This Week Unfiltered | 05.22.25

Summary

Truth in the Barrel - Episode Summary: "This Week Unfiltered | 05.22.25"

Released: May 23, 2025

In this compelling episode of "Truth in the Barrel," hosts Amy McGrath and Denver Riggleman tackle a spectrum of urgent issues impacting the United States, ranging from governmental inefficiencies and financial instability to the complexities of cryptocurrency and personal freedoms. Their candid discussion offers listeners a deep dive into the current state of American politics and societal challenges.

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1. The Tenuous State of FEMA and NOAA Amid Storm Season

[05:21 - ~12:00]

As severe storms sweep through multiple red states, Amy McGrath and Denver Riggleman scrutinize the proposed cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Amy underscores the critical role FEMA plays in disaster response, highlighting recent tragedies:

“FEMA is in the process of cutting 2,000 FEMA workers. These are not just people that sit around Denver. These are people that clear debris, that rebuild homes, that understand how to dole out resources effectively and equitably when a disaster strikes.” [10:25]

Denver adds concern over the administration's stance, warning against unfounded conspiracy theories that link these cuts to weather manipulation programs like HAARP:

“I think this show is important because we are enacting these policies, believing in things like the HAARP conspiracy theories, that the high frequency active Aurora research program is creating the bad weather in the first place.” [07:32]

Amy counters by emphasizing the inefficiency of state-level disaster responses in the face of widespread natural disasters:

“Storms don't know any borders, so they ravage through multiple states... this should be done at the federal level because it is more efficient to be done at the federal level.” [12:56]

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2. Cryptocurrency: Understanding and Legislative Moves

[21:12 - ~35:33]

The conversation shifts to the intricate world of cryptocurrency, with Amy laying the groundwork by explaining various types of digital currencies, including meme coins and stablecoins.

Amy explains:

“It's currency that is not based on government or a central bank. So it's very decentralized. It's kind of like the wild, wild west and free market currency out there.” [24:48]

Denver expresses skepticism about integrating stablecoins into the U.S. financial system, critiquing their stability and utility:

“I would make a play to disengage all crypto from the American financial system. That'd be the first thing that I would do.” [27:17]

The hosts delve into the implications of a recently passed bipartisan Senate bill regulating stablecoins. Denver is particularly critical, labeling the legislation as a “gift” to crypto enthusiasts and expressing distrust in its intentions:

“This is bullshit. It's just shit wrapped in something that they're saying is going to protect the American people when really it's just a gift to all the crypto geeks.” [30:30]

Amy raises alarms about the potential for corruption, specifically pointing to Donald Trump's involvement in meme coins and the ethical concerns surrounding it:

“This is the most corrupt man leader in... world history. And it's happening.” [35:33]

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3. Government Missteps and Constitutional Misunderstandings

[46:32 - ~51:18]

The discussion transitions to the recent downgrade of the United States' credit rating by Moody's, an event Amy highlights as unprecedented and detrimental:

“Creditors think of the United States is less capable and that means the interest rates will go up... it has enormous effects.” [44:37]

Denver laments the administration's fiscal strategies, suggesting an authoritarian approach to economic management:

“We're going down a road where people want this strong man, authoritarian, no matter what's, what he does.” [37:05]

Further criticism is aimed at Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, for her misunderstanding of the constitutional term "habeas corpus":

“Anybody that has any public service, particularly somebody who's in charge of a major Homeland Security agency that deals with possibly detaining people in the United States, needs to know that.” [50:38]

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4. Personal Freedoms and the Tragic Georgia Life Support Case

[37:30 - ~43:43]

Amy brings attention to the heartbreaking case of Adriana Smith in Georgia, a woman who remains on life support due to state laws granting personhood to unborn fetuses. This situation raises profound ethical and legal questions about personal autonomy and governmental overreach.

Amy explains:

“If you're pregnant in America, in certain parts of this country, like Georgia, you've lost your own dignity. You've lost your own ability to make choices.” [40:53]

Denver empathizes, reflecting on the unimaginable dilemma faced by families forced to comply with such stringent laws:

“What decision do you make? It's a decision of the family to make... the government is determining that you keep her on life support.” [40:53]

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5. Defending Librarians Against Censorship

[51:18 - ~52:30]

In a lighter yet impactful segment, Amy applauds Christine Beechler, a librarian in Lowell, Michigan, who stands up against harassment from the group Moms for Liberty. This confrontation underscores broader battles for free speech and professional integrity within educational institutions.

Amy celebrates:

“Cheers to Christine and all librarians around the United States.” [51:18]

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6. Final Remarks

As the episode wraps up, Amy and Denver reinforce the critical themes discussed, urging listeners to remain vigilant and informed about governmental policies and their far-reaching impacts on everyday lives. They emphasize the necessity of supporting and protecting key institutions like FEMA and upholding constitutional rights against encroachments.

This episode of "Truth in the Barrel" offers a thorough examination of the multifaceted challenges facing the United States, blending insightful analysis with passionate discourse to inform and engage its audience.

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Notable Quotes:

• “FEMA is in the process of cutting 2,000 FEMA workers...” — Amy McGrath [10:25]
• “I'm going to suspend habeas corpus and we're going to come into your house...” — Denver Riggleman [52:36]
• “This is the most corrupt man leader in... world history. And it's happening.” — Amy McGrath [35:33]
• “Cheers to Christine and all librarians around the United States.” — Amy McGrath [51:18]

Transcript

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[Denver Riggleman]

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[Brad]

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[Denver Riggleman]

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[Brad]

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[Amy McGrath]

Today we're taking an unfiltered look at the tenuous state of FEMA right now as the already deadly storm season is upon us. Also, bitcoin meme coin, trump coins. We'll take a look at the genius act that was just passed in the Senate. Plus, in the United States, pregnancy means no choices even in death. We're going to talk about the case of the woman in Georgia. Also, Moody's downgrades the United States. What's up with that? President Trump picks a fight with the boss. The real boss. And Kristi Noem supports, but really clearly doesn't understand the United States Constitution. This is truth in the barrel. A different kind of whiskey rebellion.

[Denver Riggleman]

What a smooth intro. You're incredible at this. And I do want to say, though, that if people want to listen to these smooth intros, which are incredibly done by Amy McGrath and our incredible show, you have to actually sign in. You got to subscribe. You got to get on YouTube and push a little button. You got to make sure we're on your favorite pod and you have to follow us on all the socials. And if you can do that, you can listen to this great show. But guess what I got to do, Amy, before we get started, I have to look at some whiskey and drink it. Are we ready for this? So here's a whiskey. Yeah, I mean, I hope you're ready. Here's the whiskey of the day. It's our own silverback distillery, black back honey rye. And you know, I got to tell you a little bit of history on this. We had tried some of the Jack Daniels and the other types of honey whiskeys out there that I think are just sort of colored.

[Amy McGrath]

Those are good.

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah, they're good, but they're sort of, you know, they're actually, they use flavor houses. A lot of them are chemically flavored or they, or they add coloring. So I dared my Wife, I said, you know, they all use this sort of corn based, right? Almost a bourbon based whiskey. Could you do a honey with rye? What would that be like? You know, Ry is a little bit spicier. So I dared her, I said, can you actually create a honey rye whiskey that's not fake? And she goes, let me give it a shot. So what we she did was not only is this our award winning rye whiskey, she built her own honey liqueur. Amy. So with our vodka, so with our vodka we went and got drums of honey from a local farmer called Hungry Hill Farms. And we went and got that, that, those huge 55 gallon drums. We got our own warmers, we got our own sedimentation filler filters. We go all the way to sub micron filtration, from 40 microns to sub micron and our own cooker. So what we do is we actually build our own liqueur, then do our own blending. Our liqueur comes out at about 28 proof. Then we blend it with our rye whiskey, which as you can see is a beautiful rye. There is no artificial colorings or flavorings. This is. Yeah. So this is. Oh my God. So when you actually pour it. And I'm doing it now, let me set down the bottle. This is very, very exciting. I take the, take this honey rye.

[Amy McGrath]

Mm.

[Denver Riggleman]

The nose is incredible because you get, you think you get the honey at first, but it's laced with that, that spice and that rye. Because we use a pumpernickel rye for our rye whiskey. Oh, so delight, just so delightful. And also the legs on it, it's so sticky. The legs are sticky on the glass actually. So you can see the honey stre the whiskey. Oh my goodness. I'm going to do a little taste.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah.

[Denver Riggleman]

And my God, you get the honey laced with the rye and that spice. So instead of this overwhelming sweetness from the other honey whiskeys, you have a real rye base with a honey liqueur. So it's not terribly sweet. So even though it is sweet, it's not terribly sweet. And you get the whiskey and that little bit of burn because we have a 70 proof. This is 70. But we also sell a 90 proof Honey Alpha, which is delicious. So that is, that is the whiskey of the day.

[Amy McGrath]

I love it. And I love the honey stuff. You know that. I mean you gotta be in the mood. You gotta be in the mood. But, but I love the, I love the sweet stuff. Awesome. So welcome everyone to Truth in the barrel. I'm Amy McGrath with my co host Denver Riggleman. Who is a distiller and a great American. By the way, as we announced last week, our new live weekly show begins June 10th. So Denver and I are going to be taking it to the country, talking to you and talking about what's going on in America, answering your questions and of course, having a lot of fun drinking whiskey. That is going to be June 10th. Please join us 7:30 to 8:30pm Eastern time. That's eastern United States time. And that's important, Denver, because you are back in the United States. Welcome home.

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah, I'm, I am back right now and I might be headed back to Ukraine here very soon, but I am back. But I, you know, I had this dream, Amy, that we were going to be on the stage at Madison Square Garden doing Truth in the Barrel. I think once this live show kicks off, I think after two or three live shows, I think we're going to have producers and directors and Hollywood types and people around the world contacting us to have us going to these massive venues and selling them out quickly. So that's, that's what I, I think that's going to happen pretty quickly.

[Amy McGrath]

All right, Denver, let's get started. Look, there's nothing like a tornado outbreak spanning multiple states to remind us that storm season in America is upon us. Disaster has hit multiple red states, including my own. Laurel County, Kentucky, unfortunately lost 19 people in a deadly tornado that ripped through there this past week, St. Louis. Five people died there. You can, you can't prevent these storms, Denver, from happening. We know that. But there are things that the federal government can do to help mitigate some of the damage and lives lost. And I'm thinking of two particular agencies right now that Trump and Musk and Doge and Republicans, frankly, want to cut. One is noaa, which is the National Ocean Oceanic Atmospheric Agency, and the other is fema. Now, NOAA gives us the early warning, right? And FEMA is the agency that helps people and communities recover from these disasters. And I want to start with these cuts to both of these agencies because DOGE has gone after Noah and Trump and the big beautiful budget bill that, that, you know, they want to pass, that just passed in the House and is going to the Senate now, has really big cuts to FEMA as well. So let's start there.

[Denver Riggleman]

Well, so it's interesting, the thing that I've been fighting for so long when I was in Congress and things like that was actually having fact based policy discussions. Right, Amy. And we're going to need a drink for this one as I go into this as we're looking right now, we're looking at cutting programs that have been proven to be effective. When you're looking at female. When you're looking at programs that help individuals and help groups and organizations to recover from the best thing we say is acts of God, right? That's what we put that in quotes, right? These, these massive horrific things that happen to people based on weather patterns and things of that nature. However, what's interesting is that you're still seeing this, this weird activity that all this stuff is happening because the government is actually creating it. It's the conspiracy theory side of it. And that's called harp, right? That's the high frequency act of a rural research program. So there's a lot of conspiracy theorists who actually believe that the bad weather we're seeing is a function of government intervention. So it's interesting to me that we have legislation out there that's cutting fema or you have DOGE people saying that we don't need it or should go back to the states, right, Amy, which was what Trump said, right? That the state should be taking care of this. When you have so much transaction of economics across all 50 states, I don't think people under, I don't think people realize that one state falling if the state is actually creating or trying to, trying to prop up what's happening in real time with monies to save themselves from these natural disasters, how that, that ripple effects happens across all 50 states and even in international finance and international economics. So we have this weird juxtaposition, right, Amy, where you have people going against things that work, but they're on websites or talking about things that are insane, like this conspiracy theory about HAARP and that HARP is actually creating these awful things in red states to destroy red states because it's the globalists or the evil, you know, people above it. And so, Amy, as we're having these discussions, as we do Truth in the Barrel over and over again, when I was reading the incredible research and our background and doing this and our research team who did an incredible job, I started thinking is what happens, Amy, right when we can't even make solid decisions on things like fema and we have things being said about FEMA that are patently false, yet we have people who are actually enacting these policies, believe in things like the HARP conspiracy theories, that the high frequency active Aurora research program is creating the bad weather in the first place. So here's what I think is going to happen, Amy, and I'd love to have your opinion on this. I think you're going to have more and more people want to do investigations into haarp, into HARP and investigations into FEMA and how they're working together to destroy the American people. And those are the things that I'm starting to see again in these conspiracy chat rooms. And Amy, that's why, you know, that's why I think this show is important. I've said it over and over again. But again, this whole FEMA thing and what's happening to me just still reeks of this fantasy based policy that's coming out from conspiracy theorists that run our government.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, there's a lot there. The conspiracy theorist thing is really important and I don't want to come back to that. The government right now is, is being run by these types of people, as you just said, and it's going to have real implications on Americans. So right now the truth is that FEMA is in the process of cutting 2000 jobs. 2000 work FEMA workers. These are, these are not just people that sit around Denver. These are these people that clear debris, that rebuild homes, that understand how to dole out resources effectively and equitably when a disaster strikes. They are experts in this area. And so cutting 2,000 workers, that's 30%, 30% of FEMA. That's what the Trump administration wants to do and is in the process of doing. As you mentioned, there's a lot of people out there and it may be also Americans, not just Republicans, but just Americans in general, that some people may think there's billions of dollars wasted in fema. And you also hear from people, they want FEMA to be more responsive. And to me it's kind of like the opposite. You think that there's billions of dollars wasted and yet you want FEMA to be more responsive, and yet you're backing a guy that's cutting FEMA altogether. It just doesn't make any sense. Look, this is what government does. And when people say to me we should have FEMA go to the states, right, because that's what Donald Trump has proposed. He, he thinks the FEMA should just go away and the states should pick up. What's the problem with that? I, I'll tell you a couple things that's, that's that come to mind for me. One, storms don't know any borders, so they ravage through multiple states. And also states don't necessarily have the resources, the technical resources to do this. This should be done at the federal level because it is more efficient to be done at the federal level, right?

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah, it absolutely is. Also, there's the ability to marshal resources across state boundaries if it's a federal level. But here's the other thing too. You just sort of nailed it. And I'm not saying you took my thunder, Amy, you didn't. But here's the thing. When you're looking at red states, you're looking at red states that are actually in the red. How are they going to afford this kind of, I don't know, outlay financially? When you see things that happen that awful, like, you know, Kentucky. Right. I was just remembering and I, and I hate when I remember something after I've read so much. But I just remembered, you know, Kentucky has had issues. Right. And when you're looking at, I think if I remember correctly, it was Kentucky or one of the other states because of the cuts from Doge, they were having a tough time doing 24 hour coverage for tornado warnings. Right. And you know, I'm just like, we're the United States of America and we can't staff an early warning system for natural disasters. Who. What is happening? Right? And what's happening is stupidity.

[Amy McGrath]

And again, the conspiracy theory stuff didn't just happen. If you remember last, during the campaign, during the Trump campaign, when the hurricane hit and devastated parts of western North Carolina, Donald Trump went out on the campaign trail and JD Vance and all these guys. And what did they say? They said that Biden and Harris were, were stealing money from FEMA and giving it to undocumented immigrants. And that's why you haven't had this recovery effort in a timely fashion. They said, and let me just say to everyone, that is completely false.

[Denver Riggleman]

It's made up.

[Amy McGrath]

It is a conspiracy theory that is not true. And so people already don't believe in this institution of female. But how does it work? And this is something I had to look up just for this conversation here because I didn't really know. When a disaster strikes, the governor of a state has to request to the president for a disaster declaration. The president then acknowledges and says, okay, there's a disaster in that state. And that is what triggers the federal response. The FEMA going into that state and providing public assistance, so, you know, clearing up debris, as I mentioned before, but also private assistance, assistance to homeowners and your personal assistance. You can get temporary housing, for example. And so there's things that like we want government to do. I mean, if there's one thing that government should be doing, in my mind, this is on the top, you know, other than protecting Our country from foreign invasion. This is, this is another big one in my mind. The other thing I hear sometimes is what about why is the government helping these individual people out? If there's a disaster that strikes, then we should just crowd fund. You know, these people should go out on the Internet and try to get money for their own repair jobs. That's what we should do. It shouldn't be a government function. What let respond to that, Denver, what are the issues with that?

[Denver Riggleman]

One I don't even have. Okay, every single person in a natural disaster zone say it's one of the big hurricanes and you have tens of thousands of houses. Okay, let's look at the LA wildfires, right? So are we going to have tens of thousands of people trying to crowdfund their own relief? It's so ludicrous. It's so absolutely mind boggling. You were talking about the conspiracy theories about money being stolen and sent to immigrants. We already talked about the HARP conspiracy theories. How about the FEMA of concentration camps? Now you're talking about the same people who believe in this nonsense are saying we should crowdfund. Right? Crowdfund relief. Are, are you kidding me?

[Amy McGrath]

Well, it would be ripe for a lot of fraud.

[Denver Riggleman]

Fraud would be everywhere because everywhere you can't. Okay, so you have 47,000 people, right, that are affected and every single person, if they're like, hey, we're setting up a new crowdfunding space to help, you know, hey, I'm Bob Smith. I live at, you know, this street. By the way, I could find out where everybody lives. As you know, in my background, in my company. Amy, Amy, if it was you, I would pretend to be you. I would make so much money. It's, it's just, it's mind boggling the stupidity that you'd have to have in your brain to think that that would work or that's something that even makes sense in any way. So I don't even really have the words. I.

[Amy McGrath]

It's just we need fema. We need FEMA in this country. And what is happening right now is really bad. The Trump administration fired the acting FEMA director a day after he testified in front of Congress. And when he was asked by Congress, hey, do you think that FEMA should be dismantled and sent to the States, he said, no, that's not a good idea for all the reasons you and I just talked about. And guess what? Trump fired him, replaced him with a guy by the name of David Richardson who has no experience in disaster relief. Imagine that. He's a surprise Former Marine, okay. Who wrote a book. And apparently in his book he has a pretty big streak of not liking women in the military. So there's a theme also within the Trump administration. But he, he had this all hands event when he took over fema, got everybody together who was left, I guess, and said, hey, don't, don't get in front of me. I'm going to, I'm going to do what Trump wants and I will run right over you. Don't get in my way. On his, like, first day in office. How, how awesome is that, Amy?

[Denver Riggleman]

It's like the, the JV football coach finally becomes the varsity coach his first day and he's screaming and yelling and trying to assert his authority, you know, and he couldn't believe that he's actually been promoted. But the reason he went from JV to varsity football coach, because it's a school with 14 people and he was the only one left in the town. You know, that's sort of, you know, that's what we have with people like this. They're so weak, they're so flawed as human beings that they don't even understand what leadership means, but they don't even understand how to, how to interact with people. And if it is a person that's already shown this, you know, that, that stain of misogyny, you already know who you're dealing with, right? You're dealing with, you know, one of those self described alphas, right, who thinks they're incredible and that, you know, they need to take more creatine, you know, during their workouts, you know, and for their 135 bench press, right, this, this is the kind of people we're dealing with. But again, the fact that, that's great research on the book there, Amy, that if he's a misogynist already, you know who you're dealing with as a human being and a leader.

[Amy McGrath]

Well, here's the thing. The bigger picture is climate disasters and hurricanes and wildfires and tornadoes, they ain't going away. They appear to be getting worse. Anybody that has half a brain can see that.

[Denver Riggleman]

And climate change isn't real, Amy.

[Amy McGrath]

Well, talking about, I'm telling you, Denver, we're going to have to do another segment on that someday.

[Denver Riggleman]

It's been dictated by the government. That's a deep state globalist ploy to take over the United States. And by the way, you can control weather within the borders, Amy, because we can seed those clouds using haarp. There are special weapons systems and seeds and we can drop them right in there. So I got ridiculous.

[Amy McGrath]

AMY the facts are, Denver, the three top recipients in terms of states of FEMA aid are Louisiana, Florida and Texas, red states. We are actively right now trying to make government failure. And that is what is going on within the Trump administration at the moment. And people need to know all about that.

[Denver Riggleman]

Cryptocurrency will save us. Don't worry about that.

[Amy McGrath]

AMY Speaking of cryptocurrency, there's a bait going on right now about a certain type of cryptocurrency called stablecoins. And a bill just passed in the Senate. We're going to talk about that. But before we do, you can't just jump into this bill because so many people don't know what the heck cryptocurrency is. And so we got to start there. Denver I know you know a lot about this crap.

[Denver Riggleman]

A little bit.

[Amy McGrath]

All right, a little bit. So let's start with what the heck is cryptocurrency anyway?

[Denver Riggleman]

So cryptocurrency is a currency that's based on digital ones and zeros or electrons, or it's based on an electronic currency that could be based on multiple different types of things. You've heard of meme coins, right? AMY yeah. You've heard of specific crypto coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Then you have secure coins, which are like Stablecoin, and I can go into that. So you have actual coins that are just based on, say, popularity. They're pegged to a human being, like Trump coin.

[Amy McGrath]

Are they real coins? Denver Can I hold them?

[Denver Riggleman]

No. These are just 1 and 0 representations of some kind of currency or thing with an identifier for that piece of coin that's either in a blockchain. Right. When you're talking about, you know, when you're talking about Bitcoin, or it's protected digitally, it's a digital asset that's based on something. And that worth could be arbitrary, that worth could be based on scarcity, or that worth can be based on securities. Remember, the worth can be can be arbitrary, it can be based on scarcity, it can be based on securities. So those are really the three things. That's the best way I can do it in a simple way, right, Because a Trump coin is different from Bitcoin is different from a stable coin. So if you're looking at a meme coin or something like the Melania coin, or you're looking at the let's go Brandon coin, which was actually built by Steve Bannon, all these are actually traded based on not scarcity. They're arbitrary. Not scarcity or not securities. So, boom, let's go to something else. Let's go to bitcoin. Bitcoin is based on scarcity because there's only so many bitcoins, right? So that's a digital transaction. What's bitcoin now? About $100,000 per bitcoin. And I know I don't remember the exact maximum, and I don't remember if it's 200 million is going to be the maximum Bitcoins. It's something like that. People can check it out, but at some point it's going to be limited. So it's based on scarcity and on that specific blockchain protected asset. Now, when you're talking about stablecoin, you're talking about something that's hooked to securities or other crypto. So here's what's crazy. You can hook coins, right, to, you know, secure coins, right? Which is what Calibri wanted to do under Facebook, under Mark Zuckerberg, actually questioned them on this during a house hearing. People can go look it up. So the issue, though, that you have with secure coins is those securities can be based on a bucket of securities, multiple securities, one security, or it can be a coin like Stablecoin that's based on securities and also trying to stabilize crypto. So what you have is a stablecoin may be built on other securities, right? Things that have money and real worth. Or it could be based on crypto, which seems to have some kind of worth, but that crypto could actually be very, very flexible. So really, what you have with stablecoin, it's like creating. You're creating a stable crypto for other things that are made up, based on other things that are made up. So that's really. I hope that helps with the crypto definitions of the day.

[Amy McGrath]

No, it does. There's a lot there. But the bottom line, from what I understand, first of all, this is currency. And you might ask why? Why would we even do this? Why do we even need this stuff? And I think what people need to understand is it's currency that is not based on government or a central bank. So it's very decentralized. It's kind of like the wild, wild west and free market currency out there. And so a lot of people invest in these cryptocurrencies and they want to make a fast buck off of it because it's very volatile. The value of it goes up and down, can go up and down very rapidly. So that's kind of the background of it. And as Denver, as you said, there's lots of different types of coins, some of which are connected to other assets and some of which aren't. But I was trying to explain this to my son, who's turning 13 this summer, as to what this currency was. And his response was, well, it sounds cool because you can make a lot of money. And my response was, yeah, there's probably ways to make money fairly quickly, but it's also very risky. There's no insurance or there's no recourse if you're hacked and you lose your digital wallet. There's no regulation of this either internationally or nationally. And that gets me into this bill that was just passed this week in the Senate, which was a bipartisan bill. It had members of the Republican side and Democratic side voting for and against the bill. And it was, in my belief, and I've done some reading on this, and I'd like your input. Denver here. To me, it seems like it's a step forward in that I'm kind of the person that believes we should have some regulation, we should have some consumer protection. And this doesn't do at all because this is. These cryptocurrencies are really the wild, wild west. But it does something around putting guardrails around one particular coin called stablecoin. And so I, I kind of feel like this is a good thing. What do you think?

[Denver Riggleman]

It's a, it's a great question because literally, if I was potus, I would make a play to disengage all crypto from the American financial system. That'd be the first thing that I would do. The thing is, it's very difficult. Crypto is being used by lots of people. But is it our job to protect them from something that was arbitrarily built to satisfy the whims of shirtless incels living in basements? So, and when you look at, when you look at crypto, stablecoin is the fever dream, right, that they've been waiting for to get this through Congress. I've always thought when I was on the Financial Services Committee, maybe we could peg a secure coin or a secure digital asset to the American dollar or to securities in the United States government, maybe, maybe something I would consider down the line as long as it could be regulated. The issue, even with stablecoin, did you see why the Democrats came around and 16 of them voted for it, you know, is, oh, there were more assurances that there would be integrity in the process, or there's some protections so that the people like Elon Musk can't actually benefit from their role in government as it pertains to crypto. Are you kidding me? Really? What happened behind the door, Amy, is that lobbyists got to them. That's it. There's something that's good that's going to happen for them. That's what would happen for me, right? If I'm like, I'm, I'm a no on the stablecoin bill immediately, I would be besieged by every lobbyist on earth saying how great it is. Well, we gotta, you know what? Cryptos, you know, it's still the wild west as you said, Amy. We, we gotta use it. The United States could benefit from it. Do you think normal Americans are gonna benefit from stablecoin? That's ludicrous. Stablecoin is a regulated coin or security coin built to regulate things that are made up already now. Everything in life is made up. People. I've had this argument, Amy. People like, well, the dollar bill's made up. God dang. It's backed by government. There's different types of made up, right, Amy? There's very different types of made up. There's me making up a story of a monster in the closet and then me making up an entire currency that's sort of fake, that's used for really, for illicit criminal organizations to make sure they pass back and forth and for pump and dump schemes. It's a, my. A mystery. It's just a digital myth that was created around people who wanted to really to destroy what happens in regulated economic countries like ours. Bitcoin and all this was to get away from the regulated industries. That's why crypto started. Crypto was for individuals who didn't want to participate. The libertarian strain, right, of coders that need to build their own shit. So stablecoin, yes, it's nuanced for me. Yes. There's got to be a way in order to maneuver through the vast morass of crypto. But for me, instead of a stablecoin bill, this is actually, this is a gift to all the people who help trump stablecoin bill. This is bullshit. It's just, it's just, it's just shit wrapped in something that they're saying is going to protect the American people when really it's just a gift to all the crypto geeks who've been loving this since bitcoin exploded on the scene and then Ethereum and all that. That's for me if I'm, if I was in a position of power again or if I was Actually, at an executive level, I would try to disengage crypto entirely from the American ecosystem.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, well, that is super interesting because. And admittedly, I don't know enough about this cryptocurrency stuff at the moment, only just the wave tops. But I will say this. From what I'm reading and from what I beginning to understand, here's what really ticks me off about this whole thing. One, if you are one of these shirtless people and you want to go out and create your own cryptocurrency and do that, and it's super risky. Like, I. I'm not gonna stand in your way. To me, it's. Look, it's gambling. You want to go gamble, you. You do it. It's your money. Fine, go. And. And by the way, Denver, I looked up 27% of Americans have some form of cryptocurrency. I. I did not know that. I thought it was much lower. That's. That's for a lot of young people. They feel like this is the new form of currency in our country and in the world. So that was a little bit scary. But what bothers me is what Donald Trump is doing right now with regards to his meme coin, which is a type of sort of digital currency, and he's making a lot of money.

[Denver Riggleman]

You're gonna say shitload.

[Amy McGrath]

I. I was.

[Denver Riggleman]

I know you were. It's okay.

[Amy McGrath]

He's making a ton of money on this. And it. And it's not so. For example, just this week, he had a dinner at the White House, and he invited the people that invested $400 million into his. Bought $400 million worth of his meme coins. And you might say, well, Amy, those are. They bought the coins. That's not money going to Donald Trump. No, no, it is. Every time there's a transaction that has his coin, guess what? He gets a cut. So he is making money off of whether they buy them or sell them every single time to the tune of billions of dollars. And that is the problem. And here's the other problem. That money is not going to his campaign. It's not going to the Republican Party. It is lining his pockets. It is going directly to him or to his family, and that is profiting. He is profiting off of his job as the President of the United States out of the office. He is inviting people to the White House, the people's house, and making money off of it. That's what I have a problem with.

[Denver Riggleman]

You know, it reminds me of the song, one of my favorite Songs. I'm just a gigolo and everywhere I go, people know the game I'm playing. Right. That's. That's. That's really what we have with Donald Trump. Listen, you know what? If it was me, I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna get on this show and get us in trouble. Amy. So I want to say how I would use the Denver Meme Coin. Would you like to know how I would use it?

[Amy McGrath]

I think we can do a Truth in the Barrel Meme Coin.

[Denver Riggleman]

Yes. Yes. I think we should do a TiB meme coin. That's actually cool. Let's do that. And we could do it to the securities of how cool we are, which would be billions. So here's the thing. Here's how I would use a Meme Coin, Amy. I would use it for money laundering. That's how I would do it.

[Amy McGrath]

Foreign governments.

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah. I would use it for transacting things I could never do as president, United States for favors. That's what I would use it for. If I was not saying anybody else is doing. Amy. This is how I would do it if I was a criminal. Right. The other great thing about crypto, especially if you're doing Meme coin, is who's the regulatory body on that? Anybody know? So say. There's no say. There's a US Government entity that's a regulatory body. Who controls those regulatory bodies at the executive branch. That goes up to the president. And by the way, who is he putting in these positions? Loyalists. Stupid people. Like the person he's put in charge of fema. Boy, look at this. It's come full circle now. So now you have crypto as a way to launder money. That's. I mean, I'm saying if I were to do it as a criminal, and thinking as a criminal would be a way to launder money and to secure favors from foreign nations, to procure things you can never procure as president, and to set up your kids in a way. Right. Where they can actually continue sort of this Trump dynasty. Because right now, you've heard the rumors of Eric Trump running in 2028, right. For president. So what he's doing is he's setting up this math, this massive wealth bloom. I mean, I would set up this mass. I'm sorry, I would set up this math. Massive wealth bloom. But, you know, by utilizing all these resources to set up my kids, make sure everybody's on our team, launder money, make sure I enhance my bottom, my bottom line. Because I think. I don't know How Trump has actually increased his net worth by billions since he's been president. I guess, I can guess, but I think that's the kind of things that you can use meme coins for. Right. Is just as a money laundering, just like you would use any type of digital asset.

[Amy McGrath]

People have to understand this dwarfs all of like campaign finance, everything. I mean, this guy is literally profiting off of his position in, in such a way that we, I don't even think we've seen this in world history, not just in American history. This is the most corrupt man leader in, I think, I actually think in world history. And it's happening. And the other thing people need to know is we're not talking about something that might happen. He's making money on it now. He's making money on it now in, in the tune of millions and billions.

[Denver Riggleman]

Billions.

[Amy McGrath]

It's a real problem.

[Denver Riggleman]

And I also think he could still win a 28 election. I, I just don't think people care. I think once corruption is just out in the open, once you're, you have a Trump meme coin as a president and think about. Amy, just that that's corrupt. There's no, there's not like, there's not a line, there's not a fine line accepting a 400 million dollar aircraft. Well, that's corrupt. There's no, there's no argument, but people don't care. They just don't care. And I'm wondering, you know, if we're going down a road where people want this strong man, authoritarian, no matter what's, what he does, as long as our life is even sort of improved, which it's not. They're completely just, you know, the wolf, it's been pulled over their eyes. You know, here's, here's, we're going to vote for this guy, you know, or vote for anybody who's corrupt. And I think that's what scares me is we're losing that baseline institutional integrity that even if it was made up at times, at least some people believed it. It's gone now. It's completely gone.

[Amy McGrath]

There's, I'm very worried and you know, all of, all of this stuff from, from last administration with, with Hunter Biden and people saying, well, you know, he made money. Look, guys, it's pennies, pennies in comparison to what Donald Trump and his family are doing right now. There's not, it's not even in the same ballpark, the same stadium in terms of the amount. But we're gonna, we're gonna move on.

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah, Every accusation is a confession, right, Amy?

[Amy McGrath]

That's right. And we could do a whole show on. On this corruption. But there's a lot happening around our country. And there was a heartbreaking story just this past week about a woman in Georgia who the government is basically forcing the family to keep her alive. She is brain dead. She was 30 years old, had a tragic medical incident that left her in this state. When she had the incident, she was nine weeks pregnant. Denver. Her name is Adriana Smith, and she's been on life support for three months now. The fetus is 22 weeks old. And at this point, the family of this woman does not have a choice. They have to keep her on life support. And it's just a heartbreaking situation. The government and the hospital is basically saying we have to keep her on life support because the governor signed this bill in Georgia called the Life act, which grants personhood status to an unborn fetus with a detectable heartbeat. And that's. It's, I don't know, six or ten weeks or something. So now we have embryos and fetuses that have legal rights. And the woman who is, you know, literally in this state. Yeah. Is. Has no. Even if she had an advanced directive, she. That. That no longer applies when a person is pregnant. You basically. You've lost those rights. I just. Where. Where do we start here?

[Denver Riggleman]

I don't know. Like, Amy, it's. So first of all, the family or the party that espouses individual and family rights doesn't seem to really espouse individual and family rights. I don't even know how to get my arms around it. That was my daughter laying there. I'm 55 now. Or say it was my wife. At that time. I was not a not confrontational young man. I can't imagine if my wife is dead, brain dead, and she's on life support and she's nine weeks pregnant. I mean, what decision do you make? Number one? What is your decision to make? Right. It's a decision of the family to make. But I don't know how you even get your arms around the fact that the government is determining that you keep her on life support for a fetus that might or might not die. Now, listen, we could get moral relativists here all day. We. We could talk about should the family choose. Did she say something beforehand where she wanted the baby to be born no matter what? I don't know. I think what. What horrifies me is that it could be taken completely out of the hands of the family. Themselves based on this lack of respect for not just the family, but for the woman, for her life, for her suffering. I, I just, I can't, I can't.

[Amy McGrath]

I mean, Denver, you brought something up where you, you said, we don't know what, what the, the mother wanted. The fact of the matter is it doesn't matter. No, it doesn't matter what she wanted. That's the whole point of this. If you're pregnant in America, in certain parts of, of this country, like Georgia, you've like lost your own dignity. You've lost your own ability to make choices. Even, even like in death, you've lost your ability to, to make decisions for yourself. That's, you're forced to do this.

[Denver Riggleman]

I mean, that it's, it's hard for me to even understand, like, what would you do, Amy? Right? And, and, and you know, the thing is like, for me, right, if it was, if it was my wife or my daughter, I, I think I would be incredibly violent. I'd be in jail. You know, if, if the government's forcing us to keep her alive, right, when we know she's dead, like, there's bad things going to happen. And you know, and that's the thing is that I'm scared of what my reaction would be as a human being one way or the other. That's, and, and, and how does the family every day. I, it. Every part of this. There, there's an effect on every part of this that's so awful and horrific. But it also gives you this other horrific feeling, Amy, is how far can the government go if we're allowing this, what's the next step? What's the next step?

[Amy McGrath]

Here's another thing, and people don't want to talk about it because it is such a horrific personal thing and it creates a lot of emotions with a lot of people. But the government forcing, you know, this, this woman who is brain dead to be a human incubator for a fetus that may not be viable, may be viable, but have tremendous problems in life. Tremendous because of the medical condition of the mother. Okay, Nobody, nobody, a lot of people don't want to talk about that. That is real. And then the financial responsibility of the family, not only for the keeping the woman on life support, but also the, the responsibility of, of now caring for a child. I mean, I, I, I just, I'm not going to make a, a, a, a judgment on this. I'm only going to say it should not be government making that choice.

[Denver Riggleman]

Absolutely it should not be. And you know, you get To a point, you just don't know how you could allow government to make that choice. And I think that's. I think all your points are, well, taken. Taken. We talked about the cascading effect, and that is my biggest worry is where does it go from here? And, you know, after talking something horrible about, about this, right. And we're going into this, I know that that's something we're going to bring up before, but I think as we're going into. I know we have some other topics to go, but I think, Amy, we should probably go into this a little bit more. This cascading effect around the country in every state that has these. That has these rules and these laws. But I think we need to talk about the country as a whole and why we are failing. And I think part of that is that our country itself, you know, we're talking about these awful things, you know, that's happening in Georgia, but our country itself, right. We're in, we're in a predicament where financially, based on our own credit agencies, we could be going down a path where this deficit and debt absolutely destroys us.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah. Just this week, right, Moody's downgraded the United States in there. It's. Moody's is a credit reporting agency. There's three big ones. The other two, as you know, already downgraded the United States several years ago, but this is sort of the last one. This has never happened. And, and this credit agency downgraded the United States because of our fiscal situation, because this big, beautiful bill that the Republicans are pushing through right now is going to be worse for our deficit, worse for our overall debt, and it's basically telling creditors, hey, the United States is less capable of getting their fiscal shit together. And here's the thing, Denver, the Treasury secretary, when asked about this Moody's downgrade, you know what he said? He said, who cares?

[Denver Riggleman]

Yeah. Because, you know, for them, right, they're going down this path where they don't care. And by the way, I do have a little bit of trivia. Do you know that Moody's, S and P and Fitch, the three credit agencies, are actually competitors? And you can go and actually do a credit rating based on, if you go to a certain place or another, their biggest worry is losing business. And we can go into that another time. But what I find interesting is that the administration doesn't care. I think as we're forcing, as we're forcing our way down this line where they're, it cuts just to benefit them and to go against the American people directly, I think they think they can manipulate the market. And I think it's sort of this. And I don't want to lose this usually, Amy. It's almost this fascistic way of looking at it, this autocratic, top down. We can manipulate the government any way we want. You know, they talked about, you know, firing Jerome Powell, right. They've, they've talked about all these different types of things where they can control the economy themselves. They can artificially, you know, really maneuver the interest rates too. So I, I think it's just part of their mindset is this sort of authoritarian mindset that they.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah, but here's what people need to know, though. Why does this matter? It matters because creditors think of the United States is less capable and that means the interest rates will go up. Okay, that's right. And that's not that. That has enormous effects not only on our own federal debt, because we'll pay more, our children and grandchildren will pay more for the debt, that debt in the future. But also it affects us personally and auto loans, mortgage loans, all that stuff, thanks to what's happening right now.

[Denver Riggleman]

Well, we'll just invest in stablecoin. We'll be, we'll be fine, Amy. We just invest in, you know, what's pretty crazy? As you talk about stable and unstable. Let's talk about unstable unstable Trump and him going after Bruce Springsteen. Because I guess, I guess Bruce the Boss had some bad things to say about him in a UK tour. And I find it interesting he's so thin skinned. But it's part of what we talked about in our first little segment there about what's happening with Moody and the downgrade and our credit rating is that they think they can just sort of deliberately and personally destroy somebody by saying they're going to. And I think that's a little, again, I think it's indicative of our government when you have somebody who's putting out a YouTube snippet or a true social snippet, I'm sorry, where he's hitting. We had a President United States put out where he's hitting, you know, Bruce Springsteen with a golf ball, the same thing he did to Biden. I mean, it's so juvenile and thin skinned and ridiculous, but it also sort of, I think, looks at how unstable this guy is.

[Amy McGrath]

Yeah. I mean, it reminds me of Elon Musk, who, you know these. There we have a President of the United States who's acting like he is, what, 11 years old. It's so stupid. But good on Bruce Springsteen for saying the truth.

[Denver Riggleman]

Now I'm gonna. For that I'm start. Bruce Springsteen Coin, Boss coin.

[Amy McGrath]

He may already have one. You know, this week, Kristi Noem, who is our Secretary of Homeland Security, she was on Capitol out on Capitol Hill today, or actually this week, and she was. Was testifying about her agency. She was asked by a senator about habeas corpus. What is habeas corpus? And this is what she said. So, Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus? Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country. Let me, Let me stop habeas corpus. Excuse me, That's. That's incorrect, President. Excuse me. Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. Oh, my God.

[Denver Riggleman]

You.

[Amy McGrath]

Can we, can we just have some cabinet members who actually have read and understand the Constitution of the United States of America. Right?

[Denver Riggleman]

I feel like, yeah, I feel like we need a psa. Don't eat your own hair extensions. Right. Because you get habeas corpus confused. I. I mean, she is. She is just so ridiculous and so idiotic. But can you imagine that the DHS secretary doesn't know what habeas corpus is?

[Amy McGrath]

I know that look. Hey, everyday Americans may not you. You might be listening and be like, well, I don't. Maybe I don't really know what habeas is. She is the Secretary of Homeland Security. Habeas, by the way, is basically anyone's ability to not be detained by the government without having their day in court, without presenting themselves in front of a judge to say, government, why did you nab me? Why did you take me and detain me and imprison me? It is a fundamental right dating back to the Magna Carta that was enshrined in the Constitution itself in Article 1 of the Constitution. It is a pretty freaking big deal. And anybody that, that has any public service, particularly somebody who's in charge of a major, major Homeland Security agency that deals with possibly detaining people in the United States, needs to know that. I just. My head exploded.

[Denver Riggleman]

Well, you know, she thinks habeas corpus is one of those new watches, like a Rolex. Hello, have you seen my new habeas corpus watch? $40,000 with jewels. And I like to show it in front of prisoners in El Salvador.

[Amy McGrath]

Well, and she may be like a lot of these MAGA people who think that, oh, well, habeas corpus has been suspended by President Trump because of what's going on no, Congress is the one that suspends habeas corpus. It's only done four times in American history during Civil War and in the Philippines in 1905. We did it after the Civil War because of the KKK and the President and Congress suspended it after Pearl harbor in Hawaii. That's it.

[Denver Riggleman]

That's it.

[Amy McGrath]

We don't do it. It's not a normal thing. This week we are saying a cheers to Christine Beechler. Hopefully I'm saying that right. Christine Beechler, she's a librarian in Lowell, Michigan who's endured years of harassment from the free speech suffocating group Moms for Liberty. She has chosen to fight back in civil court. So, you know this group, Moms for Liberty, they have gone after librarians and teachers, labeling them pedophiles, labeling them pornographers, saying all kinds of nasty things about them. And Christine has decided to fight back. If she wins her case in court, it will be a huge victory for free speech and a devastating blow for the bullies of Moms for Liberty. But here I. I just gotta say, it's not just Christine, but librarians all over the United States. Cheers to Christine and all librarians around the United States.

[Denver Riggleman]

Cheers to Christine.

[Amy McGrath]

That was wonderful. We'll see you next time on Truth on the Barrel as a great show.

[Denver Riggleman]

Yes. And maybe you better subscribe. You better actually subscribe to our YouTube, go to your favorite podcast and follow us on socials. If you're not, you're a loser. And we're going to suspend habeas corpus and we're going to come in your house. See you soon.

[Amy McGrath]

See you next time.

[Brad]

When the Moore family ditched cable Internet and switched to Siddly fiber, they got so much more. Mr. Moore got more upload speed for next level gaming and live streaming to the masses with reliable service. Mrs. Moore is no longer her family's IT guru, leaving her more time to stream games into overtime.

[Denver Riggleman]

Let's go.

[Brad]

And young Mason Moore got more done quickly uploading HD product demos and video conferencing. Without freesight, the numbers look good.

[Denver Riggleman]

Brad, you're on mute.

[Brad]

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