QAA Podcast - Episode 144: Matt Gaetz Rallies Through It

Episode Date: May 27, 2021

Field reporting from a rally Gaetz organized with Marjorie Taylor Greene, a deep dive into the congressman's scandal, and a Jake story. We give Matthew the royal treatment. ↓↓↓↓ SUBSCRIBE FOR $5 A MONTH SO YOU DON'T MISS THE SECOND WEEKLY EPISODE ↓↓↓↓ https://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous QAA Merch / Join the Discord Community / Find the Lost Episodes / Etc: https://qanonanonymous.com Episode music by Doom Chakra Tapes (http://doomchakratapes.bandcamp.com) & Nick Sena (http://nicksenamusic.com)

What's up QAA listeners? The fun games have begun. I found a way to connect to the internet. I'm sorry, boy. Welcome listener to Chapter 144 of the Q&ONANANANANANANIS podcast. The Matt Gates Rallies Through It episode. As always, we are your host, Jake Rockatansky, Julian Fields, and Travis Vue. Mr. Matthew Lewis Gates, the second.

a.k.a. Venmo the Magnificent, aka de eight ball hog, is the subject of this week's episode. He is currently facing an extensive scandal involving allegations that he, and other men involved in what is essentially a sex trafficking ring, paid a 17-year-old for sex among a slew of other corrupt political and business dealings. Intrepid QAA reporter Travis View made his way to Mesa, Arizona this past Friday, to attend an America First event, organized as part of a broader tour by Matt Gates and his tag. team partner in the storm, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green. Travis will be sharing clips from a couple of interviews he conducted with red-pilled attendees and of course some clips from the speeches, as well as shares

impressions with us of the two and a half hour-long rally. Is MAGA destined to rise again? Matt Gates, 39 years old, is currently serving as U.S. representative for Florida's first congressional district, with the smile of an angel and the political mind of of Little Carmine Lupertazi. He set out to conquer political hearts in 2013, following in the footsteps of his father, Don Gates, who had been the president of the Florida Senate and made millions in the private health care sector.

The Gates family, in fact, is a bit of a political dynasty, with Matt's grandfather having been a mayor and state legislator in North Dakota before the bloodline trickled over to Florida. In fact, Matt was known as Baby Gates in the Sunshine State as he rose to political prominence, his dad being Papa Gates. Just from a Politico piece from Gary Fineout about Papa Gates. Don has a lot of power and friends in Florida politics. One Florida political operative said, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to anger the Elder Gates.

Quote, there are a lot of people who owe him favors. They are repaying those favors by staying silent about his son. Or as Ray Sansom, a former Northwest Florida legislator who used to have a close working relationship with Gates put it, quote, there's obviously people who respect Don. There's obviously people who feel like they have been hurt by him. Don's very rough. If he's against you, he's against you in a very rough way. Don, at the age of 16, had watched his own father die on television during the 1964 Republican Party convention.

Just keeled over and his kid's watching it. And that's Matt Gates' dad at age 16. It actually sounds like a supervillain origin story, but political-based. It'd be like it sounds so improbable. Like watching his dad die at a party convention? Yes. What's the details of that? How did he die? I believe it was something related to his heart or something like that. But essentially he keeled over live on TV and his son, Don Gates, was watching at age 16. And then he decided, yes, this is the career for me. And then he took up drinking. So good, good. That's exactly correct. It did not deter him from pursuing his own political career, which for some, it might.

His vision of politics was elaborated in a fair way. message that he penned to his constituents in 2016. I cherish the smash-mouth fights over matters of principle. I richly earned my opponents, giving, I hope, as good as I got. Politics can be thrilling and noble, just as it can be based and disgusting. The Passion of the Gates. Matt Gates was elected to Congress in 2016 and has been one of the most vociferous political figures in support of Trump and the MAGA movement.

But on March 30th of 2021, the New York Times reported that Gates was, Being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter. The three people said that the examination of Mr. Gates 38 is part of a broader investigation into a political ally of his, a local official in Florida named Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on an array of charges, including sex trafficking of a child, and financially supporting people in exchange for sex, at least one of whom was an underage girl. Mr. Greenberg, who has since resigned his post as tax collector in Seminole County, visited the White House with Mr. Gates in 2019, according to a photograph that Mr. Greenberg posted on Twitter. No charges have been brought against Mr. Gates, and the extent of his criminal exposure is unclear. Mr. Gates said in an interview that his lawyers had been in touch with the Justice Department and that they were told he was the subject, not the target, of an investigation.

I only know that it has to do with women, Mr. Gates said, I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward. Mr. Gates called the investigation part of an elaborate scheme involving false sex allegations to extort him and his family for $25 million that began this month. He said he and his father, Don Gates, had been cooperating with the FBI and wearing a wire after they were approached by people saying they could make the investigation go away. Mr. Gates claimed the disclosure of the sex trafficking inquiry was intended to thwart an investigation into the extortion plot. In a second interview late Tuesday, the congressman said he had no plans to resign his house seat and denied that he had romantic relationships with minors.

It is verifiably false that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman, he said. So this is one of the weird aspects, right? The idea that Don Gates was wearing a wire. And so I kind of dug into it and found out that the Washington Post had reported on March 31st about these claims of extortion clarifying them and explaining that the supposed extorters had caught wind of the Justice Department investigation into Baby Gates and wanted to offer an opportunity to help his son, the people said. He could give a huge sum of money to fund their effort to locate Robert A. Levinson, the longest held American hostage in Iran, whose family has said they were told he is dead. If the operation were a success, he would win public favor and help alleviate Matt Gates's legal woes. But Don Gates, a prominent Florida Republican who once led the state Senate, viewed the communications suspiciously, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe a continuing and politically sensitive probe.

The investigation into Matt Gates's alleged crime, he is suspected of having sex with a 17-year-old girl, as well as funding her travel, was not public knowledge. fearing his family was being extorted, Don Gates contacted the FBI. The whole thing is just such a disgusting cluster fuck. It's a bit like a giant Rube Goldberg machine, and it's very possible that Gates' dad unwittingly contributed to the investigation of his own son, which is really, really funny. I mean, we'll see how this shakes out. I mean, like everyone has, I guess, a difficult relationship with their father sometimes,

but, you know, I guess I've never had been in a situation where I was worried about being sent to prison because my dad was too friendly with the FBI. By April 1st, the New York Times reported that the investigation was, quote, to be focused on cash paid to women and seemed centered on Joel Greenberg, the aforementioned close associate and friend of Gates, who was described in the press as his wingman. It's unclear exactly when they became friends, but the Daily Beast reported that the pair met with Roger Stone for dinner on July 8th, 2017,

and took pictures of it and both posted those pictures. By 2018, Greenberg told BuzzFeed that Gates was, quote, his political mentor. And photos were posted by family members showing Gates holding Greenberg's baby on multiple occasions. One of them was mentioned in an earlier articleist at that time at the White House, which also, that photo has Donald Trump smiling and giving a thumbs up next to all of it. It's incredible. Greenberg was another rich kid. His dad owned 92 dental offices across the state of Florida. He founded an ad agency and hosted short-lived the Joel Greenberg show on a local radio station, which was a sports-themed show, I guess, kind of like barstool-style stuff.

In 2016, Greenberg ran against a 78-year-old who had been serving for nearly 30 years and nabbed the position of Seminole County Tax Collector. The Daily Beast, Paglieri and Solenberg wrote on April 3rd. Once in office, Greenberg immediately took out large of steps for what should have been a low-profile and boring job. He moved the agency out of its rent-free government offices. He hired his friends. He handed out. He handed out. He handed out of questionable contracts to long-time associates. He used his tax collector badge to pose as law enforcement and pull over a speeder. He's like, I got a badge now. He's like, excuse me, sir, have you paid all your taxes? Are you speeding? Because you almost hit me on my way to go do

ecstasy with a 17-year-old I'm paying for sex. He even tried to get some tax employees to carry guns. But it was another type of alleged abuse of power that would eventually rope in his friend, Matt Gates. Greenberg, whose government agency was tasked with shredding expired driver's licenses, was illegally creating fake IDs, according to investigators. Oh, my God. Literally, I mean, just the dumbest frat boy stuff, all of it. Just fantastic. And Gates was with him when the pair was caught on surveillance footage,

visiting the Lake Mary branch of the tax collector's office on a weekend in an April 2018, according to several people with knowledge of the incident. When asked by an employee if he had visited the office over the weekend, Greenberg responded via text. Yes, I was showing Congressman Gates what our operation looked like. Did I leave something on? Images of text messages obtained by the Daily Beast show that Greenberg involved the congressman even further with a personal favor in September of that year. That's when he went outside of official protocol and directed an employee on a Sunday afternoon to quickly produce Gates

a duplicate ID. Yeah. So he's just like showing him around the shop. And by the way, boys, it's very possible that what he was showing his friend was, I'm not kidding, the taxpayer-funded Bitcoin mining rig that he put together. It killed the switchboard

locally. They had to relocate it and then it caught fire and they had to deal with the damages of that. Oh my God. Just truly, I mean, these guys are the best. It's like an Adam Sandler character playing a criminal. Yeah, or it's like Richie, or it's like blank check. Like the kid is like, I want to put a McDonald's in the tax collector's office.

Like, just fucking, oh, God. The New York Times also dove into the sex trafficking aspects of the two men's relationship. Katie Benner and Michael Schmidt reported, The Times has reviewed receipts from Cash App, a mobile payments app, an Apple Pay, that show payments for Mr. Gates and Mr. Greenberg to one of the women, and a payment for Mr. Greenberg to a second woman. The woman told their friends that the payments were for sex with the two men, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

In encounters during 2019 and 2020, Mr. Gates and Mr. Greenberg instructed the women to meet at certain times and places, often at hotels around Florida, and would tell them the amount of money they were willing to pay, according to the messages and interviews. One person said that the men also paid in cash, sometimes withdrawn from a hotel ATM. Some of the men and women took ecstasy, an illegal mood-altering drug before having sex, including Mr. Gates, two people familiar with the encounters, said. In some cases, Mr. Gates asked women to help find others who might be interested in having sex with him and his friends, according to two people familiar with those conversations. Should anyone inquire about their relationships, one person said, Mr. Gates told the women to say that he had paid for hotel rooms and dinners as.

part of their dates. The FBI has questioned multiple women involved in the encounters, including as recently as January, to establish details of their relationships with Mr. Gates and his friends, according to text messages, and two people familiar with the interviews. The folks over at The Daily Beast also went deeper on these records by guessing that he would use Venmo and leave it publicly open, which was a good bet. It turned out that Gates had a bunch of Venmo transactions as well. If only they had like successful, set up that Bitcoin miner. They wouldn't be in this situation. Just send it to the women's Bitcoin wallets. Actually, you'll hear what he had in plan for at least some of his Bitcoin

as an escape strategy in a bit. More tawdry details were reported by CNN that same day, including that... Gates allegedly showed off to other lawmakers, photos and videos of nude women he said he had slept with, the sources told CNN, including while on the house floor. The sources, including two people directly shown the material, said Gates displayed the images of women on his phone and talked about having sex with them. One of the videos showed a naked woman with a hula hoop, according to one source. On top of that, the behavior dates back. I mean, he has a reputation for doing exactly this kind of thing.

There was a tweet made by Chris Latvala, who's a Republican Florida state rep, okay, on his side, supposedly. It was made on January 13, 2020, and it was a response to Gates tweeting negatively about Al Sharpton. Latval was, he had pictured himself with Al Sharpton meeting with him. So this is what Lopoul said in response to Gates's tweet. You created a game where members of the Florida House got points for sleeping with AIDS, interns, lobbyists, and married legislators. Hope D.C. is treating you well, Congressman.

Because this is, of course, just a huge Florida family feud, Gates shot back. Just because I own you on Twitter, don't confuse me for your daddy when it comes to abusing power for sex. Which seemed like a weird flex, but Latval's father did resign in 2017 after the State Senate. was forced to pay nearly a million dollars to settle a complaint filed by a high-ranking legislative aid accusing him of sexual misconduct. Meanwhile, Matt Gates refused to admit any wrongdoing. He wrote an opinion piece published in the Washington Examiner on April 5th entitled, The Swamp is Out to Drown Me with False Charges, but I'm Not Giving Up.

It contained florid passages like this one. Folks won't be surprised that bizarre claims are being made about me shortly after I decided to take on the most powerful institutions in the Beltway. The establishment, the FBI, the Biden Justice Department, the Cheney Political Dynasty, even the Justice Department under Trump. Yes, just like the mafia, the D.C. swamp protects its made men. Since I'm taking my turn under the gun, let me address the allegations against me directly. First, I have never, ever paid for sex.

And second, I, as an adult man, have not slept with a 17-year-old. Weird way to phrase that. Predictably, the anti-Trump cheerleaders such as Megan McCain, Bill Crystal, and sadly, some of my feckless colleagues in Congress, are going to call for me to resign. This is how D.C. works. The guilty and wrong point fingers at the innocent and right. Remember President Joe Biden's Ukraine scandal,

or the Lincoln Project's professions of moral superiority, Their scorn and moral posturing is all merely projection. And no, I am absolutely not resigning. But reporters followed up on the story aggressively, especially the aforementioned Jose Paglieri and Roger Solenberg over the Daily Beast. They chased down details about Matt's wingman, Joel Greenberg, and uncovered a series of communication between Greenberg and others involved in the alleged sex ring, as well as a series of Instagram posts by sex workers close to the matter,

who may also be speaking to federal investigators. On April 30th, they reported on a confession letter that Joel Greenberg, Greenberg had written to Roger Stone, hoping to obtain a pardon and offering the man $250,000 in Bitcoin. From his fucking rig. Even Roger admits that the conversation happened, but denies. Yeah. In it, Greenberg claimed that... On more than one occasion, this individual was involved in sexual activities with several of the other girls.

The congressman from Florida's first congressional district and myself, Greenberg wrote in reference to the 7th. 17-year-old. On May 14th, the Daily Beast reported that Joel Greenberg had publicly flipped on Matt Gates and was entering a plea deal with federal investigators after being indicted on 33 criminal accounts, including theft, stalking, cryptocurrency fraud, small business administration loan fraud, and yes, sex trafficking a minor. Here's from the article. Greenberg, the former Seminole County tax collector, says he acted, quote, in reckless disregard when he had sex with a 17-year-old girl at least seven times. Jesus Christ.

He also claims that he connected the teen to others who also engaged in commercial sex acts with her. According to the plea, Greenberg sometimes paid a bonus to his sexual partners, including the minor, if they took ecstasy with him. Jesus fucking Christ.

And he also used taxpayer funds to facilitate sex with the girl at an Orlando area embassy suites. In the filing, Greenberg admits to six felonies, including sex trafficking, two identity theft crimes, wire fraud, stalking, and conspiracy to commit offense against the United States, a crime stemming from COVID relief loans Greenberg fraudulently obtained last year. According to the plea, Greenberg acted as a hub of a central Florida sex ring. Over the course

of more than 150 transactions, Greenberg paid more than $70,000, including taxpayer funds, to arrange sexual encounters for him and unnamed associates. Some of those payments were made through the Venmo mobile app, the document says, and were disguised in the memo fields. The police specifically mentions three of those memo items quote, food, school, and ice cream.

So a whole new set of code words for the Q&ON community to bake when it comes to child sex trafficking. Yeah, yeah, give us food gate, school gate, and ice cream gate now. Also, it's really funny because Greenberg is such a fucking piece of shit. He was

screen capping all his conversation with Gates and with Roger Stone, even though they had set like 30-second disappear timers on signal, he was like from day one documenting everything on everyone. Just a horrible little rat in the making. They always turn on each other eventually. Yeah. Well, when you're under 33 counts, you better fucking flip, right? Right.

I mean, yeah, I mean, this is the rest of his life in prison. This is rich boy going to prison for the rest of his fucking life if he doesn't turn up something. That's right. Not only is the entire situation a public relations disaster for Matt Gates, but it's also incredibly Byzantine. There's lots of reporting on all the crooked business and political dealings between him, Greenberg, and this new playable character who has emerged of late, Joe Ellicott, who's a former radio shock jock from Florida. Now, the more you stare at the situation, the more it seems like a broader political corruption ring, involving two of the dumbest frat boys on the planet, disloyal ones to boot. Gates no longer denies being investigated and seems to have decided to post and rally through the entire thing. But it does seem in a lot of the latest reporting that he was also selling influence, as in perhaps the ear of the governor,

specifically around medical marijuana laws. Speaking of rallies, I think Travis got to peer directly into Gates' vacant eyes in person this weekend. So let's get into it. mentioned last week I drove the five and a half hours to the Mesa Arizona area which really is like the petri dish for the far right we've often said on the show

the most active areas for like Q&on happenings are Florida and Arizona praying medic is from Arizona the Q&Aman from Arizona and in fact right now AICUN administrator Ron Watkins is very actively pushing disinformation about the

2020 election on Telegram specifically in reference to the ongoing so-called audit that's happening there. Watkins even recently asked his followers to join a chat group on Telegram dedicated to discussing the Arizona audit, pushing thousands of Q&N followers there. I arrived fairly early, about an hour or show before the doors opened, and while standing in line, I was handed a flyer for a campaign to recall Arizona

Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers, who is a Republican. Trump supporters are enraged at Rusty Bowers because he called the election of Biden, legitimate. He said back in December, I voted for President Trump and worked hard to re-elect him, but I cannot and will not entertain a suggestion that we violate current law to change the outcome of a certified

election. Sounds like a rhino. Exactly. Too much. Way too far. I support President Trump 100%, but I do not want to destroy American democracy. You are on the outs. On one side of the flyer, there are endorsements

of the recall effort from Michael Indell and Sidney Powell. And on the opposite side, just to add some spice to the recall effort, it says, quote, why does Rusty Bowers want to remove penalties for pedophile sexual predators? And then question mark, exclamation point, question mark, exclamation point, and another question mark. Oh, good. So in that sentence, pedophiles in all caps, just the main word is there, big and bold. The flyer references the fact that Bauer supported a bill that would allow people to possibly be removed

from the sex offender registry. If the perpetrator was under the age of 22, the victim was 15 or older, and the sexual contact was consensual. So this is one of those things where I think the intention is that if a 18-year-old has sex with a 17-year-old, there's really no profit to have them being a registered sex offender for the rest of their life. So it would allow them, it's not a guaranteed thing, it would have to pass through a judge, and they would have to hear from victims. But basically, if a similar law was ever passed in Florida, it would offer no protection to Matt Gates, who is 39 years old, if he is ever convicted of what he is alleged of doing. I was also handed a flyer asking me to join the American Freedom Party. And right on the front of that flyer, it says that, quote, the American Freedom Party is both a political party and activist organization dedicated to the interests and issues of European American people. So this is to be clear.

a recruitment pamphlet for a white nationalist party. It was formerly called the third position party. It was founded in 2010. And I'm not saying that anyone in that crowd specifically was a white nationalist. I didn't see anyone saying that or I didn't see any white nationalist iconography necessarily. But I am saying that white nationalist activists looked at the crowd and said, you know what, I bet they're interested in what I have to say. Fellow future ethno state citizen, welcome to today's conference.

So after a pat down, I got into the room. Conducting interviews before the event was kind of tough because they were blasting music just the whole time when no one was speaking. Just like in the Trump rallies from the before time, they played a lot of hits from the 70s and 80s, including YMCA by the Village People, Free Falling by Tom Petty and Piano Man by Billy Joel. Free falling is actually pretty good song for Gates at this point. Yeah. The crowd in the room was noticeably older than a lot of the Q&N rallies. that I've attended. There's this common stereotype about Q people being a boomer thing,

but honestly, I bet the demographics for mainline MAGA skews older than Q&ON. I spoke to one older gentleman who was seated next to me. I asked what he made of the fact that Marjorie Taylor Green was stripped of her committee assignments. I kind of assumed that he would rail against Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, but he reserved most of his ire for Republicans. Yeah, it just shows you, like, one, many of the hierarchy of the, the reality of the Republican Party don't represent our values. They're out of touch with the, I think, the majority of the American people.

But I think it actually was a blessing in disguise for her because they freed her to deliver her message directly to the people. But I think it really shows the betrayal of the hierarchy of the Republican Party and how they're out of touch. And that's why I got involved to be a PC in my legislative district, because I think the grassroots needs to take over the Republican Party. And instead of them saying, well, you should split off and form a third party, is like, you guys leave and let the real people that support the Republican Party, been supporting

the Republican Party for years with their time and their money and been betrayed every step in away. time for you guys step aside and let got some real leadership like Matt Gatz and Marjorie Taylor Green take over. I think it was really funny is that yeah that he says that he wants Marjorie Taylor Green to be a leader but also it's glad that she was stripped of committee assignment so she can deliver her message because again this is another thing where it's like you know the only thing that matters is communications message talking being on stage being on camera delivering a you know this whole delusion that like if you if you talk enough that

you can like you know that's that's what real power is that gentleman told me that he is a volunteer for the ongoing dubious audit that is happening right now in maricopa county working six days a week until recently he was also thoroughly convinced that the recent election was illegitimate but I think what most everybody knows is the election was stolen there was mass election fraud and the multiple states, including Arizona, and I think the audit is going to expose it. And, you know, as kind of like Steve Bannon, they often refer to, say, we'll have the receipts. And I think the end of the result of it will be is, you know, completely, if it doesn't overturn the election, it'll deal, it'll further delegitimize the current administration

and I think it's going to move some of these other states to continue to have local legislation to ensure that the election's never going to be stolen again. Most people in the crowd were just fans of Trump, but they're not necessarily as super online as Q&N followers. But I did spot two women wearing a Q&ON, where we go one, we go all shirt. So I asked them a few questions about their cue belief.

So what's the Q movement being to you? It's more, it really does represent what JFK represented back in 1963. And by going with the phrase, where we go one, we go all, was what he represented and what he tried to do during his administration, but was stopped and unable to do. Right, right. How long have you been involved with the Q? Probably the past year, I'm very new to it. My, yeah, like my biggest thing is where we go, where we go one, where we go all. And that is the way that the whole world should be.

Do you read the cue drops at all? Yeah, we do. Okay. Yeah. So we kind of know things, but we're waiting to see exactly where they end up going. end up going and how true they come out to be. They all think where we go one, we go all. It's a JFK thing. It's a

1996 white squall film thing. How much is Ridley Scott paying you to mention this so much, Travis? Because this would be fact checking, unfortunately. It's like, Qaeda people, like they have so mixed, like the movies they like in real life

that they just sort of bleed into each other. Now, the rally kicked off with an opening prayer that implored people to open their eyes to corruption and to be peaceable. Father instill integrity in party leaders, campaign workers, candidates, and we the people, keep us all from the seat and corruption and to be a peaceable people. We express gratitude to those who will speak to us today for their courage to stand against the evil and wrongdoings in our nation.

Congressman Biggs, Congressman Gosar, Congressman Gates, Congresswoman Green and others, bless them that they'll continue to serve and be useful in my hands. The first speaker was chairwoman of the Arizona GOP Kelly Ward saying that she expects this audit in Arizona to just be the tip of the spear, triggering a wave of audits across the country. This audit is going to give other states the courage, the passion, the wisdom to follow in our footsteps. I certainly hope to see Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, follow, follow, and find out what happened in 2020. We have to see what the irregularities, the mistakes, and if there was outright fraud, we got to find it. People have to be held accountable. So, yeah, I think this is worth bringing up because, you know, the fringe right right here, they're sort of, they're stating their game plan.

They're going to use the Arizona audit as a template for similar audits across the country to de-legitimize the election on a wider scale. It's already kind of brewing in Georgia right now. So just don't be surprised when this happens. They're bringing jobs back to the heartland and you are complaining about it. Do you know how many people have to be employed in like color-coded units and shit? Like, it's going to be just a country of gymnasiums investigating stuff. Yeah, so you get riddened out gymnasiums. He needed to hire people to set up those live stream cameras.

You're right. Lots of tech jobs. That's a lot of good jobs. The first congressman to speak was Representative Paul Gosar. He told the audience that he had some intel from the FEC Fraud Division and the military. It claimed that there were hundreds of thousands of altered votes in Arizona. And people that were coming to me from, on the securities exchange fraud departments

and handgrown the military fraud as to make between 400 and 700,000 wells were altered from the state of our songs. But you know the thing about it is we want the truth. Again, Qadon's secret intel stuff, I can't tell you about it, but I've got my secret sources

that are telling me that it's happening, folks. And they still fucking fall for it. This is what kills me. Yeah, these like poor people, It's like the thing is they're going off and telling their friends, oh, yeah, there's 150 ballots stolen. And they're like, where are you getting that information, Phil? And they're like, my, the congressman told me. And it's like, well, of course they're going to believe it.

There's somebody in a position of theoretical power that's telling them that this is going on. It's like, man, shame on you. Shame on you all. Our next speaker was Congressman Andy Biggs. By the way, two of the speakers were Arizona congressmen. And I didn't even know that they were appearing until the day I showed up. I mean, Gates and Green both got the headline. Biggs talked about how his friends in the House Freedom Caucus disrupt the so-called suspension bills in Congress.

Suspension bills are bills that are allowed to be passed with just a voice vote and without a quorum. These kinds of bills are typically non-controversial or inconsequential and have broad bipartisan support. One of these bills, for example, was a measure for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to award congressional gold medals to the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department for protecting the Capitol on January 6th. Sometimes it's fluff or meaningless stuff or stuff that just needs to happen for whatever. The idea with suspension bills is to speed up the procedure for like low-level stuff. However, some members of the House Freedom Caucus have disrupted this practice by requesting the more time-consuming roll call vote for each of these bills. Democrats argue that this is just Republicans attempting to force House votes late into the night for little purpose other than agitation.

I learned from Andy Biggs that congressmen who disrupt legislative procedure in this way go by a funny little acronym that they chose for themselves. Well, some may say that we should not fight the Democrats who are advancing their wildly crazy, radical left agenda with alacrity. I say we should use every procedural tool we have to slow them down. So we have, we have, we have. have in the Freedom Caucus, a group of people that go down on the floor, and we enforce the rules of procedure that we can to slow them down. And that team is called the, you figure out the acronym here, the floor action response team. We really try to blow things up, ladies and

gentlemen. That's it. That's it. You say no shit at the end? He said no shit, yes. Yes, it says, it says, yes, it's the floor action response team or fart. This is their team that they used to disrupt legislative action. This is the name they chose for themselves. It's like, I feel, we're ruled apparently by two kinds of people, children and child fuckers. After Congressman Big spoke, out came Marjorie Taylor Green. And boy, they absolutely loved seeing her. And she loves seeing them.

I mean, when she came out, she had this. huge smile on her face as she paced a stage and work the crowd like a stand-up comedian. Green boasted that she isn't a member of what she calls the woke COVID religion, unlike Nancy Pelosi, whom she calls Speaker Maskhole. And I'm not brainwashed by everyone that is addicted to the cult called the woke COVID religion. And it is a cult, believe me. You know, there's a lot of people in the cult other than Speaker.

mask hole. So I think that Speaker mask hole, this is Green's attempted like a Trump style nickname for Pelosi, but I don't know, it doesn't have that Trumpian punch for me. It's a little too cutesy. I mean, Trump called a Pelosi crazy Nancy, nervous Nancy. You know, straight to the point. This is a little bit

vulgar. You know, it implies that she has an asshole on her mouth. And I don't know. Yeah, I'm with Travis on this, that it doesn't quite have the punch that you know, a simpler, a more direct nickname, you know, could have garnered.

But the idea that, like, it's woke to believe diseases exist. It's like, I just, that word has gone through many things. I know, I know. Now woke means you believe in germ theory. Green expanded on her comedy a bit by talking about the woke COVID religion prayer that she made up. Yeah, so they, you know, they have a little prayer, they say. I'm going to read it to you. This is a pretty good one.

If you're in the woke COVID religion, you know, they have pillows with Fauci's face on there. T-shirts. I don't even know. It's kind of crazy. They start out and they say, hail Dr. Fauci, full of mask. The COVID vaccine is with you. Blessed are you among all federal employees. And blessed is your paycheck.

Because it's the highest in the federal government. Oh, Dr. Fauci full of mask. Pay the Wuhan clinic some more money and send us more viruses so that we may control America completely take over and turn America into a socialist nation. I mean, this is a shitty YouTube video. I know.

This is a shitty mom on YouTube reading her poem. I wonder when she got this idea, and she thought it was so fucking good. She had to write it down and, like, printed out and then carry it with her because you thought, oh, man, the people in Arizona are going to love this bit. They recognize prayers, and this one, I've replaced some of the words. Then she started talking about mean letters she had received, including one from a Democratic member of Congress. And she also gave him another little cute nickname.

Well, I got a letter from a certain congressman, representative Sicily. Man, I've never met. I couldn't even tell you what he looks like. I call him Representative Mussolini. Again, Trump would never call someone Mussolini. This is a little, I don't know, a little bit too high brow of reference and maybe some of his fans like Mussolini. Yeah, he would go with something simple, like silly Sicilini.

You know, a little bit of alliteration. It goes a long way. At one point, Marjorie Taylor Green promised the return of Trump, which inspired a chant of we love Trump from the crowd. President Trump has not given up. You want to know why? He loves this country. He loves the American people.

He loves everything we stand for. And you'll see him. He's coming back. And I'm going to tell you what we're doing. Trump. She made fun of she made fun of, like, was it, Dr. Fauci.

I agree, it is weird to be, I guess, reverential towards a, you know, a government bureaucrat or whatever. But then, like, that leads right into just absolute, you know, chanting devotion to a former president, someone who isn't even office. anymore. Green also expressed horror at the cruelty and brutality of the criminal justice system, which, you know, surprised me, but her outrage was limited only to those arrested as a consequence

of the participation in the January 6th Capitol Riot. Let me tell you, none of us, none of us agree with the violence on January 6th. No one's arguing that. There's already investigations underway. 445 people have been arrested. A hundred more are going to be arrested, but people are being held 23 hours in solitary confinement and they haven't seen a court date yet. This is abuse. You're right, right. Being denied the right to a speedy trial, being held in solitary confinement is abuse

and it has been happening since before January 6th. Marjorie, uh, the carceral reformer. Now this is new. It's not at all just a convenient moment for her. Uh, she truly believes in this stuff, folks. Green repeated a false claim, first made by former President Trump. She said that Trump had ordered 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol, but this request was denied for some reason. This is pure bullshit and a complete inversion of reality.

There's more questions that need to be answered. There was intel ahead of time that there was going to be violence on January 6th. President Trump requested 10,000 National Guard to be at the Capitol on James. January 6th. The question that needs to be answered is who turned that request down. That's where the accountability lies. Because if they had listened to President Trump and provided the 10,000 National Guard troops around the Capitol, well, we wouldn't be having this conversation about January 6th. After this, Matt Gates bounded on the stage and in person, like his face looks

really kind of exaggerated and stretched. I mean, when I saw him. I mean, it kind of reminded me of a character from Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun music video, which is perhaps an older reference for many of our listeners, but that's what it reminded me of.

RIP, Chris Cornell. Or just a bobblehead or a fucking funco pop. That's what he looks like. Matt Gates' speech wasn't as interesting, honestly. There was lots of general gestures towards the American way of life and how it's disappearing. There's also a ton of immigrant bashing.

While talking about his support for the Arizona audit, Gates pointed to the assembled members of the media who were in the back of the room and blamed them for allegedly mischaracterizing the audit. This inspired the crowd to also turn towards the media and point and yell at them. See, the America last media, they just think, oh, these are a bunch of resentful people.

They can't take the truth. They're just in a state of denial. Well, you know what? We are working to make elections better, not just to right the wrongs of the past, but to ensure that we have a better future, that we have elections we can count on, that we have reforms we can trust,

that we have voter identification so that we know that if a ballot is cast, that an actual human being intended to cast that ballot. I heard about this phenomenon that happens at Trump, rallies, but I hadn't experienced it myself where the speaker, usually Trump, like he points to the media, he calls them out, he yells at them, and then everyone else joins

in the yelling. And I was, it was, I don't know, it was exhilarating. Two minutes of hate. Everyone, I could just feel just the resentment of the crowd around me as they sort of turned and just vaguely yelled at the masked members of the media in the back of the room. In fairness, I also heard

Gates make some salient points about the proper use of the U.S. military. I also believe you cannot export America to some distant land at the edge of a sort. You know, I don't believe that America's best effort is trying to go and build a democracy out of sand and blood and Arab militias in the Middle East. Gates also accurately, in my opinion, talked about how Donald Trump is the base of the Republican Party and will continue to be in the near future. The media like to act as though there is this big civil war brewing in the Republican Party.

Is it going to be the establishment or is it going to be the Trump populists? Well, you know what? The civil war is over. We've won. This is Donald Trump's Republican Party and I am a Donald Trump Republican. After Matt Gates spoke, the sort of the stage crew assembled four chairs on the stage, and some people started filing out. Then

the four Congress members took their seats in front of the room. Gates apparently disturbed by the sight of the people leaving before the show was over, told them that they're welcome to be replaced by the people waiting outside. Well, there's still a few thousand boats outside. So, if you're great,

you're welcome to part and be replaced, but we just thought with Kenner Allen longer, it's healthy sports. So, so... Play the hits and no more noodling. During that roundtable, they were joking a lot and trading stories, but they kept referencing the fact that Congressman Gosar's siblings all campaigned against him in a TV ad, which I thought was kind of awkward to keep bringing up.

Okay, you guys, this is what we really want from you. We really want every single one of you to stay engaged in this fight. What you have to do is you've got to encourage your friends. friends, your neighbors, and your family, unless that they're like Paul Gossar's siblings. There was also a weird moment where Marjorie Taylor Green was kind of like, it's like it's fine if your family doesn't like you because your family is here now. Oh boy. Paul also couldn't go because they're trying to put him on a no-fly list, I think. Yeah, but you know there's some fun things. There's this new TV hit coming out. It's called GOSAR Family 7-1-1-1.

seven members of my family hate me one likes me one's impartial and then it's just me do you have you all seen the television ads of gosar's siblings campaigning against him i mean i it's sort of i'm watching the democrats during this conflict and it with israel and palestine and like they've totally become an anti-israel party and that's problematic with some of the other members uh that are Democrats and I look over the Democratic Party and say it's becoming more tense over there than a Gosar family reunion see the good news is though it's if you watch that you can be like me you can have a love affair with that Arizona repugent well I think I think Paul you got a big family right here it's like they're at the roast of

of Gozar like you know what they say about Gozar. His dick used to work 68 years ago because he's old. We're now the party of family members don't speak to us. That's it. We're now the party of you get your sense of community here. We're yelling at the media. That's how you find love now. So overall, I thought the experience was a bit like watching a performance of like a Trump cover band. Everyone in that room, they're a big Trump fan and they wanted to see

Trump, but Trump isn't on tour at the moment. So they're settling for some imitators who are playing like the hits of Trump. Yeah, this is like basically how I guess the MAGA wing, the super MAGA wing of the Republican Party are keeping the MAGA flame alive because they want to keep it on fire as much as possible going into 2022 and 2024. And the question is, is that will it, will it reignite in a big way? Will it spread and will it, will it help usher in the return of Trump? At this point, it feels to me like Gates and Green are falling back on a kind of, just like a cronious tribal mentality where they're like, if we do enough favors for this or that, it'll get us through these sets of scandals that the, like you said, the Republican donors are not delighted by, probably, broadly, because it's too much of a liability, too much bullshit, too much drama. Even Trump was a bit, you know, of an on and off for the Koch brothers, et cetera.

and they also realized that, hey, I've been donating across the aisle anyways. I mean, you know, maybe I can recruit some Democrats, but in places like Florida where, you know, a good, you know, the state Senate has been controlled for a while by Republicans, if I'm not wrong, they can only really exist within certain fish bowls, I guess, is my point. And that's not to say that people won't vote for them, but it really doesn't matter if people vote for them if others with money, dark money pools are betting on other candidates

or doing attack ads on them. or even pushing their scandals to worsen. And with that, I have prepared a little something for dessert. If the two of you were interested, I found a lost television episode from a very popular, very popular superhero duo, a dynamic duo. Founded in the archives while searching the internet late, late, late, late last night. All those words fit together, yeah. Yeah, if you guys are interested in here.

Let me see what she got. All right. Ratman and Nubin. This quaint family-friendly pizza joint might seem innocent on the outside. But unbeknownst to the citizens of Gotham City, at its heart lies one of the most villainous schemes that Gotham has ever seen. On a peaceful afternoon motor ride, millionaire Bruce Gates and his useful ward Marjorie Dick Greenson

have been summoned back to Gates Manor by an urgent but anonymous call for help. Greenson could barely contain her excitement. Gee, Bruce, I think this is it. Finally, our chance to take down the pedophiles infest in Gotham City once and for all. Gates looked nervous. Even though they were driving the convertible Mercedes and the air outside was nice and cool,

Gates had large circles of sweat pooling under the armpits of his cashmere sweater. I'm not so sure, Dick. He forced to grimace and rubbed his tummy. Maybe those clams aren't sitting so well after all. I should head home before I ruin the upholstery. Marjorie looked confused. What are you talking about?

We're headed back to your mansion now. You'll have 17 bathrooms to choose from. Gates tried to crack a lighthearted smile. Of course. How could I forget? The car veered off the motorway and down the narrow driveway that looped deep into the lush green hills. In the distance loomed a palatial mansion, Gates Manor.

Bruce had inherited it from his wealthy parents, who were still alive and well, but working alongside the FBI against him. The convertible slowly climbed up. the long driveway. Marjorie was getting impatient. Come on, Bruce, there are children's lives at stake. Can't you make her go any faster? Gates shook his head. I'm sorry, Dick, but a classic car like this needs a gentle touch and a lot of patience. I wouldn't be surprised if we never end up getting to fight any crime today. The pair cruised leisurely up the long driveway and finally

into Gates' manner. Gotham City was depending on them. Whispers of a human trafficking ring had kept parents frightened and radicalized for years on end. Never one to shirk responsibility, Bruce and Dick, with uncharacteristic sluggishness and lack of resolve, descended to the rat cave. And then, as they have done many times before, as Ratman and Nobben, courageous warriors against crime, they are off once again to the rescue.

Nobun, with her long blonde locks bouncing out the back of her mask, bounded over to the Ratmobile and leapt over the side. She looked over her shoulder, confused as to why her mentor was lacking behind. Ratman tugged uncomfortably at the midsection of his Lycra suit. Hey, Nobben, I think Alfred might have washed my rat suit in hot water by mistake. The fit is now very uncomfortable, and I'm not sure I'll be able to fight crime again today. Knobin looked over at Ratman as he fussed and fiddled a couple meters away from the Ratmobile.

She couldn't help but notice that the suit did indeed fit a little worse. Begrudgingly, Ratman waited over to the car before finally getting in. They took off out of the secret entrance of the rat cave, leaving a trailer, fire and smoke behind them. Nobun was on the rat phone, a large red telephone connected to the dash by a thick cord. Ratmobile to Gotham PD. Red alert! Red alert! We are on route to Chuck Echee cheese pizza parlor, requesting immediate backup. A sound blipped on the other end of the line. Nobun looked confused. There's a girl calling for you on the rat phone. Should I put her through?

Ratman snapped back at her. No! No! I don't want to talk to her. That would be inappropriate. Nobun looked incredulous. She seems like all she wanted to do was thank you for your generosity. Doesn't really sound like a problem to me. Ratman is a generous fella. Everyone knows it. Ratman let out a belabored sigh. Just hang up the phone, Marjorie. Whatever you say, Nobun clicked the phone back onto its housing.

The Ratmobile squealed to a stop outside the restaurant. Through the windows, the dynamic duo saw dozens of young kids laughing and playing on the indoor jungle gym, eating pizza and playing brightly lit carnival games. Well, I'll be darned, sighed Ratman. This restaurant appears to be closed. But Nobun had already hopped out of the car. she hustled over to a pair of tire tracks around the side of the pizza parlor. Ratman, look, these tire tracks are the same make and model of the ones on the rat cycle.

Ratman's heart began to thump loudly under his armor. How strange indeed, Nobben, seeing as I've never been here in my entire life. Nobben scratched her chin, and I'm afraid we have an imposter on our hands. Look! She pointed through the window. Hanging on the wall near the prize counter was a framed sign photograph featuring Ratman, smiling and holding a large bundle of tickets in each of his gloved hands. The caption beneath the picture read, All-time highest ticket holder, congratulations to Ratman.

Ratman was speechless. He fumbled for some kind of explanation. To his good fortune, Nobben came up with one for him. It appears you're being framed. The pair laughed nervously at the horrible pun. Nobun started to push her way through the double doors. They've done it now. It's one thing to use your power to abuse young women,

but to smear the greatest hero that Gotham has ever witnessed, it's too far. She grabbed Ratman by the hand and yanked him inside the restaurant, looking for any signs of suspicious activity. One of the parents ran up to them. Ratman, Nabin, thank God you're here. My precious little Julian went into the ball pit 30 minutes ago, and I can't find him. Please, you've got to help me. Ratman's eyes went wide. He tried to back away from the woman and out of the restaurant, but Nobben stopped him.

Come on, Bruce, what's gotten into you? For years now, all I've heard you talk about is how you can't. I can't wait for the day you expose Gotham's most notorious child traffickers. Here we are, on the verge of blowing the whole thing wide open, and you're moving about as quickly as an ant in molasses. I don't understand. Ratman stalled for a beat as he collected his thoughts. Well, you see, Nobben, since we're surely dealing with an imposter of some sort,

a ruthless villain looking to slander my good name. What if he's setting me up for some sort of trap? What if the madman tricks me into, you know, doing things that a rat man normally wouldn't dream of? Nobben let out a sigh of relief. Is that all? Don't be silly, Ratman. That's the whole point of an imposter. They do the bad stuff so the good guy gets blamed.

Don't you worry. As long as we uncover just who exactly has been borrowing your bat cycle, putting on your mask and cape, coming here, winning tickets, and exchanging them for children, you'll be just fine, okay? Ratman looked down at the ground, kicking some broken crans with his little booties. Okay. Nabin put a steady hand on Ratman's shoulder.

Now, let's go investigate that ball pit. Bruce Gates resigned to his fate. He shuffled slowly behind Nabin as she bounded over towards the playground area. But then, something caught his eye. Over there! Looks like some of poison ivies mutated beasts are attacking the children. Hurry! Nobben looked over at the animatronic animal band, slowly swaying back and forth,

their mouths opening and closing. Well, I don't think so, Ratman. That's just Munch's make-believe band. They're not hurting anyone. Before the words could leave her lips, Ratman did a death-defying front flip onto the stage, karate kicking the head off a giant Italian-looking pizza shop. Wham!

Out of its neck, exposed wires popped and sparked. The children watching the show cried out in horror, dropping their half-eaten pizza slices and retreating to the folds of their parents' clothing. But Ratman didn't stop. He knew deep down inside that if he didn't want to be caught in a massive human trafficking scandal, he would have to keep fighting this animal band for eternity.

Gates, his rat suit ripped and charred, stood center stage atop a pile of robotic limbs the restaurant was now empty in the distance he could hear the faint sounds of approaching sirens a sinister voice crowed

from the darkness well well if it isn't a pair of lambs for the slaughter just in the nick of time too CPAC is coming up and I've got a large order to fill the figure emerged from the shadows

it was Joel Greenberg a squawky potato sack of a man with a large monocle puffing on a cigarette at the end of a long holder. Nob had furrowed her brow. I should have known. Penguin, unsheathed his umbrella. At the tip was a long, sharp blade.

Behind him, Nobun could see little Julian, the child who'd gone missing earlier, scared and crying, sitting on the cold concrete floor. Let the kid go, Penguin. It's us you want, she shouted. Us? Penguin seemed confused. Who's that there with you?

Hide it in the shadows. Show yourself. Ratman let out a giant, sighed took a couple steps forward, revealing his face. Penguin's demeanor completely changed. Hey, Brucey boy, good to see you here, fella. How's the hangover today, eh? Smart move leaving your motorcycle here.

One DUI is enough for now, am I right? I told you, brother, two lemon-lime gatorades will have you feeling good as new. Oh, by the way, I think you left your bag here last night. Riddler and some of the other guys wanted to blow it all, but I kept it safe for you. Penguin produced a decent-sized baggie of cocaine and placed it in Ratman's hand. He glanced over at Nobbing. Ah, showing the kid the ropes, I see. Well, it just happens I got some fresh stock in.

But Nobun cut him off. Enough with your lies. They won't work on me. Come on, Ratman. Let's show this punk how we treat pedophiles in Gotham City. Ratman looked embarrassed. Nobun placed a firm hand on his shoulder. He is lying, isn't he?

Ratman? A tense beat. And then Ratman broke down. I'm sorry, Nobun. I couldn't help myself. I was incredibly wealthy in a position of supreme power, and the girls were still calling me, Borehead the forehead behind my back.

I tried everything, telling them where I went to school, what kind of car I drove, how many boats we have, and still, nothing worked. It started so innocently. Penguin had a couple friends he knew in Miami. He told me they thought having money was cool. Finally, I thought, someone who could really understand me. It's so lonely being the dark night, you know.

You've got your rifles and your CrossFit and your beef with podcasts hosts on Twitter, but what do I have? What do I have? He broke down sobbing. Marjorie Dick Greenson placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Bruce, I don't care about any of that. Bruce looked up, tears still streaming down his rubber mask.

You don't? Of course not, she said warmly. You see, I too know what it feels like to be lonely. You do? Gates choked. She smiled. Of course I do. Don't you get it?

No one else in Gotham City wants to fight crime with me? She lamented. I've banged on the door of every single psychopathic billionaire, practically begging them to let me beat people up. They treat me like I'm some sort of pariah. Ratman forced a little bit of a grin and wiped the tears from his eyes. Nobben continued. You know why that is?

Gates shook his head. Because I believe in nothing. An eerie glow came over her face, her eyes morphing into giant black saucers. You're a first-time offender. With friends in politics and a wealthy family back east, you'll serve a little time, if any, at all. And when you get out, I'll be waiting for you. Gates looked a little frightened. You will?

She nodded. I will. Except this time around, you'll be my sidekick. And together, we'll take over the entire superhero republic. Me, the unwavering ruler, and you, my trusted lieutenant. an innocent victim of the deep state now resolved to hit them with everything we've got it was always the plan Bruce

you're soft weak even Alfred agrees you need someone like me someone who can make the difficult decisions do you understand Gates nodded he glanced over at Penguin what about him Nobin glanced over her shoulder penguin was sweating through his cumberbun

slowly creeping away towards the edge of his secret layer him I have no use for she grabbed a ratterang for rat man's utility belt and whipped it behind her. It flew across the room and landed square in penguin's arm, pinning him to the wall. He cried out in anguish. Nobben turned her attention back to Ratman. The police sirens were right on top of them.

You've got to run. They'll be here any second. Gates looked worried, but where will I go? What will I do? Nobben shoved the crying kid into his arms. What you've always done, stay one step ahead of them. They'll hunt you, condemn you. Set the dogs on you.

You're the hero the Republican Party deserves, but not the one it needs right now. Ratman stumbled, bleeding, his suit of armor torn, out of the basement of Chucky Cheeses. He crouched behind a dumpster, overflowing with pizza boxes, dodging police officers rushing into the restaurant. He grimaced as he pulled himself onto the saddle of the rat cycle, which was conveniently parked right where he left it last night at the rear of the restaurant. With a captured child thrown over the back of the bike, Ratman took off, careening the carrying past cars and beneath underpasses, his tattered cape, flapping in the wind. So I'm the son of Gates, like that weird fake son that he said he had, Nestor?

That's me. And I also got abducted as a child by Matt Gates at the end of the story. Fine, that's fine. I like the new direction. Good stuff. Once again, you've disgraced both our podcasts and the intellectual property of a billion-dollar corporation. Twice. Twice over.

Thanks for listening to another episode of the QAnon Anonymous podcast. You can go to patreon.com slash QAnon Anonymous and subscribe for five bucks a month to get a whole second episode every week plus access to our entire archive of more than a hundred premium episodes.

When you subscribe, you help us stay advertising free and editorially independent. We usually stream twice a week at twitch.tv.tv slash QAnon Anonymous and other Twitch handles that you can follow are Julian Field, Liv Agar, and Florida Flynn, which is Jake.

For everything else, we have a website, QAnonononymous.com. Listeners, until next week, may the Deep Dish bless you and keep you. It's not a conspiracy, it's fact. And now, today's auto-chew. I'm not too worried about Joel Greenberg. Joel Greenberg is literally sitting in jail right now because he originally accused someone who was innocent

of having had a relationship with a minor. That wasn't true. It was just a false thing that Joel Greenberg had said. And that's ended him in quite a bit of trouble. But I'm not focused on scandal, I'm focused on socialism and what it's doing to our country. That's why I'm here in Arizona with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green. We're going to have about a thousand patriots behind us supporting the Arizona audit and our ongoing efforts for election integrity. And I'm not going to let the process be the punishment.