Videos Of The Week
We Know They're Lying, The Argument For Tariffs & Chinese Unrestricted Warfare In Maine
The most interesting piece of news from the last week was the Epstein circus being in the news again. I have no fewer than four group chats that have been blowing up over the last week over it, but I figured I would throw my two cents out there. I haven’t seen a rabbit hole I didn’t like since 2020, but this one is basically bottomless. I have heard some people speculating that burying the Epstein list was a part of a deal to pass the Big Beautiful Bill, and the timing of both is interesting when you think about it. Everyone wants to see heads roll, but blackmail like this is one time use.
I’m not sure I agree 100% with E.M. Burlingame’s view that blackmail is only effective on a small percentage of people, but we talked about Epstein a bit in our podcast last week. If you want to do some digging on your own, Ryan Dawson has had a list for at least a decade that would be a good place to start. I wish I was surprised that they aren’t going to go after at least some of the people responsible, but I don’t think this is something that is going to disappear with the next news cycle.
We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying too, they of course know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well, but they are still lying.
- Alexander Solshenitsyn
Monetary Matters w/ Oren Cass
Over the last six months, there has been no shortage of podcasts talking about why tariffs are disastrous. This podcast was one of the few talking about some of the reasons that the US needs tariffs. Cass talked about the negative impacts of globalization that we have seen over the last several decades. Many economists are driven by ideology when it comes to tariffs, but there is a disconnect from what is in a textbook and the way the world works. He talked about the process of trading assets for goods, and how it hollows out the economy and gives away claims on future prosperity.
They also got into what happened with jobs going overseas. I’ll paraphrase, but free market forces for labor costs is basically just a euphemism for labor exploitation. He also talked about the non tariff barriers outside the US, and the difference between China and European barriers. If you pay attention to places like Europe and China and still think we have free trade, I have a bridge to sell you. Politics plays a role in these discussions, and Cass talked about how younger conservatives have a different attitude towards labor issues compared to the establishment. For anyone looking for the positive side of the tariff argument, this was one of the more thoughtful cases I have heard.
The Tucker Carlson Show w/ Steve Robinson
For anyone looking for a podcast with an example of China’s unrestricted warfare on the US, this one is for you. Steve Robinson is a journalist from Maine, and he talks about how marijuana legalization has been weaponized in the state. They got into the immigration and demographic change, and how the fear of being socially ostracized stops people from speaking up about it. Robinson also got into the loan programs for “marginalized communities”, and selective enforcement of the law along racial lines, whether it’s Indian gas stations or Chinese marijuana grow facilities. I know China and Taiwan is what gets the most eyeballs as far as China and geopolitics, but this video is a good example of what is happening closer to home.