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Thinking Atheist podcast hosted by Seth Andrews.
Speaker 2: If you are not supporting this broadcast as a PA,
it makes a huge difference, It really does. It's a
big deal. I appreciate the fact that I'm able to
monetize online, but I'll tell you, after the recent skirmish
with YouTube and seeing the oligarchs monopolizing social media, these
are scary days, right. A lot of the stuff that
I've been writing about recently has to do with this
idea that the billionaires deserve their billions. They've earned it.
They built the better mouse trap. They at the very
least knew how to work the system, even if they
weren't business geniuses. Maybe they were Elon Musk right, the
boy genius who has never really made anything, is never
built or really designed anything except the cyber truck. And
we know how that went down. The other Tesla products,
which by the way, are well reviewed and well enjoyed
products by the marketplace, those were designed by other people
at Tesla. It's just that Elon attaches his name to it.
The one thing that he was behind. The site ibertruck
is the adsul of the twenty first century automobile industry.
It is the punchline of the industry and a huge failure.
When we look at people like that, a lot of
folks say, you know what, if he's smart enough to
game the system, if he can go in and build
on his privilege and maneuver his way through PayPal, etc.
And fill his pockets, will good on him. And this
worship of billionaires to me is just so bizarre, especially
by the crowd as banging the Bible that says the
law of money is the root of all evil. And
then when do the rich And I'll have a problem
with people getting rich, get rich, knock yourself out. You
want to be a millionaire, great, but once you become
the wealth hoarder. At what point does it become obscene?
Is it abuse? At what point do you owe the
societies upon which you build your obscene wealth? And on
a planet with so much suffering, how in the world
can you justify a five hundred million dollars yacht with
a helipad and a pool and bars and restaurants and
crazy shit like that. What are you talking about? People
are suffering, people are starving to death. People need houses
and shelters, their kids need education. What are you doing?
What are you doing? I was writing about this. It's
a clock that Jeff Bezos of Amazon is funding. He's
put forty plus million dollars into what's called the Millennium Clock,
and I believe it's being built on one of his
many properties. This clock Cuckoo's wants every thousand years. That's
what it does. That's all it does. It is supposed
to Cuckoo wants a millennium forty plus million dollars for
this sucker. How detached from reality does someone have to be?
How many meals would that buy? How much disease research
with that fund? How many people would it help? This
is the conversation I've been having lately about this weird
worship of money, especially in the United States, and especially
by people who make not even thirty five thousand dollars
a year. What's that thing that's been flying around that
says the average American is usually no more than six
months away from being financially devastated. They're not ever six
months away from becoming a billionaire, and yet they worship
the rich. If you haven't caught my most recent episode
co hosting with Erica, got sick given on the line
that was a treat, first time we've ever had a
chance to host together, and I shit you not. I
think it was our second caller, Renee. Oh. She's a
gem super sweet, super sweet person who called in with
this really wild and wacky story about how she is
a Christian but she's real not and worships the one
and only creator of the universe. And then she told
us that she has two PhDs. She just threw it
out there. Now, Erica is at the end of a
PhD program, right, so you knew she wasn't going to
let this go, and neither was I. So I asked
the obvious question. I said, well, I mean, may I
ask where did you get your doctorates and in what fields?
And she paused and then she said, I was given
my doctorates by the one and only creator of the universe.
God gave her the PhDs, is what she said, right,
So it was kind of an argument from authority. Right,
I've got degrees, so listen to me. I know what
I'm talking about. By the way, I got the degree
from the creator somewhere. My next question, I think was
did you get a full ride scholarship? Was there repel
grant of some kind and involved? How is this funded?
You know, what's the diploma even look like? If you
get it from God? It's not God. I didn't say God,
it's the one and only creator of the university. It
was such a wacky, wacky conversation and the calls on
these call in shows for me, and I know everybody,
a lot of people like the whacky or even the
seminar repeat callers who dial in and they can be
amusing my favorite parts For me, and this is subjective,
just bantering with my co host about whatever comes up.
And with Erica, all you have to do is start
talking about primates primate behaviors, and we talked about everything
from the given to the bonobo to Donald Trump, who
exhibits this weird primate behavior, all right, a destructive primate
behavior by someone who bullies everybody else. In the monkey troop?
What's a herd of monkeys called? Is it a troop?
What is a herd of monkeys? I'm gonna say heard,
just because it would drive by Erica crazy. But we
were talking about how the culture is really starting to
swell backward. They're resisting all of the abuse and the
grift and the bullying and all the shit that's coming
down from this high primate. What happens out in the wild, well,
in many many, many, many many cases, the rest of
the herd of monkeys, the troop they decide, screw this,
we've had enough, and then they overthrow the big alpha
primate and do horrible things to him. Horrible, I mean,
they've just had enough. Oh yeah, you're gonna hoard bananas,
you're gonna beat us up, you're gonna ruin our lives.
We've had enough. And then they go and they essentially
bite his balls, they bite his testicles, and they rip
them limb from limb, and there's screeching and chaos and
all this kind of stuff and then peace and order
is restored. She's like, you know, I'm just saying, throughout
our history, how many times have we seen the autocrats
and the tyrants, the oligarchs, the kings, right the oppressors,
whether it's Nero or Stalin, maw Hitler, etc. They come
to power, there's a shit ton of abuse, and then
finally certain parts of the tribe or the species say
we've had enough and they go and they rip their
balls off with their teeth. It just happens, and it
does make me wonder how shit is going to go
down in the United States because people are starting I
think people are almost there. They are almost at I
will go after your testicles with my teeth. They're almost
at that spot. What's it look like? And that gets scary.
There's already blood in the streets. Well, what happens if
people decide, you know what, we're going to go physically
after Rice? And then Donald Trump says, fine, I'm going
to activate the whole of the US military through the
Insurrection Act. And then the States say, oh, yeah, it's war.
So now we've got a second civil war. Donald Trump
then says, it's wartime. I'm going to cancel the midterm elections.
What does that entailed? Because you know it's going to
be a theoretical bloodbath in November at the mid terms.
It's crazy. How did we get here and why? I
just read an article? Who published the article? You know what?
Let me look it up. I'll tell you where it's sourced.
Hold please, this is out of the independent. Morale is
plummeting among ice agents over long hours, quotas, and public hatreds.
What what? Morale is plummeting among federal law enforcement officers
tasked with carrying out the Trump administration's aggressive anti immigration operation.
They complain long hours, ambitious arrest quotas, and hatred from
the public are a problem. Many of them have grown
disillusioned with the tactics being implemented by leadership. Cry me
a freaking river. There is not a violin in this
world small enough for these folks. I mean, you don't
get to have buyer's remorse when you join the American Gestapo,
the mask secret Police, Murder Incorporated. You're like, Oh, we
sure are having to work hard and the quotas are
too high. I'm not sure I agree with the tactics here.
Shooting people in the face it's not exactly what I
signed up for. I'm not sure I should have taken
the bonus. Many of these people promise salaries more than
the average American school teacher for what to go and terrorize,
terrorize American citizens. I just bought a T shirt from
fellow activist Christy Burke. I had her on the show
last year, and she's just a joy And she is
selling a shirt on her website and I couldn't help it.
I had to go buy it. Let me see if
I can find it here, yep. ICE is a terrorist
organization funded by your tax dollars. Now. She's running for
office now because she really does want to go out
and make a substantive change by becoming an elected official.
And so she is running and she sells the T
shirts and the hoodies and stuff to help fund that.
And she said, they killed an American woman, they gassed
an innocent family, they kidnapped a preschooler. They are terrorists,
and I'm sick of my tax dollars funding their cruelty
and violence. So she's out there on the front lines.
Ice is a terrorist organization funded by your tax dollars.
As soon as I get it, I'm going to photograph myself.
I'll put it with a link on my social media
pages because go Christy, I'm a fan. Before I get
to the phones. There is one other article that just
came out, and props to the New York Times for
doing actual journalism on this, regarding the murder of Alex
Pretti in Minneapolis. Everybody's divided on this one. They had
a vigil or Alex Pretty and Rene Good in my
hometown of Tulsa, and there are vigils happening and protest
happening really all around the country and all around the world.
So there was a vigil that happened out in the cold,
cold weather temps near fifteen degrees. People showed up anyway,
And then you go online and you begin to read
in the commons sections, and it's horrifying. Some people are like,
this was murder. Our hearts go on to the family's
ice must be stopped. But a shit ton more people
here in corn fed Jesus Town, red state, Tulsa, Oklahoma,
were like, fuck those people, they were domestic terrorists. How
dare he carry a gun to a protest or to
an ice arrest? And now you've got Donald Trump saying Oh,
you can't carry a gun in public. That's gonna go
over with his base, even the National Rifle Association, who
I despise. And I own a couple of firearms. I
have a couple of pistols I do. I target shoot
every once in a while. I am licensed and registered
and trained. I keep them safely in a gun safe.
They are not part of my identity. And here's a controversy.
If there was a national ban or recall, I'd give
them up because my guns are not part of my identity.
I don't even really think about him. I don't sit
around and have those fantasies. Or somebody breaks into my house,
yeah they ain't leaving because I'm going to unload a
magazine into him. There's a lot of people to get
off on that kind of bravada, you know. And I'm
thinking to myself, holy shit, if somebody broke in and
endangered my family and it came down to lethal force
to stop it, it would be a devastating, life altering,
traumatizing event. I think any moral person would feel that
way a life was taken, you had to exact violence
against somebody else. I certainly certainly wouldn't be masturbating to
the idea of doing it in front of all my friends.
But there's a culture that does that, and they're like, well,
he wore a gun to an ICE arrest, didn't touch
the gun, didn't certainly didn't draw the gun.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: The New York Times published a frame by frame analysis
of the video that was taken. And this is why
Donald Trump wants to outlaw video of ICE activities, because
right the party told you to reject the evidence of
your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command,
George Orwell. New video analysis reveals flawed and fatal decisions
in shooting of Peretti. Now this is a week weak headline.
The headline should say, new video analysis reveals that Alex
Pretti was murdered by Ice, But frame by frame they
showed he never touched his gun, never went for his gun.
The gun was removed from his person by another agent
before the armed agent drew his own gun and shot
him in the back. Two agents unloaded ten bullets into
Alex's body like that, and the gun was way far away.
He was faced down, He was under everybody's knees and
arms and fists. Pepper sprayed in the face for what
for defending another protester, and the New York Times fairly
analyzed the video and said he was not a threat.
I believe that is a direct quote. You can watch
frame by frame the video, and that rising tide of
outrage continues mass protest. I just read that the next
No Kings protest is going to happen in late March,
and I believe the website is no Kings dot org
or no Kings dot com. I'll be monitoring that, and
as I am not traveling, I will definitely be out
there on the streets. I got to figure out a
new sign. Okay, you've heard me, babbel. Let's talk to
our callers. Stand by, we will do that. Next kind
of nice to get together and lean on each other,
cry on each other. Shoulders vent just a little bit.
What would you like to vent about. Let's go to
the phones and talk to you. Rich is dialing in
from five eight five? Rich? Are you with me?
Speaker 1: Hey?
Speaker 5: How you doing?
Speaker 2: Yeah? What's up?
Speaker 5: There's so many things you said that just my original
thing as a black man. I've been even people who
vote for from now, I've had some sort of say
to me, well, you should get out there and protest,
and honestly, many and I can't speak for the whole community,
but many of us in the community have said, we've
been telling you this for years, this is what's going
to happen. For the most part, you can a lot
of even political scientists say this. Black people are some
of the most practical and the most studied voters out there.
They know what's going to happen. They've had it happen
to themselves over and over for decades, and many of
us don't want to go out there anyway. Honestly, our
attitude is, you know what, it's your turn. It's horrible
what's happening. But my Hispanic friends who said, Yo, look
what they're doing to us. But yet this is so man.
These people are saying this to me are the ones
who voted for Trump. I've also had some of my
white friends who don't understand why they're not seeing as
many Black people out there in the street. We've done
this for decades. Our blood is on those streets, and
many of us and I don't expect an answer.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 5: This is not a perfect strategy for us. I love
what Christie is doing. You you and I have met
I find you an amazing and I've told you this
genuine man. But as Black people, we don't want to
put up blood. And I hope people understand it. I
don't think actually, I don't hope they understand it. If
they don't understand that, that's on them. This is what's
happened to this young man was horrible, the young lady,
the children, all of this. This has been going on
in the black community for decades.
Speaker 2: From your experience, you think it is the majority of
African Americans that say we're done, because I mean, I've
seen across the color and culture palette out there, I've
seen people standing together.
Speaker 5: No, I'm not saying listen, that's why I said many.
Speaker 2: That's all I say.
Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, no, I stand in the sense of I
see it. But if my son wants to go out there,
my daughter wants to go out there'm and say don't
do it, because when we go out there, we will
be the first targeted. Unfortunately, what happened to these last
two people because there was no one else out there.
For my Hispanic friends who say I should go out there,
and I tell them, but your vote was the one
that was the one that pushed them over. So I
the cynicism is growing. But to your point, there's a
lot everything. I agree with everything you said to that,
but I'm just speaking to that point. There are many
of us who do we will sit, I'll vote, I'll say, yeah,
you're right, I won't go out there on the lines anymore.
I won't put myself there.
Speaker 2: I do find my sympathy well as dried up. I
feel I've changed. How can you not change? Yeah, I'm
still in many ways of softy, but there is Cynical
is a good word. You can't beat somebody over and
over and expect scar tissue not to form. Right. And
I'm at the point now where magas get no quarter
from me. The excuse we didn't know or gosh, we
didn't vote for this, or you know, we thought, well,
no matter who he is, at least he is not
a Democrat, or at least he's pro life hashtag pro life.
There's no excuse. Ignorance is not an excuse. At this point,
there's no quarter. I just have no sympathy. And Natalie
and I have had that conversation. If somebody and you
know who works in farming voted for Trump because they
bought the bullshit and now they're bleeding to death because
they're not getting subsidies or because you know, farming is
being shipped overseas, etc. And they're like, oh my god,
I'm going bankrupt. I kind of have this fuck around
and find out attitude about it, and then I feel
bad about it, and then I think, why do you
feel bad? They brought it on themselves. Do you go
through that, rich, do you have that conversation with yourself?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's that's part of it. That's the part of it.
Even like for me, it's mostly Hispanic people because that's
the Hispanic ment. I do interface a lot with them.
And I remember when the election was coming up and
I was saying, but do you think that when the
stormtroopers hit the streets, you won't be grabbed? No, no,
you won't do that. And the thing is, Beth, you're kind.
You're saying they did it out of vacance. They don't
do that.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean some did. I think some are just
straight out bigots. I think this whole thing's been a
black light exposing the rot. You know, it's just exposed
by the people who've been disgusting, the parents who taught
their children all this stuff, right, They said, don't tell
a lie, don't bully, don't love money, don't lust, be
a person of honor, keep your word, go out and
emulate the best. And then they turn around and vote
for the rapist. I thought, well, you just betrayed that.
You were an absolutely hypocrite from day one. So some
are ignorant. I think some were just full of shit
or they're just awful. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And and so that's the lens that many and
like I said, many of the black population. And like
I said many, I didn't say all. I didn't even
say the majority, but many are. It's like, we told
you this. We've been telling you this every time, from
the day the first time when you get the Reagan
vote come in. We saw this happen. We've been saying
it for years. And just like you will talk about
you know people that well, who was it who said
when Hitler was when he took power in Germany, Yeah,
they will come for you sooner or later. And people said,
now he would produce that. Guess what happened. He came
for them. And I don't know where this ends. I
don't know is this the beginning of the end of
this American idea. Maybe it is.
Speaker 2: Maybe it is.
Speaker 5: That's the scary part. This may be the beginning of
the end of the American idea.
Speaker 2: How long do empires usually last? I think, you know,
says theologist, and historians say, I usually got about two
hundred and fifty years, and then you know, they just
self destruct. I understand you can speak to this so
much better than I can. I am definitely a man
of privilege. You know, the world looks different for me.
I walk out into this world, and I appreciate so
much your perspective, and I understand it, and for what
it's worth, I'm going to try to represent and make
up for all the time I lost out.
Speaker 5: There no real quick sere you go from your perspective?
Did you? I know you because I've listened to you.
I've heard you give the warning. But did you think
it would happen so quickly?
Speaker 2: I knew it would be bad? I had no idea
it would be this dumb and this bad, this fast.
You know, Trump always told us who was crazy? He
always told us. But the second time around, Trump two
point zero was so organized. They skipped the bumbling and
the fumbling and the crazy mistakes and all the firings
and the blame. You know, the first term was just
a circus. This is a different kind of circus because
we've seen that they learned from their mistakes. They found
a way to just push through the worst of the
worst and at every level, you know, the dismantling of
the Department of Education and RFK Junior waging war on science.
We see the media being run by the oligarch saying,
you know what, we're done listening to the experts. We're
going to listen to the people who get their health
advice on TikTok and think they're going to get radiation
poison from microwaving their mashed potatoes, right, We're going to
listen to those people. Instead, we see we're going to
fund the world's biggest secret police force and unleash them
in American cities under the guys. I heard Christy nom
say on face the nation that if Trump had not
deployed some kind of forces, be it ice or otherwise,
in Los Angeles, the entire city of LA would have
burned to the ground. This is the type of blatant
liar that these people that they have no scruples, They
are ghouls. They are the worst of the worst. And
I thought, well, it'd be bad. I'm so naive. I
never thought it would be this bad. And it's not
even the midterms, Rich, it's not even November twenty twenty six, yet,
you know what I mean?
Speaker 5: And what's scary the numbers. As much as everybody thinks
it's going to be a flood bath for the Republicans
when you look at the Senate and it's not looking
like a blood bath for them in the Senate. So
what does that say about the American populace.
Speaker 2: This is another way the media has failed us when
they say Donald Trump's approval ratings are at a near
historic low, and they'll say his national approval rating is
at thirty nine percent, and I'm like Jesus, that's not
the headline. The headline is four out of ten Americans
still want this guy despite all the shit that he's done.
That's the headline. Yeah, it's crazy, it's crazy. Rich. It's
nice to hear a voice of sanity out there, and
I appreciate your kind Well to see.
Speaker 5: You soon again.
Speaker 2: I'll be around to see you soon again. I'll be around.
We'll shake hands and catch up. Okay, Rich, Yeah, yeah,
thanks again, We'll see you. Somebody in the chat mentioned
that Forrest Valci, who by the way, is joining me
with Erica on stage March seventh in Tulsa, read a
poem that was relevant to the conversation. Well, far be
it from me to let Forest VALKEI out do me
on a broadcast. So let me pull this up. He
read a poem called The Hangman by Maurice Ogden. Looks
like it's three pages, would you indulge me? I'm gonna
read it cold. I don't even know what it says.
I just googled it real fast and I pulled it up.
But apparently it has that fuck around and find out
vibe to it. So let's see how the poem reads.
It says, into our town, the hangman came smelling of
gold and blood and flame, and he pasted our bricks
with a different air, and built his frame on the
courthouse square. The scaffold stood by the courthouse side, only
as wide as the door was wide, a frame as
tall or little more than the capping sill of the
courthouse door. And we wondered, whenever we had the time,
who the criminal, what the crime? The hangman judged with
the yellow twist of knotted hemp in his busy fist,
and innocent though we were with dread, we passed those eyes.
A bunk shot led till one cried, hangman, who is he?
Or whom you raise the gallows tree? Then a twinkle
grew and the buck shot eye, and he gave us
a riddle. Instead of reply, he who serves me best,
said he shall earn the rope on the gallows tree.
And he stepped down and laid his hand on a
man who came from another land. And we breathed again
for another's grief, as the hangman's hand was our relief,
and the gallows frame on the courthouse lawn by tomorrow's
sun would be struck and gone, so we gave him way,
and no one spoke out of respect for his hangman's cloak.
The next day sun looked mildly down on roof and
Street in our quiet town, and stark and black in
the morning air the gallows tree on the courthouse square,
and the hangman stood at his usual stand, with the
yellow hemp in his busy hand, with his buckshot eye
and his jaw like a pike, and his air so
knowing in business like, and we cried, hangman, have you
not done yesterday with the alien one? Then we fell
silent and stood amazed. Oh, not for him? Was the
gallows raised? He laughed a laugh as he looked at us.
Did you think I'd gone to all this foss to
hang one man? That's a thing I do, to stretch
the rope when the rope is new. Then one cried murderer,
one cried shame. And into our midst the hangman came
to that man's place. Do you hold? Said he with him,
And that's meant for the gallows tree. And he laid
his hand on that one's arm, and we shrank back
in quick alarm, and we gave him way, and no
one spoke out of fear of his hangman's cloak. That
night we saw, with dreads surprise the hangman's scaffold had
grown in size, fed by the blood. Beneath the chute,
the gallows tree had taken root, now as wide or
a little more than the steps that led to the
courthouse door, as tall as the writing, or nearly as tall.
Halfway up on the courthouse wall. The third he took,
and we had all heard tell was a usurer and infidel,
And what said the hangman, have you to do with
the gallows bound? And he a Jew? And we cried out,
is this one he who has served you well and faithfully?
The hangman smiled, it's a clever scheme to try the
strength of the gallows beam. The fourth man's dark, accusing
song had scratched out comfort, hard and long. And what
concern he gave us back? Have you for the doomed,
the doomed and black the fifth and sixth? And we
cried again, hangman, hangman, is this the man? It's a trick?
He said that we hangmen know for easing the trap
when the trap springs slow. So we ceased and asked
no more. As the hangman tallied his bloody score, and
by sun by sun and night by night, the gallows
grew to monstrous height. The wings of the scaffold opened
wide till they covered the square from side to side,
and the monster crossbeam, looking down, cast its shadow across
the town, Then through the town. The hangman came and
called in the empty streets my name. And I looked
at the gallows soaring tall, and thought, there is no
one left at all for hanging, and so he calls
to me to help him pull down the gallows tree.
And I went out with right good hope to the
hangman's tree and the hangman's rope. He smiled at me
as I came down to the courthouse square through the
silent town and supple, and stretched in his busy hand
was the yellow twist of the hempen strand. And he
whistled his tune as he tried the trap, and it
sprang down with a steady snap, And then with a
smile of awful command, he laid his hand upon my hand.
You tricked me, hangman, I shouted then that your scaffold
was built for other men, and I know henchmen of yours,
I cried, You lied to me, hangman foully lied. Then
a twinkle grew and the buckshot I lied to you,
tricked you? He said, not I, for I answered straight,
and I told you true. The scaffold was raised for
none but you. For who has served me more faithfully
than you with your coward's hope? Said he? And where
are the others that might have stood side by your
side in the common good? Dead? I whispered, and amiably
murdered the Hangman corrected me. First the alien, then the Jew.
I did no more than you let me do. Beneath
the beam that blocked the sky, none had stood so
alone as I and the Hangman strapped me, and no
voice there cried stay for me in the empty square.
The Hangman by Maurice Ogden. I'd be curious to find
out more. I don't know who Maurice Ogden is, or
the year that that was written, or the context that
it was written for. Wow, that's pretty amazing stuff. Adrian
on a web call is next on the switchboard. Adrian,
are you there? Hey?
Speaker 6: Hello?
Speaker 2: Set what is on your mind?
Speaker 7: Just see in advance. I want to apologize because I'm
not an English native speaker, But can I switch the topic. So,
when people compose a poem like this, most of them
are in a zone, like in a flow state, or
inspired by a muse. Let's say what the ancient people
used to call them, the muse. You're inspired by somebody
to make music or do art. Let me know if
it's not understand BOK, Yeah.
Speaker 2: I understand. Creators of any kind confined days when they're
at a brick wall. Nothing is happening creatively in their mind.
And then there are other times when it feels like
they are just going on one thousand miles an hour
and they're typing keyboard or their paint brush or their
instrument cannot keep up with all the imagination and the
ideas that are flowing forth. They're in the zone. Yeah,
that's totally a real thing.
Speaker 7: What do you think people that have creative incline to
make beautiful art? In your opinion, do you think that
the idea that motivates a great piece of art came
to life from an idea?
Speaker 2: This is probably a question best ask to neuroscientist, you know,
the brain understanding itself is kind of a meta question.
I think inspiration comes in many forms and in many ways,
because everybody's wired differently. When I'm looking to I'm not
a great artist or creator. I started making music again
right this year. I'm just an amateur songwriter and I
just play along mostly for distraction and to relax, especially
in this crazy world. I found myself doomed scrolling all
the time is producing and writing, and what helps me
is a long drive, you know, and then it just
centers me. And sometimes I'll put some emotive music on
the radio and or on my you know, my phone
or whatever on bluetooth, and it takes me to a
place and I might come back and find that the
ideas are coming so fast I can't keep up. I
think everybody gets there in a different way because they're
wired in different ways. I don't know what causes inspiration
to happen. I think it's unique to the person.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks again, Sam for I think the old time
to speak with me, and I don't know. You're doing
the Lord's work trying to keep people off religion, and yeah,
I'm good making them more aware.
Speaker 2: I know you and I both have the same sense
of humor in that way. You know, I appreciate you.
We'll see you later. Yeah, five seven three, Phil, thank
you for your patience. Are you with us?
Speaker 6: Hi?
Speaker 2: This is Gil Gil, It said Phil on my Yeah,
my dear, I'm sorry about that, Gil dialing in at
five seven, big problem, what's going on?
Speaker 6: I just wanted to personally thank you. You will never
know a Treumentaly you were getting going tangle up from
the church and religion about sixty five years ago. I
got the liberty was spoken four packs cigarettes today at
a full Gospel businessman meeting and I thought it was God.
I now know it was hypnosis, you know, but it
took a long time to figure that out. And I've
had so many church experiences that I still have lots
of things I can't answer, but moveabile got a long
way to go. I had so many experiences in my life.
I've done radio daily devotionals for seventy years, and we
did a cast that tic library over the world, did
all kinds of stuff. But I'm so glad to be
out of it. And you've been very instrumental, and it
just wanted to thank you.
Speaker 2: Well, You're most kind. I know the journey must have
been bumpy, but I'm glad you found your voice skill.
Speaker 8: Well.
Speaker 6: When I listened to you the verse game, to me,
you show known by their fruits, and I could sense
love and compassion if you'd talk with each person.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for that. Thank you for the kind words,
and all my best to you and yours.
Speaker 5: Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: All we see you. You will know me by my fruit.
Sounds vaguely naughty. By the way, have I come to
that point in my life when everything becomes a double
on tundra? Now you find those people who do that,
and I don't really want to become that. But who
is the comedian? And was talking about those who no
matter what you say, they can turn it into something naughty.
What's the example he used, Like somebody a woman comes
up to the guy and she's like, wow, I really
need to get my tires rotated on my car, and
he's like, I'd like to rotate her tires. Right, there's
always somebody who does that. I was playing tennis and
my partner that they had put me with, and it
was kind of a mixer, had been hitting we call
them meat balls, right. They if you are playing doubles
and you have a partner who hits weak sauce, they
hit a week week week shot over across the net.
The opponent's net person is going to hit a punishing volley,
probably right at you, right at your eyeballs. You know,
they're not supposed to do that. They're supposed to hit
behind your feet, but they you will often just get killed.
So I'm talking to these people about the match and
I'm like, dear God, my partner was hitting weak sauce
across the net and I was eating balls for ninety
minutes and when the laughter subsided. I'm like, oh, come on,
are you twelve? Lately I found myself doing the same thing.
I'm like, am I twelve? Eating balls for ninety minutes?
I guess I walked right into it, walked right into it. Yeah,
you're right, you're right in the chat, hells Bell says
it's a riff on. That's that's what she said. That's
what she said. There was another one and I didn't
what was this was before we got this snow, and
I was like, looks like we're gonna get twelve inches
of the white stuff. And this guy, his name's Greg,
he just bust out laughing. I'm oblivious. I'm so freaking rude,
hit and like, what what? What's so funny? I walked
right into it? Forgive me, forgive the digression. Gil, What
a lovely man. Thank you for the call. Ernest is
dialing in from seven to one five. Hi, are you there?
Speaker 9: So I opened the gates of Hell in jail and
got kicked out.
Speaker 2: If you're interested, you opened the gates of hell and
they kicked you out of hell?
Speaker 9: Well, no, I was in jail and I opened the
gates of Hell and I got kicked out of jail. Sorry,
I'm little nervous.
Speaker 2: Well, help me understand this. You're in jail. May I
ask for.
Speaker 9: What unsafe burning?
Speaker 2: I guess arson?
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, reduced to unsafe burning sinto is family property
and kind of my own stuff.
Speaker 2: Okay, you set shit on fire, and they sent you
to jail, and then you were presented with the doorway
to hades.
Speaker 9: I went to jail and I kind of only punched
the jail door window hard enough to turn it into
a warp bubble or a bubble that turned into a
warp bubble for over sixty seconds and caused world ending earthquake.
But it's kind of the same thing.
Speaker 2: You caused the earthquake, an earthquake that was instigated by
you ramming against the door, which then turned what did
it turn into a bubble?
Speaker 9: And then it turned into a warp bubble?
Speaker 2: Warp bubble? Okay, all right? And then how did hell
come into this?
Speaker 9: Well they described it as the gates of Hell breaking open.
But you know, technically I only, you know, punched jail
into a earthquake.
Speaker 2: Okay. I'm honestly I'm unsure as to whether I'm supposed
to continue here because somebody in the chat had a
good time about whether it's ethical to continue, because I'm
trying to figure out where you're coming from. So what
would you like me to do with this information?
Speaker 9: I'm sorry, it's just the beginning, and the police have
police reports of this to help corroborate the rest of
my story. And the rest of my story is I
sleepwalk on the ceiling preaching hell player, also in jail.
Speaker 2: Okay, well that's all I got, Ernest, thank you, I
think for the call, and have a wonderful day.
Speaker 9: Okay, that's normal. Thank you.
Speaker 2: So if the person was genuinely untethered to reality, then
it becomes very problematic to continue to amuse myself with
a call. If it is someone trolling me, then I have,
you know, more options. I can decide to screw you,
You're wasting my time, or I can amuse myself by
asking deep and probing questions like did the whatever the
membrane was when the thing lead to hades? Or you know,
was it just Northern Texas? I mean, so I don't know,
AJ dialing in to talk about ice high. AJ, what's up?
Speaker 6: Hey?
Speaker 2: How you doing well? You know, I mean, everything's on
fire and people suck, But beyond that I'm she what
do you want to chat about? AJ?
Speaker 8: Well, I guess at least we're not in home.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well sort of. Yeah. What are you thinking?
What's on your mind? Yeah?
Speaker 8: I've been watching all the videos of Ice and these
homeloaded murders that have been happening on the street, and
they suddenly triggered a lot of childhood trauma for me.
I think you know that I was born in Argentina,
and when I was fifteen, I was still living there,
and Argentina was experiencing some pretty dangerous political turmoil and
definitely a lot of civil un west at that time.
Because my parents could see what was coming, they decided
to sell everything that we owned with the purpose of
moving to the US, kind of chasing the American dream,
you could say. And it happened on September tenth, two
thousand and one. So the next morning we wake up,
my mom comes into the room. My sister and I
was were sleeping on mattress on the floor, and my
mom quietly guided us to the kitchen, where we had
this tiny little TV that was pretty much most of
what we had left, and we watched in horror as
between towers of them I can't even remember anyone saying anything.
We were probably all speechless. Soon after that, we were
finally able to most the US all of these to
say that my family fled these kale, this violence, the starvation,
the political and west in hopes for a better life.
And I did grow up here in the US. I
got married, I had a child. I became a citizen
less than a year ago, something that I always assumed
would give me a sense of belonging or safety. But
it doesn't feel that way anymore. It doesn't. It feels
like it's I just have this piece of people that's
completely worthless. And my heart is breaking because we fled
here in hopes of finding peace or stability, and it's
really sad that instead it has become what we were fleeing.
And I feel torn because we're considering living the US again.
I don't want to go. I want to go, but
I don't want to go like I don't want to
leave these amazing friendships and family that I have built here.
I don't want to leave people fighting alone because I
see the people that are fighting, But at the same time,
it's like, who wants to live just fighting? And I
guess that's the part what I'm tring like. I want
this place to be what we hoped when we arrived,
you know, about twenty five is years ago.
Speaker 2: This is the dilemma. I wish I could tell the future.
I could make a decision, Natalie. And it's funny, we
were talking about leaving the United States, and all of
a sudden, out of the blue, on my phone, I
started getting social media ads that say, immigrate to Canada.
And I'm like, my phone is spying on me. But
we've talked about where we would go. And I think
if I could only tell the future, would there be
a course correction, call it the midterms? Would there be
some regulator that begins to stem the tide. Will the
bad cholesterol kick in and Trump finally keels over and
the cult doesn't go for JD. Vance who has the
charisma of a lawn chair. Or is it going to
be another half decade or more of violence and murder
and chaos and lies and grift and everything else. Because
knowing the answer to the question of how long and
how bad would help us understand what decision to make.
And yet we are not clairvoyant. We do not see
the future. And you articulate. I think a conversation many
people are having. If I knew how bad, how much
worse rather it was going to get and for how long,
I would know what play to call on the field
right now. But we simply do not. Now. All I
know is my heart breaks for you. I wish you
know what was that quote by Martin Luther King Junior.
I criticize America because I love her. I want her
to be a shining example to the world. And I
think that's how you feel.
Speaker 8: Right, That's a perfect way to put it. Yeah, because
we came here with those hopes of finding a place
that wasn't the chaotic and authoritarian regime that we had
in Argentina, and it's like seeing the same story play
out again. I keep choking up whenever I talk about this.
It's just really, really heartbreaking, and it's such a hard
decision to make because again I do have this opportunity
to flee again to a better place. But I'm like,
I came here not to leave everything behind, not to
displaced behind. I think this is two place that I
thought would be it.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to read something for you after this call,
so keep listening. It was a piece that was posted
by Robert Right, just a I don't know a few
months ago that I hadn't forgotten, and while I was listening,
I took the liberty of pulling it up. Maybe it
will speak to what you and I are feeling and
thinking now. But in the meantime, huge hug from Natalie
and me and the kids.
Speaker 8: Okay, thank you something, he said.
Speaker 2: See you later. This was posted as a Sunday thought
in October of last year by Robert Reich. America's trauma.
We need to talk about it openly, he said. Friends,
I'd like to talk with you about a difficult subject.
A significant number of you are disoriented by what Trump
and his lap dogs are doing. Many are deeply anxious.
Some of us are depressed. For years, medical experts have
recommended that Americans be screened for anxiety disorders. But what
many of us are feeling now is not a personal disorder.
It's a rational response to a nation that's becoming ever
more disordered. What we are experiencing is not a sickness
or individual distress. It's a sensible reaction to a society
becoming sicker and more stressed. Trump and the enablers around him.
Aren't just violating the Constitution and disregarding laws. They're not
merely doing cruel and vindictive things. They're also spreading fear
and fueling hate. This fear and hate are harming every
one of us, even the shrinking minority who support the regime.
Hate is a corrosive that eventually consumes the haters. Fear
breeds more fear, which causes everyone to be afraid. The
harm may continue long after the reasons to fear and
sources of hate have passed into history. I have a
friend who suffered trauma at the hands of abusive parents.
She spent much of her life trying to cope with
that trauma, trying not to let it rule and ruin
her life. Another friend is the child of a Holocaust survivor.
He has spent much of his life trying to escape
the ghosts of relatives he never knew who were murdered
by the Nazis, whose deaths have cast a dark shadow
over his own life. Most of us are fortunate enough
not to have suffered childhood trauma from abusive parents or
been raised in the dark shadow of the Holocaust or
other horrors, but most of us are now suffering a
trauma of a different sort, from an abusive president and
his lap dogs, and from the dark shadow of fear
and hate they've cast. Just as with my friends, many
of us now feel powerless and afraid. We don't recognize
our nation. We are disoriented, vulnerable, anxious. Trump apologists call
it Trump derangement syndrome, but the actual derangement is in
and around the Oval Office. I don't think we're talking
enough about the national trauma most of us are now enduring.
Some of you may assume there's something wrong with you
when you can't sleep or awaken feeling anxious. You may
feel alone in this. You should be aware of how
widespread and reasonable your reaction is. Trump's cruelty and vengeance
will pass. Years from now. We'll look back on this
as a terrible period in America's history. Our nation will survive,
but the fear and hate he has sown could cause
lasting blight. Recognizing this, being aware of the toll it's
taking and will continue to take on us even years
from now, is important to our eventual recovery, that of
our loved ones, and the recovery of our nation and
the world. I thought that was relevant. I hope it
was relevant for you. There is so much more show
still to come. Plenty of people on the switchboard. We'll
find out what they have to say after this. Coming
up next week, I'm going to have an interesting conversation
with someone who calls herself a spiritual atheist. Now, hang on,
hang on, all right, hang on, I get it. I
understand there are challenges with the word spiritual, but a
lot of people embrace it. She is a deconstruction and
religious trauma coach. Her name is Britt Hartley. She was
brought to my attention by Casey Malone, who I interviewed
last year. So I want to talk about this whole
spiritual atheism thing and a whole lot more with Britt Hartley.
That is coming up next week. Right now, we talk
to you, Steve, dialing in from nine to seven zero.
Thanks for your patients. Are you there, Yeah, I'm here.
Speaker 4: Can you hear me?
Speaker 2: I can? What's up? What's on your mind?
Speaker 4: I just wanted to speak about, you know, our political
system in general, to say that everybody's crying about how
we're going to lose our democracy. In fact, it's been
a corrupt system since day one. If you think about
the idea that somebody can be elected to president of
the United States and the only qualifications they have to
have is to be born in this country and be
over thirty five years of age. That's ridiculous. All the senators,
congress people, there's no term limits, they can you know.
The fact is that these people don't have to be
qualified to do the job that they're elected for. There
are no qualifications except for being an American citizen. And
so it's ripe for corruption and all has been and
maybe what's happening now is we're going to have a
wake up call here saying wait a maute, we have
to change this system. This, this, this is ridiculous. The
fact that how much money does it cost to become
elected to any any position, especially in the federal government.
Millions of dollars, you know, so when these people are
bought and paid for before they ever take the office.
And finally people are waking up to that fact. I
guess I don't know. If you look at Trump, for example,
he's an idiot, he's a buffoon. Why would a guy
his age who has billions of dollars supposedly do not
want to be out playing golf? And you know, chasing
young girls around or whatever he does. But why in
the world would this guy want to be president? And
it's obvious that you know, he's being used. He's a
he's a what we call a useful idiot. But I
you know, maybe Putin is behind it, but obviously he bankrupted.
I don't know how many times he's he owes these
people and they have, you know, the main thing right
now is to keep him out of jail, so he's
propped up. He's put up there. I don't think he
wants to be president. He wants to be adored in worship.
But right now he's kind of stuck and he's losing
his mind obviously, and he's just being propped up by
the billionaires and the oligarchs. I don't know. You know,
how much more can the American people believe that Trump
is actually legitimate in any way?
Speaker 2: Well, I think this is a case of many things
can be true at the same time. I certainly know
that he is a useful idiot for the Project twenty
twenty five types and the oligarchs. They want to use
and abuse the system for their own gain. I think
he ran in twenty sixteen to buttress his own brand.
I really don't think he even thought he would win,
But he's an attention hog. Is so a chance for
him to go out and get even more attention, and
then whenever he was elected, he was able to use
it to further and enrich himself. I think the number
is now three plus billion dollars added to his net
worth since he became president in twenty sixteen. So you know,
he's smart enough to be able to grift, but he's
also being used by others to establish what I think
is both an oligarchy and an American gilead. And I
don't know when the tide's going to turn. I've been
thinking it'd turn every five minutes for the last ten years.
Speaker 6: Ah.
Speaker 2: This will be the straw that broke the camel's back. Ah,
this will be the point of no return. This is
beyond the pale. Now people are going to actually come
to their senses. And it just hasn't happened. The guy
still polling in the upper thirty percentile. I don't know
if we're going to survive it, Steve, but you're right,
the most qualified people want nothing to do with the office,
so we're stuck with the leftovers. And a bi camera
system where it's A or B. I understand it.
Speaker 4: Well, would happened if every single American is working American
decided all of us say for one full week, we're
not going to go to work, We're not going to
pay our taxes, we're not gonna we're not going to
participate in this system anymore. We're going to shut down
this guy. We're meant to reform it. What would happen?
You think that would work?
Speaker 2: How do you heard those cats? And again, what's that
line from what movie? A person is smart, but people
are dumb? I don't know if that's that's not always true,
but you never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups.
We are a country that everybody's got an opinion, very
few have an informed one, And somehow we're all going
to become a monolith and opt out of the oligarchical
system and say piss off to Amazon and stop watching
CBS and Disney and all that stuff. In mass I
do think that we have seen instances where people have
protested with their dollars. Money talks, the lack of money talks,
and we did see Disney reverse its suspension of Colbert
was it Colbert or Kimmel. No, they canceled Colbert, but
they took Kimmel off the air, and all of a
sudden people said screw you, and they canceled Disney Hulu
and it was just a few days where they said,
oh sorry, and they brought him back on the air.
So I mean, there is merit to voting with our
dollars because money talks. But getting everybody on board, good
luck with that, Steve.
Speaker 4: Well, okay, I don't know what the solution is then,
because it we.
Speaker 2: Grab good tens of millions of our fellow Americans by
the shoulders and we shake them vigorously and say, what
the hell is wrong with you? That's what I fantasize about, Steve.
Speaker 4: Maybe this is all part of God's plan and the
Rapture's coming anyway, so who cares? Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? The Lord works in mysterious ways, Steve Wise words,
good theology, Thanks for colling. We'll catch you later, brother, Yeah,
thank you, see you soon. So many people call as
if I'm a wise person. How do we fix the world?
Seth I did. Yeah, I'm stuck like you are. I
sit in the corner of my house and go don't
give up on people. There are still good people. Don't
give up on people. They're still good people. I say
it over and over again, and then I just flip.
People suck. People suck, There are still good people. More
than one thing can be true at the same time.
There are people who are honoring the murder victims Renee
Good and Alex Pretty, and there are people who are
calling them domestic terrorists who had it coming, so hey
shoot him in the face. There are good people and
people suck. Both things are true at the same time.
Nine five one. I don't see a name.
Speaker 3: Hi, Hi, Karan?
Speaker 2: What's up?
Speaker 7: Are you?
Speaker 5: Seth?
Speaker 2: I'm good? What's what's happening?
Speaker 3: I thought i'd give a palid cleanser because of course
I'm outraged with the ice situation and everything else that's
been happening. Well, I want go to paranormal And when
I say that I'm an atheist.
Speaker 6: I'm a skeptic.
Speaker 3: But all these have witnesses, and I thought I'd start
with my first encounters with strange things.
Speaker 2: What strange things?
Speaker 3: Okay, The first thing is when I was a child,
I had abnormal attraction from animals. When I say abnormal,
we had a woods behind our development, and we used
to go there all the time, and there's a little
creek that went through there. We used to catch pollywogs
and we built a fort back there. Just had a
good time with the kids in my neighborhood. But every
time I went, all the animals came around. When I
say all the animals, I mean a deer, a rabbit, monks,
different animals would come together, raccoons, and they'd all be
in the same space around us, and we'd all be
petting them and they'd become Now I thought, well that's normal.
Apparently it's not. And I got really popular among these kids.
You got to come with us, because apparently when they go,
this didn't happen. But when I go, they'd happened. And
I had tracted animals for a very long time. They
just come to me. That's one weird thing. Don't have
any explanation for it. That's just one of many weird things.
Did you when I was about six years old.
Speaker 2: Did you buy a chance like rub your skin and
lunch meat or something.
Speaker 3: No, I could have been something like hormonal that attracted them.
But to have all these desperate animals come together in
a place where they weren't afraid of each other, and
they were all friendly with us like that, and all
the kids could pet them and stuff at the deer.
I especially loved petting the deer and it would jump
on me. And I had other Like I said, throughout
my childhood, I had animals. I had birds come sit
on me, and butterflies were all over me all the time,
all kinds of.
Speaker 2: Hang on, hang on, you got to forgive me. And
I don't mean this as an insult, this sounds like bullshit.
You sat down and the deer frolicked out and let
you pet them, and birds lit on your shoulder or
on your fingers, and chipmunks came out of the woods
the same time.
Speaker 3: That was not at the same time. I'm just saying
the small animals the dear being the biggest. And I
had witnesses all the time, and I didn't know that
it was me they wanted there, not because they liked me,
because I could bring the animals around them. That was
just one of many things that happened. I also had
three ufone calenders, all witnesses, all very different. And then
I also witnessed a ghosts which was with other people,
so that's the three things, And if you want any
details on any of those, I could give you those
and you can make your assessment of that. I don't
have any explanation for why any of this stuff has happened.
I'm just telling you I had witnesses and we all
confirmed we saw the same things.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, I think I'm good. But thank you for
sharing that. I appreciate the call very much.
Speaker 3: But do you have a an opinion yourself and why
things that I can't explain from the known physics and
chemistry and biology and anthropology that we know of, neurology.
Speaker 6: All this stuff.
Speaker 3: Why all these things happened to me and other people
have never seen any of this stuff?
Speaker 2: Well, all I know is that you told me they
happened to you. I don't know they happened to you. Secondly,
there is a lot of science that has been done
about the unwrought reliability of eyewitness testimony. We know about
the subjective's human brain. We know that there are a
great many factors that can influence perception. And until we
can test whatever those, you know you saw something that
was a UFO or an AEP. Unidentified is the key
word here. I can't speak to it. I wasn't.
Speaker 3: I can tell you what I saw, and I can
tell you what these witnesses claimed that they saw. I
can only tell you that I'm not saying that you
should believe that I.
Speaker 6: Saw this stuff.
Speaker 3: What I'm saying is from my personal experience, and I
know it's unreliable. I know I'm just a witness and
my witnesses we saw something. Could it be massed illusion, sure,
but all these different things happening to one person with
witnesses is strange.
Speaker 2: And you saw something? What was the something?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well I thought it. The most interesting one to
me was the UFO that I saw that I called interdimensional.
And the reason I say that is because it was
see through. I could see the trees behind it. And
I was with one other person, and I had talked
to someone who I ran into was from North with Grumman,
and I explained what it looked like, and it looked
like a negative but I can kind of see through it,
and he goes, well, I obviously can't. I have my
own things that I can't discuss. I said, I'm not
asking for specifics, but it doesn't sound like something from
what you that is at all possible in what you
know about physics, because well, actually he explained that few
physics things is, if you were to see something interdimensional,
it would look like a negative. I said, had the
portals and had this, and you know, I explained everything
to him. He goes, let's just say you're on the
right track, but I can't give you any specifics. So
that's all I got from him. You know, obviously I'm
not going to ask him to divulge things he's not
allowed to divulge. Let's face it, the government hides things.
I don't know what they hide. You know, I'm not
privy to that either, just like you aren't privy to that.
Speaker 10: But I don't know.
Speaker 6: I have these.
Speaker 3: Experiences that I haven't been It wasn't negated, I mean,
it was confirmed by other people.
Speaker 2: Let's take the Okham's Raiser approach and ask the question,
is it more likely that these are inter dimensional beings
that have been either hidden by or manipulated by a
secret branch of the United States government? Or there was
something that was semi opaque that you saw on this
sky that you simply don't know what it was.
Speaker 10: Wasn't it the sky?
Speaker 3: It was right next to me. It was literally three
feet away from me.
Speaker 2: Was it a light? Was it a kite? Was it
a drone? Was it a hummingbird?
Speaker 3: It was a ship. It looked like, not exactly a saucer,
but close to a saucer type ship looking thing with portals.
Speaker 2: All right, a ship with portals. Okay, Well, I have
no idea how to address this other than I must
take it like I take all accounts that are based
on personal testimony, and I witness quote unquote corroboration. Interesting story,
but I can't do much with it myself. Okay, I just.
Speaker 3: Thought it the interesting other than our national despair, right now,
that's weird. Things happen, and I just I think all
things are natural, but I just can't explain all things
as most people can't.
Speaker 2: Well, I've given you what i've got, and it's not much.
My apologies for that, but thank.
Speaker 3: You for the no no problem, no, no problem.
Speaker 2: All right, we'll see you later. UFO appeared three feet
in front of me, and it was a saucer with windows,
and it was semi opaque. I could see the trees,
and so it might have been entered dimensional and possibly
part of a government. Though I don't know what to
do with it. I don't know what to do with that.
Joyce is darling in two o five. Joyce, thanks for
your patients? Are you there?
Speaker 10: Oh no, you're the hi. Hi, You're the patient one.
You're the patience and you're so diplomatic. This is why
I love listening to you. Okay, but anyway, let me
not review what was I was so glad when it
was over. I apologize to the woman. But you know,
people believe what they're going to believe, and you cannot
tell them anything different. Anyway, I just want you to
know I'm an eighty year old woman. I love life,
but this is spend the most difficult time in my life.
But I want to lead. Just a simple quote that
I write down because I try to look at positive
things as well as keeping up with the news, and
it says life is like a journey taking on a
train with a pair of travelers at each window pane.
I may sit beside you, good folks, the whole journey through,
or I may sit elsewhere, never knowing you. But if
fate would have us all to sit there side by side, let's.
Speaker 5: Be pleasant travelers.
Speaker 10: Because it's such a short old drive. That's lovely and
that's what I loved it. Like I said, I listened
to so many different things, and I was raised not completely,
but in those formative years like you, and I got
away from it and I've been out of it for well.
I think I got out at nineteen eighty two. I
was prought about thirty six. I'm eighty now. I enjoy life.
I wake up every morning looking forward to what's the
surprise today, and listening to you is one of the
things I look forward to. And I didn't know I
would call you today. This is the first time I've
ever called it in anyway.
Speaker 5: Thank you so glad you did.
Speaker 2: What an encouragement you are to me. Joyce, my goodness.
Can I ask you a question? Did you come out
of a specific religion or what did you escape from?
Speaker 10: Yeah, Jehovah's witness, my goodness. I was a dedicated one.
I was born and raised in New York City, and
I was so sure that the world was coming to
an end that I moved to the south Montgomery, Alabama,
and now nineteen sixty six, and I was a full
time ministry. I land up getting married. I'm still here
in Alabama because I love. It's been good. You know,
I have four children that are wonderful. I mean, my
life is so much better. And just recently I did
a last year, I write some and I was able
to breathe my something that I wrote on stage. And
I mean, I've traveled. I've been so many different places,
but glad I traveled with I did. I just life
has I don't I sit here and try to figure out,
how does my life turn out so good?
Speaker 3: I mean, I love life.
Speaker 2: You're good medicine. You're the encouragement and positivity that many
of us need. I'm watching the chat and they're like,
we love Joyce. So you were You're already a fan
favorite already in these last five minutes.
Speaker 10: I didn't mean to be that. I didn't. I just
really just wanted to tell you how much I because
I know it's a lot of work and you could
be doing something else if you want to. Just know
that people like me, even older people, I hopefully older
people will. You have an older crowd too. You know
what I'm saying, Well, that will listen to you because
even though whether a person is the atheist or not,
you make common sense in everyday talking. You know, you're
not trying to convert people to be apist or anything
like that. You're just talking sense and I really really
appreciate it.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you with me on the road, you're
going to be my motivation before I go up. You're
going to talk me up before I take the stage,
and be like, you've got this, seth, you got this.
You are somebody. You're gonna go knock them dead, go
out there path.
Speaker 10: Well, I will be glad to be in your presence
or any way that I think if I tell it's
worth it, you know, Like I said, you just have
to craap.
Speaker 2: Please well for the words of couragement. I'm so very grateful,
and I know everybody in the audiences they are enjoying
this injection of goodness. So big hugs from my family
to yours. Okay, joyce back at you, all right, We'll
see you soon.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's call it a show. By the way, don't
forget to check out all the events coming up. The
twenty twenty six conference Convention Free Thought event calendar is
starting to fill finally, And if you want to find
out if something's coming to your town, just go to
the Thinkingatheist dot com slash events and I will see
you back here next week.
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