America is BACK - Astronauts to the Moon + Newsom’s Fraud Scheme

Summary

Ruthless Podcast — Episode Summary

Episode Title: America is BACK - Astronauts to the Moon + Newsom’s Fraud Scheme
Date: April 3, 2026
Hosts: Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, Michael Duncan (out), John Ashbrook

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Overview

This episode of the Ruthless Podcast channels the next-generation conservative talk into a lively, uncensored, and irreverent commentary on recent news. Hosts Josh Holmes, Comfortably Smug, and John Ashbrook (with Michael Duncan off this episode) dig into America’s renewed spirit around the Artemis II moon mission, investigate massive fraud in California under Governor Gavin Newsom, ridicule TMZ's move to politicize celebrity-style coverage of Congress, and close out with a variety of fun, borderline outrageous stories. All topics are delivered with their signature roasting wit, skepticism for progressive media narratives, and “own the libs” energy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. America’s Artemis II Moon Mission - National Pride Rekindled

Celebrating the Artemis II Launch

• The crew reflects (03:36–08:43) on watching NASA’s Artemis II launch from a D.C. bar. The entire bar—diverse politically—erupted with patriotic cheering, drawing comparisons to watching “like an overtime field goal” in the Super Bowl.

  • Smug (00:00; 08:03): “It was awesome seeing so many Americans so happy that America's doing big things again.”
  • Ashbrook (00:06; 04:58): “Spontaneously, the place erupts in applause…not like it’s a Republican bar…it was like we were watching the Super Bowl or something.”

• Mission Significance:

  • The hosts underscore how Artemis II will “go further out into space than any human has ever traveled”—circling the moon and returning, prepping the next actual moon landing (05:10–06:22).
  • Smug (05:10): “They’re going further out into space than any human has ever traveled.”
  • Smug, whose father was a rocket scientist involved in developing the solid rocket boosters, shares pride in America’s “doing tremendous things” again (05:34).

• Critique of the Media (06:22, 08:03):

  • Mainstream coverage, they argue, downplays the excitement and significance: “You wouldn't know it by watching mainstream media, but it's indicative of this latent political patriotism.”
  • Smug (08:03): “For so long, we've been told our best days are behind us. And, oh, we all will have to accept this decline and go back into your pods and eat your pellets…those days are over.”

• American Optimism vs. Nihilism:

  • The podcast roasts media outlets criticizing or downplaying the moon shot on technicalities (e.g., Wired’s “zoning rules on the moon”) as symptomatic of a “loser thought” that Americans are ready to reject (08:43–09:19).

• Favorite Moment:

  • CNN’s “man on the street” interview with a young, GoPro-wearing enthusiast:
    • Kid (06:53): “We’re going back to the freaking moon. That’s…”
    • Hosts celebrate the “best live reaction I’ve ever seen.”

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2. TMZ Expands to D.C.: Celebritizing Politicians

TMZ Comes to Washington

• TMZ is relaunching a D.C. operation to crowdsource footage and vacation snaps of lawmakers, “at your expense,” during government shutdowns. Hosts discuss how this reflects the transformation of politicians into influencers more than civil servants (09:19–11:38).

  • Ashbrook (10:13): “I just don’t care what Keanu Reeves...I’ve never really cared about...This is actually not TMZ's first D.C. rollout… but in this era of politicians who desperately want to be famous… it could actually fit.”

• Media, Politics, and Tracking:

  • Josh offers insider context: Both parties have long sent young “trackers” to gather embarrassing footage, but the podcast worries TMZ’s efforts will fuel online outrage, particularly against Republicans—dubbed “an extension of what we’ve seen and criticized out of Stephen Colbert” (14:57).
  • Smug (16:07): “Media Matters had layoffs and Harvey’s like, ‘Don’t worry, I got you.’”

• Security Concerns (17:42):

  • Raising real concerns, Holmes underscores how in today's climate “too much political violence” makes real-time doxing or outing of politicians’ personal whereabouts dangerous—“You’re directing crazy people to do crazy things.”

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3. Gavin Newsom’s California: Unprecedented Fraud

(20:09–33:45)

The Issue: $180+ Billion in Fraud

• Drawing from a New York Post piece, the hosts detail how, on Newsom’s watch, organized crime, scammers, and global fraudsters (including Romanian rings and prisoners on death row) have stolen at least $180 billion in unemployment and welfare fraud.

  • Josh Holmes (21:10): “Let me just read the top…best estimates suggest…fraudsters…have stolen at least $180B.”
  • Ashbrook (22:37): “Everyone worries about some Nigerian prince in their email…[but] the guy you need to be worried about is actually the governor of the state.”
  • Smug (28:20): “The system is doing what it's designed to do... as blue as possible and the fraud numbers go up. Now, now it's not enough to tax people's income... now we need to go grab retirements... the wealth tax.”

• Absurd Claims vs. Oversight:

  • The system allegedly had “more people applying for unemployment than people over 18 in the state” at one point.
  • State acknowledgment of $20B in confirmed fraud; third-party experts say it’s much higher (24:28).

• Legislation to Legalize Fraud?

  • Smug (32:14): Reports on a CA bill raising the felony welfare fraud threshold from $950 to $25K — “it effectively legalizes welfare fraud.”
  • Josh Holmes (32:46): “Can you imagine introducing a bill where you're like, let's raise the threshold of theft to make sure that we price out the vast majority of theft.”

• Political Dynamics:

  • Hosts are adamant: “There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat” on this issue; the political model relies on this government largesse and fraud as a system of patronage (27:01–28:20).

• Quote Roundup for Fraud Segment:

  • Smug (25:48): “A system does what it's designed to do.”
  • Ashbrook (36:41): “They want their people to get more of your money.”
  • Josh Holmes (27:01): “There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat.”
  • John Ashbrook (29:06): “I saw...twenty members of Congress flew to Minnesota to rally to stick up for the system that is stealing your money.”

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4. Variety Segment: News, Weirdness, and Outrageous Antics

(36:20–61:52)

Fun Time Friday: Judging Judges

• They read out listener comments from the previous episode about impeaching judges, showing their followers’ engagement and frustration with current judicial leniency (36:20–37:17).

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British Paternity Drama: Identical Twins Edition

(37:35–43:42)

• Story: UK court cannot determine which of two identical twins is the father of a baby after a woman slept with both men within four days.
  • Memorable quote, Holmes (39:53): “You're gonna be the father type thing.”
  • The panel riffs on the limits of DNA, the woman’s (questionable) choices, and the “disgusting British trajectory set from the top.”
  • Smug (41:31): “Disgusting people have disgusting problems…and this is one of those situations where I actually wish death upon everyone involved except for sweet pea, the child.”

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Chocolate Spiked with Viagra

(43:45–47:14)

• News: California company’s “Gold Lion Aphrodisiac Chocolate” recalled after FDA finds undeclared Viagra/Cialis ingredients.
  • Holmes (44:52): “They're marketing their product, the chocolate, as a boner pill in and of itself.”
  • Hosts mock news coverage for missing the obvious ("male sex chocolate" packaging), joke about the scandal’s comic potential, and speculate it might be a marketing stunt.

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Windsurfer Hits Whale in SF Bay

(47:38–50:09)

• Viral video: Surfer spectacularly collides with a whale.

  • Holmes (48:02): “The guy hits the whale with the surfboard…he hit it pretty hard.”

• Pivot to Smug’s Whale-Reducing College Thesis:

  • Smug details a college paper suggesting that hauling all whales onto land (for oil/food) would offset sea level rise through displacement, all as a sarcastic response to climate alarmism.
  • Smug (51:03): “…if you kill every whale…and brought them onto land…sea levels will go down…plus you can power the entire Earth.”

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Escape Artist: Woman Breaks Out of Cop Car

(53:02–56:46)

• Clip: Woman with hands cuffed behind her back slips through a partially open police car window and escapes, only to be caught again soon after.

  • Holmes (55:00): “This woman deserves to be free.”
  • Ashbrook: “She loves crime so much, after escaping, she broke into another house within the hour.”

• The segment morphs into jokes about converting repeat offenders into game show contestants—Ruthless’s “American Ninja Warrior: Criminals' Edition.”

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The Cartel Olympics

(57:35–60:06)

• Panel discusses a magazine story about Mexican cartels kidnapping world-class athletes to compete for them. They debate the ethics of various criminal “entertainment” schemes, joke about real and hypothetical “Cartel Olympics,” and riff on notorious athletes like Michael Phelps being “inspired.”

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Notable Quotes

• Smug (08:03): “For so long, we've been told our best days are behind us...those days are over.”
• Ashbrook (22:37): “The guy you need to be worried about is actually the governor of the state.”
• Josh Holmes (27:01): “There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat.”
• Smug (25:48): “A system does what it's designed to do.”
• Smug (51:03): “If you killed every whale of every type and brought them onto land...you could power the entire Earth.”
• John Ashbrook (55:34): “She loves crime so much…after escaping, she broke into another house. She must be a kleptomaniac.”
• Smug (57:22): “You find that group of individuals, if you remove them from society, crime goes down. But if you put them on a game show, then entertainment goes up. This is how we win.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Artemis II Launch & Patriotism: 03:36–09:19
• TMZ & D.C. Politicians: 09:19–18:38
• California Unemployment Fraud: 20:09–33:45
• Judges/Listener Feedback: 36:20–37:17
• British Paternity Drama (Twins): 37:35–43:42
• Viagra in Chocolate Recall: 43:45–47:14
• Windsurfer Hits Whale/Whale Math: 47:38–52:06
• Woman Escapes Police Car: 53:02–56:46
• Cartel Olympics Discussion: 57:35–60:06

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Tone & Style

Breezy, sarcastic, and performatively outraged, the Ruthless crew serve up hard-right commentary leavened with crude jokes, absurd analogies, and cultural riffs. They model “own the libs” banter, deliver sharp broadsides at progressive priorities, and cultivate an in-group camaraderie around “minions” (their listeners). No institution or individual, left or right, is spared from their ridicule.

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Takeaway

For conservatives feeling demoralized by decline talk, regulatory malaise, or progressive overreach, this episode celebrates America “doing great things again” while exposing, in their terms, “the fraud, hypocrisy, and unseriousness” of contemporary Democrats—especially in California. For everyone else, it’s a revealing window into the tone and grievances shaping right-wing grassroots energy in 2026, all wrapped up in snarky soundbites, meme-able moments, and an ongoing war on “loser thought.”

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Listeners new and old will find this episode quintessential Ruthless: fiercely polemical, wildly digressive, and always ruthlessly entertaining.

Transcript

[Smug]

It was awesome seeing so many Americans so happy that America's doing big things again.

[John Ashbrook]

Spontaneously, the place erupts in applause. It was like we were watching the super bowl or something.

[Smug]

Yeah. Like an overtime field goal. Everyone just starts cheering. And it was wonderful. America can do so many tremendous things. For so long, we've been told our best days are behind us. And oh, we all have to accept this decline and go back into your pods and eat your pellets and we're not going to use any energy and we're not going to burn any CO2 and those days are over.

[Wolf]

You've got politicians that are banning not assault rifles, but the word Latinx. They're not even serious.

[John Ashbrook]

Everybody spends all their time worried that some Nigerian prince is going to find their way into the email and get your Social Security number and somehow get your bank account number and then they're going to take your money. But the guy you need to be worried about is actually the governor of the state. If you're in California, your money is taken from you and then given to people who are just stealing it from the government.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Just in case you think that there are a few well meaning Democrats out there, you're wrong. You're wrong. There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat.

[John Ashbrook]

There is not enough attention paid to this particular topic in California.

[Smug]

At one point, you had more people applying for unemployment insurance benefits than you had people over the age of 18,

[Senator Grassley (quoted)]

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[Announcer]

Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please.

[Smug]

Keep the faith, hold the line and own the lids.

[John Ashbrook]

It's time for our main event,

[Josh Holmes]

Fun Time Friday. Welcome back to the Ruthless Friday program. I'm Josh Holmes, along with comfortably smug and John Ashbrook. Michael Duncan out on assignment today, but we've got a fun time for you. I know there's news to cover and we'll get to it. We'll get to it. And there's some interesting stuff. Actually kind of a surprisingly large Newsweek when Congress is out. And there's not like you expected some kind of a lull did not happen. I mean, in the era of Trump, I guess it doesn't, but. But there's some interesting and funny stuff that's out there. So obviously a big thing that happened was the launch of Artemis 2.

[Smug]

Huge.

[Josh Holmes]

And in doing that this week, you saw a new level of patriot. I think you guys were talking about. You were at the bar.

[Smug]

Yeah. So that's the thing is we just finished recording one of these episodes and we headed out, we grabbed a couple drinks and yet to hop off. Run your family real quick. And Ashbrook and I are there. They have the shuttle launch for Artemis on all the screens and it takes off and the entire bar, there must have been at least 50, 60 people in there. Start cheering.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. And it's not like it's like a Republican bar. It's like in the middle of D.C. exactly. So you get a little bit of everybody in there.

[John Ashbrook]

Exactly. You got a lot of Democrats, you got a lot of government employees, you know, civil service type employees who are in there and spontaneously the place erupts in applause. It was like we were watching the

[Smug]

super bowl or something, like an overtime field goal. Everyone just starts cheering. And it was wonderful. I'm so thrilled with this mission and the details of it. I don't think the media has done a great enough job of informing Americans what a big deal this is. They're going further out into space than any human has ever traveled.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. It's wild.

[Smug]

25,000 miles.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah. And you know something that sticks out to me and smug does not talk often about his family on this show, but they used solid rocket boosters from the original shuttle design to launch this rocket into space so that it can get to the moon. Smug's dad was a rocket scientist and did a lot of the math that led to those rocket boosters being what they are today.

[Josh Holmes]

That's why he's so into space.

[Smug]

And we had Jared Isaacman on our show a couple of weeks ago. Huge congrats to the team over there. It was awesome seeing so many Americans so happy that America's doing big things again. We haven't been to the moon. This is going to fly past the moon and then come right back to show it's capable, and then the next one's going to be landing on there. America's doing great things. We haven't been that far since the 70s.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's wild. I mean, it's a big deal. So, I mean, look, I think that's indicative of this. You wouldn't know it by watching the mainstream media, but it's indicative of this latent political patriotism that you see spontaneously erupt in bars and places around the country. My favorite is that CNN went down to cover this bad boy, and they had a just a terrific man on the street type thing with a kid. Clip 1.

[Smug]

Why do you want to be here?

[John Ashbrook]

Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history?

[Smug]

We're going back to the freaking moon. That's.

[John Ashbrook]

Pretty simple.

[Josh Holmes]

Pretty simple, bud.

[Smug]

We got it. I mean, that's probably the best live reaction I've ever seen. I love it.

[John Ashbrook]

You gotta love that kid, too. I mean, he's got the GoPro strapped to the bill of his hat.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, yeah, he's prepared.

[John Ashbrook]

He couldn't have been more excited.

[Josh Holmes]

Now he's been thinking about it.

[Smug]

And then that clip I saw, Mark Andreessen tweeted it out, and he got a reply from Jared Isaac, man, who said that we're sending that kid a bag of NASA goodies.

[Josh Holmes]

100%. You got to. I love it. Just for those of you who missed it, Clip one. A booster ignition. And lift off. The crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon. Humanity's next great voyage begins.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, this is the video everybody was watching at the bar. Like, Smug was saying, just roar. There was no audio, but everybody watched the same thing together and just erupted. And I can't imagine that our place was any different from other places around the country.

[Smug]

Yeah, that's the thing. I feel like Americans in their bones feel like America is a great power again. And doing things like this is important because it does things like, it inspires young people. Like, you saw that kid who was so excited about this. You see people just, like, cheering. America can do so many tremendous things. For so long, we've been told our best days are behind us. And, oh, we all will have to accept this decline and go back into your pods and eat your pellets. And we're not going to use any energy and we're not gonna burn any CO2. Those days are over.

[Josh Holmes]

And we're bad.

[Smug]

Yeah. Oh, everything is bad. Like Wired Tribe putting out this article being like, actually, America can't put a moon base on there because they don't have the property rights and ends up being false. It ends up being fact check as being completely wrong. But it's like, this is what you're doing. Like, kids are celebrating. If you see children erupting in cheers and you're like, actually, the coolest thing ever is very bad.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. What kind of zoning rules do they have on the moon?

[Smug]

We're done with that shit. We're done with that shit. America is a great country, whether you want to accept it or not.

[Josh Holmes]

Just loser thought 100%.

[Smug]

And I think people are really done with that shit.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Listen, I agree with you. A thing that happened here in Washington, dc. All of you are familiar with tmz. Tmz, you know, renowned for its coverage of celebrities. And they march around Hollywood and they try to tape people when they're, you know, outside of their professional capacities, and they just, like, basically harass people. And apparently this has some intrigue with the general public because it's been around a long time. It's been on broadcast for a long time. So people, I guess people like it. I've always found it to be just sort of uncouth.

[Smug]

Yeah, it's not my sort of thing, really.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's just. It's like, I don't know, you've got some A list celeb who's having dinner with his wife or her husband, and they're like, hey, what do you.

[John Ashbrook]

And they.

[Josh Holmes]

Their whole goal is to, like, go up and just ask questions to get them talking and whatever, and then they use the footage and they sell it back to dmz and.

[John Ashbrook]

Right. You have to have a baseline level of interest in what celebrities are doing. And I just. I don't really care about what Keanu Reeves orders for an appetizer at the Hollywood bowl or wherever they're going. I've never really cared about. This is actually not the first time TMZ has rolled out a DC presence, they've done it at least once, maybe twice before. But in this era of politicians who desperately want to be famous and be influencers, that's the most important thing to them. More so than, like, constituent mail or trying to find out what everybody's problem is in the District. They just want to be famous. It could actually fit in today's era in a way that it couldn't 10, 20 years.

[Josh Holmes]

It might. So there's a big announcement that TMZ is reopening a D.C. presence where they're going to be running around trying to film shit. And their grand rollout of that was, of course, Lindsey Graham at Disney, where they got somebody to send a picture of Lindsey Graham at Disney. And of course that's like, you know, big scandal of Lindsey Graham's at Disney, Disney World, yada, yada, yada. And then they do, like, pictures of, I forget, the Congressman who is like a timekeeper at a swim meet or something, and they're like, oh, this guy. Well, the government shut down, and it's like, one, they just don't understand politics at all. But two, it's ridiculous. And to your point, they did do this years ago. I was on the Hill.

[John Ashbrook]

I mean, I remember it, too.

[Josh Holmes]

I was McConnell's chief. And these people would follow us around all the time and. Same thing, right? Same thing that they do with celebrity. They just try to get you to get talking or try to get you to sign something. So you stop or, you know, you don't want to look like an asshole by having somebody come up and say, hey, can it. Can I get your autograph? But, like, I'm walking around with Mitch McConnell. Like, no one in LA is gonna want Mitch McConnell's autograph. But this is like their whole bit, like, sign this thing, and so you kind of do it. But they followed us around for, like, a couple of weeks, and they realized, like, there's nothing fun here. Like, there's. Yeah, he goes to dinner and then he goes home and he watches a baseball game, which is true for, like, I don't know, 90%, probably, of Congress. And it's just like an utterly boring medium. But every. It seems like 10, 15 years, they roll something back out. And so now they've done this thing where they want travelers. They're enlisting. It's almost like a crowdsourcing where TMZ wants travelers to submit photos they take of lawmakers on vacation at your expense, quot unquote. So you got to do all of that as DHS shutdown is impacting TSA officers and it stretches into the 42nd day. Right? So Harvey Levin, TMZ executive producer, made the request. If anybody goes to Disney World with their family for spring break or goes to a beach somewhere or anywhere on vacation, and you see One of the 535 members of Congress take a picture and send it to us at tmc. We will post that picture to our website and on our social media and we will put it on our television shows. You can. We want to show that what they're doing at your expense. And we want everybody to hear that. And we're waiting for those pictures.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, here's what I like about it, okay? They're framing it around the DHS shutdown, which is a fundamentally big problem in our country. Under no circumstances should DHS be shut down, should TSA agents be worried about their next paycheck when we are engaged in like a war with Iran. It shouldn't be happening. And, you know, there's so many different things that TMZ could frame this effort around. The fact that they're framing it around something that is fundamentally a very important thing in our country. Protecting everybody's safety, I take is a good sign.

[Smug]

Here's what, here's the way. Kind of disagree with you on this. Harvey Levin's kind of like a well known lefty. Like, he definitely has Trump derangement big time. And they have said that, like in this instance, this rollout has been couched in the whole TSA shutdown thing of like, take photos and send them our way. And they've only, I don't know who all they've received, but they've only published Republicans when we all know Democrats are to blame for this.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Smug]

Because Harvey's using his platform to try to, oh, let's go after the White House. Let's show pictures of Republicans at the airport. And then everyone in the comments is gonna be like, these Republican bastards. I had to wait in a line. This is what Levin, he wants to redirect that rage.

[Josh Holmes]

I think you're right. I think it's an extension of what we've seen and criticized out of Stephen Colbert, which is you're using broadcast news in some ways to fulfill a campaign component on behalf of the Democratic Party. And the way that this stuff works for those of you who don't work in politics is both parties have a bunch of different contracts with folks that they provide tracking footage. And what that is is young people out with, you know, now it's iPhones, but it used to be camcorders or whatever, where they get as much footage of a politician in public as they possibly can. They could be potentially used in ads because they say something stupid or they are on vacation. You think of, like, Chris Christie on the beach during the whole Sandy thing or whatever it is. This has become a. This is what they do in politics. And what I think that Harvey Levin's doing with TMZ is exactly what you just suggested in that they've just taken it off the books of the Democratic Party and they have now employed a group at broadcast expense to just go be trackers of Republican politicians.

[Smug]

Like, Media Matters had massive layoffs and Harvey's like, don't worry, I got you.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right, right. Like, I got it. No problem. So we'll see how it all pans out. I guarantee it done within a year.

[Smug]

Yeah, and that's. That's the problem is.

[John Ashbrook]

Or at least by November.

[Smug]

Yeah, no, like, that's hilarious.

[Josh Holmes]

No, they'll announce in November that it's not being renewed in January. Like, oh, well, you served a valuable function.

[Smug]

And here's the thing is, like, even if it was intent, you know, coming from a place of, like, holding both sides accountable or whatever, they're going to just get bored of it. Because if you can't tie that story to something that affects the public, what do they care if, like, Congressman from Arizona is eating a burger on a patio with his kid? You know, like, no one gives a shit about politicians. There's still an increasingly smaller and smaller portion of the public that cares about, like, oh, Tom Cruise is out eating a burger.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

But even, like, I think part of the reason they have to do this is because politics has kind of become the water cooler discussion. The thing that's interesting, Trump has made politics the number one sport in America. Right. So this is during a time while fewer and fewer people are going to movie theaters. Hollywood stars are less and less important to each individual. And so they're trying to find some way to get more page views. But I don't think the TMZ style of coverage of politicians works. Because if it's just like a guy being like, hey, what are your thoughts on the shutdown? Like, if you don't have that story tied to it, what's your Hollywood audience that goes to TMZ for that?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, no, I mean, look, there's also security component to it. And that this isn't 15 years ago when you're like, hey, this politician's doing something stupid. And they're like, around the block and people are like, oh, what an asshole. Like, there's been too much political violence in this country to document in real time where people are with their families.

[Smug]

And that's a good point.

[Josh Holmes]

Knowing that there is a niche constituency on frankly, both sides of the aisle, but certainly on the left, that does really fucked up stuff.

[Smug]

Yep.

[Josh Holmes]

And the idea that you're doing that, I'd be interested to see what they, what their answer is to that question. I mean, I think Wolf flagged it for me first, and I didn't think about it fully, but it's true, man. I. That's. That's. You got to watch out for stuff. What's their liability and things. Like crazy people. You're directing crazy people to do crazy things.

[John Ashbrook]

And plenty of them exist on the left.

[Josh Holmes]

Totally. Totally. All right. So when we come back, a Democrat. Fraud so big, it's hard to believe it's real. Of course it's from California. Of course it's Gavin Newsom related. And it's of course, what we've been talking about for a long time. And that if you liked what you saw in Minnesota, wait till you get a load of what's going on in California. Everybody's known it. Not a secret. It's horrible. We'll get into the details right after this.

[Announcer]

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[Josh Holmes]

Okay, so we teased at the end of last segment, what is the California fraud? I want to assure people who are looking for a fun time. It's not always fun to talk about fraud.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

We have variety in here that we're about to get to after the fraud segment that if you're just here for yucks, stick around.

[John Ashbrook]

It is.

[Josh Holmes]

Fellas are Gonna be terrifically on point on a bunch of. Well, they're sexual in nature.

[Smug]

I think it's a bit much. I mean, it's wolf, so that's what you get. He doesn't care about family content.

[Josh Holmes]

I think it's sexual in nature.

[Smug]

How about a family friendly show? Most like. Not on my watch.

[Josh Holmes]

No, no, we're gonna do. We're gonna do dirty stuff after this, but we gotta talk about this. Inside Gavin Newsom's empire of fraud. A New York Post piece that came out. Let me just read the. The top of this. Which is the best estimates suggest on the governor's watch, fraudsters, scammers, and organized crime rings have stolen at least $180 billion.

[Smug]

That's insanity.

[Josh Holmes]

Remember the high water mark of what we were talking about in Minnesota was 8.

[Smug]

It's almost 20 times that. 20 times.

[Josh Holmes]

Almost 20x that going on in California. 14 months after Gavin Newsom began his first term as Governor, when the COVID 19 pandemic swept the world, the state's leaders imposed some of the country's most restrictive public health measures. In response to the crisis, Newsom sought to dump pallets of cash across the state as quickly as possible. One way to inject money was through California's massive unemployment insurance program. Unemployment insurance is administered by the state's Employment Development Department, which can process billions of dollars in payments monthly. I mean, Jesus. Before the state had turned on the cash machine, however, experts had warned the system was ripe for fr. It wasn't just like experts. We were doing a show at the time. You had Republican members of Congress that were on here, and we were talking to them about how what Democrats wanted to do throughout Covid, remember, state and local funding was just basically a fraud pot, and there was no enforceable mechanism for it whatsoever. Like the federal government was providing zero resources to oversee these gigantic trillion dollar payouts to states that themselves had utterly no ability to actually monitor.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, a fraud story like this is difficult to stomach under any circumstances. But here in the month of April, two weeks before you turn over half of your income to the government, it is particularly difficult to hear because everybody spends all their time worried that some Nigerian prince is gonna find their way into the email and get your Social Security number and somehow get your bank account number, and then they're gonna take your money. But the guy you need to be worried about is actually the governor of the state. If you're in California, your money is taken from you and then given to people who are just stealing it from the government. I mean, unemployment insurance is something that normal people need when they're hard up, right. They hope the system is there to help them. They pay all these taxes. They think, maybe someday I'm going to get fired. Maybe someday I'm going to need unemployment insurance. There's a stopgap till I get to my next job. But the money is being stolen by people who are enriching themselves. And a guy like Newsom is in charge of the entire thing. And he's just sort of letting it happen.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, I mean, completely letting it happen. So the scams began almost immediately on Newsom's watch, according to the New York Post, with criminals from around the world siphoning cash from the program. In one case, a Romanian led fraud ring orchestrated a $5 million unemployment insurance scheme. Many of the fraudsters wired the stolen funds to Romania.

[John Ashbrook]

Straight up, just took it and like to Romania.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, taxpayer dollars, American dollars. They just were like, here we just fill out this form, they'll send us the cash and I just send it right back.

[John Ashbrook]

There is not enough attention paid to this particular topic.

[Smug]

Hopefully it does. This, this is the part that got me. So it said California's prison population apparently got in on the action too. They were allegedly paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent claims in prisoners names, including those of at least 133 inmates on the death row. It says state officials eventually admitted to having paid out approximately 20 billion. That's what they're admitting to. 20 billion in fraudulent claims during the pandemic and to making an estimated 55 billion with a B in improper payments. Telkov, this guy, the CEO of LexisNexis Risk, says that those figures don't even tell the full story. In California at one point. This is what got me in the New York Post. In California at one point, you had more people applying for unemployment insurance benefits than you had people over the age of 18.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, think about that. Think, just think about that.

[John Ashbrook]

How in the world do they not have something in their system that flags money going to Romania? Like it's supposed to be some. It's some person who's getting paid 85,000 a year and they lose their job and they're trying to find another one and they need help. This is not supposed to be going to Romania. And how is that even happen?

[Smug]

Here's what I always say is a system does what it's designed to do. Exactly what are the results of this system? The system is not designed to maximize money taken from taxpayers to benefit taxpayers. The system's designed to elect Democrats and California becomes as blue as possible and the fraud numbers go up. And so the system is doing what it's designed to do. They are going a step further where, I mean, there's so much fraud happening, they can't keep up with it. Where they're like, okay, we need even more money. Yeah. Now, now it's not enough to tax people's income. What we're doing in the state. State income tax isn't enough. Property tax isn't enough.

[Josh Holmes]

Now we need to go grab retirements.

[Smug]

We're taking it all.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

The wealth tax.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Where Any property, everything you have, we want a percentage of that.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[John Ashbrook]

You know, it's almost like Democrats are thinking to themselves, george Soros is an old man. He's getting up there in years, he's not going to be able to provide us the millions and millions and millions that he always has. So we need a new George Soros.

[Smug]

Oh, man.

[John Ashbrook]

And they look to taxpayers to fill that gap.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, well, I mean, look, it is by design. And just in case you think that there are a few well meaning Democrats out there, you're wrong. You're wrong. There is no such thing as a moderate Democrat. There is no Democrat at the local, state or federal level. Who gives a shit about this? You had Elon Musk, who survived, what, all of about five months in Washington D.C. who had the audacity to try to look under the hood at some of these programs that we were sending cash all over the world. And they burned down Tesla dealerships, set fire to bomb Teslas, like, tried to

[Smug]

run him, doxed the people working at Doge, beat them up in the streets.

[Josh Holmes]

Yep, yep.

[Smug]

And this is their, this is their baby. This is their whole point. This is how it works for them. This is their patronage system. The Left, by their nature, now they're open about being Marxist, like AOC and Bernie are proudly like, yeah, of course we're Marxist.

[John Ashbrook]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

That's what our deal is.

[Smug]

The nature of it is these are people unable to create things on their own. They can't be like a small business owner. They can't sign the side of the check. They don't know what it's like to have a payroll. They don't know what it's like to have to pay taxes. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. Me, me, me, me, me. Give me, give me the taxpayer money. Let me spread it out to my minions. Let me accumulate power, and let's do it on a bigger scale and a bigger scale and a Bigger scale.

[Josh Holmes]

And it just keeps on going and going and going. I mean, you would think somebody that even if they earnestly got into government, at some point, you would see stuff like this going on and you would be like, we've got to do something about that. And if you ask a Democrat to this day and you ask them about all this fraud, they'll be like, we should get rid of fraud. And then they do nothing about it. In fact, they encourage their constituency to protest anybody who tries to do anything about it. Because this is the business, the business model. This is what they do.

[John Ashbrook]

I saw a video with Tim Walls and this woman who's like a left wing member of Congress and like 20 members of Congress who flew to Minnesota to rally with Tim Walls to stick up for the system that is stealing your money.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I mean, this is.

[John Ashbrook]

I couldn't believe it.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you remember all the, all the protests outside of usaid? Yep. I mean, we were doing like masturbatory studies of monkeys with hay fever.

[John Ashbrook]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

And they were like, it's essential. Yeah, we, we need that. And, and they, they couldn't. They didn't even engage on the substance of the critique or the. Whether the fraud existed. They flagged people like a hundred people who had the same job at all these agencies who'd had it for 30 years, full retirement, full everything. And like, they actually were paid to do nothing. And they're like, maybe this is a redundancy. And they're like, how dare you get rid of federal government workers. Yep, you're firing federal government workers. But this is what's going on, guys. I mean, this is. When you, when we're so incredulous about this stuff, it's because you can see it just. No, if we're not talking about. I bet this is the first time you've heard this story. You know, unless you're like a regular reader of the New York Post, like, nobody's talking about it. Gavin Newsom's out doing fucking podcasts and acting like he knows what the fuck he's doing when he's presided over an outright theft the likes of with the entire mafia would be like, holy shit, how did you get away with that?

[Smug]

Here's the other thing we're talking about. That number 8 billion was the one from Minnesota right here. This is important when we're talking about the health care that's going on. Total budgeted medi Cal spending, that's California state health care coverage, which includes federal, state and local contributions, has more than doubled on Newsom's watch rising from 93.5 billion the year before he took office to 196.7 billion billion in the current annual budget. During the same period, California's resident population has declined. So the, so it's more than doubled. The population's gone down and they're like, eh, that works.

[Josh Holmes]

And by the way, economy's been okay.

[Smug]

Yeah, right.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, you got the AI boom going on in California. You've got tech companies that are doing okay in this time period that we're talking about. It's not like this was a major recession. This was in 2008.

[Smug]

We're talking about they're doing their best to chase anyone capable of building anything out of California.

[Josh Holmes]

They have doubled spending for people essentially on healthcare, welfare in a period of time where the wealth has grown exponentially. Presumably their tax receipts have too.

[John Ashbrook]

What they're doing is taking advantage of the good nature of your average American. People are like, you know what? I pay my taxes. It goes to the government. The government, you know, is going to help those who are less fortunate. And I don't love paying my taxes, but at least the road is there, the military is there and there's a safety net for people who are in need. They are taking advantage of you. All of those three things that I mentioned, roads, defense, safety net, all of those are an afterthought for Democrats. They don't care about that. They want their people to get more of your money.

[Smug]

And last thing I want to say on this is, you know, when you want to think about what is the Democrat, we said like, well, do Democrats not speak out about this? In April of 2025, State Senator Lola Smallwood Cuevas sponsored a bill that would raise the threshold for felony welfare fraud from $950 to $25,000. The measure would also make it more difficult to charge perjury based on misstatements to county welfare departments. Republican State Assemblyman Carl DiMaio said if the bill becomes law, it effectively legalize welfare fraud in California.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you imagine introducing a bill where you're like, let's, let's, let's raise the threshold of theft to make sure that we price out the vast majority of theft.

[Smug]

And it's great you brought it up in that context because we see what happens like in New York City when they're like, oh, felony theft. You have to steal like it went from being like $500 to like $2,000. So now people will go into like a Walgreens and shit and put in like $1900 worth of stuff and then leave. And they'll do it again and again and again and again. And that's what this does, is like you're now moving it to a greater scale.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, it's just, it's totally incredible. But meanwhile, as I mentioned, Gavin Newsom, he doesn't even speak about this stuff. Right. There's no, there's no concern in California whatsoever about any of it. Like you said, there's a wealth tax that's on a ballot measure out there. I mean, the state's so broken. But you look at the governor and like, what is he talking about? He's. Let's play this flashback clip.

[Wolf]

By the way, not one person ever in my office has ever used the word Latinx.

[Smug]

So can we finally put that to bed?

[Wolf]

But where did that even.

[Smug]

No more Latinx, everybody.

[Wolf]

Well, I just didn't even know where it came from. What are people talking about? I hope we can really paint a picture in terms of our consciousness of how impactful this has been on the Latinx community. The Latinx community. The Latinx and black community. So you've got politicians that are banning, not assault rifles, but the word Latinx. They're not even serious.

[Smug]

That's the thing. I mean, he's just such a liar and a fraud himself that of course he's the king of it.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean it's incredible. Even CNN was in on the, on the. But they ran that, that fact check. I mean the guy just makes it up as he goes along and unfortunately there's a whole bunch of people who, they're just along for the ride with it. You're getting, you're getting stolen from, folks. I mean, you're getting stolen from. Makes you want to drink.

[Smug]

That's right. Hey, good transition.

[Josh Holmes]

But when you do, you ought to have Zbiotics first. I got to tell you about a game changing product that we all use before a big night out. It's a pre alcohol drink and it's Zbiotics.

[Smug]

And it's the best because it works. So here's how it works, folks. You will think that, okay, if I'm going to have a few drinks, if I'm going to have a good time, then I go home and I chug a Gatorade and I'll be fine. And, and you never are. And it's because it's not about rehydrating, having like three glasses of water before you go to sleep chugging that Gatorade, that's not gonna help you out the following day. You still Feel awful because it's not dehydration. When you drink alcohol, your stomach breaks it down into these toxic byproducts, and that's what's making you feel terrible.

[John Ashbrook]

And Zbiotics is backed by science as smug was kind of getting at. These are PhDs who have put this together. And that's part of the reason why we always say there is no tomorrow without Zbiotics today.

[Josh Holmes]

No question. We're firm believers. You gotta go to zbiotics.com ruthless to learn more and get 15% off your first order when you use Ruthless at the checkout. Zebiotics is backed by 100% money back guarantee. So if you're unsatisfied for any reason, they'll refund your money, no questions asked. You gotta go to zbiotics.com ruthless and use the code ruthless at checkout for 15 free. All right, so when you like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program, we always ask you a question that we're interested in getting your input on. And when you do those things and you provide some input, we read absolutely all of them and get back to you with a nice sampling. The very next episode. Our question on Thursday was, is it time to start impeaching judges? Something I think, smug, inspired. And to do that, we always start with a voice.

[John Ashbrook]

Remember what Josh said. Like and subscribe. Like and subscribe. If you wish to opine like native Nana. Now, Native Nana liked and subscribed, and so here's what she said. It's past time to investigate and impeach judges. This should be a huge chapter in draining the swamp 100%. She's right.

[Smug]

All right, comment two, smuggles, comment two from Jeffrey Atkinson. Jeffrey writes, absolutely, it's past time. Roberts had the opportunity to rein in these lunatics with some rulings earlier in the administration, but he chickened out. Or is he okay with the insanity taking place in the lower courts? The next issue that must be dealt with is with is the courts that continue to let the violent criminals out constantly.

[Josh Holmes]

That's the truth, Jeffrey.

[Smug]

That's the truth.

[Josh Holmes]

Well said. There's no question about that. I think that is on everybody's mind, particularly if you live in Virginia where you're watching this just under Abigail.

[Smug]

She's like, empty the jails and let them run amok.

[Josh Holmes]

It's just. It's incredible. All right, you guys want to have some fun?

[Smug]

Absolutely.

[Josh Holmes]

Variety it is.

[John Ashbrook]

Fun time Friday.

[Josh Holmes]

Are we going to offend your sensibilities here?

[Smug]

Probably. But you know what? I've tried my best to make this a family friendly show that everyone can enjoy. But Wolf, Wolf, not on his watch.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, we.

[Smug]

He's going to make this a mess. And so we'll get to it.

[Josh Holmes]

Preemptively apologize to the mothers listening because we have some stuff here. Sky News in London reports that a woman who had sex with identical twins separately within four days of each other has been told by a panel of judges that it's, quote, not possible to identify which one is the father of her baby. So this woman, I mean, first of all, did she know? I mean, did she know she was sleeping with two different people?

[John Ashbrook]

I don't know. That's a great question.

[Josh Holmes]

A woman who had sex with identical twins separately within four days has been told it's not possible. The mother who cannot be named for legal reasons. And one of the twins took the case to court after the brother was named as the father of this child's birth certificate. This is very funny. So one of the twins apparently challenged their parenthood status because they thought in some ways they couldn't prove that he was the actual file. Like, what a dirt bag, right? All right. The pair launched legal action to be recognized as having parental responsibility for the paper baby known as child P. Family court judge declined to remove the name of the woman, the name of the alleged. Of the alleged father from the birth certificate, prompting the woman and the other twin to take the case to the court of Appeal. A panel of judges have now said it's not possible whatsoever to tell which way it's going.

[Smug]

Listen, I think twins have the same.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, identical. That's the thing with identical twins.

[John Ashbrook]

This is. This is a problem.

[Smug]

Do twins ever do have their bits? You're into the true crime. You're really fascinated knowing about crime and these horrible things.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know.

[Smug]

Do they have. They had like. It wasn't me, it was my twin.

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know.

[Smug]

The DNA shows it was him.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. I don't know of an example of a high profile like murder or something where somebody blamed it on an identical twin. It could exist. I just haven't crossed it. But apparently this is a real problem.

[Smug]

That's crazy.

[John Ashbrook]

I think, Listen, I think this is a problem in England, you know, all of the constables and all of the land can't figure this out. When all they needed to do was call Maury Povich. All they needed to do was figure out Maury Povich.

[Smug]

Figure this one out.

[Josh Holmes]

You're gonna be the father type thing.

[John Ashbrook]

He would have gotten to the bottom of it. He might have, without a doubt, he would have gotten to the bottom along

[Smug]

the lines of this being like a British problem. Look at this bullet point. But Sir Andrew MacFarlane, sitting with Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Stewart Stuart Smith did say that the twin on the birth register would no longer have parental responsibility. Until the court hears further arguments.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, we'll need to hear further arguments about such things.

[John Ashbrook]

Even their knights can't figure it out. What the. What the hell's the point of being Humpty Dumpty? You know, get to the bottom of something like this.

[Smug]

Not since Humpty Dumpty, these people have still not been able to recover. You get all the King's men on the case.

[Josh Holmes]

Truth of peace paternity is that their father is one of these other two identical twins. But it's not possible to say which. It is possible indeed likely that by the time P reaches maturity, it may be possible for science to identify one father and exclude the other twin. But for the coming time, that cannot be done without a very significant cost. And so the truth is binary and not a single man.

[Smug]

Duh.

[Josh Holmes]

That is the judgment that was rendered. So. But I have so many questions about this, none of which the article, actually.

[John Ashbrook]

No, they did. They never do. The Brits never answer questions in their articles. This is a big problem with that country and their media.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, so, like, they, they, they found that both brothers had sex with this woman within four days of another. And there was equally likely that they were. And they were like, oh, stumped. I got some questions for the mom.

[Smug]

I think, I think disgusting people have disgusting problems. And it wasn't. It was that.

[Josh Holmes]

Do you think she was duped?

[Smug]

No. I don't know. I think they're all horrible people. And that's why I really don't care for the story to begin with. But who is. What's the name of that great comedian who passed away, Norm MacDonald, who had that one quote, who was like, I don't know about you folks, but this is one of those situations where I actually wish death upon everyone involved

[Josh Holmes]

except for sweet pea, the child.

[Smug]

I mean, because this is a mess. This is a dis. Like, again, disgusting people have disgusting problems. And this is like, what's happened to England? But, you know, it's. The standard is set from the top. You know, when you have. When you've got a guy who's like, I will. A king who's going to break away so he can continue to marry more women, behead them. I mean, you're setting the pace.

[John Ashbrook]

Wait, you think the King of England is going to behead this woman.

[Smug]

No, I mean, what was it? The one who started the Anglican church? Was that Henry? Was that Henry who did that?

[John Ashbrook]

He's going back.

[Josh Holmes]

He's going back to his.

[Smug]

So when you're setting, when you're setting that kind of a pace, kind of a situation, they've been on a down looking friend so mad.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, they're not gonna care for that.

[Smug]

They don't care for that. They don't like it when you bring up that guy.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't like it at all.

[Smug]

It doesn't please them in the least, but this is what you get.

[Josh Holmes]

Would it change your opinion at all if she was duped?

[Smug]

I think these are all terrible people.

[Josh Holmes]

How would you know they're identical?

[Smug]

I think, I think these people know what they're doing and they're doing terrible things and I think God will punish them all. And we're seeing a result of this. You know, the poor child's who I feel bad for because the child, you know, no child asks for this kind of a situation. But, you know,

[Josh Holmes]

no, no, I think she was duped, though.

[John Ashbrook]

She could have been. And although you think that would be

[Josh Holmes]

part of the story of, of like, I was duped. I thought I was sleeping.

[Smug]

I think they would have included that if that was part of the.

[Josh Holmes]

So maybe it's not. Maybe she's like, no, I intentionally slept with both twins. I was trying to get a little

[John Ashbrook]

different flavor, same variety, just to see if it was. If everything was the same.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, it is an interesting sociological study if nothing else. I mean, I was. They have different free will, so, you know, there could be different methods involved, something that she was clearly interested in.

[Smug]

Again, I wish death upon all involved except for that child, poor kid.

[Josh Holmes]

Either way, they both buried it.

[Smug]

And I like how, you know, we used to have fun time Friday, but we'll turn it into just like disgusting time Friday.

[Josh Holmes]

Okay, here comes more sex. You guys ready for this? California chocolate recalled for being spiked with Viagra ingredients.

[John Ashbrook]

Of course, it's in California.

[Josh Holmes]

I love this story. Chocolate products from a California company have been recalled after they were found to have been spiked with a potentially dangerous ingredient used in Viagra and Cialis. San Francisco Bay's area's gear aisle recalled the products after they were found to contain undeclared prescription drug ingredients used to treat erectile dysfunction. Products sold online across the US Were found to have these two boner pill ingredients. And the ingredients.

[Smug]

So this actually is an insane story. And, and I would not Be surprised if the company actually made this shit up to kind of like juice sales.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, dude, to your point, to your point, the product in particular, Gold lion aphrodisiac chocolate.

[John Ashbrook]

Wait, male hands.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait, are you kidding?

[John Ashbrook]

Wait, that's what it was called?

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. No, no. They're marketing their product, the chocolate, as a boner pill in and of itself. And so they threw a little boner ingredient into it.

[Smug]

Who wrote this is the la. I know they can't do it, but the New York Post would done a better job writing the story up because they would just said like, chocolate maker. Because then, like, it gets people excited being like, oh, could it be this Easter bunny? You know, right, like ahead of Easter, could this Easter bunny. You know, you're either one. You know, you tell me, like, limp

[Josh Holmes]

Ds across the country are like, they give me some more of that chocolate.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, you're going to. You're going to have parents all over the country double checking the kids Easter baskets.

[Smug]

That's a bit much. That's a bit much.

[John Ashbrook]

That's what they do. You remember when we were kids, your parents were worried that there might be like a needle or something put in the candy that you picked up at somebody's door by a creep. I was gonna say cause problems. I don't know if you guys remember this, but it was a thing back in the 40s.

[Smug]

In the 80s, you have like, what are the things that are called Werther's? You're out there grabbing Werther's. Halloween in the 40s with the Little

[John Ashbrook]

Rascals in the 80s. That was the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Here's the thing. It's not like it's a Werther's or some like Hershey's Kiss. The thing is a. It comes in a black packaging with yellow and white front that reads male sex chocolate.

[John Ashbrook]

Okay, see, nobody's putting that in there.

[Smug]

But that's the thing is like, that's why it's not an interesting story is because if it was like, oh, you know, like, if it's just a chocolate maker says that Viagra has been added to the chocolate. It could be anywhere, folks. Then it'd be like, you know, you'd have old guys like, this is Willy Wonka going. Going to Target, you know, ripping up those Easter bunnies just like housing them.

[Josh Holmes]

Willy Wonka, Yeah. I mean, it's a whole new connotation.

[John Ashbrook]

Every bar has a golden ticket.

[Smug]

You know what I mean? Like that.

[Josh Holmes]

Have a look at this. Willy Wonka.

[Smug]

LA Times just ruined the story. It could have been a fun little thing.

[Josh Holmes]

Can you imagine, though, if you were just like, completely. I just don't think you can. You can be fooled with that packaging, but if you were completely fooled by that packaging and you're just all of a sudden, you've just got a rocket.

[John Ashbrook]

I didn't realize.

[Smug]

I think this company's making this up. I think this company's making this up. I think they're trying to sell their product.

[Josh Holmes]

It's going to be harder now.

[Smug]

No, I think it's the opposite. My God. My God. What's become of this beautiful show?

[Josh Holmes]

I don't know. I'm just saying it's all messed up. We've got a real problem. Them. Okay, so a couple more pieces here to get to Windsurfer on San Francisco Bay. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but, you know, people windsurfing. I feel heavy. California today, by the way. I don't care for it because it's Wolf.

[Smug]

He's a Californian. He loves disgusting things. That's what our show is today. It's the disgusting time Friday. Brought to you by Wolf.

[Josh Holmes]

Just riding wolf. Anyway, this. The windsurfer is out. He hits a freaking whale. Clip two.

[Smug]

Whoa.

[John Ashbrook]

Yes,

[Smug]

that. So that. That's why you subscribe to the YouTube.

[Josh Holmes]

Look at that.

[Smug]

That was actually phenomenal.

[Josh Holmes]

The guy hits. Hits the whale with the surfboard. He tumbles over. Apparently the whale was unharmed. I find that hard to believe because, I mean, he hit that thing with. I mean, that board is no joke. He hit it pretty hard.

[Smug]

I mean, it's inspiring. Like, if you can surf right into the damn things. They're that eager to die, you know, they're a renewable resource.

[John Ashbrook]

They are.

[Smug]

You grab a harpoon, you hit the bay, hit the jackpot.

[John Ashbrook]

Right?

[Smug]

You know how much oil is in those bad boys? A lot.

[Josh Holmes]

Well, and if you.

[John Ashbrook]

Households for days.

[Smug]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

If you happen to be consuming dark chocolate in the area, plug in the blowhole. Should be no problem whatsoever.

[Lowe's Ad Voice]

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[Josh Holmes]

I'm sorry, we just have to. Did he got. I gotta. I gotta.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, as everybody weave these together, as everybody knows, plugging the blowhole is the surest way to stop a whale. If you're trying to harvest that renewable resource, which you know will provide oil and power and light for families everywhere. As it did in the 1800s.

[Josh Holmes]

Exactly.

[John Ashbrook]

You know what this country was built on? Whale oil lamps.

[Josh Holmes]

That's exactly right.

[John Ashbrook]

And we can do it again. Smug's not kidding. It's a renewable resource. We've talked about this on the show. It's been years since we've gotten into it. But we all know why it's a renewable resource. A mom whale and a dad whale get together and then there's a baby whale renewed.

[Smug]

There's so many whales. And you know what? I've actually done research on this and the results enraged me. So here's the story. I'm in college and I'm forced to take in freshman year. It was like biological science or something, right? It was essentially supposed to be just freshman year, easy little course. And I get this activist kind of a hippie professor who decides to make the class all about this bullshit like climate change and all this nonsense. Even back then you couldn't fool me with that. So for the term paper, she's like, I want everyone to write how you will tackle the challenging situation Earth finds itself in with climate change. All these lunatics have been saying that the polar ice caps were all cooked.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah, right.

[Smug]

So how are we going to tackle this? That's what your paper has to be. And I did a very simple calculation. Is all these doomer ideas of how the ice caps are going to melt and it's going to cause ocean levels to rise to a certain amount. And so I just did the math where, okay, if you say ocean levels are going to rise that amount, it's a measure of volume. You just calculate global water volume. If it's something like 70% of the Earth's surface is covered in water. So you calculate that rise, the displacement of the poles. You know what completely offsets that exactly to like the cubic centimeter is if you killed every whale of every type and brought them onto land, harvested their oil. Because if that displacement, if they're not, because you know when you put something in water, it displaces it raises the volume. Well, if you drag every last damn whale out of the ocean, sea levels will go down and they would offset.

[Josh Holmes]

Plus you can power the entire Earth.

[Smug]

That's the thing. Renewable resource It's a win for everybody. You could feed the hungry. You know what I mean? Like every one of these camps in la. Here's your blue whale, brother. You're cooking for days.

[John Ashbrook]

I'm confident. You did this calculation in your head. You knew you didn't even need to show your work. Right?

[Smug]

And I show the work and it's every variety of freeway. You went the extra mile and you multiply the. Like I did the, you know, medium volume of each whale of each variety, multiplied it out by estimated population. The math.

[Josh Holmes]

When it comes to whale size, smug is like Rain man with matchsticks.

[Smug]

But you kill them all. You bring em. Bring em there. And she gave me a D on it.

[John Ashbrook]

She didn't give you a blue ribbon.

[Smug]

That's the thing.

[John Ashbrook]

I feel like you should get that.

[Smug]

They don't want solutions. That bitch. They want alarmism. And it hasn't changed. They still want everyone's skin. That's what they're after.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you introduce Gold lion products into how you would begin?

[Smug]

No, because I'm not wolf. I don't do degenerate disgusting things like that. It's what he likes.

[Josh Holmes]

It would be easier to harvest the line with Smash's foolproof way of plugging the blowhole.

[John Ashbrook]

You could do that. That's how you stop them. Just to get a big cork.

[Josh Holmes]

That's it. That's so to speak. All right, we got a bystander who films a woman escaping from a police car. I don't know if you got. I haven't seen this yet, but apparently it's pretty fun. Funny.

[Smug]

Watch this. Be just horrific.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah. Clip 3. There's a woman who's been arrested who's in the back of a cop car. For our audio only.

[Smug]

No way.

[Josh Holmes]

Who is like the.

[Smug]

She's making it out of this thing. Okay, so for the folks who are audio only, the window. Window is what, maybe just like open. Yeah. Half open. She's in the back seat cuffed up. Yeah. Just warming out.

[Josh Holmes]

How about the dude filming it? This is.

[Smug]

I'll let him do the. They don't even see.

[Josh Holmes]

They don't even see.

[John Ashbrook]

Oh, she figured out a way not to land on her face.

[Josh Holmes]

She's gonna get down. No way.

[Smug]

What? Wait a second.

[Lowe's Ad Voice]

This is why.

[Josh Holmes]

Wait a second.

[John Ashbrook]

She got out.

[Smug]

Hold on.

[Josh Holmes]

Let's see what the cops reaction is. So they're the cops.

[Smug]

They still have not seen. See him.

[Josh Holmes]

They've got her. They think that they've got her cuffed and stuffed in the back of the car. Now they're walking back over, dude.

[Smug]

He's not going to walk back there and be like, oh, what? Oh.

[Josh Holmes]

Oh, she's not there.

[Smug]

That's tough. Wow, that is tough.

[Josh Holmes]

Dude. I love the guy who's filming. He's like, hey, man, they don't even see. They don't even know what's up. And, like, never mind the fact he's standing, like, across the street filming the whole thing. Like, hey, heads up. Your prisoner's about to escape. He's like, no, no, I got. I got the exclusive on this.

[John Ashbrook]

See what happens here.

[Smug]

Let's see how they handle it.

[Josh Holmes]

So that was Kendra. Annie. Apparently, now that we know her name, I'm sure that that's been rectified. But allegedly broke into a nearby home within an hour of her escape before being recaptured.

[Smug]

Can we play that again? Because how did she do the rotation?

[Josh Holmes]

I do want to know what the Spider man situation is.

[Smug]

This is impressive.

[Josh Holmes]

Yes.

[Wolf]

Yeah.

[Josh Holmes]

Because she's got her hands cuffed behind her back. She's forcing her head out kind of at an angle. And then she seems to be, like, wiggling her body through until she gets to a point where gravity would tell you that she should fall straight on her face right here. Right. But she's not. She's got her legs hooked onto something,

[Smug]

but does she have, like, one leg? But she got the ceiling of the inside of the car. Now she's this.

[Josh Holmes]

But she's still not been able to hold herself.

[Smug]

I don't know how she holds Jiu Jitsu. Right there.

[John Ashbrook]

That's that left elbow.

[Smug]

Whoa. That was ninjutsu.

[Josh Holmes]

This woman deserves to be free.

[John Ashbrook]

Well, here's the thing, guys, that caught my attention. She allegedly broke into a nearby home within an hour of her escape before being recaptured. So this woman loves the game. She loves crime so much.

[Smug]

After that, she went right back out

[John Ashbrook]

while handcuffed, after breaking out of a police car, she breaks into somebody else's house. Like, she.

[Josh Holmes]

She can't. She.

[John Ashbrook]

She must be a kleptomaniac.

[Smug]

Like, she's like. She's like Grand Theft Auto. She's got, like, five stars going. She's trying to get to a house. Probably looking for tools to get the handcuffs off this. So. So here's the thing. You've got folks like this. It. I don't know if this is a murderous. Probably not like a murderer or something like that, or. You'd hope there's a place for folks like this.

[Josh Holmes]

You know, we could use tools.

[Smug]

And it's called a game show, right?

[Josh Holmes]

Like American ninja warriors.

[Smug]

Just like, ninja warrior.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

But it can't be. You don't want these people in America. You know, like, you go to, like, Sudan and you set it up there, you know, you fence it in in Sudan, and you have these people do their own ninja warrior. Because there's people like this, you know, you'd be surprised, like, how surprised some, like, crackheads are. The shit that they pull off, you know what I mean?

[John Ashbrook]

Like, feel no pain.

[Smug]

Like, you go to the bad part of town, there's a reason the copper's been stripped.

[Josh Holmes]

We should start competing.

[Smug]

That's what I'm saying is, you know, this is another renewable resource, the problem makers. Because, you know, it was like that study that they did in New York City, where, I mean, theft is beyond rampant in New York City, but it was something like fewer than 100 individuals out of the, like, 25,000 larceny cases in a year in New York City. Fewer than, like, 100 individuals responsible for, like, 80% of them.

[John Ashbrook]

Them.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Right.

[Josh Holmes]

Wow. Yeah.

[Smug]

So you find that group of individuals, if you remove them from society, okay, crime goes down. But if you put them on a game show, then entertainment goes up. Yeah, this is how. This is how we win.

[Josh Holmes]

And there's a revenue raiser there.

[Smug]

That's the thing.

[Josh Holmes]

I read some magazine article, I don't know, maybe a couple weeks ago. I forget who did it. It was well done. But it was about. It was called the Cartel Olympics, where, like, what? Yeah, the Mexican cartels were competing with athletes against each other.

[John Ashbrook]

No, I read this article.

[Smug]

Are you serious?

[Josh Holmes]

Where they would. They would kidnap, essentially, Olympic athletes.

[Smug]

So they're not, like, sponsoring them.

[John Ashbrook]

No.

[Josh Holmes]

Did you kidnap them to get them on their team? And then when they all competed against each other, they had, like, former Olympians who'd been kidnapped and not seen for months, who were, like, running relays and stuff for each cartel. This is an adaptation, a more legal way of handling it, more humane way of handling, but essentially the same concept.

[Smug]

So for years in Baltimore, they used to have a thing. And on that show, the Wire, they even covered this, a version of this. And this is true. So, like, Baltimore is a horrific, horrific place. You know, like, I mean, airstrikes can't finish what needs to be done in that town with all the heroin and the drugs and shit. They had that show the Wire, which is just horrific. So after you see that, you're like. You see an exit for Baltimore on the highway. I'm not taking that one. We're not stopping there. Honey, it's the next one. That's where we're going to the bathroom. We're not going to fucking Baltimore. No, you give up. So in Baltimore, every year they would have like the major dealers would go out and they would find the best basketball players and they would field teams and they would bet each other money. Like that's kind of like on this five for five. But the players are incentivized to play of like, you know, you want to be the best in the neighborhood, you get money out of it. Not like, because if you're kidnapped, especially with the cartel, like, you see, like

[John Ashbrook]

they behead people and that was part of it. They killed the losing team.

[Smug]

See, like there's a limit.

[Josh Holmes]

Had to win.

[Smug]

There's a limit, I feel of like corporal punishment to inspire. Like, like we're talking about athletes, not like just general labor. You know, you could just like beat people to do shit. But not like if you're like, okay, this is a world class ass swimmer. You, you, you, you, you, you, you break the record. That was the. The dolphin dude's name, the one who set the record.

[John Ashbrook]

Michael Phelps.

[Smug]

Market Phelps. Like you break Michael Phelps record or we break your legs.

[Josh Holmes]

Ironically from Baltimore,

[Smug]

bro. He was like. He was king of the hood and swimming. They're like, okay, I've got the Dolphin one. He's. I'm sponsoring this guy.

[Josh Holmes]

Leave it to smuggle. To try to navigate a humane way of.

[Smug]

Yeah, you gotta inspire these people.

[Josh Holmes]

Illegal.

[Smug]

You know what I mean?

[Josh Holmes]

Competition.

[Smug]

Because like world class athletes, you know, like Tiger woods, you can't inspire them with violence. We know inspires Tiger. You know what got Sunday, Tiger. I hope.

[Josh Holmes]

I mean, if he had to play for his freedom, I like his chances.

[Smug]

You think so? Because he's constantly trying to lose his freedom.

[Josh Holmes]

He's constantly trying. Totally is. Oh, it's fantastic. All right. I appreciate all of that. Not sure how to tackle your taxes. Are you sweating the small print? You may be experiencing FOMO, the fear of messing up the answer. Using TurboTax on Intuit credit Karma. They help you get your biggest refund and then we help you do more with it with a personalized plan designed to help you hit your money goals. It's time to take your taxes to the max. Start filing today in the Credit Karma app. Remember like and subscribe to the Ruthless Variety program. When you do, put a comment down. We read all of them. Get back to you our very next episode. While you're there, check out the store and check out store. Ruthlesspodcast.com bunch of new offerings for you golfers out there. Yeah, we got some new stuff up there. I think that the merch situation, which has long been dormant to is now back in a very real way where we're doing a bunch of different things. And so there's something for everybody out there.

[Smug]

And that's the thing. Speaking of Tiger and golf, the title of stuff is back, which everyone's always asking for.

[Josh Holmes]

This one sells off fast.

[Smug]

That's the thing is like, I mean, get it.

[Josh Holmes]

Yeah.

[Smug]

Because it's gonna be gone.

[Josh Holmes]

Get it. Because it's gonna be gone. Listen, great show, fellas. Have a fun time Friday and have a great weekend. I think we did it.

[Smug]

I think so. Absolute banger of an episode. Gentlemen, thank you so much to the means and REM remember, if you have not yet, go to the YouTube and hit that subscribe because it's more fun in videos. So until next time, minions, keep the faith, hold the line and own the libs. We'll see you on Tuesday. Stay ruthless, Sa.