The James Donald Forbes McCann Catamaran Plan - Sweet Jack Blanch

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

If you enjoy this banter, Jack and I have a podcast that is currently on hiatus about the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's called the Catechast and many episodes are available here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCatechast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the James Donald Forbes McCann catamaran plan. If you'd like to listen to bonus episodes, go sign up to the Patreon. That's patreon.clom. Clom? Ah, we f***ed it. Anyway, you'll look, you'll find a way. Catamaran plan! James Donald Forbes McCann catamaran plan. Catacast reunion! Jack Blanche is in the automobile. Hello, it's a pleasure to be in the studio today? And what a fine studio it is we've just been to the Maronites I didn't know they were Maronites because it was after st. Maron. Yeah, didn't know that yeah, not a my as a fight

After st. My as a fire he's anti my as a fire. I think I'm getting that right possibly I don't remember. It's been a big... Jack's about to get on a big international flight. At some point we're going to drive off and get some barbecue and bring back the barbecue. Yes, I'm feeling very sick in my stomach as I always feel before a big international flight. Jack had a missile-related accident today. I don't know what's happened. I clenched my fists in my sleeve. It's only happened since my wife got pregnant. I started I clench my fists in my sleep. It's only happened since my wife got pregnant Yeah, I started clenching my fists in my sleep

All I could think about is what a bad father I'm gonna be Yeah, I mean One of the joys is seeing other people be a very bad father and saying well I'm not doing that but what you said before, you know, don't you get stressed about big international flights? Yeah, and We've now I think we've had such bad, short of the plane crash, we've had everything possible go wrong, and we've done it with very small children. Sure. So, you know, very soon you'll have a child, and you'll have to do a big international flight with that child.

I know. And then the thought of getting two adults on an international flight will fill you with such satisfaction. Honestly, when it's just me, it's actually fine. I don't feel that bad about it. Are you, Margot is displacing the... Yeah, I don't know, any excuse I can to have extra anxiety I feel like I will take. Margot is like a duck sometimes in that on the surface, you know, the exterior Margot will be very very calm and everything's fine

Oh, yeah, but I'm gonna surf. Yeah turn in the water churn in the water. I think we own Taylor's definitely like that I'm the opposite. I'm an upside-down duck. I'm actually fine. There's a lot of churn gone on the surface Trashing around it's actually very calm and peaceable underneath. Let's so May as well give people will want the update since last we were together on a podcast talking to one another. Well, we recorded one in July last year, which we'd never released. I mean, I thought it was good.

Yeah, I didn't see it, so. Sam Clark is a busy man. He is. All right, but, so, man, so we got back a year. So I came to America. I came back to Australia. Well, also the last one that we recorded that we released was actually recorded, I think in 2023.

Or maybe the start of 2024. Cause I know it was the start of 2024 cause I was still dating Margot. You were dating Margot. We weren't engaged. I don't think she'd left yet. She went to America. She came back, you got engaged. I went to America, she came back, you got engaged.

I went to America, I came back, you got married. You went to Rome with Margot. Yes. And I went back to America. The then Pope. The then Pope. Pope Francis. Did he whisper any, he said,

the third secret of Fatima, I've been waiting for someone to tell the truth. He had a very nice conversation with a Spanish couple in front of us and Then did not want to talk to us at all the clenching of my hand is driving me. Sorry Yeah, if you would have noticed it earlier in the week if I told you about it This is so nice that you are now You know, I

Remember having my first child and the stress and the difficulty and the... Well, it's, you know, going back home to nothing, starting all over again. Yes, Jack! Oh, man. Who could say what that's like? Young family in Adelaide, living with your parents, no job. Welcome, brother. That is the forge from which greatness is born,

I do believe. What about mediocrity? That's what I was aiming for. No, see, this is a pro. Me too. I thought, oh, I hope I could get, not even a real show on ABC Adelaide, the radio program, but if I could get, you know,

Spence Denny's job. If I could have the- The 5 a.m. shift. Give me Sunday brunch, you know, Spence Denny's job. If I could have the... The 5am shift. Give me, give me Sunday brunch, you know? Give me the weekend breakfast. I'll take it. Couldn't get mediocrity. Had no choice but to become... Great.

Shoot for the moon and you'll land way beyond the moon. Well, to all James' Australian listeners who don't know, it's been going with him but like James has taken me to the mothership a couple of times and James is in the inner sanctum by the looks of things. We got to go to Shane's house last night and watch the Crowboys rack up a manful win over West Coast which also had some biff and that was nice. That was nice I think Shane really enjoyed the start the part where all the players were punching each other in the head. But then there was insufficient head trauma and so we watched NFL concussion

highlights for ages. We had to watch something wholesome at the end. Shane was, yeah, he was insatiable for those concussion knockouts. Yeah, that guy, I think that guy's in a wheelchair. Oh he's dead. He's dead. They weren't actually dead, but when they get paralyzed in their hand, man you want to talk about funny hand movements. Those concussed fellas. The dinosaur arms.

The dinosaur arms. You get to leave America now. We're leaving this afternoon, we're flying to Dallas and then we're flying to Melbourne and then we're flying back home to Adelaide That'll be nice. What? What are you happy to go back to in Australia? And what do you think now having lived in Rome and America will annoy you immensely about Australia? Look that I never really credited this idea which you had advanced to me and our friends Paul and Mads advanced to me many times, that Australia has a sort of small mindedness about it. And I never believed that because I always thought that was quite a personal

accusation. People don't like hearing that. No, but now having lived overseas for almost 12 months I understand entirely what they mean. And it is like every, I mean I think I've surrounded myself in Australia with people of greatness of spirit. It's one of my favourite qualities in a person. Yeah, but I've always been proud of my small mindedness and I am looking forward to going back and being small minded in Australia. Once again.

Seeing all this big minded nonsense. That's right. Staying here for all this beautiful architecture. Man, some of the architectures. Some of the architecture here is foul, but some is, I mean, Austin does not have a lot of fancy architectures. America is a weird place.

The Capitol building was very nice. Yes. Large red Capitol building. The Alamo, if we drove south, if we had time for that. We've run out of time for an activity today. I'm gonna get you to the airport by two. That's okay. I am so stressed. I would, if it were me, if it were up to me, I'd get to the airport at nine o'clock for that five p.m. flight just to make sure I got the flight.

Well you'll want to rack up the points and get in that little Admiral's Lounge. Sometimes I go to the free Admiral's lounge or as it's known the multidisciplinary prayer room Always empty. I'm told a great spot to jack off. That's what it tends to get used for. Sounds like Parliament House Oh, yes, the prayer room at Parliament House all sorts of unpleasantness, but it is actually wonderful Yeah, not that I of course would not defile the multidisciplinary by praying it I Think I tried to do a podcast in there once and a janitor walked in is I forget about but it is You know where our friend we have a mutual friend ZZ Who's a big international traveler and he has just come back from like Europe and America and he got back home

About two months ago, and then he got an email from like his airline that he flies a little time and they're like oh if you just did like one more international trip you could get like gold status and get into all of our you know blah blah and he called me and he's like you know like it's such a shame I'm not planning on traveling so I'm not I'm gonna miss out I was like dude just do a status run yeah fly to France and back stay there for a week come back he's's doing it. He is he's doing it He's leaving the day. I get back, so he's gone for a couple weeks You can buy the extra points. I think gotcha um I don't know, but it's probably cheaper

Just a book of fly. I mean why wouldn't you want to go to Paris and walk around the around us more? We almost made it on that trip to the UK. We were gonna catch the euro start and all okay two days there Yeah, and just couldn't do it. Yeah, like that's twice. I've now been to it's a lot the UK Yeah, entirely plan to have a little trip to Paris and just couldn't do it I mean, I first time like two days in Paris in my early 20s, and it was It's fine. I yearn. I want to go to Shakespeare and Company. I would like to go to Shakespeare and Company. I've heard so many stories about Shakespeare and Company.

I suppose I'm in a stage in life now, both of us with children where they won't let us live at Shakespeare and Company. Well, you never know. Ah, I can believe. Did I tell you I met Maya Hawke? I don't know who that is. Son of, daughter of, daughter of Ethan Hawke.

Oh, right. Have I discussed this with you? is. Son of, daughter of, daughter of Ethan Hawke. Oh, right. Have I discussed this with you? No. Ah, alright. So we know a guy who, and Al, if you're out there, God bless you, God keep you, I hope things are going well. Everyone else gets texts. How come I don't get a text?

Give me a text. I want to know how it's going. He was in this bookstore called the Shakespeare and Company the English language bookstore in Paris And he said I stayed at this bookstore, and I stayed there with Ethan Hawke Well, I think that there was I had a room there here room there and even a walk also had left in the bed Yes, yeah, and I would say I said to him once Have I told you this I said can you do you have a picture? Yeah, something that you can prove it. He he said, look at this. And he handed me a photograph of himself. And I said, Ethan Hawke's not in this

picture. He said, Ethan Hawke took the photo. And so I got to meet Ethan Hawke's daughter, Maya Hawke, who's one of the girls in Stranger Things, who were backstage at a show in Atlanta. How would she just like, must be like a teenager or something? She'd be mid twenties. She's one of the older girls. Okay. And she's a star. Which one is she in Strange Things? She's the Scoops Ahoy girl who comes in on the third season. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. Yes, she plays a lesbian in the show. I only watched the first two episodes of season three. She is so good. She's a welcome addition. Usually the season three added extra person. Yeah. Big mistake. Exceptions would be in Cheers. edition usually the season 3 added extra person yeah big mistake exceptions would

be in Cheers you know I'm talking about I don't remember Cheers well enough to remember season 3 of Cheers who's the guy who seems dumb would Woody Harrelson right okay Woody Harrelson gets brought in he's a later edition he's a later edition and he is a joy anyway I talked to and I went I made a beeline for her and they're all young, you know. Yeah. Successful. They just wanted to come and see Shane. Yeah. And Shane wasn't there yet. Shane's off talking to some basketball player or something. And I come over and the stranger, you know, they get, you know, some of them are going, oh, it was a good show. Well done. And some of them are bracing for me to be a weird fan.

Yeah. Just go straight to Maya Hawke and I say, did your father ever live in an English language bookstore in Paris? And she went, oh well hello, and yeah, he lived in Shakespeare and Company and I was at him. I said, did he ever stay with a man there called Al? Well I wouldn't know who he was staying with, but yeah he definitely spent a lot of time at Shakespeare and Company In the years that you're describing, uh-huh So I should never have doubted it was too unusual a celebrity to have chosen a tall tale. Yeah, it was Really anyway that made me very happy That's the sort of great greatness and you say ah man

It just it makes sense of Americans that we've met yeah that they have this capacity for sure dreaming big yes and this country is it is a land of opportunity there's money everywhere there's money everywhere people are doing things people want to do things it's crazy everybody's got a dream here and some of those dreams are dumb and vulgar and insane but they are dreams, I think it's important to dream despair being of course the only unforgivable sin There is also a quite a bit of that here. Yes Yeah, yeah, it's an issue. I Fear because my intention is remains to come back to Australia. Yeah, and the circumstances in which that takes place

We've spoken about a lot. I don't know how to That's so that's a weird matter that I have to prey on and continue to prey on and blah, blah, blah. But I fear when I go back, and I've spoken to a lot of friends about going back to Australia, and I won't name all their names, but you can guess who I'm talking about. That the mediocrity will, the sense of people

not wanting you to do great things will start to weigh. Yeah, but on the other hand, you know, it's home. Oh yes, it must be done, but I don't think any change can be achieved. I like that having come to America and been to Rome now, your first big takeaway you shared with me was that we wronged Malcolm Turnbull. I did say that. Yeah. I just thought. I don't imagine you were a Turnbull man at the time.

I was not a Turnbull man at the time. Neither. I'm thinking about it a lot. You have these disappointing prime ministers in rotation. And you get to look back on all of them and go, which one would I have actually liked to keep? And I think Malcolm Turnbull could have had a couple more years.

We had a smart, powerful, accomplished visionary. Yeah. And we said, no thank you. Yeah. You seem. You seem too competent. I remember when he was talking, when he made a brief, he had made an attempt to make a populist turn.

For American listeners, Malcolm Turnbull was our prime minister, and he was the richest prime minister we ever had. And he was really culturally blue-blooded. He was deeply embedded in the top. You know, Robert Hughes was the godfather to his son. He's one of these guys who speaks through his teeth. Yes. That's how fancy he is.

And so he was trying to, I just remember him going, we must do something to, this is him trying to be a populist. Well, something must be done to curb the influence of these elites. Saying elites in your attempt to take down the elites is... Wow. Well this was also one of the first jokes you told me when we met was um the the rich man champagne. Your anecdote, maybe false anecdote. I don't remember this. You you you sat on stage you claimed although I yeah perhaps think. I did have a lunch dinner with Malcolm Turnbull. You were at some event and Malcolm Turnbull was there and you ordered a West End draft.

I don't remember saying that he'd said this but it must be true. And Malcolm Turnbull came up to you and said, Ah, the poor man's champagne. That's the sort of common touch he lacked. I think Trump would be... Trump is even more elite and strange, but because he embraces it and he gets around it Yeah, he can go stand at McDonald's and look like an idiot. He seems to love McDonald's

Yeah, whereas if you are actually a wanker, we won't tolerate what his Trump also has the vulgarity to him Where is a turnbull had no vulgarity? There was nothing vulgar about Malcolm Turnbull. There was only La di da well people would say that a scandalous, probably not true, but that he and Lucy would Oh really? I've never heard that. I heard that, but you know, you imagine that it party with masks and robes and it can't be sued for defamation. I'd like to believe that would happen. That's honestly held opinion.

Yeah. Oh, sweet Australia. Sweet Crow boys. Geelong, we watched the Geelong game, which... We watched the Geelong game, we watched the Adelaide game this weekend. It's been nice to have people to watch footy with. Yeah, it has been. Yeah, and the fact that Shane seems to have genuinely,

that's one, I've convinced one person to really love and follow Ozzy Roach football. Yes, although he does not seem to understand it still, but he enjoys the spec cool of it I would say that every point where I feel he doesn't understand is a point That's so poorly officiated that you couldn't understand it by what probably fair There's a level of understanding the rules that short of watching four men

Trade barbed jabs on a panel show for an hour. Uh-huh three times a week You know like in terms of what is a legal tackle? Yeah, nobody knows. Good luck. You're getting away with driving the head sometimes, not other times? What is 15 meters? What's a trip? What's 15? What's holding the ball? Used to be 360. Very easy for everyone else. You do a 360, that's it. Well they did change that rule. They did actually change that rule. But now it's you know people will be Darcy Fogarty I think it was got tackled was on the ground with the ball it had two blokes on him they gave him

four now he managed to get rid of it but they gave him four seconds on the ground with it was a long time of him scrambling on the ground with the ball. A great deal of the chat while we're watching the Crows game with Shane was his commentary on James's unusual love for Darcy Fogarty. He's a handsome fella. I'm a big Fog fan. Yes there was lots of um slurs. I'm a Fogger. Level to James. I think Darcy Fogarty is the man and it was sad to have text out and I love text. I just I hope everyone's alright at that club. This is one thing that I've

noticed about America is they are fascinated with Aboriginal Australians. Oh yeah. This is just like something that I was at a party when my wife graduated and I met the parent of one of her classmates. Yeah. And he just wanted, he just bowed me up in the corner

and wanted to talk to me about Aboriginals the whole time. And he didn't call them that because they're not quite up to the lingo yet. Hold on, you hold this microphone and point it at me. I'm going to now commence our drive to get the barbecue and then we'll continue the podcast. That's great. We'll take a little break when I go in to get the barbecue. Yeah, they love talking about Aboriginal people. Well, they're just fascinated by it because it is a very different

circumstance, I think, to what what they experience here. And, you know, they just think that it's so normal for them, for American Indians to like be quite wealthy, I think to what they experience here. And you know, they just think that it's so normal for them, for American Indians to like be quite wealthy, I think. Not my experience, but there are so few and they're so in Oklahoma. Well, and there's the casino thing, right? Like that's the kind of like- There is a casino thing.

A lot of white people get rich on the casinos. I don't know how- Sure. How they're actually day to day running, but there is a sense that like there was a battle. Yeah. There were a series of fights. A deal was struck not necessarily a deal that was advantageous or fair for the Native Americans. But they got something out of it and the Aboriginals did not. It's much closer I think to the Maori situation. Yeah. Whereas not having a treaty means that the war is ongoing. Yeah.

Now the sad thing about a treaty is it is an acknowledgement that one side has lost a war. Uh huh. And that would in some ways be a step back. Yes let's get deep into the racial politics of our country. Well I don't really want to but yeah the Americans are fascinated by it because obviously they're fascinated by any racial politics because that's the only way they understand politics.

I find there is like a childishness to older white Americans when they come overseas when you ask about the race question in America. And people almost giggle, like it's, oh, I can think about this without being terrified that I'm gonna say the wrong thing. I can actually have my thoughts and express them. I don't even know what they are yet. Oh, let's find out. And that is about Aboriginal stuff,

how I feel in America where it's like, I can actually- You have the space to actually think about it. I have the freedom to think about it because there's absolutely no room permitted to think on that topic. You know, there's a taboo. It's a huge taboo.

And you're not allowed to come up with solutions or find new places to put blame or even say that it is a problem or acknowledge that it's not a, like, you just, you believe what people, whatever the Commonwealth Bank tells you to believe about it, that's what you're meant to believe. Yeah, it's funny. Excuse me.

I look, I will, I do miss Australia's social democracy. I miss social democracy. I did feel in Rome that there was a kind of like, like Europe feels like, I mean, Australia's European country. So when I was living in Rome, it was kind of like familiar. And you sort of felt like, oh, they speak another language here, but it's the same kind of culture. Whereas in America, you get here, and everybody speaks English, but man oh man, is it an entirely

different place. That's so funny because Scalia says the opposite. Scalia was ethnically Italian and grew up in America. Not Chief Justice, but Justice Scalia. And then he says he goes to England and he feels this is exactly the same place. It's not. But I go to Italy and it's a whole other world because the, I would say the functioning of the democracy is very different, but the legal codes are very similar. No, but it's also like, it's just like the, the, the, what, what it engenders in its people, right?

Like I just felt like Italians had the sort of same complaints and the same appreciation that Australians do for their government. Make me do the paperwork! Whereas here it's just like the, it's a totally different, like the constitution and their rights and all this sort of stuff. The sense of having a right. Everybody's all about different like the Constitution and their rights and all this sort of stuff It's having a right everybody's all about all the time You can't go through a conversation that people bring up America a great America is yeah, it's insane It's an insane plan. I mean I love that. Yeah, I know you do you've got a good bit on it James

I've cut so many bits. I've got to write some material about something else But I I mean they have a great pride. But here's the other thing. This is something I haven't managed to say on stage, because I don't. I think, all right, in Australia, people do not express that same pride and that chest beating and saying, I love this country. You criticize the country, people get furious.

In America, they really go on and on about how great it is And then you say here are all the problems and they go yeah, it's so bad Yeah, that's we've got to do something about them Yeah, where you know if a foreigner comes to Australia and starts talking jive or even someone of non entrenched Anglicity that's true or aboriginality. They're not gonna get a good hearing. We kicked Yasmin out of the country. Yeah Sure. We say I know you're an ABC presenter and you're a beautiful woman. You have an interesting headscarf You've said something about the ANZACs that we barely understand. It's time for you to leave. Off you go to London

Where they tolerate that sort of business. In America they import men from overseas to attack them on television They say wow don't we love don't we love our Trevor Noah don't we love our John Oliver uh-huh please give us please sir may I have some more complaints I find that very weird that is very weird yeah well because ever but also because there's there's like these you know at least two big political ideologies here you know are so distinctly different and so both of them can recognize there's something deeply, deeply wrong in the country. Yeah.

Even if I don't think either of them are particularly right about their diagnosis, everybody's happy to say this country has problems. That's the centrist position. Yeah. Is you are both right. Whereas having no... No, I'm saying they're both wrong. Well, you're both, sorry, you're both right about the things you hate about this country and the other.

Yeah. And to some extent, I think that is correct. Now, hold on now, we're doing a little driving. I mean, I did not get to follow politics in Australia. You may have kept up with it closer than me, but it seems like the Labour Party has now purged the woke stuff, and maybe purged everything. Well, I mean, yeah.

Our philosophy as a nation is let the bureaucrats handle that. I do think it's an interesting solution to the sort of like politicization of the Gaza War in Australian politics, which is to kick out the Jew and the Muslim from the cabinet so that we will not hear any more about it. Did we kick out the Jew and the Muslim from the cabinet so that we will not hear any more about it Do we kick out the Jew and the Muslim the only Jew and the only Muslim in in cabinet? Yeah, we kicked out But where does not gonna talk about oh? Albo sometimes like the strongest movies now. Yeah, so is Ed Husek and Dreyfus yeah Yeah, yes, we're having a Dreyfus affair. Uh-huh

Makes you proud Makes you proud Isn't that Dreyfus? Yeah, yeah, Mark Dreyfus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're having a Dreyfus affair? Uh-huh. Makes you proud. Makes you proud. Yeah, I mean, it seems bizarre that we have to have an opinion as a country. I don't know the extent to which we can actually sway that one way or the other. I think of the war in Ukraine,

where I think it was Putin was asked, like, what do you think about Scott Morrison saying he's gonna get involved? He goes, what? I thought it might have been Tony Abbott saying he was gonna shirt front. I think it was the beast. Oh, it was the, yeah, yeah.

He's done it twice, because Tony Abbott said I'm gonna shirt front, and Putin's line then was I think, I think Australia is a long way away. And then with Scott Morrison, he was like, I've got to tell you, I don't think about that country at all, which is such a dig. We should go over there and put boots on the ground

just to get back at him. Well, so there's this big thing now about this Australian who went to fight for Ukraine and then got captured and now he's been sentenced to prison for like 20 years in Russia. And like everyone's very upset about it in Australia I mean I understand that but also he was a mercenary who went to fight a war against that country and they got captured by them It's like I don't know like that seems like that's the rules right like if I went to fight

America in the Middle East then as many young boys did yeah I got caught then I feel like there will be consequences to that. I don't know, I'm not saying it's good or bad, it's just like... Well Jack, that's because you're a coward and you can never see yourself becoming a militiaman. I briefly considered it. Did you? You thought about joining ISIS?

I thought about joining whoever was fighting ISIS. I was doing nothing, I had no job, I had no girlfriend. You thought go to Kurdistan? I just thought, yeah, had no job. I had no girlfriend. You thought, go to Kurdistan. I just thought, yeah, I could go fight with the Kurds. I'm glad I didn't. We had that one guy who did it and I think he came back and screwed up a little bit. Yeah, I was very depressed at the time. People were so proud of you.

It was a really bad idea. Going and fighting with the Kurds? Well, my dad is always like, I want to go with the Kurds and fighting. It's like, you're getting on. Yeah, I feel like your dad of all people probably, you know, he could come out of that more grizzled and more terrifying. It was fabulous. I loved it. I killed seven men with my bare hands. He would do it. My dad is a... Your dad's a scary person?

Yeah, look I love him. He's so warm and friendly. I like him a lot. I think this would shock people having met him and he's been on the pod. I can see why young boys in war would be fine. In the classroom. I think my dad would come back from war.

He'd be one of the, he'd be the storm of steel type thing. Yeah, he'd be like, that was great. It was the most magnetic I lost an eye. I can't wait to do it. Happy to lose it. Yeah, the last thing that I saw was the most beautiful We might get in there behind they just pulled in damn it. Yeah, what about that one behind it? But that's Chevy. What about this Jeep? They have so many things to load into that Jeep Yeah, they're getting out of that car. Yeah, I was thinking of I was thinking of buying a Jeep But people say that's a bad idea you want to get rid of this car that you don't want to get rid of your studio

and upgrade to a new studio I Don't want to be I don't want to like spend money unnecessarily, but You can confirm for the listeners that this vehicle is falling apart Yeah, the the door handles are falling off. I do need to fix the door handles. Who dares to write to me while I'm driving. Why is that woman squatting in that particular way to move things in there? Why is she doing a performative squat? I think that's maybe the only way she knows how to do it. I guess that's how she does it at the gym. Did you see that old lady just walk past us seeing us holding the microphones? Oh, was she weeded out?

She thought it was really funny. Did she yeah, I Mean, I guess I just I put these hazards on She will they'll be backing out. She'll be backing that thing It is weird that I'm now watching a woman squat in the parking lot and talking into a microphone Uh-huh, you could edit it out. No. No, I mean we'd for her for the listeners They've been with us every step of the way and they know what's happening But Two dozen eggs, it's hard to get to it as an eggs

Yeah, it does seem like that. Whoa. Swim by birds. This feels like what the podcast used to be. I think this is where the podcast is strongest. You're going back in time to? Well, you said you listened to an episode recently, and I was alone in a hotel room, and I just

sounded very depressed. You did sound very depressed. I was very worried about you. Well, that was not what I was trying to put out there for people It is weird now having I used to just have full mental breakdowns on the part Yeah, like a weekly mental breakdown. Yeah, really enjoyed that people thought it was great And I got to be honest about my breakdowns and now I feel like you know

You got a couple thousand listeners and you have a breakdown and people go. Oh No, you start getting DMS from people going to your right? Well, it hasn't been very consistent lately, James. You haven't released episodes on a sort of regular basis. Yeah. So then it's like, oh, one comes out. It's like, oh, there's one. I'll listen to it. And you give it a listen.

And it's just you sad in a hotel room, missing your family. It's like, this feels like exactly the same as the last one I listened to two months ago. That's why there's been a gap. I didn't think people needed that every single week. Well, the through factor, I must say, is Wimble Dog, I'll do a little plug now week. Well the the through factor I must say is Wimble dog a little plug now. I'm gonna get the barbecue Wimble dog out now We're doing five pages a week on the

patreon You join the patreon you get to read Wimble dog. Jack. Are you reading Wimble dog? Um, look I am on the patreon and I have not yet read Wimble dog because I also thought What you didn't like when I was gonna wait till all came out it's like those streaming shows, you know I don't like to do the week by week thing. I understand. I want a binge. I want to when it does come out I want hype to be built so it can rock it to number one and then I can go to a you asked me That'll be that'll be volume one of Wimble Dog This is my big this is my current financial plan is that Wimble Dog, we're gonna have a Wimble Dog poster.

Peter Bedgood, the illustrator, is working on a Wimble Dog poster. I've seen some of the pictures, they look great. He's so good, he'll make a poster, he'll sell the poster. It's just about building hype in the community for Wimble Dog, and then when we release the first half or third of Wimble Dog on our own, then we can go, look, this is a very good seller. Then we get a big book deal, you know, for third of Wimble Dog on our own then we can go look This is a very good seller then we get a big book deal

Uh-huh for the full Wimble Dog. Yeah, and then that comes and then you flip it into a movie Well, then I sell the movie rights. Yeah, that's where that's where the rule. I don't I don't really buy a catamaran I have enough money to discipline it. I disappear into the sea forever We'll be back after we get the barbecue bang bang we're back oh you're double miking it well i like that if people are enjoying this podcast go and listen to the catechast the podcast that we will be resuming hey we've swapped over i'm not gonna hand back there we go um yes catechast it's out. Catacast. We'll put a link in the thing. We will finish the Catacast.

We will finish it one day. Maybe many years from now, but one day. There's more to still release. We've just got to get Sam to finish doing it all and I've got to answer some questions that he has that I have not answered in about a year. About what? The faith?

No, no, no. Technical question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I just never got back to him because I was in Rome. I mean, it's hard. The texts that I do not respond to have really started to mount up. Sean, I got your email.

I'm looking forward to responding to the email. It was a beautiful email. Sean, I've ignored several of your emails. I love Sean's email. I love them. I love getting them. I just have to actually sit down and put it off because I was like packing. Yeah, you know he can't he writes me a thousand word email I can't just send him back. Yeah good good night He's demanding with the length that I also write a long one and I will do and I'm happy to do it one thing

I'm looking forward to getting back to James is although I hate the duopoly Well, gee, I'm glad it went in that direction Woolies and Coles Just duopoly. They're just nice supermarkets and you found that confronting the HEB No, it's just a real roll the dice in America what the supermarket it's gonna be like Is the food gonna be fresh? Is it gonna be real food? Did you not have a Kroger? We didn't have a Kroger. We got all of our meat from the farmer's market

because we bought meat from the supermarket and it was just trash. Yeah. The one that I haven't been to, the big American chain that I haven't been to but I'm really looking forward to is the supermarket they have in the, you might have to grab that laptop, I'm sorry.

It's called, the supermarket is called Piggly Wigglies. Piggly Wigglies. Piggly Wigglies. And I just thought of the South going, why won't they take us seriously? Now if you'll excuse me, I must go down to Piggly Wigglies. Piggly Wigglies. I once had a Piggly Wiggly bottle of water at a show,

because I was in a place where piggly wiggly was I got to see the bottle is oh, there's something great I mean, what's I think one of the nice things about America supermarkets is that it is regional Yes, they do not have national players in almost anything. Yeah, it's crazy Banks are the banking strikingly Regional you don't like it? I love it. I mean I like it. It feels like being in the 90s and also you have to go into the bank to do all of your stuff. So you have to go in and deposit a check. They still have

checks here. It is like being in the 90s and they've got like people there who know you and they're like oh yes Mr Blanche here's your account. Also some of them will not take on immigrants. Like there's less's a little with us the Notre Dame Credit Union Yeah, like a student because they were gonna help you out, but I tried to get away from the big banks here and Found it impossible. I tried to go, you know to a Texas bank and when I was in studentville I tried to you know, I tried to bank local. Yeah Huffington and they said Well, then it also makes it so difficult to like go anywhere else. Cause like when we'll come down here, we're like, man,

we're not be able to get to a bank. We're not going to be able to get money out if we need money. Cause Notre Dame credit union has one branch, in Texas. Well, you just got to pay the fee. You got to pay the ATF fee. I know it's just crazy, but it is nice to, I, oh, I dream of starting a bank. We can't charge interest, obviously, as observant Catholics.

In any way, you can't charge interest. That's my understanding of usury. Well, from what I understand, I think that there's a Muslim community who are getting ready to start a bank, basically, in Sydney. The Bendigo Bank? And they will not be charging interest. But you've got to be a Muslim. I think so but I don't know. I remember seeing something about it when they announced they're doing it. But why can't we help the

ladies and the fellas out? I would join that bank in a heartbeat. The Muslim Bank? Yeah. The Muslim Bank. Now I'm it's a Sunday. I'm probably good to park wherever right yeah Oh, do you have restrictions on where you can park on your this is an illegal park right but It's my house. Yeah, it's America man. I don't think it's I people park there all the time I usually try to avoid it But I will be giving you a big lift to the airport if immigrants have the right to you know A fair hearing before they get deported you have the right to park this car wherever you want. I say this as an immigrant There's no way

Constitutionally, we have a right to a Trial no, but they're not saying a trial they're saying you have a right to see a judge Before that you get this, you know summarily packed off in a plane. There's millions of them how would you do it? No I know but they're making a legal point saying like obviously what if we make a mistake we don't want to deport a US citizen. I would just say that it shouldn't don't make it a judge because this the metric for being a judge the criteria criteria it's very high yeah just like get a some bureaucrat with a law degree

yeah and be like isn't this is the one thing you know you know like with COVID they have like special COVID specialists who'd come in and ventilated technicians right cram a tube down your throat till you died that's what I want yeah I don't know it's not my country but know. They're also deporting fewer people now than they were last year. Yeah. It's a funny, uh, it's a weird country. I watched, I mean we'll have to take the food in and we can finish the podcast later, but I watched, um, Tucker Carlson do his like, a little speech to Australia,

because he came and visited and he got in with the... Yes, I think I remember this, yeah. ...parma, whatever, and he was like, you know, you guys need to take back your country You've got the same problems as we have you know talking about you got all this any listed things and some of them were fair enough Yeah, and then he was like illegal immigration huge numbers of illegal immigrants and refugees. No, no, it's not. It's not They're all legal. They're legal and they have money now if we had a lot of illegal immigrants the housing crisis might dissipate because the hombres work cheap.

You know, and they do good work. If we suddenly had a million Indonesians come over, poor Indonesians from the countryside, I reckon they'd bang up some questionable houses pretty cheap and that'd solve the problem. Yeah, that probably would solve the problem. Whereas the Chinese millionaires are not dirtying their fingers with a toolbox. They're just buying the houses that otherwise families would buy We are so ripe for a populist moment Laws not out like the way we apply them. Yeah, we apply the laws fine The laws are just done, but it's very hard to have a rising

You can't like take over a political party the way you can in America. You just stack a branch, you just all join and then you vote in the primary somebody. Yeah. That's why they can have a two-party system is because you can revitalize the party with public membership. It's the only, I think there's like three other countries that have tried it and sort of gotten rid of it and like in the UK the parties have a plebiscite for half the whatever. People don't primary in their political parties. Political parties are put together from the outside and it's very hard to get in them and do anything to them and in America they make it so register.

That's it. You register, you're in the party and you can meaningfully change the party. We don't have that and we fought really hard to stop that. Yeah repeatedly. Yes, and Then starting up a party is very hard. It's an it's an ossified. Excuse me I go on and on but it makes me upset thinking of going back and trying to change the political process in Australia and thinking this is So much more difficult than it should be. Yeah, well I'd be happy with King Charles. Just give him, just hand it back.

He's not interested. Just hand it back. He's not interested. And that's what makes him so perfect. I did notice Colin Quinn last night, so talking about how it was a mistake to get rid of King George. Yeah, I thought it was very funny.

Is the only point at which I felt the audience really turned. Oh yeah, he lost them completely. They did not care for that at all. Freedom's good. Yeah. He was great, Colin Quill was great. Anyway, let's have some lunch.

All right. Maybe revisit this podcast at the end. All right, possibly goodbye. Possibly, hopefully.