 The radical fundamental principles of freedom Rational self-interest and Individual rights. This is the Iran book show. All right, everybody. Welcome to Iran book show on this It's Monday Beginning of the week. I hope everybody had a great weekend looking forward to a phenomenal Week ahead. Where's everybody in the chat? The chat is like nothing Usually there's something going on and say something so I know you guys are alive because otherwise I may worry I'm talking a bunch of dead people. All right I guess I should start with the Super Bowl Free of everything else. Thank you, Robert. My my my my I now know there are people there Super Bowl yesterday, I don't know if you guys watch I did one football game a year that I actually watch It was it was a good game wasn't a great game, but it was a good game It's always fun when a game goes into overtime although it was pretty late in Puerto Rico because we're an hour ahead of East Coast time So it did it didn't mean staying up much later than my bedtime these days And but it was it was fun. I was rooting for I was rooting for San Francisco But I didn't mind that's that Kenseth City won primarily because I figured it would make Maga go nuts. So anything that makes the the Maga crowd go crazy I'm all for and I figure with with with with Kelsey winning and Taylor Swift in the audience. I didn't see the end of the game So I don't know if she actually went down onto the field and in front of all those people in those Joe Biden But but I'm sure in the air in their imagination. She she actually did They can now rest assured that they could spousy theory that the game was rigged for the sake of Kansas City because of Taylor Swift's endorsement of Biden is Is is completely confirmed by the fact that Kansas City won the game Therefore, it must have been they must have been right. It must have been rigged. So Just that was enjoyable That aspect to it, although I do still wish San Francisco would have won. I don't care that much It is football after all a sport. I don't really watch Regularly and I don't follow a team regularly enough to care that much about All right, we'll get back to Maga later But I thought that was entertaining and it was a fun game. Hopefully any game that goes into overtime is Is is is fun? All right, let's see Yeah, quick Gaza update So as as you know is your controls now most of the Gaza Strip It controls all of the north and a big chunk of the south particularly the northern part of the south and the eastern part of the south and Israel is now threatening to move for the south towards a The city of Rafa Rafa is right on the border with Egypt and it is where The last remedy the remnants as Hamas are where they suspect the leadership of Hamas is and where the hostages are probably we'll talk about the hostages in a minute and It remember there is a border there with Egypt remember to the Egypt In spite of the fact that everybody accuses Israel of closing the borders and controlling the borders and all this stuff Egypt has a very very stringent border with Gaza It has fences and barbed wire and walls and all this stuff and they don't allow any Gaza's into Egypt and they've they have not allowed any movements and So you know that's Egypt anyway Egypt is telling Israel don't go to Rafa if you do you're gonna put at risk The peace deal that we have with you the Biden administration is telling Israel don't go to Rafa unless you have a Convincing detailed plan that we the Biden administration approve of in order to protect the civilians in Rafa Rafa is also the place where the civilians primarily from Hanyunas the area that Israel is in the process of cleaning up in southern Gaza and all of northern Gaza have moved to so there's You know one and a half million people crammed into this tiny tiny tiny little place So it is it's not clear if Israel wants to You know once if it wants to kind of empty out Rafa of civilians how it can do so where would they go so Israel Needs a plan given that they're not gonna have the fight with civilians all around them Not not effective for Israel and not effective for the way Israel fights and not effective for kind of the world the world opinion and the The international court in Hague and all of that stuff Israel has to be careful in Rafa So where do they evacuate people to? Interesting question Anyway, lots of challenges facing Israel now as it is committed to moving into Rafa And to finishing off Hamas. I mean basically once they move into Rafa They'll control all of the Gaza Strip and then it's a match of just clean up operations Getting into the last remaining tunnels blowing them up killing the remnants of Hamas freeing the hostages Many of whom I think already dead so so getting their bodies and and just clean up operations Which will have to take place, but there's still this issue of getting Rafa and there's massive European American Egyptian Arab Pressure on Israel not to do it and of course these really is just saying look if we don't do it We can't win so basically what you're saying is we should Give up on victory give up on winning So that we don't hurt Rafa and so far the Israelis are adamant about they will move in We'll see in the next few days. Maybe over a week to see exactly what happens Good news overnight Israel's special forces Actually entered Rafa They entered into a building A blew open the door a confronted a number of Hamas fighters Who they killed and managed to liberate? to elderly hostages 161 and 170 and Bring them back out of Rafa back into Israel and they were their families. I think as we speak Unless they're in in in hospital getting getting either treatment or we're just getting evaluated But they did these are the first well, they freed one is really Female soldier early on in the war. These are the first two hostages. They freed in a very long time and I Think it has raised hopes in Israel. Hopefully not false hopes. What is raised hopes that they'll be able to free other hostages From Rafa But at least we have two alive in Israel free Good for them. It sounds like the special Forces did a phenomenal job and no casualties on the Israeli side They were supported by what once shooting started. They were supported by helicopters and and airplanes and You know a lot of a lot of damage was done to the Palestinians and Quite a few Hamas fighters were killed in the operation both inside the building where the hostages were kept but also Outside as they started shooting at the special operations team that was moving out of the area But all of their all of that got suppressed destroyed By the Israeli Air Force again as far as I know as of my last reading no casualties on the Israeli side Great operation good for them now. They need to do a lot more of this and and what would be particularly Effective is that they could find out where the Hamas leadership is send the special forces in and and kill the bastards and And move on from there. I don't know if that's possible. I don't know if they have the intelligence I don't have to have the I don't I mean my guess is these guys are surrounded by civilians And surrounded by hostages a very tricky operation and it might ultimately just require Israel to actually enter Rafa in mass with with tanks and troops and everything else I Don't know if you've seen pictures of Gaza of the of Gaza generally Today Israel's basically flattened the place everywhere. It is touched It is destroyed a vast number of the buildings the infrastructure Everything, you know housing masks You know all kinds of University buildings anything that was linked in one way another to Hamas has been destroyed the tunnels Of course when they destroyed the tunnels the building above the tunnels are destroyed. I mean basically people going home Are gonna find nothing other than rubble Or for most of them it is it is real destruction. It's exactly what needs to happen It's exactly what need did to happen in order to reset The Garzan mindset. I think Garzans are gonna be shocked By what they find when they go home, which I think is good and You're really seeing on social media Garzans writing about their frustration with Hamas There was even a post that attributed to the Palestinian Authority, but probably from a rogue Person in the Palestinian Authority basically saying look people We can't survive this way we gotta we gotta recognize Israel's not going away. The Israelis is just not gonna roll over and play dead We've got to recognize the existence of Israel. We got to recognize the state of Israel We've got to figure out a way to live and to thrive side-by-side with Israel and that's exactly The attitude necessary. I will be showing on one of the longer shows. I will be showing a video of an Israeli Arab woman who exhibits the kind of Values individualistic values There will be necessary to achieve peace on both sides. So I think it's so Inspiring that I want to share it with you and you know, it'll be a positive show about what human beings are possible What possible for human beings? Of course, they have to make the choice to embrace that so Israel has to be of course careful with Egypt the lasting Israel once is a war with Egypt I don't think Egypt wants a war with Israel later. I don't I think it's a lasting Egypt once But it it it is a risk Israel has to face and it doesn't want The relationship with Israel with Egypt to deteriorate too far But on the other hand Israel has to do what's necessary Israel has to do everything that it can to Basically destroy Hamas forever and to do that it cannot leave any inch of the Gaza Strip Unoccupied and uncontrolled by Israel now if they can somehow kill the Hamas leadership Then maybe they you know, they can enter Rafa in a relatively peaceful way But if not, they're not it's it's unavoidable in the Egyptians I think at the end of the day a bluffing at the end of the day the Egyptians need that peace deal with Israel And at the end of the day the Egyptians would love to get rid of Hamas Egypt has its own problems with the Muslim Brotherhood inside Egypt Hamas is just a militant Branch of the Muslim Brotherhood Muslim Brotherhood be inherently a militant so Egypt fundamentally They can't say this because Muslim Brotherhood is very popular in Egypt But fundamentally would be unbelievably happy to see Hamas destroyed They are a thorn in Egypt side Egypt wants the Muslim Brotherhood to go away and At least that this particular military government in Egypt would like that to happen And I think that'd be good for Egypt if it all went away All right Quick story for San Francisco, and I don't know all the details and they don't really matter because it's I Mean this is just so indicative and symbolic It appears that one of these autonomous taxis a Waymu WA ym o vehicle That was in San Francisco and looks like it might have gotten might have gotten stuck in a in an intersection and People were angry people were upset by the coffee stock or though It's not clear if it really was stuck or if it stopped for a reason Oh, what exactly was going on the vehicle was surrounded by people Surrounded primarily by hooligans There was video online of them smashing the vehicle with their What do you call it? You know with anything they can get their hands on Trying to open the vehicle, but ultimately just smashing its windows with anything they can find just standing around these all young people Of course, they are wearing Masks on their faces or at least trying to cover up their faces with hats and anything else because it's all being captured on video And ultimately they succeeded in breaking its windows And and setting the car on fire. So the vehicle was in flames. I'm sure that opened up the intersection The automobile was in flames 10 people You know It's talk about the 10 people involved in this and no charges yet have been filed. Who knows it's in Francisco They may never be filed But this is kind of the Luddite nihilistic, you know But also stupid and and and and destructive nature of so many young people today Unfortunately and and where I think San Francisco is in particular a symbol of watching this piece of I mean Dracula's is is the bad word, but because it's we don't believe in miracles, right? But amazing fabulous unbelievable technology that could really Change change life in dramatic ways Certainly save many many many thousands of human lives Even in San Francisco even with the partial experiment even with all the limitations placed on these taxis They are involved in a lot less fewer accidents a lot lot lot lot less fewer accidents that involve Injury or fatalities and the potential for these cause is stunning and You know what they will do for all of our lives both in terms of saving lives We're also making it more efficient traffic jams are less likely a Self-driving car does not stop to look at an accident on the other side of the highway You know, so it's it's it's much more effective much more efficient And we become up much more productive because we can do other things other than have to focus on driving While we're in the car. So this is a overwhelming. I think good That You know, this is a an overwhelming good that this represents You know for For all of us for anybody values time and life and human life, so Luddites nihilists San Francisco Sad San Francisco used to represent tech progress growth now it represents destruction and Luddites anti-tech anti-growth All right, a few international stories quickly and then and then we'll talk about The presidential candidates, I'm gonna take a one minute second All right, let's see Germany. Germany Is in real trouble economically which is really feeding I think the political problems that Germany faces and the rise of the of the right and The death of we call them traditional part of political parties, but the rise of the political right And all driven by the fact the Germany Days as an industrial superpower Basically seem to be coming to an halt to an end manufacturing output in Germany in Germany, which is Europe's largest economy has been trending down since 2017 The decline is You know is accelerating now as Germany's you know Competitiveness just as you're voting They seem to have missed German companies seem to have missed the investment in Electric vehicles or at least couldn't afford that investment given the huge subsidies the China and now the United States pouring into that sector The German companies lag behind In terms of that and are struggling to catch up on electric vehicles just as it appears the Chinese are going to flood the market But it's more than just automobiles It's a segment after segment of German Industry while it has always been at the forefront. It has always been the best. It has always been superior engineering That no longer is the case countries like Japan have been Chipping away South Korea has done a phenomenal job a lot of the simpler engineering and simpler Manufacturing businesses have moved to Eastern Europe where it is it is cheaper to produce less regulated less controlled And with the cost of labor is lower and where you have you still have quite a bit of a skilled skilled labor Germany is also It has this business model Which is very much stakeholder capitalism Capitalism stakeholder theory driven business. There is no such thing as stakeholder capitalism Where the unions sit on the boards of directors? That of course raises the cost of labor that of course makes decisions much more difficult And it makes German companies a lot more effective a lot less effective a lot more cumbersome And a lot less nimble Than their competitors in the United States their competitors may be some places particularly Eastern Europe and the competitors in Southeast Asia China is becoming a bigger and bigger rival at least has been I'm not sure it continues to be Particularly for cheaper goods, but also just they're getting better. They're getting Their production quality is increasing And of course one of the things that is really killing the Germans right now killing the Germans right now is the loss of cheap energy and We can blame the war with Ukraine for that, you know the fact that they've lost their supply of cheap natural gas from Russia but Maybe we should also blame and I certainly am going to blame The fact that What is happening here? One second the fact that Germany is shut down its nuclear power plants Which could have continued to supply cheap energy To the German economy Even without Russian natural gas, so this is Very much at the end of the day Self-inflicted this is not primarily the consequence of the war. This is primarily the consequence of the You know the the self-inflicted environmental suicide of Germany to shut down Shut down nuclear power plants the cheap and safest form of energy and electricity production available, so Really in insane, but Generally, you know if you look at if you look at Germany the things are not going well as you'd expect in a mixed economy Things ultimately started to re-rating infrastructure Is is not you know is is doing very very badly. It's aging There hasn't been investment to renew that infrastructure You've got a aging workforce. I mean Germany is again another one of those European countries with the shrinking population and while they've brought in a lot of immigrants young immigrants To do the work, you know, it's gonna take a lot of time before those immigrants can replace The kind of workers Germany has prided themselves on levels of education and competence is just not there So while it might be a short-term fix, it's gonna require a lot of time and investment to make this a long-term fix and Finally Germany is unbelievably bureaucratic. It's a bureaucratic and inefficient I've told you some of you will know this if you've listened to many of my shows my hatred of the Frankfurt Airport and the inefficiency the rudeness the bureaucracy there the lack of any consideration for I don't know call it the passenger the customer And I think that is that is typical of kind of unfortunately of much of Of much of what? You know much of what is going on and on top of that There is a real decline in German educational system again not surprising mixed economy and government intervention and the German education system which There's always been the source of ultimately some of the productivity gains That German educational system is not living up To to what we thought So not living up to what it what it was All right Let's see Also, by the way, just a just on top of all the other problems Which you which you also got is a significant downturn in office buildings in Germany Which is a kind of a global phenomenon certainly a Western European American phenomena, but that is also hurting just generally the economy in Germany that down 13% so it's 13% drop in You know in what I think in value in market value Over the last over the last over the last quarter on an annualized basis Yeah price is slum more than 10% and There's just been less activity dramatically less activity. So Germany like China like the United States has an office building problem I guess not overly surprising So Germany economy is struggling which has lots of implications for the rest of Europe and really for kind of the global economy and NATO and the EU I mean Germany is Kind of the within Europe the bastion of NATO within Europe It is the largest most productive most effective economy and yet It's not anymore The Germans cannot afford to bail out the Greeks anymore. Never mind the Italians of the Spaniards What happens when you get another economic crisis in Europe a real deep economic crisis particularly in the debt-ridden ineffective Relatively significantly poorer economies of southern Europe. How did the Germans respond to that? So I think the rise of the of the new rate is not surprising in Germany given all of this and And and the future is very very troubling Given this real economic challenges that are facing Kind of the really the linchpin of the whole EU project, which is the German economy All right, we'll do this quickly Pakistan had elections. I'm not an exponent Pakistan. I generally and worry about Pakistan Pakistan is a Is a country that is ruled basically by different clans. It is Basically ruled by the clan that dominates the military primarily It is technically a democracy, but not a very functional one It has two particular clans that dominate its politics the Sharif's and the buttoes and buttoes and but it it has a it has a Alternative political party that has risen To popularity over the last few years and that is the political party of the former cricket star Imran Khan who one became a prime minister was deposed Accused of all kinds of things ultimately is in jail right now and what is truly amazing is His political party was dismantled dismantled it was ruled illegal But his candidates Imran Khan's political parties candidates all ran as independence And they want his political party actually got as independence not as a party More seats than any other political party in Pakistan This the military is not happy about this part of what he was doing I think his prime minister is trying to dismantle the relationship between The political world and the military maybe take away some of the goodies and some of the benefits the military Got from the political establishment Anyway, it's chaos and what makes Pakistan there are lots of countries who care what makes Pakistan important And important understand or at least somewhat important to follow at least somewhat Is the fact that Pakistan is a nuclear power and the fact that Pakistan has a significant number of Islamists? at any given point in time One could imagine Pakistan being taken over by an Islamist Government the military in Pakistan has been in various periods Very friendly towards Islamist parties. They have a traditionally and historically been supporters of the Taliban Maybe not so much right now Anyway, it's it's a it's a Pakistan is a mess that I do not and I don't I don't know I don't have the knowledge of the details of Pakistani politics I don't know if Imran Khan is better than the others I don't know if there were any good guys in Pakistani politics. I would be surprised shocked if they were But the reality is this is a country turmoil Turmoil is not helpful when the military possesses nuclear weapons and when the military Could be very well dominated by Islamists Who could you could really create havoc? I mean we are focused on Iran. We're focused on China invading Taiwan if focused on Ukraine But a war between India and Pakistan could be really really really bad both parties have nuclear weapons and You know China is not that far and you could imagine India Pakistan China a Conflict there India and China don't get along that well Not good not good for anybody around the world far from us in the United States But once you get nukes involved everybody becomes affected. So something to watch It looks like the traditional parties of the two clans that I talked about the Sharif center booters Might be getting together to try to form a coalition to keep the Imran Khan Faction out Khan is still in jail. I don't think this will free him They fear him That may be a sign that he's better But I don't know if he is better how much better But this is a region of the world worth watching and being worried about We'll get to worried about region of the world in a bit Wow, we're going along. Okay, Philippines Philippines just a story here is really Nothing current nothing urgent, but the story with the Philippines is they are arming themselves like crazy They are trying to build a modern A modern military force that they're trying to build a modern Navy. They are now right now out to buy submarines They're ready have bought a supersonic ballistic missiles from India They are they bought, you know, world-class fighter fighter jets from the South Koreans They are particularly Air Force and Navy. The Philippines are building up an army The Philippines is the fastest growing economy in Asia right now So they passed they passed Vietnam as the fastest-growing economy in Asia. So that means the economy is generated Generating money and wealth some of their money and wealth are being sucked up by the government to buy and invest in military Hardware the reason for this is not hard to figure out and it is China China's aggression on the South China Sea and in many areas that Philippines considered their territorial waters or international territorial waters where nobody should control they fear the Chinese They can't compete directly with the Chinese, but they if they build up a military That would cause China real damage Maybe China would think twice about being too aggressive towards them You could also view the Philippines in kind of a slightly longer term Slightly longer term, but in a wider scenario as one of the US allies together with South Korea and Japan In that region who could challenge China For example, if China tried to invade or try to blockade Taiwan and the Philippines have a clear incentive To not allow for Chinese aggression Chinese aggression against Taiwan could easily be followed by Chinese aggression against the Philippines they are They are islands there are areas in the ocean that the Chinese want to dominate and the the Philippines did not want them there so Definitely definitely another area of the world To watch to watch carefully All right, so I want to say a few things about the election But let me just a couple of a few stories about our wonderful Candidates for president of the United States before I kind of give you a summary of what I think Just some some stuff that's kind of fun But silly and but it tells you the mentality of the people we have Running for the president of the United States Donald Trump on Sunday before the Super Bowl In response to kind of the MAGA right-wing meltdown around Kelsey and Taylor Swift said that he would consider Taylor Swift's endorsement of Biden as Her being it would be disloyal to him Donald Trump son of God, I guess He wrote I signed and was responsible for the music modernization act for Taylor Swift and all other medical artists right Joe Biden didn't do anything for Taylor and never will There's no way she could endorse crooked Joe Biden the worst and most corrupt president the history of our country and Be disloyal to the man who made her so much money Besides that I like her boyfriend Travis even though he may be a liberal and probably can't stand me All right, put aside just the stupidity of it and the ridiculousness of it The megalomania of it. I mean he signed the bill that probably any other president would would sign It was if I remember right a bipartisan bill. It wasn't particularly Republican And yes Taylor Swift has but this is the kind of BS Donald Trump engages in on on his Social media Platform this is the kind of stuff that concerns him and bothers him This is a guy who was president and could be president of the United States again But that was a that was just on my old thing In one of his campaign stops over the weekend and you've probably seen headlines about this and it's all over the place Donna Trump said that You know that basically he told a a NATO member in Europe Basically, you know that if if they didn't pay up their membership dues although there is no such thing as membership dues to NATO That you know, not only would the United States not come to their support thus violating a significant treaty the United States has with NATO a treaty confirmed by Congress and And in the United States is obliged to live up to you. I might remind you that after 9-11 the Europeans did Play they pot in Once once the NATO treaty was activated in support of the United States post 9-11 But he said to this he said that he said to this NATO NATO member They're not only with the United States not coming to help This country if it was invaded by Russia He would encourage Putin to invade them and do whatever the hell you want with him now making this up watch the video. He said it This is Donna Trump. This is who you want to elect president This is This is what he said of course. I'm not covering it in great depth because the whole world is Everybody's going apoplectic as they should this is you know absurd ridiculous and following The Putin interview just more proof of of of how how God How fawning Donald Trump is of a Putin and would let him do anything and you know The idea that Donald Trump would hold Putin buck back and and Donald Trump would be the one to prevent Putin from acting is absurd and ridiculous and and I just just because you know We don't want to be just one-sided here Joe Biden who had all his memory his memory and really his his cognitive functioning challenged by an independent prosecutor last week and Who in defending his own memory? You know misidentified the President of Egypt with the president of Mexico, you know, I'm sure a problem anybody would have Decided probably because of these memory lapses not to do a traditional interview with the media before the Super Bowl traditionally, there's been CBS runs a an interview with the president before the Super Bowl American people all at home ready for the Super Bowl engage this is a time to communicate with him and talk to them and Joe Biden declined to participate in in in such an interview and it was speculated that it was his memory instead He went on. I don't know if it was television. I don't know where it was, but he went on Some platform suddenly I saw it on Twitter and made a little statement about about watching the football and watching the Super Bowl and You're probably getting all those package goods, but you know chips and stuff Ready to eat during the Super Bowl and he says you might notice If the fewer chips in the bag You might notice that the fewer cookies in the box Basically mimicking the tweet. I gave you from Elizabeth Warren from what Thursday or Friday last week So and he called it again shrink flation warning the Americans again shrink flation and corporate greed and American business This is what Joe Biden decided to do with this time just before the the Super Bowl in talking to the American people and having their attention talk about Shrink flation. All right. Look We've got a moron running for president actually leading in the polls and We've got a senile incompetent who is in the White House and Who might even beat the moron when it actually comes to the election We've got two completely incompetent and unworthy people Running for the presidency of the United States. I mean I Don't understand anybody. I really don't understand anybody who thinks that either one of these people Should be president Put aside the greater of two evils these two guys are evil now imagine for a minute That sometime in 2025 China places a blockade over Taiwan and Taiwan requests us aid in breaking that blockade or imagine Pakistan and India on the verge of war and China threatening engagement or imagine by the way, none of these are crazy all of these are Possible probably not likely but certainly possible Imagine Russia Having Caradillo and now having this large army free from Ukraine amassing troops on the Belarus Poland border imagine again well within the probabilities imagine Iran on the verge of telling On the verge of basically literally on the verge of Nuclearizing its ballistic missiles God here's here's here's Scott, right? You know sometimes Scott is a great foil Scott says blaming private companies for inflation is disqualifying But telling Putin to invade a NATO country and do whatever he wants with it isn't Scott God you are insane. I mean worse than insane. I mean and this is this is exactly the mentality that we must fight against Imagine those any one of those four scenarios Imagine any one of those actually happening He wasn't telling to pay he was actually telling them that he would if they didn't pay he would tell Putin to invade them Diplomacy he's a brilliant diplomat what Russia was asked for comment They they decided to refrain from commenting on it At least he hates the left Hand Putin all of Europe, but at least he hates the left so imagine any one of those scenarios and Imagine a president Biden Or president Trump What do they do? How do they respond now? You know, they've got teams around them But it's Biden even cognitive enough have enough cognition to know who to listen to To make a judgment call does he have the wherewithal to to Beguiding America in Crises that could literally lead to nuclear confrontation literally lead to World War three, which again, I think is unlikely, but With these guys Maybe it's not unlikely is Kamala Harris the person you want and I don't know much about Kamala Harris But she the person you want stepping in to take command and to be commander-in-chief of the American Military in a time of crisis like that. Do we trust anything she would do is There any reason to trust her can she lead the American people because you unite the American people around whatever goal we want to do Let Taiwan go or defend it and Trump Now in his first Go round He had Mathis He had Bolton for a while. He had Kelly He surrounded himself with unbelievably Component generals all of them by the way have since denounced him all of them have denounced him There was no question in the second term those are not gonna people not the kind of people he's gonna surround himself Why because those are the people he denounced denounced him that kind of person He will surround herself with MAGA nutcases What will he do? Will be anybody be willing to tell truth to power will any be pretty buddy in that administration be willing to challenge his emotional outbursts Do we really want a moron with a mentality of a three-year-old with? American nuclear codes I Would rather have Kamala Harris Who knows what he would do? But none of what he would do would be good and It's most likely the most likely thing to do if you follow MAGA is to unilaterally surrender It's to go over to Beijing kiss she's feet and Say well, yeah, I mean Taiwan was part of it was really it was I I know it was I've studied geography I have a high IQ and and Taiwan was part of China. So why shouldn't she want it? Yeah? Yep, I think I think she'd have it. I'll cut a deal. I'll make a deal. Oh, what does he do with you on? I'll cut a deal. I'll make a deal. I know how to stop them. Oh What does he do with? Putin oh, I don't know that the Poles are paid their fees I don't know if they've paid enough Maybe maybe should just take Poland. What the hell he doesn't like Poland anyway And you know some of those Polish lands in in Western Poland in Eastern Poland sorry Eastern Poland some of those lands in Eastern Poland You know really if you go back to 1654 Really those lands but kind of belong to Russia. They will Russia back then so so why not let's let's have a deal Poland give them the now Poland wouldn't listen to him luckily and Poland could actually probably take on the Russian military and defeat them these days but To either one of these people People it's even hard to call them people. There's so Beneath contempt either one of these people. Do you trust? To make decisions at cliff's edge When really I'm not exaggerating the fate of humanity rests Do you trust them to stand up? To the real evil powers out there in the world and achieve anything that is going to benefit the United States I mean Both are unbelievably Destructive to America Destructive to American interest destructive to our lives and if there's any way To prevent them from being the candidates of their political party people should take it I have no understanding of how the Democratic Party has not already kicked your Biden off the ticket. I Mean where are those old days of smoke-filled rooms and political politics, you know political movers and shakers making those decisions and The fact the fact that the Republican Party will not coalesce around an alternative to this idiot To this petty childish Insecure Insecure and insecurity in negotiating with a Putin Putin will run rings around this guy Negotiate with she he has no chance against she there's so much more sophisticated than he is He is like a child playing in an adult game But where they where their stakes a life and death and where the adults who used to protect us from him are No longer in the administration no longer there so Public and party better rally around an alternative whoever that may be It's Nikki Haley or anybody else he also managed to insult Nikki Haley's husband and insult the fact that He was serving in the military overseas and You know which I think played into her hand, but I'm not I don't think it's enough that the reality is the American people are quite I Mean the Republican Party is quite satisfied quite happy with Donald Trump And that tells you everything you need to know about the modern Republican Party By the way, if you're noticing people retiring from Congress all the better Republicans are now Retiring from Congress so that the new Republican Party Is going to be Maga through and through I don't know I you know It's so easy to be super pessimistic these days because I really don't know how we survive the What is going what is going on? What is going on out there? What's what's going on in the world? All right? Let us let me remind you that again that the The island is students holding a conference in Austin, Texas in in March at the towards the end of March For primarily for students interested in deepening their understanding in objectivism Those of you enjoyed a Jason Ryan's the other day Jason will be one of the teachers there Greg Salamiere Tara Smith Ben Bear. I mean it's quite a lineup of philosophers. You got four superstar philosophers right there I think it's gonna be a terrific conference You'll get to know the the speakers the professors It's gonna be a small intimate. It's not gonna be 300 people It's probably gonna be closer to it'll be under a hundred purposefully keep it small so that you have a lot of time with these people right and I Encourage you to apply you can apply for scholarships still At the iron man Institute website the best way to do that is iron man org slash start here Anybody out there interested in deepening the understanding of objectivism. This is the best conference you can attend. This is You know, this is the this is what you need to Yeah, I mean this is you really should do this you really really really should do this All right Finally we're $14 away from the goal somebody step in and make it happen. All right Yeah, and and I appreciate all the superchats. We already got and of course the fact The show is only made possible from the support from people like you and I appreciate that. All right, hopper Hopper Campbell what a bizarre contradiction that these blue cities whose universities scorn production and innovation Are the only regions in the country producing creating and moving humanity forward. What do red states produce? Agriculture and church attendance. Well, you're exaggerating, of course You know, they you know Texas also has Tesla and has a vibrant tech community, of course much of that tech communities in Austin, which is a a Blue city Texas also produces the energy the fracking the oil. That's pretty red And so there's Oklahoma and other states. So it is more than that. There is a lot of industry in the Midwest in in a lot of the You know red states of the Midwest But it is true that conservatism in and of itself Particularly as manifest in its religious version is Not conducive to innovation. It's not conducive to break through thinking It's not conducive to challenging the world Elon Musk might be some kind of who knows what he is conservative or right wing or whatever But he's not conservative in his thinking And I doubt he's religious But there's a reason why Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley and there's a reason why they are not Republicans when the Republican Party embraces religion embrace embraces Moronism is it moronism? I think that's a technical term The the reality is that innovation requires a liberal IE Liberty-oriented mindset and yes, I wish they would view liberty as encompassing a wide array of human activities Rather than just a narrow one But the reality is that without Silicon Valley without the innovation of Silicon Valley this country would be a disaster and the last 40 years we would be Where Germany is? Struggling we would be and it doesn't matter who presidents were without Silicon Valley driving this economy forward without the innovation without the progress We would be so much poorer so dramatically so dramatically poor and And you know it takes a certain mentality and that mentality to innovate and progress and to push things forward and That mentality is not consistent with religion and it's it's not religion the kind of religion particularly in America and it's not consistent with with kind of the the I Don't know spultifying Well with the whole with a conservative I eat to conserve right? What is what is silicon of a value about? It's the opposite of conserving. It's the change It's the change It's it's breaking away from tradition. It's You know changing the world and that that is a very that's a different mindset and it's a mindset that The rate is not produced Anywhere near the same numbers as the left as Sylvanos another $50. Thank you. Thank you. Hopper Campbell for the 50 bucks Considering how tense things are currently around the world it will do a three sounds more and more possible assuming you could How long do you think we have? Well, you know, I don't think you can have a world war three primarily because with the exception of Iran the bad guys are all interested in staying alive She does not want to die Even Putin does not want to die Putin does not want a third world war Putin does not want to engage in nuclear tit for tat with the United States or Europe And the reality is both Putin anxious to a week Putin is struggling to take on Ukraine Which is which was a pretty primitive Military when it started it's still not a particularly sophisticated one. For example, it doesn't have advanced jets and and and it is lagging in many many other capabilities But for Russia to take on Poland Which is now building You know a world-class military and a large military or to take on Finland or to take on NATO even without the United States would be suicidal for Russia and And probably would not happen and I think at the end of the day the same is true of Xi the she really want to take to engage in war with Taiwan that would cut off trade globally and thus Drive most of Chinese business into bankruptcy it would Bring to the forefront the South Koreans and Japanese and potentially the Americans and and and create an alliance of countries in Eastern Asia that is opposed to China is he that suicidal and could again ultimately result in kind of a nuclear war which he Might not lose but he would lose his life likely and Many many Chinese would lose their lives So I just don't think it's going to happen I think the the the scariest regime is that of you on because they are suicidal and And that's why it's so important to prevent them from gaining nuclear any kind of nuclear weapons So Anyway, so I'm not worried about World War three Under normal circumstances, I guess. Well, how would I say what I'm worried about is the idiots running the American government and Here I worry more about Trump than Biden idiots running the American government Tripping into World War three without meaning it Because they don't know what they're doing because they really don't know what they're doing and I think that Trump on foreign policy is likely to surround himself with people even more incompetent than Biden has surrounded himself I think Biden's people incompetent Trump's people will be even more incompetent and they'll also be fighting among each other and fighting with the bureaucracy constantly And it's not like the bureaucracy is going to disappear and Trump will fire them all that's great rhetoric in a campaign speech He didn't do it the first time and he's very unlikely to be able to do it the second time Particularly not if the world is going crazy All right, James. Do evil people ever change their ways? I personally have never seen it all the evil narcissists in my family who passed away were rotten and nasty until they're dying they It's rare and if they're going to change their ways, it's usually earlier in life. It usually is earlier in life, but You know for a You know for a story of somebody who changes his way, although he's never really evil, but for somebody who changes his way Read let me rub this Victor goes let me rub this and I do think people change their ways Because of particular currencies it's harder The older they get and if they're evil narcissists in the middle ages It's very hard for them to change later and it's almost never happens, but young people can Generally the later in life you wait to change their ways the more difficult they become it becomes to do it Liam says wasn't really Reagan who brought Christianity in the Republican Party wasn't it Eisenhower? He's the one to put it in in God. We trust on the dollar bill and introduce prayer in school Yeah, but the difference was He kind of appeased Christianity at the margins. I mean even I mean Ultimately even I ran criticized Goldwater for being Christianity too much during the campaign But what Ronald Reagan did was something very different He brought you you could argue the worst elements within Christianity the moral majority the evangelicals who were looking for a home because originally they didn't vote then they voted for Jimmy Carter And then they felt betrayed by Carter. So they were looking for a home and Reagan brought them and placed them smack in the middle of the Republican Party Not as an influence on the outside Not as throw them a few bones here and there so that you know, they keep them quiet But smack into the middle of the Republican Party into the power base of the Republican Party said today If you are not a Bible thumping crazy religionists, it's almost it's very difficult unless you are a You know a hedonistic moron. It's you know, those are the two options. It's it's very difficult to Win in Republican politics. I mean look now who the speaker of the houses And how the better the santa the more secular people within the Republican Party have all been marginalized Have all been kicked out. So this is the price we pay And it's gotten worse systematically over the last 40 years Over the last 40 years. So yes, I I think it's ultimately Ronald Reagan because he brought them as a group as an entity And and an establishment Uh, all right, let's see All right, michael says what's the difference between benevolence and kindness? I feel like benevolence is not an act. It's a lifestyle Well, it's an attitude. It's a perspective on the world Right benevolence is a perspective. It's a perspective of The world's a positive place Positive things, uh, you know, the good is rewarded in a sense. There's there's justice in the world and and uh There's nothing metaphysical That is anti me. There's nothing metaphysical that is anti human or anti life And uh, you know, if if you do the right things good things will generally happen to you. So it's very much You know, um In attitude about the world more than Kindness is an action kindness might be part of benevolence in some respect sometimes kindness is not benevolence It's just stupidity But uh, it is uh, it is different. Uh, benevolence is a much broader concept Michael, what's the point of how you did high denomination currency like the hundred dollar bill or the thousand dollar bill They have in switzerland doesn't it just make it easier for criminals to do illegal cash handoffs. Yeah, but it also uh, makes it easier for Illegitimate needs for people to be able to have have large amounts of cash There are all kinds of reasons why an individual would want to have $10,000 in cash and imagine doing that in 20s and lugging that around and uh, it's much easier If it was just 10 bills of a you know, 10 bills of a thousand dollars each Which we don't have in the united states. I think there was a time when there was So large denominations make it easier for people to move around large quantities of money Now the state doesn't want you to be able to move around large quantities of cash because they can't monitor cash Cash is much more anonymous than bitcoin Cash is the ultimate anonymous means of transacting So it's great to be able to use cash and it's sad that america does not have a thousand dollar bill It should to allow me to be able to go into a car dealership and pay for the car and cash Which is very difficult today because it's just so many pieces of paper. You'd have to bring suitcase upon suitcase In order to do it All right, and who asks a scary rationalization for trump from the evangel in evangelist preacher God chooses imperfect people to carry out his message How do these people now realize trump is like a golden calf? The bible warns against worshiping. I mean andrew you're way too overthinking it, right? Realize, I mean you'd have to then assume that they're thinking But they're not thinking they're evangelical preachers It's it's completely emotional. It's a completely emotional affiliation You know trump is there to smash to destroy To stand up against To slap in the face He's there to bring chaos and mayhem That's his job to the left of course But that's his purpose. That's why he's far. It's the it's because a good man wouldn't do These things he wouldn't say these kind of things and of course they have a A golden calf kind of attitude towards him. That's the attitude they have to towards any leader if you ever seen These big congregations evangelical congregations where basically the the the the guy up front the priest the preacher or whatever Can a cure, you know can can ask them for money because he needs a second jet The first jet is not good enough. He needs a second private jet and they send him money for the second jet Right or he can sleep with every woman. He can molest anybody. He can violate every commandment But he is their evangelical preacher and they will bow before him and do whatever he wants them to do That is the whole mentality of religion Particularly the evangelical type which is Totally focused on emotion. That's the essence of evangelical evangelical is evangelical evangelism god speak you on The essence of evangelism is emotion And a rejection of reason Paul Cohen says why can't gauzers cross into israeli territory today? Because israel has troops there that won't let them do it Now israel could theoretically carve out a piece of desert Not far from gauza Set up a massive tense city for a million and a half people And tell them all to move there surround a military force not allow them out provide them with aid Screen everybody that comes in so that uh, so get away from the tunnel screen everybody who comes in And uh, that's to prevent any hamas fighters from moving And I think that would be That would actually be a a a good solution because it would allow israel to screen the people It would prevent present israel is humanitarian although it would be very selfish reasons for them to be doing this And it would empty out raffa to allow You know to allow Israel to enter raffa and clean it out of whatever elements of of of hamas are still there, so At the beginning of the war israel could have done that and maybe should have done it It would have cost a lot of money Maybe the egyptians would have and the saudis would have pitched in Create a massive tense city for all these residents and invite them to come over That that that would be a not bad solution other than that if they tried to cross over tears while they get shot Clark yang what is the point of going through life not being a truth seeker? Well, I don't know comfort ease of the moment emotional Satisfaction, you know Uh There is no point The point is escaping the consequences of reality, which is horrific all of those things horrific Liam why did putin even do that interview with tucker? What did he get from it? Maybe thought the world including americans are far more intellectual than they are and would be willing to sit through a 30 minute Lecture in history and be convinced by it. Look putin is delusional, right? He's not a he's not a A healthy human being psychologically, intellectually. He's a sick delusional human being And maybe he thought what he just did would convince somebody of something and show his superior intellect or whatever I you know, but trying to understand Uh, you know people like putin is impossible. He is delusional but what he is is smarter And no knows much more what he wants than somebody like trump or biden Michael says the crazy thing about people who don't like you is they watch everything you do Well, very few of them just a few like there's a handful of them who watch everything that I do I don't understand it. It's bizarre to me. Um, but there's like At least a billion people, you know that no exaggerate The thousands maybe tens of thousands of people who dislike me who are not watching the show I wish they would Increase my influence Shahzad, why aren't any angels visited? Visited the earth in modern times in ancient times. They seem to be visiting every week You know, I think because, um Because uh, they're just so disappointed in humanity. We're just so pathetic in ancient times. We were so much nicer They could also impress us right today. We filmed them on video. We'd we'd challenge it their tech Our tech might be better than their tech. I don't know. So I think they were it was easier to impress people back back then You know and uh, so today people are just too Too hard to impress Right, what you know, what are they gonna do flying there? We can fly in there. We got planes and stuff Uh, communicate without why you know, we can you know, we have wireless communication It's harder to impress us today. I think that's why But you know you should ask People who actually know Thank you Shahzad for injecting a little bit of humor into um, the show Christian, what's your opinion on the Jullible idea of a land value tax fee? Henry George and fed Some fold very Claimed it alone would be sufficient to finance government only tax driving prices down Not up um I mean my question is It doesn't really make any sense and the question is why um, I'm fine With any tax where you say That's the only tax we're going to have Um it's going to Concentrate ownership in land in fewer hands not more hands a lot of people will give up ownership because uh of the tax so Certain wealthy individuals who can use the land more productively in order to generate enough revenue to pay Tax will own it it create all kinds of distortions in terms of ownership home ownership Land ownership and stuff. I don't think it would be healthy in particular I keep I keep thinking about it, but I don't think it would be healthy uh, and um Why I I mean I think the obvious tax if you only had one and had one tax Is a consumption track taxes is just to have it's just a tax consumption and nothing else not tax land and let people use land and Based on their own personal values not based on what the government thinks um So no I I I don't get it Uh, I I think I haven't dug into it, but there seem to be some really Significant flawed arguments in it. Um, every productive activity has to happen. I mean on land you tax land differently if it's being Used for productive activity or used as a home as a consumption good or productive good Uh, and and if you don't does that create any distortions? Yeah, I mean it just it just seems like a silly idea Neil karn why is that why is it that americans are picking to see now old men? Um, of them has terrible memory and the other faces 91 felony charges. What is wrong with americans? That is the key question. I think what's wrong with americans is That they are mindless cowards. They become mindless cowards They become mindless cowards they're too cowardly to go with anybody else and Particularly with regard to trump. They're definitely mindless Right, and with regard to biden their cowards But there's a mindlessness to the republican party and and you know again, I think both parties uh in much of american culture sadly is driven by um anger and fear And look the reality is that a majority of americans are not angry and fearful Can can think decently And and and really good human beings, right? That's the majority and the majority is not mega and the majority is not You know crease democrats to support biden. I mean it's something like I don't know 70 percent of democrats don't want biden It's it's the hanchos. It's the people in charge Same thing with the republican in the republican party is is sicker because the republican party the republican party wants trump But a significant percentage of the republican party doesn't But it's not enough it's not enough to overturn But if you take the people who don't want biden In the center of the democratic party and you take the people who don't want trump That is a majority And that majority could have a third candidate who could beat both trump and biden if you could pick the right person and uh I think any republican could be biden right now Trump is the only one who has the potential to lose them. So it's just Republicans are just mindless. It's the stupid party. They are Have elevated the idea that it's the stupid party to new levels of stupidity tom financial clusters including offshore ones Add value because of their linkages of expertise. This is a point that attackers of offshore centers fail to grasp Yes, absolutely, but that's true of clusters of anything Um, uh, there's a reason why there's a silicon valley or a silicon alley in new york Clusters are massive benefits. It's why pr and advertising was all on madison avenue It all clustered there You know, it's the reason it's a similar reason why Little different but similar reason to why Gas stations all cluster around the same corner. You don't you get often you get Two gas stations across the street from one another. There's a reason for that people then remember Oh, that's the corner of the gas stations. They go fill up there Um There's a huge benefits of what called networking and technology has massive networking benefits i.e silicon valley and uh finance have massive networking benefits i.e hong kong wall street Uh, uh offshore whatever Um, so yes financial clusters like all clusters industry clusters. I mean textile was all in the carolinas, right? All the textile in the u.s. Was in the carolinas Furniture was all in a certain states in the south Right now auto manufacturing was used to be all in michigan now It's in michigan and then it's clustered in certain states in the south It's a clustering effect. You don't get auto manufacturing with exception of tesla In texas But you get in south cali and georgia in that area. It's clustering effect talent comes together both engineering talent worker talent It's a it's a known phenomena the networking effect in economics uh Peacaxing on europe, um, it's interesting in super abundance that no party is called the capitalist party and also that we don't call capitalism Innovism as maklowski coined it. Maybe conservatives could rename Well, they'd have to more than rename they'd have to completely rethink their whole ideology because it's not the name It's the whole ideology which is anti progress anti innovation anti moving forward as is Leftism in its various varieties Roland unfortunately, I can't super chat in cash So here's the next best thing. Thank you. Roland. I appreciate it That doodle bunny reports are coming in now that joe biden has gone. I was gone number two in his pants during a press conference I don't know what to do with that Roland there may be a shortage of angels these days But we have all the more messiahs Sadly very very true. We have lots of messiahs. All right, we've gotten a long time. I didn't plan on this I've got to be teaching at aru In 40 minutes So, uh, I need to prepare for that. I also I need to prepare talking points with fox Just in case they want me on busy day. I will talk to you all tomorrow Uh for a news roundup probably same time. I think it's earlier tomorrow, but anyway, somewhere around this time We'll talk. Uh, see you then. Oh, no Tuesdays. It's late Tuesday. It's like three three Two two thirty. So I'll see you all tomorrow late for uh, the uh news roundup. Bye everybody