Trillbilly Worker's Party - Episode 423: GOMAD or Go Home

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

We discuss whether or not an old powerlifting protocol for gaining mass cures seasonal depression or not. We also discuss the Intercept's piece on this week's congressional votes regarding the continued antagonizing of Venezuela (link below). https://theintercept.com/2025/12/17/venezuela-war-powers-vote-congress/ Subscribe to our Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/trillbillyworkersparty

You know, And we are rolling. Okay, that only took two college graduates, two press buttons. You're being very generous by calling me a college graduate. Whoa, it's a... I barely graduated with a communications degree. So, you know, there's not a lot of daylight between me and, you know, somebody with the GED. But regardless...

Regardless. As a fellow comms grad, I personally. I didn't mean to smirch you. Wow. I'm sure there are others who, you know, got more mileage out of that degree. A welcome everybody once again to Trulbillies for the week of December 18th. We are closing in on the celebration of the birth of our Lord. Savior Jesus H. Christ.

Join me today from Parts Unknown, my good long-time friend, JJ. What's going on? What's happening? Thanks for tapping in here. We're running a bit of a skeleton crew. We're small and number, but mighty in stature, I would say. And opinion and insights. Well, opinion anyway.

I lean on you for the insights, and that's just true today as it is, you know, any other day the week, frankly. So. How are you doing today? You know what? I am, I oscillate this time of year between seasonal depression and feeling the true spirit of Christmas. And I think I've hammered it down to something here.

Okay. Now tell me what you think about this. Okay. You can look at me, take one look, and realize I'm no stranger to drinking cow milk, you I was as a young man. I've not drank cow milk in 15 years, 20 years, something like that. Okay, you've gone cold turkey. Not much of a cereal guy anymore, not like, but like when I was a kid, I would drink

like famously, I would drink like a gallon a day, you know. Certainly not. And I ain't talking about skim either. I'm talking three feet of difference between, you know, that and titty milk is what I, that's what I had on. So, bovine. So here's what I figured out.

I was like, why did I never have seasonal depression when I was a kid? That's because I was fucking mainline and vitamin D through the milk. You know what I mean? I was like, why do I get so sad at the weather time? And when I was a kid, that was non-existent. I mean, of course, there's the, you know, hopes and dreams and having, you know, a grand vision of your future and then the crushing reality of when that doesn't materialize, So that plays a part in it.

Okay. But I think cow milk has something to do it. You're taking a pharmacological view of your sad. Is that right? Yeah, I think so. I think there's probably a lot of things we struggle with that could be chalked up to, well, maybe I'm just not getting enough of this. Like when you were a kid, you were probably more nurtured in the literal sense than when you're as an adult, you know?

Like when we just try to get on sugar. caffeine and stuff. When you're a kid, you actually get nutrients and vitamins. Might I contribute a counterpoint? Please. Okay. You also weren't paying bills as a child. That's a good point, too. No pressure.

No, no pressure. And no disrespect to my mother, RIP, but she wasn't paying them much either depending on how things was going. Yeah, okay. Like, you weren't And I'm not saying, I'm not saying don't start mainlining.

I think I'm going to get back on the cow milk. Okay, here's, okay, here's, Tom, I'm not here to, I'm not here to, like, burst any bubbles or killing you dreams. But as a, as a fully adult, Scott's Irish man. Let's not bring race into it. No, we have to, though. And we always will. As a fully grown Scots-Irish man, I'm going to, I'm going to counsel you against this really for one, no, is it for one reason? Why is this a bad idea even for a white man?

I just feel like it's capitalism. No? Can I just, can I yeat it onto the systems that are, that make us sound depressed? Yeah, I'm just going to say, I'm just going to say you're a grown man. dealing with capitalism and that's why you have sad now it's not the milk that's that's all I'm to say because what I don't want for you here we go what I don't want for you is for you to like wake up on New Year's Day with like you know runny diarrhea because you like took it too far trying to make yourself happy you know what I mean it's like try and pay your bills do your

best splash the milk in your coffee in your tea you think I should micro dose before I start mainlining again there we go Let's not get my feet wet and ease into it a little bit. There we go. Let's not shock the system with shitty American milk. Let's not do that. Because also, what if you wake up with bitch tits? And then you'd be sad when the sun is up in the sky in the summer

and when it's too cold to do anything about it in the winter. I just think we're adding more problems to. You think there's something about cow milk that could introduce estrogen into the equation? absolutely the science is in on that i i well maybe it's not mainstream science but uh yeah that's just this is most mostly filled but anecdotally i just feel like rfk junior might agree with me on this but um yeah i just yeah let's microdose it uh let's maybe i figured i'd take rfk junior for a milk guy you don't think so no no not not Not in the amounts that you're trying to, like, force your body into being happy again.

No. Also, why not just take a vitamin D supplement, my friend? Well, I've thought about that, too, but I have questions about absorption because I've done a lot of damage to my innards over the years. Okay, but if you can't absorb. Through strong drink, including but not limited to cow milk, probably. But I'm saying if you can't, if you can absorb a supplement, what makes you think your body is going to extract the most? maximum bioavailability of vitamin D from milk. Well, because it did.

I think there's an epigenetic memory associated with it. I think that it's possible. Now, hear me out here. I know this sounds like crackpot science, but I think it's possible that, like, as soon as I start drinking that sweet white stuff again, that my body's going to be like, oh, that's what we've been missing. You know what I mean? Like, it's imprinted in there, and you just got to go back to it.

Okay, first of all, that's not what epigenetic means. That's number one. It's not. But it sure isn't. But, you know, it's the season, it's the season of giving. And I'm going to give you this delusion. And I want you to report back. I want everyone, I want you to keep everyone in this wonderfully fibrous listening community.

I want you to keep everyone appraised of. So now, since you've said fibrous, you've brought up my next thing is I'm thinking about increasing my fiber content. Okay. I have no problem with that. But let's, let's, I want to hear the relative levels of increase. you're thinking about? Well, I had estimated that for the last seven years, I've been averaging about 12 grams a day, which is half of the suggested daily amount for a man of my size and age. Actually, a little more, a little less than less. Now, fortunately, I also contend with many

gastrointestinal perils, which is kind of offset the lack of fiber, you know, and kept me regular through some drastic means. But for the most part, I'm thinking, that like we just start with a little bit of raspberries and then we go from there okay um let's take a step back so are you is it is it giving healthy boy you're trying to be in your healthy boy era in 2026 well i don't know if you've realized this because you know when we met i was portly and sad but i'm kind of jacked now as you know just asking from these massive not to flex or anything these massive traps kind of poking through here so there's that but But I'm just thinking of, God forgive me for saying this, optimization.

Oh, what do we mean by that? Oh, come on. You live in the Bay Area. You know damn well what I mean by optimizations. I know what the virgins mean when they say it, but I'm asking about... I'm asking a grown man what he means. Correct. What do you mean by that?

I just want to shore up all my weaknesses here. And I'm thinking, I'm thinking that if we start maybe with, have you heard of something called go mad yeah like the it's like a it's it's like a dietary or nutrition thing it's like it stands for something i never remember well there's go mat which is like where you the elimination diet thing but go mad is gallon of milk a day and it's big in the power lifting community for hard gainers now i'm not a hard gainer you know as you can see yeah in fact when i'm in the gym with a guy and he's like talking about being a hard gainer i'm like brother You just, just eat whatever.

It just doesn't matter. That's correct. This, okay, but does that not, that's, okay, the, okay. Don't walk is mine. Just sit around and eat. That's right. This is, this is reminding me that I try really hard to not stay up on things too much because it ends up making my head hurt. Go mad.

First of all, sounds nuts. That's number one. Number two, it sounds like something. that one of like i have you know i live in the bay area you know i have like friends from south asia like indian friends pakistani friends whatever but like that's a part of um that's a part of the like violence of hindu nationalism in india right now or like milk wars like macho like seeing how much you can chug and like keep down a day and so i just this just feels like the american version of that and that makes me deeply uncomfortable the american version of that is

when in college we would uh try to drink a gallon of milk in a now we're violently throw up because you just can't break it down like that no you cannot and it ends the same way every time and yet we thought it was going to end differently you know that's right let's let's try something different and somehow we thought we were getting women doing that yikes i can't i there were wild things going on in kentucky in the in the early outs is what it sounds like let me just say this um let me be on the record of saying i am i'm team fiber not team go mad let's go moderate and then let's and also let's not overdo it on the fiber you don't want to be in the gym and you know become infamous because of a brownout while you're

doing well or or you could have the opposite effect where you have too much fiber and it bungs your shit up we certainly don't want that so let's let's let's go ahead and straighten that out for you right now so you don't i got one more you don't end up at either end of the spectrum i got one more dietary query before we actually get to the meat or we optimize okay okay or you land on protein because i feel like proteins is just like in our face every day like they got protein water they got protein you can eat listen fucking candy with protein in i i'm not a nutritionist didn't go to school for that um but what i do remember learning in high school is there are three macronutrients just three. Carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Let's not overdo it or underdo it on any one of them.

Why is it? Why? Let's just getting that. Now, if you are, you know, trying to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, sure, you're going to have to, like, up your protein intake before, like, a regular bitch who works a desk job and maybe gets out to walk the track a couple weeks. ain't no need for all right. Keep it normal. I like when people talk about like natural bodybuilding contest versus unnatural. It's like, brother, to me, it's more natural to take steroids than to eat 19 chicken breasts a day. That's right in one sitting. Correct. I don't think we're being a little too hard on the steroid users or something else. Yeah, that's right. I would actually, I know, you know, okay, you remember everybody was kind of like losing their mind in their own way. fairly early on in the pandemic. I definitely remember a good friend of mine early on in the pandemic, like, decided to try out the carnivore diet, which, you know, these are the protein maxis,

if you will. That was the wildest thing I have ever encountered ever in my life. And that can't be good for it. Like, he swears like, oh, you know, this is, it worked out. It was nice. It wasn't that bad. It was da-da-da-da. I'm talking every morning. of bacon and like six or eight eggs for breakfast every day. All meat, all protein, water, black coffee for like months he did this. I mean, he's still alive, so, you know, fuck me. What do I know? Well, that's a low bar though. That's right. That's right. Yeah, just let's be normal. Maybe you could up the protein a little bit. Don't lose your mind. Don't become one of them chicken boys. Team fiber. Also, don't overdo it. Also, remember, we have to have water to go with that, keep

things moving. And what was the first one? Milk. Let's not. Add it to your coffee. Let's try vitamin D supplement first. Let's try that. And let's see, let's see where our feelings are after, you know, a reasonable adjustment. I take vitamin D every morning. That seems like your arteries be crying out for mercy. Every morning for months. That was breakfast and then dinner would be like a steak or two. I don't know. It was too. I was like, you're now, I don't know if what he was doing this for because he's not like a, it's not like he had like Crohn's or was even obese. He's like a slim guy. So it's like maybe go get a blood test and see how your kidneys are faring after four months of eating just meat and eggs. Almost no fiber. No fiber at all.

None. Zero. Yeah, if it's straight meat. Yeah. You're not getting. in it, really. No, but he swore it was like, it was all good. And it was like, all right, friend. This is the diet that landed Jordan Peterson, brain damaged in a Russian hospital, too, for the record. Oh, is that? Is that right? Is that what made him crazy?

I thought it was just, I thought it was the drugs. I think he was, I think he was trending toward that before that, but I'm sure it didn't help the situation. Certainly not. Certainly not. Okay. All right. Well, much as I'd love to riff all day about You know, the perils and triumphs of twaking your diet.

We got to get into the hard and fast realities of life, my friend. And I don't know if you saw this last night, but I was confused because a friend of mine and I were texting, and it sent me a tweet about somebody talking about, like, a vote that Congress took last night to, it was confusing. It was, like, as most legislative things are, it was, like, very confusingly. posited to authorize the the war powers act presumably in relation to a pending invasion of Venezuela and it was weird because you looked at it and it was like all the Republicans voted nay and all the Democrats voted yay and it kind of was like wait a second well wait

it was so okay or almost all this was a the measures brought to Congress were to stop the boat strikes and something else related to, you know, some aggression against Venezuela. And so all the Democrats voted, almost all the Democrats, there were a couple of, like, assholes. Like, all the Democrats voted for it, but all the Republicans, except for a couple, voted against it. So, like, this was, this resulted in, if I have this correct, This resulted in Congress allowing Trump to, like, keep up with these, like, Fugazi-ass boat strikes, et cetera. Yeah, which is like just, like, it's almost like everybody slept through Iraq or something,

or at least nine people slept through Iraq. I saw there was nine abstentions of the vote, which is crazy because it's like, oh, do you want to continue to authorize Trump to keep bombing fishermen and frame them as, you know, narco terrorists. But, you know, I don't actually know where I land on that. So I think I'm just going to sit this one out, you know. Right. I don't.

Now, I'd like to hear your thoughts on, like, what have you been thinking as the, as the, like, I don't know, seating of this and the press has, like, kind of become kind of regular. And, you know, at this point, you can, anyone who's been alive for more than 30,000. years can kind of recognize the drum beat up to some aggression, but, like, would have been, would have been some of your thoughts or thinking about it as, as they've, like, framed this about to be, like, a drug thing and, like, protecting America, like, would have been your thoughts? Well, to me, it's crazy because it's like, we, I mean, the press literally didn't learn any Iraq war lessons because all the people beating the drums, David Frum, and, you know, all these people you see on Twitter every day. Like, they're all still gamefully employed, you know,

You know, they drug us into, you know, this protracted bloody. We say genocide in regards to Gaza. We killed two million Iraqis. You know, what would you, what would you call that? You know what I mean? Pratel. And, you know, all these people are still employed. And it's like the same publications that are just saying, like,

cartel leaders in Trinday and Trindaragua and Venezuela and stuff like that. You know, we've talked with Alex Vien, a friend of the show, a lot about this, included a couple weeks ago on Patreon. but, like, there's no, like, meaningful, even meaningful narco-presons in Venezuela. And, you know, I don't, like, I've never been to Venezuela, but, like, I've been to Cuba. And, like, in Cuba, it's like, I remember talking to some people there about, like, drugs, they're just hanging out. And they were like, no, if you got caught with, like, cocaine here, you would get in, like, serious trouble. Yeah.

Crazy, you know, like. No lawyer in the world get you out. No, no, no, no, no, no. You'd just be rotting way in a man in prison. And it's like, and it's like, same thing. Probably similarly in, you know, in Southeast Asia, Vietnam and places like that that have socialist governments too. I don't know. You know, like, I know, like, I know you could go to a pharmacy in Venezuela, like, as much Xanax as you want, but elicit drugs. I don't know. I would surmise it's pretty similar as Cuba. I think it's so I've also been in Cuba and randomly ended up talking to this like, don't ask, this former like military guy for like. hours just just chatting as I as I do talking people's ear off just listening whatever and what he was saying was like where it's like a very hard strict line in Cuba about drugs like even just weed like you can't you you you play games you get caught with like weed in Cuba 10 years mandatory at least and like that's it but he was saying in Cuba they learned kind of they learned that you have to be

There can be no lenience with drugs, and they learn that from places like, you know, Colombia and even Venezuela. So my guess is that Venezuela is, I've not been there, but my guess is that it's not a, it's not a free for all. It's not like some vacchanal of just drugs everywhere. It's probably a little more, the borders are probably a little more porous, and there's probably a little more presence of like illicit drugs in Venezuela than Cuba. But like, it's not, it's not this, it's not what, you know, Trump and them are.

are painting it to be, like, by any means. But I want to ask you another question before I, like, tell you what literally just occurred to me this morning, like, when you were letting me know what we'd be talking about. If you're, put yourself in Latin American shoes. Like, if you're a Maduro, do you think he's, do you think he's, like, quaking in his boots, scared shitless or in my ignorant brain do you think it's

he wakes up every morning blast Pastor Troy and it's like What if heaven was hell and vice versa Ignorate volumes That's what I would That's what I would be That's what I would be playing soul

No I'm at Pastor Troy's nephew In Myrtle Beach one time Of course Of course I but do you think he wakes up every day and he's playing we ready by pastor choy like you know what i would say i would say yeah you have to you know keep a uh uh steely and positive disposition when you're staring down the empire but like i think the thing about it is is like and again somebody that's more educated on this than i could

could speak better to it but my thing if i were maduro would be like all our protectors you know China, Russia, Iran, like, what are we, what we going to do to kind of, I know what I would be doing. I would be hitting up China and being like, look, you know, they're going to come take this oil. Or, or you guys could just, you know, we could come up with some sort of quid pro quo here. Because I think the whole conflict with Venezuela is rooted in a sort of standing down from China. You know, I think, I think it's rooted in. China now controls 95% of the world's rare earth minerals, including all those that are included in weapons manufacturing for one. And on top of that, they control 90% of the refineries that make those things.

So they don't only just control the mineral rights. They control how you process all those things. So I think it's what the U.S. is done and what Trump's saber-rattling about the tariffs and all that kind of stuff. When China's like, shit, we can weather that. That's just a tax on y'all. You know what I mean? I think Trump's calculus is, well, back to what we do best, and that's, you know, beaten up on less powerful countries militarily, yeah. Just try to steal their resources.

Well, I think we're in an era of like coalitional wars. So like even when it's, even when it's presented in the press is like U.S. versus Venezuela or Ukraine versus Russia, it's really like the U.S., well, Putin's already. like made it clear that like no Venezuela we got your back it's not they're not about to roll on you like that so yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah but it's so it's like it's it's not it's not the there's not it's not it's not a one-on-one confrontation and I guess it hasn't been for quite some time like you remember the so I mean speaking of Iraq um what was it the coalition of the willing which was like micronesia America and other American protectorates making it look like you know, oh, there's this grand global consensus, you know.

Yeah, that's right. Against, you know, these naughty Iraqis. It's the same thing with Venezuela. Just as, you know, the confrontation in slash over Ukraine isn't just Ukraine be Russia. It's Russia, India, China versus, you know, Western Europe and America or NATO. So I don't think. so he's not, you know, he knows he's not going to be left to, like, fight alone. But I don't, and I think if I'm a Doro, and I'm looking out and, you know.

Yeah, I turn my Pastor Troy down for a second. That's right. After I get hype and I turn down my pastor Troy, and I look out in, you know, the great Satan, I'm looking at your track record. You just got, in certain respects, you just got walked in Israel. There were very rugged, very brave Yemenis who got you to, like, blow your wad with, you know, very expensive, very elegant missiles in the Red Sea, let alone kind of make a mockery of the, what do you call it there? The Golden Dome. Yeah, yeah.

The Iron, you know, or is it golden or iron? Which one? I think they're both the, the Golden Dome might be like the updated, like, get all the bug fixes out of the iron. But yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Some such dome. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some such metallurgic dome. You couldn't, you know, you were able to make hell for Iraqis, but weren't able to,

Iraqis and Afghanistan, Afghanis, Afghanis, not Afghans. That's a carpet, isn't it? You were able to make hell for the population, but Afghanistan is back in control. Under the Taliban control, Iraq is a basket case that, America has like sizable influence under but like they didn't they didn't just get to like be the aggressor and have their way and I don't know what the last time they were able to like decisively win and I think even this is arguable wasn't it like World War II like they lost in Vietnam technically they lost in in Korea like so I don't you know these people don't

win anymore that doesn't mean that it won't be painful it doesn't mean it won't be scary or dangerous, but, um, but they don't, America does not know how to war anymore. We don't talk about that. We just don't, we're not very good. I mean, Seth, you know, Seth Hart that book, uh, the, uh, Fort Bragg Cartel came out a couple months ago. He wrote this piece in Harper's kind of talking about like that, about like U.S. military hegemony. It's like, we have outsized basically essentially that like our track record, like you say, is just not been, you know, uh, been there is just not been there. It's just not been there. Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like Kentucky basket.

or something you know what I mean like we're riding on past glory or some shit you know or or the perception of past glory you know that's right I think um what I what I did not um what didn't occur to me until literally this morning and I felt a little bit like a dumb dumb as a result is like you know they like one of the ways they're like greasing the skids for this eventual this eventual war or aggression that they want with Venezuela, which has uncanny similarities into the run-up with war with Iraq, but some, some, you know, differences. But, you know, they're running wild with this idea of, like, what is it, narco boats, narco-terrorism. Like, let's, we got to kill the people on these boats. And then, so I was thinking about that. And then the, what was reported on the

Susie Wiles. Did you see that? Her interview with Vanity Fair? No, uh-uh. Trump's cheapest stuff. Well, there's a lot of... I saw the cover spread. And like, it's, I guess some people were... Wild white faces. Oh, man, you see J.D. Vance's.

Actually, I start saying Scott's Irish moon face, but it turns out he's not even Scott's Irish. Turns out he's German. Oof. Oof. Bad day for the Germans. And part of what she was, she set, she was found out, not found out, what was report? from the interview with her was like she was she's kind of playing like coy kind of playing dumb a little bit about Venezuela and she was saying you know I don't you know these these hits on these narco boats you know people much smarter than me tell me that it's about like you know making Maduro like say uncle

and so I was like thinking about all these things and then I remember back like so you know I'm from back east and one of the people I grew up with he's a professor but he also writes for Venezuela analysis, his name is Frederick B. Mills. He's written a lot about Venezuela over the years, and I would encourage everyone to go read it. But I remember years ago, and this might have been shortly after Chavez died or early on in Maduro's rule, but Fred, he was telling me that, like, the parts, different aspects of the program for, like, national sovereignty, defense, and independence, liberation was because of the initial, or the sanctions at that time that the country was under, it made it hard for Venezuela to adequately feed its people.

Like, do you remember, like, it was years ago, like, they would, you'd see stories in New York Times about, like, skinny Venezuelans, like, upset about, like, not being able to eat enough I remember that because I was in college I dated a girl from Venezuela and I remember when that was like the thing and I didn't really know much about it then and I would ask her about it and it was varying degrees of true I guess like depend upon like you know what I mean like sure but like also it's being used for this purpose right as well yeah so what he was saying that I just remembered was that you know a big a big popular effort being led by Maduro was in order to increase the protein intake of the country per capita was to give a bunch of people like boats and nettings like to increase the protein consumption of the country via like fishing and so it just occurred to me that like the way that they're trying to foment the way Trump and them are trying to like foment regime change is that these like narco boats or whatever these alleged narco boats, these are fishermen that they are, that they're killing. And if you can scare

off, you know, scores of people who, in order to make their living and as their like national service, their national duty is to like scare them off from going out to fish, you can, the thinking goes, I think, you can effectively like start to starve the country. And then the people. It's an Israeli tactic. That's right, which is just the U.S. tactic. Like these are the same people. So it's like, oh, they're running this play again. And you know, they've done that, you know, they did this with Cuba. They tried to do this with Yemen and it backfired. I mean, it obviously a backpired in Cuba. You know, they did it. They still do it in Korea. Like the, like a part of the national service for like North Korean army people is like in the spring when it's time to

harvest you know they they are sent to you know the countryside to the farms to like help with the national harvest but that's also when like the provocations from the south are the highest to like to draw them off of the farms so like this is a well-worn tactic but it did not occur to me until this morning that like oh this is how they're trying to do it's a form of calorie restriction like in a that's right yeah formalized sense yeah that's yeah that's yeah that's interesting I hadn't even really thought about that. Yeah, it's like, I think, yeah, I think it's that. I think part of it, too, is if we start with like the fishing boats,

which it provides the, you know, it does the job in what you're talking about in terms of the sort of trying to start to starve them in and affect their actual quality of life. But I think it also, too, is like, well, is China going to do anything? Is Russia going to do anything? If we start here, let's see what the reaction is. Beijing. Let's see what the reaction is in Moscow. And then we'll just go a little bit. We're habitual line stampers. That's exactly correct. You know what I mean? That's exactly right.

But did you also see that it was a, it was a story either yesterday or earlier in the week, which I thought was so disgusting and telling that in the blockade that is, that is, I guess, in effect right now against Venezuelan primarily like, oil exports, which is an act of war internationally, like technically, it's, that means we are at war with them. Their, their goal or focus is to, like, block the, all the oil tankers, leaving Venezuela, you know, interrupt their trade. Every oil tanker except those from Chevron. And it's like, really. Offly convenient. Offly convenient. Yeah. This.

To be honest, I haven't been, like, closely following the run-ups for war with Venezuela, just because, you know, I'm a tired. Like, it feels like a fait accompli, and there's so many other attendant horrors that grab my attention. So I haven't been following it closely, but I don't know. It just feels inevitable, and it feels very, like. like for what for what to just like to get your ass out of the fire in the midterms and like maybe people stop thinking about how fucking expensive beef is um because we're rallying around the flag um to it is it is yeah you're right in a way it is like making trump's failures like the failures of his administration somebody else's problem by going back to the old

playbook of like well regime change and you know now it's not spreading democracy now it's like getting the narco state under control, which is crazy because we're the world's largest narco state. Hello. What's that? No, I said, hello. Yes. Yeah.

Teres told me something. I've not read this book, but I forget who wrote it, but she's a professor at University of Hawaii. There's this book, we sell drugs. But it, like, talks about the history of, like, the U.S. control and the global narco trade, essentially. And something that I didn't know that happened, that he'd, pointed out in this book was that when they shifted all the gold from the Federal Reserve to Fort Knox

just down the road here where I'm at, you know what they put in the coffers in the Federal Reserve said? Heroin and opium. Oh, well. And I was like, wait, because I thought, okay, yeah, the U.S. is a narco state in the sense that, like, you know, we kind of get to pick and choose who is, no, no, no, no, we just deal it. Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. That's exactly it. That's not like a conspiracy there. It's just a matter of record.

No. And you know what? This is, this is, how do I want to say this? There's one thing to talk about like, oh, living here is so hard and, you know, no wonder people do fucking drugs you need to check out and blah, blah, blah. Living here is a trauma in and of itself. But like, also the drug trade is kind of a jobs program for, like, police, law enforcement. Not in the way that you, not in the way that you might think, like, oh, arresting people, like, keeps cops in a job and blah, blah, blah. But, like, in a lot of existence, yeah.

Right. But I'm saying in a lot of places, like, I just, I was visiting with some friends, Natsuango, somewhere in the South, let's just say. Un disclosed location in the South. In an undisclosed location in the South. And it's, like, well-known in the county where they live in, the sheriff. runs the drug trade and like if you are on his good side you have no problems you'll make a shit ton of fucking money um but the but the sheriff like everything gets okayed by him all the drugs that come into that community are okayed by him and he gets a piece of everybody's action um and that

also makes me think of like out here where i live in the bay area was too it was a it was either last year or two years ago or something there was this huge um i mean it wasn't big enough But there was a scandal that the, I think, don't quote me on this because part of it might be wrong. But the head of the police union in San Jose was, I think, caught, I think, by the FBI because she slashed the police union was like involved in like a huge illicit heroin fentanyl running thing. So it's like, if we stop the drugs, what on earth will our cops do? What on earth will our sheriff, how will they make money for their lake houses, for their boat houses, for their boat houses? How they're going to feed their families, you know? How?

It's Christmas when somebody think of the cops. That's exactly correct. What if the cops want to go mad? What if they want gallons of milk every day? So who's, they need to be able to afford it. And listen, it ain't getting any cheaper. That's right. That's right.

Oh, it's all so ridiculous. Yeah, but I don't know. I think, I mean, there will always be a, there'll be no shortage of new things like keep up with as it relates to Venezuela. I just, I can't right now. Well, we'll read through this. This is what I sent you this morning from the intercept, but the headline is, Congress squander's last chance to block Venezuela war before going on vacation. And Matt Sledge put this out, but I'll just kind of read through it real quick. The House voted down a pair of measures to halt strikes on alleged drug boats and on Venezuela

Lent on Wednesday, hours after President Donald Trump announced a blockade on the South American country. Democrats sponsoring the measures were able to peel off only two Republicans on the first vote and only three on the second as the GOP rallied around the White House. On Tuesday, Trump announced a partial blockade considered an act of war and international law against Venezuela after weeks of threatening military action. The votes Wednesday may have been lawmakers' last chance to push back on Trump before Congress is into your break.

A vote on a bipartisan measure in the Senate blocking land strikes is pending. The House voted 216 to 210 against the drugboats measure and 213 to 211 against the landstrikes measure. Both would have required Trump to seek congressional authorization for further attacks. The lead sponsor of the measure blocking an attack on Venezuela, Representative Jim McGovern, Democrat from Massachusetts, said Trump seemed to be rushing headlong into a war without making the case for it. quote, Americans do not want another Iraq. If we intensify hostilities in Venezuela, we have no idea what we're walking into. And quote, McGovern said, quote, at least George Bush had the decency to come to Congress for approval in 2002. Don't the American people deserve that respect today?

And let me just stop you right there, Congressman McGovern, and say, you absolutely don't have to hand it to him. You don't. Not ever. And in fact, the last time something like this was at bar for Venezuela, you had Chavez still alive who, Follow Bush at the U.N. And said that he could still smell the brimstone behind the podium. I remember that. He was so, he had such bangers.

That guy had balls of steel. I think my favorite Chavez, remember I have two of them. The girl told you I dated in college, had a picture on her mantle of when she was a little girl with her father, grandfather, Chavez and Jimmy Carter holding up fish on a fishing shrimp. Okay. And she never elaborated on that. But I think about that pic, that photograph often. It's like, wonder what they talked about that. Very mum about what exactly was going on to get that photo.

We love that. We love a tight-lipped queen. Then the other one was, and you probably know this one, I was in Cuba, I would stay up at not watching the state-sponsored television. And in between reruns of the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Espanel, there would be like a daytime talk show where Fidel and Hugo Chalbaz would like, they would have somebody come on there like, you know, like in the daytime talk shows where like somebody's making a dish and showing you how to make it and stuff and then Chavez and Fidel are just commenting on everything. I would kill to have footage of that.

Yeah, that's right. Chopping it up with Somos Lideres. That's right. Okay, now I'm sad that I didn't take the time to to insist that any of my hosts expose me to, to, to, to, to, to Cuban public access television while I was there. Oh, Zerga. Bush in 2002 sought and received a formal authorization for his attack on Iraq. Without taking any similar steps, Trump has massed thousands of American service members in the Caribbean without former approval.

Rumors began to swirl in right-wing circles before the vote that Trump would use a Wednesday evening televised address to announce U.S. attacks targeted directly at Venezuela. strikes that could be salvos in a regime-change war against President Nicholas Maduro. In the absence of outreach from the White House, Democrats forced votes to block unauthorized strikes on both the boats and Venezuelan land under the war powers resolution, a 1973 law meant to limit the power of U.S. presidents to wage war without congressional approval. A segment is called transpartisan or not. Earlier attempts in the Senate to stop both the drug boat strikes

and an attack on Venezuela under the war powers law. Maybe we should just said the alleged drugs. Hello. And an attack on Venezuela under the war powers law have failed and mostly party line votes. Wednesday represented the first instance that representatives have faced similar questions, making it a key public test. The vote on a measure banning attacks on alleged drug votes. There we go. Came first.

From the start, it was poised to earn less support from Republicans who, base widely supports the strikes at sea. Few GLP lawmakers wavered despite renewed criticism of the Trump administration over a second attack. First reported by the intercept that killed their survivors

on an initial strike on an alleged drug bubble on September 2nd. What was the deal with that? Because I remember there was some banter last week in like the Department of Defense about what you do with like survivors

of those strikes. And some people being like, well, duh, you kill them. And then like there being some like hesitation. Do you remember me? what any of that was about. I kind of just caught the contours of that and didn't really. I don't even think. I think I caught the vapors of that, not even the contours. Because I know, so I have no idea what, I know that there's this big frou-frawee about, like,

releasing the footage from the strikes, the assaults. But I don't, I don't remember the, like, particulars of that argument. I'm sorry. Yeah, no, no, no. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast, Republican from Florida argued Wednesday, that Trump has the legal authority to act against the imminent threat of illegal drugs. Every, quote, every drug boat sunk is literally drugs not coming to the United States of America, end quote, he said. Quote, Democrats are putting forward a resolution to say the president cannot do anything about MS-13 or Trindaragua, two Latin American gains frequently evoked by drug warhawks, quote, in every other cartel that is giving aid and comfort to narco-terrorism.

Alex Avina, who had mentioned earlier, he said that, like, as far as Trinidad, de Ragua goes there's like that and there's there's like the cartel de la solace like the cartel of the sun and he's like basically both of them are better represented in american prisons than even in venezuela so it's like what are you actually talking about here sure sure uh the debate let me ask you a question let me ask you a question do you think do you now maybe i'm a fool for trying to get you to like assume the the mental posture or the strategic posture

of like congressional dims do you think they set up this vote to like to be able to have one additional thing in their grab bag of bullshit

for next year like like in case public sentiment you know turns against war we can we have this vote that we can pull out and like the voting record of like see we tried

to keep you out of this boondoggle that's even though they didn't care much because when you like talk to people like uh what's the uh c a spamburger no the other one the other one with the bob i know you're talking about um the white woman with the i know i can't call her name but i just talk about yeah yeah what's your name oh i forget she's a CIA Democrat what is her name i can see her face yeah i can see her face played in his day uh anyway i know you're talking about but like you know like they'll get on TV and they'll just they won't like say like no

absolutely we don't need any more bullshit wars they'll say stuff like you know we got to go through the proper channels before like you know that's always like appealing to procedure and that's right and the legality of it rather than like just the moral imperative you know that's right that's right so do you think that they're so do you think that they're trying to uh erect like a very a very uh flimsy foil maybe against affordability to run on in 2026 or like what do you think they're the thinking is and like bringing this vote for it that they obviously knew it was not going to to pass but what do you think they're thinking i think that they i think you're i think that's exactly right i think part of it's like see we were against this we were against this and like they'll have that to run on and kind of

the same way that Obama ran 2008 and like closing guantanamo and all these other things that you know in wars whatever can i say something though yeah if they you know it's we all we all lament how they like hugged them, like, shoot themselves in their own feet with their nonsense. But, like, I think with this, I don't, I'm going back and forth. It's like, as a result of them rehabilitating goddamn George W. Bush and making him look like reasonable and, like, a statesman rather than what the fuck he was. He paints. He's a grandfather who paint. Yeah, that's right. It's like, do, do they even lose the moral rhetorical upper hand of being like, you know, we all, everyone knows

that, you know, all of Congress just about damn near, all of Congress made a mistake with the run up to war with Bush and how he like swindled us. So like, we know that we have to put our foot down now. Like, they're not even able to do that. And so do you think, do you think the people, do you think that broadly the public buys any, like, hand-wringing over a war now? You know what I mean? Do you understand what I'm saying? I think we're so desensitized to it. Like, you know what I mean? It's like you said it's like, there's so many Eldrick horrors pulling my attention elsewhere that like, that didn't exist in 2003 or even 2008 for that matter. You know what I mean? So it's like, I think, I think part

of that is like, we're just so like tired of, and literally just our minds are just so like bogged down that like yeah there's just nothing to be it's like an easier thing to just sort of slide through stuff like this i don't know that's a good question yeah that's right yeah i don't know it just i i just wonder what the strategy is here is like are you are they are they going to try and like it's obvious that the republicans the republican administration is trying to like speed run you know afghanistan and iraq that's obvious it's it's like the same almost the same verbiage the same like pretext similar pretext not the same same goal stepping up to uh you know validate it in the press yeah same gul goo stepping correct but it's like what like what is the

oppositional playbook from the dims going to be like this time because you kind of you can't you can't pretend like oh we didn't know or or we were tricked or we were fooled but i don't know Fuck, yeah. Maybe they can. My question is the people who abstain from this vote. Who are the, one, who are these people? And two, why in the hell would you just do that? I don't know.

My guess is like, you know, a bunch of like spineless mods and like quote competitive districts. Like, oh, I don't know. We need more information. Well, brother, I ain't to break us to you. They're already bombing boats. You ain't got a lot of daylight here. That's right. That's right.

Yeah, I don't know. It'll be, it'll be interesting, but this feels like another, this feels like another like very clever but shittily executed like strategy that I think is going to like maybe backfire. I don't know. But, but they, but they might be able to like, since now they kind of have Trump like on the back foot about affordability and blah, blah, maybe they can they can use this as like, oh, I mean, even though we're voting for these. These big-ass, motherfucking defense bills, we could be using this money for you, but... Yet another Kentucky basketball comparison when they spent $22 million on a roster that's barely 500. That's exactly right. Y'all ain't getting a lot of, there ain't a lot, you ain't getting a lot back for your money here. Not to say that, like, I support, like, a healthy U.S. Empire military. I'm not saying that, but I'm saying in dollars and cents terms for y'all. That's right.

Yeah, we'll see. I don't have much faith that they'll be able to like thread that needle because again, all your motherfuckers are voting for all this money to do exactly what it is intended for. Yeah. These motherfuckers losing like 10 billion

in their couch cushions every day. That's right. The debate grew heated at one point with mass suggesting that foreign affairs ranking member Representative Gregory Meeks, Democrat from New York, did not care about the nearly 200

overdoses in his district last year. Okay, pause. That's a little spicy. That's giving shots fired, and I'm kind of okay with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. In response, Meeks noted that Venezuela is not a major source of the drug that has driven the overdose crisis fentanyl. He also asked over and over again why Trump had pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking as well as the founder of the Darknet Drug Network Silk Road, Ross Oldbrick.

We'll stick a pen in that. I'll ask you something about that. I'm still waiting to hear why major drug dealers, two major drug dealers, were pardoned by the President of the United States. I'll wait. Yeah, he is getting a little cunty, eh? Little, little cunty. We're here for it. Gras?

Yeah. Meek said at one point taking a long pause, nothing. A drama. Oh, my God. Here's, oh, my God. Okay. Representatives Thomas Massey, Republican from the Bluegrass State and Don Bacon, Republican from Nebraska, were the only Republicans to vote in favor of halting the boat strikes.

Democratic representatives Henry Quayar and DeSinthe Gonzalez, who represents Texas districts near the southern border, broke with their party to vote against it. Come on. Land attack, question mark. The other measure, blocking attacks on Venezuelan land without approval from Congress, seemed poised to draw more GOP support. Massey and Bacon co-sponsored the proposal.

The White House has failed to ask Congress for a declaration of war as the Constitution requires, Massey told his colleagues. Quote, do we want a miniature Afghanistan in the Western Hemisphere? If that cost is acceptable to this Congress, we should vote on it, as the voice of the people in accordance with our Constitution, Massey said. The quintessential broken clocks right two times a day guy. Advocates hope for a cross-partisan coalition between Democrats and Mago Republicans. Opposed to regime change wars was dashed, however, under pressure from GOP leaders who said the measures were nothing more than a swap at Trump. Trump.

Weird how he's infected all these people with like, if it's an affront to Trump, then it's wrong or something. It's like, God damn, dude. It's like, did you see, like, his thing that he said about Rob Reiner effort? Like, you know, like, Rob Reiner murdered by his child. Like, the most, like, awful thing I could think of happening to somebody, you know, whatever you think about his, you know, Russiagate stuff or whatever. It's like, it's, you can feel for him as a human being, you know.

That's right. And it's like he gets on his little true social thing. He was like, oh, he had. Trump direct. Can you imagine a man and his wife get their throat slipped by their son? And all you can think about is him like talking about bad mouth on you on social media. Right. Just like getting like getting the jab him posthumously for for for how you were. It's like come on like get a grip. You're drowning in Narcette. Yeah, that's right. That's real bad. And also like I mean, beside it being just tasteless and and.

and, I don't know, tasteless and unnecessary. You are the president of the United motherfucking states. You have nothing better to do than, like, comment on a grisly murder of a Hollywood figure. You know what I mean? And make it about you. Yeah, right. What? Come on.

It's just, yeah. I don't know. This, you know what? I go back. I go back to my question I asked you. And I'm thinking Maduro sitting up in the palace of the people or whatever his residence is. And it's like, you know what? I'm ready to dance, daddy. Let's go. You're not focused. You're not focused. In the background, you just hear Pastor Troy getting turned up. That's right. That's right. Pastor Troy Poppy. That's right. Come on. Let's dance. Give me your best shot. Please. Oh, my gosh. Please. This resolution reads as if Maduro wrote it himself. It gives a narco-terrorist dictator a free pass to keep trafficking drugs, Mass said of McGovern's measure.

Because it appears Democrats hate President Trump more than they love America. Ultimately, Representative Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia was the only other Republican who joined Massey and Bacon to vote in favor of the measure. Quayar was the only Democrat to vote against it. The votes came on a day after Trump announced a blockade of Venezuela, which depends on trade using sanctioned oil tankers for a large share of its revenue and to editorialize, as you said, except for asterisk Chevron. Blockades are acts of war, according to the Center for International Policy, a left-leaning think tank, quote, Trump was elected on the promise to end wars, not start them. Matt Duss, the center's executive vice president said in the statement,

quote, not only is he breaking the promise, his aggression toward Venezuela, echoes the worst moments of American imperialist violence and dominion in Latin America. We should be moving away from that history, not rebooting it. So that is the latest update in the ongoing saga of will he, won't he, Iraq 2.0. Any parting thoughts there, Jay? I think the, as you were reading the last part of it, I think what is, what will be interesting to watch or observe in the coming months as this keeps getting ratcheted up, which is kind of a tie-in to what we're supposed to talk about next, is that as the result of so much of like

American, specifically American modern warfare being outsourced like big tech, I think it'll one be interesting to see how many, how much. how much is not being said about this march to war by, you know, the erstwhile, like, liberal Silicon Valley types because they're getting a piece of the action, you know, Palantir, the cloud computing giants, you know, who'll get, you know, sweetheart contracts for all of this electronic warfare data that has to be stored and blah, blah, blah. I think it'll be interesting to, like, just take note of how quiet things are on the... See how these things duffetail with one another, yeah.

That's right. And also, I think it'll be interesting to take note of how much of this new AI-mediated warfare is being, like, tested and or utilized in this aggression. Because I'm about the wax for a hot second. because I thought that, like, the traditional military types who, like, you know, studied military history and, you know, I don't know, military theory or whatever you call it, like, that has been pretty well established for, I don't know, a millennia at this point, like, how you fight a war. I'm surprised to see how easily they were maligned or silenced in the face of, you know, these galaxy-brained, like, what's the, what's homie who's the head of Palantir, the one who's like Alex Car on his own one right now? Always zooming, always yacked out of his fucking mind. I've been surprised to see how like traditional military types have been sidelined or silenced or just kind of ignored, really, as these like, you know, as these galaxy brain tech. tech guys have like come to the fore and decided that like you don't we we can modernize warfare like forget everything that you've ever learned and everything that you've ever seen work in anywhere

anywhere and like we're going to do it with machines we're going to do it with drones we're going to do it with you know all these snazzy things not I mean the subtext being like not because we know it'll work but because we need to make we want we want the best share of the pie like It doesn't need to go to, like, infantrymen or whatever you call the, you know, the army people with guns and generals. And it does, and Boeing and Lockhe can't have all the fun. Like, we want a piece of it. And, you know, we're going to, the way we're going to do it is, like, you're not going to have to worry about so many, like, fucked up veterans coming home. You're not going to have to, like, really worry about so many, like, PR disasters because of, you know, massacres like My Lie or whatever.

Like, we're going to make warfare, like, precise. and clean and efficient right yeah um so it'll be interesting to see the the um the wins which are not a win for like humanity it's like a win for misanthropy the wins and the the losses as they like ratchet up their experimentation and deployment of um technical or AI warfare um in Venezuela which is which they are which is inevitable like that's the whole point of you know these these new companies like coming online and having eye-watering valuations is that like, you know, they're supposed to displace Boeing and Locky. I mean, fuck Boeing and Locky. Like, I'm not a fan, but it's just, it's just funny that the U.S. military was going to be hoist by their own petard because they believed someone with a dry

jerry curl and a cocaine habit, you know? Fuck it. Fuck it. We got Taka Waititi at home-ass looking motherfuckering on. Jay, thanks for filling the nearly unfillable shoes of Terrence Ray and Aaron Thorpe today. I think you stepped up mightily and I certainly appreciate you. I hope so. I have not been able to sleep the last two nights, just in mortal fear of Terence's disproval. With my substitution. So I hope, Terrence, I really hope this was, you know, 25% up to snuff.

Last time we all hung out was Terrence's first time seeing a waymo and he was mortified. And if you're out there and you're listening to this and you want to hear more, obviously go over to patreon.com slash truebilly workers party. Where for the low, low price of $5 a month, yes, that's true, folks. We haven't raised our prices to commensurate with the. Financial crisis, we're staring now. $5 a month. That's true. $5 a month.

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