WEBVTT - It Could Happen Here Weekly 166 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:05.560 Col Zone Media. Hey everybody, Robert Evans here and I 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:08.720 wanted to let you know this is a compilation episode. 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:12.240 So every episode of the week that just happened is 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:16.079 here in one convenient and with somewhat less ads package 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.320 for you to listen to in a long stretch if 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:20.680 you want. If you've been listening to the episodes every 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:22.520 day this week, there's going to be nothing new here 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.119 for you, but you can make your own decisions. 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:29.480 Either snow nor rain, nor heat nor darkness can stop 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:31.920 the Persian Courier Service. Welcome to take it out and 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.120 here a podcast about postal services. Who reasked the question 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:40.400 can the American capitalist class finally stop the American post Office? 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:43.600 I'm your host, Mio Wong, and with me to talk 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.000 about what is going on with the post office, what's 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:51.120 going on with the post office unions, and yeah, how 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:54.440 things are going downhill for the noble people who carry 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:57.840 your mail. Is Tommy Espinoza, who's a union steward for 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.360 the National Association of Letter Carriers. Tommy, welcome to the show. 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.560 Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.880 much for giving us the Mailcare dollars, the male carriers 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:10.600 a platform to stand on. 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.520 Yeah, I'm really I'm really happy to you and I'm 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.240 really happy to get to talk to you about this. 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:19.399 So I think the place we should start is with 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:23.919 a bunch of very very weird stuff in how labor 0:01:24.000 --> 0:01:28.200 law works. So, Okay, for like most people in the 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.600 United States, you have a fatally protected right to strike 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.200 if you have a union. That is not true for 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:37.440 federal employees. That is especially not true for members of 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:42.520 the Post Office, and that is a real issue because 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.399 the government has decided that, like, yeah, I know, all 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.320 these people who do a vital service are not allowed 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:52.440 to go on strike and it absolutely sucks. Yeah, So 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.400 I think this gets into sort of where I want 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.440 to start, which is with the sort of history of 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:03.680 the Nationalssociation Letters Carriers, a union that is not allowed 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:07.080 to strike, and how sort of weird that is. So Yeah, 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:08.320 I was wondering if you could talk a bit about 0:02:08.360 --> 0:02:11.359 sort of the origins of the union and what effect 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.560 that has had on how organizing works or doesn't work. 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:21.760 Yeah, the right to strike has been a rather divisive topic. 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:27.200 I'm sure you're familiar with unions and just generally people 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:30.880 on our side of our side of politics to be 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:38.600 infighting a lot. I shouldn't come to a surprise. So 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.120 in nineteen sixty nine, just over fifty years ago, the 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:45.400 salary for postal workers was under two dollars an hour. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.359 People were working months straight with no days off, and 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:54.519 those were close to twelve hour days, and so these 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:59.800 postal workers at the time qualified for welfare and decided 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.800 in nineteen seventy to go on strike despite it being illegal. 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.760 This conversation is not new. It was illegal then, it's 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.360 illegal now. And I do want to be crystal clear here. 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:17.040 I am not advocating for a strike that would also 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.880 be against the law, and we don't advocate for anything 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:25.160 that's against the law. What I do want to advocate 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:30.200 for is the right to strike, because being quasi federal, 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:34.440 there's a lot of limitations in what the NAOC and 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:39.560 the general postal unions are able to do. In total, 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.920 there are nine bargaining agreements and seven unions within the 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.040 Post Office, some of which are the manager's unions, so 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:53.640 take that as it is. Yet, on top of not 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.360 being able to strike, none of our money that we 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.560 collect as union does can be used for lobbying purposes, 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:04.160 so they can't support a single candidate or any of 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.680 the parties involved. We have a separate fund for that 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.520 with the NAOC called the Letter Carrier's Political Fund, to 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.600 try and circumvent the restrictions that are put on there. 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.920 And as a result of that, it's like we're fighting 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.400 with our hands tied behind our back. We are unable 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.680 to organize effectively. Our union leadership seems to be afraid 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:34.520 of protests and picketing for fear that it'll be misconstrued 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.760 or labeled as a strike, and they're I think generally 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:40.800 afraid of public opinion. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.800 Yeah, that's a debilitating set of conditions because you've effectively 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:48.920 taken away sort of the two major tools that you know, 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:53.160 I mean, unions of basically across all political stripes used, right, 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:56.000 You've taken away the ability to strike. You've taken away 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:01.040 the ability to use your due's money to influence elections. 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.159 So this immediately means you've taken away the tool that 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.960 sort of Milton unions use, which strikes, and you've taken 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.240 away the tools that more conserative unions use, which is 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:13.919 buying attempting to buy politicians. And then also your leadership 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:16.800 is like, we can't strike, I mean, we can't protest 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:18.640 because someone might think it's a strike and the public 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.320 might commit us. And it's like that that doesn't seem 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.400 I don't know, it really seems like it's like it's 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:25.320 not only have you tied both hands behind your back, 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.640 you've like tied them behind your back to your legs 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.680 and you're now rolling around on the ground. 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.680 Right, And to talk about what happens when we push 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:37.600 past all of these barriers and just do it anyways? 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.760 You know, in March nineteen seventy, two hundred and ten 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:45.599 thousand postal workers defied law, defied the general leadership of 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.599 the time, And it all started in New York where 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:57.080 people clocked in and at nine o'clock they just walked out. Soon, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:02.400 let's see, it was Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles. The nation 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.280 joined very shortly after. Once it broke the news that 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:11.919 they were calling for a national strike. Nixon called in 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.520 the National Guard to try and deliver mail, and the 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.520 National Guard had no idea what they were doing. There's 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:23.320 an amazing video that I'll try and send you afterwards. 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:28.120 It's just the National Guard at our cases where we 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:32.400 sort the mail. An interviewer is asking him, do you 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.479 think that you're doing a good job. It's just like, no, 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.479 it's just some kid, you know. And don't get me wrong, 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:43.839 I'm just some guy. But you need the training, you 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.960 need to know what you're doing. And it's not something 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.640 that anyone can pick up in a day, but it's 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.520 a job that anyone can do. But yeah, for the 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:56.600 first time, the mail had stopped, and that won us 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:01.800 collective bargaining binding arbitration, which is the process that I 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.120 think most people within unions know what they mean, but 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:10.040 to explain it, arbitration is what happens when our parties 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:15.440 cannot agree on a settlement for a grievance, and eventually 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:19.880 we call in a third party, an arbitrator to decide 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:22.880 for us, and those are generally lawyers. On top of 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.480 binding arbitration, it gave us a new payscale and set 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:32.440 in motion. I think over it's got to be hundreds 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.520 of raises between the colas and the new pay table. 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.480 It used to be twenty one years for you to 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.760 reach the top pay scale, which is absolutely ridiculous, and 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:49.280 I think it's eight. Yeah, So the Post Office was 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.520 forced to reorganize, and so is the union. This is 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.520 where the American Postal Workers union was born, and from 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.440 this strike we were able to settle on the National Agreement. 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.560 So there's the National Agreement, which is our binding contract. 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:09.760 There's the JCAM, which is the Joint Contract Administration Manual, 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.200 which is what the Post Office and the union use 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.400 as the interpretation of the contract. That way, we are 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:22.880 not arguing and spending time about what the contract could mean. 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:26.120 We can just focus on whether or not someone broke 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:32.280 our agreement. So after this, one would imagine that a 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:37.280 quasi federal institution would honor the contract that was created, 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:41.480 argain in good faith, and treat their employees. Isn't that right? 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:45.800 Yeah, I know it's spoken like someone who has never 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:47.640 watched a federal comd action. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:54.000 Yeah. Absolutely not. Before we get into issues that we 0:08:54.720 --> 0:08:57.719 face today, I do want to say that one of 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:02.600 the main goals of our contract negotiations, or of this 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:08.959 episode really is to create public knowledge of how our 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:12.560 contract is not being adhered to. If there was one 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.480 main goal that I'd have in mind, is just to 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:19.319 have the Post Office honor what they signed and agreed 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:19.640 to do. 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:25.800 Yeah, I mean, this is something that it's a part of. 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.360 Being in a union that doesn't get talked about very much, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.000 which is that the contract doesn't mean anything unless the 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.320 union enforces it, because the moment the contract happens, the 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.559 bosses will attempt to not abide by it. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.040 And this is what a lot. 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.120 Of union militancy back in the sort of heyday of 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.360 miltancy was. I mean, like, you know, if you look 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:47.200 at like how the UAW worked in like the sixties, right, 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.520 they'd have a guy with a whistle standing on the line, 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:52.840 and if someone did a contract violation, he would blow 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.560 the whistle and everyone would just sit down and you'd 0:09:55.559 --> 0:09:58.840 immediately have a strike right it, you know, And like 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.480 that level of militants. You don't need to be at 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.040 that level to enforce a contract, but you have to 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.720 actually be willing to do stuff and to fight management 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:10.360 over it. And if you're not willing to do that, 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:15.160 your contract is effectively meaningless. And that's a real issue 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.000 with a lot of unions. 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.599 Which just kind of circles back to one of the 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.280 big issues that we face is that if we were 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:24.680 to do that, that would be a willingful delay of 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:28.880 mail and we could be charged for it just for 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.520 trying to enforce the contract. 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:32.160 Yep. 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:37.200 Yeah, which the thing I think is really interesting. Just 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.960 to circle back to the nineteen seventy strike, is that 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:44.040 so the strike was illegal, right, Nixon brings in the army, 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.360 in the National Guard to break it, and the strike 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:50.360 still wins. And not only does it you know, I 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:52.680 mean you could argue whether it achieved total victory, but 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.960 not a single person who walked off the line got arrested, 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:00.080 even though all of them technically committed a crime. And 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:07.520 that's something that like, you know, I think, let me okay, 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:13.480 the the enforcements of laws depends on sort of the 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.640 the depends on a set of of relative balance of 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.160 forces and whether people care about envoice in the law, 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.200 which is how like for example, like if you pirate 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.960 like seven movies and you get you get three copyright strike, 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:31.240 you go to prison. But you know, like the sam 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.000 Altman or whatever like AI company can literally steal everything 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.000 on the entire Internet and get. 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.240 Money for it and no one will to prosecute him, right, And. 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:44.679 So so you know, whether or not something is illegal 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.240 is to a large extent or or the difference between 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.400 something being illegal and you going to prison for it 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.520 largely has to do with a balance of forces involved. 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:57.200 And that's something that you should keep in mind when 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:58.520 and this is this is the thing, this is the 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.280 thing that that cuts the other way a lot too write. 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:06.520 Employers just do illegal actions literally all the time, and 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:08.440 it doesn't matter because the state doesn't care. 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.280 Yeah, By and large, labor laws in America are set 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:18.760 up in favor of the businesses of the employers. If 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.120 you're familiar with workers comp or any of the systems 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:29.200 involved in the Federal Employees Compensation Act, it's not enforced. 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:35.200 We have cases that are pending arbitration where someone's been 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:39.680 run over by a worker has been run over by 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:45.000 a postal vehicle while they were working. The post office 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.680 effectively takes them off of payroll to increase the damage 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:55.200 done to the individual. Eventually, the Department of Labor says, yes, 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:58.560 we will pay this individual, and the post office is 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.720 liable to pay them. But now they are off the rolls, 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:05.720 which means there's a greater period of time before this 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:10.200 individual gets their money. And there's a certain form that 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.320 within the post office the managers need to fill out. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.320 I believe it's an eighty one thirty or you know, 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.200 all these forms have some numbers associated with them that 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.520 they just refuse to fill out and there's no recourse, 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:28.040 there's no cheeze a path for us to take to 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.120 make them hurry or make them get this individual the 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:35.800 money that they're owed. And some people this doesn't ruin 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:39.000 their lives and they've already paid off their house or whatever. 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:45.920 But I imagine for many many working Americans that's that's their 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.360 livelihood immediately down the drain. 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.880 Yeah, unfortunately, we need to go to ads for a 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:59.319 little bit because unfortunately my boss is boss's boss's livelihood 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.840 depends on these ads. Buying technically does too, but like 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:03.559 lord knows, I don't see that money. 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:21.320 So ads we are back, And yeah, I guess that. 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:23.680 Leads into you the next place you want to go to, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:28.280 which is talking about what are the specific grievances today 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.360 that y'all are dealing with and the union is not 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:31.960 dealing with. 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.120 Right, So, in terms of grievances within the union and 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:40.920 a negotiation, a lot of it does have to do 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:46.120 with the aforementioned workers' compensation. Employees are just simply not 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:52.680 getting paid. I think the biggest problem with the union 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.240 and the grievance procedure today is that management has figured 0:14:56.240 --> 0:15:00.800 out this really effective strategy if they don't settle on 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.120 the lower levels and it gets pushed up to arbitration. 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:11.280 Then we have a massive backlog of cases appending arbitration, 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:16.240 which could be scheduled years out. I think if you 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.280 do the math for our current rate of handling these 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:25.280 cases and how many cases we have, it'll take around 0:15:25.320 --> 0:15:27.200 fifteen years to get through the long. 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.120 Christ not assuming there's no new ones. 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.120 Yeah. Yeah, that's like you know when you go to 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.360 a restaurant and there's that little stanchion out there that 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.960 says it's a five hour wait from this point. That's 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:43.080 that point that we're at. Anything beyond today will be 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:50.120 further along Jesus Christ. And so I think that is 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:58.160 just a major problem for us clearly. Yeah, management just 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.760 not complying with any of this, and it makes it 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:06.320 so that our employees have to wait. Something I do 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:09.080 want to talk about that's outside of the grievance procedure 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.080 if we can, is just what's going on with the 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:18.440 post Office and the Postmaster General. Yeah, all right, So 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.600 I want to go at this from the customer perspective first, 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:23.640 because I think that's the best way to relate to people. 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:26.200 I think, by and large, people are losing faith in 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.280 the Post Office. Either you have no idea what's going on, 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:33.120 or you don't care, and that's fine, I'd say. Before 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.520 I joined, I didn't think of them at all, and 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:38.400 you know, they're just the guy that shows up at 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:41.280 my house every morning. A lot of people seem to 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.600 think that the post Office is going out of business, 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:50.320 and our customers are facing increasingly long lines, misdelivered or 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.040 lost mail, and an increase in postage for a service 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:58.280 that is getting worse. People are paying more for worse service, 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.280 and it's easy to point out those issues from the 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.000 outside and be rightfully upset at them. I do feel 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.879 like we're doing a disservice to our our customers, and 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:11.760 I'm not really not trying to attack them when I 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:16.880 say that they're uninformed or clueless to the inner workings 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:21.159 of the Post Office. I do directly want to attack 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:25.800 Congress and say that, yeah, when they post They had 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:30.240 pushed forward a bill called the Postal Accountability and Enhancement 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:32.720 Act in two thousand and six, which required the Post 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.520 Office to prefund one hundred percent of its retiree health 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:41.200 benefits and liabilities seventy five years into the future. What 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.680 so overnight the post Office was handed a five point 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:50.359 five billion dollar burden, and that's where the whole I 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:53.600 don't know if you remember. I certainly wasn't conscious of 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:57.119 it at the time, to save our post office stickers 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.800 that were being sold and trying to fund the post 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.520 Office office. And really that's where the rhetoric of the 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.399 post Office is going under comes from. The other thing 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:07.760 I want to point out is that we are a 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:11.920 quasi federal We actually accept nothing from tax payer monies. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.679 It says it's a service, but really the post Office 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:19.840 has ran as a business. We don't even get subsidized 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.119 because they don't need to. My local union president loves 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.360 to remind us that the post Office is a business 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.240 that has a revenue of seventy eight point two billion dollars, 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.320 and he'll want me to stress that the point two 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:35.639 is extremely important because point two of a billion is 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:40.840 twenty million. They are not in jeopardy. We are not 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:47.240 going out of business. And the Postmaster General, Louis de Joy, 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:51.000 he's the second highest paid public servant in America, just 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.840 underneath the President of the United States. 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.520 He's played Ward and Clarence Thomas. 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:57.360 Wow. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:01.440 Yeah, I think it was like three hundred eighty thousand 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.160 a year or something like that. The Joy was appointed 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:09.520 by Donald Trump. I'm assuming this is kind of a 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:12.320 baseless assumption, So forgive me. I'm not doing my research here, 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.679 but I'm assuming that they're buddies because d Joy has 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:16.360 no idea. 0:19:16.840 --> 0:19:18.920 Yeah, wasn't Wasn't she the guy that Trump brought in, 0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.760 like specifically to destroy the post office as part of 0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:24.080 the campaign to steal the election. 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.080 Yeah, so there's been a lot about the Joy defrauding 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.639 the election process. I wasn't part of the post office 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.239 to see the inner workings of it, so it's kind 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:38.080 of hard for me to say if it was hearsay 0:19:38.160 --> 0:19:40.680 or not, but I believe it because the Joy has 0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:43.399 no idea how to run a post office. He's never 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:46.760 been involved with this kind of business. He is, in 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:51.080 the same way that Trump is a businessman, a horrible businessman, 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:56.040 and is delivering for America. Plan could really be redefined 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:00.240 as consolidation efforts for a business. So what they're doing 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:04.960 is their consolidating infrastructure and the workforce, which means closing 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:08.520 post offices in order to save money and shoving three 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:13.760 installations into one building. That's why the lines are getting longer. 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.960 It also means that from dispatch the employees have to 0:20:18.040 --> 0:20:22.359 drive an extra mile or two into their working zone, 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:24.920 which of course means that we're going to go into 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:28.760 overtime and this just throws a wrench in the mail 0:20:28.800 --> 0:20:33.439 handling process. He has single handedly made the service a 0:20:33.480 --> 0:20:39.240 lot more reliable, and I do think that you're right. Irreliable, yeah, sorry, 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:43.560 more unreliable, and I do think that you're right. He 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.040 wants to destroy the post office not only for the election, 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:50.800 but to the point where it makes more sense to 0:20:50.880 --> 0:20:53.680 go private. Now is the time to point out that 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.639 the joy is a major shareholder in FedEx, which is 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:04.080 which is a subcontractor for the USPS, and he has 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.119 millions of dollars in equity involved. He's got skin in 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:08.480 the game. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.920 I love open corruption so great. 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.600 And so on the local level on what's going on 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:20.200 in my office. I actually have one of the better 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.439 offices that I've seen or heard about. I have been 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:27.119 sent to other offices and I have experience firsthand the 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.959 bullying and harassment from management pushing us to go faster. 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:37.760 But even at one of the better offices, I work 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:41.800 sixty hour weeks. I don't have set days off, it's 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.280 not even a rotation. When I get home, I'm spent. 0:21:45.520 --> 0:21:48.400 And my commute isn't that bad. I think I'm about 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:52.639 fifteen minutes each way, and I really can't imagine driving 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:56.520 two hours after an eleven hour shift just to eat 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:58.320 and come back and do it again. 0:21:59.080 --> 0:22:02.200 I mean, that's just on. That's safe, Like that's see. 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.800 Oh yeah, it would be illegal, but since it's in 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:07.480 the contract, it's not illegal. 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:09.119 Oh my god. 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.960 So the sacrifice that you make when you're joining the 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:15.960 post office, well, I guess I should explain. When you 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.919 join as a letter carrier, the first ninety days, they 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:24.480 can fire you for any reason, and you're something called 0:22:24.520 --> 0:22:28.240 either a CCA or a PTF, and that means part 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:31.840 time flexible or a city carrier assistant. You are only 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.960 guaranteed four hours for showing up for work. You're not 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.440 guaranteed to be scheduled. So if they don't like you, 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.600 they just will schedule schedule you once a week for 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:46.679 an unknown amount of time until you quit. And if 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:48.600 you're in a busy place, then that just means that 0:22:48.640 --> 0:22:50.919 they're going to work you to death. So when you 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:55.160 join the workforce, immediately you lose time with your family. 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:57.600 You lose time with your loved ones and your friends. 0:22:58.280 --> 0:23:01.680 And I myself am so fortunate that all my loved 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:05.320 ones have been beyond understanding. But every time I talk 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:09.720 about it that I get asked the same thing, why 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:10.360 don't you quit? 0:23:11.920 --> 0:23:12.840 Yeah? 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:17.040 And the truth is this job is awesome. I love it, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:19.080 I want to work it. I just want it to 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.560 make sense and be livable. And I'm not gonna give 0:23:22.680 --> 0:23:27.280 up just because we haven't reached the point where it is. 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:29.840 You know, if you walk away now, it doesn't get better. 0:23:29.920 --> 0:23:33.760 I'm sure someone would take my place. But it helps 0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:35.240 to have people stick around. 0:23:45.680 --> 0:23:47.439 That's actually a pretty comedy. I mean, this is one 0:23:47.480 --> 0:23:51.679 of the Amazon strategy right for their warehouses. They intentionally 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:54.360 want to cycle through people because the more the more 0:23:54.520 --> 0:23:57.440 new people you have continuously cycling through, the less organized 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:00.119 and the less sort of like must knowledge, they have 0:24:00.200 --> 0:24:01.720 less you have to pay them, et cetera, et cetera, 0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:05.320 et cetera. And so if you can just cause high 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:08.679 turnover rates on purpose, that's that's the thing that a 0:24:08.680 --> 0:24:12.760 lot of these sort of business goule like Nightmare or 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:18.719 factory people love in their workforces and makes everyone else's 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:22.639 life just a living hell. But you know they're getting 0:24:22.640 --> 0:24:23.800 They're still getting paid. 0:24:25.800 --> 0:24:28.960 Right, And so I try and hold that in mind. 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:32.120 When I've been overworked and I'm at the end of 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:35.760 one of my major shifts because I had to carry 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:39.640 part of another route because someone else called out, I 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:42.439 really have to stop and think to myself that this 0:24:42.560 --> 0:24:46.720 other person who called out is just as exhausted as 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:50.840 I am is probably going to get a letter of 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:53.959 warning for calling out. That's another issue. They don't want 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:55.119 you to use your leave. 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:56.760 Jesus Christ. 0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:00.000 I'm going to file an unfair labor practice because they've 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:03.200 and doing that a lot at my office as well. 0:25:03.920 --> 0:25:08.280 It reminds me a lot are issues of your recent episode. 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:11.439 I think it was you about the nurses union the 0:25:11.520 --> 0:25:15.680 shift change episode. Their members are dealing with a lot 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:19.080 of the same things, where the unions are so big 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:23.400 that they become detached from the membership and we are 0:25:23.480 --> 0:25:28.680 finding out afterwards what our bargaining agreements are, what our 0:25:28.720 --> 0:25:34.560 strategy was. Everything's after the contract has been signed, and 0:25:34.720 --> 0:25:37.600 that's just not how unions were meant to be. They're 0:25:37.800 --> 0:25:40.920 meant to be from the bottom up, by the workers, 0:25:40.920 --> 0:25:44.560 for the workers. But it really does feel like it's 0:25:45.280 --> 0:25:48.640 like national is its own entity, and so I guess 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:52.000 that would bring us to talking about the union and 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:53.639 the future of the Union. 0:25:54.320 --> 0:25:55.320 Yeah, let's get into that. 0:25:56.200 --> 0:26:00.119 So I got to be careful here because Brian renfro Oh, 0:26:00.520 --> 0:26:03.720 he's our national leader of the Union. He's been struggling 0:26:03.720 --> 0:26:06.160 with problems in his personal life, and I don't feel 0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:10.320 like I'm outsteeing him as its public knowledge, at least 0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:13.560 within the Post office. It's public knowledge. He's dealing with 0:26:13.600 --> 0:26:18.760 substance abuse, with alcoholism, and that's something that hits very 0:26:18.800 --> 0:26:22.520 close to home within my family, and I really don't 0:26:22.560 --> 0:26:26.920 want to demonize that he's struggling. But what I do 0:26:26.960 --> 0:26:29.480 want to say is when you're going through something like 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:32.920 that and you've accepted a position on the national level 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:36.199 like this, you really need to either step down or 0:26:36.240 --> 0:26:43.440 appoint someone to handle things in your place. As negotiations 0:26:43.480 --> 0:26:47.639 started over a year ago, he kind of went missing 0:26:48.440 --> 0:26:53.000 and it was later revealed that he was inpatient, which 0:26:53.000 --> 0:26:56.720 is fine, get your help, but there was nothing left, 0:26:57.320 --> 0:27:02.320 no notes left for us to strategize with, and our 0:27:02.359 --> 0:27:06.720 membership is just in the dark. And beyond that, the 0:27:06.920 --> 0:27:11.280 leadership has gone missing. It's it's very dark times for 0:27:11.640 --> 0:27:12.360 the NLC. 0:27:14.000 --> 0:27:16.000 Well, and that that's also just sort of like an 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:20.160 organizational problem, right, like if if you're if your organization 0:27:20.240 --> 0:27:22.920 is set up in such a way that a small 0:27:23.000 --> 0:27:27.479 number of people being incapacitated means total paralysis and no 0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:29.639 one has any idea what's going on. That's just a 0:27:29.800 --> 0:27:33.840 bad way to run something. And especially it's a terrible 0:27:33.880 --> 0:27:36.439 way to run a union because the union's you know, 0:27:36.640 --> 0:27:41.080 power is supposed to be from from its organization and 0:27:41.119 --> 0:27:44.280 from the collective power of a large, large, organized group 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:46.239 of people who can make decisions for themselves. And if 0:27:46.280 --> 0:27:48.639 it's if that's not happening and you get to the 0:27:48.640 --> 0:27:51.280 point where these decisions are being made by a very 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:53.760 small number of people who can just sort of vanish, 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:57.119 like that's that for whatever, and you know, literally whatever 0:27:57.119 --> 0:27:58.920 reason that is, right, it could just be you get sick. 0:27:58.960 --> 0:28:02.320 It could just be like what happens. That's just a 0:28:02.400 --> 0:28:05.840 terrible way to organize things. And I guess it's also 0:28:05.880 --> 0:28:07.159 like I want to make take it like like like 0:28:07.160 --> 0:28:09.359 a little tiny tangent to be like, if you're doing 0:28:09.359 --> 0:28:12.760 any organizing project, your goal is to organize yourself out 0:28:12.800 --> 0:28:16.440 of a job. Like you're like, ideally, if you were 0:28:16.560 --> 0:28:18.879 in an organization, it should be able to function without you. 0:28:18.920 --> 0:28:23.000 There should Not having an indispensable person is a fiasco. 0:28:23.160 --> 0:28:23.840 Don't do that. 0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:27.320 This is true of both like your tiny local mutual 0:28:27.320 --> 0:28:29.640 aid group as much as is true of your giant 0:28:29.720 --> 0:28:32.280 national union. So that this this has been this has 0:28:32.280 --> 0:28:35.720 been mea talking about the indispensable person don't have. 0:28:37.160 --> 0:28:40.200 Well, yeah, that's kind of the funny thing about joining 0:28:40.200 --> 0:28:44.720 a union from an anarchist perspective. It gets a little 0:28:44.720 --> 0:28:49.080 funky how hierarchical they typically are and the problems that 0:28:49.120 --> 0:28:51.440 we know we are going to face when you have 0:28:51.520 --> 0:28:57.520 a system that's built like a pyramid. Yeah, oh yeah. 0:28:57.680 --> 0:29:01.040 And so I was saying, we're an dark times, but 0:29:01.080 --> 0:29:04.800 there's such a bright future that I can see for 0:29:04.920 --> 0:29:09.520 us Branch nine of the NALC, and namely this individual 0:29:09.600 --> 0:29:14.000 Tyler Vasser, who when I had originally posted on Reddit 0:29:14.640 --> 0:29:20.440 asking for attention, he's the one that I thought would 0:29:20.520 --> 0:29:25.280 be great for this interview. His branch, Branch nine has 0:29:25.440 --> 0:29:29.080 passed a resolution to form an open bargaining strategy for 0:29:29.280 --> 0:29:33.920 contract negotiations, and I hope this sweeps the nation. We're 0:29:33.960 --> 0:29:37.800 not allowed to strike as I've mentioned, and our leadership 0:29:37.920 --> 0:29:41.880 is so shy when it when it comes to activism 0:29:42.640 --> 0:29:46.280 or mobilization of the workforce. They don't want to touch 0:29:46.320 --> 0:29:48.959 the topic. The closest thing we have to it is 0:29:49.280 --> 0:29:54.640 a rally that is Enough is Enough that's being held 0:29:54.680 --> 0:30:00.280 in Baltimore soon about the violence that's being done to 0:30:00.280 --> 0:30:03.040 to postal workers. We're being robbed and we're being harassed, 0:30:03.640 --> 0:30:07.040 but even then we're missing a large chunk of the 0:30:07.120 --> 0:30:10.640 danger that is posed to postal workers, because yes, we're 0:30:10.640 --> 0:30:13.120 being robbed on the streets, but we're also being bullied 0:30:13.120 --> 0:30:19.120 and harassed inside of our work places by management, by 0:30:19.160 --> 0:30:22.560 the people who are supposed to empower us to do 0:30:22.600 --> 0:30:29.560 the job effectively. And so they don't want to touch 0:30:29.680 --> 0:30:33.120 the topic of a strike, I think, for fear of retaliation. 0:30:33.840 --> 0:30:37.440 But to me, pushing for the right to strike is 0:30:37.480 --> 0:30:41.200 a I'm not sure how to word this. It is 0:30:41.240 --> 0:30:47.680 such an important part of the nilc's identity, the postal 0:30:47.720 --> 0:30:51.719 strike of nineteen seventy, that it seems silly to ignore 0:30:51.720 --> 0:30:56.800 it today and pretend like it didn't happen. So for 0:30:56.840 --> 0:31:01.840 the future, I think that activism is our key to success. 0:31:02.160 --> 0:31:04.120 I think that the old heads that lead our union 0:31:04.600 --> 0:31:07.720 come from a time where unions were frowned upon, where 0:31:07.800 --> 0:31:12.760 activism was frowned upon. But I think that public opinion 0:31:12.960 --> 0:31:16.160 will be largely in our favor, and that public opinion 0:31:17.440 --> 0:31:22.120 can really put pressure on the legislative branch on Congress, 0:31:22.320 --> 0:31:27.480 and if we are transparent about our union, what we're 0:31:27.520 --> 0:31:30.960 asking for the issues that we're facing. I think that 0:31:31.160 --> 0:31:34.680 the public would be on our side if the people 0:31:35.680 --> 0:31:39.120 in America knew that management was falsifying time records or 0:31:39.240 --> 0:31:43.400 training records and interfering with workers' comps, claim and back pay, 0:31:44.920 --> 0:31:48.959 or that they're not paying the settlements that they've agreed 0:31:49.000 --> 0:31:54.160 to pay, that they're not scheduling arbitration sessions big or small, 0:31:55.160 --> 0:31:58.520 that they would care, and that they would join us 0:31:58.560 --> 0:32:03.560 in the streets. And major thing that happened I think 0:32:03.600 --> 0:32:06.920 it was last year in the summer, we had a 0:32:07.000 --> 0:32:11.040 letter carrier. His name is Eugene Gates, who died in 0:32:11.080 --> 0:32:16.120 the Texas heat Jesus because management told him not to 0:32:16.200 --> 0:32:20.320 take as many breaks or he would face discipline. She's 0:32:21.200 --> 0:32:26.800 pressures that we face when when you're threatened that you 0:32:26.840 --> 0:32:29.200 will lose your job if you don't listen to us 0:32:30.320 --> 0:32:34.520 you will push yourself to the point of exhaustion. And further, yeah, 0:32:37.200 --> 0:32:41.760 I think that the post Office killed mister Gates and 0:32:43.240 --> 0:32:49.240 there wasn't as much outcry or or anger behind the movement. 0:32:49.440 --> 0:32:53.760 I often find myself thinking that while I don't have 0:32:53.800 --> 0:32:59.000 the answers, I do know that we need to care more. Yeah, 0:32:59.640 --> 0:33:01.800 and it's hard to care when when you're exhausted. I 0:33:01.840 --> 0:33:02.680 acknowledge that. 0:33:03.840 --> 0:33:04.080 Yeah. 0:33:04.160 --> 0:33:07.320 Well, I think there's two things about that. One, I mean, 0:33:07.360 --> 0:33:10.400 I don't and this is something I've gotten to with 0:33:10.560 --> 0:33:12.320 a lot of the sort of interviews that I've done 0:33:12.360 --> 0:33:16.960 on this show, is that I think a lot of 0:33:17.200 --> 0:33:21.720 very very basic jobs have labor conditions that are unimaginably 0:33:21.760 --> 0:33:25.560 appalling that people just don't know about. And I think 0:33:25.560 --> 0:33:28.280 people are very sympathetic too, once they actually understand what's 0:33:28.280 --> 0:33:30.760 happening in the kind of just horror show stuff that's 0:33:30.760 --> 0:33:34.120 happening in these workplaces. And the second thing I think 0:33:34.120 --> 0:33:37.640 that's sort of important in terms of getting people to 0:33:38.400 --> 0:33:42.440 you know, like trying to actually do like mass mobilizations 0:33:42.480 --> 0:33:44.480 even just to get people to understand what's going on, 0:33:44.640 --> 0:33:46.360 is that I think a lot of people who are 0:33:46.360 --> 0:33:49.200 facing these kinds of conditions, think that they're alone and 0:33:49.280 --> 0:33:51.600 think that it's just something that happens to them, or 0:33:52.240 --> 0:33:54.120 they've been in them for so long they think that 0:33:54.160 --> 0:33:57.720 it's sort of normal. And having a bunch of people 0:33:57.840 --> 0:34:02.120 go no, like a happens and be it shouldn't happen 0:34:03.040 --> 0:34:07.680 is extraordinarily powerful because you know like that that feeling 0:34:07.720 --> 0:34:11.359 of isolation is is the thing that all of that 0:34:11.600 --> 0:34:14.759 you know, you're that your bosses depend on to make 0:34:14.800 --> 0:34:17.480 sure that you know you you just keep going along 0:34:17.520 --> 0:34:20.600 with these conditions even though they are just objectively horrific, 0:34:21.320 --> 0:34:24.480 And I think any strategy that's not based on that 0:34:25.080 --> 0:34:27.640 is just not going to go anywhere. 0:34:28.320 --> 0:34:31.200 Right And one of the strategies that I really want 0:34:31.239 --> 0:34:35.279 to push forward as I grow within the union. And 0:34:35.320 --> 0:34:37.160 don't get me wrong, I want to stay as steward. 0:34:37.200 --> 0:34:41.239 I think that educating our members and uh being part 0:34:41.280 --> 0:34:45.040 of the workforce is my place in the union. But 0:34:45.640 --> 0:34:49.040 what I want to push is for union solidarity. I 0:34:49.080 --> 0:34:55.680 want the NLC to hire organizers, specifically organizers to try 0:34:55.719 --> 0:34:59.680 and get the public mobilized and as well as the 0:34:59.680 --> 0:35:03.360 work so that we can put pressure on Congress so 0:35:03.400 --> 0:35:06.800 that we can show our bargaining teams that we support 0:35:06.880 --> 0:35:10.960 them and so that we can have clearly defined bargaining terms. 0:35:11.800 --> 0:35:16.799 And yeah, I think that having solidarity between unions and 0:35:16.840 --> 0:35:22.200 reaching out to the other movements in a time where 0:35:22.800 --> 0:35:26.520 union support is higher than ever is such a clear 0:35:26.640 --> 0:35:31.320 path that we are just ignoring for whatever reason because 0:35:31.360 --> 0:35:35.560 people are afraid to speak out against the Post Office. 0:35:35.719 --> 0:35:38.200 And so I'm really not sure what's going to happen 0:35:38.440 --> 0:35:41.160 with our current contract, but I do know that the 0:35:41.200 --> 0:35:44.560 fight never ends, and that while we stand on the 0:35:44.560 --> 0:35:47.879 shoulders of giants, we have to pay respect to these 0:35:47.920 --> 0:35:52.080 giants by not giving up now. And I'm a relatively 0:35:52.120 --> 0:35:56.239 new employee and steward, but I'm really walking in the 0:35:56.280 --> 0:36:02.320 footsteps of some warriors. The brand president I mentioned, Ken Lurch, 0:36:02.920 --> 0:36:06.200 has given me so much support and education and has 0:36:06.239 --> 0:36:09.160 done so much hard work over the years that I 0:36:09.200 --> 0:36:11.400 don't have to reinvent the wheel, none of us do. 0:36:12.360 --> 0:36:14.080 We just have to continue the struggle. 0:36:16.520 --> 0:36:18.760 Yeah, And I think I think that's a great place 0:36:18.800 --> 0:36:20.840 to end. You unless you have anything else that you 0:36:20.840 --> 0:36:21.840 want to make sure we get. 0:36:21.719 --> 0:36:26.480 To no, nothing, nothing on this topic. 0:36:27.360 --> 0:36:30.319 Yeah, So how can how can people support you and 0:36:30.440 --> 0:36:33.400 postal workers just in general? If there's specific place you 0:36:33.400 --> 0:36:33.960 want them to go. 0:36:35.800 --> 0:36:40.839 In general, there is on the na LC site, which 0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:44.240 is just an AOC dot com, there is a section 0:36:44.440 --> 0:36:48.399 where you put in your address and it it'll give 0:36:48.440 --> 0:36:54.800 you the email addresses, the phone numbers for your representatives 0:36:54.880 --> 0:36:59.759 so that you can make some noise. Again, we're amazingly 0:36:59.800 --> 0:37:01.839 lim in what we can do, so there's not really 0:37:01.880 --> 0:37:07.760 anything that you can donate to to help us, including 0:37:07.800 --> 0:37:11.600 the letter carrier political fund. But yeah, just pay attention 0:37:11.880 --> 0:37:14.799 to us. Maybe leave a bottle of water out in 0:37:14.840 --> 0:37:17.960 your front door, says for the postal worker. You know, 0:37:18.440 --> 0:37:23.040 there's nothing better that you can do than talking about it. 0:37:23.080 --> 0:37:25.200 Word of mouth is the best advertisement. 0:37:26.400 --> 0:37:27.960 Well, yeah, we will, we will. We will put that 0:37:28.000 --> 0:37:30.800 in the show notes. Help you all win. And I 0:37:30.840 --> 0:37:33.000 don't I don't think I've ever said this genuinely in 0:37:33.040 --> 0:37:34.600 my life, but thank you for your service. 0:37:36.600 --> 0:37:40.440 I appreciate that. Yeah. I never imagined myself to become 0:37:40.440 --> 0:37:44.239 a federal employee, and it is just as bad as 0:37:44.280 --> 0:37:49.080 I imagined. Yeah, so I do want to shout out 0:37:49.160 --> 0:37:52.920 Actually it's a little meta, I guess, but I do 0:37:53.000 --> 0:37:56.759 want to shout out some important episodes of it could 0:37:56.760 --> 0:38:01.319 happen here. That hit me very closely if I can. Yeah, yeah, 0:38:01.400 --> 0:38:04.720 go for it, because a lot of the people listening 0:38:04.760 --> 0:38:08.080 will be postal workers that have been pointed in this direction. 0:38:08.920 --> 0:38:14.360 Please look at the Mayan mar episodes, the Free Burmer, 0:38:14.880 --> 0:38:18.840 the Burmese Revolution, and look at the work that me. 0:38:19.000 --> 0:38:22.360 I believe you've done the same work as James with 0:38:22.520 --> 0:38:27.240 border kindness. Those are two topics that I think y'all 0:38:27.320 --> 0:38:31.400 hit really well and that really touched me as a person. 0:38:32.000 --> 0:38:35.040 Sometimes I'll relisten to those episodes when I'm having a 0:38:35.120 --> 0:38:38.680 hard day just to remind myself that it's all the same. 0:38:39.440 --> 0:38:40.799 It's all the same fight. 0:38:43.239 --> 0:38:45.120 Yeah, it absolutely is, And I mean I think that's 0:38:45.160 --> 0:38:47.520 that's sort of the beauty. I mean, it's both the 0:38:47.560 --> 0:38:51.319 beauty and the horror of this world is that on 0:38:51.400 --> 0:38:54.480 the one hand, all of us are being crushed by 0:38:54.520 --> 0:38:56.319 the same sets of forces. But on the other hand, 0:38:56.480 --> 0:38:59.120 it means that whatever fight that you're taking is also 0:38:59.680 --> 0:39:01.759 a part of the larger fight forget all. 0:39:01.640 --> 0:39:02.160 Of us free. 0:39:03.960 --> 0:39:07.400 Yeah, exactly, So just fight the burnout and stay in 0:39:07.440 --> 0:39:07.759 the fight. 0:39:08.480 --> 0:39:08.719 Yep. 0:39:10.560 --> 0:39:13.600 Yeah, this is been nicked up here. Go make trouble 0:39:13.640 --> 0:39:14.439 for people who suck. 0:39:38.800 --> 0:39:41.640 Robert Evans here, and this is it could happen here, 0:39:41.760 --> 0:39:46.239 and boy, it sure is now. I don't know where 0:39:46.239 --> 0:39:49.279 we go from this point, and neither does anyone else. 0:39:49.880 --> 0:39:52.040 On the moment before I wrote this, I woke up, 0:39:52.080 --> 0:39:55.600 groggy from my chemically assisted sleep to a barrage of horror. 0:39:56.000 --> 0:40:00.360 Donald Trump signing Anti Tran's legislation into law, Elon Musk 0:40:00.440 --> 0:40:04.600 giving a double fascist salute, Donald Trump's saluting and dancing 0:40:04.640 --> 0:40:07.800 with the village people, proud boys tramping through the streets 0:40:07.840 --> 0:40:12.160 of our nation's capital, reveling in their newfound impunity. The 0:40:12.280 --> 0:40:15.520 dark days have come again because they never really left. 0:40:16.120 --> 0:40:19.080 All the battles and street fighting and organizing from twenty 0:40:19.120 --> 0:40:22.280 seventeen to twenty twenty brought us four years of badly 0:40:22.360 --> 0:40:28.440 negotiated peace while the rot continued unabated rot. It's a 0:40:28.520 --> 0:40:31.319 term I see a lot these days. My colleague and 0:40:31.400 --> 0:40:34.440 friend ed Zetron refers to the hell our tech oligarchs 0:40:34.480 --> 0:40:38.680 continue to force upon us as the rot economy. Charlie Angus, 0:40:38.719 --> 0:40:41.880 a member of the Canadian Parliament, used the term rage 0:40:41.960 --> 0:40:45.480 rot to refer to now President Trump's Christmas Day message 0:40:45.600 --> 0:40:49.239 suggesting Canada should become the fifty first State. Over the 0:40:49.320 --> 0:40:52.840 last year, I've seen a slew of articles bemoaning democratic decay, 0:40:53.280 --> 0:40:56.520 the rot plaguing democracy, and the deep rot at the 0:40:56.520 --> 0:41:00.000 heart of our political system. One thing I have done 0:40:59.760 --> 0:41:02.880 the last four years is learn how to efficiently process 0:41:02.920 --> 0:41:06.000 the carcasses of wild animals. So I hunt to raise 0:41:06.120 --> 0:41:09.120 and slaughter, but many are roadkill, harvested from the side 0:41:09.120 --> 0:41:12.400 of the road. My family comes from rural Oklahoma, so 0:41:12.480 --> 0:41:15.960 perhaps there's some epigenetic hillbilly memory that makes this so 0:41:16.040 --> 0:41:19.160 satisfying to me. But it's also changed the way I 0:41:19.280 --> 0:41:23.879 understand the word rot. Rot starts from the bone. If 0:41:23.920 --> 0:41:25.879 you look at the back leg of an animal that's 0:41:25.880 --> 0:41:28.239 been hit by a truck, you'll see it spreading a 0:41:28.280 --> 0:41:31.400 deep black bruise from the ball and socket joint out. 0:41:31.960 --> 0:41:34.120 If your goal is to preserve good meat, then the 0:41:34.200 --> 0:41:36.480 key is to remove those limbs from the body and 0:41:36.480 --> 0:41:39.280 then the meat from the bone sooner rather than later. 0:41:40.000 --> 0:41:42.200 When I think of rot and how to arrest it, 0:41:42.560 --> 0:41:46.040 I think of dismemberment. This seems to be the one 0:41:46.080 --> 0:41:49.520 thing that almost every political person in the country agrees 0:41:49.560 --> 0:41:54.000 with the United States as it is, must be dismembered, disassembled, 0:41:54.040 --> 0:41:57.239 sliced from the rotten bone and changed into something more 0:41:57.280 --> 0:42:01.080 palatable for whoever holds the knife. Joe Biden and the 0:42:01.080 --> 0:42:05.280 Democratic Party failed primarily because they refuse to start cutting. 0:42:05.719 --> 0:42:09.719 Their successors will not make the same mistake on the 0:42:09.719 --> 0:42:11.839 opposing side of the isle. Today, I see a lot 0:42:11.840 --> 0:42:14.759 of angry people arguing about what the knife ought to 0:42:14.800 --> 0:42:16.960 be cutting, and how much better they'd use it if 0:42:17.000 --> 0:42:20.120 it passed into their hands. That doesn't help any of 0:42:20.200 --> 0:42:23.680 us right now. Migrants are dying of thirst while vigilantes 0:42:23.719 --> 0:42:27.399 destroy water drops left by activists who themselves will likely 0:42:27.440 --> 0:42:31.239 be criminalized in the near future. Homeless Americans trying not 0:42:31.280 --> 0:42:34.120 to freeze to death at knight may soon find themselves arrested, 0:42:34.320 --> 0:42:37.120 forced into camps where they'll be made to labor for pennies. 0:42:37.760 --> 0:42:40.919 Neo Nazi's cheer as the billionaire behind the throne makes 0:42:40.960 --> 0:42:44.840 fascist salutes from the White House with smirking impunity. The 0:42:44.920 --> 0:42:47.800 knife is so far away from our hands, I find 0:42:47.800 --> 0:42:51.359 myself distrusting anyone who wastes time bemoaning how it ought 0:42:51.400 --> 0:42:54.480 to be used. Where does that leave us, though? Is 0:42:54.520 --> 0:42:57.720 there anything to do in this deep winter besides listen 0:42:57.800 --> 0:43:01.279 to the jackals? Howling outside our doors. I have an 0:43:01.320 --> 0:43:05.160 answer to this question. Yes, now is the time to 0:43:05.280 --> 0:43:09.800 try to test the boundaries of our collective cage. Now 0:43:10.120 --> 0:43:13.120 is the time to experiment. Since the time of the 0:43:13.160 --> 0:43:16.000 Founding Fathers, this country and its system have been referred 0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:19.879 to as the American Experiment. One could see the very 0:43:19.960 --> 0:43:25.200 terms narcissistic, yet another solipsistic gasp of American exceptionalism. But 0:43:25.280 --> 0:43:27.720 I tend to think the appellation is one we've earned. 0:43:28.200 --> 0:43:30.960 This country is and always has been a test tube 0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:34.320 for new, often bad ideas about how a society ought 0:43:34.360 --> 0:43:39.319 to run. American civilization's only core value is throw shit 0:43:39.440 --> 0:43:43.360 at the wall and see what sticks. That also happens 0:43:43.360 --> 0:43:47.279 to be the only real way to fight back against authoritarianism. 0:43:47.600 --> 0:43:50.600 There's a scientific paper I bring up often, the evolution 0:43:50.680 --> 0:43:53.920 of overconfidence, which set out to explain why people so 0:43:54.120 --> 0:43:58.960 often badly overestimate their own abilities. The authors pondered quote 0:44:00.000 --> 0:44:05.239 infidence also leads to faulty assessments, unrealistic expectations, and hazardous decisions. 0:44:05.560 --> 0:44:07.920 So it remains a puzzle how such a false belief 0:44:07.920 --> 0:44:11.400 could evolve or remain stable in a population of competing 0:44:11.440 --> 0:44:17.319 strategies that include accurate unbiased beliefs now. The conclusion these 0:44:17.360 --> 0:44:21.239 researchers came to was that when significant resources are contested 0:44:21.280 --> 0:44:24.799 between two organisms, the organism most willing to try to 0:44:24.840 --> 0:44:27.920 take said resources, even if it is not the strongest, 0:44:28.239 --> 0:44:32.920 tends to succeed, often enough to make overconfidence evolutionarily beneficial. 0:44:33.680 --> 0:44:37.240 This is the most basic explanation for how fascist movements 0:44:37.280 --> 0:44:42.640 continue to arise and improbably take power. Put simply, they 0:44:42.680 --> 0:44:46.719 always go for it. January sixth provides us with a 0:44:46.800 --> 0:44:51.719 fine example. It was a ludicrous, idiotic, reckless burst of stupidity, 0:44:51.960 --> 0:44:55.799 mocked for years by everyone except the perpetrators, who four 0:44:55.880 --> 0:44:59.919 years later find themselves with ultimate power. They didn't win 0:45:00.120 --> 0:45:03.880 because they were the strongest. They won because they kept trying, 0:45:04.360 --> 0:45:07.080 and the people who should have stopped them feared bad press, 0:45:07.280 --> 0:45:10.839 the pushback of looking unfair, and so stood back well. 0:45:10.840 --> 0:45:14.680 The fascists made smaller grabs, gobbling up bits of the media, 0:45:14.760 --> 0:45:18.719 local school boards, and narrative oxygen around issues like immigration 0:45:19.920 --> 0:45:24.640 and now, well, we're here, and we'll continue to talk 0:45:24.680 --> 0:45:41.520 about here after these ads we're back. The coming days 0:45:41.560 --> 0:45:43.759 will be ugly. Yet I feel it's my job to 0:45:43.800 --> 0:45:46.239 remind you that bad as this is We are not 0:45:46.480 --> 0:45:50.080 ym our Germany, and this is not nineteen thirty three. 0:45:50.120 --> 0:45:53.239 Trump and his lieutenants aren't battle hardened trench fighters. They're 0:45:53.239 --> 0:45:56.880 elon musk and a coterie of half enthusiastic, half frightened 0:45:56.920 --> 0:45:59.840 billionaires who got rich gambling on apps to let you 0:46:00.040 --> 0:46:03.839 rate your classmates tits. Their foot soldiers are used car 0:46:03.880 --> 0:46:08.360 salesmen from Encino, not Freikorps. The United States is not 0:46:08.520 --> 0:46:12.800 starving to death crippled by war. It's irritated anxious because 0:46:12.800 --> 0:46:15.479 it's working people have been robbed blind by the same 0:46:15.560 --> 0:46:19.680 billionaires standing behind Trump now. The one thing we do 0:46:19.760 --> 0:46:22.399 have in common with Weimar is that our fascists now 0:46:22.440 --> 0:46:25.120 find themselves at the head of a state that capitulated 0:46:25.160 --> 0:46:30.080 to them, not out of enthusiastic consent, but exhaustion, cowardice, 0:46:30.120 --> 0:46:33.080 and above all, a feeling that it didn't really matter 0:46:34.000 --> 0:46:36.920 that last one, the feeling that nothing matters. The system 0:46:36.960 --> 0:46:40.279 as fucked, there's no point in engaging or organizing. That 0:46:40.480 --> 0:46:43.920 is the most powerful weapon they have right now, because 0:46:43.920 --> 0:46:47.000 that feeling stops you and everyone else from opposing them, 0:46:47.239 --> 0:46:50.239 from interrupting as they reach out yet again to take 0:46:50.320 --> 0:46:54.239 something you love or need. But there's a danger here too. 0:46:54.600 --> 0:46:58.480 In moments of stress and anger, the desire to do something, anything, 0:46:58.920 --> 0:47:02.920 can be intense, and when we're swept up in that mood, 0:47:03.040 --> 0:47:06.880 the natural tendency is defaulting to the things we know best, 0:47:07.239 --> 0:47:10.640 the things we've done before, the marches and chants and 0:47:10.719 --> 0:47:14.040 poster boards we've been walking and shouting and carrying all 0:47:14.200 --> 0:47:18.680 century long. Going back to those tactics without iteration or 0:47:18.760 --> 0:47:22.480 acknowledgment of their limitations and failures is a road to 0:47:22.640 --> 0:47:26.400 more failure. I've been to a lot of protests, starting 0:47:26.440 --> 0:47:29.399 at Zuccati Park in twenty eleven an ending last year 0:47:29.440 --> 0:47:32.879 in Chicago at the dn C. One of the most 0:47:32.920 --> 0:47:35.760 dispeariting moments of my life was listening to young anti 0:47:35.800 --> 0:47:40.200 genocide activistsbow to shut down the DNC to quote make 0:47:40.239 --> 0:47:43.520 it great like sixty eight. This was a reference to 0:47:43.560 --> 0:47:47.719 the nineteen sixty eight Democratic Convention. Mass protests were ignited 0:47:47.719 --> 0:47:51.080 there when the favorite anti war candidate, Eugene McCarthy was 0:47:51.200 --> 0:47:54.680 ratfucked by Democratic Party insiders in favor of Vice President 0:47:54.800 --> 0:47:58.880 Hubert Humphrey. The protests were quashed violently with tear gas 0:47:58.880 --> 0:48:03.279 and truncheons. Testers chanted the whole world is watching, and 0:48:03.360 --> 0:48:06.680 it's been a chant ever since. The world may have 0:48:06.719 --> 0:48:10.360 been watching then, but the war went on. Nixon won election, 0:48:10.560 --> 0:48:13.600 then reelection, and then finally pulled US troops out of 0:48:13.680 --> 0:48:17.360 Vietnam after dropping enough bombs on Southeast Asia to have 0:48:17.480 --> 0:48:21.759 ended several Third reips. In twenty twenty four, a new 0:48:21.800 --> 0:48:25.280 batch of anti war protesters chanted the whole world is watching, 0:48:25.480 --> 0:48:29.840 and I can say unequivocally it was not. The Only 0:48:29.880 --> 0:48:33.400 people watching were me, several other journalists, and of course 0:48:33.600 --> 0:48:37.160 some people on Twitter. The police, as they kettled Maston 0:48:37.280 --> 0:48:40.680 arrested members of the crowd barely seemed to care. The 0:48:40.760 --> 0:48:44.719 DNC didn't shut down. Kamala Harris was made the nominee. 0:48:45.000 --> 0:48:47.479 There wasn't even a real anti war candidate for party 0:48:47.560 --> 0:48:51.360 insiders to rat fuck in her favor. Garrison Davis, my 0:48:51.440 --> 0:48:54.440 colleague and friend, remarked to me afterwards that the DNC 0:48:54.719 --> 0:48:58.440 had been somehow much more depressing than its Republican counterpart 0:48:58.520 --> 0:49:02.880 a month earlier. He was right on the stage floor. 0:49:02.960 --> 0:49:06.120 All the Democrats had to present were aging celebrities and 0:49:06.239 --> 0:49:10.480 build goddamn Clinton, drooling out the same platitudes that led 0:49:10.560 --> 0:49:12.960 us to the Trump era. In the first place, and 0:49:13.040 --> 0:49:15.960 doing their best to ignore delegates who walked out and 0:49:16.120 --> 0:49:19.040 slept in front of the convention center to protest the 0:49:19.080 --> 0:49:22.759 genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, in the streets, a lot of 0:49:22.920 --> 0:49:27.080 very nice, earnest people alongside a handful of grifters did 0:49:27.080 --> 0:49:29.720 the only thing they could think of doing after months 0:49:29.719 --> 0:49:33.960 of imbibing footage of war crimes. They walked around and shouted. 0:49:34.560 --> 0:49:37.440 The police, and the city largely let them because they 0:49:37.480 --> 0:49:40.359 knew none of it was going to change a goddamn thing. 0:49:41.760 --> 0:49:45.799 I'd felt tremendous optimism right after Joe Biden resigned, not 0:49:45.960 --> 0:49:49.040 because I loved Kamala, but because it was something shocking, 0:49:49.280 --> 0:49:52.799 an upset, an experiment, or at least it seemed that way. 0:49:52.840 --> 0:49:56.759 At first. The DNC made it clear that Biden's advisors 0:49:56.800 --> 0:50:00.440 and consiglieris, the powers behind the throne, still ran the 0:50:00.480 --> 0:50:04.080 show and would not allow any real change. The rot 0:50:04.160 --> 0:50:09.120 had spread too far, spoiling the meat, spoiling everything. It 0:50:09.239 --> 0:50:12.560 was my accurate belief in twenty twenty that the Democratic Party, 0:50:12.600 --> 0:50:15.759 broken as it was, had the numbers in the organizational 0:50:15.800 --> 0:50:19.240 capacity to slow the spread of fascism for a short time. 0:50:20.000 --> 0:50:22.719 It was my inaccurate belief in twenty twenty four that 0:50:22.800 --> 0:50:25.760 this might still be the case. I had a hope 0:50:25.960 --> 0:50:30.040 because I'd lost any sense of actual productive optimism. We 0:50:30.239 --> 0:50:32.880 lean on hope when we have no ideas. To brace 0:50:32.880 --> 0:50:37.600 ourselves against hope, as George Miller reminded, us, is a mistake. 0:50:38.040 --> 0:50:41.719 If you don't fix what's broken, you'll go crazy. And 0:50:41.760 --> 0:50:45.880 that's where we are now going crazy. Committed Democrats, the decent, 0:50:46.040 --> 0:50:49.200 regular people who fill the party, not the soulless shogoths 0:50:49.239 --> 0:50:53.160 of capital running things, are going crazy because we returned 0:50:53.160 --> 0:50:56.520 to normal, decent politician to office. He kept the economy 0:50:56.560 --> 0:51:00.720 humming along, and everyone still hated him. Us are crazy 0:51:00.800 --> 0:51:03.879 for a different reason. In twenty twenty, this country saw 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:07.440 the largest sustained uprising of its modern history, and nothing 0:51:07.680 --> 0:51:12.680 fundamentally changed in its aftermath. The oligarchs who control social 0:51:12.719 --> 0:51:16.640 media set to tweaking, buying, or outright inverting their algorithms 0:51:16.640 --> 0:51:19.560 to ensure no similar movement whatever gain that kind of 0:51:19.600 --> 0:51:23.960 steam again. Their efforts have largely been successful, and yet 0:51:24.000 --> 0:51:29.480 many organizers, be they progressive, social democrats, communists, anarchists, whatever, 0:51:29.920 --> 0:51:33.200 they're all still stuck in the same loops behind each 0:51:33.280 --> 0:51:36.800 march to nowhere, and tired chant is an equally tired hope. 0:51:37.160 --> 0:51:40.960 The social Democrats dream of a giant, continent sized Denmark 0:51:41.040 --> 0:51:45.000 with cyclists replacing Ford trucks, universal healthcare, good schools, and 0:51:45.040 --> 0:51:48.520 a bevy of other lovely things. Both political parties will 0:51:48.560 --> 0:51:52.400 fight tooth and nail to prevent. The communists dream of 0:51:52.440 --> 0:51:55.839 a new October Revolution, but this one will work and 0:51:55.880 --> 0:51:58.640 not just create a new kind of dictatorship that ages 0:51:58.680 --> 0:52:01.640 and dies inside the space of a single human lifetime. 0:52:02.800 --> 0:52:06.080 Anarchists tend to be very good at seeing the flaws 0:52:06.120 --> 0:52:08.319 and the logic and futility of the hopes of the 0:52:08.360 --> 0:52:11.719 two previous groups, but they are just as bereft of 0:52:11.840 --> 0:52:15.879 ideas for how to stop what's coming. Some tendencies dream 0:52:15.920 --> 0:52:20.640 of collapse, maybe even accelerationism, an end to industrial society, 0:52:20.920 --> 0:52:23.719 and then either living in the woods eating berries, or 0:52:23.760 --> 0:52:27.600 some kind of solar punk day dream wildflowers spouting from rubble. 0:52:28.120 --> 0:52:31.960 I sympathize, but try offering either future to a single 0:52:32.000 --> 0:52:34.680 mom who can't afford her five year old's insulin and 0:52:34.760 --> 0:52:38.120 see how excited she gets. On the other side of 0:52:38.160 --> 0:52:40.560 the anarchist coin, you've got the helpers the people who 0:52:40.640 --> 0:52:43.360 cheerfully admit they don't know how to solve the big problem, 0:52:43.440 --> 0:52:45.960 but they do know how to provide free eye exams 0:52:45.960 --> 0:52:48.360 to homeless people once a month, or do water drops 0:52:48.400 --> 0:52:51.200 down at the border so migrants don't die of dehydration, 0:52:51.840 --> 0:52:54.400 or make it more expensive for the state to bulldoze 0:52:54.400 --> 0:52:57.759 a forest and build a police training facility. If you 0:52:57.840 --> 0:53:01.319 are where we all are right now, ideas staring down 0:53:01.360 --> 0:53:03.759 the barrel of a nightmare, those are good folks to know. 0:53:04.160 --> 0:53:07.560 Like everyone else, they're defaulting to what they've been doing, 0:53:07.880 --> 0:53:11.440 but at least what they've been doing helps people. The 0:53:11.560 --> 0:53:14.480 larger solutions to our common woes, if they ever arrive, 0:53:14.680 --> 0:53:18.759 will be something new, something we haven't tried yet. I 0:53:18.840 --> 0:53:21.840 feel very confident that they won't take the form of 0:53:21.880 --> 0:53:25.080 another march, or involve everyone finally agreeing to be the 0:53:25.120 --> 0:53:28.799 same kind of communist or anarchist or whatever. Sean Fain, 0:53:28.960 --> 0:53:31.520 chief of the United Autoworkers' Union, has called for a 0:53:31.560 --> 0:53:33.920 general strike in twenty twenty eight, and so far that 0:53:34.040 --> 0:53:36.720 is the only clear plan I have heard from anyone 0:53:36.920 --> 0:53:39.320 that feels like it has a ghost of a chance. 0:53:40.160 --> 0:53:43.759 It is audacious, and I recommend reading what Sean's laid 0:53:43.760 --> 0:53:46.279 out about it. But half of why I support the 0:53:46.320 --> 0:53:50.360 idea is because it's audacious. The religious right got to 0:53:50.400 --> 0:53:53.800 where they are right now in this country by being bold, as. 0:53:53.640 --> 0:53:54.560 I laid out earlier. 0:53:54.880 --> 0:53:58.600 Fascists win because they try, and this is something we 0:53:58.760 --> 0:54:03.080 need to copy. Shit can be different, but not unless 0:54:03.120 --> 0:54:07.799 you're willing to try different shit. Many pundits and columnists 0:54:07.800 --> 0:54:10.160 were shocked and horrified by the mass of an instant 0:54:10.200 --> 0:54:13.640 support for Luigim Mangioni when he assassinated the CEO of 0:54:13.719 --> 0:54:17.920 United Healthcare. Both the tutting gatekeepers of traditional media and 0:54:17.960 --> 0:54:22.640 the actually sweating oligarchs characterize this as evidence of bloodthirstiness. 0:54:23.280 --> 0:54:26.880 Some leftists did the same and interpreted support for Luigi 0:54:27.000 --> 0:54:30.560 as proof that the body politic did indeed have energy 0:54:30.640 --> 0:54:34.480 for an uprising. I saw something a bit different, more 0:54:34.520 --> 0:54:37.680 than the actual killing itself. I think people were excited 0:54:37.719 --> 0:54:42.560 to see someone try something new. Luigi adopted a novel tactic. 0:54:42.840 --> 0:54:45.480 He carried it out in a novel way, and in 0:54:45.520 --> 0:54:47.759 doing so, he did more to punish one of the 0:54:47.800 --> 0:54:52.880 oligarchs bleeding us dry than the entire occupy movement. Novelty 0:54:53.040 --> 0:54:57.160 is the one thing that ties Donald Trump and Luigimanngioni together. 0:54:57.680 --> 0:55:01.560 The enthusiastic public response to both men's actions and the 0:55:01.640 --> 0:55:07.279 simultaneous revulsion of traditional elites are mirrors of themselves. In 0:55:07.360 --> 0:55:10.920 twenty twenty four, Trump still had enough novelty to convince 0:55:10.960 --> 0:55:13.759 people that he might upset the apple cart in a 0:55:13.760 --> 0:55:17.719 way that benefited them. He rode a global anti incumbent 0:55:17.760 --> 0:55:21.160 wave back to the White House. The consequence of this 0:55:21.360 --> 0:55:23.439 is that he and his are now on their way 0:55:23.480 --> 0:55:27.160 to becoming the new establishment. This is the downside of 0:55:27.200 --> 0:55:30.520 the fact that most legacy media outlets have started moderating 0:55:30.520 --> 0:55:34.120 their coverage of Trump, if not embracing him outright, he 0:55:34.200 --> 0:55:38.600 is being normalized. His toadies, Musk chief among them, are 0:55:38.640 --> 0:55:43.400 now our legitimate powers. What novelty remains will fade rapidly. 0:55:44.080 --> 0:55:46.040 I suspect the same thing will be true of the 0:55:46.080 --> 0:55:50.000 copycats who follow in Luigi Maggioni's footsteps. Most of his 0:55:50.040 --> 0:55:53.360 plagiarists won't be good at what they do. At best, 0:55:53.480 --> 0:55:56.319 newly heightened security will see these people dropped before they 0:55:56.320 --> 0:55:59.399 get to pull a trigger. At worst, innocent folks will 0:55:59.440 --> 0:56:01.799 be killed or aimed by bullets and bombs that fail 0:56:01.920 --> 0:56:04.680 to hit their intended targets or do, but with a 0:56:04.680 --> 0:56:08.319 lot of collateral damage. So I don't know what the 0:56:08.360 --> 0:56:12.040 next new thing to actually work will be. But between 0:56:12.080 --> 0:56:15.760 Trump and Luigi, there aren't many old norms left to shatter. 0:56:16.280 --> 0:56:19.600 We are in a time of enormous potential. Many new 0:56:19.680 --> 0:56:21.880 things are about to be tried, and as awful and 0:56:21.920 --> 0:56:24.120 bloody as the fallout from some of them will be, 0:56:24.880 --> 0:56:27.839 we all have no choice but to strap in and 0:56:27.960 --> 0:56:31.160 roll some dice of our own. The present is ugly, 0:56:31.680 --> 0:56:34.640 the future unwritten, but the only way we'll make it 0:56:34.640 --> 0:56:38.360 a better one is if we embrace boldness, creativity, and 0:56:38.640 --> 0:56:43.279 perhaps a little over confidence of our own. And this 0:56:43.400 --> 0:56:45.240 is not the end of the episode. We've got something 0:56:45.239 --> 0:57:01.760 else for you, folks. But first, here's another ad break. Okay, everybody, 0:57:01.800 --> 0:57:04.160 we're back, And obviously what you just listened to is 0:57:04.200 --> 0:57:07.400 an essay I wrote about my thoughts and feelings today, 0:57:07.920 --> 0:57:11.160 the first day of the new Trump administration. I felt 0:57:11.200 --> 0:57:13.800 like that wasn't quite enough. And the first thing I 0:57:13.840 --> 0:57:16.440 actually came across this morning when I woke up, before 0:57:16.480 --> 0:57:19.760 I started subjecting myself to a barrage of horrible news, 0:57:20.280 --> 0:57:23.200 was a poem written by a friend of mine, Emily Gorzyinski. 0:57:24.120 --> 0:57:27.120 It's called the Time of Cowards, and I think it's 0:57:27.680 --> 0:57:30.720 a very useful thing for you to hear right now. 0:57:30.760 --> 0:57:32.880 I think it's a good companion to what I wrote, 0:57:32.960 --> 0:57:36.160 So I'm going to let Emily take it away before 0:57:36.200 --> 0:57:38.400 I do that. If you want to read the poem 0:57:38.440 --> 0:57:41.080 in text form or find her other work, you can 0:57:41.120 --> 0:57:45.640 go to Emily Gorzynski g o r ce n ski 0:57:46.120 --> 0:57:49.440 dot com. That's Emily g o r c e n 0:57:49.560 --> 0:57:51.160 ski dot com. 0:57:51.680 --> 0:57:51.840 Here. 0:57:51.840 --> 0:57:53.560 It is the time of cowards. 0:57:58.080 --> 0:58:00.640 It is the time of the coward. Is the age 0:58:00.640 --> 0:58:04.160 of the lyre and greed and avarice and lost boys 0:58:04.200 --> 0:58:08.360 and a dopamine hit in fractals and velocity and velocity 0:58:08.480 --> 0:58:11.480 and velocity, and go, go, go, don't stop. Don't stop 0:58:11.520 --> 0:58:17.120 to realize the indecency, the disloyalty, the dishonor, the discreditability, 0:58:17.360 --> 0:58:21.840 the parsimony, the hordes hoarded behind the gates, the gatekeepers keep. 0:58:22.840 --> 0:58:25.960 This is the dawn of masculine energy, not the energy 0:58:25.960 --> 0:58:28.959 your father taught you about measuring twice and cutting once, 0:58:29.560 --> 0:58:32.840 about picking yourself up and how the sting of hydrogen 0:58:32.920 --> 0:58:37.120 peroxide means it's working or your grandfather who spent the 0:58:37.200 --> 0:58:39.720 days you spent smoking weed behind a seven to eleven, 0:58:39.880 --> 0:58:43.680 serving on a torpedo boat, waiting for the sharks, who 0:58:43.720 --> 0:58:46.480 never failed to stop to lend a hand to those 0:58:46.520 --> 0:58:50.000 in need, or say grace before dinner, or to help 0:58:50.040 --> 0:58:52.560 you with your math homework, or teach you not to 0:58:52.600 --> 0:58:55.480 wear a necktie at a lathe. This is the year 0:58:55.520 --> 0:58:58.840 of cutting once and never measuring. Pencil in the blueprints 0:58:58.840 --> 0:59:02.360 with whatever comes out. It's faster that way. The season 0:59:02.400 --> 0:59:05.800 of hypocrites, and not of confidence, but confidence men. The 0:59:05.840 --> 0:59:09.960 masculine energy of the can, the scam, the bamboozle, the fraud, 0:59:10.680 --> 0:59:12.840 the pulling of the rug and the begging of the question. 0:59:13.760 --> 0:59:16.600 Now is the killing hour. The clockhands float over the 0:59:16.600 --> 0:59:19.080 blood in the streets, and the rage, and the rage, 0:59:19.080 --> 0:59:24.800 and the uncorked hatred overflows, the minutes of impotence, expanding overflowing, fizzling. 0:59:25.640 --> 0:59:28.960 Deception gives way to more deception. Not a single promise 0:59:29.040 --> 0:59:33.160 is kept. Rapaciousness and rape and abandonment and the cutting 0:59:33.200 --> 0:59:36.440 of corners and KPIs A newborn died in the baby 0:59:36.440 --> 0:59:39.880 box in Italy because the alarm censor didn't work. It 0:59:39.960 --> 0:59:42.840 is an honorless time, a time of only one question, 0:59:44.200 --> 0:59:47.800 not how or may or can or if or whether, 0:59:48.160 --> 0:59:53.480 but when how soon? No legacy, no history, no reputation. 0:59:54.360 --> 0:59:58.000 Build the factories, then abandon them. The soil keeps the memory, 0:59:59.600 --> 1:00:02.680 and and scars, and the floodwaters, and the clear windshields 1:00:02.680 --> 1:00:05.480 where the splatters of bugguts used to be, and the 1:00:05.520 --> 1:00:08.200 images in the twenty year old magazine still in the rack, 1:00:08.320 --> 1:00:11.640 and the guest bathrooms never used that showed how children 1:00:11.720 --> 1:00:14.120 used to go sledding. And maybe the house is too big, 1:00:14.360 --> 1:00:17.200 No one comes by. I shoveled the neighbor's walk in 1:00:17.240 --> 1:00:19.480 the snow and salted it so he didn't slip on 1:00:19.520 --> 1:00:22.120 the ice and could receive his mail. He's an old man, 1:00:23.120 --> 1:00:25.160 one of the few black men left living in this 1:00:25.200 --> 1:00:28.600 neighborhood that was theirs. Once he sent me a letter, 1:00:28.840 --> 1:00:30.480 it went all the way to Richmond to come to 1:00:30.520 --> 1:00:34.040 my door. He's the last man with dignity. In the letter, 1:00:34.080 --> 1:00:36.640 he told me he has a new toy, a laptop, 1:00:36.680 --> 1:00:38.760 which makes him happy because he's a big lover of 1:00:38.880 --> 1:00:41.360 history and he can go online and read about it. 1:00:41.880 --> 1:00:44.480 And I weep for this last dignified man who proudly 1:00:44.480 --> 1:00:47.520 wears a cap honoring his service. Because this is the 1:00:47.600 --> 1:00:52.160 era of synthesis and generation, and revision and content content, content, 1:00:52.480 --> 1:00:57.840 and inverifiability and manipulation. This is the pseudo scene. I 1:00:57.880 --> 1:01:00.200 bought a bottle of wine from a century's old ye 1:01:00.320 --> 1:01:03.880 destroyed in a devastating flood, an unsellable bottle in the 1:01:03.920 --> 1:01:07.520 retail market, fundraiser souvenir. I kept it as a memento 1:01:07.600 --> 1:01:10.880 Mary of our changing world, a mud covered reminder of 1:01:10.920 --> 1:01:13.080 how we all must work, little by little to give 1:01:13.080 --> 1:01:16.520 the world forward. It broke when I tried to move 1:01:16.560 --> 1:01:18.919 it home on my seventy second flight of the year. 1:01:19.840 --> 1:01:22.240 It is the decade of hypocrisy. Even for those who 1:01:22.280 --> 1:01:25.960 can see hypocrisy, they may be a vice president. And 1:01:26.040 --> 1:01:28.600 with every title change, I move farther from God, a 1:01:28.600 --> 1:01:31.640 God I never believed in. I was raised in New 1:01:31.640 --> 1:01:35.120 England towns named for Biblical places by people who thought 1:01:35.120 --> 1:01:38.400 working the rocky soil brought them closer to God. The 1:01:38.440 --> 1:01:42.120 only holy Men left are those in the fields Basra 1:01:42.520 --> 1:01:46.680 and Lebanon, and the Gilead and Hebron. The people who 1:01:46.760 --> 1:01:49.640 named those towns committed a genocide to name them, and 1:01:49.680 --> 1:01:53.200 four hundred years later in their namesakes the same. It 1:01:53.280 --> 1:01:56.920 is the epoch of cadaverin. It is the knight of 1:01:56.960 --> 1:02:01.800 bonfires and Feuershpusche, then highlight of stories that dared in 1:02:01.840 --> 1:02:04.600 poems and albums. And I tried to sell a book, 1:02:04.680 --> 1:02:07.200 and I learned that there's only interest in a book 1:02:07.240 --> 1:02:10.360 when you put yourself into it to be consumed. Words 1:02:10.360 --> 1:02:12.680 are calories, measured in the amount of heat they gave 1:02:12.720 --> 1:02:16.280 a flame. I walked over the Westminster Bridge one night 1:02:16.320 --> 1:02:18.440 with a journalist who told me that they can't publish 1:02:18.440 --> 1:02:21.520 two good stories at a time because if one goes viral, 1:02:21.560 --> 1:02:25.000 it punishes the other. The arcane footfalls of the algorithm dance. 1:02:26.040 --> 1:02:28.920 It is the sunset of craft and skills handed down 1:02:28.960 --> 1:02:32.720 in heritage, the waxing of a crass and pandering moon 1:02:32.920 --> 1:02:36.640 of pantomime, a frictionless night, a night where nothing dared, 1:02:36.720 --> 1:02:40.120 nothing gained, a night of shutters and locks. These are 1:02:40.160 --> 1:02:43.840 the dark ages, ages of embarrassing the future. There's a 1:02:43.880 --> 1:02:48.080 shame here that penance cannot satisfy. The sturdy empty shells, 1:02:48.720 --> 1:02:52.320 the blue hyperlinks to nowhere, and a generation lost must 1:02:52.360 --> 1:02:54.960 be lost because profit cannot be taken from an idea. 1:02:55.840 --> 1:02:58.800 I think of the mimiograph machine stuck under the floorboards 1:02:58.800 --> 1:03:01.520 of the Solidara Nosche house, and the punks and the 1:03:01.600 --> 1:03:05.400 whores who copied radical zines in the public library, xerox machines, 1:03:06.000 --> 1:03:09.600 and the Yugoslavian Galaxia, and the novels now considered some 1:03:09.680 --> 1:03:12.040 of the greatest of all time, once banned for obscenity. 1:03:12.840 --> 1:03:17.000 In Chochescu's house, the original TV remains. The revolutionaries didn't 1:03:17.000 --> 1:03:19.320 bother to steal it because there were only thirty minutes 1:03:19.320 --> 1:03:23.400 of broadcast TV each day. In the crepuscular light, birds 1:03:23.440 --> 1:03:25.840 dare to sing, even though they know the cats hunt below. 1:03:26.920 --> 1:03:30.080 In Vilnius, there is a tile in a square. They say, 1:03:30.080 --> 1:03:32.160 if you make a wish and spin around it three times, 1:03:32.160 --> 1:03:35.280 your wish will come true. At this tile a human 1:03:35.360 --> 1:03:38.800 chain formed and spanned three countries, and they sang at 1:03:38.800 --> 1:03:41.680 Hadra Kim. On the right day, the morning light filters 1:03:41.720 --> 1:03:44.600 in over the lonesome island of Philfla and fills a 1:03:44.600 --> 1:03:47.840 hole drilled in the sandstone five thousand years ago, and 1:03:47.920 --> 1:03:50.840 has done so unfailingly over the millennia that have seen 1:03:50.920 --> 1:03:54.920 countless empires rise and fall, and the solstice of retribution 1:03:55.040 --> 1:03:55.760 will come again. 1:04:17.200 --> 1:04:19.560 Hi, if you want, and welcome to the podcast. I 1:04:19.600 --> 1:04:21.360 was going to go for a really Robert Evans' intro there, 1:04:21.360 --> 1:04:23.840 but I bottled it. I am a coward and I 1:04:23.840 --> 1:04:28.280 couldn't do it. I hate all of you. It's Margaret Kiljoy, 1:04:28.520 --> 1:04:31.640 everyone here to spread the good news. I was trying 1:04:31.680 --> 1:04:33.920 to rap at Evans that, oh, okay, yeah, and it 1:04:33.960 --> 1:04:36.480 doesn't he only hate a certain percentage of them, all right, 1:04:37.400 --> 1:04:40.720 Statistically speaking, he likes some of you. Yeah, And because 1:04:40.720 --> 1:04:43.120 I know some nice people listen there Robert likes. Maybe 1:04:43.160 --> 1:04:47.360 it's you, maybe it's not. You'll never know. Today we're 1:04:47.360 --> 1:04:49.680 not here to talk about who Robert Evans likes. But 1:04:49.720 --> 1:04:53.440 we are here to talk about what to do if 1:04:53.480 --> 1:04:56.520 your house is going to burn down or you have 1:04:56.600 --> 1:04:59.480 to leave because they think it might burn down. This 1:04:59.520 --> 1:05:02.400 is obviously a topic that is front of mind for 1:05:02.520 --> 1:05:07.480 people in southern California currently, given the massive wildfires that 1:05:07.560 --> 1:05:10.800 have engulfed whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles. There are fires 1:05:10.800 --> 1:05:14.520 in venturin Oxtard as well. Now the whole of East 1:05:14.560 --> 1:05:17.920 County San Diego is under a red flag warning. Fire 1:05:17.920 --> 1:05:22.040 conditions continue because climate change continues, and we have decided 1:05:22.160 --> 1:05:25.760 as a society not to do anything about that, and 1:05:26.200 --> 1:05:30.360 so this shit is going to be the rest of 1:05:30.400 --> 1:05:30.960 our lives. 1:05:31.200 --> 1:05:33.520 If you're on the East Coast or somewhere else and 1:05:33.560 --> 1:05:35.640 you're like, oh, I'm fine, I'm not on the West coast, 1:05:36.480 --> 1:05:37.360 bad news for you. 1:05:37.360 --> 1:05:38.080 You're not fine. 1:05:38.800 --> 1:05:41.920 Slowly, more and more the East Coast, including the northeast, 1:05:42.040 --> 1:05:45.800 is being seen as a fire prone area, and we're 1:05:45.840 --> 1:05:48.080 seeing an increase in fire out east as well. 1:05:48.280 --> 1:05:52.920 Yeah, the United Kingdom as wildfires now a thing did 1:05:52.960 --> 1:05:55.320 not exist. Do you all even have wild over there? 1:05:56.720 --> 1:05:57.040 Yeah? 1:05:57.280 --> 1:06:02.720 We have like land owned by the monarch fires, we 1:06:02.760 --> 1:06:05.560 have like parks and protected land. We don't really have. 1:06:05.640 --> 1:06:08.080 We have commons to a degree, but not not like 1:06:08.120 --> 1:06:10.160 public land out the US does. Like when I was 1:06:10.160 --> 1:06:13.560 a kid, we used to burn the stubble in straw fields. 1:06:13.600 --> 1:06:16.280 Like that's how how few fucks we gave about fires. 1:06:16.320 --> 1:06:17.720 We just burn it in a plat back in and 1:06:17.840 --> 1:06:20.439 air quality, I guess. Yeah, that is not a thing 1:06:20.520 --> 1:06:23.120 that people engage in anymore. That's probably for the best. 1:06:23.760 --> 1:06:28.800 Fire it's coming for you. It's happening everywhere. Hooray, hooray. Yeah, 1:06:28.920 --> 1:06:31.600 lucky you the cleansing fire. I feel like there's a 1:06:31.680 --> 1:06:33.640 John Betchaman poem I could go off with here, but 1:06:33.640 --> 1:06:37.720 I'll spare you all right. So, if you are in 1:06:37.760 --> 1:06:39.600 a place where you are very likely to have to 1:06:39.640 --> 1:06:43.200 evacuate your home soonish for a fire, here are some 1:06:43.360 --> 1:06:46.720 things that you may wish to consider doing. I've harvested 1:06:46.720 --> 1:06:49.920 these from mutual a groups in LA and from the 1:06:49.960 --> 1:06:52.240 Cowfire website, where they give you advice on what to 1:06:52.240 --> 1:06:55.000 do if you're evacuating. The first thing that you want 1:06:55.040 --> 1:06:58.000 to do is turn off your gas. For those of 1:06:58.040 --> 1:07:00.840 you who are not familiar, this is a flammable substance, 1:07:01.400 --> 1:07:04.560 and your gas pipe rupturing and then catching on fire 1:07:04.640 --> 1:07:07.160 would be bad, would be sad. It's pretty easy to 1:07:07.200 --> 1:07:10.200 do this. Normally, you should have a valve near the meter. 1:07:10.600 --> 1:07:12.520 Some places we'll have what's called an earthquake shut off 1:07:12.600 --> 1:07:14.560 or an earthquake valve, where you won't need a tool. 1:07:15.000 --> 1:07:17.000 I'm not sure that. In fact, i'm pretty certain those 1:07:17.000 --> 1:07:20.200 are not mandatory, even in California, because I've lived places 1:07:20.200 --> 1:07:22.120 that don't have them. Then again, there are things that 1:07:22.120 --> 1:07:24.400 are mandatory that landlords just aren't doing. I think we 1:07:24.440 --> 1:07:27.840 all know that. Yeah, or like grandfathered into or whatever. 1:07:27.960 --> 1:07:30.920 Mm hmm, yeah. Yeah, given that people outside California are 1:07:30.960 --> 1:07:34.200 listening and the earthquakes are are fortunately not coming for 1:07:34.280 --> 1:07:36.520 us all just yet, I would just suggest that you 1:07:36.600 --> 1:07:38.840 try and find where your gas shut off is. Now. 1:07:39.200 --> 1:07:41.320 It's often where the gas comes into the property, like 1:07:41.400 --> 1:07:44.440 there's a gas meter, and normally you're going to need 1:07:44.520 --> 1:07:46.880 some kind of tool to turn that. What I've used 1:07:46.880 --> 1:07:50.080 normally is just like an adjustable spanner or wrench for 1:07:50.120 --> 1:07:52.920 those of you in the United States, the people at 1:07:52.920 --> 1:07:56.480 California that you're talking to. Yeah, yes, yeah, I follow Californians. 1:07:57.880 --> 1:08:00.280 You can turn that valve so it's parallel with the 1:08:00.320 --> 1:08:04.320 pipe that's kind of shut off the gas coming into 1:08:04.360 --> 1:08:07.360 your house. Do you mean perpendicular to the pipe. I'm curious. 1:08:07.480 --> 1:08:09.160 I think parallel is shut off. 1:08:09.200 --> 1:08:11.800 Interesting with water, you turn it off by moving it perpendicular. 1:08:11.840 --> 1:08:15.600 I've never messed with a gas line. I've lived weird 1:08:15.600 --> 1:08:16.639 and off grid instead. 1:08:16.920 --> 1:08:20.439 Yeah, let me have a look. I'm checking now. Yeah. Sorry, 1:08:20.520 --> 1:08:22.759 it wants to be at ninety degrees to the pipe. Yeah, 1:08:22.800 --> 1:08:24.360 so it should be in line with the pipe when 1:08:24.360 --> 1:08:27.000 you start in ninety degrees to the pipe when you turn. 1:08:26.840 --> 1:08:28.639 It off, which you can just kind of imagine as 1:08:28.680 --> 1:08:30.639 like when it's in line, you can imagine like, oh, 1:08:30.680 --> 1:08:33.320 that's how the gas and water can flow through, and 1:08:33.360 --> 1:08:35.160 then when it's to the side, it's like, oh, now 1:08:35.160 --> 1:08:36.040 it's blocking it. 1:08:36.080 --> 1:08:38.519 That's how I remember that. That's much easier visually if 1:08:38.520 --> 1:08:40.800 you imagine like the hole in the valve lining up 1:08:40.840 --> 1:08:42.920 with the handle thing on there. Yeah, do you want 1:08:42.960 --> 1:08:45.240 to turn that off? I've seen some suggestions that you 1:08:45.280 --> 1:08:47.920 want to turn water off. Generally, the advice is not 1:08:48.000 --> 1:08:50.479 to turn your water off, and to hook up your 1:08:50.479 --> 1:08:53.439 outdoor hoses to your outdoor taps such that they can 1:08:53.479 --> 1:08:56.720 be used if they need to be used. I have 1:08:56.840 --> 1:08:59.120 seen some suggestions to turn water off because I guess 1:08:59.120 --> 1:09:02.160 people's pipes are which is decreasing water pressure. 1:09:02.520 --> 1:09:04.960 And it seems like that's probably a like city versus 1:09:05.040 --> 1:09:08.240 rural or like city to city kind of divide. You 1:09:08.280 --> 1:09:11.840 should listen to your local authorities around this kind of thing, right, 1:09:12.040 --> 1:09:14.160 Like in the case of California, you can go to 1:09:14.200 --> 1:09:18.240 CalFire right and there will be evacuation advice on the 1:09:18.280 --> 1:09:19.200 CalFire website. 1:09:19.240 --> 1:09:21.600 There might even be on your city website. Some of 1:09:21.640 --> 1:09:24.360 it is useful. This is a useful thing if you 1:09:24.479 --> 1:09:27.639 do need to turn off your water. Again, water shut 1:09:27.640 --> 1:09:29.680 offs could be in a variety of places, so it 1:09:29.760 --> 1:09:31.680 kind of depends. Especially if you're on a well, you're 1:09:31.680 --> 1:09:34.040 probably row and if you're rollo, you're probably gonna be 1:09:34.120 --> 1:09:34.559 leaving it on. 1:09:35.000 --> 1:09:36.880 Yeah, you're probably going to turning off your water. Yeah, 1:09:36.920 --> 1:09:38.360 but if you do need to do it's just a 1:09:38.360 --> 1:09:41.080 pipe going into your basement that you turn it on. 1:09:41.439 --> 1:09:43.599 You can sometimes be at the side of your house. 1:09:43.880 --> 1:09:45.840 You might need to give this a little bit of 1:09:45.960 --> 1:09:49.120 WD forty Sometimes on a little little plastic box as well, 1:09:49.120 --> 1:09:51.280 And a little plastic box has a little hole and 1:09:51.320 --> 1:09:52.960 you kind of have to shove a screwdriver in that 1:09:53.000 --> 1:09:55.240 hole and pop it open. We're now talking about city 1:09:55.280 --> 1:09:58.200 water again, right, municipal water, yes, yeah, that's city water. 1:09:58.320 --> 1:09:58.519 Yeah. 1:09:58.600 --> 1:10:00.320 Yeah, that's where if you have a water meeting box 1:10:00.360 --> 1:10:03.360 it could and the shut offs in there. Familiarize yourself 1:10:03.400 --> 1:10:05.519 with that stuff now so that you're not doing it 1:10:05.520 --> 1:10:09.280 in a panic later, And that's kind of where a 1:10:09.400 --> 1:10:13.080 lot of what we're talking about today is important. It's 1:10:13.080 --> 1:10:15.840 if you do it now, you don't have to dash 1:10:15.880 --> 1:10:18.920 about your house grabbing thinking is this important? Do I 1:10:18.960 --> 1:10:22.280 need this? Do I need that? Right? Because like I've 1:10:22.320 --> 1:10:26.000 evacuated for wildfires living in California a few times. I'd 1:10:26.040 --> 1:10:27.680 like to think I have it pretty down now, But 1:10:27.760 --> 1:10:30.920 definitely the first time I was, you know, freshly minted 1:10:31.280 --> 1:10:34.640 European migrant. It was not familiar with this stuff, and 1:10:34.680 --> 1:10:36.719 it definitely just ran around grabbing things. So it turned 1:10:36.720 --> 1:10:40.360 out to be the wrong thing. It's like, cool, I've 1:10:40.360 --> 1:10:43.160 got three bicycles here, let me let me go to 1:10:43.160 --> 1:10:43.559 the shelter. 1:10:44.240 --> 1:10:46.600 And you can get something called a water key or 1:10:46.600 --> 1:10:50.320 a silcock key. And I have a thing I have 1:10:50.400 --> 1:10:52.880 not personally used it. I have a thing called an 1:10:52.880 --> 1:10:55.040 eight way key. Sometimes they are called four way keys, 1:10:55.120 --> 1:10:57.519 depends on how many little wrenches on them are on them. 1:10:57.600 --> 1:11:00.479 And these are just cheap things that have like basically 1:11:00.520 --> 1:11:05.000 all of the weird wrench style things that you would 1:11:05.040 --> 1:11:09.160 never otherwise use, like all the weird like triangle things. 1:11:09.200 --> 1:11:13.200 They can get you into like the boxes on a 1:11:13.240 --> 1:11:15.840 subway car, and they can turn on and off water, 1:11:16.320 --> 1:11:17.920 like I carry one in case you know you're in 1:11:17.960 --> 1:11:20.160 the apocalypse and you need to turn on the water 1:11:20.240 --> 1:11:22.960 at a rest area. You know that kind of thing. 1:11:23.120 --> 1:11:24.920 I've first learned about these from squatters, so it would 1:11:24.920 --> 1:11:26.479 just move into houses and then turn the water on. 1:11:27.360 --> 1:11:30.080 And they they're built in specialized ways to try and 1:11:30.120 --> 1:11:32.480 prevent squatter from doing exactly what I'm describing. 1:11:32.840 --> 1:11:35.880 Yeah, so you couldn't use your standard socket set or 1:11:35.920 --> 1:11:38.320 what happens. So that's where you need these specialized keys. Yeah, 1:11:38.320 --> 1:11:39.680 and they're not very expensive you can buy. 1:11:40.280 --> 1:11:42.479 They're also not very high quality. This isn't the kind 1:11:42.520 --> 1:11:43.680 of thing you're going to want to use over and 1:11:43.720 --> 1:11:46.599 over again. They're usually cast and like they break, it's 1:11:46.600 --> 1:11:50.040 like pot metal. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but there are right 1:11:50.320 --> 1:11:52.600 as far as I can tell. Yeah, and any you 1:11:52.600 --> 1:11:54.559 hope youre not going to need to use them very much. 1:11:55.000 --> 1:11:56.880 Are the things that you should turn on or off. 1:11:56.920 --> 1:11:58.240 Turn off your air conditioning. 1:11:58.640 --> 1:12:01.400 No one's in the house anyway, I would consider leaving 1:12:01.400 --> 1:12:03.720 your exterior lights on. This is just going to help 1:12:03.720 --> 1:12:06.400 firefighters see things and see your house in the event 1:12:06.439 --> 1:12:09.040 that your house is still there. You can close your 1:12:09.080 --> 1:12:12.960 windows and doors. It's amazing how much difference closed doors 1:12:13.040 --> 1:12:17.160 even internally make it in fire spread that There are 1:12:17.200 --> 1:12:19.240 plenty of videos you can watch about this online, but 1:12:19.360 --> 1:12:22.080 like it's amazing how much difference it makes having those closed. 1:12:22.560 --> 1:12:25.080 But you don't want to lock your front door like 1:12:25.439 --> 1:12:27.400 you're going to see a lot of stuff about looting. 1:12:27.720 --> 1:12:29.400 I will tell you right now that the people who 1:12:29.439 --> 1:12:32.040 are looting from wildfare survivors are the landlords who are 1:12:32.120 --> 1:12:33.920 charging one hundred and fifty percent of the rent that 1:12:33.960 --> 1:12:35.720 they were a month ago for people to find a 1:12:35.760 --> 1:12:36.559 flaceplace to live. 1:12:37.320 --> 1:12:40.720 Also, if my house is about to burn down and 1:12:40.760 --> 1:12:43.280 you go steal all my stuff, good have it? 1:12:43.479 --> 1:12:47.160 Yeah yeah, lucky you like I hope you don't get burned, 1:12:47.360 --> 1:12:52.200 like yeah, yeah, compared to if a firefighter needs to 1:12:52.320 --> 1:12:55.400 enter that house to prevent it burning down. It takes 1:12:55.439 --> 1:12:57.719 a meaningful amount of time to break down a door, yeah, 1:12:57.760 --> 1:12:59.920 and you can save that time by leaving it open. 1:13:00.240 --> 1:13:02.760 So yeah, that is something that I think you will 1:13:02.760 --> 1:13:05.280 get the wrong impression of if you're watching too much 1:13:05.360 --> 1:13:08.800 corporate news. If you can close metal shutters on your 1:13:08.800 --> 1:13:13.640 windows but remove curtains, flammable things near windows generally not 1:13:13.680 --> 1:13:16.320 a good idea, right, that makes sense. So if you've 1:13:16.320 --> 1:13:18.720 got fabric curtains, I know they look nice, but take 1:13:18.760 --> 1:13:21.479 them down. Or you could just live like me and 1:13:21.880 --> 1:13:25.280 never purchase curtains and just I don't have to have 1:13:25.320 --> 1:13:30.840 the sun your face. What is happening to me right now? 1:13:31.520 --> 1:13:31.720 Yeah? 1:13:32.439 --> 1:13:33.000 Yeah, we're going to. 1:13:33.000 --> 1:13:36.320 Start a whole interior design thing. And when I James 1:13:36.320 --> 1:13:39.600 interior design, where you hang your curtains. 1:13:39.240 --> 1:13:42.040 Yeah, James is effectively squatting in a house that he 1:13:42.120 --> 1:13:45.960 actually rents. You should also move flammable items into the 1:13:46.000 --> 1:13:49.840 middle of the room again, right, that's where the fire 1:13:49.960 --> 1:13:54.240 is not. And then before you go, choose an outfit 1:13:54.320 --> 1:13:57.400 that covers your legs and arms. Right, and you want 1:13:57.439 --> 1:13:59.920 to wear some sturdy shoes as well, something that's comfort, 1:14:00.880 --> 1:14:04.040 something you could potentially sleep in and wear for a 1:14:04.080 --> 1:14:06.880 few days and not be uncomfortable. Shoes that you could 1:14:06.880 --> 1:14:07.320 walk in. 1:14:07.520 --> 1:14:07.680 Right. 1:14:07.760 --> 1:14:10.200 We saw a lot of people in La weren't able 1:14:10.200 --> 1:14:12.280 to take their vehicles as far as they had expected 1:14:12.320 --> 1:14:14.600 to be able to, and so having a pair of 1:14:14.600 --> 1:14:17.439 shoes that you're comfortable in, your nice, comfy walking shoes 1:14:17.680 --> 1:14:21.120 is definitely a useful thing to have something to think about. 1:14:21.400 --> 1:14:23.160 I hope you're not listening to this dashing around your 1:14:23.160 --> 1:14:27.320 house if you are, best of luck? Yeah, yeah, but 1:14:27.720 --> 1:14:30.160 you know you can prepare all this stuff now for 1:14:30.240 --> 1:14:33.799 the outside of your house. Flammable stuff that might catch 1:14:33.880 --> 1:14:37.960 outside your house is best either bought inside inside your 1:14:37.960 --> 1:14:40.040 shed if you have a shed or a garage or something, 1:14:40.479 --> 1:14:43.559 or in a particularly California piece of advice, CalFire suggests 1:14:43.600 --> 1:14:47.080 chucking your path to your furniture in the pool. So 1:14:47.920 --> 1:14:50.040 that is the thing that you can do. That makes 1:14:50.040 --> 1:14:52.400 some sense, it does. Have you seen the picture of 1:14:52.520 --> 1:14:54.679 this lady in the nineties who put all her fine 1:14:54.800 --> 1:14:58.240 china in her swimming pool before evacuating in a wildfire. 1:14:58.760 --> 1:15:02.280 Oh that's amazing. Yeah, it's very like of the time, 1:15:02.439 --> 1:15:05.840 like it was a time when people could afford swimming pools. Yeah, 1:15:05.840 --> 1:15:07.920 and also people had china that they cared about, which 1:15:07.920 --> 1:15:09.799 is something that our generation Germany does. 1:15:09.680 --> 1:15:12.600 Not unless they inherited it from their parents, and in 1:15:12.600 --> 1:15:15.360 which case they still also yeah right they have like 1:15:15.640 --> 1:15:16.960 one plate, yeah. 1:15:16.800 --> 1:15:19.120 Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Apparently it's a big issue with 1:15:19.160 --> 1:15:21.240 people like inheriting china and not want to get in 1:15:21.280 --> 1:15:24.759 and just dumping on good wills. Yeah I believe it. Yeah, 1:15:24.800 --> 1:15:26.960 I can see that. So, yeah, you can put stuff 1:15:26.960 --> 1:15:28.200 in your pool if you don't want it to burn. 1:15:28.280 --> 1:15:31.040 If it is possible for you to do that, you 1:15:31.080 --> 1:15:33.439 have something you mentioned Margaret about your fence right living 1:15:33.439 --> 1:15:34.800 in a more rural setting. 1:15:34.640 --> 1:15:36.960 Yeah, can I actually just kind of like really quickly 1:15:37.000 --> 1:15:40.479 run through some if you yes, fire protecting your house, 1:15:40.640 --> 1:15:42.720 There's two things you're going to do. One is the oh, 1:15:42.760 --> 1:15:45.120 I'm going to run away now version, and then there's 1:15:45.160 --> 1:15:48.559 the ahead of time version. The really quick basic version 1:15:48.600 --> 1:15:50.640 of the ahead of time is that and this is 1:15:50.720 --> 1:15:55.040 more applicable rurally. But you want to have a defensible space. 1:15:55.520 --> 1:15:57.439 You know, everyone's going to give you a different number, 1:15:57.479 --> 1:15:59.160 but like one hundred feet from your house. You don't 1:15:59.200 --> 1:16:03.639 want sleep packed trees, especially conifers, and you're gonna want 1:16:03.680 --> 1:16:05.559 you know, the one tree is okay as long as 1:16:05.600 --> 1:16:07.559 it's a little bit further from the other. You're gonna 1:16:07.560 --> 1:16:10.479 want to clear out yard debris. Even leaving leaves on 1:16:10.520 --> 1:16:12.320 the ground is overall good. You kind of want to 1:16:12.360 --> 1:16:14.120 create this space where there's not a lot of leaf 1:16:14.160 --> 1:16:17.360 litter and things like that directly under your house so 1:16:17.439 --> 1:16:19.679 that the eaves don't catch. You want to make sure 1:16:19.720 --> 1:16:21.960 that you don't keep a lot of flammable stuff there. 1:16:22.400 --> 1:16:24.519 And if like if I was fleeing my house in 1:16:24.560 --> 1:16:27.120 a hurry, I would be pulling all the stuff away 1:16:27.120 --> 1:16:29.240 from under the eaves that I should have pulled away 1:16:29.240 --> 1:16:31.760 from under the eaves months ago. If I were to 1:16:32.000 --> 1:16:34.160 design my house better, there would be a basically a 1:16:34.160 --> 1:16:37.680 three foot like gravel line around the edge of my 1:16:37.720 --> 1:16:41.280 house right of landscaping. But the other things that you're 1:16:41.320 --> 1:16:42.599 going to want to do is you're going to want 1:16:42.600 --> 1:16:45.000 to look for how embers can get in through the 1:16:45.080 --> 1:16:47.960 vents and stuff like in your roof area. 1:16:47.800 --> 1:16:48.960 Or under wherever. 1:16:49.200 --> 1:16:51.400 And you're gonna want to basically make sure and it 1:16:51.479 --> 1:16:53.960 might already have that, but you want to make sure 1:16:53.960 --> 1:16:56.840 that there's tighter than chicken wire. I think it's I 1:16:56.840 --> 1:16:59.920 think you want quarter inch mesh covering those things. 1:17:00.240 --> 1:17:01.479 Yeah, like construction netting. 1:17:01.640 --> 1:17:05.320 Yeah, well metal, but yeah, it's metals. 1:17:05.560 --> 1:17:07.639 The name of it. Oh okay, it's what they put 1:17:07.680 --> 1:17:10.519 into concrete. I think I use it to build chicken 1:17:10.600 --> 1:17:14.519 Oh yeah, runs for similar reasons. Well, yeah, because raccoon 1:17:14.560 --> 1:17:17.479 hands can't get through it, and raccoons they're bastards as 1:17:17.479 --> 1:17:18.080 it turns out. 1:17:18.520 --> 1:17:21.960 Yeah, that makes sense. If your porch is wooden, you 1:17:21.960 --> 1:17:24.640 have a porch, you don't want fire to get underneath it, 1:17:24.680 --> 1:17:26.920 and so you can keep your wooden porch, but you 1:17:26.960 --> 1:17:30.200 want to screen off underneath of it to keep flaming 1:17:30.200 --> 1:17:32.960 debris from going under there. And then if you have 1:17:33.000 --> 1:17:37.800 a wooden fence, consider having the like first ten feet 1:17:37.880 --> 1:17:40.160 or so of the fence the brick or something like that. 1:17:40.200 --> 1:17:43.519 I can't afford this, but imagine you can. Then you 1:17:43.560 --> 1:17:46.040 would want the first chunk of it to be that way. 1:17:46.200 --> 1:17:49.040 If you have gates, you open them. The deal with 1:17:49.120 --> 1:17:51.400 fences and everything is that you don't want like a 1:17:51.439 --> 1:17:54.479 wick that brings fire to your house. So if the 1:17:54.520 --> 1:17:57.080 forest around you is burning, you don't want it to 1:17:57.160 --> 1:17:59.000 catch your fence and have that go right up to 1:17:59.080 --> 1:18:00.760 under the eaves catch eaves on fire. 1:18:00.800 --> 1:18:01.880 And now I you have a structure fire. 1:18:02.240 --> 1:18:04.719 So what you're gonna do is you open the gates 1:18:04.720 --> 1:18:07.760 if you're leaving. And then, for example, my plan, because 1:18:07.760 --> 1:18:09.320 I have wooden fence that goes all the way up 1:18:09.360 --> 1:18:12.320 to my house, is that if I have more than 1:18:12.400 --> 1:18:14.880 like five minutes to flee a fire, by a half 1:18:14.880 --> 1:18:16.960 an hour to flee a fire, I am taking the 1:18:17.040 --> 1:18:20.479 chainsaw and I am cutting down about ten feet of 1:18:20.520 --> 1:18:23.760 that wooden fence before I leave, and that should dramatically 1:18:23.760 --> 1:18:25.280 increase the chances that my house. 1:18:25.120 --> 1:18:27.240 Will survive a fire. Yeah, smart move. 1:18:27.560 --> 1:18:30.360 And then another thing with the pool thing, And I 1:18:30.360 --> 1:18:32.599 think I've read about but I've never there's no version 1:18:32.600 --> 1:18:34.679 of my life where I'm ever gonna have a pool 1:18:35.040 --> 1:18:37.160 if you live in a fire prone area. They actually 1:18:37.200 --> 1:18:40.760 make pumps that are designed to pump your pool water 1:18:40.960 --> 1:18:43.760 into a fire hose and they have saved a lot 1:18:43.760 --> 1:18:47.400 of rural areas and probably city areas too by having 1:18:47.400 --> 1:18:51.800 that accessible to firefighters. Immediately, your pool can become a 1:18:51.920 --> 1:18:54.080 resource for the people who are coming in to try 1:18:54.080 --> 1:18:56.080 and keep your house intact. 1:18:56.240 --> 1:18:58.560 Yeah. Amusingly, we use one of those. When I was 1:18:58.600 --> 1:19:01.639 a kid, we had a whole liked to get out, 1:19:01.960 --> 1:19:04.160 and one day she got out. We all went looking 1:19:04.160 --> 1:19:07.280 for Of course, there were some wealthy people who like well, 1:19:07.320 --> 1:19:08.880 they didn't live in the village that we lived in. 1:19:08.920 --> 1:19:11.679 They owned it because Britain has never moved on from 1:19:11.680 --> 1:19:15.120 the Fugal era, and they had a pool and that 1:19:15.120 --> 1:19:17.360 that was where our horse was. And so the fire 1:19:17.400 --> 1:19:20.200 brigade came and they used one of those things, just 1:19:20.479 --> 1:19:22.600 pumped out the water and just like host down the 1:19:22.680 --> 1:19:26.559 surrounding garden. And then we came with the tractor and 1:19:26.600 --> 1:19:29.800 we put some different strawbeeres of different sizes, made a 1:19:29.840 --> 1:19:33.800 set of stairs and got her out. 1:19:35.439 --> 1:19:37.920 That's the least relatable story I've ever heard about England. 1:19:39.360 --> 1:19:43.480 It's just like a rural people living the dream. Yeah 1:19:43.479 --> 1:19:46.360 she was a good horse, misty. Yeah, we had a 1:19:46.400 --> 1:19:49.120 lot of horses that, like, we had access to land 1:19:49.200 --> 1:19:51.400 and not a great deal of finances, so we inherited 1:19:51.439 --> 1:19:54.400 problematic horses. I think for people who had, like who 1:19:54.439 --> 1:19:55.800 had the means to purchase, that. 1:19:55.880 --> 1:19:59.360 Is relatable to the Americans. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, 1:19:59.400 --> 1:20:02.320 any people themselves in this situation, I'm sure. Yeah, horse 1:20:02.360 --> 1:20:05.200 poor is a whole thing. Yeah it is. Yeah, yeah, 1:20:04.800 --> 1:20:07.360 it's it's the rich people who buy fancy horses and 1:20:07.400 --> 1:20:09.240 then like find that horse not to their liking and 1:20:09.280 --> 1:20:12.160 can afford to discard a living thing that they spent 1:20:12.240 --> 1:20:13.439 more than a car is worth on. 1:20:13.920 --> 1:20:15.800 Well then also, I mean, horse poor is you have 1:20:15.840 --> 1:20:18.200 a horse, but you don't have any money, and you're like, yeah, 1:20:18.640 --> 1:20:20.840 you're partly poor because you have the horse. Because horses 1:20:20.880 --> 1:20:24.840 are incredibly expensive to ye maintain, Yes they are, that's 1:20:24.880 --> 1:20:29.479 cost a lot. Yeah anyway, so yeah, make sure not 1:20:29.560 --> 1:20:31.720 quite a horse relation. But if you are more of 1:20:31.720 --> 1:20:35.840 a horseless carriage transport person. If you are, this is 1:20:35.840 --> 1:20:39.080 a very American thing. In possession of an electric garage 1:20:39.080 --> 1:20:41.360 door opener, it is a good idea to work out 1:20:41.439 --> 1:20:44.000 how to open your garage without that. Yeah, because you 1:20:44.040 --> 1:20:45.840 don't want to be in a situation where you. 1:20:45.840 --> 1:20:48.360 Can't use your vehicle because you can't open your garage, 1:20:48.680 --> 1:20:50.240 or you don't want to be dashing around going where's 1:20:50.240 --> 1:20:52.639 the bloody cord? Not the time, Yeah, so work out 1:20:52.640 --> 1:20:54.639 how to do it now. Also, your front gate. Hopefully 1:20:54.640 --> 1:20:56.880 you don't live in a gated community. It's not the 1:20:56.920 --> 1:20:59.000 way to live. But if you do, for whatever reason, 1:20:59.280 --> 1:21:01.840 you know no how to open the gates, or if 1:21:01.840 --> 1:21:03.799 you have an electric front gate, you'r drive. I suppose 1:21:03.920 --> 1:21:06.120 know how to open that, Margaret, Now will be a 1:21:06.160 --> 1:21:07.880 good time for us to pause for ads. I wonder 1:21:07.960 --> 1:21:10.680 if we will get an advert for electric garage. 1:21:10.320 --> 1:21:14.280 Doors or electric courses. Oh yeah, maybe do they dream 1:21:14.360 --> 1:21:17.200 of electric care? We'll find out in its advertising break. 1:21:27.160 --> 1:21:30.040 All right, we are back, and now we're continuing on 1:21:30.080 --> 1:21:34.439 the theme of animals because they are our little friends. Yeah, 1:21:34.560 --> 1:21:38.840 so if you have animals inside your house, pets, Oh, 1:21:39.320 --> 1:21:41.080 we have farm animals inside my house growing up, so 1:21:41.080 --> 1:21:44.040 I guess it's not exclusive to pets. We used to 1:21:44.040 --> 1:21:46.479 bring the lambs in when it was cold. Little off 1:21:46.520 --> 1:21:48.519 the lambs. Again, this is turning into like James story. 1:21:48.680 --> 1:21:52.720 That's okay, it's cute stories. People are in possession of 1:21:52.720 --> 1:21:55.519 a range, like like a big cooking if you have 1:21:55.520 --> 1:21:57.720 a very old house in the UK, or again if 1:21:57.720 --> 1:22:01.000 you're rich, you have these like cold burning or oil 1:22:01.040 --> 1:22:03.360 burning ovens, so they stay at a temperature and only 1:22:03.400 --> 1:22:05.599 have a number of doors. The coldest one you can 1:22:05.600 --> 1:22:08.960 put a lamb in there in the winter time and 1:22:09.000 --> 1:22:10.960 you can keep it warm that way, like in a 1:22:10.960 --> 1:22:13.960 live one. Yeah yeah, yeah, well, I mean any of them. 1:22:14.000 --> 1:22:15.679 You can put a dead one and if you felt 1:22:15.680 --> 1:22:19.200 the need, if you look, you're saying okay, yeah, yeaheah no, yeah, 1:22:19.240 --> 1:22:21.160 yeah yeah. If you're looking to take care of your animal, 1:22:21.840 --> 1:22:24.200 you put them in there and keep the More so, 1:22:24.680 --> 1:22:27.040 if you have pets in your house, things to do 1:22:27.080 --> 1:22:28.720 before you evacuate would be make sure they have a 1:22:28.760 --> 1:22:32.000 collar on which has your name and your contact information. 1:22:32.320 --> 1:22:32.559 Yeah. 1:22:32.720 --> 1:22:35.759 I'm a big fan of the breakaway collars, especially for dogs. 1:22:36.040 --> 1:22:37.880 We never had collars and a dog's wearing upcause the 1:22:37.920 --> 1:22:40.280 dogs were always out in the fields and going through 1:22:40.320 --> 1:22:41.800 hedges and stuff, and you don't want them to get 1:22:41.880 --> 1:22:44.559 caught up. Yeah, and so I'm a big fan of those, 1:22:44.640 --> 1:22:46.879 especially in a situation where your pet's going to be scared. 1:22:47.200 --> 1:22:50.280 You know, God forbid that you'd lose your pet goes 1:22:50.360 --> 1:22:52.040 running for a bit. You don't want them to get 1:22:52.160 --> 1:22:54.320 caught up by that neck. Doesn't probably want to chip 1:22:54.360 --> 1:22:56.320 your dog. Are you chip your pets? 1:22:56.439 --> 1:22:56.639 Yes? 1:22:56.720 --> 1:22:58.439 Yeah, I was going to say, now it's a good 1:22:58.479 --> 1:23:00.599 time where you have the time to chip your pets. 1:23:00.680 --> 1:23:02.760 To make sure you have a carrier, make sure you 1:23:02.760 --> 1:23:04.639 have their vaccination records, all that. 1:23:04.600 --> 1:23:08.000 Stuff, and also particularly the particularly rabies vaccination is like 1:23:08.080 --> 1:23:09.360 the thing that you need to make sure that you 1:23:09.400 --> 1:23:11.120 have with you. There's a lot of places you can't 1:23:11.120 --> 1:23:13.320 go with a pet, like Canada unless you have. 1:23:13.880 --> 1:23:16.040 Yeah. Yeah, hopefully you and your pet will be fine. 1:23:16.080 --> 1:23:17.640 You'll come home in a few days. But keeping that 1:23:17.680 --> 1:23:20.599 stuff is important. If you have a cat having a sort, 1:23:20.840 --> 1:23:23.280 you can buy those little mobile litter boxes. If you're 1:23:23.280 --> 1:23:25.280 in danger of having to evacuate, just buy one and 1:23:25.360 --> 1:23:26.679 check in your vehicle. 1:23:26.720 --> 1:23:26.960 Now. 1:23:27.479 --> 1:23:30.240 Of course, any medications that your pet has right, you'll 1:23:30.240 --> 1:23:31.680 want to have a supply of those and those who 1:23:31.720 --> 1:23:33.960 want to be in your go back. It's also nice 1:23:33.960 --> 1:23:36.880 to have some familiar toys and things that's not like home. Yeah, 1:23:36.960 --> 1:23:39.200 so consider putting them in the carrier now and then 1:23:39.200 --> 1:23:40.639 they'll just be there and you won't have to look 1:23:40.680 --> 1:23:44.200 for them. They have advice if you have to leave 1:23:44.360 --> 1:23:47.120 your pet, which would be a pretty heartbreaking situation, to 1:23:47.160 --> 1:23:47.559 be honest. 1:23:49.240 --> 1:23:53.360 Yeah, I think that she was in to be in 1:23:53.439 --> 1:23:56.080 charge of an animal's entire life is a pretty solemn vow. 1:23:56.680 --> 1:23:58.400 Yes, I would agree, And I don't think I would 1:23:58.479 --> 1:24:01.040 leave them to burn. I think ye, But I. 1:24:01.479 --> 1:24:04.439 Guess there's probably I mean, you see, like for example, 1:24:04.479 --> 1:24:06.240 I know we're gonna talk about livestock in a second, 1:24:06.400 --> 1:24:10.240 but like you know, people have had to like let 1:24:10.320 --> 1:24:12.559 loose some of their horses because they can only personally 1:24:12.680 --> 1:24:14.400 escort so many horses or whatever. 1:24:14.520 --> 1:24:17.960 Right. Yeah, a few years ago, my friend and I 1:24:18.000 --> 1:24:22.000 were in a situation where a stables had more horses 1:24:22.040 --> 1:24:24.800 than it did vehicles. Yeah, and were able to go 1:24:24.880 --> 1:24:26.400 in a vehicle with a towdruck and just help, like 1:24:26.439 --> 1:24:28.559 they would load them up and just be like go 1:24:28.680 --> 1:24:31.320 to the evacuation point with these horses. Yeah, and so 1:24:31.640 --> 1:24:33.439 having a plan for that is good. But yeah, I 1:24:33.479 --> 1:24:36.720 know I struggle becauceive of leaving pets. I grew up 1:24:36.760 --> 1:24:39.000 with dogs and like they were part of my family. 1:24:39.479 --> 1:24:43.560 Yeah. I suppose there's some situation I am not imagining 1:24:43.600 --> 1:24:47.160 where it is literally a necessity, but I struggle to Yeah. 1:24:47.280 --> 1:24:49.040 I heard about people in LA who were forced to 1:24:49.120 --> 1:24:52.800 leave relatives who were not mobile, which is just fucking heartbreaking, 1:24:53.280 --> 1:24:56.480 just you know, one of the worst things I could imagine. 1:24:56.160 --> 1:24:59.639 Happening, which is literally why I actually think that you're 1:24:59.640 --> 1:25:02.600 a vacuate plans. Not trying to blame those people that 1:25:02.600 --> 1:25:05.360 we're talking about, but I believe that your evacuation plans 1:25:05.479 --> 1:25:08.719 need to include people with disabilities who are in your area, 1:25:08.800 --> 1:25:11.920 not just where you not just in your house, but elsewhere. Like, yeah, 1:25:12.400 --> 1:25:14.640 if you have someone who can only travel by a wheelchair, 1:25:15.200 --> 1:25:18.320 then you should be considering for your only vehicle a 1:25:18.320 --> 1:25:21.360 wheelchair accessible vehicle. Like this is the kind of thing 1:25:21.360 --> 1:25:24.639 that I think that, like plans need to include people 1:25:24.680 --> 1:25:26.120 who are at different levels of ability. 1:25:26.600 --> 1:25:29.439 Yeah, yeah, if you have older people in your neighborhood, Yeah, 1:25:29.439 --> 1:25:31.960 people who might not have their cell phone on them 1:25:31.960 --> 1:25:34.160 all the time. They might not get that like beat 1:25:34.160 --> 1:25:36.960 beat buzz buzz. Yeah. If you have like older folks 1:25:36.960 --> 1:25:39.080 who live alone in your neighborhood, you should know that, 1:25:39.479 --> 1:25:42.240 you know. Yeah, yeah, a few years ago I helped 1:25:42.280 --> 1:25:45.719 some older neighbors evacuate. Yeah. You live in a community 1:25:45.760 --> 1:25:48.400 and you need to take responsibility and take care of 1:25:48.439 --> 1:25:51.840 one another. If you have livestock again, like you know, 1:25:51.880 --> 1:25:55.560 I grew up with livestock, I think you're taking responsibility 1:25:55.560 --> 1:26:00.200 for the animal's life, and that includes situations where you 1:26:00.280 --> 1:26:04.080 might have to help that animal escape in a way 1:26:04.120 --> 1:26:06.760 that leg is not necessarily like lucrative for you. Right, 1:26:06.880 --> 1:26:09.679 So that might just mean opening your fences, right, opening 1:26:09.680 --> 1:26:12.240 your gates. If you're not able to evacuate that animal, 1:26:12.320 --> 1:26:16.840 at least giving it a chance you can before. Just 1:26:16.880 --> 1:26:19.320 to avoid having yourself in that situation, you need to 1:26:19.320 --> 1:26:22.519 make transport arrangements. You should be able to look where 1:26:22.600 --> 1:26:26.320 large animals refuges are, like in San Diego in the 1:26:26.439 --> 1:26:29.080 big fires, maybe fifteen years ago, they have them on 1:26:29.080 --> 1:26:31.519 Fiesta Island for a while. Little Island out in the 1:26:31.560 --> 1:26:34.040 bay or del Mar Racecourse is often a place in 1:26:34.080 --> 1:26:36.560 San Diego where you can take them. You should be 1:26:36.600 --> 1:26:38.240 able to find that now, if you're in Los Angeles, 1:26:38.280 --> 1:26:40.200 you can find that. Now. Again, you're going to want 1:26:40.200 --> 1:26:43.680 to have your essential documentation. You are not going to 1:26:43.760 --> 1:26:46.519 want nylon halters for your livestock. I've seen a lot 1:26:46.520 --> 1:26:48.639 of people have, Like people have nyel on lead ropes 1:26:48.640 --> 1:26:50.840 for horses. We had like more hempy ones when I 1:26:50.880 --> 1:26:54.240 was younger, just because those a much left likely to melt, right, 1:26:54.760 --> 1:26:56.160 So that's why we had them in the UK. But 1:26:56.200 --> 1:26:57.920 we had them because we'd have them for a long time. 1:26:57.960 --> 1:27:00.760 But plastic key things that can melt. You don't want 1:27:00.760 --> 1:27:04.120 to put them around your horse's head or near your horse. Okay, 1:27:04.240 --> 1:27:07.679 that makes some sense. Yeah, if you have chickens right now, 1:27:07.920 --> 1:27:10.519 you're going to run into the issue of AV and flu. 1:27:10.720 --> 1:27:13.360 Oh yeah, which is a further complication. So, like this 1:27:13.479 --> 1:27:16.200 is a scenario of like a big chicken shelter where 1:27:16.240 --> 1:27:17.920 you take them. It is not a good one for 1:27:18.000 --> 1:27:20.839 AV you and flu reasons also for like chicken dynamics reasons. 1:27:21.120 --> 1:27:23.040 So that means you should make a plan. Now, you 1:27:23.160 --> 1:27:25.080 might have a friend who you're like, hey, I know 1:27:25.160 --> 1:27:27.559 that you're not normally a paltry person, but would it 1:27:27.600 --> 1:27:29.639 be cool in the event of us having to evacuate 1:27:29.680 --> 1:27:31.040 for me and my chickens to come and stay at 1:27:31.080 --> 1:27:33.799 your house. Making a plan now is going to avoid 1:27:33.840 --> 1:27:36.879 you being in a very difficult situation of either driving 1:27:36.920 --> 1:27:39.280 around with your birds in your in your truck being 1:27:39.320 --> 1:27:41.760 like where the fuck can I go? Or like being 1:27:41.760 --> 1:27:44.800 turned away from places. Right. Yeah, The last thing I 1:27:44.840 --> 1:27:46.080 have here and then we're going to move on to 1:27:46.160 --> 1:27:50.479 packing your go bag is insurance. My house flooded when 1:27:50.520 --> 1:27:52.720 I was a kid, Like, it completely leveled the first 1:27:52.720 --> 1:27:53.280 floor of the house. 1:27:53.320 --> 1:27:55.600 Everything was gone, which, since it's England, is actually the 1:27:55.640 --> 1:27:59.880 second floor to Americans. Yeah, it's true, it was actually 1:27:59.880 --> 1:28:02.600 the Yeah. I love to uh it's the ground It 1:28:02.680 --> 1:28:04.760 the ground floor. You had to hide on the first thing. 1:28:04.880 --> 1:28:06.559 Yeah. Yeah. I love to go into a lift and 1:28:06.600 --> 1:28:09.400 be confused in this country after sixteen years of living here, 1:28:09.720 --> 1:28:13.160 go up and down, up and down, playing this stupid 1:28:13.200 --> 1:28:15.639 game until I google what do American call the flaws? 1:28:15.720 --> 1:28:16.760 And but you can't do it, so you're in the 1:28:16.800 --> 1:28:18.400 lift and your phone doesn't work. It's one of my 1:28:18.479 --> 1:28:20.000 favorite experiences. 1:28:20.280 --> 1:28:23.040 It's because you try to google what do American lifts do? 1:28:23.120 --> 1:28:24.320 And they're like, what the fuck is the lift? 1:28:24.400 --> 1:28:27.240 Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's true. Yeah yeah, an elevator. Yeah, 1:28:27.240 --> 1:28:28.559 it's not an elevating experience. 1:28:28.560 --> 1:28:34.240 Away my favorite thing to pick James, Yeah, it's true. 1:28:35.040 --> 1:28:37.360 Sure, I'm the only person who does it, I'm sure. Yeah, 1:28:37.400 --> 1:28:39.720 it never happened to me. Yeah, it was never an 1:28:39.720 --> 1:28:41.400 issue when I worked at a building with a lift 1:28:41.439 --> 1:28:43.680 and would routinely miss my own floor so much so 1:28:43.720 --> 1:28:47.280 that I just took the fire escape. So I remember 1:28:47.360 --> 1:28:51.679 it taking months the time I was working in construction, 1:28:51.760 --> 1:28:53.799 and what we were doing was for the most part, pulling 1:28:54.760 --> 1:28:58.799 wet carpet out of people's homes that have flooded. Highly 1:28:58.840 --> 1:29:00.720 recommend not doing that. There's a way to make a 1:29:00.720 --> 1:29:04.519 living if you can. It's not good for the body, 1:29:04.680 --> 1:29:07.880 not good for the soul, for the lungest. Probably cleaning 1:29:07.920 --> 1:29:11.320 out restaurants. Like a month later the power had been 1:29:11.360 --> 1:29:13.240 off for a month. Just going into the walk in, 1:29:13.520 --> 1:29:16.840 Oh my god, I've never seen so many people vomit, 1:29:17.280 --> 1:29:19.240 like one after the other being like no, I could 1:29:19.280 --> 1:29:23.479 do it. I'm a builder straight, Like, yeah, pretty horrific. 1:29:23.760 --> 1:29:27.439 So don't recommend. If you can go around your house 1:29:27.479 --> 1:29:32.120 taking a video of your yeah, stuffs, it will just 1:29:32.200 --> 1:29:35.000 make it easier, Like this happened to my family, and 1:29:35.000 --> 1:29:37.280 like maybe you know the early two thousands, so it 1:29:37.320 --> 1:29:39.200 wasn't possible. Well, I mean I could have got the 1:29:39.200 --> 1:29:43.080 old like Sony handicam out I didn't. So now you 1:29:43.080 --> 1:29:45.360 know you have a video camera in your pocket going 1:29:45.400 --> 1:29:48.200 around your house taking a video especially of you know, 1:29:48.920 --> 1:29:52.400 the things that are expensive and hard to move, you're 1:29:52.439 --> 1:29:54.120 going to align insurance to replace. 1:29:54.360 --> 1:29:58.200 Yeah, and then this is actually a decent regular prepper 1:29:58.280 --> 1:30:01.160 practice regardless. This isn't a like, oh I'm just about 1:30:01.200 --> 1:30:02.840 to have to run out for a fire. This is 1:30:02.840 --> 1:30:05.880 a like every six months or every year, or every 1:30:05.880 --> 1:30:07.760 time you get a new, weird, expensive thing that you 1:30:07.800 --> 1:30:10.360 put in your house, make this video so that it's 1:30:10.360 --> 1:30:11.440 easier to prove. 1:30:11.360 --> 1:30:13.479 All of the stuff that you had that needs to 1:30:13.479 --> 1:30:14.080 be replaced. 1:30:14.160 --> 1:30:15.960 Yeah, if you do that on a regular basis, there's 1:30:16.000 --> 1:30:17.880 a little bit of like security of like where do 1:30:17.920 --> 1:30:18.360 you put it? 1:30:18.400 --> 1:30:19.240 Do you really want? 1:30:19.560 --> 1:30:19.760 You know? 1:30:20.439 --> 1:30:23.679 But it's honestly for almost all people probably totally fine 1:30:23.680 --> 1:30:24.200 to just have that. 1:30:24.439 --> 1:30:26.840 Yeah on the clouds. Yeah, yeah, I think I think it. 1:30:27.400 --> 1:30:29.680 Don't put it on Facebook, but you can get to 1:30:29.800 --> 1:30:31.639 direct the insurre. It's going to be your Instagram where 1:30:31.640 --> 1:30:33.840 you post an interior video of your home every month. 1:30:33.960 --> 1:30:36.160 Yeah, that's that's your thing. I guess join us next 1:30:36.200 --> 1:30:38.040 month for behind the podcasts. 1:30:38.280 --> 1:30:42.920 Yeah, podcasts, crips, it's just me in my shed. It's 1:30:42.960 --> 1:30:47.080 me critiquing your interior sign you have. That would be 1:30:47.360 --> 1:30:54.080 a weekly podcast for some time. Shame James, James, Shame 1:30:54.160 --> 1:30:58.160 podcasts la things that I've heard people thinks that you 1:30:58.200 --> 1:31:00.479 will need. If you have a nebulizer of a person 1:31:00.760 --> 1:31:03.800 who uses a nebulizer to help them breathe, those are 1:31:03.800 --> 1:31:06.000 in very high demands. You're probably not going to be 1:31:06.000 --> 1:31:08.760 able to replace it, so bring that with you. If 1:31:08.840 --> 1:31:13.080 you have medications, ideally grab the meds in the little 1:31:13.080 --> 1:31:15.680 orange thing and take those with you. That where you've 1:31:15.720 --> 1:31:17.640 got the RX number and you can easily go to 1:31:17.640 --> 1:31:19.920 a pharmacy and be like, hey, this is my prescription 1:31:20.040 --> 1:31:22.800 for me. It has my name and the RX number. 1:31:22.960 --> 1:31:25.080 Can you issue me an emergency supply? And that's something 1:31:25.120 --> 1:31:27.360 they should be able to do. And also if you 1:31:27.400 --> 1:31:30.040 grab the whole bottle, then you've got you know, hopefully 1:31:30.080 --> 1:31:32.920 a decent supply. Hopefully your insurance isn't annoying and only 1:31:33.000 --> 1:31:35.160 lets you go three weeks at a time. Yeah, that's 1:31:35.400 --> 1:31:38.160 that comes up for a lot of people. But I 1:31:38.200 --> 1:31:41.680 will not name any companies because I think it is 1:31:41.760 --> 1:31:47.040 against my contract to do that. I will say that 1:31:47.240 --> 1:31:51.040 if you have like your important documents, right, you're potentially 1:31:51.080 --> 1:31:53.880 your d to your house, if you're in on your car, 1:31:54.439 --> 1:31:57.759 your passport, your birth certificate is a big one. Yeah, 1:31:57.800 --> 1:32:02.400 you're right to be in this country. Yeah, any dream card, visa, 1:32:03.000 --> 1:32:06.960 that kind of thing, especially those in the after Well, 1:32:07.000 --> 1:32:09.240 this will come out in the era of Trump two 1:32:09.240 --> 1:32:11.960 point zero. So those documents are going to be very 1:32:12.000 --> 1:32:15.720 important for some people. Right, you're darker registration, Put those 1:32:15.760 --> 1:32:19.519 in a file and grab the whole thing, bring it 1:32:19.560 --> 1:32:21.840 with you. Do not rely on scan copies of those, 1:32:22.080 --> 1:32:26.040 especially your immigration documents. If you're a person who has firearms, 1:32:26.439 --> 1:32:28.680 records of the serial numbers of those are going to 1:32:28.680 --> 1:32:30.799 be useful. And again I would just snap a picture. 1:32:31.040 --> 1:32:34.640 It's not reasonable or sensible to be taking a lot 1:32:34.720 --> 1:32:36.800 of firearms with you in a situation like this. You're 1:32:36.800 --> 1:32:38.640 not going to need them, and there's gonna be a 1:32:38.680 --> 1:32:41.360 lot of places that you won't want to bring them. Yes, 1:32:41.600 --> 1:32:44.559 you know, I would suggest locking them up, and like 1:32:44.600 --> 1:32:47.479 I say, documenting that you've done that, you may have 1:32:47.560 --> 1:32:50.559 to prove at some point that firearm no longer exists, 1:32:50.560 --> 1:32:52.000 and then that's probably the best way to do that. 1:32:52.520 --> 1:32:54.960 And being prepared to travel on foot. Like I said, 1:32:55.200 --> 1:32:58.200 another thing that people have been needing and not having 1:32:58.520 --> 1:33:01.960 is P one hundred masks. So that's a particle filter 1:33:02.200 --> 1:33:04.519 generally in the three M and I think the Honeywell 1:33:04.520 --> 1:33:07.559 filters they're pink, so I'm talking about like a screw 1:33:07.600 --> 1:33:08.439 in filter here. 1:33:08.560 --> 1:33:11.000 Although they do make P one hundred masks that are 1:33:11.200 --> 1:33:13.280 more like they look more like COVID masks. Yeah, they're 1:33:13.320 --> 1:33:15.439 just a little bit thicker and yeah. 1:33:15.320 --> 1:33:17.840 Yeah they're a little bit more sort of burdens than 1:33:17.880 --> 1:33:19.960 those masks, but that is what you need if you're 1:33:20.000 --> 1:33:22.800 in those situations. Yeah, so if you have one of those, 1:33:23.520 --> 1:33:26.599 I have ones like when I'm when I'm apoxyting wood, 1:33:26.840 --> 1:33:30.200 I have a little half face respirated I wear for that. 1:33:30.720 --> 1:33:34.400 We will actually talk about masks, Margaret after some of 1:33:34.439 --> 1:33:37.360 the products and services support the show have talked about themselves. 1:33:37.400 --> 1:33:39.400 Would be pretty sick of a honey Well. Yeah, yeah, 1:33:39.760 --> 1:33:40.559 they'd be pretty small. 1:33:40.640 --> 1:33:40.800 Yep. 1:33:40.840 --> 1:33:53.519 All right here we go. All right, we're back, thank you, honey. 1:33:53.560 --> 1:33:56.880 Well yeah, keeping us safe here gas. 1:33:56.960 --> 1:33:59.080 Although I'm kind of a three M girl, I gotta admit, 1:33:59.360 --> 1:34:02.920 oh controversial in case I know so. One of the 1:34:02.920 --> 1:34:04.920 things that I did during twenty twenty was a lot 1:34:04.920 --> 1:34:07.759 of testing of protest care. And if you want to see, 1:34:08.040 --> 1:34:10.240 they've written up a whole bunch of pieces about exactly 1:34:10.320 --> 1:34:13.240 everything about masks and body armour and blah blah blah 1:34:13.240 --> 1:34:16.679 blah blah. But in general, when you think about masks, 1:34:16.880 --> 1:34:20.559 there's sort of three levels that actually are matter useful. 1:34:20.600 --> 1:34:22.080 There's the version that we kind of see as a 1:34:22.080 --> 1:34:24.280 COVID mask. There's a version where it's like you you 1:34:24.320 --> 1:34:25.640 wear it around your face and you make sure you 1:34:25.680 --> 1:34:27.280 need to get a rated one and N ninety five 1:34:27.320 --> 1:34:29.760 is better than nothing for smoke, but a P one 1:34:29.840 --> 1:34:33.320 hundred is better. And then there is a half mask respirator. 1:34:33.320 --> 1:34:36.080 Half mask respirators are great. They are probably the sweet 1:34:36.080 --> 1:34:40.280 spot for this. They are less good for pandemics because 1:34:40.320 --> 1:34:43.240 they do not filter the exhale. They are better for 1:34:43.320 --> 1:34:46.160 your daily life because they don't filter the exhale. It's 1:34:46.240 --> 1:34:49.080 much easier to breathe with a half mask respirator than 1:34:49.160 --> 1:34:54.400 a fabric mask, and you can switch out the cartridges 1:34:54.439 --> 1:34:58.519 and unfortunately almost all of them are various proprietary types 1:34:58.560 --> 1:35:03.040 of filters. Yeah, the bayonet mount is the three M style. 1:35:03.680 --> 1:35:05.840 There's a NATO version. If something looks more like a 1:35:05.840 --> 1:35:09.760 gas mask, it's probably the NATO screw on kind. So 1:35:09.800 --> 1:35:11.880 you can get a half mask respirator, or you can 1:35:11.880 --> 1:35:14.800 get a fold face respirator, which is more or less 1:35:14.800 --> 1:35:17.360 what looks like a gas mask, but those coming kind 1:35:17.360 --> 1:35:19.840 of civilian styles that are using the same three M 1:35:19.920 --> 1:35:23.479 brand or Honeywell or whatever cartridges, or you can get 1:35:23.479 --> 1:35:26.720 the more military style that'll have the NATO style screw in. 1:35:27.400 --> 1:35:30.240 The military style is kind of overkill in terms of 1:35:30.439 --> 1:35:35.040 it'll position you oddly socially. Yes, set me a fire, Yeah, 1:35:35.240 --> 1:35:37.439 I think that a thing that is worth everyone having. 1:35:37.600 --> 1:35:41.439 Are these respirators a half mask respirator or depending on 1:35:41.479 --> 1:35:43.720 your life, like if you use them a lot, or 1:35:44.080 --> 1:35:47.320 you're going to be protesting, or I don't know, there's 1:35:47.320 --> 1:35:48.760 a lot of different reasons you might want a full 1:35:48.800 --> 1:35:51.400 face one. They make really cheap knockoff ones that you 1:35:51.400 --> 1:35:53.479 can get imported. Although maybe if you're listening to this 1:35:53.520 --> 1:35:56.880 in the future. You can't get it imported. But they 1:35:56.920 --> 1:35:59.000 work fairly well, they're just not quite as good. I've 1:35:59.040 --> 1:36:01.320 tested a whole bunch of them against various impacts and 1:36:01.360 --> 1:36:01.960 things like that. 1:36:02.400 --> 1:36:03.959 I think that half masks are great. 1:36:04.160 --> 1:36:07.040 I keep a half mask in my truck literally for 1:36:07.120 --> 1:36:10.200 wildfire smoke, because when I'm traveling, if I'm driving out west, 1:36:10.560 --> 1:36:13.720 I've been around wildfire smoke while traveling before. Another thing, 1:36:13.800 --> 1:36:16.160 just really quickly. They make these for dogs as well. 1:36:16.280 --> 1:36:18.720 Oh cool, they're more like COVID mask style, and my 1:36:18.800 --> 1:36:19.439 dog hates it. 1:36:19.600 --> 1:36:21.760 Yeah, you know, but you could train your dog into 1:36:21.800 --> 1:36:23.280 not hating it. I just haven't. 1:36:23.320 --> 1:36:24.880 I just keep it around to be like, well, if 1:36:24.880 --> 1:36:27.439 it really if we had to sleep in the vehicle 1:36:28.200 --> 1:36:31.040 in a smoky area, my dog would hate it, and 1:36:31.080 --> 1:36:32.640 he would put up with it, you know, and he 1:36:32.680 --> 1:36:33.200 would survive. 1:36:33.320 --> 1:36:33.519 Yeah. 1:36:33.640 --> 1:36:36.360 Yeah, I like masks. Yes, they're great. Yeah, they are good. 1:36:36.439 --> 1:36:39.240 The half face respirator is great. Yeah, that's what I used, 1:36:39.280 --> 1:36:40.840 Like I say, when I'm at poxying, so I don't 1:36:40.880 --> 1:36:43.280 get high because that would be bad. Yeah. 1:36:43.280 --> 1:36:45.840 Oh, and then really quickly about physical stuff like deeds 1:36:45.840 --> 1:36:47.680 and all of that stuff. Yeah, I'm actually kind of 1:36:47.680 --> 1:36:50.040 curious because it's like, I see why it matters the 1:36:50.080 --> 1:36:54.520 most to have the physical originals m hm for most crises. 1:36:54.560 --> 1:36:56.920 A lot of people talk about how safety deposit boxes 1:36:56.920 --> 1:36:59.200 at banks are kind of the way to go for 1:36:59.320 --> 1:37:01.360 stuff like that you don't need on a regular basis. 1:37:01.400 --> 1:37:04.080 This wouldn't be your proof of documentation necessarily, but it 1:37:04.160 --> 1:37:07.680 might be your like birth certificate, maybe like deeds and 1:37:07.720 --> 1:37:10.559 titles and things at a safe deposit box, because then 1:37:11.160 --> 1:37:12.960 if your house burns down, it's still fine. 1:37:13.400 --> 1:37:13.599 LA. 1:37:13.680 --> 1:37:16.240 Wildfire kind of disproves this a little bit, right, because 1:37:16.240 --> 1:37:17.920 then you're like, well, what if your bank burns down? 1:37:18.040 --> 1:37:20.320 Yeah, yeah, yeah, And then. 1:37:20.240 --> 1:37:22.080 If it's not on your property, you can't grab it 1:37:22.120 --> 1:37:25.559 and go. So it's a little bit complicated. I think overall, 1:37:25.640 --> 1:37:28.320 I think that there's a real advantage to keeping stuff 1:37:28.320 --> 1:37:30.960 in a safety deposit box off site. And then also, 1:37:31.040 --> 1:37:34.160 I just want to shout out that fire proof safes 1:37:34.200 --> 1:37:35.679 aren't fireproof. 1:37:35.320 --> 1:37:38.960 Yeah, not for the situation and we're talking about here, right. 1:37:39.280 --> 1:37:43.120 They are designed for like your kitchen catches fire or 1:37:43.280 --> 1:37:46.360 your bed catches fire, and your safe is under your bed, yeah. 1:37:46.200 --> 1:37:48.719 And the firefighters come and they get out in fifteen minutes, 1:37:48.760 --> 1:37:50.360 but some stuff gets charred. 1:37:50.520 --> 1:37:53.160 Right when there is a structure fire and a structure 1:37:53.200 --> 1:37:56.959 is destroyed. Fireproof safes, like all other safes, are generally 1:37:57.200 --> 1:38:01.120 not protecting their contents, and that's not the safe. Fault 1:38:01.160 --> 1:38:03.240 of the fire safe is just they're not designed for that. 1:38:03.720 --> 1:38:06.120 Google the melting point of steel for this and many 1:38:06.160 --> 1:38:10.920 other interesting Internet things that you can learn. Jet fuel 1:38:10.960 --> 1:38:12.760 can't melt fireproof. 1:38:12.240 --> 1:38:17.439 Safe, yeah, which is why they build buildings out of it. 1:38:17.680 --> 1:38:20.040 Oh and one more thing about documents really quick, while 1:38:20.080 --> 1:38:22.880 the original matters, having copies is like better than nothing. 1:38:23.479 --> 1:38:25.719 And also just like scanning and having them on encrypted 1:38:25.720 --> 1:38:28.720 hard like encrypted USB stick, a little USB stick with 1:38:28.760 --> 1:38:31.439 all of your stuff is a really pretty good thing 1:38:31.439 --> 1:38:34.000 to have. It has some advantages too, right, because sometimes 1:38:34.000 --> 1:38:37.920 you don't want the originals of your documents, Like, for example, 1:38:37.960 --> 1:38:40.959 you probably want a list of all of your bank accounts, 1:38:41.320 --> 1:38:44.400 the bank account numbers, your pins or your credit card numbers, 1:38:44.479 --> 1:38:46.679 like all of that stuff that you really don't want 1:38:46.720 --> 1:38:49.679 someone else to have, but if you lost you would 1:38:49.720 --> 1:38:53.200 be really sad. You probably want digital encrypted copies. 1:38:52.960 --> 1:38:53.840 Of that available to you. 1:38:53.960 --> 1:38:54.160 Yeah. 1:38:54.240 --> 1:38:57.040 Yeah, also your like master passwords and all that terrible 1:38:57.040 --> 1:38:59.400 horrible stuff that's scary to put onto a USB stick. 1:38:59.560 --> 1:39:02.679 Yeah, that's why you're putting it then on the internet. Yeah, 1:39:02.720 --> 1:39:04.960 so really quickly, Margaret, it's going to be a long one. 1:39:04.960 --> 1:39:06.720 I guess you and I talked about prepper stuff. It 1:39:06.760 --> 1:39:10.960 went long. Yeah, shocking go bags. We've done our whole 1:39:11.200 --> 1:39:14.439 episode on go bags. If you're new to the show, Hello, welcome. 1:39:14.920 --> 1:39:17.080 You can go back and listen to Margaret and James 1:39:17.080 --> 1:39:19.160 talking about go bags. We'll try and put a link 1:39:19.200 --> 1:39:23.080 in the description here for you. But what is the 1:39:24.000 --> 1:39:27.479 like super fast speed round version of what you want 1:39:27.520 --> 1:39:28.760 to put in your go back? 1:39:29.400 --> 1:39:29.559 Oh? 1:39:29.640 --> 1:39:34.559 Lord, change of socks and underwear, your basic toiletries, like 1:39:34.600 --> 1:39:36.880 the kind of like travel toiletries, because your go back 1:39:36.960 --> 1:39:38.479 is like more like so it's not gonna be a 1:39:38.479 --> 1:39:40.280 long tangent. Your go back is like more likely I 1:39:40.280 --> 1:39:41.840 have to spend the night in my car than like 1:39:41.880 --> 1:39:43.960 I'm starting a new life somewhere out in the planes. 1:39:44.120 --> 1:39:44.400 Yeah. 1:39:44.439 --> 1:39:48.360 And so the small little things like bring deodorant even 1:39:48.360 --> 1:39:50.280 if you don't have deodorant in your daily life, because 1:39:50.280 --> 1:39:51.920 you might be crammed into a place with lots of 1:39:51.960 --> 1:39:52.400 other people. 1:39:52.400 --> 1:39:54.559 I've seen tons of requests for deodorant in the La 1:39:54.680 --> 1:39:56.240 Mutual a chat almost every day. 1:39:56.720 --> 1:39:59.160 Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. So basic 1:39:59.240 --> 1:40:01.920 toiletries and a little bit extra to share. I think 1:40:01.960 --> 1:40:04.759 whether or not you menstrate, you should have tampons, for example, 1:40:04.880 --> 1:40:06.920 in your go bag, and so I think that the 1:40:06.920 --> 1:40:10.760 basic toiletries basic first days, last survival stuff, and then 1:40:10.800 --> 1:40:13.559 like change of clothes, and also like at least one 1:40:13.640 --> 1:40:15.880 or two morale items. I keep a Nintendo switch in 1:40:15.920 --> 1:40:19.080 my go bag. It Skyrim is I need a Skyrim 1:40:19.080 --> 1:40:20.879 box in order to fight anxiety sometimes. 1:40:20.960 --> 1:40:23.000 Yeah. Yeah, you can get those tiny little game boys 1:40:23.000 --> 1:40:25.520 now which have like it looks like a game boys. 1:40:25.240 --> 1:40:27.200 Every game every game ever. Yeah yeah, I have one 1:40:27.200 --> 1:40:28.800 of those in their two okay sick. Yeah, those would 1:40:28.800 --> 1:40:30.639 be a perfect item for one of those that. Actually 1:40:30.680 --> 1:40:32.840 I had like almost no electricity at the beginning of COVID, 1:40:33.080 --> 1:40:35.880 and so the ability to play the Sega Genesis version 1:40:35.920 --> 1:40:38.720 of Shadow Run from like the nineties was crucial to 1:40:38.760 --> 1:40:41.439 me because I didn't have enough electricity to run a computer. 1:40:41.560 --> 1:40:43.280 Yeah, and look, that's fine, and it's probably going to 1:40:43.320 --> 1:40:44.840 be more important to you than half the shit you 1:40:44.920 --> 1:40:47.439 see people online putting in their go backs, like Yeah, 1:40:47.479 --> 1:40:51.160 you don't need a gender affirming hatchet. You will. You 1:40:51.200 --> 1:40:52.920 will have a lot more fun with your tiny game 1:40:52.960 --> 1:40:55.160 boy things that you don't needther I see people. I 1:40:55.200 --> 1:40:59.080 see people houlding a lot of food. Everyone who's evacuated 1:40:59.080 --> 1:41:02.880 in NA having a miserable time. They are eating the 1:41:02.920 --> 1:41:05.559 best they ever have. So many people want to help, 1:41:05.600 --> 1:41:07.200 and food is a way that so many of us 1:41:07.200 --> 1:41:09.960 express affection and careful one another. So many people are 1:41:09.960 --> 1:41:12.160 getting fed right now thanks to the efforts of mutual 1:41:12.200 --> 1:41:15.000 A groups really remarkably doesn't seem to be so much 1:41:15.040 --> 1:41:17.960 by you'd think La, a city on a major fault line, 1:41:17.960 --> 1:41:20.000 would would have some kind of supplies for an earthquake 1:41:20.040 --> 1:41:22.719 that required feeding lots of people. Seems like it's it's 1:41:22.880 --> 1:41:27.120 more vibes based for the city. But you know, surprise surprises, 1:41:27.200 --> 1:41:28.920 mutual A groups who are feeding people, and they're doing 1:41:29.000 --> 1:41:30.479 that really well. So you don't need to hold a 1:41:30.479 --> 1:41:31.040 lot of food. 1:41:31.280 --> 1:41:33.080 Having a little bit of food, though a little bit 1:41:33.120 --> 1:41:36.240 of shelf stable food. I really recommend bars you don't 1:41:36.360 --> 1:41:38.519 like as the food that you put in your go bag, 1:41:38.680 --> 1:41:40.200 because if you put in bars that you do like, 1:41:40.200 --> 1:41:42.360 you're going to eat them when you're bored one day, yeah, 1:41:42.400 --> 1:41:43.160 and you don't want to. 1:41:43.120 --> 1:41:44.720 Go to the store. I highly recommend. I say that. 1:41:45.000 --> 1:41:47.080 Literally all of the bars in all my bags have 1:41:47.120 --> 1:41:49.360 been eating yeah the past week. But that's because there's 1:41:49.400 --> 1:41:51.120 been like a winter storm, so I haven't been out 1:41:51.160 --> 1:41:52.920 to the grocery store and I just have been like 1:41:53.080 --> 1:41:55.040 sugarcrevy and so I eat even the gross barers. 1:41:55.160 --> 1:41:56.560 I live in San Diego. I have no hues so 1:41:56.680 --> 1:41:58.040 to do it because I can't be bothered to leave 1:41:58.080 --> 1:41:59.519 my offace and go to my kitchen sometimes. 1:41:59.640 --> 1:42:01.720 Yeah, So find the one that you don't like, put 1:42:01.720 --> 1:42:02.240 it in your bag. 1:42:02.520 --> 1:42:03.320 Just have a couple. 1:42:03.400 --> 1:42:06.200 It's not to keep you sustained, it's to keep you 1:42:06.240 --> 1:42:08.960 from being grouchy. Like, don't think of it as like 1:42:08.960 --> 1:42:10.680 I need to put entire meals in my go bag. 1:42:10.760 --> 1:42:12.760 Think of it as like I need enough sugar and 1:42:12.840 --> 1:42:14.960 whatever to keep my headspace right. 1:42:15.200 --> 1:42:17.519 Yeah, I kind of like to lay them in between 1:42:17.560 --> 1:42:19.760 things I do. Is what I'm camping too. I'll get 1:42:19.760 --> 1:42:22.519 like those little peanut butter packets, yeah, and just like 1:42:22.720 --> 1:42:24.800 just to throw a few in there, and then you're like, oh, yeah, 1:42:24.840 --> 1:42:28.080 you know what, I am being cranky and that means 1:42:28.080 --> 1:42:30.320 you just snuff this and I'm going to be dead 1:42:30.360 --> 1:42:33.000 at Yeah, I do highly recommend peanut butter. I take 1:42:33.000 --> 1:42:34.479 it when I travel a lot as well. It's like 1:42:34.520 --> 1:42:39.000 a comfort food for me. It's filling, it's compact, it's 1:42:39.040 --> 1:42:40.320 not that bad for you. 1:42:40.680 --> 1:42:42.200 When I lived out of a backpack, I kept a 1:42:42.200 --> 1:42:44.040 plastic jar of peanut butter at the bottom of my 1:42:44.080 --> 1:42:46.040 pack always because I knew, no matter what, I had 1:42:46.040 --> 1:42:47.799 at least two days worth of calories in the bottom 1:42:47.800 --> 1:42:48.200 of my bag. 1:42:48.320 --> 1:42:51.639 Yeah, yeah, it's a wonderful thing, peanut butter. So yeah, 1:42:51.840 --> 1:42:53.840 put some of that in there. There are things that, like, 1:42:53.920 --> 1:42:56.680 you probably don't need shelter, right, but it might be 1:42:56.800 --> 1:42:59.519 nice to have a little compact blanket, right especial if 1:42:59.520 --> 1:43:01.360 you're going to have to stay. One of those one 1:43:01.400 --> 1:43:04.120 thing or comfort item that I always take, I've taken 1:43:04.160 --> 1:43:07.280 this all over the world is an inflatable pillow. Like 1:43:07.320 --> 1:43:08.960 there are a lot of hardships that I will endure. 1:43:09.120 --> 1:43:11.479 I like to sleep on a pillow, and so I 1:43:11.520 --> 1:43:14.280 take a little inflatable pillow. So it's something that, like, 1:43:14.560 --> 1:43:16.439 you know, you will have comfort items like that that 1:43:16.520 --> 1:43:19.080 are things for you. I'll put those in there. I 1:43:19.120 --> 1:43:22.479 would avoid watching too much go bag content on YouTube 1:43:22.560 --> 1:43:24.280 because you're going to get anxious about the fact that 1:43:24.280 --> 1:43:27.720 you don't have like a folding short barreled rifle. And 1:43:28.040 --> 1:43:33.680 that's because you don't need it. No, what do you need? Like, like, 1:43:33.800 --> 1:43:36.320 I'm sitting next to my bullet proofst that I've used 1:43:36.360 --> 1:43:39.760 before for work. I'm not taking it with me staying here. 1:43:40.280 --> 1:43:41.559 I can spend a lot of money on the plate, 1:43:41.680 --> 1:43:43.960 so I will be claiming those on inssurance. But you 1:43:44.000 --> 1:43:47.559 don't need that stuff. People are taking care of one another, 1:43:48.000 --> 1:43:50.640 and so pack with the things that will help you 1:43:50.760 --> 1:43:54.000 be comfortable. And consider that you might be spending a 1:43:54.080 --> 1:43:58.240 while in a hotel or a hostel or a refuge, 1:43:58.360 --> 1:44:01.360 or staying with a friend or family memor Yeah, and 1:44:01.479 --> 1:44:04.400 think what would make that more comfortable for you. 1:44:04.840 --> 1:44:06.519 I think that's the really good way to put it. 1:44:06.520 --> 1:44:08.680 It's the get out of town for the weekend bag. Yes, 1:44:08.800 --> 1:44:11.240 not the end of the world bag. I think that 1:44:11.520 --> 1:44:15.160 if you are more rural, you might want some basic 1:44:15.200 --> 1:44:19.280 camping stuff. Yeah, yep, definitely, but the average person probably doesn't. 1:44:19.800 --> 1:44:22.080 I mostly have this at the like there's my go 1:44:22.160 --> 1:44:24.000 bag and then there's the stuff that's kind of always 1:44:24.000 --> 1:44:24.479 in my truck. 1:44:24.600 --> 1:44:26.599 Yeah, that's where I'm at too. I like to go camping, 1:44:26.800 --> 1:44:28.559 so I have my camping stuff in my truck because 1:44:28.600 --> 1:44:30.280 then it takes me less time to go camping. 1:44:30.680 --> 1:44:34.400 Yeah, and so like, I am almost certainly not bugging 1:44:34.400 --> 1:44:36.400 out on foot from my house. And if I had to, 1:44:36.600 --> 1:44:38.880 then I would have to bring a not my go bag, 1:44:38.960 --> 1:44:42.320 I would have to bring a hiking bag, you know. Yeah, 1:44:42.320 --> 1:44:44.160 most of the time, if you have access to a 1:44:44.200 --> 1:44:47.320 car and roads, because you're escaping an emergency, you're getting 1:44:47.360 --> 1:44:50.599 to somewhere with enough civilization that you have, you can 1:44:50.640 --> 1:44:52.280 expect some level of shelter and food. 1:44:52.360 --> 1:44:55.679 Yeah, exactly, but I do. I will say, have some water. 1:44:55.920 --> 1:44:58.120 Don't go overboard, Like I think that having like a 1:44:58.160 --> 1:45:01.000 little bit of like chemical water filtration and a water 1:45:01.000 --> 1:45:04.920 bottle or a little water filter and a water bottle, 1:45:05.320 --> 1:45:06.559 you know, the reason not. 1:45:06.560 --> 1:45:10.519 To Yeah, I will say specifically, like get a Soyer squeeze. Yeah, 1:45:10.560 --> 1:45:14.280 tiny filtration is better than most other filters that are 1:45:14.320 --> 1:45:17.000 that size. Get it, put it in your backpack, leave 1:45:17.040 --> 1:45:19.760 it there. They're handy to have. And then yeah, get 1:45:19.760 --> 1:45:21.880 a little uh I like to have again, this is 1:45:21.920 --> 1:45:23.840 a little comfort thing. I like to have a stain 1:45:23.880 --> 1:45:26.840 of steel now gene size bottle. It's not made by 1:45:26.840 --> 1:45:28.760 analogy things made by clean canteen. I like it so 1:45:28.840 --> 1:45:30.560 I could drink water out of it. I like it 1:45:30.600 --> 1:45:32.200 because it's not plastic. And I like it because I 1:45:32.200 --> 1:45:33.840 can use it to heat up water when it's really 1:45:33.840 --> 1:45:36.040 cold and have it like a little hot water bottle 1:45:36.439 --> 1:45:40.080 and snuggle with it. Yeah, so that's a nice thing. Yeah. 1:45:40.120 --> 1:45:43.479 I use also like a single wall steel canteen so 1:45:43.520 --> 1:45:45.320 that you can heat water in it. If you get 1:45:45.320 --> 1:45:47.920 the double wall ones, then you can't heat them over 1:45:47.960 --> 1:45:51.040 the fire because they're you know, vacuum insulated or whatever. 1:45:51.360 --> 1:45:53.439 But then other people I know are like, well they 1:45:53.439 --> 1:45:56.280 want the ability to have like and their insulated deep bottles. 1:45:56.560 --> 1:45:59.880 Yeah, you know, you do you So, I. 1:46:00.040 --> 1:46:03.280 Will also say battery packs for phones is a big one. Again, 1:46:03.439 --> 1:46:05.599 you're less likely to need to hunt squirrels with axes, 1:46:05.640 --> 1:46:07.880 and you're more likely need to keep your phone charged 1:46:07.880 --> 1:46:09.280 and other people's phones charged. 1:46:09.360 --> 1:46:12.840 One of those little hydra charging cables which breaks one. 1:46:12.920 --> 1:46:15.360 That's what I was about to say too, Yeah, yeah, yeah, 1:46:15.439 --> 1:46:17.920 get get one of those, get a little wall water 1:46:17.960 --> 1:46:19.760 and keep it in there. So you can turn a 1:46:19.920 --> 1:46:22.160 wall socket into a USB socket if you need that 1:46:22.200 --> 1:46:26.080 to charge your stuff. Another thing that is surprisingly handy 1:46:26.080 --> 1:46:28.800 and lots of situations is I like to run a lot, 1:46:28.840 --> 1:46:30.920 and sometimes you're doing ultramarathon. When you get to the 1:46:31.560 --> 1:46:35.160 aid station, they just have like big things of water, right, 1:46:35.160 --> 1:46:37.160 and you fill up your little water bottles you're carrying 1:46:37.160 --> 1:46:38.880 in your vest, and lots of people have these tiny 1:46:38.920 --> 1:46:41.920 collapsible cups that are made of like a thin rubber. 1:46:41.920 --> 1:46:43.720 They're made of the stuff that camel back bladders are 1:46:43.720 --> 1:46:45.880 made of. And then they can fill up that cup 1:46:45.880 --> 1:46:47.240 and they can drink from it, and they just keep 1:46:47.240 --> 1:46:48.800 it attached to their vest, right, and then off they 1:46:48.800 --> 1:46:51.960 go running along. Oh interesting. These are very useful and 1:46:52.000 --> 1:46:54.960 I've started incorporating them in lots of my travel and like, yeah, 1:46:55.000 --> 1:46:57.760 emergency supplies because if you're in a place where people 1:46:57.800 --> 1:47:00.360 don't have cups, right that they have big things water, 1:47:00.560 --> 1:47:02.760 Now you have a vessel from which to drink. So 1:47:02.800 --> 1:47:06.439 those are surprisingly handy. Yeah. I also keep one of those. 1:47:06.560 --> 1:47:08.080 I don't know if it's the same one you're talking 1:47:08.080 --> 1:47:09.719 about it, but it like collapses up almost like forty 1:47:09.760 --> 1:47:10.080 and style. 1:47:10.120 --> 1:47:12.080 Yeah, it's like it's like the camping ones, but even 1:47:12.200 --> 1:47:13.679 it's way lighter than those. 1:47:13.840 --> 1:47:16.400 Ah okay, I have the camping style one and I 1:47:16.479 --> 1:47:18.679 keep it in there as a like emergency dog bowl. 1:47:18.760 --> 1:47:20.360 Yes I know. Yeah, those are great for that too, 1:47:20.479 --> 1:47:22.439 and you can drink hot things out of them, which 1:47:22.479 --> 1:47:24.400 is nice. Yeah. 1:47:24.439 --> 1:47:26.240 And another thing that I keep in my go bag 1:47:26.360 --> 1:47:28.400 is I keep the meds that my dog is on, 1:47:28.560 --> 1:47:30.439 and I keep some of the meds that I take 1:47:30.760 --> 1:47:33.800 in there. And you know, it's like, my dog only 1:47:33.800 --> 1:47:35.439 gets the meds once a month, So I go to 1:47:35.520 --> 1:47:37.200 my bag and I pull out the meds and I 1:47:37.240 --> 1:47:40.280 give them to my dog from my bag, because why not. 1:47:40.880 --> 1:47:44.200 And if you have, you know, other people, whether they're 1:47:44.240 --> 1:47:47.080 not fully grown yet or are that you also take 1:47:47.120 --> 1:47:48.479 care of, you know, you need to make sure you 1:47:48.479 --> 1:47:51.200 have a little bit of their stuff in there. 1:47:51.000 --> 1:47:53.679 Like like you keep a dog toy in your go bag. 1:47:53.800 --> 1:47:54.000 Yeah. 1:47:54.160 --> 1:47:56.599 Yeah, if you have a child, keep a child toy. 1:47:56.680 --> 1:47:59.040 If you need to keep medicines cold, there's a product 1:47:59.080 --> 1:48:03.240 called freo Io. They're not paying me. I've never got 1:48:03.280 --> 1:48:05.519 one for free. But you dip it in water and 1:48:05.560 --> 1:48:08.360 it uses evaporative cooling to keep your insulin cold. I 1:48:08.400 --> 1:48:11.160 have used them. Oh, they are very handy. They don't 1:48:11.160 --> 1:48:14.559 rely on electricity. It's very nice. So yeah, if that's 1:48:14.560 --> 1:48:17.719 something that you need, then then then that is hopefully 1:48:17.760 --> 1:48:19.760 something useful to you. My last thing would be a 1:48:19.760 --> 1:48:22.840 little torch, a little pocket flashlight, or even better a 1:48:22.840 --> 1:48:25.960 headlamp like a head torch, because lots of places in 1:48:26.040 --> 1:48:27.680 La lost power, right, and if you're having to go 1:48:27.760 --> 1:48:29.880 places at night, it's much easier if you can see 1:48:29.960 --> 1:48:32.759 where you're going. Yeah, they're not expensive, they're great gifts. 1:48:33.000 --> 1:48:35.599 Bring a few, give them to friends, make new friends. 1:48:36.320 --> 1:48:38.840 Hopefully this has repared you. The last thing, of course, 1:48:38.920 --> 1:48:42.800 Margaret is a gold bullion with Ronald Reagan's face on it. 1:48:42.960 --> 1:48:45.920 Oh, I forgot to mention that, Yeah, you need trade. 1:48:46.320 --> 1:48:48.400 Rather than having a system of mutual aid, which we 1:48:48.520 --> 1:48:53.320 naturally do. Instead, we should interject a complicated barter system, 1:48:53.439 --> 1:48:55.240 ideally on the gold Standard, in. 1:48:55.200 --> 1:49:00.000 Which shiny metal replaces our naturally instinct to help one another. Yeah, yeah, exactly, Yeah, 1:49:00.800 --> 1:49:06.120 that's how it's been. That's that's humans famously, notice species. 1:49:06.160 --> 1:49:08.439 Just bring a copy of Debt by David Graeber and 1:49:08.479 --> 1:49:11.280 your Yeah, yeah, bring at the shrugs and then as 1:49:11.280 --> 1:49:14.040 you pass the fires. Just start ripping that shit off, 1:49:14.080 --> 1:49:15.439 throwing it in there, let it burn. 1:49:18.400 --> 1:49:21.280 Having a paperback book if you like that, it's not 1:49:21.360 --> 1:49:23.800 weight efficient, but you know what, like. 1:49:24.200 --> 1:49:27.559 That's how you like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Bring the Dawn 1:49:27.600 --> 1:49:30.160 of Everything by David Graeber. That'll that'll occupy you through 1:49:30.240 --> 1:49:33.080 most natural disasters. It's a it's a thick book. It 1:49:33.160 --> 1:49:37.360 is if you can't reach something very handy. Stand on that. 1:49:39.400 --> 1:49:42.559 He really thought he did us one final solid RP. 1:49:42.920 --> 1:49:46.320 David Graeber. Yeah, and and and on rip to David 1:49:46.320 --> 1:49:48.160 Wengro is a lot. Yes, yeah, yeah, shout out to 1:49:48.240 --> 1:49:52.000 David Wegro the other David, the less venerated David who 1:49:52.000 --> 1:49:52.880 also wrote that book. 1:49:53.080 --> 1:49:54.800 I always feel bad when I just talk about Gramer 1:49:54.840 --> 1:49:56.360 stuff and the I talk about Thought of Everything, and 1:49:56.400 --> 1:49:57.679 then I don't talk about the other David. 1:49:57.960 --> 1:50:00.479 Yeah. Sometimes I'll just say the David's and then people 1:50:00.520 --> 1:50:03.720 will look at me and yeah, totally the level. But 1:50:03.760 --> 1:50:06.120 I know, yeah, yeah, when I'm pick to Margaret, I 1:50:06.120 --> 1:50:08.800 can say that David's. She knows which David's. I mean, 1:50:08.840 --> 1:50:10.440 that's why we're friends. Yeah. 1:50:10.479 --> 1:50:13.720 Well, anyway, yeah, it's gonna be okay, or it's not 1:50:14.080 --> 1:50:16.400 but you know what, you weren't going to survive being 1:50:16.439 --> 1:50:19.559 alive anyway. And keep your car half full of gas, 1:50:19.560 --> 1:50:21.000 like when you're on your way home, and make sure 1:50:21.000 --> 1:50:23.000 that you fill up if it's less than halfway full. 1:50:23.479 --> 1:50:26.040 Plug your electric car in. Don't don't skip plugging your 1:50:26.040 --> 1:50:29.080 little electric car in at night. Yeah, because the night 1:50:29.120 --> 1:50:30.400 that you do is you know that you need it, 1:50:30.760 --> 1:50:33.479 So you do the little things. Take care of one another. 1:50:34.160 --> 1:50:55.439 Yeah. 1:50:55.880 --> 1:50:59.519 Oh, welcome back to It Could Happen Here, a show 1:50:59.560 --> 1:51:02.200 where it's now happening here. A thing that we've said 1:51:02.200 --> 1:51:05.120 in a joking way a number of times, but now 1:51:05.160 --> 1:51:09.559 it just is. This is, you know, a podcast. We're 1:51:09.600 --> 1:51:12.960 having a good time. I'm Robert Garrison Davis, my co 1:51:13.040 --> 1:51:17.280 host colleague, and today we're talking about Trump's inauguration with 1:51:17.479 --> 1:51:20.519 a good friend of ours who was present at the 1:51:20.560 --> 1:51:24.520 thing itself, Bridget Todd. Bridget, welcome to the program. 1:51:24.560 --> 1:51:26.599 Thank you for having me. It's actually my first time 1:51:26.720 --> 1:51:29.639 on It Can Happen Here. I'm like a little like nervous. 1:51:29.680 --> 1:51:30.519 I hope it goes well. 1:51:30.880 --> 1:51:34.840 Yeah, you're an og guest over on Bastard, so it's 1:51:34.840 --> 1:51:37.160 about time we had you on here. How you feeling 1:51:37.200 --> 1:51:39.720 bridget just in general before we get into the specifics, 1:51:39.760 --> 1:51:42.000 how are you doing in the first full day of 1:51:42.040 --> 1:51:42.599 this new era? 1:51:42.840 --> 1:51:43.040 Oh? 1:51:43.280 --> 1:51:45.320 Not great, Bob, not great? 1:51:45.520 --> 1:51:46.559 Not great? Not great? 1:51:46.640 --> 1:51:47.439 Yeah, bad. 1:51:47.479 --> 1:51:50.280 Like we were talking off Mike, like, I need to 1:51:50.280 --> 1:51:53.080 figure out a self care plan, And part of this 1:51:53.200 --> 1:51:55.559 is on me that I feel like I am one 1:51:55.600 --> 1:51:56.599 of those people that has kind. 1:51:56.479 --> 1:51:58.000 Of checked out a little bit, and I'm like, ough, 1:51:58.080 --> 1:51:59.160 who I am. 1:51:59.520 --> 1:52:01.599 I got a take a step back from this, and 1:52:01.640 --> 1:52:03.640 now that I'm taking a step back in, I'm like, 1:52:03.760 --> 1:52:05.760 I need a plan for how I'm going to pace 1:52:05.840 --> 1:52:09.120 myself and not lose my fucking shit every fucking day. 1:52:09.280 --> 1:52:11.559 Yeah, it's probably not for the best that Like, right 1:52:11.640 --> 1:52:13.800 at the same time as this has all happened, the 1:52:14.160 --> 1:52:16.439 people who make gas station drugs have figured out how 1:52:16.479 --> 1:52:19.400 to take the chemicals and kretom, which you know, in 1:52:19.479 --> 1:52:22.639 leaf forms is generally safe drug, and hyper concentrate them 1:52:22.840 --> 1:52:27.320 into basically fucking heroin. So I'm just working on staying 1:52:27.360 --> 1:52:29.920 away from that shit too much of the news, you know, 1:52:30.120 --> 1:52:31.280 that's the way you gotta do it. 1:52:32.240 --> 1:52:35.519 I'm also doing dry January and trying to eat healthy. 1:52:35.760 --> 1:52:36.080 That's tough. 1:52:36.120 --> 1:52:36.680 I'm not doing that. 1:52:37.320 --> 1:52:41.040 So I have no outlets. I can't drink, I don't 1:52:41.040 --> 1:52:44.640 do drugs. I'm fucking eating lentil soup every night. I 1:52:44.720 --> 1:52:46.000 got nothing. There's nothing I can. 1:52:45.960 --> 1:52:46.479 Do to cope. 1:52:46.479 --> 1:52:49.240 I'm keeping myself, okay, have by just eating venison every 1:52:49.280 --> 1:52:51.000 single day. 1:52:51.040 --> 1:52:55.639 But yeah, I'm carrying on our Vegas tradition and I've 1:52:55.640 --> 1:52:56.559 moved into gambling. 1:52:56.840 --> 1:52:57.080 Hie. 1:52:57.439 --> 1:52:59.280 Oh you're gambling now, huh. 1:52:59.160 --> 1:53:03.479 Not actually, but instead of doing something stupid for inauguration Day, 1:53:03.760 --> 1:53:07.000 me and my friends got together and all played anarchist poker, 1:53:07.600 --> 1:53:09.960 So that was that was fun. I lost about ten 1:53:10.000 --> 1:53:12.040 dollars to my friends, So that's it. 1:53:12.200 --> 1:53:12.719 That's fair. 1:53:12.920 --> 1:53:15.080 How often did you say I hardly know it? 1:53:15.240 --> 1:53:16.839 Like about about four times. 1:53:17.960 --> 1:53:19.519 Yeah, that's that's the right amount of fact. 1:53:20.120 --> 1:53:22.640 But we also got quite drunk by the time we 1:53:22.680 --> 1:53:25.599 started our second game. I was also dressed like Data 1:53:25.920 --> 1:53:29.439 from the next generation, complete with silver face paint the 1:53:29.600 --> 1:53:33.400 entire time and a poker visor. So that was that 1:53:33.520 --> 1:53:34.800 was how I spent yesterday. 1:53:35.000 --> 1:53:37.160 I'm glad you got to experience the hell that that 1:53:37.320 --> 1:53:41.280 actor experience. Bridget Let's talk about the inauguration. Let's do 1:53:41.360 --> 1:53:44.920 it all right, So I kind of coming in firsthand, 1:53:44.920 --> 1:53:46.920 when did you sort of lock down your plans to 1:53:47.000 --> 1:53:47.960 actually be there. 1:53:48.400 --> 1:53:51.759 So initially my plan was to get out of town totally. 1:53:51.840 --> 1:53:52.880 I'm going to go out town. 1:53:53.800 --> 1:53:56.680 Yeah, I'm gonna hide it on the mountains with a 1:53:56.800 --> 1:53:58.880 rifle like that. 1:53:59.080 --> 1:54:01.799 You're joking, but like almost no, no, no, I'm not joking, 1:54:03.400 --> 1:54:04.880 And I mean I was in So I live in 1:54:04.960 --> 1:54:07.120 d C, the DC most of my life. I was 1:54:07.320 --> 1:54:11.080 in DC in my apartment when January sixth happened, and 1:54:11.160 --> 1:54:15.840 I remember being so scared. There was a curfew in DC, 1:54:16.240 --> 1:54:19.040 like it just shit got really real really quickly. I 1:54:19.040 --> 1:54:21.439 remember I was on an all staff like the beginning 1:54:21.479 --> 1:54:24.320 of the year planning work call, and somebody just on 1:54:24.360 --> 1:54:29.679 the zoom was like, hey, something's happening and everybody who 1:54:29.680 --> 1:54:33.240 lives in DC should maybe check the TV, and then 1:54:33.280 --> 1:54:34.120 the line went dead. 1:54:34.520 --> 1:54:35.800 That's what I remember the most. 1:54:35.840 --> 1:54:38.440 So I was planning on getting out of town, and 1:54:38.480 --> 1:54:41.520 then I thought, fuck it, why should these people drive 1:54:41.560 --> 1:54:42.640 me out of my own city. 1:54:42.720 --> 1:54:44.320 I want to be out on the streets. I want 1:54:44.320 --> 1:54:45.280 to be out in my community. 1:54:45.280 --> 1:54:47.760 I want to be connected, and so yeah, I went 1:54:47.800 --> 1:54:51.160 out to the People's March protest. I went out as 1:54:51.240 --> 1:54:54.520 far as I could to inauguration downtown just to get 1:54:54.520 --> 1:54:56.080 a sense of what the vibes were. 1:54:56.400 --> 1:54:59.080 Yeah, all right, well let's let's get into the vibes. 1:54:59.200 --> 1:55:00.120 How were they? 1:55:00.640 --> 1:55:01.480 Weird as hell? 1:55:03.480 --> 1:55:06.720 This is something that I think people might not really 1:55:06.720 --> 1:55:08.920 think about a lot. So like being from DC, living 1:55:08.920 --> 1:55:11.960 her most of my life, people really obviously think of 1:55:12.000 --> 1:55:14.160 it as like a seat of national power, and they 1:55:14.200 --> 1:55:17.520 sometimes forget that there are over six hundred thousand DC 1:55:17.840 --> 1:55:20.240 residents who just like live here, work here, have their 1:55:20.280 --> 1:55:23.120 lives here, and so this stuff all plays out like 1:55:23.400 --> 1:55:27.520 practically in our backyards. While arguably we have less electoral 1:55:27.560 --> 1:55:28.440 political power and. 1:55:28.440 --> 1:55:31.000 Less agency in some ways because DC is not a state. 1:55:31.080 --> 1:55:34.920 Yeah yeah, yeah, Our congressional representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, she 1:55:35.280 --> 1:55:38.240 can like vote in committees and introduce legislation and stuff 1:55:38.240 --> 1:55:40.760 like that, but she can't vote, and so all of 1:55:40.800 --> 1:55:45.879 this matters for It's dude, don't even get me started. 1:55:45.920 --> 1:55:48.400 Like I could talk about statehood all day long. 1:55:48.760 --> 1:55:52.080 That's like such a funny, shitty compromise, Like you can. 1:55:52.200 --> 1:55:54.360 You could be there and like talk, but you can't 1:55:54.360 --> 1:56:00.120 do anything like you I'm sorry, that's just so fucked up. 1:56:00.560 --> 1:56:02.960 It is, and it's like, I mean, like, there are 1:56:03.000 --> 1:56:05.760 so many reasons why it sucks that DC's not a state, 1:56:05.920 --> 1:56:07.120 but ultimately. 1:56:06.640 --> 1:56:10.240 It's like, we deserve to have political power. We deserve 1:56:10.280 --> 1:56:11.919 to have a say why Yoming? 1:56:12.760 --> 1:56:13.920 Have you ever fucking been to? 1:56:14.000 --> 1:56:14.160 Why? 1:56:14.560 --> 1:56:14.760 Good? 1:56:14.920 --> 1:56:15.200 God? 1:56:15.800 --> 1:56:15.920 Like? 1:56:17.000 --> 1:56:20.000 And I mean I could talk all day when Republican 1:56:20.080 --> 1:56:23.360 lawmakers get on TV, and I remember they would shit 1:56:23.440 --> 1:56:26.400 on DC by saying things like there's not even laggers 1:56:26.400 --> 1:56:28.520 who live there, it's not even a real place, like 1:56:28.960 --> 1:56:32.400 as if the only way to actually meaningfully exist in 1:56:32.440 --> 1:56:34.400 the United States, it's like you have to have laggers 1:56:34.640 --> 1:56:37.120 who live there, Like it's so infuriating. 1:56:36.600 --> 1:56:39.800 And none of those motherfuckers know a lagger I know. 1:56:43.160 --> 1:56:47.240 So all of this background really matters to Trump's kind 1:56:47.240 --> 1:56:51.440 of tense relationship with DC, like the district. Trump, as 1:56:51.480 --> 1:56:54.800 y'all might remember, spent quite a lot of time just 1:56:54.880 --> 1:56:58.920 talking straight shit about the district and announcing these like 1:56:59.000 --> 1:57:02.400 big plans to takeover DC. The background is a little 1:57:02.400 --> 1:57:04.360 bit complicated, but the quick and dirty version is that 1:57:04.480 --> 1:57:06.920 DC has what's called home rule. So that's like the 1:57:06.960 --> 1:57:10.360 ability for DC to govern, like for our local government 1:57:10.400 --> 1:57:12.640 and leaders to like make decisions about what happens to 1:57:12.680 --> 1:57:15.880 the district, and on the campaign trail, Trump was saying 1:57:15.920 --> 1:57:18.520 he wants to change this, that DC's home rule would 1:57:18.520 --> 1:57:21.800 be revoked and that the federal government, basically him, would 1:57:21.840 --> 1:57:25.280 dictate how DC is run as a city. Because DC 1:57:25.440 --> 1:57:28.120 is not a state, technically, any president could have that 1:57:28.240 --> 1:57:31.720 authority to interfere with how DC is run, so right, Yeah, 1:57:31.760 --> 1:57:34.800 any president could like take over the police department and 1:57:34.880 --> 1:57:38.400 take over the powers are mayor Muriel Bowser currently has 1:57:38.480 --> 1:57:39.080 over the city. 1:57:39.640 --> 1:57:43.360 Yeah, So I guess, first off, like of your friends, 1:57:43.440 --> 1:57:46.320 how many folks kind of made the same call, Like 1:57:46.320 --> 1:57:48.560 what was the general decision? Because I'm looking at like 1:57:48.640 --> 1:57:52.200 footage of proud boys marching through fucking d C again 1:57:52.240 --> 1:57:55.200 for the first time in almost half a decade, and like, yeah, 1:57:55.240 --> 1:57:57.480 where are the people you know on this kind of stuff? 1:57:57.720 --> 1:58:01.080 I mean this in the most literal sense, No, nobody zero. 1:58:01.480 --> 1:58:04.000 I was out there fly in solo and I had 1:58:04.080 --> 1:58:06.600 multiple friends and be like, you're crazy to go down there, 1:58:06.760 --> 1:58:07.680 like like everybody. 1:58:07.880 --> 1:58:09.800 Yeah, And I guess that's something else. 1:58:09.560 --> 1:58:11.360 That I wanted to talk a bit about, which is that, 1:58:11.720 --> 1:58:14.600 you know, the first time around. During Trump's inauguration I 1:58:14.760 --> 1:58:17.360 was like out on the streets. I was like it 1:58:17.480 --> 1:58:20.240 sounds so silly now, but like, ugh, I mean almost 1:58:20.240 --> 1:58:22.200 only want to get into it. But the idea of 1:58:22.280 --> 1:58:25.240 like resist that had not yet become a cliche to me, 1:58:25.440 --> 1:58:29.400 and in the you know, aftermath of Trump's first election, 1:58:29.960 --> 1:58:32.960 I was really clinging to that for like whatever hope 1:58:33.080 --> 1:58:35.280 or power. I didn't know it was going to turn 1:58:35.280 --> 1:58:37.200 out to be like a bunch of grifters and like 1:58:37.600 --> 1:58:40.880 people saying like hashtag resist and like meeting nothing yea, 1:58:41.000 --> 1:58:44.040 at the time, I really clung to that. This time 1:58:44.080 --> 1:58:48.200 around total night and day difference, like yeah, and I 1:58:48.240 --> 1:58:52.040 think the mood on the street I think reflected that 1:58:52.160 --> 1:58:56.240 I think that DC is exhausted. The people that generally 1:58:56.560 --> 1:58:59.160 I know who are like radicals who would be out 1:58:59.160 --> 1:58:59.640 on the street. 1:59:00.000 --> 1:59:01.800 One of those people were like, We're sitting this one out. 1:59:02.080 --> 1:59:03.200 Yep. Yeah. 1:59:03.200 --> 1:59:05.440 That was like a refrain I hear from a lot 1:59:05.440 --> 1:59:08.360 of black and brown organizing folks here in DC, like 1:59:08.400 --> 1:59:09.200 this is not our fight. 1:59:09.240 --> 1:59:10.720 We are sitting this one out. 1:59:10.880 --> 1:59:13.400 And I don't blame anybody, right, Like it's a lot, 1:59:13.440 --> 1:59:14.520 We've all been through a lot. 1:59:14.960 --> 1:59:18.000 Yeah, And that's I guess if I could get across 1:59:18.120 --> 1:59:21.200 something and people listen, it would be like, don't just 1:59:21.320 --> 1:59:26.040 show up because they are right now. They have the cops, 1:59:26.280 --> 1:59:29.720 they have the courts. If they want you to show 1:59:29.840 --> 1:59:33.000 up in the street, the best thing to do. Sometimes 1:59:33.320 --> 1:59:34.560 I'm not going to say this is going to be 1:59:34.640 --> 1:59:37.120 consistently the case, but it is like, don't give them 1:59:37.160 --> 1:59:39.560 what they want, don't be where they want you to be, 1:59:39.880 --> 1:59:43.600 don't make it simple for them. You know. Again, I 1:59:43.840 --> 1:59:45.600 keep trying to say and I'm not saying this, and 1:59:45.720 --> 1:59:48.120 like I'm so smart, I know what everyone needs to 1:59:48.160 --> 1:59:50.640 be doing. I don't. But it's like, not what we 1:59:50.720 --> 1:59:54.320 did last time, because that that just didn't didn't do 1:59:54.360 --> 1:59:56.920 it exactly, didn't do it all, didn't not get out 1:59:56.960 --> 1:59:57.360 of the park. 1:59:58.280 --> 2:00:01.520 Was the home run last time Trump was in office. 2:00:01.720 --> 2:00:04.760 Y'all remember like the Women's March and pussy hats and 2:00:04.800 --> 2:00:07.640 all of that. I actually staffed the Women's March that 2:00:07.640 --> 2:00:10.360 time around. I was one of the digital street team folks. 2:00:10.720 --> 2:00:13.640 So I was like very invested. This time around, they 2:00:13.720 --> 2:00:16.200 changed the name, they rebranded to the People's March, and 2:00:16.680 --> 2:00:19.480 they only had a couple of thousand people out there, 2:00:19.600 --> 2:00:22.280 and so, you know, I think it really goes back 2:00:22.320 --> 2:00:23.480 to what you were saying, Robert. 2:00:23.800 --> 2:00:27.080 Personally, I have a hard. 2:00:26.880 --> 2:00:30.080 Time with the idea that what we did then is 2:00:30.120 --> 2:00:33.120 what we should be doing now that that that playbook 2:00:33.200 --> 2:00:36.000 is still going to work. And frankly, like sixty nine 2:00:36.040 --> 2:00:38.200 percent of white women voted for Trump, right, and so 2:00:38.320 --> 2:00:40.960 like the idea that I would feel safe and feel 2:00:40.960 --> 2:00:43.760 solidarity with a bunch of women out on the streets 2:00:43.800 --> 2:00:47.600 like being like boo Trump. It's just like, it's I 2:00:47.720 --> 2:00:50.920 understand why the turnout was so low, because I feel 2:00:50.920 --> 2:00:53.600 like solidarity march on the street is clearly not where 2:00:53.600 --> 2:00:54.040 we're at. 2:00:54.360 --> 2:00:56.320 So that is not how we should be meeting this moment. 2:00:56.440 --> 2:00:59.160 Well, and even last Jay twenty there was like, you know, 2:00:59.200 --> 2:01:03.760 a large, large radical contingent, and those people are similarly 2:01:03.800 --> 2:01:07.040 sitting out, and you're looking towards the next few months, 2:01:07.080 --> 2:01:08.680 looking at like what kind of ice raids are going 2:01:08.720 --> 2:01:10.600 to happen, looking at what's going to happen for like 2:01:10.840 --> 2:01:15.120 reproductive healthcare, transgender healthcare. People are making the calculation that 2:01:15.880 --> 2:01:18.839 it does not make sense to like needlessly throw yourself 2:01:18.920 --> 2:01:22.240 against the walls of the state when we can stick 2:01:22.280 --> 2:01:25.839 together and see and see what happens, and prepare for 2:01:26.000 --> 2:01:27.720 all of those other things that are going to actually 2:01:27.720 --> 2:01:30.720 impact you and people that that you know, like seriously, 2:01:30.760 --> 2:01:33.600 and it sucks to be stuck in that reactive position. 2:01:34.040 --> 2:01:38.400 And there's things you can do proactively, but going outside 2:01:38.480 --> 2:01:41.160 and yelling in front of a fence probably isn't going 2:01:41.240 --> 2:01:43.440 to do any of those things. It's probably not going 2:01:43.480 --> 2:01:45.320 to help the people who are going to need help 2:01:45.360 --> 2:01:48.560 in the next few weeks. Yeah, and people are understanding that, 2:01:48.920 --> 2:01:52.520 and it's leading to people reacting quite differently than than 2:01:52.560 --> 2:01:54.640 what they did, you know, eight years ago. 2:01:54.960 --> 2:01:58.360 I agree, Yeah, I mean, Garrison, you really said it. 2:01:58.400 --> 2:02:02.400 And in this moment personally, I am really wondering, like 2:02:02.520 --> 2:02:05.160 what my role is, Like where could I fit in? 2:02:05.520 --> 2:02:08.760 There was a time where you know, just being out 2:02:08.760 --> 2:02:11.320 on the street yelling, like being so frustrated I have 2:02:11.400 --> 2:02:14.320 to take to the streets and scream in impotent rage. 2:02:14.560 --> 2:02:16.960 That would feel like something. And I just think in 2:02:17.000 --> 2:02:18.920 twenty twenty five, I have to figure out like what 2:02:18.960 --> 2:02:21.320 it is I can contribute and contribute that and I 2:02:21.360 --> 2:02:24.640 don't know that it's protest as it used to be. 2:02:24.680 --> 2:02:26.800 Like I used to be somebody who like protest was 2:02:26.800 --> 2:02:29.560 my thing, Like you know, I really got my start 2:02:29.600 --> 2:02:31.920 in the anti war movement when I was in college, 2:02:31.920 --> 2:02:34.480 and like that felt like something. I don't think that 2:02:34.480 --> 2:02:36.320 that's what it is for me anymore. Maybe it's just 2:02:36.400 --> 2:02:38.240 age too, you age out of it or something. 2:02:38.520 --> 2:02:41.840 Sure, I think some of it is that, like the 2:02:41.920 --> 2:02:46.520 only meaningful definition of intelligence really is the ability to 2:02:46.600 --> 2:02:51.440 adapt to changing circumstances. And when the circumstances change in 2:02:51.480 --> 2:02:53.400 the way that they have and you're like, well, time 2:02:53.440 --> 2:02:56.400 to do exactly what we tried in twenty seventeen. That 2:02:56.560 --> 2:02:59.720 is not intelligent, right, Like, I'm not trying to be mean, 2:02:59.760 --> 2:03:02.040 And again I'm not saying I know what the smart 2:03:02.080 --> 2:03:04.760 thing is, but it is we gotta be pivoting. We 2:03:04.840 --> 2:03:07.240 gotta pivot in a lot of different directions right now. 2:03:07.880 --> 2:03:11.920 So yes, and I don't know that I see some 2:03:12.120 --> 2:03:15.440 of the institutional powers that be, even people who are 2:03:15.480 --> 2:03:18.760 like ostensibly like on our side, doing that pivot, right, Like, 2:03:18.840 --> 2:03:22.560 I'm very much in this sort of like nonprofit industrial complex. 2:03:22.840 --> 2:03:24.880 All the organizations who were like, oh, well, where should 2:03:24.880 --> 2:03:26.680 we be putting our money and this and that the 2:03:26.720 --> 2:03:29.040 first time around, I just see them doing the same 2:03:29.080 --> 2:03:29.480 old thing. 2:03:29.520 --> 2:03:31.880 And it's like, I don't know that that is what's 2:03:31.880 --> 2:03:32.640 going to save us. 2:03:32.680 --> 2:03:35.000 And like, don't get me started on how useless the 2:03:35.000 --> 2:03:37.200 Democrats are, because they'll go all day. But like when 2:03:37.240 --> 2:03:40.440 Trump announced that he was moving the inauguration inside, they 2:03:40.440 --> 2:03:44.120 printed little jokey shirts that said snowflake. I'm just so 2:03:44.240 --> 2:03:47.720 sick of that, like that sort of like sneering, dunking, 2:03:49.120 --> 2:03:53.920 useless stuff that doesn't translate to meaningful action. I'm just 2:03:53.960 --> 2:03:55.840 so sick of it. I wanted to gouge my eyes out. 2:03:56.000 --> 2:03:58.960 Yes, yeah, I mean that's what's in part what lost 2:03:58.960 --> 2:04:01.960 of the election is that is that general attitude and 2:04:01.960 --> 2:04:05.360 that conception of them throughout the country. And yeah, getting 2:04:05.360 --> 2:04:08.840 your little like snide remarks during Haig's est confirmation hearing 2:04:09.240 --> 2:04:11.200 might make you feel good and might generate a good 2:04:11.280 --> 2:04:14.120 clip for social media, but is that actually going to 2:04:14.320 --> 2:04:16.440 stop him from getting into the cabinet position. 2:04:17.120 --> 2:04:19.600 I've had so many arguments about this with people over 2:04:19.680 --> 2:04:21.800 the last few days who still insist that, like what 2:04:21.920 --> 2:04:24.000 the fascists can't stand you making fun of them. That's 2:04:24.040 --> 2:04:25.880 what they hate is you laughing at them. And like, 2:04:26.720 --> 2:04:28.760 I think there was a stage at which that was 2:04:28.800 --> 2:04:31.720 a valid tactic, and you know, there may be elements 2:04:31.720 --> 2:04:34.560 of that in the future, but like, no, they don't care. 2:04:34.600 --> 2:04:38.160 They're winning. I'm not saying like, don't fucking make jokes 2:04:38.160 --> 2:04:40.560 with your friends to like keep your stell self sane. 2:04:40.600 --> 2:04:45.000 I'm saying, don't mistake dunking on them on social media 2:04:45.160 --> 2:04:48.000 for doing anything that matters, because it doesn't. 2:04:48.160 --> 2:04:51.560 Well, okay, I'm not even sure, Like I have so 2:04:51.640 --> 2:04:54.720 much to say about this. So I have been saying 2:04:54.760 --> 2:04:57.360 this for a very long time. And you know, we 2:04:57.360 --> 2:05:00.360 were all at the Democratic National Convention. I I didn'mit 2:05:00.400 --> 2:05:03.120 that I was there as an influencer, But the thing 2:05:03.120 --> 2:05:06.640 that annoyed me so much was like that exact sentiment, 2:05:06.720 --> 2:05:10.360 and that exact sentiment fucking lost. The thing that the 2:05:10.440 --> 2:05:14.440 thing that pisses me off now is the complete unwillingness 2:05:14.640 --> 2:05:17.040 to be like, where did we go wrong? Maybe the 2:05:17.120 --> 2:05:19.720 memes and the jokes and the calling them weird and 2:05:19.760 --> 2:05:21.520 then this and that that. Maybe it felt good in 2:05:21.560 --> 2:05:24.320 the moment, but it actually didn't translate what happened. 2:05:24.680 --> 2:05:26.840 Unwilling to do that, completely unwilling. 2:05:26.880 --> 2:05:28.840 Now, you know, you see, I would almost argue that, 2:05:28.920 --> 2:05:31.680 like the weird stuff, I think if they'd stuck with it, 2:05:32.040 --> 2:05:34.760 there was something there. I think the I think the 2:05:34.760 --> 2:05:40.360 the emphasizing how outside of like the American norm these 2:05:40.400 --> 2:05:42.280 guys were and like what we want to accept in 2:05:42.280 --> 2:05:45.000 our communities, Like there was something there, but they didn't 2:05:45.200 --> 2:05:47.320 stick to it. You know. The next big time we 2:05:47.400 --> 2:05:50.120 saw Tim Walls, he was talking about how how he 2:05:50.160 --> 2:05:52.320 wanted to be friends with Jade Vance on the fucking 2:05:52.320 --> 2:05:55.000 debates Stitch. Yeah, you know, But also I think that's 2:05:55.040 --> 2:05:58.040 a little different than just like calling him fucking Orange 2:05:58.080 --> 2:06:01.080 Mussolini or whatever the fuck. Like, I think there's a 2:06:01.120 --> 2:06:04.120 point in a messaging tactic. It's like Trump gets mileage 2:06:04.240 --> 2:06:06.880 out of the names he uses and the way in 2:06:06.960 --> 2:06:09.280 which that's part of how he got where he is. 2:06:09.320 --> 2:06:12.120 So I'm not saying that aspects of these tactics can't 2:06:12.160 --> 2:06:13.840 be used. Well, I'm talking about the way in which 2:06:13.880 --> 2:06:17.480 people liberals and folks on the left are continuing to 2:06:17.560 --> 2:06:21.600 do the fucking like drump shit that's not getting us anywhere. 2:06:21.920 --> 2:06:24.920 I could not agree more. And yeah, I mean I agree. 2:06:24.960 --> 2:06:28.000 I think the weird stuff could have like had legs. 2:06:28.000 --> 2:06:30.800 I think that they were kind of like scattershot at 2:06:30.800 --> 2:06:32.400 that point, and they were like, let's tell people seem 2:06:32.440 --> 2:06:34.200 to like this let's lean into this, Oh, this new thing, 2:06:34.280 --> 2:06:34.920 let's lean into that. 2:06:35.040 --> 2:06:35.240 Yeah. 2:06:35.240 --> 2:06:36.520 The thing that I remember. 2:06:36.280 --> 2:06:39.280 Very clearly was when Tim Walls was talking about how, 2:06:39.360 --> 2:06:42.080 oh we have a saying in Minnesota it's mind your 2:06:42.080 --> 2:06:43.000 own damn business. 2:06:43.080 --> 2:06:44.480 Yes, yes, yeah, so like. 2:06:44.600 --> 2:06:46.720 My partner is from Minnesota, and he was like, oh, 2:06:46.960 --> 2:06:49.960 that is like absolutely a Minnesotan thing. 2:06:50.200 --> 2:06:51.360 Mind your own damn business. 2:06:51.480 --> 2:06:52.680 Yeah, you can sell that. 2:06:53.000 --> 2:06:54.560 Yeah, so I agree. 2:06:54.840 --> 2:06:58.840 But yeah, the like calling elon Elmo, like all these 2:06:58.840 --> 2:07:02.080 little cutesy things might feel good and like get to 2:07:02.120 --> 2:07:04.280 a hit of dopamine and get you a few you know, 2:07:04.640 --> 2:07:07.600 likes on whatever, but it's just it's not gonna save us. 2:07:07.600 --> 2:07:08.520 And I'm so sick of it. 2:07:08.560 --> 2:07:11.680 I feel like, in some ways it's all anyone has 2:07:11.680 --> 2:07:13.200 to offer right now, and I'm sick of it. 2:07:23.560 --> 2:07:26.000 One of the interesting things when like looking back at 2:07:26.080 --> 2:07:29.640 the last version of Trump's Jay twenties, you did have 2:07:29.680 --> 2:07:33.360 you know, these large, large militant groups you know what 2:07:33.480 --> 2:07:36.960 would later probably be dubbed Antifa by the media, but 2:07:37.200 --> 2:07:39.600 there was there was a presence in the street, and 2:07:39.760 --> 2:07:42.720 this time around, really the only sizeable militant presence in 2:07:42.760 --> 2:07:47.040 the street was like the first return of the Proud Voice. 2:07:48.000 --> 2:07:51.800 Did you stumble across a gaggle of black and yellow 2:07:51.880 --> 2:07:53.840 clad militants in the streets? 2:07:54.720 --> 2:07:58.240 Not a gaggle, I saw one, lone one. I'm sure. 2:07:58.240 --> 2:07:59.760 It was like I've lost my groom. 2:08:00.200 --> 2:08:02.520 Like a little duck. I had to help a baby 2:08:02.600 --> 2:08:04.640 duck get back to its mom last year. It was 2:08:04.720 --> 2:08:06.680 just like that, right down to the IQ. 2:08:07.640 --> 2:08:09.680 I have some friends right now who are in the 2:08:09.760 --> 2:08:13.720 DC airport and it is chud central over there. 2:08:15.600 --> 2:08:16.800 It sounds quite bad. 2:08:16.880 --> 2:08:21.200 I I saw a friend posted about like all of 2:08:21.200 --> 2:08:24.040 the Trump merchant Uh. They were sitting next to two 2:08:24.120 --> 2:08:28.880 individuals debating race science in the airport terminal. So that 2:08:29.040 --> 2:08:31.920 is the vibes of the DC Airport as of as 2:08:31.920 --> 2:08:35.040 of Tuesday, the day after the inauguration. But yeah, like 2:08:35.120 --> 2:08:37.320 the return of the Proud Boys is like one one 2:08:37.360 --> 2:08:39.240 of the big things that I think we're gonna we're 2:08:39.280 --> 2:08:41.880 gonna see these next few weeks is the amount of 2:08:41.920 --> 2:08:45.000 all right militias or these you know, more like street 2:08:45.040 --> 2:08:48.920 gang type groups who've been so emboldened by by Trump 2:08:49.040 --> 2:08:51.840 essentially giving them permission to do whatever they want to 2:08:51.960 --> 2:08:53.320 now now that they know that they're not going to 2:08:53.400 --> 2:08:56.520 face any kind of like real legal repercussions for you know, 2:08:56.680 --> 2:09:00.280 carrying out whatever actions they want to against people of color, 2:09:00.360 --> 2:09:01.400 queer people, et cetera. 2:09:01.720 --> 2:09:04.400 And that's going to be interesting to see. Like this 2:09:04.480 --> 2:09:07.880 is certainly a sign that suggests some embrace, but I'm 2:09:07.960 --> 2:09:11.200 kind of wondering if we're looking back to the Nazis 2:09:11.240 --> 2:09:15.040 the Ogs. What the Nazis did was marginalize and actually 2:09:15.080 --> 2:09:18.560 purge a lot of these guys fairly quickly, because the 2:09:18.600 --> 2:09:20.960 folks that were the best at like rabble rousing and 2:09:20.960 --> 2:09:22.840 fighting in the streets were also kind of like the 2:09:22.920 --> 2:09:27.760 least reliable at helping to keep a stable system in 2:09:27.840 --> 2:09:30.480 the city. Right Like, after the Nazis took power, one 2:09:30.480 --> 2:09:32.160 of the big issues they had is like, we still 2:09:32.160 --> 2:09:33.760 have a lot of people who are kind of like 2:09:34.240 --> 2:09:37.400 in the middle, including most of the military, and one 2:09:37.400 --> 2:09:39.120 of the things that keeps scaring them is all these 2:09:39.160 --> 2:09:42.080 fucking goons running about. And we still want what the 2:09:42.120 --> 2:09:44.760 goons are doing, which is like certain people beaten and 2:09:44.760 --> 2:09:47.520 thrown in camps, but we don't want the goons doing it. 2:09:47.560 --> 2:09:49.960 We want the cops doing it. And I guess kind 2:09:49.960 --> 2:09:53.919 of we're all waiting to see how different or similar 2:09:54.080 --> 2:09:55.640 what comes next looks to that. 2:09:55.840 --> 2:09:58.520 And I mean, what do you make of Like, I 2:09:58.600 --> 2:10:01.680 guess I knew it was, but when all those J 2:10:01.880 --> 2:10:05.520 six booms got pardoned and so like you have like 2:10:05.760 --> 2:10:07.200 the leader of the Oath Keepers, the leader of the 2:10:07.240 --> 2:10:10.960 Proud Boys getting released from DC jail, Like, what do 2:10:11.000 --> 2:10:11.600 you make of that? 2:10:12.240 --> 2:10:14.920 There's two things. Number One, this is something that he 2:10:14.960 --> 2:10:17.360 had campaigned on. It's something that there was a lot 2:10:17.400 --> 2:10:20.360 of support from his base for, you know, like the 2:10:20.440 --> 2:10:24.240 fact that in order to kind of protect himself he 2:10:24.320 --> 2:10:27.040 had to really heavily embrace the idea that nothing bad 2:10:27.080 --> 2:10:29.960 happened on January sixth, then if it did, it was 2:10:30.000 --> 2:10:33.200 the fault of you know, the mean old Biden cops, 2:10:33.800 --> 2:10:36.200 and so he kind of had to do it. The 2:10:36.280 --> 2:10:39.400 degree to which he shows up and is close or 2:10:39.720 --> 2:10:44.120 actually directly embraces Proud Boys and guys like Tario is 2:10:44.120 --> 2:10:45.680 going to tell us a lot. And I think we'll 2:10:45.680 --> 2:10:48.560 be seeing that very soon. If they are kept at 2:10:48.640 --> 2:10:51.200 arm's length and kind of letting them out is all 2:10:51.360 --> 2:10:54.800 they do, then I don't know how much we're going 2:10:54.880 --> 2:10:58.560 to see of these guys. If there's a real embrace 2:10:58.600 --> 2:11:01.040 and an attempt to use them as a way to 2:11:01.160 --> 2:11:04.560 kind of extra legally deal with his enemies. Then I 2:11:04.560 --> 2:11:07.320 think we start seeing them really make inroads and pushes 2:11:07.320 --> 2:11:10.200 in places like Portland, trying to get people out so 2:11:10.240 --> 2:11:13.080 that they can do violence to them and then you know, 2:11:13.200 --> 2:11:15.520 get pardoned or just have the violence ignored and the 2:11:15.560 --> 2:11:18.240 other people get thrown into prison. And I don't really 2:11:18.280 --> 2:11:20.920 know which way I think that the state is landing 2:11:21.000 --> 2:11:23.480 right now, which is not to say, like I think 2:11:23.520 --> 2:11:25.600 one is clearly less violent than the other, because his 2:11:25.680 --> 2:11:27.920 other option is he's going to be having his FEDS 2:11:27.960 --> 2:11:28.840 do that kind of shit. 2:11:29.280 --> 2:11:32.600 I think that's where a lot of my anxiety comes from, 2:11:32.640 --> 2:11:35.160 the not knowing of like it could go this way 2:11:35.240 --> 2:11:37.640 or that way. Both are bad, but what flavor are 2:11:37.680 --> 2:11:39.280 we going to get? Like, That's the thing that is 2:11:39.320 --> 2:11:40.480 really getting to me right now. 2:11:40.600 --> 2:11:43.000 Yeah, do you want to talk about what the probaboys 2:11:43.000 --> 2:11:44.760 were actually like up to on Monday? 2:11:45.000 --> 2:11:46.920 Yeah, So, as you said, this was the first time 2:11:46.960 --> 2:11:50.520 that they in mass came to DC since January six, 2:11:50.840 --> 2:11:53.560 And they marched through the streets of DC holding a 2:11:53.600 --> 2:11:57.440 banner that said congratulations President Trump, and they chanted who 2:11:57.600 --> 2:12:01.040 streets our streets, which, by the way, that is such 2:12:01.120 --> 2:12:03.760 like again as someone who kind of like came up 2:12:03.800 --> 2:12:06.720 on like street protest. Yeah, y'all are doing the chant 2:12:06.760 --> 2:12:08.480 all late, Like I hate that. 2:12:08.800 --> 2:12:11.960 I mean, the situation is continued to be proven correct. 2:12:12.640 --> 2:12:15.600 The levels of recuperation for even like you're like diametrically 2:12:15.600 --> 2:12:19.200 opposed like militant enemy side is just fucking crazy. 2:12:19.920 --> 2:12:20.160 Yes. 2:12:20.680 --> 2:12:23.320 And I saw this, I mean, speaking of J six 2:12:23.840 --> 2:12:26.360 rioters who were all, you know, pardoned, I saw this 2:12:26.520 --> 2:12:29.400 video that really kind of broke my heart. It was 2:12:29.400 --> 2:12:33.040 a video that some maga dipshit took outside of the 2:12:33.120 --> 2:12:35.560 jail where all those people were being held. And so 2:12:36.360 --> 2:12:39.240 there's a black DC elder who clearly is just like 2:12:39.520 --> 2:12:42.000 mining her business, walking down the street in her city 2:12:42.320 --> 2:12:46.240 and she gets baited into an on video screaming match 2:12:46.280 --> 2:12:49.879 outside of the DC jail where this maga guy. 2:12:49.920 --> 2:12:51.880 Yells like like like. 2:12:51.840 --> 2:12:54.240 Oh, we didn't do anything wrong, no crime was committed, 2:12:54.240 --> 2:12:56.400 and she's like, you all killed a cop. 2:12:56.800 --> 2:12:59.680 No cops got killed, which is not true. Like the 2:13:00.080 --> 2:13:00.920 it goes back to what you. 2:13:00.880 --> 2:13:03.680 Were saying, Robert about how there is this need to 2:13:03.800 --> 2:13:06.160 quickly have it be like something that wasn't that big 2:13:06.200 --> 2:13:09.839 of a deal and one to see that in person 2:13:09.840 --> 2:13:13.040 in this video was wild to me. But two, seeing 2:13:13.120 --> 2:13:16.880 like a DC elder like take the bait broke my 2:13:16.960 --> 2:13:18.680 heart because I wish I could have could have been 2:13:18.760 --> 2:13:20.640 in that moment to be like, honey, you don't need 2:13:20.640 --> 2:13:22.720 to be screaming. This guy wants you to be screaming 2:13:22.720 --> 2:13:25.400 at him. He wants this video of you screaming at 2:13:25.480 --> 2:13:26.760 him on the street. 2:13:26.960 --> 2:13:28.600 This is like exactly what he wants. 2:13:28.920 --> 2:13:31.160 Yeah, I entirely agree. 2:13:31.680 --> 2:13:35.320 You know, the biggest takeaway from being out was just 2:13:35.400 --> 2:13:39.760 how sparse it was. Like, you know, the first time around, 2:13:39.920 --> 2:13:42.800 I probably had four different people staying with me, two 2:13:42.840 --> 2:13:46.480 of whom got arrested during the big anti Trump protests. 2:13:46.520 --> 2:13:48.480 This time around, I didn't have anybody. I didn't know 2:13:48.520 --> 2:13:51.120 anybody who was there. And I do think that reflects 2:13:51.200 --> 2:13:54.120 kind of where people are at. I think people are exhausted, 2:13:54.160 --> 2:13:56.879 people have been through a lot. People are maybe pacing 2:13:56.920 --> 2:13:59.760 themselves and sort of like don't want to blow their 2:13:59.840 --> 2:14:03.120 race wad on the first week, which I totally understand. 2:14:03.560 --> 2:14:06.880 But I think it really remains to be seen, like 2:14:06.920 --> 2:14:08.720 whether or not this vibe is going to take us 2:14:08.760 --> 2:14:09.640 through the next four years. 2:14:09.640 --> 2:14:12.520 Are people just tuning out? Are we checked out? 2:14:12.600 --> 2:14:15.960 Are we so exhausted and overstimulated already that we're not 2:14:15.960 --> 2:14:18.360 going to really be paying attention? And in some ways, 2:14:18.400 --> 2:14:20.760 like I feel like that's exactly what authoritarians want. 2:14:21.320 --> 2:14:24.320 Yes, that's where it's difficult, or that's one of the 2:14:24.360 --> 2:14:27.120 many things that is difficult, is that like checking out 2:14:27.840 --> 2:14:32.160 is not the answer, but you simply can't react to 2:14:32.280 --> 2:14:36.120 everything that happens showing up and burning yourself out in 2:14:36.160 --> 2:14:39.720 the street. It's like the cops continue to do bad things. 2:14:39.760 --> 2:14:41.560 If every time a cop is a bad thing, you 2:14:41.640 --> 2:14:44.000 and your friends throw yourselves at a police station until 2:14:44.000 --> 2:14:46.240 you all get arrested, then you won't be able to 2:14:46.240 --> 2:14:49.120 do anything else because you'll be in jail, you know. 2:14:49.920 --> 2:14:53.360 And like these are hard realities, which is why it 2:14:53.440 --> 2:14:58.960 necessitates new kinds of thinking, creativity, you know, to some 2:14:59.080 --> 2:15:01.800 extent unsad usfying. And I guess part of what I 2:15:01.840 --> 2:15:04.200 would say is if people are giving you answers to 2:15:04.360 --> 2:15:07.640 what we need to do that sound very clear and satisfying, 2:15:07.680 --> 2:15:12.160 you should maybe not trust that totally. Yeah, because the 2:15:12.280 --> 2:15:15.080 responsible answer, in my opinion is that like it's very 2:15:15.160 --> 2:15:18.080 unclear how to get out of this or what the 2:15:18.160 --> 2:15:20.120 right things to do here are? 2:15:21.600 --> 2:15:23.760 We just know that what we've. 2:15:23.520 --> 2:15:26.800 Been doing hasn't been working, and the first step to 2:15:26.840 --> 2:15:28.200 wisdom is accepting that. 2:15:28.800 --> 2:15:29.160 Oof. 2:15:29.240 --> 2:15:29.840 I love that. 2:15:30.360 --> 2:15:34.840 Something I know that isn't working is I'm glad that 2:15:34.920 --> 2:15:36.200 we're not doing. 2:15:36.120 --> 2:15:38.200 I thought you were going to pivot to ads. Actually, 2:15:38.360 --> 2:15:39.440 let's pivot to ads. 2:15:41.680 --> 2:15:44.240 You're so good at ads, like you could teach a 2:15:44.280 --> 2:15:44.880 class on it. 2:15:45.120 --> 2:15:47.960 Oh yeah, well I waited twenty eight minutes this time 2:15:47.960 --> 2:15:49.400 to do it. But at least we have the second 2:15:49.440 --> 2:16:03.480 one out there. We're back, Bridget, Sorry, where were you going? 2:16:04.000 --> 2:16:06.320 Something that I'm glad we are not doing this time 2:16:06.360 --> 2:16:09.960 around is remember during the first Trump administration, how the 2:16:10.120 --> 2:16:14.280 Washington Post changed their tagline to Democracy dies in Darkness 2:16:14.280 --> 2:16:16.560 and everybody gave them a shit ton of money because 2:16:16.560 --> 2:16:18.440 it was like, yeah, we need like good. 2:16:18.400 --> 2:16:21.840 Investigative journalism, traditional media, that's gonna save us. 2:16:22.040 --> 2:16:23.960 I'm glad that this time around we've all cut the 2:16:23.960 --> 2:16:26.280 shit and it's like, no, they're part of it. 2:16:26.360 --> 2:16:28.000 They're not gonna do a goddamn thing. 2:16:28.360 --> 2:16:32.720 Absolutely not. Yes, they don't give a fuck. Fucking Jake 2:16:32.840 --> 2:16:35.720 Tapper couldn't roll over fast enough and. 2:16:35.760 --> 2:16:38.280 Like so even I mean, I'm sure y'all have talked 2:16:38.280 --> 2:16:39.640 about this to death and I. 2:16:39.800 --> 2:16:41.080 Have been thinking about it nonstuff. 2:16:41.080 --> 2:16:46.200 But Elon's seeing how the traditional press reported on his salute, 2:16:46.440 --> 2:16:48.000 it's like, like, oh, what. 2:16:48.000 --> 2:16:48.600 Did he do? 2:16:48.760 --> 2:16:52.440 Like, like the way they will contort themselves to not 2:16:52.560 --> 2:16:55.680 just come out and say it is astonishing to me. 2:16:56.440 --> 2:16:59.120 Uh yeah, that's I mean, that's one of like the 2:16:59.360 --> 2:17:02.320 scariest things is the degree to which they're trying to 2:17:02.360 --> 2:17:05.480 memory all stuff happening as it happened, and at the 2:17:05.560 --> 2:17:08.360 same time, Okay, yeah, he did a Nazi salute. He's 2:17:08.360 --> 2:17:10.200 a Nazi. This is not the first thing that's made 2:17:10.240 --> 2:17:13.560 that clear. We need to move on knowing he's a Nazi, 2:17:13.600 --> 2:17:16.240 but we need to move on, you know, like that 2:17:16.240 --> 2:17:18.120 that's right. I don't know, I don't know what to 2:17:18.120 --> 2:17:20.680 do other than you know, maybe there's some utility and 2:17:20.800 --> 2:17:23.119 spreading clips of him next to the fucking guy from 2:17:23.120 --> 2:17:26.640 American History X, but I don't know. I don't know 2:17:26.680 --> 2:17:27.480 how that's gonna help. 2:17:27.879 --> 2:17:30.000 The fact that he is in this position where he 2:17:30.040 --> 2:17:32.560 can do something like that on stage and it actually 2:17:32.640 --> 2:17:35.760 doesn't matter is like so much more frightening to me 2:17:36.120 --> 2:17:38.800 than like like Elon Musk like doing like a very 2:17:38.920 --> 2:17:42.959 like low mortar control like version of the salute when 2:17:43.000 --> 2:17:44.879 he's like wrapped up in some like excitement and he's 2:17:44.879 --> 2:17:47.120 trying to like meme to like his like fans on 2:17:47.200 --> 2:17:50.080 four Chan. The fact that like he's even just allowed 2:17:50.080 --> 2:17:51.760 to do that and like it doesn't actually matter, like 2:17:51.760 --> 2:17:54.360 this will not affect him in any way is more 2:17:54.400 --> 2:17:56.360 what's interesting to me, because yes, we've all known that 2:17:56.400 --> 2:17:58.600 he's been a Nazi for quite a while. He's like 2:17:58.800 --> 2:18:03.360 shared things are like essentially like Nazi race science on 2:18:03.400 --> 2:18:06.360 Twitter before he is he has engaged with like extremely 2:18:06.400 --> 2:18:10.199 anti semitic conspiracy theories before, and you know, the largest 2:18:10.280 --> 2:18:13.959 anti semitism org in the country has completely capitulated to 2:18:14.080 --> 2:18:17.760 these people, so like they've hollowed out everything that's like 2:18:17.800 --> 2:18:20.800 supposed to be, like you know, the institutional blockages, whether 2:18:20.879 --> 2:18:22.920 that's you know, places like the Washington Post where that's 2:18:22.959 --> 2:18:26.000 literally all of the tech companies, the degree to which 2:18:26.080 --> 2:18:29.600 like everyone has cozied up to Trump, which is also like, 2:18:29.680 --> 2:18:32.480 you know, very different from twenty sixteen. Exactly everyone was 2:18:32.480 --> 2:18:37.640 like fairly like united institutionally was united against Trump, and 2:18:37.800 --> 2:18:39.600 you know the same way we like we don't see 2:18:39.640 --> 2:18:41.920 you know, people out in the streets, you know, writing 2:18:42.160 --> 2:18:45.120 or even doing like large protests. The actual you know, 2:18:45.200 --> 2:18:49.000 institutional powers have have decided to instead of actually trying 2:18:49.040 --> 2:18:50.680 to fight this guy, they're going to trying to see 2:18:50.680 --> 2:18:52.800 like how friendly they can be, like how much can 2:18:52.800 --> 2:18:55.879 they get out of this. There's this like resignation, and 2:18:56.080 --> 2:18:58.680 I don't know how long that'll last, Like I'm I'm 2:18:58.680 --> 2:19:01.120 not sure if like, you know, once Trump becomes the 2:19:01.200 --> 2:19:04.160 establishment figure that he's been like deriding for the past 2:19:04.240 --> 2:19:06.959 few years, like once he falls back into that zone, 2:19:06.959 --> 2:19:09.280 if we're going to see more resistance to him from 2:19:09.400 --> 2:19:12.960 like institutional levels, but you can't like count on it. 2:19:13.200 --> 2:19:15.520 And the degree to which it's it is like different 2:19:15.800 --> 2:19:18.720 from twenty sixteen is like worth remembering. Like a phrase 2:19:18.760 --> 2:19:21.240 me and Robert talk about sometimes is like the forever 2:19:21.320 --> 2:19:23.920 twenty sixteen, Like the fact that it feels like we've 2:19:24.080 --> 2:19:26.360 never really left twenty sixteen. Everyone kind of acts like 2:19:26.440 --> 2:19:29.840 we're still in twenty sixteen, like this such load bearing 2:19:29.879 --> 2:19:33.200 year on our entire cultural consciousness. But the fact is 2:19:33.360 --> 2:19:36.360 we aren't in twenty sixteen anymore, and you can't act 2:19:36.440 --> 2:19:39.200 like we are. You actually have to move on from that, 2:19:39.600 --> 2:19:42.760 and we're starting to see more of that in certain corners. 2:19:42.840 --> 2:19:45.240 You see some of that among some of the radicals, 2:19:45.280 --> 2:19:47.800 some of the anarchists as well as you know, the 2:19:47.879 --> 2:19:51.360 tech companies and the CEOs and the media companies. They're 2:19:51.400 --> 2:19:54.240 just you know, changing the degree to which they're moving 2:19:54.240 --> 2:19:56.160 away from their twenty sixteen mode. 2:19:56.480 --> 2:19:57.640 You actually just. 2:19:57.560 --> 2:19:59.440 Gave me a little bit of a silver lining that 2:19:59.480 --> 2:20:01.960 I had not read, which is, like, it kind of 2:20:02.480 --> 2:20:06.280 is useful to see so clearly where these institutions and 2:20:06.360 --> 2:20:10.360 power holders stand. And it's like when like I remember 2:20:10.920 --> 2:20:14.760 watching tech companies like change their logos to Black Lives 2:20:14.800 --> 2:20:17.800 Matter or post the Black Square, it's kind of freeing 2:20:17.840 --> 2:20:19.600 to be like, we don't have to do that shit anymore. 2:20:19.680 --> 2:20:21.320 Y'all will have to pretend, and we don't have to 2:20:21.320 --> 2:20:24.039 pretend either. We know where you stand. You've made it 2:20:24.240 --> 2:20:26.560 very clear. You could not make it. You could not 2:20:26.640 --> 2:20:29.120 have made it clear where your alliance is. And let's 2:20:29.160 --> 2:20:31.000 go from there. Like it almost it almost is. 2:20:30.959 --> 2:20:33.160 Sort of like trimming the fat a little bit. 2:20:33.200 --> 2:20:36.520 We no longer have to take these these institutions as 2:20:36.600 --> 2:20:38.320 serious as allies or something. 2:20:38.760 --> 2:20:40.600 Yeah, there's going to be a degree to which, like 2:20:41.360 --> 2:20:44.680 people's masks come off more than usual. I mean, I 2:20:44.680 --> 2:20:47.120 think certainly this next Pride month will be interesting to 2:20:47.120 --> 2:20:51.160 see how people change, you know Pride months twenty twenty two, 2:20:51.240 --> 2:20:53.320 or even you know Pride twenty seventeen. 2:20:53.879 --> 2:20:57.199 Yeah, I was at Pride in San Francisco in twenty 2:20:57.240 --> 2:21:01.360 twenty and it was very big, very happy, but there 2:21:01.560 --> 2:21:05.400 was like a rind to it, you know, there was 2:21:05.520 --> 2:21:09.440 like an edge to it of are we going to 2:21:09.480 --> 2:21:14.720 be able to keep doing this? You know, there's a dispensary. 2:21:14.959 --> 2:21:17.000 You know, I don't smoke, but a friend of mine 2:21:17.040 --> 2:21:19.320 who I stay with when I'm at San Francisco does, 2:21:19.320 --> 2:21:21.959 and so I was with them at this dispensary and it 2:21:22.080 --> 2:21:24.240 had like a sign talking about its history, which is 2:21:24.240 --> 2:21:26.240 that the person who found it it's a very nice one. 2:21:26.280 --> 2:21:29.480 It's like an apple store inside. And the person who 2:21:29.640 --> 2:21:33.320 like started it and ran it did so because when 2:21:33.360 --> 2:21:37.000 they were younger, their partner had AIDS HIV in the 2:21:37.120 --> 2:21:40.360 AIDS and marijuana reduced some of their symptoms, and they 2:21:40.400 --> 2:21:42.240 had to go buy it in the nearby park, which 2:21:42.320 --> 2:21:44.320 was a lot uglier of a place and a lot 2:21:44.400 --> 2:21:46.480 like it was. It was sketchy, like they got robbed. 2:21:46.520 --> 2:21:48.560 A couple of times there's a lot more violent crime 2:21:49.200 --> 2:21:51.959 and just kind of there are even in a place 2:21:52.000 --> 2:21:55.280 like San Francisco, which is so like gentrified in such 2:21:55.320 --> 2:21:57.520 a way like when you're when you're talking with like 2:21:57.760 --> 2:22:00.720 especially the older members of the queer community, they're not 2:22:00.840 --> 2:22:04.760 just like rich, out of touch tech people. They are old, 2:22:05.760 --> 2:22:10.000 battle scarred queers who went through some of the ugliest 2:22:10.040 --> 2:22:13.520 moments of this nation's history and we're kind of bracing 2:22:13.560 --> 2:22:16.080 themselves forward again. So yeah, I'm very interested to see 2:22:16.080 --> 2:22:17.760 what it's what it's like this year, you know. 2:22:17.920 --> 2:22:19.840 But even that, I feel like there's a I mean, 2:22:20.200 --> 2:22:22.680 it's grim shit, but there's a kind of hope in 2:22:22.720 --> 2:22:25.200 it that like we've been people have been here before, right, 2:22:25.320 --> 2:22:28.840 Like yeah, you know, there have always been queer people, 2:22:28.879 --> 2:22:32.440 trans people, black and brown people, immigrants, Like we are America, 2:22:32.560 --> 2:22:34.840 and like we've always been here, Baby, We're always gonna 2:22:34.840 --> 2:22:37.720 be here and like making our way and like holding 2:22:37.720 --> 2:22:39.680 on and bracing ourselves and doing what we gotta do 2:22:39.720 --> 2:22:41.760 and enduring like that is what we fucking do. And 2:22:41.800 --> 2:22:44.080 so in some ways, as grim as that is, it's 2:22:44.160 --> 2:22:45.039 kind of hopeful. 2:22:45.240 --> 2:22:45.920 Question Mark. 2:22:46.000 --> 2:22:50.279 Also, Yep, I'm just on the edge of my seat ugh, Yeah, 2:22:50.400 --> 2:22:52.480 I mean certainly, you know, lots of people who I 2:22:52.480 --> 2:22:55.000 surround myself with are you know, looking towards ways to 2:22:55.080 --> 2:22:58.320 take control of like their own bodies and stop relying, 2:22:58.440 --> 2:23:02.600 like Holly on any kind of government, government agency or 2:23:02.720 --> 2:23:05.320 model for that, as well as doing a lot of 2:23:05.440 --> 2:23:09.240 a lot of reading on the old like anti deportation, 2:23:09.400 --> 2:23:13.240 anti ice resistance from like years and years ago, not 2:23:13.280 --> 2:23:15.800 just from like the Trump era, but from the stuff 2:23:15.840 --> 2:23:18.000 like like way before. If we're not going to be 2:23:18.040 --> 2:23:21.279 out in the streets doing you know, slightly mindless protest 2:23:21.400 --> 2:23:24.080 for your marching in circles, you can use that time 2:23:24.200 --> 2:23:27.720 to instead like educate yourself and build connections with people, 2:23:28.280 --> 2:23:30.879 and you know, read about these things that may become 2:23:30.920 --> 2:23:33.760 more and more important to know at least so you 2:23:33.800 --> 2:23:36.640 have an understanding of history as the next four years 2:23:36.640 --> 2:23:37.960 to start happening quite quickly. 2:23:38.320 --> 2:23:39.200 That's so insightful. 2:23:39.280 --> 2:23:43.920 Yeah, I think when things feel hopeless, reading about how folks, 2:23:44.520 --> 2:23:47.240 you know, our elders, the folks that came before our ancestors, 2:23:47.440 --> 2:23:50.520 how they dealt with stuff like this, has been really hopeful. 2:23:50.520 --> 2:23:52.400 And it's like, yeah, I guess I just try to 2:23:52.400 --> 2:23:56.480 tell myself, you've been here before and people found a 2:23:56.480 --> 2:24:00.720 way to make it through. And you know, it feels 2:24:01.160 --> 2:24:05.320 uniquely tragic, but in some ways it is not. And 2:24:05.360 --> 2:24:07.280 as scary as that is, it can also be sort 2:24:07.320 --> 2:24:08.080 of like grounding. 2:24:08.600 --> 2:24:11.160 Yeah, and like the same things won't work, but you 2:24:11.200 --> 2:24:14.520 also need to understand the things that didn't work last time, 2:24:14.920 --> 2:24:16.360 and it's good to know, and it's good to know 2:24:16.440 --> 2:24:18.440 the things that did. Like it's it's it's important to 2:24:18.440 --> 2:24:20.280 have the understanding so you don't feel like you're having 2:24:20.360 --> 2:24:22.840 to reinvent the wheel every single time. And like that 2:24:22.879 --> 2:24:26.280 type of like generational knowledge sometimes is really tricky to 2:24:26.320 --> 2:24:28.720 pass down in these sorts of spaces and it you know, 2:24:28.760 --> 2:24:31.160 it doesn't and it sometimes it requires a degree of 2:24:31.160 --> 2:24:33.240 initiative to like actually like seek out the information on 2:24:33.280 --> 2:24:37.120 your own. The internet's great, uh and terrible, but it 2:24:37.160 --> 2:24:39.080 has it has a it has a it has a 2:24:39.160 --> 2:24:40.360 vast catalog of history. 2:24:40.600 --> 2:24:43.480 Yeah. I want to talk a bit about the speech 2:24:43.520 --> 2:24:47.680 that that bishop gave at the Trump's first church service 2:24:47.920 --> 2:24:51.240 as president the second time around, because that is of 2:24:51.280 --> 2:24:55.920 all of like the fucking media people getting clapped at 2:24:56.040 --> 2:24:58.880 for making fun of you know, whichever you know, hegg 2:24:58.959 --> 2:24:59.680 Seth or whoever. 2:25:00.080 --> 2:25:00.240 Yep. 2:25:00.280 --> 2:25:02.959 That I think actually did matter a little. At least 2:25:02.959 --> 2:25:05.080 it was the there was the courage of saying it 2:25:05.120 --> 2:25:08.080 to their faces in a way where their reactions were 2:25:08.280 --> 2:25:09.320 had to be filmed. 2:25:09.360 --> 2:25:11.959 It's also not trying to dunk. It's not trying to 2:25:12.000 --> 2:25:16.080 create like a viral moment. It's like genuinely upsetting to 2:25:16.160 --> 2:25:19.240 them to get like reminded of like what it means 2:25:19.280 --> 2:25:22.400 to be human. Yeah, and like maybe that's more important 2:25:22.480 --> 2:25:25.800 than trying to get your like Katie Porter top ten 2:25:26.040 --> 2:25:30.080 funniest moments in Congress, like a compilation exactly. 2:25:30.160 --> 2:25:30.320 Yeah. 2:25:30.360 --> 2:25:32.320 And to be very clear, if you didn't catch this, 2:25:32.480 --> 2:25:35.800 the right Reverend Mary Anne Bud b DDE was the 2:25:35.840 --> 2:25:40.680 Episcopal Bishop of Washington. During a church service where Trump 2:25:40.760 --> 2:25:45.320 and Vance and basically everybody in the new government was sitting, 2:25:45.400 --> 2:25:48.039 made a direct PLEA quote from this is from an 2:25:48.120 --> 2:25:50.560 NBC Washington article referencing Trump's belief that he was saved 2:25:50.600 --> 2:25:53.080 by God from assassination. Bud said, you have felt the 2:25:53.120 --> 2:25:55.240 previdential hand of a loving God, and the name of 2:25:55.240 --> 2:25:56.920 our God. I asked you to have mercy on the 2:25:57.000 --> 2:25:59.119 upon the people in our country who are scared now, 2:25:59.720 --> 2:26:03.480 and she referenced specifically transgender people, queer people, people in 2:26:03.520 --> 2:26:06.920 democratic families, independent families who were frightened right now about 2:26:06.959 --> 2:26:09.840 what the new administration means, as well as migrants, and 2:26:09.879 --> 2:26:12.200 she made a point of saying, like, the vast majority 2:26:12.200 --> 2:26:14.480 of whom are not in any way criminals. 2:26:14.040 --> 2:26:16.520 And yeah, like regardless of whether or not they have 2:26:16.560 --> 2:26:17.400 the right paperwork. 2:26:17.480 --> 2:26:21.040 Yeah. There was rage on Vance's face, which is part 2:26:21.040 --> 2:26:23.600 of why I'm like, that's an act of actual courage. 2:26:23.640 --> 2:26:26.640 There's been one Republican representative who said that she needed 2:26:26.680 --> 2:26:29.920 to be deported, but she's born in New Jersey. 2:26:29.840 --> 2:26:31.240 So deported back to New Jersey. 2:26:31.360 --> 2:26:35.119 Yeah, Representative Mike Collins of Georgia. So one of your 2:26:35.160 --> 2:26:36.520 guys gare, oh. 2:26:36.440 --> 2:26:39.280 Thanks, then there are you from Georgia. 2:26:39.520 --> 2:26:41.480 Well, no, but I live in Georgia. 2:26:41.520 --> 2:26:42.400 I'd live there now. 2:26:42.560 --> 2:26:44.760 And as someone who lives in Georgia, the only people 2:26:44.760 --> 2:26:46.720 that I think should be deported back to New Jersey 2:26:46.760 --> 2:26:49.800 are the Costco guy and his kid. Get them out, 2:26:49.959 --> 2:26:51.440 send them back now. 2:26:51.440 --> 2:26:54.240 I think I do think we should be deporting large 2:26:54.280 --> 2:26:57.920 numbers of people to New Jersey just because my old 2:26:57.920 --> 2:27:00.360 boss and friend, Daniel O'Brien lives there, and I want 2:27:00.360 --> 2:27:02.360 to fuck with them a little bit, make the traffic worse, 2:27:02.760 --> 2:27:05.199 Like see how you deal with that, Danny boy. 2:27:06.640 --> 2:27:09.000 No, it was, like I think, the most useful thing 2:27:09.040 --> 2:27:12.480 i've like i've seen yet. Yeah, it's still like largely symbolic, 2:27:12.640 --> 2:27:13.680 but like at. 2:27:13.640 --> 2:27:18.560 Least someone took a big public risk, you know, yeah, yeah, Perage. Yeah. 2:27:18.600 --> 2:27:21.360 I think it's the writer Sarah Candozer who has this 2:27:21.440 --> 2:27:22.959 line that I always think of, if. 2:27:22.879 --> 2:27:24.199 You can't be brave, be kind. 2:27:24.800 --> 2:27:27.280 I think that like people who you see doing acts 2:27:27.320 --> 2:27:30.520 of big acts of bravery right now, Like that's I mean, 2:27:30.520 --> 2:27:33.119 it's just there are so few of them. And I think, 2:27:33.200 --> 2:27:35.840 especially when I look at like the tech leaders, they have. 2:27:35.879 --> 2:27:36.959 So much fucking money. 2:27:37.400 --> 2:27:39.360 Somebody said on tlusky, what is the point of having 2:27:39.400 --> 2:27:41.600 fuck you money if you never say fuck you to anybody? 2:27:41.720 --> 2:27:41.879 Right? 2:27:41.959 --> 2:27:44.160 Like, the way that these people turned out to be 2:27:44.280 --> 2:27:47.800 such yellow bellied cowards is wild to me. And so 2:27:47.920 --> 2:27:51.000 people actually having conviction and actually speaking seats of power, 2:27:51.080 --> 2:27:53.920 I think we should be lifting that up wherever it happens. 2:27:54.400 --> 2:27:56.560 Yeah. I can think of like one tech guy with 2:27:56.600 --> 2:27:58.160 a lot of money who's turned out to have any 2:27:58.200 --> 2:28:00.000 kind of a backbone, And it's the guy who made 2:28:00.160 --> 2:28:04.480 that fire watching app that everyone in California's using right now, 2:28:04.680 --> 2:28:06.920 watch Duty, who's basically had said stuff along the lines 2:28:06.959 --> 2:28:08.640 of like, I don't know, I see all these other 2:28:08.680 --> 2:28:10.920 guys you got rich and tech talking about going to Mars, 2:28:10.959 --> 2:28:12.720 and I think it's much more useful to try to 2:28:12.720 --> 2:28:15.680 help people survive on Earth something along those lines, and 2:28:15.720 --> 2:28:18.400 his like novel made a critical like it is a 2:28:18.440 --> 2:28:24.440 critical life saving piece of technology that actually is what 2:28:24.640 --> 2:28:26.440 we should hope for from tech. 2:28:26.560 --> 2:28:26.760 You know. 2:28:27.160 --> 2:28:29.120 Anyway, bridget what else did you want to kind of 2:28:29.120 --> 2:28:30.320 make sure we got into today? 2:28:30.600 --> 2:28:31.240 Well this is going to. 2:28:31.240 --> 2:28:33.400 Sound a bit random, but I have to just make 2:28:33.440 --> 2:28:35.520 sure that this gets in there, because you know, I'm 2:28:35.560 --> 2:28:38.400 talking about the impact of Trump's inauguration and what the 2:28:38.440 --> 2:28:40.879 next four years look like for you know, not just 2:28:40.920 --> 2:28:43.480 for people nationally, but folks right here in DC where 2:28:43.480 --> 2:28:45.920 this is happening in our backyard. And I have to 2:28:45.920 --> 2:28:49.000 give it up for the service industry folks of DC 2:28:49.320 --> 2:28:51.280 the last couple of days, cause they, oh my god, 2:28:51.640 --> 2:28:57.000 I like have heard horror stories and I just I 2:28:57.000 --> 2:28:59.039 guess that's what I mean is that don't forget that 2:28:59.080 --> 2:29:01.600 there are real people who have to like put up 2:29:01.640 --> 2:29:05.039 with these people's bullshit and do it with a smile 2:29:05.120 --> 2:29:08.280 or they might get fired. And you know, in Adams Morgan, 2:29:08.320 --> 2:29:09.959 which is like pretty close to where I live, a 2:29:10.040 --> 2:29:13.600 woman at an Irish bar had to be removed by 2:29:13.760 --> 2:29:17.120 a staffer because she was screaming white power at the bar. Like, 2:29:17.640 --> 2:29:19.800 these people do not get paid enough to deal with this, 2:29:19.959 --> 2:29:22.160 and they are like the backbone of our city. So 2:29:22.240 --> 2:29:25.080 I just wanted to shout them out, especially since you know, 2:29:25.720 --> 2:29:29.280 Trump switched up the inaugurations because of the cold question 2:29:29.400 --> 2:29:31.360 mark and so a lot more of these people were 2:29:31.360 --> 2:29:33.920 just sort of wandering around the district on inauguration who 2:29:33.959 --> 2:29:36.680 otherwise would have been confined to like a very specific 2:29:36.720 --> 2:29:39.440 neighborhood downtown, and so they were going into our bars, 2:29:39.520 --> 2:29:42.600 going into our restaurants, and yeah, I just really feel 2:29:42.680 --> 2:29:45.760 for my industry folks who had to deal with this. 2:29:46.120 --> 2:29:48.240 You know, they're not paid enough, but they really are 2:29:48.280 --> 2:29:51.040 the backbone of our city. Hell yeah, you know, I 2:29:51.120 --> 2:29:54.600 started this conversation talking about all the horrible things that 2:29:54.640 --> 2:29:56.560 Trump has said about DC and how he's going to 2:29:56.560 --> 2:29:59.680 take it over federally, and like you know, he has said, 2:29:59.720 --> 2:30:02.440 like we will take over the horribly run capital of 2:30:02.440 --> 2:30:05.360 our nation and Washington clean up and rebuild the Capitol, 2:30:05.360 --> 2:30:08.400 so there's it's no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, 2:30:08.680 --> 2:30:12.560 but rather hell I know this like hell hole where 2:30:12.600 --> 2:30:14.800 like people live and raise their families and go to 2:30:14.840 --> 2:30:17.640 parks and ride bikes and have great times. Yeah, you know, 2:30:18.200 --> 2:30:20.160 I had a chance to talk to the mayor about this, 2:30:20.320 --> 2:30:23.640 and I will say our mayor, Muriel Bowser, is not 2:30:24.000 --> 2:30:26.640 convinced that any of this will happen. She is saying, like, 2:30:27.120 --> 2:30:29.920 you know, I think that Trump says a lot of things. 2:30:30.000 --> 2:30:31.840 I think at the end of the day, he is 2:30:31.879 --> 2:30:33.560 probably not going to mess with. 2:30:33.520 --> 2:30:34.440 DC's home rule. 2:30:34.480 --> 2:30:35.760 And so I just wanted to say that if you're 2:30:35.760 --> 2:30:37.760 if you're in DC and you're listening and you're thinking, like, 2:30:37.879 --> 2:30:41.320 what does Trump you know, mean for DC? Are all 2:30:41.360 --> 2:30:43.400 of these big threats that he has made going to 2:30:43.440 --> 2:30:45.480 come true? All I can tell you is that our 2:30:45.480 --> 2:30:47.920 mayor does not think it is likely. So if that 2:30:48.080 --> 2:30:50.400 is useful to you, I hope it brings you some comfort. 2:30:50.840 --> 2:30:50.920 Now. 2:30:50.959 --> 2:30:53.200 Oddly enough, one thing that's given me comfort is like 2:30:53.400 --> 2:30:56.200 Trump has twice in the last day, both when talking 2:30:56.200 --> 2:30:59.199 about Gaza and when talking about North Korea, weirdly enough, 2:30:59.360 --> 2:31:01.680 gone under degre rress about how good that it is 2:31:01.879 --> 2:31:05.160 a place to build condos, and the degree to which 2:31:05.200 --> 2:31:09.560 he's still focused on like real estate feels as opposed 2:31:09.600 --> 2:31:14.039 to the broader fascist project is hopeful just because like 2:31:14.080 --> 2:31:16.240 he is a bottleneck through which a lot of this 2:31:16.320 --> 2:31:20.080 has to cover, and he is clearly not as personally 2:31:20.120 --> 2:31:24.000 obsessed with every aspect of this as guys like Stephen Miller, right, 2:31:24.080 --> 2:31:26.240 Like he even makes fun of Miller a little bit 2:31:26.280 --> 2:31:28.480 for that kind of stuff. So there's a degree to which, 2:31:28.600 --> 2:31:34.160 like well, his own personal eccentricities, there's aspects of this 2:31:34.280 --> 2:31:35.280 it might slow down. 2:31:35.600 --> 2:31:38.520 This motherfucker is not out here trying to genuinely govern, 2:31:38.800 --> 2:31:41.480 like come on, I know. So in some ways that 2:31:41.560 --> 2:31:43.879 is heartening of like, oh, well, he's gonna like do 2:31:44.000 --> 2:31:47.920 his scams and whatever whatever, Like if he weren't to 2:31:48.000 --> 2:31:50.920 actually take over DC, that's an incredible amount of work 2:31:50.959 --> 2:31:53.560 and labor, and I don't think he's got it in him. 2:31:53.600 --> 2:31:55.680 So maybe in some ways some of these threats will 2:31:55.720 --> 2:31:56.760 like fly under the radar. 2:31:57.120 --> 2:32:00.400 I don't know. Yeah, guess we'll say, yes, we'll see 2:32:00.959 --> 2:32:02.560 bridget Where can people find you? 2:32:03.080 --> 2:32:04.520 Well, you can listen to my podcast. 2:32:04.560 --> 2:32:06.760 There are no girls on the internet about the intersection 2:32:06.879 --> 2:32:09.440 of identity and tech. And you can follow me on 2:32:09.480 --> 2:32:10.840 Instagram at Bridget Marie and DC. 2:32:11.760 --> 2:32:19.080 All right, find Bridget, follow Bridget and uh follow somebody smart. 2:32:19.280 --> 2:32:23.039 I don't know who they are. Figure that out. Good luck, godspeed. 2:32:23.920 --> 2:32:25.280 Fuck them if they can't take a joke. 2:32:42.840 --> 2:32:45.760 The richest man in the world does a Nazi salute 2:32:46.040 --> 2:32:48.880 while giving a speech at the inauguration of the new president. 2:32:49.680 --> 2:32:53.360 He does a second one in another age. It is 2:32:53.400 --> 2:32:56.800 the most significant event in world history. It's maybe the 2:32:56.840 --> 2:33:00.160 third most fascist event of the day. And be he 2:33:00.440 --> 2:33:03.600 re uploads the address and cuts away from the sig 2:33:03.640 --> 2:33:08.800 hal at broadcasted live. You refresh your timeline. Everyone is 2:33:08.920 --> 2:33:11.800 arguing about whether it was even a Nazi salute. You 2:33:11.840 --> 2:33:15.720 watch the video. It's a Nazi salute. The second one 2:33:16.280 --> 2:33:19.440 is a Nazi salute. None of the headlines will say 2:33:19.640 --> 2:33:23.000 that Elon Musk did a Nazi salute. The articles won't 2:33:23.000 --> 2:33:26.280 say it either. You can't tell whether they've been cowed 2:33:26.360 --> 2:33:30.240 to submission by the threat of a defamation lawsuit, or 2:33:30.320 --> 2:33:33.600 if they're already running cover for the new regime. You 2:33:33.640 --> 2:33:37.360 scroll through your timeline, they made my gender illegal. They 2:33:37.400 --> 2:33:40.520 tried to repeal the fourteenth Amendment through executive order to 2:33:40.680 --> 2:33:45.039 end birthright citizenship. You can't follow it. It's too much. 2:33:46.200 --> 2:33:51.080 The world has become a spectacle, and that spectacle is 2:33:51.080 --> 2:33:55.520 trying to kill you. Welcome to Ikadap and here I'm 2:33:55.560 --> 2:34:00.400 your host, Mio Wong. In societies where modern can editions 2:34:00.440 --> 2:34:04.680 of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an 2:34:04.680 --> 2:34:09.640 immense accumulation of spectacles. So wrote the French social theorist 2:34:09.680 --> 2:34:13.480 Gee de Board in his seminal nineteen sixty seven work 2:34:13.879 --> 2:34:18.040 The Society of the Spectacle. The Board is typically written 2:34:18.080 --> 2:34:21.640 off as just another theorist of early mass media, and 2:34:21.680 --> 2:34:25.160 today his work is generally confined to the art world, 2:34:25.600 --> 2:34:28.879 which is, to be fair largely a demonstration of the 2:34:28.879 --> 2:34:31.119 fact that nobody who talks about him has ever gotten 2:34:31.160 --> 2:34:33.800 past the opening paragraphs of the book and made it 2:34:33.840 --> 2:34:36.720 to the part where he demands the formation of art workers' councils. 2:34:38.080 --> 2:34:40.680 But this is the age of the spectacle. In ways 2:34:40.760 --> 2:34:44.280 when nightmarish that de Board could ever have predicted. His 2:34:44.360 --> 2:34:49.959 elaborate metaphor is rendered thuddingly literal quote. Everything that was 2:34:50.040 --> 2:34:56.119 directly lived has moved away into representation, and indeed living 2:34:56.320 --> 2:35:00.000 has been replaced by the image of living. This phenomenon 2:35:00.000 --> 2:35:04.640 well is called instagram. The spectacle society of the spectacle 2:35:04.680 --> 2:35:08.360 opens is not a collection of images, but a social 2:35:08.360 --> 2:35:14.400 relation among people mediated by images. Today we literally call 2:35:14.600 --> 2:35:16.760 the collection of images we use to relate to each 2:35:16.760 --> 2:35:22.760 other social media quote. Lived reality is materially invaded by 2:35:22.760 --> 2:35:28.160 the contemplation of the spectacle, while simultaneously absorbing the spectacular order, 2:35:28.920 --> 2:35:34.400 giving it positive cohesiveness. A reality TV star, the old 2:35:34.480 --> 2:35:37.840 human symbol of the spectacle, in which everything that was 2:35:37.879 --> 2:35:41.840 directly lived has been transformed into a representation, is now 2:35:41.840 --> 2:35:46.240 a president, the second time, driven by streamers and influencers 2:35:46.280 --> 2:35:49.000 and podcasters who stand as the new human symbols of 2:35:49.040 --> 2:35:53.360 the spectacle. They have invaded real society and now rule 2:35:53.400 --> 2:35:57.600 it directly. In the nineteen sixties, the debate was whether 2:35:57.680 --> 2:36:00.760 you could ignore the spectacle because it wasn't real. The 2:36:00.840 --> 2:36:05.280 Board's elegant solution was that contemplating the spectacle makes it real. 2:36:06.360 --> 2:36:09.959 None of that matters anymore. You can't ignore the spectacle 2:36:10.280 --> 2:36:14.440 because it's here. It has physically invaded the world. Donald 2:36:14.480 --> 2:36:18.760 Trump is the president, the richest man on Earth is 2:36:18.840 --> 2:36:23.480 Nazi saluting Elon Musk. The autonomous force the Board described 2:36:23.520 --> 2:36:27.120 as a spectacle no longer operates at the abstract level. 2:36:27.800 --> 2:36:32.560 It is the president of the United States. Everything is 2:36:32.600 --> 2:36:38.800 rendered thuddingly, transcendently literal. In de Board's usage, the spectacle 2:36:38.879 --> 2:36:42.560 is the management of society by mediating people's social relations 2:36:42.560 --> 2:36:47.840 through images. This sounds complicated, but on an intuitive level, 2:36:48.240 --> 2:36:51.840 you already understand this. You and I relate to each 2:36:51.840 --> 2:36:54.560 other through the one way mirror of a podcast app. 2:36:55.480 --> 2:36:58.600 You relate to others by reacting to their TikTok videos. 2:36:59.080 --> 2:37:02.680 You watch the bomb fall on Palestine on Twitter. You 2:37:02.800 --> 2:37:06.160 relate to each other and the world through images, and 2:37:06.240 --> 2:37:11.080 that relation is a system of control. As de Board 2:37:11.160 --> 2:37:14.840 describes it, that mediation takes you out of the real world, 2:37:16.000 --> 2:37:18.600 a world that you can actually change with your actions, 2:37:19.040 --> 2:37:22.160 and thrust you into the world with the spectacle, a 2:37:22.200 --> 2:37:26.119 world where reality is quote an object of mere contemplation. 2:37:27.600 --> 2:37:31.480 Today we call this the discourse. The work that inspired 2:37:31.520 --> 2:37:36.080 the nineteen sixty eight revolutions called it the spectacle. Why 2:37:36.080 --> 2:37:40.360 does it feel like this? The rot, the decay, the 2:37:40.480 --> 2:37:43.680 unreality of the moment that consumes you until one day 2:37:44.120 --> 2:37:47.600 Donald Trump is president and the next he's president again. 2:37:48.920 --> 2:37:54.840 The board has a simple answer. It's because the entire political, economic, 2:37:54.959 --> 2:37:59.640 and technological system is designed to make you isolated, afraid, 2:38:00.040 --> 2:38:01.080 and alone. 2:38:01.360 --> 2:38:01.960 Quote. 2:38:02.160 --> 2:38:06.800 Technology is based on isolation, and the technical process isolates 2:38:06.879 --> 2:38:11.280 in turn. From the automobile to television, all of the 2:38:11.280 --> 2:38:14.720 goods selected by the spectacular system are also weapons for 2:38:14.760 --> 2:38:20.279 a constant reinforcement of the condition of isolated, lonely crowds. Later, 2:38:20.480 --> 2:38:23.840 he writes, what binds the spectators together is no more 2:38:23.879 --> 2:38:28.200 than an irreversible relation at the very center which maintains 2:38:28.240 --> 2:38:33.680 their isolation. The spectacle reunites the separate, but reunites it 2:38:34.080 --> 2:38:38.720 as separate. This is why the world feels like an 2:38:38.800 --> 2:38:44.760 endless doom. Scroll Instagram, TikTok live streaming this podcast. They're 2:38:44.800 --> 2:38:48.400 all based on isolation. Look at what happened to social 2:38:48.440 --> 2:38:51.720 media during the isolation of the pandemic, How it came 2:38:51.800 --> 2:38:54.440 to consume even more of our lives with the promise 2:38:54.480 --> 2:38:58.160 of connection that simply rendered us more and more and 2:38:58.240 --> 2:39:04.000 more isolated. The spectacle, given technological form in the social 2:39:04.040 --> 2:39:07.800 media app turns us into a mass in which we 2:39:07.840 --> 2:39:13.960 are all somehow terrifyingly alone. We're not people who form 2:39:14.000 --> 2:39:16.720 a crowd that could do anything from celebrate a holiday 2:39:16.760 --> 2:39:23.080 to burn. The third precinct, or spectators with listeners were viewers. 2:39:23.280 --> 2:39:24.279 Or chat. 2:39:25.440 --> 2:39:30.520 Not living, but commenting on the image of living the 2:39:30.520 --> 2:39:36.000 spectacle the app The image mediates or social relations with 2:39:36.040 --> 2:39:39.720 each other and ensures that together in a lonely crowd, 2:39:40.000 --> 2:39:43.720 we wrought in isolation and do only the two things 2:39:43.760 --> 2:39:48.359 the capitalist system needs us to do, work and consume. 2:39:49.800 --> 2:39:54.960 Atomized individuals are the ideal subject of capitalism, the basis 2:39:55.160 --> 2:39:58.760 on which everything is built. You entered into a free 2:39:58.800 --> 2:40:02.600 contract to live under a s date, says a social theorist. You, 2:40:03.120 --> 2:40:06.480 the individual, gave up your labor to your boss voluntarily 2:40:06.640 --> 2:40:11.480 in another free contract between individuals, says the economist. Do 2:40:11.640 --> 2:40:14.360 not organize with anyone else to get paid more for 2:40:14.440 --> 2:40:16.959 that labor, or God help you. Try to create a 2:40:16.959 --> 2:40:19.400 system where you aren't forced to sell your labor every day. 2:40:20.040 --> 2:40:24.840 That's cheating, says the politician. Your job is to sell 2:40:24.879 --> 2:40:28.640 your labor, buy these products, and comment on a world 2:40:28.680 --> 2:40:33.120 in which someone else is acting. The isolation of the 2:40:33.160 --> 2:40:38.320 spectacle ensures that we're incapable of collective action, not only 2:40:38.400 --> 2:40:42.039 because we're incapable of forming a collective. We're not even 2:40:42.080 --> 2:40:45.000 engaging in the world in which action can take place. 2:40:45.800 --> 2:40:49.240 The extent of the advance of the spectacle today is 2:40:49.360 --> 2:40:53.199 such that the unfolding of the economic system is designed 2:40:53.200 --> 2:40:56.680 to turn every part of you into a commodity, not 2:40:56.720 --> 2:41:01.760 just your labor, but your identity, your beliefs. Everything that 2:41:01.800 --> 2:41:06.080 you are is sold to everyone else a spectacle, and 2:41:06.120 --> 2:41:10.920 in turn, everything that defines you becomes the spectacle itself. 2:41:12.120 --> 2:41:15.320 In a world where there is no action, just the 2:41:15.360 --> 2:41:20.039 image of someone else's actions somewhere else, a commercialized political 2:41:20.080 --> 2:41:24.120 identity is much easier to adopt than actually doing politics. 2:41:24.680 --> 2:41:26.120 You don't have to do politics. 2:41:26.520 --> 2:41:28.680 You can just put on a red hat and watch 2:41:28.720 --> 2:41:32.120 the man on TV make the liberals angry. You don't 2:41:32.160 --> 2:41:36.280 need relations with your family, you have Facebook groups. The 2:41:36.400 --> 2:41:41.000 relations to the world are relations to images. David Graber 2:41:41.040 --> 2:41:43.879 wrote that the ultimate hidden truth of the world is 2:41:43.879 --> 2:41:46.200 that it is something that we make and could just 2:41:46.240 --> 2:41:50.720 as easily make differently. But the second, slightly less ultimate 2:41:50.760 --> 2:41:56.560 hidden truth is that almost everything we think of as objects, money, capital, 2:41:56.800 --> 2:42:02.880 commodities are really just relations between abstracted out onto something physical. 2:42:03.840 --> 2:42:06.440 We interact with each other by using objects as forms 2:42:06.480 --> 2:42:09.880 of command. What do you think money is? Instead of 2:42:09.920 --> 2:42:14.000 having real, equal social relations. And that makes it all 2:42:14.040 --> 2:42:17.200 the more dire that the social relations that compose this 2:42:17.320 --> 2:42:20.640 world are no longer even relations with each other at all, 2:42:21.360 --> 2:42:36.400 but relations with images. The spectacle is a strategy of control, 2:42:36.959 --> 2:42:41.360 as de Board rights quote, where the real world changes 2:42:41.400 --> 2:42:45.520 into simple images. The simple images become real beings and 2:42:45.560 --> 2:42:50.880 effective motivations of hypnotic behavior. The spectacle is a tendency 2:42:51.280 --> 2:42:53.959 to make one see the world by various means of 2:42:53.959 --> 2:42:59.000 specialized mediations. It can no longer be grasped directly. As 2:42:59.000 --> 2:43:03.440 a spectacle advances, even rebellion is reduced to meaningless attacks 2:43:03.480 --> 2:43:07.600 on the symbols of power, never touching power itself. 2:43:08.760 --> 2:43:09.120 Quote. 2:43:09.480 --> 2:43:13.640 But when the insurgents managed to penetrate parliament's presidential palaces 2:43:13.680 --> 2:43:17.760 and other headquarters of institutions, as in Ukraine, in Libya, 2:43:17.879 --> 2:43:22.920 or in Wisconsin, it's only to discover empty places that 2:43:23.120 --> 2:43:27.800 is empty of power and furnished without any taste. So 2:43:27.959 --> 2:43:31.320 wrote the Invisible Committee of the Distant halcyon days of 2:43:31.360 --> 2:43:36.240 twenty fourteen, it could have been written yesterday. Nine years later. 2:43:36.360 --> 2:43:41.760 The insurgents now on the right produced their masterpiece, Brazil's 2:43:42.080 --> 2:43:47.400 even more ineffectual cousin of January sixth, known forever as 2:43:47.480 --> 2:43:51.360 January eighth. On that day in twenty twenty three, for 2:43:51.480 --> 2:43:54.880 reasons that are almost totally incomprehensible to anyone whose mind 2:43:54.879 --> 2:43:58.680 has not been utterly melted by prolonged and terrible exposure 2:43:58.720 --> 2:44:03.800 to the spectacle, supporters of defeated President JayR. Bolsonaro stormed 2:44:03.879 --> 2:44:08.959 Brazil's capital. Bolsonaro, of course, had already fled to Florida. 2:44:09.560 --> 2:44:13.960 The Presidential Palace, Congress, and the Supreme Court were literally 2:44:14.000 --> 2:44:17.480 empty when the protesters took them. There was nothing to 2:44:17.520 --> 2:44:22.640 be one, nothing to be gained. The protesters vain hopes 2:44:22.680 --> 2:44:25.600 that simply seizing the symbols of power would trigger a 2:44:25.640 --> 2:44:29.560 military coup to remove Lula and restore the Bolsonara regime 2:44:30.440 --> 2:44:34.840 evaporated like a morning dew, leaving nothing in their wake. 2:44:36.560 --> 2:44:40.480 January sixth at least attacked the site of the ritual 2:44:40.520 --> 2:44:44.760 of power while the ritual was technically in progress. The 2:44:44.840 --> 2:44:47.920 attack was, of course, designed to stop the certification of 2:44:47.920 --> 2:44:54.080 the election. Congress was at least in session. Even if 2:44:54.080 --> 2:44:56.640 that attack, too, was the culmination of a series of 2:44:56.680 --> 2:45:00.200 ineffectual reruns of the Brooke Brothers' riots in but it's 2:45:00.280 --> 2:45:03.039 right wing political operatives did manage to steal an election 2:45:03.200 --> 2:45:05.960 by stopping the vote count in Florida in two thousand 2:45:07.400 --> 2:45:12.640 on January eighth. No one was even there, So how 2:45:12.640 --> 2:45:15.879 do we get out? Lashing out at the symbols of 2:45:15.920 --> 2:45:21.440 power is pointless. You can't ignore them either. Elon's Nazi 2:45:21.480 --> 2:45:26.440 salute really does represent something. The opening of any solution 2:45:26.920 --> 2:45:30.600 is to go to the source. Trump and Elon are symptoms, 2:45:31.800 --> 2:45:37.240 not the disease. The spectacle is born of capitalism. It's 2:45:37.280 --> 2:45:40.440 a management strategy designed to suppress any attempt to end 2:45:40.600 --> 2:45:45.000 or even rearrange the terms of the class system. Trump 2:45:45.000 --> 2:45:49.039 and Elon were likewise produced by two settler colonies. They are, 2:45:49.400 --> 2:45:52.600 in their own ways, the manifestation of the evil of 2:45:52.640 --> 2:45:57.400 colonialism and racism. To boards solution to these problems, of course, 2:45:57.680 --> 2:46:00.480 well the solutions that people bother to read. There is 2:46:00.520 --> 2:46:04.400 a staggeringly racist section of this work about how time 2:46:04.480 --> 2:46:09.560 passes in China that I simply cannot recommend. But the 2:46:09.600 --> 2:46:13.760 board's solution was workers' councils, and he got his wish. 2:46:13.800 --> 2:46:17.800 The next year, manufactory occupations of nineteen sixty eight. It 2:46:17.959 --> 2:46:21.320 nearly worked. But the last workers Council fell a quarter 2:46:21.360 --> 2:46:24.640 of a century ago in Argentina, and there's no sign 2:46:24.800 --> 2:46:27.840 at the Workers' Council. The definitive fighting form of the 2:46:27.879 --> 2:46:33.120 working class for over a century is coming back. In 2:46:33.160 --> 2:46:37.360 some ways. This is liberating one hundred and seventy years ago. 2:46:37.840 --> 2:46:41.320 Marx wrote this in the eighteenth through mayor of Louis Bonaparte, 2:46:41.959 --> 2:46:45.240 his own response to a nation's nationalist attempt to restore 2:46:45.280 --> 2:46:48.560 its former glory by invoking the name of a previous leader. 2:46:49.680 --> 2:46:52.760 The social revolution of the nineteenth century cannot take its 2:46:52.800 --> 2:46:56.879 poetry from the past, but only from the future. It 2:46:56.920 --> 2:46:59.880 cannot begin with itself before it has stripped away also 2:47:00.040 --> 2:47:05.080 pstitions about the past. In the days and weeks and months, 2:47:05.480 --> 2:47:08.320 and God help us all years to come, we're going 2:47:08.400 --> 2:47:11.600 to have to assemble a new fighting form, and no 2:47:11.600 --> 2:47:16.640 one knows what it looks like yet. We could perhaps 2:47:17.320 --> 2:47:20.000 look at the airport protests from the first months of 2:47:20.040 --> 2:47:24.720 the original Trump administration, or masses of people, including a 2:47:24.840 --> 2:47:27.440 very young Mia who had not quite realized what gender 2:47:27.520 --> 2:47:31.960 she was, occupied airports all across the country to stop 2:47:32.000 --> 2:47:36.000 the implementation of Trump's Muslim ban by physically forcing the 2:47:36.040 --> 2:47:39.000 government to release the people who had detained in the airports. 2:47:40.000 --> 2:47:43.600 The power of those protests was that they directly located 2:47:43.640 --> 2:47:47.640 the site where power was operating, the airport, and took them. 2:47:47.959 --> 2:47:51.320 The weakness of those protests was that people went home. 2:47:51.959 --> 2:47:54.800 And they went home because they had been told time 2:47:54.920 --> 2:47:58.640 and time and time again by the ACLU and by 2:47:58.680 --> 2:48:01.680 other legal organizations that the fight was over, that they 2:48:01.680 --> 2:48:04.520 could leave, and that the Muslim bans would be defeated 2:48:04.560 --> 2:48:08.360 by the courts. Most of you lived through it. Some 2:48:08.440 --> 2:48:11.040 of you remember the Muslim ban was never defeated by 2:48:11.040 --> 2:48:15.400 the courts. It could possibly have been defeated in those moments, 2:48:16.120 --> 2:48:20.520 it wasn't. The contest was taken away from the real 2:48:20.560 --> 2:48:24.120 sight of power and into a domain largely ruled by 2:48:24.160 --> 2:48:28.040 the ruling class. But we can learn from both January 2:48:28.080 --> 2:48:32.920 eighth and the airport protests. Marching to a building doesn't 2:48:32.959 --> 2:48:38.400 guarantee you're actually targeting power. You must understand how the 2:48:38.560 --> 2:48:42.800 system is operating before you attempt to go up its works. 2:48:43.560 --> 2:48:47.000 A thousand miniature January eighths is no solution at all. 2:48:47.520 --> 2:48:50.720 You must do the hard work of sifting to the 2:48:50.760 --> 2:48:54.199 tangle of rumors and lies at attempting to work out 2:48:54.240 --> 2:49:00.600 the actual structure of repression. It starts with community self defense. 2:49:01.280 --> 2:49:04.960 It starts with actually engaging with each other instead of 2:49:05.000 --> 2:49:09.360 the mediated images generated by an algorithm. You want to 2:49:09.360 --> 2:49:12.800 break out of the spectacle, talk to the people around you, 2:49:13.600 --> 2:49:16.119 Talk to the trans people and the immigrants in your 2:49:16.160 --> 2:49:20.440 life and find out what they actually need. Figure out 2:49:20.480 --> 2:49:23.360 the concrete steps you can take to organize the people 2:49:23.400 --> 2:49:26.920 around you, and the steps you can take to lift 2:49:26.920 --> 2:49:31.279 them out of their despair. We're not going to develop 2:49:31.320 --> 2:49:35.320 a new fighting form glued to our phones alone in 2:49:35.400 --> 2:49:39.320 a digital crowd. We're going to figure it out by 2:49:39.360 --> 2:49:42.480 talking to each other, by acting in the real world, 2:49:43.520 --> 2:49:48.760 not by being rendered passive observers of the spectacle. We're 2:49:48.800 --> 2:49:51.680 going to do it by finding the real places where 2:49:51.680 --> 2:49:57.080 power operates and taking them. And above all, we're going 2:49:57.120 --> 2:49:57.880 to do it together. 2:50:00.560 --> 2:50:03.680 Hey, We'll be back Monday with more episodes every week 2:50:03.800 --> 2:50:05.720 from now until the heat death of the universe. 2:50:06.240 --> 2:50:08.760 It could happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 2:50:08.920 --> 2:50:12.000 For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 2:50:12.080 --> 2:50:15.640 coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio, app, 2:50:15.720 --> 2:50:19.280 Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts, you can 2:50:19.320 --> 2:50:21.640 now find sources for it could happen here, listed directly 2:50:21.680 --> 2:50:22.960 in episode descriptions. 2:50:23.160 --> 2:50:23.960 Thanks for listening.