Cajun Knight Live 9- Tariff wars, Peace talks, Mineral deals, and Trumps flex

no stabbings. From what I've been told, I mean, the night is young. You know, it's only nine pm Central time. You know, as this area goes so things can still pop off. But so far, everybody kind of kept it, uh, kind of kept it cocopaesthetic as far as everything should be done. So that's great, that's good things. What the fuck with the hold on? Hold on? Gob Alex just sent a message, what the fuck with the hell? What to shit? This ain't the cult of Conspiracy? Yeah, yeah,

you're right. We had to shift things around. Jonathan's going to a rodeo and because of that, we have to shoot a cult tomorrow night, which is usually the night that we would go live, so we had to make a slight adjustment, but no big deal. No big deal. Tons of things going on in the world around us, a lot of things to discuss, and I would very much love to hear y'all's two cents or have y'all way in on some of these things. For now, I'm

gonna go ahead and share the screen. I don't know if anybody will be able to really watch it, and everybody's kind of got their own lives going on everything. But you know, I keep hearing these things about Trump's trade war, right, and how now the stock market's going to shit now because of these trade wars and these terrorists that he's putting on things. He's basically spitting in

the face of NAFTA and all this. So you know, with that in mind, I decided to go to one of the most if not the most liberal publication I can who is going to take every opportunity they can to just shit all over Donnie t and see what they have to say about how these trade wars are hurting America. And you know, we're gonna see what some positive things might be as well. Matter of if I'm gonna take the PGS off so I could read this.

Trump's trade war draws swift retaliation with new tears from Mexico, Canada, and China. There's old Trudeau talking about things. This is the Washington Associated Press. President Donald Trump launched a trade war Tuesday against America's three biggest trading partners, drawing immediate retaliation from Mexico, Canada, and China and sending financial markets into a tailspin as the US faced the threat to

rekindle inflation and paralyzing uncertainty for business. Just after midnight, Trump imposed a twenty five percent tax or excuse me, twenty five percent taxes or tariffs on Mexico and Canadian imports, though he limited the levy to ten percent on Canadian energy.

Trump also doubled the tariff he slapped on last month on Chinese products to Okay, Now, if I'm not mistaken, China was already under a fifteen percent tariff that he put on last time he was in office that Biden did nothing to repeal in any way, shape or form. So now he's putting them on another twenty or is that just like five more? I think it might be

another twenty person kind of hope. So, but anyway, here we go being retaliated, Yeah, retaliated with terrafs of up to fifteen percent on a wide array of US farm exports. It also expanded the number of US companies subject to export controls and other restrictions about to by about two dozen. So the top US China goods that will be affected by these tariffs cell phones, computers and accessories, electric and industrial equipment, toys, games and sporting goods, appliances and furniture.

All right, And that's that's from the UH. That's imports from China to incur a new twenty five or twenty percent tariff. The exports to China that will incur a ten to fifteen percent tariff, which I don't really know why China thought that would be cool or a smart anyway to throw a tariff back on us to retaliate. But okay, soybeans, meat and poultry, cotton, sugar or sorghum. I'm not sure exactly what this a food product, I

know that much. And fish and shellfish. So you know, I know that I take every opportunity I can to shit on West Taiwan aka China, and I will continue to do so because the CCP is a horrible institution. Fine with this, but as all right, and this might upset some people, and it's not intended to. Before Russia stepped foot into Ukraine years ago, I said that Russia's military is more along the lines of a paper tiger. Nobody from the lowliest private to the highest general had

been shot at in like forty years. They prove that to themselves. This special military operation was supposed to be two weeks long. They just rounded the corner of the third year of the two week military operation, not taking the opportunity to show on Russia. Just hear me out. I am of the belief that China is America's biggest enemy slash threat. I do not mean in a military standpoint, if for nothing else. The sole reason that the exports that they are trying to screw us over with are food.

China is starving. They can't feed their people, and somehow they're supposed to be the military powerhouse that's going to take over the world. I just don't see it now, economically, financially, intellectually, sure, we could have that conversation, but I don't believe that China is ever going to actually try to step up and slap by America. As far as that's concerned, I'm

just I'm not of that belief. But anyway, moving on here, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country would plaster tariffs on overall hundred billion dollars worth of American goods over the course of twenty one days. This is quote today, the United States launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally, that's a bit of a statement, Trudeau. But okay, I'll let it slide. Their closest friend. Okay,

now you're being a little bold there, Trudeau, calm down. Anyway, At the same time, they are talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin, a lying, murderous dictator. Make that make sense, Trudeau said, Oh true, du Keep in mind, he's got one foot out the door. He's resigned. He I don't know when his final day is gonna be. I actually should have probably looked it up before we started this. But it's not like he's gonna be in

by the end of the year. At this point, he's just trying to pissing everybody's cheerios and kick as many hornets as as possible, because it's not gonna be his problem here soon. And I get that, But is it that Trump is trying to snuggle up to Putin or is it that he's trying to be a businessman and he's trying to make the best deal possible to end

the violence. I got another article pulled up here in a minute that we'll we'll discuss that a little deeper with the top US Canada goods affected by the tariffs. So these are imports from Canada to US that are about to incur a twenty five percent tariff. Oil and petroleum products, okay, cars and trucks, auto parts, aluminum and box site and metal products. Okay, these are industrial things.

I'm with you, I hear this. So they're saying that, now we got that to deal with as far as I goes twenty five percent tariff on that exports to Canada to incur a twenty five percent tariff. Household appliances peril, wine and beer, orange juice, and motorcycles, all right. So I didn't expect that list to go that route when I first read it. Household appliances meh, okay, apparel, I mean all right, cool wine and beer. I did not think that Canada really needed any more alcohol as far

as that's concerned. Canada kind of got their alcoholics in line, you know, that's a whole thing with them orange juice. That was out of left field for me. I didn't realize that Canada was that thirsty for the OJ to where it had to be listed in the top five things that are gonna be affected by the tariffs. But all right, and motorcycles, yo, y'all are crazy as hell. Y'all are basically the South Arctic Circle and you're riding motorcycles out there. Ya, y'all are part Polar Bears. That's

the Great White north Man. They're insane. But all right, fair enough, the motorcycle industry is gonna suffer a tariff on that. Moving on here. Later in the day, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the US would likely meet Canada and Mexico quote unquote in the middle, with an announcement

coming as soon as Wednesday. Lutnick told Fox Business that the terriffs would not be paused, but that Trump would reach a compromise that you know, I'm sure there's going to be some sort of a compromise to be made here. Here's the thing with the whole Mexico thing. They recently gave over some cartel members as a sign of good faith to America. I think it was like twenty three

cartel I'll call them leaders. It's not like they were the top dogs by any means, but some sort of like street captains, some mid to you know, high mid level guys, and they handed them over to the US as a way to say like, hey man, we got you. Now, can you stop with the whole tariff talk. America's response was basically, yeah, we'll take off the tariffs as soon as drug stopped flowing into our country. And Mexico kind of laughed about that, which, all right, the tariffs are

going to continue. I guess, let's see here in the Canadian side of things, I don't really know what the overarching goal here is other than to just screw them, you know, I don't know. Mexican President, like I was saying here, Claudia Shinbaum, God, I hope I'm saying that right, said, Mexico will respond to the new taxes with its own retaliatory tariffs. Don't think that's gonna play out. The way they think it's gonna play out. Shinbaum says she will

announce the products Mexico will target on Sunday. The delay might indicate that Mexico still hopes to de escalate Trump's trade war. The president is abandoning the free trade policies the United States pursued for decades after World War Two. He argues that the open trade costs America millions of factory jobs, and the tariffs are the path to national prosperity. He rejects the views of mainstream economic economists excuse me,

who contend that such protectionism is costly and inefficient. Import taxes are a very powerful weapon that politicians haven't used because they were either dishonest, stupid, or paid off in some other form. Trump said on Monday, and now we're using them. Okay, Yes, and not of this. I see where he's going. I don't necessarily disagree. What I will say is, as soon as NAFTA was formed, look at

what happened to Detroit. Okay, as soon as these manufacturers realized that they could make cars just south of the border and transport them to America for free because of NAFTA, or at least with no extra taxes or feast thone on there. Detroit went down instantly and became the shithole it is now. Not talking shit to any people from Detroit. I love you all. I'm not talking about the people. I'm talking about the industry right. The same could be

said for Philly, for the steel right. There's so many different types of industrial jobs that as soon as NAFTA came into play, so many American cities and industries went to shit. Now, that's not government fault. That's how business works. If you can make something for a fraction of the price and sell it for the same price that you were beforehand, why wouldn't you do that? That's capitalism. That's how this works. Good business. However, Trump is not in

the place for good business. He's in this office for the betterment of America at this moment. So, yeah, the tariffs are trying to bring industry back to this country. I don't know if it's gonna work out the way he thinks it will. I have hopes. You know, there's at least a little bit of some some leg work to do. But is it possible that we could get

some industrial jobs back in America? I hope so I also hope that there's enough people that are willing to actually work for their dollar to do that, because judging from what we just saw through COVID, so many people just don't want to work. Like they had jobs, they were begging people please apply, please come to work, and the people just really didn't want to because like, why would I work when I don't have to and the government will take care of me, right, So I just

I don't know. I hope that the workforce would be there and that this younger, newer generation is hungry for work and hungry to make some money. I know that home ownership is at pretty much an all time low from thirty to eighteen right now. It's really rare for somebody to buy a home. I don't I never saw that in my neck of the woods. Most of us

bought homes relatively early and started families. But that's because we have jobs and we have industry, and most people in Louisiana and Texas are very capable and very willing to get out there and sweat for their dollar. So I don't see the same things that we look at when we're looking at everything on the macro for the entire country scale. That being said, COVID was a really

prime example of what that does look like. And I am hoping that either a we do bring the industry back and into this country, and we could get off our asses and make it happen and be that AI and automation don't take those jobs anyway. That's the other side of this double edged sword. As much as Elon is pushing these things, and as much as the tech industry is pushing these things, automation could replace all of the actual manpower jobs that were required in the auto

industry a few decades back before Detroit went downhill. So will these tariffs bring industry back to America? Perhaps? Will it bring jobs back to America? I don't honestly know. Again, I have hope, not a lot of it, but there's

hope moving on here. Dartmouth College economist Douglas Irwin, allthrough of a twenty seventeen history of US tariff policy, has calculated that Tuesday's hikes will lift America's average tariff from two point four to ten point five percent, the highest level since the nineteen forties or in a new era for sure. As the trade disputes escalated, stocks racked up more losses Tuesday, one Wall Street wiping out all the gains since election day for the S and P five hundred.

Markets in Europe also fell sharply. Now I have a whole or other article that we're going to talk about with the S and P five hundred in the stocks right now, it's interesting to me, and the stocks are, if nothing else, just to gamble. Right. There's nothing guaranteeing that stocks will do anything. You'll see a new election happen. They'll jump up, or they'll drop down, or whatever the case may be. I am not of the belief that these stocks are a good litmus test for a nation's economy.

I know that there are those that believe that it is. I am not of that belief. What I will say is, as soon as Trump took office, things went up. Things were happy, happy, joy joy. Now with these tariffs, the S and P five hundred has it's flatlined for the week, which is not good. It's not bad, But what's the old adage, be a bowl, be a bear, but don't be a pig. At the moment, it's a pig. It's not going up or going down. It's stagnant. And that time is money that's not good for anybody as far

as the business world is concerned. It may not be a loss for the investors, but it's also not a gain for the investors either, so it's it's still a net negative overall. But these tariffs shouldn't make the stock markets go down, especially not in Europe. American stock's doing what they're gonna do. Sure, they get freaked out and drop their money or put their money on things whenever they even get a whiff of some wild shit happening. Why is Europe's stock market going up or down depending

on our tariffs with Canada and Mexico? Like I really must have missed that. I don't know, but I find it interesting to say the least, as much as people want to still shit on America and say that we are not the world's greatest superpower or the only superpower any of that, as much as they want to shit on us, they still look to us as a lead for everything that they do. This is another example of that, in my opinion. But with that being said, NATO and the EU is talking a lot of noise right now

about what they will do in a post America. NATO not post America as in America's gone, post America, NATO as in we leave NATO, and they will be on their own to foot the bill. And I'm jumping ahead of myself. That's like five articles ahead where we're at now. But anyway, and by the way, if anybody's listening would like to chime in on anything I'm saying, please feel free. But anyway, here we go. Trump has said the tariffs, yeah, said.

Markets in Europe also fell sharply. Trump said tariffs are intended to address drug trafficking and illegal immigration, but he's also said the tariffs will calm down only if the US trade deficit narrows. The American president has injected a disorienting volvalidity into the world economy, leaving it off balance

as people wonder what he will do next. During his first term, Trump and post tariffs only after link the investigations into the national security implications of relying on foreign steel, for example, said Michael House. Michael House, co chair of the international trade practice at the Perkins Coal law firm. But by declaring a national emergency last month involving the flow of immigrants analysted drugs across the US border, he can modify these terrfts with a stroke of a pen,

he said. It's just chaotic Democratic lawmakers. Oh, for the love of fuck, get out here, ap. Democratic lawmakers were quick to criticize tariffs. Presidents don't get to invent emergencies just to justify bad policies, said Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. I'm I'm going to reread that in just a second. Hold on now. Abusing emergency powers to wage an economic war on our closest allies isn't leadership. It's dangerous, all right, real quick.

This is the top Democrat at the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Presidents don't get to invent emergencies to justify bad policies. My brother in Christ, where was this energy last administration or the one prior to the one prior to that? For eight years Obama did literally that, where was this energy? At that time? He created emergencies all of the time to justify a record set of executive orders that were written and signed to justify dropping bombs, dropping drone strikes

on weddings, y'all remember that. And then Operation Fast and Furious, a gun that was sold to cartels by America was later used to kill a cop in LA And we know that because we trace the zero numbers that was justified because of emergencies. Shall we bring up Benghazi? I'm sorry, what are we even talking about here.

If the cops come to your house with a warrant right there, they have the warrant to go into your house, and they are trying to get into your basement, and the guy's like, wait, you know, don't go in the basement right off the bat. You have something in that basement we need to see. You're obviously breaking the law in some way, shape or form. The fact that we are seeing so much pushback at this moment tells us all we need to know as far as what we need to find out, Like clearly he needs to keep

digging and dig harder. So you know. Anyway, anyway, Yeah, one hundred percent agree with you, Royce. When it's one side of the aisle, it's whatever. When it's the other, it's infringement, it's illegal, it's a moral. Yeah, that side wants to talk about morals and ethics. It's fucking hilarious to me. But anyway, even some Republican senators raised alarms.

Maine and Canada's economy are integrated, said Senator Susan Collins, Republican from Maine, explaining that much of the state's lobsters and blueberries are processed in Canada and then sent back to the US. Hey, here's a wild idea. Why not open processing facilities in Maine and give more jobs to the people that live in Maine. I don't know. I'm not like an expert in the lobster in blueberry industries. Okay, I'm completely speaking out of my ass on this one.

I get that, but I feel like there's probably people in Maine that don't have jobs or that would like to have a job, especially one that is as American as lobster. Right, that's as main as it gets. Blueberries. I didn't know they had a really big, thriving blueberry industry. But fine, that too, Okay, why must you send them to Canada to process them to send them back to America.

This is kind of the point. Open a facility, open multiple start a chain, get sponsorships, get money involved with this, make money for your state, get tax revenue off of those businesses. I know it's a wild concept, but all right, cool, I'm not mistaken. That's the same one that told Trump that they were not going to listen to his and then he said, well, you're not going to get any federal funding. Well, we'll see you in court. And he was like, well, I guess you will. I think that

might be the same one. I'm not sure. It sounds like a white woman from Maine saying these things. I could be wrong. I don't know. Anyway, Uh, moving on here. Truck driver Carlos Ponce fifty eight went about business as usual Tuesday morning, transporting auto parts from see you, Dad, whatever, Warrez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas, just as he's done for decades. Like many on the border, he was worried about the fallout from the tariffs. Why is a truck driver worried

about the fallouts from the tariffs? Okay, anyway, things could change drastically. Ponce said. Truckers could lose their jobs or have to drive farther to coastal ports as Mexican manufacturers look for trading partners beyond the US. That is what would happen. Next agreed, it's literally what we're talking about here. But see, that's the thing. Why would the president of the United States be worried about Mexican truckers. His job

is to worry about American truckers. But I don't understand why we're even hearing that from this side of things. But you know whatever. Alan Russell, head of TECHMA, which helps factories set up in places like Juarez, it's skeptical that Trump's tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the United States. He says, quote, nobody's gonna move their factories until they have certainty. Just last week, he said, TECHMA helped a North Carolina manufacturer that moved to Mexico because it couldn't

find enough workers in the United States. And here in lies the problem, ladies and gentlemen, I agree if we don't, if we have the manufacturing jobs but nobody's there to work them, then that's another problem. This is when automation will take over and take root and become a problem that we can't We can't put Pandora back in the box on this one. Okay. I had a friend of mine who was working in the I don't know exactly which auto manufacturer, I know it is out there towards Reno, okay,

and they were on strike. Now, I am not going to go into a tear about pro union or anti union. I believe the unions have their place fine, but I also acknowledge that unions can go a bit overboard and fuck themselves out of their jobs if they don't work with the companies. You have to have a partnership. You can't have one person trying to big dick the other one out of more money or out of more raises, because they'll just hire scabs, which is what they did.

And that auto manufacturer that she was working for, she was a union person. She was Every post I saw on her Facebook was just like.

working with the companies and all of these things. I worked for a union company at one point in time. The union reps and the CEO of the company were in They were great friends, both on site and off of site, and that worked well for everybody. Everybody benefited from this, and it was a true team ball mentality. The company didn't want to fuck over the union hands, and the union hands didn't want to fuck over the company. That's how it's supposed to work. But anyone, anyone, let's

move on here. US businesses near the Canadian border scrambled to deal with their impact. Guthrie Lumber is a suburban Detroit reached out in suburban Detroit, excuse me? Reached out on Tuesday to Canadian suppliers about the cost of eight foot wood studs. About fifteen percent of the lumber that Guthrie's yard in Lavonia, Michigan comes from Canada. Sales manager Mike Mahoney said Canadian suppliers are already raising prices. They're

putting that twenty five percent on studs. Builders will strain to stay within their budget, Okay, and I understand that as well. Do we not have lumber in America. I feel like we do. I feel like there's tree farms all over the country. I understand that, Yeah, they might have better quality or be able to do things cheaper in Canada, but we could open more wood mills. We absolutely could open more sawmills to process more trees and tree farming. Yes, I understand, they've got to save the

trees and all that. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm talking about tree farming for the sake of making lumber happen. It's a booming industry. It's all over the country, as a matter of fact, mostly around here. It's for like pulpwood, which is a trash industry. But I know for a fact that Washington and Oregon have a thriving lumber industry. Ravenlee, go ahead, I fixed, I don't know, can you hear me?

can only harvest like certain sections at a time. Because it's like a big deal to Oregonians, you know, about the about the trees. So but they have like certain areas so like they don't want to deforced too fast. So like, but in Canada they have mass amounts of land where people can't live, so like it's so cold in those areas. But like they can harvest quicker than we can.

Going on here, after years of effort and thousands of dollars in investment, Tom bart, a Kentucky craft bourbon distiller, gained a foothold in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, and watched his sales grow north of the border. Now Kentucky Bourbon in Canada's cross is in Canada's crosshairs and in order for his Canadian distributors is on hold. God I had an issue reading that one basically orders are own hole from his Canadian buyers. That hurts. He said.

At his small distillery, every single pallet that goes out the door makes a huge difference. The last thing you want is to have an empty spot where the bottles are supposed to be on the shelf. And I could agree with that one hundred percent. Bard co owns the bar distillery and with his wife Kim, in western Kentucky Mullenberg County, about one hundred and thirty five miles southwest

of Louisville. Trump overwhelmingly carried Kentucky in the November election, and Mullenberg County Trump defeated Kamala Harris by more than a three to one margin. Moving on to the China's harriffs here, the China tariffs also threatened the US toy industry. I kind of was blown back when I read this one initially because I thought we were buying all of our toys from China. I was unaware that China was

buying a bunch of toys from America. I feel like that was a little bit of uno verso on that one. But let's see. Greg Aarhearn, president and CEO of the Toy Association, said that the twenty percent terraffs on Chinese goods will be crippling as nearly eighty percent of toys sold in the US are made in China. Okay, fair enough. Rachel Lutz, owner of Peacock Room four women's boutique shop, Oh wait wait wait wait wait wait, hold on, Yeah, the toy industry is saying that the toys in America

will go up exponentially. Okay, we shall see, we shall see. Rachel Lutz owns the Peacock Room four women's boutique shops with about fifteen employees in Detroit. She's been bracing for the terriffs but doesn't understand the logic behind them. I didn't think that boutiques got a lot of business in Mexico and Canada that are based in America. That's a

new one. Or maybe talking about like materials let's see here, I'm struggling to see with the wisdom in picking a fight with our largest trading partner that we have had history wonderful relationships with. I'm struggling to really understand how they can't see that will profoundly impact our economy in ways that I think the American consumer has no not predicted. We're about to find out. So, okay, Associated Press is obviously going to be saying things about how these tariffs

are a really bad thing. This terror for is just bad for business.

That German company is like also leading the forefront of trying to get the minerals everywhere, and they have their hands and vaccines and stuff, And I was like, I wonder if that company is going to be one of the top players for the mineral grab overseas.

play in Ukraine. I didn't know that it was a mineral slash vaccine company. It's a weird combo.

this matter? Global markets are bracing for the effect of Trump's tariffs and retaliatory tariffs from Canada, China, and Mexico will have on the American consumers. What to know? The US on Tuesday and Posday, twenty five percent tariff on goes from Mexico and Canada and increase the ten percent tariff on China to twenty percent. Okay, so that's it. It was, they've increased it from ten to twenty. My badness misspoke earlier. Canada and China immediately retaliated, while Mexico

said it would announce its response later this week. As a result of the tariffs, the Dow dropped one point five to five percent, or six hundred and seventy points, adding to a six hundred and fifty point plummet on Monday is The Nasdaq closed ato point three five percent down and its lowest was down two percent. Briefly entering correction territory, which indicates more than ten percent drop in the index from its recent peak. The S and P five one hundred dropped one point two percent and erased

its post election gains. About eighty percent of stocks that make up the index were down for the day. That slip came despite a rebound in major tech stocks like Navidia and alphabet Yeat Navidia, I'm not mistaken. They're actually they're still coming up. I think they may have like plateaued and gone stagnant, but they're not losing, So call that for what it is. Retailer's Target and Best Buy saw their share prices decline after warring warning of sale

pressures and higher prices for consumers. Shocker shocker. The teriffs also negatively impacted trading across different industries, including automakers, banks, and other retailers, including Ralph Lauren and Williams Sonoma. Trump, for his part, has acknowledged the Americans could feel some pain quote unquote associated with terrorists, but insisted it would quote all be worth the price that must be paid in quote what people are saying, I'm sure this is

going to be positive. Canadian Prime minister, drussing Trudeau is on his way out of office. Didn't Min's words when calling out Trump over the tariffs resulting in trade war. A fight with Canada will have no winners, said Trudeau. It's not. I really wouldn't call this a fight. I understand the idea of a trade war and all of that. I don't. It's a pretty non violent fight, but whatever. He added that the trade war is very dumb. Yeah, Trudeau is going to speak on what's what's going to

be dumb? Okay. Trump hit back in America's northern neighbor and alluded to his desire to annex Canada as the fifty first state. He said, quote, please explain to Governor True of Canada that when he puts on a retaliatory tariff on the US, our reciprocal tariff will immediately increase by a like amount. Okay, So we're having a little

bit of a pissing contest here, boys, all right. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province is quote unquote ripping up a deal with Elon Musk's Starlink in retaliation for Trump's tariffs. We're ripping up Ontario's contract with starlink. He said, it's done, it's gone. I don't feel like that's gonna play well for them. Getting involved in business with Elon seems to be a very smart business move. You tearing that up kind of seems like it's just gonna screw you.

But I mean, you know, it's a bold strategy. You'll see if it works out for him, Cotton. What happened next? Trump on Monday announced additional tariffs on agricultural products that are set to take effect in a on April second. That's gonna be a weird April Fool's Day prank. But okay, so we are seeing that there are global markets that are suffering as a result of all of these things. What are y'all's thoughts on this?

said earlier, though. I see what he's trying to do to bring me manufacturing jobs back to America, to bring industry back to America. I just hope it works out, and I hope that Americans aren't too lazy to take these jobs and do them and make money and make careers out of them. I just I don't know. I feel like he's also going out of his way to shit all over NAFTA, which if that's the case, then we're just going to tear up the free trade agreement.

Then just go ahead and do that. Starting a tear war is like, that's like a Cold War version of it. Just pull the trigger and just tear it up and say, no, we don't have free trade with anybody. If that's the case, which I mean, I guess is his overarching goal here, Raven, go ahead.

deeper product made. It comes down to are they going to make the same cheap product or are they going to actually go back to like the nineteen fifties like and actually make good quality product here that last and give like the American people benefits to stay with the company long term, or are they going to screw them over where people work for them for like forty years and then screw them over, you know. So I mean that's that's Amy Royce.

and taking over everything. Anyways, So that's going to be an uphill battle in fighting the cost of how much it's going to cost for each person. Are they going to be at the minimum wage of seven twenty five? Are they going to be at like organ wage at fifteen dollars an hour?

I don't know. I don't trust AI. I've said that many, many, many times, and there's a whole slew of reasons why I do not, especially with the innovations that they're making in that regard. This is actually from the Jerusalem Post. I didn't realize that it was going to be from that publication whenever I clicked on the link. But then I saw I was like, oh, okay, sure, why not As we're talking about AI and all of these things.

We talked about quantum computers that Elon Musk was making, and now Microsoft has announced a tiny processor that will change the world. The major Aana major Ana, I don't know how to pronounce the word one an advanced processor capable of performing complex calculations at incredible speeds. Now this is to be used alongside the Topographal quantum processor. It's it's insane what these people are doing. Tech giant Microsoft

announced today Wednesday. I think this might be from the last week actually, oh March fourth, twenty twenty five, ibydan that it has successfully developed a new quantum processor called Majorana one, which, according to the company, will help reduce the time required to build powerful quantum computers from decades

to just a few years. This breakthrough could come could bring closer the momentum when quantum computing can tackle complex problems on an industrial scale, a challenge that technology companies have been struggling with for years. For seventeen years, Microsoft has invested in research and development of a new material and a revolutionary architecture for quantum computing. The result its first quantum processor, based on a particle called major onum Majorana.

Don't know, We'll continue. First ascribed to nineteen thirty seven by theoretical physicists, it tore Majorana. I'm probably going to butcher that the entire time. We continue this. By the way, unlike the traditional approach of using electrons for computation, Microsoft has found a way to control and harness this unique particle to create more reliable quibbits, the core of the

quantum revolution. Quibbits are the quantum equivalent of the regular bits we know from today's computers, but they suffer from high sensitivity and external noise, making it difficult to build stable quantum computers. Microsoft claims its new technology allows the integration of a million quibbots on a single chip with a size not far from the conventional computer processors we are familiar with. We did an episode on this as a matter of fact on the Cult a couple weeks ago, shit,

probably over a month ago. And essentially for the quantum computers to work, they have to be at just above absolute zero, if not absolute zero, I say just above. I think it's like, is it negative point two kelvin that they can operate at and be okay. But any kind of external heat throws off the computations. Any type of excess electrical noise throws off the computation, external light throws it off. External everything can throw off this computation.

So now they have even better and more efficient ways of getting it through. Here it says this breakthrough. I'm sorry, good.

scientists composed of indium, our indium arsenide, and aluminum. This material not only enables the observation of MAJORANA particles, but also allows for control over them in a way that leads to the creation of more stable quibots. The findings were published in a scientific paper in the prestigious journal Nature, providing a solid foundation for further development of a practically

scalable quantum computer. According to Zolfi Alam, God the I'm butchering names the president of Microsoft and leader of the whope whope I hate when articles do that. A new ad pops up and throws the entire page off here Okay Zolfi Alam, the company's leader of the company's quantum computing division. This achievement is the result of years of thorough research. After seventeen years, we are presenting results that

are not only amazing, they are real. They will completely change the way quantum journey progresses Okay Alam, who was previously involved in the HoloLens project, helped lead Microsoft's efforts in developing innovative manufacturing methods that led to this accomplishment. This breakthrough earned Microsoft selection by DARPA, the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Agency, as one of two companies advancing to the final stages of the US two QC program.

An innovative initiative. Excuse me to build a large scale quantum computer. Now the company will work on producing a prototype of an error resistant quantum computer with not with decades, but with just a few years. That is pretty insane. This is not just a milestone, it's a gateway to a new world of problem solving, says Chattan Nayak, technical fellow at Microsoft. Our path to practical quantum computing is clear, the foundational technology has proven, and our architecture is scalable.

The new agreement with DARPAP proves we are on the right track to develop a machine that can lead to scientific breakthroughs and solve truly significant problems. So again, as we were talking about what jobs may or may not make their way back right to American soil, as far as manufacturing and things go, I find it interesting that they're also advancing the AI and the computations that very well may take those jobs from Americans, even if they

were willing to work them. Royce, where's your thoughts on it?

the main surface here soon. It's what they're able to make technology do when programmed the right way, is scary. Now. I agree with you that at this exact moment in time, we're still secure in a lot of these jobs. But how far away is that? Really? One year, three five before these things take over more jobs and it's more of like a fab shop type of situation where maybe that's the case, right, Maybe only in fabrication would they use robots to do this work and not for like

field work. I could see that as well, but then you're taking away jobs from the fab shop. It's yeah, go ahead, Raven. What you got.

So like, realistically, it's the more that they come up with stuff, like they have the new one that has more dexterity and it's stronger and everything else, and it's like able to do all sorts of stuff like why would you have a human that has air when you have a computer that has zero air on pipe line, Like it can compute faster than we can even compute, and then it has a zero percent you know, rate

of not getting it wrong. So I mean, I think right now we're safe, but like as it continues to develop, like they are developing all over the world for all different things. They had the they have that whole hospital in China that they are testing with just the AI robots, and then they have their testing it on the kids to be their teachers, and they're they had that one that just attacked that lady in the crowd and they had to like pull it back. I don't know if you saw that video.

by like normal people. And I mean seeing they're going to try to replace everyone in everything to where we're just existing with AI.

dumb grunt work, like one hundred percent. Now we got robots and automated equipment and palatizers to do the work for us, and we got a stretch trap machine to stretch trap it all down whenever the time came, and all this stuff, and the people that worked there were not in fear of losing their job because you still needed people to work the machine. And when the machine

would screw things up because it inevit inevitably does. We are in an imperfect world, and all that you needed people to be able to operate it and get it back up to snow. Okay, great, that's excellent. But with more innovation coming, like you said, it's gonna become more perfect and less likely to have fuck ups. And then we're gonna get to a point to where we have maintenance robots to fix the manufacturing robots. It's like the future is now. Honestly, again, I don't see this going

more than only a few years. It's about scalability. Could we have a good decade left of manpower in the workforce? Possibly? Is that likely? Time will tell, So what's the end goal?

human soul. There are those that believe that I am not one of them. I am of the belief that they are absolutely trying to get us back to where we rely on the government and the system quote unquote whether you know, name whatever system you want to go off of here, that humanity will be forced to rely on the system for everything, and at that point, what are we but slaves and meat bags? A raven go ahead.

we go into space? Like, I don't think that's out of the realm of question. I mean, maybe they'll use the AI to go that way, or they.

like in that regard. Not to go terminator here, but as we have more and more battlegrounds opening up and springing up all over the world right now, and we're talking about robots being used in the house for household items and doing these type to things, It's like, how far away are we from the movie I Robot? You know? And then once we're at that point, does America need a military or what? We just have battalions of robots

straight up clone war type shit. I mean, I don't know, because at that point, what would be the point of having our sons and daughters go to the front line when we can send these robotics of lights and clockwork that are ran by AI that never miss a shot. I mean, in theory that sounds badass. On the other side of that, what's to stop one of them from going on the fritz and declaring war on everything around them,

including us? I don't know. I don't know what the end goal is, but I know that it is not positive for humanity. Speaking of things that are not necessarily positive for humanity, here is from Al Jazeera which I need to make a mention of this. I tried pulling up an Al Jazeera article on what was it? There was a there's another talking point I wanted to bring up here in just a second. Uh oh yeah, if NATO, we'll be able to defeat Russia without the United States.

There was a brilliant Al Jazeera article on it, and they wouldn't let me open it up on this server. Google would not let me open it. Duck duck Go would allow me to open on my phone. When I tried to airdrop it to my computer, it would not let me open it, but it will let me open an Al Jazeera article on the Israeli conflict. Found that to be very interesting. But we already know that the Internet is absolutely shadow banning things and you know, saying

what we can and cannot see. So here we have here updates on the Israeli demands for demilitarization of Gaza. Arab blah blah blah. Jesus, I can't speak. Arab leaders adopt a plan. So here's what's happening today. Arab countries have unanimously agreed on a scheme for Gaza's reconstruction in an emergency summit in Cairo. Hamas has welcomed the gathering and the adoption of the Egyptian proposed plan for reconstruction.

Israel claims that the results of the summit fails to address the realities of the situation following the October seventh attacks. The UN chief Guierrez Gutierrez whatever says that commitments must be upheild and implemented in full regarding the Gaza cease fire deal, and also the Palestinian Civil Defense says it recovered forty eight bodies in an ad hoc mass grave

near Camal Adwin Hospital in northern Gaza. So as already discussed and known about, the situation is messi It's messy as hell, but you know, let's get into it here. Israeli forces tear down This was three hours ago. Israeli forces tear down a raid. A town near tul Karim occupied on the west bank Alba shak Aksaraki's shar Kiyas Yeah has been stormed by Israeli troops. The Waffa News

agency reports. Local sources told the agency that soldiers deployed in the streets, specifically in that neighborhood and searched vehicles without any arrest being reported. Drones were heard flying at low altituits over the community. Next. This was three hours ago.

Hesbela struggles with the new relationship to state In post war Lebanon, Hesbela railed thousands of its supporters for the funeral of its longtime leader Hassan Nasraala, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September, because yeah, he was and that's a good thing. However, analysts told Al Jazeera, the show of strength does not make up for the impact of Israel's war against Hesbela, which saw much of the group's top leadership killed and a significant portion of

its military arsenal reportedly destroyed. Again, this will be a good thing. They are an internationally recognized terrorist organization in Israel. Just crippled them, So yeah, that's a good thing. And Hassan Israela was also a massive piece of shit. Here we have four hours ago. Of course, Hamas praises attempted attack on Israeli troops, no doubt. A statement by the group comes after a man was shot dead in Israeli forces near the illegal Israeli settlement of Homesh in the

Occupied West Bank yesterday. The group called Ahmad muffed al Khalani Jesus, I cannot pronounce these names whatsoever. A heroic martyr. He was eighteen, by the way, saying that the attempted attack confirmed that resistance will not stop until we achieve our goals. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Al Kalani was killed near the Homesh checkpoint between the cities of Nabilis and Janine. What are their goals? You might ask, Camas is not going to stop until they get their goals

met and all these things. Look, this is an uncomfortable thing to say. An insurgency can only be defeated in one way, and that's not pretty. There's nothing heroic or pretty about what it takes. A war with belligerents can be ended with paperwork and with agreements made and with deals being struck to defeat an insurgency. There's no nice way for me to say this eradication. That is the

only way to get rid of it. You could look at the IRA, for instance, who I'm not necessarily saying I do or don't support, but just throwing it out. When the IRA signed the peace deals, that should have been the end of it. Yet somehow we still have bombings and shootings going on and Belfast why Because an insurgency is ideas and the only way you're gonna kill an idea is to eradicate those that are spouting it. Now. I am not in favor of genocide by any means,

but Hamas is not gonna stop. They may go more underground. They you know, they may pull the victim card, as they did. They started this shit allegedly. I know people are gonna say, well, no, they did in Israel started look look look the attack on October seventh, Green led them to get wrecked. Then they got so wrecked that they started going to social media and playing the victim card. This hard to where now people have sympathy for Hamas.

The terrorists sell this, this will be like having sympathy for al Qaeda. It's it blows my mind, But the world population listens more to social media than they due to the people on the ground that were actually fighting it. On the call to conspiracy, we have a guy that actually was on the front lines. He came on our show as a guest. He's an Israeli guy. He told us exactly what was going on, and it didn't sound fun. It sounded like they fully saw this as a fight

for Israel's future. If they don't take out all Hamas now, they'll just regrow themselves and be back in action here soon. With that in mind, Hamas also grew ten thousand strong in the last month. How and why, you might ask, because they took their foot off of their necks and allowed them to repopulate and refill their ranks. I'm war as hell, y'all, war's absolute hell. Let's see. Civil Defense

recovers forty eight bodies in Gaza. The group says in a statement on telegram that the bodies were discovered in an ad hoc mask grave near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The grouping includes twenty two unknown bodies, the rescue organization said, adding that all will be buried in the Salt solateen Cemetery in bait Leahea. Additionally, our teams have recovered the remains of a martyr from beneath the rubble of a house belonging to the Katib family near

the Islamic University in western Gaza City. The statement added. You notice they didn't mention that they were women and children. If they were, they would have made a mention of that, because they love pulling on the heartstrings whenever they're trying to make Israel the bad guys, right, Instead, they just said it was twenty two unknown bodies and an unmarked grave. This was probably twenty two enemy combatants that got got and yeah, they just kind of threw them in a

mask pit and moved on with their day. Now. I'm sure there's somebody that's going to be spewing about how this is an infringement on the Geneva Convention or something like that. But again, you you know, would Hamas give the Israelis time to properly bury their dead. I'm stowing

it out here. A white elephant in the room at the Arab League summit, Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bashira has highlighted that the core issue in the Middle East is not a Palestine problem, it's an Israel problem, and here we go. Bajar suggested that the real elephant in the room is a white elephant, a concept referring to a losing investment. Watched his comments below. I'm not gonna play that. That's just ridiculous. Israeli forces attack football

fans and occupy West Bank's Ni Lynn report. I don't know. I don't know. As expected here, this is all going to be very anti Israel, but I did want to read this one. In particular, US welcomes Arab summit on Gaza. The White House says it welcomes input from the Arab nations, but that Hamas cannot remain in power in the Strip. President Trump has been clear that Hamas cannot continue to

governing Gaza. White House National Secretary Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said, while the President stands by his bold vision for a post war Gaza, he welcomes input from our Arab partners in the region. It's clear his proposals have driven the region to come to the table rather than allow this

issue to develop into further crisis. Trump's proposal, which has been roundly rejected by the international community, call for Palestinians to be permanently removed from Gaza and for the development of the territory into a riviera resort. Okay, So this whole situation in Israel, Yeah, it seems like there's gonna be a ceasefire happening. People go back on the ceasefire, then they say that deals are going to be made.

The deals aren't exactly made. Now they're trying to call and help from their Arab neighbors, when in reality, Trump is saying the same thing. He wants the Arab neighbors to take them so that they could rebuild the area. I don't know if the whole Riviera thing is actually gonna happen or not. I know Trump says a lot of things that again, the people that are listening that hate him are gonna hate everything he says no matter what he says. I think rebuilding it into some sort

of a resort spot would be cool. I don't know with what funding and what way he plans on doing that, But okay, that's a flex. But that's not gonna happen as long as AMAS remains in power and while Hamas is still operating. Long story short, Yeah, I just I don't see it being a pretty conclusion of this situation. I also am really happy that nobody is talking about getting US troops involved in it. That makes me very very happy, very much the same way that I don't

want US troops to get involved in Ukraine. The US needs to worry about us things right now. I think we can give, you know, thoughts and prayers and support and try our best to try to make deals happen. I don't want us to get involved in the military place whatsoever this time, but y'all feel free to chime in on this. I know, I know, Royce, you've got a particular standpoint on this one, and I get that. But you know.

black and white within the Qur'an. So yeah, yeah, and again we're not talking about your average Muslim that's just out there trying to live their life. We're talking about the extremists and that, ma'am. And that's the thing. Let's say that you were to eradicate Hamas. Let's just hypothetically speaking, with no civilian casualties you were to drop?

the Muslim Brotherhood wouldn't step up. What's to say that some other unknown terrorist organization would step up to fill that void? You can't. You can't get rid of an ideology. And I'm not gonna support genocide, even if it is on people that would genocide us. It's it's just it's a messy situation and I would like to see a two state solution happen. They keep playing this game the way they're doing, and that's just gonna get eradicated off the table, which is no comment right right?

a majority opinion. It's more of a fringe opinion. So there's definitely people who want it now over there within in Israel. But the most ancient maps that I've seen, and you know, many pro Israel people post these maps because they show the entire west bank Judea, Samaria and even a great big chunk of the eastern bank of the Jordan River belonging to ancient Israel. But they don't show Gaza or Ashdad or Ashkalan in Israel. I don't know who would own them at the time, nor Ali

way down in the South. So yeah, this country, the borders move around a lot. Anyway, I'm sort of in favor of Trump's full proposal to develop it, even if it means kicking people out, and I'm not actually totally in favor of it, but to the extent that it's forcing all the other Arab countries over there right now to say no, no, no, no, no, we want to do something else. I think getting as many ideas on the

table as possible is a good thing. So I guess I'm in favor of Trump's proposal a little bit on that front. But yeah, that's all I gotta say. It's it's a formal situation, and I guess I'll just keep quiet.

Maybe that's the whole point. Maybe he's maybe he's like, uh, you know, he's tricking him a little bit, give him that old tricky dick like that, a little ropodope. I am hoping that that's what he's actually doing, because I mean, I'm not I'm not not in favor of America become and taking that and making it more like a resort town for Americans. But that's just because I like the sound of that. For a geopolitical and economic standpoint, that

makes less than zero percent sense to me. But it is making Saudi Arabia step up, It is making the Jordanian king step up, it is making Egypt step up, and they're all saying now that they want to come up with a plan of what to do now, which they were not doing last year. So I'm taking it to be a net positive. Even though it's Trump kind of being a little extra with some of it, I'm not too terribly mad about it at the same time, So I'm with you on that front as well, Tony.

All right now, as we are talking about foreign things and warfronts and ugly bad situations, let's go ahead and talk now. ABC News has to chime in. UK Prime minister announces framework for peace plan after summit with it's Zelenski. So Zelensky basically decided to have a little NATO summit that America was not invited to because he's still mad about Trump and jd Vance having a little tet to tet with him and kicking him out of the White House. Uh,

let's go ahead and read about it now. In London, European leaders gathered in London on Sunday to meet with Ukrainian President Voladimir Zelensky following a tempentious, tempestuous whatever they got mad as hell at each other White House meeting that thrust the United States Ukrainian relations further into crisis. During a news conference following the summit, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, we have to learn from the mistakes of the past and we can't accept a weak deal

that Russia can break. All European countries must contribute to making a strong deal and quote set up their own share of the burden or step up their own share of the burden and quote, Sturmer said. Starmer outlined a plan to support Ukraine, including continue doing the flow of aid to Ukraine and keeping up economic pressure on Russia. He said, any lasting peace agreement must ensure Ukraine's sovereignty, sovereignty and security, and Ukraine must be at all the

negotiating table in the event of a deal. Starmer said Europe will continue to help Ukraine militarily to delete any future military action by Russia. He also said there will be a coalition of the willing to help defend Ukraine. Says a picture of them, all these European nations, that and Canada, and Canada to meet up with Zelenski. It doesn't look like he even changed his clothes from when

he was in the White House. I'm just saying. Starmer said the United Kingdom is ready to back the plan with boots on the ground and planes in the air. He said he also recognizes that not all countries will be able to make this kind of commitment boots on the ground and planes in the air. Starmer said that for a deal to work, it will need strong US backing.

We are working on a durable peace, Starmer said. When asked by a reporter about whether President Donald Trump would support the plan's framework, Starmer said he spoke with Trump last night and that he wouldn't be going down this road if I didn't think it had a chance. Okay. Starmar also included a two point two billion pound loan about two point seven billion US dollars for Ukraine backed by profits from Russian assets, that his government announced on Saturday.

Zelenski also met with King Charles the Third on Sunday at sangrig Sangrigam House, Buckingham Palace. Said real quick, I just want to make sure we understood that because Zelensky in the Oval Office said that those were not loans, that those were gifts from America. The one hundred and forty one hundred and fifty billion dollars. Apparently he didn't see those as loans. He saw those as gifts and government grants. Starmar is saying that he's going to give

him a two point seven billion dollar loan. I wonder if Zelensky understands that that's a loon or is he going to try to play that game with the British as well. I don't know, but all right, I know that was at least one of the sources of contention when they had their little meeting in the Oval Office. In a statement release Sunday evening, Zelenski thanked the European leaders for the London summit, saying we are discussing with our partner security guarantees and the conditions for a just

piece for Ukraine. Zelensky said a series of important meetings are being prepared for the near future. In a special European Council meeting a scheduled for Thursday to discuss Ukraine, to which Kelensky has been invited, I should think so. We feel strong support for Ukraine, for our people, both soldiers and civilians, and our independent Zelensky said, Together we are working in Europe to establish a solid foundation for cooperation with the United States in pursuit of true peace

and guaranteed security. Okay, before I read anymore, I have tried to scrounge up any bit of backstory that I can to what's going on here, because the over under of it, the grand scheme of shit, says that America wants to make a mineral deal with Ukraine. And they're not talking about a military mineral deal. They're saying we're gonna set up American corporations in Ukraine. Basically new age imperialism, corporatocracy the like, which that's what America does. We like money,

We really like making money. That's like our whole shit that in war, right, We're trying to not go the war route this time. If hypothetically America was to set up mining companies and drilling operations and all these things around Ukraine, around that area Whererussia's currently pushing, Russia would stop pushing because they wouldn't dare fuck up an American company in Ukraine because that would be considered an active war. And Putin and Trump don't want to get into it

with each other. They don't They're not like beefing like that. They're cool. So that could potentially force a peace and then into this war in a non military way. Zelensky is saying, You're not going to set up mining operations until I have some sort of a security guarantee. And I understand his reasons for this. Essentially he is saying that, like, okay, cool, You're only in office for the next four years. The Donald Trump. Okay, so you're saying for the next four

years things will be chill. I can understand that, But what's to say that the next administration won't come in and be weak, and then Russia will just go back on their ceasefire like they've done multiple times. So they want a guarantee that no matter who's in the Oval office, this won't happen. Trump can't make that promise because he's only going to be in office for another few years. So it's like both sides want the same thing, but it's about timing and who can trust who At this point,

I think that's about the overarching theme here, Tony. I know you're you're pretty invested in this conversation, so please chime in.

or he doesn't want to. I had not heard the whole theory that if you get a bunch of US companies there, that would be a deterrent to for their Russian incursions, But that makes sense. I hadn't considered that angle. It's kind of like I don't know, though, because when it comes to oil, there's joint ventures all over the world, and sometimes the US or a US company has some limited footprint in it, but it's always a co owner, a co owner with some other national oil company like

Petro Ecuador for example. Chevron did a bunch down there. I know this is a bit far afield.

and let the chips fall where they may. As far as Zelenski goes, I don't think he's really in charge of that country. I think he's actually being threatened by all kinds of other people there, including the far Western nationalists. I read early on that they were the ones who wanted this war a lot more than he did, and they threatened to actually assassinate him if he didn't prosecute

a serious war with Russia. Right, because these Western Ukrainian nationalists, in my opinion, are just insane, and they have just as exaggerated a view of their own abilities as the most pro Russian propaganda at the beginning of the war that it would be over in two weeks or three days or whatever it was. Everyone gets into these wars too optimistically, or you know, all sides have a lot of optimism, because there has to be a belief that

you're gonna win. And that's why even in World War One one hundred years ago, everyone thought, or everyone said, that we'll all be home by Christmas, and obviously my side's gonna win, and nobody won for four years.

our primary suspect in that regard. The Congo has got some shit going on there right now, a full ethnic cleansing as a matter of fact, I know it's in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, not just the Congo.

farmers have not slowed down. They have gone up exponentially, but neither here nor there that section of Africa, aside from the conflicts, their mineral reserves and those minds are starting to get tapped. I'm not saying they're completely out. I'm saying that they only have a few more years before they will only be allowing so much to leave their country. Therefore, we will be stuck going to China for these mineral reserves and things like that, or other

countries that are not exactly our homies. That being said, if hypothetically we were to set up a mining operation in Ukraine for a lot of the minerals that we would go to China for, that gives us a better playing field, that gives us better leverage. And to your point about having like a co op situation, one hundred percent the same way as Chevron in the Congo. As a matter of fact, it was fifty one percent owned

by the Congolese forty nine percent owned by America. Even though America was the American company, I should say Chevron was the one footing the bill and putting in the infrastructure all of that, But like fifty one percent of the jobs had to be done by the Congolese. Even if they were just show up jobs, and in their opinion, you had made it. If you had a job where you were inside with air conditioning, where you could go

online shop on Amazon all day. Didn't matter if you did your job or not, as long as you had a job with internet. Oh bro, you were somebody in that area. I remember my buddy in the oil field, tell me all about it. That being said, if it was a Ukrainian co op and Ukraine owned fifty one percent of the mind sixty percent of the mines whatever, and America owned forty of it, and we still got cut rate prices on the minerals, that is still a

really good strategic foothold. That being said, Ukraine doesn't have endless amounts of these mineral reserves, and they're already striking deals with all these other countries who are probably making the same type of deal that we're talking about right now,

Britain being one of them. That being said, if and I don't think the same thing with the Chevron and Congo, an enemy state wouldn't attack those oil fields in the Congo if they're owned by an American company, because now you're going to start corporate war, which will bleed into political war because corporatetocracy and is they're connected, they are intertwined. That's just how it works. That would be at least

a hope, right. I wouldn't say that would work one hundred percent, but it would be a hope that American minds in Ukraine wouldn't be attacked and perhaps the Russian forces would steer away from them, or maybe just stop altogether. Maybe America could strike a deal with Russia and you know, maybe sell some of those minerals, because Ukraine and Russia will never have good relations again. But bab Bab, I

get it, fine. But it's the same way that everybody thought the Russian and myself included for the record, thought that the Russian economy was like three steps away from collapsing at every conceivable step of this conflict. No, they just sold to people that had no dog in that fight. India and China have been propping up their country this whole time, and those Russian ships with full of oil that, oh, we can't buy Russian oil here. They just painted over

the side of the boat that said Russian numbers. That was it. And then they still soul to countries who weren't allowed to do deals with Russia. They still bought Russian oil, they just claimed it wasn't Russian oil. It was like freelance oil at that point, or through some sort of a third party or some shit like that. So we could hypothetically make this a win win for everybody. Ukraine gets more mining infrastructure paid for by America, we

get the minerals. Russia gets to pay for the minerals not you know, maybe not at the same cut rate deal. But if we're trying to make things amicable, perhaps we could cut them on a deal. Like I'm just saying, it's it is a wise business move, but Zelensky is not interested in the business side of it. He is being pushed by, like you said, the Western extremists. I

just recently heard a story of how corrupt Ukraine is. Okay, and this is I'm not gonna be able to remember the guy's names or anything like that, but bear with me. This was twenty fifteen or twenty sixteen. I forget this American guy. He's mayor to a woman who was from Ukraine. Cool cool, and he decided he wanted to help out his brother in law, who was living in Ukraine at the time with a business venture. They were going to open up the first gas station car wash combination type

of thing in Ukraine or whatever the case. Maybe it was in They're oblast, I don't know, whatever it was. It was like the first thing that like that to happen in that area. Cool things. So he fronted some money. They had built it, they bought the land, built the building and all this stuff. A Ukrainian guy sued them for basically he said, no, you didn't buy that land, that's my land. I'm gonna sue you for it. And he bribed the local judge to rule in his favor,

which is totally a thing that happens there. So the American calls up his lawyer and is like, Okay, what do I have to do. He's like, dude, it's so corrupt here, here's what you have to do. You're gonna have to go one step up and bribe a judge to overrule that ruling. So he did. It wasn't like the local, you know, city judge. He went to like, uh, I guess the equivocal ble of our like state judge. I don't know what they call their states, oblo, I

think I don't know Oblasti. Anyway, he bribed that judge twenty five k and he did he ruled it in favor. The guy who sued them for the land then goes to the Ukrainian Supreme Court and bribed one of their judges to ruin his favor. The next step would have been for this guy to find a Ukrainian Supreme Court judge with more stroke to countersue that and win. Instead, he just washed his hands of it and said, fine, fuck it, he won. I'm not doing this to the

end of time here. That is how business gets done in Ukraine. That being said, Zelenski has those types of people that are on his ass to continue this war because so many people have gotten rich off of this war, literal blood money. But business doesn't care about that. Business is business, so it would make more business sense for Zelensky to take the deal that America is offering them.

And instead he basically is throwing up middle fingers and he is expecting NATO countries to come to his aid and come to his defense and back him and try to win this war, which is mathematically at this time unwinnable. I don't even see an option where Russia wins this aside from them taking over the entirety of Ukraine, maybe that would be considered quote unquote a win. But again, at that point, it's more like a pyrrhic victory.

like this happen when there's so many losers? But the reason it happens is that there's some winners, and there's different business interests and media interests and political interests that will try to come out ahead in a crisis like this. This is a large part of why World War One happened, and it's the large part of I think in our lifetimes.

The biggest analog would have been the COVID panic. Why would we want to shut down our economy for one hundred for trillion dollars a month in the early months, Well, a lot of people did benefit from it. There were concentrated benefits.

abolish the IRS. He's going to threaten it to the point to where they will pass new legislation to lessen the tax burden on the people, which is what we initially wanted anyway. Right Like on pawn Stars, you'll see Rick, they'll bring in some sort of an artifact and they'll be like, oh, I'm asking ten thousand dollars. They'll be like, oh, the best I could do is three, and then they'll meet somewhere in the middle at about like five or six, which is what should have been paid in the first place.

But they've got a dicker about it. They got to play that game. Trump is an expert at playing this game. I think that that is kind of what's going on here on a grand scale in all of these regards. But because the media hates Trump and he is doing that thing where he's right now offering three, the media is losing their minds on him right now. I don't know. I don't know. We'll see how it all plays out. I'm gonna go ahead and share the screen again. Because

there was a couple more articles. I wanted to get to here. Uh So, as I was looking at this, Oh God, Zelensky, he's under the impression and like Britain just told him boots on the grounds and planes in the sky. He's talk about sending British sons and daughters to the Ukrainian warfront. Will that actually happen? Maybe? Maybe not, We shall see. But it got me thinking here, and we're gonna talk about this in a second, but could NATO actually do something of note, not just in this conflict,

but in any conflict without America. Looking at the numbers of it, it does not look promising. We'll get to it in a moment. For now, I wanted to read this one the Guardian, Zelensky, Europe cannot guarantee Ukraine's security without America. Okay, uh. If Donald Trump withdraws the US support for Ukraine, Europe all alone, excuse me alone, will

be unable to fill the gap. Vladimir Zelensky has warned on the eve of what could be his most consequential diplomatic trip since Russia's full scale invasion three years ago. There are voices which say Europe could offer security guarantees without the Americans. I always say no, he said the Ukrainian president during an hour long interview with The Guardian at the Presidential Administration in Kiev. Security guarantees without America

are not real security guarantees, he added. Trump said that he wants to end the war in Ukraine, but skeptics feared that a US broker deal could involve forcing Ukraine to capitulate to Vladimir Putin maximalist demands. Zelenski said he was ready to negotiate, but wanted Ukraine to do so from a position of strength, and said he would offer American companies lucrative reconstruction contracts and investment concessions to try

to get Trump on side. Okay, so he's trying to get himself in a position of strength and then screwed himself by pissing off Trump JD and biting the hand that was offering to feed him. I find that to be interesting. This article was published. Let me see if I can find a date on it here. Of course, whenever I'm trying to look for someone I can't find it. That'd be the way it goes. Sometimes. No, damn, if

I'm not mistaken. This was posted last week. I feel like I saw that when I found the article initially, but we'll see. He's basically saying, though, that if America's not at the negotiating table, then the deals might as well just be written on toilet paper, because whether people want to acknowledge it or not, America is still the world's only superpower and that has a lot more stroke than what other countries and the liberals really want to

give it credit for anyway. Zelenski will traveled to Munich Security Conference later this week, where he expects to meet the US Vice President JD. Vance, one of the most hostile towards Ukraine among Trump's inner circle. At last year's conference, Vance, then a senator, refused to meet Zelensky, and he has previously said that he does not really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another. Yeah, I was a I forgot that JD. Vance and Zelensky had beef, like

actually like standing beef between them. JD. Vance is not a fan of Zelenski even before the conversation in the Oval office took place, but that is also why Zolensky started taking a tone with him once JD chimed in and then yeah that that kind of just went to shit whenever he said what he said, and then Trump basically told him get the fuck out of my house.

That was That was great, But you know, again, he's trying to show a position of strength and has done everything in his power to do the opposite of that. But okay, we'll see. Zelensky also plans to meet other members of Trump's team, as well as influential senators in Unich, but there is not yet a date to meet Trump himself, he said, although his team is working on fixing one. Trump said over the weekend that he would probably meet Zelensky this week, and it is possible that the Ukrainian

president could fly to Washington from Munich. And I do believe that happened, and that is when the situation in the Oval Office happened. But now talking about this, could NATO actually do something of note without America? This is a breakdown from Armedforces dot EU. I don't believe a lot of these numbers, but the ones that are provided

are pretty interesting. USA versus NATO without USA. Okay, so long story short, we understand the American military might Okay, no need to kind of go into drastic speeches about that. We understand that we are, in fact the biggest dick in the locker room. And that's not even a source of contention. That's an understood fact. The military budget for the United States as of was it twenty twenty two that this was talking about, Oh, I think this actually

might be twenty twenty four? Excuse me? Is nine hundred and sixteen billion dollars just America NATO collectively four hundred and twenty two point seven billion, less than half of America's entire spending. And that's what all of the NATO powers bring to the table. Uh, that is three point four percent of our GDP. The other ones, I mean, it's kind of a lot. That's why they didn't give an estimated percentage of all of their GDPs because some of them don't put in any some of them put

in more. So they kind of left that one open active personnel. America has one point three million active personnel. All of NATO has one point nine million. Okay, yes, they have more numbers active and in the reserves. We have just under eight hundred thousand. The rest of NATO has one point nine million in reserve. Okay, fine, fair manpower.

But then we talk about force multipliers. Actually, I want to say this one as well, available for military I feel like this number is also a bit skewed because when you look at the average fighting age of the guys on the Ukrainian front line, the median age is between forty and fifty five. That's not what America will consider available for military service if and when the time

ever came. So I don't know what all of these European countries classify as ready for service or fit for service, big big air quotes on that, but I know what America considers fit for service, and it's saying that we have seventy three point two million available for service, and it's saying that the NATO countries have one hundred and thirty eight point three million. Okay, maybe again it's about quality not quantity at that point, but I digress landforces.

They only have a little over twelve hundred more tanks than we do. Collectively as a nation, we have six hundred and fifty two tanks. All of NATO has sixty eight hundred coming up on sixty nine hundred. That's a lot of countries to come up with a number that's not much bigger than ours. Armored fighting vehicles. We have thirty eight thousand. They have forty seven thousand. Again, a lot of other countries are contributing to that pot, and we still are pretty comparable to them in the grand

scheme of things. Total artillery, it makes sense to me that they have three times the amount that we do. NATO has ninety nine hundred artillery pieces. America has thirty one hundred. And I'm generalizing some of these numbers to all the good people listening right now. These aren't exact figures,

these are roundabouts. Makes sense to me because America doesn't need to worry about artillery for the most part, because we are protected by oceans and neighbors to the north and south that would never dare to fuck with us in that regard. Europe, on the other hand, has fought wars on their home soil before, so investing in artillery pieces makes sense for a lot of them because their militaries are more defensively structured instead of offensively structured. Not all,

but most, I would say most. So Again, it makes sense self propelled artillery they have three thousand across all of NATO. America has fifteen hundred rocket artillery. They have eleven hundred, coming up on twelve hundred. America has seven hundred. Again, that's not that far off as far as compared to one nation compared to like twelve. Throwing this out total aircraft, and this is when America absolutely pulls away from the pack. Total aircraft, we have thirteen seen thousand. All of NATO

has eight thousand fighters. We have three hundred and seventy seven fighter aircraft. All of NATO has a five hundred and twenty seven multi role. Multi role is a very broad term for what these could be. Some of these have offensive weapons, some of these are ricon whatever, all over the place. America has twenty four almost twenty five hundred. All of NATO has just under fourteen hundred. Attack planes. We have five hundred and thirty one. All of NATO

has one hundred and eleven helicopters. America has forty nine hundred, NATO has three thousand. Understand that we have more helicopters than all of NATO has attack jets and multi roll craft and fighter jets. We have more choppers than that. Just throwing it out here combat drones. Again, this is I don't necessarily agree with these numbers. Because we've seen what drone warfare has become in the Ukrainian conflict and then Israel for instance. But at least what they are

reporting anyway, combat drones. America has four hundred and forty four and all of NATO has five hundred and fourteen, so they're ahead of us by sixty seventy. Excuse me, my numbers are off here. Navy total naval assets, America has four hundred and sixty six, all of NATO has nineteen hundred. Okay, that's nothing to look down on. They have some naval assets. Aircraft carriers America has twenty. All of NATO has ten destroyers. America has ninety nine destroyers.

All of NATO has twenty three. Now I will say that NATO has one hundred and twenty frigates and America has none, but that's because we did away with our frigate fleets a good while ago. Corvettes we have twenty six. All of has thirty eight. Submarines, we have seventy. All of NATO has eighty. So basically, if my numbers be numbering here, and somebody correct me if I'm incorrect on this, America is alone just as capable if not more capable

in some regards than all of NATO combined. Just looking at the numbers, did I miss anything?

a junior tank commanders fantasy. But why would why would the great powers fight that way when they have the trump card of nukes, you know, and maybe in the West, in Western Europe, they tell themselves that as long as we're not fighting beyond Russia's border, within Russia, they're not going to feel threatened enough to use nukes, So then we're just all going to be using conventional warfare. But I still think that they're just insane to be doing this.

And Cara Kalis and Anelena Baerbach and Ursula funder Lie and they talk about how we need a unified Europe to fight against Russia, and some of the alt right accounts I followed say, yeah, well you had that once in nineteen forty one, but you don't want to be those people, right, But that was that was the chance, And you know, I don't think I believe that that was a good fight either. I mean, Russia, Russia's formidable, and you know, we should just live in peace.

any means. I have a hard time believing because Germany has now made promises, Britain is making promises, and if I'm not mistaken, didn't France also make some promises of sending not just aid and equipment, but troops to Ukraine.

do that great. They did some work. They made the Russians hurt a little bit, but they also got got so I don't know. And then when France, I figured they would send maybe some foreign legion you know, some legionnaires in that regard. I haven't seen or heard of any French troops. There was more of a promise made and kind of waiting to see what happens next. Did France actually end up sending.

war going on somewhere, they'll go volunteer for it. If you've ever heard of a guy named Eron Steunger, he fought for France in the French Foreign Legion in nineteen thirteen before World One War one started, but then he joined Germany's military and he wrote a famous book called The Storm of Steel. But he was My only point here is he's just one of these guys who loved the idea of fighting and would have fought for anyone in any war that happened to be going on if

there wasn't one involving his own country. And there are people like that in all times and places. So these North Koreans, for example, who are fighting in Russia, I'm pretty sure that they're also the type of people who really love to fight, although they are there in an official capacity, unlike most of the Western mercenaries going to Ukraine and.

helping some some warfare going on there. Then he went and enlisted in the Ukrainian National Guard, and last I heard he had done two cycles in Ukraine and come home for some rest or to heal up or something. He was planning on going back. And he's one of these guys. There are still people out there modern I want to call it tourists, uh warfare tourism by any means,

but dudes that are obsessed with the fight. They're they're that level of adrenaline junkies, and that you know, They've always had the types of people, you know, there's always been mercenaries that do this type of shit. He goes and joins these groups in an official capacity rather than joins mercenaries because he doesn't like blending money with fighting.

He sees that as dirty And okay, I get that your bank account would disagree, my boy, But you know, whatever, whatever do you all of these people that are talking all this shit about how much they support Ukraine and all these things to the level of like we need to send US troops, and you understand that you could all just join the Ukrainian National Guard. There's nothing stopping you from doing that if you feel that strongly about it. Yet none of them sign up. There have been a

few of them. There have been a few. I've seen a couple of guys from Mexico. I've seen a couple of guys from America, if I'm not mistaken. There was an American that just recently died in the Ukrainian conflict, and I, if I remember correct, that he was like in his early twenties. I don't know if he ever served in America or if he just felt the call and joined up over there to help in some way. I don't know, but I do remember seeing an American flag draped over a call from there. So this is

a thing. Wild shit.

go fight in Zelenski and Putin's war from America. Like, it's typically these young guys that I don't know if it's necessarily they have something to prove. I don't believe that's the case. It might be because they truly feel like this is a moral war which shocks people. But okay, you know, do you baboo? Maybe it is just the adrenaline junkie of it. You know, maybe they see this as their generation's great war and they want to be a part of it. You know, there's all kinds of

reasons why people do what they do. I'm with you, though I personally will not be going. I have no intentions of going. I would very much like to stay out of a World War three if possible.

high risk, very good chance you're gonna die. But if you don't, you're gonna at least have a woman, if not from your own tribe, then from some conquered tribe that you've you know, been a part of the war against.

you are like the guy. Also kind of led to a sexual revolution in another regard, because it was no longer the men trying to impress the women to you know, woo a woman to become their wife. It became women fighting for which guy was theirs. And this kind of flipped the script in a lot of ways. But that's also Russians, by and large, I think they require less to be happy. And I'm not saying like because they

don't know what good is or anything like that. It's that they they kind of already understand that they're going to get screwed eventually by the government, by their own people, by some war, by whatever. They require a lot less to be happy than Americans require, I would say, as a standard rule.

you can if you can. But the pullar opposite of what you're describing about Russia with too many women not enough men, would be China today with so many men not enough women, And we can talk about how that may drive them to war someday. But culturally, I would say this has had a really negative impact on them because women have a little bit too much market value over there, and this has led to divorce rates of up to seventy percent in Tanjan, which is just south of Beijing.

He arrested his daughter in law because his son was captured, and the going standard rule was if you are captured by the enemy and you didn't die for your country, you allowed yourself to be captured, your whole family's going to jail. That included his own son. That is wild that he was that die hard, and it also makes a lot of sense why his final days he was in agonizing pain and slowly died and like no one helped him.

World War two. The modern Ukraine Russia conflict. I hear wild estimates that very by an order of magnitude on both sides, But I believe probably three hundred thousand Ukrainian soldiers have died and about one hundred thousand Russians have, so nowhere near as bad as World War Two, but still pretty damn bad for any you know, compared to any other modern war has been a part.

But I mean, we're comparing it against what you know, what I mean, like, well, by what.

bunch of women and children dead right now. But okay, sure, let's the sources are always going to spin the story one way or another. So yeah, yeah, it is a wild and messy time to be involved in the geopolitics and in the war games. I am happy that we have the person at the helm that we do right now. I am hoping that he is trying to rope a dope on some of these cases and not actually trying to implement, uh, some of the wilder things that he

has said. But time will tell. All right, everybody, Well, we are gonna wrap up this episode of The Cage tonight. I want to thank everybody for coming out and participating in this talk To any of the listeners that are listening on this Thursday, that's when this will be released. Please let me know in the comments what you thought about this or other topics that you would like to see us bring up into the future. And I appreciate everybody. Y'all take care and God bless