The important things going on in the world, from our eyes! If we've covered it, we probably won't cover it again. Why beat a dead horse, it gets boring after a while.
Hosted by:
- Jamon Fries
https://mindlessmeanderings.com
(00:00:20) Introduction
(00:00:39) Jamon's New Diet Plan
(00:03:12) Political Discussions: Texas and Gerrymandering
(00:13:32) Crime Rates and Law Enforcement in DC
(00:22:29) Unionization and Labor Issues
(00:36:56) Ford's New Manufacturing Strategy
(00:47:00) International Affairs: Gaza and Media Retractions
(01:00:01) Tech Innovations and Environmental Policies
(01:08:48) Entertainment and Media Updates
(01:12:50) Humorous Anecdotes and Closing Remarks
[00:00:20]
Jesse Fries:
Good afternoon, everybody. It is, I believe, August 11, and we are live with episode number 52 of the mindless meanderians. I'm Jesse Fries, and kids' school starts tomorrow. So this is the last day of them being at home. Woo hoo.
[00:00:37] Jamon Fries:
Freedom finally. I know. And I'm Jamin Fries. And after doing a whole bunch of research, I have decided to try a new diet.
[00:00:48] Jesse Fries:
Okeydoke. That works. That works. Yeah.
[00:00:52] Jamon Fries:
Very drastic. Uh-huh. Eat one meal a day. Well, you eat one meal for one day.
[00:00:58] Jesse Fries:
Okay.
[00:00:59] Jamon Fries:
You don't eat the next day, then you eat a meal, and then you don't eat, and then you eat a meal, and then you don't eat. So Holy. Yeah. How big are these meals? What I'm gonna eat is gonna be about 12 to 1,300 calories.
[00:01:18] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Okay.
[00:01:20] Jamon Fries:
Six eggs, about 10 ounces of meat, and then some cheese. So I mean, it's it's it's a decent sized meal for the for what I'm gonna be eating.
[00:01:33] Jesse Fries:
Got it. Right. Right. And it's But So it's high protein.
[00:01:37] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. It's very high protein. That that I'm getting I'm getting, like, a 100 grams, a 100 plus grams of protein in in that one meal. So Okay. And zero carbohydrates. Okay. All good. So, what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to burn all of the excess sugar that's in my system. Uh-huh. And the more I read about fasting, the more I I know that there's downsides to it, but the more from what I from what I've read, long term fasting, we don't know much about. Uh-huh. You know, like, over fifteen days, they it's considered to be too dangerous to do studies on. Right. So they don't really do studies on those. But for just, you know, skipping a day or skipping two days, there's even a lot of science on skipping five to seven days
[00:02:31] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[00:02:32] Jamon Fries:
That talk about the process the body goes through during those days and, you know, the so the benefits from it, I think, are gonna far outweigh any of the potential negatives.
[00:02:44] Jesse Fries:
Okay. That's cool. That is cool.
[00:02:47] Jamon Fries:
It's considered one of the one of the more drastic, weight loss measures. And considering that I need to lose about 370 to 400, I think I need to start getting pretty drastic now that I've hit 50.
[00:03:03] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I could see that. I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. Just try to yeah. I understand. Completely understand. I hope it goes well for you. And so Thank you. I I'm I'm looking forward to it. I'm planning on starting it
[00:03:18] Jamon Fries:
on Saturday is when I'm gonna start. Okay. Cool. Cool. I've I've got a whole bunch of leafy vegetables and stuff like that for my meals up until Saturday, and I don't wanna just let the lettuce go bad. So
[00:03:31] Jesse Fries:
Just take a day.
[00:03:34] Jamon Fries:
I know.
[00:03:37] Jesse Fries:
Let's see. What do we got today? Let's see. It looks like, overall, it's just mostly the Democrats and texts and everything like that still, you know, away. Federal government said they're gonna help look them up. That's what, the FBI director said. They're gonna help find them. Nice. Yeah. But the technically, the warrants are only good for in the tech in Texas. So I don't know what they can really do about it. So yeah.
[00:04:06] Jamon Fries:
Let's see here. They really can't do anything, I don't think. No. They really can't do it. It's not like they broke a law.
[00:04:13] Jesse Fries:
So Actually, they did. It's a Texas law, but it's but it's it's it's like a legislative law sort of situation. It's not yeah. They did, technically. Yeah. Fleeing the state is considered, you can actually get warrants off your arrest and everything like that. So, yeah, it's Okay. Yeah. But it looks like Beto O'Rourke, the guy that's been financing the whole thing, the judge blocked him. So
[00:04:42] Jamon Fries:
basically shut down all his money, from supporting the Texas Democrats. So so he so he can't pay for the Democrats to be on their vacation. They have to start paying for it themselves.
[00:04:52] Jesse Fries:
Correct. Correct. He he really got into this whole thing of trying to stick it. He he said that we need to or the Democrats need to, completely just every state needs to gerrymander and everything like that. So so I think it's about to get crazy. Already do. Yeah. But he wants it to get even worse, apparently. I don't know how. But yeah. So there you go. He he's a bit he he's a loser. Literally, he lost like every election he ever tried. So Can you imagine what
[00:05:24] Jamon Fries:
could you imagine what the districts in Kansas would have to look like to make it a Democrat controlled state? Well, right. But it's like one of the ones, like, here in Texas in the proposed
[00:05:36] Jesse Fries:
thing. It's it's in Austin. Right? Uh-huh. So part of it goes into Austin, but then the rest of it goes 350 miles away.
[00:05:44] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got Yep.
[00:05:47] Jesse Fries:
It's it's
[00:05:49] Jamon Fries:
Oh, that's like it's like that one that we were taught that that you had mentioned before that or that or one of us had mentioned before
[00:05:56] Jesse Fries:
that they they were one head of district that was, like, from San Jose and Lubbock, Texas. Yeah. San Antonio up to Lubbock. Yeah. San Antonio and Lubbock. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, like, 500 miles. They they they they they did do that map. But yeah. Okay. They they still but then, you know, it's just like that little squeaky line up Illinois and everything like that for Oh, yeah. How many hundreds of miles. Yeah. So, yeah, it's it's hilarious. It's we've talked about this. Basically, they just need to come up with a
[00:06:25] Jamon Fries:
They need to come up with a better way to figure it out. You you you can't let the see, here here's the thing. I don't think that you can let any political party decide what the map looks like. But, unfortunately, everyone has everyone has a political agenda no matter who's doing the drawing. There's gonna have a political agenda to it. Michigan has tried that. Let's see what they're actually doing that right now. Let's
[00:06:55] Jesse Fries:
see. Michigan, with districts. Okay. So, yeah, their districts actually look pretty sane, actually, if you look at at a map of them.
[00:07:13] Jamon Fries:
Okay.
[00:07:14] Jesse Fries:
I actually like the look of them. They're they because they they did get a independent counsel to do it, basically. Okay. Yep. Now whether or not if it's truly nonpartisan or not. But, you know Right. But but they actually it it there's no weird ones. You know? They Yeah. Yeah. They just look like regular blocks. You know? Yes. There's more around Detroit, but there's more people around Detroit. So, you know Yeah. It it it actually makes sense. So, you know, it's, Yeah. Just do something like that. But, no, of course, that we're not gonna do that. So
[00:07:48] Jamon Fries:
You know, I mean, honestly, what I wouldn't mind seeing Uh-huh. And this takes absolutely nothing into account, is you set a number. So you say the entire population of the state is, say, 900,000.
[00:08:07] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm. Okay?
[00:08:09] Jamon Fries:
Do we have this many counties in each state? We have this many representatives for the state. So what you do is you just county by county, you put the total populations, list the total populations, and then you just put each county's neighbors until it gets up to the percentage of of a representative.
[00:08:34] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[00:08:36] Jamon Fries:
I think that would be the best way to do it. Yeah. I would think so. I would think so. Let's see here. So Because then then the the representative of that is actually representing the people there rather than some gerrymandered district that stretches halfway across the state that just to, you know, you you yeah. I think that would be the best way to do it.
[00:09:01] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. No. It's like I I delve further into the Michigan thing, and it's like so they have 13 districts. Right? Okay. And seven of them are Republican. Six of them are Democrats. And that really represents a good share of what the of Michigan actually is. Yeah. It's roughly it's pretty close to a fifty fifty, when it comes to Democrats and Republicans. So, you know, I this this makes sense. It really does. It it's, just go with that model. It it seems like a better model. And then we might actually get some stuff really done in this country.
[00:09:41] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Wouldn't that be amazing if It really would. If government actually did something that was Nah. Well, wait. I don't know.
[00:09:53] Jesse Fries:
I kinda like that. We're not being able to do anything too. But It is. Well, yeah. Yeah. It's got its, there's always benefits and negatives to every situation. Yeah. So Yeah.
[00:10:03] Jamon Fries:
You know, it it'd be good to have fair representation that might actually lead to the government doing something. But at the same time, it's kinda nice when they can't do anything.
[00:10:16] Jesse Fries:
That's what I yeah. It's we're I'm right there with you, dude. I really am. I I'm generally it's like I've always loved the filibuster in the Senate because, well Yes. It made sure nothing got done. But now it's just gotten to the point where it's stupid, you know. Oh, yes. Yeah. It it's like there's nothing it's there's getting nothing done, but then there's getting nothing done and blocking the entire system. Yes.
[00:10:41] Jamon Fries:
Yes. I mean, the, you know, the the one thing, if nothing else, there should be one category that cannot be filibustered. No. I can only think of one and that would be the budget.
[00:10:55] Jesse Fries:
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. That can't be filibustered. All you need is a 50 for that. You just need 50 for that.
[00:11:03] Jamon Fries:
Unless unless they say
[00:11:06] Jesse Fries:
No. You can't. You you can get up and give a speech, but that's not good. That's not like Well, no. No. No. The the when,
[00:11:14] Jamon Fries:
when Trump was when Trump's big new deal was going through, there were a lot of areas that they were trying to pass budgets on. Well, right. Well The rules say that they can't touch that area. And so in order to change it, they needed to have the the filibuster the, you know, the filibuster could stop it. Most of those weren't actually
[00:11:36] Jesse Fries:
but the thing there was that those things really weren't budgetary things. They were just being shoved in there, because it's a massive bill. And Right. Budgetary has a lower level. So, basically, the the parliamentarian was just saying, well, that's not really a budgetary thing. So you that can't be there.
[00:11:57] Jamon Fries:
Well, some some of them some of them were absolutely budgetary, but it was on the things that the government has decided that we're that no matter what we have to spend this money.
[00:12:09] Jesse Fries:
Well, yeah, however, it doesn't I I'm just saying If I'm really the budget, I guess there's always exceptions to the rule, but it's Yeah. Generally, the budget is one of those things, you know. I I just get rid of it all. That's what I say. Just, have it 51. That's it. Majority rules. Go. Yeah. Just that that's how it should be. Just like it is in the the house.
[00:12:32] Jamon Fries:
That's how it I don't really understand why they have the why is it why some things you have to hit 66 and something It's a you have to hit 50.
[00:12:40] Jesse Fries:
It's a long historical question. Yeah. It really is. It really is. Well, let's not get into that then. Maybe you can do a maybe you can do that on one of your other podcasts. Possibly. But, basically, just the basic is that they've always viewed themselves as the rational actors. They're not tied to political sways is how the senators
[00:13:03] Jamon Fries:
feels. And so they go, oh, it's kinda like the house of lords. They go, oh, we are the wise elders, and we can do whatever we want, and we can screw everything over. And that that that's basically how it's so yep. I mean, that that that has been in existence forever. I mean, you look back at the hunter gatherer days, it was the elders that made all the decisions and stuff like that and Well, right. They were gonna make decisions that benefited them. I mean, that's just the way it works.
[00:13:31] Jesse Fries:
Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Let's see. The other big story is DC. That that's just a big story. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's that's, that's a pretty interesting one. Yeah. Yeah. So, basically, it's it's funny how each one of these stories really talks about it too because, you know, it's Trump said that basically it's a lawless city, and he tied it to, like, Bogota and other other and Lima, Peru and other bad
[00:14:01] Jamon Fries:
Okay. I don't think it's quite there yet. But
[00:14:05] Jesse Fries:
Actually, it is there. Is it really? Yeah. It's up there. It's up there to see where did that go. And aft aft I suppose after listening to Piro's
[00:14:16] Jamon Fries:
press conference, it's definitely a lot worse than I thought it was. So so, take Bogota. So Bogota
[00:14:23] Jesse Fries:
crime index. Now this is just crime index. So crime index of 66.68. Now you take the best country in this whole list, which is Prague and The Czech Republic. Mhmm. And that's at 24.63.
[00:14:38] Jamon Fries:
Okay.
[00:14:39] Jesse Fries:
Okay? DC is second highest at 50 9.88. Holy crap. Yeah. Then it goes to Delhi, 59 o. Then London, 55.5. Then New York, 51. Yeah. Sydney has 34.6 point o six, so pretty decent. Just up a little bit from Prague, and Beijing is 25. So, you know, it it's yeah. It is up there. All pretty much much of our major cities are up there. Trump is right. But Yeah. The the way that all the news media like the Washington Post and everything like that, all they ever do is going, well, this is what Trump said. And then they ignore what he said. And then they just look at US then they just look at the statistics in that city, and they're going, well, do you see it's a lot better now? You know, crime has dropped, like, 20%. And so that'd be
[00:15:36] Jamon Fries:
If crime has dropped 20% and it's still the way it is Exactly. That used to be really bad.
[00:15:43] Jesse Fries:
That's what I'm thinking. So it's like they they just negate what he says, and then they just go on from there. So, you know, it's it's kinda funny. You're like a Yeah. And they all start saying, oh, he talked about Bogota and Lima, Peru. Now let's look at the numbers. You could see that it's actually gotten better over the time, you know. Not that it's in comparison to anything. It's just by itself. So yeah. Yeah. You know, it's lawless. Crime crime has dropped 20%, and we're but we're still the second highest crime rate city in the world.
[00:16:20] Jamon Fries:
That means that we dropped from first to second. So, I mean, you know, that's at least a plus.
[00:16:25] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. It's like, even the Washington Post, it it, the the one story I was reading, it it it was try it it had all these graphs, and it was just saying that. But then it was talking about all these people, how they don't feel safe in their house, how they just saw roving gangs walking up and down the streets when the cops don't get there, nobody's there. You know, back and forth. It's like Yeah. So even the wise, she did post. I think it's like I think they would love just to, like, denigrate Trump, but then they live in the city. So it's like Yep. They're going, yeah. We we don't feel safe. But Trump's wrong. But we don't feel you know? So I think it's Trump can't do this. But, Emma, you know, we need somebody else to do it.
Yes. Yes. Yes. And so it's kind of funny. And then the guarantee I mean,
[00:17:15] Jamon Fries:
it really what shocked me about this was, in Piro's news news conference press conference. Mhmm. She was talking about some of the instances of this. Uh-huh. For example, the, the big balls kid from Doge that got beaten up. Everyone that was arrested there was underage. Yep. And instead of going to a criminal court, they took them to family court. Yeah. Yeah. What the fuck?
[00:17:47] Jesse Fries:
That's how it is. Family court? Because they're minors. Yep. Yeah. No. It's stupid. It is stupid. She she she was talking she said, there's a guy
[00:18:00] Jamon Fries:
that shot someone in the heart point blank with full intention to kill him. Yep. He was given probation in family court and told to go to college.
[00:18:15] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. Because that's that'll help. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. It's it's a mess up system. It really is. You you know, it's like now the one way that it was may have been too harsh, but now they're then they swung way back on the other side of the pendulum. So where you're like going it makes no sense. You know? It it's, and it's like if there if it's not murder, it cannot be they cannot be tried as an adult in Washington DC. Only if it's murder can they be tried as an adult. So even if it's like they shot and are wounded, if they didn't die, it's still just, in juvenile court or, family court, whatever it is in that situation. But, yeah, it's, Wouldn't surprise me if it's not even a felony.
Yeah. No. It it it well, it it it might be a felony, but a felony in juveniles, like, nothing. So, you know, it's it could be helpful. A felony in juvenile is a slight slap on the wrist, and the record is sealed. No one ever knows that you shot someone in the chest. Now you may have
[00:19:22] Jamon Fries:
to some areas you could they could keep you for like until '25, I think. Yeah. For juvenile. But yeah, it it it's But in DC, I mean, if if they don't even if they give probation to someone who murders someone, I mean, can you imagine what they're gonna do to somebody that just wounds someone? Yep. Yep. It it it is completely crazy.
[00:19:39] Jesse Fries:
I I really don't understand that the defund police, the get rid of bail. I I just don't understand these things. It's No. I know where it came from, but, you know, the victims are the victims. The perpetrators aren't the victims. They may be a victim of something else, but they're not a victim of that crime. And it's that crime that you need to address. It's not you can address how they got there as well, but that's a different situation. That's not in that case. You you do that for future. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Yes. Try try to get them better education. Try to get them jobs. Try to that sort of thing. You know? It's arrest them for the minor things before it gets big.
You know? Yeah. Absolutely. So maybe they might learn a lesson before they start killing people. You know? That sort of thing. Yep. It's, yep. Yeah. Yeah. Without a doubt. It really is. Yeah. But yeah. So he's, gotten the National Guard going in. He's deployed FBI agents throughout, like, a 100 Okay. FBI agents. I think Bondi is in charge of the police force now. He's federalized. Okay. Nice. He's about to go to congress to let them know what he's doing because that's what the law says. So yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a bit crazy.
Yeah. Once his buddy got attacked, he wasn't gonna have any more of it. So I don't know. On Facebook, this one guy that's a friend on Facebook, he he would say that that big balls is a pedal. I don't I this that this guy better watch out before he, gets caught for libel. That is all I'm saying. If he's an attorney, you would think he would know better. But, you know and I and I looked it up. I looked I I I didn't delve through the web, but there's nothing there. So I don't know what's going on with that. It's weird.
[00:21:36] Jamon Fries:
Well, I mean, you know, in in their mind, if you're a Republican, you're a pedo. I mean, that's that's kind of what's come out now. He has been on that kick, which is Yeah. Makes me question. But You know, if if you're if you're Republican, you're a pedo. You're a Nazi. You're a white supremacist. You're a well, not not just white supremacists. You're probably part of the cookbook, the KKK. The list just keeps going on and on and on and on
[00:22:08] Jesse Fries:
about what how bad the Republicans are and yet Well well, the Republicans do say that the Democrats are pedos too. So, you know, it it Well, yeah. Everybody says that everybody's a pettos. Exactly. It's across the board. You know? Yeah. That's just what that is. But to put it out on social media, that's just stupid if you ask me. Just Oh, yeah. Yeah. Big time. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. What else do we got? So that's basically that story. Mhmm. Let's see. It looks like the EPA terminated the federal union contract, with its contractors.
So they can't do the union anymore, can't get fees or anything like that. So let's see how that goes.
[00:22:50] Jamon Fries:
You know, I've I've always had problems with with unions and stuff like that in current era.
[00:23:04] Jesse Fries:
Some have gone down the wayward path. Yes. It's to me, it's like unionized government workers, I think, is pathetic. It's pointless. Yeah. It's I I I don't see a need because the government has to follow all the laws that are there. Exactly. So why wouldn't they follow all the laws that are there? So why would they really need a union? Exactly. Yeah. You you know, that that that's how I view it. You know, it's a Nine 90% of what unions were originally
[00:23:43] Jamon Fries:
brought around for has already been has already been taken care of by federal law. Well, right. Right. But you still I think you still need them especially for No. I I know that I there are some there are definitely industries that do need it because there's no there's nothing like like, say, for example, in the trucking industry. Uh-huh. Okay. When I was when I was driving, I was making 29 to 30¢ a mile Uh-huh. Which was decent money as long as I was moving.
[00:24:18] Jesse Fries:
Right.
[00:24:19] Jamon Fries:
But if I ever got out to California Mhmm. Near anywhere near LA, I was then sent to our yard in LA. And I would sit there for three to four days before getting a short load out.
[00:24:38] Jesse Fries:
Oh, Jesus.
[00:24:40] Jamon Fries:
Those three to four days, I made zero Right. Because I wasn't moving. No. Yeah. Completely. Completely. Yeah. Now they they they did have a, like, a $35 layover pay so that you could pay for your hotel with it, but that's it. Each day?
[00:24:58] Jesse Fries:
Yes. $35? You could find a hotel in LA for $35?
[00:25:04] Jamon Fries:
No, you can't.
[00:25:05] Jesse Fries:
That's what I'm saying.
[00:25:08] Jamon Fries:
No, so which is why we we would take that Yeah. You just you sleep in your truck. You you you park on the yard and you sleep in your truck. Right. Right. Funny. I mean, dummy, we we all basically everywhere we went, we slept in our truck anyways. So yeah. Yeah. Completely. Makes sense. The the only time the only time I wouldn't sleep in the truck is if my truck was in the shop. So Oh, yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And and if it was in the shop, they would pay more for each day. They would pay the entire cost to the hotel room because your truck was in the shop. Oh, okay. Okay. But if your truck wasn't in the shop and you didn't have a load, you'd get, like, 35 to $40 a day. Lovely. Lovely.
[00:25:46] Jesse Fries:
So
[00:25:47] Jamon Fries:
yeah. I mean, so there there's a lot of work that needed to be done there.
[00:25:51] Jesse Fries:
No. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, see see, that's that's how I view you used to is that they they can do good. It's just whether or not they do or not. You know? It's like I think some of these in our economy now, I think some of these jobs should start to be unionized. You know? It's like very low level programmers. You know, I was thinking they should be unionized because they get paid squat. You know? Yeah. Yeah. But then they're not as skilled as the higher ones. So, you know, it it but, yeah, some of these IT jobs, I I I think some of them it's a it's just the workers now. So, you know, and they're I think many of them are being taken advantage of. But,
[00:26:30] Jamon Fries:
Well, I mean, yes. And and that's that's always the case with, with the low level employees. I mean No. Exactly. Low level employees are never not taken advantage of. No. They are not. They are not.
[00:26:43] Jesse Fries:
No. Let's see.
[00:26:47] Jamon Fries:
Speaking of low level tech employees Uh-huh. There was a story out about, how the let me find it here. I got it somewhere. Computer science dream has become a nightmare.
[00:27:06] Jesse Fries:
Well, of course.
[00:27:08] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. There's there's so many everybody everybody went to college and is still going to college for computer science degrees. Right. And right now, there's unemployment rates of 6.1 to 7.5% in the in the industry. Mhmm. Which, I mean, comparatively, to how things have been in the past for for different places, that's not that bad actually.
[00:27:37] Jesse Fries:
Right. Right.
[00:27:39] Jamon Fries:
But, yeah, they they can't get jobs coming out of college. We didn't make great much sense. Donald's wouldn't hire them because they didn't have experience in programming.
[00:27:52] Jesse Fries:
Well, right. Yeah. They have no well, that that's always the catch of these high level job. It's like, so we this is an entry level position, but you have to have five to ten years of experience. Yeah. You You find that in every industry. When I when I first You have to lie. You have to lie. Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:28:11] Jamon Fries:
When I first got my, my associates of accounting Uh-huh. I wanted to I I was thinking, you know, okay. I'm I'm done with college now. I'm gonna take a look at different jobs, see if I can find anything that I can do. Right. There wasn't a single accounting job that didn't require at least
[00:28:30] Jesse Fries:
two to three years of prior experience. Yep. Yep. That's how it was good. Yeah.
[00:28:36] Jamon Fries:
I mean, so that's every every industry and yet there there it come in in this start in this article, they're complaining that it's all because of AI. It can do the jobs for for much cheaper.
[00:28:48] Jesse Fries:
Well, I think there's part of that, but
[00:28:51] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. It's not AI isn't isn't to that point yet. It really isn't. It really isn't. But you do have to realize that if you're a coder, if you're a programmer and you're writing an AI program,
[00:29:07] Jesse Fries:
you are programming yourself out of a job. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Exactly. You know, I mean, they they did it to themselves. You know? That that's all I can say. I I agree. I agree. Speaking of tech, apparently, the government is moving to a massive cloud situation. And so it looks like, Amazon, AWS Mhmm. They've basically given the government, like, a billion dollar coupon. As we were talking earlier, you said that sounds like a bribe. But it's actually everything. Everybody's doing this. Oracle Are they really? Oracle, signed a deal with government agency at a 75% discount.
Same with, let's see. Well, Microsoft, Google, basically are doing the same sorts of things as well.
[00:30:06] Jamon Fries:
Are they all expecting, like, huge payouts in the future then? Is is what I'm can imagine?
[00:30:11] Jesse Fries:
Well, you know, we're doing this to get in the government. So that they Yeah. Well, you're and not only that, but it's like, what are your actual costs? You you know, they wouldn't do this if they're not actually still making money off of it. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, that that's how I view it. You know? It's, and the government is a huge institution. So, yeah, it's like, okay. So a billion dollars. A billion dollars off, what, 20,000,000,000? You know? A billion dollars off. $30,000,000,000. Anything. Yeah. Exactly. So, you know yeah. And if Oracle was able to give them I had a 75% reduction. You know? It's
[00:30:46] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Well, it's just created like this. How much their markup is. Well, right. Plus, once you create a technology, then it's just gravy after that. It's just profit. You you know, it's like Well, it's it's like what once with with AI and stuff, once you build that server farm Uh-huh. Your only cost input is electricity. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. And parts you need to replace. But Well, yeah. Yeah. Your cost is very, very low after the initial input.
[00:31:16] Jesse Fries:
Well, yeah. And that's why a lot of these companies have also go to the subscription models like Adobe Yep. Everything like that. Yeah. So that they could just rake in the money. Yeah. It is off something that was programmed a year or two ago. Yes. They slowly update it here and there. Yes. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it is a subscription, and it costs more than just it costs more per year than just buying the product outright.
[00:31:38] Jamon Fries:
And, you know, the the problem that I have with that is if you're getting the low end subscription, so, like, I use Quicken for my personal finances. Right. And using their low end subscription, the only benefit I get from doing that is that I can tell it to just update from my bank account into QuickBooks.
[00:32:05] Jesse Fries:
Right.
[00:32:07] Jamon Fries:
Which isn't really that much of a big deal. I can very easily manually enter it as well. Mhmm.
[00:32:15] Jesse Fries:
And it cost me $70 a year just to have the ability to do that. Yep. Sounds about right. Sounds about right. You know, I mean, the
[00:32:25] Jamon Fries:
for high end stuff, you know, in the accounting world, if if you're talking like business and stuff like that where they need to, keep updating the laws that are passed and the taxation, the rates and stuff like that that are passed, I completely understand charging, charging a subscription for updating those information. Mhmm. But on a personal accounting level, why do I need to pay a subscription when you do nothing for that money?
[00:32:54] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. I I I completely feel you. I I always hit those subscription. That's why I don't use it. Yeah. I I use, Affinity, which is just, it's like Adobe, stuff, but it's Okay. You just buy it. It's yours.
[00:33:12] Jamon Fries:
You know? Okay. Yeah. So And that's that's how it should be. You know, the So the only the only places that I can the only places I can understand a subscription model is if there are going to be consistent continual changes because of laws passed and stuff like that Right. Because of stuff from other entities or in for, like, gaming. You know, I I have no problem paying a gaming company $10.15 dollars a month
[00:33:44] Jesse Fries:
to play their games. To the servers. Yeah.
[00:33:46] Jamon Fries:
I am so sorry. Because it's it's very different from, you know, it's very different from, like, an accounting program. Right. Right. Program, you don't touch once you built it. No. You really don't. I've got a I've got a spreadsheet that I've been using for the last fifteen years How dare you, John? For my budget.
[00:34:08] Jesse Fries:
How dare you.
[00:34:10] Jamon Fries:
I haven't made a single change to it, and it still works perfectly.
[00:34:14] Jesse Fries:
You're supposed to be supporting these companies, Jim. Don't you know that's your job as a slave? Come on. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:34:23] Jamon Fries:
Well, although I guess I well, up until recently, I kind of should have been supporting the slave market of, you know, the corporate slave Uh-huh. Because it's written in Excel. So, you know, to for Excel now, you have to do the $3.65 to get updates and stuff like that. But I've I was still using a 02/2010 version. So Which is still fine. Yeah. You could do that. Yeah. You could still do that. Yeah. Unfortunately, I replaced my hard drive, so I no longer can access that 2,010 because I don't have the floppy I don't have the CD. Yeah. Yeah. So I had to find a free account, a free one.
In 02/2010, yeah, CDs were still a thing. Okay. For certain things.
[00:35:10] Jesse Fries:
Right. Right. Yeah. Unless if you want you you could I think you could pay for it. I don't know. Anyways
[00:35:17] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Let me just now now at at least now Microsoft has if I understand correctly, they now have a standalone version that you can buy that you don't need a subscription for afterwards. Yep. So I'm glad that they've brought that back.
[00:35:32] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. Let's see here. What else do we got? Let's see. Oh, what's this Ford thing? Looks like you have that story. I didn't get that. So what did they announce today? Oh, yeah.
[00:35:58] Jamon Fries:
They are doing away with the one line assembly line. Instead, and I'm not sure how this is all going to work. It could I I can foresee some problems potentially. Uh-huh. Instead, they're gonna do three lines.
[00:36:16] Jesse Fries:
Okay.
[00:36:18] Jamon Fries:
One line will do the rear end of the vehicle. Another line will do the front of the vehicle. Okay. And and then there'll be a line that does the main body of the vehicle with the where the batteries and the seats and everything like that go. Just just for their EVs. Okay. And then they'll put the vehicle together. Now I can see some issues in this if they're if the frame is not going to be extending the whole length of the vehicle Right. And they're just bolting or welding two pieces onto a part of a frame, I could see some very potential possible ramifications to the safety of the vehicle for that.
[00:37:05] Jesse Fries:
Right.
[00:37:08] Jamon Fries:
But they're they're changing instead of they're they're, like, gonna have, like, the the front end of the car is gonna just be one piece. That's so it's just gonna, like, have one frame that is the entire that is the entire thing instead of putting parts of it together and then building the frame around it or building the body around it. It'll so every everything will just tend to be one piece. So the number of of screws and bolts and stuff like that that they need to use is gonna be reduced to they're gonna be reducing about from what it says in certain areas, about 25% of the stuff that goes into it will be able to go away.
Okay. Well Because of how they're chained because of because they're doing the doing the three parts instead of just one part. Okay. So that's cool. I'm just they're they're doing that to try to drive the costs down a little bit as well. Right. They yeah. It says it can be produced 15 faster. So that'd be 15% faster. Yeah. It can be produced faster. It's gonna it's they're dropping like with all the changes are dropping. I think it said, like 40 different stop stations. So they need less employees. They there's less to do there. So on the financial end, it should make the EVs cheaper.
[00:38:27] Jesse Fries:
Okay.
[00:38:28] Jamon Fries:
And but the only concern I have is depending on how they decide to do the the actual structural frame, if they do it in three pieces, I don't know if it'll be as sound as it would if it were one solid piece. Yeah. Who knows? That's the that's the only concern that I have. So we'll we'll see when once they start doing the testing of those vehicles and stuff like that in the crash tests and stuff to see Right. Just how well they hold up. But, yeah, I mean, it's a it's a pretty cool idea as long as my one potential fear of it doesn't doesn't come about. It'll be it's a great idea.
[00:39:05] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. They're pushing boundaries. Yeah. It looks Yeah. There's this quote in here. There's no guarantees for this project. We're doing so many new things. I can't tell you with 100% uncertainty that this will all go just right. It is a bet. There is a risk. So yeah. Yeah. Good for them. Good for them.
[00:39:22] Jamon Fries:
Absolutely.
[00:39:28] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Cool. And then what else do we got here?
[00:39:36] Jamon Fries:
Let me see. What's this, about the appeals court blocking contempt proceedings?
[00:39:45] Jesse Fries:
Oh, yeah. Hold hold on one second. I need to go check something. Okay.
[00:39:57] Jamon Fries:
That means I'm in control of the dead air again. Damn it. This is not my this is not my forte.
[00:40:05] Jesse Fries:
Okay. I'm back for now. Okay. Let's see here. Oh, yeah. The appeals court. Yeah. Basically, this was I remember when the Trump administration was held in contempt for those, flights, that would go into El Salvador. Basically, it was that. And then later on, an appeals court or the Supreme Court said that those were legal. And so, basically, the question was whether or not, contempt during that proceedings would still hold because the main reason why there was contempt, was overturned. So, you know, it it was that sort of thing. So Okay. An appellate court said that, yeah, those contempt charges don't hold any water because the initial thing, is gone. So
[00:40:58] Jamon Fries:
that's what it is. So Yeah. You you shouldn't be able to be held in contempt if everything that you did was perfectly legal anyways. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So It should never it should never have been brought to court in the first place. So, you know, why why could you be in contempt of court?
[00:41:16] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. So that's how it is. You know, it's a Okay. Of course, it was, like, two Trump, judges with 117 who was a Obama one. Yeah. Of course. These these courts are now just, who Democrat or Republican, basically. So, yeah, that's all that is. It's weird. Yep. Let's see here. And then, apparently, New York Times with Gaza and everything like that, things have gotten crazy. So, you know, there was all this starvation and everything like that that they were talking about over in Gaza? Well, there really wasn't. So the New York Times has had to retract many stories. A lot of people have had to retract many stories.
The one kid that was really, really sick and pretty much dying, well, he had a different disease. He wasn't starving. Then all these things of, like, oh, all these people were being killed. Apparently, then that had to be retracted and everything like that. Our ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, in a interview and everything like that, he was, like, saying, you you you see all these things, but then it gets retracted. You you you and so I all this is just lies that Gaza is throwing out there and everything like that. It was, you know Yeah. It it it he he he goes, if the Israelis really wanted to do genocide, they could have been done on October 8.
[00:42:42] Jamon Fries:
Oh, yeah.
[00:42:43] Jesse Fries:
Absolutely. You know? So it's like it's like this sort of thing. You know? It's like, I I If if not only even
[00:42:51] Jamon Fries:
even if they didn't do it that quickly, they wouldn't have told the populace to leave an area before bombing it if they wanted to do genocide.
[00:42:59] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's like
[00:43:03] Jamon Fries:
yeah. There there have been mistakes and everything like that, but it is Yeah. Of course. I mean, it's it's war. There there are peep people that shouldn't die are going to die because it's war. Yep. But Yep. But yeah. It's not a genocide.
[00:43:15] Jesse Fries:
No. I I don't think it is either. I think a lot of it is overblown. And, whenever something comes out bad against Israel, everybody around the world is good to go, yeah. See, told you so. This is how it works. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, this is part of the reason why this is part of the reason why the US government generally always backs Israel. Yes. Is because they go it's all crap. You know? That that that's, now some people will say, of course, we're bought and paid for. Our government is bought and paid for by the Jews. Some people probably think I'm being paid by some Jews. You can. Please send me some money.
[00:43:52] Jamon Fries:
Please please pay us. We'll we'll say good things. I swear.
[00:43:59] Jesse Fries:
It's just yeah. You know, it's not a it if there's lies and they're exposed Yeah. That's it. You you know? So you can't really believe anything that's coming out of Gaza. You haven't been able to do it forever anyways. Whenever they would talk about all these deaths and then they go, oh, we overestimated those. You you know, it's like,
[00:44:20] Jamon Fries:
why would you If anything, there has there hasn't been a single death report out where the initial one wasn't backed up, wasn't wasn't reversed.
[00:44:29] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. No. So yeah.
[00:44:33] Jamon Fries:
I I I mean, it's weird. And also, you know, one of one of the problems with the current state of warfare, the way things are now, where we're not actually fighting a where they're not actually fighting a uniformed soldier. Right. Right. That's that's gorilla. Yeah. You have no idea who's who's part of the war and who's not. Yep. Yep. You know, you you go and you shoot, you know, you go and you shoot up a a area that with a lot of people that are shooting back at you. Hamas then goes in, takes all the guns away, and says, look what they did to the people.
[00:45:13] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. I it's just bullshit. It it is. It is. I I yeah. When it comes to that, you you I I said it, like, at the very big very beginning of the whole situation. You know, Hamas asked for this. The Gazans asked for this. Because, well, October 7. And any response to that, trying to stop it from ever happening again, it's war. I'm not saying it's nice. I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying it's a tit for tat situation, and the Israelis are sick of it. So Absolutely. And, you know, the the
[00:45:49] Jamon Fries:
one of the one of the reasons that I'm not very vehement about stopping and not killing civilians over there Uh-huh. Is because who was it that took the prisoners? I've heard reports that it wasn't Hamas soldiers that took the prisoners. Well, I It was citizens that crossed the border after Hamas gained control that started grabbing people.
[00:46:18] Jesse Fries:
I I I don't know about that. To me to me I that it doesn't That that was some reports that I heard early on. Okay. And so To me, it's I I understand. But to me, it doesn't matter because either way, you still voted them into power. You still supported them no matter what. It's just, you do that. That's it. You know? Yeah. It's like Americans get blamed for what the American government does, generally. You know? It's just that it's like the German people got blamed for what Hitler and the Nazis did. You know? This is what you get blamed. You get lumped into the whole situation. And, you know, they picked this government, and this government was a terrorist organization.
And so Yeah. There you go. Voted a man. I mean Apparently, Australia is recognizing Hamas as, the government.
[00:47:10] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Well, I mean, they are the duly elected government there. So
[00:47:14] Jesse Fries:
But as a nation, they're they're, like, they're recognizing them as a country.
[00:47:19] Jamon Fries:
Just Gaza or the all of Palestine?
[00:47:21] Jesse Fries:
Hamas led Gaza. Hamas? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah. Yeah. So not not the West Bank, not the Golan Not that I know. I I I just I just quickly saw the headline. It said Okay. It said Hamas. It it distinctly said Okay. So yeah. If the headline went wrong, I don't know. But, yeah, it's,
[00:47:40] Jamon Fries:
With headlines, you never really know if it's actually what the story says or not. You really don't. You really don't. So
[00:47:48] Jesse Fries:
but, yeah, it was like but, apparently, the New York Times retracted, had to retract some of these stories, and so they got, graffitied because of that with anti, Semitic stuff and everything like that. So Of course. Of course. Yeah. It's just craziness. It is just craziness. Another kind of craziness.
[00:48:08] Jamon Fries:
On another simpler note, Stanford Mhmm. Has decided to say, screw you to California.
[00:48:16] Jesse Fries:
Okay. How so?
[00:48:18] Jamon Fries:
California passed a law that requires all university that that says that no universities can use legacy admissions as a in in their admission policies. Uh-huh. And Stanford's like, yeah. No. Screw that. We're we're still, like, we're still doing legacy admissions. And so California said, well, if you do it, you're not getting any funding from us. And Stanford just looked at him and said, okay. We'll come up with the money somewhere else.
[00:48:48] Jesse Fries:
So you see see that's what you do instead of sue. You know, Harvard can do the same thing to the federal government, but, no, they want all of the money. You you know, it's like they have enough endowment to survive. I'm just saying. Absolutely.
[00:48:59] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. So, I mean, it's the
[00:49:01] Jesse Fries:
yeah. Yeah. That's what Harvard should do. And they should stop complaining and just go, okay. Well, that's the way you're going. Well, I'm going this way then. You know? Maybe Yeah. Absolutely. Corporations and get funded that way instead of the government. I don't know. You can talk to corporations.
[00:49:16] Jamon Fries:
You can go to your legacy members and get donations. I mean, Harvard, the the legacy members usually have a decent amount of money that they could donate if they wanted to.
[00:49:26] Jesse Fries:
They do? I wouldn't know that. At least, at least some of them do. Yeah. Yeah. At least some of them do. At least some of them do. Let's see here. I have a story. Apparently, a journalist, in Georgia was sentenced to two years in Prince in prison. So so that's a headline. Right? I'm assuming we're talking the country, not the state? No. The state. Really? Yep. Yep. Yep. What I understand. Let's see here. Let me just double check. What he did put him in prison? No. Hold on. Hold on. Okay. No. No. Actually, the country. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Yeah. Yep. But but what's funny is that you read through this, she was thrown at jail for slapping a police officer.
Well, that's not journalistic. I'm just saying. No.
[00:50:22] Jamon Fries:
You saw you slap a police officer. You go to jail for for assault.
[00:50:26] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. So it is and and then you nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. No. You you slap a a police officer. I'm sorry. You're going to jail. This is what it is. So Yeah. Yeah. That's yes. Oh, that was hilarious. Yeah. Who cares? Right? It's a Yeah. But, of course, everybody's all upset that journalists are thrown in jail. Don't slap a police officer. And, you know, yeah, that that's, you know, I I could I could see
[00:50:54] Jamon Fries:
a journalist going to jail for murder and people saying, you can't put a journalist in jail.
[00:51:01] Jesse Fries:
Uh-huh. Yep. Yep.
[00:51:03] Jamon Fries:
Much like politicians, you know, they think that they're above the law, you know. Oh, completely. Completely. Yep. Yeah.
[00:51:12] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Let's see what else do we got here. Oh, the CDC shooter that apparently didn't make it to the CDC and then shot up, what, coffee shop across the way or something like that. Oh, okay. I didn't know about that. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, some guy just tried to break into the CDC, because and, apparently, he's this guy's dad tells said that, he this kid or guy believed that the COVID vaccine made him suicidal. He was a 30 year old guy who tried to break into the, like, headquarters of the CDC. So, yeah, when he couldn't get in, he just went across the street and then started opening fire at a pharmacy apparently. So He he just he just wanted to kill people. That's all it was. Yeah. And he wanted to blame the CDCs for it. So, you know, there you go. It's a Yep.
Craziness. That's insane.
[00:52:08] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. This is Alright. Let's get let's go on to a fun story from Nova Scotia Okay. Into international news. Uh-huh. Nova Scotia has now announced that there is going to be a 25 $25,000 fine for anyone that hikes or fishes or camps in the woods.
[00:52:35] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. You gotta love that. Right? It's like Yeah. Because of the fire, forest fires up there. They're really this actually it also started, like, in Alberta and everything like that, too, I believe. Nova Scotia came afterwards. But, yeah, it's this $25,000 fine. And apparently, in, like, Alberta, it was you can't even go walking, AKA hiking, on your friend's property. Your friend could walk on his own property, but you can't join him. What? Yeah. Yeah. Even private property, you cannot walk on. Wow. Can't camp on, can't can't do anything. You know? So it's,
[00:53:18] Jamon Fries:
Yeah.
[00:53:20] Jesse Fries:
They realized that Canadians will just, do whatever they're told with COVID. So I Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Learned with that. Yep. Yep.
[00:53:29] Jamon Fries:
So no. There there was one there was one guy up there, watched a little video of it on x, and he was standing there. And he's like he was standing right outside the, the wildlife office. Uh-huh. And he went he went and talked to him, told me he was gonna walk into the woods. And they told him if you do that, you're going to be charged $25,000. Uh-huh. They then upped it to you're gonna be charged $50,000 after he was arguing with them for a little bit.
[00:54:02] Jesse Fries:
What now? They
[00:54:05] Jamon Fries:
they they didn't actually charge him that extra 50 thou that extra 25,000.
[00:54:09] Jesse Fries:
But Right. So he just so when when there were two officers sitting there sitting there talking to him, he just walked right into the forest,
[00:54:19] Jamon Fries:
turned around, walked right back. Jesus Christ. His total fine came up to, like, $28,000.
[00:54:29] Jesse Fries:
Well, I guess he has the money to blow on that. So, you know, and Yeah. Fighting for it. Hey. That sounds like a stage thing where he was he's trying to make a point.
[00:54:38] Jamon Fries:
Oh, that's absolutely what it was. Yes. He he he went up to them, told him what he was gonna do. They told him if he did it, they're gonna find him. So he's like, well, come with me. You can watch me and record me doing it.
[00:54:53] Jesse Fries:
You know, I could understand, like like, no ATVs.
[00:54:57] Jamon Fries:
No, like, certain things, like, nothing that can I I could understand no ATVs? I could see I could understand no camping outside of approved campsites because they'll let you camp they'll they'll still let you camp in approved campsites. Yep. You just can't but how are you gonna get to it because you can't hike?
[00:55:18] Jesse Fries:
And
[00:55:19] Jamon Fries:
once you're there, how are you gonna eat because you can't fish?
[00:55:24] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. It just doesn't make any sense.
[00:55:28] Jamon Fries:
I have never camped there, but the lake right next to you, you can't fish in the lake. Yeah. Yeah. And I've never heard of a fire starting from fishing.
[00:55:37] Jesse Fries:
I I I No. Never. Heard of it. So yeah, no. They've really gone I don't know what's going on up there. They they they Yeah. I know. It's it's insane. It really is $25,000 fine for going on a walk. You know? Yeah. I just find it funny that people call it hiking. No. You go for a walk in the woods. That's all you do it, dude. Yes. Yes. Maybe go for a walk up something, but still just walk. I I would consider
[00:56:06] Jamon Fries:
hiking to be, well, no excess other words for it. There's mountain climbing. So, you know, it's not really like walking up a mountain. Exactly. Exactly. It it hiking, it's just another word for walking.
[00:56:20] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I went on a hike. I went on a walk. Hike just sounds more, like, energetic even though it's just a walk. Oh, yeah.
[00:56:29] Jamon Fries:
Well, high hiking sounds more purpose driven.
[00:56:32] Jesse Fries:
It does. It does. Yeah. Yeah. It's just walking people. Just letting you know. Let's see here. Apparently, continuing the international, the EU, their freedom law media freedom law, which is supposed to make all the laws and everything like that to allow journalists to be able to be free in whatever they do and everything like that. Right? Yeah. Well, unless if, there's justified cases, where it over and public interest, government is interest says that they should be arrested. The journalists is what it says in this law. So it's like In other words, you're you're free to tell everyone what we want you to tell everyone. Exactly.
Exactly. It it, Yeah. Ursula von der Leij, she's like, oh, a free and independent press are essential pillar of our democracy. And the law includes surveillance provisions for serious crimes such as terrorism, racism, combat misinformation. So, yeah, that's not freedom. Yeah. If it says combat misinformation, that's not freedom. No. It's No. No. Not at all. It's funny. Oh, that's insane. You have the you could you you have the right to say whatever I want you to say.
[00:57:51] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. You have the right to report on the stories that I want you to report on as long as you do it in the way that I want you to.
[00:58:01] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. Let's see here. I guess, into a bit tech news. AOL is no longer gonna have dial up service. Yes. I know. Yeah. I didn't even know they still did. They actually have dial up service still. Yeah. It's going away though. Is is there anywhere that still has a landline connection that you can use? Well, you just plug it into your computer with the modem. That's just
[00:58:28] Jamon Fries:
what you Well, I know. But dial up Internet was it I mean, it was through
[00:58:34] Jesse Fries:
the it was through the local
[00:58:36] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Telephone. Right. You don't you can't have a local telephone anymore. Really? Yeah. You can. Yeah. You can. No. Because they're all, they all have to be the, shit with the VoIPs. They're all VoIPs.
[00:58:51] Jesse Fries:
Not all of them. There's still some of those still hanging around.
[00:58:56] Jamon Fries:
I don't know. Here here where I'm at, but there aren't any that still have it. Really? Yeah. No. Everything everything has VoIP. Probably.
[00:59:06] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. There there there's still probably some hanger ons. I haven't bothered with any of that. I just do my cell phone. So Yeah. I do. That's all I do.
[00:59:19] Jamon Fries:
I guess I could see I could see, out in the middle of nowhere, out in the country and stuff like that, which might still have the landlines that dial up could utilize. Mhmm.
[00:59:32] Jesse Fries:
Let's see. What else do we got here? Well,
[00:59:37] Jamon Fries:
also in the business world, Bill Gates has backed a company that makes animal free butter. Oh, what is it? Uh-huh. It doesn't use plants, so it's plant free and animal free butter.
[01:00:00] Jesse Fries:
What do they use?
[01:00:02] Jamon Fries:
Carbon dioxide and hydrogen out of water. Okay. Because fat is carbon and hydrogen. Those are the two two things that make up 90% of the fats out there, if not more. Okay. Okay. Okay. So they're going to harvest carbon dioxide out of the air There you go. And take hydrogen out of the water. Now, you know, I'm if I'm not mistaken, there are a lot of places that have droughts and they tell us, even here where we flood normally, that we have to conserve water because of that. Right. Right. But they're gonna take the hydrogen out of water. So it's okay because they're doing it for the environment.
[01:00:44] Jesse Fries:
Of course. Of course. Yeah.
[01:00:46] Jamon Fries:
But, yes. And supposedly, they say it tastes just like butter.
[01:00:52] Jesse Fries:
Because what they always say, I know. Impossible. The beef. They say, oh, it tastes just like beef. It's like, yeah, salty ass, crappy ass beef. Beef that no one would wanna touch. Exactly. If that were an actual meat product, then you would throw it away because it's already gone bad.
[01:01:16] Jamon Fries:
But now they they they what they're what they're claiming is that the food oil industry makes up 7% of total global carbon emissions.
[01:01:27] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[01:01:30] Jamon Fries:
But what and and they're talking about, you know, all of these ingredients that you can't name it that is in butter. Mhmm. Which tells me, a, they don't know the difference between margarine and butter because there are no chemicals that you can't name in butter. It's just cream it's just cream and, I can't remember what else to put in that. No. It's just cream and salt.
[01:02:00] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Cream and salt. Yeah. And then you beat it, which pushes the fat together and separates the milk, the whey from it, or the buttermilk. Yes. Exactly. Butter. That's all it is. So yeah.
[01:02:15] Jamon Fries:
So It's butter. They're they're not so they're they're saying that margarine is the same as butter. Oy. And in the food oil industry and I I didn't look up to see to look at exact numbers, but I can imagine that probably about six of that 7% is taken up by seed oil manufacturing, by margarine manufacturing. Right. Right. It's definitely not taken up by fat, by animal fat processing. I mean, because you'd you know, lard. How do how do you get lard? Well, you take the fat out of a cow and you cook it down and you take out the bits and then you solidify the the lard. Yep. It doesn't take much to process it. It really doesn't. It really doesn't.
Butter doesn't take much to process. So the only thing that the only part of the animal production, the animal oil production is Growing. The cow farts or the cow burps. Cow burps. Yeah.
[01:03:29] Jesse Fries:
That is funny. Yeah. No. No. I I think I'll just stick with my good old butter. Yeah.
[01:03:36] Jamon Fries:
Yeah.
[01:03:37] Jesse Fries:
I can't believe that's butter.
[01:03:40] Jamon Fries:
Oh, hell no. I can't and I don't I don't believe it's good for you either.
[01:03:46] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Probably not. Probably not.
[01:03:49] Jamon Fries:
There is nothing. You know, more and more scientific results have come out saying that there is absolutely nothing about highly processed foods, and this is definitely a highly processed food Mhmm. That is good for you.
[01:04:03] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep.
[01:04:05] Jamon Fries:
So yeah. No. Never touching it.
[01:04:09] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Let's see here. It looks like in California, the Supreme Court has sided with, environmental groups. Basically, this is for well, no. This was for rooftop solar incentives. Okay. Basically, the public utility commission had slashed all of those incentives and everything like that. And so basically and so with that, the environmentalist is saying, no. You can't do that. You need the incentives because you have the incentives. Why would you just and then, you know, it's like being able to sell the, power to the grid and everything like that and every and how they keep these commissions to keep raising prices on how much you have to pay to send me your power sort of thing. You know? It's like, if you give the power if you give power to the grid, you you get charged for putting power on the grid nowadays. Wait. What?
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Or they've completely gotten rid of the whole point where you get money for putting power in the grid. Yeah. I think in most of the country, if you have excess power and it goes into the grid, you gotta check for that excess power. Yeah. No. A lot of these companies are actually starting to not want that because it's unregulated. They can't control that power. And so it could they they say it could hurt their transmission lines and everything. I I I don't know. But yeah. So, basically, it's getting rid of the whole reason to have solar power. Yeah.
So yeah. It's, so to me, this this is a win. I I think, it it makes sense if you they had all this stuff. So now they're trying to cut back on all these things for these people that had solar panels. You know, you you promised these people benefits of solar power of solar panels. And Mhmm. Now you're going against that. I I think that's kinda shady on those, commissions side, really.
[01:06:05] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. I I could I could fully get behind not, you know, eliminating, like like, the government talking about eliminating the, the EV, perks. Uh-huh. You know, where you get, like, tax breaks for for buying an EV vehicle instead of others. That's something where you don't actually own the vehicle. You haven't bought it because they told you that it was gonna do that that this was gonna happen. Mhmm. So in this case, I guess, I could kinda side with them and say, no, you can't stop it. But, yeah, I don't know.
[01:06:48] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. So
[01:06:51] Jamon Fries:
So it's a tricky situation.
[01:06:53] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I could see that. I could see that.
[01:06:56] Jamon Fries:
Because, I mean, the more people the more people they have putting power into the system, the more potential especially, like, on a bright sunny day Right. Where everybody's overproducing energy because of their solar panels. And if all of that is getting pumped back into the system and the system doesn't know when that power is coming in, so they can't pro they can't proactively cut their their own power supply because it's gonna be too much, I could potentially see overloads in the system.
[01:07:27] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. They should get a better system then. Okay.
[01:07:30] Jamon Fries:
They absolutely should. I mean So much like our much like our air traffic control, you know, everything everything that we operate on was built in the fifties.
[01:07:40] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. Okay. Let's switch topics here. So do you know that, actress Gina Carano? She was in, Mandalorian there for, like, a season or two?
[01:07:53] Jamon Fries:
Yeah.
[01:07:54] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. And, basically, she was fired because she was conservative is basically how that, went. It makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, her Absolutely. Yeah. Her and Disney actually came to an agreement and looks like she may be coming back into the Star Wars universe. So
[01:08:13] Jamon Fries:
Oh, nice.
[01:08:15] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. That's for her. You you know? She's an actress. That that's all that matters. I I Yeah. That's their politics skin. Who cares? You know? It's, yeah. This Yeah. I mean
[01:08:30] Jamon Fries:
Uh-huh. Yeah. I I've I've got a whole dialogue that I could go on about actors and politics. Yeah. Let's not get into that. Yeah. I don't wanna get into that right now. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see here.
[01:08:48] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Just trying to look to see. I don't care about the source. Else we got is, science related. Yeah. I'm gonna chop off those last three in science.
[01:08:58] Jamon Fries:
Okay.
[01:09:00] Jesse Fries:
Apparently, those Ozempic. So Ozempic, apparently, there's another, side effect. Yeah. What's that? It can kill your sex drive. Like, completely kill your libido. Damn. So, basically, the reason why you're taking it is destroyed by it itself. You know? Because because a lot of times, you know, you wanna look a little bit sexier, you know, for your husband or Yeah. You you wanna lose that
[01:09:31] Jamon Fries:
little pouch you you wanna get. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
[01:09:35] Jesse Fries:
And then it kills your libido.
[01:09:40] Jamon Fries:
Oh, damn. Yeah. That's not good.
[01:09:43] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. It's like for then they always go, oh, it could help your heart. The lawyer libido. It's this. It's this. You know? I just don't won't do it. You know? Let's just Yeah. Keep that away from me. Okay. So you have a couple funny stories. Is that right?
[01:10:02] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. So did have you heard about the, South Park episodes where they, had where they were making fun of Charlie Kirk in it? Oh, yeah. Charlie Cook. Kirk loved it. Yeah. Yeah. He he on on, x, he just post he just recently posted the Democrat Democrat contact creators Uh-huh. Are going nuts
[01:10:29] Jesse Fries:
now. No. I saw them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, just, like, the how could you possibly think it's funny? They're not laughing with you. They're laughing at you. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how it goes. Yeah. But it's funny. It was funny. It's funny. Yeah. Some people have sense of humors about themselves. Others don't. I understand this. But Yeah. Yeah. Or at least if you don't, you don't let it show because Yes. Absolutely.
[01:11:00] Jamon Fries:
If it shows, that means that they were that they won.
[01:11:03] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. It's it's it's like dealing with a bully. A bully comes up and you tries to start something. You you you just don't let it affect you and you move on with your life. Yep. You know? And then they'll never do it again. Yeah. Because they got no response out of you, you know, or they got the wrong response out of you. So, you know, it's a
[01:11:23] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. I just yeah. I I just I I the thing I find funny about it is that they're getting butthurt because Charlie Kirk didn't get butthurt.
[01:11:33] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I I think that's funny too. It's like, okay, people. You you you have, too much time on your hands to worry about other people here, you know. It's Yes. Absolutely. Just laugh at the joke and laugh at the joke and move on with life, you know. It's, so Absolutely. Yeah. Uh-huh.
[01:11:50] Jamon Fries:
The the the last the last one that I think is, is good is, so back in 02/2016, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sent a letter to the homeowner saying they're they're conducting surveys for legged frogs and other amphibians over the next few months. That's why they wanted access they wanted permission to have access to their property.
[01:12:17] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[01:12:19] Jamon Fries:
So the landowner sent a letter back. I'm not gonna read all of it because it was a pretty lengthy letter. Right. Thank you for your inquiry required regarding accessing our property to survey the yellow legged frog. We may be able to help you out with this matter. We have divided our 2.2 acres into 75 equal equal survey units and draw tags for each unit. Application fees are only $8 per unit after you purchase the frog survey license, which is a $120 per resident or a $180 for nonresident. You will also need to obtain the frog habitat parking permit, which is $10 per vehicle. You will then need an an invasive species stamp,
[01:13:04] Jesse Fries:
$515
[01:13:05] Jamon Fries:
for the first vehicle, $5 for each additional vehicle. You will also wanna register at the check station, have your vehicle inspected for non native plant life prior to entering our property. There's also a day use fee of $5 per vehicle, And they just keep on going on and on and on, listen more and more fees.
[01:13:24] Jesse Fries:
Love it. Love it.
[01:13:27] Jamon Fries:
Makes sense to me. Makes sense to me. The the the final the final part of it was you will also need to provide evidence you have success you have of successful completion of the frog surveys and your comprehensive course on frog identification, safe handling practices, and self defense strategies for frog attacks. This course is offered online through an accredited program for a nominal fee of $750. Please let us know if we can be of assistance to you.
[01:13:55] Jesse Fries:
That is hilarious. That is hilarious. And, everybody, please remember, here at the Mindless Sea, we are value for value model. So anything you can do to help us out, if you have stories, funny stories, sad stories, whatever stories, or ideas about the show, please let us know. You can email me at jesse@mindlesssea.com or jaman@jamenatmindlessmeanderings.com. Also, money helps if you wanna help defray some of the server costs and everything like that that we have for this podcast. So please help us out any which way you can, and don't forget that frogs attack.
So thank you for joining us for episode 52 of the Mindless Mindfulness podcast. I'm Jesse Fries. And I'm Jamin Fries. And you guys will hear us again on Thursday. Have a good one.
Good afternoon, everybody. It is, I believe, August 11, and we are live with episode number 52 of the mindless meanderians. I'm Jesse Fries, and kids' school starts tomorrow. So this is the last day of them being at home. Woo hoo.
[00:00:37] Jamon Fries:
Freedom finally. I know. And I'm Jamin Fries. And after doing a whole bunch of research, I have decided to try a new diet.
[00:00:48] Jesse Fries:
Okeydoke. That works. That works. Yeah.
[00:00:52] Jamon Fries:
Very drastic. Uh-huh. Eat one meal a day. Well, you eat one meal for one day.
[00:00:58] Jesse Fries:
Okay.
[00:00:59] Jamon Fries:
You don't eat the next day, then you eat a meal, and then you don't eat, and then you eat a meal, and then you don't eat. So Holy. Yeah. How big are these meals? What I'm gonna eat is gonna be about 12 to 1,300 calories.
[00:01:18] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Okay.
[00:01:20] Jamon Fries:
Six eggs, about 10 ounces of meat, and then some cheese. So I mean, it's it's it's a decent sized meal for the for what I'm gonna be eating.
[00:01:33] Jesse Fries:
Got it. Right. Right. And it's But So it's high protein.
[00:01:37] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. It's very high protein. That that I'm getting I'm getting, like, a 100 grams, a 100 plus grams of protein in in that one meal. So Okay. And zero carbohydrates. Okay. All good. So, what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to burn all of the excess sugar that's in my system. Uh-huh. And the more I read about fasting, the more I I know that there's downsides to it, but the more from what I from what I've read, long term fasting, we don't know much about. Uh-huh. You know, like, over fifteen days, they it's considered to be too dangerous to do studies on. Right. So they don't really do studies on those. But for just, you know, skipping a day or skipping two days, there's even a lot of science on skipping five to seven days
[00:02:31] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[00:02:32] Jamon Fries:
That talk about the process the body goes through during those days and, you know, the so the benefits from it, I think, are gonna far outweigh any of the potential negatives.
[00:02:44] Jesse Fries:
Okay. That's cool. That is cool.
[00:02:47] Jamon Fries:
It's considered one of the one of the more drastic, weight loss measures. And considering that I need to lose about 370 to 400, I think I need to start getting pretty drastic now that I've hit 50.
[00:03:03] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I could see that. I could see that. Yeah. Yeah. Just try to yeah. I understand. Completely understand. I hope it goes well for you. And so Thank you. I I'm I'm looking forward to it. I'm planning on starting it
[00:03:18] Jamon Fries:
on Saturday is when I'm gonna start. Okay. Cool. Cool. I've I've got a whole bunch of leafy vegetables and stuff like that for my meals up until Saturday, and I don't wanna just let the lettuce go bad. So
[00:03:31] Jesse Fries:
Just take a day.
[00:03:34] Jamon Fries:
I know.
[00:03:37] Jesse Fries:
Let's see. What do we got today? Let's see. It looks like, overall, it's just mostly the Democrats and texts and everything like that still, you know, away. Federal government said they're gonna help look them up. That's what, the FBI director said. They're gonna help find them. Nice. Yeah. But the technically, the warrants are only good for in the tech in Texas. So I don't know what they can really do about it. So yeah.
[00:04:06] Jamon Fries:
Let's see here. They really can't do anything, I don't think. No. They really can't do it. It's not like they broke a law.
[00:04:13] Jesse Fries:
So Actually, they did. It's a Texas law, but it's but it's it's it's like a legislative law sort of situation. It's not yeah. They did, technically. Yeah. Fleeing the state is considered, you can actually get warrants off your arrest and everything like that. So, yeah, it's Okay. Yeah. But it looks like Beto O'Rourke, the guy that's been financing the whole thing, the judge blocked him. So
[00:04:42] Jamon Fries:
basically shut down all his money, from supporting the Texas Democrats. So so he so he can't pay for the Democrats to be on their vacation. They have to start paying for it themselves.
[00:04:52] Jesse Fries:
Correct. Correct. He he really got into this whole thing of trying to stick it. He he said that we need to or the Democrats need to, completely just every state needs to gerrymander and everything like that. So so I think it's about to get crazy. Already do. Yeah. But he wants it to get even worse, apparently. I don't know how. But yeah. So there you go. He he's a bit he he's a loser. Literally, he lost like every election he ever tried. So Can you imagine what
[00:05:24] Jamon Fries:
could you imagine what the districts in Kansas would have to look like to make it a Democrat controlled state? Well, right. But it's like one of the ones, like, here in Texas in the proposed
[00:05:36] Jesse Fries:
thing. It's it's in Austin. Right? Uh-huh. So part of it goes into Austin, but then the rest of it goes 350 miles away.
[00:05:44] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got Yep.
[00:05:47] Jesse Fries:
It's it's
[00:05:49] Jamon Fries:
Oh, that's like it's like that one that we were taught that that you had mentioned before that or that or one of us had mentioned before
[00:05:56] Jesse Fries:
that they they were one head of district that was, like, from San Jose and Lubbock, Texas. Yeah. San Antonio up to Lubbock. Yeah. San Antonio and Lubbock. Yeah. Yeah. Which is, like, 500 miles. They they they they they did do that map. But yeah. Okay. They they still but then, you know, it's just like that little squeaky line up Illinois and everything like that for Oh, yeah. How many hundreds of miles. Yeah. So, yeah, it's it's hilarious. It's we've talked about this. Basically, they just need to come up with a
[00:06:25] Jamon Fries:
They need to come up with a better way to figure it out. You you you can't let the see, here here's the thing. I don't think that you can let any political party decide what the map looks like. But, unfortunately, everyone has everyone has a political agenda no matter who's doing the drawing. There's gonna have a political agenda to it. Michigan has tried that. Let's see what they're actually doing that right now. Let's
[00:06:55] Jesse Fries:
see. Michigan, with districts. Okay. So, yeah, their districts actually look pretty sane, actually, if you look at at a map of them.
[00:07:13] Jamon Fries:
Okay.
[00:07:14] Jesse Fries:
I actually like the look of them. They're they because they they did get a independent counsel to do it, basically. Okay. Yep. Now whether or not if it's truly nonpartisan or not. But, you know Right. But but they actually it it there's no weird ones. You know? They Yeah. Yeah. They just look like regular blocks. You know? Yes. There's more around Detroit, but there's more people around Detroit. So, you know Yeah. It it it actually makes sense. So, you know, it's, Yeah. Just do something like that. But, no, of course, that we're not gonna do that. So
[00:07:48] Jamon Fries:
You know, I mean, honestly, what I wouldn't mind seeing Uh-huh. And this takes absolutely nothing into account, is you set a number. So you say the entire population of the state is, say, 900,000.
[00:08:07] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm. Okay?
[00:08:09] Jamon Fries:
Do we have this many counties in each state? We have this many representatives for the state. So what you do is you just county by county, you put the total populations, list the total populations, and then you just put each county's neighbors until it gets up to the percentage of of a representative.
[00:08:34] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[00:08:36] Jamon Fries:
I think that would be the best way to do it. Yeah. I would think so. I would think so. Let's see here. So Because then then the the representative of that is actually representing the people there rather than some gerrymandered district that stretches halfway across the state that just to, you know, you you yeah. I think that would be the best way to do it.
[00:09:01] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. No. It's like I I delve further into the Michigan thing, and it's like so they have 13 districts. Right? Okay. And seven of them are Republican. Six of them are Democrats. And that really represents a good share of what the of Michigan actually is. Yeah. It's roughly it's pretty close to a fifty fifty, when it comes to Democrats and Republicans. So, you know, I this this makes sense. It really does. It it's, just go with that model. It it seems like a better model. And then we might actually get some stuff really done in this country.
[00:09:41] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Wouldn't that be amazing if It really would. If government actually did something that was Nah. Well, wait. I don't know.
[00:09:53] Jesse Fries:
I kinda like that. We're not being able to do anything too. But It is. Well, yeah. Yeah. It's got its, there's always benefits and negatives to every situation. Yeah. So Yeah.
[00:10:03] Jamon Fries:
You know, it it'd be good to have fair representation that might actually lead to the government doing something. But at the same time, it's kinda nice when they can't do anything.
[00:10:16] Jesse Fries:
That's what I yeah. It's we're I'm right there with you, dude. I really am. I I'm generally it's like I've always loved the filibuster in the Senate because, well Yes. It made sure nothing got done. But now it's just gotten to the point where it's stupid, you know. Oh, yes. Yeah. It it's like there's nothing it's there's getting nothing done, but then there's getting nothing done and blocking the entire system. Yes.
[00:10:41] Jamon Fries:
Yes. I mean, the, you know, the the one thing, if nothing else, there should be one category that cannot be filibustered. No. I can only think of one and that would be the budget.
[00:10:55] Jesse Fries:
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. That can't be filibustered. All you need is a 50 for that. You just need 50 for that.
[00:11:03] Jamon Fries:
Unless unless they say
[00:11:06] Jesse Fries:
No. You can't. You you can get up and give a speech, but that's not good. That's not like Well, no. No. No. The the when,
[00:11:14] Jamon Fries:
when Trump was when Trump's big new deal was going through, there were a lot of areas that they were trying to pass budgets on. Well, right. Well The rules say that they can't touch that area. And so in order to change it, they needed to have the the filibuster the, you know, the filibuster could stop it. Most of those weren't actually
[00:11:36] Jesse Fries:
but the thing there was that those things really weren't budgetary things. They were just being shoved in there, because it's a massive bill. And Right. Budgetary has a lower level. So, basically, the the parliamentarian was just saying, well, that's not really a budgetary thing. So you that can't be there.
[00:11:57] Jamon Fries:
Well, some some of them some of them were absolutely budgetary, but it was on the things that the government has decided that we're that no matter what we have to spend this money.
[00:12:09] Jesse Fries:
Well, yeah, however, it doesn't I I'm just saying If I'm really the budget, I guess there's always exceptions to the rule, but it's Yeah. Generally, the budget is one of those things, you know. I I just get rid of it all. That's what I say. Just, have it 51. That's it. Majority rules. Go. Yeah. Just that that's how it should be. Just like it is in the the house.
[00:12:32] Jamon Fries:
That's how it I don't really understand why they have the why is it why some things you have to hit 66 and something It's a you have to hit 50.
[00:12:40] Jesse Fries:
It's a long historical question. Yeah. It really is. It really is. Well, let's not get into that then. Maybe you can do a maybe you can do that on one of your other podcasts. Possibly. But, basically, just the basic is that they've always viewed themselves as the rational actors. They're not tied to political sways is how the senators
[00:13:03] Jamon Fries:
feels. And so they go, oh, it's kinda like the house of lords. They go, oh, we are the wise elders, and we can do whatever we want, and we can screw everything over. And that that that's basically how it's so yep. I mean, that that that has been in existence forever. I mean, you look back at the hunter gatherer days, it was the elders that made all the decisions and stuff like that and Well, right. They were gonna make decisions that benefited them. I mean, that's just the way it works.
[00:13:31] Jesse Fries:
Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Let's see. The other big story is DC. That that's just a big story. Right? Yeah. Yeah. It's that's, that's a pretty interesting one. Yeah. Yeah. So, basically, it's it's funny how each one of these stories really talks about it too because, you know, it's Trump said that basically it's a lawless city, and he tied it to, like, Bogota and other other and Lima, Peru and other bad
[00:14:01] Jamon Fries:
Okay. I don't think it's quite there yet. But
[00:14:05] Jesse Fries:
Actually, it is there. Is it really? Yeah. It's up there. It's up there to see where did that go. And aft aft I suppose after listening to Piro's
[00:14:16] Jamon Fries:
press conference, it's definitely a lot worse than I thought it was. So so, take Bogota. So Bogota
[00:14:23] Jesse Fries:
crime index. Now this is just crime index. So crime index of 66.68. Now you take the best country in this whole list, which is Prague and The Czech Republic. Mhmm. And that's at 24.63.
[00:14:38] Jamon Fries:
Okay.
[00:14:39] Jesse Fries:
Okay? DC is second highest at 50 9.88. Holy crap. Yeah. Then it goes to Delhi, 59 o. Then London, 55.5. Then New York, 51. Yeah. Sydney has 34.6 point o six, so pretty decent. Just up a little bit from Prague, and Beijing is 25. So, you know, it it's yeah. It is up there. All pretty much much of our major cities are up there. Trump is right. But Yeah. The the way that all the news media like the Washington Post and everything like that, all they ever do is going, well, this is what Trump said. And then they ignore what he said. And then they just look at US then they just look at the statistics in that city, and they're going, well, do you see it's a lot better now? You know, crime has dropped, like, 20%. And so that'd be
[00:15:36] Jamon Fries:
If crime has dropped 20% and it's still the way it is Exactly. That used to be really bad.
[00:15:43] Jesse Fries:
That's what I'm thinking. So it's like they they just negate what he says, and then they just go on from there. So, you know, it's it's kinda funny. You're like a Yeah. And they all start saying, oh, he talked about Bogota and Lima, Peru. Now let's look at the numbers. You could see that it's actually gotten better over the time, you know. Not that it's in comparison to anything. It's just by itself. So yeah. Yeah. You know, it's lawless. Crime crime has dropped 20%, and we're but we're still the second highest crime rate city in the world.
[00:16:20] Jamon Fries:
That means that we dropped from first to second. So, I mean, you know, that's at least a plus.
[00:16:25] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. It's like, even the Washington Post, it it, the the one story I was reading, it it it was try it it had all these graphs, and it was just saying that. But then it was talking about all these people, how they don't feel safe in their house, how they just saw roving gangs walking up and down the streets when the cops don't get there, nobody's there. You know, back and forth. It's like Yeah. So even the wise, she did post. I think it's like I think they would love just to, like, denigrate Trump, but then they live in the city. So it's like Yep. They're going, yeah. We we don't feel safe. But Trump's wrong. But we don't feel you know? So I think it's Trump can't do this. But, Emma, you know, we need somebody else to do it.
Yes. Yes. Yes. And so it's kind of funny. And then the guarantee I mean,
[00:17:15] Jamon Fries:
it really what shocked me about this was, in Piro's news news conference press conference. Mhmm. She was talking about some of the instances of this. Uh-huh. For example, the, the big balls kid from Doge that got beaten up. Everyone that was arrested there was underage. Yep. And instead of going to a criminal court, they took them to family court. Yeah. Yeah. What the fuck?
[00:17:47] Jesse Fries:
That's how it is. Family court? Because they're minors. Yep. Yeah. No. It's stupid. It is stupid. She she she was talking she said, there's a guy
[00:18:00] Jamon Fries:
that shot someone in the heart point blank with full intention to kill him. Yep. He was given probation in family court and told to go to college.
[00:18:15] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. Because that's that'll help. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. It's it's a mess up system. It really is. You you know, it's like now the one way that it was may have been too harsh, but now they're then they swung way back on the other side of the pendulum. So where you're like going it makes no sense. You know? It it's, and it's like if there if it's not murder, it cannot be they cannot be tried as an adult in Washington DC. Only if it's murder can they be tried as an adult. So even if it's like they shot and are wounded, if they didn't die, it's still just, in juvenile court or, family court, whatever it is in that situation. But, yeah, it's, Wouldn't surprise me if it's not even a felony.
Yeah. No. It it it well, it it it might be a felony, but a felony in juveniles, like, nothing. So, you know, it's it could be helpful. A felony in juvenile is a slight slap on the wrist, and the record is sealed. No one ever knows that you shot someone in the chest. Now you may have
[00:19:22] Jamon Fries:
to some areas you could they could keep you for like until '25, I think. Yeah. For juvenile. But yeah, it it it's But in DC, I mean, if if they don't even if they give probation to someone who murders someone, I mean, can you imagine what they're gonna do to somebody that just wounds someone? Yep. Yep. It it it is completely crazy.
[00:19:39] Jesse Fries:
I I really don't understand that the defund police, the get rid of bail. I I just don't understand these things. It's No. I know where it came from, but, you know, the victims are the victims. The perpetrators aren't the victims. They may be a victim of something else, but they're not a victim of that crime. And it's that crime that you need to address. It's not you can address how they got there as well, but that's a different situation. That's not in that case. You you do that for future. You know what I mean? Absolutely. Yes. Try try to get them better education. Try to get them jobs. Try to that sort of thing. You know? It's arrest them for the minor things before it gets big.
You know? Yeah. Absolutely. So maybe they might learn a lesson before they start killing people. You know? That sort of thing. Yep. It's, yep. Yeah. Yeah. Without a doubt. It really is. Yeah. But yeah. So he's, gotten the National Guard going in. He's deployed FBI agents throughout, like, a 100 Okay. FBI agents. I think Bondi is in charge of the police force now. He's federalized. Okay. Nice. He's about to go to congress to let them know what he's doing because that's what the law says. So yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a bit crazy.
Yeah. Once his buddy got attacked, he wasn't gonna have any more of it. So I don't know. On Facebook, this one guy that's a friend on Facebook, he he would say that that big balls is a pedal. I don't I this that this guy better watch out before he, gets caught for libel. That is all I'm saying. If he's an attorney, you would think he would know better. But, you know and I and I looked it up. I looked I I I didn't delve through the web, but there's nothing there. So I don't know what's going on with that. It's weird.
[00:21:36] Jamon Fries:
Well, I mean, you know, in in their mind, if you're a Republican, you're a pedo. I mean, that's that's kind of what's come out now. He has been on that kick, which is Yeah. Makes me question. But You know, if if you're if you're Republican, you're a pedo. You're a Nazi. You're a white supremacist. You're a well, not not just white supremacists. You're probably part of the cookbook, the KKK. The list just keeps going on and on and on and on
[00:22:08] Jesse Fries:
about what how bad the Republicans are and yet Well well, the Republicans do say that the Democrats are pedos too. So, you know, it it Well, yeah. Everybody says that everybody's a pettos. Exactly. It's across the board. You know? Yeah. That's just what that is. But to put it out on social media, that's just stupid if you ask me. Just Oh, yeah. Yeah. Big time. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. What else do we got? So that's basically that story. Mhmm. Let's see. It looks like the EPA terminated the federal union contract, with its contractors.
So they can't do the union anymore, can't get fees or anything like that. So let's see how that goes.
[00:22:50] Jamon Fries:
You know, I've I've always had problems with with unions and stuff like that in current era.
[00:23:04] Jesse Fries:
Some have gone down the wayward path. Yes. It's to me, it's like unionized government workers, I think, is pathetic. It's pointless. Yeah. It's I I I don't see a need because the government has to follow all the laws that are there. Exactly. So why wouldn't they follow all the laws that are there? So why would they really need a union? Exactly. Yeah. You you know, that that that's how I view it. You know, it's a Nine 90% of what unions were originally
[00:23:43] Jamon Fries:
brought around for has already been has already been taken care of by federal law. Well, right. Right. But you still I think you still need them especially for No. I I know that I there are some there are definitely industries that do need it because there's no there's nothing like like, say, for example, in the trucking industry. Uh-huh. Okay. When I was when I was driving, I was making 29 to 30¢ a mile Uh-huh. Which was decent money as long as I was moving.
[00:24:18] Jesse Fries:
Right.
[00:24:19] Jamon Fries:
But if I ever got out to California Mhmm. Near anywhere near LA, I was then sent to our yard in LA. And I would sit there for three to four days before getting a short load out.
[00:24:38] Jesse Fries:
Oh, Jesus.
[00:24:40] Jamon Fries:
Those three to four days, I made zero Right. Because I wasn't moving. No. Yeah. Completely. Completely. Yeah. Now they they they did have a, like, a $35 layover pay so that you could pay for your hotel with it, but that's it. Each day?
[00:24:58] Jesse Fries:
Yes. $35? You could find a hotel in LA for $35?
[00:25:04] Jamon Fries:
No, you can't.
[00:25:05] Jesse Fries:
That's what I'm saying.
[00:25:08] Jamon Fries:
No, so which is why we we would take that Yeah. You just you sleep in your truck. You you you park on the yard and you sleep in your truck. Right. Right. Funny. I mean, dummy, we we all basically everywhere we went, we slept in our truck anyways. So yeah. Yeah. Completely. Makes sense. The the only time the only time I wouldn't sleep in the truck is if my truck was in the shop. So Oh, yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And and if it was in the shop, they would pay more for each day. They would pay the entire cost to the hotel room because your truck was in the shop. Oh, okay. Okay. But if your truck wasn't in the shop and you didn't have a load, you'd get, like, 35 to $40 a day. Lovely. Lovely.
[00:25:46] Jesse Fries:
So
[00:25:47] Jamon Fries:
yeah. I mean, so there there's a lot of work that needed to be done there.
[00:25:51] Jesse Fries:
No. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, see see, that's that's how I view you used to is that they they can do good. It's just whether or not they do or not. You know? It's like I think some of these in our economy now, I think some of these jobs should start to be unionized. You know? It's like very low level programmers. You know, I was thinking they should be unionized because they get paid squat. You know? Yeah. Yeah. But then they're not as skilled as the higher ones. So, you know, it it but, yeah, some of these IT jobs, I I I think some of them it's a it's just the workers now. So, you know, and they're I think many of them are being taken advantage of. But,
[00:26:30] Jamon Fries:
Well, I mean, yes. And and that's that's always the case with, with the low level employees. I mean No. Exactly. Low level employees are never not taken advantage of. No. They are not. They are not.
[00:26:43] Jesse Fries:
No. Let's see.
[00:26:47] Jamon Fries:
Speaking of low level tech employees Uh-huh. There was a story out about, how the let me find it here. I got it somewhere. Computer science dream has become a nightmare.
[00:27:06] Jesse Fries:
Well, of course.
[00:27:08] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. There's there's so many everybody everybody went to college and is still going to college for computer science degrees. Right. And right now, there's unemployment rates of 6.1 to 7.5% in the in the industry. Mhmm. Which, I mean, comparatively, to how things have been in the past for for different places, that's not that bad actually.
[00:27:37] Jesse Fries:
Right. Right.
[00:27:39] Jamon Fries:
But, yeah, they they can't get jobs coming out of college. We didn't make great much sense. Donald's wouldn't hire them because they didn't have experience in programming.
[00:27:52] Jesse Fries:
Well, right. Yeah. They have no well, that that's always the catch of these high level job. It's like, so we this is an entry level position, but you have to have five to ten years of experience. Yeah. You You find that in every industry. When I when I first You have to lie. You have to lie. Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:28:11] Jamon Fries:
When I first got my, my associates of accounting Uh-huh. I wanted to I I was thinking, you know, okay. I'm I'm done with college now. I'm gonna take a look at different jobs, see if I can find anything that I can do. Right. There wasn't a single accounting job that didn't require at least
[00:28:30] Jesse Fries:
two to three years of prior experience. Yep. Yep. That's how it was good. Yeah.
[00:28:36] Jamon Fries:
I mean, so that's every every industry and yet there there it come in in this start in this article, they're complaining that it's all because of AI. It can do the jobs for for much cheaper.
[00:28:48] Jesse Fries:
Well, I think there's part of that, but
[00:28:51] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. It's not AI isn't isn't to that point yet. It really isn't. It really isn't. But you do have to realize that if you're a coder, if you're a programmer and you're writing an AI program,
[00:29:07] Jesse Fries:
you are programming yourself out of a job. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Exactly. You know, I mean, they they did it to themselves. You know? That that's all I can say. I I agree. I agree. Speaking of tech, apparently, the government is moving to a massive cloud situation. And so it looks like, Amazon, AWS Mhmm. They've basically given the government, like, a billion dollar coupon. As we were talking earlier, you said that sounds like a bribe. But it's actually everything. Everybody's doing this. Oracle Are they really? Oracle, signed a deal with government agency at a 75% discount.
Same with, let's see. Well, Microsoft, Google, basically are doing the same sorts of things as well.
[00:30:06] Jamon Fries:
Are they all expecting, like, huge payouts in the future then? Is is what I'm can imagine?
[00:30:11] Jesse Fries:
Well, you know, we're doing this to get in the government. So that they Yeah. Well, you're and not only that, but it's like, what are your actual costs? You you know, they wouldn't do this if they're not actually still making money off of it. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, that that's how I view it. You know? It's, and the government is a huge institution. So, yeah, it's like, okay. So a billion dollars. A billion dollars off, what, 20,000,000,000? You know? A billion dollars off. $30,000,000,000. Anything. Yeah. Exactly. So, you know yeah. And if Oracle was able to give them I had a 75% reduction. You know? It's
[00:30:46] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Well, it's just created like this. How much their markup is. Well, right. Plus, once you create a technology, then it's just gravy after that. It's just profit. You you know, it's like Well, it's it's like what once with with AI and stuff, once you build that server farm Uh-huh. Your only cost input is electricity. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. And parts you need to replace. But Well, yeah. Yeah. Your cost is very, very low after the initial input.
[00:31:16] Jesse Fries:
Well, yeah. And that's why a lot of these companies have also go to the subscription models like Adobe Yep. Everything like that. Yeah. So that they could just rake in the money. Yeah. It is off something that was programmed a year or two ago. Yes. They slowly update it here and there. Yes. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But it is a subscription, and it costs more than just it costs more per year than just buying the product outright.
[00:31:38] Jamon Fries:
And, you know, the the problem that I have with that is if you're getting the low end subscription, so, like, I use Quicken for my personal finances. Right. And using their low end subscription, the only benefit I get from doing that is that I can tell it to just update from my bank account into QuickBooks.
[00:32:05] Jesse Fries:
Right.
[00:32:07] Jamon Fries:
Which isn't really that much of a big deal. I can very easily manually enter it as well. Mhmm.
[00:32:15] Jesse Fries:
And it cost me $70 a year just to have the ability to do that. Yep. Sounds about right. Sounds about right. You know, I mean, the
[00:32:25] Jamon Fries:
for high end stuff, you know, in the accounting world, if if you're talking like business and stuff like that where they need to, keep updating the laws that are passed and the taxation, the rates and stuff like that that are passed, I completely understand charging, charging a subscription for updating those information. Mhmm. But on a personal accounting level, why do I need to pay a subscription when you do nothing for that money?
[00:32:54] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. I I I completely feel you. I I always hit those subscription. That's why I don't use it. Yeah. I I use, Affinity, which is just, it's like Adobe, stuff, but it's Okay. You just buy it. It's yours.
[00:33:12] Jamon Fries:
You know? Okay. Yeah. So And that's that's how it should be. You know, the So the only the only places that I can the only places I can understand a subscription model is if there are going to be consistent continual changes because of laws passed and stuff like that Right. Because of stuff from other entities or in for, like, gaming. You know, I I have no problem paying a gaming company $10.15 dollars a month
[00:33:44] Jesse Fries:
to play their games. To the servers. Yeah.
[00:33:46] Jamon Fries:
I am so sorry. Because it's it's very different from, you know, it's very different from, like, an accounting program. Right. Right. Program, you don't touch once you built it. No. You really don't. I've got a I've got a spreadsheet that I've been using for the last fifteen years How dare you, John? For my budget.
[00:34:08] Jesse Fries:
How dare you.
[00:34:10] Jamon Fries:
I haven't made a single change to it, and it still works perfectly.
[00:34:14] Jesse Fries:
You're supposed to be supporting these companies, Jim. Don't you know that's your job as a slave? Come on. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:34:23] Jamon Fries:
Well, although I guess I well, up until recently, I kind of should have been supporting the slave market of, you know, the corporate slave Uh-huh. Because it's written in Excel. So, you know, to for Excel now, you have to do the $3.65 to get updates and stuff like that. But I've I was still using a 02/2010 version. So Which is still fine. Yeah. You could do that. Yeah. You could still do that. Yeah. Unfortunately, I replaced my hard drive, so I no longer can access that 2,010 because I don't have the floppy I don't have the CD. Yeah. Yeah. So I had to find a free account, a free one.
In 02/2010, yeah, CDs were still a thing. Okay. For certain things.
[00:35:10] Jesse Fries:
Right. Right. Yeah. Unless if you want you you could I think you could pay for it. I don't know. Anyways
[00:35:17] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Let me just now now at at least now Microsoft has if I understand correctly, they now have a standalone version that you can buy that you don't need a subscription for afterwards. Yep. So I'm glad that they've brought that back.
[00:35:32] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. Let's see here. What else do we got? Let's see. Oh, what's this Ford thing? Looks like you have that story. I didn't get that. So what did they announce today? Oh, yeah.
[00:35:58] Jamon Fries:
They are doing away with the one line assembly line. Instead, and I'm not sure how this is all going to work. It could I I can foresee some problems potentially. Uh-huh. Instead, they're gonna do three lines.
[00:36:16] Jesse Fries:
Okay.
[00:36:18] Jamon Fries:
One line will do the rear end of the vehicle. Another line will do the front of the vehicle. Okay. And and then there'll be a line that does the main body of the vehicle with the where the batteries and the seats and everything like that go. Just just for their EVs. Okay. And then they'll put the vehicle together. Now I can see some issues in this if they're if the frame is not going to be extending the whole length of the vehicle Right. And they're just bolting or welding two pieces onto a part of a frame, I could see some very potential possible ramifications to the safety of the vehicle for that.
[00:37:05] Jesse Fries:
Right.
[00:37:08] Jamon Fries:
But they're they're changing instead of they're they're, like, gonna have, like, the the front end of the car is gonna just be one piece. That's so it's just gonna, like, have one frame that is the entire that is the entire thing instead of putting parts of it together and then building the frame around it or building the body around it. It'll so every everything will just tend to be one piece. So the number of of screws and bolts and stuff like that that they need to use is gonna be reduced to they're gonna be reducing about from what it says in certain areas, about 25% of the stuff that goes into it will be able to go away.
Okay. Well Because of how they're chained because of because they're doing the doing the three parts instead of just one part. Okay. So that's cool. I'm just they're they're doing that to try to drive the costs down a little bit as well. Right. They yeah. It says it can be produced 15 faster. So that'd be 15% faster. Yeah. It can be produced faster. It's gonna it's they're dropping like with all the changes are dropping. I think it said, like 40 different stop stations. So they need less employees. They there's less to do there. So on the financial end, it should make the EVs cheaper.
[00:38:27] Jesse Fries:
Okay.
[00:38:28] Jamon Fries:
And but the only concern I have is depending on how they decide to do the the actual structural frame, if they do it in three pieces, I don't know if it'll be as sound as it would if it were one solid piece. Yeah. Who knows? That's the that's the only concern that I have. So we'll we'll see when once they start doing the testing of those vehicles and stuff like that in the crash tests and stuff to see Right. Just how well they hold up. But, yeah, I mean, it's a it's a pretty cool idea as long as my one potential fear of it doesn't doesn't come about. It'll be it's a great idea.
[00:39:05] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. They're pushing boundaries. Yeah. It looks Yeah. There's this quote in here. There's no guarantees for this project. We're doing so many new things. I can't tell you with 100% uncertainty that this will all go just right. It is a bet. There is a risk. So yeah. Yeah. Good for them. Good for them.
[00:39:22] Jamon Fries:
Absolutely.
[00:39:28] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Cool. And then what else do we got here?
[00:39:36] Jamon Fries:
Let me see. What's this, about the appeals court blocking contempt proceedings?
[00:39:45] Jesse Fries:
Oh, yeah. Hold hold on one second. I need to go check something. Okay.
[00:39:57] Jamon Fries:
That means I'm in control of the dead air again. Damn it. This is not my this is not my forte.
[00:40:05] Jesse Fries:
Okay. I'm back for now. Okay. Let's see here. Oh, yeah. The appeals court. Yeah. Basically, this was I remember when the Trump administration was held in contempt for those, flights, that would go into El Salvador. Basically, it was that. And then later on, an appeals court or the Supreme Court said that those were legal. And so, basically, the question was whether or not, contempt during that proceedings would still hold because the main reason why there was contempt, was overturned. So, you know, it it was that sort of thing. So Okay. An appellate court said that, yeah, those contempt charges don't hold any water because the initial thing, is gone. So
[00:40:58] Jamon Fries:
that's what it is. So Yeah. You you shouldn't be able to be held in contempt if everything that you did was perfectly legal anyways. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So It should never it should never have been brought to court in the first place. So, you know, why why could you be in contempt of court?
[00:41:16] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. So that's how it is. You know, it's a Okay. Of course, it was, like, two Trump, judges with 117 who was a Obama one. Yeah. Of course. These these courts are now just, who Democrat or Republican, basically. So, yeah, that's all that is. It's weird. Yep. Let's see here. And then, apparently, New York Times with Gaza and everything like that, things have gotten crazy. So, you know, there was all this starvation and everything like that that they were talking about over in Gaza? Well, there really wasn't. So the New York Times has had to retract many stories. A lot of people have had to retract many stories.
The one kid that was really, really sick and pretty much dying, well, he had a different disease. He wasn't starving. Then all these things of, like, oh, all these people were being killed. Apparently, then that had to be retracted and everything like that. Our ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, in a interview and everything like that, he was, like, saying, you you you see all these things, but then it gets retracted. You you you and so I all this is just lies that Gaza is throwing out there and everything like that. It was, you know Yeah. It it it he he he goes, if the Israelis really wanted to do genocide, they could have been done on October 8.
[00:42:42] Jamon Fries:
Oh, yeah.
[00:42:43] Jesse Fries:
Absolutely. You know? So it's like it's like this sort of thing. You know? It's like, I I If if not only even
[00:42:51] Jamon Fries:
even if they didn't do it that quickly, they wouldn't have told the populace to leave an area before bombing it if they wanted to do genocide.
[00:42:59] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, it's like
[00:43:03] Jamon Fries:
yeah. There there have been mistakes and everything like that, but it is Yeah. Of course. I mean, it's it's war. There there are peep people that shouldn't die are going to die because it's war. Yep. But Yep. But yeah. It's not a genocide.
[00:43:15] Jesse Fries:
No. I I don't think it is either. I think a lot of it is overblown. And, whenever something comes out bad against Israel, everybody around the world is good to go, yeah. See, told you so. This is how it works. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, you know, this is part of the reason why this is part of the reason why the US government generally always backs Israel. Yes. Is because they go it's all crap. You know? That that that's, now some people will say, of course, we're bought and paid for. Our government is bought and paid for by the Jews. Some people probably think I'm being paid by some Jews. You can. Please send me some money.
[00:43:52] Jamon Fries:
Please please pay us. We'll we'll say good things. I swear.
[00:43:59] Jesse Fries:
It's just yeah. You know, it's not a it if there's lies and they're exposed Yeah. That's it. You you know? So you can't really believe anything that's coming out of Gaza. You haven't been able to do it forever anyways. Whenever they would talk about all these deaths and then they go, oh, we overestimated those. You you know, it's like,
[00:44:20] Jamon Fries:
why would you If anything, there has there hasn't been a single death report out where the initial one wasn't backed up, wasn't wasn't reversed.
[00:44:29] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. No. So yeah.
[00:44:33] Jamon Fries:
I I I mean, it's weird. And also, you know, one of one of the problems with the current state of warfare, the way things are now, where we're not actually fighting a where they're not actually fighting a uniformed soldier. Right. Right. That's that's gorilla. Yeah. You have no idea who's who's part of the war and who's not. Yep. Yep. You know, you you go and you shoot, you know, you go and you shoot up a a area that with a lot of people that are shooting back at you. Hamas then goes in, takes all the guns away, and says, look what they did to the people.
[00:45:13] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. I it's just bullshit. It it is. It is. I I yeah. When it comes to that, you you I I said it, like, at the very big very beginning of the whole situation. You know, Hamas asked for this. The Gazans asked for this. Because, well, October 7. And any response to that, trying to stop it from ever happening again, it's war. I'm not saying it's nice. I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm just saying it's a tit for tat situation, and the Israelis are sick of it. So Absolutely. And, you know, the the
[00:45:49] Jamon Fries:
one of the one of the reasons that I'm not very vehement about stopping and not killing civilians over there Uh-huh. Is because who was it that took the prisoners? I've heard reports that it wasn't Hamas soldiers that took the prisoners. Well, I It was citizens that crossed the border after Hamas gained control that started grabbing people.
[00:46:18] Jesse Fries:
I I I don't know about that. To me to me I that it doesn't That that was some reports that I heard early on. Okay. And so To me, it's I I understand. But to me, it doesn't matter because either way, you still voted them into power. You still supported them no matter what. It's just, you do that. That's it. You know? Yeah. It's like Americans get blamed for what the American government does, generally. You know? It's just that it's like the German people got blamed for what Hitler and the Nazis did. You know? This is what you get blamed. You get lumped into the whole situation. And, you know, they picked this government, and this government was a terrorist organization.
And so Yeah. There you go. Voted a man. I mean Apparently, Australia is recognizing Hamas as, the government.
[00:47:10] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Well, I mean, they are the duly elected government there. So
[00:47:14] Jesse Fries:
But as a nation, they're they're, like, they're recognizing them as a country.
[00:47:19] Jamon Fries:
Just Gaza or the all of Palestine?
[00:47:21] Jesse Fries:
Hamas led Gaza. Hamas? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah. Yeah. So not not the West Bank, not the Golan Not that I know. I I I just I just quickly saw the headline. It said Okay. It said Hamas. It it distinctly said Okay. So yeah. If the headline went wrong, I don't know. But, yeah, it's,
[00:47:40] Jamon Fries:
With headlines, you never really know if it's actually what the story says or not. You really don't. You really don't. So
[00:47:48] Jesse Fries:
but, yeah, it was like but, apparently, the New York Times retracted, had to retract some of these stories, and so they got, graffitied because of that with anti, Semitic stuff and everything like that. So Of course. Of course. Yeah. It's just craziness. It is just craziness. Another kind of craziness.
[00:48:08] Jamon Fries:
On another simpler note, Stanford Mhmm. Has decided to say, screw you to California.
[00:48:16] Jesse Fries:
Okay. How so?
[00:48:18] Jamon Fries:
California passed a law that requires all university that that says that no universities can use legacy admissions as a in in their admission policies. Uh-huh. And Stanford's like, yeah. No. Screw that. We're we're still, like, we're still doing legacy admissions. And so California said, well, if you do it, you're not getting any funding from us. And Stanford just looked at him and said, okay. We'll come up with the money somewhere else.
[00:48:48] Jesse Fries:
So you see see that's what you do instead of sue. You know, Harvard can do the same thing to the federal government, but, no, they want all of the money. You you know, it's like they have enough endowment to survive. I'm just saying. Absolutely.
[00:48:59] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. So, I mean, it's the
[00:49:01] Jesse Fries:
yeah. Yeah. That's what Harvard should do. And they should stop complaining and just go, okay. Well, that's the way you're going. Well, I'm going this way then. You know? Maybe Yeah. Absolutely. Corporations and get funded that way instead of the government. I don't know. You can talk to corporations.
[00:49:16] Jamon Fries:
You can go to your legacy members and get donations. I mean, Harvard, the the legacy members usually have a decent amount of money that they could donate if they wanted to.
[00:49:26] Jesse Fries:
They do? I wouldn't know that. At least, at least some of them do. Yeah. Yeah. At least some of them do. At least some of them do. Let's see here. I have a story. Apparently, a journalist, in Georgia was sentenced to two years in Prince in prison. So so that's a headline. Right? I'm assuming we're talking the country, not the state? No. The state. Really? Yep. Yep. Yep. What I understand. Let's see here. Let me just double check. What he did put him in prison? No. Hold on. Hold on. Okay. No. No. Actually, the country. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Alright. Yeah. Yep. But but what's funny is that you read through this, she was thrown at jail for slapping a police officer.
Well, that's not journalistic. I'm just saying. No.
[00:50:22] Jamon Fries:
You saw you slap a police officer. You go to jail for for assault.
[00:50:26] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. So it is and and then you nowhere. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. No. You you slap a a police officer. I'm sorry. You're going to jail. This is what it is. So Yeah. Yeah. That's yes. Oh, that was hilarious. Yeah. Who cares? Right? It's a Yeah. But, of course, everybody's all upset that journalists are thrown in jail. Don't slap a police officer. And, you know, yeah, that that's, you know, I I could I could see
[00:50:54] Jamon Fries:
a journalist going to jail for murder and people saying, you can't put a journalist in jail.
[00:51:01] Jesse Fries:
Uh-huh. Yep. Yep.
[00:51:03] Jamon Fries:
Much like politicians, you know, they think that they're above the law, you know. Oh, completely. Completely. Yep. Yeah.
[00:51:12] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Let's see what else do we got here. Oh, the CDC shooter that apparently didn't make it to the CDC and then shot up, what, coffee shop across the way or something like that. Oh, okay. I didn't know about that. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, some guy just tried to break into the CDC, because and, apparently, he's this guy's dad tells said that, he this kid or guy believed that the COVID vaccine made him suicidal. He was a 30 year old guy who tried to break into the, like, headquarters of the CDC. So, yeah, when he couldn't get in, he just went across the street and then started opening fire at a pharmacy apparently. So He he just he just wanted to kill people. That's all it was. Yeah. And he wanted to blame the CDCs for it. So, you know, there you go. It's a Yep.
Craziness. That's insane.
[00:52:08] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. This is Alright. Let's get let's go on to a fun story from Nova Scotia Okay. Into international news. Uh-huh. Nova Scotia has now announced that there is going to be a 25 $25,000 fine for anyone that hikes or fishes or camps in the woods.
[00:52:35] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. You gotta love that. Right? It's like Yeah. Because of the fire, forest fires up there. They're really this actually it also started, like, in Alberta and everything like that, too, I believe. Nova Scotia came afterwards. But, yeah, it's this $25,000 fine. And apparently, in, like, Alberta, it was you can't even go walking, AKA hiking, on your friend's property. Your friend could walk on his own property, but you can't join him. What? Yeah. Yeah. Even private property, you cannot walk on. Wow. Can't camp on, can't can't do anything. You know? So it's,
[00:53:18] Jamon Fries:
Yeah.
[00:53:20] Jesse Fries:
They realized that Canadians will just, do whatever they're told with COVID. So I Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Learned with that. Yep. Yep.
[00:53:29] Jamon Fries:
So no. There there was one there was one guy up there, watched a little video of it on x, and he was standing there. And he's like he was standing right outside the, the wildlife office. Uh-huh. And he went he went and talked to him, told me he was gonna walk into the woods. And they told him if you do that, you're going to be charged $25,000. Uh-huh. They then upped it to you're gonna be charged $50,000 after he was arguing with them for a little bit.
[00:54:02] Jesse Fries:
What now? They
[00:54:05] Jamon Fries:
they they didn't actually charge him that extra 50 thou that extra 25,000.
[00:54:09] Jesse Fries:
But Right. So he just so when when there were two officers sitting there sitting there talking to him, he just walked right into the forest,
[00:54:19] Jamon Fries:
turned around, walked right back. Jesus Christ. His total fine came up to, like, $28,000.
[00:54:29] Jesse Fries:
Well, I guess he has the money to blow on that. So, you know, and Yeah. Fighting for it. Hey. That sounds like a stage thing where he was he's trying to make a point.
[00:54:38] Jamon Fries:
Oh, that's absolutely what it was. Yes. He he he went up to them, told him what he was gonna do. They told him if he did it, they're gonna find him. So he's like, well, come with me. You can watch me and record me doing it.
[00:54:53] Jesse Fries:
You know, I could understand, like like, no ATVs.
[00:54:57] Jamon Fries:
No, like, certain things, like, nothing that can I I could understand no ATVs? I could see I could understand no camping outside of approved campsites because they'll let you camp they'll they'll still let you camp in approved campsites. Yep. You just can't but how are you gonna get to it because you can't hike?
[00:55:18] Jesse Fries:
And
[00:55:19] Jamon Fries:
once you're there, how are you gonna eat because you can't fish?
[00:55:24] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. It just doesn't make any sense.
[00:55:28] Jamon Fries:
I have never camped there, but the lake right next to you, you can't fish in the lake. Yeah. Yeah. And I've never heard of a fire starting from fishing.
[00:55:37] Jesse Fries:
I I I No. Never. Heard of it. So yeah, no. They've really gone I don't know what's going on up there. They they they Yeah. I know. It's it's insane. It really is $25,000 fine for going on a walk. You know? Yeah. I just find it funny that people call it hiking. No. You go for a walk in the woods. That's all you do it, dude. Yes. Yes. Maybe go for a walk up something, but still just walk. I I would consider
[00:56:06] Jamon Fries:
hiking to be, well, no excess other words for it. There's mountain climbing. So, you know, it's not really like walking up a mountain. Exactly. Exactly. It it hiking, it's just another word for walking.
[00:56:20] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I went on a hike. I went on a walk. Hike just sounds more, like, energetic even though it's just a walk. Oh, yeah.
[00:56:29] Jamon Fries:
Well, high hiking sounds more purpose driven.
[00:56:32] Jesse Fries:
It does. It does. Yeah. Yeah. It's just walking people. Just letting you know. Let's see here. Apparently, continuing the international, the EU, their freedom law media freedom law, which is supposed to make all the laws and everything like that to allow journalists to be able to be free in whatever they do and everything like that. Right? Yeah. Well, unless if, there's justified cases, where it over and public interest, government is interest says that they should be arrested. The journalists is what it says in this law. So it's like In other words, you're you're free to tell everyone what we want you to tell everyone. Exactly.
Exactly. It it, Yeah. Ursula von der Leij, she's like, oh, a free and independent press are essential pillar of our democracy. And the law includes surveillance provisions for serious crimes such as terrorism, racism, combat misinformation. So, yeah, that's not freedom. Yeah. If it says combat misinformation, that's not freedom. No. It's No. No. Not at all. It's funny. Oh, that's insane. You have the you could you you have the right to say whatever I want you to say.
[00:57:51] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. You have the right to report on the stories that I want you to report on as long as you do it in the way that I want you to.
[00:58:01] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. Let's see here. I guess, into a bit tech news. AOL is no longer gonna have dial up service. Yes. I know. Yeah. I didn't even know they still did. They actually have dial up service still. Yeah. It's going away though. Is is there anywhere that still has a landline connection that you can use? Well, you just plug it into your computer with the modem. That's just
[00:58:28] Jamon Fries:
what you Well, I know. But dial up Internet was it I mean, it was through
[00:58:34] Jesse Fries:
the it was through the local
[00:58:36] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. Telephone. Right. You don't you can't have a local telephone anymore. Really? Yeah. You can. Yeah. You can. No. Because they're all, they all have to be the, shit with the VoIPs. They're all VoIPs.
[00:58:51] Jesse Fries:
Not all of them. There's still some of those still hanging around.
[00:58:56] Jamon Fries:
I don't know. Here here where I'm at, but there aren't any that still have it. Really? Yeah. No. Everything everything has VoIP. Probably.
[00:59:06] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. There there there's still probably some hanger ons. I haven't bothered with any of that. I just do my cell phone. So Yeah. I do. That's all I do.
[00:59:19] Jamon Fries:
I guess I could see I could see, out in the middle of nowhere, out in the country and stuff like that, which might still have the landlines that dial up could utilize. Mhmm.
[00:59:32] Jesse Fries:
Let's see. What else do we got here? Well,
[00:59:37] Jamon Fries:
also in the business world, Bill Gates has backed a company that makes animal free butter. Oh, what is it? Uh-huh. It doesn't use plants, so it's plant free and animal free butter.
[01:00:00] Jesse Fries:
What do they use?
[01:00:02] Jamon Fries:
Carbon dioxide and hydrogen out of water. Okay. Because fat is carbon and hydrogen. Those are the two two things that make up 90% of the fats out there, if not more. Okay. Okay. Okay. So they're going to harvest carbon dioxide out of the air There you go. And take hydrogen out of the water. Now, you know, I'm if I'm not mistaken, there are a lot of places that have droughts and they tell us, even here where we flood normally, that we have to conserve water because of that. Right. Right. But they're gonna take the hydrogen out of water. So it's okay because they're doing it for the environment.
[01:00:44] Jesse Fries:
Of course. Of course. Yeah.
[01:00:46] Jamon Fries:
But, yes. And supposedly, they say it tastes just like butter.
[01:00:52] Jesse Fries:
Because what they always say, I know. Impossible. The beef. They say, oh, it tastes just like beef. It's like, yeah, salty ass, crappy ass beef. Beef that no one would wanna touch. Exactly. If that were an actual meat product, then you would throw it away because it's already gone bad.
[01:01:16] Jamon Fries:
But now they they they what they're what they're claiming is that the food oil industry makes up 7% of total global carbon emissions.
[01:01:27] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[01:01:30] Jamon Fries:
But what and and they're talking about, you know, all of these ingredients that you can't name it that is in butter. Mhmm. Which tells me, a, they don't know the difference between margarine and butter because there are no chemicals that you can't name in butter. It's just cream it's just cream and, I can't remember what else to put in that. No. It's just cream and salt.
[01:02:00] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Cream and salt. Yeah. And then you beat it, which pushes the fat together and separates the milk, the whey from it, or the buttermilk. Yes. Exactly. Butter. That's all it is. So yeah.
[01:02:15] Jamon Fries:
So It's butter. They're they're not so they're they're saying that margarine is the same as butter. Oy. And in the food oil industry and I I didn't look up to see to look at exact numbers, but I can imagine that probably about six of that 7% is taken up by seed oil manufacturing, by margarine manufacturing. Right. Right. It's definitely not taken up by fat, by animal fat processing. I mean, because you'd you know, lard. How do how do you get lard? Well, you take the fat out of a cow and you cook it down and you take out the bits and then you solidify the the lard. Yep. It doesn't take much to process it. It really doesn't. It really doesn't.
Butter doesn't take much to process. So the only thing that the only part of the animal production, the animal oil production is Growing. The cow farts or the cow burps. Cow burps. Yeah.
[01:03:29] Jesse Fries:
That is funny. Yeah. No. No. I I think I'll just stick with my good old butter. Yeah.
[01:03:36] Jamon Fries:
Yeah.
[01:03:37] Jesse Fries:
I can't believe that's butter.
[01:03:40] Jamon Fries:
Oh, hell no. I can't and I don't I don't believe it's good for you either.
[01:03:46] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Probably not. Probably not.
[01:03:49] Jamon Fries:
There is nothing. You know, more and more scientific results have come out saying that there is absolutely nothing about highly processed foods, and this is definitely a highly processed food Mhmm. That is good for you.
[01:04:03] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep.
[01:04:05] Jamon Fries:
So yeah. No. Never touching it.
[01:04:09] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Let's see here. It looks like in California, the Supreme Court has sided with, environmental groups. Basically, this is for well, no. This was for rooftop solar incentives. Okay. Basically, the public utility commission had slashed all of those incentives and everything like that. And so basically and so with that, the environmentalist is saying, no. You can't do that. You need the incentives because you have the incentives. Why would you just and then, you know, it's like being able to sell the, power to the grid and everything like that and every and how they keep these commissions to keep raising prices on how much you have to pay to send me your power sort of thing. You know? It's like, if you give the power if you give power to the grid, you you get charged for putting power on the grid nowadays. Wait. What?
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Or they've completely gotten rid of the whole point where you get money for putting power in the grid. Yeah. I think in most of the country, if you have excess power and it goes into the grid, you gotta check for that excess power. Yeah. No. A lot of these companies are actually starting to not want that because it's unregulated. They can't control that power. And so it could they they say it could hurt their transmission lines and everything. I I I don't know. But yeah. So, basically, it's getting rid of the whole reason to have solar power. Yeah.
So yeah. It's, so to me, this this is a win. I I think, it it makes sense if you they had all this stuff. So now they're trying to cut back on all these things for these people that had solar panels. You know, you you promised these people benefits of solar power of solar panels. And Mhmm. Now you're going against that. I I think that's kinda shady on those, commissions side, really.
[01:06:05] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. I I could I could fully get behind not, you know, eliminating, like like, the government talking about eliminating the, the EV, perks. Uh-huh. You know, where you get, like, tax breaks for for buying an EV vehicle instead of others. That's something where you don't actually own the vehicle. You haven't bought it because they told you that it was gonna do that that this was gonna happen. Mhmm. So in this case, I guess, I could kinda side with them and say, no, you can't stop it. But, yeah, I don't know.
[01:06:48] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. Yeah. So
[01:06:51] Jamon Fries:
So it's a tricky situation.
[01:06:53] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I could see that. I could see that.
[01:06:56] Jamon Fries:
Because, I mean, the more people the more people they have putting power into the system, the more potential especially, like, on a bright sunny day Right. Where everybody's overproducing energy because of their solar panels. And if all of that is getting pumped back into the system and the system doesn't know when that power is coming in, so they can't pro they can't proactively cut their their own power supply because it's gonna be too much, I could potentially see overloads in the system.
[01:07:27] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. They should get a better system then. Okay.
[01:07:30] Jamon Fries:
They absolutely should. I mean So much like our much like our air traffic control, you know, everything everything that we operate on was built in the fifties.
[01:07:40] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. Okay. Let's switch topics here. So do you know that, actress Gina Carano? She was in, Mandalorian there for, like, a season or two?
[01:07:53] Jamon Fries:
Yeah.
[01:07:54] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. And, basically, she was fired because she was conservative is basically how that, went. It makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Apparently, her Absolutely. Yeah. Her and Disney actually came to an agreement and looks like she may be coming back into the Star Wars universe. So
[01:08:13] Jamon Fries:
Oh, nice.
[01:08:15] Jesse Fries:
Yep. Yep. That's for her. You you know? She's an actress. That that's all that matters. I I Yeah. That's their politics skin. Who cares? You know? It's, yeah. This Yeah. I mean
[01:08:30] Jamon Fries:
Uh-huh. Yeah. I I've I've got a whole dialogue that I could go on about actors and politics. Yeah. Let's not get into that. Yeah. I don't wanna get into that right now. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see here.
[01:08:48] Jesse Fries:
Okay. Just trying to look to see. I don't care about the source. Else we got is, science related. Yeah. I'm gonna chop off those last three in science.
[01:08:58] Jamon Fries:
Okay.
[01:09:00] Jesse Fries:
Apparently, those Ozempic. So Ozempic, apparently, there's another, side effect. Yeah. What's that? It can kill your sex drive. Like, completely kill your libido. Damn. So, basically, the reason why you're taking it is destroyed by it itself. You know? Because because a lot of times, you know, you wanna look a little bit sexier, you know, for your husband or Yeah. You you wanna lose that
[01:09:31] Jamon Fries:
little pouch you you wanna get. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
[01:09:35] Jesse Fries:
And then it kills your libido.
[01:09:40] Jamon Fries:
Oh, damn. Yeah. That's not good.
[01:09:43] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. It's like for then they always go, oh, it could help your heart. The lawyer libido. It's this. It's this. You know? I just don't won't do it. You know? Let's just Yeah. Keep that away from me. Okay. So you have a couple funny stories. Is that right?
[01:10:02] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. So did have you heard about the, South Park episodes where they, had where they were making fun of Charlie Kirk in it? Oh, yeah. Charlie Cook. Kirk loved it. Yeah. Yeah. He he on on, x, he just post he just recently posted the Democrat Democrat contact creators Uh-huh. Are going nuts
[01:10:29] Jesse Fries:
now. No. I saw them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, just, like, the how could you possibly think it's funny? They're not laughing with you. They're laughing at you. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's how it goes. Yeah. But it's funny. It was funny. It's funny. Yeah. Some people have sense of humors about themselves. Others don't. I understand this. But Yeah. Yeah. Or at least if you don't, you don't let it show because Yes. Absolutely.
[01:11:00] Jamon Fries:
If it shows, that means that they were that they won.
[01:11:03] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. It's it's it's like dealing with a bully. A bully comes up and you tries to start something. You you you just don't let it affect you and you move on with your life. Yep. You know? And then they'll never do it again. Yeah. Because they got no response out of you, you know, or they got the wrong response out of you. So, you know, it's a
[01:11:23] Jamon Fries:
Yeah. I just yeah. I I just I I the thing I find funny about it is that they're getting butthurt because Charlie Kirk didn't get butthurt.
[01:11:33] Jesse Fries:
Yeah. I I think that's funny too. It's like, okay, people. You you you have, too much time on your hands to worry about other people here, you know. It's Yes. Absolutely. Just laugh at the joke and laugh at the joke and move on with life, you know. It's, so Absolutely. Yeah. Uh-huh.
[01:11:50] Jamon Fries:
The the the last the last one that I think is, is good is, so back in 02/2016, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sent a letter to the homeowner saying they're they're conducting surveys for legged frogs and other amphibians over the next few months. That's why they wanted access they wanted permission to have access to their property.
[01:12:17] Jesse Fries:
Mhmm.
[01:12:19] Jamon Fries:
So the landowner sent a letter back. I'm not gonna read all of it because it was a pretty lengthy letter. Right. Thank you for your inquiry required regarding accessing our property to survey the yellow legged frog. We may be able to help you out with this matter. We have divided our 2.2 acres into 75 equal equal survey units and draw tags for each unit. Application fees are only $8 per unit after you purchase the frog survey license, which is a $120 per resident or a $180 for nonresident. You will also need to obtain the frog habitat parking permit, which is $10 per vehicle. You will then need an an invasive species stamp,
[01:13:04] Jesse Fries:
$515
[01:13:05] Jamon Fries:
for the first vehicle, $5 for each additional vehicle. You will also wanna register at the check station, have your vehicle inspected for non native plant life prior to entering our property. There's also a day use fee of $5 per vehicle, And they just keep on going on and on and on, listen more and more fees.
[01:13:24] Jesse Fries:
Love it. Love it.
[01:13:27] Jamon Fries:
Makes sense to me. Makes sense to me. The the the final the final part of it was you will also need to provide evidence you have success you have of successful completion of the frog surveys and your comprehensive course on frog identification, safe handling practices, and self defense strategies for frog attacks. This course is offered online through an accredited program for a nominal fee of $750. Please let us know if we can be of assistance to you.
[01:13:55] Jesse Fries:
That is hilarious. That is hilarious. And, everybody, please remember, here at the Mindless Sea, we are value for value model. So anything you can do to help us out, if you have stories, funny stories, sad stories, whatever stories, or ideas about the show, please let us know. You can email me at jesse@mindlesssea.com or jaman@jamenatmindlessmeanderings.com. Also, money helps if you wanna help defray some of the server costs and everything like that that we have for this podcast. So please help us out any which way you can, and don't forget that frogs attack.
So thank you for joining us for episode 52 of the Mindless Mindfulness podcast. I'm Jesse Fries. And I'm Jamin Fries. And you guys will hear us again on Thursday. Have a good one.
Introduction
Jamon's New Diet Plan
Political Discussions: Texas and Gerrymandering
Crime Rates and Law Enforcement in DC
Unionization and Labor Issues
Ford's New Manufacturing Strategy
International Affairs: Gaza and Media Retractions
Tech Innovations and Environmental Policies
Entertainment and Media Updates
Humorous Anecdotes and Closing Remarks
