Hello, dear listener.

Episode 437 of the Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove podcast, where we talk about

news and politics and sex and religion.

I'm Trevor.

On the screen there, the slumlord of regional Queensland, Scott, how are you?

Good thanks, Trevor.

Yourself?

I'm well.

And Joe, the tech guy, how are you?

Good, Neil.

Joe, you've got a task first up, is to explain what happened with that,

uh, whole incident on the internet, but we'll get to that in a moment.

If you're in the chat room, say hello, um, I've got the chat up

on my screen so I can see that.

Yes, well, of course we're going to talk about Biden pulling out of the race, and

I've got various clips by various just crazy Americans, so, you know, Scott,

there's not a lot happening in local.

Australian politics is there.

So I know we could be accused of just running a pretty USA centric podcast

episode on this occasion, but there's just not much really happening.

Not a hell of a lot's happening, no.

No, so it's not every day that a sitting president pulls out

of the race, right at the death.

So, um.

You did see that meme I sent you?

Which one was that, Joe?

Nation with increasingly limited access to birth control,

thanks man for pulling you out.

Yeah, I did say yes.

Thank you for that, Joe.

Um, so, before we get into the, that sort of stuff, um, Joe,

CloudStrike, what happened?

CloudStrike.

Yeah, what happened?

Uh, alright, so it's an advanced antivirus program.

It's a corporate antivirus program.

Amongst other things.

And, um, it phones home for updates and it also reports everything that's going

on on your computer so that, uh, corporate IT can have an idea of dodgy behavior,

um, going around the corporation.

Uh, because it's an antivirus program and it's looking for

abnormal behavior, it hooks very deeply into the operating system.

It's got a lot of permissions.

It's got a lot of permissions.

It, it's deep, deep inside, and, and it's loaded immediately upon Boot up.

Mm-Hmm,

. Joe: So what happened was, uh, an update was pushed out by CrowdStrike.

To the Falcon Sensor, and it looks like it was a corrupt file, which when it loaded

up, um, caused the program to crash, but that took down the whole operating system,

uh, and because it's an initial, uh, loaded program, even though they rolled

back, once they figured out what was going on, they rolled back, uh, the software

update, or sorry, the file update, Um, the affected computers couldn't actually

be booted up long enough to contact the internet to download the new file.

And even worse, if you had an encrypted hard drive, you couldn't boot into

recovery mode to delete the dodgy file to get it back up and running.

So you have to then find your secret key.

For each individual computer, go around each individual computer in turn, boot

them into save mode with the recovery key and then roll back the software update.

So some organizations with literally thousands of computers had to

physically manually reboot and somebody stand there and catch it at a stage and

get it, get that initial thing out of there so it could then boot up properly.

So the real big question is, yeah, um.

Most corporations have learned through painful experience that you don't roll out

software updates as soon as they come out.

You test them on a limited subset of computers.

Uh, and now obviously, antivirus, you want the latest updates as

soon as possible because bad people out there are doing bad things.

And, uh, People just, a crowd striker running on 60 percent of the Fortune

500, Fortune 1000 enterprises, so they've captured a large section

of the market, uh, and this was their way of doing business.

Mm.

And um, yeah, the question is why was this out of date update

pushed out on a Thursday night and why hadn't it been properly tested?

Mm.

Because the fact that it brought down so many computers so quickly means

that it hadn't been adequately tested.

Interesting.

Showing how vulnerable our society is Oh, absolutely.

Is something as simple as that.

Whereas things crashing down,

it only affected windows.

Um, there was a kind of.

Schadenfreude from people who run Linux and Macs, but really no

big crowing about it, um, because realistically, Could it happen to them?

Any operating system can be affected, and again, the same with the

virus, antivirus, um, providers.

Um, it's easy enough to say, oh, it had never happened to us, but, you know,

until you're absolutely sure that your processes are up to spec, it's And in the

security field, a lot of people have been going, yeah, people test for compliance

rather than testing for or planning for, um, what happens when it all goes wrong.

I was listening to this podcast with this guy, he was an IT guy.

It was a podcast about something completely different, a bit like this one,

where the guy happens to be an IT guy.

And he was saying that they try and encourage all of their staff

to switch off their computers when they leave at the end of the day.

And one of the ideas is that if something like this happens at midnight, then,

um, you could, you don't have to fix it.

Well, you sort of cut it off at the pass and in the, in the morning, quickly

make sure people don't reboot their computers until the danger has passed.

Is that good practice, Joe?

Turn your computer off?

I mean, saving electricity for a start, um, I mean, hopefully

your IT is better than just relying on updates overnight.

It looks like Trevor's lost his audio again.

It does.

Yeah, I was wondering what happened with them.

Yeah, um.

There was a number of comments that were saying things like, well, of

course, you know, the best form of antivirus is for you not to be online.

So, uh, obviously they fulfilled that purpose.

You can't get a virus if you're not online to get it.

Very true.

Yeah.

Um, I, I think a lot of people, I mean, obviously, um, CrowdStrike

are going to get absolutely hammered by their customers.

Just for the cost of rebuilding all these computers or fixing all these computers.

Yeah, think of the overtime bill, uh, and the loss of business

for a lot of, um, customers.

Uh, we were lucky because we were going into Friday afternoon.

Um, I think the US who were just coming into Friday morning would

have had a full day of outage.

And therefore a much bigger impact for them.

No, we can't hear

you.

Hang on, you're on mute.

Speaking of crazy tech things, I just don't know why this thing does

it when in this restream podcast.

Um, anyway, hopefully it's only the one time.

There's another mystery, internet mystery.

Right.

Okay.

Was that everything on the cloud strike, uh, that would be relevant?

Um,

that was one other thing.

I'm just trying to, you'd mentioned something, but I can't

remember off the top of my head.

Okay.

Might come back to Ah, Scott.

The whole, um, Joe Biden pulling out of the race, and I

think he had to do it.

Yes.

And we were sort of arguing before we came to Yeah, not arguing, but, um,

I was saying, like, it just doesn't matter if Kamala Harris gets in.

Um, she'll just continue what Joe Biden would have done.

And Trump is going to continue a lot of the same things.

Does it really make any difference?

It does because, you know, Trump is going to turn his back on

world trade and everything else.

Now, I know you've got some issues with that, but, um,

the worldwide Biden's already

doing that.

Kamala Harris will do that when it comes to China and chips.

With China and chips and everything else, they're doing that.

They've got their reasons for that.

I don't actually subscribe to their reasons, but they do

have their reasons for that.

So,

there's no difference there, yeah?

No, okay, that's one thing that there's no difference there.

Yeah, there would be a hell of a difference for bodily

autonomy in the United States.

If you actually had a situation that Trump could get another term in, and if

he could actually do what Project 2025 actually calls for, then you'd end up

with a, you'd end up with a blanket ban on abortion across the whole country,

which would then result in people going south of the border or north of

the border to have a termination done.

Isn't that a stylish thing?

It's a state issue now, however, the Yanks have actually talked about, there

have been some lunatic, on the lunatic right, that have actually talked about

having a national ban on abortions.

They're actually, they're actually talking about having a law in the federal, in

the federal arena that would actually supersede anything the states would have.

If the Supreme Court could rule that a fetus was a living human being.

They would.

No, but, so if a case made it as far as the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court

ruled that a fetus was a human being, then federal laws, state laws against murder.

Automatically kick in.

Exactly.

Okay.

I'll grant you, there may be some minor differences on.

I don't

think they're minor differences.

I think they're major

differences.

Effectively they're minor because even if.

I wouldn't call that minor.

That is a, that is, that is something that you cannot

possibly call a minor difference.

It is a major difference.

These are bedroom issues.

This is cultural stuff.

It's a, it's a bedroom issue.

However, it is actually being done now.

Roe v.

Wade is now on the Ash Heap of history.

Yes.

And that, that is ridiculous because you've got six or seven states in the US

that have actually had their trigger laws have now kicked in and they've actually

gone to this ridiculous stage saying you can't abort if it's after five weeks.

And then, if you got that, Most women don't even know they're knocked up until

8 or 12 weeks or something like that.

So it's too late for them to get a legal abortion, so they're going to cross

the border over into the California.

You've had, you've had some of those right wing nutjob AGs in those southern states

actually speaking out loud, saying the quiet bit out loud, and they're saying

that they're going to prosecute women that leave the state to have a termination.

Here's what I'm

saying.

Here's what I'm saying.

There's going to be no difference is say, Kamala Harris gets in.

Roe v.

Wade's there.

There's going to be states, redneck states, that are maintaining

their abortion um, bans.

And, and she won't be able to do anything about it,

really.

Well, I agree that it's going to be pretty hard for her to do something

about it unless she's got, unless she's got congressional support.

So, for starters,

she's going to have to get a majority of the Congress.

Yeah.

And, then, pass a federal law.

Which will then be challenged in courts that are dominated by

Republican appointees who are not going to like the federal law and are

going to be upholding states rights.

AOC is

trying to impeach two of the Supreme Court justices.

What's that, Joe?

Sorry.

AOC is trying

to impeach two of the Supreme Court justices.

Yeah.

So if they go Or, or Big Ifs.

No, no, but yeah, yours were

Big Ifs as well.

So Alison in the chat room went, Trevor, exclamation mark, exclamation mark.

And I don't blame her.

I'm not saying, I'm not saying that bedroom issues aren't a big deal.

I'm saying the difference that will effectively happen.

isn't going to happen.

But the abortion rock show

is going to continue exactly the same way it has and Kamala Harris

won't be able to do anything about it.

That's my point is that there's no effective difference is going

to result from her election.

Even though, yes, they want to fix that issue, but it just won't happen.

Well, but, but even if they, she can't make it any better, at least she

can stop it getting worse, which is the suspicion that will happen under Trump.

Well, if every state becomes just more and more redneck,

then what can she do about it?

Well, I think she could actually try, she could actually try and

have a federal law that would get.

And

try and run

it through this Supreme Court.

Yeah, okay, you've got that, but you know, um, that Supreme Court is only a decree.

So I guarantee there'll be a difference.

If

the justices die, she gets to appoint more Supreme Court justices.

Well, she gets to nominate them.

Well, you know what, they won't let her.

The Republicans won't, they will stall.

Supreme Court appointment

for four years.

But hang on.

Don't forget the Supreme Court has ruled that she can, within her remit as

president, do anything that a president can do with no criminal charges.

She could assassinate some of them.

She could assassinate whoever she wants.

Like,

okay.

So there's going to be an argument over abortion, but it's going to be a, a,

um, They're just an argument that's not going to make any effective change.

That's, that's what I'm saying.

What else is going to be different?

We've also got

the other thing too about Supreme Court justice that waxes

lyrically and all that sort of stuff.

And he says, well, maybe we should, maybe we should revisit the gay marriage thing.

Yes.

You know, and that is something that I honestly believe

they could actually take off if they got their opportunity to.

And if it rolls off to the Supreme Court and the Supreme

Court makes that decision again.

Yeah.

She might never do anything about it.

Well, she could actually, she could actually have some sort

of marriage law act in the, in the federal, federal government.

Which will then roll through the courts, end up at the Supreme

Court and be told, for some, whatever crazy reason, you can't do it.

Anyway, I just think that, um, there are people like

yourself that are making light of Trump possibly coming back.

No, I'm not making light of it.

Well, I think you are, because you, you're actually quite

excited about AUKUS being knocked on the head, which I agree with.

But that's a big issue.

AUKUS is a big issue and it should be knocked on the head.

However, there are other things going along there that would, that would

make the American people suffer more under a Trump presidency than they

would under a Harris presidency.

Like what?

Like, I'm not excited by a Trump presidency.

Good lord,

I think you are.

Only from the point of view that I think it will most likely lead to Aukus

being officially cancelled before it's eventually cancelled in 10 years time.

That doesn't make me excited about or wanting Trump, but

we're just kidding ourselves.

This is so performative.

Where the way that the U.

S.

conducts itself in foreign relations and military affairs and also just its own

people, um, it's still going to continue.

They're

singing from the same song sheet, these people.

Trump handed Afghanistan back to the Taliban, he was quite happy about that.

Well hang on, wasn't it Biden who pulled out of Afghanistan?

No.

Didn't they criticise Biden for

doing it too quickly?

They did.

But, you know, Trump was the one that started it.

But Trump had signed

the agreement with the Taliban and Trump had said, we're pulling

these troops out by this date.

So Biden had to do that.

Right.

So, what are you saying?

So what I'm saying is You know, uh, there is a difference

between them and, um, Well, they

both, I mean, if Biden wanted to, he could have said, I've changed

my mind, we're starting in Afghanistan.

They both wanted to at that point.

I think by that time, um, if they changed their mind, the

infrastructure wasn't in place.

They'd pulled back enough of the infrastructure to make it

very difficult for them to stay.

There'll be one difference.

I think the Taliban was already moving across the country by

the time that In foreign policy,

there will be a difference.

Trump will pull out of assisting The Paris Accord.

Will pull out of assisting Ukraine.

Yes.

So Ukraine will be forced to enter into a negotiated peace with Russia.

Another state like Belarus.

So,

um, so that would be one difference in foreign policy,

but

you know, the, what's going on in Gaza, the support of

Israel and what's going on there.

The expansion of NATO into ENC China if it can.

No, no, no.

He's not za that at all.

He doesn't want na, he doesn't know nato.

Actually, you might be

right

there.

Well, he's

actually, yes, he might.

He might actually tear that back.

You're quite right.

He

said to NATO members and unless they, unless they pay 2% of their GDPs

in the defense that he's, then I think he said, well, I would encourage the Russians

to do whatever the hell they wanted to.

You know what we've just decided amongst us.

He's going to probably cause a peace in the Ukraine and pull NATO back from China.

Maybe I am starting to get excited.

It's not peace in the Ukraine at all.

It would be a bloody disaster.

More

of a disaster than what's happening now?

If they were forced to negotiate with that bastard Putin, all he would

do is slice up the country bit by bit.

And he'd come, he'd go back in, he'd go across beyond his border, lick his

wounds, rebuild his troops, go back in for another bite, until the whole bloody

country was absorbed as part of Russia.

More of a disaster than what's happening now.

Um, yeah.

In terms of lives being lost, no, there would be less lives being lost, however.

It's not, you can't just roll your eyes and say that's not a bad idea.

It's one of those things, it's something that you cannot just say.

Yeah,

if only the Allies during the 1940s had just rolled over when

Hitler wanted the whole of Europe.

You know, uh, and less lives would have been lost.

Do

you reckon the surviving Ukrainians agree with me or you?

I would say that a lot of the surviving Ukrainians want Russia out.

They don't like life under Russian rule.

Do

you reckon a fair number of them would agree with me?

Possibly.

A small

number would.

Yeah.

What if it is,

what if it is a

majority of the Ukrainians agree with me?

If it's a

majority of Ukrainians agree with you, then that would be fine,

it would show, it would mark you out.

They're not

allowed to vote.

He's cancelled the election.

It says he can't run one.

Because he's being invaded by a foreign country.

Yeah.

I know the Russians like It's because his democracy

is under threat.

I

mean, this is the thing, it might well be the

case, if he had an election, everyone would boot him out

because they've had enough of it.

They want their remaining men.

Uh, to live.

Potentially, and if that is the result of the Ukrainian

election, you have to stand by it.

We won't know, you won't hold one.

Well, we'll have to wait and see.

I know people who definitely would rather be at war than be under Putin.

I'm sure there would be people with the opposite view.

We just have no idea of Of the percentages or whatever.

Yeah,

I look in the UK.

Anyway, who cares

what people think.

Democracies are, get things wrong anyways.

Exactly.

I cannot believe you're turning your back on democracy.

And you know,

um, President for life, Trump.

He's been eyeing up Mugabe's, uh, reign of power.

Has

he been, has he been applauding Mugabe, has he?

No, he hasn't, but I'm sure he would.

If you'd ever heard of Mugabe, I'm sure he'd be, you know, he's a strong man.

Yeah,

yeah.

Do

you honestly think if Trump gets into power, he will

leave at the end of four years?

Uh, uh, I have n no, no.

I dunno what he would do.

I have, I have no idea.

I think wanna, probably not.

I, I think he would, I think he would probably, um, try and install his son

or daughter or something like that.

So I think he'd try and.

I

mean, the way he was cozying up to Kim, I think he would very much like the

USA to be his own private North Korea.

Yeah.

And that really wouldn't surprise me because, you know, North Korea has locked

itself off from the rest of the planet.

Quite possible.

Quite possible.

I just think he's an idiot.

That's all.

And I, I cannot believe that anyone would be actually applauding

him coming back to office.

Yeah.

Well, it looks like a majority of Americans are.

Well, that's very true, and I just don't understand

it.

No, I don't think it's going to be a majority of Americans.

It never has been

a majority of Americans.

And a majority of the, uh, what's it called?

The, uh, Electoral Council?

No.

Yeah.

The Electoral College.

The Electoral College, yes.

Looks like enough of them will.

Which is close enough.

It's huge numbers anyway.

But, um, yeah, John Simmons is in the chat room.

He's 30 minutes behind catching up.

Right.

He's not going to catch up that conversation, is he?

Wow.

That was a good old fashioned argument there.

Yeah.

Let's have some more.

Because

you're wrong.

What part am I wrong again?

You're wrong about the United States.

You're wrong about the United

States.

Was

I wrong?

You honestly believe that it doesn't really matter which side wins.

Were you here for the full 10 minute argument?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.

I think, for the most part, it doesn't matter.

I think that the, the rock show will continue pretty much as it

has, except for the Ukraine, and probably defunding of NATO, keeping

them out of threatening China.

But, um,

otherwise I don't think, I don't think The sorts

of things that affect most people Other than some culture war issues,

which are very big issues, I think Kamala

Harris will be the best.

Right-wing government go, um, president they've had since, um, Obama.

She, she will be the what, the best right-wing president

they'll have had since Obama.

Right.

So you're agreeing with me in the sense that, that the economy

and the running of the economy.

Well,

the choice is right or far right.

There is no left wing in American politics.

An extractive capitalism that favours the 1 percent run by Donald Trump,

or the same thing run by Kamala Harris?

Well, a slightly less bad.

There is a difference.

It's not great.

Yeah.

You know, arguably, I was listening to something about, um, It was the

donors pulling out of funding for the Democrats that was one of the driving

forces for them getting onto Biden and saying, you've got to pull out.

So.

Trump in, in the one paragraph going on about how great Elon Musk was and

how we ought to make life easy for Elon Musk and the next breath saying he gives

me 45 million a month, was it, for some stupid amount of money into his super PAC?

Right.

Literally in the same paragraph, he was saying, He's a great guy,

and by the way, he's a big donor.

And he's a big donor of mine.

Yeah, which is just crazy, because it was only 10 minutes earlier

that he was blasting electric vehicles.

Yeah,

yeah.

And you know, he was there to drain the swamp, remember?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well.

Anyway, I like what, uh, Caitlin Johnston had to say, basically, that the rock

show's gonna be run the same way.

She put it this way, Every few years the U.

S.

Empire has this weird little festival where it pretends the government

is changing hands and will now begin operating in a way that is

meaningful, meaningfully different from the way it was operating before.

And she says, The elections themselves are a performative ritual put on to

help people feel good about themselves.

Like a religious sacrament performed by a priest.

You guys disagree, but that's good.

Yeah.

Ah, anyway, we can't be sure.

I think

that Caitlin Johnson probably lives in California or somewhere like that.

She lives in Melbourne.

She lives in Melbourne.

Does she?

Okay.

Well, she, she doesn't have to worry about the sort of nonsense that is

being considered by the Supreme Court.

She doesn't have to worry about paying a fortune for her drugs or anything else.

You know, it's crazy that, um, the Yanks do not have, um,

insulin at an affordable price.

And what did

Biden do about

that?

Well, he did actually lower the price of insulin.

Right.

Okay, so they do have insulin at a good price.

It's a better price.

It's not as cheap as it is in Australia, but it is a better price than what it was.

Right.

See, it's utterly crazy that, uh, anyway, we can talk about the American

healthcare system if you wanted to, but, um, it's one of those things.

I just don't understand why the Yanks have got this, look at

me, I pay for my own healthcare.

Well, big deal, you know, you're a fucking idiot.

Yeah, well, attaching it to, as part of your work package, remuneration

package is a disastrous idea, so, yeah.

Anyway.

Will Kamala Harris get the nod?

Uh, there'll be a Democratic National Convention.

Yeah, what's your theory on that one, Scott?

Uh, well, I mean, I think that, I think that she probably will

get the nod because Biden is, Biden's delegates and everything are there.

They're probably going to be more inclined to actually vote the way he wants them to.

So he wants them to vote for Kamala Harris.

Uh, my feeling is she's a black woman.

Is she gonna get the support of America?

I mean, you're gonna get the misogynistic racists outta the woodworks anyway.

Yeah, exactly.

They'll be everywhere.

Are you gonna get enough people who would support her or are they

gonna be enough of the fence?

Voted.

They voted for Obama.

So the They did, but he was a man.

Yes.

So, yeah.

But he might have been a man and everything else, but he was

also a black man and he was a hell.

Well, he was.

No, he was.

He was

half a black man.

Well, he was half a black man.

She was, well, she was, um, half Indian, half, um, half Indian,

half, um, Caribbean, almost slave.

Yeah.

Grant Clark says she's deeply unpopular.

Oh, that's Landon Hardbottom.

I know she's deeply unpopular because she was the AG of, um, she was

the AG in California, wasn't she?

She

was a prosecutor in California.

she's very conservative.

Hmm.

Same.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, what else have I got here?

Um, so yeah, we'll find out, Democratic National Convention on the 19th of August.

Uh, I read an article in the Courier Fail, which said one of the reasons why

it took so long to get Biden to quit.

Of course it seems it was his wife, and apparently she hates

Kamala Harris, because as part of a debate they were having in 2019.

Kamala Harris suggested Biden was a racist for opposing busing

used to desegregate schools.

So because Harris suggested Biden was a racist, um, Biden's wife, um,

has hated Kamala Harris ever since.

And one of the reasons why she resisted so long.

and encouraged her husband to keep going was because it was probably

likely that Harris would get the nod.

She really didn't want that.

So that is according to an article in the Courier Failed.

So take that with a grain of salt.

You know, this would have been, um, see, according to insiders,

which could, it could mean anybody.

Yeah.

Right.

Well, Trump announced a, um, a vice presidential running mate.

And, uh, just a reminder that the reason he had to pick a new VP is because his

own supporters tried to kill his last one.

Well, he

was also

a theocrat.

Yes.

So, um, this time we've got, uh, this guy, J.

D.

Vance.

Um, let's have a bit of a listen to him break things up with a bit of a clip here.

I think in this movement of national conservatism, what we need more

than inspiration, is we need wisdom.

And there is a wisdom in what Richard Nixon said approximately 40, 50 years ago.

He said, and I quote, the professors are the enemy.

Cultural revolution.

What's that Joe?

Cultural revolution.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, like the Chinese did, just take them out and kill them.

Yeah, won't even bother re educating them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um, I did a quick Google search, uh, what did Nixon actually say?

Apparently this comes from tapes that were recovered.

Um, he said, um, never forget, he tells National Security Advisors

Henry Kissinger and Alexander Haig in a conversation, December 14th, 1972.

This is Nixon.

Never forget, the press is the enemy.

The press is the enemy.

The establishment is the enemy.

The professors are the enemy.

The professors are the enemy.

Write that on a blackboard a hundred times.

That's what Nixon said.

I don't know why Vance missed out on, um, the press and the establishment.

You know, he remembered the professors, but um.

Well, I just think he was trying to make the

point about the education system because, you know, he wants to

abolish the Department of Education.

Yes.

Uh, does he?

Yeah.

You know when your work is too educated, otherwise they get ideas.

Yeah,

kind of that.

Uh, the Republican convention was full of people kissing the ring.

Mmm.

Most notably, Nikki Haley.

Here's a little bit of her.

Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.

That was

Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period.

That was Nikki Haley on the convention floor last night.

And here's a reminder of what she used to sound like just four short months ago.

Of course, many of the same politicians who now publicly

embrace Trump privately dread him.

They know what a disaster he's been and will continue to be for our party.

They're just too afraid to say it out loud.

Well, I'm not afraid to say the hard truths out loud.

I feel no need to kiss the ring.

Well, she didn't then.

Four months later, she felt the need to kiss the

ring.

Where's her sticking plaster?

Yes, for those unaware, people at the Republican Convention were wearing a

big wad of sticking, of sort of a bandage on their left ear, right ear, as support.

for Donald Trump, who was wearing a very oversized bandage on his ear, so, uh

The supporters were just wearing that.

Did you not see that, Scott?

Yeah, I did see it.

That was ridiculous that he had such a huge bandage and everything over on his,

um, on his ear because the whole thing was, it was just a, it was just a little

nick, yes, with an AR 15, which yes, would have been fatal had it been quarter

of an inch over, but you know, it's.

Just ridiculous that he actually wore something like that.

And then you had this other situation that people were cutting up sanitary

napkins and that sort of stuff to tape them to their ears so that

they could look like Donald Trump.

It was a joke.

I did see the comment that, uh, it's not since Stormy Daniels

has a woman, uh, have women been so disappointed by two inches.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, shameless, uh, Nikki Haley, just completely shameless.

Carrie Lake was the governor in Arizona who was disputing that the, um, election

was valid and interesting interview where the interviewer really nails it.

This is a great example of an interviewer knowing their stuff, keeping

their cool and being able to just.

Um, Not Let Go, with an interviewee who's just talking shit.

So, this is a little bit of a longish one, but pay attention to the, the way

that this particular journalist had such a, a really good grasp of the facts,

and I thought conducted this as about as well as you possibly could, so, um.

So, yeah, in the chat room, Mike Tyson, this is from Greg, Mike Tyson

bit off a guy's ear off, and he didn't wear as big a bandage as Trump did.

Alright, here's, uh, Carrie Lake, um, yeah, we'll play some of this.

I actually think you need your head examined.

Can you answer that?

I think you need your head examined.

Donald Trump has talked, Ms.

Trump's talked about the need for a new, uh, Tone in politics, a

civility in politics, a kind of unity.

What does that mean to you?

I actually think the tone has always been good.

I believe that what we're trying to push is a strong economy, secure borders.

These are policies everybody wants.

You don't think the tone in American politics got out of hand?

I think the tone It's really disturbing when the media is calling

a man like Donald Trump, Hitler.

They're comparing him to Hitler.

Like J.

D.

Vance.

Like the media is doing.

But J.

D.

Vance was probably, like many Americans, they listen to the media.

And for eight years, the media has been tearing President Trump apart.

A good man who everybody loved before he ran.

Imagine having a smear campaign going on about you for eight years.

Pretty soon, everyone wouldn't like you.

And so I applaud the fact that people like J.

D.

Vance and others, we've seen Amber Rose.

She did a speech.

People are coming over going, Whoa, the media was lying and I believed it.

And it's so irresponsible.

And you falsely claimed that Trump won in 2020.

You called for the imprisonment of those who accepted Trump's defeat, including

your own opponent in Arizona, Katie Hobbs.

Why did you do that?

Called for the imprisonment of what?

Of opponents like Katie Hobbs who accepted Trump's defeat.

Why did you falsely claim that Trump won in 2020?

Well, I'm not going to sit here and go through all of

the evidence of what happened.

Do you believe Joe Biden won 81 million votes?

Do you think he's more popular?

A guy who can't string two sentences together.

You believe he's more Obama?

I'm asking you, do you believe that he is the most popular president in history?

You have to have evidence.

Half you gotta have brain cells.

Okay, so you don't believe that Joe Biden won the election in 2020 The

election was run fraudulently and you refuse to concede in 2022 as well your

own contest Well, obviously obviously you're sitting across the pond and you

don't understand what's happened and I'm not gonna argue about it for defamation

Because this is how corrupt the system

Goes on

Because Biden got more votes than Obama deed Therefore it's fraud.

It couldn't be that people were worried about Trump getting back in and therefore

turned out and droves to vote for Biden whether they liked him or not.

I think there was a hell of that because you did have a higher turnout.

Yeah, absolutely.

People had actually seen what the Trump presidency was like and

they didn't want to repeat it.

Anyway, good work by the interviewer there and the rest of

that interview she nails her but it's probably a little bit too long for this.

Um, A little bit of, um, just crazy American stuff.

Article from the New York Times, so it must be true.

Um, in Las Vegas and surrounding communities, more than 97, sorry, 970, 000

feet of electrical wiring, uh, that's the equivalent of 184 miles, have gone missing

from streetlights over the past two years.

The lights are going out across American citizens, they're going out across

American cities, As a result of a brazen and opportunistic type of crime, thieves

have been stripping copper wire out of thousands of streetlights and selling

it to scrap metal recyclers for cash.

Oh, there's a good sign of the decline of the entirety of the world.

I

have actually heard that, I think in the UK.

Right.

That, um, it was, it was public parks, they'd been pulling up the cable to

steal, going to light poles in the parks.

Right.

Yeah.

But that's under 14 years of Conservative government, rather

than under two years of Joe Biden.

Ah, dear.

I think people are doing it tough all over the world.

Yes, that is doing it tough.

I haven't heard of that in Australia yet, of people pulling up public wiring in, in

They don't, they only steal if it hasn't actually been, if it hasn't

been, if it hasn't been used, it's it.

So they do have a problem with, um, uh, the cables and that sort of stuff

going missing from, uh, the yards and whatnot over there, and Energex.

So stuff will go missing from there.

And if you also, any of the.

One of the more security conscious builders and everything up here is

actually really worried about their job sites until they can get them secure

because the copper, the copper pipes and everything are going missing.

So people do actually knock that sort of stuff off.

You know when they have the sort of, um, street dump thing

where you put your rubbish out on the footpath to get collected?

If you put out an appliance with an electric cord and people

come along and snip the cord and leave the appliance behind?

Yes, that happens.

Um, I remember talking to a telecoms guy who'd been in Africa

and was saying, you know, they had such a problem with people digging

up the phone lines for the copper.

When fibre came in, they went, great, we won't have this problem anymore.

And a couple of weeks later, the fibre optics had been dug

up and turned into a table lamp.

Landon Hardbottom says, thanks for the side hustle idea, Fist.

I can't imagine Landon actually getting out and doing it himself.

He'd probably pay minions to do it.

Yeah.

Liz Truss, former British PM, and now very pro Republican.

He's been hanging around that convention and making speeches.

Nigel Farage has gone over there as well.

Yes.

He

was going to go and become Trump's aide or something, wasn't he?

Yes.

But that's Nigel Farage.

We've got Liz Cruster.

He's a former British Prime Minister.

Well, she's just as nutty.

Yeah,

I know.

But isn't Nigel Remember, she tanked

the British economy in 40 days.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Isn't Nigel Farage an MP in the British government?

He is now an MP.

Yeah, he's not in the British government, but anyway, he is

an MP in British Parliament.

Yeah, anyway, this is what the UK is missing out on with

Liz Truss not in power anymore.

I have to confess I've never been to Pennsylvania, but I do

have in my possession a liberty.

I have to confess I've never been to Pennsylvania, but I do

have in my possession a liberty.

A Liberty Bell Showerhead, which is, which is an exact replica of the

showerhead that President Reagan has in his ranch in California, which I

recently visited, and I will be proudly installing this showerhead as a symbol.

of liberty and democracy, and of course, Pennsylvania.

Because you all know, you all know why you're so important, which is this is a

crucial state in order for President Trump to be reinstalled in the White House.

Yep, she was in there.

There you go, Landon, there's another idea.

Start manufacturing Liberty Bell shower heads.

Mate, you are going to clean up.

If you can make those widely available.

Oh, that's the former Prime Minister.

It's just, it's so sad that this, there we go.

That's, that's where we've reached.

Ah, what else have I got here?

Um, Yeah, I mean we could make fun of Americans and crazy people all

day, which we will continue to do.

Um, this one coming up is, what have I got here?

It's um,

Donald Jr's girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle.

She gets to make speeches at this convention.

Good God.

Um, hers was a cracker.

Um, I'll play, I'll play some of hers.

Um, here we go.

It is no wonder that the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy

and faced down communism sadly say they don't recognize our country anymore.

This is not

There you go, um Stormed Normandy to face down communism.

Yeah, no.

Well, they did face down communists once they, once they got to the,

uh, river in the center of Germany and they linked hands with them.

Yeah, well, that wasn't facing them down, was it?

No, it was facing them, that's all.

But, you know, Yes,

yes.

I think it just

had so much Botox in there, it's no longer working, it's fucked up her brain.

If you want, for a mere 72.

31 from Amazon, you can buy a Liberty Bell shower head.

And they're available already.

Yeah.

There you go.

Of course they would be.

Well, that's where she got hers from, I think.

Right.

72.

Yeah.

US.

Plus postage.

There we go.

Maybe Landon was ahead of the game after all.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What else have I got here?

Um, an old clip of Joe Biden when he still had his marbles.

Um, play this one.

Our conversation with Zaganoff was repeated with Leavitt.

They talked about they don't want this NATO expansion.

They know it's not in their security interest and on and on

and said, well, and if you do that, we may have to look to China.

And I couldn't help using the colloquial expression from my

state by saying to Zaganoff, lots of luck in your senior year.

Um, you know, uh, good luck.

And if that doesn't work, try Rand.

Um, and uh, I'm serious.

I said that to them and these were, uh, And, and, and they know, I

knew, they knew, everybody knows.

That that is not an option and everybody knows every one of those leaders

acknowledges and needs and they resent it But they need, they need to look West and

the question is where this is deserved.

Well, actually they don't, turns out.

So Russia has turned to Iran and China and Going quite well for

them in terms of their economy.

So let's just go just to show how the world has changed that it was just

laughable um for Russia to consider teaming up with Iran and China as

if that would help them in any way.

And now, of course, they're completely able to bypass the U.

S.

system.

And times have changed.

He was more, um, had more vigor back in the day.

He was younger.

Yeah.

Had more hair.

Yeah.

Um, what else have I got here?

Shall we talk about, um, the Labor Party and religion?

Yeah, I think so.

So, private schools, Scott.

Yeah, I know.

In the five years to 2022, private schools in New

South Wales spent an estimated 1.

5 billion on capital projects.

1.

5 billion, private schools, New South Wales, five years.

Building funds, which parents are encouraged to donate to, are given tax

deductible status by the Commonwealth.

New South Wales.

The Australian Productivity Commission called for these building

funds to be stripped of their tax deductible status in a report,

and the response from the Albanese government was swift and unequivocal.

Andrew Lee said the proposed changes are not being considered.

So, there we go.

A productivity commission says, here's an idea.

Remove a religious privilege.

Labor.

The first thing it does in response to the report is say,

uh, not that particular idea.

That's not happening.

It's not necessarily religion.

It could be completely a religious private schools.

The point is that private schools are getting funded by the taxpayer

in terms of tax breaks, and none of that money is flowing down into the

public schools that are underfunded.

Yeah.

But either way.

Yes, true.

It doesn't have to be religious.

No, that's true.

So yes, disappointing federal Labor from that point of view.

We were talking earlier about the difference between, you know,

what does it matter whether the Republicans or the Democrats get in?

Did it make much difference having Albanese and not having Scott

Morrison, other than stage 3 tax cuts?

Was there any other issue where we could have said things are different because

of Albanese rather than Scott Morrison?

Not really.

You know, that's just a, um, that's symptomatic of our compulsory voting

system and everything over here.

It forces both parties to compete for the centre.

So you've got the centre right and the centre left.

It is a preferable system because you do not have to try and motivate

your base by throwing out red meat to the left wing or red meat to the

right wing to get them out to vote for you, which is a preferable system.

So I honestly believe that because there's not that much difference between the

right wing of the Labor Party and the left wing of the Liberal Party, then you've

got a position that's going to be fairly much the same regardless of who wins.

Now, clearly that was preferable what Albanese did with the Stage 3 tax cuts.

But that is probably the only real difference between the two parties.

And, you know, looking at the religion treatment and that sort of stuff, they're

pretty much on a line ball call with that.

Mm.

You know, that, that was ridiculous.

Like, you know, they, they could have actually, they could have actually said,

well, the um, uh, they could have actually said, well, you know, the, um, who was it?

Productivity Commission said you scrap it, didn't they?

Yeah.

Yeah, they could have actually used that as cover.

They could have said, well, the Productivity Commission sold us to remove

this, so that's why we're doing it.

But they didn't do that.

No.

God knows why.

Yeah.

Well, Scott, it's just going to make it easier when you eventually are

in that voting booth and you put down a vote for the, for um, the Greens.

I'm not looking

forward to that.

I'm

not looking forward to it at all.

Just keep that sort of issue in mind as you put that little stroke

of the pencil for the number one.

Yeah, don't

forget, when you preference the greens, that tells Labor that you're

not happy with their centrist position and you want them further left.

Yeah,

that'll feel good, Scott.

I'll have to wait and see.

Locally?

No, still federally.

Um, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick, is set

to appear alongside controversial religious figures at an event

promoting the influence of conservative Christianity throughout Australia.

It's the RAW 24 Leaders Summit in Brisbane.

And early September.

Are they raw dogging too?

What's that?

I said are they raw dogging too?

Well.

Raw 24.

Um, Critics of the event, The Rationalist Society, called the

summit an event promoting the Seven Mountains Mandate ideology.

Now, there's going to be a bunch of hard cored Christians, and, um.

Speaker of the House, Milton Dick, is gonna be there.

They're just as captured by religion as the rest of them.

Ah, finally, here's an interesting one.

This might cause more arguments.

The CFMEU, they're not so bad, are they?

Okay, go on, give it to us.

This was an article in Crikey.

Mm, I read it.

Yeah, Guy Rundle.

And what he's essentially saying is that, that the CFMEU is one of the few unions or

perhaps the only union that has actually made sure that workers got their share

of, of the money that's flying around.

And that.

Unlike the shoppies.

Unlike the shoppies and many other unions.

And in this whole sort of debate about the worth or value of the CFMEU, there's

very little discussion where people go, uh, you know, we've got guys who

are actually earning good money and living good lifestyles as a result

of, of the union, um, on their behalf.

So that was sort of Guy Rundle's argument.

And he, in his, in the article also, sort of hinting that a lot of the

allegations against them are a beat up and what would you expect from

someone like, um, the Fairfax Papers.

Um, what else can we say that he says here?

Um, let's see if I can find some interesting bits.

Um, yeah, he's kind of saying that, that in Victoria there was a huge

number of big infrastructure projects.

Which big companies were more than willing to, uh, get involved in, even though the

CFMEU would be controlling the worksites.

Because they were getting big money from the government, and if it wasn't

big enough to cover the expense, they could go back to the government.

And the government would give them more money to cover the expense.

So he's saying that there's all sorts of funny money flying around by the Victorian

Labour Party on big ticket infrastructure and the CFMEU made sure that their

members got a fair share of that fat pie that was there and that other unions.

So, um, uh, what else did he say here?

He's not saying that the leadership are innocent of misdoings, um, but he's also

pointing out that At different times, um, the developers hired bikies to keep the

CFMEU out of the, um, out of the picture.

And, uh, uh, anyway, it was an argument providing a sort of a flip

side to the narrative that's being put out there about the evil CFMEU.

They're basically pointing out, yes, but, at the end of the day, one of

the few unions that's actually got, undoubtedly, benefits for its members.

What do you think of that idea, Scott?

Well,

I wondered whether or not there was another side to it,

and I still haven't read Crikey.

But it's, um, it's one of those things.

Now, Sitka's obviously a vile human being, you know, he has been involved

in some fairly ghastly things towards women and that sort of stuff, so, you

know, I think that we could all pretty much understand that he's a prick, but

I honestly believe that, um, there's probably a fair bit of envy going on down

there, like the, um, other unions might be a bit envious of the CFMEU because they're

getting good deals for their workers.

You know, um, I hadn't read the, I haven't read the article, um, to go

through it and that sort of stuff.

So I will actually read it now.

It doesn't surprise me that someone has actually taken the other

side to it and had a look at it.

Because, you know, the other thing is it's always just coming out of the

right wing media saying that they're a bunch of bastards and everything

else, which you could actually think of, well, they can't all be bastards.

You know, now, sick is obviously a vile human being.

But, you know, that doesn't mean that he didn't have the best interest

of his union members at heart.

And I would actually, I'd actually prefer to be part of a more militant

union than the one I'm part of.

But anyway, it is what it is.

Rundle says, does one really believe that wage theft in bars and

restaurants would have been so open, so gluttonous, so cruel and indifferent,

had hospitality and retail had a major union as militant as the CFMEU?

No,

exactly.

Good point.

It's one of those things, I just think that if we could go back to the way

it was in the 70s, when, you know, yes, it was a pain in the ass, because every

summer the trolley dolls wouldn't fly.

Every winter the power got turned off and the beer wasn't made by,

made by Christmas because the unions are actually closing it all down.

However, we also had a lot fairer distribution of money and that sort of

stuff between workers and the employers back then than what we have now.

And I honestly believe if you did have militancy out there, just enough to

scare the pants off the employers, So then they had to turn around and

actually start giving their, giving their workforce a reasonable living.

Then that would be enough to turn things around.

So if we had a few more CFMEUs out there Just to scare the pants

off the work, off the employers, that it would actually improve.

Anyway,

Joe, were you about to say something?

You know, I was on an infrastructure build down in Victoria 10, I don't know,

15 years ago, and literally as I got on site, I was hit up when I was doing the

health and safety, uh, by the union rep going, so, uh, what's your hourly rate?

And you know, what, what penalties are you getting?

To make sure I was getting a fair deal if I was coming on his work site.

Uh, and you know, I'm all for that.

I I've seen how not all employers, but some employers can screw, uh,

workers over any way they can.

And I think we need strong unions to protect.

Yeah, the disparity between the haves and the have nots at the moment,

I think, is very much down to a, um, a less unionized workforce.

If we had a more unionized workforce, I don't think that

they would get away with it as much as they are lately.

But, it's one of those things, I don't know how you're going to reverse that,

because you've got a lot of people in the private sector, even, even friends

of mine that are miners, and that sort of stuff, they're saying they don't

want to, they don't want to sign up to the union, because they reckon

the union's only in it for the money.

Have you

seen the red unions?

Sorry?

Are you aware of the Red Unions?

No, who are they?

Uh, they are a bunch of new unions that have been set up allegedly by members

of the LNP or former members of the LNP.

Okay, gotcha.

Um, so they were very pro supporting the health workers that were anti vax.

So they're, yeah, pro liberty and pro this and pro that.

Yeah, it's a load of nonsense, yeah.

Mm.

So just at the end of this article, Guy Rundle says, Through all this,

one comes neither to bury John Setka, nor to praise him, nor to romanticise

any violence that may have arisen.

The leadership is a collective, and who did what, good and bad,

is as much a mystery to outsiders as is any merry band of brothers.

But now is the time to show basic solidarity for a union whose main crime

appears to be to have gained, quite possibly, the best deal for manual

workers in the history of the world.

This goes on, unless one retains the bourgeois illusion that one

deserves to be paid more because of having done a degree in.

Semiotics or Film Noir still being paid off.

The success of the CFMEU should be taken by workers everywhere more as

an affirmative lesson, not a warning.

Forget the nonsense about lollipop sign holders etc etc.

Construction remains hard, long and sometimes dangerous work.

Good luck to anyone who got a share of the profits out of it by the CFMEU.

Solidarity can be built from it but It is made, not given, by

the hard labour of organising.

So, anyway, I thought it was an interesting sort of flip on the

narrative of just a bunch of bullies and you've got to remember, they've

achieved more for their members than any other union in Australia and through

collective solidarity, so good point, Guy Rundle, quite enjoy reading his stuff.

And there we have it, gentlemen.

That's a tick over the hour.

That was fun.

I really enjoyed the argument at the beginning.

That was almost, uh, 12th man ish.

It was.

I would have thought we probably had a bit of a different point

than what the 12th man would have.

Exactly.

We haven't been meeting the spectator.

Yeah, but the style of, you know, good old fashioned disagreement.

I liked it.

Exactly.

Right, gentlemen, you're around next week.

Yeah, I'm around.

I'm around.

Joe's around.

Okay.

We'll talk to you then.

Bye for now.