WEBVTT - The Cajun Navy: Heroes or Liability? 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.960 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.280 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.400 Chuck and Jerry's here too, and we are saving the 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:18.400 day here on Stuff you should Know. 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:20.279 That's right, Chuck. 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.360 I guess I just said that we're secure to save 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.599 the day, and we are. We're going to talk about 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.040 the Cajun Navy in a second, but before we do, 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.960 we just got back from tour and you did something 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:33.000 that I didn't do and I want to hear about it. 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:37.320 Oh yeah, weh. I got tabbed to perform in the 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.640 Hanging with Doctor z Show, which, if you don't know, 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.960 it is comedian Dana Gould has a professional Doctor zayas 0:00:45.000 --> 0:00:47.800 a Planet of the Apes costume, nice and he just 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.520 does a straight up late night talk show as Doctor Zaias. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.520 That's the only sort of wrinkle to it, and it's 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:58.240 it's a lot of fun. And I was on. It's 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.680 kind of a straight guy, you know, clearly wasn't the 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.200 improvising comedian, but I did an okay job. But Dave 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.600 Folly of the Kids in the Hall was there. Yeah, 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:11.080 and Janet Barney, the Great Andy Daily, and I just 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:13.760 got to tell you quickly about the night before in 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.240 the hotel. Yeah, I was hanging out in the lobby 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:18.360 with a friend of the show, Adam Pranica, and friend 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.679 of your life and our good friend and booking agent 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:26.399 Josh Lingren, having some drinks and all of a sudden, Cole, 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:29.880 co founder of Sketch Best, walks over with Dave Foley 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.120 and they all sit down and day Folly sits next 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.240 to me and we have like a thirty minute conversation. 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:36.760 That's so cool. And this is the night before, so 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:38.640 when you guys were on stage together, you were like 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:39.560 old pals. 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:43.440 It was a familiarity built in. Dave Folly was the 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:46.240 nicest sky you could ever imagine. That's so great, he 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.280 asked him. He clearly had listened to stuff you should 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.760 know because he said something about is Josh here, so 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:52.560 he knows your name. 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:53.520 Pretty cool. 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.840 And we're sitting there having a conversation, and all of 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:01.240 a sudden, I look up and it's Scott Thompson and 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:06.720 Bruce McCullough and Kevin McDonald man, and they all see 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.280 Dave and come over, and this is the first time 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:11.720 they'd seen each other. I mean, I don't know how long, 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.040 but you know, they were doing a screening of brain 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:14.959 Candy the next night. 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:15.800 Oh cool. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:17.600 And so they were all just seeing each other for 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.680 the first time that weekend, and they It warmed your 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:22.839 heart so much seeing how much these guys liked each 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:24.280 other and how they liked seeing each other. 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.480 Yeah, I mean, that makes me really happy to hear 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.640 that they're as great as they seem. 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:31.840 Yeah, it was incredible. They were just they were hugging 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:36.359 and laughing, and I'm looking across at lingern And and 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.200 Adam and We're both have looks on her faces like 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.760 what is happening right now? And Bruce McCullough had the 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.280 one of the funniest lines I've ever seen, you know, 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:47.919 how you just bag on friends as a as a rule. 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.760 They're all standing around and laughing and Bruce McCullough goes, 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.000 isn't it great that Mark isn't here? 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:56.280 Mark? 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:59.080 It was so funny, man, It was like the perfect 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.519 line at the perfect and they all busted out laughing 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.399 and I got to I got to kind of eavesdrop 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.840 on their stories. And then the next night Scott Thompson 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.880 telling stories. Today, Foley, I'm just like a fly on 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.520 the wall trying to be invisible, just trying to soak 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.040 in these stories about Lorne Michael's in the early days 0:03:15.080 --> 0:03:17.840 and like trashing hotel rooms, and it was it was 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:18.560 just great. 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:19.720 That's really cool man. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:21.160 Yeah, that she could have been there. That was the 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:22.040 only thing missing was you. 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.000 I wish I could have too, And thank you for 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.080 saying that. That's nice. But thanks for telling me all 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.400 about it, and congrats on a great showing at the 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:31.079 What is it hanging with Doctor Z? 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.760 Hanging with Doctor Z? Dana's the best. He's so funny. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.240 Is it anywhere? Like somebody can see it online? 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.760 I don't know if they. I don't think they shot 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.320 video for this. I'm curious, But go watch episodes of 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:43.960 Hanging with Doctor C. It's a lot of fun. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.360 Okay, cool, cool. Well, that was great. Thank you for 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.520 telling everybody about it. And I guess now, let's you 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:53.000 want to start the episode about the Cajun Navy. 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.600 Yeah, for sure. Not too long ago in an episode, 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.400 we had a listener mail that referenced the Cajun Navy. 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.880 It is not something that I had heard of, even 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.440 though it has been sort of all over the news. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:09.280 But I don't watch news with my eyes and ears 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.160 I generally read stuff, and I guess it just had 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:14.320 never read anything about this, even though the Cajun Navy 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.599 seems like have done a lot of great things, but 0:04:17.680 --> 0:04:18.920 there's also some criticism. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:22.520 Yeah, it's a good example of how absolutely everything in 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:24.520 the United States can become politicized. 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:26.119 Yeah, good point. 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:31.000 And it is like I get criticisms, I also get 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.120 the praise as well, Like at the end of the day, 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:37.320 these these dudes, as you'll see, are putting their lives 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:39.120 on the line to help other people. 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.560 That's right. What we're talking about is a group of 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.479 men and women. Now there are many different groups, but 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.279 it's been dubbed the Cajun Navy, and it sprang from 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.280 Hurricane Katrina when they were like, hey, we need more help. 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.279 We need help beyond FEMA in this case, it's so devastating. 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:00.200 We know that you've got boats, you got airboats, and 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.640 you have the will people of Louisiana, and the call 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.920 went out and they people came to help and helped 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:08.839 a lot, and they were dubbed the Cajun Navy. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.200 Yeah. So although the Cajun Navy is we'll see, like 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.440 as we understand it today, really kind of developed in 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:19.240 twenty sixteen. Basically all the origin stories, all competing origin stories, 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.560 traced through themselves back to Katrina. And that is a 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:24.560 good place to start because that is one of the 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:29.120 best examples of government failing it's people that has happened 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:35.279 in recent history. The Bush administration, FEMA, like they just 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.840 botched helping people, and so there was a really big 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.599 vacuum that other people who were just basically moved to 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.080 go help people who'd just been left behind, like, hey, 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:50.800 good luck on your roof, hopefully everything works out. People 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:53.120 got their own boats, they got their own trailers. They 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.919 drove to New Orleans and got as close as they could. 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:58.960 They put their boats in when they hit the water, 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.320 and they went and rescued those people themselves. No one 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:05.200 paid them, no one even really asked them to do this. 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.240 They just knew that people were in trouble, they knew 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.520 that they could help them. And so I think, as 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:14.279 Governor Kathleen Blanco later said, when she was kind of 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.839 talking about this retrospectively, she said, it was Louisiana people 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:19.440 helping Louisiana people. 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.720 Yeah, for sure, there were some asks and calls for help. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.880 There was a Louisiana State center named Nick Gautro, and 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.280 he went on the TV in the radio during Katrina, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.520 and he said, hey, if you've got a boat, we 0:06:33.600 --> 0:06:38.760 need your help. There's a mall outside of New Orleans 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:41.560 and Lafayette about one hundred and fifty miles away, and 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.760 we could use some people. And he thought, maybe, you know, 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:47.880 twenty thirty people might show up. Close to four hundred 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.120 people show up, showed up, and they ended up forming 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:54.000 an eight mile convoy of trucks and boats. And in 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.640 the end, CBS News reports that they rescued ten thousand 0:06:57.640 --> 0:06:59.920 people during Katrina alone. 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.800 Yeah, and this is where they were dubbed the Cajun 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:07.800 Navy later on. But like, this is just it's astounding, 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.120 Like from the outset, it was just just amazing, like 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.200 just the number of people who shut up, the number 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:16.160 of people they saved. And this is exactly the kind 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:19.360 of thing that people love to read about, hear about, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.960 see about, because it's like, yes, people are still basically good. 0:07:25.400 --> 0:07:28.400 And then on the other hand, we also as a 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:33.280 country in particular, love to start picking apart everybody, including 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.480 heroes who selfishly act. 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.480 That's right. The guy who would later become one of 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.240 the founders of the United Cajun Navy, and like we said, 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:44.720 there's a I think close to thirty or more people 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.040 are groups organizations who have dubbed themselves some version of 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.560 a Cajun Navy like this. Yeah, well we should point 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.200 out that only three of those are nonprofits. 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:55.960 Yeah that's a big, big deal. 0:07:56.520 --> 0:07:59.680 Yeah, it's a red flag in some cases. But this 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:01.920 guy's name was Todd Terrell, and he owned a seafood 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:06.600 business that was completely devastated during the first few days 0:08:06.640 --> 0:08:10.520 of Katrina. So he lost everything, and after that he 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:13.440 didn't take his shrip net and go home. He said, 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.000 I'm going to help rescue people, and so he kind 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:17.560 of headed up a lot of this and ended up 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:19.920 one of the actual founders of the United Cajun Navy, 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:20.720 like I said. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.440 Yeah, and the United Cajun Navy's one of the big ones, 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.800 maybe the biggest, definitely the most professionalized, and they are 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:32.319 a five OHO one C three nonprofit. But the Cajun 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.000 Navy moniker itself is shared by a number of different groups, 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:40.960 like you said, And there's something about these people in 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:45.160 particular that make them they have a very specific set 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:49.200 of skills. I guess you could say one a lot 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.480 of them are Cajun and grew up, spent their whole 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.480 lives and still spend a lot of their time out 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:59.640 on the bayou in boats that are designed to navigate 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.480 obstacles in very shallow water. 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.280 That is to say, airboats, airboats, p rogues. 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:13.240 Okay, yeah, that's well those two. I think bass boats also, 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.160 they use a lot of bass boats. So not only 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:18.520 are their boats designed for this, they have a lot 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.640 of experience they getting around a dumpster, but say in 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:23.840 the form of like a cypress tree, and all of 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.960 the knees like, they know what they're doing. They're expert 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:32.559 boatmen and boat people. How about that? Yeah, and so 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.120 there's a there's a really like big incentive for these 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.400 to welcome these people because they know what they're doing. 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.560 The issue is, as we'll see again and again, they 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.120 are expert both people. They don't necessarily have search and 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.560 rescue training. And that's one of the probably the biggest, 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:50.920 most legitimate criticisms of the whole thing. 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.959 Yeah, for sure, even though I was born in Katrina, 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:57.720 believe he kind of hinted that twenty sixteen, during the 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:02.160 thousand Year Flood of Louisiana, when thirty one inches of 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.320 rain fell on Baton Rouge over the course of twenty 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:05.880 four hours. 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:06.280 Insane. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:12.000 It was an incredible amount of rain, completely devastating. The 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:15.280 first you know, when Katrina happened, that was pre smartphone 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.840 twenty sixteen. That was the difference. Was all of a sudden, 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.400 you had fifty six of Louisiana sixty four parishes were 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.400 declared federal disaster areas, and you had a Cajun navy 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:33.720 at work with smartphones and social media that could triangulate 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:35.880 and who could posts like we need people here, we 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.319 need people there. It became much more organized, much more 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.720 cohesive in twenty sixteen thanks to you know, social media 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:42.359 and smartphones. 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.360 Yeah, and in particular an app called Zello. 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:48.360 This sounds cool, I'm going to try this out with 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:48.920 a fanly we. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.520 You should go check out the website for the app, 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:54.640 like just there, you know, all the different bells and 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.840 whistles that has it is nuts. So basically, Zello turns 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:01.840 a cell phone into a walkie talkie. Even if you 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.920 barely have a signal, you can use it. Like with 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.560 a low enough signal that you couldn't make a call, 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:10.320 you can still use your phone as a Zelo walkie talkie. 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:11.000 So cool. 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:15.720 It gets even better. It translates, you can speak and 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.880 it will translate into another language that you select. You 0:11:18.920 --> 0:11:23.440 can coordinate with people who speak different languages. And all 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:25.960 of a sudden, now all of these people who only 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:30.520 had cell phones can now coordinate and organize and be 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.800 much more effective than just like say, two guys in 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.400 a boat and there's two other guys in a boat here. 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:37.959 Now they're saying, well, this is where people need the 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.480 most help. Let's send these guys out here because they're 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.200 closest to go get those people. Like there was a 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.400 completely different level of coordination and organization than in Katrina. 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:49.840 Does it translate the Cajun accent? 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:52.320 I'm not going to say it, but yes it does. 0:11:53.960 --> 0:11:56.280 I will give you full reassurance. 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:58.240 You know who could help us with that as their 0:11:58.240 --> 0:11:58.920 old buddy. 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.160 Doug, right, Doug Shashery. Yeah cheshree. 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.320 We've met him backstage are two New Orleans shows. What 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:05.800 a good guy. 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:08.840 He treats us so well. He brought us budan m hm, 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.800 and we just went to town on those things. Yeah, 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:16.160 so good sausage balls, right, Yeah, that's what it is, right, 0:12:16.200 --> 0:12:19.360 Freddie Gravy sausage balls. They're amazing. 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.079 It's so good. The Cajun Navy these days, though, is 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.200 a big deal. Like you said, like the three like 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:29.080 super legitimate. And I'm not saying that none others are 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.200 doing good work, but the three nonprofits are like big, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.360 big time. They have multimillion dollar budgets. Now, they have 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.719 chapters all like even in Hawaii, they have them all 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.800 over the country, and they are funded by charitable donations. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.960 They're staff by volunteers. And that seems like a good 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.680 time for a break, good intro, I agree. All right, 0:12:47.720 --> 0:13:17.319 it's an early break, but we'll be right back. All right, 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.080 we're back, and we're gonna talk about the credo of 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:22.480 the Cajun Navy, because if they're known for one thing, 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.960 that is like don't wait around and just say people 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.319 just get things done. And their credo is it's unofficial, 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.960 but it seems pretty official is act first and deal 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.320 with the consequences later. 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:38.560 Right, which, on one hand is like, yep, if you 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:40.560 are stuck on your roof, that is the kind of 0:13:40.559 --> 0:13:42.560 person you want to come get you. You don't want 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.320 them to filling out forms to get permission to come 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:48.599 rescue you from your roof, right, that's right. On the 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:54.400 other hand, there's reasons for regulations safety for everybody there, 0:13:55.520 --> 0:14:00.920 there's reasons for government in that sense. Right. This is 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:04.400 where this is where the kind of breakdown starts to occur. 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.559 Yeah, let's start with the good of acting first. You're 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.440 going to rescue a lot more people, a lot quicker. 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.520 You're going to get food and aid to people a 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:17.080 lot quicker. A very great example of this was Hurricane Harvey, 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:20.400 the Category four that dumped sixty inches of brain in 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.040 Texas over of course of four days. It was completely devastating, 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.280 apparently the wettest costly as hurricane in US history. And 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.000 because of what happened in twenty sixteen, I think they 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:34.920 felt like, hey, the call is coming now from Texas. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:38.520 There was a call specifically in one case that was 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:42.520 a nursing home in Port Arthur that was underwater. Cajun 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.440 Navy volunteers rushed out there. They got there, they found, 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.359 you know, people not able to get out of their wheelchairs, 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.800 stuck up to their knees, and sewage water they hadn't 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.640 eaten since at least the day before. They were hydrated. 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.680 Many of them were confused and it kind of came 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.440 literally to blows when a Navy volunteer named Ben Husser 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.520 went to get these people out, and the director was like, 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.920 our corporate policy, sir says, it has to be a 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:11.640 national guard evacuating us. 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:15.600 Right, And so ben Husser said that he beat the 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.200 hell out of this guy. He drew has gone on 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.240 him at one point to basically say, you need to 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:23.440 get out of my way because we're evacuating these elderly patients. 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.320 So you're clearly neglecting. And they did. They ended up 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:32.040 they ended up evacuating this group of nursing home patients, 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.720 got them to I think a bowling alley or a 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.880 movie theater, both which were turned into basically emergency centers 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:43.960 for people shelters. And this was like, this story is 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.960 tailor made for social media, right. 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:48.040 Oh yeah. 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:49.880 One of the reasons why it's taylor made for social 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:52.400 media is because it only presents one side, and it 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:57.120 presents like what seems like the morally correct approach to 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:01.200 this situation. Just like anything, there's another nothing is black 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:07.040 and white. And so this nursing home director, in one sense, yes, 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:11.040 he was following his corporate orders that he was not 0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:15.680 supposed to let anybody else evacuate the patients, but he 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:21.360 was responsible for these patients. On top of that, there 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.320 are studies that show that evacuating elderly and medically frail 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.000 people can actually be deadlier than having them shelter in place. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.280 That's even if you're evacuating them ahead of a storm. 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.640 This was in the middle of a storm that these 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.200 elderly and medically frail people were evacuated. And then thirdly, 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.880 these Keijun Navy guys showed up. They don't have like 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.720 id cards that say Cajun Navy signed by the Governor 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.840 of Louisiana. They're just some dudes that showed up, one 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.600 of which pulled a gun on the director of the 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:53.880 nursing home and said, we're getting these old people who 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.480 you're responsible for out of here. Get out of our way, 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.200 or we're going to beat you up and shoot you. 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:03.800 So like to this is the Cajun Navy is just 0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:08.000 such a great flashpoint because it's so easy to almost 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:12.439 cartoonize what they're doing, for better or worse, and just 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.800 completely ignore the reality of the situation. And I think 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.320 in that sense it's just so worth talking about because 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:24.639 it's an exercise, and how how much emotion and just 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:28.639 dumbness we put into evaluating stuff, and how tribal that 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.399 stuff makes us, and that this is a great example 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.680 of saying, here's something people are doing, here's the problems 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.920 with it. Let's figure out how to work everything out 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.399 together so that they can still save lives without the 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:44.760 downsides that are clearly inherently posed in this. 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:46.640 That's why this. 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:50.080 Cajun Navy story is so I find important. 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:54.240 Yeah, absolutely, And you know, as far as kind of 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.439 seeing it both ways, that happened all the way up 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.760 to the top of the ladder. Donald Trump became very 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.159 sort of, I guess, briefly attached to John Bridges, a 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.800 founder of the Cajun Navy, specifically Cajun Navy twenty sixteen, 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:12.120 which is its own group, invited him to the State 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.200 of Union address in twenty eighteen, had them up there. 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.639 When the Houston Astros visited the White House after they 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:22.200 won the World Series, he called out the incredible Cajun Navy. 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.600 And then, you know, on the other hand, was quoted 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.560 as sort of saying like, hey, you know, stay in 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:31.280 your boats, like these guys are out here trying to 0:18:31.320 --> 0:18:34.520 impress their wives and let the professionals do their work. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.680 And I think that just kind of illustrates how each 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.440 side has a leg to stand on, you know, like, sure, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.239 you want to rescue people, but as we'll see, you know, 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.199 the rules and regulations are there for a reason. But 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.000 sometimes it's just dumb red tape. It's like it's hard 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.720 to kind of come down for me on hard on 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.040 one side or the other, because on one hand, you 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.920 have a group that a lot of this comes from 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:03.600 sort of an anti government sentiment, if not anti government, 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.879 maybe be very distrustful of the response to natural disasters. 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:10.040 But then when you see botched responses, you can see 0:19:10.040 --> 0:19:10.919 where they're coming from. 0:19:11.080 --> 0:19:15.080 Yeah. I mean, as far as how these people's direct 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:19.479 experience with FEMA was in Katrina, I think George W. 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:23.000 Bush put it best when he said, fool me once, Sha, 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.600 shame on you fool me, you can't get fooled again. 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.480 And that's essentially what happened. FEMA fooled them once and 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:32.119 they have never forgotten it. 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:33.880 I thought that was Roger Daltrey. 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:37.760 No, no, no, that was pretty folding. 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.600 Here's a quote from the vice president of United Cajun Navy, 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:45.320 another group, Brian Trasher said, Katrina is what ultimately showed 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:49.159 us in the world that really people, even in the 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.639 richest country in the world, people cannot rely on their 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:53.880 government to save them from the weather. If a flash 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:55.400 flood hit your house and all of a sudden you're 0:19:55.400 --> 0:19:57.919 on a roof, you're not looking around for FEMA because 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.360 they're nowhere around. And a lot of the this goes 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.800 back to not just a distrust of the official systems, 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.640 but sort of the shame of a nation, a nation 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.880 like you got, the richest country in the world that's 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.719 not able to save their citizens from a flood, or 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:15.280 people that need to rely on the donations of their 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.840 friends and neighbors to get over cancer without bankrupt erupting them, 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:19.280 you know right. 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:24.320 Yeah, And that's definitely a supported insupportable viewpoint for sure. 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:26.639 How about this, We'll take a break and we'll come 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.679 back and we'll talk some more. How about the Cajun Navy. 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:30.600 Let's do it. 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.520 So, Chuck, I think you mentioned that twenty sixteen was 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.080 a really pivotal time. Those floods in Baton Rouge. Yeah, 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:10.960 where a bunch of different groups that present themselves as 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:16.679 Cajun Navy groups formed and As some of these groups 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.720 really started to emerge, in particular Cajun Navy Relief and 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.720 United Cajun Navy, they started to organize. They started to 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:26.399 form five oh one c threes and accept donations and 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:31.520 show up more and more frequently at natural disasters. They 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.159 started to get more pushback. It went from just some 0:21:34.200 --> 0:21:37.840 guys with boats to this is an actual organization showing 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:41.439 up right, and what they're you know, they're organizing, they're helping, 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:44.440 but they're still as far as we the people who 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:47.200 are professionals at this stuff are concerned, just some guys 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:50.840 with boats. And there was you know, I guess tension 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:52.360 that started to arise. 0:21:53.520 --> 0:21:59.320