Latest / I Think Less of You Podcast / We're the Worlds Worst Podcasters

Transcript

We're the Worlds Worst Podcasters · I Think Less of You Podcast

0:15
SPEAKER_00: Why do I have to kick it off?
0:17
SPEAKER_00: I always kick it off.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: We always fade in on me babbling.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: No.
0:23
SPEAKER_02: It's always on me saying something ridiculous.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Anything you say is by definition ridiculous.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: That's such a definitional thing.
0:30
I feel like a few seconds ago we were just talking about how I
0:34
just am crapped on
0:35
SPEAKER_02: by you and here we go.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: And I said, no, in fact, I'm always very nice to you.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: I always say, oh, don't you look nice today?
0:41
SPEAKER_00: And then you're like, no, I look horrible.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: Because I do always look horrible.
0:48
We do these when I'm at my office and I'm usually like cooking
0:52
all day and doing
0:53
SPEAKER_02: photo shoots all day.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: So I usually look horrible.
0:57
ridiculous well it's earlier for you it's 11 30 where i am so
1:01
it's what i mean it's
1:03
9 30 there normal humans are far more productive than either of
1:07
us are at any point
1:09
in the day like i wake up so late i think i left the house at
1:14
like 8 45 this
1:16
SPEAKER_02: morning having an online job is not good for me being a presentable human
1:25
SPEAKER_00: That's the joy and the curse of online work.
1:29
You just thought I looked good today because I'm wearing my
1:31
glasses,
1:31
so I look extra.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: I think the glasses look good on you.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: You'd wear them more.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: I was going through some old pictures.
1:40
SPEAKER_02: So with the Olympics happening right now,
1:43
we were looking through some of our old pictures when we were
1:47
in Milan two
1:48
SPEAKER_02: Christmases ago.
1:49
SPEAKER_02: And at the time, I was wearing these horrifically large aviator glasses.
1:55
SPEAKER_02: I did not look good in those.
1:56
SPEAKER_02: I thought that they were really doing something for me.
1:59
And I look back,
2:00
I looked at Luke and I was like,
2:01
why did you let me wear these?
2:04
SPEAKER_02: Why didn't you tell me I looked horrible?
2:06
SPEAKER_00: I assume they were in style.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Aviators go in and out of style.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're in style.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: I look great, great, great, great in an aviator sunglass.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: They were meant for me.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: I look so good in aviator sunglasses.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: Aviator glasses...
2:22
SPEAKER_02: No, it's bad.
2:23
SPEAKER_02: It's bad.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have to find a picture.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a fan of aviators.
2:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a fan of aviator glasses in any capacity.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: I just don't like them.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone looks good in them.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: You've seen me in aviator glasses.
2:32
SPEAKER_02: I look really good in aviators.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: I was polite and I didn't say anything.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: I'm not just going to be like, oh, you're wearing aviators.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: Stop.
2:42
They work because I have a really big face and I have very
2:46
chubby cheeks.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: And in sunglass form, they balance my face out.
2:51
SPEAKER_02: In glasses form, I just look ridiculous.
2:55
SPEAKER_02: It's not attractive.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:58
I tend to wear square glasses when I wear my glasses,
3:00
which I don't often.
3:03
SPEAKER_02: I wear sunglasses nonstop.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: I wear sunglasses.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: I like round sunglasses.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: I've always liked the villain in...
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Indiana Jones and the Temple of,
3:15
SPEAKER_00: no,
3:15
SPEAKER_00: not Temple of Doom,
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Raiders of the Lost Ark,
3:18
SPEAKER_00: the little guy who has the burned in thing on his hand.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: He has those perfectly round sunglasses.
3:23
I've always wished that I could wear those cool perfectly round
3:27
sunglasses,
3:28
but I can't.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those are bad.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at the picture of the aviator glasses.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: Those are not a good plan.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: They're really bad.
3:34
SPEAKER_02: They're really bad.
3:35
All of my pictures from Venice and Milan,
3:37
I'm like,
3:38
ugh,
3:38
can I Photoshop myself out?
3:40
SPEAKER_02: Because they're bad.
3:42
Honestly,
3:43
at this point,
3:44
you could probably ask AI to just remove the glasses.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: Also, I have very brown hair in that picture.
3:49
SPEAKER_00: I know.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: The hair is good.
3:53
SPEAKER_00: You're so crazy.
3:54
SPEAKER_00: It's just the framing of that particular picture.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: You actually look a bit like Angela Bel Camino in glasses.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I am aware that I have a very large forehead.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
4:06
SPEAKER_02: I have a very, very large forehead.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: I have always had a large forehead.
4:10
SPEAKER_02: I was freaking out the other day,
4:12
SPEAKER_02: and I was like,
4:12
SPEAKER_02: oh,
4:13
SPEAKER_02: my gosh,
4:13
SPEAKER_02: I look so old,
4:14
SPEAKER_02: and I look like some middle-aged woman with a receding hairline.
4:18
And then I realized,
4:19
like,
4:19
I've always had a really,
4:20
really prominent five head.
4:23
SPEAKER_02: And I have a widow's peak, so it just makes it even worse.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's just how some people are built, not to be ashamed of.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean, knowing what everyone says about her, I do take it to heart.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but she's one of these people.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for that downward spiral I'm going to go on today.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lee.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: She's one of these people.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: People say those awful things to her because she invites it for clicks,
4:50
SPEAKER_00: you know,
4:52
SPEAKER_00: for interactions.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: It's the Rachel Bytecoffer at one point mocking people.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me started there.
5:02
But every time people mock her and insult her and ratio her,
5:06
she gets paid.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: That's the same reason Angela Bell Camino does it.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: I get it.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: But this is an issue with them more.
5:15
Like Rachel actively wants people to call her fat and actively
5:20
wants people to
5:21
SPEAKER_02: trash her appearance.
5:23
And that really bothers me because it may not bother her when
5:27
the entire Internet
5:28
SPEAKER_02: is calling her fat.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: other people who may look like her or may have
5:36
looked like her in the past are the ones who see that and are
5:39
impacted that maybe
5:41
she's not but like everyone else is i don't know i i hate i
5:45
hate that especially on
5:47
our side we're very comfortable with trashing people's looks
5:50
and as someone who is
5:52
more rotund than most and used to be a lot more rotund than
5:56
most i really am
5:59
SPEAKER_02: bothered by it i i think it's lazy i think it is
6:04
the absolute worst thing to call out when someone is already so
6:09
repugnant.
6:10
SPEAKER_02: There's so many things about her we can be slamming,
6:13
SPEAKER_02: and I am annoyed that we focus on how she looks.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, and I think that...
6:20
SPEAKER_00: It is bad for the discourse to encourage people to do that in general.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't.
6:28
She's setting a trap and and and mainly Republican men walk
6:32
right into it,
6:33
SPEAKER_02: saying all we care about is your looks.
6:35
SPEAKER_02: And you know what?
6:36
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't impact her,
6:37
SPEAKER_02: but it impacts people like me who then look at it and go,
6:41
SPEAKER_02: oh,
6:42
SPEAKER_02: I think I weigh more than her.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: I think I look like this.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: Like she's not the one who's going to be hurt by it.
6:48
SPEAKER_02: It's people like me who are.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is a very anti-feminist way to operate.
6:57
She's baiting people to come off as total misogynist and
7:01
they're walking right into it.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: In an ideal world, people wouldn't take the bait.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: My response to her for a while when she does these things has been,
7:10
SPEAKER_00: when I bother to respond to her,
7:12
SPEAKER_00: has been basically to say,
7:13
I think it's really sad that you feel you have to do this for
7:18
interactions on
7:18
SPEAKER_00: Twitter.
7:21
SPEAKER_00: Which, honestly, and I mean it.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean it that I think it's sad.
7:26
SPEAKER_00: But honestly,
7:27
SPEAKER_00: also,
7:28
I think that that is probably more potentially hurtful to her
7:33
than insulting
7:34
SPEAKER_00: because it is sad,
7:35
SPEAKER_00: and I'm sure she's at some level aware that it's sad.
7:39
SPEAKER_00: It's a whole genre of Twitter troll of basically,
7:41
SPEAKER_00: you know,
7:41
just rip into me so I can get a couple extra bucks the next
7:46
Twitter payday.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: And it's
7:50
SPEAKER_00: It is fundamentally it is using your body to earn money.
7:54
SPEAKER_00: It is a form of intellectual prostitution to some degree.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: I don't disagree.
8:01
And I think it's really horrific for women to set other women
8:07
up like that.
8:08
Because that's all she's doing is just baiting people to be
8:11
comfortable talking
8:12
SPEAKER_02: about looks as people's merit.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: I think the whole thing is just abhorrent and I hate it.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of women doing crazy things, that was pretty good.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Was it?
8:26
SPEAKER_00: It would have been better if I hadn't pointed out it was good.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: Women,
8:30
SPEAKER_00: I see in the notes that you have posted,
8:34
SPEAKER_00: we got Trump's bad takes result in women wanting to move to Europe.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: All right.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Fill us in.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: What's going on here?
8:42
SPEAKER_02: If you are a woman on the Internet,
8:46
SPEAKER_02: my absolute favorite thing to be these days,
8:48
you have noticed that lots and lots of ordinary people are
8:53
looking to change their
8:55
citizenship because the fascism in the United States is just
9:00
overwhelming for them.
9:01
They just cannot deal anymore with how horrible our country is
9:05
and how we are the
9:07
SPEAKER_02: absolute worst place on Earth.
9:09
They are largely looking into moving to Spain or Portugal
9:14
because those are the
9:15
SPEAKER_02: least expensive countries to attain citizenship from.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: If you buy a house... Now, it has to be outside of the Lisbon metro area.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Lisbon has...
9:26
been overrun with expats and cannot afford to have all of their
9:32
housing be sold off
9:34
SPEAKER_02: to wealthy Americans.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: By the way, this is just exploiting other countries.
9:38
SPEAKER_02: This is wealthy, wealthy Americans who
9:41
SPEAKER_02: Just wanting to go and, you know, flit about.
9:46
We get really upset when we look at foreign nationals buying up
9:50
housing in America.
9:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's all this is.
9:53
SPEAKER_02: This is just rich Americans going,
9:56
SPEAKER_02: spending $250,000 in rural Portugal or $500,000 in Lisbon or Porto.
10:05
SPEAKER_02: I think it's $5.50 in Spain.
10:09
SPEAKER_02: Then there are other countries like Ireland.
10:11
SPEAKER_02: I want to say it's a million.
10:13
SPEAKER_02: Hold up.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: Hold up.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: Back up.
10:16
SPEAKER_02: This is what you buy your citizenship for.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: You can get Portuguese citizenship for the cost of a $250,000 house?
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: My house costs more than $250,000.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: We could have moved to Portugal.
10:28
SPEAKER_02: Did you put $250,000 down, though?
10:30
SPEAKER_00: So it's not a loan.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: So it's not like a mortgage thing.
10:35
SPEAKER_02: You have to have $250,000 liquid.
10:37
It is removing $250,000 from the American economy,
10:39
putting it in Portugal.
10:41
SPEAKER_02: That comes with a hefty tax fine, too.
10:43
SPEAKER_02: So it's not just $250,000 when you're moving money into
10:48
SPEAKER_02: into and out of economies, you have to pay lots of taxes on it.
10:53
So they don't actually understand what they're looking at when
10:57
they do this.
10:59
SPEAKER_02: If you're not related to someone,
11:01
SPEAKER_02: if you can't work a family angle,
11:03
SPEAKER_02: you are hit with some of those tax repercussions.
11:06
SPEAKER_02: That's why people like Rosie O'Donnell go to Ireland.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: They can afford all of that tax issue.
11:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: I am going to... We've looked at this extensively.
11:20
SPEAKER_02: Like,
11:21
SPEAKER_02: Greece used to do this,
11:23
SPEAKER_02: and we,
11:24
SPEAKER_02: for other reasons,
11:26
SPEAKER_02: my husband becoming a Greek Orthodox priest,
11:28
SPEAKER_02: being chief among them,
11:29
SPEAKER_02: have looked at,
11:30
SPEAKER_02: oh,
11:31
SPEAKER_02: what would it be to get a Greek passport?
11:34
SPEAKER_02: And we're...
11:35
SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you look at me, I am so pasty.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: I am very obviously Irish and Baltic.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: I have not even a drop of Greek in me.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: We want to do that because we would like to be able to go to Greece.
11:51
SPEAKER_02: My husband's learning Greek.
11:53
SPEAKER_02: He has to be proficient.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of other reasons that we want to do it.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: We have absolutely zero Greek heritage.
11:59
SPEAKER_02: I also don't want to leave America.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: I...
12:03
SPEAKER_02: love being an American,
12:04
SPEAKER_02: even when someone like Biden,
12:07
SPEAKER_02: who was asleep at the wheel,
12:09
SPEAKER_02: or presidents that I do not like and have fundamental issues with,
12:14
SPEAKER_02: I'm still always proud to be an American.
12:16
SPEAKER_02: I would never want to give up my citizenship.
12:19
I do see some other advantages in obtaining another country's
12:26
passport that I would love.
12:29
SPEAKER_02: But I think I have a kind of unique situation on that.
12:33
SPEAKER_02: We also have expat family.
12:36
I think something of a difference between conservatives and
12:38
liberals is that,
12:39
SPEAKER_00: by and large,
12:40
SPEAKER_00: conservatives' love of country isn't conditional.
12:44
SPEAKER_00: You may be unhappy with where the country is,
12:47
SPEAKER_00: but you're much less likely to be like,
12:48
SPEAKER_00: you know,
12:48
SPEAKER_00: I don't even recognize this country anymore.
12:51
We have descended into complete—it's not—we can be very unhappy
12:55
about things.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to be like, America sucks now.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: It's all over for us.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Well,
13:00
we're also completely ignoring the fact that a lot of these
13:03
countries that they are
13:04
looking at moving to because they have really affordable expat
13:10
packages where you
13:11
SPEAKER_02: can get a golden visa.
13:13
We're not looking at the fact that these countries are sliding
13:15
further and further
13:16
SPEAKER_02: into far left fascism.
13:19
We you always talk about how we only see fascism as being a far
13:25
right component.
13:27
SPEAKER_02: But there is.
13:29
SPEAKER_02: a large left wing element embracing fascism.
13:35
SPEAKER_02: And these are the countries that offer affordable golden visas.
13:39
So I am going to say I am in principle in favor of these people
13:46
doing this.
13:47
SPEAKER_00: They want to leave.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: However,
13:50
SPEAKER_00: As long as they don't vote in American elections.
13:52
I don't care where you – if you are from America – Of course
13:55
they still will.
13:56
SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing.
13:58
This would need a constitutional amendment,
14:01
but I 100 percent think we should do it.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: There should be a constitutional amendment.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to call for this now,
14:06
SPEAKER_00: and I'll start the 501c3 to boost it,
14:10
SPEAKER_00: to go along with my anti-501c3,
14:11
SPEAKER_00: 501c3.
14:13
There should be a constitutional amendment that says that you
14:16
are not eligible to
14:17
SPEAKER_00: vote in federal elections if you haven't spent,
14:20
SPEAKER_00: we'll say,
14:20
SPEAKER_00: three quarters of the past elections,
14:23
SPEAKER_00: like inter-cycle years living in America.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: Here's here's the problem you'll run into with this.
14:30
SPEAKER_02: None of them actually moved to these countries.
14:32
SPEAKER_02: It's all performative.
14:33
SPEAKER_02: They get their passport.
14:35
SPEAKER_02: They get their passport.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: Well, I do realize some of them do.
14:38
SPEAKER_02: But a lot of the people that are looking at this,
14:41
SPEAKER_02: like I'll use bloggers as an example,
14:44
SPEAKER_02: people that made millions and millions of dollars on their blogs.
14:48
that are going to purchase this because they think that America
14:52
has slid into
14:53
SPEAKER_02: fascism,
14:54
who don't even understand the politics of the countries that
14:58
they're looking at
14:59
SPEAKER_02: solely because they see Europe.
15:02
SPEAKER_02: So that equals good.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: And America equals bad.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: They have no idea what's going on in these countries.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: They don't understand any of the history with these countries.
15:13
They are doing it because they think they are going to be
15:15
rounded up and they want
15:19
an exit plan to leave America because they think they're going
15:22
to some secret
15:23
SPEAKER_02: underground camp like.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: It's all bonkers.
15:27
SPEAKER_02: If you want to spend your money doing that, fine.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: They're not going to have any voting rights.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: Here's the other crazy thing.
15:34
We look at establishing voting rights in countries or for
15:38
people that are naturalized here.
15:40
SPEAKER_02: If you get a golden visa in Europe, you don't have voting rights.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course not.
15:45
The Europeans are still very – they're very selective on who
15:49
they will allow to
15:50
SPEAKER_00: vote in anything.
15:52
The Spaniards are allowing – 500,000 Africans to vote so that
15:57
they'll vote in – so
15:59
SPEAKER_00: they'll vote for the Socialist Party.
16:00
SPEAKER_02: So they will retain their power.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: Now, I do have to point out on the right, we don't look at that.
16:08
issue very well either because a lot of people are like oh lots
16:14
more immigrants are
16:15
coming in now because of this no this is all people who were
16:18
already in spain prior
16:20
SPEAKER_02: to like yeah 2020 they're naturalizing a bunch of people who yeah
16:25
SPEAKER_02: They were already visa holders.
16:28
SPEAKER_02: That would be like my brother-in-law who lives in Germany,
16:31
SPEAKER_02: who is an American,
16:32
SPEAKER_02: does not have German citizenship,
16:34
SPEAKER_02: is on a work visa.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: That would be like him being allowed to vote in Germany.
16:41
SPEAKER_02: And that will never happen.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: They will never allow an American visa.
16:45
SPEAKER_02: Voting rights for any of this stuff.
16:47
So these women look up and they say,
16:50
oh,
16:50
I can get a passport so I can flee my fascist dictator.
16:54
And they're moving to countries where they have actual fascism
16:59
being enacted as we speak.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: So it's just an interesting thing to look at.
17:03
SPEAKER_02: I love to call this out when people complain about this.
17:07
I love to ask them what's happening in countries that they are
17:11
looking at and they
17:12
SPEAKER_02: don't have any clue.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: No, no, most people don't.
17:16
Most people have no clue about nine-tenths of things they talk
17:19
about in a given day.
17:19
SPEAKER_00: So even for major life decisions, even myself sometimes included.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm the most clueless person on the planet.
17:31
SPEAKER_02: But that's the thing.
17:32
SPEAKER_02: We'll at least admit that.
17:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I—
17:38
SPEAKER_00: If you're just getting the citizenship and not moving,
17:40
SPEAKER_00: I think that is that's sketchy and I don't like it.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: It's actually an investment thing, too.
17:47
SPEAKER_02: So a lot of these and people don't really look this up very well.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: There are law firms that talk it all through.
17:55
SPEAKER_02: There are places that you can go to and it's like 250 you invest in.
18:00
in a property and then these companies go through and fix it up
18:04
and then the idea
18:06
is they would rent that out for you um so it's like it's
18:10
basically just an
18:11
industrialized wealthy person airbnb market scheme that's just
18:19
why there's so many
18:20
SPEAKER_00: cheap airbnbs all over europe
18:24
SPEAKER_02: Most countries don't do this, though.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: There's only a few countries that you can get golden visas in.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: America offers a golden visa program.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: We do.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: I believe it's a million dollars.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: I think it's higher now.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Trump's face on it.
18:39
SPEAKER_02: I think it's higher now.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: One of our foremost public intellectuals in the American scene right now,
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Miss Nicki Minaj,
18:49
SPEAKER_00: acquired one.
18:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, look, I...
18:55
It's hard because as I was just bashing on this for Americans
18:59
that are going in and
19:00
SPEAKER_02: doing it,
19:00
there is some value to attracting high wealth individuals to
19:06
invest in your
19:07
SPEAKER_02: country.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: Totally get that.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: If you look at how America and the UK do their golden visa programs,
19:14
SPEAKER_02: it is a very,
19:15
SPEAKER_02: very significant investment.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: And that is an all cash investment.
19:18
SPEAKER_02: That is a million dollars into America's economy.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: In the UK, it's like two million dollars.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: It's...
19:25
SPEAKER_02: There's there is some reason to do things like this.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Also, it gets complicated.
19:32
I think buying up established housing stock as your way in,
19:36
I think,
19:36
is a bad policy.
19:37
I think that it should be more centered on starting businesses
19:41
of some kind,
19:42
SPEAKER_00: which I believe a lot of these places do have that.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: But the threshold is higher for starting a business.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because I've actually looked at this.
19:49
I've looked at UK just because of some family issues with our
19:54
Australian family.
19:55
And I was like,
19:55
oh,
19:56
it would be also my husband's on the board of a monastery in
19:59
Scotland.
20:00
And I was like,
20:00
hey,
20:01
if we ever wanted to move there,
20:02
like,
20:03
could we move?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:04
SPEAKER_02: To Scotland and go do this.
20:06
SPEAKER_02: And the long and short is, yes, I could.
20:09
And also it would come at significant cost if I changed my
20:14
business incorporation
20:16
SPEAKER_02: to be in the UK versus America.
20:21
SPEAKER_02: Anyways, sorry we got interrupted there.
20:23
SPEAKER_02: Always, always kids.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: My kids, your kids.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: It's just always.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: That's the joy of children.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I don't... I...
20:36
SPEAKER_00: academics have been leaving America as well.
20:39
SPEAKER_00: Um,
20:40
SPEAKER_00: the,
20:40
SPEAKER_00: the,
20:40
SPEAKER_00: the,
20:41
SPEAKER_00: that for,
20:41
SPEAKER_00: for,
20:41
SPEAKER_00: for a while,
20:42
SPEAKER_00: or at least have been threatening to some of them have,
20:44
it's somewhat easier for an academic because you can just get a
20:46
job at like,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: you know,
20:48
SPEAKER_00: if you're a notable academic and a European university wants to hire you,
20:51
SPEAKER_00: they're going,
20:52
SPEAKER_00: the country is going to give you,
20:54
SPEAKER_00: give them a,
20:54
SPEAKER_00: like,
20:54
SPEAKER_00: you know,
20:55
SPEAKER_00: that's Jason Stanley famously has the,
20:58
SPEAKER_00: the Jacob Yourofsky professor of philosophy at Yale.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: No longer, uh, is naked.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh, well,
21:05
SPEAKER_00: He is now in Toronto, I believe.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, parts unknown.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: But I was reading a thing that,
21:11
SPEAKER_00: like,
21:11
apparently Austria is claiming that they're going to be
21:15
bringing in all the best
21:16
SPEAKER_00: American academics.
21:17
SPEAKER_00: It's like, A, no, you're not.
21:20
SPEAKER_02: Well, Austria also won't be because Austria is very conservative.
21:27
And Austria takes a really interesting approach with some of
21:30
their immigration
21:32
SPEAKER_02: issues separate from Germany.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: So that will be interesting to see.
21:39
SPEAKER_02: Hungary also takes in a lot of American intellectuals.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: Conservative ones.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: But theirs also are usually invitations.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Yes,
21:50
SPEAKER_00: that's like Ross Douthat famously has,
21:53
SPEAKER_00: it's Ross Douthat,
21:54
SPEAKER_00: right,
21:54
SPEAKER_00: who picked up a move there,
21:56
SPEAKER_00: isn't it?
21:56
SPEAKER_02: Also Rod Dreher.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: No, Rod Dreher.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: I get Douthat and Dreher confused, which is silly.
22:03
SPEAKER_02: They're very different people.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: Wildly different.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: Very different people.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Just D names, short German.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
22:11
SPEAKER_02: Well, then we also have China picking up American athletes, so.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh, are they?
22:16
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you tell us about that?
22:20
So the big outrage right now today,
22:22
by the way,
22:23
that was a really good transition.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: That was a good transition.
22:25
SPEAKER_02: I feel like I need to know that.
22:27
It makes it a less good transition when we point out and pat
22:30
ourselves on the back
22:31
SPEAKER_00: immediately to talk about how great we did on the transition.
22:34
SPEAKER_00: But, you know, spiritually.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: We're the world's worst podcasters.
22:39
SPEAKER_02: Just want to point that out.
22:40
SPEAKER_02: We're terrible.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: So Eileen Gu is a California born and raised resident.
22:48
SPEAKER_02: She grew up in San Francisco.
22:50
SPEAKER_02: I guess we can quibble on whether or not that makes her American.
22:55
SPEAKER_02: Her father is American.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: Her mother is from China.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: Her mother is...
23:01
technically would be a dual China doesn't really allow for dual
23:05
citizenship which
23:06
is something I want to talk about more in this but Eileen
23:10
instead of competing for
23:13
SPEAKER_02: Team USA chose China I do have to point out
23:18
SPEAKER_02: This happens a lot.
23:19
SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of people who go and compete for their parents' homeland.
23:23
SPEAKER_02: We have someone on Team USA that is actually a Canadian.
23:28
SPEAKER_02: Her mother is from Texas.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: She is a Canadian.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: She is allowed to compete for Team USA under her mom's citizenship.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's still true.
23:38
Israel used to have a decent number of American citizens
23:42
competing for Israel
23:43
SPEAKER_00: because they had an Israeli citizenship.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: Historically, there are people that will compete for Poland.
23:51
SPEAKER_02: There are people that will compete for Ireland.
23:54
SPEAKER_02: There are lots of people who will compete for their parents' country.
23:59
um it's often because they couldn't make team usa team usa is
24:04
no i mean look i hate
24:06
to say it that way but it's true usually you compete for your
24:09
parents country if
24:10
you can't make team usa because they're a premier team you
24:14
don't usually see people
24:16
SPEAKER_02: go and pick china over team usa
24:23
SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of issues that come about with this.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Number one, China does not allow for dual citizenship.
24:30
SPEAKER_02: A lot of people are saying,
24:31
SPEAKER_02: oh,
24:31
SPEAKER_02: well,
24:31
she didn't renounce her citizenship or she had to have because
24:36
China doesn't allow
24:37
SPEAKER_02: dual citizenship.
24:38
China will do whatever the heck they want for for someone like
24:44
an elite athlete.
24:45
to race for them they don't care yeah they don't care that they
24:51
don't allow for
24:52
dual citizenship for someone like you or i it it's only in
24:57
cases like this that
24:58
they'll be like yeah look the other way it's fine it's fine so
25:02
all the people
25:02
saying like oh no she had to renounce her u.s citizenship to do
25:06
this i don't
25:07
actually think she did if you look at her life she lives in the
25:09
usa she's not
25:10
SPEAKER_02: living in china
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Yes, she's going and doing a lot of promotion stuff with them.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: She's doing a lot of training things with them.
25:18
SPEAKER_02: The way NBC is tripping all over themselves,
25:22
SPEAKER_02: promoting this woman as though she was Team USA,
25:27
SPEAKER_02: the slick graphics,
25:28
SPEAKER_02: pointing out all of her endorsement deals,
25:31
propping her up as a model citizen and talking about all the
25:36
work that she's doing
25:37
SPEAKER_02: to bring snowboarding to China.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: I have to ask, like, what is the NBC being paid?
25:45
SPEAKER_02: We know that she was paid $35 million to represent China.
25:50
SPEAKER_02: That was her price.
25:51
SPEAKER_02: That's what she was bought for.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: Which, I mean...
25:54
SPEAKER_00: That's a nice chunk of change.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: I mean, hey, China, here's my number.
26:03
SPEAKER_02: You're probably listening to this,
26:04
SPEAKER_02: so just know we all have a price,
26:07
SPEAKER_02: and mine is probably far less.
26:09
SPEAKER_02: Also...
26:11
SPEAKER_02: Also, I don't think she renounced her citizenship.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: She still attends Stanford.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: She's still a resident in the USA.
26:20
I have to wonder what kind of American taxes she's going to
26:24
have to pay for any
26:26
SPEAKER_02: medal that she wins.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: Also, everything about it is so repugnant.
26:34
SPEAKER_02: We are asking Americans at every step to bash our country,
26:40
SPEAKER_02: to talk about how our country is the worst,
26:43
SPEAKER_02: how everything going on in the U.S.
26:46
SPEAKER_02: is a sign of our slow creep into fascism.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: And yet we ask nothing of any competitor from another country.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: We don't ask them about politics going on in their country.
26:59
SPEAKER_02: We ask only Americans.
27:01
SPEAKER_02: We are only trashing America.
27:04
And we ask nothing of a woman representing a country with known
27:09
human rights
27:11
SPEAKER_02: violations on a massive industrial scale.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: We don't ask her to say anything negative about that.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: We're only presenting China in a beautiful,
27:22
SPEAKER_02: wonderful light because an American is boarding for them.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming that the UK people in the UK,
27:30
SPEAKER_00: for instance,
27:30
SPEAKER_00: haven't been asked to comment on Keir Starmer's issues.
27:34
SPEAKER_00: I would like to point out as far as why NBC is pushing her so much.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen a lot about her, but I've seen a bit.
27:45
SPEAKER_02: I don't think you watch.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: I don't think you watch nobody.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: Oh, she's gorgeous.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: She's a model.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: She's an attractive young woman.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
27:52
SPEAKER_00: that's...
27:52
SPEAKER_02: We're watching last night and Luke was like,
27:55
SPEAKER_02: well,
27:55
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if she renounced her citizenship or not,
27:58
SPEAKER_02: but she clearly loves American plastic surgeons.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, oh!
28:01
SPEAKER_00: To my mind, that is...
28:07
SPEAKER_00: That's the reason.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: She's an attractive young woman.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: She's gorgeous.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: There's an interesting hook to the story.
28:16
Lord,
28:17
she is implicitly anti-America as it is now,
28:21
anti the evil orange man.
28:24
I don't know if she's made public statements about it,
28:26
but I'm sure that she is.
28:27
SPEAKER_02: Yes, she has come out.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: This all started a couple years ago.
28:31
SPEAKER_02: This started...
28:35
Under the height of BLM,
28:38
she was raging against America and how we are horrible.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: And look,
28:48
SPEAKER_02: part of when she switched was during COVID mania,
28:51
SPEAKER_02: and there was a lot of anti-Asian sentiment.
28:54
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
28:56
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to blame Trump for that.
28:57
SPEAKER_02: There was actually a lot of anti...
28:59
There's always been a lot of anti-Asian sentiment in specific
29:04
groups in America.
29:05
SPEAKER_02: It has existed for a long time.
29:09
SPEAKER_02: We don't talk about where that stems from.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: If you think it's anti-Asian sentiment in America,
29:16
SPEAKER_00: you just see how much anti-Caucasian sentiment there is in China.
29:20
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
29:22
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you don't have to say this to me.
29:25
SPEAKER_02: My brother was a professional athlete in Japan.
29:27
I understand that there is a lot of anti-American sentiment in
29:32
a lot of Asian countries.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: I understand more than most.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Not anti-American.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: They tend to be culturally quite xenophobic.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: That's just they always have been.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: It isn't necessarily your white thing.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: It's just that we don't like people who are different.
29:46
I mean,
29:46
that's that's what one of the things in China is the Han took
29:51
the Han currently run.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: Although they're a minority in China,
29:55
the Han Chinese and the default Chinese person in all of
29:59
culture now is the Han
30:01
because Han Chinese run things and Han Chinese consider
30:04
themselves to be the true
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Chinese.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: So,
30:08
SPEAKER_00: but no,
30:09
SPEAKER_00: that's,
30:10
SPEAKER_00: but yeah,
30:11
SPEAKER_00: certainly,
30:12
SPEAKER_00: of course,
30:12
there are always going to be people who are in all countries
30:15
that are xenophobic to
30:16
SPEAKER_00: one degree.
30:17
SPEAKER_00: By and large, the
30:19
hot half Chinese girl is not going to be a subject of a lot of
30:24
cultural opprobrium.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: I'll just say.
30:27
It's just wild to me that an American outlet can push all of
30:35
this in the open.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: That's fair.
30:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean, like I said, to NBC's defense, it's an interesting story.
30:42
Got a cool hook from from from she says she says the right
30:46
things is from the place
30:48
SPEAKER_00: that they think is cool.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: There's no defense of that.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: That is my issue with it.
30:53
Like it's it's all great to crap on America,
30:56
but we can't look at anything else.
30:58
SPEAKER_02: It's great to say that.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: We don't want to be an American citizen and we're moving to Europe,
31:04
SPEAKER_02: but we can't look at any of the problems happening in Europe.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: No.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's always the thing.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: You can't counter the narrative.
31:11
The narrative always has to be America and American history and
31:18
American tradition
31:19
SPEAKER_00: are just bad and everything that counters it is therefore good.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: That's...
31:27
You can see it as we're watching socialism take root in America
31:31
and we're watching
31:33
SPEAKER_02: everyday people spout socialist propaganda.
31:36
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, do you even understand how many people have died?
31:41
SPEAKER_02: Do you understand what this line of thinking actually does?
31:45
SPEAKER_02: We know far too much about.
31:48
about what fascism does we know nothing about the evils of
31:53
socialism about the
31:54
evils of communism we can't ever mention those but we mention
31:59
anything on the right
32:01
ad nauseum which great we should we should talk about that but
32:05
we also need to look
32:06
SPEAKER_02: at the other side of that coin because it is
32:10
SPEAKER_02: possibly more deadly.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, I have said, I've had to make a post about this.
32:16
I used to post about this periodically because this is
32:18
something that I find.
32:21
SPEAKER_00: We still ad nauseum talk about World War II and the Nazis.
32:26
The cultural narrative should have shifted beyond the,
32:29
like Indiana Jones is a good example.
32:32
SPEAKER_00: This is my second Indiana Jones reference here.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: But when they made a fourth Indiana Jones movie,
32:39
SPEAKER_00: The logical place to take of Indiana Jones,
32:43
SPEAKER_00: if you're going beyond the Nazis,
32:47
SPEAKER_00: would be Indiana Jones in some sort of conflict with the Soviets.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: They didn't do that because the logical next place,
32:56
SPEAKER_00: the other big bad of the 20th century was the Soviet Union and communism.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: And Hollywood will not...
33:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad we do cite that.
33:30
SPEAKER_02: That is a very important thing.
33:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm not in any way minimizing that.
33:33
SPEAKER_02: Also, we need to recognize that there were a lot of issues.
33:39
SPEAKER_02: There were numerous...
33:41
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
33:41
we don't even talk about the Armenian genocide and we can get
33:43
to Armenia next
33:44
SPEAKER_02: because that I'll be fired up about.
33:47
SPEAKER_02: But we don't reference any other...
33:51
SPEAKER_02: outside of the Holocaust.
33:53
And there is so much history that we need to reference and
33:57
learn from other than
33:59
SPEAKER_02: just,
34:00
SPEAKER_02: and I am not taking anything away from that.
34:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm not...
34:04
You know,
34:06
I'm glad that we talk about the dangers of anti-Semitism and
34:11
fascism.
34:11
And also,
34:12
we need to be pointing out the dangers of socialism,
34:16
of communism,
34:17
of the far left.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: The linking thing is the dangers of absolute state control.
34:23
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
34:25
that's it doesn't matter what the ideological underpinning of
34:29
the absolute state
34:30
SPEAKER_00: control.
34:30
SPEAKER_00: This isn't a libertarian argument.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that all.
34:34
SPEAKER_02: Look, it's OK if we're a little libertarian in this sense.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: But the problem,
34:38
the problem is allowing government to roam too far beyond its
34:43
proper boundaries.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: and into controlling major aspects of your everyday life.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: And that will continue to creep and that will continue to creep.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: And eventually you do, in fact, have absolute state control.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: And whether that state control is in furtherance of a right wing cause,
34:59
SPEAKER_00: a quote unquote right wing cause or a quote unquote left wing cause,
35:02
SPEAKER_00: the outcome is the same in every case.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: But the Soviet thing,
35:10
this is why the movie Tetris on Apple TV is one of my favorite
35:15
more recent movies
35:16
that has been made because it is one of the only movies that
35:19
really takes a look at
35:21
SPEAKER_00: the just sclerotic rot.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: within the Soviet Union near the end.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: I will openly record, I have in the past, Tetris on Apple TV.
35:32
It's about the lightly fictionalized account of the getting
35:38
Tetris out of the
35:39
Soviet Union so that it could include Robert Maxwell's somewhat
35:45
the bad guy.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, Ghislaine Maxwell's father.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: So that's also fun.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: But that is...
35:54
SPEAKER_00: We need to come to terms with that,
35:57
SPEAKER_00: that we need to move on to,
36:00
SPEAKER_00: but Hollywood and culture will never do it because they're all for it.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: The New York Times has still not returned Walter Durante's Pulitzers.
36:09
SPEAKER_02: Did you ever watch Mr. Jones?
36:12
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Mr. Jones.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: I watched part of it.
36:13
SPEAKER_00: It was a very good movie.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: Very, very good movie.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: Everyone needs to watch it.
36:17
I don't think enough Americans...
36:18
Did not receive a lot of press at all when it came out.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: Well, I can't imagine why.
36:23
SPEAKER_02: We watched it.
36:26
SPEAKER_02: Highly recommend to anyone listening to this right now.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: Explain what it's about.
36:30
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember the guy's name.
36:31
SPEAKER_00: It's about the guy who was in Ukraine.
36:35
He was a British investigative journalist who went and was
36:38
writing about the
36:39
SPEAKER_02: Holomador,
36:40
SPEAKER_02: was talking about the New York Times...
36:43
SPEAKER_02: deals with... Walter Durrani?
36:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: It talks about... It kind of implies...
36:53
SPEAKER_02: that the U.S.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: was somewhat involved in parts of the Holomador, which the U.S.
36:58
was also somewhat involved with covering up atrocities in the
37:03
Armenian genocide.
37:04
SPEAKER_02: Movies like this are very important to look at.
37:07
And if we're talking about our coverage today of things and our
37:13
glossing over of
37:15
SPEAKER_02: far-left movements...
37:18
Pieces like that are really important for us to see and
37:21
understand and examine how
37:25
our current media structure is only walking headfirst into
37:30
similar situations.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I agree.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: That's a good movie.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
37:37
SPEAKER_00: I've watched bits of it.
37:38
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know it existed.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: It just popped up on HBO at one point.
37:41
SPEAKER_02: Oh, please go watch it.
37:42
SPEAKER_02: No, please go watch it.
37:44
SPEAKER_02: It's really hard.
37:46
SPEAKER_00: It's a really, really tough movie to watch.
37:49
He went back to England and they basically destroyed his career
37:53
and then he killed
37:54
SPEAKER_00: himself,
37:54
SPEAKER_00: as I recall.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: I so that isn't even the bleak part of it.
38:00
The bleak part of it is watching him like he had to smuggle
38:04
himself into parts of Ukraine.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:07
You know,
38:08
he saw people eating their family and it's it's really,
38:12
really dark.
38:13
SPEAKER_02: It's really, really heavy.
38:14
SPEAKER_02: It is really, really brutal.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: But it's really important to watch.
38:21
I know you're not really into,
38:23
um,
38:24
going to like museums of,
38:26
of brutal,
38:28
horrible things.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: And I've brought up like when we were looking at,
38:31
SPEAKER_02: um,
38:32
SPEAKER_02: some pieces that I want and I still really want to write about Poland.
38:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, and we were supposed to go there.
38:39
SPEAKER_02: Um,
38:40
SPEAKER_02: When I had asked, like, oh, do you need to go to Auschwitz?
38:43
SPEAKER_02: And you were like, no, no, thank you.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: And then I had mentioned that Armenian Genocide Memorial, which J.D.
38:49
SPEAKER_02: Vance is actually at right now.
38:51
SPEAKER_02: We should talk about.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: I know you're not interested in those, but.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: No, let's talk.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the Armenian Genocide thing going on.
38:58
SPEAKER_00: That's a minor news story right now.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: We've been recording.
39:01
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's blown up more.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: It was just kind of crossing the transom when we started.
39:05
Let me start off by saying I've been to the Armenian Genocide
39:08
Museum in Yerevan.
39:10
SPEAKER_02: It is the most powerful thing I've ever been to.
39:13
SPEAKER_02: And I have been to concentration camps.
39:15
SPEAKER_02: I've been to Holocaust memorials.
39:19
SPEAKER_02: You start off.
39:21
SPEAKER_02: I'll just give a little background of what it's like to be there.
39:23
SPEAKER_02: You start off in the Iranian genocide memorial.
39:26
SPEAKER_02: They start you in the middle.
39:28
SPEAKER_02: And it's set up kind of like a spiral.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: You start in the very middle.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: It's meant to feel very restrictive and very overwhelming.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: Everything's in numerous languages.
39:40
SPEAKER_02: Everything there was in English, I could tell.
39:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm standing there with a Romanian monk.
39:46
SPEAKER_02: So just keep this in the back of your, a British Romanian monk.
39:50
SPEAKER_02: We're walking through and in the very beginning,
39:54
SPEAKER_02: I end up,
39:55
SPEAKER_02: I was completely overwhelmed and I vomited.
39:59
SPEAKER_02: Again,
40:00
SPEAKER_02: having been to numerous places that have talked about the Holocaust,
40:05
but the absolute brutality of the Armenian genocide just
40:09
completely caught me off
40:10
SPEAKER_02: guard.
40:11
SPEAKER_02: And my friend looks at me and goes,
40:15
SPEAKER_02: I don't understand this reaction because he was like,
40:18
SPEAKER_02: how do you not know of all of these things?
40:20
SPEAKER_02: Like the absolute brutality.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: I can't even talk about it without crying.
40:26
SPEAKER_02: Like just the things that you see and hear about there are so horrific.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: We don't talk about it in the U S. Um,
40:35
SPEAKER_02: He was just shocked.
40:36
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, well, I'd never heard this before.
40:38
SPEAKER_02: Like the way that they would torture specifically women.
40:43
SPEAKER_02: It just it was really, really hard to deal with.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: It completely threw me off.
40:48
SPEAKER_02: So you start in the middle of the circle and you wind your way out.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: And at the very end, you're like, I can't take this anymore.
40:55
SPEAKER_02: Like, this is so hard.
40:56
SPEAKER_02: This is so overwhelming.
40:58
You wind your way out of this circle and you get to this room
41:01
that's really bright and area.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: It's all painted white.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: It's really light.
41:05
SPEAKER_02: And the quote as you're leaving is the quote by Hitler.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: I am going to mess it up.
41:10
SPEAKER_02: But it's something about like, of course, we can do this.
41:15
SPEAKER_02: Nobody knows of the Armenians.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: Saying, like, of course I can exterminate the Jews.
41:21
SPEAKER_02: U.S.
41:21
SPEAKER_02: didn't come to save the Armenians.
41:24
SPEAKER_02: Nobody talked about them.
41:25
The absolute vacuum of silence that happened with the Armenian
41:31
genocide was insane.
41:33
SPEAKER_02: Hitler's actual case to take on the Holocaust.
41:37
SPEAKER_02: He's like, of course I can pull this off.
41:39
SPEAKER_02: No one knows about them and what they went through.
41:42
SPEAKER_02: And it impacted me as an American because it was like,
41:46
SPEAKER_02: oh,
41:46
SPEAKER_02: our silence is what helped repel this.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, in fact, what year did this occur?
41:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
41:55
SPEAKER_02: It was like 1915, 17.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: No, no.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: You can't tar America for not having intervened.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: America didn't ascend until post-World War.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about Western Europe, not America.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: America was not the world power that it was.
42:09
SPEAKER_00: He was talking about Western Europe.
42:10
SPEAKER_02: He was also talking about America.
42:11
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
42:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying.
42:14
SPEAKER_02: Like, why not both?
42:15
SPEAKER_00: America was not really— Let's just say the West.
42:18
SPEAKER_00: America wasn't – it's fine.
42:20
SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: We were just still kind of turtling away behind our oceans at that point.
42:26
SPEAKER_02: There were – we – and as you're there in the museum,
42:31
there are many cases where Americans had agreed with the Young
42:39
Turks to not bring
42:40
SPEAKER_02: up any of this.
42:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure, but –
42:44
They had a lot of trouble getting America to join into World
42:49
War I,
42:50
even though they kept
42:53
The German U-boats kept shooting our chips because the American
42:55
people had no—we
42:56
SPEAKER_00: were always very against foreign adventurism.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: That said, I'm not saying it's a good thing that we didn't get involved.
43:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying this is England and France more.
43:10
SPEAKER_02: But since we only recently in the last,
43:13
SPEAKER_02: like,
43:14
SPEAKER_02: five years have recognized the Armenian genocide,
43:17
SPEAKER_02: we don't even talk about this.
43:18
SPEAKER_02: We don't—
43:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it's impolitic with the Turks.
43:21
SPEAKER_00: The Turks do not acknowledge the Armenian genocide ever happened.
43:26
And they get really upset and defensive if you bring it up and
43:29
they'll say this is
43:31
SPEAKER_00: like discredited garbage.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: Which is great because we talk about how the U.S.
43:35
SPEAKER_02: has stolen land and how we have to—
43:40
cater to the fact that like we have billy eilish talking about
43:44
how no justice on
43:45
stolen land but no one ever goes and asks turkey who is
43:52
occupying greece and uh
43:55
armenia but you know so anyways all of that to say jd vance is
44:00
in armenia right now
44:01
SPEAKER_02: went to the genocide museum um
44:05
SPEAKER_02: After you go to the Genocide Museum,
44:07
you walk up outside and they have this huge concrete structure
44:11
that in the middle
44:11
SPEAKER_02: is an eternal flame for the victims of the Armenian Genocide.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: He went and laid a wreath.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: I have laid a wreath at the Armenian Genocide Memorial.
44:21
SPEAKER_02: Lots of people do this.
44:22
SPEAKER_02: This is something when you're going,
44:24
you're standing underneath Mother Armenia statue and you go and
44:28
lay your wreath.
44:30
SPEAKER_02: He tweeted about it, and he later tweeted something else as well.
44:36
He tweeted about it,
44:37
and the Republican Rapid Response account tweeted a video about
44:41
it.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: He is the first vice president to go to Armenia.
44:46
SPEAKER_02: This is massive.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: Armenia is the oldest Christian nation.
44:51
SPEAKER_02: Again, as Americans, we barely recognize the genocide as what it was.
44:58
SPEAKER_02: And he deleted it because they don't want to anger the Turks.
45:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes,
45:04
I'm going to say I'm going to take take the defensive on this
45:07
as I as I did that
45:09
because he deleted and the and the Republican rapid response
45:13
account both deleted
45:14
SPEAKER_00: their tweets about it.
45:15
And what that says to me is that someone from the State
45:19
Department called up.
45:21
And we called up everybody who tweeted about it and said,
45:25
we cannot upset the Turks right now.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: Given the situation in Iran right now,
45:32
I think that we can make educated guesses as to why
45:36
specifically they are very
45:38
SPEAKER_00: concerned about not unduly annoying the Turks.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: But you can shrug, which is fine, and I understand.
45:48
SPEAKER_00: At the same time.
45:49
SPEAKER_00: Look, look, all I'm saying is we have a chance
45:59
SPEAKER_02: I realize that they are a NATO member.
46:01
SPEAKER_02: I realize that they are technically on paper an ally.
46:04
SPEAKER_02: I also think that if we are going to look at things honestly,
46:09
SPEAKER_02: Turkey is the worst ally that the U.S.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: has.
46:13
SPEAKER_02: I think we could solve other issues.
46:19
wars that are currently ongoing if we went into turkey um if we
46:24
look at the
46:25
destabilization um of syria of so many countries around israel
46:33
a much better ally
46:34
by the way uh turkey is is right up front funding all of it
46:40
turkey is one of the
46:42
SPEAKER_02: major funders of isis
46:45
SPEAKER_02: Turkey is destabilizing Europe by flooding them with illegal immigrants.
46:49
Like,
46:49
there are so many things that I'm like,
46:51
I don't really care if we piss off the Turks.
46:53
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
46:54
These are all accurate things that many people were demanding
46:58
that they be taken
46:59
SPEAKER_00: into account before Turkey was added into NATO.
47:03
um but now they're on the inside and it becomes real tricky uh
47:07
but again the thing
47:09
the thing with both turkey with both this and with the uh
47:12
whether the the this goo
47:13
woman who's competing for china is that there are various
47:17
countries in the world
47:19
who we are in many ways at ideological war with but we it is an
47:24
acknowledge an
47:25
SPEAKER_00: unacknowledged one we're in
47:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to know that would go necessarily as far as Cold War,
47:31
SPEAKER_00: but it isn't far off from Cold War with multiple different.
47:35
SPEAKER_00: Turkey and China are two big ones.
47:38
Debated with Pakistan,
47:39
which is because there are former allies,
47:42
but they're all.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: It's complicated.
47:45
I don't think that we I don't think that we are in a direct
47:49
Cold War with Turkey
47:50
SPEAKER_02: like we are with China,
47:53
SPEAKER_02: like we are with Russia in some ways.
47:55
SPEAKER_02: I do think.
47:57
SPEAKER_02: A lot of other NATO nations are.
48:00
I don't know that I would even say it's a Cold War necessarily
48:05
with Greece.
48:06
SPEAKER_02: Greece has a lot of incidents with Turkish fighter jets buzzing islands.
48:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:15
SPEAKER_02: It's going to get tense here soon.
48:16
The Turkey angle is a weird one because you have Russia very
48:23
aligned against Turkey
48:26
SPEAKER_02: in a lot of this.
48:28
SPEAKER_02: Some of that is a...
48:31
If you're Orthodox,
48:33
you get some of Putin's issues when it comes to Turkey.
48:39
SPEAKER_02: But, yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: It really annoys me as an American that we are constantly,
48:49
SPEAKER_02: like,
48:49
SPEAKER_02: bending the knee to these countries.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: Because, frankly, we are.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: And that's...
48:56
SPEAKER_00: We live in a world of real politic,
48:58
SPEAKER_00: and although America is the preeminent superpower,
49:02
there are still considerations that have to be made to maintain
49:08
that status to some
49:10
SPEAKER_00: degree without having to actively just start invading everybody.
49:13
SPEAKER_00: Like,
49:13
SPEAKER_00: you know,
49:14
SPEAKER_00: Trump rattles his saber about wanting to invade everybody,
49:16
SPEAKER_00: but he doesn't actually want to invade everybody.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: The like I said,
49:23
SPEAKER_00: the fact that two unconnected accounts to the administration,
49:26
SPEAKER_00: both at roughly the same time,
49:28
deleted tweets involving the Armenian genocide tells me that
49:31
someone at the State
49:32
SPEAKER_00: Department was calling around and saying,
49:34
SPEAKER_00: we cannot have this right now.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate the sentiment.
49:37
SPEAKER_00: We cannot have you angering Turkey right now.
49:40
SPEAKER_02: You know that during the first Trump admin there in D.C.
49:45
every year around the it's I don't want to call it the
49:50
anniversary because that
49:51
SPEAKER_02: implies a celebratory tone and it's not.
49:54
SPEAKER_02: It's like the memorial for the Armenian genocide.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: Which is in late April or mid-April.
50:01
I only know this because I was at the genocide memorial like
50:05
three days after the
50:06
SPEAKER_02: observance was held.
50:08
SPEAKER_02: I was in Tbilisi during the time that it was there.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: There's always big marches in D.C.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: And there's always lots of Armenians that go out and do this.
50:19
SPEAKER_02: There were security guards at the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C.
50:25
SPEAKER_02: that beat the crap out of protesters.
50:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I remember that.
50:30
SPEAKER_02: And we just allowed it.
50:31
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what are you going to do?
50:37
SPEAKER_02: recall the ambassadors and the security guards that did that.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: Well, yes, that is ideal.
50:41
There are easy things that you can do that don't start a bigger
50:48
issue,
50:49
right?
50:49
SPEAKER_00: International incidents?
50:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
50:51
SPEAKER_02: To...
50:52
They allowed Armenian Americans to be beaten to a bloody pulp
50:57
in America with no consequence.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: There are some things that you can do.
51:02
SPEAKER_02: Kick them out.
51:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying kick the embassy out.
51:05
SPEAKER_02: I'm not saying kick out the guards, kick out the recall, the ambassador.
51:12
SPEAKER_02: You can do things like that.
51:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:13
SPEAKER_00: No, that's true.
51:15
SPEAKER_00: I agree.
51:15
And again,
51:16
this is...
51:16
We take such a kid-glove approach to Turkey,
51:21
and I don't understand it.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: It was Clinton who let them into NATO, wasn't it?
51:25
SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure it was Clinton, if memory.
51:27
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going off of memory.
51:29
SPEAKER_02: I mean, he also bombed the Serbs, so don't get me on another tangent.
51:36
SPEAKER_00: We're in less agreement on that one.
51:38
SPEAKER_02: I know we are.
51:39
SPEAKER_02: That's why I brought it up.
51:43
SPEAKER_00: Your weird Serbian supremacist outlook.
51:48
SPEAKER_02: Look, it's an orthodox supremacist.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: All right.
51:51
SPEAKER_00: Well, fine.
51:53
SPEAKER_02: Although I'm not like, oh, Russia.
51:55
SPEAKER_02: I am...
52:00
Also,
52:01
I do have to say Turkish Airlines,
52:03
oddly,
52:03
is the best airline you can fly.
52:06
SPEAKER_02: So as I'm sitting here,
52:07
SPEAKER_02: as I'm sitting here like dogging on them,
52:10
SPEAKER_02: I will say that Turkish Airlines is fantastic.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: And I've heard that you have to stop off in Istanbul, though.
52:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but that airport, whatever.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
52:20
SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
52:21
SPEAKER_02: I had it.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
52:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
52:24
SPEAKER_02: I had some interesting occurrences happen while flying Turkish,
52:28
SPEAKER_02: but it was a lovely experience and they are a fantastic airline.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: So I'm not completely...
52:34
SPEAKER_02: Look,
52:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm also not completely anti...
52:36
Erdogan is interesting because he wants to be seen as someone
52:42
who is secularizing
52:43
SPEAKER_02: Turkey.
52:44
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't like being seen as an Islamic dictator.
52:49
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe he shouldn't have made the Hagia Sophia mosque again.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
52:53
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's why – that's what I was going to say.
52:56
SPEAKER_02: Like, there's a very real duality.
53:00
He wants Turkey to be seen as a European secular nation and
53:05
also has a lot of moves like this.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: Like, we can't talk about the Armenian genocide.
53:10
SPEAKER_02: So it's – there's a lot of complicated things.
53:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm not anti-Turk.
53:14
SPEAKER_00: I'm not –
53:15
SPEAKER_00: internal and external market information markets i think that he wants to
53:21
internationally be viewed as one thing while being uh viewed as
53:25
another thing
53:26
within within turkey by the by the turkish people um which you
53:30
know that's a it's a
53:31
tight rope you can try to walk um but i i'm not a fan of
53:38
erdogan especially i don't
53:41
I think that we'd be better off if the Turks went back to where
53:44
the Turks and
53:45
SPEAKER_00: Caicos,
53:45
SPEAKER_00: I assume,
53:46
SPEAKER_00: was where they're originally from.
53:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, stop.
53:54
SPEAKER_02: No, I just feel bad because I feel like I'm super anti-Turkey in this.
53:58
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not necessarily.
54:03
When it comes to talking about the Armenian genocide,
54:05
I think that the United States really...
54:11
SPEAKER_02: quiets ourselves in a way that we shouldn't.
54:14
And as we're looking at stuff like talking about far left and
54:19
talking about a lot
54:21
SPEAKER_02: of atrocities that we should learn from in history,
54:24
I just really take umbrage with the fact that we can't ever
54:28
talk about Christian
54:29
SPEAKER_00: persecution in all of this.
54:32
It's basically the same thing as our tacitly not ever saying
54:37
that Taiwan is an
54:39
SPEAKER_00: independent nation.
54:42
SPEAKER_00: It's the same general thing.
54:44
It's just basically the juice isn't worth the squeeze when
54:46
you're dealing with
54:47
SPEAKER_00: international relation things.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: It won't really change anything.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: It may,
54:53
SPEAKER_00: in fact,
54:53
make things significantly worse in that part of the area if we
54:56
were to suddenly
54:57
SPEAKER_00: spring out and be like,
54:58
SPEAKER_00: yeah.
54:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
54:59
SPEAKER_00: that was,
55:00
SPEAKER_00: but at the same time,
55:01
SPEAKER_00: I will counter that and say that that was what was,
55:04
SPEAKER_00: when Trump moved the U.S.
55:07
SPEAKER_00: Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,
55:09
SPEAKER_00: that was what was said that it would cause,
55:11
SPEAKER_00: like,
55:12
all the Muslim nations would immediately rally against us and
55:15
we'd been like,
55:15
SPEAKER_00: you know,
55:15
SPEAKER_00: we would just destroy.
55:17
SPEAKER_00: And that never materialized.
55:18
SPEAKER_00: That was just, you know, it was just, you know, a thing.
55:20
SPEAKER_00: So...
55:24
You know,
55:25
the American embassy in Jerusalem is a beautiful,
55:28
beautiful building.
55:29
SPEAKER_00: Not not to mention that the problem is they had already tweeted it.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: There are screenshots out there.
55:34
SPEAKER_00: I sent you the you you got the story.
55:36
SPEAKER_00: I sent you screenshots of it.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: There's really no true benefit in once something has been tweeted out.
55:44
If you're a notable enough accountant that people would be
55:46
expected to have
55:46
SPEAKER_00: immediately known about it and taken screenshots,
55:49
SPEAKER_00: there's no real benefit to deleting because it's already out there.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: Everyone knows you tweeted it.
55:52
SPEAKER_00: Unless you clarify it later.
55:54
SPEAKER_02: It is literally bending the knee.
55:56
SPEAKER_02: And also,
55:57
SPEAKER_02: if the State Department had a problem with it,
55:59
SPEAKER_02: how did they let him go in the first place?
56:01
SPEAKER_02: He is going to Azerbaijan tomorrow,
56:04
and some of it could be issues with Azerbaijan because they do
56:08
still have...
56:08
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
56:09
SPEAKER_02: Armenia is still technically in an active not...
56:13
SPEAKER_02: It's cold in that they're not fighting currently,
56:15
SPEAKER_02: but it's still an active war front because of the Nagorno-Karabakh.
56:20
SPEAKER_02: I can't pronounce the end of that region.
56:25
SPEAKER_02: There is still active fighting in that region.
56:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:28
SPEAKER_02: Because Azerbaijan is...
56:31
You know,
56:32
forcing out ethnic Armenians,
56:35
Christian ethnic Armenians out of Azerbaijan.
56:39
SPEAKER_00: That may be your answer.
56:40
SPEAKER_00: He may have been complicating things for the upcoming trip to Azerbaijan.
56:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it might not even be.
56:46
SPEAKER_02: Well,
56:46
although when you look at the Azerbaijani government is just a
56:50
puppet government to
56:51
SPEAKER_02: Turkey.
56:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:53
SPEAKER_02: All of these things are so complicated.
56:54
SPEAKER_02: I get that.
56:55
SPEAKER_02: But also, if the U.S.
56:59
SPEAKER_02: is going to be seen as the arbiters of peace in this world,
57:03
SPEAKER_02: as protectors of Christianity,
57:05
SPEAKER_02: like we like to pretend we are.
57:07
SPEAKER_02: That involves really difficult stances.
57:12
SPEAKER_02: And we as a country are not willing to take those difficult stances.
57:16
SPEAKER_02: So.
57:17
SPEAKER_00: Just like Erdogan and Turkey is, we always walk a tightrope.
57:21
SPEAKER_00: That's just the world we're in.
57:24
Or,
57:25
you know,
57:25
allowing American snowboarders to take up the flag for China.
57:29
SPEAKER_02: But she will return to her cushy life in San Francisco.
57:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying.
57:35
SPEAKER_02: Like, she goes to Stanford.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: I have long advocated for men without a country and more people.
57:41
Just put them up,
57:43
trade them between ships,
57:44
never let them land on any American soil again.
57:48
SPEAKER_02: China gave her $35 million.
57:50
SPEAKER_02: She can afford to go buy citizenship in another country.
57:53
SPEAKER_00: True.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: All right.
57:55
SPEAKER_00: On that note, I think that we got enough here.
57:58
SPEAKER_00: We're good.
57:59
SPEAKER_02: I'm never going to be able to fly through Istanbul again.
58:01
SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a problem if they ever find this.
58:05
SPEAKER_02: Good thing two people listened to this.
58:07
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
58:08
SPEAKER_00: All right.
58:10
SPEAKER_00: I will talk to you later.
58:11
SPEAKER_02: All right.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Bye.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Bye.