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CONTENT WARNINGS FOR RAPE, CHILD MOLESTATION, AND MENSTRUATION In this month's episode of the Cavalcade we chat about AI "art," police are not actually crime fighters, some sustainable swaps, the Red Guard trying to buy a food truck for houseless outreach, a CPUSA cult, Back II the Future II: the Futuring, and of course the Strike Corner.
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CONTENT WARNINGS FOR RAPE, CHILD MOLESTATION, AND MENSTRUATION In this month's episode of the Cavalcade we chat about AI "art," police are not actually crime fighters, some sustainable swaps, the Red Guard trying to buy a food truck for houseless outreach, a CPUSA cult, Back II the Future II: the Futuring, and of course the Strike Corner.
Listen to COGB Episode 3 by Cavalcade of Galactic Bullshit MP3 song. COGB Episode 3 song from Cavalcade of Galactic Bullshit is available on Audio.com. The duration of song is 01:38:54. This high-quality MP3 track has 1411.2 kbps bitrate and was uploaded on 31 Aug 2023. Stream and download COGB Episode 3 by Cavalcade of Galactic Bullshit for free on Audio.com – your ultimate destination for MP3 music.
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Yeah, well history is gonna change. Alright, listen up! I don't like white people! I hate redneck! You people are redneck! Alright, I'm coming for you! The power key of Galactic Burst! Yes! Power! Power! Okay, hello everybody! We're coming to you live from the Hurricane Hillary! That hasn't quite showed up yet. Has anybody checked the hurricane's emails? No. Ted, have you had a chance to look at those? I tried to, but then I was called a super predator and I was brought to heel. So, it kind of slowed everything down for me. Damn, man. That makes for hard times. It does. Ah, didn't pass that background check, huh? Oh, fuck. The pantsuit hurricane is on its way. Oh, God. Can you imagine? What if we just got blanketed with a bunch of pantsuits? And ones! Yeah, exactly. They'll blend in up here. I'll never see them and I'll just keep tripping on them. Right. And then you go outside and just start shimmying. Yeah. Like, that would be terrible. Yeah. Man. Transport it back to 2016 right now. It's disgusting. Yeah. Was it 2016? Yeah. It was one of those years. One of those. Some dark times. I don't know. Yeah. Ever since 2016, it's been just dark. Yeah. There's been little flashes here and there, like the cracker whacker. Yeah. That was good. What was the other one? God, cracker whacker. I think the other one was like a honky slapper or something. Something like that. Yeah. That's pretty cute. I dug that. I really am on board with that becoming, like, I don't know, a part of... My brain is just... Oh, God. Today has been fucking weird, man. Yeah. I can relate. Like a societal norm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a guy that lives up here. His name is Cam Slocum. Ted, you might know him, but I doubt you do. Okay. He was the East Side Tomato King down there in L.A. He was a homeless guy who had a gardening plot and he was just growing tomatoes all over the place. Oh. Actually, that sounds vaguely familiar. I know I can find him. I've found him so many times. But he lives up here now and he has picked us out as the place to come and charge his phone and stuff. And he'll come by and he'll knock on the door on occasion. And then I speak to him and chat with him for like an hour, hour and a half. Oh, that's awesome. Because he's just like, he's got stuff to say and he just wants to say it. Yeah. Kind of bizarre because like the story is legit. But he says that there's going to be a big thing up here. He's going to build a house, which is fine. I don't care. Go for it. Once it's built, he's going to have the Dalai Lama and like other famous people come and check it out. Yeah, that's where I'm at with it. I feel like, right. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, okay, dude, you know, if you can produce the Dalai Lama. But also like, it's like, yeah, maybe he'll come. Who knows? But like, do you want him to come up? Yeah. Personally, I stay as far away from the Dalai Lama as possible since the whole incident. Yeah. Recently. The whole tongue thing. Yeah. What happened? He tongue kissed a child. Oh. Yeah. Like the whole thing. And he like told a kid to like suck on his tongue and just like, oh. Oh my God. Really? Yeah. You know, the bastion of hope and goodness. Just being a fucking creep. Surprise, surprise. Yeah. Never believe in heroes. Exactly. Bury your idols, man. Exactly. So there's a story here in LA Weekly from 2011. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown, especially when said metaphorical crown goes with the title East Side Tomato King. Cameron Slocum could be dealing modern furniture or hustling to create and sell his own avant-garde artworks, things the 53-year-old has done before. Or he could have sought out any number of other financially fruitful and moderately stable endeavors that matches robust energy and bohemian raconteur personality. Instead, he has chosen for the last few years to farm full-time on a plot of land in notably hilly Lincoln Heights, just a few miles from downtown LA, and sell his top-notch raw produce and prepared fruit products to restaurants, stores, and farmer's markets around Los Angeles. He was like homeless and did that. That's incredible. Yeah. Cameron Slocum's tomato kingdom germinated 25 years ago when he started growing a few tomatoes on the roof of a downtown loft. Then four years ago, he heard KCRW's food host Evan Kleinman talk about two South Bay guys who grew 600 tomato plants, and he bet a friend that he could grow 600 tomato plants. And he did. So he lives up here now. Wow. And he came by today because his charger isn't working, and he knows I'm an electrician, or was an electrician. I tried looking at it, and there's something wrong with it, but I don't know what it is. It runs off solar power, but it's also one of those that you can plug in and it charges as well. So I'm seeing if it's going to take a charge right now, and if it doesn't, I'm just going to start emailing the company that it was built by and see if we can get some repairs for it or something. I drove him back to his place, which is just a small-ass RV here in the middle of nowhere. And he was talking to me, and I told him that I've got a doctor's appointment on Tuesday for a colonoscopy. Super excited. Yay. But apparently he thought I said colostomy, which is totally different. I don't want one of those. But he started talking about how I should start eating more fresh vegetables. He was concocting things and telling me to start going online and researching. And I looked at my arm and how it was kind of ashy from the dry air and everything. He's like, yeah, and your skin's all fucked up. And I'm like, cool. Thanks, man. And he went inside. He's like, here, let me go grab this stuff for you real quick, and I'll give it to you. And he brings me a bottle that is half open of arnica salt. And he's like, try a little. And so I got a little bit on my pinky and was kind of putting it on my knee. And he's like, no, man, no, you've got to try some. And he sticks his finger in there and puts it on my knee. And I'm like, whoa, I don't want that. I was so uncomfortable. I'm like, no, dude, it's cool. I get it. Dang. And he put more on my arm. I'm like, no, it's OK. I get it. I'm good. I'm good. He's like, just let me know. Take this with you. I'm like, OK, cool. So, yeah, that's been my day since 1130. Yeah, it's been interesting. Oh, and he collects rocks now. And he thinks that every rock that he picks up is an arrowhead of some kind. Of some kind. Yes. Not arrowhead shaped. No. It's an arrowhead of some kind. Yes. I'll have to take a picture and show you the rocks. Was he, by chance, in Napoleon Dynamite? I don't think so. I don't think so. But, god damn, it makes more sense now. Like, I'm all for minerals, man. I love rocks. I love going to mineral shows, you know. The ref, pro mineral. I am. One thousand percent. Get your minerals, kids. Mineral stan over here. Yes. I'm pro mineral, but I'm a vitamin cruiser. See? See? I knew it. What do you know about vitamin D, Dan? The real vitamin D, not sexy vitamin D. It's not real. It's the global cabal is trying to convince you to drink more milk. Yeah, that makes sense to me. Ted, do you agree with that one? I mean, sure. I might go down this truth or hole with you, Dan. It is a little disturbing how much the government actually does force dairy on people. Yeah. No. Yeah. They got, like, two caves full of cheese. Yeah. I'm over a decade without dairy and not dead, somehow. Miracles do happen. Single-handedly bringing down the milk industry. Big milk. There's going to be cows just all over everywhere because of you all. Just roaming, eating all the grass. I'll take care of them. I'll take care of them. There's going to be baby cows just roaming everywhere, having enough to eat. See? You're just going to bring down all of capitalism, Dan. Yeah. That's my life goal. Yeah. One dairy farm at a time. Ted, what do you got for today? I have a couple of discussions, some criticisms of how some organizations feed communities. Also, if you guys want to talk about, like, AI and what, like, intellectual property looks like. Does it exist beyond capitalism? You know what I mean? Okay. And then I have a couple of sustainable swaps that people can do to lessen their impact on the environment. Oh, yes. Sustainable swaps. I like that one. Yeah. And the environment's kind of impacting us right now. So various ways and forms and all that stuff. Yeah. Let's not talk about Canada quickly burning to the ground. Yeah. I'm not worried about that. It's Canada. It's Canada. And then, like, up in Washington, they're on fire all around, like, Spokane, a couple places up there. Yeah. And Maui, which is already out of the news cycle. Yeah. That's dumb. Oprah bought all the land, or is trying to. Yeah. Yeah. And then with Biden giving everybody $700. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, great. You know. I just want to make the point that Biden's $700 payment is the equivalent to, like, when Trump visited, was it Puerto Rico and did the stupid paper towel toss? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Except he doesn't have the cojones to go to Hawaii and give everybody $700 checks personally. It is good that I guess, like, the fewer people that are traveling in there, the better. But it's like there are other people that have been going back and forth that don't have aid. Yeah. No, all the fucking tourists who are still going into the water and pretending like nothing happened. Yeah. No, that's cool. Good times. Good times. Empathy. Yeah. People just died there. It's fine. You know, don't let it ruin your holiday. Just don't look over that way, kids. It's all right. Look this way. I also saw, like, a blip about some people that were asking for wedding photo refunds because they had, like, their weddings planned, you know, how they start at night and stuff like that following day. Everyone had to evacuate. And there were people asking, you know, well, we didn't get to have our wedding. So can we have, like, our deposit back for the photos, our non-refundable deposit back? Can we have that, please? It's like, Jesus, like, insult to injury. My jaw is on the floor. What the fuck? Yeah. People have literally lost, like, life, limb, home, everything. And then one of their customers was like, yeah, I know you're totally devastated and in shock, but can we talk about the deposit that I made that we agreed was non-refundable because that's how wedding photography works, you know, like, deposits and stuff? But can I have it back? Because there was no wedding. It's just ridiculous. Fuck. Destination weddings. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. For the worst kind of people. Mm-hmm. Goddamn. That's terrible. Well, all right. Let's take a break. Okay. And we'll come right back and we'll talk about, um, what do you want to do, Ted? What do you have to talk about? I just have the Back to the Future and that Reuters story about the police are not primarily crime fighters, according to data. Okay. And I wanted to go off of that one a little bit, too. Do a little riff. Okay. Cool. Yeah. Dan, do you have anything specific that you have? I wanted to go off a little bit about Never Trust Your Heroes with some allegations against singers and performers recently. Oh, you're going to bring that one up, aren't you? Yeah. Yeah. I know which one you're talking about. Oh, a couple, actually. Mm-hmm. Because I know the big one. Yeah, the big one. Yeah. I listened to that podcast and I do not recommend that for anybody. That fucking sucked to listen to. I haven't listened to it yet. I know I'm going to because I have to, but goddamn. I'm in the dark and I'm thrilled. I'm going to be surprised. It is terrible. It is. It is. Do you like vegan food? Do you miss that barbecue taste? Well, if you're a fan of vegan meat and mouse, head on down to Jesse's Vegan Barbecue in Van Nuys. We've got the all-natural burger and our vegan caramel and chocolate cake shake. Ask about our super mega meal deals. That's Jesse's Vegan Barbecue just minutes away from the 405 on the corner of Burbank and Van Nuys in Van Nuys. All right, Ted. Okay, I can start, I guess. So one of the interesting pieces of discourse that I saw in the last month or whatever on Twitter was a artist talking to someone else about AI art. And it's kind of one of those things where the artist was saying, you know what, what AI makes isn't really art. It is in the sense, if you consider art to be nothing more than just like images or, you know, like mass produced wall art. Like that's kind of the standard that the artist was suggesting that it would be acceptable to call art from an AI produced standpoint. I know it's really muddled. It's kind of hard to say, to really say what I mean. The AI proponent was saying the person inputs AI prompts and it makes the art. Therefore, the AI is a tool just like a, you know, a computer program or a brush or clay or some kind of medium to make art. And it was just this really interesting going back and forth because it was, it was kind of making me wonder what I even consider art. Like, what is art? Is it just like the end product of something then? Okay. Or is it, is it the whole like human experience and putting, you know, expression and that emotional labor into a piece of something and creating it that makes it art. And I piped in and I said, well, one thing is that like the human aspect of art, right? You can make a hundred pieces and each one will be different because, you know, a human can't perfectly replicate things, you know, wouldn't perfectly replicate things. The pro AI guy was like, well, you know, but you can, you know, just randomize the prompts. And I was like, all right, well, this discussion is going nowhere. And I really was trying to figure out what my stance would be. Like I'm generally anti AI. Like we could use AI for a lot of great things and like not, it's not really true AI, but the technology to like make our lives better, reduce labor in certain sectors, you know, et cetera, et cetera. But instead people would rather use it to make content to take like, you know, actors, writers, artists out of the picture. Yeah. So this kind of reminds me of an argument I had when I was younger when the rave scene was huge, right? And at the time I did not view the music at raves as akin to, you know, punk rock or jazz or you name it, right? Any kind of musical fucking thing where like you said, a person makes this, this is their thoughts, this is their emotions going into the lyrics, going into the music, et cetera, et cetera. And that's the end product of that person's psyche or whatever. You know what I'm saying? And just mixing stuff on a turntable with behind it, that's not talent. You know what I'm saying? Anybody can learn to do that or anybody can do it and just call it what it is. But it's the same argument that people have. I saw a video of somebody swinging, I guess, like a little microphone through a pile of clay and that was an art installation, you know? And I'm kind of like, I guess? You know, I mean, they're finding joy out of it, you know? Even I at one point had that same viewpoint of anything that's created using a DAW isn't necessarily music because anybody can learn to use a computer program. But it heads against myself with, well, anybody can learn how to play a saxophone. Exactly. Anybody, if you put the time into it, can learn how to play guitar. Practice makes perfect. And that's where I came up to that point where it's like, okay, fine. I might not enjoy it. There is still a talent there. Yeah. Even like the microphone swinging through the clay or whatever, like I can see that as being like conceptual art. Even if like, not all art is my thing, but I can like appreciate it and understand how it would be art. You know what I mean? Exactly. I saw it and I was like, okay. You know, it's like the banana on the wall. That's not art. I refuse to believe. That's just a grip. I mean, it's like Banksy. That's a grip. But my grandmother was an artist. Like she painted like beautiful paintings. So I understand where that need to create comes from. And it comes to AI doing prompts that I don't view that as being a need to create. You know what I'm saying? Because you could just put any stupid little thing in like they have and it's going to spit something out. But you really didn't do anything other than input some code or a prompt. And even then it's a database of other people's work, right? Yeah. You can't even argue that it's something like mixed media where people take existing pieces of art or existing magazine pictures or whatever and make something new out of it. You know, like you can't even really argue that because like the whole AI thing is like it's already pulling from stuff that's already been made already been made public. And I don't really know a lot about AI in a lot of ways. But it's like I do. It just seems like it's being utilized just to undercut creative people just across the board anyway. Yes. So it's like I know it has some good functions, but that's not what we're using it for. We're using it to like, you know, jerk over writers and actors and artists. So I agree with that. You'd already said, I don't see how it's art. I mean, it's one thing to be a DJ like for raves or for the Beastie Boys or whatever and take a sample and turn it into something new. But like you were saying, it's another thing, you know, to just enter a prompt and be like, oh, look, I created something. It's like, oh, no, you didn't. That's probably part of this person. You know, put it out there and see who says, oh, that's mine. It's just a really weird thing. And you're just, you know, using AI to like or, you know, it's sister technologies. I don't know. Just to like fool people and impersonate people. Of course, humans will use it for the worst reason. They'll use it for the worst reason in order to get ahead, though. It's a whole fucking capitalism grift thing now. Yeah. Because real artists aren't really making any money off their stuff. But this AI shit, they are because they don't have to give an actual artist money for it. They can just be like, oh, yeah, no, this guy made this for us in fucking in-house. And that's what we're going with. And we used AI to do it. And this is the prompts that we put in. See if you can do it, too. Yeah. It's like, oh, it's 10 percent different than the original. Therefore, we don't have to pay the original artist anything because it was just his art inspired this. Yeah. Yeah. It's stupid. But that's why the writers and the actors are on strike right now anyway. Right. Because that shit's just fucking that'll kill the industry. Right after Pee Wee Herman passed, I think I saw a story about the guy that plays, you know, Jombie, the genie on Pee Wee's Playhouse. Yeah. Like he was brought in for like a day of recording and was given like one hundred and fifty bucks for like just that recording. And then they just reused the same mecha leka hi mecha hiney ho stuff like throughout the series. And he never made additional money on that as well. Oh, shit. Yeah. I'm like, really? They did Jombie dirty? That's rude. Like, come on. That's crazy. I always thought he was like there being fucking Jombie. My childhood is even more demolished. Yeah. I guess they had him like doing like like little video bites, you know, and they would just reuse them and repurpose them. And the original actor didn't get any additional compensation for that. Oh, that sucks. Yeah. That's what they're trying to institute the industry wide. Yeah. Fucking pathetic. Fucking sad. Right. So capitalism is like, oh, we'll incentivize your creativity. So be a good this. Be a good that. Be a good actor. Be a good writer. Be a good singer. And then the same industry comes in. It's like, all right, well, thanks. Now we're going to just take what you did and reuse it and redistribute it in perpetuity. And that's it. You're not getting anything else for it. So. And what's crazy to me about that with movies like Lord of the Rings or like any of the newer World War Two movies where they need like background actors. Unless it's like one of those like, oh, they're dancing in a barn or like an up close visual. Everything that's in the background is already computer animated, already AI in a sense. Is it dancing in a barn? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I love a barn dance, but I'm just like trying to think of like a war movie where there were people dancing in a barn. Not a barn, but an air hangar. How's that? So a rave. Except with fucking jazz music. Big band swing music. Yeah. I will say one thing about the Lord of the Rings reference there. The scene that I believe you're talking about, the Uruk-hai attack on Helm's Deep. That would have been good based in New Zealand. Oh, yeah. So I understand the use of computer generated actors in the background of that. Yeah, no, no, no. Yeah. And that's what I'm saying. Like, I'm OK with that. That makes sense to me. But this idea of, oh, we have to put actual faces in and use them as the background now. And I'm just like, why? You've never done it before. It's never been a big deal before. You know, I mean, it's the same thing with the Star Wars content that they're putting out now. Basically, they're acting in front of a blue screen or a green screen the entire time. And then, you know, the artists come in behind and put people, places and things in there like they were created. Yeah, they're literally an NPC. Yeah. Why the fuck are we worried about putting a real person's face to it? That's what I don't understand. Like, why are we going to bring these people in, scan their face for 100 bucks and then kick them out and then just use them as background actors for in perpetuity? Do we really want people to look the same that far off into the future? And I understand they can use programs to change them to look a little bit different or whatever. I just think it's ridiculous. Just use real fucking people. Pay them. Yeah, pay your extras. Yeah. Yeah, but, you know, if he pays your extras, then the CEO doesn't get his bonus. Right. That's the biggest tragedy of the whole thing. Well, who else is going to buy land in Hawaii now, right? Exactly. Well, there you go. The moment Oprah starts hosting to an AI-generated audience. Exactly. Maybe that's the whole plan to begin with. Oprah's big comeback. She doesn't give everybody a car. She gives everybody a special skin for their car in Grand Theft Auto. There you go. You get a skin and you get a skin. Oh, the future's really fucked, isn't it? It's not looking great. I mean, the present isn't so wonderful. So, I mean, it's like really like, I'm not even going to attempt to think. Right. I just don't even want to sneak that into. We'll leave that question out there. We've got a hurricane coming, whatever. We'll just leave it. Hey, kids. This is Reverend Dr. Poop Daddy, and this is a content warning. This next section is going to be dealing with accusations of rape. So, if you want to dip out and fast forward, feel free to do so. Dan. Yes. Let's talk about burying your idols, Dan. Yes, indeed. Bury every single idol you have. I mean, it's the first commandment, right? Yeah. Not worshipping other idols. Something along those lines. Digging deep. For decades now, I've been in the punk, generally, that type of scene, music and ethics, etc. Yeah, you and I both. And it's been a long-running gag, specifically the pop punk scene, that a singer, songwriter, performer only dates teenage people. Yeah, pretty consistently. Pretty consistently. And everyone seems surprised every time it happens, but recently something happened with someone who actively, I guess at this point, pretended to have these certain ethics. And yeah, so that would be just insane of anti-flag, or anti-flag, depending on your preference. I listened to a podcast episode featuring someone who put forth the allegations against him. And that was a rough listen. I don't recommend it for anybody. But as someone who had been a fan of that band since junior high school, it would have been devastating if it were just so easy to see coming. So, Ted, have you ever heard any kind of anti-flag, however you want to say it? I have, yes. Okay, and do you know who Justin Saint is? Just by the context of this discussion, and I do now remember the news breaking, yes. Yeah, yeah. He was the front man. And the entire band is, at the very least, very liberally left. But they call themselves anti-flag for a reason, because they all have the anti-capitalist ethos. I mean, shit, that's where I learned about so much of the shit going on internationally, was from their albums. And the shit that they would see and write about. And fucking, I knew nothing about Vieques, Puerto Rico until then. Didn't really know too much about anti-capitalism until then. I didn't know about depleted uranium rounds being used in the Gulf until... Yeah. And they do such good work in the Pittsburgh community. And fucking, you go to their shows, and it's like one big happy fucking party. One big happy fucking family, and everybody's fucking hype. And it's just fucking amazing to be there. It's always an all-ages show, because they want everyone to be included. Yep. There's always somebody there slinging merch, either a Zine Distro of some kind, or PM Press, or, oh, AK Press. Like, they're typically there in some way or another. Yeah, to find out that Justin, a few times, has taken advantage of his position. Yeah. According to the person who leveled the allegation, the one that I heard anyway, it wasn't just taking advantage or an assault. It was a capital R forceful end of story. Wow. And like I said, it would have been devastating that a band that meant so much to me and held such a special place in me coming up and becoming a leftist anarchist, whatever I am. It would have been devastating if it hadn't just kind of been like, well, it happened again. And it just happened to be somebody that I like. Yeah. They're one of the bands who, like you, Dan, they got me into the leftist scene. Them and Good Riddance. I'm kind of happy now that I've not heard anything about Good Riddance yet. Knock on wood. Don't put anybody on a pedestal. And then with people putting forward that persona of acceptance and love and anti-capitalism, etc., outside of the punk scene, now recently Lizzo is being sued for various things. And she's put forward that persona of body acceptance and body positivity. And she's being sued for that. And also sexual abuse as well. Sexual abuse, religious abuse. I don't know if it was her or there was a dance team captain involved in the suit. It's people putting forward this persona and not living up to that. Right. It just reminds me, harkens back to how people say that Ellen DeGeneres is just like this terrible person, you know, when the camera's not on her. But we were so used to seeing this spunky, happy-go-lucky Ellen. And she's like a monster behind the scenes. How many times has that story been told with various celebrities and hosts? Lizzo was a real heartbreaker because, like you said, she really does put that image forward of, you know what? Fuck what people think. It doesn't matter how you look as long as you're happy. Get yours, be you, all that stuff. And just a really positive vibe. That was her whole thing. And then you hear these stories about her pressuring them into acting inappropriately or encouraging them to do things that they're not comfortable doing, and the whole body shaming. And that one really hurt. But at the same time, it's like if I like an artist or something, I try not to elevate them too much because they're human. Oh, yeah. I mean, I get that totally 1,000 percent. But when somebody's like your gateway into who you are now, and I didn't necessarily pattern myself off him, but I was definitely like, oh, yeah, I know this is cool. This is the way it should be. And that's what started me down the road to where I am today and to see this person who I held in high regard be just as fallible as I am, I guess, but to end up worse than that is just so disheartening. Yeah. You're really kind of like, well, then who are these good people then? I mean, other than myself and the people who I have around me, the two of you included, I get it. We're fallible. We have fucking shit go wrong. We fucking make mistakes. And I'm not saying Justin Sane would never make mistakes. We know he made mistakes. But just the fact that this was something that he has covered up for forever, for a long-ass time, this was something that happened like 10 years ago, right, Dan? At least 10 years. And it's been quiet until this point? And then to find out that the other three members in the band may have known about it? Yeah. And didn't say anything either? But once it broke, they all three fucking cut ties with Justin as quick as they could? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Everything was deleted the day that podcast came out. Every social, their website was deleted. It's gone. But that gives the impression that they were like, oh, right, well, it's okay as long as the public doesn't find out. Yeah. And then the public finds out, they're like, oh, well, now we're washing our hands of them and everything like that. It's like, okay, well, where was this, you know, tenacity or whatever 10 years ago? Yeah. Yeah. Not just 10 years ago, but in that podcast, this person said that they had found threads online with his name and then I can't be the only one. So it begs the question, how many more? Right. In a somewhat different but related way. It also makes me think of, if you guys are familiar with Gary Yourofsky, are you familiar with him? No. I'm not. Okay, well, Gary Yourofsky, over 10 years ago, he did like a circuit of university speeches talking about animal rights and things like that. And he actually, I binged a bunch of his videos one evening and then the next morning I was vegan. So he is like directly kind of responsible for just like me going vegan literally overnight in like 2011. And, you know, he was giving all these really good speeches and it just turned out that like over the years, you know, after I kind of like stopped watching his content for whatever reason, however long ago, and apparently like over the years, he just turned into this totally gross, like, I'm not really even sure what his deal is, but something to do with like maybe some fascism or some like rabid anti-natalism or something just not great. And he turned out to be this like total scumbag. And it was like, oh, man, because I always kind of held him a little close. Like, okay, well, he made these really cool speeches that really changed like the trajectory of like the way my life was. And he turns out just to be a turd. It's that same kind of like ex-pulvis a way of being and then turn out to be the exact opposite. It's just like super disappointing. Yeah, I think that's what it is the most. It's just disappointing because it's like, well, damn, you're supposed to be one of the good ones. You're not. If he would have said this 10 years ago and dropped off the face of the earth and came back, I think I'd be more okay with that than this because it's just like everybody kept it quiet. I think the big thing is, is it's the atypical dude leftists with their clique. You know what I'm saying? And that sucks because you see too often, you know, leftists covering for other leftists. And, well, he would never do that. Just everybody does that, you know. But it's just like you guys had the chance to make it good 10 years ago and you didn't. It fucking sucks. Oh, well. I mean, I shouldn't say, oh, well, that's fucked up. But it's just like, goddamn it, dude. Like, fuck. You're supposed to be one of the good ones. Yeah. It's tough not to lose hope when it happens so often that the worst feeling you get is, oh, well, that's disappointing. Yeah. Yeah. It should be so rare that you're enraged every time. But we've just been exposed to this so much. Yeah. Yeah. And especially a leftist band and the leftist scene to be just like other groups, you know, like the pop punks. Like, with pop punks, you're just kind of like, okay, you guys are just in it for the money anyway. You know? Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to call them sleazeballs because whatever, but there's no real I'm a punk and da-da-da-da-da to it. You know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. And, like, these guys, that's their supposedly their ethos. And, yeah, it's not. Definitely sucks. Hey, kids, Reverend Dr. Poop Daddy again, and this is another content warning. This next section is going to be dealing with menstruation. So if you want to dip out and fast forward, please feel free to do so. Ted, do you want to talk about the simple things to do to make changes? Sure. So for anyone that doesn't know me, I am a little, I would consider myself ecologically minded in a few regards. And I made myself a few promises this year to kind of, like, you know, reduce consumption and consumerism and make little swaps to use, like, mostly, like, less plastic. And so I just had a couple of suggestions for anyone that's interested. There are certain things that I'm really weird about. My mouth is one of them. I'm really picky about, like, how toothpaste or whatever feels and what toothbrushes feel like and stuff like that. But I was able to actually find online. You can get, like, a pack of 12, I think, for, like, $16, but they're bamboo toothbrushes. So they have, like, a bamboo handle. And then the bristles are made of a compostable material as well. So you can, you know, use the toothbrush and then when you're done with it, throw it in the compost or it will break down in landfill that way. And so you're throwing less plastic away, which is really good, and buying less plastic, which is really good. And I was actually ready to be really snotty when the bamboo toothbrushes arrived because I'm like, oh, I bet they're going to be packaged in a bunch of plastic. But they actually weren't. They were in, like, cardboard packaging and stuff like that. So that was really cool. Really simple change you can make. And very cost effective, too, because I think I'm going to be good for a while with all those toothbrushes. I don't think I'll have to, you know, buy replacements for a long time. And then just another suggestion was anyone that menstruates and has use for those products. Obviously, like, a lot of people do like the reusable Diva Cup, but they do still make tampons with cardboard applicators and paper wrapping. And so you just have to look a little bit for them. The technology is better today than it was in, like, the 90s, when that was pretty much, like, all you had, or even earlier. But much more comfortable and much more environmentally friendly that way. So those would be my two suggestions. Swap out your plastic toothbrush. When you wear your current one out, use a bamboo alternative. And then just use tampons with cardboard applicators and paper wrapping. They're easy to find now. So that would be my suggestion. Unfortunately, I know nothing about the menstruating part. I know how terrible it is, though. And yeah, so any kind of relief for that to make it at least feel a little bit better. Like, I'm with that. And with the idea of not, you know, destroying the planet. Yeah. That's fun, too. Depending on your body, you can go through a lot of that stuff, you know, during your moon time. So I don't know why I'm dancing around it. I have no problem talking about it. But I'm trying to be sensitive for people that don't want to hear about it. Ah, okay. That makes sense. Because I'm like, man, your whole tag is the whole menstruate over the paper. Exactly. I also realize that it can be triggering for people with dysphoria. So I try and dance around it a little bit. But yeah, that whole aspect of biology does and can produce a lot of waste when it comes to product use. So, you know, changing to more sustainable options for that is always good and helpful. All right. Cool. And then the bamboo toothbrush thing. I mean, as somebody who is currently unemployed with no extra spending money, it's just not something I'll be able to do. But it is something that maybe once I start working again, I can. Well, I have an extra one, so I'll send you one. Okay. Yeah. You can at least try it. But yeah, it's one of those things where it's like, you know, if you can, can. I'm not going to, you know, I understand everyone has different circumstances. I've seen them up here at Walmart. So maybe I can shoplift one. There you go. Just acquire one. That should be easy to stuff into a pocket. Yep. Yep. All right. So earlier this week, somebody on Twitter picked out and posted a Reuters article in regards to police are not primarily crime fighters, according to the data. And I just looked at the date that it came out. It came out back in November of last year. I didn't even realize that. I thought it was like something sooner. But it linked to a really cool study that was done in a report that was very thorough in regards to at least L.A. policing, San Diego, that kind of stuff. So California policing. But first I want to kind of talk about the whole idea behind overpolicing and where it comes from and the idea of broken windows theory policing. Have you heard about that before? No. No? Well, in criminology, the idea of broken windows shows that it's a visible signs of crime. So if you see like a broken window or tagging or something like that, that automatically ticks off in your head, oh, hey, I'm in a sketchy area or a dangerous area. Right? So according to this theory is that since there are visible signs of crime and antisocial behavior and civil disorder, that it will create an environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor crimes such as vandalism, loitering, jaywalking, fare evasion, help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness. So that's what broken windows policing is. What they do is they see an area where it's like, oh, you know, there's all this tagging or this place is run down. We should put all our forces, all our patrols here, because if we can clean it up and get all these little things taken care of, this will force everybody to be good. Does that make sense? Yes, it makes sense. Yeah. There have been a bunch of studies that have argued the many apparent successes of broken windows policing, which includes the stop and frisk from New York from back in the 90s, where they feel the result of the neighborhood becoming better wasn't because of the overpolicing, but was actually because of different economic things that were happening at the time. So the neighborhood became better off because maybe everybody was able to get jobs or whatever it was, the economy turned around. And that's what stopped the policing. Not so much the idea that the more police we put there and pull people over, turned it around. That the social science hasn't been kind to the broken window theory. But at any rate, in Cali's 58 counties and 482 cities, they spend over $25 billion on police budgets compared to $3.7 billion on public health. Sounds about right. Right? Yeah. In LA County, the total 2020 budget was $36.1 billion. The LA County Sheriff's Department budget was $3.5 billion. And that's 1% of the county budget. Doesn't sound like a lot, right? Right. In 2020, they only had 8,300 full-time employees. You see them out. Yeah. Because you have a homeless person or anyone maybe having a crisis or going through something. And then there's like seven or eight cop SUVs that are, quote, unquote, responding to that. So, yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So each patrol unit. Oh, God. Because they've got all the different patrol units. So the budget for all the different patrol units was $1.1 billion. So that's, fuck, what, 32% of the sheriff's budget is for these patrol units. Okay? Those full-time employees are 5,646, which is 40% of the full-time employees. So most of that budget's going to the patrol units, driving around, pulling people over for bullshit reasons. And pursuing, I would assume. Yes, as well. So that's fun to know. Riverside, another one that they brought up in that same study, their total 2020 budget was $6.1 billion. The sheriff's budget was only $795 million. So it's a little bit smaller. But that was 13% of the county's budget compared to L.A. But, of course, L.A.'s a bigger county. You can't be like, oh, my God, that's ridiculous. It's a smaller county. It's all relative, yeah. Yeah, it's all relative. Their full-time employees, about 5,200 full-time employees, their patrol units, their budget was $393 million, which was almost half of the sheriff's budget. And the patrol units, their full-time employees were 2,050. So that's about almost half of the full-time employees in Riverside County on the sheriff's were all doing patrols. And so you got to think, like, this is the same the country over. You're not going to find too many places where this is any different, where a good majority of the budget is going to city, countywide, is going to police departments who are then funneling it to these patrol units because those are the people who get all the overtime. And they are the majority of the full-time employees. And we're not seeing any kind of, I guess we'll call it a return on investment. Yeah. So LA County Sheriff, the percent of time they spent on officer-initiated stops versus the calls for service, which are like, oh, hey, my house is being broken into. Officer-initiated stops, people that they pulled over for whatever fucking reason or for whatever reason they stopped, right, 89% of the time is an offer-initiated stop. Their response to service calls, 11%. Wait, what? Yeah. They are only responding 11% of the time to service calls. The rest of the time they are driving around pulling people over. So it's an utter disinterest in actually helping people. Yes, it's an utter disinterest in actually doing any kind of police work. No, they want to go around and be like the aggressors or, you know, they basically pick on people. Yeah. Most of the time, yeah. And in theory, the reason why there are more officer-initiated stops is because that's where I won't say a majority of their budget, but a good chunk of their budget comes from, from those fines and all that other stuff. Hence, they do that more to continue to be paid. In Riverside County, officer-initiated stops are 87% of the time. We'll call it 88. And they're a little bit better at responding to service calls there, 12%. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. LA County, the reason for stops, you know, each one. Traffic violations, 79% of the time. Reasonable suspicion is only 11%. Bullshit. Outstanding arrest warrants, 4%. Consensual encounter and search, 3%. And then if there's two or more reasons or other reasons, they're just really miniscule, not even worth talking about. They're not doing anything. It's not their job to do it. Which I suppose makes sense. I believe it was New York when those two cops on the subway watched someone get stabbed brutally and didn't intervene. And that incident ended up in court. And the court said that the police have no duty to protect normal citizens. It's their whole slogan. Yep. It's their whole slogan, but it is legally not their job. Can I just backtrack a little bit? I remember being in school as a child and having a cop visit our class on career day or cop day or something like that. And one of the points that the cop was making was that cops sometimes have to break the law to enforce the law. They have to speed to catch a speeder. That was the kind of thing he was talking about. They have to lie to catch a liar. Exactly. And he was saying also, oh, you know, police, they exhibit a higher level of self-control, a better judgment than the average civilian, da, da, da, da, da. And so when I was a kid, I'm like, all right, cool. And that's what I was like, all right, yeah, I'll believe it. Fine. And then you look around today and cops are dumb as shit and they're weenies. And it's like, what the hell? In theory, they're supposed to be, you know, the best of us. You know? Yeah. Instead, they're just crap that just protect property in the interest of the rich. And it boggles the mind. How anyone like these days, especially with like all the truth coming out about like police corruption, L.A. SD gangs, et cetera, et cetera. How anyone now can like idolize police is like beyond me. Yeah. So just this week in the Bay Area, the FBI raid on like a bunch of cops got arrested. Seriously? Yeah. It started as an investigation into, I guess, a bunch of cops were cheating on exams to get pay raises. Ah, OK. They started getting investigated. Like 10 or more cops ended up getting arrested. And if I remember correctly, 300 placed on leave pending investigation. Wow. Just a few years ago, one of the Long Beach Police Department officers that was like part of like the gang unit or something like that was having an affair with a gang member that they were supposed to like, quote unquote, busting these gangs and like, you know, arresting them or whatever. Oh, yeah. Someone's busting. And yeah, I was just like, what the hell? Here's another set of numbers that I liked. Research suggests that law enforcement patrol activities aren't effective harm prevention strategies. And they're just using fatal crashes. So they're not using, you know, hey, we need somebody to go check on this person. Right. Fatal crashes. In 2011, there were 2,816. In 2020, even with all these police all over the place, there was still 3,800 deadly crashes. What is a deadly crash? What's the criteria for that? Is that like a drunk person that got in an accident? Is this someone that was running from the cops and got in an accident? Is this someone that just drove off a cliff? I'm going to say it's a Prius. Do you remember that? It was a Tesla. No. Years and years ago, a man was driving a Prius. And I guess the GPS phone would go straight. And he drove right over here by like, yeah, Rancho Palos Verdes. He just like drove into the ocean. He pulled a Wile E. Coyote. Basically. What? Yeah. The guy that tried to kill his family with a Tesla. Yeah. Whole different thing. Yeah. I'm going to assume that the fatalities are all of those. So just all in a police chase, drunk, or speeding of some kind. And it's data that they pulled from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. The graph that they have up is from 2011 to 2020. And other than 2014 and 2019, the numbers consistently go up. You know, we could say maybe that there is no correlation there. And say, well, there are more people who are moving to California in that time frame as well. But I kind of err on the side of caution and agree with the research. And be like, hey, you know, even with all these cops that are supposed to be out there, including CHP, which I wish they would have gone into CHP. Yeah. Even with all these cops, it doesn't matter. People are still dying in car wrecks. Right. So that shows that even pulling people over and ticketing them doesn't stop people from doing it necessarily. Yeah. So the only purpose behind it is simply to get money to fund your own job, basically. The guy who helped with this report sent emails to the different departments. And most of them didn't respond. Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco was one of the ones to only respond. But he said the data, even if it is self-reported, is flawed. And then all four departments declined to answer specific questions about how officers spend their time. It didn't provide any kind of contradictory information. In 2016, a group of criminologists conducted a systemic review of 62 earlier studies of police force and size from 1971 to 2013. And they concluded then that 40 years of studies consistently show that the overall effect size for police force size on crime is negative, small, not statistically significant. The line of research has exhausted its utility and changing police strategy is likely to have a greater impact on crime than adding more police. Right. This is a really good story from Reuters. And the study is like it's spot on. Yeah. Even the Reuters story has more analysis from Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans, Seattle, New Haven, Connecticut. Wow. The New York Times reviewed national dispatch data from the FBI in June 2020 and found that just four percent of officers time is devoted to violent crime. It's so ridiculous because just a few days ago, there was a televised police pursuit. And one thing that the reporter was mentioning, it was like changing jurisdiction, like the pursuit was going out of one city and into another. And so the local law enforcement were like trading off or whatever. And this happened several times during the chase. And every time it happens, the reporter was like, all right, yeah, we got we got a new jurisdiction, fresh set of eyes, fresh set of nerves. And then they were always reminding us that a police pursuit is stressful for the cops. Oh, it's hard. There's adrenaline. It's a hard. There's a lot of stress and anxiety. I'm like, hey, OK, they could just not pursue. That would be an option for them. But they're supposed to have training and knowledge and know how and experience and blah, blah, blah. None of that should matter. They should be ready to jump into a stressful situation for the greater good and be the hero. I don't care if CHP or whoever is chasing these quote unquote suspects. Right. I don't care if he's stressed out. You're putting the person that you're chasing into a stressful situation where people could get hurt. Don't chase them. Right. Exactly. You're literally endangering the public, but you're having a hard time. OK. Yeah. OK. I just love how everybody's kind of like wants to baby the police so badly. They're like, OK, well, everybody knows the job isn't dangerous anymore. But look, you still have to respect them. They go out of their way to protect you. They're just doing their work. They're just doing their job. Shut the fuck up. I got a ticket on December 25th, 2001, from some cop because my taillights on my car were not DOT approved. He pulled me over, gave me a ticket, made this whole to do about it. I was like, all right, get back on the road. I'm behind him. Someone makes an illegal left turn right in front of him and he doesn't do shit. I'm like, excuse me, you just gave me all this grief for having awesome taillights. And now you see someone like blatantly breaking the law in front of you and you're like yawning about it. There's this one time I was coming back from my brother's house, coming up this way, and I had already entered the up here. I'm going along. No issues. Not speeding. Nothing. I get pulled over three miles down. I toss it to the window and he goes, hey, did you know that your license plate light is out? I was like, no, didn't. Thanks for letting me know. And he's like, I'm going to also let you know that at this time of night, there are more of us out there and this is the shit that we look for. So just go home. I'm like, yeah, no, that's the plan. And then a mile and a half from my house, I got pulled over again by a different cop who was like, yeah, your taillights out. Oh, hey, are you the guy that the other guy just reported in? I'm like, yes. He's like, OK, go home. I was going to say, he pulled you over. Don't they talk to each other? I was like, you son of a bitch. Motherfucker. Who gives a fuck about a license plate light? Well, we can't see it. Motherfucker, you got brights, you got headlights, and you got a fucking spotlight. Don't fucking, we can't see it. They'll pull you over your little light being out because they can't see your even though the license plate is made of reflective material, but they don't do shit about people who wrap their license plates in vinyl that are not reflective at all and are not DMV issued. I get why they were doing it, though, because they were kind of hoping that I was not white. Right. I want to go on the record and say I don't think that the cops should be bugging everyone about license plate stuff. I don't feel that way either. But they love to make these points that are completely hypocritical to other aspects of what they do. Absolutely. Quit trying to fund yourself, asshole. They're like, see, you do need us. Yeah. No, we don't. Ted. Yes. You have something else, correct? I do have something else, correct. Vocally critical about a particular group, but I was just reminded of something. Most people are familiar with Food Not Bombs, right? I'm not criticizing Food Not Bombs, to be clear. Okay. No, no, no, no. Food Not Bombs, awesome. Make food, go out, give it to people. Sometimes they have tables. Sometimes they just do, like, basically, like, you know, drop offs or whatever. That's fine. That's great. I love that. Other groups run fundraisers to – and please, if there's a reason for this that I'm not getting, let me know. They do fundraisers to purchase food trucks to be able to feed their communities. And I'm just wondering why, instead of just using your donations and your funds and your resources, instead of just using that to, like, make food for the community, why are you purchasing a vehicle that requires fuel, maintenance, insurance, permits to serve food? Because you have to be able to do that. You have to be inspected and everything like that, right? Yeah. Instead of just taking money and using it, you know, to make food to feed people, you're fundraising thousands and thousands of dollars for what I interpret as either a tax write-off and or it's like a hierarchy of helping people. It's like a look at me. Look at our cool truck that we're doing this for the community. It gives me the impression of, like, saviorism. You know, step right up, you tattered masses, and we'll give you food in styrofoam. Here you go, you know? Yeah. Instead of just making burritos at home and giving it to people, it's like this whole big thing that requires additional money and additional funds to even stay running and stay legally running because it's much easier to just go give burritos out to people than it is to have, like, a food truck station somewhere. You're subjected to all the various, you know, everything that goes along with having a restaurant or having something conspicuously set up somewhere. Yeah. So I saw this group. They're like, oh, you know, we need $8,000 or $10,000 more and we can do this. I'm like, why don't you just make burritos or burgers or whatever you do with that money and give it to the people that are hungry now instead of purchasing a big fancy vehicle for it? I almost kind of want you to name names because, no, you're absolutely right. Like, I mean, shit, I remember fucking when I was doing Food Not Bombs. If we got $100, that was fucking amazing. Right. Shit, we can go buy some extra stuff this month, you know, or this week or whatever the fuck because everything else we got as handouts. Right. Or, you know, lifted from somewhere. But, you know. Or dumpstering. Yeah, exactly. Why the Foodmobile? What the fuck? This particular group, I'm not going to name them, but I will allude to them. They are technically a political party, but they're not liberals. Even though this is a very liberal thing to do. It's like the whole, you know, videoing yourself giving someone a bottle of water and then, like, giving a thumbs up to the camera. Like, look what I'm doing. You know, it's very much along the lines of that kind of thing to me. So when I see a group that supposedly is like, oh, you know, we're uniting the working class and we are taking care of our community and we are doing all this, that, and the other thing. And they're taking funds that could be used to actually feed and help or clothe people and instead are spending it into something that's just going to require further funds to keep going. I side-eye an organization that does that. So not to be too nosy, does this particular political body start with a D? No. Oh, okay. Because I was thinking DSA. That definitely sounds like a DSA thing. It does, but it's not. Wow. Yeah. DSA, get on it. Yeah, come on, DSA. Get with your peacocking over here. Yeah, you fix brake lights. Why aren't you buying a food truck? You know? Yeah, it's just, oh, we're trying to feed our community. Click this link and you can help. Click the link and it's a fundraiser for their food truck instead of donations for food for people. Oh, yeah, no, I wouldn't put into that. Yeah. I just get suspicious when people do that. It sounds like, oh, back when Portland was having all of their protests up there for George Floyd and there was the guy doing barbecue and everybody was like, all right, yeah, fucking, there's a barbecue guy, da-da-da-da. And then somebody swooped in and took it over from him and was just grifting money off of everybody. Oh, messed up. Everybody was pissed, I remember. But I remember that, so I'm just like, damn, I didn't think anybody else would come up with a better grift. This is even more interesting because this particular group, I was reminded that they did this. I was reminded that they did this food truck thing, and then I went back to see if I could find the food truck fundraiser, and I couldn't. So I don't know if they got the food truck or didn't get the food truck and either kept the money or refunded people's money. I don't know the status of the food truck, but it was just this whole thing where they're making this big fanfare about how they're going to get this. And, you know, they're going to get this food truck, and it's going to be painted in the scheme of their party and all that stuff. And it's like, whatever. Oh, my God, in the scheme of their party? It's just the fucking people that I read about the other day that ended up being a whole fucking goddamn, what is it called when you get in with a group, and then you give all your money to that group, and then they treat you like shit and or try to kill you? Are you talking about LuLaRoe? I'm just kidding. Like, is it like an MLM, a cult, a honeypot? Cult. Cult. A cult. It tripped me the fuck out because I knew one of the guys. I actually hung out with him down there in L.A. He was part of the Defend Boyle Heights, part of the skinhead crew that was down there. Dude's name was Louis, and he ended up being in this weird... The author? Poetry author. I found the story. It was the CRCP USA. The person that I knew was a dude named Louis Rivas, and he was the head of their L.A. chapter, basically. Did you ever run across the Red Guards L.A.? No. And you never ran across Defend Boyle Heights or anything like that? No. Okay. I had no idea that he was part of the CRCP USA. Because I know the CP USA. That's just a fucking honeypot for the Fed. But this was the group to bring back the Maoist good standing of the Communist Party, U.S. Okay. I was like, oh, fuck, it was a cult the whole time? Well, that's funny. Well, remember, like, was it Black Hammer was like a cult? Yeah, true. Right. So is it like that? Is it that type of... What was the cult criteria that they were going by? I have a whole idea about it. I use the bite model to decide if something is a cult or not. Let's see. This is from what was written. They gaslit individuals with mental illness. They bullied people by harassing them. They crashed meetings they were not invited to. They threatened people with violence and abused their leadership or popularity status as a way to avoid criticism. They would definitely do things like break people down. If you were ever like caught out of line, basically they would take you away from your significant other or whatever and totally put you into a place by yourself and berate you and have you write how you're going to make yourself better. And then they would read it. And if it wasn't good enough, they would berate you more and then hand it back to you and say that you have to write it again. I mean, basically just cult stuff. That is cult stuff. He said CRCPUSA. I know what CPUSA is. What is the CR? Trying to remember. I'm just kind of brushing back through this again as to what the CR stood for. Yeah. I've definitely talked about how suspicious I am of CPUSA. Yeah. Yeah. I can't see where the CR comes in right now. Hey, kids. So the CR CPUSA, the CR stood for the Committee to Reconstitute. So it was the Committee to Reconstitute the Communist Party of the United States of America. Quite a mouthful. The person who founded the CR CPUSA is a person named Jared Rourke. And he is still in Austin. He's just gotten out of jail for something that he like hit somebody in the head. It was during one of those we're going to fix you sessions. And the person was like, fuck you. I'm tired of this. Wait, this is in Austin, Texas? One part of it's in Austin. Then another group's in LA. They have another group in Pittsburgh, another one up in Portland, another one over in Tampa. Is this like offshoot group or whatever they are? Sect, we'll say. Are they affiliated with the Austin Communist Party proper? Official? I do not believe so, but they may have tried to infiltrate it and take it over. It's not hard to infiltrate when you're like a registered party. It's not hard to infiltrate. Yeah, that was their thing. They would always go to different parties or different groups and infiltrate it and then just break it up and take over and then say, OK, this is now part of the CR CPUSA. This is ours. And so there was the Austin Red Guards, which I've seen before. And I think, Dan, do you remember all the stuff about the Austin Red Guards from a couple of years back? And they were kicking a lot of ass down there. And it was kind of like, oh, wow. I mean, at least for me, I was like, oh, damn, they're actually kind of like doing something in Austin. That's weird. And turns out they actually flew in a bunch of people from those other groups around the country to make them look bigger than what they were. Outside agitators. Yeah, basically. Yeah. But yeah, no, that guy Jared Orff is just he had a thing for cults to begin with and like studied them. And that was his cult that he started from his own research, basically. Wow. He gave fucking speeches and wrote basically commandments and shit. Like, if you get the chance, I'll send it to you in a DM to go and look it up and just be like, God, Dan. Yeah, that's crazy. And it's funny because every time you say CR CPUSA, I just think of like CCR. I'm like, how many like Marines Clearwater Revival Communist Party USA? Yeah, dude, do all my back porch. Yeah. Like, I see a bad mood rising. I might listen to that. I don't know where to start off the speech. So yeah, so there's that. But, you know, side story. Okay, so now it's time for fucking motherfucking give me a goddamn orange back to the future to give you an orange. It's so there was this video, a skateboarding video from back in the day, the group was called motherfuckers. It's where Ben Majera and all those guys got their start. Okay. And so this was prior to fucking my mind is so fucked up today. I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you didn't have like scurvy or something that you like. We had an outbreak of that. Well, not an outbreak because it's not a bunch of people got that a few years ago because they were eating garbage. Wow. Just ramen and pizza and like dozens of students got scurvy. And I thought the idea that leprosy is coming back in Florida was everything new again. That's how it works. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. But at any rate, the video, one of the skits, the guys in a drive through for McDonald's, and he's like trying to order shit from Burger King. And the person was like, well, what do you want to drink? And he's like, Oh, I don't know. Give me a goddamn orange. So yeah, ever since then, anytime I'm having a brain fart, that's what I say. Give me a goddamn orange. And he's referring to an orange drink. Oh, okay. Yeah. So don't worry. It's okay. Hey, kids, Reverend Dr. Poop Daddy, hopefully one last time, but I can't guarantee that the video I was referring to was CKY, the skate video CKY. And that is, of course, also a band name. But that's where Bamagera and all those guys got their start was the CKY skate videos put out by Volcom. My brain was mush. I apologize. But yeah, so back to the future, to the future. This is where I'm going to jump out because I didn't do my homework. God damn it, Dan. I had a vague 20-year-old memory of that movie. I thought about it the other day, and I'm like, the fact that it started, it was 2015. I was like, okay, yeah, we should talk about it. All right, well, go enjoy your evening, Dan. Have fun back on your own planet. All right. Yeah, I'm done with my congressional hearings. I'm going home. All right. Peace be with you. I don't know why. It just kind of hit me. I'm like, oh, man, we should talk about that, all the future shit that's not happening now. Like, fuck, there are things that I would like. Right. Yeah. Like the Mr. Fusion. I would love to have the Mr. Fusion on my car. Exactly. There was also that one thing, it was like power laces on like those like automatic laces on Marty's shoes. That would be amazing for accessibility. What's funny is Nike was, I think like two years ago, actually had a pair of those made. And I'm sure they sold them to somebody with money. Like the technology is there now. So we're way past 2015, though. Yeah. Just to think of this place, which is obviously in California. Yeah. Okay. Hildel is in California. I'm sorry. Hildel is in California. Yeah. And for it to be so idealistic and perfect, it's a trip to me because like, there's not that many police. They're still there, which fucking sucks. But there's not that many of them and it's clean and it's tidy. And it's like, it still looks like it's trapped. Even with the new stuff, like it's trapped in the 1950s. Yeah. And so that always kind of like, man, that's just so weird. Like, no. But my other favorite thing is like fax machines in every room. Yes. There's like dot matrix technology, too. It's not even a laser pen. No. What is this? That's the way to go, man. Every room should have a fax machine. Fuck emails. This could have been a... Read my fax. Yeah. This could have been a fax the whole time. Exactly. God. One of the things that is probably actually not too far off. Now, I don't remember exactly like what section of time this was. I don't know if it was like the alternative 1985 or when I saw this exactly, but there was a dog being walked by a drone. Oh, that's still in 2015, but that's in the bad part of town. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. I was like, all right, that's probably not too far off. It's a terrible idea. But, you know, it was just such a trip to see that dog just walking and then a drone behind it holding the leash. I was like, all right, I can see someone doing like a tick tock on this or something. Yeah. You know. No. I loved the part about the weather service controlling the weather because that just feeds into everybody's fucking paranoia now. Yep. The Jewish laser beams. Oh, my God. We should actually talk about that on another episode because like so much just like especially with the Maui wildfires, just the conspiracy theorists are just having a field day. Look, all the trees are still there. Yeah, but the leaves are gone, you motherfucker. That tree was burned to death. Right. And also like some trees, they have like components in their bark that make them fire retardant. Well, that house is still standing. It's fucking concrete, bro. Like, it's not wood frame. Come on. Yeah. You know, one thing that was actually that's more closer to being true today than in 2015 was the fact that a bottle of Pepsi was $50. Dude, no, I actually put that down to inflation. The one that stuck out to me was the fact that to convert your car to a hover car was $39,999.95. Yeah, that's like $40,000. Yeah. I'm like, son of a bitch. Oh, and I saw this little bit too, and I didn't realize it because I was looking up cast members and shit, you know, because they traded out Jennifer's in between the first movie and the second movie. But, you know, the scene where Marty's playing the video game and he's shooting all the bad guys. One of those little kids is Elijah fucking Wood. Is it really? Yeah. I didn't even notice that, man. Because I looked it up, and it was like one of the first characters. I was like, oh, I'm looking at something different. That's not right. Elijah Wood's not in this fucking movie. So I typed it in a different way in the Google search, and it still came up. So I'm like, what the fuck? And I pulled it up, and it's like little kid at video game. I'm like, oh. Oh, my gosh. That's crazy. That's crazy, because at the end, you know, when it shows previews for part three, there's this scene where there's these musicians or whatever, and one guy twirls a snare drum. And I thought that that was Jack Nance, who was famously in Eraserhead, Twin Peaks. And I was like, oh, my God. Is that Jack Nance? And it wasn't. But I'm glad that there was Elijah in that movie that kind of redeemed the, oh, is that a celebrity I know? So here's what I know about that group that you're talking about with the snare drum. I know who they are. Who are they? ZZ Top. Are they really? Yeah, that's ZZ fucking Top. That's awesome. Well, cool. I found that out, like, years ago. I was like, some bitch is ZZ Top. There's this other part. I think it was around Biff's Pleasure Dome or whatever it was. Yeah, it's this casino, yeah. Where there was, like, people just driving a tank through the street. And I was like, okay. But earlier in the scene, three police cruisers went by. And I was like, why are there still cop cars if there's people just driving tanks around? Like, what is a Ford Crown Victoria going to do against, like, an Ontos tank? Yeah. No, no. That was great. And it's, like, something I had written down was, like, is this the idea that Robert Zemeckis had because he was the director of the movie and one of the writers? Like, is this his idea of what the future was going to be like after Reagan and Bush? Right. Like, is that what he imagined 1985 to be? With some kind of hellhole? Lawlessness. Nightmare? Yeah. And if that's the case, like, damn, Robert Zemeckis fucking hated him some fucking Republican man. He did. He must have if that was his whole thing. Yeah. But you know what was really also interesting was that Doc was talking about how, like, had gotten, like, arrested and tried in, like, three hours or something like that. And he goes, he's like, yeah, you know, the justice system moved swiftly ever since they abolished all lawyers. Yes. I'm like, that's actually kind of good. Yeah, I was like, damn. I mean, not the justice system moving part. Right. That's fucking stuck. Right. But the fact there's no more lawyers. Right. Okay. I like that idea. I was like, dang. Okay. That was crazy. The ceiling in the house to give everybody fresh fruit and vegetables. Yeah. And the food hydrator. Yeah. That pizza was amazing. Right? Yeah. That is the best Pizza Hut pizza I've ever seen. Right. And I've had me some Pizza Hut pizza, let me tell you. Yeah. Never looks like that. I'm like, dang. Okay. It's like the size of, like, half a bagel. And then it goes up to, like, this, like, a large. Yeah. Incredible. And I'm like, we need that. I think that would be pretty good. That's the best way to get fast food around. Just, yeah, we're going to dehydrate it and then put it in the Black & Decker hydrator. Yeah. For, like, two seconds. Yeah. And then it's ready. Yeah. Yeah. And then I was kind of looking in the background of the house, the master cook machine that was back there. Did you see that thing? No, I didn't. It had, like, arms on it. So was it like a chef? That's what I was kind of thinking. Yeah. Like, it's an actual cook. Yeah. I had a little screen that you can look up recipes on it. I'm just like, what the fuck? No. Dang. It's crazy to me that, like, he legitimately thought in 30 years that we were going to have, like, the typical 1950s shit. Mm-hmm. Flying cars. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Fucking hoverboards. Fucking, I still love hoverboards. I want a hoverboard. Yeah. You know, shoes that tie themselves, jackets that dry themselves. Right. Right. Just beautiful areas to walk around. Right. Blissful. And malls. Mm-hmm. Malls were still around. Yeah. Well, actually, in 2015, malls were still kind of, yeah. I mean, I happen to live near a mall that is still very much alive and functional, which is always fun because I am of the, you know, 80s, 90s mall era. So, yeah, that was so crazy. And what is with, like, bionic implants? You know, when Doc said, oh, what was that guy's name? Gif. Oh, my God. Yeah. Fucking Griff. Griff. Thank you. Yeah. Gif? Jif? Yeah. Oh, he went kind of crazy since his bionic implants. I'm like, bionic implants of what? Is it like a bionic hip or something? But I guess he had, like, his hand. Like, his left hand had some, like, stuff on it that looked to be, like, mechanical. Yeah. It made him stronger. Yeah. Yeah. Basically, yeah. And more aggressive. Yeah. You know, when he gets fired. Mm-hmm. So, before that, when Needles, who is, of course, fucking Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, if you look at the bottom, like, the bottom left of the screen, you'll see that it's telling you everything about the person you're talking to. Yes. It has, like, a bio. Yeah. Yeah. Favorite food. Favorite drink. Yeah. Hey. And I'm like, oh, my God. They know everything. It's basically the algorithm now. Yeah. Yeah. That's Facebook right there. Yeah. No, I'm just like, oh, my God. And then everything's paid for with a thumbprint? Yeah. And you open a door with a thumbprint? I'm like, nah. Yeah. I'm good, man. I'll keep the locks. You don't need my biometrics. Yeah. That shit, nope. I'm good. When I got, like, my first smartphone that had, like, finger reader capability, I was like, there is no way I'm going to let this thing have my fingerprint. And then when they started doing, like, the face recognition unlocking, I'm like, uh-uh. This is too much. Because all that information goes and stays somewhere. So it's not with me. Exactly. Yeah. I think the scariest thing about Biff 1985 was, and it's scary only because it's so relatable to right now, was all those land companies buying up all the homes. Yep. Like, I was like, oh, my God. Yeah. And trying to do, like, eminent domain and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, ugh. Yeah. Like, wow, this sucks. And I was like, oh, a toxic waste reclamation plant. That's good. And then it's, like, belching pollutants into the air. I'm like, well, wait a minute. That's why I went off on that tangent of, like, this has to be how he sees life after Reagan and Bush. Right. Or is this, like, a libertarian alternative where there's no regulation? Yeah. Like. Dude, I mean, that's what Reagan and Bush were doing. We're deregulating anything they can get their hands on. So Robert Zemeckis has got to be just, like, looking at this going, we're fucked. Yeah. And just, like, ran with it. Yeah. But it was really interesting because the only political talk was of, like, the mayor or whatever in 2015. Like, the current mayor or something like that. And as if mayors still had, like, that old town authority that they used to have. You know what I mean? Yeah. But it was like there was no talk that I noticed of, like, a president or anything like that. No. The only thing that you really get is Cafe 80s where you've got the Ayatollah yelling at Reagan. Yeah. In my headroom. Aesthetic. Yeah. Michael Jackson. Yeah. Reading off today's special. Yeah. Yeah. For as long as homo sapiens could stand, they have always dreamt of following that little blue bird somewhere over the rainbow. Man's latent desire and drive for knowledge, excitement, and ambition has always pushed them towards the future and lust after adventure. Ever since the Wright Brothers first took that powered flight off the Sandy Hills in Kitty Hawk in December of 1903, they had aspirations of their flying machine being the first in national defense. Since 1929, Grumman has taken those aspirations further and made advancements in canoe building, space exploration, jet-propelled projectile technologies, and the delivery of bombs and nuclear ordnance aboard our stealth bombers and jets. When Northrop went on a shopping spree at the end of the Cold War, it purchased Grumman and became the all-encompassing Northrop Grumman Corporation. With 95,000 employees and revenue in excess of $30 billion, we are the world's largest manufacturer of weapons and military technologies. You see our work on your television and tablet screens every day, from being supplied to the Taliban by the U.S. Department of Defense to the heavy bombers and jets that are currently dropping carpet bombs over Russia. We are the line in the sand that should never cross unless you've got the right amount of money or the defense contract budget to overshadow the GDP of several countries on the African continent. We provide you with that feeling of unease and dread when you hear the sounds of jets flying overhead. We are the nightmare that gives you cold sweats in the bed. We are the trumpet that chimes when you need death and destruction. Deliver to the front door whatever boogie man created for the populace to see. We are the blood-stained, dusty road right next to the sea. We bring it all together under one roof and sell it to you with a tidy little bowl. Patriotism and nationalism. We have everything that you'll ever need for your large or small war needs. We are Northrop Grumman bringing the space rage home. Let's do the strike corner. Let's do it. Let's do it. So we still have the WGA and the Screen Actors Guild out on strike. WGA hit 100 days on the 9th of this month. So that's a really long time to be out on strike. Can I interject really quick? Please. I want to plug a YouTube channel that makes horror-based content that has specifically voiced support for those on strike and said that they have like X amount of pre-recorded material. Once they're done with that, they're not going to cover any movies made by any of the major companies until the strike is over in solidarity with the people on the picket line. And that YouTube channel is called Dead Meat and just them supporting so much. And they say themselves, you know, both of the hosts come from like union working-class families. They understand that when rights aren't given, you have to fight for them. So I just wanted to give a shout out to that channel because they're really great about supporting the strikers. No, that's fucking amazing. I'll have to check them out. That's actually pretty fucking cool. So good on them. Dead Meat? Dead Meat. Yes. All right. So the fucking Writers Guild went back to the table with the studios last week of July, it looks like. And as you can see, nothing has come of it yet. The Screen Actors Guild has already said they're not going back for a while. They're going to stay out because, again, the AI and they don't want to have, you know, hey, we're going to scan your face and never give you any more money. Right. Which is now both groups being out has pushed back the Emmy Awards until January. And now the Screen Actors Guild is going after the reality stars, after everything that's come out about the reality television and how poorly they're treated. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So the Screen Actors Guild is like, hey, all y'all, if you want to fucking join up, come talk to us. We'll help you out with your suit and we'll help you get represented. Wow. So that way you get your fucking money and you guys can fucking, this becomes more safe. Yeah. Dang. Cool. Right on. Getting ready to fucking kick some ass. On the front for the UPS drivers, they are currently in the process of either ratifying or not ratifying the new contract. There's a lot of talk about not ratifying it because it doesn't do enough for the part timers that they were saying that they were going to take care of. And because of the idea that, oh, we're not going to put AC into trucks until after 2024 when we get the new model. No retrofitting. Yeah, no retrofitting. All the old trucks are just going to get two fans instead of one. So that's fun. The United Auto Workers is going after Stellantis. And Stellantis is the company that owns, trying to remember that off the top of my head. I just pulled it up. Dodge. That's what it is. Really? Yeah. Stellantis owns Dodge. So, and the UAW is trying to gain better concessions from them as well. Here we go. UAW president Sean Fane said in a statement that Stellantis has broken a pledge not to seek givebacks in this round of talks in which the union is seeking more than 40% general pay raises over four years, restoration of pensions for new hires. Wow. I didn't know new hires didn't get pensions. Fuck. Wow. Cost of living increases in end to wage tiers and other benefits. So does every fucking union have these wage tiers? Like, damn dude. I think so. I don't know. My own experience with the IBEW, your apprentices had wage tiers because, you know, as long as you passed, you know, blah, blah, blah. Here's your next wage. Yeah. But then as soon as you were turned out as a journeyman, you were making the same rate as all the other journeymen. Right. So that's why I'm like, what the fuck did you mean? Right. That there are these tiers. Like I said, even I've not heard of that. To me, this is kind of nuts. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like these guys got screwed with that. Yeah. And I understand that, you know, bargaining is give and take, but something to me that looks like that, even if this was five years ago, I would have looked at that and been like, yeah, no dude. Yeah. Like everybody should be paid the same. Yeah. And I'm trying to think, you know, cause like my dad was a sheet metal worker and he, and his union, like they had like apprentices and journeymen. Yeah. I think that's like what I remember. Yeah. By some chance, any auto workers who are part of the UAW, listen to this, please let me, let us know where I get this wrong, but I wouldn't think that they would have an apprenticeship necessarily. No, but I said the same thing about bartenders. And I learned from one of my friends that at least up in Vegas, there's a bartender's union. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. I had no idea. Plus like the IWW has like a branch for literally everything. Oh yeah. No, every, everything. Yeah. I know. I love the IWW. Yeah. But he wasn't like an apprentice or anything from what I understood, but he would work overnight and then like in the morning, go and do some classes on how to make drinks or whatever. Yeah. And then, you know, do the sleep thing and then go back to work at night, you know, do the sleep thing. Yeah. I mean, sometimes you got to, and you know, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 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