In episode 80 of The Kitchen Table, Ken Baden discusses the current state of affairs in 2024. Ken shares his thoughts on the importance of doing research, asking questions, and encouraging healthy debates.
Tune in as he navigates through real topics and offers a unique perspective on the issues affecting us all.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:02:36] The Kitchen Table and its meaning.
[00:05:55] Cultural differences and diversity.
[00:09:37] 2024 has been challenging.
[00:11:28] The impact of social media.
[00:16:26] Questioning political narratives.
[00:20:01] Social media control and influence.
[00:26:18] Political marketing strategies.
[00:28:13] Politics and leadership scrutiny.
[00:33:36] Politics and emotional attachments.
[00:38:01] Encouraging healthy debate.
[00:40:20] The border security issue.
[00:42:51] Importance of asking questions.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Ken Baden
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WEBSITES:
The Kitchen Table Podcast: https://thekitchentablepodcast.net/
Blue Collar Ballers Union: https://bluecollarballersunion.com/
Welcome to the Kitchen Table, a podcast about where business is done. So pull up a chair and join your host, Ken Baden.
All right. Welcome back to another episode of the Kitchen Table podcast. We've got a special episode, a solo episode, which are my least favorite to do, but this is an important, uh, I don't know. I was thinking recently about all the content, all the things we do, and just the nature of kind of like why we got started doing The Kitchen Table. The first episode I ever did was a solo episode where I kind of did like a little intro, welcome, you know, I don't know, I guess qualifying myself, giving you a little bit about my story. And I've done a few individual episodes, but I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on them. And I think this is a really important one, just kind of to take a step back And really what I was getting at, uh, by the way, uh, outside of giving you a taste of what it's like to be in the mind of somebody with ADHD, what I was getting at was I was given some feedback overall as a whole, looking back on what the kitchen table has been about. I even did a post today, like talking about, uh, What would you guys like to hear more of in different formats, different content, different? I have my brother on and I saw a buddy of mine last night, Brad, and he was like, dude, that was the best episode. You guys could do more of that. Talk about, you know, there's other people out there. like Brad and that aren't only business driven and our demographic is probably going to be focused mainly on either business owners or salespeople or entrepreneurs or want to be hopeful entrepreneurs. or salespeople, yeah. I mean, that's pretty much it, right? Like that's the crux of kind of like the most of the folks who listen to the kitchen table outside of folks that know me or, you know, people who just want to listen to business and sales strategies. But I love the idea of opening it up to like the kitchen table, expanding on what that means. You know what I mean? Like the kitchen table is the center has the kitchen up until, I don't know, maybe now, has always been like the center of the household. You know, in a traditional nuclear family, the kitchen was the center of the household, right? It's where everybody came together and ate. Which, you know, that's kind of a thing of the past, sadly, but like, what that represents is still like where the conversations that matter happen. And so I'd like to expand on that and talk about some real topics and things that are going on. And for me, what's real in my world is my business is definitely a real thing for me that, you know, it's as a business owner, especially a small business owner, but one that's looking to build something that I'm able to build, scale, and able to be sold. Our aim is to attract private equity. We've made no butts about that, but I think that anybody in business should be building a business that is sellable because then all the things that come with that, you're in good shape. But so for me to talk about things that are relevant and important in my life, my business is going to be a really, really big part of that. but there's a lot going on. And I think that just kind of like taking a breather and discussing some things that we may be discussing in the future in some format, not necessarily changes, but I'd like to mix some things up, you know, and try and see if you guys like it, see what the response is. So first and foremost, you've got this episode kind of prefacing what I, think is going to be ushering in a new era of the kitchen table where we can have like a once a month, maybe I have on a guest or even myself. We just talk about what's going on, current events, current topics, things that are coming to the kitchen table. And it could shape out to where like the kitchen table becomes. Yeah, we've got entrepreneurs and business folks, but entertainment, you know, uh, it opens up the window to, a lot more in a much broader audience. And I love that idea. I love the idea of talking to more folks because ultimately I'd like to build a brand that's big enough to where I could help enough people. But I was told that getting myself to a place where I'm able to help enough people first, you know what I mean? Like build my business, do the things I need to do, and then I'll be in a much better position to help folks. So let's get right to it. It's 2024, and whether you're a business owner or a consumer, or you're just living under a rock, shit is not great right now. Wouldn't you say so? My young compadre over there, Rojay, who is, couldn't be more different than I am, right? I'm, you know, late thirties, uh American born uh white male and we've got Roger who's early 20s how old are you? I'm 22. 22 years old early early 20s you know black male in America but comes from Jamaica so he wasn't even born here and for whatever reason a lot of my peer group, friend group, and even just like what we attract here at the company. Like we've got one of the most diverse, I mean probably now it kind of ebbs and flows, but like at its peak lots of Spanish folks, like for a time we had a bunch of Spanish folks like in the office, like Two Spanish women. We still have Steven. We have a good mix of Hispanic, Black, Asian. We just have a great mix of folks. I love that. I love that. I love that for whatever reason. I don't know. I just feel like we get that naturally, you know what I mean? I don't know if everybody has that. So when I say that to say like the cultural differences that come from him having been raised in Jamaica and me being raised here, but the irony is like a lot of the traditional American values are still upheld or like our generation behind are still like, Rojay's 22 years old and he was raised the same way I was raised, but there's a 10 plus year age gap. And it's like, I think we're more close in our values. And then so is, you know, myself, Sean, uh, all the folks that you run with, right. Or we're all, it's just, I know like, okay, there, I already know what you're about. Cause I know what your values are and your values are very similar to my values. And I was very fortunate to be raised by, you know, uh, a former military father who was raised, and look, man, like they all grew up with like, you know, dad's parents were divorced, but like still they were raised with what we would call traditional American values, right? And those things are like, more so than ever under attack in a way that's just like, it's just more has happened in the last few years than I can really wrap my head around. I try to stay away from like controversy and because I'm in business, right? And I have manufacturers and distributors and homeowners who may not agree with my viewpoints and that's okay, I understand that. And I respect that and I encourage the discussion. So let's talk about 2024. in the mess that is 2024, first of all, as a business owner. Every business owner that I am aware of, every business owner that I've spoken to outside of a couple, and those couple are business owners that are in the same space as me, roofing, specifically insurance restoration, and they happen to be in a market that was just pummeled, like Texas, Houston, Texas, I think even Dallas, but I know like the Houston area got destroyed by a hurricane. excuse me, Texas got ransacked by a hurricane. So there was just like work galore. Like if you have anything to do with restoration or construction and you're in a freaking place that just got completely destroyed by a hurricane, you're in that rare instance that like you benefit from that. And so outside of those areas, and then places like Missouri that experienced the three biggest hailstorms or hail events or storm events that they've seen in the last two plus decades and the last year or two. So outside of those markets and other, I don't know, other possible businesses that could be, I don't know, somehow benefiting off of what's going on. Most business owners are having a really hard time right now. Most that I've spoken to, especially in our demographic, I've got several mentors. Every single one has said, hey, every one of our businesses is down right now, except for maybe one. And I'm not going to point out who because it's their business, but anyone who's honest has reported losses, man. It's been a really hard year. We have had a really difficult year. We picked this year to grow. And one of my mentors was like, yeah, you know, man, this is definitely not a growth year. I'm like, well, well, well, well, no one, no one told me, uh, and we already did. So we're rocking with it. Right. But. If you're not a business owner and you're just somebody who's listening to the show and you're like, 2024 has been effing hard, you're not alone. Let's really expand on that. What the hell is going on? Why is it just so brutal a year? One, I think this is not a coincidence, that's an election year. And whatever has happened, and I don't think that it's by accident, things are more divisive. We are more divided now than I think we've ever been specifically as a country, but it's an attempt at dividing us as race, country, whatever. I don't think the race thing worked as well. So now it's like political lines, man. Like, it's just like, just, I don't, I've never seen anything like it. Like I've been around long enough that we're like just a few short years ago. you know, whatever side you voted for, whatever, like, it didn't really matter that much. You could have like a, you know, it was a little, I'm sure there's always like nut jobs on one side or the other, but from what I remember, it was always just like, oh yeah, you know, my dad votes this way, your dad votes that way, whatever, dude. Like we can talk about it, make some jokes, whatevs. I feel like most folks thought old Bill Clinton, was pretty cool and did a good job, Republican or Democrat, right? I'm pretty sure my dad liked Bill. He was a registered Republican, right? Like he did right by the country, right? My wife, staunch, like conservative and most of like today by today's standards, but she's like, dude, Obama did a lot of really good things, right? Same thing with Clinton. She thought Clinton did some great things. Huge Kennedy fan. And she's much more into politics than I am. She's much smarter than I am. But I'm talking about this to talk about that like one, I think that 24 has been so hard because it's been an election year, because we're surrounded by divisiveness, strategically surrounded by divisiveness through social media, through media, through everywhere that we can be reached. We're constantly trying to be separated. And I think that it's because of social media and the readiness and the availableness of information, it's never been more obvious the game that's being played. But the crazy, scary thing is, it doesn't seem to change that many people's minds. they're still able to do it. They're just able to take new strategies and use. So social media provides the ability to put everything out there, but then they use social media, whoever they is, whatever, right? Like, let's just forget about. whatever affiliation, doesn't matter. Like, social media has provided us access to information at a rate of speed that we've never had before. But it's also provided the powers that be, the ability to reach us in more clever ways, in more, I don't know, through more clever means, and using those ways to separate us, using those ways to piss us off. I mean, we've literally seen like Facebook and these other services get in trouble for like feeding us negativity constantly, right? Like feeding us war, feeding us negative, feeding us negative because negative and scary cells. So they're feeding us this all the time. Like I think there's a lot more to that than we give credit to. Outside of just clicks and keeping us on there. I'm not gonna go into too many conspiracies or anything like that, but like, I like to consider myself the type that asks why. When I was growing up, my dad used to always think why was like a bad word. If I asked my dad why, basically questioning my dad, like it was a problem. You know what I mean? Again, traditional values. You don't wanna ask why, because I said so. Because I said so. I'm your father, so I said so. He didn't ask why, but I couldn't help it. So I think that There's a group of people in this world that are the ones that ask why, and that we tend to gravitate towards one another. I think Roger is one of those folks. I think my whole office is probably filled with those folks. And I think that we just kind of attract like attracts like, right? Sean and I were sitting here, Sean, you know, 200 plus pound Jamaican dude, a little older than I am, but, get along wonderful and somehow developed this unlikely friendship. And I say unlikely because we didn't know each other and just went to the same gym. But I like to talk to people and I don't know, somehow we ended up meeting and just probably just me talking trash in the gym. And the next thing you know, he introduced me to Roger. We have a good budding friendship, two opposite ends of the world. And now, you know, We're here in the state of Maryland and good friends trying to help people together. But he mentioned something the other day that scared the hell out of me. Sean comes from Jamaica. and we were doing this talk and we were having this like outside of the kitchen table, just a real one-on-one talk for content purposes. Now Sean's from Jamaica. So Sean says a lot of wild shit that I would not normally say or even like be around because even though I think it's hilarious or doesn't really bother me, I know that there are cultural differences But I also know that by today's standards, all of a sudden the fun police or I don't know, I know that a lot's changed in a very short time and all of a sudden you can't say really anything. All the things that we used to say when we were kids or whatever, all of a sudden someone decided somewhere that you can't say this, can't do this, and you got to think this way, believe this, which I think is really, really dangerous. But the irony is everything that Sean represents, everything that Sean represents, all of his values are on one now, what I would say, side of the fence, okay? But when Ashton prompted, like we started, I just assumed based on knowing him that that was like, okay, he's gotta be right there on where he's going in November. And I was like shocked to hear him say, Harris, right? And look, I don't know that woman. I don't have any issues, but I am one who asks why. That's what it is. I don't know fucking, excuse my language. I don't know Trump. Dude could be a total asshole. Probably is, right? But I ask why. I don't take what's fed to me. And I think that's served me well for a long time. My wife's the same way, she's an attorney. And I think, again, a lot of the folks that are around us, and I think Sean's that way. But what I worry is pandering and this insulting way of feeding us. The powers that be are experts in marketing. Right? So they plop this old ass white man up there that can barely talk and dribble over himself and pump him full of enough drugs to get through a speech and then hide him everywhere else and then shuffle him around. And really, does anybody really think that dude was making any decisions or running anything? He can barely even run his own breakfast menu. You know what I mean? Like there's no way. I think, Dude, I think now it's just completely obvious that that was very unlikely. And of course that's not the way the government works as far as our government. There's definitely been different branches of government. There's ways that things have to go, but ultimately the president's at the top. And I just still don't think anyone thinks like, okay, like, I mean, the guy's going to step down from the race because he's no longer, you know, and somehow he's still there, but that's another story, whatever. And I believe, by the way, that was just totally like done. I mean, he seems to, it seems to be pretty well accepted that that was like, He was not going with that, which would make that a coup, but you know, no one's talking about that. What is even more alarming is that, what, nine months ago, I believe, I saw the poll on not only Biden's numbers, but Harris. Her numbers are like the lowest numbers like ever, ever. And I don't care. You know, I was terrified at the thought of like Trump being in office the first time around. It scared, I thought it was a joke. I was like, there's no way this dude from the freaking one show, like, and the more it became real that it might happen, I was terrified because I was so used to like politicians need to be in there to do that. But what the heck, we went through four years. He didn't do any of the crazy stuff people said he was gonna do. Everything was great, actually. I'm gonna be honest, like, everything was great. And then, like, all the things that were like, oh, you guys are crazy. Like, he was up, then we went to bed, we wake up, and he lost. All these votes came in overnight. But to think that that was possibly some sort of tampering or rigged thing, you're crazy. You're crazy, dude. Like, oh, you're a freaking conspiracy theorist. I think that has been done. That same dance has been done over and COVID, this, this, that, like the people that ask why. or like, wait a second, that doesn't make sense. You know what I mean? Those that ask why, they've already got this like immediate gas lit response to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And they get other people in on it to where like, and they control these sources of media to where immediately the response to that is you're nuts. And if you say that you're nuts and you're gonna get laughed at. So then the ones that ask why, aren't always like as confident to be like, I don't give a damn, right? I'm still gonna say this. I don't care if I'm looked at, but that number shrinks, right? To where it's like, well, all right, I still don't believe this, but I'm not confident enough to, or I don't wanna jump out there and look stupid. You know what I mean? And they've done a really good job of doing that over and over and over by controlling all of social media, which by the way, Mark Zuckerberg just came out and posted, that's why I wanted to do this talk. That's the whole thing that stemmed off of this. Zuck came out and posted that letter and wrote a letter himself saying, look, I'm just gonna come out and say this. Long story short, everything you guys thought was going on, all this stuff that you were being dismissed as conspiracy theory, crazy right wing nut jobs, whatever, was all true. Mark Zuckerberg said, and I quote, actually don't quote me because I don't have it. Look, I'm not looking at it, but said that, yes, we were approached by the government, specifically the Biden campaign and told to remove anything to do with the Hunter laptop situation that was right before the election that ended up being completely true. And they did, they dismissed it as you're crazy. That's false information. Remove it. That's crazy, bro. How is this like, that's like communist, like, this is all out now. How's not everybody talking about this? Because that was all like, oh, what? Oh, you're crazy. Oh, okay. Same thing, by the way, with Ovid. I don't even know if we're allowed to say that, right? We got to like blink these things now. Same thing with that. Same thing came out and said, look, Yeah, they pressured us so we can't talk about, you know, get rid of this, it's all disinformation, it's all fake, right? All this stuff about, and so they took that and took the most powerful medium that we have, the most powerful means of communication as a society that we have now, these social medias, and said, all right, this thing that's going on, where we, by the way, have this agreement with these pharmaceutical companies, massive billion dollar agreements, We need you to dismiss anything that comes out saying anything negatively about it at all. And I mean, that's crazy. And they did it. And then those who ask why, or those who question, are dismissed as lunatics, fanatics, conspiracy theorists, idiots, weirdos, laughed at, and again, proven right. And no one's talking about it. How is that the case? Mark Zuckerberg looked like Mark Zuckerberg, what, 10 years ago? Dude, all due respect, billionaire. But he looked like who you would think Mark Zuckerberg would look like. Now, he goes by Zuck on Insta, you seen that? Zuck. And he looks like Zuck. Have you seen him recently? He's got a little swag. He's dressed like I would be right now. He's got, you know what I mean? But he's got the, he's got, he's probably got a little bit more swag, dude. He's got the, like the shirt, but it's fitting like loose enough, but with the tighter jeans, not too tight, obviously enough to where he cares. He did not give two shits about what he looked like before, let's just be real. I don't know where he was getting his hair cut or his clothes, but he didn't really give a damn. Wherever he started getting his hair cut and his clothes is where he just kept going, which I respect. Dude's a billionaire. What does he care? He starts hanging out with some MMA guys, starts doing a little MMA, and he's doing this stuff, dude. He's not just hanging out with them. He's like training in MMA. Look at the transformation. Look at him now, starts hanging out, starts doing some physical activity and doing a physical sport, hanging out with folks that are of a different mindset, like UFC as a whole. Dana White is way outspoken against all this stuff, big Trump supporter. He was one of the first to make sure that we kept putting on shows during the whole pandemic. And I love Dana, man. And I feel like most of the dudes, again, like attracts like, like most of the guys in that sport are of a similar mindset, right? Now, having said that, he starts hanging out with, he, Zuckerberg starts hanging out with some of these fighters like Alex Volkanovsky and Izzy and some of these big name fighters. And now, all of a sudden he's Zuck. Now, all of a sudden he looks like he's got a little swag, he's got his hair done, he's got a little chain, a little testosterone in him, you know what I mean? And Zuck comes out and writes that letter. And I don't know if he had to, to get ahead of a whistleblower, or it really was just like, dude, fuck this. It's about to be, and I'll tell you why I'm talking about it, because it scares me, brother. It's getting, like, I know I'm going on this like political rant. But like, I don't, I truly didn't mean to do this, man. I just wanted to talk about 2024 being hard. It's been really hard. This has been the hardest year of my sobriety and my, it's not the hardest year of my life because I've had some really hard years, but in my sobriety, this has been the hardest year. And dude, I'm taking that trust me with all the gratitude in the world, all the blessings in the world. But, uh, Yeah, I mean, I'm not out there living like that anymore. So in my sobriety, this is the hardest year I've ever had in business and in life. My wife and I have been going through and trying to build a family. There's a lot of stuff that Trump's talking about recently that could be a big, big benefit to us if that's something we need to pursue. Like, uh, But even still, I don't like this idea of Trump and Kamala, that's what they want you to do. That's what they want. You know what I'm saying? That's where I was going at with my buddy from Jamaica, that pandering of them being this really good marketing tool. That's what they are. They're a massive, in politics, a big marketing tool. So they prop up and say, okay, we're gonna put this attractive black woman. You don't think that they think about all of that, right? Like, we're gonna have this,
Ken Baden
She polls really well with black males and black women and white women and white males from like, you know what I mean?
Like they know all these numbers. They know all of this stuff. Cause they do their research, they're smart, right? And then they prop old, you know, big orange up to be like the most hated dude ever. And they print all this stuff and they run everything and they control all the narratives. And they make everybody who backs the dude up, they make it so bad that nobody wants to even admit they vote for the dude, but something's changed this time. You know what I mean? Like people are universally like, this sucks. You know what I mean? 22, 38, 29, 49, 59, like the shit right now sucks. It's scary to think that it could get worse than this. And if you think for one second that that old man was running anything, you're crazy as hell. You know better than that. And like, if he wasn't, then who was, and why would anything be different? She's the VP. If you agree that this man that's in office currently was not fit, couldn't have been making decisions, then whomever was already making decisions was making those decisions while she was there and will continue to make those decisions while she continues to be there. So in other words, nothing's gonna change, bro. And ask yourself this, if you're like, okay, I'm voting for either one. Why? Is it because of their skin color, their sex, their religion? You just think they're cool? Like I saw this video on these people, man, talking about who Eva, oh, Kamala. Why? Well, what do you think's the best thing she's done while she's been VP? Did you see that? Wild. Wild, bro. Not a freaking person could give an answer. I don't know. She made it to VP is what one guy said. I became the VP, I guess. Like, this shit's not funny, man. And it was all old white people. The hell's wrong with you? Or white people, like weird looking white people. And why is it all y'all are ugly? It's weird, dude. Am I right? Like, It's all these ugly, weird white people, like, what's wrong with y'all, man? That's why my guys like Sean, good looking, muscular paws, or whatever you young people would say, good looking, I can say another man, he's a good looking man, you know what I mean? He's a fit, good looking, tall, big leader style black man in a community, and a leader in his community has got, to know, you know, I'm not telling my man what to do, but like, well, I want to have him want to have a conversation. That's what I want to do. I want to have him want, because I know he's smart enough and he's one who asks why. But what I worry about is when they pander to just, this guy sucks, this guy's an idiot, this guy's bad, let's make him everything they hate and let's control the media. And if you like, oh, that's crazy, that's crazy. Do you not just read what the owner of Facebook just posted? Like he just told you that they absolutely do that. You know what I mean? Like, my God, open your eyes. Like, what in the world else do you need to see? Oh, this isn't what it is two years later. That's exactly what it was. All of it. All of it. Man, like if you're one who asks why, then you know what I'm talking about. And I'm like, I'm not trying to preach to you, but I am really worried. Telling you, we were just talking about it. I'm doing this because I'm worried. I'm scared as a business owner, as a, as a husband and as a hopeful father, I'm worried. And I implore you wherever you decide, look, if you do all the research and you own an unbiased heart, Not an angry, ugly white person heart, but an unbiased, not because you want, my God, man, I don't know. Like we just want to be, and that's where I'm telling you, Sean, I don't think he realizes how far off of things, you know what I'm saying? I'm like, you're on the wrong team, dude. The way everything you got going on is pretty much the exact opposite of what, like he is this traditional valued and would not accept I'll go into that another day. There's a whole nother episode. There's a whole nother episode. But having said that, those are the things I think you need to look at. What are my values? What are my traditional values? What is it that affects me and us? We need to think about us, not just me, us. We are all in this together. What are we going through? Can we pay for groceries? Can we pay for gas? Do we have jobs? Don't play me some stupid BS, like, well, stock market's up, blah, blah, blah, blah, and the over-inflated nonsense bull crap, like, that can be easily just dismissed. Like, they print what they want to print. It's like, do your research, is what they're saying, because if you were around, if it doesn't pass the smell test, chances are it's BS. If it's like, oh, well, stocks are up the best they've ever been. What are they really saying? You know what I'm saying? It's the best of the shittiest months. Is that what they're really saying? Or is it like, whatever, do your research? Or is it like, well, this is up and we're going to print this to make it seem like things are going well, but in reality, these are inflated BS numbers because it's all hinging on tech stuff. and overinflated BS, that's not really a good actual indication of where our economy is at. And we all know that because we are all experiencing it. You know what I mean? Just use your brain. All right, listen, I'm not going to keep beating this political stuff into a to death i guess i did kind of hijack this and take it into a politics thing which is the exact opposite i was trying to do i promise you but i would say this as a business owner husband and future father i'm scared so i would again implore you come together let's all let's all be collectively the ones who ask why like Ask it together. I don't care if who you vote for is truly who you vote for based on logic, research, policy, and that's what you're all about, then look, I can't be mad at you. I can disagree, but I think that the level of emotion and almost like craziness that they have created on purpose. They've turned this stuff into religion, man. That's what it feels like. People are so attached to these things, these ideals. It's like a religion, you know what I mean? It's insane. We have to be able to have conversations with one another. I might not agree with you, but if you start hollering and screaming at me and tell me what I gotta do, I am the one who asks why. and I'm not going for that. So I'm going to resist. Now I'm yelling and screaming and we're getting nothing done. You know what I mean? Like collectively as a country, we're all in this together, as a world, we're all in this together. We only got one. So again, I encourage you, do your research. You know, I got scared today talking about that being taxed on unrealized gains, right? Like Kamala's stuff about, and to be fair, my wife and I were talking and she's like, well, to play devil's advocate and starts to explain a little bit more about what she had read. And it's not only, that's what I love about my wife. She's always giving both sides. She just wants to be equally informed. You know what I mean? And so like, and even what she was saying didn't help my theory on like, oh my God, we're gonna, you know, cause what I was reading was like, we're going to be taxed on unrealized gains. So if you buy a house or you have a rental property and that rental property goes up, you're going to be taxed on that. And no one's going to be able to afford to have anything. We're all totally screwed. And she's like, well, they're trying to, one, that wouldn't happen. It wouldn't pass through anything. And she's just very smart. And I haven't read it myself. I've only read the articles bitching about it. So to be fair, to her point, I need to do some more research. That's what I'm saying to do. Do some research. Don't just buy the headline on anything across the board. Like don't, what is it? Something you're lying eyes? Like, I don't know, like your eyes, Like what's right in front of you, you know what I mean? I can't remember the quote, it was a cool quote. I don't know, it's like something you're lying eyes, I don't know. But the idea being, you don't need the headlines and the this and the that, like we're living it. You know what I'm saying? There's only so much that can occur to where eventually it's like, I'm experiencing this from day to day. I'm seeing the state of the union and the union as it means blue collar businesses, where nobody's doing this work. And there's no one on the, it's just, what? And there's jobs, for sure. There's no one to do them. I've seen that, I've seen, Business is incurring massive layoffs. I've seen massive inflation. I've seen all the tax rates really great right now, but it's going way the hell up in the future. These are things I am so worried that we just are going to get ourselves in a situation we can't get out of, so again. My thinking is, number one, look what's out there and look at the moving parts, right? Like, look at my man, Zuck, because we got Zuckerberg and we got Zuck. Zuck wrote that letter. Zuckerberg was on some nerdy stuff, and I still think they're doing everything. Obviously, they're doing stuff to hide, and they're still quieting people. When you see these things, right? Like Elon, Zuck, like Elon's like jumping over here. I don't know, man. It's just keeping up with all this lot. It's very exhausting. We've all got enough to deal with. Again, I'm sorry for taking this into a full-on political rant, but as a business owner, as again, a friend, a husband, and a hopeful father, I would just hope that we all collectively do our research. This next two months are very, very important. Do your research. Do some counter information, right? Like look, you know, be my wife and that she's going to look into, well, hold on. Actually, what it really says is this, right? make sure that your news sources are reliable. Don't be so gullible into thinking like, again, Zuck just told you, yup, that was true, right? So why would it be so hard to believe that like, it's very well known that like NBC, ABC, MSNBC, like these are all, on the political spectrum, historically, left wing, and then you got Fox, which may or may not be, but it's supposed to be right wing. The point is, if you know, you can tell when there's an obvious bias, if you don't have a bias or a small bias, even, you can still sniff it out. So I would encourage you, go in there, all of it, with an open mind, and just kind of, let's all, for the love of God, try and just, you know, I don't know, love each other, have discussions, encourage healthy discussion. Like that's my whole, let me leave you guys with this. I would love to see the idea come back that like, it's, let's encourage debate. Let's encourage a healthy debate and healthy discussion about all of these things. Right. Not just take it or, or else, you know what I'm saying? Like without the, without the, without encouraging that a healthy debate or healthy discussion of things, then there's only, you know, an authoritative, oppressive system going on. You know what I mean? Like, if we can't have an open dialogue, then all there is is just do what you're told. You know what I'm saying? So like, let's all let's let's bring back like, being able to sit down and discuss and disagree and ask questions. You know what I mean? Like, I don't think there's nothing wrong with that. I encourage all of that. So this is gonna be aired, I don't know, September. You got two months, do your research. For the love of God, just vote not with your heart, but with your brain, with your brain. You know what I mean? Like, do some research, please. It's so important. You know, nobody can ask anything more of you than that. I love all y'all. You know what I mean? I really do. Like, we're all here together. I've got people on both ends of my family that are voting here, voting there in this big line of crazy. I got Uncle, hey, and I love him and I'm not even gonna put him on blast, but you know who you are and you went way too far left on some crazy, like, I can't say anything without, he just goes off. And I'm like, bro, that's weird. You're like my favorite uncle, dude. Cool as hell. Until, like what happened to you? You know what I mean? Like this became a religion for him. It's bizarre. And it's like, that's costing you relationships, brother. You know what I mean? Like this ain't, these people aren't worth that. These people work for us. They work for us. Never forget that all of them are being, we need to make sure that we hold them. That's what they, that's what worries me. I'm going off on these tangents, but all these folks in elected offices are supposed to be elected officials. If it's a fair election, I worry about that. right? Because it seems like a lot of stuff like, why would the border be wide the hell open? Why would you openly destroy? If you're going to sit here and act like that's just not happening, I don't care what side of the aisle. It's just been wide open. It has been wide open. We've just been talking about it, kicking it around. Why is the border wide open? It's been wide open. Then you have things like, in Minnesota, the current hopeful VP, according to the Democratic Party, who is writing into law where illegals can get driver's license. And everybody's, yeah. I'm like, why? I don't understand. What's that doing for the people of Minnesota? Like, but encouraging illegals to come there. And like, I love, and illegals are anyone entering this country illegally. And if you think that from the Southern border, it's just Hispanics, bro, have you seen? It is not just, it's Haitians, Africans, Russians, Asians, like everybody's just coming up to the Southern border. Cubans, everybody, because you know why? Because it's wide open. Middle Eastern, everyone, a completely wide open southern border. So if not to just tear down the country that you are trying to run, why would you do that? Are you so obsessed with power that you're willing to destroy your own country? to get a group of folks in, so it's one of two reasons. One, either to just destroy the country, like period. Two, to get a group of folks that don't have allegiance to anything going on here, but just to you for letting them in and then allowing them to vote. And that gets pulled more into question by the folks that ask why, when they connect a couple dots and they see like, why the hell would this dude in Minnesota, who's now the VP, who put in the law, yeah, we're gonna give these guys IDs. Why? We need an ID to vote. We might. You know what I mean? Like, come on, bro. Like what? You know what I mean? Like, starts to start to like, starts to make you want to ask a couple questions. You know what I mean? Like, hold up. And I am not, I have been driven into, and it's crazy that I have to have fear about asking questions lest I be canceled for asking questions. That is insane. I don't give a damn. You can't cancel somebody who doesn't give a damn. Talking to somebody who lived on the streets and shot heroin and has been, through hell and back 700 times. You know what I mean? So I don't know why I even thought about that. Only because I don't want to hurt any feelings. I've got a lot of folks that are on different ends of the spectrum. Like I said, my grandmother was a lesbian. My uncle's a staunch conservative. This uncle's a star. I just try to appease everybody. You know what I'm saying? But man, things are bad enough to where it's like, I have to have a conversation. I have a platform, I'm gonna use it. I don't care who hears it. I love my listeners to death. I'm so sorry for going off on a tangent, but I'm not sorry for standing up what I believe in and for asking why. And I encourage you to do the same because it is two months away from one of the most important elections we have ever had in our lifetime. And I would just again ask that you do your research, do your homework, know what's the policy. What is the policy that you are voting for? Not the race, the skin color, the sex, or the popularity. What is the policy? Is that what you want? is what is best for your kids, for you, for the schools. Do this at the local level. That's where we have the power. These people work for us. If we vote them in and the vote is real, which is sad, we have to even question that, they work for us. So make them earn it. Love you guys. We'll be back next week with your traditional stuff, but we're going to do more of this, like chit chat, have a good time, bring in some good guests and talk about real stuff that's really going on. And that's a real hot topic, hot take, uh, both with my brother and some other fun guests. I will be back with another business owner next week at the kitchen table. I love you guys. God bless.
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