WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: Cool Zone 2054: General Lichterman 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:02.880 Cool Zone Media. 0:00:05.840 --> 0:00:08.920 Hello, and welcome to cool Zone Media book Club. I 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:10.840 waited to do the chanting, so if you're ready to 0:00:10.880 --> 0:00:14.480 do the chanting, I don't chant, just say it out 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.680 of time with me. Book Club, book Club, book Club. 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:23.920 There we go. That's the book club intro everyone wants. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.760 So it's cool Zone Media book Club only this month, 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.000 as you probably are aware, instead of doing our regular 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.760 book club. What we got sent missives from the future 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.240 from cool Zone Media twenty fifty four, and so here 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.040 we are welcome to cool Zone Media twenty fifty four 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:44.720 Reports from the Dinah War, your source for everything World 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.559 War three point five. I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:51.120 today we've got something extra special for you. Today we 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:54.640 are talking to the Witch of Warcraft, the Mistress of Macnovia, 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.560 the Conquering Queen. She's either the Prince of Portland or 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:02.560 the Butcher of Beaverton, depending on who you ask. Today 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:07.280 we're talking to the one, the Only, General, Sophie Lickterman. 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.080 How are you today, Sophie? 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.959 Well, all my dogs are good, so I'm good. All right. 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.520 I've got a bunch of questions for you, some are 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.800 for me, some are listener recommended. And hey, if you 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.640 want to ask our guest questions, anyone with a service card, 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:23.680 civil or military can send them along to us using 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.560 the social media app of your choice. As always, we'll 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.039 pick the best ones to ask our guests. And no, 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.479 we don't sort by rank privates in generals, you're all 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.400 equal here, just like you are in all the best militaries. 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:40.039 But first you might be asking yourself, dear listener, what 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:42.720 if I haven't served in World War three point five yet? 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.119 What if you're looking for a way to get involved, Well, 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:49.040 look no further, because it wouldn't be a cool Zone 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.360 Media podcast in the year twenty fifty four if we 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.800 weren't brought to you by our biggest sponsor, Dino Cadence. 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:00.680 That's right, Dino Cadence, the world's premiere fighting academy, will 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.440 get you off the couch and into the saddle. They 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.720 teach trick shots, trick riding, and trick or treating that 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.680 not the last one I made that one up. Tuition 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.280 is free, but spots are limited, so apply today, tell 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.160 them Cool Zone Media sent you, and you still won't 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:21.000 get special treatment because dino'cadence doesn't do special treatment. It's 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.959 twenty fifty four, Ride or Die. I told you years 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.080 ago that it would take until the twenty fifties before 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.960 I would do adreads. Before I get into it with 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.960 the questions, I've got to pretend like there isn't anyone 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:35.960 in the audience who might not have heard of you, 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.040 just in case you were born yesterday. General Sophie Lickterman is, 0:02:41.080 --> 0:02:43.200 of course one of the most decorated commanders in the 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:47.359 Internationalist forces, and I believe the only person alive who 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.560 holds the rank of brigadier general in three different armies 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.920 four armies. Four. 0:02:53.840 --> 0:02:57.200 Yeah, the Freeqrumpy of Louisiana just promoted me after last. 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:01.560 Week's campaign four Armies. The only person currently alive who 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.320 holds the rank of brigadier general in four armies. You 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.960 are the woman of the hour. It seems like jet 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.400 setting and organizing forces everywhere in the world. Whenever a 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.280 new internationalist force needs help getting up and off the ground, 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.160 you're there. You're still on the board here at cool 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.240 Zone Media, of course, which you've founded decades ago at 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:23.160 this point, but you've still got time to dog mom 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.240 two amazing pups. I think you've got more hours in 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.000 the day than the rest of us. But on to 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.680 the questions. You first rose to political prominence back in 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:36.440 twenty thirty six, during the whole Fight for the Future thing, 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.560 when you became a household name after a well televised arrest. 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.400 In your own words, what happened there? 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:45.720 I mean most of you have seen it, but yeah, 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.640 so the Fight for the Future kicks off and recovering 0:03:48.680 --> 0:03:51.680 it on a bunch of our shows. I didn't even 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.480 mean to get more directly involved. I'd had my own 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:56.960 podcast for a couple of years, but already given up 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.760 on it because I like getting stuff done behind this 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.920 sear I mean, always have. I love you all, but 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.160 someone's got to keep things organized, you know. Anyways, I 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:10.920 made this offhand comment February twenty fourth, twenty thirty six, 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.600 on It's Still Happening Here, That was our lead show 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:17.080 at the time, just a quick little I hope someone 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:18.120 kills that man. 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.080 And then someone killed that man. 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:26.480 Yeah, his own, a strange son killed him, And like, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.880 how was I supposed to know that kid listened to 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:29.920 our shows. 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.159 And so later that day you're just out shopping. 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.760 I was just at the pet store the day after 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.400 that asshole died and Suddenly there's the camera crew there, 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:44.480 drones everywhere, plus two actual talking heads. Run from Fox 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:46.920 and run from that garbage man media. I think it 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:51.240 was that old right wing show that Jamie Loftus eventually 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.239 drove into relevance. So these two men are there, They're 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.679 sticking MIC's into my face and asking me about why 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:03.039 I did it or what I why I masterminded that assassination, 0:05:03.240 --> 0:05:04.960 and I don't know. It's been a long day. I 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:07.920 just wanted to go home to the dogs, and they're all, 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:11.440 why do you hate innovation? And why does Antifa support 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:13.960 murder as a tactic? And tried to get out the door, 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:17.200 but they were both just there and they weren't small men, 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.919 and I don't know, And. 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:21.839 So you pepper sprayed both of them. 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:24.719 I pepper sprayed the shit out of both of them, 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:28.640 but the cameras caught it all and I was arrested 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.480 in the parking lot. They clearly planned the whole thing. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.200 The cops wanted to hold me in jail until trial too. 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.480 Our words are more dangerous than a ghost gun, the 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.839 judge said, which is a compliment, I guess. But I 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.279 just wanted to go home see my dogs. And I 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:46.919 told the judge and the camera saw and yeah, I 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.880 guess people listen because Right for the Future laid siege 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:52.880 to the courthouse and they brought the cake mortar and 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.719 started kicking everyone trying to get in and out of 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:59.800 the building, and all the while everyone is standing around 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.560 with actual ar fifteen chanting let her see her dogs, 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:07.080 Let her see her dogs. It was a weird time. 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.960 Fight for the Future was a weird movement, still throwing 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:12.680 pies at people, but defending ourselves with guns. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:15.320 And so the cops they let you go. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:21.000 Yeah, turns out the whole power concedes nothing without a demand. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.920 Thing is right. The state of Oregon decided they'd be 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.160 better off without a small army of protesters camped outside 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:30.560 the courthouse, and I got to go home that night 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:32.400 to see my dogs, and I agreed to come back 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:35.240 to trial, but with an escort of my choosing who 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.400 would make sure I wouldn't go to jail unless I 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:39.159 was convicted. And yeah, I don't know. It was a 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:43.000 whole big thing. They wanted to get me on terrorism charges. 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.880 And I was at some of these protests. Jury of 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.320 your peers found you not guilty, much to the judge's consternation. 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:52.920 You lay low for a while, if you can call 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:57.120 running a large podcast network laying low, and then kind 0:06:57.120 --> 0:06:59.880 of came back on the scene. During the war, well, 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.920 we used to call it the war, but now we're 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.239 in another one. I guess. So World War three twenty 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.560 forty four was wild. I mean, like a solid ten 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.320 percent of the Earth's population died. So there's that. But 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.400 we were all underground the first half of the year, 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:16.080 hiding out and broadcasting. 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:17.679 Yeah, can't stop the signal. 0:07:17.920 --> 0:07:19.760 I don't think most of our listeners are old enough 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:20.920 to appreciate that reference. 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:23.560 I'm sure the little don't call me AI robot in 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.600 their ears can help them get a firefly reference. Last, 0:07:26.600 --> 0:07:28.480 of course, they're listening to this in one of the 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.520 shielded territories on vinyl. 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.200 Hey, ad, pivots are my job, Well, then go ahead. 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.720 You know, sometimes I look around this world and think 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:42.480 to myself, the Industrial Revolution and its consequences might just 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.160 have been a disaster for the human race. We used 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:46.960 to be able to say at least it increased our 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.520 life expectancy, but in this era of war, we can't 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.520 even say that. It seems like the Industrial Revolution and 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.720 its consequences have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.360 subjected human beings to indignities, have led to why spread 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.280 psychological and physical suffering, and have inflicted severe damage on 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:08.320 the natural world. It seems like the continued development of 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:13.160 technology might just worsen the situation. When I'm thinking that way, 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:17.120 I just book myself a vacation in Helsenborg, Sweden, the 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:20.600 largest de electrified region in the world, with its Vishnu 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.320 shield always activated. You know for certain no one can 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.120 reach you because if you bring your phone into the city, 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:31.240 it'll be completely destroyed. Come on down to Helsenborg, where 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:36.120 the stars shine at night, Helsenborg, Come on over. Ironic 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.480 paraphrasing and industrial society and its future is not intended 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:40.760 to convey sympathy for the actions of Ted Kazinski. Do 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:42.920 not consider visiting a Vishnu shielded area if you rely 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.839 on a pacemaker or other electrical aids. All tourists, too 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.719 and temporary guests of the Scandinavian Federation are required to 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.120 spend at least six hours per week in a volunteer position. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.520 Not all volunteers are able to pick their form of service. 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.920 Not all volunteer service is considered safe offline life within 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.720 an otherwise industrial world, not proven to mitigate climate change, 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.000 mental degradation, or human impact upon the ecosphere. There is 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.199 no such thing as a climate haven, and natural disaster 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.920 can strike anywhere in the world. This podcast is brought 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.960 to you by the Council for Unbroken Spaghetti. The Council 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.600 for Unbroken Spaghetti would like to remind you that you 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.040 should not break your spaghetti. You just put the spaghetti 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:23.480 into a boiling salted water, wait a few seconds, then 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.080 push the soft and spaghetti into the rest of the pot. 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.840 To do otherwise is an insult to the nearly two 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.600 hundred and fifty thousand Italians who have died already in 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.880 the Dino War, and there're so far successful fight to 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.920 keep their peninsula from falling once again into the hands 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:44.840 of fascists. In fact, Mussolini, the original fascist, banned pasta, 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:51.400 So eat pasta, respect pasta. Don't break your spaghetti. Remember, 0:09:51.880 --> 0:10:12.800 only Nazis break noodles. And we're back, all right. So 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.720 take us back to World War three. It's the end 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.160 of May and the first schematics for the Vishnu Shield 0:10:18.200 --> 0:10:20.599 are making the rounds. You and I are living with 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.880 a bunch of dogs and podcasters and jns's bunker. But 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.840 the Hunter Killer robots of the US counter Terrorism Force 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.120 are getting closer to our undisclosed location in eastern Washington. 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:33.480 Every week. You and me and Mia are binging old 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.360 reality TV shows, the two of you trying to explain 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.720 to me who Mecca Ariana Grande is and why she's 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:44.320 a sports figure now, while and are talking about how 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:46.960 they're going to start a machete cult once it's all over. 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.280 Yeah, I wasn't the best. Once we got the plans 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:53.439 through Vish New Shield, we printed a few up on 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:56.800 our three D printer. We couldn't test them in the bunker, 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.480 of course, because we needed our electronics, so we started 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:01.680 sneaking out at night and testing them out in the woods. 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:05.360 Once we had them dialed in, we started telling everyone and. 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.480 That's when you knew we couldn't stay underground anymore. Fuck 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:14.240 no people needed to know. AWP's were killing literally millions 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:16.880 of people. The only sides that mattered in that war 0:11:17.400 --> 0:11:20.800 was people versus drone. If you ask me, I guess 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.000 all of this is in the history books. But we 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.000 did that walk from Castle Rock to Portland with all 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.360 the de factors. All these people have been quietly rebelling 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:33.120 in the rinks with tactical EMPs. First day there were 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.520 one hundred of us. A couple drones tried to take 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.599 us out, but we shut them down. Second day or 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:41.959 a thousand of us once people realized they wouldn't just 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:44.559 get Hunter killed. When we walked into Portland in June, 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.880 there were ten thousand people walking with us on bikes 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.840 and horses. And then you blew up Portland. 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:59.200 Not how uh, it's not how I put it, but yeah, look, 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.040 don't cut yourself out of the story. 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:03.800 Magpie, you were there too. 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.720 We got together and talked it over with people from 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:11.520 all over the city, work with hospital crews to get 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.280 everyone who relied on electronics for life support to get 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:16.640 them out of the blast radius. Everyone had plenty of time. 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:19.920 It was all very coordinated, and yet twenty four hours 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.280 later we took out the power in Portland. We weren't 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.000 the only people doing it. It sounds so bad out 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:31.040 of context, and don't vish new unconsenting populations. 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:33.160 And that's how I became a folk hero. 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:35.480 I ever said I ought to be a folk hero. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.920 I just think some of you all are so good 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:45.040 at organizing. I mean like someone had to get it done. 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:48.960 And so we were the first major metropolitan area on 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.160 the west coast of the US to Vishnu. But we 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.160 weren't even one of the first hundred places in the 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.920 world to do it. And soon enough, another three thousand 0:12:57.920 --> 0:13:02.320 places threw up shields cities to villages, to military bases 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.960 to actual battlefields. The war ground to a halt with 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.080 no machines to fight it. And yeah, people started calling 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:12.000 you the Prince of Portland. What was your like life? 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.760 After that? Two times? The folk hero Oh, I. 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:18.840 Tried to return to podcasting. I even still do it sometimes, 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:21.839 nothing with my name or voice on it anymore, though, 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.959 because people just don't know how to handle themselves. I 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.600 kind of had a long, dark night of the soul 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.360 after the end of the war. The way people talked 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.080 about me, it was all too much. And after the war, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.280 everywhere in the world it was like either the big 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.760 revolution kicked off right away or everything kind of went 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:42.120 into a funk for a while. The US went into 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.480 a funk after the armistice. We all thought this is it, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.640 this is the revolution, like it was Palestine in Western 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.600 Africa and Scandinavia and China, but nope, not the US. 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:57.200 Everyone just went back to work. It was surreal. Yeah, 0:13:57.760 --> 0:13:58.800 I was depressing. 0:13:58.840 --> 0:13:59.679 I was depressed. 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:06.199 But then but then twenty forty eight happened. The Baltimore 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.640 Commune got going, and the Cooperative movement found its teeth. 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.480 The Maganese Stan's Appatitisa revolts stopped respecting national borders, and 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.000 the whole Southwest was on fire, not just metaphorically at 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.040 this point. It was one of those bad summers down 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.680 there for wildfire. So when the California Cooperative really got going, 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:23.760 I went back down to. 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.040 Help, okay, And so that brings us up to right 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.080 around the start of World War three point five two 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.280 years ago. Now, you've been a major figure, both behind 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.400 the scenes and on Mike ever since. What was the 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.320 transition from folk Heiro to brigadier general? 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.960 Like, look, I'm the first shurtment. I was kind of 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.920 grandfather and in that's how I came out the gate 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:47.880 high rank. I started going to meetings of what became 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:51.320 the California Cooperative before we even picked the name, and 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.880 I was on the ground organizing support for Ta Tumash revolt. 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.760 So I was kind of like I said, grandfathered in. 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.040 But the council didn't just say, okay, you're an organizer, 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.680 you can be in charge of the military or anything. 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.360 Most people don't know. But I actually spent most of 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.720 twenty forty four to twenty forty eight studying military strategy 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:16.240 with the Democratic Confederalist International Like formally, I got a 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.080 master's in strategic studies. About half the classes were online 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:22.640 and half in person all over the world, And when 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:26.160 the California Cooperative got started, I started mentoring directly under 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:30.880 some internationalist revolutionary leaders in Mianmar and elsewhere. And still look, 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:34.480 I'm a general, that's true, but brigadier general is the 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:35.600 lowest rank of general. 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.360 I heard you turned down three different promotions. 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.440 That's true. I don't need the stress. I want to 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:41.680 spend more time with my dogs. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:43.880 I also heard you turned down a demotion. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.000 Yeah. The brass, well, the higher brass wasn't too happy 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.200 when we all refused orders in the spring of twenty 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:53.800 fifty one, the Fresno incident. They told me I was demoted. 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:55.760 I told them they could tell that to the troops. 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.440 They decided I wasn't demoted after all. 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.920 Each shit, So his next question is from a listener 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.960 Rocky Road Rebel asks, Hi, Sophie, big fan, been following 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.440 you work since the Fight for the Future days, but 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:12.520 then the Corvallis offensive really saved me and my family's 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:15.360 asses in the fall of fifty two. I just wanted 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.160 to ask, there were towns falling left and right to 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:20.320 the Nine Angry Armies at the start of the war, 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:23.720 why'd you start with us in Corvallis. I mean, I'm 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.440 glad you did. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:30.120 Thanks for the question. Honestly, the biggest part of it 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:34.040 when Georgie Washington not its real name, but whatever set 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:38.680 fire to the Research Library and OSU, it just well, 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:41.800 it pissed a lot of people off the brick burning spectacle. 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.680 You just don't burn books, you know. We didn't have 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.120 the numbers up in Oregon yet for a major offensive, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.640 not without a lot of risk. But if some assholes 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.240 get in a bunch of literal zombies to set a 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.760 bunch of books on fire in a public square, then 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:01.440 like we can recruit around that, we can coalition build. 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.080 There was a lot of folks, centrists, even right wringers, 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.760 who weren't going to take that lying down. And enough 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:12.240 of those folks had farm dinos and rifles. You had 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:15.160 old SCHOOLANTIFA members fighting side by side along the very 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.320 activists who fought for Prop eight ninety nine, writing those 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.920 uta rappers that were popular in the cities and farm 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:26.760 tractor segosaurus is alike. The Nine Armies didn't stand a chance. 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.040 And that seems like as good a place as any 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.840 for us to go into our last ad break. This 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.840 podcast is brought to you by the Smaller Problems Council. 0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:39.080 The complexity of community organizing got you down, suddenly aware 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.000 of the fact that you're organizing with people, and people 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.280 are all kind of fuck ups, no matter what ideology 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:48.159 they profess. Thinking about redirecting your organizing to shift the 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.600 blame from fascists to people who are on your side 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.080 but never do the dishes and just sort of expect 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:54.840 that you'll do the dishes. It's like they didn't even 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.199 realize that someone does the dishes, that they just assumed 0:17:57.200 --> 0:17:59.800 that somehow the dishes just sort of get done on 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.760 their own. The Smaller Problems Council is here to help. 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.919 Call the Smaller Problem Councils free hotline today and one 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.840 of our experts will help you de escalate your conflict 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:13.359 that isn't with the enemy. Remember they're not off the hook, 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:15.560 they're just not one of the people we need to 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:18.960 shoot with guns. The Smaller Problems Council would like to 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:20.800 remind you that we are in a shooting war for 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:23.400 the future of human and non human life on this planet. 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:26.920 We are not saying the smaller problems don't matter. We're 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:32.680 just saying they matter less. This podcast is brought to 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.919 you by Gorgeous Gida's Gorgeous Gear. Are you tired of 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.440 sacrificing fashion for function? Do you want to fight fascists 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.400 and look good doing it? Gorgeous Gidas is the outfitter 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.359 for you. Every one of our products has been designed 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:49.320 with aesthetics in mind, without sacrificing functionality, and our team 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:53.320 of anti fascista fascionistas is more than willing to work 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.639 to customize products for your unit. There's no point in 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.320 wading through a river of Nazi blood if your waiters 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.960 don't look good while you're doing it. Talk to your 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.880 unit's commander or assembly. If you're in a non hierarchical 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:09.520 unit today about what Gorgeous Geta can do for you. Remember, 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:30.800 if it ain't gorgeous, it's just gear and we're back. Okay, 0:19:30.840 --> 0:19:34.760 This next question X Grendel X asks what's your favorite 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.440 comfort food when you get back home after a campaign. 0:19:37.920 --> 0:19:40.439 Honestly, just like a big bowl of popcorn and a 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:41.080 hard sider. 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.000 Oh that makes sense. That's a good one. So this 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.920 next one, I don't think you're going to answer it. 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:51.240 Our lawyer has advised us that we shouldn't er any 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.960 answer to it anyway, But if I don't ask it, 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.280 people will never leave us alone. In the comments, six 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.920 different listeners have asked some form of the question, what's 0:20:00.960 --> 0:20:01.720 going on with. 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:06.640 That's my family? No comment? All right? 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.920 And finally, look, this is the hardest question to ask. 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.439 I am not a hardball reporter and you're one of 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.679 my best friends. So I warned you I was going 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.480 to ask you this before we hit record. But it's 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.879 been three months without a comment from you, and people 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.840 want to know. In September of this year, you were 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.120 involved in the campaign in Poland. It didn't go well, 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.359 not for anyone. A cavalry unit of six hundred and 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:33.240 thirteen Pterosaur riders was dispatched to take out an entrenched 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:35.920 force of the new Soviet Red Army, who we will 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:38.919 continue to remind our listeners, is in fact a nationalist 0:20:38.960 --> 0:20:42.920 force that has recuperated Soviet imagery for nationalists socialist purposes. 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:46.960 Four hundred and seventy three of those riders died to 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.200 Russian guns, only eighty four made it back. The other 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:54.600 survivors are currently held in pow camps if we're lucky, 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:57.800 But Russian propaganda films have begun to leak across the 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.960 web of riders being tortured and executed and then resurrected 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:05.080 to fight in the Army of the Dead. A lot 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.840 of people are comparing the whole thing to the Charge 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.840 of the Light Brigade, when in eighteen fifty four a 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.920 force of six hundred British cavalry received a miscommunicated order 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:18.800 and attacked a heavily fortified position. Lord Tennyson wrote a 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:22.119 poem called the Charge of the Light Brigade, and the 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.760 event has been a cultural touchstone of the futility of 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:29.800 war ever since. So what happened in Poland? I think 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:32.480 you actually wrote down this answer ahead of time for us. 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:37.080 Right, yeah, And I've been silent on it because I'm 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.120 not a media spokesperson. I'm a heartbroken old soldier I've 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:42.680 had a lot to say about the charge of the 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.199 Light Brigade. I'll take it as a name. It was 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.000 a horrible mistake made by all of us, including soldiers themselves, 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:52.160 who adjust as much information as the rest of us 0:21:52.240 --> 0:21:57.040 and agreed to the offensive. Think about a doctor. A 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.439 doctor makes decisions every single day that saves live and 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:02.040 they make decisions all the time that. 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:02.920 Get people killed. 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:05.840