Preppers LIVE: Steven Menking (REPLAY)

[00:00:09] Self-Minded, Prepper Broadcasting Network We have to hit the reset button and create a true culture of preparedness starting at a very young age and filtering all the way up.

[00:00:35] Welcome to Preppers LIVE PBN family. I spent the better part of the afternoon out staring across the backyard looking for the perennials. I don't know if any of you have the perennial anxiety over perennials. The anxiety of perennials. The perennial anxiety.

[00:01:01] You know, for years I've told you guys maybe like two to five perennials each year into the garden. I think that nub or the flying Dutchman taught me that. And we've been at it man. We've been at it. Adding those perennial plants, those perennial food producing plants to the garden. Year over year some trees, you know that kind of stuff. And usually around this time of year, beginning of March, it's a little late now.

[00:01:28] But usually around this time of year is when I get my perennial anxiety over perennials. Because there's this moment where like, you're not sure if they're all going to come back or not. It's really, I don't know if anybody else has this large section of perennials in their garden or mixed into their garden. But every year it's like, is it all going to come back to life? And then it's great when it does. You know what I mean?

[00:01:54] I planted some flowers in the garden last year, some perennials, and they came back this year too. So, quick tip at the head of the show. Commit to about five perennials is a good number each year. Because, well, unless you're a super garden stud, which I am not, they die. Asparagus, I've killed countless asparagus plants. You just have no idea. I don't even, I don't even try it anymore.

[00:02:21] So, but there's nothing better than that. There's nothing better than knowing, you know, at the end of the starving spring, the perennials will come lurching up out of the ground. And you'll go, oh, look, here they all are again. The raspberries are leafing, the kiwis are, you know, the whole thing. So, just a quick heads up. Tonight, guys, I'm going to be brief because my man Stephen Menking is with us.

[00:02:45] And to be honest with you, I haven't talked to him a lot. We just talked for about five minutes and I haven't talked to him a lot at all. So, this is going to be very conversational. And I don't, I wish I could tell you what we're going to talk about. I have no idea. No clue. Nor am I at the least bit concerned. But before we get rolling with Stephen, I want to tell you guys about, I want to give you a preview for what's coming Wednesday.

[00:03:12] I'm going to do a very unique show Wednesday. Not often do I get these kinds of opportunities, but I'm getting them more lately. There's a series of books called The Conserva Kids. Theconservakids.com is the website. The link's in the show notes if you're listening to this after the live show. And what they are is a collection of books. There's three books in total. What's up, Silver Streak?

[00:03:38] There's three books in total. And they're all basically illustrated books based around American values. Illustrated books for you to read to your young kids. All on American values. And they have a book called The Land of Opportunity. Which I think is, you know, it's lemonade, standish, it's capitalist, it's, you know, the conserva kids are this group of children.

[00:04:05] And in this book, they get in a situation where they have to make money by themselves to replace something. Right? And I don't know. I don't know what you guys read to your kids. I read a wide range of stuff to my kids, mostly at night. I have been reading with my younger son a lot lately. Um, and so has my wife. We are not really thrilled with where he was at.

[00:04:32] Sort of at the halfway point of, uh, kindergarten. And I don't know how much reading they do. You know, I know they do reading to the kids, but I don't know how much time they have to do one-on-one. So, you know, we're just doing that to get him up to speed. Which, he's a smart kid, so it's no big deal. So, but these books give you the opportunity to, to talk history, to talk American values, to talk, you know, values in general.

[00:04:59] I mean, just the conversation of values in general with kids, particularly young kids. It's pretty, pretty hard to do to keep their interest. I tend to, here's my, my model. I like to read to them at night. And then, you know, I'm lucky enough that I get to take them to school in the morning. So, I can read to them at night and I can reflect in the morning. And, uh, it, it works. You know, we can go deeper into certain topics or talk about things that, uh,

[00:05:27] maybe they had questions about or all that kind of stuff. What we're gonna do Wednesday, which is gonna be really fun. There are two authors who have written the Conserva Kids books. There's three books in total. We're gonna have them on to talk about the motivations. I've already talked to these guys. Um, we talked for about an hour. They're right up our alley. I mean, that, that's just what it is. They're right up our alley. Um, they are a sponsor.

[00:05:57] And I'll, you know, I'll just be completely clear with you guys. They are a sponsor. And they're coming on for a sponsored interview. To make you familiar with the ConservaKids.com and the books. Um, but you know, there's no reason why these relationships can't be mutually beneficial. Right? It's like, I'm not gonna sell you toothpaste or toothbrushes or whatever. And I've told you that over the years. But when I come across a product like this, it's like, yeah, why not?

[00:06:27] Why not introduce the Prepper Broadcasting Network audience to this great three book set? You can buy them individually, buy them, you know, whatever. Um, and most importantly, meet the guys who wrote, right? So they're not books about America that were written by who got, who knows who. You know what I mean? These guys are, uh, well, you'll find out Wednesday. Okay? So don't miss this show, man. Um, it's rare that we get an opportunity to sit down with our kids.

[00:06:57] And talk American history and American values, you know? I'll tell you what I do. I talk about the bloody battles with my kids when I want to talk about American history. I do. I do. Little savage little boys, they like to talk about violence. You can rope them in. And then you can, uh, you know, start to slather on the cream about liberty and freedom and tyranny. And before you know it, you're trying, you're trying to explain communism to them.

[00:07:25] Um, but anyhow, without further ado, let me make sure I get him off mute before we bring him on. And let's get Stephen Menking on with us. How are you, sir? How have you been? The intrepid commander himself. It is a pleasure to be back with you, James. It's a pleasure. I've been, I've been fantastic, uh, working on the parenting and my own personal tutoring ventures

[00:07:55] and other things like that. Um, I had to take a step back from the, on the objective podcast I was running to, uh, to focus on my family after, you know, getting word from, uh, the Lord at the beginning of last year. And so been, been really trying to target that. And now my, uh, my youngest, my, my son is almost one. He'll be one in a couple months here. And so we're kind of, kind of coming out of a bit of a, a bit of a maelstrom.

[00:08:22] And so I have, have some, some routines in order, have some other things to get done, trying to figure out what life looks like with, uh, with two little ones running around. And it's a lot of, a lot of balancing and, and the rest of it. But I tell you what, those books sure do sound useful. That's for sure. Oh yeah, man. This day and age for sure. Yeah. For the PBN family, this, this man, for those of you who don't know, was the man who introduced the concept of the intrepid commander.

[00:08:51] He hit the nail on the head. He, he fundamentally, I think it was for a interview for on the objective, right? Weren't you, weren't you like, how should I? I think, I think it was something like that. Yeah. We were, we were talking pre-show and I was like, well, what should I actually refer to you as? Because this was right when you had, when you had picked up the network. And so if that, if that moniker sticks, then you, you get the credit for it by, for, for acknowledging such a genius contribution to the branding, you know? You've got to be kidding.

[00:09:18] You couldn't have pegged more of a perfect name for a person like me. It's just silly enough for me to be able to deal with people addressing me a certain way, which is like totally uncomfortable to begin with, you know? It's like, let me just, let me just do my thing and forget about these titles. But when you're the intrepid commander, you know, either, either you run into people who are like, this guy can't be serious. Or they know me and they're like, oh, he's not serious.

[00:09:48] Okay. Yeah. So what, so, um, I get, I asked permission for this prior to the show, but I just out of sheer curiosity, my own personal sheer curiosity, I want to hear about the children, man. Yeah. I'm so happy for you, man. It's just, I love when good people have kids. I got my hands full of them and I, I appreciate the compliment here. What, what's really astounded me.

[00:10:17] And, you know, maybe when we circle back and catch up a little bit more offline, we can really try to unpack this. Cause I'm sure there's some wisdom involved. What's really cool for me is seeing the way that they change and grow and the extent to which the choices that I make sort of directly influence like the most important developmental components of their lives.

[00:10:41] And just trying to be strategic about everything without driving yourself insane. It's really helped me because I always, you know, James like to focus on the process of decision-making, whether it comes to the financial side, which is where my real expertise is, whether it's in the teaching side, which is where my calling is, whether it's on the spiritual side or in anything, I really like to hone in on the decisions that get made.

[00:11:10] And for me, it's a brand new test of patience, um, that provides some of the most concrete and immediate, wonderful kind of moments and rewards, but also a different kind of test. But I am truly, um, grateful to, to God that I'm in the position that I'm at where I can work from home.

[00:11:34] And that as a, as a tutor, my schedule allows me to spend time with the kids every day because I, and I, I ran the numbers on this sort of back of the envelope. And, you know, before my daughter turned two, I probably spent more face to face time with her than my dad got to spend with me before I was either five or six or running the numbers on something like that. Because, you know, both my parents commuted into New York city, uh, every day when we

[00:12:04] were growing up and, you know, we spent a lot of time with, uh, with the grandparents and, um, you know, we went to daycare programs and other things like that. And, you know, I, I have no, I have no qualms and throwing no shade at the way that I was raised. That's for sure. But it's a unique, tremendous blessing not to, not to just feel like, you know, you lose weeks and, you know, days and weeks turn into months.

[00:12:30] And, you know, they're a whole, at this stage, they're a whole different, whole different people by the time you pick your head up and you look around and it's, you know, another couple months down the line. Like, I can't believe we're almost to the end of March of this year. Cause it feels like it just started because I'm just in the, in the trenches day to day. But, you know, it's, it's great because it allows my, my wife and I to go through a unique

[00:12:57] set of a unique set of challenges, which, um, allows me to, uh, to try and grow and improve and gain in maturity in ways that I, I have to believe will continue to pay down. So life is a tremendous blessing. And I know when we look around at the general scenario, we don't want to take anything for granted.

[00:13:19] And so I'm trying to make the most of each day to really see the beauty of God's creation and what the miracle of life is really all about. And, and for me, it, it gets channeled not only through this just ultimate expression of love. That's essentially impossible to really put into words, as you know, James, but also this kind of new test, this new challenge of really trying to hone the decision-making process,

[00:13:48] growing in different ways, being pulled and stretched in different ways. But I'm really fortunate that my, my daughter who is almost, uh, almost two and a half, she's, she's a lot like me in that she's extremely shy. I know you might not, might not have me pegged for that, but, um, very, very shy growing up. But, you know, she has an absolute steel trap of a, of a mind. So we're working on, you know, she's just blew past all the colors and the numbers and

[00:14:18] the shapes and we're onto the capitals now. And it's just, it's just wild because she is so engaging and she loves to pretend and she will, you know, have you go through scenarios. And, you know, my little boy, I mean, he's, he's a boy. It's just so different. Like my daughter, uh, at around this age, she would notice that she's like at the edge of something and she would actively pull back from the edge. And if I weren't watching my son, he would throw himself off of anything.

[00:14:46] Like he's just completely oblivious to, to that kind of danger. But, you know, and he is, he's much more sociable, much more like, um, my wife in that regard in terms of being extroverted. And it's just so, it's so cool because they're, they're very similar in many ways, but they're, they're both incredibly unique. And so when I look around at, you know, the obligations that I have from a spiritual perspective,

[00:15:12] when I'm, you know, trying to keep up with what's going on in the, in the financial sphere and the geopolitical sphere and all those sorts of things, um, I have this sort of central motivation, the central responsibility that I'm, you know, kind of, kind of growing into. I mean, I, I just turned, I just turned 34 and you know, I'm a, I'm a dad, I'm a dad of two and we're, we're looking at this and I'm like, wow, like, yeah, I mean, life is, life is kind of real.

[00:15:42] Got it. Got to deal with it. And so, you know, it's a, it's a day by day sort of thing because the unique challenge is presented all the time, but it's a, it's a blessed responsibility, um, that my wife and I have. And we remind ourselves of that often because, you know, we need to remind ourselves of that, uh, frequently to make sure that we keep the right kind of perspective. But, you know, with, with God's grace, I'll be able to, uh, continue to be in the right

[00:16:10] place and the right time for my kids and I'll continue to have the right things to say to them. And, you know, hopefully I can follow the, the scriptural tenets of, of father, of fatherhood in an appropriate way. I'll try and, you know, it's the same old tale as old as time, James, trying to avoid the mistakes of the past, try and raise your kids up in the way that you should go, trying to balance everything. It's, it's life, it's, it's parenting, but it's a, it's a joy that I'm, that I wouldn't trade for anything else.

[00:16:40] And, you know, we have it, we have it so, so good. Um, not because of anything that we do or we deserve, but, you know, so many people are dealing with, um, significant strains, chronic health issues, all sorts of other things that are, you know, that lead to the kind of sleepless nights that will tear down your own body if you, if you can't get on top of it. And so we just give all the glory to God for what he's doing with our family.

[00:17:06] And we, and we pray that through whatever, whatever comes, we would maintain the resilience to, you know, as, as our broadcast says to rely really on, on God to carry us through in, in all circumstances. So, uh, long story short, James, it's great. It's, uh, it's challenging, but it's great. It's the right kind of challenge, um, for, for my life at this time. That's great news, man. Yeah. It's a, it's a, it puts one of those smiles on my face that I can't stop.

[00:17:36] You know, those kinds of smiles where it's like, you can't stop the smiling. You don't understand how important it is for, to me, for good people to have children, because one of the stories and one of the topics that I never hear talked about, and I don't know if people even think about it because we're such a cynical people and the fringe makes the headlines and that whole thing is like, not all parents are doing their best,

[00:18:05] of course, but we probably have a roster of the best possible parents ever at work right now. You know what I mean? Because of like, you mentioned the mistakes of the past. Like we, there's, there's a group of parents that aren't like a part of a demographic or a part of a group or anything like that. It's just this collection of parents who have the opportunities. They've set their life up.

[00:18:34] They probably had some tough interactions with their own parents and that kind of thing. And, and, you know, we don't know how good a kid can turn out. Right? Right. And, and we're at that point where I think there are some parents out there that are playing this game, this parenting thing at a level that no one has ever really done before, you know, because it's, it just wasn't possible before, you know, with the addition of technology,

[00:19:02] with, with the ability to work from home. And I don't know, man, I, do you ever hear anyone say anything about the possibility of amazing parenting and amazing kids that, that could be like nothing the world has ever known? Well, maybe I'm not in this literature to, to follow it closely enough, but I do share your assessment here, James, in that now more than ever, there are people who are questioning sort

[00:19:29] of the default assumptions and who have that as a sort of mode of operation. And there are a variety of different complaints about the millennial generation overall. Uh, but one of the things that has come out of that, uh, to, to the point that you made when we were talking offline is that there is a general ethos of kindness at the very least as a baseline. But with the opportunities that are available for technology and the flexibility that that

[00:19:57] covers, then there are more people than ever who are more comfortable than ever sort of breaking out of the mold in, uh, of tradition, but in the right kind of way, there's an approach that is anti-traditional that just says that, you know, the past was by definition evil or ignorant or other things. And that's certainly not the ideology that, um, that I would espouse. I think, I think that that is actually fatally flawed and of course biased itself.

[00:20:26] But at the end of the day, there is something to be said for saying the structures and the hierarchies that were built up to serve and that are our parents and their parents that those generations lived under, that they had significant restrictions to them that in many situations would prevent the kind of enrichment from taking place that is possible now.

[00:20:50] And so there are any number of different educational tools of perspectives and everything else. But the most important thing that's there is the presence of parents and the willingness to do things in a balanced and kind of appropriate way. It's almost as if people who are alive and in their thirties and, uh, and, and forties and

[00:21:17] raising children, they would have had a chance to see, and this is kind of stereotypical, but a generation that was too disciplinarian and rigid, and then another generation that was too lackadaisical and sort of self-serving and, and free flowing. And so if you can learn from those experiences and say, there is a role for structure, it's an

[00:21:41] important role, it is non-negotiable, but it has to be counterbalanced with the, um, empathetic side that, that really all of the complaints that people have sort of lobbying, um, lobbying attacks at one another on various sides of the sort of a traditional versus progressive mindset. And that, that they're really at the extremes, like trying to avoid, uh, like falling off of,

[00:22:10] uh, uh, a steep cliff road on either side. Like there's pitfalls, there's pitfalls everywhere you go and the balance of making sure that there's this quote unquote holistic approach. Like you don't, uh, you're not, uh, uh, inevitably sucked and drawn into this sort of, you know, touchy feely new age kind of approach. When you say like, let's actually look at the benefit for a child along a variety of different

[00:22:40] lines and let's try and do what we can within limits to make sure that the right kind of nurturing is there. Like you don't. And, and for me, I see a lot of this in the families that I, that I work with that I see enough kind of mistakes, but they're mistakes that are caused by a mindset that is stuck in the standard approaches to things. And the primary way that I see this just because of where I'm positioned and who I'm talking

[00:23:09] to and what I'm looking at is the standpoint of college admissions. And so you have students who are trying to be extraordinarily competitive in this incredibly, um, detailed kind of landscape where in many markets, you're looking at kids starting to think about the college implications of their decisions, you know, before they even turn 10 years old and stuff like that, um, to, to different kind of degrees. Most people are not off the charts with respect to that, but there's definitely this idea

[00:23:38] that people are going to foist upon their children, this benchmark. And, you know, you see part of this with the SAT cheating scandals and other things like that. You know, I feel bad for the kids in these situations because they do more work than I do as, as a parent. And as an adult, they're, they're so in many cases over burdened, over scheduled. And the question is, well, what is this for?

[00:24:05] Is this for the genuine enrichment of the child or is it for a resume to take them to some place that is not going to provide the same value that it once did absent some very specific technical and professional training that you really do need, um, need specific years dedicated to higher education or to serve, whether you're talking about lawyer, doctor, those sorts of things.

[00:24:31] But, you know, I, we can hopefully with the information that's available to us and with a mindset towards serving others, uh, particularly our own children at the, you know, at the very least, goodness gracious, we should really be focused on that. Like, uh, even in a narrow selfish context, we should want what's, we should want what's best for our kids unless we're psychopathic in a, in a very meaningful, like clinical sense.

[00:24:56] And so there is now to your point, more information, more perspective, more balance, where if you really want to, all of the tools and all the information, all of the sort of right kind of modalities of thinking are there for your enrichment, for the sake of the enrichment of, of kids. And to your, to your question about where, what is the upper bound of that process? Like, we don't know.

[00:25:23] We can kind of see what the upper bound of the process looks like with respect to individual prodigies in individual, uh, in individual places. But what is the really upper bound when we talk about a whole person, someone who is comfortable, who knows how to make decisions, who can deal with the obstacles of life. And if we have a million of those people, and if we can somehow find our way into a semblance

[00:25:49] of a stable, non corrupt society, you don't need that many of those type of people to say, well, let's come up with some ideas. Let's come up with a way to make things better. And then if, if there isn't this overriding corruption, then things will get better because the resources will funnel into the hands of those people who can be the most productive with them. And if we raise a generation of, of kids who are properly adjusted and who really can

[00:26:18] take, take on what the, what the next generation is going to face, then if we can deal with at least in some, um, in some semblance, the like overriding macro issues that would threaten, um, threaten our lives and livelihoods. Like, I know it's a, it's a huge if, but if we can, then the potential there is, I would, I would say that it's unlimited because I don't know what strictly speaking, it would be limited by.

[00:26:47] And this is a thesis I've had in the back of my mind as we think about the economic stuff for several years where I've thought, well, you know, what could the world look like? Like what happens if you actually establish a proper financial scheme that will allocate resources appropriately rather than skimming, uh, skimming a little bit off the top of every transaction to funnel it towards, uh, the, the corrupt, uh, central banking class.

[00:27:16] Like what would it, what would actually happen if human liberty and human freedom were unleashed? And I don't think we, we can even picture it because the pictures that we have of utopia are all these tyrannical, like really dystopian kind of things. The type that you've all know a Harari, the author of sapiens and like these folks at these various globalist forums would like to, would like to portray, uh, like there's a, there's a different way towards progress.

[00:27:46] And, you know, we're always going to be dealing with challenges and I'm sort of talking past the issue here, but if we can solve our problems and it's important to have a vision of the victorious side of things, if we can solve the problems, if we can deal with the corruption, many people would say, well, it's just not possible. Um, and if you're in that, um, that kind of black pilled mindset, like I, I understand everybody sort of goes through those times where things just look impossible to deal with.

[00:28:15] But if you look, if you look at the future, you do need to have something that's worth fighting for. And I think that if there is by, by some way, by some miracle that we can throw off the corruption and the just wanton self-destructive nature of people who are predators, uh, quite frankly, and that's, uh, I'm going to be, that's sort of a sanitized, generous way of putting

[00:28:44] it on people who are evil predators, who would, who would seek to do harm to everyone else. If, if that were, were not the kind of parasite that it is on human society, as we've allowed these people to get into positions of influence and power, then we could learn from the past. Number one, because we know what the past sort of constitutes. And this, there is tremendous innovation potential that's still yet to be, yet to be unleashed.

[00:29:13] And, you know, my hope, my prayer for my kids and for their generation that number one, they would grow up in a, in a free country and we need to, you know, we're, we're not at that stage where I could say, yeah, we're in a, we're in a free country and I feel comfortable with it. Um, but there are two, at the end of the day, James, more and more people who are going to say the way that things have been designed for me, I don't want to fit into that mold.

[00:29:42] And I'm more and more comfortable not bowing to the pressure of what other people have to say. Because, you know, as for me, as soon as my daughter was born, the perspectives and opinions and approaches of literally every other person, like those needs got devalued instantly. They just took a huge step down the hierarchy. And whether it's my friends or, um, even my extended family or, or anyone else for that

[00:30:09] matter, it's just like the deck got, the deck got reshuffled and the kids come to the, to the top of the list. And so for me, you know, it's about having your priorities in line. Um, first for me is the Lord Jesus Christ. Second is my wonderful wife. And third is my kids. And then everything else is kind of like, you know, in, in service of those. Um, but then there's, you know, it's the broader, it's a broader group. But at the end of the day, I'm right there with you.

[00:30:36] And I think we do need to have a vision of what is possible. Uh, and for me, it's boundless in the positive direction, but to really take those shackles off, we need to be, um, we need to be active in seeking to transform society into a freer and non-corrupt, uh, place because that is not what we have right now. And it doesn't take, you know, someone who's watching the headlines 24 seven to, to come up with that assessment.

[00:31:08] Well, I think we're reaching a point where the, and this sounds, this, this is one of those things that I'm going to say that is going to sound crazy to a lot of you listeners out there, but just give it time. And we're reaching a point where thanks to the overwhelming and the overwhelmingly public game plan of the world economic forum and how it's taking root before us already.

[00:31:36] I really do think that though we'll have our partisan battles here in the United States, probably forever to some degree. It does seem like there will come a time in the very near future where I don't know what to call them, but we'll just say left and right for the sake of the show and the sake of time are going to come together on a lot of issues, you know?

[00:32:02] And, and I, I say that out of the experience of doing things on the side of PBN and seeing who has been joining groups, um, getting involved in things. You know, I launched this little Facebook page about American energy now, um, because we were looking to build a group to go to Washington protest, you know, that kind of thing, drill

[00:32:32] for oil, you morons. So we don't have gas prices that are going to crush the whole entire world economy, maybe. So what I'm seeing is that there, you know, there, there's a level of comfort that Americans are willing to deal with discomfort. And then below that is where I think, uh, we're all going to meet. I think it's where we're all going to meet and we're all going to say, you know, we got

[00:33:01] to brush aside these silly issues that we thought meant the world to us. But that was just because we had comfy couches and air condition and, you know, whatever, cheap gas, cheap meat, everything was convenient and wonderful. And, uh, that just doesn't seem to be the overall goal of the people who have the power. You know, I put a video out the other day for our members, Stephen Menking, and it was, uh, it was titled, what happened to Putin will happen to you.

[00:33:30] And it was not a taking of sides thing in the Russia Ukraine order of effects, but it was, uh, it was trying to explain to the, the audience on a whole that all the, this, this sort of giant monocular lens of attack that is being coordinated by, I don't even know how it's being coordinated. It's so big and massive.

[00:33:56] It's unbelievable to me, you know, it's, it's almost conspiratorial. Um, but every, every force that is known to mankind or at least to the Western world as being shined on, uh, Putin and Russia right now. And it is, it's a weapon of mass destruction. And, um, I think that is, I think what we're witnessing the power of quote unquote NATO or

[00:34:22] whatever, like they're calling it is sort of the tool in the kit that will be used for, uh, the centers all over the world as we start to sort of build back better or build our brave new world or however you want to put it. And I am very hopeful. And I think that, I think that it's, it's a real possibility that we're going to see different

[00:34:46] lines of communication and different allies at the elbow thrashing level of humanity than we're used to seeing. What are your thoughts? Well, where, where do we begin with this? I think you're absolutely right. And one of the interesting things that I remember talking about on some of our PBN broadcasts in my own podcast prior to the 2020 election, when people were concerned about, you know, fraud and other things like that.

[00:35:15] And even at, even after the election, as those, as those concerns persisted was, I said something like, um, you know, this is either going to be like the biggest red pill kind of moment or the biggest black pill kind of moment. Um, and I think I wasn't nuanced enough in that because it was, it's kind of both. And depending, depending on who you are, there's like just such a huge level of cynicism right

[00:35:39] now, but maybe, you know, maybe I'm just optimistic by, by design, by, by nature, but I have a, I have a tendency to agree with you in sort of the sense, I think it's, I think it's a Churchill quote that Americans, you know, try, try all of the, all the worst options. Like we do everything wrong until there's no, there's no remaining option other than to do the right thing.

[00:36:06] Um, and it feels like we're kind of getting closer to, to that kind of, that kind of level, but, but you're right. Like the, it is, uh, there are very small levers of power that can be used from a propagandistic kind of, uh, kind of structure in order to manipulate, uh, manipulate opinion.

[00:36:30] And, you know, we are in a hearts and minds battle, uh, first and first and foremost, but what people have to understand, uh, in terms of like dealing with headlines and everything else like that, trying to figure out where things are going to go, um, is that we are in 21st century warfare, um, which is like 1984 to the extent that everyone is always at war with

[00:37:00] everyone else in, at war in quotes all the time. Everyone is at war because the tools of modern warfare are psychological. They are informational. They're asymmetrical. They are technological. Um, and it's, it's rare to see the kind of kinetic, uh, kinetic force that is at play in, in Ukraine right now.

[00:37:23] And what you'll notice is that depending on who you're listening to, the fog of war, despite the ability to look at, you know, primary, uh, primary sources on the ground, you know, videos, everything else, like we would be really foolish to make any claims to say, I know exactly what's going on. I know who is involved. I know who is doing what I know what their motivations are.

[00:37:51] And, you know, I can, I can root, uh, you know, I can make my decisions based clearly off this information. Like the fog of war, regardless of the ability to document different things is still so thick that essentially my, my approach is to view everything as propaganda. And then you have to do like the secondary evaluation. Like what is the, it's a, it's a tougher thing to do.

[00:38:18] You can't just take things at face value, but that also doesn't mean that there's this sort of universal nihilism or permanent skepticism. You have to do the analysis. You have to say, okay, if, as this is propaganda, like who benefits? It's like, there's, we know that the, the, the state run, the state run news, like, and the mainstream, it's, it's all one in the same to the extent that people are just putting

[00:38:46] out intelligence agency talking points. It's all for the purpose of, uh, political manipulation and everything else like this. Like the wall street journal had an op-ed about the, um, the bio labs in, in Ukraine. And it's just entered into a semantic game. So it's gone from, you know, there's no such like anybody who says that there are any sort of bio labs or involvement, um, is, uh, is a, you know, crazy lunatic conspiracy theorist

[00:39:15] to saying, oh, there are these bio labs, but they've been in place for, um, for several decades. And they're just being used to provide the Ukrainians with the resources to dispose of old Soviet era biological and chemical warfare, um, warfare agents. And, you know, the question is, who do you believe, or do you take those things at face value? And, and the answer is everything should be taken, taken with a grain, with a grain of salt.

[00:39:42] And it's, it's difficult because, you know, what do we know, you know, as a result of all of this, it's really difficult to get to the bottom of intention or like what's really going on at, at a facility like that. Like we don't have eyes to, to figure out all of it, but we do know that there are like our base level data point is that there are facilities there in, in Ukraine that have

[00:40:07] been set up in part with, with us funding, um, with a stated aim of, you know, essentially defending and disposing of these pathogens that were recovered in the aftermath of the, the fall of the Soviet union. But, you know, that's, that's pretty much it. We don't, even from that, we just don't know what the reality is actually on the ground. Um, and you know, the same, the same thing is true.

[00:40:33] So instead of trying to get to the bottom of it, like really, really to try and figure it out, what I'm, what I've been doing is I've been trying to be patient, figure it out like who is actually doing, doing all this stuff. Is it, is it the Russians? Is it the, as of Italian, like these, these real genuine fascist neo-Nazi groups, like what's going on in the ground and, you know, trying to pull things together because again, depending

[00:40:59] on who you ask, it's either like, you know, Putin is an, you know, evil Hitlerian psychopath who just wants to conquer the, conquer the entire world and reestablish the Soviet union or the, the Russian, the Russian empire. Um, and everything inside of, inside of Ukraine is just like this, this totally innocent area. Or on the other side, you have, you have people saying that Putin is actually, you know, taking

[00:41:27] down this, this global, this global deep state cabal. And it's, there's, it's so far, it's so far afield that, you know, it's just all, it's all underneath this, this fog of war. But when I, when I think about, you know, how you run these evaluations and where things could go and what thing, what things could be, you know, I'm just trying to be as consistent

[00:41:55] as possible with, with gathering information, with not, with not jumping to conclusions and with trying to read things in a second, in a second order kind of capacity. Like we, we have to understand that, um, that propaganda is not the exception. It's the rule and it's the rule from everyone because, you know, if you're, if you're a government

[00:42:19] and you can establish like control over, uh, over, over media messages, then you would be foolish not to, um, because of the, the power that that wields and your own interest in maintaining your power. So, you know, there, there, there's gamesmanship and other things that are, you know, costing, that are costing people's lives in kinetic warfare. And so it's more, it's more visible, but, you know, we can see through the COVID crisis and

[00:42:48] through, through everything else that these same kind of asymmetric 21st century modern warfare power games have been being played on all sorts of different, uh, fronts and have been, uh, you know, a huge, a huge part of our lives. And so, uh, you know, what does this, what does this mean to, to all of us? What do we, what do we do about it?

[00:43:11] How can we free ourselves from the grip of the sort of like maddening circus of, of these sorts of narratives? And, and, you know, at the end of the day, we have to remain focused on our own sphere of influence. We do have to try to inform ourselves and to, and to get, and to get involved. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, you tell me, James, like how do we find our way through this?

[00:43:39] How do we navigate, navigate the territory? At least, at least for me, I'm trying to, and remain neutral is not, not the right word. I'm trying to still evaluate these different, these different situations because there are clear sides, but you can't just say, all right, because someone I, someone I disagree with or someone who I think is evil, like just because they say something doesn't mean it's the opposite. Because you can always find someone to espouse a particular opinion.

[00:44:09] So then you, you take the opposite of that. It's, it's a little bit tricky. And so the methodologies that we use for trying to sort out the situation can't be totally, can't be perpetually cynical, but you, we also can't be naive either. And so it's finding a balance in this kind of situation that will hopefully lead more and more people to, to your original point to saying, you know, regardless of where I was before

[00:44:36] in terms of, in terms of these things, like something is not right. Something's not right here. Like, do we have to be doing this? Like, and the more people who stop and raise those sorts of questions and, you know, COVID was a huge, huge part of this, um, in terms of getting people to say, all right, we're, we're actually like, this is coming home to roost. And we've always said like, you have to hit people in their, um, in their wallets before

[00:45:05] they'll actually like stand up and do stuff. And that's, that's part of, that's part of what's going on here. Um, but there is, I think, greater potential for unification than, than we would think. Um, and so I remain optimistic about, uh, about that kind of, that kind of prospect just because I don't know whether it's unbridled, unbridled and unwarranted optimism, whether it's, um, whether it's a reflection of the faith that I have in, uh, in the Lord, whether

[00:45:34] it's, uh, whether it's my read of the situation or whether I'm dead wrong, that's just how I'm looking at it. I don't think, or I refuse to believe that there is no way for, uh, for evil to be overcome. Um, I don't think that that is the right approach and I don't think it's a representation of the factual reality. I think we're in for difficult times, but if we are going to get rid of corruption, like

[00:46:03] systemic corruption, times are going to be difficult because there's going to be a disruption of, of what has taken place. And we're sort of seeing this in different ways right now. And everyone will have their own take. Everyone will have their own read on things. But as for, as for me, like my perennial advice has been to focus first and foremost on the Lord, to stay calm in your decision-making and to take prudent steps that are within reach, um,

[00:46:33] so that you can make yourself more robust. And I know that's one of the core tenants of, of PBN, which is why I so appreciate the opportunity to be here on, uh, on the platform in, in all these different capacities. So I think you're, I think you're right, James. I think the prospect of unity is really there. And I think people would be surprised at just how quickly sentiment can change.

[00:47:00] Like there, there can just be this tipping point moment that just catalyzes things. And we can see this in various places throughout, throughout history. Unfortunately, you know, looking back on it with the guise of, you know, the potential for manipulation and other things like that. But there is, there's a chance for a real bona fide, um, essentially peaceful and intent revolution to go on.

[00:47:26] And if we, if we really do just simply refuse to, uh, refuse to give way to the, uh, attempts to propagandize, to corrupt and everything else like that, then we can come together. We have to do it tactically, um, and appropriately and, and peacefully and everything else like that. But there is, that door has not closed. That window has not shut.

[00:47:53] We still have that opportunity and we would do ourselves a disservice by falling into this sort of minefield laden with, laden with all sorts of traps, emotional, psychological, informational that, that people fall into all the time. And so we have to be extremely wise and ultimately that takes spiritual discernment because we just don't have enough cognitive firepower to deal with, to deal with the entire landscape, to

[00:48:21] untangle this sort of Gordian knot that, you know, you, it's just too complex. It's too complicated, but we can through that, even with an understanding that we're not going to get to the bottom of it, like from a purely rationalistic standpoint in terms of understanding the ins and the outs of everyone's motivations and what's, and what's going to happen. We can persist with the right attitude that says that at bottom, there is more that is

[00:48:50] capable of uniting people than division because the division is ultimately artificial. Uh, it's powerful. It's, uh, in large parts, supernatural. It is not an easy thing to throw off, but it is artificial. It is, it is created for the purpose of control and, and enslavement, frankly, um, financially and, and otherwise. But I, I would agree with you wholeheartedly that the right attitude to take is one of seeing

[00:49:20] the potential for optimism and unity. And there's, there's no telling like what's going to actually flip the switch. It's like on the econ front, like nobody knows what the last domino to fall is in terms of the dollars hegemony. But we know that de-dollarization is happening now. We can see all of these things and we've seen them for, you know, a decade now at an accelerating pace. And we can, you know, we're starting to feel the inflation of the things.

[00:49:48] So we just need to do, do what we have to do and maintain the right attitude because that's, that's the only way to go about doing it. And to keep our, to keep our sanity and to, and to fight the good fight of faith. Uh, unity is capable of arriving and it can happen very quickly. And it's frustrating to not see more of it. But again, part of the reason why we're not seeing more of it, quote unquote, is because

[00:50:14] if, if everyone in the country came together and unified over something, but it wasn't in the interest of the propagandists, then we wouldn't see it. We just, we wouldn't see it reported. Um, you know, there's now more avenues than ever for actually getting the word out there. But as far as the quote unquote official narrative, it just, it just wouldn't show up. And, and we can, we can see this when we do, when we do our digging. So unity can happen and it might have to happen behind the scenes. The revolution may not be televised in this instance.

[00:50:46] Steven Menking, ladies and gentlemen, let me quote you real quick before you go, Steven, because you probably don't even remember this. But I thought it was so, and it, and it fits with what's happening across the pond right now. So well, um, from an economic report, an econ report back in December to I, this was so good. I posted it on my Instagram. It was unbelievable. Um, December 2nd, 2020.

[00:51:13] If this doesn't fit with modern warfare, which it would have been back then, I don't know what does, but you were, you were quoted saying this is a dynamic cyber and psychological battle that is playing out. And ultimately the information and tactics are going to remain invisible to anyone who isn't familiar with how this kind of preparation of the battlefield is being conducted. A general could have wrote that dude. That is no joke.

[00:51:42] Yeah, that's really well put. I must be out of practice. Sorry to, sorry to turn in a performance. It's not up to that kind of caliber. That's some good wordsmithing there. I was listening to that econ report and I was like pausing and rewinding and pausing and rewinding. And I was like, I'm capturing this because when you look out across what's going on with Russia and Ukraine, man, that is it right there. And this was a comment about China, by the way, this wasn't even talking, you know, this was 2020, whole different ball field. Yeah.

[00:52:11] Same battlefield, but you got to hit the road, right? Same, same, same battle, same battle, different front. That's it. Yeah, I, I, I do. I do. But I will, I will say again, how grateful I am for the opportunity to come here and speak with you and to the wonderful audience at PBN. And I've really appreciated the opportunity to continue to record for, uh, for reliance,

[00:52:40] even as, you know, my own individual podcasting has taken a step back. Um, and so that, that's continued to be a really valuable thing, uh, for, for me. Uh, it's been, it's been edifying for me and I hope that it's been edifying for, for others as well as we, you know, continue to try to walk out our faith in these times. And, you know, I'd love to, love to figure out a way to, to do, to do more now that I'm trying to, you know, sort of get, get a handle on my life with the, with the kids and everything else like that.

[00:53:09] But always, always a pleasure, always a blessing to be here with you, with you, James. And, uh, maybe next time I'll be able to cook up one of those, one of those super, super good quotes. Oh, I'm sure they're in here. I'm sure they're already in here. We love you, man. We love you. We respect you. And we appreciate those reliance, those, those reliance episodes come at the end of the week

[00:53:32] when we beat the audience to death with prepping and the realities of what's happening around them. And they're just, they're perfect, man. Really? Well, I'm, I'm really glad to hear that and I'll keep on, I'll keep on doing my best. They're going to get a, get another one in the, in the can here for you in the next couple of days. And, and we'll see, we'll, we'll see how all this stuff turns out, my man. But we're, we're gonna, we're gonna make it through.

[00:54:00] We're going to, we're going to do what needs to be done, um, for even if it's not for our sake, for the, for the sake of our children. And we can't, we, we can do it. There is, there's room for optimism at the end of the day, not even because of what we know we can do, but because of what we know God can do. And it, I just refuse to, I refuse to believe that we're just, just going down, going down

[00:54:28] the proverbial, um, the proverbial handbasket, you know, just going, going straight to, straight to bad places. Like tyranny is not going to be established. Like people are just not going to go quietly into the, into the good night here. It's just, it's not going to be the case. There's all sorts of agendas and everything else that's there, but it's a, it's a bluff. It's posturing at the end of the day.

[00:54:56] If the levers, if the levers of power that would seek to harm and destroy, uh, even, even our entire species, um, through whatever manipulations and machinations they can, um, when, when the light of day is shown on that and people are given a fair chance, uh, to, to respond, then the unity will happen. And ultimately I've been praying for years that the Lord wouldn't let us just slide all the

[00:55:25] way into, um, uh, the kind of evil that can't be remedied without giving people a moment of clarity that they can make an honest decision to say, are we going to choose this day whom, whom we will serve? Will we serve evil? Will we serve, will we serve corruption? Um, or, or will we serve righteousness and will we serve the, the God of the Bible? And this is, this is the perennial question.

[00:55:51] It doesn't even have to be necessarily a Christian one, but if we can unify around like not wanting to be beholden to, uh, to corruption and the kind of evil that we can't, um, we can't really even speak about because it's just, it's just unspeakable evil. Um, I, I will refuse, uh, to, to my last breath to, uh, to be enslaved to something like that.

[00:56:17] And I know that there's more people, uh, who, if they, if I realized the stakes that we playing for, um, more people who would, who would be on that side than, than who would fold, um, at least enough people to, to make it, to make it worth it. Cause you don't need, you don't need everybody to be, to be awake to what's going on to, to make it, to make a difference. There's an adoption curve to, to everything. And whether you're at the lonely leading edge or whether you're right smack dab in the

[00:56:45] middle, I welcome any and all people to, to the fight against, against evil. And even if we don't know exactly the contours that are, that it's going to play out along, we know that we serve, we serve a good God and that his will is that all should, all should be saved and not that we should, you know, torpedo headlong into this like endless dystopia of social credit score tracking systems and just nightmarish things of calling evil good

[00:57:15] and good evil. So, uh, the, there, there are costs to be paid. Um, but these, these costs are worth it. So let's, let's stay the course. Let's stay on top of things and let's stay in touch. Yeah, most definitely. Let's stay in touch. I'm going to go on Steven Menking. I'm going to march on into the nine o'clock hour. So, uh, enjoy your evening, sir. It's been a pleasure as always. Be well, James. I'll talk to you soon. Okay. All right, man. God bless. See you.

[00:57:45] You too. PBN family, Steven Menking. For many of you who are new to the Prepper Broadcasting Network, maybe you've caught him on the Reliance program. Um, you can go back, you can listen to him on his economic reports. You can listen to those old econ reports. I think they're under, maybe I'll put together a little Steven Menking compilation for you guys

[00:58:11] because, man, it's a good dude right there. He knows his stuff. He did some homesteading roundtables. I'll link to those too. I'll put together a little post for everybody on Steven Menking. Where's my to-do list? So, I wanted to talk about, before we call it a night because we're on this subject of unity, like I told you, I had no plans for this show. None. But, this show was about several things.

[00:58:39] I wanted to make my joke about perennials because I really do have perennial anxiety over whether or not the plants are going to come back every year. Um, and when they do, it's like, hurrah. I wanted to mention theconservakids.com and I wanted to have a conversation with my friend Steven. You know? I mean, this guy, you gotta- When we first started talking, um, he brought me on the objective.

[00:59:08] I brought him onto the Prepper Broadcasting Network and we just kind of clicked really easily. And, before he even gave me the Intrepid Commander moniker, which is just- Just as perfect for me. For those of you who know me, you know why. He was a guy I went to- Literally a guy I went to- One of two men I have ever gone to- To intimately discuss-

[00:59:37] My faith, Jesus, and God. Okay? Like, my life has not been one where I've had priests and confidants. My father was a fallen Catholic who went to Catholic school his whole life. I mean, he had, you know. Him and a guy- I fall in- No. Flying Eagle Podcast? I can't-

[01:00:07] Unfortunately, it's too late. I can't remember the gentleman's name. But it was two men. Both of them aligned. Both of them knew each other. Steven Menken. Actually, I think I met- I met Steven through this guy. But I can't remember his name. I apologize. Were the two men in my life in totality that I've ever gone to and- And had, like, a real sit-down. And I have questions about this. And I was 30-some years old when I did this with these guys, right? And Steven just took his time with me, man.

[01:00:36] And he really helped me understand. And I don't think- Friend to friend, I don't think I have the relationship with God that Steven would wish I had. But, um, man. He helped me along a lot. He really did. You know? And he's always been there to sort of, like, number one, to guide me with that.

[01:01:03] But also, in a way that he's not like, you know, I don't have to listen to a bunch of crap. He's willing to feed me the information and answer the questions I have. And then, you know, say, you know, you're your own man. Figure it out. And that's been huge for me. So, when you hear me mention Steven Menken, this is- These are the things that I am mentioning. You know what I mean?

[01:01:28] It's not a guy whose podcast I went on and he comes on mine sometimes. You know, there's a lot there, man. It's these weird internet relationships where I've never seen the guy face-to-face. Maybe I never will. I don't know. I hope that we find a way to make that happen one day. But it's weird when you have these intimate relationships, digital relationships with people

[01:01:57] that are in many ways deeper and more rewarding than a lot of the physical relationships you have with people. You know what I mean? Day to day. But I wanted to talk about this unity thing. Because there's a couple takeaways if we're going to get on the subject that are worth mentioning before we close the show out. Number one is the trial of isolation.

[01:02:27] And I've mentioned this before in terms of preppers. Because a lot of preppers have an incredible plan to avoid chaos. And that is about as common sense as it gets. If there shall be chaos, I shall not be present. Right? And I dig it. It makes perfect sense. Right? Move away from the chaos.

[01:02:57] Move away from the chaos. Get the kids out of public school. So on and so forth. Right? I haven't figured out if this is by... In other words, I haven't figured out if the enemies of freedom and liberty are happy about this plan or not.

[01:03:17] Because there is a level of isolation that occurs when you move away from everybody and you take your kids away from everybody that breeds the divide. And if you're in the business of the divide. And if you're in the business of the divide. Which, I mean, you know, the bad guys are in the business of the divide. It goes all the way back. It goes as far back as I've ever seen a person talk about communism or anything along those lines.

[01:03:47] The divide. How can we set white against black, man against woman, right? Left against right. Isolation does that. If you're not careful and if you don't manage it, then it can create that. It's just what it is. You know, there's no kidding around it. But you're the guy who runs the show here, right? James Walton, the intrepid commander.

[01:04:14] I am a product of intense immersion in society. In diverse society. You know what I mean? I mean, that's what I am. I'm an experiment in societal immersion. I grew up around lots of different people. My profession of choice thrust me deeper into more diverse groups of people.

[01:04:41] And then my hobbies outside of that thrust me even further into more diverse groups of people, man. I'm talking just immersed. Immersed. The restaurant business. Growing up in a big city and in and around a big city. There is no isolation. There's barely any privacy. And what you learn to do, and what I've always been really good at, is you get along.

[01:05:11] You get along and you start to understand that you can get along with people that you don't agree with 100% of the time. And sometimes the best way to do that is to be as close to those people as possible.

[01:05:31] You know, growing up in Viscos Village, growing up in the village in Marcosville, Pennsylvania, put you next to people in a way that most of you out there listening can't even understand. You know, I'm talking about you go out front and look at the width of your home.

[01:05:52] Most likely the front face of your home was three to four homes where I grew up. Row homes. You know what I mean? Just connected. Stacked sideways, basically. On one another. Like you come out on your front. If you come out on your front porch and they come out on their front porch, they're on your front porch, basically. You know what I'm saying? If you're in your front yard and they're in their front yard, they're in your front yard.

[01:06:22] There's just a little gate in the way. But you're so close with everybody. You can't be mad at everybody because they disagree with you. Right? On something or another. But you also can't be... It also can't be paradise in a neighborhood like that. That's impossible too. So you learn to survive. You learn to get along enough. You talk shit about people behind their back. Like...

[01:06:51] That was the village, right? That's what it was. And... It's just... From there it built. You know? From there it went on and on and on and on. And still to this day, I'm telling you, PBN family. Immersing yourself in society has a lot of benefits. Immersing yourself in society. We want people to do this. Right? We want people to do this.

[01:07:21] Because you start to realize that a person is way more than you think. When you look at it... When you listen to a guy or a girl tell you that the country screwed because the left wing is crazy. Right? And you could see somebody say it on the other side too. Right? That's when you have to get as granular as possible. That's what the deal is.

[01:07:48] The deal is granularity, individuality, and thinking locally. Because when you break... You take the left. Right? Just think about it in your head. The left. Oh. The enemy. The left. Then you break it down. Okay. Who's the left? Where do the left live? What do the left do? Right? Right? Then you start to break it down even further. Right? What states do the left live in? They live in California. They live in... You know what I mean?

[01:08:18] They're everywhere. But just, you know, for the sake of sort of big buckets. Right? Which is where we're at. Painting with a broad brush. Right? That's the problem with the country right now. Who's the left? Sometimes people are the left. And you've decided it for them. Right? Sometimes you drive behind a person on the road. And they've got a bumper sticker on. And you go, look at this left wing idiot. Oh. And now they're going to cut me off. Of course. Because they're left wing idiots.

[01:08:48] You know how I recognize this behavior so much, PBN family? Because I did it with Dallas Cowboys fans growing up. I mean, it sounds stupid and it sounds simple. But that's exactly how we dealt with Cowboys fans growing up around Philly. Because we hated nothing more than the Cowboys. Because when I grew up, the Cowboys were great. The Eagles sucked. And I had to watch Emmitt Smith run for touchdowns.

[01:09:17] Deion Sanders run for touchdowns. Right? Troy Aikman throw. And it was a nightmare. And when you saw a guy driving around or walking around with a Dallas Cowboys shirt on or Cowboys sticker on, you would say, oh, look at this moron. Look at what he did. Oh, look. He's an idiot. He's a Dallas Cowboys fan. Of course. What? What do you expect? It's the same. I see the same behavior, you know. On, you know, the left accusing the right, the right accusing the left. Same thing.

[01:09:46] So, so what I find myself personally doing is immersing myself in communities of people around me. One of the best places to do it is at my kid's school. You know? They roll up into the schoolyard, roll up into the schoolhouse at the end of the day to pick the kids up. There's a bunch of people there.

[01:10:11] There's a bunch of people there wearing things, doing things, saying things that I'm supposed to say, you're a left-wing lunatic. Okay. But what else? Doesn't matter. You're a left. You're a left. I remember eating. I used to work at a restaurant called Alma de Cuba on Chestnut Street. Walnut Street.

[01:10:41] And I worked next to an Albanian Muslim. White guy. Right? But devout Albanian Muslim. Right? He didn't play no games. Which I thought was kind of funny because he was a chef at a Cuban joint. High-end Cuban joint. But for those of you who are not familiar with Cuban cuisine, they like it a pig. They eat some pork. Okay? And I would eat the pork in front of, uh, in front of, what was my man's name?

[01:11:10] I am horrible on names tonight. He had a name that was spelled a certain way. Like it looked like George, but it was Jorge, but that's not what his name was. Hmm. I can't remember. But anyway. Albanian guy. And, you know, we worked saute together some nights. He worked saute protein. I worked saute veg. And you have to work together.

[01:11:39] You're at work now. You know what I mean? You're going to have 400 covers tonight. It's going to be brutal. You're going to be sweating. The chef's going to be screaming at you. And you've got to turn this food out. And it's got to be beautiful. It's got to be perfect. Because this is one of the most popular seats in the city. And that's your job. Right? But we would still have those moments. You know, eating family meal before the shift started. And, you know, I'd eat pork.

[01:12:04] And he would look at me and he would say, you know, they eat their babies. How can you eat an animal that eats its babies? You know, he would try to hit me with a little Muslim rhetoric. And, you know, I'd be an asshole. And I'd say, but they're so tasty, man. What do you want me to do? And he wouldn't like that as much as I didn't like him getting on me about it. But at the end of the day, we had a shared mission. Right?

[01:12:33] You fire the damn tuna. I'll fire the rice for the tuna. Let's get this thing out the door to the person who ordered it. And we've got to get back to that, PBN family. You know, we've got to get back to that. We got bored with life. You know, that's a lot of what it is. Because I'll break it down for you in all honesty. You're bored. You're bored. Your job's monotonous. It sucks. You hate it. You probably hate your boss.

[01:12:56] It's a whole lot more fun to target people, build up the righteous indignation, foist the problems, you know, sort of a Nazi-esque motivation to foist the problems of the day on a group of people. Right? The damn left is flushed the country down the toilet. You got to get granular, PBN family. You got to get immersed. Okay?

[01:13:24] And if you're isolated, if you're out on that bug-out property already, nothing wrong with it. You got a solid plan. If it all goes down tomorrow, you're going to be the guy who's safest. Right? But we just came out of a... We just came out of... We're not even really fully out of. But we're making our way out of a world where safety became the number one priority. Right? That's what COVID was. COVID was safety is the number one priority.

[01:13:55] Shut everything down. Chain it shut. Weld it shut. Don't come outside. Don't breathe. Don't look at each other. Sometimes safety can be detrimental. And we just got to be aware of that. So, my advice to you, get granular. Look at people as individuals. Have conversations with people, particularly those who don't agree with you. Go places that make you uncomfortable.

[01:14:22] Man, I would walk into taco joints when I was like in my teens and early 20s. They didn't even speak English. And I didn't speak Spanish. But I didn't care because my buddy would say, hey, the best tacos you can get are over here at this place. And we'd work it out. We'd figure it out. I'd drive to Washington Street down there in Little Vietnam in Philadelphia and eat the best bowl of pho in the world. Right? And it didn't matter. You know? It was... It was...

[01:14:52] I'd go into the Asian grocers down there in Philly. And, you know, they'd look at you. And they'd go, what the hell is this place? They're selling all kinds of crazy shit in here. Like, what's a 1,000-year egg? You know, I should talk to you guys about the 1,000-year eggs. It's a pretty cool preservation method. But anyway, all that stuff, man, gave me the ability to look at people in a granular manner. And it gives me the ability to coexist with the humans around me and enjoy life.

[01:15:23] And I can tell you right now, if we're going to find our way back from this sort of left versus right paradigm, this red versus blue sort of childish, penny-wearing gym class paradigm that we're in right now, then it's going to come from discomfort. It's going to come from being wrong.

[01:15:45] It's going to come from putting yourself in positions where you're uncomfortable and, you know, being human again. Being human amongst humans again. Yeah. That's my two cents, PBN family. It's far—it's well within our reach. And I think as the Great Reset drills on into our lives, that unity is going to come.

[01:16:12] Most importantly, the prepping community is an outpost for unity. It is. Particularly what we do here at PBN. And this has happened on its own. This has been an evolution on all its own. You know, I never once sat down and said, hey, let's get a little more—let's get a little more middle of the road, right?

[01:16:41] But as I scroll through the website over at PrepperBroadcasting.com, I realize that the problems of the day and the solutions of the day that are coming from the mouths of preppers have very little to do with partisan issues. You go to the website. You can find nothing that is related to the left versus the right.

[01:17:09] And there's something special there, man. I told you back in 2018, I think that prepping and preppers and homesteading and survivalism and the fortification of the human through these old ways and new ways is going to become a great historical outpost for the unity of people. I still believe that. I still believe that being a prepper, prepping in general,

[01:17:36] is not fodder for people who watch Nat Geo. It's not a laugh line. It's big. It's big. It's a class, a growing class of people who have decided to fortify themselves to be able to weather the storms of life, weather the storms that history has shown us, always come. And as we get closer to those storms, the waves, as the waves rise higher

[01:18:05] and crest, more people are finding their way to these places. More people are finding their way to us. You know? And we're not here shooing them away. No, this is for the right wing. No, this is only for the Christians. No, this is... Right? We're just here putting information out every week. You worried about being hungry? This is what I do. You worried about running out of money? This is what I do. You worried about the lights going out? This is what you should do. And I'm telling you,

[01:18:35] there's something happening. There's something happening. History will smile on the preppers. History will not look back on preppers and say, yeah, they were those crazy-ass gas mask-wearing, bunker-building people. It's hard to... It's hard to understand that as it happens. I understand... I know that. I know that you hear me say these things. You heard me say these things in 2018 and you were probably like, I don't think so, James.

[01:19:04] I think we're always going to be this laughing stock for the regular people to sort of poke at. But I'm telling you right now, we're at the beginning of this thing. More people... People are going to take advantage of this infrastructure that preppers have built over all these years. And, uh... I can tell you right now, your kids, your grandkids, they're going to look back and go, whew,

[01:19:34] how did they know? How did they know? And how did they do all of that? Because as a community, preppers have done amazing things. And that's why I'll never shy away from the name prepper. You call me a prepper, I don't hide. It's not... It's something I worry about. But that's because I can foreshadow the way it will be seen in the future. I know we'll be looked back on. Probably the Prepper Broadcasting Network itself will be looked back on as an incredible resource

[01:20:04] that was there when the world started to go back into that phase of calamity. Right? As the world turned back and turned hard into a new phase of calamity, rather than it, you know, an economic collapse or rather than whatever, there was this new thing. It was this new thing. It was this new system. There were plans. There were skills. It was all written out and recorded and there were things to buy

[01:20:33] that you needed and the preppers built it all. Thank God for them. That's what I see anyway. But I'm going to call it a night, PBN family. I thank you. Don't miss my show Wednesday. It's going to be a big one, okay? I'm glad we started the week on kids because we're going to talk kids Wednesday also. I've been wanting to talk more lately. I, uh, I feel like me old self all of a sudden. I don't know if you guys noticed, but for a while,

[01:21:04] I was kind of liking being quiet. I don't know. For years and years and years, I could never say enough. I did a two-hour show, all that kind of stuff. And then over the last six months or so, I don't know, I just... it would take a lot for me to record a podcast. It would take a lot for me to record a video. But all of a sudden, I don't know. Just recently, a couple days, a few days, weekend maybe, I felt... I felt...

[01:21:34] something. Life. Oh, it's life building up inside you. It's good. You know what movie that's from? We'll talk soon, PBN family. Thank you for listening to the Prepper Broadcasting Network, where we promote self-reliance and independence. Tune in tomorrow for another great show and visit us at PrepperBroadcasting.com