WEBVTT

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All right. You guys taking your first little

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sippy poop? Not yet. Oh, no. First one I pulled

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back. I don't know what we thought about this

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the first time. I don't remember drinking it.

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Honestly. It's kind of... It's probably been...

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I was looking at the bottles because I was trying

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to pick which one that can... You know, because...

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Guys, look. We've got a specific equation when

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it comes to serving drinks. And when we have

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guests... We've got to be careful because if

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we pull from a bottle that won't allow us to

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equally distribute it like three, four ways down

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the road. Then it's really ugly. I'm going to

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have to drink it. Or it's going to have to go

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into our infinity bottle. I don't know if you

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noticed out in the green room, we've got a big

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old bottle, big gallon jug. Okay. That is our

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infinity bottle. It's got over 70 bottles in

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it. It's very good. It's very good. It is fantastic.

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A splendid whiskey right there. Seriously. All

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right, folks. Welcome to the... Dudes Like Us

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podcast, it's September 23rd, 2025. It's the

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first half of our Dudes Like Us podcast. Check

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us out on Facebook. Check us out on Instagram

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-podcast or Woodcraft if you guys want to pick

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up some of our swag. We have a couple guests

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tonight, and I'm super excited. We're not going

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to talk too much about how I know you guys, but

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like that nefarious bar in the back selling dime

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bags. I don't know what that was all about. Dudes

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Like Us, I'm Sean. I'm Paul. I'm Jeff. I'm Craig.

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I'm Greg. All right. All right. Welcome to the

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podcast, guys. Glad to be here, sir. Craig and

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Greg. Oh, my God. I can't even say it. It's first

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half. What the fuck? God, are you drunk already?

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It feels like it. Wow. Cheap days. All right.

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Well, look, I was chatting with Greg a month

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or two ago and was sharing with him about what

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we do on the podcast and what we like to talk

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about. We talk about dudes like us, things that

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we do in life and normal thresholds, abnormal

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thresholds that we do. Different way of growing

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up. You know, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, taking kids

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to school, college the first time. You know,

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the different phases of life. Deaths, you know,

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births, you know, kids getting married, empty

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nesters. It's nonstop. And a lot of times we

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go back in time and we look at some of the charts

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of the 80s, 90s, and we kind of reminisce about

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one hit wonders. And, you know, we just, we're

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the ADD classic thing to listen to because we're

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not just one thing. And, of course, I'm the conspiracy.

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Conspiracy guy, for sure. Oh, yeah. And we give

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him shit for it. For sure. Yeah, you sure do.

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But this chair sucks, man. My fat ass keeps going

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down. It's a conspiracy. I think that rod underneath

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is trying to interject. It's going to impale

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me one of these days. All right. Well, what say

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you guys? Let's start off and explain to us why

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you're here today. Well, first of all, for the...

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Invitation. I want to thank you guys for inviting

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us to be here. It's a pleasure to be here. Excited

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to have some discussions and shenanigans accordingly.

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But essentially, this turned into— I'm just here

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for the free drinks. There you go. Hell yeah.

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I like this guy. We all get the root. We get

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more of that club soda. But yeah, Sean, you and

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I got to talking about various subjects, and

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we really got into some pretty deep discussion.

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Yeah, we did. And it was really fascinating to

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hear some of your points of view, and a lot of

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them really lined up with mine. So it seemed

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there was a lot of like -mindedness there. and

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it kind of spawned the conversation of joining

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on this podcast. So, you know, I've done a few

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of them. Me and Craig are actually looking to

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get one startup of our own, and we're trying

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to get that one kicked off. So I invited Craig

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to come with me, of course, with your invitation,

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Sean, to really stick his nose in, get some free

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drinks, and see what he can pick up here. Whenever

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you have the opportunity to hang out with quality

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men, I always make time for that. Greg and I

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have known each other for 30 years now. You probably

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need to clarify that. Give us five minutes before

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you give us that benefit. Just looking over the

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resumes, it seems to check out. So we were fraternity

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brothers at North Texas. And since then, we started

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what's called a Juneto. And we've been meeting

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with that once a month. A Juneto was started

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by Ben Franklin. And it's Latin for a meeting.

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And at the time, Ben Franklin and his buddies

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felt that there was just too much going on in

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the world for any one person to digest that.

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So him and his buddies would get together and

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just talk about what's going on in science, what's

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going on in the news. And so there are Junto

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clubs out there. Our buddy Seth is the one who

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started it. And you get together. You can do

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it whatever frequency you want. We do it once

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a month. But you bring a presentation. Five,

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ten minutes long. About something you find interesting.

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And that could be finance. That could be something

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in science. That could be, like, I did one this

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past Sunday on the 25 plants that are illegal

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in the United States. And just kind of went through

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that. It's kind of funny. Like the really invasive

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plants? Invasive plants. Cocaine. Opium. Cot.

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You know, that kind of stuff. Cocaine is a plant?

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You know, the funny thing is, is that when you

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look at one, it just looks like a shrub. Like,

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I could grow this in my front yard. Nobody would

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know it. And there are some plants on there that

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one of my neighbors actually has growing in his

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front yard. And I thought, oh, man, that's totally

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illegal. It's a cocaine plant? It's called a

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moonflower. And the seed pot on it creates hallucinations.

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And it's kind of like. I don't know if your grandparents

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were gardener, but like oleander. Oleander, right.

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Technically, it's illegal, super poisonous, very

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popular plant in the 40s and 50s. Interesting.

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They're still around. I mean, it's not like they're

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dousing them with - Yeah, there was a neighbor

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just a few houses down that had oleander all

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along their fence. Yeah. No, there's a lot of

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things - They are deadly, but there are some

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arguments or some controversies on some of these

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deadly - plants that taken in specific doses

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or mixture of other that they're healthy are

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these 20 part of that at all yeah absolutely

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i mean uh so just as background i'm a pharmacist

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so i got a doctorate in pharmacy from texas tech

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and we found out 2 000 years ago that the poison

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is in the dose And so same thing, like digitalis

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comes from a plant that taking it high enough

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doses will kill you. At low enough doses, if

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you have a heart that has an irregular rhythm,

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you take digitalis and it gets the heart back.

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Interesting. That makes sense. Yeah. And then,

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you know, they tested it out on a bunch of villagers.

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And a lot of them were no longer with them. Some

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things you have to find out the hard way. Yeah.

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The village idiot was the one that was like,

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okay, this does, ooh, too much, too much. Let's

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get Mikey. He likes it. Just like we were talking

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last week about cashews, and we learned that

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cashew is the seed of a fruit. It's not an actual

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nut. And in order to make it, it's in a shell.

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But what's inside is a toxin that the lady we

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were listening to that said is similar to poison

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ivy toxin. Like, who figured that out? Did they

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eat it? and then just have some problematic throats

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or what. Yeah. Who tried that? How'd they find

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that out? The hard way, I guess. Trial and error

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through a lot of things. So basically, you know,

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the Junco group, really guys that have a thirst

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for knowledge still. Sure. You know, a little

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bit of a nerd coming out in all of us. You know,

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we're always trying to learn more. And that was

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another thing that. that ben franklin did with

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this junto was uh get to a point where they were

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dividing up the study of a certain subject and

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five guys for instance would break it up into

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five sections and each one would do their research

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now this was coming from a time where they didn't

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have libraries yet right so it doing the manpower

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to do research on something it took a lot more

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so they divided and conquered and came back and

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shared the information and basically you could

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walk away at the end of that with the full breadth

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of knowledge on it with one fifth using round

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numbers of the time that you put into it now

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ben franklin actually wrote about this in his

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autobiography and that's where seth originally

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uh came across the autobiography read it and

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then passed it around to each one of us and then

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said hey we should do this junto thing that's

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looks kind of cool and it was like well actually

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that would be kind of cool let's do that and

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the results of that first of all you know some

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of the best friends that we had in college we

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get together and we have time for fellowship

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uh we you know we break bread together we we

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have this thirst for knowledge that we get to

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quench with doing you know research and presenting

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on something so it kind of kept us into our studious

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uh scholarly ways in college and um it cuts out

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all the excuses of hey i want to hang out with

00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:02.860
jim bob over there and yeah we'll talk to you

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next time and then it never happens right life

00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:06.820
gets in the way exactly but you're carving out

00:09:06.820 --> 00:09:09.600
time that's like yeah it's kind of like our podcast

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we we carve out time and it's protected this

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is our own junta yeah i mean tuesdays We do zero

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research, though. No. No. We haven't given each

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other enough time. I mean, if it sounds right.

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If you listen, we've... We usually find out by

00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:27.980
Chuck that we're usually wrong because he fact

00:09:27.980 --> 00:09:31.019
-checked us live and, yeah, we're wrong. It's

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fun, though. They're fun circles. It's the travels

00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:37.299
to get where we're going is what's important

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because we're so full of shit sometimes. We sound

00:09:39.620 --> 00:09:42.539
very confident in our beliefs. We're not the

00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:44.559
podcast of misinformation. We're the podcast

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of incorrect information. Hey, there you go,

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man. That's great. Which is the difference. Well,

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this kind of fellowship is actually something

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that has been shown to really be rewarding for

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men. specifically, which is a little bit different

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than women. Women socialize, you know, men are

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from Mars, women are from Venus. We have our

00:10:00.139 --> 00:10:03.480
different makeup and compositions and brain patterns,

00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:06.779
et cetera. And, you know, men specifically have

00:10:06.779 --> 00:10:10.600
a little bit more of this need for a fellowship

00:10:10.600 --> 00:10:13.700
with other men. And it becomes very rewarding

00:10:13.700 --> 00:10:15.620
when you have that good, wholesome fellowship.

00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:19.080
That's really part of what has spawned, you know,

00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:21.929
ancient fraternities that got started. the reward

00:10:21.929 --> 00:10:23.750
that they got from that. We've talked about this

00:10:23.750 --> 00:10:28.429
so many times about how, so Greg here is, I forget

00:10:28.429 --> 00:10:30.470
the title, but he was the grand poobah of the

00:10:30.470 --> 00:10:33.870
Masonic temple in Fort Worth and which is a beautiful

00:10:33.870 --> 00:10:36.049
building. If you've never been there, they do

00:10:36.049 --> 00:10:38.809
weddings and stuff like that there. But you know,

00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:41.090
if you look at our grandparents generation, they

00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:45.190
were in a Mason's or rotary club or a bowling

00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:48.289
league or something involved in their community

00:10:48.289 --> 00:10:50.720
instead of. I'm going to go to work. I'm going

00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:52.120
to drive home. I'm going to watch television.

00:10:52.220 --> 00:10:55.779
I'm going to go to bed. Winch repeat. Yeah, it

00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:59.799
doesn't work. We're meant to be communal. And,

00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:02.299
you know, I'm real proud of Greg for being in

00:11:02.299 --> 00:11:04.720
the Masons because of that. I think, you know,

00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:06.639
trying to promote that with guys. And, you know,

00:11:06.659 --> 00:11:09.039
it doesn't have to be the Masons. He has a familial

00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:12.259
tie to it. But, yeah, it could be anything for

00:11:12.259 --> 00:11:14.840
guys to get together. Or the ladies as well,

00:11:14.940 --> 00:11:16.960
you know. So what's the story behind the skimpy

00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:21.470
outfit you guys wear? What? Oh, sorry. The goat

00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:24.549
and everything else that's supposedly. What is

00:11:24.549 --> 00:11:27.190
that jar of fluid outside? The lizard people

00:11:27.190 --> 00:11:32.950
who eat mice raw. Yes. All true. I originally

00:11:32.950 --> 00:11:35.110
got introduced to masonry through my grandfather,

00:11:35.370 --> 00:11:39.350
who was my hero growing up. He was the man that

00:11:39.350 --> 00:11:42.029
taught me to be a man. That really was the male

00:11:42.029 --> 00:11:44.950
influence in my life. And he comes from the greatest

00:11:44.950 --> 00:11:49.179
generation. He was a pilot in World War II. Uh,

00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:51.639
he was one of the first commanding officers when,

00:11:51.679 --> 00:11:54.200
after world war two, when they started, uh, the

00:11:54.200 --> 00:11:55.659
air force, which actually their birthday was

00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:58.840
what just last week. Um, he was one of the first

00:11:58.840 --> 00:12:01.759
commanding officers, uh, in the air force when

00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:04.360
it was founded. And, uh, he also flew in, uh,

00:12:04.620 --> 00:12:08.019
the Korean conflict and, um, you know, he's got

00:12:08.019 --> 00:12:11.100
the silver star, uh, the Navy flying cross, uh,

00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:14.480
and, you know, retired spent after spending his

00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:17.220
whole career in there. And it was just, he comes

00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:20.309
from that group. of people that made it through

00:12:20.309 --> 00:12:23.370
some of the harshest times, uh, through the great

00:12:23.370 --> 00:12:26.590
depression, through world war two, uh, through

00:12:26.590 --> 00:12:29.929
the great awakening, uh, across the world. And

00:12:29.929 --> 00:12:33.169
it set that tone for that post world war two

00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:37.470
era. That is, I don't know. I think I could comfortably

00:12:37.470 --> 00:12:38.950
say, I think we're kind of getting away from

00:12:38.950 --> 00:12:41.070
that right now. Uh, we could go into that though,

00:12:41.129 --> 00:12:43.429
but he was a part of that, uh, that resilience,

00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:47.529
that accountability, all that. But he was a part,

00:12:47.629 --> 00:12:50.250
he was one of those that made it through it and

00:12:50.250 --> 00:12:52.149
through all of the challenges, along with, you

00:12:52.149 --> 00:12:53.929
know, many of our other grandfathers. We wouldn't

00:12:53.929 --> 00:12:55.990
all be sitting here today if it wasn't for those

00:12:55.990 --> 00:12:58.370
strong men that made it through those tough times.

00:12:58.470 --> 00:13:00.289
For sure. Not only then, but throughout history.

00:13:00.429 --> 00:13:02.649
We're basically the culmination of greatness

00:13:02.649 --> 00:13:06.429
throughout our genes history. The strongest survive.

00:13:06.610 --> 00:13:08.629
But after, you know, that, I think that's why

00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:11.769
they called them the greatest generation is because

00:13:11.769 --> 00:13:14.190
they overcame so many big obstacles and they

00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:16.019
made it through. You know, you don't go to the

00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:18.460
gym and lift light weights to get stronger. The

00:13:18.460 --> 00:13:20.279
same goes for life. And they went through a lot

00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:21.799
of harsh stuff and they overcame it. And they

00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:23.860
were very resilient and strong as nails. And

00:13:23.860 --> 00:13:26.600
seemingly didn't complain. Yeah. Seriously. I

00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:28.759
mean, they came back from the most horrific experiences

00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.700
and got married, had kids, got a great job. And

00:13:31.700 --> 00:13:33.320
like all the things you just said, they just

00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:35.460
did it. They just did it. They did. It's amazing.

00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:37.080
And that's the reason why they call it the greatest

00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:39.159
generation, man. Well, that's because Jack Daniels

00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:41.779
was really inexpensive back then. Oh, true. That

00:13:41.779 --> 00:13:45.240
had a big part of it, didn't it? It helps. It

00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:49.899
does help. But back to that, my grandfather was

00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:53.639
a Mason. And as were a lot of some of my other

00:13:53.639 --> 00:13:55.679
family members that, you know, my great -grandfather,

00:13:55.779 --> 00:13:57.820
my great -great, my great -great -great. I mean,

00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.080
it went back pretty far. And I had some uncles

00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.059
from, you know, the woman side of the family

00:14:03.059 --> 00:14:05.200
as well and her father. So there was a lot of

00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:09.919
family ties there. And there was this experience

00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:12.200
I had as a kid seeing these. You know, I was

00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:14.059
living with my grandfather in high school and

00:14:14.059 --> 00:14:15.779
these men came and knocked on the door and I

00:14:15.779 --> 00:14:17.000
answered it. And it was just, you know, this

00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:19.559
group of five guys that all had suits on that

00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:21.039
were there to see him. And I was like, what is

00:14:21.039 --> 00:14:23.080
this? You know, so I got to kind of stick around

00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:24.799
and watch and see what's going on. And they basically

00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:27.639
drove down from Oklahoma where his original home

00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:31.139
lodge was to present him with a 50 year service

00:14:31.139 --> 00:14:33.799
award. Oh, nice. And masonry, you know, you get

00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:37.279
after you've been raised as a master mason. You

00:14:37.279 --> 00:14:39.000
got a clock that starts. You got like a birthday

00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:40.759
every year after that for that. And then after

00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:43.100
so many years, you hit that 50 -year mark. Then

00:14:43.100 --> 00:14:46.100
they really like come out and give you an award,

00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:49.220
give you a pin, do a whole event for you. And

00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:52.360
then they do them like at 60, 65, 70, and 75.

00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.519
Can you – because I've heard of the Freemasons

00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:57.460
my entire life, but I don't know if I fully understand

00:14:57.460 --> 00:15:01.600
what the Masons are and what they do and what

00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:05.409
they – the whole – what they are essentially.

00:15:05.750 --> 00:15:07.870
Yeah. Cause they've got some, there's some, I

00:15:07.870 --> 00:15:09.789
don't want to say spooky, but there's some like

00:15:09.789 --> 00:15:12.889
people like concoct some weird things about it.

00:15:12.889 --> 00:15:15.850
Like they, they're superstitious. Oh yeah. There's

00:15:15.850 --> 00:15:17.269
a lot of, a lot of weird, you know what I mean?

00:15:17.309 --> 00:15:19.190
Right. So yeah. Talk about that. Yeah. There's

00:15:19.190 --> 00:15:21.870
a ton of conspiracies out there. Yeah. Um, and

00:15:21.870 --> 00:15:24.669
this is a big, if the history is so long and

00:15:24.669 --> 00:15:27.149
so old and you know, a lot of documents have

00:15:27.149 --> 00:15:29.929
not been fully discovered. There's a lot of folklore

00:15:29.929 --> 00:15:31.649
that goes along too, that you can kind of weed

00:15:31.649 --> 00:15:34.690
through. Well, you know, when you're ignorant

00:15:34.690 --> 00:15:37.990
about information, you make up stuff. And I think

00:15:37.990 --> 00:15:40.710
that's what's happened. I mean, if it's not right

00:15:40.710 --> 00:15:45.549
out in the open as a very public organization,

00:15:45.990 --> 00:15:47.610
then people are going to make up stuff. And they

00:15:47.610 --> 00:15:49.470
have. Anyway, sorry, go ahead. And then there's

00:15:49.470 --> 00:15:53.110
been conflicts throughout history that has really

00:15:53.110 --> 00:15:56.830
fueled that, particularly with the Catholic Church.

00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:00.799
And if I could go kind of go back to where Masons

00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.259
really get their ultimate roots from, it goes

00:16:03.259 --> 00:16:07.059
back to the Knights Templar. And there was, just

00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:11.519
to briefly brush over that, there was, you know,

00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:13.980
the Knights Templar were the Navy SEALs of their

00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:17.440
time. You know, they were. a force that was built

00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:19.820
basically to protect the Christian pilgrims going

00:16:19.820 --> 00:16:23.500
to Jerusalem that were constantly being raided

00:16:23.500 --> 00:16:26.840
and, you know, murdered and robbed by, you know.

00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:28.399
It's a dangerous path, man. It's a dangerous

00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:30.620
path. And it was the, you know, the Muslim raiders

00:16:30.620 --> 00:16:33.700
that were basically terrorizing them on their

00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:36.440
pilgrimage. So the Knights Templar was originally

00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:40.110
founded to protect them along the way. And they

00:16:40.110 --> 00:16:43.330
grew to this massive force. They had these requirements.

00:16:43.529 --> 00:16:45.230
You already had to be a knight. You had to be

00:16:45.230 --> 00:16:47.669
knighted by some kingdom. You had to have wealth.

00:16:47.789 --> 00:16:49.649
You had to come with your horse, your squire,

00:16:49.710 --> 00:16:53.509
your equipment, your money. And that grew tremendously

00:16:53.509 --> 00:16:57.409
over time. And they got to the point where they

00:16:57.409 --> 00:17:00.879
really became... you know, a force of the Catholic

00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.220
church too. They were protecting a Catholic church.

00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:06.339
They were fighting wars for them. They began,

00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:08.240
then they kind of grew into this mercenary force.

00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:12.940
And then if you fast forward to King Philip of

00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:17.380
France at the time had, was best friends with

00:17:17.380 --> 00:17:20.900
the grand commander of the grand commander of

00:17:20.900 --> 00:17:23.140
the commandery, who, who was basically, you know,

00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:25.839
the chief of staff of everybody. in the chain

00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.160
of command and you had different conclaves of

00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:30.420
them spread out but he was the head and he was

00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:35.380
based in in paris and um king philip had had

00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:39.859
uh engaged you know uh the grand commander to

00:17:39.859 --> 00:17:42.559
you know hire the knights templar to fight a

00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:45.660
battle for him to fight a war um this this commander's

00:17:45.660 --> 00:17:49.279
name uh was jacques de malay and um after this

00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.720
war jacques and king philip were having a conversation

00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:55.210
and jacques was going well you Let's follow up

00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:57.450
on this. I haven't had the chance to talk to

00:17:57.450 --> 00:18:00.630
you about it, but more or less, you promised

00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:05.269
us money for this, and when would you like to

00:18:05.269 --> 00:18:10.309
take care of that? And Philip basically double

00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:12.670
-crossed him at that point. And after that conversation,

00:18:12.690 --> 00:18:17.869
sent a messenger to the Vatican with a message

00:18:17.869 --> 00:18:20.170
that the Knights Templar were heretics and were

00:18:20.170 --> 00:18:24.410
going against the Catholic Church. then turned

00:18:24.410 --> 00:18:27.849
right around and arrested Jacques de Molay and

00:18:27.849 --> 00:18:30.910
his commanding officers. Oh, wow. And then the

00:18:30.910 --> 00:18:33.210
Knights Templar saw what was going on and they

00:18:33.210 --> 00:18:35.150
gathered, I mean, these guys had, they were the

00:18:35.150 --> 00:18:38.589
protectors of all of the Christian relics. So

00:18:38.589 --> 00:18:40.130
some of the stuff that goes all the way back

00:18:40.130 --> 00:18:42.569
to King Solomon's temple, you know, the Holy

00:18:42.569 --> 00:18:45.250
Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, you know, all

00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:47.009
of these different things, they were the protectors

00:18:47.009 --> 00:18:49.950
of it. And so the Knights Templar basically disbanded

00:18:49.950 --> 00:18:52.069
and spread and grabbed the stuff and left. And,

00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:54.730
you know, some went to Africa. Uh, cause the,

00:18:54.789 --> 00:18:56.950
you know, there was, that goes way back to King

00:18:56.950 --> 00:18:58.970
Solomon and his relationship with the queen of

00:18:58.970 --> 00:19:01.789
Ethiopia, who he ended up bearing a child with.

00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:05.289
And so there was, you know, there was, you know,

00:19:05.289 --> 00:19:07.690
colleagues out there they could go to. And so

00:19:07.690 --> 00:19:09.329
they went there and then they went up Scandinavia,

00:19:09.390 --> 00:19:11.509
they went up into the English Isles and, you

00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:13.150
know, went back to where they came from. Is it

00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:17.450
true they found some of the Templars stuff or,

00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:22.539
uh, symbols here in North America on rocks? Not

00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:25.559
that I'm aware of as being actual. No. No, they

00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:28.819
hadn't made the trek across the pond at that

00:19:28.819 --> 00:19:32.859
point. That was a later situation. This kind

00:19:32.859 --> 00:19:38.500
of predates the 1600s. And so when Jacques de

00:19:38.500 --> 00:19:42.900
Molay was arrested by the French forces, they

00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:46.319
burned him at the stake outside of the castle.

00:19:46.700 --> 00:19:51.480
And that was... is the day of Friday the 13th.

00:19:51.500 --> 00:19:54.579
So the Friday the 13th date, that's where that

00:19:54.579 --> 00:19:58.359
comes from. It's from the execution of the commander

00:19:58.359 --> 00:20:02.240
of the Knights Templar, Jacques de Molay. And

00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.099
all of those relics went out. And of course,

00:20:05.099 --> 00:20:07.160
there's a lot of conspiracies from them then.

00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:12.039
Some are up in Roslyn Chapel in Scotland. So

00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:14.940
they're not all in a warehouse? Well, we saw

00:20:14.940 --> 00:20:17.099
Nick Cage, right? Good question. You saw Nick

00:20:17.099 --> 00:20:19.559
Cage track all that down? Yeah, there's a whole

00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:21.960
lot. Okay, that's not true. Well, oddly enough,

00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:24.619
I mean, it's a fascinating story, so I could

00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:26.819
go on about it. I'll try to be quick. But the

00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:29.279
Catholic Church, that's where the papal inquisitions

00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.660
happened. They did the trials for the Knights

00:20:31.660 --> 00:20:33.559
Templar. They found him to be not guilty, and

00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:38.079
they let him all go. Okay. Surprisingly and oddly

00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:41.940
enough, that pope died within 90 days of an accident.

00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:45.960
King Philip. died of a hunting accident within

00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:49.380
90 days of that, too. So it's like the enemies

00:20:49.380 --> 00:20:53.140
kind of fell, but the Knights of the Temple are

00:20:53.140 --> 00:20:54.799
disbanded, basically. All of the knights went

00:20:54.799 --> 00:20:57.599
back to where their homelands were. Oh, yeah.

00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:00.059
I mean, they had to skedaddle, man. They were

00:21:00.059 --> 00:21:01.799
being picked off one by one, right? That's right,

00:21:01.920 --> 00:21:05.079
yeah. And they ended up blending back into society,

00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:08.339
and what they did was utilized a skill set that

00:21:08.339 --> 00:21:11.140
they developed during their knighthood. And what

00:21:11.140 --> 00:21:13.200
they built were these fortresses. They built

00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:17.230
castles. Forts, castles, these strongholds. And

00:21:17.230 --> 00:21:23.890
they were expert stonemasons. And what they did

00:21:23.890 --> 00:21:28.470
was they developed this hierarchy of sorts that

00:21:28.470 --> 00:21:33.769
labeled which level of expert you were in masonry.

00:21:33.809 --> 00:21:38.990
And they tied in their rituals from the knighting

00:21:38.990 --> 00:21:42.650
ceremonies. Into rituals that, okay, you're an

00:21:42.650 --> 00:21:44.509
interdependence or you're a fellow crafter, you're

00:21:44.509 --> 00:21:49.890
a master mace. Okay. And over time, that operative

00:21:49.890 --> 00:21:53.930
organization became less operative. And then

00:21:53.930 --> 00:21:56.549
it kind of flipped over into a speculative, if

00:21:56.549 --> 00:21:58.410
you want to call it that. It became more fraternal.

00:21:58.569 --> 00:22:01.490
And there was not more need for this operative

00:22:01.490 --> 00:22:04.849
trade guild of sorts. And it became more of a

00:22:04.849 --> 00:22:07.549
fraternal guild. But it didn't have any war,

00:22:07.809 --> 00:22:11.940
like, you know, no. no warfare or no it was all

00:22:11.940 --> 00:22:15.480
strictly construction masonry that's correct

00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:18.019
yeah okay yeah and that happened over time i'm

00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:19.779
sure yeah it happened over time it's hard to

00:22:19.779 --> 00:22:22.039
pinpoint exactly when it happened but there was

00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:24.339
this switch from operative to speculative yeah

00:22:24.339 --> 00:22:27.200
and they used a lot of the same symbols and rituals

00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.099
to you know do their degrees and they turned

00:22:30.099 --> 00:22:34.299
into a fraternal organization and that happened

00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:38.349
somewhere between the 15 and 1600s And then there

00:22:38.349 --> 00:22:41.769
was, uh, in England, there was this, you know,

00:22:41.769 --> 00:22:43.630
all of the UK, there were these different grand

00:22:43.630 --> 00:22:46.730
lodges jurisdictions that were all kind of fighting

00:22:46.730 --> 00:22:49.630
with each other on who had legitimate jurisdiction.

00:22:50.309 --> 00:22:52.769
And then at some point, and actually it was,

00:22:52.789 --> 00:22:57.049
it was, um, in 1717, they unified all of the

00:22:57.049 --> 00:23:00.509
jurisdictions underneath one grand lodge system

00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:04.450
for the fraternity of Masons. And then they founded

00:23:04.450 --> 00:23:08.380
the, uh, the United Grand Lodge of England. And

00:23:08.380 --> 00:23:12.019
then from there, from 1717, that United Grand

00:23:12.019 --> 00:23:15.940
Lodge became really what was the... the ultimate

00:23:15.940 --> 00:23:19.480
authority for Freemasonry. Getting the guidelines

00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:21.640
for each chapter, so to speak. Absolutely. You

00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:23.900
have to be recognized by the Grand Lodge of England

00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:26.299
to be legitimate. And they were called lodges,

00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:29.539
not chapters, not guilds. They were called lodges?

00:23:29.660 --> 00:23:32.420
Well, each lodge is called a lodge. Then you

00:23:32.420 --> 00:23:35.200
have a jurisdiction. Okay. Interesting. It moved

00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:37.220
from the different countries, and then France

00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:44.240
gave a... gave a charter to a to a massachusetts

00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.640
lodge and then they kind of grew from there massachusetts

00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.680
gave one to louisiana and then texas during the

00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:55.299
uh around the battle with mexico right they were

00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:57.980
texans were trying to set up a lodge and they

00:23:57.980 --> 00:24:00.559
went to mexico because that was a the jurisdiction

00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.420
in texas they wanted to get a charter to have

00:24:03.420 --> 00:24:07.180
a texas you know jurisdiction and santa anna

00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:10.240
who was actually a mason uh oh wow denied it

00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:12.559
it was like no you're your subjects in Mexico.

00:24:13.140 --> 00:24:16.099
And so that's where we took over. And then the,

00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:17.940
then the, of course, you know, the battle of

00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:20.480
the Alamo, you got, you know, you know, Travis

00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:25.200
Bowie, uh, Sam Houston, um, Juan Seguin, like

00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:27.579
all of these guys were Masons. I mean, Davy Crockett

00:24:27.579 --> 00:24:30.160
was a Mason and they heard that this, this word

00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.940
of Texas spread through lodges. Sure. And that's

00:24:33.940 --> 00:24:36.539
how Davy Crockett and the volunteers in Tennessee

00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:38.839
worked their way down was through that chatter

00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:42.140
that went through lodges. And Louisiana gave

00:24:42.140 --> 00:24:46.579
a charter to Texas to open up its own jurisdiction.

00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:50.420
And the Battle of San Jacinto, that charter was

00:24:50.420 --> 00:24:53.700
in the knapsack of once again during that battle.

00:24:54.259 --> 00:24:57.230
And when they captured. You know, they, of course,

00:24:57.230 --> 00:24:58.650
you know, the story, they beat the Mexicans,

00:24:58.690 --> 00:25:01.769
you know, it was a 10 to one odds. I mean, and

00:25:01.769 --> 00:25:03.890
the numbers that were greatly outnumbered, but

00:25:03.890 --> 00:25:06.990
remember the Alamo, the anchor, the, they, they,

00:25:06.990 --> 00:25:10.630
they, they kicked their ass and captured, uh,

00:25:10.890 --> 00:25:16.289
Santa Ana. And, um, Santa Ana, uh, of course

00:25:16.289 --> 00:25:19.329
gave his, what Mason recall, the grand hailing

00:25:19.329 --> 00:25:21.609
signs of distress, which is basically, you know,

00:25:21.609 --> 00:25:23.920
if you're really in need, you know, you give

00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:27.460
these words and give this signal, then that legitimizes

00:25:27.460 --> 00:25:29.680
who you are and that you really truly need help

00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:31.279
and you're obligated to help him. Well, obviously

00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:35.960
he gave that there. And word is that that sparked

00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:38.000
the conversation of should we let him live or

00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.839
should we kill him? And from there it's like,

00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:41.779
well, he did. Because he's a fellow Mason. He

00:25:41.779 --> 00:25:43.720
is a fellow Mason, so maybe we shouldn't kill

00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:46.059
him. And then the discussion was, well, actually

00:25:46.059 --> 00:25:48.119
this would be better because we could send him

00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:50.400
back to his country defeated, letting them know

00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.869
that he is no longer. So they'd stripped him

00:25:52.869 --> 00:25:55.410
of all of his military gear and he basically

00:25:55.410 --> 00:25:57.650
left in his undergarments and went back to Mexico.

00:25:58.529 --> 00:26:01.849
Santa Ana actually died as a homeless poor man.

00:26:02.049 --> 00:26:05.930
Oh, wow. On the streets. I've always seen it

00:26:05.930 --> 00:26:08.069
kind of like a checking account from the old

00:26:08.069 --> 00:26:11.210
days of how do you know if this person from a

00:26:11.210 --> 00:26:13.890
distant land is a good person? Can I trust them?

00:26:13.970 --> 00:26:16.130
Can I trade with them? How do I know that it's

00:26:16.130 --> 00:26:18.519
a good person? If you have standards. across

00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:21.799
time across areas and that person comes to you

00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:24.839
and says presents to you hey i am also in this

00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:28.079
club i've been vetted i'm a good person you can

00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:30.079
trade with me you can do business with me nice

00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:33.019
that's kind of the shorthand of it is like tsa

00:26:33.019 --> 00:26:36.220
free check it is it it is a it's a vetting process

00:26:36.220 --> 00:26:39.779
i mean there's a qualifications to be mason But

00:26:39.779 --> 00:26:41.500
it's gone through time. It's gone through time.

00:26:41.599 --> 00:26:43.220
And if you look back at history. And it's multi

00:26:43.220 --> 00:26:46.559
-country. Yeah. There's hundreds of years of

00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:49.660
establishing this kind of rule of law, but a

00:26:49.660 --> 00:26:52.940
standard, like you said. Yeah. A standard of

00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:54.839
conduct and integrity. So in order to become

00:26:54.839 --> 00:26:57.259
a free man, you have to be promoted by somebody

00:26:57.259 --> 00:26:59.500
and introduced into it? Or is it just like, hey,

00:26:59.500 --> 00:27:01.700
I'm walking in off the street. I want to be this

00:27:01.700 --> 00:27:03.839
kind of a thing. I'll give you the basic rundown.

00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.180
First, you have to have a belief in higher power.

00:27:08.579 --> 00:27:11.420
Atheists are not qualified to be a Mason. You

00:27:11.420 --> 00:27:15.319
have to be a good man. Well, you first have to

00:27:15.319 --> 00:27:17.900
be a man, which is this old ancient thing because

00:27:17.900 --> 00:27:20.720
it goes back to, you know, the age of slave days,

00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:24.240
right? So you have to be a freeborn man. You

00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:26.559
have to be, you know, a belief in God and you

00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:31.180
have to have, you got to be a man of good rapport.

00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:34.700
So you have to be recommended. Sorry, Jeff, you're

00:27:34.700 --> 00:27:39.829
out. So keep going. I'm waiting to see if Sean

00:27:39.829 --> 00:27:44.569
and I are still candidates. Sean's way out. Never

00:27:44.569 --> 00:27:46.990
mind. Maybe I'm the last. I might be the last

00:27:46.990 --> 00:27:50.450
hope. Well, they let me in, so you guys might

00:27:50.450 --> 00:27:55.289
have a shot. Well, you know, in the 1940s was

00:27:55.289 --> 00:27:57.789
probably the golden age. You know, the 30s, 40s,

00:27:57.789 --> 00:28:02.210
50s. Anybody who was anybody was in masonry in

00:28:02.210 --> 00:28:05.079
America in those times. Of course, if you go

00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:08.259
look back through history, some of the most well

00:28:08.259 --> 00:28:12.279
-known people were a part of that. The list is

00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:16.119
long. And in the 40s, the golden age, if you

00:28:16.119 --> 00:28:18.640
want to call it that, everybody kind of knew

00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:21.299
everybody. So the vetting process was a lot easier.

00:28:22.420 --> 00:28:24.940
Somebody could vouch for somebody. You was like,

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:26.420
okay, I need to get my friend. It's time for

00:28:26.420 --> 00:28:28.420
you to get in or my son or my nephew. It was

00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:30.519
one of those things. And everybody in the lodge

00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:32.200
already was familiar with them because they were

00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:33.720
a part of their community and they knew them

00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:37.359
well. Today, it's a lot different. There's not

00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:42.039
a lot of... It's a huge... You got to look at

00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:45.200
their OnlyFans and their Instagrams. You got

00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.279
to make sure there's not one of those. How does

00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:50.180
one go to OnlyFans if you don't have an account?

00:28:51.539 --> 00:28:55.579
No judgments here, Greg. There's a master account

00:28:55.579 --> 00:28:58.859
just for you. Yeah, so it's different now. Greg

00:28:58.859 --> 00:29:02.079
has a chapter in feet. Stay out of my business,

00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:07.410
please. But yeah, now it's different. The population

00:29:07.410 --> 00:29:10.009
has dramatically grown. Oh, yeah. It's hard to

00:29:10.009 --> 00:29:14.210
keep up with a small world organization like

00:29:14.210 --> 00:29:15.829
that. Yeah. And there's a lot of other things

00:29:15.829 --> 00:29:18.210
to compete with your time now. You know, you

00:29:18.210 --> 00:29:20.609
didn't have all the pro sports on TV. You didn't

00:29:20.609 --> 00:29:22.390
have all these different things to do. I mean,

00:29:22.430 --> 00:29:24.430
Masonry is the original fraternity. They're the

00:29:24.430 --> 00:29:27.369
OG. They started fraternities. And since then.

00:29:27.970 --> 00:29:34.259
The Flintstones, you know. Barney and Fred Rupp.

00:29:34.500 --> 00:29:37.359
I'm going to the lodge, Barney. The moose head.

00:29:37.779 --> 00:29:40.980
Was that an elk head or a moose head? They were

00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:45.200
making fun of the elks. The elk lodge. Okay.

00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:48.480
But I mean, it's still, I mean, it's a reputable

00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:52.680
fraternity to be in. And what do they do? Like,

00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:55.940
what do they do? Like, charity work? Lots of

00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:59.099
charity. Yeah, there's a lot of charity work.

00:30:01.640 --> 00:30:03.539
I guess if you want to say the main thing is

00:30:03.539 --> 00:30:06.140
going to be fellowship. Right. A reason to get

00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:08.740
together and kind of iron sharpening iron. Iron

00:30:08.740 --> 00:30:11.039
sharpens iron. Every one of these guys has been

00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:14.559
well recommended. He's got a good head on his

00:30:14.559 --> 00:30:17.200
shoulders. He's taking care of his family. Here's

00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:19.220
the other thing. He wants to be a better man

00:30:19.220 --> 00:30:21.380
for his family and his community. Love it. And

00:30:21.380 --> 00:30:23.640
he's trying to improve. And that's like the common

00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:26.420
thread. And he's got a support group to do it.

00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:28.079
That's right. It kind of weaves that blanket

00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:31.160
with all of us in our different threads. When

00:30:31.160 --> 00:30:33.640
you get around other people that are in that

00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:36.019
same position, you know, it's like it adds, it

00:30:36.019 --> 00:30:38.119
motivates. You know, when I get around Craig,

00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:41.720
you know, I get motivated. And I get around some

00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:44.319
of my other Mason got buddies and I get motivated.

00:30:44.420 --> 00:30:47.819
And it's just, it is, it's that iron sharpens

00:30:47.819 --> 00:30:50.619
iron. It really is the act of it. And you really

00:30:50.619 --> 00:30:52.859
learn what that means when you feel it and see

00:30:52.859 --> 00:30:54.339
it and do it. Well, and you've got an inner circle

00:30:54.339 --> 00:30:58.359
that's modeling behavior. Exactly, yeah. Modeling

00:30:58.359 --> 00:31:00.059
opinions, modeling, you know, all that kind of

00:31:00.059 --> 00:31:02.299
how to treat people. Absolutely. And, you know,

00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:04.599
you get out of masonry what you have time or

00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:06.380
are willing to put into it. You know, there's

00:31:06.380 --> 00:31:08.339
a lot of stuff to do. There's a lot of appendant

00:31:08.339 --> 00:31:10.539
bodies within masonry. You know, you have groups

00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:12.460
like the Shriners. You know, you have to be a

00:31:12.460 --> 00:31:15.180
master mason to become a Shriner. There's the

00:31:15.180 --> 00:31:19.000
Scottish Rite, the York Rite, and, of course,

00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.799
what they call the Commandery, which is kind

00:31:21.799 --> 00:31:26.769
of an homage to the Knights Templar. um, and

00:31:26.769 --> 00:31:28.710
every one of these different organizations, you

00:31:28.710 --> 00:31:32.829
have rituals that you go through. And a part

00:31:32.829 --> 00:31:36.490
of that is so like in the, basically Freemasonry

00:31:36.490 --> 00:31:38.269
is three degrees. You have entered apprentice

00:31:38.269 --> 00:31:41.690
fellowship, fellow craft and master Mason. And

00:31:41.690 --> 00:31:44.630
you go through, you know, after you get, you

00:31:44.630 --> 00:31:46.170
have to, you know, it's old school, you get voted

00:31:46.170 --> 00:31:49.809
on. Uh, then you, you know, if the lodge approves

00:31:49.809 --> 00:31:53.869
of it, then, then you get, uh, And you've got

00:31:53.869 --> 00:31:55.750
to build a little model. You have to use a skill

00:31:55.750 --> 00:31:58.890
saw. You have to use every tool that they tell

00:31:58.890 --> 00:32:01.490
you. You have to know how to use a sander. You've

00:32:01.490 --> 00:32:03.069
got to bring your goat. Is that the Boy Scouts?

00:32:04.250 --> 00:32:08.049
It's like a compass. But seriously, there's absolutely

00:32:08.049 --> 00:32:14.019
no element of masonry. No. The zero of that.

00:32:14.099 --> 00:32:16.220
No, but like the tools. So, you know, you've

00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:18.420
got a plumb square and a level, a gavel, you

00:32:18.420 --> 00:32:20.720
know, all of these, the 24 -inch gauge that they

00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:23.279
would use to measure. Yeah. All of these tools

00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:26.200
Mason uses as symbols to remind you of something.

00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:29.579
Sure. You know, like, and this information, like

00:32:29.579 --> 00:32:31.579
this isn't secret stuff. You can find it online.

00:32:32.299 --> 00:32:35.460
Yeah, but originally they were builders. From

00:32:35.460 --> 00:32:39.059
the Templars and they kind of dispersed and that's

00:32:39.059 --> 00:32:40.859
what they did. Yeah, it was operative and it

00:32:40.859 --> 00:32:43.099
became fellow. So how did that trade kind of

00:32:43.099 --> 00:32:47.539
lose its magic as it became older into symbols?

00:32:48.140 --> 00:32:50.680
Well, why not branch into other areas? Like if

00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:53.640
you're George Washington and you want to survey

00:32:53.640 --> 00:32:58.839
the frontier, you don't want to build a stone

00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:02.799
fort while you're finding Pittsburgh at the confluence

00:33:02.799 --> 00:33:05.809
of the rivers. They're spread thin. Yes. Yeah.

00:33:06.230 --> 00:33:09.390
You know, again, I'm not a Mason, but the thing

00:33:09.390 --> 00:33:11.190
I always found interesting about it is that there

00:33:11.190 --> 00:33:14.069
is so much suspicion about it. I don't think

00:33:14.069 --> 00:33:16.049
I've ever told you. My grandfather did not like

00:33:16.049 --> 00:33:17.589
the Masons because he was like, well, they do

00:33:17.589 --> 00:33:22.529
a whole business together. They worship Lucifer

00:33:22.529 --> 00:33:24.210
and all this kind of thing. And I'm like, he

00:33:24.210 --> 00:33:29.079
was a hardcore Southern Baptist. Anytime you're

00:33:29.079 --> 00:33:32.940
outside of a organization that has secrets, not

00:33:32.940 --> 00:33:35.799
a secret organization, it's always odd looking.

00:33:35.960 --> 00:33:38.400
My personality is one that's like, then why not

00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:41.849
join them? Why not try to understand? Yeah, exactly.

00:33:42.170 --> 00:33:44.349
Don't base your opinion on ignorance. Yeah, exactly.

00:33:44.549 --> 00:33:46.769
Just, just go figure it out. But, uh, you know,

00:33:46.789 --> 00:33:48.470
you, you get to know a few of them and you're

00:33:48.470 --> 00:33:50.250
like, okay, these guys are arguing what we're

00:33:50.250 --> 00:33:52.009
going to have for lunch next Sunday. I mean,

00:33:52.029 --> 00:33:54.250
they're not taking over the world anytime soon.

00:33:54.809 --> 00:33:58.170
So, you know, I mean, at least that's been my

00:33:58.170 --> 00:34:01.730
experience. Yeah, exactly. You know, Masons have

00:34:01.730 --> 00:34:05.509
always taken some pride in stirring the pot of

00:34:05.509 --> 00:34:07.950
conspiracy. Sure. Yeah. That's part of what you're,

00:34:08.269 --> 00:34:11.409
what you're told after your masturbation degree

00:34:11.409 --> 00:34:14.550
is to not argue with the conspiracy theorists.

00:34:15.409 --> 00:34:18.070
Don't respond to them. Let them do their thing.

00:34:18.389 --> 00:34:20.170
And that goes, I mean, the Catholic Church did

00:34:20.170 --> 00:34:23.510
that. Going back to the papal acquisitions, they

00:34:23.510 --> 00:34:26.969
forever were against the Knights Templar. And

00:34:26.969 --> 00:34:28.909
then when the Masons came around, they were forever

00:34:28.909 --> 00:34:32.150
against, to this day, against Masonry. And that's

00:34:32.150 --> 00:34:35.329
part of why there were secrets, if you want to

00:34:35.329 --> 00:34:38.500
call them that. What the degree the rituals are

00:34:38.500 --> 00:34:42.139
about and all the catechisms of that, uh, of

00:34:42.139 --> 00:34:45.500
the esoteric side, that's all secret. But, you

00:34:45.500 --> 00:34:47.380
know, if I'm going to talk about, you know, what

00:34:47.380 --> 00:34:49.019
we do in lodge and what we're doing, that's all

00:34:49.019 --> 00:34:50.860
wide open. I mean, these buildings are all over

00:34:50.860 --> 00:34:53.219
the, all over the world and the signs are out

00:34:53.219 --> 00:34:55.340
front. Symbols here and there, just like, uh,

00:34:55.380 --> 00:34:58.340
whatever you, you said it earlier, Nicholas treasure.

00:34:58.639 --> 00:35:01.079
So, so you say that the, the Catholic church

00:35:01.079 --> 00:35:03.340
is against the Masons like they were the Templar,

00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:07.929
uh, as a Catholic, are there Catholics within

00:35:07.929 --> 00:35:11.230
the Masons? A lot. Yeah, there's a lot. So how

00:35:11.230 --> 00:35:13.510
does that dichotomy, how does that... How do

00:35:13.510 --> 00:35:15.610
they weigh that against? Don't the Catholics

00:35:15.610 --> 00:35:17.610
have their own organization? Yeah, they have

00:35:17.610 --> 00:35:19.369
the Knights of Columbus. Knights of Columbus,

00:35:19.510 --> 00:35:21.369
there you go. Yeah, with the hats. Those hats

00:35:21.369 --> 00:35:23.210
are pretty. I've got to admit, I would join just

00:35:23.210 --> 00:35:26.130
for the hat. That's the commander. Mason hats

00:35:26.130 --> 00:35:28.989
suck, right? Yeah. What's going on? The commander

00:35:28.989 --> 00:35:31.389
has basically the same uniform, same hat, same

00:35:31.389 --> 00:35:34.389
kind of a thing. The shriners get the cars. Oh,

00:35:34.389 --> 00:35:35.869
that's true. That's what I want. Oh, no, yeah,

00:35:35.989 --> 00:35:37.869
that makes it worth it. Now, the shriners are

00:35:37.869 --> 00:35:40.070
great. Let's focus on what's important. It's

00:35:40.070 --> 00:35:45.420
the hats. The go -karts. Has anybody ever talked

00:35:45.420 --> 00:35:47.179
to the Shriners about monster truck go -karts?

00:35:47.219 --> 00:35:50.139
I think it's an option. Yeah, well, they do NASCAR.

00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:53.460
They sponsor a car with NASCAR, and they do,

00:35:53.500 --> 00:35:56.760
what is it, the Pro Bowl for college? Okay. They

00:35:56.760 --> 00:36:00.179
sponsor that, too. They're pretty heavy. Shriners

00:36:00.179 --> 00:36:04.920
are, I'm a Shriner, and that organization was.

00:36:05.469 --> 00:36:07.190
really kind of found it to be the playground

00:36:07.190 --> 00:36:09.849
of masonry. They could, outside of lodge, get

00:36:09.849 --> 00:36:11.889
together and fellowship, have events and fun.

00:36:12.010 --> 00:36:14.110
So they're always throwing parties and events,

00:36:14.269 --> 00:36:15.909
and they raise money. But it's not directly affiliated?

00:36:16.050 --> 00:36:19.710
It's not officially affiliated with? It's called

00:36:19.710 --> 00:36:22.119
an independent body. There's a requirement for

00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:24.760
Shriners that you have to be a Master Mason in

00:36:24.760 --> 00:36:26.340
good standing. Oh, okay. So it is an extension

00:36:26.340 --> 00:36:28.000
of the Mason. It is. Yeah, it's an extension.

00:36:28.019 --> 00:36:30.719
And the Shriners, their philanthropy is the Shriner

00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:34.199
hospitals. And those are some of the greatest

00:36:34.199 --> 00:36:37.179
hospitals for crippled and burned children there

00:36:37.179 --> 00:36:39.619
are in the country. In the world. I mean, we

00:36:39.619 --> 00:36:42.039
fly in people from all over the world, children

00:36:42.039 --> 00:36:46.190
that have been. severely burned and get them

00:36:46.190 --> 00:36:47.489
into these hospitals and take care of them. You

00:36:47.489 --> 00:36:49.010
know, Masons have been funding this since they

00:36:49.010 --> 00:36:50.750
were founded. And then the Scottish Rite does

00:36:50.750 --> 00:36:52.409
the same thing. They've got the hospital that's

00:36:52.409 --> 00:36:55.489
here in Dallas. Right here in Frisco. Yeah, the

00:36:55.489 --> 00:36:58.010
youth orthopedics hospital. Right up until the

00:36:58.010 --> 00:37:01.869
way in Lebanon. They just had their 100th anniversary

00:37:01.869 --> 00:37:04.429
a few years ago of the Scottish Rite Hospital.

00:37:04.849 --> 00:37:08.050
And that's been completely funded by Masons since

00:37:08.050 --> 00:37:11.070
its opening. Now they take insurance, but Masons,

00:37:11.070 --> 00:37:13.690
we still raise money to fund it. Same thing with

00:37:13.690 --> 00:37:16.190
the hospitals. Take donations, take some insurance,

00:37:16.309 --> 00:37:18.670
of course, to subsidize the cost. But these two

00:37:18.670 --> 00:37:20.550
organizations are leading in their field. Like

00:37:20.550 --> 00:37:23.889
Scottish Rite leads the world in pediatric orthopedics.

00:37:23.889 --> 00:37:26.090
This isn't just a hospital. This is actually

00:37:26.090 --> 00:37:29.250
a great research and development group as well.

00:37:29.429 --> 00:37:31.590
And they're leading the world with it. So these

00:37:31.590 --> 00:37:35.690
hospitals are doing some amazing things for communities

00:37:35.690 --> 00:37:38.449
everywhere. And it's really exciting to be a

00:37:38.449 --> 00:37:39.869
part of that. I love those two hostels. Do the

00:37:39.869 --> 00:37:42.329
doctors and the staff have to be a part of the

00:37:42.329 --> 00:37:46.369
Scottish Rite or the Masons? No, no, no. Hiring

00:37:46.369 --> 00:37:48.349
the best. So looking for the best in the field

00:37:48.349 --> 00:37:51.929
and bring them in. Do they pay market price?

00:37:53.050 --> 00:37:54.969
You know, I don't work in HR to give that kind

00:37:54.969 --> 00:37:57.550
of an answer. That's a tough one. It seems like

00:37:57.550 --> 00:37:59.349
a fair question because if it's coming out of

00:37:59.349 --> 00:38:01.809
the pockets, I mean, these professionals aren't.

00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:04.440
It's not, it's not, they're, they're not there

00:38:04.440 --> 00:38:06.840
for charity. No. So no, they're certainly getting

00:38:06.840 --> 00:38:09.239
paid well. And they certainly want the best.

00:38:09.380 --> 00:38:11.659
They're bringing in the best. So I mean, they're

00:38:11.659 --> 00:38:13.739
getting, they're getting commensurate wages for

00:38:13.739 --> 00:38:16.619
their skillset. And, uh, you know, there's some

00:38:16.619 --> 00:38:19.599
subsidized volunteers. There's a lot of candy

00:38:19.599 --> 00:38:20.900
strippers, if you want to call them at those

00:38:20.900 --> 00:38:23.739
hospitals. Um, I I've spent time doing it myself.

00:38:24.039 --> 00:38:26.619
Um, I'd encourage anybody, if you've got the

00:38:26.619 --> 00:38:28.699
chance to go visit one of those or volunteer

00:38:28.699 --> 00:38:31.519
some time, it's really a great place. The Scottish

00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:33.880
Rite Hospital doesn't even look like a hospital

00:38:33.880 --> 00:38:36.579
on the inside. It looks more like a school or

00:38:36.579 --> 00:38:38.360
a daycare. They designed it that way to make

00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:40.119
it more of a comfortable, homey environment for

00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:43.500
these kids. That's awesome. Fascinating stuff,

00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:46.099
man. Yeah, so they're raising money, doing stuff.

00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:51.119
I like it. I like to learn whatever I'm doing.

00:38:51.300 --> 00:38:54.250
We don't know here. But Masons have been a part

00:38:54.250 --> 00:38:56.090
of more than just that. You know, they founded

00:38:56.090 --> 00:38:58.789
education in Texas. I mean, every schoolhouse

00:38:58.789 --> 00:39:01.949
was built by Masons and they built their lodge

00:39:01.949 --> 00:39:05.530
in Texas to be a schoolhouse with school on the

00:39:05.530 --> 00:39:08.449
first floor and lodge on the second floor. And

00:39:08.449 --> 00:39:10.690
the lodge paid for the teacher salaries and,

00:39:10.690 --> 00:39:13.530
you know, all the supplies they needed until

00:39:13.530 --> 00:39:15.550
they eventually turned it over to the state.

00:39:16.190 --> 00:39:18.329
And then the state took over the education system.

00:39:18.469 --> 00:39:21.929
And that went well. Yeah, look at us today. Yeah.

00:39:22.010 --> 00:39:25.329
Time to take it back. So lodges do a lot of fundraising

00:39:25.329 --> 00:39:27.989
and give away a lot of scholarships. That's one

00:39:27.989 --> 00:39:31.190
of the biggest things that they do. Well, I think

00:39:31.190 --> 00:39:32.730
there's a lot of, I don't think it's misinformation,

00:39:32.889 --> 00:39:34.869
but just missing information, because I had no

00:39:34.869 --> 00:39:36.610
idea that Scottish Rite was part of the Masons

00:39:36.610 --> 00:39:39.250
at all. I've heard of Scottish Rite my entire

00:39:39.250 --> 00:39:41.690
life, and the Shriners. I didn't know that was

00:39:41.690 --> 00:39:45.500
part of the Masons at all. The good work that

00:39:45.500 --> 00:39:47.300
they're doing. And it seems like they're not

00:39:47.300 --> 00:39:50.679
all about touting the publicity of it. They're

00:39:50.679 --> 00:39:52.280
just kind of behind the scenes, want to do their

00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:55.079
thing, want to give back, want a fellowship of

00:39:55.079 --> 00:39:56.820
men. They're not all about tooting their horn.

00:39:56.820 --> 00:40:00.139
He was talking about the heyday of the Masons,

00:40:00.139 --> 00:40:03.639
which was 1940s, 50s, even into the 60s. And

00:40:03.639 --> 00:40:06.179
for whatever reason, the boomers really didn't

00:40:06.179 --> 00:40:10.679
join, nor did Gen X. Masons aren't allowed to

00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:12.800
try and sell people on it. Like, you need to

00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:14.960
come and all this kind of thing. They don't publicize

00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:16.900
any of it. Yeah, because we don't recruit. That's

00:40:16.900 --> 00:40:19.079
kind of a thing. No, I like that. It's the hardest

00:40:19.079 --> 00:40:21.699
way to grow an organization. You have to be curious

00:40:21.699 --> 00:40:24.760
and all this kind of thing. It's kind of odd,

00:40:24.900 --> 00:40:27.780
yeah. Yeah, now masonry needs to be creative

00:40:27.780 --> 00:40:31.079
to keep people coming in besides the folklore.

00:40:32.059 --> 00:40:36.139
So in Texas, while we still can't actively go

00:40:36.139 --> 00:40:38.199
out and recruit, I can certainly sit in a...

00:40:38.409 --> 00:40:40.869
room like this and get to know the guys that

00:40:40.869 --> 00:40:42.210
I'm sitting with and say, you know what, are

00:40:42.210 --> 00:40:45.510
you a Mason? No. I could say, man, I bet you

00:40:45.510 --> 00:40:47.789
would make a good one. Right. And just spark

00:40:47.789 --> 00:40:49.829
the curiosity. Yeah. And then if you had some

00:40:49.829 --> 00:40:52.070
questions, I'd certainly be excited to answer

00:40:52.070 --> 00:40:55.429
them and invite you. And like you said, every

00:40:55.429 --> 00:40:59.409
man needs that. Yeah. Every man needs that. They

00:40:59.409 --> 00:41:02.289
need fellowship. They need, you know, to belong

00:41:02.289 --> 00:41:04.599
to something. That's where a lot of the problems

00:41:04.599 --> 00:41:06.780
are right now. I mean, there's guys that aren't

00:41:06.780 --> 00:41:08.940
given direction because there are fathers out

00:41:08.940 --> 00:41:13.440
there that are not paving the way. They aren't

00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:15.900
a representation of what a man should be. You

00:41:15.900 --> 00:41:18.840
know, it's just society. Such as that, but there's

00:41:18.840 --> 00:41:21.519
a lot of fatherless families out there. That

00:41:21.519 --> 00:41:23.800
and it's just, you know, we're being stretched

00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:26.699
across the board working. I mean, there was a

00:41:26.699 --> 00:41:28.679
time where the dad was working and the mom was

00:41:28.679 --> 00:41:30.380
at home and now you need two parents that are

00:41:30.380 --> 00:41:33.519
working. And it's like, Your children are left

00:41:33.519 --> 00:41:36.340
alone, and now you have these devices that are

00:41:36.340 --> 00:41:38.980
now parenting your kids. Time sucks, yeah. And

00:41:38.980 --> 00:41:41.320
the teachers are parenting your kids and teaching

00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:43.159
them stuff that I don't think is inappropriate.

00:41:43.159 --> 00:41:46.099
So Greg and I have talked extensively about intentional

00:41:46.099 --> 00:41:47.579
fatherhood. This is something I'm passionate

00:41:47.579 --> 00:41:49.179
about. This is something Greg's passionate about.

00:41:49.820 --> 00:41:54.260
So gifts for all of you, but we came up with

00:41:54.260 --> 00:41:56.239
Dinnercation. Grab one of those, man. And what

00:41:56.239 --> 00:42:00.699
this is, you can go to dinnercation .com. These

00:42:00.699 --> 00:42:04.059
are placemats. And they have different subject

00:42:04.059 --> 00:42:06.519
matters on them. So you have finance, you have

00:42:06.519 --> 00:42:10.099
life, you have business. And what this is, is

00:42:10.099 --> 00:42:14.500
that like my dad, I love him, but he really didn't

00:42:14.500 --> 00:42:16.320
give me a lot of direction in life. Just kind

00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:19.420
of had to figure it out. And if you're waiting

00:42:19.420 --> 00:42:21.260
for your kid to get home from school and just,

00:42:21.300 --> 00:42:23.760
how was your day, Johnny? They're not going to

00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:27.300
figure out life. In the past, we lived on farms.

00:42:28.179 --> 00:42:31.440
Our, you know, our fathers were dentists and

00:42:31.440 --> 00:42:33.480
you'd go to work with them. We don't have that

00:42:33.480 --> 00:42:35.599
anymore. We don't work with our sons anymore.

00:42:35.679 --> 00:42:37.519
We don't work with our daughters anymore. And

00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:40.119
so what these are are talking points. So, you

00:42:40.119 --> 00:42:41.940
know, you can't just go to your child and say,

00:42:42.059 --> 00:42:45.860
OK, you need to save for retirement or how do

00:42:45.860 --> 00:42:49.719
they know how to finance? When they get their

00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:51.820
paycheck, how much should go to rent and utilities?

00:42:52.099 --> 00:42:54.159
How much should go to food and clothing? How

00:42:54.159 --> 00:42:56.920
much should go to their retirement? And that's

00:42:56.920 --> 00:42:59.099
what each of these are. There's 22 points on

00:42:59.099 --> 00:43:02.099
each of them. And like the 50 -30 -20, that's

00:43:02.099 --> 00:43:06.880
50 % goes towards your rent or mortgage and utilities

00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:10.260
and that kind of thing for your home. 30 % should

00:43:10.260 --> 00:43:12.659
go towards food, entertainment, what have you.

00:43:12.699 --> 00:43:17.769
20 % towards retirement. As we all know with

00:43:17.769 --> 00:43:21.929
investing, if you have a rate, you have time

00:43:21.929 --> 00:43:24.050
and you have principle, the most important of

00:43:24.050 --> 00:43:27.030
those three things is the time. And so you got

00:43:27.030 --> 00:43:29.670
to start young because that compounding, by the

00:43:29.670 --> 00:43:31.789
time they get ready for retirement, if they start,

00:43:31.809 --> 00:43:33.849
if you start retirement planning when you're

00:43:33.849 --> 00:43:36.690
50, it better be, yeah, it better be lottery

00:43:36.690 --> 00:43:38.429
tickets. Yeah. But if you start when you're 19.

00:43:38.570 --> 00:43:41.130
Oh my God. Yeah. No, you're dude. You got a huge

00:43:41.130 --> 00:43:44.130
NASDAQ. Yeah. And it's like that on all of them.

00:43:44.150 --> 00:43:47.760
It's. How do I choose the right spouse? What

00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:50.079
am I looking for in a husband and a wife? What

00:43:50.079 --> 00:43:52.780
am I looking for in my friends? How do I start

00:43:52.780 --> 00:43:56.179
a business? Uh, those kinds of things. And they're

00:43:56.179 --> 00:43:57.940
just talking points. It's not, nobody wants to

00:43:57.940 --> 00:44:01.239
be lectured to nobody, you know, nobody wants

00:44:01.239 --> 00:44:04.320
to be preached at, but a little five minute talk

00:44:04.320 --> 00:44:07.420
once a week with your kid between the ages of

00:44:07.420 --> 00:44:10.599
like seven to 12, it's just, it's foundational

00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:13.400
and it'll, it'll. Carry them for the rest of

00:44:13.400 --> 00:44:15.400
their life. And then there's other things, you

00:44:15.400 --> 00:44:20.480
know, like I happen to be the descendant of Major

00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:23.980
Jonathan Tipton, who was a fighter in the Battle

00:44:23.980 --> 00:44:27.699
of Kings Mountain, which is a Revolutionary War

00:44:27.699 --> 00:44:30.260
battle. And it was the turn of the Revolutionary

00:44:30.260 --> 00:44:33.960
War. Now, all of us, and this is what I find

00:44:33.960 --> 00:44:36.900
so interesting, all of us have interesting, heroic

00:44:36.900 --> 00:44:39.639
people in our families. That we probably don't

00:44:39.639 --> 00:44:41.219
know about. We weren't taught about or anything

00:44:41.219 --> 00:44:44.059
like that. Right. If you look at a Roman family

00:44:44.059 --> 00:44:47.280
from way back in the day, in their entryway,

00:44:47.320 --> 00:44:50.519
in their foyer, they had death masks of all of

00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:52.860
their elders that came before them. And they

00:44:52.860 --> 00:44:56.099
would say, this man was a senator. This man fought

00:44:56.099 --> 00:44:58.960
the Gauls. This man. And their children would

00:44:58.960 --> 00:45:01.559
wear these and enact plays. They knew their family

00:45:01.559 --> 00:45:04.599
history. And they would honor them and cherish

00:45:04.599 --> 00:45:07.960
them and be proud of their name and their lineage.

00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:11.360
Now it's like, well, you know, I met grandpa

00:45:11.360 --> 00:45:14.539
and I heard something about great grandpa. I'm

00:45:14.539 --> 00:45:17.079
from nobody. I am nobody. Exactly. It's kind

00:45:17.079 --> 00:45:19.219
of how they feel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know,

00:45:19.239 --> 00:45:22.880
I want a large presentation to kind of instill

00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:26.119
that. And I think more men should do that with

00:45:26.119 --> 00:45:29.340
their children of our history didn't start 50

00:45:29.340 --> 00:45:32.239
years ago. No. We've been working at this. We've

00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:34.280
been pushing this rock up this hill for a long

00:45:34.280 --> 00:45:36.239
time. How are we going to carry this on? How

00:45:36.239 --> 00:45:38.760
am I going to pass this on to you? How do you

00:45:38.760 --> 00:45:41.480
choose the right friends so that you, you know.

00:45:41.880 --> 00:45:43.980
It's not lost on me that it's a placemat either.

00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:46.800
Yeah. Because we talk about families that eat

00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:49.099
together, stay together. Amen. And we don't do

00:45:49.099 --> 00:45:51.840
that anymore. No. That's a lost thing. Like I'm

00:45:51.840 --> 00:45:55.420
saying, this is part of the way we are now. I

00:45:55.420 --> 00:45:58.099
mean, they are taking the family structure away.

00:45:58.590 --> 00:46:03.190
I mean, they're at least not endorsing the importance

00:46:03.190 --> 00:46:05.369
of families. No, in fact, they're incentivizing

00:46:05.369 --> 00:46:08.050
the other way. There's financial incentives for

00:46:08.050 --> 00:46:12.190
single mothers. And I feel that, and this could

00:46:12.190 --> 00:46:15.269
be backed up with data, that we're in a crisis

00:46:15.269 --> 00:46:18.190
of fatherless children across this country that

00:46:18.190 --> 00:46:21.329
don't have a father around. Or if they do, he's

00:46:21.329 --> 00:46:24.090
not intentional. He's not involved at all. And

00:46:24.090 --> 00:46:27.159
we can look at the data. To support that. I mean,

00:46:27.179 --> 00:46:29.460
take a look at the men that are in prison. How

00:46:29.460 --> 00:46:32.659
many of them have father issues? Not one around

00:46:32.659 --> 00:46:34.719
or one that was a criminal as well. And that

00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:37.400
number has been has been tracked. And that's

00:46:37.400 --> 00:46:39.920
like over 80 percent. And partially not to no

00:46:39.920 --> 00:46:42.739
fault of their own. Yeah. They came from a pattern

00:46:42.739 --> 00:46:47.039
of. Yeah. They learned from culture. They learned

00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:49.139
from there. We have to turn this around as a

00:46:49.139 --> 00:46:52.659
society. And I think the starting point is creating

00:46:52.659 --> 00:46:55.409
better men. And I think through that, you get

00:46:55.409 --> 00:46:57.789
better women and you get a better society. And

00:46:57.789 --> 00:47:00.369
I don't know. I was encouraged in this last election.

00:47:00.510 --> 00:47:02.449
I think people are finally connecting the dots

00:47:02.449 --> 00:47:07.269
of, oh, what I've been sold doesn't work. So

00:47:07.269 --> 00:47:12.110
my wife is center left politically, and all of

00:47:12.110 --> 00:47:13.510
her friends are saying the same thing. A lot

00:47:13.510 --> 00:47:17.280
of them are in their 40s. No children, no prospect

00:47:17.280 --> 00:47:19.780
for a... They're like, we were bamboozled kind

00:47:19.780 --> 00:47:22.400
of a thing. Are they realizing it? 100%. Yeah.

00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:24.440
And they're all saying that. And, you know, it's

00:47:24.440 --> 00:47:26.760
quietly. It's not... They're marching on downtown

00:47:26.760 --> 00:47:29.800
with it. But it's... Sure. We're connecting these

00:47:29.800 --> 00:47:34.000
dots that this doesn't work. And we have the

00:47:34.000 --> 00:47:36.659
history to know what does work for a family to

00:47:36.659 --> 00:47:39.739
make us all happy. Well, I think when the whole

00:47:39.739 --> 00:47:42.800
Black Lives Matter, the BLM, wasn't their doctrine.

00:47:43.559 --> 00:47:45.460
Part of their doctrine was to do away with the

00:47:45.460 --> 00:47:49.039
nuclear family, was to try to tear that apart.

00:47:49.719 --> 00:47:52.659
They scrubbed that from their website, but it

00:47:52.659 --> 00:47:55.239
was on there at one point. It's very Marxist

00:47:55.239 --> 00:47:58.800
in its core. It's Marxist in its core, and that's

00:47:58.800 --> 00:48:01.860
bled into education. Our educational system has

00:48:01.860 --> 00:48:03.840
been very much dubbed down. We've taken away

00:48:03.840 --> 00:48:06.699
the classical education. You've got teachers

00:48:06.699 --> 00:48:09.900
hanging up gay pride flags. Yeah, and it's spilled

00:48:09.900 --> 00:48:12.260
into the universities, and it's grown from there.

00:48:13.079 --> 00:48:15.619
We have to turn this tide. Our national education

00:48:15.619 --> 00:48:18.880
system really took a big turn with that. I mean,

00:48:18.900 --> 00:48:20.920
it was founded by Horace Mann, but what it turned

00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:24.159
into was where we are today, which is a modern

00:48:24.159 --> 00:48:26.840
source of education, which is based on standardized

00:48:26.840 --> 00:48:29.960
testing. And so all of our kids are being taught

00:48:29.960 --> 00:48:33.039
basically to memorize. You make a good grade,

00:48:33.199 --> 00:48:35.480
you're great. To a really low bar. Yeah. You

00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:37.539
make a good grade, you're valuable. You make

00:48:37.539 --> 00:48:39.760
a bad grade, you're bad. You're invaluable. And

00:48:39.760 --> 00:48:42.460
that sets the stage of your value comes from

00:48:42.460 --> 00:48:44.559
authority and not from within. Well, and they're

00:48:44.559 --> 00:48:46.460
pushing them through the education system, even

00:48:46.460 --> 00:48:48.000
if they're not passing. If they're not tuning

00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:50.599
in their work, they still give them a 50%. I'm

00:48:50.599 --> 00:48:53.699
like, no. That's the no child left behind thing.

00:48:53.699 --> 00:48:55.780
And the class moves on. It's so dumb. And it

00:48:55.780 --> 00:48:59.400
had a noble purpose, but it... Like all other

00:48:59.400 --> 00:49:01.780
types of legislation, it backfires. Yeah, I've

00:49:01.780 --> 00:49:04.280
had some serious problems with our local school

00:49:04.280 --> 00:49:07.119
here on how they prepare our children because

00:49:07.119 --> 00:49:09.340
I had two boys go through the system. All our

00:49:09.340 --> 00:49:11.980
kids went through the system. My oldest went

00:49:11.980 --> 00:49:15.079
off to college and was wholly unprepared for

00:49:15.079 --> 00:49:17.760
it. For one thing, the school district here does

00:49:17.760 --> 00:49:21.860
not give any kind of final test. They don't prepare

00:49:21.860 --> 00:49:27.389
you on how to take an exam, how to... You know,

00:49:27.389 --> 00:49:29.170
learn from the beginning to the end and then

00:49:29.170 --> 00:49:31.090
have to go back to the beginning and recall all

00:49:31.090 --> 00:49:34.349
of that. Right. So we started here and we worked

00:49:34.349 --> 00:49:37.269
our way here and they don't have that. And, you

00:49:37.269 --> 00:49:39.210
know, I think the school today, I'm not saying

00:49:39.210 --> 00:49:41.789
the classes are easy, but I think the whole program

00:49:41.789 --> 00:49:44.929
is easier than it once was. Sure. They get early

00:49:44.929 --> 00:49:46.969
release. They can, you know, the seniors can

00:49:46.969 --> 00:49:51.139
have half a day. Screw that. They get out. The

00:49:51.139 --> 00:49:53.380
grades are turned in three weeks early before

00:49:53.380 --> 00:49:55.760
graduation, which doesn't incentive to do anything

00:49:55.760 --> 00:49:58.860
at that point. There's no final, like I said.

00:49:58.940 --> 00:50:02.920
I think that's detrimental to the kids. My oldest

00:50:02.920 --> 00:50:05.940
felt it. He had to learn on the flight. He called

00:50:05.940 --> 00:50:08.519
me his freshman year going, Dad, they want me

00:50:08.519 --> 00:50:11.119
to learn or take a test on everything we had.

00:50:11.550 --> 00:50:13.769
this quarter. He actually called me and asked

00:50:13.769 --> 00:50:16.969
me that. Is that allowed? Can they do that? I

00:50:16.969 --> 00:50:18.610
was like, yeah, it's called a final. That's what

00:50:18.610 --> 00:50:21.329
I was bitching about all those years. Think about

00:50:21.329 --> 00:50:25.349
it. They coasted into college. Their edge wasn't

00:50:25.349 --> 00:50:29.570
sharp. Their expectations were low. They're not

00:50:29.570 --> 00:50:32.349
resilient anyway. This generation is the furthest

00:50:32.349 --> 00:50:35.849
thing from resilient in terms of dig deep. Fight

00:50:35.849 --> 00:50:38.539
through it. Well, to your point, that's exactly

00:50:38.539 --> 00:50:41.940
the broad stroke of it is that they teach to

00:50:41.940 --> 00:50:44.679
memorization and they don't teach to learn. So

00:50:44.679 --> 00:50:47.699
you memorize it, you regurgitate it, you get

00:50:47.699 --> 00:50:51.199
a good grade, you're valuable. If you get a bad

00:50:51.199 --> 00:50:52.920
grade, you're not. And the class moves right

00:50:52.920 --> 00:50:56.059
on. So internally, they're learning their self

00:50:56.059 --> 00:50:59.179
-worth comes from authority. And that comes from

00:50:59.179 --> 00:51:02.599
Marxism. And they're not learning subject matter

00:51:02.599 --> 00:51:05.199
along the way. They're starting even history.

00:51:05.260 --> 00:51:07.559
They're starting at the later point, the founding

00:51:07.559 --> 00:51:09.480
of America. They're not going back and teaching

00:51:09.480 --> 00:51:12.800
ancient history, Asian, African, Europe, building

00:51:12.800 --> 00:51:14.940
up the context to get to where they are. They're

00:51:14.940 --> 00:51:18.239
going straight to this point. And then this becomes

00:51:18.239 --> 00:51:21.349
a lesson of oppressor versus oppressed. And that's

00:51:21.349 --> 00:51:23.570
the mind frame that you get coming out of the

00:51:23.570 --> 00:51:27.809
public education system. Even objectively, like

00:51:27.809 --> 00:51:30.949
you watch the Ken Burns series about the Civil

00:51:30.949 --> 00:51:33.489
War, and he's reading private's letters back

00:51:33.489 --> 00:51:38.469
home. Eloquent, deep emotion. The kid couldn't

00:51:38.469 --> 00:51:40.650
write that today. In fact, this is some years

00:51:40.650 --> 00:51:46.309
ago, but I went and saw the Daniel Day -Lewis

00:51:46.309 --> 00:51:49.489
Lincoln movie. And I was coming out and there

00:51:49.489 --> 00:51:51.210
was a family in front of me, a couple of teenage

00:51:51.210 --> 00:51:54.369
kids. And one kid said to the other, I have no

00:51:54.369 --> 00:51:58.030
idea what he was saying. And this was, you know,

00:51:58.050 --> 00:52:00.929
Gravine, Texas. It was in English. But they just.

00:52:01.110 --> 00:52:02.789
And they're like, oh, my God, it was so stupid

00:52:02.789 --> 00:52:06.869
and boring. They just were losing. And we keep

00:52:06.869 --> 00:52:09.250
trying to dumb things down to keep people feeling

00:52:09.250 --> 00:52:11.969
comfortable. And it's like, no, it's, you know,

00:52:12.010 --> 00:52:14.630
you don't get in shape by, well, let's make you

00:52:14.630 --> 00:52:16.969
comfortable on the couch. No, go to the gym.

00:52:17.440 --> 00:52:19.940
Well, I think I saw a stat or I heard it on one

00:52:19.940 --> 00:52:21.280
of the news programs, and you may want to pull

00:52:21.280 --> 00:52:23.760
this up, Chuck, is I think the national average

00:52:23.760 --> 00:52:30.659
of students that can read is under 50%, or it's

00:52:30.659 --> 00:52:34.280
very close to that. I think people that are proficient

00:52:34.280 --> 00:52:39.400
in math is really low as well. And I was extremely

00:52:39.400 --> 00:52:44.480
surprised at this. So proficient level, 30 %

00:52:44.480 --> 00:52:47.900
of eighth graders in reading. That was last year.

00:52:48.059 --> 00:52:51.300
I think this is by design. Yeah, I'm afraid it

00:52:51.300 --> 00:52:52.780
is. Of course. That's what I'm worried about.

00:52:52.780 --> 00:52:55.059
They're not all that interested in self -thinking,

00:52:55.320 --> 00:53:00.079
you know, assertive, ambitious people. At what

00:53:00.079 --> 00:53:03.699
point do the parents storm their local ISD and

00:53:03.699 --> 00:53:06.099
say, hey, we're not taking this off you guys.

00:53:06.139 --> 00:53:07.239
You guys need to change the curriculum. And then

00:53:07.239 --> 00:53:09.340
you get labeled as a terrorist. Yeah, no. Well,

00:53:09.420 --> 00:53:11.900
that's what happened under the last administration.

00:53:12.119 --> 00:53:15.059
Yeah, no, it did. This is all the blueprint of

00:53:15.059 --> 00:53:20.570
the... Karl Marx and his theory. Divide the family.

00:53:20.829 --> 00:53:25.030
The family is a threat. Dumb down the people.

00:53:25.210 --> 00:53:28.909
Keep them down. Take control by force. And make

00:53:28.909 --> 00:53:35.349
them part of the machinery. Everybody play your

00:53:35.349 --> 00:53:37.969
part and shut up. I want to back up a little

00:53:37.969 --> 00:53:41.989
bit. Greg, what is the organization you're referring

00:53:41.989 --> 00:53:44.849
to? What you guys want to do? You have spoke

00:53:44.849 --> 00:53:46.349
with the, did you guys want to set up? Well,

00:53:46.349 --> 00:53:48.269
you called it intentional fatherhood. Yeah. Is

00:53:48.269 --> 00:53:50.690
that? Is that? I would say an organization, more

00:53:50.690 --> 00:53:53.070
along the lines of just a general movement in

00:53:53.070 --> 00:53:55.150
America that we desperately need. Trying to spread

00:53:55.150 --> 00:53:58.110
the good word. Just talking about it. It's about

00:53:58.110 --> 00:53:59.130
involvement. Because we need to all be talking

00:53:59.130 --> 00:54:02.190
about it. We haven't slapped a label on it yet.

00:54:02.789 --> 00:54:05.329
But the spirit of it is what we're talking about.

00:54:05.349 --> 00:54:08.170
Because we do have a label right here. The dinnercation,

00:54:08.570 --> 00:54:11.530
the explaining elegant aphorisms. You said this

00:54:11.530 --> 00:54:14.010
is available on dinnercation .com? Yes, sir.

00:54:14.150 --> 00:54:17.159
So look for those listeners. Those listeners

00:54:17.159 --> 00:54:19.119
out there that are listening to this. So if you've

00:54:19.119 --> 00:54:22.440
got kids or you've got grandkids or if you just

00:54:22.440 --> 00:54:25.400
want it because you want to have a wonderful

00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:29.559
vocabulary of aphorisms, this is great. Matt

00:54:29.559 --> 00:54:34.260
has about two dozen phrases, mottos, et cetera,

00:54:34.480 --> 00:54:36.940
that everyone should know. It's not about the

00:54:36.940 --> 00:54:40.500
money. It's not about the money, but it's about

00:54:40.500 --> 00:54:43.719
the money. Every action you take is a vote for

00:54:43.719 --> 00:54:46.599
a person that you want to be. True hell is when

00:54:46.599 --> 00:54:49.519
the person you are meets the person you could

00:54:49.519 --> 00:54:52.000
have become. So there's just a bunch of them.

00:54:52.039 --> 00:54:54.440
There they are up on the list. These are fantastic.

00:54:54.860 --> 00:54:57.000
They used to have these at the doctor's office.

00:54:57.019 --> 00:54:58.619
They used to have these in the nurse's office

00:54:58.619 --> 00:55:02.480
at school. And these were great things for the

00:55:02.480 --> 00:55:05.239
kids to listen to and read in passing because

00:55:05.239 --> 00:55:07.900
you've got to instill that in the everyday thought

00:55:07.900 --> 00:55:10.989
process. And that's missing. That's absolutely

00:55:10.989 --> 00:55:13.690
missing right now. So the idea is that on the

00:55:13.690 --> 00:55:17.690
next step is that Greg and I will be illuminating

00:55:17.690 --> 00:55:23.050
what each of these points are. In case they don't

00:55:23.050 --> 00:55:25.449
seem clear at first glance, just, hey, this is

00:55:25.449 --> 00:55:27.070
what we're trying to talk about here. How to

00:55:27.070 --> 00:55:29.550
pick your friends. I have a question about one

00:55:29.550 --> 00:55:31.789
of them that's not clear at all. It's under finance,

00:55:32.030 --> 00:55:34.809
number 19. Smart men go broke in three ways.

00:55:35.449 --> 00:55:39.389
Liquor. Ladies and leverage. Yes. I don't know

00:55:39.389 --> 00:55:43.969
who you guys are. I'm really struggling. It's

00:55:43.969 --> 00:55:46.929
not a perfect science. It said smart men. Yeah.

00:55:48.090 --> 00:55:50.429
So we're going to talk about the whiskey real

00:55:50.429 --> 00:55:53.730
quick, but do we have permission to post some

00:55:53.730 --> 00:55:56.349
of these? Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah.

00:55:56.920 --> 00:56:00.420
I hope you do. We've got a first half whiskey

00:56:00.420 --> 00:56:02.079
we're going to talk about real quick and we'll

00:56:02.079 --> 00:56:05.059
go around the table and we'll kind of just chat

00:56:05.059 --> 00:56:08.519
about it. This is the Whistlepig Small Batch

00:56:08.519 --> 00:56:11.340
Piggyback 100 and is it 110 proof? No, 100 proof.

00:56:11.380 --> 00:56:14.659
100 proof. Six year. Is it bottle of bond? No.

00:56:14.880 --> 00:56:20.360
No? No. Small batch. Small batch. It's not bottle

00:56:20.360 --> 00:56:23.400
and bond. It's not bottle and bond. So this is

00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:27.480
Whistlepig Piggyback. Six years. This one, we

00:56:27.480 --> 00:56:29.280
have no idea why we picked it, because it probably

00:56:29.280 --> 00:56:33.800
had the most in it. Whistlepig makes some decent

00:56:33.800 --> 00:56:36.840
stuff, too. Six years. Yeah, the problem I have

00:56:36.840 --> 00:56:39.239
with Whistlepig, their general product is it's

00:56:39.239 --> 00:56:42.199
extremely expensive, typically, for what you

00:56:42.199 --> 00:56:43.820
get. For what it is. For what you get, yeah.

00:56:44.199 --> 00:56:47.000
They're very proud of their booze. Now, this

00:56:47.000 --> 00:56:49.949
isn't bad. It is a single batch. Yeah. Well,

00:56:49.969 --> 00:56:52.329
it's a small batch. Or is it a small? It's a

00:56:52.329 --> 00:56:55.369
small batch. So for those who don't know what

00:56:55.369 --> 00:56:57.949
a small batch is, they take a cluster of barrels

00:56:57.949 --> 00:57:01.849
and they claim that as a small batch. And they

00:57:01.849 --> 00:57:04.750
mix them all together. And that's the product

00:57:04.750 --> 00:57:06.570
that comes out. But it's kind of a marketing

00:57:06.570 --> 00:57:09.929
term because a small batch for Whistlepig and

00:57:09.929 --> 00:57:13.690
a small batch for Heaven's Hill could be wildly

00:57:13.690 --> 00:57:16.789
different. 100 barrels, Heaven's Hills could

00:57:16.789 --> 00:57:19.250
be 5 ,000 barrels. That's a small batch for Heaven

00:57:19.250 --> 00:57:21.969
Hill. Isn't that funny? Because they produce

00:57:21.969 --> 00:57:24.289
so much. I think they said a small batch for

00:57:24.289 --> 00:57:28.130
Jim Beam was 50 ,000 barrels. I was like, what?

00:57:28.670 --> 00:57:30.909
It can mean a lot of different things. It's a

00:57:30.909 --> 00:57:32.869
lot of different things, but it's specific to

00:57:32.869 --> 00:57:37.880
the actual distiller. Nice. And obviously the

00:57:37.880 --> 00:57:42.360
smaller the distiller, the less barrel. I just

00:57:42.360 --> 00:57:43.900
got to say it's a fantastic bourbon. Thank you

00:57:43.900 --> 00:57:45.960
so much for sharing. Oh, it is. Yeah, absolutely.

00:57:46.019 --> 00:57:47.539
It's not bad at all. So let's talk about the

00:57:47.539 --> 00:57:49.460
nose. What do you guys get from the nose? And

00:57:49.460 --> 00:57:51.820
do you need another pour there, Greg? Or I know

00:57:51.820 --> 00:57:53.519
you kind of, I think you spilled yours. Well,

00:57:53.559 --> 00:57:55.099
I'll tell you what. The first thing I got when

00:57:55.099 --> 00:57:57.059
I stuck my nose in there is I got chocolate.

00:57:58.659 --> 00:58:00.559
Chocolate? Chocolate. That's what I got. A little

00:58:00.559 --> 00:58:03.739
chocolate and caramel. Yeah, chocolate. And especially

00:58:03.739 --> 00:58:06.989
on the nose. Not so much on the palate, but to

00:58:06.989 --> 00:58:10.409
finish, I'm getting lots of peanuts. It's not

00:58:10.409 --> 00:58:13.469
that kind of podcast. Peanut. Oh, okay. Yeah,

00:58:13.550 --> 00:58:17.110
okay. Mine are bigger than peanuts, John. Wow.

00:58:17.510 --> 00:58:25.409
Wow. We have guests, Jim. Almonds? Brazil nut.

00:58:25.630 --> 00:58:31.980
You know, so, yeah, it's... I don't have a fantastic

00:58:31.980 --> 00:58:36.119
nose, so unless it's over 110, 120 proof, the

00:58:36.119 --> 00:58:38.800
smell doesn't come through as much as I'd like

00:58:38.800 --> 00:58:41.719
it to. But as far as the taste goes, this is

00:58:41.719 --> 00:58:43.820
the classic, what I haven't said in a long time,

00:58:44.000 --> 00:58:49.239
classic stone fruit, lightly floral. Any anise?

00:58:49.769 --> 00:58:51.730
I don't taste anise in this one, surprisingly.

00:58:52.409 --> 00:58:55.030
Thank God. You were on like an eight -week streak

00:58:55.030 --> 00:58:58.150
of anise. Everyone that had an anise tasted it.

00:58:58.210 --> 00:59:01.989
No, no. Well, I tasted it. I tasted vanilla a

00:59:01.989 --> 00:59:05.369
little bit. There's actually some sweetness on

00:59:05.369 --> 00:59:08.650
there as well. It's very, very, very easy to

00:59:08.650 --> 00:59:11.230
drink. I mean, for a hunter -proof, I could put

00:59:11.230 --> 00:59:14.190
a couple ice cubes in a straw and drink a pint.

00:59:14.789 --> 00:59:18.929
A pint. So are you guys big whiskey or bourbon

00:59:18.929 --> 00:59:23.039
drinkers? I like a good mixed drink like an old

00:59:23.039 --> 00:59:25.440
-fashioned. I normally don't go straight. I know

00:59:25.440 --> 00:59:28.579
it's heresy. No, it's not. I love old -fashions.

00:59:28.619 --> 00:59:30.900
Well, my question is, are you guys used to higher

00:59:30.900 --> 00:59:35.309
-proof liquor? Oh, yeah. 100, 110, 120 kind of

00:59:35.309 --> 00:59:36.989
stuff. Okay. I actually haven't been drinking

00:59:36.989 --> 00:59:39.469
for the last three years now. Oh, sorry. Oh,

00:59:39.489 --> 00:59:42.250
great, great. I just kind of broke the seal.

00:59:42.250 --> 00:59:46.449
Remember, iron sharpens iron. In this case, it's

00:59:46.449 --> 00:59:48.449
been back in time. Like a stone against the rock,

00:59:48.630 --> 00:59:53.090
right? Yeah. No, I stopped drinking as a part

00:59:53.090 --> 00:59:55.630
of my wellness journey. But, you know, before

00:59:55.630 --> 01:00:00.460
that, I was... into the, into bourbons. And I

01:00:00.460 --> 01:00:02.880
mean, I still have a stack of bottles that I

01:00:02.880 --> 01:00:04.820
have that I'm like looking at at the house. Like,

01:00:04.820 --> 01:00:06.960
what am I going to do with this? I know you just

01:00:06.960 --> 01:00:08.480
bring them over here and give them to Craig.

01:00:08.539 --> 01:00:10.760
We'll put them in the collection. Well, you know,

01:00:10.760 --> 01:00:12.679
there's, there's, everyone's got their own path.

01:00:13.199 --> 01:00:17.119
You know, I, you said mixed drinks, old fashions.

01:00:17.579 --> 01:00:21.639
I have, I think I'm on the cusp of being an alcoholic.

01:00:22.439 --> 01:00:25.440
I don't drink a whole lot, but I can pound back

01:00:25.440 --> 01:00:28.340
when I do drink. And I don't know how some of

01:00:28.340 --> 01:00:31.239
these guys, like old fashions, good lord. They're

01:00:31.239 --> 01:00:33.460
dangerous. Yeah, they sneak up on you. The part

01:00:33.460 --> 01:00:36.039
of it is that I can drink them, and it's so easy

01:00:36.039 --> 01:00:38.699
to drink. So I don't do mixed drinks. I don't

01:00:38.699 --> 01:00:40.760
do old fashions. I drink them straight, and I

01:00:40.760 --> 01:00:43.699
drink them strong, and that way I sip them. And

01:00:43.699 --> 01:00:45.739
that's really, for me, that's been successful.

01:00:46.019 --> 01:00:47.860
I don't know how you guys can do it because a

01:00:47.860 --> 01:00:50.280
jacket and Coke, oh my God. I can't do that.

01:00:50.500 --> 01:00:53.019
Mix that stuff or some sort of sweetener or even

01:00:53.019 --> 01:00:56.659
club soda. Shoot. Yeah. It's crushable. Yeah,

01:00:56.659 --> 01:00:58.579
it can be. I mean, I could just crush it. Yeah,

01:00:58.579 --> 01:01:00.599
it can be dangerous for sure. Oh yeah, that first

01:01:00.599 --> 01:01:03.019
one. It's harsh, but those next couple ones go

01:01:03.019 --> 01:01:05.380
down smooth. Oh, yeah. That was my problem. I'd

01:01:05.380 --> 01:01:09.079
get, you know, 6, 8, 10, 12 drinks in, and I

01:01:09.079 --> 01:01:11.360
was hammered. Right. And, you know, I would say

01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:13.659
I was pretty close to where you are, describing

01:01:13.659 --> 01:01:15.780
yourself, that I was. I wasn't an alcoholic,

01:01:15.920 --> 01:01:17.500
but I felt like I was just on the edge of it.

01:01:17.719 --> 01:01:19.679
It's not something I did every day, but you know,

01:01:19.699 --> 01:01:21.860
I traveled a lot for work and have a hard day

01:01:21.860 --> 01:01:23.559
at work. You're at the hotel. Usually somebody

01:01:23.559 --> 01:01:25.820
else's have their company credit card out and

01:01:25.820 --> 01:01:30.360
bam, work hard, play hard. Drinks were for usually

01:01:30.360 --> 01:01:34.619
free and it was too much. And you know, and I,

01:01:34.639 --> 01:01:38.239
I just hit a point with my, with my health. It

01:01:38.239 --> 01:01:40.679
was like, okay, this isn't working. And, um,

01:01:40.900 --> 01:01:43.679
it's certainly not contributing towards me improving.

01:01:44.239 --> 01:01:47.019
And so I just made a conscious decision to step

01:01:47.019 --> 01:01:51.039
back. And that's a hard, that's a hard call to

01:01:51.039 --> 01:01:55.460
make for a lot of guys. It is. And I, and I certainly

01:01:55.460 --> 01:01:59.000
appreciate that. And I don't have any judgments

01:01:59.000 --> 01:02:02.849
on it. There's a lot of our friends that don't

01:02:02.849 --> 01:02:05.829
drink. I think you have to be receptive to that

01:02:05.829 --> 01:02:08.230
because, in fact, there have been some people

01:02:08.230 --> 01:02:10.130
that want to be on the podcast. They're like,

01:02:10.150 --> 01:02:12.630
well, I don't drink. I was like, well, we do

01:02:12.630 --> 01:02:15.650
a Dudes Like Us podcast, but it's not necessarily

01:02:15.650 --> 01:02:20.250
all about liquor. Our whiskeys that we drink

01:02:20.250 --> 01:02:24.519
is maybe not even 5%. It's barely 10%. Yeah,

01:02:24.519 --> 01:02:26.219
well, 10 minutes of a conversation, if that's

01:02:26.219 --> 01:02:27.739
sometimes. Sometimes we talk about it, we get

01:02:27.739 --> 01:02:30.719
off of it so fast. Oh, yeah, exactly. Y 'all

01:02:30.719 --> 01:02:35.099
need to rate this. It depends on who's here.

01:02:35.280 --> 01:02:37.679
Like if we have a distiller or a sommelier or

01:02:37.679 --> 01:02:39.820
a steward or something, and we want to talk about

01:02:39.820 --> 01:02:41.920
their product, yeah, we'll spend a whole podcast

01:02:41.920 --> 01:02:43.679
talking about it because we want to pump it up.

01:02:43.719 --> 01:02:46.360
We want to dive into it. And the listeners out

01:02:46.360 --> 01:02:49.360
there, because we have millions. Millions. The

01:02:49.360 --> 01:02:51.059
listeners out there, they want to know, too.

01:02:51.159 --> 01:02:53.579
I mean, there's some adamant listeners out there.

01:02:53.610 --> 01:02:55.750
And they want to hear all about the stuff that

01:02:55.750 --> 01:02:57.269
we talk about when it comes to some of these

01:02:57.269 --> 01:02:58.690
whiskeys. And sometimes they don't want to hear

01:02:58.690 --> 01:03:01.630
any of it. They want to hear Jeff's next vocabulary

01:03:01.630 --> 01:03:04.150
word that nobody's ever heard. They want to hear

01:03:04.150 --> 01:03:07.869
Paul say something. Something. Anything. And

01:03:07.869 --> 01:03:10.309
some of my stupid stories that I tell. Well,

01:03:10.349 --> 01:03:11.849
you know, the healthy lifestyle is making a bit

01:03:11.849 --> 01:03:14.510
of a comeback right now, if it was ever out or

01:03:14.510 --> 01:03:20.260
in. But it is becoming popular now, too. to not

01:03:20.260 --> 01:03:22.679
drink. And you're seeing a lot of... And it's

01:03:22.679 --> 01:03:24.639
actually hurting the industry. It is. They're

01:03:24.639 --> 01:03:27.099
having a lot lower sales than what they're anticipating.

01:03:27.400 --> 01:03:29.719
So they're taking a hit from it. And we're talking

01:03:29.719 --> 01:03:32.320
about bars, too. Like liquor stores and bars.

01:03:32.559 --> 01:03:34.579
Frankly, I don't think people can afford it.

01:03:35.099 --> 01:03:37.840
Yeah, there's also that. Well, it is the cause

01:03:37.840 --> 01:03:40.800
of and solution to all of life's problems. Sure.

01:03:41.369 --> 01:03:42.750
So are you guys sticking around for the second

01:03:42.750 --> 01:03:44.389
half? Because I would love to talk more about

01:03:44.389 --> 01:03:46.250
the wellness stuff. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

01:03:46.469 --> 01:03:48.309
Sure? Okay, great. All right, let's do that.

01:03:48.369 --> 01:03:50.969
Let's make sure we have that on the board. So

01:03:50.969 --> 01:03:54.550
before we end the segment of the whiskey section

01:03:54.550 --> 01:03:59.610
part, what we normally do is rate it. I'm going

01:03:59.610 --> 01:04:01.530
to rate this one. This is 100 proof. So this

01:04:01.530 --> 01:04:03.889
is the 100 proof category, the whistle pig. There's

01:04:03.889 --> 01:04:07.050
a lot. 100 bourbon, bourbon, whiskey. You know,

01:04:07.130 --> 01:04:11.940
it's a fair. It's kind of meh. The flavor, it

01:04:11.940 --> 01:04:16.019
hits you in the front mildly, and then it leaves

01:04:16.019 --> 01:04:18.239
right away. It leaves a little iced tea about

01:04:18.239 --> 01:04:20.179
five minutes, a couple minutes later. You still

01:04:20.179 --> 01:04:22.360
got some resonance of some tea back there, some

01:04:22.360 --> 01:04:26.239
sweet tea. But, you know, is it something I would

01:04:26.239 --> 01:04:30.239
buy again? No. Yeah. There's too many better

01:04:30.239 --> 01:04:32.400
options out there. Yeah, especially for the 100

01:04:32.400 --> 01:04:34.679
-proof stuff. You know, there's a lot more. So,

01:04:34.739 --> 01:04:36.460
hell, Michter's is 100 -proof, and that thing

01:04:36.460 --> 01:04:38.179
blows this shit out of the water. Right. You

01:04:38.179 --> 01:04:43.039
know? That was 95. 95. It's very flavorful. And

01:04:43.039 --> 01:04:46.179
this one just doesn't hit it. I am shamefully

01:04:46.179 --> 01:04:51.800
going to give this one a 4 .9. Oh, wow. I'm disappointed.

01:04:52.420 --> 01:04:55.719
No, I'm not that low. I'm around the 6. I'm looking

01:04:55.719 --> 01:04:57.480
at some of the others that are in that range.

01:04:58.679 --> 01:05:01.900
Who are they? In the 6s, you got the Wildcatter,

01:05:02.039 --> 01:05:04.260
the Luxrow Blood Oath that we just had. Yeah,

01:05:04.260 --> 01:05:07.679
we thought that was decent. Right, the Cooper's

01:05:07.679 --> 01:05:13.119
Craft, Luca, Mariano. I'm going to go 5 .8. I'm

01:05:13.119 --> 01:05:16.059
going to go 6. Just because it's easy to drink,

01:05:16.079 --> 01:05:18.559
it's smooth. I think it's very, this would be

01:05:18.559 --> 01:05:21.599
a good one for someone. The reason I ask is because

01:05:21.599 --> 01:05:23.340
we have people ask us, what's your favorite bourbon?

01:05:23.380 --> 01:05:25.719
Well, we like the shit that's 115, 120 proof.

01:05:25.860 --> 01:05:29.050
We do. And if you're not used to that. That's

01:05:29.050 --> 01:05:31.150
why I was asking, is that easy to drink for you?

01:05:31.190 --> 01:05:33.070
Because if you're not used to that proof, it's

01:05:33.070 --> 01:05:34.630
hard. I think it's also about price point, right?

01:05:34.809 --> 01:05:36.829
That's a big part of it. It's over 50 bucks.

01:05:37.190 --> 01:05:40.489
Really? Okay. I think it said MSRP was $42 .99.

01:05:40.730 --> 01:05:43.630
Yeah. So, you know, as a 100 proof, it's very

01:05:43.630 --> 01:05:45.449
easy to drink, and I think this is very approachable

01:05:45.449 --> 01:05:49.250
for someone. Yeah, sure. Yeah, it's a run -of

01:05:49.250 --> 01:05:51.739
-the -mill decent. Decent one at 100 proof. I

01:05:51.739 --> 01:05:54.179
would agree with that. Yeah. But for me personally,

01:05:54.380 --> 01:05:56.000
I mean, if I were to rate it for somebody else,

01:05:56.019 --> 01:05:58.260
it'd be a little bit higher. But for me, on my

01:05:58.260 --> 01:06:01.099
scale, it's going to be four or nine. That's

01:06:01.099 --> 01:06:05.179
better than Eagle Rare. Or Eagle Rare. With Ambarano.

01:06:05.380 --> 01:06:08.679
That's true. Now, you know what? We want to save

01:06:08.679 --> 01:06:10.059
that for the second half? Yeah. The Ambarano?

01:06:10.219 --> 01:06:12.300
Yeah. You got your package in the mailbox, right?

01:06:13.019 --> 01:06:14.940
Actually, I saw it down there when I came home.

01:06:14.980 --> 01:06:17.250
I haven't looked at it yet. What the hell, man?

01:06:17.329 --> 01:06:19.250
How could you not look at a t -shirt and a little

01:06:19.250 --> 01:06:21.070
plastic thing stapled to it? Because I walked

01:06:21.070 --> 01:06:24.469
in and Craig knocked on the door and I was like,

01:06:24.590 --> 01:06:27.570
all right, who's this? I put it in your mailbox

01:06:27.570 --> 01:06:31.429
yesterday. The damn Mormons are here again. He

01:06:31.429 --> 01:06:35.329
released the hounds. I gave it the office. The

01:06:35.329 --> 01:06:38.710
look of confusion. I was like, who are these

01:06:38.710 --> 01:06:42.280
clowns? I was like, oh, Sean. I got it. He's

01:06:42.280 --> 01:06:44.099
like, I just had hail. You guys are already at

01:06:44.099 --> 01:06:48.039
my door. I literally walked in and right to the

01:06:48.039 --> 01:06:51.079
door. So I'm sorry about that. No worries. But

01:06:51.079 --> 01:06:52.420
no, I have not opened it and looked at it yet.

01:06:52.440 --> 01:06:54.619
So I'll grab it during the break. So we made

01:06:54.619 --> 01:06:56.760
some t -shirts. If you'd like us, t -shirts.

01:06:56.920 --> 01:06:58.840
There's a variety of different ones out there.

01:06:58.880 --> 01:07:00.900
This one's kind of ridiculous. If you don't mind,

01:07:00.960 --> 01:07:02.900
bring it up. I want these guys to see it. Yeah,

01:07:02.900 --> 01:07:05.579
we'll talk about it. All right, cool. All right.

01:07:05.639 --> 01:07:07.320
Now we got a couple minutes. You guys want to

01:07:07.320 --> 01:07:09.599
stab at anything before we sign off for the first

01:07:09.599 --> 01:07:14.300
half? Let's see. Let's save some of the big topics

01:07:14.300 --> 01:07:16.699
for the next round, for the next one, but let's

01:07:16.699 --> 01:07:20.039
see. Real quick, let's talk about fantasy football.

01:07:20.619 --> 01:07:23.920
Jesus. Do you guys do fantasy football? Not anymore.

01:07:24.119 --> 01:07:27.719
I do not. Limited time. I think after this year,

01:07:27.820 --> 01:07:29.920
I'm going to quit. Did you see who's in first

01:07:29.920 --> 01:07:32.599
place? No, I'm not even watching. We don't need

01:07:32.599 --> 01:07:34.440
to talk about fantasy football. Oh, that's why

01:07:34.440 --> 01:07:36.920
you want to talk about fantasy football. Because

01:07:36.920 --> 01:07:39.099
it's never happened before. It never has. You

01:07:39.099 --> 01:07:41.539
need to act like you've been there before. I'm

01:07:41.539 --> 01:07:44.619
always in last place. I recall this time last

01:07:44.619 --> 01:07:47.219
year, I was first place, and I was talking shit,

01:07:47.360 --> 01:07:49.280
and then I think I lost every game after that.

01:07:49.880 --> 01:07:52.900
And that continues into this year, too. Oh, my

01:07:52.900 --> 01:07:55.579
God. I've lost the first two games of the year.

01:07:55.719 --> 01:08:00.989
Three. Three? Yes. Oh, the pain. Humanity, right?

01:08:01.070 --> 01:08:03.030
That's why we do fantasy football because that

01:08:03.030 --> 01:08:04.829
gives us a reason to give each other shit, right?

01:08:04.949 --> 01:08:08.010
Any excuse to talk shit is a good excuse. I'm

01:08:08.010 --> 01:08:10.150
all for it. 100 % in. The group of guys that

01:08:10.150 --> 01:08:13.150
we do fantasy football with, it's guys that we've

01:08:13.150 --> 01:08:16.970
known for 15 years plus. We played, some of us

01:08:16.970 --> 01:08:19.949
have been together since 1998. This is our Junto,

01:08:20.029 --> 01:08:22.279
right? Yeah, see, I stopped doing fantasy football,

01:08:22.420 --> 01:08:23.779
but I got a couple of buddies that were in a

01:08:23.779 --> 01:08:26.199
group text, and I still jump in and talk shit

01:08:26.199 --> 01:08:29.380
to them like I'm playing. Right? But it's great

01:08:29.380 --> 01:08:30.939
because I don't have any skin on the game, and

01:08:30.939 --> 01:08:32.739
they don't know who I picked, so I can just make

01:08:32.739 --> 01:08:34.939
stuff up as I go. Well, I think technology has

01:08:34.939 --> 01:08:37.100
gone a long way now where you don't have to do

01:08:37.100 --> 01:08:39.159
that much work. It's all automated. It's on the

01:08:39.159 --> 01:08:42.869
phone. I mean, I remember 20 years ago. 25 years

01:08:42.869 --> 01:08:45.609
ago. She's getting old. 27 years ago. You know,

01:08:45.609 --> 01:08:47.409
we're doing fantasy football and then you have

01:08:47.409 --> 01:08:49.590
to wait till the Sunday paper comes out or the

01:08:49.590 --> 01:08:51.649
Monday morning paper and then you're looking

01:08:51.649 --> 01:08:53.609
at the stats and you're adding it all up and

01:08:53.609 --> 01:08:55.970
it's just like, oh, Alan Harper got over 100

01:08:55.970 --> 01:08:59.729
yards plus two. Can this not be the new bar of

01:08:59.729 --> 01:09:02.649
how we rate our AI systems and how well it picks

01:09:02.649 --> 01:09:06.149
fantasy football teams? Yeah. We should be. I

01:09:06.149 --> 01:09:10.800
just, it seems fair. It should be able to do

01:09:10.800 --> 01:09:12.279
better than we do. How does quantum mechanics

01:09:12.279 --> 01:09:14.819
affect me? It doesn't. You know, I've got to

01:09:14.819 --> 01:09:16.659
be honest, man. I was trying to find what they

01:09:16.659 --> 01:09:19.859
call cheat sheets, which just simply lists the...

01:09:20.220 --> 01:09:22.960
the players. Sure. And they are non -existent.

01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:25.039
You have to pay for them now. Well, yeah. I don't

01:09:25.039 --> 01:09:27.640
mind paying for them, but you have a hundred

01:09:27.640 --> 01:09:30.760
and they all look nefarious. And it's just like,

01:09:30.819 --> 01:09:33.340
which one do you go with? I pay 20 bucks here.

01:09:33.439 --> 01:09:35.560
No, I don't want to pay five bucks a month for

01:09:35.560 --> 01:09:37.619
the rest of my life. Right. I'll pay 20 bucks

01:09:37.619 --> 01:09:39.680
right now if you give me a fucking list and I

01:09:39.680 --> 01:09:42.319
can sign off after it. You know, I'm done. That's

01:09:42.319 --> 01:09:44.260
all I wanted. I thought I had the secret weapon.

01:09:44.319 --> 01:09:47.460
I was going to use ChatGPT to create all of those

01:09:47.460 --> 01:09:49.989
cheat sheets. Nice. And I went through this Big

01:09:49.989 --> 01:09:51.729
thing with it, I was like, find me all the cheat

01:09:51.729 --> 01:09:53.350
sheets. I want you to aggregate it, pull them

01:09:53.350 --> 01:09:55.489
all together, find out what each of them had

01:09:55.489 --> 01:09:56.949
for all these different players. It was like,

01:09:57.010 --> 01:09:58.189
you want to do this and this and this? I was

01:09:58.189 --> 01:10:00.010
like, you're damn right I do. He goes, all right,

01:10:00.109 --> 01:10:03.510
I'll do it for you. Total fail. Number one, Troy

01:10:03.510 --> 01:10:07.130
Eggman. The first thing he did was give me a

01:10:07.130 --> 01:10:08.949
blank spreadsheet. I was like, what the hell

01:10:08.949 --> 01:10:10.590
is this? What am I going to do with this? And

01:10:10.590 --> 01:10:12.029
I said that. I was like, what is this? Why did

01:10:12.029 --> 01:10:13.369
you give me a blank sheet? Oh, you're right.

01:10:13.489 --> 01:10:17.859
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It turned into 45 minutes

01:10:17.859 --> 01:10:20.319
of, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And I was like, you're

01:10:20.319 --> 01:10:23.100
done. Yeah, the conspiracy theorist says that's

01:10:23.100 --> 01:10:25.560
a design by Vegas to keep it that way. Come on.

01:10:25.640 --> 01:10:28.979
He was a train wreck. Anyway, but you know what's

01:10:28.979 --> 01:10:30.600
one thing that's really good about it? You talked

01:10:30.600 --> 01:10:32.960
about the Junta, right? These are guys that I

01:10:32.960 --> 01:10:34.979
would probably not, a lot of them, I would not

01:10:34.979 --> 01:10:37.880
talk to if we didn't play fantasy football. It's

01:10:37.880 --> 01:10:40.399
an excuse, and we get together in person for

01:10:40.399 --> 01:10:42.479
the draft every year, and that's the only time

01:10:42.479 --> 01:10:47.260
I see these guys. Maybe mid -year we'll do a

01:10:47.260 --> 01:10:48.840
little gathering sometimes. I think we've done

01:10:48.840 --> 01:10:51.199
that once. So that is the one valuable thing

01:10:51.199 --> 01:10:53.159
about it. Awesome. Guys you would never talk

01:10:53.159 --> 01:10:55.479
to. And it's camaraderie. It is. Absolutely.

01:10:55.560 --> 01:10:58.539
It's a form of it. It's different from the ones

01:10:58.539 --> 01:11:00.600
that, I don't mean to slam the workmates out

01:11:00.600 --> 01:11:03.859
there that have the office teams, that kind of

01:11:03.859 --> 01:11:06.000
stuff. Yeah, I don't really subscribe to that.

01:11:06.100 --> 01:11:09.699
But this group of guys, this is fun because these

01:11:09.699 --> 01:11:13.180
are lifelong friends. And that's awesome. And

01:11:13.180 --> 01:11:15.100
a reason to give them shit, like you said earlier.

01:11:15.880 --> 01:11:18.479
Absolutely. All right, cool. Dude, it's been

01:11:18.479 --> 01:11:20.060
a pleasure having you guys on the first half.

01:11:20.319 --> 01:11:21.920
We're going to have fun on the second half. Awesome.

01:11:21.960 --> 01:11:23.960
Thank you. Looking forward to it. All right,

01:11:23.979 --> 01:11:26.220
well, check us out on dudeslikeus -podcast on

01:11:26.220 --> 01:11:30.600
Facebook and Instagram. We have the first half

01:11:30.600 --> 01:11:34.199
of September 23, 2025. Thank you, Chuck, for

01:11:34.199 --> 01:11:36.119
staying on Top of Shit, Dudes Like Us. I'm Sean.

01:11:36.239 --> 01:11:40.640
I'm Paul. I'm Jeff. Craig. And? And Greg. All

01:11:40.640 --> 01:11:43.810
right. Thank you.