Breach Your Mind
Explore life's depths and unlock the secrets of mental well-being on "Breach Your Mind." Join us as we navigate the intricacies of the human experience, offering insights, inspiration, and practical strategies for a fulfilling life. Get ready to breach the barriers of conventional thinking, embrace self-discovery, and nurture your mental health. Let's embark on a transformative journey together. Welcome to Breach Your Mind.
Breach Your Mind
Hype or Hope?
In this episode titled "Hype or Hope," we delve into President Donald Trump's recent inaugural address, delivered on January 20, 2025. Trump proclaimed the onset of a "golden age" for America, emphasizing a renewed focus on national sovereignty, safety, and prosperity. He outlined plans to reclaim national sovereignty, restore safety, and balance justice. The speech also highlighted a series of executive actions aimed at reversing policies from the previous administration, including withdrawing from the Paris Climate Treaty and pardoning individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol riot.
In this episode, we discuss the key themes of the speech, such as the emphasis on "America First" policies, the pledge to restore American manufacturing, and the commitment to energy independence through increased drilling. We also examine the implications of reinstating full-time office work for federal employees and the potential impact of ending government diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Join us as we explore whether this address signals genuine hope for the nation's future or if it is merely political hype. We'll provide insights into the potential effects of these proposed policies and what they mean for the American populace.
Team 1, stand by Copy. Team 1, standing by Breach, breach, breach. This is round two of trying to get this episode recorded. Tried to get it recorded last night. We were live for about three hours and it was entirely too late for me to be trying to form logical thoughts, so went through the podcast episode and there at the end it kind of went off the rails as I was getting tired and realized I didn't like it, so I deleted that recording. I think I got it deleted from every platform, so if you weren't on the live last night, you didn't get to see it. This is the one you get, so we're going to try to get it done again.
Speaker 1:As the title suggests, we're talking about hyper hope. We're talking about hyper hope and, most specifically, what we're talking about is over the promises made from now. President Trump during his inauguration speech A lot of mixed emotions. Obviously, there are some very distinct partisan lines drawn off of what he says. Even today this is the day after even today there's already three lawsuits filed against Doge, which is his Department of Government Efficiency. So there's already a lot of kickback. There's already all of the talking heads are already saying all of the partisan stuff that you really expect, and it's on both sides. It's not just on one side or the other, it's both sides. Both sides are talking trash about the other. So you know you kind of expect it. It's sad that that's what we expect nowadays, but that's what we get.
Speaker 1:If you watched or listened to the last podcast, that's one of the things I specifically talked about. I'm not left, I'm not right. I'm not going to fall left or right because that's the political party that I'm with. I'm going to go with where the values that mean most to me are who's going to do what I believe is best for America, best for American citizens? So that's where I lie. It could be a Democrat, it could be a Republican, it could be independent, it could be libertarian. That's where I am. You know I don't care about the party system, but a lot of people do, and it has caused, in my opinion, a lot of derangement in some of these people, because they get so wrapped up in what the party is that they forget their common sense.
Speaker 1:They forget their ability to logically think about things. Think about things. They start cherry picking stuff and intentionally altering things to make it seem like one thing or another. Most specifically and this is something I saw when I was scrolling through TikTok today is there is a ton of videos out there now where Elon Musk has his hand across his chest and then throws his arm out, and of course, everybody's. Oh, I've seen this movie before. It's from Germany and oh, this is Germany. Oh, he just did that on national television, and yada, yada, yada.
Speaker 1:And everybody's clipping that one part. They're clipping that one part where his hand's on his chest and he's throwing his hand out and they stop there, because that's the narrative that they want you to believe. They want you to see him doing what looks like the Nazi salute and not what he was actually doing. Because if they let the clip play, you hear him say my heart goes out to you. You hear him say my heart goes out to you. He was saying thank you to the crowd and did that motion and said my heart goes out to you.
Speaker 1:Now, as a logical, critical thinking human being, my impression would be that that's what he was doing. He was displaying that he was putting his heart out to people. Now, I may do it a little differently than other people, just like other people may do it differently from me, but they don't play the clip all the way through, they stop it right there and then of course, everybody that believes the exact same thing is just flooding everybody's comments. So every creator that's putting stuff out there and clipping it just like that, they're keeping their little echo chamber going and their little hate thing is spiraling and they're just going down the trail or down the path. So you know it's already started and that's exactly what I was talking about on that last podcast was, you know, people becoming too loyal to a party and not really thinking critically for themselves?
Speaker 1:You know a lot of people don't want to go do the research for themselves. I'm one of those people, I won't deny it. I'm one of those people that there are plenty of times where I'll see something and if it interests me enough I'll go do the research. If not, I'm like okay. So I'm not excluding myself from that. There's times when I don't want to go do my own research on it. But the problem that comes from that is I recognize that fault in myself and I try to keep. I try to keep pace of it and I try to keep track of it and make sure that I don't let that overwhelm my logical thinking. A lot of other people don't. They get enraged by these things and they let that start dominating their thoughts, which starts to dominate their emotions, which starts to dominate their emotions. And then that's when we wind up starting to see so much hate and vitriol being spread on social media, and that's not just on TikTok. A lot of people on TikTok got a lot of hate because of that.
Speaker 1:It's not just there, it was across to every social media platform. It wasn't just in the social media platform, it was on national news as well, because the partisan lines were drawn in the media and you could cherry pick which news agency you wanted to watch and you would get exactly what you wanted to hear. If you wanted pro-Biden stuff, you would listen to this side. Pro-kamala stuff, you would listen to this side. Pro-trump side, you would listen to this side. It was very, very partisan and everybody with a logical mind can see that. So that brings us to.
Speaker 1:You know, here we are the day after the inauguration and I went and listened to the president's speech. The president's speech. I wanted to hear what he had to say and I'm not 100%. You know woo-hoo for the speech. You know I said in the last podcast that I don't like listening to the president give speeches. I don't like hearing him do interviews. He gives a lot of stuff that is irrelevant. My brain works a very specific way, and when you start filling it with crap that my brain doesn't need, then I think you're lying to me. You're trying to get me to believe something that isn't true. So I don't need all that. So I don't like to listen to that.
Speaker 1:But, unlike so many other people, one thing that I do, and I wish everybody would do, is stop worrying about what's said and watching what is done. Now, people that know me, I've said probably a thousand times words mean nothing without action. Words mean nothing if there's no action. It means nothing. If I tell my wife a thousand times that I love her, it means nothing if I don't take action to show her that I love her. The same with my children. If I tell my children that I love them and I support them and I will always be there for them, their biggest cheerleader, whatever. If I tell them this and then I don't follow up on it, my words meant nothing. So when I hear these leaders and I use that term loosely when I see these leaders saying these things. When I hear these things they're saying, I'll watch their actions. If your actions, if you're saying that your actions are in the best interest of the American citizen, in the best interest of this country, then I'm going to want to see that. If I see that your actions are contradictory to what you're saying, then you're a liar. You're 100% a liar.
Speaker 1:You got up there and you spouted what little news clip or what little media blurb that you wanted people to hear so that you could help secure yourself for the next election because you want to be a career politician. How great would it be if, instead of seeing these lifelong politicians, instead of seeing these lifelong politicians excuse me how great would it be if, instead of seeing these lifelong politicians, we saw people get up there, serve a term or two and then bow out gracefully. How great would that be. How great would it be if we saw these leaders get into these positions and not become multimillionaires because they were in that position?
Speaker 1:Now, an idea that a friend of mine proposed was what if our leaders, what if our leaders got paid the median household income of their state that they represented their district? What if they got the median household income for their state while they were in office. That's their pay Now. For some that'd be great. If you're in one of those big areas, one of the very rich states, it'd be great. If not, if you're one of the poorest states in the country, then yeah, your pay's probably going to suck a little bit.
Speaker 1:But do you think these politicians would want to stay in office and make a career out of these things? If that were the case, do you think they would want to stay in office and make lifelong careers if they couldn't increase the median income for their state, their district or whatever, and had to live off of that pay, they'd either be trying to get something done for their constituents legitimately or they would leave One or the other, because if you can get stuff done for your constituents, then your pay is going to increase because your median household income is going to increase, which gives them more money. If they can't increase the median household income and the state continues to not flourish, the median household income doesn't improve. They're eventually going to get out, because it's my understanding and I could be wrong, but when they fly back and forth to DC, that comes out of their pocket. And I could be wrong, wholeheartedly admit it, but it's my understanding that a lot of these flights and these trips back and forth to DC comes out of their pockets. If they choose to stay in DC, then it comes out of their pocket. So I know some would argue well, that's why they get so much money is because it's so much more expensive. These people are going into office less than a million dollars, maybe right out of a million dollars. Some are going in with a couple hundred thousand dollars in student loan debts and after a term or two they're sitting high on the hog with a couple million dollars in the bank, not to mention all of the other stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so maybe if we started doing something like that, we would actually start to see, in my opinion, some real results from the people that we elect to represent us, the ones that we call our leaders. Maybe if they truly knew how to lead, we would actually have some leaders. Maybe our states and our country as a whole would be exponentially better than it is. Maybe we could stop relying on other countries and their technological advances and start bringing all that and doing it here at home, not saying anything about other countries. If they're outpacing us in technology, that's because they're doing the work. If they're outpacing us in education, that's because they're doing the work. If they're outpacing us in education, it's because they're doing the work. If they're outpacing us in all these other areas, it's because they're doing the work. How great would it be if we could do the same, but we're not getting that. What we're getting is our politicians backbiting each other and wanting to fight each other and the partisan line growing stronger and stronger, thus moving out into their constituents and further dividing those of us in this country.
Speaker 1:Don't believe that people are divided in this country. Go on social media. All you got to do is scroll through TikTok. We got it back right now. Flip through. I'm sure you got a few minutes to spend while you're using the restroom, a few minutes to spend while you're waiting for something to cook. Scroll through, guarantee. You will see people talking trash about other people that align themselves with a party opposite of theirs. Guaranteed it. And it's not just all right. Well, this is what the Republicans have said. Let's analyze that and see if we something we can work with. You're not going to find that, just like you're not going to find Republicans going. Well, the Democrats have said this. So let's analyze it and see if there's something that we can work with. Let's see if we can come up with a bipartisan deal on this. You're not going to hear it. You're going to see fingers shaking. You're going to see all the hateful comments, and it's because for no other reason than they were on that party.
Speaker 1:It's been said plenty of times before that before Donald Trump decided to run for president, everybody that's talking crap about him now. They were his friends, they were shaking hands with him, he was giving them money. I believe there was one interview where somebody even talked about him being president and he acknowledged and said I don't know about that. And they said, oh, I would support you. But then, when he runs for president, all of a sudden all of these people that hugged him, gave him a kiss, shook his hand, welcomed him on their shows, all of a sudden they got nothing but bad things to say about him. That's where we are and I'm not trying to focus this all on Trump and the Trump administration. It's been going on much longer than Trump. It's been going on ever since the two-party system became the dominant system and our leaders decided to focus more on party lines than they did the betterment of this country as a whole. That's why I got no problem admitting that with the president's inaugural speech.
Speaker 1:I wasn't happy about all of it. There was a lot of it that I just kind of shook my head at. There's a lot of it that I just kind of shook my head at. Now, is it the promises he made that I shook my head at? Not necessarily Is it all the hyperbole that he put in there? That's for damn sure. That's for sure. It's not that I didn't expect it. Quite honestly, he did a lot less of it than what I'm usually accustomed to. Like I said in that last episode. You know, he's notorious for saying that this is going to be the greatest thing since the great things were great. He's notorious for saying things like that it's going to be so good, everybody loves it. I have people calling me all the time telling me how they love it. Okay, he did that a lot less.
Speaker 1:So let's kind of get into it a little bit. Let's get into his inaugural speech, and I hate that I'm going to have to pause, but I did prep a document. I did prep a document before I started recording. So I kind of had some highlights to kind of go off of, so I will be pausing periodically if I'm not fast enough to talk and read at the same time, but let's get into it. So he got up for his inaugural speech and he did what I was hoping he wasn't going to do. I expected to take one or two shots at the previous administration. I expected him to include the Democrat Party. I expected that that's classic him to take jabs whenever he can and the mic was his. Nobody could stop him, so it made perfect sense that he was going to do it.
Speaker 1:But throughout the entire speech, he took the opportunity to constantly say things, and I get it. You know those that I've seen online through social medias or the social media platforms, and people that I've spoken to his base. They were energized through all of it. I mean, they were hell yeah, brother. They were fired up and they were 100% okay with the constant trash talk throughout the entire speech. Me, on the other hand, I'm not. I'm not, and it's not because, you know, for some, whatever reason. It's because you ran on a platform that you want to make this country better. You ran on a platform that you wanted this country to come back to what it was. You ran on a platform that it was America first and all Americans were going to be involved in it. But then, when you got up there and you had your time and it was a 30-plus minute speech he had the time to get up there and show that he wanted to be the unifying president, that he wanted to include all Americans and I'm not saying that he outright excluded Americans, but a lot of the things that he said were very divisive.
Speaker 1:If you're trying to gain cooperation from another political party and their constituents who hate you, from people that aren't willing on their own, to step back away from that emotional edge and try to start using some critical thinking. Now, I'm not so ideological that I believe that you can convince everybody, but, as we've seen in the past, there are people on the other side of the aisle that were willing to take a step back and look at what was going on and go you know what maybe this isn't bad Back during the campaign trail whether it was this election, or whether it was this election or the 2019-2020 campaign cycle you saw people from the Democrat Party going over to the Trump rallies because they wanted to see for themselves what it was all about. They wanted to see and hear for themselves. And even if they walked away from that rally feeling exactly the same as they did when they showed up, I applaud the effort. I applaud that effort because they at least pulled themselves away from the emotional edge enough so that they could go over and hear what the other side had to say, hear how the other side acted, hear how the other side treated people. They took the effort. So, even if they felt exactly the same when they left, they made an attempt.
Speaker 1:But what I saw more often than not were individuals who decided to make their own post on social media say it wasn't like I thought it was. I expected to go over and be treated poorly because I'm a Democrat, I expected to be treated poorly because of X, y and Z, and that's not what I got. I was welcomed in poorly because of X, y and Z, and that's not what I got. I was welcomed in. I was told hey, come up here and do this Now. Is that to say that everybody at that rally had that same experience? No, it's not a perfect world, but you saw a lot more of that than you did anything else.
Speaker 1:President Trump had that opportunity on that stage during his speech to take his shots and then show the American people how he was willing to be a president of all people, not someone who was going to be divisive, and throughout his entire speech that's what he wound up doing was making comments, negative comments, towards the other side. That was. That was just a letdown. It really was, because it was a missed opportunity, and the people that were helping him prep for it either failed to emphasize how important it was to make sure everybody felt included, regardless if he agreed with their politics or not, or he just ignored it altogether, and I don't know which one it was, but it was very evident throughout the speech that he was going to make sure that they knew exactly how he felt about him. And I get it. With everything that President Trump had been through for the last four years, I get it. You go through stuff like that. You're going to want to come out and take some jabs at people, but you know what the biggest jab of all was jabs at people but you know what the biggest jab of all was. The biggest jab of all is everything he went through and that he had such a resounding victory the Electoral College, the popular vote, the swing states. It wasn't some marginal win, it was massive. That's the biggest jab he could have taken at them. But then everybody I'm doing a Trump thing here Then a lot of people pointed out the fact that after he won the election, kamala Harris had to certify it.
Speaker 1:She just lost the election to him and she had to certify his winning of the election. That's a jab in and of itself. How many other people have lost at a competition or some contest and then had to prop up the individual they lost to? I know none of the competitions I ever lost. I had to. I don't want to talk to them. You know, when I played baseball, yeah, we'd shake hands good game, good game, good game. But afterwards I didn't want to talk to them. I wasn't going to sit there and hand them trophies. But that's what Kamala Harris had to do. She had to sit there and certify that election to the man she lost it to.
Speaker 1:And then another jab is the sheer fact that on his inauguration, on the day of the inauguration, he stood there at that podium with former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris sitting right behind him, to where he could just turn around and give a little smirk. Those are big jabs right there. You don't have to come out and talk about how bad, ugly and evil you think somebody is. When you won After election night, you had your victory lap and you passed on an opportunity. In my opinion and I'm no political scholar, I'm a Joe Blow, nobody that works for a living on every paycheck so he missed an opportunity there. Just my opinion. Now, in terms of what he said, as far as his promises go, one of the big highlights that he said that I did like was pretty much the same thing that he said back when his first time was around that he wanted to put America first. I'm sorry and this isn't snubbing, downplaying any other country on the planet but I will always consider this country first Before I consider any other country.
Speaker 1:I want to make sure, in whatever part I can, that our home is good. You know it said charity starts at home. Can anybody say we don't have an abundance of our own problems here at home? I don't think you can. We've got all kinds of problems here on the home front homelessness, mental health, obesity, the welfare state, just about anything you can think of. We have a problem here at home. So if I've got somebody who's going to be my leader thing you can think of. We have a problem here at home. So if I've got somebody who's going to be my leader that says I'm going to take care of you first, then we'll help everybody else out. I like it. I like it. That's my style of leadership. Ask anybody that's ever been subordinate to me. That's one of the things I say I got you Do everything I can to make sure you get home. Do everything I can to that you're taking care of First, because that's what a leader does.
Speaker 1:So he wants to come out and double down on the same promise that he made back in his first term, that he's going to put America first. I'm okay with that. He wants to ensure America's sovereignty I'm down with that. I'm okay with that. Wants to ensure America's sovereignty I'm down with that, I'm okay with it. Do I think we should help other countries and things like that? Sure, After we're good, after we've taken care of our problems, then then let's look at taking care of everybody else. Then let's look at taking care of everybody else.
Speaker 1:He talks about in his speech that right now our government faces a problem of trust and that he wants to reinstate the trust in the government by the American people. I'd really like to see that Now. He had his laundry list of hyperbole as an example of what he was talking about bringing up the natural disasters and I'm not going to get into those things but he wants to build the trust between the public and our government. I would love to see that happen Because, just like I said in the last episode, I don't have the trust in my government that I once had. I honestly miss the days when my head was in the sand. Miss the days when my head was in the sand and that I didn't actually I didn't have the ability to actually see what actually goes on, that I didn't have the logical mind that could decipher between bullcrap and reality. I miss those days because at least then my ignorance truly was bliss, and I don't got that. Now I don't have that. What I have is questioning everything that my government does. What is their purpose for this? When they start up some new agenda that they're going after, I'm looking elsewhere to see what they're trying to distract us from. That's where I am. So if he could work as our president to restore the trust that I once had in our government, I'd be okay with that Because, like I said, I care about this country more than any other, don't like things that are going on in other countries, but this is our problem right now. We have to take care of our responsibilities first, and if he can get our government to get back to that, I'd be very thankful. I don't know that that'll happen. I don't think it'll happen. I'd love to see it, but I don't think that's going to happen.
Speaker 1:In my time, he went on to talk about the education system. He went on to talk about the education system that he wanted to get back to teachers who were trying to educate our children and, to use a term that he used today, indoctrinate them. Get back to teaching them actual education and not trying to force social agenda or social agendas on them. I'm sorry, and I may be alone in this, and if I am, that's okay, but I do not believe that some of our youngest minds need to be torn with the social agendas that have been pushed over the last several years. I don't, I care if our children know how to add, write, spell, if they know history. Man, I would love for them to know history. I'd love for them to know history, because without knowing history, you're doomed to repeat it. I'd love for them to know history, because without knowing history, you're doomed to repeat it. But instead we're seeing them we're seeing examples of them trying to force other social agendas, and I'm not okay with that.
Speaker 1:I don't care for the youth of our nation to be focusing on social agendas. They shouldn't be worried about that. They should be worried about learning an education, a true education, and being kids, just being kids. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with these children just being children? And I'm not just talking about the ones in elementary school, I'm talking about the ones in their middle school and high school. What's wrong with them just enjoying the time they have as a child? I can scroll through social media any day of the week and find at least one post where somebody says that they're done with their trial subscription for adulthood and they'd like to return it Because times were simpler back then.
Speaker 1:They were easier. The amount of responsibility on us as children was a lot less. In general, we don't get that as adults. There's always bills to pay. There's always some responsibility to take. Our children shouldn't have to deal with some of the crap that they've been put in before them. There are certain things that they don't need to learn about right now. There are certain topics that they're trying to teach these children that should wait until they have the ability to make decisions on their own, true decisions, when their prefrontal cortex is already formed and they can make logical decisions Now. Is that to say that there's no child that can make that? No, but in general, our children aren't built to understand some of the complex things that our own doctors and scientists can't agree on. So why are we pushing that on our youth? So why are we pushing that on our youth?
Speaker 1:I'm okay with getting back to our scholastic system being about educating our children on real education and not social experiments and I don't mean that disrespectful to anybody that believes in that and is a part of it or anything like that. I mean no disrespect by that but they're complex. They're complex enough for adults, and to think that a child is going to be able to sort through those complexities better than adults is absurd. So I'm okay with us going back and focusing on a real education with our kids them learning how to read and write, do math, learn science, history, social studies, learn about the world. This world's a big place. There's a lot of culture in it. It's important that they learn those things. Now, one of the classes I got in college that I wish I would have had while I was in school was cultural diversity. I use cultural diversity every day in my life, every day in my job. I use cultural diversity, and it wasn't taught to me until I was in college. I wish I would have gotten something like that in school when I was in high school, at least in high school, at least high school. So yeah, we need to get back to a focus on a real education for our kids.
Speaker 1:The president goes on to talk about the border, the crisis down at the border, and I don't know what the actual statistics are, because every politician from each side of the aisle has their own number. But if you believe even some of what's getting said by not just politicians but citizens living in those areas, citizens that are impacted by this immigration influx, if you believe anything of what they say, we do have a crisis. We have a crisis at our border. We're talking about how many tens of thousands of millions of they're talking about how many tens of thousands of millions of illegal immigrants coming across our border and being bused or flown further into the interior of this country. Now, I don't know about the vetting. I don't know if some of these individuals are gang members or releases from mental health hospitals or terrorists. I don't know any of that stuff. That's the talking points that they use, but I don't know it for a fact. But I do know that our country is already pretty tight with things as far as what they claim they can provide to American citizens. So giving out free stuff that people that came here illegally are not really okay with because, again, I'm always going to care about this country first, not saying that I think other people in other countries deserve unfair treatment or anything like that, but I care about this one first.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, if we have a border crisis, then we need to manage it, and the way he says he's going to manage it is he's declaring a state of emergency and he intends to send troops to the southern border to help enforce our border laws, our immigration laws, to assist Customs and Border Patrol in keeping our border safe. If this is all factual, I'm okay with that. I don't need all the hyperbole that goes along with it. State the facts about what there is and how you're gonna fix it. He says that we've got a national emergency at our southern border and he's got an idea and a plan on how he's gonna fix it Now plan on how he's going to fix it Now. Whether or not he can actually institute it, I don't know, but he stated it, I've seen evidence of it, or at least some part of information that says, hey, there may be some truth to this. So with that being the case, I'm okay with it to this. So would that be in the case, I'm okay with it. I'm okay with us trying to secure our borders up.
Speaker 1:I was just talking with a friend last night and he was talking about Poland. He said Poland has very strict immigration laws. Well, if other countries can have very strict immigration laws, then why can't we? If other countries can say you're not coming to our country unless you do X, y and Z, then why can't we? I think it's only right, I think it's only fair that we take the time to properly vet the individuals coming into our country and make sure that they don't do ill will when they get here. So if everything is factual and I say if because I don't know, because I can't get straight factual numbers. But if everything is as is being stated, then yeah, let's get the border secure. Let's send some troops down there.
Speaker 1:I've always been a huge supporter of sending our military to our own borders and making sure that people that wish ill will on our country can't. I'm okay with that. It's why these people were hired into those positions was to protect the interests of this country. I'm sorry our military are in places right now that don't serve American interests. I don't think they should be there. But if you're telling me we're going to put them here, whether it's the National Guard or whatever the case, I'm okay with that. Let's take care of us first and at least off of his speech. That's what he's saying. But we'll know when he starts showing some action, when we start seeing results of his words. Then we'll know. We'll know then.
Speaker 1:The next thing that the president went on to talk about was directing each member of his cabinet to utilize whatever power they had to help start fighting the inflation. Turn inflation around, bring the cost of things down Again. Something else I can get behind. I can get behind some lower prices. Scrolling through TikTok today, I saw a bunch of people saying that we get 63% of the oil that we use in this country, that we get from Canada and what we get from China. I think it was China. I could be wrong, maybe it was Mexico. Either way, according to these individuals, we import 63% of the fossil fuels that we use in our country. I don't know why we would do that, because we have our own, but okay, they're saying that by putting these tariffs on the importation of these goods oil and other goods that it's going to do nothing but drive our prices up at the pump. That it's going to do nothing but drive our prices up at the pump.
Speaker 1:Well, one thing that people that are commenting about that today are forgetting is that one of the things Trump said during his speech was that he planned on starting to go and drill again. Now, I don't know how feasible that is, because it's my understanding that feasible that is because it's my understanding that former President Biden signed executive orders preventing offshore drilling in a whole bunch of places. Now, does that mean he's just simply going to roll back regulations? That's preventing us from producing more oil? Now, I don't know, but according to President Trump, he's going to start increasing the oil production of our country. Well, if we increase the oil production from our country, then we don't need to import oil from other places. Now, if that's part of some kind of trade deal, maybe I don't know. But I do know that if we can produce enough oil for our own country, fill up our reserves and produce enough oil for our country, then we don't need to import that. At least the simple logic says that. And if we don't need to import it, then the tariff on it isn't really going to matter. That and if we don't need to import it, then the tariff on it isn't really going to matter. Is it possible that the prices of things are going to go up because of his tariffs? Sure, sure Companies trying to bring items in from other countries import items to sell to the American people may have to raise their prices because it's costing them more now. But I don't know how all that works. But he's saying in his speech again remember, we're not trying to pay so much attention to the words as we are the actions. Today's day one. Today's day one.
Speaker 1:In his speech he says that he's going to increase the energy production of our country. He wants to put a stop to the Green New Deal and I apologize ahead of time. I should have done more research into the Green New Deal, but I didn't, because where I live it's just not feasible to have, you know, nothing but a bunch of electric cars riding around. It's not feasible, we don't have the infrastructure for it. You know, 30 miles up the road, yeah, there's a lot of charging stations and things like that, but where I live, the only way you get in a charging station is if you get it at your house. Where I live, the only way you're getting a charging station is if you get it at your house, which means if you've got a day full of running around our area, you may wind up losing your ability to do the things you want to do because you've got to go back home to the house and plug your car back in for a little while. So we don't have the infrastructure for it here.
Speaker 1:And if you look at it further out in California, almost every summer they go into a brownout. Almost every summer their power fails, their power grid fails Because they can't meet the demand of the state. I don't know why I don't live in California. I live in southeast Georgia. To my knowledge, the only time our power goes out is when our power lines go down Because of trees or car crashes. So I don't know nothing about brownouts, I ain't got no clue about it. But if your infrastructure can't handle normal everyday use during the summers, how is your infrastructure supposed to support an entire state going green? Now, if it can, great. You know. I know at one point Governor Newsom was saying that by was it 2030, 2035, something like that that no new vehicle sold in the state of California could be an internal combustion engine. Okay, okay, if that's what he wants and that's what the people of California vote for, okay, okay, what he wants and that's what the people of California vote for. Okay, make sure you got the infrastructure.
Speaker 1:There were anecdotal stories coming out of California where allegedly California residents were being told hey, if you don't have to charge a car tonight, how about? Don't do that? That's a problem. If you're going for an all-green initiative, that's a problem, because people got to work and you've put them in a position where they have to own an electric car and then you're telling them not to charge the car. Put them in a position where they have to own an electric car and then you're telling them not to charge the car. So something ain't right. Are they not supposed to go to work? Are they supposed to look to their state government and go hey, where's my handout? Because I couldn't go to work because of these regulations. So I need my handout so I can continue to live. I don't know. But I know if you ain't got the infrastructure to support what you're trying to do, you probably shouldn't do it until you do, and there's been that big push for everything to go green, I'm okay with it. I'll be 100% honest.
Speaker 1:When I went and saw my son not too long ago, my rental car was a Tesla. Now I'm not planning on owning one, but it was a fun little car to drive. I enjoyed it. But I will say, after driving around for a couple hours, if that, it was a pain in the butt to have to go find a charging station to plug the car in and then sit there and wait for the car to charge. Now, those of you that have Teslas or whatever you go, oh, it's simple. You find a coffee shop, go to a whatever. Blah, blah, blah. Well, that's great, but I don't like going in places if I'm not going to buy something, and I don't like going in places if I'm not going to buy something, and I don't always want to buy something because I can't afford to always buy something. So I don't want to go sit in a coffee shop while my car charges. I don't want to go walk around a shopping mall or a shopping center while my car charges. Now, if it was my intent to go to the shopping mall or the shopping center or whatever and I want to charge my car, that's a different story. But I don't want to have to pull off on the side of the road and find a charging station just so I can continue running my errands for the day.
Speaker 1:But for the time that we were there it was a fun little car, it was quick, it was neat. I like technology, so it was neat. I like technology, so it was neat. And while I waited on the car to charge, I sat there and played Fallout on the big entertainment center and took a nap. I was bored out of my mind, unless I was sitting there playing the games that come installed on the car. But then I got worried of how much of me playing the game on the car was influencing the speed at which the car was charging. I wouldn't know one, but it was fun If we had the infrastructure to support something like that, maybe that's more feasible, but until then we probably want to keep what we got going and make it more cost efficient for everybody until we can support doing something else. Just a simple, dumb country boy's logic on it.
Speaker 1:During his speech, president Trump went on to talk about the trade system, and I'll be the first to tell you I don't know much about the trade system. Okay, you know that kind of falls into the whole tariffs thing. But most specifically, he was talking about the Panama Canal, how America spent a bunch of money building the Panama Canal when it was released to the government of Panama and allegedly allegedly so. President Trump is claiming China is running the Panama Canal and, in turn, american trade routes, american ships whether it's the Navy or whether it's our own ships carrying cargo are getting charged higher costs to pass through the Panama Canal, and I guess it would cost more money, because I don't really know much about the Panama Canal, but I guess it would cost more money to drive the boat or sail the boat whatever you want to call it around to avoid the Panama Canal than it would to go through it and in turn, that's what's happening. On top of that, you get issues like ships getting stuck inside the gates in there Becomes an issue. So he talks about wanting to go back and take control of the Panama Canal.
Speaker 1:Again, that falls into one of those categories of I don't know how feasible it is. Don't know that it's something we need to really worry about doing. I don't know. Is it a good thing, is it a bad thing, if America goes in and tries to take control of the Panama Canal, which we turned over after it was built, to the government of Panama? What's that do for relations between Panama and the United States? What does that do for relations between America and the rest of the world? What does that? Do you know? Have we considered these things? And the rest of the world what does that do? Have we considered these things? Is it just hyperbole right now, or is this something that he can actually get done? I don't know. That falls into the category of things that maybe we should have waited to talk about. Instead of giving the hyperbole, come out and tell us about things that you know you can get done, things that all of the different avenues of attack have been considered and is still manageable and in the best interest of this country. I think that one kind of falls into that category Goes on to talk about the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Speaker 1:Like I said at the very beginning here, of the Department of Government Efficiency, like I said at the very beginning here, day one of his administration. The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOJ, has already got three pending lawsuits against him. Now, listening to the talking heads on Fox News, it's all rhetoric. It's all this, that and the other, because the president has the right to do it. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn't, but day one partisan lines continuing to do exactly what they do.
Speaker 1:Because me personally, I support holding our government more accountable for the money they're spending. Just like many of you, I pay my taxes every year. They did an audit on one of the government agencies not too terribly long ago and they failed the audit. Apparently, they always fail the audit because they couldn't say where X number of millions of dollars or X number of thousands of dollars went. They couldn't pull out their sheet and say, oh well, right here, line item, this is where this went. Line item, this is where this went. They couldn't account for the money they were given, which is US tax dollars. It's our money, it's the money we worked for.
Speaker 1:That the government took from us because of our taxes and this agency got some of it and then they can't account for where it is. On top of that, we've got how many thousands, hundreds of thousands of federal employees. Are all of their jobs necessary? I'm not advocating for anyone to lose their job. That is not what I want to see happen. But if we have hired people recklessly and created positions and everything else recklessly because we just had unlimited funds Because what happens when we don't have the tax dollars to cover it? Oh, we raise our debt ceiling. Or we do this or we do that we kick the can down the road further and our debt is just continuing to mount more into the trillions. Our debt is just continuing to mount more into the trillions.
Speaker 1:So I'm okay with us looking at our government offices and saying, hey, where's the money? Where are you spending it? Is this necessary? Do our secretaries need secretaries? Do we need to purchase this? Do we need to do that? Do we need to purchase this? Do we need to do that? Do we need to have this? I'm okay with that Because when I'm doing my finances, I do it to myself Every morning.
Speaker 1:My wife will tell you. Every morning I wake up. I account for every cent that we spend. I account for every cent that we spend. I know where every cent that we spend goes and I keep track of it. I'm not great at budgeting, but I try to keep us in a ballpark area, which is better than some people, but I hold myself responsible for knowing where my finances are going.
Speaker 1:Why should I expect less of our government than I'm sending money to that they're requiring me by law to give them? Why should I hold them any less accountable? Why shouldn't I hold them to the same standard that I hold myself, that I've told my children they need to hold themselves? Why would I hold a different standard? As far as a Department of Government Efficiency, yeah, I'm 100% on board with that, because that's not a partisan issue to me, because every working American who pays taxes, that's their hard-earned money that's going to these government agencies and if they can't hold themselves accountable to the American citizens on what they've done with that money, then you've wasted it. Mine, my wife's, my children's and every other hard-working American in this country that pays their taxes have been cheated. If you can't tell me where our hard-earned money is going, then maybe you don't need to have it. If you're that irresponsible with our money, then maybe you don't need to have it, or maybe you don't need that job. I don't know about y'all, but if I don't do my job, there's consequences. If I don't do my job correctly, there's consequences.
Speaker 1:And yet we have government agencies that can't account for the money the taxpayer money that they get. That should infuriate every single one of taxpaying US citizens. That is not a partisan issue. It should not be a partisan issue. There shouldn't be a Democrat, republican, libertarian or whatever other party it is that are out there. There shouldn't be a single person that disagrees with holding the government accountable for the dollars that they take from us. If I give you 10 cent, then I care what you do with that 10 cent, because that was my 10 cent. It was 10 cent that I earned. They're taking more than 10 cents If you don't qualify for enough tax incentives. They're taking thousands, thousands a year from the American citizens are going to our government. They should be held accountable for it. So a government efficiency program should not be a partisan issue. It shouldn't be something that we're constantly arguing about. It shouldn't be something that on day one of the administration there's already three pending lawsuits for. But again, hey, I'm just some dumb southerner, what do I know.
Speaker 1:Okay, the president goes on to talk in his speech about basically just bringing the country back to being fair and impartial, both in our government and in our courts. According to him, according to a lot of the supporters, there was a big show that went on and it was aimed at him and it was for a certain purpose. Whether any of it is true, I don't know. I wasn't brought in on that investigation. I don't have access to the investigative files to show whether any of these things have merit. All I have is all the talking heads on both sides of the party or the party lines saying their part, and then they get their base hyped up and their base says the same thing. So are the charges factual? I don't know. I have my own opinions on it based off of what I could glean from listening to both sides.
Speaker 1:But he wants to bring our country back to being fair and impartial. He wants to take the social issues out of it. Social issues out of it. He even went so far as to say that, from that day on his administration would recognize that there are only two genders male and female. I will tell you that when I heard our president say that, my jaw dropped. My jaw dropped because he said what a lot of people think out loud, and that's not something that we see a great deal of, at least it being intentional. And I'll say it this I believe that every person has the right to feel, think and believe that they are whatever they say they are, and I'm not making a joke of it, I'm not making light of it or anything like that.
Speaker 1:If a man wants to believe he's a woman and a woman wants to believe she's a man, whatever the case may be, I don't care. Believe whatever it is you like, it is your life. Live it how you want to live it, because it does not affect me. That being said, the respect I give you should be also returned. Whether I believe what you believe is irrelevant, because what I believe affects my life and it doesn't affect yours. So we can both believe what we want to believe and it doesn't affect yours. So we can both believe what we want to believe and still respect the other person's right to believe it, and I do so. I don't care what gender somebody wants to identify, as I don't care what they want to call themselves. I just ask that you don't try to persecute me or anybody else who doesn't believe the same thing, that we're not persecuted if we don't say the right thing.
Speaker 1:Now, if somebody's going out of their way to be intentionally cruel they're going out of their way to be intentionally cruel. They're going out of their way to intentionally be divisive then, yeah, maybe there's some accountability that needs to be held there. But for every other person that respects you all the same, regardless of what you want to believe, give us the same respect in return. Give us that same respect that we get to believe what we want to believe as well. Because, I'll be honest, there's a lot of the stuff that's come out over the last several years that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around. I wasn't brought up that way, so it's hard for me to wrap my brain around some of these social agendas that have gone on, but I respect the people that have them Got no problem. Believe what you want to believe, Call yourself what you want to call yourself, but give me the same respect in return. But give me the same respect in return. Give people like me the same respect in return and in that regard, you know, I agree in terms of what the president said about these social issues not being a part of our government and not being something that is forced upon our society. Hope nobody feels disrespected by that, because it's not intended to be, but it's just how I feel.
Speaker 1:I will say that there was one thing in the president's inaugural speech that I was really excited about. I was really excited about it. I'm not even going to try to downplay it. The president came out and said, beginning this week, the president come out and said, beginning this week, he was going to immediately begin trying to reinstate every member of our military that was discharged because of their refusal to get the COVID vaccine and then, on top of that, give them back pay. Give them back pay. I really hope that that's something, that I really hope that that's something that he wants to, that he's going to carry through all, because there were a lot of service members that had their own questions and their own doubts about things and they were being forced to take the COVID vaccine and then, in turn, they were being forced to take the COVID vaccine and then in turn they were being told that they could no longer be in the military. So if he truly plans to follow through with that, I'm excited for that. I do know that I have heard several members of our military that got out during that time because of that reason who said, even if they were offered the chance to come back, they wouldn't. I understand I don't blame them for it but I like the fact he's given them the opportunity to come back and he's given them the opportunity to get back him for it. But I like the fact he's given him the opportunity to come back and he's given him the opportunity to get back pay for it. I like that.
Speaker 1:I wholeheartedly support that Because as a free American citizen, I had the right to choose whether or not I got the vaccine and I believe everybody had that right. I know a lot of people that went and got the vaccine and that's great. That's what they wanted to do. I support their decision. They weighed the cost and benefits, they looked at the science and the information that they could get and they determined that that was the best course of action for their life and I support it that that was the best course of action for their life and I support it. I do, regardless of what you believe about the virus, regardless of what you believe about the vaccine. I support your decision to get it or not get it and I don't judge you one way or the other.
Speaker 1:I wish that was a sentiment that was expressed by everyone, but it's not. But that's how I feel. I'm okay with it. So I hope he follows through with that. I hope he gives our service members who were discharged during those times the opportunity to come back and serve their country like they wanted to, and I hope he gives them back pay for it. And you can say all you want. Well, they don't deserve back pay because they're in the military and if they're ordered to do something, they're supposed to do it and they take all kinds of shots all the time and they're forced to do that. They don't get a say. And you're right. You're 100% correct. I won't argue that fact with you. I won't argue it one bit. I 100% agree. They're in the military. They were given an order. They take shots all the time.
Speaker 1:There was a lot of controversy oh, what vaccine was it? What shot was it? I can't remember it off the top of my head. But there was one shot that it was a big one that no service member wanted to get and it was going around about the time that I was in and nobody wanted to get it. Fortunately I didn't have to. But there were others that didn't have a choice and they were worried, their worries and concerns when it came to the COVID vaccine equally justified. We were facing something that nobody I know had faced. We were being told research that none of us knew anything about at least not the average layperson and we're being told by a government that we already have trust issues with that. This is what's best for us? Okay, but as a free American citizen, I was allowed to make a decision. That was what I thought best for me, and I think our service members deserve the same respect. So I support that. I support that decision. If you don't, that's great. I got no problem with that. You don't have to support it. I'll still respect you anyway.
Speaker 1:One thing he talked about during his inaugural speech and I don't know if this doesn't fall into his promises or anything like that, but it goes back to talking about the strength of our country and things of that nature but he brought up the hostages being released from the Middle East because of the Israeli and you know what I'm talking about. But those hostages being released, now I'll be honest with you, I very much questioned him having any involvement or any influence whatsoever on that deal going through. I highly, highly doubted it. I highly doubted it. So I did my own research it. So I did my own research and from various sources across party lines and sources that are not even US sources yeah, at least in some part President Trump had an influence on that. I think that's cool. Now, whether or not it was a response to his open-ended threat or whether it was a matter of respect, I don't know, but from every bit of resources I could find when I did my research on it, but from every bit of resources I could find when I did my research on it, he had some influence on it. So I think that's cool, him having some kind of an influence on something like that. That that says a lot about what we can expect from. That says a lot about what we can expect for the administration and where that's coming from.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, so there was, there was a lot. That was a very excuse me, that was a very cliff notes version of the speech. Like I said, the president's the president's inaugural speech was over 30 minutes long. When I found a source that actually had the transcript, I copy and pasted it into Microsoft Word so I could go through it myself and everything like that. It was over 2,900 words. It was over 30 minutes that he spoke. He said a lot in there. Now we've been going for a little over an hour and a half now, and actually a little less than an hour and a half, and the topics that I covered took longer than it did for him to give the speech, and that's because I'm giving my opinion on it In general. If I was to just talk about those topics alone, I could have been probably done in about 10 minutes if that.
Speaker 1:But like I said, in just reading through the speech and looking at everything that the president had to say, there was a lot of hyperbole, a lot of rhetoric that I didn't care for. There were jabs at the former administration that I wish he would have left out. Like I said, I'd be more than happy and willing to accept a couple of jabs, you know, but to me, winning the election in the way he did, having former Vice President Harris certify the election and then standing at that podium on Inauguration Day with the former administration standing behind him. You don't get any harder hits than that, especially if you believe that there was some deep state conspiracy that was designed to keep you away. You don't get any bigger hits than that Because, no matter what was tried, you won, and you won in a big way. And when January 20th rolled around, it was you standing at that podium and you had the opportunity to tell our country exactly what they can expect and how you were going to unify everyone.
Speaker 1:I support a lot of things that the president said in his speech. As far as things he wants to get done, I don't support the hyperbole, the rhetoric. I don't support taking the jabs at the outgoing administration, because to me, that's not how you bring people together. It's not, and I wished he would have handled that part a little better. Now I know if there are people that are very staunch in his base that'll have criticisms about this, and that's fine. I'm okay with it. I understand. I understand where you're coming from but, like I said, I don't care about one party or the other.
Speaker 1:I care about this country. I care about the people in this country, whether they agree with me or not, I care about them. I care about the people in this country, whether they agree with me or not. I care about them Because every day that I go to work, me and a lot of people like me put ourselves at risk for people that don't agree with us and we do it anyway. So, just like that, I don't care if people agree with me now, because, regardless if they agree with me, regardless if they like me, regardless if they like what I have to say, I respect them for their own opinions. I respect them for their own thoughts and I'm going to let them have that Because they don't have to like me. But at the end of the day, regardless of how they feel, I want all the best for them. I want them to succeed in this world and succeed in this country just as much as I want anyone else. I tell the people I work with that I want them to succeed in whatever it is they choose to do in our profession and that I will help them in any way I can to get to that point and I stand by it. I've stood by it the entire time that I've been in a position of leadership, and I'll continue to do it. Time that I've been in a position of leadership and I'll continue to do it. I look at our American citizens and I think the exact same thing, regardless if they agree with my opinion or not. So, anyway, that's my little thoughts on the inaugural speech.
Speaker 1:Like I said, is it hype or is it hope? Is the president going to capitalize on his words and show us that they weren't just words, they were actual actions he was going to carry out? We'll see. He's got one day less than four years. It'll be interesting. I hope that our leaders can stop fighting amongst themselves and start working together to heal our country and bring our parties back together and start working toward a unified country, because that's what we really need. That's how we're really going to prosper. That's how we're really going to reach that golden age that President Trump says that we're entering, because we're not getting there the way we are now. Not until we come together as a country and all choose to want to see what's best for this country, not just what's best for us individually, but what's best for us as a country first. That's how we get to that golden age. That's how we make that come true.
Speaker 1:So appreciate y'all hanging out, appreciate y'all giving me the time to voice my opinion.
Speaker 1:I welcome the feedback, I welcome the comments. I will be going through this and blasting it all over my media accounts. So I welcome the conversation. Like I said in the last episode, I'm open to conversation. I'm not going to argue because if both of us are yelling, neither one of us is listening. I'm not going to argue, but I'm open to a conversation. I would love to have a conversation and if it's something that you feel so inclined that you want to come on the podcast and you want to have a conversation about together, I'm okay with. The only thing I ask that you keep in mind is you're probably more educated about what you're talking about than I am, but I'll still have a conversation about it regardless, and we can fact check each other at the same time, because it's only through conversation and cooperation that we're going to get anywhere. There's no place better for us to show our government that than for us to do it ourselves. So again, thank you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it and we'll catch you on the next one. Bye.
