Donald Trump VOWS To Appeal NY State Sentencing In Hush Money Trial w/Rep. Riley Moore

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Donald Trump VOWS To Appeal NY State Sentencing In Hush Money Trial w/Rep. Riley Moore" - Timcast IRL

Release Date: January 11, 2025
Host: Timcast Media
Guests: Rep. Riley Moore, Mary Morgan, Brett Dasovic

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Introduction

In this episode of Timcast IRL, host Phil Labonte engages in a robust discussion with Rep. Riley Moore, Mary Morgan, and Brett Dasovic. The conversation delves into the recent developments surrounding former President Donald Trump's sentencing in the New York hush money trial, Mark Zuckerberg's controversial changes to fact-checking on social media platforms, the devastating California wildfires, and the Supreme Court's anticipated decision on the TikTok ban. The panel offers sharp, independent perspectives on these pressing political and cultural issues.

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Donald Trump's Sentencing and Appeal

Key Discussion Points:

• Unconditional Discharge: Donald Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge in the New York falsified business records case, a judgment Rep. Riley Moore criticizes as a strategic move by Democrats to label Trump a "convicted felon."

• Political Implications: The panel highlights the sentiment that the discharge allows Democrats to portray Trump negatively without imposing severe penalties. They argue that this serves as a propaganda tool to undermine Trump's legitimacy and drain support among conservatives.

Notable Quotes:

• Phil Labonte [05:50]: "If you don't know what an unconditional discharge is, it is a sentence in a criminal case that typically means that a defendant is released from all disability arising under a sentence, including probation and parole."

• Rep. Riley Moore [07:30]: "If it's not overturned by the court, I hope he pardons himself on the way out."

Insights:

• The participants assert that the sentence is more symbolic than punitive, serving political narratives rather than delivering justice.
• There is a consensus that the real impact hinges on Trump's ability to appeal the decision and potentially secure a pardon.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s Shift in Fact-Checking

Key Discussion Points:

• Joe Rogan Appearance: Mark Zuckerberg appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience discussing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and indirectly touching on his approach to managing Facebook's policies.

• Biden’s Criticism: President Biden criticized Zuckerberg for removing traditional fact-checkers in favor of a system resembling community notes, raising concerns about increased tech censorship and the erosion of trust in social media platforms.

Notable Quotes:

• Phil Labonte [21:19]: "Mark Zuckerberg was on Joe Rogan and he was talking a lot about BJJ... We talked about that the people from the Biden administration would call up our team and scream at them and curse."

Insights:

• The panel views Zuckerberg's policy changes as a capitulation to progressive pressures, undermining the platform's reliability and objectivity.
• There is skepticism about the effectiveness and integrity of community-based fact-checking compared to professional fact-checkers.

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California Fires: Causes and Management Issues

Key Discussion Points:

• Wildfires Overview: Southern California is grappling with multiple wildfires, including the Palisades and Eaton fires, leading to significant loss of life, property, and environmental destruction.

• Potential Arson and Mismanagement: The panel discusses reports of arson, possibly linked to homeless individuals, and criticizes Governor Gavin Newsom for alleged mismanagement of water resources essential for firefighting efforts.

Notable Quotes:

• Rep. Riley Moore [13:17]: "This just erodes our legitimacy and our authority as the United States... It's a tragic example of how woke policies can end up killing people."

• Phil Labonte [47:38]: "Gavin Newsom has ordered an investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water... We need answers on how this happened."

Insights:

• The discussion emphasizes the failure of state policies and infrastructure in effectively managing and mitigating wildfires.
• There's a strong critique of environmental regulations and budget cuts that have impaired the firefighting capabilities, contributing to the disaster's severity.

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Supreme Court and TikTok Ban

Key Discussion Points:

• Legislative Actions: The Supreme Court is poised to uphold the federal TikTok ban, sparking debates about free speech, national security, and foreign influence.

• National Security Concerns: The panel expresses concerns that TikTok, owned by ByteDance—a Chinese company—poses significant risks related to data privacy and potential espionage.

Notable Quotes:

• Rep. Riley Moore [77:00]: "I'm for the TikTok ban just to be clear. But it's because it is dangerous for us in the long run."

• Phil Labonte [81:07]: "Anything made in China, they're all compromised. Your phone is compromised. It's just a matter of can they isolate you and are you interesting?"

Insights:

• The consensus is that the TikTok ban is a necessary step to safeguard American citizens from foreign surveillance and data exploitation.
• The panel underscores the importance of maintaining control over data and protecting national security against foreign-owned platforms.

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H1B Visas and Labor Issues

Key Discussion Points:

• Abuse of H1B Visas: The conversation highlights the misuse of H1B visas by employers to hire foreign workers at lower wages, thereby replacing American employees and undermining domestic labor markets.

• Proposed Reforms: Advocates call for stricter regulations or elimination of H1B visas to protect American jobs and ensure fair wages within the workforce.

Notable Quotes:

• Rep. Riley Moore [35:32]: "Companies will go out and get H1B visas for accountants. We have plenty of people in this country that have accounting degrees."

• Phil Labonte [37:03]: "The key difference is that an O1 visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability... there is massive abuse of the H1B visa."

Insights:

• The panel emphasizes the detrimental impact of H1B visa abuses on American employment and wages.
• There's a strong push for policy changes to prioritize American workers and prevent exploitation through visa programs.

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Other Key Discussions

Single Party Rule Concerns:

• Governance Issues: Comparisons are drawn between potential single-party rule in the U.S. and Mexico’s long-standing one-party system, warning of increased corruption and diminished checks and balances.

Gun Laws and Representation:

• Second Amendment Advocacy: Discussions about maintaining strong gun rights and opposing policies that restrict firearm ownership, linking this to broader themes of personal freedom and security.

Constitutional Amendments and Representation:

• Citizenship and Representation: The panel debates the idea of tying congressional representation strictly to U.S. citizenship, arguing it would reinforce national sovereignty and integrity in governance.

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Conclusion

The episode of Timcast IRL featuring Rep. Riley Moore offers a critical examination of recent political and social issues from a conservative standpoint. The panel underscores perceived injustices in the legal system regarding Donald Trump, technological censorship by social media giants like Facebook, the catastrophic handling of California wildfires, and the national security threats posed by foreign-owned platforms like TikTok. Additionally, they advocate for labor reforms to protect American jobs and warn against the dangers of single-party governance. The discussions reflect a broader theme of resisting progressive policies and safeguarding conservative values amidst ongoing cultural and political conflicts.

Final Thoughts:

• The panel consistently emphasizes the need for accountability, transparency, and policy reforms to address systemic issues.
• They advocate for measures that protect national interests, economic stability, and individual freedoms against what they perceive as overreaching government and corporate behaviors.

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Notable Super Chat Highlights:

• Broman 992 [100:22]: "Honestly, I'd rather have the left saying Trump is a convicted felon than have them screaming about how he only got off because the Supreme Court is rigged."

• Kane Abel [120:28]: "Phil, been a fan of all that remains since I saw you guys on Fuse TV in the early 2000s. Thank you."

These user interactions further underscore the show's alignment with its audience's sentiments on the discussed topics.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Phil Labonte]

Hey there, Ryan Reynolds here. It's a new year and you know what that means. No, not the diet resolutions. A way for us all to try and do a little bit better than we did last year. And my resolution, unlike big wireless, is to not be a raging and raise the price of wireless on you every chance I get. Give it a [e-mail] Switch $45 upfront.

[Mary Morgan]

Payment required equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first 3 month plan only. Taxes and fees, extra speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited. See mintmobile.com for details.

[Phil Labonte]

Money trial. He was sentenced to unconditional discharge which basically is like nothing. So basically it's 12 more years of Democrats saying that he's a mean baddie. So we've got was it Mark Zuckerberg? From Tim Cast News. Mark Zuckerberg was on Joe Rogan today and he was broing down. We'll talk about that a little bit. He was talking about, I watched it and he was talking a lot about bjj. It was, it was pretty interesting. A lot of the, the Brazilian Jiu jitsu talk. We've got a story coming out from cnn. Joe Biden is complaining about Mark Zuckerberg and his decision to actually remove the fact checkers and go to a system more like community notes. We've got a story about California fires which obviously that's probably the most morose terrible thing that's been going on in the country. There's, there are talks of people that have been arrested for setting fires for arson. There's discussions about how many people have lost their lives and stuff. So we'll cover that. And then there was a Supreme Court, it seems likely to uphold the tick tock ban. And so we'll talk about that tonight. But before we get started, go buy some cast brew coffee. Two weeks till Christmas is available. It's got me on the COVID looking ridiculous as usual. But you can get that. You can also go and get Ian's graphene dream. Tim was talking last night about how many bags they've been selling. They, they've been just moving out the door. So you want to get a bag of that as soon as you can. You also, you can go to the boonies.com is the boonies.com yes boonies hq.com and pick up the new board. The 28th amendment, the sexy chicken on it. The 20th amendment. Chickens being necessary to the security of a free state. The right of the people to keep and bre bear and breed chickens shall not be infringed so you want to run over there and pick that up before we get started? Go on over to our go become a [e-mail] join up, become a member, join the Discord. Come and hang out, talk. And when we do the after show, we can invite people from the Discord on to talk and, and you can talk to our callers. You can ask any of us questions. So. So yeah. So why don't we go ahead and get started with our guest, Riley Moore.

[Riley Moore]

Hello, Riley Moore, Congressman, second Congressional district right here in West Virginia. A little strange to say, glad to be back.

[Phil Labonte]

Officially swamp monster.

[Riley Moore]

Officially swamp monster. Shout out to a couple guys. Jimmy Barry, longtime listener and Jay, a true performance fitness, which I know you like that place too.

[Phil Labonte]

Yes. Yes. Awesome. Thank you for coming. We've got Mary Morgan's here.

[Mary Morgan]

You've got Mary Morgan. Hi, guys. You normally see me co hosting Pop Culture Crisis, but I'm happy to be back to be back on Phil Cast irl and Brett is here across from me to keep me in check tonight.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yes.

[Mary Morgan]

I mean, it's just really hard for me to talk about politics without saying bannable things. So Rhett's here to kind of keep an eye on me.

[Brett Dasovic]

I think that is 100% what happens whenever this, whenever one of us goes on irl, Mary talks about how she's like, look, I would do it, but I can't do it without getting everybody banned and in trouble.

[Mary Morgan]

So, like we're ungovernable.

[Brett Dasovic]

It's exactly true. So, yes, it's going to be a lot of fun here. Let's get started, guys. Red and Serge is here.

[Phil Labonte]

Well, yeah, but he doesn't like to talk anymore. He doesn't, he doesn't like to be on the camera. He. I don't think that it's shy. I feel like it's like he's taunting people on X From the Post Millennial Trump says New York sentencing is a despicable charade and vows to appeal. On Friday, President Elect Trump said that the radical Democrats have lost another pathetic and un American witch hunt after Judge Juan Marshawn imposed a sentence of unconditional discharge in the New York falsified business record case. Donald Trump said the radical Democrats have lost another pathetic un American witch hunt after spending tens of millions of dollars wasting over six obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent rampant crime that is destroying the city and state, coordinating with the Biden Harris department of injustice and lawless weaponization and bringing completely baseless Illegal and fake discharges against your 45th and 47th president. Me, I was given an unconditional discharge. Trump wrote, if you don't know what an unconditional discharge is, it is a sentence in a criminal case that typically means that a defendant is released from all disability arising under. Under a sentence, including probation and parole. A sentence of unconditional discharges imposed when the judge does not believe that it would be helpful to impose any conditions on the defendant. Unconditional discharge and eligibility is governed by state laws, which vary by state. And if you ask me, this is literally just so that way the Democrats can say, Donald Trump is a convicted felon and we got him.

[Riley Moore]

It's 100% correct. I mean, that's what the whole point of this is, is that we've sworn in a convicted felon as the President of the United States. That's his whole point of this. I mean, even the prosecutor, you remember Alvin Bragg, he, he backed off of this and didn't want to move forward. It was the judge himself that decided to move forward on this. But I would like to point out this truth post by President Trump. He is very much back and in rare form.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah, read that. And not like the guy.

[Phil Labonte]

I think that, I mean, the, My favorite thing about Donald Trump is it was his Twitter account. Yes. And his Truth Social account. So it's good to have you back, Don. It's good to have you back.

[Mary Morgan]

I'm not trying to be a cheerleader or anything, but did they think the convicted felon part was going to make him sound less cool?

[Phil Labonte]

Fair enough. I really do think that it was just about. They wanted to be able to say on, you know, because it's really, it's about. It's about the very, very committed progressives, you know, and they want to be able to say this is about, you know, or they want to be able to say on X and on, you know, journalists want to be able to say, hey, you know, we are. What do you. What do you got? Okay, they, they want to say. They want to be able to say that. That we got him. It's just about, we got him. See, he actually is a convicted felon. And now we can officially say it and it's real. And that means that we kind of won. Even though he's back and now we can poo, poo all of the conservatives and anybody that would actually vote for him, we can we great about ourselves while we say you're a terrible person because you voted for a convicted felon and I didn't so I'm so much better than you.

[Riley Moore]

If it's not overturned by the court, I hope he pardons himself on the way out.

[Phil Labonte]

I. I hope so, too. I don't know.

[Riley Moore]

I don't know if that's ever been tried.

[Brett Dasovic]

I know that question has been asked before, but I never got a straight answer. Like, so is the point of doing it before the swearing in ceremony, in your opinion? You think it's because they want to be able to say you swore in a convicted felon? I just find it funny because it's not like that stopped people from having that argum agreement on Twitter, because the same people who are saying that he's a convicted felon before he actually had the conviction are the same people who talk about being an insurrectionist despite the fact that nobody ever got. You know, these are actual insurrectable ticks.

[Mary Morgan]

These people basically have Tourette's. They're like, convicted felon, like, racist. Like, if it wasn't convicted felon, it was going to be something else. So no one is listening or ultimately meaning.

[Phil Labonte]

Right.

[Brett Dasovic]

Well, it's like when they bring up, you know, he's been legally prosecuted for sex crimes.

[Phil Labonte]

Adjudicated.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, we got a post from Ed. Ed Krassenstein, and I'm gonna save my, you know, my opinion of Ed Krasny, but it's just so that he could say, you know, convicted felon. That's it. That's the tweet. The. The whole point of it was just to be able to say, look, he is a very bad man. And now the court even says that he's a very bad man, even though this whole case is fabricated because there's no underlying crime that raises the 34 misdemeanors to Felo. They've been.

[Mary Morgan]

People were, like, opposed to the system.

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, no.

[Mary Morgan]

Criminal justice system.

[Phil Labonte]

No, they corrupt. They're not opposed to anything at all.

[Mary Morgan]

They're completely screenshot me doing that now.

[Brett Dasovic]

You just told them that doesn't matter anyways, because they believe there's no truth but power. So they love to wield the system against other people, despite the fact that they don't believe in the system to begin with.

[Phil Labonte]

Exactly.

[Mary Morgan]

Right now we're just spinning our wheels saying they're hypocrites.

[Riley Moore]

And I would point out they're not.

[Phil Labonte]

Even hypocrites because it's not about. It's not about hypocrisy. It's about. It's. It's. It's about hierarchy. It's okay for them to do things. Anyone else that does it, it's, it's there. No matter what you do, you're bad. So they're just going to poo poo you no matter.

[Brett Dasovic]

And justify the means to that.

[Phil Labonte]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Riley Moore]

And Ed never disappoints to do something disappointing.

[Brett Dasovic]

I mean, like, the worst part of that tweet is the. It's the. That's it. That's the tweet. It's how boring it is. It's not creative.

[Phil Labonte]

From the guy that just yesterday when Barack Obama and Donald Trump were sitting next to each other and yucking it up at the funeral of President Carter, they were, he was like, oh, you know, we should come together and see they can be civil and etc. Etc. And then of course, today he's like convicted felon. Gotcha.

[Brett Dasovic]

That's actually the most maddening part about it. Right? Because there's no actual intellectual through line, meaning that he can say that one day and then act completely different another day. So how do you actually get along with people who don't have any type of consistency in their behavior?

[Phil Labonte]

You don't. You mean, like, you can't, you can't.

[Brett Dasovic]

Inherently trust someone who's going to act completely different the next day based on what they believe to be true.

[Phil Labonte]

You meme them until they cry and then you meme them crying. That's. That's completely what you do. There is no. Just like you said, though, there is no consistency. There is no, no ideology underneath it. Except for power. What do we got? Breaking this is from Brian Krassenstein on X. Breaking. Judge Juan Marshawn sentences Donald Trump to unconditional discharge. He is officially a convicted felon. For all the people who shouted and screamed at me for calling him that before I told you so, he was Marshan. However, the considerable, indeed extraordinary legal protections afforded the office of the Chief Executive is a factor that overrides all others. He says they do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way. One power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict. Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. It is in the office of the President that bestows those to the office holder. It is the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections. But as I was saying earlier, and in case, I mean, we've gone over the, the conditions of this particular case multiple times, but in case you aren't aware, the felony charges, the 34 felony charges that they Love to talk about that, that Donald Trump has been charged with. They're not felonies in and of themselves. They need an underlying crime that happened prior to the felonies to raise them from misdemeanors to felonies. And there's no crime that anyone has articulated or can articulate that Donald Trump has committed to raise them to felonies. So these are all actually misdemeanors. And on top of that, the, the statute of limitations of this particular crime, they had run out and they extended them so that Donald Trump could be charged. This is Banana Republic stuff. And it's, it is, it is unquestionable that it is. So anyone that's taking joy, like Bryan Krassenstein or anyone else that takes joy and glee in, in saying, oh, Donald Trump's now really a convicted felon, these are the people that allow for society to break down from the inside. Because if you don't have a judiciary that the people can trust, then you have people deciding that it's not worth going to the police. That means that they take the law into their own hands or they, they don report crimes and you end up with, with a downward cycle in your city. And you see this in New York now, where people aren't reporting crimes, they don't go to the police, they don't feel like the police are going to do anything. And it's caused massive, massive uptick in crime and it causes a breakdown of society, you know.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. I mean, and it also just erodes trust in the entire system, in the citizenry. Right. I mean, there's guys like Maduro down in Venezuela that just stole another elections, looking at us like, wow, I can't believe they did that. You know, I mean, this, I mean, really erodes our legitimacy and our authority, I guess, as you could say as the United States of America. I mean, it puts us in a really bad position where we're trying to tell maybe perhaps other countries or other people like, hey, maybe don't do this or this or that. How can we even say anything now? Right? I mean, we, there's no moral authority here in the United States.

[Brett Dasovic]

The CIA will tell them what to do.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. Very quietly.

[Brett Dasovic]

And the other thing that's annoying about stuff like this is like, how far down the timeline, whether it's one of the Krasenstein or anybody else that's like a far left on Twitter, a far leftist on Twitter, how far down their timeline from some tweet about Donald Trump being convicted felon? Well, I have to go to find something about how great Luigi is.

[Mary Morgan]

Well, he's not convicted. Yeah, right.

[Brett Dasovic]

That's the problem.

[Phil Labonte]

So, to be fair, I do think that, to be fair to Krassenstein, I do think that he's been fairly good on Luigi. I don't think that he's been. Been.

[Brett Dasovic]

I'm using him as more of a baseline for.

[Phil Labonte]

It's not hard of Twitter to begin.

[Mary Morgan]

It's bad thing.

[Phil Labonte]

It's not hard to find people that, that. That have made apologies for Luigi on the left at all.

[Mary Morgan]

I want to pose a question. What would have been Trump's sentencing, sentencing outcome had he not won the election, in your opinion?

[Phil Labonte]

They would have thrown the book at him.

[Riley Moore]

He'd be in prison.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah. Like, I'm just checking what y'all think about that, because I was worried while he was still on the campaign trail. He seemed kind of spacey, kind of tired, and I was concerned that he, like, does he really understand the gravity of the situation for himself? Just selfishly?

[Phil Labonte]

I think so.

[Mary Morgan]

And then afterwards, I. I listened to this interview that Siaka Massaqua gave recently, and he talked about getting persecuted for appearing at January 6th and committing no crime, but he was certain that he was going to go to federal prison if Trump didn't win this election.

[Phil Labonte]

Siaka, the guy from Daily Wire, he.

[Mary Morgan]

Was at, at that election.

[Brett Dasovic]

We had him on the show, remember?

[Mary Morgan]

We did.

[Brett Dasovic]

They follow him at the airport. He's like, I go to the airport and they're just there.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, right. He was. He was arrested right after the premiere event for Lady Ballers, and it was timed so that there would be as much media coverage as possible. And he knew for a fact that he was going to go to federal prison if Trump didn't win. I just felt like there was so much hanging in the balance and we weren't really talking about it. I remember still afraid. I mean, the inauguration is coming up, and I'm worried genuinely, that there's going to be some kind of black swan event, like, I'm serious, like some kind of another assassination attempt, some kind of, well, mass casualty situation.

[Phil Labonte]

So I, I completely understand that kind of worry. I don't think because Donald Trump has, has, you know, won and it's been certified, even if something happened to Donald Trump, it would be JD Vance that would be inaugurated. JD Vance would become the president. And I do believe that JD Vance is as competent as Donald Trump or possibly more, if I'm honest. I think the J.D. vance is really, really a sharp guy. And I think that. I think Donald Trump gets a lot of things right because he's got good gut instincts, but he's not, you know, he's not reading.

[Mary Morgan]

I imagine there are a lot of interested parties who like JD Vance and don't like Trump.

[Phil Labonte]

Possibly. But so the, at least the premise of the conversation that we've been having here is, is the threat of people with conservative or unpopular or counterculture ideas being punished by the government. So, like you were talking about. I forget the guy's name. I'm sorry, what was his name?

[Brett Dasovic]

Siaka.

[Phil Labonte]

Siaka. I remember when, you know, after, when Donald Trump won, you know, he was walking around the Daily Wire like, I don't have to go to jail. I don't. You know, he was serious. And it was, it was truly, like, it was real relief.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

And I don't think there's any question in most people's minds that if Donald Trump had lost, he would have gone to jail. He would have ended up.

[Riley Moore]

Oh, he definitely would have been in prison.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. I mean, that's not even, like a question.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. And so today we did the, the culture. I did the culture well this morning with Kyle Seraphin and George Hill, I think was his name, was the last name. And we, that was one of the things that we talked about a lot is the, the situation with the FBI and with the government, the way that they've been treating the American people, violating their rights and completely and totally, you know, completely in the, in the, in the pocket of the, the, the intelligence community. They've been, They've been running roughshod over the Fourth Amendment and stuff. And I think that the, the idea that people could have dissenting opinions, if it had been Kamala Harris, that one, it would, they would have gone after Elon Musk for being, for having dissenting opinions. They would have gone after. I mean, I imagine that they would continue. They'd. They probably would have come up with a reason to put. To discharge Tulsi Gabbard and possibly put her in jail.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, Elon, who's, I mean, SpaceX is so reliant, obviously, on all of their contracts for launch vehicles, you know, to go into space. That have been the end of that. Yeah, I mean, he put it all. I mean, he pushed it all in, put it all on the line. And I do think that there is abs, this is my view, divine intervention in this entire thing. Donald Trump should be dead. He should be dead. It was a centimeter away from killing him. I, I literally think God intervened in this. And that is why he's here. I think he understands that. He's talked about that. And if you haven't watched his barn burner of a press conference here lately, it was, I've watched it twice. It was great. It's like Peak Trump. He's definitely back yesterday. Yeah. And on these whole charges, I mean, you know, one of them was him overvaluing like Mar a Lago or something like that. And he said $18 million. This chandelier's $18 million.

[Phil Labonte]

Like, real quick about that. The, the idea of the, the, the problems that they said that arose around Mar a Lago and the value and stuff like that, that calls into question if your property rights are safe, if you can rely on the government and if you don't have property rights. Property rights are the engine, are the very foundation of any economy. If you cannot trust the government to protect your property rights and can deal fairly with you, then investment stops. Kevin Leary was talking about this on, not msnbc, but the cnbc. Cnbc, yeah. So he's talking about that. And it's true. If you don't have a government that will protect property rights for investment, no one's going to invest anything. And your, your economy will crash. And if the United States economy crashes, the whole world economy crashes and you're talking and people, people get wrapped up in the, oh, you know, it's only an economic argument. If the United States economy crashes, tens of millions, possibly hundreds of millions of people die because the United States gives more money away and gives more food to places that are on the verge of starvation than any other country in the world. So the U.S. if the U.S. economy crashes, it's not just, oh, number go down, it's millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of dead people. So the idea that it's that it's just an economic argument, that is a total farce. It is. It is the United States that gives away more money and gives away more food aid than any other country in the world. So we were talking about, real quickly about Zuckerberg and stuff. So let's go to this story from Tim Cass News. Mark Zuckerberg was on Joe Rogan and he was saying that the people from the Biden administration would call up our team and scream at them and curse. So we're gonna go ahead and play this here a little clip.

[Mary Morgan]

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[Phil Labonte]

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[Brett Dasovic]

There'S so much going on.

[Phil Labonte]

Just, I want to put that in people's heads before we go on. Like, understand the kind of numbers that.

[Riley Moore]

We'Re talking about here now.

[Phil Labonte]

Understand you have the, the pandemic and then you have the administration that's doing something where I think they cross the.

[Riley Moore]

Line where it gets really weird where.

[Phil Labonte]

They were saying what you were saying they were trying you to get you to take down vaccine side effects, which is just crazy.

[Tim Pool]

Yeah. So I mean, like you're saying, I mean this is, it's so complicated, this system that I could spend every minute of all of my time doing this and not actually focused on building any of the things that we're trying to do. AI glasses, like the future of social media, all that stuff. So I get involved in this stuff. But in general, we have a policy team. There are people who I trust, the people who are kind of working on this on a day to day basis and the interactions that, that I was just referring to, I mean, a lot of this is documented. I mean, because, you know, Jim Jordan and the, the House had this whole investigation and committee into, into the, the kind of government censorship around stuff like this. And we produced all these documents and it's all in the public domain. I mean, basically these people from the Biden administration would call up our team and like scream at them and curse and it's like these documents are, it's all kind of out there.

[Phil Labonte]

Did you record any of those phone calls?

[Tim Pool]

I don't know. I don't think, I don't think we. But, but I think I want to listen. I, the emails are published. It's all, it's all kind of out there.

[Riley Moore]

Believe that they didn't record any calls. No.

[Brett Dasovic]

I'm going to, I'm going to press X to doubt on that one.

[Phil Labonte]

I mean, I would love to see those kind of things come out, but, you know, the idea that the federal government leans so heavily on Facebook, this isn't a surprise to us here, but it is nice to hear someone like Zuckerberg admitting it. I mean, the, the, the, the Twitter files came out and you knew that what the government was doing at Twitter before Elon Musk, you know, got in there. And honestly, again, we talk about, you were talking about divine intervention. While I don't share your, your faith, it is clear that without things like Elon Musk buying Twitter, without things like Donald Trump moving his head just an inch or two, the whole world would be different right now.

[Riley Moore]

Yes.

[Phil Labonte]

You know, and so that brings us to this story. Old man yells at the clouds. Oh, I'm sorry. Biden says that met his decision to get rid of fact checkers is really shameful, which really, I mean, it speaks to the posture of the federal government that says, you know, they're no longer cooperating with us. And that's.

[Mary Morgan]

He voted for Trump and this is the way he's talking.

[Phil Labonte]

You know, you'd think that he'd be more friendly, that the Bidens would be more friendly to the, these developments, but no, it's, it's. We. Do you want to go ahead and listen to this little bit of. You want to hear the old man poop his pants?

[Mary Morgan]

Would you comment on Meta's decision to.

[Brett Dasovic]

End its fact checking operations in the United States? Is that a good decision, in your opinion?

[F]

Well, look, the whole idea of walking away from fact checking as well as not reporting anything having to do with discrimination regarding.

[Phil Labonte]

It's okay to laugh, guys.

[Brett Dasovic]

You would never make it in the podcasting world, I find to be just.

[F]

Contrary to American justice. American. The way we talk about one another.

[Phil Labonte]

Dude, this is gross. This is amazing.

[F]

The truth matters. I mean, it's.

[Riley Moore]

You can see his mind just working overtime. I know, to try to formulate, but.

[F]

You all are local reporters and national reporters. I'm not at this. Not a real question, but what do you think? You think it doesn't matter that they.

[Mary Morgan]

Squirrel at the control panel?

[F]

Millions of people read it, things that are simply not true. I mean, I don't know what that's all about. It's just completely contrary to everything America is about. We want to tell the truth. We haven't always done it as a nation. We want to tell the truth. And the idea, you know, a billionaire can buy something and say, by the way, from this point on, we're not going to, we're not going to fact check anything. And you know, when you have millions of people, people reading, going online, reading this stuff, it is.

[Phil Labonte]

Anyway, so, so Joe Biden has come out against the freedom of the press and is that what he said, Freedom of speech? I mean, that's what it sounded like to me. I couldn't really tell.

[Brett Dasovic]

I do like in the, in the future, that is the people in charge. Like, look, if you forget what you're saying, just ask the reporters what they think.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, man.

[Phil Labonte]

What do y'all think? I mean, so. And you know, it. The audacity of the old man to, to make some of those statements. I mean, I do think that he is aware of the things that he's saying at that time. I do think that he knows that he's saying, oh, you know, the, the, the fact checkers were actually fact checking. I think he knows that he's saying that. I don't know for sure if he knows that they weren't. And I don't know that he understands what like Community Notes actually is.

[Riley Moore]

I guarantee he doesn't know that.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, I mean that. And that's the system that they're going to at. You know that Mark Zuckerberg was saying on the, the Joe Rogan podcast that they're going to be implementing something similar to Community Notes where the, the actual users. The actual users of Facebook. So I mean, what do you think you're gonna get out of that? But like the actual users are going to be upvoting and down voting stuff. I assume that maybe he's going to actually. It'll be like, it'll actually be on Instagram where it'll get, you know, normal stuff because it's just going to be Boomerville on Facebook. But.

[Riley Moore]

Right.

[Phil Labonte]

Things that Nana believes.

[Mary Morgan]

But I will be honest, I don't like the way that Community Notes are used on X. I seem like it seems like the most part they're just kind of used as clapbacks and like sassy little remarks like the Community Notes are turning into memes. And before Community Notes were used, you just looked at the replies to a tweet and saw people refuting it.

[Brett Dasovic]

But meaning like you were at your, you were asking more of the actual engagement between your, you and your audience to know that you had to go down through the comments to actually find the truth. Whereas now you just look to the.

[Mary Morgan]

No, we didn't need to dumb it down like that. And the fact that there were contradicting pieces of information all over the place meant that you go down your timeline and continue reading until you get some amalgamation of what's actually going on. If you have more than two brain cells. Right.

[Phil Labonte]

Well, do you. So do you think crazy take. Well, I don't think it's crazy, and I don't. I think that there's. There's probably substance to it. But do you think that this system is better than the fact checkers?

[Mary Morgan]

Okay. Yes. Okay, but why do we need either one? That's my question.

[Phil Labonte]

I'm. I'm not sure that we do, but I do think that considering the fact that we've. I think that this is a come a long way from, you know, approved messaging from the. From the establishment, which is what fact checkers were. I mean, they were. Mark Zuckerberg was saying that they're unquestionably ideological, that they had a specific motivation, and they were. They were telling him that things that were obviously true that he knew were true. He was saying. They were saying things. They're like, no, you have to take this down and this is. This isn't true and stuff. And, and if that's what fact checkers are doing, then that flies in the face of everything the old man said.

[Riley Moore]

Well, let me ask you this, though. To what point do you think this is? He's. He's shifting. Really just his business model. Because Elon's crushing it on X.

[Mary Morgan]

Yes.

[Riley Moore]

And he's just trying to catch up. And it's just a shift in the business model. His mind, his mentality, I'm sure, has not changed one way or the other. But it's just.

[Phil Labonte]

But I mean, so I. Fair enough. But I.

[Riley Moore]

Which is good. I'm.

[Mary Morgan]

Do we believe that Mark Zuckerberg just, like, woke up on the right side of the bed one day and was like. Like, I was wrong about everything?

[Phil Labonte]

No.

[Brett Dasovic]

The whole point is that once you realize that there's a better business model out there that flies in the face of everything that's been going on for the last eight to 10 years. The idea is you financially encourage it for them.

[Phil Labonte]

Right.

[Brett Dasovic]

Because the best way to get somebody to. To believe what you believe, if you. Or help them see the truth, is to make it financially beneficial for them. If we're talking in the business market, because that's what they're looking to do. They want to make money and they want to continue growing their business.

[Riley Moore]

Right. Which, which is, look, it's capitalism. It's working. That's great. Free market has moved him in that direction. I just don't think it's him just.

[Brett Dasovic]

No, but I, but I don't expect that to. And that's not what I'm.

[Riley Moore]

But Elon actually did it. In my view, there was some altruism to what Elon did. I agree, because he took a big risk.

[Phil Labonte]

As far as Zuckerberg goes, though, I mean, I think, honestly, I think a lot of what. One of the things that Zuckerberg was mentioning was when the United States applies pressure like that, the rest of the world takes notice and they start applying pressure as well. So they couldn't, like, they had to, to. They had to deal with the United States and then the rest of the world decided they were really going to come down on them, because if the United States isn't standing up and saying, no, we don't do this, we don't allow this. There was a time where the United States would step in and defend American companies, you know, like, like Facebook and stuff, and they would defend them. The, the EU is chomping at the bit to regulate, and they'll regulate these companies out of business if they have to or if they can, if they're allowed to. To. The United States needs to step in and protect the companies that are American companies. And the United States does have the ability to apply significant pressure to, to other countries and say, look, you can't tell American companies that they have to abide by your rules.

[Brett Dasovic]

Well, this is what Tim Cook was saying when he, when he was asked about donating money to Trump's inauguration campaign is that, you know, people are saying, how could you possibly, you know, you, the, you know, the head of Apple, a gay man. How could you donate money to Donald Trump's.

[Phil Labonte]

Donald Trump doesn't hate gig.

[Brett Dasovic]

But the thing is, but they're ideologically bent and they, they don't understand that. And he said he's great for business. He's great for business, and he's great for our interest in other countries. And that's the point.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. One of the things that, you know, Zuckerberg was saying when he was talking about the, the pressure that he gets, I think that the, the change in his attitude is less because of, is less because it's, it's some kind of like, awakening because he's made that he had the, he. He's referenced the talk at a college five years ago. You referenced it multiple times. You met reference it here. And they had some of the other, some of the people on the board at, at Facebook were discussing with, with press and they had mentioned that same kind of, that same Talk. And I think that this, I think Mark Zuckerberg looks at this as an opportunity with Donald Trump coming in and noticing the kind of change in temperature of society. He's looking at it as an opportunity to take, you know, to take action and do something substantive at Facebook that he believes the United States will help apply globally. Because Facebook is the biggest social media network globally still, if I understand correctly. And so like, that's right. Places like India, which has, you know, 1.5 billion people, there is Facebook in India, if I understand correctly, there's no Facebook in China. Right. I know that. I do believe that Zuckerberg is looking at this through a business opportunity. I perspective, but I think that he's, look, he's thinking, I now will have the support of the federal government, the United States federal government, to actually implement policies globally that will be positive for things like free speech and, and the free exchange of ideas. And I think that he looks at it and says, I'll have the government backing me up as opposed to trying to fight all of these other governments and the United States federal government. He's not going to be getting the pressure from the Biden administration anymore. He's going to have an administration that looks at, that isn't hostile to business at all. If you listen to. So if you listen to the, the all in podcast, are you familiar with that?

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

So I listen to that regularly. And one of the things that they talk about all the time is how the Donald, the Trump administration won't be hostile to business. You listen to people talking about what's going to happen in, in California, they're talking about the permits and how rebuilding is going to be an absolute nightmare because the bureaucrac hostile to business. The left is just generally hostile to business. And if you get a person in, in a position of authority like Donald Trump that isn't hostile to business, there can be great things done for the economy, for the people. And again, I understand there's a lot of people right now that are kind of skeptical of, of, you know, number go up kind of ideas, but number go up kind of ideas actually translates to human beings living better lives.

[Riley Moore]

Yes, yes. Human flourishing.

[Phil Labonte]

Yes.

[Riley Moore]

That's what we want.

[Phil Labonte]

That's the goal. So I understand, you know, you don't want to. You don't want to. You do. I understand people that are, look, the United States has to look out for the US First. I totally get it. We've had a lot of conversations about the H1B visas and, and I've learned a lot about the H1B visas. I was under the impression that the H1B visas were actually the O1 visas or act. Were. Were doing the job that the O1 visas.

[Riley Moore]

They are not the O1.

[Phil Labonte]

They're not. No, I, I didn't. I wasn't aware of that. But now that I'm aware of that, like, you know, get rid of the H1BV. Says they're, they're rife with.

[Mary Morgan]

Would you mind drawing the distinction?

[Phil Labonte]

So an H1BV. An O1 visa is where they find someone that is exceptionally skilled at a job, and they say, we want to pick you out of your country and bring you to America.

[Riley Moore]

The way to think about is like the, like an Einstein visa.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. Right.

[Riley Moore]

So like the, the best of the best.

[Brett Dasovic]

We need to win the space race.

[Phil Labonte]

Operation. Right.

[Riley Moore]

Warner von Braun, come on over.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

I mean, look, they're not always the most. They're. They're sometimes. They're unsavory characters.

[Brett Dasovic]

Lots of Germans back.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

The point is you're getting people that are really skilled at something. Okay. Oh, actually, we got this. The. The 01 visa. While both the 01 and H1B visas allow skilled foreign workers to temporarily work in the U.S. the key difference is that an 01 visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability in their field, like science, arts, business, or athletics, while an H1B visa is for professionals in specialty occupations requiring a bachelor's degree. And it's typically employer specific. There is. Is massive abuse of the H1B visa.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, I'll give you an example. Like accountants.

[Phil Labonte]

Please.

[Riley Moore]

Companies will go out and get H1B visas for accountants. We have plenty of people in this country that have accounting degrees. The difference is, is that they're going to pay them far less money to bring them out on that H1B visa, which then the American is not getting that job. And so I.

[Phil Labonte]

It.

[Riley Moore]

It just doesn't make any sense at all.

[Mary Morgan]

The whole system, are they looking at for, for, for those purposes?

[Riley Moore]

Well, I mean, it's all over the world, but you get a lot from India, for instance.

[Mary Morgan]

It's just insane to me that, like, Vivek is tweeting about this, getting all mad, and he's like, it just means that the accountants from India are just, like, better at accounting, remember? Mary, stop asking questions.

[Brett Dasovic]

They're bringing them in so that they can replace the Americans who spent too much time watching Saved by the Bell Group.

[Phil Labonte]

They did. They.

[Mary Morgan]

They idolized Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell.

[Riley Moore]

I was an A.C. slater guy.

[Mary Morgan]

Boy, Meets world. And now they're lazy and they're not as good at.

[Phil Labonte]

Everybody stand back because Mary's going to go off and it's going to be awesome.

[Mary Morgan]

I'm not going to go off anymore.

[Phil Labonte]

Come on. Another thing about the H1B visas is that because they're tied to a job, it gives the employer leverage over the people. So if you lose the job, then you lose the visa. So if you're a person that's here on an H1B visa, you're going to fall in line. Yeah.

[Mary Morgan]

Accept less pay.

[Phil Labonte]

They'll do all kinds of things. So I'm perfectly fine. You want to get rid of the H1B visa? You want to, you know, cut them down to, you know, a trick? Totally fine with it.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, even just a small fix on it, it would just be, first you went out and sought Americans for these jobs, and then in the absence of being able to fill those positions, then you applied for H1B visas.

[Brett Dasovic]

Fun fact. They brought me into this company on an H1B visa.

[Riley Moore]

There you go.

[Phil Labonte]

From Michigan.

[Brett Dasovic]

Michigan, Minnesota.

[Phil Labonte]

Minnesota.

[Riley Moore]

You're close enough to Canada.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, it is like another country up there. It's cold all the time. It's dark all the time. I've been there many times. But yeah, so, you know, if they're gonna, if they're gonna have the O1 visas, that's totally fine, in my opinion. Yes. But anyway, so, yeah, let's go to this story. California fires. Live updates. 18 arrests so far in Eaton Palisades fires. It's looking like there is significant numbers of people, people committing arson. We talked about this a little bit and had some video of what looked to be seemed to be homeless people starting fires. So nearly a dozen people are believed to be dead with the Los Angeles county sheriff saying he expects that number to rise as devastating fires spread across Southern California amid dry and windy conditions, leaving officials scrambling to contain the historic destruction. Thousands of firefighters are battling at least five sprawling wide wildfires spread around the LA area. The largest, the Palisades fire in Pacific Palisade has scorched over 20,000 acres, destroyed thousands of structures and is 8% contained. The Eaton fire in Altanita now stands at more than 13,000 acres and 0% contained. More than 150,000 people are under evacuation orders. This is probably the biggest disaster since Katrina. And Katrina was an absolute train wreck of a. A mess in New Orleans. And this seems to be, you know.

[Mary Morgan]

I, I think the death hurricanes from last year.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of damage in, in North Carolina. And, and I think that the, the government performed probably will, will at the, it will shake out that the government performed significantly worse in North Carolina than here because of the people that are affected here. I think the, the federal government's going to be throwing money at the millionaires that have lost their, their million dollar homes and stuff. But I do think that at the end of the day you're, you're probably gonna see, probably gonna see at least a few hundred dead. And I, I don't know exactly how many people died in the, in the hurricanes, but it, it has impacted a lot more. This has impacted a lot more people. And again, again they're, they're predicting fire winds going, you know, picking back up in the next couple days and it, with, with fires that are 8% or 0% contained. These fires have been raging for now three or four days and they've had no ability to contain them or you know, that that's just, I mean that, that just means that there's going to be, you know, more, more and more destruction. And look, I've been to, you know, LA a lot lot and these areas, there's a lot of, a lot of shrubbery and dry stuff that can burn.

[Mary Morgan]

A lot of tweakers and there are trying to be crass or incessant. I never tried to be, it's awesome speakers. Tweakers in the woods doing what tweakers do.

[Phil Labonte]

It's true.

[Mary Morgan]

And I knew I had an instinct from the first time I saw someone on Twitter point this out that it might be the tweakers. And someone in the comments was like really offended that, that they would even think that. How dare you.

[Phil Labonte]

That's how you know it's true.

[Mary Morgan]

How dare you think that this was arson. That's so insensitive that you would even say that. How you know, it's climate change. Shut your mouth. And I was like, oh yeah, it's arson.

[Phil Labonte]

It's definitely, yeah, that's how you know it's true. I, I, I have said before the Venn diagram of, of mentally ill and homeless is almost a circle. And when you get mentally ill people.

[Mary Morgan]

You know, I'm in a dry, shrubby place, things spark.

[Phil Labonte]

Oh God.

[Riley Moore]

Well, you know, the terrible thing on this too is so many people did not have home insurance.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep.

[Riley Moore]

Because the insurance companies had dropped them because obviously they did their own kind of empirical study on it and said this place could catch on fire because the state of California stopped the control burns they stopped that a long time ago. And there's all this debris like that happens anywhere that shrubs or plants or trees are growing that have built up over time.

[Brett Dasovic]

And the government stepped in and said, you, we can't raise the rates on here. They wouldn't allow them to. So, like, well, if you're not going to let us raise the rates to cover our, you know, our risk, then we're just going to drop the policies entirely.

[Phil Labonte]

Price controls are a, a, a form of socialism that always leads to terrible, unintended.

[Riley Moore]

Don't forget they're going to those fire hydrants and there was not any water in them at all because they'd been letting out this water. President Trump talked about this to try to protect this specific fish that apparently they voted for in a referendum. I think that's right. Like 2010, they voted for this referendum to protect this fish and say let the water out into the Pacific Ocean. It's just, this is, people think, you know, this kind of woke culture is, sits in its own kind of isolated instances. It literally can kill people. This is a great example of that. And I mean, it's tragic what's going on. My mom's actually from Los Angeles. I'm actually wearing a sweatshirt today. Shout out to the local 250, steam fitters, pipe fitters. My family started that union way back in the day in Los Angeles. But it, it kills people. That's what's happening right now is because government is not doing what they're supposed to do. Don't forget the mayor of Los Angeles was over in, like, Ghana.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep.

[Riley Moore]

While all this is going on, I, I, it's unbelievable. I don't know if they saw, they had her trapped kind of like at an airport, trying to ask her question, and she didn't even answer. So, I mean, no answer.

[Brett Dasovic]

Karen Bass, when, when they did, when they did whatever it was, the referendum for the fish and letting the water out, did they say that this could be a risk down the line that there might not be water for the.

[Riley Moore]

You know, I, I don't know that as a fact, but I highly doubt.

[Brett Dasovic]

Like that they didn't even bring it up.

[Riley Moore]

And this is, no, but this is the problem with California. They, the legislature does not legislate because they're cowards. And so what they've done is they put everything out on referendum. You all decide this is a republic. This isn't a direct democracy. They're running it like a direct democracy over in California. And the end of the day, the deep state runs the place because everybody is on such short term limits within the state legislature that the administrative staff that just runs it there, they make the call.

[Brett Dasovic]

So then these citizens look at it and say, okay, well they don't have any clue that they could be at risk. You know, the people in there like, okay, we'll put ourselves at risk for this fish. That's insane.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

I mean, for this fish.

[Brett Dasovic]

Well, I mean it's kind of the same thing as like gun control. Right. Like you, you legislate yourself out of the ability to defend yourself because they don't have the ability to think more than one or two steps ahead.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, think, okay, outside of the United States, Germany, right. And this war that's been going on with Ukraine and energy getting shut off there, they shifted so quick and so rapidly to this green energy economy over in Germany and then little. I guess a lot of people didn't know this, but they were still buying coal and natural gas from Ukraine. They shut it off and next thing they know there's like, oh my God, my utility bill is 3x4x5x. What happens happen? It's literally, I mean these woke policies can end up killing people. And back to Phil's point, it's not focused on human flourishing, human good, trying to have the individual be able to maximize their life and their true potential.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. You'd mentioned Gavin Newsom and about the, the mismanagement. He's calling for an investigation into wildfire water supplies. So KTLA is reporting. Los Angeles, California Governor Gavin Newsom has ordered an investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water. Of Power. Of water. Of Power amid reports of a loss of water pressure to fire hydrants and limited water resources in the wildfire zones. In the letter addressed to LA DWP Chief Executive Officer and Chief Engineer Janice Quinones and LA County Public Works Director Mark Pastrella, Newsom wrote the ongoing reports of loss of water pressure to some local fire hydrants during the fires and the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez River Reservoir reservoir are deeply troubling to me and to the community. We need answers how to how this happened. Newsom continued explaining his decision to order in an independent investigation from state water and fire officials examining the cause of lost water supplies and pressure. I am sure they will get to the bottom of it how this happened.

[Riley Moore]

Look in the mirror. This guy's been in state government.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep.

[Riley Moore]

I mean forever.

[Phil Labonte]

One of the things that has been discussed regarding California a lot is single party rule. Right. And this is one of the things that when again we're going to kind of tilt back to the. Or reference back to your talk about divine intervention. One of the things that Elon Musk was concerned with is one party rule in the United States. These are the kind of terrible things that happen when you have one party rule. You look at Mexico, they've had a one party rule in that country for decades, probably 50 years. Right. And because of it, the, the, the crime is rampant there, the corruption is rampant. There's no serious party, there's no serious opposition party. And that kind of single thought process only leads to corruption because everyone good and right.

[Riley Moore]

To your point though, about the single party rule, they've said it, they've locked it in like that now because they have a jungle primary system. So for those that aren't familiar, they have this primary where the top two vote getters go on to the general election. And many times that just ends up being the top two Democrats running in a general election. Just to remind everybody, everybody primaries are their parties nominating somebody to run in a general election. Yeah, this jungle primary system is insane. And it locks in single party rule in a state like California.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep. So the. You guys got nothing. So we were going to talk about, about the arsonist. Right. So there's video that we have from the New York Post here of a homeless man with a fl thrower and he's busted on suspicion of arson near LA's Kenneth Fire after residents detain him. The residents are taking care of this. The police aren't even doing it. That's, that's a terrible development. Go ahead. And you want to play that close up on that face, bro. Yeah, but I mean I now I don't know for sure that this gentleman is, is mentally ill, but if you're starting fires when there's massive fires already happening, one could surmise, I would would imagine that you, you know, you probably are a little on the nihilistic side.

[Mary Morgan]

Probably feel like it's easier to avoid getting caught.

[Phil Labonte]

Well, I'm maybe feel like if you do get caught, there's not a going to be significant punishment either.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Because historically California has only recently decided to start enforcing the law. There was a referendum that just went just past this past, you know, November where the, the public decided that they want to see people be punished for shoplifting and stuff. The. You everyone's seen a bunch of.

[Brett Dasovic]

So like it doesn't have to be $900 anymore.

[Phil Labonte]

And I don't know when it goes into effect but that was the, that was the referendum. They want to see people actually getting punished. And I actually saw a little clip from X of two girls in the back of a. Of a cruiser, and they were talking about what happened, and one of them was like, whoa, this is a felony. What do you mean? And she's like, yeah, they changed the law. And she's like, oh, my God. And they were like, all bummed out because. Because they've made crime illegal. There. There is an argument to be made that says, hey, if you punish people for crime, it will deter people from committing crimes.

[Riley Moore]

It is a deterrence. It's been proven out, I don't know, over the last several thousand years. Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Which goes back to my argument about rights. Right. Even if it's. If it's the small things, like, you know, a couple thousand dollars in, in clothing or bags that they could grab from a department store and run out the door, if you don't actually prosecute that stuff, then people will feel like it's just acceptable to go ahead and steal, and then you'll get more and more of it. Thankfully, for, for California's sake, they decided, hey, this is too much for us. We're seeing businesses leave. We're seeing people just continue to ignore the law. And, and small businesses are the, the businesses that get hurt the most. The mom and pop stores. As if it's not hard enough to compete with Walmart. Walmart. It. It doesn't really hurt Walmart much if someone goes in and they grab a boatload of clothes that they paid 35 cents a shirt for or whatever and run out the door. Mom and pop store doesn't get the same kind of bulk discount and they can't absorb that kind of shrink.

[Mary Morgan]

No, I mean, let's be honest. What are the chances that the guy in that video is a citizen?

[Phil Labonte]

Low. Very low.

[Mary Morgan]

And, like, what are the consequences for him if he's not? Is he going to get deported?

[Phil Labonte]

Well, I mean, hopefully, you know, again, this is, this is why.

[Mary Morgan]

I mean, I don't like all of this, like, jeering like, oh, it's California, let them go to hell. Like all these.

[Riley Moore]

Oh, no, no, I don't, I don't.

[Mary Morgan]

These really edgy takes about how they deserve this, but in a lot of ways, their voting brought this upon themselves.

[Phil Labonte]

So there's the. We're talking about the rampant theft. California's fight against rampant retail theft gets a boost in 2025. A series of laws enacted by the legislature and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom will take effect on January 1st. So they have gone into effect. Now they include a new method for calculating the value of stolen goods to meet felony charges, lowering the threshold for police to make arrests for shoplifting, and increasing sentences. This is good. Good. And, and we want to see more of this. And to Mary's point, like, look, man, California, I. I mean, we've all been to California, right? Yep. I love California, but I couldn't live there because of the laws. The, the awesome things about California are why the government gets to behave the way that it does. Because people are like, man, the government sucks here. Exactly. They'll put up with it. But then like in, when you're, you know, in Lakewood in February and you look over and the mountains are snow capped and you're wearing shorts because it's 75 degrees, you're like, man, this place is badass, man, because it's sick, man. I got, I've got a lot of friends that live out there. I was out there a lot last year when we were recording the record and you know, it's hard to beat it, really.

[Riley Moore]

The weather's amazing. I mean, it's in and out. Burger man. Yeah, that's.

[Brett Dasovic]

And that's why the home homeless population is the size that it is out there. Right. Because it's literally the perfect partially. I mean, it's one of the big reasons right on top of all the other things. But it's, it's that it is so nice to live there weather wise, that they can live homeless and not have to worry about, you know, fighting the conditions.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep. It's. It's. I mean, it's gorgeous. So like one of the things that Cernovich says all the time is he's like, I don't want to, don't want to, you know, let the, the left just keep California. I want to fight to take it back. And I would love to see, you know, sensible legislation and come back to California because it's not like they don't have the tax base. They've got. They've got Hollywood, which isn't what it used to be, but they've got Silicon Valley, you know, so they've got plenty of money.

[Riley Moore]

It's the, it was the largest ports on the west coast.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

It's the fifth largest economy in the world.

[Riley Moore]

World.

[Brett Dasovic]

It is even Hollywood in the last year. Now, Gavin Newsom had to introduce new tax credits to try to get them to bring production back to California because during the pandemic, they just started outsourcing everything to other countries. Stuff for post production, CGI or Even now shooting overseas because they get massive tax credits to films in place like the uk. So they're, you know, Hollywood being the huge part of the California economy that it is. Thousands upon thousands of people are out of work and they're trying to now coax them back, but once it's gone, it's very hard to draw them back.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, I imagine, you know, if you lived in California, like, you know, the Daily Wire is not going back to California. Ben Shapiro is not going back. And they moved.

[Brett Dasovic]

Moved.

[Phil Labonte]

Not just the Daily Wire, they, all those, all those families and stuff, they left. If you lived in California and you loved it there and you grew up there and it got so bad that you're like, I'm actually leaving my home and I'm gonna go, you know, have a. Go to Texas or go to Florida, go, go to wherever and then like, it's gonna take an immense amount to get you to go back, you know.

[Riley Moore]

And the funny thing about California though, in a not too distant past, they would periodically elect Republican governors.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, right.

[Riley Moore]

Like they'd have enough people like, I want my taxes lowered. Yeah, yeah, periodically, you would see that, right? I mean, there'd be Republican governors here and there. I mean, that's impossible now, but maybe not in the future. I mean, you look at Donald Trump's raw vote total there in California, it moved up. I think it was close to 2 million or over 2 million additional votes he got in 2024 as opposed to 2020. So not saying it's totally impossible. And we do hold congressional seats in California, in Southern California, Orange County. So, you know, maybe slowly but surely, I mean, the sad thing is to the people that can't afford to move out of there. Yeah, I mean that, that's the real tough part.

[Phil Labonte]

You can't afford to live there and you can't afford to leave.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, can't afford to leave because it's.

[Phil Labonte]

It'S, man, it's the, it's expensive out there.

[Riley Moore]

Oh, yeah, well into your point, they've made it so expensive building homes that they put in, of course, another law that every new home construction must have solar panels on it, which then you layer that cost on top of it. Environmental impact study and all, all this other thing as it goes into construction. And that's how you get a two million dollar home that's the size of this studio.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. I've got a friend that's got a, he's got a nice house, it's two stories. It's not what you would consider by any stretch of the imagination would not, you know, you wouldn't call it a mansion. It's. It's a little bit bigger than my mom's house in, in Western Mass. And I'm pretty sure that his, his lot is over a million dollars because it's in Lakewood and it's location, location, location. It's a beautiful neighborhood and, and the school there is good and it's a really sleepy kind of area and it's really nice. I, I love going to visit him, but again, it's expensive as hell and yeah, the prices are not going down. And I, I wonder what kind of, of, you know, what kind of mess it's going to be like to try to build back the Palisades, you know? Yeah, it's. It's.

[Mary Morgan]

There were. I mean, some people whose homes are getting destroyed by these fires right now have been offered sums of money that are far less than what would they be offered for their homes. They're getting offered the money for the land for after their homes are destroyed. I did just want to add to the unfortunate thing is when people from California are moving to other, other states, they keep ruining them.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Mary Morgan]

So honestly, I feel like those states, like Texas, for instance, should have the ability to disincentivize them from moving there. Would that be so wrong?

[Riley Moore]

Well, we do that here in West Virginia.

[Mary Morgan]

I mean, it's happening here too, because of, like, D.C. people coming.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. This area we do get. You know, there's a lot of people moving into the eastern panhandle, West Virginia. But what I'll say is tale of two. Virginia is here, here, Virginia versus West Virginia. We are focused on economic growth here in West Virginia, just like Virginia was as well. But we've instituted a lot of social policies and laws that are not favorable to the left, that they look at that stuff before they move somewhere. And you go to a state like West Virginia where abortions outlawed, we got constitutional carry, we got campus carry. Like you can carry a firearm on, like, college campuses, state, like you can do those kinds of things.

[Phil Labonte]

You think people that are, you know, ostensibly on the left or people from states like California, do you think they look into the gun laws or do they just think everybody has a gun on them all the time?

[Riley Moore]

I think they do. And I mean, obviously West Virginia's got a reputation which, by the way, anybody listening, we have one of the lowest crime rates in the country. That's not a coincidence.

[Phil Labonte]

The same thing with like, New Hampshire. New Hampshire, everybody's got a gun and, and the crime rate rate the murder rate is lower than Canada and every, there's, there are more machine guns in New Hampshire than any other state in the Union. More legally owned machine guns in New Hampshire. And the, the crime rate is.

[Mary Morgan]

They're all yours.

[Phil Labonte]

I wish. No, if I, if I had Tim Pool money, they'd all be the ATF's listening. Yeah.

[Brett Dasovic]

As you say. Disregard.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. I mean you're talking, I mean you're talking about like $35,000 for a machine gun because there's so few of them to start like for, for anything worth buying. Don't get me started on machine guns anyway. But yeah, so, so do you think that they, they.

[Riley Moore]

I do, I, I do think they. Look at that now. I mean obviously they'll gravitate towards college towns. That's just what they do. At least they'll have their own kind of like little microcosm. Morgantown is pretty far left. I'm born in Morgantown. But the county is not. And the rest of the state is not. I mean Trump won the state with over 70% of the vote.

[Brett Dasovic]

Is Shepherdstown like that?

[Riley Moore]

Yes.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah, like I drove through Shepherdstown. It was like, it was like being back in minutes like in Minneapolis.

[Riley Moore]

Yes. Shepherdstown is like that. That's the one part of Jefferson County I lose.

[Phil Labonte]

But so back to the, to the, the situation in la. The Nick Sorter is reporting. LA Mayor Karen Bass has just summoned LA Fire Department Chief Crowley to a closed door meeting after the chief blasted her for cutting the fire budget. Chief Crowley has been very vocal about the city failing its citizens. Karen Bass is a tyrant who is trying to force the centers into silence. Remove Karen Bass that, that op ed from, from Nick and we'll go ahead and play this bit head scratching moment in the firefight going on right now throughout the city of Los Angeles. Sources has told NBC4 that fire chief Kristen Crowley this afternoon had been summoned to Mayor Bass's office. And that is where we are right now. We are standing outside of the office where the meeting that took place at 4 o'clock is still underway. NBC4's Robert Kovacic is Kristen Crawley. The, the large woman that said if you, if your husband is in a position where I need to carry him out, he shouldn't have got himself there. Is that the same woman?

[Riley Moore]

Can you imagine being summoned into that mean it's like why'd you let me cut the money from your department?

[Phil Labonte]

I know. No, it wasn't, it wasn't Chris and Crowley. But yeah, I mean look, the, the, I think the Cuts are probably a good, they're a good thing to talk about, but I don't think that they're actually substantive. If I understand correctly, the fire department's budget for all of LA county is like 800 million.

[Riley Moore]

So I, I, pretty substantial.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, 20 million does matter. And especially when you know that when you hear stories about, oh, they're using X amount of dollars for this particular stupid program and X amount of dollars for this other stupid program, some, you know, leftist fart smelling garbage. So, you know, it is, it is worth note talking about, but I don't actually think that as much as I, I love to go ahead and dunk on the Democrats, like, I don't think that the cuts are the problem. I think that the, the people in the mismanagement of the problem.

[Riley Moore]

Oh yeah, yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

$800 million is a lot of money.

[Mary Morgan]

I didn't look into the details, but were there actually funds allocated to dei?

[Phil Labonte]

If I understand. Well, there, I mean there's def, I, I guarantee that the state spends plenty of money on DEI initiatives in, in any number of different fields.

[Mary Morgan]

In this field.

[Riley Moore]

No, I think that's, that was talked about is that they had implemented DEI in the hiring process at the fire department.

[Brett Dasovic]

Well, there was those articles said like firemen are largely white and male. Here's how we're going to fix that.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, I just looked into it. It says less than 5% of firefighters are women. So we are, we have to get that to 50%.

[Phil Labonte]

Obviously that is insane.

[Riley Moore]

Did you know less than 5% of people in the NFL are women?

[Mary Morgan]

Also, I'm sure that, you know this point has been hammered home on the panel in past last nights this week. But obviously there should be no women firefighters, there should be no female cops, there should be no women in the military, no women in the Secret Service.

[Phil Labonte]

Nancy Mace was here last night saying if the women, if women can meet the standard, then they should be allowed and that there should be no change in the standard. And while that.

[Riley Moore]

Did she come out here?

[Phil Labonte]

She was here last night.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, I missed last night's episode.

[Phil Labonte]

She was great. And while I get the standard, you.

[Mary Morgan]

Should be in a zoo exhibit.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, come on. And I, I mean, what do you want there?

[Mary Morgan]

What, what is that? Why do you want to be a firefighter so bad?

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, you should.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, you can't carry Phil out of here.

[Phil Labonte]

You should be on IRL more.

[Mary Morgan]

You really should.

[Phil Labonte]

I don't think.

[Mary Morgan]

Clearly not a woman who has the proper level of empathy.

[Phil Labonte]

The point that I'm making is I Don't think that even, I think that even if a woman can meet the standards, I don't think that women should be in these roles generally because I think that it's, it's, it's not that there aren't women that possibly could do it or it's not that there aren't women that possibly could be in these positions and do them and perform the, the jobs well. It's that because women are going, going to put the effort in to try, people are going to invariably they're going to say, well, she's trying. And they're going to, you know, they're going to lower the standards. Even if they, even if they say, well, we'll just give you a hand to get over the line and, and just give you a little bit extra. And I think that that's something that's innate in humans because people, men defer to women. Men are always deferential to women, whether we admit it or want, like it or not.

[Mary Morgan]

Psychologically, when these people are going into life or death situations and people, this is going to psychologically affect the male firefighters. If there is a female firefighter with them going into this situation. It's the same thing in combat. Yes, it Fs with their minds because they feel like they need to save her.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep, 100%. I mean, I mean there are times where like, if a dude takes around, if he's running across the street and there's dudes in cover and dude takes around and he's out there, you know, you're not supposed to go out there there because there's someone out there that's going to shoot you too. And there's going to be two people laying in the street. I just saw pictures from Fallujah that, of that exact thing happening. One dude went out there to grab him. That dude took around. Now there's two people down. If it's a woman, they're more likely to be like, we gotta get her. As opposed to being like, man, find whoever's shooting and you know, take care of them before you go get the guy.

[Mary Morgan]

Also, it's not just all these practical concerns, but women have, have innate value and they are not disposable. Like they cannot be sent into these combat situations. Life or death situations like this, it's kind of lost on people because we're living in this post birth control age. But it's women's physiology that gives them this innate value and we should not feel okay about sending them into these situations.

[Phil Labonte]

Women are magic. They make babies you should not, you should not throw that away needlessly.

[Mary Morgan]

Even if they're serious, super muscly, and they fit the standard or whatever. I mean, that's never going to happen anyway. But regardless, it's insane.

[Phil Labonte]

True.

[Mary Morgan]

It's patently insane.

[Phil Labonte]

Let's move on to this story here. The Supreme Court seems likely to uphold the Tick Tock ban as deadline nears. Now, I know you guys don't care because Tick Tock bans you as soon as you even open the app.

[Mary Morgan]

So no one should have it because we got banned. No one should have it. No one should be able to enjoy Tick Tock since we got banned.

[Phil Labonte]

I've been banned at least once on Tick Tock.

[Brett Dasovic]

I mean, selfishly, we grab a lot of content from TikTok. So I want TikTok to continue to exist. Otherwise my job will get more difficult.

[Phil Labonte]

Do you think that tick, if TikTok goes away, do you think that people will just move over to reels? Because on Instagram, reels is very similar. Or is there something I'm missing?

[Brett Dasovic]

Usually, like, the popular TikToks make it to Instagram like a week later.

[Mary Morgan]

So functionally, it's the same tool. But TikTok is, I mean, Instagram reels reels is derivative of Tick Tock for you pages, and they migrate over, over time. So you're seeing a delayed version of what everyone on Tick Tock is seeing.

[Brett Dasovic]

Then it becomes a Facebook video a week after that.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah. And then somehow it ends.

[Brett Dasovic]

Goes down the Boomer line.

[Phil Labonte]

Then your mom's calling you because what did you see this? Do you hear what they said?

[Riley Moore]

Must be killer for the libs of Tick Tock.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah. What are they gonna do? Yeah, well, no, because like when blue skies, when people started trying to make Blue sky thing, there's like libs of blue sky too there, there, there's blue sky lids there.

[Phil Labonte]

There is definitely that Twitter account. The blue sky is hilarious. It's a lot of fun, man.

[Brett Dasovic]

It's just Twitter from 2017.

[Phil Labonte]

Wow. Kind of. Kind of. They're, they're a little more histrionic now because they, they've lost a lot. So the, the, the intensity level of the freak out is a little, A little higher. But the, one of the things that I noticed about Tick Tock that's good is the way that they encourage creators. So if you're doing, if you're doing uncontroversial stuff, like if you're making food videos or you're doing cooking videos or, you know, you're building you know, whatever, like little houses out in your yard or bird houses or whatever they tell you with in clear language how to upload and how to behave to get your account to the point where you're making money and where you're, you know you're going to attract viewers. And for some reason Instagram still hides that like it's the, you know, like it's some magical power. They don't want people to reach the.

[Mary Morgan]

Following more curated and hands on on any other platform. And that's what was so mind blowing to me when I downloaded Tick Tock in the middle of the pandemic is just seeing organic virality for the first time as an Internet user because I wasn't around when, I mean I was. I, I started using the Internet.

[Phil Labonte]

Vine was before your time.

[Brett Dasovic]

What about Periscope?

[Mary Morgan]

I mean I, I did have vine when I was like in middle school but like I started using the Internet after apps were a thing and everything was user experiment, experience optimized and you didn't have to find your own way and figure everything out for yourself and learn to code to make your MySpace layout and stuff. So TikTok is just like really unique. I don't know because I haven't been on it for years at this point, but when I was using it, it was just perfect to be able to post something and have it actually reach people and there's no other platform that actually works the same way. X is kind of like that, but you still have to pay to play.

[Phil Labonte]

Well, I mean as far as X goes, like I, I have a verified account and stuff and so that technically that cost me $8. Doesn't take very much to make $8 back in, in posts if you're, if you're posting and stuff. I mean if you get subscribers, you can get two subscribers and probably cover your $8 a month. But when it comes to Tik Tok, one of the things that I've noticed is if you don't post regularly then you don't reach anyone.

[Brett Dasovic]

I mean both Instagram's the same way. Like you're, you benefit from posting on a regular BAS crisis.

[Mary Morgan]

But that was pretty much any platform.

[Phil Labonte]

That was normal with, with meta Meta properties. Facebook. I used to have a Facebook page and, and they got to the point where I had like 60000 or something like that before I got rid of it. And it got to the point where like I would post something and, and like a couple hundred people would see it and I'm just like, why am I letting you get access to all of my data when you won't even, like, put the people that follow. Follow. You know, let. Put my posts into the. The feeds of people that follow me, especially seeing as, you know, I was doing it for the band and stuff. And I understand they're like, oh, you know, we want. We want to go. We want you to. To pay us to advertise your band. It's like, well, I'm already the product. Right. You're already stealing all my info and stuff. So I was, I was.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. And I mean, back to the, you know, monetary incentive. Facebook, in terms of political campaigns, it's the best. Best one.

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, really? Okay.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, it just is the best one in terms of.

[Phil Labonte]

Do you think it's because of user base?

[Riley Moore]

I think it is part of that. Right. I mean, as we're pointing out here, right. Boomers use it. They vote. Right.

[Brett Dasovic]

Is it like, is it the specific type of content? Meaning are we talking, like, posts that are written or are we talking video posts?

[Riley Moore]

No, it's all of it. Because you can be so targeted on your advertising. So you can literally drill all the way down. I mean, mean, inside of, like, a neighborhood if you wanted to.

[Brett Dasovic]

Wow.

[Riley Moore]

Right? I mean, you can just drill really far. And this is before they started kind of tapering some of that back. But, I mean, you could. They'll skew for. And you can go in and say, well, I want somebody who's a 404 voter conservative, lives in the zip code that, you know, likely to vote at midterm election, blah, blah, blah, blah. So you can really dial it in and so you can target ads very specific to a group of people that, I mean, Facebook trends older. Those folks are going to vote.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Brett Dasovic]

Instagram, which, you know, I guess Tick Tock would trend the youngest. But like, Instagram, remember if last year before the election, they put that filter on Instagram where it says, show me less political content, and they automatically turned it on for everybody and you had to go in there manually to turn it off?

[Riley Moore]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

He's like, I'm going back to Facebook right now.

[Mary Morgan]

I'm gonna turn on that. That mode.

[Brett Dasovic]

No, it's on Instagram. It's on Instagram. Yeah. Like, it. It automatically makes you say, I want to see. Like, you have to turn it off.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, It. It should be a feature that you opt into that. That is a feature that I would opt into.

[Brett Dasovic]

Like, I think it's probably on already for you if it should have automatically turned on.

[Mary Morgan]

You mentioned Kevin O'Leary earlier the shark tank guy, he calls himself Mr. Wonderful.

[Phil Labonte]

He does.

[Mary Morgan]

He has this plan where he's going to make Tick Tock wonderful and he's been making his bid to buy it out. Buy out the US assets of Tick Tock alongside Donald Trump or some other benefactors. He's trying to crowdfund. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what the plan is after today, but hasn't.

[Riley Moore]

Well, but that was like the rub on the whole thing is that the ccp, right.

[Mary Morgan]

His main point is like this isn't about free speech. This is about user privacy and US citizens having control over their data. And I don't see how an American Entrepreneur Owning the US assets of TikTok would give American users any more control over their data. I would just like to reiterate as I brought this up on IRL before this exchange from instant messages that Mark Zuckerberg sent back in 2004, early days of Facebook, he said, yeah, so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard, just ask, ask. I have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS. People just submitted it. I don't know why they trust me. Dumb fucks. Yeah, that's what he still thinks of you. And you can guess. Anyone who controls a social media platform, that's what they think of you and the control you have over your data. The fact that it's another American citizen who has control over your data makes no difference.

[Brett Dasovic]

They will just sell it to China anyways.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, yeah. My. Well, I'm not sure. I'm not sure. They might. But my, my, my. What it seems like to me is China has talked about shutting down TikTok or ByteDance has talked about shutting down TikTok before they'll sell it. Which leads me to believe that it's actually an asset for, for espionage. Right. So you're not allowed to bring a phone that has Tik Tok into any government building or installation, if I understand correctly or Right. But if there is a. If Riley's kid has Tick Tock on his phone, that might be something that the, that the CCP looks at as valid.

[Riley Moore]

Oh yeah, of course.

[Phil Labonte]

Any, anybody that's in. Anybody that works at SpaceX, if their family has TikTok on their phone, that might be something that's valuable. Anybody that works at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, anyone that works at any of the, any of, at, at Apple or at IBM or any of these companies that are, that are, you know, they're definitely, you know, military contractors. Whether we like it or not, Google is a military contractor. Anybody that works at Google that has Tik Tok on their phone, that becomes an asset for China. So the, the fact that China doesn't want to sell it, that they'll shut it down, leads me to believe that it's not about freedom of speech or about the privacy of people. It's about a foreign government having a, basically a spy spy, a spy ring in the United States being operated by, you know, 14 year olds that are the children of, of people in positions that are relevant to the ccp.

[Riley Moore]

And yeah, I mean they're building data files on every individual in the United states. It has TikTok and I mean if you'll see they'll push certain content to see if they can trigger certain types of emotional responses making people sad, making people happy, you know, things like that. So they're kind of testing us to figure out well, if we were going to do some disinformation campaign in the United States, what would hit, what would not what we could do to try to spend. So they're garnering and building a massive, massive database of information on the American people and that's what it's about. I know a lot of people like tick tock. I'm for the tick tock ban just to be clear. But it's because it is dangerous. It's, it's dangerous for us in the long run.

[Phil Labonte]

It is, I mean it is reasonable to think, you know, if, if, if China decides or realizes that you know, a, that the Secretary of State's nephew you has tick tock and then they go ahead and fill his feed with stuff to make him depressed and, and try to do things that you know, will upset the family to make them stressed out more. That's something that's, that's unquestionably real that they would attempt to do if they could attack, if they can attack people's personal lives in the hopes that there are positive results for them in a, a, a, in negotiations or in decision making. I mean it doesn't take very much for them to say hey, make sure that, that this particular person's algorithm has a little bit of a, of a change and makes, is doing what we can to make them depressed. And it will know how to make them depressed. It'll know all the things to show them and in just the right quantities. So that way they're not going to be, they're not going to be like oh my God, my, you know, my TikTok just from, for no reason is just showing me nothing but murder all day long. It'll do it in a way that's subtle. These kind of psychological operations are not beyond. Are not beyond the ability of. Of, you know, sophisticated states like China.

[Riley Moore]

That's right.

[Mary Morgan]

Riley, are you saying you're not in favor of a buyout from a US Backer either?

[Riley Moore]

No.

[Mary Morgan]

You're just pro the ban.

[Riley Moore]

I'm pro the band.

[Mary Morgan]

Why is that?

[Riley Moore]

Well, one, you wouldn't have totality of control by any US citizen of TikTok. The Communist Party of China would still have ownership of the data and the rest of those things, which I think is dangerous for us here in this country. You know, there's. And, you know, there's been a lot of research on this, but by intelligence agencies and classified information on how detrimental this entire enterprise is for us, do.

[Brett Dasovic]

You mean psychologically or do you mean government?

[Riley Moore]

Yes, psychologically, but then also to Phil's point, I mean, so what if, you know, somebody's kid, I don't know, Secretary of State is on TikTok, and all these apps have location devices and they happen to know where that individual.

[Brett Dasovic]

You mean actual, like, spy rings and things like that track. Okay.

[Riley Moore]

Yep.

[Brett Dasovic]

So because Johnny Governor can't control his nephew, everybody else has to lose out on.

[Phil Labonte]

That's right. I mean, to be honest with you, the. The idea of, you know, the, the sonar thing that they did in the Dark Knight or whatever, that's. That's completely reasonable to think that they can do now.

[Brett Dasovic]

Not back when that movie came out. There was no way those phones were holding all that data.

[Phil Labonte]

Fair enough. But now it's, you know, nowadays that kind of stuff is. Is something that I wouldn't put past them. And anything that's been made in China, any. Anything that was built in China, they're all compromised. Your. Your phone is compromised. It's. It's just a matter of can they isolate you and are you interesting? I'm not interesting, you know, because I'm just a guy that talks on the Internet and yells, how much of our.

[Brett Dasovic]

How much of our computer equipment comes from China?

[Phil Labonte]

Like, all compromised.

[Brett Dasovic]

Exactly.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah.

[Brett Dasovic]

So everything's compromised, but we're just focusing in on TikTok specifically.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. I mean, go back and look at. Do you all remember Huawei? So the. So this is the telecom, Chinese telecom company, Huawei. And it was obviously made public now found that they, you know, they got contracts in Europe, they had some in the United States, but European example is a good one, where they had gotten contracts with, like, governments in Europe. And all those phones were tapped, all of them. And so Huawei was able to, I mean, record conversations of thousands of individuals working in the government through these Huawei contracts. I mean, this is so China does.

[Phil Labonte]

I mean, look, man, Israel blew up the crotches of, of like everybody in.

[Mary Morgan]

I was going to say, but I didn't want to be vulgar. But you know, I mean, when, when China saw that, they were taking notes.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, I mean, the truth. Well, the truth is it's not, it's not like these ideas are actually that far fetched. You know, the, the idea maybe before the exploding penises in, in Gaza you could say, oh, that's kind of far fetched and stuff. But after, after you see, you know, a bunch of dudes, bunch of dudes junk get blown up, it's like, well, maybe they can kind of look into everybody's phone and stuff. You know, at the very least it made it more real.

[Brett Dasovic]

Was the date they chose to uphold the ban specifically designed to pre. Trying to stop it unilaterally?

[Riley Moore]

Maybe. I don't know that. Yeah, I don't know because it's the day before.

[Brett Dasovic]

It's the day before he takes office. So that just seems, yeah, that, that.

[Riley Moore]

And that would seem to make sense to me. I just don't know it as a fact. And I know, I think Vivek came out against the ban on TikTok as well. But yeah, look, everybody's got a different opinion on it.

[Brett Dasovic]

But it is funny that considering how much Biden and the Democrats, Democrats love to court the, the TikTok audience, meaning influencers who are specifically using the platform to then get stabbed in the back by him on that to start to destroy their, you know, one of their forms of income.

[Phil Labonte]

So we're going to do it. Take a hard turn here. We got an update from California. The Daily Mail is reporting. Daily Mail and a few other places. It's all over X now with conflicting reports, but the Daily Mail is reporting breaking news. LA Fire Chief is dismissed by Care Mayor Karen Bass after lashing out over department cuts as deadly blazes devastate city. Los Angeles Fire Department Kristen Crowley. Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristen Crowley was fired by Mayor Karen Bass on Friday afternoon. A source close to the Chief's office told DailyMail.com apparently she was summoned. She was in the room for just a handful of minutes and then was left. And everyone is being somewhat. They're not being clear about what actually happened. Some people are saying that she's fired. Statement from the mayor's office says the mayor and chief met. The priority remains fighting these Fires and protecting Angelino. So that's not clear as to if she was or was not fired. I'm not sure that it matters if she's fired. And if she did get fired, it was an ego thing, which kind of makes me think this is, I mean, even if she was, it, it's, it's not going to be anything substantive. And it's all about cat fighting because they're both bad at their jobs.

[Brett Dasovic]

Get it? Because they're women, he's saying. Not really outrunning those tyrant claims. Karen.

[Phil Labonte]

No, that's true. She's not. But I, you know, I, Again, I don't think that this actually matters. I think that this, it's, it speaks to the fact that there's incompetence abound in Los Angeles in the fire department and in the, in the, in the city government.

[Brett Dasovic]

See, if it was satire in a movie, like, they'd be in the, in a room in an office, and there'd be, like, literally flames behind them out the window as she's firing her.

[Phil Labonte]

There might have been, I think Gavin.

[Riley Moore]

Newsom had a press conference like that. Did you see that? Where he was, like, on the scene and, like, things are just burning behind him.

[Phil Labonte]

There was, There is one. I don't have a link to it, but there is one. You gotta find that Gavin is speaking, and a building, like, the roof collapses as he's talking. Collapses behind him as he's talking. Great.

[Riley Moore]

I, I, I wanted him to stand up there and just be like, the arsonist had oddly shaped feet.

[Phil Labonte]

Yes, it is the, it's fine meme. The Leslie Nielsen it's fine. It's fine. Just fire going all around him. But, yeah, I mean, the, the, the incompetence just doesn't, doesn't stop. I mean, if, if, if the mayor had any sense, she would have waited until after this was done to fire the, the fire chief. Because it does just point out the catty infighting going on.

[Brett Dasovic]

Like, see, a competent male feel like.

[Mary Morgan]

You'Re making very intense eye contact with me. Right.

[Brett Dasovic]

Like a competent male politician would have waited to fire.

[Phil Labonte]

I'm aware that you would like, you.

[Riley Moore]

Know what I'm saying? Mary, come on.

[Phil Labonte]

You would never, you would never make the, the mistake of thinking that you should be a fire in the fire department.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, she, she's doing Failed Politics 101, which, which is, we're gonna go put some heads on some spikes. It's not me. It's these people. I mean, it's, I mean, what did.

[Brett Dasovic]

Gavin Newsom say, is like, the locals will have to figure it out.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, I mean, that's. The locals have to figure it out, and they can't even. They can't even not, you know, bicker at each other. It's ridiculous, and it's. It's offensive to. To the people that. That have to live there. I think this. I think this is actually. Serge, I think, is pulling up the. The. The. The clip, because I believe it was the. The. I think this was a CNN clip.

[Brett Dasovic]

What's funny is showing it. No, go ahead, Gavin. Gavin Newsom's wife was an actress, and I just. Just last night watched an episode of a television show where she plays the wife of a corrupt politician who then gets arrested at the end.

[Phil Labonte]

Very good.

[Brett Dasovic]

It's. That's never going to happen in actual art imitating need.

[Mary Morgan]

Jennifer Nome and Zelensky should film a rom com.

[Brett Dasovic]

They should. It was an old episode of this show called the Glades. And, yeah, her husband played a corrupt. I. I think he's a corrupt. It's not a governor. It might have been. It might. No, it actually might have been a governor. And, like, she's like his wife, and she's like, I'm the brains behind this operation. My family's the one with all the money, and then she ends up being guilty at the end.

[Mary Morgan]

I mean, that predictive programming, what, you know, life imitating art.

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, yes. All right, so what. What do you got? John Fetterman up for Pope of Greenland. So John Fetterman saying that he should be what, Pope?

[Brett Dasovic]

What makes you the Pope of Greenland, specifically?

[Mary Morgan]

What makes you the Pope of any specific country?

[Phil Labonte]

That's not being Catholic, is it?

[Mary Morgan]

The whole point is that he's the Pope of the whole world.

[Riley Moore]

The universal church.

[Mary Morgan]

Yes.

[Brett Dasovic]

Okay.

[Riley Moore]

Universal church. There's a Pope.

[Phil Labonte]

He doesn't.

[Mary Morgan]

Kind of oxymoronic.

[Phil Labonte]

The current. The current Pope is less than Catholic, I think. He doesn't. He doesn't.

[Mary Morgan]

Don't. Don't counter signal, Papa Francis. We're not even going to get into that discussion.

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, come on, Mary. I'm trying to get you riled up.

[Mary Morgan]

I see.

[Phil Labonte]

I see that you're doing that.

[Mary Morgan]

I'm chilling over here.

[Phil Labonte]

So. Yeah, I mean, I don't. I don't think that. I don't think that there's anything positive to be said about the Karen Bass firing the. The chief. And, And I think that it's. It's. It probably speaks to the incompetence going on.

[Riley Moore]

I'll say one thing about her is many Years back, I had worked on the Hill. I was a congressional staff member, and I was there when she was there. She was one of the most unimpressive members of Congress, and that's saying a lot that I had ever come across. Yes.

[Brett Dasovic]

Would. Would Rick Caruso have been a better choice?

[Riley Moore]

I. I think anybody be a better choice at this point.

[Brett Dasovic]

That was an interesting thing to follow because we. We followed like, the way celebrities were kind of going into different corners about whether to vote for Karen Bass or Rick Caruso.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, I know nothing about Rick Caruso, but that Katy Perry voted for him and that people were mad at her for doing so. But when you say she was unimpressive. What, What, What.

[Riley Moore]

What's your evidence other than this fire?

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah.

[Riley Moore]

She was very. I mean, she had no really originating thoughts or insights as it relates to any public policy whatsoever. Really kind of took cues from whatever the kind of left wing narrative was on any given issue. She was not necessarily a kind person. Person. I would say. Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Riley Moore]

Probably 1.0.

[Brett Dasovic]

I mean, all of that sounds par for the course for most politicians.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, Yeah, I. I guess it's for it to stick out in my mind.

[Mary Morgan]

Is back when you still had a twinkle in your eye.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, like I'm gonna change this part.

[Brett Dasovic]

You can still get Federman 2028 though, guys. Let's go.

[Mary Morgan]

Still gonna happen.

[Riley Moore]

Still gonna Fetterman get more Bai face. I'm for it.

[Phil Labonte]

Betterman's hilarious. All right, so we are gonna go to super chats and let's see, we'll start out with. Here with. Was it Shaky Owens? Can you make this bigger? The font. What happened to the office of the President elect that only. That only works when there is an old man that actually shouldn't be the President. That is the President elect.

[Brett Dasovic]

I forgot about that. The office of the President.

[Phil Labonte]

They were serious about it too.

[Brett Dasovic]

They were like, built like a sign.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, this is a serious thing. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And now they're like, if Trump gets.

[Brett Dasovic]

To create Space Force, we're going to make the office of the President elect.

[Mary Morgan]

Biden's on the last day of school.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah. Right now he's just coasting.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, I think that was the day after he was elected.

[Mary Morgan]

They're just doing coloring pages at this point.

[Brett Dasovic]

They stopped giving him the CIA super drugs, I'm sure.

[Phil Labonte]

From the emperor's champion. Do states like New York and California, who are so mismatched, mismanaged and corrupt, deserve to retain their statehood? Should they be reverted to territories and only readmitted after they have been cleaned up.

[Riley Moore]

N. Well, we can't eject. Well, I guess you can necessarily, but no, I don't think we should eject states from the United States.

[Phil Labonte]

What's the process of ejecting states? Do you know?

[Riley Moore]

I don't. I don't. Obviously, we've had states.

[Phil Labonte]

So states can't leave if they want to.

[Riley Moore]

Well, we've had them secede before.

[Phil Labonte]

Not. Not successfully.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, not successfully. And we've had them divide before successfully. It's how we live in this great state of West Virginia.

[Phil Labonte]

That was after. That was right after the Civil War, right?

[Riley Moore]

Right when it kicked off, actually. Yep.

[Phil Labonte]

Okay.

[Riley Moore]

1863.

[Phil Labonte]

Let's see. Just because I'm free says so people know Phil has Tim locked up in the basement. Hello, Marion. Brett. And congratulations on the play button for PC. See, Phil should take off the hat so people don't confuse him with Tim. Does this look like a beanie, homie?

[Brett Dasovic]

Different hat.

[Mary Morgan]

It's just the same color.

[Brett Dasovic]

Yeah, we. We just passed 320, 000 subscribers, but just got our 100, 000.

[Mary Morgan]

YouTube finally got around to giving us the 100k play button, bro.

[Riley Moore]

India, congratulations.

[Phil Labonte]

India held up the all that remains one for, like, two years.

[Mary Morgan]

It's H1B's fault.

[Brett Dasovic]

I seriously. No, seriously. So what happen? I had to, like, file a claim with YouTube to. To get the play button. And It's Jasmine from YouTube support. And I was like, I know this is some AI chat again, Jasmine, if.

[Mary Morgan]

You'Re watching, shout out a real one. Thank you.

[Brett Dasovic]

But I put in the application and they're like, well, you want to apply, like, here? We have to. We have to look through your application and see if you qualify. And they said it could take two to four months. I'm like, don't you just, like, look at the subscriber count and then send it to me? No. Took three and a half months for them to like, what are they.

[Mary Morgan]

Are they verifying that the subscribers aren't bots or something?

[Brett Dasovic]

No, I don't know what it was, but Jasmine was very.

[Phil Labonte]

That's what they're doing.

[Mary Morgan]

We're 220,000 subscribers away from that, Miles. So now a million. Soon.

[Phil Labonte]

It seems like just yesterday you guys were at 100,000. That was like, six months ago you were at 100,000.

[Mary Morgan]

Right.

[Phil Labonte]

You guys have really just been, like.

[Mary Morgan]

Going, I guess we're just really popular.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah, I guess.

[Brett Dasovic]

Really like us.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah.

[Brett Dasovic]

But thank you, Jasmine. We. We. We like to play.

[Mary Morgan]

Thank you, jasmine. Thank you, YouTube, for giving us the validation that we so desperately need.

[Phil Labonte]

Tacty platy. Hi, Tacty platy. Hey, Phil. Great to see you. And my congressman and PCC tonight. Any chance Riley can introduce a bill to ban plastic bag fees at grocery stores?

[Riley Moore]

You know that really, those are states that do that. And I would. I would be honored to be the person to try to ban that federally. It's the most annoying thing in the world when I'm not in the great state of West Virginia and I'm, you know, down in D.C. as I was this week, and I'm like, could I get a bag? Like, it's extra 5 cents?

[Phil Labonte]

I'm like, what?

[Brett Dasovic]

Maryland is really bad with it, too. Now.

[Phil Labonte]

The places I. I feel like that's, like, that's less of. Of an irritation than, like, when people are just like, can you give me a tip? When you're like, you went and you got the. The thing that you wanted, you brought it to the. To the table, and you're. You're putting it out, and they're like, would you like to give us a tip? No, I don't want to pay you extra.

[Riley Moore]

And then it's like, built in when you, like, pay for it at the counter.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Riley Moore]

It's like, here's the tip. And it's like, but I'm just picking it up at this window.

[Mary Morgan]

You just mean, like, tip culture in general.

[Phil Labonte]

I don't mind giving, like, I. When it comes to, like, tipping a server or something like that, I. I tend to over tip.

[Mary Morgan]

But, like, I was at a liquor store recently, and they turned an iPad around on me, bro.

[Riley Moore]

Really?

[Phil Labonte]

What were you buying?

[Mary Morgan]

So do.

[Brett Dasovic]

So the worst is we were at, like, a Red Wings game over the holiday break, and they asked for a tip at the arena, where it's already, like, 10,000% more expensive than anywhere else. Yeah. The concession stands.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Mary Morgan]

Where they're, like, heating up nachos.

[Brett Dasovic]

It was pizza. Well, it's. No, it's. It's. It's the Red Wings. So it's at Little Caesars. So they have, like, multiple Little Caesars booths there. So it's like. So I already pay too much because it's not a $5 pizz anymore. And you're paying way more than that at a stadium because they're like $8 at a regular location now. So you're paying like 15 there. And now you want me to tip you?

[Mary Morgan]

They're putting these employees in such an uncomfortable.

[Brett Dasovic]

And that guy's not getting, like, tip.

[Mary Morgan]

It's going to ask you a question. No pressure. I don't want to be them.

[Phil Labonte]

And you feel like that they're like, no pressure. Because I feel like they're like, it's going to ask you a question.

[Mary Morgan]

They're not going to like, no pressure. They say that. And I feel bad for them that they're put in this position.

[Riley Moore]

I feel like I'm like, I've got pressure on me. It's like it's going to ask you a question. I'm like, oh, okay.

[Brett Dasovic]

Like, I don't know if like in this case, like, is he logged in to like a specific account on there that's got like his pin in there so everybody who tips in there, it goes directly to him or does it just go to the coffers of the stadium?

[Riley Moore]

Well, service industry, you'll be happy to hear Donald Trump will eliminate tax on tips. That's one of his things he knows you should put in the reconciliation package.

[Phil Labonte]

I would love to see it. Yeah, love to see it. Actually, I want to ask you, do you think that it's better to go with one gigantic omnibus that is guaranteed to have a whole bunch of crap you don't like but actually get all the stuff you want, or do you think it'd be better to have multiple bills?

[Riley Moore]

I think to quote Donald Trump, one beautiful bill, One beautiful bill, but it's.

[Phil Labonte]

Going to have so much garbage. It can't be beautiful. I know that that's his.

[Riley Moore]

But there are, there are restrictions though, because you're doing it through the reconciliation process. Right. So there's, there's only so much you can put in that the Senate parliamentarian is going to accept. So it has to do with revenue generating measures. And it has been ruled previously, this can be things like immigration, that can be energy, that can be obviously taxes cutting federal government. Like in this reconciliation package we're going to try to cut, cut. It will be in their mandatory spending. Just not to get on soapbox here, but mandatory spending in your budget, by the way, United States of America, that's 75% of all the money that's spent. We fight over these funding bills that go through Appropriations committee. That's only 25% of the money spent.

[Phil Labonte]

People love to make a stink about, you know, like the military budget and stuff like that. The military budget doesn't even come close to be the, to being the problem that we're facing. Mandatory spending, unfunded liabilities, the entitlement programs, those are the things that are going to kill the entire economy. The, the, the discretionary Spending is a, it's a tiny drop in the bucket compared to the mandatory.

[Riley Moore]

It's dropping the bucket. Like when you compared, let's say Medicaid to defense spending, you're talking trillions versus billions. It, It's a huge, huge difference that you're talking about.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep. All right, what do we got here? Super chats. What is this one? Broman 992 says, Honestly, I'd rather have the left saying Trump is a convicted felon than have them screaming about how he only got off because the Supreme Court is rigged. Honestly, I kind of agree with that because they're going to scream about, you know, whatever. And, and if they did have the narrative that it was the Supreme Court that helped Donald Trump like the guys he appointed. Yeah. Then you might, they, they might actually be able, able to fundraise off that narrative and possibly even do some kind of. Possibly in the net with the next, next administration, if it's a. Or the next Democrat administration actually make changes to the Supreme Court, which I think would be terrible for Stack the court. Yeah. Which would only turn into 17,000 justices because the Republicans would have to reply with the same thing when they get into power again. So. Yep. I do think, I think I agree with that. All right, let's see. Kane Abel says do not support Zuckerberg. The story why he changed was there was a light and he decided to change. The light being Trump being declared on TV as president of the US And Zuck had no choice. I don't know that that's actually the case and I don't think that like him deciding fighting that he is going to, you know, loosen up on the, the restrictions on Facebook or meta properties. I don't think that that's. I don't think you have to trust him for that. I mean, I'm not sure exactly what you mean by trust because I don't really. I don't use a lot of meta properties anyways. I have an Instagram page, but that's really about it. But I'm not sure what, I'm not sure what you mean by.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah, I think, you know, like we talked about, I think it was like a culmination effect. Right. It's financial incentives. Obviously Trump's part of that, but I don't think it's just one thing specifically. And like trust. Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

You know, do you trust Zuckerberg?

[Brett Dasovic]

Me? No. No, of course not.

[Mary Morgan]

I think he just know how I.

[Phil Labonte]

Feel about Mary wants to go to Hawaii and find him and beat him up.

[Brett Dasovic]

It's More.

[Mary Morgan]

I did not say that. I did not say that.

[Brett Dasovic]

I mean, you shouldn't trust any of the, any of the big business CEOs, but what you should do is you want to know that the businesses they're running have the financial incentive to, you know, act in a way in which benefits you. Right. That's the whole point of the capitalist system, is you encourage them because you can't expect them to have the same morality as you. Business doesn't run on morality. And so does it really matter if I trust him? No. You go based off actions and then just go from there.

[Phil Labonte]

You know, wise words from Brett.

[Brett Dasovic]

First and only time that's ever going to get said.

[Mary Morgan]

So backhanded.

[Phil Labonte]

Phil.

[Mary Morgan]

So catty.

[Brett Dasovic]

No. And Phil's calling women catty.

[Mary Morgan]

I know.

[Brett Dasovic]

My goodness.

[Phil Labonte]

You know, it's creepy how on the same wavelength you two are.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Finish each other's sentences. Konakashi says, what do you think would happen if Trump put a hold or cancels any federal aid or future funding unless California ends its sanctuary citizen status or sanctuary city status? I don't think that's. I don't think it's possible. Is it. It would be Congress that have to.

[Brett Dasovic]

And even was. It'd be bad optics.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. I mean, look, you could, Congress can proviso any federal dollars. Right. I mean, you can do that on any of that through executive action that was talked about in the last administration, last time Trump was president, if I remember correctly. You could do that. But the way they're going to go about this is that we're going to have, have a massive deportation operation that's going to take place here. And they're going to start with the low hanging fruit, which is the people.

[Phil Labonte]

All of you short people. Right.

[Riley Moore]

Yeah. Everybody who's watching this or listening to this right now are the criminals, people literally in prison that you're paying for that are not in this country legally. And you'd be shocked at how many thousands and thousands of people that are. And then all the convicted felons and I mean, there is a lot of low hanging fruit there that's going to be. Because how are you going to find these people? It's actually not that hard, you know, to find folks who have broken the law in this country. Start there and then we'll see where we are.

[Phil Labonte]

I'm going to start with a whole new batch after that because I think, I think the, the American people have kind of made it clear that they want to see deportations of not just people that have committed Other crimes, but they want to see deportations of people that have come here illegally. We seen, you know, poll after poll after poll that said there, people say that there's like 70% of the American.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, it was 70%. 70% of Americans say that support mass deportations. And it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen.

[Phil Labonte]

Listen, Debbie Downer over there, I, I.

[Mary Morgan]

Call me in two years there and tell me if it's happened. It's not going to happen. Stop trying to make master deportations happen. They're not going to tell me in.

[Riley Moore]

Two, two years mass deportations are going to happen. Stephen Miller, we just met with him, he's in Congress, and he's laid out this plan very clearly of how they're going to go about doing this. People are going to get deported. That is going to happen.

[Phil Labonte]

Your face.

[Mary Morgan]

In my face. That people said it's going to happen. That's in my face. Okay.

[Riley Moore]

And we're going to build the wall, just to be clear.

[Mary Morgan]

Oh, sure. I'm so excited.

[Riley Moore]

It's in the reconciliation.

[Mary Morgan]

You can barely contain myself.

[Riley Moore]

You don't want a wall?

[Mary Morgan]

Of course I want those things.

[Phil Labonte]

Of course.

[Riley Moore]

Wall.

[Mary Morgan]

I, more than almost anyone, would love for that to happen.

[Phil Labonte]

To hope.

[Mary Morgan]

It's not going to happen. Trump is a heartbreaker.

[Phil Labonte]

Let's see. Hail Gailey says crime requires a victim. Phil, the left lane is for hurting the government's feelings. The state loves to find you over their butt hurt. This is true. True. But I think it's still a succinct way to tell people to get out of the left lane. Unless you're going to be going over the speed limit, specifically a lot over the speed limit.

[Riley Moore]

Shout out to all drivers in Ohio. They get in the left lane and slow down.

[Brett Dasovic]

This is literally what they were talking about earlier. And I was saying that everyone.

[Riley Moore]

You're from Michigan.

[Brett Dasovic]

You know, I'm from, I'm from Minnesota, but my, my fiance is from Michigan. And everybody in Michigan that I talk to hates people in Ohio. And I couldn't figure out why. I was like, why do you hate everyone there? And one of the reasons that they mentioned was that they all drive 60 and they stay in the left lane.

[Riley Moore]

It's a fact. So much of the state of West Virginia borders Ohio on the Ohio River. I'm telling you as a fact, they do that.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Brett Dasovic]

It's a horrible state to drive through.

[Phil Labonte]

I tell you what, when I was just driving the Jeep, it was, it was much more frustrating because the Jeep isn't fast like you can't get around people if there's. Passing on the right is not an option because it's, you know, kind of dangerous and it's, it's slow and it, you know, I got the Tesla. I tell you what man, I'm not worried about passing on the right anymore. It only takes half a second I'm by you. So I, I, you should still get over into the, into the right lane if you're going slow. But, but you know the left lane is for crime, man. Get out of there.

[Mary Morgan]

I'm scared of people like you.

[Phil Labonte]

Are you? I, you know, I, I think I, I think I went over 100 miles an hour like maybe two, three dozen times in my life before I got the Tesla. I can't keep it below 100 miles an hour if I'm passing someone. Now.

[Mary Morgan]

Did you just say that on the Internet?

[Phil Labonte]

I mean I did.

[Mary Morgan]

Telling on yourself here.

[Phil Labonte]

Ah, nobody important. Watch this like 50,000 people or whatever watching now.

[Mary Morgan]

Shots fire.

[Phil Labonte]

I'm kidding. Just cuz I'm free. Says if you want to stop a lot of the demo Democrat insanity then we need to ship. We need two things. A citizenship question on the census and representation is dependent on US citizenship.

[Riley Moore]

Bingo.

[Phil Labonte]

Immigrants shouldn't have represented representation in government. I think, I mean that's, that's, that's, I don't, I feel like that's un, you know, it should be obvious that.

[Riley Moore]

So Trump tried to stop that last one. The census took place under Biden. The congressional district apportionment happened and it's literally anybody who is living and breathing in a congressional district is how they count those districts.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep.

[Riley Moore]

That's why Republicans got over 74 million votes votes for the House of Representatives. But we have a two seat majority.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. That's one of the things that I keep like I, there's times where we, we'll be talking about something and we'll get, you know, get ideological on something and I'm like, hold on guys. We got to remember like we only have a tiny majority and we have to make, we're going to have to make deals. That's why, that's why we have to do the, you know, we're going to have to do one big beautiful bill. Yeah. It's because you're not gonna, you don't have enough of a, of a majority to shove things through. You don't have, no matter how much people, people perceive that Trump has a mandate. Trump doesn't have the votes to say I'm doing whatever I want. If there were 60, you know, if we had 65 senators and 300 people in the Republican Party in the House, it'd be like, all right, it's on. Do whatever the heck, you know, the, the conservatives want. That's clearly, you know, let's do it. But.

[Riley Moore]

And what we get scared of. And you just kind of touched on this. Go back to even when the Democrats had the super majority under Obama, they had all these things they were going to do. The end of the day, all they got done was Obamacare.

[Phil Labonte]

Yep.

[Riley Moore]

One big thing. And this is a party, the Democrats that just vote lockstep.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Riley Moore]

They don't stray and could only get one thing. That's why I'm concerned about breaking it up into two big bills that you'll get one little bill done in the beginning and then you'll never get to the rest of the big stuff.

[Brett Dasovic]

Why is it, like a lot of people have mentioned, like, when Roe v. Wade was overturned, like, why didn't they try to enshrine it as a con, you know, as an actual constitutional amendment?

[Phil Labonte]

Because then they couldn't use it as a clutch.

[Brett Dasovic]

Well, that. I understand that, but I'm saying, was there, like, is there another reason for it? I assume it's because they've. It's because they fundraise on abortion. So if you make it a constitutional amendment, it is no longer something that they have to worry about. Therefore, it's no longer something that they can extract money through.

[Riley Moore]

Well, constitutional amendment takes two thirds, though. Right. So, I mean, they didn't have the numbers on it. But why. They didn't just.

[Brett Dasovic]

It wouldn't have been able to. You don't think they wouldn't have been able to flip any of the. Any rhinos on that?

[Riley Moore]

I don't think so. I mean, that's, that's, that's a death sentence out on the streets in like a Republican primary. I mean, that's. But it's a good point. I, I don't know why they didn't try it. I mean. Yeah. I mean, they just continue to bludgeon us with it. You know, to Phil's point on it. Yeah. I mean, they're fundraising often and everything else.

[Phil Labonte]

I mean that if Donald Trump had lost, I mean, that, that's why the, the midterms in, you know, 2022, where the red. Red wave didn't happen was straight up because of Roe versus Wade being overturned. And, and it's such an effective argument. There were tons of people that were making the argument. I'm Voting for Kamala Harris because women need to be able to control their health. Healthcare. Right? Like, even though that is a complete and total farce of an argument, that was still the argument and it convinced low information voters, you know, people that, that were like, oh, you know, I. 50 year old women that can't get pregnant are like, oh, I got to make sure my daughter can kill my granddaughter.

[Mary Morgan]

Low info voter. Just a euphemism for females now.

[Phil Labonte]

No.

[Riley Moore]

Yikes.

[Phil Labonte]

I didn't say that. Do you think that, Mary?

[Mary Morgan]

I didn't say that either.

[Phil Labonte]

It actually came out of your mouth though.

[Mary Morgan]

Just an idea. We're just spitballing here.

[Phil Labonte]

I'm just saying. Lunderware. Is that, does that say Lunderwear? It looks like it says lunderwear. Focus with Mr. Bocus is now live. I've been waiting for this since I dropped that name in chat almost two years ago. Going to buy my first bag of Casper now. Are, are you actually the person that came up focus with Mr. Bocus? Is that, is that, is this actually canon or is this just lore? It looks like it. So you can get, go ahead and bring that up. You can get focus with Mr. Bocus and Ian's graphene dream and two weeks till Christmas. You may not realize it, but two weeks till Christmas is a play on, on the all that Remains song. Two Weeks. It's a big song.

[Brett Dasovic]

Is Ian kicking your, kicking your ass at the coffee sales?

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, Ian's crushing everybody. It's. It's ridiculous. And also my, the coffee that I'm, I'm doing is like just a Christmas one. So it, it's not even like, it's not like a regular coffee. So I'm not, I'm not worried about the fact that, you know, the graphene dream is crushing it because this, this will, this is only for a short time. And it's, it's gingerbread flavored. So, you know, it's not like a, a regular coffee that people are going to be drinking. What the thing that surprises me is, is the Alex Stein cocaine filled coffee 17 times. The.

[Brett Dasovic]

I do like the photo. I don't know if it might send people off again just a little bit. Like you wake up every morning to put it in your cup. Like, oh, I don't know if I can do that right now.

[Phil Labonte]

I have never done cocaine, but I know people that have. That looks like what cocaine. A cocaine user looks like. I'm not saying that, you know, Alex Stein uses cocaine, but I think the artist really captured, captured the essence of someone using Coke, a lot of cocaine. So, yeah, go and get your your cast. Brew coffee today.

[Riley Moore]

Hunter Biden's probably a customer on that one. He's like, there's cocaine in this thing.

[Mary Morgan]

I'm glad they went with the official spelling of Bocas's name.

[Phil Labonte]

I didn't.

[Mary Morgan]

No C in Boca.

[Phil Labonte]

Okay.

[Mary Morgan]

Rest in power, by the way.

[Brett Dasovic]

I never used the K. I always use the C on every hash.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, and you're wrong. You've just been proven moving wrong live on air.

[Phil Labonte]

Nope. Let's see. Super chats. Let's see. What are you doing moving it around there? Oh, okay. Game sushi says Phil. Been a fan of all that remains since I saw you guys on Fuse TV in the early 2000s, man. Thank you. I appreciate that.

[Brett Dasovic]

She should have done.

[Phil Labonte]

Saw you guys around 2009 at SOMA in San Diego. That show was sick. Soma was a great room, man. You were gonna say.

[Brett Dasovic]

I say you should. Phil, just read. Just reads like, Phil, I love your music. Super chats for 30 minutes.

[Mary Morgan]

Yeah, I mean, we could do that.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, the people aren't wrong.

[Phil Labonte]

I mean, look, the people got a voice and they want. They want to talk about all that remains, you know?

[Mary Morgan]

How do you remember that show?

[Phil Labonte]

I don't remember. I can't say that I specifically remember the show, but I remember Soma and also in 2000, like, we only. We probably only played in Soma at Soma in 2009, like, one time. And I know that it was on the Overcome tour because Overcome came out in 2008. So I don't remember specifically what was happening like that show. I couldn't remember, like, things that happened, but I remember the shows in San Diego were sick. I remember Soma was a sick room, so. And I remember the. The tours that were going on in 2009 for all the remain were. All the remains were awesome. So that's. That's how I remember.

[Mary Morgan]

I was just thinking maybe you remembered that guy, maybe.

[Phil Labonte]

Oh, no, no. I don't remember seeing him. You think I was just lying to him? Oh, I remember, homie. Yeah. Ms. Leon Burger. Is that what it says? Shout out to Riley from Spirit of Fear Clothing. Hope you're enjoying the stuff I sent you. Love to see you skate in. Skate in it in D.C. maybe on the steps. You going to. You're going to grind the steps, Riley, will. Will they allow you to grind on the steps, do you think?

[Riley Moore]

I don't know if they're going to let me allow to grind. Find the steps. You know what I Need to get back in the park over here, though. I haven't skated in a little bit.

[Phil Labonte]

I. I hear that it's better to ask forgiveness than permission.

[Riley Moore]

This is true.

[Phil Labonte]

So I know a guy that has some cameras. You should get. Get someone.

[Riley Moore]

I know I need to.

[Phil Labonte]

That would be a sick video for the boonies.

[Riley Moore]

We could go up there and shred on the hill. You can't stop me, right? Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Do it in April where there's. There's going to be a bunch of cherry blossoms happening.

[Riley Moore]

I do want to mention something, that it is my intention to start the Congressional Skateboarding Caucus, which does not exist.

[Phil Labonte]

Who else can skateboard?

[Riley Moore]

There's one person up there with a long board. I don't really count that so much. Yeah, I don't really count that.

[Phil Labonte]

So it's just you so far?

[Riley Moore]

Just me so far. But the point would be to, you know, is people are talking about building parks and open spaces and things like that. That is, take that into consideration and trying to advocate for skate parks as well and just trying to elevate the. The sport in its own. I mean, I've been doing it since I was 12, which is a very long time ago.

[Phil Labonte]

It gets people out and gets people moving. Right? Yeah. Touch grass.

[Riley Moore]

Exactly. Get them out, get them moving. But, you know, certainly something that's changed my life, I think it can change a lot of young people's lives.

[Phil Labonte]

Awesome. All right, so let's see. Super chats here. Here. The text vexed the text. Vet, I'm sorry, says that immigrant that was arrested was already let go because of unsupported lack. Because of a supposed lack of evidence of intent. The story is out there. He was actually arrested because of an outstanding warrant and let go. Good job, California.

[Brett Dasovic]

He's like, he's got the flamethrower in one hand and they stop him and he's just like, no, I wasn't doing anything.

[Phil Labonte]

There is a. There's a related super chat from krog. The neighbor who they interviewed for the suspected arsonist used words most don't use, like citizens arrest and detained. Called a blowtorch a flamethrower. Then later what it was, he didn't speak English to sniff. Test failed. I don't know.

[Riley Moore]

You know, this is. This is one of the reasons. And I was so happy to be able to be on this. One of the first bills I co sponsored and just passed the House, it's gone over the Senate is the Lake and Riley act. And so I'm a co sponsor of that. Piece of legislation, and it's to stop crap like this from happening. It's insane. And California's doing it to itself, and they're going to have a real reckoning on this. Sanctuary city, sanctuary state, whatever they're doing over there. The Trump administration is going to show up and there's going to be no more of this anymore. No more.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah. Curtis Wser, I think it says. Who cares what they call him? Literally everyone who's going to call him a convicted felon already thought he was a convicted villain. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the whole point of it is just so they can talk, and it doesn't actually change the facts that the, you know, the whole thing is. Is illegitimate anyways. The. They extend. Like we said earlier, they extended the statute of limitations. There's no underlying crime that raises the misdemeanors to actual felonies. But he was still convicted on felonies, so it's. It's all bogus, and it's just so the Democrats can feel better about themselves, you know?

[Riley Moore]

Yeah.

[Phil Labonte]

Yeah.

[Riley Moore]

I mean, I. It means nothing to me other than it irritates me, but, you know, the end of the day, Trump is the man.

[Phil Labonte]

He's the. He's the president, at least. Yep. Missions says Phil. What do you think about the Finn McKenty drama? I think Finn's hilarious. I think he's great. We get along fine. And it doesn't bother me that he doesn't listen to music. Look, the guy just had a kid, so he.

[Mary Morgan]

Drama. What's the drama?

[Phil Labonte]

So Finn McKenty said on a podcast or something that he's like, look, man, I don't even listen to music anymore. He does all the. The music podcast. And. And he talks about the scene and he talks about all these bands and stuff, and he's generally accurate when he's talking about the. At least the facts surrounding bands. His opinion notwithstanding, people can agree or disagree. But he said in a podcast, he's like, yeah, I don't even listen to music. You know, he doesn't. He's not in the scene anymore. I mean, the guy. I think the guy's over 40 and, you know, he just has a family and. And doesn't do the scene thing anymore. And it makes sense to me. I understand. I understand it. I know there are people that feel like because he covers music on. Or covered music on YouTube, that he should have been, you know, actually listening to music and, like, living the scene and stuff. And. And I just think that that's a little. A little naive. You know, I mean, look, people that do things for a living, a lot of times they do things for a living and they don't take it home. And that can. That could mean being a musician that could be covering music. I know plenty of people that play music. There's a lot of bands, right, that broke up for a reason, then they got back together. They didn't get back together because they don't hate each other. They got back together for a bag of money and there's like, oh, we can. We can make how much money if we. If we get back together? I mean, I don't know about Oasis, but I. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna point any fingers or say any names because I know. I know specifically multiple bands that have done this, but, I mean, there's a band. There's a band called Carcass that literally, he just said, said, oh, why did we get back together? Someone threw a big old bag of money at the bot at my feet and I reached down and I picked it up.

[Riley Moore]

Can I point out, Heart Work's an awesome album.

[Phil Labonte]

Heartwork is an awesome album. It's one of the best metal albums of the 90s.

[Riley Moore]

People don't know about Heartwork. Go look that up right now.

[Phil Labonte]

Riley, man, you're great. It. It is. Heart Work is absolutely. It's an essential death metal record. So, yeah, let's see one more. We got here. Andrew Davis says shout out to Adam Jarvis of Misery Index for being the best drummer from Illinois, Troy Boys and the Cheers Band. Love the show, guys. Thank you very much. I didn't realize that, you know, the Misery Index guys, another killer band, so. Oh, one more. We got one more. Okay, let me. From. Let me. Frost Designs, Phil and PCC are always among my favorites lineup. Could listen to you guys chat about anything for hours. Well done on hosting tonight. Tim Love from lunchtime, Western Australia. Western Australia.

[Brett Dasovic]

Go.

[Phil Labonte]

Good morning. Good morning down there where everything's upside down. All right, smash the like button. Share this show with your friends. Don't forget to buy Casper coffee. Riley, do you have anything to close with?

[Riley Moore]

Got a lot, but you can find all of that at Rep. Riley Moore on X or Rylan Moore WV on all my other social media things. We got a lot of great pieces of legislation we're working with the administration on and as I said, proud to sponsor that Lake and Riley bill. And I think it's going to pass in the Senate and become a law. Thank God.

[Mary Morgan]

If you would like to find me online, and you probably do. My Instagram and X are both at Mary Archived and you should go subscribe to Pop Culture Crisis. We go live every Monday through Friday at 3pm Eastern and Brett's about to tell you to do it again.

[Brett Dasovic]

It was literally I was like, you're screwing up my outro. I do the same outro every time. Guys, if you want to follow me, I am on Instagram and on Twix at Brett Dasavic on both of those platforms. And remember, as Mary said, PCC is live Monday through Friday at 3pm Eastern Standard Time on YouTube. If you'd like to listen to the audio version of the podcast, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, Spotify Rate and review on there as well. Thanks guys.

[Phil Labonte]

I am Phil that remains on Twix and don't forget there will be updates throughout the weekend on Tim Cast, IRL and the Culture War Channel and we will see you guys on Monday.

[Brett Dasovic]

Sa.