The Elsa Kurt Show

Democracy in Danger: Venezuelan Elections, Israeli Hostage Crisis, and Social Media Censorship

Elsa Kurt

Can democracy survive in a polarized world? Join us this week as we celebrate Clay's 51st birthday with some humor about AARP mail, before diving into the sobering political climate in Venezuela. We'll compare President Maduro's election rigging and the arrest of opposition leaders to the state of democracy in the United States, pondering the potential repercussions of similar actions here. The conversation then pivots to the importance of national loyalty over political division, particularly in the context of former President Trump.

As the episode progresses, we tackle the escalating conflict in Israel and the occupied territories. We discuss the heartbreaking execution of six Israeli hostages by Hamas, the massive protests in Jerusalem, and Prime Minister Netanyahu's precarious political situation. Our analysis doesn't stop there— we'll dive into the varied reactions of the global Jewish community and the polarized perspectives on how to handle the conflict, from aggressive military actions to urgent calls for peace. The discussion also touches on the moral and strategic dilemmas faced by leaders and the potential involvement of the U.S. in hostage rescue operations.

Finally, we address a disturbing incident involving US Marines in Turkey and its geopolitical implications, including changes in military protocols for safety abroad. We'll critique the perceived incompetence of a political figure's team and share experiences with social media censorship, shedding light on the challenges of rebuilding an online presence after a hack. This multifaceted episode promises a blend of light-hearted moments and critical perspectives, weaving through global crises, national politics, and personal anecdotes. Don't miss this deep dive into the complexities of our world today.

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Speaker 1:

It's the Elsa Kurtz Show with Clay Novak Conservative views on world news Brought to you by the Wellness Company. Prepare for the unexpected and Refuge Medical. And now it's time for the show.

Speaker 2:

What is up everybody? It's good to be back for another week of Wild Times in the News. It's semi-vaguely calmed down. I mean, it's not like wild insane things like former presidents attempted assassinations and you know, sitting presidents being thrown overboard, you know, but it's still crazy, right.

Speaker 3:

You know it's just wars and technology and you know nothing major.

Speaker 2:

Run of the mill. You know just a day in the life, oh boy, all right, we're going to get into it all right after this. How you been Clay. What's new? Anything exciting?

Speaker 3:

Well, you know we are recording on Wednesday now. So for the public, elst and I have decided that through until the election we are going to try and record as close to the deadline as we can, just because we know the news cycle has been so crazy.

Speaker 2:

We don't want to miss anything, so yeah, we don't want to be on this tail end.

Speaker 3:

Today is Wednesday, September 4th, and it is I hate to put this out in public, but today is my 51st birthday.

Speaker 2:

Happy birthday. What? Oh my goodness, you're still a baby, still a baby.

Speaker 3:

I'll tell you, my VA disability rating says otherwise.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I hear you. You know it used to be like a really embarrassing, mortifying, insulting thing when the AARP started sending you stuff in the mail. But guess what? Guys? Aarp is out to everybody now it's like it doesn't even matter. Yeah, so it's not a slap, and sometimes you get some good deals. I'll use it, I don't care.

Speaker 3:

I think they know our birthdays better than most of our families know our birthdays.

Speaker 2:

They do, they definitely do. So, rude, that's okay. That's okay. Any big plans, anything exciting.

Speaker 3:

No use the longer weekend to celebrate. Saw some old friends that I haven't seen in a long time and celebrated with family, so it was a good weekend.

Speaker 2:

That's so fun. You're a low key guy, right? No surprise parties or anything for you. No, not no yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I'm not, I'm not big on um surprises, I don't. I don't like it because you know. Then you have to like, yeah, I get in my head I don't know about you, but I get in my head like, did I look surprised enough? Did I you know, am I like animated enough?

Speaker 3:

it's too much pressure, worst. My, my family will tell you I like before christmas. I know every present before. Like I know it's impossible to keep a secret from me, I ruin everybody's surprises. So nobody tries anymore.

Speaker 2:

That's so funny. Yeah, and my husband is like a guy. He's like I don't need anything, I'm good. If I want something, I just buy it myself. I'm like, yeah, I get that, I'm the same way, I get it Definitely. And we are, we truly are.

Speaker 2:

I'm not one of those women that says one thing and then gets mad when he actually does what I said to do. I, I, I don't do that, I honestly don't. You can even ask them, you know, if I say, you know, valentine's day, like I think those holidays, I think they're very silly, you know? And and we, I mean every day is a holiday with my guy. You know, I mean life is good so we don't have to, you know, designate. I know I want points from that. He's going to have to watch this one so I can get points for saying nice things. Anyhow, we got not nice topics to talk about. We had to like kind of soften the way into all this and it's not even. This is like not a segue at all, it's just a you can't, even you can't even there's no smooth way into this.

Speaker 2:

Um oh my goodness, and this is all of this. Uh, Venezuela, all the craziness that's been going on there, you know not, not crazy new. This is pretty wild, though.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's a. It's an indicator, I think, for everybody in the United States. The thing to pay attention to, you know, is the path that we are potentially heading down is the same. We've talked about this for weeks.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 3:

The path of following Venezuela, a once very, very wealthy nation because of the oil they have, um, you know down the path of socialism and and this is like the capper I mean. You know, maduro, president, maduro, you know, rigged the election. Yes Again.

Speaker 2:

Again.

Speaker 3:

One. You know nobody believes he won. Nobody down there believes he won, but you know that's that was the outcome of the election and you know there's been some upheaval since the election, since the results were posted, and you know he maintained the presidency and you know so he did. What dictators do in socialist countries is that they have their opposition leader arrested. Right Sounds vaguely.

Speaker 2:

Sounds vaguely familiar. You're right. Yeah, I don't. I mean not something that can happen here, though, of course, right, I mean, can't imagine that. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 3:

You know it is like I said it's. It's an indicator for us. You know, I've maintained for a while that if they ever tried to put president Trump into handcuffs, um, that's when things would get would get bad, um, get bad. I honestly believe that you know the goal for all of these 96 charges, or whatever they total ended up being. You know, the intent behind all that was to keep him from running for president, not to put him in jail. That was never the intent, because you know that would not be well received by literally half of the nation. So you know, but but Maduro doesn't care and it's a, you know, it's very lawless down there right now. And he did exactly that. It was a, you know, a physical arrest, um handcuffs yards and he got taken away and put into custody.

Speaker 3:

Um, I, I don't. I don't anticipate that ever happening here. However, there are rumors and I and I I don't know if you, I don't put any credence into this at all, but the rumors are out there that there are national guardsmen, new York national guardsmen, in hotels in New York city, um, in anticipation of his sentencing that's coming in this month. Wow, I don't believe that. I know there's some film footage, man on the street, you know kind of stuff.

Speaker 3:

But, I know that soldiers stay in hotels for thousands of reasons.

Speaker 2:

Various reasons, sure, even in New.

Speaker 3:

York City. So I think that's, you know, some probably gross misrepresentation.

Speaker 2:

So it's certainly believable that they're there.

Speaker 3:

The reason not so credible quite yet, but at the same time, how far-fetched is it.

Speaker 2:

How many years away are we? I mean, considering where we are, it's not far-fetched at all, right.

Speaker 3:

And how many years away are we? How many election cycles away are we? Is it one, is it two, is it three? You know, I think, if we, you know, the pendulum swings and it evens things out, right?

Speaker 3:

I mean, we've had a pretty consistent, you know eight years of this, four years of that, eight years of this, four years of that, eight years and eight years. And it kind of evens itself out. And you know, the nation kind of weaves back and forth, right. We get too many, you know, on one side and it gets lopsided, and I think that's where we're at.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, that's where we're at and you know, and this is the most open and blatant socialist party really.

Speaker 4:

You know, they're not.

Speaker 2:

There's no hiding it anymore. There's. You know, when you have the vice president, presidential candidate say things like your free speech is a privilege, which is what she said regards to Elon Musk refer to free speech or constitutional right to free speech as a privilege. This is just another part of their language games. Really, you're going to see that word, just like you see joy. You're going to see that word crop up a lot more because we know, as socialists, they want to get rid of the Constitution. They think that it's just a useless, old, wrinkly piece of paper that you know isn't relevant anymore. And and they're saying these things openly there's no hiding it.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, I mean you've got the quote from Governor Walz. You know, one person's socialism is another person's neighborliness, I think the word that he made up.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, that's exactly right.

Speaker 3:

And so again, they're not. They're not trying to hide any of this, and I've said this before. We talked about it last week. You know the First Amendment is under attack. You know and listen, I understand that the Supreme Court has ruled a while ago that freedom of speech is not absolute. It's the whole. You can't yell fire in a crowded theater, kind of thing. I understand that, but that's not what this is. What's being attacked is, like you said when Vice President Harris said that about Elon Musk, right, that's what's going on in France. That's what's going on in England and the UK. They're arresting teachers right now in the UK. Have you seen this?

Speaker 2:

No, I have not.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, they're opposing school policy verbally, outwardly. Education policy, government policy. They're opposed to it. They're being arrested. This is happening in the most civilized allied nations that we have, so you know, while we yeah, and we stand here and assume that that will never happen here, or at least some people do, but the reality is I don't. I don't think you know. Unless we have a course correction, I don't think we're too far away.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't, I don't, I really don't think so either, and you know, and we're talking about things, and you know, people always get this convoluted with free speech and our right to it, and you know everybody starts yelling at each other. Well, you can't say that to me, you know, or you can't stop me from saying this free speech, whatever. What we're really talking about is the government. The government should not be censoring people from their free speech. You know that's more of a protection of us from government. You know their overreach and their and obviously, as we all know, zuckerberg has come right out with it and and confessed yes, the Biden administration, like he could not have made it any more clear, there was nothing ambiguous about his statement. Yes, the Biden administration pressured them to censor.

Speaker 2:

You know misinformation and this and that it's it's election interference. It happened. There's the final nail in the coffin of confirmation that that is a fact. You know, and what's being done about it? Absolutely nothing, other than I hope that the RNC and you know, the Republican party is working their tails off to make sure that these elections are protected and, and you know they supposedly are. I saw something from the RNC that they had like a hundred thousand uh workers, essentially ready to assist and watch the polls and do all of the things and to assure a fair, fair election, you know. So that sounds like they're on top of it, but boy, oh boy, it's scary, man, because this is, this is for real, this isn't, you know, a joke, this is scary.

Speaker 3:

The those hundred thousand workers are going to be accused of election interference. Of course that's going to to be accused of election interference. Of course that's going to happen. Right, you know you'll have one. It's 100,000, so you're going to have some bad apples in there.

Speaker 3:

Of course I hate to say it, but it's going to happen, it's just human nature yeah, one or two, half a dozen of those are going to do something dumb, and then around election day it's going to get caught on somebody's phone. They're all right. The accusations are going to fly, and that's what it is. It's accused and counter accused, and that's what everybody does. And right now you've got an accusation came out today, I think, from the White House saying that the Russians have been interfering with this election already. Right, so we're same, same script.

Speaker 2:

Four years later. Yeah, they figured well, it worked the first time for a while. Might as well use it again.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, for sure, people bought it, you know, and, and so there's that, you know, and it, it. I don't know, I don't know if there is a way anymore to guarantee a, you know, free and fair election. I really don't. I don't think that voter ID is the first step, and anybody who's against it is probably not for a free and fair election. Honestly, yeah absolutely. Yeah, voter.

Speaker 2:

ID. It should be the absolute given. It is so absurd to me that it's even a conversation, but of course it is. You know, because of who we're dealing with here. Yeah, I mean, that's the given and and. To bring it back to Venezuela, I mean, you know, this is the model to be very, very cognizant of, and to study and to learn, and especially the time-lapse, the timeframe that occurred, that got them to where they are, and those parallels that we were talking about, that you know. If you don't recognize them, your head is so far in the sand. Nobody can help you.

Speaker 3:

Right, yeah, yeah, it is, it's, if you're ignoring it. It's, it's willful. Yeah, truthfully, um it will, willful, willful or absolute negligence. Right, right, that's all there is.

Speaker 2:

If you're, you know, what I would say to people is, if you're allowing your hatred or dislike for Trump overrule your love for this country, you don't belong here. Get the hell out Really. I mean just get out. Go, because this can't get more obvious.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and it's you know and I, and just as you could even leave off the back part of that, if you're letting your you know, despise, your, your hatred, your anger over one candidate like Trump, your love for the country, then you're, you're wrong, right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, we all yeah, Well, we expect all of our, you know, we expect our peers, the other citizens, to do what they believe is right for the country and not base that off of, you know, race, gender, you know, whatever. Whatever it is Right, you know we, we would hope that everybody would vote based on what's best for the nation. The problem is is everybody has a very, very different view of what that is. I'm sure that somewhere deep in Maduro's very dark heart, he believes that he is doing the best thing for Venezuela.

Speaker 3:

Yeah yeah, I really do believe.

Speaker 2:

I truly believe that they believe their own hype. I truly believe because you have to. You have to be so convicted of your beliefs in order to carry it through every bit of opposition and everything you know that's standing in your path, saying you're wrong. You know, yeah, yeah, well, I mean it's. It's obviously, you know, like we said, it's, it's one to keep watching, it's one to keep in mind as we watch our own politics play out and and recognize those parallels, and I and I really hope that more people are doing it. You know, and of course, you always see in the comments sections. You know people that still hang on to things like well, trump colluded with Russia sections. You know people that still hang on to things like well, trump colluded with Russia. It's like dude, it's been, you know, disproved already like a dozen times over and you're still hanging on to it because you refuse to educate yourselves.

Speaker 2:

You know it's a makes me angry, just does Makes me angry. I'm so tired of ignorance. I really am Like it's. It's where it's wearing me thin, it's getting down to my last nerve.

Speaker 3:

This is. This is where we're at. We're in September of the election year so you know you're tired of saying this. We've been saying since April.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you know, and as we come towards the end of this administration, or this version of this administration it's funny, you know, I had a talk with our friend, mark Deluzio, and we were talking about how the easy thing to say or to see going on with this administration is to call it incompetence and, you know, poor management and poor leadership and all those things. You know there's degrees of truth to that. But you know, he brought up a really good point, as, as we look at this socialist aspect of everything, the only conclusion you can genuinely and rightly come to is that this is deliberate, like this isn't um incompetence, it's deliberate destruction of our country, you know, and what we stand for and what we value and all of those things. So you know, that's actually more scary to me than incompetence in in a lot of ways, you know.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's, you know, call it what you want new world order, homogenizing the globe, whatever it is. But that's the intent is, you know, call it what you want new world order, homogenizing the globe, whatever it is, but that's the intent is, you know, I know the EU is basically an experiment, you know, but that's that's the goal. The goal is, you know, global leadership versus individual nations, and that's the the the end state for you know, for many people, unfortunately, we don't work that way. We're Americans and and yeah, it's, we're going to be, we're going to be the last bastion before that happens.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, that's a long way off. Hopefully we don't have to. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, you aren't kidding man, holy cow. Um, but you know, as we talk about this administration and the choices they make and their involvements, or lack thereof, um, you know, the obvious next thing to move on to is talk about what's going on over in Israel and the occupied territories and everything that's happening there. So you are, you're our expert on this one, so you take the lead talking about what's going on.

Speaker 3:

There's been some developments in the last few days. Probably the most significant, you know, one leading into the other was there was six Israeli hostages Actually, one of them is an Israeli-American hostage Six of them executed by Hamas. You know, reports now coming from Hamas are that the Israeli forces were getting close geographically, physically close enough, so in a panic they executed the six of them and then the you know re result was there was about half a million people they said about 500,000 people protesting in the streets of Jerusalem and almost all of them were Israelis, and everybody's calling for a ceasefire and the end of the war and and and all these other things. Um, listen, we were talking about a leader who truly believes he's doing right by his people and by his nation, and Netanyahu is at the top of that list. I firmly believe the only reason that guy's back in office is because he believes he's doing the right thing for Israel.

Speaker 3:

I think, you know, one of the hardest things that he's going to have to lead that nation through is the, the self-loathing that's going on globally. There's a lot of. I hate to say this, but you're starting to see it a lot and you're seeing it truthfully. A lot of it. You know, the most verbal and vocal are celebrity. You know you're seeing some, some not many, but enough Jewish celebrities, but Jews in general around the world that have this self-loathing kind of attitude, which is awful, and they're blaming Israel and they're blaming, you know, netanyahu for everything that's going on over there, when in reality it all started. You know it's their Iranian-backed terrorist organization that attacked on October 7th. I mean the line is very, very clear.

Speaker 2:

So, are they. So I'm sorry Clay, are they so? I'm sorry Clay. Is this anger and everything more about that they feel his actions weren't strong enough, or where is it stemming from?

Speaker 3:

He's the dog that's going to take the beating, no matter what. Yeah, I get it. War is awful, especially when it is like you're living in the middle of it, which they are in Israel, although you know much more in the occupied territories and less so you know inside Israel proper. But he's taking the beating. He's the national leader. Whether they're angry at him or not, their anger is focused at him because they don't have a person to focus it at Right.

Speaker 2:

Really, and in turn he's expressing I'm sorry.

Speaker 3:

He is really who's angry about this because they've lost a family member or they've lost business or they've lost whatever loss they've had. You know he's taking, he's bearing the brunt of that and you know, it's a tough place to be in for him, but you know it's.

Speaker 3:

You're starting to see more opposition to it, even inside of Israel, you know. But but again we've been through this the two state option is not an option for Hamas. Every bit of negotiation that's happened up to this point to try and get to a ceasefire, Israel has capitulated. They have given up. They have always sat at the table, they have always made offers, they have always offered to give up something, and Hamas has never budged never, not once. And they're not going to so and that's why it doesn't work. So you know it's, it's more of the same. We've said it before. I honestly believe president Trump's the only person who can fix this right now. But there are demands, louder demands, from inside of Israel and the Jewish community around the world to put a ceasefire in place and hopefully end this.

Speaker 3:

And really for the people of Israel and the people of Gaza and the West Bank. You know nobody wants this. You know there's just there's obviously innocence involved and that's not a thing that anybody hopes for. But you know again, israel didn't bring this on themselves. Go back to October 7th. We, the US Department of Justice, just brought charges yesterday against the Hamas leadership for the attack on October 7th. We have said out loud they did this, so we know who's responsible. It's just a matter of people don't believe enough's being done to put an end to it right.

Speaker 2:

It's just a matter of people don't believe enough's being done to put an end to it. Yeah, it's a tough situation all around because I'm sure, I'm sure there's people that want, you know, want israel to just unleash, just unleash, and then you have, of course, probably the majority that just wants, just wants it to stop, just Just stop. Everybody, just please stop. And you know again, we're dealing, we're dealing with a group of people who are not peaceable. They don't want peace, you know. So I don't know how, as a really tough one, I obviously certainly would not want to be in those rooms making those decisions, because you know you're talking about war and warfare and it's ugly places to be and it's really easy to sit in a nice comfy, cozy room and say, you know, oh, you should do this, you know you should do that, but the reality of it is a totally different thing.

Speaker 3:

Well, and a ceasefire is a lie.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, and Israel knows that they can negotiate and give up and put in any ceasefire in place that they want to, but they know it's a lie Because within you know, probably 24 months, you know Hamas is going to do something again, a rocket's going to be launched and Israeli soldiers going to be killed, the ceasefire is going to be violated and they're going to start all over again.

Speaker 3:

So, you know, I think Israel and Netanyahu, specifically, are in a position where it's like, do we play this game of cat and mouse with them again or do we just end it? Um, and I know, like you said, there are people who are in the mindset of just wipe them out, just get rid of it. But you know that's a horrific thing to talk about and it's not something to be taken lightly, um, so, especially especially by us sitting on the sidelines across an ocean. Right, you know we can advise, but I think you know it's a little bit harder to to, you know, advocate for that. Regardless, it's it's not good for anybody. You know, I do hope for a quick end to this and whatever form or fashion that comes, because the continued impact on people and businesses and families and everything else that's going on it's just terrible.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it is. It is awful situation all around, absolutely gut wrenching for those families. Man, oh man. My heart just breaks for them all. All the time and effort and energy and prayers and and all of the things in the hopes of getting them home to be dashed like that. You know, it's just, it's just awful.

Speaker 3:

And the one last thing that I'll offer is there been some subtle calls here and there that I've seen across some of my connections and social media is that there's been some people advocating for US involvement in the hostage release. Hostage rescue in the sense of using the capabilities and the forces that we have and the expertise that we have to step in the middle of this, not to prosecute the war itself, not to choose a side truthfully between Israel or Hamas, but just to focus on freeing hostages, which is an interesting, interesting place to be in, because to do that in the way that people are talking about, which is to use our high end special operations guys to go in and do hostage rescue stuff, you're going to kill some people like that's not a it's, that's a violent act.

Speaker 3:

It's basically a given right. If we do choose that role and I don't know if anybody in the higher end of the government that's advocating for it, but it's out there being discussed is we do step in to take that role and at least focus on potentially getting the Americans out of there. Right, we are going to kill some Palestinians? Yeah, you're not going to go in there and get those people out without fire? Shut, it just doesn't happen. No, again, and that's a huge political move to make this close to an election.

Speaker 3:

So I don't foresee that happening anytime before November.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I agree. I agree with what little I know about those type of strategic things that that just simply makes sense. Speaking of our, speaking of our Americans, american servicemen, this was pretty wild, and we do have the video, so let's without my glasses. I don't know if this is the right video, so we'll find out in a second. Yes, guys, I know they're on top of my head. Yeah, let me be, let me be me. Let's see if this is the one.

Speaker 4:

After two US Marines were physically assaulted in broad daylight while on a break during a scheduled port visit. The violent scene caught on camera shows several men holding the Marines, who were not in uniform, by force and placing a bag over one of their heads At one point. One man unable to break free, shouting for help of their heads At one point. One man unable to break free, shouting for help.

Speaker 2:

Boy, oh boy. So these are two off-duty Marines assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. They were assaulted by a group of men on a busy street in Turkey over the weekend. They were on a regularly scheduled port visit from Izmir, turkey. On Sunday, when a group reported to be in the Turkish Youth Union, who are very anti-American, just attack them. You saw, as you saw, putting a bag over one of their heads. The Turkish authorities arrested 15 people allegedly involved in the assault. I mean it's pretty easy to find who did it. It's pretty clear video. So, yeah, you would hope there were some arrests made. That's wow, right, I mean it's. It's a great uh, not great good, but a big um, you know, just eye opener of what's really going on out there in other parts of the world.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so the USS Wasp um, which was a? Um amphibious assault carrier of sorts, um is in the Easternranean in support of, potentially, operations in israel if required. That's why they were sent there um and the 24th mu marine expeditionary unit are the marines assigned to that, that carrier group um? So they were on liberty in turkey. So normal, normal liberty kind of stuff is.

Speaker 2:

You know they're they're in plain clothes, they're not uniformed, anything.

Speaker 3:

Walking around downtown. Yeah, you know there's a, there's a an argument to be made on whether civilian clothes are good or bad on Liberty. You know, if you put them in uniform, that draws a lot of attention. If you put them in civilian clothes, it draws less attention. But I'll tell you that Americans draw attention no matter where we are. You can pick us out of a crowd anywhere. You say like a sore thumb, right. So these, these two Marines were walking downtown and got accosted by this crowd. They were eventually I don't like to use the word rescued, but that's essentially what it is by other Marines. There were other Marines in the area that came and pulled them out of that. They took them to the hospital. Those two guys are, you know, been checked out and sent back to the ship and they're okay. And then you know, there's a joint investigation going on by the police, turkish police and NCIS. Oh, by the way, not like the television show.

Speaker 2:

It's not like the show. I mean, wait a minute, they don't solve everything in under, you know what is it 30 minutes or whatever?

Speaker 3:

I?

Speaker 2:

don't know how long the show was.

Speaker 3:

But so that's where the arrest came from. Was you know that investigation? So the thing about this is, is that NATO, turkey's a NATO ally? In fact, they're the biggest. They're the second largest NATO military, I think, in the European contingent of NATO, I mean excluding us in Canada, you know, but they're the second.

Speaker 3:

They're the second largest military, I think, on the European continent, maybe the first, and I've worked with the Turkish military before. They're extremely professional, very competent and a well-organized and equipped military. They have very modern equipment. They fly our Blackhawk helicopters. They have invested in their defense. Here's the next, though. They're also a predominantly Muslim nation, and those guys, the youth movement that snatched up these Marines and were chanting Yankee, go home. Like it was some 80s action flick. They are not happy with the US support of Israel. That's what this was all about. So you know Muslim nations, you know Muslim people, you know, tend to side with Muslim people. So the fact that we are, you know, allies with Israel and truthfully on their side in the Israel-Hamas conflict is what brought all of this on. So the question is what do we do? What does the Navy and the Marine Corps do with all these folks? Do they just not go to Turkey anymore? Do they not have liberty in Turkey? I think that's an option. Do they have new rules for liberty? Nobody's allowed anywhere in groups less than 12.

Speaker 2:

You know what I?

Speaker 3:

mean Like you better, you better, yeah, yeah, together before you go anywhere.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, sure For them to be so emboldened to to do that. You know, right and right out in the open that's concerning you know there is a level of fear of, you know, consequence that is lacking to do that. So it's not a safe place for them to be. And I don't, you know, I don't know what the level of the support of the Turkish government would be to. You know, come down hard enough on them that that would deter things like that from happening. You know we're in an upside down world.

Speaker 3:

I'll tell you. I'll tell you who's having a really, really rough couple of days is the US ambassador to Turkey.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, I bet, I bet.

Speaker 3:

That right knee deep in the middle of this. You know, I'm sure that you know CNO. The chief of the Navy has been on the phone with him. I'm sure the commandant of the Marine Corps has been on the phone with him. I'm sure that you know the White House has been on the phone. You know Secretary of State, that individual, and I don't even know who it is. I probably should look it up. But you know they're working. There's a lot of work going on out of that embassy right now to try and figure out what the next moves are and how they handle this with the Turkish government. But it's you know, like you said, you would hope, as an allied nation, that we would get you know some pretty good support out of this nation, that we would get you know some, some pretty good support out of this. But keep it, keep in mind, you know we were not allowed to move through Turkey to get into Northern Iraq, right, so that if you go back all the way to 2003, you know, we had everything.

Speaker 3:

It was, you know, not to get too deep in the weeds, but it was fourth infantry division was supposed to come from the north, they were supposed to come from Turkey and it all got bogged down and it really kind of changed the dynamic of the invasion.

Speaker 4:

So, while they are an ally and they are part of NATO.

Speaker 3:

They aren't necessarily on our side all the time. So it'd be very interesting to see not just how this is handled with the individuals, but really kind of the you know. How does their government handle this? Do they not a big deal? Just some people you know, or do they make a statement out of this? I don't know. It's pretty scary because this has the potential to bleed to other places.

Speaker 2:

Sure, sure, yeah, the you know it. It could it be a simple, you know one oddball event that happened just kind of a fluke? Or could it be an indication of you know more bad things to come, and it's going to bear watching, that's for sure.

Speaker 3:

Well, and it's that you know the Muslim population continues to grow across, right? Yeah, you know it's. I saw just the other day a film clip of two women walking down the street in Germany and a Muslim man behind them yelling at them about the way they were dressed, about the. You know that they didn't have. They were Muslim women. Okay, they did have a hijab on, but he was screaming at them that it wasn't worn properly, the way they were dressed, that they weren't stopping and talking to him because he was a man and they were women and it was a very Sharia law kind of a situation.

Speaker 3:

And so that is spreading across Europe. It's all the way into the British Isles now. You're starting to see these kinds of things. It's all the way into the British Isles now. You're starting to see these kinds of things. So, while Turkey is a Muslim, predominantly Muslim country, you're starting to see the Muslim population, the Muslim religion, expanding throughout Europe in much larger numbers. So while this doesn't seem to be a problem in other places, it has the potential to grow in the next 10 years or so to become a significant problem just about everywhere.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, very disturbing, very disturbing. Yeah, oh boy, oh boy, all right, well, as always, we're going to keep an eye on it and, uh, you know, we'll keep updating as as developments happen. Really, but you know, if you want to talk about disturbing, uh, we could always talk about this.

Speaker 3:

This is all you.

Speaker 2:

Oh my goodness. So listen, my brain hurts as much as all y'all's brain hurts from listening to this woman, so I don't know if this makes it better or worse, but I am not going to show you a clip of her, am I Wait? Hang on, let me see. I thought I had it. Well, I'm not. At this moment I'm not going to show you a clip of her with her brand new accent. I'm going to show you my, my imitation of her with her brand new accent. How about we do that here? It is you better. Thank the union member for a five-day work week.

Speaker 4:

Who's responsible? I say who's responsible for this unwarranted attack?

Speaker 2:

on my person. You better thank a union member for sick leave I say, come on boy. You better thank a union member for paid leave, shut up. You better thank a union member for vacation time.

Speaker 4:

Oh that woman Got a mouth like an outlawed motor All the time Pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-p.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that is verbatim. That is verbatim, that is exactly what she said. That is about as close to how she said it a human can get without actually being her. Wow, how embarrassing is that. And then there's another one and I'll throw it in here. There is another one of her in the same day. She was in Detroit and then in Pittsburgh, right, and the way that she said I don't remember the whole sentence offhand, but she says something about, she uses the word or the number 64. And in Detroit she says 64. And in Pittsburgh she said 64. So Peter Doocy, who is just, you know, all hail Peter Doocy, because he's just fantastic.

Speaker 2:

I asked Karine, jean-pierre, or what is it? Jean-claude Van Damme, as you say, right, asked her about that and of course she got all flustered and, you know, aggravated with him for asking a very valid question. Like, I mean, you know, is this a new thing or is this how we're going to be talking from now on? Yeah, the, uh, the, the pandering to different groups is so embarrassing and, let's face it, she, she picks, you know, she targets particularly black Americans, um, and uses a, a style of, quite frankly, is racist to, you know, to affect that voice, affect that accent, as if that is how all Black people speak. It is insulting, it is rude, it's absurd and everybody knows that's not how she talks. So why do that? Because she's kind of a hero.

Speaker 3:

She doesn't know what she is. Yeah, she literally has no idea what her own identity is because she's never asserted herself as herself, right? I mean, listen the content. She gave that speech. You talked about it, right, she's in Detroit and then she was in Pittsburgh. It was literally the same speech and I've seen it on a couple of different places where people have pulled film clips. And you're right, the accent is distinctly different in two different places with the exact same speech. And again, I don't know if she thinks we're stupid. I don't know if she thinks we don't care. I think maybe nobody's paying attention. But to do it on the same day, knowing that every single public appearance she makes is recorded and broadcasted, that nobody's going to know, is insane and super lazy by her team.

Speaker 2:

Incredibly lazy. It's like they genuinely don't care, like everything is. Who cares? Let it fly, let it fly, let it fly Whatever, nothing matters. I mean, you know we're talking about a, you know a candidate who still, I believe, does not have policies on her website. Does she have the policies up yet? Nope, nope, no policies, except for the ones that she steals from Donald Trump. Right, those are her only. You know flimsy policies that she can't explain anything about. She does have the number slightly wrong, but I'm not far off. It was something like 41 minutes of recording of interview, cut down to like 18 minutes or something.

Speaker 2:

Right. So, I want to see the rest of it, don't we all? Right, we all want to see the rest of it.

Speaker 3:

So every single thing shows her horrendous incompetence at her job, at what she's doing, and her team too, and so you know, because they assume people don't know or they're not going to look things up. Now she's in Detroit, I get it. She's pandering to the UAW crowd, right, which is one union that's very large, don't get me wrong. But when you say you know, thank a union member for a five-day work week, that was Henry Ford that did that that has nothing to do with a union. Okay, that's factually incorrect. Also, when you say you better thank a union member for paid vacation, I can tell you, I grew up in a union house.

Speaker 3:

My dad's a union labor guy and in labor unions, right, she told guys that was what my dad was pipe fitters and all those folks. There was no paid vacation. If my dad, he wasn't even paid sick days, my dad didn't go to work, we didn't get paid. Like that was it. My kids would save and amazingly, they saved for a whole year for us to take a vacation. Not only did they save for the vacation itself, but they saved for that week that my dad wasn't going to be at work. Right, right, that was a deliberate effort because there was no PTO.

Speaker 3:

So for her to say you better thank the union. Well, maybe UAW because she's staying in Detroit for her to say you better, thank a union, while maybe UAW because she's standing in Detroit Right. That's again factually, you know, incorrect, but also very manipulative in what she's saying. Yes, so you know all of that. It's just her being her, but she's pandering to the crowd and she's assuming her and her team are assuming that nobody's going to fact check and even if they do, they're not going to care. So, like you said, let it fly.

Speaker 2:

Let it fly. They don't care, they don't care.

Speaker 3:

And.

Speaker 2:

I think you're, I think you're right as well that her team. They don't care. Well, first of all, they don't like her. They don't like her. There's no way that they like this woman, because they wouldn't let her do the things that she does. They would stop her.

Speaker 2:

Like, for example, this now if you watch that and you said, I don't what's, I don't know what's going on, what's the problem here? What's, what's the big deal? She's just walking. Well, first of all, she's. She's got her headphones in, and this is all a ploy to avoid answering questions, because there are reporters shouting questions out to her. And she's like, like you know, keeps walking. Then she gets to the top of the plane, takes her phone and puts it up to her ear to do this On a call. She's got her headphones in. You don't need to put your phone up to your ear when you have headphones on. So you literally just told the world I'm faking it, just pretending, just pretending, guys. I mean, come on, she doesn't even know that. And this is who these clowns want to be the leader of the free country. Come on, this is insane to me.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, pay attention over the next, over the coming weeks, about who gets added to her team. So, as is traditional with every campaign, you know they're starting to set their team for afterwards. Right, you know they're starting to look at who's going to be maybe cabinet, but definitely the inner circle of you know, if they get elected, definitely the inner circle of you know, if they get elected. Some people think that it happens after you know the election, but they're already starting to put those pieces in place because you know they want to snatch up the best people, right, you know that kind of thing. So keep an eye on any new hires, any new ads to her team. They'll indicate a couple of things.

Speaker 3:

One is what the long term plan is. But also, are they desperate or are they not about the election? If you start to see some moves about some campaign type people, some campaign strategy type people, then there may be a bit of panic. But, yeah, her team. Is anybody standing back, like if she and I don't think she has one, but if she has a trusted agent, right, like the best friend in the world that stands back should be whispering in her ear that she should fire everybody that works for her because they're terrible.

Speaker 2:

Yes, terrible, and they are enjoying watching her flounder out there. You know there's a little clip running around of you know somebody caught her off guard, sort of kind of you know off script, let's put it that way. It was and it's not particularly recent, but it's just an example of her inability to speak coherently off script or intelligently off script and you know it was a painful. You know I don't know 30 seconds or so of her stumbling and fumbling for the words and know 30 seconds or so of her stumbling and fumbling for the words and and again, not saying much of anything and just it was a head scratcher, like so what did you actually just say? Like you never even answered the question, you just threw some words together and yeah, and you know it was, it was really a great example of her unscripted. So, uh, the debate's going to be we get that next week.

Speaker 2:

Yes, we get it next week yeah.

Speaker 3:

On the 10th. Looking forward to that one. That'll be a lot of fun. Yeah, Because she still has not done. Not only has she not done a solo interview she also has not done a press conference Right. She's not opened herself up to the reporters at all.

Speaker 2:

And she's, and she's not going to, she's not going to, she doesn't have to. She doesn't have to. If you look around, if you look around at the Kamala supporters, which are just anti Trumpers, if you, if you look at them, they're just, you know, they're salivating, they're foaming at the mouth with joy, and I'm with her. And you know, and you've seen the man on the street, things of you know, people asking them. So what is it about Kamala Harris? You know, what has she done that you're so impressed with? And every answer, every answer is well, you know, I just you know. Well, she's a woman, and you know, and I think that's really great, and that's it, that's it. She's a woman, oh, and she's, you know, and a Black woman. So, you know, you have the two things that matter most to them Policies. What were her policies? Oh, I don't, I don't know anything about that. What does she do in office this whole time that she's been vice president? Oh, well, you know, you know what's her biggest accomplishment. But she's a woman, you know.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, there is still speculation out there that as a way to close out the last three weeks before election day is that on or about October 15th, president Biden is going to resign, which you know.

Speaker 2:

I mean he's been on vacation since he dropped out of the election, I think it's like 40 or 42 percent of his time in office has been spent on vacation and probably half of that have been in the last three weeks or so.

Speaker 3:

Right, so the expectation or anticipation is that about the 15th of October, you know, before the election of being the first female president, right, which is free press essentially for about the last three weeks or so before the election, and that's it. And then it just closes things out. So they celebrate for three weeks, you know a female president, and then the election comes.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah yeah and hopefully yeah, it's the october surprise.

Speaker 3:

Right, it's still out there. We'll see what happens, but I'll tell you who's got an opinion on who you should vote for alexa alexa, why should I vote for kamala harris?

Speaker 1:

why vote for kamala harris? Harris is a talented and accomplished individual who has dedicated her career to public service. She has served as a prosecutor, attorney general and senator, and has a strong record of fighting for justice and equality. As vice president, harris has championed a number of important issues, including addressing the climate crisis, expanding health care and reforming our criminal justice system. She is a passionate and effective leader who is committed to making a positive difference in the lives of all Americans. Alexa, why should I vote for Donald Trump? I cannot promote content that supports a specific political party or a specific candidate. Remember that in the US, you can't take sides. You should vote for whoever you think will do the best job for the country, whether you agree with their policies or not. You should also consider issues that matter most to you and how each candidate plans to address them.

Speaker 2:

That is gasp worthy. I actually watched that and I was not surprised. And yet I still went because it's wow and, by the way, not isolated, not a one-time thing, as Clay and I were talking about it before we went on air, as Clay said. Then, you know, people saw that maybe not that exact one, but one of these videos like that and of course everybody ran to their Alexas and tried it out for themselves and they all posted videos. There are tons of those videos out there of people doing exactly that and getting a variety of the same answer. You know, they maybe changed the question just slightly, but that was the gist of it. If it was a question about voting for Donald Trump, it was like can't talk about that. No, you know, I don't do that. If it was about Kamala Harris, it was a litany of her qualities, of her shining qualities that make her such a wonderful candidate. So you know, no biases going on none, none whatsoever, Right.

Speaker 3:

So the question is right, because computers only do what you tell them to do. So who's responsible?

Speaker 1:

Who's responsible?

Speaker 3:

And that's the you know, because that's election interference, like. I mean you can say whatever you want about Russia or anything else, but that right there. There's no clearer example than that. So it's who's responsible? Is it some programmer guy in the basement of his mom's house working away for Google? And whoever else, who is it? I'm willing to bet, if you follow the money, it's probably not that hard to figure out?

Speaker 2:

No, no, no, not hard to figure out at all. Very simple, and you know just yet another and a very large scale, massive example of you know what the left is trying to do and is succeeding at doing. Yeah, you're suppressing information, um from voters active suppression and, of course, silencing it. We, we can take a moment, if you don't mind. I'd like to go into what's going on with me right now, cause it's all about me Just kidding. Um, so my Facebook page, which, uh, yeah, so my Facebook page, which has or had we don't, we're not sure what's going on yet Um 165,000 followers and, um, a a considerable sum of earnings from that account, has magically disappeared. It was hacked. I don't know, I don't know what happened. It's gone, it is completely gone. You can go look for it. Elsa Kurt official. Now we have Elsa Kurt, the Elsa Kurt show 2.0.

Speaker 2:

I think I'm using right now. What I'm using right now is a backup account. I'm not going to lie, I'm heartbroken. I'm using right now. So what I'm using right now is a backup account and I'm not going to lie. You know, I'm a. I'm heartbroken, I'm heartbroken, I it. I put in so much work and effort and energy and time so much time into building that platform, um, you know, and to have it just be robbed of it is really disheartening, totally discouraging. I'm not giving up. I mean I'm not giving up or giving in. I'll keep I for as long as Facebook allows me to be on that platform. I'll keep making pages and just keep doing it. But, yes, I'll, I'll put the link in there for the new page. I'm still hopeful that I will get it back because they I I am in contact with somebody from from Metta and they are investigating the occurrence, the incident. I don't really I honestly, in my heart, I think the page is gone. I've heard too many examples of this happening from other people and much larger platforms than me, with bigger followings and all of those things. I have heard many cases of this where they don't get it back. It's just gone forever.

Speaker 2:

So that's where we're at right now with that and, of course, listen, maybe it's just a free thing, maybe it was a random hacker that somehow was able to get in there and do that. Maybe it was Facebook, I don't know. So a lot of people, of course, believe that. What a coincidence that your platform has grown exponentially over the past couple of months and we went from about a month ago from 60,000, I think I was right From 65,000 followers to 165,000 followers is a big jump. That's a lot of big numbers in a very, very short period of time and the suggestion by plenty of people is that, well, they don't like that, they don't want this type of content getting out there. I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

Like I said, I'm still hopeful. We have all the other platforms. We're on everything else. Of course I will be making a lot more concerted effort and time and energy into non-censoring platforms like X and Rumble and Truth Social and spend more of my energy on those platforms and growing those. But yeah, I mean, that's just an example and of course, I've had plenty of content either suppressed as far as not letting it get a bigger reach. I mean that happens all the time on TikTok. Yeah, I mean, it's real guys, I don't know what else to tell you. There's plenty of people that would be out there, usually on the left, saying, oh stop, you're just making that stuff up or you're exaggerating and blah, blah, blah. No living proof right here, not happy about it.

Speaker 3:

Listen, I, I've been, I've been standing next to you for the last year. You know at least part of it. But you know, I, I watched. I remember earlier this year when the YouTube, you know, we had that massive jump on YouTube and it was so awesome and so exciting and rewarding. And then, like you said, just not that long ago, six weeks or so, I watched your Facebook. You know, do the same thing and it's, you know it's such a great thing as a, you know, it's so rewarding and it feels like you've accomplished so much, and then have it taken away like that is terrible. So you know it's. I'm with you.

Speaker 2:

I'm not going anywhere.

Speaker 3:

We'll build this right back up again.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we will, and yeah, I think I think the thing that people don't realize or, you know, maybe they assume, cause there's no reason for them to know. This is so grassroots. This is so from the ground up. We don't have a team. It's Clay and I, it's us doing all of the things, and you know, and that's from recording to editing, promoting, to all of the things. There's no team, there's no producers, and you're looking at them and, yeah, it guts you, but not enough so that it will silence me or make me stop. It just makes me angry and I put on my war paint and I'm ready to go. Let's go, you know. Let's fight for it back. That's all. That's all. That's how we do. We'll rebuild it.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I actually had a uh. I jumped on YouTube uh yesterday or the day before to just kind of look at you know where last week's show was at viewership you know 1400 ish clicks and uh, but when I did that one of our oldest shows from months and months and months ago kind of popped up and it was like 236 views.

Speaker 3:

And I was like to watch that, you know and, and you know, last week, you know, you and I've had, we've had shows 2,500, 3,000, and I'm just talking YouTube, folks, right, I'm not talking Facebook and X and Rumble and all the other places. I just I personally use YouTube as just a measuring stick, sure, and to watch it, you know, to see that old, you know that old show, 200 views. And then you know, and then you know that that tells everybody out there something that this is growing and and our, our fan base is awesome.

Speaker 2:

And you're all part of it.

Speaker 3:

It's a community.

Speaker 2:

That's where we're at right now.

Speaker 3:

So let's read, let's rebuild it together, right I? Mean you know it's your it's your Facebook, it's, it's us together as a show, but you know, it's everybody who watches, all of our viewers, and so let's drag everybody back in, click back on there and, like you know, follow Elsa again. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

There I tell you the, the response and reactions, for as people find out what's going on, as they, you know, come over and hear that the messages I get and the comments that I've been getting, my heart is so full, like my heart is so full because you just don't know, you're in such an isolation bubble doing this kind of thing. I mean I am literally in a very small room all by myself with lights on clays. You know, got the same thing going on with you know, lights blaring in our face and you know it's, but you're by yourself, you're, you're alone and you don't have a tangible physical contact with people who are looking you in the eyes, saying I like what you do. So when, when you get those reactions and those responses from people, it's like, oh my God, my heart can explode. It's so, it's so beautiful.

Speaker 2:

So we are profoundly grateful to you guys for for your engagement with our stuff and and cheering us on and supporting us and all of those things. We just love you to pieces. So we thank you guys. Clay, I'm going to let you close them out, cause I'll get all teary. So close them out.

Speaker 3:

Listen, this is and this goes back to what I say every single week. You know we're going to recover. You know Elspeth's page is going to recover. She's going to build it back up. We'll build it up together and, uh, you know, and with the mindset, we're just going to keep moving, keep shooting.

Speaker 2:

Yes, I love it. That's perfect, and that is it for tonight, guys. We will see you next week. Take care.