if it's not the Democrats, it's gotta be somebody, has to go after that group of people and lift them up. That has to be the focus of everything,
Starting point is 00:40:36 is to lift up this wide swath of Americans who have been eating so much shit for the last 20 years. They've been eating so much shit and They are sick and tired of it. They don't want to live like this anymore They're in there like you say there's like all these American dream promises are lost on them There's nothing for them anymore. They can't afford a house until they're in their 60s It's just it's a mess those, there has to be aggressive policies that go after them. And it has to happen or else you're just going to see exactly
Starting point is 00:41:12 what happened last time. They're just going to switch the switch off again. And then they're going to do it again next time. They're going to keep doing, because if they don't see any change, there's no reason to vote for the Republicans. They're not going to do that again because they'll be like, well, you fucked us last. You said eggs were going to be cheaper. They're not. And then they're going to vote for somebody else. So you got to be ready to sweep them up and say, we're fixing this. We're going to do something to fix this, whether it's minimum wage or, you know,
Starting point is 00:41:39 whatever it is that you can do to change things. I mean, there's smarter people out there than me. I'm just a fucking guy with a microphone. I don't know how to change things. I mean, there's smarter people out there than me. I'm just a fucking, I'm a fucking guy with a microphone. I don't know how to fix it, but there's smarter people out there that can plan. I mean, look at Bernie Sanders. That guy's had plans for years on how to target the middle class and lift those people up.
Starting point is 00:41:57 That's who you need to lead this party. You need people like that to lead the party and say, go get those people, lift them up and help them, and they will repay you. Cecil, is part of the problem that the real solutions to wage inequality and wage stagnation and runaway inflation and lack of say, is part of the problem that those solutions
Starting point is 00:42:21 are complicated and not sexy. And let's break shit is simple. So let's break shit is simple. It's very simple. Yeah. I think there's definitely something to that, but I think the key is that you've gotta, since they are so complicated,
Starting point is 00:42:38 you've gotta simplify your message, but be ready to do the hard complicated shit behind the scenes to fix all that. The hard mess it is to rewire that machine. You've gotta be able to do the hard, complicated shit behind the scenes to fix all that. The hard mess it is to rewire that machine. You've got to be able to do it, and you've also got to have a message that's like, we'll fix this. Like, that's your message. Like, we'll fix it.
Starting point is 00:42:55 Because here's the thing, man. You don't have to explain it. We know you don't have to explain it, because Trump never explained a fucking thing he was going to do. They sat him on a stage, and he kept saying, tariff, tariff, tariff, and he has no idea what he's talking about. So it doesn't what you say on the campaign doesn't matter as your vibes. Get your vibes out there.
Starting point is 00:43:16 Tell people like fucking I'm going to fix your shit and be honest with him and be like, I'm going to fix your shit. And then when they ask you how, be like, look, I'm going to fix it. Like, you know what I mean? What does it matter? Nobody fucking cares. Like, just say it. I'm going to fix it. Yeah, it's going to be fixed. You won't believe how fixed it's going to be. It's complicated. I'm going to fix it.
Starting point is 00:43:35 Like, I'm going to fix it. I'm going to fucking make sure that like people have jobs and we bring manufacturing back or whatever it is that you, you know, like make it small and in sound bites. And then you know that there's going to be hard edges, but you're just going to have to fix it. And if you can fix it, you're going to be a fucking amazing leader. People will love you. You'll get two terms. Everyone will love you. Well, and you know, you're exactly right too, because like once you get elected, none of that shit you said matters, right?
Starting point is 00:44:01 Because like what did Trump say about the price of groceries? Turns out that's harder to fix than I thought yeah but like the whole time he's on the campaign trail like my cereal is gonna be a dollar 99 it's the biggest thing he talked about right pot of array kickball change step clap five six seven eight you know what would be good is if you hit kicked and then you kinda did that in a barrel turn and then ha! You know?
Starting point is 00:44:36 That was good. That would be. That was really good. You a dancer? No. No, no, no, not a, I'm just drunk. Ah! Up against the vehicle right now. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Because one of the things he said was, if I get put in place, I'll stop drinking or whatever is what they said.
Starting point is 00:45:07 And a couple of people were like, holy shit, that's the most alcoholic thing I've ever heard. But one person said the best thing. I saw this as a tweet. They said he's a DUI hire. I was like, that's fucking amazing. Oh my God, that's good. That dude had to eat a bunch of shit, but he's going to be our next secretary of defense.
Starting point is 00:45:27 Oh yeah. The thing is like the shit that he ate was the most legitimate shit too. Yeah, oh it was amazing. Like the most, so like Elizabeth Warren takes it to him. So I mean, a lot of people took it to him. So this story though is from Ivy Times. This is Elizabeth Warren uses Hegseth's own words
Starting point is 00:45:47 to call out sudden about face on women to the military. Senator Elizabeth Warren went on attack against Donald Trump's defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth about his comments about women in combat during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services community. She repeatedly quoted from him past interviews and his writings when he said that women
Starting point is 00:46:04 do not belong in combat roles. When Hegseth kept dodging and admitting to his past interviews and exasperated Warren shot back, we've got the video. We're happy to show it. She went on to say his of his supposed change of views. And I love this so much. I've heard of death bed conversions, but this is the first time I've heard of a nomination conversion.
Starting point is 00:46:25 Amazing. It's amazing. It's so good. It's amazing. One of my favorite parts was our Senator, Tammy Duckworth, was grilling this man. Now if you don't know who Tammy Duckworth is, she's a woman who lost most of one leg or both legs, I'm not sure, while she was on active service. So she's injured in war, but she's the center.
Starting point is 00:46:51 She's fucking amazing. One of the things she gets him on there. And she asks him, she says, so what are the ASEAN, tell me what the countries are in the ASEAN alliance and tell me, and I'm misremembering exactly what it's called because I'm not on the stage to be the Department of Defense. You're not in the Senate Armed Services Committee either.
Starting point is 00:47:13 And she says, and tell me what one of our agreements with them are. And she, and he mentions nations that aren't actually in the Southeast Asia Association that she was asking about. And then she looks at him straight in the face. She's like, you're not qualified. Like you're just not qualified. You're not. You don't know anything about what you're talking about.
Starting point is 00:47:33 Like you don't know. I can ask. I'm asking you simple questions. It's like when that guy, the libertarian guy got asked about Aleppo, he's like, where's that? Yeah. Like you're not qualified to be the president. You're not qualified to be the secretary of defense.
Starting point is 00:47:47 These guys, dude, it's like this guy thinks he could just win it on just like charm. He just thinks he could just talk his way into this job. He didn't even know these things. You should walk in and you should be 100% on geography when you walk in. You should know every bit of geography when you walk into that meeting because you know they're going to grill you on it. Well, and like the Republicans, of course, so the Democrats were like, hey, you know, you literally lack all the possible qualifications.
Starting point is 00:48:17 You're a talking head from fucking Fox and Friends. You served in the National Guard for a minute, but like, that's it. That's it. None of this qualifies you to be the head, like none of this qualifies. One of the biggest departments in the United States. Supervising or overseeing billions of dollars. Trillions, it's like a trillion dollar, they have like a trillion dollars
Starting point is 00:48:43 that they oversee. Like a million people or whatever, like a crazy, like it's a crazy giant, one of the largest jobs and like the Republicans who were fucking throwing out softballs, this one Republican see. So just to give you an example of the difference, I heard his thing and he's like, how many bullets fit in a standard issue? This that or the other thing gun. And the guy's like 15 in the fucking magazine or whatever, one in the pipe or whatever the fucking answer was.
Starting point is 00:49:10 Doesn't matter. It's a stupid fucking question that has whether the guy has shot a particular gun or not and knows a thing about that gun is literally the least important possible thing you could know to take this job. It means nothing at all. It is unimportant, aggressively so. But it's fucking, what it was, was this fucking chest thumping, ultra masculine bullshit, right? Oh, that guy's a warrior.
Starting point is 00:49:40 He's a warrior, knows how to shoot guns. He doesn't need to respect women. You know, he doesn't need to, it doesn't matter that he once was heard saying we should kill all the Muslims. That's a, none of that's important. I mean- And he has like a crusader tattoo or whatever.
Starting point is 00:49:55 Yeah, like literally somebody who thinks less of 51% of our population and an entire, like one of the world's largest religious groups. Like, this is a horrible choice. And he's a fucking drunk. His own mother wrote a letter about how he treats women like shit. His own mom, dude. Dude, this guy's a fucking disaster. He's awful. But he's gonna get in. You know he's gonna get passed. He's gonna disaster. He's awful, but he's going to get in. You know, he's going to get past. He's going to get past.
Starting point is 00:50:25 But it's so fucking just mortifying that that guy will be our Department of Defense guy. It's mortifying. It's so depressing and like embarrassing. Yeah. Like it's so like, all of this feels so internationally embarrassing. Like I feel like, like I want to like fly over
Starting point is 00:50:44 to like serious countries and be like, I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry. We shouldn't have done this. Why don't you show me the money, Jason? I know you're not just jerking me off. This story is from the New Republic. Elon Musk suddenly backtracks
Starting point is 00:50:58 on his biggest doge promise. Crazy. In a live interview on X, Wednesday evening with political strategist Mark Penn, the billionaire conceded that his initial goal of cutting the federal budget by at least two trillion was a taller task than he first believed. Grocery prices are hard to bring down. I say it say it. Do you think the two trillion dollars is a realistic number now that you look more closely at it? Penn asked. I think we'll try for two trillion.
Starting point is 00:51:25 I think that's the best case outcome, Musk responded. But I do think that you kind of have to have some overage. I think if we try for two trillion, we've got a good shot at getting one. Yeah, you're off by a fucking 100%. I got a 50% on my homework. That's basically an A. I mean it's only it's half of what a hundred percent would have been Here's the thing man Every single one of these guys has no fucking idea what they were talking about when they made those promises They don't know what they were talking about. They didn't have any idea
Starting point is 00:52:01 Just listen to me. Gosh go back to Trump's first term when he was like the human body. Nobody knew it was this complicated. He was like, healthcare? Oh, we didn't know. We had no idea it was this complicated. There's a lot involved in healthcare. You know what's going to happen? People should go to school for this.
Starting point is 00:52:21 I'm going to make a prediction. All right. There'll be a pie graph eventually with Elon Musk standing next to it. And then they're going to show that he cut like, you know, $20 billion, but then there'll be like a Sharpie that circles a lot of stuff around the other side. That shows that it's over 2 trillion or whatever. So I'll make two predictions Cecil. One, I don't think he'll be able to cut as much as he paid for Twitter.
Starting point is 00:52:50 That's my first prediction. Amazing. And this is the most important part for us all as like citizens to think about. It doesn't matter. You don't see a dollar of it. I don't know what everybody wants to fucking suck the dick of this two trillion dollar. Oh, it cuts to... What do you think is going to happen? Do you think your taxes are going down? They're not going down.
Starting point is 00:53:15 Why do I care? Oh, we cut two trillion dollars out of the budget. Oh, great. So did my effective tax rate go down on my income? No, it didn't change. Never changes, man. They never give it back to me. All that happens is we have less for like public policy and schools and entitlements and social welfare programs. It's not like all that stuff goes away and like I have a lot more money in my account
Starting point is 00:53:44 and I can be evil and greedy. None of that matters because all that's going to happen for the everyday person is fucking nothing. Nothing. Nothing. And all the rest where it's going to hurt is the people on the margins because that's where they're going to cut from. And then if anybody sees a trillion dollar savings, it's going to go to corporations and billionaires. Literally not a dollar of it's going to go to you. You're getting railed.
Starting point is 00:54:08 It doesn't matter. But they've convinced Americans like, oh, there's all this. They're paying $800 for a toilet seat. You're not paying $800. If they buy that toilet seat for $12, do you think you get the $7.88 back? Like, what the fuck is wrong with you? You get nothing. That's what you've always gotten. The Republicans have never given you a fucking dollar. Yeah, there's not a return jar where they take, they cut and then they throw all the
Starting point is 00:54:34 money in a return jar and at the end of the night we split it up amongst all of us. That's not how it works. And you're absolutely right. Like what they cut are some of the programs that are for the most vulnerable, because those people don't have a voice. Yeah. They don't have a lobbyist. They don't have somebody who's constantly shouting in their ear. But somebody like Elon Musk, he's going to increase all the stuff that he gets riches off of.
Starting point is 00:54:56 Yeah. So he's going to be like, yeah, I'm never going to cut the subsidies for fucking green energy because I'm getting a shit ton of that money when people buy Teslas and when I sell Teslas. So why would I cut cut that are you crazy? Yeah, that's my money fuck off You think he's gonna go anywhere near the shit that he likes of course not he's gonna cut your funding for your kids or something He's gonna cut local any kind of funding that that that benefits people that are not like him That's what he's gonna do So if if he even cuts anything even if he even lasts for the first week in the
Starting point is 00:55:28 White House, who the fuck even knows? We should do Cecil, we should do a predictions game. We should write down once all of his, let's do this. Let's do this for Cogniz. We should write down his entire cabinet and then we'll put dates next to it. Oh, nice. And we'll see if we can like, and we should, we should maybe, I don't know if we want to measure it in Scaramoochies
Starting point is 00:55:51 or if we want to measure it in, like what unit of measure we should use. But I am like, for Pete Hegseth, for example, here is the only, like, I take some solace in knowing he won't last a year. Yeah, that's right. These guys don't last. Right.
Starting point is 00:56:08 If he does, I think he just doesn't do anything. Like if he lasts longer than a year, he just didn't do anything. Right. He just went to an office every day. Yeah. And that's it. Just got some money. Like that one guy who like remodeled his office.
Starting point is 00:56:22 Remember that? If the EPA chief, remember the EPA chief and Trump's first term that spent like tens of thousands of dollars remodeling his office. Well, and, and, and let me tell you the, the, the fucking plan should be. Because you got Trump in there. So you're fucked, right? You're fucked for four years. You'll not, even if you fucking win back both houses and the Senate or the House and the Senate in the
Starting point is 00:56:46 midterms doesn't fucking matter. You can't do anything with it. You could pass a million fucking if you win a million, you had fucking a super majority wouldn't matter. Right. You know, you're gonna get you're never gonna get past Trump. So it doesn't matter. Right. Maybe if you had like a crazy, crazy majority, I think you get past it with a like you can go past the veto. Is there a way to do that? Yeah, you can have, you can override a veto.
Starting point is 00:57:08 You can override a veto if you have enough votes, but it's, you've got to like, you got to like make sure you have it. But in any case, regardless, the plan should be try to fix anything you can and then make Trump look bad when he won't do it, right? Like making sweeping bills that would totally help a million bunch of people.
Starting point is 00:57:24 And if he doesn't sign it, he's a fucking asshole and it ruins his chances and his party's chances next time. But the other thing you need to do is make every single one of his appointments life hell. You need to call him in at every chance you get and be like, why did you spend this much money? What happened here?
Starting point is 00:57:43 Butter emails, all this stuff that you can do to bring them on the carpet and make it look, make their fucking life a living hell for the last two years of his term. If you can win both those places back, because if you can't do that, those guys are running free for four years and America can't take that. You've got to curtail that as best you can. Uh, what do you think, Abdul? Can you give me a number crunch real quick? Yeah, give me a sec.
Starting point is 00:58:09 I'm coming up with 32.33, repeating of course, percentage of survival. That's a lot better than we usually do. Alright, thumbs up. Let's do this. Leroy Niggans. Oh my God, he just ran in. Save him. Oh geez, stick to the plane. Oh geez, let's go, let's go.
Starting point is 00:58:30 Let's go, let's go. Stick to the pledge. Stick to the plane. So speaking of Elon Musk, this is just funny. This is from Yahoo News. Gamers are accusing Elon Musk of cheating at popular video games by allegedly turning the loopholes and hiring better users to play for him.
Starting point is 00:58:47 So I guess Elon Musk was bragging about being one of the top ranked Diablo four players and hold on, Tom, hold on. Now, Tom, occasionally you and I will do a show and there'll be an amazing thing that'll pop up in your area of expertise. Yeah. So it'll be like housing industry. And then I'll just turn it over to you and be like, Tom, tell us what's happening here. So I'm going to take the reins for a minute. Talk me through it, buddy.
Starting point is 00:59:14 Because I play both these games. It's Diablo 4 and what's the other one? Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2. So Path of Exile 2 is currently the number fourth ranked game on Steam. Path of Exile 1 was kind of a niche game. It's a lot like Diablo except for it's a little more complicated. Like building a character is a lot more intricate. And so there's a lot more different ways in which you can have a character and a lot more
Starting point is 00:59:40 things that you can do than Diablo is very linear. This is a little more, it's a little more complicated, a lot more complicated actually. And they came out with a new game recently. It's in beta. It's not, it's not, it's, uh, it's in the sort of play test phase. It's not fully released yet and it's called Path of Exile 2. And I got this game. I was playing it.
Starting point is 01:00:01 Now I'm not a God gamer. I'm just a dude who plays, right? I'm just a guy who plays. I don't play hardcore. The things that Elon was doing was playing hardcore characters. And if you're unfamiliar with hardcore characters, if a character dies in this game, they're just dead and that character is done. It can't play again. You die one time. That's it. That's the end of the game.
Starting point is 01:00:19 So it's... So you lose all your shit? You lose everything. It's all over, right? Now, in some games, they will port you to, essentially to the moment you die, you can't trade with any of the other hardcore characters and you can't give equipment and stuff between your hardcore characters, but it can go to what they call softcore, which are the people who can just die as many times and they just get resurrected. And you can, that'll basically turn you from a hardcore to a softcore character. Sometimes it just says, you're just done.
Starting point is 01:00:46 It just depends on the game. I don't know what those parameters are, because I never play a hardcore character, because I'm just an old guy who plays video games. Like I'm not like a really good guy who's trying to do things competitively. But these games can get very competitive. And in this case, there's a thing called a ladder.
Starting point is 01:01:02 Now the ladder is, for these hardcore characters and for other types of characters, they have a thing called a ladder. Now the ladder is, for these hardcore characters and for other types of characters, they have a thing called a ladder. And these are the characters that have built their characters, these guys built their characters up to a very high level, and they're playing the hardest content in the game. In order to get your character into the top 10 on these ladders, you need to be playing this video game for 20 hours a day minimum. That's a minimum.
Starting point is 01:01:26 Jesus fucking shit. Are you kidding? Right? Cecil, I just want to point out there are only 24 hours in a day even if you play video games. Yeah. These guys play an intense amount of time, but you know, like a lot of these people are streamers.
Starting point is 01:01:40 This is how they make their income. And when the game first releases, right, that's when they make their most money. It's like the big rush at your work when you have to stay late hours. When the game first releases, all these Twitch streamers and YouTube content creators, they spend up, you know,
Starting point is 01:01:57 they're working around the clock for weeks at a time. And many of these guys, they show you that they are on the top of this ladder. They're doing the toughest content. They're playing the hardest stuff. And they show Elon, Elon goes online and he's like, he's trying to tell people what he's doing, right? So he's trying to describe what he's doing, but he's getting all the terminology wrong. And he's walking around and he's saying things that no one would ever say.
Starting point is 01:02:27 And the very best part, was it all about the coaching? Cause I feel like... Yeah. Very best part Tom, where you know it was someone else. You know someone else was using his computer to, and his character to run it and make it very, you know, this 99th level. Cause there's no way Elon Musk is spending 20 hours
Starting point is 01:02:45 at a computer playing this game. No, that makes no sense. There's no way he's doing it. Instead, he's paying someone to run his character up, and then he's taking credit for it. Well, the reason why it's super obvious is, he has no idea what any of the equipment on him does. He has some of literally the best,
Starting point is 01:03:04 like what they call mirror tier. It doesn't make any sense to you, but he has like mirror tier gear. but any of the equipment on him does. He has some of literally the best, like what they call mirror tier. It doesn't make any sense to you, but he has like mirror tier gear. So it's like the highest level tier gear. It's like gear you can't even as a, even as a really dedicated player, you might never see a piece of this gear ever in your life.
Starting point is 01:03:19 He's got all, all his gear is just decked out amazing. And he's kind of shitting on it, being like, this is only like a level 53 pair of gloves, but they seem to work. And you're like, dude, those gloves are the best gloves. They're better than anyone else in the game. No one else has those gloves. No one else would ever be able to get those gloves.
Starting point is 01:03:39 They're that good. And he doesn't even know what he has, because he doesn't know. And then they open his inventory. And this is the best part You have a you have maps these maps that you go through that you have to like plug into this thing It's like a generator and it generates a brand new map for you, and you go into it right well He opens up his inventory and in the corner on the tab it says Elon's Maps
Starting point is 01:04:02 It says, Elon's Maps. So, he's referring to himself either in the third person, or there is someone who he's paying a lot of money to, to... Game for him. To game for him. And then so he could take all the accolades. Oh my god, I love it. And the best part is, is that like I saw a clip of Joe Rogan talking about this with another guy being like, man, he's just like, he's just like so fucking amazing. He just like run a space rocket industry
Starting point is 01:04:27 and he's got Tesla and he's the CEO of Twitter. And he's like the best Diablo gamer too, man. He's like the best. It's just like, he's so good at everything. And you're like, dude, he's lying to you. Yeah, right. He's not the best at any of those things, but he's almost certainly not the best at the other things
Starting point is 01:04:42 cause he's paying people to do the work for him. Jesus Christ He's like he's lying for cred with gamers, man Dude I do wonder though if he could throw this football over those mountains I guarantee he can't know like this he has to go. He has to go pay that strongest man in the world And that's strongest man in the world. That's the staple of mass that makes him look like Elon Musk for a few minutes. What a fucking goofy fucking thing to go through this much effort and money to lie about. It's so, it's so tragic and like, like just, it's so cringed.
Starting point is 01:05:19 Who's he? The thing here's what's crazy about that. The people Cecil that he could fool wouldn't value it. Yeah. Right? And the people that value that, he can't fool. So like if he could fool me, right? If he was like, oh, I'm the number seven Diablo 4 player. I don't know what mirror gear is.
Starting point is 01:05:40 I don't know that you have to play 20 hours a day to get that high up. I don't know any of that stuff until I just learned it from you. So if he told me that I'd be like, goddamn dude, fucking good at Diablo four. But I don't care. Yeah. But so for me, it's not a flex. Right? I'm just like cool hobby, man.
Starting point is 01:05:57 I have your hobbies. I don't care. But the people that like really value that immediately see through it. So it's actually the weirdest lie possible because it doesn't when it works. It's stupid when it doesn't work. He's stupid is and the best part is, is that there's people who have been calling him out for it. One of these guys who called him out is Quinn 69. He does a path of exile streams.
Starting point is 01:06:18 He's this meathead guy who plays characters. These hardcore characters. He's one of those guys on that tier, right? He's one of those guys on that hardcore tier and he's playing the game and he did a whole debunking video of him, of showing him, but there's another guy who's like a right wing guy, his name's like Asmongold or something like that. I don't watch this particular person. I don't watch a lot of these guys.
Starting point is 01:06:40 I just know of them. But this guy is like a right leaning guyaning guy, and I guess he talks shit. So Elon started leaking his DMs on Twitter out because he was mad at him. So he's leaking his DMs. He took his blue checkmark away because the guy said, Hey, you're lying about being a top tier Path of Exile 2 player. And so Elon threw a fit and like fucked him over on Twitter. And went into his account and started Fucking yeah, yeah linking DMS. Yeah linking DMS between him. Yes. Why oligarchs are bad, right?
Starting point is 01:07:12 Like he's the worst Elon Elon Musk is the worst god. He's such a child. He's such a baby He's such a spoiled brat and he's such a liar. He's the worst He's the guy who would bite you over to his house When you were a kid and he would play a one-player game while you sat there and he would never share the controller That's Elon Musk. Yep. Yep. I had a friend in Six or seventh grade that did that shit all the time like did that we didn't go like it was house Did you have that same friend in eighth grade? Nope
Starting point is 01:07:44 I was like no that dude sucks. Yeah Did that we didn't go like it was how did you have that same friend in eighth grade? No that dude sucks. Yeah, that dude sucks. Fuck that guy. Yeah, fuck that guy All right, that's gonna wrap it up for this week I do want to remind people that I have another show that I'm still trying to grow So if you want to head over it's a really fun show called the No Rogan Experience, K-N-O-W, you can find it at noroganknowrogan.com. It's a collaboration between myself and Michael Marshall from Skeptics with a K, and the editor of the Skeptic UK Magazine.
Starting point is 01:08:21 He's a real smart guy and I get a chance to talk to him. We review an episode of Joe Rogan once a week. We just dropped a few episodes last week. The show seems to be people really like it. So if you and if you would like to hear what's happening on Rogan, here's some people talk about what Rogan is saying on the clips as well as his guests. You can go check it out. We really appreciate it. It would be it'd be really awesome if you just went over and just like gave it a listen and see what you think. We think it's a really worthwhile show. So please head on over to knowrogan.com and give it a try. All right. That's going to wrap it up for this week. We're going to leave you like we always do
Starting point is 01:08:57 with the Skeptic Screed. 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 bigfoot yeti aliens churches mosques and synagogues temples dragons giant worms atlantis dolphins truthers birthers witches wizards, shaman healers, evangelists, conspiracy, doublespeak, stigmata, nonsense.
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