Latest / The TMI Show with Ted Rall and Manila Chan / Luigi Mangione Copycat Plot, El-Sayed’s Tweet War & the Science of Consciousness | TMI Ep 449

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Luigi Mangione Copycat Plot, El-Sayed’s Tweet War & the Science of Consciousness | TMI Ep 449 · The TMI Show with Ted Rall and Manila Chan

0:18
Good morning. Happy Tuesday. It's Tuesday, August
0:21
25th, 2026. I'm Manila Chan. That'd be Ted Rawl,
0:23
producer Robbie lurking in the background. Today
0:27
actually is Robbie, it's your son's 17th birthday.
0:33
Little Robbie. Yep, it is. He went to senior
0:39
sunrise this morning. And he's having breakfast
0:42
now with his friends. And once that's over, as
0:45
soon as the show's ending, we're going to the
0:47
recruitment office. I'm going to go with him.
0:49
Good. And we're just going to see what's going
0:53
to happen. But he's made it clear. He's doing
0:56
it with or without my consent. Happy birthday
1:00
to Mini Robbie. Can they do that at 17 without
1:06
your consent? So here's the thing about it. Like
1:12
he can't go to bootcamp or anything. But what
1:15
they do is they consider it kind of like a light
1:18
enlistment. It's a lot of the classes and stuff
1:20
that you would normally have to do. You can do
1:21
it early. So you have to go down to Missoula
1:24
and he would be able to do training for whatever
1:26
MOS is he signs up for, gets approved for, has
1:29
to do the ASVAB. So he's able to do all the schoolwork
1:32
now. So that way, once they get through bootcamp,
1:36
They'll actually start off with a pay raise and
1:39
this other stuff and so that's the carrot that
1:42
they're dangling. He's a smart kid. He'll test
1:45
well and that'll get him off the front line because
1:50
surely I think in the next two years before Donald
1:52
Trump leaves office, he's foolish enough to send
1:55
us, send boots on the ground to Iran. And we
1:59
don't want Mini Robbie on the front if we can
2:02
avoid it. Well, I don't want anybody on the front
2:04
in Iran if we can avoid it because they have
2:06
a real army. I'm not sure if Trump heard that
2:08
or if Pete Hegseth knows that. Well, I was talking
2:11
to him last night. He said he wants to go. He
2:14
said he doesn't want the party to end before
2:15
he gets in. I said be careful what you wish for
2:19
because you might just get it. Is he aware of
2:24
the fact that like Iran Hasn't done anything
2:29
to us. Well, so he has the Republican and the
2:34
Democrat talking points. So they're responsible
2:36
for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers.
2:39
Sure. But those were soldiers in Iraq. They were
2:42
not here. And so if you are fighting an occupation
2:47
force, by definition, that's what happens. Those
2:52
people were killed by indigenous resistance forces.
2:55
Those are not, those people are national heroes.
2:59
It's us going to their land. The Iraqis and their
3:00
Iranian allies. It doesn't matter. Like I'm talking
3:03
about, my country right or wrong and the rest
3:06
of the world should get on its knees and follow
3:09
America. I mean, that's what we're talking about.
3:13
That's not how that happens. And I said, I hate
3:15
to tell you, but you are joining the military
3:17
of an empire in decline. Yep. And you are, I
3:21
hope that you realize what is it you're doing.
3:24
And if you if you don't get killed when this
3:28
is over, I won't tell you. I told you so. And
3:31
I love you. And I hope you get your life put
3:33
back together. I mean, I hope he understands.
3:36
I mean, there are great reasons to join the military,
3:40
not one of them, not one hoping, hoping. I will.
3:43
I'll name 20, Ted. Give me a second. Give me
3:46
a second. But the first thing is I hope he doesn't
3:49
go to the front line. I hope nobody goes to the
3:51
front line because there there are ways that
3:53
that will. infinitely destroy his life. He's
3:57
not going to be able to control that. If they
3:59
want to send him, they will. No, no, no. Stop,
4:02
stop, stop, stop, stop. There are 50 million
4:05
jobs, Ted, that are not front lines. Not everybody
4:08
is out there kicking down doors for kids, for
4:12
kids like, like Robbie's son, my family, my husband.
4:18
I mean, for for a lot of people from our backgrounds,
4:23
Going into the military can be possibly the best
4:26
thing you can do if there are no other options,
4:29
and I'll tell you why. For example, you can get
4:32
an education there that you wouldn't otherwise
4:34
be able to afford. You would come out not owing
4:38
a penny for however many degrees, depending on
4:43
how you test in and what jobs you can get. When
4:46
you come out of the military, depending on the
4:48
job that you had, you can have great civilian
4:51
job opportunities that I know Thomas wants to
4:55
do. For example, my brother -in -law is a Marine,
4:59
as they say. Forever wants a Marine, always Marine,
5:01
right? I believe he was a helicopter mechanic.
5:09
Being a helicopter mechanic in the military,
5:12
you can find tons of jobs once you come out.
5:15
I have other active duty currently, members of
5:19
the military who work I call him a hacker but
5:24
I mean he's basically a computer whiz and he's
5:28
I mean he's he's in his 40s now and he's about
5:30
to retire and he's gonna have buttloads of jobs
5:36
that are already clamoring to hire him when he
5:39
comes out because of his his basically you know
5:43
we call it white hat hacking but he's gonna have
5:46
multiple six -figure job opportunities once he
5:50
retires out of the military maybe and and he
5:54
doesn't know he already has them Ted not it's
5:56
not a maybe he has them you get multiple job
5:59
opportunities when you come out because there
6:01
are a lot of preferential job offers to people
6:04
that are veterans you get I mean some better
6:10
some worse not none really great but you still
6:12
will get VA benefits for your whole life And
6:17
there and then your children can get them So
6:19
those are just to name a few but more importantly
6:22
if you get the skills there I mean you're gonna
6:26
for some guys that is some of the best Times
6:29
of their lives if if they're not at the front
6:32
line even for some guys though I know many that
6:35
were at the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan
6:38
and even even still They consider that some of
6:43
the best times of their lives because of the
6:45
camaraderie and whatever the experience So, you
6:48
know, it's not because they believe in maybe
6:52
maybe in Thomas's case He's he's a kid and he's
6:55
he's buying into the talking points, but most
6:57
people don't join the military because they have
6:59
This deep political belief or you know, they
7:04
believe whoever's in in the Oval Office They
7:06
don't believe that what they're looking for is
7:08
a way out from where they are Thomas is looking
7:12
for an adventure. That's what he's looking for.
7:15
He's looking for an adventure. Him and his friends
7:17
are taking advantage of the new buddy recruitment
7:20
program that the Pentagon is going out. They
7:24
want to go into recon, specifically armored recon,
7:28
is what he was talking to me about last night.
7:29
He does not have any interest in the IT stuff
7:32
that you're talking about with your white hat
7:34
hacker. That's not what Thomas wants to do. He
7:38
wants to go to the front. He wants to defend.
7:41
He wants to defend America and kill the nation's
7:44
enemies. That is what he told me. But that's
7:47
right. And in his case, I think that's a very
7:49
sophomore childish way to look at it. And he
7:52
is a kid. He's 17. He doesn't understand the
7:54
complexity. Which is why 17 year olds should
7:56
not be permitted to be people who are not allowed
7:59
to vote by cigarettes and by cigarettes or vape
8:04
should not be allowed should not be allowed to
8:06
join the military. he's he's a kid he doesn't
8:08
understand the geo if though if those are his
8:11
reasons for going that's something i i personally
8:14
wouldn't support if his if his true intent was
8:18
because i want opportunities i know there's jobs
8:20
that you know a good reason i mean let's just
8:23
say for the sake i mean for moral reasons Oh,
8:26
I don't know. Oh, the SS offers awesome opportunities
8:29
for this and that. The SS even offered sex with
8:33
hot ladies. And like, I don't know. It doesn't
8:35
really seem like a good reason. Like, but mom,
8:38
I had to go kill Jews because I wanted to get
8:40
laid with hot blondes. I mean, literally that
8:43
was a thing. That's not a fair comparison, Ted.
8:45
Really, why not? So you're calling all of the
8:50
US military, you're calling them fucking Nazi
8:52
soldiers? Like that's... I am not calling them
8:55
Nazi soldiers because they're not wearing swastikas,
8:58
but am I going to say that they are morally above
9:00
the German army? You're saying they're tantamount
9:04
to being Nazi soldiers. Yes, I am. That's right.
9:07
Because the US military doesn't serve any purpose
9:10
whatsoever than to oppress and kill people who
9:13
don't mean us any harm or ill will whatsoever,
9:17
which is exactly like the German military. That's
9:20
not the boots on the ground. The economic situation,
9:23
the economic situation that drives people into
9:26
turning to the US military is not from it's not
9:30
from the boots up. It's from the top down. It's
9:34
from whether it's it's the Pentagon. It's the
9:37
same thing. It's the unelected bureaucrats that
9:39
take us to war in lands that we have no business
9:42
being in. I agree with that. I agree with that
9:45
sentiment 100%. But it doesn't change the fact
9:47
that we have a standing military that offers
9:50
US military hasn't defended the United States
9:53
since the war of 1812. I'm not with anymore and
9:57
you know that but but at the end of the day if
9:59
a kid look if he the way Robbie's describing
10:04
why his son wants to go i don't i don't agree
10:06
with i think it's a childish view of the world
10:09
and he is a kid so i i get that that's why he
10:11
has this view of the world but yeah kids are
10:14
gonna are gonna do kid shit this is kid shit
10:18
for other kids They are well aware that this
10:22
is a bunch of bullshit out there, and that the
10:25
military, they know that this is their way out.
10:28
But again, so what about, so how is that different?
10:31
Again, so let's just say the sake, I mean, first
10:34
of all, I am from fucking Rust Belt, post -industrial,
10:39
opioid destroyed America. I did go and talk to
10:42
the army recruiting people. So, I mean, it's
10:45
not theoretical for me. And, you know, when I
10:49
heard what they had to say, it's it's a pile
10:51
of malarkey. First of all, the the the college
10:55
benefits are dog shit. The the the salaries are
11:00
low. If you want to let's just say like if you're
11:03
willing to leave your hometown. you know you
11:06
could make 50 grand a year moving to a major
11:09
city and you know what you're gonna if the army
11:11
you join the army you're gonna have to move anyway
11:14
to like the middle east okay so you're gonna
11:16
have to leave your hometown either way so that's
11:19
a wash um And it's like, even if you, I don't
11:22
accept that argument at all. There's not ways
11:25
to have an adventure other than joining the military.
11:27
You can join the Peace Corps. You can backpack
11:31
and work all over the world. There's many, many
11:36
countries where colleges and universities have
11:39
free or close to free tuition and board for Americans
11:43
who are willing to move there and study abroad.
11:47
There are... Trade apprenticeship programs all
11:51
over the world. There's work exchange programs
11:53
where you can go work overseas I know lots of
11:57
people who've done that they get a job doing
11:58
this and that Wherever and they get a visa and
12:01
they get to stay there and they can like and
12:03
they can go and meet foreign people and not kill
12:05
them It's like but even if none of that were
12:09
true You know, so fucking what it's like If you
12:14
told me that like 1981 to Dayton, Ohio, and you
12:22
said, Ted, it's either, you know, you're gonna
12:24
either be working at Wendy's, you know, in the
12:27
back for the rest of your life. or you're going
12:30
to go kill people, morally, I should work at
12:33
Wendy's the rest of my life. It's like, it's
12:35
like, how, how is it like morally acceptable
12:38
to say, I am going to go and kill people or participate
12:43
in a machine. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm working for
12:46
an organization where I may not. Okay, if I,
12:50
if I'm helping killers, I am an accessory. If
12:53
I'm driving the getaway car from the bank robbery,
12:56
I'm an accessory. If you're a cook, in the US
13:00
Army, you're helping killers. I mean, that's
13:03
what the United States military is a giant assassination
13:07
squad. You're being hired as assassins. You're
13:10
literally being told, go and kill this person
13:12
who has never done you personally or your family
13:15
any wrong, means you no ill will because I say
13:19
so. That's literally the job. I mean, I don't
13:22
know if it was before or after you became a communist
13:25
or maybe back when even when you were maybe when
13:28
you were young as a socialist, but you went to
13:30
work for a big Japanese bank, a Japanese investment
13:33
bank. And I'm sure fast forward to 2010, 2011,
13:37
you would have been one of these guys protesting
13:40
Wall Street, you know, with - And I was. So,
13:44
look, like I said, you took that opportunity
13:46
- And my bank didn't kill anyone as far as I
13:49
know. You have proclaimed morals, but you took
13:55
the opportunity to work there because the opportunity
13:57
was there to make money. And sometimes people
13:59
need to make those decisions. And Peter, thank
14:02
you for the donation. Peter says, my daughter
14:04
was a clerk for the helicopter mechanics. Her
14:07
husband is a helicopter pilot, but in the army.
14:10
Ah, that's cross pollination there, Peter. P
14:14
.W. Walker says the fact that we're viewing the
14:16
military as a social mobility program tells you
14:19
everything about the state of the West because
14:22
it ain't just the USA now. That's true. I mean,
14:25
like I said, it's been that case for a long time.
14:28
The poorest kids are always the ones that go
14:31
to the military. It's not, I mean, you're not
14:34
seeing any of the Trump kids or Donald Trump
14:37
himself having gone to the military. That ain't
14:39
happening. He had his chance. Annie Anna says,
14:42
Ted's stance is not valid. We need level -headed
14:45
guys and gals with morals in the military as
14:48
well. If not, it'll be full Hegseth and Zionist
14:51
Christians. That's true too. So you need people.
14:55
You can't have all these like hardcore Hegseths,
14:58
a bunch of Pete Hegseths like, yeah, with like
15:01
neo -Nazi tattoos on them. No Hegseths, no liberals.
15:05
Nobody should enlist at all. My point is the
15:08
military exists. There's an infrastructure there
15:11
that's been there for a long time that gives
15:14
a lot of benefits to a lot of kids that would
15:16
otherwise have no other means that they can see.
15:19
There's nothing that they get in the military
15:21
that they couldn't get somewhere else. They can't
15:24
find their way out, so this is their way out.
15:27
I'm just saying not everybody believes. I think
15:30
the vast majority of the US military currently
15:33
right now does not support what's happening in
15:36
Iran. cue the USS Abraham Lincoln with fucking
15:41
sailors jumping off ship. Like, people don't
15:44
agree with what's going on, but... This the infrastructure
15:49
is there and they take those opportunities just
15:51
as you took your opportunity to work at the Japanese
15:54
Which by the way, I totally hated that job and
16:00
I hated having to work there it was that or no
16:03
work at all That's not the situation though.
16:06
There the military isn't like Offering people
16:09
there's literally nothing it offers that you
16:11
can't get somewhere else What I'm going to try
16:15
and convince Thomas into doing is going into
16:18
the construction core as opposed to recon. So
16:21
go into a spot in the military where you will
16:23
learn a trade, specifically not IT, because like
16:28
those IT jobs you're talking about, Manila, they'll
16:30
be replaced by AI within five years. They're
16:32
going away. They're going to need humans for
16:33
that. So what I'm going to try to do is get them
16:36
into welding, construction, something that AI
16:39
cannot replace. They have those jobs. I understand.
16:42
And so that's why I'm going to try and do this.
16:43
If I have your adventure, it's fine. You want
16:45
to go to Qatar, don't go there driving a tank
16:49
doing reconnaissance. Go there and learn how
16:52
to build runways or how to weld. Something that
16:56
will teach you a trade that you're able to get
16:58
once you leave. At least that is something that
17:02
would be tangible. And to your point about Ted,
17:05
Now, working for the bank did kill Americans
17:07
because the Japanese were flooding the United
17:10
States with cheap steel and killing American
17:12
industry and a lot of Americans lost their jobs
17:14
committed suicide or drunk or drunk themselves
17:17
to death. So that is no, that wasn't a victimless
17:22
crime either. It's just, it's just where we are
17:25
now. We, we live in an Imperial system. The middle
17:30
class is hollowed out. It doesn't exist. The
17:32
industrial base is hollowed out. We can't even
17:34
make missiles anymore because China has all the
17:37
rare earth that we need. They make the microchips
17:39
for the weapons that we need to one day fight
17:41
them. So think about how retarded that is. So
17:45
none of this makes any sense. It's completely
17:47
upside down. And so now Trump's like, well, let's
17:51
have the magic deportation bus. and let's rename
17:56
Lake Ontario to Lake America and impose a 50
17:58
% tariff on Canadian wildfire smoke. So none
18:03
of this makes any sense. It's retarded. The point
18:06
is the kid is going to do what the kid is going
18:08
to do. That's for sure. You can't fully exactly
18:11
stop him. I mean, you have a young adult son,
18:14
Ted. You can't stop these kids. They're going
18:16
to do what they're going to do. No, I know. That's
18:17
true. There's nothing. No, I'm not blaming Robbie.
18:19
There's nothing he can do. Nothing he can do.
18:22
The best we can do is make the best of whatever
18:26
those choices are. I told Thomas to join ICE.
18:30
Listen, if you want to travel to foreign countries,
18:33
Miami is about as foreign as it can get, and
18:35
you don't even need a passport. So seriously,
18:37
join ICE. You pick up the chicks. You'll be able
18:39
to have your bella clava. You'll be able to have
18:41
your vest. You can go through, and you can find
18:43
all the immigrants that you want. And the best
18:45
part is - You'll get cool shop gloves. Yeah.
18:47
And the best part is you're actually dealing
18:49
with people who do that. Very fashionable, I
18:51
heard. You know, you're actually dealing with
18:52
people who are invaders. If you want to defend
18:55
your country, then join ICE and go up to the
18:57
people who are invading the country. You don't
18:58
have to go to Oman and do it there because then
19:02
you're the invader. So there's a right way and
19:03
wrong way to do this. That's right. But again,
19:06
he's seeing it. He's a kid and he's seeing the
19:09
propaganda, which is so strong. Obviously. So,
19:14
so, so strong still. Even with you being his
19:18
dad, he still has bought into that mainstream
19:22
propaganda of what the left -right paradigm and
19:26
America is. He called me a traitor the other
19:28
day. I know. I've heard him say it. I know. I
19:31
know. I've been on the phone with you and heard
19:33
it. I've heard him say it. And I'm like, oh,
19:36
boy, you've got a lot to learn still. But he'll
19:41
learn it, you know? And I just pray that he's
19:47
right at that age where, I mean, seriously, I
19:51
do think there's a strong chance that Trump and
19:53
Hegseth take us, boots on the ground, all in
19:57
on Iran and - Well, we'll be fucked. It'll make
20:02
Vietnam look awesome. Terrific. I think Trump
20:07
is going to cancel the elections. That's what
20:11
I think. I think he's going to cancel them. I
20:13
think that he's going to manufacture something.
20:15
I think he has to. Yeah. And then at that point,
20:19
if he does. So he's going to pull a Zelensky,
20:21
is what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. That's
20:23
exactly right. It's an incredibly stable way
20:26
to have a democracy. True. Well, Ukraine is the
20:30
beacon of democracy. I know. Nothing says democracy
20:34
like one party. and no elections. So anyway,
20:37
that's - Sounds like the Soviet Union. We're
20:42
not lacking for opinions on this show. It's fairly
20:45
democratic, I would say, small d. All right,
20:49
so let's get to the topic. Just to be clear here,
20:53
Robbie's blameless in all this and Thomas is
20:56
blameless as well. I mean, by definition, if
20:59
Thomas were to kill someone, not out, you know,
21:03
like freelance, not being ordered to do so by
21:05
the military. At his current age, he would robbing
21:09
a liquor store. Yeah, whatever. He decides to
21:12
kill someone. He would not be fully responsible
21:15
because he's under 18 and he would be sent to
21:18
juvenile court in all civilized, like liberal
21:21
states. Right. So like the thing is, we all understand
21:24
that a 17 year old isn't a fully developed adult.
21:28
So it's a fucking outrage. that the federal government
21:31
says like, oh, you know, we're going to go ahead
21:35
and allow 17 year olds who can't rent a car.
21:39
to, you know, to go and, you know, they can't
21:42
get car insurance, you know, to go and join the
21:46
military. I mean, they're doing this because
21:48
they know if the, you know, we've talked, Manila,
21:51
you and I have talked about how your brain's
21:53
not developed until you're 25. You shouldn't
21:56
be able to make a decision as consequential as
21:59
joining the military until you are 25. Contracts
22:04
are null and void at least till 18. They're invalid,
22:10
right? So right. I don't know how the exception
22:12
is made here for someone that's 17 So and 17
22:15
on the day like this is you know, but what can
22:18
you do? Anyway, we got to move on to the stories.
22:20
I Wish Thomas a happy 17th birthday and and many
22:25
men I hope I pray to God many many many more
22:28
birthdays to come But but geez like it it would
22:33
terrify me being in Robbie's shoes because of
22:37
who is in the office right now at the Oval Office
22:40
and what we're looking at. The odds are overall
22:44
pretty good, right? I mean, 99 % of people who
22:47
serve in the military come out and they're okay.
22:50
But the thing is, when you're talking about life
22:53
and death, 99 % is not really good odds. You
22:56
know what I mean? The downside risk is so awful.
23:03
That's what I hate about it. The worst part about
23:05
it is that you take this oath to serve the Constitution,
23:11
but no one in our government serves the Constitution.
23:14
Well, that's the point I'm making. That's symbolic.
23:18
It doesn't really mean anything. It's a lie.
23:21
And at the end of the day, he will be a mercenary
23:24
fighting for Halliburton, fighting for Israel,
23:28
fighting for Black Rock. You'll be doing these
23:31
things. You will be in illegal wars, undeclared
23:35
wars. You will be a piece of equipment that you
23:40
can then go off and do. And I talked to him last
23:44
night, I just said, guard your heart, guard your
23:46
mind. And if you ever are asked to do something
23:52
or told to do something truly heinous, you have
23:56
the right to refuse an illegal order. even though
23:59
in reality they really kind of like don't let
24:04
you do that no i mean he'd be court -martialed
24:06
but i mean i would rather be court -martialed
24:09
instead of instead of kill a kid sorry conscientious
24:14
objector all right let's get to the story although
24:17
you're not really allowed he's he wouldn't be
24:19
allowed to be a conscientious objector he doesn't
24:20
have the religious background for it i don't
24:23
know they're pretty you have to be like specifically
24:25
quaker right I don't know, but I think as long
24:29
as, no, I think as long as you proclaim that
24:32
this is true. No, that's not how it is anymore
24:34
at all. It used to be like that. They changed
24:37
it. It's like, it's not like get out of jail
24:39
free card anymore. I don't, I don't even know
24:42
what's, what's, I can't, I just can't fathom,
24:45
I would. It's also such a long, here's the other
24:48
thing too. It's such a long commitment, right?
24:51
Like the, typically you sign a four year contract
24:55
and then you know you if you decide you're done
24:58
and and they decide that they'll let you go because
25:02
they don't have to then you're in the reserves
25:05
for four more years and then if there's a stopgap
25:09
measure what is it called stop loss if there's
25:12
a stop loss declaration which happens from time
25:14
to time there was one under the you know not
25:18
war in were on terror under bush then that can
25:22
go on indefinitely. So here you are, 17, 18 years
25:26
old, and basically, they've got your nuts and
25:30
a vice until you're well into your 30s. I mean,
25:33
that sucks. Potentially, potentially. Well, we'll
25:38
see. Well, I mean, certainly until you're, no
25:40
question, until you're 24, right? Well, I mean,
25:45
sorry, 26. 21. 26. 26, why 26? Eight years, four
25:50
plus four. Oh, I thought you... There must be
25:54
four years. He'll be 18 and then he'll, you know,
25:57
it's four plus four in the reserves, right? Yeah,
25:59
I wish that my dad was still alive. So you're
26:01
in the reserves, guaranteed, right? So they can
26:03
have you back. I mean, I'm just saying, that
26:05
is a... And the thing is you have no freedom
26:08
whatsoever in terms of where you work, you know,
26:12
what you do. Well, they can cart you around,
26:15
yeah. It's entirely up to them. And I mean, it's
26:20
just, I mean, I don't understand why people take
26:22
this, I mean, if people look, let me put this
26:24
clearly, if, and I wrote about this in my column
26:27
for this week, because I was so inspired by this
26:29
whole conversation over Thomas. If you viewed
26:32
this as a job, which is how most Americans do
26:35
view it, who joined the military, about 150 to
26:38
200 ,000 Americans joined the military every
26:41
year. And most of them are not getting into it
26:44
because they think the country is in trouble
26:45
and needs to be defended from evil brown people.
26:48
They do it for the employment opportunities and
26:51
the benefits and all that. So if you view it
26:54
as just a job, it doesn't compare well to a zillion
26:58
other jobs, you know, even, you know, go to trade
27:02
school or whatever. So we got to get on with
27:07
the rest of the story. I'm like, I admit that
27:10
this This makes me very spicy. As a parent too,
27:16
it enrages me how the government is taking advantage
27:20
of impressionable young minds and lying to them
27:24
and misdirecting them. It's disgusting. Yeah,
27:29
but it's the whole infrastructure of the media.
27:31
Robbie just outlined why Thomas believes what
27:34
he believes is because he's being It's also culture.
27:38
I guarantee you if the kid wasn't going to school
27:40
in Montana, if he was going to school in lower
27:44
Manhattan, he wouldn't have a bunch of friends
27:47
who all wanted to go and enlist. It's culture.
27:53
The political culture is conservative and militaristic.
27:58
You can't help but notice all the people driving
28:02
around with their bumper stickers or license
28:04
plates bragging about being vets or whatever.
28:06
I mean, that's all it's, it's, it's, you know,
28:09
what is it like, uh, it's Palmolive. You're soaking,
28:12
it's, you're soaking it. It's, it's, it's a brotherhood
28:15
and people and, and lifelong comradery and, and
28:18
the same way, you know, like douchebags at Yale
28:21
or whatever join, you know, fraternities. It's,
28:25
it's a different kind of fraternity. I mean,
28:27
that's, that's how a lot of young guys view it.
28:29
I mean, for me, and this organization is this
28:31
organization. is, I mean, you know, you might
28:34
not personally be killing anybody, but you're
28:36
part of an organization whose job is to exert
28:40
military, economic and cultural hegemony over
28:44
innocent people around the world. That's what
28:46
it is. That's the purpose of this organization.
28:49
It does not exist for any other purpose. It is
28:52
purely expansionist and aggressive. It does not
28:56
defend the country. I mean, if it did, You wouldn't
28:59
have 19 assholes with box cutters able to fly
29:02
all over US airspace for two and a half fucking
29:04
hours having a good time. Okay. I mean, it's
29:08
like, we don't defend our own country at all.
29:11
We're just attacking other countries. Robin,
29:13
go ahead. I'll give you the last word and then
29:15
we got to do the stories. For me, a lot of this,
29:19
I understand is projection from the way that
29:22
I grew up because my dad was a Korean War veteran.
29:26
And one of the reasons why he drunk as much as
29:29
he did is because, is because our military. I
29:34
can hear Robbie and see Robbie. Oh, I don't see
29:36
him or hear him. I'm here is, um, when he went
29:42
through the Korean war, he saw and did a lot
29:46
of horrible things. I don't see him at all or
29:50
hear him at all. Oh, and try pressing the refresh
29:53
button, Ted. But, uh, So, I mean, a lot of that
29:57
is, is I don't want the military to break him
30:01
the way they broke my dad. That's a big part
30:04
of it. Sure. I think, no, it's, it's a softer,
30:08
gentler military now, Robbie. Well, it's not
30:12
because, you know, my dad, I've only saw my dad
30:16
cry twice in my whole life. One time he was He
30:23
was drunk, he was drunk on the couch, he was
30:26
crying. And he told me this story that happened
30:29
just outside of Busan. So he was, the North Koreans
30:33
had pushed the Americans that was left of the
30:36
ROK army back into the perimeter. And there was
30:40
this little village on the other side of the
30:41
Taegu River. And so what the North Koreans started
30:44
doing is that they started, first they killed
30:46
the guys. They're trying to provoke a response
30:47
because they tried to take this hill that my
30:50
dad's unit was on, they couldn't take it. They
30:51
were just too entrenched. And so they killed
30:55
the guys and then they started killing the women.
30:58
And then they started bringing out babies. They
31:00
started banning the babies because they knew
31:04
that that would trigger a response from the Americans.
31:07
And the lieutenant was just like, boys, I can't
31:09
order you. Our orders are to stay here on this
31:11
hill, but we have a choice here that we go and
31:13
we save those kids and we just let them all die.
31:16
And so they went and they attacked. They were
31:19
able to save a bunch of the kids. But they took
31:21
like 80 % casualties doing it. And my dad was
31:24
there. He got three Purple Hearts that day. No,
31:27
he got tore up. And there were just tears coming
31:32
out his eyes. He said, I wish I had never gone
31:35
because my countrymen said, thank you for this.
31:39
Yeah. Well, that's a reality that You know Thomas
31:45
will have to reckon with when when he's older
31:47
when he's old and when his brain When his prefrontal
31:50
cortex finishes developing and he can process,
31:53
you know His just in time for him to be out of
31:57
the reserves right after he processes all of
32:00
that and you know, it'll it'll take time but
32:03
But most you know Most young men fuck that economic
32:08
argument though fuck that I know Most young men
32:11
that I know that came out don't regret it And
32:14
they, for some people, it was like the best decision
32:18
that they made. And they're way better off for
32:21
it now. So just saying different, different strokes
32:24
for different folks, Ted. All right. All right.
32:31
So, so this. Yeah, well, I mean, it just is different
32:36
strokes. So like, here's one that we missed last
32:38
week. I don't know how this show missed it. But
32:43
we forgot it. So Riley English, this is something
32:47
Robbie, Robbie's gonna multi, this is multifaceted
32:50
Riley English, a 26 year old transgender woman.
32:54
So meaning bio male identifies as female from
32:58
Massachusetts was sentenced to 73 months in prison
33:02
for bringing a knife and two Molotov cocktails
33:05
to the US Capitol in a plot to kill nobody less
33:10
than Treasury Secretary Scott Besant I didn't
33:14
I didn't even know that like people thought of
33:18
murdering him I mean would if he were murdered
33:23
Manila, how could we tell? Like that's what I'm
33:27
saying. Like he he comes out like once a quarter
33:30
and gives a speech and then goes away So I how
33:33
do you even think like I'm gonna I'm gonna plot
33:37
to assassinate someone I'm gonna pick Scott Bessent.
33:42
Right. Of all the people in the United States
33:45
government, he seems he's an interesting choice.
33:48
How do you arrive at Scott Bessent? Or perhaps
33:49
he's an interestingly uninteresting choice. Right.
33:52
That's why I just don't get the mind of this
33:54
Riley English. I would want to interview Riley
33:57
English and ask Riley, of all the Pete Hegseths,
34:04
the Kushners, all the people in Trump world,
34:08
why Scott Bessent? He gave Elon Musk a black
34:14
eye. If you walked into a bar and you said, like,
34:19
hey everybody, I'll give you a free beer. You
34:22
get a free drink of your choice. If you can tell
34:25
me who the secretary of the treasury is right
34:27
now. Right. I think I'm not spending. I don't
34:30
think I'm buying a lot of beers. No, no one's
34:33
getting a free beer. So Riley English arrived.
34:37
on January 27th, 2025, so shortly after the inauguration,
34:42
while Besant's Senate confirmation was underway.
34:46
So especially then given this time frame, like
34:48
in January, like literally nobody knew who Scott
34:51
Besant was. I did not know who Scott Besson was
35:01
until after, like I'd never heard of him. Like
35:03
I don't even know what his career was prior to
35:06
this. So how Riley English knew, I don't know.
35:09
According to prosecutors, she had been consp
35:12
- considering political violence for at least
35:14
a month and told police that she was inspired
35:17
by Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering
35:20
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Apparently,
35:24
assassination plots like to come with sequels.
35:26
As we know, there's copycats. English had considered
35:29
killing defense secretary Pete Hegseth. Okay.
35:32
So there you go. And considered House Speaker
35:36
Mike Johnson, but he's too wee of a man and he
35:38
was just like, pew, pew, pew, just can't catch
35:42
him. Also, how could you tell he was dead? Like
35:46
how? Or or he considered burning down the Heritage
35:52
Foundation. Now, now, now that sounds good to
35:55
me. I've got to admit, I would bring a stick
35:58
and a bag of marshmallows for that. Just just
36:01
burned down the Heritage Foundation. After spotting
36:04
a post about Besant's confirmation, she switched
36:08
targets and headed to the Capitol armed with
36:11
a folding knife, a lighter and two vodka bottle
36:14
fire, two Molotov cocktails. Then the plot hit
36:18
an obstacle. English decided to just surrender.
36:22
That's not really the plot hitting an obstacle.
36:25
That's really, I mean, that's not a good way
36:28
to put it at all. Then she changed her mind.
36:34
She could have just gone home, right? I know.
36:39
I don't know. She could have just been like,
36:40
ah, fuck it, and then poured out the Molotov
36:42
cocktail. Like, you know what? I have second
36:43
thoughts. I'll just drink the vodka instead and
36:46
just fucking get back to the mess. Keep the folding
36:49
knife for personal use and leave it there. Whatever.
36:52
So the devices... probably would not have ignited.
36:56
Besant was not at the Capitol and nobody was
36:58
hurt. The judge said the plan had, quote, an
37:01
exceedingly low or nonexistent chance of succeeding.
37:05
English cited mental illness, drug abuse, and
37:08
pleaded guilty to two weapons charges and apologized
37:12
in court. Prosecutors wanted 121 months. The
37:16
judge imposed 73. plus three years of supervised
37:20
release with credit for the nearly 20 months
37:22
already served. So a failed plan is still a plan.
37:27
Political violence does not become harmless because
37:29
the weapons were lousy and the assassin reconsidered
37:32
at the door. Well, actually, actually it does.
37:37
By definition, the political violence becomes
37:40
harmless when you turn yourself in and you change
37:44
your mind. The lack of harm makes it harmless,
37:47
I think. You are allowed to think about, she
37:49
must have had a terrible attorney. I mean, the
37:53
lack of harm, of course there's no harm. I mean,
37:56
I can think of this, I can think of that, but
37:59
if I don't do it, then, you know, I didn't do
38:02
it. The fact that nobody was harmed makes it
38:07
harmless. By definition. Right, of course it's
38:12
harmless. Tara Preta says, Scott Besant destroyed
38:15
the currency of Great Britain for Soros. He's
38:18
an excellent choice for justice. Mr. Lee says,
38:22
Besant tried to bring down Hong Kong. Really?
38:24
How did anyone even know who Scott Besant was
38:27
before he got this job? I'd never heard of him.
38:30
I'd never seen him before. It was part of his
38:33
great source, his great society. He was one of
38:36
his money men. Really? He would short currencies
38:39
all the time. I really never heard of him until
38:45
Trump said that he was going to put him up for
38:51
Treasury Secretary. And I was like, huh, another
38:55
gay man. And I was like, wow, Trump is surrounding
38:59
himself with the gays. Well, he is the most pro
39:01
game president in American history, and he openly
39:04
brags about it. That is true. Richard Grinnell.
39:07
Yeah. Very true. Which by the way, I met Richard
39:11
Grinnell last year at CPAC, and he's a big dude.
39:17
He's a big, like he's not, if people think he's
39:21
like a little, and Scott Besson is a big dude,
39:23
because I've seen him. Yeah, Scott Besson's like
39:25
a lurchy dude. Yeah. Yeah, like next to Elon,
39:28
and Elon's not a little dude. Grinnell is a big,
39:32
big guy. He's like six, two, six, three. And
39:34
like, he's a beefy man. He's not like a, so Trump
39:38
surrounds himself, himself with bears. Yeah.
39:44
Well, I mean, here's, I mean, okay, listen, six
39:47
years, Manila is ridiculous. Okay. I mean, you
39:53
don't think, I mean, for, for, for a plot that
39:56
you yourself decided not to go through with.
40:00
That's six years. Is that how many months I didn't
40:03
do? Six years. Yes! It's six years and one month.
40:06
It is insane. I mean, this is like... Yeah, that
40:10
long for... Yeah, for having thoughts. For doing
40:14
nothing. Maybe he... wrong. Maybe he, maybe he
40:18
will get the mental health that he needs and
40:21
realize he's not in prison. Maybe he can get
40:26
his head on straight. Maybe he can be rehabilitated
40:28
and maybe get out in like a year because I'm
40:31
going to tend on this. He didn't do anything.
40:33
I mean, he's crazy. I mean, he's a nut. So, I
40:37
mean, if I was, if I was a defense attorney,
40:40
so your honor, I submit that my client is insane.
40:43
For one thing, the dude thinks he's a girl. So
40:45
right there, he's crazy. That is actually a case
40:48
that would have been part of my case. Transgender
40:51
people have a higher than average rate of mental
40:54
illness. This person themselves said they were
40:57
mentally ill. There's probably some sort of paper
41:00
trail. I'm sure there is. All zorps are zips,
41:03
but not all zips are zorps. I mean, he says doing
41:08
drugs. He's on alcohol. I mean, God knows. I
41:11
mean, the dude's out of his mind. She's not.
41:13
She's not right. She's not right. They apparently
41:16
came clean, like all like told the Capitol Police
41:18
everything. Even the plot doesn't make any sense.
41:21
And even turning molotov cocktails, turning herself
41:24
in doesn't make any sense. You know, how are
41:27
you going to how were you going to kill Scott
41:29
Bessent with a folding knife and two molotov
41:32
cocktails? Right. I mean, basically, she didn't
41:36
think anything through. How do you be murdering
41:38
Scott Bassett? Six years. I mean, I wouldn't
41:42
have given her six weeks. Why are you calling
41:45
him her? It's not her. She's self -identified
41:48
as a she. It's a courtesy. So I don't know. Have
41:53
you seen her schlong? Do you know? It's a crazy
41:56
person. who tried to assassinate George Soros'
42:00
money man. I personally haven't conducted a DNA
42:01
test. I don't know anything. The judge really
42:03
should have imposed some like mental health order
42:06
in there to like you have to seek therapy or
42:08
whatever once you're out. But six years is a
42:11
long time. I didn't do the math but I was like
42:13
73 months down the line. Six years? They're fucking
42:15
insane. Not to mention like honestly I think
42:18
let's just say she had succeeded in killing Scott
42:20
Besant. Six years is too long at Scott Besant.
42:23
I mean, I mean, like, you know. I didn't know
42:26
all these people knew who Scott Besson was. Scott
42:28
Besson, like maybe, maybe a few, like again,
42:31
maybe six weeks, you know, to like, don't do
42:33
it again, don't let it happen again, like. Like
42:37
I guarantee I guarantee you Scott Besson is responsible
42:40
for thousands and thousands of suicides, so he's
42:43
a very guarantee He's a very bad person. I really
42:45
didn't have never like I haven't looked into
42:48
Scott Besson I don't know anything anything about
42:50
Scott Besson other than he's a very polished
42:53
put -together gay man That's all I know very
42:56
you know nice teeth nice full lips taught in
43:00
Unfortunately, we're on YouTube, so I can't say
43:02
what I want to say about about Scott Besson Because
43:05
I would get us blown up on YouTube and now that
43:08
I'm probably have to go to YouTube of my gaming
43:09
channel I gotta play nice. Yeah, but No, Scott
43:13
Besson. That's all I know Scott Besson should
43:16
be executed I mean the guy is a pirate an actual
43:20
pirate tried you mean lawfully through the courts
43:23
tried and then given the No, he should be Luigi.
43:27
No, someone should just pop his ass. I don't
43:30
know anything about it. I can't agree or disagree.
43:33
I don't know. I don't know anything other than
43:36
the pretty, pretty big man. Manila read up about
43:38
it because he's one of those people. Now my interest,
43:41
I'm curious because he's a vulture. I guarantee
43:45
you that if, if, if you're, if your ancestral
43:49
homeland louse came up on the radar or George
43:53
Soros, then he would have destroyed that country
43:57
and his economy and wrecked it. But again, I
44:01
never thought to think of Scott Besson. Like,
44:05
why would I, right? Like, of all the people that
44:10
you wish death to in the Trump administration.
44:12
Guys, we are 49 minutes into this show, and I
44:14
know a lot of that is my fault. Tilda's sure
44:16
pissed off about the military. Nevertheless,
44:19
I want to atone for my sins and encourage that
44:21
we move on. I don't know. I don't know. I don't
44:25
know anything about, I don't know what he deserves.
44:27
I just know that this was a strange case. He
44:28
deserves death. It was a strange case and we
44:32
missed it. He should be hung by the neck until
44:35
dead. If we had a justice system as opposed to
44:40
a legal system, that queer would be hung by the
44:44
neck. Okay. All right then. Democratic Senate
44:54
nominee Abdul El -Sayed spent the weekend demonstrating
44:58
that a medical degree doesn't include training
45:00
in social media restraint. The progressive candidate
45:04
is taking heat after dragging second lady Usha
45:07
Vance and White House aide Natalie Harp into
45:10
fights with VP JD Vance and President Trump.
45:14
This all began with Vance during an Ohio speech
45:17
when Vance attacked Said's comments about Sharia
45:21
law and said that his positions would be foreign
45:23
to the Democratic Party of his papa. Said fired
45:28
back. So Do we think JD is taking Usha with him
45:32
back in time to meet Papa or no? Critics interpreted
45:36
that as a crack about how Vance's white grandfather
45:40
might have reacted to his Indian American wife.
45:43
Republicans called the remark racist. Democrats,
45:46
I think actually I wouldn't call it racist. I'd
45:49
call it calling it like race sort of easy. I
45:54
don't know what you would call it like. This
45:57
was an attempt to attack someone else as racist,
46:01
right? Democrats supporting Said's opponent,
46:03
Mike Rogers, called it sexist. Said's campaign
46:08
didn't have much to say. Hours earlier, Said
46:11
had asserted harp into his feud with Trump. After
46:15
Trump attacked him for campaigning with Hassan
46:18
Piker, Said wrote, Natalie, I think he's had
46:21
a little too much iPad for the week. He needs
46:24
his rest. That jab played on Harp's role as an
46:28
aide who helps manage Trump's social media. It
46:31
also arrived amid tabloid speculation about their
46:34
relationship, not sexual, not sexual, not sexual,
46:37
adding gasoline to a cheap shot. Said can hit
46:40
back at Vance and Trump. They attacked him first
46:42
and politics has never been Sunday school. But
46:45
attacking the ladies standing beside your male
46:48
opponent is not necessarily a great move. I don't
46:52
like that part. I don't know about Harp, but
46:55
the First Lady, why are you even bringing her
47:00
up? Why? She just had a baby. I feel for her.
47:04
I get it. Why even bring up Usha? Why? Why drag
47:09
her into this, the Second Lady? I don't think
47:13
that's cool of him. That to me is like brown
47:17
on brown word violence. And I don't like it.
47:23
Well, Saeed is very butch, right? That's part
47:27
of his whole he's he's very bro -y. I don't really
47:30
like that aspect about him. I don't like that
47:32
either. But, you know, I mean. With the tight
47:35
t -shirts and the flex and he talks and points
47:37
like this. It doesn't do anything for me. I think
47:40
it's retarded, but. you know, obviously it's
47:43
easy for me to say since I don't have that like
47:45
super butch thing going on. He's got that millennial,
47:49
he's trying to, he's trying to give that millennial
47:52
BDE energy. Uh huh. The BDE. Ask him, ask him
47:57
if he would condemn Muhammad for consummating
47:59
a marriage of the nine year old girl. I mean,
48:03
seriously, if he's gonna go after JD Vance over
48:05
his grandfather, and I'm no fan of JD Vance.
48:09
then go ahead and make that shot. Go ahead and
48:10
take that shot. Go ahead. Yeah, well, it's also
48:12
true. You don't know anything about JD Vance's
48:15
grandfather. And it's sort of an assumption.
48:17
Like, oh, if you're a rural Kentuckian white
48:21
guy, you're by definition racist. And you don't
48:23
know that. You don't know anything about this
48:26
guy at all. My grandmother would not let Kizzy
48:28
into her house. So, I mean, there was real...
48:32
Okay, well, that would be an example where if
48:34
that shot were leveled at her, that would be
48:36
fair. But we don't know anything about this guy.
48:40
We don't know anything about Paw Paw Van. Well,
48:41
that's the point that I'm making. He might have
48:43
been a big liberal. He might have been like,
48:45
you know, a big friend of the Blacks, as they
48:48
say. Yeah, because Kizzee shouldn't have gone
48:52
in, so I wouldn't go in either. And after our
48:54
daughter was born, all was forgiven. And Kizzee
48:59
became the favorite Black person. Yeah, but it
49:03
took the birth of our daughter and make it happen.
49:05
So I mean, I have friends. If you're going to
49:07
play, if you're listening, Saeed, he's, he's
49:11
not doing himself any favors. I think it's a
49:13
bad look. I think what he was trying to think,
49:15
what he was thinking was like, well, you know,
49:18
uh, Saeed, he, like Vance was going after Saeed
49:21
and trying to uh smear him as some kind of radical
49:24
Islamist which is bullshit uh and that um you
49:28
know basically he's just trying to attack him
49:30
as a Muslim that's all it was it's cheap and
49:33
then uh you know like it's saying like oh my
49:35
papa wouldn't understand any of this it's like
49:37
well so then he's like oh let me think of a papa
49:39
and insult for you um You know, I mean, I personally
49:44
might have gone for, I don't know, how would
49:49
your papa have felt about you sucking the president's
49:51
dick? That would have been a little bit better.
49:55
JDZ, our chief scientist in here says, I don't
49:59
have much against El -Sayed, but I did see recently
50:02
he tweeted that he has a 300 something bench
50:07
and I have never been more skeptical of something
50:09
a politician said. He's saying he can bench three
50:13
I think that's yeah, I think that's bullshit.
50:16
Come on. Yeah, this is this is what I don't get
50:19
This is like like you said Ted. This is I don't
50:22
know where the Democratic Party is is going I
50:24
don't care DSA whatever it's all Democratic Party
50:27
and It's ultimately gonna come from the purse
50:30
strings from the DNC who? Who who said that this
50:35
is the direction we should go is the dudes should
50:38
become as like bro max as possible, right? Like,
50:42
oh, I'm benching 300 and I'm going to be a congressman.
50:47
Like, what? Like, no, dude, like, why? Why? Why?
50:52
Yeah, I don't I don't I just don't care for it.
50:55
So the Natalie Harp thing, I don't think is really
50:58
wrong. I think Natalie Harp thing is like, it's
51:01
like, look, he didn't. But he didn't insult Natalie.
51:04
He's kind of like taking his wife a little bit
51:07
at Usha and Papa. Yeah, but he did insult Natalie,
51:10
sort of. Well, he referred to her. He said, oh,
51:13
Natalie, he's had a little too much iPad. He
51:15
needs his rest. In other words, like, he's your
51:18
- That's not an insult to Natalie. No, it's also
51:20
not like, it's not feeding into the narrative
51:23
that she's having an affair with the president,
51:26
which a lot of people have been talking about.
51:28
She is, and she jokes, and she knows about this
51:30
nickname. Her nickname is the human printer.
51:33
Because she literally follows the president around
51:37
with a mobile printer printing out on paper giving
51:40
him like happy stories about him about himself
51:43
and prints things and she'll tweet as he you
51:46
know, he's Blabbering whatever she's gonna truth
51:49
it for him. So it's her thumbs like typing By
51:53
the way, I will say so you kind of really fucked
51:55
up today He issued a statement about Hassan piker
51:59
basically saying like look In so many words,
52:04
like, you know, everything that Hassan Piker
52:05
says is not something I necessarily believe.
52:08
He should not once, you know, in politics, when
52:11
you're playing defense, you are losing. He should
52:14
not burn Hassan Piker. He should, even if he
52:19
privately is pissed off with stuff that Hassan
52:21
says, he can have it out with Hassan, but he
52:23
should in public maintain a solidarity front.
52:27
That's what Trump does with his people. And that's
52:31
what everybody should do. Not a good look, not
52:34
a good look for him to take blows at the women.
52:36
You just said something that's factually untrue.
52:39
You just said Trump doesn't ever take shots at
52:41
his people. He is famous for burning his people
52:44
down. After he's done with them. I mean, he just...
52:48
Well, he was part of shitting on Janine Pirro
52:50
just recently, was shitting on Judge Janine and
52:52
then now she's in line. um that's true he didn't
52:55
he didn't shit on christy gnome even like until
52:58
he pushed her out he wasn't like she's fucking
53:00
wackadoo and dog killer like he didn't do any
53:02
of that so well he's reminded about people killing
53:05
or pam pam bondy he was nice about that no all
53:09
right you're fair that's fair i'm not saying
53:10
he's really loyal i'm saying that there's a percent
53:13
well and that by the way i'm just saying that's
53:14
a perception that like uh It's just like not
53:20
good to be seen throwing your ally under the
53:22
bus even if they deserve it Yeah, no, I I agree
53:26
with that. I don't care who you are. You you
53:28
do that behind closed doors All right, so Astrogen
53:36
may physically reshape the brain's memory center
53:38
estrogen does far more than regulate reproduction.
53:41
Oh who knew? New research suggests it may physically
53:45
change the brain's memory center as hormone levels
53:49
rise and fall. University of Delaware, I think
53:52
they have a library named after Joe Biden there,
53:55
researchers followed female rats, oh this is
53:59
right up JDC's alley, following female rats through
54:02
their four -day reproductive cycle using magnetic
54:05
resonance elastography or MRE. The specialized
54:11
MRI Sends tiny vibrations through the brain to
54:15
measure tissue stiffness and viscosity, meaning
54:19
how easily that tissue moves or changes shape.
54:22
Researchers focused on the hippocampus, the region
54:26
that helps form memories and retrieve information
54:28
and navigate familiar places. So when estrogen
54:32
levels drop sharply after ovulation, the hippocampal
54:36
tissue became nearly 40 % more viscous, think
54:39
less fluid and less flexible. The rest of the
54:43
brain showed no significant mechanical change,
54:46
suggesting estrogen's effects were concentrated
54:49
in this memory -critical region. To test whether
54:52
estrogen was actually responsible, researchers
54:56
administered fullvestrant, a drug that blocks
55:00
estrogen receptors. That stopped the normal cycle
55:03
of mechanical changes and kept hippocampal viscosity
55:07
elevated. Tissue analysis also revealed changes
55:11
in neurons, dendritic spines, and astrocytes.
55:16
Dendritic spines or maybe dendritic, dendritic
55:20
spines are tiny structures where neurons communicate.
55:24
Astrocytes are support cells that regulate synapses,
55:28
blood flow, and the brain's chemical environment.
55:31
In plain English, hormone changes appeared to
55:34
alter both the brain's wiring and the cellular
55:37
scaffolding supporting it. In real life, consider
55:40
a perimenopausal woman who suddenly struggles
55:43
to retrieve a familiar name. loses her train
55:46
of thought during a meeting or puts her phone
55:49
somewhere absurd. Researchers suspect erratic
55:52
estrogen loss could disrupt hippocampal mechanobiology,
55:57
possibly contributing to that so -called brain
56:00
fog, which I thought I had, Ted, but it turns
56:03
out I was pregnant. Thought I was perimenopausal.
56:07
Turns out it was the other thing. But keep the
56:10
brakes on. This was a small rat study. OK, so
56:14
not mice, the big, ugly rats involving eight
56:18
animals. And researchers did not test memory
56:20
or behavior. Rats do not menstruate either. The
56:24
study identifies... Wait, rats don't menstruate?
56:27
I guess not. I mean, that's a JDC question. I
56:31
don't know. The study identifies a plausible
56:36
biological mechanism, not proof that estrogen...
56:40
fluctuations cause forgetfulness in women, human
56:43
studies have to come next. If confirmed, MRE
56:46
might eventually give doctors objective evidence
56:49
for cognitive symptoms too often waved away as
56:52
ordinary stress or aging. So, I would say, Ted,
56:58
that's a good thing for women of a certain age
57:00
because So many from from my understanding of
57:05
my girlfriends who have gone through this Perry
57:09
and are currently our menopausal they say a lot
57:12
of The treatments are not Are not covered by
57:17
insurance because it's just considered, you know
57:20
parts of aging and whatever so more and more
57:23
we're starting to see that these We've branded
57:29
it, you know, perimenopause and menopause, like
57:31
just, oh, it's a part of aging and it's not a
57:34
health issue or a mental health issue or whatever.
57:37
So this kind of study I think is greatly needed.
57:40
So that way it can be pushed into the umbrella
57:45
of insurance for so many women because it can
57:48
really alter your life, like depending on how
57:52
your body reacts to that lack of estrogen. I
57:56
mean, like after I had the baby, I can't tell
57:58
if it was because obviously I'm going through
58:01
sleepless, I'm still going through sleepless
58:03
nights, but more so right after the baby was
58:06
born, those are like zero sleep. I wasn't sure
58:09
if it was because I had the severe estrogen and
58:12
hormonal drops. Like you drop by the thousand
58:15
fold. Like we're talking thousands in micrograms
58:18
in your blood. Or if it was the sleep or both
58:22
or whatever. And I wish there was a way to ease
58:28
that. And I feel like if this advances in study,
58:33
this could be a way to help a lot of women, not
58:36
only in the perimenopausal phase or the menopausal
58:39
phase, but postpartum phase. And I know you've
58:43
been itching to talk about this Lindsay Clancy
58:45
case, in which we can do another day. But for
58:48
someone like that, right? because of the crazy
58:51
drops in hormonal levels and whatever. I do want
58:54
to talk about that case a lot. I guess we do
58:57
need that study. Badly, badly, badly, badly.
59:02
We know a lot about erectile dysfunction, Ted.
59:05
Too much. Too much. So I would like for us to
59:09
know more about the mysteries being the female
59:12
body. We just don't know enough. So there you
59:15
go. Anything to add before we do the last topic?
59:18
No, that sounds good. You have it covered Since
59:24
I'm the only one with the maximum estrogen in
59:26
here you guys have it too. That's true. We don't
59:28
small amounts so Your brain may operate less
59:31
like a computer and more like an electrical jam
59:34
session. MIT neuroscientists propose that cognition
59:37
and consciousness emerge from traveling waves
59:40
of rhythmic neural activity. These waves sweep
59:45
across the cortex, recruiting groups of neurons
59:47
and performing analog computations as they intersect,
59:51
amplify, or cancel each other. In other words,
59:54
thinking may partly involve wave interference.
59:57
Trippi but grounded in electrophysiology. Traditional
1:00:02
neuroscience emphasizes circuits and synapses,
1:00:05
the connections that store memories, goals, and
1:00:08
learned information. But synapses cannot rewire
1:00:11
themselves every time you recognize a face or
1:00:14
remember why you went into the kitchen. The brain
1:00:16
needs something faster. Those are alpha, beta,
1:00:19
and gamma waves. Slower alpha and beta oscillations
1:00:23
appear to carry top -down info, including your
1:00:26
memories and goals. Faster gamma waves process
1:00:30
incoming sensory data. Traveling beta waves might
1:00:33
act as control patterns that determine where
1:00:36
gamma activity operates and which neural ensembles
1:00:39
join the party. Neurons frequently practice mixed
1:00:43
selectivity, meaning that one neuron can participate
1:00:46
in several networks depending on the task. Wave
1:00:49
dynamics may rapidly organize that free -for
1:00:51
-all through spatiotemporal computing controlling
1:00:55
activities across space and time. Researchers
1:00:58
also point to emphatic coupling in which electrical
1:01:02
fields generated by neural activity influence
1:01:05
nearby neurons without relying on synoptic transmission.
1:01:10
Consciousness, under this theory, appears when
1:01:13
traveling waves organize your cortex into a globally
1:01:17
integrated state. General anesthesia adds intrigue.
1:01:21
Drugs with different molecular actions all disrupt
1:01:25
large -scale wave organization as your consciousness
1:01:28
vanishes. So this is a theory. It's not a solution
1:01:32
to what constitutes consciousness. We still need
1:01:35
direct evidence that brain waves perform these
1:01:37
calculations. If this turns out to all be true,
1:01:42
this concept could influence treatments for just
1:01:45
things like disrupted neural coordination, including
1:01:48
autism. Because brainwaves can be manipulated
1:01:51
non -invasively, tomorrow's neurology may involve
1:01:54
simply retuning electrical rhythms rather than
1:01:58
medicating receptors. Don't we already have something
1:02:03
like the US military already has something like
1:02:06
created through DARPA that we used in Venezuela
1:02:10
that like sent like weird brainwaves to like
1:02:13
the Venezuelan soldiers or whatever. And they
1:02:15
started puking and like, I don't know. Yeah,
1:02:19
it does sound like our kind of thing. Yeah, that's
1:02:23
they there. You didn't hear about that. You need
1:02:25
to look at the reports. The fuller picture of
1:02:28
the Venezuelan accounts of what happened the
1:02:31
night that they kidnapped Nicolas Maduro. The
1:02:34
Venezuelan soldiers were saying something like
1:02:37
something weird came over them all at once and
1:02:40
their heads felt weird and and they were like
1:02:44
Lost some of them were puking some of them curled
1:02:47
up into like into fetal and were just something
1:02:51
was happening in their brains for a few Minutes
1:02:54
long enough for them to go snatch Maduro So there
1:02:57
was some weird brainwave thing and I believe
1:02:59
this is similar to what we tested on our own
1:03:02
people with the Havana syndrome thing that we
1:03:07
were trying to blame on Russia and we're trying
1:03:09
to blame on Cuba, but I think it's ours. You
1:03:13
don't think it was the cricket? It was crickets
1:03:16
chirping? Yeah, remember the chirping crickets
1:03:19
theory? Yeah, no. I think because the Venezuelan
1:03:24
soldiers said enough that it reminded me of Havana
1:03:29
syndrome, That I was like, oh we have some weird
1:03:33
brainwave Machine, I don't know how it's I don't
1:03:37
know how they deploy it like a sound thing or
1:03:41
but this article made me think of that because
1:03:44
if you can it says right there that you can manipulate
1:03:48
brainwaves without without physically going in
1:03:52
so how is it administered Like radiation is it
1:03:57
I don't know So, and by the way, JDC says that
1:04:03
rat or mouse studies, rodent studies are better
1:04:07
at showing us what will not work on humans than
1:04:12
what will work. So it's, I guess, like by way
1:04:16
of, so they probably, DARPA probably tested this
1:04:18
out on poor mice and rats too. This I don't know
1:04:27
if that's how you figure consciousness though
1:04:29
And this is this is where you can get philosophical
1:04:32
and I don't think we have time to get all philosophical
1:04:34
but I feel like human consciousness is more than
1:04:36
just like waves and synapses and neurons Because
1:04:45
there there are people that have survived TB
1:04:50
eyes and They come they recover and they are
1:04:57
different people completely. Take on different
1:05:00
personalities, different whatever. They could
1:05:03
become mean, they could become whatever. They
1:05:04
could be completely different people. And because
1:05:06
my mom had that TBI, I encountered some other
1:05:10
families that, you know, when I would take my
1:05:12
mom to rehab or whatever. There were other families
1:05:15
that shared stories with me. You're outside having
1:05:17
a cigarette and people are out there talking
1:05:19
and you share why you're there, who you're there
1:05:21
with, what's happening. And some people reported
1:05:24
to me that their loved one is not physically
1:05:29
unrecognizable, mentally unrecognizable, that
1:05:32
they're a completely different human being, like
1:05:35
completely different. Looking at them in the
1:05:37
eyes is different. So I don't know. I mean, is
1:05:42
consciousness who you are, you as a being, you
1:05:44
as Ted Raul, are you reduced to neurons, synapses,
1:05:49
and waves? Well, probably to some extent. Maybe.
1:05:53
Who knows? I don't know. But I think this is
1:05:56
like some crazy shit. And from what I learned
1:06:00
from my old friend, Mike Maloof, who was at the
1:06:04
DoD for like 40 years, he told me basically,
1:06:08
if we're hearing about Some whatever new device
1:06:13
new drone new whatever if we're hearing about
1:06:16
it in the press One it was deliberate for us
1:06:19
to hear about it. Even if it's a leak number
1:06:20
one and number two It means we've nearly perfected
1:06:25
the thing five ten years earlier already so So
1:06:31
the Havana syndrome thing that was you know,
1:06:34
we heard about it five years ago some something
1:06:36
like that five six seven years ago And now the
1:06:40
soldiers in Venezuela are saying they had weird
1:06:45
brain feels. And now we're seeing these studies
1:06:50
showing up saying, hey, we can change your, like,
1:06:57
cognitively who you are, or at least in a mouse.
1:07:00
So, Maniella, what are you going to do tomorrow?
1:07:04
What's tomorrow? Your birthday? Tomorrow is my
1:07:07
birthday, but that's not what I meant. I just
1:07:09
meant what are we going to do for the show? You
1:07:12
know, like, I'm dying to, we have so many good
1:07:15
stories to go. I mean, like, all the ones I put
1:07:18
into the feed, right? Like the Alzheimer's one.
1:07:22
I put them up. We can do that. We'll do that.
1:07:24
Well, I've lost track of it. Or the Hotel Bait
1:07:27
and Switch. I love that one. I need to read that.
1:07:31
Weird Wednesday? Yeah. Well, Hotel Bait and Switch
1:07:34
is good. Yeah, well tomorrow's Wednesday so we
1:07:37
can be oh and what about how DN Oh, what about
1:07:39
the fraudulent DNA tests? What are you talking
1:07:45
about I put it in the list in the thing like
1:07:47
about this guy who was Basically, it turns out
1:07:50
that the medical examiner's office in New York
1:07:53
and probably other places They convicted people
1:07:56
they they faked DNA test results to send people
1:08:00
to prison So you're charged with attempted rape
1:08:05
and you are, and they basically, they're like,
1:08:11
the jury's like told. They're striping DNA. Well,
1:08:13
we know that it was him because his DNA is a
1:08:16
perfect match. And it turns out to be a lie.
1:08:20
The lab lied. The medical examiner's office lied.
1:08:23
You're saying white lab coat people are less
1:08:26
than honest? I'm saying, yeah, I'm just, well,
1:08:29
I mean, come on. Like, if I were on a jury and
1:08:32
I was told by a prosecutor, come on, the DNA
1:08:35
matches, I'd be like, the fucker's guilty, you
1:08:38
know? And it's like, because it's science. And
1:08:40
it's like, well, apparently, the science can
1:08:43
be lied about. I need to search for it in the
1:08:46
group chat. So it's in the group chat from yesterday.
1:08:49
There you go, Ted. It's Ted's birthday. I'm going
1:08:51
to let Ted decide what stories he wants to cover.
1:08:54
OK, well, the only thing you should ever have
1:08:56
absolute faith in is religion. That's it. That's
1:09:00
hilarious. I only know for sure death and taxes.
1:09:07
That's it. So there you go. All right. That does
1:09:11
it. Join us tomorrow for Ted's birthday. The
1:09:15
Apple computer doesn't pay taxes. Sir Bike Slot,
1:09:18
thank you for the dollar. Save the Clancy story
1:09:22
for Weird Wednesday, please. Yeah, well, we're
1:09:25
waiting to see if she gets convicted, right?
1:09:28
So well, it's not a weird It's not a I mean,
1:09:31
first of all, she's going to be convicted and
1:09:33
she ought not to be Why? Oh, oh no, we're not
1:09:37
talking about this now Because she because she
1:09:39
was crazy Gotta go gotta go. We're not nope We
1:09:43
gotta wait for the thing wait for the judge the
1:09:46
jury. Oh, yeah, they're gonna fuck up So we'll
1:09:48
see we will see tomorrow. It is it is Ted, Ted's
1:09:55
stories for Ted's birthday. Manana. Join us tomorrow.
1:10:01
Bye, thanks everybody. Adios.