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<v Speaker 1>A short time ago, the United States military began major

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<v Speaker 1>combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the

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<v Speaker 1>American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.

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<v Speaker 2>And non in LoVa and Lodi. His Eminence, Grand Ayatola

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<v Speaker 2>Imam Komeni, we send salutations.

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<v Speaker 3>Yesterday we eliminated the tailand Kamene along with him, we

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<v Speaker 3>eliminated dozens of senior officials of the oppressive regime.

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<v Speaker 4>Our forces are executing with unmatched skill, and the mission

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<v Speaker 4>is advancing decisively. This is the kind of no nonsense,

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<v Speaker 4>results driven war fighting that America demands.

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<v Speaker 2>Welcome everybody, it's the Ricochet Podcast number seven hundred and

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<v Speaker 2>seventy nine. You can join us at ricochet dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>You really can, and you can be part of the

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<v Speaker 2>most stimulating conversations and community on the web. I'm James

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<v Speaker 2>Lallox in the middle of the country in Minneapolis where

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<v Speaker 2>it's very foggy, and I'm joined by Steven Hayward and

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<v Speaker 2>Sunny California, and Charles C. W. Cook in Florida, who

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<v Speaker 2>knows what the weather is, who cares, and gentlemen. It

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<v Speaker 2>seems in retrospect that our first clue should have been

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<v Speaker 2>renaming the Department of Defense the Department of War. Here

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<v Speaker 2>we are with one of the most astonishing displays we've

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<v Speaker 2>seen in a long time. People were goggling over the

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<v Speaker 2>snatching of Maduro, and now that appears to be like

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<v Speaker 2>walking down to the corner store for a pack of smokes.

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<v Speaker 2>This is big. This is something the likes of which

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<v Speaker 2>I've never seen in my lifetime. And I've been around

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<v Speaker 2>for the Desert, for the Iraqi Wars and the rest.

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<v Speaker 2>It feels different too. It feels like weapons free, like unburdened,

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<v Speaker 2>like the rules of engagement have changed, like there is

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<v Speaker 2>a Marshall spirit breast puffed. Seen it in a long time,

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<v Speaker 2>and we can attribute that probably to probably to the

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<v Speaker 2>President and to the sec deaf. So here we are.

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<v Speaker 2>It's been since February twenty eighth BDA BDA from you guys,

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<v Speaker 2>Stephen go first.

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<v Speaker 5>Well, I think not only the Department of War, but

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<v Speaker 5>I think a bigger clue is the obvious one, which

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<v Speaker 5>is sending so many forces over to the theater. And

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<v Speaker 5>you know, when Trump does that, and I think this

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<v Speaker 5>was true of Venezuela, you know he's going to use it.

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<v Speaker 5>He's not just going to say never mind and withdraw

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<v Speaker 5>without some kind of deal, which clearly was not in

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<v Speaker 5>the offing. I think that, to me the most significant

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<v Speaker 5>facts so far. It's not the scale of it so much,

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<v Speaker 5>although that is a big thing, but it was the

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<v Speaker 5>sinking of the Iranian warship out in the Indian Ocean

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<v Speaker 5>with the torpedo.

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<v Speaker 3>You mean, the war crime, war crime right for the

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<v Speaker 3>first time since World War Two.

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<v Speaker 5>And the reason I say that's such a big deal is, well,

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<v Speaker 5>it's not exactly the same. But you know, if you

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<v Speaker 5>know your early World War two history really well before

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<v Speaker 5>we were in it, and it was when the British

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<v Speaker 5>sunk the French war fleet in North Africa after Askton

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<v Speaker 5>surrender and they refused and you know, Churchill didn't want

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<v Speaker 5>to do that, but thought it was necessary because he

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<v Speaker 5>didn't want the fleet to fall into German hands. And

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<v Speaker 5>that's when Roosevelt and his people said, oh, they really

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<v Speaker 5>do mean to see this thing through and to win

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<v Speaker 5>it if they'll do that, And that was, you know,

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<v Speaker 5>a powerful moral effect, as Churchill put it. And I

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<v Speaker 5>think the fact that the order went out, yeah, sink

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<v Speaker 5>that ship out in the middle of the ocean rather

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<v Speaker 5>than just hobble it or blockade or who knows what,

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<v Speaker 5>shows that in fact, Trump and his team are in

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<v Speaker 5>it to destroy Iron's capabilities from head to toe.

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<v Speaker 3>Charles.

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<v Speaker 2>Has been a lot of talk from the usual talkers

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<v Speaker 2>about that this was a war crime, it was an

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<v Speaker 2>unarmed ship, it was in international waters, and so forth,

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<v Speaker 2>most of which were wave away by people said no, actually,

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<v Speaker 2>it's war, it's worship, it's heading where it shouldn't be.

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<v Speaker 2>And yeah, it seems we have the starkest dichotomy we've

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<v Speaker 2>had in a long time between those people who believe

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<v Speaker 2>still that there is an internet national rules based order

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<v Speaker 2>is that simply exists and is enforced by moral persuasion,

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<v Speaker 2>and by those who say no, that is a fiction

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<v Speaker 2>that is promulgated by people who wanted to bang the

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<v Speaker 2>United States and have us all descend into a Brussels

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<v Speaker 2>style EU talking shop where nothing ever gets done and

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<v Speaker 2>the bad guys get to go away. Is it the

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<v Speaker 2>end of the old international order? We exposed it as

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<v Speaker 2>just simply something that existed because American strength backstopped it.

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<v Speaker 6>Well, that's what it's always been. That wasn't a war crime.

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<v Speaker 6>But I will say that the apologists for the administration

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<v Speaker 6>do need to accept that this is a war, which

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<v Speaker 6>many of them won't, including the Speaker of the House.

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<v Speaker 6>It is a war that was an active war. We

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<v Speaker 6>can tell this because if somebody did any of these

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<v Speaker 6>things to us, we would describe it as such. We

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<v Speaker 6>wouldn't say it was a limited kinetic action. Actually, it

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<v Speaker 6>is a war.

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<v Speaker 2>Because it is, as long as no one calls it

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<v Speaker 2>a special military operation, right, I load that.

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<v Speaker 6>I think we should own it. Now that doesn't mean

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<v Speaker 6>it's wrong. I don't think it is, but we should

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<v Speaker 6>own that it's a war. The sinking of that ship

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<v Speaker 6>was not a war crime, and in fact, the arguments

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<v Speaker 6>that it was are based upon a misreading of the rules.

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<v Speaker 6>The rule is that you have to help in so

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<v Speaker 6>far as it is possible to help, but you can't

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<v Speaker 6>by definition, help with a submarine. Submarines have always been

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<v Speaker 6>considered different because they have limited space. You can't just

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<v Speaker 6>fill a submarine with one hundred Iranians.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, they can sit on the top and you can

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<v Speaker 2>and you can drive the ship home at you know,

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<v Speaker 2>without without going down.

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<v Speaker 6>I mean, this is silly, and I've seen some people

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<v Speaker 6>on the far left saying and This just proves that

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<v Speaker 6>we're worse than the Nazis, because even the Nazis, No,

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<v Speaker 6>absolutely not, this was normal within the rules of war.

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<v Speaker 6>And I think what it highlights more than that the

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<v Speaker 6>United States is wrong in some way is the people

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<v Speaker 6>have just forgotten, thankfully, what wars look like, because we've

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<v Speaker 6>had a very long piece. Because even that there we

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<v Speaker 6>are in one, now we live so far away from

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<v Speaker 6>it that, with the exception of higher gas prices, perhaps

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<v Speaker 6>it's really not going to affect to many people, especially

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<v Speaker 6>those who don't have children in the services. It doesn't

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<v Speaker 6>affect them. But the average American doesn't. So the average

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<v Speaker 6>American is sitting watching this as if it were a

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<v Speaker 6>TV show and thereby fixating on that sort of thing.

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<v Speaker 6>But no, this wasn't a war crime.

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<v Speaker 2>But this is a war when you talk about the

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<v Speaker 2>realities of it, striking home we have seen ever since

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<v Speaker 2>the Gulf War, a series of what are basically bloodless engagements.

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<v Speaker 2>We see thermal imaging footage of people running around a

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<v Speaker 2>missile launcher and then there's a bloom and then they're

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<v Speaker 2>not there anymore. The graphic nature, the horrible nature, the

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<v Speaker 2>upfront nature, the mangled nature of it is just doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>seem to be is not our screens. But there was

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<v Speaker 2>something about the sinking of that vessel that did actually

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<v Speaker 2>drive it home to you, because when the torpedo exploded

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<v Speaker 2>beneath the bow and cracked the spine, an awful lot

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<v Speaker 2>of heat signatures went up in the air, and you

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<v Speaker 2>had to look at that and say, those are were

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<v Speaker 2>people we don't see, you know, the mangled bodies being

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not saying that we should, I'm just saying that

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<v Speaker 2>the sort of unreal aspect of this continues to this

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<v Speaker 2>very day. Today. I just saw something on Twitter that

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<v Speaker 2>said this again, this has to be confirmed that it's

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<v Speaker 2>Israeli sorty of a large number of planes dropped a

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<v Speaker 2>large number of bombs on what they call the remaining

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<v Speaker 2>government figures of the Iranian regime. And you see the

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<v Speaker 2>bunker busters, you see the blocks exploding, and it's all

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<v Speaker 2>top down from above. And we have no point here

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<v Speaker 2>of the to say that you're right, we don't. We

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<v Speaker 2>don't see the consequences of our of our action. And

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<v Speaker 2>I'm not saying that we should have our noses rubbed

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<v Speaker 2>into it. I'm just simply saying that once again we

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<v Speaker 2>have this sort of video game aspect to it. I

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<v Speaker 2>suppose that's unavoidable in modern conflict. No point, no point

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<v Speaker 2>there whatsoever. Will hand it over to Steve to perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>find a point in what I was saying.

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<v Speaker 5>Well, I'll just pick up on the international rules based

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<v Speaker 5>order you brought up in your last question. Look, I've

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<v Speaker 5>always been skeptical of that for a long time. I

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<v Speaker 5>think you put your finger on it. It's usually used

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<v Speaker 5>as a tool to hobble the United States and its allies.

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<v Speaker 5>It only international law only works among nations who can

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<v Speaker 5>be expected to abide by it, and of course that

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<v Speaker 5>would not be Iran, right, and lots of other regions Russia.

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<v Speaker 3>Uh so are you?

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<v Speaker 5>Throughout the Cold War, James, I would ask people the question,

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<v Speaker 5>why don't we need arms control agreements with Britain or France,

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<v Speaker 5>or he might add Israel to that, since they have

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<v Speaker 5>nuclear weapons. Well, the answer is obvious, right, They're they're

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<v Speaker 5>fellow democracy with whom we have good relations, so we

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<v Speaker 5>don't need it. We only need those kinds of agreements

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<v Speaker 5>with our enemies. And even when you get them, like

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<v Speaker 5>we did with the Soviet Union, they're not very good. Okay,

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<v Speaker 5>that's point one. Point two is to extend your last comment.

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<v Speaker 5>I do understand now in the press that we're flying

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<v Speaker 5>a lot of B fifty twos because we've cleared away

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<v Speaker 5>the air defenses of Iran and they can fly pretty

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<v Speaker 5>much with impunity. And of course those can carry so

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<v Speaker 5>much more ordinance than even the B two, let alone

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<v Speaker 5>the B one whatever, they always bes right, the B

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<v Speaker 5>one and B two the stealth ones, and those can

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<v Speaker 5>be used to really reduce a lot of targets to rubble.

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<v Speaker 5>And you know, I go back to the end of

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<v Speaker 5>the Vietnam War in nineteen seventy two, when Nixon had

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<v Speaker 5>had it and the skies were dark over handway with

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<v Speaker 5>B fifty twos, a number of whom were shot down.

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<v Speaker 5>Back in those days, air defenses were more effective and

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<v Speaker 5>we didn't have as many effective countermeasures. But it sobered

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<v Speaker 5>up the North Vietnamese that actually, we do have have

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<v Speaker 5>to make a deal and ended up being an enforceable one.

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<v Speaker 3>That's a problem for another day.

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<v Speaker 5>And so the big question here is are we really

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<v Speaker 5>going to be able to achieve our war aims with

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<v Speaker 5>air power?

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<v Speaker 3>And most experts say you can't.

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<v Speaker 5>And what Hegseth has not ruled out boots on the ground,

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<v Speaker 5>and when that happens, I think this whole thing goes

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<v Speaker 5>pair shaped politically and may or may not succeed. I

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<v Speaker 5>don't know, but well, I'll just end with this. Trump

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<v Speaker 5>has taken a huge risk. He has met his entire

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<v Speaker 5>presidency on this because if our economy wobbles, I agree

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<v Speaker 5>with Charlie are we're the most immune from economic consequences

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<v Speaker 5>in the near term. But that's not true of our

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<v Speaker 5>trading partners and the European economies and Japan, even in

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<v Speaker 5>South Korea. They could be having some serious economic troubles

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<v Speaker 5>soon and that will spill over to us eventually. So

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<v Speaker 5>this is a huge risk on Trump's part, and once

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<v Speaker 5>again you've got to kind of admire him and worry

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<v Speaker 5>about him.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, the buffs are doing the job is supposed to do,

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<v Speaker 2>which is taking out the missiles storage facilities. It doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>matter if you can get your launchers out, if you

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<v Speaker 2>can't get those and taking out the launchers too. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>there's a very long term, calculated process going on here

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<v Speaker 2>which seems to be proceeding correctly. But there's also something

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<v Speaker 2>beyond that, which is China and the whole part that

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<v Speaker 2>this fits in into an anti China, China containment strategy.

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<v Speaker 2>That is what seems to me to be the emerging

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<v Speaker 2>reality at the end of the day behind this. I mean, yes,

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<v Speaker 2>Iran is off the table as a terrorist force. They're

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<v Speaker 2>no longer supporting everybody. That's great, the region stabilizes, But

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<v Speaker 2>it seems as if Iran made a bet that their

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<v Speaker 2>underground cities full of missiles would be something the United

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<v Speaker 2>States could never take out like they did in the

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<v Speaker 2>Gulf Wars because they're on the ground, And China made

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<v Speaker 2>a bet that by propping up Iran that they would

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<v Speaker 2>pin down the US and in the Middle East in

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<v Speaker 2>a series of engagements that were inconsequential in the end

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<v Speaker 2>and unresolved, and that China would prosper and flourish because

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<v Speaker 2>of this. Am I right in saying that, I think

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<v Speaker 2>it's easy to say that the Uranian strategy seems not

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<v Speaker 2>to have worked out for them in the end. But

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<v Speaker 2>am I right in saying that a success here really

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<v Speaker 2>does not put g in a good position, and it's

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<v Speaker 2>his own fault. Charles.

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<v Speaker 6>I think there's a huge gap between the political performance

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<v Speaker 6>of the White House, which I think has been poor

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<v Speaker 6>and almost indifferent and the extraordinary performance of the military,

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<v Speaker 6>which I assume is being watched around the world, and

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<v Speaker 6>not just in this instance, but also in Venezuela, which

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<v Speaker 6>was really quite impressive. So as a piece of geopolitical engineering,

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<v Speaker 6>I am thrilled that the Chinese and the Russians and

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<v Speaker 6>anyone else has watched this and been reminded that the

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<v Speaker 6>US is number one and ought not to be messed with.

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<v Speaker 6>As a domestic political matter, I think Trump has once

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<v Speaker 6>again been his own worst enemy.

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<v Speaker 2>Well I'll expand on that. I mean, we don't want

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<v Speaker 2>to sit here in a a Polish tell me you

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<v Speaker 2>think that they are domestic political soundings and statements have

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<v Speaker 2>been insufficient or have been like a daisicle or what. Well,

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<v Speaker 2>if you.

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<v Speaker 6>Look at how this went down. Not that I am

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<v Speaker 6>part of the story. I just say this is a preface.

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<v Speaker 6>I wrote a column two weeks ago saying we needed

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<v Speaker 6>to debate this, and it needed to go through Congress.

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<v Speaker 6>This is a thing I write every time under every president,

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<v Speaker 6>and I had a line in there saying I don't

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<v Speaker 6>want to wake up one morning and be told we're

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<v Speaker 6>at war. I would prefer, as a citizen to be

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<v Speaker 6>part of this, and of course on Saturday, I woke

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<v Speaker 6>up and was told that we were at war because

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<v Speaker 6>the President had decided to do it. That's not a

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<v Speaker 6>judgment on the merits. It's not a cover for criticism

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<v Speaker 6>on the merits. I am agnostic on this question. I'm

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<v Speaker 6>totally open to the argument that this was the right

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<v Speaker 6>thing to do.

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<v Speaker 2>But yeah, America, you're right, because every Charles C. W.

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<v Speaker 2>Cook speech ends with and we must have a congressional

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<v Speaker 2>resolution on the destruction of Carthage or whatever the Latin

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<v Speaker 2>equivalence would be. Right, You're right, You're consistent, and I

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<v Speaker 2>agree with you.

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<v Speaker 6>Anyway, I went to my son's flag football game and

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<v Speaker 6>people there who vaguely know what I do came up

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<v Speaker 6>to me and said, so, what's this iran thing? And

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<v Speaker 6>I do think that's somewhat astonishing in a democratic republic. Now,

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<v Speaker 6>if Trump believes this is the right decision, and I'm

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<v Speaker 6>open to being persuaded that it is, I think, at

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<v Speaker 6>the very least, even if he wasn't going to go

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<v Speaker 6>to Congress or have a long debate prior to doing it,

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<v Speaker 6>and there are strategic arguments against that, he had to

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<v Speaker 6>do more than give a very short speech in a

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<v Speaker 6>white baseball hat from his private club and then disappear.

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<v Speaker 6>But in the meantime talk to lots of journalists on

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<v Speaker 6>the telephone and give them different answers as to what

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<v Speaker 6>we were doing. There have been three four different explanations

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<v Speaker 6>as to why we're in Iran. It's been a humanitarian case.

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<v Speaker 6>It's been that it was an imminent threat against us.

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<v Speaker 6>It's been that we was tired after forty six years

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<v Speaker 6>and them targeting us. It's been that we were going

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<v Speaker 6>after the weapons program, in so on and so forth.

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<v Speaker 6>I think that Trump should have come out and said,

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<v Speaker 6>ladies and gentlemen, I understand that this is somewhat surprising,

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<v Speaker 6>but this country has been a thorn on our side

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<v Speaker 6>for forty seven years. It has an institutional animus toward

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<v Speaker 6>the United States. It says death to America, death to Israel.

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<v Speaker 6>It's been trying to get a nuclear weapon. It's been

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<v Speaker 6>killing our people for years, including in Iraq. And we

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<v Speaker 6>were presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to

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<v Speaker 6>do something about this. And I Donald Trump, unlike the

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<v Speaker 6>feckless presidents who came before me, that's his line, not mine,

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<v Speaker 6>have finally pulled the trigger, and then I think he

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<v Speaker 6>should have kept to that line for a week and

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<v Speaker 6>acknowledged and this is something that Trump, and it's not

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<v Speaker 6>just Trump, lots of presidents of the same Biden was

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<v Speaker 6>also bad in this regard. Then he should have said

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<v Speaker 6>that he could not in good conscience pass up that opportunity,

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<v Speaker 6>even though there would be downsides, including domestic ones such

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<v Speaker 6>as higher gas prices. I have been arguing for months

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<v Speaker 6>in a separate sphere that he should be saying, yes,

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<v Speaker 6>there is pain in the economy, because there is pain

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<v Speaker 6>in the economy, but he won't. He says we're in

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<v Speaker 6>a golden age. And I just worry with this that

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<v Speaker 6>this is going to have been the right thing to do,

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<v Speaker 6>that it's going to lead to really good outcomes in

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<v Speaker 6>the long run geopolitical and in the Middle East, but

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<v Speaker 6>that the American public is not going to be sold

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<v Speaker 6>and that if he isn't hurt by it, at least

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<v Speaker 6>he will have got away with it rather than be

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<v Speaker 6>rewarded for it. Perhaps he was never going to be

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<v Speaker 6>rewarded for it. Perhaps he had to take a brave

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<v Speaker 6>decision and deal with the consequences. But I don't see

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<v Speaker 6>him doing a great deal. So I'm drawing a distinction

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<v Speaker 6>here between the domestic political question, which matters because we

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<v Speaker 6>have elections, and the performance of the US military, which

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<v Speaker 6>I think has been stella, and the potential geopolitical ramifications,

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<v Speaker 6>which I'm open to being told are solid, including that China,

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<v Speaker 6>Russia and other countries are watching this and remembering, oh, yeah,

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<v Speaker 6>that's why America is the hedge of them.

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<v Speaker 2>Steve is Charles living in an old world where Martin

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<v Speaker 2>Sheen gives us a speech from the Oval Office and

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<v Speaker 2>with his hands folded and starts with my fellow Americans

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<v Speaker 2>and ends with God bless America. That is that era

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<v Speaker 2>just gone. And now it's it's it's you. You announced

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<v Speaker 2>to the world what you've done in a vertical video

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<v Speaker 2>on TikTok, and then you tweet about it a little

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<v Speaker 2>bit later, and this indistinct message, it's just part of

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<v Speaker 2>a fractured attention span of the American public today.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 5>Well, I mean, if you go back to the Cuban

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<v Speaker 5>missile crisis, when they first got the intelligence and that

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<v Speaker 5>the Soviets were putting in missiles, the Hawks wanted to

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<v Speaker 5>do an attack right away, just and I forget who

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<v Speaker 5>it was and you know, I've read all the books

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<v Speaker 5>on this years ago, but I forget who it was.

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<v Speaker 5>Somebody around Kennedy, and it might have been Kennedy himself

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<v Speaker 5>who said, we don't do surprise attacks. We don't do

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<v Speaker 5>Pearl Harbor. Now this isn't quite the same, but it does.

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<v Speaker 5>I take Charlie's point that you do it out of

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<v Speaker 5>the kind of out of the blue like this, I mean,

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<v Speaker 5>when you had the forces there, and we've been talking

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<v Speaker 5>about it for a while Trump has, so it's maybe

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<v Speaker 5>not out of the blue, but out of the purple.

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<v Speaker 5>I don't know what the right color is. The other

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<v Speaker 5>thing is, oh, the Oval Office address, James. I mean,

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<v Speaker 5>in the old days you and I grew up, that's

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<v Speaker 5>the days when the three networks had the roadblock right

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<v Speaker 5>the state. The president would always appear on all the networks,

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<v Speaker 5>and then the cable ones when they came along, and

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<v Speaker 5>so everyone would tune in because you weren't going to

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<v Speaker 5>watch anything else while that was happening. Well, of course,

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<v Speaker 5>that world was long gone because of cable and five

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<v Speaker 5>hundred channels and so forth. And that's why I think

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<v Speaker 5>one of the biggest reasons presidents no longer make the

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<v Speaker 5>formal Oval office address anymore, which I think is unfortunate.

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<v Speaker 5>I think the way CHARTI made it out would be

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<v Speaker 5>much to be advised. Trump as usual just improvises every day,

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<v Speaker 5>including this morning as we're talking, saying he wants unconditional

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<v Speaker 5>surrender from Iran, which is probably a mistake to say

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<v Speaker 5>that or and you know, we'll see if he really

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<v Speaker 5>means that. But your other question, you know Bridge Colby,

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<v Speaker 5>who was a guest on this show two three years ago,

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<v Speaker 5>he's been very open about and I think the administration

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<v Speaker 5>has gone along with it. They would like to settle

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<v Speaker 5>business in the Middle East so we can pivot to

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<v Speaker 5>a more robust defense posture against China in the Pacific,

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<v Speaker 5>and so a lot of people are saying that is

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<v Speaker 5>what's going on. Oh, by the way, I'll add Charlie

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<v Speaker 5>that I've been scribbling notes to myself. I do wish

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<v Speaker 5>Pete Hegseth would switch to decaf before his briefings. Right,

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<v Speaker 5>He's just a little bit too over the top. So

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<v Speaker 5>it is kind of a mess. But the last thing

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<v Speaker 5>I'll say, and here I agree with Charlie's inclinations on this,

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<v Speaker 5>but I think we have a and enfeebled Congress across

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<v Speaker 5>the board for years now, and it is an important

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<v Speaker 5>project to try and unenfeeble them in so many ways,

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<v Speaker 5>and I think the Supreme Court is helping with that

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<v Speaker 5>on domestic matters.

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<v Speaker 3>But second, you know, we had Bill barr On.

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<v Speaker 5>Here about just three four or five weeks ago, whatever

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<v Speaker 5>it was, and reminded us that before Gulf War one,

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<v Speaker 5>President Bush thought he did not need the approval of

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<v Speaker 5>Congress to launch that war, but they decided for political

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<v Speaker 5>reasons to ask for it anyway. Now, the Senate vote

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<v Speaker 5>in that was quite close. I think it was only

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<v Speaker 5>fifty three forty seven or fifty four to forty six.

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<v Speaker 5>Most Democrats opposed it. And remember we had moved five

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<v Speaker 5>hundred thousand troops in the theater and all the pieces

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<v Speaker 5>there and while trying to do a negotiated settlement. It's

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<v Speaker 5>similar to what we've been through the last you know,

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<v Speaker 5>several years with Iran.

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<v Speaker 3>But if that had failed, or if Congress.

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<v Speaker 5>Held a debate here in the last two weeks and

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<v Speaker 5>Trump had lost in the House, which I think is

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<v Speaker 5>conceivable that he might have lost the resolution in the House,

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<v Speaker 5>then he's in a very weak position because I do

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<v Speaker 5>think at the end of the day, our constitution has

404
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<v Speaker 5>always been intentional on this, but I think the commander

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<v Speaker 5>in chief powers do authorize the president to take us

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<v Speaker 5>into into action like this. I think by the way

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<v Speaker 5>the war powers act, most presidents, I think all presidents

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<v Speaker 5>since then think it's unconstitutional, wanted to challenge it, and

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<v Speaker 5>Trump is the one person who will challenge it if

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<v Speaker 5>it comes to that.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm like Charles. I agree with all of his positions

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<v Speaker 2>about what should be done and the processes that we

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<v Speaker 2>have that have served a swell in the past. I

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<v Speaker 2>can't just disagree with any of this positions. But at

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<v Speaker 2>the same time, I feel as though I've got one

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<v Speaker 2>foot on the dock of the twentieth century and the

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<v Speaker 2>other on a boat of the twenty first, and they're

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<v Speaker 2>drifting apart. And if you've ever been out of the

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<v Speaker 2>lakes and found yourself in that situation, you know at

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<v Speaker 2>some point you have to make a choice or you're

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<v Speaker 2>in the drink. And so I don't I mean, I

422
00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:38.799
<v Speaker 2>put it this way. If we had had and I'm

423
00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.319
<v Speaker 2>not saying well, if we'd gone ahead and asked Congress

424
00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.079
<v Speaker 2>and done the whole thing by all the rules, I mean,

425
00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:49.160
<v Speaker 2>but if we had, you know, that answer code pink,

426
00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.400
<v Speaker 2>everybody would have ramped up the pre printed signs and

427
00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.599
<v Speaker 2>the big demonstrations, and there would have been this sort

428
00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:58.759
<v Speaker 2>of faux show of moral superiority in every city in America.

429
00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:02.720
<v Speaker 2>That would give the spineless people in the House in

430
00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:05.839
<v Speaker 2>the Senate reason to say, I'm decide with those who

431
00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:08.400
<v Speaker 2>are protesting, because as we know from the sixties, anybody

432
00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:10.400
<v Speaker 2>who gets out in the street and waves a placard

433
00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:13.240
<v Speaker 2>is indeed themselves on the moral high ground, and that

434
00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:15.559
<v Speaker 2>might have affected what happens. And then at the end

435
00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:19.880
<v Speaker 2>of the day, eventually Iran scoots and scoffs at us

436
00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:25.319
<v Speaker 2>and the Chinese solidification of the solidification, the Chinese tightening

437
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:30.400
<v Speaker 2>of their own hegemony is unabated. So I mean, that's

438
00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:33.160
<v Speaker 2>not an answer for anything. I'm just saying that I

439
00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:38.119
<v Speaker 2>feel sort of intellectually confused to the point of useless

440
00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:42.200
<v Speaker 2>inaction by what I'm drawn towards and new realities that

441
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.640
<v Speaker 2>seem to be in our politics and society at the moment.

442
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.000
<v Speaker 2>And nobody answered my China question. By the way, somebody

443
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.920
<v Speaker 2>take my China question, did she make the wrong I mean,

444
00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.240
<v Speaker 2>it's just open ended softball, But did she make the

445
00:22:54.279 --> 00:22:57.519
<v Speaker 2>wrong back? How does this redound in Chinese politics, especially

446
00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.200
<v Speaker 2>since he just killed about two hundred of his top generals.

447
00:23:00.920 --> 00:23:03.279
<v Speaker 5>Well, look, I mean I think it was a traditional

448
00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:06.680
<v Speaker 5>alliance where you want to make links with the enemy

449
00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:09.440
<v Speaker 5>of your enemy. So the alliance with Iran looked good.

450
00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:12.000
<v Speaker 5>I think the bigger problem for or at least one

451
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:14.680
<v Speaker 5>of the bigger problems for gi right now is, at

452
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:17.279
<v Speaker 5>least from what you can read in media sources, which

453
00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:20.119
<v Speaker 5>maybe isn't everything or even correct, but a lot of

454
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.720
<v Speaker 5>the Chinese technology has proved to be ineffective.

455
00:23:23.720 --> 00:23:24.920
<v Speaker 3>And there's a broader point about that.

456
00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:27.680
<v Speaker 5>I mean, China is more technologically available and has a

457
00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:30.839
<v Speaker 5>more robust economy than the Soviet Union ever had, and

458
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:33.119
<v Speaker 5>so we worry about you know, they build more ships

459
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:34.880
<v Speaker 5>in a year than we have in thirty or something

460
00:23:34.920 --> 00:23:38.960
<v Speaker 5>like that, you know, those figures. But there's also I

461
00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:41.119
<v Speaker 5>know a lot of people who really know their Chinese

462
00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:43.680
<v Speaker 5>history and they say, yeah, they can build submarines and

463
00:23:43.720 --> 00:23:45.559
<v Speaker 5>aircraft carriers, but you know what, they have a really

464
00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:49.039
<v Speaker 5>bad record of fighting wars over the years, unlike the Russians, right,

465
00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:51.240
<v Speaker 5>they're not very good at it, and what they had

466
00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:54.079
<v Speaker 5>a submarine that sank at the dock, what two three

467
00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:56.720
<v Speaker 5>years ago, you know, brand new submarine and somebody didn't

468
00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:58.880
<v Speaker 5>close the screen door or something that sank at the dock.

469
00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:01.599
<v Speaker 3>So I think there is some doubt.

470
00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:05.279
<v Speaker 5>That the Chinese military capacities are all that good. But

471
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:07.839
<v Speaker 5>we're making this Texas now back to run. We are

472
00:24:07.880 --> 00:24:10.279
<v Speaker 5>making the bet and have now at the same bet

473
00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:12.759
<v Speaker 5>we did during the long Cold War of the Soviet

474
00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:18.319
<v Speaker 5>Union that our quality of armaments would overwhelm their quantity.

475
00:24:19.240 --> 00:24:22.240
<v Speaker 5>And okay, that's fine, but we have a lot of

476
00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:25.079
<v Speaker 5>really expensive stuff in the whole new frontier drone wars

477
00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:27.880
<v Speaker 5>we've learned about in the last few years. It means,

478
00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:30.440
<v Speaker 5>you know, we're now shooting down what you know, I'll

479
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:32.440
<v Speaker 5>just say a five hundred thousand dollars drone with a

480
00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:36.119
<v Speaker 5>five million dollar missile. That doesn't pencil out very well

481
00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:39.119
<v Speaker 5>over time. And I think we're learning a lesson from that,

482
00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.000
<v Speaker 5>and we'ren have to figure that out pretty soon because

483
00:24:42.039 --> 00:24:43.839
<v Speaker 5>I think we the old American way of war of

484
00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:47.839
<v Speaker 5>overwhelming them with our wealth and technology has got its vulnerabilities.

485
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:52.039
<v Speaker 6>It's interesting on that because we went from World War

486
00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:54.880
<v Speaker 6>Two where we overwhelmed them with our ability to produce

487
00:24:55.799 --> 00:24:58.480
<v Speaker 6>to the Cold War where we overwhelmed them with our

488
00:24:58.519 --> 00:25:03.799
<v Speaker 6>ability to think, and now we're probably going to need both. Yeah,

489
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:06.000
<v Speaker 6>I agree with Steve. I don't have too much to add.

490
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:10.680
<v Speaker 6>I think it makes sense for China to ally itself

491
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:13.240
<v Speaker 6>with other countries that don't like the United States, given

492
00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:17.640
<v Speaker 6>that China wants to become the global hegemon and believes

493
00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:20.079
<v Speaker 6>that it's been embarrassed for a thousand years and that

494
00:25:20.119 --> 00:25:24.119
<v Speaker 6>it is destined to rule the world once more. I

495
00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:27.640
<v Speaker 6>of course oppose China in that aim and hope it loses,

496
00:25:28.599 --> 00:25:30.920
<v Speaker 6>but I don't think it made the wrong bet. I

497
00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:37.599
<v Speaker 6>think it should in this game behave accordingly. I'm just

498
00:25:37.640 --> 00:25:40.400
<v Speaker 6>glad that we were once again able to thwart them,

499
00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.720
<v Speaker 6>and I hope that if they are planning on going

500
00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:46.240
<v Speaker 6>into Taiwan next year, this has had an effect on

501
00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:50.839
<v Speaker 6>them and reminded them. As I say that it's not

502
00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:55.079
<v Speaker 6>just theoretical, we can apparently do incredible things. I've been surprised.

503
00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:57.400
<v Speaker 6>I'm not a military expert or a foreign policy expert

504
00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:01.079
<v Speaker 6>by any stretch of the imagination, but I do have

505
00:26:01.160 --> 00:26:04.880
<v Speaker 6>a very rosy conception of America's military capacity in my mind,

506
00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:09.440
<v Speaker 6>and I was surprised that the share brilliance of operations,

507
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:11.400
<v Speaker 6>So I hope the Chinese were too.

508
00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:14.400
<v Speaker 2>I just want to say, in reference to what Charlie

509
00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:16.720
<v Speaker 2>said about China and then looking at our technology, yes,

510
00:26:16.920 --> 00:26:20.440
<v Speaker 2>I mean we've seen lasers in this war. Israel has developed,

511
00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:22.079
<v Speaker 2>you know, sort of an iron dome system that doesn't

512
00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:24.039
<v Speaker 2>need actual missile but you know, just can pew pew

513
00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:25.960
<v Speaker 2>pew them down or when you see the laser beams

514
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:28.079
<v Speaker 2>striking into the sky, you think, well, this is a

515
00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:30.519
<v Speaker 2>different level. And if I were China, I would I

516
00:26:30.519 --> 00:26:33.000
<v Speaker 2>would not be surprised if they massed forces to go

517
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.240
<v Speaker 2>into Taiwan and then looked up into the sky and

518
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:37.519
<v Speaker 2>there we had a death star, you know, with Peter

519
00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:41.200
<v Speaker 2>Cushing behind the the consoles, you know, making it fully operational.

520
00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:44.160
<v Speaker 2>What do we have in the quiver? Yet still ought

521
00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:47.799
<v Speaker 2>to keep them interested? Three gorgeous damn for example. It's

522
00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:49.960
<v Speaker 2>not a military target, but it sort of puts them

523
00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:51.720
<v Speaker 2>behind the eight ball. Anyway, you're going to say.

524
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:54.440
<v Speaker 5>About her own well, are you saying, Marjorie Taylor Green's

525
00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:56.039
<v Speaker 5>right about the Jewish space lasers?

526
00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:56.480
<v Speaker 3>James?

527
00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:01.519
<v Speaker 2>Well, boy, I let it out of the bag, didn't

528
00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:03.559
<v Speaker 2>I Yes, the air control the weather. They control the

529
00:27:03.559 --> 00:27:05.680
<v Speaker 2>weather as well. Oh, let me just sell my dreadlugs

530
00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:07.240
<v Speaker 2>are twitching an embarrassing materials. Go.

531
00:27:08.559 --> 00:27:11.359
<v Speaker 5>Well, that's a quick observation about Iran and we'll see

532
00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:13.039
<v Speaker 5>how this plays out. But it's one thing for them

533
00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:15.319
<v Speaker 5>to shoot missiles at the American bases in the Middle East,

534
00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:17.640
<v Speaker 5>but they seem to have been somewhat indiscriminate about it

535
00:27:17.720 --> 00:27:21.880
<v Speaker 5>and arguably wanting to punish the other Arabs who have

536
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.400
<v Speaker 5>been hosting our bases in are friendly the United States

537
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:27.440
<v Speaker 5>and hostile to them. And they've done an amazing thing.

538
00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.640
<v Speaker 5>They have united most of the Arab world against them.

539
00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:34.480
<v Speaker 5>And the reason this I think this is really significant

540
00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:37.960
<v Speaker 5>is you might remember Independence Day from thirty years ago,

541
00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:39.720
<v Speaker 5>you know, the remake of World of the Worlds, and

542
00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:42.400
<v Speaker 5>there was a scene towards the end after a Jeff

543
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:44.359
<v Speaker 5>Goldbloom was going to send a virus to the you know,

544
00:27:44.440 --> 00:27:47.680
<v Speaker 5>the motherships where and then the whole world was going

545
00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:51.079
<v Speaker 5>to coordinate by Morse code to attack, and there was

546
00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:53.640
<v Speaker 5>a scene, a scene is maybe ten seconds long, and

547
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:57.200
<v Speaker 5>it showed Israeli in Arab troops getting together to prepare

548
00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:01.599
<v Speaker 5>their attack. Now that cost a huge controversy, and Arab

549
00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:05.160
<v Speaker 5>Nations wouldn't show the movie unless that scene was removed.

550
00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:06.920
<v Speaker 5>I don't know if you remember this, you know it

551
00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:09.319
<v Speaker 5>made some press at the time. So I mean that's how,

552
00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:11.599
<v Speaker 5>you know, how the politics have fallen out since then.

553
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.279
<v Speaker 5>We've had the Abraham Accords and so forth, and now

554
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:17.480
<v Speaker 5>you're having Arab nations saying we're going to fight alongside

555
00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:21.799
<v Speaker 5>the United States and Israel against Iran. And I think

556
00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:24.680
<v Speaker 5>this would have been unthinkable even twenty five years ago,

557
00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:26.400
<v Speaker 5>and yet here we are, and you know.

558
00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:28.200
<v Speaker 3>We'll see I mean, it looks to me like this

559
00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:31.480
<v Speaker 3>is arguably Iran just lashing out.

560
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:32.960
<v Speaker 5>If they're going to go down, they're going to go

561
00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:35.119
<v Speaker 5>down and take as many people with them as they can.

562
00:28:35.359 --> 00:28:37.880
<v Speaker 5>And so and by the way, I mean, the other

563
00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:39.519
<v Speaker 5>thing is is what when are we going to see

564
00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.279
<v Speaker 5>Kamakazi style nine to eleven attacks on targets in the

565
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:48.599
<v Speaker 5>Middle East, including you know, the Burj Khalifa, right.

566
00:28:48.599 --> 00:28:49.799
<v Speaker 3>I wouldn't I wouldn't put that.

567
00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:52.240
<v Speaker 5>Past the Iranian crazies to do something like that just

568
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:54.440
<v Speaker 5>to make a statement to all of their neighbors that

569
00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:57.119
<v Speaker 5>you're not putting you're not taking us down without you

570
00:28:57.240 --> 00:28:58.119
<v Speaker 5>having a lot of hurt.

571
00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:02.000
<v Speaker 6>James, I just move on that. We know that the

572
00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:04.680
<v Speaker 6>Jews can't control the weather, because if they could, there

573
00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:08.240
<v Speaker 6>wouldn't be so many of them moving to Florida. And

574
00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:10.920
<v Speaker 6>if you could control the weather where you live, you'd

575
00:29:10.920 --> 00:29:13.359
<v Speaker 6>stay and do it right, you wouldn't moved down to

576
00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:14.519
<v Speaker 6>Fort Lauderdale.

577
00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:17.759
<v Speaker 2>Well, that's just the dodge, the cover story, isn't it.

578
00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:20.559
<v Speaker 2>Just though? Yes, well, I mean when it comes to

579
00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:22.880
<v Speaker 2>what Stephen was talking about, are they going to hit

580
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.000
<v Speaker 2>the Birch guy? I think you know, they tried. They

581
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:27.799
<v Speaker 2>did some stuff beforehand. They it seemed as if they

582
00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:31.200
<v Speaker 2>had their own Samson option, that long rumored story about

583
00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:33.599
<v Speaker 2>if Israel was attacked by a nuke, that they just

584
00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:36.799
<v Speaker 2>simply hid everybody in the neighborhood. And now it turns

585
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:38.319
<v Speaker 2>out it's Iron doing it. But it is kind of

586
00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:41.039
<v Speaker 2>funny to say, knowing the history, that Iran has done

587
00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:45.279
<v Speaker 2>something quite astonishing. They've united the Arabs in hatred of

588
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:49.480
<v Speaker 2>the Persians. That's the same time you have the Greeks,

589
00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:54.359
<v Speaker 2>who are you know, dealing with the you know, the ancients.

590
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:58.000
<v Speaker 2>It's nothing changes, nothing changes, nothing is new under the sun.

591
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.119
<v Speaker 2>But what we do know is the sun is getting

592
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.640
<v Speaker 2>warmer because the year is getting longer. You know, the

593
00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:06.920
<v Speaker 2>days and the rest of it. And you know, the

594
00:30:06.920 --> 00:30:10.119
<v Speaker 2>resolutions that you made on January first, they seem like

595
00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:11.880
<v Speaker 2>a long time ago, but that doesn't mean they're not

596
00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:15.880
<v Speaker 2>pertinent and they're not important. So you've done all your resolutions,

597
00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:18.559
<v Speaker 2>you know, probably not Well. A good thing is there's

598
00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:20.920
<v Speaker 2>nothing stopping you from making another go of your resolutions

599
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:22.839
<v Speaker 2>in March. And what was the one that was bugging

600
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:25.519
<v Speaker 2>you got under your skin, made you feel a little nervous. Well,

601
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:29.079
<v Speaker 2>there's nothing stopping you from thinking long term about insurance.

602
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:32.440
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603
00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:36.519
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604
00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:38.839
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605
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606
00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:44.480
<v Speaker 2>covered after your gun is really important. So yes, insurance

607
00:30:44.519 --> 00:30:48.839
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608
00:30:48.839 --> 00:30:51.440
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609
00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:54.880
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610
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.119
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611
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612
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613
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614
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615
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616
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617
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618
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619
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620
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621
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622
00:31:29.400 --> 00:31:32.960
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623
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624
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625
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<v Speaker 2>Western Southern Life Assurance Company, not available in certain states.

630
00:31:57.319 --> 00:31:59.720
<v Speaker 2>Prices subject to underwriting and health questions, and we thank

631
00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:08.559
<v Speaker 2>Faber responsoring this. The regaget podcast. So the next question

632
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:12.279
<v Speaker 2>is because I had something else about the Samson option,

633
00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:17.839
<v Speaker 2>I never mind Europe, Ah, how relevant are they to this?

634
00:32:18.079 --> 00:32:19.960
<v Speaker 2>What are the saddest stories? Charles? And I'm sure you

635
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:23.119
<v Speaker 2>might agree, or you might not think it's sad at all,

636
00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:25.880
<v Speaker 2>you being an expat and come here to be an

637
00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:30.079
<v Speaker 2>American citizen, for which we are always grateful. Is the

638
00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:33.440
<v Speaker 2>sad decline of the British Navy, the inability to put

639
00:32:33.480 --> 00:32:36.559
<v Speaker 2>anything out. It seems to see what once spanned the

640
00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:40.599
<v Speaker 2>globe is, you know, a bunch of rusty buckets, dry dock,

641
00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:45.319
<v Speaker 2>without enough sailors to go on. And it's it's dismaying.

642
00:32:46.119 --> 00:32:49.079
<v Speaker 2>So let's start there and talk about where Europe finds

643
00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:49.839
<v Speaker 2>itself in all of.

644
00:32:49.799 --> 00:32:53.559
<v Speaker 6>This has no ram, no sorto mean, no last left.

645
00:32:56.279 --> 00:32:57.680
<v Speaker 3>I was thinking that very thing.

646
00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:04.200
<v Speaker 6>It's astonishing, isn't. I don't find it sad. I find

647
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:09.799
<v Speaker 6>it predictable. Perhaps it's sadly predictable, but it's astonishing. The

648
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:14.920
<v Speaker 6>British have slowly slipped into irrelevance. I was thinking about

649
00:33:14.920 --> 00:33:22.720
<v Speaker 6>this yesterday, back in twenty thirteen, when President Obama announced

650
00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:25.759
<v Speaker 6>that he might like to go into Syria, and I

651
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:28.000
<v Speaker 6>James said, the thing I always say, which is you

652
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:30.359
<v Speaker 6>need to go to Congress, and he said, no, I don't,

653
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:34.079
<v Speaker 6>which was a complete reversal of his promise in two

654
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:37.119
<v Speaker 6>thousand and eight when he was running, quite explicitly a reversal.

655
00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:46.359
<v Speaker 6>The American public revolted such that he backed down and

656
00:33:46.400 --> 00:33:49.279
<v Speaker 6>said I could do it, but I'm not going to.

657
00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:52.400
<v Speaker 6>And there are a couple of things that happened that

658
00:33:52.519 --> 00:33:56.640
<v Speaker 6>led to that backing down. One was that there was

659
00:33:56.680 --> 00:34:02.759
<v Speaker 6>a bipartisan sentiment against going into Syria. It wasn't just

660
00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:08.280
<v Speaker 6>the Democrats, the Republicans also were hostile to the idea.

661
00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:11.719
<v Speaker 6>And the second thing that happened was the British Parliament

662
00:34:12.519 --> 00:34:16.039
<v Speaker 6>met debated whether they would join the United States in

663
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:19.360
<v Speaker 6>Syria and said they wouldn't. Now that wasn't just positive,

664
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.320
<v Speaker 6>and it was perhaps less important than the British thought

665
00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:24.079
<v Speaker 6>it was at the time, but it did have an effect.

666
00:34:24.159 --> 00:34:27.519
<v Speaker 6>It made big news in the press, and it was

667
00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:32.119
<v Speaker 6>by all accounts processed by President Obama. And I was

668
00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:35.559
<v Speaker 6>thinking that if that happened today, no one would care

669
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:41.599
<v Speaker 6>or even report on it. Could you imagine caring whether

670
00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:45.920
<v Speaker 6>the British Parliament was on board with this? Iran adventure

671
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:49.760
<v Speaker 6>or not. The idea is almost silly. And that was

672
00:34:49.800 --> 00:34:54.159
<v Speaker 6>only thirteen years ago. Forty years ago, it would have

673
00:34:54.280 --> 00:35:02.000
<v Speaker 6>killed any plan. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were close

674
00:35:02.199 --> 00:35:05.800
<v Speaker 6>because they shared a political worldview, but also because they

675
00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:09.840
<v Speaker 6>had to be. Britain really mattered in the nineteen eighties.

676
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:12.199
<v Speaker 6>It mattered in the nineteen nineties we joined in Kosovo,

677
00:35:12.239 --> 00:35:14.679
<v Speaker 6>and it matted in the early two thousands. Getting Britain

678
00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:19.320
<v Speaker 6>on board with the Afghanistan and Iraq wars was crucial.

679
00:35:20.239 --> 00:35:24.320
<v Speaker 6>Now it's not It's not just that the British don't

680
00:35:24.360 --> 00:35:29.280
<v Speaker 6>have a navy and that their military is weaker than

681
00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:35.639
<v Speaker 6>it should be. But Britain as an economic power is declining.

682
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:42.119
<v Speaker 6>Britain as a cultural power is declining. Britain as a

683
00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:46.519
<v Speaker 6>member of Europe. I don't mean the European Union solely,

684
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:52.519
<v Speaker 6>but as a cultural member of Europe is declining. I

685
00:35:52.599 --> 00:35:56.079
<v Speaker 6>take no joy in that, but you're absolutely right, it's true.

686
00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:59.719
<v Speaker 6>And to look at the state of the British military,

687
00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:03.079
<v Speaker 6>which is a choice. All that money, I'm afraid has

688
00:36:03.079 --> 00:36:05.559
<v Speaker 6>gone on welfare. This is not me being a mean

689
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:10.119
<v Speaker 6>right winger. Just look at the books. They've spent it

690
00:36:10.360 --> 00:36:14.199
<v Speaker 6>all on welfare. They have cut everything except welfare. They

691
00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:18.559
<v Speaker 6>now are at their highest tax rates as a percentage

692
00:36:18.760 --> 00:36:22.239
<v Speaker 6>of GDP since nineteen forty five. That is to say,

693
00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:25.039
<v Speaker 6>the British public is now being taxed more than it

694
00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:28.719
<v Speaker 6>has been since the end of World War II, and

695
00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:31.760
<v Speaker 6>they have this pathetic military to show for it. Why

696
00:36:32.039 --> 00:36:35.280
<v Speaker 6>because all they spend their money on is welfare, and

697
00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:37.880
<v Speaker 6>that has been a choice. It has been a disastrous choice,

698
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:40.440
<v Speaker 6>and it has led to them being irrelevant to the

699
00:36:40.480 --> 00:36:44.360
<v Speaker 6>point at which now they are less important to world affairs,

700
00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:47.199
<v Speaker 6>not regional affairs, to world affairs than Israel.

701
00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:51.119
<v Speaker 2>Well, it's gone from a special relationship to a special

702
00:36:51.280 --> 00:36:55.199
<v Speaker 2>ed relationship. Stephen. You have in the background, if I'm

703
00:36:55.239 --> 00:36:57.880
<v Speaker 2>seeing it correctly, way in the corner of your room

704
00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:59.320
<v Speaker 2>there back by the door, I think you have a

705
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:03.599
<v Speaker 2>poster of and it says, if I recall deserve victory.

706
00:37:04.039 --> 00:37:06.079
<v Speaker 2>I was always I was always caught up by the

707
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:10.320
<v Speaker 2>phrasing of that. My correct deserve victory be a people

708
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:14.559
<v Speaker 2>who deserve it and earn it. Are the British public?

709
00:37:15.159 --> 00:37:17.800
<v Speaker 2>They are they still that people?

710
00:37:18.599 --> 00:37:19.519
<v Speaker 3>Is there still something?

711
00:37:19.719 --> 00:37:21.719
<v Speaker 2>Is something there that you can blow on the dying

712
00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:26.119
<v Speaker 2>embers and find find the lion's spirit, the bulldog spirit

713
00:37:26.199 --> 00:37:27.840
<v Speaker 2>that got them through the blitz and the rest of it,

714
00:37:27.880 --> 00:37:29.760
<v Speaker 2>because I don't see it.

715
00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:32.800
<v Speaker 5>Yeah, yeah, I mean I think the full quote that

716
00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:35.519
<v Speaker 5>that's taken from is Churchill said something like it's not

717
00:37:35.599 --> 00:37:38.880
<v Speaker 5>possible to assure or guarantee victory. It is only possible

718
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:41.199
<v Speaker 5>to deserve it, which again gets back to the phrase

719
00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:44.119
<v Speaker 5>I used earlier about the destroyer being stun the moral

720
00:37:44.159 --> 00:37:47.199
<v Speaker 5>effect of the people, the moral I mean, you know

721
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:50.679
<v Speaker 5>that crucial period that's dramatized in you know, the Darkest

722
00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:52.559
<v Speaker 5>Hour movie that came out three four years ago with

723
00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:57.000
<v Speaker 5>Gary Oldman as Churchill. The calculation then was the morale

724
00:37:57.159 --> 00:38:00.000
<v Speaker 5>of the Everything depends on the morale of our fighting force,

725
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:03.559
<v Speaker 5>which have now evacuating without their weapons from France, right,

726
00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:06.360
<v Speaker 5>and consequently the morale of the people.

727
00:38:06.480 --> 00:38:08.480
<v Speaker 3>And if we start saying.

728
00:38:08.599 --> 00:38:11.360
<v Speaker 5>We're going to have backdoor negotiations for a deal with Hitler,

729
00:38:11.400 --> 00:38:16.159
<v Speaker 5>everything will collapse. And yeah, it's hard to see. I mean,

730
00:38:16.239 --> 00:38:20.320
<v Speaker 5>we made jokes about France forever. Well, you know, we

731
00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:22.880
<v Speaker 5>want the French to teach the Iranians how to surrender, right,

732
00:38:23.480 --> 00:38:24.119
<v Speaker 5>but boy.

733
00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:24.639
<v Speaker 3>This is not good.

734
00:38:26.039 --> 00:38:29.159
<v Speaker 5>Although Charlie's right, and it's very significant that we can

735
00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:32.360
<v Speaker 5>stand alone without them if need be, it would be

736
00:38:32.440 --> 00:38:34.719
<v Speaker 5>much better to have them. I think, by the way,

737
00:38:34.840 --> 00:38:37.079
<v Speaker 5>I thought you were going to say, Charlie when you

738
00:38:37.079 --> 00:38:39.920
<v Speaker 5>mentioned the Thatcher and Reagan, I am not sure if

739
00:38:40.039 --> 00:38:43.840
<v Speaker 5>Argentina invaded the Falklands again, if Britain could muster the

740
00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:45.360
<v Speaker 5>military might to fight back.

741
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:48.360
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely be veryonymous, right, No, of course not.

742
00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:51.400
<v Speaker 2>I'm convinced their entire culture decided that the Falklands were

743
00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.000
<v Speaker 2>was wrong because Elvis Costello wrote a mean song about it.

744
00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:59.079
<v Speaker 6>Well, she was exceptional even within that era for willing

745
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:05.199
<v Speaker 6>to do that. I well, No, the idea that this

746
00:39:05.360 --> 00:39:10.000
<v Speaker 6>was a reflexive British response, that the island was consumed

747
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:16.239
<v Speaker 6>by Churchillian fortitude, It's just not true. The institutional response,

748
00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:19.239
<v Speaker 6>the establishment response, what we would call the swamp today,

749
00:39:19.920 --> 00:39:25.079
<v Speaker 6>said leave it. Because Britain had been through decades of decolonization,

750
00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:31.679
<v Speaker 6>that was its reflexive mode, and the British public initially

751
00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:36.360
<v Speaker 6>and certainly the bureaucracy, thought that this was just another

752
00:39:36.480 --> 00:39:41.079
<v Speaker 6>example of our dismantling the empire. And she said no,

753
00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:45.079
<v Speaker 6>and she was right, of course, she said not literally,

754
00:39:45.079 --> 00:39:49.400
<v Speaker 6>but I'm paraphrasing that there was no meaningful difference between

755
00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:53.599
<v Speaker 6>the Argentinians invading the Falcons and the Argentinians invading London

756
00:39:54.159 --> 00:39:57.239
<v Speaker 6>in that they were British citizens who wanted, almost to

757
00:39:57.320 --> 00:40:00.000
<v Speaker 6>a man, to remain British citizens. It was British territ

758
00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:03.119
<v Speaker 6>and you can't allow it to stand. And this was

759
00:40:03.360 --> 00:40:06.800
<v Speaker 6>regarded in the same way as Ronald Reagan's Evil Empire

760
00:40:06.840 --> 00:40:09.559
<v Speaker 6>speech that we all love was regarded as sort of

761
00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:14.159
<v Speaker 6>the black and white maniche and thinking of a jingoistic roube.

762
00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:20.719
<v Speaker 6>But she won and having one, the public loved her

763
00:40:20.800 --> 00:40:23.480
<v Speaker 6>for it. But I think the point you're making is

764
00:40:23.559 --> 00:40:25.760
<v Speaker 6>the right one, which is not really about the resolve,

765
00:40:25.880 --> 00:40:28.320
<v Speaker 6>but is about the ability to project force, which the

766
00:40:28.320 --> 00:40:31.880
<v Speaker 6>British at that point could still do quite easily. We

767
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:35.320
<v Speaker 6>sent an ar martyr of sorts down to the Falklands.

768
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:37.880
<v Speaker 6>We just couldn't do it now. Also, it's not just

769
00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:41.760
<v Speaker 6>the lack of ships and modern weaponry. It's little things.

770
00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:44.760
<v Speaker 6>For example, did you know that the aircraft carries the

771
00:40:44.760 --> 00:40:48.000
<v Speaker 6>British have They don't have the catapults on them, they

772
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:51.079
<v Speaker 6>don't have any of the stuff that American ones have

773
00:40:51.119 --> 00:40:51.760
<v Speaker 6>had since.

774
00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:57.880
<v Speaker 2>The atl They have to be vtol the French have catapults.

775
00:40:57.119 --> 00:41:00.800
<v Speaker 2>The Charles de Gaull can show more and it's amazing.

776
00:41:01.119 --> 00:41:04.440
<v Speaker 2>The Brits invented, if I'm correct, the angled airstrip on

777
00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:07.360
<v Speaker 2>the aircraft carrier, but we don't need that anymore.

778
00:41:07.719 --> 00:41:11.199
<v Speaker 6>American roller coasters have catapults to launch them, but the

779
00:41:11.199 --> 00:41:14.840
<v Speaker 6>British aircraft carriers done well.

780
00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:19.159
<v Speaker 2>Speaking as a jingoistic rub who believes in Menechean dualism,

781
00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:23.199
<v Speaker 2>I sided with the Thatcher view of the world alas,

782
00:41:23.239 --> 00:41:24.960
<v Speaker 2>but now people are saying that one of the reasons

783
00:41:24.960 --> 00:41:28.079
<v Speaker 2>that Britain seems politically and culturally paralyzed in a leadership level

784
00:41:28.119 --> 00:41:31.800
<v Speaker 2>is because Kirstarmer can't alienate those people who are really

785
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:34.760
<v Speaker 2>mad that the Molos got pounded. And that's a different

786
00:41:34.800 --> 00:41:38.159
<v Speaker 2>element now than existed back in the Falklands War. That

787
00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:40.960
<v Speaker 2>the idea of British and the idea of monoculture, the

788
00:41:41.039 --> 00:41:42.679
<v Speaker 2>idea of what it means to be English and all

789
00:41:42.679 --> 00:41:46.480
<v Speaker 2>the rest of these things have been defined differently in

790
00:41:46.519 --> 00:41:49.960
<v Speaker 2>different ways without the consent of the people who previously

791
00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:55.000
<v Speaker 2>fit under that definition. So that's our little bit for them. France, however,

792
00:41:55.079 --> 00:41:58.559
<v Speaker 2>seems to be using this opportunity to look muscular Macron

793
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:02.280
<v Speaker 2>sending thels to gall I believe didn't Macron recently say

794
00:42:02.280 --> 00:42:04.360
<v Speaker 2>that he was going to extend the French nuclear force,

795
00:42:04.719 --> 00:42:08.079
<v Speaker 2>you know, force frape or whatever it is, to England

796
00:42:08.159 --> 00:42:10.800
<v Speaker 2>that he would he would, he would was willing to

797
00:42:10.840 --> 00:42:13.079
<v Speaker 2>include them in the nuclear umbrella. Did I did I

798
00:42:13.079 --> 00:42:15.480
<v Speaker 2>get that correctly? Well?

799
00:42:15.559 --> 00:42:17.960
<v Speaker 5>I missed that if he did say it. But I mean,

800
00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:19.360
<v Speaker 5>you know, we love to throw a lot of shade

801
00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:20.920
<v Speaker 5>at the French. You know, why do they plant the

802
00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:23.920
<v Speaker 5>trees because the German army likes the margin a shade.

803
00:42:23.920 --> 00:42:24.960
<v Speaker 3>All those great old jokes.

804
00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:27.199
<v Speaker 5>But the truth is is, you know it's I think

805
00:42:27.239 --> 00:42:29.760
<v Speaker 5>it's still true today that when the French get their backup,

806
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:33.239
<v Speaker 5>they're not hesitant to lash out quite effectively. I mean,

807
00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:35.119
<v Speaker 5>my favorite moment, it's now back in the eighties, but

808
00:42:35.159 --> 00:42:37.320
<v Speaker 5>you know, they blew up a green Peace ship that

809
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:39.639
<v Speaker 5>was trying to interfere with one of their nuclear tests

810
00:42:39.639 --> 00:42:40.559
<v Speaker 5>in the South Pacific.

811
00:42:40.800 --> 00:42:43.679
<v Speaker 3>I kind of admired that, right, And.

812
00:42:43.519 --> 00:42:46.519
<v Speaker 5>You know, they they they rummaged around a bit in

813
00:42:46.559 --> 00:42:48.480
<v Speaker 5>the last few years in Africa and some of their

814
00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:52.000
<v Speaker 5>former colonies and some governments that are allied with them now.

815
00:42:52.079 --> 00:42:56.039
<v Speaker 3>They often had to borrow I think ten years ago.

816
00:42:56.079 --> 00:42:58.079
<v Speaker 5>As I recall that maybe more, they had to borrow

817
00:42:58.440 --> 00:43:03.400
<v Speaker 5>transport capacity from Russia. So they do lack certain complete capacities.

818
00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:04.800
<v Speaker 5>But you know, when the French want to do it,

819
00:43:04.800 --> 00:43:08.119
<v Speaker 5>they can still do it, which amazing I think. I

820
00:43:08.280 --> 00:43:10.199
<v Speaker 5>like to think Macron has a sense of humor saying

821
00:43:10.199 --> 00:43:12.760
<v Speaker 5>we'll defend England now, which I.

822
00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:15.079
<v Speaker 3>Can see him doing that just to be mischievous and annoying.

823
00:43:15.599 --> 00:43:18.920
<v Speaker 2>He did four days ago in Brittany speech in Brittany

824
00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:21.719
<v Speaker 2>saying Macron said, quote, the next fifty years will be

825
00:43:21.760 --> 00:43:24.280
<v Speaker 2>an era of nuclear weapons. I guess we're past the

826
00:43:24.280 --> 00:43:31.440
<v Speaker 2>old days of the freeze and the rest of that stuff. Yeah. Right, so, gentlemen,

827
00:43:31.480 --> 00:43:33.760
<v Speaker 2>if you could talk amongst yourself. I'm seeing a huge

828
00:43:33.800 --> 00:43:35.719
<v Speaker 2>amount of smoke coming from outside my eyes. I just

829
00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:36.880
<v Speaker 2>want to make sure nothing's on foot.

830
00:43:36.920 --> 00:43:39.840
<v Speaker 3>Oh go ahead, Yeah, Well, good grief.

831
00:43:40.599 --> 00:43:41.159
<v Speaker 6>Well I saw.

832
00:43:42.679 --> 00:43:46.800
<v Speaker 5>Well, well, we should ask James about this when he

833
00:43:46.800 --> 00:43:48.360
<v Speaker 5>comes back, if we have time. I just saw some

834
00:43:48.400 --> 00:43:51.920
<v Speaker 5>figures yesterday from a friend of mine. Mark Perry used

835
00:43:51.960 --> 00:43:53.800
<v Speaker 5>to be an economist to the EI, but he's from

836
00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:56.599
<v Speaker 5>Minnesota and he's moved back to the Twin cities. Apparently,

837
00:43:56.679 --> 00:43:59.800
<v Speaker 5>auto thefts are soaring in Minneapolis St.

838
00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:02.840
<v Speaker 3>Paul right now, eighteen a day on average job this year.

839
00:44:03.039 --> 00:44:05.920
<v Speaker 5>And that's while crime and auto thefts are falling everywhere

840
00:44:05.920 --> 00:44:06.840
<v Speaker 5>else around the country.

841
00:44:07.159 --> 00:44:08.079
<v Speaker 3>So what's this about.

842
00:44:08.280 --> 00:44:11.679
<v Speaker 5>I get the feeling that, I mean, you may know

843
00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:15.559
<v Speaker 5>this that the number of deportations by ICE are much

844
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:18.679
<v Speaker 5>higher in California and Texas other bigger states, but that's

845
00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:20.440
<v Speaker 5>not what we're seeing the protests in the trouble we're

846
00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:23.639
<v Speaker 5>seeing in Minneapolis Saint Paul. And I don't know, I'm

847
00:44:23.679 --> 00:44:25.840
<v Speaker 5>never going to understand that crazy place. It's sort of

848
00:44:25.880 --> 00:44:27.480
<v Speaker 5>worse off even than Portland, Oregon.

849
00:44:28.199 --> 00:44:28.760
<v Speaker 3>That's one thing.

850
00:44:29.960 --> 00:44:33.039
<v Speaker 6>I think There's two things going on there. One is

851
00:44:33.199 --> 00:44:36.480
<v Speaker 6>the lack of enforcement, which is how you stop car thefts,

852
00:44:36.599 --> 00:44:39.079
<v Speaker 6>as the National Guard showed in Washington, d C. I

853
00:44:39.079 --> 00:44:41.320
<v Speaker 6>don't want the National Guide outside of Washington, d C.

854
00:44:41.880 --> 00:44:45.039
<v Speaker 6>Necessarily because Washington, d C is a federal city and

855
00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:50.159
<v Speaker 6>Minneapolis is not. But you do stop this with preventative measures,

856
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:53.880
<v Speaker 6>and on the immigration front, California, it's very interesting that.

857
00:44:54.199 --> 00:44:57.920
<v Speaker 6>But Texas is explained by the cooperation of the state

858
00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:00.480
<v Speaker 6>with the federal government, because once you have it makes

859
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:02.519
<v Speaker 6>it very difficult for people to get in the way.

860
00:45:03.039 --> 00:45:05.559
<v Speaker 6>If the state's handing over the people that it wants

861
00:45:05.639 --> 00:45:09.280
<v Speaker 6>to the federal government, it's easy. But that's interesting about California.

862
00:45:09.320 --> 00:45:10.480
<v Speaker 6>I wonder why that is.

863
00:45:12.280 --> 00:45:12.960
<v Speaker 3>I don't really know.

864
00:45:13.039 --> 00:45:17.199
<v Speaker 5>I actually drive by every Sunday a anti ICE protests

865
00:45:17.239 --> 00:45:20.079
<v Speaker 5>with maybe one hundred people with signs on highway one

866
00:45:20.079 --> 00:45:23.079
<v Speaker 5>on one outside the county jail and Sheriff's office. So

867
00:45:23.480 --> 00:45:25.920
<v Speaker 5>because I think my local DA is cooperating with ICE,

868
00:45:25.960 --> 00:45:28.599
<v Speaker 5>because he's very concernative, Okay, But I think it varies from.

869
00:45:28.519 --> 00:45:29.119
<v Speaker 3>Place to place.

870
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:34.880
<v Speaker 6>The topic times is why is Minneapolis crazy?

871
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:36.000
<v Speaker 5>Oh?

872
00:45:36.199 --> 00:45:38.960
<v Speaker 2>So many reasons, so many reasons. And by the way,

873
00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:42.000
<v Speaker 2>I'm not on fires in the excess of water vapor

874
00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:45.159
<v Speaker 2>coming out of the heating system since we're selling soon,

875
00:45:45.199 --> 00:45:47.599
<v Speaker 2>I'm a little Actually, I would prefer for the place.

876
00:45:47.639 --> 00:45:49.320
<v Speaker 2>I would prefer for the place to go up in

877
00:45:49.400 --> 00:45:51.480
<v Speaker 2>absolute fire and just collect the check and walk away.

878
00:45:51.519 --> 00:45:53.400
<v Speaker 2>But it wasn't that. Why is Manylos?

879
00:45:53.920 --> 00:45:56.840
<v Speaker 5>Remember Rob Long always said that if you're in California

880
00:45:56.880 --> 00:45:59.119
<v Speaker 5>where you can't afford earthquake insurance, right, I mean, just

881
00:45:59.159 --> 00:46:00.760
<v Speaker 5>it's off the charge to go offer to me every

882
00:46:00.840 --> 00:46:02.679
<v Speaker 5>year and I forget it. And he said, if you

883
00:46:02.719 --> 00:46:04.559
<v Speaker 5>have an earthquake and your house falls over, what you

884
00:46:04.599 --> 00:46:05.800
<v Speaker 5>want to do is send it on fire.

885
00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:07.719
<v Speaker 3>Because of the fire, insurance will cover it.

886
00:46:08.559 --> 00:46:15.679
<v Speaker 2>Minneapolis. Minneapolis is crazy because it decided that it had

887
00:46:15.719 --> 00:46:18.559
<v Speaker 2>solved everything and that the thing to do to make

888
00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:21.880
<v Speaker 2>things better was to keep expanding every single instrument of

889
00:46:21.880 --> 00:46:25.320
<v Speaker 2>the state that it thought had solved everything. And there

890
00:46:25.360 --> 00:46:27.440
<v Speaker 2>were a couple of instances where things weren't solved. So

891
00:46:27.480 --> 00:46:30.679
<v Speaker 2>it just spend more. So that's it. So the process

892
00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:35.719
<v Speaker 2>naturally pushed into politics people who believed in strong status intervention. Now,

893
00:46:35.800 --> 00:46:39.440
<v Speaker 2>the thing which is not unusual, but what made Minnesota

894
00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:43.960
<v Speaker 2>unusual was that we had a high Scandinavian northyn European

895
00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:46.599
<v Speaker 2>culture quote, which gave us a lot of social capital.

896
00:46:46.960 --> 00:46:48.920
<v Speaker 2>One of those high trust societies all the people are

897
00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:52.320
<v Speaker 2>always entering about on X. We were that you paid

898
00:46:52.320 --> 00:46:54.239
<v Speaker 2>a lot of taxes, but you got good government, you

899
00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:58.719
<v Speaker 2>got clean streets, you got no potholes. You had expectation

900
00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:02.239
<v Speaker 2>that the corporate leaders were their money as well. The

901
00:47:02.280 --> 00:47:04.320
<v Speaker 2>big companies will pledge to get five percent of their

902
00:47:04.320 --> 00:47:08.159
<v Speaker 2>stuff to charities and whatnot you and it all produces

903
00:47:08.719 --> 00:47:12.480
<v Speaker 2>wonderfully civilized society. Those generous with its benefits. Generous benefits

904
00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:15.840
<v Speaker 2>attract people who do not desire to contribute, and then

905
00:47:16.039 --> 00:47:20.639
<v Speaker 2>that gets more of that, and eventually the social capital decreased,

906
00:47:21.079 --> 00:47:24.199
<v Speaker 2>the trust decreased, and the people who stayed in Minneapolis

907
00:47:24.199 --> 00:47:27.000
<v Speaker 2>in particular were generally, you know, hardliners, I mean just

908
00:47:27.199 --> 00:47:30.400
<v Speaker 2>dead enders. Or there are people who had not changed

909
00:47:30.440 --> 00:47:33.159
<v Speaker 2>their politics at all ever since college and believed these

910
00:47:33.239 --> 00:47:35.960
<v Speaker 2>things with increasing fervor, and it never really examined the

911
00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:38.719
<v Speaker 2>whole intellectual constellation in their head that made them both

912
00:47:38.760 --> 00:47:40.880
<v Speaker 2>the way they did. And so the city sort of

913
00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:44.480
<v Speaker 2>self selects, and it's a smart city, highly educated people,

914
00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:48.360
<v Speaker 2>but it's those highly educated you know, liberals and progressives

915
00:47:48.360 --> 00:47:53.320
<v Speaker 2>who have a moral certainty attached to outmoded, unworkable ideas,

916
00:47:53.920 --> 00:47:56.599
<v Speaker 2>and so that's what gets you crazy and alias and

917
00:47:56.639 --> 00:47:59.559
<v Speaker 2>a lack. So I am going to be moving, but

918
00:48:00.920 --> 00:48:04.559
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to be about twelve blocks from the city limits.

919
00:48:04.559 --> 00:48:06.599
<v Speaker 6>So I was going to ask you. I was hoping

920
00:48:06.639 --> 00:48:07.719
<v Speaker 6>I might have a new neighbor.

921
00:48:09.599 --> 00:48:14.239
<v Speaker 2>No, Alast Florida isn't on the table yet, but it wouldn't.

922
00:48:14.239 --> 00:48:16.880
<v Speaker 2>I have sort of a year here where I'm figuring

923
00:48:16.880 --> 00:48:20.679
<v Speaker 2>it out and we will see I you know, the

924
00:48:21.280 --> 00:48:23.119
<v Speaker 2>or Alabama for that matter, I.

925
00:48:23.039 --> 00:48:26.639
<v Speaker 6>Should be on commission, I think. And my prostizement for Florida.

926
00:48:27.360 --> 00:48:28.800
<v Speaker 2>I just I want to go to Alabama so I

927
00:48:28.840 --> 00:48:31.639
<v Speaker 2>can lord it over the Canadians. I was thinking of

928
00:48:31.679 --> 00:48:32.320
<v Speaker 2>going to a Winnebeg.

929
00:48:32.360 --> 00:48:35.599
<v Speaker 6>But you know, but it's Alabama.

930
00:48:35.840 --> 00:48:39.400
<v Speaker 2>I know, that's the thing. That's a great thing. Well yeah,

931
00:48:39.440 --> 00:48:41.079
<v Speaker 2>I mean, so are we alone in this? I mean

932
00:48:41.119 --> 00:48:43.400
<v Speaker 2>we seem like an outpost of what you take to

933
00:48:43.440 --> 00:48:48.760
<v Speaker 2>be southern California or just California crazy liberals and transplanted here.

934
00:48:49.000 --> 00:48:50.760
<v Speaker 2>I mean des Moines isn't like this, And I wouldn't

935
00:48:50.800 --> 00:48:53.679
<v Speaker 2>say that des Moines is necessarily historically all that different

936
00:48:53.679 --> 00:48:57.480
<v Speaker 2>from from from Minnesota. Iowa was not settled by a

937
00:48:57.480 --> 00:49:02.079
<v Speaker 2>bunch of you know, raging individual lists who like to

938
00:49:02.079 --> 00:49:04.480
<v Speaker 2>do any form of collective I mean, it's the Midwest

939
00:49:04.519 --> 00:49:06.199
<v Speaker 2>is generally sensible settled places.

940
00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:08.559
<v Speaker 3>Why we are that.

941
00:49:08.960 --> 00:49:12.960
<v Speaker 2>Shanker of red In or shanker of the well No, no,

942
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:16.280
<v Speaker 2>shankers don't Why why we're crazy?

943
00:49:16.639 --> 00:49:16.840
<v Speaker 5>Yeah?

944
00:49:16.840 --> 00:49:19.360
<v Speaker 6>But you know what else is interesting about this? James?

945
00:49:19.360 --> 00:49:21.119
<v Speaker 6>And you can tell me if I'm wrong, because I'm

946
00:49:21.159 --> 00:49:24.519
<v Speaker 6>making comments on your state, but if you look at

947
00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:28.679
<v Speaker 6>say the presidential election results in Minnesota, it's really close.

948
00:49:29.639 --> 00:49:33.320
<v Speaker 6>So yeah, you've got a strange phenomenon here where the

949
00:49:33.360 --> 00:49:37.000
<v Speaker 6>Democrats win, and they win most of the time, and

950
00:49:37.039 --> 00:49:40.239
<v Speaker 6>then they're completely crazy as if they were winning in

951
00:49:40.239 --> 00:49:45.719
<v Speaker 6>say Oregon, where they win by twenty points, which is unusual.

952
00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:49.519
<v Speaker 6>And Wisconsin is in some ways a progressive state, but

953
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:53.840
<v Speaker 6>that is much less so than Minnesota, and it's a

954
00:49:53.880 --> 00:49:58.639
<v Speaker 6>swing state two or it's close to being one. So

955
00:49:58.679 --> 00:50:01.360
<v Speaker 6>there's something about this that really pushes the people who

956
00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:03.679
<v Speaker 6>are in charge to go for it in a way

957
00:50:03.679 --> 00:50:05.599
<v Speaker 6>that they don't seem to in other states that are

958
00:50:05.639 --> 00:50:08.199
<v Speaker 6>divided by five or six points. California is a bit different.

959
00:50:08.239 --> 00:50:11.280
<v Speaker 6>I mean, California is what was it like sixty one

960
00:50:11.400 --> 00:50:15.360
<v Speaker 6>to thirty in the last presidential election. It's not even that,

961
00:50:15.559 --> 00:50:18.239
<v Speaker 6>but I yeah, yeah, they can just they can run

962
00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:21.519
<v Speaker 6>hog wild, as you might say. And now in Florida,

963
00:50:21.599 --> 00:50:24.199
<v Speaker 6>maybe this will change, but I mean the last gubernatorial

964
00:50:24.239 --> 00:50:26.599
<v Speaker 6>election in Florida was decided by twenty points. Of course,

965
00:50:26.639 --> 00:50:29.400
<v Speaker 6>they came back and did constitutional carry in the school

966
00:50:29.519 --> 00:50:32.079
<v Speaker 6>choice and tax cuts and so forth. But I'm just

967
00:50:32.119 --> 00:50:35.639
<v Speaker 6>fascinated by Minnesota because it's actually not that democratic. It's

968
00:50:35.679 --> 00:50:37.719
<v Speaker 6>just that the Democrats who are there are wild.

969
00:50:38.760 --> 00:50:41.159
<v Speaker 2>It is and it isn't. I mean, you're right, it's

970
00:50:41.199 --> 00:50:46.000
<v Speaker 2>the metro core that is the throbbing blue out state.

971
00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:48.800
<v Speaker 2>It's red and it's purplish as you go out here

972
00:50:48.840 --> 00:50:52.079
<v Speaker 2>and there. But there's also a strong socialist tendency when

973
00:50:52.119 --> 00:50:54.360
<v Speaker 2>you get up north to the Iron Range and places

974
00:50:54.360 --> 00:50:55.920
<v Speaker 2>that were settled by people who said, now we're going

975
00:50:55.960 --> 00:50:59.880
<v Speaker 2>to bond, to get bond together for for union reasons.

976
00:51:00.079 --> 00:51:03.119
<v Speaker 2>For the rest of it, you have that old early

977
00:51:03.159 --> 00:51:06.280
<v Speaker 2>twentieth century sort of leftism that still is part of

978
00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:08.960
<v Speaker 2>the character. And so you know, they may vote this way,

979
00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:11.360
<v Speaker 2>they may vote that way, but they're culturally not on

980
00:51:11.480 --> 00:51:15.199
<v Speaker 2>board with the whole progressive twenty first century agenda, just not.

981
00:51:16.519 --> 00:51:18.599
<v Speaker 2>But they find themselves ruled by a party that is

982
00:51:19.199 --> 00:51:23.760
<v Speaker 2>I mean Peggy Flanagan. You know, the Tenant governor shows

983
00:51:23.840 --> 00:51:26.039
<v Speaker 2>up with a shirt that says protect trans Kids has

984
00:51:26.079 --> 00:51:30.039
<v Speaker 2>got a big knife on it. Who much supposed to stab?

985
00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:32.559
<v Speaker 2>I mean, when they had a trans Day of Visibility

986
00:51:32.760 --> 00:51:35.440
<v Speaker 2>or a trans Day of Remembrance, I can't remember what

987
00:51:35.480 --> 00:51:39.239
<v Speaker 2>it was they had this drag guy queen dancing in

988
00:51:39.480 --> 00:51:41.840
<v Speaker 2>high heels in this sort of demonic costume. And I'm

989
00:51:41.840 --> 00:51:43.320
<v Speaker 2>not saying that lightly. I mean I think he had

990
00:51:43.360 --> 00:51:46.360
<v Speaker 2>horns in a tail on the star which is this

991
00:51:46.559 --> 00:51:49.280
<v Speaker 2>in the rotunda of the Capitol building. There's this beautiful

992
00:51:49.320 --> 00:51:53.519
<v Speaker 2>inlaid star, symbol of the state, and it's roped off

993
00:51:53.559 --> 00:51:56.280
<v Speaker 2>so that nobody walks over it, like the you know,

994
00:51:56.320 --> 00:51:58.880
<v Speaker 2>the flame of the Unknown Soldier to the Unknown Soldier flame.

995
00:51:59.480 --> 00:52:02.239
<v Speaker 2>There he was clopping away at it, and everybody's clapping

996
00:52:02.280 --> 00:52:04.559
<v Speaker 2>away to and you know, the guys out of state

997
00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:07.800
<v Speaker 2>in the Range Farmers sitting there at the VFW Club

998
00:52:07.840 --> 00:52:10.199
<v Speaker 2>looking at this is thinking what a bunch of weirdos.

999
00:52:10.320 --> 00:52:13.079
<v Speaker 2>I had nothing to do with them. But then, but

1000
00:52:13.119 --> 00:52:15.400
<v Speaker 2>then you know, coming election time, they may pull the

1001
00:52:15.480 --> 00:52:18.320
<v Speaker 2>letter from the lever for the d Yeah, it is.

1002
00:52:18.559 --> 00:52:22.000
<v Speaker 2>It is a peculiar place. It it is. But I

1003
00:52:22.280 --> 00:52:25.239
<v Speaker 2>don't misunderstand all the things that you hear from Minneapolis

1004
00:52:25.239 --> 00:52:27.159
<v Speaker 2>and all the things that you've seen. It is still

1005
00:52:27.639 --> 00:52:31.199
<v Speaker 2>a beautiful city and a fantastic city. And I leave

1006
00:52:31.239 --> 00:52:35.599
<v Speaker 2>my neighborhood with regret against my will, and the state

1007
00:52:35.679 --> 00:52:38.320
<v Speaker 2>itself is beautiful and the people are good, and you know,

1008
00:52:38.360 --> 00:52:43.599
<v Speaker 2>it's it's mad in spots, it's deft, but damn, it's

1009
00:52:43.599 --> 00:52:44.119
<v Speaker 2>still home.

1010
00:52:44.400 --> 00:52:47.039
<v Speaker 6>You sound like a Californian talking about California.

1011
00:52:47.280 --> 00:52:50.559
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I know, it's it's it's it's a Stockholm syndrome.

1012
00:52:50.960 --> 00:52:53.480
<v Speaker 2>It really is. Well, gentlemen, we're on the way out here,

1013
00:52:53.639 --> 00:52:55.079
<v Speaker 2>just got a few minutes before we come to the

1014
00:52:55.119 --> 00:52:57.880
<v Speaker 2>end of our arbitrarily decided to time package here and

1015
00:52:58.000 --> 00:52:59.840
<v Speaker 2>he notes, Stephen, anything you'd like to tell us that

1016
00:52:59.880 --> 00:53:02.840
<v Speaker 2>we talk about that we haven't mentioned in our in

1017
00:53:02.960 --> 00:53:04.360
<v Speaker 2>a basis around the world.

1018
00:53:04.679 --> 00:53:06.199
<v Speaker 5>Well, there's a whole lot. I mean, we could go

1019
00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:08.920
<v Speaker 5>on a CHRISTI nom. I'll just say I won't tell

1020
00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:10.480
<v Speaker 5>a story because in the time, but I just.

1021
00:53:10.719 --> 00:53:12.719
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, she's from South Dakota. Those people are old.

1022
00:53:12.719 --> 00:53:13.159
<v Speaker 3>There you go.

1023
00:53:14.159 --> 00:53:16.400
<v Speaker 5>I did see her once, only once up close and

1024
00:53:16.440 --> 00:53:18.199
<v Speaker 5>in person, where I formed two impressions.

1025
00:53:18.239 --> 00:53:20.440
<v Speaker 3>One is, wow, she's really pretty in person.

1026
00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:23.119
<v Speaker 5>But second, I came away from what should have been

1027
00:53:23.320 --> 00:53:26.559
<v Speaker 5>a slam dunk easy command of the room where she

1028
00:53:26.679 --> 00:53:30.000
<v Speaker 5>was very stiff and didn't read the room that was

1029
00:53:30.199 --> 00:53:32.360
<v Speaker 5>terribly sympathetic to her, and I came away thinking, you know,

1030
00:53:32.480 --> 00:53:34.000
<v Speaker 5>she really hasn't.

1031
00:53:33.599 --> 00:53:36.320
<v Speaker 3>Got it at the high level that she aspires to.

1032
00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:38.039
<v Speaker 5>This is five or six years ago now that she

1033
00:53:38.119 --> 00:53:42.000
<v Speaker 5>really has not got the talents and political knows for

1034
00:53:42.079 --> 00:53:44.119
<v Speaker 5>the levels that she aspires to, and I think that's

1035
00:53:44.119 --> 00:53:45.639
<v Speaker 5>what we've seen over the last year with her.

1036
00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:47.880
<v Speaker 3>Unfortunately, because I'm inclined otherwise to want to like.

1037
00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:50.719
<v Speaker 6>Her, she should never have been chosen. And it is

1038
00:53:50.760 --> 00:53:53.760
<v Speaker 6>one of the great and possibly fatal flaws in the

1039
00:53:53.800 --> 00:54:02.960
<v Speaker 6>MAGA movement that they have this absolutely fervent conviction that

1040
00:54:03.039 --> 00:54:05.559
<v Speaker 6>if they don't win on every issue they care about,

1041
00:54:05.639 --> 00:54:07.880
<v Speaker 6>many of which are the issues I care about the

1042
00:54:07.920 --> 00:54:12.960
<v Speaker 6>country's over and yet they put in positions of administration

1043
00:54:13.760 --> 00:54:16.559
<v Speaker 6>people who are simply not up to the task. And

1044
00:54:16.599 --> 00:54:21.679
<v Speaker 6>you can see the difference between the results when they

1045
00:54:22.519 --> 00:54:27.000
<v Speaker 6>find good people, say Marca Rubio or Scott Besend, than

1046
00:54:27.039 --> 00:54:32.079
<v Speaker 6>when they find not good people, say Christynome or well,

1047
00:54:32.119 --> 00:54:33.920
<v Speaker 6>we nearly got Matt Gates, which would be the worst

1048
00:54:33.920 --> 00:54:36.440
<v Speaker 6>of all, but Pam Bondy, who I was open to,

1049
00:54:36.519 --> 00:54:38.880
<v Speaker 6>but it's not up to the job. And I think

1050
00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:43.599
<v Speaker 6>that the Trump administration ought to be aware that if

1051
00:54:43.639 --> 00:54:47.159
<v Speaker 6>it had filled itself with Edwin Meese types, it would

1052
00:54:47.239 --> 00:54:51.440
<v Speaker 6>be further along in its goals, then it is now.

1053
00:54:52.039 --> 00:54:54.880
<v Speaker 6>I have nothing particular against Mark qwain Marlin. I think

1054
00:54:54.880 --> 00:54:57.360
<v Speaker 6>some of the criticisms of him are deeply unfair. But

1055
00:54:57.800 --> 00:55:04.039
<v Speaker 6>the border and scurity in general was Trump's issue. Why

1056
00:55:04.039 --> 00:55:08.079
<v Speaker 6>can't they find someone who is boring but unbelievably good

1057
00:55:08.880 --> 00:55:14.400
<v Speaker 6>at running an executive department that well, for better or

1058
00:55:14.440 --> 00:55:18.960
<v Speaker 6>for worse, be in charge of deportations for the next

1059
00:55:18.960 --> 00:55:21.639
<v Speaker 6>three years. I don't understand this. You could get me

1060
00:55:21.719 --> 00:55:24.000
<v Speaker 6>going about how the fact that Malon wants to leave

1061
00:55:24.400 --> 00:55:27.159
<v Speaker 6>the Senate is an indictment of the state of our legislature,

1062
00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:30.519
<v Speaker 6>because no historical senator would be caught dead leaving for

1063
00:55:30.559 --> 00:55:33.679
<v Speaker 6>anything other than the Secretary of State. But the Trump

1064
00:55:33.679 --> 00:55:36.039
<v Speaker 6>administration just has a problem in this regard. If it

1065
00:55:36.079 --> 00:55:39.119
<v Speaker 6>could fill every position with someone excellent, which it could,

1066
00:55:39.599 --> 00:55:41.320
<v Speaker 6>I think it would be better off. But it doesn't.

1067
00:55:41.360 --> 00:55:45.840
<v Speaker 6>And so yet Christine known of all people at DHS.

1068
00:55:46.159 --> 00:55:48.119
<v Speaker 2>You get the feeling that Mark Graccorreon is checking his

1069
00:55:48.159 --> 00:55:50.519
<v Speaker 2>phone settings to make sure the notifications are turned off.

1070
00:55:50.519 --> 00:55:53.119
<v Speaker 6>He should be. That's exactly who they should pay for.

1071
00:55:53.199 --> 00:55:57.719
<v Speaker 2>Someone like that, right, yeah, exactly, or us for that matter,

1072
00:55:57.840 --> 00:56:00.440
<v Speaker 2>we who convene here weekly and have all the answers

1073
00:56:00.599 --> 00:56:02.239
<v Speaker 2>we'll actually know we don't, but we just like to

1074
00:56:02.280 --> 00:56:03.719
<v Speaker 2>talk about the things that we think that we know.

1075
00:56:03.920 --> 00:56:06.000
<v Speaker 2>And I hope that you've enjoyed hearing the things that

1076
00:56:06.000 --> 00:56:09.679
<v Speaker 2>we've said, because otherwise what's the point. But as ever,

1077
00:56:09.800 --> 00:56:12.760
<v Speaker 2>Stephen and Charles, you have been a delight and interesting

1078
00:56:12.840 --> 00:56:15.119
<v Speaker 2>and fun to listen to. And I always come away

1079
00:56:15.119 --> 00:56:18.199
<v Speaker 2>from this glad I've spent this hour with you, and

1080
00:56:18.239 --> 00:56:20.199
<v Speaker 2>you folks at home. If you haven't been a member

1081
00:56:20.199 --> 00:56:26.880
<v Speaker 2>of Ricochet yet, what the sam touton hell are you

1082
00:56:26.920 --> 00:56:29.000
<v Speaker 2>waiting for? It's cheap And the thing about it is

1083
00:56:29.079 --> 00:56:32.280
<v Speaker 2>it's not just one of those websites where people post opinions.

1084
00:56:32.599 --> 00:56:35.480
<v Speaker 2>It's about everything, and there's a member site that has

1085
00:56:35.519 --> 00:56:37.639
<v Speaker 2>just It has a community and a breadth of topics,

1086
00:56:37.639 --> 00:56:39.599
<v Speaker 2>the likes of which you have not seen on the internet.

1087
00:56:39.719 --> 00:56:41.639
<v Speaker 2>It will not drive you mad like Facebook. It will

1088
00:56:41.639 --> 00:56:43.679
<v Speaker 2>not waste your time like Twitter. It will not be

1089
00:56:43.719 --> 00:56:46.039
<v Speaker 2>as a scrolling, endless time suck. It is a place

1090
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:49.960
<v Speaker 2>to sit down and actually expand and be calm. I

1091
00:56:49.960 --> 00:56:51.599
<v Speaker 2>get a little head up when somebody says this, but

1092
00:56:51.679 --> 00:56:53.400
<v Speaker 2>it's a community waiting for you. The likes of which,

1093
00:56:53.480 --> 00:56:56.480
<v Speaker 2>as I said, you haven't found and if you remember,

1094
00:56:56.519 --> 00:56:58.760
<v Speaker 2>you get to post, and if you're not, you don't.

1095
00:56:58.880 --> 00:57:01.719
<v Speaker 2>And that's why it's a civil, samee place to be.

1096
00:57:02.280 --> 00:57:04.599
<v Speaker 2>If you could go to Apple podcast or whatever it's

1097
00:57:04.599 --> 00:57:06.880
<v Speaker 2>called these days and give a five stars, we'd really

1098
00:57:06.960 --> 00:57:11.119
<v Speaker 2>appreciate that. Somewhere around episode one thousand, I'm gonna stop

1099
00:57:11.159 --> 00:57:13.159
<v Speaker 2>saying that, but since it's seven to seventy nine, that

1100
00:57:13.239 --> 00:57:15.079
<v Speaker 2>gives me a little how many more On the two

1101
00:57:15.119 --> 00:57:18.760
<v Speaker 2>hundred and twenty one we thank fabric Fabric by Gerber,

1102
00:57:18.960 --> 00:57:21.960
<v Speaker 2>which will provide you with insurance in like ten minutes.

1103
00:57:22.000 --> 00:57:24.199
<v Speaker 2>And if you've been putting it off, there's absolutely no

1104
00:57:24.440 --> 00:57:28.559
<v Speaker 2>reason you should. It's easy, sit down, open up your laptop,

1105
00:57:28.679 --> 00:57:31.119
<v Speaker 2>a couple of questions, and bang, there you are. Peace

1106
00:57:31.280 --> 00:57:34.280
<v Speaker 2>of mind. Gentlemen, it's been great and we'll see everybody

1107
00:57:34.320 --> 00:57:37.880
<v Speaker 2>in the comments, said Ricochet. Four point whatever, Bye bye.

1108
00:57:37.719 --> 00:57:40.599
<v Speaker 3>Bye, Ricochet.

1109
00:57:41.119 --> 00:57:44.280
<v Speaker 2>Peah, join the conversation