Who Shapes The Story When War Rumors Spread Faster Than Facts

Transcript

Cold Open And What’s Ahead

SPEAKER_07 0:29

Oh, hey, hi. How are you, Clay? I'm good. I like how we pretend like we're just seeing each other for the first time right this second, and we weren't just chit-chatting beforehand. I am uh uh this week I am the queen of giving away all the secrets of content creators. I just put out a video today about that. And there's an there's another one. Of course we're chit-chatting before we come on air here. We've got to talk about what we're we're putting on the show tonight and what the order of things are. I don't care. I will I'll give it all away. Doesn't matter to me.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

And just catching up as friends and people. I mean, yeah, you know, listen, folks, I some of you don't know this. Elsa and I have only actually met each other one in person one time. Yeah, we had lunch together once. So it was so cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:14

It was like we see each other all the time, though. That was the funniest part. I thought, like, oh yeah, this is my friend Clay. Hey.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Absolutely no different than sitting across from each other's laptops.

SPEAKER_07 1:23

It was yeah, isn't it crazy? Yeah, no, so funny. I don't know. People just click. That's just how it goes. And that is the case. That is the case. Um, as usual, you picked out a bunch of really great topics for us. I'm very excited for that.

SPEAKER_03 1:37

Yeah, it's uh it's been a uh busy week. Uh, even last week was a busy week, and as always, the uh cycle keeps rolling. We are a little early this week because Elsa is traveling soon to go see those grandbabies she loves so much. But uh, folks, it is Tuesday evening, uh, what, 7:30-ish on the East Coast as we are recording. And we do have a bunch of topics. We've got uh international stuff, we got presidential stuff, we've got uh we got all kinds of stuff, and uh we'll get started right after this.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Seven weeks and still no sign of Nancy Guthrie. Ice agents hitting airports to fix the trouble as Democrats left us in. Gas prices climbing again because the world won't let us keep the strait open. Trump pauses on Iran while the UK plays games with our alliance. Joe Kent makes the rounds throwing the pot, and is Las Vegas finally losing its shine. We're sorting the facts, calling out the nonsense, and keeping it real for real Americans. Let's go.

SPEAKER_06 2:32

I feel a little scared by that voice. It was like a that was like a horror movie voice.

SPEAKER_03 2:38

I I just I was a little quite Vincent Price for all of us old people, but right?

SPEAKER_07 2:43

Yeah, yeah. It was very ominous sounding. Sorry, guys. Don't be scared, it's okay.

SPEAKER_03 2:49

Almost on the sinister side, I think.

Nancy Guthrie Vanishes Without Answers

SPEAKER_07 2:51

Yes, yes. That was not intentional. Jeez, I'll have to remember that one for uh, I don't know, like around Halloween time. My goodness. Oh, so uh right off the bat here, let's talk about uh the Nancy Guthrie case. So this is this is really crazy. And you know, we're gonna get into all the different aspects opinion-wise on the coverage of this, because you know, what are people without having controversy about something, disagreeing about something, right? Um, so she's obviously still missing. Uh, for those of you just the recap, she is an 84-year-old grandmother snatched from her Tucson home on February 1st. And seven weeks later, her kids, including, of course, Savannah Guthrie, are still begging for leads. Uh, they have a million-dollar reward on the table and zero arrests. So, um, you know, let's start with like kind of the human aspect side of this, which is, you know, gut-rutching, just whether it's somebody famous or famous adjacant uh or not, the fact that this is an elderly woman who was, you know, abducted uh in the middle of the night and there's ransom notes. I mean, this is the stuff right out of a, you know, a movie, really, right? Like this is something you see happening in a movie, and of course it's playing out um in front of us. Uh, if you're to listen to the the you know, right-leaning take on this, you've got Fox and Newsmax um who are have been staying pretty heavily, you know, on it as far as uh following the case, um, you know, pleading for eyes on the case and all that stuff. If you listen to some, some on the left and the right, I don't know if that's even fair to say it's just the left, but um some people on the left and the right and the middle are kind of saying, you know, what the heck? There's a lot of attention on this woman just because she's you know uh the the mother of somebody famous. What about all of the other similar cases uh of people, you know, who have been kidnapped or have disappeared and there's no big, you know, ransom and and news coverage and all of that stuff. And and yeah, I get that. I mean, there's definitely there's something to be said for that that you know, but uh I don't know. I mean, it kind of is what it is. W if it was your grandmother and you had the resources or your mother and you had the resources to get the help, um, I'm pretty sure anybody would. So you can't really I don't know how you can be mad at that, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

Yeah, it's um the the fact that it had so much attention at the very beginning was off-putting to a lot of people for the the reasons you're saying. Like, you know, there are people that go missing, dozens of people, if not hundreds of people, go missing every day. Um, why was you know it was obvious to those with any kind of common sense that you know Savannah Guthrie's mom and she had a platform that was, you know, pretty pretty significant, right? Um but seven weeks later, we are no closer. And so you you've got to go back and kind of look at the story and say, one, um, you know, there was a lot of emphasis on this right away, which you would always hope for. If it was one of your loved ones, the most attention you could get in the first, you know, 72 hours, you know, absolutely increases the chance of you know being found or recovered or whatever. And now just day by day as it goes on and on and on, um, you know, the the likelihood of of a good outcome to this is almost nil at this point. Um but it does make you go back and question like law enforcement, you know, there was a lot of conflict between the local sheriff's department, there was questions about the competency, um, why wasn't the FBI involved? You know, this was a local jurisdiction thing, like all of those questions um, you know, were being asked and are gonna have to be re-examined as this, you know, comes to some sort of resolution at some point. You know, as bad as this is, and it happens with all of these cases, this case is gonna go to the bottom of the pile. Like they can't, won't continue to put forth, you know, a crazy amount of resources on something that you know likely the likelihood of a good outcome becomes less and less. Um you know, yeah, it was great for a very short period of time that this kind of emphasis could be shown to this case, but at this point, the fact that it even pops back up in the news cycle seven weeks later is um uh pretty unexpected because it's eventually like you know, how whenever it is, I mean from now, a year from now, two years from now, it's gonna cycle back and they're gonna say, Hey, they found you know remains or something. Yeah. Remains or something like that. So um yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:32

Yeah, it's um, you know, it it is pretty wild. And uh and again to touch on the you know, media coverage of it, you know, it's kind of a no-brainer. I mean, it's it's it is it is shocking when it's somebody who's you know, uh in in the celebrity fame, well-known world. Yeah, it's it's kind of a matter, of course, that that will get more media attention. It doesn't necessarily mean that it gets more law enforcement attention. I mean, it can certainly, but it doesn't necessarily mean that. Um, but geez, uh, you know, and I would say, you know, based on one of the quotes here I have in front of me, the family just made a a recent uh plea on on her behalf and the on her behalf, and the quote is we won't stop until she's brought home or laid to rest. So they're you know, obviously um they're they're being you know realistic here as well, which you know at this point you kind of have no choice. But like any uh family member on in the same circumstances, they're they're holding out hope because you you need to. You just you need to cling to that. Um, but you know, no matter what, it's it is sad. And I I think um, you know, you would have thought with all that scrutiny something would have happened a lot sooner. It seemed like it, like you said, it seemed pretty hot at first. Of course, there were missteps and questionable things, which always leads to immediately, you know, all of the um uh conspiracies to start up and the speculations and the you know armchair detectives are hard at work solving the case from their living room or their basement, you know, which is I I I have such an extreme exhaustion right now with the whole thing, hence that video I mentioned at the top of the show of you know, just kind of kind of just calling out the whole, particularly the independent. And we talked a little bit about this last week, but the independent media world that I'm you know, it's certainly part of, we're part of it. But in the general sense, I'm I'm real sick of what a lot of them are doing. Um, and again, we touched on that last week. You guys can go back and watch that show. All of our shows, guys, are are up on the platforms. You can watch those anytime. You can go back and if you want to get a gotcha moment, you know, that we said something and and it didn't happen, you're welcome to go back and and watch it and find it. Um but this is pretty consistent. I actually we are very consistent in what we say. I don't I don't think we deviate too much from our our opinions, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:53

No, I I don't think so. I you know, and and if we do, we acknowledge the fact that we've changed or that new information has come forward and and there's a reason to change. I think, you know, we made some speculation, or at least there was I think we were relaying some of the speculation that was out there when she first disappeared about relationships with the you know uh with the the Clintons and some other things, and those were kind of all over social media, you know, as this was happening. Um and all of that has kind of faded away, you know, all of that noise associated with this case has faded away. And really what it gets back to is the humanity of this, as you said, which is it's a family looking for their mother.

SPEAKER_05 10:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:30

And you know, whether they've got a national platform uh that they can lean on or not, um, that's kind of where this is. And um, you know, uh I think the Guthrie family, we all wish the best for them, but I think the best for them at this point is just getting resolution on it. And I think that will help them exponentially.

ICE Steps Into Airport Chaos

SPEAKER_07 10:49

Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a pretty wild thought that, you know, like you you mentioned two years from now or whatever, that you know, this could uh very, very potentially become like a cold case and something that just gets uh revisited uh at a later time. And um, you know, yeah, I I hope for closure for them. You know, you hope you you hope for the most shocking, surprising in a good way outcome here that she is actually safe somewhere. Um, but you know, realistically, that's probably not the case. But um, you know, prayer prayers to them for sure. Um absolutely I'm losing my headphones every two seconds are dropping out of my ears here. That's all right. Um, so let's see. And of course, if there's anything new that comes up with that, we'll we'll revisit it as well, obviously. Um, but uh right at the top of the show, Clay mentioned my travel plans. So let's talk about uh let's talk about this. ICE was coming to the rescue at uh at least some of the major airports, some of the hardest hit ones. I I saw some video, I'm sure everybody did. Did you see Clay? The there were lines, TSA pre-check lines that were like around the building, out into the parking lot.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Four and five hours in some places. Yeah. I heard at last maybe you can add an airport or two, but I heard specifically Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, um I Orlando might have been one, or was it Tampa? There was one that might have been Miami, but there was a Florida airport in there. Um, I interestingly enough, haven't heard LAX. I did hear LaGuardia, but that also has to do with the you know that that tragic incident that happened at LaGuardia. Um, but yeah, so massive four and five hour wait times at some of the bigger airports. And you know, last uh I guess it was late last Friday or even early Saturday morning, it started to hit the newswire that President Trump decided that, you know, to ease this, because Congress can't unscrew themselves, that he was gonna augment TSA with ice agents. And of course, um, you know, there was a lot of speculation. Is he serious? Is this really gonna happen? And then, no kidding, as with everything else in this administration, come Monday morning, there was ice agents walking into airports and they was all over the news, all over the outlets um that the ice agents were coming in. Nobody really knew or understood what the role was gonna be for ice agents in this. Um, I what I've seen or interpreted through whether it's film clips or whatever, is they're doing a lot of crowd control and trying to ease because you know, obviously, it you were talking about this before we started when you and I were chatting. You know, tensions get high, people get anxiety from travel. You know, I I am not the greatest traveler in the world. I'm a huge uh like the best thing for me is the USO system as a veteran. I love the US because it's a place I can go and it's very quiet. So I can go, I don't have to sit at the gate. Um, I can avoid all the craziness of the terminals. But nice, um, you know, people, you know, it's a stressful situation, especially if you feel like you're potentially gonna miss your flight. Oh yeah. It seems like the ice agents that I've seen are I saw um pushing carts around with waters. Oh wow. I I saw instances of ice agents holding people's place in line for emergency bathroom.

SPEAKER_07 14:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:07

Like, hey, I've been in line for two and a half hours, like I can't, you know. I've seen instances of that. Um, but in general, they're not as really taking that I've seen a lot of responsibility away from TSA. I think they're more in helper mode. Okay, but it's nice to have um helpers who are badged and armed to keep things kind of you know civil the way they're supposed to be.

SPEAKER_07 14:30

So yeah, absolutely. And like in I don't know, you know, in my world, that would give me personally tremendous comfort to see them around. When, you know, I mean, how many uh even before this, of course, how many videos have we seen of late over the past, I don't know, year or two or so or whatever of people just you know losing? I mean, mostly on the airplanes, but there's certainly plenty of videos of these brawls that you know break out uh in the middle of these lines and all of that stuff. I don't want any part of that. So yeah, I would definitely would be thrilled beyond words if I knew that there were ICE agents or you know, any type of law enforcement uh close by at hand to just calm everybody the heck down and keep them from escalating. Um, and you know, and and honestly, and listen, I'm definitely not justifying uh getting into fights and all of those things, and like not by a long shot am I justifying that. But I will say I I get that level of tension and anxiety. It made me think right away of uh a few years back. Well, yeah, about probably about three years back when we just had one grandbaby and one on the way, and um, we were going for Christmas, and we were going, uh, I think we decided to travel Christmas Eve, I think, which is pretty risky in itself. And um it there was like an ice storm uh that had happened at some point during the the day, and the flight was getting it was delayed. And I was like, I, you know, no, I I was getting panicky, like I was in tears. I was panicking that I was going to miss my grandchild's uh Christmas, you know. And so I I get how people escalate because you really want to get to your destination and the littlest thing can set you off. And yeah, so um I'm just gonna urge everyone who is traveling to I mean, I I'm saying this for myself. I'm saying this for myself out loud, and anybody else who needs to hear it can heed this advice too, which is calm down, calm down, it's all gonna be fine, and you will hopefully get to where you need to go. And if you don't, just stay there.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

It'll still be there wherever you're going.

SPEAKER_07 16:45

It'll still be there, even if it's a little bit later, and yeah, all of the things. So, yes, and and I'm you know, I'm definitely trying to talk myself down here because I I am definitely, you know, it's it's one of the kids' birthdays, and you know, I do not like to miss a birthday. Um, I don't think I ever have.

SPEAKER_03 17:01

I don't think I've missed any of their birthdays, but I don't forget to why why we're here with this. I mean, this is continued DHS, you know, partial government shutdown, instigated by the Democrats. There's no it that's folks, that's not even politicizing anything. That's just a fact. Yeah. And so what you've got is uh, you know, the Democrats are refusing to uh pass funding for DHS. This is an anti, anti-ICE, anti-BPS uh open borders uh you know campaign that they've got going on. Um and so there's you know rising tensions inside of Congress. You know, Congressman Kennedy has he did it, I think yesterday. I know he did it today, but he and he said he's gonna continue to do it every day. Um he is uh putting forth you know a motion that all of Congress uh has their pay halted until it is resolved. Um he also has put forth that they shouldn't be none of them should be allowed to leave DC until it's resolved. That's right. And so he put it forth today. Um I don't know who it was. I think it was one of the uh elected officials from Hawaii who were like Yep, I just made a video about it.

SPEAKER_07 18:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

I object and then ran.

SPEAKER_07 18:20

You know, ran literally. Yeah, I think so. Uh let me see if this is the right one.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

I got I'm gonna have to put this up here and told me we had a conversation last night, said he was gonna object. I respect that. And I if he has left the building, uh I I don't want to go behind his back. I mean I could I could move to reconsider and blindside him, but I don't want to do that. So why can't I move to reconsider subject to us waiting for Brian to get back so he has a full opportunity to be heard? Can I do that? There's no such motion. Sure, there is. I just made it. Are you saying that the motion's out of order? Look, this is a serious matter now? Yes, it would take unanimous consent. This is a serious matter. Now we've established that this resolution doesn't affect the House. It just says to the senators while we're in a shutdown, no senator is going to be paid. You don't lose your money. You pick it up after it's over, after the shutdown's lifted. This went through the rules committee unanimously. I mentioned it went through unanimously that every single Democrat and every single Republican said, yes, Kennedy, let's do this.

SPEAKER_07 19:27

So I absolutely love him. I just love that man. Isn't he just he's just a he's just a treasure. He really is. But yeah, so yes, it was uh Schatz from Hawaii who was an absolute coward and uh objected and literally ran out of the room. And then of course you you heard what uh uh Kennedy had to say, and he he blasted him rightly so. And you know, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to uh just stop this nonsense. But you know how disgusting is that? How absolutely disgusting is that?

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Well, and it's it's crazy the hypocrisy. I mean, we we should all be unsurprised by the hypocrisy at this point, but the you know as as things progressed in chambers today, you know, there's also a a like a demand resolution put forth that conservatives um essentially uh validate the results of the 2020 presidential election.

SPEAKER_07 20:27

Oh boy, no, I did not hear that.

SPEAKER_03 20:29

They yeah, they can't get this resolved, but yeah, they want to go back in time so that you know they there's no more essentially they're trying to alleviate the argument or or any standing where you know somebody can argue the results of the 2020 presidential election.

SPEAKER_07 20:46

Give me a break.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

Come on, folks. We have better things to worry about, we have bigger things that need to be resolved. It it's the craziness of what goes on in Congress nowadays is shameful. I happens it this happens virtually every day. There's something stupid that happens every single day. This is um, I think it was it Harono who was like, Well, we we don't have to worry about voter ID because it's already illegal for non-residents to vote. So why do we have to have the SAVE Act? It's already illegal. This is a woman who wants to ban guns because of guns on him, um, but says they people would be risking, you know, uh being deported if they voted illegally. Why no one does this, you know. So the the stupid vert literal stupidity of the people that are elected in office right now is unbelievable. We we've said this before, and I continue to revisit this when John Fetterman is the voice of reason from the left. Like yeah, we are in a different seriously right now. Like we truly are. Yeah, we've gone we have gone down. We are Alice from Wonderland. We really are. That is where we are right now.

SPEAKER_07 21:58

Yeah, I mean, that is a day. If you had said that to me, you know, what, three years ago, I would have laughed in your face. I would have said, You're you're on drugs. You're just silly, because there's no possible way that that man will be a voice of reason. And, you know, here he is. And again, you know, he's never going to be a guy that uh, you know, that I would ever vote for for anything by any means. Uh he's still very much uh on the left, but um it he's you know, he's certainly more moderate in a lot of key issues. So um it the Democrat Party would fare way better. Actually, this country would fare way better if there were, again, can't believe I'm saying it, more like him on that side. And and more, and I think they do exist. I think there are a lot like him, but they're scared of you know the the lunatics running the asylum right now, and they they know that you know they just are outnumbered, so they just won't say anything. But um, yeah, good grief is you all you can do is shake your head and laugh a little bit, right? Because otherwise we'll be we'll be throwing things, yeah, losing it.

SPEAKER_03 23:10

You know, if you are traveling in the near future and and you know, just a last kind of word before we move on, is please plan accordingly. We talked about this last week. Like go to the social media or the website for the airport that you are using 24 hours in advance, stay apprised, you know, because it may be four and five hours wait time just to get through security. Um and so you know, you can plan ahead, you can be proactive, you can lower your own anxiety level and of that, you know, of everyone around you by knowing and understanding what you're walking into, and even if it means changing your travel plans, but don't don't be that person who you know shows up two hours before their flight like it has been since COVID, since really 9-11. Um, don't show up two hours before and then have a panic attack and throw a conniption fit, you know, in the security line because now it's four and five hours. And and please, for the love of God, do not forget this come November.

SPEAKER_07 24:13

Do not forget this. And you know, and let's not forget, we are um we are right at the edge of another pretty big travel holiday. Is it the biggest travel holiday? But it's you know, no, but it's still a travel holiday uh with Easter coming up, and that, you know, is obviously it's gonna affect a lot of a lot of people, a lot of things. So, you know, like Clay said, and I'm gonna repeat what Clay said uh last week. It was excellent advice that I took. Um, download the TSA tracker app. Um, I have it up. I'll be keeping an eye on it between, you know, tonight and uh early tomorrow morning to check where we're at. Um again, I think we're pretty good for our location. Uh it's not, you know, a crazy busy airport, but um traveling home might be a different story. I mean, stop, trap me in Florida. Oh no, make me stay longer with my grandbabies. Boo hoo.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

There's still there's still thousands of college spring breakers down there. So I don't know how much of that.

SPEAKER_05 25:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:13

Yes. Oh my goodness. So yeah. And uh, you know, with any any luck at all, and it would take a whole heck of a lot of luck, maybe by the time y'all watch this, it'll be all cleared up and it won't even be an issue.

unknown 25:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:26

I don't think that's the case. Uh another thing we wish was all cleared up and not an issue. But it is uh gas prices are climbing again. Um, but you can blame the straight, not the pump, from airport lines to straight to your wallet. Gas just hit 394 a gallon nationwide, up a dollar since the Iran conflict kicked off. Families are feeling it at the pump while the strait of Hormuz, is that how you say it? Right. Thank you. Uh I just had a panic moment. I'm like, that's not right. That's right. Um stays jammed. Is this corporate greed? No, or is it global reality biting us? Because bad act bad actors won't stand down. Obviously, just by the way I read that, you can guess what my opinion is on that. But uh, what do you think, and Clay?

SPEAKER_03 26:10

So I I think there's a uh a couple of places that we can point fingers. I won't necessarily say lay blame. Um, one is yes, there is, and we all know this, right? Gas, the price of oil will go up, and and instantaneously we will feel it at the pump. However, none of us, when gas goes when oil goes back down, do we see the immediate drop at the pump at the same rate? Okay, so there is undeniably, as we all know, a level of greed that comes with this. So there's that. Um I I, you know, I am who I am with the background that I've got. I look at this and I say, this truthfully, for those folks that planned this operation, um, and when operation I'm saying, these attacks into Iran, um, there's probably a few planners out there who knew the geographic importance of the Strait of Hormuz, knew the uh impact on it for commerce, uh, and and you know, probably understood that we were gonna, that things were gonna be disrupted. Now, I I personally believe that we could have done better in planning to prevent or minimize the impact uh at the Strait of Hormuz. I think we probably could have pre-positioned some, or at least in the first, you know, 72 hours of the attacks, we could have moved ships in there to regulate this, to minimize the the impact, um, or even just to just to take over. I I think we could have done better. Um and you know, I'm sure that people are gonna disagree with me, whatever, but but I I think we could have done better. I I think this could have been probably not avoided entirely, but definitely less than what it is now. Um, I know that we've been pushing assets in there uh in very creative ways to um, you know, minimize the impact. We've been using aircraft that to destroy small ships that have never been used to destroy small ships before. Um A-10s, which you know, um anybody who's ever been in the military loves an A-10. It's a cool aircraft that was designed to kill tanks, and now it's being used to kill ships. Um we found some creative solutions. I just think that had a a little bit of better planning, we could have avoided or minimized, minimized the impact of this. So um, do I think it's gonna get resolved? Yes. Uh, do I think that um, you know, there's some help that we could be asking for? You know, I know that Japan's been asked, I know that NATO nations have been asked, I know that you know President Trump gets a little bit prickly with folks at times. And so, you know, there's been, I know the Brits specifically, and we're gonna talk about this in a little while, you know, we'll come help. Oh, sure. Now you want to come after it's over with. Now you want to come and help after the war's over with. And so um, I think diplomatically we probably could have done a better job with this as well. So I hope that we see this resolved uh and we feel and see that decrease at the pump uh as quickly as we've seen the increase. But we all know and prepare yourselves, folks, yeah, doesn't happen that way.

SPEAKER_07 29:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have uh the energy secretary right saying that prices could normalize by summer.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Yeah, it went up in a day though. Like I literally last on Saturday, I went, I had a uh uh, you know, I went and did some stuff. I left in the morning, and gas was uh like 369 at this gas station along the highway. And as I was coming back from what I did six hours later, 409. Jump 40 cents at one pump in one day, actually in the morning. So what we won't see is we won't see gas fall 40 cents in a day ever. It's just that does it doesn't happen that way, which is disingenuous.

SPEAKER_07 30:00

Yeah, it is, and it's very frustrating. You know, just just a silly, stupid story. I I play this game. So I used to play this game, but actually, I I still do. Um, the joke has always been like, if Elsa has gas in her truck, like where is you know, and this was like a running uh joke on on social media beyond with friends and and family. And people would always send like memes of the you know, empty gas tank uh picture and they're like and the full or full one, whatever, and they'd be like, which one are you? Well, we know which one Elsa is. Ha ha ha ha. You know, and it was, it's it's always the joke because I I don't know. I mean, I just I I don't know. I just hate I just hate doing it. Like I can do it and I do, but then it does become this thing, like, how far can I go? Do not yell at me, guys. I know it's not good for the truck. I know, okay. I do it anyway. So I had this thing where um my husband was lovely, uh, and he filled up my truck, like filled it to the brim, right to the as much as you could, because he knows how I am. And uh I got this idea. I'm like, I wonder how long I can make this uh tank of gas last. And I just would like to, I call it a brag, you may not. Um, I had I did not have to fill up the truck again for it, it almost six weeks. That tells you how little I drive around, that I am such a homebody. Six weeks in a big old truck, big old truck. And yeah, I was very proud of it. And yes, I did wait till it got all the way down to like two miles before I had to fill it up. And anytime I tell people that, they're like, that's so bad for the truck. Stupid girl. So yeah, now I'm gonna do it even more, is really that was my long-winded point. Like, I'm gonna make it last until the summer.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

I used to have uh was a uh young captain in the army, I used to have a Jeep Wrangler that for whatever reason, after I bought it, um, and I bought it used, but after I bought it, at an eighth of a tank, the gas gauge stopped. Oh, yeah, it just wouldn't go any further.

SPEAKER_05 32:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

Like I knew that at 175 miles on the and I had to hit I had to hit the trip meter every single time I filled up with gas. But you know, at about 175 miles, because it was a small tank, um, then I had to stop and get gas. Oh, that's funny. And it did the eighth and it wasn't going any further. So um hard way sometimes.

Trump Pauses Iran While Troops Move

SPEAKER_07 32:30

Yes, I have. If anybody wants to know, yes, there was one time years ago I did run out of gas. I pushed it too far. Did I learn my lesson? Absolutely not. Not a chance, just made me more stubborn, more determined. Oh my goodness. Well, I I kind of ruined our our segue here by segueing, um, but we we will move into this because of course it is all related. Uh Trump is hitting pause on the Iran strikes. Um, so um uh again, guys, just to echo uh what Clay already told you, we are recording tonight on Tuesday because I am getting on an airplane pretty soon and I'll be traveling and we didn't want to miss an opportunity to chat about all of these topics. So if you're watching this on Thursday, um things could have changed by that point. So don't get mad and say we haven't been paying attention. We're just, you know, it's Tuesday for us. Uh what do you think of this, Clay? It's I always defer to you on these ones, you know that.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

Yeah, so um, you know, President Trump has spoken a few times, and and so that he put out an ultimatum last week, late last week, uh to Iran that said basically, you know, we're gonna we're gonna obliterate all of your power plants, your energy capability, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Um, and now, and and it was the deadline was Monday. And Monday came around, and supposedly Iran has been talking. There's been talks with Secretary Rubio, with uh Vice President Vance, um, even with uh the president said Jared Kushner is involved, um, as well as himself. And so on Monday he said, we're gonna pause the obliteration of all of their power plants because they're coming forward. Now, today, again, Tuesday, um, there's this. I I don't know what this is. It's been this floating weird headline that says that Iran is giving this gift. Um you know, the headline says, you know, they're a significant present uh Iran is giving us, which has to do with something with the Strait of Hormuz. I don't know exactly. I don't know if they're giving us a bunch of free oil. I have no idea. Um, but he pressed pause on you know on this threat. Um now, it at the same time, um, there's been a you know a brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division, which is uh at the troop levels about 3,000 paratroopers that are being pushed from Fort Bragg into the Middle East. That hit the newswire today. Um, I confirmed that with personal sources that I have since I spent about 10 years in that organization uh and still know a lot of people there. So there are folks, you know, that that is happening. So we're pushing uh, you know, troops forward. I know that Marines have been uh, if not alerted, uh from the United States. I think it may be some of the Marines that are afloat with the Navy uh, you know, in the region have been told to be prepared for ground operations. Um and I think that that all goes along with what President Trump is talking about, like, hey, um, and it has to do with Kark Island, you know, but regardless, uh threats being made, and supposedly Iran is now talking, and so we're we're pausing strikes. Now, there has been, I the president was trying to, you know, make this deal. He was trying to, as he is, that's who he is. He's a businessman, he makes deals. And there was a point where I think around Saturday, um, Israel was still going full bore. Like they were, they were uh, it seemed in the media to be that they were on their own agenda. Uh or striking targets, it sounded it seemed like uh they weren't necessarily in concert with what we were doing and or what the president's intent was with Iran. So I think that is also backed off, um, but not too sure. So um we'll continue to watch, but right now it seems like there's a lull in what's going on. Um, I still don't believe that this ends without US troops boots on the ground. Um, and I also don't believe that we leave a uh Islamic regime, you know, religious-based regime in place. So I think regime change is still on the agenda. Um, and I think that that requires boots on the ground. Uh, but for right now, it seems like we're all taking a pause and a breath. Um, and we're gonna see how this works itself out over the next few days.

SPEAKER_07 36:51

Yeah, it's such a tough one because, you know, because of the history of that region, the only there's like only it feels like there's only two options. And one of them is to completely and utterly obliterate them, and the other option is to step away from it and and just not. And neither one is great, really, you know. I mean, obviously the first one means, like you said, boots on the ground, loss of life of our our own people, which, you know, loss of lives of innocent people, all of the things that war brings. And then, you know, the next layer to that, of course, is the is this gonna be one of those never-ending wars because of what goes on in that region. But the flip side of that also, right, is that like these are people who chant death to America. They're not, they're not content with just staying in their little pocket of the universe and just being left alone. Like, you know, you could you could actually respect that. Like, let us just, if they were saying just let us be, we're gonna do our own thing, nobody bother us, and we won't bother anybody. That's obviously we all know that that's not the case. So I just I don't really know what the choice is here. And I know that's the constant argument, and I'm not offering a solution here. I could I couldn't possibly, but um, I don't know. I don't know. It's it's so it's so hard. And and I think for like the average Americans, which is what I consider myself, it's so um, it's so overwhelming to think about because what's the answer, you know?

SPEAKER_03 38:28

Yeah, and there's this is a you know, we're trying to find the best of a bunch of bad options. Um we are war is no longer prosecuted by the United States in the sense of um we we are a you break it, you bought it nation now. Um, you know, ever since probably um you could argue post-desert storm, uh, but but really Iraq 2003 and even Afghanistan, you know, we don't go in and blow stuff up and do regime change and kill people and take leaders out of the way without turning around and fixing everything that we broke, uh, you know, with the intent of re-establishing a new and stable nation. That's what that's the way war is prosecuted by the United States now. So I don't see, even with this new administration, I don't see us making a left turn from that and saying, you know, hey, Iran, we told you and we bombed the crap out of everything, not just your military capabilities, but a lot of civilian capabilities. And and oh, by the way, we're just gonna leave, we're we're gonna leave you to your own devices, whatever happens happen. Like I don't see that happening. Um, so you know, right now, remnants of the IRGC, uh, which is their you know military arm uh are are essentially running Iran. And and we know that if we don't remove them, the Iranian people are not in a better place than they were three weeks ago. Um, so uh it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't uh kind of scenario. Uh I still believe that we're gonna end up with boots on the ground there. I know that you know, personally and professionally, uh colleagues of mine disagree with me, and that's okay. Um, but uh yeah, this is nothing good is coming out of this right now. It's it's removal of the regime is important. Removing their nuclear and nuclear delivery capabilities is important. Um I just don't see that being done without the final step, which is complete regime change, which requires us to occupy it's the way that it is. So um, at least in my personal professional opinion. So again, we're looking for the best of a bunch of bad options right now. That's where we sit.

Is The UK Still A Top Ally

SPEAKER_07 40:36

Yeah, yeah. Um, related, and you mentioned um mentioned already, but uh Starmer. Uh, is the UK still our greatest ally? Uh his hesitation says otherwise. So while Trump pauses for talks, the UK playing coy on full support. Uh he is slow walking Starmer, that is, a slow walking base access, and Trump is calling him not Winston Churchill. Is this uh relationship still special or is it gone fully transactional? What um what do you think of all this?

SPEAKER_03 41:08

So there's there's a couple of parts to this. One is, you know, obviously post-American Revolution, they were our great enemy, you know, during the revolution and then beyond for a little while, but then they became our greatest ally. Uh, we became their greatest ally, like think World War I, World War II. Um, England and the UK specifically was still very much an empire in the sense of they had a global presence, not a regional presence, but a global presence. And that global presence required global capabilities. They have, in modern times, degraded their own military to the point where they are no longer, they cannot be a global presence. They don't have that capability. And they're not alone. There are very few nations left in the world that have global presence, right? Um, us, China, Russia, a few others, there's just not many because it's become very expensive. Um, that's militarily. Um, now politically, are they still our greatest ally? I think in the last few weeks, with this new newer, most recent administration in the UK, we are finding that they don't have interest in the same ways that we do outside of regional, their own personal interests, which have now become very regional, right? Um, the UK is not globally uh, you know, truthfully relevant in a lot of cases, um, which they always were up until most recently. You know, their Navy has shrunk down to almost nothing. You know, their army is shrunk down to almost nothing. They're going through, you know, reductions like worse than we are or have been. Um, so what is where does that leave us, right? And you know, President Trump is not a fan, and neither am I, of NATO as it exists now, although he's on the upswing. So where does that leave us in terms of allies? I think we're we're revisiting some relationships. I think Japan right now is a great relationship that is you know growing with the United States as far as militarily. A lot of people don't know. Japan keeps a defense force, the JDF, which is has been since the end of World War II, a non-deployable, non-offensive capability, um, very specifically because of World War II. We're seeing a different relationship with Japan. But I think what where we're all sitting right now is our greatest ally, unfortunately, is also very regional, and that is Israel. Israel is our greatest ally, but truthfully, Israel only has a focus for what regionally affects them. They're also not a global power. They have global interests because so many things affect them, but they're not a global power because they have no reach outside of the Middle East, truthfully. So I I I personally don't believe that the UK is. I don't think we have a best buddy anymore. I really, really don't. I think we're kind of yeah, we're kind of fondering right now. Some of it is our own, our own doing, some of it is a refocus or a change of uh thought, but some of it is the nations that we have traditionally been allied very tightly with no longer have the capability. UK being one of them. Canada, politically, we don't have a lot of agreement with. Um, so that that is you know a challenge as well. Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Rim, very, very important. Um, but it's they're not the same, right? Outside of the Pacific Rim, you know, they don't have a lot of interest in other places. So I I think we're standing a lot on our own right now, uh, depending on the the situation. And you can see the response to Iran in who is offering hand help and who is not.

SPEAKER_07 44:49

Um, it's an eye-opener for sure. Yeah, yeah, it is quite an eye-opener for sure. And and obviously, for all of the obvious reasons you just say, very concerning, very concerning. It's uh it's not a good feeling to be standing alone for us in, you know.

SPEAKER_03 45:06

Yeah, and and and we offer help often. Um and we have the capability to do that, um, but it's not often res it it is going to become less and less reciprocal uh, you know, in the future. And and again, I am not a fan of NATO because I don't think NATO has lived up to what it was supposed to be. Um and I don't think that and I think they've let themselves atrophy to the point where you know we looked at the beginnings of the Ukraine conflict and nobody could help except for us. Like nobody had the capability to help uh because they let their militaries degrade so much. And that's kind of where we stand in the world right now. So when it's there is no global partner. I think we have a bunch of regional partners. I don't think we have any global partners anymore.

Joe Kent Resigns And Splits The Right

SPEAKER_07 45:49

Yeah, yeah. No, and based on what you're saying, that sounds uh unfortunately accurate, very accurate. Uh let's move on to this guy. He's still still making lots of news, lots of conversation. Uh I'm gonna give the rundown, uh, just kind of the update for anybody who who's kind of not really paying that much attention to what's going on. So Joe Kent resigned over the war, hitting every show, uh, not every show, but hitting a bunch of shows, saying that US Intel said no imminent threat and Israel's influence is too heavy. Um he's made the rounds to Tucker, Carlson, and a bunch of other shows, uh, but like half of the right is pushing back, basically. I don't know if it's really half and half, but that's certainly what it feels like and what it sounds like. Um so Joe Kent was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He resigned on March 17th, um, and he posted his letter publicly on X. He wrote that he could not, and these are quotes, in quotes, in good conscience, support the ongoing war in Iran because Iran posed no imminent threat, which is what we said at the top of this one. Um and the U.S. entered the conflict due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby via a misinformation campaign that undermined Trump's America First agenda. And he referenced his 11 combat deployments and his wife's death in Syria in 2019 as shaping his opposition to sending Americans to die in another Middle East war. So that is the core of his position, his stated position in his own words and uh what he's repeated in uh those interviews. Um so what everybody is basically seems to be agreeing on is that he had direct access to the intelligence community's threat assessments as the director. Those assessments showed no imminent Iranian uh attack on the U.S. homeland. But Israel and pro-Israel voices in the U.S. media pushed a narrative of urgent danger that did not match the Intel. He says, or they say that Trump was misled and the war violated non-interventionist spirit that won him the election. And he frames this loyalty, he frames this as his loyalty to America first, not disloyalty to Trump. So that is basically what he's saying and what his supporters are saying. The Trump administration on the other side and the pro-war conservative side uh is calling the resignation a good thing, and press secretary Caroline Levitt said that the letter was rife with inaccuracies and insulting, specifically rejecting the no imminent threat claim. So this goes on and on and on. It's the this this just kind of gives you, gives you, gives everybody the glimpse of what both sides of this conversation are saying. Um, you know, you have some people treating him as the highest level whistleblower exposing Trump's reckless war, and then the other side saying exactly the opposite. So somewhere in the middle is the truth, right? Or I don't know, one is completely right and one's completely wrong. What do you what do you say? You had you had pretty strong feelings on it last week. Where do you lie right now?

SPEAKER_03 49:04

Yeah, I don't like the optics of this because he did immediately run to do a Tucker interview. He immediately ran and did uh um Megan Kelly. Uh he was seen, and we did it, we did a whole segment on this last week. This crowd of people, he was seen at a public event with Candace Owens, right? And then he did a live shot, and I didn't see it unfortunately, uh, on Sean Ryan yesterday afternoon, who I'm also a fan of. Um listen, I I support Joe Kent's decision based on what he knew uh to walk away from his job. Um you know, he decided to do it publicly, his decision, okay, fine. Um you know, a lot of people had a lot of heartache with that. The optics of doing it publicly and then running to do all of these interviews combined together is a bad look. Um, it it destroys a lot of his credibility um with a significant portion of the of America because you you've, you know, as much as he talked nicely about President Trump, and truthfully in all the interviews he did, he didn't go after President Trump. You know, it was all very respectful, but the fact that he did it with those people bec makes it very polarizing. Um I I don't appreciate the fact that, and and we said this last week, just because you're a veteran doesn't give you a pass. Um but what I've seen from a lot of folks who are hard right in the MAGA world veteran community is this guy who again operated at the highest level of things. People have completely dismissed everything that he's done, including the fact that you know, he had the highest clearance intelligence, uh, you know, accessibility that you could possibly imagine. Um, you know, you can look at it and say, well, Tulsi Gabbard also uh if you look at what she said when she testified, what she said she did not say, it's what she left out which is important. She said it is the president's decision to determine who is and is not an or who is an imminent threat to the United States. What she didn't say was I, as the director of national intelligence with 18 intelligence organizations that work below me, provided an intelligence assessment to President Trump that Iran was an imminent threat, and therefore he made these decisions to attack and destroy their capabilities. She didn't say that. What she said was President Trump decided that they are an imminent threat, and it is within his right as the president to do so. It's very important that she said what she said and how she said it. But again, Joe Kent is not doing himself any favors in the way he is handling this. Um and and so I I think it's sad that, like I said, there's some, you know, there's some uh veteran influencers out there and some folks that you know are online who did a lot less than he did, and truthfully can, you know, I I could I could go on there and and uh speculate about their own service, right? Everything that they've done could be thrown out the window for very similar reasons. It could all be people could do that to me too, and that's fine. I get it. And people say, well, Joe Kenton knew what he was doing, you know, when he put this out publicly. Okay, fine, so be it. Um but but I think he and what he did and why he did it is being dismissed way too quickly, um, and he's not helping his cause by handling it the way that he's handling it with those specific media personalities. He would have been better off going to go toe-to-toe with um Jesse Waters. He would have been better off going toe-to-toe with any other mainstream media and defend his position than he is, truthfully, by going to more polarizing people and and looking, you know, and looking to them for validation in what he did. So I don't think he's handling it well. I still think uh, you know, what he did based on what he believes, I think was the right thing to do. Um and but again, he's he's not helping his cause.

SPEAKER_07 53:12

No, no, he's definitely not. It's um yeah, I it's I think it's just made things a lot worse because obviously this is such a uh divided group right now on you know very key things. And you know, you you have a pretty large segment of the right that right now is you know full on dismissing uh of course Candace, now Tucker, uh now Meg and Kelly. And um, you know, feeling that they've kind of really gone off the rails. And like you said, you know, and those are the ones that you chose to uh align yourself with, so to speak. Yeah, uh optics-wise, it's not good. I would agree with you that, you know, based on his statements, if that's how he feels, um, then he absolutely he should have resigned. If you don't agree, uh and you don't and you can't, as he said, in good conscience, um, you know, support that and or work under those circumstances, yeah. I don't really see that there's any other choice than that. But again, just just echoing you really that um the the route that he chose to go is certainly questionable. And uh it's uh it's you know, the whole thing is just unfortunate. Uh there's nothing worse than for the perceived enemy, which of course would be the left, uh, to see the to see us fracturing so um hugely.

SPEAKER_03 54:43

Listen, this is this is gonna be, you know, people still argue Iraq 2003 and and WMDs. And this has the potential to be exactly the same thing. So this this debate will go on for a very, very long time.

Las Vegas Slows Down In Real Time

SPEAKER_06 54:57

Um, yeah, let's go. I mean, is this lighter? I think it's lighter. It's lighter. It's a little lighter.

SPEAKER_03 55:04

For you, folks, the topic is, you know, I I read an article about uh Las Vegas is is really they are hurting right now for a lot of reasons. Um gambling in person is down because of the availability of online gambling, but also local uh state laws. Uh there's more gambling, there's more casinos in the United States where Vegas and Atlantic City used to be these two pockets that you could go and gamble, but now there's gambling everywhere. Um Vegas is also pricing itself out. Like it's the prices of everything are um, you know, crazy out of control in Las Vegas, and Vegas is dying. Like they are way, way down in like March Madness right now as the basketball tournaments are going on. They are down, I think 15% in in-person sports betting. That's a lot, a lot of money, folks. Um, because you've got the availability of all of the online betting sites, sports betting, et cetera, et cetera. Are you a Vegas girl? Were you ever a Vegas girl? Had you ever done Vegas?

SPEAKER_07 56:05

So many, many years ago, there was a uh stretch where uh we went like every year, uh, it was probably like maybe, I don't know, three, three or four years running, something like that. And um, I I kind of have a love hate with it. Like I'm not a big gambler. So I was that little old bitty that sat there with her penny slots, you know, and that was like the extent of what I was willing to do. I loved it for the shows, absolutely loved the shows. It was the first time uh I ever saw a Cirque de Soleil show, you know, going back, you know, more than 20 years, 20 plush years now at this point. And yeah, my gosh, it just dawned on me. I'm sorry, and taking a moment here to realize that was that long ago. Wow. Um, but you know, again, I had uh I was don't shame me, guys. Please, I once upon a time I was a smoker. Um and at that time You're okay. I was too were you? Oh yeah, that actually surprised me.

SPEAKER_03 56:57

I I was through high school and college, and then as uh culture of the army took hold, I chewed tobacco for a very long time. Uh-huh. And then uh, you know, because I was running every day. Um yeah, I got I got rid of that uh a couple of years ago and have been a good boy since good job, good on you.

SPEAKER_07 57:14

Yeah, I quit uh probably like 30 years ago now, and um, or I don't know, like 25 years, something like that. Um, but I had I was still like a new-ish non-smoker. So I'm the worst kind of former smoker. You know, everybody says we're the worst ones. And uh, you know, Vegas, it's it's just everybody's smoking and it's everywhere back then. Um and I couldn't, and I wear contacts. So I couldn't, I spent like the whole time I was there like this because I couldn't see because it was like just destroying my my my eyes, uh, all the smoke. And um, so there there so yes and no, there are parts of it that I enjoyed quite a bit, um, and parts of it that I just did not. Now, since I had gone like uh several years in a row, I actually got my fill of it. Like I'm over it, I'm done, I don't care if I ever go again. Um, which uh, you know, apparently that's kind of a consensus. People are like, yeah, you know what? I'm good, I'm good. And obviously your point there that you made that, you know, there's so many uh casinos and online betting and all that stuff, which by the way, I personally think is a terrible thing. I think it's awful. I I think the access to uh gambling and betting and all of that stuff, and you know, no, I'm not this little Puritan, you know, deadly do right by any means, but it's just another part of societal decay and decline. It's just, you know, inviting people to more excess and and it, you know, gambling is another one of the things, and we all know this. Gambling is one of those things that absolutely has destroyed families and robbed people of their uh income with addiction and all of that stuff. Uh so you know, I I I think it's I think it's right up there with having pot dispensaries on every corner now and all of the things that, you know, that just basically tell society you can do whatever you want. It's okay, and it's not okay. So I'm not really sad to see that. I'm sad for the people that work there. I mean, these are their livelihoods, and you know, and that means that they're gonna be losing their jobs at some point here. And um it does make me a little sad as an Elvis fan to think of it as, you know, like an end of a um a different era, you know, uh what we picture in our mind.

SPEAKER_03 59:36

But yeah, I, you know, uh I do enjoy playing poker. It's about the only gambling that I enjoy doing. Um are now um, you know, poker rooms in a lot of places outside of or and and then again, local casinos being available. Um, you know, I don't enjoy the quote unquote excesses of Vegas um as I don't drink anymore. Um so like I do I like going to Vegas to play poker and things like that. Yes, I do. Um I don't really go to shows, I don't enjoy shows, um, I and I don't drink. So I can do most of the Vegas stuff that I enjoy doing, which again is playing cards in a lot of places where I don't have to travel. Um, you know, I I went to Vegas for a trade show, you know, uh guns, ammunition, outdoor trade show kind of thing a couple of years ago, had a good time. Um but that's really about it. Do I have a need or a desire to go back to Las Vegas for any reason? No, not really.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:35

I agree with you. Online betting is dangerous. You know, I'm the guy who when I go play poker, I walk in there with$200, I don't have my ATM card with me.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

$200 is gone or I get tired enough, I get up and I walk away from the table and I go back to my hotel room and go to sleep, right? But online betting for a lot of people, when it's tied directly to a credit card, is super, super dangerous. Um, and and I I agree. I I think it's it's something that we've probably gone a little too far. We've tipped the balance, I think, in the wrong direction on that. But you know, um Vegas is paying the price for that. Uh and like you said, there's now you're now you're talking about people's livelihoods, you've talked about a lot of people who are out there, you know, working, et cetera, et cetera.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:17

And so there's there is you know, things felt throughout Vegas when when the gambling goes down, then all facets of tourism go down, right? There's less gambling, then there's less hotels, there's less restaurants, there's less rental cars, there's rest all of it is less. Everything, yeah. So it it's uh, you know, Vegas is a you know, it's a unique place. Uh again, I do enjoy it, but and I don't want to see it die, but I think it's outgrown itself and it hasn't adapted well uh, you know, in a lot of cases. So um, folks, if you if you're a Vegas people and you haven't been in a while, you might want to check before you go because changing very quickly.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:56

Although I will say there there is one Vegas attraction that uh I I do and would and hope to at some point go to. And it it might not be what any of you think it would be, but or maybe I I tipped my hand a little. Um there is an annual, I'm assuming it still goes on, an annual Elvis convention. It's gonna happen, guys. It's gonna happen. I definitely want to go to the Elvis convention. We've gone to small, uh local-ish regional kind of ones. And let me tell you, if you have never been to an Elvis convention, we call them the Elvi. It is so much fun, so much fun. I get giddy over the whole experience. So, yeah, so for those of you, which is probably most of you uh that didn't know, yeah, I am an off-the-chain Elvis fan. So whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:50

Well, you know what it's funny because I I go when I have been to Vegas in the past and I was stationed in California two and a half hours from Vegas for a year, and then I've made a couple of other trips, but I've done the other things besides the gambling. Like if you've been out, stratosphere has a bunch of stuff on the roof. You know, there's some attractions and rides on the roof of the stratosphere, including being able to jump off at 850 feet off of the stratosphere, which I have also done.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:15

Uh what a surprise, Clay. What a surprise.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:18

What I haven't done is the uh there's a zip line that you can go across the strip. Uh and that one is still like on the bucket list. I gotta do that one too.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:27

But I do like zip lining. I would probably do that one. I would do that. Yeah, I love that actually. Yeah, I had uh there's a there's a place in like New Hampshire or something that we've gone to, and uh it's like a whole course, it's all zip lines, and uh there's like a couple of repels, and then there's these like three rope bridges. Dude, you can send me from tree to tree on that zip line. I could even deal with the repelling. I was okay with that. It was those, it was those stupid rope bridges that I was really like not okay with. Go figure. But anyhow, anyhow, I digress. Uh yeah, Vegas, man. Um, I don't know. You know, it it's sad in a lot of aspects because that obviously is um, you know, that's such an iconic um place, movie. I mean, you name it everything, just that the whole aura of it. So it is sad to see something um that has so much nostalgia.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:22

Simultaneously for different reasons. If you haven't been to Atlantic City in a while, Atlantic City is uh very different than it used to be. Like Atlantic City is don't walk the boardwalk at night unseen. Oh boy, right? There is a methadone clinic right in the middle of Atlantic City. Uh drug use is out of control. Uh huh. Um, that is a go into the casinos uh and stay there.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:47

Go outside kind of environment right now. At least not at night. So yeah, it's it's very interesting to see those two locations devolve as a lot of people have predicted as modern day Sodom and Gomorrah, but it is what yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Why We Distrust Influencer “Experts”

SPEAKER_07 1:05:00

Uh last but not least, we'll hit it real quick, the comments section. Nothing wild, nothing crazy. What do we got here? We got a couple here. Um, this one was interesting to me to watch, not only on our um comments from the podcast, but also in videos that I've made separately on my platforms uh regarding um this one says I've left Tucker, Megan, and Candace behind. Um, this was actually even more of a general sentiment, sentiment that I've I've heard from people because I actually expected a lot of aggressive pushback similar to what I got uh with just Candace alone. And I I think that tide is turned quite a bit that a lot of people are seeing the same things that that I or we are seeing uh with those particular people and and that group. And you know, I mean, all I can say, guys, is what I said in my video, I think I put it. Today, I don't even know, tell you the truth. Um, is that you should not be looking at these are podcasters, they are content creators, they are uh they're independent media, yes. Are they journalists? Not so much. Maybe Tucker was once upon a time. Megan definitely was more of one once upon a time. Um, but you know, they're going where the clicks are, they're going where the ratings are, they're going where the money is, and they're going very, very tabloid in their approach. And um, if you like that, keep watching it. If you know you don't, then don't. I mean, I'm in the don't category for sure. But you know, all I can say about it is is you should not be looking to those people or us as authorities, as end-all, be all knowledge factories of things. We and they are like everybody else in that for the most part, we don't have inside information. We're not inside these rooms where these decisions are being made and and all of those things. These are people who are giving opinions. And if you're treating their opinions as if they are facts, you have a big problem. You can you need to do your own research. We say this, I feel like we say this once an episode, Clay, right? Like if you just do your own research. You know, I know it sucks. I know it's not fun to do, and you'd rather have somebody just tell you what's going on. I would rather just have somebody tell me what's going on, but we don't live in that world anymore. Or if we ever did, I don't even know where you're going to get unbiased information, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:35

Well, and you and I say this all the time. We are journalists. We have never claimed to be journalists. We are people who provide an opinion. Uh and and that's that that is where we sit and have a sat there. But I did see a comment and I should have screenshotted it where somebody basically was like, Oh, you guys are criticizing them. You guys are criticizing, I think it was Candace specifically. Like, oh, big surprise, the Elsa Kurt show, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, well, that's the difference, though, is that we we have never claimed to be anything but, you know, editorialized thing. Like they that's all this is, and we've been very, very transparent about that. So, you know, and that includes our opinion about them, you know. Right. Yeah. It's just an opinion. It's our opinion. We don't like it, you know. Right. Um, but you've got another one.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:27

I do. I do. It's that one. That, oh, sorry, wrong one. Let's try it again. Uh, this one's tiny. I'm gonna read it for you. It says, I hear your thoughts on Joe Kent, but I don't agree that he's being canceled. Quite the opposite, really, given the media tour he's been doing and the conversations being had on both sides concerning him. Um, so uh again, this was one I I I'm gonna be honest, Clay. I thought you were gonna get a lot of pushback. I thought you were gonna get a lot of angry fish shakers in that. And that really wasn't the case. I mean, I'm sure there were some, but I just I honestly didn't even see him. But I like I said, I'm sure there's some. Um, but uh, you know, just a different perspective. And I actually found that the comments, maybe it's because they know that they might get called out. I feel like the comments have been very respectful, you know, like very like respectfully, I disagree.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:15

Yeah, and and listen, I, you know, Joe Kent is, you know, and to really kind of address that comment, talk about it today. Joe Kent, by a portion of the right, is being canceled, right? Yeah, there is a portion of the right. The Tucker, Megan, you know, Candace portion of the right are giving him all kinds of space and platform to say what he wants. But there is a portion of the right that is essentially saying he's a traitor, he's this, he's that, cancel him, don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, there's a difference of opinion. But he, regardless of that, the right who have railed against cancel culture have been the ones who have been trying to cancel him. Whereas the left is like, let him talk. Yeah. Just very interesting. But again, you know, it that is a viewer's opinion. Respect their opinion. I appreciate them expressing it, and good for them.

Final Thoughts And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_07 1:10:08

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I just I love the respectfulness. I saw that on a few comments. I was like, what's this one's gonna be? Oh, okay. All right. Like it's it's a disagreement, you know, but it's um pretty decent. I mean, there's always there's always the the tools, the the one-liner tools in there, but that's okay. I would, you know, it is what it is. But yeah, I mean, that is it. That's all of the topics for this week. We hit them all. We ran a little bit over time. That's okay. That's all right, it's all good. Uh Clay, would you like to close them? Wait, I'll I'll say one thing, which is um, I cannot wait to get on that plane to go see my babies. Okay, now you can close them out.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:44

Yeah, say travels to you. And uh I think I I think is it me next week? I think I'm thinking it is.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:50

Clay is gonna hold down the fort next week, guys.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:52

Yeah, I may I may bring a guest on. I'm not positive yet. I'll do a little something different. But uh Elsa will be enjoining the grand babies next week on a little bit of a vacation. So you will have me and potentially a guest, and uh so safe travels to you, young lady, and from me, as always, keep moving, keep shooting.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:08

Take care, guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:09

The headlines will change by tomorrow, but the patterns won't. Thanks for spending this time with us. We'll be back to keep asking the harder questions and telling the quieter truths. Until then, stay grounded, be discerning, and we'll see you next time.