Andy Stumpf (0:01)

Okay, I got the red smoke. Sun runs north and south west of the smoke. West of the smoke. Okay, copy. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Shall we get into it? I have two questions for today that I'll read at the end, depending on how long I run my mouth here. Before that, two topics I want to at least touch on. First one I'll get into pretty deeply. The other one maybe just touch on a little bit as we work our way towards the questions. But let's kick it off. We're going to open with talking about Tim Kennedy. Today's episode is brought to you by Peak. I have talked a lot about this product over the past year and I've openly said I've been a very coffee forward, coffee heavy person. Up until this year. I never thought I was going to try to. So what have I talked about in the past? They're Puwer tea bundles. I've talked a lot about the kit that you're going to get. I'll mention this again with the offer which is going to be this beaker. 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I just need some hot water. As I have said before, I was not even open to trying tea until I tried this product. It's legitimately delicious, it's legitimately convenient, it's legitimately helping me with these key health aspects and metrics that I have been consistently working towards in 2025. So if you're ready to elevate your day and transform your health for a limited time you can get 20% off of the Puare bundle plus a free starter kit which includes this rechargeable frother and glass beaker. With my link which is going to be down in the show notes, head over to peaklife.com cleared hot that is P I Q U E life.com cleared hot to claim this exclusive offer. It's right down below in the show notes. Back to the show. I have been bombarded with people either asking me what I think about what is currently going on, which I'll explain to the best of my knowledge and ability here in a second, or those demanding for me to make a statement. Now I get to pick and choose the things that I publicly address. And this isn't the first time that I have been asked about something in the public optic sphere, whatever it would be to give my opinion on. And sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. What I will say is this. I am open to talking about anything. I will answer any just about any question that people ask me. Now, that's not to say I'm gonna have the answer that they're particularly looking for, the answer that they agree with, the answer that they like. None of those things may be the case, but I will tell you exactly how I feel and I'll tell you the limits of my knowledge and where I'm starting to make a hypothesis and where I'm starting to guess. And I try to, with my answers, stay inside of things where I really know what I'm talking about. Months ago I went on the Antihero podcast, which is something that people thought I would be unwilling to do because they thought that I was going to be asked about Tim and specifically the accusations at that time of stolen valor. And I don't understand why people thought I would be uncomfortable talking about that. As I mentioned, I'll tell you what I think about something. It may not be the right answer, you may not agree with me, but I don't avoid topics. And I was asked on the I think it was the live Q and A that we were doing, which I think might have been in that hot tub. Slightly traumatic experience. So I've blocked out a lot of that. But the question was, what are your thoughts about Tim and the accusations of stolen valor? I will preface my answer to that question before going forward. What I clearly stated while sitting in that hot tub that I may or may not have peed in was that Tim is responsible for Tim's words and actions. The validity of those words and actions, or the invalidity is that the right word or the inaccuracy of those words and actions and that he and he alone will have to answer for those. And then I talked about the Tim that I know, which is outside of the public Persona that he presents to the world. And I've been friends with Tim for a few years now, quite a few years. And I'll repeat largely what I said when he was in or when I was. When he was in. When I was in the hot tub. He is, when the cameras are not rolling, one of the kindest, most helpful, generous, selfless individuals that I've ever been around. And one of the comments that keeps coming up is, how is it possible, Andy, that you were friends with Tim and didn't know about these claims? And I'll be brass tax honest in my answer. It's because I paid no attention to Tim's military career or the claims that he had been making up until the Anti Hero podcast. Yes, he has a book that came out. No, I didn't read the book. And this may not make sense to people who are outside of the military, but I don't spend time with people in the military talking about missions or operations or any of those things. When I met Tim, he was just Tim. I think we met. I was trying to remember where we actually met. I think we met at the Shot show, which is a evolution and journey through space and time in and of itself. But he was introduced this Tim. Hey, Tim, this is Andy. And that was it. The interactions that I have with Tim are as Tim as a person, not necessarily the public Persona. Yes, I've been to events with him where he is on a public stage, but my interactions with him were at that level, away from cameras, interviews, all of those things. And as I have clearly stated and mentioned, that is the person that I saw and that I know to this day to exist outside of the public spectrum. I did not care, pay attention, put any weight or effort into, into looking into any of the stories using air quote or tales that he might have told externally. Because quite frankly, I didn't care. Not that I didn't care about whether or not they were true or not. I am just not interested in talking about that type of stuff with my military friends. Now that is not an excuse. That is not to excuse anything. That is an explanation or my answer to how could you have known somebody for this long and not known that this type of stuff was going on? And I can take full responsibility for that. I wasn't looking for it. I wasn't paying attention now, let's fast forward. Unless you've been living under a rock, you may not know what I'm talking about. Tim came out and made a public apology for, in his words, unintentionally misspeaking about certain aspects of his military experience, specifically whether or not he was the recipient of a BV or a Bronze Star with V. And I feel like in the army they might call it a BSV or a BSM with B, Bronze Star, Medal with V. I don't know. I've always talked about it in the vernacular of BS or bv. Bronze Star, Bronze Star with V. That's how I talked about it. I do not take the topic of stolen valor lightly. To me, there is the truth, and there is other than the truth, which the technical term for that would be lying. I do not understand why people inflate or exaggerate or add to incredibly honorable service achievements and accomplishments when they really don't need to, when there is no need to do that. And perhaps it is difficult for some because they don't realize that what they did is actually enough. Regardless, Tim put out an apology. And I am not here to tell anybody how to live their life. I am not here to tell anybody how they should phrase their words. And if you have followed me on social media, you have watched me apologize for some of the things that have come out of my mouth, but when I do so, I do it in a very particular manner. I talk about what I did that was wrong, and I take ownership for that. I apologize for my actions and acknowledge that only I am responsible for what is coming out of my mouth at any given time, regardless of the emotional state or situation that may be driving that. When I read Tim's apology, I viewed it through the lens of my military background. And if Tim was standing in front of a board or a panel of his peers, would what he said hold water? Would it be accepted? And what I will say is this. And again, I am not here to tell anybody how to live their life or how to speak. In my opinion, you cannot pair the words I want to take full and unequivocal accountability with unintentionally misspoke. If you were in a board, standing in front of your peers, in your reputation and future was on the line, and you opened with, I am here to take unequivocal accountability for my actions, you're going to get their attention in a good way. If you follow that with unintentionally misspoke, you are done. Because no one in the military is Going to confuse a bronze star with a bronze star with V. And I have now seen enough evidence to clearly show in his own words, that it wasn't a mistake and that it happened more than once. And it seems as if it wasn't unintentional and it certainly wasn't misspeaking the word for it is simple. He lied. There is no way to put it other than that. And this puts me into a place where I actually don't know where to go from here. Because one of the guiding principles in my life is this what you allow in your presence is your standard full stop period. Now that I am aware of what happened, what do I do? And I don't know the answer to that because the first thing that needs to happen is I need to have a very long conversation with Tim, which is something that I have not been able to do yet. That conversation is going to determine the path forward for me. Is it fair to judge someone solely on their failures and mistakes? How would I feel if somebody judged me only on my failures and mistakes? I can answer that. It would suck. And I would hope that nobody would do that. I would hope that people realize human beings are a combination of. Of emotions, thoughts, actions and experiences. And we have our good days and we have our bad. And again, this is not to make an excuse for anyone. This is me talking through in real time. What do I do from here with my relationship with somebody that I have known for a very long time, but I am also now aware that they lied about their military service or not necessarily about their military service. Well, actually, you know what? I'm not even going to try to round the edge on that because the military award would be a direct reflection of your military service. It is what it is. It's a lie. What do you do? Well, a lot of it's going to depend on what Tim does. What would I want to have happen if the roles were reversed? It's really simple. I would want the opportunity to correct, to the best of my ability, my behaviors to grow and change as a person and show people the person that I know that I could be. And I will say this, and this is going to be a tough one for Tim to hear because like I said, he and I have not talked yet. That starts with no longer playing with verbiage. That starts with no longer saying that when you misspoke, it was unintentional. It starts with acknowledging and accepting the fact that you lied. If we can get to that place, I actually think this is recoverable because this is an instance that should not define the totality of somebody's life. It should not erase the good that somebody has also done in their life. It shouldn't be ignored, but it shouldn't be an eraser that completely takes them off of the face of the earth. Is it going to set them backwards? Yes. Is it going to be a difficult hill to climb back up? Yes. Is it possible to do so? Yes. But I don't get to make any of those choices. And my relationship with Tim is going to be based on the actions that he takes moving forward. For absolute clarity, telling someone, anyone, even a single time, that you are the recipient of a military award that you are not, and an attempt to elevate your position, status, and an attempt to sell anything, and an attempt to position yourself into a role, or just how about in general, is unacceptable. It undermines the integrity of the uniform that you wear. It undermines the trust and confidence that those we are supposed to be serving while we are in uniform have in service members. It causes them to second guess, it causes them to question. It causes them to reach out to other military members and say things like, how do I know who to trust? And the fact that anybody would need to ask that is unacceptable. I do not condone Tim's actions in any way, shape or form, but I am going to allow him the opportunity to redeem himself and make good on the things that he claimed he was going to in that apology. Whether he does so is up to him. Whether I allow that to be the standard I want to be associated with, that is up to me. And that is the best that I can answer at this point. Because like I said, I need to have a very deep conversation with Tim. I have questions for him largely around the word why, associated with a variety of different questions associated with that. But the ball really is in his court at this point. I want him to come back from this. Whether or not he is capable of doing so, only he can answer that question. And I hope that satisfies the people, many of them, the many people who have reached out and asked for me to say something about this, it's as far as I can go right now, because that is the limit of the information that I have right now. That may not be the answer that you want to hear, but that is currently, in this moment, how I am feeling about this. If that changes, I will let you know. But that is where I stand right now. All right, let's jump over to a question and then I'll come back to the other topic that I wanted to touch on this was like too much to go from one to the other. So here we go into an email have you ever experienced a prolonged period of bitterness? I don't mean feeling or fleeting frustration. I mean a deep, lingering bitterness that sticks with you. Oh. Oh yes, I have. I'm approaching 30 and while I know there's still plenty of Runway ahead, barring a tragedy, this current stretch has really worn me down. Over the past year I've been struggling to launch a startup. In the meantime, I've been living paycheck to paycheck and occasionally needing to borrow money. Thriving hasn't really been an option. Many close friends are now in long term relationships or married, and as a result I've quietly been downgraded from best friend to we should catch up sometime. I've never been great at socializing anyway, and increasingly I feel the isolation that comes with this as I get older. Social media and politics have also caused serious tension within my family, to the point where I no longer visit because home has become a toxic environment. It's been hard to stay hopeful on a macro level too. Politically, socially, economically, everything feels bleak. No matter where you sit on the spectrum, optimism is scarce. The very devices we're corresponding through don't seem to help much. I agree with you on that front. To a level that I don't even have the vocabulary to describe. I think we actually might be destroying ourself as a species willingly by interfacing with this level of information. And having said that, that level of information is also what allows us to stay connected and do amazing things. So I don't know the answer there, but there is something tied to the way we are consuming information and the velocity with which we are. Back to the email. To top it off, my girlfriend and I recently broke up. That sucks. Individually, none of these things is insurmountable, but together they've left me not so much overwhelmed as bitter. It's like a residue that sticks to me every day, everywhere. Most of my 20s were spent stumbling through dead end jobs, fragmented social circles, and battling serious mental health issues, which I've thankfully learned to manage. While the latter isn't trivial, I mentioned it to explain that my recent struggles aren't breaking a pattern, they're continuing it. That's probably why I cling so tightly to the startup. It's the only thing that feels like progress. Despite knowing better, it's hard not to compare myself to peers who seem to be building careers, communities and families. I feel left behind, left out and lost. Bitter. And I hate to be whiny little bitch about it, but whiny bitch I seem to be becoming. My spirit's worn down to the point where I've pondered giving up. Not in a suicidal sense, but rather just accepting that maybe life isn't going to get better. Every time it starts to look up, it crashes down on me. This isn't something I feel I can confide in anyone around me. I don't want to burden them, and were I to try, I don't think they'd understand. That said, I don't believe this is how the rest of my life has to be. I'm just out of ideas and that's why I am reaching out. Have you ever gone through a season like this where you felt bitter, angry at the world, or hopeless? And if so, how did you get through it? Any advice on how to cope with everything I've just dumped here would be much appreciated. Well, I'm going to do my best. As usual, my blanket statement, I am not a therapist, I am not a counselor, I'm not a psychiatrist, I'm not a psychologist. But let me tell you what, where is the sentence that just sums it up so well for me. Where is it? Have you ever had a season like this where you felt bitter, angry at the world or hopeless? Why, yes, I have. And I have had all of those things completely smashing in on me, almost like it was the Titan submersible crackling down by the Titanic wreck right before it imploded and turned everybody into a nice gazpacho soup. Yeah, I've absolutely felt exactly like you were feeling. And I have felt all of those things, not only in isolation, but in combination, which is the absolute worst. So a few things I have learned and a mantra that I will remind myself of in both good seasons of life and in bad is this. Nothing lasts forever. I legitimately, when everything is going my way and you're having one of those days where you're just kicking life in the balls, a Marvel superhero, just gah, uppercut right to the sack of life, I will remind myself that nothing lasts forever because I know on the other side of every mountain that you climb is a little bit of downhill as you go into the valley. But you have to remind yourself when you're in the valley as well, because the valley is way, way harder than the pinnacle. The valley is where you get lost in the shade, you get lost on your path. You feel like it's never going to end, but it will. And I would ask you, you're 30 years old. Have you had times in your life where you didn't feel like you were in this valley, where you felt no bitterness, no angriness and no hopelessness? I'm going to guess that the answer to that is yes. There is no reason, while it may seem right now improbable to you, that those times will not return unless, of course, you do something or make horrendous decisions and take actions that would prevent them from ever returning, they're going to come back. You're in a tough season of life. And I tell you what, as somebody who is starting to creep towards 50, what I've determined and decided to do is give up pursuit of the pure happiness, the pure perfection, the pure sunshine and rainbow that a lot of people seem to be looking for, because that has not been the reality of my life. Have I found those things? Yes. But I found them through struggle every single time. And I am now of the opinion that it is the struggle that is the most important and life is not actually ever going to be, or is it supposed to be pure happiness and joy? I don't even think you would appreciate it if it was, because you need the other side of that coin to appreciate what it took for you to get there. And I know exactly how you feel and how it can feel. Like you are drowning in oatmeal with an anchor chain tied around your feet pulling you under, and you are doing your absolute best to survive. But that's the key. You have to survive the valley because it will lead you to the path up of another mountain. Now, how do I do this? I've talked about this before on the show many times when Rich Devini was on. He talked about it in terms of moving your horizon. I usually use the term chunking, or breaking something down that seems indigestible and into something that you can tolerate. The lowest period in my life, the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life was go through a contentious divorce that took nearly two years. There were days, and I'm not joking or exaggerating when I say this, where I felt like I could not get out of bed because I knew what was coming that day and it was largely going to be my life dissected into an Excel spreadsheet that was then argued over as if there weren't or if there wasn't a person associated with those numbers and those values. It was dehumanizing, to say the least. It's hard to listen to people devalue not only yourself As a person, but everything that you have ever worked hard for in your life, how do you get through that? Well, on those zoom calls, because, of course, why not go through a divorce over Covid? You get through the call, you literally. I would tell myself, I don't think this call is ever going to end, but however long it takes, I am going to survive this call. And I am not going to think about anything in life outside of this actual call. And when this thing is over, I am going to find something else that I can attack. Not. I mean. I don't mean existentially. I mean focus my energy on and accomplish that. And maybe that would be. I'm gonna get out of this chair and walk out of the refrigerator, and I'm gonna get a glass of water and I'm gonna drink it, and then what am I gonna do? I'm gonna shift my horizon to something else. You know what? Maybe it would be good to eat some lunch with this water. Even though you wanna talk about a really good diet divorce, Nobody really ever talks about that in an exercise routine and eating strategy divorce, Let me tell you what robs you of your appetite. Yeah, that does. 0 out of 0. Do not recommend no stars on TripAdvisor for that particular approach. That's legitimately how I'm going to get through lunch. What am I going to do after that? You know, I'm going to do. I'm going to go for a walk, a short walk, so I can get outside and get some fresh air. And maybe that air will help clear my head. That is how I got through those days. Instead of thinking about the totality or like, where are we in this process? How many of these calls are we gonna have to do? How? It's only Monday. How am I gonna make it through Friday? And all these things are due by Friday. And the discovery process and this, that or the other. If you wanna make it feel like somebody is on top of that oatmeal pushing their thumb down on your head or the bottom of their shoe pushing you under with that weight already attached to your feet, Think of it in terms like that. If you want to take gasps of air and survive, break it down into those small chunks, find digestible things that can allow you to navigate your way through this valley. Because I'm telling you, you are going to be okay. Comparison is the thief of joy. This is true for me as anybody else. And I'm going to add something to this. It's okay to be unbalanced in your life from time to Time in my personal, non professional, not an expert opinion. Everybody I know that has achieved something great likely went through an extended period of being unbalanced, whether that be work, life, balance, work, social circle, balance, work, anything, balance to get to where they are. I don't think you're supposed to live your life in that state of unbalance because for myself personally, the best I've ever felt in my life is when I do have good balance. But I only got to those places by being comfortable being unbalanced for periods of time that I managed because I knew there was an end state. Right now you're feeling a little bit detached from your social circle. Well, maybe that's okay. Maybe get comfortable carving that aspect out of your life until you get this startup, which I have no idea what type it is, and I hope that it works out spectacularly well for you to a place where it has legs and it's moving on its own. And then like a submarine, you can come back up to the surface and grab some fresh air. Even though I have no idea if that's what submarines do. It's okay to be myopically focused on a goal, but I wouldn't recommend spending your life that way because it will pass you by. And at the end of the day, none of these things that we have or create or the money we make or the objects or the things that we put so much value in, none of those are coming moment with us for whatever comes after, whatever comes next. So recognize that. Lift your head back up once you get to a place where you can and then reintegrate a little bit. What you might find is you've outgrown your social circle. That's okay too. You're in a phase of your life where you're focusing on your startup while others, your peers, are focusing on their family. Is that right or wrong? I don't even think that's the right way to phrase that. I don't think there is a right or wrong. It's different. A different approach will often lead you to a different end state. And that's okay. You are going to get through this. Two more things. You don't feel like you can talk to your friends about this and that sucks. You don't think that they would understand. You won't know that until you try. And what I will say is this. That is you putting an obstacle in front of yourself that you don't need to do. Life is going to give you plenty of obstacles. Okay? You don't need to go out and get A permit to build yourself one. There's going to be enough as it is. Give it a try. Pick a friend, Pick friends. Go out to breakfast and open with, hey, guys or gals, whatever, I need some help. And just lay it on them. If they don't understand and they're not willing to help you, maybe they're not as good of friends as you thought they were. Anyway, in my experience, every time I've asked for help, literally every time I have asked for help, I have been received by people who are completely and utterly willing to provide it. Human beings have a lot of skills. Reading minds is not one of them. Oftentimes there are external indicators that somebody may need help, but some people are really good at hiding it. And regardless of how much you want help from somebody else, if you're unwilling to ask for is not their fault that they didn't provide is your fault. And maybe fault isn't the right word here, but if you don't ask for it, how are they supposed to know? And I'm telling you too, this will give you a litmus test on the quality of friends that you have. Because a friend, when asked for help by another friend, will 100% take action to the best of their ability. I'm not saying they'll have the answers to everything, but they will do everything they can to help you. In addition to that, dude, talk to somebody professionally about this. Find somebody to talk to. I know I am a broken record when it comes to counseling and therapy, but there's a reason for that. It has helped me get through some of the most difficult times in my life. And a lot of that is just the ability to verbalize and get off of your shoulders what it is that you are going through. The number of times that I have talked with a professional and felt as if when leaving their office, I was physically lighter. Physically unburdened is immense. It's quite a few times. I mean, I'm not going to say countless, because I don't know if that's a real thing, but it's been a lot. Did they give me any solution? Did they give me a structure? Not always. Sometimes it was just about getting it out there. And it can be easier to talk to somebody that you don't know, that you're not worried about judgment, that you don't have a social circle overlap with all of those. I get it. That's one of the reasons why I think people will reach out to me. Even though I am not qualified to answer a single question that I Answer, they don't know me. Right? You don't have to worry about. I don't have any judgment for anybody, by the way, who reaches out. Actually, I think I might have answered a few questions over the years with a little bit of judgment. But for the most part, even if I did have judgment, who cares, right? We don't know each other. I cut the names out of these things, so I can't even read them by accident. I don't go back and search through and try to figure. I'm like, no, I. I try to make it as blank as possible. Here's the question. Here's my answer. I get it. You can get 50 times more relief to make up a number which I have no idea is true or not by talking with somebody else. I highly recommend it. Again, I know I'm a broken record about this stuff, but the impact that it has had on my life has been immense. It works not because I say it works, because so many people have had that same experience. And I have also now received a ton of emails thanking me for being the broken record about counseling and therapy, because people have gone because they've heard me talking about it, and the impact it has had on their life has been immense. It's not just me running my mouth here. I get zero money. I get nothing back for recommending to people that they go talk to a professional, other than occasionally an email from someone saying, thank you for doing that. It really helped me. So that's my advice for you. Life is a one of those things called that are on a desk. You have a little ball and you drop it and it hits the other one on the other side, whatever that thing is called. One side is a good day, the other side is a bad day. And in my experience, that's kind of how life is. I stopped looking for only good days. And in doing so, it's not that you can appreciate in the moment the days that really sucks, but in the days after or in the days where it's just a struggle, not an absolute slugfest, you actually can, in that moment, appreciate them for what they are. And then I think that is a great optic to view this absolute trench warfare that we are all in through life. You're not alone in this. Your situation might be unique, but I'm telling you right now, you're not alone in your struggles. So don't bury yourself underground and try to disappear. All right? Pick your head up, orient yourself, talk to some people, get some help and continue on. It's going to be okay. This episode is brought to you by Stopbox. Are you a gun owner? Do you understand the purpose that firearms are designed for? Do you realize and recognize that if you are a firearms owner, positive control of your firearm? Safe storage of your firearm is essential, if not bordering on being required. 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Second topic I wanted to talk about because this one is driving me a little bit nuts and I don't know why we tolerate this. Before I even get into it, I would hope that anybody who either listens to the show or follows me on social media or has seen any of the content that I have done throughout the years would agree that I am not a conspiracy theorist. I actually Do I do my best to not get involved in that type of thinking. Not that I don't think that conspiracies are real. That's why conspiracy theories are so sticky, by the way. Sometimes an aspect of it is true or it's sticky enough to be true. And then sometimes things that were originally portrayed as, oh, that's a crazy left or right wing tinfoil hat, suit and tie wearing person. Only a crazy person would think that they're proven to be totally true, which just undermines faith in so many different things. I do my best, I try to be objective. I'm not looking for conspiracies, even though I recognize that they can exist. But I will tell you what, and I am interested to hear feedback from people on this one. This Epstein client list nonsense is really starting to piss me off. Now let me start with this. I don't think that there is a notebook like this. Even though I have heard things about a little black book. I don't think it would be in a notebook the victim's name or abuser's name with an arrow drawn to a victim's name. To me, that's maybe a little bit too Hollywood esque. Even though I bet you if I remember what I heard correctly in a previous documentary, there were versions of that. But to think that there is a notebook somewhere where all of the information that could just sink all these people exists is real, I don't know. I have a little bit of a harder time believing that. What I do believe though is that there is a trove of evidence around Epstein. So instead of calling it the Epstein black book, and I don't even like calling it the Epstein files because at this point I don't even know what that is. We'll just call it the volume of evidence surrounding the case of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell is voluminous. Now why do I say that? How would I possibly know that? Have I ever seen it? No. But what I have seen and heard and watched are government officials talking about the ridiculous volume of information that does exist and the ridiculous amount of information up to, if not exceeding 1,000 victims in the orbit of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell that for some reason now we are supposed to accept at face value that they cannot link or associate that with any abuser other than Jeffrey Epstein. I do not understand why this is acceptable to the American public. Let me take a step to the side for a minute. I want every presidential administration to be successful. And I'm not saying I am pro Democrat or pro Republican. I care about this country and I want this country to stand for something. I want it to mean something. I would like to believe that those we elect into office have the best interests of those that elected them into office in mind at all times, even though demonstrably that is kind of being thrown in our face consistently. I want our country to be successful, which is why I want administrations to be successful. One of the talking points of the current administration was transparency, specifically around this information. And recently it has been released that, yep, we are not able to really do anything. There's nothing. He killed himself and there is no client list. Now on the killing himself part, I don't really give a shit if the guy killed himself or somebody else killed him, because I don't actually care about Jeffrey Epstein either way, whether he was killed or killed himself. My only hope is this, is that it was really painful. It took a lot longer than he thought it was going to, and that he suffered. That's actually all I care about when it comes to that. The dude's dead. Cool. Hopefully. Hopefully it really sucked. Beyond that, what I actually care about are two things. The truth and victims receiving some sense of justice. I have done enough shows now in combination between cleartaught shows and the stuff that I do with ironclad talking about human trafficking, which not all of human trafficking is sexual in nature, even though that is often the type of human trafficking that we hear the most about. And that doesn't surprise me given the subject matter, but the impact of that, long term, lifelong impact that can come from that, I God, I hate victims not receiving justice of any kind. And if government officials are going to stand up there and say that There are over 1,000 victims, but none of them can be associated with an abuser, I am rapidly losing the little faith that I have left in our law enforcement and investigative organizations. Now, Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison for 20 years, and if you read the documents, she was convicted of trafficking to Epstein. So people will say, yeah, he was the abuser and she was the victim of his trafficking scheme. And I think if you had your head buried in the sand for your whole life, you might be able to believe that because the volume of information that is out about the network of people associated with that trafficking or these type of behaviors is immense. Let's talk about Prince Andrew for a second. Which, by the way, how weird would it be to have the word Prince associated with your name for your entire life? What did he pay an incredibly large sum of money to Essentially make go away in silence. I'll let people use Google on their own to figure that one out. Who was he directly associated with in this? Oh, that's right. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. So that in and of itself right there, although it is a singular example, shows that this went far beyond just those two people. Another thing I've heard online, well, you know, he's not releasing the list. He being President Trump is not releasing the list because his name is in it. The other side of that argument I hear is, well, guess what? If his name was in that, then don't you think Joe Biden and the Democrats would have released this trove of information? On the surface level, that makes sense. Until you stop and think about this a little bit critically. There are other reasons why neither side of the political aisle would want information like this released, and that is because a large volume of people on both sides of the aisle appear in this. What was it described as by Pam Bond. Pam Bondi. Gigantic dossier of information, tens of thousands of pages. And by the way, first and foremost, yes, protect victims at all time. I am not saying release everything unredacted. Yeah, let's go ahead and redact only victim names or only the things we absolutely have to to protect the victims. But then why don't we let everything else out if there's nothing there? What would be the argument against that? Well, the argument against that would be it'd be real hard to explain for some people, and I've been thinking about that. There are ways people could be associated with Jeffrey Epstein that would be hard to be explained or would be difficult for them to explain, but that doesn't necessarily necessarily mean that they were engaging in the illicit activity. And by that I mean there could be a social circle overlap. This, man, it is amazing the circles of power and influence that he traveled in. I have my own circles of people that I navigated. And I bet you everybody listening to this has somebody in their life that is in their social circle. But you're not the biggest fan of, but you might end up at the same place from time to time and whatever. If that person ended up becoming the next Jeffrey Dahmer and they did a little Venn diagram of social circle overlap. Shit, your name appears in that. But you know what? That's explainable because social circle overlap is one thing. And although for those in that category, yeah, it might be a little icky for you to explain. Like, yeah, I didn't like the dude. We traveled in the same circles. No, I didn't necessarily know what he was doing, but I kept my distance. Not the great explanation. Maybe there isn't a great explanation, but I think you get the point. That doesn't. Just because your name were to appear in a social circle overlap does not mean that you were participating in illicit activity nor supporting it. Right. So that's one category of people. It's going to suck to explain, but you can. Then there's the other category, and those are the people who are directly involved. For those people, I want your names released. I don't care who you are. I don't care what political party you are a part of. I don't care if you serve in this administration or the previous administration. Your name needs to be out there. If a candidate runs on transparency and then does the exact opposite of that, how are we supposed to have faith in that? How is our system supposed to continue to work if that is the end state? And then the more important question is, why do we tolerate it? I don't have a good answer for that other than people. To me, what they're doing is literally looking down upon us peasants and saying, yeah, whatever, this is as good as it's going to be. You guys are stupid anyway. What are you going to do about it? And I don't have an answer for what we can do about it, but I think that is the place that we have arrived. Those up high say, you know what? Nah, this is what we're gonna give you. Be happy with it or don't. We really don't care. Moving on to the next thing, whatever it may be, but it is really, it is pissing me off and I don't know what to do about it. And I'm very curious. I would love to hear from the listeners. What do you think we even can do about something like this? And are you satisfied with the answer that has been given on this? Because again, I'm not a conspiratorial person. More than anything, my desire to see the truth on this is rooted in seeing victims find some level of justice. I don't care who those abusers are or where they are at. I want them to be pulled out into the brightest spotlight humanly possible. And the cockroaches can run as much as they want if we don't do that. And there was something more nefarious going on behind the scenes, a connection with the intelligence community, somebody being allowed to operate within impunity if it's. If the curtain's not pulled back on it, guess what's just going to continue to happen. Exactly that. And then whose fault is that? To which I don't have a great answer because again, I don't know what necessarily we can do, but I'm at the place now where we need to do something and I am open to suggestions. All right, last question for today. I'm going to get out of here. Andy. I've been with this girl for a little over three years now and it's been a great relationship. Actually, let me start with the subject matter or the subject line of the email. What's scarier? Getting married or getting divorced? You're walking a razor blade there, sir. She's respectful, kind, patient, among other things. Although I'm not sure if I'm ready to get married. However, she has told me she wants to get engaged within the next year to know that I'm serious about her and our relationship. Marriage scares me. It's not her fault, but I lived through my parents divorce and it wrecked our family. I also went through a really rough breakup of a different long term girlfriend before her. I get weary of marriage, long term commitment. But it's not her fault. It is mine. I'm scared and I'm worried. I have this ultimatum in front of me and this past which is not her fault. I feel at a crossroads. I like the idea of marriage. I think it's a good thing people can do and can be very beneficial for people. I'm scared of picking the wrong person and having divorce happen again in my life. How do you know you found the right one to marry? And how do you beat a fear like that? Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated. Love what you're doing, man. I am not qualified to answer this question. In the world we live in, do you need to get married? I don't know. It depends on you. It depends on your values and it depends on the personal relationship. Is there a chance that you'll pick the wrong person and have to get a divorce? Yep. Is there a chance you pick the right person and you will live happily ever after in a Disney fairy tale movie? Sure, there absolutely is. The first thing I would recommend is this. I would have this conversation with your girlfriend. If she is in fact the one you are meant to marry. You will be able to have this conversation with her. Will it be the easiest conversation? No, it is not going to be the easiest conversation. Will it be beneficial? Yes, it will. It will pave the foundation for your future relationship whether it continues or it doesn't continue. She needs to understand how you feel, then you need to zip it and listen to what she says to you, because you need to understand how she feels. The reality is this marriage is the right thing. If it works for both people for the right reasons, it's the wrong thing. If it doesn't work for both people or you get married for the wrong reasons, I will say this. There is no perfect marriage. There is no perfect relationship. There is no perfect person. You're gonna argue, you're gonna fight, you're gonna have good days, you're gonna have bad days. Just like I talked about in an earlier question. This pendulum of good and bad days, it really comes down to the two people in the relationship. What do you value? Do you find value in the concept of getting married and going through that structure and involving the government in your relationship, or is that not something that you value? And it's not for me to say whether or not that's good or bad or right or wrong. Those are just the choices that you have. People are living their lives in different ways, and they probably always have been. I mean, just because marriage was more of an institution, you know, 40, 50, 60 years ago, you know, the number of stories associated, like, marriage was such an institution back then. Like, yeah. So were people living in different bedrooms and having two different beds. I mean, just because it's an institution doesn't mean that it wasn't a crazy house. Right? It could have been an insane asylum. That's an institution as well. So I think this question has probably existed since people started thinking about the idea and concept of getting married. I don't think you mentioned in here how old you were. What I will say is this. Who I was when I was really young is not the same person that I am now. I don't regret getting married in my early 20s. And I say that because my kids are the most amazing thing that came from that. Even though it ended in a divorce, being married later in my life, getting married to leah in my 40s. Wow, what a wildly different experience, largely through the lens of I know myself better. I am a more fully formed human being. And Leah was in the same boat later in life as well. You're not allowed to talk about how old women are. So I almost set her age, but I caught myself, which will save me trouble down the line, even though I don't think she cares. People know how shoots. It's different getting married later in life. I think for men and women, there's no right or wrong. I don't. I would go through everything that I have gone through before because of my kids and having them in my life and who they are and what they mean to me. And I'm thankful that I have the experiences of my first marriage because they are a template. Not all bad, not all good, but things. Experiences that I can draw from. Hey, warning sign in this direction. I've been down this path before. Let's stop before we get too far down there. Communicating in this way earlier, more often, more clarity, different vernacular, all of these things, these lessons that have been learned. You don't have to go through a divorce to do that or to have those experiences. They have helped me. But there's just have the conversation with your girlfriend. At the end of the day, that's actually the only person that matters. You and the person you may get married to. Do you have to deal with family, extended family, all those things? Sure. Do you have to listen to what they have to say? No. Can it be a tough situation if you don't? Yeah. But you don't have to live with them, hopefully. I mean, unless you're going to get married and move in with them or they're going to move in with you, use with caution. It's your life to live. It's her life to live as well. And if you choose to do it together, that's great. But also having this conversation, maybe she'll understand where you're coming from. And maybe she might even say to you, like, I didn't realize you felt that way. But also, I kind of have those same concerns. So maybe we shelf the idea of marriage, but we're still fully committed to each other. We just don't have to wrap it up in that umbrella. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. So the best advice I have, openly and honestly communicate with your partner. That's always the best approach. Start there and then, you know, if there's still an impasse, bring in a professional. A lot of people go to marriage counseling before they get married or couples counseling. Not a bad idea. Again, I know I'm a broken record, but there's a reason for it. The tune it plays is a really good one. And that's all I have for this Friday. Enjoy your weekend. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now, and it's great. You love the host. You seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. 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