This week on Change My Minds, we re talking about Black Friday, the government shutdown, and why you should be thankful you ve never been on Black Friday. Plus, a story about a group that s been trying to help victims of the Black Friday scam since 2015.
00:00:24.000See, YouTube never thought of Mug Club as any kind of a threat.
00:00:27.000Here in Silicon Valley, we thought that a few hundred thousand subscribers wouldn't amount to anything.
00:00:32.000Certainly not something to worry about.
00:00:35.000But after deplatforming Alex Jones and Gavin McInnes as the club grew, the powers that be knew we had a problem.
00:00:42.000With over 5,000 people a day subscribing to the channel and thousands of new Mug Club members joining each month, to say that Mug Club had become a bona fide sh** show would be the understatement of the year.
00:00:57.000We had no idea how so many mugs were being transported right under our noses.
00:01:02.000That is, until we found Black O' Mugskabar.
00:01:06.000See, YouTube always thought that Mug Club would be paywall content, a problem that would solve itself once everyone got off the platform.
00:01:13.000But Black O' Mugskabar had other plans.
00:01:16.000Mugskabar was organized, with contacts all over the intellectual dark web and members with eyes and ears everywhere.
00:01:24.000He even hired a cutthroat half-Asian lawyer.
00:01:26.000Demonetization and hard strikes didn't even seem to make a dent.
00:01:30.000And by 2019, the elites in Silicon Valley knew they had a real problem.
00:06:37.000It's the thing that goes by when Boris and Natasha are at the train tracks and then clearly gay, deadly do-right comes in and says, I'm not a homo!
00:06:47.000But hey, we have Anthony Cumia on the show.
00:06:49.000We're going to be talking about the government shutdown.
00:06:52.000We had two Change My Mind installments this week.
00:07:44.000So we're going to be talking about the government shutdown, getting through the top five myths, actually, the top lies that you've heard from the media.
00:07:49.000Before that, of course, leading the news is that Nancy Pelosi has canceled the State of the Union, and our president quickly responded in classic fashion.
00:08:00.000The State of the Union speech has been cancelled by Nancy Pelosi because she doesn't want to hear the truth.
00:08:08.000She doesn't want the American public to hear what's going on.
00:09:43.000The bill actually restricts late-term abortions, adding a broad health exception for abortions after 24 weeks up to nine months of pregnancy for, quote, age, economic, social, and emotional factors.
00:09:56.000Not to be outdone, 2020 candidate Kristen Gillibrand pledged to make abortion legal up until and including the ninth trimester.
00:10:46.000I understand if you come down on the other side of this argument, but to celebrate it like that so openly when at least half of the population believes you're killing a child?
00:11:00.000Hank on one tower, and to celebrate the abortion law, they just broadcast in a large-sized projection screen, machete on the other side.
00:11:08.000Danny Trejo is a supporter of this law.
00:11:10.000If that last story, by the way, didn't make you stabby enough, X-Men director, this has been going around the news sites all week, Bryan Singer is now facing new allegations, surprise, of sex with underage boys.
00:11:20.000An extensive investigation into the director found four boys, a 13-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 17-year-old, and a 17 or 18-year-old, at this point, who can tell?
00:11:30.000Who describe experiences ranging from misconduct, and as seen in the latest, I think, Access Entertainment special, all the way up to rape.
00:11:40.000While many were initially uncomfortable with the approaches, it was only discovered to be sexual assault when they realized his name was Bryan Singer.
00:11:49.000Singer defended himself in a statement released earlier today, claiming, none of my partners were underage.
00:13:09.000The dead bald eagle was found in a freezer in one of the homes, though it's unknown how the dead eagle came to roost there, as the suspect was not home during the search.
00:13:18.000Saddest of all, we may never actually know what the most patriotic rotisserie actually tastes like.
00:14:24.000There's a trailer, a horse trailer that this guy stole.
00:14:26.000And they're like, the lead is the bald eagle.
00:14:28.000By the way, I don't know if you saw this, but within the last couple of hours or so, HuffPo's opinion column, their entire opinion staff fired.
00:15:09.000Depends if the girl from that show Ozarks is pronouncing it, in which case she just electrocutes you on a dock.
00:15:13.000Finally, in international news, last year before we get to the top myths of the government shutdown, a man injected himself Okay, if you have kids in the room, this is a true story.
00:15:22.000So, a man injected himself with his own semen to treat back pain.
00:15:26.000According to the Irish Examiner, the man had a history of chronic pain and subsequently admitted he had been injecting himself with his own stuff for a year and a half as an innovative man.
00:17:41.000You may want to lay off the proper talk.
00:17:43.000Yes, we do want to talk now about government shutdown.
00:17:46.000How has the government shutdown affected you, specifically?
00:17:49.000Because I notice there's a big disconnect between how the shutdown has affected actual people versus how the media is portraying it.
00:17:55.000Everyone I talk to about, we'll talk with Andy and Camille about this, They all say, mostly fine, unless you work for the federal
00:18:01.000government. I get it. I do have sympathy.
00:18:04.000I do have empathy for these people. Not all of them. Not all of them. Not the lady at the DMV.
00:18:07.000She deserves it, apparently. Put some context here. We're a month into the longest government
00:18:12.000shutdown in history. So what really has been going on? Let's Let's just go through the top five lies I think that are important that everyone has been fed, and I think they believe.
00:18:21.000So we've been told, of course, number five, we're going in descending order here.
00:19:49.000But do you ever notice that the non-starter seems to be whatever the Republicans want?
00:19:52.000Because a couple years ago, When it was the Republican House, Republican Senate, it's like, well, you can't pass that bill because Barack Obama won't sign it.
00:22:00.000So the cause of this shutdown, it's over a dispute between the 1.3 billion that Democrats have agreed to and the 5.7 billion that Donald Trump wants.
00:22:35.000Yeah, and also, if this is too costly, when it comes time to hear about Bernie and Cortez's Green New Deal, If this is too costly, they can take that green New Deal, shine it up real nice, turn it sideways, and shove it somewhere.
00:23:10.000Because if you're going to tell me that I have to spend $5 or $6 billion, I have $112 billion that I can save every year from here until eternity afterwards for $5 or $6 billion, that's a great deal.
00:23:20.000Everybody should be jumping at that deal.
00:23:22.000It's like putting insulation in your house.
00:23:59.000This is the big one that everyone has been using to try and lay this at the feet of President Trump and Republicans, that Donald Trump is completely unwilling to compromise.
00:24:09.000You know, you call it the Trump shutdown, but I mean, it takes two to tango.
00:26:48.000Well, and every time the left wants to talk about this right now in the media, they say, open up the government and then we will negotiate.
00:26:53.000That is the dumbest thing that I've heard because it's a complete lie.
00:26:56.000If they open up the government, they lose all leverage that they have right now to get them to actually move on something.
00:27:02.000Democrats aren't going to bring this up at all.
00:28:00.000We've covered how illegal immigrants commit disproportionately more crime, and people try to cite this study, they go, actually, immigrants commit less crime.
00:28:08.000Well, that study includes legal immigrants, dummy.
00:28:10.000That's the big bait-and-switch that nobody talks about.
00:28:12.000It's really hard to know how much crime is committed by illegal immigrants because they're here illegally, but guess what?
00:28:17.000Every single crime that's committed by an illegal immigrant is one committed by somebody who had no business being here in the first place.
00:28:22.000Ergo, we have more crime because they're here, okay?
00:28:26.000The same day Acosta posted that clip, right?
00:28:29.000They found 21 burned corpses in a border town not far from where he did that selfie video.
00:28:37.000Not to mention, the majority of the people who claim there's no crisis at the border live far away from the border, have no intention of even going into Texas, let alone at the border.
00:28:46.000The only way a constant could have more lack of self-awareness is if, while he was filming it, there was a head on a turtle behind him.
00:28:53.000And even then, he'd be like, look, the wildlife here is threatened.
00:28:56.000Do you want to disrupt their migratory patterns?
00:30:40.000And if you want to look for an image that actually speaks to this, it's probably those protesters who were on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Native American man who was beating the drum, Nathan Phillips, and those kids in the Make America Great Again hats that were kind of smirking at him.
00:30:54.000It's like he said, give me the Mr. T, but not To me, that is the real image.
00:32:04.000Yeah, and one of the things we can, if we take care of this border situation, you can take care of some really bad things, right?
00:32:09.000He's talking about people being worried about race and being worried about, those things are important, but human trafficking, drugs being imported, gangs, terrorists coming through a border.
00:32:20.000None of these things are coming from Canada!
00:32:21.000If they were, we'd be building a wall there.
00:32:23.000They're all coming from our southern border, so why in the world are we not doing something to help?
00:32:27.000And by the way, this is not something where you ask for a show of hands.
00:32:30.000The average American cannot possibly have enough information to make a very informed opinion about this and say, yes, a wall would work, no, it wouldn't.
00:33:38.000Illegal immigrants, people who come here illegally, favor Democrats time and time again.
00:33:42.000They receive benefits at a greater rate than native-born populations, okay?
00:33:46.000And They will continue to vote Democrat because they'll continue to receive those benefits.
00:33:51.000In the past, Democrats always assumed that amnesty was on the table and that there was some kind of flexibility, also that they were winning.
00:33:56.000Now that they're losing, they're desperate for more voters.
00:33:59.000This is about bringing in a voting base.
00:34:02.000It's about people who are here illegally making sure that they have a path to citizenship so that they can vote and not closing the border so that more of these people can come in and vote.
00:34:14.000Overwhelmingly suckle at the government tea.
00:34:16.000It's just like the kid in the school cafeteria promising that if you vote for him for class president, he's going to give you free ice cream sandwiches.
00:34:54.000By the way, don't close up the holes so that we can ensure more people come in who will vote for us.
00:34:58.000Promise them free sh** and make sure that the people have been paying taxes for their entire lives who overwhelmingly vote, by the way, the working class now for Republicans, that their vote doesn't matter anymore.
00:35:07.000This is all about holding you hostage.
00:38:12.000It's pretty much the story of my early kind of life out in California with my maniacal father, having fun with guns and dune buggies and sex, and then coming out to New York and getting into the broadcasting business up in Boston and back in New York.
00:38:58.000I found them behind the F block and they were, oh yeah, I set that up, you like that, what I did there, huh?
00:39:05.000So, this book came out while we were on hiatus.
00:39:08.000Tell us a little bit, well, I know you just mentioned, is it sort of autobiographical, or is it like Alice Cooper's autobiography, where it's one chapter, autobiography, the next chapter, golf tips?
00:39:28.000But I cover some things that kind of give a little more insight on why I'm the way I am now.
00:39:34.000Just craving attention and trying to diffuse any uncomfortable situation with humor.
00:39:40.000That's pretty much what I cover in there, but then most of it is about the Opie and Anthony show and my relationship with Opie, my on-air partner for 20 years, which ended, you know, disastrously in 2014.
00:40:13.000It was, I tweeted something about, I was assaulted in Times Square by a woman of color, and I commented about it on Twitter, and I gave a little social commentary about the situation when I also talked about my assault.
00:40:27.000That got me in trouble with the people at Sirius Satellite Radio, and they fired me for it.
00:40:32.000So yeah, it was right at the beginning of this whole outrage thing, this false outrage thing.
00:40:39.000So yeah, I was one of the early veterans of that.
00:40:43.000I was able to build this up from that, starting in my basement with a studio I'd built years prior, because I always loved the medium.
00:40:52.000I liked being able to have video and show clips and just kind of get on the air on the internet when some news story would happen.
00:41:02.000It was like a lifeboat when I got fired because when you get fired for things like that, no one wants to touch you.
00:41:06.000So we started this whole thing and then it just kind of evolved with other personalities that do shows here that also kind of fit that mold of unhireable, undesirable, whatever it would be.
00:41:19.000Well, first off, I think you're the only person to get mugged in Times Square in the last two decades.
00:41:23.000I don't know how that happens right next to the Olive Garden and the M&M shop.
00:43:23.000I think that's why you had the foresight to do a subscription model like we did, as opposed to being on Patreon, where, again, it's supposed to be free and open, and we see that it's not.
00:43:32.000I've called it having a piano over your head strung by a little wire and that is the powers that be that could cut it at any moment.
00:43:40.000There's always someone you have to go to to deliver your show to the people.
00:43:46.000There's always some channel, and I love when you hear, you know, well, make your own platform!
00:43:52.000Go out on the polls and string your own fiber optic cable and make a cable company!
00:43:56.000Like, there's certain things you just can't independently do, so you have to take as many people out of the mix as possible.
00:44:05.000So going to subscriber base worked well for me because I'd already had a very popular show, so I had a base of people that were willing to subscribe.
00:44:12.000It's not like Any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get out there and make a subscriber-based show.
00:44:17.000But, you know, I guess we're doing alright.
00:44:35.000I'm like, are you talking about that s*** arm wrestling movie?
00:44:39.000But that's what they call it now, OTT.
00:44:41.000But this mug club for us, we said, we're not going to remove free content.
00:44:44.000We're going to create more premium content and still use YouTube and social media, granted, for as long as we can before we're banned, to build it up.
00:44:52.000But you, yeah, you already had a serious following.
00:45:10.000Gavin McInnes, who is just an awesome guy, a great friend of mine, and I love him as a person and as a personality, who was one of the victims of his own talent.
00:45:21.000He's one of the greatest satirical Comedians I've ever seen and too many people that get outraged didn't get his joke didn't get the joke He was literally Hitler and he's like, yeah, he's comes to parties at my house He's got his family his beautiful wife and kids and he's the nicest guy and he's painted as literally Hitler because of the the bull
00:45:53.000We would get on and do these French-Canadian characters, and he would do a Scottish character, and we would, I think, I don't know if he was here in studio, I think it was in New York.
00:46:01.000It made other people uncomfortable, because we were being brutal with each other, and he doesn't break character, and the Jean-Guy Tremblay doesn't break character, and people go, oh, is this something we need to separate?
00:46:10.000And afterwards, like, no, no, don't, keep rolling!
00:46:25.000Comedy is suffering like I've never seen it suffer before, because comedians are petrified to do their act, and these social justice warriors, or whatever you want to call them, are out there just looking.
00:46:39.000They're searching like a German wolf pack of submarines looking for a target to then tape and take out of context and take without the context of comedy and just bury them.
00:47:06.000These same people that want him crucified, we're calling him a genius a couple of years ago, and he just wants to get back into the game.
00:47:12.000There are people that don't want you to have a career.
00:47:15.000They don't want you to do what you enjoy and are very good at doing because they are outraged at some inane A moronic thing that didn't happen to them.
00:47:29.000Because if there isn't somebody who acts up, maybe in a couple of months, they go, what about that kid in the red hat who smiled at the toothless Indian meth head?
00:48:26.000I don't even have to play video games out there because it's just a post-apocalyptic nightmare out there.
00:48:33.000No, I haven't been affected whatsoever by it.
00:48:36.000And I know the employees that aren't getting a paycheck, they are affected.
00:48:42.000If you take the emotion out of it and go pure numbers, the amount of jobs Trump has put back into this country far outweigh the amount of people that are put out of work by the shutdown.
00:48:55.000That's a mad thing, not an emotional thing, so calm the f*** down.
00:49:24.000For me, I really noticed, I felt the sting, and I recognized my privilege when my Amazon Prime order was going to be half a day late, and I was, what is happening here?
00:49:36.000The post office can't pick up the slack?
00:49:39.000You look at your phone and go, but you said!
00:49:46.000It is infuriating when you're expecting a package and someone just screws it up with Amazon and you call them like, well, we can send another one out tomorrow.
00:51:59.000I don't know if I would have any advice.
00:52:01.000I kind of like the direction my life took.
00:52:04.000Obviously, I've made some major mistakes before and after getting into broadcasting, but I do kind of like the direction it took.
00:52:11.000I've always used humor and satire to diffuse situations, so that's worked well for me over the years.
00:52:20.000The separation of life and this kind of life, people really get this misconception that you're You're not putting on an act for the most part.
00:54:37.000I have a Smith & Wesson licensed one, I know I'll get in trouble.
00:54:40.000It jammed all the time, could never use any hollow points, so it might, I know you're a big fan of the firearm, maybe we can get you one out there in New York, and the fit and finish on it is so much nicer that it's coming out of Walther's actual plant these days.
00:54:52.000Let me tell you about New York gun laws.
00:54:56.000I think the only way you could get a pistol in New York now is if you're an abortion doctor and want to kill a nun.
00:55:04.000That's pretty much the only way they'll allow you to have a gun in New York.
00:55:07.000Yeah, well, I'm sure there were some, I'm sure there's some leftover people from the SS at Walther, you know, we're still in the back room.
00:56:24.000Always super grateful to our sponsors.
00:56:25.000Of course, the main way you can support the show is joining at lottocreditor.com slash mug club.
00:56:30.000That's how you prevent the shadow banning, because we don't know when that's going to happen.
00:56:32.000But we really do have great sponsors with the show.
00:56:34.000Because the products kind of sell themselves.
00:56:36.000Like Walther Firearms, we just tell you, try it, go to the range, let us know what you think, that's how you support us.
00:56:42.000The most recent though I'm excited about is because I actually have been using them for a while, Liberty HealthShare.
00:56:47.000I know a lot of you out there, and we've gotten a few emails about this, think that you can't afford health insurance, especially with the skyrocketing premiums, deductibles after Obamacare.
00:56:54.000I know that as a business owner, mine shot up.
00:56:56.000But because Liberty isn't classically an insurance company, they're a health sharing company,
00:57:01.000you can get unbelievable coverage starting at $199 a month per person.
00:57:04.000If you go to savewithliberty.com, I should plug them there.
00:57:07.000My wife and I pay, I think, $299 a month.
00:57:09.000And for those of you with big families, no matter how big the family, $529 a month.
00:57:15.000My dad went through some serious melanoma.
00:57:18.000As those of you who submitted jokes to the great Cancer Joke-Off we hosted on the show
00:57:21.000might remember, he was in surgery, had Liberty HealthShare.
00:57:25.000The next business day, with a doctor of his choosing and got completely taken care of.
00:57:30.000And that's the thing, it's a lot more than a bumper sticker.
00:57:32.000You actually have the liberty of choosing your own doctor, the liberty of choosing your own hospital, the liberty of taking control of your health care, how you need it.
00:57:40.000Just do me a favor, check out the plans at SaveWithLiberty.com, compare it with what's out there, compare it with what you have, and if it's better, support the show and save yourself some money.
00:59:34.000If you just toss them out as a hater, does that put you in an echo chamber devoid of any truth?
00:59:38.000And the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and I think it's very important.
00:59:44.000It's an important tool for people to be able to decipher between valid criticism and hate, particularly in the era of social media.
00:59:52.000Probably one of the most important tools in the longevity and mental stability toolbox, I would say, in the era of social media.
00:59:58.000The difference, I would say, between being a hater, and I think this matters to everyone out there, even if you're not somebody who's on social media or doesn't have any level of celebrity, it's important to be able to surround yourself with people who you trust and not dismiss everyone as a hater.
01:00:36.000This show is not paid for at all by Glenn Beck.
01:00:40.000Mug Club is a completely independent entity, okay, which in the spirit of adding more value to you, we allow it to be packaged with more content so that you aren't forcing us to be beholden to Patreon or YouTube.
01:01:01.000Now, if someone would say, and we've received mail to this degree, says, you know, I really don't like that you do the Change My Mind format instead of a normal show so often these days.
01:01:12.000I think that's a departure from what you used to do, and I'm not a huge... That's a valid criticism, because it's truthful.
01:01:18.000We do often perform long form change my minds in place of a normal show, which we never used to do.
01:01:51.000Owen Benjamin, you know him, you love him, he's been on the show, he's a dear friend of mine.
01:01:54.000A lot of people have been asking me what's going on, I don't know.
01:02:00.000And let me tell you this, Owen doesn't respond to phone calls from me, from Johnny Boy, a good friend of mine, a good friend of his, Darren, my father, who he is close with and respects, nothing.
01:02:45.000It has nothing to do with the moon landing being fake, that he believes that, or any other conspiracy that he may or may not believe out there.
01:02:52.000Some people believe that he believes in conspiracies that he doesn't even believe in, and I don't know exactly.
01:02:56.000It's that Olin, someone whom I love dearly, In this capacity has been unaccountable and when anyone would express concern he would lash out and torch the bridges.
01:03:10.000With our fans, arguing with them, upset.
01:03:12.000I still haven't spoken with him, because he has yet to answer any phones or texts trying to reach him.
01:03:16.000Owen, if you're watching, I love you, everyone here loves you, but you've actually got to talk with someone to have any understanding as to what's going on here.
01:03:26.000Someone who lashes out like that and leaves a lot of destruction and chaos in their wake, including with the people who love them most, at a certain point, I'll tell you what, I have to protect my people, meaning the rest of the team who make this all possible.
01:03:45.000Anyone who has an opinion on this topic right now really is simply a hater without any of the facts at their disposal because no one publicly knows them.
01:03:53.000I don't even know them yet and I really hope that it's something that can be resolved and not on a YouTube live stream.
01:04:00.000If someone right now, for example, says, hey man, you know, I don't think you should have spoken about that at all.
01:04:08.000And I may even agree with it, because I tend to lean that way.
01:04:12.000But in this instance, because of the continual requests and calls, and trying to reach someone who we love and care about, and just breaking our hearts, and because of false information out there, I made a judgment call.
01:04:24.000Doesn't mean that if you think I'm wrong, that you're incorrect.
01:04:28.000Here's the thing, in this company, Loud Earth Cracker Mug Club, this independent company, like in any company, relationships are hard.
01:04:36.000And it's a late night show, and someone like Johnny Carson never had to deal with the same pressures of you guys seeing every person who worked behind the scenes, and seeing every relationship, and how long it lasts.
01:04:48.000We've had, for example, people quit because they were hired at more executive positions elsewhere, where they still work, and I've written their letter of recommendation.
01:04:55.000We've had people Whoever to let go who I've loved, loved, adored, but just weren't able to do the job.
01:05:02.000And my father can tell you this, before I had to do it, I looked literally seasick.
01:05:08.000It was burdening other workers, though, too much, and a decision just kind of had to be made.
01:05:13.000And by the way, this person understood it, and we still talk today!
01:05:17.000We've had people leave on their own, on great terms.
01:05:20.000We've had people who we've kind of had to walk out the door on great terms.
01:05:23.000On the flip side, we've also had people leave this company without even honoring two weeks notice and stealing company equipment out the back door.
01:06:52.000If someone you love pulls you aside and tells you that they're worried about you, that you need to get your act together, you better sit your ass down and listen.
01:07:00.000Knowing the difference between haters and valid criticism is the difference between self-improvement and being a lifelong fool.
01:07:08.000And you can't even begin to discern the difference between the two if you don't have principles, foundational values, and more importantly, people in your life who keep you accountable.
01:07:18.000See, we live in a society that wants to just tell us to ignore, ignore the haters!
01:07:38.000But if you want to improve, if you want to even have a hope of becoming a better person tomorrow than you were yesterday, it starts with accountability and the ability to listen to criticism, to process it, to look long and hard at yourself in the mirror, and to use it, no matter how painful that may be.
01:08:37.000Because you've already broken down your ego and you know that you can receive and process and utilize valid criticism.
01:08:44.000But you can't know whether it's valid or not until you've incorporated it and processed it continually, day after day, only a lifetime, only after a lifetime.
01:08:55.000And it requires a lifetime, by the way, of doing this.
01:08:57.000And I know people who've done the opposite.
01:08:59.000I know people who've been impervious to criticism their whole life, and I can tell you how it ends.
01:09:03.000Only after a lifetime of the pride-swallowing siege of doing this day after day, can you actually completely reject the irrelevant haters and sleep at night knowing that you're not a fool?
01:09:16.000The difference between valid criticism and a hater is said simply, it's not incorporated simply.