 Okay. So my name is Sandy Barrett and I'm here with our bi-weekly show called What's Happening to Discuss the News. And today we have with us Pete Garretano, who has been living in Costa Rica and he's just home for a while in the United States. And so I think we, I would love to ask Pete, what's going on today? What was life like in Costa Rica? And then how does that compare with what's going on in the United States? I might also mention about Pete that he was in Costa Rica when January 6th happened. And so he can give us some kind of an idea of what it's like to come back to the United States after January 6th. So what's going on? First of all, Pete, in your life in Costa Rica, how are things there? Well, I mean, obviously it's Costa Rica. So even in a normal day, it's way more relaxed atmosphere here. Politics isn't really a big thing there. And the average Costa Rican couldn't give a damn about what's happening. You know, it states, which is kind of nice. It doesn't really affect their daily lives that much. Is that right, really? No, they don't, you know, they're, you know, it's a country where the people basically are just trying to scrape out a living and enjoy life and put food on the table. And so, yeah, they've had the same kind of restrictions down there as here. But in general, the people are way more relaxed about it. Nobody's screaming at somebody because they don't have a mask on, you know, it's when you're outside, you're not you're not wearing a mask. Nobody's wearing a mask. I've been to I went to one funeral, actually, for the drummer to Grand Funk Railroad, who had lived down there for years, and there was 150 people at an outdoor ceremony, and maybe two people had masks on. So it's a it's a different atmosphere there. I mean, in general, of all the people I talk to down there, it's different than here where you have maybe a 60 40 split 60% of the people totally believe the the COVID news that's being fed to them and maybe 34 30% question it or don't believe it at all. Down there, it's 90% don't believe it. I talked to one person, maybe in a whole month, who actually believed that, you know, everything about what was going on with COVID, almost everybody I talked to, you just start with something about, you know, the mask and they just go into a tirade about how much bullshit it is. And it's all the control people and it's not as bad as everybody says it is and blah, blah, blah. So, you know, it's it's kind of comforting down there because I know that most of the people that are feel the same way about it as I do, whereas here, you know, people are at each other's throat about the thing and that totally have totally accepted the story that's being told to them by the government and the media. So that's one of nice things. Of course, they still have the regulations. You can't go in a store without a mask. But besides that, it's, you know, it's not it's not really a big deal. They're they're wanting tourism to come back. So they've used restrictions. They've used restrictions. So you don't have to quarantine when you come to the country because they've determined, right? Yeah. And the three or four months since they've allowed tourists back, they've they've they've they think that not one tourist has brought COVID into the country. They are not, you know, and they need tourism down there. So we all I mean, we needed here too. I was in New York City visiting my son on when I first got back, I flew in Newark, New Jersey, and I went to visit my son in New York is totally locked down. Yeah, it's crazy. Totally. No restaurants, only outdoor dining. It's wintertime. I all have these little wooden boots outside, but nobody's going out to eat in the wooden boots. You might see one person out there, but it's all it's all kind of silly, despite the failure of the the lockdowns that keep pressing on with it and the suffering continues there. So it's, you know, people go to the grocery store and everything, but there's no there's no dining out. There's no bars. So no movies, no theater, no movies, no theater, all concerts. Right. And everybody wears a mask on the street. Yeah. You feel like a leper if you're not wearing a mask on the street. I was just outside. I was walking around without a mask and I people looked at me like there was something wrong with me, but I can't I really can't bring myself to wear a mask outside. It's just totally silly. So so I wanted to ask you what are your impressions about coming back and point your attention to the affair that happened on January 6 when there were some people, you know, that were at least what the media says were Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol and vandalized it and it is viewed as called right now in insurrection. First of all, do you have an opinion about that? Can we discuss that? Was it an insurrection? Well, I mean, I mean, I read I read a lot about it in, you know, various, you know, the New York Times and then other things, the Guardian and other papers online. And to me, it seems like, you know, it seems like a little bit of theater and it all seemed a little too easy. Yeah, I mean, it's horrible. People got hurt and people died. But a couple of people, right? Right. A couple of people died. I think one or two as a result of the riot, other people, I guess, had a heart attack or something. I'm not really sure. And that's it's a terrible thing, but it all seemed some of it when you watched on video seemed pretty nonchalant. And how many people actually were in the Capitol? A friend of mine said thousands. But I went online to try to find the answer and it looked like 104 or 150. Well, this is what I got into a little difficulty yesterday because I asked what I thought was a simple question. In other words, a simple question is how many people got into the Capitol, like you said, and nobody seemed to know the answer to that. And then I and then they said thousands. These are perfectly reasonable educated people. They're saying this. I said, there's no way thousands of people got in. There were, however, as far as I could tell, 50,000 people in the protest. Have you been OK? So I said, of those protesters, how many got in the Capitol? Has that number even been revealed? I looked everywhere today to try to find it. And the best I could find was there's 140 or restaurants out for people that, you know, they have video of all these people. So they're trying to identify them, you know, and I mean, some some groups claim to be anti-Trump, supposedly broken. Also, who knows, you know, I mean, it was if it was staged or part theater, who knows that either? It's it was just added. It's an unfortunate thing because it's being used to further, possibly, censor and and and restrict our freedoms. You know, seeing that was a bothersome to me, is that I do a discussion group with a number of people that are connected to the town of Richmond. And they really had decided already what all of this meant. And to them, it was the insurrection against the government of the United States that it was armed. Most of the people that I was talking to thought that they that there were that there were arms that were being used and that it justified the shutdown of Washington, D.C., the occupation of Washington, D.C. by troops and that it justified the taking away of the civil liberties of all of us because of its serious nature. And I kept on pressing. Why can't you see that these people who got in were criminals and that they should be prosecuted in our regular courts? There's just no at all understanding that that probably is the most accurate description of the case, right? Right. I mean, it's it's like a hundred and forty people or whoever committed a crime. So we're going to punish 350 million people. That doesn't make any sense. Right. But the thing that bothersome is that once again, it's a complete breakdown of the rule of law that's happening in the country. And it's with the it's with the complete the compliance of most Americans. I mean, if you have troops in your streets, nobody seeming to think that this is unusual to protect against a crime, troops in the streets. Right. And and and this crime didn't really affect anybody. And I did what in any way. The crime was a crime that you often see in protest. There are two crimes, it seems to me. One is the breaking an entry into the capital of the United States. A B&E, right? Right. Unlawful trespass. That's another crime that protesters are often create or often commit. The third one, people died. It could be more serious. Nevertheless, it still is a crime. Right. And it doesn't make it more of a crime. Right. It's it's it's not more of a crime because it was the capital. I don't see why it was right. It's just it's just a basic criminal act that people should be prosecuted for. But yeah, I mean, it's being made and I mean, you know, I don't know, but it still all really seems kind of fishy to me. It seemed it seemed all pretty easy. It's it's I mean, but I mean, my fear still is that now all the they're going to connect all the dots here and say, and they already listed groups to be worried about. OK, we go with the white supremacist kind of thing and the neo Nazis and everything, but they've listed in the groups that need to be silenced or censored. They had the libertarians in there. That's me. Yeah. Well, it's I think I'm closest to a little closer to a libertarian than a Democrat or a Republican. Me too. So I mean, they've done this big giant net, just like they did with the war on terror after 9 11, that it's kind of like the same. You're either with us or you're against this mentality. And that's not really it. We're, you know, I don't think I'm with you, but I'm not against you either in the point where I'm going to do something violent or break, break and enter or hurt somebody. So I mean, that's the difference. So the fear is there's going to be no protest. There's no opposition to anything because it's all going to be viewed as a as a terrorist act. And that's what they're trying to pass legislation. Yeah, because now they're going to say, well, anytime these groups of people get together, it could be dangerous. It could become violent. But like you said, that's true of any protest, whether it's Black Lives Matter or any protest could become that way because there's always one or two or a handful of people in a group who are maybe in the little unhinged or or they are prone to doing something like that. Or they are provoking a response also. I mean, during the sixties, there were people in protests that became basically they were loose cannons, put it that way and that they would do something really provocative, which would call in a very serious response from the police. I'll give you an example. During a protest here, not so long ago over climate change, there are a group of people meeting in the Hilton Hotel. Do you remember that? Oh, I remember. There are governments. What? Yeah, OK, so what happened was that two or three of the protesters approached the Hilton. There was no plan to do that on the part of the other protesters. These people were acting on their own, really against the will in a lot of ways of the normal protesters. And they as they approach the Hilton, seemingly to make more trouble than all these unlabeled cops. Right. Do you remember that came out? Right. No badge numbers. And they shot rubber bullets into the crowd. Right. And then people injured. Now, that's essentially what has happened here also, isn't it? Not that it provoked an immediate response, because I'm not sure it did. Did it did the people in the capital? Was there was there an immediate calling of the police or what happened? Well, I don't think so. No, I mean, I think that that they just it seemed like they just let it happen. And, you know, I don't know the ratio of people to police, but it seemed like it was maybe one to one at best. But in the beginning, I mean, like I said, I've watched a little bit. In the beginning, it seems like they walked right in. They broke windows. Well, what didn't they break windows? Yeah, they broke windows. But I think in the beginning, they walk. I mean, I was reading about this doctor that she said she just walked right in the door and I can't remember Stephanie Gould, something gold, something gold. Yes, she's a she's a member of this group, a doctor's group that's kind of against the lockdowns and everything. She's a very prominent doctor. I hear it's not doctors without borders, but it's anyway. She said she just walked right in and she didn't want to cause trouble, but she said everybody's walking in. So I mean, even of the hundred and forty people that walked in, there might have only been 10 people who were going to break windows or punch somebody or do whatever happened, you know. Well, AOC is saying that they were actually threatening the lives of Pelosi. Well, that might have been the 10 or 15 people, too. I don't know. Do they have evidence of that? How would you have evidence of that exactly? They have video tapes. I don't know. But anyway, I mean, it's it's over with for now. It's just what are the repercussions going to be? What do you see as a new arrival back in your home country? What do you see other repercussions? I've I've hardly talked to anybody because I've been in the house. I talked to my son and my son in New York City, my daughter. I really haven't had conversations with anybody about it. I just know I mean, nothing's changed here. The climate is very uptight about everything still. But obviously, people are all the average person is joyous because Trump's gone and Biden has been elected. So that's the only thing I've seen that has changed. In Costa Rica, the people I talked to were just like, so what, you know, they don't they don't think that's any great shape. They let me let me draw your attention to the fact that the government has changed, right? Biden is now. They continue, people still continue to try to trash Trump, even though Biden is now in power and because of the insurrection or whatever you want to call it, the quote insurrection. What do you see as a as a result of things like liberty? What I see today, I see permanent fencing in the Capitol around the Capitol. Did you see that permanent? Yeah, permanent fences now around the Capitol troops in the Capitol. How do you view that that there are now thousands, I think of guard troops in the Capitol, Washington? I think it's horrible. I mean, we're like a third world country like a military dictatorship where, you know, that, you know, these got them, they feel like they have to be protected just because. Who's the Congresspeople? Yeah, I'm sure the Congress, the president, I mean, whoever. It's it's the new it's the new rule of law. Now, is that going to go away as a temporary? Probably not. I mean, they're that's not. She says it's not the the fencing is permanent. That's what Pelosi said. What? Right. So it's going to be once again, it's we're going to be like, I just want to say Peru or something. But, you know, some some country where the the leaders are afraid of the of the people, basically, because and I mean. You know, it's too bad that they aren't really afraid and that they don't do something positive to try to make people happier. I mean, there's there's a reason that people are unhappy. And I don't think it's going to get better anytime soon. With the with the income and inequality and all the unemployment and everything. There's, you know, that's usually enough to I mean, historically, that's what's stoked people's fire to to protest or to go after the government is that, you know, because they I mean, the government does have a power, the power to do something about that, whether they will or not. I mean, I mean, we we've had this discussion with people who why have with people who are so excited about buying. And I said, I'm willing to give them a. Yeah, me too. I'm willing to give them a three, six month pass to see what happens, you know. But I mean, if if we end up with more restrictions that never go away and mandatory vaccines and all this other crazy stuff, then it's not going to be somewhere that I'm going to enjoy living if, you know, if we have all these, you know, new rules just because there was a little what you call it insurrection, you know, take away, you know, things things happened after 9 11 that have never, ever was supposed to be temporary, you know, all these laws that were, you know, well, I mean, airplane stuff and, you know, being able to detain somebody without charges and all these horrible laws that came about just because of 9 11 have never gone away. I mean, the government still has the right to arrest somebody and detain them without counsel and without charges because of 9 11, because we're still in a state of emergency. You can arrest an ordinary citizen and not even tell them why they're being arrested and put them in jail and not have them and give them counsel. All they have to do is say he's a terrorist, so they could do the same thing now with with this Internet thing where, you know, I mean, where people are being censored for saying something that they say incited somebody to violence. So what they're trying to do is pass legislation that basically could, I think, put these people in prison instead of just censoring them. And I mean, I, you know, I read through the whole speech that Trump made and there was the one that they said he incited people. There was nothing in there that's that, you know, that was, I mean, yeah, if you're a crazy person, you can interpret anything and say that he incited people of violence. I didn't see one thing in there that that was saying people go get them or or fight or go, go, you know, nothing. So, you know, it's it's a dangerous precedent to set that. And Glenn Greenwald with an article about some guy that got fired just because he's he made a joke about the people who people were in the in that, you know, Congress that were yelling hang, hang pence. I'm sure you read that. Yeah. Right. Well, some really well known lefty journalist made basically a joke about it that said, oh, something about, well, you know, maybe if maybe if they hung pencil and solve all the problems or something, but it was just joking about what these people said and he got fired from his job. You know, so I mean, the the PC and the PC culture is getting worse and worse and worse when you can't even write something tongue in cheek, you know, or say something. So I don't know. I mean, basically they can end all dissent and all protests because any protest, you know, and then so many, you know, you read the article that there was a guy who was trying to kill a bunch of congressmen who was inspired by Bernie Sanders. So what happens to this guy? Oh, I remember that. Yeah. I mean, that's what Glenn Greenwald pointed out. He there was one article where a guy pointed out six six or eight incidences over the last 10 years were very powerful people, said something, and then somebody went out and tried to kill somebody. It was no different. It was they were all worse than what just happened at the White House. And in fact, what people said, I mean, there there were congressmen that said, you should kill this person. I mean, they were like bad things. And the Bernie thing, the guy directly said, Bernie got me all fired up talking about Wall Street and rich people and blah, blah, blah, blah. So why would Bernie should be censored according to today's rules? You know, he shouldn't be he should be kicked out of Congress. You know, oh, my God. Well, there's also moves to do to kick people out of Congress right now. Yeah. And those are people like Ted Cruz. He's and again, I've never particularly had warm and fuzzy feelings about Ted Cruz, but they're trying to say, many people are trying to say that he deserves to be kicked out. Him and that guy, Holly and other Republicans, simply because they voted, I believe, not to certify. Right. Because they thought there was election fraud. Right. And then they label that and they label that a conspiracy theory. That's the other thing. So if you're if you have a conspiracy theory, you're might be deemed somebody that should be censored. Well, they can label it a conspiracy theory, although, you know, I had an argument with a friend about that just yesterday. And I said, you know, on the surface, things looked really weird. I, you know, the election. I mean, never before has there been such a weird flip after 8 a.m. the next day and only in the swing states. I said, so I see it was totally justified to question the results. I mean, they might have pressed it longer than they should have. But I don't think it was crazy to question what happened on the day after on the election. It certainly wasn't illegal to question that. No, no, that's that's what I mean. Well, so then they label these people, you know, it's a dangerous conspiracy theory. So to to to get people all fired up that the election was rigged. Yeah, I mean, maybe Trump took it too far. But once again, you had thousands and thousands of peaceful protesters and 100 that walked in and maybe five or 10 that did stupid violent things, which can happen at any protest, anywhere, any time. So it does happen anywhere at any time, right? However, if something that was done, that was a crime, those people should be prosecuted and ask people like me. And but that idea somehow has become anathema that we have to go to these extremes. My feeling is, why don't we just go by the rule of law that exists? Well, here's the danger in what could happen, Sandy, is that, you know, people don't realize we I mean, a lot of people don't realize there's still people in Guantanamo Bay who have never been charged with a crime. They've been there for 19 years now and because of the terrorist law and that they made a law like that for domestic terrorism, which has been proposed. Basically, they could arrest you, put you in jail and say, well, you were a domestic terrorist and we don't have to give you a right. So we don't have to charge you with the crime because you're a domestic terrorist and you're a danger to the republic, to the country or whatever. And that's what they could be labeling people who for whatever reason say there's election fraud. They could say you're inciting violence, you're a domestic terrorist, you should, you know, or numerous other things. And a lot of, you know, I'm not a I'm not a pro-life kind of person, but a lot of religious groups are worried that they're going to say pro-life people are domestic terrorists because they incite violence. And because if one person goes out and kills an abortion doctor, which once again, I think is a horrible thing, then the people who are pro-life speakers incited him to violence. Therefore, they could be put in prison, a preacher. Who knows? No, I know I have heard that I have heard that argument. Or people like people like me who are saying, look, look, let's be cautious about all this. Let's let's look at these people who have committed crimes and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. But let's leave other protesters alone, other dissenters, because there's another thing that's happening in the new administration. Like Nancy Pelosi said today, something about the that the heart that the insurrectionists existed within the Congress. What is she saying? Is she saying that Republicans or some Republicans are basically insurrectionists and should be bounced out of the Congress? Elected congressmen? Is probably because of the of the language they use, which they're now deeming as insightful. Right. I mean, I think it's the same thing. They're saying that people that opposed it said the election was rigged and got out there and said, Trump got screwed. That was a horrible, dangerous thing. And it's a terrorist act. And so they need to be booted out, right? Which is just it's a dangerous, dangerous precedent. It really is. Right. Well, it's a dangerous time, I think, to as you're being a libertarian, actually, to be in the political fracas, including people like us. I would guess. So what other what are you thinking also about the censorship on the internet? Also, what's going on, you think? Well, yeah, I mean, it's all it's all connected, right? I mean, because I mean, I personally, after seeing what once again, I wasn't a big Trump fan, but the fact that all the internet companies could censor the president was once again, a dangerous, dangerous thing. Because we what we found out is they're more powerful than the president. And they basically. Controlled the election because of that. I mean, and they could in the future control any election by just deciding which candidate would be allowed to have the platform, which is the largest platform in the world for to put forth your views. And if there was a candidate they don't like, they could censor them. They could say his views are dangerous or whatever for whatever. They don't have to have a reason because they've given us their private companies so they don't have to they don't have anything, right? Right, they can do whatever they want. But it makes it it's unfortunate because they are kind of a monopoly. So that but they're able to to control all this. So somebody's got to come up with another, you know, platform. I mean, there was one. It got shut down, whatever it was called parlor parlor parlor. But yeah, I mean, I got I am slowly getting off of all these out of all these companies and using Edward Snowden's advice and getting on different search engines because I don't want to give them my money anymore. So that's actually what Trump should have done in retrospect when this happened. He should have said, great, you're censoring me. Everybody get off of Google, use start page. Everybody get off of Gmail and use proton mail. And there's other search engines that don't use any of those things and that you aren't being surveilled. And he says the way to hurt these companies is take them take their money. They're wealthy companies. And if all my supporters stop using their services, it would cost them millions and millions of dollars might eventually do that anyway, right? He's not finished. You think Trump finished? That's exactly what he should do. He should say this is how you hurt these people. Just like I'm sure you read that thing about the the reddit that crashed. I can't understand. I'm trying desperately today to understand it. To do is stuff that I don't understand, like short selling, right? Right. Well, yeah, it's pretty easy to understand. I don't have to explain it because it's something. But the funny thing is then Wall Street got him shut down. And then, of course, the nighttime comedian people, whatever the talk show host joked about, Wall Street doesn't like being beaten at their own game. Because that's the way it is. That's what they do. They purposely crash companies to make money. And that's what they've been doing for a year. I mean, Goldman Sachs crashed the Mexican economy one year and all celebrated a big party because they made so much money doing it and caused millions of people to starve. You know, they don't care. They're they're they're in it for the money. So the fact that these these guys read it was able to do it to them. Wall Street had been trying to kill this GameStop company for whatever reason. They tried to do it with what is it called Red Lobster. And what's the Italian place? For some reason, they had something. Olive Garden. Olive Garden, like a couple years back, they hated them for some reason. And they tried to crash that, but they somehow survived. But so they tried to crash this GameStop company. The stock price had gone down to, let's say, a dollar. And these guys got together. A bunch of guys got together and secretly did something to make the stock price. Watch your ears in that. Right. And so the stock price went up to like a hundred. And some hedge fund lost billions of dollars. I mean, it's since gone down. So hopefully these guys bailed in time. But yeah, I mean, it's there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to play that game if that's the game they play. Let me let me ask you one other thing about Glenn Greenwald. He has been it seems to me blacklisted for many of the networks. Correct. Right. Right. You had to quit the Guardian. He had to quit the intercept. Right. And MSNBC too, I think. Right. They used to interview him. So he appears now regularly on Fox. Right. Yeah, I think he does. Yeah. So what's the deal with him? What is his position about? I mean, he's he is rather a free speech absolutist. Right. Wouldn't you judge? So what is that position? It's mine too, I think, more or less. But what is it? Well, I mean, I think he's I think I would say he's like best buddies with like Edward Snowden and these guys because Julian Assange too. Right. Yeah. And I think that they both see what's going on is is the end of our rights. And they're they're trying to do something about it. But it's it's tough. I you know, I think the average person is just kind of going with the flow. You know, I mean, they all went with the flow with the COVID, the COVID, which I call scam. So, you know, there's no reason I call them shut downs. And so there's no reason they're not going to go along with you know, mandatory vaccines and censorship and all this stuff. As long as they keep eating and drinking and driving their car, I think that the average person is not going to care. I mean, Europeans care way more about this stuff. There's protests constantly about this stuff, you know, and they don't there. But in the Americans, yeah. But I mean, they're going to make it harder and harder to protest, I think. So, you know, I mean, and I don't think people I don't think people, the average person, the average 20 to 40 year old has no interest in going out in the streets and screaming and yelling and throwing rocks. So, you know, the way you do it is probably economically kind of like Reddit. Did you figure out a way to hurt these companies or people economically? I don't know. Well, the way that I think about what Greenwald's article is the following, that if you're talking about the rights under the American Constitution, the First Amendment rights, the right to free speech, the right to freedom of the press, to assembly, that those rights don't go away regardless of what you're saying or where you want to assemble or where you want to worship or not, right? So, it seems more and more though, if those rights are taken away from certain ideas, in other words, like if you if your freedom of speech is taken away from during an emergency, I think very few people think about the fact that in the next emergency, it might be them, then their rights are taken away from them. Nobody seems to realize that what is done to one group of people can also be done to another group of people. And so, most people think because those rights are freedom of speech, for instance, is being taken away from people who might support Trump, that's fine. So, they're saying that's fine. And I think that we all should remember that if you believe in the constitutional rights of free speech, it's absolute. It's for all groups. No matter if you agree with those groups or not, that the rights under the Constitution apply to all groups, even unpopular groups. Like Trump right now is pretty unpopular, I guess, although I'm not certain of that really even. But once his rights to free speech are taken away from, the next time ours can be taken away from, right? Well, yeah, that's one of the headlines of one of the articles I read that basically they're coming for them now, but they could be coming for you next. And that's really what you have to look at because these groups could decide in four years that the Democratic Party is the problem or whoever that is. And then they could do the same thing to them that they did to the Republican Party, just totally trashed the person. And once again, I'm not defending Trump as the greatest president ever, but basically he was taken down by the media. I mean, COVID and the media just did them in. They had it out for him mainly because he attacked them relentlessly, which wasn't really a great idea. And so they said, that's great. You want to call us liars? Well, you're going to lose the election. We're going to make sure you lose the election. And it was really only Fox had anything good to say about him. And all every other media outlet just trashed him constantly. I mean, once again, he had to fuel the fire. He didn't do himself any favors. I mean, I was having a conversation. If you'd just shut up the last year, he would have won the election again. But they had it out for him because he called the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Health, the CDC, and the media all liars. And that was a bad move. The man seemed to me naive in a way that he thought he could get away with it. But I think that's the best thing that was said that, it's like, it's kind of like, I mean, I hate to say it because it's used a lot of Nazi Germany. People said, well, they're going after the Jews. I don't have to worry. But guess what? It wasn't just that. I mean, what other countries were watching this? They were like, well, it's just the Jews. And then all of a sudden they went after everybody. I think the thing that bothers me personally is that so many people that I know on the left, I generally have been part of the left for years. And so many people on the left don't really care that this is happening. There's widespread censorship, widespread making people, what? Yeah, because they hated Trump. Right, I know. And that's a very, very, I know. I keep on saying, I don't believe that our politics should be governed by hate. I really don't. That's a very dangerous thing that's happened over the past four years. You know, you don't have to like anybody. But what I think reasonable people should do is look at the policies of everybody and decide based on what they are doing and the facts on the ground rather than whether they like a person or not. And that clearly was not the case during the Trump era. I wanted to mention one thing, other thing before we close. I mean, President Biden now is using his power to pass all these executive orders without the input of Congress. I find that worrisome. Now, there was an article about that also today that even people were telling them, please stop. This isn't the way it's supposed to be done. Who said that? People in his own party were telling them, please stop. This isn't the way it's supposed to be done. You're supposed to use Congress to go over some of these things and not just pass everything. He's up to 37 or 38 executive orders. Right, way more, way more than Trump, way more than Obama, way more than anybody. And I don't know why he's doing that. He has some majorities in both houses. Well, I mean, I haven't seen all of them. Some of them I'm very happy with, I mean, because some of the environmental ones that Trump did, I was very, very unhappy with like allowing drilling in Alaska. You might be happy. Now, I'm happy you're happy. I'm not unhappy about it. What I'm worried about is that he's taking executive power in a way that really is against the Constitution of the United States. I don't care if I like Senator, I don't like it. I want to just touch on something you said earlier. And one of the problems is this EUA and the state of emergency thing, which is our problem in Vermont. You know, I mean, the fact that the state of emergency is still in effect from 9-11 is just absurd. And every president has had a chance to end it, and none of them have ended it. They're not going to end it. I think because they, even though it's not legal, according to many people, they still use it as an excuse to do all these things. And the EUA, the emergency youth authorization, because of COVID has been used as an excuse to do things. And who knows when that's going to end? And you're in the same situation where they're using it as an excuse to put a vaccine out there, which maybe even isn't a vaccine and hasn't really been approved. They use this PCR thing, which wasn't really approved, but because of the emergency youth authorization, it's allowed to be used, which is different than approval. So you have drugs being used that aren't approved or tested. This is an experimental vaccine. There's no way around it. It has not been tested and proven by the normal protocol. And you have all this other stuff being done. Like all these tests are also not approved by the FDA. They're only allowed to be used because there's an emergency. And this is a dangerous thing. And it's the same thing with 9-11. And then people go, well, it's an emergency. And most of the cases around the country that have one have been that people have sued and said it's not an emergency. And that's kind of what needs to be done in the state of Vermont. But I don't know how easy it is to say, there's no reason that we should be calling what's going on a state of emergency. A hundred people have died over a year. You know, it's ridiculous that we say we're in an emergency situation here because of COVID. But people accept it because they're all afraid because the media, just like with 9-11, has got everybody scared of this dangerous, horrible thing that's killed 100 people in the state of Vermont. But look it, they are afraid of disease because everybody on earth is afraid of death, too. And that's really what's going on, I believe. But somehow there are those of us who, I guess, accept that we're all going to die. Maybe, maybe. I don't know, but it's the new world order has always been more frightening to me than the thought of catching COVID. And I don't know what makes the difference. I just don't know about that. Lastly, though, I think we should wind up is there is the thought that there will be new, new legislation passed labeling people domestic terrorists. Yeah. Yeah, that's what I think. Yeah, and that's what Biden and company are proposing. What does that mean? Does that mean that people who question all of this stuff could be rounded up? I think it's going to be just as broad as the war on terror from 9-11. And so it's going to be very, I don't know what the right word is, ambiguous, vague, whatever, so they can just decide at will who they arrest. I mean, face it, Obama had a guy killed in overseas that was a journalist and that had visited the White House after 9-11 to try to keep them from responding violently. And then he went back to his home country, was over there as a journalist. They had never had any proof he was doing anything except for writing things, basically saying the United States was horrible and they were doing the wrong thing and they killed him and his son. And a neighbor. A neighbor too, eventually, a young man too. And they said it was, well, the war on terror. Sorry, he's a terrorist. We got to kill his son because if he's a terrorist, the son's going to grow up to be a terrorist. And so yeah, my fear is they can do the same thing here with these people that they deem a danger to this. About that particular case, I think we should remember too that those three, two of them at least, the father and the son were U.S. citizens. Right, they were U.S. citizens. It was a totally illegal act, even, you know. But they used the old- And they got away with it too. They got away with it. Obama got away with it. Yeah. But we probably should close on that very unpleasant note, Pete, wishing you, I guess, you're going back to Costa Rica. I'm going to go back for a month and then I'll be back in March again. I'm visiting my wife and my mother I was trying to but she's afraid I'll give her COVID so I couldn't visit her. Okay, but you will be back in March? Yeah, March 2nd to 9th. That's town meeting day. No good. So you'll be able to, I don't know what, town meeting is going to be a totally different ballgame also. It's all mail-in ballots. It's been here, right? It's been destroyed, what? Yeah, it will be the mayor's race here in Burlington, but for a normal town meeting, for instance, in your town in Shelburne, it's also going to be for the very first time in history mail-in ballots. And town meeting has been the only direct democratic institutions that's left in this country that's directly democratic. In other words, face-to-face discussion, debate, voice, votes, and that's all going to be gone because now they're going to do mail-in ballots. It's really, that's also very shocking to me. Okay, so I guess we'll talk in a couple weeks, Pete. Thank you for being with us today. And thank you, Beth, and so we'll talk later. Thanks, Pete. Okay, bye-bye.