THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 124 — The Great Tattoo Debate? Save Spirit Airlines? British Smoking Ban?

Summary

Podcast Summary: Human Events Daily with Jack Posobiec
Episode: THOUGHTCRIME Ep. 124 — The Great Tattoo Debate? Save Spirit Airlines? British Smoking Ban?
Date: April 25, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of "ThoughtCrime Thursday" brings Jack Posobiec and his regular panel (Blake, Andrew, Russ) together for a lively discussion on current cultural controversies, deep dives into recent news, and spirited debates about American institutions and trends. The episode covers:

• The collapse of trust in institutions: Focus on the SPLC scandal
• A wild comparison and defense of regional gas station chains (Wawa vs. Sheetz vs. Buc-ee’s)
• Spirit Airlines bailout debate: populism vs. elitism
• Britain’s generational smoking ban — and broader critiques of UK & Western decline
• The ‘Great Tattoo Debate’: aesthetic, cultural, and moral dimensions

With humor, in-jokes, and sharp opinions, the panel delivers news analysis and commentary with irreverence and candor.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Opening Banter & Panel Introductions

• [00:00-04:11] The episode opens with jokes about Big Brother and compliance, a dead turtle as a metaphor for the SPLC, and playful ribbing about attire.
• Panel: Jack (host), Blake, Russ, Andrew; Tyler may join later ("distracted in the Spice Wars").
• Quote: "He's got to serve in the Spice Wars. We can't afford to lose the spice wars, so the spice must flow." – Blake [01:53]

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2. Gas Station Chains — The Wawa vs. Sheetz vs. Buc-ee’s Divide

• [02:12-10:19] Spirited debate about which convenience store/gas station chain is best.
  • Wawa (Jack's favorite, Philadelphia-based, "real food"); Sheetz (Blake's red-state choice); Buc-ee’s (truck stop, different category)
  • Cultural tribalism: Wawa is "Philly coded, blue," Sheetz is "heroic American countryside."
• Notable Quote: "Wawa is Philly coded. Sheetz is heroic American countryside coded. Wow, this is a big dividing one." – Blake [03:54]
• Regional gatekeeping humor and friendly rivalry.

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3. Philadelphia, Fentanyl Zombies & Urban Decay

• [07:04-14:00] Personal stories about trips to Philadelphia and classic steak shops (Pat's vs. Geno's).
  • The transformation of Philadelphia neighborhoods: Kensington's history, once safe under the Irish mob, now "Kensington Beach" filled with fentanyl addicts.
• Quote: "It's called Kensington Beach because everyone's laying out on the sidewalk, strung out like you're on the Beach." – Jack [13:52]
• Comparison to other cities' "methadone mile" drug districts.

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4. SPLC “Hate Map” Scandal & Meme Fest

• [15:32-27:08] Deep dive into the shocking indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC):
  • SPLC used fundraising scare tactics, then allegedly funded extremist groups to create threats for further fundraising.
  • Mainstream institutions (media, tech, financial services) followed SPLC’s lead in designating “hate groups.”
  • Meme-driven takedown of SPLC's reputation on social media.
• Notable Quotes:
  • "They were indicted this week for fraud... they were actually funding extremist organizations to then go around and scare their donors..." – Jack [15:55]
  • "Their influence is tremendous... Not only are they successful in ginning up a lot of money, but... they put a target on your back if you get put on their infamous heat map." – Andrew [24:53]
• Panel agrees on SPLC’s lasting, dangerous institutional power, even if their reputation suffers.

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5. Spirit Airlines Bailout — Populism, Elitism & Air Travel Accessibility

• [27:28-36:46] Discussion about the proposed $500 million government bailout for Spirit Airlines.
  • Spirit as the “Ryanair of America,” enabling lower-income Americans to access air travel.
  • Argument about whether air travel should be a “luxury” or accessible to all; resentment toward “bailing out” a much-maligned, cheap airline.
• Quote: "Flying should be a luxury. The pro-masses should not be allowed to fly." – Caboose, via chat [33:04]
• Humor about potential uses for Spirit, such as deportation flights or bringing Ryanair to the US.

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6. The UK's Generational Smoking Ban & Western Decline

• [36:49-47:19] The panel reacts to Britain's radical new ban: No cigarettes for those born after 2008.
  • Layers of criticism: authoritarian enforcement, class hypocrisy, UK's economic malaise.
  • Comparative stats: “If the UK joined the US as the 51st state, it would be the poorest by a mile.” – Andrew [39:05]
  • Boomer “triple lock” pension policies: unsustainable and emblematic of Western stagnation.
• Notable Quote: "Their defining existence as a country, if you listen to their actual government ministers, is basically: 'We don't have America's health care system.'" – Blake [45:57]

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7. “Social Murder,” Populist Violence & Leftist Rhetoric

• [47:00-49:49] The “social murder” narrative: Justifying violence against political/corporate opponents, with the Luigi Maggione case (healthcare CEO’s assassination).
• Quote: "They will rationalize any type of violence if they've got a moral framework, however shaky or feeble or dumb... That's why we need Jesus. Dear Lord." – Andrew [49:54]
• Historical allusions to Marxist theory and contemporary left-wing rhetoric.

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8. The Great Tattoo Debate: Aesthetic, Cultural, and Moral Arguments

8.1. Pete Davidson’s Tattoo Removal and Panel Reactions

• [50:14-53:10] News hook: Pete Davidson removing most of his tattoos. Launches debate on the rise of tattoos, generational differences, and aesthetics.

8.2. Russ’s Personal Tattoo Story and Panel Perspectives

• [53:10-55:09] Russ shares about his 20 tattoos, including their personal significance.
• Quote: "Most of my tattoos, especially on this arm, are kind of ... my value set almost or something. It's my story, where my journey has led." – Russ [59:39]

8.3. The “Greer Head Pledge” and Macro Cultural Critique

• [55:11-57:52] The “Greer Head Pledge” (no weed, Marvel movies, rap, or tattoos) as a counter to “aesthetic decay.”

8.4. Gendered Attractiveness & Social Perceptions

• [61:10-62:46] Panel agrees tattoos generally lower perceived female attractiveness.
  • "There's a reason there's never been a US President with a visible tattoo." – Blake [61:59]
  • "A big reason guys like tattoos is the perception that a woman who gets tattoos is easier." – Blake [62:35]

8.5. Theological Arguments – Are Tattoos a Sin?

• [63:16-66:44] Bible verses discussed: Leviticus 19:28 ("Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves"), Isaiah 44:5, Matthew 5:17.
  • Arguments about ceremonial vs. moral laws; Russ and Jack reference personal and historical justifications (e.g., Coptic Christians tattooing crosses).

8.6. Trends, Regret & Cultural Shifts

• [69:18-77:50] Concerns about regret, tattoos as trend artifacts (e.g., “Ohana” tattoos post-Moana), and tattoo prevalence among women.
• "I think in general, I think women are just more attractive without tattoos. And so to the extent it's good to be attractive, it's good." – Blake [69:18]
• "You'll be explaining them to people when you're 76 years old and going into, you know, a nursing home." – Blake [77:36]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On SPLC’s Scandal:
  "They were actually funding extremist organizations to then go around and scare their donors..." – Jack [15:55]
• On British Decline:
  "If the UK joined the US as the 51st state, we'd be the poorest state in the entire union." – Andrew [39:05]
• On Air Travel Accessibility:
  "A lot of people seem genuinely angry that people who aren't rich are able to fly on planes." – Blake [29:47]
• On Tattoos and Culture:
  "Tattoos have turned into an epidemic of ugliness. Publicly visible tattoos symbolize the vulgarization that is eating away at our civilization..." – Blake reading Scott Greer [57:52]
• On Regret & Trends:
  "You get all these things that are just a very transient fad, except now they're emblazoned on your body for all time." – Blake [77:36]
• On Faith & Law:
  "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." – Blake reading Leviticus 19:28 [64:42]

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Other Memorable Moments

• SPLC Meme Roundup: [17:16-24:00] – Panel reads and describes their favorite SPLC memes, including pop culture parodies, “Are we the baddies?” references, and a Seinfeld clip satirizing organizational hypocrisy.
• Personal Tales: Jack’s account of vetting his wife for tattoos before dating seriously. [70:56-71:59]
• Audience Interaction: Ongoing chat reactions to tattoos, Spirit Airlines, and smoking ban, reflecting deep cultural divides among listeners.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00-04:11] Intro & Banter
• [04:12-10:19] Gas Station Rivalry (Wawa, Sheetz, Buc-ee’s debate)
• [10:20-14:00] Philadelphia Notes: Decay, Kensington Beach
• [15:32-27:08] SPLC Scandal & Meme Review
• [27:28-36:46] Spirit Airlines Bailout & Airline Economics
• [36:49-47:19] UK Smoking Ban & British Economic/Social Decline
• [47:00-49:49] "Social Murder" Leftist Rhetoric Analysis
• [50:14-77:50] The Great Tattoo Debate (Personal, Cultural, Theological)
• [77:51-end] Wrap-up, panel sign-offs

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Tone and Style

The episode blends sarcastic wit, personal storytelling, and cultural critique with a conspiratorial, sometimes irreverent tone. The panel is openly skeptical of mainstream narratives and embraces counter-cultural stances.

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Conclusion

This episode is a dense, energetic ride through present-day morality, media propaganda, and everyday culture wars—with everything from gas station loyalty to tattoos as existential commentary. Those interested in cultural trends, right-wing critique, and unfiltered panel banter will find rich material in this edition of Human Events Daily.

Transcript

[Jack]

From the age of Big Brother. If they want to get you, they'll get you.

[Blake]

DNSA specifically targets the communications of everyone.

[Jack]

They're collecting. Your communications. Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard to another edition of Thought Crime Thursday. We've got a banner episode today, a proper panel, if you will, while checking. And I see, by the way, for those on the audio only side, I'd like to let you know that Mr. Colvett is in full compliance with Thought Crime rules and regulations.

[Andrew]

Thank you for.

[Jack]

Have a jacket. Wait, did Foz have to do that right before we went on air?

[Russ]

No.

[Jack]

Serious. Right now?

[Andrew]

No.

[Blake]

It sounds unconvincing.

[Andrew]

So. No, here's the deal. I was booked to do Will Caine show. It got pushed because Trump went long or what, Whatever. But I had to. I. You know, you have to wear.

[Jack]

Here it comes, folks. Here it comes.

[Andrew]

To wear the thing. The shirt and the tie and the. The jet. Well, listen, some people have, you know, some of us have real jobs here, you know.

[Russ]

Dang. Dang.

[Andrew]

How's the turtle, Jack?

[Jack]

Still dead?

[Andrew]

Yeah, definitely dead. So dead.

[Jack]

Yeah, we had. We had dead turtle at the house. I said, oh, look, there's the SPLC's rotting carcass right there.

[Andrew]

You know, I wish that was more true. You know, the SPLC is like 800.

[Blake]

800 million dollar endowment.

[Russ]

Yeah.

[Blake]

Yeah, that's like, reserved for universities.

[Andrew]

You could keep a lot of dead turtles alive for a long time.

[Jack]

We have to. You can't actually bring shows back to life. But.

[Andrew]

But.

[Jack]

So we've always got Andrew, got. We've got black pill Bolshevik Blake. So, Blake, we have Russ. Do we have anyone else today?

[Blake]

You know, in theory, Tyler will come in, but you know how Tyler is. He's. He's often distracted. He's got a serve in the Spice Wars. We can't afford to lose the Spice wars, so the spice must flow. Yeah, Spice has got a flow. And if that means we lose Tyler for one or two or five episodes at a time, so be it. But we hope we'll get here because we have.

[Jack]

We have throwing. Very, very important to update everyone on. So important that we have to get in. Somebody went to Wawa, I believe, for the very first time this week.

[Blake]

That's not true.

[Andrew]

No, I. Why do you. I have explained this to you before. Multiple times, I think, in the last week. Russ is laughing. I've gone to Wawa many times, usually when I'm in D.C. because it's like, you know, conveniently on store corners.

[Russ]

No, because it's a gas station, isn't it?

[Andrew]

It's basically a gas station.

[Jack]

I don't candidly sell gas, so that's

[Andrew]

just a l. But it's kind of. It's. He's. What he's saying is it's kind of the same.

[Russ]

Yeah, it's like a quick trip, right?

[Andrew]

Yeah, it's a quick trip. It's a.

[Blake]

No, I mean, even I know true

[Jack]

trip is for people. Quick trips for people who don't like, like taste and flavor.

[Blake]

Hey, you know what?

[Russ]

Quick trip is where I get my coffee, so leave me alone.

[Andrew]

They have black rifle. Yeah.

[Blake]

Yeah.

[Jack]

No, I mean. No, I understand. I mean, that's.

[Blake]

That's one of the reasons that Barry.

[Jack]

Because there's no Wawa.

[Andrew]

Well, I like Wawa, Jack. I do like it and I. They have great sandwich selection and many.

[Jack]

What'd you get? What'd you get? What'd you get?

[Andrew]

I mean, I think I got like a turkey something or other, but I don't know. I was in and out.

[Jack]

You get turkey hoagie or turkey turkey quesadilla.

[Blake]

As a proper red state American. I prefer sheets.

[Jack]

Oh, sheets and Wawa are from the same state, Blake.

[Blake]

I know. And I'm from the red and you know, the red part of the state as opposed to the blue lib part of the state is.

[Andrew]

Is sheets. So are you saying Wawa is blue?

[Blake]

Yes, Wawa. Wawa is Philly coated. Sheets is heroic American countryside coded. Wow, this is a big dividing one.

[Andrew]

It sounds like sheets is heritage Americans and Wawa is import Americans. Yeah, no, that are not really married.

[Jack]

So not even. Not even close.

[Russ]

So I just don't have an affinity for trumped up gas stations.

[Andrew]

Well, this is my whole thing. My question.

[Jack]

She's never been to Wawa, so like you

[Blake]

as a person who's been. Never even been there.

[Andrew]

Yeah, Bucky. Probably more the red coated.

[Blake]

Yeah, but, well, Buc Ees, they're just different geographic locations. I don't think you could make a Bucky.

[Jack]

Bu's is also a different category of thing. Like Buc EE's is more like a truck stop.

[Andrew]

I think. I think the. The chat needs to inform us what is better. Sheets, Buc EE's or Wawa. By the way, I bet more people know Wawa just because I think there's more Wawas.

[Blake]

I'm pretty sure there's more sheets. You see a lot of sheets.

[Jack]

Yeah, Wawa and sheets are pretty. They go toe to toe these days.

[Andrew]

All right, Jeff, why don't you educate me? Why do you Like Wawa so much

[Jack]

because I like quality, I like taste, because I believe in Maha and real food, which she does not.

[Andrew]

Wait, you think Wawa is Mama Maha? Wait, so you think Wawa is and not woo Woo?

[Jack]

Compared to Sheets? Absolutely.

[Andrew]

Yeah. That's Blake's thing. Blake thinks Maha is woo woo.

[Blake]

It's a bunch of woo woo. That's why I don't. That's why I don't go for the Wawa.

[Andrew]

That was, that was the, that was the Atlantic's story about the Maha movement during the campaign. It was like, woo woo.

[Blake]

Right?

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blake]

Let's see.

[Jack]

It's. Yeah, it's. It's good quality food. It's Philadelphia based, obviously, from there.

[Andrew]

Okay, there it is. That's the reason.

[Blake]

No, he likes it because it's in Philly. Whereas you said we have these import Americans who took over a heritage American city.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Jack]

Where heritage America still feels country250 years ago this year.

[Andrew]

So. So I fly into Philly last weekend because I, I had to go to an event and. And so I made the comment to Jack. I was like, I haven't been to Philly in, I mean, ages. It's been a long time since I've been to Philly. And Jack instantly, the first thing, he goes, wawa. Gotta go to Wawa.

[Jack]

I was like, do you go Wawa?

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

So I was like asking me about

[Jack]

the event and trying to get some like, what's the lay of the land? Who are some of the key figures out there? And I was like, but did you go to Wawa? Like, I just, I just want to know if you went to Wawa, Andrew. And he's like, yeah. He's like, yeah, no, get there. I'm like. And I wouldn't stop, like, I wouldn't answer any of his questions until he confirmed to me that he was on his way to Wawa.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it was pretty funny. Jack is not even sponsored by Wawa.

[Blake]

So you were in Philly for the first time in eternity. Did you go to.

[Andrew]

No, I did nothing cool. You did nothing cool? I flew in on a red eye. I woke up, I went to bed. As soon as I got to the hotel at like 5:30 in the morning, I woke up. I ended up having to deal with some work stuff that popped up. Wrote my speech, drove to the event in Lancaster, which I say, right. And then.

[Blake]

That is correct.

[Andrew]

And then I did this in it. Did the event, drove home, went to bed, woke up, hit the airplane. I did. I was trying to get. I wanted to go Downtown. To be honest, I wanted to drive around downtown.

[Blake]

So have you never been to Pat's or Geno's?

[Andrew]

I have. I've been to both.

[Blake]

Okay, you've been to both.

[Andrew]

Yeah. That was on my original trip to Phil, actually. The. The time that I went to Philly before this time was when I went to Pat, Pats, and Genos.

[Blake]

Okay.

[Andrew]

Where they come together in little triangles.

[Blake]

Which did you prefer?

[Andrew]

Yeah, I can't actually recall. Yeah, I really can't. I think I was. When I went to Pats and Gino, I think I was, like, 19, and so I. I can't remember which one I. I. I thought they were good, but I didn't think either was extraordinary.

[Blake]

Being evasive.

[Jack]

Jack.

[Andrew]

Jack, what do you think the difference

[Jack]

comes down to, like, what you prefer? Geno's is, like, a cleaner bun and a, you know, like, like, very much made to order, whereas Pat's, like, they soak the buns in the grease, and it's just dripping with, like, flavor and fat and. And steak, you know, good gooeyness. And so if you like that better, then you'll like a Pat's better if you like that soggy bun situation, if you. If you want the clear. But like, Like. So I generally prefer Pats, whereas my wife generally prefers Gino's because she likes that cleaner bun.

[Blake]

Gino's also the one that they had the stunt where, like, you had to speak American to order a sandwich properly.

[Jack]

Yeah. So Joey Vento was the former owner. He passed away of. Of Geno's back 20 years ago now, man, that was 2006 when he put this up that said this is America. Put up a sign that said this is America when ordering. Speak English. That was Geno's.

[Andrew]

They wouldn't do that now, though, based on mean.

[Blake]

They might. I think they kept. They might have taken it down in 2020 or something. I don't know.

[Jack]

They may have taken it down.

[Andrew]

We used to have a country.

[Blake]

Oh, it's worse. The sign was quietly removed shortly before the 2016 Democrat National Convention to avoid offending the Democrats, which is, in fact, that is, I believe, when I actually went to Pats and Gina. No, wait.

[Andrew]

No.

[Blake]

I went to Bats and Gina's because I was in Philly to cover the white privilege conference in 2016.

[Andrew]

Oh, geez.

[Blake]

True story.

[Andrew]

You know, what's really the move?

[Jack]

Like, after, like, you. After you go to a concert or something. So, like, all throughout high school or college, like, you go to a concert, you. You know, then you hit up Pats and Genos, because all everything else is closed. But they'd be open late night. So you just go down there, you get a steak, drive home. Good, good times. And it was safe enough back when I was in high school and college that my parents would let me go down there with and come on this pre cell phone era. So without a cell phone, they're like, yeah, have the car go to the concert, go to Passengino's, come home, be fine.

[Blake]

All right, so to get back to our original topic here, which is the Wawa versus sheet stuff. So we have no. So. So we have Wawa. It's theoretically this top gas station chain, but we all know it's not really competitive with Buc EE's. And that raises the question, has Wawa. Has Wawa secretly been receiving that as a gas station from the Southern poverty Law to make it competitive with Buc EE's so that we can pretend that there is a viable gas station on the east coast? I think we need to ask these questions now.

[Andrew]

Has BLC been funneling money?

[Jack]

Hey, we have cheaper gas than you Arizona guys do.

[Andrew]

It's true.

[Jack]

You know why?

[Andrew]

Because of the. We're in the. We're in a cat. We're in a gas desert in the west. Because theoretically, California should be supplying better gas, but they don't. So getting supplies to Arizona is a bit of a.

[Blake]

Also, who cares? Arizona is just like we flow with wealth. Almost like.

[Jack]

Almost like God didn't intend for people to live in deserts.

[Andrew]

God really didn't. Although I will tell you so fun fact. Gosh, we're bouncing all over the place. Sorry, audience, but hey, check this out. So there are a series of canals throughout the valley in Phoenix. Turns out these canals were first used like 1500 years ago by the Native Americans. They have been functional. They charted out the exact, like, perfect route for the water to flow with gravity. And so we still use the exact same route as they did originally.

[Blake]

What happened to those people?

[Andrew]

They got wiped out by the settlers.

[Blake]

Oh, so they're all dead. All right, well, that's an ominous sign. But anyway, I will know actually has

[Andrew]

a water source coming from two directions, basically down into the valley, and it flows throughout the valley. People have been here for a long time.

[Blake]

As I will note, Phoenix is a fake desert. It rains all the time here.

[Andrew]

So Blake is the one person in Phoenix who thinks the problem with Phoenix

[Blake]

is that it rains too wet, it

[Andrew]

rains too much, and it's too cold.

[Blake]

It rains all the time. It's too cold. And it rains all the time here. This is a fake desert. And in fact, in real life, if you check the science, it is the wettest desert in the world. What it is, let me ask you this.

[Jack]

This is the wet.

[Andrew]

In order to be a desert, you have to get less than 10 inches of rain a year. Right.

[Blake]

I don't know what the exact amount is, but whatever it is, we are right at that dividing line. They could move it a little bit and we'd just be one of those semi arid plains or whatever.

[Andrew]

Maybe climate change will save us.

[Blake]

Yeah, all right, so worth keeping in mind, but we have to get on the splc.

[Jack]

Wait, wait, before, before we do this though. Andrew, when you were on the east coast, when you were in beautiful Pennsylvania, you did not see a desert climate. Did you know, you saw what a real springtime looks like.

[Andrew]

I saw Lyme disease. I saw, I saw. If I hike through this forest, I'm going to get Lyme disease.

[Jack]

Yeah, that's Connecticut.

[Russ]

My fiance can attest to that.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that's what I saw, Jack. I saw, man, how, how brave and, you know, just amazing were the founding generations that pioneered through those forests and made settlements and established America.

[Blake]

Philadelphia is where we originally noticed the phenomenon of like everyone being zombified on fentanyl.

[Andrew]

Right.

[Blake]

I think the original fentanyl.

[Andrew]

Oh, yeah, that's right.

[Blake]

That's what I think.

[Jack]

So that area is called is Kensington and it's called the K and A Corner. So Kensington and Allegheny in Philly. So what's interesting is that. So it's. Yeah. Where all the fentanyl zombies are. It's underneath the market, Frankfurt L right now. And what's interesting is that that same area, Blake, I'm sure you would find this interesting, used to be run by a group called the K and A Gang. And the gang was basically the Irish Mafia of Philadelphia. And let me tell you something, even up through the 80s, up through the 1990s, you could still go down to K and A and you could take your family shopping there on a Sunday. You could go out with your friends. It was perfectly safe and perfectly fine. When it was run by the Irish Mafia. However, when they cleaned that up and decided to let the fentanyl zombies run in through. We now have a new name for that area and it is called Kensington Beach. Do you guys know why it's called Kensington Beach?

[Andrew]

Everybody's laying out on the sidewalk.

[Jack]

It's called Kensington beach because everyone's laying out on the sidewalk, strung out like you're on the Beach. And, like, they're signing themselves.

[Andrew]

This is true. What you're talking about is a true. Is a true phenomenon. Because in Boston. I remember when I was in Boston, there's an area that was controlled by the Italian mob. Everybody kind of still knew it. I don't know if it still is, but it was. It was the safest part of Boston, like, the urban core of Boston.

[Jack]

Because methadone.

[Andrew]

Because the. Because the Italian mafia ran it.

[Blake]

Hey, do you guys know what the name for the neighborhood is where all the fentanyl zombies are in Phoenix? Because if you do, you should tell me, because I don't have an easy shorthand. Druggie neighborhood in Phoenix.

[Jack]

But apparently the most common thing is also called master. I think in Boston, it's called Mass and cast, AKA the methadone mile. I know exactly what you're talking about.

[Andrew]

Hold on. We have some really good SPLC memes, and the team's like, we need to abandon that topic. No, these SPLC memes have to be shown, Blake.

[Blake]

Well, yeah, so as we were saying, the SPLC has funded. It turns out the big plot twist this week is the SPLC has been funding various disreputable organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and the National Socialist Party of America and the city of Philadelphia and WAWA and all of these things. Very sinister entities. But it turns out they finally got caught, so they've got a pile of $800 million, and it turns out they've been paying people on the far right better than, you know, the actual far right pays its own people. And they finally got caught. And we have a lot. We have a lot of great stuff. Let's see. What do you guys think is the funniest one you needed to rank these by, like, funniness, otherwise.

[Jack]

Well, so before we. Before we get into the means, just to make sure everyone. You know, because some people, like, this is the. For some people, this is actually their only source of news all week. I've heard, because people are straight up, like, I only listen to thought crime.

[Andrew]

Somebody told me the exact same thing this week, Jack. Yeah. So fair enough.

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm serious. Like, I have people tell me that. So this has come up where the splc, which was basically like the.

[Blake]

The.

[Jack]

Or, like, they were like the Racism Clearinghouse. Like, we determined whether or not people are racist or not. Like, that's how they reported themselves. And. And they've been cited by everyone. Literally everyone from CBS to CNN to the Department of Justice to the FBI, like, all the way up and Down. Courts have cited them. PayPal would censor you, and Venmo would debank you if you were listed by the splc. Amazon would delist you. Wikipedia. Wikipedia on Charlie. Charlie Kirk's page still cites the SPLC I checked out this week. And so over and over and over, they are seen as this, like, reputable clearingh of quote, unquote. We determine who the extremists are, and they were indicted this week for fraud because it turns out that they were raising a ton of money using direct mail campaigns and scare tactics to raise money, and they were actually funding extremist organizations to then go around and scare their donors and say, oh, my gosh, look at all these extremist groups and look at all these events and look at all this racism that's on the rise. But it turns out it was on the rise because they were paying for it in the first place, and they got indicted, and there's egg all over their face, and it's really, really funny. And Blake, to your point, the memes have been absolute fire.

[Andrew]

The memes have been, like, probably the best part of my week, honestly.

[Blake]

Like, we probably just.

[Andrew]

Just go through them all. Number one.

[Blake]

Well, no, I think number one is just them announcing the indictment.

[Andrew]

Oh.

[Blake]

Number two.

[Andrew]

There you go.

[Jack]

Oh, man.

[Blake]

You guys

[Andrew]

finding out the SPLC has been paying people to promote white supremacy. You guys are getting paid.

[Jack]

So true. Hey, man, some of us. Some of us do it for love of the game.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I was gonna say,

[Blake]

Honestly, just like psychological

[Russ]

Hitler.

[Jack]

What is this?

[Blake]

This is from some little kid is marching is goose stepping and doing the Hitler salute after the SPLC says 75.

[Jack]

Oh, this is the great Clayton Bigsby bit from the Chappelle Show. Years ago, the black white supremacist

[Andrew]

meeting went. This is good. Yeah, we should have had that with the sound. We should have had that with the sound.

[Jack]

I don't know. Some of the sound on that episode might not be great.

[Andrew]

All right.

[Jack]

Oh, here's Sabrina Carpenter, my woke aunt, learning her SPLC donations were funding the kkk.

[Andrew]

I don't like it. Yeah, I was gonna say I don't like it. Please.

[Jack]

I don't like it.

[Blake]

I don't like is.

[Andrew]

Funny jokes aside, what does this say? Heading into my new job at the Southern Poverty Law Center. That's good. I love it. All right, wait. Okay, here we go. SPLC employee waking up this morning realizing they were funding the very thing they. They were fighting, quote, unquote. Are we the baddies?

[Jack]

Baddies.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Jack]

Oh, dear.

[Blake]

The Elmo one. Well, what if Elmo was paid $270,000 by the SPLC to say it? Can Elmo say it then?

[Jack]

Terrible.

[Andrew]

And that is two black kids on a bench. That's terrible.

[Blake]

The thing is, you can make jokes, but that probably happened because we see in the indictment that someone who was involved in planning the Unite the Right rally was making. Allegedly was making far right posts under the oversight of the splc. So the SPLC very well may have told someone. Say it to blend in, kid. Say it. The number, the number of N words in the world possibly went up because of the SPLC's money.

[Andrew]

That's probably the best. Well, the most succinct, best put way I've heard it said. There have been more N words uttered in the world because of the splc.

[Blake]

They're paying for it all. They're funding.

[Andrew]

That's really funny.

[Blake]

They're funding N words, the $800 million N word fund.

[Andrew]

You say Obama.

[Jack]

But that being said, they're never going to, you know, like, they're never going to care. You have to understand how, how the liberal mind works. They're never actually going to believe you or care. They're just going to say, the SPLC is on my side and you're not.

[Andrew]

Well, don't. Hey, do we have their explanation for why they. If we don't have that clip? They gave this, this like, terrible. We were firebombed 40 years ago, so we needed to do this. I was like, okay, okay. This one's funny because it's a, you know, hi, mom, why are we so rich? And your daddy was a Klansman who did contract work for the splc.

[Blake]

I mean, they paid really well. One of the guys got paid a million dollars by them over.

[Andrew]

Over the palace, right, Blake?

[Jack]

They.

[Blake]

They have a lot of. They have a lot of.

[Andrew]

This was great from the movie Rocky. A little Philly action there, Blake.

[Jack]

There you go.

[Blake]

I don't see any logging in the

[Jack]

blue sky to tell the lefties they've been funding the KKK and they're all running after.

[Blake]

Well, what is true. They'll find them all lined up. This will probably increase the SPLC's donations because, like, the left is naturally going to be reactive in that way and they're going to say, like, screw you, I'm going to donate to the SPLC because I love.

[Andrew]

And the funny thing about it, I

[Blake]

don't even know if I hate it that much. I would love to destroy the splc. But the consolation if we fail to do this and it becomes bigger than ever. The SPLC is kind of a money sink for the left. Like it is a thing that gets a ton of money so that they can have a website up with an annoying hate map. And they used to be more dangerous because they were teaching people at the FBI they were embedded in a lot of things. But now at this point, the right has learned the SPLC is a scam. We're not listening to the crap they say. They don't have the institutional power they used to do, but they still get tons of money. And if you're going to give a left wing org $500 million, I'd be a lot more worried if that $500 million was going to the ACLU, if it was going to some lawfare. Org and instead it's going to the SPLC so they can have their, you know, gold plated front door on their poverty palace in Montgomery.

[Andrew]

Let's do the Seinfeld one with sound. It says, the caption says, reviewing my speech written by the SBLC for the hotties for Hitler rally after they paid me $50,000. This is a great scene from Seinfeld.

[Jack]

Play it and the Jews steal our money through their Zionist occupied government and use the black man to bring drugs into our oppressed white minority communities.

[Blake]

SPLC is paying for it, folks.

[Andrew]

Brought to you in part by the SPLC based Seinfeld. Do we have any more thing? We have.

[Blake]

We have unlimited amount.

[Jack]

So many of these. And I've definitely been texting like everyone in my contacts list.

[Andrew]

Wait, where? I like that. Hold on. The Star wars one. Which one's that? Yeah. Oh, that's our. It was already up. Splc. I'm working on hate crimes. Like stopping them, right?

[Blake]

Stopping them, right.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that looks pretty funny. Then there's the American History x1. Which one? That one.

[Jack]

Oh, man, that one's bad.

[Andrew]

Edward Norton. No, no, no. You're thinking of the like the X rated one or the R rated one, if you will. I was just thinking about the normal one where he goes from like normal. That actor's name is Ed Norton. Ed Norton, Yeah.

[Jack]

His face changes.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah. Okay, we don't have that one.

[Blake]

Oh, well, show The Cash Patel one. 21.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

Cash Patel whipping off the KKK hood to reveal it was Obama all along. Obama. Play it again. Nice. Obama. Why is there an N in that? Obama?

[Andrew]

What is the Colbert one? 18.

[Blake]

Oh, he did that. He did it. Was that. Oh, man. Can't believe Stephen Colbert did that.

[Andrew]

Stephen Colbert. Goodness. He went full Elon Musk there, Stephen

[Blake]

Colbert trying to get credit where it's

[Jack]

due though, because, and I've said this a couple other place, I'll say here too that Fox News has been great on this. Fox News has been all over this story. They've covered it. I know, Andrew, they had you on. They've been covering it in daytime. I mean, it's. They've just been all over the story. They really have.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny, I, so I get booked to do the Fox thing with Jesse about it and I look at the dates of when they put Turning Point and Charlie, you know, on the hate app and it was late May of 2025. So that's the fifth month of the year. You go to September. It was less than four months. Less than four months. So he gets put on a hate map. Four months later he gets killed by an assassin who says some hate can't be negotiated out.

[Jack]

It was Memorial Day to Labor Day, basically.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So I mean, if you cut it like, we like to laugh at the splc, but their influence is tremendous. Not only are they successful in ginning up a lot of money, by the way, after Charlottesville, their donations almost tripled in one year. So talk about a great ROI on investment, return on investment. They funded one of the leaders of that rally, right? $270,000. But they have the, we talk about the statue heat map that they have. A lot of people were tearing down the statues that the SBLC told them they should tear down. And then you could even trace the presidency of Joe Biden. The reason he ran is because he said Charlottesville, because he said that these white supremacists were taking over the country or something, which is bizarre, especially as the white population is dropping dramatically, which, by the way, one of the leaders of the SPLC has had famously a poster on the back of his wall during an interview that tracked the decrease of the white percentage of the population.

[Blake]

That one is so deranged that that's real.

[Andrew]

Yeah, it's real. So anyways, you could laugh at them. They are a former husk, hollow out husk of their former selves. But it's like they're not that solid out. Yeah, exactly. And they still got $800 million and they still inform the FBI, they still work with the DOJ. At least they did during Biden years.

[Blake]

You know, if this lawsuit succeeds, by the way, because they're claiming they fundraised using fraudulent means, it would allow the federal government to seize the money.

[Andrew]

Ooh, good, that'll help.

[Blake]

Pay for some of the. It's a strategy they've gone for. The left tried to do the same thing to the NRA. They were going to seize all of the NRA's money and basically give it to anti gun groups. They failed to do so, but they came close.

[Andrew]

Yeah. I mean, I just think the SPLC is a really despicable organization and it really does put a target on your back if you get put on their infamous heat map. So I hope that to the extent, more than the money, more than anything, it's kind of like I hope that whatever power that is, is broken, is shattered, that they are discredited to the point that they can't influence at least as many people. I'm sure there's going to be some people that still believe it, but that's really the goal, is that they lose the power to target and put conservatives on their hit list.

[Blake]

Destroy the splc. Now, if we're going to destroy the splc, there's another institution that has a lot of infamy in American life that is in peril right now and also has a demographic relation. And that, of course, is Spirit Airlines.

[Andrew]

Spirit.

[Jack]

Spirit.

[Blake]

Spirit Airlines isn't the.

[Andrew]

If you need to use the bathroom,

[Blake]

I don't know, I've never used.

[Andrew]

They charge you for toilet.

[Blake]

I'll admit, I don't know that I've ever.

[Andrew]

I've flown it once.

[Blake]

I'm not sure that I've ever. I've ever crafted an airplane.

[Andrew]

I don't know, it just seems like something they would do. But it was. Spirit Airlines is like the Ryanair of America, right? Essentially, yeah. I flew it once, but it was like if you bring a back.

[Jack]

Ryanair is way better than Spirit way.

[Blake]

Ryanair is more ruthless. Ryanair is like, you're also ruthless. You can get a super stripped down thing and you can fly somewhere for like $30. Yeah, Spirit Air doesn't go that extreme.

[Andrew]

Spirit Air was not as good of a model. I remember when I lived in Europe in college for a semester, you know, I flew Ryanair everywhere, basically.

[Blake]

Yeah, right now Ryanair's the only way. I got Ryanair last fall, but no Spirit is around. I've flown Spirit multiple times and truthfully, I've never really had a bad experience with it. The main bad experience is if you use it to fly to dc, you fly into Baltimore. But anyway, Spirit Airlines is. They're having a rough time right now. As you guys may have heard, gas prices have risen around the world due to, you know, macroeconomic effects. That can be unpredictable. And that has placed budget airlines like Spirit in peril. But racing to the rescue is the Trump administration, which is offering $500 million to bail out Spirit Airlines, which it says something about our federal government that a $500 million bailout for a company like barely makes you blink. We probably spend $500 million to buy some screw that we use in like fighter jet.

[Andrew]

Why would you, you know, rush in to bail out something as horrendous and culturally, you know, problematic as Spirit Airlines?

[Blake]

Is Spirit Airlines culturally problematic? Do you just have a problem with the color yellow? Do you have a problem with the other color that's on that plane?

[Andrew]

Andrew? I think it's bad for air travel and the culture of air travel. It's like the Carnival Cruise Line of airlines.

[Blake]

You may have a point, but you

[Andrew]

probably go on there and they're, they're

[Blake]

playing, I don't know.

[Andrew]

So this is country music that you hate or they playing rap.

[Blake]

Luckily there's noise canceling headphones that you can use to block none of the passengers.

[Andrew]

Spirit Airlines have enough nobody social grace to do.

[Blake]

Yeah, but I can use noise canceling headphones. So I don't.

[Andrew]

What I'll say is, are you defending,

[Blake]

are you Spirit Airlines? I am shilling for Spirit Airlines. I will say this, I will say this. A funny thing that applies a lot to air travel compared to other industries is like a lot of people seem genuinely angry that people who aren't rich are able to fly on planes. Because if you check flight prices from the 1970s, the 1980s, it used to be a lot more expensive to fly and far fewer people had ever done it. I remember I only flew a handful of times before I was in high school. It was pretty common to meet people who'd never flown on a plane in their entire lives. It's a lot cheaper to fly now. It's a lot more accessible. One of the reasons is things like

[Andrew]

Spirit Airlines now Frontier is good.

[Blake]

Frontier is good.

[Andrew]

I, I've flown friends.

[Jack]

I'll never run to US Spirit.

[Andrew]

So I just googled what, what is the cheapest airline? Said Frontier and Spirit Airlines are generally the cheapest airlines for domestic.

[Blake]

I have a problem with Frontier, not because of their service. My main problem with Frontier is when I'm searching for a flight somewhere, it'll always be gummed up by suggesting, well, actually the cheapest option is if you get on this Frontier plane, fly to Denver and then wait 17 hours to take a follow up flight to another.

[Jack]

And that's annoying.

[Andrew]

You can Usually you can select it

[Blake]

out, but I have to go and do that.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

Which clicking.

[Andrew]

We had a really, we had a

[Jack]

really bad experience in Frontier once where we were flying back from Orlando and it was like one of the seatbacks was down there at one point and this was when our youngest was still a baby and they had oversold the flight or overbooked or whatever. And we're standing there at the door like when they, when, you know, when they say, like, line up if you have kids or whatever. So we're standing there at the door with the baby and they say, oh, you can't get on. You're over. We oversold. I'm like, we have a baby. Like, we have children. And they just, they just wouldn't let us on the flight. We were there with plenty of time and all the rest of it. I had to rent, I had to rent a car to drive home. Basically. I'll just, you know, drive all the way back up 95 from Florida because Frontier wouldn't let us on with a baby. So I'm never going to forget that.

[Andrew]

Yeah, no, I, I, I flew. Last time I flew Frontier, the one of the windows had, like, tape around it and I was like, this feels like a potential spot in the. Why is there tape around this? It held. Everything was fine.

[Blake]

There was that. Yeah, as, as a man, I have that male experience of sometimes wanting to go and read historic plane disasters. There was a flight from Hawaii once where they had a vulnerable window.

[Andrew]

Window.

[Blake]

And they had an explosive decompression and it literally did just, it ejected like two rows of seats and those people died. And then no one else died and they successfully landed. But it just sucked a few seats out and that was the end of them. Could have been you, Andrew.

[Andrew]

I was like, but you missed out.

[Blake]

That would probably been a peak experience, Andrew, you have to admit, like, you would have died, but it would have been really exciting.

[Andrew]

Lasted. I would have enjoyed it for, for not enjoyed it. I would have been terrified. I, I don't, I'm not a good flyer as it is, by the way.

[Russ]

My fiance is not a good flyer either.

[Andrew]

I'm a bad flyer. I get through it. I go, I get through it. But I, Yeah, that's the thing. So actually that's why I took the red eye to Philly, because at least I, I slept through two thirds of the flight, which was pretty good for me. I can't sleep on most flights, but. Red eyes. I'm just so tired that I'm like, okay, caboose.

[Blake]

Has a hot take. He says flying should be a luxury. The pro masses should not be allowed to fly.

[Andrew]

Fly in the sky. Why you got to be like Hasan Piker.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Blake]

He's been. They're being these elitists here. I think people should have access to air travel. I think. I think the ability to travel to distant places at a cheap price is good.

[Andrew]

Is exactly why America is getting overrun with.

[Blake]

And it's good that we have affordable options like Spirit Airlines, which you can choose to not fly on. I get. I also find it weird when people get angry. They say, spirit's bad, so you shouldn't. So, like, it should go broke. Just fly on Delta if you want a nicer plane.

[Andrew]

You're. We're missing the whole big part of the problem with your argument is that you think it's. You think that the federal government should come in and bail out a failing airline

[Jack]

going out of business.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Why is it going out of business, Blake?

[Blake]

I would ideally not bail out any companies, but.

[Andrew]

Me, too.

[Blake]

You know, we bailed out Silicon Valley

[Andrew]

bank because we disagreed with.

[Blake]

Yes. And we bailed out. You know, we're bailing out a lot of companies.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

And if we're gonna bail out all of them.

[Andrew]

Government Motors, 500 million.

[Blake]

Remember?

[Andrew]

You remember we used to call GM Government Motors after the bailout in 2008? I mean, why would you bail out Spirit? It's a terrible brand. It's a terrible paint job. It's bad service.

[Russ]

Frontier, pick up the.

[Andrew]

Yeah, let. Let another airline buy up the assets. It'll be fine.

[Russ]

Like, that's.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah.

[Blake]

What if.

[Jack]

What if.

[Blake]

Hold on, hold on.

[Jack]

If we're gonna nationalize Spiritual. What if we could say, I don't know, put Stephen Miller in charge of it and turn it into a deportation.

[Andrew]

What if the federal government bought up all the planes for the $500 million, pennies on the dollar, and used them as deportation planes?

[Blake]

That's a cool idea.

[Andrew]

This is great.

[Blake]

Or if they bailed it out. If they bailed them out. The deal was they had to supply flights for that. That's a good idea. Or what if we spent the $500 million and we used it as a bribe to have Ryanair expand into America?

[Andrew]

Ooh, yeah.

[Jack]

Why don't we have Ryanair? I guess there's, like, regulations, maybe regulation.

[Blake]

I think also probably average flight distance in the US Is longer in Europe. They can have all those profitable things where you hop from London to Paris.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

I feel like 25 minutes.

[Andrew]

The whole game with Ryanair. When you're in Europe is you just like, you get on. You Google, like, because they, they tell you you could get a cheap deal, they actually, you don't have to go hunting for it. They show you what you can get a. A hot deal on. You're like, I wasn't planning on going to Frankfurt today, but why? Yeah, when I. And then you realize I fly into Frankfurt, it's like an hour and a

[Blake]

half outside of when my cousin joined the convent. We flew from Naples to Palermo and

[Andrew]

it was just because. Right.

[Blake]

It was. Well, it was part of the trip, but it was $25.

[Andrew]

Yeah. So I, I agree. I think that's really fun. That's a fun part about Europe that we can't really match. But it's probably to your point, like, the distance between worthwhile airports is pretty far. The one thing with Ryanair, though, in Europe is that you have to really look at the airport you're flying into and then Google the travel because, like, it'll tell you you can go to London. But it's like, what is it? Gatwick? There's one other one. There's London.

[Jack]

Oh, yeah, there's Gatwick and Luton.

[Andrew]

It's a Luton. I thought it was the. Yeah, it's like London Hampstead or so. So I, I'll have to look.

[Blake]

Heathrow is the main one and Heathrow

[Andrew]

is the main one, but they don't fly any Heathrow. That's my point.

[Jack]

What are you saying? Like, there's like these, these, like Ryanair uses, like the other ones.

[Blake]

Gatwick.

[Andrew]

Gatwick. Gatwick.

[Russ]

So it'll.

[Andrew]

Oh, in Stanstead. Yeah, London, Stansted, Luton. Yeah, you're right. So. So the Stansted and Gatwick are like really far out. So you're flying to London.

[Jack]

It's kind of far out too, because

[Andrew]

I was studying in Spain and so I would go on to like the Seville airport. I would drive, you know, take a train up there and then it would be like, where can I go? And it would. Oftentimes London would be one of the options because it's a major area. But then you go to Gatwick or Stansted and you, you're you're like three hours outside of London somehow. That's how they get away with it.

[Blake]

So speaking of London, we could go to the next topic if we want.

[Andrew]

All right, let's do that.

[Blake]

Or we could. Or we could dwell on the spirit question.

[Andrew]

Are we going to banning flags?

[Blake]

Oh, it's not flags. Yeah, we're talking about something Else. So the British government, the Brits, in its great wisdom, is banning facts for those born after the year 2008.

[Russ]

Cigarettes, everybody.

[Blake]

Yes, yes, indeed. Yes, we should explain that. So in British slang, that does. That word does refer to cigarettes. The British government kind of came out of nowhere. And in Britain, what they are doing is they are banning smoking, but they're not just banning it for everyone. In true boomer fashion. Sorry to all you boomers out there, but this is definitely a boomer move if I ever saw one. They are allowing older people to continue smoking, but anyone born 2009 or onwards, they'll have a steadily escalating ban. Basically, if you're becoming an adult right now, you can never ever buy a cigarette. And they're going to raise the minimum age for buying them by one year, every year.

[Andrew]

Thought about this. So, like, at some point, you know, if you're like a 60 year old, you'd be like, give me a pack of smokes. And they'll be like, nope, it's 61 and over only. Yeah. Do you think they'll still be like some random places? And so. But this doesn't account for like shoulder tapping. Right. At least in the short term. Right. Like, hey, you're a year older than me, you were born in 2008, so you go ahead and give me the pack.

[Blake]

This is Britain. So Britain's really authoritarian. So they're the kind of country that would, in this future, you envision, probably do things like, I'm really distracted because they're showing Yu Gi oh, I'm really distracted. We have a TV set up here and it's showing an episode of Yu Gi oh, for some reason. So sorry, total loss of train of thought. Britain is an authoritarian enough country that what Britain would do is they will have a network of cameras everywhere, which they already have, just total Panopticon. And they will use AI to detect you if you are engaging in that behavior of having someone buy the cigarettes for you, give them to you, and then they will send in their hijab wearing Gestapo police to kick in your door and say that you didn't have a license for those cigarettes and they're going to pay. They're going to fine you 50 pounds, which, because Britain is an impoverished country, poorer than Mississippi, would be like 70% of your income.

[Andrew]

That's the real news is the fact that the UK, if it was our 51st state, would be the poorest state in the Union by a mile too.

[Blake]

Like, not even close.

[Russ]

That's wild.

[Blake]

It's Incredible. They're like, we treat them like a proper country. They pulled the British and they thought, the British people thought they would be the seventh richest state. They're completely full of it.

[Jack]

They're delulu, Delulu. But is that, is that with GDP per capita or is that with purchasing power?

[Blake]

I can't imagine purchasing power in the UK is any better where you can pay $4,000 for a like what, 500 square foot flat?

[Andrew]

Let's see. What, let's see.

[Jack]

I'm just saying, like, let's, let's compare apples to apples.

[Andrew]

Britain would be poorest state in U.S. mississippi. Governor responds with vicious one liner.

[Blake]

Like, I have to imagine purchasing power parity just makes things worse for Britain. You go to Britain and like eight pounds for a sandwich, which would be $13 here, basically.

[Andrew]

Oh yeah, for sure. We'd be in the top 10, maybe top five on a good day.

[Blake]

Nah, 51st, like compare Mississippi to Britain and Mississippi. I bet you could buy a 4,000 square foot house for 450k.

[Andrew]

This is funny. So Governor Tate Reeves, the one liner, I want to put this up on, up on the screen for people.

[Jack]

Yeah, you're right. It's actually still over with purchasing power.

[Andrew]

He goes, as we say in Mississippi, 40, 50% higher. Yeah. So the governor's reply to this guy goes, if the UK joined the US as the 51st state, we'd be the poorest state in the entire union. Mississippi, which is portrayed as swamp dwelling hillbillies in majority of international media, is above us. I don't think people grasp how far we've fallen in real terms. So Tate Reeves goes, as we say in Mississippi, bless your heart. Or as you say in the uk, assalamu alaikum. Yeah, yeah.

[Jack]

But you know what though? I'm gonna, I'm gonna push back a little bit on that because like GDP in general isn't a good measure of median household income. You know, it's because you're, you're, it's like a measure of a bucket of all companies and all things in your economy. So just because the GDP is doing well, it's like stock market is going up. So that means that everybody's got money in their pocket, but it's not true because you're averaging in corporate earnings along with individual families and individual family earnings. That's why like GDP just in general isn't the best measure for something like this. Like you want to look, I'd want to look at median household income. A couple other different things before you actually like, like crap on them.

[Andrew]

Well, it is what it is. And I. I do think that that's a. It's one measure. I agree. Like, is it. For example, I lived in Spain in college. I already brought this up for a semester, a little bit longer. It was like, I think seven, eight months, and I think it was 19%. They called it estate and paro, which just meant unemployed, like living off the door, living off the dole. And I would say the quality of life, even for the people that were not working in the south of Spain, it was like hugely high unemployment rate, but the quality of life was still pretty high. They complained about it, they were upset about it, but it was. They all got by and they just sat at their bars and drank and smoked cigarettes and walked around, hung out in the plazas. It's a life. They were.

[Blake]

It's a decaying life.

[Andrew]

It's a decay.

[Blake]

Eventually, the money runs. The boomer supremacy in Europe is actually way more extreme than in the US

[Russ]

now they're gonna be able to.

[Andrew]

Okay, hold on. Without alienating some of our audience across. Explain what you mean by boomer supremacy, as in.

[Blake]

So, like, everything revolving around the priorities of pensioners to the exclusion of pensioners, what they would call retirees, much more extreme. Like in France, the average. It's gotten so bad. Where the average retirees pension from the government is actually above the average income of working people.

[Andrew]

And they haven't, which is way.

[Blake]

Which is not how it is in the US Wealthy people have good net worths, but your Social Security payment is not above the median income of the United States. That actually is the case in France.

[Andrew]

Is this why Europe is allowing what's happening in 48? Number 48. Play it. Oh, they must be still loading it. Let me know when you have it. This is important. There. Oh, not loaded. I saw it in the chat. Usually when they say it, it's loaded. So there's been a big thing online because. Okay, so you just said that in France, the average pensioner is making more than the average medium income in France, and part of that is birth rate. So maybe this is why they are allowing what's happening in 48 to transpire, because they're backfilling the. Oh, it broke. Oh, well, but anyway, anyways, it's.

[Blake]

But what's funny is that. Is that is the justification. The justification for it is, oh, we need all these people to pay our pensions, which are out of control, but it doesn't work because actually a lot of these people just don't work. And they are themselves Just making the system worse and worse. But Britain has a very funny one. In Britain, they have a thing called the triple lock. And it is politically impossible to ever change the triple lock. Have you ever heard of this?

[Andrew]

Yeah, I have, yeah. I don't remember exactly how.

[Blake]

So the triple lock is by law in Britain. They have to raise the amount that of pension that's paid out to a person each year. And it has to go by either the rate of inflation as they calculate it, some sort of. I believe the average, like wage in the country is basically one of three things. Actually, I should just check what it is. The triple lock, it is one of the measures. It's either inflation, average earnings based on the average earnings in the country, or 2.5%, whichever is basically produces the highest increase. And so if, even if there's no inflation, even if there's no increase in cost of living, even if they're in a recession, basically you still get a 2.5% increase. But if it's above 2 1/2% in terms of inflation, it'll go up to that one. This guarantees it is a mathematical certainty. It is a mathematical law of the universe. This will eventually cause them to go broke. Can't get rid of it.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

So, you know, it's interesting, and that's crazy that I didn't know that they'd worked, I mean, especially with their zero growth that they have over there. But I remember, I don't know why this keeps coming up today, but I remember I was traveling when I was living in Spain. We were in Portugal and we went to get some food and we're sitting at this cafe and this homeless Brit, he was homeless, but he had been living in Portugal because it was warmer, I guess he was homeless. His clothes are all tattered and he was sitting there and he was having a beer at like, I don't know, 10am and we somehow get into this conversation with this guy and he was over the moon because he said, tomorrow is the day that I qualify for my British pension and I won't have to live this way anymore. And I was like, so, like, how long has it been since you lived in England? He's like, oh, about 18 years. So the guy hadn't been paying into the system for 18 years, but he was going to get locked into his British pension even though he's living in Portugal as a homeless guy.

[Blake]

If you look at the rhetoric in, in Britain, in similar countries, it is genuinely depressing. Like the national ideology of Britain, like they're defining reason to exist as a country, if you even listen to their actual government ministers, is basically. We don't have America's health care system. I'm not even making this up. Gordon Brown, their Prime Minister, once suggested we should have a National Day like other countries do, because they don't have an independence or anything. What should we use? And his idea was, how about the day where we set up the nhs? Our defining existence of the country is we have a public health care system. And then, yeah, their pension system. Everything revolves around this. It's very. It truly is. It's anti achievement, it's anti greatness. It's very much a. I want to maximize the amount I can sponge off of the government.

[Andrew]

You sound like you're just like very pro. Social murder by capitalism, perhaps. Pigs.

[Blake]

I mean, Britain was doing a lot of social murder. They were achieving a lot of other things.

[Jack]

Social murder.

[Andrew]

Social murder.

[Jack]

About that real quick.

[Blake]

Maybe, but how do we actually feel?

[Jack]

No, definitely, actually, because Andrews brought it up.

[Andrew]

I did.

[Jack]

It's crazy.

[Andrew]

No, I told. It's. It's Frederick engels from the 1800s and Hassan Park Piker's sitting there, he just read a book for the first time or something and he starts, you know, waxing poetic with the New York Times, who just nods along like, oh, social murder. Yeah, Luigi Maggione. Cool. Really sick stuff. But go ahead, go ahead. We riffed on it this morning, so it's your turn, Jack.

[Jack]

No, I mean, it just goes to show you, right, that, that these guys, the same way you saw how these guys reacted when Charlie was shot, it's the same way that they're up there talking about how, oh, well, you know, actually this guy deserved it and I can understand why, because he committed social murder. We're talking about. So. So Hasan Piker was up there justifying the murder of the United Health CEO Brian Thompson, because he was saying that the refusal to fund the health care or health needs service claims, etc, amounted to something called social murder. And because he had committed social murder again in without any, like, trial or evidence or anything, it was okay then and justified for Luigi Maggione to shoot him in the street. And. And we already know, by the way, and Blake, you might be more up on this than me, but I believe a number of the charges have been dropped from Luigi Maggione. Right.

[Blake]

I haven't followed it.

[Andrew]

Well, they can't get the death penalty on him anymore.

[Blake]

Yeah, yeah, it just. It can't be death penalty, federal or state, so.

[Jack]

Right. Which is. I mean, it's crazy. They're. They're already, like, losing multiple levels of charges on this guy because he, again, did this in a blue district, and the blue judges are just totally okay with it. And they've got a ton of supporters running around. And remember, they were selling the Luigi merchandise. There was a Luigi musical which I believe debuted in San Francisco and is now coming to New York City. Taylor Renz talked about how, you know, he was dreamy and she was in his fan club and all the rest of this. And so it just remains to be seen. These Bolsheviks will kill us all. They are very happy about it. That's why I've talked about, you know. Oh, the infighting. Oh, everyone wants to play this infighting game. And it's like, no, these guys literally want to kill us. They. You know, they already murdered the guy used to co host this show. And they will go to the New York Times and talk about social murder and how it was a good thing. And they'll keep going. They will keep going, and they will not stop going until they have been stopped.

[Andrew]

And it comes from angles. Who was the collaborator for Karl Marx? So that's just Hasan Piker saying, yeah, I'm a communist. And by the way, the communists killed, you know, over 100 million people in the 20th century doing stuff like this.

[Russ]

So, yeah, if we need any. It needed anything else to show that he was a communist.

[Andrew]

Totally. They will rationalize any type of, like, violence if they think it's. You know, if they've got a moral framework upon which, you know, however shaky or feeble or dumb, they will. They will commit murder based upon that moral framework. That's why we need Jesus. Dear Lord. All right. Tattoos.

[Blake]

Oh, boy.

[Andrew]

Because I looked at Russ, all of a sudden, Russ got into talk, and

[Blake]

I was like, okay, he's getting the shakes because he's got. We have to get. So we did promise that getting these. So this is all process. There's a secondary. So this.

[Andrew]

All.

[Blake]

This all blew up because there's a background news story. Pete Davidson, who I'm told is a famous person. You're younger than me. He is a comedian who dates hot women. Is he funny?

[Andrew]

Like, is he.

[Russ]

He's a comedian. He's an snl.

[Blake]

Okay.

[Andrew]

A lot of people are comedians, though.

[Blake]

No.

[Andrew]

So here's the thing. I. I remember having the same exact conversation with my wife and a bunch of her friends, and they do not think he's attractive, to be fair. But their whole thing was, he's got a thing. He's got something that's Fair.

[Blake]

I guess.

[Andrew]

That's. That's the. That's.

[Blake]

Anyway, Pete Davidson is a comedian, just like Dave Smith, I guess. And then. Anyway, he's. He's a comedian, and he had a gazillion tattoos, over 200, I believe. But recently, he has been getting them all lasered off to the extent it's possible. It's pretty tough to fully remove.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

Stuff to the extent he has. He's not 100% anti tattoo. He actually has a tattoo along his ear that's his daughter's name.

[Russ]

But he also still has chest tattoos that are for his dad.

[Blake]

Yeah. So he's. But he's pretty radically cut them back. It looks like he maybe got rid of his notorious RBG tattoo that he seems to have. I'm seeing in this picture. You guess he got a Ruth Bader Ginsburg tattoo. They're all disappearing. And so this prompted a bigger debate, which is, are the tattoos bad or not? Should people be getting them?

[Andrew]

All right. But there's so many good tattoos, Russ, before tattoos, 36.

[Russ]

I don't know why I put myself under.

[Blake]

This is our tattoo acolyte. How many total tattoos do you have?

[Russ]

I have 20.

[Blake]

You have 20.

[Jack]

Russ.

[Russ]

That's me.

[Andrew]

Wait, hold on. Go to that other one.

[Russ]

So that's you. Yes. So that's 2017. Me. That's what. Yeah, so I am 20, 21.

[Blake]

Okay.

[Russ]

So hilariously enough about this. This was my, like, beanie stage, where I used to, like, have it on the back of my head to keep,

[Andrew]

like, my hair up.

[Russ]

And that was also when I can.

[Jack]

You guys. So we just see Russ now and that picture.

[Russ]

Can we.

[Andrew]

Can we. Can we do it side by side?

[Jack]

Do that.

[Andrew]

Holy cow, Russ, because I've never seen your chin. I mean, before that.

[Russ]

Yeah, neither.

[Andrew]

I got it. Can we, like, enlarge it?

[Jack]

Yeah, side to side.

[Andrew]

The podcast is going to really miss out on this. We recommend.

[Jack]

Yeah, I'm sorry, Podcast. This is like. You just got to watch it.

[Russ]

Oh, gosh.

[Andrew]

Don't look at me.

[Jack]

Yeah. I don't know why.

[Blake]

I think we've.

[Andrew]

I think we've. We've messed up the. The. The studio. We've.

[Jack]

Russ is Russ.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Blake]

So this was all before.

[Russ]

So, hilariously enough, when I got into college, I started trying to grow facial hair. The only thing I could grow was a goatee.

[Andrew]

So for come a long way.

[Russ]

Yeah. So for, like, four years, all I

[Jack]

had was a go teach Blake how to do that.

[Andrew]

And then. Oh, buddy.

[Russ]

And then that's when I started growing out the hair. I started growing out the beard. I mean, you're a good looking kid. And then I started. I started adding tattoos, and actually the first tattoo I got was right after I graduated high school.

[Andrew]

Okay, there it is. Look straight ahead, Russ.

[Jack]

Make that face.

[Russ]

Oh, yeah. That's my normal smile.

[Blake]

What. What was the first tattoo?

[Russ]

It's. It was on my wrist. I've covered it up since then. But it said relax.

[Blake]

Oh, are you anti relaxing now?

[Russ]

No, it was mainly because my parents used it against me.

[Blake]

So this is.

[Russ]

I only have 20.

[Blake]

I feel like we're getting a message here, which is, you got a tattoo.

[Jack]

Wait, wait, wait.

[Blake]

You later came to regret your hand.

[Andrew]

You got, like, multiple letters.

[Russ]

Yes.

[Andrew]

You consider those as one.

[Russ]

So I consider them. I consider them as, like. So I have live free died. Well, I count live free. And I. I count the words as one tattoo.

[Andrew]

All right.

[Russ]

And then don't go gentle. And then I got more hands. I just finished this hand finally.

[Andrew]

So the hands gotta hurt, though, because the bones are tight. Close.

[Russ]

Honestly, the thing that hurt the most was getting closer to the palm.

[Andrew]

Oh, interesting.

[Russ]

That's what hurt.

[Andrew]

There's one of our staff that had a tattoo on the rib cage. Rib cage just hurt.

[Jack]

I say that a lot now.

[Andrew]

I said, do you regret that one? And the answer was yes, because the rib cage, it hurt.

[Jack]

So was that a girl?

[Andrew]

I would rather just.

[Blake]

Yeah,

[Jack]

we don't need to go.

[Blake]

But. So as first of all, the number of people with tattoos has gone up. We're getting very close to the point where a majority of people under 40 are going to have a tattoo. The majority of women under 40 already have one. In fact, it's like 56% for women under 30 have at least one tattoo. So you are now actually the rebel if you don't have one.

[Andrew]

But hold on. This is kind of like.

[Jack]

Is the GRE head pledge?

[Andrew]

No, but. And by the way, I have zero tattoos. But I will tell you that some girls have, I guess you would say, more tasteful. Right? What? What? And apologies to anybody in the audience that has this, but, like, where I get kind of like, it's the tattoos, like, on the back of the calf. Like a huge one on the back of a calf, right side.

[Blake]

I think this is eliding.

[Jack]

The point Andrew's getting at is that girls don't know how to get tattoos, and girls always have, like, bad tattoos. It looks like when you have, like, a toddler with a little stamp toy, and it's just, like,

[Andrew]

all over, there's

[Russ]

a style that's kind of cool.

[Blake]

This is a style like that. Subtle.

[Jack]

Just look like that with a toddler with the baby stamp. But just like stamping in random places that don't look aesthetic and it looks terrible.

[Russ]

Yeah, it's definitely, definitely placement is a.

[Jack]

Big.

[Russ]

Is a. Is a key thing.

[Andrew]

You know, it's interesting that the tramp stamp became a thing, but there must have been a time before the tramp stamp became like a. Became like a cliche cultural thing where dudes were getting him in the small of their backs too. There's some dudes walking around with tramp stamps. There's gotta be.

[Jack]

Because before he goes out.

[Russ]

Yeah, exactly.

[Blake]

I mean, I'm so. I'm just. My point of view. So let's remind people what the Greer head pledge was because we debated this. We did this with Charlie almost three years ago now. The Greer head pledge is from a guy, Scott Greer. He's a blogger on Substack, Writer. He's in some other magazines. I think he gets. He's in the American Conservative sometimes, but he calls it the Greer head pledge because his fans are called Greer heads. And it's four things to sort of fight against the cultural and aesthetic decay of America in modern worlding of America, the third worlding of America. And the four planks of it are you take it as a pledge. So I will not smoke weed. I will not watch a Marvel movie. I will not listen to rap music. And then this is the newest point, because it used to be I will not watch the NFL, I believe. But that was a little too extreme. And he said that the NFL did have good aspects, like there's bad stuff in the NFL, but it's not.

[Andrew]

No, it's not.

[Blake]

It's not a huge corrupting influence. So he replaced it with I will not get a tattoo. And he has. He has a pretty good argument for it, which is basically that tattoos are spreading beyond the traditional groups and beyond the acceptable parts of the body. Once upon a time, only bikers and ex cons had tattoos. Now you see them on baristas and on sales managers. It used to be only men got tattoos. Now a majority of women under 40 have tats. People used to cover up their tattoos when they were out in public. And only prison gang members would show off full body tats all over the place.

[Andrew]

Place.

[Blake]

Now you see face, neck, tattoos all over the place out in the street and tattoos. This is Scott's writing. This tattoos have turned into an epidemic of ugliness. Publicly visible tattoos symbolize the vulgarization that is eating away at our civilization, and they tarnish the appearance of a person bearing one. And that is why the pledge is, I will not get a tattoo.

[Andrew]

Russian, your response?

[Russ]

I guess I'm responsible for the degradation of society.

[Andrew]

The vulgarization.

[Blake]

He says, imagine a world without weed, without rap, without Marvel movies, and without tattoos. It's the world we want. And taking a step towards that world begins at the individual.

[Andrew]

It's true. I do actually believe in that last sentence. But then I know people like Russ, and I'm like, well, it's all right that he has him. I mean, that's how I feel, because I have a personal.

[Blake]

I'm not anti Russ, but I think.

[Andrew]

I think.

[Blake]

Russ, I think. I think you would be better without tattoos. I'm just going to be so.

[Russ]

Actually, one of the reasons, actually, that I've wanted tattoos since I saw tattoos since the first. I don't even remember the first movie that I watched that had somebody with a tattoo, but I remember being young and wanting tattoos, and it was funny. And when I finally did get the eagle and then the. This heart, it was one of those.

[Andrew]

That's like a human heart pumping. Yes. It's not like for the.

[Russ]

It has. So I got Aragorn, I got Narsil, Q.

[Blake]

They didn't. They don't know Lord of the Rings, so I got.

[Andrew]

Yeah, there it is.

[Russ]

So I got Narsil through the sword, and there's a lock. There's a keyhole.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Russ]

And it actually, it just kind of describes a lot of my personal journey. A lot of most of my tattoos, especially on this arm, are kind of

[Andrew]

my value set almost or something.

[Blake]

It's.

[Russ]

It's. It's my story.

[Blake]

It's.

[Russ]

It's kind of where. Where my journey has led. And it's also. I mean, this clock is. Matthew talks about the sparrows. When Jesus is like, look at the sparrows. I take care of them.

[Jack]

You.

[Russ]

They worry. And that's having. Being somebody who's had anxiety and that kind of stuff.

[Jack]

That was.

[Russ]

That was a very big scripture for me.

[Andrew]

All right. Well, yeah. Jack, do you. Do you. Do you judge people with tattoos? Are you a Greer head when it comes to the pledge? I don't judge people, so you can't

[Jack]

do that as much as I used to.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Jack]

I think I'm the only guy who's ever gone through the Navy without having a drink or getting a tattoo. So I've definitely seen. Definitely seen a lot of it.

[Andrew]

I mean.

[Jack]

Yeah. With, again, like, sailors, bikers, like, this is that that was kind of like what tattoos were for in the past. You know, I, I, I'm generally, I'm generally of the view, though, that, like, it's. I mean, I, I just don't think they're aesthetic. Right. I never have. I think, you know, why do you. Why put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari? You know what I'm saying? Like, like, if you wanna. You want to.

[Andrew]

Are you the Ferrari in this instance?

[Blake]

So wait, it's just true.

[Jack]

Like, if you see. Here's what I'm gonna say here.

[Russ]

I'll say right now.

[Andrew]

All right, all right.

[Jack]

I see my beautiful wife. I see Tanya Tay, and I. And I think she's absolutely gorgeously perfect. And I think, like, what would a tattoo do to that appearance? And it's like, it would ruin it for me because it's like, she looks gorgeous.

[Blake]

I will say, like, when you want. There are, you know, there are models and such who have tattoos, but when they want them to look maximally hot, they are airbrushing out those tattoos every time.

[Andrew]

What about Pete Hegseth? Sock 37?

[Blake]

Yes.

[Russ]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Base 37. Yeah, there it is.

[Russ]

It's just photos. I'll take a little weird one.

[Blake]

I'll be frank.

[Russ]

Well, because he's got the chest. Well, he's gonna show off the chest.

[Blake]

I don't like it. I think I, I will put it this way. There's a reason there's never been a US President with a visible tattoo. There's a reason there's never been a king of England with a visible tattoo.

[Andrew]

At least.

[Russ]

Blake, would you rather have a girl who's been with 10 guys or has. Or has 10 tattoos?

[Blake]

Well, I think there's going to be a correlation there, but it's well known that that correlation. I'll be frank. This is a big reason. A big reason guys will, like, kind of like tattoos is the perception is that a woman who gets tattoos is easier. That is the perception. 100%.

[Andrew]

Okay. But go with his. His hypothetical. I mean, he's making a fairly good point. Ten tattoos, zero men. Ten men, zero tattoos. You got to pick one of the other.

[Blake]

I mean, probably the zero men one. But again, in real life, they correlate. And also. And the point is, is they both. They both lower attractiveness, which is why we're making the comparison.

[Andrew]

That is true. That is true.

[Russ]

I. I think also, I also would

[Jack]

notice, I also note that, that it's kind of. Kind of interesting how, you know, when it comes to, you know, when it comes to iconography, when it comes to tattoos, suddenly everybody loves the Catholic iconography when they want to get tattoos.

[Russ]

I mean, fair. But I'm also.

[Andrew]

I like.

[Russ]

I. I like the Crusades.

[Blake]

What would protest.

[Russ]

Yeah, I know they're Catholic.

[Blake]

Someone gets.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Blake]

Get online.

[Jack]

All the Based. All the bait, like St. Michael the Archangel, the Crusade.

[Russ]

It's also based in history, though.

[Blake]

I will just note there is. There is an expense in the Bible. Don't get tattooed.

[Andrew]

It is gonna get.

[Russ]

It's good art.

[Blake]

That's.

[Russ]

That gets back to the point of, like, one of the greatest things that. That the Catholic Church produced throughout the Middle Ages was the iconography and the art. And that's where we gained as a society. We gained a lot of our value.

[Andrew]

Are you trying to tell me that the Protestants couldn't have done the. The Sistine Chapel?

[Russ]

Actually, as a Protestant, I agree. I don't think they could.

[Jack]

Where's the Protestant Sistine Chapel?

[Russ]

I don't think.

[Andrew]

Where's the Catholic Sistine Chapel? Since the Sistine Chapel. But that's. That's fine, too.

[Blake]

Sagrada Familia.

[Jack]

That's pretty right there in Rome.

[Andrew]

All I'm saying.

[Russ]

All I'm saying is Barcelona, if Catholic church churches can have iconography and can have art on the ceilings, I can have art and an iconography on my body.

[Andrew]

Okay, go to the Bible verse.

[Blake]

All right, let's get it. We've got. Let's see. What is it?

[Jack]

Bible? Isn't it like Orthodox Jewish cemeteries?

[Russ]

It's Leviticus 19:28.

[Blake]

Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourself. I am the Lord.

[Andrew]

Wait, hold on. What was the first part?

[Blake]

Do not put. Do not cut your bodies for the dead. I think that would be maybe a method of mourning is like, you'd make yourself believe. But it says that. Or put tattoo marks upon yourself.

[Jack]

It doesn't say.

[Blake]

Just do the former. It doesn't say that. N. It says, don't do that or

[Jack]

don't get tattoos of the dead. Or is it saying don't get tattoos at all?

[Blake]

It just says do. It says, do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. And at the least, I will note, Orthodox Jews, known for their pretty rigid adherence to these Old Testament laws, do not allow tattoos. I think you can't even be buried in a Jewish cemetery if you have them.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Russ]

Also don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

[Andrew]

Did you know Isaiah 44. Five?

[Blake]

That's true.

[Andrew]

They do not. Says one will say, I am the Lord's and another will write, even brand or tattoo upon his hand. I am the Lord's.

[Blake]

Let's see, the thing About Leviticus, Isaiah

[Andrew]

49, it says God has a picture of you tattooed on the palm of his hand.

[Russ]

The thing about Leviticus is that it

[Blake]

is say God's not allowed to tattoo,

[Jack]

it says God's allowed to do what he wants.

[Blake]

Yeah, God can do a lot of things. God can say he's God, you can't say you're God.

[Andrew]

So but we were talking about if this was ceremonial laws. There are different categories of laws. Some.

[Jack]

Oh, here we go.

[Andrew]

Oh, what?

[Blake]

Oh yeah, this is getting deep into the biblical exegesis.

[Andrew]

I'm just saying there are categories. Some are legal, some are spiritual, some are ceremonial, some are have to do with civil governance. Right. So depending on the type of law that we're talking about, they may or may not have application to Matthew.

[Russ]

Matthew 5:17 says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, I have come to fulfill them. So Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament law, which.

[Jack]

Amen. Covenantal theology, baby.

[Russ]

Which then negates the need for the Levitical laws. And being that they were ceremonial, being also that if we look back at the time period of the Israelites, they were dealing with a nation of the Canaanites that was extremely pagan and so they were doing blood sacrifices. They were doing blood rituals. Yeah, overtly pagan. They were overtly pagan. And so that, that obviously God was writing a law to the Israelites who had just come out of Egypt, who didn't have a set framework because again, this is a, this is a body of people that just spent how many centuries being slaves and being under the oppression of the Egyptians? So they come out of that, they don't have any idea or any hey. Ideology of what their society is supposed to be.

[Blake]

I'm checking the whole chapter, okay, from Leviticus that the tattoo line comes from. And I feel like the immediate follow up verse right after the do not put tattoo marks on yourselves might be related. It says, do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.

[Andrew]

This is what Gur was trying to get at. Just say it as succinctly.

[Blake]

Observe my sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary.

[Jack]

I am the Lord. You know what?

[Blake]

You know what?

[Jack]

Speaking of Egypt though, that actually reminds me of something, that one of one cool group that does have tattoos is the Coptic Christians. In Egypt. So Coptic Christians particularly, I think when they're kind of young, I don't know, I don't know how old exactly, but they will get a cross tattooed right on the inside and they all have it. And even though they live in Muslim areas where the Muslims have been like as you can imagine, just horrific in terms of persecution and slaughter of the Christians, that Coptic Christians in Egypt and across the Middle east will get that cross tattoo. So I'm like, can't be against that. Like, that's pretty based.

[Andrew]

Well, I mean, listen, I'll just say I don't have a moral obligation for it because I do think it was a ceremonial law that I would put. I would chalk that tattoo thing up to. I don't think it's a moral law. And I would say that there is. You need to guard against legalism. I don't like tattoos personally in most situations because I find them to be aesthetically displeasing. When I meet Russ, who sort of like the whole mo fits it like does. I have zero problem with it.

[Blake]

I can tolerate them. I don't. I find it fun to bring that up. But I don't know if I would consider it immoral necessarily. But my main thing is I kind of go with Scott's sense that I think it's generally ugly to have tattoos everywhere. I think a lot of people end up getting tattoos they regret. I think they get tattoos that age badly. I think it goes. I think in general, I think women are just more attractive without tattoos. And so to the extent it's good to be attractive, it's good.

[Andrew]

Beautiful chat says do. Does the chat like tattoos?

[Blake]

It's divided.

[Russ]

It is very divided. It is very divided. What I will say.

[Jack]

Can I tell you a story about.

[Andrew]

About real quick?

[Jack]

Just tiny on tiny tag. And so I like having no tattoos was a big, like that was like a hard no for me with, you know, back when I was single and it was like, it was like no tats, no, no smoking. And like I did. I. I was okay with like, I didn't drink, but I didn't. I was like okay with a little bit of drinking and. But you know, I prefer a non drinker but I was like, you know, like just in today's day and age you can't, you know, you can't get everything right. So even though I did so when I first met Tanya it was winter and so you know, like you're wearing like long clothes and everything and so you didn't. It was January, so I didn't know if she had any tats anywhere. So this was back. This is, what, 11 years ago now? January of 2015. So I'm, like, digging through her Facebook looking for, like, okay, like, let's. Let's go on a tattoo hunt. Let's check it out. Let's see. Do we have any tattoo? Over here, over here, over here, over here. And then there was this one picture that she had, like, on her leg and our calf, she had one of those big, like. I think it was like a jaguar. Like, one of those jaguar things.

[Russ]

And.

[Jack]

But I couldn't tell if it was one of the. Like, a real tattoo or one of those, like, henna tattoos.

[Andrew]

What's it.

[Jack]

So it's still winter.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Blake]

You know, like.

[Jack]

Like. Like a panther. You know what I mean? Like, it's that very common symbol that you always see where it's, like, the heads at the bottom and the tails going up.

[Andrew]

Oh, like the full body.

[Jack]

Yeah, the full body. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I think, like, it's second or third date after I see this. I'm just sitting there. I'm like, so, you know, I was thinking about getting a tattoo, you know, what about you? Do you have any. Have any of those. Do you have any of those. Any of those tattoos? I know, right?

[Andrew]

And then.

[Jack]

And then she's like, oh, no, I. I don't have one. I was like, really? Never, like, got one on leg? Like, maybe. Maybe, like, we're at the beach or something. I don't know. And she goes, oh, yeah. Well, I know one time that I was down at the shore, and she got us. We say in Philly, and she said, I got one of those henna tattoos inside. I'm like, yes, yes, yes. Just.

[Andrew]

Hannah, will you marry me?

[Jack]

Yeah. She had a tattoo. I would have stopped talking to her.

[Russ]

Here's what I will say.

[Andrew]

Just straight up. Yeah, okay.

[Russ]

Here's what I will say about. I respect that, having tattoos and about my kind of journey through getting tattoos. One I think you need to have. Your brain needs to be fully developed.

[Andrew]

You were 21 when you got.

[Russ]

Yeah, true. But I had thought about tattoos a lot, so.

[Blake]

So here's the thing.

[Jack]

So my brain was developed.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Before your brain was developed.

[Blake]

Heroin addicts.

[Russ]

So here's heroin a lot. So I. I got a tattoo. I got one tattoo. My parents were like, hey, anymore? And you're.

[Andrew]

You're.

[Russ]

They were like, we're like, while you're in college, anything. Anything. You're cut off. I said, okay, sounds good. I didn't get any tattoos through college. And then when I got out of college, because I was on my own, I was making my own money, I was doing my own stuff, I started getting. I. That's when I started getting tattoos. So I had planned out, like, I planned out all this. This sleeve throughout all of college, and then also then systematically as I started getting tattoos, I started to make sure that that was something I wanted to get, and so then I can. And then that's when I continue to do it. So I didn't get tattoos because I graduated in 20. 2020. So I didn't get tattoos until 20, 20, 20.

[Andrew]

I mean, this is all really well and good, good, Russ, but.

[Russ]

And I'm getting more.

[Andrew]

So it sounds like a whole bunch of cope. No, I'm just kidding.

[Jack]

Wait, are your tattoos just arms, or do you have, like, chest, back, anything?

[Russ]

So I've got. I've got two.

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah.

[Russ]

This one on my neck. I got one behind my ear. I've got the arms. I have one on my chest. And then I have another full sleeve planned and a back piece.

[Andrew]

Oh, you're gonna get the. Are you gonna get the full sleeve where it's like.

[Russ]

Yeah, that.

[Blake]

It's one like.

[Andrew]

Like, machine gun Kelly 41.

[Russ]

Oh, gosh. Oh, no. I'm not blacking out.

[Jack]

Oh, I'm not.

[Russ]

I'm not doing blackout work. That's for dang sure.

[Jack]

That's crazy. That's so my. My brother.

[Russ]

So he was covered in tattoos and then on top of it.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jack]

So my brother's got two tattoos on his back. One that he got in Philly, and then the other one kind of interesting. He got done in Jerusalem when we were there. And they have this place where you go and it's basically. They say that they have all of these, you know, like, tracings of tattoos that they claim are from, like, thousands. Oh, yes.

[Russ]

The Jerusalem place. I want to go there.

[Jack]

Yeah, yeah. It's like a famous place. Forget my head. And. And he got basically a crusader tattoo on his back in Jerusalem in the same place that supposedly, again, like, caveat, caveat, etc. You know that a lot of the actual Crusaders got tattoos.

[Russ]

Well, that was really nuke tattoo.

[Andrew]

That's really cool and all, but it's not as cool as this back tattoo. SOP 40.

[Russ]

It's so good.

[Blake]

This just gets that. As. As admirable as that is, you're gonna

[Andrew]

go back to the grid.

[Blake]

It's still gonna age badly, and I'm gonna end with a piece of honest Advice. I would just note for any ladies out there who are listening, all five of you, if in a survey I believe was from Britain, I think 37% of men said their number one turnoff from women was tattoos. And I 100% believe that.

[Jack]

I think in my, my two my turn offs yet again, tattoos, smoking and drinking. Just not into it.

[Andrew]

Yeah, me and my wife, we don't have any. So what can I say? I didn't do it out of like, I didn't not get a tattoo out of some sort of, you know, value set really. It was just sort of, I think it was just an instinct. But I'm glad I have the Greer pledge now. Destruction.

[Russ]

You know what, at the end of the day, one of my biggest supporters every time I get a tattoo is Erica. So.

[Andrew]

Well, maybe I will say what's that?

[Blake]

I'm just saying that Charlie had no tattoos. He was a bit of a tattoo bash. I think there is like she also

[Russ]

understands who, like how I, how I.

[Andrew]

Yeah, but there's also sort of like there's kind of a thing where if you're going to be a person that has a tattoo and you're a good guy like you, I'm not going to give you a hard time about it, but I think is it. There's the micro and the macro. Right. Like the macro is, we have, we have preferences on the macro. It's also, I also don't want to see the degradation of culture and it is kind of like the DMV go to Disneyland where everybody's wearing like shorts. You can see all those like parents that should know better with all their kids and they got tattoos all over that.

[Blake]

I think that's what gets that. You'll see people say like this is

[Jack]

more class, like totally out of control.

[Blake]

When people say like a certain tattoo is classy, they usually just mean it's less visible. And I think that's getting at the truth of it in most cases, which is they don't look great for the most part.

[Andrew]

Well, these things probably do go in trends though, right?

[Jack]

They do.

[Blake]

Which is also, that's, I mean that's definitely especially a reason, I'll be frank, women should avoid them is they're more vulnerable to fads and trends and it's a way of crystallizing and making largely indelible a trend you will, you will probably think think is lamentable. We had one of our comments in the live chat, say apparently in 2016 every other chick was getting an ohana tattoo because ohana means Family.

[Andrew]

And in what language?

[Russ]

Disney?

[Blake]

Hawaiian, I believe. I think it's in Lilo and Stitch.

[Andrew]

Was it. Was it like a mat? Was it like a. Yeah, okay. Moana, the movie came in.

[Jack]

Yeah.

[Blake]

You get all these things that are just a very transient fad, except now they're emblazoned on your body for all time, and you'll be explaining them to people when you're 76 years old and going into, you know, a nursing home.

[Russ]

To be fair, my. When I started looking at tattoos, I was looking at like.

[Andrew]

Like, old.

[Russ]

Like, bikers in the 70s. I was looking at, you know, all of the. That kind of stuff. So that's where. This is where the thought process.

[Blake]

You pass.

[Andrew]

You're fine. We accept you for who you are. It's great, Jack.

[Blake]

We'd just accept you more if you were.

[Andrew]

We would just like you more if you were. Wait, no, I'm just kidding. So wait, I'm trying to think of any of these. I think Tom Hardy. I feel like he would have easily been a guy that. Yes, sir. I don't know. That's her.

[Jack]

Not into it?

[Andrew]

Nah, not feeling it. But I watch.

[Jack]

Hold on.

[Andrew]

I just watched A Mob Land with Tom Hardy.

[Russ]

Oh, so good.

[Andrew]

Pretty hardcore film. So it's not for young people, but Tom Hardy is.

[Russ]

Is hardcore, or he plays hardcore characters, that's for sure.

[Andrew]

All right, Jack, take us away, my friend.

[Jack]

Ladies and gentlemen, as always, go out there and commit more thought. Crime is.