496 JRE Review of Rand Paul

Summary

JRE Review Podcast - Episode 496: Review of Joe Rogan’s Interview with Rand Paul

Date: January 31, 2026
Hosts: Adam Thorne (A), Peter (B)

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Episode Overview

This episode offers a comprehensive review and analysis of Joe Rogan’s interview with Senator Rand Paul. Adam and Peter unpack Rand Paul’s uniquely libertarian political perspective, especially his responses to COVID-19 policies, government overreach, nutritional guidelines, free speech, welfare programs, border security, and immigration enforcement. The hosts balance critique and praise, peppering their conversation with humor and candid reflections on recent political developments.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Who is Rand Paul?

[01:07]

• Background: US Senator from Kentucky, doctor (ophthalmologist), son of Ron Paul, noted for his libertarian principles.
• Personality: “Seems normal... he can kind of walk that line and it seems like people respect him. I think it’s hard to balance that in politics also.” (A, [04:45])
• Independence & Values: Noted for distancing himself from establishment politics—open to cooperation but maintains consistent skepticism of centralized authority.

2. COVID-19 Response and Critique

[05:35]

• COVID Policies: Rand Paul discusses overreach, mask efficacy (“masks not really working... the six foot tobacco... made up”), natural immunity, and data manipulation. (A, [05:35]; [06:28])
• Fauci Showdowns: The hosts highlight Paul’s aggressive questioning of Fauci:

  “He was hammering Fauci, which I thought was great… From a medical background, doctor to doctor.” (A & B, [02:37])

• Pardons and Accountability:
  • Debate on presidential pardons, blanket pardons, and lack of real consequences for public health officials.
  • “Power doesn’t give itself back. And that’s very true. And that was what was happening during that time.” (A, [11:22])
• Double standards and Hypocrisy:
  • Politicians breaking their own COVID rules (e.g., Gavin Newsom at French Laundry, Boris Johnson’s parties).

3. Science and Free Speech

[19:04]; [31:02]

• Science and Questioning Authority:

  “Science that can’t be questioned isn’t science anymore.” (B quoting Paul, [19:05])

• Censorship During COVID:
  • Tech platform suppression of alternative COVID viewpoints; Rogan’s experience with CNN.
  • “Once speech is filtered, truth gets filtered with it.” (A, [32:04])
• Rogan’s Role:
  • “He’s bigger than CNN… and more honest than the disingenuous crap that CNN was spouting at that time.” (A & B, [18:18])

4. Nutrition, Food Pyramid, and Public Health

[24:02]; [22:34]

• Government Dietary Guidelines:
  • Discussion about changes to the food pyramid—now upside down, implying prior advice was not an accident but orchestrated.

  “If you flip something upside down and now it’s better… it means that the other way around… was done that way on purpose.” (A, [23:40])

• Processed Foods & Subsidies:
  • Critique of allowing food stamps to cover ultra-processed foods, calling for education over abrupt restrictions.
• Education:
  • Emphasizing the need for practical nutritional education in schools; comparing the mountain of sugar in soda to show students what they’re consuming.

5. Welfare Programs (EBT, SNAP)

[25:04]

• Use and Abuse:
  • Observations on how SNAP/EBT benefits are often used for unhealthy food—“TikTok EBT influencers” fill carts with junk paid for by taxpayer dollars.
  • “If you were raised that way, how would you know any different to raise your kids any different?” (A, [26:06])
• Limits and Education:
  • The hosts debate incremental changes versus a sudden cutoff, favoring gradual education and reform.

6. Fraud, Daycares, and Government Waste

[32:53]

• Minneapolis Daycare Scam:
  • Billions stolen in fraudulent daycare schemes, money sent overseas.
  • “He mentioned an iceberg that the Minnesota daycare is the tip and California is the 90% that lies beneath it. There’s so many scams…” (B, [33:14])
• Government Data Vulnerability:
  • DMV and other agencies already have citizens' personal information—security and privacy concerns.

7. Immigration, Redistricting, and ICE

[36:15]; [41:56]; [44:32]

• Border Enforcement:
  • Praise for Trump’s quick action on border security where other presidents failed. Obama’s digital border efforts noted as well.
• Redistricting & Census:
  • Discussion on how counting all residents (citizens or not) can shift congressional representation—“the census doesn’t count your name, it just counts your number.” (B, [37:12])
• ICE Controversies & Protest:
  • Intense local pushback in Minneapolis; hosts describe the feeling of civil conflict.
  • “There are armed civilians on neighborhood streets... saying things like, I’m here to make sure ICE doesn’t come down our streets. That’s bold.” (A, [42:05])
• Balanced Approach:
  • Rand Paul’s nuanced policy: let non-criminal undocumented immigrants work and stay, but no path to citizenship; importance of knowing who’s in the country.
  • “He wasn’t about that [mass deportation]. He was like, you can stay… if you’re working and you haven’t committed any crimes... but you don’t get benefits.” (A, [44:40])
• Empathy for Immigrants:
  • Rogan and Rand’s shared support for humane reform; criticism of ICE excesses and lack of public trust.

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On science and skepticism:

  “Science that can’t be questioned isn’t science anymore.” (B quoting Paul, 19:05)

• On power and accountability:

  “Power doesn’t give itself back.” (A, 11:22)

• On censorship:

  “Once speech is filtered, truth gets filtered with it.” (A, 32:04)

• On the food pyramid and dietary advice:

  “If you flip something upside down and now it’s better… it means that the other way around… was done that way on purpose.” (A, 23:40)

• On political hypocrisy during COVID:

  “Gavin Newsom… at the French Laundry, just having the best oatmeal, finger foods. That son of a bitch.” (A, 13:06)

• On empathy for poor dietary habits:

  “He understands that it takes more than just telling [poor folks] to eat fruit, to start eating better. There’s a lot more that goes into that, and it doesn’t just happen overnight.” (A, 46:29)

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Engaging Moments and Humor

• Discussion about Wonder Bread’s “negative weight” and the inferiority of American bread compared to Europe: (A & B, 22:15–22:21)
• Hosts fantasizing about starting a daycare scam after hearing about the billions stolen in Minnesota: (A & B, 34:01–34:05)
• Nostalgic and comedic exchange about Mountain Dew and the food pyramid’s legacy: (A & B, 27:40–28:04)
• Jokes about “Call of Duty” style readiness among Minneapolis civilians during ICE protests: (A & B, 42:33–42:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Intro & Who is Rand Paul: 00:41–05:26
• COVID-19 Policy Critique: 05:35–18:58
• Discussion on Science & Censorship: 19:04–32:04
• Government Nutrition Guidelines: 22:34–24:29
• Welfare and Food Stamps: 25:00–30:10
• Daycare Fraud Scandal: 32:53–35:53
• Immigration, Border, ICE: 36:15–45:36
• Final Reflections & Rating: 46:04–48:23

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Final Thoughts and Episode Ratings

• Adam:

  “Overall, I give this episode, you know, I give it a solid 8 out of 10… It was like when you turn on a show on Netflix… and it ends up being a quite a good episode. You’re sucked in… that actually was way better than I expected.” (A, 47:30)

• Peter:

  “Actually, I ended up liking him more than I originally had. I like Rand Paul. Seems like a true American, wants the best for everybody.” (B, 48:04)

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Conclusion

This JRE Review episode dives deep into Senator Rand Paul's interview, highlighting the appeal of his medical and libertarian approach, his critiques of COVID policy, skepticism of government authority, and nuanced stances on controversial topics like immigration and nutrition. The recap is peppered with wit, skepticism, and moments of humor, making it entertaining and informative for anyone—Rogan devotee or newcomer alike.

Transcript

[A]

You are listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review Podcast. We find little nuggets, treasures, valuable pieces.

[B]

Of gold in the Joe Rogan Experience.

[A]

Podcast and pass them on to you. Perhaps expand a little bit. We are not associated with Joe Rogan in any way.

[B]

Think of us as the talking dead to Joe's walking Dead.

[A]

You're listening to the Joe Rogan Experience Review.

[B]

What a bizarre thing we've created now.

[A]

With your host, Adam Thorne. This might either be the worst podcast or the best one. One go. Enjoy the show. Hey, guys. And welcome to another episode of the Joe Rogan Experience Review. This week I'm joined by Peter. How are you, sir?

[B]

Good day, sir.

[A]

And we are reviewing the episode with Rand Paul. Rand. It's not a very popular first name, is it?

[B]

I don't think I've ever heard it. Randy.

[A]

Randy. Randall is short for Randall. Is it Randall?

[B]

Paul Randall. Paul. Maybe.

[A]

Randall's not very popular.

[B]

He's Jake, Paul's older brother.

[A]

Is that what it is?

[B]

What it is.

[A]

There we go. Maybe he will get into celebrity boxing too. Yeah, Rand Paul, US Senator from Kentucky, the Chicken State, a doctor by training, and one of the most consistent libertarian voices in modern American politics. He's also the son of Ron Paul, which matters because a lot of Rand Paul's worldviews come from that same deep skepticism of centralized power, foreign intervention, and unchecked government authority. Before politics, Paul was an eye doctor. And that medical background shows up consistently in how he talks about, well, Covid, public health and science. And he approaches these issues less like a culture warrior and more like someone trained to question data incentives and institutional behavior, which he does a lot in this episode. Um, you know, I have to say, my impression of him, I liked him, you know, seems.

[B]

Seems normal.

[A]

I did. I didn't know a lot about him. I really. You know, you see him on the TV sometimes. But when he really came to light for me was during the hearings with Fauci. And he was hammering Fauci, which. Which I thought was great. Right.

[B]

From a medical background doctor to doctor.

[A]

Yep. Solidly hammering him. And I felt like a lot of Fauci's responses were, you know, just no good. I didn't care for him. And.

[B]

Well, what did he always say like? I. He's like, that's just not the facts. Something. Something Italian sounding.

[A]

He was just getting away with all kinds during that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I mean, it just. It didn't seem. I don't know, they were holding his feet to the fire, but the fire wasn't turned On. You know what I mean? There's no repercussions.

[B]

Yeah. There's no. There's no punishment structure or way to get him. He's gonna be. He's potentially. Rand can potentially subpoena him again.

[A]

Yeah, they were talking about that. But. But he has that pardon.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

But. But there's an idea that if the pardon was auto penned. Auto penned and Biden wasn't in his right mind, maybe it doesn't count. And also the nature of those, like, blanket pardons, they could be challenged. Don't really stand for some reason. I mean, I feel like, look, it's one thing for presidents to be at a pardon, which I don't even know if I agree with all the way. Seems like an unusual rule, but a blanket pardon seems like an overreach.

[B]

Well, he's got pardoned. And all those other big money swindlers got Trump pardoned too.

[A]

Oh, yeah, they like to pardon.

[B]

He stole like $30 billion or something from friends and other rich people, and now he's out. No problem.

[A]

Here's your pardon.

[B]

Here's your pardon. Thanks, bud.

[A]

Well, that's why it counts. Pays off to be friends with somebody that becomes president because they're going to hook you up.

[B]

I guess it also gives credibility to people like Rand Paul and Ron Paul that just have stand by their values so sternly.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

They don't seem like they're doing too many insider trade jobs.

[A]

No. And you know, at the same time, you know, they keep favor with people like Rand. Criticized Trump a few times during this part, but also said, hey, I can still text him. And he gets back to me and we have civil conversations and I like some of the stuff he's done. It's interesting that he can kind of walk that line and it seems like people respect him. I think it's hard to balance that in politics also.

[B]

It's hard to be. Is he an independent or is he a Republican?

[A]

No, he's a Republican. Republican. Yeah. Just kind of, you know. Libertarian.

[B]

Libertarian, that's right. That's what I mean. The thing that's the way to go, rather than one side or the other right down the middle. Mm.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So. So really, I mean, to start with, he brings up Covid. Right. And all the things that came about it. I mean, he talked about, you know, his book that he released and kind of the overreach. Talking about things like the masks not really working. And even when they did work, like the N95s, they don't work for very long. And People aren't using them correctly, then that whole six foot tobacco that was just made up almost was opposite advice because it was encouraging people that really possibly shouldn't have been outside at all to think they're safe as long as they're significant feet away. And you know that disease, if you are at high risk, is going to travel 40ft.

[B]

Of course, airborne particles travel way farther than six feet.

[A]

Sure. So, you know, just the way the advice was coming out, it's somebody should have paid some price for that. And this whole thing over and over again. We were doing our best. It's like, yeah, but when a lot of other people are saying other things and you're just shutting them down, then maybe that wasn't your best. Maybe your best would have been to listen to everybody. Maybe your best would have been to follow the. What, the Swiss way of doing it or what was the European. Yeah, I think it was Swiss. Right. They kind of left everything open and it was fine.

[B]

Somewhere up there, one of those countries. Yeah. People got sick and then they just started tapered off. Just like it tapered off here.

[A]

But they did it well. Natural immunity was the best immunity for it. And that's kind of always been the way with a lot of these things.

[B]

Yeah. He went into how a person who was going to get treated for Covid couldn't go to the hospital unless they had the code vaccine. And you're not supposed to immunize when someone's sick. You're doubling down their viral load and they get sicker old people. And I mean, you would put people at risk for some dangerous side effects there. That's not science. That's not what we've been doing.

[A]

It's not good.

[B]

Not good.

[A]

It's not good at all. And not to mention the amount of other ailments that were not getting treated because of the way that they dealt with the hospitals. Remember most other diseases was still going on.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, if you look at the graph, like flu just basically disappeared for that whole time. Why? Where did it go? It just magically disappeared.

[B]

Were they not testing? Were they people quarantining?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, that might have been it. Right. Because more people were inside. So the flu is just not spreading in the same way or people were not going to the hospital in the same way and therefore counted to have the flu.

[B]

There's also speculation that any sort of ailment was classified as Covid.

[A]

And then now that definitely happened for sure. A lot of deaths were classified as COVID deaths, even though it was like kidney failure or something else.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, and the, The. The problem there was Covid may have been present, but you know, if they were struggling with kidney disease for years and this was like, they're on their way out.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Can you really count that thing? You know, it's like if they bump their knee on a table the day before they had a heart attack and they've had a really bad heart for the last five years. You don't write table death.

[B]

No, you had a heart attack.

[A]

You should write hot heart thing. Hot stuff. Cardiac event, table, slash hot stuff at most.

[B]

Man, those tables can get you.

[A]

Yep. Table.

[B]

Poor Graham. Graham.

[A]

Gam Gam. Grab a. But, yeah, I mean, look, he's not a big fan of Fauci. He feels like Fauci's got away with a lot. He got given that million dollars. Did you hear that?

[B]

I didn't go give it.

[A]

A million dollars.

[B]

A million bucks, huh?

[A]

Somebody gave him a million bucks.

[B]

Here you go.

[A]

Some organization. Let's look that up. Who gave him a million bucks?

[B]

Yeah. Also, he was involved with another dangerous research drug with the aids, when the AIDS epidemic was hitting and those had terrible side effects and deaths involved.

[A]

Wasn't that RFK's book went into that.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah, RFK. I still haven't read that. I want to.

[B]

We should get that. Let's. Let's start our own book club.

[A]

Let's get a good book club going.

[B]

Let's get a good book club going.

[A]

So the million dollar prize from the Dan David foundation, an Israel based organization affiliated with Tel Aviv University. This was part of the Dan David Prize, which annually awards a million dollar prize in various categories. Fauci was honored in the defending science category for his lifetime work in public health, including his leadership during the COVID 19 pandemic, advocacy for vaccines, and contribution to fighting infectious diseases like hiv, Ebola and Zika. Okay, well, agree to disagree.

[B]

Might be smarter than us. I don't know, man.

[A]

They know their stuff. And that's the thing. I mean, look, a lot of people still champion him and say he did his best and all the rest of it, but big quote from. From that portion of the podcast was power doesn't give itself back. And that's very true. And that was what was happening during that time. It was every inch they took and turned it into a mile. And, you know, and the reason I got hit with it so bad and have the response that I do is I was right there in la, in Santa Monica, which was a bit more of an extreme response. I mean, if you were living in the biggest cities, there was a more extreme response. New York was pretty locked down, L.A. really intense response for that, of course, but things like, you know, putting clamps on the outdoor outside basketball rings was just getting ridiculous right away.

[B]

Four officers to arrest one surfer.

[A]

Uh huh.

[B]

I remember that one going down.

[A]

Oh yeah, that was real.

[B]

It's like some guy's in the middle of the ocean next to nobody, getting vitamin D exercise, but you know. Yeah, it's like the Patriot Act. Once they took that from us, we've never got those freedoms back.

[A]

And they were loving. I know it, I know the mayor and Gavin Newsom, they were loving that power and the attention.

[B]

And meanwhile he's at the fridge, the.

[A]

French kitchen, the French Laundry. French Laundry, just having the best oatmeal finger foods. That son of a bitch. Yep. And good old what's his name, the Prime Minister of England at the time, Boris Johnson.

[B]

What does he have like cocaine parties?

[A]

Oh yeah. Having his parties while he's telling everyone they can't even leave their house.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I mean, and here's the thing, when they tried to give the argument, well, we were really doing our best and we really did think it was that much of a problem. Are you sure? Because these politicians didn't seem to be too concerned about hanging out together and having parties, having a good time and drinking and frolicking around. And if they were so sure that this would kill us all, which is why they told us we can't work, you can't hang out, you can't play basketball outside, then are we to believe they're just so brave or their immune system is so unusually strong that they are just the exception and they can go do these things? Or is it that they know it's also bullshit and the chances are they're not going to get sick? It's super unlikely. And that these restraints are all politically driven and just designed to get a lot of control and you'll actually be fine.

[B]

It seemed like a societal test to see how far they could lock us down, push us, subjugate us and control us.

[A]

Another really good one was when they used to do their interviews on the TV and it would be like Nancy Pelosi up there, all those lot, and they'd be on the TV with their masks on and then they would like.

[B]

Cut, take them off.

[A]

And then as soon as the, soon as the camera's done, they're all taking their masks off and just like wandering off to other places.

[B]

Right. They put it on for the minute they're at the podium and take it off.

[A]

When they're not, he's just like, oh. So only when the cameras are on is the disease infectious or like that.

[B]

Six minutes Rand was eating his peanuts on the airplane was the time that Covid could not get in.

[A]

Yeah, it's like they wanted to treat everybody like they were children.

[B]

Plus, a virus is, what, a thousand times smaller than a bacteria? It can go right through any part, any membranes. It can go right through a shirt, a mask.

[A]

Super small.

[B]

Very small.

[A]

Yeah, super small.

[B]

We wound up about that.

[A]

Super duper small.

[B]

Thank goodness I was in Arizona, land of the free.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Not too many controls down there.

[A]

You definitely wanted to be in a, you know, out in the middle of nowhere, open place. I mean, look, I don't think anywhere in America was as bad as it got in most places in Europe. So, yeah, we're still very lucky. I mean, when most of this was happening, my girlfriend at the time was in Paris studying her masters for, like, museum curator, master's degree to, like, run museums. And she used to have. She used to have to go online and apply to get a window of time per day to go to particular stores to go shopping.

[B]

Incredible.

[A]

Imagine that. I.

[B]

Meanwhile, there's. Well, we can get into the border or borders in general, but. But there was no checks and balances for the immigrants coming over. They didn't need to get checked for vaccines or even in Europe. I'm talking about Europe with small boats.

[A]

Oh, sure. Well, if they're just running over, I mean, how could you even check them? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. But at the end of the day, it seems like Paul was saying, fauci, there's been a lack of accountability, and this is how these institutions protect themselves. How he even got this much power is just that he's been there forever. And he appointed most of the people under him and put them in that position. And, you know, there are. There's a paper trail of him saying he will destroy other people that basically disagreed with him. And not to mention the pressure that they put on people on social media, public figures. I mean, look what they even tried to do to Rogan.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And, you know, CNN got pressure to go after him because he was openly saying, no, I'm willing to try Ivermectin. I'm willing to try these different things. And they try to. Tried their best. What they didn't realize, and that was, I think, a highlight for them that nobody had really considered is, oh, he's bigger Than cnn. And it's not just that he's bigger than cnn.

[B]

He's bigger than all of the news, basically, combined.

[A]

Yeah, they knew those numbers. They just didn't believe what the impact really meant. And he's more honest than they are. You can say what you want about Rogan, but he's more honest than the disingenuous crap that CNN was spouting at that time.

[B]

At cnn, you see the person in front of the camera, but that's not the person who's writing the words.

[A]

No, Joe's saying it. Oh, it's him.

[B]

Joe's bald head is the one that's coming up with that.

[A]

With those things he came out of. His brain.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

His smooth, round, bald headed brain, if that's such a thing.

[B]

I don't think he has a smooth brain.

[A]

He's got it.

[B]

He's a pretty smart guy.

[A]

It's a bumpy brain. It's a regular brain.

[B]

Regular old muscular brain. There's a quote from the show.

[A]

Go on.

[B]

What is it? Science that can't be questioned isn't science anymore.

[A]

Oh, 100%. Everyone knows that. Remember when Fauci says, I am science, what is that? Also the same guy said there may be a future where we don't shake hands anymore. That. That's the most irresponsible thing I've ever heard in my life.

[B]

We just chest bump now.

[A]

Yeah. Never shake hands. Remember that whole stupid thing where people would touch elbows?

[B]

The Obama bow?

[A]

It's just like, what are you doing? Please.

[B]

Fist bumping. Covid was a boon to fist bumping. It is now still stuck around quite a bit. Fist bumping?

[A]

No, no, they weren't even doing that in Covid. It was like they were touching like this. You don't remember the elbow touch?

[B]

I do remember the elbow touch.

[A]

Yeah. That's what they. It was like. You can't even really touch.

[B]

Oh, that brings your faces closer.

[A]

Yeah, but the idea of hands, like hands are dirty.

[B]

Dirty hands.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, dear Lord. But yeah, I mean, that's not enough of a Fauci rant. I mean, okay, it just raises our.

[B]

Blood pressure is what it does.

[A]

You can go back to that time period in my podcast and listen to 40 episodes of me bitching about that whole situation. You know, I've got a lot to say.

[B]

What about the food pyramid thing? We're big about. We're big into that.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, new news. They flipped it upside down. That's a big change.

[B]

Eggs are good again. Is that the deal?

[A]

And yeah, Eggs and fats and meats and the grains at the bottom. Bread at the bottom. American bread should be at the bottom. It's not. It's barely bread.

[B]

Oh yeah, I think, I think I can't even eat it. I eat a pizza and I have to go to. I have to take a two hour nap.

[A]

It's sleepy time. When I was in Portugal, I ate like a giant baguette with cheese at a restaurant.

[B]

Butter as long as your arm?

[A]

As long as my arm. I didn't get tired at all. It's fine. I didn't even feel that full. It's great.

[B]

Cad Head too.

[A]

Yeah, it was just like. I was like a Pac man just going down that thing. I couldn't believe it.

[B]

Barely chewed that thing.

[A]

It's different stuff. They got to bring that over. Just ship it over.

[B]

You know what's an interesting thing about this state that the, you know, because the Italians in Europe has a particular. They can only have certain kinds of additives to their grains, like there's no desiccants, glyphosate, poisons that they add. This state, Montana, has an Indian reservation that grows organic seeds, grains, and ships it to Europe because it meets our qualifications. So they grow it here and ship it over there to make their nice pastas.

[A]

But then they don't use it for the pastas here.

[B]

No, we just get Wonder Bread over here, don't we? Oh yeah, we get Sara Lee or whatever.

[A]

I wonder, I wonder what it's made of. I bet they wonder too.

[B]

Hundred ingredients. It should be one ground seed.

[A]

The slices of that bread, it like has a negative weight. It weighs nothing.

[B]

So it's lighter as you hold it.

[A]

Uh huh. It's unbelievable. You lose weight by eating that stuff. You get sick.

[B]

No, you don't lose weight.

[A]

No, that's true. Then, no, don't listen to me on that one.

[B]

It weighs nothing, but you gain everything.

[A]

Paul does criticize the old food pyramid for sure. He didn't like that. And as many people have. I mean, it was.

[B]

We kind of knew all along.

[A]

We knew it was messed up, I guess. I mean, listen, you have to. I heard Eric Weinstein or Bret Weinstein, I think it was Brett Weinstein talking about it. And he was basically saying, and I think it was when he was on Rogan, he's basically saying, look, if you flip something upside down and now it's better in that exact order, it means that the other way around, how it was, was done that way on purpose. It's one thing to say we didn't have it right. And it was in some other order that was more random. And we were doing our best to try and get it right. And maybe some pieces were in the right place. But the fact that it was completely the opposite way means that it was orchestrated that way on purpose. And that kind of is a logical argument.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

It's like they set us up.

[B]

Kind of seems like they hate us. Something hates something hates us.

[A]

Somebody, somebody wasn't on our side. They're getting money. They gave us that.

[B]

It's a money thing.

[A]

They're like, here, take this, follow this chart and live like that. And then you're like, that's not correct.

[B]

Now you have to get health insurance and you have to go to the doctor because you have a terrible heart.

[A]

Condition and go to the dentist because all your teeth are going to fall out if you follow this chart too. Plus you'd be full of inflammation and you'd be sleepy.

[B]

Rogan does say that of course that's how you would want your population to be. Easy, controlled, no energy, worn out. Yeah. Just led this way.

[A]

Bad ideas.

[B]

Angry, Sleepy.

[A]

Angry and sleepy. Yeah.

[B]

Although sometimes I'm still angry and sleepy.

[A]

You got to get your food pyramid under control, buddy. Got to get it under control. He also argues with government nutritional advice and how it's worsened obesity and then talks about food stamps and how they shouldn't subsidize ultra processed food. And yeah, I've seen that before. How you can buy a lot of soda, you know, a lot of pop.

[B]

Have you ever heard of TikTok EBT influencers?

[A]

No.

[B]

Or Instagram EBT influencers. It's just gals generally. Gals going to the grocery store with their kids, filling up their carts with the grossest stuff. It's all candy. It looks like it's all like bright colors, tortillas, pizzas, 12 pack after 12 pack of soda. And you gotta be like, wow, that's where our tax dollars go to red dye. That's. Where do you stand on that? Like regulating someone's.

[A]

Well, here's the thing. And Rogan does bring that up. It's like they have limited budget, a lot of people to feed, and those foods are the highest calorie foods kinda. So it's like if you're looking at calorie per dollar, then that's like the most.

[B]

I'd say yes to the tortitos pizzas. Excellent square pizzas, great choice. But no to the sodas.

[A]

Sodas, yeah. But then also, you know, I mean, if they were raised that way. How would they know any different to raise their kids any different? It's like, it's easy for people that have had pretty good diets growing up to understand and have a taste for healthier food. If you haven't and you weren't really taught it, you just. You don't even know.

[B]

You don't know how to cook.

[A]

Yeah. It's not magic.

[B]

You.

[A]

You don't just one day wake up and go, oh, I know apples are healthy.

[B]

You all of a sudden understand that you have to chop things, add them together, cook it.

[A]

There's an education.

[B]

It's not intuitive. Mm. Mm.

[A]

And they're not really teaching it in home ec. You're like baking a cake in there.

[B]

They talked about that.

[A]

There's a little bit there can be, but there should be. I mean, Paul brings it up. There should be better education for that.

[B]

Definitely.

[A]

They should really talk about, like, the dangers of, like, this is what it's like if you drink too much soda. You know, they do that. They usually do that thing in school where they show those bags of how much sugar is in a soda. But even that doesn't really resonate. What they really should do is hand out that bag to every student and a spoon and say, eat that.

[B]

Go on. Good luck. Eat it.

[A]

No. And you can't have a drink. It'd be, ah. You get halfway through and you're like, you either finish it or you never have soda again. And the kids would be like, I don't want it. I'm not. No more sodas.

[B]

Yeah. I used to have a ton of Mountain Dew. I loved that stuff.

[A]

Oh, I drank a ton in high school. It's great. All the time. Mountain Dew every day. I probably have.

[B]

It's like neon green, glow in the dark. Beautiful color.

[A]

Radioactive.

[B]

God, I miss it so good.

[A]

I don't think I could do one now. I don't even think I could get one after one. All right, let's do it for old times. For the food pyramid. We do one. We're doing.

[B]

We'll pour it on the grave of the food pyramid.

[A]

So what was the other thing he was talking about? Ebt, right? That's the food stamps. But then there was another thing. There was like, what's the other type of.

[B]

Well, there's SNAP benefits.

[A]

That's it. Snap, I think, is different, though. You can't buy. That's for pregnant women.

[B]

No, that's all for babies. That is food stamps.

[A]

Oh, it is.

[B]

Ebt. EBT might be also welfare cash.

[A]

Oh. But one of Them, I think, has more limitations for stuff you can buy.

[B]

We'll figure this out.

[A]

All right, let's have a look.

[B]

There. They, I think they did implement some restrictions on it recently, didn't they?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, I think RFK is doing that and he's trying to limit the red dyes too. But again, I think it's one of those like slow phase out things.

[B]

I mean, they're legal in Europe, aren't they, in England? Some of those are illegal.

[A]

Uh huh. Yep. Oh, so like snap is the program and the EBT is the payment method, so. No, it's kind of the same thing.

[B]

Same thing.

[A]

All right. Well, I don't know. Okay. But you know, at the same time, I mean, you, you know, just to turn around one day and all of a sudden just say, right, you can't buy any of these things you've always been buying and only know and understand to feed your kids. And now you can only get vegetables and here's like a chunk of meat. I mean, what will you do? A lot of people probably wouldn't even know where to start. And then the kids wouldn't eat any of it. And they'd be like, where's our soda and pizza? This is all we've ever had. I've gotta eat a piece of chicken. Fresh piece of chicken.

[B]

I was the pickiest eater as a kid, so I can probably put myself in the shoes of those mothers.

[A]

You could imagine.

[B]

I could imagine how tough that would be.

[A]

You could imagine it'd be difficult. There would have to be the slow transition. But the idea is that through education and that slow rollout, we could just start to change it in the right direction because it's not helping anybody.

[B]

You know, we gotta start at the grade school level.

[A]

Mm. Just loading these kids up with sugar. Let's quit giving them a chance.

[B]

Let's quit expecting them all to know algebra and start expecting them to know how to do taxes and cook real foods.

[A]

There we go.

[B]

Might be a good, a good way to cure our country of some ills.

[A]

Yeah, but then no one would know algebra, which is so useful because I use it every day.

[B]

I've learned more algebra after high school on an app.

[A]

Have you really?

[B]

Than I did in high school.

[A]

What app are you using algebra on, Pete? Is this a made up story? No.

[B]

It'S an algebra app.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

Learn maths.

[A]

You're doing your algebra app, are you? Yeah.

[B]

Well, not anymore. Okay, I'm on to Russian.

[A]

They talk a little bit about free speech and censorship and kind of warning against government overreach, pressures on tech platforms. Obviously. We saw a lot of that during COVID again. I mean, they really hammered tech platforms with, you know, any anti kind of vaccine talk and deplatforming people and really coming down on people, YouTube, X, you name it. And it really dug into free speech. And tech platforms have to be really careful about this. I think Elon buying X was a huge move in the right direction. I think it's given the other social media platforms a lot of confidence to stand up against space.

[B]

That pressure also so popular that they are, of course, about being popular that they change their behaviors a little bit, their algorithms.

[A]

I mean, the quote from it is, once speech is filtered, truth gets filtered with it. And that's very true.

[B]

I mean, it's not like all the wrong stuff gets filtered out.

[A]

Exactly. And that's what they imply is happening. Well, we got to take the bad stuff away. Who says it is you? You're the decider. Are you? Well, all these other people that agree with me. Agree. Yeah, it's you guys.

[B]

You guys are agreeing together.

[A]

That's all you've done.

[B]

I disagree with you guys.

[A]

We disagree strongly, strongly disagree.

[B]

Agree to disagree.

[A]

And then they kind of. Well, they move into a bit of the daycare stuff. We gotta hit that. Oh, yeah, the Minneapolis daycare stuff and all the fraud that went with it. So. Yeah. What did you say? 9. 9 billion. 90 billion.

[B]

9 billion either left the country or was allocated to these systems.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Went to Somalia by parcel. 10,000 here, 10,000 there.

[A]

Yeah. Million cash bundles on planes recorded by the faa.

[B]

There's another thing. He says that if that's a scam that's happening, imagine he mentioned an iceberg that the Minnesota daycare is the tip and California is the 90% that lies beneath it. There's so many scams that are occurring in many populations. And they're Chinese, they're Russian, they're Hispanic, they're not. They're, of course, they're naturalized Americans making these scams. It's not just one population. So we have to be careful to get racialized here.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So that's what they want us to do.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

They always want us to be separate.

[A]

But think of just how much money that is. Just so much money. Starting a daycare, going out.

[B]

Let's start a daycare.

[A]

And they didn't even exist.

[B]

Let's try it.

[A]

And now that's all become super politicized as well. It's, you know, instead of it just being fraud, it's a right versus Left thing.

[B]

Right.

[A]

The same with the Eli and Elon and Doge. It's like, instead of just letting him find fraud, it had to be waste and access. You know, he's just taking all. Stealing all our information and da, da, da, da.

[B]

We give our information away. The drop of a hat on our phone.

[A]

People are looking, the. The DMV has all your information. The DMV can just put your name in and they have it all right in front of you. Some guy that makes 12 bucks an hour is looking at a screen that has all your information, all of it, and, well, he could write it down and run off with it.

[B]

Those guys can't write or read.

[A]

They can.

[B]

Oh, they can. Sorry.

[A]

A little bit. Don't be mean.

[B]

Sorry. DMV people.

[A]

Don't be mean. They got it.

[B]

Or you know what they're doing.

[A]

Yeah. So it's wild stuff up there. And now people are coming after that young kid that did the reporting and.

[B]

I think kind of exposed it all. Nick Shirley. Nick Shirley. He's an interesting guy. No real style to his interviews or his methods. He just goes out, holds a microphone in someone's face and says, what do you think about Greenland becoming part of the United States? Or what do you think about these daycares having no kids in them?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

All day, every day.

[A]

Where are those kids?

[B]

Where are the kids? That might be the real mystery.

[A]

They didn't exist. Oh, that's better than they went missing.

[B]

That's actually better.

[A]

That'd be worse.

[B]

They'd have some explaining to do.

[A]

Yeah. We'd be like, okay, enough's enough. Enough said. Enough.

[B]

We're not paying for this anymore.

[A]

And then that brings up, you know, kind of transitions into the next big thing, which is ice, Immigration and border Enforcement. I mean, one thing that Rogan and Paul agreed on is Trump's ability to enforce the border and lock it down. Very early on in his presidency, that was something that he got right quickly.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And many other presidents have talked about it, and it just didn't get done. So he wasn't to do it.

[B]

Obama did a good job with a lot of stuff, making a digital border with surveillance drones and big towers and stuff, and heat cameras.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then it seems like for whatever reason, and they actually addressed the reason. Redistricting, voting blocks to make more swing states blue.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And that's a sitting member of Congress. That's what he is. Right. Rand is a sitting member of Congress, isn't he, Congressman?

[A]

Well, he's. Senator.

[B]

Senator. Well, he's saying that's what they're doing with it, letting people in. Because the census doesn't count your name, it just counts your number. And so if you have more people in this area, then you have more voting power for whatever party wants to control that one.

[A]

Right.

[B]

In a swing state, particularly.

[A]

Yeah. It doesn't count that you're a citizen, just counts that you exist.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

And if there's a bunch of you, then there we go. You get another congressperson. Yeah.

[B]

Speculates one or two in California are probably the result of illegal immigration, which is significant.

[A]

You do that in a few other places. That becomes votes and power very quickly.

[B]

It seems like all the other states that are swing states are just a couple away from one or the other flipping.

[A]

Is that right?

[B]

It seems like it, yeah. Arizona.

[A]

Yeah. You know what I mean? When people dismiss that argument. I mean, I remember when Elon was bringing up and kind of shouting it from the rooftops. People were just easy to throw it out as conspiracy and nonsense. And, you know, oh, well, that wouldn't. That would take forever. And that would be 20 years down the road. And, well, you know, that was however many years ago now. So that's that many years off that 10 or 20 years that they were saying. So it doesn't take long to get to that point when this time would be impacted by it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And that's something to consider. It's like, once you get there, if that potential impact could have happened, then the change is done. Then what do you do? Like they would. They would have been in big trouble. It's very plausible that that was the plan that they really thought about that. It's. It's logical to me that it could have been.

[B]

It seems like no swindle or grievance or atrocity is beneath our ruling powers.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

They can do. We do everything. And it's like considering the Epstein files in that list. Oh, yeah. They do up to that.

[A]

Whatever they can to hold their power and keep themselves out of jail.

[B]

They're pretty dang good at it.

[A]

They've been doing it a while. They've been doing it a while. Let's jump over to ice. Gotta cover the ice.

[B]

I mean, jumped away from that, didn't we?

[A]

There's been. Well, I mean, right now, I mean, there's protests everywhere. There's a lot going on with ice.

[B]

Not good.

[A]

Obviously that poor lady was shot. And people have a lot of opinions about that whole thing. Yeah. Big protests right now. Big conversation about the differences. You know, Rogan had some pushback against Paul. Like look, they cover their face. They move differently than cops. You don't call cops to keep you safe. People aren't calling ICE for the same reason. They're just showing up. They're covered up. They're moving in different ways.

[B]

And the Yankees, you might not show up again.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Get beat up, get shot. It seems like they're killing people.

[A]

They're holding citizens for long periods of time while they check them out. You know, on the flip side, I'm sure they are deporting a lot of illegal aliens, so they are doing the thing that they were tasked to do. And, you know, the powers that be, like, the media that does not like them, is probably not showing a lot of the more positive things that they are doing and focusing a ton on the bad, which is only adding to riling people up in the negative, which, you know, as you and I both know, some of our friends are getting very riled up about this. They are, and have very strong opinions about who and what ICE are.

[B]

Well, they're not cops. They don't know how to be cops. Seems like they, like. All they want to do is yank you into a van. They're. They're. They're not trained to deal with the public. They're federal agents.

[A]

Right.

[B]

They're just not. And then I think Rand says something about this, that the. The cooperation of the previous administrations was with ice, and now it is against ice. So this. The fault lies with. With some of these municipalities not helping extradite the process. Like, if there's a criminal illegal alien like that is driving drunk or doing any other horrible crime. Getting them to ice, getting ICE to them. Now they hide them from ice, right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because of the President. Not. Not because of. I mean, political. It's politically motivated. We got to stand together somehow.

[A]

Sure. I mean, this seems like kind of the closest thing in a lot of ways to localize civil war than I've ever seen. I mean, they have. There are armed civilians on neighborhood streets in Minneapolis, like, saying things like, I'm here to make sure ICE doesn't come down our streets. That's bold. Move.

[B]

That is bold.

[A]

It's bold.

[B]

Are you gonna light up the windshield with your M16? Yeah.

[A]

What are you. You gonna stop federal agents on your own? With what training do you have? I mean, shootouts.

[B]

Call it federal duty.

[A]

Call of duty training.

[B]

I'm ready.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know, man.

[B]

It's one of those sticky ones, isn't it?

[A]

Yeah. And then, you know, also, it gets to the thing where, like, do these ICE agents want to engage that way. I don't think anyone does. I don. Our military wants to turn on its own people on a large scale. It's like the cops are for. When you're talking. Yeah. When you're talking about small uprisings or a protest, that's got a bit wild, then. Yeah. That's what cops are for. And, you know, ICE will step in or the National Guard or. But when it's on a much larger scale with regular civilians, I don't think, you know, our people are like, well, they're just Americans, too. We're Americans. They're Americans. I'm pretty sure my job was to just protect them. We're not doing this. It's not happening. Then what?

[B]

It seems like the Minnesota. Not governor, the mayor of Minneapolis is ready to mobilize his police force against ice.

[A]

Yeah, but you saw the video. The cop didn't. He wasn't too happy about it. His eyebrows went up, up, up. It was like a cartoon. They went above his head. He's like, what?

[B]

I could understand him, actually, because he said it in Arabic, but whatever.

[A]

Yeah, it was a bit of a shocker. I don't know. We'll see. But it's tense times.

[B]

Pray for him out there.

[A]

And, yeah, I. I hope for a peaceful resolution and one quickly and more importantly, I want people's nerves to simmer down. Simmer down, because this is worrying a lot of people.

[B]

Rand is actually pretty mellow about all that. Rand is like, let's not just boot him out with our black boots.

[A]

Yeah, he wasn't about that. He was like, you can stay, you know, if you're working and, yeah, you don't get a path to citizenship just because. But if you're working and you haven't committed any crimes, you know, you can stay, make your money, and send it.

[B]

Home, and your kids will be citizens, probably, but you won't.

[A]

Yeah, and I'm for that. I think that that's a reasonable one. Like, there has to be a middle ground, you know, something. And, you know, just also, what's reasonable is let us know where you are. I think that's a good one. It's like, right.

[B]

That's actually.

[A]

Let us know you're here. And in return, no, we're not kicking you out. And, you know, you get your tax.

[B]

Returns, pay your taxes. You get your tax returns, not just pay taxes and not get them.

[A]

But no, you don't get benefits. You don't get to live off the system, but you have the opportunity to have some of the American dream. And your kids will get more of it. That's the transitional price.

[B]

I didn't know that. Immigrants cannot receive federal assistance for five years after they get here.

[A]

Immigrants, Immigrants.

[B]

But refugees get it right away. Forever, really, it seems like.

[A]

Oh, well, look at that. Well, you know, this was. This was that episode. Okay. This isn't a viral episode. I would say it's a slow burn thinker episode.

[B]

Yeah, it's good, though.

[A]

Some of the recurring themes, power versus the people, theory, verse, reality, freedom verse, structure, accountability verse, authority. Right. And honestly, Joe pushed back a little bit more than usual, which I liked.

[B]

He did do that.

[A]

Some of his more liberal views came out on this episode.

[B]

And, well, he likes immigrants from Mexico. He likes Mexicans.

[A]

Good reminder. He's not a huge fan of ICE right now. He's not a massive fan of kicking immigrants out, and he has a lot of empathy for poor people that don't eat great food. He understands that it takes more than just telling them to eat fruit, to start eating better. There's a lot more that goes into that, and it doesn't just happen overnight. And he really did push back against Ron. And I have to say, Rand Paul handled it well. You know, he took the criticism on. He kind of adjusted some ideas and, you know, he didn't. He didn't get defensive. So I like his style for that reason. I can see why he's quite diplomatic and does well. He moved on nicely and it was a reasonable conversation. Overall, I give this episode, you know, I give it a solid 8 out of 10.

[B]

8 out of 10.

[A]

I give it a high score mainly because I wasn't expecting a lot out of it. So it was a bit of a surprise. I had low expectations and it was just. It was just better. You know, it was one of those. It was like when you turn on a show on Netflix and you're like, this price suck. I don't know what this is, but I need to kill 30 minutes and it ends up being a quite a good episode. You're sucked in and then you. And then you're just like. That actually was way better than I expected. I liked it. I'm happy. One of those for me. What about you, Pete? What do you think?

[B]

Actually, I ended up liking him more than I originally had. I like Rand Paul. Seems like a true American, wants the best for everybody.

[A]

Seems like.

[B]

And saves us all money. He wants to be saving money.

[A]

I liked it.

[B]

That's always good because we just pay a lot of taxes, don't we?

[A]

We really do we really do? Well, anyway, that's it for us. Thank you so much. We appreciate you as always, and we will talk to you guys next time. Cheers.