Government Shutdown Chaos: Congressional Failures, No Accountability, and Military in the Streets
Jerremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley dissect the federal government shutdown, drawing sharp parallels to historical standoffs like Trump's 35-day border wall battle. They blast congressional inaction and zero consequences for officials dodging duties, while probing impacts on essential services and the economy. The talk heats up with Chicago's shocking ICE raid—Operation Midway Blitz—sparking fears of military force in domestic policing. A raw call for effective governance amid political games that punish everyday Americans.
Timestamps
- (00:00) Intro: Setting the Global Scene
- (00:12) Turkey's Political Clampdown: Speech Risks Abroad
- (00:42) Shutdown Realities: History and Economic Hits
- (03:14) Congressional Rage: Inaction Without Repercussions
- (12:06) Operation Midway Blitz: Military Raids in Chicago Streets
📢 Solving America’s Problems Podcast – Real Solutions For Real Issues
Transcript
Fantastic.
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:So ladies and gentlemen, our boy
Dave Conley is an entirely different
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:country traveling the world.
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:Dave: we are.
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:Jerremy: Yep.
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:How was the political rest in Turkey
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:Dave: I don't know if there's a lot
I can say without being locked up.
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:Jerremy: Fair?
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:Dave: You think you think
they have issues in the United
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:States, there's, it's nothing.
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:It's, it's like uk.
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:Yeah.
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:If you run a foul.
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:Of anything.
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:They can toss you outta the country.
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:There's not much you can say.
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:You have to say it, like behind
closed doors and nothing online.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Speaking of things not working.
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:Government's, one of them.
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:Dave: Federal government
shutdown enters day six.
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:Jerremy: Yep.
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:And then we didn't have this
during Trump's first term,
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:but we've had it before.
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:Dave: Oh no he shut down the government.
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:He had one of the long, yeah, he had
one of the longest shutdowns ever.
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:Jerremy: okay.
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:I didn't remember that.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:I actually pulled this data right
before I was like, ah, I'm wondering
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:if you might ask this question.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:He had a big
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:Jerremy: so this really
is just copy paste.
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:Dave: yeah, a little bit.
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:Yeah.
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:December 22nd, 2018 to January
25th, 35 days, Trump demanded 5.7
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:billion for a border wall.
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:Democrats were like, Nope, you're
not getting your border wall.
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:So that was it.
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:Jerremy: Okay.
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:Yeah.
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:Gotcha.
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:Dave: But you know what, it took after
35 days, which it was the longest we'd
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:ever had, things started really breaking
like planes started getting delayed
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:because air traffic controllers or and
TSA, they worked for the government
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:and if you're told to come into work,
but you're not getting paid after
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:a month, I'm gonna just say, your
sick leave is going to get eaten up.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: So yeah, that wasn't
good, but here we are again.
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:Like it is a bit of a
copy paste this time.
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:It's I don't know.
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:What's your view of this?
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:I got a pretty strong view on
this, but I want to hear, I wanna
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:hear the Jerremy Newsom take.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:I, I.
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:it was gonna happen as soon as people
started talking about it on Twitter.
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:So that's probably my best news
source right now is like that.
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:I know it's pretty strong though.
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:There's a lot of very smart people again,
on both sides of the party both sides of
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:the fence and Yeah, it was, they're like,
yep, the government's gonna shut down.
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:And people were betting on it on
Robin Hood and, but this is there.
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:There's a few things that are interesting
about this on, I think the biggest one,
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:when I say copy and paste, what I mean
by that personally is we can really
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:just go through almost all the things
that happened in Trump's first term and
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:probably assume that something like that,
or very similar is going to happen again
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:in this term because he's just following.
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:The same rule book.
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:Pushing people around, being a baby,
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:Dave: Seeing what breaks.
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:Jerremy: seeing what breaks.
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:Exactly.
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:Trying to get his way with everything.
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:Yeah.
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:What's your I like to hear
your strong takes man.
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:Everyone does.
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:Dave: Congress has had an
entire year to do their job.
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:And their biggest job in the
Constitution is to be the purse strings.
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:That's their gig.
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:You've got one job.
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:Pass the laws, make sure they're all
paid for, and you've had an entire
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:year and they couldn't get it together.
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:And it bothers me a great deal
that our representatives work.
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:Three or four days a week, and they
take five weeks off every summer.
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:They'll take five week recess starting
in Thanksgiving and Christmas.
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:They work maybe a thousand hours now
they're gonna come back and say no.
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:We're working all the time.
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:We're always on the phone.
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:Yeah, you're on the
phone raising money, you.
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:You're not in session, you're
not debating, you're not in
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:congress, you're not at your job,
you're not at your desk, right?
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:You're working remote and you've had
an entire year and they managed to pass
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:three spending bills and then doing the
the big, bold, beautiful, whatever it
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:was, big, bad, weird bill, which was.
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:Just a continuation.
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:It was a cr continuing resolution
essentially says, oh, we're
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:not gonna make any changes.
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:We're just gonna keep on keeping
on from last year's, which last
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:year's was the previous years.
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:And the previous years
was the previous years.
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:Like we're still spending at COVID levels.
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:So Congress hasn't done their
job and we're supposed to sit
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:here and be happy about that.
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:Or not happy, but like cheering them on
for shutdowns for not doing their job.
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:This is just with record.
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:Disapproval on all of these jokers.
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:They're just not doing their job.
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:And if things that mattered to
them actually stopped working
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:oh, their power goes out.
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:Oh, they can't pay their bills.
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:That whatever companies they
own stop functioning, that their
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:stock portfolios start diving.
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:If they took actual.
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:Brunt on this instead of somebody who's
on the margins of society can't get
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:their supplemental income for feeding
their children not getting paid, I wanna
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:put them under some severe distress.
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:Oh, hey, by the way, you don't have any
security anymore because your security
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:went home because you couldn't pay them.
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:You better believe that they would get
on it because they would fear, they would
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:have actual pain in their life rather than
just sitting there and pointing fingers at
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:each other and slinging, slinging terrible
names and funny meme memes at each other.
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:And like it, it's a show.
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:I think you've said this a bunch of
times, like every time there's economic
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:turmoil, like every time we have a
recession, it means suicides go up.
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:It means families are displaced.
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:It means, it, it causes a lot of pain.
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:We're not getting any of the pain because
none of our representatives are feeling
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:any pain because they made sure that
everything that they worry about keeps
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:functioning and the, and what their
buddies, want to keep working like.
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:If the SEC shut down and all the markets
shut down, hey, you better believe that
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:they would actually get something done.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:That's a beautiful point.
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:There's not enough pain,
there's not enough consequences.
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:Dave: No,
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:Jerremy: There's not really
any repercussions for anyone in
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:government failing to do something.
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:Dave: They get promoted.
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:Jerremy: Which
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:Dave: It's oh, you've screwed this up.
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:Fantastic.
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:Why don't you be secretary of this now?
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:Or why don't you be leader, God,
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:Jerremy: yeah,
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:Dave: for president because
you can't do your job here.
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:Jerremy: Yeah, precisely.
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:It is it is very strange
that you're absolutely right?
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:They usually get promoted.
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:They usually get moved on
to a more important office.
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:And so we really celebrate mediocrity
a huge way in the government.
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:And you said this to me, I think
the very, very first time we met.
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:Where the, one of the biggest goals,
one of your biggest hopes and one of
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:your biggest dreams would be to get
incredibly talented, charismatic, kind,
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:amazing, smart, talented people in dc
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Right now
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:Jerremy: instead of them becoming, yeah.
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:YouTubers
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:Dave: New York,
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:Jerremy: movie stars or, yeah,
instead of going to Silicon Valley
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:to make a bunch of money, they should
go to Washington DC to be awesome
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:representatives because we do not
really truly have people that just love.
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:Getting it done.
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:Getting it finished.
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:This is a great example of it.
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:That's why Trump is all angry and shutting
it down is 'cause ain't doing their job.
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:Dave: They need to be talking
right now about next year spending.
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:Not la 20, not 2025, fiscal 2026.
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:They need to be talking about 2027
and they can't even get this straight.
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:It's just, it's maddening.
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:I went through a shutdown when
I worked for the government.
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:I was with the US Patent and Trademark
Office, and we get our funding
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:from the fees, so we actually stay
open and we keep getting paid.
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:But a lot of the organization, a
lot of the part of the government
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:that we don't, that we do work with,
like Department of Treasury and
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:broader commerce does shut down.
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:So you have to do a lot of planning.
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:So as a result of this shutdown,
the federal government, has, that's
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:already been under a lot of stress.
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:This, this time around with Trump, spent
four to six weeks planning for a shutdown.
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:Then you go through a shutdown and
the few people that are actually
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:left are doing, trying to do a
lot, trying to keep the lights on
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:essentially and keep, something moving.
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:Or you have people there who aren't
getting paid, which is not good.
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:And then when you come back,
everybody gets their back pay.
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:So you get a lot of people who've
been off for like weeks, potentially.
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:They get all their back pay.
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:Yay.
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:Great.
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:And then you spend weeks ramping back up.
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:If you haven't been at your desk
for, when was the last time?
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:35 days.
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:If you haven't been at your desk for
35 days, it's like coming off of a
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:long vacation, it's okay, where am I?
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:What's going on?
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:Does my email work?
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:So there's like a lot of backlog.
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:So this shutdown, even at six days for
every day that it goes on, is gonna
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:mean another week of ramping back up.
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:That's the piece that, the parts
of government that do work and
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:that do important stuff, they're,
we just blew basically the entire
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:fall because of six days and god
knows how long this is gonna last.
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:Crazy.
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:Good job.
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:Good job.
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:Jerremy: gotta take some bets.
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:Yeah.
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:But we, Dave, we gotta take some
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:Dave: Oh, is it under over?
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:Jerremy: longer.
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:You about to say longer
or shorter than last?
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:Shut down.
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:The Trump had that I was unaware of.
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:Dave: 35 days.
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:I think this will be shorter
because of the time of year
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:meaning that we're coming up on
the holidays and there's one thing
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:I know about Congress is that
they love their vacations, right?
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:And if the government is shut down,
it means that they can't go on
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:Thanksgiving, they can't go to Christmas,
that they're stuck in Washington.
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:So the one bit of saving graces that
Congress looks out for themselves
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:and so they'll want they want their
Thanksgiving and they want this.
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:So if anything, they will pass
a continuing resolution, which
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:basically says, fund the government
at previous levels, essentially.
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:Yeah, we can't do our job.
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:So just keep on keeping on with
everything that you've already done.
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:Yeah.
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:So keep doing that.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: And then they'll kick it down
the road until January when they
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:want to come back and do something.
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:So that's what they'll do.
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:So they'll pass that they're
supposed to vote on it today.
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:See if they can just do a cr today.
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:I don't think they will, but we'll see.
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:Jerremy: You and I agree on that.
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:I think that's, yeah, I was gonna
say it's probably gonna be shorter
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:'cause it's just where it is.
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:You got Halloween coming
up, Thanksgiving's coming
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:up, Christmas coming up.
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:They want to be with their families.
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:They don't wanna work.
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:Dave: no.
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:And planes, it, it'll put a lot
of stress on planes in particular,
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:and this is travel season, right?
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:And people spending for
Christmas, it adds uncertainty.
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:Uncertainty in the markets, we don't
see much government, quote unquote
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:but man, if you need anything from the
government, if you need a passport, if
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:you need to do something with social
security, if you need to, if need
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:to do something around your taxes or
whatever, if you actually touch the
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:federal government right now, forget it.
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:So it's, it'll increase in frustration.
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:The thing that, that popped it open, I
don't know if it was this one or if it was
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:the one I was in, it was Obama's shutdown.
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:Was when people couldn't visit national
parks and people were like, what?
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:What do you mean Yellowstone is closed?
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:I'm like, yeah, turns out that your
national parks are run by federal workers,
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:Jerremy: yeah.
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:Dave: so that was like the big thing,
which was like, people were complaining
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:that, their national parks and
that means like museums are closed.
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:If you're going to Washington,
DC if you're going to a national
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:park, it ain't gonna work, baby.
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:So we'll see.
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:Yeah.
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:Under 35 days.
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:That's my read.
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:Jerremy: Okay.
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:I like it.
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:I agree.
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:Talk to me about Operation Midway
Blitz, how much I, I haven't actually
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:seen any of this at all, anywhere.
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:Dave: Whoa.
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:Jerremy: Which is concerning, by the way.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Okay.
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:Department of Homeland Security,
immigration enforcement comes
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:into Chicago and it's Black Hawk.
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:Do you hear that in my, you
don't hear anything in my,
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:my, it's the call to prayer.
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:I'm in Turkey right now.
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:So you get calls to prayer
and it's really cool.
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:It's very ethereal and it's
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:Jerremy: yep.
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:It's, yeah, I, when I was in Dubai,
I heard that all, often I think
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:whatever, every three to five hours, but
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:Dave: Five times a day.
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:Yeah.
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:It's cool.
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:Oh, okay.
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:So Midnight Blitz.
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:Yeah they showed up in Chicago in a
Chicago neighborhood and just started zip
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:ding kids and coming down from Black Hawk
helicopters and it was, it was shocking
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:that, it's exactly what what's his name?
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:Jones.
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:What's Jones' full name?
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:Why am I blanking on the Sandy Hook guy?
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:Jerremy: Alex
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:Dave: Alex Jones.
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:It's exactly what Alex Jones has been
like saying that the government's
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:gonna do for a million years, which
is they're gonna, it's gonna be black
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:hook helicopters, and they're gonna
be coming in and they're gonna be like
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:spiriting people away and taking 'em
to off, to secret government, sites.
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:And that's exactly what they did.
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:I mean it like, it looked bonkers.
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:So yeah they did it as a big ice raid.
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:And yeah, just as Chicago, south Side
and South Shore, if you've ever been
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:there it's a rough frigging neighborhood.
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:It's not great.
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:Then you put that on top of, Trump
addressing all the generals saying,
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:Hey, we're going to, we're gonna,
we're gonna put US troops in cities
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:and use them as training grounds.
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:And I'm like, oh my God.
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:This is everything that Alex
Jones was talking about.
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:It's like the government's coming to get
us, there was this thing a number of years
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:ago during the Obama administration where.
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:There was a military thing going
on, like on the Texas border.
322
:It was a training exercise and you
couldn't not hear about it on Fox News.
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:And every, conspiracy theory that like
it was, it, it was FEMA camps and we
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:were gonna be rounding up everybody.
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:It was crazy.
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:It's actually happening, right?
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:And it's under a, it's under Republican
administration, not under Obama.
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:Yeah it's absolutely.
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:It's crazy.
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:And so it's this sort of it's put as
this national security imperative.
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:But man, our helicopters and flash
bangs like really essential to
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:dismantling this trend ar our ar, gu ar.
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:I don't know how I don't
even know what it is, right?
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:Some South American gang, it's,
it doesn't seem good, man.
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:Jerremy: It is, it's a little what did
we say two, two or three weeks ago?
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:The fact that Alex Jones is
starting to make a lot of
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:Dave: Oh, yeah.
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:Jerremy: oh, wow, Tucker Carlson is
really on point with this message.
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:Dave: Is your side really winning?
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:If Chuckle Carlson is
your your voice of reason
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:Candace Owens, or Mar Marjorie
Taylor Greene is making sense.
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:It's are you really winning?
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:If they're the one, they're
the standard bearers now,
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:Jerremy: Yeah, so that's the thing is that
it is, it's it is happening like there is,
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:Trump is definitely using a really big use
of military force right now at whim to do.
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:Whatever he wants in a way,
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:Dave: Yeah, nobody's stopping
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:Jerremy: It's no.
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:Dave: I, it feels if this was any other
point in history, we'd be like, oh no.
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:This all happened, the last time
this happened was like Kent State,
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:when National Guard was sent and shot
up a bunch of kids at Kent State.
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:Jerremy: Yeah.
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:Dave: I don't know, man,
this doesn't feel good.
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:It feels profoundly un-American
to be, doing this kind of heavy
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:law enforcement and these very.
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:Very big attacks on things.
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:But man, on the other hand, people do
want law enforcement, some of these
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:communities are coming, popping up
like in Washington DC and saying, yeah,
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:we, we do want safety and security,
but I don't think we give up our civil
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:liberties for safety and security.
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:There's all sorts of founding fathers
that warned us against that one.
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:Jerremy: Yep.
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:Two or three of 'em.
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:Dave: Don't, it's if you, if it's
all safety and security you don't,
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:what's it Franklin said, we've given
you a democracy, if you can keep
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:it, so you didn't see any of this?
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:Maybe, maybe it was just blown up online.
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:I, I didn't see it online.
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:I actually heard it on the news.
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:Maybe it's much smaller.
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:It's hard for me to tell, we're
getting increasingly in a post reality
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:world, it's hard for me to tell what's
actually big and what's actually not.
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:Alex: Dave slams congressional
inaction as a clown show, while Jerremy
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:calls out the lack of consequences.
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:The frustration boils—if leaders face no
pain, how deep does the dysfunction run?
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:But next, the market's soaring
highs hide looming cracks.
