When Assimilation Fades, Polarization Rushes In

A library full of cameras, a beachfront standoff—small failures and big ones keep pointing to the same problem: trust breaks when institutions won’t act or won’t show their work. We start with a story about losing hours of recording and end up confronting how evidence can go missing when it matters most. The Brown University shooting is described as a targeted assassination in a camera-dense building with sparse footage released. Open-source sleuths jump in with gait analysis and pattern-matching, underscoring both the promise and risk of citizen forensics when official channels go quiet.

From there, we pivot to Bondi. Police crouch behind vehicles for over thirty minutes while civilians wrestle away a gun. That scene forces a harder comparison: U.S.-style local policing versus Crown-nation rotations, where officers often serve communities they don’t live in. Add low incident exposure and a culture wary of self-defense, and you get hesitation where decisiveness is needed. The policy reflex is familiar—tighten gun laws—but the underlying issues of training, accountability, and readiness remain unresolved.

We widen the lens to immigration and assimilation. Norway’s strict language-and-values model becomes a foil to looser systems that import voters, outsource services, and breed resentment when taxpayers see their costs rise as benefits spread elsewhere. Allegations of benefits fraud—millions, not billions—still corrode public trust because consequences seem rare and selective. Meanwhile, the American flag morphs from a shared emblem into a political shibboleth, and speech policing fuels a sense that voice is slipping away before rights do.

Yet there’s a thread of optimism. Culture can blend without erasing; curiosity can beat cynicism; local action can bend outcomes. We talk practical steps: understand your city budget, show up at council, volunteer, and, yes, run for school board or mayor. Safety isn’t just laws; it’s norms, training, transparency, and neighbors who give a damn. If you’re tired of being told to pick a side, you’ll find space here to think harder, ask better questions, and choose action over doom.

If the conversation resonates, follow the show, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review with one question you want answered next. Your voice shapes where we go from here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Hey Ken, welcome. Uh we're blessed by the presence of Dean again. This is totally different which totally different night we're recording this.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Which I it's a good thing we're hitting a doubleheader because the last episode Dean was on was a part of the some of the ones that got formatted. Oh, nuked? Yeah. Was it he really? Yeah, it was it was the the book review and and then Dean. Oh, were you there for the stand when we were it it was two, there was two on there. Really? It was the one with him and the yeah. Damn. Lost like it was bad. I had never done that before, but I formatted a SD card before pulling the episodes off.

SPEAKER_03 1:29

One day, one day we'll have a dog ear dialogue about the stand again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

It's hard to saddle back up for it, it was like six hours worth of us talking about the book, and it was gone.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

I don't know if it was six hours, but it was it was two episodes. It was close.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

Yeah, I had that happen. I I just bought a drone, I bought a like a Mavic uh Mavic Pro. I think it's the first one, and I had I made it a point that I was going to get like quality drone footage of flying in as many national parks as I could. Because you're not allowed to do that. And I gotten quite a few really good ones. I got I got um uh we were in you got this on the podcast? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one knows it's anonymous.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

All right, I'm just saying, bro. They they're not messing around with the drones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Well, this was this was like probably six years ago or so. Yeah. So it's a little more safe at the time. Um I got some really good ones in the Redwoods. Uh I got some really good ones in uh Yosemite, and um uh one of the ones I was really stoked about that wasn't a national park, but I was pretty pumped about it, was in the salt flats. And during one particular time of the year, I think it's usually March, April, they're they're flooded. So you've got like maybe an inch of water all the way through the salt flats, and it's kind of like a murky blue color. Yeah. And I was just hovering like half a foot above the water, just like cruising this drone, basically. Uh, but anyway, I went to go pull it off and I accidentally formatted the SD card. And that's it was it was all yeah, it was all gone.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

I actually did that with someone's wedding once. Yeah, I did it as a volunteer job. Okay, that's it. I didn't charge him for it, you know, as a volunteer one. I was just gonna record the footage and then send it to him. Yeah, I wasn't gonna edit it or anything. And then I had another wedding after that, and I was like, Oh, format this old card. So I don't I mixed them up, dude. Did they ever ask you for that footage? No, yeah. I told them, I was like, it's gone. They were like, they're like, Really? I'm like, yeah, sorry. What can I there's nothing I can do? I did I did use this program that you can recover some files off of it after you formatted the card. I've tried that too. It was it's called recover it, and it's total malware, but it works to recover stuff off of it. It does work, really. Yeah, it oh yeah, and I got like probably two hours of their wedding back, but there was no like audio to it.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

I was trying to do them and do when you can mail your card in somewhere and pay them to do it, they'll basically like recover it and send it back to you.

Brown University Shooting: Facts And Gaps

SPEAKER_03 4:15

Yeah, anyways. Um, dude, in the news, man. Dean, you've been a little bit out of it. You just got back from a trip from Jamaica, but there's a lot of uh crazy stuff going on with uh essentially shootings in the last uh week. There was the shooting at Brown University, and then there was the Pakistani shooters down in Australia on the Bondi Beach.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

And um let's break these down one at a time. Yeah, so just for a good refresher.

Drone Footage, Data Loss, And Recovery

SPEAKER_03 4:44

Um the Brown one, I think they happened on the same day.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Yeah, I think they did. Um they were back-to-back days, but one of the two.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

So Brown University is in uh Rhode Island, I believe. Uh yeah, Providence, Rhode Island. Um, and so this uh shooting occurred on campus. Um, and the details as best as I understand them is that there was an individual um that uh essentially came onto campus, could have been could be a student, might not be a student, um, but they immediately beelined to the library where there was uh this conservative group. It's the one conservative creep group on Brown University that's like an approved student group. And um he went on to campus, and I'm saying he, it could be a she, but you know, statistically it's a guy. Um and he went to that group and pulled out the his gun and shot the leader of the group um and shot her in the face and then and killed her, and um shot another student, and I believe I don't know if he shot another nine or if the other nine were injured in like the chaos of it, but it was essentially an assassination um of Ella Cook. And Ella Cook is was this you know student leader of this conservative group. Um, she had been out outspoken on campus about her beliefs, very kind of like you know, turning point um esque kind of like welcoming debates and conversations on campus to have you know top discussing like political topics. But she was 19 and a sophomore. Oh yes. And uh it was it was clearly a targeted attack against her and this student group because he didn't attack anyone else after he did this, he ran off. Um, but someone has been doing an analysis of his uh gate, and we can use machine learning models. Uh, and there's a pretty good match between uh this individual and another one who was present at a couple of the um protests uh and stuff uh around Brown University, uh about like Free Palestine and stuff like that. And so they think some people who, you know, these aren't police, these are just people uh in their spare time doing these analyses and going over footage. Um, but there's quite a few people who think they might have been able to zero in on like the suspect and who they are. But the this this crazy thing is that Brown University, uh, and this was in an interview with the police department, a reporter asked this question. Uh, but Brown University has the most cameras of any uh like building in like or any property in Rhode Island, so there should be no shortage of footage, and they've only released a few, and most of the footage that's actually out there is of the suspect walking in front of homes with like ring doorbell cameras and stuff. And so a lot of people are like, it's just not passing the sniff tests, like it feels like the university is really sweeping it and just like, oh yeah, we don't know where they are or who they are, and we have no suspects at this time, and uh they're not releasing any more footage. They keep like people like are asking them, like, do you have more footage? And they're like, We've only we're only releasing what we've released. It's like what so you do have more footage, but like, why aren't you letting us see it? Like, we someone might be able to identify this individual. Um, it's a it's a pretty crazy thing, man. Um, and there's like suspicion that like the individual is related to someone on you know the board for the school and stuff, and that there's like a lot of political kind of uh damage control.

SPEAKER_02 8:53

Yeah, it is Brown University.

SPEAKER_03 8:55

Um, yeah, and so it's it's overall just a tragic thing and very sad, but it's it it is not what we would characterize as like a typical school shooting. Most school shootings do not have specific individuals targeted or specific groups, like the shooter goes on to the campus to cause as much harm as possible before they're taken out.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

And I I did hear uh the term mass shooter shooting getting passed around in relation to this, which really does a disservice to when that actually does happen.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Like when it is a targeted attack.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Because I'm like in this case, I'm like this is an active, not necessarily an active shooter. Yeah. It's like you're where you're saying it's not random, then it just goes somewhere random and start spraying bullets away.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Right, right. This isn't a mass shooting, like this is a murder, like a targeted murder. Yeah. Right. Yep. Um on campus.

Targeted Attack Or Mass Shooting

SPEAKER_03 9:53

Yeah, well, uh uh and you know, in contrast to what we s we are calling a terror attack in Australia.

SPEAKER_02 10:00

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:01

This is a terror attack. Those people, the the two shooters in Australia were targeting Jews. They were targeting Jews on the first day of Hanukkah. This person was targeting the conservative student group and specifically didn't want to give away what their intentions were until they had killed the leader of that group.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

And this is in a this where um where the student was shot. Was this in like the library?

SPEAKER_03 10:30

Yeah, it was in the library, which you and I, well, I mean, all three of us went to the same university. I mean, how many cameras are in the library? You know what I mean? Like, there's no way you can.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

That is the V place to have cameras in the school.

Surveillance, Gait Analysis, And Suspect Debate

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Yeah. Um and I it was crazy. I watched the footage, it could have been straight out of the university we went to. Like the library looks one for one, the same kind of building. I don't know if Brown University is a state-funded school like ours was. A lot of the state-funded schools have the same architecture and design, and like, you know, their libraries have that same kind of like uh brutalist concrete architecture, right? And um, so but part of me is just like scratching my head still here at like how can they not have any clue as to who the suspect is yet? Right. Um, especially if it's someone which we're seeing here uh where they're likely someone who's been around Brown University for a number of years and partaking in these other events. Um, but again, it's political. They don't want to say it was an assassination and a targeted attack because then that turns it into a terror thing, and then now you have on your university's record a terror attack occurring on campus. Right. Um, so all that said, it's a it's a sad thing. Um, I don't know if you guys have thoughts or comments from like anything else you've pulled up in reference to it before we move on to the other one. Um but yeah, there's there's like this gate analysis program uh that an individual's released where it's studying like stride length cadence. Um, and when you see the person they're matching it to, you're like, damn, that is the same build. Could be a woman. I think it's hard to tell if this other individual because the mask is off and they they're wearing a cafe around their neck. Um but it it could be a female as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

It's it's hard to tell. Some people are speculating like trans stuff, but uh I mean yeah. I don't want to just always go with like the classic trans boogeyman. And I don't from me looking at it, I don't necessarily see that. You know, I mean it's a person super covered up. Yeah. And the um I'm just looking at the picture of this guy. Yeah, the what what did the gate analysis say? They connected it to somebody, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:31

The um I believe they believe it's uh this individual known. I'm just making sure I have I don't want to just drop names and bring attention, but they say it's a 97.8 match with Mustafa Karbush. Um uh and the suspect has been scrubbed from Brown University and its websites. Uh Brown University has released a statement condemning uh uh Mustafa as a suspect and like saying like this isn't valid. And yeah, the narrative is like Mustafa is a third-year undergraduate. Um used the pronouns they he um third generation Palestinian refugee. So it's like there's it's again like a very all like politically charged thing, but what we're looking at here looks to be a lot like uh I would say an emboldened assassination. Um so we'll see, we'll see how that plays out. It's again, it's a sad thing. Um I just don't know, like I don't want to be alarmist, I'm an anti-dumerism, but I'm also like, hey, like I don't give a I don't give a damn if your campus says you're not allowed to carry, like, might as well carry. Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

And like well, I mean, technically speaking, the worst thing that can happen to you is you get charged with trespassing.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

Sure, I don't even care if I got charged with like a federal thing, if it's me and my friends are alive, you know what I mean? Um, but it it is a it it and I'm not saying that like you know, any of these victims should feel like any sense of guilt that they weren't carrying, but if we're living in a day and age where people are getting emboldened to like go onto campuses and execute targeted attacks, then like, you know, definitely in my eyes, the value of okay, I could possibly be punished and charged with carrying this firearm in a place where it's not allowed. Uh that's a lot less of a consequence than seeing people murdered in front of me. Yeah. Um, so uh the Bondi shooting, though, this one's sad. Uh it also has a lot of kind of politically charged stuff around it. So the shooters were father and son, uh Pakistani immigrants to Australia, and uh they were specifically targeting Jews. Uh the firearms they had are legal firearms in Australia to be purchased if you have a firearms license.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

I didn't even know you could purchase firearms in Australia.

SPEAKER_03 17:19

Yeah, you could purchase them. The license program is pretty strict, uh, and you have to have like justification for them, like protecting livestock or um trapping beat clubs and things too. You can get it for that. Hunting. A big one is culling. Uh a lot, like there's like actual guys who are paid by this like the the state gov of you know, different um I don't know they're not called states, territories in Australia, and they're paid to go out and kill camels because camels are non-native to Australia, but they are a pest in a lot of Australia. Some guys' whole jobs are to drive out and to the out back of Australia and just shoot and kill as many camels as they can in a day.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_03 18:01

It's all there's a YouTuber who just throws all the footage of it, and bro, he is just like it's insane. He's John Wicking these camels, and it's it's one of the most he's also anti-civilian zoning guns, so he's kind of a douche. But he is he has some pretty insane footage of him just like running through the outback desert, just shooting camels point blank and just like in the middle of the herd shooting them. Yeah. Um, but anyway, so these shooters, uh, if I understand correctly, they should they as immigrants they don't qualify to have a firearms license. Now, that's what I've heard and read.

SPEAKER_02 18:39

Okay.

Bondi Shooting: Police Response And Culture

SPEAKER_03 18:40

I'm not familiar with Australia law, so that could be incorrect. But um technically, if they had these licenses legally and the system didn't fail, then they purchased them and they were, you know, they they per they were purchased legally. Um, but the crazy thing is this just goes to show people like this is this was Australia's Uval Day. Yeah, the police in Australia are armed. It's not like the UK where they don't have guns on them. And so there's footage here. You can look up pictures and screenshots of the of the footage where police are cowering behind vehicles seriously for over 30 minutes. They were they were there for over 30 minutes just hiding while these two were going around shooting people. And uh two of the people murdered, uh, I don't think the other guys died of his injuries. I think he's recovering.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yeah, he's shot in the arm.

SPEAKER_03 19:35

Uh two of the people murdered were an elderly couple in their 60s and 70s that were on their way back to the car, saw the shooter, stopped, and like wrestled the gun away from him before he drew another before he drew another gun and shot and killed them both.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

What were what were the firearms?

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Shotguns, bolt actions, and then uh a handgun, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Mm-hmm. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 19:59

Um but so these two 60, 70-year-old geriatric people, like actually disarmed one of the shooters.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:07

And the thing is also though, like, in a culture where they don't have any uh right to self-defense, none like they didn't shoot the shooter. Yeah. Even as the shooter was drawing another gun to shoot them, they didn't shoot him. And then the other individual, which to his credit, was he, I believe he was an Afghanistan immigrant, or was he a Pakistani immigrant as well?

SPEAKER_01 20:30

Maybe it was Middle Eastern.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

Um he wrestled another gun away from what was it, Pat the father. And he wrestled the gun away, but then after he wrestled away, he just sat it down. And then the guy ran away and got another gun out of the trunk and kept shooting. And he could have shot him and ended the fight there. Um, and so it's one of those things where like we see a culture here who one knows that their government is gonna see them as a culprit for defending themselves, and two has not been uh emboldened to essentially like take action and protect themselves and take life if necessary. Uh, and the last thing is like their culture that can't rely on their police to defend them and protect them. Yeah. Um, and it's it's kind of interesting. I do think this is a result. Uh, and you know, this is where you could like go tit for tat with like Uvalde as like a counterexample if you want to be devil's advocate. But I do think this is a result of the way policing is done in other countries versus the US. The US is actually pretty unique when it comes to policing, and that the police are agents of uh local governments first before you know racketing up into like state government and then federal government. So like a our federal policing organization in the US, you would call you say is the FBI or perhaps the ATF uh DE DEA. Like Marshalls. Marshalls, even yeah. Those are federal police officers, federal law enforcement, actually, right? We don't call them police officers. But they they are not who we're expecting to show up to a mass shooting, right? Our expectation is that my local city police, which are sheriff department, um Which are people belonging to my community.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

And live in the community.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

And live in the community will arrive. And they want to protect the community. They're vested in it. Maybe you have a state trooper showing up to uh an incident like this and acting. And he might not be from your community, but he's a state trooper and he lives in your state, and he might live within, you know, 40, 50 miles of you. But I don't think anyone in America really has this expectation of like the FBI showing up to save you if there's an assault or something happening, right? The policing and uh I would say the nations of the crown. So we see like New Zealand, England, Australia. Um, the police officers aren't actually from most of the areas they're assigned. Uh they enroll in the police agencies and they get stationed like you would in the military, or like you would in as a federal officer, law enforcement officer in the U.S. So like you would enroll in the FBI, and then after you've graduated, you get your assignment of where you're going in the US. And that's essentially how local policing uh at the lowest level works in a lot of these um nations, and so you have police who are not invested in protecting their communities because this community is like a post, and you they view it the same way and treat it the same way like you would if you uh were in the military. You're like, I'm not dying for these people, like I I hardly know any of these people. Yeah, I'm here, I'm here to make sure the people of this community follow the law. And it's a it's a tragic thing because it's not just seen like in the U L in Australia, but like many times in the UK, like the police failed to take action to stop violence and aggressors. Um, and a lot of people like think it's psychologically connected to like a lack of investment of like accountability to the people they're policing.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Yeah, in in the UK, their their violence looks it's actually it's actually pretty heightened. I don't really know what violence looks like in Australia, their crime rates.

Policing Models: U.S. Versus Crown Nations

SPEAKER_03 24:28

Um rape is really high. I actually was trying to do a report on it recently. Really? Yeah, their rape is like way higher than than a lot of other nations. But yeah, you're right. Like murder with like firearms, like deaths by firearms, relatively low.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

And so I'm my my curiosity is like in in a nation like Australia, are the police just genuinely very unprepared because it doesn't happen often? Yeah, they go to work every day, really not thinking they're going to encounter anything dangerous at all. Uh, and ultimately when it does happen, psychologically, they're not prepared at all.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

Um, I don't think they are. I I think that's I think that's an issue too, right? Is like how can you have faith in your nation to protect you after disarming you when they are not trained and prepared to protect you and act in that way. Like if you're gonna disarm your population, then you need to be willing to step in for your population in defense of their life.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

I'm actually pretty surprised that in Australia this isn't currently being swept under the rug because like there's a lot of controversy around them de-arming the population to begin with.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

It's it's actually being re-emphasized.

SPEAKER_01 25:53

Like the Well, the fact that they legally attained the weapons is going to basically give validation to Okay, we gotta make these rules even stricter. Yeah, we gotta go further. Right? So, and they actually are already um have an article pulled right that they are actually like they have already announced stricter gun laws and they're already almost like enacting them, like they're they're moving it fast.

SPEAKER_03 26:21

Yeah, I mean it's what it's essentially what New Zealand did too after the Christ Church shooting. Again, that was a uh if I remember correctly, it was a radical Islamist started shooting people outside of a uh Jewish temple. Or no, I might get I I think I have that wrong. I think it was someone targeting Muslims.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

I think that's right.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Yeah, it was someone targeting Muslims with like a double barrel shotgun. Started shooting people outside of a um what is it called? Muslims go to not a temple. A mosque. Mosque. Um, and uh they like made it much more stricter and harsher to get a firearm after that. Uh, and I think even like the certain shotguns after that that could fire buckshot and stuff, like were completely banned.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

So I have a a friend in Australia um that I've not thoroughly, but kind of begun. It's mostly a business relationship, but he's he's said a few things that make me want to pry a little bit harder on just the general opinion of Australians and what they're experiencing there. Uh because we we kind of look at we look at immigration as being a very US issue because that's the bubble that we're in. But 10 years ago, uh immigration was was a really big, really big topic of conversation in Europe, right? Because they were having a lot of having a lot of attacks, a lot of people, refugees coming from other countries, and um ultimately like with that, people coming along with the anticipation of planning attacks. In Australia, apparently, also has a a pretty big immigration debacle going on right now as well, one that we're not really aware of, nor am I. But it was kind of an interesting topic because he was seemingly kind of bitter about it.

SPEAKER_03 28:17

Um, and I I know several people in England right now that are like friends of ours that are very now anti-immigration, and they were like very liberal in college. Yeah. Now in England, living there and seeing what's happening there with a lot of the immigrants and the attacks.

Crime, Preparedness, And Policy Whiplash

SPEAKER_02 28:33

Yeah, in UK and in England, it's it's kind of on another level, actually, than really any anywhere else. Like it's pretty wild. Um so, but in a place that's generally also the the violence rate in Australia or in UK and England is actually really high.

SPEAKER_04 28:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Um in Australia, though, comparatively, probably much lower. But I'd be curious, I'll have to pick his brain and just see what his what his thoughts are on it. But it's this is like a this is a global topic of conversation. Immigration is it's really it's everywhere. Uh, and it's pretty fascinating that it happened globally within like a one-decade period of time that all countries across the world would start having um a lot of resistance and encouragement to immigration with the nations and be causing a lot of issues. It's pretty maybe not coincidental, maybe coincidental, it's hard to say, uh, but pretty interesting nonetheless.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Yeah, I think I think uh I I think the tolerance is really going down because of the it would be different if these if we saw across these different nations um a few different things. One is a program of re-education. Like if you're gonna live in the UK, you're gonna become an you're gonna become uh English. You're gonna become English. Yeah, and that's a requirement. Um your culture needs you're you're gonna give up some parts of your culture to be a member of this culture. And then the other thing I think is when people don't comply and people you know bring violence to this nation as an immigrant, that the government would then punish them and remove them. And I think that those two things, because there isn't that, like that's not existing across a lot of these nations where we see a backlash to immigration, uh they're like the government's losing all support of the people for it. And I I say it because I remember being in Norway, and in Norway when I was there uh, you know, doing mission work, we were teaching immigrants English because the expectation is that the immigrants would learn Norwegian and English within like a year to continue the asylum process and immigrant process, and then they had to go through classes where it was like in in Norway, you will be Norwegian, and like you aren't allowed to essentially carry out like the laws of Islam. Like those are again, like these are against the law in Norway. And if you try to stone your wife or daughter, like you will be punished and you will be imprisoned here, or you will be sent back. And I remember it was very strict at the time I was there. This was back in like 2016. Um, and it was an incredibly strict thing, and like there was people there that I had talked to who had had like family members or other people who had come over with them who had been kicked out already, and there was a lot of success stories, like a lot of people I met who were like from like uh Ethiopia, Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, and the Iraq. There was a guy in the Christian church who was Iraqi and became a believer when he came to Norway. And all of these people who were really successful, they're like, Yeah, I'm from Eritrea. I my heritage is Ethiopian, my heritage is Nigerian, but I'm I'm Norwegian. I've I've this is the culture, these are the values, I'm happy to be here. And like that, those are the ones who were like crushing it, and they had their own apartments that they were no longer getting, like the state wasn't paying for anymore, they had their own jobs and incomes, that their family was invested in the community, they had ties outside of their own like uh immigrant culture. And the people who were really struggling were the ones who had no interest and they were just there to like live off of you know the state's benefits for as long as they could before they got kicked out.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

And those programs were seen as uh essentially like they were seen as racist and like you know, backwards in the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and so those programs like don't exist today. Like there is not a program that tells you like to immigrate here or to continue with your asylum here, you need to like go through these classes and pass the values essentially in the tests that say, like, you're an American, you're English, you're Australian, uh, and this is the culture now.

Immigration Waves And Public Backlash

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Um Well, I mean, our own schools don't even really do that anymore. No, dude, I know I know a lot of people seen as a as a vile thing to do. Like it's like it's like you'd probably get fired, you could you could probably lose your job for like, you know.

SPEAKER_03 33:34

I know teachers in Denver who have been told that they will be fired if they flunk elementary students that don't know English. Oh wow. They have been told, like, you will be let go and we will have there's pl there's other teachers that we can employ. Uh other there's other people who want to be a teacher here that we can employ who will who will be more successful than you. And uh I know I know of a teacher who she said like a third of her class doesn't know English, and they are second graders, and they're all they're all mostly from Mexico or other like South American countries, and they don't speak English, they can't read, they don't understand what she's saying, they just sit, it's bas it's like daycare all day. Yeah, and she's not at like a poor inner city school, you know what I mean? Like she's at a pretty nice like public school, and they're being just told, like, yeah, you you need to pass them, you need to move them up. And it's like the only way is forward. Like they they don't learn anything, they're not learning anymore, and it's just gonna create a more hostility between uh them and us. Yeah, you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Well, the the and on like a a much that makes I mean that makes this sound a lot like worse, but I'm thinking like things like when you come out of high school, like you know what the Bill of Rights is, and most people don't know what that even is.

SPEAKER_03 34:55

Yeah, I would say most Americans don't even know what that is, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:57

Or like like have you read the preamble ever in your life? You know, like we sang that in schoolhouse rock, you know, like people don't know what that is anymore.

SPEAKER_03 35:08

A lot of schools don't do the pledge at all, right? Right. Like that's crazy. I did the Pledge of Allegiance every day through graduated, yeah. And they like there's kids I know now that like have never done it, they don't even know the Pledge of Allegiance by heart.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Right. And that's what I was saying before. Like, yeah, you know, where they're if a teacher wanted to push that in their class, like, hey, good morning, like even if like, hey, you don't have to if you don't want to do, but we're gonna say the pledge is more than like you probably get reprimanded in certain schools, you know.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Like you're creating an unsafe environment. The thing that is interesting to me is that there is there is this overwhelming tie to an assumption that American culture equals a race, and that just is not true at all.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

Yeah, you know, like true.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

There are like there are people all across the world that their culture and their race are completely different and they could be the same, or like their culture is completely different and their skin color can be the same. Like American culture is not a race. Saying the Pledge of Allegiance has nothing to do with like your race or really even like at one point in time, like your religion, right? Um, it was just something that you did if you were an American, a person living in the United States. Yeah, like you came in, you're like, hey, these things are our basic rules. Like these are your rights. This is what you are allowed to do now that you're here, like you are entitled to these things.

SPEAKER_01 36:43

And even now, like, and there and and there's also there is like a thing to be said about the I'd say like white people aren't allowed to have a culture. Sure. In some way, like like if someone was like, This is a part of this is part of my like Asian culture, this is part of my this is part of my black culture. If you're like, this is part of my white culture, like, oh that that felt different, right? Didn't that just feel different all of a sudden, right? Like it's like take that back home, you know. But it's a weird thing where it can't like okay, so how does this um you have to say this is part of my Anglo-Saxon culture, right? Whatever, yeah.

Assimilation, Identity, And Education

SPEAKER_03 37:18

It's just like a it's like a um I there's I mean, there's a there's a lot more connotation of like oppression when you say that. Oh yeah, right, which like one, I don't care, but two, I also understand. Like, I understand like the argument of like, well, like that when you say that like that, it makes it sound like I have to assimilate or I don't have a choice. But that's the thing, is like in like that is the way it is in a lot of the Anglo world. Like you go to almost any of the Scandinavian countries outside of like Sweden, um, or well, I guess Finland actually was just in the news for some pretty bad immigrant violence, but like uh the Dutch, like uh especially like in um Amsterdam, not Amsterdam that uh Amsterdam rolls into. Um help me out. Why am I forgetting? Oh yeah, our map up there on the wall. You guys help me? Can you read? You guys I can't see, it's too tiny on the map. I don't know what it is. I don't want to tell you. Okay, all right, one second. Sorry. Oh, the Netherlands. Uh the Netherlands, and then um there's another one to the north uh with the D. Um cash, I was only Denmark. Denmark, yeah. Those two Dutch nations, as well as Norway and Switzerland, have like insanely harsh immigration policies and like asylum policies. And like a big thing right now that like the EU was like cranking on uh the Netherlands for was like how they aren't accepting immigrants and like they're kicking a bunch of them out. And it's interesting because also the Netherlands is the country that the rest of Europe says is the most American. Like it is the most American culture. Um and Australia and New Zealand are also as well, like those aren't races. You would say like English, English you could say technically is a race, but English is more like uh a culture, right? Um, and the race is like Anglo-Saxon. Um, it's the Anglo race, but like culturally, Australia, New Zealand, and America don't have English culture because all those nations were started off through like essentially an immigration and integration with a native population there, right? And so like Australia was a prison colony. There is no Australian like race or culture. There is an immigrant culture that came out of Australia going from a prison nation into a like essentially serfdom nation that then got its own independence from England. But we wouldn't like would we say our culture is English? No, I I think America has its own culture. There's the American culture, Australian has its own culture, same with New Zealand, right? But like the UK is so government-wise, so afraid to like follow through the example of these other uh like European nations that are much more strict with uh um assimilation that they don't want to like acknowledge like there is a culture, and that's the reason the UK has insane marches right now of like 300,000 people in London saying, like, kick these immigrants out, like we shouldn't be paying for them to have free housing and free benefits with our taxes anymore when the rest of us are struggling.

SPEAKER_02 40:52

The division gets bigger and bigger and bigger ultimately.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

And that what that's what I'm saying, though, is like of all the nations, England I think is gonna suffer the worst. Yeah, because the English in England believe they have a culture, and they they like they're saying, like, we have this culture, it's the culture that's been here since we were Picts and barbarians that fought the Romans, and that is what we're holding on to. And we don't like these people coming in and we don't like them murdering, we don't like them raping and not getting any consequences, and our government not doing anything about it, acknowledging it. I do think it's different where we live in like America, because it you can't say like America hasn't been around that long, the American culture is different, it has values that come from like its English heritage, right? But like I do think America, especially when you see these people who are like on the ground in cities asking it and across different cities in the US, like, how do you feel about immigration and stuff like that? I think you can say like there is an American culture retaliating, because it's not I'll tell you what some of the best stuff is like dudes walking around New York asking black, white, Hispanic, Asian, whatever, and they're like, Hey, how do you feel about these immigrants? And they're all like, get them out, get them out. They're they're they're ruining New York.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Yeah, I mean, contrary to like popular belief, like I I'm not anti. immigration, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:21

Like uh recently I don't know if anyone is thinks that's a popular belief for you.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

I'm just gonna sure uh I like I recently saw like uh Trump had sent some said something about the um the HP1 visas and he caught a ton of backlash for that like a lot um for him saying that uh they were going to bring people in that they believe are likely brightest yeah better with technology smarter people and people really took offense that and they don't like it and to me I think I mean I personally think it's ridiculous to assume a lot of time from his shithole country country remark like he waited like 10 years and then like and then said it like a little bit better. Yeah literally and but what's what's kind of baffling to me is how I I generally think most people are in in the middle but when it comes to when it comes to immigration it's it's very it's very divisive. I I saw these I actually it was on my YouTube it was like an occasional post that popped up from some creator. I think it was rage bait honestly is what it was but I I end up hiding it because I was like this drives me nuts seeing this but it was basically like it wasn't even true. It said like uh administrations looking to reenact the Muslim ban what are your thoughts on this first of all Muslim ban wasn't really ever a thing it was like a 90 day pause on immigration from a qu a lot of countries and only maybe two of them were in the Middle East for starters. But I looked in the comments of this I was like dude this is gonna be crazy and it was there were some foul things in there. Oh yeah um like there are a lot of people in there that were like kick them out for good this should have happened after 9-11. Don't let a single one of them in here you know like just like stuff I'm like people actually really do believe this and like the the division has been made bigger because of this but the reality is like there is a a middle ground in there somewhere um and you would I mean you'd mention but what ends up happening is whenever you tell when you tell a country of people uh that they're basically dirt bags and that like they start to adopt a culture that wasn't really supposed to be race related in the first place. Like when we when when we were growing up everybody in their freaking mom had an old navy shirt people were just wearing American flags on everything because it was just like it was just a flag you know it didn't mean like you were like into your grunt style t-shirts and your AO right but now if you see somebody with a grunt style t-shirt with like an American flag on the sleeve like you make an assumption like you're like okay this person's probably like pro 2A like you like you like build up this characteristic and you will never ever see somebody on the left wearing an American flag.

SPEAKER_01 45:33

Oh I mean right what it's like when I do go to people's house all the time to do an estimate to do work on their house I like I have an American flag patch hat that I like to wear a lot. Guess what there's certain houses I put a different hat on when I go in there.

SPEAKER_03 45:47

Sure yeah because I know it's gonna because when you see the sign out for this is this house stands for this house believes a lot of beliefs in science.

Speech, Policing, And Online Censorship

SPEAKER_02 45:56

Yeah when a couple different factors add up as you roll up it's like I throw on my other hat and I walk in you know because I know that I'm it's gonna be misinterpreted and or probably like or judge based off of that like for bit like for the business you know and the un the unfortunate thing is that when you push people to the fringes um like any sort of like pride like pride in just like where you live will become like the culture of the fringe that is like feeling secluded from like the mass right uh like I I when I go to Germany I ask I tend to I kind of ask a lot of Holocaust questions just to I just like I'm trying to get the feel of like oh man what do people get what do people think there like what do you learn in school uh what are your opinions on this like what are your opinions on your government now like what are your opinions like what are your opinions on the fact that you guys don't have a military yeah at all and you've never been allowed to right um because there's so much there's so much honestly embedded in their genome like through like history that changes the way that they think like Germans think act and respond in a very particular way yeah yeah right um and that's that's ingrained in them that's it truly is ingrained in them. And I'd ask them like okay like what do you think about like what do you think about the German flag and a lot of people that aren't on the older end say like yeah you don't have German flags on stuff like no one has unless it's unless it's a sports team. It's got to be a soccer team but like you don't like similarly to people in the US but honestly maybe more extreme if you're seen with a German flag you're viewed as basically being a far like a far right um like neo-Nazi essentially like it's like it's seemingly kind of frowned upon um but that is like the culture that has been created um and now we like live in a state where uh your freaking old navy flip-flops that have an American flag on them say more about what you're doing than they ever have uh which doesn't make a lot of sense but people are being pushed to the fringes I think it's intentional but people are being pushed to the fringes yeah and I think I mean how can you not be like we talked about I think on a episode a couple weeks ago but there's this example uh it was either Finland or Sweden but a girl under like under a child was raped by an immigrant who was there seeking asylum and he was let go because they said the rape didn't last long enough how do you not get radicalized by that like if you're that girl's family how do you not get radicalized by there was a woman in um I can't remember if it was England or Germany she was raped and then in a message to her like friends a chat message she said you know she was calling his her rapist names she said like he's a like faggot stuff like that which I get is an inflammatory word but that's a that's a crime now and now she got sentenced for calling her rapist names and he has not been sentenced he was released and sorry which country was this in I can't remember if it was England or Germany but okay not here okay I actually saw a guy I saw a story of a guy not too long ago that he came and visited the US and he was uh he went to a gun range and somebody here was like letting him shoot guns and showing them around and they had some videos of him and he posted it to his social media he was arrested when he went back to England for shooting guns here.

Benefits, Fraud Claims, And Public Trust

SPEAKER_01 50:08

It's funny you said I just got an email two weeks ago was he arrested did he get fired no he was he was charged because it was a crime there was like a CEO who also who got like fired maybe it was the same guy maybe got fired and charged.

SPEAKER_03 50:20

At at our local range last year I went and there was a guy letting his friend uh from France and his kid uh try out guns and shoot him they were here visiting and uh I let them shoot my AR and stuff and I taught them how to kind of properly use it and hold it and how the gun works. And we recorded it and it was fun. They sent me the footage they took and pictures and I was going to make a video of it of just kind of like a little like day a day at the range. I got an email a couple weeks ago asking if I still had that footage and if I would delete it. No way. Yeah because they were afraid that like they would face consequences in France for it.

SPEAKER_02 51:01

That's insane. Yeah and so it's pretty crazy stuff. Um yeah people are getting their in England in the UK people are getting their doors kicked in for the things that they're saying online.

SPEAKER_03 51:11

Yeah which is a nightmare um there's a really good video though um it is uh I believe Micah Mayfield put it up he had a guy from Australia the UK I thought it was Charlie maybe it was Charlie yeah he had Charlie Cox he had um but they were there are three people from I think it was the UK Australia and maybe Canada yeah and they were all masked up for the video and they needed to remain anonymous because they could face consequences for shooting these guns in the US which is insane dude that's a that's a that's outlandish it's a police state for sure and they're policing their own people more than they're policing the the population coming in that doesn't hold the same culture and values which again you're gonna you're gonna find backlash at that one of the best videos I saw recently was an interview I think it was um I don't know what news organization was doing it but they sat down with a uh like former leader of the Taliban and he was talking about why Muslims always vote democratic. Oh it's because they're soft on crime because because they're soft on crime and they're gonna give out the benefits and they're not expecting them to change their ways.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 52:31

And that they will always vote for democratic people in their local government all the way up to the federal government because as long as they do that they know they're gonna still receive their benefits um which kind of makes me want to talk about the Somali scam have you guys heard about the Somali scam with Tim Waltz in Minnesota no what is this this is crazy pretty pretty big deal so this video is a good transition this is a Somali man lit here in the US listen to what he's saying here uh this is a TikTok he recorded of himself he's oh I've I've heard this yeah he's living off of the benefits here he doesn't work at all this is hard to hear he calls us white animals and we need to go to work for him so he can keep getting the tax dollars to pay for all his benefits you work day you don't got shank you for working so hard so I can be home all day free I can use my EVD go to work for me white boy white girl yeah go to work you work day you don't the caption is you work for me you white animals so that as a segue here um Somalis in Minnesota have the highest rate of autism in US history almost every Somali family has someone in their household diagnosed with autism oh yeah okay I have I got friends I'm not a friend I know someone who got this for all like 12 of her children they receive state funding support for their child with autism and these Somali families now have been uh with an audit of where the money's going it turns out they're sending the money back to uh the uh what is that um Muslim extremist group in Somalia not al-Shabaab but Al-Shabaab yeah it's not it's not someone else I'll look it up but the money's been being funneled to them and it's over like several billion dollars has been sent back to Somalia out of the US economy from the autism funding that has gone through Minnesota and apparently Tim Waltz there's a lot of investigations now on him he might actually go to jail for treason because it seems like pretty conclusive that he turned a blind eye to this and it might have taken bribes to allow this to go on in Minnesota. And it explains like Minnesota's super high uh Somali population um and like there was no one doing checks and balances over it. No one was actually like investigating the autism diagnosis if like these families actually had someone with autism.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

They were just approving it for whoever they said was in their household and they were getting the money the next day right and so we've been sending a billion dollars over the course of a few years to the Somali I honestly thought it was a lot more than that.

SPEAKER_03 55:31

I'll look at it's I mean that's an insane amount of money for a medical benefit program to be handing out.

Voter Bases, Markets, And Real Costs

SPEAKER_01 55:38

Yeah whatever it is it stretches pretty far over there. Oh my god super far that is well it's bigger than the GDP of most nations yeah that is rough and you know so that's one little thing that's one simple little loophole that was stumbled upon yeah how many you know how many things are going on like that just everywhere all the time and and I mean and you know to the immigration back to the immigration conversation in general is just like the it's unsustainable for these sizes of populations to come into all these different countries around the world. I they like you know and regardless of culture or you know the that that side of the conversation just from a straight like is this um is it sustainable and and uh the and lots of men coming from countries where things like work ethic how they treat women how they see their community just a few basic things that don't line up with one yeah our culture but two with like a productive healthy society you can end up uh um it's just it's it's just not gonna be be something that could be sustained and the amount of uh what you know these people's frustrations like in UK other places where it's just like realizing how much aid and like um subsidies are just going towards it it's it's not gonna um not gonna age well and unfortunately it you know it does we see on the flip side you know maybe conservative right side lots of you know the pendulum swinging too far towards hatred to for these people groups right and so um the people who you know there's plenty of people out there who are good coming from these places but then it's just so it's it's it's just further dividing further separating making it harder on everybody yeah and just a correction here I don't know where I saw the billion number but it's 14 million is what the official number of the investigation is into Minnesota's Medicaid autism treatment program.

SPEAKER_03 57:59

And they charged the first person so far with it in the investigation um but pretty pretty crazy um I I do think though I I recently watched uh gangs of New York oh yeah and I do think like this this is like what reframes my view of immigration to kind of what it is currently but um you know in gangs of new there's this scene where like the Irish as they step off the boat are being told to register as a Democrat and enlist in the military and like that's how they will earn their citizenship in the U.S. And like they don't spend a minute building their life in New York as soon as they're off the boat they're enlisted and they're taken away for you know essentially their uh assignments of like in the army and where they're gonna go to like train and stuff and start fighting on the frontier um and it it is like you see that and you're like okay it and like gangs of New York is also like a movie that very much goes through like the immigration story of like there is people who've been here longer who don't like the Irish and they view the Irish as low as they view slaves. But they too were immigrants right they too were immigrants at one point. Because then next is coming the Italians next is coming the poles and you can really see like this is a class like warfare system where the politicians in this movie are using those who have been here for a little while longer as one party and those fresh off the boat as another party and they're manipulating both to fight amongst themselves. And it it I see it as like you're watching it you're like man this really is the give me you're tired, you're hungry, you're poor and I will make them vote for who I want and they will serve as someone in my military to gather what I want. And it is it just shows like yes our country is built off of immigrants. Our country is built off of people who came here looking for a better life that at the time when they came here they were taken advantage of and then on the flip side we have this system where they're being brought here today and they're being taken advantage of politically to become voters for another voter base. Like I mean honestly like if you were from Somalia and you show up to the US and everything is for free you're probably going to vote for whatever politician wants to keep you getting that free stuff.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:44

Right? Especially when you went from like the while like a lot of Americans would feel um like they were if if if all you could all if you were just living off of food stamps, some disability and some other stuff coming in you'd feel like you were down and out. Mm-hmm you just came from you know Syria Somalia some other places in the world you feel like you've you've made it you've arrived you know in in a lot of ways.

What Holds A Culture Together

SPEAKER_03 1:01:13

And so especially like did you I don't know if you guys saw that where it was pretty you know few weeks ago there was for some reason this argument from the more left side of the political hemisphere saying no the they aren't receiving free health care right this was during the government shutdown and everyone's like they're not receiving free health care the immigrants aren't receiving it like we need to reopen the government this is a non-issue but then people went on the ground uh and were interviewing uh people in Chicago New York who were here on as immigrants and asylums and they're like so what kind of benefits are you getting and like all of them spoke very openly like oh we're getting this much money uh we're getting this much in food stamps uh the hotel's paid for and uh we're also getting this healthcare and we're going to like we get this much that we get to go to the doctors with and so they are getting the healthcare like the the healthcare the the immigrants are getting it without being US citizens and it's one of those things where it's like okay at at this point in time where some of us are paying I don't know if you saw recently, but some people's healthcare went up to$3,500 a month for them and their family. How how do you reconcile that population who are working, paying taxes, and paying an absorbent amount into health care with the population that's coming here with no ties, no investments in the nation, they're not working a job, and they're receiving it all for free. Like, there's an insane dissonance and gap between those two. And you might say, like, well, those people who are coming here, they don't have anything yet. They don't have an income yet. They need some support to get off the ground. Okay, but the family that's being paying three over three grand a month just in health insurance also doesn't have anything left afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

Right. Right. Not to even mention the the massive population of homeless people that we have. Yeah. That there's in some areas no attempt to get them off the ground at all. You know.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:23

Yeah, it's it's pretty crazy. I really do think the rift is just gonna keep growing. I I think again, like we're we talked in the last episode, like about a pendulum swing. I think this is a pendulum swinging the other direction, where for a while there, for a long time, there was like let all of them in. It's our duty as America to let them in and house them. And I think for a majority, a lot of people were on both sides of the political spectrum, like, yeah, let as long as we do it right. And then now it's been abused so hard and it's so transparent with how much abuse and corruption and scandals there are in it, that now the pendulum is swinging super hard to the other side. And I I I don't think we're very far behind England's level of protests and outrage over it. You know, I I think that's coming soon. I wouldn't be surprised if in a matter of years we have hundreds of thousands of people marching through big city streets saying get rid of them, deport them.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

The the difference between us and a lot of places in Europe is that there was there was a defining end to like the influx, right? Like, and it was it's it's really hard for me to look at it and like how do people not see what has been happening for the last eight years? Because it's so obvious that the it like the amount of negligence and little care for people that were coming in, that they were just obviously importing a voter base. Sure. Like it's so blatantly obvious, right? Like when you are turning a blind eye to uh to cartels, like basically funding their entire organizations from the border, and you're just throwing money at NGOs to get as many people in as possible and to get them settled, like the the carelessness in it, you're just like obviously you're doing something that is not for these people. Yep. They are just simply bodies for something else, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:05:23

Yeah, um, I do I do think to that point too, the cities right now that have had the like the cities and states that have had the highest level of deportation in the US since the like ice raids have been going on, their housing markets are are crashing. Their housing markets are going down because now those homes are empty and they can't find enough buyers and the state's not paying for those people to be housed there anymore. And so, like, there's a lot of things here that like people don't realize are connected and layered off of the massive influx of immigrants we've had over the last few years. And I a lot of people don't understand like the lack of housing is in the cost of housing is directly related to that.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

There might be a couple total happy first-time homebuy in those areas right now.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:12

Yeah, sure. If they can if they can afford to get in on someone who's desperate to, you know, sell and because now the property's not being used anymore.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:20

Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're gonna have to see what happens. It's gonna be a pretty fascinating coming few years. But I I really think that it some would even say that England, UK, and the rest of Europe are just too they're just too far gone. And I would, I would, I would almost, I would almost agree. The UK is gone.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:39

Yeah, no, no. I it's I the people I talk to there who are English and live there and are like firefighters there, teachers there. They think it's over.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:49

Yeah, yeah, they're done.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:50

But like what do you do when you you have no means when you have no means for changing the state, right?

Keep Perspective, Act Local, Stay Sane

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

Like it's it's not just that you have no means, it's that you can't even speak out against the state. Yeah. Like you can't do anything. Um, yeah, they're toast. They're just fucked. And we we got really close. Um I think we're still close.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:16

You know, I think we're still close to like a a a massive not I I don't I'm not into doomerism. I don't think we're I'm not saying I don't believe in like we're close to a civil war. But I do think we're close to losing the means and authority as a as a population to stop the government from overreaching like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:40

Well, the first the first thing that you lose as a population is is your voice. Like once you lose your voice and that's like set in stone and your people just roll over and let it happen, like you're boned.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:52

And we got we got really close to that specifically, where you find out that your federal government is directly impeding and preventing social media companies from allowing particular groups of people from speaking entirely, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:08:11

Not to mention what was it like majority of the uh state government's accounts on Twitter recently were found out to be based in Israel. Did you guys not see that? Uh uh. Twitter X enabled location to see where the account is registered in the location, and then they disabled it really quick because a ton of accounts were based in foreign nations, and they were based in like Africa, India, and Israel.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:41

And like what would what was really the the beauty of that was just very quickly finding out that somebody was just a fucking bot, just rage baiting people in comment sections.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:52

That's the thing, is like it was like the Department of Homeland Security X account was based in Israel. Like that's that's more than just a bot.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:03

That's also not gonna help the divide. No, and what people think about certain groups of people. Exactly. You know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:09

That's not gonna help with any with like uh quenching out any of the narratives. But yeah, it's it's it's pretty crazy. Um, I will say, one thing I've found that I take a lot of pleasure in lately is a this YouTube channel called Culture Swap. Okay, it's just one white friend and one black friend. And uh they're T-Bone and Solo. T-Bone's the white friend, Solo's the black friend.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:34

Let's like hang out in the parking lot and stuff, hang out in front of motels. Is that what the guys are kind of, kind of.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:39

So T-Bone and Solo have their own channel where they do like long form videos, but they have Culture Swap, which is just shorts where they're like, Hey, I'm taking my black friend to do white people's shit, and then I'm taking my white friend to do black people's shit. And today we're gonna go get a Christmas tree. And he takes his black friend out to like cut down a Christmas tree and stuff, and his black friend's like, a hundred dollars for a Christmas tree, like, and then uh uh solo takes T-Bone to like a black Thanksgiving, and like he brings some of his mom's food to the Thanksgiving, and all the black people just trash on it, and like but it's wholesome, it's loving, it's like two two cultures blending together in like a very harmonious way, and like out of love and kindness. I have one here that I just see like on my feed, I'm gonna watch later, but it's like uh they're building gingerbread houses, and I'm like, that that'll be awesome, dude. Like, but it's a it's a great one, you know. Um, but it just shows like I I truly do like to back to our point of like America having a culture, like that's American culture, I think. Is like is recognizing differences and then inviting people to partake in them, and like partaking it in a way that is like yes, maybe intimidating at first, but is done out of like love and kindness to share culture with one another, and that's like you know, a quote unquote like melting pot, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:06

All they can say melting pot example is that they're not having sweet potato pies and buffalo chicken wings in other countries.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:15

Amen, brother.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:16

I'm kidding, dude. Yeah, they're not. That's like I was telling I was telling someone this, and and people like don't like it, but um, I was talking to some friends who like to travel and eat food different places, and I was like, you know, honestly, whenever I travel abroad, I'm so happy to come home and eat the food here. And they're like, Oh, you know, but French and their bread, and I'm like, yes, I know, but like there's a couple places in the world that do have good specific foods. Also, here is better. Have you ever had a chicken fried steak, like a real good one with gravy on it?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:51

It's what I do appreciate is that there is good food from everywhere here, and it might not be the best, but there is good food. Like when this is just a small example, and this is really a perspective shift. When I was in Germany, and uh this marketing guy that we work with there that's like in his 60s or something, I was like, and he's like real he's real German proud, right? And he just thinks they're just like top fucking tier, like Germans just do everything better than everyone else in the world. Yeah, and I was like, What's your least favorite kind of food? And he's like, honestly, I've really I really don't like Mexican food. And I was like, Well, do you guys have any like good restaurants here? And he's like, Oh, there's that place that you went to the last time that you were here. That's probably the best Mexican food I've had here in Germany. And I was like, funny you say that because that's probably the worst Mexican food I've ever had in my life. I was like, if you ever come to the US, we'll get you some good Mexican food, all right? Like, yeah, and it's not gonna be the best Mexican food, but like there is some really good Mexican food here.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:57

Yeah. Um 100%, dude. Like, I I do think the best Korean food I've ever had was here.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:05

Like, I think the best Well what my boss, who's Korean, the best Korean food he's ever had was in is in Vietnam. Like, it's not even Korean. It's like the Vietnamese make better Korean food than the Koreans too.

A Comic Relief Close

SPEAKER_03 1:13:19

Yeah, I believe that. Yeah, it it I it is kind of interesting, you know. Like you can when you when it's done right, you can have a really successful blend of you know the American dream with cultures, and then everyone gets to partake in that. Uh when it's not done right, it sucks. And it looks a lot like England. Um, but anyways. Uh Ken, thanks for joining us. Um, another kind of hot topic across the across the world episode, but we're always happy to have Dean join us and give another perspective. Um yeah, I I would say, you know, don't be dumorous. It's not the end of the world. Don't resign and say it's over. Like this is not the worst it's ever been. Um world's gonna keep on turning. Uh, but you know, that doesn't mean there's not shit that we don't have to fix, right? Stand up and let your voice be heard. So, uh, with that, my guest, Dean, any final words? Anything you got closing wise?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:24

The only thing I've got somebody I was thinking about yesterday is how up in arms people generally get about federal politics, but for the most part, how little it actually affects their day-to-day life. Go out and get some frickin' air.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:41

Yeah, for sure. Get involved in local stuff too. Be become the next mayor.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:46

Yeah, for real. Yeah, and just to close this out, I'm gonna tell you guys about uh the other day I was uh I was shaving my balls. Oh yeah. And um the uh I was going I was usually I just stay up high. Just get the get the you know, the the get the bush, you know. Just just I just knock it down. Keep stuff from getting into the zipper. Well you know, I was kinda like just uh kind of OCD cleaning, you know, getting them all. And I was I got a little rambunctious with the tremors, man. Did you nick yourself and right where the the nuts meet the shaft, yeah, where the where the coin purse zipper comes up along there, you know webbing. Yeah, so there's a little ridge, you know, kind of right there, just a little higher skin. And I had my the sausage in one hand up and I went straight down from the top down, and it was electric trimmer, and and dude. Did you fillet yourself? Dude, it hurt. I was like, oh, that hurt, you know. I was like, dang, you know, and I was like, just put the razor down. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm looking down there, I don't see any like blood or anything. Like, okay, we're good. Like, gosh, that hurts. Like 10 more seconds go by, still no blood. Then it started bleeding. And you all know if it takes a while to bleed, it's a bleeder, it's kind of scary. So it starts bleeding. I look down, and there's like this, like, you know, since we're talking about Europe so much, I'd say there's like two centimeters of a dangly string coming off my nut. Oh my god. And in fear, I pulled it, but that was skin, you know. And then it was it was bad, dude.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:34

I just you unzip yourself, you gave yourself a second snip.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:37

I for real unzip myself right at the top of the coin pressure. And it was Are you having to like wear padding? It was luckily the scrotal skin heals rather quickly. It does heal rather quickly. I was afraid to get a boner because I didn't know what was gonna happen. You're really gonna chug on it, you know. But um, so all that to say, if you stuck with us till the end there, that's a little medical for three on that one. And uh till next time, folks.