WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:16.839 Well Whiskey from Powerline blog dot com and produced by Ricochet dot com. This 2 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:24.280 is the three Whiskey Happy Hour with your bartenders Steve Hayward, John You and 3 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:36.679 power Lines International Woman of Mystery Lucretia. Gotta give where loud down, good 4 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:39.719 grief. I feel like James Stockdale. Where am I? What am I 5 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:43.600 doing here? I'm so jetgged out of things? Uh but oh that's right. 6 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:46.719 It's the three Whiskey Happy Hour and Steve's gonna get as many votes of 7 00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:54.640 Stockdale too. Ouch, It's the three Whiskey Happy Hour and uh, your 8 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:59.039 fearsome threesome are finally back in the same time zone after several weeks of chaos 9 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.399 and confusion. So hello John, Hello Lucretia, and I guess John, 10 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:07.120 what we ought to ask is Lucretia to fill us in on what we've missed, 11 00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:11.400 because I think we've missed some things. You missed one about you miss 12 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.879 well, you guys while you were in Europe probably saw it just as well. 13 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:23.760 There are two controversies going on over social media by trolls and a serious 14 00:01:23.799 --> 00:01:27.680 people alike. The first one is whether Biden was simply looking for a place 15 00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:32.200 to sit down in an imaginary chair, or whether he was actually engaged in 16 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:34.799 some other activity, which I won't mention because this is a family show and 17 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:41.840 you do not do scatological humor. By the way, can I just interrupt 18 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:45.599 to say that the technical term you're looking for, which comes from Jay Leno 19 00:01:45.640 --> 00:01:49.040 thirty years ago, is geeks, mutants and trolls. That's what I always 20 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:53.120 go with. But anyway, continue, okay, except there are serious people 21 00:01:53.159 --> 00:01:57.120 on this whole thing. That's thing one. And then you know the fact 22 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:04.799 that Jill blew with him to France. She flew back to hold Hunter's hand 23 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:09.639 and intimidate the jurors for one day, and then flew back to France so 24 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:14.919 that she could be there to hold Biden's hand and make sure he didn't sit 25 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.560 down or do something else in his pants while he was with the President of 26 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:27.319 France, all at taxpairs expense. So that's thing one. Thing two is 27 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.639 speaking of trolls, that it came out I think it was late last night 28 00:02:31.080 --> 00:02:38.560 or yesterday afternoon that a social media post by some person I think named Michael 29 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:46.800 Anderson, who claimed that his cousin was a juror and had been on had 30 00:02:46.840 --> 00:02:53.199 been told by the juror before the jury even went in for negotiations, that 31 00:02:53.240 --> 00:03:00.520 Trump had been found guilty. And okay, the guys claims to be in 32 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:02.719 fact a troll. I don't know how you claimed it. I mean, 33 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.240 I think wait, there's more. Okay, he uses a different term for 34 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:15.479 it again, family show. I won't use it. But Judge Merchant sent 35 00:03:15.479 --> 00:03:23.240 to uh Trump's attorneys some you know, some letter about this particular troll as 36 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:29.120 if he was being forthright and above board and was actually seriously taking a look 37 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.919 at the fact that maybe there was something not entirely uh oh, sure about 38 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:38.080 this jury verdict. But of course now it's coming out that the guy's probably 39 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:43.680 just a troll. So those are the two. So was Biden sitting or 40 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.599 was he not? And is Michael Anderson a troll? Or is he not? 41 00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:53.039 And is one Merchant a despicable excuse for human being? That one is 42 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:58.800 not under discussion. We have it. Yeah, we've also just about entered 43 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:05.879 World War three because we are making very clear and obvious and in your face 44 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:13.639 plans to invade Russia through NATO, and so you know, it's been an 45 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:17.720 exciting week. Well then you want to add to that, John, before 46 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:27.600 we turned to Ukraine. So basically nothing happened. Okay, this is going 47 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:31.360 to be like this is like two weeks during the future Trump presidency. This 48 00:04:31.480 --> 00:04:35.920 is going to be like tea time and nothing happened for Trump for president. 49 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:44.360 It'll be like it'd be like vacation time for Fundits right. The Fannie Willis 50 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:48.839 traull is indefinitely delayed because the appellate court in Georgia. Joan is that it 51 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:58.600 the pellet Court in Georgia is actually seriously looking into her malfeasance. Okay, 52 00:04:58.680 --> 00:05:01.560 that's I think that'sretty much. And so we're back to the brag trial to 53 00:05:01.639 --> 00:05:08.319 keep Trump off. Yeah, So two thoughts on the U Cresha's trial developments. 54 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:11.519 One is, yes, Georgia of Pellicourt did the right thing. Of 55 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:16.199 course, if they're going to hear a claim about the DA bringing the charges 56 00:05:16.360 --> 00:05:23.360 basically for corrupt purposes to benefit herself and her boyfriend, then they couldn't let 57 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:27.240 the trial proceed below they had to stay it. This is the interesting thing 58 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:31.120 about it that I think world arguments are scheduled for October. That means there's 59 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:35.040 just no way that that trial could happen before the election. And you got 60 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:39.399 to wonder whether that trial will ever occur at all, now, whether Trump 61 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:44.480 wins or loses the presidency. I mean that was I do confess error, 62 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:48.600 as we say in the bar, when Kreshia first raised this idea many many 63 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:58.680 moons ago about Fanny Wills's you know, romantic interludes causing the whole prosecution to 64 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:02.160 go down, So I was so dubious. So I confess Aria Lucretia was 65 00:06:02.759 --> 00:06:06.439 right on that one, the one on the Brag trial. The thing. 66 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:11.160 There has to be an investigation. I would think that the judge has to 67 00:06:11.879 --> 00:06:16.120 at least put off the sentencing until he can run down whether there actually was 68 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:20.319 inappropriate contact with the jury. I mean, right now, you don't know. 69 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.920 I mean, yeah, any crazy person can put something on the Internet. 70 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.319 But I would think, given the importance of the trial, what it 71 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:33.680 means for the constitution, past president and current leading candidate for the presidency being 72 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:39.120 the defendant, you'd want to make sure there's no doubt that the jury wasn't 73 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.399 tampered with. So he would have put off a little bit and have somebody 74 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:47.480 run down whether this actually happened. So that leads me to a question John 75 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:55.319 that came up in the Twitter feed that Steve sent us from a professor Jed. 76 00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:00.600 I'm going to get it right, Steve Rubinfeld from yl Amy's husband, 77 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:09.000 the Tiger Amy Chu that that it's you're not a convicted felon because of a 78 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:13.399 jury verdict. You're not convicted until the judge enters a judgment of guilt against 79 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.399 you, and this happens. My understanding is on July eleventh, when he 80 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:23.680 does a sentencing. Is this all true? I'm assuming that's true. So 81 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:28.399 far, yes, so far, and so so there could be some kind 82 00:07:28.439 --> 00:07:32.800 of intervention. Rubenfeld seems to indicate this would be an avenue for appeal based 83 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:38.639 upon a whole lot of things we'll talk about momentarily, but that what you 84 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:42.920 said could actually delay the whole thing too, if there's an investigation into it. 85 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.879 Right, It depends how you do it. So I only this morning 86 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:55.959 looked at Jed Rubenfeld's argument. I think that route he's proposing is very low 87 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:01.399 probability but possible. I think there fast there stronger ways to get to the 88 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:03.959 Supreme Court if that's what you really want to do. So what he's talking 89 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:13.199 about is basically suing that Trump should file a new lawsuit in federal court against 90 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:18.480 the prosecution and Judge Merchon saying that this whole thing was made up and was 91 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:24.240 an effort to interfere with the election a federal election. So you know, 92 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:31.079 basically federal courts are very reluctant to entertain what this would be called a collateral 93 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.279 attack, you know, an attacked by the federal court system on a state 94 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:41.519 criminal proceeding before it's finished. But you could see parallels like suppose, for 95 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:45.600 example, I'm trying to give a good example, like supposing the segregation South. 96 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:50.480 You know that this was I'm sure this happened. Unfortunately many times, 97 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:58.039 like a city or county DA basically trumped up criminal charges against somebody for being 98 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:03.039 black, and do not go to federal court and try to stop them from 99 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:07.759 egregiously violating the civil rights of that defendant. That is basically the same thing 100 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:13.080 Rubenfeld is proposing, except he would make it it's not that the individual right 101 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:18.600 of Trump is being vindicated. It is federal government's control vers election system. 102 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:24.200 That's the part I've never really heard of. That would be unprecedented. The 103 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.879 easier thing, I would think is going to federal court and saying there's lots 104 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:33.279 of problems with the way the trial was done, and there's an important federal 105 00:09:33.320 --> 00:09:39.159 interest because of who Trump is, and not make it about the federal electoral 106 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:43.639 system, but make it about Trump's individual rights. The federal courts still don't 107 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.279 and I'm sorry for gangs. So technical. This is really like there's a 108 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:50.440 there is a whole course in law school about this about when federal courts are 109 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:56.399 allowed to intervene into state courts and their procedures. But still federal courts are 110 00:09:56.399 --> 00:10:01.159 going to say most judges with lower court judges would say, we let the 111 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:05.679 criminal proceeding finish, there is a sentence, appeals are exhausted, then federal 112 00:10:05.720 --> 00:10:11.720 courts will review it. So I thought of something I mentioned, uh from 113 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:18.159 Hungary actually, which is the Supreme Court has always allowed actions for habeas corpus 114 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:22.480 directly to it and it's original what's called original jurisdiction. This is really interesting. 115 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.879 Most people don't know this. Any American can go directly to the Supreme 116 00:10:26.919 --> 00:10:31.879 Court and say some state government is holding me against the constitution. Supreme Court 117 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:37.480 I think is like granted maybe one or two of these, and it's what's 118 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:45.720 the standards John for their decision to grant uh access, what's the right word. 119 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:50.480 It's not a grant. You can't grant you you you make a petition 120 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.200 for a habeas corpus and it's called the original jurisdiction of the Supremi origin. 121 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:58.200 You can go there directly. Well, the standard would be, is the 122 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:05.559 defendants constitutional rights being violated? Is it really something that demands immediate Supreme Court 123 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:09.559 attention rather than letting it go through the lower courts. Then you can make 124 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:13.679 the claim, well, because there's this election coming up, this is the 125 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.399 leading candidate, this is right, So put you make it harm Yeah, 126 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.840 make the facts more extreme. Suppose New York didn't have a trial. Suppose 127 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:26.759 that they just grabbed Trump and threw him in jail right and prevented them from 128 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:31.120 campaigning, and then said we're going to have this trial, trumped up trial. 129 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:33.440 It's going to take months and he won't be able to go anywhere. 130 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:37.879 You know, you could see the Supreme Court exercising original jurisdiction there. That's 131 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:41.600 not what happened here, But it just shows there's a there's a there's available 132 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:46.200 opening if you if you make use of that. Now the reason I know, 133 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:50.080 can I tell the story, Steve has full authority to cut this all 134 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:56.720 out and put a McDonald's ad over it. Hungarian McDonald's at But actually comes 135 00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:01.799 to the reason I know this that comes from this personal personal involvement with this. 136 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:05.200 So in nineteen ninety six, I was working in the Senate General Council 137 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:09.519 of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and we put up a bill which became known 138 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:13.480 as the I think it's it's called ADEPA, but the formally sent like the 139 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:20.600 Act for the Effective Death Penalty and Anti Terrorism and the main point of the 140 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.279 bill was to stop the abuse of habeas corpus, you know, like state 141 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:30.360 prisoners. Based on the outline I just gave a state prisoner could file twenty 142 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.279 different habea's positions once they're in jail. And this was being used by people, 143 00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:39.679 particularly California death people on death row right to stop their executions, and 144 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:43.120 so Congress put an end to it. And so this one guy challenged the 145 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.320 whole bill and said, yeah, you could do all that, but I 146 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:50.000 can still go to the Supreme Court directly. And so this was a big 147 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:54.720 deal at the time. There was a fast track case went right to the 148 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.720 Supreme Court within within a few months, just like we're talking about here. 149 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:03.960 I remember Senator Hatch wrote in Amika sprief signed by himself, and I remember 150 00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.799 taking Senator Hatch personally to watch the oral arguments and the justices box, which 151 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:11.960 are very close to the bench, and it was so funny. I remember 152 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:15.960 Steve Brier, who had just been confirmed a few years ago, waving from 153 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:20.320 the bench at Senator Hatch, which I thought was entirely inappropriate, but achieved 154 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.559 the political purpose of sitting there on the bench, sitting in those seats in 155 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:28.240 the first But but the Supreme Court then ruled no matter how much Congress changed 156 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:33.240 Abe's corpus, you could still go directly to the Supreme Court. And so 157 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.600 Trump could do that here. I haven't heard his attorneys talk about this, 158 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:41.519 but they could definitely do it. They might think it's a low probability that 159 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:46.759 it would work. But one element of Rubenfeldt's argument that had not occurred to 160 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:50.399 me before is pointing out that, look, Trump has a strong case to 161 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:52.559 win this on appeal, but the appeals are going to take us a long 162 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:56.759 time, passed the election, and then if the federal courts, after exhausting 163 00:13:56.799 --> 00:14:01.519 all the state process, says that yes, it was all wrong. There's 164 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:05.120 no remedy. He will have h he will have lost the election because of 165 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:09.559 this trumped up lawsuit. And that's why it's a different circumstance than the ordinary 166 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:13.159 process you describe. Right, I thought that. I thought that was a 167 00:14:13.240 --> 00:14:18.120 very important point. The thing that's interesting is right now under the way the 168 00:14:18.200 --> 00:14:22.159 law works. Again. I apologize to listeners for this, and consider free 169 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:28.320 legal advice. Free legal advice to the many listeners who Lucretia riches who are 170 00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:31.519 behind federal bars right now, by the way, before you finished, John, 171 00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:35.120 I have to tell you you've become the most popular member of the three. 172 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:39.720 Whiskey happens. That's no, I'm serious. Strangers on the street walk 173 00:14:39.799 --> 00:14:46.159 up to me and say I never thought that you could actually turned on you 174 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:56.360 into a right thinking sort of individual. That still doesn't beat the guy from 175 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:01.919 Finland who's thought me in the Frankfurt Frankfort Report lounge just by the sound of 176 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:05.200 my voice and saying, hey, who's Lucretia. I remember that? That 177 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:15.519 was weird. All my conservative friends are like, you didn't No, No, 178 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.039 I told it would happen. That is safe, shocking, different, 179 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:28.279 conscient. I can't remember what I was saying. I'm sorry choking on your 180 00:15:28.279 --> 00:15:31.639 coffee there. Well, all right, the brag trial is going to be 181 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:35.080 with us for weeks, and so we can revisit the legal questions and the 182 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:37.480 news items that come up as they come up. But let's turn to what 183 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:41.840 I intended to be topic number one, which is Ukraine, which we've been 184 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.080 threatening to talk about for several weeks but keep putting off because we run out 185 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:48.039 of time. There's some real new news, as they say about Ukraine in 186 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:52.159 the last couple of weeks. First of all, I don't know, John, 187 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:54.799 while you were in Hungry if you took in any of the TV ads 188 00:15:54.840 --> 00:16:00.840 for the parliamentary European Parliament elections happening tomorrow, But a lot of them from 189 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:06.039 Orban's party, the Fidees party, were explicitly anti war, pro peace. 190 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:10.559 And then last week I happened to notice I had the nose was coming. 191 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:15.960 But they turned out three hundred thousand people for a campaign rally whose emphasis was 192 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:19.039 let's stay out of a war with Russia. And then but then there are 193 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:25.480 these things happening, such as France sending military advisors and your troop boots on 194 00:16:25.559 --> 00:16:30.600 the ground to Ukraine along with more Mirage jet fighters. Let's see, you 195 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:36.000 had to my mind. Really shocking to me was featuring Zelensky in such a 196 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:40.039 high profile way at the D Day observances in Normandy at the end of the 197 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.600 week, but not Netan Yahoo a right. I mean, Biden's speech was 198 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:47.600 all about how gee, World War two, the Ukraine, it's just the 199 00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:52.799 same. But why wouldn't you extended that same logic to the war against Hamas 200 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:56.360 But apparently not. Oh and then finally, you know, we approved Ukraine 201 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.360 eight, but the news came out that we're saying, okay, now you 202 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:04.400 can't attack Russia inside Russia, but we're picking the targets apparently shades of Vietnam, 203 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:07.680 as I predicted more than a year ago would happened. So anyway, 204 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:11.680 this is what's going on, And you know, it's hard to resist the 205 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:15.519 view that I think Lucretia has argued that we're slowly but surely drifting into a 206 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.599 direct natal confrontation with Russia. And I'll stop there because I have more to 207 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:25.200 say. But so ill I think you put the question to me. So 208 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.680 I did see these campaign ads, but unlike Steve, I am not fluent 209 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:33.359 and Hungarian, So I had no idea what they were saying or what There 210 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:37.400 was more electioneering though maybe that's because they're in California than you would see in 211 00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:41.079 a normal American election. And this is for the European Parliament, which doesn't 212 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:45.680 matter. I mean, they have some loose powers, but nothing like what 213 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:48.920 a state, you know, at a nation state government has its disposal. 214 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:52.960 But it's a sign of where you know, we're sentiment lies. So one 215 00:17:52.319 --> 00:17:56.400 two things about home huh. So I hate to do this to you, 216 00:17:56.440 --> 00:18:03.200 but there was the funniest comment on Steve's mention. He said something like the 217 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:07.960 European Parliament, whatever that is. And there's this troll that comes on all 218 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:14.680 the power line blogs and even on our three Whiskey Happy Hour and I won't 219 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:18.119 say his name because they don't want to give him the credit, but he 220 00:18:18.279 --> 00:18:22.599 actually said, uh, you could at least look it up on Wikipedia what 221 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:30.559 the European Parliament is. Well, haven't actually taken European Union law and written 222 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.920 about the European Union. The part of the European in Parliament is like a 223 00:18:34.039 --> 00:18:38.599 joke legislature. Okay, it's like like the articles of Confederation Congress. It 224 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:45.319 wishes I mean it's the real power is held by the European Commission, which 225 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:48.559 is a bureaucracy in Brussels that just has a power to issue regulation. I 226 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:52.559 mean, you know, be serious. Well, you know, listeners, 227 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:56.759 when you put these comments that Lucretia won't let me read out of my own 228 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:02.400 mental sanity, put on some high qualities like don't spread you know, don't 229 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:07.599 spread euro trash intellectual lies on the on our website. That's that's not a 230 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:11.839 good use of your time or the crecious time. But anyway, so well, 231 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:15.400 two things that came I came away with actually from being in Hungry that 232 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:18.279 I don't think the sense when you get there. First. I think in 233 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:22.119 the American media there's this kind of there's this message that some people put out 234 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:26.160 there that Hungary is are pro Russian. You do not get that feeling when 235 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:32.960 you're in Hungry. You're surrounded by constant reminders that the Russians whotal Buddha pest 236 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:37.160 when they at the end of World War Two and then crushed the nineteen fifty 237 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:41.599 six Revolution and kept their foot on the necks of Hungarians for the rest of 238 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:45.599 the Cold War. There is no maybe I'm wrong about this What I think 239 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:49.279 Hungarians have is a very strong sense of their national identity and very strong sense 240 00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:52.920 of their nation state. But this idea that they're pro Russian that you see 241 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.079 constantly mentioned in the US media, I think it's just I think it's just 242 00:19:56.119 --> 00:20:00.480 wrong. You will only get that sense when you were there. The second 243 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:06.039 point is, I think I just think they're saying openly. I know I'm 244 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:08.000 trying to put them in a good life, but I think they're saying openly 245 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:12.000 what I think sensible strategists back in the US would think, which is, 246 00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:18.480 we now know, after we saw the failure of the Ukrainian offensive last summer, 247 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:22.640 that Ukraine is not going to be able to get back to its original 248 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:29.079 borders, that the change in technology military technology has reasserted the balance of power 249 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:33.480 towards the defense, and so sooner or later we're going to have to reach 250 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:40.440 an accommodation or reach a settlement with Russia that's going to allow to keep some 251 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:45.440 of that territory. But you can't say that politically, and you can still 252 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:51.400 chew up hundreds of thousands of Russian lives and destroy hundreds of billions of dollars 253 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:53.359 of the war material, which I think is great. I'm happy we're doing 254 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.759 it, but at some point we're going to have to reach a settlement, 255 00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:02.000 and so our leaders should not be out there claiming we're going to get Ukraine 256 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:06.839 back to its original borders, because that's actually setting up unrealistic expectations. And 257 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:11.480 then the publics of all these NATO countries and US are going to be disappointed 258 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:14.799 when we have to reach that deal. Well, then they jumping right there 259 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.720 with the point something you know, I woud I've been to Hungary four times 260 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:19.000 now and I've learned a lot about the history, and it didn't occur to 261 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:26.240 me until this last week that Hungary is supremely and for good reason, unimpressed 262 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.279 with the idea that we must restore Ukraine to its previous borders. Why most 263 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:33.559 Americans are not aware of the fact that after World War One, Hungary got 264 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:37.240 screwed the worst out of the Versailles Settlement. They lost two thirds of their 265 00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:42.440 territory and almost half of their population. Large territories they had for centuries got 266 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:48.039 swallowed up by Romania, Slovakia what became Yugoslavia. So when they hear territorial 267 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.799 integrity, they said, oh yeah, how about us, right, I 268 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:56.680 don't think there's any real revanism going on, although I don't know. You 269 00:21:56.680 --> 00:22:00.720 know, they're going to territories back. Oh well, I don't know. 270 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:03.960 You want to rule a bunch of Romanians. Come on, you know they 271 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:06.480 don't want book arrest. Well, the point is it, you know, 272 00:22:06.519 --> 00:22:08.200 you have a lot of ethnic Hungarians who still live. By the way, 273 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:12.480 part of Ukraine was snatched out, carved out of Hungary one hundred and three 274 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:15.279 years ago, and they remember this, This is very much on. They 275 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:18.319 observed the Triana and Treaty as it was called, every year, as you 276 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:22.200 know, a day of you know, national humili and are angry about it. 277 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:23.960 And I kind of get that, and so they are not impressed with 278 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.000 any claims of any other Western nations. Of gosh, you know, Ukraine's 279 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:32.200 entitled to keep every inch of its territory from the Russians. That's part of 280 00:22:32.200 --> 00:22:33.920 it. The other part is, I think I said a year ago, 281 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:38.319 was the Hungarians saying essentially, I'll paraphrase it slightly, some foreign ministry people 282 00:22:38.359 --> 00:22:42.079 saying to me, gosh, you know, after watching you guys bug out 283 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:45.759 of Vietnam after you abandoned the Kurge in nineteen ninety one, after this most 284 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:51.359 recent bug out of Afghanistan, we don't we don't have much confidence that America 285 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:55.759 and its NATO allies will actually see it through, and or if it escalates 286 00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:59.400 to nuclear war, we get the fallout. We're still in the neighborhood. 287 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:02.359 You guys leave, We're still here. It's our backyard, right. That 288 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:04.920 seems to be a very compelling argument. Is there an argument for seeing it 289 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:08.759 through? As in, is there a way to see it through so that 290 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:18.400 Zelensky could have all of his precious territory back short of causing the World War 291 00:23:18.480 --> 00:23:22.799 three with Russia? There is not, because Ukraine is losing badly, badly 292 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:26.799 in that war, despite the fact that nothing is about that as being reported 293 00:23:26.839 --> 00:23:30.279 in the American press. You really have to dig to know that. But 294 00:23:30.359 --> 00:23:33.720 if you dig, you find out that, as a matter of fact, 295 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:40.920 it's an abominable situation over there. They're now taking people out of prison in 296 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:47.480 Kiev to put them on the front lines. I mean, if you dig 297 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:52.599 in the situation, it's impossible. So I wonder if we I mean, 298 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.799 it's kind of what John was said but saying, but from a different point 299 00:23:55.799 --> 00:24:00.720 of view, we are going to have to have a negotiated settlement. Why 300 00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:11.599 continue to allow Zelensky, for his own heady self aggrandizement to resist a negotiated 301 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:15.359 settlement. Biden too, when we all know that nothing we could do, 302 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:19.960 nothing that the United States could do or NATO could do, short of starting 303 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:26.119 World War three, would ever restore any of that territory to Ukraine. Why 304 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:30.119 are we doing this? I think even you, John have to say that 305 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:36.559 we have probably in some ways degraded the Russian military capability, but in others 306 00:24:36.599 --> 00:24:40.880 the Russians have figured out way better than we have and can respond way better 307 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:45.400 than we can to the changing battlefield conditions that Ukrainian conflict has brought to the 308 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:48.039 fore do you know what I mean by that, John, I do? 309 00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:52.400 I mean, I do see the point. I mean you could say the 310 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:59.079 negative, the downside to my preferred strategy here, which is continuing to wallop 311 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:03.880 the Russians, that it is drawing Russia closer to China and Iran and away 312 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.920 from Western Europe. They are becoming more self reliant and their ability to wage 313 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:12.960 war. They are still able to sell oil and get around our sanctions, 314 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:18.759 so they're building themselves up into a stronger military machine, but we also have 315 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:23.160 sort of I think they've lost their you know, first line, their best 316 00:25:23.160 --> 00:25:26.920 troops, their best armor. I think this goes on for a little while 317 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:32.839 longer. They're not going to be a serious military threat to Western Europe if 318 00:25:32.920 --> 00:25:36.720 NATO spends amount of money they're supposed to. And then one last positive I 319 00:25:36.759 --> 00:25:38.200 think that's come out. I think, but then this is very hard to 320 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:44.720 measure. Is maybe it teaches the Chinese at an invasion of Taiwan is not 321 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:48.759 so easy anymore. And you see how with what Steve was talking about, 322 00:25:48.759 --> 00:25:51.680 all this new technology that's come out, and this is the kind of interesting 323 00:25:51.720 --> 00:25:55.359 thing. This is like to me, it's like the variety of Arab Israeli 324 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:59.400 conflicts we used to see in the sixties and seventies that we saw, you 325 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:03.920 know, a mat a tryout of new technologies. It's almost like, you 326 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:07.200 know, there are proxy wars just like the Arab bus Israelis every time they 327 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:11.240 were fighting war. We saw how American weapons and strategies did against the Soviets, 328 00:26:11.960 --> 00:26:17.160 and now we're seeing how right American style, Western European style warfare does 329 00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:21.960 against sort of Russia and China and the way they wage wars. China's military 330 00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:25.319 has structured the same way Russias as they fight the wars in the same ways. 331 00:26:26.119 --> 00:26:27.519 I would think if you're the Chinese, maybe you're saying, like, 332 00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:33.079 maybe this evasion across water not such a good idea, given how easy it 333 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.079 is with drones and missiles to defend yourselves. Except here's the thing that concerns 334 00:26:37.160 --> 00:26:42.680 me watching sort of day by day, the different briefings that come across my 335 00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:52.319 desk. Our ability to be nimble about the changing weaponry of warfare is practically 336 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:57.200 nil. And that's because of you know, we have a huge industrial complex 337 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:03.559 backing up our military complex, as you know, but none of that works 338 00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:07.880 quickly. And there's been this last week. I don't know if you guys 339 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:11.359 saw any of this. It's a bit obscure, big old debate about whether 340 00:27:11.400 --> 00:27:17.720 we needed a whole new branch of the army for drones. That's what Congress 341 00:27:17.759 --> 00:27:22.920 is pushing and of course the military is pushing back because we cannot produce drones 342 00:27:22.559 --> 00:27:29.519 with the way our you know, the whole complex system works for congressional authorization 343 00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:34.960 all the way to subcontractors out there and I use a bad word out there 344 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:41.359 in the Netherlands, the heatherlands, whatever it's called. There's they can do 345 00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:45.799 it in Russia because they don't have they don't have democracy in the same way, 346 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:48.880 they don't have the same kind of constrictions on the way they spend money. 347 00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:52.200 Same with China, and we're just not keeping up with those things. 348 00:27:52.240 --> 00:27:57.200 And so much of what's happening with the hoodies and so on has to do 349 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:03.279 with this kind of drone warfare that has changed the battlefield entirely. I'm tending 350 00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:07.200 to call I'm tend to call this this proposal should be called drones pushing drones. 351 00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:11.640 That's my view of Congress. Right, Okay, sorry, But one 352 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.279 last point about what the Lucretius said, which I think Steve will love this 353 00:28:15.319 --> 00:28:18.000 because this is a I'm name dropping a history book now, but there's a 354 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:22.000 great book about you know, if you look at the US in the nineteen 355 00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:26.920 thirties, what a lot of the criticism of Lucretia way levied against our military 356 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:33.440 and our industrial compleat you could levy against them woefully unprepared for war, you 357 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:36.960 know, our weakness invited other countries to take advantage of us. And there's 358 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:41.839 a great book by this fellow I like very much named Arthur Hermann, a 359 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:45.519 wide variety of different books, like you know one I doubt seriously how the 360 00:28:45.559 --> 00:28:52.279 Scottish made the modern world, stuff like near Hayens to various ethnic groups like 361 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:56.720 the Scots, like they need any of that. But he wrote this great 362 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:00.160 book about how when World War two started. You know, there's this common 363 00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:04.759 trope, historic trope. Oh, the federal government organized everything, got everything 364 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:07.519 moving, And he said, no, Actually, the secret is that all 365 00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:14.079 these capitalists who FDR had waged Holy War on during the New Deal all patriotically 366 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:18.920 stepped up and used you know, free market economics to build you know, 367 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.839 I'm looking out at the bay right now, build liberty ships won every three 368 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:26.119 days or something. Incredible, right, But that's because they the federal government 369 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:30.920 basically turned it over to private enterprise to rebuild our industrial base, and they 370 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:33.880 figured out how to do it, not the government. That's I think our 371 00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:37.799 main problem is it's still too much government led, too much government. But 372 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.480 also those corporations are not the corporations they were in the nineteen thirties. I 373 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:45.640 mean, do you want vowing making our our fighter jets this time? I 374 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:51.559 want them to make the fighter jets for China. Yeah, exactly. And 375 00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:55.960 the other thing is, do you think that any that any corporation could make 376 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:59.559 a liberty ship one in every three days? No way, I mean, 377 00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:03.440 it's just like they could build Hoover, damn and how much time and it's 378 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.039 gonna and how many years? As Steve is going to soon tell us that 379 00:30:07.079 --> 00:30:10.400 what we need as environmental waivers to get it all. Well, well, 380 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:14.000 though, look at me down unions. Well I can say a lot about 381 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:17.839 this since my dad was both a defense contractor and a NASA contractor back to 382 00:30:17.920 --> 00:30:21.640 years and correct. However, well, if that's true, how come you're 383 00:30:21.640 --> 00:30:23.960 not so much richer than you actually are. You should have been a fact 384 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:30.200 you're one of those fact defense contractors. Well that was actually those were those 385 00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:33.880 were Oh gosh, those were really tough businesses to be in back then for 386 00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:37.640 a whole bunch of reasons. But see the thing about I mean, here's 387 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:41.200 a general point you can make from NASA. Remember that Kennedy says in nineteen 388 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:42.799 sixty one, we've got want to go to the Moon within nine years, 389 00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:47.440 when we had nothing, really, I mean very little. And so what 390 00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:49.160 I've by the way, Charles Murray, who who He and Charles Murray and 391 00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.119 his wife, by the way, wrote a terrific book about the Apollo program 392 00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:56.759 and interviewed all kinds of people. It's one of the more interesting books that 393 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:59.920 you wouldn't think of anyway. But I've talked to him a lot about that. 394 00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:03.359 But something I know first time as a kid, but I remember asking 395 00:31:03.400 --> 00:31:07.759 my dad a lot about it afterwards, is there wasn't time for NASA to 396 00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.039 become bureaucratized, and they did all kinds of you know, my dad was 397 00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:15.920 constantly changed. You know, can can you make this part? I will 398 00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:22.559 rack a little bit. My dad's company designed and built the parachute release timer 399 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:25.039 and relays for the Apollo capsule. You know, if the parachutes have come 400 00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:29.799 out when they're coming back down the ocean, and those are not the parts 401 00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:33.039 where they have to stop the whole watch like days just to swap it out. 402 00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:36.519 No, no, you couldn't. You couldn't get to it. But 403 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:41.519 I mean he, he and his engineers were up all night long for you 404 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:44.640 know, twenty four to seven during the whole Apollo thirteen business, because they 405 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:47.960 wanted to rerun tests of you know, can this thing still work? At 406 00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:51.680 below? The specs for amperage and things like that, and and the darn 407 00:31:51.720 --> 00:31:53.240 thing today would be the size of you know, thumb drive, but back 408 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:59.440 then it was the size of you know, two cigarette boxes or you know 409 00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:01.920 packs, and with like forty wires sticking out of it, because you know, 410 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:05.960 it's a little low tech back then. But they adjusted stuff very quickly, 411 00:32:06.880 --> 00:32:08.839 tested things very quickly. And NASA, I won't say that, well, 412 00:32:08.839 --> 00:32:12.359 we know, we do know about the three astronauts killed on the pad 413 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:15.599 of course in Apollo one. But they cut a lot of corners and did 414 00:32:15.599 --> 00:32:19.279 a lot of stuff that would never be So today NASA can't get anything off 415 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:22.440 the ground. It costs ten times as much. It's bureaucratic, and that 416 00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:24.400 goes. That's just a metaphor for the whole defense process that Luke Creas is 417 00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:27.960 talking about. I'll bet we could be nimble if we had to be, 418 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.519 but we don't have to be. Then there's the problem. Well, I 419 00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:35.400 wonder, I wonder if we could be as nimble as we had to be, 420 00:32:35.440 --> 00:32:37.720 if we had to be that way. I'm not quite as convinced as 421 00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:43.480 you are, Steve, because I see they see the ugly sausage making process 422 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:49.079 unfortunately, and it's bad. It's very bad. I mean, it's hard 423 00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:52.400 to imagine that you could you could do this in a worst possible way. 424 00:32:52.440 --> 00:32:54.119 Oh well, that you know, back in the sixties is when you start 425 00:32:54.160 --> 00:32:57.240 to see a divide there. We're in a hurry to get to the moon, 426 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:00.759 where we're going to just go fast and bureaucracy be damned. At the 427 00:33:00.759 --> 00:33:02.680 same time, my dad was and his company, we're working on the F 428 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:07.920 one to eleven fighter, which was this great design of Robert McNamar and his 429 00:33:07.000 --> 00:33:09.799 whiz kids at the Pentagon, and it was going to be a fighter that 430 00:33:09.920 --> 00:33:14.839 all three services could use. And the problem was it did not work for 431 00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:16.839 carrier landing, so it was too heavy. So okay, we'll make a 432 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:20.720 version just for the name. And then suddenlys why are you doing trying to 433 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:22.880 make one fighter for all the services and it's only gotten worse sense then, 434 00:33:22.920 --> 00:33:25.480 I mean, John, what is the F thirty five cost per unit? 435 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:30.920 It's just some astronomical figure. And I went down in New Mexico last week. 436 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:36.680 Well, yeah, anyway, and so my dad, I think they're 437 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:39.400 over thirty five million of pop. But the whole program is yeah, you 438 00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:45.759 know, D five Yeah, nes five thousand dollars. I'm gonna break protocol 439 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:52.200 here and insert a Babylon B because it'll be more appropriate. Here. Report 440 00:33:52.240 --> 00:33:57.599 reveals, and it's a picture of Howdy Duty. What's his name, Pete 441 00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:04.640 Boudhage Edge report reveals seven point five billion in government EV charger spending has purchased 442 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:12.239 one four pack of energizer double as. That's almost correct. Sorry, all 443 00:34:12.320 --> 00:34:15.280 right, I think I think enough of that because we do want to get 444 00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:19.639 to one more big topic for the day. And uh, and we're going 445 00:34:19.679 --> 00:34:22.920 to run long, I mean, any last thoughts on the Userkraine business. 446 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:27.880 This does not look very promising to me. Well, I think the AD 447 00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:30.719 I think the eight package is important because you do have this one thing I 448 00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:36.239 think we do need to fix, and it's a problem created by Biden completely, 449 00:34:36.280 --> 00:34:39.280 which is and you mentioned it, Steve and the Christia both is we 450 00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:43.880 are getting a reputation for cutting and running on our allies. And once you 451 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:46.119 make a commitment, we got to follow through, I think because we're I 452 00:34:46.119 --> 00:34:50.719 think right now, if we were to cut off Ukraine, really no one's 453 00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:53.639 going to trust us to stick around anymore. Right, So yeah, so 454 00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:58.480 I think that I think we Look, I don't think it's a bad use 455 00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:01.320 of money if we're going to send the Ukraine like one hundred billion dollars a 456 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:07.440 year or have very much a packages to continue destroying the Russian military until they 457 00:35:07.480 --> 00:35:10.800 come to their senses that both sides have to and reach a settlement. I'll 458 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:14.679 add that one of the things that a lot of the Hungarians I've talked to 459 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:19.280 the last couple of weeks we're interested in is what would president what will President 460 00:35:19.280 --> 00:35:22.320 Trump do if he's elected in November, And they're all much more confident that 461 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:27.480 he will do something sensible, uh than they are that Biden will ever figure 462 00:35:27.679 --> 00:35:32.000 anything out. So let me ask you, guys, because your world travelers, 463 00:35:32.039 --> 00:35:40.840 and I mean this, I know is there. I know you're talking 464 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:45.880 to both of you are talking to we move smart people. I'll just call 465 00:35:45.920 --> 00:35:53.360 it that. But is there a sense that America it has a a foreign 466 00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:59.960 policy, the leader of the free world, that that it's sort of unilaterally 467 00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:04.960 the same regardless of who is president or is there really the belief because I 468 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:10.199 think that that's the other big story of the week is Biden's Biden's personal feebleness 469 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:17.000 is being called the reflection of the nation's feebleness, which we see in his 470 00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:22.920 foreign policy. Of course, does the view of America change internationally if there 471 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:28.519 is somebody who's actually not a senile, corrupt, old pedophile in office, 472 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:31.519 you can't find his way out the door or figure out if there's a chair. 473 00:36:32.119 --> 00:36:37.760 If we had somebody, you know, robust, anybody assuming Trump, 474 00:36:37.840 --> 00:36:42.599 of course, does the view Does that view really change? What you just 475 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:47.360 said, Steve, that will or maybe strong will our allies or just you 476 00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:52.320 know, people around the world recognize that this is not a president that would 477 00:36:52.360 --> 00:36:55.679 have done what we did in Afghanistan, that would have cut and run on 478 00:36:57.039 --> 00:37:00.599 the Israelis or hampered them, and that would have gotten us in Ukraine unless 479 00:37:00.679 --> 00:37:06.320 we had an ability to win there is that? Is that even possible or 480 00:37:06.400 --> 00:37:09.400 is it? I mean, I don't know from Adam If you know this, 481 00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:16.119 I do a little bit. The new the new Chicken Mexico, we 482 00:37:16.199 --> 00:37:22.519 expect things to change because there's a new Chicken in charge of Mexico. I 483 00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:24.360 don't know, but I mean, I'm asked, I is my question making 484 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:28.960 any sense? Yeah? My short answer is yeah, I can make a 485 00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:31.199 huge difference, and I can go through the history of it. But that 486 00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:37.280 would take too long. Let me just say that if Trump is is elected 487 00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:40.400 in November, he will be well advised to follow the strategy of Richard Nixon 488 00:37:40.679 --> 00:37:44.559 when he took off as in nineteen sixty nine, which was two things, 489 00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:50.159 one both with mixed success. One was adopted crazy man's strategy. He hoped 490 00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:52.159 to terrify North Vietnam. It didn't work. But with Trump, I think 491 00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:55.880 it can work. He's he's a better positioned to play the crazy man and 492 00:37:55.960 --> 00:38:01.960 assassinates more Iranians and then ignore the State Department and work around them, install 493 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:07.199 your loyalists and the National Security Camp Council, and you might just well turn 494 00:38:07.239 --> 00:38:09.119 off the telephones at the State Department. That's something Trump water to do. 495 00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:15.800 So on one comment response to the Creature's question is I do think there does 496 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:21.320 tend to be abroad this belief that an American president can really make a big 497 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:24.000 difference in terms of what the American government can do, maybe more so than 498 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:30.360 what we think is possible. But what I'm not maybe this is not surprising, 499 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:37.079 but I was really impressed by how sophisticated the knowledge of people and Hungary 500 00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:42.360 is about our politics. Like they are follow they were following the Trump trial 501 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:46.119 day by day, just like anybody back home. They have their very own 502 00:38:47.400 --> 00:38:51.480 you know, sources and knowledge because of the Internet and their own views about 503 00:38:51.519 --> 00:38:55.199 Biden versus Trump, and it's really I mean to them. And there were 504 00:38:55.199 --> 00:39:00.800 some very interesting Israelis there at this conference, the Steven and the Israelis also 505 00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:05.360 We're saying things like this might be the presidential election in the United States is 506 00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:08.000 the most important political event in Israel this year or in Hungary this year, 507 00:39:08.000 --> 00:39:13.039 because they'll have such a big effect on the fate of their countries. Yeah, 508 00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:16.039 yeah, all right. Let's move on to a last topic for today, 509 00:39:16.199 --> 00:39:21.119 and concerns the fact, John, that you are now writing openly about 510 00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:29.360 a certain statute that we cannot discuss here happy hour. All right, we 511 00:39:30.440 --> 00:39:32.039 won't actually do that, but we'll do with this sort of broader scene, 512 00:39:32.280 --> 00:39:37.559 which is climate litigation. And I'll just mention and then toss to you John 513 00:39:37.639 --> 00:39:40.400 that, uh. One of the topics I took up at the same rule 514 00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:44.920 of law conference in Europe that we were at was how the European Court of 515 00:39:44.960 --> 00:39:49.719 Human Rights just declared about six weeks ago that a stable climate is a fundamental 516 00:39:49.800 --> 00:39:53.480 human right and sanctioned or censured, I guess is a better term the government 517 00:39:53.519 --> 00:39:58.920 of Switzerland for not living up to the stupid Paris Climate Accord. Meanwhile, 518 00:39:59.119 --> 00:40:02.800 our federal court, it's finally dismissed a parallel lawsuit here that have been grinding 519 00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:08.840 along for ninety years by some children's crusade to declare a stable climate a fundamental 520 00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:14.679 constitutional right under our due process clause. And it finally took the non circuit 521 00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:19.599 of all circuits to tell the district court enough of this nonsense, however, 522 00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:22.360 and then it must be one reset about all that. However, below the 523 00:40:22.400 --> 00:40:25.679 surface, and this is what you wrote about, we have these state lawsuits 524 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.159 narrower in scope, but against the fossil fuel companies, you know, Exxon 525 00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:32.960 and so forth, demanding damages. It looks like a shakedown to me. 526 00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:37.239 But these look like they're going to play out a bit bit longer. And 527 00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:43.239 so that's where you come in, John. Right now, it's interesting because 528 00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:47.159 the Supreme Court has rarely decided in any cases that have to do with global 529 00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:52.760 warming, and there's now a bunch of cases, dozens and dozens all around 530 00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:58.960 the country, brought by cities and counties blue ones of course, claiming that 531 00:40:59.039 --> 00:41:02.719 the fossil fuel companies are like tobacco companies, and that they've been selling this 532 00:41:02.880 --> 00:41:09.639 harmful product, namely petroleum and natural gas, and not informing consumers about its 533 00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:16.679 dangers and suing for billions of dollars. Now this is interesting because this case, 534 00:41:16.920 --> 00:41:22.599 these cases, it's a case out of Honolulu, has no Supreme Court. 535 00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:25.960 And so I wrote a piece saying, and you know, maybe people 536 00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:30.760 won't be captured by this idea the way it seemed apparent to me, but 537 00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:36.400 it actually linked to me with the Trump trial in this sense that you know, 538 00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:40.119 conservatives, one of the major I think accomplishments of the conservative movement in 539 00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:45.320 the last few decades has been a reinvigoration of federalism. Have been a restoration 540 00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:49.519 of the proper rule, and not a restoration, because I don't think it's 541 00:41:49.519 --> 00:41:52.400 been restored, but moving towards the right balance between the federal and state governments. 542 00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:59.440 But in both the Trump trial and these global warming cases, you have 543 00:41:59.599 --> 00:42:04.880 progressed using federalism, but in ways that I think are not true to the 544 00:42:04.920 --> 00:42:08.639 princ principles of federalism, because what they're really trying to do in both cases 545 00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:14.880 is change our national politics. So the Trump case is not really about maintaining 546 00:42:14.920 --> 00:42:17.199 law and order in a state. It's about changing the outcome of the November 547 00:42:17.199 --> 00:42:23.800 elections and these global warming cases. It's amazing Honolulu says, Oh, anyone 548 00:42:23.840 --> 00:42:30.400 who's been selling or using petroleum to the public has been guilty of fraud because 549 00:42:30.440 --> 00:42:36.519 they didn't tell people that using oil and gas might lead to climate change. 550 00:42:36.559 --> 00:42:40.239 That will cost Honolulu billions of dollars. So that to me is really just 551 00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:46.920 trying to force this oppressive regulatory system onto our energy policy, which I think 552 00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:52.719 is also really up to the national government. So the Supreme Court this week 553 00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:58.920 is going to decide whether to take that case, and really that could be 554 00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:01.480 the biggest global war in case of the Supreme Court. Well here to date, 555 00:43:02.159 --> 00:43:06.199 I think you love I should shouldn't say this, it's your argument. 556 00:43:06.239 --> 00:43:10.639 But in your in your article, you also discuss the fact that a they're 557 00:43:10.679 --> 00:43:16.960 going after these major energy corporations because of course you don't say it like this, 558 00:43:17.039 --> 00:43:22.800 but you know they have deep pockets and they are not going after others 559 00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:29.320 who use petroleum pocket products that are just as guilty. If the if there's 560 00:43:29.480 --> 00:43:36.760 any truth to the whole ridiculous lie about petroleum products are ruining the causing global 561 00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:38.239 warming, et cetera, et cetera. We all know that that's a scam. 562 00:43:38.280 --> 00:43:42.840 But if they did that, they would have in order to be consistent, 563 00:43:42.960 --> 00:43:45.639 they would have to go after everyone, and not just those with big 564 00:43:45.679 --> 00:43:49.920 pockets. They would have to go part of the argument, yes, because 565 00:43:49.920 --> 00:43:54.519 it shows that what they're really up to is punishing interstate oil company. We're 566 00:43:54.559 --> 00:44:00.000 looking for money, Yeah, and looking for money exactly right, because otherwise 567 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:04.840 why not sue if you're Honolulu, who's causing more pollution? Right? Is 568 00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:10.320 it the oil companies? Why don't you require disclosure by the guys drive around 569 00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:15.719 those tourist buses that pollute all over Honolulu? Right? I think surfboards are 570 00:44:15.760 --> 00:44:20.199 probably made from petroleum products, you know. Yeah, certainly everything made by 571 00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:23.079 north Faces by the way, Oh yeah, that was right, my pow 572 00:44:23.159 --> 00:44:27.079 Chris Wright, who blew the whistle on them. Can I mention the footnote, 573 00:44:27.159 --> 00:44:29.719 John, that you may have heard about from one of the earlier suits 574 00:44:29.719 --> 00:44:32.039 which may still be pending. I don't know. I think Oakland had one 575 00:44:32.039 --> 00:44:37.559 of these suits three four years ago. Yes, and the excellent people did 576 00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:40.599 something clever. They went and looked up all the municipal bond offerings from Oakland, 577 00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:44.360 because you know, they sell thirty year municipal bonds and you know you're 578 00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:47.880 supposed to disclose certain kinds of risks. There were no disclosures on climate risks, 579 00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:50.639 and in fact, I think the opposite. They said, we don't 580 00:44:50.639 --> 00:44:53.920 anticipate any future climate change risks to the City of Oakland, and so they 581 00:44:53.920 --> 00:44:58.639 pointed out that look, if you're you're guilty of the exact thing, exact 582 00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:01.320 thing you're accusing us of, which I thought was a very embarrassing moment for 583 00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:05.599 all these plaintiffs, and maybe the same will be proved why, I don't 584 00:45:05.599 --> 00:45:08.519 know, so I would I'm saying, go ahead, John, I mean, 585 00:45:08.599 --> 00:45:13.760 the main point, if this is the part I thought was interesting, 586 00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:17.639 is that how progressives are trying to use federalism against uh, you know, 587 00:45:17.719 --> 00:45:22.280 to achieve their aims that they don't really have, I think, a principal 588 00:45:22.480 --> 00:45:25.320 view on what the federal or state governments are responsible for. If they can't 589 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:29.800 win, you know, they want even more regulation at the federal level that 590 00:45:29.840 --> 00:45:31.920 they're not getting right. They would like a carbon tax or something like that. 591 00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:35.920 And this is essentially what this is right because if they were to win. 592 00:45:36.639 --> 00:45:39.719 It would just you know, the oil companies would just end up putting 593 00:45:39.719 --> 00:45:44.559 a you know, a tax basically on all their products to pay for all 594 00:45:44.599 --> 00:45:47.199 these damages, which just means energy costs would go up for the average consumer, 595 00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:52.079 Right, I mean I always want right, Well, yes, I 596 00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:54.719 mean I was always cynical about the tobacco litigation, which of course was never 597 00:45:54.960 --> 00:45:59.400 finally hurt in court. It was a big settlement, and the big settlement 598 00:45:59.440 --> 00:46:02.519 made the state it's dependent on people continuing to smoke because all the tax revenue 599 00:46:02.559 --> 00:46:06.760 is going to so called health programs. I've joked for a long time that 600 00:46:06.760 --> 00:46:10.480 we're going to come to the point in America where one billionaire smoker is going 601 00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:15.440 to be paying for healthcare programs in all fifty states, right, and the 602 00:46:15.519 --> 00:46:19.559 tax on each pack will be fifty million dollars or something like that. One 603 00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:22.320 little factoy that a lot of people don't know is that if you add up 604 00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:27.119 all the major multinational oil companies, and they don't include the French ones like 605 00:46:27.119 --> 00:46:30.679 Total and British Petroleum, Royal, Dutch Shell plus Exon, Chevron, et 606 00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:37.239 cetera, I think they actually control and produce something like only five percent of 607 00:46:37.239 --> 00:46:40.119 the world's oil maybe ten percent. Everything else is owned by state owned oil 608 00:46:40.159 --> 00:46:44.800 companies. That's Angola, that of course is Saudi Arabia. I mean a 609 00:46:44.880 --> 00:46:47.480 Ramco is now publicly traded. But the point is is that when are they 610 00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:52.679 going to file suits in the World Court against those sovereign oil companies In Norway? 611 00:46:52.840 --> 00:46:57.000 Right? You know, the Norwegian government produces all this oil and natural 612 00:46:57.039 --> 00:47:00.079 gas. It seems to me this is pretty obvious what's going on here. 613 00:47:01.400 --> 00:47:06.119 So my ambush of John on this one it goes back to what he was 614 00:47:06.119 --> 00:47:10.079 saying about that was coming John. Yeah, the Conservatives have used or have 615 00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:16.159 had successes in returning some of the powers of the states that properly belonged to 616 00:47:16.199 --> 00:47:21.519 the states away from the you know, the New Deal period where the court 617 00:47:21.519 --> 00:47:23.920 allowed the federal government basically to take over everything, all the way down to 618 00:47:23.960 --> 00:47:30.000 whether a farmer could grow his own crops to feed his own his own animals, 619 00:47:30.519 --> 00:47:35.239 his own livestock. My question to you, John about this is actually 620 00:47:35.280 --> 00:47:39.119 I'm really not ambushing you. It's a serious question. You make some distinctions 621 00:47:39.199 --> 00:47:45.840 about why it is in this Honolulu case that the law, the lawsuits against 622 00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:52.760 the oil producers don't make sense because of all of those other secondary and tertiary 623 00:47:53.480 --> 00:47:57.559 kinds of things, like you know, other people are using energy too, 624 00:47:57.760 --> 00:48:01.599 and there's no proof of that. Over to the discussion we've had many many 625 00:48:01.679 --> 00:48:07.559 times, and that's whether or not states can in fact have any role in 626 00:48:07.679 --> 00:48:14.679 regulating immigration illegal immigration. That wasn't ambush, not really, I'm really not, 627 00:48:14.719 --> 00:48:20.880 because you know, I feel ambushed every minute I'm on this podcast. 628 00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:27.639 But you know, you make the argument that that fraud, that you know, 629 00:48:27.679 --> 00:48:30.480 the whole legal realm of fraud was always always belonged to the States up 630 00:48:30.519 --> 00:48:34.760 until the New Deal, And then you make a good argument for why it 631 00:48:34.880 --> 00:48:37.960 is that that energy policy should, in fact, regardless of whether you agree 632 00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:44.159 with New Deal expansion of federal government powers, energy policy should in fact be 633 00:48:45.039 --> 00:48:52.880 a federal government arena. Because people can read the article, I hope Steve 634 00:48:52.920 --> 00:48:58.559 will link to it. But all of the arguments that you make up in 635 00:48:58.639 --> 00:49:01.519 that piece make makes sense to me, but they don't all pertain in the 636 00:49:01.559 --> 00:49:07.719 same way to the immigration argument. And that is because there is actually definable 637 00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:15.599 harm that is done inside states to the safety and welfare of citizens by the 638 00:49:15.639 --> 00:49:19.880 federal government's policy of illegal immigration. Do you see a distinction. Let me 639 00:49:19.960 --> 00:49:28.000 just put it that way. Between your I think quite correct. The announcement 640 00:49:28.119 --> 00:49:32.719 of using federalism in the Honolulu case or even in the brag case, and 641 00:49:34.920 --> 00:49:39.119 what's been a really big topic lately because of the Court's decision in Texas, 642 00:49:39.159 --> 00:49:44.320 that Texas does have some ability to control what happens inside of its state, 643 00:49:44.480 --> 00:49:50.480 inside of the states with respect to illegal immigration. First, I think that 644 00:49:51.719 --> 00:49:57.280 if an alien illegal or not commits a crime in Texas, a crime against 645 00:49:57.280 --> 00:50:01.559 state law, Texas is certainly allowed to enforce murder, you know, violent 646 00:50:01.639 --> 00:50:06.599 crime, that all the usual state crimes under the police power can be a 647 00:50:06.679 --> 00:50:12.920 forced against aliens. I think the difference a second, the bigger difference I 648 00:50:12.920 --> 00:50:16.239 don't think they're actually that different, actually, is that with immigration, you 649 00:50:16.280 --> 00:50:21.760 know, I think that the Supreme Court has said the hour to decide who 650 00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:25.559 comes in or not is up to the federal government alone. How you treat 651 00:50:25.559 --> 00:50:35.119 them once they're in can't be different based on their alien status to the decision 652 00:50:35.159 --> 00:50:38.719 about who is illegal already that I mean, that's you cross without going through 653 00:50:38.719 --> 00:50:44.039 the proper channels, you're illegal. So yeah, but the but the courts 654 00:50:44.039 --> 00:50:49.360 have said, but you can't treat them differently based on their status under federal 655 00:50:49.440 --> 00:50:52.880 law about whether they're in the country legally or not. To me, that's 656 00:50:52.079 --> 00:50:55.119 in a way the same as in my argument I'm saying, yes, states 657 00:50:55.159 --> 00:51:00.159 have the right to enforce consumer fraud laws. That's part of the police power 658 00:51:00.159 --> 00:51:04.760 too, just like the criminal laws. But they can't use that power to 659 00:51:04.800 --> 00:51:09.039 interfere with federal policy over pollution. And I'm going to say the word the 660 00:51:09.079 --> 00:51:15.760 Clean Air Act, Oh my god, interstate air pollution is something that seems 661 00:51:15.800 --> 00:51:20.239 obviously federal right that you, particularly in the sp re Cord actually has offhandedly 662 00:51:20.280 --> 00:51:24.320 said in the comment that obviously if there's anything that was federal, it should 663 00:51:24.320 --> 00:51:29.800 be climate change, because you can't say, oh, pollution from one state 664 00:51:29.960 --> 00:51:32.119 just across the border, and to noticate the whole theory of global warming is 665 00:51:32.159 --> 00:51:37.320 you have these emissions and the temperature of the whole world changes. So to 666 00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:42.599 me, actually they're they're they're similar. I actually think that I actually think 667 00:51:42.599 --> 00:51:46.039 that the right balance is not that different in both cases, although they're totally 668 00:51:46.039 --> 00:51:51.800 different and totally different contexts. You just lost all of the games you made, 669 00:51:51.840 --> 00:51:54.639 John. You know, the thing is, you know, as a 670 00:51:54.840 --> 00:51:58.119 you know, the Marines say, when you're ambush, you just keep going 671 00:51:58.119 --> 00:52:05.599 straight. All right, Let's let's draw to a close with this episode. 672 00:52:05.920 --> 00:52:07.280 Although let me let me just stick in a very quick story, since you 673 00:52:07.280 --> 00:52:10.880 had a good one, John, I opened with a reference to James Stockdale. 674 00:52:12.119 --> 00:52:15.119 I'll end my part of the day with a quick story about him. 675 00:52:15.719 --> 00:52:17.000 I got to have a drink with him once. So it was twenty five 676 00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:21.400 years ago before he died, but after running with Paro in ninety two, 677 00:52:21.599 --> 00:52:22.599 and he's always been a hero of mine. I mean, you read his 678 00:52:23.159 --> 00:52:27.880 articles and memoirs about being a prisoner at Vietnam. They're very moving and very 679 00:52:27.880 --> 00:52:30.440 intelligent. And anyway, and I sort of asked him this, oh you 680 00:52:30.440 --> 00:52:34.800 know how that all come about? And you know, I carefully asked about 681 00:52:34.800 --> 00:52:37.320 the debate, and he said, oh, it was really funny. It 682 00:52:37.400 --> 00:52:42.039 was a ramshackle campaign. And Ross called me up one day and or maybe 683 00:52:42.079 --> 00:52:44.320 I called him and said, well, it looks like I've dodged the bolt. 684 00:52:44.320 --> 00:52:46.679 I don't have to do that debate with Gore and dan Quayle. And 685 00:52:46.760 --> 00:52:51.000 Paro says to him, Oh, I'm sorry, Jim, we signed you 686 00:52:51.039 --> 00:52:54.440 up for that. Forgot to tell you. That's why he had no preparation 687 00:52:54.599 --> 00:53:01.880 and it was pretty Okay, that was funny, wonderful. Yeah, okay, 688 00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:07.159 you got some man, I'm gonna have to try to pick a few 689 00:53:07.159 --> 00:53:10.159 because otherwise we'll be going all day. But at this point, Nation just 690 00:53:10.280 --> 00:53:17.760 happy pageant winner is an actual woman. Okay. So then a little bit 691 00:53:17.800 --> 00:53:25.920 about, uh, the debacle at Normandy. Biden admin hires NASCAR pit crew 692 00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:34.199 to rapidly change Biden's diaper without anyone noticing. A little bit about and Biden 693 00:53:34.239 --> 00:53:40.400 drops first bomb on Normandy in eighty years. As project back to the Hunter 694 00:53:40.400 --> 00:53:45.039 Biden trial. By the way, is it just me or is the Biden 695 00:53:45.599 --> 00:53:51.599 crime family engaging in just the worst kind of jury intimidation possible? I don't 696 00:53:51.599 --> 00:53:55.639 know. I mean, you know, I've seen on at least on Twitter, 697 00:53:58.039 --> 00:54:00.480 people say, you know, when when I was on trial, I 698 00:54:00.519 --> 00:54:02.960 wasn't allowed to have people close to me sitting there in the front row. 699 00:54:04.000 --> 00:54:07.239 Blah blah blah. I doubt that's true. But I mean, why is 700 00:54:07.320 --> 00:54:12.199 Joe Biden there? They ought to be completely out of that entire thing. 701 00:54:12.400 --> 00:54:15.760 But anyway, so as prosecution rests, Hunter Biden asks if this is a 702 00:54:15.760 --> 00:54:20.960 good time to go out back behind the dumpsters for a minute or two for 703 00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:30.119 no particular reason. Back to Biden's senility aids claim, Biden nailed a three 704 00:54:30.159 --> 00:54:36.079 hundred and sixty kickflip mctwist on the White House halfpipe, but oh darn, 705 00:54:36.159 --> 00:54:40.800 the reporters just missed it, and his ability to do his job is not 706 00:54:40.960 --> 00:54:49.679 in any way affected by his rigamortis. Get back to the trial for a 707 00:54:49.719 --> 00:54:52.920 second, the other trial. In response to Trump conviction, Republicans threatened to 708 00:54:52.920 --> 00:55:00.400 fire off strongliest worded letter of all time. Right after seeing how much money 709 00:55:00.440 --> 00:55:02.679 Trump raised, You guys know what it is up to now. I want 710 00:55:02.719 --> 00:55:06.360 to say, I've heard three hundred and fifty one million. Yeah, it 711 00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:08.400 could be, it's huge, anything like that. After seeing how much money 712 00:55:08.480 --> 00:55:13.400 Trump raised, Biden called up Da Bragg to ask if he can get charged 713 00:55:13.440 --> 00:55:20.199 with a felony or two. We never even discussed it because I don't remember 714 00:55:20.239 --> 00:55:23.920 if it happened a lot before. But the whole stupid Alito controversy, you 715 00:55:23.960 --> 00:55:29.039 know, oh yeah, gets to that point. Yeah. Democrats released demming 716 00:55:29.079 --> 00:55:35.519 photo of Justice Alito reading the Constitution, to which they then respond AOC demands 717 00:55:35.599 --> 00:55:42.559 to know where Alito bought an upside down US flag. And then finally, 718 00:55:42.599 --> 00:55:45.800 because I got lots more, but I'm going to leave it here. Iranian 719 00:55:45.880 --> 00:55:51.679 leader thanks college students for their support and says if any of them are interested, 720 00:55:51.719 --> 00:55:57.920 he has a few white wife slots open in his hair. Jo Oh, 721 00:55:58.840 --> 00:56:04.159 Steve, forgive me for this one more, because you know they Peter 722 00:56:04.280 --> 00:56:10.599 Navarro, Steve Bannon in jail or in jail, This isn't all they actually 723 00:56:10.599 --> 00:56:15.559 from a couple of years ago. When or to twenty twenty two, Yeah, 724 00:56:15.559 --> 00:56:20.199 a couple of years ago. Bannon prosecutors warn that three hundred and thirty 725 00:56:20.360 --> 00:56:25.840 million additional Americans with contempt for Congress are still roaming free. What's up right? 726 00:56:27.599 --> 00:56:29.559 Well, hey you guys, it's great to be back together again in 727 00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:31.519 the old fashioned way, the same time zone. And therefore, John, 728 00:56:31.559 --> 00:56:36.639 it's now up to you to launch us out. Always drink your whiskey, 729 00:56:36.719 --> 00:56:40.119 meat, let's go, Brandon and Steve, God save the Queen Man and 730 00:56:40.639 --> 00:57:30.440 some other things too. Bye bye, everybody, Ricochet join the conversation,