Latest / Before You Speak / Before You Speak | Episode 40 | DSA keeps saying dumb Sh*t and who are the communists?

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Before You Speak | Episode 40 | DSA keeps saying dumb Sh*t and who are the communists? · Before You Speak

• Elwyn: the difference between democratic socialism and you know, scary Venezuela socialism, which is what we're gonna hear all about in the next 84 days or so until the election, you know, Venezuela style socialism is much more government takes over more and more industries, and they take the money. Derek: What's up, y'all? Welcome back to the Before You Speak podcast where we thoughtfully deep dive into topics that we think are relevant for the times we are living in. But before we do that, I'm your host, Derek Peterson, just processing the fire hose in my news feed, newsfeed with this guy somewhere. We do it every week. East. You're actually technically west, I think. Elwyn: Yeah, no, here. I'm east. Hey, I'm I don't I've never since I moved here I don't know east from west or north from south, to be honest. It's all backwards. hey everybody, I am Elwyn, and the fire hose of my news feed is well it sounds great with the new microphone. so I'm happy about that. But really I think it's hiding in a in a Turkish Airlines food cart. Derek: Which I think that's where we can start today. tell us a little bit more about that because apparently Trump was in Turkey was he golfing in Turkey? Elwyn: no, this was when he he was overseas for some meeting, like some official thing. It wasn't golf, you know, it was an official Derek: Okay. Elwyn: thing, I think related to the Iran War. 'cause all the press was there, all this all this shit. And the it was in the this story, a similar story or a related story, was in the mu in the news about a month ago because it came out that He wanted to fly, I think, the jet that Qatar had given him. He wanted to fly that one home, but the Secret Service was like, No, no, no, no, you can't do that. There's too many security risks to do that. And it just came out that he didn't fly Air Force One back on that trip either. He flew in a completely separate airplane because they were worried about an Iranian assassination plot against him. So he flew on some separate airplane altogether. They moved him onto that plane in secret in like a a Turkish Airlines food service cart. I don't know if you ever saw the videos of how Taylor Swift would get like brought out to the stage in her most recent tour. It was Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: in a it was in a giant food cart so that people wouldn't go batshit crazy w when they saw her backs, you know, running backstage to get Derek: Yeah, walk. Elwyn: on stage. Same thing, only Donald Trump, which kind of made me think, what if it had tipped over like he's a pretty heavy guy? Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: Yeah what's Derek: I would hate it. I would the smell of it inside after he was in there had just gotta be horrendous. He's he's like, Elwyn: Yeah, yes. Derek: I'm alone, so he just lets all the flatulence go. Elwyn: Yeah, it's like no one will know. Like, dude, when they open the door they're gonna know. They roll that shit open. Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: But also, like on a slightly more serious note, nobody knew about this, right? So Air Force One was loaded and ready to go. Everybody I thought that the president was on Air Force One. now, Air Force One, we all think of it as the big plane with the blue and the white paint and rolls up onto the tarmac. That's not technically accurate. Air Force One is a call sign for whatever plane the president happens to be on. So Air Force One can be a Cessna. It doesn't matter. if the president's on the plane, that plane is Air Force One. Same with a helicopter, it's Marine Force One if it's a helicopter. So as part of this plan to to secret Donald Trump away on a separate airplane, they did not change the call sign of the other plane, which puts everybody on that plane at risk. Because if somebody is actually trying to take that plane down, they're gonna look for call sign Air Force One, assume that the president is on it, because that's what the call sign means. And blow it up, you know, or do whatever it is they they were gonna do. so it's it's pretty unusual. I don't know if it's ever happened before that a president was like, no, no, no, keep the call sign on the other plane and put everybody everybody in there in that plane Derek: Indeed. Elwyn: at risk. So yeah, the the whole thing is like half hilarious because you know, apparently Trump is like really mad that this came out, that he was on a food in a food service cart. half hilarious, half another example of just what a shit bag this guy is that he will just put these people at risk for for no really good reason. You know, the he it could have been done another way. Derek: Yeah. it's not par or it's par for the course. The question would you vote for Taylor Swift for president? I mean I mean I think I Elwyn: Yeah, I think her politics are great. Derek: was gonna say I think I think that I think that would win it. I think that I don't even think she would have to campaign. I think she could just put her name on the ballot and not do anything. no no videos, nothing. Literally, just she's an option and I think she wins. Elwyn: I think it would be really funny to see like, especially in Kansas City, MAGA Chiefs fans try to reconcile what they have to do here, what they're supposed to do here. You know, like fuck Travis Kelsey, I love that guy and the Chiefs, Taylor Swift, I can't do it. You know, just the they really I think they'd be like wandering around in the street confused for a week or two. Derek: Yeah, that's a thousand percent correct. Yeah, my I mean at this point I'm ready for just about anybody else to be president other than the current one. just because it takes up so much energy and thought to rectify what's going on in our country right now. I mean, which ultimately maybe all this is a good thing because I'm learning. I mean, we started this podcast. I know more about the government than I've ever known in my life, currently and continuing continuing to learn. So I mean, there's that, which one thing I learned this week, and I think I I'd love your thoughts on this because we talked about it briefly before we started, is you know, I'm I'm learning that local governments are now starting to sign, and and maybe this is a historic thing. I don't know fully know because I haven't done a ton of research on it yet or or like dug into it, is that It's coming out that a lot of local governments, particularly in Louisiana, there's two guys that are now posting regularly about this because their city councils, their mayors, and the governor in some circumstances are signing NDAs about data data center developments and additionally other developments, including there was NDAs that were that by companies like Hyundai, Meta. Tesla, like all these different, all these big companies had had these local governments sign NDAs. and my initial thought immediately is how in the fuck is it even legal for NDAs to get signed by local government? I thought this was the entire purpose of local government. So I looked at Austin, and of course, as soon as we I started looking at Austin, there's a development going in in North Austin. that is expected to be planned. I can't remember the name of it right now, but it's it's massive. And part of the part of the build out and who's funding the build out, it turns out, is Amazon and one other tech company, but the city council had to sign NDAs not to release this information to the public about who's funding the build out and what a lot of the commercial square footage is going to be used for. Which ultimately we're gonna find out that it's gonna be data centers and potentially AI build outs. So, like, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this because this is pretty fucked up in my opinion. Elwyn: Yeah, you know, you and I have been talking about like sort of creating a list of norms that should be codified. I don't know to what extent this is a norm yet, but it should be f just against the law. At least if there's some sort of national security risk, if it's an army base or whatever, i there's exceptions to the rule. But if it's just a you know, a private company that wants to come in and build out and build a factory, build a data center, whatever, why? Why on earth would an NDA be needed? And I'm sure that the companies can think of a a million good reasons, but it doesn't matter. These public officials are public officials. They're elected to represent us. And how can we trust that they're representing our interests if they're signing agreements that prevent them from talking about probably some of the biggest deals that are going on, right? you know, Hyundai, a lot of these manufacturers, when you talk about Louisiana and Alabama and place and Arkansas and places like that, I don't know about Arkansas, but You know, Mercedes, Hyundai, they have huge manufacturing plants in those states that do a lot of good, bring a lot of jobs, you know, provide a lot of e economic benefit. you know, so I understand where a public official might feel up against it if they're going, Well, I'll go to the next state and they'll sign the NDA. But it but it just doesn't matter. It it just doesn't matter. The the idea that a public official is signing an NDA with in a private deal. and deal with a private company, instant no, immediate no. Th there's no trust. There's no trust to be found there. Derek: Yeah, and look, I I've been part of an MB and NDAs before. I remember when I was working in music in the music industry, I got a job doing day-to-day management for Janet Jackson. And shortly after I started working for Janet, well, when I started working for Janet, we had I had to sign a bunch of NDAs, but I also had to sign additional NDAs when we found out Michael had passed because I had to patch Janet into phone calls with Michael and her family, and I had to Like those calls were extremely like sought after by comp like TMZ and all these different people. And so they made us all sign the NDAs to make sure that the the you know, as they were arguing about who gets what, that this isn't doesn't become like a giant public aff, you know, affair, which is totally understandable, right? This is a they're paying me a salary. Like I I got a salary working for them. And this was part of the this was known to me prior to that I had to keep everything that happened in this world secret because it's they didn't want it being public information. That's what I was being paid for. It is the exact fucking opposite when you go into being a public official. Like you are going in to expose corruption, to advocate for the people. So if you are signing an NDA with a private company, you are literally doing the exact opposite of what your job is. And it just bulls like every time a layer of this shit gets exposed, I'm just like, how have we gotten here? And how has this ever been okay? Like, and you're a thousand percent correct. This is one of those things that that this needs to be a federal law. Like this, this should not be happening on any level of government that NDAs get signed to pass that. It w in regards to any public interest in anything. Elwyn: An an NDA, by definition, is only asked for when there's information that one party doesn't want getting out. That's what it is, right? There's no there's no other reason to sign an NDA. There's no like hidden secondary purpose behind an NDA. Like, you know, a prenup can be used to preserve wealth that was gained before marriage. It it's not, you know, it doesn't have to be nasty. It can be nasty, it can be you know, innocent and honest and all fine. An NDA is always Is always designed to prevent someone else from telling people information that one party believes people will be interested in to their Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: to their detriment, to that party's detriment. So yeah, absolutely not from public officials. Now it's interesting if this becomes more widespread in the news about data centers in particular, because I do think more and more. I'm not sure we appreciate how big of an issue electorally data centers are. I'm involved in this get out the vote project here, and almost every meeting, and certainly when I go you know, we I go to fundraising events to to raise money for this, the idea of data centers comes up in every single one of them across all age groups. Nobody, nobody is happy with how data centers are being handled by their governments. And it is absolutely if Gina Inahosa here in Texas wins the governorship, that is either issue one or one A that propels her to the governorship. Derek: Yeah. Well, and you're a thousand percent correct because the this is the thing about data centers and the look, the info new infrastructure always is a challenge to get by, right? Like new infrastructure, when you're talking about like like roads, for example, like Austin, Texas, I'm sure in the early 2000, I can guarantee you old school Austinites that were on city council. fought expanding the existing infrastructure tooth and nail, right? Only fast forward 15 to 20 years, Austin explodes. And now there's all this kind of like frustration because McMahon, we could have we had the ability to build out this infrastructure early and we decided not to do it. And it came back to bite us in the ass. So we are looking at to some degree a little bit of a moment in time where this could be a situation, but what Ne like all of this stuff needs to be handled transparency and it also needs to be clearly exp explained what the public benefit is and that these these companies should not like the taxpayers should not be funding this infrastructure. Like if this is not if we don't have a public stake, which we don't because we're not you know, a communist or fully socialist country, if we don't have a stake in these companies that are building out this infrastructure, then it should be done on their dime. And they should be required to build out the power and also increase natural the ability to, you know, gain natural resources, whether that's rainwater collection, whether like whatever bolstering the grid for more power, building out nuclear power, they should be responsible for that ex infrastructure because they're the ones that directly benefit from the outcome of the data centers. So, like, unless we're all publicly like roads are different, right? We all get a drive on them, so we can We can argue that the infrastructure is something that the taxpayers should be involved in. the the right now there's none of that for these data centers. Like, and don't get me wrong, I understand we all use technology, but we fucking pay for it. We pay for it with our subscription, Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: buying devices, all of it. Elwyn: And the deal that's being proposed from the data companies to the to the taxpayers to the people is a shit deal. It it's just a shit deal. Hey, give us a bunch of tax breaks, give us some breaks on electricity. We're gonna build a giant fucking box warehouse that's gonna make a shit ton of noise. It's not gonna employ a lot of people after it's built, it's gonna take up a bunch of your water, it's gonna raise your electricity costs, and you know, you're gonna get AI. And everybody's like, What does that even mean? What is AI? Like more chat GPT? I use Chat GPT enough. It's like, no, no, you're gonna get better AI. well, what's that gonna do? It's gonna take your job. You're gonna not gonna have to work. But what the how the fuck am I gonna pay my mortgage? What do you mean it's gonna take my job? Right? And you know, every time these guys open their mouths, you know, Sam Altman is he said it was either no, it's Jeff Bezos, sorry, who was basically who basically said in an interview, you should want to give up your water. in the short term for the for the good of humanity and and it's like no man these people are not they're they're human because they have human DNA these tech executives and more and more people just feel like they're the whole deal is a complete ripoff with zero benefit all downside and that's why these things are falling and that's why it is I think a massive a massive issue. Roads are obvious. Roads are just like does this road cost a lot of money? How much does it cost? You know, is is it gonna work? Like is the expanded highway gonna make traffic better? And how long is this gonna am I gonna be sitting in traffic for? that's Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: kind of the whole of it with roads, but you don't have to justify what the roads are for. Derek: Yeah. Jeff Bezos giving interviews about and telling us to sacrifice our water while somebody's washing his feet with like four bottles of Fiji at the same time. It's just like the like nobody wants to hear this shit. Like, read the room, asshat. like we're it none of it makes any sense. And then ironically enough, going back to lack last week's episode when we talked a little bit about surveillance date, was that last week? but They there also is noticeably more Flock cameras surrounding data centers. So these data centers are also getting more government protection than the average area, which is also complete horseshit. So like not which if I had to guess, part of this is probably in those NDAs that we're and part of these deals that we're not able to see. So All of this stuff is horseshit to me and all of it needs to be exposed. And like watching some of these people come out now and actually walk walk people down or walk people through these processes because you can actually see which which deals had NDAs signed on them in a lot of these circumstances. You just obviously can't see the NDA. So yeah, now I'm like, okay, it what has Austin signed off on? Like How many how many things have have we has been agreed to by our city council and our elected officials that we have no idea about because they signed these NDAs and now I wanna know all of it. So I'm more curious than ever before and now I'm gonna start digging into it, these freaking assholes. So Elwyn: Yeah, if if you're if your kid's teacher, major kid sign an NDA before the school year, there's Derek: What? Elwyn: no fucking way, right? Like, no, I have a right to know what's going Derek: Every parent is like Elwyn: on. Right? It's it yeah, it's not that much different, right? If our public officials are signing NDAs with private companies to spend our tax money on our dime, on our land, using our water, no, just hard no, stop illegal. And Derek: Yeah. and this is stuff we need to be paying attention to. This is stuff that as it comes up to the to the surface that people need to start really understanding. Like, man, it's not just the big elections that matter. Like we need to be voting in local elections. We need to be voting for people in city council, for mayors, for like all of the the local seats, for the the Texas congressional seats. all of these things need to be voted on and They need to be researched because we need people that are going to fight this stuff, and make sure that the people people understand what's actually going on in the state because you know, this shit's going on, data centers are being built everywhere. Meanwhile, like public schools are getting shut down left and right, they're banning THC after we heavily voted to not do that. Like all these things slowly restricting our rights and taking things away from us while robbing us at the same time. And people have to understand it and and see it for what it is. and you see it through your the local governments the first place. It's not just the big elections that make changes. To be honest, the big elections probably have the least amount of impact on us locally. so we need to we really need to be invested in this world. which speaking of local elections, Max Miller, this is hilarious story because This dude had serious allegations, hospital records about a his daughter's broken clavicle, I believe. you know, numerous recordings and court filings regarding some of the abuse and different things and multiple women, which we I think we discussed last week. a lot of the people in the RNC, from my understanding, were encouraging him to step back and the the the day for for them or the the deadline for h them to replace him, my understanding was yesterday. and this motherfucker was like, nah, I'm hanging on. Like, Elwyn: Yeah. Derek: you know, well, what what are your thoughts on that first? Elwyn: You know, we we we talked about it last week. This guy's just a complete piece of garbage. This is human human garbage. you know, some of the stuff that we didn't touch on last week, his attorney accidentally released to the public, you know, made public some dis some discovery. In it was a a picture of his daughter, who was like quite young, right? naked, showing her genitalia. and that picture was then viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. And it was a mistake, right? The attorney said it was a mistake, but still, like, geez, fuck, man. You know, and he he's gone on and he's been like, I'm gonna show you all these texts and send all these texts. And one of the issues that apparently exists in this relationship that he has with his wife, ex wife, and daughter is the daughter has a stuffy, a stuffed bunny. that she's had since since she was born and she loves it and she takes it from parent to parent when she's when she's with the different parents. And sometimes she leaves it at the parent at the parent's house. So sometimes she leaves it, I'm sure she lives at her mom's house, sometimes quite clearly sometimes she leaves it at his house. And he's just a complete asshole with getting it back to her. Right? Where the attorneys have had to call the attorneys and be like, God, just get get the stuffy back. Like Well, I'll leave it in the mailbox, but only if this person picks it up. And and the senator, Bernie Moreno, would would be like, you know, remember that's his father-in-law. Be Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: like, I'll send my aide over to pick it up. It's like, nope, nope, it has to be only the person that's been appointed by the court that can that can do this. I won't give it to you. And the the guardian for the child, the the lawyer for the child is like, guys, get her the stuffy. And the the you know, the I was reading this and I was like The amount of piece of shit you have to be, like I don't know if if we weigh this, if this is measured in pounds, right? Like you have to be like a 36-pound piece of shit to Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: make returning your kids stuffy impossible for the other side. It's the kind of thing that are in movies about that's in movies about divorces where just it's a control issue, right? That's all it is. It's a I wanna control who comes to get this. I don't care at all. about my kid and the fact that she wants her stuffy. I want control over who's coming up to my mailbox. And this, you know, he's running good. I'm glad he's still running because I the polls have him down like anywhere between eight and twelve points to Poindexter, who's his opponent. but Derek: Great name. Elwyn: yeah, but it it's really like one of the worst cases, I think, of just just a person being a terrible human and still hanging on. Derek: I have so many issues with this. One, look, my first my my divorce with my daughter's mom was not friendly and ugly. and it was ugly the entire time. But there was one thing that we were both consistent about, and it's putting our kids first. Like the my my youngest daughter, my ex-wife had this robe that she wore when she was nursing my our daughters, and when they got a little bit older. We took the robe and made a blanket out of it. And that that was the blanket that my daughters used. So my daughter would wrap the blanket around her hand and then she would suck her thumb. And that's how she would go to sleep just about every night. and there was times that she would leave that blanket at her house. And dude, it was it was a no-bra like there was no way she was going to sleep without it. So we we went and got the blanket. And then eventually we cut up the bigger robe and made multiple blankets. So we had them everywhere, so we didn't have to deal with that. For that reason, because it was the best thing for our daughter, and we wanted her to sleep at night, and that's how she comforted herself. And it's just it blows my mind to hear stories like this because yeah, like the level of like narcissism and lack of care for another human being, it it just shows through with that. Like if you can't care for your daughter in the most simplistic form of just recognizing, like, man, this is this seems silly to you, but it's like their entire world. Like, you're how are you? How are you going to be a public servant? Like, how are you going to give a shit about anybody else in your constituency? And I hope his constituents know that. Then let's go a step beyond that and just talk about the Republican Party in general. Because, dude, it was just a month ago that they were lambasting Democrats for Graham Plattner's rape allegation. And look, the Democratic Party has and same with the dude from California, what would whatever his name is, Sewell or Elwyn: Swallow. Derek: or Swalwell. Swalwell, yeah, the Democrats, you know, ran him out of town pretty quickly and we're like, look, like we there's enough here, credible allegation, that we're we're going to call this. And like we don't want you to be in this race. And it's just interesting the the the dynamic, the differences we see in these two these two parties in that this this dude has far more documentation about the piece of shit that he is, the abuse that's occurred, more women involved. and you know, the I think people had asked him to come out, but like, dude, a lot of these people, none of them have really publicly made a stance in my to be like, yeah, this dude shouldn't should should be backing out. and now we're we're seeing in real time like just the vast the Big difference between the big divide between what's going on in our country is narciss narcissistic sociopaths on one side of it, and then this push to like try to get back to a people-centric, constituent-based, you know, hopefully moral-based government, which we just haven't seen in a long time. And from Democrats either. So, like, but Elwyn: Yeah, I mean I think you're being a little kind to the Democrats on on that last description. But, you know, overall, like the bar that the Democrats clear with Platner and Swalwell is incredibly low. It's incredibly low. But at least they clear it. You know, at least these things on the Democratic side seem to generally have a pattern, which is allegation comes out, guy makes a statement, another allegation comes out. couple days or a couple weeks later, and then the pressure starts to build. You know, endorsements start to drop. The big senators who have endorsed whoever it might be in the in that state or in that wing of the party start to speak out against this person. And that person digs in harder and digs in harder and finally, you know, petulantly withdraws and makes some stupid video, self-serving video about how they've been wronged. But so it's it's muddy and shitty, but the outcome is right. The outcome is that someone who is, you know, unable to comport themselves like a normal, sane, non-criminal human who doesn't abuse women or children isn't a public officer anymore. That's the correct outcome. On the Republican side, no. The the the bar is the same bar. It doesn't get cleared, and nobody's really trying to clear it either. Derek: Yeah. And this is this is the problem. And I'm really curious to see how this ends up panning out in Texas because, you know, like we've gone from there, dude, there's so much terrible shit going on here. We we're watching Big Ben getting torn down in front of our eyes. We're watching a ban on THC, which you know, the majority of Texas voted against, g you know, having that being pulled out from other under us while the the intentions behind it are clear. Like it's the lobbying groups, it's that paid these fuckers out that are driving this whole thing. so like we're we're seeing all of this stuff kind of transpire all at one time. Guys like Ken Paxton running for office again, who are clearly like just I mean, they're terrible human beings. And I'm like, man, like we really are kind of at a fork in the road with this election, like these midterms. It's like really it it almost feels like a good versus evil and that's again like I think you're right. I don't want to define the Democratic Party as that because they've done some awful, awful shit. And to be honest, haven't had the balls to actually fight when the moment needs fighting and then, you know, stand back and let things pann out when it needed to stand back. I feel like they're all over the place. But man, like it ca I just want decent human beings, even if we disagree on like, you know, like Romney, for example, like I never worried about that dude. Like he just came across as like, I yeah, I disagreed with him politically, but I never felt like he was like, you know, trying to have sex with children. So like I I dismiss a time where like, yeah, we can have a policy debate, but I'm also like not worried if you're in the Epstein files or not. Elwyn: Yeah, I think the question ultimately is what are we willing to set aside to get in in the most kind way to describe this, to get the policies that we prefer implemented. take the person out of it first, you know, on on the other side, on the policy side. So what are we willing to accept either politically or in the persona and the personal character? the moral character of the people we elect in search of and in the fight of the policies that we want implemented. And that's a really that's a really hard question, right? It's it it it's easy, it should be easy when we're talking about the Max Millers and Graham Plattners of the world. But it very, very quickly gets sticky, right? And we're gonna talk about the DSA and and Meghan Rohmer, you know, so I'll I'll just kind of go right there, right? Because like I'll start with Mamdani, like You know, Mamdani, what what am I willing to accept when it comes to his anti Zionism in favor of policies that I think are generally good and that I want to see implemented and that I think make for a better city. you know, that's a really hard I I don't know what the answer to it is. In in Mamdani's case, I've made the decision that, you know, I continue to support him, but I've got you know, I'm watching. I pretty regularly, you know, do a Google search on like Mom Donnie's response to some some news event or you know, some attack on people in New York City. but that that I think is at the heart of it. And, you know, the DSA is going to come into this because this woman, Megan Romer, the co chair of the DSA, went on a podcast with David Remnick, who's a New York Times reporter, and said that she would have gone to the rally on October eighth in New York City if she was in New York City. She would have attended that. And I think it's worth explaining exactly what that what was going on on October 8th. October 7th, we know, right? October Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: 7th, Hamas militants plus some Gazan civilians we now know broke through the border fence, parachuted in in some cases into a music festival and killed over 1,200, you know, Israeli citizens. Were some of them military? Yeah, probably, but the vast majority of them were not. Okay, they killed kid kids, families, they sexually abused them, they mutilated them, they recorded it all, they filmed it all, it's on their GoPros, right? Just an incredibly horrific, inhumane terrorist event. They kidnapped over 250 people, including a Holocaust survivor and a baby, a 10-month-old baby. Okay. That was October 7th. October 8th, before the Israeli government or military knew what end was up. Before absolutely before they had met even as a government to figure out what to do, worldwide, including in New York City, were a bunch of rallies in support of what had what Hamas had done the day before. Right? It's no different than rallies in other parts of the world on September 12th. There's zero difference. Zero difference. Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: Okay? Now, this woman, the co-chair of the DSA, said that yeah, she would have gone to that rally because you know, insert claptrap about apartheid state and open air prison and all this shit, which whatever. I'm not gonna get into that. It's a set it really is a separate issue, whether you believe that was what the state of Gaza was on October 6th or not. If you go to that rally, you are supporting what Hamas did. If you're you know those were pro-Hamas rallies. There was no mystery about it. And I remember being more stunned on October 8th than on October 7th, because I couldn't figure out. What the why there's rallies in support of this? How on earth could there be rallies in support of this? Right? You you don't have to like Israel to think that what Hamas did was terrorist and shitty and awful and inhumane and should never be supported. That's that's not even a low bar. That's that bar is fucking underground, right? And here's this woman, the co chair of the DSA, which is absolutely ascendant right now with Abdul El Sayyed and Mamdani and a bunch of other, you know, lower end politicos saying that yes she would have attended that and you know as long as you know it that it didn't mean supporting harm to non-civil to civilians and non-combatants to which David Remnick was like sure does and she was like really you think it does? Like fuck yes Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: of course it fucking does right so it goes back to my initial point which is like what what are we willing to accept in furtherance of policies that we believe are good? So I'll pivot to Al-Sayed for a second, because he is making an attempt to handle this, I think, better than anybody else. Like he's drawing a pretty interesting point, which is, you know, he is anti-Zionist, you know, there's no doubt about that. so he says he would not support unconditional military aid to any country, including, he says in interviews all the time, his home country of Egypt, he would not support unconditional military aid to Egypt. So it's like, all right, I like the word unconditional in there because it means that if there were conditions, he might support military aid, but I don't know where he sets the bar on those conditions, you know, what they are. They might be cum so unreasonable that he's just never going to support military aid to Israel ever. And he might set different conditions for different countries, you know. But okay, it's it's an interesting line. And then he follows that with, you know, the interviewer invariably asks him why, what's the reason? And he says, because I think that. You know, the the three billion dollars we send to Israel in military aid is better spent on healthcare in the United States. And yeah, kinda. Right? Like, yeah, I I'm not I don't kinda agree. I think that a lot of foreign aid would be better spent on health care in the United States. Even if it's not, I think that military spending would be better spent on healthcare in the United States. I think there's a million things that we spend money on. That could go to more important issues that are affecting people, more important budget lines and policies that are affecting people today because they're so poorly addressed in our country. So, you know, now that this woman from the DSA is sitting out there, and I'm like, You motherfucker, I can't. You know, I don't know, I don't I don't have a vote for Syed and I don't know how he's gonna respond to that. I this woman absolutely should get fired from her job. Absolutely. but if that's actually how they feel. Yeah, I have I have a pretty big problem with that. I have a pretty big problem with the entire Democratic Party if they cannot draw a line in the sand and say, yeah, October eighth, bad. Derek: Yeah. This isn't that fucking hard. And you know, like her sediment, because you you sent me the interview, the the clip, and I watched it and she was like, Well, you know, like based on the what was going on, you know, this was this was an inevitable conclusion to what was what was happening in Gaza at the time. And my immediate thought is is like, okay, well, okay, let's just put that on the US, right? Like our Middle Eastern relationships prior to two thousand one were also not super great. So by the same argument, you could be like, well, we we it 9-11 was an inevitable outcome, right? Like it was like it happened because you know, our terrible policy in the Middle East and our terrible foreign relationships. And I'm like, no, the this is fucking bad. Like this is awful. And if you cannot look at something and call it what it is, like go fuck yourself. And the it's it's that simple. And like In the same way that we can look at how Israel responded to this and have a very clear idea of like, man, yeah, this was you will be far overshot. There's genocide and what's going on in Palestine is not it not great. It it Yeah. Elwyn: an i that that's an amazing point sorry to interrupt that but that's an amazing point do I get to say to the free Palestine left that what happened in Gaza since October seventh was an inevitable outcome of October seventh? Do I get that? I'm quite certain I don't. Right? I'm quite certain that that that same inevitability argument only works one way in this particular case. And it only works one way on something like September Derek: Although maybe you should say that. Elwyn: eleventh. Yeah. I should. Derek: Maybe you should say that 'cause maybe this podcast will go viral if you do. For all the wrong reasons. Elwyn: Yeah. Right. But but I mean your your point is is right on. You know, it what what is inevitable? Right? How do we and if if if if we say and I don't agree with this, but if someone were to say, you know what, I agree with her, it was fucking inevitable, blah blah blah, you know, there's this long history of conflict where both sides have been shitty. This was some sort of, you know, explosion around this conflict was inevitable, right? I think that statement is probably pretty fair. Derek: Mm. Elwyn: that doesn't mean that you celebrate the death and destruction and inhumanity with which that inevitability comes to pass. And that's what October eighth was. Derek: Yeah, of innocent lives, like Elwyn: Yeah, that's what I October eighth was a celebration of the inevitability of the explosion. Right? And why would anybody ever celebrate that? I don't I don't I don't understand it. You have to be so lost in in your understanding of who of people, of of the shared condition that we all have called being human, right? You just have to be so cloistered, so untraveled, so and it's not like I'm super traveled, but just so unable to recognize that no matter what side is being killed. It's people that are being killed, right? It it there when when the when the Israeli ministers after I think it was Ben Gavir or Smotrich, one it's always one of them, you know, said in on October 10th or 11th that these are are are he called the the Hamas militants animals, you know, and that they should be treated like animals. And everybody freaked out, like, no, they're not animals. If you're celebrating on October 8th, Don't tell me that you understand or respect the humanity of the Israeli people that were killed on October 7th. You don't. You don't. And if you're the co-chair of an ascendant party on the left, you know, that's trying on the one hand to say get money out of politics. Good, you know, universal healthcare, good, universal pre-K, good, all these policies, if that's what you're trying to say, you're gonna lose it all. If you're digging in that October 8th was somehow like a noble protest, and you're gonna lose me, right? Like I'm now hyper vigilant about what the candidates that I'm trying to get out to vote for are saying about this. Because I will absolutely stop right away. If Caitlin Rourke in Congressional District 10 here in Texas, if she came out and said something like that, within 10 minutes, my email would be sent to the part the people I'm working with. I'm out, do this on your own. Period. Can't support Derek: Yeah. Elwyn: it. Right? I don't have to be vigilant about that that you know the Yeah. I'll get to the other point later. Derek: Well, yeah, well, it no, it the humanity and this it we kind of broaden out, right? To some of these bigger points where it's like, man, like we there is we need to be focused on caring for people. Like that and that is the that's what attract is attractive about the DSA platform, right? When you talk about all the good things that they are Elwyn: Well some parts of it. Derek: some parts of it. Well, yes, correct. And which is what we I wanted to get into because When we rich originally talked about today's episode, we were gonna do the isms, right? Capitalism, socialism, communism. And we decided to kind of boil it down to some of these stories that are in the news because these are reminisces the time that we're in. And and the truth is, is that the United States is a little bit of everything. It's a little bit of socialism, it's a little bit of capitalism, and probably even a little bit of communism now. So like there's a there is there are You can look at situations and systems within our government and pretty clearly point out the the underlying thread of which ism they belong to. and it's they're they're all represented in our government very clearly. So, but with that being the case, like the the beauty of what some socialist look, it it's so funny because when I first moved to Texas, I was very much kind of on the I think we talked about this on the libertarian train. And it just kind of foundationally, and this was part of my own idealism, was that I believe that if you give oper if you give opportunity for people to meet a need, and they can make money doing it, then the private sector should handle everything. That was kind of my overall viewpoint of of things is like like, yeah, give people the opportunity to make money doing something, meeting a need, and it gets better it gets done far better than government being able to do it. And I had a client that had when I was personal training that had family members that had that were very involved in government assistance with disabilities and some mental health stuff. And she explained her journey very clearly to me and was like, Yeah, there are some instances where government actually is much better at solving this problem than the private sector. And I was Like, yeah, you're not wrong. And as I've dug into this over the last few years, more and more, yeah, there's a lot of fucking situations in our country where the government should be responsible for managing it and is far more capable of managing it and governing it because it should be for the people. The the private sector works in a number of areas when capitalism is involved, when there's when there's restrictions on monopolies. And people price gouging, capitalism is actually really effective. But in in situations like insurance, like capitalism, dude, we've just allowed all these companies to all get together, price gouge, merge with each other, create monopolies, and then charge us, you know, fucking $40,000 a year for health insurance that we never want to use. Because if we use it, we're gonna pay out the ass anyway, still on top of what we're already paying. Like this is a problem. Elwyn: Or were sick. Derek: Yeah. Exactly. This is a problem. And this is a place where government actually should step in and could be incredibly effective, which the DSA platform is that. Like it their platform platforms these kind of ideas. a robust educational system. Like we want our tax dollars. I would love to see our tax dollars spent the amount of money we spend on defense, I would fucking die to see that kind of investment in our public schools and our healthcare infrastructure and our childcare, like giving people support, giving families, young families support with affordable child care, if not free childcare. These are the kind of things that government could actually make a real impact on. And we are just like we throw around these terms like socialism as sc scary terms. And the funny part about it is is that like we're in this moment in time where Some of these policies and some of these people are starting to break through. And then we get these fucking stories where somebody says some batshit crazy thing, like, you know, what happened on October 7th was inevitable, or I don't believe in borders, or I don't believe in prisons, or abolish the police. And it's like, yeah, go fuck yourself. This is the fastest way to kill universal healthcare, is because you don't believe in prisons. Like When there are when to be honest, all the people blocking universal health care are the ones that should probably be in those prisons. So it's just like we're st it's like half a step forward, eight steps back, it feels like sometimes. Elwyn: Yeah, I think I have to stop referring to the DSA when I'm talking about democratic socialism because I think that there's more and more, there's just enough batchit cuckoo bananas stuff that the DSA believes in that's just like this is not, you know, defund the police is not democratic socialism and and open borders and you know, that's not that's not democratic socialism. Socialism, you know, is i we can look at Bernie Sanders and see what Democratic socialism in the United States looks like. We can look at most European countries, right? Democratic socialism is this kind of idea that there's a balance like you just described. There's some things that are best handled by government through a democratic system, through elections, through representation, through legislation, not through authoritarianism, right? That that the democratic process can be used to mold and structure and manage certain things, fire departments and police departments, of course, but healthcare and every other country is a huge one, right? Health insurance, insurance in general, but health insurance is the most startling one, I think, by definition, should not be a private industry. The whole idea of insurance is kind of socialist to begin with, right? Everybody pays a little bit of money, and the insurance companies know how much they're gonna have to spend based on actuarial studies, you know. We're gonna need to spend a billion dollars. So we have to spend raise a billion dollars in premiums and you know a little bit of money to pay the people who actually work for us. But profit Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: isn't in part isn't part of that. The minute you put profit into that, now the motive is to make more money for your shareholders and not to pay out the premium, not to pay out the claims. So health insurance should absolutely be part of a a a democratic socialist country. You know, the difference between democratic socialism and you know, scary Venezuela socialism, which is what we're gonna hear all about in the next 84 days or so until the election, you know, Venezuela style socialism is much more government takes over more and more industries, and they take the money. People still work and people still get paid, but your boss is much more the government, rule is consolidated in one party. You know, who uses that control to enrich themselves, to enrich a small working class. and because it's one party services usually go down to shit, the whole system kind of falls apart, because there is no democratic process in place to manage it. It's just at the whim of one person. You know, so actual Venezuela-style socialism doesn't work very well. And it's it hasn't worked very well in Cuba, it didn't work very well in the USSR before before that fell apart. so but Derek: Whoa. Elwyn: but there are important differences. Derek: Yeah. And dude, you're you're a thousand percent correct. And what's happening? So since since I've been alive, it's always been the Republican like as soon as I started hearing it as early as Obama was just like the rhetoric from the right was like socialism, socialist, socialist, socialist. Like this is the most terrible thing. And you know, at at face value when you know nothing about it, it Does actually seem a little bit scary. So, like you're like, what does that mean? Are we actually moving towards something that's more like nobody wants more government control, blah, blah, blah. And so, you know, for years I felt like that kind of worked a little bit, maybe even subconsciously on me. But we're in this moment in time where we're starting to see socialist ideas break through, right? We're getting the Mamdanis, the Abdul Sayyeds, Bernie and AOC can't do a you know a rally without it being you know sold out in minutes you know that like people are starting to adapt to socialism and starting to actually welcome I think some of the ideas. So like some people are looking at this and being like, man, like all it takes now is a you know quick punch into Chat GPT or Google Gemini to be like, hey, is socialism bad? And then you start to realize like, there's actually like really high performing countries in Europe that use this that are safe, have, you know, closed borders, like don't just allow, you know, anybody to come through, have prisons still, but like they're not used by you know, just to they're not used to to for political favor. Yeah, go ahead. Elwyn: Sorry, they are all democratic socialists, right? They're those countries, those Western European Derek: Yes. Elwyn: countries and Scandinavian countries all exist in the in the context of a democracy. You know, I was reading before this, the city of Boston last year or in 2024, instituted a four percent surtax on incomes over a million dollars. Tax the rich, right? It's a lefty city. Lefty state, tax the rich, you had, and the money goes was to go to transportation and education. and of course, you had all the regular you know outrage. People are gonna leave, everybody's gonna flee the state, this isn't gonna work. The projections were that it would raise $2 billion a year. in the first year it raised $2.4 billion. This year it raises three, or in 2025, it raised $3.2 billion. That money is going to free buses in low-income areas so people can get to work and not spend you know 10% of their income which is low enough already getting to work. It's going to free community colleges. It's going to free preschool, right? And yes, people have left, in fact, Massachusetts. But the number of millionaires in Massachusetts has gone up. And that's a function of the stock market and business sales and and the larger economy. But You know, why is that bad? Tell tell me why, you know, a a four percent tax which has outpaced expectations and provided free community college, which absolutely helps everybody. The more educated you are, the better your city and state are going to be. Free buses so that people can get to work and put more food on their table. Tell me why these things are bad. Tell me why this policy on on a four percent surtax on million incomes over million dollars. Has not been successful, right? Because Boston's doing fine. Derek: Yeah. They're not bad. Yeah, they're not bad. I think you know, and this will we can unpack some of this stuff another time, but like I mean, I think how the money is spent once it's received is also a critical part of it. Like, which, you know, goes back to our earlier conversation. We have our fucking government signing NDAs with, you know, tech companies. So there's a lot of trepidation, I think, about like if we if we give more money to the government that they're gonna just fucking blow it, which that is a real thing and I totally understand it. But I wanted this conversation to kind of lead to the other ism that we were talking about because in the advancement of like you know, we're seeing democratic socialists. The United States is to some for the most part a democracy. So we have socialist, you know, things in place like you just spoke about. But the so The scariness of that is wearing off. Like people are become becoming aware that hey, there are some socialist things that are beneficial to me. And so now we start to see the rhetoric go to communism because now we have to escalate, right? Like claiming that all liberals and progressives are socialists is actually not the claim that it was, you know, five, ten years ago. So now we have to start throwing communism out there. So, you know, my question to you is is who are the communists? Elwyn: I mean yeah, really Donald Trump. You know. Derek: I mean he's he's calling everybody else and then we call them right back. And so I'm like, Yeah, now everybody's being called a communist. So like, who is it, Elwin? Elwyn: Yeah, I mean I well, I think it's important to note, like true communism has never been achieved. Even the the Soviet Union and Cuba, places like that have they were much more on the socialist part of the spectrum where socialism is a step to communism. It's a it's a lead-in to communism. you know, so socialism you start to see the government takeover of the means of production, government owning the means of production, what that that means companies, government owning companies, nationalizing industry. and then the payout in socialism is, you know, kind of the the phrases from each according to their ability and to each according to in socialism, their abilities. You're still working. If you have are able to do more advanced stuff, you're gonna make more money. But the last part of that in communism is two each according to their needs, and you have a full communal system nationwide. There is no real income. Your income is determined by the government based on what you need. Right. So we're nowhere near communism, right? But there is only one party that is nationalizing industries that's taking ownership stake in private industries, and that is the Donald Trump Republican Party. They've done it in dozens of companies in the last two years. and that's you know, really never been done before. When Obama wanted to give a loan to auto in to the automakers and the Cash for Clunkers program, you know, that was a huge scandal. Right? you're taking Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: over this industry. You're taking over the car industry. No, it wasn't. It was a loan and it worked and it the gov they paid it all back and the government took its stake back. Right? The government temporarily did have a stake. But there's no plan to give the stake back in Donald Trump's, you know, o ownership plan. So You know, to the extent that communism exists, which it it kinda doesn't, it's it's much more on the Republican side that the policies and the and the method of governing mirrors what socialism and communism are. Now, I don't think Donald Trump knows what communism is. I think that he's just kind of I don't know, sundowning in some sense where his his brain is oatmeal, and when he was growing up there was the Red Scare and communism, so Those are the core memories that still exist in his brain. So he starts blurting it out when he feels like he like he wants to without any true understanding of what it means. But yeah, I I mean, without a doubt, the dangerous socialism, the the the the nationalizing of industry, I think is much more on the Republican side. The this makes sense for society part of socialism. The are there certain things that people need that are better served by government in a democratic system? That is ascendant on the left. Derek: Yeah. Yeah. And look, the the Mam Dani stuff in New York is is kind of like a trial run for me. It this this is kind of a me, you know, dabbling my toe in to see how things get done. But like for most for the most part, like do what all of us fucking want is we want a government that we can trust is doing what they say that they're doing with our money, and be is one that's responsive to needs. Like when shit needs to get done, it's doing it and it's not take it doesn't take forever. The this is the foundational problem with how people are viewing government right now, and the one thing and the things that need to change. And these are the things that democratic socialists are platforming. Like speed of government, meeting the the needs of the middle class, like trying to alleviate some of the the pain points that we're we're going through. And yeah, like the let's siphon out the the you know bullshit and call you know let's let's call anti-semitism what it is which is exactly what what's her name was from the from the DSA you know like that that that absolutely is not part of the democratic socialism that's one person's view and I hope that that gets you know taken for what it is and not broadcast on all of the good that can come from some of these ideas. And ideas that could actually change the life like our kids' lives, you know, and our our grandchildren's lives if if some of this stuff c you know comes into play over the next 10 to 15 years, which I really hope it does. So we'll see how see how it goes from there. So let's let's jump into our shut the fuck up today. Who we telling Ellen? Who we who we met at? Elwyn: Most of the world most of the world today gets to shut the fuck up. Derek: Sweet. Elwyn: All right. Just yeah, most of the world. Derek: I'm all in. Elwyn: but all in. And the reason why most of the world should shut the fuck up is because most of the world, I believe, simply does not know how much Jew hatred there is in the world today. Now, it's not as much in the United States as it is in some other countries. And I don't I am not going to make the claim that the people who don't know are willfully ignorant or accepting it. I'm going to say that they just simply don't know that all this shit is going on. So shut the fuck up and start to do some researching. Google anti-Semitism in Europe, Google anti-Semitism on college campuses in Canada, Google anti- you know, Google Jew hatred in Montreal, Google Jew hatred in Greece, in Spain, in London, in Amsterdam and you're gonna find some disgusting shit. You're gonna find a Google form in Italy that was put out that was widely circulated asking for people to identify the location of Israeli tourists and Jewish tourists, not just Israelis, Jewish tourists. You know, you're gonna find a documents at an is at a pride parade in Amsterdam with a QR code where you could report where in that parade Jewish people were. You're gonna find that 95% of Jewish students on campus in Canada have directly experienced anti-Semitic and Jew hatred to their face while in college. Do it in the United States. You're gonna find that a Jewish fraternity in San Diego was was spray painted with Jew hate slogans. You're gonna find that murals for the Palisades Fire were defaced on the side of a synagogue. You're gonna find that oil and bags of poo and pee and shit were thrown at synagogues in New York City. The the list goes on and on and on. And it's multiple incidences around the world every week. And if you just and it is it is a symptom that like why it's going on, I could go on forever. But you know, i if none of it has none of this shit has anything to do with protesting the war in Gaza. None of it. Okay. If you are attacking a young boy for wearing a yarmulke in Greece, you're not protesting a war in Israel. Okay. If you are wearing free Palestine t shirts at a Holocaust memorial in Austria, you're not protesting the war in Israel. If you're spray painting swastikas on a Holocaust memorial in, I think Moldova, you're not protesting a war in Israel. If you're drawing Nazi symbols, if you're drawing swastikas on a tree in a park in Canada, you're not protesting Israel. If you're spray painting that fraternity house in California, if you're spray painting the temple in California, if you're throwing shit at synagogues in the United States, if you're harassing college students in Canada, if you're beating if you're standing outside a hotel in Greece screaming Heil Hitler and for the Jews, you're not protesting a war in Gaza. You are hating Jews. Period. That's it. If you want to protest a war in Gaza, go to a fucking embassy. Go to an army base. Go to Gaza. Hold a fucking placard. Okay? Do that shit. But until you do th there's a very clear line between, you know, some action against some individual thousands of miles away from the Middle East and protesting a government policy in the Middle East. And we're told that, you know, we're the all this protest against, you know, what the Israeli government is doing. It has nothing to do with Jews. It is it has to do with freeing Palestine and the oppression of the Gazans and You know, all this stuff. Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit needs to be called on this shit. And right now. It needs to be called on it right away because it is absolute bullshit. And we've let it slip and slip and slip and slip until it should slip no more. So if you didn't know this stuff was happening, shut the fuck up, close your mouth, open your ears, and open your eyes. Okay. And then make a decision. What would you do if nooses were being hung outside of a black church in the United States. Okay. What were you doing what would you do if bags of shit were being thrown at a mosque in Canada? Okay, what would you do if a gay pride flag was being burned at a St. Patrick's Day parade in New York? What would your outrage be at those things? And ask yourself why it's different. Because I don't see it's any different. I see Jews being 0.2% of the world's population. And the subject of an increasingly large share of its hate crimes. I see Jews being subject to 57% of the hate crimes in New York City, a city where they represent about 20% of the population and where they're they are by no means the largest minority. So if you didn't know this, I'm not mad at you. Okay. I'm respectfully asking you to shut the fuck up and open your eyes and open your ears. If you did know this and don't care, sh and now I'm mad at you, shut the fuck up about government policy, right? And at least Derek: Mm-hmm. Elwyn: be open about how you feel. And let's have a real conversation about that. Put yourself in the sunlight and let that be the disinfectant. Derek: Well, I have no response other than it fucking sucks. And the truth is and Elwyn: It fucking sucks. Derek: man, hatred is not a solvable problem. I don't think it's gonna get directed at it's gonna get directed at minorities for the rest of time. You know, it's fucking awful, but and it to be honest, it's also the most what it w it's the most It's the most easy and maybe well fed emotion. Like it it which is more often wrong. It's it's it's path of least resistance. So it's such a human thing because love and understanding takes work. Hate and ignorance takes none. And when you see it, it's just it's it could not be more of a of a sign of lack of intelligence and laziness than anything else. So Anytime I see hatred and bigotry towards any people group, it just reminds me that the person the person involved is a lazy and unintelligent human being. and they w and they chose that. They chose they chose that. They that's an active decision to to just be ignorant. So fuck all those people. I'm right there with you. Elwyn: There's a lot of smart people there's a lot of stupid people masquerading as smart. Derek: Yeah, yeah. and really it's just lazy. So it's 'cause love is hard. takes it takes effort to look past and self awareness to look past somebody else's follies or whatever they are to recognize that we're all imperfect and we're all capable of the same bullshit. and so, but you know, I d I don't know that we get to a place of peace on this this side of life. Hopefully the next one we do. Elwyn: But we can try. Derek: We can try. And the effort is worth it. I think it's the maybe the trajectory that sends us into eternity. So well what are we talking about next week? Elwyn: I let's see where the week takes us. Derek: All right. I would and hopeful hopefully I would like to start this series on codifying norms. I think every week we should Elwyn: yeah. Derek: I think we should be tackling from top to bottom all of the shit that we need our elected officials talking about because Elwyn: Do you want to s do you wanna start with the twenty five with the twenty fifth amendment? Something that is codified but never used? No, that's that's flipping it. No, I agree with you. Derek: What's it what well so I've mapped this out elections, enforcement, corruption, power, transparency. And I think that they they start in that order because elections are critical because our ability our ability to reliably reliably empower and remove Our elected officials and leaders is the foundation of everything. And then everything under that is just feeds into that funnel. So, but we'll we'll jump into that next week, hopefully, unless some crazy shit happens, Elwyn: I take it. Derek: and then we'll go from there. Thanks for tuning in, y'all. See you later. Elwyn: Thank you.