#590 - Fathers and Voices

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Okay.

What's going on?

What am I doing?

What am I doing?

What am I doing?

That's where I'm at.

Like, what am I doing?

What am I doing?

You feel like that sometimes, Eber?

What am I doing?

Like, you know, the feeling like you go back in the house to get something and then you get in there and you don't know what you're just standing at.

You're like, what am I?

You go into different rooms and like, what?

Does this feel like what I'm, why I was coming back in here?

Does it feel like it's in here?

You know, it's like you're like on a scavenger hunt just with your own memory.

That's how I feel.

I just, it's just one of those days.

The whole day feels like that, kind of.

You ever have those type of days where you're like,

this ain't my day.

Me and this day don't even know each other.

You know, you're alive the whole day, but like you just don't even belong to the calendar.

Like you just loitering.

That's the kind, that's where I'm at.

That's where I'm at.

And I don't know if it's the world making me feel that way.

It's just me.

I I mean, it's, you know,

but it's okay.

You know, I show up here.

I'm happy to be here today with you guys.

Yeah, my name's Theo, and I'm happy to be here.

Happy belated Father's Day.

Let's say that.

Happy belated Father's Day to all the men out there who

make those choices, even the choices their children don't see to show up.

You know, they do the extra thing.

You know,

they do the things they're supposed to do as a father.

You know, they follow the blueprint.

Happy belated Father's Day to those guys.

And sorry we didn't get this episode out

last week, but here we are, right?

Here we are.

And some people, you may not have a father, right?

Your father may have passed or he may not be in your life.

And,

you know, I can relate to some of that where, like, sometimes I'll find pieces of my father

and other men,

you know.

There's certain men I'll go to for like certain advice or,

you know, and I get a little piece of fatherhood there.

There's certain men I'll call when maybe I'm scared or maybe when things are good

and I'll share them and I'll and I'll get a little piece of fatherhood there.

Um,

so happy belated Father's Day to all the fathers, or even just all the men in the world that

create pieces of fatherhood for others.

Even sometimes they don't even know they do it, I bet.

Um,

what's going on?

Um, oh, I went to Qatar.

I hadn't even talked about that.

I went to the Middle East, baby,

and the Middle East, dude, it's, I mean, it is,

it's something.

It's like, you ever open the oven door

and that bitch is on?

That's the Middle East, boy.

That bitch is on.

Like, the whole time I'm there, I'm just looking to like turn off the preheat switch or something.

I'm like, damn, somebody set this bitch on broil.

The sun is over there.

It's geeking, bro.

The sun sun is over there.

It's damn that shit.

The heat comes down on you, like, dang, bro.

This sun trying to press me.

This heat feeling a little bit zesty.

This shit, because that heat will get everywhere.

It get down the back of your neck.

Like, God dang.

That heat starts undoing your belt buckle.

You're like, gosh, this sun getting zesty.

That's heat gay and bro.

That's heat gay and man.

But I got invited over there by the

Qatari,

and it's Q-A-T-A-R.

That's what it's how it's spelled.

And it doesn't have a U in it.

And the whole time, I'm thinking, like, should I get these guys a gift or something for inviting me over?

And I was like, I'll get them the letter U.

You know, I'll just get a big U in a box and give that to them.

But then you're like, nah,

they're doing their own shit, bro.

They say, you know, they conserving, hell, they're conserving water.

They're conserving letters too.

And I got invited over there by the, I guess it's it's the,

like kind of the board that

the tourism board, I guess.

So that's who I got invited over there by.

And it was in conjunction with a time that Donald Trump was going to be there performing for the troops or speaking to the troops.

And so I got to perform that same day, probably maybe like an hour or so before he was up there.

The show was,

it was

hectic.

The show was hectic because there weren't supposed to be any cameras I got on stage that were like 20 news cameras.

So that was a total surprise.

And

so we had to make some adjustments or whatever.

But just getting to be there and see the base and see the soldiers over there and see the people that,

you know, that made that commitment.

It was very inspiring.

And it was just real, you know?

And so that was really special.

I felt very lucky to just get to witness that, to be allowed to show up.

What else did we do there?

Oh, it's very organized there.

The sidewalks, that bitch stays in line, bruh.

You know, I'm from Louisiana and the sidewalk there, they got one of them bitches will be at a 40-degree, the next plant, the next cement

plank will be at like a six-degree.

The next one will have a damn.

off ramp on i've seen a sidewalk with a damn off ramp on it in louisiana bro

because the oak trees, the roots grow up under the sidewalk, and they'll push that bitch off, dog.

Bro, you're trying to walk down the street, you end up fucking six blocks over, bro.

If you follow the sidewalk, that bitch will take you wherever, dude.

So, a lot of times in Louisiana, you see somebody walking right along the side of the street, and that's why.

Because them sidewalks, them bitches, dang,

they don't care.

Each piece of cement barely even knows the next piece them bitches they at odds you know and then you'll have one tsunami you know it'll hit a damn sinkhole that bitch will be 40 feet down

you know you're trying to go half a block and next thing you know you got repellent equipment on

so it's just heading going down a Louisiana sidewalk is very intense but

but in Qatar or Qatar they say Qatar

That's everything's very organized.

Every lamplight,

everything, it's pristine.

you know it's like a Christmas village but uh but they don't believe in Christmas you know I don't think anyway I don't know if they do or not let me see do

Muslims

believe

in

Christmas

no Muslims do not celebrate Christmas if Jesus peace be upon him is so revered in Islam why do we not celebrate his birthday it is necessary to point out that Jesus and his mother Mary, are revered highly by Muslims.

As far as celebrating the Christmas as the birthday of Jesus is concerned,

the Muslim community do not celebrate it just as we do not celebrate the birthdays of any other prophet.

We believe that celebrating a prophet's birth amounts to adopting that prophet's teachings as a way of life.

If the teachings are not followed, the Almighty's displeasure is invoked.

Yeah, so anyway, they got you know, they got a different setup over there.

But yeah, all the, and all a lot of the buildings, they look very much, they have like a castle top.

You ever, you ever see like a rook piece if you're playing chess or the top of a castle, it's like this, it's got a little square goes up and then it goes down and up and down,

like a riveting kind of every building in Qatar was like that.

I mean, you'll, you're like, damn, is that a damn fortress?

And they're like, dang, nah, son, that's a damn Carls Jr., bro.

That's a, nah, they just protecting the fucking new chicken sandwich in that bitch, you know.

But it was really awesome just to be there and see what it was like.

The tourism people that had me come, the, I think it was like the prime minister maybe or somebody else, they were very accommodating.

They invited me over to their house for dinner, which was great, man.

You sit there and

they bring,

dude, they got condiments.

They won the condiment war, bro.

No, we got a couple condiments.

You see a little bit of ketchup.

You see some mayonnaise, baby, you know, you see that mustard, bro.

And sometimes it's mustarded, you know, but you eat it anyway, bro.

You don't have a lot because you don't want to catch nothing, you know, or pass it on to your children.

But you eat over there, they got, they had a little cut of lamb or something and they got 30 sauces.

They got shit.

They got a damn, one of the sauces had a damn deep end on the dish of it.

I was like, yeah,

that sauce got a shallow, a deep end.

They had a damn little hot tub full of damn some turquoise fuchsia afterpaste or something.

Everything.

Bloop, bloop, bloop, blop, bloop, blop.

Just condimented.

So that was wonderful just to be invited to be able to do that.

Oh, they have dates over there.

That's like one of their big fruits or vegetables or shit.

I mean, a date.

They're like, oh, you like dates?

The dates?

I'm like, that's just a fucking old ass plum, homie.

That bitch is a senior citizen plum, brother.

That's what you guys are eating.

But they were just great senses of humor.

Like, it was just fun, man.

I went to like a three-hour dinner and it was a blast.

And everything there, they have huge buildings for like a lot of stuff because they have extra money to build, you know, don't have like a damn 30-floor anytime fitness in that bitch, you know?

And that you'd be, you know, you're doing curls on the 17th floor they got leg press on the ninth floor you know and they got um

salt water baths down there on the on the third floor you know on the second floor then they got a leak obviously coming from the ceiling but that's how gravity is you know uh

what was else was interesting really about it uh we almost stayed for a travis scott concert the night after but we didn't uh one thing that's interesting over there they had the world cup a few years ago.

So there's still a lot of these huge soccer stadiums, right?

And they're kind of just, you know, they use them for different events, but they're just everywhere.

You're like, oh, there's a soccer stadium.

There's a soccer stadium.

It's kind of fascinating just to see like all these huge empty soccer stadiums out in the desert.

What else?

We got to swim in the Persian Gulf right outside our hotel.

They had a Persian, part of the Persian Gulf, so I got to swim out there.

Real salty, nice.

What else?

Oh, let me think.

Oh, and then I had some people say, asking me, were you compromised by the Qatari government?

Were you a spy?

No, I would never be a spy.

I don't think.

I don't think I would.

I don't think I would be a good spy, dude.

I don't know.

I don't.

I could.

If it's like.

You know, I know I don't.

I guess spies have to hide all the time of shit.

I don't, I wouldn't do it.

I wouldn't do it.

So, no, I didn't get asked to be a spy.

Part of me was almost low-key hoping I would or something like that.

Because I was like, why are they having me come over?

But,

but I didn't get asked to be a spy.

I didn't get,

what's it called?

When you get compromised or whatever.

None of that shit happened to me.

I didn't even get an offer, which that kind of bummed me out.

But

yeah.

They didn't ask me to say anything specific about their place or them or anything.

All they did was just treat me very nice.

I went with my tour manager

and we got to wear the traditional garbs.

It's one of the thobes, one of the nice robes.

I have a picture of us in it on YouTube.

I mean, everybody, it looks kind of like an altar boy.

Like everybody looks like an altar.

You know, it looks like somebody's about to get molested, dude.

It definitely seems like they holding a damn molestival, you know, like,

but then you realize, oh, that's just the garb.

And it's just almost like a private school.

That's what I learned.

So that everybody wears the same thing.

So there's not like a level of hierarchy between clothing or anything like that.

Anything else about it that was super fascinating?

It was a very short trip.

It was like 36 hours.

I don't think I slept the whole time.

I hit jet lag.

I didn't worry about it.

And then

just slept on the way home.

But, oh, you can't like, there's not like places to just go drink and stuff.

So you could drink at your hotels.

Everybody's kind of covered up.

So you don't, it feels very, it felt very proper.

That was kind of the energy that I got.

But then you're talking to a lot of the guys there, and a lot of them,

they went to like University of Oregon or, you know,

Texas A ⁇ M or something.

So you're like, oh, this guy's just in

this kind of fancy outfit.

You know, he looks like a baby angel.

Like everybody looks like they would be on top of a Christmas tree.

But they, a lot of them, that's just once they go back to their country, that's how they operate.

So, but it was a great experience.

I'm glad I got to do it.

We got to go Al-Assad Air Base was the place.

And thank you to everybody that's stationed there, that's stationed anywhere.

Happy belated 250th birthday to the Army.

But yeah, I just, yeah, I really enjoyed it, you know, because I think I always had this idea in my head of

I don't know, I think that the Middle East is also is often framed as kind of scary.

And And it was definitely intriguing, like very like Casablanca-y, like

you're just wondering what's going on everywhere.

But

I didn't feel

like threatened or scared at all, you know?

And I was also on a U.S.

military base for half of one day.

So that's,

I mean,

the dogs have my back over there.

So that was really beautiful.

But yeah, I would go back.

So I just want to share that about that experience.

And no, nobody paid me to say that.

I've never been, I've never been paid for, I mean, I get paid for advertisements and stuff, but I've never been, had anybody

say,

we need you to say this or not say this in my whole life.

So,

yeah, just want to say that.

Or are they paying me?

Dun, dun, dun.

What else?

Oh,

sorry, I feel nervous today.

I don't know.

I just feel like it's just not, you know, it's just not.

Like, this day is never going to fit perfect.

You know what?

You know what I've been thinking about is just like a lot, like just about

your voice, right?

Like, just having a voice.

Like, what does it mean, you know?

Because sometimes it feels to me sometimes like we're in a place where people get afraid to speak up.

You know, I get afraid to speak up.

And so maybe it's not people.

Maybe it's just me.

Yeah, so let me just say me.

So I'm not, I feel like I'm putting that on anybody.

Yeah, I wonder sometimes, like, man, it's like, I don't know if what I want to say is right.

You know, like it feels right, but I don't know, you know?

And so then I get scared to speak up.

And I just wonder if that's,

I think having some, you know, knowing when to

kind of hold them, know when to fold them, know when, you know, or not that, let's walk away, but know, yeah, know when to say something know when not to say something is important but

yeah i just i think i've been thinking a lot about that like having a voice like what does it mean to have a voice and you know and to be able to

share and to speak up and you know and when when do you do that i think that's been something that's been on my mind a lot lately uh personally

um

I did a 72-hour fast, 73 hours I made it to, which is pretty cool.

It's kind of scary, but it wasn't that scary.

I felt good about it.

I'm glad that I did it.

Battled a bit with dehydration,

chewed some gum that didn't have anything in it, basically, to make me feel like I was having something sometimes.

And then I would put salt on my hand and lick it and just drink some water with it.

What else?

What else is happening?

Let's get into some calls.

There's a lot that's going on in the world right now.

We'll get into some of that.

They're trying to, I don't know if they're trying to get us into a war with Iran or not, America, if Israel is trying to.

I don't trust the

Israel leader at all.

I don't believe anything that guy says.

And

I don't think that

our

soldiers should have to go and defend stuff that they start.

I'm not a soldier, so I might, I'm obviously speaking out of turn.

I'm not even brave enough to serve.

So there's that element.

But that is kind of how I feel, I guess.

And so it's like, yeah, when do I speak?

When do I say that?

You know?

Because it feels like they're trying to push Trump to go do that.

And it's like,

who makes that choice?

Does he make that choice?

And then

what do we get?

You know, what's the win for us?

We're just involved in some other

thing

while we have suffering here at home.

So maybe something like that is like, yeah, do I have, should I even speak up?

Because I'm not in service.

Servicemen and women may be like, we want to, we'll do what, you know, and that's their commitment and their job.

But,

yeah, I just, I don't know.

That guy really scares me.

And

I don't know why we support them.

I don't understand that.

I wish they would really give us a better explanation, you know, especially after the massacres in Gaza.

I don't understand.

I do not understand that.

And some people say, well, you don't know enough about it.

That may, and I may not,

but it's like, dude, can I still speak about it?

Can I speak about how I feel about it?

You know, moments like that, like, when do I, when am I,

when do I need to speak up

and share just for myself right

you know and not even try to I don't think it's this is virtue signaling I don't know exactly what that is I was talking with my producer about it today I

um

but I think I'm talking about a voice for my like

when do I speak up for myself

Let's take some calls here that came in.

You guys had calls about some interesting stuff and we'll get into it.

Hey, Theo.

This is calling to say thank you um for

your support of

um

the palestinian people i know i found like

lib snowflake whatever the fuck those guys think of uh people who support the palestinians but i i don't think that i don't think somebody's supporting what appears to be like

a massacre of a lot of children.

I don't see, I'm shocked that there aren't more voices sometimes speaking up, but that's also coming from a place where,

you know, I

can take care of myself, I know, and feed myself and roof myself for the rest of my life.

And so other people's lives are

different.

And so,

yeah, I can be surprised by that, but I can also totally understand that for sure.

Onward.

Hearing you today.

On the podcast with J.D.

Vance, speaking up for those people who have no voice is like, I think I ovulated ovulated while I was listening at the time whoa

dang that Easter came early right there uh

well thank you for the call I appreciate you sharing what you thought um

and

yeah I don't think it's like a choice just to try and speak up about Gaza and about Palestine I think for me it just feels like

there's no I it's not even a choice it's just like how can you watch this it's like

am I insane I'm sorry that it took me so long to say something.

To be very honest, I was afraid, you know, I think I was afraid.

I think I, you know,

it's just like

trying to connect your instinct to your voice sometimes.

I think that's always been something that's been a little bit tough for me.

But I didn't think that I did a good job, to be honest with you on the Vance interview.

I had follow-up questions about certain parts of it, right?

I had follow-up questions about,

you know, the surveillance state and

the genocide and

what else?

Oh, the money that we give Israel.

Like I had follow-up questions about these things.

I just,

I don't know.

I don't know if I got like afraid or

I don't know.

And I think part of me gets stuck in this space where it's like, well, this is a comedy podcast.

But then a lot of like life starts to get mixed into it.

And then it's like, well, what do,

I guess I think, well, what do people want?

You know?

And

so that probably has something to do with it.

I think last time that JD came on, and I was very grateful for him.

I like JD.

I was very grateful that he came on.

We'd known like a month in advance that he was coming.

And

but last time he was like campaigning, right?

It was just him and his cousin in the room, and it just felt a little bit less pressure.

This didn't feel like a ton of pressure, but it was, you know, he had like his campaign team and stuff and their secret service there.

And, um,

and they can kind of wrap up the interview whenever.

You know, I think that fear was in my head.

Like, maybe, well, if I say the wrong thing, are they just going to kind of shut down the interview?

I'm not saying that that was true at all.

I'm just saying that that was something that was probably in my head.

And then you realize that there's a level of kind of diplomacy, you know.

What is diplomacy?

I'm going to look it up.

Okay.

Of or concerning the profession, activity, or skill of managing

relations.

It says international relations, but I just think relations, right?

Like, I was like, oh, well, if I try, if I ask too much,

will

They not want to come back again?

Will I lose the bridge to be able to communicate with him, right?

For me, that was something.

So I'm just trying to manage it, you know, because you start to realize in politics that there's a level of give and take with all of those, all those meetings they go into and all the votes and the,

you know, they're all like behind the scenes, like trading this option for, okay, well, I'll help support you here if you can help support me.

You know, there's just so much of that.

It's very much that Game of Thrones type of energy.

But, yeah, but I wish I'd had spoken up a little bit.

You know, I felt like

Mr.

Vance gave more political answers this time.

So it felt different.

I don't think I was as prepared for that.

I think sometimes it seemed like, I don't know if he answered exactly what I was asking, but I, it's my job to like fine-tune the question or make sure that I at least get my question very clear.

So there was a lot of that.

You know, all those things kind of happening at once, I guess.

And then

and then also you're like, well,

people can make their choices about things, right?

So sometimes if you just have a conversation with people, they'll derive from it when they hear the person speak.

They might be like, okay,

I believe this person or I don't believe this person or

I empathize or I sympathize or I understand this person or, wow, I'm surprised by that person, right?

Or people, so sometimes I think

that that's kind of what a podcast is a lot of times, as opposed to like an interview.

It's just a space where people talk and then people can devise their own thoughts about the conversation.

And I'm not trying to take any skin off of my own neck as a, as a, as being an interviewer.

But then it's like, well, is this an interview or is it a podcast?

So there's all, you know, there's just like little things I think that I'm just kind of still learning and navigating and uh and just how to have a voice in those spaces you know i think that i could have joked less

and then but then you get into this space well do i have a responsibility like a social or societal responsibility to ask certain things but that's very scary because

then it's like oh well it's a that that's like ego you know that's like well do i i mean

you know who you know you have to be careful that you're just not getting into this ego place

So, yeah, I don't know.

I feel scared.

I don't know if I'm shit.

I might just be having a little bit of extra Celsius today.

But yeah, so there was just a lot going on.

I do felt like I could have done a better job.

I definitely feel like I live and learn.

I think there were a lot of like little things in there, but I'm grateful to have had that opportunity.

And, you know, I hope to be able to do better in certain instances in the future and get the questions in that I want to, that I do feel like are important.

Anyway, I don't want to lament over it too too much or like overlook at it too much,

but those are just my thoughts, you know, and you can think whatever you want.

You may have hated even him sitting in there.

You know, you might not be,

you know,

he might not be your cup of tea, you know?

Anyway, so yeah, that's kind of.

I get, yeah, I'm just rambling about that shit now, but that was something that's on my mind.

You know, I wish it, and I wish I'd have spoken up more and had another couple of follow-up questions about the Middle East.

And it's okay.

I'm not going to get down on myself, but I want to be able to just, I want to do my best.

You know,

I want to do my best.

And what does that mean?

You know, it could mean many things, but,

but yeah.

Thank you guys for just anybody that paid attention to it, for even checking it out and for bearing with me.

You know, I also think that, damn, dude, after you've done 500 episodes, if you haven't figured some of this shit out by now, then this is where we are we just did a great episode about the roman empire too i thought it was really good just trying to be there and listen a little bit more i wish i would have done but i thought it was fun today's episode is sponsored by acorns acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easier to start saving and investing for your future you don't need to feel like financial wellness is impossible acorns gives you small simple steps to get you and your money on track You don't need to be an expert.

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Let's take another call here.

Hey, Theo.

I just wanted to get your thoughts on a topic regarding what's going on with the ICE raids down in LA.

I was a victim of a sexual assault when I was in college, and I never got to go to trial or any of that because I never reported it.

Thank you for sharing that.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Thank you for sharing.

Onward.

Anyways,

I was just thinking about in this country how there's, I mean, I don't know, at least 25,000 rape kits sitting in evidence lockers that are not tested.

And that while this is happening, people are being pulled from their families.

And that's what our country has decided to spend their money on.

Like, what do you think about that?

Like, do you really think that there is value in what our government is choosing to do?

Do you think that

the citizens of this country who have actually committed crimes are better than people who have

existed illegally,

you know, doing, picking fruit, like having families, like being good people?

Like, I know you love Mexicans.

I love Mexicans.

Like, they are,

like, how mad are all the whole food homes going to be when they can't afford strawberries?

Like, this is hilarious to me.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot here.

Sorry, there's a lot in this voicemail.

Yeah, I love, I love Mexicans.

I would like to be Mexican next time.

I've prayed for that.

God knows that.

So if something ever happens to me, please look out for me.

And if you see me in El Barrio, say, bien maniro esteadoro.

But yeah, sorry to kind of joke, but you were kind of laughing there at the end as well.

Yeah, I'm sorry about your sexual assault.

I don't,

yeah,

it's heartbreaking.

It's heartbreaking what

let me look up about those rape kits.

I didn't even know that.

How many rape kits are awaiting testing in the U.S.?

This is a site called usafacts.org.

The federal government spent over $1.3 billion to clear the the rape kit backlog since 2011, but USA Facts Analysis covered thousands of rape kits awaiting testing in 2022.

At least 25,000 untested rape kits sat in law enforcement agencies and crime lives across the country.

Untested rape kits have significant consequences to both the criminal justice system and sexual assault survivors.

Not only can rape kit testing provide crucial evidence that helps identify perpetrators and bring them to justice, it also can connect perpetrators to other assaults.

Unreal.

You know,

I didn't even, I was not even aware of that.

Thank you for bringing that to our attention.

It always, I'm always mesmerized by what our country appears to do with funding.

Right.

When I was a kid, I knew my mother was like, why are we sending this money to these other places?

Like, we don't, what is, you know, there's always been this situation.

Like, why are we sent?

Why?

Like, what do we need over here?

You know, with this money we're sending to Israel, we could do so many things, right?

We we could do so

and I just picked that place because it's the one that you know I think we sent them 12 billion dollars already this year

but yeah like why what are we why why

right

why that and knowing that people are sitting there wait just in a the stress of waiting for a kit like this to come back I just can't even fathom while the perpetrator is out there may be doing more crimes the alleged perpetrator is out there doing more crimes but let's talk about the ICE situation you know because that I feel like that was more the focal point of

your call.

I think a lot of things on this.

So one,

I think a lot of what you see, not a lot, I would say I bet half of what you see, the videos and stuff out of Los Angeles are not real.

I think a lot of them are seeds that are planted to create

conflict, right?

To create more videos, you know, caring people show up, caring for a cause, they create more videos, and then there's all this extra extra videography.

But I believe that the,

whatever you would call it, the duralogue, whatever starts, that that is kind of staged.

I feel like even a lot of the videos are probably staged.

Not saying all of them.

I'm not saying that deportations aren't happening.

I'm not saying any of that.

I just don't trust things that

a lot of the stuff in Los Angeles.

I believe that

a lot of things in our world are staged.

And then we see videos and then we believe them.

I believe them.

You believe them.

We believe them.

Obviously, there's a lot of deportations going on.

It's sick when you see like children crying and people being taken from their parents.

It's heartbreaking.

It's, you know, it's, it's, it's,

it, anybody thinks that that's heartbreaking.

Now,

there's also in the country, there's, you know, you have rules, you have laws, you have like, these are the rules, right?

And some people are here, they're illegal.

They're illegal by the letter of the law, technically.

They're undocumented, right?

Now,

40% of people that are here illegally

are

Mexican, right?

60% are not.

We're just coming off a huge influx of people that were just let into the country during the last political administration.

There's no, we've had border patrol agents on, it's undeniable.

A lot of them are not even from Mexico.

A lot of them are not laborers that were just just coming over for fruit season or for farming season and then coming back.

A lot of them are not that.

So, you know, when Trump is a, he's heavy-handed.

That's who he is, right?

We've also had a broken system for a long time.

So when the hammer starts to come down,

or the guillotine as this is, it's not going to be comfortable.

And at first, it's going to be messy it's it's not going to be smooth and i think that and i know trump spoke the other day that there needs to be a way and i believe wholeheartedly there needs to be a way where um people who are productive citizens uh are allowed to get amnesty or uh create a path for them to have citizenship i believe that undeniably um there's also people who are like well when when someone says that they shouldn't be in our country right you hear that that they shouldn't be in our country.

Well, you know, this or this is our land, right?

I believe that

our land is still, that America is still fully

entrenched by the ghosts of pain from what happened to Native American people.

I believe that, right?

I believe that the land

doesn't forget.

I believe that.

I don't believe that we've made amends to those situations.

I think there's other situations in history that we haven't made amends to.

I believe that.

At the same time, like I believe, and this is a bigger belief, that

in a few years,

there's this plan with,

it was spoken a few weeks ago that Trump picked this company, Palantir, to create this digital database, right?

This to use like AI technologies, to create this whole database of everything.

I had asked J.D.

Vance about it.

So I believe in a few years in America, that everywhere you go, there's going to be facial recognition.

They're going to be, it's just going to be all built into our society, right?

I mean, built in.

So I don't think in a few years, you would even be able to be in the country

if you're not supposed to be by law, right?

By the letter of the law.

I don't even think it's going to be possible.

I think that's where we're headed and we're headed there quick.

And I think this is just one of the early stair steps you see of that, right?

Is the organization, the documentation, everybody, you have to know who's here.

You have to.

And I don't think, I think in a few years,

it's not going to matter.

The system will know, right?

I think it's Palantir is the company that's going to do it.

They've also been accused of a lot of dangerous stuff in Gaza.

But

that's the company that's we're going to be surveilling basically ourselves, right?

We as citizens, whoever we are, are going to be under surveillance in our own country.

That's going to be bonkers, dude.

So

I believe that it's a bigger thing that

these are the stairs, these are the baby steps of it is first is you got to know who's here.

You got to figure everything out.

And yeah,

I agree.

This stuff's gross.

It's sick.

It's heartbreaking.

You know, the stuff in Gaza is heartbreaking.

Us watching this and becoming immune to some of the or not,

you know, and then you're so overwhelmed sometimes you don't even know what to speak up about and you still also most people have to take care of their families and and and get to school or worry about this or worry about that or do okay at their job you know

so and then some people just stay out of it and they just go on about their lives and i

are they are they bad for doing that i don't think you know i don't think so that's just

it's all a lot It's all a lot.

That's what it feels like sometimes, you know?

It feels tough.

It feels tough to navigate.

What do I do?

How do I do this?

You know, but we feel, we see, and we feel everything now.

So

emotionally, I think a lot of shit gets pretty overwhelming at times, or we just start to get immune to it, which is even scarier.

Because then you see something really messed up and you don't even say anything.

You literally move past it with your thumb.

So anyway, sorry to be a downer right there with a lot of downer stuff.

There's also people that have been in the country technically technically illegal, right?

Like by the letter of the law,

who I don't know if over the years they've had the opportunity to figure that out.

Is there, you know, have there been opportunities?

I don't know enough about it.

I'm not an, I don't know enough about immigration policy to know if they've had where they could go to an office and get that figured out over the years.

I don't know.

I don't know what that's like.

I bet it's also miserable to be like living in the shadows and like worried all the time that this isn't going to be able to get figured out or this won't be able to be figured out.

And you also have to believe that different political parties they will use these things as kickballs.

They'll use certain videos and stuff as kickballs

to get us all to watch the ball in the air, right?

And even though sometimes it's horrible, some of the situations are

watching the you're watching the monkey juggle.

Meanwhile, the monkey's stealing all your shit.

The monkey got all your bananas, baby.

You down fruitless.

You down bad.

But

prayers, if a Mexican person needs to hide at my house, man, I'd be willing to discuss it.

Fuck, I don't know if I should say that out loud or not.

But

yeah, I just,

and sometimes people are like, you got to speak about, you got to speak about this.

You, you, you, you speak what you feel you need to speak about.

Okay?

You, you speak what you think you need to speak about.

Because also, I don't sit there all day looking at everything, you know, I don't sit there all day looking at every single thing and moment.

Some stuff I'm not even attuned to.

There's other genocides happening in the world that I don't even know about,

right?

And that you don't even know about.

And that's okay, you know.

So anyway, there's a lot going on there.

That's all I'm saying.

And

I think this is all part of a bigger, this is, this is just the beginning step.

This isn't,

while we're all watching this, so many other things are going on.

And the crazy part about all of everything is, of everything,

is that it's always the same shit.

It's always like, oh, here's a racial issue.

Here's a, this issue.

And nothing ever changes, it feels like.

Nothing ever changes.

And that's sometimes I think maybe even with that Vance interview, I'd be like, is anything going to change?

Because if not, just tell us it's not.

you know?

So, you know, I can go back to using and doing adult kickball or whatever.

Just tell, you know.

But

anyway, those are just some thoughts.

And I don't have any perfect answer for you.

And if you're coming to me for some perfect answer, go to yourself.

What is your thought?

What do you feel?

What do you know?

You a magic guy?

You a wizard?

Then do wizard shit.

Another call that came in here.

Sorry to get hot.

Happy belated Father's Day, dude.

And Eldia de las Papa.

Hey, Theo.

I just had a question.

I need some advice.

I have a pretty right-leaning boyfriend, and

he's not super fond of gay people.

And my really close cousin, he's like a brother to me.

He just came out as gay recently, and he's been acting pretty f ⁇ ing gay.

So I'm just trying to figure out how I can mend things between them.

He's my gay cousin is coming into town.

I'm trying to set up some plans.

Well, look, I think I wouldn't just take a gay around somebody that's anti-gay for, you know,

like you, you know what I'm saying?

Like you don't fucking

take a pit bull into a bird shop.

So

that's one thing I wouldn't do right there.

I mean,

you know, I think, I mean, you could just play it, play,

dude, you could play that song, I'm going to take my horse to the updown road.

I'm going to ride to La Cano.

Well, I got the horses in the back.

You play that shit, bro.

I bet they both going to fucking grin a little, boy.

Man, you got you, babe.

And if you ain't ready to go full

nod, you could fucking start off a little cotton-eyed Joe.

Get out the way of Catten Eye Joe.

That's a fucking little, you know, that's a fucking little, you know, sometimes if you, if they drop that on at the country club, you could see who might have a little bit of fucking zest in

their bandana, you know?

So, yeah, those are some options, but don't be, you know what I'm saying?

You ain't fucking Don King.

You ain't Dana White, baby girl.

Don't be out there fucking,

you know, don't be out there trying to start a

trans swimming event or something.

You know what I'm saying?

Don't get crazy.

You know, you ain't the NCAA.

Don't try to fucking

pit different people against each other just to start shit.

You know, don't get like that.

So, blessings to both of them and praise God right there.

Let's hear another question.

Oh, we got a question here about Gayon.

Hi, Theo.

This is Garrett Stewart from California.

Hey, Garrett, thank you for calling, brother.

Onward, California.

And I was just calling to ask.

I uh,

well, I'm particularly gay.

And I oh, secretly gay, the fella said.

Let's hear more.

I haven't told a lot of people,

and I want to figure out how I can tell my mom.

And I thought I could get some advice on here.

I'm hoping she'll listen and maybe find out this way, and it'll start out the conversation.

But

yeah, I mean, thank you for the thank you for the space to talk about this, and I hope to...

Hope to hear something about it on the

okay, brother.

Yeah, thank you for calling, dude.

Um,

and congratulations on your uh

gay ship or whatever, it's called gay them or whatever, um, being gay.

Um, I mean, you there's different ways you could go about it.

You could do something, you know, kind of fun.

You could do this like a knock, knock, who's there?

I'm gay, you know, that old trick or whatever, or or you could get a deck of cards, right?

You could write,

I'm a gay son on each one,

put them like that.

Have her pick one out.

Say pick one out and read it.

And bam, you don't even say nothing.

She says it.

And then you could be like, what the fuck do you mean?

You know, you could

roll switch or whatever.

So that's, you know, that's reverse psychology, dude.

So that's something, that's crazy.

But I think in reality, dude, what would I do here, dude?

I would sit down with her.

I would sit down with your mom if you got to tell her that

you are, I would sit down with her.

I would say, mom, I have something really important to tell you.

And

just ask her, I would say, hey, do you know, do you love me no matter what?

Do you love me no matter what?

And she will say, yes, right.

If she doesn't say yes, I would not tell her.

But if she says yes, then I would keep moving forward.

And then I would just tell her, say, look, I'm a, you know, I'm a gay man or whatever.

Or I'm pretty much gay.

That's what I would say.

Don't ever fully commit to anything.

That's a trap for everything.

I'm pretty much gay, right?

That way, what if they come out with a cream or something or a topical a few years from now or something or, you know, because you don't know that they don't or a peptide or something.

That'd be ungay in people.

You want to have, you just want to have that little, you want to leave that door ajar, baby.

You know what I'm saying?

You want to leave that, you want to leave that door ajar, poppy.

So that's what I would, then I would just tell her.

And I would just let her know if it's scary to you to say that, I would say, mom, I've been really scared about saying it to you.

And then I would say, do you have any questions about it?

Because

it's a surprise.

It might be a surprise to her.

Some moms are surprised about it.

What percentage of moms?

No, they

have a gaze.

Oh, it says a lot of parents know because they study their babies closely as they grow.

So, hell yeah, bro.

Yeah, so if they might have some ideas over the years,

if you invite another little dudes up in your crib or whatever, they might have had an idea or whatever.

Or you got fucking, you got a bedazzled diaper or whatever.

They're going to have a little inkling.

Some parents, it doesn't say every parent.

So then that's what I would ask her because it's going to be new, new to her.

So she might have questions.

She might be scared too.

She might be, you know, she might be kind of rattled.

And then if you guys have a dad, I would say, well, how do we break this to dad?

What do you think we should do?

And then that way it kind of creates a little bit of an accomplice there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I just think that's it.

That

just is probably learning you were gay, it's probably a journey for them to have this information.

So I'm not saying that just because that people need to adapt to you or anything, but I'm just saying

some people, it's a bit of a surprise.

You know, my buddy told me he was gay not long ago, and I was like, damn, bruh,

he's gay, you know.

So it's a surprise sometimes to people.

You don't, you know, it's a little bit of an adjustment.

It's not bad or anything, or it doesn't mean anybody's bad.

But thanks for asking about that, man.

We've learned a lot about gays here over the years.

You know, we've learned a lot about drug-induced homosexuality,

altitude-based gays,

weekend gays, uh,

footwear gays.

A lot of times, you're looking at your buddy's shoes or whatever, and you're like, damn,

your boots is gay as fuck, son.

You'd hiccum the zest step.

You know, so it's like we've learned a lot about it, dude.

There's full-time, there's part-time, there's uh, Wednesday, Wednesday-only gays, underwater gays.

Sometimes you feel something underwater, you go down there,

somebody's blowing you.

What is that?

So, there's a lot there, man.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but

I bet,

I bet,

I don't know.

I bet that's a tough, tough experience for a lot of people, man.

I bet it's a tough experience.

So just thanks for calling and sharing about that.

Let's get another call in here.

Yo, what up, CO?

This is your boy.

I'm going to keep this one anonymous for obvious reasons here in a bit, but but

just want to give you a call and see if you had any suggestions for me.

This morning, I received a message from

somebody that I had

made love to about two years ago.

And

honestly, at one point,

this woman, she was my boss.

She's

about 10 years older than me, I believe.

Okay.

You climb into corporate vagina, brother.

All right, onward.

Got a message this morning that uh

she says there's about a 75%

chance that her one-year-old daughter is is my daughter.

And uh I asked her, Well,

what's this other 25% chance?

Is that just to soften the blow or what?

And she's like, Yeah, there's a ten percent chance that it

was my ex.

I don't even know if she had a boyfriend at the time when we did it, but maybe.

But yeah, it was just to kind of soften the blow.

And so obviously I'm going to do a paternity test.

But I'm 25 years old.

She lives in

a different state, thousands of miles away from me.

I asked her what she would expect if I am the father, and she says I'm not planning on changing anything.

It's up to me,

but she's going to be happy, healthy, and well taken care of, which I truly do believe.

But I don't know.

I just don't know what to do.

Like, I

feel like I myself had both parents growing up, and I'm fucked up as is, and

I can't imagine bringing

a baby into this world and just leaving her out there high and dry without a father.

Yeah, you're saying you can't imagine that, right?

So it sounds like from hearing you that that's not part of you.

That's not part of the plan that you want.

So I think starting from there,

you'll be able to figure this out, man.

I wish I had more of a suggestion to you.

Actually, I'm going to open this up just to callers.

I know maybe that's impersonal because it's your call, but I think this is important.

If somebody's in this situation, if you've been in this situation before,

what did you do?

And if you made mistakes and you were in this situation, what were those mistakes?

You know, I think this is an opportunity to share those.

And we can do a follow-up call on the next solo episode where we'll package some of those answers up for you.

But just hang in there right now, man.

Hang in there.

Take care of yourself.

And I would just try to also live in, like, you know, get information so you're gathering, you know, you have real-time information.

What's going on?

Is this really, you know, if you have a paternity test, is that really your child?

You know, figure those things out so that you can be at least operating from a place of real information.

And then you're not just living in your head as much.

But

I can't tell you a ton because I don't have experience right there.

But I have had experience thinking that I might have had someone who's pregnant and that can be very tough.

It can be scary.

It can be very scary.

Even if that person's a great person, it still can be very scary.

And especially if you're going to be in a place that's far away.

But everything is.

If there's a problem, you can usually fix it, right?

If there's a situation, you can usually figure it out.

So, and even by calling, man, I think it shows kind of where

you're at.

You're already in a space where you want to start to figure this out, you know, for yourself and possibly for your future child.

So,

yeah, thank you for calling, man.

And yeah, we'll put some together.

It might be a few weeks before we get that episode out.

Just let you know it could be a month to that next solo.

But, yeah.

But love you, bruh, and hang in there.

And thanks for calling.

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That's better H E L P dot com slash Theo.

Let's take one more call right here.

What up Theo?

My name is Alex.

I'm from Cleveland, Ohio.

Okay.

OH

I was just asking for some advice with a girl from Latin America.

I never been with a Latina before.

I don't know if you have any experience with one, but I met this beautiful girl from Columbia a few nights ago at the club.

And it was this whole romantic experience.

You know, I bought her a drink.

I was making her laugh.

Before you know it, we're doing the tango.

Oh, yeah.

Dancing.

I was even speaking a little Spanish.

I don't know what got into me.

I had game I've never seen before out of myself.

But now it's a few days later.

I've been texting her.

I want to take her on a date, but I feel this pressure to be the guy I was that night.

And honestly, now that the drinks out of my system, I don't think I got it anymore.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I would just, thanks for that call, man.

I would, here's what I would do.

I would just take her on another date.

And she already knows that that happened, right?

So I don't think you got to replicate that.

I think you take her to do something else to take that pressure off.

Go for a walk.

Go to a bingo hall and do a bingo night over there.

What else could you do?

Go for lunch, right?

Do a completely different environment.

Because I've done this a lot in my life, man.

It's like, man, if this date with this girl, if it's not perfect, I don't want to stand a chance with her.

I either do or don't stand a chance based on who I am, though.

I mean, it's easy for me to say that

just because like I've learned that in my own life, but

But that's really what it comes down to.

Just say, hey, the other night felt awesome, felt magical, right?

I'm nervous.

I can't replicate that.

Tell her that right out of the jump.

Now

you already have that magic night you made, and now you're a real guy.

You're right there.

You're in a real space.

Because otherwise, dude, we spend this time, dude.

I've spent so much time.

This has to be perfect.

I'm going to fucking get this.

I'm going to rent this van or whatever.

I'm going to do all this shit.

You know, we're going to get a couple oysters or whatever.

You know, all of this fucking shit, this Van Oyster bullshit.

And then I end up, I can't, nothing's, it's just like,

I'm just, I've already

lost because I set the expectations too high.

So that's what I would do.

Just be real with her.

And if it doesn't work out, it's not because you didn't do things magical.

It's just because it wasn't going to work out.

That's it.

You know, do but be creative.

I think that's appreciated.

But that's it, man.

Don't make it so it's impossible for you to even do.

You know, I do that sometimes.

Fuck, I make shit like,

oh, dear God.

All right, let's get out of this.

We got to get done here soon.

Let's take one more call.

Hey, Theo.

Just want to congratulate you on your success, man.

I'm a huge fan.

I just had a question, man.

Well, not a question.

Just I wanted some advice, man.

So

I'm 28 years old I'm Army veteran recently thank you for your service man

a veteran

recently got out like a year and a half ago and

I went through a divorce man and

you know that's that um the problem is that um

I have two kids man um both of them have autism and

Mom decided to step away from their life, you know, and it's just me raising them alone.

I was just wondering if you can just give me any advice you got, brother, like,

just how to deal with that, man.

You know, trying to do things alone and

if you just had any advice, man.

But

I just want to thank you for

your podcast, man.

It's been extremely helpful.

And yeah, thank you.

And hope you reach out back, man.

Praise, brother.

Thank you for the call, man.

Thanks for calling and just,

man that's a journey you're on dude congratulations bro

congratulations on you know showing up but man I want to say happy belated Father's Day to you and I applaud you man I applaud you

for showing up for those kids for being able to have let them have somebody they can look in the eye in the eyes and they know that that person is there for them

that that person is a caretaker.

That that person thinks about them when they're not around.

You know, I think as children, we take that for granted even, and we should, because it shouldn't even be a question.

But I commend you on that.

I know it's your job as a dad, right?

That's part of it.

But man, maybe as men, we're not saying that shit to each other enough.

You know, I don't know.

But yeah, having dad there when

you try to learn to ride the bike or you want to do fishing or whatever.

Or if y'all like doing a video game or reading your kid a story at night, you know, or even picking your kid up and helping him get to the second or third step.

You know, now make your kid do one of the steps.

Some people put their kid all the way to the fourth step.

Bitch, put that bitch on the third step.

You know what I'm saying, bro?

Life ain't that easy.

You know, or set if they crawl and set that bitch on the south side of a speed bump.

Let him work.

Let him work.

But I'll say this: it makes me feel good just knowing that there's a man out there who's out there battling to do his best with his children.

And

this is also kind of interesting.

We're making these Cat William

nutcrackers,

and we're going to make a packaged pair just like me and Cat William had talked about about doing it.

And they're going to be

one of him, one of me, and you could just get him if you want.

That's fine.

I will not be upset.

But we're going to sell him and the proceeds are going to go somehow to help parents of children with autism.

So we just started looking at the prototypes.

And

I don't know what that looks like, right?

I don't know how.

I don't know if it'll be in what way or something.

But when that comes along, man, maybe I could have you help us out somehow.

Or

I don't know.

Maybe we can think of something to do,

you know, in that space.

But

yeah.

Now, we're hoping to have them plan for the end of the year.

I don't know how it all works, but I do know that we've already gotten back like

drawings.

We haven't gotten back an actual item yet.

But I do believe that we're making progress.

So

there you go.

That'll be something.

That's a that's not advice, but that's my belated Father's Day gift to you, is that if we can get this to fruition, then let me see if I can't find a way

that we can

or do, like do a nice thing for you or something.

I don't know what it is yet.

Yeah, but just know that people are thinking of you, man.

You know,

know that I think a lot of us go through the day, and

you know, I think most people, this is the funny thing.

Most people I'll run into, they say, I want to be helpful to people.

You know?

most people are.

That's what they are thinking of that,

and I think that's what's in the heart of most people, man.

Um,

but happy, happy, belated Father's Day, brother.

And uh, praise God, you might also be Mexican, so you sounded a little bit Mexican.

I'm judgmental when it comes to voices and shit, you know that, bruh.

But uh, Feliz Papa,

let me see what that means, actually.

Feliz Papa,

happy dad,

Happy father.

So, El Dia de Feliz, Papa.

Happy Dad's Day yesterday.

Oh, yesterday.

Yesterday, dos.

I'll say that.

Two yesterdays.

Yesterday dos.

El Fia, El El Dia de Feliz, Papa.

Ayer

dos.

Happy Bladed Father's Day to Rhett Powers.

That's the man that took me in when I was young and

gave me a place to stay,

you know, in high school and stuff like that, and has been a role model to me.

Charles Alder, he was a teacher of mine that I had when I was young.

He passed away a few years ago, but

he was the only, he was like the first person to ever even

talk to me.

Like, talk to me like,

I don't know.

You know, he really cared about me.

There's been a lot of of men in my life.

I'll forget.

I don't want to get into like a naming spree.

And a lot of men who have filled in the blanks.

You know, sometimes I go, you know, if there's something going on, I'll call this friend's dad.

Or I'll call this person who's a little bit older than me.

Or sometimes I even get little pieces of fatherhood from friends, right?

Yeah, I think sometimes it's like building, you build that relationship out of other pieces of fathers that are still here or moments that are still here.

So anyway,

yeah, just learning to use my voice, dude.

It's crazy.

This late in life.

And maybe that's me just having a cop out.

I have no idea.

But

I'm going to keep showing up.

Let's do that.

Praise God, man.

Be good to yourselves out there.

There's a new song right here, and we might have to edit this out if they don't clear it for us.

But this is by uh Evan Bartells and he has a new album out that

I want to support here and uh

this is Evan Bartell's the album to make you cry which yeah dang it's the last thing I needed but it is what it is baby but this is a voice this is somebody using their voice right

so anyway I don't know But you guys be good to yourselves, man.

We got some exciting episodes coming up.

I'm grateful.

I want to get more grateful.

I want to be more grateful in my life.

I'm going to ask God to help me with that this week.

I'm going to ask myself to help me with that.

Sometimes I'll try to put it all on God's shoulders and I don't do shit, you know.

So I'm going to try to pull up for God.

Praise God, baby.

Here we go.

You guys be good to yourselves, man.

You deserve it.

Happy belated Father's Day, gang.

Said the cancer came back.

This is called Death of a Good Man.

After two years of leaving me alone,

and my wife passed back in December

since then, I've been here on my own.

He spoke like a Southern Baptist preacher,

sang like a Pentecostal choir,

said he always done right by that woman,

and ain't no man could call him a wife.

Some nights, when his spirit got heavy,

he'd dream of that lost promised land.

Said it looked like back home in Virginia,

but he'll never see them o'er hills again.

He said, I blame it on the damn tobacco.

I blame it all on the booze.

And I blame it on the fella

sitting up in heaven,

giving me the right to choose.

He said, I reckon I'll die on a Tuesday.

And I hope the sun's gonna shine.

And I can't take it with me.

So I drink it right here.

My whiskey, my beer, and my wine.

And he spoke like a Southern Baptist preacher.

Sang like a Pentecostal choir

Said he always done right by his mama.

And ain't no man could call him a liar.

But some nights, when his spirit got heavy,

he'd dream of that lost promised land.

Look like back home in Virginia.

He said, I'll never see him or heels again.

And I'd sit at the bar while he's talking.

Just like me and him was old friends.

And promised I'd always remember

the life of a good man.

Now, on the east side of Nashville, I sit

and I get storm.