- 6 months ago
Tonight on The Cameron Journal Newshour, we're talking about a handful of stories. First, we start off with video from Tucker Carlson about why feudalism is better than democracy and why we need a dictator. Then we talk about Trump's real comments about being a dictator and his obvious plutocratic envy. Then we dive into Japan's low-desire economy. The story maps onto my new book so well! Then, we wrap up with the exposure of H1B visas scams by some intrepid people on Twitter who are helping Americans find the jobs hidden away from H1B immigrants.
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00:05:30And make sure to sign up for that.
00:05:35If you're signed up for the newsletter, you're going to be getting a couple emails from me here soon about a new AI summit that I am speaking at in September, which is really exciting.
00:05:46It's stressful because it's a pre-tape.
00:05:48It's stressful because it's a pre-tape and I've got to put it in the can tomorrow.
00:05:51I also need to put some other things in the can tomorrow.
00:05:56So tomorrow's going to be wake up, eat, get dressed, put face on, and record for a while.
00:06:04But it's very exciting. It's a lot of fun.
00:06:06It's my first kind of big speaking engagement.
00:06:10And it's about AI tools, how I use them in my business.
00:06:12The whole summit is about that.
00:06:15So if you're interested, if you're one of my business people who's interested in AI tools,
00:06:21and now you're using them for business, then this one is for you.
00:06:29So that's an incentive for the newsletter so you can find out more.
00:06:33I also want to remind everyone, if you're not setting up for Cameron Journal Plus,
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00:07:12You can do that at CameronJournal.com slash subscribe.
00:07:15Before we get into the headlines, I also want to run the trailer for the Fantastic Worlds collection
00:07:24because we have our new anthology at Soup is coming out on September 12th.
00:07:38And it's quite exciting.
00:07:42And there's a lot of, I was just communicating with one of the authors today.
00:07:48And it's, yeah, you're going to love this collection.
00:07:51If you love sci-fi, fantasy, you're going to love this collection.
00:07:54One of the really cool things about, um, one of the really cool things about, uh, this collection is
00:08:04there's a grand tradition in sci-fi and fantasy of being able to get really great stories in short story collections.
00:08:17And a lot of people end up really making their careers starting that way.
00:08:20So this is another, in a long sort of tradition, of really great anthologies in the sci-fi and fantasy space.
00:08:28So before we get into the headlines, I want to run this trailer.
00:08:31Here we go.
00:08:32Here we go.
00:08:47Here we go.
00:09:17And the, uh, pre-we are still in a pre-order phase for Fantastic Worlds.
00:09:45Um, you can find that pre-order link, um, in the description of this video or over at SuperLLC.com.
00:09:53Uh, we're very excited about that collection coming up.
00:09:58I was going to, I should run the trailer for America's Lost Generation, which is my book coming out on September 12th.
00:10:03But I can't find it.
00:10:04I was just looking for it right now.
00:10:05I can't find it.
00:10:06I should send away for it.
00:10:07Um, but I couldn't manage to, to find it.
00:10:11It is, it is out and about.
00:10:12Um, I might need to just go into YouTube and, and grab it off, um, off the publisher site.
00:10:19But, um, yes.
00:10:20And I also want to remind everyone that the Cameron Journal is part of the SoupCast podcast network.
00:10:25And I invite you to watch other shows on the network.
00:10:28If you head over to SuperLLC.com slash SoupCast, S-O-O-P-Cast, you can find other shows on the network.
00:10:35We've just launched a couple new ones.
00:10:37Uh, The Writer's Block with Matt Robinson.
00:10:39His first episode is actually with me as a guest.
00:10:42So we'll have that out, uh, here in the next couple days.
00:10:45Um, In Defense of Democracy with Anne-Marie Waters, who's a former MP in Great Britain.
00:10:50Uh, her show is now live and she's kind of getting back into social media ever so slowly and getting back into making videos.
00:10:59And her first, uh, episode was really, really fantastic.
00:11:03Um, she also just interviewed her first guest, which was really exciting.
00:11:08So we're looking forward to releasing more episodes with her.
00:11:12And of course, there's old favorites like The Funky Writer with Robert Batista,
00:11:16Uh, Creating the Image of God with Wade Franson, Unboxed on Purpose with Barbara Briehan.
00:11:22All great shows, all wonderful things to be interested in.
00:11:25And of course, also, The Living Joke, which I do with Will and Connor every Wednesday at 4.
00:11:30So, if you, uh, if you are interested in, uh, any of those shows, finding out more about them,
00:11:38subscribing, SuperLLC.com slash SoupCast is the place to go for that.
00:11:45All right, so, trailer done, housekeeping done, letting you know about everything, fantastic, good, good, good.
00:11:50Now, let's dive into the headlines.
00:11:55So let me do that.
00:11:57And we're not going to start with that story.
00:12:00We're going to start here.
00:12:02And we'll do...
00:12:04Here we go.
00:12:06Here we are.
00:12:06All right, so, we're going to start this evening with, uh, this interesting post last week from, uh, Maddow blog.
00:12:18Now, back in the day, for those of us that are old enough to remember the 2008 election,
00:12:22the Maddow blog was, like, hot reading back in the day.
00:12:26Okay, and they still do it, and this is from, it's actually from a little while ago, it's from August 14th,
00:12:33but I found it last week, and we didn't really get to it.
00:12:38Um, but, uh, this whole story begins with,
00:12:44At a White House event last week, Donald Trump asked Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan,
00:12:58how long he's been in power.
00:12:59Aliyev, who's been in, who's long been repeatedly accused by international observers of being a dictator, replied,
00:13:04it has been 22 years.
00:13:06The American president, clearly impressed, said, 22 years, that's pretty good.
00:13:09At that point, Trump turned to attendees and added, that means he's tough and smart.
00:13:12It was a timely reminder, the Republican doesn't admire dictators, despite their despotism.
00:13:20He, despite their despotism, he admires them because of their despotism.
00:13:24For those concerned about Trump's authoritarian ambitions, it's obviously been a rough year,
00:13:28but it's also been an especially rough week.
00:13:30In recent days, the American president has militarized the nation's capital,
00:13:33voiced interest in circumventing Congress, again,
00:13:36and exerted control over private businesses, museums, and cultural institutions.
00:13:39At his latest press conference, a Republican addressed the underlying issue responding to
00:13:44dictatorial accusations while commenting on his decision to deploy National Guard troops
00:13:48to D.C. streets and place local police officers under federal control.
00:13:51NBC News reported Trump criticized his political opponents for slamming his decisions to deploy
00:13:55National Guard to D.C. and take over the D.C. police.
00:13:58Already they're saying he's a dictator.
00:14:00Washington, D.C. is going to hell.
00:14:01We've got to stop it, Trump said of the Capitol.
00:14:03So instead of saying he's a dictator, they should say,
00:14:05we're going to join him and make Washington safe, drawing up applause from some people in the room.
00:14:10He delivered the comments as if he were baffled as to why anyone would criticize him
00:14:14for pursuing such an inherently noble and worthwhile goal.
00:14:18And there's a video.
00:14:19Shall we watch it?
00:14:21Let's.
00:14:21We're going to fight crime.
00:14:23That's a good thing.
00:14:24Already they're saying he's a dictator.
00:14:27The place is going to hell and we've got to stop it.
00:14:30So instead of saying he's a dictator, they should say, we're going to join him
00:14:34and make Washington safe.
00:14:36But.
00:14:38They say, he's a dictator.
00:14:41And then they end up getting mugged and, you know, but the stats are very bad.
00:14:45But we're going to.
00:14:48We're going to.
00:14:48I think we'll actually get Democrat support.
00:14:50I really believe.
00:14:53There's the video.
00:14:54What amazed me about the unscripted and unprompted comment was that he didn't say the accusations
00:15:00were wrong, per se, but that the accusations were irrelevant.
00:15:03Instead of insisting that his critics have been unnecessarily alarmist,
00:15:07Trump suggested his critics have missed the point.
00:15:09The president feels the need to improve conditions in D.C.
00:15:12How he chooses to pursue such a goal is far less important than the goal itself.
00:15:16Indeed, he wasn't especially subtle about any of this.
00:15:18Trump believes the nation's capital is going to hell.
00:15:20He believes he and his team have got to stop it, and so it doesn't much matter whether
00:15:23he's acting like a dictator or not.
00:15:25Soon after, White House borders are.
00:15:27Tom Homan told reporters,
00:15:29President Trump doesn't have a limitation on his authority to make this country safe again.
00:15:32There's no limitation on that.
00:15:34Um, yeah, sure.
00:15:36No, that's not how that works, though.
00:15:41This nation under-
00:15:41Is it enough for that?
00:15:42Or do you think it would-
00:15:43Let's see, President Trump doesn't have a limitation on his authority to make this country
00:15:47safe again.
00:15:48There's no limitation on that.
00:15:49Thank you, Mr. Homan.
00:15:53And as this account points out, this is exactly how authoritarian regimes justify abuses of
00:15:58power.
00:15:59Yeah, and history is littered with those examples.
00:16:03Of course, and this is Steve Bannon who's finishing here, of course in this country, presidential
00:16:08powers are limited by laws, court rulings, and co-equal branches of government, but to
00:16:12hear Homan tell it, none of these considerations are especially important.
00:16:15Ahead of Election Day 2024, Trump talked about terminating parts of the Constitution, the
00:16:19stand in the way of his ambitions, and creating a temporary American dictatorship.
00:16:22Months later, the relevance of that rhetoric lingers for increasingly obvious reasons.
00:16:27I would say all of this is quite concerning.
00:16:36I do definitely feel like we're moving in an authoritarian direction.
00:16:44However, I think if people are waiting around for the public to care about any of this, and are
00:16:53waiting around for people to hit the streets and complain and think he's gone too far, I
00:17:00think they're going to be very disappointed.
00:17:03I think because most people are quite content with this sort of behavior.
00:17:08And a lot of it comes into the, he's doing something-ism, which basically is, when a society
00:17:17gets to a certain point, when things are dysfunctional, you know, really sort of dysfunctional, it's very
00:17:25easy to, you know, anybody, it's very easy for anybody to come along and say, things are
00:17:36bad, I'm going to do something, and never define what that is.
00:17:40Or say something very extreme, and people will nod along and be kind of like, yeah, things are
00:17:46bad, I think we need to take, you know, big action, bold action, you know, and sort of thing.
00:17:50And especially in a political environment where people have been disenchanted with stuff for
00:17:59a while.
00:18:00And this is where I kind of return to the Obama problem, because one of the problems with
00:18:06the Obama administration, Obama came in in 2008 promising hope and change, right?
00:18:13And I kind of was suspicious of that at the time, to be honest.
00:18:16And then, fast forward eight years, and we had no hope, and there was very little change
00:18:25outside of the Affordable Care Act.
00:18:27And there, well, an ending of drone program and the torture program, we can call those wins.
00:18:35And people were very disenchanted, and part of the reason why Trump was so successful in
00:18:392016 is he could come along and say the most crazy extreme things, and people go along with
00:18:43it for two reasons.
00:18:45One, is I think a lot of people find what he says and does very entertaining, and that
00:18:50he's very funny, and it's good and fun to watch.
00:18:53Most politics is boring and hard, so that was a change.
00:18:56But two, he's willing to do anything.
00:18:59He's willing to do whatever it takes to make things quote-unquote safe.
00:19:03He doesn't care how many, you know, minority groups, poor people, whoever have you that get
00:19:08bulldozed on the way, they are quite content to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.
00:19:20And the simple reality is that the vast majority of people will not be affected by a lot of
00:19:27these changes.
00:19:28Most people's everyday lives will not be moved or changed because of things that he does.
00:19:36We even kind of already got a taste of this during COVID.
00:19:40A lot of people's lives were affected by the COVID shutdowns, but many people's lives went
00:19:44on as entirely normal.
00:19:46The pandemic hardly ever happened, especially if you worked in the service industry.
00:19:50You had to go to work anyway.
00:19:52You were never at home.
00:19:54You know, you may have to wear a mask at work.
00:19:56That was the biggest change.
00:19:57But people's lives otherwise, by and large, kind of proceeded on as normal.
00:20:00The reality is the vast majority of people will not be affected by this.
00:20:05I think, especially because he's targeting specific cities, it will mostly be those people
00:20:10in those cities that will feel it the most, especially when there's National Guard posts
00:20:17set up, there's checkpoints, you know, people are getting arrested very quickly, you know,
00:20:23all of those things are happening.
00:20:24I mean, that's, you know, what you're, that's what you're going to end up, you know, kind
00:20:30of end up with on the ground.
00:20:32And right now he's starting in D.C.
00:20:34He's talking about New York, Chicago, San Francisco, all this sort of thing.
00:20:40And, which means the vast, vast majority of the country will never see this in everyday
00:20:44lives.
00:20:44They're not going to be stopped coming out of their neighborhood by a checkpoint.
00:20:47They're not going to have their IDs checked randomly in the road.
00:20:51It's going to be a small minority of people that a lot of the country doesn't even care
00:20:54about anyway.
00:20:55And that, for, really for Trump, that means you can get away with a lot.
00:21:01You can do a lot before people really ever care about it.
00:21:04And the simple fact of that is most people are going to think it's a good idea.
00:21:08You know, someone, again, someone's finally doing something.
00:21:12And the lesson about this is it's not just good enough for someone to quote-unquote do
00:21:20something.
00:21:21It's what are they doing?
00:21:23Is it right?
00:21:24Who's affecting?
00:21:26Who's the second order of facts?
00:21:27All this sort of thing.
00:21:30That is a whole other question that, in a democracy, is answered by politicians and people and laws
00:21:38and precedents passed and set over time.
00:21:40In a dictatorship, that decision is made by one person and the whims of one person.
00:21:45And that's a very dangerous place to be in.
00:21:52It also creates this situation where you have a lot of resources answering, not to any local
00:22:01officials, but entirely, not even to the federal government, entirely to the White House itself.
00:22:06And that also is a major consolidation of power and a very dangerous move forward.
00:22:17And so when people talk about dictatorship or authoritarianism, in the past, those are
00:22:25sort of pie in the sky.
00:22:26Oh, Trump would never, would ever do that.
00:22:29The liberals are crazy.
00:22:30And now we're starting to see the reality of it.
00:22:33And I think it's really important for people to understand that at a fundamental level.
00:22:43And I feel like this is still lost on most people.
00:22:47And to be very honest with you, a lot of people are going to agree with it.
00:22:52But, and I'm not necessarily stuck in this narrative from MSNBC that, you know, oh, Trump
00:22:59offers an unsettling response and all this other thing.
00:23:02But I think it should be concerning for everyone that we have a president who views the law as
00:23:07optional, because here's the reality.
00:23:10Once the law, the law, becomes an optional thing, you are no longer have protection from
00:23:17it.
00:23:17Anyone.
00:23:18If anything, it then becomes a cudgel bashing you over the head.
00:23:25So, anytime you have a loss of the integrity of law and a law's rules-based society where everyone
00:23:34is accountable to a common standard, when you lose that, and most people really don't know
00:23:39what it's like to live in a society without it, unless you're maybe from a former Soviet
00:23:43bloc country, or grew up in a former Soviet bloc country, or grew up in another dictatorship,
00:23:50or a military junta, a la Brazil, Argentina, Thailand, you don't know what it's like to
00:23:56exist without a protection of law.
00:23:58You know, most people in this country have no idea what that's like, and not realizing
00:24:03then the government can come and collect you anytime they want to.
00:24:08But, here's, I think, the dirty little secret about a lot of this stuff.
00:24:14Most people, especially people with a certain skin tone, will be unaffected by any of this.
00:24:21It's the fringe.
00:24:23It's the edge of society that will be most affected by it.
00:24:27And, let's face it, most people don't care.
00:24:31They don't.
00:24:33And so, I think this is a situation where we could end up sort of slow-walking ourselves
00:24:42into a sort of quasi-authoritarian dictatorship without anyone really realizing what's happened.
00:24:52And, without anyone realizing, you know, we're also in the middle with gerrymandering and
00:24:57laws changes of Republicans structurally locking Democrats out of power for at least the next
00:25:05decade, if not longer.
00:25:07And so, it's all setting up now to where you could end up with an authoritarian dictatorship,
00:25:15and now you don't even need Trump to live or run in 2028, because the structure is in place
00:25:23that anyone you elect, a ham sandwich, can then end up being your new authoritarian dictator.
00:25:31This is China's system, fundamentally.
00:25:36And so, that would be a characterization of this country, and a lifestyle in this country
00:25:49to which we are deeply unfamiliar.
00:25:51And it will have to be very extreme before people start to notice.
00:25:58When, quote-unquote, regular, ordinary people start getting arrested for stuff they've said
00:26:04online, for stuff they've said in public, for conversations they've had, for texts over
00:26:11phones, things like this.
00:26:14Because then, and only then, will I think people really start to care.
00:26:19Until then, it's affecting someone else.
00:26:22It's over there.
00:26:23It's out there.
00:26:24And it's hard to get people to care.
00:26:26But I think this is and should be concerning.
00:26:29Um, I was, I'm reminded of, in November, when I was doing my election coverage, I was afraid
00:26:36of this very scenario, and what would happen, especially to people like me who speak out
00:26:41against it.
00:26:42And we're starting to begin to live in that reality.
00:26:46I don't want anyone to be a dictator.
00:26:49Definitely not Trump.
00:26:50I don't want anyone having that type of power.
00:26:53The presidency's had too much power for too many decades, anyway.
00:26:55And now we're looking at this major expansion of presidential power that's even beyond the
00:27:00imperial presidency.
00:27:01It's now into people's everyday lives.
00:27:04And I think that is the most frightening of all, but, unfortunately, will not matter for
00:27:12a long time.
00:27:13Until it gets really, really bad.
00:27:15And then people, but by then it will be really too late to change it.
00:27:19Rachel Maddow said something on, I haven't watched today's show, because it's Monday, but
00:27:24last week's show, where she said, the window for us to stop this is rapidly closing.
00:27:30Like, when a dictator's consolidating power, there's an opportunity to stop that from happening.
00:27:36But given how things are going, it doesn't seem like there's much appetite for that.
00:27:47And I want to transition to this clip from Tucker Carlson about monarchy, democracy, this sort
00:27:56of thing.
00:27:57So the post goes that, I'll never get the kings to care more about the people than democracy
00:28:01is nonsense.
00:28:02When monarchs lost their grip and people gained political freedom, humanity exploded forward.
00:28:06Wealth, life, expectancy, literacy, self-reported happiness all skyrocketed because people were
00:28:10freer.
00:28:10These people think you're stupid and they literally want to send us back to the dark
00:28:14ages because Tucker Carlson said this, feudalism is so much better than what we have now.
00:28:19Here's the clip.
00:28:21At some point when the regime decides actually we're against crime and we do have to have
00:28:27real borders and like, I don't know, we care about drugs and we don't want the society
00:28:33to like collapse completely.
00:28:35That's when you'll know they have complete totalitarian control.
00:28:39Or they recognize that the utility of destroying the country is coming to an end.
00:28:45That's what I'm saying.
00:28:46That's what I'm saying.
00:28:46Because at that point they'll feel like, okay, we own this completely.
00:28:49So why wreck it?
00:28:50It's our house now.
00:28:51Yes.
00:28:52And this is how you, you know, again, this is the classic principle of actually how you
00:28:56get a king, right?
00:28:57Because they're generationally invested in the well-being of the land they're ruling, the
00:29:02people they're ruling, and they have the power to control the outcomes there.
00:29:06So if you actually care about that, if you're actually going to benefit, why not invest your
00:29:09control in actually producing a better population?
00:29:11I completely agree.
00:29:12I mean, feudalism is so much better than what we have now because at least in feudalism,
00:29:16the leader is vested in the prosperity of the people he rules.
00:29:20Right.
00:29:20You know, if all your serfs die, you starve.
00:29:23Yeah, there's a true incentive to care for those people.
00:29:25Now, again, there is also, that also exists in a republic if properly managed, but as we've
00:29:30noted, we're well beyond the requirements that even our founders laid out for a functional
00:29:35republican government.
00:29:43I'm just going to let that sit.
00:29:45So, when we look at this idea, and then we're sitting over here with Tucker Carlson and this
00:29:59idiot, whoever he is, and people are saying, oh, what we have, you know, feudalism is better
00:30:11than what we have now because, you know, there's someone in charge, there's someone who cares
00:30:16about us.
00:30:18That's not the point of self-governance.
00:30:22Self-governance is us coming together as a community and making decisions that hopefully
00:30:29benefit the whole, or at least the majority.
00:30:35People like Tucker Carlson and this other idiot
00:30:38are
00:30:41purposefully
00:30:43advocating
00:30:45for a more restrictive,
00:30:48less free system
00:30:50because society's going in a direction
00:30:52they don't like, and hasn't been
00:30:55for some time. I've said it before,
00:30:57I'll say it again.
00:30:58The GOP did not come up with
00:31:01this in 2016.
00:31:02This has been their agenda, starting
00:31:04with the John Birch Society and the
00:31:06Federalist Society since 1950.
00:31:11Originally, to undo
00:31:13the reforms of the New Deal, which
00:31:15they thought was basically Communism.
00:31:18And from then on
00:31:21we had the 60s and the sex revolution
00:31:23and changes in culture
00:31:24and women going to work and all the things that
00:31:26have happened in the
00:31:2875 years since
00:31:301950.
00:31:31And the agenda
00:31:35of the Republican Party,
00:31:37very openly, by the way,
00:31:40is to not only undo the reforms of the New Deal,
00:31:44which they're starting to do,
00:31:45and the Great Society,
00:31:46but also to undermine the system itself
00:31:49because it no longer
00:31:51excessively privileges one group over another.
00:31:54It no longer is working
00:31:57for the success of certain people.
00:32:00It is,
00:32:00and most importantly,
00:32:02those disenfranchised people
00:32:04feel like they have
00:32:05no control over society
00:32:06and that they've been left behind.
00:32:08And the only thing they can do
00:32:10is burn it all down.
00:32:14This, uh,
00:32:16um,
00:32:16there's a couple comments here
00:32:18that I, um,
00:32:20I thought were interesting.
00:32:22One says here,
00:32:23that's a mask-off moment.
00:32:24Feudalism is the very system
00:32:25capitalism overthrew.
00:32:27Lord zoning land,
00:32:27peasants bound to it,
00:32:28no upward mobility,
00:32:29no property rights,
00:32:30no free trade.
00:32:31The serf worked to sustain his betters,
00:32:32not rise by his own effort.
00:32:34If that's better,
00:32:35it tells you everything.
00:32:35He doesn't want freedom.
00:32:36He wants hierarchy.
00:32:37He doesn't want individuals
00:32:39owning their lives.
00:32:39He wants rulers owning people.
00:32:41Capitalism freed men
00:32:42from their feudal lords,
00:32:43calling for feudalism
00:32:44was just calling for
00:32:44a different flavor of slavery.
00:32:46Well, yes.
00:32:47And part of that's because
00:32:48they don't want
00:32:49too many uppity brown people.
00:32:51They don't want uppity anyone.
00:32:52You know,
00:32:53oh, you were born in this position.
00:32:55Great.
00:32:55You get to be high on the hog.
00:32:57You were born in a low position.
00:32:58You get to stay down there.
00:32:59And may it never change.
00:33:02Unless you are deemed worthy.
00:33:05But having this dynamic,
00:33:07fluid society
00:33:08where you sometimes
00:33:09have to listen to
00:33:11people who come
00:33:12from very different places,
00:33:13very different backgrounds from you,
00:33:14sometimes you elect,
00:33:16people get elected
00:33:17who come from
00:33:17a different background than you,
00:33:19that's what they're trying
00:33:20to stop here.
00:33:22I also love
00:33:23this new term,
00:33:25woke right.
00:33:25And this person says here,
00:33:26much of the woke right project
00:33:28involves using Marx's idea
00:33:29of false consciousness
00:33:30to try and convince
00:33:31the freest people
00:33:32in the history of the world
00:33:33that they're actually
00:33:33not free at all.
00:33:34The goal is to make people
00:33:35accept woke right tyranny
00:33:37as a preferable option
00:33:38to the tyranny
00:33:39they're already living under.
00:33:40Of course,
00:33:40there have been violations
00:33:41of our liberty
00:33:42over the last few years
00:33:43and the fight for freedom continues,
00:33:44but none of that
00:33:45comes close to the death,
00:33:46war, misery,
00:33:47tyranny, and poverty
00:33:48these woke right clowns
00:33:49would unleash
00:33:50through their childish hubris
00:33:51if they ever got their way.
00:33:55And I think that sums up
00:33:57things up quite quickly,
00:33:58and I did enjoy
00:33:59this comment as well.
00:34:00Ahapian once told me
00:34:01in a debate
00:34:02that the massive explosion
00:34:03of human flourishing
00:34:04brought on by liberalism
00:34:05and the Enlightenment
00:34:06was just a coincidence.
00:34:08I honestly can't
00:34:09with these people.
00:34:11And this also,
00:34:13these are the tankies
00:34:14of the right.
00:34:15Spoiled to affluent
00:34:16shitheads who take for granted
00:34:17and feel oppressed
00:34:18by the freedom,
00:34:19affluence,
00:34:19and living conditions
00:34:20that most people
00:34:21around the world dream of
00:34:22and romanticize actual oppression
00:34:24out of pure child or spite.
00:34:28I think all much of this
00:34:31is a case of
00:34:32when you're used to
00:34:33excessive amounts of privilege,
00:34:35any change in that status
00:34:37becomes oppressive.
00:34:38As I wrote in 2014
00:34:39in the Death of the White Christian
00:34:40Heteronormative Narrative,
00:34:41as that narrative dies out,
00:34:46and it is dying now,
00:34:48as it dies out,
00:34:50there is going to be backlash.
00:34:52Now, back then,
00:34:53I didn't know
00:34:53what form it was going to take.
00:34:55Trump was not on the scene yet.
00:34:57The right movement
00:34:58as it happened
00:34:58is not on the scene yet.
00:34:59The pandemic hadn't happened yet.
00:35:00A lot of things hadn't happened yet.
00:35:01A long time ago.
00:35:03But this is part of the,
00:35:05this is part of that journey.
00:35:07This is part of that conversation.
00:35:09This is part of what we're going through now
00:35:11as a country
00:35:12is, you know,
00:35:15this sort of backlash
00:35:16of being like,
00:35:17well, you know,
00:35:18someone who looks like us,
00:35:20who has our background,
00:35:22who's like us,
00:35:22so should be in charge
00:35:23so that we can get back
00:35:25into power
00:35:26and be able to change society
00:35:29the way we want it to be
00:35:31into some imagined past
00:35:33where everything was okay.
00:35:34Even though there were problems
00:35:36back then, too.
00:35:38Like, I mean,
00:35:38people forget
00:35:39the 50s conversations
00:35:40were dominated by
00:35:41improvements in education,
00:35:43universal literacy,
00:35:45rural electrification.
00:35:47I mean,
00:35:48this country won a world war
00:35:50and a third of the country
00:35:52didn't have electricity
00:35:52at home.
00:35:54A lot of people
00:35:54didn't have plumbing.
00:35:57And people kind of forget
00:35:59the tremendous amount
00:36:01of wealth and development
00:36:02that has happened
00:36:03between 1945 and now.
00:36:05and all that time
00:36:08we have been managed,
00:36:09rightly or not,
00:36:10in a republic
00:36:11with representatives
00:36:12and things have changed.
00:36:14Society has changed.
00:36:15A lot of this has to do
00:36:16with changing social status.
00:36:19And any time you have
00:36:20changing social status
00:36:22in a society,
00:36:23that tends to not end well.
00:36:24social structures
00:36:27change
00:36:29very rarely
00:36:31and they sometimes
00:36:33involve violence.
00:36:34The old people
00:36:35who want to be on top
00:36:36are going to try to stay on top
00:36:37for as long as possible.
00:36:38And the people
00:36:39who want to be on top
00:36:40are going to do their damnedest
00:36:41to get on top.
00:36:42This is the present situation
00:36:43we find ourselves in.
00:36:44And the reality is
00:36:46it's not going to take much
00:36:47to start
00:36:47things going in
00:36:49a much more dangerous,
00:36:50much more violent direction.
00:36:52And indeed,
00:36:53one could argue
00:36:53with the protests
00:36:54and whatnot,
00:36:55things already have done.
00:36:57And the last time
00:36:59we did something like this,
00:37:00it lasted for four years
00:37:02and killed 500,000 men.
00:37:03It's called the Civil War.
00:37:05Anyway,
00:37:06again,
00:37:07I'm exhausted.
00:37:08It's went into the hour
00:37:09and we have a couple more
00:37:09news stories to do.
00:37:10So,
00:37:12speaking of
00:37:14authoritarian dictatorships,
00:37:16last week we had this story
00:37:18from QueerMajority.com
00:37:20called
00:37:21The U.S. is Becoming Russia.
00:37:23And I loved this picture.
00:37:25I wrote about this
00:37:26in the newsletter
00:37:27and I actually got AI
00:37:29to do a similar picture to this.
00:37:31And it says here,
00:37:32we're not going to read
00:37:32this whole thing,
00:37:33but the first part is good.
00:37:35The United States
00:37:35once stood as a proud beacon
00:37:36of freedom and opportunity.
00:37:38Now,
00:37:38news stories coming out of the U.S.
00:37:39give me deja vu
00:37:40of the authoritarian country
00:37:41from which I left
00:37:42seven years ago,
00:37:43Russia.
00:37:44This is by
00:37:45I'm in Eckford.
00:37:47When I read how
00:37:48the American Immigration Service
00:37:49deported without due process
00:37:51Andre Jose Hermano Romero,
00:37:53a 31-year-old
00:37:54gay makeup artist
00:37:55and legal resident
00:37:56who came to the U.S.
00:37:57as an asylum seeker
00:37:57fleeing homophobic
00:37:59and political persecution
00:38:00in Venezuela,
00:38:01it gave me post-Soviet flashbacks.
00:38:03And it's become part
00:38:04of the troubling pattern
00:38:05in 2025.
00:38:06238 Venezuelans
00:38:07were deported
00:38:08also without due process,
00:38:09including dozens
00:38:10with active asylum cases.
00:38:12A Canadian actress
00:38:12who came to the U.S.
00:38:13on a work visa
00:38:14was de facto kidnapped
00:38:15by Immigration
00:38:16and Customs Enforcement.
00:38:17A father of two
00:38:18in Maryland
00:38:19with protected legal status
00:38:19and was mistakenly deported
00:38:21to a brutal prison
00:38:22in El Salvador.
00:38:23What's more,
00:38:23President Trump
00:38:24has vowed to end
00:38:25birthright citizenship,
00:38:26refused to return
00:38:27people deported
00:38:27by mistake,
00:38:28and raised the prospect
00:38:29of shipping American citizens
00:38:30to El Salvador's
00:38:31mega-prison.
00:38:33It all reminds me
00:38:34of the Russian attacks
00:38:35on Chechen civilians
00:38:36who were sent
00:38:36to concentration camps
00:38:37or Thailand's
00:38:38forced return of Uyghurs
00:38:39to China
00:38:40to face certain persecution
00:38:41or even death
00:38:41from the Chinese Communist Party.
00:38:43The U.S. now indiscriminately
00:38:45violates the human rights
00:38:46of a particular group of people
00:38:47or anyone who doesn't look like
00:38:48what the new administration
00:38:48thinks of as an American.
00:38:50Romero was accused
00:38:51by ICE of being a member
00:38:52of the transnational
00:38:53criminal gang,
00:38:54Tren de Aragua,
00:38:55largely because he's
00:38:56Venezuelan and has tattoos.
00:38:58Andrea Santillano,
00:38:59a criminology prospector
00:39:00at Central University of Venezuela,
00:39:01who spent years
00:39:02studying Tren de Aragua,
00:39:03told The New Yorker,
00:39:03quote,
00:39:04this is the first time
00:39:05I've ever encountered
00:39:06any reference to the significance
00:39:07of tattoos for Tren de Aragua.
00:39:09Rona Rizquez,
00:39:10a Venezuelan journalist
00:39:11whose book on Tren de Aragua
00:39:12is considered definitive,
00:39:13also told the magazine,
00:39:14the truth is that
00:39:15a tattoo identifying
00:39:16Tren de Aragua
00:39:17does not exist.
00:39:18As one would imagine,
00:39:19Tren de Aragua
00:39:20is not an LGBT-friendly organization.
00:39:22Their hyper-masculine,
00:39:23prison-born culture
00:39:24does not tolerate
00:39:25gay or bi people,
00:39:26and we might accept someone
00:39:27like Andrew Romero.
00:39:29It's also unclear
00:39:29what use a criminal syndicate
00:39:31would have for a makeup artist.
00:39:32This information
00:39:33is not hard to find.
00:39:34The Trump administration
00:39:35is simply uninterested
00:39:36in the facts.
00:39:37I once found myself
00:39:38in a situation
00:39:39somewhat similar to Romero.
00:39:40Four years ago,
00:39:41the Russian politician
00:39:41Evgeny Fedorov
00:39:42threatened a criminal case
00:39:43against me,
00:39:44accusing me of all things
00:39:45of recruiting women
00:39:46to the Islamic State
00:39:47by using feminist ideas.
00:39:48In bringing up
00:39:49such an absurd accusation,
00:39:50he also called me
00:39:51a Ukrainian lesbian.
00:39:52I'm neither a lesbian
00:39:53nor fully Ukrainian
00:39:54by blood,
00:39:55and blamed me for supporting
00:39:56both Islamic terrorism
00:39:57and gay propaganda,
00:39:58which would make me
00:39:59the world's first LGBT activist jihadi.
00:40:03Evgeny Fedorov is a Russian
00:40:04legislator in the ruling
00:40:05United Russia Party
00:40:06and the leader of the far-right
00:40:07national liberation movement,
00:40:08which is famous for repeatedly
00:40:10calling for nuclear attacks
00:40:11in the United States
00:40:11as well as anti-scientific
00:40:13and anti-American conspiracy theories.
00:40:15So of course he didn't care
00:40:16if that is literally impossible
00:40:17to be an ISIS supporter
00:40:18and be openly queer.
00:40:19The accusation arose
00:40:20from an article I wrote
00:40:21about the war on terror.
00:40:22The piece,
00:40:23which included my own story
00:40:24as well as interviews
00:40:25with Muslim women
00:40:25in Russia and the UK,
00:40:26pointed out that Islam,
00:40:27just like with Christianity and Judaism,
00:40:29is not synonymous with terrorism.
00:40:30The article,
00:40:31combined with the fact
00:40:32that I was an LGBT activist,
00:40:33gave the corrupt authorities
00:40:34all the pretext they needed.
00:40:36I lost all of my Russian LGBT allies
00:40:38after this fake accusation of terrorism.
00:40:39Despite years of collaboration
00:40:41and friendship,
00:40:41most of them were silent
00:40:42because they didn't want
00:40:43to look connected to someone
00:40:44who was blamed for extremism,
00:40:45which in Russia
00:40:46includes LGBT activism by law.
00:40:51At the time,
00:40:51these allegations seemed quite bizarre
00:40:53to my friends in America.
00:40:54Now the US is recreating
00:40:55this Russian playbook.
00:40:56It is extremely clear
00:40:57that the knowledge of the administration
00:40:58used the Trenda Aragua Gang
00:41:00to invoke the Alien Enemies Act,
00:41:01a law passed in 1798
00:41:03that had previously been used
00:41:04just three times in American history,
00:41:06all during wartime.
00:41:07Now it's invoked
00:41:08to round up people
00:41:08of South American origin
00:41:09and deport them without trial
00:41:10to a mega prison in El Salvador
00:41:12or to Guantanamo Bay,
00:41:14where detainees and inmates
00:41:15are subjected to violence
00:41:16and humiliation.
00:41:17Andre Romero was sent to the prison
00:41:18without due process
00:41:19to let a removal order
00:41:20and unbeknownst to his lawyer
00:41:21and to the judge
00:41:22who was awaiting the hearing
00:41:23on his case.
00:41:24This doesn't just arguably violate
00:41:26the Sixth Amendment
00:41:26of the U.S. Constitution,
00:41:27but is also extremely cruel
00:41:29and inhumane.
00:41:30El Salvador's prisons
00:41:30are known for their brutality,
00:41:32especially towards LGBT inmates.
00:41:34And that's, I mean,
00:41:37we've read most of it
00:41:38at this point.
00:41:39Um, but the point,
00:41:42the point being is that
00:41:43when it comes to
00:41:45having this go on in society,
00:41:48it is,
00:41:51it should be
00:41:54very concerning
00:41:56to everyone involved
00:42:00that this is going on.
00:42:03And I think what worries me the most
00:42:05is that most people don't care.
00:42:07they think it's a good thing.
00:42:09And they will continue
00:42:10to do so
00:42:11until it comes for them.
00:42:14Now,
00:42:15again,
00:42:18much like the
00:42:19authoritarian dictatorship
00:42:20conversation,
00:42:22this is something
00:42:23that will not affect
00:42:25most people's lives
00:42:26and most people will not care
00:42:27until the economic stagnation
00:42:29kicks in,
00:42:30until the sanctions
00:42:31kick in,
00:42:32until
00:42:33the government
00:42:35isn't responsive
00:42:36to the people's needs,
00:42:38until their friends
00:42:39and family
00:42:40are getting picked up.
00:42:42And for many,
00:42:43it may never come
00:42:44to that point.
00:42:46Many people live in Russia
00:42:47without ever
00:42:48kind of running afoul
00:42:48of the law.
00:42:49But then sometimes
00:42:50things get weird,
00:42:51like keeping people
00:42:52in buses in the cold,
00:42:53which Putin did
00:42:54several years ago
00:42:54to stop protests
00:42:55in the,
00:42:56I think in 2021
00:42:56after the pandemic.
00:42:57You know,
00:43:01when it comes to,
00:43:02you know,
00:43:02foolhardy invasions
00:43:03of places,
00:43:03we've already
00:43:04ticked those boxes.
00:43:05But,
00:43:06this is not
00:43:08a society
00:43:09you necessarily
00:43:10want to live in
00:43:11when you can be
00:43:12a legal person
00:43:13one day
00:43:13and not the next.
00:43:16You know,
00:43:17with no warning.
00:43:18Or,
00:43:19you say something
00:43:20and the wrong person
00:43:21hears it
00:43:22and all of a sudden
00:43:22now you have
00:43:23a criminal case
00:43:24and can be sent
00:43:24anywhere for any reason.
00:43:26This is not
00:43:27a type of society
00:43:28we should want
00:43:28to live in.
00:43:30And yet,
00:43:31and yet,
00:43:33this is what
00:43:35we're becoming.
00:43:36And the fact
00:43:37that other people
00:43:37from other
00:43:38authoritarian regimes
00:43:40are bringing
00:43:41the alarm
00:43:41as we're kind of like,
00:43:42hey,
00:43:42this is starting
00:43:42to sound awfully familiar.
00:43:43Hey, hey, hey,
00:43:45this sounds familiar
00:43:45should raise
00:43:47everyone's alarm.
00:43:49And if you're
00:43:50one of my business people
00:43:51and you think
00:43:52this doesn't affect you,
00:43:53let me tell you,
00:43:54it is very hard
00:43:56unless you're in
00:43:56with the right people
00:43:57to do business
00:43:58in a dictatorship,
00:44:01authoritarian or otherwise.
00:44:03It is very hard
00:44:05to make money.
00:44:07Prices change wildly
00:44:09and rapidly.
00:44:10It's very easy
00:44:11to get bullied
00:44:12out of business
00:44:13or get bought up
00:44:15by a larger competitor.
00:44:17So,
00:44:17unless you're
00:44:18a Fortune 500 CEO,
00:44:20this is still
00:44:22not a good thing
00:44:22for you.
00:44:23and these,
00:44:25the U.S. prosperity
00:44:27is predicated
00:44:29on free trade
00:44:31and rule of law
00:44:32and a free
00:44:33and open society
00:44:34where people
00:44:35are free to do business
00:44:36and to sell
00:44:36without kickbacks
00:44:37and corruption
00:44:38most of the time
00:44:39and all this sort of thing.
00:44:40you don't get that
00:44:44authoritarian dictatorship.
00:44:46You get
00:44:47graft.
00:44:48You get paying
00:44:49off officials.
00:44:50You get very
00:44:51difficult,
00:44:52difficult things
00:44:53to do business
00:44:53and it makes it
00:44:54very hard for people
00:44:55to start a business.
00:44:56You end up with
00:44:57social stratification
00:44:58which,
00:44:59I mean,
00:45:00I guess according
00:45:00to Dr. Carlson
00:45:01is a good thing.
00:45:01this is not
00:45:03the America
00:45:04that we're all
00:45:05used to living in
00:45:06and I'm very afraid
00:45:08that people are
00:45:09going to wake up
00:45:09one day
00:45:10and realize,
00:45:12oh,
00:45:13things have changed
00:45:14and it will be
00:45:15far,
00:45:15far too late.
00:45:18Speaking of that,
00:45:20this was a story
00:45:22I held over
00:45:22from last week.
00:45:23I love
00:45:23The Daily Costs
00:45:24and this one
00:45:27folds in
00:45:28very gently
00:45:30with my book
00:45:31America's Lost Generation
00:45:32that talks about
00:45:33what's happening
00:45:33in Japan
00:45:34and the low
00:45:36desire economy.
00:45:37What it is,
00:45:38is it happening
00:45:39in the United States
00:45:39and can it?
00:45:41It says here,
00:45:41it's hard to imagine
00:45:42an economy built
00:45:43not on ambition,
00:45:44growth,
00:45:44or restless striving
00:45:44but on something
00:45:45quieter,
00:45:46the decision to want
00:45:47less.
00:45:48That's exactly
00:45:48what seems to be
00:45:49happening in Japan.
00:45:50Faced with the
00:45:50declining and aging
00:45:51population for years
00:45:52now,
00:45:52people there have
00:45:53begun working
00:45:53fewer hours,
00:45:54skipping promotions,
00:45:55living modestly,
00:45:56and often choosing
00:45:57not to marry
00:45:57or have children.
00:45:58To Western economists
00:45:59this looks like
00:46:00a disaster.
00:46:00To politicians
00:46:01it's a puzzle,
00:46:02but to the Japanese
00:46:03who are living it
00:46:03the mood is less
00:46:04catastrophic.
00:46:05They don't always
00:46:06see themselves
00:46:06as victims of
00:46:07stagnation.
00:46:08Some see themselves
00:46:08as simply opting
00:46:09out of a race
00:46:10that no longer
00:46:10feels worth running.
00:46:12Stop me when
00:46:13any of this
00:46:14starts to sound
00:46:14familiar.
00:46:16The term
00:46:16low desire society
00:46:17was coined by
00:46:18I'm not going
00:46:19to pronounce that
00:46:20Ganashi Omei,
00:46:21a Japanese
00:46:22management consultant,
00:46:23and later popularized
00:46:24by analyst Louis Zhao
00:46:25in his video essay
00:46:26Japan's Low Desire Society.
00:46:28Japan,
00:46:29once the poster child
00:46:29for economic dynamism
00:46:30has been struck
00:46:31in what economists
00:46:32call the lost decades.
00:46:33After its asset bubble
00:46:34burst in the early 1990s,
00:46:36the country entered
00:46:37a long period of deflation
00:46:38and low growth,
00:46:39but what began
00:46:39as an economic slowdown
00:46:41hardened something deeper,
00:46:42a cultural shift.
00:46:45Young people,
00:46:46watching their parents
00:46:47sacrifice for rewards
00:46:48that never came,
00:46:49began asking whether
00:46:50ambition itself
00:46:50was worth the trouble.
00:46:52Some decided that
00:46:52if the game was rigged,
00:46:53the smartest move
00:46:54was to stop playing.
00:46:55They lived simply,
00:46:56rent instead of buy,
00:46:57save instead of invest,
00:46:58marriage and parenthood,
00:46:59once the natural arc
00:47:00of adulthood,
00:47:00feel optional,
00:47:01even burdensome.
00:47:03Seen one way,
00:47:03this is resignation.
00:47:04Seen another,
00:47:05it's rebellion.
00:47:06And if you squint a little,
00:47:06you might even see it
00:47:07as wisdom.
00:47:08After all,
00:47:09Buddhism has been saying
00:47:10for 2,500 years
00:47:10that endless desire
00:47:11is a root of suffering.
00:47:12Peace comes not from
00:47:13satisfying every craving,
00:47:14but from letting go.
00:47:16It recalls the famous
00:47:17story of Alexander the Great
00:47:18offering Diogenes
00:47:19anything he desired,
00:47:20only to be told,
00:47:21then step aside,
00:47:22you're blocking my son.
00:47:23Alexander,
00:47:24we're told,
00:47:24was so struck
00:47:25that he declared,
00:47:26if I were not Alexander,
00:47:27I would be Diogenes.
00:47:28Perhaps Japan,
00:47:29in its own quiet way,
00:47:30is playing the same trick
00:47:31on the modern world.
00:47:34And this is,
00:47:35honestly,
00:47:36I love this,
00:47:38you know,
00:47:38article,
00:47:39because this is really
00:47:40what America's Lost Generation
00:47:41is about.
00:47:42I really wrote the book
00:47:43being like,
00:47:43the sound,
00:47:44the Japanese story
00:47:45sounds so familiar
00:47:46to what happened
00:47:47to Millennials
00:47:48and now Gen Z
00:47:49that there's just
00:47:51too many parallels.
00:47:52And this is exactly
00:47:53what I'm talking about.
00:47:55People are opting
00:47:57out of ordinary,
00:47:59normal life
00:48:00because it doesn't seem
00:48:01like it's worth it anymore.
00:48:02And oftentimes,
00:48:03especially in this country,
00:48:03you can't afford it.
00:48:05And when you can't afford
00:48:07to live,
00:48:08what comes next?
00:48:10You kind of give up.
00:48:12It says here,
00:48:12if we look more closely,
00:48:13we can already find places
00:48:14in the United States
00:48:15where the low-desire economy
00:48:16is not just theory,
00:48:17but reality.
00:48:18Retirement communities
00:48:19from Florida's
00:48:19The Villages
00:48:20to smaller complexes
00:48:20across the country
00:48:21are perhaps the most obvious.
00:48:22Here,
00:48:23people deliberately
00:48:23downsize,
00:48:24prioritize leisure,
00:48:25and measure life
00:48:25not by ambition,
00:48:27but by time with friends,
00:48:27health,
00:48:28and modest pleasures.
00:48:29Retirement itself
00:48:29is a kind of low-desire
00:48:31stage of life,
00:48:31and whole towns
00:48:32are built around it.
00:48:33Rural towns in the Midwest,
00:48:34Appalachia,
00:48:35and the Rust Belt
00:48:35have been living
00:48:36without growth for decades.
00:48:38Population shrinks,
00:48:38storefronts stay vacant,
00:48:39and residents learn
00:48:40to get by with less.
00:48:41For some,
00:48:42this is despair.
00:48:42For others,
00:48:43it's adjustment.
00:48:44Grow food,
00:48:44trade services,
00:48:45value family and community
00:48:46over endless striving.
00:48:48It's not glamorous,
00:48:48but it echoes Japan's
00:48:49long adjustment
00:48:50to low growth.
00:48:51Urban countercultures
00:48:52offer another vision.
00:48:53In Portland, Oregon,
00:48:54Asheville, North Carolina,
00:48:55Burlington, Vermont,
00:48:56there are communities
00:48:57where ambition is measured
00:48:58not by promotions,
00:48:59but by authenticity.
00:49:00People choose part-time
00:49:01work to support
00:49:02artistic lives,
00:49:03join food co-ops,
00:49:03and bike instead of buy cars.
00:49:05Burlington even experimented
00:49:06with its own local currency,
00:49:07the Burlington Bread,
00:49:08to keep value circulating locally.
00:49:11These aren't accidents,
00:49:11they're experiments
00:49:12in living well
00:49:13without living bigger.
00:49:14Then there are the minimalists,
00:49:15tiny home dwellers,
00:49:16vanlifers,
00:49:16scattered across Colorado,
00:49:17California, and beyond.
00:49:19Their choices aren't born
00:49:20of economic collapse alone,
00:49:21but of a deliberate rejection
00:49:22of debt and consumer pressure.
00:49:24A 200-square-foot home
00:49:25isn't a defeat to them,
00:49:26it's liberation.
00:49:26Technology plays an unexpected role as well.
00:49:31Computers, mobile phones,
00:49:32and now AI have made it far easier
00:49:33to live with less
00:49:34while still remaining connected.
00:49:35Remote work means you can no longer
00:49:36need to chase careers in big cities,
00:49:38you can work from a cabin in Montana
00:49:39or a one-bedroom in Des Moines.
00:49:41Smartphones give you access
00:49:42to information, entertainment,
00:49:43and social life
00:49:44without needing to buy much else.
00:49:45Streaming replaces shelves
00:49:46of DVDs and CDs.
00:49:47A single laptop replaces
00:49:48whole libraries,
00:49:49filing cabinets and offices.
00:49:50And with AI tools now handling tasks
00:49:52from scheduling to coding to writing,
00:49:53it's increasingly possible
00:49:55for individuals to sustain themselves
00:49:56with fewer hours of labor
00:49:57and less material ambition.
00:49:59In other words,
00:50:00the very technologies
00:50:00once assumed to fuel
00:50:01endless consumerism
00:50:02may also be laying the groundwork
00:50:04for a low-desire economy.
00:50:07I'm probably going to tweet out
00:50:08a thread about this on Twitter,
00:50:11but this is exactly
00:50:14the cultural changes
00:50:16I was talking about
00:50:17when I first started researching
00:50:18America's Lost Generation.
00:50:21It was right during the pandemic.
00:50:23And I was reading this book
00:50:25called Japanization
00:50:25by a guy named Richard Pesick.
00:50:28And I was shocked
00:50:34because I saw,
00:50:35oh wow,
00:50:36things could definitely take a turn
00:50:37that we're at the opportunity for that.
00:50:38And in the years it took me
00:50:39to write and release the book,
00:50:41we have fully started
00:50:43to go down this road.
00:50:44And I think this desire
00:50:45of the low-desire economy
00:50:46where people just aren't doing stuff.
00:50:48I would say millennials
00:50:50are already there
00:50:50because we're in the middle,
00:50:51we're middle age.
00:50:52I'd say Gen Z
00:50:54is not far behind.
00:50:56And this means
00:50:57that much of
00:50:58what we have measured
00:51:01and predicated
00:51:01our growth and improvement
00:51:03on as a society
00:51:05is probably on its way out.
00:51:08And this cultural shift
00:51:10has plagued Japan for decades.
00:51:11They've never fully adjusted to it.
00:51:14And I think it will be
00:51:15much more difficult
00:51:17for our country
00:51:20to adjust to it as well.
00:51:22Especially as we're entering
00:51:24into this big competition
00:51:26with China.
00:51:27Which would require us
00:51:29to do a great deal.
00:51:30And people are just kind of
00:51:31running out of energy.
00:51:36The last story I want to cover
00:51:38is something that I've
00:51:39really only seen on Twitter.
00:51:43So I imagine
00:51:44you probably haven't heard
00:51:47about this one.
00:51:48But let me start
00:51:49from the beginning.
00:51:50So back in December
00:51:53during the Trump transition,
00:51:57Vivek Ramaswamy
00:51:57made a note that he wanted
00:51:59to do a lot more H-1B visas
00:52:01and bring in a lot more
00:52:02smart, brilliant, talented immigrants
00:52:04because Americans were too lazy
00:52:05to do the work
00:52:06and complain too much
00:52:06and all this sort of thing.
00:52:08The H-1B immigration system
00:52:11is a system where
00:52:12people are allowed,
00:52:14tied to one employer,
00:52:16to be on a visa
00:52:16coming to this country
00:52:17to work to fulfill
00:52:18specific roles
00:52:18that companies could not
00:52:20find Americans to do.
00:52:23Now,
00:52:24that sounds
00:52:26like a fine program.
00:52:28If you can't find
00:52:29an American to do the job,
00:52:31you can import one
00:52:32from somebody
00:52:33from somewhere else.
00:52:34Seems fine.
00:52:36There's only one question.
00:52:38And people are being like,
00:52:39why can't anyone
00:52:40find a job?
00:52:41Why are experienced people
00:52:41trying to find jobs?
00:52:43Well,
00:52:44as it turns out,
00:52:45there's been a lot
00:52:46of corruption
00:52:46in the H-1B
00:52:47visa system.
00:52:49Now,
00:52:49I was already aware
00:52:50of this,
00:52:51but now it's starting
00:52:53to come out
00:52:53and I'm actually learning
00:52:54kind of actually
00:52:55how they do it
00:52:56and how they get away
00:52:57with it.
00:52:58So,
00:52:58one of the things
00:53:00they do when they say
00:53:01they can't find
00:53:02an American to do the job
00:53:03is they post
00:53:05job postings
00:53:06on these
00:53:07little-known sites.
00:53:09No one applies
00:53:10or no one qualified
00:53:11applies.
00:53:12They then send
00:53:14the specific links
00:53:15to H-1B workers
00:53:16who then apply
00:53:17and then the H-1B
00:53:20gets the job
00:53:21because they couldn't
00:53:21find anyone else.
00:53:22Here's the thing.
00:53:25The jobs are not
00:53:27being publicly posted
00:53:28in places where
00:53:29Americans are
00:53:30looking to look for them.
00:53:30So,
00:53:31they're creating
00:53:31this false idea
00:53:32that there's no one
00:53:33to do the job
00:53:35and therefore
00:53:36they have to hire
00:53:37an H-1B person.
00:53:38All this has started
00:53:39to come out
00:53:39on X slash Twitter now
00:53:41and this account,
00:53:43Jobs Now,
00:53:44has kind of
00:53:45taken up
00:53:46the banner
00:53:46of posting
00:53:48where these
00:53:49job listings are,
00:53:51having Americans
00:53:52apply to them
00:53:52and once an American
00:53:54has applied,
00:53:55it then makes
00:53:56the job ineligible
00:53:57for H-1B.
00:53:59It says here,
00:54:00Thank you for so many
00:54:01of you to coming
00:54:02to follow us this week.
00:54:03We are so happy
00:54:04to have the chance
00:54:04to help thousands
00:54:05of more with your
00:54:05job searches.
00:54:06Repeating now,
00:54:07why do we create
00:54:08jobs now?
00:54:09We were tired
00:54:09of seeing companies
00:54:10hire H-1Bs
00:54:11for ordinary jobs
00:54:12that Americans
00:54:13could do.
00:54:14When we learned
00:54:14from this other account
00:54:16that employers
00:54:16were systematically
00:54:17discriminating
00:54:18against Americans
00:54:19by hiding jobs
00:54:19for perm applicants
00:54:20in violation of the law,
00:54:22we decided to create
00:54:22our own job board
00:54:23to make it easy
00:54:24and accessible
00:54:24for Americans
00:54:25to apply for hidden
00:54:26permanent jobs.
00:54:27We built custom software
00:54:29that allows us
00:54:29to rapidly process
00:54:30hundreds of perm
00:54:31job postings
00:54:31from across the country
00:54:32and upload them
00:54:33into a modern
00:54:34job board format.
00:54:35And now we are proud
00:54:36to have helped
00:54:36our users apply
00:54:37for over 35,000 jobs
00:54:38at over 1,000 companies.
00:54:41We will always be
00:54:42dedicated to providing
00:54:44access to American jobs
00:54:45for American workers.
00:54:46And if you want
00:54:49to go check this out,
00:54:50you'll want to go
00:54:50to jobs.now
00:54:53And you can see here
00:54:57that there's all these
00:54:59different job postings
00:55:00that they've pulled in
00:55:01that were basically
00:55:02secret jobs
00:55:03that are badly publicized
00:55:04so the H-1Bs
00:55:05could get them
00:55:06and people can apply
00:55:09to them.
00:55:09Also,
00:55:12there is some other
00:55:14websites that are
00:55:15coming out myself.
00:55:16It says,
00:55:17if 100,000 Americans
00:55:18were to apply for H-1B
00:55:19jobs in the next
00:55:19five minutes,
00:55:20I'll guarantee you
00:55:21that Congress
00:55:21would be walking
00:55:22the halls today
00:55:22instead of in November
00:55:23talking about these
00:55:24Americans.
00:55:24I cannot make a
00:55:25difference by myself,
00:55:26you cannot make a
00:55:27difference by yourself,
00:55:28but all of us
00:55:28working together,
00:55:28we can make a huge
00:55:29difference.
00:55:30And this one is
00:55:31another website.
00:55:33And it's listing all,
00:55:34look at these wages,
00:55:34look at these wages,
00:55:36$72,000 per year,
00:55:38$40 per hour,
00:55:39$92,000 per hour,
00:55:41$20,000 per year.
00:55:42Are you telling me
00:55:43that you could not
00:55:44find a single person
00:55:47in this entire country
00:55:48to be a business
00:55:50intelligent analyst
00:55:51in Exiton, Pennsylvania
00:55:54for 90 grand?
00:55:56Computer programmer,
00:55:58eight positions,
00:55:59all at $94,000 a year.
00:56:02Enterprise applications
00:56:03programmer,
00:56:04these people exist,
00:56:05these Americans exist.
00:56:07The point is,
00:56:09the H-1B visa system
00:56:11is corrupt,
00:56:13has been corrupt,
00:56:14companies have been
00:56:15gaming the system,
00:56:16this is as bad
00:56:17at the tech company
00:56:18level as it is
00:56:20the way farming
00:56:21and agricultural
00:56:22companies use
00:56:22illegals in the fields
00:56:23or in meat processing.
00:56:26It's the same thing,
00:56:28it's the same problem,
00:56:30it's the same thing.
00:56:31And I've always said
00:56:32when it comes to
00:56:33immigration,
00:56:34you will never
00:56:34stop immigration
00:56:35in this country
00:56:36until you get
00:56:37corporate America
00:56:38off the teat
00:56:39of cheap labor.
00:56:40As long as they
00:56:41can find some way
00:56:42to get inexpensive,
00:56:43cheap labor
00:56:44from somewhere else,
00:56:45they will.
00:56:46And they will avoid
00:56:47hiring Americans,
00:56:47if at all possible.
00:56:49And this now is finally
00:56:53all being exposed
00:56:55for the dishonest system
00:56:57that it is.
00:57:00And it's just getting
00:57:01worse and worse.
00:57:03But here's the great thing,
00:57:05is as more and more
00:57:06people apply,
00:57:07and there was actually
00:57:07a brigade of people
00:57:08that started applying
00:57:09for these things,
00:57:10even if they weren't
00:57:10even qualified for them,
00:57:13sort of thing,
00:57:14just started applying
00:57:15for them,
00:57:16in order to make them
00:57:18ineligible for H-1B jobs.
00:57:20It's all coming out now.
00:57:22It's all right here.
00:57:24All coming out now.
00:57:26You know,
00:57:26and we're living
00:57:27in a broken job market
00:57:28anyway,
00:57:28but the fact that
00:57:29these companies
00:57:29are gaming the system
00:57:30to get cheaper
00:57:32H-1Bs that
00:57:33they don't have to
00:57:34answer to,
00:57:35that can't complain
00:57:36because they're tied
00:57:37to one employer,
00:57:38all this type of thing,
00:57:39is absolutely,
00:57:41it's beyond the pale.
00:57:42It's beyond disgusting.
00:57:44It is the problem.
00:57:45So much of our system
00:57:46comes back to
00:57:47good old-fashioned
00:57:48corporate greed.
00:57:49And the H-1B system
00:57:50is one of them.
00:57:51But I wanted to highlight it
00:57:52because I think
00:57:53I've not seen
00:57:54any really, really
00:57:55real reporting about it.
00:57:56I've not seen anyone
00:57:57else talking about it.
00:57:58And I wanted to,
00:57:59I wanted to highlight it.
00:58:03So, yeah.
00:58:06So that's the news
00:58:06this week.
00:58:08Very frightening,
00:58:09frightening stuff.
00:58:11Um, we did cover
00:58:12some other news stories
00:58:13in the newsletter
00:58:14this weekend,
00:58:17um, which included,
00:58:20what even did we
00:58:21include in the newsletter
00:58:22this weekend?
00:58:22We included,
00:58:23so all kinds of stuff.
00:58:25Um,
00:58:27we included,
00:58:29um,
00:58:30oh, it was a war
00:58:31for culture
00:58:32was the title
00:58:33this weekend.
00:58:34And,
00:58:35um,
00:58:37we included,
00:58:38uh,
00:58:39some really great stories
00:58:40including
00:58:41how the right
00:58:42is going to be
00:58:42finally won the culture war,
00:58:44uh,
00:58:45which was fun.
00:58:46Um,
00:58:46a couple weird cases
00:58:47from Trump,
00:58:48including the judge
00:58:49that wanted,
00:58:49that ordered the
00:58:50alligator Alcatraz
00:58:51closed and removed
00:58:52within 60 days.
00:58:54Um,
00:58:54the Supreme Court decision
00:58:55that allowed them
00:58:56to cancel a bunch
00:58:57of NIH grants
00:58:58studying,
00:58:58uh,
00:59:00DEI.
00:59:00and then we also
00:59:02had a story
00:59:03about Adam Schiff
00:59:03getting investigated,
00:59:05um,
00:59:05mostly for his
00:59:06participation
00:59:07in the first impeachment.
00:59:08So,
00:59:08again,
00:59:09if you're not
00:59:09sent up to the
00:59:10newsletter,
00:59:11you're not getting
00:59:12this delivered
00:59:12directly to your
00:59:14inbox,
00:59:14including personal
00:59:15updates from me.
00:59:16Also,
00:59:16there's officially
00:59:17a famine in Gaza.
00:59:18I covered that
00:59:19story as well.
00:59:20Um,
00:59:21we had great,
00:59:22great fun with it all.
00:59:23So,
00:59:24um,
00:59:24and you also get,
00:59:25look at all this
00:59:25if you get a new
00:59:27appearance from me
00:59:27delivered to you,
00:59:28new article delivered
00:59:29to you.
00:59:30Plus,
00:59:31interviews,
00:59:32the News Hour,
00:59:33and my other podcast.
00:59:35So,
00:59:36be signed up
00:59:37for the newsletter.
00:59:38You'll want to be
00:59:38signed up for it.
00:59:39That I promise you.
00:59:41It's a lot of fun,
00:59:42a lot of great things
00:59:43happening,
00:59:43and it's delivered
00:59:44right into your inbox.
00:59:45So,
00:59:46uh,
00:59:46that's all for me,
00:59:47though.
00:59:47Uh,
00:59:48my name is Cameron Cowan.
00:59:49You can find me online
00:59:50at Cameron Cowan
00:59:51on Twitter,
00:59:51LinkedIn,
00:59:52Instagram,
00:59:53at Cameron Journal
00:59:54on TikTok,
00:59:56and YouTube,
00:59:58uh,
00:59:58Facebook.com
00:59:59slash Cameron
00:59:59L. Cowan
01:00:00if you're on
01:00:01Facebook.
01:00:02So,
01:00:02thank you all so much
01:00:03for watching.
01:00:04I really appreciate it.
01:00:06Have a great night.
01:00:07I'll see you next week.
01:00:08And I'll see you on Wednesday
01:00:09for the Living Joke Podcast.
01:00:10I'm going to see you next Monday
01:00:11for the News Hour.
01:00:12Today's interview
01:00:13is actually
01:00:14Blockchain and Crypto
01:00:15with Eric Guthrie.
01:00:16He's a lawyer
01:00:17who talks about
01:00:18Blockchain and Crypto,
01:00:18so make sure to check that out.
01:00:20And there'll be a new interview
01:00:20on Friday, too.
01:00:22All right, now.
01:00:22Talk soon now.
01:00:23Bye-bye.
01:00:29All right.
01:00:29Bye-bye.
01:00:30All right.
01:00:30Bye-bye.
01:00:34All right.
01:00:36Bye-bye.
01:00:54Bye-bye.
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