“Trump CAVED To The Deep State On Defense Spending” – Ben Cohen

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Trump CAVED To The Deep State On Defense Spending" featuring Ben Cohen

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Jimmy Dore Show
• Host: Jimmy Dore
• Guest: Ben Cohen
• Episode Title: "Trump CAVED To The Deep State On Defense Spending"
• Release Date: March 17, 2025

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Introduction to the Discussion

The episode kicks off with an unexpected live interaction between host Jimmy Dore and Senator Chuck Schumer, quickly transitioning into a broader conversation about government spending, executive overreach, and the influence of the so-called "deep state" on defense budgets.

Key Points:

• Senator Schumer's Stance on Resistance:
  • Quote: “We, unlike them, are respecting the rule of law and resisting, hence resistance, these unacceptable measures.” (01:20)
  • Schumer emphasizes a nominal resistance without outlining concrete actions, highlighting a disconnect between rhetoric and effective measures against executive overreach.

Elon Musk's Interruption and Its Implications

Elon Musk makes an unexpected cameo, discussing government waste and attempting to influence the conversation, which highlights the complexities of private influence on public affairs.

Key Points:

• Musk on Government Spending:
  • Quote: “A part of the Doge initiative is to cut government waste... it simply must be slashed like everything else.” (03:35)
  • Musk criticizes significant government expenditures, implicitly targeting vast institutions like the Pentagon.
• Senator Schumer's Reaction:
  • Quote: “You, a man with no actual government authority whatsoever? Is that what you're saying, Mr. Musk?” (04:10)
  • Schumer rebuffs Musk's authority to dictate government actions, underscoring tensions between private citizens and public officials.

Ben Cohen Joins the Conversation

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's and an activist, joins the show to delve deeper into government spending, particularly focusing on USAID and the Pentagon’s budget.

Key Points:

• USAID Critique:
  • Quote: “I believe that’s a big part of what it does. And... in terms of the food that they supply, you know, it’s all US Food, which kind of undercuts the domestic agricultural industries...” (08:00)
  • Cohen highlights USAID’s dual role in humanitarian aid and covert operations, questioning its efficiency and intentions.
• Pentagon Budget Concerns:
  • Quote: “The Pentagon budget is obscene and it must be cut.” (14:56)
  • Cohen aligns with former political strategist Steve Bannon, stressing the necessity to significantly reduce military spending.

Deep State Influence on Defense Spending

The discussion pivots to the "deep state" and its impact on defending budgets, with both Jimmy and Ben expressing skepticism about genuine efforts to reduce Pentagon expenditures.

Key Points:

• Trump's Defense Budget Promises:
  • Quote: “What he originally said was that he wants to cut the Pentagon budget by 50%. Was apparently bullshit.” (13:32)
  • Cohen asserts that former President Trump never truly intended to reduce the Pentagon budget despite initial promises.

The Connection Between Militarism and Climate Change

Ben Cohen introduces the concept of "common sense defense," linking excessive military spending with environmental degradation, particularly emphasizing the Pentagon as a major polluter.

Key Points:

• Pentagon’s Environmental Impact:
  • Quote: “The Pentagon is the largest polluter and the largest contributor to global warming.” (29:15)
  • Cohen underscores the environmental consequences of sustained military activities and budgets.
• Call to Action:
  • Quote: “People need to start standing up and telling their politicians that they don’t want to spend so much money on killing people.” (30:09)
  • Emphasizing grassroots activism, Cohen advocates for direct communication with lawmakers to drive budgetary changes.

Government Spending Efficiency and Social Programs

The conversation shifts to the potential reallocation of military funds towards domestic needs, with Ben advocating for robust social programs.

Key Points:

• Reallocation of Funds:
  • Quote: “What else we could have gotten with that money in terms of things that people actually need and want like housing, health care, child care.” (18:30)
  • Cohen argues that funds currently misallocated to the Pentagon could vastly improve social infrastructures.
• Government’s Role:
  • Quote: “The government is capable of doing things. Social Security is a great program.” (20:52)
  • Affirming faith in government’s ability to manage resources effectively, Cohen supports enhancing rather than dismantling essential services.

Critique of Corporate Influence and Oligarchy

Jimmy Dore challenges the influence of the wealthy elite on legislation, questioning why affluent business owners like Ben aren’t more uniformly supportive of initiatives like single-payer healthcare and Pentagon budget cuts.

Key Points:

• Oligarchic Control:
  • Quote: “We don't live in a democracy, we actually live in an olig...” (22:33)
  • Dore emphasizes the disproportionate influence of the upper economic tiers on policy-making.
• Ben’s Interaction with Business Circles:
  • Quote: “The business guys I associate with... they would want Medicare for all, but I don't know what's going on with the other guys.” (24:05)
  • Ben reflects on discrepancies within business communities regarding support for major social reforms.

Environmental Destruction Amidst Climate Initiatives

The episode also touches upon the paradox of environmental degradation occurring alongside supposed climate initiatives, exemplified by the construction of a highway through the Amazon for the COP30 summit.

Key Points:

• Infrastructure vs. Climate Goals:
  • Quote: “A new four lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit...” (51:28)
  • Dore points out the contradiction between the environmental goals of the summit and the actual destruction happening to the Amazon.
• Local Impact:
  • Quote: “Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family.” (55:15)
  • Highlighting the adverse effects on local communities, the discussion underscores the broader implications of such projects.

Call to Action and Final Thoughts

Towards the end, Ben promotes his website "dogeversusblob.org," encouraging listeners to engage in activism aimed at reducing Pentagon spending. Both hosts express frustration with the current state of government and media, advocating for greater public involvement in legislative processes.

Key Points:

• Activism Encouragement:
  • Quote: “It's not so much with emails, not so much with sign on petitions, but actually making the phone call...” (30:09)
  • Emphasizes the importance of direct action over passive methods in influencing policy.
• Media Critique:
  • Quote: “You get promoted for that [lying]. For lying. You don't get promoted for telling the truth.” (50:29)
  • Criticizes corporate media for favoring misinformation over factual reporting, fostering public distrust.

Conclusion

The episode concludes with a reflection on the systemic issues plaguing American governance, including the entrenched military-industrial complex, corporate influence, and ineffective activism. Both Jimmy and Ben advocate for informed and direct public action to instigate meaningful change in government spending and policy priorities.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Senator Schumer on Resistance: “We, unlike them, are respecting the rule of law and resisting, hence resistance, these unacceptable measures.” (01:20)
• Ben Cohen on Pentagon Budget: “The Pentagon budget is obscene and it must be cut.” (14:56)
• Jimmy Dore on Oligarchy: “We don't live in a democracy, we actually live in an olig...” (22:33)
• Ben Cohen on Government Capability: “The government is capable of doing things. Social Security is a great program.” (20:52)
• Jimmy Dore on Media Lies: “You get promoted for that [lying]. For lying. You don't get promoted for telling the truth.” (50:29)

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Key Takeaways:

• Government Spending: A critical examination of how defense budgets are influenced by entrenched interests, with minimal genuine resistance to cuts.
• Corporate and Elite Influence: Highlighting the disproportionate power of the wealthy in shaping legislation, often at the expense of broader democratic processes.
• Environmental Contradictions: Pointing out the contradictions in climate initiatives funded by environmentally detrimental projects.
• Call for Direct Activism: Encouraging listeners to engage in proactive measures, such as direct communication with lawmakers, to effectuate policy changes.

This episode serves as a deep dive into the interplay between government spending, corporate influence, and environmental policy, urging listeners to recognize and confront the systemic challenges hindering meaningful progress.

Transcript

[Jimmy Dore]

Come see us on tour in Baltimore, Hartford, Syracuse, Atlantic City, Levittown, N.Y. co host, New York, Providence, Rhode Island, San Jose, Toledo and Bakersfield. Go to Jimmy Dore.com for a link for tickets. Hey, it says Jimmy. Who is this?

[Chuck Schumer]

Jimmy, this is Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.

[Jimmy Dore]

Hi, Chuck. How are you doing on this fine day?

[Chuck Schumer]

Jimmy, I'm sorry, but I have no time for chit chat. No time to waste, no time to lose. Very busy.

[Jimmy Dore]

Then why did you just call into a live YouTube show?

[Chuck Schumer]

That's a good question. In retrospect, a very curious decision on my part, but oh well, what's done is done.

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, what are you so busy doing, Senator?

[Chuck Schumer]

Resistance, Jimmy. Resisting.

[Jimmy Dore]

Jesus. Don't resist the resistance, though.

[Chuck Schumer]

Resistance 2.0 to be exact.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh, God.

[Chuck Schumer]

Boy, oh boy, do we have our hands full. Not only do we have the President Trump instituting tariffs that are crashing the economy, but we also have this no good Nick Elon Musk running around slashing and burning government services with no authority.

[Jimmy Dore]

I see it. And what are you doing to resist these measures?

[Chuck Schumer]

Excuse me?

[Jimmy Dore]

What are you doing about it?

[Chuck Schumer]

Oh, I'll tell you what we're doing about it. We, unlike them, are respecting the rule of law and resisting, hence resistance, these unacceptable measures.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, but Congress controls all the spending, not Elon Musk. It seems to be that there would be measures that you yourself could take to at least try and stop what they're doing.

[Chuck Schumer]

Well, it's more complicated than that.

[Jimmy Dore]

Then what are you doing?

[Chuck Schumer]

Jimmy, the first step in dealing with a problem is to identify the problem. And the second step is to give that problem a name. And we have. We call it executive overreach. See, we name the shit out of that problem.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, okay. Then what?

[Chuck Schumer]

Jimmy, that's already two whole steps we've accomplished. We've only had 50 days or so. What do you want from us?

[Jimmy Dore]

Two steps out of how many steps.

[Chuck Schumer]

Jimmy, the third step will be determining how many total steps we are going to be looking at in the long run. This will involve a committee.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh, for crying out loud. You're not actually doing anything.

[Chuck Schumer]

I know, I'm sorry.

[Ben Cohen]

That is not a joke. That's a straight fact.

[Chuck Schumer]

But we're making it clear that we do not care for this monkey business. That's got to count for something, and I'll say it on the Senate floor myself. Monkey business. I'll say it.

[Jimmy Dore]

Good grief.

[Chuck Schumer]

Look, we've got another government shutdown looming. It looms. Now is not the time to try and force anything we have to compromise in order to keep the government ticking along.

[Jimmy Dore]

Right? God forbid. Right.

[Chuck Schumer]

Also, a rumor was just leaked that Rahm Emanuel is looking to run for president in 2028. That's sort of a form of resistance. Future opposition. And boy, oh, boy, Ron would sure bring some fresh ideas into the White House. That much is certain.

[Jimmy Dore]

Sorry, I'm getting another call. Hey, Jimmy. Dor show. Jimmy speaking.

[Elon Musk]

Hello? Yes, this is Elon Musk.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh, hi, Elon.

[Chuck Schumer]

Oh, cry meaty Christmas. What do you want? What are you doing on this phone call?

[Elon Musk]

A part of the Doge initiative is to cut government waste, as you know, and that includes superfluous phone communication.

[Chuck Schumer]

What? What? What are you talking about? The government phone bill.

[Elon Musk]

Yes, it is easily in the trillions. It simply must be slashed like everything else.

[Chuck Schumer]

This is ridiculous. Where are you getting this information?

[Elon Musk]

Do.

[Chuck Schumer]

Oh, brother. Again with that business.

[Jimmy Dore]

Elon? That does sound rather suspicious.

[Elon Musk]

I assure you it's true. I must demand that you hang up the phone to save the taxpayers money.

[Chuck Schumer]

You're telling a sitting senator to hang up the phone? You, a man with no actual government authority whatsoever? Is that what you're saying, Mr. Musk? He is. Well, okay. There it is. I guess I. Jimmy, I'll talk to you later. If that's okay.

[Jimmy Dore]

Senator Schumer, you don't have to hang up the phone just because Elon Musk told you to. This is kind of crazy. Stay on the line and no more.

[Elon Musk]

Phone calls for the rest of the day.

[Chuck Schumer]

Okay? Got it. Jimmy, I appreciate your support, but now is not the time. The time to resist will come, but it is not now. Be strong, my friend. Resistance.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh, my God, he hung up.

[Elon Musk]

Okay, Jimmy, I must ask you to stop your show now.

[Jimmy Dore]

Whoa, my show's not part of the government?

[Elon Musk]

Technically, no, But I'm in such a state of euphoria bossing people around.

[Jimmy Dore]

Hey, look, you weird freak, you're not telling me what to do. Now go get lost and quit calling me.

[Elon Musk]

Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. I willed under the slightest amount of pushback. Luckily, the Democrats haven't discovered this yet. If you hate me, I will harm myself. Please tell me you don't hate me.

[Jimmy Dore]

I have to do my show. Goodbye.

[Elon Musk]

But I must know. I must.

[Chuck Schumer]

Ketamine.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, ketamine. Establishment media sucks August lighting so good luck. We can't afford why he's fomenting this Watch and see as his jack off.

[Jay Abila]

The medium speeds and jumps the medium.

[Jimmy Dore]

And hit some head on. It's the chimney door show. We have special guests with US today. Ben Cohen is here. You know Ben. Yo.

[Ben Cohen]

Yeah, Ben Cohen is here. I'll say.

[Jimmy Dore]

Who is he? He's an American businessman, activist, philanthrop. He's known for co founding the popular ice cream company Ben and Jerry's, which I have fallen victim to many times in my life. He's also for many years been a prominent activist supporting leftist causes like, Just Like Me. Most recently though, he's expressed support for the Trump administration's cuts to USAID and proposed cuts to the Pentagon budget. Wow. Welcome to the show, Ben Cohen.

[Ben Cohen]

Well, I did support cuts to the Pentagon budget which appear to be evaporating. I did not support cuts for usaid, although I do understand that part of what USAID does is act as a CIA front and, but I certainly support the work that USAID was doing in terms of health care for people and food for people, etc.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, I've heard that that was somewhere, that was somewhere around 10% if that made it to actual helping people. And most of it was just, you know, funding propaganda and color revolutions and overthrowing democratically elected governments. I mean, usaid, it's just a CIA cutout, as you said. Right?

[Ben Cohen]

Correct. I believe that that's a big part of what it does. And you know, I mean in terms of the food that they supply, you know, it's all US Food, which kind of undercuts the domestic agricultural industries in those countries. So yeah, there were, there were definitely problems with US id, but they did do good stuff as well.

[Jimmy Dore]

And there was, even when they did good stuff, there's always strings attached, right? Yeah, that's, there's always nefarious reasons for them to do good. They're never, they're not a bunch of do gooders like you and me and.

[Ben Cohen]

Your, and your viewers as well.

[Jimmy Dore]

Correct. Well, I just wanted to, I wanted to go over this just real quick because this, I saw this, Doge released this. It's the fda, cdc, cms, HHS and osha. They're terminating leases for buildings that are basically been empty. Right. And so you probably can't see it. I'll tell. Center for Disease control in Atlanta, Georgia. 119,000 square feet. 2 million, $2.4 million is their annual lease. They cut that. There's not in Seattle, Washington, 69,000 square feet, 3 million a year. They cut that. So they're doing that. A bunch of that. And that's coming from the fda, cdc, HHS and osha. And here's a little, here's a local from I think San Antonio did a local news report on some of it. Right here. Let's watch.

[Ben Cohen]

Andy.

[Jay Abila]

In a post on X, Doge said the Department of Health and Human Services had terminated a contract paying family endeavors $18 million a month to operate an empty facility in West Texas. The organization is also known as Endeavors, and you may have seen its administrative headquarters and wellness center on Desavala Road, where it has a cluster of buildings and storefronts. Doge focused on an overflow housing facility for migrant families. Endeavors operates in Pecos, Texas, which Doge says has been sitting empty while Endeavors has been receiving the $18 million per month. Homeland Security reposted Doge's X post tagging U.S. attorney Ed Martin with the words please investigate, to which Martin responded, duly noted. We are on it. I went to Endeavors San Antonio headquarters today to get a comment from the organization. They responded late this afternoon by email. Endeavors was responsible for maintaining operational readiness at the Pecos Shelter, ensuring the ability to scale cold status, operationally ready, but not actively serving children to full use of 3,000 beds as needed. Decisions regarding facility use and migrant sheltering locations were made by the federal government, not Endeavors. Any claims of corruption or mismanagement are baseless. Doge also claims Endeavors received its HHS contract in 2021 after a former ICE employee and Biden transition team member joined the nonprofit. Endeavor's government disclosure forms show its revenues shot up in 2021 from 50 million to 658 million, reaching a peak of 1.1 billion in 2022. For the News4i team WasteWatch, I'm Jay Abila.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's Jay Abila giving us our Wastewatch. Thank you, Jay. Nice job. Now, just to full disclosure, they have decreased what they think they're going to make in their savings. Right. So they were first saying they're going to get like something like 600. So 748 federal sites, including 30 FDA facilities across 23 states. But as of March 5, they say they will save nearly 468 million. According to the department's wall of receipts, that was down from 660 million originally. So that's come down. So, so, so you would be. In theory, I think in theory, right. Everybody's for the theory of what Doge is doing. Correct.

[Ben Cohen]

Everybody wants things to be more efficient and to. And to eliminate waste. The problem is that, you know, the federal budget is trillions of dollars. It's hard to get your arms around how much money that is. But the reality is that 50% of the budget is spent on the Pentagon which gets close to a trillion dollars a year. And Doge has just been fiddling around the edges, working with these other departments that get little itsy bitsy slices of the federal budget. And they've pretty much been ignoring the biggest spender and the biggest waster and the most corrupt department in the federal government, which is the Pentagon.

[Jimmy Dore]

The Pentagon which can't pass an audit, failed, fails every audit. They can't even tell you where the money's going. And it's by far. Now, Trump had given lip service earlier this year. He said he wants to have friendly relations with Russia and China, which I'm all for. And he said that we could propose to cut our military budget by 50%. Unfortunately, as of today, Trump is pushing a budget, a continuing resolution that increases the pentagon budget by $6 billion. So what do you make of that?

[Ben Cohen]

What he originally said was that he wants to cut the pentagon budget by 50%. Was apparently bullshit. Yeah, what, what we heard Sunday from Trump is that he would never cut the Pentagon budget. There had been talks about cutting 8% a year and then it turned out, no, we're just going to transfer that to other, other parts of the Pentagon budget. So, you know, it, it appears that the so called deep state is, is gonna, has gotten to Trump and he's, he's not really planning on cutting the Pentagon budget at all, despite the fact that it's the most wasteful, most corrupt part of the federal government that there is.

[Jimmy Dore]

You know, I had Steve Bannon on the show and he made the same point that you just made. He said if you're, if they're not willing to go across the Potomac, meaning to the Pentagon, that this isn't real, that that's where you have to cut. And if you're.

[Ben Cohen]

Yeah, that's correct. I mean, I was amazed that I, I saw what Bannon said, that the Pentagon is obscene. Pentagon budget is obscene and it must be cut. And I couldn't believe that. Finally, there's something that Bannon said that I agree with.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, I mean, he also said that if you're going to cut Medicaid, you got to be careful. You can't use a meat cleaver because there's a lot of MAGA that are on Medicaid. There's something close to 80 million people in the country have some form of Medicaid. So those are two things I would agree with him on. You got to be careful and you got to use a scalpel and not a meat cleaver. And. Go ahead, you want to Say, you.

[Ben Cohen]

Know, there, there, there is waste in any large bureaucracy. There was waste at Ben and Jerry's. I'm sure that there's waste in Elon Musk's businesses, but you need to focus on where the most waste is. And they're just dealing with small potatoes. I mean, you know, the numbers sound big to us, you know, millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars. But the Pentagon budget is, you know, it makes those things look like just little ants.

[Jimmy Dore]

And you know, the real explosion happened after 9, 11. And we don't really have an enemy in the world. We're surrounded by oceans and Canada and Mexico aren't any threat to invade us and neither is anybody else. So this is just what Eisenhower warned about. Right? This is the undue influence of the military industrial complex. And do you think we'll ever, I mean it doesn't, it's, it seems like it's why I'm starting to become a pessimist on the country because nobody seems to be able to take this on.

[Ben Cohen]

Well, we, you know, I'm, I'm working with a bunch of other people that are starting the common sense defense campaign and it is taking it on. And you know, we're starting with nuclear weapons, which is, you know, the best, easiest to understand window into the Pentagon mentality, which is overkill. So you know, there was one nuclear explosion on Hiroshima. It, it killed a hundred thousand people right off. Another hundred thousand were seriously injured. Burns, radiation, disease, blindness, deafness, loss of limbs. And so that one bomb did a lot of damage. Our current nuclear arsenal is the equivalent of 50,000 Hiroshima sized bombs. I mean that is immoral, absurd, irrational and insane. And yet the country is planning on spending another $2 trillion on a whole new generation of nukes. So that just gives you a picture of, of the mentality of the Pentagon budget. You know, you think about what else we could have gotten with that money in terms of things that people actually need and want like housing, health care, child care. And the reality is that we've got all the money we need. It's just that we're spending it all on threatening to kill people instead of trying to help people live.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, I mean, I've made the point on this show many times. Imagine if we went back to 1990s Pentagon funding. We could take $800 billion a year and invest it in our own country. Right. Imagine what that would look like. I mean, I remember when I was a kid, I told this story before. When I was a kid I lived in Chicago, southwest side, very Blue collar. And there was a park a half a block away from my house called Vidham park. And they, we used to have to share this little tiny gym with this grammar school. And so everybody in the neighborhood and you couldn't, we really didn't have a gym facility. So they built one out of nowhere. It was like this $2 million facility. And it was wonderful and beautiful. And you know, psychologically what that did for me as a child was like, it made me think like, oh my God, my community actually cares about me. They actually want things to be nice and we can have nice things. And I'm sure that went a long way to not only psychologically but, you know, physically a lot for people's health, right? So now we had a place you can go work out, you could play sports, you play basketball, floor hockey, do a million things that people did in there. And it was just, that's the kind of things that we should be doing. You know, China has high speed rail. We don't have it here. Of course, it's all full of corruption. But the idea of, you know, the government spending the money, like right now I've seen estimates that homelessness can be eradicated. It's an old estimate, but they say $20 billion. Well, let's say it's 40 billion. Well, California itself has spent around $40 billion on homelessness in the last 10 years. And it's only gotten way worse. And it's because every time I look into it, the way the government is spending that money, it's just nothing but graft and it's just nothing but people in business to keep the homelessness going because they run organizations that service it and if homelessness goes away, their half a million dollar salaries go away. So my point is like what the problem is. Okay, let's say if we finally do get them to cut money from the Pentagon, isn't that mean the government's just going to spend it somewhere else and it's going to go in someone else's pocket? I mean, if you let the government spend it.

[Ben Cohen]

No, I think that the government is quite capable of doing things. I think Social Security is a great program. I think Medicare is a great program. I think there's a lot of parts of the education. I mean, yes, the government is quite capable of doing stuff. It's, it's true that there is some amount of waste. I mean, if you, but I don't think that that's the majority of, of what the government does. I, I, I think I, I think it's Worthwhile. I, I think that, you know, maybe we need to improve it, make it more efficient. Yes, but I think the government is capable. And like I say, if you want to look at where the waste is and how bad it is, it's in the Pentagon. I think that the idea is just to use the power of the government to improve the quality of life for people as opposed to using it to, to threaten to kill people.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah, 100% with you on that. Now you, you're a pretty wealthy guy right? From, from starting Ben and Jerry's. You were self made and you built that company. I think you sold it, right? And yeah, and it got sold.

[Ben Cohen]

I, I tried to keep it independent. It was a publicly held company.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh, okay. Got you. So I, I've learned, we've learned from The Princeton study 10 years ago that we don't live in a democracy, we actually live in an olig. Meaning that what the regular person, if you're in the bottom 90% of wage earners, you don't have any influence on legislation. But if you're in the upper 10%, there's a direct correlation, right, between if 50% of the upper 10% want something 50% of the time, it happens. So now you run in circles. I certainly don't. With people who are wealthy, the 1% put it, or the upper 10% who actually control things. What is there? Don't they want to do this? I often say this, like if I'm a small business owner and I want single payer health care because I'm sick and tired of paying twice as much as the rest of the world, which when I say twice as much, that means 100% more than the rest of the world for worse results. Right? And then just to have some, a parasite, some vampire insurance guy skim even more off the top by denying me health care that my doctor wants me to have. So I want to get that capitalist out from in between me and my doctor. So I don't understand why all the rest of the business owners don't want to have that same thing. You travel in those circles. What, what is it like to talk to those people? Why aren't they on board with single payer and why aren't they on board with cutting the Pentagon?

[Ben Cohen]

Well, for one, I don't really travel in those circles. I'm pretty much traveling more like in your circles, Jimmy. But yeah, I don't get it. You know, providing health care for people is good for American companies, you know, then they wouldn't be expected to provide it you know, a lot of people get healthcare assistance, health insurance assistance assistance paid for by their businesses, you know, businesses that they work for. And so, I mean, if we had, you know, Medicare for all, those businesses wouldn't have to put out that money, and they'd be, they'd be more competitive with other businesses in other countries around the world, every other developed country that does provide free health care for its people. So, yeah, I, I mean, the business guys I associate with, they, they would want Medicare for all, but I don't know what's going on with the other guys. I mean, some people have said to me, well, they're just totally philosophically opposed to it because providing health care for your population to them smacks of, oh, socialism.

[Jimmy Dore]

Well, I mean, everything is social. You know, I mean, libraries are socialism. Schools, roads, highways. That, that's also socialism. I mean, so they, So, I mean, socialism has been distorted to actually what it is. Right? Firemen. Everyone loves firemen. And that's socialism. Right. So that. I think. Where do you, where do you think the left lost the narrative on socialism?

[Ben Cohen]

Well, I think that socialism got conflated with communism.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yes.

[Ben Cohen]

And, you know, people are anti communist, they're anti socialists. You know, I believe that there, there is a good combination, a very viable combination of socialism and capitalism. And, and you see that in a lot of the Scandinavian countries, a lot of other countries in Europe where they're definitely capitalist, but they take care of the needs of their people, the taxes take care of the needs of their people so that everybody can afford to go to college, everybody has free health care, everybody has sick days off, has vacations, and what do you know, the businesses in those countries, they're doing just fine. It's not like they're, they're going out of business. What, what's the problem?

[Jimmy Dore]

I agree. You know, we, I did a tour last year of the Scandinavian countries. We were in Denmark, we were in Sweden, we were in Norway, we're in the Netherlands. And it's wonderful. It's really, it's like I came away like, oh, my God, human beings can actually engineer societies that work for people instead of our country where it seems like, you know, it's, as George Carlin said, it's socialism for the wealthy and rugged, individualism for everybody else, which is exactly what it is. You're on your own. So again, I just don't understand the upper 10%, which actually controls things. It's, it's, you know, I can. So you're, you're, you're, you're starting up an organization to try to get them to cut the Pentagon. And, and you know, it's, it's connected with climate change in a weird way that all the people who I hear screaming the loudest about climate change, people like John Kerry, people like Al Gore, people like, you know, Mark Zuckerberg, people like Greta Thunberg, not one of them. The biggest carbon emitter in the world is the US military. We have 800 bases, probably more than that around the world. Not one of them ever proposes that we cut back on those 800 military bases, which makes me think that they're all full of it, that they're not serious about it. Right. And they take their private jets to Davos and they come up with ideas like eliminating gas powered leaf blowers, but not gas powered private jets which, which emits more carbon in one flight than my car does in my lifetime. So it's hard for me to, to. So if you, if we did cut, if, if, if those people were serious about it, they'd want to cut the military like you do, correct?

[Ben Cohen]

Absolutely. And I, I, I think what's going on is that, you know, there's been this divide or silos between people that are focused on the climate and people that are focused on national budget priorities, militarism, the Pentagon budget. But I think that those two, those two, you know, those two groups of people need to come together because the Pentagon is the largest polluter and the largest contributor to global warming. And if you care about it, yeah, you got, you got to target the Pentagon.

[Jimmy Dore]

And so what is your strategy? Do you have a strategy to try to get people on board with your movement? Your, does it have a, a name, your organization?

[Ben Cohen]

It's common sense Defense.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay.

[Ben Cohen]

And it, you know, we, it's kind of the idea that overkill is killing us. And it's a communications campaign, it's mostly a PR campaign. We also use advertising and, you know, kind of special events to, to draw media attention to this issue. And it's interesting that, you know, even, even Trump now has been talking about denuclearizing and that's something that needs to be done. The problem is he's just looking to shift that money into other Pentagon, you know, other weapons systems. So I think, you know, the problem exists inside the beltway and the problem is only going to be solved outside the Beltway. People need to start standing up and telling their politicians that they don't want to spend so much money on killing people. And they want, they want the government to meet their, their needs at home every day. And when there's enough people doing that and they make their voice heard enough, politicians eventually start listening and they, you know, you need a vote based on those things. And unbelievably enough, making a phone call to your congressperson does really make a difference. You know, not so much with emails, not so much with sign on petitions, but actually making the phone call and it's not a big thing. All you need to do is say what you think and they, they just make a little tally mark next to an issue on the other side.

[Jimmy Dore]

So I mean, if there was, if there's ever a cause, I think everybody could come together. Most, you know, I'm talking about 80% of the country at least, if not more would be to cut the Pentagon budget. Nobody wants it. It keeps going. Which just proves that we don't have any influence on legislation in this country. I mean regular people, the voting public. So, I mean, I would do anything I can to help out. Do you have a website?

[Ben Cohen]

Not yet, we're working on it.

[Jimmy Dore]

But there is, I know a guy.

[Ben Cohen]

When, when Doge started out, we said, well, here's an opportunity. So we do have a website called doge versus blob.org and it is a, a contest on Twitter, I guess it's called X now where you can come up with a meme that focuses on a particular piece of Pentagon waste. We give you the information on that website, doge versus blob.org and you can win dogecoins and you can communicate pretty much direct to Elon because he's monitoring this stuff all the time.

[Jimmy Dore]

So. Well, I hope something happens because this is unsustainable. You know, this is how all empires end. We overextend militarily and it's 100% corrupted government owned by the military industrial complex, Wall street and Big Pharma. And if we don't get, you know, I had high hopes that Donald Trump would do something. I still have, I still have hope. They're not high and I don't have faith, but you know, we'll see. It's, if anything, it's. The corruption in our government is being fully revealed that APAC controls our government, the military industrial complex controls our government, Big Pharma and those are the people. You know, also fossil fuel companies control our government. Just look at the Nordstream pipeline. And the whole point of that, I.

[Ben Cohen]

Mean, what's, what's really, I think destructive is that our government, which is supposedly a representative democracy.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah.

[Ben Cohen]

Is using our money to prepare to kill Millions of people just like us who happen to live on the other side of some invisible line. That's. That's what. That, that's what our money is being spent for. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. People just like us who just happen to be born in some other different country. And that destroys the spirit and the soul of our nation.

[Jimmy Dore]

Isn't it amazing how easy it was for the establishment, through the media, to gin up an enemy? Right? So they always have to have an enemy to justify their war spending. And I grew up in the time of, you know, there was all terrorism and fighting terrorists. Well, first it was Russia, right, when I was a kid. Then it switched to terrorists, and then that wore off. Right? And then they had. They reinvented Russia as a bad guy again, as some kind of. Russia's not threatening to invade the United States. Russia's not gonna attack us. Wasn't it amazing how easily they did that? And they attached it to Donald Trump. Were you surprised at that?

[Ben Cohen]

It is amazing how easy it is to get people scared, to use propaganda to scare people that other countries are trying to come to get them, but it's not true. Essentially, it's the US Policy that makes those other countries into enemies, because the official US Policy is that another country that starts to develop economically or militarily is automatically an enemy, and we need to sanction them economically. And right now, the US Pentagon is planning for a war with China, and they are doing exercises related to that. They're buying weapons that are specifically related to that. And, you know, I mean, haven't the wars in Iraq and Vietnam and Ukraine proven that these huge military powers, the U.S. russia, they're not even able to take over a little country, much less take over the United States.

[Jimmy Dore]

You would, you would think 20 years of Afghanistan and then the Afghanistan papers which revealed that there was just 20 years of lies. That's. That's all it was, right?

[Ben Cohen]

Justifications to continue shoveling more and more dollars into weapons manufacturers.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's it. That's it. Well, Doge versus the Blob. That's fantastic. Doge versus the Blob.

[Ben Cohen]

Check it out. It's. It's kind of a fun website. It's. It's.

[Jimmy Dore]

It's.

[Ben Cohen]

Not only is it educational, but it's entertaining.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay, I'll, I'm going to tell everybody to. By the way, you sued Unilever, right, For selling Ben and Jerry's in the West Bank. Can you tell us about that?

[Ben Cohen]

Well, what happened was that Ben and Jerry's the company and the independent board of Ben and Jerry's and Unilever, the corporate parent of Ben and Jerry's, agreed to stop selling Ben and Jerry's ice cream in the west bank because we did not agree with how Israel was treating Palestinians. This was way before October 7th. And then what happened was that there was so much pushback from Israel that Unilever kind of unilaterally decided to sell the rights to Ben and Jerry's to somebody in Israel. And that kind of usurped the authority of the independent board of Ben and direct of Ben and Jerry's. And so the independent board then sued Unilever.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay. Okay. Well, I also hear that Ben and Jerry's has 36 varieties of vegan ice cream. Any.

[Ben Cohen]

It's amazing. There's a lot. There's a lot of that vegan ice cream. And what's also amazing about it is that it tastes really good. I was really surprised. I did not have very high hopes. But it's. It's really good stuff. And, you know, the problem is stores don't have that much shelf space, so it's hard to find all 36 flavors at whatever store you go to. But it's good stuff.

[Jimmy Dore]

Are you. Are you big into animal rights?

[Ben Cohen]

I like animals. I mean, sure, I don't want to. I don't want to have animals mistreated.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay. All right. And you know, you no relation to Ethan Cohen, correct?

[Ben Cohen]

Not last I checked.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay. All right. Ben Cohen does versus the Blob. Everybody check out that website. Everybody get on board. Maybe get some mass movement. Says try to cut the Pentagon because it doesn't look like our political leaders have their will. So. But I appreciate you coming on. Thank you very much for spending some time with our audience.

[Ben Cohen]

Good to be here with you, Jimmy.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay, good luck. Hey, you know, here's another great way you can help support the show is you become a premium member. We give you a couple of hours of premium bonus content every week, and it's a great way to help support the show. You can do it by going to jimmy door comedy.com clicking on join premium. It's the most affordable premium program in the business. And it's a great way to help put your thumb back in the eye of the bastards. Thanks for everybody who was already a premium member. And if you haven't, you're missing out. We give you lots of bonus content. Thanks for your support. So this rapper, Lil Yacht Yul. Yachty, his name is Little Yachty. Not Big Bogey.

[Mike McCrae]

Shitty Mumble rap. I hate Lil Yachty, but go ahead.

[Jimmy Dore]

He says, well, so he's doing a cooking show. You want to check out what he says during the cooking show? Here we go.

[Unknown]

You spent a hundred thousand dollars on a trip to Disney once. How much have you spent on charitable causes this year?

[Jimmy Dore]

So she asked him, you've spent a hundred thousand dollars on a trip to Disneyland once. How much have you spent on charity?

[Unknown]

Start cooking these pancakes.

I mean, what. This year technically just started.

[Mike McCrae]

So.

[Unknown]

So this year, I mean, like, it's hard to.

What about last year?

Last year, you know, it's like, it's hard to gauge.

All right, so what about the year before last year?

Oh, well, that year. That's a. That's a good year. Yeah, that. It's just blurry. I be doing so much blm since.

You want to be so flat powered.

BLM is a scam.

[Jimmy Dore]

But BLM is a scam. He says, I was wondering how it.

[Mike McCrae]

Was going to lead into that. And he just blurted it out at her.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah. She asked, did you donate to blm? And he goes, blm's a scam. And here we go. It's more is more to it. Flip that.

[Unknown]

BLM was a. It was literally a scam. They had bought mansions. And you probably wouldn't know anything about it because you don't care about black people.

Look at my chocolate.

[Ben Cohen]

You're mad.

[Unknown]

It's a disguise.

[Ben Cohen]

You're mad.

[Unknown]

I think I'm literally the most pro black person in this room.

Because you have an all white staff.

[Mike McCrae]

They're not white now.

[Unknown]

Thank you. What? Don't laugh.

I. I do have a gay, so I also am.

[Jimmy Dore]

I too have a gay. Listen to.

[Unknown]

Their poc. Thank you.

[Jimmy Dore]

She says, and it says, I'm gay. And then he says, she said, I'm gang.

[Mike McCrae]

No, you're not, sweetheart.

[Jimmy Dore]

No. Somebody off camera says, I'm gay. He says, and I'm gay.

[Mike McCrae]

Oh, I think you said gang. No, because he said, I too have a gang. Right?

[Jimmy Dore]

No, it's right here.

[Unknown]

They're not white. They're poc.

[Jimmy Dore]

So she says, my crew isn't white. They're poc, meaning people of color. And then someone off camera says, and I'm gay. So some guy named David says, and I'm gay. And then the rapper says, thank you.

[Unknown]

Don't laugh.

I. I do have a gay.

[Jimmy Dore]

So I too have a gay.

[Mike McCrae]

Oh, he. I thought he said. I didn't hear. I could. I do have a gay.

[Jimmy Dore]

Do you? Do you have a gay? I thought everyone had a gay. You can now Order them online at eay. I want a gay. That's kind of funny.

[Mike McCrae]

I got a whole new respect for Lil Yachty because that was hilarious.

[Jimmy Dore]

I do have a gay.

[Unknown]

I also am gay.

[Jimmy Dore]

We have a gay. So just, just to let you know.

[Mike McCrae]

Patrice Colors and his rap Sox. Please.

[Jimmy Dore]

Patrice Colors was the co founder of Black Lives Matter. She's faced controversy over how she managed the organization's funds. If you just type in her name, this is what comes up on Google. What was the controversy? Well, she spent millions of dollars on luxury homes in Los Angeles and Georgia while leading the Black Lives Matter. She bought a house right here in Laurel Canyon.

[Mike McCrae]

Nice.

[Jimmy Dore]

With the you can't even anyway foundation spending. The Black Lives Matter Global Network foundation spent 6 million on mansions in Los Angeles and 8 million on mansions in Canada.

[Mike McCrae]

Yeah, right. This is old news that that dippy cook should have known.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah. The foundation gave large contracts to friends and family of Colors or Culors, including her brother in law Damon Turner's art firm.

[Mike McCrae]

Oh, maybe they meant persons of color like her name.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh, maybe that's what they meant. So that's where they were spending your money.

[Mike McCrae]

Persons of color.

[Jimmy Dore]

And it was so bad that Candace Owens did a documentary about it called the Greatest Lie Ever Sold.

[Candace Owens]

So Black Lives Matter released their 990 IRS filings. They collected $80 million. Where is that money?

[Jimmy Dore]

It's not here. Everything looks worse than it was.

[Candace Owens]

Where have you seen that money impacted throughout the city. So my producer just sent me a link. It is just shocking to me because of how much money was raised to think that where he lives, the bills weren't being covered. Super frustrating. But that's a dead end.

[Unknown]

So.

[Candace Owens]

And here's where it gets really interesting. Ready for some BLM pride? Another 200k went to escorts, BDSM workers, strippers, peep show workers, phone sex operators and webcam performers. And then at that moment it became personal. And I thought not only am I going to say the truth, I am going to scream the truth truth louder than you can scream the lies.

[Jimmy Dore]

So that's, that's kind of interesting. She actually did an interview with Tucker Carlson about this documentary because of exactly what you said.

[Candace Owens]

Because they want you to forget it. Right.

[Jimmy Dore]

So that's her outside the house that they purchased with the Black Lives Matter money. That's her trying to get in. That's Candace Owens knocking on the door.

[Candace Owens]

Do these things, they sort of punch you in the face and then they move on. And they say nobody look any further. We're now moving on to a different narrative. It is important to pause and to reflect and to consider what happened and ask a very big question, which, for whatever reason, no journalist was interested in at the time. We were all basically required to either put up a black square or donate to Black Lives Matter or to make some, you know, statement online about how black people are suffering to make sure that Black Lives Matter would receive the $80 million that it received in one year. But nobody asked the question, where is all the money going? I was interested because they turned me into public enemy number one for accurately talking about George Floyd, not in the capacity of a hero, but in the capacity of a person who was addicted to drugs and who had enough fentanyl in his system to kill a horse at the time that he died. That made people angry because people were invested in the emotion of Black Lives Matter. And so, look, I'm wearing this shirt. It is the BLM symbol, but instead, I've inserted some cash into it. Because what they really did is they robbed Americans. They robbed Americans emotions. They extracted emotions. They used black pain to create confusion and to take millions upon millions, tens of millions of dollars from people. And where did the money go? Tucker, that's. The documentary explores that. People are going to be shocked. I hope people are very behind the transgendered movement, because that's where a lot of this money went. And then there's just a dead trail, because the one thing that you're afforded when you decide that you are transgendered is you can change your name. So you don't know who any of these people were originally, but they received hundreds and thousands and millions of dollars of cash.

[Unknown]

I just can't control myself and know, because I was there and I watched it, you were basically banned from all media, including some conservative outlets. But for telling the truth, the factual, documented truth about George Floyd, you were not allowed to tell the truth, which really was.

[Candace Owens]

I think it was.

[Ben Cohen]

Right.

[Unknown]

Let me ask you, do you know anybody apart from the ladies living in Laurel Canyon and the transgenders you just mentioned, any actual, like, normal black person who benefited from blm?

[Candace Owens]

No. Absolutely. It's the exact opposite. I can tell you. Millions of black people who suffered because they now live in the inner city, inner cities that were looted and that were rioted, and therefore the businesses picked up, which my documentary will show, they picked up and they left, because why wouldn't they leave? Obviously, they're basically saying that crime is allowed to take place, and these are zones in which there can be no policing. So these people are now suffering economically and we of course predicted that that would be the outcome because of the BLM scam, which benefited nobody. And there are a lot of questions. In my personal opinion, this was a money laundering scheme. And it is interesting that these individuals like Patrice Cullors decided to host a Joe Biden inauguration party at the Black Lives Matter house. Again, all of that is in the documentary. It's stunning. And I do want to add this. My personal charity, after I announced that I was doing this documentary, I run a charity called Blexit. We received a letter two weeks after the trailer dropped from the IRS saying that they were going to investigate my charity. I welcome the investigation because I am not a scam artist and I do real work in the inner city communities. This is Biden's IRS once again saying you are not allowed to investigate anything that the media is complicit in.

[Unknown]

It's unbelievable. You are a brave person. They're going to come for you at some point. As you know, Candace Owens, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay. Wow.

[Candace Owens]

Thank you so much.

[Jimmy Dore]

Okay.

[Mike McCrae]

And they were both fired from their jobs.

[Jimmy Dore]

What a cheerful send off that is that. They're going to come for you. Thanks for coming on. Have a lovely day. Oh, I know.

[Mike McCrae]

I never used to like Candace.

[Jimmy Dore]

Oh.

[Mike McCrae]

I mean, even back then I probably was into Candace Owens, even though that looks very accurate, her documentary. But she did. She's thorough. And I've watched her say the thing that you're not allowed to say because it's true over and over again now.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah.

[Mike McCrae]

So if you get fired because of that, I'm on your team. If you get fired because you tell them the truth, I support that 100%.

[Jimmy Dore]

Those are two people who got fired for telling the truth right there. Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens. She told the truth about Israel, Palestine. He told the truth about Ukraine, Syria and Covid, and that was that. Again, you don't get fired for lying. You get promoted. You get a $35 million contract for pushing a conspiracy theory called Russiagate that was concocted by the Clinton campaign and the FBI and the CIA and then carried out through their media. That's. That's. You get promoted for that. For lying. You don't get promoted for telling the truth. You get fired for telling the truth in corporate media. And that's something my old friends in Hollywood will never understand because they still turn on corporate media and think they're being told the truth. They're still angry at me for going on Tucker Carlson show and telling the truth. I didn't go on Tucker Carlson show and lie. I went on Tucker Carlson show and told the truth about the war machine. Okay.

[Mike McCrae]

What you say doesn't matter is who you are around that I don't like.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yep. They're having a climate summit and they literally cut down all this forest to build a highway for it. You think I'm kidding? No. A new four lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belem.

[Mike McCrae]

This is one of the greatest things I've ever seen on the news. I mean, how absurd is it going to get before like everybody stops believing that this is real and not completely one big mafia scam on you like that? Come on.

[Jimmy Dore]

I'm sorry. It aims to ease traffic to the city, which will Host More than 50,000 people, including World leaders at the conference in November. So they cut down the Amazon forest so they could ease traffic.

[Mike McCrae]

Well, good thing all the things they warned us about the Amazon were a lie. And there's actually a lot of it. Thank goodness the old lies. Otherwise I'd be terrified that there's no Amazon left, because that's what they told me for my entire life.

[Jimmy Dore]

My entire life. And now the people.

[Mike McCrae]

Not true.

[Jimmy Dore]

The people who are going to a conference to tell me how to save the climate are the ones cutting down the Amazon forest.

[Mike McCrae]

I guess it's okay to do that and you don't have to worry too much. Otherwise you'd probably go green and zoom into your climate conference or maybe handle it.

[Jimmy Dore]

In Davos, the state government touts the highway's sustainable credentials, but some locals and conservationists are outraged at the environmental impact. The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity. And many say this deforestation contradicts the very purpose of a climate summit. You think? How about, I wonder how many of them are taking private jets to this climate summit.

[Mike McCrae]

Well, remember what the great Bill Gates said? Trees are not the answer.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's right.

[Mike McCrae]

Remember how there was enough trees and then they're like, no, just having a lot of trees isn't going to do it.

[Jimmy Dore]

No.

[Mike McCrae]

So guess what? Because having a lot of trees, I'm sure does do it. It's up and down because we're gonna have a crisis that you're gonna need to obey us to get through. You see what I'm saying? They love causing climb climate. They love causing it.

[Jimmy Dore]

Along the partially built road, lush rainforest towers on either side, a reminder of what was once there. Logs are piled High in the cleared land which stretches more than eight miles through the rainforest into Belem. You gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me. Here it is. Wow, look at that.

[Mike McCrae]

And is that road gonna be used? Here's my curiosity. Is this like a road?

[Jimmy Dore]

One time road. This a one time road.

[Mike McCrae]

Is it just going to the climate summit and nothing else? Because that would be truly hysterical.

[Jimmy Dore]

If there only was the place that they could have done this. Climate summit. Maybe they could have done the climate some where they already had a road. Maybe that if there was only a place that already has roads that they could have done the climate summit. This is. You can't make this stuff up. This is the. This is like my act. They take private jets to decide. You have to outlaw PR leaf blowers that are gas powered. I mean this is crazy. Claudio veracat lives about 200 meters from where the road will be. He used to make an income from harvesting akai. Is that how you say it? Acai?

[Mike McCrae]

Yeah, Acai or something.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yeah. Some kind of berries from trees that once occupied the space. Everything was destroyed. Our harvest has already been cut down. We no longer have that income to support our family. He worries the construction. What?

[Mike McCrae]

Yeah, well, it's hurting the human population. So that's always a goal.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's always good. He worries the construction of this road will lead to more deforestation in the future. Now that the area is more accessible for businesses. Our fear is that one day someone will come here and say here's some money. We need this area to build a gas station or to build a warehouse. And then we'll have to leave. We were born and raised here in the community. Where are we going to go? His community won't be connected to the road, given its walls on either side. For us who live on the side of the highway, there will be no benefits. There will be benefits for the trucks that will pass through. If someone gets sick and needs to go to the center of Belem, we won't be able to use it.

[Mike McCrae]

So it is like a. It is a one time user. Great.

[Jimmy Dore]

The road leaves two disconnected areas of protected forest. Scientists. Scientists are concerned it will fragment the ecosystem and disrupt the movement of wildlife. Professor SYLVIA maybe they'll talk about that at the summit. The professor is a wildlife vet researcher. The University of Amlohomes has said the overlooks the site of the new highway. She and her team rehabilitate wild animals with injuries predominantly caused by humans or vehicles. We're going to lose an area to release these animals back into the wild. The natural environment of these feces land animals will no longer be able to cross to the other side, reducing the area where they can live and breed. The Brazilian president and environment minister said this will be a historic summit because it's a COP in the Amazon, not a cop about the Amazon. This is amazing. The president says the meeting will provide an opportunity to focus on the needs of the Amazon, show the. To show the force to the world and present what the federal government has done to protect it.

[Mike McCrae]

Are you joking?

[Jimmy Dore]

But the professor says that while these conversations will happen at a very high level among business people and government officials, those living in the Amazon are not being heard. The state government of Para had touted the idea of this highway known as Avienda Liberada Day as early as 2012, but it had repeatedly been shelved because of environmental concerns. Now a host of infrastructure projects has been resurrected or approved to prepare the city for the COP summit. The state government infrastructure secretary listed this highway as one of the 30 projects happening in the city. To prepare and modernize it so we can have a legacy for the population and more importantly, serve people for COP30 in the best possible way. Speaking to the BBC, he said it was a sustainable highway and an important mobility intervention.

[Mike McCrae]

Because they don't let the natives use it. That's why it's sustainable. You know how you're not supposed to fly or travel? Just these assholes. That's the sustainability. Just they'll be using it.

[Jimmy Dore]

That's right. So this person who sells Amazonian herbal medicines in the market acknowledges that all construction work can cause problems, but he felt the future impact would be worth it. We hope the discussions aren't just on paper and become real actions. And the measures, the decisions taken really are put into practice so that the planet can breathe a little better, so that the population in the future will have a little cleaner air. That will be the hope of the world leaders too, who choose to attend the COP30 summit. Scrutiny is growing over whether flying thousands of them across the world and the infrastructure required to host them is undermining the cause.

[Mike McCrae]

Well, that and all your predictions being wrong for the last 40 years, that also is undermining the cause. The fact that not a single thing that you said was going to happen.

[Jimmy Dore]

Has happened at all.

[Mike McCrae]

And the opposite has happened some you had to cut down. There was so much forest, you had.

[Jimmy Dore]

To cut it down to have your climate meeting. That's. That's truly stunning.

[Mike McCrae]

Well, sustainable means it's not for the population. That's why they hate populism because it's not sustainable because everybody can't live. Remember the great Barack Obama said Africa's gonna want to be Everybody can't have air conditioning.

[Jimmy Dore]

You can't have an air conditioner because the planet's gonna overheat. But I'm gonna go buy my third ocean beachfront mansion with 50 air conditioners and I'm gonna fly my private jet. Have a good day, Africa.

[Mike McCrae]

I'm gonna produce movies about the world ending for you.

[Jimmy Dore]

Yes.

[Mike McCrae]

Not me. Is the plot. Is the plot against everyone becoming clear to everyone yet like, I hope so. They can only find so many ways to say we need a lot of you to die and the rest of you under control. There's how many ways can they tell it to you?

[Jimmy Dore]

Hey, become a premium member. Go to jimmy door comedy.com sign up. It's the most affordable premium program in the business.

[Ben Cohen]

Out.

[Jimmy Dore]

Don't freak out. Don't freak out. All the voices performed today are by the one and only, the inimitable Mike McCrae. He can be found at mike McCray.com that's it for this week. You be the best you can be and I'll keep being me. Out. Don't freak out. Don't. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Do not freak out.

[Ben Cohen]

I'm not kidding.

[Jimmy Dore]

Do not do that. Do not freak out.