Cruise Ships, Cover-Ups, and Cow Killers | Negligent Discharge Friday | 5.8.2026

Summary

Cleared Hot - Powered By BRCC

Host: Andy Stumpf

Episode: Cruise Ships, Cover-Ups, and Cow Killers | Negligent Discharge Friday | 5.8.2026

Date: May 8, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this edition of Negligent Discharge Friday, Andy Stumpf and co-host Michael traverse an unpredictable landscape of internet-fueled medical confusion, cruise ship horrors, conspiratorial cover-ups, and bizarre YouTube fame, all delivered with the trademark mixture of skepticism, dark humor, and honest self-reflection. The episode oscillates between in-depth, candid discussions on current events (including the Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak, the Doomsday Clock, and the Epstein saga), critical looks at renewable energy realities, and a closing foray into viral “danger content.” Expect wild tangents, personal stories, and a persistent plea: question everything—even your own instincts.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

---

1. Negligent Medical Advice and Hantavirus Panic

Timestamps: 02:31–13:20

• Opening Banter & False Starts
  The episode quickly finds its comedic rhythm, riffing on a gift of “gummy dicks” before tumbling into the first topic: the swirling anxiety around a new hantavirus outbreak.
• Lockdown Echoes & Social Reactions
  Michael observes wide resistance to pandemic-style lockdowns (“We are NOT going to do this again!” [02:38]). Andy notes the irony of ivermectin trending again, but, on-air, the hosts fact-check themselves about its effectiveness.
  • Quote (Andy, 03:06): “I’m not talking out of my ass, but... I read two articles basically said the same thing.”
  • Quote (Michael, 03:19): “AI says no... There’s no clinical evidence.”
• Actual Hantavirus Dangers They explore what the disease is (rodent-borne, deadly, but rarely human-to-human) and the distinction between online panic and reality.
  • Quote (Andy, 09:23): “So that’s what I’m saying—this virus actually is very dangerous.”
  • Hantavirus is not as transmissible as COVID, but much more lethal (up to 50% mortality).
  • The cruise ship at the heart of current headlines has been denied port entry, raising ethical and practical questions about quarantine.
    • Quote (Andy, 09:54): “So do they just live there now?”
    • Quote (Michael, 10:24): “And freedom to infect everybody with an actually deadly disease—gets tough, man.”
• Misinformation & Authority Distrust They highlight fractured trust in organizations like the WHO post-COVID, expressing skepticism about government control narratives and the enduring repercussions of past public health policy decisions.

---

2. The Doomsday Clock: Subjective Fear Mongering?

Timestamps: 14:17–19:56

• Andy and Michael dissect the Doomsday Clock’s symbolism, questioning its mathematical legitimacy and the motive for its most dire reading ever.
  • Quote (Andy, 17:08): “What are we doing here?”
  • Quote (Michael, 18:53): “It’s just some guy sitting in a room.”
• The hosts critique the clock for potentially desensitizing the public through “cry wolf” tactics, noting that unrelenting doom can breed apathy instead of action.
  • Quote (Andy, 18:28): “We live in a world... bombarded by negativity... things like this reinforce that we’re slowly marching off the cliff.”

---

3. Renewable Energy: Reality vs. Ideology

Timestamps: 19:57–29:15

• Personal Observations:
  Andy shares a story about flying over vast wind farms with few turbines actually spinning, prompting a discussion about green energy’s realities.
  • Quote (Andy, 20:26): “There would be a field of wind turbines. And one would be spinning.”
  • The environmental cost, reliability, and end-of-life disposal (landfills for old turbines and panels) are explored, as is the sometimes under-acknowledged ecological harm (e.g., birds killed by turbines).
• Objectivity Plea The hosts stress that while green technology is laudable in theory, policies must be grounded in real-world efficacy, not just ideology.
  • Quote (Andy, 22:26): “Let’s just be honest about what we have the ability to do versus what it is we’re trying to do.”
• Solar Power: Upsides, Downsides They touch on tax subsidies, home solar economics, and the ambiguous fate of spent solar panels.
  • Quote (Andy, 28:45): “Mostly disposed of in landfills… I like the optic up front, too. It’s the tail end conversation.”

---

4. Internet Predators & “The Rape Academy” Exposé

Timestamps: 29:44–44:11

• Debunking Outrageous Viral Claims Following up on a headline about “62 million” men attending a “rape academy,” Michael reports that the real number refers to total visits to Motherless, a large pornographic site. The actual Telegram group discussed had ~1,000 members—far less, but still deeply troubling.
  • Quote (Andy, 32:07): “That doesn't make me feel any better that there is a group of people… refining their predatory nature.”
  • Both hosts denounce the dangers posed by such networks and discuss how the internet enables predators to find and empower each other.
    • Quote (Andy, 43:57): “They can share what I’ll call TTPS—tactics, techniques, and procedures... I don’t need predators weaponized.”
• Candid Reflections on Pornography and Society The conversation transitions into the ubiquity of pornography, its impact on young people, and personal anecdotes about first exposure in both the pre- and post-internet eras.
  • Quote (Andy, 34:44): “Once they went down that rabbit hole… it irrevocably changed what they thought intimacy was.”

---

5. The Epstein Cover-Up & Enduring Conspiracies

Timestamps: 47:15–56:32

• The Newly Released Suicide Note Michael asks whether the Epstein case will ever be put to rest, given unending public distrust of "official" disclosures.
  • Quote (Andy, 47:52): “Even if it had his thumbprint… people are like ‘where’d the ink come from?’... It’ll never end.”
  • Andy asserts that U.S. authorities, driven by institutional self-interest, avoided accountability and justice for the network around Epstein.
    • Quote (Andy, 52:53): “They’ll use the classic metric—well, a few people might be victimized, but we’ll save thousands.”

---

6. Government Trust & Societal Participation

Timestamps: 56:32–57:26

• National Cynicism The hosts note how continual revelations erode faith in institutions and can sap civic engagement.
  • Quote (Andy, 57:26): “My worry is it edges people towards...wanting to ignore and not participate in the systems at all, which I think actually empowers those that are in those systems.”

---

7. Going Out with a Sting: YouTube’s “Cow Killer Wasp” Guy

Timestamps: 57:29–64:22

• Brave Wilderness’ Viral Pain They watch and react to a popular YouTube video featuring a host being stung by “cow killer” wasps and other painful creatures for content.
  • Quote (Andy, 60:52): “Don’t care if there was a pile of hundred dollar bills... I will not make my living by being bitten or stung by things.”
  • The segment becomes an extended riff on the wild west of online careers, generational differences, and what physical pain people will endure for views.
    • Quote (Michael, 63:21): “I’m glad he does it because it’s really good entertainment.”

---

Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On Medical Misinformation:

  • Andy: “I’m not talking out of my ass, but... I read two articles basically said the same thing.” (03:06)
  • Michael: “AI says no... There’s no clinical evidence.” (03:19)

• On Quarantine Ethics:

  • Andy: “So do they just live there now?” (09:54)
  • Michael: “And freedom to infect everybody with an actually deadly disease—gets tough, man.” (10:24)

• On the Doomsday Clock:

  • Andy: “What are we doing here?” (17:08)

• Renewable Realism:

  • Andy: “There would be a field of wind turbines. And one would be spinning.” (20:26)
  • Andy: “Let’s just be honest about what we have the ability to do versus what it is we’re trying to do.” (22:26)

• On Online Predator Networks:

  • Andy: “That doesn't make me feel any better that there is a group of people… refining their predatory nature.” (32:07)
  • Andy: “I don’t need predators weaponized.” (43:57)

• Epstein & Conspiracies:

  • Andy: “Even if it had his thumbprint… people are like ‘where’d the ink come from?’... It’ll never end.” (47:52)
  • Andy: “They’ll use the classic metric—well, a few people might be victimized, but we’ll save thousands.” (52:53)

• On YouTubers Getting Stung:

  • Andy: “Don’t care if there was a pile of hundred dollar bills... I will not make my living by being bitten or stung by things.” (60:52)
  • Michael: “I’m glad he does it because it’s really good entertainment.” (63:21)

---

Engaging Anecdotes & Running Themes

• Embracing Uncertainty: Andy regularly circles back to humility—acknowledging his own limitations in knowledge, spotlighting the dangers of knee-jerk certainty, and urging listeners to question information, authority, and personal bias.
• Objectivity vs. Ideology: Repeated calls to evaluate policies (especially environmental ones) on results, not feel-good optics.
• Information Age Headaches: Persistent worry about the speed and reach of internet-fueled disinformation and how it supercharges both panic and predation.

---

Useful Timestamps

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------|-------------------------------------------|--------------| | Hantavirus panic | Medical advice, cruise outbreak | 02:31–13:20 | | Doomsday Clock | Symbolism and skepticism | 14:17–19:56 | | Wind/Solar Energy | Green tech myths and realities | 19:57–29:15 | | Online Predator Groups | Telegram “rape academy” exposé | 29:44–44:11 | | Epstein Discourse | Ongoing conspiracy & justice issues | 47:15–56:32 | | Brave Wilderness Guy | Painful stings and viral entertainment | 57:29–64:22 |

---

Tone & Style Notes

• Language and tone oscillate between irreverent, brutally honest, and deeply empathetic, with frequent humor threaded through darker or more frustrating topics.
• Listeners are regularly reminded to question their assumptions, do their own research, and not let anxiety or apathy overtake rational assessment.

---

Bottom Line

This episode of Cleared Hot delivers an unvarnished look at the weird, wild, and troubling corners of modern society: from overblown internet panic to the real (and hidden) dangers of technological progress and institutional corruption. Andy and Michael blend self-deprecation, open inquiry, and gallows humor, serving up a long-format conversation that’s as entertaining as it is illuminating—while encouraging a skeptical, data-driven approach to the chaos of current events.

Transcript

[A]

Okay, I got the red smoke. Sun runs north or south west of the smoke. West of the smoke. Okay, copy.

[B]

West of the smoke.

[A]

I'm looking at danger close now. Come on with it baby.

[B]

Give it to me.

[A]

I need it. You're cleared hot. Can't be cleared hot. Okay, we're actually going now that we've done like three false starts.

[B]

Yes, three false starts. That's misleading. We have not had three false starts.

[A]

Two.

[B]

Not even one? Sure.

[A]

Okay. Somebody gave me a gift and I feel like they were thinking of me. But as soon as I received it I thought of you.

[B]

Great. What is it?

[A]

It's a snack.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

If you were to think of a snack.

[B]

Uh huh.

[A]

That really encapsulates you, what would it be?

[B]

I have never had to ponder this question. I knew. You know, I figured it would be something gay.

[A]

Let's go ahead and bring camera A and nice and touched. Oh yeah, we can't zoom by the way.

[B]

It's on there. They see it.

[A]

It says the audio only crowd. Hey you eat a bag of dicks. Yeah, assorted gummy dicks for a treat that they will never forget.

[B]

I will never forget that Jen gave

[A]

me to these after, after, after Jiu Jitsu. Wow. My tongue is like frozen for after Jiu Jitsu. And I could have eaten them all cuz I needed to carb load or reload. I don't know if there's any authenticity or legitimacy to that by the. Instead I know these will last you a good 30 minutes.

[B]

Yeah, they will not last long around me.

[A]

I know once this thing is open it's like how many I can can you fit in your mouth?

[B]

As soon as I walked in I could sniff them out.

[A]

Which is impressive because they're vacuum sealed. I know any who you want to kick it off with?

[B]

Bloodhound?

[A]

Yeah. Hound if you will. What do you want to talk about today? These are your Fridays. Friday I feel like I ask you if we are prepared, if we're pumped, if we're ready. And you always say yes to all of those things and I'm never sure what it's going to be.

[B]

I don't even know why you ask me anymore.

[A]

It's actually a pretty fair point.

[B]

How about this? This hantavirus that everybody's freaking out about I think will not be as big of a deal as people are making it to be.

[A]

I have seen a lot of posts online saying we are not going to do this again in all caps. I'm assuming here. Correct me if I'm wrong. They're talking about another lockdown very similar to Covid. Yeah, hilariously enough. Do you know what a great treatment for hantavirus is? Ivermectin.

[B]

No way. That's so funny.

[A]

Look it up, Google it just to make sure that I am.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Not talking out of my ass, but it's. Ivermectin is an antiviral. And by the way, this is not me as some scientist saying that I read two articles basically said the same thing.

[B]

Okay, well this first. AI says no. Ivermectin does not treat despite recent viral social media claims. There's no clinical evidence. Well there you go backing.

[A]

What does a non AI say?

[B]

No, Forbes says no. News Nation, which is very conservative does not give a definitive answer.

[A]

Right off the bat. There you go. And that's why I try to be cautious and say that this is what I've read and what I've heard. Man. I actually read a couple articles talking exactly about the. Because ivermectin is antiviral. Right. Look it up.

[B]

I don't know. Let me see.

[A]

I mean I know it won the Nobel Prize. There's literally statues for. But again I'm trying to go back to.

[B]

It's primarily anti parasitic.

[A]

Anti parasitic?

[B]

Research has shown that possesses broad spectrum antiviral.

[A]

Okay, but anti parasitic. That's right. That's why it has so many doses and specifically some of the reasons that it does. Yeah. Well there you go. So be very careful what you're going to wrap your head around and I guess so. And believe.

[B]

Yeah, I guess.

[A]

What is the treatment? Let's look it up right now. What is. What is.

[B]

I don't think there is really a treatment for hantavirus. I think it's more preventative.

[A]

Does this come from rats?

[B]

Yes. Specifically fecal dust. Like if you breathe in their feces particles.

[A]

10 out of 10 don't recommend. Yeah, just fecal matter in general. I recommend not breathing in that.

[B]

Yeah, there's.

[A]

So there's no treatment for hantavirus.

[B]

So no specific cure, vaccine or antiviral.

[A]

Is it transmissible through person to person?

[B]

Let me see here. Treatment relies on early detection, intensive support care.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then intensive care.

[A]

Yeah. How can it be transmitted? Is it a virus?

[B]

The carrier transmission human to human.

[A]

Today's episode is brought to you by Firecracker Farm. You want to talk about things that integrate into my life? This product right here might be one of the easier ad reads that I do. I am putting this hot salt on just about everything and I'm being the first to tell you I don't understand the chemical reaction and how it's able to pull the flavors out of everything I'm putting it on. From eggs in the morning to avocado toast to steak, just about everything. I'm not a psychopath. I don't put it on fruit. I haven't tried that yet. I don't understand how it does it, how it pulls the flavors out, how it makes everything that I eat taste better, but it does. My recommendation to you is to head over to Firecracker Dot Farm to check out what they have to offer because they have legitimately very spicy hot salts, but they also have new stuff like the Vanilla Heat flavor, which I'm pretty sure Alex's daughter had the idea for. They sent me some. It has been my absolute go to. And then everything in between is going to come in these stainless steel push button grinders. All you got to do is drive the plunger down with your thumb and you can control how much. I don't have a crazy heat tolerance, so I'll generally use one or two pumps. But you can go as insane as you may like. So you can get them on firecracker.com or we actually sell these in the coffee shop here locally in Kalispell. Or if you live somewhere that has a black rifle coffee, you can get them in store as well. Alex and his family are creating these products together at their small family farm. So this is your opportunity to really level up your seasoning game, but also support the American dream for a family that is all in on this and they're doing it together. So it's an amazing opportunity. The best way to do so probably for most people, head over to Firecracker Farm, check out what they have to offer. I would suggest the Vanilla Heat. You won't regret it. Back to the show.

[B]

Human to human transmission of hantavirus is extremely rare, limited almost exclusively to the Andes virus strain in South America, which is what these people have.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

While hantavirus haunted viruses typically spread via rodents, close prolonged contact with an infected person can transmit the virus as season cases in Argentina and 2026 cruise ship out this one. Okay, so it sounds like it's not nearly as contagious as Covid.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But way more deadly than Covid.

[A]

It's a conundrum. I don't know how many people I have heard say that they think that the COVID era was a government control test. And maybe it was.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Clearly as we opened and I thought I was providing good information or at least Legitimate information easily proven to not be. Yeah, maybe I should have just clicked, done my own research instead of just clicked on the two articles that I actually saw back to back, which I thought were from pretty reputable sources. But it is what it is. It's a good exercise. Actually. I, I, I can't wrap my head around it being a government control exercise because this is the result of that or people already saying, looking to the leaping to the farthest conclusion of we're going to do a societal lockdown again. My worry would be that something would be as deadly as Covid originally was talked about and as transmiss transmissible as what the government's talked about. And I think a lot of that was them not knowing. But still, instead of saying, I don't know, they're putting out some information that wildly scared people. But I don't, I think we're way more susceptible now to something like that than we were before because I think people would just resist because they would think, oh nope, we're not doing this again. You got me the first time. Yeah, you're not gonna get me with

[B]

this hantavirus, which is scary because I mean hantavirus genuinely is. And it's not like a new Google

[A]

how does it, what does it do to you?

[B]

So let me google it. I know like broadly, but what does hantavirus do to you? Is it deadly, lethal, severe, often fatal. Respiratory failure, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome or kidney failure. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Early symptoms include fever, muscle aches and fatigue, rapidly progressing to shortness of breath, severe shortness of breath, cough, low blood pressure and potential vascular leakage, with mortality rates up to 50% in the Americas. Whoa. So this like some of those symptoms

[A]

were actually very similar to Covid stuff. Respiratory wise, at least not liver stuff like that.

[B]

But yeah.

[A]

Okay, so that is a. Not casual.

[B]

So that's what I'm saying is like this virus actually is very dangerous.

[A]

So what are they going to do? Because this is a cruise ship right now. Right. Which I believe I also read, who knows if this is true, that it has been denied entry into a few ports because of the people that are

[B]

on there testing positive, which I, you know, obviously I may have a different opinion if I was on that ship,

[A]

but do they just live there now? If you can get off there and test not positive for hunt of virus, does that mean that for the rest of those people's lives they now live on a cruise ship, but they can, you can kind of go wherever you

[B]

want to I think, I think you need. If you. Even if you test negative, I feel like get off. You're in a facility like a quarantine space for like a week or two, and until you can really for sure tell you don't have it.

[A]

Take it easy, buddy.

[B]

Hey. I mean, look at you.

[A]

Stripping away people's freedom to travel.

[B]

Yeah, I know. And freedom to infect everybody with an actually deadly disease gets tough, man.

[A]

That's where it gets real gray around the edges.

[B]

But it does also seem like this one is much less transmissible human to human. Like you have to be in prolonged contact with these people.

[A]

So. Okay, man.

[B]

Which cruise ship is prolonged contact for sure.

[A]

Yeah. Wasn't one of the first outbreaks of COVID on a cruise ship as well too. I think it's the close living. That environment would be a tough one for anything that you can transmit because of the close living proximity.

[B]

Yeah. I've heard stories of just cruise ships becoming basically petri dishes.

[A]

Have you ever been on a cruise?

[B]

No. I don't know if I really want to go on a cruise, honestly.

[A]

I went when I was very young to Alaska.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

My grandfather told me that I could order whatever I wanted to. And he got extremely mad at me at the end because I had almost $600 of Shirley Temples. I was unaware that they were running the tab on me. I wouldn't even get out of the pool. Yeah, just like Shirley Temple.

[B]

G, Another Shirley Temple, please.

[A]

Yeah. He was. He was not stoked. Be clear with your direction. You said I could order whatever.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, it's kind of his fault, honestly.

[A]

I mean, I was drinking enough to kill a donkey.

[B]

Yeah, sure.

[A]

Yeah. You know, put a limit on the tab.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Sorry, grandpa.

[B]

Come on, you know. All right.

[A]

Yeah, that sucks, man. It. You know, stuff like this is real and you know, like Ebola is real. You know, we're talking serious lockdowns and quarantines.

[B]

Yeah. That was big in like the early teens, right? Yeah.

[A]

Well, and I think stuff like this will be. Continue to be real as long as human beings are.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Going around on planet Earth doing human being stuff. It's a tough balance where you restrict people and lock them down, you know, to prevent spread to a greater population. I'm glad that I don't have to make those decisions.

[B]

Yeah, No, I. It'd be a tough one to make for sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Okay. So breathing in mouse feal matter in the dust form. Got it.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

We'll do my best to avoid. Do all mice and rats have that,

[B]

you know, I'm not sure. Let me look it up.

[A]

You know, I mean, we live amongst, you know, where mice and moles and stuff like that.

[B]

Yeah. No, not all rodent droppings carry hantavirus. Only droppings from specific infected rodents, primarily deer mice. Blah, blah, blah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

In North America carry the virus to. Come on. House mouse and common rat are generally not associated with spreading hantavirus. Well, that's good.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, I feel like we can get ahead of this one. It's the transmissibility. I think that.

[B]

Yeah. And I think the head of the WHO did come out and say this is not a Covid like thing. Like they're going to get control of this and it's not going to be a huge thing. So hopefully that stays true, you know.

[A]

Yeah. Well, I wonder what percentage of people now take the who at their word.

[B]

Yeah, there's, you know. Yeah, I would be. I'm kind of skeptical of them. Um, I'm really skeptical of any organization that has that much overarching power to control things, but it's tough.

[A]

Cool. What else you got?

[B]

Okay. Oh, hold on. We might have to put a cut in here. The screen on this just went black.

[A]

Okay. Yeah, I can try to do it. All right. Technical difficulties solved.

[B]

Technical difficulties.

[A]

IT guys.

[B]

Yeah. We're basically geniuses.

[A]

I like how you use my strategy, which is unplug and plug back in.

[B]

Yeah, it works a lot of the time, actually.

[A]

Do you know what step two is? After that, if it doesn't work, turn

[B]

off and back on.

[A]

Just give up. I can't figure out True. Come back another day and have fast.

[B]

Yeah. So let's see. Speaking of catastrophic. Potentially catastrophic events.

[A]

Tell me more.

[B]

Do you know what the Doomsday Clock is?

[A]

I've heard this reference quite a bit. Isn't this how close we are to nuclear war?

[B]

Yeah. Or I don't know if it's nuclear war or like existential threats in general.

[A]

Is this an actual physical clock or is this metaphor?

[B]

Yes. And they changed the.

[A]

Where is it at?

[B]

I don't know, actually.

[A]

Hold on about the clock. Created it in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group founded by Manhattan Project scientists, including Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. Purpose to serve as a metaphor for how close humanity is to destroying the world with its own technologies. I wonder if that means outside of nuclear as well. Scroll down a little bit more.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

Okay. The Bulletins Science and Security Board meets twice a year to decide if the clock needs to be adjusted based on world Events. The clock has moved back and forth since 1947, reaching its furthest point in 1991, 17 minutes to midnight. After the Cold War. Okay, let's go back up.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The Doomsday Clock is currently set at 85 seconds to midnight.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[A]

The closest it has ever been to signaling global catastrophe, maintained again by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The symbolic clock warns of existential threats, primarily nuclear escalation, climate change, and disruptive technologies like AI. Head over to images, if you would. I'm just curious if this. Where is this clock?

[B]

I mean, these are all this thing right here. It's literally.

[A]

That's it.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That's only half a clock or a quarter of a clock.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. And they come out apparently twice a year. Roll this thing out and to what?

[A]

Scare people?

[B]

Yeah, I just like, how do they know? Based on any.

[A]

How do they know?

[B]

They don't. They're just some dudes.

[A]

Also, what a weird consensus to come to 89 seconds, right? Is that what. Yeah. 89 seconds to make what? Not 90, not 88. Was there at least any debate about 90 or 88?

[B]

That's the thing about this clock. I think this is so dumb because it's not based. There's no mathematical form, there's no equation for this. They're just. They just sit around and think. I guess we'll do 89 seconds today. And it's just like. What are you talking about? During the, like Cuban Missile crisis, probably the closest we've ever been to like a nuclear war. Yeah, it was like 15 minutes.

[A]

That was actually vessels almost crossing lines in the sand. Obviously we're talking about in the ocean where there was going to be a kinetic response to that which could have likely escalated to a nuclear war.

[B]

But now apparently we're at 89 seconds and there's really no, you know, valid threat of nuclear war.

[A]

I'm a huge fan of being as open as you can be, as objective as you can be, doing the best that you can be to view the world around you for what it is, not through the lens of your bias, which we all have.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That could be cultural, that could be geographic, whatever it is. And I think that there are clearly. I don't think anybody would argue against that there are legitimate threats to both humanity and the world that we live in. But I don't know if this type of fear mongering, my words, not necessarily anybody else's, accomplishes this because what's the story, the cry wolf story, over and over and over and over. And over again. And so they set it to 89 seconds to midnight, which is closer than it's ever been. And again, super weird that you would. Whatever. Less than a minute and a half by. By one second. If nobody reacts to this or if the reaction isn't what the people who create this consensus, what are they gonna do? Flip it to 45 seconds?

[B]

Right.

[A]

To 40 to 30.

[B]

Guys, we're.

[A]

What are we doing here?

[B]

Guys. Yeah.

[A]

And we also. We live in a world on our devices and on our screens where we're bombarded by negativity and stuff like this, I believe can reinforce that there's just this. We're slowly marching off the cliff. Nothing can be done about it. I think I understand what they're trying to do. Yeah. You know, hey, we can add more time or we could, you know, subtract more time, but I don't know.

[B]

It's just some guy sitting in a room.

[A]

It's two old dudes in suits.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

No disrespect whatsoever to the suits or the old dudes. Like, it just is what it is.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wheeling this thing out here, I mean, I think we can be better than a quarter of a clock. Does that inspire you to do anything?

[B]

No, it just inspires me to say, wow, this is really stupid because.

[A]

And in turn, not pay attention to whatever it says on the clock.

[B]

Like what. What happens when they flip it to zero. I mean, the next day is going to come and she don't know that. True. Maybe it really will be the end

[A]

of the very bold assertion. Michelle. I don't know. I think you can be honest about the trajectory on where we are headed and also honest about the fact that there still is hope that we can. This is the same thing too. Like, we. We need to objectively look at the things that are working and the things that aren't working.

[B]

Mm.

[A]

Or maybe aren't as effective as they are portrayed to be. I just did a cross country flight in a helicopter about 11 hours in the helicopter. The number of wind turbines that we flew next to around over all that stuff was unbelievable. I swear that I could have counted on both of my finger, both my hands, the number that we're actually spinning.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There would be a field of wind turbines. Yeah. And one would be spinning or two. And again, I'm not. I am not an expert on wind turbines and I like the idea of harnessing the natural resources that we can but do a deep dive onto what it takes. The cost, the damage to the environment that wind turbines themselves actually Create the infrastructure required, the concrete, the steel, what they do with them when they no longer continue to work. Here's a Google image for you, Michael. And this might be a slightly. I don't want to say biased, but we're looking at these things in one configuration.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Look at what they do with them after wind turbines. When. When the systems fail where they have to take them down, they put them into landfills. Just piles and piles of these wind turbines. We were out in windy conditions. If 1. Did you see you find some images?

[B]

I think so. Yeah.

[A]

It's unbelievable. Yeah. Pull that up. Yeah. So this is what happens. And again, I understand completely the desire to be as green as possible. I. We all live in the world. I want the world to be as healthy and vibrant as humanly possible.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But let's just be honest about what we have the ability to do versus what it is we're trying to do. Whether this is a political motivation behind this or like, I think I believe that the people who are behind this type of technology 100 want it to be utilized to the best of their ability. But maybe the idea and the reality of it are not parallel. Yeah. But so much money has been invested into projects like that that you now can't back your way out of it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And again, I'm viewing the world as. As a guy doing my absolute best just to work my way through it. I have no special insight. But again, I'm. I'm flying next to ac.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Of wind turbines. And one or two are spinning and it.

[B]

And I wonder why that, like, do they just shut it off?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

That's. So I'm gonna look that up right now.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know. Why are someone. I mean in the areas that we were flying through were not sparsely populated, relatively dense. I would imagine that there is an electronic requirement for people to survive in that area. I also believe that especially with solar and stuff like that. Can't you end up selling power back to the grid? It's a way to reduce the strain on the grid or to sell energy back. I thought that was the point of all of this.

[B]

Yeah. So.

[A]

I don't know. I wish it was that easy. Sometimes I think. And again, not being an expert on this, but from what I do understand, they will be at best net neutral.

[B]

I've actually heard they. And who knows if this is true, can start producing net positive power in six to nine months.

[A]

Look it up.

[B]

And last for roughly 20 years.

[A]

Did you find any information on why they turned Them off.

[B]

Yes, I did. So if that is true, and I'm not sure if it is, I actually am not as against them.

[A]

I'm not against. Again, I am not against them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I am not understanding if the ability is there to generate the electricity to reduce maybe electricity being produced off of fossil fuels.

[B]

Right. Yeah.

[A]

Why wouldn't they all be turned on?

[B]

Yeah. So apparently scheduled maintenance, technical faults, low end speed, or grid constraints not needing the extra power.

[A]

There you go.

[B]

Which, who knows.

[A]

Let's also add this to the conversation. There's a complete and total chance that I'm an idiot.

[B]

Well, I mean, that's true for both of us.

[A]

So maybe there was a grid constraint where it wasn't needed. There's another huge area of these by Palm Springs, which I haven't. I'm not near as much as I used to be.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oftentimes a lot of those suckers weren't spinning either. I'm pretty sure the LA basin could use some power.

[B]

No, I agree. Like every time I go by a field of wind turbines, they nuke birds, by the way. Oh yeah. I'm gonna see if I can pull up some videos of birds getting absolutely obliterated by.

[A]

Tell me more. Now this episode is headed in a direction. Do you know where my mind immediately. Of course, I said nothing in the moment with the two guys I was with. My. My head immediately went as I saw them slowly spinning. Like, I think I could go. I think I could go in between those blades.

[B]

Oh my God.

[A]

Like, let's just do a slow three. I think I can.

[B]

They are huge. They are like, you don't realize it because you're so far away.

[A]

Have you ever been seen one up close when they're actually spinning pretty quickly?

[B]

No, but I've seen one going down the highway.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

You. It needs like almost two of for sure. Yeah. It's crazy.

[A]

Oh, this bird is done.

[B]

Yeah. This isn't going to be pretty d. Oh, it's hard to tell where he is because of the perspective. I think we'll figure out pretty quick.

[A]

I know. Why is it going back? You weren't. You did it.

[B]

He's getting greedy.

[A]

Oh, that was a wing.

[B]

Yeah. That wasn't as poofy as I thought it was going to be, but yeah, I've seen videos where like they.

[A]

Oh, that's a big bird.

[B]

That's huge. Yeah. Wow.

[A]

Oh, that's an eagle.

[B]

Damn. But yeah, birds are not safe around these things.

[A]

I hope that they are as net positive as this AI overview is. I hope so too saying.

[B]

Because I, I do feel like some people get into their thinking rut and don't care if it works, but just care of.

[A]

No, they get behind the ideology.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

That's what I'm saying. I hope that we are not trapped in that. Like I said, I, like, I am a fan of looking at things objectively. This is the plan that we had. This is what we thought it was going to be. We didn't realize we were going to have to spend or create, you know, X amount of concrete to jam this thing into the ground, you know, and the maintenance that was going to be required or this, that or the other thing. And in the end it's like, whoa, not nearly what we thought it was going to be. But we, we don't want to say it doesn't work because then we're going to lose the pr.

[B]

Righter. Yeah.

[A]

That's what I hope that we're not at. It works. Awesome.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I've heard of like they have some of these things that are offshore as well too. Those things.

[B]

I've seen those. Yeah. Or I haven't seen it, but I've heard of those. Yeah.

[A]

You're aware they exist? Exist.

[B]

I'm aware they exist. Yeah. I would also assume there's probably some special funding that these manufacturers get from the government for I'm sure that they have being energy efficient.

[A]

Well, you can, you can see that if you. Well, I was going to say, have you ever had somebody come to your house and try to pitch you on a solar roof?

[B]

No.

[A]

You live with your parents, so that's.

[B]

That's not true. But I've also never had that happen.

[A]

You don't own a house yet, but you will. We're getting, we're going to get you there. You. There's tax subsidies associated with that as well too. And I think there used to be tax subsidies or maybe this was just a California thing. I think California might have gotten rid of the subsidy or might have been nationwide. But yeah, there's a lot of things like that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Benefits that can be hidden in that from a tax perspective.

[B]

Yeah. I know somebody who installed a. Let's see, I don't know the exact square footage, but big solar panels in her yard and I think is net, at least net zero for like the electricity bill and sometimes even sells back to the power company.

[A]

The issue that I can tell for some of those, A, technology changes. B, you gotta go out and you gotta clean those things all the time. Snow shut, you know, not that they're not upfront about those things.

[B]

And they're expensive too.

[A]

They're expensive. And when those things time out from either a time or a technology limit, I mean, what do you Google this? What do they do with solar panels that are, you know, expired or technologically irrelevant? Solar panels, do they recycle them or is this another thing where it just ends up going into a landfill?

[B]

Solar panels, which last 25 to 30 years are mostly disposed of in landfills, which they can be recycled to materials like aluminum, glass and copper. Yeah. So it's like

[A]

I like. I mean, I like the optic up front too. It's the tail end conversation.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's not as what's the freight?

[B]

Dropping a quarter to pick up a penny or whatever, you know, stepping over to pick.

[A]

Or stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime.

[B]

Yeah. Which I don't think is like the exact situation, but it can apply here

[A]

where it's like we have to have the whole conversation.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm saying.

[B]

Yeah, I agree.

[A]

I do not fault people. And I would put myself into the same bucket of. I would like the world to be as like hospitable as possible.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Be pretty dope if we're able to live here and not kill ourselves indefinitely. Yeah, indefinitely. Unless you talk to Elon Musk, cuz I think he said Mars is the how we survive as a. I think

[B]

he's been saying that for 20 years.

[A]

No, that's what they're saying about Irong being six months away from a nuclear weapon.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Don't confuse the two, top.

[B]

Yeah. Come on, come on.

[A]

Next thing you know, you're going to want to set the doomsday clock.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What else you got?

[B]

Let's see here. Oh, so we briefly touched on this on the last episode we did. But the quote unquote rape Academy

[A]

on the last interview episode we did.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

With Rachel.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. Pull this up. That was so disturbing. So did you do a little bit of homework after that episode?

[B]

I did.

[A]

Oh, boy. Search history put you on a fellow.

[B]

Luckily the numbers are not as potent as the initial they initially seem. Still not good, I will say. But yeah, you can just read.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. And so for those of you listening to this, the reference to the episode Michael just made isn't going to make sense because that episode's not going to be out for.

[B]

Yeah, it's going to be after this two weeks.

[A]

I think I'm going to jockey that one, I think to come up after next week's. Yeah. So it's not going to make Sense. But I want to read something here. It was a. It was a topic we briefly touched on and it was legitimately. The name of the topic was a Rape Academy, which.

[B]

Disgusting.

[A]

It's as bad as you actually would think. Yeah. If not potentially worse.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So the original claim that we were looking at was that in April of 2026 that 62 million men attended a Rape Academy. And yeah, I don't. I mean that's just a horrendous headline. But what this is saying is those claims are misleading and inaccurate based on an analysis of the original reporting and subsequent fact checks, thankfully. But it's not like it's great.

[B]

Yeah, it's.

[A]

Yeah. Well, see, while a CNN investigation published on March 26, 2026 did uncover a disturbing real online network where men share tips on drugging and assaulting women, the 62 million figure does not represent the number of participants in. In that network. Here's the actual breakdown what the 62 million means. This number represents the total monthly visits and page views to a specific larger pornographic website, Motherless.

[B]

Again, still not great.

[A]

No, it's not like, let's not pretend that this hosted the harmful content, not the number of people who attended a Rape Academy. So the actual size of the group, the specific telegram group dedicated to these acts, described by some as a. In parentheses, Rape Academy, had roughly 1,000 members. A large concerning number, but drastically lower than 62 million. So I will say this. If you had to force me to choose between 62 million and 1,000 people that are participating in this, sure, that's an easy choice. That doesn't make me feel any better that there is a group of people using again, the Internet being the best, worst thing that we've ever created as humans, using the connectivity and ability for a thousand guys to come together under this topic in a way that I will describe as refining their predatory nature. Which is just. I got no time for that whatsoever.

[B]

Yeah, it's absolutely disgusting. I mean, and when I pull this up, I'm not trying to excuse the other 62 million people that went to a site called Motherless. Like that in itself is pretty gross.

[A]

It's gross to you. I don't know about you. Like for me, I've seen porn before.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Not, not unaware of what it is. Never have really had an interest in consuming pornography. Just being totally honest. Never really did it for me.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Don't get me wrong, I think women are beautiful. It's cool seeing naked women, especially when you're a younger man. Awesome. Totally get it. I Am not saying. And an older man too, by the way. Like, I understand it's a natural desire, depending on how you're wired, which whatever's optic or direction you want to look at. I understand that. But I think it just sets such an unrealistic expectation of what the other sex or same sex, whatever bucket you fall into, of what it actually is like or any level of intimacy. It'll scramble your brain for sure.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I say that based off of having conversations with people who have openly said, when I was younger I watched so much porn. And almost all of them will say this too. And this is super anecdotal, just based off conversations I've had with people that were not on podcast. They weren't looking for it when they first encountered it. And they were way. We're talking. Nine.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Ten.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Eleven. Not looking for it, but when they found it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It became one of the. The few things that they consumed online. And they were doing it through and around the parental controls.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[A]

That their parents had on them, whether they were opening up a browser inside of a program or a sub browser or using one of their friends. Devices that didn't have a parental control. Because parents have different thoughts on this. But once they went down that rabbit hole, A, they needed professional help, largely. Not everybody has said that, but most of them have said they needed professional help to get out of that. But B, it. Com, it irrevocably changed what they thought intimacy was, what it meant, and their ability to have a healthy relationship with it.

[B]

Yeah. Well, if you consume it at that young of an age, before even having the talk with your parents, it's like, well, of course that's going to set what your expectations are. And also it's like, you know, growing up as a kid in the, you know, burgeoning age of the Internet is. It's almost inescapable. Like you're going to be talking about

[A]

yourself at this point.

[B]

Not necessarily. I think just in general.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like you're gonna be exposed, you know, by the time you're a teenager at the very.

[A]

If an adult with a fully processed brain wants to watch porn, go to town.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, if. If there are. If people who are in that line of work are consensually making it go to town. Live your life how you want to. On the other side of that, the people who want to consume it. I am not here to judge how you live your life. I will go back to homeless. What? I always, always say adults consent. I'm not here to tell you how to live your life as long as those two things are present. Yeah, but I worry about. It has always stuck with me what the people have said about it, shattering their ability to have any level of intimate, what they would call in air quotes, normal intimate relationship with somebody because they're detached from the reality of it. What a weird name for a website, by the way.

[B]

Yeah, I.

[A]

Very non sequitur to what I was just saying, but I'm just thinking about that in the back of my head. The motherless.

[B]

It's just. Yeah, I mean I, I would say.

[A]

What's your generation's view on porn?

[B]

The.

[A]

I mean, I'm sure it depends per person, but.

[B]

Yeah, probably depends. I mean, I don't know. I mean generally, what am I trying to like apathetic. Like I am not particularly a fan but like you said, I don't really care like as long as again, consenting

[A]

adults, I understand the role it can fill for people at times, but I think it goes from filling a fill in the blank to all that they can connect with. And because it is literally at your fingertips, that is just. I'm sorry, but human beings, our brand I don't think are designed to deal with.

[B]

No.

[A]

That at all.

[B]

No. Especially again at a developing age. And here's the other thing too is, you know, I don't know if this is what actually happened, but would be in the porn company's plural best interest to expose users at such a young age to where they're hooked and then they have a quote unquote customer for life. And now it's a slippery slope again, I'm not saying this is what happened, but it is interesting that so many, you know, if you were a kid growing up in the, you know, information age, you were almost certainly going to be exposed and from then point on probably hooked.

[A]

Growing up as somebody who went through those years in the non information age, you're still exposed.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

VHS tapes, still a thing. DVDs still a thing. Playboy, Hustler magazine. Yeah, still a thing. I think that was. I mean, I don't. Is Playboy considered to be pornography? It would have to be.

[B]

It's full nudity, right.

[A]

Probably depends on the year that you pick up an episode. Pretty sure that that was my first exposure through a friend. It's like, hey man, check this out. And I didn't even know what he's about to show me. And it's a Playboy like super glossy edited image. But so just because we're not in the information age.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's just the slower information age.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The age that I grew up. You're in the faster information.

[B]

Yeah, but I think I know. Would you agree that it is more accessible?

[A]

Yeah. So using the example that I would. I would have to think about this really deeply to try to work my way back to my very first exposure to something like that. I didn't leave with it. I didn't have access to it again after viewing it for five seconds.

[B]

You're gonna have to work to get it. Yes. No.

[A]

Interesting choice of words.

[B]

But you couldn't just type something and it's there.

[A]

No, there was nothing to type into.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Unlike you, you spoiled little brat, I didn't. Grew up with the Internet and access to anything you could possibly want on an app or your fingertips away. Yeah, yeah, no, but. So the information was there. It was slower and it was a different type of information. But like I said, though, the. I remember people coming to high school with VHS tapes. I. I mean, I. I don't have a good enough of a rec. A memory recollection to save. It was softcore porn or hardcore porn or whatever. It is still out there, though, is what I'm saying. Yeah, it's. I think it's always going to be out there, but somebody finding this. I'm telling you, these conversations I have, they will break your heart at nine or ten years old.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Not knowing what they're looking at and not even realizing that it's will change the course of their life. Yeah, That's a rough one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's a thousand people in an online forum. We live in a world of billions of people. Is a thousand people a small number comparison to that? Yes. I don't like that those portals exist because in the slower information world, they wouldn't be able to connect like that. Yeah, I do. It's funny, though, how predators do have an ability to sense other predators out. It's like they have this Bluetooth connection, like, oh, hey, you're into wearing people's skin like a leotard too.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Maybe we should get together on Thursdays, you know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Today's podcast is brought to you by Element. Let me ask you if any of these things sound good to you. Driving, increased energy production, sharpening your focus and clarity, boosting recovery and sleep quality, and protecting against cramping. I'm a hard yes on all of those, but also I want to work on my hydration game. This is where Element comes in. This is one of the boxes that you can order, and if you do it comes with 30 packets and I'll. I'll show you what's in them here in a second or show you the size of the packet. Each one of these bad boys is 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 60 milligrams of magnesium. You're really working on your electrolyte game. I've talked about this a bunch. The difference in how I feel with my recovery before, Rob, who was one of the co founders and used to be one of my Jiu jitsu training partners, exposed me to this product. And then after the best analogy that I have, if you're a fan of movies and the old Tron movie where they took their disc off their back and they dipped it in some water and they started drinking out of it and they started glowing brighter. That's what it feels like. I get it. That's a goofy analogy. And for younger people. You're not going to understand what I'm saying, but that is what I feel like. It feels like you can almost have it coursing through your veins. So I showed you the box earlier. This little packet's what's inside of the box. These things are super travel friendly. I have my backpack on the table. That's out of frame, but I always have some of these in my backpack, often my fanny pack. I'll do one gallon Ziploc bags full of these when I travel, especially to Costa Rica. But you could also get these now in bubbly sparkling water. They make 16 and 12 ounces. The 16 ounces have the 120060 sodium, potassium, magnesium. The 12 ounces have half of that. And so it's a way that you can cut or titrate. I finally had some of the 12 ounces show up at my house. So I think they're available for sale now. But the point of all this is is you can kind of get it in wherever you want to my suggestion, head over to drinkelementtea.com Cleared Hot. One of the things you can do there is get a free sample pack so you can sa the flavors because everybody likes different stuff. But if you're ready to absolutely tackle your electrolyte and hydration game, element is the way to do it. They have the flavors that you want and the delivery mechanism that is the most convenient or pleasurable for you. Drinklement.com Cleared hot. Back to the show. I mean, don't destroy the telegram network. Let's just get some people in there collecting.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Data sensitive information. Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Addresses you know, that's one of the dangers I think of the Internet is you can get groups of people. It may only be 30000 people in the world, which is a tiny percentage comparatively comparison.

[A]

People can do a hell of a lot of damage.

[B]

Right. But they all find each other and say, oh, this is acceptable. This is a big group. This is 30, 000 people.

[A]

They can share what I'll call TTPS tactics, techniques and procedures. They can do their own after actions. This is what I. This is what I was trying to do. This is what worked. I don't. I don't need that. I don't need predators weaponized.

[B]

Yeah. That's insane.

[A]

Yeah. Unless you're going to use that telegram group to set up a convention or the convention opens with the doors being locked behind them and you get six guys and all they can have on them. You can have a suit of armor and only medieval weapons. No rules other than that.

[B]

Yeah, I. I don't know. I think a thousand people would be able to overwhelm six guys even in full plate armor and weapons. Because think about how heavy plate armor.

[A]

Okay, okay, hold on. 100 of those guys.

[B]

Okay, now we're talking. I think. I think we could do some damage.

[A]

Axes and.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Broad swords.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That ball thing with the spikes on it.

[B]

Yeah. A mace or a flail.

[A]

Mace.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

You would have been. Probably been a good squire, I think, during that era. Obviously you wouldn't have been on a. Mounted on a steed wearing armor of any kind.

[B]

No, of course not.

[A]

You could have fetched like a warrior. A sword though. Perhaps. Yeah.

[B]

You know, hey, my ancestors were royalty, so.

[A]

Yeah, that's great. What does that say about you? Good job. You think they're proud or rolling?

[B]

Very clear.

[A]

Royalty for what?

[B]

The English crown?

[A]

No.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

No.

[B]

It's a very small percentage, but like zero. It's true. No more than 0.1%.

[A]

I can see your family court jester, perhaps. Maybe they made the sourdough, you know, deep into the. The depths of the kitchen in one of these castles. You did not come from royalty. Where do you get this?

[B]

I. It literally is true. I can show you the records. We went to the church.

[A]

Who.

[B]

I don't remember what king it was, but throughout reign of multiple kings.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you have some of the details, but you can't tell me who it was. So I can tell you're deeply invested in this very. Yeah, okay. Sir Michael, go ahead. What else you got? Sir Michael.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

Sir Michael of the Long shank.

[B]

Damn right.

[A]

Oh, God. Did you actually research that, like a family genealogy?

[B]

Oh, yeah, no, we. We actually have on my paternal grandfather's side. They came over in 1700, but before then they were in a village called Shelton, England. And they were.

[A]

Have you ever been.

[B]

Yeah, we went there.

[A]

How was it?

[B]

It was cool. It was really cool. We went to the church.

[A]

Did you walk around and say, I don't know if you guys know this.

[B]

Yeah. But it's not much of a village anymore. It's more of just an area. But there is a church there where.

[A]

Did you tell everybody that your last name was Shelton?

[B]

Yeah, and they all bowed down to me, as expected.

[A]

Of course.

[B]

Shelter. It was cool, though. Yeah, really cool.

[A]

I don't have a village like that.

[B]

Yeah, well, looks like you weren't royalty.

[A]

Yeah, we don't need a genealogy test to. Out in the field picking potatoes, probably.

[B]

Yeah. That was like all my other ancestors. So apparently Epstein's suicide note was released. Did you see this?

[A]

I did see this.

[B]

I'm just like, maybe, you know, here's

[A]

a question on this one. Do you think that this topic will ever die?

[B]

Not until we know everything. Everything comes out.

[A]

How will we know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And this is. This is the line of thinking that I'm going to. I was thinking about this earlier today because I think I saw this this morning because already people are saying it didn't have a signature on it. Okay.

[B]

Who. Yeah. Does. And so you should sign this.

[A]

Even if it had his thumbprint on there in ink. People are like, well, where the ink come from? Did they do that before you could do that after you die?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How will we ever know that there was an actual full disclosure? And because we. We can't know that it'll never end.

[B]

Yeah. We still don't know everything about JFK and mlk.

[A]

So there you go.

[B]

Well, and that was.

[A]

This is our. Not to compare those two people. To compare the situation event wise. Not to compare the events at all. Even just the. To compare that unknowns and questions and conspiracy theories still exist about that decades later. This is our. One of our generation's versions of this. How will we ever put this to bed? Because even if the government says you now have every document that we have

[B]

ever seen on this, I would not believe it.

[A]

Exactly. Well, the government is super trustful. They've done many things to. Yeah, gain and maintain our trust. Michael, I don't know if you're paying attention. You need to pay attention more. Of course, because of that, people will say, nope, Nope. I don't believe your findings because you're not looking at everything. But there's no proof that we're not looking at everything. But there's also no proof that we are looking at everything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I don't. Where does this lead? This is a self licking ice cream cone that just. It doesn't stop.

[B]

Yeah. I mean I can tell you it's not leading to any arrests or anything. Sort of punishment for people implicated or even investigations.

[A]

U.S. only in the U.S. yeah.

[B]

Because I think I read Germany, the

[A]

UK, several other places has at least been career ending. I don't know about the status of charges but it has been career ending.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I still love that picture of. What is it, Andrew? What is his royal name? Back of a Mount Bottom. Horrible. Pull up in picture, please.

[B]

I think it's Mount Baton Windsor or something.

[A]

It's Mount Bottom.

[B]

And true.

[A]

I love that image of him in the car. Clearly it was, that was like a burst of photography that was being taken and they. I guarantee you could have used an image that was a little bit more, you know, this is so favorable to the subject matter than that. And I also completely understand why they didn't look at it. Good God.

[B]

Beautiful.

[A]

And yeah, Andrew, Mount Bottom. That's what I read in that.

[B]

Yeah, I like that name for him.

[A]

Mount Batten Windsor. God. But not in the U.S. like I said, you see people leaving government service and I think most of them are phrasing it as a retirement. Who knows what's going on behind the scenes. Probably given the classic choice of you can either retire, we're going to fire you, so you can either present as if you were getting in front of this or we're going to do it for you. And I understand why people make the choice that they do there, but not. Yeah, not here in the US And I, I don't know what to make of that. It was like I was saying when I was talking to John, do I, do I believe that our government would ignore the abuse of minors if it allowed them to achieve their strategic objectives? Yes, I do. I believe that they would. And because of that the victims are never going to get the justice that they deserve or see the punishment. And I don't know what that says about us as a country or those organizations that would be willing to do that. I think, I don't see. I have, I'm viewing this through the same lens of publicly available information that everybody else has. I do not see how anybody could have been near that man's orbit and be Completely oblivious. Especially was it post 1996. When was his conviction in Florida?

[B]

Oh, yeah. I'm not sure exactly. But was that his first conviction?

[A]

I think so. 96 might be way too early. It might be 2008.

[B]

First major conviction. Yeah. 08 in Florida.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know why I said 1996. That was way. He had a massive network, massive influence, massive access to people in huge positions of power well past 2008. I don't buy that. You could be in his orbit and not get at least the vibe.

[B]

Not know what's going. Something's going on.

[A]

But I truly do believe that the government if going on my theory that I think he just laundered money for any intelligence agency that would allow him to do it. That they would all 100 turn a blind eye to that.

[B]

Yeah. If it benefited them for sure.

[A]

Yeah. And I allow them to keep operating and do what it is that they wanted to do because they'll use the classic metric. Well, you know, a few people might be victimized, but will save thousands, if not millions. And that's great until you're on the other side of that statistic.

[B]

Yeah. Well, I think you can kind of see that trickle down into our regular justice system where people who do prey on minors get maybe 10 years in prison.

[A]

I don't get that one at all.

[B]

I don't either. But then you see people who burn down a warehouse, which I'm not saying that's a good thing to do.

[A]

Toilet paper.

[B]

Yeah. Get life in prison. Or that's like they're thinking about life in prison. And it's like, it seems to me as soon as you mess with corporate interests or elite interests, that's when you're really gonna get the book thrown at you. But touching a child, meh. 10 years, five years, that is so on.

[A]

You can never, you can never restore to those kids what you took from them.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Ever. For the remain. And I understand the art, you all, you know the criminal justice system, where we're going to house people for long enough sentencing. You know what I mean? It's a strain on the system. I, I, okay. What does it say to the victim? You know?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I'm not saying I have an easy solution to a complicated problem. I mean, I think a wood chipper parked outside of a courthouse would be pretty dope. It would solve the problem of having to take care of somebody for 20 years. Is that legal or moral? Probably not. I'm just saying it's an idea.

[B]

Moral, maybe.

[A]

I'm not it's just an idea. I'm not like putting this out as a policy.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

A position paper here. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think we're ever going to see any level of accountability for the people who were in his orbit. I really don't.

[B]

Yeah. Which is insane how. What are we supposed to think about our government from?

[A]

The simplest approach from that would be to think, wow, they actually don't give a shit about us as individuals. Which is different than saying they don't care about us as whole. But this whole is made up of individuals.

[B]

I don't even know that they care about us as a whole.

[A]

I think they do to the degree that it aligns with those in power and what they want. I think it's when you come to an opposition of those two things that those in power will start to change their behavior to make sure that they have what they need as opposed to doing what they should for the majority or the people that they're supposed to serve. I think it's in those moments that you see the real colors of those people throwing the levers.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't know how our country is ever going to get past the. The conspiracy. I'll call it the conspiracy theory now around Epstein. People can call it what they want. I know people devoutly believe on both sides what it is and what it wasn't. I am calling it a conspiracy theory ecosystem because of the very circular, never ending questions that I don't know if we'll ever answer.

[B]

I mean, it really is, you know, like we're never going to get to the bottom of it unless it's 100 years down the road and somebody decides to dig it up.

[A]

I bet you when we are much older.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

20 years from now, I bet you some more illuminating information will come out.

[B]

I hope so. I hope it's sooner. But you know, realistically that's not going to happen.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. And just puts me in a. Puts a lot of. I mean, I think a lot of people are thinking, why would I ever help this government in any shape or form? This is, I mean, just a complete loss of faith. And yeah. Not that there was much to start,

[A]

but my worry is it edges people towards. I know that's one of your favorite words, but not in that setting or phraseology. It edges people towards them. Wanting to ignore and not participate in the systems at all, which I think actually empowers those that are in those systems because then they can continue to change things slowly and microscopically over time to get to them to a point where it's there, then irreversible. Yeah, I don't think it's irreversible at this point, But I think we're getting pretty damn close to places where a lot of this stuff is going to be irreversible. We shall see.

[B]

We shall.

[A]

Yeah. What else you got?

[B]

Let's see.

[A]

Old Andrew. Mount Bottom.

[B]

Mount Bottom. All right, let's end it on. Kind of a funny one.

[A]

Thank God. You could have opened it on one of those too.

[B]

But that's true. But this is ending it up. This is better. So this channel, it's called brave wilderness.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And this Guy purposely gets 21 million followers.

[A]

My goodness.

[B]

Yeah. Purposely gets stung by some of the most painful.

[A]

Oh, no.

[B]

Creatures.

[A]

For content.

[B]

For content. Let me just back. Back up a little bit here. So this is a. Let's see. Cow killer wasp, I believe.

[A]

And. Whoa.

[B]

His reactions are insane.

[A]

Nice wrist wear.

[B]

He's shaking. I mean, I would be too.

[A]

Oh, it got him.

[B]

I don't think quite yet. You'll. You'll see when it gets him.

[A]

Okay. He's really in it.

[B]

Yeah, he's.

[A]

Holy. Pain death.

[B]

Look how pale he is.

[A]

Is super bad. Is there like anti venom to this?

[B]

You know, I'm not sure. I think they have an epipen just in case. There. Yeah,

[A]

Right there with stand when he.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Try to get a shot and get like walk around for a second right there.

[B]

Doesn't even look that bad.

[A]

I could feel it. It was like you could feel it go all the way under the skin. All the way in. I could feel it inserted into my arm. You all right? Okay. Now they say that the sting of the belvanant will last for about 30 minutes. And I can tell you guys right now this is the worst sting I've ever taken. There's no question about. Is worse than a harvester ant. It is worse than a fire ant. It feels like I'm getting stung over and over again. Here's what I've learned from this video. There are a variety of ways to make your living.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Feel free to choose one that aligns with what you want to do with your life. Because I don't care. I mean, everything. You know, the camera eats first, as they say. So I get why he's doing this.

[B]

I mean, 21 million views. That's crazy.

[A]

That's 21 million subscribers. Scroll down.

[B]

Oh, how many views does this have?

[A]

86 million views.

[B]

The adsense on that. I was crazy.

[A]

Don't care. I don't care. I don't care if there was a pile of hundred dollar bills laid out on this table, you can have it. I will not make my living by being bitten or stung by things. However, having said that, if that's what you want to do, do it well.

[B]

Yeah. And he does. He does this with every bug you can imagine. If it has a painful bite or sting, he's done it.

[A]

My biggest question is, what is that on his right wrist?

[B]

Oh, what is that?

[A]

It's a flare piece. It's a double buckle flare piece.

[B]

It's kind of cute.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. What.

[B]

What am I. Yeah, looks good.

[A]

I swear, if I ever see you with something like that, I will slap you in the face until it falls off your arm.

[B]

Don't worry. I would never wear something like that.

[A]

I'm glad that there are people out here who do this type of stuff.

[B]

Me too.

[A]

Because I'll watch this video.

[B]

It's so entertaining. Hence why it has 86 million views.

[A]

Human beings are so uniquely weird.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Where does this occupation come from? Let's go back to the ideation phase of this. How do you think? Is this a group of buddies who are at a bar and maybe. Yeah, Mr. Sting here with the leather hat and the, you know, possession. Possession bracelet on his right arm.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Had a career and wall. And I'm making all this up, by the way, I have absolutely no idea. But his career in Wall street and he's just hating it. So they're out one night drinking at a bar near Wall street with a couple buddies, and he says, dude, do you. Is this what you thought it was gonna be? They're like, nah, the money's pretty good. But like, I hate my life. And. Yeah, all of this. And so somebody. The Dewey round of, you know, room temperature Jagermeister. And after that, after they've come to their senses, they say, you know what we could do for a living? We could go hurt ourself and get bitten and stung by things. And we'll film it. We have two. There's three of us here. Two of us are cameramen. One of us has got to be the talent. I mean, at some point they had to have an idea of where this started.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I would imagine so, but yeah, no, I'm glad he does it because it's. It's really good entertainment.

[A]

I'm glad he at least has an EpiPen there.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. You would think he would get some, like, aloe or something as well.

[A]

I don't. What? I don't. Alo is not magical, buddy.

[B]

I know, but it could, like, cool your. Your bite, maybe make it. Make it feel a little better. Where.

[A]

Where are you getting that from?

[B]

Because aloe is, like, cooling, you know, for sunburns. Yeah. Or maybe for bites. Who knows? Yeah. Some Neosporin, possibly.

[A]

Indeed. For your antibacterial properties.

[B]

Well, hey, I mean, if you get.

[A]

Maybe you could treat Hantavirus with Neosporin as well.

[B]

You could. I wonder if they've thought of that.

[A]

Man, that is a better way to end this episode, right? That. I mean, that was a very small creature that you could have easily sat on if you weren't paying attention.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And his reaction. I'm gonna say that probably was pretty real. He was right on the limit.

[B]

Pretty genuine.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, he was right on the limit of what he was able to control.

[B]

Yeah. I appreciate his face got so pale and he was shaking, too, before. I mean, I would be. That's.

[A]

No, thank you.

[B]

Yeah. But I. I will watch.

[A]

The hat makes sense. The cameras make sense. The EpiPen makes sense. The right wrist. I'm sorry.

[B]

Yeah, that's. I'm not a fan personally, but you know what? I'm not gonna judge.

[A]

I won't. Externally, inside, I will.

[B]

Yeah, for sure.

[A]

Do you have anything else for today, Michelle?

[B]

Nope. That is an hour.

[A]

Good. I. I honestly don't even remember what we covered, other than poor medical advice to open with based off of two articles that were apparently inaccurate.

[B]

Perfect.

[A]

Strong.

[B]

Cool.

[A]

All right.

[B]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Well, with the name your price tool from Progressive, you can find options that fit your budget and potentially lower your bills. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Price and coverage match, limited by state law.

[A]

Not available in all states.