February Episode 2 Season 2

Gentlemen, this is Democracy Manifest. 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 redneck. You people are redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. I don't like white people. I hate redneck. That was a crazy one for sure. I think mine was a better crazy than yours was. It's definitely one thing to pull up to a motel and be like, yeah, I'm staying the night here. And them to be like, oh yeah, no you can't stay. Please get the fuck out. That sucks. And what was the problem? It was like you made a reservation on one site and it didn't go through or something? I made the reservation on Priceline. It went through. When I got there, you have to have a deposit. I saved a hundred bucks for the deposit. And I go to swipe my card through the reader. And the person behind the counter saw what kind of bank it was on and said, we don't take that kind of card. That's a weird thing. Yeah. And I said, oh, okay. And I'm like, this is the only bank that I've got. This is a bank. It might be an app on my phone, but it's still a bank. Banks hold on to money. That's what banks do other than charge exorbitant fees. But yeah, they hold on to money. And she's like, well, it's on this list. And there's this big old piece of paper there that's got PayPal, Venmo, Cash App. They called them top-up cards. And I'm like, but they hold money. This is money for you. Right. Like I don't understand how you're saying you don't take these cards when these cards have money. If they're doing things like that, I have a theory. But if they're doing things like those apps or whatever, then they have to have like Ally, Chime, Plaid, like all of those other ones because those are also like web-based. Yeah. And that's the thing. Chime is my bank. That's the one I use. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. And it was on there. And I'm just like, what are you talking about? I have a bank account number. I've got a routing number. And it's like a legitimate card. It's like, you know. Yeah. It's a Visa. Exactly. It's not like you're rolling up a diner's club. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not coming in with some Walmart gift card, you know. Right. Something from the Play Store. It's like. Yeah. I'm just trying to get a room, man. Like you get the money. What's the problem? I have a theory. Do you have a theory about that? The only thing that I really have in my head, because I keep kind of figuring it out, is either they have a problem with getting the $100 back on a top-up card or whatever, which I don't think is right. Or that if there was something that they had to take money for, like, you know, something happened in the room, you broke a mirror or whatever, they can't pull money back from it because the only money that was on there is the $100 or whatever. You know what I'm saying? Right. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. So that's a good theory. Nothing like mine, I think. It seems anti-sex worker. Ooh. Actually. To have. That's a valid one. Wow. It seems anti-sex worker. It seems anti-homeless. It seems anti-anyone that uses those venues, would that be correct? Of, like, receiving aid or getting funding. Yeah. It seems like it's punishing them. Yeah. It's like we don't want this riffraff, for lack of a better phrase. I'm obviously not saying that, right? But it's like we only want a certain type of person to stay here, is what it says to me. Yeah. I can see that 1,000%. That's actually really good. That's a valid, very valid theory. I'd be like, you know, this is money. Take it. Yeah, and that's pretty much what I kind of, that was my argument. Right. Like, there's $100 here. It's for you. Right. Please. And they're like, they don't take cash either. So I'm like, okay, look, really putting me in a spot right now. Right. Because the only thing that I have left now on this card is that $100. And I get it. You guys aren't the issue. You're just workers. Yeah. You're like the messengers. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I know you can't do anything. Mm-hmm. I'll just get ahold of Priceline. Mm-hmm. So I call Priceline, which of course is a task in and of itself because they want you to talk to that damn AI. Yeah, like a bot. Yeah. Like an auto menu, like an AI menu. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, no, I have to actually physically speak to someone. Yeah. So I got through to a real life person and they were like, so what's going on? And I explained it, you know, hey, they're saying they won't let me in. They don't take my bank, yada, yada. Mm-hmm. And the guy was like, okay, well, let me call them real quick just to verify your story. And I'm like, yeah, sure, fine, whatever. And he calls them, gets back on the line. He's like, okay, so that's what's happening. All I can really do is give you a refund for your money. And that won't be on your card for a full working day. So it won't be back into my account for a full working day. And I said, okay, that's cool. But yeah, what am I supposed to do about tonight? We don't know. I'm like, can't you help me? Isn't there anything you can do? Yeah. No, there's nothing that we can do to help you. And I was like, I'm very sorry, but, like, I used your site to book this. Yeah. They're the ones saying that I can't stay, and you're telling me you can't help me now? Mm-hmm. And he's like, yeah. I'm like, okay, can I talk to your manager? Well, my manager's going to tell you the same thing, which is something I've said in the same situation. So I was like, you know, I understand. Let me just try. Yeah. And so I spoke to the manager, and there was a glimmer of hope. He's like, let me check and see. And then he came back and said, yeah, no, there's nothing we can do. We're refunding you the money, but there's no way we can help with that. So I was like, cool. That's great. So it's, like, already 8 p.m. Right. And class is at 7. I need to be at the school at 7. The class starts at 8. And I'm like, okay, I need to find a place. There's no other way for me to get around this. Right. And I found a place that was, like, 60 bucks plus their deposit. No, they didn't take the deposit. It was just $60. So I was like, hell, yeah. It wasn't the best motel, okay? But it was clean. It was there. And there were no questions asked. So I was like, hell, yeah. Right. That was easy. This is what it should be like to get any kind of motel. Yeah, exactly. Jeez. I'm glad it worked out. But, like, there has to be, like, that dread, like that feeling of just, like, oh, crap, now what, you know? Oh, yeah, no, no. I really did try to play. It made me feel sick for doing it because, like, I know it's a lot worse for houseless people. You know, they don't get the chance to have their money back and get to stay in a place. I was like, so you want me to, like, sleep in my car in the middle of Los Angeles? Right. And they were just like, yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, fair enough. Yeah, I mean, you're fine. Yeah, okay, cool. And then, like, the next night, because the money didn't come back onto my card for Tuesday, so that was cool, that was when I started doing that crowd fund for a place on Tuesday night. I'm like, all right, cool. Took a long-ass nap in a fucking Walmart parking lot after school and fucking woke up and was like, okay, hey, guys. Yeah. After that, that was, like, the last night of precariousness for the week, so it was just a matter of finding a room for Wednesday night and I had the money on the card by then. Oh, that's good. There's been stuff going on at my place of employment as well that I really don't want to get into, but suffice it to say there's two other instructors there who were there before I got there, and those two instructors, for whatever reason, I don't know, are trying to get me fired. Villainy. Yeah. And I wish I could be like, yeah, it's because I called them such and such or told them that I don't work with such and such. I literally say hi to them, listen to them when they talk to me, get ideas from them, try to figure out how we're going to do things, and they're talking behind my back to students. And are the students telling you? A couple of them have, which is how I know. Yeah. That and they went to the director and the director came into both classrooms, what was it, last Monday, while we were all in the middle of teaching and said come to my office now, so that was fun. Oh, cool. All these 19 to, like, 30-somethings going, ooh, the principal. Great. Got to go to the office. Yeah. I'm like, goddammit, this is embarrassing as shit. Yeah. Yeah. I hope that gets resolved. I was going to say I hope that resolves itself, but I don't know what that would look like. So I hope that gets resolved because it seems like sometimes people are just jerks and they just need, like, a target. Yeah. So it could be that. It could be. It's just one of those things. And I found out Thursday, before the end of the day, my TA happened to be walking in at the same time that these two are out there talking, apparently. And I was in the room. I was doing, like, putting in grades and shit. And apparently they were outside the door talking about me and he walked up on them and was like, hey, if you guys have anything to say, you should probably just go in through that door and talk to them about it. Yeah. And they, I guess, scattered at that point. Oh, god. And I was like, wow. And he came in and told me and I was like, what the fuck? I've only been there two months. This is my first time teaching. Right. Not just on a job site as a journeyman pulling in an apprentice being like, hey, let's bend conduit, you know? Yeah. This is entirely new. And they're just working on getting me fired. And so I'm just like, thanks, guys. Appreciate it. I'm sorry. I was going to offer something, but I'll tell you off the air. Ooh. Now I am curious. Ted, we're friends. Oh, no, not that. What do you know? No, I wasn't talking about that. No, I was going to beat them up. But it's fine. Oh, hey, fuck yeah, no, please, come on down. I'm on, come on down. I know the area well. I lived in for a few years. Okay. If you know where that Home Depot is. I know exactly where it is. Fuck yeah, dude. Fucking stay right there. I'll fucking hit you up on signal. Be like, come on in. Oh, man, that's funny. I mean, that's funny. The situation's not funny, you know what I mean? Yeah, I will take anybody, you know, taking care of my business for me. Fuck yeah, dude. Don't worry about it. All right. That's funny. It's nice to be able to talk about it. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I'm kind of beginning to think, like, maybe we do that with some listeners every now and then be like, if you have something you want to discuss with us, send us an email and we'll see what we can do. See if we can get you in for a recording or something. Totally. You know, and just kind of go from there. So, yeah, if you heard that and you've got something that you want to get resolved, not in a court of law, please email us at cogb161 at proton.me. So why has your night's been sleepless? I know that there's always something. And I'm not trying to say that rudely. So please don't take it that way. Just reasons. I feel like obviously there's always the ever-present existential dread. I thought it was probably allergies this time. No, not allergies. But we are going to be coming up on, in the next couple of months, firework season is going to start. So I'm going to get zero sleep for most of the year. But we'll see how Penny does. Please, Penny, be nice. She's nice. She just hasn't. Oh, I know. Okay, so I know that some people have listened to the January little mini episode. And I want to thank everyone for listening to me on that. And just as, because I did have someone asking for an update on that situation. And the update is that there is no update. I haven't spoken to the person I had a falling out with. People have been showing me that they've been sharing, basically just like anti-Semite people and tankies and stuff, which is, you know, whatever. Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. The tankies is whatever. The anti-Semitic stuff is like, what the fuck? Because I know who you're talking about. And it's like, what the fuck? And like I said, I talked to this person and pointed out like, hey, this poster is like anti-Semitic and like a bigot. And they hide it under being anti-Zionist. And they're like a Christian themselves or whatever. And the person I had the falling out with is like, okay. And then like following them and sharing their shit. And I was like, why? I just, it's just. I mean, if you're sharing stuff like that, they've gone too far over to the dark side and simply cannot follow them. Right. It's just, it's a bummer. But it's like one of those things where it's like, people have told you. I mean, I have definitely done that. I have shared, you know, like posts and stuff from people that I didn't know their whole story, and, you know, broken clock twice a day kind of thing. And then I kind of find out that they're like scum and I'm like, oh my God. So then I stopped doing it and like mute block or whatever I need to do. But, you know, if someone just like told me, hey, this person you're sharing also shared like a really anti-Semitic cartoon. Okay. And like perpetuates the whole like Jews run everything conspiracy theory. And you know, like that kind of stuff. If someone told me that I'd be like, oh shit. And then like would immediately like undo endorsements that I could find and you know, stuff addressed it or whatever, but I wouldn't keep doing it. Yeah. So like, I'll admit that there was one point in my existence when I was much younger that I was very much like into the Illuminati. I didn't know about the backgrounds of that story, that particular story, but it was like, okay, this is weird that it's this coincidental. And I started reading more like specifically on the Illuminati and on the Freemasons and stuff like that, because it seemed too easy of a solution. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like, I'm just like, you can't just blame these people. I mean, it's funny. I mean, even then I was like, this is hilarious, you know, because it's like, you're calling George Washington and all these assholes who are assholes that they're part of a global cabal. Yeah. Like they came from England and are part of this cabal and now they're going to morph this continent into that same thing. I was like, I don't get it. Oh, so they're lizards. Yeah. Oh yeah. And the lizard people in the hollow earth and yeah, which the lizard thing always, I was always like, no, that's bullshit. That's fucking V. You remember that TV show V? No. With the lizard people who come down in spaceships? No. When was this thing? Oh God, this was the 80s. Hold on, hold on, hold on. And they even redid it again recently. I have no recollection of that show. It must've just not been on my radar at all. Yeah. Hold on. Oh God. 1984. Yeah. Okay. I was like, I was three. Oh, see, okay. I was six. So I was like super like, yeah, this is great. Yeah. I was more in the Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers kind of stuff. Oh no. This, this, this, I had this, this shit was like in my head. Let me share this with you real quick. I do remember Alien Nation. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That had me in trance too back in the day. Yeah. There were, there were a lot of elements to that show that are actually really like pertinent to modern stuff. We should talk about that. Yeah. No, it's really a trip, especially with the whole, what am I thinking about? The race war aspect of it. Yeah. Yeah. So here it is. V. Oh, okay. But these, as you can see, are the lizard alien people, but they take on the form of people. And this person is one of the freedom fighters, as you can see with his 1980s beta video camera. That's incredible. That, that could really hurt someone actually swatted Adam. Yes. And look at, look at this, look at, look at that. Now that's the eighties. This dude's creeping up peak. Look at him. Oh my God. Fucking creep. Fucking creep. Man. Does this show, do we know like, okay, this is like going off on a tangent or whatever, but do we know when the reptile person theory originated? It's been like popular for a while, but I don't know when it started and it would be really interesting to see when it started versus when this show aired. Yeah, no, that's true. Oh, look, she's trying to eat something. But yeah, no, this is what they look like and everything. Yeah, no, this was fucking weird. That picture of that woman eating something. Can you email or like email it to me, please? Yeah. Cool. Oh, it's a perfect one. I like, what's this? I don't remember this part. Senator. I don't know. There's that longstanding conspiracy that people that have like RH negative blood are descended from non terrestrial beings because the RH factor is what links us to primates or, you know, other primates. And so there's like this whole theory that people that have like negative blood aren't actually from like earth and bloodlines. And that theory lends itself to like supremacy ideas, you know, and it always reminds me of like that same kind of ilk. It's like, oh, well, you have a negative blood type. Therefore you're descended from these like more perfect beings. You're better than everyone else. You're capable of understanding things on a different plane. And then it's like, it kind of ties in with this like superior, I don't want to say race, but it's like, yeah, well, yeah, like a superior race. And then all that Illuminati stuff comes in and we're being controlled by this and that. And it's just like this incredible like salad of just theory. Yeah. So the lizard people thing apparently started in the nineties. So yes, this, this would have been before that. So this very well could have fed. Interesting. I mean, I could watch a show and come up with a theory of like existence based on the show. Maybe I should do that. There you go. That's crazy. This is for business insider. The lizard people conspiracy theory was popularized by conspiracy theorist, David Icky. That's I C K E. Oh yeah. Contemporary belief in reptilians is mostly linked to British conspiracy theorist, David Icky, who first published his book, the biggest secret in 1998. Icky alleged that the same interconnecting bloodlines have controlled the planet for thousands of years. That's just monarchy, dude. Sorry. Yeah. As the books, Amazon description says the book suggests that blood drinking reptilians of extraterrestrial origin had been controlling the world for centuries and even originated the Illuminati, a fictitious group of world leaders that conspiracy theorists, they control the world. Icky has long been accused of anti-Semitism as his writings on the reptilians conspiracy theory are clearly evocative of the centuries old blood libel conspiracy theory, which alleged that a cabal of Jews were controlling the world and drinking the blood of Christian children. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So yeah. So people that share social media accounts that perpetuate that stuff, probably not. Yeah. Probably not the most sound. Yeah. They're definitely not the brightest crayons in the Crayola box for sure. Well, that was fun. Can't wait to post those pictures. Everybody can see the amazing hair and the woman trying to eat. I believe that was a cat. I'm just, Oh, I think that that was a very, if I remember right from the show, they would eat goldfish. So, you know, you didn't have to open your mouth that big or anything. So yeah, no, that's what I'm thinking. It's a larger animal. So. Like Alf, Alf ate cats. So basically Alf. Okay. Yes. Except they can take humanoid shape. Oh yeah. Yes. Okay. And their spaceships are reminiscent of, Oh, what's the show I'm thinking of? Voltron. Oh, Oh, the big tall silver guys with the red light that goes in front of their eyes like kit from the Knight Rider series. I can see it. I can see them. I can see their spaceships. This was my first taste of sci-fi as a child, even Battlestar Galactica. There we go. Okay. Yeah. I'm definitely aging myself here. Do you all remember Battlestar Galactica? Yeah. It just came out. No, no. My poor, simple friends. So what have you got for us of this month? Okay. So I have a story time and a kind of a gripe. And also just, I want to say I should have done it before now, but I wanted to thank everyone who shared and donated to Benji's eye procedure, which is happening on Monday, the day after tomorrow. Some really generous people pushed me over my goal and I was able to use that extra money to refill one of his eye drop prescriptions as well. And I just, I'm so grateful. When I saw that we had been able to fund it, I was like crying and showing Benji who was like, okay, but yeah, I don't understand. But I just wanted to thank everyone because I don't know if you like me or if you like my weird eyed boy. I really want to sincerely thank everyone for no matter what they did, if it was just boosting engagement or telling off one of those, go fund me bots or whatever. I really appreciate it. I'm very thankful. And he'll be going in on Monday to get his little. That's great news. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty excited, nervous mother, but you know, excited about it. Oh yeah. No, it's not as serious as his previous eye surgery. He won't be put down. Jesus Christ. He won't be put. I hope not. He won't be put under, he will be kept in like twilight state. So yeah, yeah, yeah. So they're going to do that and we'll just see hopefully how it goes. Yes. No, I'm looking forward to many Twitter updates. So I just dropped him off. Yeah. Now I'm in the car. I don't know how to get home. I'm too scared. Yeah. This ophthalmologist used to be in, which is right up there. And now they have moved to, which is like, I have to change freeways like five more times. And when I have him in the car, I'd rather just take city streets, which takes longer, but he'll cry when he comes back from like his last surgery or whatever. He was just whining in the car. And I was like, my heart was breaking and that's what I'm looking. I'm dreading the most. It's just him crying on the way home, but he'll be okay. He's a really tough dog and they're giving him some like pain management and, you know, all that stuff. So by the way, what I wanted to say is I have found sound boards on the interweb, which is, yeah, which is where those sounds that were in the show last month came from. So, yeah, no, I was like, yes. Emotional damage. Yes. That killed me. Actually, I was not expecting it. And then it was just like popped up and I was like, all right. Okay. This one. Dancing alien. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Alien is just like a man singing in Spanish with a beat on it. Yeah. Just like a basic cumbia. Yeah. Yeah. I don't. Okay. I mean, alien. I mean, okay. But the things that are on this, like I have found on this website alone, so many racist things. Oh God. I have no doubt. And I'm just like, this truly is a gathering of dumb sounds. Yeah. And there's just so many, like just terrible. Yeah. Just bad shit. But then there's good stuff. Like the wet fart meme. You know, the Bill Nye theme song. A whole minute of whopper, whopper, whopper, whopper, whopper, whopper, whopper. Like the burger. Yes. Okay. So let's get back into this in a second. So which one do you want to talk about first? Do you want to talk about your gripe first or? Yeah. Let's talk about the gripe. Okay. Basically. And it's timely kind of, but also like most of the, the majority of this craze. Are you familiar with the Stanley cup craze? Yes. And not the kind for ice hockey, which is correct. Right. And so I just like, you know, by now, most of us are well aware of the Stanley cup craze and how it already seems to be fizzling out. And this is one of the most enraging recent trends to me, because it reminds me a lot of like the fast fashion halls that people would do on like TikTok and YouTube or whatever. And it's like, if you don't know what this is, then I really envy you this whole like trend. I really envy you. If you have not been affected by this, but it's like over the past few years, this like 40 ounce handled quencher Tumblr specifically has been like gaining popularity. And then the influencers. Yeah. That's a gagging noise has like a, it whipped up a frenzy and it kind of the whole thing reached a fever pitch. Like at the end of last year, the climax, I would say it would be like people losing their absolute shit over the limited Stanley and Starbucks Target exclusive collaboration. God, I hated that so bad. God, you know, and this is like a serious problem because like kids are at school or being teased for having water bottles that weren't Stanley brand. Oh God. And to be clear, like these things run an average retail price of like 65 bucks for one. Yeah. They vary depending on what you get from like, maybe like 50 to a hundred dollars retail, because they have all these different additions and special color ways and all that stuff. but people on social media were just showing that they had shelves of these damn things, like every color to match outfits, to match vibes, whatever. It made me so angry because this is a reusable beverage vessel. You're only supposed to have like one or two and then you're set, you know, one at home, one at work, whatever, you know? So like this whole overconsumption consumerism of an item that is supposed to be the reusable and friendly choice is just mind boggling. So that was like my first, I was just like, what the hell? Right. And then earlier this year, there was like this scandal when people started often improperly using lead testing kits on the cups and getting positive reads on them. Right. Damn it. So they weren't full of lead. Well, yes and no. Right. So basically a Stanley spokesperson said that, yes, lead is used in the manufacturing process, but the product needs to become like severely damaged in order to expose the lead. And Stanley and other companies besides Stanley have been using lead as part of their manufacturing process for like decades. Okay. It's just something that they use. And then Stanley posted a subsequent statement saying that like no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with the consumer or what you put into the cup. Basically they said that the bottom of each of the cups is a circular barrier made of stainless steel, which covers a lead pellet and the pellet seals, the product's vacuum insulation. And it's not accessible unless the stainless steel barrier comes off, which is possible, but really rare. Okay. Right. Yeah. So this revelation, of course, lead to like a whole bunch of people just throwing their Stanley cups away like undamaged, perfectly fine cups. So now those are all in route to landfill, right? Or they'll be given away to thrift stores because let's be real. Upper class white people love to give their stuff to thrift stores that no one wants. Yeah. Yeah. So it helps them sleep better because they're not throwing it away. And then instead there's going to be this excess of like overbought trend cups just rotting on shelves and rotting in landfill from being thrown away. And it is just so upsetting to me. Yeah. It's just, I could see where it was going because I had like one friend who like was talking about these cups like two years ago. She just would not shut up about them. And I was like, all right, do you whatever, enjoy your cup. And then I saw just like the social media, like wave and I was like, Oh, you know, it's terrible. Yeah. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's terrible. Does this have anything to do with Cop City? Well, let's find out in one, two, three. Three. You see, Israel has long been a U.S. ally, but Atlanta, they've had a special relationship with the country, too. For more than 30 years, law enforcement leaders from around the metro area have traveled to Israel to train officers on the best practices in community policing and homeland security. It's through a program called the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, or GILI, based out of Georgia State University, and it's run by an Israeli man called Dr. Robert Friedman. So, what's GILI, you ask? Well, according to Bigotry and Brutality in Foreign Police Training, a comprehensive report on the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange, GILI is a privately controlled and largely privately funded police exchange program. And according to its website, the program arranges for American law enforcement officials, corporate security executives, and others to engage in training, briefings, and seminars with foreign governments, including the Chinese, Egyptian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Uzbek, and Israeli governments. The last of which, the Israeli government, is the original and primary focus of the program. Since GILI's inception in 1992, at least 1,600 participants have engaged in its training programs, including officers from the Atlanta Police Department. You can pause to read the rest if you like. So, I'll go ahead and read the rest of this real quick. So, I'll start where he stopped at. So, since GILI's inception in 1992, at least 1,600 participants have engaged in its training programs, including officers from the Atlanta Police Department. When Georgia-based officials traveled to the Middle East for training, they study at least 28 different topics. Although GILI has long refused to share details about what officials learned through the program, open records requests have forced GILI to reveal that the 28 topics include border policing, community policing, and urban policing. In recent years, numerous scholars, activists, civil rights organizations, and human rights groups have called on local law enforcement agencies, including the Atlanta Police Department, to stop participating in foreign training through the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange. This memorandum details three major objections to the program. One, GILI training perpetuates police militarization and brutality. Two, GILI engages in training with oppressive foreign governments. And three, GILI's history of bigotry, including anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia. And we'll let LaVert, and by the way, this is LaVertTheBaseman on Instagram. All one word, L-E-V-E-R-T-H-E-B-A-S-S-M-A-N. Now, when Georgia-based officials travel to the Middle East for training, they study at least 28 different topics. And although GILI has long refused to share the details about what officials learn through their programs, open records requests have forced GILI to reveal that the 28 topics include border policing, community policing, and urban policing. Now, the most recent delegation to travel to Israel, they traveled for two weeks in June, and that included 12 Georgia police chiefs and their command staff, three Georgia sheriffs, the former director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and members of the Department of Justice, Georgia Public Safety Training Center, and Georgia Department of Public Safety. Oftentimes, a GILI delegation will take trips to Israel to train on the ground. And some years, the delegation hosts Israeli officials here in Atlanta. And after taking the trip to Israel, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Michael Register, wrote a letter to Governor Brian Kemp stating the program was one of the best leadership experiences he's ever had in his personal career. Here's a photo of Thompson Police Chief Courtney Gale. She was also on the trip to Israel. And Dr. Friedman, the creator of GILI, he says that we've had all the chiefs of Atlanta police participate in it. So what does any of this have to do with Cop City? Well, according to Jocelyn James, Israel's defense force, the IDF, may become a component of Atlanta's Cop City thanks to the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange Program, also known as GILI. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, we all knew it wasn't happening in a vacuum to begin with. But to know that AIPAC is a big hand in the Cop City, as well as other nefarious government interactions, like, wow. Yeah. Cool. It makes sense now why Atlanta's like, yeah, no, we need to open this. Yeah. Fun and interesting. Thank you, AIPAC. Do you know what AIPAC is? It's like the American-Israeli PAC. Yeah. I know what it is, but I can't recall the exact acronym at the moment. Political Action Committee. There we go, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, fun news, fun, fun things, happy times. So bummed as well to, like, hear, like, Kazakh and Uzbek, Central Asian government involved. But I mean, that makes sense because especially some of the things that you've shared and how the police there are becoming more aggressive. Yeah. And people have already forgotten. I believe it was 2022. My time recollection is terrible. But I believe it was January of 2022 when there was the uprising in Kazakhstan and there was a lot of brutality and cops killed people and there was like a social media blackout and all this stuff. And it was obvious how those cops and that government was reacting to its own people. It's so reminiscent of other nations here as well. You know, Russia, just everywhere else. And so it's really not surprising that they all kind of hold hands with all of this stuff. For me, it's just so interesting to see how interconnected everything is and how it's basically based on policing. Yeah. Like if it wasn't for the act of policing, we wouldn't be sharing intelligence and shit with each other so freely. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah. So everybody now knows who they can trust because, well, these are the people who obviously came over to Israel to be part of this training program. Right. They have our best intentions at heart. We know who they are. We can trust them. Right. So, yeah, no, that was I'm just was like, OK, so Apex got their hand in it. All these different insurance companies that we've seen. So the forest defenders doing what they do is fucking incredible in the face of these insurmountable odds. Right. Especially with the fact that the Atlanta city government has no desire to stop it. Right. As many times as Atlanta has rolled out into those chambers and it still hasn't stopped at all. Like nobody is taking a step back and been like, huh, maybe this is a bad idea. Right. You know, they don't care. They'll just steamroll with their own ideas, sometimes literally. And it's like, oh, activists getting killed, people getting injured or whatever, people disappearing. Well, that's oh, well, that's what happens, you know? Yeah. So there's that. That was my little piece for right now. I've got one other thing to talk about, but you've got something now if you are ready. Yeah. If anyone is interested, I had mentioned and I'm going to put a little bit of a content warning on here because I'm going to talk about maggots. It had come up in conversation a little while ago about like an incident that I called maggot gate at an old job that I used to work at and people were curious about it. So I have like a little kind of quick telling of it, but does require a little bit of background information on one of my coworkers. And it's one of those things where it's like I realize that me personally, I am not for everyone. People have referred to my personality before as an acquired taste, which is fine. I don't you know, no one likes everyone all the time. OK. But it's kind of like a whole other thing when you overhear one of your coworkers telling someone that they want to actually kill you when they're out in the warehouse. Wow. Right. So this is just to give you an idea of what this woman thought of me. And the whole time I worked this company, which unfortunately went under, if it was still around, I would still be working there. My boss, he's like, you're what I call a lifer. And I'm like, oh, cool. Anyway, you know, the whole time I worked there, I sat in front of her with my back to her. Right. So that, you know, knowing that she hated me and I was sitting with my back to her the whole time, that's not alarming. Right. Nothing bad happened like that in Chicago during the 20s and 30s. Right. You're OK. You know, but it was one of those things where she was like 30 years older than me at the time and kind of fragile. So I don't really think she was that serious of a threat. As far as I know, she did not have access to guns. So, you know, I was kind of like one of those things. And my workplace didn't really consider her a threat because when I mentioned to my manager, I'm like, hey, you know, we're going to call her Jan. Jan mentioned that she wants to kill me in the warehouse, like the guys, the warehouse guys. I was the one that got sent home for the rest of the day. And it wasn't because I was wrong. I was doing anything wrong. I think it was just between me and her, I was the more agreeable one to leave. Like she probably would have like caused a scene or freaked out or something. So they're like, well, we'll just send you home. Oh, yeah. So I could write a book about that place. There was just so much fucked up debauchery. It was incredible. Anyway, like I said, the coworker I mentioned, we'll call her Jan. She was just like a gross person. She would often pull out an unrefrigerated egg of undetermined age. Just out of her desk drawer and crack it into whatever she was eating. Huh? Yeah. No. Yeah. She would be eating like oatmeal and she would just produce an egg and then like crack it in there and just continue eating. And I'm like, you know, you know, no. Okay. It was very weird. Like one time, you know, she found a sub sandwich under a stack of papers and just like ate it. Oh. And then this is the thing, though. It's like she was food secure, but she did this a lot. And I think that in considering how much, how often she did it, she like wasn't physically sick at all. Hardly. So I don't know. She's like a cast iron stomach. She worked through it. Yeah. So and she was just like that. Like that's just how she was. And I'm sure that there is like a mental health component to some of this. And I'm not trying to shame her or anyone that does that. I'm just giving some background information because that kind of level of cleanliness is what caused this whole thing. So one day I was sitting at my desk and in my peripheral vision, I saw something like white colored on the floor. And I originally assumed it was just some desiccant or something because we did export packing. So, you know, we had supplies all over the place. Yeah. But when I leaned over to kind of look at it, it was moving. And I was like, oh, cool. And it was a maggot. And it's one of those things where it's like there's a book called Stiff, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which is by Mary Roach. And I recommend it. But when this woman was writing this book about cadavers, she obviously had to talk about maggots. And she didn't want to use maggot, like overuse the word because it evokes instant disgust. And she was like, well, I'm going to try and change your shifts about thinking about them. They're just baby flies doing their thing. And she referred to them as like haciendas or something because it was a more pleasant word. OK. And honestly, that type of thinking I've applied to various aspects of my life. And it just really helped getting rid of like fear that you have because a lot of fear is just like a bit unknown. So if you take like I'm not afraid of cockroaches, I'm not afraid of maggots, I'm not afraid of a lot of things because they ick me out. So I like learn everything I possibly can about them and understand them and then kind of change my thinking about them that way. So that's not to say that it's like a roach flew at my face. I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not like scared. So and it's a good thing I'm not scared because after I saw that first maggot and expanded my field of vision, I thought there were dozens of them slowly making their way over to my desk and my purse, which was on the floor. So I was like, OK, well, I'm going to pick that up and take that out of their path. And looking toward the source of the maggots, they were coming from under Jan's desk. And what had happened was she had stockpiled a bunch of soda cans under there, maybe for recycling. I'm not sure that weren't completely empty. So some flies went in there like, oh, this is the perfect nursery. And judging by the size of the maggots, they were probably about four days old. And I was like, all right, cool. Well, let's get these guys kind of like out of here. And the issue, though, was that the office carpet had like it was like mid piled. So it wasn't super short carpet. It was a little longer. And there wasn't really a more efficient way of collecting them other than getting a paper plate and picking them all up by hand. So myself and another co-worker were on our hands and knees picking maggots out of the carpet and putting them on a plate to put them outside. And I was like looking at Jan like while this is all happening, she's still just sitting at her desk. Right. And I expected her to like be embarrassed or apologetic. I expected some emotion from her, which was apparently too much because she she sat there with this absolutely blank expression. Like she didn't give a fuck about what was going on, didn't offer to help. And she just put her head down and took a nap. Like, OK, no. Yeah. So, you know, we got them all off the floor and put them outside. And then it was just this weird thing because, like, you know, word got around the office and people were like, you know, but nothing changed. Like there was no talk about mitigating infestation by not leaving food around. There was no further mentioning of it. It was just like it happened one day and then it just like that was it. It was dropped. It was just this weird thing because like a few days after that, one of the warehouse guys gave me like a little plush maggot as a memento to like put on my desk or something. But other than that, it was just like never brought up again. And it seems to live on only in my memory. It was just this weird thing that happened one day. Fine. Next day, maggots. Next day, fine. And it was like never brought up again or never addressed. And it was this really weird, bizarre thing. So that's the story. Good lord. God, no. If I were a manager in that office, that's that's that's firing. Yeah, I'm sorry. That's a whooping, you know. It was just one of those things where it's like I got them, put them outside or whatever with my other co-worker came back in. And I was just like standing there like, all right, like what are like next steps or whatever? Are we going to take the cans out? Are we going to throw them away? Nothing happened. Now, she might have like after I left or something, she might have thrown the cans away or put them in a bag, remove them or something like that. But there was never any formal discussion, even with her. It was like just this weird thing that happened. And I'm all, am I losing it? Am I unreasonable? Because, you know, generally speaking, when you have an office, you don't want stuff like that happening over and over. Right. Yeah, it was just this weird thing. And yeah, so that's just the story. No, no, she would have. Yeah, out the door, empty the can, put them in a bag. I don't care. You go home. Don't come back. And I was like, well, if you're embarrassing, I'm like, well, you know, it was an accident. Shit happens. Let's just not do it again is what I was prepared to say. But like it never, ever came up. And I was just like, I came back from putting them outside. And then it was just like, all right, well, I guess I go back to work and do this Excel spreadsheet or whatever. It was just this weird thing. I will never forget it. And it was so weird. Well, I mean, you can't not. I mean, my grandfather, he had a story about maggots and just. Yeah, no. He was like, no, I will never forget that. And he never ate raisin bread for that reason, because the raisins looked a little bit like like larva. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He never ate it before that reason. So, yeah. No, you never forget when you see a maggot. That's just like it's like an impending doom thing. You know? Yeah. There's something rotting underneath your desk. There's a reason why there are maggots. Right. Right. And so then that just made me kind of wonder, like, well, what was like the state of some of this other food that she was just eating when she found it? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I mean, she can have a maggot house all she wants. That's a right. But. Absolutely. When they're starting to, like, come across the office floor and I'm like, oh. Yeah. When they start leaving a charge, there's a problem. And I'm like, oh, we're just going to let them. They're just going to do the thing. We're not going to. You're not going to help or. No. No. OK, cool. I'll do it. My little pet larvae are charging on your purse. Right. It was just this really weird thing. So. No. Yeah. So many HR emails. Right. It's just like, look, I need to make sure that this is referenced in some way and kept. Right. Because this is going to come up again. It was just this really weird thing. And then, like, we just all came back the next day like, da, da, da, da, da. God damn, dude. Y'all are better people than I am. I mean, I wouldn't have mocked her or anything. Right. Because that doesn't fix anything. But I definitely would have been like, what the fuck? Right. It's because of this shit. I'm going to get these out of here. But you got to take care of that. That's your shit. Yeah. And I don't think that's an unreasonable request. Like, can we just avoid this from happening again? Yeah. OK, cool. Fine. I'm not mad. No problem. It's fine. Yeah. I'm not mad about your maggots. Yeah. I'm just worried about there's going to be more. Yeah. It's fine. Fortunately, there never was a repeat incident. It was just this thing that happened that was never addressed. And then it just, like, went away. It was bizarre. You're listening to Wow! VOA This is amazing! The only Incredible Cavalcade of galactic bullshit Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I found something to go along with that story. Where is it? Hold on. Oh, yeah. I got to share it in order to get sound on the whole thing. Uh, share the screen. Yep. Go back to the button thing. What the hell? Oh, my God. No way. I could tell another story about her, but I don't know if I want to. I'll just say the reason why my grandfather and maggots, he was in the Navy World War II. He was part of the Pacific Fleet, and they were going to raid one of the islands. I can't remember which one it was off the top of my head. And so they had to sit off the coast of the island for a while to the point where the bread that they were supposed to eat was getting moldy. And I guess he went to go, like, eat a piece of it at one point and saw the creature kind of doing its thing. And, yeah, he was like, Nope, I will never eat raisin bread again. Yeah, that's the only story that I know about him and his time in World War II in the Pacific Fleet. And I didn't find that out until after he died. Really? Yeah. Wow. And then I had an uncle who was part of Patton's tank brigade or whatever. And there were photos that I've seen of him and his squad or whatever. I don't know. I don't drive tanks. You don't? I just have them real close by, though. So I do know how to start a Humvee, though. That's cool. Neither here nor there. But this uncle of mine was actually part of some of the groups to first go into the internment camps that they found along the way. And there were pictures in there in that stack that I was like, Oh, fuck. Yeah. Never going to tell me that that was staged. Right. Not ever. Right. I didn't know this uncle until this was after my grandmother's death. And I pulled out all of her old photos. And I'm like, Oh, fuck. Okay. Damn. Yeah. Interesting time, World War II. Yeah. Strange things happened. Yes. I will agree with that. We'll continue with that thread real quick of fascism and World War II, the logical aspect of that of Hindutva. Do you know anything about Hindutva? I do not. Okay. It sounds like. No, I don't. I don't want to speculate. Okay. Well, Hindutva is the belief. It's a supremacist belief that Hindu is and the Hindu people are the only peoples of India. Does that make sense? That was what I was assuming it had something to do with. Yeah. So Hindu supremacy, sometimes referred to as Hindu nationalism or Hindutva, is a century-old ethno-nationalist political ideology distinguished from Hinduism by its emphasis on the absolute hegemony of Hindus in India. Hindu supremacists seek to create a Hindu state around a narrow interpretation of Hinduism based on a glorified mythical past. Sound familiar? Well, yeah. I know, right? Well, yeah. And it does actually fall in with that because they feel that this specific area of India, which happens to be called the Aryan area, was where people initially came from, much like the other people who believed in an Aryan race. Right. They joined the two together. This political goal involves the expulsion or subordination of Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities in India. It also intensifies the violent subordination of oppressed caste and indigenous communities, Dalits and Adivasi, respectively. Hindu supremacists reject the notion of a secular, pluralistic, democratic India, which is how it was founded, and seek to redefine the territorial boundaries of the country and encompass territories across Asia based on ancient Hindu scriptures. It's Nazism except in India. Yeah. Yeah. Very, very close. Yeah. Well, it is. It is. Yeah. So, we're getting a big part right now in things that are happening here in the U.S. along the lines of AIPAC. There is a report. So, the subject of the report is the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the VHP, or World Hindu Council, a far-right militant organization headquartered in India with overseas wings across the globe, including in the United States, where it is represented by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. So, yeah, no, this group, this VHP, are supporting and otherwise platforming white nationalists here in the U.S. because they feel that they share a root cause with each other. Right. Of course, the white supremacists being the only group of people that should have control in the U.S. and that the people who are of color are beneath them kind of fun thing. There's this really cool map between the organizations and the other orgs that they sponsor, and I'll share this on the Twitter account and on the Patreon, and I'll share it with you right now so you can see this. Okay. I figured that would probably help, right? Yeah. Yeah. We love a visual aid. Always. Always have to have visual aid. I'm learning this as an instructor. People love visual aid. Yeah. I learn with auditory and visual is how I learn best. Okay. Here is the HSS, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, and they share ties with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. Their daughter organizations are Support a Child, the American Hindus Against Defamation, the Hindu Students Council, Echo Vidyala Foundation USA, Hindu Pact, which I'm imagining is a PAC for those who are Hindu, and Hindu Mandir Executives Conference. The HSS has their own sister organizations, the IDRF, India Development and Relief Fund, and Siwa USA, Siwa International USA. BHP also organizes with the Hindu University of America, Hindu Action, which is, again, I'm imagining a PAC of some kind, just because ACT is capitalized in the beginning, the Param Shakti Peace of America, and the Hindu American Foundation. So if you know any of these groups, get away from them. They are not good groups to be part of. The chart of BHP Connect is, as the oldest Hindu far-right organization in the US, the VHPA, has been involved in founding or is otherwise tied to nearly every other American Sangh organization. These ties can be formally acknowledged, often by the VHPA, claiming a particular organization as a project or daughter organization, and are displayed above as a solid line, referring to the chart I just showed you. However, these inter-organizational connections can also be informal or covert, evidenced by the persistence of shared officials, financial flows, inter-organizational collaborations, and even shared offices displayed above as a dotted line. This is in keeping with global patterns of Hindu supremacist organizing observed by scholars and researchers, where the RSS is known to establish a range of proxy organizations, each dedicated to a particular purpose. In the United States, both the VHPA and the HSS serve this role of being mothership organizations, with their members deputed to lead other organizations in advocacy, Hindu action, credible funding, state-wide, international, USA, or education, Hindu University of America. And the RSS, if I remember right, is the main political party over in India. Here it is. Sangh Parivar, a vast network of organizations across the world centered around the Hindu supremacist RSS, yeah, as a central node. While the RSS formally acknowledges its control over less than three dozen organizations, research suggests that the entire network spans tens of thousands of organizations. So yeah, the RSS is the main political party in India. The roots of the VHP and of Hindu supremacy more broadly can be traced back to the paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS, the National Volunteer Corps. Founded in September 1925, the RSS drew inspiration from the man who likes to be hung upside down and beaten to death, Benito Mussolini. He looks so good hanging upside down. I agree. I agree. Hung upside down and all swollen from just being utterly beat the fuck up. Obliterated? Yeah. Such a great picture. So great. I love it. I actually have, never mind. You have it saved somewhere? I actually have it printed out above my bed. Yes, framed and hanging on a wall. First thing you see. Right in the living room. Right as you enter. Turn to the left. That's what I think of fascists. Are you cool with that? You can stay. Since its inception, the RSS has developed a sprawling network of subsidiary organizations around the world, like Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, as well as charities, religious organizations, and labor unions. This network empowers the RSS and its organs, like the BHP, to operate under many names in different sections of society. The RSS, which has repeatedly been involved in anti-minority violence, was banned once during the British rule and then thrice by the post-independence Indian government, including after Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a member of the RSS, Nathuram Shetty. That's it, man. Nathuram Godsey. Not Goatsy. Godsey. Godsey. Yeah, which he probably is Goatsy. Who knows? There's just no way to know. No way to know. There's just no way to know. So yeah, no, this is like a big deal because I'm not going to use the word that they're infiltrating government or anything, because that just makes it into a whole other racist thing. But they have fought different city codes, city laws that have been tried to been passed. They failed in Seattle. Seattle was able to pass an anti-caste referendum there. And if you don't know, caste is C-A-S-T-E, and that's in reference to the caste system in India or the caste system that was throughout Europe at the same time as well, where you've got your king and then your other government entities. And then in India specifically, you have the ruling class, the class that supports the ruling class, and then you have the trash. That would be everybody else who are not part of the ruling class, which is Hindu for the most part in India. The Hindu people were the Rajas, etc. And then the Dalits were the ones below them, and then the native peoples or the trash. It's hideous. The caste system is a hideous thing. Yeah, there's no way to move up, but there are several ways to move down, of course. Right. And then a lot of the lower caste people, they obviously don't have as much access to things, and if they're suffering an emergency or a tragedy or something like that, resources are not routed to them first. It's hideous. It's really fucking bad. And it's only getting worse in India. I actually have a friend of the pod. They're in the process of writing something up about it for me to look over to share here on the podcast at some point, because they are from India, and they've witnessed this firsthand. And they can speak on it better than I can. They're afraid to do so for obvious reasons. But I saw something interesting in this report where our good old friend Robert Spencer is actually somebody who embraces Hindu supremacy. Really? Yeah, we all remember Robert Spencer, right? The guy who got punched in the face repeatedly to the intro to Blue Monday. Was that not Richard Spencer? Oh, you're right. Sorry, I got my R's confused. That's okay. They're all pricks. I was so excited. They're all pricks. Yeah, they are. But I was... Well, fuck it. Well, I'm going to read it anyway, so fuck you all. Do it. Hmm. So look, Gandhi was a prick. I get it. Not the best person, like most people who are made into deities for the acts that they did. At no time will I ever call what Gandhi did cowardice in any way, shape, or form. Hunger strikes are pretty fucking hard. Yeah. And I mean that both in the positive way of, fuck, that is hard. And the negative way of, they're practically killing themselves. And he did still lead an independence movement. I say lead, but necessarily he didn't have a part in it other than being a figurehead. But at any rate, this is how people know the history, okay? Yeah. But to call that and the fact that he had thousands of people doing the same thing behind him cowardice, that's gross. Yeah. But that's fascism, though. Fascism puts the idea of struggle ahead and the idea of fighting in that struggle ahead of compromise and trying to find a solution. And if you are not somebody who is aggressive and willing to, quote unquote, die for the cause, then you're not a fascist, according to them. Right. Lots of fascists who don't fight are fascists still. Yes. Let's not get that tripped up. Right. Yay! It's in the US now. Yeah. And these people are, oh wow, that was bad wording, these people. These organizations are doing everything they can to not only support the BHP and the RSS in India, but also to get similar outcomes here in the United States. It kind of brings to mind to me Vivek Ramaswamy, the guy who did run, he's out now for president. I would imagine that he probably got a lot of his funding from these organizations. Absolutely. I would assume, yeah. So this is becoming a big deal now. And if we're not paying attention globally, internationally, on things that are popping up in other places, we're totally going to miss when they show up here. Because it is not racist to call these things out for what they are, the same way it is not anti-Semitic to call out the Israeli offense force for what it is, which is a terrorist organization. Right. Things are happening in the global fascist movement, and they're quickly coming here. And if you don't believe in the three way fight, and again, I'm not referring to the idea of, you know, the three way fight being white people, Hindus, and the police. No, the three way fight being global fascism, the police, and the local governments. That's the three way fight. It's not groups of people, it's fascism, period, and the police who protect them, the different state organizations that protect them. Yeah. And to touch back on something you just were talking about, like if you don't pay attention to what goes on in the global sphere, which is definitely like American education MO. I don't know how your schooling was. I was publicly schooled. And pretty much all of the history, like they touched on, you know, significant events. But I didn't learn a lot of global history, European history outside of courses that were specifically made for that, you know what I mean? So then you get a bunch of adults, and they're like, I don't know, and they only watch local news, they only watch whatever, or, you know, conveniently personalized national news, you know? Yeah. And it's like, it's just, it's really easy to just only exist as an American in America and not have that, even like a curiosity about what else is going on in the world. And it's like exceptionalism, of course, and then just how it's like by design to keep us like ignorant and complacent and easy to control. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Yeah, because if we don't know what's going on in, I don't know, Latvia, and then a president or someone says, oh, Latvia is doing this awful stuff, and they're threatening us. So now we need to bomb them. Just vote for this, you know, or support this. And you're like, okay, well, I don't know anything about Latvia, but they sound like a bunch of jerks. So yeah, I'm going to do that. Exactly. Yeah, you don't make an informed decision. Yeah, it was just I was literally just talking about this, because they brought up the fact that I post about Central Asia, and Turkey, and I just I feel like the Central Asia, especially is just like overlooked in the scheme of things and considering their position between two superpowers, and they maintain relationships with each of them. I think that's important to see what's going on over there. And that kind of feeds into that whole, like, well, if you don't know what's going on in India, then you won't see how it spiders in over here. If you don't see what's going on, you know, other places, then, and it's by design, like they keep us down. Oh, yeah. No. And that's the biggest reason why I invited you to be a part of this is for that reason, is because you do share news from places that are not Eurocentric. And that to me, as an internationalist anarchist, or whatever the fuck, blah, blah, blah, that's important to me, for the reasons that we're discussing. Like you said, if you don't know what's going on over there, like if you don't know what's happening in Poland, then you're not going to understand how it's affecting the abortion, which is no longer a debate here in America, right? There are people who have had that certain aspect of their life forever, because they were brought up in a household like that. It's very important that you at least know what's going on, and are able, at the very least, to talk about it informed, but not having to be an absolute, what's the word I'm looking for? Know it all? An authority on it. Yes, exactly. Thank you. It helps to be receptive, and just open to learning about different stuff, and a desire to want to know more and learn. And that's really helpful. And that's one of my favorite things about my favorite people are some of the most knowledge-hungry and curious people. And I think that that's often something that's discouraged by society, the older we get, like we're discouraged. Play isn't as important, and nourishing interest and curiosity is seen sometimes as in like stigmatic ways. And that is still so important to our development and how we relate to the world and stuff. So it's just this being receptive and willing to learn and hear about other parts of the world and people's struggle from those people, not some white person here saying something about people of color in another country. You know what I mean? Yes, yes. I think that goes a long way as well. I'm going to share this with you too real quick. And again, this is something I'll take a screenshot of and post to the Twitter account. I'll probably just put this whole link up for this report on the VHPA. Okay, cool. Yeah, look, the VHPA's collaborations with the U.S. far-right hate ecosystem. This one is the most interesting. Look at that. Oh my gosh. Oh, can I say it for the listeners at home? There's a direct hard connection between the VHPA or whatever, and looks like a person named Krishna Gudapati, and January 6th insurrection. That's crazy. That is crazy. Like this group, that's how entwined it already is. It's like closer than the Kevin Bacon degrees. It's literally like, it's two degrees, maybe even just one, considering this person is part of this organization. Yeah, so this person was at the January 6th insurrection. That's insane. Right? Wow. I know it was all incestuous, but damn. Yeah, and it's crazy to see all these other groups that are in line with it. Where was that? Rise a line, ignite, reclaim? I don't know what that is, but that sounds scary. Yeah, that sounds really incendiary, right-wing. The Middle East Forum, which I've heard of before. There it is. Yeah, part of the Center for American Progress' Islamophobia network. Yeah, they deal heavily in Islamophobia. Jihad Watch up there. American Freedom Defense Initiative. Stop Islamization of America. What the fuck? Like, I didn't even know about that one. Me neither. That was just silly. That is literally the opposite of what is happening, so I'm like, what? Like, that one's just silly. Like, we gotta name it something. Yeah, the World Hindu News, which is directly branched off of the VHPA. Yeah, that's going to be a good unbiased source of information. Yeah, that's the one. That's the one we're going to look at from now on. Finding out about this through my friends and then from other things that I've heard about Hindutva, I'm just like, it's fascism. I gotta know where this is coming from and how it's starting to connect cobwebs together. Right, right. And there it is. And I would imagine that this is probably something Rishi Sunak, the old PM of England. I wonder if they're some kind of tied to that in the UK, a different group in the UK. I would wager almost definitely. Because these are both guys, Vivek Ramaswamy and Rishi Sunak, who are maybe not far, far right, but definitely far right. Yeah. In their political beliefs. Yeah, there's like a degree where it's like you're far right or you're far, far, far right. There is a point where that distinction doesn't necessarily matter. It's like you're so far right that it's just garbage and dangerous and hateful rhetoric and stuff like that. You know, it's like when you live in Phoenix, 100 degrees. That's not too bad. 105. OK, we're getting a little carried away. But by the time you get to 115, it just all feels the same. And you're just like, oh, my God, it's so fucking hot. This is dumb. I would just pass away. I would just feel like, oh, it's been nice. Yeah. I mean, I moved from there, but apparently I didn't move far enough. Yeah. Thanks to the way the climate's going, we're getting those summers. Yeah, I know. That's exciting news. That's great. I love it. So, yeah, that's pretty much all I've got for that right now. And once we get that squared away, I'm hoping that maybe I can get them to come on and read the script. Yeah. I don't think that's going to happen. I completely understand. That's fair. Yeah, totally. When that does happen, please understand that I am not the authority. I am just reading from the authority. Yeah. But we'll explain that when it happens. Yeah. Cool. That's it for me. Yeah, it's pretty much it for me as well. Okay, well, should we do some Straight Corner real quick? Because I don't think we did Straight Corner last month. Even though we lost everything from my computer. I was going to say, even if we did, let's do it again. Because it's been, you know. Oh, God, I hated that. It's okay, though. It's okay, though. Because, like, shit happens, and we just move forward. And it was so funny, because Paz made the point that my vitriol was the thing that survived. So it's like, yeah, just, okay. Like I said, that has to at least come out. And I hope that particular person listens and blocked us. Well, they blocked me. So it's like, you know, get in there. And I think I brought, I might have brought this up last month. I can't remember. But it's one of those things where it's like, one of the best things is, and I say best in a relative sense. But one of the best things is being wrong on the internet and then being shown the right way. And being helped to understand the right way. You know what I mean? It's such a good opportunity for growth. And, of course, it hurts the ego. And it sucks. And I hate being told that I'm wrong. But it's an opportunity to expand your worldview. And, like, who doesn't want that? Especially if you're a leftist. Like, who doesn't want that, you know? Yes, exactly. So, yeah. Fucking street corner. Woohoo! Okay. Okay. All right. Here we go. So we reported on it last month. But, of course, it didn't come out. Or maybe it was, no, it was December. Yeah, that was in December's episode. Okay. About the Eiffel Tower being closed during strike. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's still going on. Really? Yep. April 21st, the Eiffel Tower is closed to visitors for third day as strikes continue. Striking workers again closed down the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday, the third day running. But the landmark, expected to be at the heart of celebrations for the Paris Olympics, has been off limits to visitors. I'll share this with you because it's an actual, they're speaking. And this is the first time that that's happened on AP that I've seen. I don't think they're talking about it. Yeah. So let me describe what's being shown right now. There was a shot of the Eiffel Tower with a sign that read, due to strike, the Eiffel Tower closed. We apologize. Then there was a shot of the people who work at the Eiffel Tower holding their banners. We came eight years ago, just me and my wife. So we brought the children and I had tickets booked. So, yeah, very disappointing. Poor John Adams. His name was Jonathan Adams. He was very disappointed. Yeah. So, yeah. And then there's another shot of the Eiffel Tower and people looking at the Eiffel Tower from afar, from the Champs-Élysées. I don't know. Whatever that bridge is, that crosses the sign. And that's the only thing in French that I really know. It's better than mine. Yeah. See? And I'm sure I still butchered it. But it's French, so who really cares? No, I'm kidding. I mean, honestly, colonizer languages, who cares? Yeah, yeah. Any of those. Even if it is romantic. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see. South Korean government warning striking doctors to return to work or face legal action. Their new president, man. And that dude is not fun. Right. He's an asshole. Yeah. Right wing asshole. South Korean government on Wednesday warned thousands of striking doctors to return to work immediately or face legal action after their collective walkout caused cancellations of surgeries or cancellations. There we go. See, I can say that. Of surgeries and disrupted other hospital operations. About 7800 medical interns and residents in South Korea have walked off their jobs this week to protest the government's push to recruit more medical students. Officials say they want to increase the nationwide medical school admissions camp by 2000 from next year to brace for South Korea's rapidly aging population. But doctors groups have refuted the plan, saying universities aren't ready to offer quality education to that many students. They argue the government's push to have more doctors would lead to increased public medical expenses because physicians locked in competition could perform unnecessary treatments. The 2000 additional admissions is a nonsensical figure, the Korean Intern Residents Association said in a statement Tuesday. We hope the government will rethink its plan and formulate a policy that reflects the voices of trainee doctors. I can see why that's a problem. Yeah. It's how we have the issues that we have here with our pay to play health insurance. Yeah. I mean, it's the same thing that we're seeing with teachers now, because so many of them either quit during the COVID crisis or have decided to leave because of the way that certain administrations acted during the COVID crisis. And then they're also aging out. But now they're hiring people who don't have, in some places, I won't say across the country, but in some places, hiring people who don't have a degree in teaching in any way and just plugging holes because there's nothing that they can do about it. They can't get teachers out of school fast enough or people who even want to be teachers anymore. Right. All right. So we've also got, I'm looking to see if there's anything in the US and there is one that I just saw now and I'll go back to it. But the other one that I saw, which has seemed pretty cool, Germany, their transport strikes are going on now and apparently they have stranded air, rail and bus travelers. Really? Yeah. Let's see. And this was from the 20th of February. So just last week, thousands of travelers across Germany found themselves stranded on Tuesday when ground staff walked off the job at seven of the country's biggest airports. Wow. The one day strike by the Verdi Labor Union, V-E-R-D-I Labor Union, which runs until 7, 10 a.m. Wednesday, affects several hundred flights at airports in Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa's main hubs, as well as Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Cologne, Bonn and Stuttgart. The strike is the latest in a series of similar actions in the rail, air and local transport sectors this year. Facing inflation and staff shortages, unions are pushing for higher wages and better working conditions. Such short warning strikes are a common tactic in German contract negotiations. God damn fucking we have laws against it. But they have frustrated travelers and commuters and made Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse with a reputation for efficiency, a pure dysfunction. So, yeah, that's fun. Good on you guys. I hope you get what you're looking for. Yes. More Deutschmarks. Yes. Give me those Deutschmarks, baby. But then the one big one for us, autoworkers threatened to strike again at Ford's huge Kentucky truck plant in local contract dispute. And it's the UAW. The UAW is threatening to go on strike next week at Ford Motor Company's largest and most profitable factory in a dispute over local contract language. The union said Friday that nearly 9000 workers at the Kentucky truck plant in Louisville will strike on February 23rd if the local contract dispute is not resolved. If there's a strike, it would be the second time the union has walked out at the sprawling factory in the past year. OK, that still works in my head. In October, UAW workers shut down the plant during national contract negotiations that ended with large raises for employees. So they were part of the group that walked out with the big strike earlier or later last year. So good on them for going out again or possibly going out again. Yeah. And I didn't hear anything else. And AP hasn't put anything else up. This was originally released on the 16th of February. OK. I'm going to assume that things got worked out because there isn't a follow up to that. Yeah. And that date was yesterday, right? The 16th. When was that? They were going to strike on the 23rd, though. They were going to strike sometime this week if they didn't get. Oh, OK. Yeah. And let's see. Anything else? Anything else? Oh, there we go. Wow. This will be important. Crew member dies in accident on set of Marvel's Wonder Man. Really? Wonder Man? That's what it says. This is the first time I've ever heard of Wonder Man. OK. I agree. I have never heard of Wonder Man either. So if you're a comic nerd and listen to the show, please inform us on who Wonder Man is. Studio City, California. This is from February 6th. So just a couple of weeks ago, a crew member who was working on the Marvel Studios series Wonder Man died following an accident on set Tuesday morning at CBS Radford Studios. A crew member who was working on the Marvel Studios series Wonder Man died following an accident on set Tuesday morning at CBS Radford Studios in Studio City. The man, whose name was not made public, was a rigger who fell from the rafters according to the trade publication deadline which first reported the news. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with his family and friends, and our support is behind the investigation into the circumstances of this accident, a Marvel spokesperson said in a statement. OSHA will be the investigating body, which is cool. Matthew D. Loeb, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, said the labor union was shocked and saddened. Quote, we are working to support our family members and his fellow members and colleagues, Loeb said in a statement. Safety on set is our highest priority, and we will assist Cal OSHA in their investigation in any way that we can. While crew injuries and deaths on film and television sets have historically been underreported, there have been several fatalities in recent years that have resulted in high-profile lawsuits and calls for industry reforms, which of course includes Alec Baldwin shooting somebody dead on the site of Russ. Oh, there it is right there. Yeah, 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Helena Hutchins. Between 1990 and 2014, at least 43 people died on sets in the US, and more than 150 were left with life-altering injuries, according to a 2016 report by the Associated Press. Those numbers were derived by combing through data from workplace and aviation safety investigations, court records, and news accounts. Filming is set to begin next month on Wonder Man, which stars Yahya Abdul-Madin II, and was delayed by last year's dual Hollywood strikes. Still have no clue who or what Wonder Man is, so again, please let us know. But there you go. That is the strike corner for this year. This year? No. God, no. Fuck. Please, no. Please, no. Just this month. Just this month. Goodness gracious. All right. Well, that said, I hope everything goes well with Benji tomorrow. Thank you. The day after tomorrow. Thank you. Thank you. I will make sure to update everyone. Yes, we will elicit requests for happy thoughts and prayers, if that is your thing. Yeah. Via the Twitter accounts. Yeah. My weird-eyed baby boy. Yes. Protect him at all costs. Yeah. I want to say really quick, because Benji, I call him blind. I think he's technically low-sighted. He's completely blind in his left eye and probably has 20% vision in his right. But his quality of life is great. He's hilarious, and he just has the best attitude. And if anyone is out there considering adopting a pet, look into adopting a blind dog, because they are awesome pets. And basically, as long as you don't move your furniture around a lot, they get a mental map of your property, and they do really good. So if you're in a position to adopt a dog, don't count out the blindos, because they're wonderful. I'm sorry. I chuckled only because I can imagine myself being an asshole and just, like, every other week changing the furniture around just to fuck up the dog. That is so rude. That is rude. That is mean. That is mean. It is. It really is, which is why I chuckled and pushed it away. I'm like, no, that's not nice. So, but I am a rude old asshole. I'm sorry. Please think about Benji, and thank you for joining us. And apologies for last month's episode, but this month it will not happen again. I swear upon God and the Almighty, and I will strike him down if something happens. I will kill God. Your days are numbered. Yes, I will kill and dethrone you, God. I forgot that was the start to this hell week. Fuck. Yeah. Goddamn. Actually. Fuck. All right. Can you just imagine God making a mistake and saying, like, uh-oh, spaghettios. Right? Isn't that funny? Yes, anyway. I'm sorry. I'm all hepped up on water, apparently. I'm tore up. That's what's going to happen. God is going to blind me and then change the furniture around in my room just to spite me. Yeah, but he's going to do it just a few inches every time. So you will never, you'll just be in this constant state of, like, hyper-awareness, and, like, you won't be able to relax or navigate at all. Yeah, because where the fuck's the bed right now? Right. Where the fuck's the bed? Which direction is he moving this thing? Son of a bitch. I'm sorry. All right. Well, at any rate, Ted, where can they find you on the social medias and Instagrams? It's easy just to look for Ted Kutzynski. I will pop up. Okay. That's the easiest. Yeah. Reverend Dr. Poop Daddy on pretty much everything, including the Instagrams. COGB161 on the Twitters. Please follow us there. We've had more followers recently, which is great. Yeah. And they weren't bots. They're real people, which is even better. Right, right. Oddly, we never got really too many porn bots liking the page, so. I don't know what that says about us. Right? I'm like, I don't know how to take that. Should I be insulted? Right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, which reminds me. Don't forget the Smegma posts. Okay. I was going to say, just pump up the Smegma posts. Yes. Yes. We got to get those numbers up, Ted. We're posting about Smegma. Okay. We really do. It's such a versatile thing. Only closers get Smegma, Ted. Okay? Only closers get Smegma. Oh, man. Yeah. So find us there, COGB161. That's Twitter, the blue sky, the big giant elephant mastodon website. We are there. So look for us in those places. Yes. I have something that I want to play us out on, Ted. Okay. Don't worry. It's good. It's funny. I'm really scared of the screen. Could you hear the hesitancy? Yes. Oh, yes. Okay. That sounds not like something I want to be part of. That's exactly what that said. So I heard it. I heard it. You didn't have to say anything. So let's see. Am I sharing that screen? Yes, I am. Okay. Here we go. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no.