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In the first episode of the Cavalcade of Galactic Bullshit, Shrug and the Reverend Poop discuss the death of Ted Kaczynski, how detrimental modern media is consumed, Turkey and Erdogan, leftist purity policing, My Little Pony, upcoming strikes, and much more!
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In the first episode of the Cavalcade of Galactic Bullshit, Shrug and the Reverend Poop discuss the death of Ted Kaczynski, how detrimental modern media is consumed, Turkey and Erdogan, leftist purity policing, My Little Pony, upcoming strikes, and much more!
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The speaker discusses their opinions on Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber, and his actions. They acknowledge that he had grievances with society, technology, and the environment, but argue that his methods of violence and terrorism were unjustified. They also express their support for direct action, but emphasize the importance of not causing harm to others. They mention the influence of Kaczynski's ideas and the need to critically engage with his work. The speaker also touches on the topic of anarchists supporting different sides in conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, and reflects on the way media consumption can desensitize people to real-life violence. Welcome to my latest experiment. This is a big one, the one I've been waiting for all my life. Yeah, well history is gonna change. Alright, listen up. I don't like white people. I hate rednecks. You people are rednecks. Welcome to the Cavalcade Galactic Bullshit. It's wonderful. I hope you're all having a good day. I am the good Reverend Dr. Poop Daddy, and somewhere around in this world of ours, there's somebody else here. Yep. Oh, by the way, my pronouns, he, him, they. There we go. We'll start off on a good foot. Cool. Who's the other person? The other person is me. You can call me Shrug, you can call me Ted Kupczynski, and my pronouns are she and her. Alright. Yeah. So, Ted, how's the morning going? Literally and figuratively. Morning's been pretty good, thanks. Just like, you know, an okay Saturday, I guess. You know, I had to get up early and go feed my dad's dogs. But, more importantly, is the gift that the galaxy gave me this morning by way of the demise of my namesake, in a way, I guess. So, I think that's kind of like the hot topic at the moment. You know, that's been dominating a lot of discussion this morning. But, yeah, that's it. So, let's play therapist here. So, how do you feel about one Ted Kupczynski? What are your emotions? So, I don't know. My entire life, right, I have, you know, obviously known about him, heard about him, and everything like that. And I've heard and observed just various opinions about the guy. He's an eco-fascist. He's a hero. He's, you know, this. He's doing God's work. He's doing that, you know. And I kind of like, I can see where every point of view comes from, but my personal opinion about him is that he is just a racist, sexist incel who killed people. I think he's being polite. I think it's, I know he had a rough life and everything like that. I know that he had various grievances with technology, how people exploit the environment, the educational system, because he was a teacher. You know, various aspects of that. And that's what people like to say to justify what he's done, right? He had a hard upbringing. He was like pissed off at the system. That's not, you know, that's a quality that we should embrace and encourage, you know, people lashing out against the system. It's like, well, yes and no, because that's kind of dangerous logic, because it could be applied to literally anything. Anyone that has ever had a hard go at life, any of your rage shooters, you know, any of the people that perpetuate, you know, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and these are like, you know, really dangerous ideals, right? And obviously, you know, transphobia. And you can use that. Oh, well, they had a rough upbringing and they're just, you know, reacting and kind of like biting back at a system that's messed them up. And it's like, well, yeah, well, so is everyone else then. No, no, I mean, you're right, though, because it does set a precedent. And as anarchists, you know, that precedent was already kind of set way back in the day. We're talking like, you know, the early 1800s, when anarchists were known for throwing bombs and, you know, assassinating presidents. And, you know, there are some of us who do lament those days and wish they would come back again. But I mean, what he was doing, though, wasn't liberatory. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't to get people away from the system. It wasn't to break down the schools in any way, shape, or form. It was simply for, it was simply terrorism. I'm sorry, that's what it is. Did it bring to light things that we see now we should have paid attention to? Absolutely. You know, we totally have fucked the environment. It's good that, you know, there's so much smoke coming down from Canada into New York in the Northeast right now that it looks like there's a dust storm, a dust bowl happening. That's fun. And technology, it's fun, you know, but we should definitely be a little bit more careful with it. So like, yeah, no, there were things, there were aspects, ideals of his that people can absolutely be like, oh, he told us about this, and he warned us about this, and yes, but he didn't have to blow people up to do that. Right. And I do want to get out there that I do, you know, relation to like animal liberation, earth liberation, I absolutely support direct action. It's very effective. But, you know, when you have like ELF and ALS, one of their, as separate entities, right, or whatever ideologies, they, one of their primary, you know, objectives is to not harm anyone, animal or human life. So, you know, they go and, you know, set a bulldozer on fire, or, you know, glue the locks on like, you know, a mink facility or something like that, or like, you know, a fur store. And that's all good. But those groups take special care, I believe, not to harm anyone. So it's like, I can, I can see, I can see where Ted was coming from, like, I can see his frustrations and everything like that. But he, and, you know, like we said, he did make some good points. One of the things he said, he said, you know, restriction of freedom is unavoidable in industrial society. True. Yeah, absolutely. Another thing he said that I agree with, and I think it's kind of smart, is he said, the system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it's humans behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system. And we see that, you know, from elementary school, up until we fucking die, that we're like, you know, created to be consumers, and patriotic, and just like, you know, these cogs in the machine that is capitalism, right? Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, totally. Um, but you know, I just don't, I know, there are people that are like, yeah, you know, the people that he targeted deserves, it's like, well, they were just like, easy targets, you know, like he, you know, he did get some, you know, important people for his cause, like what he was trying to do. Yeah, you know, just a mailbomb is indiscriminate. Absolutely. It's a lot like, what am I thinking about, you know, the white, the white powdery substance that people, yes, anthrax, that's the one, the one that you can't really say out loud too loud. That's it. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah. I just want to go like, just a couple of tweets, just to be like, Hey, look at the weirdness that's going on on Twitter today. Because, you know, Twitter is always fun, especially in regards to this person. Oh, yeah. The first one, this is bringing up the subject we talked about just a second ago. Ted did what he did with intention planning and follow through. He was a traumatized person who attacked the systems responsible for his trauma. He was betrayed, captured and imprisoned, and now he's dead. And you all hate him from a place of ignorance and via the secondhand opinion industrial complex. I think his life was a tragedy. I don't think people should have to live life like that. Courage to attack this world of death and oppression is not a negative quality. Yeah, I mean, I don't, I don't completely disagree with the sentiment of what this person is saying. I mean, his, his work, his public, his, his manifestos, publication, his interviews, everything that he has said is out there for people to, you know, consume on their own, and, and, and draw their own conclusions. So if I read him saying some bullshit, and I'm like, well, that's some bullshit. That's not me hating on him because of some secondhand information. It's literally what I read from his work, you know? Yeah, it's kind of like, what, Bakunin, where you always get the tankies talking about, oh, well, Bakunin was a rabid anti-Semite. And it's like, well, yes, you can't deny that Bakunin was a rabid anti-Semite. He was very anti-Semitic. But, you know, these other things have built the basis for anarchism. We can't ignore that part. Right. This is different from that, because Ted Kaczynski kind of blew people up, wherein Bakunin was just a dirty, nasty anti-Semite. I don't think he killed too many people, not to the best of my knowledge. But I think the best part of this tweet, and I'm not even being facetious, I think the rest of it could be gone. And it should just be, courage to attack this world of death and oppression is not a negative quality. I agree with that part. Yes. Not because of his exploding of people and places, but because that is how, as anarchists, I feel, my opinion, we should be going through this current world. We should be attacking, not just things indiscriminately, but the places where these people are doing this work, the homes where these people are living. Right. I'm not saying burn them down and leave them houseless or anything like that. Right. I'm simply saying, like you were saying with ALF and ELF, right? Did I get that right? Yes. I remember ALF all the time because that's just, that was part of the group that I kind of got brought up with when I was younger was Earth First. I always get the Earth First every quarter. Yeah. Break windows. Fucking do whatever you can to make them uncomfortable. Make them know that we, one, we know where they are. And two, we know what they're up to. You know, don't, the fact that, I think somebody was bringing it up the other day, it was after a good, good, good guy, Pat Robertson died. You know, people were lamenting the fact, yes, I know. They were lamenting the fact that, oh, you know, he lived such a long, healthy life in his bullshit that that happened. And you're absolutely right. You know, in this aspect, I think, and I don't want to be guilty of hypocrisy, you know, because I'm not going out and doing it either. But I think we should. I think we should. If everybody's so upset about the fact that these people are living long, comfortable lives, then let's start making them uncomfortable. Oh, I agree. I agree. It's still legal to send stuff through the mail so long as it's not poisonous. Or chicken. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. Send these guys worms. Whatever the fuck it is that you want to send them. There's like one other one. And so now I've got to switch accounts because I'm that type of guy. Oh, there it is. The Distroists. I love Distroism. They're good people. They will always have a nice soft spot in my heart. But the Distroists from Pittsburgh put out another tweet in regard to Ted. And I'm just like, I'm waiting for there to be like a kaiju fight online. I'm just going to have to find it. But rip to Anarchy's weird uncle. Whether you love him or hate him, his tactics and analysis will continue to provoke debates and incite direct action against the industrial death machine. And that's just a fact. Really not a fan of the dude. He's dead. And the fact this has continued influence is indisputable. We don't distribute his work. And whenever some teen comes up to the table and asks about him, we recommend something actually anarchist. Your hot take of the day. I don't call racist uncle. Yeah, but you have a racist uncle. Congrats. You missed the decades old joke. Right. And it's like I agree with that. I think that in the sphere of like any type of eco ideology, green anarchism, etc. Ted is worth reading and knowing about, in my opinion. And I think he's worth knowing about as a part of history, if nothing else. But also, he's a really good example of how you can be wrong about something that's right. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, I mean, and he he was not an anarchist. And he also just like blasted leftists in this manifesto. Now, when it comes to manifestos, I generally don't treat them as because they tend to just be like info dumps, thought dumps, like any manifesto. But I mean, the point that he made was that he considered the two psychological tendencies of modern leftism, modern as of the date of his writing, to be feelings of inferiority and over socialization. So, you know, it's like, yeah, he made some good points. But he's also saying crap like that. And you know, the whole, you know, broken clock twice a day. But I mean, the 1980s weren't exactly, I don't know, fucking kumbaya, let's hold hands and walk down the street. Right. So like, like, I remember the 80s. I had some friends, my mom had, but like, where's this, you know, inter, like, but at the same time, I was like, shot 10, 11 years old in the 80s. So no, I wasn't running around with anarchists back then. Right. Sorry, y'all. I wasn't an anarchist out of the womb. Just born with like, you know, like a Molotov in your hand or something. Yeah. That would be rad. And it's just a big old anarchy a somewhere. Oh, look at this cute person. No, sorry. That. Yeah. I mean, I do have one, but it's not cute. Can I just add a personal vent? Because when you were talking about, you know, the tankies talking about Bakunin and stuff like that, and then pointing out that he's a rabid anti-Semite, that's pretty fucking rich, considering tankies consistently, consistently ignore and glaze over the atrocities that their fucking idols have done. You know, they erase, like, you know, Holodomor and Nazino Island all the time. And, you know, they're like, oh, but, you know, I get to wear a fluffy hat and have a poster of a fucking red dictator on my wall, you know, for the gram. Stalin is the bomb, okay? And Mao Zedong can do no wrong. And the thing is, it's like, that's what's, that's what the problem is when you like, you put human beings on a pedestal, right? Because there's like, good and bad and every person. And I don't mind, you know, referencing people that I think did good work or whatever, but I'm definitely going to acknowledge if they said something bad, or if I learned something bad about them, you know, that sucks. You know, I'm not literally revising history and looking at them through rose-colored glasses just because, you know, that's what I identify with, you know? No, you're absolutely, I mean, you didn't say anything wrong. I mean, like I said before, was Bakunin a dick? Yes. But was fucking Stalin worse? Infinitely, infinitely worse. I'm sorry. The dude was a fucking dictator. At least Bakunin was like, hey, I just don't like, you know, the Jews. And it's like, hey, dude, come on, chill out. And, but we, like you said, we can recognize that and be like, look, Bakunin, he's not a good guy. But that aside, the theory is sound, other than all the anti-Semitism. You know, we can take this and we can build from this and totally, like, lop off this part because it's fucking wrong. It's fucking wrong and we don't need it. Like you said, I'm like with Stalinists who are like, oh, don't, don't worry about anything that happened after, you know, 1917. It was good. Everything was fine. We got what we wanted. And like Menko would definitely like to have a word with you. Right. Because he fought against you guys really hard, which, you know, brings us to the whole Ukraine fucking crap. And, you know, oh, Ukraine was always part of Russia. No, it wasn't. Ukraine was always a separate entity until Catherine the Great sent this smug asshole down because he got tired of fucking her. Okay. He wanted to go back to war and he's like, well, where are we going to war next? And Catherine the Great was like, hey, what about the Turks? Like Nestor Menko would definitely like, didn't Nestor Menko side with the Reds against the White Army? Yes, because sometimes you got to do that shit. But after the White Army was pushed back, guess what he did? Turned right the fuck around and said, hey, you guys can't come back here, though. Stay the fuck away. Did it work? Eh, for a little bit. But in the end, no. He had to fucking run off to France with his kids. Sad time. Trying to keep it short and sweet, not trying to be like, ah, it wasn't, you know. He was right, though, in that aspect, because he was protecting his people. And it's just, it's so weird. It's like, you know, my, I don't, history is, has always been hard for me to, like, retain. But it's really odd. Anytime I express an opinion in a public forum, anytime I express an opinion on the Russia-Ukraine war, conflict, whatever you want to call it, I get anarchists, you know, supporting Ukraine. I have other people who call themselves anarchists supporting Russia. And it's like, I'm literally like, I don't know. Like, you know, it doesn't matter. Whatever I say, like, someone is going to come at me with, like, some weird scenario that may or may not have happened, you know. And it is, it's one of the weirdest things. As, I can, I can see anarchists supporting, defending where you are, defending against the Russian invasion. I can absolutely see that. But then there's, like, people that take that support further. It's almost like they're getting off on the spectatorism of it. Yeah, it's a little cultish. It's definitely kind of like, oh, watch my man, like, do his thing. Right. But it's like a real war. And there's, like, real people dying on both sides, you know. And it's like, that's just, I don't know if that's just like a symptom of, like, our society and how we, like, consume media online and stuff like that. It kind of removes us from how real it can be sometimes, you know. Yeah. No, it kind of brings up, you know, and jokingly, so please forgive me, everyone who's listening. But, like, is it the video games? Is it the rap music and the metal? Is that? But no, but I mean, the way that things are handled nowadays, like, the first real war that was ever televised was the Vietnam War. That, of course, brought the Vietnam War to a dead stop. Now, did it happen, like, right away? No, of course not. It took time, yada, yada, yada. It stopped it. It effectively stopped it because it was televised. We saw, like, in the 90s, in the early 2000s, when it came to both of the Iraq Wars, that they didn't televise it as much. It was like a sports show highlight reel, you know. Hey, these are the missiles that we launched from the deck of the USS Kennedy and blah, blah, blah, you know. Look at the F-14 fly, ha. It was fucking patriotism on steroids, you know, especially when fucking Bush the Lesser opened up, you know, fucking, I'm sorry, that's what I call him, Bush the Lesser. That's funny. Yeah, I love it. It freaks people out. But people always know who it is. That makes me happy. But, you know, he rock-starred his way into the annals of history by that shock-and-awe bullshit thing. And, like, I'll never forget standing in the middle of this fucking cafeteria. What was I doing at the time? I was working because I was a fucking janitor. And everybody was just kind of standing around. And the TV, of course, was on CNN. Thank God it was CNN, because it could have been worse. It could have been Fox. But yeah, I know everybody's watching these things just fucking fall on Baghdad. And there are some people having conversations because they're talking about work, but everything else is kind of quiet. And it was so, like, eerie, kind of like, this is what the future is going to be. People are going to be sitting talking about, you know, what meetings they have to go to next, while absolutely horrific shit is happening behind them. And they're just not going to pay attention to it. And that's exactly where we are now. Like, this horrific shit is on our timelines, on TikTok. It's everywhere. And you can boost it, and you can retweet it, and retweet it, whatever it is you want to retweet. That sounds disturbing. I'm sorry. That's fine. Right? You don't care. And yes, you might accidentally walk into a legit, like, construction site or something. Please, I hope not. But, you know, you won't know until you get there. So it's like, yeah, we can do everything we can to get each other hyped for what's happening. How do we crack the egg for everybody else, you know? To bring them back in. To be like, hey, look, you guys remember the Vietnam War TV special shit? Here it is right in front of you. Like, what is the code to fix that? Right. One thing that I've even thought to myself on days when I was just being, like, blase or whatever. You know, you go to BBC, whatever. You go to, we'll say CNN, because they always have that little ticker, that thing on the top of, like, breaking and, you know, top stories and stuff. And you go to that and there's always breaking war in Ukraine or whatever. There's always something there. On days when, which seems to be every other fucking day, right? On days when we have, you know, God forbid, a shooting incident or some kind of mass casualty event, it's secondary to that live Ukraine war. Like, every time. And it's just like, it's such a bizarre thing to see, you know? Yeah. No, it's depressing. And at the same time, it's, it makes me angry because I can't think of a better word than that. Because I get it. Like, I think Robert Evans touched on it at one point. You know, this whole idea of the battle is already being fought. If you live in places like in Ukraine or Iraq or Afghanistan, and, you know, say you're wondering when is it going to happen? It's already happening in other places. But people are always going to be going on about their own day, even in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine. If it were to happen here, you know, somewhere close, and I say if, but when, you're going to wake up on a morning and be like, oh, man, I gotta go get coffee. And then there's an explosion outside. And I think I'm almost doing, you know, like, kind of word for word for something I've listened to from him, you know, where he's like, you know, you get up and you realize that there might not be coffee for you to get. Who knows what that explosion was. That could have been a grocery store. That could have been a church. Could have been a synagogue. Could have been your next door neighbor. But now you got to get up and you got to keep going. Because if you don't keep going, you know, you're going to crawl up into that corner and just sit there for the rest of the day. So you have to get up and you have to keep going. Does this mean you strap on a gun and walk out the door? No. If you're a normal person, which a lot of people are, it's, well, fuck, how late am I going to be to get to work now that that explosion hit? Right. What infrastructure did it destroy? Do I have to take a new route today? Yeah, do I have to jump on a 605 instead of the 405? Yeah, yeah. You know, I mean, because they're going to be like, oh, fuck, you know, they're fighting. But we got to keep the economy going, as we saw with goddamn fucking COVID. Which, guess what? It's not over. But just had to throw that out there. Yes. So, I mean, like, these things are already happening. So when it starts going on, there are people who are just not going to notice it. And that is terrifying. Knowing that people are just like, well, I got to get to work anyway. You know, it's the only way that I'm going to be able to keep food on the table. It's the only way to keep the lights on, even when the lights go out. Because, you know, somebody's fucked up this piece of the infrastructure today. Right. And, you know, what do you do when you go to work and something happens and boss says, well, you got to go home? Well, are you going to pay us for the day? Of course not. They're going to pay you for the fucking two hours you were there. Why would they pay you for the whole day? Right. Just because a bomb went off at a fucking substation? No. That reminds me of when 9-11 happened. How, like, I had woken up and my mom told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I was like, oh, I thought it was like a Cessna or something. Whatever. Go to work and they're playing the actual news, like, live at work. And then we see, you know, second plane, everything like that. And we see it go down and, you know, the tower collapsed. And then we're like, well, now what? Like, do we go home and process this? Do we stay here and keep, you know, transcribing these tapes or whatever we were doing? Yeah. It was just like this really weird thing. No, I had a similar experience. The difference is I slept through three of my stepfather's phone calls because I was like, fuck you, you dick. Because I didn't know what the fuck he was calling about. And I really don't like talking to him. So I was like, fuck you. But the fourth time, I'm like, okay, somebody's dead, his truck, something, whatever. And so I answered and he's like, are you awake? I'm like, no, I don't want to work until 11. Why the fuck would I be awake right now? I'm going to be asleep. He's like, you need to turn the TV on. I'm like, okay, fine. So I turned the TV on and exactly like you, you know, see the plane going in. I'm just like, huh, well, that's something. That's supposed to happen. Yeah. You know, I'm like, that's an interesting thing. And, you know, just kind of sit there and watch it and go take my shower and get in the car. And I drive to the place where I worked at. And it was a call center. And as I got in, the managers were all there in the lobby kind of area. And as everybody showed up, you know, they kind of gathered everyone around and they were like, hey, we just want you all to know that we understand some of you may have family who was back here. Who was back east or who is still back east that you haven't heard from. Some of you have have might have watched this and are taken aback to it. We would like for you to stay in work, but if it gets too hard, feel free to go. And so my ass, I don't have anybody back east. And I got about an hour and a half, two hours in. And I was like, I'm like, I'm really sorry. This is really bearing down on me. I can't I can't stay. I really have to go. And she was like, all right. All right. You'll be back tomorrow. Like, yeah, no worries. I'll be back tomorrow. Yeah. 9-11 was a weird time. So many things happened because of that. Yeah, really ushered in a nanny state, more of a nanny state and like, you know, just that justifying further loss of freedom and, you know, like weaponizing what we went what happened to us to, you know, justify everything else that the U.S. was doing to other countries and other people. Oh, yeah. No wiretapping. Yeah. I mean, without that, we'd probably I mean, it would have come along eventually. Don't get me wrong. But like signal and wire apps, you know, these these apps that we are now using to encrypt our messages back and forth to each other to make sure that the FBI can't get a hold of them or proton mail or, you know, all rise up. Yep. So, yeah, no, I mean, thanks, Bush the Lesser. Also, I want to shout out to remind people to be smart about your OPSEC if you're talking about any kind of politics online anywhere, especially just, you know, don't give so much of yourself away. You could have just said, hey, dumbass, don't put your email in a toot and send it to me. But I mean, yeah, you're right. No, absolutely. I thought it was a GM. Oh, that was not even what I was talking about either. I know, but it just applies. Oh, shit, bro. But, you know, like you because we do have like people that, you know, put their whole name out there, their whole face out there. And it's like, unfortunately, when you do that, unfavorables are going to get a hold of you. So it's just like it's just a good, good practice, I think, to leave people guessing when it comes to certain aspects of your identity. Yeah, no, it's one of my favorite things to see on Twitter, you know, when they're doing like, oh, this was me two years ago, and this is me five years, you know, and I'm like, why are you doing that? Right. Why would you do that? Right. And a lot of it also has to do with like, kind of how you, because, you know, we all arrive at our anarchism or leftism different ways and stuff. So when you start out in one, like branch, we'll say, in one pool, even, like some different movements, value, anonymity, anonymity, see anonymies differently. Yes. You know, so it's like, when you come in from like animal rights, it's way more paramount than other, other, you know, movements. It's like the, what am I thinking about? The Communist Party USA. Like, everybody's like, oh, CPUSA is so great. You know, going door to door and talking to people and, you know, helping the Democratic Party win seats, yada, yada. And I'm just like, you realize the CPUSA is like a front, right? Like, as of right now, the CPUSA is just a front, right? Like, that thing is riddled with FBI and CIA. You know that, right? It's just, I'm just leery of, like, all of it, all of it just being like a honeypot, you know? So it's like, hey, what's your name? Sparky? Call me Sparky. Yeah. But, yeah. Let's talk about Turkey and, you know, the mighty, strong President Erdogan. May he reign forever. Looking that way. Right? Yeah. No, I am not an Erdogan supporter. Sorry, tankies. Fuck that dude. May he rest in piss when he passes. Yeah. So one of the things was like, if anyone is listening, may or may not, if anyone's listening. Please listen. At least we'll, you know, anyway. So Turkey had their elections last month. And they had like their first round where the votes were divided up among three candidates, three main candidates. There was like a fourth, but anyway, like the three main, there were three main candidates and they were Erdogan, KK, and a third guy whose name I can't remember. But the way like their system works is that one candidate has to have like 51% of the votes. So none of the candidates got that. So they went to like a second round, which was between Erdogan and KK, who was the opposition. And there was a lot of, there was a lot of momentum for KK. He is, you know, he very expressively stands with like the Kurdish people, the Kurdish struggle and stuff like that. And, you know, that got him, you know, people want that, except the system and the higher ups don't want that. So amid various allegations of corruption, Erdogan won the second round, and he is again, president of Turkey. Now wait, hold on. Are you trying to tell me that Erdogan cheated? I mean, I know it's totally, totally out of character for these people that find themselves in these extended positions of power. Like Erdogan, he was mayor of Istanbul from 94 to 98, prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014. And he's been president from 2014 to like current day. So he's had like this huge period of time of influence. And in that timeā¦ He sounds like a good guy. Yeah, you know, so like in that time, he has acquired, there are a lot of loyalists there, you know, hey, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. There's a lot of, like, you know, these business relationships and stuff like that, and corrupt relationships as well. And they don't want someone, they don't want a new guy. And they want, you know, they want the enemy they know, basically. And then they also don't want someone that stands up for the Kurdish people. Soā¦ Is that just for my own head? Because I know that Erdogan does obviously have a lot of followers. It's like Trump here in the US. He's got a lot of followers. But that's just the system itself. That's just the capitalists in Turkey, not wanting that to be going on? Or like, Turkey itself is like, fuck the Kurds and fuck Syria. Okay, well, I can't speak for the whole country. I do knowā¦ I do have a Kurdish comrade and I have close Turkish friends. And everyone that I know cares about Kurdish people. You know, obviously they're discriminated against, treated like second-class citizens. There is a lot of anti-Kurd sentiment over there. And everyone that I know doesn't want that. You know, they want, you know, the equality and stuff like that. And it's just that their supposed elected representatives, you know, they don't want to change that. And another thing is that theā¦ a lot of peopleā¦ and I noticedā¦ I saw this sentiment outside of Turkey. I saw a lot of it actually coming out of Pakistan. That a lot of people consider Erdogan the better Muslim leader. He isā¦ yeah, he is the, you know, the Islamic charge. He is who we need to rule Turkey, to have a good Muslim nation, basically. And I think a lotā¦ there is a lot of stuff that feeds into that too, you know. And it is kind of like that same old, hey, like here, hey, we want a, you know, a Christian president or a Catholic president, you know. Yeah. Someone that, you knowā¦ Close to the same values. Yeah, God bless us, God bless America, the troops, whatever, you know. So it's kind of likeā¦ it's kind of mirrored, just in a different way over there, I think. As somebody who's studied Islam, in a good way, not in a, oh my God, I want to wreck this fucking religion. Right. I don't see Erdogan as being faithful to the faith, you know. Yeah, I just want to know what part of the Dean, like, has to do with being corrupt, being oppressive, being disgusting, and just likeā¦ I was going to say, it's a lot like Christians here in this whole, we don't want no foreigners in our backyard. And it's like, the Bible kind of explicitly states that you should welcome foreigners into your backyard. People, yeah. You shouldā¦ migrants should be happily welcomed and given food and drink and, hey, do you want to settle down here? No? All right, keep it on a moving then, you know. Right. And it's like one of those things where it's like, you know, ignoring the fact that the Bible has been written by people and translated God knows how many times, it does, it says, like, love thy neighbor, right? There's no caveat as far as I know, there's no asterisk there, it says, unless they're, you know, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. But I mean, that's obviously the same reflection in Turkey then. Right. And I just want to clarify, I'm not an authority or an expert on this, so I could be wrong. This is just what I have gleaned from discussion and news that I've read. Well, I mean, discussion with people who areā¦ Living there and dealing with, you know, all that information and all that crap. Yes. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's not like you're going next door to somebody, you know, like, hey. But even then, if they were from Turkey and they're like, hey, I'm going back next week. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just, and then, you know, that whole, that whole kind of thing falls into the issue where you have, like, for example, in Kazakhstan, right, we had Nazarbayev, who was the president from the fall of the Soviet Union. So, 91 to, like, 2019, he was the president. Yes. Despite numerous elections, right. And, but that's not a democratic, that's not an election. If you have elections and the same guy wins for, like, 30 years or whatever, you know. And even after he stepped down and Tokayev took his place, he was still, like, chair of Security Council and he was, like, on the, like, the Constitutional Council. Like, he was still in these positions of power and influence. And it's like, that's not, you can call someone a president, but, and I'm not legitimizing government, okay, but you can call someone a president, that doesn't mean that they were, like, duly elected as one. And, and it's easy as, like, an American or a Westerner to, like, point at countries like Turkey or Kazakhstan or anywhere and be like, oh, man, they're messed up. Look at how, look at how dumb they are. They keep voting in these same dictators, right, and the system is clearly rigged. And, but you've been, just turn around and look at what's going on here with, like, our Supreme Court justices, right, who are not voted in, they're appointed, and they're, until they're dust, they're holding their position, you know. Or, or a senator. Right. Miss, Miss Dianne Feinstein, I'm pointing my finger at you and I hope a sight that's on its way. Right. Between you and Kissinger, who's next? Come on. Come on, yeah. So it's like, we look at these other ones, like, aha, they're dumb or they're, they have a messed up system. Our, you know, representative democratic whatever, which we definitely don't have, right, is, is so much better. But it's like, we're just, like, gaslighting ourselves about it. It's like, no, that makes me think of, like, the DNC, right, and they're like, well, we're gonna, Biden is our guy. It's like, really? Because he's kind of like, maybe we should, or we, as in, like, you know, who cares about this shit, but like, you know, people are like, oh, well, maybe if we want, like, another democratic president, we should run so-and-so or this or, like, no, no, Biden's it. And it's just hilarious, because I remember when Bernie was like, had a serious shot. Yeah, 2016 and 2020. Yeah, and they're like, oh, but he's too old. He's too old. Bernie's too old. And like, Biden's sitting here, like, needing to be carbon dated, but okay. And munching on fucking saltines. Yeah. Yeah. I think it was in 2016 when Bernie had the heart attack and everybody was like, oh, Bernie needs to get out of the race. It's gonna kill him. And it's like, guys, fucking, I think, if I remember right, Clinton had a heart attack in the White House. How many presidents have died in the White House? You know, and then people are like, oh, well, you know, Biden fell down or whatever. It's like, yeah, and we had a president that was in a wheelchair and we've had presidents that use walking aids. But it's like, it's just it's so weird to see. Well, it's not weird, actually, it's expected, but like to see like, the DNC just riding hard for Biden, and they're like, so out of touch. And then meanwhile, like, you know, the GOP is their own circus, but it's like, it's always funny to me when the DNC comes out after an election or after the fucking convention. And why can't we just get the young kids to like us? And it's like, you don't realize why, right? Like, you can't be oblivious to this. Right. Like, you have to have somebody within your ranks, like looking directly at Biden, and like, pointing at him going, like, there's the big one. Right. There's the big one. Like, you're not and then look at all these polls. So you see all the polls? You're not even, no, you're not looking. Nevermind, I'm going to put these away and stash them in a bathroom. Yeah. Bankers boxes just in the corner. It's fine. Yeah, it's fine. It's okay. Yeah. But it's like, they're just so out of touch. And then they're like, well, why can't we? And also, you know, notwithstanding the fact they don't get anything done. Yeah. And they're like, well, you know, if we if we protect, you know, abortion access, then we can't really do anything. Right. Right. you know, undocumented people, or I haven't heard anything from the left, but the central centrists, like, combat that it's like, they don't, it's almost like they don't disagree with what the right is saying, because they're not like counter, countering it with anything. And see, I would agree with that analysis anyway, because they don't agree. Because you, you haven't, I'll take it a step further, because you haven't even heard anything from them. Since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. You haven't heard them even talk about that anywhere other than say, Minnesota, Maryland. And I want to say Wisconsin. I think Wisconsin might have passed something as well. But like outside of those places, you don't hear from anybody who's currently running about recognizing a woman's right to choose, about putting that into the Constitution, or some kind of law. And again, not not saying that, you know, not, oh, laws or blah, blah, blah, whatever. They're not the end all be all reformism fucking sucks, blah, blah, blah. And I'm not blah, blah, blah, because whatever, I'm just trying to speed this along. Because reformism does suck. But that's, I guess what I'm saying is that's a conversation for another time. But no, nobody in the Democratic Party, because we can't, I don't even think we can call them centrists. I think we call them Ronald Reagan Republicans now. Because that's what they are. They're just 1980s Republicans. They're not, they're not Democrats. I mean, shit. Fuck it, they're Lyndon Bain Democrats, or Lyndon Johnson, or whatever the fuck his name is. LBJ. There you go. You know, what I could say is that it feels like the Democrats of today are the California Republicans of the 80s. Yeah. They're like exactly in the same place. Yes. Because that was always so weird for me growing up hearing everybody like being so happy about, because I came up the next state over in Arizona. So we've always, we've had a good mixture, in all honesty, in Arizona between Democrats and Republicans, up until the recent past 20 years or so. Yeah. Well, no, I take that back because there was also Napolitano, who then went on to join Obama. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Always forget about her because she didn't do shit. But whatever, whatever. For the most part, it's been Republicans for the last 20 years. And, you know, but back then, like even in the 80s, like everybody was like, California is so progressive and da da da da da. And when you look back at it in the 80s, even for it being incredibly fucked up, California in the 80s was progressive. And that was so fucking weird, man. Yeah. And it's like, we haven't always been a blue state, you know. Yeah. But it does, it seems like even California Republicans, during my childhood, seemed to be, which is what my family was, seemed to be like more in line socially. And what's the other one? What is it that libertarians say, socially this and... Economically... Fiscally. Fiscally, that's it. So it seems like the Republicans of those days are like pretty much in line with the Democrats of today. And then, you know, they poo poo anything further left. Yeah. So it's like, all right. But I mean, for me, at least being here, having only been here for five years or whatever, but to watch them within, you know, in the four years, five years, however long it's been, but they have thought they had the statehouse for at least 12 years. And for them to not pass that Medi-Cal for all thing, it's a smokescreen. It's what they, they'll pull it out when it's time to vote and say, hey, you know, watch, look, look, we've got this thing. We've actually, we fixed it now. So that way it'll get through. And then as soon as the elections are done, as soon as the people that they want in get in, they table it. Right. And put it back on the back burner. Right. It's the apathetic party. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just, just pass it already. Let's jump over to this real quick. Because I think, again, Dan still, I think Dan's having more fun than he thought he was going to. Poor Dan, poor Dan out on the street, having beers and celebrating somebody's birthday. Yeah, man. Feel sorry for him. It's gotta be terrible. Some fucking stinky fucking gentrified dive bar with fucking cornhole. Poor bastard. I hope you're living. I hope you're doing well, man. I hope you're doing well. Cornhole? Like the beanbag sport? Yes. I saw, um, so I have an LG TV and it had, there was like a cornhole competition on, on like one of the weird, weird LG, like standard channels and stuff. There's like a Jerry Springer channel. And anyway, but yeah, there was like the cornhole champ. I don't understand the fucking rules. I was like, you getting it in the hole, near the hole, what's going on? And it's just, it's, it's just a bunch of dads that are doing this thing. I'm like, it was very interesting. Here's the kicker, Ted. It's a league and they're getting paid to do it. They are making legit money, Ted. You know, and people say Americans don't have culture. Hello? Cornhole and rage shooting. Those are our cultural earmarks. Yes. Without those, we would be not Americans. I don't know. I thought that was apple pie, but neither here nor there. I just can't get over it's a league. My little brother was super excited. He's like, it's a league. And I'm like, Oh my God, no. Is he a cornholer? I mean, I don't know. Does he like to cornhole? Maybe. Does he partake? He does, but thankfully he doesn't have to sit at home. Oh, okay. But no, no. It's mostly because his co-workers, the people who he works with, like, that's their thing. But he and I, we both do disc golf. So like, I can't be, I can't. Oh my God, I can't believe it's a league when there's a legit disc golf league, like that people like their million dollar contracts to throw a disc at a fucking basket, man. You have like different, you have like different discs, right? Like you have like driver discs and various like, like distance discs or something like that? Yes, yes, yes, yes. And putters and all that fun stuff. And it's fun to play. I mean, it gets you out and about and doing the walking thing and a little bit of cardio, fuck hills, you know, but I mean, I shouldn't be so hard on it because there are, I mean, there's people who play baseball for a living and make hundreds of millions of dollars doing that. There are people who play football, both American and European and make hundreds of millions off of that. So, I mean, it's just one of those things where it's like you take like every, I know that every like big sport was, is a child's sport in a way, but I don't know. It's the whole commodity of it all. You know, I guess that's my thing. It's like what's up with pickleball? Pickleball came out of nowhere like razor scooters. It just showed up. Like what the hell? Now everyone's playing it and talking about it. And there's no pickle involved? No, see, that's where I always got confused because I'm like, why, why is this? I get that it's a smaller court, but like, I remember the game of pickle and it's not really so much a game as it was practice for baseball. Right. You know, so like, it's just because it's a smaller court and you have to go back and forth faster. Is that why it's called pickleball? And you're not playing for a pickle. Like there's, there's just no, there's, I, it makes no sense to me. So. No, exactly. Because you should like, is the grand prize a delicatessen pickle? Like that would be nice. That would be nice. But like, does that warrant like a whole ass sport? Like, you could play like, like badminton for a pickle. You could play whiffleball for a pickle. You don't have to like, have pickleball for a pickle. You could fight someone for their pickle. I mean, that's not really endless. That right there. That's what MMA should be. That's how it was. This is what happens when two men go after a pickle. Yeah. You know, man, 30 feet and broken noses. It's pretty cool. Yeah. And then a crunchy dill pickle at the end. Yes. From like the best delicatessen in wherever it is that they're fighting. Oh, with New York. So New York. There you go. There you go. Go down the way. Yeah. Get us five pickles. Yeah. So let's pick up real quick on purity poisoning. So let's talk about this. Yeah. I'm going to go to the tweet directly. I bookmarked it because I'm a good person about that sometimes. Cool. Cool. So back on May 23rd. Do you remember that day? It was a wonderful day, I guess. I do. I believe it was a Wednesday. I don't know. But it sounds like a Wednesday date. Every day sounds like a Wednesday date, except for Saturdays. It does. They do. But you put up on the mastodon. Sometimes mutual aid looks like taking your dad's tank of compressed air. See, I feel bad reading this one. It's your tweet. Go for it. Read my tweet. God damn it. Go for it. That is so incredibly wrong and I like it. Sometimes mutual aid looks like taking your dad's tank of compressed air to a parking lot where two families are living in their vans and making sure their tires are insulated, which is a very noble thing to do. I think that's the correct thing to do. If you've got that thing there and it's just sitting there, you know, go help some neighbors. Right. And then some schmuck, we're not going to name names, decided to crawl up in your tooth. That's dirty, too. And said, that's not actually mutual aid, but it is the right thing to do. Look, what she did is actually mutual aid because you saw an issue, you went out with a solution for the issue. You fixed the issue. You helped them fix an issue. You didn't go out and burden yourself on them. You didn't say, hey, air your tires up like some Karen. You said, hey, you guys need a little air in your tires? 5-0 might come around and fuck with you just in case or you might just want to go somewhere today. Right. And the whole way it even came around was I was driving through a Kmart parking lot and I just noticed that there were these two vans. One was like a minivan, one was like a full-size van. And each of them had not flat tires, but like a couple of tires were low. And in that particular parking lot, it's not like a Walmart parking lot. So I don't know how they are with like overnight parking or whatever. And I was just like, you know, and even like, because you have to pay for air at the gas station, you don't get that for free. And I was just like, well, that sucks. It's like they have to move or they're forced to move or whatever. And so like my dad, my entire life, my dad has always had compressed air in the garage. And so I just went and asked him for the tank. He's like, OK, help me get it in the car. And then took it out there with the little hose and like the little gauge and everything like that. And like, hey, you notice that your tires are a little low. You want some air for them? And they're like, yeah, sure. Great. And tires were aired up and it was done, you know. And it's just, in my opinion, like in my personal opinion, if you can help someone, you should. And so it's like, you know, I can't always give everyone money, but if I have some compressed air and you have, you know, a low tire, hey, you know. I mean, that's mutual aid. That's like going up to somebody in Food Not Bombs, seeing them serving people, you know, and being like, that's not mutual aid. I don't understand what that person means by that not being mutual aid. Are they saying that mutual aid should be like transactional, like every time? No, exactly. But OK, so mind you, Wikipedia is not the know-all and all, but I have gone to Wikipedia and I looked up mutual aid, OK? I even have it pulled up in front of me because fuck it, let's get into this, right? Right. So it says, in organization theory, mutual aid is a voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources and services for mutual benefit. Mutual aid projects can be a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions. OK, what you did. And again, you might not have exchanged resources between each other, OK? Right. But everything else that's in that definition there is exactly what you did. What about just like the joy of being able to help someone in that capacity? Like that counts? Yeah. And like I said, it might not have been fiscal resources, but you helped them in case the 5-0 comes along. They now gave you the joy, like you said, of that. No, it wasn't like, oh, hey, here's some fucking soda in exchange for the air. But I don't think mutual aid, even with that definition, the exchange of resources thing just isn't a big aspect of it, you know? That just puts it into the whole, well, if I help you, what will you do for me? And that's like, that's not caring for your community. That's just capitalism. Yeah, no, no. And like, that's the thing. It's like, even if it's a voluntary reciprocal exchange and they didn't have resources to give you, would you not have done it? I mean, that's like going out, like I was talking about before, that's like going out to a Food Not Bombs serve, giving somebody some food and being like, OK, well, you have to give us something back now. Right. Even though Food Not Bombs is considered, very literally, the bare minimum you can do is mutual aid. I don't understand this whole purity policing thing, which thank you for the word. You're welcome. Because it's like, where is it that you didn't do that? Right. What step was missed? I mean, even looking at this part in the wiki that says, in practice, mutual aid participants work together to figure out strategies and resources to meet each other's needs, such as food, housing, medical care and disaster relief, while organizing themselves against the system that created the shortage in the first place. So you going out with an air tank to fuel up tires because they don't have the money to go get air or have the time or capacity maybe to go to a tire dealership, which might be fucking awkward anyway, with a car full of whatever, you know, to get free air when you're coming along. Like, in practice, you did exactly that. What step was missed? Right. And it's just like, also, and I'm guilty of questioning what constitutes mutual aid. But at the end of the day, it's like you're helping someone that needs it. And isn't that itself kind of like the point? But like, this idea that in order for us to have a better world, not a word, but a world, we all have to agree to do the exact same thing. And I'm like, well, now you're just talking about automaton. And you're taking away the idea of autonomy. And like, you know, actually being together with people who you want to be together with this, such as in my current situation, I am not always going to get along with the people that I live with. But I respect them. And so I will do what I can to make sure that I don't ruffle too many feathers. Right? Right. That's not purity, because I'm not forcing myself on them. They're not forcing themselves on me. We're all kind of all in our own little world. And that's like, in my eyes, that's kind of what the future holds for all of this. You know, I mean, yes, there are going to be communes where everybody gets together and kumbayas their way to a better world, which is good for them. That's all we can hope for. But what happens when somebody tries to set up a capitalist enclave? Are we going to go and attack them? Do we lock them up? Like, that's the grand question when it comes to anarchism. I know we're gonna, oh, how do I want to put this? Do what we can with the bad guys, whatever your definition of bad guys is. Yeah. That whole thing, just, that was like a powder keg. Maybe traumatized from something else earlier, which I'm not going to say forced, but they made the decision to use. I don't know. I'm not using the right words and I apologize. But yes, they were messed up and they did this thing. The goal, though, in the end, is to help the person who was harmed to be able to go about their life again. And the person who did the harm to, at the very least, have some kind of understanding and willingness to go about a change. And honestly, you can't force that on somebody. It's like going up to somebody who has an addiction in some way. And when you tell them, hey, you've got to go get cleaned up, sure, they'll go through the steps and do what they have to do for however long they have to do it. But after that, and I shouldn't use addiction either, because addiction is legitimately a fucking, you have to run the course and you're going to stumble. Whereas somebody who's going through therapy is also a marathon, but hopefully you are able to build on that. Yes, there might be missteps, but you will build on that. And it's like, at the very least, we can just stop making our spaces safe for people that do that. The very least we can do is not be like, oh, yeah, maybe this person assaulted this other person, but they've always been nice to me. And I think they're funny and kind of cute. So I'm not going to treat them like they did something as awful as they really did. The very minimum we can do is stop doing that. Yes. I've seen stories of anarchists in other cities that would have among them an abuser, like an actual predatory abuser. And they would just make excuses for them and protect them from, you know, accountability. And it came to their victims and stuff like that. And that harkens back to what we were talking about with Ted Kaczynski about, oh, well, you know, he was traumatized, he's acting out because he was traumatized. And that can go literally all the way across, right? Yeah. And that's like, I know from experience, I've had an experience with exactly what you were talking about, where a certain person, like, that is how they tried to, like, make amends for it was, oh, well, there was a trauma from this past relationship. And then there was trauma from this childhood, whatever. And then this person who's actually doing this is doing this because they just didn't want to break up with them. And that was always my favorite one. Let's put the blame on the person that they were dating at the time. And it's always a female who's just upset because they broke up. And I'm just like, that's like a huge red flag. One, that you as a female would even bring that up. And two, that maybe this dude isn't exactly who you think he is. So maybe you should kind of, like, step back from your relationship with this dude. Massage needs a hell of a thing, especially when it comes from other women. Hell of a drug. Massage is a hell of a drug. Like, can you not? But it's like, yeah, it's just the whole thing is just weird. And then there's always, you know, devil's advocate. And everyone is all for holding people accountable until it's one of their friends or someone in their group. And then they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, fellas, let's not be hasty. You know, let's listen to both sides. And I'm not saying that there aren't two sides. There's always two sides. And sometimes when there is, you know, an alleged assault or an actual assault, sometimes it's not always what the public opinion is. But, like, you definitely, I mean, like, come on, when you have, like, a laundry list of victims that all say the same thing, that are all compiling their stories, you know, about a specific person, and there's a documented pattern of behavior, and, like, stalking behaviors, and, like, manipulation, abuse, it's all right there. And you're gonna look at this person, and they're like, well, I don't know. I don't know. They don't like me. They're clout chasing. I don't know. Really? Oh, God, that's my favorite. They're clout chasing. Really? Are they? Yeah. No, because, like, and my other favorite part of all that, of course, is at the end when it's like, okay, well, we're gonna do, you know, this process or whatever. And they're gonna step away for a couple months. And stepping away is them just, like, being in their apartment, but still seeing everybody all the time. Yeah. And then somebody, be the next girlfriend or the girlfriend that they were with when this all transpired, comes out and says, they're better now. Mm-hmm. And it's like, it's been two months. How are they better now? Or even worse is when, like, they just don't address it at all. Like, they don't say anything. And then no one else says anything. And it's like, well, you kind of have to make it clear to people that it's like, among anarchists, among leftists, like, predators are not welcome. And that can look like a lot of things. You know, predation looks like a lot of things. But it's like, when you see it or you notice it, it's like, come on, that's community care. You know, you notice someone acting predatory or gaslighting someone or maybe working on, you know, like, separating them from their family and friends. If you notice that, like, don't be like, oh, well, that's their relationship. It's their business. It's like, well, yeah. But also, if you're seeing, like, red flags or a pattern of behavior, it's okay to say something about that. Yeah. No, speak up. Go tap somebody on the shoulder and be like, hey. Hey, you good? Yeah. You need a place to talk. You want to go get a coffee? You want to, you know, go hang out for a little bit? You know? Hey, can you help me unload my car real quick? Yeah. Get out of that situation if you can. But I know sometimes it's easier said than done. And I know that, you know, things aren't always apparent, you know, and I know hindsight is always 50-50. But there have been a lot of situations where people have noticed things and then didn't. And we all know, because of this country's obsession with true crime, that a lot of times this behavior can build up to something that is much more permanent than a sexual assault or just a physical assault. You know what I mean? Going back to mutual aid for a second. Yes, yes. Have you seen, there was in the 80s, a My Little Pony movie. I think it was called, like, Something to Midnight Castle or Journey to Midnight, Escape from Midnight Castle or something. Did you ever see that? Not to the best of my knowledge. Now you're making me talk for a second. I'm going to see what I can find. Are you familiar with the sea ponies? Yes. Okay. Yes, I remember them very vaguely, but I remember them. Okay, so the sea ponies are obviously, no one seems to care that they're horse-sized seahorses. But their whole thing, right, is, like, two characters fall into the water. They go into, like, this clamshell. Clamshell closes, puts them in a bubble full of oxygen that they can breathe, and a song happens. And the whole thing with the sea ponies is that, I swear, people think that I just bring up the sea ponies whenever I can, and they are right. I do do that. But the whole thing is that, like, the sea ponies are like, if you're ever in trouble, if you ever need help, just give us a call, we'll show up. They give them, like, a special, like, summoning seashell they can throw in the water, and they show up. And it's like, that is, like, my earliest memory of kind of, like, the idea of mutual aid, and how the sea ponies are like, you know, whatever you need, if I can help you, I'm going to be there to help you. And, like, I just wanted to kind of bring that up, because it also goes back to the whole helping someone when you don't necessarily get something in return immediately, you know? It's not this whole transactional thing. It's just helping someone because they need it, and you can help them. Yes. And I found it. It's called Rescue at Midnight Castle. Yes. Yeah. And featured the voices of Sandy Duncan and Tony Randall. True. Yep. I was like, wow, odd couple. There we go. Yeah. So there's only one pony in that movie that didn't talk, and it was the real life horse of Megan. Of course. Yeah, but, you know, it just kind of goes back to that whole thing, and then also tying into, like, community care and just kind of paying attention to people, and maybe, you know, it's real easy to just, like, stay on your rail or your way, and just, like, not look to the left, not look to the right, and it's just like, there's just a lot of things you can do to help people if you're so inclined. And it's not always giving them money. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. The number that you're talking about, the musical number, is Call Upon the Sea Ponies. Yeah, Shoo-Bee-Doo is the chorus, so, yeah. All right. I'd find this and play it, but I'm afraid it won't get into the recording. Yeah. Do it on your own time. In your own, like, in a dark room, you can watch the sea ponies. That's really the best way to do it. The good old days. No, I don't want to go back. No, I don't either. No, no, no. I think there was a conversation I was having with my brother, like, you know, do I want to go back and be a little kid again? Not really, but only because if I do, to have the energy of a little kid again. Yeah. I got a quarter of that energy, I'd be stoked. Yeah, yeah. But I don't want to have the ignorance of being a child, you know? And I do, you know, God bless children and not knowing what's going on because they are so pure and natural. I love that for them. But if I could be a child and have the knowledge that I have now? Oh, yeah. Like, let's go. Let's fucking do this. I don't know if I would. I don't know. Can I cash in, like, that youth years to, like, you know what? I don't even want to say that because I don't know how the end of my life is going to be. So let's not speculate. I don't know. Like, I think that's why I am in awe of this, the Gen Z or whatever it is that we're calling people now. Because, like, you have these kids who are about to be in high school, are finishing high school, who are in middle school, who do have the knowledge that we have now, or at least the stepping stones to that knowledge. And are, at least online, and sometimes in real life, doing something with it. And there's more of them than there ever was of Gen X. So please, as, I don't know, a junior Gen X, senior millennial, whatever the fuck, I don't know. Are you talking about me or you? Me, me, me. Okay. I was like, no, I'm an elder millennial. We're not far apart, though, mind you. Right, right. But no, I get it that Gen X hasn't really stepped into shoes that they should have. But we are also making a list and checking it twice. Does that count? I'm gonna expand on that. I think I love Gen X and Gen Alpha. I think that they are being forced to exist in a world of climate crises and all these different horrible things that generations older than you and I have not cared about. And I think that that kind of forces them into action and forces them into caring. Because if they have any hope of living any kind of life, then they need to kind of grab themselves and each other and us and shake us and say, look, we have to knock off what we're doing and how we're doing it, or else we're just all fucked. So I really do like younger millennials, you know, generations younger than me, for that reason. And it's like, it sucks that they're like that, because they're being like forced into all these unprecedented times, you know, but oh, I'm excited. I think that there's like a lot of like drive and really unique minds out there that'll get shit done that we can't. I'm glad you're hopeful. I'm not saying that I'm not hopeful. I just don't. I guess I was more trying to like apologize for the lack of what Gen X has done up to this point. But I guess I am excited to see a lot of Gen Xers kind of being like, look, the kids are right. We need to fucking do something now. Right, right. And not just trying to hide in parent's shadows and be like, no. Yeah, yeah. But let's do one last thing real quick before we say goodbye. I mean, that sounds sad. See you later. We'll see you next time. Well, not yet, though. Correct. So I've been reading Kropotkin, because, you know, you have to read theory at some point in your life and figured I might as well start now. And one of the things that he brought up, and there's something that like maybe next time at the next recording, I want to share with everybody, because I kind of think he was hinting at distroism back in the late 1800s, which is funny. But at any rate, he also likes to talk about the fact that, at least in the papers that he would write for, the pamphlets and things, that in order to keep people in the fight and up to what's going on, hip to the happenings, as it were, you've got to tell them about the strikes that are going on and analyze them and see, try to see how it fits into the framework of the Revolutionary Era. You know, and so I kind of, between that and the Supreme Court ruling against the poor guys up in Washington state, I kind of wanted to start doing that as well, like every month, just be like, hey, this strike's still going on or, hey, you know what, there's another one that's about to pop off. And I think it's a good thing to do, especially now, because just typing into Google search or whatever it is that you use, you know, upcoming strikes US, there's a whole page of just like, oh, yeah, no, there's this coming up. And it's all like recently, like, oh, this is what's coming up. There's a little bit of stuff from major strike activity increased nearly 50% in 2022. That's crazy. Yeah. You know, nurse strikes in 2023, where and why are they happening? People are kind of figuring out, like, especially after COVID, we're done putting up with the bullshit. You guys are making billions and trillions of dollars, hands over fist, and are telling us you don't have any money to give us? Right. And I think the big thing for me, or the sad thing, really, is like most of these fucking, what am I thinking about? Anyway. Like a traditional? Yes. There you go. Traditional. Rank and file. There you go. See, give me a second. It'll come back. The rank and file unions don't, especially now, don't give a shit about the members. And I'm not trying to be dismissive of them because they do still supply them with better pay. They do still supply them with better benefits than us normies see. But the fact of the matter is they are easier to cave to corporate coercion, as opposed to, you know, the old school teamsters who would take baseball bats. Not necessarily to people's knees, even though they did, but to windows and cars and, you know, like legitimately held a strike. And I'm not trying, again, to dismiss any of the recent strikes. The John Deere strike that was like 100 days long or something like that. You know, like these recent strikes that actually, you know, got some stuff. I think one of the big ones that was disappointing to me, though, was the most recent, not the teachers union in L.A., but all the cafeteria workers and the bus drivers. Yeah. They went on strike. And it was only a couple of days long. Don't get me wrong. I think it was about a week, week and a half, something like that. And they did come away with some concessions. But like the biggest one that struck me and it blew my mind because the union president was talking about the fact that, you know, all these workers are now getting a pay raise and they're getting more money in their paychecks. The goal initially was so that these people could live without having a second job. Right. Right. Livable wage, actual. Yeah. But the concession was for them to only make $35,000 a year. And that's not a lot. No. And I get that it's part time. But like even at part time, that should still be $50,000? Yeah. Minimum? Yeah. There's such a there's such this like idea that part time work should not support any type of family. It should be used as like a supplement. Yeah. Full time work. And I think I think that's backwards thinking. Yeah. And especially when it I mean, yes, of course, school, it's easier to build a schedule around because, hey, I'm a cafeteria worker at the school from 7 a.m. to 2 every day. Right. I think that's still eight hours. But whatever, you know, however it is that the shift works. Right. Sorry, I was never a cafeteria person. If there are cafeteria people who listen, please chime in. Let us know what your shifts are there. Or even bus drivers. And I think it's even harder as a bus driver to manage a schedule because what's going on in the district? How many kids are going on a school trip that day? Where are they going to? When do you have to be back? So how are you supposed to have a second job after that? At least not during the week. You can't. Right. And also, like, you can't control traffic. Sometimes shit happens. Yeah. Yeah. So. So I'm just kind of like, how is this? How is that a win? I don't I don't see that as being a win. That's just. It's like just like pacifying them, you know, like, hey, if we do this, will you come back to work, please? You know, we're not going to really give you what you want. But and we're not really going to meet you halfway, but we'll give you this. Yeah. And I understand there were other concessions, especially in regards to health care and having a full health care package, which is good. But the fact of the matter is, you know, lunch lady man or whoever the hell it is now gets off work and has to go to another job. And it's like it's just speaking of Gen X. We've got this next generation of fucking last key kids. And what happens to them? You know, like there's only so much the YMCA and after school programs can do. There's only so much that the kindergarten that you send your kid to after going to kindergarten all day can do. You know, I just boggles the mind as to how that's a win to me. It does. And it's like and I don't know if it's I don't know if it's like the stigma of people that do these particular jobs of being less than which, as you and I both know, that's bullshit because that's hard work and noble work. I've always argued that people that, you know, have, you know, regular jobs or whatever are doing actual work as opposed to someone who sits in an office and makes 100 grand a year. So I don't know if there's like this idea that they're only a bus driver. They're only a cafeteria worker. They don't deserve to make a living wage off of that. You know, I think there's it might be classism, probably, you know, and probably some racism in that as well. So it's like going back to because when you were talking about the unions and union types and stuff, it seems like there's two distinct types of union. There's the union that is a go between between the employer and the employee, but kind of acts more in the interest of the employer. And then you have like your labor unions, which are actually representing the workers and what's best for them. And it seems like a lot of teachers unions kind of like maybe even like the grocery worker unions from what I've seen. Now, please correct me if I'm wrong. They seem to be more of the smoothing things over between employee and employer as opposed to actually benefiting the employee. I can see that. I see that. I think it depends also like a lot of it does, like in the area that you're in, because I used to be a member of a union back in the day, an electrical union. Well, the only electrical union in the U.S. The electrical union. The electrical union. But its branch in the place where I used to live wasn't exactly the strongest by any means. The California, like everybody in the states that this particular branch took care of, always looked to California and the unions, the electrical union locals in California, because the electrical locals here always seem to get better packages than back home used to. Yeah. And it was infuriating. It was very frustrating, especially like it's so funny when some of the apprentices would be like, hey, what's going on, man? Like they weren't even talking about bringing back the old days of cracking kneecaps. And I'm like, slow down. Right. But you're right. But no, I mean, they were right to be upset because and I've not looked into it recently. But like back then, the local in San Francisco, they were making between I think it was a little over 50 bucks an hour straight pay. Overtime, of course, was time and a half. And overtime started after working eight hours in the day. Oh, OK. So not, oh, you've accrued 40 hours. Now you can have overtime. It was, you've worked your straight eight. Here you go. Right. So they were getting overtime for anything over eight hours. Anything over 40, they got more overtime then. They got a differential for working at height. So if they were above, say, 20 foot, they would get a 10% pay bump. Kind of like a hazard pay? Yeah. Yeah. But then they also had hazard pay as well. OK. If they were ever working on any kind of live wires or high voltage or anything like that. So then they would get that. And then they would get their health benefit package and all the locals got their own pension. And then, of course, you were given the pension from the national as well or the international. But all these locals up and down California, that was, it might have been a little less pay, but they were getting all these little extras. And the local back home just would not ever budge. They were like, you're going to get a pay bump. It's going to be 10%. So you're looking at about 15 cents. And this is for the next two years. And people would be like, well, what about this? They're not going to give it to us. They don't want to work with us on that. And especially when we were working at places like Intel, who, one, could definitely afford it. Yeah. But, two, especially when you're doing a new build, especially at Intel, you're definitely working above 20 foot. Yeah. Because you're running new conduit for the tools and shit. And so it's like, we're constantly above that. Why can't they give us just, like, it's 10%. Give us another 10% for always being in a man lift and always being tied off, for following their safety rules. Which, I mean, you should, kids, follow safety rules. They will save your life. Yes. Please. Yes. Safety rules. Like, fuck laws, but safety rules and rules of the road. They'll keep you safe. Yes. OSHA absolutely is your friend. It's the government's fault for underfunding them. But OSHA is absolutely your friend. Yeah. As someone who worked almost a decade in a warehouse kind of adjacent environment with import-export, absolutely. Yes. OSHA is your friend. Businesses are nuts. Fuck them. Yes. Let's just talk about strike news. Let's move on from that and let's talk about the fact that we've got the writers' strike going on in L.A. Yes, yes. They're three weeks, four weeks in already. If I remember right, I believe SAG-AFTRA, so the Actors Guild, has already greenlit a strike if they don't get what they want. So that's fun. So we're going to have both the actors and the writers out at the same time. Oh, there's the ILWU, the dockworkers, the ILWU, they're talking about going out on strike soon. The dockworkers, they've got 20,000 in Oakland about to walk off if they don't get what they want to see. Do you know what they're demanding? I would love to, but of course, this is the New York Times, and so it's fucking locking me. Haywald? Yep, that's the one. I did see recently that on the ports, and I don't know if it was just L.A. area ports, the two here, or if it was statewide, but they're doing an initiative to electrify some machinery and stuff like that to cut down on emissions. One of the conditions of that was that the machinery has to be operated by people. So you're not allowed to automate that stuff to get the advantage or whatever the incentive is. So I thought that was pretty interesting. That is. Because you would think, well, no, it makes sense, though, because it's the same argument with AI. This whole idea of automation taking away your job, what's next? I personally think that some automation is fine when it comes to the ports, but that is really dangerous stuff going on down there, and I think that you really can't beat a human's response time or a human's moral judgment when it comes to things. No, I agree. I mean, shit at the docks, man. Those are, what, 50,000-pound fucking containers or some shit like that, 100,000-pound containers? Yeah. I mean, a 40 is 10,000 pounds empty, so put 40,000 pounds of cargo in that, and yeah, it's just like... Yeah. Yeah. When they're talking about fully automating port operations, I'm like, dude, that's dangerous. You can't get 100% human-free, and by taking away the elements of humanity that allow it to operate safely, you put the remaining people there at risk, in my opinion. Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah. Ugh, that's... And so, no, I absolutely, I believe the ILWU would be like, nah, you guys ain't bringing that... We gotta feed our kids. Right. There's no way that that's gonna happen. Right. But of course, corporations are like, yeah, but we want our money. Yeah. Which we're getting anyway, but you know, whatever. Exactly. UPS, they're about to go on strike. They're trying to avoid it right now, but it's the Teamsters, it's the drivers. So this is from Insider. UPS is around 330,000. Did I read that right? Yeah. 330... 330... Mother of shit. 3-3-0-0-0-0. 330,000, right? Yes, there we go. My brain shat the bed right then. It was fun. Unionized employees who handle packages and drive delivery trucks. Their contract expires July 31st. Negotiations started this week in D.C. and friction has already increased as the Teamsters accuse UPS of slow-walking local negotiations. So that's always fun because that would totally derail any kind of supply chain that's trying to still be rebuilt two years later. And, you know, speaking of derail and strike... Oh, God. You know, they did everything to squash rail strike and didn't address the concerns that the workers were striking about and then we all know what happened in East Palestine at all. And it's just, it's so funny the way that the media is covering the, like, entertainment aspect of, like, the entertainers. I call them entertainers, but, like, you know, like the actors and the writers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Their strike versus actual labor strike, which was the UPS, obviously, right? Versus the train strike. It's so funny how differently the media covers that because they vilified, if I recall correctly, they vilified and talked down at the railway folks. And now everyone's over here in Hollywood skipping alongside celebrities and taking selfies with them, you know? And it's like, and also it's like, where were a lot of the politicians that ran in earlier races on, like, worker support, workers' rights, you know, a higher minimum wage nationally? But where were they? Maybe they were there and I don't know. I feel like I would remember if they were there or if it was talked about. I feel like I would remember it. I mean, everybody remembers Buttichug being there. Yeah. You know, but that was because he looked, one, he showed up way late, and two, because he looked like a dork, an absolute fucking nerd. Like, he had to, though, right? Like, that was, like, his deal. So they're like, well, I have to go. But it was three weeks after the whole fucking thing happened and then he just kind of shows up in a vest and a hard hat, you know? And it's just like, dude, just stay home. See, I'm one of you guys. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to point. Hello, fellow kids kind of thing, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It goes along with just how we value everything in the country, like how we've always paid professional athletes much more than doctors, or we've always paid, you know, singers and musicians more than, you know, people that actually keep the infrastructure working. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's just, it's so weird to me just to see the way the media is covering the current actor strike versus the attempted labor strikes. So what else have we got coming up? There's more, like, I'm just, AP has a whole fucking, apnews.com slash hub slash strikes. They've got a list of all the strikes coming up. Oh, cool. Cool. Yeah, apnews.com slash hub slash strikes. Hundreds of journalists strike to demand leadership change at biggest U.S. newspaper chain, the Supreme Court, which I'll talk about that in a second. And they even go international. Cambodian union chief who led long-running casino strike gets two-year prison sentence. That's pretty fucked. Yeah. FedEx pilots vote to authorize strike as they push for higher wages in contract negotiations. That's for May of this year. Like, holy shit, man. Like, there's so much going on that just, like, it gets you a little warm fuzzy. Right. And you kind of, like, you want to go out and help or you want to go out and support or, you know, tweak your support or whatever. Right. And, you know, then there's still, like, you know, the little, like, the individual Starbucks that are unionizing and, you know, Mom and Pop burger joints that are unionizing and just, like, all these, like, smaller scale strikes. And unions being formed is just really cool. It is. So real quick, let's talk about the Supreme Court in their ruling against the teamsters who were driving the cement trucks up there in Washington state. Yes. Yeah. Glacier Northwest. And the Supreme Court has said that leaving the cement mixers, the trucks full of cement was a bad thing to do. And they, the union now has to pay for any and all damages. One, the guys, when they went on strike that day, went to management and told them what was happening, emptied the trucks and just left the remnants inside. Mind you, that's still not the best thing to do. Right. But there was still management there who could very easily go out and spray out the trucks. Yeah. But chose not to because, fuck them, they're going on strike, yada, yada, yada. Right. For the Supreme Court to now, one, send this back to Washington state to actually go through the courts. And having ruled the way that they did, which of course sets precedent for the court, who initially, the Washington state court said, no, we're not going to go through this. We're not going to look at this. This is a union action. You guys know what happens. Be responsible and lift it. But once we got the Supreme Court that we currently have, Glacier Northwest bumped this right into the Supreme Court and got the ruling that they wanted. So what this means for everybody else now, going back to, say, Starbucks. Say you show up in the morning and you start making your coffee and you've got the coffee grounds going, you know, the whole setup, the whole shebang, how it is that you do first thing in the morning. And you or the shop steward decide, hey, let's walk out. We're walking out. We're done. We want to be recognized, whatever it is. Right. You are now liable for the loss of all those coffee grounds, the loss of any kind of pastries that you were starting to bake. Anything else that comes up, I'm pretty sure you'd be footing the bill for the loss of money for that day. So how are you supposed to, quote unquote, responsibly go on strike then? Right. Like this is a huge fucking mess. Yeah. And it's going to fucking suck. Yeah. It's just, yeah, it's like suppression tactic. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And so I don't want to see it, but how is Amazon going to use this, you know, for the organizing at their buildings? Right. Right. It's going to be, like, this summer is going to be interesting, especially seeing all these things that are taking up. And I highly suggest all the peeps, if you can, if there's something happening close by, head out to the lines, bring water, carry signs. Don't cross them. Yeah. Don't be a scab. Fuck scabs. Scabs go directly to hell. I don't care if you don't believe in hell, that's exactly where you go. Scabs are bad. But we'll leave it at that. You got anything that you want to shitpost for, you know, say, follow me or whatever? You can follow me. Most people know me. You can just follow me on Twitter at ShrugDealer, the L is a capital I. And then also on Collectiva, I am ShrugDealer on there with a proper L. And that's pretty much it. And you can find me, I'm back on Twitter again. Woo! Shit, what is my new handle there now? At the Good Rev Poop on the Mastodon Collectiva. I think I'm my old handle there. Yes. Yeah. I think it's always been that. Yeah, Reverend Dr. Poop Daddy. Yay. Are we just never going to talk about the poop? Or do I just have to accept that that's your name and never talk about it? I would love to tell you if I could remember. Like, I'm being so, so honest right now. It's just been the poop for so long. Yeah, I am the Poop Daddy. The poop is me. I am the poop. And I don't even remember what it was in response to. I know it was in response to something. That's about the extent that I have. It was in response. Right. Yeah. But, oh, also follow the podcast, at C-O-G-B-1-6-1, because we're the good guys. So, at C-O-G-B-1-6-1 on the tweets. Exact same on the toots, on the Collectiva, on Mastodon. And always remember to use Signal Kids. Yes. Encrypt everything. Also, you can get a VOIP through Google Voice or something, and you can put that on your Signal or your WhatsApp, if you're committed to that one or whatever. So, you can have a virtual phone number that way. There you go. That's something I didn't know. Yeah. Give them everything. Make it easy. I think that's my thing. I'm just lazy. I don't know. I'll find out if I have ADHD soon. That's probably more than likely what it is. So, at any rate, yeah, no, have a great month. If you guys have anything you want to share with us, please do it on the Twitters or on the Tooters. We also have an email address, which would be C-O-G-B-1-6-1 at Proton.me. So, feel free to drop us a line. And let us know if you've got anything going on that you need some fucking talk about, or if you've got something you want to talk about, or you have an event coming up and you need people to show up. Send us it all. We want to be your hookup. We want to be the connection to everybody. So, fucking, yeah, let us know. Yeah. Cool. Everybody, hugs and solidarity, and fucking keep fighting. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Later. Bye-bye.
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