Just Two Good Old Boys

120 Politics, Travel, and Geopolitics Shape Our Complicated World

Gene and Ben

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What gives one country the right to tell another how to defend itself? This question forms the backdrop of a provocative discussion about the Israel-Iran conflict and America's role in foreign affairs. Rather than offering simple answers, we explore the complicated reality that nations should be allowed to make their own decisions – but with that freedom comes the responsibility to handle the consequences without external rescue.

The conversation shifts between global tensions and practical advice as we share travel insights for those heading to Cancun, Mexico. From swimming with dolphins to visiting Mayan ruins, these firsthand recommendations provide valuable guidance for families exploring international destinations. We also delve into the legal differences travelers should be aware of when crossing borders, particularly regarding firearms regulations and personal security measures that can save your vacation from disaster.

California politics becomes a focal point when examining how regional problems affect the nation as a whole. The discussion draws parallels between letting international conflicts resolve naturally and allowing states to face the consequences of their policy decisions. This perspective challenges conventional wisdom about intervention at both global and national levels, suggesting that sometimes the most helpful approach might be allowing natural consequences to unfold.

Digital security measures receive detailed attention, with practical insights about password management, multi-factor authentication, and protecting personal information. These recommendations reflect a broader philosophy about personal sovereignty and responsibility – themes that echo throughout the episode's examination of how individuals and nations navigate an increasingly complex world of overlapping jurisdictions and competing interests.

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Speaker 1:

Howdy Ben? How are you today? Dude, rough morning. We're recording this way later than we intended because of miscommunication between you and I and, yeah, I was awoken this morning due to the issue and those who listened to the last episode will know exactly what I'm talking about which I appreciate all the reach out I got from that. Seriously, several people reached out with like hey, have you looked at this? Have you looked at this? A lot of it, I had, some of it. I had not.

Speaker 2:

I'm glad you're enjoying getting the reach around. That's good that people are listening.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, should we talk about politics. Sure, did you see the 250th anniversary of the US Army?

Speaker 2:

I saw about an hour. How much of it did you see? It looked like an all-day affair. It was an all-day affair. I saw about an hour. How much of it did you see it?

Speaker 1:

looked like an all day affair. Uh, it was an all day affair. I saw probably three to four of it. Um, I watched Trump speech, I watched fan speech. I like it really actually impressed me and I I have it actually fully downloaded on the flight tomorrow to watch. Oh nice yeah.

Speaker 2:

So what's the net of the Vance speech? Any insights? I would say of vance's was more aggressive than trump's in a way.

Speaker 1:

So vance was very much. Hey, here we are putting on display a little bit of our technology. This is what we're willing to disclose, which was significant. I mean, they had not only you know, the robot dogs and everything else, but they had unmanned m1 abrams. They had, um, you know, quite a bit there. There was a lot in the air show there was there. There was tons there of just okay iran, okay china, you want to fuck with us.

Speaker 2:

Here's what we got, or at least what we're willing to show you yeah, I, I'd listen to one of the generals speak can't remember his name and then I saw that people were uh taking photos with different weapons. That was cool. That would have been fun to do.

Speaker 1:

Well, and not only that, but, like the unsubscribed podcast, got to go there and be there for some of the commissioning ceremonies. They commissioned new officers, they did a ton of things there. This was the left track to frame this as oh, this is Trump wanting to embellish his birthday. His birthday was never mentioned by himself and it was mentioned a few times by the crowds and a couple of people, but this was not Trump trying to do anything other than being pretty fucking patriotic and, quite frankly, a really good investment in recruitment.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I don't remember when did military parades become not a thing, because they were definitely a thing when I was young.

Speaker 1:

The 90s.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I guess.

Speaker 1:

So HW Bush kind of put the kibosh on some of that, and then Clinton finished it off and I hit the mute button accidentally there. So sorry about that, oh, okay.

Speaker 2:

So Clinton got rid of it for you. Okay, okay. The only guy to attack Europe since world war two.

Speaker 1:

HW Bush did some, but not as much Reagan had before.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Clinton basically did none. That's what I'm saying. It it it's kind of progression.

Speaker 2:

It was a draft dodger.

Speaker 1:

Uh, clinton, yeah, it's kind of progression. It was a draft dodger, clinton.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I don't know that to be true, but okay, I'm pretty sure George H W was. But I don't know about Clinton.

Speaker 2:

I'm pretty sure he had a flat foot or something.

Speaker 1:

Or a? You know penis, flat penis or something. That's right. You know John C DeVorex? Yeah, he received deferment due to getting a Rhodes Scholarship. Yeah, and, devorex, the theory is that he's the vasectomy victim.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm, what's the point of having a vasectomy when your wife is gay?

Speaker 1:

You don't end up with random pregnancies that then threaten that dynamic.

Speaker 2:

That's true. That's a good point.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, man, I am hopping on a plane tomorrow and I am going to Cancun.

Speaker 2:

Your room is all clean. I checked in.

Speaker 1:

It's a little nerve-wracking, to be honest with you, given tensions where they're at right now geopolitically I don't think that's a problem.

Speaker 2:

Okay, no, no. That whole area lives on tourism, the. The last thing they want to do is fuck with tourism.

Speaker 1:

So it's going to be very pro-american out there, I guarantee you right, but you know I'm going to be going with two little kids and everything else and it it's just, it's a thing.

Speaker 2:

So as long as you don't come back with four little kids, it's all good oh, I should be so lucky.

Speaker 1:

Um no, uh, we're going to do the you had suggested the swimming with the dolphins, yep, and the aquarium over there.

Speaker 2:

Right across the street from the hotel yep.

Speaker 1:

No, it's about 20 minutes away, but it's okay.

Speaker 2:

It's not 20 minutes.

Speaker 1:

It is.

Speaker 2:

Well, there is an aquarium that's literally across the street from a hotel.

Speaker 1:

Right, okay, there's another aquarium 20 minutes away okay, that has this diving with the dolphins that um will allow children under eight. Their rule is basically children under eight must be accompanied by an adult right that makes sense so the one across the street says they have to be over, like 11 or something yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, got it so right.

Speaker 2:

So you just have to find another aquarium. There's actually, you could do it in the actual gulf too. You don't have to do it in an aquarium. There's plenty of places that have dolphins that are just netted up in a golf yeah, well we're.

Speaker 1:

We're looking at a few experiences to do, we're going to go to some ruins, we're going to play around a little bit and we're just going to enjoy ourselves. So that's the, that's the plan. You're there a week.

Speaker 2:

Monday through Friday, yep.

Speaker 1:

Check in Monday. Check out Friday.

Speaker 2:

We'll do a show our normal time, or do you want to take a few days off after that?

Speaker 1:

No, tomorrow or next week normal time should do you want to take a few days off after that? No, the tomorrow, our next week normal time should be fine okay, I would have taken days off, but that's cool.

Speaker 2:

Uh, if you get a chance, go to uh isla mujeres. Uh, it's. It's a lot more rustic and less touristy and very cool out there how far is it from cancun?

Speaker 1:

it's. It's a lot more rustic and less touristy, and very cool out there.

Speaker 2:

How far is it from Cancun? It's the island across the uh. You could see it right off your balcony If you have a ocean side room.

Speaker 1:

I do. Oh, there you go. The reason why I ask is because you know the reason why we're not going to chesaniza, for example is.

Speaker 2:

It's a three and a three hour drive and you know kids, yeah, so you're going to to caldo I'm sorry what you're going to caldo right what is to caldo?

Speaker 1:

to call that's the other pyramid thing um, we're going to the mayan ruins that are 40 minutes from our hotel okay good, whatever those are called, I couldn't tell you 40, 40 minutes from your hotel is the airport.

Speaker 2:

Now I think that the I'm pretty sure it's to call it.

Speaker 1:

It's because chichen itza was the far away one, and chichen itza is the big one, yeah, um, there are a couple others that are closer oh, maybe it's tulum.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's probably.

Speaker 1:

Tulum is what you're going to well, whatever it is is like 15, 20 minutes away from the hotel, and you know they have fake ruins at the hotel.

Speaker 2:

I mean they're actual, real ruins. They're just not interesting but they're literally at the. I guess it would be the north side of the beach on the hotel side. You can walk over there if they're real close to where the sea turtles lay their eggs.

Speaker 1:

Well, maybe we'll just do that, but regardless, it's supposed to rain pretty much all week.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but it doesn't rain all day there. You get a rain for like half an hour and then it goes away and then it comes back in the afternoon again.

Speaker 1:

That's what everyone tells me. I'm looking at my weather apps and my weather goes away and then it comes back in the afternoon again. That's what everyone tells me. I'm looking at my weather apps and my weather apps disagree.

Speaker 2:

So I hope I've stayed at that literal hotel over the last 20 years quite a bit, so that's what the weather usually looks like if it's raining. And the good thing about the rain is it's warm and for the kids, they'll probably enjoy. Enjoy being on the beach and doing stuff even while it's raining. Maybe it's just another water park activity as far as kids are concerned.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean, we're right on the sand, right? I mean we're oceanfront, it's right there, we've got ocean view. It should be a fun trip. So I've never been to Mexico. I mean, we're ocean front, it's right there, we've got ocean view. It should be a fun trip. So I've never been to Mexico. This is a new one for me. It'll be fun, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Been all over.

Speaker 1:

Just never. Mexico has never made the list.

Speaker 2:

When I met you, the only country, you'd been to was Canada.

Speaker 1:

Now you've been over.

Speaker 2:

Okay and no, I'm just saying you've done a lot of travel yeah, yeah your share of traveling.

Speaker 1:

Well, I mean. So mexico will be my ninth country. Yeah, it's not insignificant but it's not, yeah. So you and I broke a rule where we talked about some subjects when I was taking Max to my dog, to my parents, just going on the strip, and we had a little bit of a phone call that we didn't record unless you did.

Speaker 2:

What do you mean? We broke some rules. What rules?

Speaker 1:

well rules that. We talked about some things we should be talking about on the podcast that's a suggestion, uh, anyway, um, I'm gonna lay out my position and then you can rebut and we can delve into it. Yeah, uh, fuck israel, fuck, fuck Israel for what they're doing. We should drop a nuke on Tel Aviv and Tehran and say, okay, anyone else?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's craziness in every count possible, obviously. I I think that Israel always can do whatever the fuck they want. It's none of our business. And, at the same time, the flip side of that coin is it's none of our business, which means we don't pay for it, we don't get involved, we don't come to the rescue, we don't do anything because they do something problem is, we are well, we shouldn shouldn't be.

Speaker 2:

That's the solution there. So I think, if you know, if we were to get involved for whatever reason, it would be a mistake. I don't think we ought to be getting involved. I don't think we ought to be getting involved. But you can't both say that Israel shouldn't get anything from the US and we should have nothing to do with them, and then also tell Israel what to do. Agreed, you've got to pick one. If you want us to be the big brother and tell them what to do, then we've got to come to their rescue when they fuck up. If you don't want them to have to come to their rescue, well then they could do whatever the fuck they want. It's their problem.

Speaker 1:

Which I kind of wonder if this isn't a separation anxiety moment for Israel.

Speaker 2:

All right, I think it's just here's what you got to remember. The current president of Israel, the prime minister of Israel Netanyahu, is an American. He grew up in the US. He speaks English as his first language. He speaks English as his first language.

Speaker 2:

He sees the US just as much as his homeland as he does Israel, and that's the way you can hear that in his speech, like he doesn't see them as separate countries that make separate decisions. That's his problem. That shouldn't be our problem. So I have no issue with any other country doing whatever the fuck they want. They just got to remember the golden rule, which is you know, fuck around, find out, but, honestly, our focus and our problems are here at home, and we got plenty of them here.

Speaker 1:

And what do you think of us defending israel the way we are?

Speaker 2:

well, I don't think we ought to be doing jack shit with israel. I mean, we are we well? We should well. How many ways do you want me to say we shouldn't be? I've said this since day one. I said this since a year ago. When they got attacked in October, I said they could do whatever they want. If I lived there, I would probably bomb the fuck out of Gaza, and they have been. That's not our problem. We're not the ones bombing them and we shouldn't be the ones buying Gaza. As much as it sounds cool to have Trump, you know, take over the beach and put in a Trump casino out there, that's just funny. It's a meme. Realistically speaking, you know, what Israel is doing with Iran is not that different from what Russia did with Ukraine.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I totally disagree.

Speaker 2:

They're attacking a foreign country, check that is close to them, check that has a threat of getting nuclear weapons that are aimed at them very closely positioned to them.

Speaker 1:

So Ukraine never had that?

Speaker 2:

No, I didn't say had, iran didn't have it either.

Speaker 1:

I'm saying very close to getting.

Speaker 2:

And Ukraine is probably about a year away from getting US weapons, or at least German weapons.

Speaker 1:

Iran has the capability of generating a nuke tomorrow if they want to.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't think they do I don't think they do.

Speaker 1:

Based off of.

Speaker 2:

Based off of the fact that we keep a tighter eye on Iran than just about any other country in the Middle East. Like we have more satellite time over Iran, we have more humans in Iran, we have a lot of people watching Iran, and if Iran got to the point where they can make a nuke tomorrow, us would be the one doing something about it, not Israel. The fact that Israel is doing this leads me to think that they're actually further away than that. Why? Well, because Israel is going to do something knee-jerk us is going to wait till the last minute and okay when your rationale there is well, because, first of all, middle eastern people in general are more knee-jerk and, like it or not, the israel is a middle eastern country.

Speaker 2:

you mean they're semitic? You mean they're Semitic? No, I mean they're Middle Eastern. They've got that attitude. Not at all. I mean what I say, dude.

Speaker 1:

You just don't want to admit when you say I'm anti-Semitic, that I'm anti the entire fucking region, but it's okay.

Speaker 2:

Well, if you want to create new definitions for words like man and woman, I, I, I'm not really into that I prefer to have words actually mean what they mean.

Speaker 1:

Actually I'm going back around for 100 years.

Speaker 2:

I'm going back on the original definition, but it's okay, but the original definition, which has been around for 100 years, only includes jews. But the original definition, which has been around for 100 years, only includes Jews. Okay, there is no other definition, then why?

Speaker 1:

was it ever? Why wasn't it anti-Jewish or anti-Zionist or anti-anything related to the religion, versus the people that were in that area?

Speaker 2:

That's literally why it's anti-Semitic. That's why it's called that. It's because it refers to non-Presbyterian Jews.

Speaker 2:

The Semitic people does not just include Jews, never has the word anti-Semitic, which was created in Europe 100 years ago, is anti-Semitic because they wanted to include non-religious Jews, and the word Jew first and foremost implies a religion. However, if you look at the discrimination against Jews, those discriminating against Jews, whether in Germany or elsewhere, don't really care, and never have cared, whether it's a practicing Jew or an atheist Jew who runs a store and has nothing to do with religion. If you look Jewish, they're gonna dislike you. That's why the word Semitic was used. It's basically saying it's discrimination against those guys that you draw with hooked noses ironically, neither of us have one, but okay yeah, well, some of us are more jewish than others.

Speaker 2:

But, dude, by the way you know, you do know I'm like far from a pure jew. Sure, we, we talk about that and it's funny and everything, but I'm mostly russian oh well, you know, lots of russians were jewish yeah, but genetically I've seen fiddler on the roof. Dude, it's okay I, yes, I have too I uh, if I were rich man I actually even know where the village is.

Speaker 2:

That, uh, that we were kicked out of back in them days, back in the late 1800s. My dad looked it up on the map while I was up there.

Speaker 1:

So where did your family fall on the Bolshevik Revolution?

Speaker 2:

Oh, solidly pro, Really. Oh yeah, jews are always for the communism.

Speaker 1:

Agreed. I mean you look at the leaders of the Bolsheviks and some Jews, my grandparents- met at a communist party meeting.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so that should tell you something. How do you feel about that? It's par for the course. It's kind of what I would expect them to. It's very stereotypical. It's very stereotypical. And if I tell you what?

Speaker 1:

their jobs. Are you're going to think it's even more stereotypical? Okay, I'm listening.

Speaker 2:

So my grandfather was an economist who worked at a bank and my grandmother was a college teacher.

Speaker 1:

I don't know what subject she taught, so I'm not sure exactly. Okay, so they were literally anti-Tsarist.

Speaker 2:

They were solidly middle class to upper middle class.

Speaker 1:

Right, so they were well within that yeah which is very stereotypical I have enough free time to say fuck the czar.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think, I think what it is is, um, you know, we could spend the whole show talking about what it is in the background of Jewish culture that makes people lean left. Uh, I have a lot of theories on that count, although I will say in the U? S that is. Although I will say in the US that is solidly changing thanks to all the from the river to the sea chanting going on. There's more and more Jews joining the right now.

Speaker 1:

Well, okay, if we're talking about LA and everything else, yeah, it has gone literally to the ultimate end of saying from the river, meaning the Mississippi in the US context to the Pacific is Mexico.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, pretty much that's what I've been hearing.

Speaker 1:

No, no, uh. Mexico occupied a portion of california for a period of time of about 20 years. We've had it for over 200 um fuck you.

Speaker 2:

No, yeah, you may want to refrain from saying shit like that, as you're going to be in mexico tomorrow but, I'm okay. Well, you were the one who was worried about geopolitics. I'm saying don't bring the geopolitics.

Speaker 1:

Dude, you're not going to post this till?

Speaker 2:

I'm already on my way back I will make sure I posted before that all right, cool.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I already know where the embassy is and I know csv is going to ask.

Speaker 2:

So I'm going to include the geo coordinates of the hotel uh-huh okay no, so just because csv is going gonna ask, I know so quick travel tip um whenever you're flying.

Speaker 1:

One things I always do is I take a copy of the passport and I put it in the liner of the bag. Um, the reason why I put it in the liner of the bag is it's a piece of paper. You know, a single piece of paper isn't going to be easily noticed there, yep, but it's a quick way to say that is my bag, this is mine. Well, someone can't strip off other identification. They can't do shit without unpacking the bag entirely. They can't get to the liner. They can't do that um, beyond that um, if your passports ever lost or stolen while you're overseas and you go to a us consulate, and if you have a copy of your passport, it makes it a much quicker easier yeah, they can look everything up.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm not too worried about people seeing my bag. Okay, have you had your bag?

Speaker 1:

stolen. Um, domestically, I've had my bag lost, yes, lost, or stolen. Lost, I I'll say lost because it came pre-stolen, but there was enough valuables in there that either way, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2:

Yeah well, my initials are embroidered on my bags, so it's pretty hard to confuse them oh well, my bags have very unique tagging and everything else.

Speaker 1:

Uh, thanks to some of the 3d printers from the no genocide. Um, like I, I, I know my bag. I'm not gonna confuse my bag for someone else. It's more about somebody else confusing it for theirs, so you want to make sure it doesn't look like theirs oh yeah, like I have my status tag on there with United, I have another custom name tag, externally visible I. It is clear this is not their bag.

Speaker 2:

I have another custom name tag externally visible. It is clear this is not their bag. Yeah, yeah, I always thought it'd be a good idea to have like a bumper sticker type thing on your bag that just says this is not your bag, because obviously the only guy that's going to know it's theirs is the guy who put that on Sure?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, now, when I was shipping things that somebody could rip off, I actually had a hard-sided case that was lockable and then I put a Red Cross symbol on it, a really big format, so it looked like it was medical equipment and people aren't going to steal that unless they're total assholes.

Speaker 1:

Well, the only time I really fly with a checked bag is when I'm carrying a gun.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's usually when I carry it in there is when I'm carrying a gun. Yeah, well, that's usually when I carry it in there. But yeah, you're obviously not taking a gun to Mexico.

Speaker 1:

So no, the rules there are fucking insane, Like a .380 is the top caliber for.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I remember going to Mexico and like being able to buy magazines super cheap for large size.

Speaker 1:

No, you can't do shit there, not anymore. So in your home you're allowed, because it's in the Mexican Constitution. Like I went down this rabbit hole, you're allowed a pistol for defense up to a 380. Yep, which is an anemic cartridge. But regardless of that, okay, fine, um. So I can't take my nightmare um in exporting a firearm and then re-importing it is such a pain in the ass, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I know a few guys that have gotten dove hunting down there, I believe. I think it's doves.

Speaker 1:

That's mainly Argentina.

Speaker 2:

What else could it be in Mexico? Ducks, maybe Ducks, maybe Ducks. Sure, yeah, could be ducks. I don't know, but it was something that was Mexican, and even just bringing 12-gauge was a pain in the butt.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, you literally have to export the firearm. So you have to go through all the US procedures, Then you have to import the firearm. You have to go through all the US procedures, then you have to import the firearm. You have to go through all the Mexican procedures, then you have to export the firearm. Go through all the Mexican procedures, import the firearm. There's just no way you're taking something there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I don't know what the rules are in renting guns out there either. Yeah, I don't know what the rules are in renting guns out there either pretty liberal.

Speaker 1:

Actually are they. Yeah, so if you're a tourist and you have range time or you've got a hunt scheduled, you can rent a gun pretty easy.

Speaker 2:

Oh, okay, good, good.

Speaker 1:

So question.

Speaker 2:

Go on mute again. No, I'm here. Okay, question what?

Speaker 1:

Where do you fall on this LA riot stuff?

Speaker 2:

Oh, I've said it before I think we should just let it burn. I don't believe we ought to be doing anything at all. It's California's problem, just like Israel.

Speaker 1:

But that problem affects the rest of the nation.

Speaker 2:

Does it though.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, electoral votes alone. Yes, it absolutely does.

Speaker 2:

Well, we can just keep arresting their congress critters then.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so Newsom 2026?.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, there's nothing to stop somebody from running right as long as they were born in this country.

Speaker 1:

Actually, the only prohibition on a foreign national holding office is president. Other than that, you can be a naturalized citizen and run for any office you want. Yeah, I've done that.

Speaker 2:

But in Newsom's case he can run. But I don't think after what's happened in California he can run. But I don't think after what's happened in California he's going to have any chance to help.

Speaker 1:

I think he's going to run for Senate.

Speaker 2:

So is Nancy going to be done then?

Speaker 1:

No, no, no. What's her face's successor? The woman who couldn't remember where she was and everything else. Oh, the black chick, no chick, no, no, she was white. Um, now I'm being equally ableist and can't remember. Uh, but uh, dementia patient, obvious dementia patient relative relativeative dementia or full-on dementia Full-on. Like, did not understand why she was on the floor of a.

Speaker 2:

Really, I don't know who that is. I must have missed that bit, oh my.

Speaker 1:

God, look up the last two California senators.

Speaker 2:

Okay, here we go.

Speaker 1:

California Senators oh my god, I thought she was dead. She is. That's the point. This is the guy that replaced her.

Speaker 2:

That Newsom would be going up against that he yeah, yeah, yeah, because I thought she had been replaced and you're like he's gonna go for her. Okay, so he would run against the guy. That's got it right now, correct, okay.

Speaker 1:

Okay, okay, okay. Did he appointed to that position?

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure, that's. That'd be a dick move, but okay.

Speaker 1:

Oh, total dick move. Yeah, but um. But have you seen him?

Speaker 2:

Oh, nisam. Yes, yes, I've seen Nisam.

Speaker 1:

What part of him doesn't scream dick?

Speaker 2:

Well, fair enough. I mean, his face does kind of look like it. Hmm, yeah, I don't know, man it's. I thought he was gonna run instead of laughing black girl, uh. But he didn't, and probably because he knew running against trump would be so it was rigged yeah, so yeah, I don't know, man I, what he's got going for him is he's got the politician look right.

Speaker 2:

He is what he's kind of got, that kind of late 40s gray hair, you know, nice looking man kind of thing going on. But he's run California to the ground. They had a surplus when he came in Yep and it's just a total dumpster fire and that's why I say let it burn.

Speaker 1:

So, but this is where him moving to a senator is to his advantage.

Speaker 2:

Well, because the is to his advantage, because the next governor has.

Speaker 1:

He's only going to do things that are going to be advantageous. The next governor has to come in and deal with reality. He, as a senator, doesn't necessarily have to deal with that.

Speaker 2:

Well, he wouldn't have to deal with it at all, other than getting some pork for California Sure, but that's for California Sure.

Speaker 1:

But that's my point.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, I don't disagree with that at all.

Speaker 1:

I mean do you think he's going to give up politics and say no, I'm done.

Speaker 2:

This is what I've done. Of course, he's not going to give up politics.

Speaker 1:

Then he's going to be the next senator from California, mark Rauerts. He's going to be the next senator from California.

Speaker 2:

Mark my words. Yeah, but it's more likely that than running for president.

Speaker 1:

He can't run for president right now.

Speaker 2:

No, yeah, I don't think so either anyway, um what else did you happen to watch?

Speaker 1:

you're usually the one sending me all this stuff um sure I've been prepping for this trip so yeah, you haven't been watching as much dude I I have had to deal with so much big shit and everything else over the last week, getting ahead of stuff that I would normally do next week, and it's been crazy. We've got this bid open with Scottish water. It's like 80 million pounds.

Speaker 2:

Oh well, don't talk about contracts on the podcast.

Speaker 1:

Well, it's a multi award. Everything I'm saying is public knowledge. Either way like seriously, an 80 million pound multi awardaward? Hell, if we get a fifth of that, jesus Christ, cool, right, yeah, no shit. So there's been a lot going on, so there's been getting ahead of these issues that are coming up. I'm still taking my laptop with me for work. You gotta do that.

Speaker 2:

I don't want to, and you know the messaging to my staff has been if you need me, call me, yeah, but please know that you actually really need me yeah, I usually just tell people that you know I'll have a laptop and phone with me, but I'm going to be in an area with really shitty Wi-Fi and mediocre phone coverage, so you may get me or you may not get me until 12 hours later.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, what I've told people is everything is muted and I will reply to you at my will muted and I will reply to you at my will. So if I get bored and I open up my laptop and they check my email yeah, well, otherwise uh, if it's an emergency, text me yeah yeah, that makes sense.

Speaker 2:

You guys slack at all, or that I'm sorry you guys use, use Slack.

Speaker 1:

No Teams, teams, that's too bad. Corporate America, everybody uses Teams. Yeah, I used.

Speaker 2:

Slack when I was at.

Speaker 1:

Dragos. But before that and since then, no one fucking uses Slack. Everyone always bitches about Teams, right, but Teams accomplishes the same mission as Slack and Zoom combined Right.

Speaker 2:

Well, slack actually has always had video, it's just never been publicized because they don't really want you using it.

Speaker 1:

It fucking sucks.

Speaker 2:

It's not bad, I've used it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, you haven't used it with a large group of people people.

Speaker 2:

I've used it with 45 people. How many people do you want? If you pulled that off, then great congratulations well more than I would force everyone on slack after that work. Fine. The I like about Slack but it's for the paid version only is just they never delete anything. So anything you send to anybody, just like Gmail, it's just there for eternity. You can always look things up. It's got a really good searching capability and blank mail material.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, which is literally the opposite policy of what I use for personal stuff on Signal, which has a 30-day burn.

Speaker 1:

Depending on your settings.

Speaker 2:

Not, depending on my settings. Everything's 30 days.

Speaker 1:

No, no, no. So the default settings is everything is permanent. So you have to go in and say I want to kill this. My settings is everything's on 30%, oh I agree with you, dude, like my LastPass account is a great example of sitting there and saying hey, I'm going to customize the shit out of this, I'm going to change the number of hashes. That has been done from my master password, which is already super strong. I'm going to require this, that and the other.

Speaker 2:

His password is called super strong Go ahead, keep going.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, sure you go.

Speaker 2:

Is that with a dollar sign on there?

Speaker 1:

Yep Two of them.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, no one would guess that yeah no.

Speaker 1:

My password is actually 36 characters long, with 16 characters of true entropy mixed in.

Speaker 2:

So good luck, but you don't know what it is, then I'm sorry.

Speaker 1:

You don't know your password, then I do. That's my master password. I know it. You know it for sure.

Speaker 2:

Yes, okay All right, anyway.

Speaker 1:

Plus you have multi-factor, with YubiKeys involved and physical tokens and things like that, like you know, I do a few things, okay. My hash of my vault is the non-standard algorithm, and that is based off of preventing rainbow attacks, right, Mm-hmm. So yeah, there's that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I remember when the Microsoft Rainbow Table came out For Landman yeah, for Landman. I remember everybody's downloading that thing.

Speaker 1:

For Landman, yeah, For Landman. I remember everybody's downloading that thing.

Speaker 2:

Well, landman's really easy, because Landman actually breaks up the past.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, two, eight characters yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Three, one, four.

Speaker 2:

That doesn't sound right, okay it is. That doesn't sound right, okay it is. Yeah, because what I remember is it was an unsalted double eight character that splits it into eight characters and then no.

Speaker 1:

No, so that's if you use over a 12-character password, Right, but if you use anything else, it's 314.

Speaker 2:

Oh well, who would use an under eight character?

Speaker 1:

password. That's insane. That's the vast majority of people through the history of this algorithm. But the point is it is just it's not solving a 12 character password, it's solving a fraction. Yeah, a fraction, a fraction. That's the problem.

Speaker 2:

Well, the Rainbow Table, I remember, fit on one CD.

Speaker 1:

That's how old this is Exactly, and the fact of the matter is everything I run into today. Landman is a fucking valid attack in a lot of ways.

Speaker 2:

It's scary. Sorry, you have to take a ways. It's scary.

Speaker 1:

Anyway.

Speaker 2:

Sorry, you have to take a drink Of Tea. I'm drinking tea, man, I don't drink anything else. Why would you be?

Speaker 1:

drinking tea at 11 o'clock at night.

Speaker 2:

Oh, caffeine, it's fine, I drank tea morning to night.

Speaker 1:

I did not have caffeine today the way I normally did, okay, because I woke up, I had the issue and I took three Sudafed. Now, this is 12-hour Sudafed, this is extra strength. That didn't do it, so I took the emergency prescription. I was so wired and jittery throughout the entire fucking day I drank like a quarter of a cup of coffee and that was it. Like I was shaking all day today, really Okay. My heart rate did not drop below 200 for the vast majority of the day. Nice Dude, I should have been the German soldier, right, I was so fucking hopped up on shit.

Speaker 2:

Or an American one.

Speaker 1:

Okay, fine, air Force, yeah. But my point is I took so many amphetamines and shit to just deal with this. It was crazy Like my hands were literally shaking. My hands don't ever shake. I can drink a full bottle of coffee and do whatever.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's just from not being used to it After a while you get used to it. They don't shake anymore.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to get used to it, dude, I. After a while you get used to it. They don't shake anymore. I don't want to get used to it, dude. I have to find the underlying cause here. I did that for about a year.

Speaker 2:

And after about three months you're good.

Speaker 1:

I don't know that I'll make it to the three-month mark if this happens every day.

Speaker 2:

You may not have a choice. The fuck I don't but okay, yeah, well, either way I believe in human sovereignty, so there's that. Yeah, belief is a good thing, so, um what, uh? What do you think is going on in china though?

Speaker 1:

What do you think is?

Speaker 2:

going on in China now as far as Well. I mean, they're in an awesome position right now, especially if the whole Iran war turns into something big.

Speaker 1:

But they're not. We just reached a trade. Okay, they'd have to back out of the trade deal. They'd have to do a lot of things. Actually, I think we just made China our bitch with the new trade deal. In what way our tariffs are over 10, there's are under five. They're agreeing to import things directly from us that they haven't ever done in the way of energy resources, food and technology and a few other things.

Speaker 1:

They've agreed to respect intellectual property rights. Yeah, that's just. Yeah, yeah, okay, cool, yeah, I don't like. Anyone who's worked in china knows that's bullshit, it's just not gonna happen? Culturally fine, gotcha, yeah, but beyond that um like, beyond iran's retaliation on israel I see china is pretty anemic at this point, don't you? No, why not?

Speaker 2:

because they haven't had to spend any money on anything. They're just watching the world around them burn and they're getting all kinds of info, along with everybody else, on both Russian weapons and US weapons in Ukraine. If Iran turns into something, they'll get even more data on that. You know everyone who's not involved in the war is still using these wars to gather data.

Speaker 2:

And it's and, and it's not like anyone's only getting data from one side. All our friends are just as interested to see how our weapons work when it comes push comes to shove. So yeah, it's um.

Speaker 1:

Yeah it's Because all our friends have purchased our weapons.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly, and they want to know whether they wasted their money or not. And lately it's been like shit should have bought DJI drones instead. But yeah, I think they're. I think they're in a pretty good position. You know, the 5%, 10% thing I mean compared to what the threats were, come on, that's not even close. It's whatever them. Buying American goods is very good for us, because we need more locations buying goods from us, so that's definitely a good thing. Goods from us, uh, so that's definitely a good thing. As far as um, what else? Uh, as far as them, you know, yes, not agreeing to to certain things. Look, china has always played the long game. This has always been my point. China plays the long game. So, whatever they do in the short term, I think the US just cornered Iran what the US just cornered Iran in a lot of ways.

Speaker 1:

They may be a BRICS member or whatever else, and we'll see how much that holds up. But the reality is israel did a good job of a very surgical strike on hitting certain people and places and israel can say oh, the us knew. The us can say oh, and the US knew. The US can say oh and no, he didn't. It doesn't matter, the damage is done. And where does that go? What do we do with that?

Speaker 2:

Well, if that's all it is, then there's nothing for us to do, which would be great.

Speaker 1:

There's a lot for us to do at the negotiating table, but that's neither here nor there. I don't think Tel Aviv's going to see relief in the foreseeable future. They're going to continuously be being bombed. It could be Even while the US sits across the negotiating table from Iran.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but you know that's part of the deal if you live there. There's nobody that's alive, that's there right now. That moved there with the expectation of peace. All those people are dead. Everybody else, either been born after that or moved after that, already knows that it's a very volatile situation there.

Speaker 1:

So Fair enough, I don't see a problem. Any other topics you want to cover? What have you been watching? I?

Speaker 2:

think. Well, I've watched a few gun things here and there there seems to be something that's interesting I have not verified this so I don't know if it's actually in the bill has provisions that grant the president, through some very interesting convoluted kind of things, effectively a workaround. The court system except for the Supreme Court.

Speaker 1:

So in what way do you think these are diluted practices?

Speaker 2:

I don't mean diluted, I mean like there's some hoop jumping going on. But effectively, what it says is that, through legislative actions, topics of national security are excluded from any type of enforcement activities by the courts. And you can say, well, how can the legislature do this? Well, very easily by not providing any funding for these activities, effectively by name, excluding the payment of any civil servants for activities that contradict the sovereignty of the president on national security topics. So, allegedly, that's in the big beautiful bill bill, which is probably a reason trump really wants to have this pass. And elon musk doesn't really care, or well, he does care, he just would rather not be full of pork. But, um, if that is in fact the case, that is a big old Trump card and that's pun intended. But also without pun, because it effectively says hey, all these judges around the country that have been putting in a federal, um, uh, what do you call it? Uh, what do you call it? What do I think of Not stays? They're putting in federal, basically bans on shit. Right, use the letter Hello. Anyway, I guess Ben's got a restroom break or something. So, effectively, if this is actually in the legislation, which is what I've seen on a YouTube channel, then Trump will have an awesome little middle finger for all the lower courts. This explicitly excludes the Supreme Court, because essentially that's the only way that it gets around. The funding issue is with the Supreme Court Essentially saying that any court activity which involves a case about national security is an unpaid activity, which means no one's getting paid. The judge isn't going to get paid for the hours spent on that. The employees sitting in the courtroom are not getting paid for any time. While that discussion is going on, the enforcement of those rulings cannot happen because there's nobody getting paid to enforce anything that would come out of that. So they've effectively defunded those types of activities from the courts. Let's see if Ben's back, ben you back. Okay, kids, this is future me coming back on.

Speaker 2:

I called Ben to find out what the heck happened if his computer died or he went to a bathroom break or what, and turns out that's even funnier. Uh, well, it's not funny for him. He fell asleep. Now people have said that listening to my voice is very relaxing. I've certainly heard a few people, csb included, that have said that they fell asleep while listening to the podcast more than once. So I can't blame ben for doing that, um, my voice has that effect on people. It's so mellow and soothing. But, um, I know he's been tired. He's got this big trip that we've talked about coming up and he hasn't been getting a whole lot of sleep in the interim as well. So, um, I told him that it's fine if he just goes and sleeps.

Speaker 2:

So we're gonna have the short episode. As you can tell, it's about an hour, a little less than that. Uh, all said and done, but, um, it'll have to do for this week. And then, uh, if ben gets back on time and he's not too sleepy and I I'd like, if I was him, I would take a few extra days and then put out a late episode. But he says let's go ahead and do it on time. So I guess we'll be back in about a week with the next episode. Meanwhile, check out the next episode of unrelentingshow, the other podcast that I do. We'll see you there.

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