Latest / The Stan R. Mitchell Show / The latest podcast episode of The View from the Front. This is the 5-9-24 edition.

Transcript

The latest podcast episode of The View from the Front. This is the 5-9-24 edition. · The Stan R. Mitchell Show

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: What is going on, guys?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hope everyone is doing great out there.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for joining us.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm honored that you're here.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: So a few things before we get into the news this week.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: First,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I've got to say up front,
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: and you probably hear it right now,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: we are in East Tennessee right now experiencing some major thunderstorms and even
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: threats of a possible tornado.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: So you're going to hear lots of thunder and lightning.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: I guess you can't hear lightning, but...
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: There will be flashes in my room that I see, and you will hear thunder.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So there's nothing I can do about that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I apologize, but I guess in this week's episode, it was meant for you to hear thunder.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, you probably just heard some right then.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to mention that to begin with.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Also, just a reminder, I have timestamps throughout the episode.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't want to hear about a certain country,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: whether it's China or Russia or whatever,
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: or if you want to skip forward,
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: you can do that.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't care about any of that stuff and you just want to get to the
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: motivation section or to the section where we talk about Medal of Honor winners,
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: you can do that as well.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just look at the timestamps.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: I put those there for your convenience so you can...
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Quickly find what you want to get to.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one quick administrative note from two weeks ago.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I made one mistake that a very wise listener pointed out to me,
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: and I didn't receive in time permission to use this person's name,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: but it's a 20-plus year veteran of the military who
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: who is an officer and a pretty highly ranked officer.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm honored to have this person listening and actually supporting the show.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's a paid subscriber.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: But he did mention that two weeks ago,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I shared an announcement from CENTCOM in a news bulletin about Haiti,
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: which CENTCOM,
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: which stands for Central Command and is mostly covering the Middle East,
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: had shared this message about Haiti,
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: and it was about the airlift into Haiti,
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: and,
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: when I recorded that,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: You have so many notes out,
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: and you're jumping from subject to subject,
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: and you're worried about everything from the time to...
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are you speaking clearly and loud enough to be heard on the speaker?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: But at the time, I thought it was a little odd that CENTCOM put that message out, but I'm like...
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they go over to Haiti, but who knows?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's part of they've been expanded, but I failed to research that.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I was,
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very thankful that this Lieutenant Colonel called it and he messaged me and said,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: hey,
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: just so you know,
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Haiti is actually in South Comm or Southern Command.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And Centcom or Central Command had just shared that message.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a boo-boo or mistake on my part.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I apologize for getting that wrong.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely want to get everything as accurate and correct as possible.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I try my best not to make mistakes.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think I make very many.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if you ever catch me making one, definitely reach out to me.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: I want to correct the record for sure.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: one other thing I wanted to share before we get to the news is I wanted to share
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: something one of my friends is doing because I think it might help you.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so this friend of mine is super conservative.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I, of course, have super conservative friends and super liberal friends.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: I somehow maintain that.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: A balanced relationship with all of them, mainly because I do not talk politics.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And almost every one of them thinks I'm either super left or super right because I
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: just basically don't disagree with people that are my friends.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I try not to talk politics.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But in this case, one of my super conservative friends...
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: who also attends my church,
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: decided about four weeks ago that he was going to do less Facebook and also turn
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: off all alerts for Fox News.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Basically stop watching it so much.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's been doing that and he was
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: kind of gave us an update this past week,
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: and we talked about how much less stressed he was and how he was more calm,
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: and we were kind of all laughing,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: and I said,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: a lot of the cable channels and some of the talk radio,
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: wherever you,
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: podcasts,
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: all of them,
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: many of them,
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: they solely seem focused on
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: just trying to get your blood pressure up so that you will tell others about the show.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so I try to do the exact opposite of that.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: But as we were talking,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: the thought struck me that,
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: honestly,
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: is there anyone out there,
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: anyone,
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: other than just a few people that don't pay any attention,
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: but is there anyone who doesn't already know who they're going to vote for in
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: November right now?
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, is there anyone out there?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: That number is, like, minuscule.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone knows there's nothing I could say that would change your mind on who you're voting for.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I guarantee you there's nothing you could say to me that would change my mind on who I'm voting for.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so, really...
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: From like who we're voting for in a November perspective,
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: we could all go into comas for the next four or five months,
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: keep up with no news,
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: and it would not matter.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're not changing who we're voting for.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so why do we get so many alerts?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we get so wrapped around the axle on all of this news stuff?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can have too much.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so I thought I would just share that because I thought,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: that was a great...
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think what my friend's doing,
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: and I've seen the change,
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: but it's a wise thing.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Less Fox News.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you're on the left,
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: less of MSNBC or whatever channel you listen to that you really use to just keep
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: you informed,
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: but it's,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: you're watching a lot of it and it's really making you angry.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Let's try a little less.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think you'll be a little more happier.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: you can always tell your friends about this show and say,
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: man,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: that guy Stan,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: like I listen to him and he makes me calmer.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't hop things up.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: He always makes me a little more relaxed because that's what I want to try to do.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've been covering the news for a long time,
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: and we all know whether it's bird flu to Y2K to whatever,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: most of the time the media overhops things because they need ad dollars,
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: they need eyeballs.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And they have to scare you a little bit, so you'll stay tuned through that next section.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think that's not good.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: We live in the largest, most prosperous, and safest country in the world.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So why we are always so uptight is beyond me.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: But it's probably in large part because of the media.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I am a prior journalist.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I guess in some ways I still am, but...
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's an important role.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love the protections that we have.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be informed.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have to be responsible citizens.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It plays an important role as a check on government.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is necessary,
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: but it is not required that you keep up with it 10,
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: 15,
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: or 20 hours per week and have it ruining your life.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is not necessary.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know who you're voting for in November.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing's going to change your mind.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be so tuned in.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's my big tip for the week.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to begin the news this week focusing on China.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm fully aware that a U.S.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: soldier was captured inside Russia, and that is pretty big news.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is the threat from China is just much larger.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: It just looms over everything.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so,
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to ease into this topic this week by sharing just a short interview from
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: an analyst who just finished a book on China,
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: in fact.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: But he talks about how he expects China to potentially invade by 2028,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: which,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: reinforces what U.S.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: intelligence estimates are saying.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: And he explains why that might be the case.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And just as importantly...
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: He explains why China is losing incentive to not invade Taiwan since investment from U.S.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: and European countries is starting to dwindle greatly year by year,
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: which long-time listeners of the show know that I've always talked about that
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: hopefully for economic reasons,
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: China avoids taking a path that none of us want to see them do.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to share an interview or a brief part of an interview that Andrea
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Mitchell did on MSNBC with this author who just finished a book.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's a national security analyst.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: He just finished a book called World on the Brink.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to hear what he says about the situation.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then after that,
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: as part of that interview,
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: she does a very short segment with retired Admiral Stravitas,
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: which is also very good.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So take a listen to this.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a few minutes long.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think you'll get a lot from it.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: TikTok is now suing the U.S.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: government to block a potential ban if the Chinese-owned social media giant does
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: not sell off its ownership.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_03: Experts say that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security,
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: possibly giving China a platform to even interfere in this fall's presidential
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: election as tensions between the two nations continue to grow.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: And here with me to discuss all of this are two experts, but first, Dimitri Alperovitch,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: Chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator,
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: a national security think tank,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: and a friend,
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: but I'm talking too quickly.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: He is the co-author of the new book,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_03: World on the Brink,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: A terrific read.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: And also with us,
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: NBC News Chief International Analyst for NATO Supreme Allied Commander,
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Admiral James DeVries.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: So, Dimitri, first to you.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: You say that China is likely to invade.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_03: Before 2028.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: And the CIA has been saying within the next five years.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_03: So that's essentially the same assessment.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: What can be done to stop that?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_03: Are we doing the right things with the administration trying to bring together
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: allies in new and creative ways in the South Pacific?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, great question, Andrea.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think the danger zone is really 2028 through 2032.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Xi's going to be 79 in 32, may not win the reelection.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to accomplish this on his own watch.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to do everything in our power to deter this conflict.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: A war with China would be disastrous,
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: of course,
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: and lives lost,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: but also to the global economy,
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: perhaps as much as $10 trillion wiped out.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: We have to use both military measures and economic measures to extract as much
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: leverage over China as possible to deter them from going after Taiwan.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_03: The administration has tried so hard to reestablish relations after the real
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_03: blow-up over the balloon,
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: no pun intended,
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: two years ago.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: So what do you—or a year ago, excuse me—
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: How do you see this going?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because Secretary Blinken was just in China the week before last.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Didn't get a whole lot of pickup on his complaints that without China and North Korea.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: helping russia in ukraine not crossing a red american line by delivering weapons
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: but money all kinds of dual use components without china russia would not be
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: pushing back as effectively as it is against ukraine because of ukraine not having
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: months and months of u.s weaponry
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: we have so many problems,
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: certainly support for Russia,
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: but also fentanyl,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: of course,
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: the devastation in this country,
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: but also overcapacity that the U.S.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: government is complaining about,
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: dumping Chinese products in our markets,
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: trying to destroy our economic advantage.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the reality is the Chinese are not playing ball on any of these fronts.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he got a very frosty reception, Secretary Blinken, in Beijing.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this repression that started last year is coming to an end because China realizes –
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Foreign direct investment is not coming back to the country.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: U.S.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: companies are pulling out more and more.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's down 20% year over year.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think they're asking, frankly, rightly, what's in it for us.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: And at the same time, President Xi is now on his first visit in five years to Europe.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: And looking to Europe, a huge market for China.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: Macron and the rest of the leaders there, the EU leaders, want that Chinese commerce.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: But at the same time, they've got a war in Europe.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: And they see also China's support for Vladimir Putin as being, you know, a game changer, right?
• 13:50
  Yeah.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: Indeed.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And in the course of this visit,
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: Xi is very strategically going after France,
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: which occasionally has tendencies to stand a bit aside or a bit outside of the alliance.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_02: President Macron several years ago famously said NATO is brain dead.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: That was before the invasion of Ukraine.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_02: But Xi will go and see Macron, then he'll
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: kind of go to someone outside the alliance,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: Serbia,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: led by a man named Vukic,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: who is very closely aligned with Russia.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And then he'll go to Hungary, to Budapest, to the NATO member who is the closest to Russia.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: So to Dmitry's point of how is China playing this, they are trying to draw closer and closer to Russia.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: They don't want to trigger sanctions.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's why they're providing, you know, kind of dual use components.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's fooling many people.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's going to be a real increasing state of tension between the U.S.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: and China going forward, especially in this election year.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: So clearly we live in interesting times and we will probably be living in
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: interesting times for the next four to five years,
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: unfortunately.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Of course,
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: in many ways,
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: the analyst had mentioned that foreign investment was down 20% year over year,
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: and that is partly because China,
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: under Xi Jinping,
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: is acting like a reckless,
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: spoiled child who doesn't listen to his parents.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: They've been doing these crazy military maneuvers all
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: all around Taiwan the past six to nine months.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: They flew a spy balloon over the United States.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: Their Coast Guard is firing water cannons and injuring sailors who are in the Philippines,
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: which,
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: by the way,
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: is a treaty nation with the United States.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: They've also been cracking down in Hong Kong,
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: which hasn't made the news for a while,
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: but you know a year or two ago that was big news.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: government,
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: such as China,
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: acts that way,
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: when they crack down on citizens and companies,
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: when you do these kinds of things,
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: then,
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: yes,
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Western and U.S.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: companies are not going to want to invest or expand in your country.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: So this is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: In a moment, I'm going to share two ways this is already starting to backfire against China.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: But before I do, I want to mention, in the episode notes is an incredible map.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of the best I've seen.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that's why I wanted to share it with you guys.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: That really does a good job of showing you exactly where China is compared to Taiwan,
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: compared to the Philippines,
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: compared to South Korea and Japan.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it'll give you a good understanding of just how close these countries are.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny,
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: because when I've looked at maps of Japan to China,
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: as you know,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Japan is building up its military,
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: they seem so far away.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: But when you look at this map and you see the distance from China to the
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Philippines and you compare it to China to Japan,
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: you realize that Japan is about the same distance as the Philippines is.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are a lot of countries,
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: including Vietnam,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: that have a lot of interest in working together against China because China is
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: acting like such a bully in the Pacific.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I mentioned earlier I was going to discuss two ways this is affecting China.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: But glancing at my notes, there's really three.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: And these are three things that have all happened within the past week or two.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to talk about how Japan is rapidly expanding its budget or how all of
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: these countries are creating jobs.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: increasingly organized alliances to operate together as naval powers to counter
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: china there's so many broader points i could make but i just wanted to point out
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: recent news within the past week or two two-ish on one of them that the world is
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: quickly coming together and china's actions are
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: as part of the self-fulfilling prophecy,
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: are starting to create reactions from other countries throughout the world.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: The first one is that Australia has announced that they are going to increase the
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: size of their defense budget.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it was already going to go up some, but they announced they're dropping another $50
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: billion Australia dollars, which is 32 billion US dollars.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, this is no small amount of money.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know what size aid package we sent to Ukraine,
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: although technically much of it stayed in the United States,
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: but that was about 60 billion US dollars.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Australia is dropping 32 billion US dollars in addition to what it had already planned.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: So they're taking their defense budget from 2.1% of their GDP gross domestic product to 2.4%.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a pretty good little rise.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Especially to be announced in such a short time period.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like a 10 year plan or anything.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: This was, hey, we're seeing things happen.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to get more serious.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they were already starting to get serious, but they announced we got to get more serious faster.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's the first thing.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing is the US Navy announced that it had sent another destroyer through the Taiwan Strait.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: This was the USS Halsey.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: It literally went through or is going through
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: as we speak, basically.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's a photo from May 8th, which is Wednesday, when I'm recording this.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: But what's interesting about that is this is the third time that we've sent U.S.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: naval ships through that strait this year.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's starting to speed up how often we're sending them through.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: But the U.S.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: is making very clear that this isn't just aimed at Taiwan.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I like how they word this.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: The Navy says,
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: The ships transited through a corridor in the strait that is beyond the territorial
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: sea of any coastal state.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Halsey's transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the United States'
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: commitment to upholding freedom of navigation for all nations as a principle.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: giving up their rights and freedoms.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I like how they said that.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like a reminder to everyone that no one's going to get by with this.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're stopping these 100-plus years of countries pushing other countries around.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, no, the lines are drawn.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's got to hold up.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so I know some people scoff at it and call it the new international order or
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: whatever they want to call it.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is we've spent...
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: a couple hundred years seeing what happens when countries just invade and attack and defend.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so there are a lot of countries,
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: including the U.S.,
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: but a lot of countries in Europe and the West that want to just remind China that
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: we've had a good run of several decades of peace and expansionist ideas are not in
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: anyone's interest.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the U.S.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Navy just did a nice show of force.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: The third thing I want to mention is actually the biggest one of all.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: It has now been acknowledged by Taiwan that the U.S.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: has responded,
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: probably to the balloon incident and some of the other aggressive actions by China,
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: because this goes back to about March,
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: so we're a couple of months back.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: But Taiwan acknowledged the presence of U.S.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Army Special Forces troops
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: on some islands that U.S.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: forces have never deployed to.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Special forces deployed to a tiny island that's held by Taiwan that is three miles from China.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: We sent troops three miles from China.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: This breaks a 70-year precedent.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: 70 years.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: This hadn't been done in 70 years.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting because sometimes I am as hard on President Biden as anyone
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: else because it often appears that he could stand stronger.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a talking point on the right side.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm telling you, putting U.S.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: troops three miles from China and breaking a 70-year precedent is pretty gutsy.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care whether you're left or right or whatever, that is...
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: That even makes me a little nervous.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'm getting a little old or something,
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: but when you start breaking precedents like that,
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: that's a pretty big deal.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put lots of links into this story because I had to make sure that this was
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: nailed down,
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: but it's been written about in the Wall Street Journal.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: The Hoover Institute's talked about it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was reported on in Newsweek and several other places, including the Hudson Institute.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it was also in the Telegraph.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was in Asian Times.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is like pretty well nailed down, and that's a pretty big deal.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: So as China is acting the way it is, they are starting to encounter issues
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: increasing resistance and also,
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: when things like this happen in places like China where they try to control the media,
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: they try to control the narrative,
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: their aggression has led to U.S.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: troops being placed three miles from their homeland.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: Three miles.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's nothing.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many weapon systems that can hit that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's unbelievable, really.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, three miles from their
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the U.S.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: Department of Defense says it is not a permanent assignment,
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: but still,
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: it is a shot across the bow,
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: I would say.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do you agree with that?
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: Do you disagree?
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: I want to know, but that is a pretty bold move.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I see it.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think I'm alone because the Hudson Institute...
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: called it a monumental shift in U.S.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: military and foreign policy posture.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay,
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: so let's move from China to a story that I really don't even want to cover,
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: and I want to cover this as delicately as possible,
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: but as you probably heard in the news,
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: a U.S.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: soldier has been detained inside of Russia.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: So how did this happen?
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Washington Post and many other media outlets are saying that Army Staff
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sergeant Gordon Black,
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: who is 34,
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: met a Russian woman while stationed in South Korea,
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: and then he followed her to Russia without notifying his commanders.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: You can see lots of video of him with this girlfriend.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently Black is currently married but going through a divorce and so he had met
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: this girl from Russia,
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: had a girlfriend.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: They had broken up, she had returned to Russia and he went there to try to get her back.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was on leave and was supposed to be returning to an army base in Texas,
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: but instead he traveled to Russia to try to get his girlfriend back,
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: and he was arrested there.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: The military says he was not authorized to travel to Russia, nor did he ask permission.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: As you guys can probably guess,
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: social media has been brutal making fun of him for falling for this,
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: but...
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, on the one hand, I get it.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: You are often warned by the military to be cautious of women who are attracted to you.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know they used to tell us every time we were overseas,
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: whether it was in various countries in Europe when I was doing a Mediterranean float,
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: what we call a med float,
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: or when I was in Okinawa or South Korea.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: No matter which platoon sergeant I had at the time,
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: they would always say,
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: hey guys,
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: none of y'all are good looking.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: If an attractive woman comes up and starts flirting with you or talking with you or
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: any of that,
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: half of you guys couldn't even get girlfriends in high school.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you should know they are interested in one thing and it's not whether you are attractive or not.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: They are interested in you because you are military,
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: and because they are trying to get information on either your unit,
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: or on you,
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: or something they should not have.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, you should be very cautious.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so you'll see lots of comments on social media, really, that are just brutal, but...
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that,
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: no question,
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: he's made a horrific mistake,
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: and it's going to hit him soon if it hasn't already.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Without question, he's in deep trouble now.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: He will be if he's ever returned to the U.S.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: with his own command and with the military.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is,
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: is at some point,
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: it's going to hit him that he has made this unbelievably big mistake.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he's going to be scared and isolated and... You know, I know it's a tough message to deliver, but...
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: He is going to be deserving of our love and forgiveness.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to ask people to try to be kind.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: We all make mistakes.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the reality is,
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: is this is an American soldier who is now inside Russia,
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: inside a Russian jail,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: which is probably the last place any of us want to be.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So let's just think about that and try to be kind.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, there's still going to be a lot.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to cover some Ukraine news.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to cover some U.S.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: history, actually.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: I bet there's an incident that involved the loss of 176 sailors.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: That happened in the 50s during peacetime.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Which you probably don't know about.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to briefly cover that.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'll also have our segment on motivation.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And honoring Medal of Honor recipients.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: So lots of good stuff to come if you'll hang with me.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Medal of Honor
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you're enjoying the show so far.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't figured out the format of the show or what I'm about, let me just briefly explain it.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: Every week I do three things.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: First, I cover defense news and hot spots happening around the world that could affect our country.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly,
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I work to unite the nation and make you feel better and more optimistic about the
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: country's future.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally,
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: at the end of each episode,
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I share some motivation and inspiration because we all can use a little of that.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I also, during that section of the show, recognize a Medal of Honor recipient.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoy the show, you can help support it.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: As you know, we have no sponsors or commercials.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: But for $5 per month, you can help me grow this into something bigger.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: I will be completely honest and transparent here.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: I work a full-time job that I actually do enjoy, but I feel almost compelled to do this.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like we need to unify this country.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like there are people that need some optimism, some motivation, some inspiration.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I feel like there are some people who need God.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to push that too much, but I also don't want to shy away from that.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: The honest truth is, when I'm not working or spending time with my family, I feel drawn to do this.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would love in a perfect world to devote myself to this full time.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: But there's absolutely no pressure.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to continue doing this, whether there are a ton of supporters or not, just in my free time.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: So if you would like to grow this into something better,
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: if you would like to support,
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: if you think what I'm doing is important,
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: you would like to see this effort flourish,
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: then definitely sign up.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I could make these better with more time and with better quality and more preparation.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps I can reach more people.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: So there you have it.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: We are in a public square.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am performing as best I can with the instrument that I have and with the amount
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: of time that I've been able to devote to this.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there is a bucket sitting in front of me.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to throw a few dollars in, that would be awesome.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't, I will be here next week performing again.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: All the details for how to do this are in the episode notes on my Substack page,
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: or you can also do so through Patreon.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move to some news about Russia.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: As you probably did not hear,
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: because it really didn't make the news,
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: but Vladimir Putin was inaugurated this past week for his fifth term as Russian president.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he was elected as part of a rigged election, including arresting opponents.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: But out of fairness to him, I will read the quotes he had to say since he did talk about the West.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what Vladimir Putin had to say.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I lied.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to read it because his comments are so absurd, so false, and just so inflammatory.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just not going to read them because...
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: If you heard them, you might say, well, maybe we should just like negotiate with him.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a man who invades countries,
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: bombs cities with civilian targets,
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: bombs infrastructure,
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: has his military abduct kids to be reeducated,
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: allows his soldiers with no punishment to rape women and torture prisoners.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not reading his statement at all.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: if you have any issues with this,
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: you can talk to my management team,
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: which,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: oh,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: that's right,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have a management team.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: See, this is great.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: This is why it's great not to work for corporate media, because I can set the rules.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to send me a long email, you can send it.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: I will probably scan it and probably delete it, because I feel pretty strongly about this.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do need to move from here to one bit of late-breaking news involving the House.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is political news in the U.S.,
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_00: so I'm talking about the House of Representatives,
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm covering this because it's hopefully a sign of some good news to come.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: As you will have heard by tomorrow,
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Marjorie Taylor Greene called the vote to try to oust and remove Speaker Mike Johnson,
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: a fellow Republican.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: So she called the vote on that,
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: has been talking about doing that for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks because
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: of Ukraine and whatever reasons she has.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Interestingly, she was smacked down hard.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, on the vote...
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: 11 Republicans supported the move,
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: while 196 Republicans voted to keep Johnson in the Speaker's slot,
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: joining him.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: was a ton of Democrats,
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: 163 that voted to keep him there,
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: 32 against,
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: so the overall vote was 359 to 43,
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: with seven Democratic lawmakers voting present.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, 359 to 43, a loud, resounding vote of support for Speaker Mike Johnson.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: And he said after that vote that he appreciated the overwhelming show of confidence to,
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: quote,
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: "...defeat this misguided effort."
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: He added, "...hopefully this is the end of the personality politics."
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: and the frivolous character assassination that has defined the 118th Congress.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's regrettable.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not who we are as Americans, and we're better than this.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: We need to get beyond it.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I completely agree with that statement, for sure.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, I'm hoping that the smackdown that she endured is a lesson, and I'm not just totally
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: Putting this on her, I don't like extremists on either wing of either party.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know sometimes you have to have folks who advance certain things by being an
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: outlier or being way out of the norm.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: And certainly she's one of those for the Republicans.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: I can name some for the Democrats.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: But there has been too much of that and not enough getting done.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: And politics is about compromise and getting as much as you can,
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: but ultimately moving the ball forward some on whatever issue you care about.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't always get what you want.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: So if this is a step toward more normalization and having these extremists on both
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: sides finally put in their place,
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: then I am all for it.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm counting this as good news.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: And while you or myself or whomever may not be the biggest fan of Speaker Mike Johnson,
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: it probably would not have been good for our country to have endured probably two
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: to three weeks or so of votes trying to find another speaker.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, the House of Representatives right now is almost exactly split, dead even.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: I think Republicans currently have a one vote margin, so
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: It would have been an ugly speaker race to try to find a replacement for him,
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: so we'll keep him there and hopefully get a little bit more done before politics
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: and the upcoming election just grinds everything to a total halt.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: Let's move from U.S.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: news to a couple of Ukraine stories.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe three, actually.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: But the first one is, Ukraine has announced that it arrested two colonels.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now, colonels are pretty high rank.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's just below general.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: Two colonels who were part of a plot to kill President Zelenskyy.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a little bit on this in the episode notes,
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: but essentially these folks were recruited by the Russians' security service,
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: the FSB,
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: which is kind of what the KGB used to be before they rebranded it.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: But they recruited these two gentlemen?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Again,
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: these were high-ranking officers,
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: colonels,
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: and they were in the security element that was in the agency responsible for
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: protecting senior government leaders.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, not sure how close they got, but that is really high up.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so these two folks were arrested.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: They had planned to assassinate him as a gift to Russia as a part of Vladimir
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Putin's inauguration,
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: which I just mentioned a few minutes ago,
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: but...
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_00: Thank goodness these individuals, assuming they were guilty, were stopped.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they will be charged and face trial now.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: But assuming they are guilty, as is alleged, they will get their day in court.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm glad they were stopped for sure.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I should say that for the moment,
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: at least,
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: they have not been named and their faces were blacked out in photos.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I have two more Ukraine news stories that are not that great, unfortunately.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: First one is that Ukraine has ordered a nationwide electricity rationing situation
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: after Russia launched just a brutal...
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: bombing campaign on Tuesday and unfortunately knocked out some power plants and
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: part of the electrical grid and so unfortunately this is partly from the delay from
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: the US not getting aid there in time but for the moment there will be nationwide
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: rationing they're going to evenly distribute the rationing
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it will typically have some blackouts or brownouts from between 6 p.m.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: and 11 p.m.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: according to the state energy provider.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really hoping that we get more air defense there soon.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there are even some additional European countries that are talking about
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: sending Patriot units and other air defense because it is very clear that Ukraine
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: needs more to protect its electrical grid before a much worse catastrophe unfolds.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_00: In other not-so-great news for Ukraine,
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: Russia has announced and shown video of a train system that is now in place inside
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: occupied Ukraine,
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: which will basically circumvent the entire Russian territory.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll be able to move logistics and all.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_00: much easier, other than just using the bridge across the Black Sea into Crimea.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: They will now have a train.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Of course,
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: trains are how Russia mostly uses,
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: or is mostly used by Russia to move its logistics,
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: so this is not great news for Ukraine,
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: that Russia will now be able to more easily move ammunition,
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: vehicles,
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: troops,
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: etc.,
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_00: i'm sure this train system that set up these tracks will be a target but they'll be
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: pretty easily to be replaced and it's a very long target so this is not the best
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: news for ukraine for sure
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: One other news story I want to mention before we do a brief thing on some history
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: and then get to the motivation and the Medal of Honor stuff is I'm putting in the
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: episode notes a thread that if you want to read,
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: there have been some serious protests and some unrest in Georgia,
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: which is obviously a country in Europe.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about the southern United States.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: But there have been some pretty ugly and massive protests in Georgia recently.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: as their government is basically leaning toward Russia,
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: and a lot of the people want to be toward Europe,
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: and toward the West,
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_00: and toward the EU.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing happened in Ukraine during the protests back in,
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: I believe it was 2014 or 2012,
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: the maiden protests that turned into basically civil war,
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: and eventually led to Russia invading Ukraine.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing is kind of starting to brew inside Georgia as the government is
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: increasingly leaning toward Moscow and Putin,
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: and the people do not want it.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: And as they pass more aggressive laws that are really quite frightening if you live there,
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: the people are not happy about it.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got a thread in the episode notes.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to get into it tonight, but...
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: They're increasingly turning ugly, what's happening there.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: So something to keep your eye on or your ear toward, or you can go read a little bit more about it.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've got the link, again, in the episode notes.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: OK,
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: I want to try something new this week that I think I'm going to do from here on out,
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: which is every week I'm going to try to share some U.S.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: history you've probably never heard of or that most people have forgotten.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this week I wanted to talk about there was a U.S.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_00: ship crash that you have probably never heard of.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: And in 1952.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: During peacetime,
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: the USS Wasp collided with,
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: which was of course an aircraft carrier,
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: collided with a destroyer while conducting night flying operations.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: So this huge aircraft carrier, probably moving at pretty good speed, ran into a much smaller destroyer.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: The carrier lost 75 foot of its front wing.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: or its bow while the destroyer was split in two and went down with a hundred and
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: seventy-six men so just like that almost a hundred and eighty men died in what was
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: the greatest loss of life on a navy ship since world war two
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll bet you had never heard of this.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: Again,
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: this was the USS Wasp,
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: an aircraft carrier collided with a destroyer,
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: cut it in half,
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: 180 men gone.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Greatest loss of life on a Navy ship since World War II.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm bringing this up partly because I just want us to remember that.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_00: the unbelievable sacrifice of so many men and women who have served this country
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: that we just have forgotten about or take for granted these days.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: One crazy footnote,
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: and of course,
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: you can go to the episode notes to see what this carrier looked like when it's
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_00: missing 75 feet of the bow,
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: the part that's in the water.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they sealed off the parts in front of that,
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: but I don't even know how it didn't take just a ton of water in,
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: but...
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: The U.S.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: Navy actually repaired that in a New Jersey shipyard in a record 10 days.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: They took another bow section from her sister ship, the USS Hornet, and fixed it in 10 days.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think that would happen today?
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so, but, I mean, that is just impressive, but...
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a loss of life.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: And they were transiting toward the Mediterranean.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: Peace time, like I said, just a horrible, horrible tragedy that happened during training.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, let's get to the best part of the show.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: I call this the Never Ever Give Up segment.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I call it the Never Ever Give Up segment because we must never ever give up as a country.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: Though we face great division,
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: a massive debt burden,
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: and probably future problems that none of us could even predict.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: But we must never give up as a country.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe we must stay united.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: And also, as individuals, we must never, ever give up.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: We've got family and friends counting on us.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: So in this section, I'm going to share some motivation to help encourage you.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to begin by honoring a Medal of Honor recipient.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't know,
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: the Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration you can possibly earn in the military.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's awarded to service members who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: The medal is typically awarded by the President of the United States upon the
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: recommendation of the armed services.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: One final footnote before I read this week's.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: As I said when I first began this back in April,
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: I am just going in alphabetical order because I could not possibly decide which
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: wars to begin with,
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: which services,
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: etc.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: And since there's more than 3,000 of these countries,
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was just too much, so I'm just going very simplistic alphabetical order.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: As a reminder, last week we honored Benny Adkins.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_00: He was a Sergeant First Class who served in the U.S.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: Army during the Vietnam War and moving along from there in alphabetical order.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: The first one I want to do this week is Joseph Adkinson.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: He served in World War I in the U.S.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: Army alone.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_00: and where this was an earlier citation in our military history it's a very brief
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: one it's about one paragraph but i will read that now sergeant joseph atkinson was
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: involved in an attack by his unit i'm quoting now when murderous machine gun fire
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: at a range of 50 yards made it impossible for his platoon to advance
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: and had caused the platoon to take cover.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sergeant Atkinson,
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: acting alone,
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: with the greatest amount of courage,
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_00: rushed across 50 yards of open ground,
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: directly into the face of the hostile machine gun.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_00: He kicked the gun from the parapet, which is a trench.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: Again, he kicked the gun from the trench into the enemy's defensive fortifications.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: And at the point of the bayonet from his rifle,
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Sergeant Atkinson captured the three men manning the gun.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: The courage and quick decision of this soldier enabled the platoon to resume its advance.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's pretty crazy there, is it not?
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: Running forward at a machine gun.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you recall from your history, these machine guns were usually...
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: aligned atop a piece of wood with a couple of stops on the left and right.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you would slide these machine guns from left to right if you were the enemy and
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: literally mow men down as they attacked across these trenches and across the open fields.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty incredible that he charged directly into it.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming he probably was zigzagging to survive it, but then kicked it
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: and then jumped into the trench with a bayonet and captured three men.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty incredible stuff.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the first one again was Sergeant Joseph Atkinson.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do two more because they're both short this week.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: The next gentleman I want to honor is Corporal Harry Adriance.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: He served in the Boxer Rebellion.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that was in the early 1900s when there was some pretty serious fighting.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of those situations where it's literally just one sentence.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: But the citation reads,
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: In the presence of the enemy during the battle near Tianjin,
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: China,
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: July 13,
• 50:53
  1900...
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that is probably the greatest understatement of the century,
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: but back then,
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: and on some of the older citations,
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: they say very little,
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: but you can be confident that much was done by that individual.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do one final one.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: This one's from World War II.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Gentleman is Private First Class Harold Ackerholm.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: Read his citation.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_00: For conspicuous gallantry and courage at the risk of his life,
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 4th Battalion,
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: 10th Marine Regiment,
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: 2nd Marine Division,
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: in action against enemy Japanese forces,
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: on Saipan in the Marianas Islands on July 7, 1944.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: When the enemy launched a fierce,
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: determined counterattack against our positions and overran a neighboring artillery battalion,
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: PFC Ackerholm immediately volunteered to assist in the efforts to check the hostile
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_00: attack and evacuate our wounded.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: locating and appropriating an abandoned ambulance jeep.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: He repeatedly made extremely perilous trips under heavy rifle and mortar fire,
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: and single-handedly loaded and evacuated approximately 45 casualties,
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: working tirelessly and with utter disregard for his own safety during a grueling
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: period of more than three hours.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_00: During intense,
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_00: persistent enemy fire,
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: he ran out to aid two men,
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: whom he believed to be wounded Marines,
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: but in the process was himself mortally wounded by a Japanese sniper while carrying
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: out this hazardous mission.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: PFC AgriHome's brilliant initiative,
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: great personal valor,
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_00: and self-sacrificing efforts in the face of almost certain death reflect the
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: highest credit upon himself and the U.S.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: Naval Service.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: He gallantly gave his life for his country.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that is just something else.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: Three plus hours of running around under heavy fire to save 45 casualties.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_00: probably not every one of those 45 lived,
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: but just to save,
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: who knows,
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: dozens of men who probably did live,
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: and to inspire those around him,
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: and to risk such danger,
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: and to ultimately give his life.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: That is...
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is just something else.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that was Private First Class.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: This wasn't a corporal or sergeant.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: This was a Private First Class, Harold Agerholm.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: What a man.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: As I say every week,
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_00: I share these Medal of Honor stories to remind us of the sacrifices that have been
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: made through the nearly 250 years of American history.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: Through so many major wars,
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_00: more than one million Americans have sacrificed their lives and died getting us to
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: this time and place in our history.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_00: In wars such as the American Revolution, the War of 1812,
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_00: the Civil War,
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: World War I,
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_00: World War II,
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_00: the Korean War,
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: the Vietnam War,
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_00: Desert Shield,
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: Desert Storm,
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: then following September 11th,
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan,
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: Operation Iraqi Freedom,
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: And these were only the major wars that I've listed.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I know I overlooked so many smaller conflicts.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: In all, more than 41 million Americans have served over the course of our nation's history.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: And as I said earlier, more than a million have died.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: Tens of millions have been wounded or had their lives shattered.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's always important that we remember these facts,
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_00: particularly when we have people regularly saying that we face a potential civil
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: war or that we should split up our country because of whatever the latest culture
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: war is or any other number of silly reasons.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think our grandparents and our great-grandparents and those who came before them
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_00: would be dumbfounded to think we could rip apart this great nation over such
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_00: trifling issues.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's share some motivation to make sure that we never, ever give up in our own personal lives.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: And,
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: if you're a regular listener,
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: I also speak about never giving up when I discuss PTSD at the end of the show.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, let's just talk about some motivation, and we've got some great ones this week.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_00: This first one is a quote from Muhammad Ali.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, he's the famous boxer.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: The quote is,
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: Again,
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: you're not going to enjoy every minute of the journey,
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: but the success you'll find at the end will make it all worthwhile.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about those who talk behind your back.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: They're behind you for a reason.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: Today's a good day to have a great day.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_00: Such a simple concept that sometimes you've got to just tell yourself,
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: today's a good day to have a great day.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the next one.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to stop wishing and start working.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's time to stop wishing and start working.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_00: This next one is a quote from the famous soccer player, Pelé.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: Again, success is no accident.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: What is necessary for success?
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he says.
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is hard work.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: Perseverance.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's never quitting, right?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: Learning.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_00: Getting better, right?
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_00: Studying.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get even better?
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: You study.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: And most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't love it, you will not make it.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: You will quit.
• 57:37
  SPEAKER_00: All right, here's the next one.
• 57:38
  SPEAKER_00: You are only as successful as your mindset.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: Think bigger.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_00: Again, you are only as successful as your mindset.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: Think bigger.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny,
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_00: I have literally the word think bigger written in a massive magic marker across a
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: full 8.5x11 sheet.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's been there for about a year now, and it's above some postcards from Chicago.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I traveled to Chicago, I guess a couple years or so ago, about two years I think,
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: It just blew me away with how much bigger everything was in Chicago.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I'm from the South, from Knoxville, and I haven't been to a lot of big cities.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it just reminded me that I have to think bigger as far as the audience, etc.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_00: But in your own life, you've got to do the same thing.
• 58:26
  SPEAKER_00: We all get stuck in our own little ruts and our own little towns or cities,
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: and we don't think big enough.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_00: Again, you are only as successful as your mindset.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: Think bigger now.
• 58:39
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the next one.
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: Again,
• 58:40
  SPEAKER_00: when the journey ahead overwhelms you,
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: remember,
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_00: all you have to do today is take one small step forward.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is just such an important lesson, and it affects all of us.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our projects are too big,
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: the deadlines are approaching,
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_00: etc.,
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: and you almost just lock up and you can't do anything.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I've read so many Navy SEAL books,
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: and one of the things they teach the SEALs to get through Hell Week is if you look
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: at the entire process of how long it's going to take to be a Navy SEAL,
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_00: it's just too overwhelming.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just the initial training is like nine months or something crazy.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: it's like two years before you're really going to make a team and for most you know
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: folks going through that training as you're dealing with the sand and the surf and
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_00: the freezing water and the lack of sleep it's just you're like i can't even make it
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_00: through today i can't even think about
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_00: you know, nine months or longer or two years.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so they teach them, just break it down into, you know, hour segments.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_00: Make it to lunch an hour.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: Make it five minutes.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: Just make it through that training scenario.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you do it that way, you've got a much better chance of actually getting to the end and not quitting.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're going to do one more.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is a quote from Thomas Edison, obviously a famous inventor and American.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the quote.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: Again, our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_00: The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_00: there's the famous story that he failed 10,000 times when trying to invent the
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: light bulb,
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_00: but he never gave up.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we remember his name today.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, moving along.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_00: As you guys know,
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_00: I always like to share a few from the Bible just because this book has become such
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: a source of strength and wisdom and calm for me during the past year.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope by sharing a few, it might help encourage you to get into the Bible yourself.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think it'll really help you.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: And yes,
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_00: I used to be just like some of you people out there who thought the Bible was a
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: waste of time,
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_00: we'll say.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: I almost said the word joke, but there were times where I scoffed at the Bible myself.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_00: But man, there's so much good stuff in it.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, this week I'm just going to read a very short verse from chapter 1 of Psalms.
• 1:01:24
  SPEAKER_00: I said verse, I meant chapter, but it's a very short chapter.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just going to read it.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is Psalms chapter 1.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_00: or join in with mockers.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_00: But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_00: They are like trees planted along the river bank, bearing fruit each season.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_00: Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_00: But not the wicked.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_00: They are worthless chaff scattered by the wind.
• 1:02:17
  SPEAKER_00: They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sinners will have no place among the godly,
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_00: for the Lord watches over the path of the godly,
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_00: but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that is chapter 1 of Psalms
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's got some, what I would call, some carrot and stick in it, right?
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_00: There are some reasons to obey the Lord, and there are some warnings for those who do not.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so,
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_00: like much of the Bible,
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_00: it reminds us that that little conscience that we often ignore,
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_00: we probably should not be ignoring because...
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_00: Falling short and sinning leads to death, according to the Bible.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it certainly leads to death in our lives,
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_00: whether it's not working hard at work and not getting a promotion or maybe losing
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_00: your job or whatever.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_00: not spending the right amount of time with your spouse or your family and that
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_00: leads to separation or distance.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_00: The reality is we all like to be fluffy and talk in light and positive ways.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is when you're not doing the right thing.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_00: There will be consequences that follow, both in this life and the next.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that's a little tougher message than I normally deliver,
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_00: but don't get mad at me if you've got a problem with those words.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can bring that up to God, because they're pretty much all straight out of the Bible.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_00: So don't shoot the messenger, right?
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for joining us this week.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_00: I hope as you go through this week that you act a little nicer on social media and in the world as well.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_00: Smile at folks in the grocery store.
• 1:04:12
  SPEAKER_00: Do small acts of kindness.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_00: And remember that most Americans are good and they will help you in an emergency,
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_00: even if you don't agree politically.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I have to finish with two things.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say a bit about myself and my books in case you're new to the show,
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_00: and then I need to say some words for those struggling with PTSD or mental illness,
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_00: especially since veterans are at a 57% higher risk of suicide.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_00: First, a bit about myself and my books.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_00: I am a military vet.
• 1:04:41
  SPEAKER_00: I spent four years in the Marine Corps, all of that time in the infantry.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, that does matter.
• 1:04:47
  SPEAKER_00: After my enlistment, I went to college at the University of Tennessee.
• 1:04:50
  SPEAKER_00: I became a journalist.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_00: I spent more than 10 years in the news business.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_00: Besides all of that, I've also written 12 books.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_00: Those books include a series about a Marine Corps sniper.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_00: several novels about a police detective and a private investigator,
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_00: and a few books about war,
• 1:05:05
  SPEAKER_00: such as World War II and Afghanistan.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_00: Basically,
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_00: these are all fast-moving books with lots of action and plot twists,
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_00: because those are the kind of books I've always enjoyed reading.
• 1:05:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can find all of those books in the link in the episode notes,
• 1:05:19
  SPEAKER_00: or you can look on Amazon by just searching my name,
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_00: Stan R.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mitchell.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_00: Buying a book,
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_00: telling a friend about a book,
• 1:05:27
  SPEAKER_00: or buying one as a gift for someone,
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_00: friend or loved one,
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_00: is a great way to help support the show.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_00: And in all seriousness,
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: they're pretty highly rated,
• 1:05:35
  SPEAKER_00: and I've been very fortunate to have sold 70,000 copies to date.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, even though I live in Tennessee, I do not have that many cousins.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing I need to talk about is PTSD and suicide for just a moment.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't just for our veterans,
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_00: although I know PTSD does seem to affect veterans at a much higher rate,
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_00: but it's for anyone.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_00: We can all get in a really low spot.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_00: But we have to remember that it's a season.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a valley.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you're having serious issues, please call 988-SELECT-1.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can talk to a crisis line responder anytime, day or night.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a civilian or a veteran, it doesn't matter.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I do know this is hard to do, and I know most of you won't, so I have to be a little mean here.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_00: The fact is that when we had a drill instructor in boot camp pushing us,
• 1:06:28
  SPEAKER_00: or maybe a tough coach back in high school,
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_00: you know that you can go further than when it's just yourself pushing you.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be that person.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be mean for just a moment, and I have to remind you that you cannot give up.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do not lose this fight.
• 1:06:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do not make your parents or your family have to plan your funeral.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make them feel guilty that they did not check on you, that they could not reach you.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: You can hold on another day.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do, I promise the next day will be a little easier.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, again, if you're in a fight that you worry you may lose, call someone.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_00: Call a friend or a family member.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_00: Please, just do that.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_00: Or call 988-SELECT-1.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_00: But whatever you do, do not quit.
• 1:07:11
  SPEAKER_00: You're in a valley and this world needs you.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_00: Probably, your parents need you.
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, seriously, who's going to take care of your parents in 30 years?
• 1:07:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm being dead serious here.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_00: I just helped take care of my mom while she fought with cancer, before she passed.
• 1:07:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm helping take care of my dad now.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_00: But who's going to do it for you?
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going to let the system take care of them?
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_00: How horrible is that?
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_00: So you cannot quit.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_00: And believe me, there's something you're meant to do.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_00: You just can't see it because you're in this immediate fog and pain.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can't see that end result.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a mission for you to do.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's to coach Little League.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's to help others with PTSD.
• 1:07:50
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's to run for office.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_00: But there's some calling for you.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_00: You just haven't found it.
• 1:07:55
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to get involved.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_00: You need to stop isolating yourself.
• 1:07:59
  SPEAKER_00: Go visit a veterans group, the VFW.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_00: Visit a church near you.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to some family that you have lost touch with.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe reach out to that friend that you've grown apart from.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably dying to talk to you.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: But seriously, if you're struggling,
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_00: call the hotline 988 and select one or you can also start moving toward god if
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_00: you're not willing to make that phone call read the bible if you never have i think
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_00: it will help read some of psalms or proverbs or start with the new testament maybe
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_00: luke
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think you'll find that the Bible will start drawing you in and changing your life.
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have a Bible, you can download a Bible app on your phone, or you can look it up online.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_00: There are dozens of sites with it.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_00: Even simpler, I have a link in the episode notes that I think can help you.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_00: I write a faith-based blog about the Bible and God,
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_00: and I have a link in my episode notes to a pretty powerful story about my dog,
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_00: who is a stray that we adopted from the shelter.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_00: The title of the article is Be Like Ozzie.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_00: Go Near Your Master.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_00: I've had a lot of people tell me that story really helped move them, that it was very impactful.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's free to read.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_00: You got nothing to lose by going to read it.
• 1:09:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I always like to end each show by reminding people that you can comment anytime.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_00: I try to monitor those.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can also reach out privately by email to me at AuthorStanRMitchell at Yahoo.com.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's in the episode notes, by the way.
• 1:09:25
  SPEAKER_00: But again, it's AuthorStanRMitchell at Yahoo.com.
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, here's one other thing.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is about defense news, but I also do a political blog.
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if you love my moderate, optimistic views, you might enjoy that.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Thoughts from a Southern Gentleman.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can find a link to the episode notes to that as well, or you can just search that on Google.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for hanging with me this week.
• 1:09:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's truly an honor to talk with each of you and to know that there's a few of you
• 1:09:53
  SPEAKER_00: out there who are listening and who care about our country and our military and all
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_00: the issues that we face.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know there are a lot of scary issues out there,
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_00: but we're going to get through them together,
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_00: the same way America's gotten through everything before this.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love you all, but never forget that God loves you more than you can possibly imagine.
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_00: He is our true Father, so I hope you spend some time with Him this week.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you want true peace and strength and wisdom, make sure you read your Bible some this week.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_00: It'll help you a lot.
• 1:10:23
  SPEAKER_00: And also, reach out to a friend or anyone who you know is struggling.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Whether they are young or old, life is truly hard.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_00: We know this.
• 1:10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the true strength of this country is its people,
• 1:10:34
  SPEAKER_00: and that includes you folks listening to me right now.
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So be a leader, be a doer, be a servant to someone.
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_00: With all of that being said, I'll catch you all next week.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_00: You have been listening to The View from the Front.
• 1:10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed the show.