This week I got together with a couple of veterans to discuss current events and the impact on the veteran community.
Transcript
Machine-generated from the episode audio and lightly edited — may contain errors.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? I got a very special edition of the Warrior Soul podcast for everybody. So we run a weekly group, I guess you could call it. We call it the Warrior's Obituary Society. You know?
But what it really is is just a a group of us who who get together each week. We don't normally publish these things. This is the first time I'm ever publishing anything like this. And we're not gonna use last names in this. We'll we'll use first names.
But, basically, the point of this group is for all of us to kinda get together, talk about the world, talk about our lives, kinda push each other forward. And there's a lot going on in the world today, a lot going on in the world right now. And, you know, we're we're hearing a lot of the people talk. What I wanted to do was to get this group of veterans together and to kinda talk about everything because I think everybody has has stereotypes of what they consider what the veteran community thinks. And then there's there's what people really think.
And I'll say that I won't, again, use any last names here, but people on this call, they've all served in the military. There may be more joining us. There's three of us right now and combat veterans. And maybe I'm just being a little bit too long winded here. I don't know.
You guys can cut me off anytime. But but, yeah, what I wanna do is we we shoot this shit every week and and just wanted to kinda do a raw podcast here with our perspectives of what's going on out there in the world. So what's going on, guys? How are y'all doing?
Nate (link to this point)
Pretty good, Chris. Doing pretty good. Just sitting over here in Northern California.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Northern California. That both both guys are from Northern California, so they have an even extra special perspective of what's going on. You know, what what I wanna ask you guys is this. I mean, there's a there's a whole heck of a lot going on. There there's this huge thing going on as far as racial injustice.
And my feeling is that what happened was absolutely horrible. What happened to George Floyd was absolutely awful. And as a veteran, I've served with people of all races, creeds. The marine corps was the only place that I ever met of a a pagan and a Wiccan. I had two of those guys in my in my boot camp platoon.
I think everybody in the marine corps gets one in their boot camp platoon. But, you know, I think we we bring a different perspective to this and you know, because I think if you speak to anybody who's really served and and somebody who served honorably, a lot of us are are very much against racism, against a a racial profile, against racial injustice. At the same time, you know, I think a lot of us are kind of being pushed. I mean I mean, one person on this call, and and if he wants to talk about it, he can, was almost jumped for wearing a veteran T shirt.
Matt (link to this point)
Right? That is correct.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
So what happened there? Why why did it happen?
Matt (link to this point)
So as a veteran, I was following what we stood for, you know, by the constitution of The United States, and the right of freedom of speech and the right to gather and protest. Well, I want to support somebody that wanted to see the protest. So I was supporting her in her ambitions to go, and I found myself alone in a in a situation with a different race of folks that were kinda egging me on to join the ruckus. And I and I refused to join the ruckus, and I told them who I was. I told them I was a veteran, and and they told me that I didn't understand, that I was just a Caucasian male, which I am.
And they were threatening to kick kick my ass, basically, you know, in that in that in that mindset just because I was a white middle class individual helping support their rights, it didn't matter. It was just they saw the skin color and they were gonna they were gonna come for me.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
You still there, Matt? I think you got cut off for a second. Yeah. So so, essentially, you were you were you were out there. You weren't counter protesting.
You weren't No. Seeing anything. You just kinda didn't wanna participate at all in in the ruckus that was going on. And so you they decided just based off of your T shirt, they were gonna kick your ass?
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah. I mean, it was just a it's it's it's purely the new stereotypical. If you have an American flag, if you wear a veteran owned business T shirt, it's a target on your back nowadays. There really is in in some parts of this country. And it's sad to say, but it is.
It they automatically put you in a group of of hatred, and they come after your they're condoning hate, but, yeah, they're using hate to get their point across, which is very interesting, the whole situation.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. It's a little bit a little bit crazy. And and, you know, I don't want it I don't want it to sound like like we're saying we're oppressed or anything like that because I think if anything, it's an honor to have been able to serve your country. Right? It's it's an honor. You have to apply to be able to do it. You you get selected to do it.
You you get to you get to do some amazing things and you get paid for it, you know. But at the same time, I mean, you know, somebody like you who's who's put your life on the line, who's not out there trying to protest, not trying to out there trying to interrupt the protesters either, but just trying to to help somebody to to witness what's going on because they wanted to witness it, you know, that's not something that that I think you should be persecuted for at all.
Nate (link to this point)
No.
Matt (link to this point)
Totally agree with you.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
So so what do you guys think about everything that's going on? What's what's your opinion on this whole thing?
Nate (link to this point)
Well, I can tell you how I've been feeling about it a little bit before I get any opinions about specific topics. You know, like, I swore an oath to protect and serve the constitution of The United States. I remember when we were in the military, politics was not part of it. I remember there was even regulations around politics was not a topic that was allowed to be really discussed. You know? And being in the military, you know, fighting against terrorism, you know, something then it was something overseas in The Middle East.
You know, we had experienced nine eleven, but for the most part, somewhat isolated from it. Yet a lot I think it was last week potentially in Santa Cruz. They had cops got called because they had a suspected van with weapons and bomb making material. They showed up and they got ambushed, and I two IEDs were detonated and killed an officer. And looking around how many places are burning and on fire and businesses getting burned to the ground, it's like, this is terrorism on American soil.
I mean, for a few hour, a couple hour drive away, IEDs are being detonated in American soil, and it's not getting news coverage. And it just boggles my mind. I mean, I and about weapons caches of pipes and bricks, it's just no. I mean, it saddens me. I mean, this is obviously the in America, it's the worst I've ever seen. I mean, I've been speaking with friends of mine that are in their seventies, and they said they've never seen anything like it. And so it's just I don't know. It's interesting. That's for sure.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
What what's your guys' feeling on what happened to George Floyd?
Nate (link to this point)
Well, you know, I definitely will preface this. It was murder, hands down. Second degree or first degree. I mean, I'm not the the guy that didn't necessarily decided that. I don't think it was a third degree due to the history with these two people. That's I'd I'd just say that as it says, I don't think it's a race issue issue as much as it's an issue of, you know, tyranny and what kind of brotherhood protection, I think, with the cops. I mean, 16 different investigations with that officer. It looks like there's gonna be some major investigations into that police department. I honestly my theory is I don't know a lot about this, so it's hard for me to have a super solid opinion.
But, obviously, there's I'm trying to I'm saying this not, I guess, lightly, but it's a pretty pretty messed up police department.
Yeah.
And city for that matter.
So
Matt (link to this point)
I'll I'll I'll totally agree with what Nate's saying now. Nobody deserves to die, period. I mean, point blank, you put on that uniform, and you're you're you're supposed to represent something. Justice. You're supposed to represent a peaceful justice, you know, keep the community calm.
Dying over a $20 bill is just unacceptable to me. It's just ridiculous, especially wearing wearing a uniform. And I'm not gonna say, like, I'm pro pro police officer. I understand their job and everything. But as the over the years growing up and seeing what as I get older, is there really is no accountability in the police system, like Nate was saying.
They're just overprotected by police unions and and by people that don't wanna see a lack of of a situation. I don't know. I, you know, like, I'm I'm a big guy now, right, as a civilian, but I you see the lack of discipline in all levels. And I'm not just saying with protocols of, what do you call, incidents, but guys wearing the uniform at 300 pounds that can't even run. How does that represent anything?
You know what I'm saying? There's no if that guy does not discipline to throw the uniform weight and cut weight like we did in the military, then there's no discipline in them at all. And that's that's, me, is the main problem of police departments. It's the civilians that are wannabe military people that wear uniform, and and most of them I'll be honest. When I was in high school, most of the guys that became cops or guys that were bullied in high school.
That's something to prove. Now they had a gun and a badge, and those are the ones that be able to force. So there's there's a total total re I wanna say reform of the police departments, a lot of cities that, you know, a guy that turns in a $20 bill shouldn't have six officers respond to it.
Nate (link to this point)
Yeah.
Matt (link to this point)
That's just my my opinion on it.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
I hear you on that. I'm gonna push back a little bit on that because I think I mean, I think there are so many good cops out there. Right? There are so many good police officers. At the same time, though, you know, if any of us dropped the hammer on somebody and we weren't authorized to do so, right, if we took somebody's life and we weren't authorized to do so, not only would we be, like, really, really, like, spending our lives in prison, but our our our NCOs would be, our our commanding officer would be, everybody it would go up and down the chain of command.
And I think that might be something that's missing from police departments in this country today, you know, where whereas in the military, we have to deal with that chain of command issue. We have to deal with with massive repercussions if we make a mistake like that. You know, it's been done time and again in different police departments, and they don't face the repercussions that that we might have to face. You know? Mhmm.
Nate (link to this point)
I've had my own issues with cops. Whether it was the military, police, I remember not liking them. You know, usually, kind of, either is that general persona where some people don't enjoy a lot of cops. You know, I've had bad experiences. I have witnessed racism with one of my veteran friends who's Mexican.
We're in Florida. Got stopped in his neighborhood riding bicycles where he owns a home, and that cop only wanted to speak to him and didn't wanna speak to me. And I voiced my opinion and risk getting locked up in the process, you know, so my buddy told me to stand down. So there's there's major issues across the board. I mean, like we said with with George Floyd is a great example of many others where they're overreaching their authority as police officers.
And I think, definitely, we gotta change that. And I think part of the solution around is obviously the one thing I do not support is the idea of taking any money away whatsoever from these departments. That is, I think, a horrible, idiotic idea. You have to increase the standards, increase the training, and pay them. Give the police more money to be better.
And and that's I mean, reform costs money.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
No. Exactly. And I think, you know, one of the things we are seeing here is a lack of training. Right? Because if you if you train jiu-jitsu, for example, you know that if you're gonna cut somebody somebody's air circulation off, if you're gonna if you're gonna choke them, you only have a certain amount of time before that choke turned fatal, you know.
And I think that one of the things that happens with a lot and and, you know, to the civilians who are jumping on police officers because of this, you know, the decisions they have to make when their lives are in jeopardy, that's that's an insane thing. I mean, very few people ever get put in that type of situation, to where you have to make a decision as to whether your life's in jeopardy right now and whether or not you gotta pull the trigger. And I think that the only way that you can even come close to to being able to perform in a situation like that is more training. Right? More training, more discipline, being able to to do some of the things that that we were able to do in the military that allowed us to perform.
That needs to happen in a lot of these police departments. And if that funding gets cut, then that's not gonna happen, we're gonna see a lot more fatalities.
Nate (link to this point)
We were trained with how to take down a person, and we would put knees on the neck with, you know, with our own marines as we would train this, and that's how we would practice before before deploying into combat. That being said, nine minutes, nine fucking minute, that's a long time. I mean, nine minutes is a long time, man. Like, you watch UFC, there's bouts of fight. They're not even nine minutes long.
You know, like, it's a long time. I mean, it's to a point where it was malicious and it was intended to hurt them. And and it killed him. I mean, it was yeah. It's horrible to see what happened.
It's murder. And I haven't heard anybody at all support what happened. I mean, not one police officer, all of them. And I talked to police officer friends that are veterans weekly, and they tell me that they they are disgusted by it. At the same time, they have people following them home, analyzing their homes, where their families are at.
They're getting threatened. And that that's what bothers me a lot right now is is violence regardless of which way it's pointed. And right now, it's that's where yeah. My heart definitely goes out to police officers is this is not the time to say, you know, fuck the police. This is the time to, you know, to come together.
Matt (link to this point)
I think one thing I learned, Chris, on that protest that really opened up my eyes is that that post I put where it was a middle aged Caucasian female and Caucasian male, middle class, spray painting all cops all the only good cop is a dead cop on the wall. And it's like, dude, you probably have never been stopped by a police officer in your life, one. And two, what are you doing? What is your purpose of of saying what you're saying? It was very interesting to me.
It was really eyewaking that it was just like a select individuals that had nothing to do with anything. We're just the ones starting all the ruckus. You know, I just wanna start ruckus and bring up stuff.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. I I don't I don't get that at all. The whole only good cop is a good cop or all cops are bad or all cops are bastards, the ACAB thing.
Nate (link to this point)
Yeah.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
You know? And and, I mean, I don't think any of this is solving anything at all. Yeah. It's bringing awareness. Yeah.
The media is talking about it. But in or and this is my my my honest to goodness perspective on this whole thing. In order for this whole thing to work, that guy in the Trump MAGA hat, you know, who has an AR 15, they don't have you don't have to like him, but he's gotta be there. He's he's he's gonna be there whether you like it or not. Right?
And so there's gotta be some cooperation there. Right? There's gotta be some cooperation between all of us. We we've gotta be able to look each other in the eye for all this stuff to get solved. And it can't if if we're talking about absolute annihilation of one group or another, that's not gonna work.
It's not gonna work in anybody's favor. Right? That's the only way this country works. We need conservatives and we need liberals. Right?
I'm not one of these people who thinks all liberals are idiots. I'm not one of these people who think think, you know, just because somebody disagrees with me that they need to go away. Let's talk about it. Let's have a discussion. Let's have an open and honest discussion where we can all input things.
Right? And and that's just not happening right now because anybody with a viewpoint that differs from the mainstream media or anybody else, they get shut down.
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah. You make a good point, Chris, but we can't have conversations if one opinion is dominant. You know, if somebody doesn't like what somebody says and just dominates the the mentality of a mob, then we we get nowhere with the conversations. That's the biggest problem I'm seeing right now with social media. It's all one-sided.
It's all you know, it's just one thing that just mind boggling to me that we're teaching our youth that it's okay with a mob mentality to make your opinion right. And that's not the right way that we should be raising kids and showing the world how we act as Americans.
Nate (link to this point)
It requires you to be informed. I I spend an exorbitant amount of time watching all of the live press conferences that Trump does about daily almost, I think. The guy's addressing the media more than once a day, and I watch it. Because how the hell am I supposed to know if that guy's turning into a fascist or he you know I mean? I don't know.
I don't trust anybody. That's a damn politician in all in all reality. So it's like, yeah, I'm keeping an eye on everything. And at the same time, when you educate yourself, you start to get a little bit of a different opinion. I don't know most of the people, you know, out here in our area that are on the liberal left that would have the patience without being triggered to even sit through one of those conversations and actually listen to what's going on.
And I think it would paint a whole different picture if people are willing to do that, but it what's going on is this emotion. I mean, I've never seen this much hatred come out of people's mouth.
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah.
Nate (link to this point)
Yeah. I mean, vile, vile, vile hatred, man. Like, it it reminds me of, like, terrorism, the the people we fought against in Iraq, you know, in The Middle East. People had just hated America and wanted to just hurt me.
Right. Right.
Matt (link to this point)
Oh, yeah. Same kind of personality.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
So what do you guys think that because I I've been reading a lot about I read a lot about the the history of The United States. I've been reading a lot about the civil war, the aftermath of the civil war, the early nineteen hundreds. What do you think we should do about the history of racism in The United States? Like, how do we deal with that? And and, you know, again, and I have to put the caveat here.
I mean, this is a simple conversation. None of us are scholars or anything like that. Matt's definitely not a scholar. But but but, you know, what what do we do about that? Right?
Because there is a history here of racism. There is a history here of
Nate (link to this point)
Yeah. Absolutely. Equality.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Right? What are we supposed to do about it?
Nate (link to this point)
Well, you see right now the desecration of a lot of the confederate statues and monuments and and leaders that owned slaves and whatnot throughout our past, and so they're starting to wanna rename bases. And I think that it isn't solving you can't wipe out history. I mean, it's starting to remind me of Hitler during World War two. It's like you can't wipe out the past. I mean, at a certain point, you're gonna have to wipe out Washington and Jefferson and all of our our nation's leaders because now what you would, you know, value what they did now, it's different context and it's of history.
And I think, you know, valuing people for the merit of what they've actually done on a macro scale is really important. Yeah. I don't know. I it's kinda where I'm looking at this whole history thing is it seems like a lot of people don't wanna really look at both sides and look at how people from even the Confederate did fight in America as a whole. You know, the Mexican American War is a good
Matt (link to this point)
You erase history, it's bound to come back, period. It it's just something that's gonna happen. Right now is is just this ball of hatred. We erase the history that made America. It's gonna come back to bite us in the ass in the long run.
You know? I mean, there's just so much that America's done good and done right. You know?
It's America. We've had our flaws. We've gone through our our, you know, our stipulations to try, you know, all that good stuff, our trials. You know, we're not perfect. Hell, half the world hates us when we travel to other countries.
They say you're from America. They have this point of view about us. They still call us Yankees. I mean, get over it. At some point, yeah, let's reform.
Let's talk about it. Let's have the conversation, but let's move forward, not backwards. You know, those guys ain't gonna come out of the grave and re bring up the confederate troops again and start the confederate war again. You know? So get let's just move on.
You know? Let's start progressing instead of degressing in this country.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when you think about the fact that, like, the civil war was fought a hundred and sixty years ago. Jim Crow went well beyond that, right, into the nineteen sixties. Right?
And then with the civil rights act, which came around and and it kinda legislated an end to it. And, you know, I mean, I think this whole idea of systemic racism as far as what exists within the prejudices of those in power, you know, I can't I hate to say this, but, like, I don't think I could ever vote for Joe Biden. Right? I don't think I ever could. And I've got a few different reasons for that.
I mean, number one, Joe Biden voted for the Iraq war. Right? He voted for the Iraq war. And and, you know, even though I served in Iraq, I was very much against the Iraq war. I didn't think that that it was worth our time over there.
And I think that a lot of our brothers' lives got wasted in the process, And that pisses me off. But the second thing about about Joe Biden is, I mean, he has been part of this problem for a long, long time. Much longer than Donald Trump has. Right? Much, much longer than Donald Trump has.
I mean, I think people tend to forget Donald Trump wasn't a politician before, you know, five years ago. Right? And Joe Biden's been in the system for we're talking almost forty years. Right? Where does where do we go with that?
Right? If Joe Biden gets elected, is this gonna solve everybody's issues? Is everybody gonna shut up then? Is everybody gonna just stop with everything? Or is it gonna be that that this stuff continues or this this history of racism continues?
And I I mean, it might sound like I don't know what I'm talking about and it's because I don't. Right? All I know is what I see. I see Joe Biden's record. I see that Donald Trump's been in office for for, you know, four years right now, almost four years.
And, yeah, the rhetoric has been a little bit crazy. I don't like everything that Trump says. But, you know, up until COVID nineteen happened, it seemed like people were doing pretty good. You know? Black black unemployment was at its lowest point in history.
We we the economy was skyrocketing. Was helping people. And and that's where I'm coming from on that. And, you know, I'm kind of an anomaly because I'm somebody who holds a master's degree, PhD level education. And and, you know, I switched from being a democrat back in 2016 after Trump got elected, not and I didn't vote for Trump the first time.
But I switched because I see what happened there as far as the opposition goes. Every single thing that he did, nobody looked at it objectively as anything good. Nobody looked at it objectively. I I know I'm saying on both sides, but nobody looked at anything objectively enough. And it seemed like the the left side was just on a continual effort to sabotage anything that was happening even if it was good for the country.
Who you texted?
Matt (link to this point)
Oh, no. It was Mike.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Mike.
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah.
Matt (link to this point)
I know. Sorry, man.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
No.
Matt (link to this point)
But you make a good point. It's it's funny because you make a friend about Biden now. You don't really know much about Biden. He's more on the East Coast politician. Beyond the West Coast, you have your Nancy Pelosi's.
You have your Dianne Feinstein's who were in power during the Rodney King incident. Right?
They did absolutely nothing to police reform, did absolutely nothing for any kind of community, and just let it go. You know? It's it's and she's now all of sudden, she's on on the way. And I and I people need to start opening up their eyes and educate themselves on all different levels and see where everybody's coming from. Because we are just the the pawns in the in in the government scheme of whatever they wanna do.
And it's sad to say, and I and the one thing I hate about Joe Biden, and I'll I'll be honest about it, is his son died of cancer, right, from serving the Iraq war. He has done nothing for veterans on that point of burn pit cancers. Nothing. Yeah. It was fun for two months.
He got on his high horse and saves him support veterans and all this other stuff, but he has done nothing after that. They just they're opportunists. They find a situation. They jump on it. They want the votes, and they move on.
In a couple months, you want politicians won't even say anything about this. Let's be honest.
Nate (link to this point)
Yep.
Absolutely. I mean, the way I look at it too with Joe Biden is I think he's a textbook racist. I mean, I see him pandering, changing his speech to be more, you know, hood or more, like, street. That guy is not it's not who he is. And also seeing him make comments like, if you don't wanna vote for, then you're not black.
And understanding the corruption that exists under the Biden with Ukraine and with China. That guy's major threat to our country is someone like Joe Biden, in my opinion. I mean, he's also someone who has chart pretty convincing allegations against him about sexual assault, someone who champions for women's rights. He's a walking hypocrisy. And as much as when the last election was the first one I didn't vote, I was pretty frustrated between Hillary and and Trump.
I didn't wanna vote. And then being in California, you can call it college, and so we go to Hillary anyway and then have the toys. And I've been pleasantly actually surprised by his leadership and what he's been able to do. I mean, he's done more for veterans than I think any president has done. What he's done for the VA, military funding, restructuring it, making it more efficient.
I mean, he's done a lot for the military and for veterans.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. Yeah. Well and and I see that too. I I gotta ask you guys this question though because, I mean, you know, people are gonna listen to this and they're obvious they're gonna bring up the obvious, which is, has he been too divisive for the country? Right?
Is his rhetoric such that it's hurting us more than everything else he's doing is helping us?
Nate (link to this point)
I don't think it's his rhetoric that's hurting the country. I think it's the media's interpretation story that they're telling on Trump, how they're manipulating people's problem. Trump is not the issue. The issue is the media, the corrupt billionaires behind it, the people behind Facebook, Google, all of those types of people who are trying to manipulate the political game for pure power. They are the issue.
I don't think Trump is. I mean, I know what you say about, you know, what what he's saying in some of his rhetoric. Right? I think I look more at Trump as a fulcrum a between the two parties, that he's not a Democratic or a Republican. He's a narcissist.
You know, if you know if I'm a racist or sexist, I'm like, no. He's a narcissist. There's a difference. There's a difference. You know?
Chris Albert (link to this point)
What what is that difference?
Nate (link to this point)
Oh, well, I narcissist is kinda like a person who's all about themselves. Right? And and so he's hyper focused on success himself and his mission versus I don't think he's hung up on being and and racist towards black people. I nothing in his record and his social circles or anything points towards that at all. However, I know how what he says can be construed.
And I I I every time and he'll say things, and I'm like, oh, why'd you say that? That's not gonna look good, and that doesn't sound good. And I cringe all the time when I watch him. I mean, I cringe. It's like, ugh.
You know, there's a lot about him that I don't feel comfortable watching. And at the same time, I want an effective leader, first and foremost. I mean, as much as Obama made you feel good, did he really make anything change? And, you know, he might have been a good person. He could bring people together, and he may he's better for that.
I agree. I think definitely right now, it'd be great to have a president that is such a long order president. And at the same time, I guess it is what it is. I mean, we'll see how the votes come. You know, election's coming up soon, and we'll see what happens, you know, come coming soon.
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah. I you know, here's the thing. We could point the fingers at at everything else, but the electoral college got Trump in office.
Nate (link to this point)
Right.
Matt (link to this point)
So, basically, it wasn't the people who voted Trump in office. Electoral college voted Trump in office.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Right. As as has every president. Right?
Nate (link to this point)
So I mean, the votes do influence on swing states. So it's not completely avoid of voting, you know, the whole thing does rely. It's just certain states that are like California who is overwhelmingly blue that it it doesn't it's not gonna work, you know. So it's it's just on the swing states where it matters. So votes do count.
Right? I do I think it's important to show up and vote, you know, just out of principle and practice more than anything regardless of certain
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I one thing I will say here as well is that, you know, again, I'm somebody who I voted for Obama. I voted I I I wasn't a big fan of Trump when he came around. What I said though when he was getting get when he got elected to office was that I was gonna give him a chance, you know.
And I think that what you were saying, Nate, was with when it came to when it came to his press briefings and the the sound bites that the media chooses to focus on, the sound bites that the media pulls out of context. I mean, you know, can we bring up some examples of that? Like, when has it actually happened? Like, what are some things that you guys
Nate (link to this point)
For example, they keep asking him at all at the briefings, when is he gonna finally address the American people? What happened with George Floyd? He did. He addressed the entire nation, and they banned his speech from Twitter. And so he said no one and then none of the mainstream media aired his entire address to the nation addressing George Floyd.
And when you actually listen to it, it sounds so freaking presidential. It blow you'd be like, wow. They actually he said it perfectly. He said it mean, that's where it's like the media is painting this picture, like, hasn't done things. He's like, no, I have.
Like, you guys are creating drama. You know? Like, there's a difference. Like, they're trying to make money on their media and they're not a they're not airing it. For example, when Trump will address, they will only show a small portion versus some people will show the entire thing.
And it's important to educate people, not manipulate. And that's what I'm seeing going on in mainstream media. CNN, NBC goes on.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. No. Absolutely. Absolutely. And and, again, I've seen that too.
It's it is kind of insane. It is kind of insane as far as this goes. And and, you know, I I there are definitely times when I I wanna just grab them and say, stop saying that, you know. But but, you know, I I again, I mean, I think of the what politics was like prior to him. Right?
There wasn't there really wasn't much difference between the two parties if you really think about it policy wise. Right? You had president George w Bush, you had you had president Obama, you had, you know prior to w, you had Clinton before that, you know, then you had the first Bush. I mean, things kind of didn't change much at all. And I think, you know, in this case I mean, and what boggles my mind is, like, people question democracy on this.
You know, Trump is somebody nobody expected to get elected to office. Right?
Nate (link to this point)
I remember election night.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Right? Everybody was shocked. Right? And and it was supposed to be kinda like a coronation for Hillary Clinton. But then all of a sudden, like, Trump gets elected and people are like, what?
You know? And and and it was like the end of the world for some people. And a lot of people expected the country to immediately go down hell or immediately crash. Everything was gonna go everything was gonna be awful. And you know what?
If it wasn't for COVID nineteen, you know, things things probably would have remained normal. Right? But that is a black swan event that happened that was completely out of the norm, you know. And this whole thing will will boggle my mind about COVID nineteen was how it got separated amongst party lines.
Right? If you if you lean conservative or libertarian, you were like, fuck. This virus isn't real. Right? Or maybe it's not real, but maybe it's overblown.
Right? And if you're a liberal, you're like, lockstep, wear a mask, social distance. If you try to go to a restaurant or if you try to go outside or if you try to go visit your family member, you are a Nazi who's trying to kill thousands of people.
Nate (link to this point)
And guess who is right? The Republicans who said this is a bullshit because now the the CDC, the WHO now come out that the asymptomatic transmission is highly unlikely. You got people reporting into the hospitals for sicknesses due to breathing and bacteria from their masks and the fallout that that suicide rate hotline is up eight hundred percent. I mean, you have domestic violence up, you've got child abuse up, it's and you've got people who've lost jobs and probably won't get jobs back. And it's like and which was worse?
And it go and now the numbers are showing the states that didn't do anything.
Same numbers.
Same as a number. It's it didn't do anything. It was a mistake. For as long as it was, it was a mistake. Not saying initially, it was what we didn't know, but when you look at it in hindsight, I mean, I've been saying this for a while.
Like, I'm I'm I'm not a fan of how this is being handled.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
You know, there were two marines who died at 29 Palms because they were forced to wear masks on a PFT?
Matt (link to this point)
No. I didn't hear about that.
Nate (link to this point)
They die? Yeah.
Matt (link to this point)
Wow.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah.
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah. Wow.
Nate (link to this point)
Ton Wow. Of shit when it pumps.
Yeah, man. That's right.
The c o two, though, but it's lack of oxygen.
Yeah. I it's
Matt (link to this point)
and the and the thing is is when we talk about the military right now, what people ain't watching is all these other countries that don't like us. They want us to fight inside. They're loving it right now. Weather is building up and doing whatever they want around the world right now. You know? Russia I mean, apparently, Russia's been flying jets over Alaska again and going near our ships again and starting, you know, poke from the barrier game. And then got the North Korea is just doing they're on their own program again.
Nate (link to this point)
China and India are breaking. Pakistan are all at the brink of going to war. Yeah. It's crazy. UFO sightings are up in Idaho.
Yeah.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
UFO sightings are up in Idaho?
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
That's it.
Matt (link to this point)
Support news right there, Chris.
Nate (link to this point)
I mean, we are you know, we do have a Space Force. I mean, if that says anything, put me on
Chris Albert (link to this point)
believe in UFOs, man.
Nate (link to this point)
Me too.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
There's gotta be something out there. Right?
Nate (link to this point)
Yeah. There's something out there. I thought I'm waiting. Just turn this whole thing upside down.
You know what I'm off Chuck takes off the orange suit. He's an alien. I'm here to help.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Yeah. I was I always wonder if there's really a Sasquatch.
Nate (link to this point)
Oh. There is.
I'm sure there is. I mean, there's been all kinds of distinct types of animals and humanoids, primates, and yeah. I mean, I I can see it being possible for sure.
Nice.
Matt (link to this point)
Bro, somebody just I was watching it the other day. Somebody just filmed a seven foot freaking black wolf that has been that they thought was extinct up in Canada.
Nate (link to this point)
Really? A seven foot black wolf.
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah. Attachment little dog.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
And it's a there's a video of it?
Matt (link to this point)
Oh, yeah.
Nate (link to this point)
Seven foot.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
Jesus Christ. I gotta find that.
Matt (link to this point)
They're sure it's like it's like a it's a rare rare breed. They know they've existed in the past, and now it's bad.
Nate (link to this point)
Interesting. I've heard this a lot of animals due to lockdown. I'm out.
Matt (link to this point)
Oh, yeah.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
That's insane. Well, we've gone from from talking about important issues to talking about Sasquatch. How do you guys wanna wrap this up? What do you what do you where are you guys at with all this? What What do you guys wanna say to the to the community out there?
Nate (link to this point)
You know, I think the the advice that I give myself in this whole thing, I've been finding myself kinda being lower vibrational and getting caught up emotionally in a lot of this, finding myself being angry and frustrated and and sad even with watching what's going on. And and the advice I give myself is is to walk into the world and don't perpetuate hate and and really try to raise your vibration and and look at things a positive way and stop worrying about, you know, all this fear and start thriving again. So that's been my big goal is to kinda go out there and reframe for people and and try to bring a little bit more of a positive spin on things because it's pretty doom doom and gloom out there right now.
Matt (link to this point)
I would say words of advice is stand together, we all fall. You know, respect each other's opinion, respect the human being in front of you. Who cares what's religion, culture, you know, race, skin color? I don't care what you wanna call it. Respect the person in front of you.
You get to respect that. That's all it is to it. It's just respect. Respect and discipline and, you know, have that open conversation. You know?
There's no more need to be taking human life for stupid reasons anymore. You know, we're dumb stuff. I mean, in my town alone, a guy got shot for a cutting somebody off the other day. Cut somebody off and you're gonna start shooting. Come on, people.
Let's get together.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
You know?
Matt (link to this point)
Yeah.
Chris Albert (link to this point)
I mean, that's that's my feeling too. No matter what you you think is going on out there right now and no matter what our problems are right now, these are the best times that we've ever lived, right, as human beings. Right? It's the easiest time. We don't have a world war going on.
We've we've got the world at our fingertips with technology. We have every opportunity in the world to make the most out of this life, and that's what I think we need to be doing. You know? And, you know, also wanna say that no matter what the color of your skin is, you know, who you call your god, whatever, I mean, I love our community. I love our community.
I love those of you who are out there who put your lives on the line for this country. And, you know, I think that if anything, we as veterans, we gotta step up these days and we've gotta act like leaders, you know. We've got to to to really be contributing to our communities. We gotta act to transform our communities. We gotta act to teach our children the right way, to keep them away from racism, to keep them away from freaking, you know, the victim mentality and and put them into to productive patterns in life.
I mean, it's up to us to do that. Sir. So
Good call. Alright, guys. Well, I am going to finish this up. I wanna thank you all for listening. It's just three of us really shooting the shit right now. And, you know, we're just wanted to put this out there because I know a lot of you are out there probably thinking about, you know, what to make of all this. And to be honest, as you probably gathered from this conversation, we're all trying to figure out what's to make from it too.
So, you know, we're we're not scholars. We don't purport to to know anything more than anybody else. It's just we're putting our views out there and and, you know, hope you guys are all being safe out there and pushing forward. So this is Chris Albert and my two colleagues here, and we are out.
Host of the Warrior Soul Podcast and founder of Warrior Soul. Worldwide trainer and nutrition coach, contributing author at Testosterone Nation and Muscle and Strength.
