Stay Free - Russel Brand - France Burns!! What The F*ck Is Going On?! - #099 - Stay Free With Russell Brand

00:00:00.000 to be continued...

00:00:06.000 3rd person screen.

00:00:07.000 It's a lot of work to get through.

00:00:08.000 This is a high level tutorial, and I get a lot of points for doing this.

00:00:09.000 It's a lot of work.

00:00:24.000 In this video, you're going to see the future.

00:00:36.000 We've got a lot of stuff there.

00:00:43.000 Hello, you Awakening Wanderers.

00:00:44.000 Thank you for watching Stay Free with Russell Brand.

00:00:47.000 It's going to be a fantastic show today.

00:00:49.000 We're talking about France.

00:00:50.000 France is burning.

00:00:52.000 The people are revolting.

00:00:55.000 In for me, in for me.

00:00:56.000 They've all got it in for me.

00:00:57.000 We're going to be talking to Crystal Ball on the show about a variety of topics.

00:01:01.000 And when we flip over to being exclusively on Rumble, we'll be talking about aspects of the TikTok trial that we wouldn't be able to speak about on YouTube.

00:01:09.000 But first, did you know That Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton went to a Broadway show, and next to them in the aisle were a couple of stools.

00:01:19.000 And I mean with a double O spelling.

00:01:20.000 Have a look at that.

00:01:22.000 Do we don't know if those faecal deposits were as a result of their attendance, or if it's just a coincidence, do we, Gareth Roy, Screen Assistant?

00:01:31.000 No, we don't know if it was them who did it.

00:01:33.000 It seems odd that it would be one each and look at them.

00:01:37.000 They've been to see Some Like It Hot and they seem pretty pleased about something.

00:01:41.000 I would say that's the kind of euphoria that often infects a face after a deposit, Gareth, because you can let me know in the chat, in the comments, have you ever known bliss like it?

00:01:50.000 Sometimes when I'm talking like this, you know what I remember is that people tune into this, parts of the mainstream media, with the specific agenda of attacking our show.

00:01:59.000 And they'll say things like, Brand did a poo joke at the beginning.

00:02:03.000 That, oh, how rebellious!

00:02:05.000 Well, it's going to get pretty rebellious later because we're going to be talking about the French protest and how it relates to a new emergent globally populist movement where people en masse across the world are becoming so...

00:02:18.000 Incensed by institutional corruption and hypocrisy that they are taking to the streets.

00:02:24.000 I wonder how these protests are going to play out.

00:02:27.000 I wonder how they're going to affect leaders in your nation.

00:02:32.000 Let's take a second to look at Joe Biden inadvertently tagging neoliberal utopia Canada as the place that it actually is.

00:02:41.000 A sort of little brother, an emulator of the Chinese state.

00:02:46.000 Get ready for a Freudian slip from Dear Joe Biden.

00:02:50.000 Have a look.

00:02:51.000 Today, I applaud China for stepping up, excuse me, I applaud Canada.

00:02:58.000 You can tell what I'm thinking.

00:03:00.000 It's interesting that he did that in Canada and it's also odd that Joe Biden's slips and errors have now become almost soundtracked with canned laughter.

00:03:11.000 It's become the sitcom presidency.

00:03:13.000 We've long argued on this channel that almost unconsciously Joe Biden epitomises the problems with contemporary democracy. 0.99

00:03:21.000 He is aged and inept. 0.98

00:03:23.000 He is no longer appropriate for you. 0.98

00:03:25.000 So I'm only talking about Joe Biden as a symbol because when I say stuff like that, I feel mean because I know he's a human being and I know like he lost children and all that kind of stuff.

00:03:34.000 So I'm not attacking him as a human being.

00:03:36.000 I'm just talking about as a symbol of the level of corruption and ineptitude.

00:03:40.000 How these models are out of date now.

00:03:42.000 Don't you think that sometimes when you just learn about more wars, more corruption, like aren't we supposed to be wearing aluminum foil suits by now?

00:03:50.000 Aren't we meant to be evolving towards the next level of humanity by now?

00:03:54.000 I get why you feel sorry for someone who's old.

00:03:56.000 I understand that.

00:03:57.000 But when you talk about wars, and you talk about the situation in Yemen or Syria at the moment, there are a lot of other children dying, just to kind of sew up that point.

00:04:05.000 Thanks, Gal, because I don't like to be mean to people, but you're right.

00:04:08.000 Due to the ongoing involvement of the US military-industrial complex in the war in Yemen, children have probably been killed today.

00:04:17.000 They've probably died today, whose names we will never know, due to a geographical quirk.

00:04:22.000 One of the things though that encourages me that global change is possible, that there is a global awakening, that new systems could be brought into being that allow us to bypass the entrenchment corruption that all of us live within, even if we're people that are doing okay or if we're people that Suffering terribly is this conflagration in Paris.

00:04:42.000 Now, we are English, so we've got a long-standing antipathy towards France.

00:04:48.000 It's just sort of casual xenophobia.

00:04:51.000 We've had wars with them for a long time.

00:04:52.000 Look, my dog's flying outside really angry.

00:04:54.000 He's not been allowed in.

00:04:56.000 There is the beast at the periphery right there.

00:04:58.000 That's why it'd be good to have that camera.

00:05:00.000 I'd love that from now on.

00:05:01.000 Maybe one of these days.

00:05:03.000 Maybe one of these days.

00:05:04.000 Little Dan, who works here, operating a handheld gal, the shots we'd get... I hope he doesn't do an angry protest out there.

00:05:09.000 Bear will even now be making a Chelsea Clinton style package to let you know that some may like it hot, others like it lukewarm, others like it almost semi-liquid.

00:05:21.000 One of the things, before we get into the details, such as they are about these protests

00:05:25.000 across France, which are essentially the French people are protesting against having to work

00:05:30.000 an additional two years for no extra return, a bill that was passed in the National Assembly,

00:05:36.000 that's their equivalent of Congress or Parliament, without being put to a vote.

00:05:40.000 And it caused amazing scenes of disruption in France and leads me to believe that generally

00:05:44.000 speaking French politics, like French everything, is a little bit sexier.

00:05:49.000 One of the things though, on the ground, on the streets, in the restaurants, that's fascinating,

00:05:53.000 is just how French people have immediately adjusted to living in the middle of a riot.

00:06:00.000 It's like it's not bothering them anymore.

00:06:02.000 Like me, if I was in a restaurant and outside was on fire, I feel like I would, like that, I wouldn't be out just going and saying, oh please, excuse me, I'll have the soup.

00:06:11.000 I think I'll get dessert.

00:06:12.000 I might go home now because it looks like society is coming to an immediate cataclysmic end.

00:06:17.000 Have a look at this first clip.

00:06:35.000 France is burning down and no one cares.

00:06:38.000 It's the same with people eating outdoors, which looks even more dramatic.

00:06:43.000 If you've seen this one, have a look.

00:06:44.000 Look, people are just carrying all the...

00:06:46.000 I like that the server thinks that the problem is the organisation of the chairs.

00:06:55.000 Oh, monsieur!

00:06:56.000 My apologies.

00:06:58.000 That chair is a little crooked.

00:07:00.000 It's the angles that are the problem.

00:07:03.000 If we can just get this in proper relationship to the table, everything will be okay.

00:07:07.000 The streets are on fire!

00:07:09.000 Put in the car, I mean it's just everything's perfectly normal.

00:07:19.000 Actually, I'm not sure if she works there or if she's dining there.

00:07:21.000 I can't tell what's happening.

00:07:22.000 Look at this one.

00:07:23.000 This is like performance art, this final one, because of the sort of musical choices.

00:07:29.000 Let us know in the chat and the comments how quickly you work out what song this is.

00:07:34.000 It's a little quiz.

00:07:34.000 If you get it right, you can come and see me in a live show.

00:07:37.000 Yeah, what about that?

00:07:39.000 If you want to come, you might not want to.

00:07:40.000 You might be a sort of a radical French person, happy to bring down the state because you're not being pensioned properly and democracy's being ignored like everywhere because your country's being led by a neoliberal stooge that went to the right school, made the right connections, organises the right tax breaks for the powerful, attends Davos conferences, May pretend to care about cultural issues, may pretend to care about inequality, as they would call it in France, but actually cares about, I don't know, corruption.

00:08:09.000 Yeah?

00:08:10.000 Yeah, I reckon.

00:08:11.000 Is that enough?

00:08:11.000 Just say stuff in a French accent?

00:08:13.000 Yeah.

00:08:13.000 Will that do?

00:08:14.000 Is that enough for you?

00:08:15.000 Have a look at this.

00:08:16.000 This is... I would say this is surreal and bizarre.

00:08:19.000 Not only because people are carrying on as normal, but there's something macabre and extraordinary.

00:08:24.000 And note that the keyboard player is still wearing a mask.

00:08:27.000 It's a weird visual oxymoron.

00:08:30.000 I'm not sure what this is.

00:08:47.000 That's a very good point.

00:08:49.000 If you're watching us on Rumble right now, you'll have to, because we're only going to be on YouTube for a few more minutes.

00:08:55.000 You should click the red button and join our, well, I don't know what to call our club.

00:08:59.000 We'll work out a name for that by the end of this week, shall we?

00:09:02.000 You should join our Affinity, our affiliation, our group, our crew, and then it's your comments.

00:09:08.000 Oh, people are saying Eternal Flame.

00:09:10.000 Becker D, Eternal Flame.

00:09:11.000 Yeah, people recognise it as Eternal Flame.

00:09:13.000 Do you think that's been ironically rendered by that Street Edition?

00:09:16.000 I think so.

00:09:17.000 Can't be a coincidence.

00:09:18.000 Eternal Flame, by the Bangles.

00:09:21.000 That's how he's scoring this disruption.

00:09:27.000 Gunshot gal, the gunshot, or whatever that was.

00:09:29.000 whatever that was.

00:09:31.000 I'm going to go ahead and get started.

00:10:08.000 The world has become sort of performance art.

00:10:11.000 Yeah, I guess it's interesting as a metaphor you could argue that maybe we all have to get on with life and ignore all the awful atrocities that are going on just because here it's literally happening right next to them.

00:10:23.000 We're ignoring something that's happening not that far away in foreign countries.

00:10:27.000 Yeah, I get it, mate.

00:10:29.000 Also, Nero literally fiddled while Rome burned.

00:10:33.000 The Emperor Nero, who was an early symbol of centralised authority and despotism.

00:10:40.000 The Emperor Nero apparently played a fiddle.

00:10:42.000 I didn't think fiddles had been invented that long, but I suppose they must have been.

00:10:47.000 Anyway, apparently while Rome was burning at the end of that particular empire, perhaps in the same way we're seeing the end of not just American empire, but its expansiveness.

00:10:54.000 Because when we talk about America, we're not talking about you.

00:10:56.000 American people with all your glory and your culture and your principles and your beauty.

00:11:00.000 We're talking about American institutions, American expansionism and Americans' representation

00:11:04.000 of corporatism on a global level.

00:11:07.000 And the comparison between America and Rome is frequently made.

00:11:11.000 You don't, you know, how do we diagnose the end of empires?

00:11:14.000 What does it feel like?

00:11:15.000 How will it play out in European nations that have evident differences?

00:11:19.000 You can sort of see that and feel that, but ultimately the same kind of corporatism, the same sort of commodification, the same sort of ideology that is engendered by secularism, a kind of Sort of, what do I want to say, a diluted nihilism, a sort of sense of meaninglessness that's best embodied perhaps by a man playing a bloody organ in the street wearing a face mask while the culture falls apart around you.

00:11:42.000 What leads people to riot?

00:11:45.000 Martin Luther King said, and I must say tonight, that a riot is the language of the unheard.

00:11:50.000 And what is it that America has failed to hear?

00:11:52.000 It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met.

00:11:56.000 And it's failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.

00:12:05.000 In a sense, the idea that rioting is the language of the unheard is important.

00:12:09.000 You can't have a riot on your own.

00:12:12.000 A riot suggests consensus.

00:12:14.000 A riot suggests that a deep psychic injury is being expressed.

00:12:19.000 A riot tells us that our institutions and systems are insufficient, they are inefficient,

00:12:26.000 they are unable to represent the will of people.

00:12:30.000 This case, this particular set of disturbances brought about by an undemocratic change to the pension laws is a great example because the French feel like they have a Deal! 1.00

00:12:43.000 A contract with the government.

00:12:44.000 We pay these taxes and then we get to experience a little bit of literal joie de vivre.

00:12:51.000 The joy of life.

00:12:52.000 The essence of life.

00:12:54.000 Don't you sometimes forget that your life's meant to have a point?

00:12:57.000 Like you.

00:12:58.000 You have a purpose.

00:12:59.000 You have a relationship with divinity of your own determination.

00:13:04.000 That you have relationships with the people that you love.

00:13:06.000 That you're allowed to decide on your own destiny.

00:13:08.000 You're not meant to be someone boxed off in order to facilitate convenience of powerful sets of interests.

00:13:16.000 Victor Hugo, writer of Les Miserables, which is of course about the unrest that led to the French Revolution in that book and, you know, subsequent musical and all those assets.

00:13:25.000 Every man who has in his soul a secret feeling of revolt against any act of the state of life or of destiny

00:13:32.000 is on the verge of riot.

00:13:34.000 And so as soon as it appears, he begins to quiver and to feel himself borne away by the whirlwind.

00:13:38.000 When I used to attend those kind of things when I was a younger man, what I used to enjoy

00:13:44.000 was not the idea that people might be hurt or the sense of danger, but the fact that beneath order

00:13:52.000 there is a kind of chaos and that in order to facilitate change, you have to allow that chaos

00:13:59.000 to in a sense infuse the order.

00:14:01.000 And that is frightening, I think, because most of us, because there is a heightened state of fear,

00:14:07.000 many of us experienced that during the pandemic.

00:14:09.000 Let us know in the chat and the comments, do you feel that, that your culture is constantly trying

00:14:13.000 to make you anxious, it's trying to innovate you so you don't feel relaxed enough to demand change,

00:14:19.000 that you're kept kind of docile with the kind of palliatives and panacea of our culture, entertainment, sugar, et cetera,

00:14:27.000 just being sort of two examples.

00:14:28.000 But when you sense, hold on a minute, we could create a better world, you know,

00:14:32.000 the technology and the ideology for true democracy We could localise, we could collectivise, we could organise things differently.

00:14:41.000 It's not to say that there would be no centralised authority, but it would be authority in response to the will of the people.

00:14:47.000 Essentially, what they claim we already have, when what we really have are institutions that operate on behalf of corporate interests and financial and military interests and keep you distracted and subdued.

00:14:57.000 Let me know in the chat and the comments if you agree with that.

00:14:59.000 This is a A quote from Maria.

00:15:01.000 I've never said this name before, so I might say it wrong.

00:15:03.000 Ali Akina.

00:15:04.000 We have the right to refuse. This is our right, yours and mine.

00:15:07.000 You can't know all the laws by heart. You don't know what will happen if you refuse, but you have to try.

00:15:13.000 I suppose this is a kind of a call for deep bravery in a time that can feel pretty frightening.

00:15:21.000 You might not yet know what exactly Emmanuel Macron is all about, but you might have the same sense that I do, that he's a kind of globalist corporate stooge, that one of those people that operates on behalf of the rich, uses language about equality and diversity, a kind of, what do you want to call him, a Gaelic Trudeau figure, like just one of those people that acts like they're super nice, but in fact operates on behalf of essentially Well, you'd be kind of right, I reckon.

00:15:47.000 He went to the École Nationale de l'Administration.

00:15:51.000 It's an elite French finishing school that a lot of French leaders and CEOs and stuff attend.

00:15:56.000 He came under fire after they spent 2.4 billion with consultancy firms now being investigated for tax evasions.

00:16:04.000 They've just introduced a new bill that prevents you photographing the police.

00:16:07.000 I guess that came about because of those yellow vest protests in France recently,

00:16:11.000 which was a fascinating movement because it couldn't be dubbed right wing or left wing or racist.

00:16:18.000 Or it seemed to be a genuine organic populist movement.

00:16:21.000 The fact is we do in a country as vast and as complex as France,

00:16:25.000 there can be a variety of cultural interests of different demographics.

00:16:31.000 But the thing that populism is about, if you ask me, is that it's truly about allowing people to come together

00:16:38.000 around the issues around which we all agree and to temporarily suspend internal conflict around the

00:16:45.000 subjects that where we do have disagreements, cultural identity, etc., where there's necessarily going to

00:16:51.000 have to be diversity.

00:16:53.000 Also, another story about Macron is that they're using the 2024 Paris Olympics to introduce a bunch of biometric AI

00:17:00.000 surveillance gear.

00:17:01.000 That's like they're ushering that in and sort of the auspices of the Olympics, of course, famously now raising the retirement age by a couple of years without so much as a vote.

00:17:11.000 And during these riots, they've been using ketaline and spraying people with gas all the usual sort of staff garroth. Well yeah I mean one

00:17:19.000 of the things that he's literally been doing these last few years is increasing the kind of police

00:17:23.000 state. I mean has he? Well as we're seeing happening in the US and certainly a crackdown on protests

00:17:29.000 in this country as well Macron's been putting loads of money into increasing that police state

00:17:34.000 militarizing exactly again like we've seen in America and as we've seen happening over the pandemic it's

00:17:39.000 similar kinds of stories over in France they're doing the same thing and so they're actively

00:17:44.000 trying to crush dissent in ways that I feel like that conversation we had with Glenn Greenwald, like the elites are no longer interested in negotiating or appeasing the masses, they are happy instead to militarise, confident that with AI and new technology it's possible to repress dissent and crush dissenters.

00:18:06.000 That's why in your country, America, You're seeing the militarisation of the police force.

00:18:10.000 You even saw budgets allocated to COVID aid reallocated to the militarisation of the police force.

00:18:17.000 That was pretty popular during those times.

00:18:18.000 In our country, the UK, similarly, we're seeing the undue empowerment of police forces.

00:18:24.000 And by the way, this is not anti-police rhetoric.

00:18:25.000 I've got friends that are in the police force and I know a lot of people join those organisations with Good, well-intentioned, community-oriented goals.

00:18:34.000 And I would say consensual policing, consensual law, democratic law, be it having services within your community, by your community, is a big part of our future.

00:18:44.000 What we don't want are police forces that operate on behalf of the state, crushing dissent and ultimately the military arm of the government.

00:18:51.000 That's why it's interesting that after the whatever you want to call what happened on jan 6 insurrections protests riots you choose your word one of the responses was to give billions more to the capital police force and turn them into a kind of domestic terror force because when they talk about terror they're talking about you listen we're only going to be on youtube for a couple of more minutes then we're going to click over to being exclusively

00:19:14.000 On Rumble, we're going to be talking about how Rumble has been banned in France, and of course a lot of mainstream media are criticizing and condemning Rumble.

00:19:21.000 That's because we're doing something right.

00:19:23.000 We're going to be talking too about the kind of stories that are impossible to talk about on YouTube, including...

00:19:29.000 Fellow content creator, Dr. John Campbell's recent revelations around excess deaths, which we simply cannot talk about on this platform, and how that relates to the ongoing congressional TikTok hearings currently.

00:19:29.000 Excuse me.

00:19:44.000 In fact, let's get into that now.

00:19:45.000 Because what's fascinating about those hearings is every single thing that they're saying about TikTok, they're responsible for themselves.

00:19:54.000 TikTok are spying on you!

00:19:56.000 And all the while, they're Being Chinese about it, because of course social media companies in America are spying on you. 0.64

00:20:04.000 Of course social media companies are in cahoots with the government.

00:20:07.000 The Twitter files showed us that.

00:20:10.000 One of the things that's fascinating about this story, of course, not just the corruption, not just the data capture, not just the fact that ultimately what they're looking for is TikTok to be propagandised on behalf of the state.

00:20:20.000 They just want a more favourable relationship with TikTok that they presumably can't get because of its origins and national relationships.

00:20:27.000 It's another of those stories that shows us that the current elites still do not understand what they're dealing with when it comes to the power of social media.

00:20:37.000 That's why you have to crush dissent.

00:20:38.000 That's why you have to smear independent media.

00:20:40.000 And we've been on the receiving end of that because power doesn't yet understand these new tools and technologies.

00:20:47.000 And that becomes evident when you listen to dear old Mr. Hudson of North Carolina talking to the CEO of TikTok.

00:20:54.000 Have a look.

00:20:55.000 Mr Chew, does TikTok access the home Wi-Fi network?

00:21:00.000 That's like the kind of question you'd ask when you're checking into a hotel.

00:21:03.000 Am I going to be able to get this on my phone?

00:21:06.000 Will that show up as adult content on my hotel bill?

00:21:11.000 You're conducting a congressional hearing.

00:21:14.000 It's weird, isn't it?

00:21:15.000 You should be more informed, I would say.

00:21:17.000 TikTok! 0.95

00:21:18.000 Is that the same thing or is that two things?

00:21:20.000 Like, it doesn't sound like he knows enough to be empowered. 0.92

00:21:23.000 What's really lovely about this, maybe spool back about five seconds, because what I love about this is you see Mr. Shu Qiu, the CEO there at TikTok, or ByteDance, or Datadance, or whatever they call that company that owns TikTok, you see him do a face that I'm familiar with as he works out, oh no, I'm talking to someone who's so much more stupid than I am, is I'm going to have to level down almost to sort of finger puppets to describe this to him. Watch him, he looks up and he's

00:21:49.000 like, oh no, this geezer's an idiot, where do I begin? Like, you know, when you do, you're not 1.00

00:21:53.000 old enough, you're young enough, but when like remote controls and that came in and we had

00:21:57.000 to explain it to our nans and grandads, no nan, you just have to, oh, do I jab the TV with it like

00:22:03.000 it's a bamboo cane? No, nan, you can stay in your armchair, for God's sake, woman. 1.00

00:22:08.000 Have a look at this.

00:22:09.000 Does TikTok access the home Wi-Fi network?

00:22:14.000 Only if the user turns on the Wi-Fi.

00:22:17.000 I'm sorry, I may not understand.

00:22:18.000 So if I have... No, you do understand.

00:22:20.000 You do. 1.00

00:22:21.000 He really is that stupid. 1.00

00:22:22.000 You're dealing with someone who... But more important than this obvious ineptitude of the investigators in this particular congressional hearing, is a story or a notion that we touch on pretty frequently. 1.00

00:22:36.000 How do they have the moral authority to investigate, let alone condemn TikTok when they, check this out, politicians blast TikTok by accepting its executives donations.

00:22:47.000 So you've got politicians condemning TikTok who take money from TikTok.

00:22:52.000 If you think TikTok's bad, don't take TikTok's money.

00:22:56.000 No, exactly.

00:22:57.000 I mean, this comes on top of what we already know about all the members of Congress and senators that own, as we always talk about, stocks and shares in the big tech companies that they regulate. 0.86

00:23:06.000 Yet more hypocrisy on top of hypocrisy.

00:23:08.000 Later on, we're talking to Crystal Ball from Breaking Point.

00:23:11.000 We love her and saga, saga, saga, saga.

00:23:14.000 What do you say?

00:23:15.000 I'm never confident with those kind of pronunciations.

00:23:17.000 Cigar.

00:23:17.000 Saga.

00:23:18.000 Yeah.

00:23:20.000 You're uncertain.

00:23:20.000 That's the first question.

00:23:24.000 But my second question is going to be, do you believe that any current political party is capable of dealing with the deep systemic corruption that becomes evident with the money in politics issue?

00:23:36.000 Why will no political party say, if you are in Congress, you cannot own stocks and shares at all.

00:23:41.000 You cannot have another job.

00:23:43.000 This is a problem that's been in British politics right now.

00:23:45.000 It's like, we find out all of the politicians have got some other job where they're paid a bunch more money.

00:23:49.000 That, we would ban that.

00:23:51.000 Do not accept lobbying money.

00:23:52.000 Do not accept donation money.

00:23:53.000 If you made those laws, it would change the landscape of politics over Night.

00:23:59.000 So even this TikTok trial currently, which will ultimately, you know, what they want is the ability to censor the ordinary users of TikTok.

00:24:06.000 They certainly won't be trying to make institutional change within a powerful organization like that.

00:24:11.000 And secondly, look at this idea.

00:24:13.000 They are saying that TikTok are probably capturing and sharing your data.

00:24:16.000 Well, look at this.

00:24:17.000 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridgeshire Analytica in a major data breach.

00:24:22.000 What about the CDC?

00:24:23.000 All the way through, we can move on, or the CDC, all the way through, all the way through the pandemic, or certainly at points of it, they used data, they captured data and used it to monitor people.

00:24:34.000 data yeah based on people's activities during lockdown to monitor whether people were moving

00:24:39.000 about or not but again like not actions that you would expect from your own government when we're

00:24:45.000 talking about spying so it's okay it's okay when we do it but when China are doing it where that's 0.94

00:24:49.000 what we're against. Every single thing they're attacking TikTok for they are culpable of.

00:24:57.000 Accusing TikTok of having a relationship with the CCP, with the Chinese state communist party, they have relationships with social media companies.

00:25:06.000 The only thing that I can think of is They're not Chinese. 1.00

00:25:10.000 That's literally it.

00:25:12.000 There's a story now.

00:25:13.000 Google ordered to hand private customer data over to FBI investigators.

00:25:17.000 And this seems like a good time for us to get off YouTube.

00:25:19.000 There's a link in the description to Rumble.

00:25:21.000 Click on that.

00:25:22.000 Join us over on Rumble because we're going to do some excess deaf stuff. 1.00

00:25:25.000 As well as looking at the relationship between Google and the FBI.

00:25:30.000 For obvious reasons, we're not going to do that on YouTube.

00:25:32.000 So click the link and join us over on Rumble right now.

00:25:35.000 See you in a minute.

00:25:36.000 Stay free in the few seconds before you make your way onto the free speech utopian platform that is Rumble.

00:25:41.000 So what is this story?

00:25:43.000 Google handed private customer data over to FBI investigators.

00:25:46.000 Once there's a precedent for that... Yeah, just another way in which big tech and the government colludes.

00:25:50.000 And has colluded, as we have witnessed through the Twitter files.

00:25:53.000 If there's an organisation as powerful as big tech organisations have become, you simply cannot have an unfavourable relationship with the state.

00:26:01.000 They necessarily have got to find a way to jog along nicely together, haven't they?

00:26:05.000 The idea that this whole thing is about intrusion and privacy is kind of laughable in a way, when you know things like this have been going on.

00:26:12.000 If it were about that, they would have done different things in all of these cases.

00:26:16.000 So this idea that we're forced to live in a kind of theatre, that's why I think there's an uncanniness when you see that keyboard playing in France.

00:26:24.000 There's something eerie about it, like, oh, this means something.

00:26:28.000 There's riots in the background.

00:26:29.000 Some friend rocks a police car.

00:26:31.000 Someone's playing the bangles.

00:26:33.000 Life's falling apart.

00:26:35.000 It doesn't make sense anymore.

00:26:36.000 Of course, in France, Rumble's banned there because, well, it's not Not necessarily banned, was it?

00:26:42.000 It's like France won't allow Russia Today content to be shown, so Rumble video service, turn off France.

00:26:50.000 Rumble, an online video platform and cloud services, has disabled access to its services in France after the French government demanded the multinational company remove Russian news sources.

00:26:59.000 Recently, the French government demanded that we remove certain Russian news sources from Rumble.

00:27:02.000 It's part of our mission to restore a free and open internet.

00:27:04.000 We've committed not to move the goalposts of our content policies.

00:27:08.000 The statement from the statement from Rumble read the company said

00:27:11.000 it would challenge the legality of demands made by the French government.

00:27:15.000 Chris Pavlovsky, who's the CEO there, has like, yeah, look, he's made that sort of claim once more on Twitter.

00:27:21.000 I've got that amazing clip of us at the Rumble launch party where me and Chris Pavlovsky sort of stood to get a photo

00:27:28.000 done by the logo.

00:27:29.000 And he sort of instinctively his body language to sort of hold his own hands

00:27:33.000 by in front of his reproductive organs. 0.96

00:27:35.000 And I just as the photo was taken, I went, don't cover your genitals 0.98

00:27:38.000 like that, as if it was a thing. 0.80

00:27:39.000 And he went, oh, like I did it like it was a tip.

00:27:42.000 And we'll show that clip at some point.

00:27:44.000 We'll show that towards the end.

00:27:45.000 What is the excess deaths thing that John Campbell said?

00:27:49.000 A new study covered by John Campbell has demonstrated a correlation between countries with high COVID vaccination levels and excess mortality.

00:27:55.000 The study has not been peer-reviewed.

00:27:57.000 So it's not sensible to do that on YouTube at this point because we have to be super diligent.

00:28:00.000 No, I mean he tiptoes his way around but not with your mouth.

00:28:03.000 There's no chance we're getting away with that on YouTube.

00:28:05.000 Why are you saying that I'm not I wouldn't suggest you're as nimble as Dr. John Campbell.

00:28:10.000 He'd shoot it from above, wouldn't he?

00:28:13.000 So it seems then that there's a direct correlation between this had a high vaccination.

00:28:17.000 So you see Israel, one of the highest correlation.

00:28:20.000 Oh and see this, well they don't have very many vaccines and yet look, look at the excess.

00:28:24.000 Now the number we're interested in is excess deaths.

00:28:26.000 That's how John Campbell would do it.

00:28:28.000 One excess death would have been his own.

00:28:32.000 When John Campbell came here, someone sent death threats.

00:28:34.000 Yeah.

00:28:35.000 Death threats.

00:28:36.000 That's what goes on.

00:28:37.000 I was angry.

00:28:37.000 I know.

00:28:38.000 Someone's going to get a death threat here.

00:28:40.000 It should be you, shouldn't it?

00:28:40.000 It should be me.

00:28:41.000 Don't you death threat John Campbell. 0.96

00:28:42.000 Do you miss your death threats now? 0.57

00:28:44.000 No, because actually I was scared of the death threats.

00:28:46.000 But some of the death threats, I think, they're not, this is just a simple death threat.

00:28:49.000 I don't think you should be doing that.

00:28:51.000 I think you should take them all out.

00:28:52.000 Don't try and weed through the death threats.

00:29:01.000 No, you're quite right.

00:29:02.000 I don't want to be killed.

00:29:03.000 No.

00:29:04.000 I'd like to live on.

00:29:05.000 Sure. 0.82

00:29:05.000 If I die, then you're in a lot of trouble because you're next. 0.82

00:29:07.000 What? 0.98

00:29:08.000 Oh.

00:29:08.000 You'd have to be in charge.

00:29:09.000 I thought you were going to say I'd have to host the show.

00:29:11.000 That's what I meant.

00:29:11.000 Right.

00:29:12.000 I don't want to do that.

00:29:12.000 You'd have to be in charge.

00:29:14.000 people said that when you know like if you join our locals community where you get extra content and the ability to ask us questions directly it's much more casual show our extra show you know like it's more relaxing but earlier i was eating some dinner so gareth hosted it for a bit and people said it's like when garth hosts swain world Wayne World?

00:29:31.000 Yeah, you know, Wayne World.

00:29:33.000 You know Wayne, he's got a world.

00:29:34.000 Are we feeling there's got to be an apostrophe S there?

00:29:37.000 Who are you, the grammar police?

00:29:38.000 Who are you, the Macron of grammar?

00:29:40.000 Well, we're fighting against it, man. 0.97

00:29:42.000 I'm going to set fire to a bin bag, crash can. 0.56

00:29:45.000 I'll fight against your system, your grammatical system. 0.96

00:29:48.000 Shall we?

00:29:48.000 I'll tell you what, we've got a fantastic show.

00:29:50.000 Crystal Ball might already, for all we know, Crystal Ball could already be on the line and about to be subject to be reading like a gold advert or something.

00:29:58.000 So let's make sure we show our item.

00:30:00.000 Here's the news.

00:30:01.000 No, here's the effing news.

00:30:02.000 It's lovely this because one of the things I use is barometer.

00:30:04.000 Now, I don't know how you guys feel about Jon Stewart.

00:30:06.000 I think he's a great comedian.

00:30:08.000 And even in the areas where I disagree with Jon Stewart, I respect him as a comic and as a public voice.

00:30:14.000 And I really loved his Wuhan joke.

00:30:16.000 I think it's the best Wuhan joke, actually. 0.93

00:30:18.000 You know, the outbreak of chocolate goodness near Hershey, Pennsylvania.

00:30:21.000 Can't really beat that joke.

00:30:22.000 We've been trying.

00:30:24.000 But like, he talks about the criticism that he received after he made that joke.

00:30:29.000 And I think also in this report, we talk a bit about the ongoing experimentation.

00:30:34.000 This is so funny.

00:30:35.000 Like during the pandemic, there was talk about how dangerous everything was, but that it definitely, definitely didn't come from a lab and definitely came out of a stinky old dirty old wet market.

00:30:43.000 They were still doing mad sort of Things that are too much like gain of function.

00:30:47.000 You know, we want to make sure we get the language right because even though we're on Rumble where there is free speech, we believe in responsible speech and we believe in unifying speech.

00:30:55.000 Let's have a look now at that story.

00:30:57.000 Here's the news.

00:30:57.000 No, here's the effing news.

00:30:59.000 Thanks for watching Zipfuckzine.

00:31:01.000 Here's the news. 0.99

00:31:02.000 No, here's the fucking news. 0.99

00:31:06.000 Suppose if it did come from a lab leak, that would mean that the people in control of response 0.99

00:31:11.000 to the pandemic also caused the pandemic, and also in some cases, benefited financially

00:31:16.000 from the pandemic.

00:31:18.000 And that surely wouldn't be right.

00:31:19.000 The only thing that could be worse than that would be to find out that, I don't know, during the pandemic itself, they carried on doing that type of experiment that caused it in the first place, if indeed that did cause it, and that would be unbelievable!

00:31:36.000 Today's story teaches us a great deal about how that went down.

00:31:41.000 In particular, Jon Stewart, who, let's face it, is something of a darling of the liberal establishment left, was widely condemned and criticized for his brilliant Wuhan joke and observation about its likely origins.

00:31:54.000 What surprises me even more than the venom and invective faced by dissenting and critical voices is the astonishing fact that during the pandemic new evidence suggests that they continued with the very kind of experiments that likely caused the whole thing in the first place.

00:32:11.000 Let's have a look at Jon Stewart.

00:32:12.000 So the idea was, you know, about the vaccines and other things that science had truly helped heal the world from a pandemic, probably called by science.

00:32:23.000 Let's face it, as a comedian, every time you're doing joke about Wuhan, which I do in my new special, link in the description if you want it, you're aware of the brilliance of the outbreak of chocolatey goodness in Hershey, Pennsylvania, as probably the perfect pandemic joke.

00:32:37.000 But the backlash is what's interesting in this instance.

00:32:40.000 And the backlash was swift, immediate, and quite loud. 1.00

00:32:46.000 The part that I don't like about it is the The absolutes and the dismissive, like, fuck you, I'm done with you. 1.00

00:32:56.000 I will never forgive you. 1.00

00:32:58.000 What was stunning to me, I think, was the anger.

00:33:02.000 Let's remember, the framing for Stuart's joke was, if science caused the pandemic, why would you trust science to resolve the pandemic?

00:33:09.000 And that's a great joke.

00:33:10.000 And I'm sure me and Jon Stewart would disagree with loads of things around the pandemic, as me and any other person would on a variety of subjects.

00:33:16.000 And a significant point that we need to address is that they carried on with experiments of this nature, even knowing that it was possible that the pandemic had been caused by a lab leak.

00:33:27.000 You won't believe this.

00:33:29.000 And this reporting is from the mainstream media.

00:33:31.000 Way back in the midst of the pandemic when there were new varieties and variants emerging every day, oh the Delta one, the Omicron one, they were, instead of thinking, oh this is a pain in the arse, when are we going to be able to go back to our normal lives such as they are, combining them to see what would happen.

00:33:46.000 At what point is there going to be some humility?

00:33:49.000 At what point will the hubris be punctured?

00:33:51.000 At what point will proper safety measures and a consensual agenda for scientific experimentation, other than the pursuit of finance would be what I contest, be achieved?

00:34:00.000 British scientists Lads, you've let us down.

00:34:03.000 I was hoping it was going to be American or Chinese scientists. 1.00

00:34:06.000 Damn. 0.99

00:34:07.000 Carried out experiments that risked creating more dangerous variants during the pandemic, it has been claimed. 0.99

00:34:12.000 In testing led by Imperial College London and supported by the UK Health Security Agency, cells were infected with Delta and Omicron at the same time to see which had a competitive advantage.

00:34:22.000 So I was thinking that scientists are like children.

00:34:25.000 I know what.

00:34:25.000 We'll put Omicron and Delta into one cell and see who wins.

00:34:29.000 Fight!

00:34:31.000 Anton van der Merwe, Professor of Molecular Immunology at the University of Oxford said, bearing in mind he's a conspiracy theorist, that such experiments risk combining the two variants to produce something more lethal that could have infected scientists or leaked from the laboratory.

00:34:46.000 Don't you worry when your own common sense and gut instincts turn out to be empirical science.

00:34:51.000 Hey, wait a minute, shouldn't they not be doing that?

00:34:54.000 Hey, what if it came from that lab though?

00:34:56.000 All those things just keep being true.

00:34:57.000 Should we agitate Russia into a war?

00:35:00.000 All this stuff's like true and correct!

00:35:02.000 You're right! 1.00

00:35:03.000 Don't forget, in the face of all the propaganda, that these people are fucking maniacs! 0.99

00:35:08.000 Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2 are well known to evolve by exchanging genetic material when two distinct viruses infect the same cell, he said. 0.99

00:35:16.000 This makes it much more likely that these strains will recombine and create a more dangerous variant, which could infect those doing the experiments, who could then spread it into the community.

00:35:25.000 Professor Van der Merff said, Using Delta and Omicron was particularly risky because they were from different lineages and had more differences than those variants closer to the original Wuhan strain.

00:35:35.000 What kind of scientists are doing that? 1.00

00:35:37.000 What kind of reckless, risk-taking high-rollers are conducting experiments that seem to be fueled primarily by risk and gambling?

00:35:46.000 These are not the qualities I want in clinical scientists.

00:35:49.000 I want them to be like, okay, well, we've got a problem here.

00:35:52.000 This is the best way to do it.

00:35:53.000 Not like, okay, Papa needs a new pair of spats.

00:35:55.000 Let's get in there.

00:35:56.000 Come on! 0.61

00:35:58.000 I'm not feeling too good, actually.

00:35:59.000 I want to pop down to the wet market, get myself one of those Penhaligon things.

00:36:03.000 I could do with a bite of that right now.

00:36:04.000 Sadly, these people are English.

00:36:06.000 You've let us down.

00:36:07.000 You've let the Queen down.

00:36:08.000 In fact, when did she die?

00:36:10.000 Imperial College London defended the experiments which took place in London. 0.99

00:36:14.000 Of course they fucking did. 0.94

00:36:15.000 Arguing that they were needed to inform the pandemic response. 0.99

00:36:19.000 It added they were carried out under high biosafety standards.

00:36:22.000 Oh, thanks very much.

00:36:24.000 Thanks for not just doing it in a skate park or a supermarket or in an old people's home.

00:36:29.000 We did the very best we could.

00:36:31.000 Why don't you mind your own business?

00:36:32.000 A spokesman for the university said, And we all know that government decision making during the pandemic was absolutely perfect, whether that was the parties they continued to hold throughout the pandemic, or the way that they admitted in text messages that they were exaggerating the risks in order to frighten us.

00:36:58.000 It was conducted in a biosafety level three laboratory.

00:37:02.000 We don't even need biosafety level one and two.

00:37:05.000 Always try your hardest for it to be safe.

00:37:07.000 Okay, it's Friday.

00:37:08.000 No school uniform.

00:37:09.000 Let's just have fun then.

00:37:10.000 Biosafety level one.

00:37:11.000 Whee! 1.00

00:37:12.000 Why don't we jug all those coronaviruses?

00:37:14.000 Let a couple of these mice out. 1.00

00:37:16.000 Why don't you go guys?

00:37:17.000 I only have level three.

00:37:19.000 Always try your best not to cause a pandemic.

00:37:22.000 In line with strict government regulations.

00:37:24.000 Government regulations at this point don't seem to have that much credibility, do they?

00:37:28.000 I mean, it's likely this thing came from a lab leak.

00:37:31.000 The government responded appallingly and were biased in directions that were ultimately unfavourable.

00:37:36.000 They were dishonest and propagandist throughout it.

00:37:39.000 So we've got science that's interested primarily in profit, a government that's interested in regulating, even if it's unethical and untruthful, and there are literal examples of that.

00:37:49.000 That is not a combination for a loving republic.

00:37:52.000 Since the start of the pandemic, there have been fears that COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, where researchers were carrying out experiments on bat coronaviruses.

00:38:01.000 By coincidence.

00:38:02.000 Why are we still talking about this?

00:38:03.000 Why are we still talking about Raccoon Dog and trying to blame a perfectly innocent, adorable new pet?

00:38:09.000 Anyway, probably you don't often have viruses leak from labs.

00:38:12.000 It's probably rare, unprecedented, or hardly happens at all.

00:38:15.000 So we've probably all got nothing to worry about.

00:38:18.000 In recent decades, oh yeah, recent ones, smallpox Swine flu, SARS, and anthrax, as well as foot and mouth disease, have escaped through laboratory leaks.

00:38:27.000 That is a terrifying list.

00:38:29.000 Smallpox, I'd hate to get that.

00:38:30.000 Swine flu, ew, SARS, well, we know where that led.

00:38:34.000 Anthrax, I didn't even know that was a disease, it was a literal thing terrorists did, as well as foot and mouth disease, which I think, of the diseases, is the most disgusting one, because who wants a foot in their mouth? 0.99

00:38:44.000 Pervert.

00:38:45.000 This week, a report by King's College London warned that laboratories containing dangerous pathogens are increasing.

00:38:51.000 Oh, great news!

00:38:53.000 We've all had a terrible time in the pandemic.

00:38:54.000 It's been rough for all of us, whether it's the deterioration in education standards, the threats to small businesses, the lack of trust in institutions, the increase in inequality.

00:39:02.000 We've made some vital decisions on that basis as scientists.

00:39:05.000 We are pleased to announce More dangerous pathogens in laboratories!

00:39:10.000 And also, some of them we're doing on biosafety level one.

00:39:13.000 Just for a bit of fun, man.

00:39:14.000 Woo! 0.99

00:39:15.000 Three quarters of maximum security facilities are now located in urban areas, increasing the risk of a leak.

00:39:21.000 And didn't I mention?

00:39:22.000 We're doing it in cities and towns, where people live.

00:39:25.000 But, you know, if they're going to live in cities and towns, some of which already have markets that are not as dry as they should be, they're well accommodated with these kind of risks.

00:39:34.000 Imagine if you're buying a house and the estate agent says, oh, there's a market over there.

00:39:38.000 Oh, nice.

00:39:38.000 That's convenient.

00:39:39.000 Should also tell you there's a laboratory there doing high risk experimentation with lethal, deadly pathogens, which is going to worry you more.

00:39:46.000 Oh, no, not a market.

00:39:48.000 I might get a bargain.

00:39:50.000 Report authors said that many countries are conducting risky research.

00:39:54.000 I mean, the name itself should be cause for caution.

00:39:56.000 This research is risky.

00:39:58.000 Well, should we not do it then?

00:39:59.000 Oh, come on, man.

00:40:00.000 Where's your sense of fun? 0.94

00:40:01.000 It's not jackass.

00:40:02.000 That could lead to the accidental or deliberate release of a pandemic-capable pathogen.

00:40:07.000 I don't think we had to even consider deliberate release.

00:40:10.000 Okay, so due to our risky experiments that we conducted only at biosafety level one, there has, I'm sorry to say, because we're in a busy urban area, there has been a lab leak.

00:40:21.000 Oh, well, never mind.

00:40:22.000 Can't be helped.

00:40:23.000 Accidents do happen.

00:40:24.000 Accidents?

00:40:25.000 We did it on purpose!

00:40:26.000 Dr. Philippa Lenzos, co-director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies at King's College London said, there's been a global boom.

00:40:32.000 In pandemics?

00:40:33.000 No.

00:40:34.000 In construction of labs handling dangerous pathogens, but this has not been accompanied by sufficient biosafety and biosecurity oversight.

00:40:41.000 That's good news!

00:40:42.000 Boom! 0.99

00:40:43.000 A great big explosion, an experiment on pathogens, but not accompanied by safety measures.

00:40:48.000 Whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:40:49.000 If we're going to do all of these experiments, should we at least accompany that with safety measures?

00:40:55.000 Come on, you're taking all the fun out of science.

00:40:55.000 Ah, what's the point?

00:40:57.000 Professor van der Merwe, who must be exhausted, has argued previously that many scientists were reluctant to consider the possibility that a laboratory leak started the pandemic for fear of having to curtail their own risky viral experiments.

00:41:09.000 Hey, but, like, you know, if it did come from that lab, what about my own risky experiments?

00:41:16.000 What is this, Make-A-Wish Foundation?

00:41:18.000 Their love of risky experimentation should not be the north star of our decision-making.

00:41:24.000 Well, first and foremost, we will not be doing anything to curtail the risky experiments of these adorable, fun-loving scientists.

00:41:31.000 Now, put that to one side, how best to handle this pandemic so that as much money as possible and as many rules as possible can be...

00:41:39.000 Lost my focus on the fun-loving scientist for a minute.

00:41:42.000 He discovered that in a separate experiment in Germany, scientists carried out similar tests as Imperial using the alpha and beta variants on hamsters, ferrets and humanised mice.

00:41:51.000 Okay, so we'll do the hamster.

00:41:54.000 Ferret.

00:41:54.000 Ehehehe.

00:41:55.000 And now my favourite of all, the humanised mice.

00:41:58.000 Um, would you mind not doing this?

00:41:59.000 Shhh, it might not be that bad.

00:42:02.000 And it will certainly be profitable.

00:42:04.000 Ow, my heart hurts. 1.00

00:42:05.000 Shut up! 1.00

00:42:06.000 There is more opportunity for recombination in animal experiments and selection for more dangerous variants 0.98

00:42:11.000 because they involve more cells infected for longer periods, added Professor Vandermeerf.

00:42:16.000 Handling animals is also riskier in terms of transmission to the experimenter than handling cells.

00:42:21.000 Yeah, the obvious risk being that you can't be bitten by a cell, but you can by a humanised mouse.

00:42:26.000 And now the kicker, he added, neither of these experiments are of any help in protecting us from SARS-CoV-2.

00:42:32.000 The only possible justification for all this madcap foolishness could be that it's of some use. 0.91

00:42:39.000 OK, I mean, God, it's a silly question. 0.95

00:42:41.000 I can't believe I'm even asking it.

00:42:42.000 This is of some use, is it, in curing SARS-CoV-2?

00:42:46.000 No, not really.

00:42:47.000 We just like injecting humanised mice. 1.00

00:42:49.000 Now get the fuck out of my lab, you squares! 1.00

00:42:51.000 Ow! 1.00

00:42:52.000 I'm getting a blood clot!

00:42:54.000 If it was conclusively proven the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was the result of a laboratory leak, it would obviously strengthen the case for stricter global regulation of experiments on potentially dangerous pathogens.

00:43:05.000 So that's just one more reason why the narrative is being so tightly controlled.

00:43:09.000 Why they're working so hard to say it was a raccoon dog.

00:43:11.000 Why they're working so hard to smear dissenting voices.

00:43:14.000 Why at the beginning, even when they were considering the lab leak theory themselves, because it's so bloody obvious, they prevented that from being widely shared and promoted the wet market idea.

00:43:25.000 Doesn't it make you think that it's been overhauled?

00:43:27.000 In the entire way that science is conducted.

00:43:29.000 Notably, not having science as a subset of corporate pharmaceutical interests.

00:43:33.000 Not having science as a tool to underwrite a new orthodoxy of regulating people.

00:43:38.000 Having science as a kind of mutual and magnificent principle to drive our kind forward.

00:43:43.000 Yes, but in that version...

00:43:44.000 Do I get to inject the humanized mouse?

00:43:47.000 No!

00:43:47.000 It seems to me that we should regulate, prevent, massively shut down this type of experimentation unless it directly leads to advances and benefits for ordinary people, not just for profit and whatever other crazy motivations are in there that I can't even work out.

00:44:01.000 But that's just what I think.

00:44:02.000 Let me know what you think in the comments.

00:44:02.000 I'll see you in a second.

00:44:03.000 Thank you for choosing Fox News.

00:44:05.000 Thank you so much.

00:44:06.000 No. 0.99

00:44:07.000 Here's the fucking news! 1.00

00:44:10.000 Ah, and on that final expletive from my four-year-old daughter, 1.00

00:44:15.000 we'll read some of your comments.

00:44:18.000 Alex Overton, locals works fine in France.

00:44:22.000 It's nice, isn't it, to know that it's working perfectly well.

00:44:25.000 Killuminati369, deploy the next variant.

00:44:29.000 These are the kind of comments that allow us to seamlessly move into a conversation with a very important voice in our cultural space of independent media and free thinking.

00:44:40.000 Friend of the show, personal, deity is too strong a word, but a reporter that I very much admire.

00:44:49.000 Crystal Ball from Breaking Point is joining us.

00:44:52.000 Alright Crystal, thanks for coming mate.

00:44:54.000 Thanks for having me.

00:44:55.000 You're setting the bar a little high, though.

00:44:56.000 I'm getting nervous now.

00:44:57.000 Don't get nervous.

00:44:58.000 You look like you could be a mid-ranking officer in Star Trek in that fantastic outfit.

00:45:06.000 Well, thank you.

00:45:06.000 Thank you very much.

00:45:08.000 Thank you.

00:45:08.000 We wanted to start by talking about the French protests and what can be drawn when talking about the, I don't know, is it the downfall, the demise of neoliberalism?

00:45:20.000 And we wanted to look at whether or not you personally feel that it's too late.

00:45:24.000 to reform centre-left parties, but to accept that with the ongoing militarisation of the

00:45:30.000 police force, this tendency for centralising authority and crushing dissent, where the

00:45:36.000 change from outside of the system is going to be required, in fact, isn't that what protests

00:45:40.000 and riots ultimately are? So I just wanted you to contextualise the protests in France

00:45:47.000 alongside what's happening in your country for us. Thank you.

00:45:52.000 Well, I think of neoliberalism as a sort of zombie ideology, which has clearly failed

00:46:00.000 and been rejected by all sorts of people all around the world as failing to really serve

00:46:07.000 the interests of the people.

00:46:08.000 So you end up with governments and economies, which should be there to serve society, to serve the people, and instead are serving a group of But I call it a zombie ideology because even as the failings of it have been exposed and rejected, it still holds a lot of power as we see obviously in the UK, as we see in the US with Joe Biden, as we see in France with Macron.

00:46:37.000 Being able to win reelection with, you know, he had like a 30% approval rating when he won reelection.

00:46:43.000 And by the way, Joe Biden's chief of staff pointed that out as a model for how Joe Biden himself could get reelected, even as he is tremendously unpopular.

00:46:53.000 So that's how I sort of see the ideology of neoliberalism.

00:46:58.000 As far as whether it can be reformed within the system or what sort of tactics might work, I think you need a whole-of-body politic approach.

00:47:08.000 So the sort of protest movement that you see right now in France, and incidentally that's being very successful right now in Israel as well, that's not just people marching the street with placards, but it's people shutting down airports, shutting down commerce, shutting down transit, and really hurting Neoliberalism in the Capitol, where it really hurts, that is tremendously powerful.

00:47:29.000 That's one essential piece.

00:47:31.000 I think another essential piece, and all of these are about basically, you know, small d democratic weapons.

00:47:38.000 Another piece is in building out the power of labor and labor unions.

00:47:42.000 That's obviously an instrumental part in having power when you go to protest and when you go to have a general strike, that you have people who are working together in solidarity to have that kind of an impact.

00:47:52.000 But then I think another piece is electoral politics.

00:47:55.000 You know, in the American context, we take for granted that the Democratic Party is what it is and the Republican Party is what it is.

00:48:02.000 But these parties are just collections of people.

00:48:05.000 And the Democratic Party of the past, When it was the FDR New Deal party meant something very different and stood for things that are very different from what the party does today.

00:48:16.000 So, you know, I think the people who run the DNC are a bunch of posers who could, you know, be supplanted by a real movement of the people and sort of hijack that party to restore it to its roots of serving the interests of the people rather than the interests of the donor class.

00:48:34.000 That's an exciting proposition, but even in recent electoral cycles we've seen that party, it feels like from within, scupper the attempt of a more populist leader in the form of Bernie Sanders, who I figure you were well into, and it makes me feel like, in a sense, part of the function of these institutions is their ongoing preservation and the ability to stymie any

00:49:04.000 serious reform.

00:49:05.000 So I recognize what you're saying is that without populist uprising outside of political systems

00:49:11.000 such as we are seeing in France and as you added Israel, there is no incentive or likelihood of the

00:49:19.000 of that kind of internal change happening.

00:49:22.000 Like in recent, you know, the Clinton Sanders stuff is a good demonstration of that,

00:49:28.000 would you say?

00:49:28.000 Well, I'll give you a perfect example of that.

00:49:31.000 And I think your point is spot on.

00:49:34.000 So right now, Joe Biden, he hasn't officially announced for re-election,

00:49:37.000 but he's likely to.

00:49:38.000 And he has a progressive primary opponent who was announced in Marianne Williamson.

00:49:44.000 And Democrats, for all their talk about democracy during January 6, et cetera.

00:49:50.000 Now that it's time to actually put to a vote among Democratic primary voters, OK, who do you want to be your nominee?

00:49:56.000 And we know from the polls that an overwhelming majority would like Joe Biden to step aside and they would like to have options in this primary.

00:50:03.000 They've already switched around the order of the states to try to rig the primary election for Biden.

00:50:09.000 And they're also already saying, we're not even going to have a debate.

00:50:12.000 So you don't even get to hear on a stage what the various platforms are.

00:50:17.000 So there is no doubt that when it comes down to it, they have zero commitment to democracy.

00:50:21.000 They will use any authoritarian tactics, just as Macron did in France, to try to maintain their power.

00:50:27.000 The only thing that can shift them from that stance is a populist uprising that forces that Their hand that demands a debate that demands a real primary that demands a real democracy.

00:50:38.000 And I think those are the only sort of choices.

00:50:40.000 Neoliberalism, it's no accident that it's being forced.

00:50:44.000 leaders like Macron and Biden are being forced to use increasingly authoritarian tactics

00:50:49.000 in service of maintaining their power because it has sort of been revealed as this rotten

00:50:55.000 ideology that doesn't deliver on its promises.

00:50:58.000 The only response to that is a truly populist response, which really means handing power

00:51:04.000 and people reclaiming power both in their workplace, through labor unions, both in the

00:51:08.000 streets, through protest, and also by taking back electoral politics.

00:51:12.000 So you have to have all three of those pieces in my opinion.

00:51:16.000 I feel like the professional neoliberal centre-left kind of hates working people and that kind of contempt comes through continually in their rhetoric.

00:51:26.000 Marianne Williamson's coming on this show next week.

00:51:29.000 I love what you said there about the institutional and centralised authoritarianism that would corruptly rejig the order of those sort of state elections in order to prevent any momentum or even debate and that makes me feel like what like why would I grant any airtime to that kind of political body with that kind of mechanic a slightly more trivial question before moving on to things that are a bit more intense it just occurred to me then uh crystal like do you see now when joe biden makes one of those errors where he sort of accidentally says it you know that's why i love china when he's in canada or whatever that people laugh straight away with that and do not product placement that drink you should be drinking

00:52:12.000 Kombucha, or something healthy, rather than that evil brew!

00:52:17.000 Stinking Coca-Cola!

00:52:18.000 Oh no, I'm sure it's a fine brew.

00:52:19.000 It's delicious though.

00:52:21.000 It might be evil, but it's delicious. 0.97

00:52:22.000 Don't give them a pack shot, you maniac right next to your electrifying white smile! 1.00

00:52:28.000 You lunatic, that's worth thousands! 1.00

00:52:30.000 Get your agent on the phone, I'll do that deal. 0.99

00:52:33.000 Like, when Joe Biden does that, when Joe Biden does that stuff and he makes a mistake, have you noticed they started laughing now?

00:52:39.000 Do you think that that's something that's happened as a result of a spontaneous cultural movement?

00:52:44.000 Or do you think someone goes out and briefs before Joe Biden appears on stage and goes, if he makes one of those errors, just chuckle along with beloved old Uncle Joe to sort of soften the evident ineptitude and the horrible metaphor that that ineptitude represents Of a kind of atrophy and cadaverous power.

00:53:02.000 In fact, when you say zombie neoliberalism, it is convenient that there's an actual zombie running the country.

00:53:08.000 Yeah, true, true.

00:53:09.000 He's like the sort of living embodiment, semi-living embodiment of exactly that.

00:53:14.000 Look, I think when people are uncomfortable, they tend to laugh because they don't know what else to do.

00:53:20.000 And so when you have incidents like, you know, I don't know if you remember the one where there was a congresswoman who died in a car accident and he had sent out a letter of condolences to the family and then he's at this event and he's calling for her, Jackie, Jackie, where are you?

00:53:36.000 In any case, there are clear signs that he's not the politician that he used to be.

00:53:44.000 Now, listen, if people are able to see him on a debate stage and hear his ideas for the country and defend the areas where he's made clear promises and completely failed on and in a completely open democratic fashion, that's what the American people decide to go in the direction of.

00:53:59.000 Okay, that's democracy.

00:54:01.000 But what They are trying to do because they know that he's an incredibly precarious and fragile position is they're trying to shut down any ability for people to hear an alternative whatsoever.

00:54:13.000 So, you know, it really reveals their hand of how weak they think that he is.

00:54:18.000 And then they also have the issue of Kamala Harris as vice president.

00:54:22.000 She's even less popular than Joe Biden is.

00:54:25.000 And not only is she a heartbeat away from the presidency, she's the heartbeat away from a president who, you know, would end the next term at 86 years old.

00:54:34.000 So this is a series of really compounding problems for them that they don't quite know how to deal with other than through authoritarian, anti-democratic tactics.

00:54:43.000 The only choice is for us to reject them and say, listen, whatever you think about the issues, whatever you think about Marianne Williamson or Joe Biden, The American people at least deserve to have an open forum and an open debate because we're at a critical juncture in our nation's history and in world history where it's never been more important to have that open discussion and debate of ideas and visions for the future.

00:55:05.000 I am really encouraged by what you say, Crystal, about how populism can advance existing political

00:55:14.000 structures because I tend sometimes out of despair to feel like, oh, there's no point.

00:55:19.000 There's no point.

00:55:20.000 It's so corrupt.

00:55:21.000 It's so broken.

00:55:22.000 The only thing it's worth doing is protest.

00:55:25.000 The only thing that's worth doing is establish alternative systems.

00:55:28.000 But I see how, as you describe, it could influence existing political structures were we to be

00:55:35.000 more vocal and aggressive, and I don't mean that obviously in a violent sense, in our

00:55:39.000 protest and opposition and noncompliance to the corruption within these systems.

00:55:43.000 And I wanted to ask you...

00:55:44.000 Well, if I could just insert in that, you know, I'm talking a lot about the Democratic

00:55:48.000 Party, but there's a similar process that's playing out in the Republican Party right

00:55:52.000 I mean, there are some real schisms that have emerged in the Republican Party that are a real, you know, potential source of democracy and reform as well.

00:56:02.000 So, you know, I don't see this as a sort of one-sided opportunity to change the tenor of our country or the world or change the landscape.

00:56:11.000 But it's not going to come without a fight.

00:56:13.000 There's no doubt about it.

00:56:14.000 I mean, the people who have power are not going to just willingly give it up to a group of renegades, whether it's operating within this party system or within a third party.

00:56:23.000 With the mechanics of the U.S.

00:56:25.000 political system, you know, as much as Bernie Sanders was shut out in 2016 and again in 2020, he still came a lot closer.

00:56:33.000 Then a third party is able to come just because of the fundamental structure of first past the post voting and how this ultimately works.

00:56:41.000 So I just think from a pragmatic standpoint, you're likely to have a better shot of success going for hijacking one of the existing political parties than coming from the outside.

00:56:52.000 Thanks, Christel.

00:56:52.000 You're quite right that that pressure should be bipartisan.

00:56:55.000 I wanted to ask you, do the current TikTok congressional hearings demonstrate the evident and ongoing hypocrisy that exists in American politics, in so much as almost every facet of attack that's being explored, whether it's the surveillance, the data capture, the apparent collaboration with the state, could be levelled at American.

00:57:20.000 Social media companies or global social media companies.

00:57:24.000 And I want to tie this to the subject we were just discussing, meaningful change within the system or even beyond the system.

00:57:32.000 Do you feel that if either the Republican Party or the Democrat Party or an independent party stood on a platform that included banning politicians from having a second job, Banning politicians to trade in stocks and shares full stop or having any dependent child or spouse own stocks and shares and making it illegal for either party to receive corporate donations, only individual funders and even then in a very regulated way.

00:57:57.000 Do you think that that, you know, essentially getting money out of politics, ending lobbying, ending congressional stock trading, ending the sort of funding of the parties by finance and big business, would alter the landscape of American politics So radically that, you know, that it would actually bloody well work and be meaningful.

00:58:14.000 And what kind of opposition would those kind of ideas face and how would they stop it happening and sort of loophole their way out of it?

00:58:22.000 Well, I think it'd be dramatically popular with the American people.

00:58:25.000 And you see this from time to time.

00:58:28.000 You know, leaders, congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle were sort of forced to pretend like they cared about banning stock trading in Congress.

00:58:37.000 And both Nancy Pelosi, back when she was Speaker, and also Kevin McCarthy, when he was running to be Speaker of the House, pretended like they wanted to take action on this issue because they knew it was so popular and so politically powerful.

00:58:49.000 And then now that Kevin McCarthy is actually Speaker of the House, you haven't heard anything about it anymore.

00:58:53.000 That just sort of died.

00:58:54.000 Even the renegades that like challenged him in terms of a speakership, that was not one of the concessions that they extracted.

00:59:00.000 And Nancy Pelosi found a way to effectively kill, you know, some real genuine bipartisan efforts that might have had some teeth in that direction. 1.00

00:59:07.000 So they use it as a political cudgel as it serves them, but then make sure that there is no actual change that happens.

00:59:14.000 Do I think that getting money out of American politics would make a difference?

00:59:17.000 Absolutely.

00:59:18.000 I think it would absolutely, you know, transform the landscape of American politics because we ask ourselves so many times, why when you have things that are so incredibly popular, you know, things like making sure people have paid sick leave or that union membership is available to people or that people have a living wage?

00:59:36.000 I mean, these are massively popular issues.

00:59:39.000 Why is there never any action?

00:59:41.000 And frequently, corruption is a core part of the story.

00:59:45.000 And if we go even one level deeper than that, this is really, going back to France, this really is the core of the rot of neoliberalism, which says profits and money above all else.

00:59:56.000 So of course, if that is your system, and that's the altar that you worship at, Then you're going to end up with a system that is rife with corruption.

01:00:06.000 So I think that's kind of the root of the problem, and they'll do everything they can to protect the status quo that exists because the people in power, they got there because things work well for them the way that they stand right now.

01:00:18.000 It means to me that that's an interesting edifice to focus attack on, because it exposes the areas in which both parties plainly agree and will use rhetoric around it, but won't implement legislation around it.

01:00:34.000 And it exposes that, as Chomsky says, where both parties agree, you have no choice at all.

01:00:39.000 And to sort of introduce that and popularise those ideas, I feel like it'd be a really interesting way of radicalising political debate in a meaningful way.

01:00:47.000 Crystal, thank you so much for joining us.

01:00:50.000 Thank you for endorsing that soft drink, which I think has links to Alzheimer's.

01:00:55.000 I don't know.

01:00:56.000 That's allegedly at this stage.

01:00:58.000 Listen, we have to exist in society as it is, Russell, until we can revolutionize in it.

01:01:04.000 So I'm just here existing in society with my Diet Coke.

01:01:07.000 You, like Gareth Roy, are a positive influence.

01:01:10.000 You are the voice of reason and the taste of Diet Coke simultaneously.

01:01:16.000 Crystal Ball, thank you so much for joining us.

01:01:19.000 You can catch Breaking Point every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on YouTube, surely on Rumble soon.

01:01:23.000 That's midday Eastern time.

01:01:24.000 Thanks again, Crystal.

01:01:26.000 Thanks for joining us, mate.

01:01:27.000 Thank you, Russell.

01:01:27.000 It was fun.

01:01:28.000 Lovely to speak to you.

01:01:29.000 Thank you very much.

01:01:30.000 And there we go.

01:01:32.000 A wonderful conversation.

01:01:33.000 Perfectly enjoyable.

01:01:34.000 I think we advanced the debate somewhat, didn't we?

01:01:37.000 And we also promoted a deadly soft drink.

01:01:41.000 No, I think, I mean, I think, you know, all the points about Biden, I mean, I wasn't aware of what Krystal was talking about in terms of ways in which the Democrat Party are going about making, ensuring that, you know, Biden gets re-elected over, for example, someone like Marianne Williamson, who we'll speak to, but it's...

01:01:57.000 We can ask her that.

01:01:58.000 We'll also say, are you aware they're shifting the order of the states?

01:02:02.000 I'm sure she is.

01:02:03.000 I've been paying attention to that.

01:02:04.000 Amazing.

01:02:05.000 I like Marianne Williamson.

01:02:06.000 She's spiritual.

01:02:08.000 She's cool.

01:02:09.000 I've interviewed her a couple of times.

01:02:11.000 She's all right.

01:02:12.000 Hey, she's a good person.

01:02:14.000 Listen, when I went over to Rumble and met this... I already knew the CEO, Chris Pavlovsky, but like, I went over there and sort of there was, you know, I met Donald J. Trump.

01:02:25.000 Lovely, of course. 0.94

01:02:26.000 His wife, that little girlfriend, that lady, Kim, off of, like, Fox, who really aggressively attacked me, saying I was like a scumbag and a stinkhole and a scuzzbucket, and then, which was an absolute joy to me, and, like, just laughed her way through all of those things, and it sort of felt like it didn't matter at all to me. 0.99

01:02:43.000 We had like our photo done me and Chris Pavlovsky over by the rumble logo right and I just as we were taking our photo like he sort of intuitively put his hands clasped his hands across his midriff right like or lower midriff your torso let's call it and I just went at the moment in that moment I went Don't cover your genitals! 0.98

01:03:03.000 Like, as if I was an expert in body language or something like that?

01:03:06.000 And, like, it was the person that took a photo that works with us, Lauren, I think, she had a camera on live, so it's got the audio of it.

01:03:14.000 And, you know, to celebrate Rumble's recent controversies being banned in France, or at least taking themselves off of the French system, here is me and Chris Pavlovsky, and me advising him to not cover his genitals, which I say is an entertaining moment.

01:03:30.000 Have a look. 0.95

01:03:31.000 Don't cover your genitals. 0.99

01:03:34.000 He actually did it! 0.97

01:03:35.000 Like as if I know about stuff like that. 0.74

01:03:38.000 Never cover your genitals. 0.98

01:03:39.000 Unless you're nude. 0.98

01:03:40.000 In which case... From one CEO to another.

01:03:43.000 These are my tips.

01:03:45.000 Do not cover your genies in a photo!

01:03:48.000 It says a lot though, doesn't it?

01:03:49.000 The fact that you're stood there with your hands so far away, about as far away from your gentles as it's possible for them to be. 0.90

01:03:55.000 I don't want them anywhere near them!

01:03:57.000 That's when the problems start!

01:03:59.000 Well, thank you for joining us for another fantastic show.

01:04:03.000 I hope you learned something about the connection between the protests in France and your own corrupt systems.

01:04:08.000 I like Crystal's point about it's a sort of a zombie ideology lumbering on, but zombies are Pretty deadly.

01:04:14.000 And they put up a fight.

01:04:15.000 And then sort of the observation that perhaps in Biden, we have the perfect zombie president, a cadaverous undead figure lurching his way forwards into new conflicts in Syria, weaponizing and mobilizing and monetizing the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

01:04:31.000 Or is it ideologically sound?

01:04:32.000 Let me know in the comments.

01:04:34.000 We've got a fantastic week coming up tomorrow.

01:04:36.000 We'll be speaking to Vandana Shiva, the great mother We'll be talking about the various agricultural revolts, in particular the one in the Netherlands currently, and again, how a new populist movement that transcends cultural differences is emerging.

01:04:50.000 That's what's happening in France.

01:04:52.000 We'll be looking at that in even more depth, if such a thing were possible, in our Here's the News tomorrow.

01:04:56.000 And if you sign up to Locals, you'll get my stand-up special Brandemic available right as part of your package, or you can buy it

01:05:03.000 for a one-off price of $20.

01:05:04.000 You get access to Stay Connected, me and Gareth's little show,

01:05:07.000 where we're really intimate with one another, and we respond directly to your questions,

01:05:11.000 as well as weekly meditations, and the opportunity to attend live podcast recordings,

01:05:16.000 like the latest one with Graham Hancock.

01:05:18.000 That's up on Rumble now.

01:05:19.000 You could have come.

01:05:20.000 We gave away tickets to people.

01:05:21.000 There's people in the locals community, like, what's his name,

01:05:24.000 the man that looked like a man on another man's shoulders?

01:05:27.000 What was his name again?

01:05:28.000 Primal Colin.

01:05:29.000 Primal Colin.

01:05:30.000 You, like Primal Colin, shout out to you, could come here and meet Graham Hancock,

01:05:34.000 and loom above him like a Muppet Man.

01:05:37.000 Join us!

01:05:38.000 Join us on our adventure.

01:05:39.000 We're getting more and more serious by the day.

01:05:41.000 We're on the very precipice of starting communities.

01:05:43.000 Are we, Gal?

01:05:44.000 Oh, of course we are.

01:05:45.000 Let's start those communities. 0.71

01:05:46.000 Join us tomorrow, not for more of the same, but for more of the different.

01:05:49.000 Until then, stay free.

Stay Free - Russel Brand - March 27, 2023

France Burns!! What The F*ck Is Going On?! - #099 - Stay Free With Russell Brand

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