From Executions and Coffee to Testaments of Old And New; Also Vilardebo Again
The salient point of this podcast episode revolves around the recent execution of a death row inmate in South Carolina, which has ignited significant debate regarding the methods of capital punishment employed by the state. I, along with my co-hosts, engage in a critical discussion about the implications of this execution, particularly focusing on the choice of firing squad and the ensuing complications that arose during the execution itself. We delve into the broader issues surrounding capital punishment, exploring the moral and ethical dimensions that have emerged in light of this particular case. Additionally, we examine the reactions from local lawmakers and the public, highlighting the divisive nature of this topic within our society. As we navigate through these complex discussions, we also reflect on the overarching theme of justice and the efficacy of our judicial system in handling such grave matters.
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Transcript
The All About Nothing podcast may have language and content that isn't appropriate for some.
Speaker A:Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker A:Welcome nothingers, to the All About Nothing podcast.
Speaker A:This is episode number 255.
Speaker A:I am Barrett Ruber, joined by Mr.
Speaker A:Bill Frey.
Speaker A:Also returning champion to the pod, Mr.
Speaker A:Matt Velardebo.
Speaker A:Welcome, fellas.
Speaker B:Thank you, Barry.
Speaker B:Good to see you, brother.
Speaker A:I was gonna see who was gonna talk over who.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's also.
Speaker A:That's what I was waiting for.
Speaker A:That's what I wanted.
Speaker B:You can always count on me for that.
Speaker A:That is not a lie either.
Speaker A:Always honest, Matt.
Speaker A:That's always, always Matt.
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Speaker A:I'm not going to do it again.
Speaker A:Trust me.
Speaker A:You want, you won't miss.
Speaker A:You won't.
Speaker C:Trust me.
Speaker C:Did you just get possessed by Joe Biden?
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Speaker A:It's entirely possible.
Speaker A:Check out ZJZ Designs.
Speaker A:Where fashion meets fun, no matter the seasons.
Speaker A:Man, I don't.
Speaker A:I don't get it.
Speaker A:You know what it is?
Speaker A:Honestly, this, this week with work has been such a absolute shit show.
Speaker A:We have a.
Speaker A:The project that we're working on is just all over the place and we're constantly finding things that we missed and including things that I legitimately missed this week that, that were from like March and they came back up and I missed them and it's my fault and I take the blame for it and, but I worked diligently to try and get those issues resolved today and it's just been, it's been absolute shit show.
Speaker A:And, and of course Matt knows last year during the campaign, the number of times that I wasn't Available to talk or return an email or whatever because of work.
Speaker A:You know, it's just crazy.
Speaker A:So before we, before we jump into what we're here to discuss this week, Bill enlightened me.
Speaker A:He's thinking about moving back or out of Columbia.
Speaker A:The price of parking tickets is just getting too high.
Speaker C:That's what did it.
Speaker C:I'm gonna blame it on that and that alone.
Speaker C:The only reason.
Speaker B:Isn't it only like 9 or 12 bucks for a parking ticket in Columbia?
Speaker A:$25 now and it depends on the infraction.
Speaker C:Yeah, I got a $50 ticket and I waged war with Columbia because of it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And it's still ongoing.
Speaker A:And I do have an email to Mayor Rickman's office.
Speaker A:So potentially get him to, to come on the show and talk us about, talk about some of the parking issues and potentially how we're going to get that fixed.
Speaker A:Now, Bill, Bill's company, Sugar Fry Baby Sugar Shack.
Speaker A:Baby Sugar Shack is still going to be making appearances in Columbia.
Speaker A:I know that I have to work with Alex over at Ever play sports and social about the next kickball game and maybe, maybe Sugar, Sugar Babies Fry Sugar Shackle will make an appearance.
Speaker C:I hope so.
Speaker C:I would love it.
Speaker A:We will see.
Speaker C:But I am moving out of Colombia most likely in the next, in the next few months just to save money.
Speaker C:Basically, I'd love to move back to Colombia, but for now it's literally just to save money.
Speaker C:I am really thinking about traveling a.
Speaker A:Lot, so I don't blame you.
Speaker C:I'm gonna, I'm gonna take.
Speaker C:I need money for that.
Speaker C:So.
Speaker C:Yeah, I don't see what happens.
Speaker A:I don't blame you.
Speaker A:Matt Velardo.
Speaker A:Bo is back on the show with us.
Speaker A:I am stumbling through words I don't understand.
Speaker A:Matt Velardebo is back with the podcast and this is a non candidate, Matt Velardebo that's joining us this time.
Speaker B:Matt, Citizen Volardebo, if you are Citizen.
Speaker A:Volardebo, less activist Volardebo, but still posting on the absurdities that are going on in and around us.
Speaker A:And he texted me earlier.
Speaker A:Well, before we get into that, Matt, how is life?
Speaker A:Are things more carefree?
Speaker A:Are they easier?
Speaker B:Things are a bit more carefree.
Speaker B:It's nice to be like unencumbered from like I put myself on a.
Speaker B:To a standard.
Speaker B:I think that wasn't fair for a long time and so it's like more comfortable.
Speaker B:Like if somebody pisses me off too much now, I can indeed tell them to off.
Speaker A:Yeah, that's True.
Speaker B:And things like that.
Speaker B:So I mean it, it just makes life a little easier being able to like dismiss frustrations instead of, you know, having to like, you know, hold people's hands and walk them through and see what you can do.
Speaker B:But yeah, I mean a little less stressful.
Speaker B:Work's kept me busy as I'll get out.
Speaker B:So that's nice and, but like you said, I am watching these folks like a hawk in the sky.
Speaker B:And the absurdities is a great way to describe what we're seeing.
Speaker A:South Carolina state legislature session is over for the year that is completed.
Speaker A: I think I saw out of some: Speaker A:So constant disappointment from the Republican led legislature in the House and in the Senate.
Speaker A:There were attempts to, and there were attempts to move the abortion down to zero day.
Speaker A:I don't think that passed.
Speaker C:But just the sixth week.
Speaker A:Yeah, we're still six weeks in South Carolina.
Speaker A:One of the things, and I'm glad that Matt was able to join us on short notice tonight was because he sent me a text message of a reaction.
Speaker A:And I won't say who the reaction is of yet, just yet.
Speaker A:We will discuss it, but there was a execution here in South Carolina back in April, April 11th.
Speaker A:I'm going to butcher this name, but South Carolina recently carried out an execution by firing squad.
Speaker A:The second in the state's history when McCall Mahadi, 42 year old death row inmate was executed at Broad River Correctional Institute.
Speaker A: victed for a violent crime in: Speaker A:And Mahati shot Myers multiple times, doused his body in diesel fuel, set him on fire days earlier.
Speaker A:He also murdered a convenience store clerk in North Carolina.
Speaker A: he was sentenced to death in: Speaker A:I'm not going to say this isn't a bad guy.
Speaker A:I absolutely, I'm not going to say this is somebody that was deserving of some special judgment.
Speaker A:I don't know this individual except from the information that I pulled off of the Internet from news stories and things like that about the crimes that he committed and then, and then the, the, the actual court jury and everything.
Speaker A:So definitely a bad guy.
Speaker A:I will not, I will not be someone that's like, oh, we should have, we should have given him a break.
Speaker A:Or whatever.
Speaker A:But he chose his own execution style.
Speaker A:I think the choices are either lethal injection, electric chair or firing squad.
Speaker A:So he chose firing squad.
Speaker A:He expressed concerns about potential for prolonged suffering from the other methods.
Speaker A:However, it has been deemed after an autopsy that his execution went badly.
Speaker A:The autopsy commissioned by his legal team revealed only two bullets struck his chest, both of them missing his heart, causing him to bleed out over a period of about 30 to 60 seconds.
Speaker A:Witnesses observed Mahadi groaning and breathing for over a minute after the shots were fired.
Speaker A:So the execution has prompted calls for an independent investigation.
Speaker A:Lawmakers, including Democrat Justin Bamberg and Republican Neil Collins have requested a temporary suspension of the firing squad execution method until investigators investigations have concluded their concerns.
Speaker A:Focus inconsistence Focus on inconsistencies in the autopsy, such as the presence of only two distinct wounds and insufficient examination and insufficient examination of Mahadi's clothing.
Speaker A: th nationwide in: Speaker A:So all of that said, I get a text message with what is the reaction of one of our local state Senate State Representatives, Mr.
Speaker A:Brandon Guffey, who has been discussed on this podcast before as being an unforgiving and potentially hateful individual.
Speaker A:Purely if you can go check out his social media.
Speaker A:I mean, he absolutely posts.
Speaker A:Everything is available publicly to go look at.
Speaker A:And it also give him a real kick to know that people are looking at it because this is a narcissist of a level 34, I think.
Speaker B:So he's like, he'll like if he finds out you posted about him and didn't tag him.
Speaker B:That's his lead in with his frustration with you.
Speaker B:He's like, it'd be nice if you tagged me so I could answer this.
Speaker B:Really?
Speaker B:That's your problem, bro.
Speaker B:You want to like move your thing up the list.
Speaker A:That is some serious narcissism, like sociopathic.
Speaker A:So he posted this earlier today.
Speaker A:He said, before you start, this is Brandon Guffey again, representative in the State House from the Rock Hill area.
Speaker A:He says, quote, before you start emailing me, complaining about the man who chose firing squad as his form of execution, you might want to ask the families of the ones he murdered if they cared that he suffered during execution.
Speaker A:Me personally?
Speaker A:Nah, bro.
Speaker A:Not quite certain why, as someone that as someone that has lost a child, do you think I care about the suffering of a criminal?
Speaker A:My request would be to allow the loved ones to fire the shots.
Speaker A:He had a choice, which is more than he Deserved, in my opinion.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And then the comments that follow that post are really awful, too.
Speaker B:I mean, it only got worse from there.
Speaker A:He's it as.
Speaker A:And one of the things that I'll just say, he touted himself as being, you know, a Christian.
Speaker A:Christian.
Speaker A:Christian Christianity, of course, based off of Jesus Christ, which I have.
Speaker A:I have so many issues with these evangelical Christians or these Christians that get to choose back and forth which versions of the Bible they want to follow.
Speaker A:So obviously, Brandon Guffey has this idea that if you commit a crime or if you commit a murder or you commit a crime, then those things should be equally committed on you, which is Old Testament.
Speaker A:So I pulled up specifically the Old Testament chapters and verses.
Speaker A: So Exodus: Speaker A: Leviticus: Speaker A:Just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.
Speaker A: And then Deuteronomy: Speaker A:So I know you guys have had a decent amount of theology in your lives off your experience.
Speaker A:In your opinion, what does the New Testament say, the one that scores the life of Jesus Christ?
Speaker A:What does the New Testament say about this.
Speaker B:Decidedly different view of it?
Speaker B:I mean, because, like, Jesus shows up and Jesus is love.
Speaker B:Jesus suffered on the cross to forgive us for our sins that we're born with.
Speaker B:Y' all.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So anyway, I digress.
Speaker A:Bill.
Speaker C:Yeah, no, Jesus says to turn the other cheek.
Speaker C:And I mean, even.
Speaker C:Even with all that, I mean, the way we treat our criminals, like, yeah, some of these criminals, like, if anybody, like, if something happened to you, you'd want to do something to them beyond harm.
Speaker C:But that's kind of the reason we have the entire judicial system is so that you won't just kill someone in retaliation, but instead, collectively as society, judge someone based on their actions and hopefully rehabilitate them into society.
Speaker C:Now, some things like this, I don't know if you can.
Speaker C:You would need to do.
Speaker C:They would need some other thing.
Speaker C:But I'm personally against the death penalty for.
Speaker C:For those reasons.
Speaker C:I mean, yeah, I love to.
Speaker C:If someone did something terrible to my mom or my brother or my dad or something like that, I would in my heart want to do them harm.
Speaker C:But I think we have ways to handle this as a society.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, I don't disagree.
Speaker A:And detention centers and jails and prisons and things like that, you know, currently they are not the Rehabilitation centers that they were 50, 60, 70 years ago.
Speaker A:They are, they are, well, big business.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say that.
Speaker A:In my opinion they're basically modern day slavery.
Speaker A:Because if you are someone that goes into the prison system, the prisons themselves, we have no federal federally operated prisons in the United States anymore.
Speaker A:They are all corporately owned and operated and they receive tax money to operate those facilities.
Speaker A:But then they also turn around and use those prisoners that again, they're criminals, they've been found guilty of a crime that has put them there.
Speaker A:But they also use those criminals to do things like textiles and installations and they're being used for road construction.
Speaker A:They're under bidding.
Speaker A:Like there are corporations that are using prisoners for road construction that are under bidding contractors for companies that have legitimately unpersecuted individuals that could have these jobs.
Speaker A:But yet this is what we're doing and not focusing on the rehabilitation, we're just focusing on using these prisoners.
Speaker A:And the majority of the individuals per capita that are convicted and imprisoned in the United States are for minor drug offenses.
Speaker A:Like it's not.
Speaker A:We don't have prisons full of, you know, serial killers and murderers.
Speaker A:We have prisons full of people that carried more than 2 ounces of marijuana on them.
Speaker A:You know, this is what we're doing.
Speaker A:And carrying marijuana to me is not a crime divert deserving of prison.
Speaker A:This, it's just insanity to me.
Speaker C:I mean Henry McMaster admitted to smoking marijuana before.
Speaker C:I mean, yeah.
Speaker A:With George Washington.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I mean.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And I mean so for me it's you know, we know like anybody who's like sat through like you know, high school, juvenile delinquency or criminology.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Knows.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:The death penalty is not a deterrent.
Speaker B:It's more expensive to put somebody on death road and to lock them away for life.
Speaker B:And all these other statistics, like known facts, things we know are real.
Speaker B:And I just thought that was like such a weird stance to take for one of our elected officials.
Speaker B:I mean he's also the director of communications for the Republican House caucus.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:So I mean, which is crazy because.
Speaker C:He speaks like a 14 year old edge Lord.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like him within his party.
Speaker B:So, you know, I don't know, I just don't feel like that's a good sentiment.
Speaker B:And I don't, I thought he would actually pull it due to.
Speaker B:But when I saw the comments I was like, well there's no reason for him to pull this.
Speaker B:I mean they're ready to throw them.
Speaker A:A parade for saying yeah, I was going to say we'll we'll, we'll just say that because I went on, looked and read some of the comments, and I am disgusted by some of your neighbors, Matt.
Speaker A:Just.
Speaker A:I'm floored.
Speaker A:I'm floored at how, how, how they can show such a.
Speaker A:Again, disregard.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Human life, like.
Speaker B:And that's like my thing this is about, you know, we'll probably dig more into these other two names I'm about to drop later.
Speaker B:But there's a reason we're America and we're the best, right?
Speaker B:It's because we're not like Saudi and Qatar.
Speaker B:We're not lopping off heads in stadiums.
Speaker B:We're not, you know, locking you up, you know, for weird, you know, religious crimes and moral turpitude crimes.
Speaker B:You know, we're better than them, right?
Speaker B:We're always us versus them.
Speaker B:You know, this country's better than them.
Speaker B:And that sort of rhetoric and mentality and, you know, the influence he has over people, it.
Speaker B:It's a dangerous game to spew stuff like that.
Speaker B:It's disappointing.
Speaker B:I mean, for the most part, I mean, you know, there's been times him and I have had some pretty heated, you know, whatever between us, but for the most part, he knows he can count on me to, like, be proper in public.
Speaker B:I always greet him with a handshake and how you doing?
Speaker B:And, you know, I do hate what this guy went through, but, I mean, he doesn't get carte blotch to, like, do and say what he wants because he had to endure a trap.
Speaker B:One of the worst tragedies a parent could endure.
Speaker B:I mean, you gotta.
Speaker B:I mean, there's like a line where somebody has to go, you know.
Speaker A:Yeah, and brakes, buddy.
Speaker B:I mean, back it off a little.
Speaker A:And not to go into it, but Brandon Guffey did lose his son to a suicide.
Speaker A:And that is absolutely one of the tragedies that being a parent is absolutely.
Speaker A:One of my greatest fears is the idea that either I didn't see something in my own child or the idea that they didn't feel like they could talk to me or come to me for support in some way, or that I've given them some sort of vibe that I don't want to help them with their problems and the only way out for them is to take their own life.
Speaker A:So ultimately, what Brandon Guffey went through with his son, I absolutely feel awful about.
Speaker A:And no parent should have to go through that.
Speaker A:And I hope no parent does go through it.
Speaker A:I know there will be.
Speaker A:I mean, we have a country right now that is so Focused on finding the imperfections with children and not, and, and, and not taking those imperfections and saying, these are all these are.
Speaker A:This is what makes them different and beautiful versus, you know, this is an imperfection that ultimately we need to draw attention to.
Speaker A:And, and there's some sort of this.
Speaker B:Idea that access to social media is a.
Speaker B:Has been a tremendous missive as a society.
Speaker B:My kids never had it, but I see that.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:Oh, man, I, I, you know, I think parents need to exercise.
Speaker B:We talk about parental rights in schools.
Speaker B:Parents need to exercise more rights over their kids and yeah, you know, restrict their screen time and like, it's just too much out there.
Speaker B:And like, they don't have the critical thinking skills yet to discern truth from fiction.
Speaker B:They get caught up in sextortion scams.
Speaker B:I mean, we really, we need.
Speaker B:It's a predator's playground on the Internet.
Speaker B:We know.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker C:And also, I mean, I'm not a parent, but I do know.
Speaker C:It should be clear to your children.
Speaker A:Bill, I totally thought you were gonna say I'm not a parent, but I play one on tv.
Speaker C:Well, I mean, it seems like just such an important conversation to have with your kids to make sure that if they come across something, which I don't know this whole situation, but I do know the specific detail of if they come across something or if something makes them question or they don't know fact or fiction, that you yourself have to be an individual to make them know that if there's something wrong to come to you, to feel comfortable.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Do you know, always, always make your kids recognize that you are a safe space and that they can tell you anything that they need to.
Speaker A:That there is no situation that is.
Speaker A:There is no situation that, that they can't come to you with ultimately is the biggest thing.
Speaker A:Also, just in contrast to the Mosaic laws from the Old Testament, It's Matthew, Matthew 5, verse 38, 39.
Speaker A:That the quote is.
Speaker A:You have heard that it was said, eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
Speaker A:But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.
Speaker A:If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to the.
Speaker A:Turn to them the other cheek also.
Speaker A:So, you know, that's the.
Speaker A:That's the turn the other cheek.
Speaker A:And so one of the, One of the things that bugs me so much is how Christianity, of course, being built mostly off of the teachings of Jesus Christ, how selective Evangelicals, Republicans, GOP Maga, whatever, that they can just.
Speaker A:They can jump over to the Old Testament and be like, you know, that this is.
Speaker A:This is this is what we should live by, except in the situation where Jesus said something else.
Speaker A:But like, you know, because if the Republican Party were the Christian church or the Christian embodiment of what Jesus Christ taught, it would be the Democratic Party as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker A:Because Democrats, while I know that they flounder and they fail in a lot of their approach and messaging and how they recognize the working class and how, you know, that's not to say all of them, but from a.
Speaker A:Nationally, they, they, they have, they have really faltered in the last 20 years on, on trying to show that they are the party of, of the poor and of the middle class and the workers and you know, the labor unions and things like that.
Speaker A:They have, they have really lost sense of that.
Speaker A:Especially when we have leadership that is in the Senate and in Congress or the House that are making millions and millions of dollars.
Speaker A:We, we, we can go and look at the records of, of, of, you know, the Nancy Pelosi's that have made millions and millions of dollars during their time as a, as a representative from California on everything from, well, well informed stock trades.
Speaker A:I'm not saying that she has committed any or broken any laws, but, you know, do your own research on that.
Speaker B:I do my own research, Bear.
Speaker B:I feel like I should snort a line of Ivermectin as I say that.
Speaker A:Oh gosh, that is the second time this week Ivermectin has been brought up.
Speaker A:And you know that we were hearing.
Speaker B:That so much during COVID I do my own research, bro.
Speaker A:All right, cool.
Speaker B:I remember you barely got through high school, so I know the quality of research you're probably putting into this.
Speaker B:It's top notch stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah, Facebook really sets me straight on the whole Ivermectin thing.
Speaker A:That's a lot of people's research apparently.
Speaker A:But yeah, go ahead, Bill.
Speaker C:I'm sorry, I don't know.
Speaker C:I do feel like.
Speaker C:I don't know.
Speaker C:I do see what you mean about the Democratic Party being more, I, I would, I would give them credit to being more tolerant.
Speaker C:But both parties, in my, in my view are, they claim to be on that, on that side.
Speaker C:But I think if a critical thinking evangelical Christian looked at what the two parties were doing, they would realize they're both just trying to take advantage of people.
Speaker C:But that's just my view.
Speaker A:No, you're absolutely correct.
Speaker A:And it's, it's, it's frightening that neither party seems to be able to recognize what they're doing wrong or the hypocrisy that they're suffering from.
Speaker C:Yeah, like Democrats.
Speaker C:I feel like if you're gonna be for solving poverty issues, if you're gonna be for solving social issues alongside economic issues, you have to kind of drive.
Speaker C:Just feels like they're not blatant about it as like they should.
Speaker C:And I feel like Republicans are blatant in the way that they talk about Old Testament Christianity, which I feel like is the reason why they've won the Christian right is because Democrats don't do that.
Speaker C:I, if, if you, if you understand what, what I'm getting at.
Speaker B:Yeah, I, I can tell you so from, you know, an observation I had is this year after, earlier on in the year, for a few months, I was on a project where I was going to Duke Energy operations centers around the Carolinas, north and south, and all of these have like, IBEW unions on site, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, one of the biggest unions in the country, short of the Teamsters.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But you go through the parking lot and all you see are Trump stickers on trucks.
Speaker B:And, you know, so that disconnect, we got to fix that.
Speaker B:And I remember talking to that about with friends of mine who are like union leaders in South Carolina said that's, that we gotta fix that because we got working class folks that think that just because Donald Trump acts like an asshole, he's going to go fight for them to get more money in their paycheck and protect their union standing.
Speaker B:This guy wants to do away with unions.
Speaker B:He's consistently shown us, if you look at every, like, issue he's nipping at, there's some historical reference for why he's picking on them, whether it be Panama with this failed Trump Tower thing in Panama, or whether it be, you know, he sees real estate dollars in Gaza.
Speaker B:You know, there's something, I mean, he still hates Jon Bon Jovi because of the Buffalo Bills, right?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So I can't wait for him to, like, come after Jon Bon Jovi with legislation.
Speaker B:All my Gen X moms are going to be super pissed.
Speaker A:Well, and this week, Bruce Springsteen in his, in his first, in the opening of his first night on tour in Europe, Bruce Springsteen came out, and I don't have the whole script, but basically came out and said that he's appalled.
Speaker A:You know, I'm paraphrasing that, that he's so disappointed in what his country, the country that he's loved, the country he sang about and wrote songs about for more than 250 years, has, has made such a change because of the administration.
Speaker A:One of the, one of the things I was going to bring up tonight was the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on this birthright citizenship.
Speaker A:And ultimately, I don't understand why it is that Donald Trump and like, I understand what the end goal is, I think, but I don't understand the passion behind ending birthright citizenship.
Speaker A:So just out of curiosity, you guys know how many countries have a unconditional birthright citizenship?
Speaker A:Just curiosity.
Speaker A:Probably 1 21.
Speaker A:The United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina.
Speaker A:You thought I was going to start singing Animaniacs, didn't you?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay, Panama, Paraguay, all.
Speaker B:Of South America and Central America.
Speaker A:Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala.
Speaker A:Well, because they mirrored after us.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Guatemala, Nicaragua, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Speaker A:So there are also countries that have conditional birthright citizenship.
Speaker A:So in France, children born in France to noncitizen parents can acquire citizenship at the age of 18 if they live there most of their lives.
Speaker A:In Germany, you can be granted citizenship if you were born in Germany of, and at least one of your parents has legal residency.
Speaker A:Fourth for a set period, Australia.
Speaker A:A child born in Australia becomes a citizen only if at least one parent is a citizen or permanent resident.
Speaker A:And in the United Kingdom no longer has full birthright citizen citizenship.
Speaker A:A child must have at least one British or settled parent.
Speaker A:And then India, Ireland, New Zealand and Malta have all abandoned any sort of unconditional birthright citizenship, conditional or unconditional.
Speaker A:So you have to apply for immigration status and then, and then you have to become a citizen if, you know, you have to make that choice.
Speaker C:A thing that makes America great and a melting pot.
Speaker C:I mean, that's just.
Speaker C:I mean, that's just who we are.
Speaker C:We were founded on immigration.
Speaker C:I mean, that's the whole, the whole point, though.
Speaker C:I just, I don't know what he's trying to.
Speaker C:I was reading a lot of text earlier and it's.
Speaker C:It's infuriating.
Speaker A:The good news.
Speaker A:Yeah, the good news is, is that it does seem as though.
Speaker A:It does seem as though the Supreme Court does seem to be pushing back on this and in retaliation of what it sounds like, because I think Amy Comey Barrett came at it pretty hard.
Speaker A:But Trump's basically Trump in a true social posted, and this is a quote, birthright citizenship was not meant for people taking vacations to become permanent citizens of the United States of America and bringing their families with them all the time, laughing at the suckers that we are.
Speaker A:He said the United States of America is the only country in the world that does this for what Reason, nobody knows, but the drug cartels love it.
Speaker A:We are, for the sake of being politically correct, a stupid country.
Speaker A:But in actuality, this is the exact opposite of being politically correct and is yet another point that leads to the dysfunction of America as conclusive proof.
Speaker A: The Civil war ended in: Speaker A: ess less than a year later in: Speaker A:I'm dumbfounded by his ignorance of history.
Speaker A:Like, he says all these things.
Speaker A:And there are.
Speaker A:I have seen posts on Facebook of acquaintances that are basically jumping on the same bandwagon and are like, yeah, birthright citizenship absolutely should not be something that's available just for somebody because they're born here within the boundaries of the United States.
Speaker A:I mean, I, I don't understand because I know several of them were born here when their parents came to the United States.
Speaker A:Therefore, their citizenship could be in question because they were born of people not born inside the borders of the United States.
Speaker A:And I don't understand how they disconnect themselves from reality so much that they would be willing to throw out their own citizenship purely out of hate.
Speaker A:I guess it's hate or just disgust over that there's somebody at the supermarket that might not be speaking English within earshot of them.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Trump's a germaphobe that is scared of those dirty brown and black people.
Speaker B:I mean.
Speaker A:Weird.
Speaker B:And I mean, he has left us with, like, a plethora, a bounty of, like, things to cover in the news.
Speaker B:I mean, reporters are staying busy.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:With Trump in office.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Amy Comey Barrett stepped in during the White House's or Donald Trump's, I guess, giving evidence to the Supreme Court?
Speaker A:She said, she said to his, his lawyer said sour.
Speaker A:He said, sir, are you really going to answer Justice Kagan by saying there's no way to do this expediously?
Speaker A:As far as.
Speaker A:Let me just read the.
Speaker A:Let me just read it, because that's out of context.
Speaker A:Supreme Court Justice Amy Comey Barrett ripped into President Donald Trump's Solicitor General on Thursday in disrespecting one of the higher court's liberal justices.
Speaker A:Now, this was, this was during the arguments over the birthright citizenship.
Speaker A:So I don't know where Amy Coney Barrett is going to fall on this.
Speaker A:I don't know where the other justices are.
Speaker A:But this, I think, as far as constitutionally, it's written the way it is, and I don't know that there's much ability to divert from what the Constitution says.
Speaker A:I'll pull that up real quick.
Speaker A:But what is it?
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:What amendment is.
Speaker A:It's the 14th amendment or the 16th amendment.
Speaker A:No, I can't.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:That's my own.
Speaker A:That's my own failings.
Speaker A:I should know that better.
Speaker B:Show prep Gruber.
Speaker A:I'm pretty sure it's the 14th, but basically, that's where.
Speaker A:Yeah, that is where birthright citizenship basically comes in.
Speaker A:Because ultimately.
Speaker A:And then we fall into the.
Speaker A:The whole part of this.
Speaker A:This idea of habeas corpus and due process being available to people born.
Speaker A:So that's one of the things that I have a hard time wrapping my head around.
Speaker B:Regardless, out there suspending habeas corpus.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And they feel like we're being.
Speaker B:It's like we're under attack by the border crisis.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And ultimately border crossings are down, like, exponentially.
Speaker A:They are down a lot.
Speaker A:And then I think.
Speaker A:I think I read.
Speaker A:I think I just read today that it sounds like, is Donald Trump going to be welcoming a cartel member or the former leader of a cartel into.
Speaker B:He got a whole family of cartel members over the border.
Speaker B:I mean, I want to share.
Speaker B:While we're talking about the border, I want to share with you something really cool.
Speaker B:Well, I know a reporter who's going to be going to, like, cover the border for a few weeks here and at the end of May, and I want to bring him on camera real quick and introduce the world to.
Speaker B:This is my son, Clark.
Speaker B:Say hi, Clark.
Speaker D:Hi.
Speaker B:Ladies and gentlemen, journalist of the year for South Carolina.
Speaker B:And he's been selected to go on a trip down to the border to check out what's going on.
Speaker A:How is.
Speaker A:So just purely out of curiosity, Clark, what are your.
Speaker A:What is it you're feeling as far as making that trip?
Speaker A:Like.
Speaker A:Like, is there anxiety?
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:What's going on in your head?
Speaker D:I mean, there is always going to be, like, a little bit of anxiety when it comes to a trip like that, but for the most part, I'm feeling really confident.
Speaker D:I'm going with a group of missionaries who've been doing it for a while now.
Speaker D:And it's a pressure.
Speaker D:It's the.
Speaker D:It's a Presbyterian church, so they're very progressive.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker D:So.
Speaker D:And the re.
Speaker D:And the purpose of the mission is for immigration and border purposes, to learn from the communities in Mexico.
Speaker D:One of the big things we'll be doing is planning across at the spot where a guy died trying to migrate last year.
Speaker D:So, yeah, stuff like that.
Speaker A:That's really exciting.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's exciting.
Speaker D:I'm going definitely missionaries like the whole purpose is to cover the border.
Speaker A:Where in where on the border did you know exactly where it is that you're going to be going?
Speaker D:Yeah, it's Agua Prieta.
Speaker D:It's literally a hop skip over the border from Douglas, Arizona.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker D:Textbook definition of a border town.
Speaker A:Yeah, I will.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I am absolutely of the opinion that.
Speaker A:That a country should have the right to defend its borders.
Speaker A:Illegal immigration does not do any favors for the United States, and you'll never hear me say anything to the contrary of that.
Speaker A:I absolutely believe that if you want to come to the United States, that there should be availability for proper ways to enter the United States.
Speaker A:I don't even have an issue with having a border wall.
Speaker A:I don't have an issue in areas where you want to dissuade people from potentially harming themselves from trying to make crossings in places where you could.
Speaker A:Because it's not just, you know, the worst of Mexico and South American and Central American countries.
Speaker A:It's families of women and children and grandparents.
Speaker A:You know, I would prefer to dissuade them from crossing just anywhere and potential.
Speaker A:But you have to have immigration policies in place, and you have to have court judges that will.
Speaker A:That will move through the process.
Speaker A:One of the reasons that we have so many people trying to make the crossings on their own is because we don't have a streamlined system available for people to be able to become.
Speaker A:To gain access to the United States.
Speaker B:That's a bipartisan failure.
Speaker B:That's everybody's fault.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:The Republicans have now been in control for almost, what, four months, five months, and still I've not even heard a single mention of how they're going to improve the asylum process, how they're going to improve the immigration process.
Speaker A:I haven't heard anything about potentially bringing on new judges that could go through the backlog of cases of people trying to at least gain access to the United States by getting visas.
Speaker A:It's just absurd to me that, that this is the process.
Speaker A:And ultimately, I think that Donald Trump's administration just wants to cut off the border completely, except to the people.
Speaker A:And I say exception.
Speaker A:There are exceptions because this week we brought over white refugees from South Africa that were being persecuted and their land stolen in South Africa.
Speaker B:It's too good.
Speaker A:I'm dumbfounded.
Speaker B:I'm gonna.
Speaker B:If, Clark, if you want to go, you can say goodbye to everybody.
Speaker A:Thanks, Clark.
Speaker A:Hey, we'll.
Speaker A:We'll check in on you if you want to.
Speaker A:We'll.
Speaker A:We'll arrange it so we can check in on you while you're down there.
Speaker D:Well, yeah, I was gonna say I'll be.
Speaker D:I actually just got rehired.
Speaker D:It was a formality thing, really, but I still had to go through the process.
Speaker D:I'm back as editor in chief for Winthrop's newspaper.
Speaker A:Oh, congratulations.
Speaker D:Access to the socials.
Speaker D:Now I have access.
Speaker D:I have had access, but I'm trying to be a good person and stay away from it because I'm not technically hired yet, but now that I am.
Speaker D:So I'm gonna start posting about the trip either tomorrow or Monday.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker D:Johnsonian.
Speaker D:Facebook and Instagram.
Speaker A:We will look for that as well.
Speaker A:Thank you, Clark.
Speaker A:Appreciate it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:The politician's son is a journalist.
Speaker B:Who figured.
Speaker A:Well, that just means you're not safe, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:There's nothing.
Speaker A:There's nothing that you can't get away with anymore.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:Yeah, I thought you.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:I'm.
Speaker B:I think, you know, I'm just, like, over the moon, proud of him for all he's accomplished and as a.
Speaker B:As a journalist and what he's done with the Johnsonian is, like, nothing short of miraculous.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, that's exciting.
Speaker B:Through listening to other people, like, describe what great things your child has done.
Speaker B:I mean, I couldn't stop crying.
Speaker B:I was just, like, so caught up in that.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:That is really awesome.
Speaker A:I assume.
Speaker A:I assume the wife is excited also.
Speaker A:Want to.
Speaker A:If we haven't brought it up before, which I think we have.
Speaker A:Your daughter is in the Navy.
Speaker A:How is that going?
Speaker B:It's going good.
Speaker B:You know, it's going good.
Speaker B:She loves it.
Speaker B:We're very limited in what we can talk about anymore.
Speaker A:Sure, sure.
Speaker A:I get that.
Speaker B:We can talk about her being in the Navy, and she loves it.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:I mean, you know, that's.
Speaker C:That's.
Speaker B:Excuse me.
Speaker B:She was just in town last week.
Speaker B:We got to go out to have a Mother's Day dinner with the four of us before she went back.
Speaker A:Very lovely.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And she's relatively close to us now, so she can make like, you know, she can come for a couple days if she gets any liberty.
Speaker B:So she loves it where she's at.
Speaker B:Like I said, she's closer to us now, and she's in a part of the country she really likes.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:One of the reasons that Matt is here also is because, of course, the President is on a Middle Eastern trip through some of the countries that are our allies.
Speaker A:We are technically allies with them.
Speaker B:We are.
Speaker A:We do have treaties that make us allies.
Speaker A:Saudi Arabia is one of the places, Matt, that you have been to many times with some of, in your job experience.
Speaker A:So I have not been to Saudi Arabia.
Speaker A:I have been to the United Arab Emirate.
Speaker A:I have flown the uae.
Speaker A:I have flown into the UAE once on a layover to India, which was lovely.
Speaker A:I was treated like a king.
Speaker A:My group and I were picked up in what can only be described as the most lavish Lamborghini taxi I have ever seen in my entire life.
Speaker B:You don't get that in Saudi.
Speaker A:No, no, that was, that was in Dubai.
Speaker A:That was Dubai.
Speaker A:It was, it was fascinating.
Speaker A: ame in that in those years in: Speaker A:It's not a, it's not a comfortable ride.
Speaker A:But one of the things that I wanted to ask you about is have you ever had that, the coffee ceremony that, that, that was, that that occurred for Donald Trump, who did not drink coffee.
Speaker A:And he's notoriously known as somebody that doesn't drink coffee.
Speaker B:So I have sat through multiple coffee ceremonies.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:I went.
Speaker B:So one of my favorite stories to tell is when I had to go to the hospital in Saudi.
Speaker B:And keep in mind I was in a very remote part of Saudi.
Speaker B:I was in like redneck Saudi Arabia.
Speaker B:I wasn't in like Riyadh or Jeddah or some big opulent city.
Speaker B:I was in tariff.
Speaker B:So I had to go to the hospital, get my blood type confirmed.
Speaker B:And while I was there, one of the guys who was like an administrator, Western educated, comes, opens the door and he's just like in these gorgeous white flowing robes.
Speaker B:And, you know, I'm easy to recognize.
Speaker B:Not only am I an American, but I'm a very redheaded blue eyed American.
Speaker B:I don't look like the rest of y' all.
Speaker B:So he calls me over.
Speaker B:Amariki.
Speaker B:Amariki.
Speaker B:And he invites me in his office and we have coffee and dates.
Speaker B:That coffee is called gala and it is green unroasted coffee beans that they make that coffee with.
Speaker B:It is gross.
Speaker B:And I can't.
Speaker B:I love coffee.
Speaker B:I love coffee.
Speaker B:I'm a.
Speaker B:I mean, I cannot function without coffee on the daily.
Speaker B:And I, I had to.
Speaker B:You know, I always say I have to power stuff down like a python if I don't like it.
Speaker B:I have an ability to just kind of give a swallow on things that are unappetizing.
Speaker B:And I was just taking big slugs of that coffee.
Speaker B:I, I couldn't put enough honey in it and it was still bitter.
Speaker B:So, yeah, And I've been through a more formal.
Speaker B:Like, I was over there for multiple Es and multiple Ramadans, so I was there for a lot of iftars, which is that meal where you.
Speaker B:After your fast that you have.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, they're very ceremonial over there.
Speaker B:And that's.
Speaker B:I mean, Trump loves ceremony and pomp and circumstance.
Speaker B:If you remember back in Trump 1.0, he went over there and they did the sword dance for him and.
Speaker A:And the glowing orb, too.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:He played with the or, but they did the sword dance.
Speaker B:And I've.
Speaker B:I've seen the sword dance.
Speaker B:I remember we had the.
Speaker B:The king came to visit our plant one time and they made, like a big do of it.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But yeah, that Trump.
Speaker B:That country is full of Trumps.
Speaker B:I always try to explain that to people as a reference.
Speaker B:I'm like, it's.
Speaker B:Imagine a whole country full of Donald Trump's.
Speaker B:I mean, he's like, really, like, over the top entitled.
Speaker B:You know, it's a theocratic monarchy.
Speaker B:I mean, freedom's not really something they know about over there.
Speaker B:There's no real poverty.
Speaker B:Everybody's getting oil money.
Speaker B:They just get certain levels of it.
Speaker B:They got thousands of princes in that country.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, I mean, it's like, it's an entitlement country.
Speaker B:A whole.
Speaker B:I mean, they don't do any of their own anything.
Speaker B:I mean, the least thing I would be scared of is the Saudi Arabian army or military coming.
Speaker A:So that's something I didn't really know.
Speaker A:So in Saudi Arabia, there really isn't poverty?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:I mean, I never saw, like, home.
Speaker B:The Bedouins live out in the desert, but they're not homeless.
Speaker B:They're Bedouins.
Speaker B:That's what Bedouins do.
Speaker B:Bedouins are going to Bedouin.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:I know that just from experience, from some of the people that I work with that they have or they know of people that have gone to work on some of the.
Speaker A:I guess some of the construction and whatnot that goes on in Saudi Arabia because they're constantly building up.
Speaker A:They're.
Speaker A:They're based.
Speaker A:They're building into the Persian Gulf.
Speaker A:I'm sorry, is it still the Persian Gulf?
Speaker A:We haven't changed that yet.
Speaker B:So there's the Arabia.
Speaker B:So there's always been the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia.
Speaker B:He's like, trying to start a proxy culture war between the Persians and the Arabs.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:Because, I mean, don't call.
Speaker B:I mean, don't call an Arab a Persian and a Persian an Arab.
Speaker B:You're going to catch mighty.
Speaker B:I mean, those are two totally different cultures.
Speaker B:They really speak two different languages.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, that was.
Speaker B:He.
Speaker B:That was like a.
Speaker B:He did that with ill intent, for sure.
Speaker A:Well, everything he does is for ill intent.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker B:Yeah, but I mean, that was pretty.
Speaker B:I saw that and I was like, what is he doing?
Speaker B:I mean, that's a way to inflame things over there.
Speaker B:It seems little to us, but over there, that is freaking huge.
Speaker A:One of the things that.
Speaker A:From co workers that I've had over the years, one of the things that they've always acknowledged was that if you are from.
Speaker A:If they will hire for construction, people from outside of Saudi Arabia, Indians and.
Speaker B:Filipinos and Chinese, North Koreans.
Speaker B:You'll see actual North Koreans over there.
Speaker A:But once you get there, the availability to get out becomes very cloudy.
Speaker A:So there is a class of people there that are not Saudi Arabians.
Speaker A:So I guess they wouldn't fit that as far as potentially being in poverty.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But there are sections of.
Speaker A:Close to where construction sites are going on that these individuals, they'll come to work there, but then they can't leave because their visas get mismanaged.
Speaker B:And they will hold you in country, like, if you're on a labor contract with them and you try and you're like, man, I can't do this anymore.
Speaker B:I'm headed back to Bangladesh.
Speaker B:They will hold you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And incarcerate you possibly until that contract is fulfilled one way or the other.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And when I say there's no poverty, I mean there's no Saudi poverty.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:That's.
Speaker A:That's what I was getting.
Speaker B:You know, the labor class.
Speaker B:I mean, it's a sharp divide from the ruling to the labor class there.
Speaker B:And there's a hierarchy.
Speaker B:It's like, you know, the Saudis, other Muslim cultures that aren't, you know, I can give you a list of countries that they look down on, but I don't know if I want to go there.
Speaker B:But there are.
Speaker B:So you're talking like your Jordanians, your Kuwaitis, your Qataris, your Emiratis.
Speaker B:So Saudis, other Muslims, Americans, other Westerners, Saudi women.
Speaker B:And then like, all the others are way down there.
Speaker B:I mean, yeah, you can get a.
Speaker B:You can move to some position of prestige as an Indian over there, but some of these other countries, I mean, most.
Speaker B:Their child care labor force in Saudi is Filipino women.
Speaker B:A lot of kids from the Middle east were raised by Filipino nannies.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And they have, like, you know, I remember.
Speaker B:So where I worked, it was new.
Speaker B:So they Built the plant and brought in everybody and put us in, like, you know, little FEMA trailers and camps.
Speaker B:And it was nice for me.
Speaker B:I mean, I had my own trailer, but they were building like a whole industrial city there.
Speaker B:And as that was going up, we would go look because everything's tiered there.
Speaker B:There's hard, rigorous tears.
Speaker B:So we went and looked at some of the houses that some of us would actually qualify for.
Speaker B:And man, these houses were just so nice.
Speaker B:But they had a living quarters for house staff or servants, nanny, whatever.
Speaker B:And it was literally, it was like something you would see in, like, a museum of slavery from the.
Speaker B:You know, it was like a closet where you could squeeze in a single bed and, you know, maybe a little plastic, you know, dresser.
Speaker A:So not poverty, but definitely a lower class.
Speaker B:And yeah, they wouldn't, like, let the Indians or anybody else, like one of those.
Speaker B:They wouldn't just, like, let them set up a tent city.
Speaker B:I mean, they'll help them to the.
Speaker B:To the least of their obligation, but again, they do it.
Speaker B:It's just different over there.
Speaker B:Again, the whole, like, religious monarchy thing is, you know, there's not freedom there and you have to be careful about what you say and do.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:And especially me.
Speaker B:I remember we had a gay guy on our staff, and I mean, a lot of us were legit worried for him, but he.
Speaker B:He was.
Speaker B:He spoke Arabic, so they seem to, like, leave him alone.
Speaker B:So as somebody says, illegal over there.
Speaker A:But being gay and speaking Arabic as a Westerner, I guess that gives you, well, a little leeway.
Speaker B:Was Lebanese or something.
Speaker B:He was raised in.
Speaker B:In Lebanon as a child and moved to America, expatriated to America and was western raised.
Speaker B:I mean, he had no hint of an accent, but he was fluent in Arabic, man.
Speaker B:I mean, it was always cool to me when you would hear that.
Speaker B:I mean, I think I'm cool because I can say 25 Arabic words, but I probably can't string together a sentence in Arabic if you paid me to.
Speaker A:The things we're proud of.
Speaker B:Hey, it helps, man.
Speaker B:They love it when you hit them with a salam alaikum or sabal care in the morning.
Speaker B:Yeah, and they love that stuff coming from a white person because it's respectful.
Speaker B:I mean, I mean, I'm a guest in their country.
Speaker B:They're paying me ungodly amounts of money to be there.
Speaker B:So I'm gonna be dutiful and a good steward of what I've obliged myself to.
Speaker A:Yeah, well, I mean, but that just goes along with your character anyway, because you're not going, you're not going to disrespect someone just because they're showing you an utmost amount of respect.
Speaker A:They're there.
Speaker A:They're not putting you on a pedestal.
Speaker A:You're, you're, you're just going to be you.
Speaker A:Like, I think most of us would be, I think if most of us were in that situation, we would be respectful to the country and the people that we're working with.
Speaker A:And you know, but I digress.
Speaker B:I mean, let's bring this back to what a piece of garbage Trump is, okay?
Speaker B:Like anything that comes from that country is, it has blood on its hands.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:And you know, I want to be clear.
Speaker B:I may have gone over there and worked and profited off of my time over there, but anybody that worked for me over there can tell you I was not, you know, Saudis are the best.
Speaker B:You know, I was worried as a progressive Democrat who espouses, you know, pro LGBQ2 stuff, you know, it's, you know, it's nerve wracking in a way.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But you know, him being over there, a lot of this is an ego rub.
Speaker B:The Saudis are trying their damnedest without having to actually change or form a government to like make themselves a legitimate world player.
Speaker B:Kind of starting, you know, MBS, who is really running the country now.
Speaker B:I don't think they've announced the king's death even though I think he's been dead for, for years now.
Speaker B:But MBS is running the show over there and he's good, he's best friends with the king of the uae.
Speaker B:So he's trying to like turn Saudi into something that's like more marketable.
Speaker B:You could actually, you can get travel visas, the Saudi.
Speaker B:Now you just not to be able to do that unless you were there on like a Hodge.
Speaker B:Otherwise you couldn't get in country without having a work visa.
Speaker B:And they're building like entertainment districts but they're not changing.
Speaker B:Like you still can't drink in that country.
Speaker B:How are you going to have casino casinos and entertainment districts and not be able to enjoy a cocktail?
Speaker A:I mean, are they concerned about losing money in these casinos?
Speaker A:Because the whole reason you can drink casinos here is because you're going to lose more money.
Speaker B:They have partially constructed a city in the desert that they wanted to be run by AI and robots and that thing sits there like a relic on a movie set.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:They don't mind.
Speaker B:They got crazy money over there, Barrett.
Speaker B:I mean the oil, the, they have a lot of rare earth metals.
Speaker B:Over there, they have a lot of stuff that we need to like make electronics and batteries.
Speaker B:Not lithium directly, but other things.
Speaker B:And so that country is, and we've only discovered a portion of what's under the ground there.
Speaker B:I mean, that's a massive chunk of land over in Saudi Arabia and it's, you know, 80% desert, so.
Speaker A:Well, one of the other things I wanted to discuss tonight before we wrap up was I'm gonna force you guys to talk about Donald Trump's new 400 million dollar plane as a gift from the country of Qatar.
Speaker C:I mean, it's unconstitutional.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, just plain and simple.
Speaker C:But he's gotten away with many unconstitutional things.
Speaker A:He is continuing though, to push the line on unconstitutional situations.
Speaker A:Basically what Bill is talking about is the foreign emoluments clause, which is Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 or 8.
Speaker A:You know what, I have it pulled up so it says no title, those.
Speaker B:Sort of gifts from foreign.
Speaker A:So yeah, no title of nobility shall be granted to the United States and no person holding an office of profit or trust under them shall, without consent of Congress, accept any present emolument, office or title of any kind whatever from any king, prince or foreign state.
Speaker A:So basically, Donald Trump can't accept a knighthood from the uk.
Speaker A:He can't.
Speaker A:You can't accept a gift without any of this.
Speaker A:Congress has to say.
Speaker A:Congress has to vote on it and sign off themselves, both Senate and House to do.
Speaker A:He'll never get the votes in either of the houses in order to accept this gift.
Speaker A:But the thing I'm the most disturbed by is the fact that, yes, it might be a $400 million gift, but estimates are already coming out from the, from the Air Force and the Department of Defense as to how much it's actually going to cost for them to be able to convert this plane.
Speaker A:Yeah, it's a billion dollars and they're going to have to tear it down completely and rebuild it.
Speaker B:They are currently building a new Air Force One.
Speaker A:Two of them.
Speaker A:They're building two of them.
Speaker B:He wants, you know, that's the first thing.
Speaker B:I mean, having worked in the government for as long as I have, I mean, the first thing I said when I heard that, I was like, man, they're going to have to like literally strip all the wiring out of that plane, everything and put hardened, shielded, jacketed stuff in there.
Speaker B:They're going to have to protect it against electromagnetic pulses.
Speaker B:That is a luxury jet he got, he needs like floating fortress.
Speaker A:And, and, and, and this, this 747 is going to have to be fitted with missile defense systems because Air Force One has its own missile defense system.
Speaker A:It has its own radar system, flares.
Speaker A:I mean the whole thing is going to be, have, have to be defended and, and, and like the cost of that.
Speaker A:But then we're going to spend $1 billion as taxpayers in the United States.
Speaker A:And then when Donald Trump does leave office, which by the way, we should be excited about this because Donald Trump does recognize he is going to leave office at some point, but he's just going to, this plane is just going to be part his, his, it's just going to become his plane that will sit at his library.
Speaker A:Also shocked to find out that Donald Trump is planning on having a library.
Speaker A:That one was just.
Speaker B:Hopefully he'll fill it with all the books.
Speaker B:Moms for Liberty is banned.
Speaker A:Exactly.
Speaker A:Well, or he'll fill it with all of the books that they haven't banned.
Speaker B:They'll like lock them away though.
Speaker B:They'll be like, see these books?
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker A:In my head.
Speaker C:Paint everything in gold.
Speaker C:I don't know what would really be.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean this would be the chance to go shit on a gold toilet.
Speaker A:Where would you even put the Donald Trump library because you couldn't open it.
Speaker B:Should have one in New York City or up in bed where he's got that golf course in New York.
Speaker A:I'm dumbfounded.
Speaker A:I don't, I don't get.
Speaker A:I, I'm, I don't, I don't understand.
Speaker A:Like, like there was no, I don't remember any discussion after Trump's first term of a potential library.
Speaker A:But now, and I know Reagan has what part of an Air Force One, like the part of the Air Force One from before the two jets we have now.
Speaker A:But like I think Reagan has part of Air Force One at his library.
Speaker A:Like, I don't think it's the whole thing.
Speaker A:If it is the whole thing, kudos.
Speaker B:But you need an airplane hanger to put that thing in though.
Speaker B:It's not easy to wheel it into a museum.
Speaker A:Yeah, but, but the fact that.
Speaker A:So we're going to spend a billion dollars refurbishing and setting this brand new or this 10 year old plane.
Speaker A:So we're even trading out the fact that Boeing is building.
Speaker A:In the process of building.
Speaker A:Are they building it slow?
Speaker A:Yeah, but how long did it take for the last two 747s to be converted into Air Force One and Air Force Two or whatever.
Speaker B:So Ralph Norman is flexing that Boeing signed a contract with Cotter for to make new airplanes for them.
Speaker B:Boeing has like, God, I want to say, a 10 year backlog of orders.
Speaker B:You know, it's more, I would say it's quite likely.
Speaker B:Cotter is never going to see those planes.
Speaker A: mp did when he took office in: Speaker A:Like that was the thing he did.
Speaker A:They told him up front, this is a 10 year process.
Speaker A:You know, we don't, first of all, even if they put him to the front of the list, those, those planes are outfitted in a specific way that means they can't be delivered immediately.
Speaker A: So like: Speaker A:And anyone that comes out in the news and says that, no, that's bullshit, that they, they should have gotten them to them, that's ridiculous.
Speaker A:It's just, it's just absurd.
Speaker A:I'm, I'm dumbfounded by this whole thing.
Speaker C:It's just even crazier because, I mean, just in my, in my view at this point, one of the number one things America should be targeting is poverty.
Speaker C:Like, that's just, and it's so fixable.
Speaker C:It just, it is mindblowingly fixable.
Speaker C:Looking at the numbers of what it would take to actually pull every American out of deep poverty and poverty at the bottom level.
Speaker C:And then you're going to sit and say, well, I got to take this jet because it's a gift from Cater, and then you're going to go to make $5 trillion tax cuts for the billionaires and then try to cut Medicare by 188, $180 billion and require community service for those and say those people are lazy that are getting Medicare.
Speaker B:Just caught one person committing Medicare fraud in South Carolina.
Speaker B:That's, this is clearly an epidemic of Medicaid fraud that we need to take away here.
Speaker C:That's the thing.
Speaker C:I don't care if somebody's lazy.
Speaker C:I'm not scared that four or five lazy people.
Speaker C:I know lazy people, sure, go, go, go.
Speaker C:Hey, I'm just saying if you're lazy, I don't care if it, if, if four or five lazy people in America are going to get social benefits that every American should be guaranteed if they make below a certain salary or net income.
Speaker C:I don't care.
Speaker C:So I just simply don't.
Speaker A:So you want to hear something else that's crazy about Medicare?
Speaker A:So I worked in Medicare for 14 years.
Speaker A:I worked everything from provider services to support to software for Medicare and the administrators of Medicare have to be the lowest bidder.
Speaker A:And generally the administration of Medicare runs anywhere between like 1% or less or up to maybe 2 and a half, maybe 3%.
Speaker A:So the companies that, that run Medicare, that are administrating Medicare are our insurance companies that are for profit insurance companies.
Speaker A:So they're the ones because they have such a robust history of processing claims and paying doctors and taking care of the patients and things like that.
Speaker A:They're the ones that bid on these contracts and wind up becoming the administrators.
Speaker A:So let's say that all of the administrators, let's say that the part of the cost of administering that Medicare makes up about 3% usually when it comes to actually administrating Medicare for a region.
Speaker A:So 3% of that cost goes to paying for the insurance company that's now running the Medicare for that region.
Speaker A:Dr.
Speaker A:Oz, when he came in, the first thing he proposed and I think is going to get taken care of is that they're going to bump it from 3 or so percent up to about 5%.
Speaker A:So you're going to be paying the administrators more for the service that they're doing when all of them are already making billions on billions every quarter for the regular businesses that they, that they're doing now.
Speaker A:What happens now is they're going to be making more money.
Speaker A:The administration cost of Medicare is going to go up again.
Speaker A:And my fear is that we're going to see more, we're going to see more costs going to Medicare and that's going to try and justify the position of the GOP and the Republicans that Medicare needs more cutbacks in order to take care of it.
Speaker A:What we need is to do away with the cap on Social Security and how much money people pay into Social Security every year.
Speaker C:Because I really think 100%.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Right now I think it's like, I think it's 160,000.
Speaker A:Once you make 160,000, you no longer pay into Social Security for that year and it resets next year.
Speaker A:For the life of me, I don't understand why that couldn't, why we need a cap on that at all, but why that that cap can't be raised to like 500,000.
Speaker A:You, you raise it to like 400, $500,000.
Speaker A:Medicare is good for basically eternity.
Speaker A:We could turn around and if you, if you allowed for there to be a Medicare for all or a Medicare or, or do away with the 60, the mandate that you have to be.
Speaker A:And actually I, I think I read.
Speaker A:Is it still 65 or is it 67 now?
Speaker B:67.
Speaker A:67 years old now.
Speaker A: to be, if you were born after: Speaker A:But we need a public option.
Speaker A:And I would gladfully pay twice what I'm paying towards Medicare if I could cut out all of my healthcare because Medicare is run so efficiently.
Speaker A:And I know that because my experience with Medicare was, like I said, 14 years worth of experience.
Speaker A:I saw from the ground floor how Medicare was run.
Speaker A:And you guys were talking about some of the people taking advantage or committing Medicare fraud.
Speaker A:Most of the Medicare fraud that occurs, and I saw it because I saw people get fired for it, was actually Medicare fraud being, being committed at the administrative level, like not at the patient level.
Speaker A:It wasn't Medicare patients that were taking advantage of Medicare.
Speaker A:Most of it, I want to say 95% of it was being committed by the individuals working for the insurance companies that were handing Medicare because they knew how to do it.
Speaker A:They knew how to create their own durable medical equipment office and make fraudulent posts and sales or whatnot and file claims for, for wheelchairs and beds and things like that that they were making thousands and thousands of dollars off of.
Speaker A:And those individuals were prosecuted.
Speaker A:So I, you know, I, I, Medicare is a, Medicare is probably one of the greatest things that the United States has going for it.
Speaker A:And they want to dismantle it, they want to tear it apart.
Speaker C:These are things that Democrats, if they want to be on a board of people that they want to be trusted, these are things that they, they have to hammer home.
Speaker C:They have to talk about it.
Speaker C:Republicans are talking about it.
Speaker C:They're just trying to take the money for, I don't know what tax cuts for billionaires is what it mainly seems like, but Democrats need to talk about.
Speaker C:We need to expand this.
Speaker C:Let's look into a Medicare for all.
Speaker C:Where is this money going?
Speaker C:How is it?
Speaker C:You, you.
Speaker C:They need to make it very transparent and very clear to people this is what we need to do to solve poverty.
Speaker C:I know Republicans who are only voting Republican because they think that they're going to solve poverty.
Speaker C:That is the number one issue.
Speaker C:And it's solvable.
Speaker C:It's so solvable.
Speaker C:But some of the ideas to solve it have been labeled as progressive, which makes it.
Speaker C:Or socialist, which makes it hard to talk to people about it.
Speaker C:But there's got to be a way to find a way to break that barrier.
Speaker B:I mean, don't Even get me started on that progressive stuff.
Speaker B:Good Lord.
Speaker B:You're talking to a guy who, like, you know, it's not a lot of people.
Speaker B:It might be five of them, but there are five folks that are dedicated to the end of my existence based on me being a progressive.
Speaker B:I mean, are they.
Speaker C:Are they Democrats?
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, they're my own people.
Speaker B:I mean, they.
Speaker B:These folks should be shoulder to shoulder with me and, you know, they would rather see me, you know, six feet under.
Speaker B:Thanks.
Speaker B:Ever thrive.
Speaker B:So it's.
Speaker B:Yeah, they don't see it that way.
Speaker B:And I don't.
Speaker B:I've never, like.
Speaker B:I don't reciprocate that back upon them.
Speaker B:I'm not like, I'm not wired that way.
Speaker B:Yeah, I got big.
Speaker B:I mean, to me, my.
Speaker B:I'm like, trying to fight Republican rule, you know, and stuff like that.
Speaker B:Not like my own Democrats.
Speaker B:If they want to fight me, they can, like, keep nipping at my heel all they want.
Speaker B:You know, it's like the song says, don't go pulling on Superman's cape.
Speaker B:So, you know.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:No, it really doesn't seem like there's much hope in South Carolina when it comes to the Democrats.
Speaker C:I've met a lot of them.
Speaker C:I've talked to a lot of them.
Speaker C:They're basically conservatives.
Speaker C:I mean, it's.
Speaker B:It's bad.
Speaker B:I mean, I had a rough time in the last election, and what I've seen happen this year, I don't.
Speaker B:You know, there's so much I know that I wish I could share, but I can tell you that it was frustrating for elected Democrats to watch, like, the failure from the Democrat Party at every level, national, state, and county.
Speaker B:And then, like, they don't fight.
Speaker B:I mean, what did the House Democrats fight for as a whole?
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:What did they.
Speaker B:Did they really fight against the DEI legislation?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:I will.
Speaker A:I will say Heather Bower's attempt to sway the Senate and the House to impeach Curtis Loftus, I think was impeccable.
Speaker B:Yeah, me too.
Speaker B:I mean, Heather.
Speaker B:Heather's the exception to the rule.
Speaker B:And anybody that'll get rid of Curtis, Rachel Loftus the Lesser, is all right with me.
Speaker B:That's a callback, bill.
Speaker B:That's a callback.
Speaker D:Yeah.
Speaker B:It shows how deep in all about nothing lore I am.
Speaker A:I had a slew because I didn't know what it was.
Speaker B:One of the best episodes of the aan, I think, was your treatise against Curtis, Rebecca Loftus.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I don't think.
Speaker A:I don't think it got any of his attention either.
Speaker A:Or if it did.
Speaker B:If it did.
Speaker B:Dude, he responds poorly to that.
Speaker B:Like, you saw the video of him testifying before the Senate.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Agile man.
Speaker A:They kept telling him.
Speaker A:They kept telling him that if his lawyer wanted to speak, he needed to be sworn in and his lawyer that he would not swear in.
Speaker A:Like, it was.
Speaker A:It was one of the most absurd things I've ever watched show.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Well, guys, we're going to wrap it up.
Speaker A:Any final thoughts, Bill?
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Let's just fix poverty.
Speaker C:It's so easy.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker C:I could give you so many resources to how we could fix it, and it's just not going to get done here.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Yeah, I completely agree.
Speaker A:Matt, Any closing thoughts?
Speaker B:You know, let's love one another.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:I know it sounds kind of.
Speaker B:People are wondering, is he serious?
Speaker B:But yeah, I mean, let's love one another.
Speaker B:Let's like, do what we can to uplift folks and amplify some voices.
Speaker B:Dark days ahead.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I don't know what to tell y' all.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, that I.
Speaker A:I appreciate that.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Strap in.
Speaker A:For sure.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:All right, guys.
Speaker A:Well, I appreciate it.
Speaker A:That's going to do it for episode number 204.
Speaker A:55.
Speaker A:Thank you again, Matt, for joining us.
Speaker A:I know it was short notice, but I really appreciate it.
Speaker A:Bill, thanks for being here again.
Speaker A:Zach.
Speaker A:Zach is out until he's back.
Speaker A:That's all I know.
Speaker A:That's all I know.
Speaker B:I do have something important to leave everybody with.
Speaker B:Watch andor season two.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:Some of the best Star wars ever put together is andor season two.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:The series finale, I think, just came out, didn't it?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, just blew my mind.
Speaker B:Good.
Speaker B:I mean, incredible cinematography, acting, all of it.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:I did enjoy.
Speaker A:I was.
Speaker A:I was waiting to be able to.
Speaker A:To watch the whole thing in one sitting.
Speaker A:So I look forward to that.
Speaker A:I'll do that soon.
Speaker A:All right.
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Speaker A:And also just to remind everybody, if we get a hundred new members.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah, Bill, will let me.
Speaker A:We'll.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:We will randomly choose one that can come up and, and shave Bill's beard.
Speaker A:That was the deal.
Speaker C:100.
Speaker A:100.
Speaker A:We got to get 100.
Speaker C:How many would you, how many has joined since.
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Speaker C:Oh, okay.
Speaker A:Because there haven't been.
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Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:But we'll, we'll, we'll make that.
Speaker A:Also, I want to remind everybody that Bill Kimler and I do every Tuesday and Thursday, 5:30am Eastern, we record an episode called the kind of Daily show where we just discuss different things.
Speaker A:Today was a lot of fun.
Speaker A:We recorded, we talked about some of the absurd Internet challenges, social media challenges that are, that are going around right now.
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