1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,519 Hey, what are we still arguing about? God? Do what we're doing 2 00:00:04,559 --> 00:00:10,720 here? The point, yeah, ask not what your country can do for 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:17,679 you and what you can do for your count Either you were with us or 4 00:00:17,719 --> 00:00:22,480 you were with the terrorists. Hendra has done and continues to do, invaluable 5 00:00:22,519 --> 00:00:29,000 work to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. We put him. It's the 6 00:00:29,039 --> 00:00:32,679 Ricochet Podcast with Rob Long and Steve Awards sitting in for Peter Robinson. I'm 7 00:00:32,719 --> 00:00:37,200 James lylex. Today we talked to Richard Goldberger about a rod and unrawed, 8 00:00:37,399 --> 00:00:46,320 so let's have ourselves a podcast. Welcome everybody. It's the Ricochet Podcast, 9 00:00:46,399 --> 00:00:51,200 number six hundred and seventy seven. I'm James Lylyx in sunny warm Minnesota, 10 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,920 where it's been plus fifty degrees, which of course everybody believes portends at the 11 00:00:55,039 --> 00:00:57,560 end of the world. Won't. Upon a time we just go outside and 12 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,520 say, oh, lean up against the wall and like people in lenin Grod 13 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,519 you know who got the temperature of twenty two degrees in January? Now we 14 00:01:06,599 --> 00:01:08,359 are just you know, it's the end. It's the end, I tell 15 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:12,280 you. But this is just the beginning of the podcast with Rob Long as 16 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,879 usual, and Steve Hayward is sitting in for Peter Robinson. Gentlemen, welcome, 17 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:21,760 Hey Hi Steve. How are you doing. I'm good, I'm great. 18 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:23,920 Thanks you. So many things to so many things to start off the 19 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,680 week with. But of local interest to me is the fire bombing of the 20 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:34,439 Center for the American Experiment office, which is unusual here to have. What 21 00:01:34,519 --> 00:01:38,159 is the Center for the American Experiment? Is that? Is that? I 22 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,560 mean? I mean it's shorthand Do I like it? Do I not like 23 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,959 it? You like that? You like it? And it's the Center of 24 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:49,599 the American Experiment? Okay, yeah, we like it there. They've been 25 00:01:49,599 --> 00:01:52,879 around for an awful long time and they do good work, and I like 26 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,400 the guys who are involved. And it's a you know, you know, 27 00:01:56,439 --> 00:01:59,599 connected to the power Line blog in ways that i've I mean, they are 28 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,079 sort of a official, non official. It's just it's just a good, 29 00:02:02,079 --> 00:02:07,280 smart place. And they put out a magazine, uh, the only conservative 30 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,960 magazine to come out of Minnesota, which I should note has hosted some writings 31 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,479 by one of Ricochet's own Jenna s So so applaud for them, I see 32 00:02:16,719 --> 00:02:21,919 for seeing talent and surfacing it. But yeah, Hinderrocker posted it powerline. 33 00:02:21,960 --> 00:02:25,039 The other day. They fire bombed my office SEOM. They were incinerated along 34 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,840 the Office for Take Charge, which is an organization to quote, inspire and 35 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,759 educate black and other minority communities of their full rights and privileges as Americans end 36 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,879 quote. And the Upper Midwest Law Center, who quote pursue pro freedom, 37 00:02:38,199 --> 00:02:43,319 pro freedom. You know what those buzzwords I mean, yeah, that's dog 38 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,240 whistles. I mean, don't you litigation safeguarding against government overreached, left wing 39 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:52,719 special interest agenda's constitutional violations, and public union corruption end quote. Those are 40 00:02:52,759 --> 00:02:58,159 the organizations that were targeted. So we can expect perhaps that the arsonists will 41 00:02:58,199 --> 00:03:02,879 be quickly found the atf ISIGN case and then spun out with probably zero bail. 42 00:03:04,039 --> 00:03:07,800 They'll give a middle finger to the cameras and get on a bus for 43 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,719 California. I'm just saying, that's what That's what happened in New York. 44 00:03:10,840 --> 00:03:15,120 Rob, you are in the in New York, Yeah, and this was 45 00:03:15,319 --> 00:03:20,000 This is one of those stories where you think, once upon a time, 46 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:23,400 if you were on camera actually beaten the sawdust out of a couple of cops. 47 00:03:23,439 --> 00:03:28,439 They're trying to do so you would find yourself if not experiencing Juliana time, 48 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,199 Giuliani time, you you, you'd be in the gray bar. You 49 00:03:31,199 --> 00:03:36,400 you would be in the tomb yea, and things would not go well for 50 00:03:36,479 --> 00:03:38,840 you. And if you were illegal, if you were not even here legally, 51 00:03:39,639 --> 00:03:46,759 you might be removed to the place from which you came. But that's 52 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:52,479 that's It's impossible to ask, now, isn't it. Yeah, it's a 53 00:03:52,599 --> 00:03:59,719 very very weird story because you keep thinking, you keep thinking that it was 54 00:04:00,439 --> 00:04:04,439 by chat GPT, you know, like what you know, Siri or chat 55 00:04:04,439 --> 00:04:12,000 GVT. Please come up with the most incendiary story you can so that ninety 56 00:04:12,039 --> 00:04:15,800 five percent of all Americans will read it and think we have to do something 57 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,759 about crime in the streets, law and order, and the border. Like 58 00:04:19,959 --> 00:04:26,079 it's like a fever dream. And it happened. It really happened. They 59 00:04:26,079 --> 00:04:30,000 beat him a cop and they're getting away with it. They're going to California. 60 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:31,639 And there was a report today on CN in this morning, which I 61 00:04:31,639 --> 00:04:34,720 think but by the time but anyone hears this, I think this, I 62 00:04:34,759 --> 00:04:38,360 cannot imagine this clip will not go viral. I think was this morning maybe, 63 00:04:38,439 --> 00:04:40,600 yes, a report on C and I said, listen, I've talked 64 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:45,240 a bunch of detectives, and here's how it works. These these are organized 65 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:46,160 gangs. A lot of the things that are happening in New York City right 66 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,399 now that seem like random crime are not. In fact, they are organized 67 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:54,079 crime. And that is actually but was true of the eighties two apparently. 68 00:04:54,360 --> 00:05:01,279 So it's organized gangs come from Florida or somewhere else and they come to New 69 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,920 York City and they organized and they do they do the snatch and grabs, 70 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:10,680 they grab the phone, they take your they do all that stuff, and 71 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,079 then they get the money they go down to Florida to spend it. And 72 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:17,439 so someone says, so why don't they just when I come here, you 73 00:05:17,439 --> 00:05:19,680 know, why don't we just stay in Florida into it? And the answer 74 00:05:19,759 --> 00:05:23,959 was, well, because in Florida they'll be arrested and put in jail. 75 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:33,600 So if you ever have doubted pure free market economics, the natural human impulse 76 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:39,639 to to mitigate risk, an opportunity, to balance risk and opportunity, it 77 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:43,639 is right there. You go to. It is easy and cheap, basically 78 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,680 to get to New York City, where there is no law enforcement. You 79 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,279 Maraud do whatever you want. You grab, snatch and grab however you want 80 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:54,519 it. You get all your money, and then you quickly h tail it 81 00:05:54,639 --> 00:06:00,839 down to a fun, warm place so you can spend it. Because in 82 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,199 New York City, you know that there the risk is low, and in 83 00:06:03,319 --> 00:06:12,000 Florida the reward is high. What it's you know, this is an economics 84 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:17,319 class, and I just don't quite understand the sclerotic nature of American politics, 85 00:06:17,319 --> 00:06:25,720 both local and federal, and the idea that ordinarily this there'd be torches in 86 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:30,079 the streets for this guy, you know, Alvin Bragg would be out, 87 00:06:30,319 --> 00:06:33,160 he'd be you know, they'd become a home for his head in the City 88 00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:38,000 Hall plaza. Well, we might not be far away from the porches in 89 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:41,319 the street figuratively speaking. You know, it seems like we have to go 90 00:06:41,399 --> 00:06:45,959 through what Tom Wolfe called the great relearning. And not long ago I dusted 91 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:48,360 off the classic book from the seventies by James W. Wilson, thinking about 92 00:06:48,399 --> 00:06:54,160 crime, and that book, you know, just update the figures in the 93 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:57,399 dates, and it reads exactly like a description of what's going on today, 94 00:06:57,680 --> 00:07:00,600 including what needs to be done. And it did occurred to me. So 95 00:07:00,639 --> 00:07:03,759 here we are it's twenty twenty four. If memory serves, it was forty 96 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:08,199 years ago. Sometime the summer of nineteen eighty four, we had the famous 97 00:07:08,199 --> 00:07:11,519 episode of Bernard Gets. Remember the guy in the subway, he pulled out 98 00:07:11,519 --> 00:07:15,040 the gun and shot four muggers. He was not charged in that particular case. 99 00:07:15,079 --> 00:07:17,600 Things were starting to turn in. I think Koch was the mayor then 100 00:07:17,639 --> 00:07:25,160 maybe he wasn't charged with manslaughter or anything like that. He was ultimately charged 101 00:07:25,199 --> 00:07:29,199 and convicted for illegal possession of a handgun, which of course was illegal in 102 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:31,560 New York in those days. Probably still is, although there's some doubt about 103 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,160 that after the Bruin case. But in any case, you know, we 104 00:07:34,199 --> 00:07:38,319 saw this case a few months ago of the guy on the subway, the 105 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,160 ex marine I forget his name, who put that menacing person in a chokehold, 106 00:07:42,199 --> 00:07:46,120 who died, and he is being prosecuted for manslaughter. I can't imagine 107 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:48,560 that even in New York jury will convict him of that. But I think 108 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:54,160 we're not far away from citizens and frustrated police and they're going to say, 109 00:07:54,319 --> 00:07:56,839 you were going to see some more Bernard Gets incidents. That's what I think 110 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,959 is going to happen. Yeah, I mean I expected that you're right or 111 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,040 or or or something like it. I mean, just to me, it's 112 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,040 but also it seems to me that two things were revealed to me recently. 113 00:08:07,079 --> 00:08:11,279 One is that in the eighties in New York City, everybody had a sign 114 00:08:11,399 --> 00:08:13,680 in front of their car say no radio in car, right, don't you 115 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:18,439 know? Because people break into the cars, see. And the theory at 116 00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:24,560 the time was this was kind of random, distributed petty theft, and then 117 00:08:24,639 --> 00:08:28,000 since revealed studies have revealed that it wasn't really it was an organized it's actually 118 00:08:28,079 --> 00:08:31,439 organized crime. I think it might have been actually what we can now considered 119 00:08:31,439 --> 00:08:33,399 to be organized crime, like the mom or something. And they were doing 120 00:08:33,399 --> 00:08:35,559 it, and they were sort of collecting the radios, and they had come 121 00:08:35,639 --> 00:08:39,639 up with an economic way to sort of dispose of those things and make some 122 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,480 money, and it was a low again, low risk, high reward kind 123 00:08:43,519 --> 00:08:50,000 of business. And I think we've discovered that maybe early here in this one 124 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:54,639 story. Obviously, the story is it's not you dispositive proof, but it's 125 00:08:54,679 --> 00:09:01,759 emblematic of a problem, and that there are people who have seen weakness and 126 00:09:01,799 --> 00:09:05,279 they are going to take advantage of it because they are economic individuals. They 127 00:09:05,279 --> 00:09:09,399 are already here illegally, so there's not much they can do. But by 128 00:09:09,639 --> 00:09:13,000 actually, ironically, by being here illegally, they are protected in ways that 129 00:09:13,039 --> 00:09:16,120 an America's citizen is not protected. Right. I mean, there's no you 130 00:09:16,159 --> 00:09:22,080 know, nonprofit organization and trying to help somebody who just beat up a cop. 131 00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:26,679 You first have to be here illegally to receive that benefit. And they 132 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:31,559 are acting exactly as you would expect the human economic animal to act. The 133 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:37,320 only people who are falling short are us in this city and I think in 134 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,440 the country in general, because we simply have lost the nerve or the words 135 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:48,840 or the vocabulary for emphatic disapproval and punishment. We just don't know how to 136 00:09:48,879 --> 00:09:50,559 do it anymore society, mean, we do. Some peoplevote with their feet 137 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:54,519 and they leave, and I certainly understand that, but it just seems astonishing 138 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:58,200 me that this happens so quickly. Manage not just an economic man's not just 139 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:03,080 an economic aniam on these moral animal and so these people do share primary culpability 140 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:05,679 for what they're doing for the Yeah, no, you're right, I mean, 141 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:07,159 I just I just like, you know, I like to think of 142 00:10:07,399 --> 00:10:11,720 you know, I like to be a cold you know, Adam smithist, 143 00:10:11,799 --> 00:10:15,360 you know, we're just robots trying to maximize return. When you take it 144 00:10:15,399 --> 00:10:16,679 all in aggregate, though, when you look at what the Democratic Party in 145 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,279 other states is doing, you have I think I think it's Illinois that is 146 00:10:20,399 --> 00:10:24,120 doing what many states have done, cities have done, is saying we're no 147 00:10:24,159 --> 00:10:28,919 longer going to enforce traffic laws because of disparate impact. You had a vote, 148 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,159 I believe or where was it was it also in Illinois where the one 149 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:39,799 hundred and fifty Democrats voted against against deporting illegals who are convicted of drunk driving. 150 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,919 Well, that was Congress James, not Illinois. That was the United 151 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,759 States House Representatives yesterday. Yes, that I misread the piece. Now it 152 00:10:46,919 --> 00:10:50,960 passed, but one hundred fifty because they can because their constituents believe that any 153 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,960 of these things are prima facia examples of systemic racism. Frankly, that enforcing 154 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,720 the traffic laws is race that doing that, that's somehow the objections that you 155 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,240 would have to somebody staying around in the country after being convicted of being drunk, 156 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:11,519 that's based on your opinion, your attitude toward their ethnicity. All of 157 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:16,320 these things. It's it's insane. So they're apparently still afraid of a handful 158 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:20,679 of very loud activists as opposed to the people who live in the neighborhoods and 159 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,799 have their lives affected by the people who do these things. It was Boston 160 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,360 the other day where this man is unburdening himself at the COMPS because the local 161 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,440 community center. He was homeless. He said he worked forty hours a day, 162 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:35,279 could not afford an apartment. He was homeless. He depended on this 163 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:39,440 community center and had been taken it had been turned over to a to an 164 00:11:39,519 --> 00:11:46,759 illegal immigrant. I'm sorry, Migrant Outreach center. And he is every right 165 00:11:46,879 --> 00:11:52,519 to be incensed. He's a citizen. And this continual blurring erosion of the 166 00:11:52,519 --> 00:11:56,960 distinction between is one of those things that I think we can probably get most 167 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,360 people in the same around the same table completely think. There was a panel 168 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:09,120 in d C yesterday, a community panel, the bunch of res DC residents, 169 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:13,440 and they're mad about the violent crime spike in DC. It's great, 170 00:12:13,480 --> 00:12:16,200 you know, they're really upset. They're there and they're you know, and 171 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:18,759 you know most of them are black, right, because it's a d C's 172 00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:22,159 very pronominally, black Town Sky stands up and it's like complaining to the d 173 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,399 C Attorney General. Bryan Schwalb says, you know, what are you gonna 174 00:12:26,399 --> 00:12:28,600 do about this? This is really a problem. The crime in the streets 175 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:31,840 is a problem. You got to do something about this problem. What are 176 00:12:31,879 --> 00:12:33,679 you going to do? It's your job, you're the attorney general. And 177 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,840 he says. And the response from this from the DC Attorney General, Brian 178 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:43,120 Schwalb was this. He says, listen, you know talked about these are 179 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:48,000 big problems, crimes, big problem. He says, we cannot prosecute and 180 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:54,840 arrest our way out of it. Now. I think there are just two 181 00:12:54,879 --> 00:12:56,720 kinds of people in the world. Right. There's a kind of people who 182 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:01,240 believe that really that's how you actually take care of I'm you arrest to prosecute 183 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,639 your way out of it. And those people have been, you know, 184 00:13:03,759 --> 00:13:07,559 more or less in charge for two thousand years, and there's a kind of 185 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:15,600 people who now think, you know what, actually you can't. I just 186 00:13:15,879 --> 00:13:20,679 what was staggering to me was that I think that the common sense line gets 187 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:24,159 bigger and bigger and bigger. But those people seem whether they are or they 188 00:13:24,159 --> 00:13:30,240 are not more and or they feel less and less empowered, and that I 189 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:35,919 find very strange an American politics. Ordinarily, when you're part of a big, 190 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:39,559 burgeoning populist group, you feel powerful. You get to do big things. 191 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,960 You get to pass civil rights legislation, you get to amend the Constitution 192 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:50,440 to the outlaw alcohol, these amazing stuff that you can do. And it 193 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:56,159 seems to me like there's ninety percent of Americans degree on basic stuff, but 194 00:13:56,279 --> 00:14:00,200 they just in a world where're all networked, they just feel like, well, 195 00:14:00,919 --> 00:14:03,360 I don't have any power. It's very strange. I'm not sure I 196 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:07,000 understand why. Rob. Can I pose a question to you? I want 197 00:14:07,039 --> 00:14:11,399 to get this down to the I don't know the personal level. But you 198 00:14:11,519 --> 00:14:16,440 gave up the sunny, gonzo bohemian climes of Venice Beach for the bohemian, 199 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,240 not so sunny climes of Greenwich Village many years ago. Now have you changed 200 00:14:20,639 --> 00:14:24,759 in what ways? If you have, have you changed your personal habits of 201 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:26,879 living and walking around in maneuver ring in New York? Have you made adjustments 202 00:14:26,879 --> 00:14:31,120 because of the increasing anarchy of the place. Well, I mean, you 203 00:14:31,159 --> 00:14:35,639 know there's the anarchy, and there's anarchy, right I mean I live. 204 00:14:35,759 --> 00:14:37,600 I lived in Venice, very close to the beach. A lived before that. 205 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:39,840 I lived in Santa Monica on the beach, and there was like they're 206 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:41,799 crazy almost people there all the time. That was the you know, my 207 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:46,240 friend Harry Sherry's referred to the Santa Monica still does it's the Home of the 208 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:50,519 homeless, because it really was. And it's like it's kind of a fun 209 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:58,919 little, you know, group theater because you could watch incredibly incredibly ardent progressives 210 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,639 just absolutely yet you know, dead set liberals and progressives in their multimillion dollar 211 00:15:03,679 --> 00:15:09,399 mansions just torn up inside because the homeless people were, you know, just 212 00:15:09,519 --> 00:15:13,120 kind of going to the bathroom, their bushes and they just and they just 213 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,080 they were mad about it, but they didn't know how to be mad about 214 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,399 it. And there was a lot of crime in Venice, and there's a 215 00:15:18,399 --> 00:15:22,080 lot of a lot of drug crime Invet's when I was there. You know, 216 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,639 I'm an idiot, Okay, I walk around like oh do at night 217 00:15:24,679 --> 00:15:28,080 in New York City. I don't really care. I sometimes put my air 218 00:15:28,559 --> 00:15:31,320 AirPods or air buds in my ears, which you're not supposed to do. 219 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,440 Both of them. You keep wanting here so you can listen and listen to 220 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,080 music and walking around smoke a cigar, and you know, just kind of 221 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:43,000 I just don't pay attention. I routinely find myself standing for some reason on 222 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,559 the white line on the subway right there, So there's some lunatic to just 223 00:15:46,559 --> 00:15:50,480 pushed me tracks for no reason. So you know, I'm not a very 224 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:58,399 good personal safety consultants. But I am starting to get remember how I used 225 00:15:58,440 --> 00:15:58,960 to be when I was in New York, when I was younger, when 226 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,440 New York was different, or New York was the same as it is now, 227 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,440 which is, you know, you don't stand close to the tracks. 228 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:08,639 You you don't walk down that street, you don't plug your you don't plug 229 00:16:08,679 --> 00:16:12,120 yourself into music when you need to be aware of what's going on, and 230 00:16:12,159 --> 00:16:15,120 you know, you keep your eye on people. That in New York though. 231 00:16:15,519 --> 00:16:18,840 The thing about it is in New York you have to stay aware of 232 00:16:18,919 --> 00:16:22,399 everything, but you can't let them know that you're aware. So you can't 233 00:16:22,759 --> 00:16:25,759 got to look at that guy, but you can't let him know you're looking 234 00:16:25,759 --> 00:16:26,519 at him, because otherwise he's gonna say, you look at me? What 235 00:16:26,519 --> 00:16:29,600 are you looking at? It? You don't want to do that. So 236 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,000 I'm I'm I'm relearning all that stuff, but I'm very bad at it. 237 00:16:33,799 --> 00:16:37,159 So not to get more bid. If you you know it's this this still 238 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:47,200 don't don't don't replay this clip at my memorial podcast. Idiot like you even 239 00:16:47,279 --> 00:16:49,159 knew, like three weeks ago. He's telling us he was, So there 240 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,759 you go, it's not acceptable. It isn't. We all got used to 241 00:16:55,120 --> 00:17:00,360 the idea that the cities of America had turned a corner, that what had 242 00:17:00,399 --> 00:17:04,119 once been on the decline. We had the decline of the of the fifties 243 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:07,599 when they decided, well, the answer to this is to bulldoze everything and 244 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:11,759 put up really solis Meusian office buildings I didn't work. And then we had 245 00:17:11,759 --> 00:17:14,920 the decline in the eighties when you had crack and crime and the rest of 246 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,160 it. And we beat that. We beat that with a set of tools 247 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:22,640 that we still have. We may not have as many hands to implement them, 248 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:23,799 but we know how to do it. But they don't want to. 249 00:17:25,279 --> 00:17:29,359 So consequently, this thing that was the great accomplishment really of the early twenty 250 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:33,200 first century was the restoration of American cities and turning them into safe places. 251 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:34,920 I remember going back to d C. I mean I lived there for years, 252 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:40,039 and then I go back in the teens when we were doing all those 253 00:17:40,039 --> 00:17:45,839 books and Sea Span stuff and walking around and marveling how safe I felt. 254 00:17:45,839 --> 00:17:48,240 I walked back to my hotel, I think from the tablet at like two 255 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:52,319 o'clock in the morning. I didn't care. And there's no I mean, 256 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:53,599 never would have done that in the early days because my head would have been 257 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:57,920 stove in five times a block. But now it's reverted back to that, 258 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,000 and I love too. The thing Rob was talking about, I think he 259 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:04,920 had it backwards when he said that we can't prosecute and arrest ourselves our way 260 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,039 out of this. I think, well, no, you arrest first and 261 00:18:07,039 --> 00:18:11,480 then you prosecute. If you tried that, yeah, that's yeah, that's 262 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,599 that was the problem. And give you good for you. So you know 263 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,359 when when I tell when you tell people though that there's there's simply not enough 264 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:22,759 police presence, not enough arrests, and not enough people in prison, they 265 00:18:22,799 --> 00:18:25,759 look at you as though you're absolutely mad, because the only people in prison, 266 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,039 they believe, it seems to be, are people who were arrested and 267 00:18:30,079 --> 00:18:33,720 sentenced to thirty years for possession of an eighth of an ounce of pot. 268 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:34,880 That that's what they seem to think, oh, you know, in a 269 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:37,599 couple of bad, violent guys. But you know, but the rest the 270 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:47,920 idea that they're that that that strong societal disincentives rapidly applied judiciously to all actually 271 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:52,359 does have a concentrating effect on the criminal mind. Yeah, I mean, 272 00:18:53,599 --> 00:18:56,519 yes, well yeah, I mean the way the way James Q. Wilson 273 00:18:56,519 --> 00:19:03,000 put into his book was pretty simple. It was criminals are not stupid. 274 00:19:03,279 --> 00:19:06,599 They respond to incentives like everyone else. And if you make the price of 275 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:10,319 crime very low, the demand for it's going to go away up. And 276 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:12,319 then the end, you know, there is I can keep wondering winner voters 277 00:19:12,319 --> 00:19:17,759 going to wake up. There's you know, another recall effort against the Oakland 278 00:19:18,039 --> 00:19:22,400 Alameda County prosecutor who said the same nonsense out here in California, where by 279 00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:25,039 the way, uh you know, in and Out Burgers, which is Rob 280 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:29,119 Knows is you know, a cult classic closing their only location in Oakland, 281 00:19:29,119 --> 00:19:30,960 which is still profitable. But there's been so much crime and you can see 282 00:19:32,039 --> 00:19:36,759 videos of people get in carjacked in line at the drive through window, and 283 00:19:36,799 --> 00:19:41,160 then Denny's yesterday's close announced they're closing their only restaurant in Oakland. So the 284 00:19:41,279 --> 00:19:45,359 recall effort there, recall effort again in LA with what's it a gascone? 285 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,079 But nobody's paying much attention because it's up on the corner of the country. 286 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,480 But I think it's either King County or the City of Seattle. I forget 287 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:59,279 which jurisdiction. The last election, they actually elected a Republican district attorney with 288 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:03,440 considerable democratic sport by the way, from moderate Democrats like the former governor, 289 00:20:03,559 --> 00:20:07,839 Christine Greguar, who I know a little bit, is very smart and what 290 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,160 as a woman, and what you said was is what Rob was saying. 291 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:17,480 An awful lot of crime these days is organized, it's hypertensity criminals. And 292 00:20:17,519 --> 00:20:18,839 the first thing she did was, let's look for people who have been arrested 293 00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:22,519 more than ten times in the last year and let go, and let's not 294 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:26,440 let them go next time they're arrested. And guess what, they haven't completely 295 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,960 turned the corner. You're getting resistance from the socialists on the Seattle City Council, 296 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,200 but the crime rate and Seattle has been down after years of just going 297 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,480 as crazy as every place else. So this is not hard, it's not 298 00:20:37,599 --> 00:20:41,240 rocket science. It's just a matter of, again, to use Tom wolf'shrads, 299 00:20:41,279 --> 00:20:45,079 we need to relearn a lot of basic proofs about it. Yeah. 300 00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:49,920 Yeah, but it's also kind of like, you know, the the national 301 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:56,119 mood, national whatever you want to call it. It's sort of erratic, 302 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:02,599 and we are impulsive and we just kind of throw ourselves into something and then 303 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:07,920 we're kind of like done with it. Masks not so much. I still 304 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:10,880 see a lot of masks, but you know what I'm saying, like kind 305 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:11,440 of like, ah, you know, even when I talk to the people 306 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:15,319 like I'm doing this thing on book Jay Abaticharia and COVID, and people like, 307 00:21:15,319 --> 00:21:19,240 oh, even though they agree with you're like, ah, I'm just 308 00:21:19,319 --> 00:21:25,440 I'm all COVID it out. And I actually feel like there's a whole bunch 309 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:27,799 of people who I think, even marching in the streets even were like Black 310 00:21:27,839 --> 00:21:32,079 Lives Matter even really upset about what was happening in twenty twenty year, what 311 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:33,720 was revealed to be happening in twenty twenty or what people thought was happening twenty 312 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,960 twenty, which, of course the just didn't prove it, but it was 313 00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:41,440 kind of a national media that all cops are bad, and I think they 314 00:21:41,519 --> 00:21:45,319 kind of want that to be gone. They're like, we're over that now. 315 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:47,720 Okay, we did that thing, remember when we were all mad, 316 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:48,920 never not mad anyone. We want you to come back in the streets, 317 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:53,440 and we want you to come back and police and and it just doesn't work 318 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,599 that way in the real way, the real world. When you have a 319 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:02,160 mania and you go crazy, it's actually hard to you know, unring the 320 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:07,039 bell as hard as they politicians say to put the toothpaste back in the tube. 321 00:22:07,279 --> 00:22:08,680 You pass a lot of laws, and you you liked a lot of 322 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:11,519 morons, and they're all there, and they're all you know, they're all 323 00:22:11,599 --> 00:22:18,200 The District Attorney of New York City is like a fool, and it's responsible 324 00:22:18,319 --> 00:22:22,319 for these kind of crazy things happen in New York City almost directly. So 325 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,160 it's like a you know, when you're a kid, you have to learn 326 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,559 when your teenage boy to learn that actually some things you're gonna do you're not 327 00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:32,839 gonna be able to undo. They seem like they're fun at the time, 328 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,359 and it's a fun impulse to jump out of the tree or push your friend 329 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:38,759 in the wall or whatever, or try to roll out of a rolling car 330 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,680 like you know, dukes of hazard. But actually that's not a smart move 331 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:47,480 and you're gonna regret it. And so this we have to learn that all 332 00:22:47,519 --> 00:22:51,160 the time. I guess it's amazing that people applied the Chesterton's fenced idea to 333 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:56,200 the police. You know, of all the things, the purpose of the 334 00:22:56,200 --> 00:23:00,839 police ought to be self evident. But but, but but no, here 335 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:07,640 in Minneapolis, you know, we've the epicenter of twenty twenty unpleasantness. I 336 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,000 just a headline popped up in my news feed. It's a video found of 337 00:23:11,759 --> 00:23:14,960 new slider crimes. We have a new crime they've given a name called sliders. 338 00:23:15,839 --> 00:23:18,839 You'll be pumping the gas and some burgers only just slide right into your 339 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,799 car and take your valuables and pop right out. And sometimes if you you 340 00:23:22,839 --> 00:23:26,079 know, if you leave your car running or you're an idiot, they'll drive 341 00:23:26,079 --> 00:23:27,480 off with it. And I thought, oh boy, that's where did this 342 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:32,200 happen? So I just call up the video. It's micro it's my gas 343 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,400 station around the corner from where I live. Wow, So now do I 344 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,559 have to do so? Now do I actually have to be that guy who's 345 00:23:37,559 --> 00:23:41,920 always got my head in a swivel. I mean where we are now is 346 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:47,880 that they provide for us a video screen on the gas pump in case you 347 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,920 are bored with your phone and want to be and want to look at programming 348 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,880 on a gas pump. There's something a cup of gas. It's the gas 349 00:23:53,880 --> 00:24:00,119 Station Network, and they provide nationwide feeds of all kinds of ads and programming 350 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,119 and the rest of it, which lasts for about as long as it takes 351 00:24:03,119 --> 00:24:06,079 for you to fill up your tank. So now they've given us these, 352 00:24:06,599 --> 00:24:10,839 but at the same time, society has not given us a sufficient order to 353 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:12,359 make sure that our you know, computer is going to be there in a 354 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:17,559 car when we turn our backs. It's and that's happening here. These are 355 00:24:17,599 --> 00:24:21,440 all anomalous, but they're all incremental, and the end result of it is 356 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:27,599 the changing of zero minds in this city. There's absolutely nobody around here who 357 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,000 is going to vote differently from law and order because of this, because they 358 00:24:32,039 --> 00:24:34,720 still in the back of their heads, will believe that A you don't want 359 00:24:34,759 --> 00:24:38,039 to get people, just a system involved, as the you know they call 360 00:24:38,079 --> 00:24:44,160 it, and b better than you spend your energy, addressing the systemic problems 361 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:45,920 that caused this behavior in the first place, as opposed to just saying now 362 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,160 he's a crook. I yeah, so you and I think we were talking 363 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,640 about this before. If the Democrats ever actually get their hand around law and 364 00:24:53,759 --> 00:25:00,119 order again, they will, they will, you know everything, right, 365 00:25:00,519 --> 00:25:07,720 all right? The law and order conservative Southern Democratic governor is an unstoppable American 366 00:25:07,759 --> 00:25:11,000 forks. All you got to do is have one, as means you got 367 00:25:11,039 --> 00:25:14,680 to get one like it. I'm not so easy. Yeah, the little 368 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:18,680 things, little things, little things. Hey, let's go to our guest. 369 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,559 We're going to talk to Rich Goldberg, Senior advisor at the Foundation for 370 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:26,079 Defense of Democracies and he served as the director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass 371 00:25:26,079 --> 00:25:30,599 Destruction for the White House National Security Council. Rich, thanks for joining us 372 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:36,279 today. Hey, great to be here about those Iranian weapons of mass destruction? 373 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,319 Where are they? I mean, how far along are they or if 374 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:42,920 they've already got them, where are they? Well, we know on the 375 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:51,960 stock file end of the metrics. They've been amassing highly enriched geranium for better 376 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:55,680 parts of three years now, since Joe Biden took office. They first escalated 377 00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:00,000 the twenty percent high rich uranium in January twenty twenty one. Later that year, 378 00:26:00,079 --> 00:26:03,200 moved to sixty percent high enriched uranium. That's about from a technical perspective, 379 00:26:03,279 --> 00:26:07,000 ninety percent of the way to weapons grade uranium. And they've simply been 380 00:26:07,039 --> 00:26:11,160 making more and more and more of both twenty percent, sixty percent and the 381 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:18,440 low enriched uranium still at multiple facilities for three years. They've accelerated at times, 382 00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:22,680 they've decelerated at times, but they've never stopped producing more and more. 383 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:27,359 And so every three months the International Atomic Energy Agency comes out with metrics of 384 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:33,160 how much uranium have they produced at what levels, and you can analyze based 385 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:37,799 on the data based on how many centrifuges they have. They've continued to install 386 00:26:37,839 --> 00:26:44,319 more of these advanced centrifuges that spin faster, can therefore produce more. If 387 00:26:44,319 --> 00:26:48,279 they wanted to take all that stockpile to ninety percent weapons grade, they could 388 00:26:48,279 --> 00:26:51,799 do it in a long weekend and have at least one bomb's worth. If 389 00:26:51,839 --> 00:26:53,880 they wanted to make two, three, four, five, a dozen bombs, 390 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:57,279 you know, you're looking at up to six months, and they would 391 00:26:57,319 --> 00:27:03,640 have a dozen or so. Now that's the uranium part. That's the material 392 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,559 part. You still have to build a weapon or potentially a crude device, 393 00:27:07,279 --> 00:27:11,079 and that's a big distinction. If they just want to make something go boom 394 00:27:11,079 --> 00:27:14,519 in the desert and claim to be a nuclear power, they could do that 395 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:18,440 rather quickly, and they might be able to do that in secret in certain 396 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,440 aspects. Claim there's a fire at a facility, inspectors can't come in for 397 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:26,559 a couple of weeks and suddenly they've done something while they've done some secret work 398 00:27:26,559 --> 00:27:30,359 at an area we don't know about. So these are the contingencies that worry 399 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,599 us. And of course their long term vision of being able to put a 400 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:38,119 nuclear device on a missile continues as well. We've seen them advancing their space 401 00:27:38,279 --> 00:27:44,680 launch vehicle program, which is a cover for intercontinental ballistic missiles, and so 402 00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,480 they're they're continuing a pace that you know, it's sort of like building the 403 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:51,680 assembly line without getting the order to build the car, but being ready at 404 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:55,240 any moment. And so I think a lot of us fear that what we 405 00:27:55,319 --> 00:27:59,599 see in the Middle East right now is a weapon of mass distraction, and 406 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,160 we're so forgetting about the pursuit of the weapon of mass destruction. Richard Steve 407 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:07,759 Hayward out in California. We're all waiting right now to find out what the 408 00:28:07,799 --> 00:28:14,039 Biden administration's response is going to be to the death of the three American soldiers 409 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,559 from an Iranian sponsor group in Jordan. And they've already said though that they're 410 00:28:18,759 --> 00:28:21,680 not going to attack inside Iran. And on the one hand, you could 411 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:25,559 say that's because they're afraid of actually having a wider war directly with Ran. 412 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:30,160 But my question is, does Ron essentially effectively already have deterrent capability for the 413 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,599 reasons you just laid out, they do not. This is not like the 414 00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:38,759 Soviet Union that was a nuclear power when we were having a showdown for decades. 415 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,839 They are still nuclear threshold if that, and of course they are not 416 00:28:45,039 --> 00:28:49,440 a superpower. We are, And so for us to show a lack of 417 00:28:49,519 --> 00:28:56,559 backbone, to really fear escalation against the middle power like Iran is quite the 418 00:28:56,599 --> 00:29:00,039 message to true superpowers and competitors on a global age, especially when you think 419 00:29:00,119 --> 00:29:04,079 of what China's planning for Taiwan in the future. Now, what could we 420 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:08,000 do? We have a lot of options. We've had two hundred and fifty 421 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:12,720 attacks or more since January twenty twenty one against US forces in the region. 422 00:29:14,279 --> 00:29:18,119 We look at the metrics since October seventeenth, but it didn't start after the 423 00:29:18,119 --> 00:29:22,640 October seventh attacks. It goes back till three years ago, and not once, 424 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:26,000 not once, have we ever responded to any of those strikes by attacking 425 00:29:26,039 --> 00:29:30,920 a Revolutionary Guard commander in the region. That doesn't have to be a strike 426 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:33,279 inside of Iran. It could be an Iran, Syria, or Yemen. 427 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,599 Doesn't sound like we're planning that, maybe we're going to hit some buildings. 428 00:29:37,319 --> 00:29:41,400 What I fear is two things. Number One, no policy has changed, 429 00:29:41,799 --> 00:29:45,279 and that especially with respect to sanctions relief being provided to Iran, there was 430 00:29:45,319 --> 00:29:49,920 a waiver in effect right now where Iran is drawing on ten billion dollars or 431 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:55,640 more in cash we've opened up. That hasn't changed, never stopped, still 432 00:29:55,640 --> 00:29:59,680 transacting, still accessing money. So if you're in Tehran, you're looking at 433 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,640 the game board here in the full picture, Washington's is still giving you money 434 00:30:03,319 --> 00:30:07,079 as part of some sort of accommodation policy while they're saying, oh, we're 435 00:30:07,119 --> 00:30:11,119 going to take some military action. Number Two, we have been signaling throughout 436 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:15,119 this process what we're thinking, what we're planning. There's breaking news that left 437 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,119 and right. Oh, we might have a B one bomber taking off here. 438 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:22,640 Oh, we might attack over here, literally telling the Ranians what we're 439 00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:26,480 going to do so they can clear out and avoid any casualties. The intelligence 440 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,240 community now having some phony assessment that we now have an assessment that maybe Iran 441 00:30:30,319 --> 00:30:36,400 doesn't control the proxies after all. As if we have now justification not the 442 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,440 hit back hard against the Revolutionary Guard core. We won't put the houthies in 443 00:30:40,519 --> 00:30:45,000 Yemen on the actual foreign terrorist organization list. We put some sanctions on because 444 00:30:45,039 --> 00:30:48,279 of political pressure, and then we put exemptions on the sanctions so that the 445 00:30:48,319 --> 00:30:52,519 Houthies don't actually feel any pain while they continue throwing missiles into the Red Sea. 446 00:30:52,039 --> 00:30:56,960 This is a policy that's completely distorted and is overridden by an ideological, 447 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:03,400 almost pathological commitment to pursuing a nuclear deal at all costs with Iran. That 448 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,440 is the reason why I don't think you're going to see a very big response, 449 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,079 and why the reason why attacks on US forces and our allies will continue. 450 00:31:11,559 --> 00:31:12,319 Hey, Rich, it's Rob Long and New York. Thank you for 451 00:31:12,440 --> 00:31:15,960 joining us. So I guess I'm trying to figure out what that strategy is. 452 00:31:17,039 --> 00:31:19,240 And you keep saying, you said, you know, get a nuclear 453 00:31:19,319 --> 00:31:23,640 deal with Iran. I mean, couldn't you get a nuclear deal better if 454 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,400 you had more leverage? I mean it seems to me like that. I 455 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,880 mean, it's a unique position that we're in with Iran. Is that or 456 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:36,319 am I missing something? Iran has some powerful friends of convenience, They're not 457 00:31:37,079 --> 00:31:41,279 very close, right, I mean Putin was in a very losing war with 458 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,480 Ukraine for a while and then really had to go hat in hand to Iran. 459 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:49,640 They are sponsors of terrorism around the world, around the world, but 460 00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:53,000 in that region there aren't that many. Certainly the ones that are a lied 461 00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:57,759 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia aren't collied with Iran. I mean, what's 462 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:05,799 holding us back from a coalition to you know, bomb them. I trying 463 00:32:05,839 --> 00:32:08,839 to come up with a diplomatic term. But the for having them pay the 464 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:14,400 price? Well, what's the common thread rob across all of these foreign policy 465 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:20,279 decisions go back to Afghanistan. You know, the Taliban are marching on Kable, 466 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:22,160 our allies are about to fall, and the president go with the camp 467 00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:28,359 David and won't take anybody's phone call. We cut off Ukraine for military assistance 468 00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:34,240 for a year to avoid angering Vladimir Putin. We give a press conference saying 469 00:32:34,279 --> 00:32:37,200 if he just has a limited incursion, we might be okay. We close 470 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:42,440 our embassy with we withdraw our military trainers, and later literally hand Kiev over 471 00:32:42,519 --> 00:32:46,480 to Russia. And now the Iran policy. What's the thread? The thread 472 00:32:46,599 --> 00:32:51,680 is a fear of escalation this, you know, it's like it's like FDR's 473 00:32:51,839 --> 00:32:54,440 warning of there's nothing to fear but fear itself. Joe Biden fears fear itself 474 00:32:55,240 --> 00:32:59,400 is my view, whether it's a ron or anywhere else. Yeah, I 475 00:33:00,359 --> 00:33:01,319 mean, I just I'm just trying. Here's what I'm trying to do. 476 00:33:01,319 --> 00:33:05,000 I'm trying to figure out a way that I can understand this so I don't 477 00:33:05,119 --> 00:33:12,039 end up with the queasy and unpleasant feeling going into the weekend that the people 478 00:33:12,599 --> 00:33:21,920 running American policy towards a emerging nuclear power run by religious fanatics, that those 479 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:27,920 people are dumb. And I'm terrified that the answer is that they might be. 480 00:33:28,519 --> 00:33:30,559 And so I guess what my question is. I mean, I know 481 00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,240 we want to go to another topic first before, but eventually my question is, 482 00:33:34,279 --> 00:33:37,400 like, what what are we what kind of thinking are we locked into 483 00:33:37,519 --> 00:33:39,880 that we could just unlock? And I guess what I mean is that my 484 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:44,440 example is that we see to be locked into the idea that you could only 485 00:33:44,519 --> 00:33:49,359 strike at the actual bad actors, you can't strike at their supporters, that 486 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,759 you can only strike in measured, escalating terms, which means first you have 487 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,880 to have sanctions. First, you have to shut down the bank account for 488 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,480 it. Then you have to say a lot of mean things, and then 489 00:33:59,519 --> 00:34:00,400 you have to say, well, listen, we're gonna be sitting in Vienna 490 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,480 at the table you come to negotiate. And then only then do you stay 491 00:34:04,519 --> 00:34:07,759 by the way on you know, March eleventh, at three in the morning, 492 00:34:07,799 --> 00:34:10,559 you better expect to sneak attack or a surprise bombing. Right, Like, 493 00:34:13,519 --> 00:34:16,880 what what could we do in the next seventy two hours if you know 494 00:34:17,039 --> 00:34:22,840 National Security Advisor Rich Goldberg is in charge, Well, we cut off all 495 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:27,480 the sanctions of waivers. We send a message to China saying we're cracking down 496 00:34:27,519 --> 00:34:30,400 on all the all the oil imports you're receiving, cut them off within forty 497 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:34,440 eight hours. Otherwise you're going to see us start taking action. We're going 498 00:34:34,519 --> 00:34:37,960 to work our way up to state on enterprises, any banks or companies involved. 499 00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:42,199 So you start moving on the pressure on economics. We're going to say 500 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:44,480 to our allies, we're going to the UN, We're snapping back all the 501 00:34:44,599 --> 00:34:49,159 UN sanctions to isolateor on. So now you have political pressure in isolation and 502 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:52,159 then you basically go ahead. You don't give warnings, you don't leak out 503 00:34:52,199 --> 00:34:54,760 over thinking this thinking that you just look for the intel. You say we 504 00:34:54,840 --> 00:34:58,599 have a standing order. You see an IRGCEE commander, take them out, 505 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,239 and you send a And then you send a message over to the regime saying 506 00:35:02,639 --> 00:35:07,519 we have a target list of fifty people in sites. Some are outside Iran, 507 00:35:07,599 --> 00:35:09,280 some are inside Iran. You tell us if you want to dance, 508 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:15,159 that's that's it. That's it. I mean, we're not locked into anything. 509 00:35:15,199 --> 00:35:19,639 We're choosing to do this. It seems funny because it could. I 510 00:35:19,679 --> 00:35:22,639 think you could do all of that and also say to Americans, who are 511 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:25,000 naturally wary of this kind of stuff, because you know, the endless war 512 00:35:25,039 --> 00:35:30,360 people, et cetera, is like, and we have no intention of liberating 513 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:36,320 Iran or governing Iran or doing anything with Iran. That's up to the Iranians. 514 00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:44,159 Our intention is merely to punish people and to stop. Let's let let 515 00:35:44,159 --> 00:35:45,239 me pivot, just because I know we want to talk a little bit about 516 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:57,119 Israel and Gaza. The last time a brilliant counter Iranian nuclear plant, nuclear 517 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,840 program move that I can remember was stucksnet, which was a computer virus that 518 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:06,519 was sort of invented in a shadowy lab somewhere, but we know where it 519 00:36:06,599 --> 00:36:09,320 was invented. It was probably a veited a Haifa, and it was somehow 520 00:36:09,440 --> 00:36:14,280 put into their whatever they had. I don't pretend to understand all this stuff, 521 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,159 but I think they got. They smuggled asion through printers, printers perfect 522 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:25,519 right, because printers never work. And and we rely and I think we 523 00:36:25,639 --> 00:36:34,800 still rely on irate on Israeli intelligence to guide us in our actions in the 524 00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:37,679 region. And I just feel like the last six months, what we've discovered 525 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:43,719 is that Israeli intelligence isn't all that great. I mean, they knew a 526 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:45,280 lot what was going on, but they didn't know about October seventh, which 527 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:49,599 is sort of the whole point of having Israeli intelligence is to avoid in October 528 00:36:49,679 --> 00:36:54,199 seventh, who are our friends in the region, who are who's helping us 529 00:36:55,039 --> 00:36:59,079 aside from Israel, because we're talking about Israel a second, who do we 530 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,519 who do we trust aside from these Raelies to give us the information that we 531 00:37:02,639 --> 00:37:08,559 need. Jordanian intelligence is very good. We have a close working relationship with 532 00:37:08,599 --> 00:37:14,480 the Jordanians on the intelligence side. Saudi intelligence is fairly good. We have 533 00:37:14,519 --> 00:37:17,639 a close relationship with the Saudis, especially in the counter terrorism missions. You 534 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:22,400 think about Al Kaida and ISIS and things like that, but Iran as well. 535 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,719 But nobody has what Israel has as far as assets on the ground, 536 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:30,800 nobody has it. We don't have it, the Kingdom doesn't have it. 537 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:35,239 Nobody has. It's obvious we rely on Israel heavily, and it's obvious that 538 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:40,280 it's Israel and Israel alone that carries out clandestine operations inside of Iran. And 539 00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:45,400 the Iranians know that as well. Now they're obviously testing and trying to figure 540 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:50,239 out tactics to evade surveillance, evade you know, doing this or that. 541 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:53,320 So you know, the idea that we had this intelligence assessment after October seventh 542 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:58,880 from the US so that Biden could justify not doing anything to Iran, Well, 543 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:01,119 we haven't seen any smoking gun that Iran was behind October seventh. Well, 544 00:38:01,199 --> 00:38:04,320 yeah, what are they going to do is sit in a meeting where 545 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,280 they think they're being listened to and say, hey, how's October seventh going. 546 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,199 Well, of course that didn't happen. That's not how they operate. 547 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:13,360 It's the same you're just seeing this leaked out of They don't control their proxies 548 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,199 as the new assessment, so we don't do anything to Iran. Of course 549 00:38:15,239 --> 00:38:20,159 they control their proxies. But I mean, the answer to your question is 550 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,679 the Israelis are still operating. The Masada is still conducting operations. Stuck's net 551 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:27,840 was very high profile. We've seen other cyber attacks since then. We've seen 552 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:32,239 assassinations, we've seen buildings and facilities just blow up. But we've seen even 553 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:37,480 more dramatic events like drone strikes inside of Iran, launched inside of Iran, 554 00:38:37,119 --> 00:38:44,679 likely by Israel. We've seen people kidnapped, IRGC generals, taken hostage inside 555 00:38:44,679 --> 00:38:47,440 of Iran, interrogated, videotaped, and then released back into the wild, 556 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,920 likely by the MOSAD. So their capabilities are still pretty strong. The question 557 00:38:53,159 --> 00:38:58,400 is how long can you keep up these types of operations against the clock. 558 00:38:58,440 --> 00:39:01,400 That the Iranians are on as well. And in the end, you know, 559 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:06,599 there's a big facility that people should be watching by one of their existing 560 00:39:06,679 --> 00:39:12,159 nuclear plants Natons deep underground. Supposedly, according to report, it's supposed to 561 00:39:12,159 --> 00:39:15,320 be very hard and more hardened than their underground one at four to doh the 562 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:21,119 impenetrable to military strike. If that facility gets completed and it really is impenetrable 563 00:39:21,599 --> 00:39:24,599 to military strike, it's sort of the game over moment. So we are 564 00:39:24,639 --> 00:39:29,159 approaching this moment where whether it's clandestine, cyber, whatever you want to call 565 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:31,239 it, there's going to have to be a decision made on the nuclear program 566 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:36,519 soon, right, Yeah, Richard, Steve Hayward again, and I think 567 00:39:36,519 --> 00:39:39,280 we should shift gears for a moment to the Israel causes specifically, and in 568 00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:45,599 particular something you've done some sterling work on which is exposing the rot and that's 569 00:39:45,639 --> 00:39:50,199 two kind of term for the UN refugee what is it gen run? Right? 570 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,800 Yeah, Look, and so two part question here. One is for 571 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,400 listeners who may not be keeping up, just give us a couple of bullet 572 00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:59,880 points on some of the really shocking facts that have emerged here, such as 573 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:05,920 a quarter of the UN staff for hamas hamas people on the UN staff. 574 00:40:06,679 --> 00:40:09,440 And then second, it's too broad to say what is to be done about 575 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,639 this. I'll put it this way. My default assumption about the UN is 576 00:40:13,679 --> 00:40:16,960 that something like this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think UNISEF 577 00:40:17,079 --> 00:40:22,800 and some a lot of the other agencies are also thoroughly corrupt when they're not 578 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,119 actually on the wrong side on at actively on the side of evil. I 579 00:40:25,199 --> 00:40:29,719 mean, we've known for years now about child sex trafficking and involved the UN 580 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:32,280 officials in Africa, so forth. I mean, what's to be done here? 581 00:40:32,320 --> 00:40:37,280 I mean I'm tempted to go full populist old style John Birt Society saying 582 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,719 it's time for the United States to say the UN is over. You guys 583 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,679 should leave. And because we're leaving, we got to be more than just 584 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:46,239 cut off the money. And you know, like we saw the UNSF, 585 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,440 after a period of years, we come back in and everybody else comes back 586 00:40:50,519 --> 00:40:52,679 in. And I worried that epicycle is going to repeat itself. So I'll 587 00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:58,000 stop there and please fill us in. Yeah, listen, your last part 588 00:40:58,119 --> 00:41:00,360 of the sort of the broader UN systemic issues, and we see that with 589 00:41:00,519 --> 00:41:07,000 China taking over UN agencies, advancing their interests, undermining America. The alphabet 590 00:41:07,079 --> 00:41:10,519 soup of problematic organizations, the World Health Organization, human Rights Counsel, you 591 00:41:10,639 --> 00:41:16,639 name, it is long and undistinguished, and to me, the right policy 592 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:22,119 move in general is to move away from these what are called assessed dues, 593 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:25,480 assess contributions, where the UN says you owe us this money, this is 594 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,880 how much you owe. You have to hand it over your you know, 595 00:41:29,079 --> 00:41:32,519 mandatory dues, and we go to an all voluntary system where we say, 596 00:41:32,679 --> 00:41:36,000 no, we're not giving you a billion dollars here. No, we're not 597 00:41:36,079 --> 00:41:38,360 giving this organization any money that's out of the budget. These guys are doing 598 00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:42,599 good work. You can still have our money, or we find, you 599 00:41:42,639 --> 00:41:45,199 know, if you have a governance structure where you know, the money talks. 600 00:41:45,679 --> 00:41:49,360 We're twenty five percent of the budget, so we get twenty five percent 601 00:41:49,480 --> 00:41:52,199 influence and we get to choose who leads it, et cetera. We can 602 00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:54,679 change policies, we'll fund you. Right, That's that's the correct way to 603 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:59,719 think about policy. We're afraid to do it because our diplomats in New York 604 00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:04,079 would be shunned to cocktail parties, so everybody recommends it against it. Now, 605 00:42:04,199 --> 00:42:08,559 this UNRA UN Relief and Works Agency just for context, guys, not 606 00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:13,679 an international organization like we think of. Right, there's the UN High Commissioner 607 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:17,280 for Refugees, which is responsible for thirty million refugees around the world, tens 608 00:42:17,320 --> 00:42:22,519 of millions more internally displaced persons as well. It's the premieer you and refugee 609 00:42:22,519 --> 00:42:27,119 agency. The mandate is to get people out of refugee status as quickly as 610 00:42:27,199 --> 00:42:30,039 possible, whether that's moving to a third country, going back to their home, 611 00:42:30,239 --> 00:42:35,480 settling where they're at, whatever it is. And in the case of 612 00:42:35,679 --> 00:42:42,000 UNRA, you have an all Palestinian staff thirty thousand people decades old. The 613 00:42:42,159 --> 00:42:45,800 only organization that exists just for one particular group of refugees dates back to the 614 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:51,880 nineteen forty eight War of Independence of Israel, where the Arab armies didn't win 615 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,639 and they told people who had left their homes, don't worry, stay in 616 00:42:55,760 --> 00:43:00,840 camps. We're coming back to destroy Israel soon and you're just gonna flood back 617 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:05,119 into Israel and drive the Jews into the sea. Well here we are seventy 618 00:43:05,159 --> 00:43:09,000 five years later, those Arab armies have mostly made peace with Israel, but 619 00:43:09,159 --> 00:43:15,840 this institution still exists to keep generation after generation raised to believe in this vision 620 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:19,519 of manifest destiny. We're going back in the modern day Israel. We're gonna 621 00:43:19,559 --> 00:43:22,000 kill all the Jews, wipe them into the sea, and that's that. 622 00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,880 So in Gaza, two point one million people living there, one point seven 623 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:31,679 million being considered refugees by this one UN organization, UNRA, thirteen thousand employees, 624 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:36,760 all Palestinian. And what do we know now? What was pretty obvious 625 00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:42,199 because the UN doesn't recognize Hamas or Hezbolah or Islamic Jihad or you name the 626 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:47,559 terrorist organization as a terrorist organization takes a Security Council resolution for that, and 627 00:43:47,679 --> 00:43:52,599 so that might not matter in parts of Africa or Asia or Europe, but 628 00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:57,960 it matters if you're operating where Hamas and Islamic g Hat are. So of 629 00:43:58,079 --> 00:44:02,119 course they employ Hamas and Islamiji. Had they give aid to Hamas and Islamijiha? 630 00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:06,519 Did they collaborate with them when they're the host government in Gaza? And 631 00:44:06,599 --> 00:44:10,400 what have we learned? Twelve people apparently took part in the massacre of October 632 00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:15,320 seventh who worked for UNRA. We know of ten percent or twelve hundred or 633 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:21,079 so thirteen hundred employees who are actually members of Hamas, fighters for Hamas, 634 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:25,800 and then half of all the employees reportedly have a family member who's in Hamas 635 00:44:27,280 --> 00:44:31,159 or Islami Gihad, another terrorist group. And we've poured so much money into 636 00:44:31,199 --> 00:44:34,800 this agency. Donald Trump, by the way, Trump administration cut them off 637 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,679 in twenty eighteen because he was so fed up with them and they wouldn't change 638 00:44:37,679 --> 00:44:44,280 their ways. Joe Biden came in and this whole sort of pro Palestinian alignment 639 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:46,760 that says, no, the refugee issue is core, or the refugee issue 640 00:44:46,840 --> 00:44:51,440 is the future. We have to support UNRA because this is the vision of 641 00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:54,920 the right of return to drive the Jews into the sea. It's a core, 642 00:44:55,599 --> 00:44:59,840 you know, Rizona d'atrey of the Palestinian authority, let alone Hamas. 643 00:45:00,599 --> 00:45:04,400 Yeah, so they refund un rauh a billion dollars since twenty twenty one. 644 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,239 Think about how much money is just gone straight to Hamas. Yeah, I 645 00:45:09,320 --> 00:45:19,639 mean for all this those a hang gliding so uh Rich, I know, 646 00:45:19,719 --> 00:45:21,320 I don't want to keep chill long, but I do want to ask you 647 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:23,719 the larger fifty thousand foot question, because it does seem to me that I 648 00:45:24,039 --> 00:45:27,639 understand that it's deep. You know that it is sort of a tinfoil hat. 649 00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:31,519 Was a tinfoil height issue for a long time, as long as it's 650 00:45:31,519 --> 00:45:35,360 a sturdy tinfoil hat. Yeah, well, I mean, I'm taking the 651 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:38,559 tinfoil hat offer. I'm putting it on or something. Why don't we just 652 00:45:40,599 --> 00:45:45,719 leave the un Why don't we just give them, you know, five years 653 00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:51,920 to move to Dubai or somewhere building stuff, or you know, maybe make 654 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:53,960 it real, move to where the headquarters is and somewhere outside of Peijing. 655 00:45:54,039 --> 00:46:00,079 They got a lot of those empty cities, you know, settle out the 656 00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:04,079 building which I think we built and they own, and you know, give 657 00:46:04,079 --> 00:46:07,800 everybody, you know, three four years to vacate, make a lot more 658 00:46:07,840 --> 00:46:14,280 room for luxury housing here in New York City. What do we get from 659 00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:19,239 them that we that we would miss? I guess that's what I mean. 660 00:46:19,960 --> 00:46:22,559 If we just break up with this very very it's very, very bad, 661 00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:28,599 one sided, abusive, toxic relationship, what are we going to lose? 662 00:46:30,639 --> 00:46:34,119 There's a strong argument, there's a strong case there is, and I think 663 00:46:34,159 --> 00:46:37,480 we grapple with this. Those that are very much in tune with all the 664 00:46:37,559 --> 00:46:43,159 corruption. Anti American interests of the United Nations are in tune with this. 665 00:46:44,199 --> 00:46:45,440 And I would say there's a couple of things. Number One, there are 666 00:46:45,639 --> 00:46:52,559 there are likely agencies the World Food Program that we would probably need to invent 667 00:46:52,559 --> 00:46:57,519 if we were still interested in helping people in crisis in different parts of the 668 00:46:57,559 --> 00:47:01,960 world quickly and having infrastruate rture to deliver certain assistance in certain contexts that were 669 00:47:02,119 --> 00:47:07,000 in our interest, and we have to reinvent the wheel in those cases. 670 00:47:07,599 --> 00:47:10,639 And so that's one argument of why you wouldn't just say everything is cut off. 671 00:47:12,199 --> 00:47:15,320 The other is these do in Security Council. We have a permanent veto. 672 00:47:16,320 --> 00:47:20,320 We have a seat on the Security Council, and at the very least 673 00:47:20,400 --> 00:47:23,880 we can enforce a policy if do no harm in the international community in the 674 00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:29,480 body of international law, for whatever that's worth to people, legitimacy, etc. 675 00:47:30,159 --> 00:47:32,280 We can use it as a bully pulpit if you actually wanted to conduct 676 00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:37,639 political warfare against your adversaries. We can also stop bad things from the Chinese 677 00:47:37,719 --> 00:47:42,000 and the Russians and others trying to push things to condemn Israel, to do 678 00:47:42,119 --> 00:47:46,840 other things the way you see us use our veto regularly. It's not a 679 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:51,599 place where we're going to advance good. It's just you know, in some 680 00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:55,360 of these smaller organizations. Maybe not certainly in the General Assembly or in the 681 00:47:55,360 --> 00:48:00,320 Security Council for the most part, but it is a part where maybe we 682 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:06,199 can use our veto to stop bad. That to me is like the the 683 00:48:06,280 --> 00:48:09,679 most interesting reason why I think of staying. But again I go back, 684 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:14,920 don't just hand over money. I wouldn't hand over any dues anymore. I'd 685 00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,400 say we're going to fund what we think is good. Yeah, it seems 686 00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:21,159 like we could do that all a cart. It seems like a Brexit, 687 00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,719 a u N Brexit is not a bad idea, at least on wheel here. 688 00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:28,239 Yeah, I wrote a great piece. I think I was a griefous 689 00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:31,960 for a new republic. This is now thirty forty years ago maybe, And 690 00:48:32,079 --> 00:48:36,599 it was old school. That's the old school O I am this O G 691 00:48:37,039 --> 00:48:43,360 And the head the headline was let it sink. And it was like people's 692 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:45,920 heads exploded. This is crazy. You couldn't even why you you could even 693 00:48:46,079 --> 00:48:51,159 say that it's very old new rohole thing to do is to take this extreme 694 00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:52,400 view and kind of like you know, you know, like a late night 695 00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:57,440 dorm argument. You make heads explode. Now, Rob Donald Trump should say, 696 00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,360 my idea is to put the Trump logo on the top of the UN 697 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:04,599 building after we kicked them out? Can I what can I make one more 698 00:49:04,719 --> 00:49:09,679 suggestion here? This is really important. The disconnect between countries foreign policy and 699 00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:14,800 their capitals and their foreign policies in New York at the UN is breathtaking. 700 00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:17,800 In many cases, we have countries that we give money to on a bilateral 701 00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:22,679 basis in foreign aid. We have countries that are supposedly allies of ours and 702 00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,519 they screw us at the UN every day. Why do we allow that to 703 00:49:25,639 --> 00:49:30,679 happen. We don't have to step away from it. We don't have to 704 00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:32,840 do the Oli card. All we have to do is to remove diplomatic immunity 705 00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:37,440 from parking tickets and they will find themselves all of a sudden, last wing 706 00:49:37,559 --> 00:49:43,039 episode about that. There is one last question before one last question before we 707 00:49:43,159 --> 00:49:45,079 let you go, and that is, you know, some people say that 708 00:49:45,119 --> 00:49:47,280 ever since the Iranian Revolution that we have been that they've been at war with 709 00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:50,519 us, and that you know, they're just waving their hands. Come on, 710 00:49:50,639 --> 00:49:52,280 here we are, let's do a war and then we just have you 711 00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:57,920 know, decided not to engage. But do you think war with Iran in 712 00:49:58,039 --> 00:50:02,519 the end is inevitable? Do I think a war with Iran is inevitable. 713 00:50:02,679 --> 00:50:08,320 I think that a military confrontation that puts them back on their heels and likely 714 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:14,760 destroys and removes their nuclear program is an inevitability at this point, I think 715 00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:17,119 that we do not have to consider and should not consider, any sort of 716 00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:22,760 invasion or large scale war the way people would think or demagogue about. But 717 00:50:23,039 --> 00:50:27,079 I am very fearful that, based on what I have seen over the last 718 00:50:27,119 --> 00:50:30,519 three years, where their nuclear program sits today, we should not allow ourselves 719 00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:35,760 to hand over the region and be afraid of Iran because of the fear of 720 00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:37,880 them going nuclear. I do think we're at a point where we need to 721 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:44,400 consider military options on the nuclear program, combine with continued economic pressure and isolation 722 00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:47,960 due to their sponsorship of terrorism. Agreed, and we thank you for that, 723 00:50:49,119 --> 00:50:52,760 and we hope that we never come back to talk to you about the 724 00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:58,639 aftermath of the brutal exchange, but rather define your expertise in some other matters 725 00:50:58,639 --> 00:51:01,280 as well. Rich Golberi. Thanks joining us today in the podcast anytime. 726 00:51:01,599 --> 00:51:07,880 Thanks Rich. Yeah, I mean yeah, I think it is. Of 727 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:12,800 course, nobody is in the mood for nation building. For Iran. It's 728 00:51:12,840 --> 00:51:15,840 a different situation than I rack, completely different situate. It's not an invented 729 00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:19,280 country like Iraq was. But no, no, we're not going back there 730 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:23,880 to do that. Pity though there was a time when we had them surrounded, 731 00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:28,000 what with Afghanistan and in Iraq and the rest of it. Now Joe 732 00:51:28,039 --> 00:51:30,320 Biden is making noises about leaving a rock in the same style. Perhaps not 733 00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:35,280 perhaps is fleet footage as we did in Afghanistan, but to remove what we 734 00:51:35,360 --> 00:51:37,599 have there, Well, gentlemen, before we go, let's go to the 735 00:51:37,719 --> 00:51:42,000 actual events that are gripping the minds of the nation, at least those people 736 00:51:42,079 --> 00:51:46,599 on Twitter. There are actually people who believe that the Taylor Swift is part 737 00:51:46,599 --> 00:51:51,159 of a psy op to get people to We have a post on this in 738 00:51:51,280 --> 00:51:53,960 Ricochet where one of our members correctly says that you people are dumb as turnips. 739 00:51:54,039 --> 00:51:58,760 If you believe this, you actually are as stupid as turnips. It's 740 00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:00,880 surprised, I mean when I see somebody talk about it, I see Uh, 741 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:05,000 perhaps they're just floating this for a larf, but some of them are 742 00:52:05,119 --> 00:52:07,400 actually you know, clicks and grafts. See what are you gonna do? 743 00:52:07,519 --> 00:52:13,679 But it is a ridiculous theory, isn't it. Well wait a minute, 744 00:52:14,639 --> 00:52:16,079 I mean it's really theory for a couple of reasons. One, it's because, 745 00:52:16,119 --> 00:52:22,559 like you, how do we get people? You have to come up 746 00:52:22,559 --> 00:52:24,800 with it vot for Joe Biden. You have to come up with a conspiracy 747 00:52:24,880 --> 00:52:30,320 theory for why you know, an attractive, internationally famous pop star is into 748 00:52:30,639 --> 00:52:35,559 uh, the quarterback of one of the great football teams, Like like you 749 00:52:35,599 --> 00:52:37,360 know, that's actually how it's supposed to be. That's I know, it's 750 00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:42,119 like a movie that's like a it's a Hallmark movie. You can't possibly come 751 00:52:42,239 --> 00:52:45,800 up with a theory that's that that would explain that a way because it's so 752 00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:50,400 obvious, right, But it does show I think there is this issue. 753 00:52:50,519 --> 00:52:52,920 I think maybe in the American politics and left too, but definitely on the 754 00:52:52,039 --> 00:52:58,719 right of this. Like I I I we are, we are, we 755 00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:02,519 are, we are more popular. We everyone agrees with us, so when 756 00:53:02,599 --> 00:53:08,440 we lose, there must be a trick. And I just feel like that's 757 00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:12,519 a very strange position for people to be in politically on the left, on 758 00:53:12,559 --> 00:53:15,199 the right, right like the left. From my whole basically education, the 759 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:17,199 idea was like, every time the Republican wins, every time they people vote 760 00:53:17,199 --> 00:53:22,000 for Ronald Reagan, it's because they've been manipulated by the media or by big 761 00:53:22,039 --> 00:53:24,000 business or something. And now the right has decided to take that up too, 762 00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:28,519 Whereas the answer is really simple, which is they just have to persuade 763 00:53:28,559 --> 00:53:31,639 people instead of like assuming that you're a ninety five percent. It's what baffled 764 00:53:31,679 --> 00:53:37,000 me about the Trump loss in twenty twenty. The people found absolutely unfathourable had 765 00:53:37,039 --> 00:53:38,679 to have been you know, Hugo Shabaz Like, No, he was an 766 00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:44,920 unpopular president and he never bothered to enlarge his population. If, if, 767 00:53:45,039 --> 00:53:49,519 and when Joe Biden loses in November, are people going to say, I 768 00:53:49,599 --> 00:53:52,559 wonder what trick they played on me? No, the guys we don't like 769 00:53:52,679 --> 00:53:57,239 him, and the people who do come up with a trick, we rightly 770 00:53:57,320 --> 00:54:02,519 think are lunatics and small minded weirdos. I keep thinking that what is he 771 00:54:02,599 --> 00:54:06,840 eighty years old? Now? Joe name of somewhere is kicking himself saying why 772 00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:10,599 didn't I think of dating Carol King or Joni Mitchell back in nineteen sixty nine. 773 00:54:10,679 --> 00:54:15,000 That would have choosed the ratings in my salary, right. And you 774 00:54:15,039 --> 00:54:16,480 know the other one is Rob says he's old school, and you know my 775 00:54:16,679 --> 00:54:22,039 joke on this is, look, I'm still mastering the discography of Britney Spears 776 00:54:22,119 --> 00:54:24,360 and now I'm going to catch up with what's your name is the Swift Boats 777 00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:28,960 or whatever. And I've been leaning into it too, saying that the conspiracy 778 00:54:29,039 --> 00:54:31,840 theory that they're going to announce an endorsement of Joe Biden from the middle of 779 00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:36,719 the Super Bowl after Kansas City wins, that's not it. That's a misdirection. 780 00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:40,199 They're going to announce that the Kelsey Swift ticket will replace Biden Harris for 781 00:54:40,280 --> 00:54:45,800 the Democrats in the fall. So I mean, there's nothing too preposterous you 782 00:54:45,880 --> 00:54:47,800 can say about this. But I do wonder, though, Rob, about 783 00:54:47,800 --> 00:54:52,199 the architecture of all this. Part of what happens these days is, you 784 00:54:52,239 --> 00:54:55,480 know, someone gets on social media and then the two sides pounce. You 785 00:54:55,519 --> 00:54:58,840 know, the left says, look, how stupid these people are. I 786 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:00,920 believe all this, and you sort of wonder did the start on the left 787 00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:06,000 as a way to punk and that's what. Yeah, this this if we're 788 00:55:06,000 --> 00:55:08,519 gonna get into conspiracies, this does feel like a false flag, right, 789 00:55:08,599 --> 00:55:13,400 this is the way to This is the op. The op isn't Taylor Swift 790 00:55:13,480 --> 00:55:16,880 and Travis Kelsey. The op is anti Taylor. This is this is what 791 00:55:17,039 --> 00:55:22,400 you is. This is deep steep stuff that the commies were doing in the 792 00:55:22,760 --> 00:55:25,360 gens and twenties, you know, like this is like why Hitler had this 793 00:55:25,519 --> 00:55:29,960 and when he was making speeches on the street he would have people walking through 794 00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:31,000 the crowd saying, you know, he makes a lot of sense, right, 795 00:55:31,079 --> 00:55:34,679 he makes a lot of sense. This is what this is. This 796 00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:40,800 is false flag stuff. So or maybe it's just that every damn thing isn't 797 00:55:42,679 --> 00:55:47,079 about politics. That could be, that could be possible. I thought the 798 00:55:47,239 --> 00:55:51,960 first instance of this that I observed playing out was almost twenty years ago now, 799 00:55:52,039 --> 00:55:54,480 and Robbie might remember. It was the documentary called March of the Penguins, 800 00:55:55,039 --> 00:55:59,480 always cute penguins, narrated by Morgan Freeman. It was a big hit 801 00:55:59,599 --> 00:56:02,039 in right, but I remember that was the beginning of social media and the 802 00:56:02,079 --> 00:56:05,679 internet. We didn't I don't think we had Twitter, yet, but a 803 00:56:05,719 --> 00:56:08,880 big culture war broke out online about it because somebody said, well, penguins 804 00:56:08,920 --> 00:56:12,760 have family values, and no, they're homosexual penguins. I forget what it 805 00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:15,239 was, but it was. It was completely stupid in all the usual ways, 806 00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:17,320 and I thought, Ah, this is the new world. It's just 807 00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:21,800 going to go from here and get worse. And you know, you were 808 00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:25,639 right, it did. Twitter magnifies these things, and the people in the 809 00:56:25,679 --> 00:56:30,039 media are inordinately on Twitter, and so they conflate what they see in their 810 00:56:30,079 --> 00:56:34,559 glowing little rectangle in their hand with the truth. But my favorite regarding the 811 00:56:34,679 --> 00:56:37,840 NFL was the idea that the NFL logo itself, the colors of it, 812 00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:43,159 indicate who has been chosen in advance. Supposedly they went back and looked at 813 00:56:43,159 --> 00:56:45,920 the colors. They compared the colors to the uniforms and the way to uniforms 814 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:49,320 and said, ah, you know what it's coded in here? And what 815 00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:52,360 I love about that and all of the other psy ops and all of the 816 00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:55,960 fascination the I saw somebody the other day who camera what it was. But 817 00:56:57,079 --> 00:57:00,639 one of the first allegations that somebody on Twitter made against him was right. 818 00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:07,480 Anybody who is to a degree away from you. In politics, you heap 819 00:57:07,639 --> 00:57:10,400 upon them everything that you hate about the world in general on them, and 820 00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:14,239 you call them all the bad names. Fine, so all of these peters 821 00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:16,079 that huge pedophiliac, and I have no doubt, by the way, that 822 00:57:16,119 --> 00:57:19,280 there are people in Hollywood who subscribe to that. I have no doubt that 823 00:57:19,320 --> 00:57:22,280 there are people in industry and religion and the rest of it who have pedophilic 824 00:57:22,360 --> 00:57:25,840 and ebopeliac leanings. It's a horrible part of human nature and it's endemic. 825 00:57:27,119 --> 00:57:31,239 But I don't believe that the country is led by a Satanic cabal of which 826 00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:35,000 Taylor Swift is a part, because if you look at her videos and break 827 00:57:35,079 --> 00:57:37,159 them down, you can see all these references. And I don't believe that 828 00:57:37,360 --> 00:57:43,000 Oprah Winfrey is the high Priestess of Milkezedic or whatever they're calling or her, 829 00:57:43,119 --> 00:57:46,039 because purple is the color of this particular sect of demonism, and the color 830 00:57:46,079 --> 00:57:50,000 of purple is removing the rest of it. Just as I don't believe in 831 00:57:50,039 --> 00:57:53,280 the NFL logo being color coded in order to tell you who the winners are, 832 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:58,280 because if a bunch of randos on the Internet are able to look at 833 00:57:58,280 --> 00:58:01,079 these things and find all of these. That would mean one of two things. 834 00:58:01,519 --> 00:58:07,239 One that the people who control us, who've who roll out every day 835 00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:10,760 a brand new psyop the term that we always have to use here, that 836 00:58:10,840 --> 00:58:16,679 they are so contemptuous of us that they spatter giveaway signals in every single image. 837 00:58:16,760 --> 00:58:22,360 Right. They're always telling us upfront what they're conspiracy is about. Right, 838 00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:27,519 And either that's the case or this is all random noise and nonsense, 839 00:58:27,559 --> 00:58:32,840 and it has absolutely no reflection to a world that consists of about six and 840 00:58:32,880 --> 00:58:37,400 a half seven billion moving individual parts, which is lubricated by money and stupidity. 841 00:58:37,920 --> 00:58:42,599 And that what these people believe is this grand enforced strategy to put us 842 00:58:42,639 --> 00:58:46,519 all into our mental cages is actually no just what you get in society. 843 00:58:47,159 --> 00:58:51,840 So I mean I and the only people, of course who have figured it 844 00:58:51,880 --> 00:58:53,840 out are the people on the internet who have seen the science and who can 845 00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:59,159 look at a picture of a video from Will Smith from nineteen ninety two and 846 00:58:59,239 --> 00:59:01,280 they look in the back run and decode what happens to be said in the 847 00:59:01,320 --> 00:59:05,920 show. It's part of the pizza gate, you know, brain harvesting chemical 848 00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:09,199 formula. Yeah, I mean, but there's a weird thing about it. 849 00:59:09,239 --> 00:59:10,480 I mean, I know, we got a run, but it's weird. 850 00:59:10,519 --> 00:59:15,079 They want I noticed this when this is before I noticed it on the right, 851 00:59:15,159 --> 00:59:17,199 but when on the left. Right, I's in school, and all 852 00:59:17,280 --> 00:59:22,480 these conspiracy theories, and there was the kind of like there wasn't so much 853 00:59:22,920 --> 00:59:24,519 of the outrage, like we got to do something about it. They kind 854 00:59:24,559 --> 00:59:28,880 of like it. They like the idea that the world's controlled by malevolent grown 855 00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:32,159 ups. It's good of comforting, you know. It's like, at least 856 00:59:32,199 --> 00:59:35,639 we know it's under control, right, I just tell me what, Just 857 00:59:35,880 --> 00:59:37,559 give me my orders and everybody. And then there are people who want to 858 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:42,840 fight back against the orders. But there's still something kind of weirdly, deeply 859 00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:51,639 psychologically comforting about the evil conspiracy of corporations and whatever controlling everything. And yet 860 00:59:51,719 --> 00:59:54,760 when you really find out that there's nobody in the room where there's another room 861 00:59:54,880 --> 00:59:59,840 or whatever, it's a little disconcerting. Right. It absolves you of agency. 862 01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:02,480 That's it. You know the truth, and you spread the truth, 863 01:00:02,519 --> 01:00:07,239 whether it be flat earth or the Tartarian civilization that preceded ours. By the 864 01:00:07,239 --> 01:00:09,559 way, I'm going to go full Tartarian because all these people who believe in 865 01:00:09,639 --> 01:00:15,079 this other stuff. They're just pikers. Tartarian is that's the way. That's 866 01:00:15,119 --> 01:00:20,480 the way, all of the pedophilia stuff, all of the Taylor Swift, 867 01:00:20,599 --> 01:00:22,280 all of that. That's the SiGe up to keep you from really believing in 868 01:00:22,320 --> 01:00:27,480 the Tartarian empire that preceded us. But that's another post. Stephen's great to 869 01:00:27,519 --> 01:00:30,800 have you. Hope to see you soon. Rob in my regards to New 870 01:00:30,880 --> 01:00:32,679 York, step away from the from the line, would you please, because 871 01:00:32,679 --> 01:00:36,400 I will step away. Yeah, yeah, thank you, And I'll stay 872 01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:38,320 away from the I'll stay away from the gas station where guys are getting jacked 873 01:00:38,360 --> 01:00:42,280 and the rest of it. And with all luck in the world, we'll 874 01:00:42,320 --> 01:00:45,800 be back here soon, at least in a week. So oh should remind 875 01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:49,440 you. I'm not even gonna tell you to go to Apple Tunes and I 876 01:00:49,599 --> 01:00:52,280 podcast and give us five stars, because I know you're going to do that, 877 01:00:52,840 --> 01:00:57,400 I trust you. But I try new podcasts. Uh. You know 878 01:00:57,480 --> 01:01:00,679 software that Apple has been running. It is pretty good and those algos will 879 01:01:00,760 --> 01:01:02,320 kick up some stole other stuff that you like too if you like us, 880 01:01:02,559 --> 01:01:05,400 so go do it. Oh, I said, I wasn't going to tell 881 01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:08,079 you, well, go do the w Also, you can join Ricochet for 882 01:01:08,119 --> 01:01:13,320 a mere pittance, a mere farthing or two, and that helps contain and 883 01:01:13,360 --> 01:01:16,280 sustain us. And by the way, the Ricochet Audio network is what brought 884 01:01:16,320 --> 01:01:19,639 you this. And if you like that, if you like us, there's 885 01:01:19,679 --> 01:01:22,599 like so many others, including my new podcast, well my very old podcast, 886 01:01:22,719 --> 01:01:27,199 The Diner, which is up every week. That's about it except to 887 01:01:27,199 --> 01:01:29,920 say that we'll see everybody, not a Ricochet five point zero, which is 888 01:01:30,199 --> 01:01:31,880 right around the corner. It's going to be fantastic, but we'll see you 889 01:01:31,960 --> 01:01:37,480 all in the comments at Ricochet four point oho next week. Next week, 890 01:01:37,519 --> 01:01:45,360 fellas Ricochet join the conversation