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Ukraine’s Patriot Crisis | Europe & Washington Under Scrutiny · International Flavor: Where the Truth Tastes Better

0:00
Hello. Good morning. Welcome.
0:03
I am Samuel Trapp. This is International
0:06
Flavor. You are listening to DAMN Radio.
0:09
Damn glad to have you this morning. Um
0:13
Got to tell you, I almost opted for no
0:16
show. I got a I got a a
0:18
a busy busy day and I almost just
0:23
kind of blew it off. I'm arranging my uh
0:27
St. Petersburg
0:29
Russia. Going to Mother Russia in
0:33
Christmas time. I'm leaving um
0:36
the flight so far appears to be the 28th
0:40
27th. I might even go right before
0:42
Christmas. I haven't decided yet. And um
0:45
but I have two different routes and it's
0:48
going to be entertaining trying to
0:49
figure out how to get there. So, they
0:52
make it impossible to get to Russia. Not
0:54
only can you not download anything that
0:56
has a Russian opinion tied to it. You
1:00
get throttled everywhere you go. Now,
1:02
they're throttling Alex Christoforo and
1:05
Alex Mercurius. They're the
1:08
the people on the Duran. They're
1:09
throttling them. You can't download so
1:13
I like to uh
1:14
uh
1:15
listen to their programs and then
1:17
sometimes I take parts of their
1:20
transcript and you can either go through
1:23
and write down the parts that you want
1:25
but a lot of times I'm wandering around
1:26
the house
1:27
and uh you know, trying to get some
1:29
stuff done and listening to it
1:30
passively. You know, it's just in the
1:31
background.
1:32
And and and I'll listen to it. So, I'll
1:34
get on later and try to download the
1:37
the transcript. So, you know, I download
1:39
my transcript to my own show every day.
1:41
You know, I download it and and uh and
1:43
and check it out. Make sure
1:45
>> [laughter]
1:45
>> I'm not saying crap that is so off the
1:48
wall that nobody should believe it.
1:51
Uh
1:51
and you know, follow up on stuff that I
1:54
that I have and uh they're being
1:57
throttled. You cannot download their
1:58
transcript and you can't do it on um
2:01
Piers V Sevastopolski it's starting to
2:03
work on that one um
2:05
first uh Sevastopol channel uh which I
2:08
like to listen to. It's a It's like
2:10
another 60 minutes sort of thing. 60
2:12
minutes has been throttled for a while.
2:14
Um
2:15
uh Vladimir uh Solovyov and his show
2:19
which I like to watch. It has political
2:20
topics. That mean they get on and they
2:22
argue about stuff. And um and I like
2:25
watching that sort of format. But now
2:27
all I can do is watch it. I can't even
2:29
get on there and go, "You know, I want
2:31
to hear this particular economist that
2:33
they had on that show. I want to listen
2:35
to his opinion." Uh in Russian just his
2:38
and I want to read some of the script. I
2:40
want to take some some of the script out
2:42
of there. Nope. Not on YouTube. YouTube
2:44
throttles it all.
2:46
It's uh uh
2:48
Oh my god.
2:50
Well, that I'm going to be looking into.
2:51
Shooting of a 1-year-old was justified.
2:55
Um
2:56
The the the AG of uh what what state was
2:59
it? I didn't see it uh Mississippi I
3:01
think it said, but it it uh
3:04
I I can't I can't remember. Anyways, so
3:06
apparently a 1-year-old's been shot in
3:09
the overnight news and it was justified
3:11
according to the AG of that state. We'll
3:12
have to look into that. Um
3:14
Nonsensical nonsense. How was it
3:16
justified ever to shoot a 1-year-old?
3:19
That just ain't
3:20
That just ain't true. Um but anyway, I'm
3:23
trying to plan my trip and I'm trying
3:24
you know and everything is throttled. Uh
3:26
everything Um they're
3:29
they're either doing it and denying it
3:32
like we talked about yesterday with the
3:34
uh
3:35
drones crossing over into the Baltic
3:37
states and then crossing uh the Gulf of
3:40
Finland and coming into uh St.
3:42
Petersburg from the west. Um or
3:46
that's propaganda from one side or
3:48
people are just we're so used to hearing
3:50
the lies about it that they will just
3:54
follow along. There was a report over
3:56
the weekend that uh for example, another
3:59
one here here here this will be
4:00
throttled cuz we can't have anybody
4:02
knowing this
4:03
that uh uh some British channel put out
4:06
that um
4:08
>> [clears throat]
4:09
>> um
4:10
You know what? Might have been Axios.
4:11
Might not have been that.
4:13
But but I can't remember. Whoever it
4:14
was, I I saw it only in passing again.
4:17
Is that the they said that
4:21
they were down to 10 Patriot missiles
4:22
and then they said, "No, they shot eight
4:24
of them. So really there's only a couple
4:25
left." So for all intents and purposes,
4:27
there are none left, basically.
4:29
And uh Zelenskyy's running around the
4:31
the the world with his hand out as usual
4:35
and he's asking now and the money just
4:37
keeps going up that he's requesting.
4:40
Now, he said that next year he needs 155
4:44
million and if you don't support him, 20
4:46
million Ukrainians are going to mob
4:48
Europe, you know, and run away from the
4:50
big bad Russians. They'll be running
4:52
from my ass. No, they won't. They'll
4:55
probably appreciate the stability that
4:57
would come under Russia even if you
4:58
disagree with what they with how the
5:01
country's run, you can't deny that it's
5:03
not pretty damn stable.
5:05
>> [laughter]
5:06
>> That part you can't deny. And so, you
5:09
know, and there's uh
5:11
uh plenty to be said for that kind of
5:13
life instead of a life of war for a guy
5:16
who uh you know, wanted to pretend that
5:18
he was a school teacher on his uh TV
5:21
show or a comedian on Kvartal 95. You
5:25
know, the guy
5:27
uh
5:28
I don't know. Doesn't want to leave the
5:29
office. So, he's running around talking
5:31
about this Patriot missile crisis and
5:33
now he needs uh 155 million bucks. So,
5:36
the Patriot debate is often confused.
5:39
You know, people don't quite get how a
5:41
Patriot works because they just talk
5:43
about Patriot systems. We have a system.
5:46
A battery of uh uh uh a unit, if you
5:50
will, of Patriot includes radar, command
5:53
and control equipment, power and
5:54
communication components, and one or
5:56
more launchers.
5:58
And the way the military works is each
6:01
one of these would be a grouping, a
6:03
squad. When I was in the military, I I
6:05
was assigned for three helicopters.
6:08
And it was but that was only one
6:10
platform cuz two helicopters were slave
6:13
helicopters and one helicopter was the
6:15
master helicopter. And so, I would
6:18
control basically all three helicopters
6:21
electronic warfare equipment from the
6:24
back of the helicopter, but we had to
6:25
get up in the air, separate them by a
6:27
mile apart, and that way we would have a
6:30
a uh direction-finding that would
6:32
pinpoint within an accuracy of about 5
6:35
ft.
6:36
You know, we could tell where they were
6:37
because you have direction-finding, but
6:39
they were one unit. So, a Patriot unit
6:43
contains radar, command and control,
6:46
power, communication components, and one
6:48
or more launchers. So, they'll get them
6:51
together and put them in there. A
6:52
launcher is not an interceptor.
6:56
An operational launcher with an empty
6:59
canister
7:01
no interceptor
7:04
doesn't defend anything. It's just a
7:06
pile of
7:07
you know, useless crap.
7:10
You [laughter] know, and it's just like
7:12
if you had a stockpile of missiles with
7:14
no compatible radar, no launch
7:16
equipment, no crew or maintenance, you
7:18
know, you don't have a maintenance group
7:19
that follows them around in case
7:21
anything falls apart,
7:23
you can't fire the missile, right? So,
7:25
different interceptors are also
7:28
optimized for a different threat. PAC-3
7:31
missiles are valuable against ballistic
7:33
missiles. Older PAC-2s can only be
7:36
useful against aircraft or some some
7:39
minor cruise missile threat, right?
7:42
So,
7:43
Ukraine's immediate crisis is the
7:46
primary
7:47
uh the you know, the interceptor.
7:49
The Washington Post
7:52
on October 7th
7:53
reported that Ukraine
7:55
had 10 Patriot missiles left, used them
7:58
during the subsequent attack, and was
8:00
down to only just a couple or
8:01
effectively just I just out of them.
8:04
And uh according to another
8:06
well-informed source
8:08
Familiar with the matter. You know, we
8:10
always talk about our sources that are
8:12
familiar with the matter. You know,
8:15
those are our Those are our peeps. You
8:18
know, those are who we want to talk to.
8:20
It doesn't matter if you can identify
8:22
them. You just say, "Well, they're
8:24
familiar with the matter and therefore,
8:26
you know, let's talk to them."
8:29
They're an administration official
8:30
familiar with the matter.
8:33
Well, there you have it. They're
8:35
familiar with it. You know, I'm familiar
8:37
with it. You know, I'm Hell, I'm I'm
8:39
familiar with Donald Trump. How do you
8:41
like that? Yep, I saw him on TV one
8:43
time, so I'm familiar with him. What
8:44
does that mean? Nothing.
8:46
Um you know, could be
8:49
My name's Harold and I live down the
8:50
street from the White House and so
8:52
therefore, I know stuff cuz I see people
8:54
going in and out there all the time.
8:57
>> [snorts]
8:57
[laughter]
8:58
>> Person familiar. I'm familiar with the
9:00
matter. Yes, indeedy.
9:04
The report from the Washington Post
9:06
relied on
9:08
>> [cough and clears throat]
9:08
>> anonymous officials.
9:11
So, the exact inventory, of course,
9:13
isn't independently audited. Nobody
9:15
audited. Nobody knows what the hell
9:16
happened to these, but the pattern is
9:18
absolutely consistent uh with the fact
9:21
that tons and tons of attacks keep
9:24
penetrating Ukraine's defenses.
9:25
Production and delivery delays
9:28
oh, take about 36 months to replenish.
9:34
So, we're in a big deal here.
9:36
You know, how in the hell you going to
9:37
get any more
9:39
uh PAC-3s?
9:42
How you going to get them? Who has them,
9:44
right?
9:46
A September 15th Ansar report said the
9:48
EU and NATO officials were pressuring
9:50
Spain
9:51
and Greece to release interceptors from
9:54
their national stockpile.
9:57
Athens was reportedly, you know, a
9:59
person familiar with the matter,
10:02
receptive because some missiles were
10:04
approaching the end of their service
10:05
lives anyway.
10:08
But, Madrid said screw you cuz we're
10:10
Spaniards. We don't agree with anything.
10:13
You want to fly in our earth airspace?
10:15
Nope. Get out.
10:17
>> [laughter]
10:18
>> We're We're Spaniards. We don't agree.
10:20
Didn't you watch
10:22
Princess Bride? You know, he's a
10:23
Spaniard.
10:25
Um
10:26
>> [clears throat]
10:27
>> The proposed exchange from either Madrid
10:30
or Athens would send older missiles to
10:32
Ukraine now
10:34
so that Spain and Greece could get
10:36
priority access to replacements financed
10:40
through Ukrainian orders
10:43
or other NATO NATO sources. How about
10:46
that?
10:47
So, Ukraine can't afford their own
10:48
missiles, but they're going to place
10:50
orders for more, and maybe it's part of
10:53
the 155 billion they're going to get you
10:56
know, another pile of
10:58
money. You know what they're doing? The
10:59
155 billion is really
11:03
Russia's money. It's money that's the
11:05
300 billion that was sitting there,
11:07
which is probably down to you know, 20
11:09
cents now. Anyway, um
11:12
>> [clears throat]
11:13
>> So, this plan is rational from Kyiv's
11:15
perspective because a missile with
11:16
limited remaining shelf life has greater
11:19
value
11:21
if it's [clears throat] defending a
11:21
Ukrainian city today
11:23
than waiting to get removed and
11:25
destroyed in a Greek depot later. But,
11:29
Greece has now stated publicly that it's
11:32
not going to weaken its own defenses.
11:36
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis
11:40
said Athens
11:42
had already given sufficient air defense
11:44
assistance, but it would not make
11:47
transfers that compromise its own
11:49
national capability. And that's not
11:51
being selfish. Is it? I don't know.
11:54
Let's ask a source familiar with the
11:56
matter. Greece plans
11:59
um around its own tension with Turkey
12:01
and instability in the Eastern
12:03
Mediterranean, which is substantial.
12:06
Governments hold inventories because
12:08
crises are unpredictable.
12:11
The real policy question is whether
12:13
replacement guarantees
12:16
3 years from now
12:18
are credible, dated, and legally funded.
12:21
Ukraine, they can't fund themselves. How
12:24
the hell they going to fund replacements
12:26
for Greece? A promise of a future
12:28
missile means very little if the
12:30
production line can't deliver it for 3
12:32
years anyway.
12:34
So, the responsibility
12:35
responsibility for US shortages
12:39
cannot honestly be assigned only to
12:43
uh you know, the fact that Ukraine's
12:44
using them all up.
12:46
>> [cough and clears throat]
12:46
>> I suppose you could argue
12:50
that Pete Hegseth is to blame. Put me
12:53
in, coach.
12:55
He's responsible for decisions made
12:57
during his tenure. He's been there
12:58
almost 2 years. What has he done?
13:02
You know, where's where's where's the
13:03
ramp-up? Where's the Hey, man, we need
13:06
four more factories. Get your butts in
13:08
line and get get putting these together.
13:09
I'm I'm I'm I'm in procurement here.
13:13
And we need to put these interceptors on
13:16
our ships. I know, let's take them off
13:18
Let's take them off of the ships. Let's
13:20
take them off there, mail them to
13:21
Ukraine, you know, put a couple of
13:23
postage stamps on there, and send them
13:26
out. The Pentagon purchased only an
13:30
average of
13:32
270
13:34
PAC-3 interceptors annually, right?
13:38
How long would that 270 last in Ukraine?
13:43
That's an interesting question. They've
13:45
used at least that many
13:47
this year, right?
13:49
The stockpiles are gone, friends and
13:52
neighbors.
13:53
Uh the Secretary of War can accelerate
13:56
contracts and change priorities, but he
13:59
can't manufacture thousands of complex
14:01
missiles
14:04
in the past. You can't go backward and
14:07
expect to put them out, you know, it's
14:09
not going to happen. So, the strategic
14:11
lesson is pretty uncomfortable,
14:13
especially for for uh
14:15
old Fox News dude.
14:17
Uh the US and NATO built air defense
14:19
structures optimized for limited
14:21
attacks, not prolonged exchanges
14:24
attacking Geran drones. You know, and
14:26
they didn't want mass-produced missiles
14:29
and drones across multiple theaters.
14:31
Russia and Iran have demonstrated
14:33
precision, mass, expensive threats mixed
14:36
with cheap decoys.
14:38
Because they send up for every one
14:40
that's carrying a load, one or two that
14:42
isn't.
14:43
And defenders have to decide which one
14:46
they should shoot a multi-million dollar
14:49
interceptor at.
14:51
Ukraine needs some kind of a layered
14:53
defense. They need guns, they need
14:54
electronic warfare, they need
14:56
inexpensive interceptors, they need
14:58
aircraft and locally produced systems
15:00
and uh Russia's gotten pretty good at
15:03
avoiding the um
15:05
electronic warfare because they're on
15:07
their own set of frequencies, their own
15:11
set of guidance
15:13
that come from their own now satellite
15:15
system, which is in place and covers
15:17
Ukraine.
15:19
Um so, that's a big deal.
15:23
On top of that, Zelensky's $155 billion
15:26
estimate for 2027 uh
15:29
is another, you know, project uh a
15:32
long-term war cost. No line-by-line
15:36
audited amount of money, for sure. I
15:40
know, I need 155 billion, right? He's He
15:43
needs a new 70 billion request uh for
15:46
the end of this year because he ran out
15:48
of the 90 billion that he already got
15:50
earlier in the year. The EU has a 90
15:53
billion dollar limited recourse
15:55
Ukrainian support loan
15:58
that was supposed to cover 2026 and 2027
16:02
divided into 60 billion for defense and
16:06
30 billion for budget.
16:08
Cuz we got to pay everybody's retirement
16:10
and everybody's
16:11
uh what do you call it? Uh free money in
16:14
Ukraine, too. That's it. Well, not we,
16:16
but Europe has to pay that. And they're
16:19
trying to get it from the US and and
16:20
rightly so uh Trump is resisting as he
16:24
should. You know, and I don't think it I
16:27
I haven't met an American yet who thinks
16:30
we ought to continue pumping money into
16:32
this debacle. You know. So, the new
16:35
request of 155 billion is in a complex
16:38
structure of of revenue previous loans,
16:41
future EU disbursements, bilateral
16:43
equipment grants
16:45
and financing gap money that is
16:47
requested and given up up for uh
16:50
basically nothing. Um we talked about
16:52
Alice Weidel the other day and how uh
16:54
she's bitching and uh as are many
16:56
Germans of why in the hell you putting
16:58
this on us? We don't give a crap about
17:01
Ukraine. And they don't. I mean, the
17:03
typical German doesn't give a rip about
17:05
Ukraine. Typical Brit doesn't care. The
17:08
typical American does not care, nor
17:11
should they, about Ukraine. It's not our
17:14
problem.
17:16
It just isn't. You know, if if Mexico or
17:18
Canada was crossing the border and
17:20
coming to us that's our problem.
17:23
Ukraine has a genuine, a systemic
17:27
corruption problem.
17:29
Uh Transparency International gives it a
17:32
ranking
17:33
of 36 out of 100
17:36
in the 2025 corruption perception index.
17:40
An improvement of one point.
17:43
>> [laughter]
17:43
>> They improved by one, but still a very
17:45
weak score. Ukraine's own NACP
17:50
reported that risk-based review during
17:53
the first 5 months of 2026 identified
17:56
more than 1.7 billion hryvnia in
18:00
declaration violations. People aren't
18:02
reporting. And NABU investigations
18:05
include military property embezzlement
18:08
theft
18:10
from Ukroboronprom
18:12
uh
18:13
Ukraine defense industries and an
18:15
alleged million-dollar bribe connected
18:18
to drone procurement.
18:21
These findings justify conditionality,
18:26
transparent procurement,
18:29
an independent court,
18:31
and scrutiny of politically connected
18:33
figures, none of which occur in Ukraine.
18:36
They just don't. They don't prove that
18:39
Zelensky stole all the Western money,
18:41
but it makes it far more likely, that's
18:44
for sure. Investigations have approached
18:47
former members of his inner circle, but
18:49
one major NABU probe uh explicitly came
18:53
out to say that Zelensky isn't part of
18:56
the part of the problem. Uh-huh. That's
18:58
because they have to keep that firewall
19:02
there. He's got to be at least in
19:05
propaganda the good guy.
19:08
Right? And
19:10
corruption risks are substantial,
19:14
documented
19:15
uh all over Ukraine. Powerful associates
19:18
of Zelensky have been investigated,
19:21
removed.
19:22
Independence of anti-corruption
19:24
institutions has been attacked.
19:27
A personal theft accusation against a
19:29
president should require little more
19:33
evidence of a personal receipt, control,
19:35
or concealment, or direction. The you
19:39
know
19:41
Zelensky is a is a crook thesis is
19:44
strongest as an argument about political
19:46
responsibility rather than criminal
19:48
enrichment. So, I don't know. They Every
19:51
Everybody You get on Google and you hear
19:53
anything bad about uh
19:55
uh about Zelensky, you can guarantee
19:58
that it's going to be throttled by
20:00
Google. It's going to be throttled by
20:02
YouTube. You're not going to be able to
20:04
get that information. Just like you
20:07
can't get 60 Minutes Russia, just like
20:09
you can't get Solovyov, just like you
20:12
can't get Maria Zakharova without really
20:15
working and trying. You have to download
20:17
it from the Ministry of Defense of
20:19
Russia website instead. Um Well, who
20:23
else can't you get?
20:25
They throttled one of Jeffrey Sachs the
20:27
other day.
20:28
Jeffrey Sachs was saying,
20:30
uh, his typical, you know, he's worse
20:32
than I am talking of. I mean, whether
20:35
that's worse or better, he's actually,
20:37
uh, truthful. And he's right involved in
20:39
it. He's given speeches in front of the,
20:41
you know, UN and meeting with important
20:44
people still, stuff like that. And
20:46
telling them truth, uh,
20:48
to power like he has been since the
20:50
'90s. You know, when I was still in the,
20:52
in the, in the service back there. And
20:55
he's always been that way, and he's an
20:56
expert. He's a massive expert. United
21:00
States massive expert. Throttled like a
21:03
mofo. That boy is throttled. You can't
21:06
have truth. What the hell is that? Um,
21:10
What
21:10
>> [laughter]
21:11
>> What? You can't have people telling the
21:13
truth.
21:14
Oh, well, somebody might listen. Other
21:16
people might realize it. Otherwise, if
21:19
you can paint them as some kind of a
21:20
crackpot out in the, out in the field
21:23
somewhere, and that's just where we
21:25
found him. Remember that? Do you
21:27
remember that little ditty?
21:28
Oh, this man, he was very outstanding in
21:30
his field. He was outstanding in his
21:32
field.
21:33
And that's where we found him.
21:35
Outstanding in his field.
21:38
See?
21:39
That is what they think of Jeffrey
21:40
Sachs. Let's go back to France after
21:43
October 17th. They're still, you know,
21:46
um,
21:49
you know,
21:50
protesting over there.
21:52
They have high school teachers,
21:53
university, uh, students, you high
21:56
school students, too. Trade unions,
21:59
public sector workers, yellow vest
22:01
veterans, and citizens angry about the
22:04
cost of living. So, I was watching
22:06
Solovyov a couple of days ago.
22:08
Um, comes out every Sunday, and, uh,
22:10
they were talking about this. And they
22:12
equated, and I've been trying to find
22:14
it. They equated a lot of the protest to
22:17
the fact, and and these protests are now
22:19
spreading into Italy.
22:21
Italy has them. Uh, France has them.
22:26
What other Spain? there's a lot of them
22:27
in Spain. The people are talking about
22:30
all the money that is going
22:32
uh not going to
22:35
residents of their own country. France,
22:38
we went into a little bit um
22:40
uh we went pretty far into it.
22:43
Because uh the money isn't uh you know,
22:45
they're not rebuilding infrastructure,
22:47
schools, buying teachers, any of that.
22:50
And they're taking these BS measures.
22:52
Yesterday, there was a video and Sol of
22:54
Yov played it like three, four times. I
22:56
found it on YouTube. Go out and find
22:58
this before they delete it.
23:00
Swear to God, there's a kid cowering on
23:02
the street in France and there are tons
23:05
of cops and they're you know, I got my
23:07
SWAT gear, you know, and then they're
23:09
all they're all
23:11
uh covered with face uh those big
23:13
shields that they wear on there you
23:15
know, that cover the front of their
23:17
body.
23:18
And they're walking down the street all
23:20
carrying batons and I swear to God, four
23:22
policemen went past this kid cowering on
23:26
the corner, whacked him with their their
23:29
batons, not softly, and kept on going.
23:33
Just cower, wham. I mean, if you saw
23:36
that if they showed that in uh
23:39
uh
23:40
in
23:41
I don't know, Iran, pick a pick it. If
23:44
they showed it in a country you don't
23:45
like, if they showed that in in North
23:48
Korea or Russia for that matter. If they
23:50
said, "Here's some video from Russia.
23:52
Here's how cops behave there." It'd be
23:54
all over every bit of news, but not in
23:58
France, not in the US. Oh, no. And that
24:02
poor kid, and I don't mean to giggle
24:04
about it, but that dude was getting his
24:07
ass kicked by every cop that walked by.
24:10
Just wham, hit with a baton. Next one
24:13
comes up, wham. And there were hundreds
24:16
of cops in the street. And they were I
24:19
mean, they're wandering by, people are
24:21
running down the road trying to run out
24:22
of shops and stuff and they're just
24:24
getting beat by these cops with clubs.
24:27
[laughter]
24:28
And it's like, "Oh my god, welcome to
24:31
France." What if you're a visitor? What
24:33
if you're down there touring and you're
24:34
down in some of the cool areas? Yeah,
24:36
I'm You're not part of the protest. Then
24:38
you decide to cower on the ground and
24:41
and then you're just sitting there on
24:42
the ground as this this
24:44
a swarm of cops goes by and just starts
24:47
beating you.
24:49
I mean, [laughter] it was crap. And it's
24:51
a real video. I mean, go out You go out
24:53
and look at it. They're And well, those
24:56
protesters, they shouldn't be
24:57
protesting. All right, that don't mean
25:00
you you know, you beat a kid who's
25:01
cowering on the ground. And so, Macron,
25:06
you know, that genius, was at a concert
25:08
instead. You know, he was busy. He had
25:10
other things going on. He said those who
25:12
tried to bring down the Republic of
25:15
France will be held accountable. His
25:17
popularity is near a record low.
25:21
Uh
25:22
whether whether you call it 11% or 15%
25:26
but uh Marine Le Pen's uh right and
25:29
Jean-Luc Mélenchon's left are looking
25:32
for political advantages. And so, uh
25:35
Germany, same deal.
25:38
Uh they have problems, you know, less
25:40
than less than uh 10 11% for old merits
25:43
according to Weidmann and what we went
25:45
through yesterday.
25:46
Um
25:47
>> [clears throat]
25:48
>> This is this is unbelievable stuff.
25:51
Um let's go back to Greece, you know,
25:53
growth on paper, pressure at the house,
25:55
you know, the Greece has the same
25:57
problems. So, macro economic recovery
26:01
uh doesn't automatically produce some
26:02
kind of a political contentment. The
26:04
European Commission expected growth and
26:07
falling debt ratio, but Greece's
26:09
purchasing power is among EU's weakest.
26:12
So, think about this. Uh I used to go to
26:14
Greece years and years ago. Uh when I'd
26:17
be in Europe, I'd like to go and travel
26:19
into Greece.
26:20
And because and here's specifically why.
26:24
The drachma, which was around back then,
26:26
their currency, was I mean, you'd get
26:30
a
26:32
you know, you'd get a million of them
26:33
for going out and um
26:36
>> [clears throat]
26:36
>> having a couple of dollars and you could
26:39
spend for, you know, a couple of bucks,
26:41
you could spend a weekend in in Greece.
26:45
And um because they were so poor. And
26:48
the problem was they're extremely
26:50
socialist and always have been and they
26:52
gave all their money to uh
26:54
to uh retirees and they were getting an
26:57
aging population and all the younger
26:59
kids were leaving and nobody stayed
27:01
there anymore. They all left
27:03
and came to America.
27:05
Or Europe, you know, they'd get out of
27:07
that. And uh uh
27:09
so, their country was a mess. Everybody
27:12
said, "Oh, this is going to change when
27:13
they join the EU."
27:15
So, I went back after they joined the EU
27:18
and got rid of the drachma and used the
27:20
euro instead.
27:22
So, when they get to the euro,
27:25
suddenly, nothing has changed.
27:28
Still, everything is going to the old
27:30
people. Now, it just costs 100 times
27:33
more and it was basically being funded
27:35
by Germany.
27:37
That's what was happening because
27:38
Germany had all the economic power and
27:40
all the growth and all the industry
27:43
>> [clears throat]
27:43
>> and Greece did not. Greece was a big
27:45
benefactor and they have a the same
27:47
thing and everybody said that when they
27:49
uh when they switched to, you know, the
27:51
growth on paper is really not growth.
27:54
It's only paper growth.
27:56
>> [clears throat and cough]
27:57
>> So, there was 2 billion in tax relief
27:59
announced recently
28:01
and
28:02
upgrade in wages after major September
28:06
demonstrations
28:08
over the cost of living that's gone up
28:11
so huge because they switched to the
28:14
euro and that's not going to change.
28:17
They they they're
28:19
you know,
28:20
expected the same old people going to be
28:23
in charge doing the same old crap with
28:26
no real growth.
28:29
So, this could explain a little bit
28:32
about the Patriot decision. Greece
28:35
sympathize, you know, maybe we can
28:37
sympathize with you in Ukraine.
28:40
Um
28:42
and still decide that transferring its
28:44
own interceptors, cuz you got to buy
28:46
more,
28:47
carries an unacceptable risk. European
28:51
solidarity, if you want to call it that,
28:53
is easy when the equipment is surplus,
28:57
but it's far more difficult
29:00
when citizens are paying higher prices,
29:03
there are no public services,
29:06
and these,
29:07
you know, you want to sell what you got.
29:09
You don't want to just give it to
29:10
Ukraine and wait for to get more maybe 3
29:13
years later.
29:14
So,
29:16
anyone contemplating anything in Crete,
29:19
the tension is worth understand or
29:22
Athens
29:23
is worth understanding beyond simple
29:26
tourism. Greece is no longer beneficial
29:29
as touristic thing, unless, you know,
29:31
you you understand that you're going to
29:33
spend the money. You're not going there
29:35
to get a good deal. It's not like going
29:36
to Thailand, you know, and you're going
29:38
to
29:39
get away with spending less money or
29:41
you're going to Uzbekistan. By the way,
29:43
did you see Rubio in Uzbekistan
29:45
yesterday? He actually gave a pretty
29:46
good interview
29:48
or lots of question and answers.
29:51
They had 300 businesses in Uzbekistan
29:54
and I can tell you having been to
29:56
Uzbekistan,
29:58
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
30:02
2 years ago? Jesus, or was it three
30:04
already?
30:05
I would move there in a second.
30:10
It is beautiful.
30:12
They have the best Uzbekistan has the
30:14
best food on the freaking planet
30:17
and uh highly Muslim, uh but so what?
30:20
They're Western Muslim, you know, I
30:22
don't know if that means anything, but
30:24
it's not like you're going through
30:25
anything uh
30:27
Those of you who truly believe that
30:29
Muslim equals you you an extremist and
30:32
blowing them up and say crap, you know,
30:35
all these all the Muslims need to go.
30:37
You have no clue what you're talking
30:39
about and I I strongly suggest you head
30:43
to a place like Uzbekistan.
30:45
You go to a place like Morocco.
30:48
Okay, Morocco is fantastic and they have
30:51
Jewish communities that are uh
30:54
scattered among the Muslim communities.
30:57
There isn't any war there.
30:59
Um you know, it's not like they they
31:01
can't live together reasonably well.
31:03
Tourism is amazing. The growth is
31:07
fantastic. Tourism is where um
31:10
most of those sorts of countries are
31:12
making their money. Uzbekistan, for
31:14
sure.
31:15
I actually found myself listening to the
31:18
old uh Rubio monster
31:22
uh
31:23
who's s- you know, politicking even now
31:26
to be the next president. I don't know
31:28
that I could ever support that guy.
31:31
I still have uh I have bad feelings
31:34
about him being a globalist and a he
31:37
wolf in sheep's clothing. Oh yeah, he
31:40
can be anything you want while he's
31:42
running, but as soon as he runs, he goes
31:44
right back to being a a shill for the
31:46
CIA, just like everybody else is, right?
31:49
The uh
31:51
the uh glorified bureaucrat. I don't
31:54
know. I don't like it. Anyway, I wanted
31:56
to put on a uh a bit of a tune for you
32:00
whilst we change topics into another
32:04
area.
32:06
You know, maybe we should put the uh oh,
32:08
he's in Mumbai right now. He moved He's
32:10
over in India now.
32:13
Flew out yesterday and uh
32:16
uh
32:17
there you have it.
32:20
I'm going to play for you
32:23
some
32:26
I should put on some more Monty Python.
32:28
I like it, but I'm not going to.
32:31
Instead, I will give you some orchestra.
32:35
I know what we could do for break number
32:36
two on music. That would be That's a
32:38
good idea. I'm going to find it. But for
32:40
now, I'm going to play this.
32:44
Very nice. That's the
32:47
uh of course Auto Orchestra
32:50
for us, and we like it. I wanted to get
32:53
into something
32:54
>> [clears throat]
32:54
>> that comes a little bit closer to home
32:56
for me.
32:58
And uh I I don't want to say I find it
33:00
funny cuz it's not funny. It's uh
33:03
However,
33:04
it uh certainly falls into the uh
33:09
I don't know. The less than intelligent
33:13
category for for where less than an
33:16
intelligent way to uh
33:21
to resolve this issue. It uh and it did
33:24
not work. Let's Let's
33:27
Let's go have a look at
33:30
the 5-day reign of Katie Zaharia.
33:36
5 days, one law degree,
33:40
no bar license.
33:43
So,
33:47
before I get to Katie, I'm going to tell
33:49
I mean, everybody knows my own bar
33:51
issues with the the
33:56
less than
33:58
uh What do we call it? Opaque? Why don't
34:00
we say it's not It's unclear. You know,
34:03
I I even uh every once in a while cuz I
34:07
I
34:08
do believe it to be so, I say it's a
34:11
corrupt system. Not the Supreme Court of
34:14
Missouri, but the corrupt system is the
34:16
Missouri Bar. Okay, the Missouri Bar
34:20
controls the Supreme Court, and it's not
34:22
supposed to, but it does.
34:25
It controls who gets appointed as into
34:29
uh judge
34:30
uh this alleged non-partisan
34:34
judicial selection that 90% of uh
34:38
Missourians
34:39
or more know nothing about
34:43
and really have never investigated
34:47
is BS. And now, because it's lawyers who
34:51
created it
34:53
for the benefit of lawyers and those who
34:56
kiss the ass of the same lawyers that
34:58
have been in charge for 100 years, same
35:01
families of lawyers.
35:04
In Missouri, and not alone, not just
35:07
Missouri, this is a big deal, okay? The
35:10
the If you trust all lawyers, then
35:14
you should trust the Missouri Bar. If
35:16
you trust
35:17
uh
35:18
all lawyers, you should trust the
35:22
um
35:23
non-partisan.
35:25
Oh my god, it's non-partisan. You should
35:27
trust that the non-partisan
35:31
judicial selection is going to result in
35:34
non-partisan judges. My ass, it is not.
35:39
>> [laughter]
35:39
>> And
35:40
and and any realistic person that
35:42
analyzes that little
35:45
show uh realizes it, okay? So, I'm
35:49
I'm giving the girl this Katie Zaharia
35:52
uh uh uh a large
35:56
um
35:57
pass, if you will. I'm giving her a pass
35:59
because
36:00
she obviously
36:02
is wrong here, and and we'll get into
36:04
why in a minute.
36:06
But, that doesn't mean that the system
36:09
is good Think about this.
36:12
I lost my license to practice law in
36:14
Missouri
36:17
in 20 14.
36:21
2014, October, I don't remember, 14th, I
36:24
want to say.
36:25
Uh
36:26
so, it's been 12 freaking years, and I
36:30
can't get it back. Although, a person
36:32
who lost his license, went to prison for
36:36
5 years for for fraud and and uh lying
36:40
to judges and uh uh and stealing money
36:44
from clients and stuff like that. That
36:46
guy, all he's got to do is make an
36:48
application and he can get it back. If
36:50
you're a drug dude, you convicted of
36:52
drug charges, you can always just go,
36:55
"Oh, jeez,
36:56
poor me.
36:57
I was I was I was wrong. I thought I
37:00
could handle, you know, drugs like many
37:02
judges I know." And they you know, I
37:05
happen to know some of them that use the
37:08
white powder substance and a ton of them
37:11
that use the wacky weed and always have.
37:15
And that's [laughter] not a new
37:17
development on the wacky weed. These are
37:19
those that have been using it a long
37:21
time. And those people, you know, those
37:23
they of course got away with it. Why?
37:26
Because they were the good guys, right?
37:28
And they got to dictate who gets put on
37:31
the Supreme Court of Missouri and
37:34
who gets to be put in the appellate
37:37
courts in Missouri and Kansas City, St.
37:41
Louis because it's non-partisan. And
37:43
remember how partisan how corrupt those
37:46
cities are. That's That is their basis
37:49
for creating this system where lawyers
37:53
pick the people and and nobody else gets
37:56
a say in it. And the only people that
37:59
pick and give the governor someone he
38:02
has to pick one of the three is the
38:05
Missouri Bar.
38:06
Okay?
38:07
And
38:09
uh and uh in a four in a four out of
38:12
seven
38:13
lawyer to person appointed by the
38:15
governor,
38:17
uh you know, governor gets three,
38:20
the bar gets three, and any tie is
38:24
broken by the presiding judge of the
38:28
Missouri Supreme Court. Okay?
38:32
And that's how you pick judges. It's a
38:34
system, that no doubt about it.
38:37
And
38:39
it's just nonsense how they pick it.
38:41
That's the same system that they used to
38:43
get rid of people like me.
38:46
And when you do it, you can't just go to
38:48
another state and get another license.
38:51
You can't do it.
38:53
It is extremely difficult. And trust me,
38:56
I looked at it. Uh part of the reason
38:58
for for me uh
38:59
relocating to Florida was because I
39:03
could have applied down there. Um I'm a
39:06
funniest part is I'm a licensed real
39:08
estate broker here in Missouri. I have
39:11
to be
39:12
a person of good moral character. I
39:14
couldn't do that. I couldn't be a
39:16
broker. I couldn't handle other people's
39:19
money this in Missouri.
39:21
And in Florida, I'm licensed to do it.
39:23
But, if you lose your license in one
39:25
state,
39:27
you're probably going to lose it in all.
39:28
I didn't have it in any other place. And
39:31
so, there are problems with the system,
39:33
huge problems.
39:36
And the American Bar is not going to
39:38
help you. The United States Supreme
39:40
Court isn't going to help you. They just
39:42
say, "Oh gee, that's a state matter, Mr.
39:44
Trapp."
39:45
Uh you know, uh
39:48
uh Rooker-Feldman doctrine aside, you
39:52
know,
39:53
we disagree with what we said to
39:55
ourselves in 1983, and you're screwed.
39:58
Uh but, we're not going to tell you
39:59
that. We're just going to say in one
40:01
word, we're not going to hear your case,
40:02
just like the Missouri Supreme Court
40:04
says when I apply for a license. They
40:06
just say no. They don't say why. They
40:08
don't have to tell you why.
40:10
And they don't tell you why because they
40:12
are controlled by the Missouri Bar.
40:15
Okay?
40:16
And uh the and and this this goes on.
40:19
Missouri is not alone in this. Okay?
40:22
So, now we fast forward to uh these BS
40:26
programs for being a a bar member where
40:29
you're where I think, frankly, I mean,
40:31
any other business, if any other
40:34
business said that you were a or any
40:37
other license that you couldn't have a
40:40
license in uh
40:42
um
40:44
in Missouri because you're a political
40:46
pariah and you talk bad about uh the
40:49
government all the time.
40:51
And uh you wanted to go to a different
40:53
state where nobody knew you, you might
40:56
get a fair shot, a free shot.
40:58
But if you're in Missouri, and Missouri
41:00
has rules here
41:02
that say a uh a doctor
41:06
can't be a doctor because he used um
41:10
cocaine in the '80s, and got a got
41:13
arrested for it, and he had a felony,
41:15
and so therefore he can't be a doctor.
41:17
You might be able to go to California,
41:19
and they say, "You know, we encourage
41:21
our doctors to use cocaine here, and so
41:23
therefore you'd be able to get a
41:25
license." It's not so with um a bar
41:29
license, okay? They all
41:32
uh flock together.
41:35
They all have the common rules,
41:38
basically, of the American Bar
41:40
Association. And it's uh it's it's
41:42
pretty funny.
41:44
Well, there's something that you So, but
41:46
just because you can't get licensed
41:50
doesn't mean you don't have a law
41:52
degree, and that you can't work in the
41:57
field of legal research or things like
42:01
that. A Juris Doctorate
42:03
is an academic degree.
42:06
You know, it's a degree. I'm a doctor of
42:08
of jurisprudence. You know, I'm a I'm a
42:10
doctor. I can put that on my on my
42:13
business card.
42:14
And depending upon where you are in the
42:19
world, in the um
42:23
in the United States, it different the
42:26
rules vary.
42:28
A
42:29
For example,
42:31
a
42:32
person who got When I first went to law
42:34
school, I worked for a large Fortune 500
42:37
companies. That's That's
42:39
That's why I I mean I was going to law
42:41
school not to be a lawyer. I was going
42:44
to law school to continue to work in a
42:46
corporation, perhaps as a lawyer, but
42:48
more importantly as somebody who had an
42:50
advanced degree, and would progress
42:53
through the corporate system.
42:55
And so I had a series of company
42:57
selections that were less than
43:00
stellar that filed bankruptcy.
43:03
>> [laughter]
43:03
>> That
43:05
come to Missouri, that company was
43:07
printing textbooks and was going out of
43:11
business because of the iPad and the
43:13
tablet and who needs a textbook when you
43:16
got them all on your on your tablet and
43:19
they change every year anyway.
43:21
And [snorts] that was part of the
43:22
biggest
43:23
you know the fact that they get new
43:25
textbooks after 2 years you know it was
43:28
part of the part of the draw of it and
43:30
now they get them but all they do is get
43:32
published to a new uh
43:34
to a new platform.
43:36
And you don't have to reprint them all
43:38
and resell them for $90 a book.
43:41
So
43:44
I ended up stuck in Missouri in freaking
43:48
Jefferson City and needed to get a uh
43:53
a job so my kids could finish high
43:55
school. You know I wasn't going to move
43:57
back to Dallas. I just sold my damn
43:59
house down there.
44:01
And
44:03
and I liked Dallas quite a bit. I liked
44:05
Texas surprisingly which really did
44:07
surprise me. Mainly I liked having a
44:09
hockey team that was respectable and a
44:12
and a baseball team that I used to like
44:14
to watch. I mean the the Dallas Stars
44:16
came from Minnesota. When I was a kid
44:18
they were in Minnesota North Stars. I
44:20
grew up in Minnesota.
44:21
And so I was a a fan and you know I like
44:24
going and watching a hockey game.
44:26
But um
44:29
I was here in Missouri. So I took the
44:31
bar and you know passed it and
44:33
you know hung up a shingle, right?
44:37
But when you lose your license and
44:39
you're going you can be it doesn't mean
44:41
you don't have the education. I went
44:42
back on the corporate side and I went
44:44
and got a job in Qatar and worked as
44:48
uh
44:49
contract analyst.
44:51
Uh the position was actually a position
44:53
for general counsel.
44:55
But, nobody in in a Muslim country
45:00
can well, certainly in the Middle East,
45:03
can be given will be given a uh
45:08
uh license to practice law regardless of
45:11
the education
45:13
unless they speak Arabic.
45:16
And really, in those countries, you have
45:19
to have grown up in that system and the
45:21
system is completely different than
45:22
ours.
45:24
But, you can be a general counsel where
45:26
you know, wherever you go. And it
45:27
depends on the country. In in a lot of
45:30
countries, in some quite a few in fact,
45:33
states,
45:34
the position of general counsel isn't
45:37
based on the fact of whether or not you
45:39
have
45:40
a law license,
45:42
it is based on the fact that you have a
45:44
Juris Doctor degree. So, a lot of
45:46
corporations will hire people who went
45:49
to law school even if they're not
45:52
lawyers. That's a corporate deal. And I
45:55
know this personally. I went through it
45:57
quite a bit. I was a an HR director
46:00
while in law school for a for a
46:03
two plants in Dallas for a large uh
46:06
Fortune 500 company and then I
46:09
swapped to a different Fortune 500
46:12
company uh in the middle of law school
46:14
because of what that one filed
46:16
bankruptcy. And the next one sold
46:18
everything [laughter]
46:19
out. And then I came to Missouri and
46:21
that place went out of business. I
46:22
haven't been very good at looking at the
46:24
economics of it all when you select your
46:27
places. So, I became a lawyer, which I
46:29
really didn't want to do. I wanted to
46:31
stay in the corporate world cuz it was
46:35
easy, you know, and I made very good
46:37
money doing it.
46:39
At any rate, the
46:41
uh the reason I tell you how the general
46:43
counsel thing works and the difference
46:46
between states and all of the corruption
46:49
or misguided policies that go on in bar
46:54
uh reviews is also the control artists,
46:57
the bureaucratic control freaks that run
47:01
the states, are usually lawyers or
47:06
bar members.
47:08
You know, they they may not practice
47:09
law, they don't have to. They control
47:11
the planet, right? And they they dictate
47:14
who else can
47:16
rise
47:18
in the system of a particular state,
47:20
right? And they keep those down that
47:24
fight the state, for example, or sue the
47:26
state 60 times.
47:28
You know, they they come after them.
47:30
They target them. They send They send
47:32
people after them that say, "We're going
47:34
to get you." And they do, because you
47:36
don't understand who controls the power
47:40
of it all. Okay? And it's lawyers, okay?
47:44
And judges. And and they're all in on
47:46
it.
47:47
>> [laughter]
47:48
>> The higher you get, the more in on it
47:50
you have to become to shut up people
47:52
like me, right?
47:54
And so, we're going to get to Katie
47:56
Zakharias and her five days, one law
47:59
degree, no bar license. Katie Zakharias
48:05
or Zakharia, I think is how you say it.
48:07
And I talked yesterday about
48:10
um
48:13
Maria Zakharova in in who's the uh
48:18
spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of
48:21
Defense.
48:22
And jeez, you wonder if they're related.
48:24
Uh but her White House tenure lasted a
48:26
whole five days. She was appointed the
48:29
press secretary
48:30
after media appearances. She gave a
48:33
short
48:35
and pretty poorly received initial brief
48:38
briefing.
48:39
She strugg- struggled
48:42
struggled struggled struggled. She had a
48:44
bad time in uh television interviews.
48:48
And she left with questions about her
48:53
professional
48:55
uh abilities and description of what she
48:58
had did.
49:00
Um
49:01
she was gone in less than a week. Um and
49:04
and all with, you know, grand review
49:06
from uh from Trump who said, you know,
49:08
she would just she's a nice person.
49:10
Don't uh don't destroy her like this.
49:13
And went on and, you know, she probably
49:15
is a nice person, but
49:17
you're never the remember who's going to
49:19
come after her. Anybody who's a lawyer,
49:23
anybody in the system is all going to
49:25
come after her. Although, if you go to
49:27
Fox News, isn't that uh isn't the chick
49:30
um
49:30
who used to be after Bill O'Reilly? Did
49:32
I just call her a chick? The woman, the
49:35
the the gifted uh What the hell's her
49:37
name?
49:39
I can't remember.
49:41
But uh there were there were a couple of
49:43
them that uh she left and she's she's
49:45
got a reasonably good presence on uh
49:47
YouTube
49:49
and uh her own little channel or
49:50
whatever.
49:52
And she does pretty good. But
49:54
establishing a credential record is
49:56
pretty narrow for both supporters and
49:58
and critics, you know, and hers uh you
50:01
know, you have supporters, critics. She
50:03
graduated from Pepperdine Law School in
50:07
2011.
50:10
And she sat for the California bar exam
50:12
and didn't pass it and never retook it.
50:15
The jokes always used to be, "What do
50:17
you call a person who didn't pass the
50:20
bar exam on the first time out?"
50:26
Judge.
50:28
>> [laughter]
50:28
>> That was always the joke in law school
50:30
uh because uh those people, you know,
50:33
are always politically connected and the
50:35
rest of us have to pass the bar exam on
50:37
the first sitting, right? Um she was
50:40
appointed uh
50:42
a press secretary, though, and all these
50:44
questions came about. She graduated from
50:47
Pepperdine Law in 2011. She sat for the
50:49
California bar, didn't pass it,
50:52
and decided to not retake it.
50:55
She worked later
50:58
on the international practice team at
51:01
Zhong in Beijing
51:04
in a position that didn't require
51:06
admission to any bar, the American or
51:09
the Chinese bar. Now, I can tell you
51:11
when I lived in Qatar, I worked for a
51:14
company that had strong Arabic, Qatari,
51:18
Saudi
51:19
and strong Chinese
51:22
uh
51:25
association.
51:27
And all their contracts were written in
51:30
both Chinese and Arabic, but guess what
51:33
controlled
51:34
was a version of the contract written in
51:36
English. So, part of my job was to
51:39
analyze contracts that were written in
51:42
English.
51:43
And communicate with the Chinese and
51:47
with Arabic uh people
51:50
in these contracts and make sure that
51:52
the terms were understood in both ways
51:55
because these were pretty involved uh
51:58
contracts regarding uh
52:00
communications equipment. Huawei was one
52:02
of the people involved and uh or one of
52:05
the companies involved.
52:07
And uh so
52:10
and the rest of it was uh you know,
52:12
Arabic um
52:16
uh well, Qatari companies that you know,
52:19
all spoke in Arabic and had uh uh were
52:23
using Chinese equipment and had to take
52:26
these contracts and put them into an
52:28
international language like English
52:30
English, which is what we did, right?
52:33
And so, uh she went to Beijing and and I
52:36
I didn't have to have a license in
52:38
either uh anywhere, you know, to to be a
52:40
contract analyst. I analyze contracts
52:43
and do research for people now.
52:46
It's It's uh
52:47
You don't have to have a license to do
52:49
that. You don't lose your brain just
52:51
because you no longer have a license or
52:53
the idiots in charge decided that
52:55
they're not going to give you a law
52:57
license because politics, you know, and
53:00
they you're you're politically kept from
53:02
doing it. I'm I'm absolutely qualified.
53:04
I'm absolutely I've met every standard
53:07
except
53:09
getting nine people sitting in a room to
53:11
say yes instead of no in one word
53:14
without saying why you can't have a
53:16
license, right?
53:18
And she didn't pass the one final
53:21
requirement to get the bar and she
53:24
decided not to retake it, but she could
53:25
go take the bar today. If she Well, not
53:28
today cuz they're only given two three
53:30
times a year and she'd have to meet the
53:33
current qualifications, go take the bar
53:35
and redo it.
53:36
Um [snorts] but Trump called her an
53:38
attorney a couple of times.
53:40
She herself
53:42
as a lawyer.
53:46
She defended saying that because she had
53:50
been advised that her law degree
53:53
and international transactional
53:55
experience permitted her to provide
53:57
legal analysis and use the word lawyer
54:02
but couldn't say she was an attorney.
54:04
Now,
54:06
I don't think
54:09
I have never heard anything remotely
54:12
similar to that that the word attorney
54:15
and lawyer have a different
54:20
uh
54:21
meaning
54:23
based upon whether or not you're
54:25
licensed.
54:27
I don't think so.
54:28
Um and if her professor somebody told
54:32
her that
54:34
um
54:35
or somebody advised her of that, she
54:39
should have gotten a second opinion
54:42
cuz that's not true.
54:45
You can hold a position as general
54:46
counsel
54:48
without having a law degree. I've done
54:49
it several times.
54:51
Uh
54:52
but that doesn't mean you get to claim
54:55
that you're an attorney. A general
54:57
counsel is just like, you know, an HR
55:00
director, you know, it's a it's a
55:02
corporate position and you don't have to
55:05
For example, if you're if you hold a uh
55:08
uh
55:09
like in our company that I was part of,
55:12
the headquarters was in North Carolina
55:15
when I was the HR director in uh Dallas.
55:18
Um the position for general counsel
55:22
didn't require bar admission in every
55:25
state where the company held a
55:28
had a plant or every country where the
55:31
corporation had a plant. You could be
55:34
assigned anywhere whether or not you
55:37
ever passed the bar.
55:40
They would prefer that you pass the bar
55:42
somewhere, but they really didn't care.
55:44
They you know, they had they hire law
55:47
firms to go to court because as a
55:49
corporate juris doctor, you're a hell of
55:52
a lot different than a practicing
55:56
slugging it out attorney doing divorces
55:59
and freaking mid-Missouri. You know, or
56:02
even in federal court. And your license
56:06
isn't the qualification. It's the
56:08
education. So, I'm giving her every pass
56:13
I could possibly give her because her
56:16
her path
56:17
was different. She would you know, maybe
56:20
she didn't want to be a
56:22
a uh
56:24
an attorney slugging it out in the pits
56:27
of of municipal court in San Francisco
56:31
or LA. Maybe she wanted to go to Beijing
56:34
and do exactly what she did. She's
56:37
obviously connected. You don't get jobs
56:39
like that just just doing them. Hell,
56:41
I'd do that even today. I'd go to You
56:43
want me to go to Beijing and keep
56:45
analyze I very much enjoyed my time in
56:48
Qatar for a year analyzing contracts and
56:51
it was
56:53
uh uh
56:54
a good position. The position is
56:59
general counsel. You don't need a
57:01
license. You can't appear in court in
57:03
China
57:04
or in in Saudi Arabia or Qatar anyway
57:09
cuz you can't get a license there. It
57:12
and and obviously it's a different, but
57:15
that doesn't mean you can't advise the
57:17
corporation on the legalities of a
57:19
contract. It's a Yeah, I went to I've
57:22
contracts education. I have all the
57:24
education necessary to be a Juris
57:28
Doctor, and I got the the knock-down,
57:30
drag-out BS uh showing up in court in in
57:34
in in Missouri or federal court.
57:37
So,
57:40
make sure you understand that a Juris
57:42
Doctor is an academic degree.
57:46
Bar admission only confers authority to
57:49
practice law in a certain jurisdiction.
57:53
So,
57:54
for example, in federal court, I
57:57
practice 90% of the time in federal
57:59
court in the Western District of
58:01
Missouri.
58:02
My first Eastern District of Missouri
58:04
case uh I had to go get a license there.
58:07
It's a different bar admission. You got
58:09
to be a member of the bar.
58:11
My my my brother had issues in federal
58:14
court in Indiana. I went there and
58:17
thought about getting accepted, but the
58:19
court allowed me to enter what's called
58:22
pro hac vice to go over and enter into
58:25
another court.
58:26
And uh but uh
58:28
technically you have to be admitted
58:31
everywhere when you go to a different
58:33
state. If you're licensed in Missouri
58:36
and you want to take a case in I don't
58:38
know, pick a state, South Dakota,
58:41
and you want to get licensed up there,
58:44
you can ask the court to recognize you
58:48
as a person authorized.
58:50
Um my uh there was a a matter going on
58:53
with my family in Utah about uh
58:57
four five months ago, six months ago.
59:00
And I went to the court there.
59:04
I entered an appearance,
59:06
and I went and appeared in front of the
59:09
court there and told the judge that I
59:11
used to practice law, I'm not licensed
59:14
anywhere, but I will follow the rules.
59:17
I'd like to represent myself here. Can I
59:21
do that? And you know, and but I want to
59:23
be with all the lawyers up at the table.
59:25
I don't want to be sitting in the back
59:27
of the room. I have things that I want
59:29
and and of course he allowed me to do
59:30
that.
59:31
You know, you and and you could arguably
59:34
still do that if the judge accepts it.
59:37
Now, I couldn't go and represent any any
59:39
other person. You know, I don't have a
59:41
license, but I could represent myself.
59:44
And so, that's this is what's going on
59:47
with old Katie Zaharia.
59:50
And
59:51
a bar admission
59:53
would have allowed her to practice law.
59:56
Let's say she passed the bar back in
59:59
2011, 12, whenever she took it.
1:00:01
She would have been authorized to
1:00:03
practice law in California.
1:00:05
But if she took the
1:00:08
bar in California and took the same job
1:00:11
she took in Beijing or wherever she went
1:00:15
in China,
1:00:18
she still wouldn't be able to appear in
1:00:22
court without following an appropriate
1:00:26
uh pro hac vice
1:00:28
or other process. And certainly not in
1:00:32
an Arabic court and I don't think in
1:00:34
Chinese court you just get admitted if
1:00:37
you don't speak Arabic, Chinese. I mean,
1:00:39
maybe she does speak Chinese. But either
1:00:41
way, you don't just get admitted. I I
1:00:44
went and
1:00:45
well, I won't tell you that story.
1:00:48
The
1:00:49
uh but she has described herself as a
1:00:51
lawyer and Trump has called her an
1:00:53
attorney.
1:00:54
And you know, her academic degree
1:00:58
doesn't confer bar admission in
1:01:00
California or any other place. The
1:01:03
California Business and Professional
1:01:04
Code
1:01:06
says
1:01:08
a person cannot practice law in
1:01:10
California without being actively
1:01:13
licensed.
1:01:15
A section that covers advertising and
1:01:18
holding oneself out as entitled to
1:01:20
practice law
1:01:23
when you're not authorized to do so,
1:01:26
could be the unauthorized practice of
1:01:29
law.
1:01:30
And whether she committed the
1:01:31
unauthorized practice of law can't be
1:01:34
resolved merely from an interview with
1:01:36
Sean Hannity, you know, or from any sort
1:01:39
of television biography. An investigator
1:01:42
would need evidence that she provided
1:01:44
confidential
1:01:46
attorney services reserved to licensed
1:01:49
attorneys. You know, everybody knows
1:01:51
when I say anything, I go, "I'm not a
1:01:53
lawyer. I don't give legal advice. I
1:01:55
don't play a lawyer on TV." That's
1:01:57
That's what I say. Because a corrupt
1:02:00
Missouri bar kept me, you know, won't
1:02:01
let me have a license back. And they
1:02:03
won't. And uh it's BS.
1:02:06
The Supreme Court will will answer it
1:02:08
with her words. It's just crap. But, you
1:02:11
know, and I'll say that to my dying
1:02:13
breath cuz they're just wrong. And uh
1:02:16
okay. And And I'll keep on doing it.
1:02:18
Hell, they probably wouldn't give me now
1:02:20
because I'm pretty negative about them
1:02:22
and how corrupt the entire system is.
1:02:24
But whether Zaharia is uh whether she
1:02:27
committed the unauthorized practice of
1:02:29
law would be the same. Did somebody
1:02:31
think they were getting
1:02:33
um
1:02:34
legal advice from her? That's my biggest
1:02:36
deal. I don't want people to think
1:02:37
you're getting legal advice from me.
1:02:39
It's like, you know, I I I have a lot of
1:02:40
friends that are lawyers. I can throw
1:02:42
you to one of them and I'll tell you
1:02:43
I'll tell you what I know, but it's not
1:02:45
legal advice. As long as you realize I
1:02:47
don't give legal advice, I don't give a
1:02:49
You know, I'll tell you whatever
1:02:50
you want to know. If you're looking for
1:02:52
what I would do, I'll tell you what I
1:02:54
would do. As long as you understand that
1:02:55
if you want legal advice, go get it from
1:02:58
a lawyer, somebody authorized to
1:03:00
practice law in the jurisdiction where
1:03:02
you are. If she did those things like I
1:03:05
do, she should feel comfortable that she
1:03:08
hasn't committed the unauthorized
1:03:10
practice of law, whether she called
1:03:12
herself a general counsel because a
1:03:14
position in a corporation is called that
1:03:17
or not. You don't dictate what the
1:03:19
position is. That position is put and
1:03:22
anybody could fill it.
1:03:24
They
1:03:25
They could They could wave that. It's a
1:03:27
company.
1:03:28
If they If you only went to
1:03:31
two
1:03:32
two years and eight months of law school
1:03:35
and you never finished, could a
1:03:36
corporation still hire you
1:03:40
to be a general counsel? Sure, they
1:03:42
could. Who the hell's going to tell them
1:03:44
they can't? It's It's a position on a
1:03:47
piece of paper. And if you hold that
1:03:49
position, sure, you can put it on a
1:03:51
business card.
1:03:52
You just got to tell everybody the same
1:03:54
thing that I tell everybody, "Look, I'm
1:03:56
not licensed here or anywhere else. I
1:03:59
don't give legal advice, but I went to
1:04:01
law school."
1:04:02
You know, I'm just not licensed. As long
1:04:04
as you're comfortable with that, I don't
1:04:06
give a What do you want to know?
1:04:08
You know, what do you want to If I know
1:04:09
something, I'll be happy to share it
1:04:11
with you. But, I don't give legal
1:04:13
advice. A lawyer gives legal advice, and
1:04:15
they will represent you in court. I'll
1:04:17
never do that.
1:04:18
As long as she said things of that
1:04:20
nature, just like I assume she did and
1:04:22
would,
1:04:24
uh I Whoever told her that she could be
1:04:26
a lawyer and not an attorney is
1:04:28
you know, if that's true, that that
1:04:31
person needs her head examined, too.
1:04:34
But, investigators would need evidence
1:04:37
that she provided legal services
1:04:40
reserved to a licensed attorney, that
1:04:42
they represented a client, that they
1:04:45
offered legal advice in California or
1:04:49
held herself out to be licensed or
1:04:53
entitled to practice law somewhere.
1:04:56
So, a complaint
1:04:57
filed with the California Bar would be
1:05:00
an allegation and a request for an
1:05:03
investigation, not a finding of guilt.
1:05:07
I mean, her strongest defense would be
1:05:09
that lawyer is
1:05:11
something loosely
1:05:13
thrown out in ordinary speech for
1:05:16
somebody with a legal education. I still
1:05:18
have people call me lawyer cuz they knew
1:05:20
me when I was a lawyer or they'll say,
1:05:22
"Hey, you're not in the first thing I do
1:05:24
is say, "No."
1:05:26
You know what? I'm not a lawyer. I have
1:05:28
I have a Juris Doctorate but I'm not a
1:05:30
lawyer. I don't practice law. I don't
1:05:33
give legal advice. I don't even play a
1:05:35
lawyer on TV or on my radio program. And
1:05:38
that's the thing that I have
1:05:41
said
1:05:43
cross the board
1:05:44
100%
1:05:46
every time I talk to anybody
1:05:49
>> [laughter]
1:05:49
>> that is seeking some kind of a uh uh
1:05:53
resolution or going, "Man, do you know
1:05:55
any lawyers that could help me do this?"
1:05:57
You know, I don't hide the crap the the
1:05:59
crap that went on in my life. I don't
1:06:01
hide the fact that the Missouri Bar is
1:06:03
corrupt. I don't hide that. I'm
1:06:05
I talk about it all the time.
1:06:09
Mhm.
1:06:11
Good coffee.
1:06:13
The weakness in her position is that
1:06:16
public officials uh like she was working
1:06:20
for the Trump administration.
1:06:22
They operate in a context, especially as
1:06:25
the press secretary
1:06:27
where precision would matter.
1:06:29
Um let's say that Sean Hannity was
1:06:32
questioning me
1:06:34
because I happen to be appointed press
1:06:35
secretary and and I have the education
1:06:38
but I don't have a license.
1:06:40
I'd say, uh
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what you need to say is, "Nope, I have a
1:06:44
law degree. I'm not a lawyer."
1:06:46
Move on.
1:06:48
Uh there are people he knows that worked
1:06:51
on the same TV stations that he has who
1:06:54
are in the same boat. There are a lot of
1:06:56
people that that uh had law not law
1:06:59
licenses but law degrees and never
1:07:02
practiced law
1:07:04
that went into broadcasting. There's a
1:07:07
bunch of them. And the the
1:07:09
Is it Megyn Kelly?
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I don't know who but there's might have
1:07:13
been her that has a law degree.
1:07:16
There's a bunch of them. You can go to
1:07:18
but they have a law degree but never
1:07:20
never worked as lawyers or worked as a
1:07:22
lawyer, took the bar, worked as a lawyer
1:07:24
for a little bit, but doesn't do it.
1:07:27
They don't like it.
1:07:28
And uh you know, there's not much to
1:07:30
like about it, truthfully, except the
1:07:32
money.
1:07:33
That part we like, but the rest of it is
1:07:35
unless you're into attacking um people
1:07:38
that uh have overreach like I am. So, uh
1:07:41
Zakharias' weakness is that public
1:07:44
officials have to be precise.
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And she
1:07:49
benefited from a title
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that commonly understood
1:07:56
would imply that she's a licensed
1:07:58
attorney. And she didn't correct
1:08:00
anybody's description of her as an
1:08:04
attorney until somebody forced the
1:08:06
issue.
1:08:08
If I'm standing there and Trump says,
1:08:09
"Here's a lawyer." I'm going, "Wait a
1:08:11
second. Got to interrupt you, Mr.
1:08:13
President. That's not true.
1:08:16
I have a law degree, but I'm not a
1:08:18
lawyer."
1:08:20
You know, uh the larger White House
1:08:22
question is about vetting. If this is a
1:08:25
If this is a big deal, which it is,
1:08:27
political appointees, they don't have to
1:08:29
be a career official. An outsider
1:08:32
experience like in Beijing can be very
1:08:34
useful. A press secretary doesn't even
1:08:36
need a law license. So, who cares?
1:08:40
The scandal arose because the
1:08:41
administration appeared to advertise
1:08:45
for her
1:08:47
a credential that it hadn't verified
1:08:49
itself.
1:08:51
And installed a communications official
1:08:53
before determining whether she could
1:08:56
answer predictable questions about her
1:08:58
own biography.
1:09:00
So, this 5-day
1:09:03
tenure
1:09:04
is less of an argument for you know
1:09:10
career diplomats having rules than an
1:09:13
argument for a competent due diligence.
1:09:16
Uh you know, you A press secretary
1:09:19
doesn't have to be a lawyer. You know,
1:09:20
there're plenty of lawyers out there who
1:09:22
are dumb as boxes of rocks.
1:09:25
And I know
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I know a bunch of them. They couldn't
1:09:29
They couldn't put a coherent
1:09:32
brief together to save their lives, you
1:09:34
know, and and no way.
1:09:37
And they need to be doing traffic
1:09:38
tickets or work comp, and that's it.
1:09:41
You know, that's
1:09:42
that's uh
1:09:44
that's all they're cut out for. There's
1:09:46
good money in traffic tickets and work
1:09:47
comp, too, though. When that and you
1:09:49
need lawyers to practice in that. And
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you pick the ones that
1:09:54
you want to uh
1:09:57
>> [clears throat]
1:09:58
>> do your research papers, you know,
1:10:01
and and can can
1:10:03
you know, look into it and can run a
1:10:06
run a a brief before the court.
1:10:10
So,
1:10:11
I don't know.
1:10:13
The
1:10:16
And and wrapping up for today,
1:10:18
um you know, Ukraine,
1:10:22
let's talk about a stable settlement
1:10:24
that preserves There's There's been talk
1:10:26
that Xi Jinping,
1:10:28
uh
1:10:28
Putin, and Trump are going to meet in
1:10:31
November in China.
1:10:35
And
1:10:35
somebody I know pretty well has been
1:10:38
claiming that these three are going to
1:10:40
run the planet, and I'd really love to
1:10:42
see it
1:10:43
where these three change the world
1:10:45
order. I also think they need to invite
1:10:47
Narendra Modi
1:10:49
or at least Jaishankar, both of them, in
1:10:51
fact, and include
1:10:53
some India in this.
1:10:55
And then you take the big four,
1:10:58
you create a different world. I mean,
1:10:59
what the hell's Europe?
1:11:01
You know, a bunch of guys squabbling
1:11:02
among themselves trying to see who
1:11:05
retains power over all the central
1:11:07
unelected bureaucrats in the EU power
1:11:10
structure. I get to be the next Ursula
1:11:13
von der Leyen.
1:11:14
You know,
1:11:16
um
1:11:20
let's uh
1:11:23
wrap it up with There was another whole
1:11:27
bunch of stuff I wanted to get into
1:11:29
today,
1:11:30
but I don't think I'm going to.
1:11:33
I've got a uh
1:11:37
something that I'll talk about
1:11:38
yesterday, but I've got a long day ahead
1:11:40
of me. Remember me saying I may not wish
1:11:42
to uh
1:11:44
I I really was going to avoid doing a
1:11:45
show this morning. The newest things
1:11:47
this morning that are going on are
1:11:49
reciprocal long-range campaigns. Ukraine
1:11:52
has uh Russian missiles and drones that
1:11:55
have just huge there are deaths uh you
1:11:58
know, it's it's it's ramping up. There
1:12:00
was boats uh sank boats ships sank in in
1:12:05
the Black Sea.
1:12:08
Russia took them out.
1:12:10
Associated with Ukraine.
1:12:13
Bad news for lots of folks.
1:12:16
So, we're going to play for you
1:12:20
You know what what we're going to do?
1:12:21
First, we're going to cuz just cuz I
1:12:23
love this song and I find it hilarious.
1:12:26
It's a one of my Russian songs. Oh,
1:12:29
crap. It's one of my Russian songs that
1:12:31
I like to do, but there's something
1:12:32
already playing. We need to get rid of
1:12:34
that.
1:12:35
And make sure that's off.
1:12:38
To Lula. That's Chicherina. And I was
1:12:41
reading some of the Russian translation
1:12:43
underneath it. You know, they get We're
1:12:45
going to do Escala, I think, too, but
1:12:47
just a second. Well, I have to go back
1:12:50
because I was going to read one of these
1:12:52
and it said uh Chicherina some of the um
1:12:55
her life story is the best advertisement
1:13:00
against drugs. So, they have the same
1:13:01
problems over in Russia or did. That
1:13:04
song was from the '90s anyway. Uh we're
1:13:06
going to play one more, but this one is
1:13:09
uh US version of probably one of the uh
1:13:12
best songs on the planet, okay? And uh
1:13:17
this is probably one of the best songs
1:13:20
ever ever ever. And uh enjoy it and we
1:13:24
are done for today. I'm going to bust
1:13:26
out a tiny bit early
1:13:29
and uh here we go. I will see you
1:13:32
tomorrow for the greatest day in radio.