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- [00:01]
A
Hello and welcome to the Mountain State Liberty Cast. I am your host, Ty Ward. I am joined as always by Taylor out of State Money Richmond. Hello Taylor.
- [00:11]
B
If only that nickname were true.
- [00:16]
A
Yeah, so we'll just start from the top here like and subscribe to this podcast, Mountain State Liberty Cast. Find us on Spotify, Apple podcast. Any of your podcatchers, go ahead and give us a five star review or thumbs up or whatever you're listening to. If you subscribe instead of just downloading the podcast or streaming it, it does help us in the algorithm and giving us a review does as well. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram and X and donate to the podcast. This is a value for value podcast, meaning we do not make any money off of this. This is purely out of the love and joy through our hearts. And if you Want to donate lpwv.org hit that donate button, give us a fiver or whatever you feel is appropriate, whatever value you're getting out podcast, give it back to us. And tell your friends, get on your grandmother's iPhone and hit that Apple podcast and subscribe. She'll never know and she'll never care. So Taylor, today we got some topics to talk about. But from the top, remind everybody about your state senate race.
- [01:23]
B
Yeah, running for Senate and District 13 which is the greater Morgantown and Fairmont areas. You can find my website@richmond for senate.com I'm on Facebook at Taylor Richmond with the blue check marky thing on TikTok at Richmond for Senate as well. Got a couple of them talks out there.
- [01:46]
A
All right, you're talked all right.
- [01:50]
B
And yeah. So please follow me in the campaign if you know anyone in and around the Morgantown areas who are lovers of liberty, small government, less taxes. I'm the obvious candidate in that race. So appreciate your support there and obviously if you have any extra shekels to donate, please be happy to utilize them in the best way possible to advance liberty in the north central West Virginia region. Ty, what about you? Where are, where's your campaign at?
- [02:19]
A
Oh yeah, so I'm glad you asked. Impromptu. I wasn't prepared. So I'm running for the 15th House District for West Virginia. That is Roane county and most of Work County. It's a small district, not a big to do state race, but I think we can have some success here. I'm basically running to get get the name on the ballot, get the Libertarian Party out there, give people a different choice. It was going to be a unopposed race for the incumbent, but now it is not. So the People here are going to have a choice and the choice will be a establishment Republican versus a liberty loving Libertarian. So yeah, again I'm Facebook, don't have a website, but today I did order yard signs. So if you are wanting some yard signs or a yard sign, they will be in sometime in the next week or so. So yeah, and again, yeah, if you want to donate, I don't have the thing set up yet, but it's Ty Ward for WV House if you want to send me a check or something or throw some fiat currency at me, whatever. Yeah. So Taylor, today we got a few topics to to cover, but we wanted to talk about what's going on in the state first. We talked a little bit about it last podcast, but there is a lot of money being spent in some primary races and you love to see it because it seems to be a lot of infighting in the gop as we have predicted here since we've been doing this podcast that you're going to see factions forming and the big distinction it seems to be, you know, people calling them, calling other people rhinos and saying they're the true conservative and, and putting out, you know, half truths and flyers and, and out of state pack money coming in and being spent on ads and stuff against GOP primary opponents. And Taylor, I don't know about you, but I've not seen, you know, you see the articles, TJ Meadows from Metro News and a few others in the Chamber of Commerce just put out an editorial we were talking about before we started. But you see a lot of these flyers coming out and people disputing what's on them and then everybody claiming that it's out of state money. But have you seen, you know, any receipts to actually say, you know, that has convinced you that it really is outside money that's paying for this, whatever that means.
- [04:55]
B
I mean, I haven't had the interest or time to do my due diligence on that. I do know that some of the bigger packs, what is it? The sugar maple pack that TJ alludes to is predominantly out of state folks. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise me, right? But it's not necessarily anything new. I mean, a lot of times in races, a lot of folks will look for organizations like the NRA and some other bigger name organizations that are nationwide and they'll get endorsements and some money from them and no one really bats an eye about it. But for some reason.
- [05:42]
A
I lost you, Taylor. Where did you go?
- [05:50]
B
More of a Democrat race.
- [05:52]
A
I lost you for a second Say that again. You said, I don't remember where you stopped.
- [06:01]
B
No, so I was just saying I don't think it's too much more than maybe it was before. The sugar maple pack is some more outside funds. But I think, you know, people get NRA and other organizations in the past endorsements and funds and no one bats. And I now, because it's infighting, I think it's maybe the reason they're paying more attention to it. Before, when it was a lot more Republicans versus Democrats, that wasn't an issue because they were all getting money from outside organizations within their own party structure. But now I think because it's infighting, that's. And they're talking about it in terms of, well, they can't attack each other on the issues so much. So they're going after personality and personal matters. And so now they're going, oh, well, you're funded by out of state versus in state issue or groups. And that's the only thing they had to talk about. So that's why it's being highlighted maybe as more than it has in previous years.
- [06:55]
A
Yeah. And you know, as we've, I think I said on the last podcast, it's just a little bit embarrassing in my mind. It's like, I don't know if this is outside money. Like, who has convinced them that what that, like, that's money well invested. Like, what is. What are they pointing, what are they trying to accomplish? Like, I don't know. Our state budget is less than a lot of cities very close by. I mean, I bet Pittsburgh's budget is as big as our entire state budget. And it's, it just seems like really cringy, like, I don't know, big fish in a little pond kind of thing. It just, I don't see the point in it. But the point we wanted to make here is, you know, you can talk about all the out of state pack money you want and it being, you know, in the shadow dark stuff. But the stuff that we have a problem with, we've talked about here a lot is, is actually the in state money. I mean, it. The irony of the Chamber of Commerce, you know, writing an editorial about, you know, West Virginians pulling on heartstrings of West Virginians being, you know, not trusting of government and wanting to, you know, really know who they're voting for and stay local. And, and, and the Chamber of Commerce being one of the biggest, you know, I don't know, whatever the word is, the biggest offenders on, you know, influencing races in the state For a long time. I mean, in West Virginia, it's, it's almost the epitome. And you could tell me if you agree. It's almost the epitome of the whole I'm doing finger quotes rhino thing that a lot of they're, they claim to be, you know, conservative and for pro business, pro economy, but the Chamber of Commerce is basically just a, you know, a semi socialist mouthpiece for industry where they're. A lot of, what we say on here is, you know, when somebody says they're pro business, that means they're pro doing whatever the business wants. And you know, you've seen them, you know, take trips to Taiwan and all these places to basically say, how can we roll out the red carpet? And when basically it's, if you're not into that, they're, they're against you and they're going to spend money and use their, their microphone to speak out against people that are anti central planning. And, and, and, and the perfect example that we've harped on here a lot is the Hospital Association. I mean, how many endorsements have you seen? You know, ironically, the one, the guy we always talk about, Gino Chartrelli, he, he put posted, you know, proudly, an endorsement from the West Virginia Hospitals Association. And it's like, hey, man, like, yeah, you're, you're bragging about an endorsement for some. The reason you're getting that endorsement is because you went back on your pledge to the Health Freedom association and decided to vote against repealing Certificate of Need and Health Freedom for, you know, religious exemptions for vaccination. So it's, there's plenty of in state money that's doing a lot more damage to, you know, freedom and liberty in this state than there. I mean, I don't know some of the races. I saw one for Vernon Chris where he was saying there was ads being put out about a bill that he voted for that was, I can't remember, something to do with environmental stuff, but it was basically, you know, don't, don't let Vernon Chris turn the state into a, back into a dumpster. He was, this isn't real. This is out of state money. You know, I voted for this bill and, and blah, blah, blah. And it's like, yeah, dude, you're the guy that was using the HOPE Scholarship as a political tool to fight Morrissey over the budget. Like, like, yeah, you're lucky they're not actually attacking the things you really did or you would look really bad. So it's, to me, it's like, I Don't. It's just weird. Like who are they attacking for what?
- [10:44]
B
Well, a couple of things I was about that ties one to your point about the Chamber of Commerce and a couple of in state groups having a lot of control. Oftentimes within small states like West Virginia, there's not enough finances support people to fight against that. So they have to look at larger national groups who are like minded, like interested and help fund those and then those organizations will come into west can come back into West Virginia and help in some of these races. So my thing is just generally I don't care if it's out of state or in state. Is that organization, when you go to their website, are their policies, are the bills they push for, are their principles and things align with you? Okay, if they are, then care about their, their endorsement. If they don't and they're not, then vote against them. You know, TJ Singh was about the whole referendum on Morrissey. I if you're looking and you're concerned about this out of state money and those companies don't represent your values, then just don't vote for them. And then those companies have wasted hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars or whatever they've spent in this state. It's the general principle about knowing who you're voting for anyway. So that's my thing about that. These national organizations are sometimes ways for, you know, strength in numbers, you know, folks like you and I and other liberty minded individuals sometimes to have some strength and ability to come back and influence things in our own state and fight against the hospital associations, the chamber of Commerce, et cetera to the Chamber of Commerce point. I would just say that, you know, I was at an event the other night and two of the guys who are running Republicans who are running in the primaries of the Senate in the surrounding districts and I were chatting about and they were both had mentioned they recently just either that same day or the day before came from chamber meetings where they got to get up and speak and they were just complaining like you know these chamber meetings and they, they're definitely not conservative. I say I'm against con man, they boom me right out of the, you know, strigo need laws, they'll boom me out of the room, blah blah blah blah. And I said, well guys, you have to realize Chamber of commerce is not pro small business. It's not pro individual choice, it's not pro free market capitalism. It has become a weapon of the larger companies in the states where they represent to maintain control of those states. I talked to them, explained to them, and walked them through the whole thing with COVID Why do we think that the Costcos and the Kroger's and the Walmarts and the Sam's Clubs, they were all fine with, you know, the COVID restrictions and the cleaning requirements and the distancing and the reduced hours and all that stuff? Because they knew they could weather the storm. They knew that they were going to gain market share because these regulations and these policies were going to hurt the small mom and pops and drive them out of business and then drive more customers to them. The same thing happening in our own states. The Chamber of Commerce is supporting candidates and sometimes outwardly supporting policies that benefit the larger companies that maintain and grow their market share. They're not supporting and fighting for small businesses and the free market. They're fighting for their control over their state. And obviously here in West Virginia, it's certain companies and associations who are controlling the state. So you're not going to walk into the chamber of Commerce county meeting and get support for con. Because the people that are there are the bigger companies who likely already have certificate of need protecting them, that are donating to the chamber of commerce to maintain their control in their county and their state. So what we need in this state is not a more vibrant and supportive chamber of commerce. We actually need a rival organization that supports and protects premarket capitalism and small businesses against the regulations and the enforcement of laws and codes that legislatures and businesses supported by and through and from the chamber are putting in place year after year.
- [14:40]
A
Yeah, and that's the thing is, I mean, mailers, if you talk to anybody that does political strategy, the big guys, they'll tell you mailers are a complete waste of time unless you've got a huge population of old people, which West Virginia does, because all the young people are either leaving or don't vote. That's the problem is that, that it's not just that people are leaving the state, is that the people our age, they don't vote because they're so disconnected with anything. And they're just trying to. And it's, you know, steel, man, Their, their position is, you know, they're just trying to survive in West Virginia and, and, you know, voting. And what the state does is they've kind of, you know, cast it off as, you know, it's a lost cause. And these mailers that come in, I mean, they're, they're, they're scaring the crap out of people. When the Chamber of commerce comes in at the hospital Association. What makes that more insidious to me is, you know, in Roane county, our local hospital was again, Certificate of Need repeal. And they just. All they have to do is just scare the crap out of old people and say, if you repeal this, it's going to close this hospital. That's not true in any way, shape or form. And the only thing it made effect is the way that the state has to change how it determines what a. Whatever the. What's that called? The something need Rural Hospital. Yeah, it's the. I can't remember what the term is, but it basically says they serve an area where there's nobody else serving it. So they get special. They get government funding through the federal government, and it's in. In West Virginia, they use Certificate of Need to classify that. And all we have to do is change the way we classify. I mean, they change laws like that all the time, and that's all you would have to do. But they can scare these people, these. These old boomers that vote into thinking it. They're going to, you know, destroy their. Their local hospital system. And that's all they have to say. Now, you and I, Taylor, you know, if our appointed. Our opponent gets an endorsement from the hospital association or the Chamber of Commerce or something like that, you know, we start rubbing our hands with delight because we've got the information ready to. To inform the people on how. What that really means and what that means for them is that it. It truly means there'll be less choice. And your property rights are for sale. And that's what the, The Chamber of Commerce stands for is, as we've said, and like you said, they represent big business and not you or your rights. So we can, we can say that stuff. But like you said, we've got a lot less ammunition because they've got the money, they've got the people, they've got the influence, and people listen to them. And so it's. To me, I mean, you can send out all the mailers from the, you know, sugar maple pack or whatever, you know, whatever you want to call it, whatever name they come up with, you can send it all the mailers you want and talk about, you know, outside money coming in, but it. These entrenched interest in West Virginia Oil and Gas association, teachers unions, all these things, you know, the stages. The, they, they. They influence strikes and they, you know, when they have bills that affect the union, they get the teachers all riled up. That's way more insidious. And I don't think anybody can Argue that. And no, you don't hear TJ Meadows on Metro News talking about that. The absolute destruction that the teachers union has wrought on our public education system by scaring the crap out of legislators so they don't take action. That's way more harmful.
- [18:02]
B
And not just our teachers unions, teachers unions across the country.
- [18:04]
A
But sure, but in West Virginia, yeah, ours are, that's the thing is, is even in, you know, California, where I have a lot of super liberal family members. I mean, they're all pro charter school, they're all pro school choice. And in West Virginia, you have these Trump voting MAGA people that are absolutely opposed because they're employed by the school system and the unions have told them that they're bad. And so it's in West Virginia, it's, there's no argument. I mean, you can. Again, it's just laughable to me that these people are talking about outside money and TJ Meadows has to know that he has to be aware of that or he's just not thinking that, you know, this is, it's, it's, it's almost offensive to me if I was capable of being offended that people would bring that up like it's a real thing. Like, yeah, Patrick Morrissey, I don't know, maybe in his position he shouldn't be doing that. But here's the deal. As we've talked about on this podcast, he had an agenda that he wanted to get through. And a lot of it, he was fought at every turn with his agenda and him trying to get people into the legislature that can work with him on his agenda. What has Trump done his entire career? I mean, his endorsement rate is abysmal, which is that people seem to just pretend that's not true, but, and hopefully he's about to be proven wrong again with Thomas Massey when he wins his primary. But that's what Morrissey is doing. And I don't, you know, if he doesn't have money in his war chest, obviously he has issues with his campaign, you know, debt. But if he's got outside groups that can come in and spend money here, if he's doing it legally, why am I supposed to be upset about it? I like, legitimately. What's the steel man for being upset about that?
- [19:49]
B
Yeah, I don't know what the, the steel man is. Besides, you know, the, the whole notion of, well, West Virginia should govern, West Vir and other outside interests should worry about their own area or whatnot. But I think you have to, you know, the next level up in that conversation Though Ty is to understand, and I know this term and phrase gets thrown about a lot, especially around Trump, but there is 4D chess in some of this and some of how this is played. Right. The reason, and I think we talked about it before, but just to rehash the whole machine gun bill, everyone was like, kind of like making fun of it that was coming up through the West Virginia legislature. Well, I don't think that the whole goal was actually to get that bill passed. What I think the goal was was in this outside organization, Gun Owners of America, was to find a state that they could get it through the legislature to actually become law, that there would be an immediate injunction by a superior court that would then escalate it up to the Supreme Court.
- [20:49]
A
Right.
- [20:49]
B
That there's, there's other goals besides just, you know, meddling in the government of you know, one state or another. Because certain things happen and grassroots grow up and tides change because things become law. It's not just West Virginia, it's not just Arkansas, it's not just insert state here that these things matter. When there seems to be a tide shift in legislature that's passed around the country and folks have talked about it before in other other aspects and we'll just use the machine gun thing as a further example. You know, they laugh at it like oh well, is this happening anywhere else? Well, no, but if enough of these groups, you know, get enough legislatures in around the country who are moving this bill forward, then they can say oh yeah, look, it's moving in a number of these states. We talk about it regularly in regards to defend the guard. Our big thing is it started in West Virginia. But look, it's, it's being presented every year in how many states it's been passed by the House or the Senate in this many states. And that is a talking point to gain things momentum you have. I mean it's unfortunately a grassroots momentum driven initiative or process for a lot of policy change. Whereas sometimes things happen at the stroke of pen, sometimes it's a long drawn out effort and that's how these organizations do that. And again circling back that sometimes individuals who disjointed groups don't have the means to put together a pack or you know, fight the chambers and the West Virginia hospital associations or whatever their opponent is. But they can get help from an outside national organization to come in and make those changes. So it's a big dirty game. 4d 5d, however many level chesses you want to look at it. And sometimes you do have to rely on outside organizations to come in and provide that support. So, yeah, just don't be. If you care that much about who is getting elected, make sure people are paying attention to what's in front of them. Remind them to align their vote based off of actual facts and not just commercials and mailers, but how people vote or the principles of the things of the groups that are supporting them and not just flashy headlines and scare tactics.
- [23:09]
A
Yeah. And, you know, and another example that, you know, health freedom that they. They've had several lawyers come from, you know, national lawyers who came and represented some of the families here pro bono to try to take some of these cases to the Supreme Court. And. And they have the. The time and the resources and the knowledge to get that stuff through. And, you know, I don't see that as a bad thing. I mean, again, if you have a state where you have entrenched interests that aren't making the right decisions and an outside group wants to come in and make a, you know, a wave for, you know, health freedom or gun rights or. Or defend the guard. I mean, you and I. I mean, how many. Here's the thing. Data centers. Taylor, what do you think has been happening here with data centers? You think it's any different that you do? You think that West Virginia just had the bright idea to invite data centers here? No. It's tons of outside influence. And I know, whatever. I keep saying his name because he infuriates me, but TJ Meadows, you know, Mr. Like, he's been one of the mouthpieces for the whole data center thing. And why don't you have a problem with that? What's the difference? That's legitimately moving policy and making economic, you know, waves here, and it's nothing but outside influence. You know, Roger Hanshaw didn't just suddenly have the idea. No. He's working with people that are giving him information to write these bills, do the talking points, and all these people are getting outside money, all these Facebook groups and these graphics you're seeing. You think these podunk legislators know how to do that stuff? No, they don't. They're getting outside help. That's the point. Is it? Whatever you want to talk about. Sure. Outside money. Yeah. That's. That's what all this is about. That's that one. What moves this. This state is outside influence and them trying to make West Virginia something other than what West Virginia is. And it is just incredibly ironic that they want to talk about outside money and write, you know, chamber of commerce, write editorials about you know, well, we're just good old West Virginias. And when, you know, as you hear our text read, we're the wild and wonderful whites of West Virginia and we do for ourselves and we do for our own. And we pick our politicians and we tar and feather them when they don't do the right thing. No, we don't. No, we don't. We just let, you know, dupont come in and poison our rivers and let the coal companies come from Yankee town up north and take over, and the state government just rolls out the red carpet every single time. So if you want to talk about outside influence, why don't we talk about the water in southern West Virginia and what our state government has allowed to happen here from outside influences. How many of those coal companies other than Jim justice, were owned by anybody in West Virginia? None of them.
- [25:55]
B
Well, and I would say, Ty, you know, you made the point before, but I'll just point back to it because I think it. Personally, I think it's a better argument. Why can't we do or move in the direction that many West Virginians really want to move in on a number of issues? Well, it's because most of the dollars that come into the state are actually federal dollars and they're tied to us obeying federal laws on a number of issues. Or like we talked about with the Defend the Guard. Well, we enacted it. Defend the Guard. What would happen? Well, all the money that comes into Camp Dawson and the rest of the National Guard and everything would probably just dry up or go away pretty quickly. So we have to worry about, quote, unquote, outside dollars. But it is a different sense, whether it's, you know, companies that are trying to listen to and impact policy based on some of the requests of individuals or what the federal government wants us to do and dictate down from D.C. yeah.
- [26:52]
A
And to that point, I mean, Marshall Wilson from up in the Eastern Panhandle, he posted. I've been meaning to talk about this ever since. We need to try to get Garrett Belangei on here and to talk about this, but he talked about at our convention a couple years ago all the different stats of how West Virginia has so many regulations that hurt our freedom score from places like the Cato Institute and stuff like that. And, and when you look at our, you know, everybody thinks of West Virginia as this wild, free place, but we're, you know, middle of the road as far as all the 50 states go. There's. There's plenty of states that even have better gun, you know, regulations than we do, like, have reduced regulation more than we have. And you, you can look at things like that. I mean, Cato Institute spends a lot of time and money creating these lists and these parameters and, and all legislator, legislature would have to do is basically just sit down and go, hey, what on here can we get rid of? Because if you're a conservative Republican based on your West Virginia GOP platform, platform, the Cato Institute is grading on what you supposedly believe in. And you are supposed to believe that freedom opens up capitalism and it helps your economy. So why aren't we sitting down and figuring out what we can get rid of to improve our freedom score? Because 71% of our estate budget is federal money. And we have a massive amount of state and federal employees that work in this state and they want to stay elected. And I know you, Taylor, if either of us win our race, the last thing that we're concerned about is getting reelected because we cut spending that lost somebody their job. I don't want anybody to lose their income. But if you are a state employee and your job is causing $39 trillion in federal debt because you were being paid by a federal grant, the time is now. There's no more time left, West Virginia, that we can play all these political games and talk about data centers and property tax and, you know, all these different services. We're past that and people are playing like it's like we're just, you know, it's just the same as same as always. We're just, you know, trucking along and we're going to be successful getting 71% of our budget from the federal government. Well, those times are coming to an end. And I know this is a greater economic principle and kind of off topic, but this is the point. This is why we're running. I think you agree, Taylor. This is why we're running, because the time is now and we have to start making these moves and getting off of the government, you know, the federal government teat, because it's coming to an end. It's. You look at what's going on now and we can move on to that if you want, but, you know, I paid $4 a gallon for gas on the whims of the president. Is that the Fed, the Republic of States that we, you know, we want. Does West Virginia want to have to live off the whims of what Donald Trump does on any daily basis? I don't think so. So you can talk about all the mailers you want, but the main principle is none of these people Are sponsoring bills or moving real change in West Virginia as far as freedom goes? Very. A few of them are, of course, but, you know, voting for data centers and funding for water and all this stuff is just, you're just, for lack of a better word, you're just putting, you know, corks in the dam to try to keep the. The water behind the dam. And it's not. It's not going to work for very much longer.
- [30:24]
B
No, I agree. And a buddy of ours, Kevin Patrick, once told me we were having a conversation and he. It was about something nationally, political happenings. And he just kind of aloof or not in the conversation. And the other member of the conversation said, kevin, I know you're politically active. You don't have anything to weigh in on or comment. He goes, no, my focus is on making West Virginia as free as possible, because sooner or later, the dams, to your point, the dam's gonna burst. And I wanna make sure as many people in West Virginia have life jackets and rafts to get on, and we need to be ready for that. And continuing to be tied to the federal government. And to your point, the outcomes of what they do is only going to put us further down river without any paddles.
- [31:17]
A
Yeah. And to move on to, you know, some more national subjects, I mean, I think we kind of have to talk about it a little bit. But evidently, evidently there was a third attempt on Trump's life this last weekend at the White House correspondence dinner. You know, Taylor, it's one of those things that, you know, and it's not good, but honestly, you know, I heard people talking about, like, oh, they were at a bar or something, they saw, and everybody was gasping. Like, I saw it run across Facebook and I was like, oh, wow. Like, I did. Like, I don't know about you. Like, I had zero reaction. Like, oh, cool. I mean, is he. Is he okay? He's okay. Okay, well, all right, nobody got hurt. Okay, cool. Like, I just don't. At this point, I'm like, okay, I guess this is just what we do now. Like, I don't know. I don't. It just. I don't know what the take is on it other than what everybody said. It's just, to me, it's. I don't know. I don't know what to say about it.
- [32:13]
B
Yeah, I mean, my, My only point is, and I hate that I. Falling somewhat in camp with some of the folks on the right in this regard, but it does seem that a lot of the violence, at least politically, is more left wing at Least of late. But, you know, at the same time, you become so polarizing and you do a lot of wild and crazy things. You know, you. I forget, was it Dave Smith or one of the podcasts I was listening to was talking about, you know, you tell us you're going to release Epstein files and there's all this documentation and evidence out there about it, and then you turn around and say, oh, just kidding, there's not. And we're not going to release anything. And you go back and forth on all of this and it seems to be more and more like a giant cover up. Now, that's going to really enrage some people. Oh, you take us into war in the Middle east after promising us that you wouldn't. That's going to enrage some people. You know, talk about the immigration stuff. That's going to. You continue to enrage people. And I don't say you should expect some of this kind of stuff because I'm not condoning it. Obviously, I can definitely condemn any type of political violence. But, you know, the way things are, if you, and I think more so tie the response you have when you do something and you realize there's political backlash instead of coming out and saying, oh, okay, I see that this has, you know, impact or upset a lot on the right or on the other side and maybe try me, try to at least explain it better or, you know, calm fears about what's happening or no, Trump and the Trump administration's response has always been to double down and quote, unquote, you know, own the libs. Well, unfortunately, I think that you own the libs to a point where some of them apparently just snap. And that's what we're seeing with. How many were you up to now? Like your point about being calloused. The fifth attempt, at least in his two presidencies. So, you know, everyone talks about toning down the rhetoric and blah, blah, blah. And yeah, we definitely should. But I also think that part of it is the Trump administration's desire to continually provoke the folks on the left. And I shared in one of our chats today, he posted a picture with the King of England and it said, two kings. Yeah, you know, and obviously that's a dig at all these people who go out to all these no Kings rallies. And it's like, man, you know, did you have to do that? And do you not expect there to be some type of retaliation? Whether it's more protests, maybe that's. And I would say that's all that should be. If anything but there are still some, you know, folks who are bottling stuff up and on the brink and they see something like that and they snap. Now, to the Republicans credit, they call out a lot of the folks on the left for some of the things that they said. And a lot of left leaning politicians have said some really, I would say, incriminating things about how to respond to Trump and to utilize violence and blah, blah. And that's obviously wrong. And while I believe in free speech, you encourage people to do certain things or give them some leverage or Runway to, you know, be a hero of the party for doing certain things, then, you know, all this kind of comes to a boiling point and what happens is you have assassination attempts apparently.
- [35:42]
A
Yeah, and I agree with you. I mean, I've, you know, coming from the Democrat Party and, you know, hearing what was said about Obama throughout his terms and, you know, he's the Antichrist and he's not really legitimate. He's a Muslim, he wasn't born here. And, but I never heard Republicans or people on the right or talking heads, and if they were, that's fine. I mean, maybe on the fringes there were, but even people like Nick Fuentes and Alex Jones and stuff, nobody was ever saying, you know, you've got to go and do this, you've got to be violent, you can't tolerate this, you know, blah, blah, blah, and you've got to take action. You didn't, you don't really hear that stuff from a lot of right leaning talking heads. And you could say that they say things that might inspire that. But, you know, we've heard, you know, the Maxine Waters of the world saying, you know, get in their faces and don't let them, don't let them get away with this. And if they're holding a Trump sign or wearing a MAGA hat, you get in their face like, like, I don't, that's, like, how is that not a direct, you know, call to violence? I mean, you know, the whole cliche of you can't yell fire in a crowded theater? Well, you can, but you can't say, hey, set the theater on fire. And if Maxine Waters saying get in the face of somebody with a MAGA hat and don't let them go, I mean, that sounds like violence to me. And that's a sitting congresswoman. And you have all these people and I don't listen to them. But I've heard clips of some of these people, that Hassan Piker guy, you know, saying like, literally saying, we need to kill this guy or we need to kill these people or they're gonna, they're gonna have to pay with their lives and like just legitimately saying that stuff. And you've got people, you know, in.
- [37:18]
B
You remember the Kathy, the Kathy Griffith image where she was like holding up the bloody head of Trump?
- [37:24]
A
Well, and that. Yeah. And that, that, it's. That to me, I mean, being a, you know, an art, art student, that would, to me it was like. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I get it. It is definitely, you know, over the top, but there's been plenty of art of all kinds of things that, you know, effigies of, of Obama being, you know, hanging from a noose and using his, you know, you know, iconic hope and change posters to. So it is what that kind of thing. Like, I don't know. I mean, I'm just not that sensitive and it seemed to be at a time where people weren't as sensitive when I politics or, you know, a young adult. But the, the, the rhetoric, the constant. And Adam Carolla says it, and I think it's a little bit extreme, but like, you know, if you've got somebody constantly telling you that Trump is Hitler, he's a fascist, he's a tyrant, he's going to lock up trans people, he hates black people, he's going to put all the black people in camps. If you, if Trump was saying, I'm going to put trans and black people in camps and I'm going to get, and I'm going to make this a Jewish state and I'm going to take all of your freedoms. If he said that, what would be the right thing to do? Well, to get that guy out of there. So if you're, if you're telling people,
- [38:36]
B
if I gave you, if I gave you a time machine, Ty, what are you supposed to do with that time machine? You're supposed to go back and kill baby Hitler.
- [38:43]
A
Oh, to make sure I wasn't born.
- [38:45]
B
No, but that's, that's kind of the thing and that's like, you know, this instilled kind of. And it's kind of like a viral, you know, meme almost. It's like, oh, well, that's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to go back and kill baby Hitler and save the world from, from Nazi Germany and all the atrocities therein. And so to your point, when you keep telling people that this is modern day Hitler, then someone is going to have a martyr hero complex to say, oh, I want to be, go down as the guy that took out the modern day Hitler.
- [39:13]
A
Yeah. And I think it's really bad because a lot of these people are just saying this for, you know, monetization and clicks and all the different cliche words you hear. But it is true. I mean, they've got to put out content and this is their bread and butter. And you can say that a lot of the, there are a lot of people that are being disingenuous and, you know, Tucker Carlson coming out, you know, I don't agree with a lot of people on, on their takes on Tucker because I think a lot of it is genuine. And maybe he's kind of had a, you know, for lack of a better word to come to Jesus moment about some of the things that he said in the past. But, you know, a recent podcast, he came out and said he'll. I'm sorry for it, for, you know, it, it. What did it. What was the term he used? You know, he basically said, you know, it pains him and he's so sorry for encouraging people to vote for Trump. Well, I mean, that's ridiculous. Like, you knew what he was like. Let's not pretend like you, this was the guy that you want. It's politics. You saying, I was wrong. I thought Trump was gonna do something else and he didn't do it. So I wouldn't, knowing this, I would not endorse him again. Yeah, that's appropriate. But you doing this dramatic thing for clicks is just that kind of thing is what you have to read between the lines. And, and, you know, you and me that are, you know, sane, rational people that can see the dichotomy and what everybody says, you can listen to things and not agree with people or think they're being ridiculous and, you know, get something out of it in between. But a lot of people, they really don't have a worldview and they really don't have, you know, a personality. So they put their personality in these people. And, you know, the manifesto of this recent shooter, I mean, it's all the talking points, it's all the, you know, greatest hits of what's going on. And, and so it's just, I think the mate. The main gist is, you know, we're not going to participate in that kind of rhetoric. And there's plenty of things that we could say about politicians of West Virginia and nationally that we're just not going to get into that. I mean, you know, I don't hear. My thing has been the whole time is, did somebody think Trump was a good guy? Like, did you think he was a good guy. Like, yeah, his thing. What does he talk about that when they were interviewing about the, the, the manifesto said that he was a rapist and a pedophile. He's like, I knew you were going to read that because you're a nasty person. And then the next day comes out and posts a tweet, you know, two kings. Like, is that kind of nasty, Trump? Like, is that a nasty thing to do? Like, is that something that somebody that's not nasty would do? Like, would you or I do that after we've been accused of being a tyrant and a king and you, all these people are genuinely upset about it, you go and poke them. Like, is that the good thing to do? Is that the Christian moral thing to do? To tease an entire, you know, half of the population and say that their concerns are ridiculous instead of just proving that you're not that thing? So it's like, yeah, okay, they're nasty. Okay, great. Yeah, they're, it's politics, Trump. You playing the victim. That's the thing, man. Like these Republicans, and I'm sure you've seen this as well, they're the, they're as big a babies. The woke, right, is, isn't what they say it is. The woke, right, is all of these people, the Mark Levins, the Ben Shapiro's on all these people acting like they're victims of something. Like, you're not a victim, Trump. You know, and this whole stuff like, yeah, the DOJ under Biden went under him, after him under false pretenses. New York State case where they had, you know, misdemeanors that they turned into felonies. Yeah, that wasn't, that wasn't right. And I don't think they should have done that. And they were weaponizing the government. But you know how, why you and I will never have that problem, Taylor, you and I are never going to pay hush money to a porn star for cheating on her with our wives. That's not something we're ever going to have to deal with. They're not going to weaponize the government on us because we don't do those things. So why did was nobody talking about that? That Trump's not a good guy? Whatever you think about him politically, he was a lesser of two evils. You can say that, but he's not a good guy. So what when you have this rhetoric and you're, and you're giving more, like you said, they're just adding fuel to the fire for these people that are clearly mentally unstable. Three high profile Assassination attempts. And then as you said, the. The ride is just like, oh, this is crazy. Even though, what do we know about the butler shooting? Next to nothing. The guy that tried to kill him at that golf course, next to nothing. This guy, we know a little bit more already just because he was more public facing, but I guarantee that's going to be swept under the rug. So it's like, it's all like this, one side versus the other. We're sitting here going, yeah, you all suck really bad. Stop doing this. Because you're.
- [43:53]
B
Yeah.
- [43:53]
A
And that's the thing to me, and I'm sure you've seen it. Everybody's saying that this is just fuel to get the ballroom built. And I'm like, no, no, no. And I think Dave Smith said it on his podcast about it. He goes, he said, stop doing this because if you want to do violence, the government is way better at violence. And if you want new FISA laws, if you want new patriot acts, if you want new restrictions on your rights, keep doing this crap, Keep doing it. Because that's what'll happen is that'll give them fuel to create new laws and censor what you say on the Internet. You already have Mark Levin coming out, you know, talking about censorship in regard to this. Yeah, this is what's gonna happen. Stop doing it. Because you're just giving them fuel for what? That's the real conspiracy is they love this stuff because it gives them fuel to create new restrictions on your freedoms.
- [44:42]
B
Yeah, well, just a couple of things I'll add in. One, obviously, the hotel where this happened was the same hotel where we were at for the LNC Convention where he spoke to us. And I remember thinking, then security wasn't like super intense. He was also a candidate then. He was in a former president, not current president, so. And they didn't have the rest of his administration in the same building, so it was a little lesser. But I remember thinking, oh, man, wouldn't it be terribly difficult for some person who was not just crazy but also methodical to do something bad here? But now, looking back at what happened this past weekend, you think about, well, what if he had a few more people and a little more coordinated or he brought explosives in his suitcase when he checked in. And not just guns and what he could have actually carried off, blah, blah, blah. But to your point about the retaliation or reaction by the right, the first thing I thought of is, well, we're going to have metal detectors on every hotel now because these places are going to be scared. Or I Don't know how much you heard about or they talked about around you, but I remember them speaking about how he took an Amtrak train across most of the country.
- [45:56]
A
Yep.
- [45:56]
B
And my funny story about that is my first Amtrak train was from Hinton, West Virginia to Philadelphia. And I remember getting on the train and thinking, oh, man, you know, I got eight hours. I need to need a drink or two. And I went back to the bar cart and paid ridiculous amount for like a couple of beers. Meanwhile, the next stop, some guy like, walks on with his basically a cooler and just starts pounding his own liquor that he brought with him. I was like, oh, man, I didn't realize.
- [46:21]
A
Are you sure this wasn't a Greyhound?
- [46:24]
B
I mean, it was a Greyhound on tracks, but, but basically, you know, then, okay, now we've got to increase security and everything on, on, on trains and blah, blah. So that's going to be, that's, that's the natural response, unfortunately, of Republicans. They can't just, you know, stand up on freedom and liberties. And, and.
- [46:42]
A
Well, I'll, I'll push back on that a little. What's the new Attorney General's name?
- [46:50]
B
Interim. He's. No one's been appointed as.
- [46:53]
A
I can't remember his name, but he, he was being interviewed and they were mentioning that to him and he said, in which I was kind of surprised. He said that's not really what we're focusing on right now. Like the security of Amtrak. That's like he, he got here. We're not, we're not focused on that in the investigation. So I was actually happy to hear that. And, and you know, to me, I read it as, that's not what we're trying to do here. You know, be basically saying we're not trying to put more restriction on, on Amtrak. And the reality is this is what I get out of this. And I try to point out to people there, all of this stuff, all of this security is an illusion. And that's why we're against it, because even, you know, it's a stereotype now or a cliche. I mean, is, you know, when they do, when they pressure test the TSA, like 80% of the stuff they pressure test them with gets through.
- [47:48]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [47:48]
A
Like there's more. The security is an illusion. It's not real. Like, you can get anything you want. And as you said, you knowing what little I know about this stuff, if that guy hadn't have been a blithering idiot, like if he had one other guy that was going behind him plug into plugging Secret Service guys, as they went, and he had a S vest on, got anywhere near where he got. If he'd gotten 20 more feet and set that off, it would have been a whole different thing.
- [48:21]
B
Right?
- [48:22]
A
I mean, there doesn't take much C4 to blow up a whole room. It could have been a whole different thing if anybody with any brains had been involved in something like that. Which kind of, you know, the idea of the high trust society, the idea that people are scared in this society, like, it's. We're. The reality is we're the safest we've ever been. Like, especially where we are. Well, well, where I am, I'm, you know, real West Virginia. But, like, I'm not like, and, you know, broadcasting this to the world. Like, there's stuff in my yard, under my carport that most people would think I was insane for leaving out. But I live in a high trust community because I know that people aren't going to stop and take my stuff because there's only a few people that could have done it. And people talk, and that's the society I've chosen to live in. And even there, like, like you said, you get on Amtrak for most, most places where decent people live. Nobody's gonna do anything on an Amtrak. Like, they're not gonna blow up an Amtrak. When's the last time you heard of a Nam track getting blown up? It's always their incompetence that causes a derailment. It's never people blowing them up, which would be very easy to do. How many trains went by you down southern West Virginia? Like, you could just take a piece of track out and kill a bunch of people. Nobody does because people don't want to hurt each other. That's just the nature of, like, the society we've built is people are, you know, generally decent human beings. And so this is this whole thing about. Yet he could have. It could have been much, much worse. But you had an insane idiot, basically, is what you had. You had a guy didn't know what he was doing and who knows what he was really trying to do. Could have been a suicide thing. That's generally what this stuff is. But. And, but then Todd Blanch is the guy's name. I don't know why that just came into my head, but from what I've heard, you know, you know, we can. This last topic and then we can end the podcast. Unless you have something else to say about that.
- [50:18]
B
But just. Yeah, just real quick. The only thing I would say, going back to where we started on this. If we were to rewind time to like 2006, right. And had the same conversation. And I were to ask you, all right, Tyler, are two of the next three presidents, one is gonna be Donald Trump and he's gonna have support of the vast majority of conservative America. And another president that we'll have for eight years is a gentleman by the name of Barack Hussein Obama, who'll be our first black president. And I would ask you who would have five assassin like major assassination attempts on their life in their two terms and you would be stupid to put any money on anything besides Obama. But that's where we are. And again, for whatever reasons, whatever the causes are, the fact that there is at least some credence to the fact that it seems that most of the significant, notable newsworthy political violence of late has been Democrat towards Republican. And now we're even finding out that the major one that we talked about in recent years, that was the other direction was, you know, this Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville may have been actually propped up and basically faked by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's just like wild. I mean, just. That's all to say that's mind boggling. Well, 2006 me would not believe it.
- [51:54]
A
Marxists are violent. I mean, that is historical. So, yeah, no, you're right. And you know, I was going to talk about something else, but I'm going to end the podcast with, with some good news. So I don't know if you had heard, but the Thomas Massey confirmed that he has gotten, and you know, anything could change, but he has gotten the prime act into the, the new Farm bill coming up, which, you know, we don't like the Farm Bill. You know, it's a lot of spending, big huge budget thing for all kinds of cronyism. But Thomas Massey has confirmed that the, the as of now, the prime act is going to be in the Farm Bill, which will allow you and give no, no excuse for West Virginia not to pass the West Virginia prime act. Which what the Prim act does is it basically says that custom meat shops that don't have USDA inspectors can sell meat to the public and to distributors like grocery stores. So basically what it'll do is it'll remove, basically it'll create a freer market in meat sales so that basically you can basically you could process your own meat and package it and sell it and whoever wants to buy it can buy it and you can have, you know, market incentives deciding who buys what from who. A crazy concept. And you Know that one of the things. And we can talk about a little bit about why we don't have a problem with this, because, you know, one of the main things people are indoctrinated in the idea that food safety is something the government should be processing. And, you know, just today I read a story that there is a salmonella outbreak for antibiotic resistant or medication resistant salmonella in 13 states that's going around. And I guess eight people have become, you know, deathly ill from it. And, you know, the only reason that can happen is because you have centralized processors that distribute to 13 states. So if you have like what I have, where either I butcher my own chickens or we've got Parsons Ridge Farm. No, no sponsorship or affiliation, but they're in Reedy in northern Roan County. Reedy. What nobody's ever heard of, but they farm meat birds and they process them there and they sell them and we bought birds. Meat birds. Yeah. Just because you're a. You're a city boy doesn't mean you can't learn new terms. There's egg birds and meatbirds, Taylor. Those. That's the two things you do with chickens. Well, me, I don't. You're from Beckley, so I don't know what you all do but chickens, but we either eat them or eat their eggs. That's what normal people do, but the white. So we, instead of butchering the chickens, the Watts, they. They had a pretty good deal when we got, you know, onto their meat subscription. Something that you probably have, but ours is for chicken and. Yeah. So why am I doing this? Why am I roasting you? Don't tease me. Don't tease me.
- [54:50]
B
Just sitting here on a spec getting roasted.
- [54:54]
A
Yeah, I bet you like that. Stop. Stop. I hit myself. So our freezer is basically full of chicken that I didn't butcher, which is. It hurts my heart a little bit, Taylor, but. Because I just love killing things. But sadistic. Yeah, I just. I really don't. Well, actually, here's the funny thing, Taylor, you gotta know about me. If you're listening this podcast, you might want to tune out from now on. The. The killing the chickens part is the. Is the thing that bothers me the least. It's the ra. It's the raising them because you have to feed them and take care of them and stuff. But lab grown meat. No, but the. We got a subscription to them and they're. They're not a USDA inspected because West Virginia for some reason has a cutout for poultry where you can sell poultry without having a USDA inspected facility. I don't know why they did that or how they did that or how the poultry industry didn't lobby against that, but that's the law. So they, they sell us chicken. Our chicken comes from that place. I know where it is. I. I drive by it once a week when I'm mowing in that area. I know who they are. If we get sick, I can tell them that's where the meat came from. It didn't come from.
- [56:08]
B
Kick their ass.
- [56:09]
A
Five different farms, you know, in one, through process, through a facility that's trucked out across the United States. No, it's those guys. They did it. And that's how free markets work. Is it? If my family gets sick or the meat's not good, I don't buy from them anymore. End of story, end of line. Like that's, that's where the market ends. And that's what would happen with beef and pork and lamb and goat and all these things with the prime act.
- [56:35]
B
Yeah. So let's, let's hope that that gets through and we can have it here much. Since we're on regulations, I want to just talk about this funny anecdote story and get your thoughts on it. Being someone who has children, my good friend and neighbor posted in our HOA group asking if anyone had any child. Child seats. Car seats, sorry. Because I guess someone that he knew the next county over was hard up or was down on their luck or some situation where they were, you know, just needed some things. And one of the things that they needed was a car seat for certain size. And he put some restrictions on what they could accept, you know, what they could give them. And it was relatively ironic because I was just having a conversation in another group chat about car seats, and my buddy goes, you know what's a scam? Car seats are a scam.
- [57:25]
A
Yep.
- [57:26]
B
They're. How do they say it? They expire after so many years and they have to meet, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, well, it's not that car seats themselves are a scam. I said, it's a government regulations imposed on the manufacturing and selling of them that is the scam. And of course, I think we talked about in the past, you mentioned poultry and stuff. My poster child for this is always baby formula. And the big thing that happened several years ago, but I looked it up and sure enough, only a handful of companies are licensed by the government to make child seeds. And they created within their own monopoly of those handful of companies, even more monopoly on the market that they expire, they're not good after so many years. And so I had this back and forth with my buddy's wife about because she's like, oh, we can't have no regulations with blah, blah, blah. What would happen, we would be unsafe. And I was like, well here's what actually happens. You have this monopoly and now child seats or car seats are so expensive and people, you know, socioeconomically pressed people can't afford to buy them when they need them. And so what are their solutions? Well, they generally will either go without and skirt the law and if they get pulled over, they're likely going to get fined hundreds, if not thousands of dollars that they can't afford or they'll get thrown in a cage because it's illegal to, you know, do anything besides put your child in a government approved non expired car seat.
- [58:55]
A
Well, here's the thing. The, the, the law is for them. They have to put the experts. You don't have to have a car seat that's not expired. That's not the law. Like you don't, that's not a thing. But you're not supposed, I don't know, like you're not supposed to be selling them. But if I want to give somebody a car seat and the expiration date is passed on it, like there's no law that I'm going to get in trouble for doing that. I think it's just if you're selling them, that's the big issue. And those expiration dates, I think that's, I don't, I would guarantee that the car seat manufactured have lobbied the, the government to do that because there, there's no difference in them. Like, and we have car seats that are, you know, several years old and you know, and being, you know, most people, they go through car seats as their kids age out of whatever size it is. But us, we've, you know, we've gone through foster kids and got rid of car seats, got new ones and you know, we've had them given to us and the ones that we've had for a long, long time, like there's no difference. Like the, the, it's got the off gassing of all the chemicals in the, in the materials on the new ones. But like, it's not like the straps are like broken and yeah, if you have a car seat where the strap is torn, you should probably not use it anymore. Like that's just common sense. But if everything like you said, like the law isn't, it's based on regulation but to me, the thing that passed the expiration date is just like we've talked about with car seat belts. The. The reason people don't put them in their cars correctly or they don't get the right ones is because they're very difficult to install. You have to, like, I'm pretty good at it because I'm £200 and I can push down on them and. And wrench on the.
- [60:41]
B
More than that.
- [60:42]
A
Well, 200 plus. Right. I'm £300. I'm six foot eight. I'm £300. The. You know, I could put my knee on it and put some pressure and, you know, compress the seat underneath of it, pull the strap tight, and then when I let go, it's. It's tight. You know, people with less strength or weight or whatever, they have a more difficult time doing it. And the straps, they're just a cinch strap, and they're really hard to get the right angle to pull it tight. And we've had one car seat, and it was really expensive, and I think we got a rebate on it or something, but it had a little ratchet handle on it that you could ratchet it down. And I'd been saying that I've had a child in my life for 16 years now. I've said the entire time, why don't they have ratchet straps on these things? And Erica won't let me just put a ratchet strap on it because she's bought in. She's bought into the gimmick that it's not safe. But this had a ratcheting strap. If I put a ratchet strap, like, I've held, like, I have ratchet straps that hold down tons of weight. If I put a ratchet strap, you
- [61:46]
B
just not using a trial. A car seat at all and just ratchet strapping your kids to the seat.
- [61:51]
A
Yeah, it's just. I mean, and I. I buy into the. The idea of a car seat. Like, the. The, like, if you put a kid in a seat with a seat belt on them, it's made for an adult. Like, you're gonna break their neck if they get in a car accident. That stuff makes sense. But the way that they're designed in the. In the regulations and laws, they're very difficult to use. And so a lot of people just don't use them correctly. And what's the thing? Ease of use. Right. That's why people use things. And you have fire departments and police departments that, you know, they'll have a day and say, hey, bring Your car seat and we'll help you and show you how to install it and make sure it's in there correctly. That's a great thing. My wife, mother, baby nurse, she usually goes down. She's not legally allowed to put it in their car for them, but she can like give them pointers and she'll tell you like, it's terrifying to see what people have. As for car seats, like they've just got some old ratty car seat that you know, somebody found in a dumpster, like. So it's, it is what it is. But yeah, no, it is a perfect example of how regulations are just like willy nilly and they just don't really accomplish what they're supposed to accomplish. And to me, they stifle innovation because again, 16 years the tech, the basic technology of a car seat has changed almost not at all because of the regulations.
- [63:08]
B
Yeah. So that, and just the, you know, the idea that because the government has created a monopoly that the, the options generally people have are pay the high price for a car seat, you know, within the expiration date or whatever, or get something raggedy hand me down. Now if, you know, didn't realize and appreciate the correction there, give me a raggedy hand me down or just go without in general and run the risk of, you know, something, something worse getting arrested or fined or anything along those lines. And it's like what actually happens if you open up the free market and allow more people to compete is you have, have more options, lower cost and innovation. And yes, there are going to be some bad ones. Just like to your point right now, there are ones that are hard to use, complicated. We already have that problem. And I, I made the comment and I said the, the, my point of view or where I'm coming from in our policy of opening up the marketing competition is not going to eradicate bad car seats. It's not going to prevent 100% of children car accident fatalities. You know, it doesn't create a utopia that we get associated with trying to provide. What it does is actually opens up the marketplace for innovation and lower costs which most rational individuals understand that that's what the free market and capitalism does. When you allow industries to weaponize the government to create monopolies, what happens is you get high price items and penalties that are unfeasible and reasonable for individuals who otherwise in a socioeconomic status can't afford either the penalty for not having the thing or the thing that they must buy to, you know, operate in society.
- [64:57]
A
Yeah. And if the government's going to do anything. They can still have their safety institute where they test these car seats and tell the American people this car, car seat is a death trap. These are the ones we recommend or a private organization that could make money off of the marketing and advertise for Graco. And everybody can say, yes, this car seat is safe. And these are the five points that we've checked. And this is our, you know, and be an unbiased, you know, mediator for what's safe and what's not. Just like everything else we talk about.
- [65:26]
B
Yeah, the, the government, at the very least that's what the government should do, is provide the, the oversight and the testing of it. But even without that, I was, like I mentioned, Consumer Report exists. Now that's a thing that exists in the world with all the regulations and things that we have to tell us what is good, what is safest, what is best. In the marketplace. There is incentive within society because people want to know, people want to protect themselves, their own health, their family, their incomes, et cetera. And there is a marketplace for that. And the retort is, oh well, you know, Consumer Report will just get bought out by the big companies. Okay, well there will be still a marketplace for a startup, another non consumer report magazine to come and say, hey, by the way, we've done all this testing over here and Consumer Reports lying. And then the public, the marketplace has to decide who's telling the truth, which one do you believe? And that spurs more competition, more growth, more and a drive towards more efficient, more safe, lower cost products and services.
- [66:29]
A
Yeah. And then if they're doing like you said, they get bought out or they get influenced by advertisers. We have a functioning justice system where the DOJ can say we have suspicion that you're being influenced. We're going to go through your books and do an investigation and hey, looks like Graco has given you millions of dollars and you're giving them better reviews even though there have been higher incidences of accidents with this car seat. Now you're going to have a class action lawsuit where you're going to lose your business. That's the incentive of, you know, real, you know, judicial and legal non aggression principle. If you are recommending something to somebody and they are paying for your opinion and you are committing fraud by lying to them through influence, that is something that we have no problem with. That's called fraud and that is aggressing on somebody because you're lying to them and taking their money and not giving them the product they paid for.
- [67:17]
B
Paid for.
- [67:17]
A
So yeah, we. No problem with that justice system crazy concept.
- [67:22]
B
Well, not only that, but even, even sans, you know, that type of justice system, Ty. I mean whistleblowers exist. You know, I mean I was. I don't know why I was thinking about. There was a story a couple years ago. Do you remember when the guy was putting his penis in the starbursts? You remember the story?
- [67:39]
A
No, that might have been just a recent family reunion story.
- [67:45]
B
It was on the Daily. The Daily Show. It was a funny thing. But it's like people will. When stuff like that is having people come out and. And alert the public about it. And it wasn't the fda. It wasn't, you know, some other organization that saved us from it. It was a co worker who was like, hey, his dick is in the red Star verse. But go back to. And I forget the name of the book now. There was a book that was. No, There was a book that was written either right before or the start of the Teddy Roosevelt's first president's term. It was like a expose on the meatpacking industry at the time when we had like zero, zero regulation that all started. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But there was a whole thing and that was journalism and whistleblowing and that all existed without. In that. That then spurred regulation. So it was kind of counterintuitive.
- [68:38]
A
Yeah, most of, most of that. Look, look it up. Most of that book was not true. That guy was a communist shill. That most of what he was talking about wasn't real. But yeah, no, your point stands.
- [68:47]
B
But, but you know, most of it wasn't real. Some of it was still. I mean there was some truth in. In it. I mean I'm sure that there was some dirty practices that were happening and shining the spotlight on it. Truth is the best disinfective a dis or whatever the phrase is. And all they had to do and what likely would have happened sans any retaliation by the government, creation of all these three letter agencies and then stepped in is just like your comment about the local poultry farm and you know, small farms and ranches and things they're producing locally. You just go to another provider that's doing it cleaner and better and safer. It's like it's real easy if you say oh, you know, farm A is all their meat is contaminated and there's the produce is dirty, whatever it is, then you just go to the next farm and because it's an incentive for them to say, oh, you don't want to shop there because it's dirty and they're doing all their stuff wrong. Look, we'll prove to you that we're doing it right and it incentivizes, there's an incentive for them to do that because people want to shop and eat especially they want to eat things that are clean and not, you know, infected and, and covered in, you know, waste and bile and all the stuff that was going on then.
- [70:03]
A
Well, and, and I tell people this all the time. I mean, if you live in a city, you got to buy food where you can, but if you're buying food from a farmer and if you say, can I tour your farm? And they say no, don't buy food from them ever again because they don't want you to see what they're doing. And you know, it is what it is. And you know, we, we sell, you know, we've been selling a little raw milk. It's perfectly legal here. Now just to add that caveat and if somebody wanted to come look at our facilities, I mean, they're not going to be impressed, but we're gonna show them what we do.
- [70:36]
B
And, and I can come see your teeth?
- [70:38]
A
Yeah, you can come. You could milk them if you want. And the cows. This podcast is gonna need an explicit rating. My son listens to this. Hi, Michael. Don't. It's fine. He's heard worse. He's milked the teats, he put the cows, he's. And I just want to say, because he does listen to this, I don't. Here's the thing. I don't consider myself to be the best parent on planet earth, but I will tell you, future Erica is. Yeah, you, well, you future parent and all the parents out there, you just have to care a little bit. And whatever the, the whatever the morals and ethics and things that you want your kids to exhibit and have more is caught than taught, try to exhibit those things to them. Michael is one of the most hard working human beings I've ever met and he works harder as a 12 year old boy than most men I know. I don't. He works with me when he wants to and I pay him, but I don't literally, I could not hire an adult man to do the work he does and them do it any better. And I'm not saying that because he's my son. Like I have a high standard for the work I do. And you know, if he weed eats for me while I'm mowing, when he's done, I don't have to tell him he goes and gets the blower. And blows off the. The sidewalks. He does what needs to be done. Very rarely do I have to correct anything he's done. He works and he works hard and he wants to, and he does it because.
- [72:12]
B
It's because of the raw milk.
- [72:14]
A
Yes, well, mostly because of the raw milk, but it's. And again, I don't consider myself the hardest working human being on earth. But have expectations for your children. Let them know they can do things, teach them skills, and that's just another positive at the end of this. If you live in West Virginia, you have nothing but an opportunity to provide them with tons of freedom, despite the government wanting to take that from you. Let them do what their ancestors did in West Virginia. He's pure blood. Well, half blood. He's a. He's a mud blood West Virginian.
- [72:47]
B
Like them brown dogs we were talking about.
- [72:49]
A
Yeah, yeah, he's a West Virginia. Hines 57. But it's. It's in our blood here in West Virginia to work hard and take care of ourselves. And that's the biggest thing that we can give our kids and you know, the libertarian utopia of. Of anarchy is give them the skills to take care of themselves and, you know, government be damned. So we'll end with that. But. Yeah. You got anything else to wrap up the podcast, T Dog?
- [73:14]
B
No, no, I think this is a good one. I enjoy this one.
- [73:18]
A
Yeah, but you did. Yeah. So anyway. Oh, man. Yeah, you should come down and have some raw milk. It's delicious. Creamy smooth.
- [73:31]
B
I don't think I can do it.
- [73:33]
A
Yeah, I know, because you're a city boy.
- [73:35]
B
I'm a tupper. I'm a 2 percenter.
- [73:37]
A
Oh, my God.
- [73:39]
B
I think that white water, it's good
- [73:42]
A
in cereal, I'll tell you that. I put it in my protein shakes and it makes it smooth. Creamy beige.
- [73:49]
B
I probably could do it in the protein shake. I found Carl. Shout out to Carl Collins if he listens. Turn me on to a brand new. That is better for you. And he's a strapping lead. Protein powder, that is. They have a flavor, which is the cinnamon sugar, I think is what it's called. Maybe. I don't know. But anyways, it tastes like the milk after you eat cinnamon Toast Crunch. Which is the best.
- [74:18]
A
Oh, you're. You're a sweet. You're a sweet tooth baby. Huh?
- [74:21]
B
I'm a sweet tooth. Yeah.
- [74:23]
A
I'll never forget for the rest of my life. A buddy of mine in college, we were getting coffee and at that point I still put all kinds of horrible things in my Coffee. And he said. I said, you can put anything. Your coffee. He goes, no, I don't sugar up my coffee or I don't candy up my coffee. And that broke my heart. And I never put another thing in my coffee. I was like, I'm a baby. I'm a baby child putting candy in my coffee. So I drink it black now. But, yeah, the only brand of protein to drink is Jocko Mulk. So anybody. They wanna. Carl, check it out. Jocko Molk. You're gonna look at the macros and you're gonna say, I'm right. Sweetened with monk fruit. No, no, bad alternate sugars. Not a sponsor. This delicious. They have.
- [75:03]
B
Not yet.
- [75:04]
A
Oh, for you candy girls, they have Cocoa Pebbles. They did one that's Cocoa Pebbles.
- [75:09]
B
No, I can't do that. I can't drink the Leinenkugel Summer shandy or whatever because it tastes like.
- [75:15]
A
What did you just say to me? Are you having a stroke? Summer shandy?
- [75:20]
B
You've never. You never tried the Linen Kugel beer? It's. I think it's out of pa.
- [75:24]
A
Okay. No, I don't. I don't drink.
- [75:27]
B
Yeah, you don't drink beer. I don't know what that is. It's a. It's a beer, and they have a. Like a summer shanty, but it tastes like Fruity Pebbles. It's not good. It's not good.
- [75:38]
A
But. Yeah, no, it's. West Virginia is a great place to live if you want to avoid the government and live up a holler. Other than that, I don't know. It's. It's tough living in some of these places, but, you know, even where you live, Taylor and Morgantown, I'm sure it's like you've been to big cities. I mean, even Morgantown having the. The small, you know, flavor of city life, it's. It's. It's a joke compared to living somewhere like Baltimore.
- [76:04]
B
So I would never. Yeah, Western is the. A great state. Would be a lot greater with a couple libertarians down there in Charleston.
- [76:13]
A
Hell, yeah. All right, man. Well, thanks for tuning in. Until next time, don't hurt people and don't take their stuff.